China Buzz: Weight management fever ignites, burning calories across China

People's Daily Online) 16:03, March 21, 2025

A medical staff member registers children's diagnosis and treatment information at a health center in Luoshe town, Deqing county, Huzhou city, east China's Zhejiang Province, on March 15, 2025. (Xinhua/Xie Shangguo)

Right now in China, there's a new trend sweeping the nationand it's not just the change in seasons. It's the weight-loss craze.

At a recent news conference, Lei Haichao, head of the National Health Commission (NHC), announced plans to establish more weight management clinics at medical and health facilities, aiming to help people shed pounds safely and transition to healthier lifestyles. The announcement, made on the sidelines of the annual gathering of national lawmakers in Beijing, quickly went viral online, sparking heated discussions across social media platforms like Weibo and Xiaohongshu (rednote).

"If you don't lose weight, even the government is giving you side-eye," one netizen joked.

"The country says it's time to slim downguess I don't have a choice," another added.

"Do I get a bonus for every dumpling I skip?" someone asked.

Jokes aside, the initiative isn't about appearancesit's about public health.

According to medical experts, obesity isn't just a personal issueit's a growing national concern. Excess weight can lead to metabolic disorders, endocrine imbalances, and joint problems caused by excess pressure on the body.

"Obesity has become a significant challenge for China's healthcare system. A 2020 report on China's nutrition and chronic disease status revealed that over 50 percent of Chinese adults are either overweight or obesea staggering figure that has prompted authorities to take action," said Zhang Peng, head of the Weight Management and Metabolic Surgery Department at Beijing Friendship Hospital.

In response, hospitals across the country are now offering specialized weight management clinics and multidisciplinary programs to provide individuals with structured, science-backed solutions for shedding excess weight.

In addition, various regions are introducing weight management measures tailored to public needs. For example, Southwest China's Sichuan Province has set a goal for workplace exercise programs to cover 50 percent of government agencies and enterprises within three years.

A citizen runs on a greenway for exercise in Binjiang District in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, March 29, 2024. (Xinhua/Jiang Han)

But for those who prefer a more casual approach, experts emphasize that the fundamentals remain the same: eat less, move more, and get enough sleep.

Beyond medical facilities, the weight-loss trend is making waves in other industries too. Culture and tourism bureaus across China have jumped on the bandwagon, transforming sightseeing into a fitness opportunity. Scenic destinations nationwide are introducing hiking-focused tourism experiences that blend stunning landscapes with a built-in workout.

Shanxi's Bureau of Culture and Tourism, for example, posted a video on its official account titled "Weight management year: Unlock a new Shanxi," showcasing top walking -friendly scenic spots across the province. The initiative encourages visitors to explore Shanxi's rugged landscapes while staying active.

The business sector is also embracing the weight-loss movement, with some companies offering financial incentives to employees who shed pounds.

According to a recent report by China Business Herald, one Shenzhen-based firm launched a "Lose weight, make money" challenge, where employees earn 100 RMB per jin (half a kilogram) lost up to 10 jins, and 300 RMB per jin beyond thatas long as they keep a healthy weight.

The initiative has turned weight loss into an office-wide competition, where colleagues motivate each other to stick to their fitness goals.

From government-backed health initiatives to fitness-focused tourism and cash incentives from employers, weight management is no longer a lonely or daunting journey.

Whether it's hiking scenic trails, earning discounts by stepping on the scale, or getting rewarded for shedding pounds, one thing is clear: 2025 is set to be the best year yet for getting in shapeso let's burn those calories together!

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Du Mingming)
China to foster multi-tiered exchanges between legislative bodies with Fiji

Xinhua) 12:44, March 22, 2025

Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, holds talks with Filimone Jitoko, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Fiji, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to foster multi-tiered exchanges between legislative bodies with Fiji, said China's top legislator Zhao Leji during talks with Filimone Jitoko, Fiji's speaker of the parliament, in Beijing on Friday.

Zhao, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, said that 50 years since China and Fiji established diplomatic ties, both sides had upheld mutual respect, equality, and win-win cooperation, and achieved tangible cooperation results.

China is willing to work with Fiji to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and promote the sustained, healthy, and stable development of the China-Fiji comprehensive strategic partnership, said Zhao.

Noting China has consistently supported Fiji's efforts in upholding its sovereignty and national dignity, and highly appreciates Fiji's adherence to the one-China principle, Zhao said the two sides should synergize development strategies and promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

Zhao called on both countries to achieve more cooperation results in areas such as economic and trade investment, infrastructure, and agriculture and fisheries, while enhancing exchanges in culture and youth sectors. He noted special concerns regarding climate change of Fiji and other Pacific Island countries, saying China is willing to enhance cooperation with Fiji in green and low-carbon development to jointly address climate change, which is a global challenge.

On the cooperation between the two countries' legislative institutions, Zhao said that China is willing to foster multi-tiered exchanges between legislative bodies with Fiji, enhance coordination in the Asian Parliamentary Assembly and other multilateral mechanisms.

China welcomes more Fijian parliamentarians to visit China and exchange experiences in reform and development, poverty reduction and alleviation, and the development of the rule of law, said Zhao.

Jitoko said that Fiji firmly adhered to the one-China principle, upholding the authority of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, adding that the country supports major global initiatives proposed by China and the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Jitoko also expressed gratitude for China's long-standing assistance to Fiji's economic and social development.

Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, holds talks with Filimone Jitoko, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Fiji, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
US President Donald Trump denied media reports on Friday that his billionaire ally Elon Musk would receive a "top-secret briefing" on Washington's strategy in a potential war with China.

The reports, first published by The New York Times, fanned concerns about the SpaceX and Tesla chief's influence in the White House as an unelected tycoon who has become Trump's closest advisor.

According to the Times, Musk was set to receive a briefing Friday on US military plans in case of a war with China, including maritime tactics and targeting plans. The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post also reported on the apparent briefing.

Trump, who often brands media reports he dislikes as "fake news," refuted claims that China would be on the agenda.

"China will not even be mentioned or discussed," he posted on his Truth Social platform, calling the story "completely untrue."

He later added: "The Fake News is the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE... And Elon is NOT BEING BRIEFED ON ANYTHING CHINA BY THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR!!!"

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that Musk would visit the Pentagon on Friday but said the "informal meeting" would focus on innovation and efficiencies, not "top secret China war plans."

Tensions have soared between Washington and Beijing as the world's two largest economies impose a slew of tariffs on each other's imports.

Democrats have meanwhile blasted Trump for handing administration policy to Musk, the president's cost cutter-in-chief, despite him undergoing no background checks and heading companies with government contracts worth billions.

Musk joined the chorus of criticism of the Times, labeling it "pure propaganda" on his social media platform X.

In a separate post replying to Hegseth, he said Friday's meeting would not be his first visit to the US Defense Department.

"I've been to the Pentagon many times over many years. Not my first time in the building," he wrote.
It is nearly six years since Neil Woodford's investment empire began to crumble when dealings in the flagship Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF) were abruptly suspended. The 3.7billion fund, stuffed full of inappropriate, illiquid assets, never re-opened.

It was dismembered, resulting in painful losses for most of the 300,000 investors trapped in WEIF at the time its doors were shut. Paltry compensation, paid last year, failed to make good their losses.

Yet the debacle is far from over. Disciplinary action against Woodford by the City regulator rumbles on, albeit at the speed of a three-toed sloth.

At some stage, maybe in my lifetime, maybe not, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will be in a position to hold the fund manager to account. But I don't hold out much hope on that front given the FCA's ineptitude and Woodford's wiliness.

Then there is the High Court group claim that litigation specialist RGL has brought against wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) for the part it played in persuading customers to join the Woodford party  despite growing concerns within the business that WEIF was sailing close to the wind.

RGL's claim against HL, which delists from the stock market this week, was issued two-and-a-half years ago  a story which Wealth exclusively revealed. It seeks to recover the losses that investors suffered as a result of HL continuing to recommend WEIF right up to its suspension in June 2019.

Since then, RGL has been building the claim. On Friday, it told me that it has just added a further 1,700 investor claims, bringing the total to around 8,300. It says the average claim is around 20,000 (including interest) with the total value of the group claim likely to be in excess of 200million.

RGL says High Court proceedings will begin in late May when all claims will be served on HL. In the meantime, it has set April 30 as the deadline for any remaining HL customers to jump on board the claim.

Neil Woodford's investment empire began to crumble nearly six years ago, when it emerged his 3.7billion fund was stuffed full of inappropriate, illiquid assets

Anyone interested in joining can do so at woodfordlitigation.com  including those who were no longer invested in the fund at the time the shutters came rattling down. It is free to join, with RGL taking a slice of the bounty only if the group claim is successful.

Given this is the last chance saloon for victims of the Woodford investment scandal to make good their losses, it's worth joining.

Victory for Ted... but now I've been muzzled by insurer

Cabbie Patrick Derrane and wife Clare, a nurse, with Ted

A bowlful of good news for a change on pet insurance.

Following a story I wrote two weeks ago on the bewildering decision of an insurer to deny a claim made by reader Patrick Derrane after his dog Ted was clipped by a car, the company in question (Perfect Pet) has seen sense and coughed up  with 761 on its way to Patrick.

As I explained in my original report, Patrick regularly walks Ted, a nine-year old schnoodle, in a park near his home in Banstead, Surrey. Like most other dog owners in the park, he lets Ted off the lead so he can have a good run around.

Patrick had never had an issue with Ted until one morning in January when the dog picked up a scent and followed it out of the park. Although Patrick chased after him, Ted ran out into the road and was hit by a car.

Fearing Ted had broken his right hind leg, Patrick rushed him to a vet where he was examined and X-rayed. Within 24 hours, he was right as rain.

The London cabbie, married to nurse Clare, thought he would have no problem getting a claim approved by Perfect Pet. But it declined the claim on the grounds that he had failed to take 'proper care and attention to prevent the accident'. Patrick contacted me, stating he had cancelled the policy and added: 'I am not prepared to give the insurer another penny.'

My article and Patrick's subsequent reference to it on website Trustpilot caused Perfect Pet to do a U-turn. A member of its 'customer resolution team' wrote to him stating she had researched the Lady Neville Recreation Ground from where Ted had run.

Her analysis? 'As it is not a requirement for dogs to be kept on leads within the recreation ground, and it is a relatively well-secured area, I am happy to review your claim.'

Her verdict? Net of excesses and other deductions, he was owed 761.

The sting in the tail? He was requested to remove the reference to my article in his Trustpilot post on the grounds it 'encouraged' other people to read it  and thereby breached the website's guidelines on the use of promotional material.

Utter tosh. It asked Patrick to delete the reference because it did not want people to realise that Perfect Pet Insurance does not always live up to its name. More like Imperfect Pet Insurance.

Greedy firms still want cash Isas axed

Although Wednesday's Spring Statement from the Chancellor will (thankfully) not include any reduction in the right for people to save  rather than invest  into a tax-friendly Isa, change is coming as sure as night follows day.

You can smell it in the air and in every press release issued by those companies (investment platforms and asset managers) who want the Isa market to themselves. Down with cash, they say  investments all round.

In the past week, we have had figures published that highlight the amount of tax relief (2.1billion) that cash Isa savers enjoyed in the tax year ending April 5, 2024. And we have had some rather questionable analysis from an outfit called Plum, which says the country's 'top' investment Isa holders have built pots worth more than 13 times the size of the largest cash Isas.

In other words, investing is good, saving is bad.

For many up and down the country, cash Isas are the bedrock of their household finances. As Phillippa Cardno, chief executive of Newbury Building Society, told me: 'Many individuals are simply not in a financial position to risk their limited savings in investment Isas.'

Spot on. We should have a choice as to how we use our 20,000 annual Isa allowance  in cash, shares or a mix of the two.

Cash Isa savers must not be discriminated against to feed the already fat profits of the investment industry.

Hands off our cash Isas.
In the ongoing debate about welfare reform, we are overlooking one of the greatest economic and social challenges of our time: the one million young people currently not in education, employment, or training (NEET).

If we are serious about growth, productivity, and national renewal, this is where government action must begin.

This is not a marginal issue. One in seven young people is now NEET, concentrated in the very communities that have been left behind for decades.

The cost to the economy is unsustainablenot just in welfare payments, but in lost productivity, unfulfilled potential, and the long-term damage caused by early unemployment.

If we want to tackle Britains economic challenges, we must start by giving these young people a future.

Shocking statistics: There are one million young people currently not in education, employment, or training

The evidence shows this problem can be solved. In 2016, my family company sponsored one of Britains worst-performing schools in a struggling town.

It had been failing for a decade and was only a third full. We introduced a fusion of academic learning with employability skills, ensuring students were prepared not just for exams but for the world beyond the school gates.

Within three years, the schools intake had tripled. Today, it is oversubscribed, and last year, 98.5 per cent of 16-year-olds and 100 per cent of 18-year-olds secured jobs, apprenticeships, or further education places.

This success can be replicated nationwide. The Centre for Social Justice has modelled how a targeted tax rebate for businesses employing and training young people could halve the number of NEETs.

Their calculations suggest that over a five parliament, this approach could generate a net benefit of up to 23.1billion for the Treasury, with each 1 of tax relief generating 4.76 in economic return.

Around 75 per cent of these savings would come from reduced welfare spending, alongside broader benefits such as higher tax revenues and lower pressure on further education providers.

At a time when every pound of public spending is under scrutiny, this is an economic opportunity the government cannot afford to ignore.

If even a fraction of these young people were given the skills and support they need to enter the workforce, the

impact on national growth would be transformative. Instead of waiting for young people to fall into long-term welfare dependency, we should be equipping them with the skills to succeed from the outset.

The Nieper Employability Benchmarks offer one such model, embedding real-world skills into school curriculums so that young people leave education ready for work.

A government serious about growth should not see youth unemployment as a social burden but as an economic opportunity to be seized.

If we fail, we risk entrenching another generation of wasted potential, economic stagnation, and social decline.

But if we succeedif we give young people the training, confidence, and pathways they needwe can unlock untapped talent, drive economic growth, and ensure the UK remains competitive on the world stage.

This is the real social mission of our time. The only question is whether the government is willing to take it on.

Christopher Nieper OBE is the managing director of the David Nieper family fashion business.
Rachel Reeves is set to announce a spending squeeze of up to 15 billion in an attempt to balance the books  and more tax rises are in the pipeline if the economy continues to flatline, City experts predict.

The Chancellor will say in Wednesday's Spring Statement that the world has changed as her justification for slashing Whitehall budgets and cutting red tape. It is poised to be the biggest assault on public services since the austerity years of George Osborne, one of her predecessors at Number 11.

But tax and spending watchdog the Office for Budfget Responsibility (OBR) is likely to take a cautious view on how much of other savings  such as rolling out artificial intelligence across government departments  will actually be achieved. It delivers its verdict on the public finances the same day.

In another blow for Reeves, the OBR is expected to halve its growth forecast for 2025 to around one per cent. This will pile more pressure on her to raise taxes again later this year to meet her fiscal rules.

These state that day-to-day government spending must be paid for out of taxation, not borrowing. The rules also stipulate debt must fall as a share of national income by the end of this Parliament.

In October the OBR said Reeves would meet her first fiscal rule with a meagre 10 billion of 'headroom' to spare. But that headroom has been wiped out as her 25 billion Budget raid on employers' National Insurance hit business confidence and strangled growth, causing government borrowing costs to soar.

Fickle finger of fate: Rachel Reeves will say that the world has changed as her justification for slashing Whitehall budgets and cutting red tape

The Chancellor has ruled out any major tax rises this week. Therefore, economists say, she will have to find spending cuts of up to 15 billion to rebuild a buffer that is credible to financial markets.

Growth prospects have dimmed since US President Donald Trump threatened to unleash a global trade war by imposing steep tariffs on nations including Canada, Mexico, China and the EU.

Plans to increase defence spending to reduce the UK's reliance on military support from the US will be paid for by cuts to the foreign aid budget.

The Government has also announced 5 billion of savings from benefits payments.

Between 5-10 billion could be found from the budgets of unprotected departments such as the Home Office, courts and prisons, the environment and from local government.

The latter, however, is responsible for social care for the elderly, which is in great demand.

Health reforms  including the recent decision to abolish the NHS England quango  could net another billion, while making more public services digital and reforming the civil service may yield another 3 billion and 2 billion respectively.

However, the OBR is unlikely to include all of these savings in its forecasts, not least because the Government's Spending Review is not due until the summer, said Sanjay Raja, UK economist at Deutsche Bank.

The OBR is therefore likely to pencil in savings of less than 15 billion, he said.

its forecasts for the economys

longer-term growth potential

That would leave Reeves meeting her fiscal rules with around 12 billion in hand  slightly more than before.

The watchdog is unlikely lower its forecasts for the economy's longer-term growth potential.

It has been accused of taking an overly rosy view of productivity as measured by output per hour worked.

If the OBR assumed the past 15 years of sluggish productivity growth continues for another five, then Reeves would be staring into a 45 billion 'fiscal hole', research by Bloomberg Economics found.

Some economists take a somewhat more optimistic view. 'Our hunch is that the OBR will, roughly, stick to its guns on growth potential, at least for the time being,' said economists at investment bank Investec.

'This would limit just how much of a spending squeeze is needed to meet the fiscal rules.

'Overall we judge that Chancellor Reeves will be forced to pare back her Budget spending plans by at least 10 billion, but we doubt that she will have to make as much as 20 billion of savings to meet her rules and to give her a credible amount of headroom.'

Taking an axe to public spending will be politically difficult for the Government.

But Reeves will be most concerned about how the financial markets react to her update.

The Treasury said it did not comment on 'speculation' around OBR forecasts.
Sweetums had always been a steadfast companion, and now, even in death, the beloved chihuahua remains by its owners side  immortalized through the delicate craft of taxidermy.

Sweetums preservation is just one of many heartfelt projects undertaken by Lauren Kane, a master taxidermist known for transforming cherished pets into lasting memorials.

Speaking exclusively to the DailyMail.com, Kane, 35, owner of Precious Taxidermy in Redlands, California, shares some of her most intricate and astonishing creations.

She embraces her reputation as the Grief Fairy, finding fulfillment in offering solace to those mourning the loss of their furry companions.

Kanes journey into taxidermy was shaped by a lifelong fascination with mortality  an interplay of fear and curiosity that took root in childhood. This interest initially led her to work in a funeral home, where she discovered her passion for supporting the bereaved.

However, the structured solemnity of traditional funerary work left her craving a creative outlet  an unexpected realization. Seeking a way to merge her love for animals, art and death care, she found her true calling in taxidermy.

'I take a lot of pride in approaching this work from a non-judgmental place,' Krane said, 'If someone has an idea something that I hadn't even thought of or done before, I want it make happen.'

From crafting necklaces from pet tails, pillows from dog fur, cufflinks from mouse heads, a bikini top made of a cat's pelt, and even a witch's cape and hat for a skeletal cat made of its skin, Krane approaches each project with compassion and creativity.

Sweetums had always been a steadfast companion, and now, even in death, the beloved chihuahua remains by its owners side  immortalized through the delicate craft of taxidermy

Speaking exclusively to the DailyMail.com, Kane, 35, owner of Precious Taxidermy in Redlands, California, shares some of her most intricate and astonishing creations

She challenges the perception of taxidermy as morbid, viewing it instead as a celebration of life.

'If anything, it's really sunny because you're celebrating and preserving the life. people think bones are morbid, but we're all made out of bones, we're all just walking skeletons.'

While many taxidermists shy away from pet commissions due to the razor-thin margin for error and the heightened emotions involved, Kane embraces the challenge.

'I've always been drawn to working with domesticated animals because they are so familiar, because we know them so personally,' Krane said. 'It's not like you're taking a deer who's a stranger and putting him on a wall. I'd much rather preserve my pet Chihuahua's head on the wall that I personally knew, loved and shared a special bond with.'

'It's not a trophy  it's a commemoration.'

However, she acknowledges that the process can be bittersweet.

'[The pet owners] know their loved ones so intimately and deeply that whatever we give them back, as much love and time and care that we pour into it, it's not going to look exactly like and feel exactly like the loved one that they knew in life,' Krane admits.

Some clients are overjoyed, while others find the experience brings back their grief. Some never pick up their pet.

Pictured: A coat preservation pillow

Pictured: A bikini top made from a pet cat's coat

Pictured: A framed coat preservation of a dog

'Some pet owners just don't want to open that door again to their grief, and it's really hard,' she said.

Despite the challenges, Krane finds immense reward in her work.

'It feels really good when families say, 'Wow, he looks just like he did in life, or even better than he did,'' she said. 'It is so rewarding when it goes, right.'

Krane's services range from simple paw print keepsakes to full-body taxidermy, with prices varying depending on the size and complexity of the project.

A full-sized cat in a laying position, for example, starts at around $8,200. She also offers payment plans, recognizing the emotional and financial investment involved.

Her new brick-and-mortar studio in Redlands, California, provides a dedicated space for clients to say goodbye to their pets and pick them up again in their new form.

Krane offers personalized 'reunions,' allowing families to create unique memorials with music, flowers and even toasts. 'We kind of just roll with whatever grief wants in that moment,' she said.

Her clientele is diverse, including commissions from Marilyn Manson to preserve his cat's coat in a heart shape. Danielle Smith-Boldt, a client of Krane's, had her two dogs, Hades and Sweetums, were made into taxidermy.

Pictured: Hades basking in the sun, the same pose Danielle Smith-Boldt requested

Pictures: Hades after being created into taxidermy

Pictured: Sweetums while she was alive

Pictured: Sweetums at her 'reunion' with Smith-Boldt

Her decision, while sparking curiosity and even bewilderment in others, brought her profound peace and a continued sense of connection.

'I was just so connected to him,' Smith-Boldt explained, referring to Hades, her miniature pinscher.

Though she originally wanted to mummify him, that proved to be even more expensive.

'It really is very warming and soothing to me,' Smith-Boldt said of having Hades taxidermied. 'It helped the grieving process for me that he was like at the spa. I would always say he's at the spa, and he's still coming home.'

Hades, her miniature pinscher, was more than just a pet; he was her 'first all me dog,' a constant companion through life's upheavals, including escaping an abusive relationship.

'Hades was very special,' she recalls.

His preserved form, positioned exactly as he slept in a sunlit photo, brings a sense of familiar comfort.

'If you put him in a dog bed or on the couch or on the bed or anything, anybody will say, 'Oh, my God, there's a dog in there,'' she explained. 'And you can't tell that he's not just a dog that's sleeping.'

Pictured: Sweetums posed at her reunion

Pictured: Extra gifts provided by Kane, including a plush of Sweetums

Though encased behind glass to protect him from her cat, Hades' presence remains a source of solace.

'He was my baby, and he still is my baby, and now he's here with me in a special way,' she said.

Sweetums, a rescue chihuahua mix, held a different kind of significance.

'She blew the roof off of what I knew special to be,' Smith-Boldt said. 'She's my familiar. She's in my dreams every single night.'

Seeking a more tactile connection, Smith-Boldt chose a traditional taxidermy method that preserved Sweetums' distinctive wire-haired fur without the need for stuffing.

This allows Smith-Boldt to physically connect with her memory.

'When I'm having a really bad day, I can take her out and I can just pet her,' she shares. 'And just feel her and feel that connection.'

Smith-Boldt expressed immense gratitude for Kane, the taxidermist who brought her vision to life.

Pictured: Smith-Boldt with Hades and Sweetums

Pictured: A taxidermy chihuahua preserved by Kane

Pictured: Mice-head cufflinks bade my Kane

'I couldn't be happier,' she said. 'She's given me such a gift.'

Smith-Boldt's choice has elicited varied reactions.

'Very mixed,' she admits. 'People would just be like, "Oh my God, there's a dog on the shelf. It freaked me out".'

However, she emphasizes that it's a personal decision, not intended to make anyone uncomfortable.

'It's not for everyone, and I understand that,' she says. 'But they're with me, they make me happy, and they're extra special.'

Smith-Boldt's perspective is deeply rooted in her understanding of life's cyclical nature.

'It's life and death, and that it's all a part of the experience,' she said. 'Time is fleeting, and it's just part of nature and it's beauty.'

This philosophy extends to her appreciation of the preserved skulls of her dogs, 'the artistry of nature,' as she refers to them.

Pictured: A tail preservation in the form of a necklace, made by Kane

Pictured: A cat paw preservation by Kane

Pictured: A hybrid of taxidermy and a blanket made from a deceased pet dog

Kane's care extended beyond the taxidermy itself. When Smith-Boldt received Hades' remains at their 'reunion', she found him presented in a bed of flowers, accompanied by thoughtful gifts.

'There were so many extra gifts  a gift bag of sage, for example. I think she even made me an essential oil blend for grieving, along with all these little things meant to help,' she said.

'It's not just, "Here's the thing," but rather, "Here's a collection of thoughtful items I put together just for you".'

Sweetums' 'reunion' was similar, with her body lay on a soft bed of fur under a canopy.

Looking to the future, Smith-Boldt acknowledged that she may preserve aspects of her other pets, but each memorial will be unique.

'I don't want to repeat the same thing for any of the pets,' she says. 'It would always have to be their own special idea.'

She even contemplates preserving her cat Timmy's beautiful tail.

'This morning, I was thinking about how Timmy is this huge, fluffy cat with a gorgeous tail. Well, sorry Timmy, but I might have to keep your tail when you go!' she said, laughing.

'But dont worry, hes only one year old, so we have plenty of time.'
One of Australia's worst sex offenders who tortured young females has made an extraordinary bid to try and have his restrictions behind bars eased.

Serial rapist Graham Loughlan Harrison recently wrote a 237-page affidavit pleading improved entitlements.

In early March, he outlined a summary of his demands in the NSW Supreme Court before Registrar Jennifer Hedge, Radio 2GB reported, including an objection to his prison classification as an 'Extreme High Security' inmate, and a plan to transfer him to Lithgow jail.

A reporter for Ben Fordham's 2GB breakfast program said Harrison's bid via videolink from Goulburn maximum security prison took up a significant amount of court time and the diagnosed sexual deviant came across as 'a clean cut, normal suburban dude'.

Harrison, was 'very smart and knew exactly what he wanted', which included applying to have a current ban on visitors against him lifted.

Now aged in his mid-50s, the serial rapist appeared in good health, and only complaining about 'disability in my hands' and the lack of access in jail to computers to prepare and research his case.

Harrison is currently serving more than 36 years for his sex offences, with an earliest release date of 2040.

His offending history includes kidnapping young women, who he bound, tied and tortured by placing plastic bags over their heads and threatening to mutilate their genitals with a knife.

Sadistic serial rapist Graham Harrison (above)

Harrison has committed numerous offences against women including picking up a 17-year-old hitchhiker known as 'TJK' in northern NSW. He told TJK he would mutilate her so she couldn't have children, threatened to throw her over a cliff, and dug a 1.5m grave in which he said he would bury her

Harrison was convicted of filming himself tying up and raping women while threatening to rape their daughters if they didn't comply.

He once told a victim, 'you have no idea what I'd do to have sex with little girls, that's my thing' and is known to try and manipulate female prison staff to get his way.

Psychiatrists have described him as having 'recurrent and increasingly elaborate' plans for the 'sadistic capture, control and infliction of pain and humiliation on females'.

He is resisting a proposed transfer from Goulburn to Lithgow, and told the court on that although the NSW Commissioner for Corrective Services wanted to move him there was a 'temporary stay holding off on that change which I'm grateful for'.

Over the years, Harrison has been released from jail only to reoffend.

In 1988, aged 19, Harrison was handed his first sentence  18 months' probation  for false pretences and stealing.

In 1991, he picked up two girls who were hitchhiking on the Pacific Highway near Coolangatta and drove them to a secluded track at Wooyung, a beach town near Byron Bay in northern NSW.

There he put string around one girl's throat. He asked the other girl if she would like to hurt the first, who escaped after stabbing him with a pen knife.

While on a supervision order, Harrison raped two women, used an eight-year-old girl to produce child pornography and kept a large collection of shocking videos and images

His next offence involved Harrison picking up a 17-year-old hitchhiker known as 'TJK' in northern NSW.

He told TJK he would mutilate her so she couldn't have children, threatened to throw her over a cliff, and dug a 1.5m grave in which he said he would bury her.

He repeatedly made her perform sex acts as he ran a knife blade along her neck and scalp, cutting off strands of hair.

Harrison was previously sentenced to 16 years' prison and released in December 2007 on an extended supervision order (ESO) for up to five years and ordered to wear a GPS tracking device.

But under supervision, he raped two women, used an eight-year-old girl to produce child pornography and kept a large collection of shocking videos and images.

He also illegally ran the Paradise Thai Massage brothel at Drummoyne in inner-west Sydney while wearing a satellite tracking anklet.

In prison files, Harrison was said to continue offendering because of his 'arousal to pain, suffering, humiliation, capture, asphyxia and control'.

In 2020, from inside his Goulburn jail cell, Harrison operated an online friendship page.

Harrison has even run a friendship page from behind bars, and offered bespoke greeting cards for women and babies

The page, which suggested interested 'new friends' contact him but did not mention his criminal history, featured his prison drawings for sale as 'bespoke greeting cards for birthdays, Mothers and Fathers days, baby births and other special occasions'.

Signed off with 'TTFN (ta ta for now) Graham', Harrison included a biography that mentioned his two sons and said: 'not being there for (the younger one) (and to help mum) kills me, and I try to do all I can whenever I can.'
Ben Gerrard had just sat down for Sunday lunch when he got a text from his friend Kurt that began to unravel a bizarre small-town crime spree.

'My pride flag got stolen last night, did yours?'

Gerrard was out of town, so he checked his doorbell camera to see if the LGBTQ flag was still flying from the porch of his house in Chestertown, Maryland.

His was gone too. Mystified, he wound his Ring doorbell footage back until 12.41am and caught the heist in action.

The footage showed two teenagers run up the steps, unhook the flag, and sprint back to a waiting pickup truck, laughing and hollering as they fled.

Kurt's neighbor caught the flag bandits in action and described the same scene - drunk teens noisily rolling up in a truck, grabbing the flag, and screeching off into the night.

The teens were 'quite loud and disturbing' and they heard the sounds of 'crunching' and 'things being thrown', according to police reports.

The witness even 'heard the suspects egging each other on throughout the incident'.

Aerial view of Chester River with bridge to historic Chestertown, East Shore, Maryland

Ben Gerrard's pride flag flying on his porch in Chestertown, Maryland, before it was stolen

Before long, Gerrard and Kurt discovered they were far from the only victims in the tiny town of just 5,500 on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Nine residents, including the local Episcopal church, reported their flags and other rainbow items stolen, and some had their yards vandalized.

Police didn't take long to track the thieves down - they had security footage, the witness' descriptions, and a ping from a license plate reader.

But when they identified them, the case took another unexpected turn. The seven offenders were teens from Amish villages 150 miles away in Pennsylvania.

Much of the religious sect communities don't let members use any modern technology, let alone ride around on pickup trucks while drunk.

An exception is during the adolescent rite of passage called rumspringa, when some rebellious Amish youth leave their villages to experience to outside world.

Though almost 90 percent choose to return and commit themselves to the Amish way of life, many will enjoy a riotous time breaking the rules before they do.

But terrorizing a town in another state, raiding homes for rainbow flags, and burning them in a bonfire was too far even by rumspringa standards.

Mahlon Luke Fisher, 20, of Newburg, Jason Duane Smucker, 19, from Lykens, and John Caleb Stoltzfus, 18, of Gratz, were charged along with four minors aged 16 to 17.

Chestertown Police didn't hold back, and decided to throw the book at them - charging the whole group with hate crimes on July 15 last year.

In all there were 40 charges for each of the adults, also including theft, malicious destruction of property, contributing to the condition of a child, burglary, and fourth-degree theft.

'Guys are going to be guys,' one of them told police with a shrug, explaining they 'did not stand for what the flags meant'.

'Boys will be boys,' another of the juvenile suspects agreed.

Gerrard's door camera footage showed two teenagers run up the steps, unhook the flag, and sprint back to a waiting pickup truck, laughing and hollering as they fled

Gerrard, a social worker with a Mississippi drawl who has been with his husband for almost 31 years, thought he was safe in his charming wooden home steps from the Chester River

Chestertown isn't the kind of place you expect your home to be raided, much less in a coordinated strike over several hours late at night.

So few crimes are committed, mostly driving offences, that they can be jotted down in a column of the local newspapers.

Founded in 1700 and once a thriving shipping hub second only to Annapolis, it's now a sleepy settlement where many families pass down their homes through generations and mistrust outsiders.

The downtown area is an oddity for rural America. It's not uncommon to see rainbow flags flying from its 19th Century homes and businesses during pride month each June, as they were that night on June 16 last year.

So too were Kamala Harris lawn signs during the election campaign, in contrast to the town's outskirts and surrounding area that are deeply conservative.

Kent County, of which Chestertown is the capital, voted only 50 percent to 47 percent in favor of Donald Trump.

But it favored Republicans in the House and Senate by comfortable margins, and overwhelmingly backed conservatives in the 2022 state elections.

Chestertown isn't the kind of place you expect your home to be raided, much less in a coordinated strike over several hours late at night

Founded in 1700 and once a thriving shipping hub second only to Annapolis, it's now a sleepy settlement where families pass down their homes through generations and mistrust outsiders

Gerrard, a social worker with a Mississippi drawl who has been with his husband for almost 31 years, thought he was safe in his charming wooden home steps from the Chester River. That being shattered still stings.

'Probably the most disturbing part of it for me was when they took the flag, you heard them laughing as they ran back to their truck,' he told DailyMail.com.

'That was kind of a extra blow in a way, it's like, look at these boys they're and they're laughing at what they did.'

With the Amish boys charged, the town had to figure out what to do with them.

Fining them was pointless, as they had little or no money and didn't need it while living in their closed communities, but a slap on the wrist wouldn't be enough.

The nine victims got together to discuss what outcome they wanted to advocate for with the court, and prepare impact statements.

They included both gay men and women, straight couples showing their support for the local LGBTQ community, and leaders of the vandalized church.

Reverend Claire Nevin-Field, rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, which puts up a rainbow flag and banner every June, was one of the key voices in the group.

'I can keep ordering banners and flags as quickly as they are taken down,' she declared after erecting a new set just hours after the thefts.

Emmanuel Episcopal Church put up this pride flag along with banners before they were stolen

For months they discussed how far to go. Some were angry and wanted to throw the book at the boys, while others refused to wreck their young lives.

'The judge and state prosecutor were like, well, we can throw them in jail,' Gerrard recalled.

'But we didn't really wanna ruin the boys, we just wanted them to learn a lesson... it's not like they killed anybody.

'Throwing them in jail for a week, they're not gonna learn anything from that.'

Eventually, they came to a resolution - make the punishment fit the crime by having the Amish boys give back to the community they wronged.

The three adults fronted the Kent County Circuit Court on January 22 to learn their fate.

'I was shocked at how young they were, it really almost brought tears to my eyes when they walked into the courtroom and we were sitting on the benches,' Gerrard said.

'I was like, these are just boys.'

State's Attorney Bryan DiGregory told the court he was issuing a stet notice on the case, which indefinitely postpones a prosecution if the defendant abides by a set of conditions.

Fisher, Smucker, and Stoltzfus were required to complete 80 hours of community at a center that assists the LGBTQ+ community, near their homes in Pennsylvania.

The juveniles must do 30 hours of the same community service. None of the teens face conviction if they fulfil the conditions, and can apply for expungement.

A church employee erects a new set just hours after the thefts

After the verdict was handed down, the boys and two of their fathers met with several of the victims in a back room of the courthouse to apologize.

'It was uncomfortable because we were across the table from these boys and they had just been sentenced,' Gerrard recalled.

The teens, still wearing modern clothes, stayed mostly silent while their fathers in traditional, plain Amish outfits, begged for forgiveness.

'They were very apologetic for their behavior of their sons,' Gerrard said.

'They said, "We're not a community that does this", and they talked about the shame that the boys had brought on the Amish community.'

Having left their villages at 4am to face judgement, the unruly rumspringa teens returned home - on a much tighter leash.

Thomas Maronick, whose firm represented the Amish teens, said the punishment was a good resolution that allowed them to avoid convictions.

'These kids were just youngsters who made some bad decisions. They were just pranks, but they were hurtful to others,' he said.

'This was a tremendous learning experience for them, they're gonna be much better people from it, and I'm happy with the result that will let them have clean records.

'Bryan DiGregory worked very hard with victims to come up with this... It's a situation where you had a number of victims and they had different opinions.'

Maronick said some of the teens traveled to South Carolina last year to help rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Helene.

'It's just it's incredible to see that that level of support of people who are really in need and let's just say what happened was out of character,' he said.
EXCLUSIVE

The founder of a charity set up to help victims of domestic violence is a convicted and self-confessed fraudster who just three years ago was sentenced to home detention.

Mother-of-three Mel Kane, who runs Single Steps Tasmania, is facing mounting allegations over the way she operates the charity and has recently shut down its Facebook page.

The 42-year-old has previously been praised by state politicians, named as a finalist in the Tasmanian Volunteering Awards and feted by her hometown media.

Kane does not appear to have publicly disclosed her fraud conviction and questions have been raised about how she distributes money and goods donated to Single Steps.

Social media users have accused the mother-of-three of advertising goods given to her charity for sale on sites including Facebook Marketplace.

In one Marketplace post, Kane offered a high chair for $20, prompting the donor to reply: 'You got this off me for free, now you're trying to sell it for $20. Lol ok then.'

Daily Mail Australia can now reveal Kane pleaded guilty on May 18, 2022 at Hobart Magistrates Court to obtaining financial advantage from the Commonwealth.

The offence was committed in Fremantle in Western Australia, between March 2016 and November 2018, when she defrauded Centrelink of $46,122.

Mel Kane, the founder of a charity set up to help victims of domestic violence, is a convicted and self-confessed fraudster who three years ago was sentenced to home detention

Kane pleaded guilty in May, 2022 to obtaining financial advantage from the Commonwealth while she was living in Western Australia. She was convicted under the name Melissa Maree Banks

She had originally been accused of ripping off taxpayers of more than $100,000.

Kane was convicted under the name Melissa Maree Banks and sentenced to home detention for nine months, as well as being ordered to repay $38,871.26 to the Commonwealth.

She subsequently sought to have the home detention order cancelled but that application was rejected by a Hobart magistrate on January 18, 2023.

Several sources have told Daily Mail Australia that Kane was seen at her sister's wedding in November 2022 wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet.

The same sources said Kane had claimed police asked her to wear the device so they could track her whereabouts for her own safety due to some unspecified threat from a domestic violence offender.

Kane launched Single Steps in January 2022 with the stated mission of helping Tasmanians leave abusive relationships.

In one early media interview, the former shoe shop manager and sometime wedding photographer said she wanted to be 'the first point of call' for those experiencing domestic violence.

'People hear domestic violence and automatically think it's physical and only happens within a relationship,' she told The Mercury newspaper.

Mel Kane, who runs Single Steps Tasmania , is facing mounting allegations about how she operates the charity and has recently shut down its Facebook page. She is pictured with her DJ partner Marty Martin, who is not accused of any wrongdoing

'Emotional, mental and financial abuse are just as common and abusers are not just partners - they're parents, and employers.'

Kane said she had 'an amazing committee', including a nurse who could provide immediate medical assistance and two qualified counsellors.

Single Steps was registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) on August 17, 2023 with deductible gift recipient status.

It is exempt from paying income or fringe benefits tax and has GST concessions.

ACNC records show Single Steps Tasmania has not been required to lodge a financial report because of the charity's small size and had not provided an annual information statement until this week.

Kane finally lodged her information statement for 2024 on Tuesday as online sleuths began raising concerns about the charity and circulating Single Steps bank statements.

Those banking records, which purport to show deposits and withdrawals totalling thousands of dollars from a Single Steps account, have been provided to police.

A spokeswoman for Tasmania Police said the agency did not comment on whether someone was the subject of an investigation for legal and operational reasons.

In one Marketplace post, Kane offered a high chair for $20. That post received this response: 'You got this off me for free now your trying to sell it for $20. Lol ok then'

Kane's ACNC statement for Single Steps in 2024 recorded total revenue of $10,471 - all from donations and bequests - with $19,561 in expenses, for a deficit of $9,090.

Expenses were made up of $18,783 in grants and donations, as well as $778 in employee payments.

Some of Kane's accusers say they have spotted goods they donated to her charity listed for sale on Facebook pages in her name or that of Single Steps.

One Facebook post by Single Steps Tasmania offered a cabin bed for $150 and received the reply: 'I donated this.'

Kane responded to that claim with a request the apparent donor contact her rather than 'downgrading the page to everyone else'.

'We absolutely appreciate your donation but not everything works out the way it's intended to in these situations and we would rather turn donations into things like grocery vouchers than have them sitting around not being used,' she wrote.

'If you donate items to anywhere like charity shops, it will usually get sold to put back to good use and sometimes that's what we need to do also.

'Not everything is perfect but we're doing the best we can to help people with the funds we have or can acquire.'

Several sources told Daily Mail Australia that Kane attending her sister's wedding in November 2022 wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet. Her dress covers the device in this picture

Kane also advertised a bottle of Ariana Grande perfume for $20 on the Brighton Community Garage Sale page.

'Paid $59.95 but not really my kind of scent,' she wrote.

'Barely any has been used so almost a full bottle. Pick up Chigwell.'

That post drew this response: 'This was a perfume that my great aunt had donated to Single Steps. This and a bulk lot of women's hygiene products.

'I can't believe this lady is selling an item that was donated this makes me so furious.'

Other social media users who had given money or goods to Single Steps were quick to express their alarm.

'I gave this organisation a sizeable donation and hoping it went towards what it was supposed to go towards!!!' one wrote.

But some Tasmanians defended Kane and Single Steps, saying the charity was doing good work.

'I know of 2 families this organisation has helped in the north of Tasmania albeit with help of a few others,' one said.

Kane advertised a bottle of Ariana Grande perfume on the Brighton Community Garage Sale page. A user responded: 'This was a perfume that my great aunt had donated to Single Steps'

Daily Mail Australia has obtained correspondence between Kane and a woman who won a $250 handbag through Single Steps but did not receive the prize.

Two years later, Kane contacted the woman who had donated the handbag, stating the winner's belongings, including the bag, had been destroyed by her ex-partner.

Kane said the winner had 'loved' the prize and asked the donor if she had any similar handbags because 'I'm thinking of getting her another set to cheer her up'.

'Finally got the nerve to leave him after 4 kids and 16 years of abuse,' Kane said of the prize winner.

'So he did the typical narcissistic abuser thing and destroyed everything of hers that he could get his hands on. Piece of s***.'

The original donor offered to give the supposedly recent domestic violence victim another bag in person but Kane resisted that option.

'I'm not sure she would be up for that yet lovely,' she wrote. 'She's currently in emergency accommodation and her mental health is struggling.'

The donor then got in touch with the bag winner who said she had not lost the item due to domestic violence and was not living in emergency accommodation.

In May 2022, Kane was announced as a finalist in the community care and health volunteer category of the 2022 Tasmanian Volunteering Awards

Kane claimed she had been confused and mixed-up the prize winner with another woman.

In recent days, Kane has responded to some of the social media accusations in a text message to an acquaintance.

'I've seen a lawyer today and they recommended I don't do or say anything on social media yet so I've just sat back and kept my mouth shut,' she wrote.

'And on the other side of it, I've got some health issues at the moment that I'm trying to deal with too.

'And I honestly don't have the energy for this I'm exhausted by life. I'm done and want out. '

In May 2022, Kane was announced as a finalist in the community care and health volunteer category of the 2022 Tasmanian Volunteering Awards.

'Melissa is a single mother of three children and is passionate about helping others,' her nomination stated.

'She has made it her life mission to give domestic abuse survivors the support which she couldn't access during her own abusive experiences.'

Tasmanian Labor MPs Ella Haddad (left) and Michelle O'Byrne (right) met Mel Kane (centre) at Parliament House in Hobart in September 2023

In June 2023, Kane estimated in another interview with The Mercury that Single Steps had supported 200 women in the previous year.

'It started out as online support, giving direction on what organisations can give them, we've got a few counsellors on the committee so they can give them short term advice and a lawyer,' Kane said.

'It's grown, we help source furniture, food, clothing, there's not really a limit on who we help.'

At the time, Kane said donations to Single Steps had slowed due to the cost of living crisis and 'we're having to say no more often' to those seeking help.

Tasmanian Labor MPs Ella Haddad and Michelle O'Byrne met Kane at Parliament House in Hobart in September 2023.

'We talked about the gaps in the system when it comes to family violence and the amazing work Single Steps do supporting people leaving relationships,' Ms Haddad posted on Facebook, above a picture of Kane with the two MPs.

'Have a look at their page, they rely entirely on donations, if you can help it would be very appreciated.'

Daily Mail Australia repeatedly attempted to contact Kane and sent her a long list of questions on Tuesday. A lawyer replied on her behalf on Friday night.

'She categorically denies any wrongdoing in relation to Single Steps Tasmania,' the lawyer said.
China has long revered its sacred mountains, with thousands visiting them every year to pay their respects to monuments to Taoism, Buddhism and folk religion.

But beneath the feet of these pilgrims, in the mountains' dense granite crusts, is said to lie a 3,100-mile network of tunnels that houses an existential threat to the nation's enemies.

The winding network of tunnels is believed to be home to the Chinese army's secretive strategic missile unit, the group in charge of maintaining and, if necessary, launching, Xi Jinping's intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

These chosen few are in charge of some of the longest-range deadly weapons ever created by mankind - China's Dongfeng missiles.

The most cutting edge ICBM, the Dongfeng-41, is believed to have a maximum range of 9,000 miles - far surpassing the Americans' Minuteman III, which has a range of 8,700 miles.

Many of the Dongfeng missiles are hidden at least 330ft below China's mountains and make up the country's 'underground Great Wall', described by Beijing propagandists as its 'last trump card.'

Because of the deep strategic location of the tunnels underneath the mountains, dubbed 'Dragon Palaces', China has the ability to launch retaliatory attacks within 10 minutes of being hit.

In rare footage released by Chinese media, troops can be seen marching in perfect unison alongside powerful weapons, while teams of hard-hat clad workers are seen slowly excavating vast tunnels.

Footage aired by Chinese state media appears to show powerful weapons in underground bases

Chinese troops are seen marching alongside what appears to be long-range weapons

In rare footage released by Chinese media, scores of hard hat-clad men can be seen walking through the deep caverns underneath the mountains in perfect unison as they slowly excavate tunnels

Current estimates suggest China has just 500 missiles, though the secretive nation refuses to officially disclose the number of nuclear weapons it controls

One banner on the construction project highlights the purpose of the tunnels, reading: 'Strive to build a position capable of fighting and winning battles.'

Little is known about these so-called Dragon Palaces, due to the jealously secretive policy of the Chinese state.

But Qian Qihu, a Chinese academic whose work reportedly guaranteed the safety of the country's strategic weapons, launch and storage facilities as well as commanders' safety, told the Global Times in 2019 that the 'Underground Steel Great Wall,' was the 'country's last national defense line'.

The enormity of the tunnels was a strategic decision on the part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to Chinese media. Many of the passageways are reported to be fake, leading nowhere, and house fake ICBMs to confuse potential invaders who manage to penetrate the fortified mountains.

This could potentially give Beijing's army the chance to move their real weapons to safer locations within the tunnels that may have been penetrated by bunker-busting bombs.

Footage shared by Chinese media shows scores of missiles being driven through the tunnels as armed military men watch over their route.

Current estimates suggest China has just 500 missiles, though the secretive nation refuses to officially disclose the number of nuclear weapons it controls, as it considers this information a state secret.

China has heavily invested in its warhead modernisation programme, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, by increasing both the range of useable weapons and their numbers.

According to a 2023 Pentagon report to Congress, this arsenal will increase to 1,000 by 2030, many of which will probably be 'deployed at higher readiness levels' and most 'fielded on systems capable of ranging the [continental United States]'.

Pictures from Chinese state media appear to show workers constructing a tunnel

The enormity of the tunnels was a strategic decision on the part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to Chinese media

One banner on the construction project highlights the purpose of the tunnels, reading: 'Strive to build a position capable of fighting and winning battles'

The soldiers in charge of maintaining and launching these missiles are regularly drilled on what to do in the event of an ICBM launch, living stark and barren lives in which they are constantly told when they can sleep, eat and exercise.

Yue Lie, a military instructor at the base, told local media: 'You can only go to bed when ordered to, and you need to wake up when ordered. Your schedule is set in accordance with training needs and combat requirements.'

Rushing through the white-painted tunnels of the ICBM base in perfect unison, countless soldiers in a variety of uniforms, including what appears to be radiation protection suits, can be seen sprinting to their stations in preparation for a potential launch.

The soldiers live in the complex day and night. They were seen exercising in a single line down a narrow corridor, stretching, completing press-ups and crawling backwards on all fours to ensure their physical fitness.

Li Junfeng, the deputy chief of staff of one brigade at the nuclear base, said the troops are made to resist fatigue, low oxygen levels, and hunger.

'When troops face a continuous, high-intensity battle, we will face a problem from long-term confined survival and food shortage.'

The corridors also act as bedrooms for the countless soldiers who work there, with foldable bunk-beds lining each hallway.

On top of this, Chinese soldiers eat their daily meals in these hallways, consuming pre-packaged meals while sitting in two rows on tiny seats.

China has heavily invested in its warhead modernisation programme, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Within seconds, an entire platoon was seen abandoning their food and sprinting down the hallway to their battle stations

Many of the passageways are fake, leading nowhere, and house fake ICBMs to confuse potential invaders who manage to penetrate the fortified mountains

China has built the massive set of complexes underneath its mountains

In footage shared with Chinese media, the drill alert sounded in the middle of the soldiers' dinner time.

Within seconds, an entire platoon was seen abandoning their food and sprinting down the hallway to their battle stations.

Li Min, the commander of one brigade, told local media: 'Through this training, we can ensure we are always in a battle-ready position, day and night, ensuring that the troops can fight at any time to effectively destroy targets.'

China's military capabilities are rapidly growing.

Earlier this week, a top American space official revealed the nation has been rehearsing 'dogfighting in space' with satellites.

China previously released rare footage of its nuclear-capable, hypersonic missile DF-26 being launched during a military exercise

Vice Chief of Space Operations at the US Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein said during the annual McAleese defence programmes conference that the service is 'starting to see our near-peers focusing on practicing dogfighting in space with satellite-on-satellite' operations.

'With our commercial assets, we have observed five different objects in space maneuvering in and out and around each other in synchrony and in control', he said.

'That's what we call dogfighting in space. They are practicing tactics, techniques, and procedures to do on-orbit space operations from one satellite to another,' he added.

Shortly after this speech, the Space Force said the general was referring to the observation of five Chinese satellites in low Earth orbit in 2024.

While dogfighting normally refers to combat between two or more fighter planes, major nations like the US and China are already starting to figure out what warfare might look like in space.

Soldiers are forced to sleep in the corridors of the complex

They are also made to exercise regularly in the hallways

Chinese President Xi Jinping adjusts his jacket as he listens at the opening session of the National People's Congress, or NPC, at the Great Hall of the People on March 5, 2025 in Beijing

Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army march during a parade to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, at Tiananmen Square on October 1, 2019 in Beijing

Guetlein said that on top of China's training, the US faced additional threats to its space security in the form of rapidly evolving technology.

He pointed to 'nesting doll' satellites, which can separate into two individual units, satellites that have the ability to 'shadow' American spacecraft and satellites that have grappling arms that can be used nefariously.

'Unfortunately, our current adversaries are willing to go against international norms of behavior, go against that gentleman's agreement, and they're willing to do it in very unsafe and unprofessional manners,' Guetlein said.

He added that the capability gap between the US and its competitors has also 'significantly narrowed.'

Earlier this month, sabre-rattling China announced it was set to boost its defence spending by 7.2% after threatening America with 'any war' amid a furious row over Donald Trump's planned tariffs.

The communist state announced the huge military spending boost as global tensions soared with Beijing and Washington both declaring themselves ready for conflict.

China's foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said: 'Exerting extreme pressure on China is the wrong target and the wrong calculation  If the US has other intentions and insists on a tariff war, trade war or any other war, China will fight to the end.

'We advise the US to put away its bullying face and return to the right track of dialogue and cooperation as soon as possible.'

Drills can happen at any moment, forcing all soldiers to drop what they are doing to rehearse a launch

China's military shows off their latest missiles during the National Day in Beijing

This handout photograph on September 26, 2024, shows the Chinese People's Liberation Army Rocket Force launching an intercontinental ballistic missile carrying a dummy warhead into the Pacific Ocean, at an undisclosed location

The Chinese embassy in the US added: 'If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we're ready to fight till the end.'

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said in response that the US is 'prepared' to go to war with China, telling Fox: 'Those who long for peace must prepare for war. that's why we're rebuilding our military.

'If we want to deter war with the Chinese or others, we have to be strong, and that president understands peace comes through strength,' Hegseth added.

The question of who would win in an all-out war, however, remains unanswered.
Advertisement

As the star of the Netflix's new hit drama Adolescence, Stephen Graham has had a spotlight shone on seemingly every part of his life since the four-part series blew up  including his battle with dyslexia and the racist abuse he suffered as a child because of his mixed race heritage.

Yet there's one aspect that has gone under the radar... his height.

Serial Bafta nominee Graham, who stands at 5ft 6in, according to indsutry sources, broke into the film industry in 2000, playing Tommy in Guy Ritchies Snatch.

Six years later he had another breakout rule as racist skinhead Combo in This is England.

Since then, Liverpudlian Graham has gone on to rub shoulders with A-listers such as Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in The Irishman, as well as Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders.

Although his shorter stature has never held him back, social media users have made quips about his height.

Your browser does not support iframes.

One said: 'British actors in Hollywood are lucky Stephen Graham isn't 6 inches taller to be a traditional leading man. Best actor in the country by a mile.'

Another joked: 'It's mental that Stephen Graham is so good at acting to the point where I can actually take a 5ft man seriously.'

Adolescence, written by Graham and Jack Thorne, was only released on Netflix last week, but has already made waves and earned huge praise for its storyline and videography.

Stephen takes on the role of Eddie Miller, the dad of a young boy called Jamie (Owen Cooper), who is suspected of stabbing one of his classmates Katie (Emilia Holliday).

As MailOnline's visualisation reveals, Graham is the same height as Hollywood icons Margot Robbie and Jack Black.

The graphic, which you can scroll through, charts the height of every famous figure you could ever think of, dead or alive, all the way from 3ft 6in Harry Potter actor Warwick Davis to 7ft 4in Andre the Giant.

It comes after Gary Barlow's son Daniel last year set the internet ablaze with his 'giant' stature.

The 24-year-old went unexpectedly viral after social media users seized on a sweet family photo of him towering over his 5ft 7in Take That star father.

Gary, 53, barely reached his son's shoulder in the wholesome snap, originally posted to mark Father's Day in June 2023.

Memes flooded the internet with jokes about Daniel's frame, comparing the picture to a scene in the Christmas movie Elf, where human-sized Buddy struggles to fit in at the North Pole because everything is too tiny for him.

Another captioned 'Gary Barlow's son looking at all these memes about him on Twitter' above a picture of a tiny model of a phone. It was held in a hand which looks huge in comparison.
For more than six long decades the questions have been the same.

Was President John F. Kennedy murdered by the mob or by the FBI, the CIA and anti-Communist Cuban exiles, perhaps in league with right-wing paramilitaries?

All these groups and more besides have been blamed over time for helping commit, or at least allow, one of the most consequential murders in American history.

It is all the more frustrating, then, that the 80,000 'new' Kennedy papers released by the National Archives have done so little to untangle the rat's nest of claim, counterclaim and cover-up that still obscures the truth.

Yet it's worth remembering that many of the key answers stare us in the face, as I explain in my new book, Borgata: Clash of Titans: A history of the American mafia.

A little-known man named David William Ferrie not only pulls the threads of this complex plot to kill Kennedy together but was, I believe, the mastermind who conceived and sprang the deadly trap at Dealey Plaza, Dallas, on November 22, 1963.

A predatory oddball with a taste for underage boys, Ferrie combined the volcanic rage and bizarre appearance of a true Bond villain.

Instantly recognizable  and completely hairless thanks to alopecia  Ferrie wore a distinctive home-made, red mohair wig which he stuck to his scalp with glue. It looked like a stray cat's bed.

Was John F Kennedy murdered by the mob or by the FBI, the CIA and anti-Communist Cuban exiles, perhaps in league with right-wing paramilitaries? (JFK, his wife Jackie, Texas Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie smile at the crowds in Dallas on November 22, 1963.)

David William Ferrie (pictured) not only pulls the threads of this complex plot to kill Kennedy together but was, I believe, the mastermind who conceived and sprang the deadly trap at Dealey Plaza, Dallas, on November 22, 1963.

The 80,000 'new' Kennedy papers released by the National Archives have done so little to untangle the rat's nest of claim, counterclaim and cover-up that obscures the truth. (Pictured: JFK and Jackie greeting crowds at Love Field airport on the day of his assassination).

A pair of beady eyes peered out from behind false eyelashes while, above, he sported thick and uneven 'eyebrows' daubed in greasepaint.

Almost nothing about Ferrie could be described as normal. As a young man, he tried to become a Catholic priest but was thrown out of the seminary for 'erratic personal behavior'.

Besides philosophy and religion, he studied Latin and Greek and developed interests in psychology, medicine, chemistry, hypnosis and the occult.

At one point, Ferrie ran a cancer research program in his small, book-filled apartment in New Orleans, where hundreds of mice scurried round in cages.

A woman who worked with Ferrie said that tumors had been implanted in the rodents and that the CIA had shown interest in the results.

In 1951, Ferrie became a pilot for the now defunct Eastern Air Lines, eventually flying covert missions delivering weapons to Cuba for the CIA, which was fighting (and failing) to prevent Fidel Castro seizing power.

Later, in the run up to the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961  a doomed attempt to overthrow the communists  Ferrie flew CIA-backed bombing raids over Cuba.

With extensive experience of firearms, Ferrie helped set up a military training camp outside New Orleans for Cuban exiles who referred to him as the 'master of intrigue'.

But after President Kennedy withdrew his support for the operation  and abandoned the CIA-backed Cuban Brigade on the beaches  Ferrie felt personally betrayed.

According to the FBI, Ferrie began stating openly that Kennedy 'ought to be shot'.

In 1961, Eastern Airlines decided to fire Ferrie after he was arrested for having sex with minors. A legal bid to fight the sacking failed, yet the case opened new doors for Ferrie, including one which took him straight to the Mafia.

His attorney, G Wray Gill, was so impressed with the investigative skills Ferrie demonstrated during the case that he hired the disgraced pilot to work in his office.

Once there, Ferrie was assigned to help with Gill's most prominent client, the New Orleans Mafia don, Carlos Marcello.

Marcello was another man who loathed Jack Kennedy and his younger brother Bobby, who was then Attorney General.

Like other mob chiefs, the enraged Marcello was desperate to stop Bobby's unprecedented war on organized crime - and was on record as saying the president must die.

Marcello had sworn to 'cut the head off the dog to stop the tail from wagging'. Which is to say he would kill Jack Kennedy to silence the troublesome Attorney General.

Bobby was going after Marcello personally, in fact, and had instigated a Federal fraud case against him  the case that Ferrie was now helping to defend.

Indeed, the Kennedy brothers had no shortage of enemies, including influential people within the FBI.

Bobby despised the cross-dressing Bureau director, J Edgar Hoover, for example, and wanted him sacked. It hardly helped that Hoover persisted in the ludicrous claim that Marcello, one of the most dangerous hoods in the US, was no more than a simple tomato salesman.

Ferrie had FBI connections, too. When he was not working with G Wray Gill, he was hanging around the office of man called Guy Banister who had spent 20 years as a special agent for the Bureau.

Banister belonged to the Right-wing militia group, the Minutemen and was a firm believer in the domino theory positing that, if one Latin American country became Communist, the rest would soon follow.

Banister founded a private detective agency near the New Orleans waterfront where, among other things, he ran background checks on Cubans who wished to join a band of CIA-backed anti-Castro militants.

Another figure often seen with Ferrie inside Banister's office was Lee Harvey Oswald, the only man ever to be arrested for the Kennedy shooting - before he was himself gunned down on live TV by nightclub owner and Mafia thug Jack Ruby.

Oswald and Ferrie had first met several years earlier in 1954 when 15-year-old Oswald joined the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol. One of the captains and pilots at the time was Ferrie and they were photographed together.

While we know little about their relationship at the time, it is a fact that the middle-aged Ferrie was a sexual predator, psychologically aware and skilled at hypnosis while Oswald had an erratic, fatherless and apparently vulnerable background.

The Kennedy brothers had no shortage of enemies, including influential people within the FBI. (Pictured: John F. Kennedy with brothers Robert and Edward).

Carlos Marcello (pictured) was another man who loathed Jack Kennedy and his younger brother Bobby, who was then Attorney General.

Lee Harvey Oswald (pictured in his mugshot) and Ferrie had first met several years earlier in 1954 when 15-year-old Oswald joined the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol.

Ferrie appears to have been close to Jack Ruby, also. Patrons, strippers and employees of Ruby's Carousel Club in New Orleans later said that Oswald and Ferrie had frequented the Carousel in the weeks before the Kennedy assassination.

Ferrie, then, had the motive, the know-how and the connections for killing Kennedy. His movements around that time, too, were highly suspicious.

Ferrie had regular meetings with Louisiana don Marcello in the summer and fall of 1963, for example.

Marcello has long been described as a key mafia influence in Kennedy's assassination, along with Florida don Santo Trafficante and Chicago boss Sam Giancana.

In September 1963, two months before the killing, Ferrie's meetings with Marcello became more frequent.

On November 5, it was confirmed that the president's visit to Dallas would take place on November 22. The motorcade would wind its way through Dealey Plaza, passing beneath the Texas School Book Depository building where Oswald, after a brief job-hunting expedition, began working on November 16.

Given Marcello's anaconda-like grip on the state of Texas, including its police and politicians, he must have been thrilled when he heard that Kennedy  the man he wanted dead  was traveling to his patch.

The weekend of November 9 and 10 found Ferrie shacked up with Marcello at the gangster's swampy Churchill Farms estate in Louisiana.

They were back there again for the whole of the following weekend, too, on November 16 and 17.

It's true that Ferrie was part of Marcello's legal team defending the federal fraud charges. But did they also discuss the horror scheduled to unfold at Dealey Plaza on Friday November 22?

If Ferrie's movements in the weeks leading up to the shooting seemed unusual, his reaction in the aftermath was quite extraordinary.

Ferrie seemed concerned, in fact, not by the murder of the 35th president but by the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald and promptly flew into a panic.

While we know little about their relationship at the time, it is a fact that the middle-aged Ferrie (pictured) was a sexual predator, psychologically aware and skilled at hypnosis while Oswald had an erratic, fatherless and apparently vulnerable background.

This might be an understandable reaction if, as I believe, the original plan had been to silence Oswald  the only gunman ever identified and an obvious patsy  by killing him straight after the assassination.

Yet Oswald  a member of Ferrie's inner circle  had now been picked up in a movie theatre. He was very much alive and apparently minded to talk.

Given time, the authorities could easily have traced a line from Oswald back to Marcello via Ferrie himself - who had just spent two weekends with him in a row.

At about 9pm, Ferrie and two companions piled into a 1961 blue Comet station wagon and drove 350 miles non-stop from New Orleans to Houston through a thunderstorm, pulling into the Alamotel's parking lot at approximately 4am on Saturday morning. The Alamotel was owned by Carlos Marcello.

Later that Saturday, according to an FBI report, Ferrie made a collect call to Marcello at the Town and Country Motel in New Orleans.

Ferrie then traveled to a skating rink in Houston where he used the public telephone to make and receive calls throughout the afternoon.

Only when Oswald was shot dead by Ruby on November 24 did Ferrie think it safe to return to New Orleans, where  as a person of interest  he turned himself in to the authorities.

Ferrie said little under questioning from the FBI, who then released him with surprising speed.

In 1964, the official Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy had been killed by Oswald, who had acted entirely alone. But New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison was not convinced. And by the start of 1967, Garrison had commenced his own investigation into Ferrie and his involvement.

Ferrie's reaction was telling. Speaking to an investigator at Garrison's office, he said: 'You know what this news does to me, don't you? I'm a dead man. From here on, believe me, I'm a dead man.'

So it proved. In February 1967, the nude, hairless body of 49-year-old Ferrie was found lying on his living room couch.

His apartment was littered with newspaper clippings, magazine articles and diagrams relating to the JFK assassination.

There were also two type-written suicide notes, although neither provided clues about the murder of the President.

Papers found in Ferrie's apartment revealed him to be the owner of an automotive service station that Marcello had purchased for him in early 1964.

It is understandable that Marcello should reward Ferrie for his legal services but it is harder to explain why their business relationship continued after Marcello's acquittal on the fraud charges (Marcello had bribed a juror) or what such a large gift could have been for.

Ferrie's cause of death was said to be a ruptured blood vessel in the brain. But the honesty of the autopsy has been questioned and no one has explained why, not long before his body was found, Ferrie had been left entirely alone by the men who were supposed to be guarding him round the clock.

Finally, there are the words of Ferrie himself, revealed at the trial of New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw who, on March 1967, was charged by Garrison with conspiring to kill Kennedy in concert with Oswald and Ferrie (by then both dead).

In 1964, the official Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy had been killed by Oswald, who had acted entirely alone. (Pictured: JFK slumps down in the back seat of the Presidential limousine).

Only when Oswald was shot dead by Ruby on November 24 (pictured) did Ferrie think it safe to return to New Orleans, where  as a person of interest  he turned himself in to the authorities.

Shaw was found not guilty. But the court heard from a 25-year-old partygoer called Perry Russo who testified that Shaw, Oswald and a number of Cuban militants had listened as Ferrie explained how to kill Kennedy.

Ferrie's plan had been to assassinate the president and then blame it on Castro which, he believed, would lead an outraged US to invade Cuba.

Oswald  the only man ever blamed for the Kennedy shooting  was supposedly infatuated with communism and might plausibly have been smeared. There is also evidence that, in the weeks before the assassination, Ferrie had tried to frame Oswald as a Castro sympathizer.

According to the witness at the party, Ferrie claimed he had proposed a 'triangulation of crossfire' which would place Kennedy in the crosshairs of three separate snipers.

This testimony was entirely consistent with a hand-drawn map of the Kennedy killing that the police found in Oswald's room following his arrest.

The truth matters, due process matters and that's why we must continue to demand that the CIA and the FBI finally unredact and release the evidence they have concealed for all these years.

Yet some things are disarmingly simple all the same. From Capitol Hill right down to the Louisiana bayous, many influential people had wanted Jack Kennedy dead and his brother Bobby silenced.

I believe that David William Ferrie was the man that made it happen.

Borgata, Clash of Titans, the second part of Louis Ferrante's History of The American Mafia is published by Pegasus in the US, price $29.95, and Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK, price 25.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reiterated his full support for Russia's war in Ukraine during a high-profile meeting with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu in Pyongyang, North Korean state media reported on Saturday.

The meeting on Friday came after South Korean intelligence suggested in late February that North Korea had likely sent troops to assist Russia in its ongoing conflict with Ukraine.

According to Russian and North Korean state media, Kim and Shoigu discussed various geopolitical issues, including Moscow's engagement with the Trump administration and the security dynamics on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim and Shoigu reaffirmed their commitment to a major mutual defense treaty, which pledges mutual military assistance in the event of aggression against either country.

Kim emphasized North Korea's steadfast backing of Russia, stating that his government would "invariably support Russia in the struggle for defending their national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests," according to Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency.

Shoigu, in turn, delivered a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who extended his greetings to Kim and assured him that Russia would give "utmost attention" to implementing agreements reached in their recent summits.

The Russian security chief also expressed appreciation for North Korea's "solidarity with Russia's position on all critical geopolitical issues, particularly on the Ukrainian issue."

While neither North Korean nor Russian media confirmed whether any new agreements were signed, Shoigu departed Pyongyang later on Friday, marking another step in the deepening military and diplomatic ties between the two nations.
The chilling images of a hacksaw killer's lair have been revealed after the sick murderer was convicted this week.

On Friday, a jury found horror-obsessed Polish man Marcin Majerkiewicz guilty of murdering Stuart Everett, 67, and chopping up his body.

His friend Stuart Everett's torso and thighs  which weighed around 12kg - were found in a bunker at Kersal Dale nature reserve, Salford, wrapped in cling film by a horrified member of the public in April last year.

When father-of-two Majerkiewicz was arrested three weeks after the torso was found, he was carrying two mobile phones and bank cards in the name of Mr Everett.

The heavily-tattooed takeaway worker told police: 'It's definitely a mistake, 100 per cent.' But searches of the house he had shared with Mr Everett revealed a different story.

Bloodstains and saw marks were evidence that 'something terrible had happened' there, prosecutor Jason Pitter KC told jurors.

A skip outside contained a string of incriminating discoveries including pieces of the carpet from his room containing diluted blood.

Photos of his sick lair also revealed blood spatters under UV light - evidence that was key to prosecuting the murderer.

Bloodstains and saw marks were evidence that 'something terrible had happened' there, prosecutor Jason Pitter KC told jurors

Photos of his sick lair also revealed blood spatters under UV light - evidence that was key to prosecuting the murderer

A skip outside contained a string of incriminating discoveries including pieces of the carpet from his room containing diluted blood

Meanwhile, in harrowing clips from April 2 last year, Majerkiewicz can be seen walking around Salford with the hacked up body parts before dumping them in a nature reserve.

In one, Majerkiewicz swaps the bag  clearly extremely heavy - from his left hand to his right and also stopping for a few seconds, putting the bag on the ground before continuing.

Police were at that stage unable to identify the murder victim as Majerkiewicz had stolen his identity, sending cards and messages to relatives purporting to be from Mr Everett to make it seem as if he was still alive.

But Majerkiewicz was arrested three weeks after the grim discovery when two plain-clothes officers working on the inquiry spotted him by chance walking in the other direction.

While they knew what the suspect looked like, at this stage they did not know his identity  and therefore had not established that the torso belonged to Stuart Everett, as he hadn't been reported missing.

The officers turned the car around and followed the suspect on foot before he got on a number 100 bus. Shortly afterwards, Pc Paul Ashworth pulled his police car in front of the bus and boarded it.

Majerkiewicz was told he had been identified as a 'person of interest'' in a police investigation. He replied: 'It's definitely a mistake, 100%.''

Marcin Majerkiewicz dismembered his housemate into 27 pieces before dumping his body parts around Salford in a bid to evade justice

Stuart Everett's remains were first discovered by a passerby in an abandoned bunker at a nature reserve in Salford in April last year

Pictured: The carpet was cut up following the murder of Stuart Everett

Police launched a manhunt after a horrified member of the public made the grim discovery of a torso and thighs wrapped in cling film at a Salford nature reserve last April.

It was immediately obvious that the body part belonged to a man who had been 'sawn into pieces', a murder trial at Manchester Crown Court heard.

Mr Everett  who like his killer was of Polish heritage  had not been reported missing as Majerkiewicz had cynically sent messages and greeting cards in his name to pretend he was still alive.

The 42-year-old was dramatically seized on board a bus after police traced CCTV of him walking towards where the remains were found carrying a heavy 'bag for life' and returning without it.

They discovered that Mr Everett  from whom he sublet a room at a house in nearby Winton  had not been seen alive for weeks.

Detectives pieced together Majerkiewicz's movements in the days after the killing and found a further 26 parts of his body at four other locations.

However only around one-third of Mr Everett's remains have so far been recovered, with the rest feared to have been lost to nature.

The skull alone was split into several fragments with his face stripped off and dumped separately.

Mr Everett's hacked up body parts were dumped at different sites including a nature reserve in Salford, Greater Manchester

Police believe a hacksaw to cut up his bones - one was found with Mr Everett's DNA on it near the reservoir where the skull fragments were found  while a 'sharp implement' was used to cut the soft tissues.

The skull fragments were placed together by a pathologist who concluded that Mr Everett had been killed by 'repeated strikes to the head with a heavy blunt implement'.

Police believe Mr Everett  an unmarried former civil servant originally from Derby - was killed on the night of March 27 last year.

He was christened Roman Ziemacki but anglicised his name.

While the exact motive for the cold-blooded killing which preceded the brutal attempt by Majerkiewicz to cover his tracks may never be known, his trial heard of 'brewing tension' in the shared house.

Issues included Mr Everett attempting to pass on a rent increase to Majerkiewicz and a second housemate, Michal Polchowski.

Intriguingly, in 2021 Mr Everett told a woman he had met online that he had a male partner called Kamil  but photographs he sent her of 'Kamil' were in fact of Majerkiewicz.

'Kamil' shared Majerkiewicz's date of birth, and  like his future murderer  had 'many tattoos'.

Mr Everett, of Polish heritage, lived with his killer in a home in Salford, Greater Manchester

A murder probe was launched after Mr Everett's torso was found in Kersal Dale nature reserve in April last year

In a bid to cover his tracks, Majerkiewicz posed as Mr Everett to write a birthday card after murdering him

Majerkiewicz told police 'it's definitely a mistake, 100%' after being arrested on a bus three weeks after Mr Everett's murder

Also potentially significant is that Majerkiewicz  who had no previous convictions or cautions  had taken out loans to a total value of 60,000 in 2023.

He had also made searches online indicating that he was considering leaving for Spain, including a search for 'long term rentals in Alicante'.

Interviewed by police, Majerkiewicz said he knew nothing about the killing of Mr Everett or the disposal of his body parts.

He said Mr Everett had not returned from visiting his brother in March, instead sending a message to say he had been hospitalised due to a stroke.

Asked if he believed Mr Everett was safe and well, jurors were told that Majerkiewicz replied: 'I hope so - all leads need to be checked.'

Mr Pitter told jurors that this indeed happened - 'and those leads point to him being responsible for murdering Stuart Everett'.

Police discovered that Majerkiewicz had taken out a phone in Mr Everett's name months before his death.

On April 3 he researched Mr Everett's brother's address and sent him a birthday card purportedly from the dead man.

Police with sniffer dogs scouring one of the sites where Majerkiewicz dumped Mr Everett's hacked up body parts

After the murder, CCTV caught Majerkiewicz withdrawing cash from an ATM using Mr Everett's bank card

Meanwhile the phone was also used to access Mr Everett's bank accounts.

At the murder trial, Majerkiewicz did not give evidence in his defence.

In his closing speech, his barrister, Peter Wright KC, accepted that the evidence pointed 'unerringly' to his client having dumped Mr Everett's body parts.

But he said he continued to deny having killed and dismembered him.

Jurors have heard that the second housemate, Mr Polchowski, was originally also accused of murder, but the charges against him were dropped by prosecutors before the trial.

Mr Wright highlighted how Mr Polchowski  who worked at a food processing business with access to 'industrial quantities' of clingfilm - must have been at the house when Mr Everett was killed.

He suggested there remained 'lingering doubts' about whether Mr Polchowski had played any role, arguing that there was sufficient doubt for them to acquit his client.

Mr Polchowski denied the charges and they were later dropped.

But in his own speech, prosecutor Mr Pitter said there was 'compelling' evidence of Majerkiewicz's guilt.

He asked jurors to consider why he would have been risking disposing of Mr Everett's remains while Mr Polchowski continued 'going about the monotony of his daily routine' as normal.

It took a jury one hour and 36 minutes to convict Majerkiewicz.

Chilling CCTV footage shows Majerkiewicz walking around Salford carrying Mr Everett's body parts in a 'bag for life'

In the clips, Majerkiewicz can be seen swapping the heavy bag between his hands as he walks

'Someone steal nothing?' Majerkiewicz played dumb when he was arrested - but he was found guilty of murder

After the guilty verdict was delivered, Mr Everett's brother Richard Ziemacki said in a statement: 'Even though it has been almost 12 months we are still haunted by what has happened.

'This has been made even more difficult knowing the lengths that have gone into orchestrating my brother's death.

'Benny is our family nickname for our endearing and loving Stuart.

'For any person to be treated in the way he was, brutally murdered and systematically and comprehensively disposed of, has meant our family has been left traumatised beyond belief.

'A couple of months ago, we spent out first Christmas without Benny.

'This should have been a happy and joyous period for us all, but it was tainted and our Christmas dinner was not the same without him and our family is now incomplete.'

He said he wanted to acknowledge the 'exceptional' work police had put in to help find his brother's remains, 'to bring him home to us, to determine what happened to him and to ultimately find his killer'.

He also thanked the jury for 'making the right decision'.

'The past 12 months have been some of the most challenging the family has ever had to endure,' he continued.

'But that has been made just a little bit easier because of the outpouring of love and comforting words from people across Greater Manchester, Derby and beyond who have all come together to mourn with us a truly unique and special human being.

'I would like to finish Benny's tribute by sharing what was inscribed on his urn.

'Those we love don't go away, they walk with us every day. Unseen, unheard but always near.

'Still loved, still missed and very dear.' He then added: 'Justice for Benny!'

Chief Superintendent Lewis Hughes said it was 'entirely possible' Stuart was murdered for financial gain given Majerkiewicz had debts and took control of his bank accounts.

He said Majerkiewicz also had a 'fascination with horror and gore and that may have played a part in his actions.'

Majerkiewicz liked horror movies and items found on his hard drive and tattoos pointed to an 'affinity' with horror.
President Donald Trump's assassination task force is now facing calls to investigate the mysterious death of a renowned journalist who was on the cusp of shattering the official line about President John F Kennedys death, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The National Archives this week released a stunning 63,000 pages of declassified records related to JFKs assassination in Dallas in 1963.

So far, few bombshells have surfaced from the files.

They appear to make no reference to investigative journalist Dorothy Kilgallen, her exclusive reporting and two-year probe into the shooting, or her own sudden death in 1965.

There also appears to be no mention of Carlos Marcello - the Mafia boss she believed plotted the assassination and then orchestrated the murder of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald at the hands of nightclub owner Jack Ruby.

And also missing is the stash of evidence and notes Kilgallen had compiled about the president's murder - a dossier that mysteriously vanished without a trace on the night of her apparent suicide.

It was disappointing but not surprising, lawyer and author Mark Shaw, who has investigated Kilgallens death for 15 years, tells DailyMail.com about the lacklustre files.

For years, Shaw has been calling on the NYPD and Manhattan DA's Office to launch an independent investigation into Kilgallen's death - an investigation he believes would reveal that she was murdered to silence her about the president's assassination.

Dorothy Kilgallen was zeroing in on a prolific Mafia boss who she suspected had orchestrated JFK's murder when she was suddenly found dead in her home

President John F Kennedy moments before he was assassinated during a motorcade through Dallas on November 22, 1963

Now, Shaw is urging the House of Representatives Task Force on Declassification and Transparency to use Kilgallens line of investigation as a springboard to finally get to the truth about both JFKs assassination and her own death two years later.

Back on March 11, Shaw sent Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, the head of the task force, and several other task force members letters, detailing his findings into Kilgallens death and urging the congressional group to open a new, independent investigation into the case.

One hope of mine is that by exposing the injustice done to Kilgallen when she died, a fresh, independent investigation of her death may be possible sooner than later based on compelling evidence that she was murdered, he wrote in the letter shared with DailyMail.com.

It appears certain that if there had been a thorough, independent investigation of the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, Robert F. Kennedys death five years later and the poisoning of heralded journalist and media icon Dorothy Kilgallen, the course of history would have been changed forever.

Your Task Force now has the chance to provide that thorough, independent investigation so the world at large finally learns of the most credible analysis of what really happened to these three 20th century icons. Such will prove that there should have never been three true crime murder mysteries at all since based on logic and the homicide detectives favorite tools to solve such mysteries, motive and benefit from the crime, there were not mysteries, only coverups of the truth from start to finish.

Shaw tells DailyMail.com he has received confirmation that the letters reached the lawmakers' offices but had received no response from any members of the task force as of Friday.

DailyMail.com did not receive a response from Lunas office by the time of publication.

Kilgallen had been about to spill the bombshell details of her two-year investigation into JFKs assassination when she was suddenly found dead in her luxury Manhattan home on November 8, 1965.

President Donald Trump's assassination task force (lead by Rep Anna Paulina Luna) is now facing calls to investigate Kilgallen's mysterious death

The night before, the acclaimed investigative journalist and celebrity had appeared on the quiz show Whats My Line?

She had also shared an excerpt from the manuscript of her explosive tell-all book about her investigation with her fellow panelist Bennett Cerf, the publisher of Random House.

In the book, she would reveal evidence showing that infamous mobster Marcello had actually orchestrated both JFK's murder and the fatal shooting of Oswald, Shaw says.

'I'm going to break the real story and have the biggest scoop of the century,' Kilgallen is quoted as telling friends.

Her investigation had taken her to the scene of the shooting in Dallas and to the governments closed-door Warren Commission hearings in Washington DC.

She had also reported from the trial of Jack Ruby, the nightclub owner who shot and killed Oswald in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters two days after the presidents murder.

She was the only journalist to ever interview Ruby - interviews that then led her to travel to Marcellos stomping ground in New Orleans.

According to Shaws investigation, Kilgallen learned Marcello had orchestrated JFKs assassination because the Kennedys broke a quid quo-pro deal to leave the Mafia alone after they helped him win the election.

Moment Jack Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters two days after JFK's assassination

Pictured: Mafia kingpin Carlos Marcello. Kilgallen believed Marcello had ordered the assassination of the president and then Oswald's death

She believed the Warren Commission was wrong - Oswald and Ruby had not acted alone. Instead, they were both connected to and following Marcellos orders, Shaw asserts.

In her columns for the New York Journal-American, Kilgallen publicly raised her doubts that Oswald had acted alone and exclusively published Ruby's commission testimony, trumping the government's official report.

This all left the woman described by the New York Post in 1960 as 'the most powerful female voice in America' attracting unwanted attention.

The FBI, headed up by J. Edgar Hoover, had her placed under surveillance, according to an FBI file obtained by Shaw under the Freedom of Information Act.

The 52-year-old mom-of-three was also receiving death threats and told friends she feared for her life.

Soon, she was dead.

Kilgallen's sudden death was quickly ruled as 'circumstances undetermined' - meaning either an accident or suicide - caused by a deadly combination of sleeping pills and alcohol, according to an autopsy by Manhattan's Chief Medical Examiner Dr James Luke.

But it has long been shrouded in suspicion.

A friend who found her body felt the scene was staged. Her body was perched upright in bed in a room she never slept in and she was still wearing her make-up, fake eyelashes and a hair accessory from the night before.

Kilgallen was friends with JFK (pictured with Jackie Kennedy on the day of his assassination) and questioned the official line about his death

Pictured: First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy leans over dying president as a Secret Service agent climbs over their car on November 22, 1963

And her huge dossier into JFKs assassination had also mysteriously disappeared that same night - never to be seen again.

Shaw believes there is no doubt Kilgallen's death was no accident and was not suicide. He believes she was poisoned at the orders of Marcello because she was about to expose the truth about JFK's assassination.

He and New York Council Member Bob Holden have been urging the NYPD and Manhattan DAs office to investigate Kilgallens death for years.

Both previously told DailyMail.com that they were separately promised by the agencies that they would look into it - before it was swiftly dropped without any investigation or interviews with surviving witnesses.

An NYPD spokesperson told Daily Mail: 'The NYPD, along with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, declined to reopen the investigation.'

Holden previously told DailyMail.com that he believes 'larger forces may have warned authorities to back off.

'I suspect there's way more to this,' he says. 'Personally I believe there was a government cover-up back then as it did not make any sense.

'For a detective unit like the NYPD to not even investigate the death of Dorothy Kilgallen means they were probably told not to by higher ups, meaning the federal government.'

Dorothy Kilgallen, David Susskind, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf (left to right front row) and host John Daly (behind) on 'What's My Line?'

Now, with the newly-created assassinations task force in Congress, Shaw says he is hopeful that the truth will finally come out about both JFK's assassination and Kilgallen's death.

Luna has already broken from the governments 50-year claim that Oswald acted alone.

At a press conference in February, she said she believes there were actually two shooters in Dallas and has slammed the Warren Commission hearings as faulty.

In order to put to bed some of the theories that have been out there on John F. Kennedy, we have to know the full truth, she said.

As part of its new probe, the task force has vowed to interview surviving witnesses and Warren Commission members and is set to hold its first hearing into JFKs assassination on March 26.

But Shaw fears the task force runs the risk of making the same mistakes that the government made five decades ago.

He warns that focusing only on Oswald, the Warren Commission and the files kept by the government back in the 1960s will limit the task force to information from potentially 'corrupt' investigations.

If they just focus on these records and interviewing people who were involved in the Warren Commission, this investigation of theirs will be a complete failure and it will really deny the American people of any possibility of getting to the truth of what happened to JFK, he says.

Lee Harvey Oswald is shown after his arrest here on November 22, 1963. Kilgallen did not believe he acted alone

Jack Ruby's mugshot. Kilgallen is said to have connected Ruby, Oswald and the Mafia kingpin Marcello

I think the task force has good intentions and wants to find out the truth but if it continues to focus on the "Oswald did this alone" stuff and leaves Dorothy Kilgallen out of the equation, they are going to end up with the same situation.

Instead, he says the task force needs to look into JFK's assassination 'through the lens of Dorothy Kilgallen.'

'They have got to investigate Dorothy Kilgallen's investigation of JFK's assassination,' he says.

'Then I hope they will investigate Dorothy Kilgallen's mysterious death as she deserves justice.'
As I tore open the brown envelope, three small black-and-white photographs slipped from a single sheet of paper on to my desk. I gazed at them and thought my heart might miss a beat.

I was staring at a familiar-looking chubby child, barely a year old. He was smiling as he hung on to the playpen. Next to him was a cute blonde girl who didnt look as happy.

I stared and stared. Another photo showed the same boy on a blanket on a lawn, playing with two other boys. The little blonde girl was there, too. The chubby infant was clearly me. I was incredibly moved: Id never seen photos of me so young before.

The earliest I knew of was a picture of me aged two-and-a-bit in a red duffel coat and Rupert Bear trousers. That one had been taken in Nazareth House orphanage in Cheltenham shortly after I was introduced to the wonderful couple who adopted me.

Hurriedly, I read the handwritten letter that accompanied the photos. It was from Mrs Philomena Olver, who, coincidentally, lived in Bristol, where I was born in February 1961.

Wed talked the year before, when the hardback edition of my book Finding Margaret was published. She said shed worked at Nazareth, my home for nearly three years, and remembered me. I thought that very unlikely and said so. Subsequently, Philomena had rooted out the old photos in her attic. Turning them over, shed found my name written in ink: Patrick.

Yes, definitely me. Just a few weeks before my birth mother had taken me to Nazareth House, Id been baptised Patrick James Connolly. It was my adoptive parents whod changed my name to Andrew Pierce.

Philomena told me: You were a shy little thing; you never said very much. I especially remember you because you never had any visitors, not like some of the others.

Andrew Pierce as a young child in Nazareth House alongside a little girl called Ann

Andrew pictured alongside children Ann, Adrian, Patrick and Nigel

That is not quite right, I told her. My birth mother Margaret Connolly, then living in Birmingham and working as a nurse, had visited me at the orphanage.

Well, if she did, I never saw her, she said. There was one girl who visited her child every day. She was a nurse, like your mother, but she rented a place opposite the orphanage so she could see her.

Margaret, a devout Catholic, could also have visited more often had she put me in the Nazareth House home in Rednal, eight miles from Birmingham city centre. But shed opted for an orphanage 60 miles away, where she was unlikely to be spotted by anyone she knew.

Her visits had then come to an abrupt halt after two-and-a-half years, when she consented to give me up for possible adoption.

Many years later, as I pored over official documents about my early life, I realised that shed deliberately covered her tracks by giving only scant information about herself. Clearly, she wanted to ensure no one in her loving and supportive Irish Roman Catholic family could ever discover her secret.

As my book revealed, I did find Margaret again  after a gap of 45 years and a tortuous search. Yet, to the very end of her life, she refused to tell me anything about my time in the orphanage or reveal who my father was. Even in her 80s, she was terrified that anyone would find out shed had an illegitimate child.

But back to Philomena, herself an orphan whod lived in various Nazareth Houses until the nuns sent her to Cheltenham at 15 to work in the nursery.

I would play with you, talk to you and try to give you the love you were missing because you had been abandoned, she said.

If there were potential adopters, the nuns would always dress the baby or child in their finest. It was like Sunday best. When your [adoptive] parents came to see you, they put you in those long Rupert Bear checked trousers.

What had become of the other children in the photos, I asked? One of them showed a Nativity scene being gazed at by three boys named as Adrian, Nigel and Patrick  though I wasnt sure about the one identified as me because he seemed too tall.

She didnt know what had become of Adrian. Nigel had been moved to the Bristol Nazareth House in 1965 when the Cheltenham home closed, and was later adopted.

And little blonde Ann? Philomena wasnt sure. Anns mother wanted to make a home for her little girl. But her parents, who were well-to-do, werent having any of it. So little Ann stayed in the system for a long time.

I asked Philomena if shed been aware of routine cruelty by the nuns and helpers. I never saw any of that, she said. I heard about it. But if a child wet the bed, there was a terrible hullabaloo.

Id been a bed-wetter, a habit that accompanied me when I was adopted. It took Betty and George, my mum and dad, several years to break it, even after Id become a happy, integrated family member.

My birth must have been a brutal, emotional experience for my birth mother. Thered been no friends or family with her when she arrived in Bristol, heavily pregnant, at the end of 1960. A few weeks before I was due, Margaret had checked into St Raphaels, a home for unwed mothers run by a Roman Catholic order of nuns.

Not only was Margaret a single pregnant woman in the harsh, unforgiving social climate of early 1960s Britain, but shed also been brought up to believe that sex outside marriage was one of the gravest of sins. Having her baby in her home city of Birmingham, where shed have risked public shame, would not have been an option.

Andrew pictured with his birth mother Margaret

For years, Id assumed she must have been a gym-slip mum, but not a bit of it: Margaret was only three months from her 35th birthday when she had me. Had she fallen madly in love, I wondered, perhaps with a married man? St Raphaels, like many others of its kind, espoused a regime that was punitive, inflexible and often lacking in any empathy.

Unfortunately, Ive hit a brick wall in trying to find out more as the file to my first temporary home has been closed until 2043 due to concerns that the publication of material could be too hurtful.

However, over the past 15 years, shocking stories have been emerging about violence and abuse in similar mother-and-baby homes. Some mums would go to the dormitory where the infants slept to give them their bottles, only to discover their babies were no longer there. Heartbreaking.

Some children were sent to Ireland to be put in care. Others dispatched as far afield as Australia. The mothers were often never told where their babies had gone.

Overlaying everything was a powerful sense of shame. Margaret would have felt it strongly at St Raphaels and again at Southmead Childrens Hospital, where she gave birth to me. There, she was kept in a separate room from the married women, so they could avoid being tainted by her sin. Unlike them, Margaret was presented with a birth certificate that stated my father was unknown. Did he perhaps live or work in Bristol? Was that one of the reasons shed chosen to have me there? If so, she never told me.

At five weeks I was transferred to Nazareth House in Cheltenham, some 40-odd miles away.

Ive always wondered: what were those first crucial years truly like for me? At the end of last year, I stumbled across a report marking the 120th anniversary of CCS Adoption in Bristol, the agency that handled my transition from orphanage to happy family life.

One of the sentences in this report said: Previous residents of Nazareth Houses in Bristol and Cheltenham have reported mixed experiences and some complaints were raisedwhen reports of historical abuse, including being beaten and suffering sexual abuse from other residents and adult helpers, were in the Bristol Evening Post. I quickly found the articles, testimonies from people whod been in the homes at the same time as me. Chillingly, some had been toddlers, too.

Again and again, there were reports of children being beaten for wetting the bed. Punishments included being forced to sit in a galvanised steel bath while two assistants poured buckets of cold water over the childs head. Urine-sodden sheets were wrapped round their legs or neck.

At night, there were checks to ensure all the children slept on their backs with their arms crossed so that, according to one persons story, if we died in our sleep, we would go to heaven.

Teresa Smith, who was still living in Bristol, was 41 when she spoke to the newspaper about the ritual of abuse that she had undergone. I was 40 at the time, so a contemporary of hers. With the exception of one nun, she said, their role seemed to be to punish. One of my most vivid memories was being locked in the cupboard and spending hours in the dark. I saw nuns grab hold of girls hair and pull them upstairs, hitting them with a hairbrush. John, 55, spoke of a regime of fear, saying: The nuns or helpers would pull sheets off the bed and if your hands and arms werent folded, you had to kneel on stone floors. If you wet the bed, you were put in a bath of cold water and scrubbed with disinfectant.

One of our duties was to clean a 200ft stone hall floor. There would be two or four boys, scrubbing on our knees. Standing above us would be another boy whod swing a broom to ensure we didnt put our head up and stop cleaning.

One of our helpers, not a nun, was particularly cruel. She told my brother and I that our mother didnt want us and nor did they.

Then there was Arthur, who was sent to Nazareth House at three and remained there until he was 13. He, too, was scrubbed with disinfectant when he wet his bed.

We had no protection, no cuddles or anyone to care for us, he said. At night, I felt so lonely I cried.

Michelle Daly, a former carer at the home, said she was shocked by what shed seen. Babies were neglected and the nuns only made an effort for visitors, she said.

She had painful memories of a five-year-old called Marie who was still in nappies: Marie was left in a storage room and used to crash to the floor, banging her head, making it bleed. I bit my lip, hearing her screams in there.

After the home closed in 1970, she tracked Marie down  and, at 19, Michelle became the youngest woman in the country to adopt. She said: Marie wouldnt have been so bad if she hadnt been so utterly neglected. All they cared about was how clean the place was; no child was ever cuddled.

Daniel, another resident, recalled. Once, when I was angry, I flooded the bathroom. The nun stripped me naked in front of 100 boys and put me in a bath of icy water. Then she tied me to a shower and beat me with a stick which hung round her waist. I was nine. He also recalled being locked in a cupboard for a day at a time: The nuns told us we were a curse on the world.

Is this how I was treated during my most vulnerable years? All I know is the stories have uncanny parallels with what I uncovered during regressive therapy with an eminent psychologist.

Hed put me under hypnosis so he could try to take my unconscious mind back to the orphanage. And, during these sessions, Id heard a child crying and had known instinctively it was me.

There was cloth (a sheet?) wound so tightly round my legs that I couldnt move them and the strong smell of urine. Then I appeared to be shivering in an icy bath, held down by strong hands.

Did being wrapped in urine-soaked sheets explain why my adoptive parents said I came to them with dreadful sores on my legs? When I later told my adoptive sister about the regressive therapy, she had more to add. You told us the nuns used to shut you in the cupboard, she said.

Did Margaret know any of this? No  Im certain she was oblivious to any ill-treatment in the orphanage. For one thing, she probably visited only a couple of times a month at most because of her busy work schedule as a nurse in Birmingham. For another, the nuns would have ensured I was on best behaviour for any visitor.

What gives me heart now is that I look so happy in the photos Philomena sent me. At the point those photos were taken, Margaret was still visiting me and had no intention of giving me away. She was still clinging to the noble idea that one day shed be able to create a loving home for me.

The photos have also helped underline how difficult it must have been for Margaret to walk away from me. I was a toddler  walking, talking, laughing  and shed had time to forge a loving relationship with me.

For her, everything changed when a man called Patrick Lennon asked her to marry him. She suddenly faced a choice: walk away from me  or lose the man who offered her a chance of security, happiness and legitimate children (she went on to marry Lennon and have three more children).

I completely understand why she made the decision she did. But as I look at the photos, I also think that her wedding day must have been tinged with sadness.

Some of the orphanages residents still have nightmares and flashbacks. I dont. What I do have now are three wonderful photos and three names: Adrian, Ann and Nigel. I hope that, by publishing their photos, maybe someone will recognise these children.

Id love to meet them. To see if they remember much about the home. To find out if they, like me, have been astonishingly happy.

In the end, I was lucky Margaret gave me up for adoption. If she hadnt met Lennon, I could have remained in orphanages for many years. Id almost certainly have missed my chance to be adopted by Betty and George, whod have found another lucky little boy to make their family complete.

Adapted from Finding Margaret, by Andrew Pierce (Biteback, 9.99), to be published in paperback on March 27.

 Andrew Pierce 2025. To order a copy for 8.99 (offer valid to 05/04/25; UK P&P free on orders over 25) go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937.
Dramatic police body cam footage has been released of the moment a British drugs kingpin was arrested - shortly after he had bought a loaf of bread.

Anthony Siner, 38, was the leader of one of the UK's biggest criminal drug gangs called 'Scouse Dave' and was jailed with his brother, Brian, for a combined total of more than 33 years in January.

Their gang funnelled crack cocaine and heroin to the south coast of England from Liverpool through a 'sophisticated' network which operated like a 'business' trading for profit.

And new footage released by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary, shows cops snaring Anthony while he was sitting in his car in Southsea, Hampshire, with a loaf of Warburtons Toastie bread on his lap.

Alongside him, the body-worn camera footage shows Gary Cranney in the car, formerly an operational manager for 'Scouse Dave' who has since been jailed for seven years.

Anthony, the Organised Crime Group's (OCG) leader received 17 years and seven months, while his brother Brian, known as 'Big Show,' was jailed for 15 years and nine months.

The footage was released by police as detectives 'dismantled' the 38 year old's drugs line.

Hampshire Constabulary also released images of weapons and drugs discovered by detectives - as well as family-tree style image showing the gang's hierarchy.

Anthony Siner (pictured) was the leader of one of the UK's biggest criminal drug gangs called 'Scouse Dave'

Anthony was jailed with his brother, Brian (pictured) for a combined total of more than 33 years in January

Footage released by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary shows cops snaring the drugs kingpin while he was sitting in his car with a loaf of Warburtons Toastie bread on his lap

The drugs line was described by prosecutors as a 'brand' with the Siner brothers' network so well-known in criminal circles that they were referred to simply as 'the scousers'.

Spanning 550 miles, the operation transported drugs from Liverpool to Gosport, Hampshire and Plymouth, Devon.

Anthony is said to have oversaw the line into Gosport, while Brian ran the operation into Plymouth from his prison cell - where he was serving 14 years for similar drugs offences.

Between January 2022 and March 28, 2023, the network distributed at least 25kg of crack cocaine and heroin in Gosport and 9.6kg in Plymouth.

Police seized weapons and 30,000 in cash during the investigation, which was said to have exposed the Organised Crime Group's exploitation of drug users to peddle the class A substances.

Four kilos of drugs were also seized.

Hampshire Police also released a family-tree style image showing the gang's hierarchy, which was said to have run like a business trading for profit

Between January 2022 and March 28, 2023, the network distributed at least 25kg of crack cocaine and heroin in Gosport and 9.6kg in Plymouth; four kilos were seized as cops 'dismantled' the operation

Weapons like the gun pictured were also seized during the bust

Photos issued by the authorities show a knife being another one of the weapons in question

30,000 in cash was also discovered by Hampshire Police

The Siner brothers were prosecuted at Portsmouth Crown Court

A total of 17 people including the Siner brothers have since been prosecuted at Portsmouth Crown Court.

Four of the gang members were sentenced in January, seven this week, and six more await sentencing.

The 12 jailed so far have been put behind bars for a combined total of more than 74 years.

Judge Daniel Sawyer said as he sentenced the Siner brothers: 'It's sufficient to say this was a well organised and professional drug dealing network.

'It involved the exploitation of vulnerable people, mainly drug users, who were made to sell drugs on your behalf.'
A young woman bravely fought off her would-be-kidnapper only hours after the attempted abduction of a 12-year-old girl in a suburb nearby.

The 20-year-old woman had just gotten off a bus when she was grabbed from behind by a young man who police are still hunting.

She had been walking on Thames Boulevard in Tarneit, a suburb in Melbourne's west, at 9.15pm on Wednesday.

Her attacker, believed to be in his late teens to early twenties, was captured on chilling CCTV grabbing the woman before she broke free of his grip.

As she turned to face her attacker, he turned and ran away.

Victoria Police released the CCTV on Saturday morning in which the victim audibly screamed several times including after the man had released her.

The man man fled south on Thames Boulevard towards the intersection of Melpomene Boulevard and is believed to be about 160-165cm tall and of a slim build with short, dark hair.

The young woman was not physically injured during the incident.

CCTV captured the moment the unidentified man approached the young woman from behind

The young woman managed to free his grip before her attacker turned and ran away

'Investigators would like to speak to the driver of a dark-coloured 4WD that was in the area at the time and might have witnessed the incident,' police said.

It comes after Melbourne parents were put on high alert following a separate alleged abduction attempt earlier on Wednesday.

A 12-year-old Caulfield Grammar student was waiting for a bus at 7.30pm on Albion Road in Glen Iris when a man in a black car asked her if she 'wanted a lift'.

Police said the girl refused the offer and walked away before boarding a bus.

Teachers at the prestigious school confirmed the incident in an email to parents who were urged to tell their kids to remain 'vigilant' when travelling to and from school.

'I write to alert you to a reported incident concerning an adult approaching a student from our campus and asking them to get into their vehicle,' the school's deputy principal Meg Adem wrote.

'The incident involved a secondary school student who was approached by a driver in a vehicle as they were waiting at the bus stop. The student refused.'

Ms Adem said staff had 'met with and supported' the 12-year-old student and her family and that the mattered had been referred to police.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Victoria Police.
A desperate search is underway for a beloved yoga teacher in Phoenix, Arizona, following his disappearance after a blind date nearly a month ago.

Marcus Freiberger, 45, was last seen on February 22 in a local parking garage before he went radio silent.

He was meeting up with a blind date the day before, but whether the date arrived remains a mystery.

Freiberger's family grew concerned when a friend went to check on his apartment and found his dog, Thomas, there alone.

'That's when his friend got really worried about it and thought something's up here because Marcus would never leave that dog,' Freiberger's father, Dutch, told local NBC affiliate, KPNX-TV.

Dutch told the outlet that his family hasn't heard from Freiberger since he vanished, which is unusual for the yoga teacher.

Freiberger's father said that he 'loved to FaceTime' and frequently called his mom to check in.

'Then all of a sudden the calls stopped coming in,' he added.

Marcus Freiberger, 45, was last seen on February 22 after he was scheduled to meet up with a blind date the day before

Freiberger's father said that he was beloved in the community and had never disappeared for this long before

Friends and family grew concerned for the yoga instructor when his dog, Thomas, was found alone in the apartment

'There's no reason for him to disappear. Even if he did decide to go somewhere he would've at least called his friend to take Thomas,' Dutch said.

'That makes me really think there's something more going on here, foul play of some sort.'

Freiberger's father said that he was handsome, young, ambitious, and beloved by his community.

Dutch told local Fox affiliate, KSAZ-TV, that his son had struggled in the past, battling a drug addiction and money issues.

He was also looking for a new apartment, but his father stood firm that Freiberger would never leave his dog and had found happiness working as a yoga instructor.

Dutch added that he'd never disappeared for this long before. Freiberger's friends and family have been desperately searching for him by checking jail records and even asking morgues for information.

'We just want him back home safe or at least know somebody has seen him or where he's at. That's really it, we want to know he's still alive,' Dutch told KPNX.

Freiberger had developed a clientele at Melrose Yoga, a popular studio in Phoenix owned by Forrest Kruger.

Freiberger's friends and family said that he loved working as a yoga instructor and had found happiness in Phoenix

Freiberger was a yoga instructor at Melrose Yoga, the owner Forrest Kruger said he had a ton of friends who would frequently take his classes

'Kind of guy all of his friends were coming in here for his classes. I met lots of them. Nothing but positive things to say,' Kruger told KSAZ.

'He was a great guy, is a great yoga teacher, too. I took his class myself.'

The yoga instructor had amassed over 5,000 followers on Instagram and frequently advertised his classes.

His last post was on January 3, which advocated for his yoga classes. He captioned the photo, 'This month we are setting our intentions on FOCUS!!'

'What is you you want for the New Year? How are you going to show up in 2025? Where are you putting your energy? Come figure it out on your mat!!'

Police were notified of Freiberger's disappearance on March 14 and told Dailymail.com that they still haven't found the yoga instructor

Police don't believe that Freiberger is in imminent danger, however his father told local news that he suspects foul play in his son's disappearance

Freiberger's community is at a loss and are desperate for answers following a grueling month of searching.

'Where is he? What happened to him? He was making progress and doing all these great things and getting ahead in life, which is making him happy,' Kruger said.

Phoenix Police told Dailymail.com that Freiberger's family reported him missing on March 14.

'Detectives have conducted follow up on the case. Freiberger has not been located, however there is nothing to leading investigators to say he is in imminent danger,' a spokesperson for the department said.

Freiberger was last seen driving a 2021 white GMC Sierra 2500 with Arizona license plate 3MA66L.

Anyone with information on Freiberger's whereabouts is asked to contact Phoenix police.
An illegal immigrant accused of killing a promising young woman in a devastating DUI crash has been hauled back to American after nearly a decade on the run.

The life of Sarah Root life was abruptly cut short in Omaha, Nebraska one night in January 2016. She had been out celebrating with friends just a day after receiving her degree from Bellevue University.

The recent college graduate was stopped at a red light when her vehicle was struck by a drunk driver - an undocumented Honduran national named Eswin Mejia who was street racing in his truck.

Root's family kept her on life support for three days, but her injuries were too severe.

The tragedy sparked a national outrage and igniting debates about immigration enforcement failures.

Root's tragic story was even used by Donald Trump in his acceptance speech at the Republican convention in 2016.

In a statement released after the speech, Root's parents said: 'We are very appreciative that Mr. Trump is speaking of our daughter. He & his staff have been very compassionate about what we have been going through & have tried to help however they can.'

He highlighted it as one of many examples of foreigners crossing America's borders illegally and committing a horrific crime.

The life of Sarah Root life was abruptly cut short in Omaha, Nebraska one night in January 2016

Undocumented Honduran national, Eswin Mejia, 16,was street racing in his truck when he crashed into Root. He is pictured being flown back to the US earlier on Friday

Horrifying pictures reveal how badly damaged Root's car was during the deadly crash

Mejia had entered the US illegally as an unaccompanied minor years earlier in 2013, was arrested and charged with motor vehicle homicide. He was three times over the legal limit.

Despite the seriousness of the charge, he was released on a $50,000 bond after a relative posted the cash fee - $5,000.

Mejia took advantage of the judge's decision and instead of showing up for court, he vanished and fled back to Honduras where he was able to hide in the shadows of Central America. His family insisted that he no longer lived at home.

Mejia essentially became a ghost but Sarah's family waited while officials placed his his name on ICE's 'Most Wanted' list.

On Thursday, Mejia was finally captured, cuffed, and immediately extradited back to America on Friday.

Mejia was pictured shackled in handcuffs, aboard a the US-bound private jet.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the extradition on social media.

'Nine years ago, Sarah was tragically killed by an illegal immigrant who later fled our country. Today, the Trump Administration is announcing the extradition of Sarah's killer from Honduras to the United States to face justice once and for all,' Rubio tweeted.

Mejia was accused of racing on the street while under the influence of alcohol when he struck Sarah Root's vehicle

Mejia is seen being marched to a waiting jet in Honduras on Friday to take him back to the US

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the extradition on social media

Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa also issued a statement praising the return

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem praised Trump for putting American's safety first

Donald Trump invites Sarah's mom, Michelle Root, onstage during his 2016 election campaign

Donald Trump hugs Sarah's brother Scott Root as his mother Michelle and father Scott Bernhardt look on in August 2016

Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa also issued a statement praising the return.

'The Trump administration never forgot Sarah Root's story. Together, we fought for justice to hold the illegal immigrant who took her life accountable. Iowans and every American know that this administration will always put our citizens first.'

Mejia first entered the US illegally in 2013 at the Nogales, Arizona border, where he was classified as an unaccompanied minor.

As required by law, he was transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement and was sent to live with his brother in Omaha in 2014.

But less than two years later, he was behind the wheel of a vehicle that killed Sarah Root.

Even after his arrest, federal immigration officials failed to place a detainer on him, allowing him to walk free on bond.

ICE admitted it encountered Mejia only once following his arrest, and at that time, deemed him to be 'not an enforcement priority.'

The missed opportunities and countless red flags led to the creation of 'Sarah's Law,' aimed at keeping suspected undocumented immigrants charged with serious crimes in custody.

The aim would also enforce stricter detention on illegal immigrants.

Root's family kept her on life support for three days, but her injuries were too severe

Root had been out celebrating with friends just a day after receiving her degree from Bellevue University

Sarah Root's family kept her on life support for three days, but her injuries were too severe. She is pictured alongside her brother Scott

The case became a flashpoint in the broader immigration debate, serving as a grim example for those calling for stricter enforcement policies.

Sarah's parents became outspoken advocates for reform, meeting with national leaders and appearing before Congress to ensure no other family would have to endure such an agonizing injustice.

Mejia's extradition comes shortly after a renewed agreement between Honduras and the United States to enforce a century-old treaty.

The cooperation had been uncertain amid recent political tensions - especially following a controversial meeting between Honduran leaders and Venezuela's Defense Minister, a figure wanted on drug trafficking charges in the US.

But Eswin Mejia finally back on American soil to face justice, it appears the tide has finally turned.
Labour is considering plans to deport failed asylum seekers to the Balkans and lock them in 'detention centres' as the number of migrants crossing the Channel exceeds 5,000 this year.

The asylum seekers could be sent to 'return hubs' in the western Balkans - in countries including Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and North Macedonia, after their applications for asylum are rejected.

The plans, being drawn up by the government as part of Sir Keir Starmer's approach to stop small boat arrivals, would see Britain paying countries for each person relocated.

It comes as Labour faces continued pressure to tackle the small boats crisis as the number of the migrants intercepted and brought to shore by Border force since the beginning of the year hits 5,025 - 24 per cent higher than this stage last year.

Earlier this month, more than 1,100 small boat migrants reached Britain in just four days as human traffickers took advantage of calm conditions on the Channel.

The prospect of return hubs were strengthened this week after they received support from the UNs International Organisation for Migration. The body said it would 'advise and assist' countries with their plans.

The Netherlands is currently in discussions with the Ugandan government about a return hub.

Albania currently has two empty migrant detention centres after Italian plans to use them as asylum processing centres fell through.

Labour faces continued pressure to tackle the small boats crisis as the number of the migrants intercepted and brought to shore by Border force since the beginning of the year hits 5,025

Albania currently has two empty migrant detention centres after Italian plans to use them as asylum processing centres fell through

The plans, being drawn up by the government as part of Sir Keir Starmer's approach to stop small boat arrivals, would see Britain paying countries for each person relocated

Your browser does not support iframes.

Since last year's election 28,267 small boats have crossed the English Channel without permission

Return hubs could be populated with rejected aslyum seekers from countries ruled as unsafe under UK law, such as Iran or Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, they could temporarily house those rejected for asylum from countries deemed safe, before they are deported to their home country.

Labour has faced criticism over its decision to scrap the Tories Rwanda asylum deal, which was designed to deter migrants from risking their lives in the Channel.

Their scheme would contrast from the Conservative's Rwanda plans because they would only remove asylum seekers after their case was rejected.

The Rwanda plan intended to send illegal migrants to the East African country before hearing their case.

A government source told The Times: 'Were looking at the widest possible set of options with a completely open mind. Any scheme wed consider would always need to meet the test of being affordable, workable and legal.'

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
A holistic veterinarian has been suspended after she used methylated spirits to clean a dog's teeth at an unregistered practice.

Cottlesloe vet Louisa Fenny was told to pay $10,000 and given a six-month suspension after a mediation hearing at the State Administritive Tribunal (SAT).

It came after a pet owner made an official complaint to the vet practice board when her cavoodle became seriously ill after Ms Fenny cleaned its teeth in May, 2024.

The SAT was told on Wednesday Ms Fenny had sedated the dog and used methylated spirits to clean her dental tools and the dog's mouth.

Shortly after arriving home, the cavoodle became unstable, refused to drink water, had trouble breathing, vomited and was constantly licking its lips.

The owner shared her concerns with Ms Fenny, who claimed the dog's symptoms were 'normal' and to continue giving the canine milk.

'Hi, it's standard practice in dentals to use this and I've had no issues in the 20 years I've been doing dentals,' she said in a text shared with the SAT.

'His gums are a little sore/irritated which is normal. Keep up the milk.'

A holistic veterinarian has been suspended after she used methylated spirits to clean a dog's teeth at an unregistered practice (Lu Fenny is pictured)

Vet Louisa Fenny (pictured) was told to pay $10,000 and was given a six-month suspension after she treated a dog's teeth with methylated spirits

Ms Fenny (pictured) describes herself as a 'holistic vet at home' on her social media pages

But the cavoodle's condition worsened and it was rushed to The Animal Hospital at Murdoch University, where the dog was found to have oral ulcers, a lesion in its oesophagus and a high temperature.

According to the SAT hearing, Ms Fenny initially denied using methylated spirits to clean the dogs teeth and altered records of the appointment.

The investigation revealed the Cottesloe facility where she had treated at least 29 animals on multiple occasions, was not a registered veterinary clinic.

'(Ms Fenny's) conduct, individually and collectively substantially falls short of the standard of competence, diligence and safety that a member of the public is entitled to expect of a reasonably competent veterinarian and constitutes professional misconduct,' the SAT ruled.

Her six-month suspension from practising as a vet starts on April 15.

Ms Fenny describes herself as a 'holistic vet at home' on her social media pages.

'Dr Lu provides a Home-Visit service to Northern Rivers NSW & Goldcoast QLD. Perth clients are offered video consults and 6 monthly visits,' her Facebook page reads.

'Lu combines conventional medicine with evidence-based natural therapies and treats the whole pet - not just symptoms.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Fenny for comment.
A Texas grandfather who was shot dead at a McDonald's while buying Happy Meals for his family made the sign of the cross on his chest before he took his last breath.

Jorge Arbaiza, 61, was caught in the crossfire of an alleged gang-related shooting and was shot five times at the fast-food restaurant before collapsing to the floor.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told CBS affiliate, KHOU News, that his department was devastated to learn what Arbaiza decided to do in his final moments.

'What struck a nerve for our team and I was this: Mr. Arbaiza's lasting gesture as he took his last breath was him making the sign of the cross of Jesus Christ and praying,' he told the outlet.

Arbaiza's wife, Teresa, told the outlet that she spoke with him on the phone when the shooting began.

Even though she was terrified for her husband's life, she was forced to stay in the car to look after her grandchildren, who were waiting for their Happy Meals.

'I'm dying, I'm going to die,' Teresa said her husband told her over the phone.

She recounted seeing a man with a gun walking into the fast food chain and people running out soon after.

Jorge Arbaiza, 61, was killed on March 16 when he was shot at a McDonald's while purchasing Happy Meals for his grandkids, who were waiting outside in the car with his wife

Arbaiza was a beloved grandfather and father in the Houston, Texas area before gun violence tragically took his life

Antoine Ridge, 24, was arrested on Thursday by the Harris County Sheriff's Office and charged with murder for the death of Jorge Arbaiza

'I couldn't leave the kids alone  I could not go inside  the kids were crying, and they were scared,' she added.

The tragic shooting took place just after 5 pm on March 16 at a McDonald's in Katy, which is a suburb of Houston.

The altercation began between two groups of men which escalated from shouting to shooting, according to Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Several children witnessed the terror but were unharmed by the gunshots. Arbaiza, who was not involved in the altercation, was the only fatality.

An unnamed 25-year-old man was also shot but is expected to recover. It's unclear if the man was involved in the altercation.

When emergency services arrived, Arbaiza was transported by life flight to the hospital but eventually died from his gunshot wounds.

Violent Crimes Detectives declared the case a homicide and identified the suspect's vehicle from security camera footage.

On Thursday morning, authorities arrested Antoine Ridge, 24, on murder charges. He was booked into the county jail on a $1 million bond.

Arbaiza's wife, Teresa, tearfully spoke about her husband and his last words to her to local news

Arbaiza's family have set up a GoFundMe to support his wife, calling him an 'exceptional husband, father, brother, and grandfather' in the description

The shooting occurred at a McDonald's in Katy, Texas, which is a suburb outside of Houston on the evening of March 16

Ridge already had a warrant out for his arrest for aggravated assault against a family member and was facing reckless driving charges.

He had also previously been arrested for burglary, two assault charges resulting in bodily injury, and fraud, according to his criminal record.

Ridge waived his right to appear in court for a hearing on his bond, but his next court date is set for Monday.

Meanwhile, Arbaiza's family is grieving the loss of a beloved grandfather and father. His children set up a GoFundMe to help his wife, Teresa.

'Our family has been devastated and changed forever,' the description of the fundraiser read.

'There are no words that can do our father justice, and anyone that had the pleasure of meeting him understands why.'

Authorities responded to reports of a shooting and airlifted Arbaiza to a nearby hospital, where he later died from gunshot wounds

Local news captured the disturbing scene after the shooting that multiple customers including children witnessed

The Texas McDonald's was temporarily shut down after the tragedy so authorities could investigate the shooting

In a tearful interview with KHOU, Teresa said Arbaiza was 'crazy' for his grandkids. The couple had been married for 39 years before his death.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office along with the Violent Criminal Apprehension Team and the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force are investigating the shooting.

There were allegedly two groups involved who left the scene in two separate cars. Authorities have said the groups were driving a maroon SUV and a white sedan.

Dailymail.com reached out to the Harris County Sheriff's Office for an update on the case but didn't immediately hear back.
The moment David Billingsby's world collided with that of one of Britain's most evil killers is one which will undoubtedly haunt the 79-year-old for ever.

The meeting between the respectable businessman and 19-year-old Nicholas Prosper on a Luton council estate lasted barely eight minutes but, by the time they parted, Mr Billingsby  one of Britain's most talented clay pigeon shooters and a Guinness World Record holder in the sport  had handed over the shotgun and ammunition which, a day later, the teenager would use to blast his mother, sister and brother to death.

Prosper's plan to then carry out the 'massacre of the century' at his old primary school was mercifully foiled but this week, as he was jailed for life at Luton Crown Court for triple murder, deeply troubling questions remain about how easy it was for him to get his hands on the lethal firearm he used to kill three members of his family. Police have emphasised that Mr Billingsby, who was duped by both Prosper's forged shotgun certificate and his faked enthusiasm for clay pigeon shooting, committed no offence when he sold his Japanese Kikko shotgun to the then 18-year-old on September 12 last year. Indeed, as he drove into the car park next to the killer's tower block home that morning, Mr Billingsby had no idea just how close he was to becoming the soon-to-be killer's first victim.

For, as the Mail can now reveal, had Mr Billingsby not been fooled by his fake certificate, Prosper had planned to stab the innocent father-of-two to death and simply take the 450 shotgun which he'd seen advertised online. Later, Prosper admitted that he would have been deterred by the unexpected presence of Mr Billingsby's wife, who decided to join her husband on the 80-mile journey from their home in Kent. She remained in the front passenger seat of the couple's car throughout her husband's encounter with the teenager, every sinister second of which was captured on CCTV.

A fellow clay pigeon shooter who knows Mr Billingsby told the Mail he is 'a very upstanding citizen who is highly respected in our community'. He added: 'David has been shooting for a very long time. He's very safe. Anybody could have been duped like that.'

Prosper began researching mass murders in autumn 2023 but his serious search for a gun began in April 2024 when he became a member of the online site GunTrader UK. In June he began researching how to forge a shotgun certificate. According to police, he spent hours looking for templates and checking which logos to use. The certificate even carried the forged signature of Nicola Baxter, a sergeant in the Bedfordshire Police firearms unit.

On August 28, Prosper emailed private seller Jonathan Middleton, who was advertising a double-barrelled shotgun for 150 on GunTrader. Prosper texted him a photo of his forged shotgun certificate.

Mr Middleton's suspicions were quickly aroused, however, not least because the teen started asking questions about how recently the gun had been fired and how it operated. He was also concerned when Prosper offered 500  well over the asking price  if ammunition could be included in the sale. To get rid of him, Mr Middleton falsely claimed that the gun had already been sold.

Nicholas Prosper (pictured) filmed himself pretending to fire shots with a wooden stick in his kitchen

The moment the gruesome killer purchased the shotgun he would use to kill his family was caught in CCTV footage

Nicholas Prosper bought his murder weapon off David Billingsby (pictured) in a meeting which lasted barely eight minutes

Just two days later Prosper spotted Mr Billingsby's ad on another website called Gunstar. Again, he offered well over the asking price  450  saying he would pay 650 for the shotgun and 100 cartridges plus 30 petrol money.

He initially offered to collect the weapon on September 11, but in a WhatsApp message asked to change the date to the 12th: 'After checking my schedule I would have to move some things around, as I'm returning on the 7th from Minsmere volunteer work, and I'd have to catch up with college.' A clearly confident liar, Prosper added: 'Thank you for your cooperation, and please, since you're the one making the journey, do be honest as I'd hate to make things more difficult for you.'

Once Mr Billingsby offered to drop the gun off on September 12, Prosper replied: 'Sounds great! I've been investing so I wouldn't mind throwing in some extra gas money as thanks. Again, thank you David. I look forward to meeting you.'

The timing of the delivery was crucial. Prosper had become fixated with carrying out his murderous plan on Friday 13th. He wanted to complete the sale of the weapon as close as possible to that date to minimise the risk of being discovered.

By law, vendors have seven days to notify police of a gun sale. In fact, Mr Billingsby notified both his home force and Bedfordshire Police at 5.30pm on the day of the sale. As cunning Prosper had evidently foreseen, there wasn't enough time for either force to carry out the checks which would have revealed his licence to be a forgery.

Unaware anything was amiss, Mr Billingsby drove into the car park next to Leabank, the Luton tower block where Prosper lived with his 49-year-old Argentinian mother Juliana, his brother Kyle, 16, and sister Giselle, 13. It was there in his bedroom in the family's eighth-floor flat that the disturbed teen had become a recluse since dropping out of school  where he had been studying for A-levels in psychology, criminology and art  in March 2023.

Aside from going to the gym and working as as a shelf stacker at Sainsbury's between October and December 2023  when he was dismissed  all his time was spent online. He visited the dark web to watch videos of real-life killings and spout his own sick views on paedophilia, murder and necrophilia.

He was obsessed with mass killers such as Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011, and Adam Lanza, who shot dead 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the US in 2012.

19-year-old Prosper was jailed for 49 years for murdering his family and a failed plot to kill 30 young children in a school shooting

Left to right: Giselle Prosper, 13, Juliana Prosper, 48 and 16-year-old Kyle Prosper were all killed in their own home. Each suffered shotgun wounds to the face, while Kyle was also stabbed more than 100 times across his body before being shot

The 19-year-old pictured in Luton Crown Court on Tuesday in an artist's impression for the first of what was a two-day sentencing hearing

CCTV footage shows Mr Billingsby parking at 10.44am, getting out of his silver Kia Sportage and opening the boot. He waits for nearly nine minutes for Prosper to arrive. As the teenager approaches on foot, carrying his forged gun licence in a plastic folder, Mr Billingsby greets him with a cheery wave. The two shake hands  Prosper, who speaks in a disturbing and monotonous voice in the terrifying videos he made in the hours before he started killing, is all smiles as he follows Mr Billingsby to the rear of the car.

Mr Billingsby would later describe Prosper as 'polite and well speaking' and 'reasonable'. He checked the forged shotgun licence and, seeing nothing wrong, a transfer of firearm document was completed. Prosper handed over a total of 680 in cash.

By 11.01am, the deal was done and Prosper walked off with a farewell nod of his head and the gun in a fishing rod bag.

While Mr Billingsby drove home with his wife  and correctly notified police of the gun sale  Prosper hid the gun in his bedroom as the final countdown to his murderous spree began. The true horror of what took place in the hours that followed was laid bare in court this week as Prosper, who was motivated by a sick desire for lasting notoriety, was sentenced for his terrible crimes.

A video he made of himself showed him practising with a piece of wood as a mock gun, moving around the kitchen at the family's flat and saying 'bang' as he pretended to fire it. He also tested the gun he'd bought from Mr Billingsby by firing it into a teddy bear in his bedroom.

Unimaginable horror unfolded at around 5am on Friday 13th. Prosper planned to kill his family in their sleep but his mother woke up and confronted her son, prompting what the prosecution said in court was a 'prolonged, violent struggle' with blood found across the flat. Prosper's brother and sister were also woken.

Juliana was killed in the hallway by a single shot to the top of her head but had slash injuries to her hands and left arm after desperately trying to fight off her son. A copy of the comic novel How To Kill Your Family was later found resting on her legs.

Prosper is pictured in his police mugshot after being arrested by officers in September

Giselle, who desperately hid under a table in the living room, was killed by a single shot to her head. The injuries suffered by her brother Kyle were said in court to be 'particularly distressing'. More than 100 knife wounds were found on his body. He was also shot in the right side of the chest and on top of his head.

But Prosper hadn't accounted for the disturbance his unfettered violence would cause. In the flat below, neighbour Clarice Reyes heard banging and what in court was said to have 'sounded heavy and like people fighting'.

In court, prosecutor Timothy Cray explained in terrifying detail how Clarice went upstairs to complain about the noise, not realising how much danger she was putting herself in.

'She stepped into the hallway and could still hear the banging and crashing: there were noises like things were being thrown around,' Mr Cray said in court. 'She moved to the front door of the Prosper flat. She knocked on the door by flicking the letterbox out and letting it bang back a few times. The banging and ruffling noises stopped a few seconds after she knocked this first time. She could hear a boy groaning. She then heard something like punching or kicks and then groaning which was not stopping.

'Every time she heard a hit the groan would come. After around 20 seconds she knocked again using the letterbox in the same way. She could still hear the groaning and the punching or kicking noises. It had carried on despite her knocking.

'After another 20 seconds she knocked a third time. After this third time the noises slowed down a bit and within five seconds she heard a big bang like a gunshot come from the hallway.'

Clarice fled back to her flat and called the police. Other neighbours told the Mail that she was 'broken' by what had happened and now trying to move to a new home, although by calling the police she may well have stopped Prosper from carrying out his planned massacre at his former school, St Joseph's Primary.

Prosper was furious that his murderous plans so quickly descended into chaos. A seized note he wrote in custody said: 'I was right in predicting no one would've called the police had I killed them in their sleep. Three shots under 30 seconds. The only known phone call to police that day was made by the bitch at the door as a result of my B**** mother waking them up and it being turned into a long struggle. My plan wasn't 'stupid'. I was f**king right. MY MOTHER IS A STUPID F*****G COW.'

The scene at Prosper's home in Luton where he carried out the triple killing of his family

Prosper left the flat at 5.33am and hid in a wooded area near his home for just over two hours before waving at a passing police car at around 7.50am. He then led them to his hidden gun and bag of cartridges, later saying that he believed schools in the area would have been locked down, preventing him from carrying out his planned mass shooting.

Following his triple killing, however, the National Crime Agency (NCA) launched a campaign 'in response to the rising threat of fraudulent firearms documents being used in an attempt to unlawfully acquire legally held firearms in the UK', along with a video of 'quick and easy checks' which should be made when a firearm is sold or transferred.

The ABC of check urges sellers to 'always see the original certificate' and ensure it isn't printed on plain paper, to 'beware of the buyer offering you more money than you have stated in the advert' and to 'compare their certificate to your own' and ensure the layout and format of the certificate is the same. The video shows how to check watermarks.

According to those that know him, Mr Billingsby is a highly experienced and 'very safe' clay pigeon shooter. In 2005 he was part of a team of five at Kent Gun Club in Dartford that set a Guinness World Record, which stood until 2019, for the most clay pigeon targets shot in 12 hours  4,602. The team's achievement raised thousands of pounds for a stroke victim.

One of his neighbours said this week that 'no blame should be attached to his actions whatsoever. He must feel dreadful.

'Can you imagine thinking you'd followed all the correct procedures and then finding you'd had a hand in the killing of an entire family? It must be unbearable.'

While Mr Billingsby followed the letter of the law, Gill Marshall, chair of Gun Control Network, a charity set up in 1996 in the wake of the massacre at Dunblane Primary School, said that gun legislation dating back to 1968 needed a 'complete overhaul' but 'no political party wants to give it the time necessary'.

The killer is seen in a court sketch, flanked by a prison guard during his sentencing hearing

She added: 'There should not be private sales of these weapons of mass destruction taking place in car parks or online  or anywhere else. Gun sales should be conducted by licensed gun dealers in conjunction with the police who will check certificates and do background checks before a gun is handed over, not afterwards.'

She said that background checks should be extended to include social media use.

Nick Morgan of the National Firearms Association said the UK had incredibly strict gun control but conceded that an online system for firearms certificates was required following the Prosper case. 'There should be an online system where those who have jumped through the hoops to gain a firearms certificate are registered along with their pictures,' he said. 'That would take away the scenario in this case where someone committing a fraud with a fake certificate gets access to a firearm that they are not entitled to.'

Exactly 29 years to the month since Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and their teacher at Dunblane Primary School, the most pressing question the Government must now answer is how Prosper was able to come so close to fulfilling his monstrous plot.

And whether, given the ease with which he forged a shotgun certificate, the UK's gun laws are even fit for purpose.
An 18-year-old has been charged with murder following the fatal stabbing of a man by a machete-wielding group amid plans to ban the weapon.

Timothy Leek was stabbed to death near the Marriott Waters Shopping Centre in Melbourne's southeast on the night of Friday, March 14.

The 24-year-old victim from Clyde was in a Lyndhurst car park when up to 10 men ambushed him, some carrying machetes.

He was taken to hospital, where he later died.

Victoria Police arrested an 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy in Doveton on Friday.

Homicide detectives interviewed them and the 18-year-old was charged with murder.

He will face Melbourne Magistrates Court later on Saturday.

The 17-year-old boy was released pending further inquiries.

Forensic investigators were seen examining a car following the attack last Friday

CCTV footage shared by the Herald Sun depicted men running across the street last Friday

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen announced a proposed machete ban at a Victorian Police Headquarters presentation last Thursday

Mr Leek was the fourth person killed in a machete-related murder in Victoria in the past six months.

The Victorian government moved laws in state parliament this week to ban the sale and possession of machetes from September 1 to combat their rising use.

The state opposition said it would move to amend the government's legislation to make the machete ban immediate.

'We need to make sure that we don't see the murder that we saw on Friday night again with machetes on our streets,' Opposition Leader Brad Battin said last week.

'We need to make sure that families aren't waking up and seeing young offenders in their house with machetes.'
A plastic surgeon known as the 'Boob God' has launched a legal war with an influencer who allegedly broke a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) by complaining about her procedure.

Katy Morgan criticised Dr Riccardo Frati on social media after she alleged that he botched her surgery in April 2021 and is now facing legal action for breaching the NDA she said was signed while she was high on opioids.

Mother-of-two Ms Morgan told Manchester Civil Justice Centre she was unaware she had signed the contract before making the 'disparaging comments' in 2023.

But Dr Frati's team say the NDA meant the influencer was not allowed to share any information about her treatment by the 'Boob God' and that she would now have to pay a financial sum for breaching the contract's terms.

The General Medical Council (GMC) told The Times that Ms Morgan signing the NDA would not prevent them investigating any concerns she raised.

A spokesman for the organisation, who operate as an independent regulator for doctors, said they would have 'a legal duty' to consider any complaints - even if they were in the alleged breach of a contract.

Ms Morgan's legal team has argued that the legal case should be dismissed, saying the clause stopping Morgan from reporting the treatment to regulators cannot truly be enforced.

They have also said the NDA was obtained through 'undue influence' when Ms Morgan was unfit to consent.

Dr Riccardo Frati, who is known as the 'Boob God' has launched a legal war with an influencer who broke a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) by complaining about her procedure

Katy Morgan criticised Dr Riccardo Frati on social media after an alleged botched surgery in April 2021 and is now facing legal action for breaching the NDA she said was signed while she was high on opioids

Mother-of-two Ms Morgan told Manchester Civil Justice Centre she was unaware she had signed the contract before making the 'disparaging comments' in 2023

Judge Ivan Ranson said Ms Morgan, who reportedly suffers with 'severe anxiety', claims to have been 'totally off my head on opiates on the day I signed it' - and says she has proof of this.

However, the 'Boob God's' lawyers have claimed any records being used in evidence would need to be 'scrutinised' in order to ensure they were real.

Dr Frati obtained an court order against Ms Morgan in 2023 after he said the influencer breached the NDA through her social media posts.

But Ms Morgan's legal team have since said the contract violated her right to free expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The influencer who was previously legally unrepresented has also secured backing from the Free Speech Union (FSU), who have branded the case 'deeply alarming'.

Dr Frati obtained an court order against Ms Morgan in 2023 after he said the influencer breached the NDA through her social media posts

The influencer, who had previously been unrepresented has since secured backing from the Free Speech Union, who have branded the case 'deeply alarming'

FSU Legal Counsel Bryn Harris said: 'No contract, not even one issued by the Boob God himself, should shield powerful professionals from accountability and we are confident the court will agree.'

Dr Frati says his 'experience and expertise are unmatched' and he has worked on numerous celebrities across the UK and abroad, providing 'fast-recovery techniques and beautiful results for breast augmentation, rhinoplasty and abdominoplasty'.

On the proceedings, he told The Times: 'I am advised that for a number of reasons it would be wholly inappropriate for me to be asked to comment until the allegations have been properly pleaded but I can say that the allegations made against me are baseless.'

Some of Dr Frati's most notable clients have been Gemma Collins and ex-Big Brother contestant Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace.

It was his work on Mrs Horgan-Wallace that saw his nickname the 'Boob God' come about after he created the UK's largest legal breast implants for her.
Solar panels bought for English schools and hospitals will come from China, Ed Miliband has admitted, despite concerns over human rights and impacts on the environment.

The first project of the Energy Secretarys new green quango will see it oversee a 180million project to install rooftop panels on 200 school buildings and almost as many NHS sites.

He told broadcasters yesterday that the investment from Great British Energy will immediately save the public sector money on electricity bills, with services able to sell excess power back to the National Grid.

But when asked where the solar panels will come from he conceded that some will come from China, which is responsible for an estimated 80 per cent of total global supply. Quizzed as to why British ones were not being used, Mr Miliband told LBC radio: Our solar panel industry has not got this kind of share of the market.

When asked if they will come from China or Russia, he said: Some of them will be, theyll be from different countries, but thats why weve got to build our domestic industry.

The first project of the Energy Secretarys new green quango will see it oversee a 180million project to install rooftop panels on 200 school buildings and almost as many NHS sites. Pictured: Miliband attends the China-UK Energy Dialogue with Wang Hongzhi, head of China's National Energy Administration, in Beijing earlier this week

He told broadcasters yesterday that the investment from Great British Energy will immediately save the public sector money on electricity bills, with services able to sell excess power back to the National Grid. Pictured: File photo

But when asked where the solar panels will come from he conceded that some will come from China. Pictured: Miliband and Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang on Monday

Critics say it makes no sense for Britain to attempt to cut emissions in the UK by shipping materials from China, where they are likely to have been manufactured using electricity from coal-fired power plants. The Conservatives energy spokesman Andrew Bowie said: If these solar panels do come from thousands of miles away it shows how ridiculous this whole thing is. Ed Miliband and his eco warriors need to get real.

There are also concerns that Chinas solar power industry uses the forced labour of Uyghurs in Xinjiang province. Next week MPs will debate a proposal that would outlaw public funding of renewable companies with forced labour in their supply chains.

The amendment to the Great British Energy Bill was passed by the Lords last month in a defeat for the Government, but Labour ministers are expected to use their majority in the Commons to remove it from the legislation.

Luke de Pulford, of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, told the Mail: Uyghur forced labour is rife in the solar supply chain, and very little is being done about it.

Wheres the climate justice in a green transition built on modern slavery? I hope the Government sees sense.

Sources said strict procurement rules will allow the Department for Education and the NHS to end contracts with suppliers that have broken slavery laws.
Ceasefire: even the word is ominous. The deal being brokered by America to bring a halt to the battlefield slaughter in Ukraine is not a peace treaty.

It is exactly what it implies  a temporary cessation in the fighting.

Whatever emerges from the negotiations, there can be no lasting peace, not as long as Russia is intent on expansion.

The concessions being forced on Ukraine amount to little more than appeasement.

As Adolf Hitler took advantage of Allied naivety in 1938 at Munich, using the paper-thin treaty negotiated by British PM Neville Chamberlain to buy more time for his war preparations, so Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will use this ceasefire to rebuild his forces and get ready for all-out war with the West.

We don't yet know all the details of the deal with Russia. But one thing is certain: when the Kremlin is ready, Russia will renege in the most bloodthirsty fashion.

I predict there will be war in two years at the outside, unless we do what is needed to deter Russia.

What dictates whether the West can survive is how well prepared we are.

Europe's 'coalition of the willing', urged on by the UK, has pledged to put peacekeeping troops into Ukraine to enforce the ceasefire.

President Donald Trump and his vice-president JD Vance have made it clear the US will do no such thing  there will be no military guarantees from Washington, merely hundreds of American miners overseeing the extraction of up to half a trillion dollars-worth of rare minerals from Ukraine soil.

We don't yet know all the details of the deal with Russia. But one thing is certain: when the Kremlin is ready, Russia will renege in the most bloodthirsty fashion, writes Sir Richard Shirreff

Whatever emerges from the negotiations, there can be no lasting peace, not as long as Russia is intent on expansion. Pictured: The Russian army's multiple rocket launcher Solntsepyok fires towards Ukrainian positions in the border area of Kursk region, Russia

I predict there will be war in two years at the outside, unless we do what is needed to deter Russia, says Sir Richard Shirreff (pictured)

As well as the possibility of the US taking ownership of Ukraine's nuclear power plants to provide 'the best protection' for the country's energy infrastructure.

This civilian contingent, Trump claims, is the only US presence required because Russia would never dare attack if it meant putting American lives at risk. He is living in cloud cuckoo land.

Putin proved he cares nothing for the lives of Westerners when he ordered the assassination of defector Sergei Skripal in Salisbury seven years ago, using a weapons-grade nerve agent.

Skripal and his daughter Yulia survived but an innocent Briton was killed and a policeman suffered life-changing harm. The death toll could easily have been in the tens of thousands in the quiet cathedral city of Salisbury.

Western politicians have to work on the basis that, intentionally or not, Trump is effectively a Russian asset.

There's plenty of solid evidence to show that he was close to the Soviet regime in the 1980s and, when his business empire faltered in the 1990s, he was bankrolled by Russians.

Whether he is actively colluding with the Kremlin has not been established, but without doubt he is a sympathetic agent of influence for Putin's regime.

I would also nominate him as Putin's most useful idiot, aided and abetted by his blundering diplomats, Marco Rubio and his real estate sidekick Steve Witkoff.

President Donald Trump and his vice-president JD Vance have made it clear the US will give no military guarantees

What dictates whether the West can survive is how well prepared we are. Europe's 'coalition of the willing', urged on by the UK, has pledged to put peacekeeping troops into Ukraine to enforce the ceasefire, Shirreff continues. Pictured: Russian soldiers fire a 2S4 Tyulpan self-propelled heavy mortar in Ukraine

Some sort of European peace enforcement presence will need to be in Ukraine, without active US involvement, but Russia will strongly resist any front line presence. Wherever the border is drawn between free Ukraine and the annexed territories, Putin will never agree to having Nato troops on his doorstep.

The worst-case scenario would be an under-powered, nominal force in the centre and west of Ukraine, around Kyiv and Lviv, too far away for a rapid reaction to any Russian incursion, and lacking the firepower to defend themselves against a full-throttle attack.

It's very unlikely that Putin will launch a surprise assault on the peacekeepers. His instinct is to proceed by a steady stream of provocations, testing what he can get away with.

To Putin, his war on the West has already begun, with a constant barrage of lies and conspiracy theories polluting social media.

His aim for the past decade has been to destabilise our democracies, stirring up division and polarising debate, with considerable success.

Only this week it was revealed that Russian agents researched fire protocols at a factory owned by a German arms firm shortly before it burst into flames last summer. Putin's saboteurs were seemingly trying to disrupt arms deliveries to Ukraine.

The fire which brought Heathrow to a standstill yesterday may be an accident. But if it is sabotage, it is straight out of the Kremlin playbook.

Western politicians have to work on the basis that, intentionally or not, Trump is effectively a Russian asset

I would also nominate Trump as Putin's most useful idiot, aided and abetted by his blundering diplomats, Marco Rubio (pictured) and his real estate sidekick Steve Witkoff

Though he regards Britain as a particular enemy, all Nato countries are his targets. Russia already has allies within the hard-right governments of Slovakia and Hungary, and Romania is next.

Putin's ultimate goal is to reunite the Eastern Bloc, from Bulgaria to Poland, under a new Russian empire. The more this can be done by subverting democracy instead of military means, the easier it will be.

The far-Right Romanian populist rabble-rouser Calin Georgescu lost his appeal this month against a ruling that bars him from standing in May's presidential elections.

Georgescu won the first round of voting last year but was disqualified when Romanian intelligence discovered that hundreds of TikTok accounts backing his candidacy were set up by Russian agents.

But the damage is done. Thousands of Georgescu supporters have staged angry protests, no doubt stirred up by Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU. They are proclaiming his victory and denouncing the judges who barred him as traitors.

Every Nato country which shows support for Russia will weaken the Western alliance that has kept the peace for nearly 80 years. But a far greater loss to our unity than Hungary or Romania is the effective withdrawal by the US.

Trump has made it plain that Article 5, the common pledge between Nato members that we protect each other, no longer applies in all circumstances, even issuing threats against a Nato country, Denmark, over its refusal to cede Greenland to the US.

We cannot rely on American troops and munitions in a conflict with Russia. More shocking still, as Ukraine discovered earlier this month, we cannot rely on the US to share its intelligence.

The far-Right Romanian populist rabble-rouser Calin Georgescu lost his appeal this month against a ruling that bars him from standing in May's presidential elections

Perhaps we cannot even be fully sure, in the event of war, whose side Trump would be on.

Europe has perhaps two years to prepare for a head-on confrontation with Russia and we must be ready now for the unconventional war of sabotage, arson, cyber attacks, propaganda and assassination which will set the conditions for full-scale war.

It is no exaggeration to say that tens of millions of lives and the national survival of Britain, France, Germany and all our true allies are at stake.

Earlier this month, the European Commission's president Ursula Von der Leyen announced up to 800billion euros will be spent on rearming the continent and delivering aid to Ukraine.

Welcome though that decision is, we might have left it too late.

When war comes, as it will come, events will unfold at devastating speed.

This is how the timeline could look:

Monday March 1, 2027: A Russian unit patrolling occupied Donetsk is attacked and, after a brief firefight, surrenders. The soldiers are executed in cold blood. Russia blames Ukrainian special forces.

Kyiv immediately denies it. Bodycam footage from one of the dead soldiers shows the ambush was carried out by men in Ukraine uniforms.

Tuesday March 2: The Kremlin announces that, for the safety of its citizens and soldiers, and the protection of American mining installations along the border, it will be establishing a 100-mile 'buffer zone'.

Heavily equipped Russian forces immediately roll into Ukraine.

President Vitali Klitschko, who succeeded Volodymyr Zelensky after the 2025 elections, denies again the involvement of Ukrainian troops and accuses Russia of a 'false flag' operation.

'Putin is a psychopath,' he says, 'who murders his own soldiers to create a lie.' Klitschko demands Nato support Ukraine in driving back the Russian advance.

The fire which brought Heathrow to a standstill yesterday may be an accident. But if it is sabotage, it is straight out of the Kremlin playbook, writes Shirreff. Pictured: The huge fire at North Hyde electrical substation near Heathrow Airport

More than 500 miles away, the peacekeeping force prepares to mobilise, but Trump steps in. The White House welcomes the creation of a buffer zone, he says, to keep American mining operations safe from Ukraine rebels.

Thursday March 4: At a UN Security Council emergency meeting, the US votes with Russia to redraw the map. Poland's prime minister Donald Tusk warns that Putin is testing Europe's resolve.

Unless we have the determination to force a Russian retreat, without US involvement and in open battle if necessary, he will interpret our weakness as an invitation to go further. Russia offers to negotiate a withdrawal.

Klitschko rejects the ploy, dismissing it as a cynical trick: the longer the West delays, the more time Putin has to reinforce his positions. But Nato chiefs agree to talks.

Sunday March 7: Tusk is proven right. Putin has decided we are toothless. At 4.30am, a full Russian armoured division begins to roll across the border into Estonia and Latvia. Within four hours they are approaching the Estonian capital of Tallinn.

The British-led Enhanced Forward Battle Group in Estonia puts up brief resistance but takes heavy losses before being overwhelmed and forced to withdraw.

This is a tripwire force, numbering just over a thousand, of which around 90 per cent are British with the rest from other nations. More than 50 UK soldiers are among those killed and seriously wounded in the ferocious first action.

At 11am, Sir Keir Starmer announces Britain is formally at war with Russia.

Televised statements are made by the German chancellor, the French president and the Italian prime minister.

But not all Nato countries are united in the reaction. As well as Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, the US refuses to offer support.

On his Truth Social service, Donald Trump posts: 'This is Europe's mess. I gave them peace. They screwed it up. America is staying out of this fight, as long as our great Engineers in Ukraine are safe under Russian protection. Vitali, this warning is for you.'

Earlier this month, the European Commission's president Ursula Von der Leyen announced up to 800billion euros will be spent on rearming the continent and delivering aid to Ukraine

Monday March 8: The blitzkrieg continues, with forces surging into Latvia over the Russian border and driving towards the Baltic sea.

But the Estonians, combined with the remains of the Nato battle group and reinforcements hastily flown in from UK and other Nato nations, are putting up fierce resistance.

The RAF, German Luftwaffe, Finnish and Swedish airforces, with support from the French, rapidly establish dominance in the air.

Putin unleashes a missile attack on RAF bases in east England, but Britain's air defences prove solid. Patrolling in the North Sea, a pair of newly commissioned Type 45 destroyers pick off the Geran-2 rocket drones, fired in clusters from Kaliningrad.

Some missiles hit targets in Western Europe, but the hundreds of billions of euros poured into strengthening our armed forces in the past two years means we can defend ourselves  and hit back hard.

Retaliatory strikes deep inside Russia take out oil refineries and missile silos. But the European war plan is not to win by sheer firepower. Instead, we turn the tables on the Kremlin's cyber-warfare tactics, with a devastating barrage of electronic tricks.

As night falls, Russia's computer networks are crippled, taking down their fuel supplies, electricity grid and financial systems. It's -6C in Moscow and millions are without heating.

Tuesday March 9: Fighting intensifies in the Baltic states. The advance has slowed but defenders are hugely outnumbered. They will face a bitter struggle to fend off the invaders until reinforcements can arrive by sea  and even then Russia could still have the upper hand.

Their forces are battle-hardened after three years of trench warfare and house-to-house fighting in Ukraine, and they can absorb horrendous losses.

The concessions being forced on Ukraine amount to little more than appeasement, according to Shirreff

But if Putin is close to winning on the battlefield, he is close to losing control in his cities. European missiles continue to pick off vital targets in Russia.

Transport is grinding to a halt. Food is scarce. The internet is not functioning, and the security forces are stretched, trying to contain anti-war protests.

Russia, consumed by the demands of an insane warmongering dictator for so many years, is on the brink of total collapse.

Wednesday March 10: In a desperate last attempt to blackmail the world, Putin announces he will use nuclear weapons before allowing the West to defeat Russia. Satellite intelligence suggests this is no bluff, and that Kyiv is a likely first target.

That is all the provocation Ukraine needs. During two years of ceasefire, its own nuclear scientists have not been idle.

They have the Bomb and a burning hatred of everything Russian. In an act of stupendous revenge, Ukraine launches a nuclear strike against the industrial Volgograd. The city is instantly obliterated.

Within the hour, Trump declares Ukraine a terrorist state. But he also warns Russia  and others  against retaliation with nuclear weapons. China orders the Kremlin to sue for peace immediately.

There is no need. By nightfall, ultra-nationalists enraged at the destruction of their country have staged a palace coup and overthrown Putin.

The madman of Moscow has finally gone. Russia's vassal republics in the far east and Caucasus begin to declare their independence from Putin's rapidly disintegrating empire.

Fiction this might be, but if we duck the opportunity to become masters of our fate, it will be Putin, not us, who is in control.

Again, whether the West can survive depends on how well prepared we are. Tens of millions of lives and the very existence of Britain, France, Germany and the democracies of Europe are at stake.

Defence must be our only priority, taking precedence over everything. Because without it we will cease to exist.

Sir Richard Shirreff is former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe for Nato.
The daughter of Brigitte Macron is reportedly dating a hard-right 'shock jock' who blames the French president - her step-father - for taking his show off the air.

Tiphaine Auziere, 41, is believed to be romantically involved with Cyril Hanouna, 50, the former host of Don't Touch My TV Set (TPMP), the Daily Telegraph reported.

The sensationalist talk show, which regularly campaigned for hard-right candidates and gave a voice to members of the Yellow Vests protesters, ceased broadcasting following the closure of channel C8 on February 28.

The channel was shuttered after French media watchdog Arcom decided not to renew its 10-year licence, accusing it of repeatedly failing to respect human rights and protect minors - a decision upheld by France's top administrative court.

However, Mr Hanouna has accused Emmanuel Macron of playing a part in the show's cancellation - with some even suggesting his decision to date Ms Auziere is driven by a desire for revenge.

The pair are said to have met when Mr Hanouna - whose nickname is Baba - invited Ms Auziere on to his show as a legal expert.

The supposed romance was broken by celebrity magazine Paris Splash, which posted a photograph on the front page of the pair spotted together at an upmarket restaurant in the 8th arrondissement of the French capital.

The news of the couple's romance is said to have shocked the Presidential Palace.

Lawyer and novelist Tiphaine Auziere, 41, (pictured in 2022) is the daughter of French first lady Brigitte Macron

Ms Auziere is reportedly dating Cyril Hanouna, 50, the bearded 'bad boy' of French television who regularly hosted hard-right guests on his hit show Don't Touch My TV Set

News of the relationship is said to have shocked the Presidential Palace, although Ms Macron (left) is said to have been supportive

The magazine called the whirlwind romance 'a beautiful story, more than a passing fling' and claimed that Ms Auziere had come clean about her 'blossoming love story' to her mother earlier this month.

Ms Auziere is a lawyer and writer, who published her first novel in 2024.

She is the mother of two children, aged eight and nine, with consultant physician Antoine Choteau, although it is thought the couple broke things off in January this year.

Neither Mr Macron nor his wife have offered any comment about the reported romance.

C8, the network that Mr Hanouna broadcast his show on, is part of the Canal+ group owned by conservative billionaire and Vincent Bollore's media conglomerate Vivendi.

The decision not to renew its license caused outrage among the French right, who accused the French media watchdog of an attack on free speech, with Marine Le Pen, leader of the hard-Right National Rally, lambasting the move as an act of 'political censorship'.

However Mr Macron denied that it was a 'political decision' and said he had no part to play in the choice not to renew the license.

Mr Hanouna did briefly move the show online for three weeks, before eventually bowing out.

Speaking at the end of his final web show, he said: 'I know I did my best to stay with you as long as possible. And it was a huge success.

Mr Hanouna's show was taken off the air after French media watchdog Arcom decided not to renew the licence of C8, the channel it ran on

Ms Auziere pictured in 2022. She is said to have met Mr Hanouna - whose nickname is Baba - when he invited her on to his show as a legal expert

Brigitte Macron (right), wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, and her daughter Tiphaine Auziere (left) pose as they leave a polling station in 2017

'We were the number one talk show host thanks to you, every night, we did our best. Know that we'll continue to do our best all the time.'

While the romance between the French president's step-daughter and the bad boy TV host is the talk of the town, some believe the timing is too suspicious for it to be authentic.

Le Point magazine quoted a source close to Mr Hanouna who cast doubt on the relationship.

They said: 'There are no revealing photos in the report. And frankly, Cyril very often invites certain members of the team to dinner in the evening, after the show, it's his habit. It's nothing new.'

Another source noted that the duo left the restaurant separately and said that the TV personality seemed 'more intent on eating his pasta' then making romantic overtures to his supposed love interest.

Users on social media also floated the theory that the entire relationship was confected to distract viewers' attention away from a newly-released 2023 recording of him allegedly insulting and threatening violence towards a columnist on his show.
A teenager accused of forcing his way onto a Jetstar flight while allegedly armed with a shotgun will face new federal charges including attempted hijacking.

A joint counter-terrorism taskforce has been investigating the incident at Avalon Airport in Victoria on the afternoon of March 6.

It was revealed on Friday the 17-year-old boy has been charged with four federal offences in addition to 12 prior state offences.

The federal charges include assaulting a member of an airline crew, attempted hijack, prejudicing the safe operation of an aircraft with intent to kill, and prejudicing the safe operation of an aircraft.

A children's court heard on Friday the teen may have communicated with a foreign entity or individual in relation to the alleged attempted hijacking.

The nature of any foreign communications including the identities of any entities or individuals will be suppressed for three months following a successful application by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) on grounds of national security.

Police allege the teenager entered Victoria's second-largest airport through a hole in the chain-link fence before approaching the commercial flight on foot.

The teen, whose name has been suppressed for legal reasons, is alleged to have boarded the flight with a shotgun and claimed to be carrying explosives.

'I've got bombs in my bag', he is alleged to have told passengers.

NSW sheep farmer Barry Clark (pictured left) has now been granted free flights from Avalon for life after he fearlessly took down the accused gunman

Police alleged the teenager climbed through a hole in a fence at Avalon Airport before he approached the commercial flight on foot

The suppression order, which has barred reporting on material found in a car driven by the teenager, will extend until June this year.

The 17-year-old remains in custody and will face court in April.

He is facing state offences of carrying out a bomb hoax, possessing a firearm, unlawfully taking control of an aircraft and endangering the safety of an aircraft.

The AFP allege the teenager had placed a 'faux homemade explosive', which was intended to look like it was legitimate.

About 160 passengers were onboard the flight which was due to fly to Sydney.

A sheep farmer from NSW was hailed a national hero after footage emerged of him taking down the alleged hijacker.

Barry Clark was granted free flights from Avalon Airport for life after he joined the pilot and others in tackling the 17-year-old to the ground.

The incident was captured by passenger Daniel Defino who said Mr Clark had 'put him in a headlock' after the pilot spotted the shotgun and leapt into action.

Aussie farmer Barry Clark (centre) has been hailed as a national hero for restraining the teen

Passenger Daniel Defino (pictured) captured the incident on his phone

'He was dead silent [and] there was no emotion in his eyes at all. He looked almost fake, it was so scary,' he said.

In footage of the incident, Mr Clark is heard telling the pilot he will hold the intruder down while others disarm him.

'I don't want to f***ing let him go. I'm not strangling you, mate, but you're not f***ing moving alright?' he said.

During the struggle the pilot removed what appeared to be the barrel of a shotgun. He then kicked away the gun's stock which was already on the floor.

Passengers were urged to immediately exit the plane via the rear door.

No one was physically harmed in the incident.

Bomb response officers were called to assist.
A family of three have vanished without a trace while on a trip to the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Jiyeon Lee, 33, along with Taehee Kim, 59, and Junghee Kim, 54, were last seen on March 13, driving a rented white 2024 BMW westbound on Interstate 40 having visited the canyon to head for the bright lights of Las Vegas.

But somewhere along the icy highway, amid the chaos of a devastating 22-vehicle pile-up, the family has disappeared.

For eight days there has been no activity on their credit cards, no pings from their cell phones and no sign of the car they were traveling in.

'We have visitors from all over the world that come here, but yeah, it is a little unusual to have three go missing at the same time,' said Jon Paxton of the Coconino County Sheriff's Office to AZFamily.

'We're operating with very limited information,' said Paxton.

'Since the 13th, there has been no phone pings that we've seen, no phone calls, no credit card use, and that GPS - there's never been another point on that GPS on that vehicle. So that does make it difficult.'

The three women from the same family were on vacation, exploring was is usually one of the most scenic areas of the country.

On the day the family was last seen, the Arizona Department of Public Safety reported a horrific chain-reaction crash on an icy I-40 near Williams, a town just south of the Grand Canyon National Park.

A family of three have vanished without a trace while on a trip to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Pictured: Jiyeon Lee, 33, and Junghee Kim, 54

Taehee Kim, 69, left, and Junghee Kim, 64, right, were last seen traveling from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas amid a winter storm

The collision involved 13 passenger cars and multiple 18-wheelers. The storm caused a tractor-trailer to jackknife on the interstate

The collision involved 13 passenger cars and multiple 18-wheelers. The storm caused a tractor-trailer to jackknife on the interstate.

Two people were killed with some of the cars bursting into flames for more than 20 hours.

They were named Juan Beltran Sanchez from Chino Valley and Evelyn Davis from Ganado, which are both cities in Arizona.

Although investigators do not yet know if the family's BMW was part of the fiery accident, the timing may not be a coincidence.

According to the sheriff's office, GPS data showed the BMW traveling westbound on I-40 at exactly 3:27pm on March 13 - the exact same highway and same time where the massive crash occurred.

'It was our concern that because of the weather conditions on that day and that major accident, their GPS may have rerouted them,' the sheriff's office told Fox 10.

'And if you've ever traveled up in northern Arizona, when you get rerouted, sometimes GPS will reroute you out into a forest service road without knowing that weather conditions are harsh.'

Two people were killed with some of the cars bursting into flames for more than 20 hours

Although investigators do not yet know if the family's BMW was part of the fiery accident, the timing may not be a coincidence

Local authorities have not ruled out that the family may have been caught in the deadly crash

Authorities said it is currently unknown if the family was involved in the multi-vehicle pileup

The ADPS said the collision involved 22 vehicles, including 13 passenger vehicles and a total of 36 people, two of whom were killed in the accident

The massive collision resulted in road closures and a multi-agency response to provide medical assistance and put out a fire that burned for 20 hours

CCSO released a missing persons poster for the family and asked the public for assistance in locating them

Local authorities have not ruled out that the family may have been caught in the deadly crash or driven into isolated, dangerous terrain during the storm.

The area is known for spotty cell service and confusing rural roads. GPS can fail and so can visibility - especially during a winter squall as was the case during the pile-up.

Anyone who sees the white 2024 BMW with a California license plate 9KHN768 is encouraged to call authorities.
Fears were growing last night that plans for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine led by British troops could be watered down.

Keir Starmer has pledged to protect the air, sea and land in the war-ravaged country after any truce with Russia.

But while the UK still hopes to send soldiers to Ukraine's major cities, the force is expected to be smaller than expected. Previously, officials boasted the multinational force could be up to 30,000.

But estimates of 10,000 are now being offered as more realistic, and troops will deploy to more benign areas than initially anticipated.

Last night, Downing Street insisted it was too soon to 'rule anything out'. But the prospect of thousands of British and French troops facing off against the Russians appears to be fading.

It comes against the backdrop of Russia's objections to the plan, UK manpower issues as well as the US's apparent refusal to provide a 'backstop'.

Changes to the make-up of the peacekeeping force were discussed in the UK on Thursday.

The Prime Minister has won praise for assembling the coalition, but is struggling to meet his 'boots on the ground' pledge.

Sources expect Ukrainian troops to provide the ground force, with the UK and allies protecting the skies and Black Sea.

Keir Starmer has pledged to protect the air, sea and land in the war-ravaged country after any truce with Russia

US President Donald Trump yesterday said a full ceasefire is close. But asked if he would punish Russia with more sanctions for recent attacks on Ukraine, he refused to criticise the Kremlin

Russia has rejected Ukraine's offer of a 30-day ceasefire  only air strikes on energy infrastructure have been ruled out. Pictured: Vladimir Putin

US President Donald Trump yesterday said a full ceasefire is close.

But asked if he would punish Russia with more sanctions for recent attacks on Ukraine, he refused to criticise the Kremlin.

Russia has rejected Ukraine's offer of a 30-day ceasefire  only air strikes on energy infrastructure have been ruled out.

Mr Trump said: 'Pretty soon we're going to have a full ceasefire. The contract is being negotiated, in terms of dividing up the land.'

Meanwhile, the UK and its European allies are planning for an overhaul of Nato over the next five years, with the US giving up its leadership and taking a back seat.

The US general acting as Supreme Allied Commander Europe, a post dating back to World War Two, is expected to be the last from across the Atlantic.

It could see the head of the UK's armed forces, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, enter the running to become chief.

But officials are optimistic the US will stay in Nato, due to increases in defence spending. European countries, Britain included, have also set a target of being ready to repel any Russian threat by 2030.

On Ukraine, the PM's spokesman said: 'Nothing is off the table on any front. There's a spectrum of support and obviously a spectrum of capability, and the whole premise of the coalition of the willing is a joint effort to support Ukraine to secure a lasting peace, and that's what we're intent on doing.'

Speaking to the presidents of the European Council and European Commission last night, as well as the leaders of Turkey, Norway and Iceland, Sir Keir told them Europe was 'facing a different chapter of history and had to step up to meet that challenge'.

He said it was clear Vladimir Putin was 'trying to delay and add conditions to any meaningful ceasefire'.
The left has lost  is lost  in more ways than one.

Blowing up, setting fire to, shooting into, or otherwise destroying privately-owned Teslas, their dealerships, or charging stations has become the latest mode of so-called 'resistance' to Elon Musk's DOGE cuts  as has assaulting Tesla owners and drivers.

'Domestic terrorism' is what Attorney General Pam Bondi calls it. She's right.

It's only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed.

The windows on Tesla vehicles, and particularly Cybertrucks, are often heavily tinted.

How could someone throwing a Molotov cocktail into a parked vehicle in a suburban lot or on a residential street even know if a person  or a child  was inside?

Do they even care?

Seems not. Democratic leadership and their left-wing media cheerleaders have been dead quiet on this months-long national rampage.

Blowing up, setting fire to, shooting into, or otherwise destroying privately-owned Teslas has become the latest mode of so-called 'resistance' to Elon Musk 's DOGE cuts. (Pictured: A man destroys a Tesla with a pickaxe Seattle on March 10).

'Domestic terrorism' is what Attorney General Pam Bondi calls it. She's right. (Pictured: A Tesla dealership in Salem, Oregon, was shot at with an AR-15-style rifle in February).

Barack Obama, who loves the sound of his own voice adopting moral superiority, could easily stand up and call for an immediate end to this.

He has not.

Nor have Bill or Hillary Clinton. AOC, who has never met an injustice she won't squawk about, has nothing to say. Nor does Joe Biden  in fairness, an utter irrelevance  or Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer.

Kamala Harris: same. Her erstwhile running mate, however, seems in favor of the violence.

'On the iPhone, they've got this little stock app,' Tim Walz said at an event this week, his infuriating folksy drawl sounding quite bemused. 'I added Tesla to it to give me a little boost during the day  $225 and dropping!'

Only a complete moron would root for an American company that manufactures on American soil to fail  a company, by the way, seeking to curb carbon emissions  or for 401(k)s and average stockholders to suffer.

But sure: Burn them up. Send even more noxious fumes into the atmosphere. Put average, hardworking citizens and first responders in harm's way.

Then again, this is the guy who, as governor of Minnesota, let Minneapolis burn during Black Lives Matter riots. Whose wife proudly said she kept the windows of the governor's mansion open so she could 'smell the burning tires'.

The guy who reportedly gave his daughter, then 19, top-secret information about law enforcement's movements during those riots  which she then attempted to share with rioters.

Jimmy Kimmel, pure and utter smarm, told us what he really thinks in his Tuesday night monologue.

'Tesla stock is way down, almost disastrously so,' he said. His audience clapped and cheered.

'People have been vandalizing Tesla vehicles'  that's quite the euphemism for arson and gunfire, Jimmy  'new Telsa vehicles. Please don't vandalize, don't ever vandalize'  eyebrow raise, eye squint, all but a wink-wink  'Tesla vehicles'.

And the left thinks that Republicans  dumb, ill-informed, easily swayed by charismatic celebrities  are the ones who vote against their own self-interest.

Gavin Newsom: Where's he?

The disgraced California governor, having just presided over the worst response to wildfires in his state's recorded history, is more concerned with flogging his new podcast.

If Newsom wanted to make some real headlines, he could condemn this violence in no uncertain terms.

The FBI has plainly said what the left needs to hear. Spencer Evans, FBI special agent and head of the Las Vegas bureau, said this in the wake of several targeted local attacks:

'Specifically to those who might think that something like this is justifiable or potentially even admirable, we want to let you know it's a federal crime. We will come after you, we will find you, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.'

If only President Trump had the same moral authority. His complete pardon of the January 6 rioters, some of whom attacked police officers that day and had extensive criminal records, has left him compromised here.

Even senior citizen Pamela Hemphill, the so-called 'Maga Granny' who served 60 days for her part in those riots, declined her pardon.

To accept, Hemphill said, 'would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law, and of course our nation', she said. 'I pleaded guilty because I was guilty'.

Simple, clear, easy and truthful: That's the kind of messaging both sides could use.

Democratic leadership and their left-wing media cheerleaders have been dead quiet on this months-long national rampage. (Pictured: Burned Teslas are shown at a Tesla Collision Center in Las Vegas, on March 18).

If only President Trump had the same moral authority. His complete pardon of the January 6 rioters, some of whom attacked police officers that day and had extensive criminal records, has left him compromised here.

But if the left wants to assert itself as the party of morality, it has a lot of distancing to do  not just from these arsonists, who Musk has publicly suggested have powerful financial backing  but with those who identify as pro-Hamas.

They need to reject campus agitators destroying property, targeting Jewish students and faculty, and sympathizing with antisemitic terror groups.

That recently deported Brown University professor who travelled to attend the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and who kept 'sympathetic' photos of terrorists on her phone, should be an easy one for the left to discard and disavow.

As should green-card holder Mahmoud Khalil, the 30-year-old Columbia student and Syrian-born Palestinian causing major problems for Jewish students and faculty.

Khalil has been the lead negotiator of Columbia United Apartheid Divest, which supports Hamas, Hezbollah, the terror attacks of 10/7  which Khalil and his ilk call 'resistance'  and calls for the death of the West.

Easy. Go. He's not an American citizen. He seems to hate everything America stands for  except, apparently, our First Amendment and the right to free counsel.

Democratic leaders who won't stand up to arsonists and domestic terrorists have stood up for this guy, an enemy of the state.

Chris Murphy, senator from Connecticut, for one: 'There is a young man in jail today'  please, he's almost middle-aged  'for protesting at his college . . . In dictatorships they call this "a disappearance".'

We all know where Khalil is. The country's liberal newsrooms are in high dudgeon over this arrest  which, again, tells us all we need to know about the dying days of legacy media and the Democratic Party itself, at a 27 percent approval rating, its lowest in decades.

The left needs to admit that, yes, foreign professors and 'professional students' are sent to America, by our enemies, to poison young minds and foment destruction of the West from within.

We all see it. It's not racist or Islamophobic to have the discussion. House Representative Adam Smith (D-Wash) is among the party's few apostates willing to admit as much.

He is against DEI, 'defund the police', criminal justice reform and much of far-left ideology  and said so last month in the left's most revered bible, The New Yorker.

'The new left,' Smith said, 'is a very concerted and well-organized effort around a series of policies that have utterly and completely failed. Trying to fix it and get people to pay attention to it has been difficult.'

There's no better time than now, and no easier position than the safety and well-being of American citizens driving the car of their choice.

Can the Dems bring themselves to do even that?
Television presenter Steph McGovern has revealed that a Gen-Z worker asked her for a paid day off in order to get a tattoo because it would help her 'mental health'.

The former BBC host said the young employee tried to justify the request by saying it was for a 'medical appointment' and that it was important.

'A lot of young people work in the businesses I have and recently one of the employees wanted a paid day off work to get a tattoo,' she told her co-host Robert Peston on The Rest Is Money podcast on Thursday.

'So when we said you'll need to take that from your annual leave they said, 'No because it's a medical appointment. It's for my mental health, it's really important to me.'

Ms McGovern said she felt obliged to give them the day off over fears she would be cancelled or the employee would hurt themselves.

'The fundamental problem is everything has been medicalised now,' she told added. 'So, it is really hard for as an employer to accommodate everyone's needs.

'It's really hard to work out genuine needs and she might genuinely think she needed that for her mental health and who are we to decide that or not?

'So you have to treat everyone the same because you have no choice'.

Television presenter Steph McGovern has revealed that a Gen-Z worker asked her for a paid day off in order to get a tattoo because it would help her 'mental health'

Ms McGovern said she felt obliged to give them the day off over fears she would be cancelled or the employee would hurt themselves

But Mr Peston, political editor for ITV News, replied: 'You're not treating everyone the same because none of your other employees are going to come to you with that kind of request.'

Ms McGovern admitted that she thought employees who ask for such unusual requests were 'taking the p**s' but felt she couldn't be 'the judge' of what was a real mental illness.

In another instance, she shared how another young employee refused to tidy up at the end of a shift because they felt the role was 'too triggering'.

'You end up trying to work your way through all of this without offending everyone with all these conditions and things which are medicalised,' she added.

Earlier this week it was revealed that one in ten working-age people in the UK are now claiming at least one type of health or disability benefit.

These figures are up by a third compared to five years ago with the biggest rise in claimants among young people, with 1.2 million under 25 saying they are too sick to work.

Mental health is said to be one of the main reasons people are leaving work, according to a survey by PwC

The Prime Minister admitted that reforms were needed to stop young people being 'stuck in a world of benefits' as the welfare bill has gone 'through the roof'.

In efforts to save 5billion, Sir Keir Starmer planned to make it harder to claim disability benefits which was met with backlash from his MPs.
Prince Andrew could face fresh embarrassment after judges ruled that further documents relating to his dealings with an alleged Chinese spy can be released.

A witness statement made by the duke's 'senior aide' Dominic Hampshire, containing comments about his work with Andrew which 'might seem embarrassing or indiscreet', will be among a cache of files released to the public.

They were submitted in support of an appeal by Yang Tengbo - also known as Chris Yang - against a decision to ban him from Britain on national security grounds.

Yang, a businessman and former York University student, was barred from returning to the country after intelligence agencies suspected he was gaining access to influential public figures on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]. Mr Yang denies the allegations.

At an earlier hearing, a court heard that Yang had become a 'close confidant' of Andrew who had 'won a significant degree, one could say an unusual degree, of trust',

Following an appeal by the media for the release of further documents in relation to Yang's appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission [SIAC], Mr Justice Bourne, sitting alongside Judge Stephen Smith and Sir Stewart Eldon yesterday said documents including Mr Hampshire's witness statement could be disclosed.

'Substantial parts of the witness statement contain material which cannot possibly be said to be confidential, such as information about Mr Hampshire's background or about how he came to know Mr Yang,' Mr Justice Bourne said.

'There is information about his own activities which has no appearance of any particular confidentiality. There is also information about the Duke of York which is in the public domain, for example the negative impact of the Duke's 2019 Newsnight interview.'

Prince Andrew could face fresh embarrassment after judges ruled that further documents relating to his dealings with an alleged Chinese spy can be released

Yang Tengbo (left) was barred from returning to the country after intelligence agencies suspected he was gaining access to influential public figures on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party

A witness statement made by the duke's 'senior aide' Dominic Hampshire (pictured), containing comments about Yang's work with Andrew which 'might seem embarrassing or indiscreet', will be among a cache of files released to the public

He added: 'There are also comments about Mr Hampshire's work with the Duke which might seem embarrassing or indiscreet, but they are not such as to give rise to the inference that a legal duty of confidentiality attaches to them.'

Representing the media, including the Daily Mail, Adam Wolanski KC said it was 'extraordinary' that Mr Hampshire, a former Scots Guard and equerry to the Duke of Kent, did not take legal advice before providing his statement.

Mr Hampshire was said to be of the belief that his statement would remain private.

Documents previously released in the case show Mr Hampshire had thanked Yang for standing by Andrew following his 2019 Newsnight interview over his relationship with late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Yang was also invited to Andrew's 60th birthday party and was integral in launching the duke's Dragons Den-style investment roadshow, Pitch@Palace, in China.

One letter written by Mr Hampshire to Yang and released following an earlier court hearing, said: 'I also hope that it is clear to you where you sit with my principal [Andrew] and indeed his family.

'You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship... Outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.'

The documents are due to be released next month.
Cambridge University was yesterday granted a High Court injunction that will block pro-Palestine protests at graduations this summer.

It won a four-month order barring the demonstrations from certain parts of its campus until the end of July.

The move comes after pro-Gaza protests caused widespread disruption to the graduation ceremonies of more than 1,600 students last year.

Last month, a judge dismissed a request by Cambridge University for a five-year injunction blocking direct action related to the conflict on several sites without the universitys consent.

But it returned to the High Court on Wednesday, asking a judge for a four-month injunction preventing protesters from disrupting multiple graduation events on two sites planned up to July 26, the final graduation ceremony of the academic year.

The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) opposed the university's bid, with its lawyers telling the court the injunction is a 'disproportionate infringement' on the human rights of the protesters and would set a 'dangerous precedent' for protesting on campuses.

But, in a ruling yesterday, Mr Justice Soole granted the injunction, stating there is an imminent and real risk of a recurrence of direct action on the campus and a strong probability that this will otherwise occur if the order is not issued.

Cambridge University was yesterday granted a High Court injunction that will block pro-Palestine protests at graduations this summer. Pictured: An encampment outside the Senet House in Cambridge set up by Cambridge for Palestine group last year

The move comes after pro-Gaza protests caused widespread disruption to the graduation ceremonies of more than 1,600 students last year. Pictured: Protesters marching from the camp outside King's college to The Old Schools University offices

Last month, a judge dismissed a request by Cambridge for a five-year injunction. The European Legal Support Centre opposed the move for a four-month injunction, saying it was a 'disproportionate infringement' on the human rights of protesters. Pictured: King's College Cambridge

He said: 'I am satisfied that there is a compelling need for the granting of an injunction.'

Following the ruling, a spokesman for the university said: 'The University of Cambridge welcomes today's decision at the High Court.

'We took this action to protect the right of students to graduate and to prevent access to buildings that contain sensitive, confidential information.

'This was never about preventing lawful protest. The injunction safeguards a very small part of the University estate from an occupation that would prevent graduations from going ahead.

'It also protects the right for our staff to work. Protests occur regularly at the university, including a rally held immediately outside Great St Mary's church during the last graduation ceremony while an injunction covering the Senate House, a few yards away, was in place.'

Cambridge for Palestine said it 'condemns' the decision, which it described as 'a violent move to criminalise and police our movement'.

Anna Ost, senior legal officer at ELSC, said: 'It is more important than ever to resist attempts to shut down protests for Palestinian liberation.

'Instead of acting urgently to review their investments, the university has stalled and sought to silence their critics with this injunction.'
Britain's 81billion luxury goods industry has attacked Labour's plan to overhaul copyright law to let AI developers use material without paying as a 'damaging proposal'.

Walpole, which represents 250 of the sector's names including Chanel, Burberry, Alexander McQueen, Dunhill, Mulberry, Wedgwood, Harrods, Rolls-Royce and Cunard, urged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to 'rethink' the move.

The Government has already outraged the creative sector with its proposals to give tech firms an exemption from copyright law. It would allow them to use artists' work for free to train their AI models unless creators take onerous steps to 'opt out' of their use.

Leading names in music, arts, film and literature have already joined a Mail campaign which warns the plan would devastate Britain's 126billion creative sector.

Now Walpole CEO Helen Brocklebank has labelled the move the 'wrong approach'.

She told the Times: 'Intellectual property rights are a fundamental part of the UK's 81billion high-growth luxury industry. Our sector is projected to grow to 125billion  the Government's plans threaten this trajectory.

Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to 'rethink' a government plan to overhaul copyright law to let AI developers use material without paying as a 'damaging proposal'

Walpole, which represents 250 of the sector's names including Chanel , Burberry , Alexander McQueen, Dunhill, Mulberry, Wedgwood, Harrods, Rolls-Royce and Cunard, has spoken out against the plan

'Global luxury brands invest in the UK for a wide range of reasons including its strong creative industries, stable business environment and supportive legal framework.

'The proposed government approach risks undermining this framework and the creative industries that rely on it. Instead of pressing ahead with this damaging proposal, we are calling for the Government to rethink its plan, stand up for copyright law and allow tech and creative businesses to continue to build a workable, equitable licensing system that will see both sides benefit.'

Walpole's intervention ramps up pressure on Technology Secretary Peter Kyle who is in California meeting AI firms, including OpenAI.

A spokesman for the Government said: 'The status quo is holding back the creative industries, media and AI sector from realising their full potential and that cannot continue.'
Diners have hit out at celebrity chef Rick Stein's fish and chips describing them as 'overpriced' and believing they had mistakenly been served 'child size portions'.

Recently food critic Gary Hanna, who runs the restaurant review YouTube channel Gary Eats, admitted he was disappointed by his meal that he ended up sending his meal back.

The chippy in Cornwall is a renowned name in the UK's fish and chip shop scene but some customers have been left unimpressed.

He charges a minimum of 15.95 for a takeaway serving of haddock and chips and it rises to 19.95 for diners in his cafe  and if you want a pot of mayo on the side this will cost another 2.25.

Recently food critic Gary Hanna, who runs the restaurant review YouTube channel Gary Eats, admitted he was disappointed by his meal that he ended up sending his meal back.

Previously he said: 'I had his fish and chips and I've got to say they were disappointing. In fact, actually called it out and said it was a tourist trap.'

However, in the interest of fairness, Gary gave the award-winning Steins Fish & Chips in Padstow a second chance chance.

Disguising himself, he visited the restaurant and ordered haddock and chips, a portion of scampi, some mushy peas, a dollop of curry sauce, and a small pot of tartare sauce.

After waiting 20 minutes his food finally arrived but he didn't believe it was worth the wait saying 'that's not a good piece of fish at all.'

Diners have hit out over the portion size and price of celebrity chef Rick Stein's (pictured) fish and chips

He charges a minimum of 15.95 for a takeaway serving of haddock and chips and it rises to 19.95 for diners in his cafe

Recently food critic Gary Hanna (pictured), who runs the restaurant review YouTube channel Gary Eats, admitted he was disappointed by his meal that he ended up sending his meal back

He added that the chips were 'a bit dry' while he called the scampi a 'mass-produced mush' and the mushy peas as 'rubbish'.

Online reviewers on TripAdvisor have also described their disappointment with the restaurant with many left unimpressed.

One wrote: 'Honestly the worst fish and chips I have ever tried! Chips and fish batter were absolutely saturated with oil and the curry sauce was like dishwater with a hint of curry.'

Another added: 'Save you money guys and support the local fish and chip outlet in Padstow. The quality and portion size of our Rick Stein order was appalling.'

While a third said: 'Initially thought there was a mistake and we had child size portions.'

Someone else wrote: 'We waited a very long time outside in the cold only to be disappointed with the food. The portions were minimal in size and not proportionate to the price of the meal.

'We also thought that basics like mayonnaise and tartare sauce would be included in the price'

Another said: 'Pure grease, well well overpriced not even a nice fish and chips, mushy peas if you could call them that watery paste.'

In the interest of fairness, Gary gave the award-winning Steins Fish & Chips in Padstow a second chance chance but was still left underwhelmed

Online reviewers on TripAdvisor have also described their disappointment with the restaurant with many left unimpressed

Dinners have slammed the portion size and cost of the dishes at the restaurant

One TripAdvisor review: 'Save you money guys and support the local fish and chip outlet in Padstow'

Another added: 'Initially thought there was a mistake and we had child size portions'

The 78-year-old chef's many businesses in Padstow have led to the area being renamed Padstein.

He owns The Seafood Restaurant, St Petroc's Bistro, Rick Stein's Cafe, Stein's Fish & Chips, the Seafood Bar and Fishmongers and Ruby's Bar, all in the fishing port.

He also owns the nearby Cornish Arms and Stein's Gift Shop, a shop selling cookery equipment and knick-knacks. He also runs a cookery school in Padstow. Stein's Fish and Chips opened in 2004.

MailOnline has approached Rick Stein for comment.
The USS Constellation was supposed to be a symbol of America's resurgence at sea.

Instead the newly designed warship risks becoming a floating monument to bureaucratic inertia, technological overreach and humiliation.

The glimmer of hope began in 2020 at a shipyard in Wisconsin, where rusted cranes and tools creaked under the weight of America's declining shipbuilding industry.

Fincantieri Marinette Marine, an American arm of the storied Italian shipbuilder, had just won the contract to build the Navy's next-generation frigate.

The grand designs would build a vessel that could protect against submarines, missiles, and drones with sleek European efficiency and cutting-edge American firepower.

It was supposed to be fast, reliable and proven designed to show the world that the US Navy could still dominate the waves.

Instead, the USS Constellation has become one of consternation and a cautionary tale at that.

To speed up the building program, the Navy did something unusual: it chose a design already in use by Italy's navy, where frigates like the Carlo Bergamini class were being built in just four years.

The USS Constellation was supposed to be a symbol of America's resurgence at sea but it is still in pieces and years behind schedule

President Donald Trump tours Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin in June 2020 during his first term

Tthe Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin was awarded a $5.5 billion contract to build ships for the US Navy in June 2020 with the aim of delivering the first Constellation-class frigate by 2026. It is at least three years behind schedule

With that head start, the US plan was ambitious but reasonable - with the aim of delivering the first Constellation-class frigate by 2026.

But once the contract was secured, the Navy began constantly modifying the design, frequently changing the requirements, requesting upgrades and tweaking designs after shipbuilders have already begun construction.

The hull was lengthened by nearly 24 feet. The bow was reshaped. The sonar dome was removed. The engine rooms were redesigned.

Generators and switchboards, separated in the Italian model for survivability, were forced together in the US version, triggering spatial reshuffles and weight increases.

A new propeller was required for acoustic performance. Cooling systems needed enlarging, which in turn demanded bigger pumps - and more space. Ventilation had to be rerouted. Room layouts had to be redone.

Nearly five years after the initial contract award, and over two years into physical construction, the Constellation is just 10 percent complete.

If that pace holds, the ship won't sail the open seas until 2029 - a nine-year timeline, double that of the Italian version it was based on.

The labor shortage is one of myriad challenges that have led to backlogs in ship production and maintenance at a time when the Navy faces expanding global threats.

Construction on the USS Constellation has barely begun. Pictured, part of the keel of USS Constellation (FFG 62) at Fincantieri Marinette Marine

The new small surface combatant will have multi-mission capability to conduct air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, electronic warfare, and information operations

To speed up the building program, the Navy chose a design already in use by Italy's navy, where frigates like the Carlo Bergamini class were being built in just four years

Signs lists employees that have served in the US military at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine facility in Marinette, Wisconsin

The cumulative impact of American 'improvements' seems staggering.

The Navy chose a ship design already in use by navies in France and Italy instead of starting from scratch with the hope of keeping costs down.

The idea was that 15 percent of the vessel would be updated to meet US Navy specifications, while 85 percent would remain unchanged, reducing costs and speeding construction.

Instead, the opposite happened: The Navy redesigned 85 percent of the ship based upon its Italian predecessor, resulting in cost increases and construction delays.

Construction of the first-in-class Constellation warship, which began in August 2022, is now three years behind schedule, with delivery pushed back to 2029 - and the final design still isn't complete.

'Every shipbuilding delay, every maintenance backlog and every inefficiency is an opening for our adversaries to challenge our [naval] dominance,' said John Phelan, Trump's nominee for Secretary of the Navy, to the Senate Armed Services Committee last month.

According to Eric Labs, a longtime naval analyst at the Congressional Budget Office, Navy shipbuilding is currently in 'a terrible state' - the worst in a quarter century, Labs says.

'I feel alarmed,' he said. 'I don't see a fast, easy way to get out of this problem. It's taken us a long time to get into it.'

Trump saw the USS New Jersey - a relic from World War II, bristling with massive guns and is said to have wanted a new ship to be built just like it

People wait in line to enter the Fincantieri Marinette Marine facility in Marinette, Wisconsin

The USS Constellation was to be based on Italy's Naval Ship Carlo Bergamini, seen right, in a way of keeping costs down and speeding up building. But it has not turned out that way

Marinette Marine is under contract to build six guided-missile frigates - the Navy's newest surface warships - with options to build four more. But it only has enough workers to produce one frigate a year, according to Labs.

That 'strategic pause,' as the Government Accountability Office put it, wasn't just costly but crippling.

One set of design documents required 170 comments and revisions from Navy overseers.

'The Navy peeled back the onion and realized how far the design was from meeting the Navy's standards, and had to take a strategic pause to try and right the ship,' Shelby Oakley, director at the GAO, told the Wall Street Journal.

But as time dragged on, the costs also began to mount.

Originally estimated at $1.3 billion, the cost of the Constellation has now surged past $1.9 billion - with more overruns almost certain.

The Navy claims its changes enhance 'lethality, survivability, and fleet commonality.'

But critics see a Navy driven by committees, and hamstrung by outdated practices.

'American ships are fearsome weapons of war but they are expensive to build and also expensive to run,' former Vice Admiral Jeremy Kyd, who commanded U.S. ships in joint exercises with Britain's Royal Navy, told WSJ.

Such vast expense is also seeing international buyers giving a wide berth.

Italian frigates like the Carlo Bergamini, above, are being builtin just four years

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While the F-35 fighter jet and Patriot missile systems are top global sellers, American-built ships rarely win foreign bids, consistently losing to their sleeker, cheaper European and South Korean rivals.

And while the US Navy fumbles through design reviews and paperwork, China has taken to the seas like a duck to water.

Combined with shifting defense priorities, the last-minute design changes and cost overruns, it has put the US way behind China in the number of ships at its disposal - and the gap is widening.

From 2014 to 2023, China launched 157 warships. By comparison, the US has launched only 67. It means China's fleet is now the largest in the world.

'The U.S. is the global laggard in warship construction,' the Journal reported bluntly.

The numbers tell the story. US attack submarines that once took six years now take nine. Aircraft carriers now need eleven years - up from eight. Frigates are slower here than anywhere except Canada.

The Pentagon is scrambling and President Trump has floated the idea of an Office of Shipbuilding, along with an executive order aimed at reviving the industry and breaking China's dominance.

But steel tariffs, labor shortages, and archaic equipment - some of it pre-World War II - make that a tall order.

A recent McKinsey report found that many US shipyards operate with tools that are so old, spare parts must be fabricated from scratch.

China's second aircraft carrier, the Shandong, was officially launched in 2020. It is the country's first domestically-built carrier

Chinese navy sailors march in formation during a parade to celebrate the Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at Tiananmen Square in October 2019

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson docks at a naval base in the southeastern port city of Busan, South Korea, earlier this month

A lack of skilled workers makes things worse. A third of Fincantieri's US workforce is over 50.

One of the industry's chief problems is the struggle to hire and retain laborers for the challenging work of building new ships as graying veterans retire, taking decades of experience with them.

There simply aren't enough trained welders, engineers, and systems specialists to build ships quickly - or reliably.

Shipyards across the country have created training academies and partnered with technical colleges to provide workers with the skills they need to construct high-tech warships.

Submarine builders and the Navy formed an alliance to promote manufacturing careers, and shipyards are offering perks to retain workers once they're hired.

The Navy is trying to help shipyards ensure that once new workers are trained and hired, they stick around in a tight labor market.

The shipyard, which employs more than 2,000 workers, is providing bonuses of up to $10,000 to keep workers, said spokesperson Eric Dent. 'The workforce shortage is definitely a problem and it's a problem across the board for all shipyards,' he said.

Retention is a concern even for shipyards that have met their goals, including Huntington Ingalls Industries, which makes destroyers and amphibious warships in Mississippi and aircraft carriers and submarines in Virginia.

Complicating matters further is something out of the Navy's control: the changing nature of global threats.

The Chinese military has made major progress in ship building, the development of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as integrated air defense systems

China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, prepares to set out for maiden sea trials from Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard in eastern China's Shanghai, in May of last year

A US warship takes part in multinational exercises. The Navy has roughly 280 warships

A Chinese warship is seen taking part in exercises in the Arabian Sea. The China's People's Liberation Army Navy now has approximately 340 ships

Throughout its history, the Navy has had to adapt to varying perils, whether it be the Cold War of past decades or current threats including war in the Middle East, growing competition from Chinese and Russian navies, piracy off the coast of Somalia and persistent attacks on commercial ships by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

And that's not all. The consolidation of shipyards and funding uncertainties have disrupted the cadence of ship construction and stymied long-term investments and planning, says Matthew Paxton of the Shipbuilders Council of America, a national trade association.

'We've been dealing with inconsistent shipbuilding plans for years,' Paxton said. 'When we finally start ramping up, the Navy is shocked that we lost members of our workforce.'

Frustration over America's shipbuilding woes has even reached the Oval Office.

In a now-infamous 2017 meeting, President Trump was shown photographs of modern naval ships - sleek destroyers, stealthy frigates. He tossed them aside.

Then he saw the USS New Jersey - a relic from World War II, bristling with massive guns.

While the White House later disputed the account, the symbolism is stark.

In Trump's eyes, and in the eyes of many defense watchers, modern U.S. warships may be powerful, but they've lost their swagger. Worse, they're arriving years behind schedule.

The Navy's plans are ambitious with a fleet of 390 combat ships by 2054, up from 295 today.

Hitting that target would require doubling the current production rate - something that is likely impossible without massive reform.

As for the USS Constellation, a ship named after one of the first vessels in the original US Navy - it remains in pieces.
Donald Trump's administration will revoke the temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the United States.

The announcement was made by Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem on a notice to a Federal Register on Friday, the latest expansion of his crackdown on immigration.

The order applies to about 532,000 people from the four countries who came to the United States since October 2022 under a program called CHNV that the Biden administration was heavily criticized for.

Uncertainty still remains for some 240,000 Ukrainians who sought refuge in the US following the Russian invasion in 2021.

Trump was said to be considering ending their legal status even before recent tensions between Washington and Kyiv.

The migrants losing legal status arrived with financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work in the U.S.

Noem said they will lose their legal status on April 24, or 30 days after the publication of the notice in the Federal Register.

The new policy impacts people who are already in the U.S. and who came under the humanitarian parole program.

Donald Trump 's administration will revoke the temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the United States

The announcement was made by Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem on a notice to a Federal Register on Friday, the latest expansion of his crackdown on immigration

It follows an earlier Trump administration decision to end what it called the 'broad abuse' of the humanitarian parole, a long-standing legal tool presidents have used to allow people from countries where theres war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the U.S.

During his campaign President Donald Trump promised to deport millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally, and as president he has been also ending legal pathways for immigrants to come to the U.S. and to stay.

DHS said parolees without a lawful basis to stay in the U.S. 'must depart' before their parole termination date.

'Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status,' DHS said.

Before the new order, the beneficiaries of the program could stay in the U.S. until their parole expires, although the administration had stopped processing their applications for asylum, visas and other requests that might allow them to remain longer.

The administration decision has already been challenged in federal courts .

A group of American citizens and immigrants sued the Trump administration for ending humanitarian parole and are seeking to reinstate the programs for the four nationalities.

Lawyers and activists raised their voices to denounce the governments decision.

The order applies to about 532,000 people from the four countries who came to the United States since October 2022

Friday's action is 'going to cause needless chaos and heartbreak for families and communities across the country,' said Karen Tumlin, founder and director of Justice Action Center, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit at the end of February. She called it 'reckless, cruel and counterproductive.'

The Biden administration allowed up to 30,000 people a month from the four countries to come to the United States for two years with eligibility to work.

It persuaded Mexico to take back the same number from those countries because the U.S. could deport few, if any, to their homes.

Haitians and Cubans that are involved with the program are immediately eligible for taxpayer-funded federal benefits like Medicaid, food stamps and welfare.

Analysis by DailyMail.com indicates that the Medicaid cost, which costs around $9,175 per enrollee, would cost $1.8 billion if every Haitian who entered the country received it.

SNAP benefits, more commonly known as food stamps, would cost the country $451 million, with general welfare benefits climbing to $1.2 billion.

The three figures take the overall spend on benefits only to over an eyewatering $3.4 billion.

Even if only a quarter of the Haitians are getting all the benefits they are entitled to receive, that figure would stand at $850 million.

Noem said they will lose their legal status on April 24, or 30 days after the publication of the notice in the Federal Register

It follows an earlier Trump administration decision to end what it called the 'broad abuse' of the humanitarian parole

Average costs were obtained from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Department of Health & Human Services, and a Medicaid Commission.

Court documents show that the vetting process isn't stringent, with an approval rating of 98.3 percent for Haitian applicants from January to June of last year.

In that time frame, 78,838 Haitians had applied to the program with the Department of Homeland Security adjudicating 64,285 cases. Of those, 63,214 applications were approved.

That figure was revealed in a lawsuit filed this year by the state of Texas and other Republican-led states who sued the Biden administration to block the program.

Other states including Florida, Tennessee and Arkansas argued that the program had left them with extra costs for health care, education and law enforcement.

They also argued that the Biden administration was inviting people who otherwise would have entered the country illegally.

Cuba generally accepted about one deportation flight a month, while Venezuela and Nicaragua refused to take any. All three are U.S. adversaries.

Haiti accepted many deportation flights, especially after a surge of migrants from the Caribbean country in the small border town of Del Rio, Texas, in 2021. But Haiti has been in constant turmoil, hampering U.S. efforts.

Since late 2022, more than half a million people have come to the U.S. under the policy, also known as CHNV.

It was a part of the Biden administrations approach to encourage people to come through new legal channels while cracking down on those who crossed the border illegally.
The stepson of billionaire mogul Steve Wynn sparked uproar after revealing a tumultuous breakup with his longtime partner.

Nick Hissom, 32, a luxury art collector, took to Instagram to slam his ex Kameron Ramirez, 25, as a 'cheater, liar, backstabber' who was 'f***ing my friend in my own house.'

Hissom said the breakup was 'the saddest and most heartbreaking thing I've ever had to write', as he accused Ramirez of cheating on him while 'lying and laughing with his addict friends about it.'

He said Ramirez, with whom he co-founded the Aktion Art gallery, had told him that he needed space while secretly having a 'coordinated, sneaky, and vicious affair in my own house with another guy.'

Hissom said the couple had been together for seven years and described them as being 'married.'

'Ill never understand why you came to hate and disrespect me so. And threw 7 years of the best marriage, a life, a family, and a business away - for a guy who knowingly was breaking us up, clearly with no morals of his own either,' he wrote.

Ramirez told the outlet in response to the social media posts that the claims were 'false', and said that explains why Hissom subsequently deleted the posts.

'There are many false assumptions and inaccurate statements here hence why the social media posts have been taken down. Nick and I are now working things out privately and truths are coming to light,' he said.

Nick Hissom, 32, (right) the stepson of billionaire real estate mogul Steve Wynn, sparked uproar after brutally announcing his breakup from his longtime partner Kameron Ramirez, 25, (left) on Instagram

Hissom's stepfather Steve Wynn is a major Republican megadonor who owns a raft of luxury hotels, casinos and resorts and is known to have been close friends with Donald Trump, and boasts a net worth in excess of $3.6 billion

Hissom's stepfather Steve Wynn is a major Republican megadonor who previously served as the finance chair of the Republican National Committee from 2017 to 2018.

Wynn owns a raft of luxury hotels, casinos and resorts and is known to have been close friends with Donald Trump, and boasts a net worth in excess of $3.6 billion.

Although Hissom described his relationship with Ramirez as a 'marriage', it is unclear if the two have actually tied the knot.

Sources told Page Six that they were only longtime boyfriends, however one insider said that Hissom 'proposed to him and they wore rings.'

The couple had previously been on the front cover of Park Magazine in 2022, which described them as 'Palm Beach's New Power Couple.'

The outlet claimed that the mystery person that Ramirez allegedly cheated on Hissom with is a 21-year-old socialite student, however Hissom did not name them in his post.

Hissom reportedly attended a Swiss boarding school names Le Rosey, which has been dubbed the 'most expensive school in the world' where boarding fees reportedly run as high as $145,000-per-year.

Hissom, 32, a luxury art collector, took to Instagram to slam his ex Kameron Ramirez, 25, as a 'cheater, liar, backstabber' who was 'f***ing my friend in my own house'

The couple had previously been on the front cover of Park Magazine in 2022, which described them as 'Palm Beach's New Power Couple'

In his Instagram posts airing out his breakup, Hissom reportedly posted then deleted a message from an unidentified person warning him about Ramirez's alleged infidelity on an account tied to the school called 'Le Rosey Confessions.'

In the message, the person alerted Hissom that 'Kameron hasn't been loyal', and that the 25-year-old had been mocking him behind his back.

According to the message, Ramirez and his lover had been seen together in Apen, and 'there is a group chat in which they and their scummy wanna be friends talk s*** about you and how they can leech off you through Kameron.'

Hissom wrote that Ramirez took 'evil screenshots of my pain' to laugh about it with his friends, but did not include evidence of Ramirez's alleged behavior as evidence.

The post comes just days after the couple put on a loving display on the red carpet at the amfAR gala in Antibes, France, where they celebrated his stepfather Steve and mom Andrea winning the Philanthropic Leadership Award.

Sources told Page Six that the breakup has hurt Hissom's billionaire parents, saying: 'Andrea and Steve are both upset.

Hissom, left, pictured with his mom Andrea Wynn, billionaire stepfather Steve Wynn, First Lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump

The post comes just four days after the couple put on a loving display on the red carpet at the amfAR gala (pictured) in Antibes, France, where they celebrated his stepfather Steve and mom Andrea winning the Philanthropic Leadership Award

'Steve and Andreas pals are all talking about how its like when Syd Bass left Anne Bass for Mercedes,' the source added, referencing a 1980s divorce scandal involving the oil tycoon.

Hissom subsequently shared a 'thirst trap' selfie to his Instagram, which he dubbed to Fifth Harmony's song 'Miss Movin' On.'

An insider told Page Six that despite the messy Instagram breakup, 'Nick is devastated but is dedicated to rebuilding his life.'

DailyMail.com contacted both Hissom and Ramirez for further comment.
A young Aussie woman claims she was hit with an 'unreasonable' $200 fine after she left her car mounted on the curb outside a popular Perth cafe.

Imogen Blow left her car in what she thought was a legal position on the side of the road outside Daisies in Cottesloe, in the city's west last week.

'So, I just copied the car in front who was just a little bit up on the sidewalk. There was enough room for a truck to get around me,' she said in a TikTok video.

'There was enough room for the prams and wheelchairs and anything on the path to get past me. If you know Daisies, people all park on the side of the street.'

But when Ms Blow came back to her car 30 minutes later she had a ticket.

'We go away and come back and someone has slapped on a parking fine and I was like "what can this possibly be for",' she said.

'Apparently, in WA it is illegal to put your tyre up on the sidewalk at any time.

'What kind of suburb would have the audacity to actually enforce that? We appealed it because I was like "this is ridiculous", I was just trying to be safe.

Perth woman Imogen Blow (pictured) said she planned to appeal the $200 parking fine

'I'm having another sook because I'm paying an unreasonable amount of money for something that is just part of living.'

Things got worse for Ms Blow when she lost the original penalty notice when she moved homes and was charged a penalty fee.

'So now they've added an extra final demand on top of it so it's going to cost us even more money,' she said.

'This is a bit psychotic, and don't think I'm a Karen. I've just addressed an email to the CEO of Cottesloe and I'll keep you updated to see if there's any sort of compassion.'

Other Aussies said they weren't shocked the fine was issued in Cottesloe.

'Suburbs like Cottesloe need to be strict on this because so many entitled drivers try to park wherever they want,' one wrote.

'Considering the suburb I'm not surprised,' another said.

It's no doubt a rule that has frustrated locals for years.

Pictured is the iconic Cottesloe Beach in Perth, Western Australia

'Yep sadly this is the law. I have to remind friends who come over to my home not park anywhere near the footpath,' one local shared.

'I got fined twice for the same thing. One was done without a fine on my windscreen and then had one put on my windscreen,' another said.

'They told me too bad so I had to pay twice.'
Donald Trump admitted that potential conflicts of interest prevent him from showing Elon Musk the Pentagon's plans for a hypothetical war with China.

The president disputed claims by the 'fake news' that Musk was being allowed a glimpse at plans for a hypothetical battle ahead of the 'First Buddy' being invited to the Pentagon on Friday.

The head of the Department of Government Efficiency even suggested he was going to hunt down the 'leakers' who suggested he was getting a look at top secret plans.

Trump held a press conference with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Friday where he was asked why Musk wouldn't just be shown such information.

'Certainly, you wouldn't show it to a businessman who is helping us so much, paying a big price for helping us cut costs... but Elon has businesses in China and he would be susceptible to that.'

He ultimately said that Musk's visit was to do with finding potential 'waste, fraud and abuse' at the Penatgon.

Trump also suggested he wants as few people as possible to see plans for a war he doesn't want to ever happen.

'I don't want to show it to anybody, you're talking about a potential war with China. I deal with these people all the time. I don't want anybody seeing potential war with China.'

Donald Trump admitted that potential conflicts of interest prevent him from showing Elon Musk the Pentagon 's plans for a hypothetical war with China

The president disputed claims by the 'fake news' that Musk was being allowed a glimpse at plans for a hypothetical battle ahead of the 'First Buddy' being invited to the Pentagon on Friday

Hegseth suggested that the story only existed to 'undermine the relationship we have with Elon Musk.'

Both Trump and Hegseth referred to Musk as a 'patriot' and someone making great sacrifices for the country.

Access to the closely guarded military plan would mark an sharp expansion of Musk's role as a Trump adviser who has spearheaded efforts to cut U.S. government spending.

It would also fuel questions about conflicts of interest for Musk, who as the head of both Tesla and SpaceX has business interests in China and with the Pentagon.

The White House has previously said Musk will recuse himself if any conflicts of interest arise between his business dealings and his role in cutting federal government spending.

Washington and Beijing have had tense relations for years over differences ranging from access to technology, trade tariffs and cybersecurity to TikTok, Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights and the origins of COVID-19.

Musk, by contrast, often bent over backwards to make nice with China and its authoritarian regime as it is a huge and growing car market.

About 22.5 per cent of Tesla revenue comes from sales in China, which is tipped to soon be the biggest buyers of electric cars.

Trump led a chorus of administration voices in denying the 'Fake News' of 'the failing New York Times' report in a post to Truth Social

Musk routinely complies with Chinese Communist Party demands, including to make a change to Tesla cars in 2021.

He also shut down his factory for four days in 2022 during a Covid outbreak when he was told to, despite calling California health authorities 'fascists' for making the same order in 2020.

Tariffs on China are also not in Musk's best interests and he railed against ones President Joe Biden put on in 2024.

'Neither Tesla nor I asked for these tariffs. Things that inhibit freedom of exchange or distort the market are not good,' he said at a tech conference in Paris.

'Tesla competes quite well in the market in China with no tariffs and no deferential support. I'm in favor of no tariffs.'

Musk has faced intense blowback from some lawmakers and voters for his chainsaw-wielding approach to laying off workers and slashing programs, although Trump's supporters have hailed it.

A senior defense official told reporters Tuesday that roughly 50,000 to 60,000 civilian jobs will be cut in the Defense Department .

Musk's DOGE has already slashed staffing at several federal agencies, cut federal spending and in an unprecedented move emailed federal employees asking 'what they got done last week'.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, left, shakes hands with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as he arrives for a meeting at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing in 2019

Trump and Musk have argued that the government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been plagued by errors.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has led the charge to slash the federal workforce under the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) but its chief spokesperson appears to be completely off-message.

DOGE has faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks for its chaotic handling of layoffs, particularly its firing of key federal employees only to attempt to rehire them later.

Among those affected were workers responsible for maintaining nuclear weapons sites across the US, a move that has raised serious national security concerns and Musk and his allies are now face mounting pressure to reassess their approach.

Some terminations are part of the Education Department's 'final mission,' alluding to Trump's vow to eliminate the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and provides federal funding for needy districts.

The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Trump officially signed an executive order to heavily downsize the Department of Education Thursday.

Similar closures served as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the US Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against unscrupulous lenders.

Musk speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony for Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory in Shanghai

So far, DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, despite dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE's blunt approach has frustrated several White House officials and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have confronted angry constituents at town halls.

Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first notable public move to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All US government agencies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump's cost-cutting campaign.

Several agencies have offered employees payments to retire early to fulfill Trump's demand.

Affected Education Department employees will be placed on administrative leave starting on March 21, the department said.

Other agencies have offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who agree to leave their jobs.

Among these are the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, including its Food and Drug Administration.
Former Fox News guest contributor and anti-drug activist Ricci Wynne has found himself in legal trouble once again as he was indicted on child porn charges on Tuesday by a federal grand jury.

Wynne was previously charged with suspicion of pimping and pandering last November with law enforcement alleging the activist of exploiting vulnerable individuals for financial gain.

The new indictment, filed in a district court in San Francisco, accuses Wynne of coercing minors to engage in 'sexually explicit conduct' for visual depiction in April and October of 2022.

The indictment also alleged that Wynne had intentions of shipping or transporting the visual depiction.

Prosecutors uncovered the allegedly disturbing content when Wynne was arrested at San Francisco International Airport in late November.

His phone was seized by authorities which was allegedly when the child pornography was discovered.

An unnamed 30-year-old woman was with Wynne during the arrest. Authorities believed that he was using her for sex work and she was later released.

After the arrest, police obtained a search warrant and found over $79,000 in cash in his apartment, where investigators believe the sex work took place.

Ricci Wynne was indicted on child pornography charges by a federal grand jury on Tuesday

The former Fox News guest and political activist was previously arrested and charged with suspicion of pimping and pandering

Wynne had created a profile for himself as a conservative anti-drug activist that landed him on Fox News to advocate for his cause

A court filing from December alleged that Wynne had a 'track record of sexually abusing children,' Assistant US Attorney Eric Cheng wrote.

'Evidence recently identified by investigators shows (Wynne) not only sexually abused children, but further video recorded many of his sexual acts with them,' the filing added, as reported by East Bay Times.

The document also alleged that Wynne had abused children as young as 12, who he also is accused of assaulting on camera when she was 13.

Wynne has a checkered criminal past, having built his career on being a reformed drug dealer.

However, in 2018, police investigated a tip that he advertised a 'cocaine buffet' online.

He then faced a federal drug case and a 12 year prison term, but his lawyers argued that he was a victim of abuse and tried to harm himself while in jail so he was released in December 2021 with three years of probation.

Prosecutors are now alleging that Wynne began grooming young girls after he was released.

Wynne is currently in custody in California and has pleaded not guilty to the pimping and pandering charges.

Wynne amassed a large following on social media where he posted videos depicting drug addiction and homelessness in San Francisco

Wynne is currently in federal custody and faces a slew of charges including child pornography and human trafficking

The shocking allegations underscore Wynne's anti-crime activism, which popularized him in conservative circles.

He was featured on the network in 2023, and advocated for new policies to combat San Francisco's drug crisis to Fox host, Jesse Watters.

Wynne amassed a significant following on social media, having over 102,000 followers on Instagram and 29,000 on X.

He posted abrasive content on the realities of homelessness and drug addiction, which at times was slammed as sensationalist by his critics.

Wynne also positioned himself as a political figure, advocating for Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Daniel Lurie's mayoral campaign.
She lost the White House in a landslide, torched a billion-dollar war chest, and left her party reeling, but Kamala Harris is back on top.

Less than four months after suffering a humiliating defeat to Donald Trump in which she lost the popular vote, the Electoral College, and every single swing state, a new poll suggests former Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic Party's undisputed frontrunner.

In a political twist few would have predicted in the aftermath of 2024, Harris currently leads the early 2028 Democratic primary field by a staggering 26-point margin, according to a Morning Consult poll.

The numbers speak for themselves with 36 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent voters saying they want Harris at the top of the ticket once again.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg comes a distant second at 10 percent.

Harris has barely been seen in public since November's defeat, but if the poll's findings are to be believed it would seem the Democrats are no closer to understanding what went wrong and lack alternatives.

Once billed as the future of the Democratic Party, Harris watched her 2024 presidential bid collapse in real time as Trump bulldozed his way back into the White House.

Despite raising close to $1.8 billion - an astronomical sum that surpassed even her predecessor Joe Biden's haul - Harris failed to convert the money into momentum or any meaningful support in the crucial battleground states.

Four months after suffering a humiliating defeat to Donald Trump, a new poll suggests former Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic Party's undisputed frontrunner for 2028

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg comes a distant second at 10 percent

Months on the political vacuum left by her loss appears still open to be filled with no viable challenger yet emerging as the Democrats appear bruised and directionless.

Trailing Harris in the poll is a lineup of potential Democratic suiters but none have cracked double digits except for Buttigieg.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, widely seen as a natural successor to Democratic power, sits in a three-way tie at just 5 percent, alongside far-left firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Harris' own 2024 running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

TV billionaire Mark Cuban, who has flirted with the idea of running in years past, pulled in 4 percent, matching Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, said to be a finalist in Harris' 2024 VP selection process.

TV billionaire Mark Cuban, who has flirted with the idea of running in years past, pulled in 4 percent, matching Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, said to be a finalist in Harris' 2024 VP selection process.

Senator Cory Booker polled 3 percent while Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer drew 2%

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, left, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, center, and Senator Amy Klobuchar all tied at 2 percent

Last week it was reported Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief of staff under Barack Obama, is considering a bid to run for the presidency in 2028

After Shapiro the numbers descend into obscurity: Senator Cory Booker at 3 percent and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Senator Amy Klobuchar all tied at 2 percent.

Last week, Politico reported Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief of staff under Barack Obama, is considering a bid.

The poll suggested just 1 percent of potential Democratic primary voters would support him at this point, while 44 percent of Democrat voters said theyd never heard of him.

Harris' resurgence has come without a single campaign stop, fundraising email, or public announcement.

Reports suggest the former VP might be considering a run for California governor in 2026, to succeed a termed-out Newsom.
A Brisbane couple seriously injured after a tourist boat capsized in Bali have revealed they were stranded for several hours before they could get hospital treatment.

The Sea Dragon 2 snorkelling boat - carrying 13 tourists of which 11 were Australians - flipped about 8.30am local time on Friday when it was hit by two large waves off Nusa Penida, an island about 15km east of Denpasar in Bali.

Canberra woman Anna Maree died after she was thrown overboard in the accident, which happened just three days after she celebrated her 39th birthday.

Survivors of the crash included Brisbane couple Gabriel Hijniakoff and Cintamani Warrington who said they spent two hours on the upturned hull waiting for rescue than another several hours on a nearby island before they were taken to hospital.

Both tourists suffered serious injuries with Ms Warrington in particular sustaining extensive chemical burns, according to Mr Hijniakoff's brother Jacob.

They had been in Bali for one week and were due to fly home on Saturday but are now stuck in Indonesia undergoing treatment.

Mr Hijniakoff's brother said he wanted his family members to get home as soon as possible so that Ms Warrington could receive 'proper' burn treatment in Australia.

He said that she is unable to even speak due to the level of pain she is in right now.

Brisbane couple Gabriel Hijniakoff and Cintamani Warrington are undergoing treatment in Bali for extensive injuries they suffered when their snorkeling tour boat capsized on Friday

A large wave hit the boat and threw Canberra woman Anna Maree into the water, killing her, before another wave hit and capsized the tour boat

Mr Hijniakoff's brother was appalled that it took local authorities so long to get his family to a hospital after the crash.

'They were out on the boat for an hour or two until they actually got picked up, and then they were stranded on the island for a while - they couldn't get back to the mainland until later that night,' he told the Courier Mail.

'They are just in hospital at the moment, they managed to make their way over there last night.

'They are undergoing treatment there and then trying to get back to Australia.'

Photos of the shipwreck captured by Indonesian authorities showed the desperate state of the injured as they waited on the overturned vessel while help arrived.

Mr Hijniakoff's sister-in-law, Olivia, quickly launched a GoFundMe campaign in order to get her family members back home for 'urgent medical treatment'.

'They have lost all of their personal travel documents and important belongings,' she wrote.

'On March 21, 2025, while on a much-needed holiday in Bali, Gabriel and Tam's trip turned into a nightmare.'

Mr Hijniakoff's sister-in-law launched a GoFundMe to get the couple home

Nusa Penida is a picturesque island on the southeastern side of Bali and is separated by the Badung Strait

Ms Warrington remains in critical condition and Ms Hijniakoff said the entire trip has turned into an 'emotional and financial burden'.

'To make matters worse, they lost crucial personal belongings, including their phones, passports, and wallets, making it even harder to arrange medical transfers and recovery efforts,' she wrote.

Some of the group were snorkelling underwater when the Sea Dragon 2 was hit by a large wave that threw Ms Maree overboard before a second wave hit and capsized the boat in Kelingking waters, local police spokesman Agus Widiono said.

A nearby boat, owned by the same company, came to save the survivors as rescuers found the body of Ms Maree.

The capsized boat was recovered and towed to Toyapakeh Harbour.

Local police said the two injured Brisbanites suffered burns to their upper thighs, but they attributed their injuries to the heat from the engine.

They were treated at Griya Medical Clinic before being flown to Denpasar.

Tourist boat accidents are common in Indonesia with the vessels often overcrowded and having poor safety regulations.

Nusa Penida is a picturesque island on the southeastern side of Bali and is separated by the Badung Strait.
Have YOU been affected by the closure?

Ed Miliband has ordered an urgent investigation into the Heathrow fire after the airport boss claimed he is 'proud' of how the power outage was handled.

He is working with Ofgem and using powers under the Energy Act to formally launch the grid operator's investigation.

'We are determined to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learned,' Mr Miliband said.

'That is why, working with Ofgem, I have today commissioned the National Energy System Operator to carry out an investigation into this specific incident and to understand any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure, both now and in the future.

'The Government is determined to do everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow.'

Earlier, the airport's chief executive Thomas Woldbye was grilled over claims that Europe's biggest airport had become an international 'laughing stock' after a substation fire caused a temporary power loss and forced hundreds of flights to be grounded on Friday.

Nearly 300,000 passengers were affected by the meltdown, which led to the cancellation or delay of more than 1,350 flights.

Tens of thousands of travellers are still stranded across the globe today, while others fear missing funerals, hen-parties and holidays of a lifetime as a result of the chaos.

But despite the ongoing chaos, Mr Woldbye told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was 'personally quite proud' of his staff's response to the unprecedented scenes and appeared to shift the blame for the outage.

As Heathrow shut down sparking worldwide travel carnage:

Ed Miliband has ordered an urgent investigation into the Heathrow fire after the airport boss claimed he is 'proud' of how the power outage was handled

Chief executive of Heathrow Thomas Woldbye (pictured) is 'proud' of how the airport responded to a power outage that sparked global travel chaos

Smoke billows from the substation in Hayes amid efforts to douse the remainder of the flames after a fire caused a temporary power loss at Heathrow Airport

Heathrow expects to be back to full operation today as flights resumed at Europe's biggest airport after a substation fire caused a temporary power loss. Pictured: Planes on the Heathrow runway after the airport re-opened on Saturday

Heathrow airport terminal 5 today is packed out with passengers after the closure on Friday

Travellers wait at Terminal 5 as Heathrow Airport slowly resumes flights after a fire cut power to the airport

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'Don't forget the situation was not created at Heathrow Airport. It was created outside the airport and we had to deal with the consequences,' he told presenter Emma Barnett on Saturday.

The airport boss, whose salary is believed to be around 5million a year, also refused to comment on whether he should still be in his role following the disaster, saying 'I will let others judge if they think there is an issue'.

The National Energy System Operator (Neso) is expected to report to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Ofgem with initial findings within six weeks.

Operations at Heathrow were normal on Saturday morning after flights began taking off on Friday following hours of closure after a blaze at an electricity substation in Hayes cut power to the west London airport.

Mr Woldbye told BBC radio 4's Today programme he does not 'expect any major amount of flights to be cancelled or delayed' but there will be some as with any 'busy day' at the airport.

He was unable to say how long it would take for stranded passengers to get to their destinations, claiming it was a question for the 'airlines to answer and will vary on where we are in the world and what airlines we are talking about'.

Ms Barnett then pressed the airport boss on claims from Jason Bona, the owner of logistics and supply chain company PS Forwarding, that Heathrow had become an international 'laughing stock' in the wake of the fire.

Mr Woldbye replied saying Mr Bona did not have 'the necessary insight', adding he was 'personally quite proud' of the airport's response to the situation.

'I am proud of the entire ecosystem and that's not just Heathrow, that's our handlers, our airlines, our engineers, the fire station.

'I am proud of what the people did to get us out of the situation. Don't forget the situation was not created at Heathrow Airport. It was created outside the airport and we had to deal with the consequences.'

Mr Woldbye said investigators were still trying to establish who was to blame for the disaster, but would only be able to do so when they 'have all the facts'.

When asked whether he should still be in his position despite the incident, Mr Woldbye said: 'I will let others judge if they think there is an issue.'

Travellers arrive at Terminal 2 as Heathrow Airport slowly resumes flights on Saturday

Travellers arrive at Terminal 5 as Heathrow slowly resumes flights after a fire cut power to the Airport on Friday

Smoke is seen billowing from the electrical substation in Hayes on Saturday morning after it caught fire on Friday

Firefighters remain at the scene of the fire at an electrical substation in Hayes after it suffered a large explosion

Counter-terrorism police have been leading a probe into the cause of the fire, although the London Fire Brigade are treating it as 'non-suspicious'.

Westminster sources blamed human error for the disaster, while those 'familiar with the investigations' claimed an electrical engineer sparked the fire. 'It's always cock-up rather than conspiracy,' a source told Politico.

Airlines have warned the disruption could last for days, with dozens of flights departing and arriving from all over world, including New York, Singapore and Delhi, having been cancelled this morning

Dozens of arrivals into Heathrow were cancelled on Saturday morning, although the vast majority of scheduled morning flights departed successfully, with a handful of delays and cancellations.

BA, which has a major presence at Heathrow, said it expects to operate around 85% of its scheduled flights at the airport on Saturday, with around 90 expected to be cancelled out of roughly 600 scheduled.

A BA spokesman said: 'We are planning to operate as many flights as possible to and from Heathrow on Saturday, but to recover an operation of our size after such a significant incident is extremely complex.

'We expect around 85% of our Saturday Heathrow schedule to run, but it is likely that all travelling customers will experience delays as we continue to navigate the challenges posed by Friday's power outage at the airport.'

Chief executive Sean Doyle described the situation at Heathrow as 'unprecedented' and said there will be a 'huge impact' over the coming days. Virgin Atlantic said it expects to operate a 'near-full schedule' on Saturday, adding there will be 'limited cancellations'.

Planes can be seen taking off from Heathrow as the airport re-opened on Saturday

Heathrow airport terminal 5 today is packed out with passengers after the closure on Friday

People with luggage arrive at Terminal 4 of the Heathrow a day after a fire at a nearby electrical substation wiped out its power

Travellers arrive at Terminal 5 as Heathrow Airport slowly resumes flights after a fire cut power to the airport on Friday

A passenger lying on the floor at Heathrow T5 on Friday after the fire knocked out power at the airport

A tearful stranded couple at Heathrow T5 on Friday after fights were cancelled due to a power outage at a electricity substation

A group of four friends told MailOnline their Caribbean cruise dream had been blighted after the major travel hub closed due to the huge blaze.

Chloe, Ashley, Monisola, and their friend, who didn't wish to be named, had been planning their trip, which begins in Miami, since January.

They paid 1,600 for the cruise, but the cost has since doubled after they rushed to book flights from Gatwick on Friday morning to ensure they could still travel.

A London woman was forced to miss part of her close friend's wedding as a result of the mass cancellation of flights.

Farah Rafeeq, 24, was due to travel with Singapore Airlines on Friday from Heathrow with her 32-year-old friend Niken Wulan, who is pregnant, to another friend's wedding in Cambodia on Sunday.

They have found an alternative flight from Gatwick Airport with Turkish Airlines and Bangkok Airways that will get them to Cambodia for Sunday afternoon.

Ms Rafeeq, who works in climate project management, said: 'The last few hours have been nightmarish because it is one of our closest friends' wedding and we have to travel for at least 20 hours to get there.

'We had to pay double the amount, between 600 and 700, for the new flight, and we had planned this trip for months and had hotels booked and are flying to South-east Asia after the wedding. We are missing the morning ceremony but at least we can make it for the reception.'

Farah Rafeeq (left), 24, and her 32-year-old friend Niken Wulan, were forced to miss part of their close friend's wedding as a result of the mass cancellation of flights

From left to right: Chloe, Ashley, Monisola and friend - a group of four pals who had their Caribbean cruise dream blighted after Heathrow was closed due to a blaze on Friday

Sharon Towers and her husband (pictured) said they are stranded in the airport as strict immigration policy means they can't check into a hotel

Tracey Jones (pictured) is stuck in Bangkok, Thailand after her flight was cancelled

Dr Don Cardy, 65, and his wife Sue, 60, who have had to pay 400 for an Uber to Manchester, after their connecting flight in Heathrow was cancelled

Cara O'Connor, 31 and from County Kerry, was left 'devastated' by the travel chaos at Heathrow as she feared her mother in law, sister in law, and two of her best friends may not be able to attend her hen party in England this weekend

Phil Hewitt, director of energy analysis firm Montel Group, said: 'This potential lack of resilience at a critical national and international infrastructure site is worrying.

'An airport as large and as important as Heathrow should not be vulnerable to a single point of failure.'

Heathrow has its own biomass power plant and diesel backup generators, but they can power only essential safety systems, such as lighting and exit doors.

The airport's electricity usually comes from three substations, each of which has a backup transformer.

In the case of the damaged North Hyde substation, in west London, its backup transformer was also lost in the fire, which started shortly before midnight on Thursday.

Within hours, theories were swirling that sabotage, possibly even by Russia, may have been the cause.

Despite the involvement of counter-terror officers, Scotland Yard said it was 'not treating this incident as suspicious, although enquiries do remain ongoing'.

'Various specialist investigators continue to examine the scene and it is expected to take some time before full assessments can be completed,' a spokesman said.

The Politico website said those 'familiar with the investigations' were pointing towards a mistake by an electrical engineer sparking the fire. 'It's always cock-up rather than conspiracy,' a source said.

Heathrow bosses were facing questions last night about how a small fire shut down one of the world's biggest airports. Pictured: The fire at Hayes electrical substation

The fire It resulted in unprecedented scenes, grounding flights for most of the day and exposing a major vulnerability in the country's infrastructure. Dramatic images show flames tearing through the substation as smoke billows into the night sky on Friday morning

Firefighters douse the remainder of a fire that broke out at a substation supplying power to Heathrow Airport in Hayes, west London

The smouldering North Hyde electrical substation pictured on Friday

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BA previously pinned the blame for its 150million IT meltdown in 2017, which stopped online check in and grounded dozens of plans, on a single worker who rebooted the system too quickly when the power failed.

The engineer allegedly failed to follow proper procedure at a Heathrow data centre and caused 'catastrophic physical damage' to servers leaving 75,000 stranded across the globe.

Offering a grovelling apology last night, Mr Woldbye said the airport had faced a situation 'as bad as it gets for us'.

Supply had to be 'restructured' to draw on the other two substations, which involved restarting thousands of different systems  which takes 'an enormous amount of time', he said.

'We are very sorry about all the inconvenience. We lost a major part of our power supply. This was an incident of major severity. We lost power equal to that of a mid-sized city.

'Our backup systems have been working as they should, but they are not sized to run the entire airport. This is unprecedented. Everyone has been shocked but all our procedures have been working as they should.'

Mr Woldbye insisted Heathrow cannot guard itself '100 per cent' against such incidents. The airport would be up and running today and passengers should go the airport at the time they normally would, he added.

Mr Woldbye's full pay has not been published since he took over the job in 2023, but his predecessor John Holland-Kaye earned 6.4 million in his final year.

The substation fire in Hayes involved 25,000 litres of cooling oil igniting, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) has said

A firefighter helps putting out a fire that broke out at a substation supplying power to Heathrow Airport on Friday

Some 120 transatlantic services were forced to turn round in mid-journey. Passengers on flights from Singapore and Perth were diverted to Paris before taking buses to London

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Downing Street said Mr Woldbye would have 'questions to answer', as the closure of Heathrow costs Britain around 20 million a day.

As well as catering for hundreds of thousands of passengers, the airport is also the gateway to 4,300 tons of cargo a day, worth 543 million.

A No 10 spokesman said: 'There's absolutely no doubt that there are questions to answer on how this has happened and what can be done to prevent the scale of disruption we've seen from happening again.'

The fire came a day after energy regulator Ofgem announced a 4 billion investment in plans to boost Britain's under-pressure power network.

A 2022 report for the Mayor of London showed that the North Hyde substation was, at times, running at 106.2 per cent its rated capacity.

A substation is responsible for stepping-down high-voltage electricity from suppliers and distributing it to homes and businesses.

Dr Conor Murphy, of grid analytics firm NovoGrid, said overloaded transformers were a common cause of fires at substations.

'The oil-cooled equipment in substations like this poses inherent fire risks, particularly from ageing infrastructure or overloaded system,' he added.

'Complete airport shutdowns due to power failure are extremely rare. The incident underscores broader grid vulnerabilities.

'The cause of the fire will need to be determined to prevent similar events in the future  whether it was an electrical fault, human error or external factors.'

He added that it may be a year before the substation was restored because highly specialised equipment will need replacing.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the complete shutdown of Heathrow made the airport look 'quite vulnerable'.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander defended the airport while acknowledging the 'immense distress and disruption' its closure caused to passengers.

Justine Bayley, chairman of Stop Heathrow Expansion, said: 'Just how competent are Heathrow's bosses? We should not put all our eggs in that basket.

'If we want to increase UK connectivity to the rest of the world, today's fiasco has shown we need to spread the load and the risk to other airports.'
Self-proclaimed misogynist influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate arrived back in Romania early on Saturday, where they face charges of rape and human trafficking.

Tate, 38, and Tristan, 36, who are dual U.S. and British citizens, were arrested in Romania in late 2022 and formally indicted last year.

They are charged with participating in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania, where they were allegedly sexually exploited.

Tate was also charged with rape. The brothers deny all of the allegations against them.

Their plane landed at Bucharest Airport shortly before 1am local time.

'Spending 185,000 dollars on a private jet across the Atlantic to sign one single piece of paper in Romania,' Tate posted on X.

'Innocent men don't run. They clear their name in court.'

After arriving at their residence near the capital, Tate repeated the sentiment, telling reporters they returned because 'innocent men don't run from anything'.

Andrew Tate (R) and his brother Tristan (L) speak to the media as they arrive in Romania from the U.S.

Tate gave an impassioned speech to the press, saying 'innocent men don't run'

Reporters swarm around a car transporting the brothers back to their Bucharest residence

'After all we've been through, we truly deserve the day in court where it is stated that we've done nothing wrong and that we should have never been in court in the first place,' he said.

'We should have never gone to jail. We should have never had our assets seized. We should have never had our names slandered.

'Anyone who believed any of this garbage has a particularly low IQ.'

The figurehead of the online masculinist movement travelled to Florida with his brother last month, marking the first time they had left the eastern European country since their 2022 arrest.

The brothers remain under judicial control, which requires them to appear before legal authorities in Romania when summoned.

Eugen Vidineac, one of their lawyers in Romania, said the Tates are due to check in with a surveillance officer on Monday.

After they arrived in the states on March 4, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened a criminal investigation into the brothers.

They have 'publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women around the world', said Uthmeier.

The brothers were arrested in Romania in late 2022 and formally indicted last year (Pictured: Tristan)

They are charged with participating in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania, where they were allegedly sexually exploited

A day after the investigation was opened, Tate said online: 'I didn't commit any crime and they're trying to find one because they don't like me.'

In a separate civil case in the UK, four British women have accused Tate of rape and coercive control.

The lifting of their two-year travel ban came after a Bucharest court in December ruled that a case against the brothers could not go to trial because of multiple legal and procedural irregularities by prosecutors.

The case, however, remained open.

Tristan said after returning to Romania: 'I think it's very telling that we were investigated for two and a half years and we were dragged in front of the media, into prison, out of prison, all this time.

'And in December, a judge said there's not enough evidence for this to even go to trial.'

In August, Romanian authorities launched a second case against the brothers, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering.

They have denied those charges as well.

The brothers deny all the allegations against them (Pictured: The pair attend a mixed martial arts event on March 8, 2025, in Las Vegas)

Andrew Tate posts a video on March 4, 2025, captioned: 'First day of Freedom in Miami'

Tate, a former professional kickboxer and influencer who has amassed more than 10 million followers on X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him.

'There are a lot of people in the world today that do not have faith in Romanian institutions but we're going to restore that faith by coming home, as American citizens, going to court and getting the not guilty that we deserve,' he said.

'If a court needs to speak to us, we'll be there because we're innocent.'

Tate moved to Romania years ago after first starting a webcam business in the UK.

He leapt to fame in 2016 when he appeared on the Big Brother UK reality television show but was removed after a video emerged showing him attacking a woman.

He then turned to social media platforms to promote his misogynistic and divisive views on how to be successful.

In March last year, the brothers appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal after UK authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a case dating from 2012 to 2015.

The Romanian court has granted a British extradition request, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.
Vladimir Putin went to church to pray for Donald Trump after he was shot on stage at a rally last year, top envoy Steve Witkoff has revealed.

The Russian leader also commissioned a portrait of the US president which he sent to Trump as a gift.

The revelations were made by Trump's chief negotiator who appeared in an interview wit ex-Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson on Friday.

'President Putin had commissioned a beautiful portrait of President Trump, from the leading Russian artist, and actually gave it to me and asked me to take it home to President Trump', he said.

'It was such a gracious moment, and [he] told me his storyabout how when the president was shot, he went to his local church and met with his priest and prayed for the president.

'Not because he was the president of the United [States]... but because he had a friendship with him, and he was praying for his friend.'

Last July, Trump, then the presidential candidate for the Republican Party, was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania when a barrage of rifle rounds fired by gunman Thomas Matthew Cooks rained down on him, grazing him in the ear. t.

Witkoff's remarks did nothing to detract from suspicions of a pally relationship between Trump and Putin.

Vladimir Putin went to church to pray for Donald Trump when he was shot last year, top envoy Steve Witkoff has revealed

The Russian leader is also said to have commissioned a portrait of Trump

The revelation comes as Putin and Trump took the first steps this week toward ending the war between Russia and Ukraine. Pictured: View shows damaged private houses at a site of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Hostomel, Kyiv region, Ukraine March 19, 2025

It comes as both leaders took the first steps this week toward ending the war between Russia and Ukraine as they agreed to an 'energy and infrastructure ceasefire.'

The partial ceasefire agreement will be in effect for 30 days.

Talks for a permanent peace will 'begin immediately' in the Middle East although Putin told Trump that he has several conditions he wants met in order for the fighting to end.

'The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East,' the White House said in its readout of the call.

Witkoff also said that the Putin-occupied regions of Ukraine - Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia - were 'Russian-speaking', saying 'there were referendums there where the overwhelming majority of people showed that they want to be under Russian rule'.

These were votes at gunpoint after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which have not been recognised by Western countries.

Yet despite this, Witkoff said: 'That's the elephant in the room.

'The elephant in the room is the constitutional issues within Ukraine about what they can give up when it comes to giving up territory.

Three people were killed and 12 more were wounded in a Russian drone attack on Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday morning

Rescuers work on site of a residential building destroyed by a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia

Police officers carry the body of a person killed by a Russian drone strike in a residential neighborhood in Zaporizhzhia,

'The Russians have de facto control over those territories.

'The question is, will the world recognise that these are Russian territories?

'Will Zelensky survive politically if he does? That's the central issue of the conflict.'

Meanwhile, heavy fighting between Russia and Ukraine has continued.

Three people were killed and 12 more were wounded in a Russian drone attack on Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday morning.

Regional head Ivan Fedorov said that 'residential buildings, private cars, and social infrastructure facilities were set on fire' in the attack Friday night, and published photos showing emergency services scouring the rubble of damaged residential buildings for survivors.

The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired 179 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks overnight into Saturday.

It said 100 were intercepted and another 63 'lost,' likely having been electronically jammed.

Officials in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions also reported fires breaking out due to the falling debris from intercepted drones.

Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire Trump spoke with the countries' leaders, though it remains to be seen what possible targets would be off limits to attack.

The three sides appeared to hold starkly different views about what the deal covered.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky that Ukraine is open to a full, 30-day ceasefire that Trump has proposed, saying: 'We will not be against any format, any steps toward unconditional ceasefire.'
Adolescence writer Jack Thorne has called for a ban on selling smartphones to under-16s, saying they must be kept from kids 'in whatever way possible'.

The miniseries has stormed the streaming charts since its release ten days ago, and tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who murders a female classmate after being influenced by online misogyny.

Thorne, who co-wrote the drama with star Stephen Graham, has an eight-year-old son, Elliott, who he hopes to keep from owning a smartphone until he turns 14.

Thorne told The Times: 'I don't think I'm brave enough to say, when 70 to 80 per cent of his class have got smartphones, "no, you need to be isolated." I don't want him to be isolated like that.

'But it will never be in his bedroom until he's old enough to cope with what it is to have that instrument in private.'

Research for the drama took Thorne to the dark corners of the toxic online manosphere frequented more and more by young men.

Experiencing the dangerous ideology for himself opened Thorne's eyes to quite how powerful it can be, he said, as the argument made by masculinist influencers is 'attractive'.

The 46-year-old said it made him concerned for his young son and nephews.

Adolescence co-writer Jack Thorne (pictured) has called for a ban on selling smartphones to under-16s

The hit Netflix miniseries examines violent misogyny fuelled by 'incel' culture online

He argued that creating better role models for young men could take years, while certain crucial preventative measures can be implemented immediately.

He continued: 'I would ban smartphone sales up to the age of 16. Why do kids need smartphones? They can have phones but not smartphones. Certainly keeping kids away from smartphones in whatever way possible, I think, is vital.'

Thorne likened his plan to a law proposed by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which would have banned young people from ever being able to smoke legally.

His bill would have made it a crime to sell tobacco to anyone born after January 1 2009, thus, in theory, preventing them from forming an addiction in adolescence.

Thorne has recently been targeted by online trolls questioning his sexuality, ethnicity and 'whether I am a man or not'.

Some have hurled anti-Jewish slurs at the writer, although he is not Jewish.

Adolescence examines 'incel' culture, which has been blamed for the use of social media in bullying.

But in a moment of life imitating art, Thorne divulged that it is he who is now being pursued by online combatants.

The cast and crew attend a special screening for Adolescence in London on March 12, 2025

Stephen Graham, co-writer alongside Thorne, also stars as Eddie Miller in Adolescence

He told BBC Two's current affairs programme Newsnight: 'It's very interesting.

'I've been on the television a little bit, and what's been happening in the last few days is my picture is being circulated with questions (made about) my masculinity, questions as to whether I've got too much oestrogen (a group of female sex hormones) in my system, questions as to whether I'm a man or not.

'Weird things like people saying I'm Jewish, when I'm not, it's been very odd, and it's given me a taste of something that's very strange.

'I'm very comfortable with how I look, I don't mind it, but it's been scientifically very interesting.'
Around 150 migrants have arrived in Dover after crossing the English Channel in small boats.

Pictures show the group, who were rescued from out at sea, being escorted into the dock by Border Force on Saturday.

It comes as the total number of migrants who have arrived in the UK this year by crossing the English Channel topped 5,000.

Some 341 people made the journey in six boats on Thursday, bringing the provisional total for the year so far to 5,025.

This is the earliest point in the calendar that crossings have reached the 5,000 mark since data was first reported in 2018. Last year, 5,000 arrivals was passed on March 31.

The cumulative number of arrivals so far in 2025 - 5,025 - is 24 per cent higher than at this stage in 2024, when the figure stood at 4,043, and 36 per cent higher than at this point in 2023.

The highest number arriving in one day this year so far stands at 592 people, crossing the Channel in 11 boats on March 2.

The latest figures come as Europol said it had arrested six people suspected of being part of a migrant smuggling network active across the English Channel.

Around 150 migrants have arrived in Dover after crossing the English Channel in small boats

Border Force escort 150 migrants into Dover Docks, Kent on Saturday morning

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Pictures show the group, who were rescued from out at sea, being escorted into the dock by Border Force on Saturday

The group based in Germany was allegedly involved in the smuggling of Middle Eastern and East African migrant to the UK in low-quality inflatable boats.

German police raided 11 locations on March 19, seizing 90 life vests, jerrycans, two firearms and more than 47 electronic devices.

The criminal network, active since 2023, transported nautical equipment from storage spaces in Germany to France.

This week, the French coastguard confirmed two migrants died in two days trying to cross the Channel on Wednesday and Thursday.

One person died after being pulled from the water while the other person died after trying to cross in an overloaded boat, despite rescue efforts to save them.

The UK signed a 'road-map' agreement with France earlier this month aimed at bolstering co-operation to tackle people smuggling across the Channel.

The Government's new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill also continues through Parliament with plans to introduce new criminal offences and hand counter terror-style powers to police and enforcement agencies to crack down on people smuggling gangs.

A group of people thought to be migrants at the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel

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Migrants are seen arriving in a Border Force vessel at Dover on Saturday

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Pictures show the group, who were rescued from out at sea, being escorted into the dock by Border Force on Saturday

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.

'The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.'

A Number 10 spokesman said on Friday: 'We've acknowledged that there is a flow of migrants into this country by illegal means on small boats and we've seen a number of incidents in this week in French waters.

'That's why this Government has put forward a serious credible plan to finally restore order to the chaos we inherited in our asylum system.'
Women in France have had more sexual partners than they did two decades ago, new research shows.

The National Institute for Demographic Studies rejected claims that young people are increasingly becoming less interested in having sex.

According to its findings, by the time French women reach the age of 29 they have had sex with more partners than their counterparts 20 years ago.

Almost 29 per cent of women aged between 25 and 29 said they had had sex with at least ten different men, compared to 8 per cent in 2006.

Researcher Marie Bergstrom attributed the 'renewal of sexual practices and diversification of relations' in France to an increase in the number of partners.

And while 21 per cent of young people said they had not had sex for over 12 months, Bergstrom linked this to a drop in the number of under-30's in steady relationships and a rise in the amount of women to refuse sex when they did not want it.

The study, which included 10,000 French people aged 18 to 29, also showed that the number of those who identify as straight had dropped sharply.

French women have had more sexual partners than they did two decades ago, according to new research

According to the National Institute for Demographic Studies, almost 29 per cent of women aged between 25 and 29 said they had had sex with at least ten different men, compared to 8 per cent in 2006

More than 14 per cent of participants identified as gay, bisexual, pansexual or another minority sexual orientation.

This was most common among Gen Z women, of whom 81 per cent identified as straight, compared with 92 per cent of men.

Meanwhile, 10 per cent of French women identified as bisexual, two per cent homosexual and five per cent pansexual.

Two per cent of women said they identified as asexual.

Sexual violence is the reason for the shift, Bergstrom said, noting that for French women, heterosexuality was a 'system for favouring relationships of domination and violence by men against women'.

Similar trends have also been observed in the UK.

According to the Office for National Statistics, 9.4 per cent of Gen Z women and 4.5 per cent of men identified as something other than heterosexual.
A Western Sydney family's house has been shot up in a drive-by shooting in what police said appears to be a case of mistaken identity.

The woman and her four young children had their Crossland Street house peppered with bullets in the attack in Merrylands early on Saturday morning.

NSW Police confirmed the woman and her children were not the intended targets of the attack and an investigation has been launched to determine who was behind it.

Dramatic footage has since emerged of a suspected getaway car being set alight by hooded figures in a nearby street.

Nobody was injured during the ordeal despite a number of the bullets entering the family's home, Detective Superintendent Simon Glasser said.

'This was a highly reckless and violent attack on an innocent family,' he said.

'We believe there was a targeted attack. However, the target of the attack had moved out of that residence some months ago.'

Superintendent Glasser said the family were 'very shaken' after being 'caught in the crossfire'.

Officers believe they know who was the intended target of the attack and said they were well-known to police.

A woman and her four young children have been caught in the crosshairs of a suspected drive-by shooting in Sydney's west early Saturday morning

Several cars were found by officers set alight in a neighbouring suburb shortly after the shooting

Police said they are working to firm up how the shooting was linked to gangland activities.

'That is part of our investigation and part of our inquiries  as to whether it is organised crime related,' Superintendent Glasser said.

'However, we do believe we know who the target is, and it's not someone who resides at that address'.

Two men dressed in dark clothing are believed to have carried out the attack and their weapon of choice was a 'rifle of some description' the superintendent added.

Shortly after the shooting police were called to nearby Chiswick Road, in the suburb of Granville, where they found multiple cars on fire.

Detectives are now reviewing CCTV footage from the area.

A silver or grey Nissan X-Trail has been identified as having been driven in the area at the time of the shooting.

The same vehicle was also found set alight in Granville.

Officers have established two crime scenes and are now investigating whether the attack is related to organised crime

Superintendent Glasser said the Nissan had been stolen months ago before it was eventually dumped after the shooting.

Police are trying to determine whether another vehicle was used during the suspect's getaway.

'It's just a street where they decided to do it [dump the car] and were able to escape through bushland, east towards Auburn,' Superintendent Glasser said.

'All we know at this point is they left Chiswick Road on foot.'

Crime scenes have been established at the residence of the shooting and where officers found the cars burning.

Investigations remain ongoing.

'We're investigating this with the seriousness that it deserves and we will be coming for them,' Superintendent Glasser said.

Anyone with information on the shooting has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000
A Ukrainian OnlyFans model who was found dumped by the side of the road in Dubai with horrific injuries is expected to recover, her family have said.

Maria Kovalchuk, 20, had been missing for eight days after telling her friends she had been invited to a party at a hotel on March 9.

On March 19, ten days after she disappeared, a battered and bloodied Maria was found dumped at a roadside in Dubai with her limbs and spine broken.

Maria was rushed to hospital and underwent three surgeries to save her life, before later receiving a fourth procedure.

Her mother Anna, who flew from Norway to be with her, said today that Maria is expected to recover from her horrific injuries, saying: 'she is getting medical treatment and everything will be all right'.

Dubai police confirmed 'that the Ukrainian citizen previously reported missing is currently hospitalised, receiving medical care with her family present.'

'A comprehensive investigation has revealed that she sustained serious injuries after entering a restricted construction site alone and falling from a height'.

Russian news outlet Shot reported that the adult content model's family had disputed the police account, as they believe that the information about her fall from a construction site is fake.

Ukrainian OnlyFans model Maria Kovalchuk, 20, who was left fighting for her life after she was found on the side of the road in Dubai is expected to make a recovery

Maria went missing for eight days but was later found by a roadside with a broken spine

Police believe she fell from a height, but her family have reportedly rejected this theory

Contacted separately today on this claim, her mother said: 'I cannot comment because of the investigation.'

Another Russian outlet VChK-OGPU said that Maria had been in 'incomprehensible hysterics' before disappearing.

At the time of her disappearance, Maria was set to attend a party with 'two men who introduced themselves as representatives of the modelling business', according to several Ukrainian media reports.

She told her mother that she would be staying with these representatives for the night, but she subsequently vanished.

Maria had booked a flight to Thailand that departed Dubai on March 11, but did not turn up at the airport, which is when her family and friends notified the police.

Maria's mother Anna said earlier of her daughter's disappearance: 'There is an assumption that she went to a party.

'But the promoter who organised these parties did not see her.

'Maria was [eventually] found in hospital in serious condition.

At the time of her disappearance, Maria was set to attend a party with 'two men who introduced themselves as representatives of the modelling business'

Maria's mother Anna has said that her daughter will survive after being found in critical condition

'She has no documents, no phone, nothing.

'She underwent three [now four] operations. And she cannot speak.'

Maria's friend, Russian model Angelina Doroshenkova, 31, said: 'We all hope for the best and are very grateful to everyone who took part in the search and helped with information.'

She was spending time with Kovalchuk in Dubai and was reportedly invited to the same party on March 9, but ultimately decided to return to Russia days before.
Comedian Dana Carvey has revealed the joke he told that made Bill Gates walk out on him.

Appearing alongside Bill Maher on his show 'Real Time', the 69-year-old recalled performing as his character The Church Lady for the Microsoft co-founder.

The Wayne's World actor said: 'They asked me to do a skit with Bill Gates as the church lady. I said I do not sell out that character.

'Then they told me what they are going to pay me and I said I'll get the b****** dress on right now.

'I'm in this giant arena and they are so intense about Bill Gates, he is like their god. We have cue cards, I'm in the dress, he is there being Bill Gates.

'It wasn't on the script, I turn to him and said, "Well, well, well. We like ourselves don't we. Apparently, we made a deal with the devil".'

He adds, still in character,: 'The devil said we can have $100 billion dollars, but we'd have to go through life looking like a turtle".'

Maher's audience erupts in laughter, causing Carvey to turn and ask: 'What, you feel he looks like a turtle? It was a joke.' He added: 'Then, he walked off.'

Appearing alongside Bill Maher on his show 'Real Time', the 69-year-old recalled performing as his character The Church Lady for the Microsoft co-founder

Maher and his audience erupted in laughter at the joke

The Saturday Night Live alumni also revealed on the show that he is currently 'working on' his impression of Elon Musk.

Carvey was replaced recently by his Wayne's World costar Mike Myers on SNL as the Tesla CEO and X owner.

He had originally taken up the role of portraying the billionaire after Trump won last year's election.

The real Musk had posted on his platform X criticizing Carvey's portrayal of him at the time, writing: 'Dana Carvey, just sounds like Dana Carvey.'

Giving his impression of Musk alongside Maher, Carvey said: 'We got to go to Mars, because we cant sustain life on planet Earth.

'We gotta go to Mars, its just gonna be really cool, OK? Mhm, mhm, mhm.'

He then switched to an impersonation of Trump, joking: 'What he said. Hes a smart cookie, hes a tough cookie, hes a Cookie Monster.

'This one, hes smart. Everybody talks about it. Hes like Chips Ahoy.'

Nobody was off limits on the show on Friday, with Carvey also taking joy in impersonating Joe Biden, RFK Jr, JFK, Woody Allen and even Paul McCartney.

Carvey is seen here performing as The Church Lady for an SNL cold opening

Carvey said the joke upset Gates so much that he walked off the stage after agreeing to perform at an event

It comes after Maher revealed he would meet with President Trump at the White House after a decades-long feud.

Maher has long insulted the president over his entry into politics, with Trump filing a lawsuit in 2013 after Maher made comments that his father was an orangutan.

It appears that Kid Rock, a mutual acquaintance of the two, brokered the peace talks between the two.

Maher told fellow comic Andrew Schultz on an episode of his podcast Club Random set to debut Sunday that the meeting is happening.

'Kid Rock was here a couple of weeks ago, and he said, "I want you to meet Trump."

He said, "I'm gonna take you to the White House." So, now we're gonna do that,' Maher said.
A tearful Democrat who was accosted by angry voters complained that 'they hate us' following a fiery townhall meeting.

The anonymous lawmaker called up a 'senior House Democrat' and shared how they had been met with hostility from the party's supporters, Axios reported.

It comes after Democrat townhalls across the country have been descending into chaos due to anger over House Democrats' decision to support a Republican spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.

Representatives were met with fury from constituents who berated them for not doing enough to oppose Donald Trump.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has been receiving ire for helping to pass the bill for nothing in return, but voters are taking out their frustrations on his colleagues too.

'Among the things I got [at a town hall] were: 'Will you call for Chuck Schumer to resign?'' one lawmaker told Axios.

'Last week I got: "You need to tell your leadership they had no right rebuking Democrats for being strong at"' Trump's speech addressing a joint session of Congress.

'Another thing I got was: "Democrats are too nice. Nice and civility doesn't work. Are you prepared for violence?"'

Democrat voters have turned on their lawmakers after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer helped pass a GOP spending bill without gaining any concessions

One anonymous lawmaker said he received a tearful phone call from a colleague who sobbed, 'they hate us' after a contentious townhall. Pictured: An angry crowd heckling Rep Sean Castern (D-IL)

Meanwhile, Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego have been urged to 'fight dirtier' against Republicans.

'We want you to show some of the backbone and strategic brilliance that Mitch McConnell would have in the minority,' a man told Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey, CNN reported.

In a townhall had to be shutdown by police after hecklers unleashed on Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Lakewood, Colorado News Online reports.

Similarly the cops had to shutdown an explosive townhall in Downers Grove after Rep Sean Castern (D-IL) was almost overwhelmed by an unruly mob.

The scale of the fury has prompted comparison's to the GOP's Tea Party movement, which emerged in 2010 in response to dissatisfaction with Republicans.

'Any Democratic incumbent who thinks they can rest on their laurels and not show their constituents that they are fighting like hell is making a mistake,' Rep Jared Huffman told Axios.

'The level of exasperation is comparable [to the Tea Party] for sure, even if the issues and policies are very different.'

Approval of the Democratic Party has also hit a brutal record low as Democrats are split over how to take on Trump, polling released earlier this week revealed.

Among Americans overall, the Democratic Party's favorability rating stands at just 29 percent, CNN found.

In some cases, police have had to step in to quell tensions. Pictured: Rep Sean Castern (D-IL) addresses furious voters

The outbursts stem from anger that the Democrats are not doing enough to oppose Donald Trump

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The party is experiencing the the lowest favorability it has seen since CNN first started conducting its polling back in 1992.

It is also a 20-point drop in approval since Trump left office more than four years ago at which time approval of the Democratic party was 49 percent.

It is also a ten point drop from just before the November election.

At the same time, a new NBC News poll released Sunday similarly found only 27 percent of voters had a positive view of the Democratic Party. That was the lowest positive rating in NBC News polling history dating back to 1990.

Many Dems fear that the anger could influence the 2026 primaries as irate voters move to oust lawmakers they feel are unequipped to take on Trump.
Elon Musk has claimed he wants to file a lawsuit against a former top Democrat, Jamaal Bowman, after the ex-New York lawmaker unleased a barrage of insults on the Tesla CEO.

Bowman, 48, accused the SpaceX CEO of both being an 'incompetent thief' and a 'Nazi' during a fiery CNN broadcast on Thursday night.

The verbal barrage began after Joe Borelli, the ex-Republican leader on the New York City Council, argued that much of the discontent seen at Republican town hall events were protests organized by Democrats.

'That's not true. And this shows, again, the American people do not trust Elon Musk. And Elon Musk is incompetent in his position,' the liberal politician, who now runs the super PAC Built to Win, said during the evening broadcast.

Bowman went on to list the reasons why he believes the Tesla founder 'doesn't have' the necessary skills required to hold Musk's top-ranking position.

'And how do we know? Because they fired tens of thousands of people, it was challenged in court,' Bowman began.

'The court said the people have to go back, and now the people are coming back. He's incompetent, he's a thief, he's a Nazi, and people don't trust him, period.'

Musk, never one to back down from a challenge, swiftly responded to Bowman's scathing claims by announcing his alleged plans to take legal action against the former House representative.

'I've had enough. Lawsuit inbound,' Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in response to the heated national broadcast.

Jamaal Bowman (pictured), 48, accused the SpaceX CEO of both being an 'incompetent thief' and a 'Nazi' during a fiery CNN broadcast on Thursday night

The verbal assault began after Joe Borelli (right), the ex-Republican leader on the New York City Council, argued that much of the discontent seen at Republican town hall events were protests organized by Democrats, Bowman interrupted insisting 'that's not true'

Musk, never one to back down from a challenge, swiftly responded to Bowman's scathing claims by announcing his plans to take legal action against the top-ranking politician

However, after Bowman made the searing allegations, Rep. Mike Lawler, who was also present during the broadcast, seemingly ignored the New York Democrat's inflammatory accusation.

Lawler went on to note that he had recently had an event protested by an organized progressive group.

'Chuck Schumer went on the airwaves, multiple times now, including today, and said, we are organizing to send protesters up to Republican districts here in New York, including mine,' Lawler said.

'And they have been working, the Democratic Party, along with activist organization, including Indivisible, to organize and mobilize voters, both within the district and outside,' he argued.

'That is democracy, and that's fine, but let's not act like organizing Democrat activists is somehow news.'

CNN host Abby Phillip then tried to end the show by praising the Republican lawmaker for continuing to hold town hall events with constituents, prompting Bowman to insist that he has not.

Phillip then cut Bowman off, appearing to distance herself, and her employer, from his provocative comments.

'Former Congressman Bowman, I just have to say, just a second, I just have to say, your opinion about Elon Musk is your opinion about Elon Musk,' she said.

While on stage during one of the inauguration events celebrating Donald Trump as the 47th president, Musk thumped his right hand over his heart, fingers spread wide, and extended his right arm out at an upward angle

CNN host Abby Phillip (far right) then tried to end the show by praising Rep. Mike Lawler (front right) for continuing to hold town hall events with constituents, prompting Bowman (front left) to insist that he has not

The unhinged insults come just weeks after the 'first buddy' was accused of doing a Nazi salute at the presidential inaugural parade in January.

While on stage during one of the inauguration events celebrating Donald Trump as the 47th president, Musk thumped his right hand over his heart, fingers spread wide, and extended his right arm out at an upward angle.

He then turned around and repeated the gesture.

He quickly came under fire for the now-viral moment, with many speculating that he gave an overt gesture to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

Musk hit back at those claiming that he made that gesture, accusing his critics of needing 'better dirty tricks.'

The founder of X also said that 'the "everyone is Hitler" attack is sooo tired.'

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization founded to combat anti-Semitism and has criticized Musk in the past, also rushed to his defense, saying it appears that 'made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute'.

The ADL also noted that Trump's inauguration was a 'delicate moment' and that 'politics are inflamed' but urged 'all sides' to offer each other 'bit of grace' and 'perhaps even the benefit of the doubt'.

The unhinged barrage of insults come as President Donald Trump's 'first buddy' announced sweeping cuts to federally funded programs like the Department of Education

Musk's gesture comes after he made several statements in recent weeks in support of Germany's far-right AFD party.

'This was no ordinary victory. This was a fork in the road of human civilization,' he said as he made the 'salute'.

'This one really mattered. Thank you for making it happen! Thank you.'

Historian Aaron Astor also rebuffed accusations of Musk's Nazi emulation.

'I have criticized Elon Musk many times for letting neo-Nazis pollute this platform,' he wrote on X, adding: 'But this gesture is not a Nazi salute.'

'This is a socially awkward autistic man's wave to the crowd where he says 'my heart goes out to you.'

Musk announced in 2021 he had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism.

Bowman did not immediately respond to
An illegal migrant set free under the Biden administration was arrested in connection with a suspicious death in Georgia, now accused of choking a mother to death.

Hector David Sagastume Rivas, 21, of Marietta, is accused of physically assaulting 52-year-old mother-of-five and grandmother Camilla Williams in a random attack earlier this month, leading to her death, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.

Rivas, a Honduras citizen who has been in the United States for four years, was caught and released at the southern border by the Biden administration in March of 2021.

'He doesn't need to be deported, he needs to be exported - executed - the same way he executed my sister,' Tony Williams, Camilla's brother, told Atlanta News First.

On March 13, Cobb County police responded to a call at 282 Pat Mell Road, where they found Williams' body dumped in a wooded area, hidden among some bushes.

The unprovoked murder, authorities said, happened between 11pm and 1am the day before the gruesome discovery.

According to an arrest warrant, the 21-year-old migrant physically assaulted Williams', placing her in a chokehold and causing her to lose consciousness before allegedly placing both knees and his full body weight on her neck, resulting in her death.

Although authorities have not established any connection between the two, Williams' family has reported that in the days leading up to her death, she was being followed by a man, The New York Post reported.

Hector David Sagastume Rivas, 21, of Marietta, was arrested and charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in connection with a suspicious death in Georgia, now accused of choking a mother to death

The 21-year-old migrant physically assaulted and choked 52-year-old mother of five and grandmother Camilla Williams in a random attack earlier this month, leading to her death

Rivas entered the US illegally on March 17, 2021, the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News, and was arrested by the US Border Patrol before being released.

According to ICE, he has since been the subject of a deportation order since July 2023, the NY Post reported.

'He was issued a notice to appear and paroled into the country by the previous administration,' the statement said.

'A judge ordered him to be removed on July 11, 2023,' the statement added. 'On March 18, 2025, he was arrested by the Cobb County Police Department for capital murder and other crimes.'

'ICE has lodged an immigration detainer with the Cobb County Jail. President Trump and Secretary Noem will not allow criminal illegal aliens - including accused murderers - to be loose on America's streets.'

ICE said that Rivas was living with two other undocumented immigrants, both of whom have also been arrested and detained by the Department of Homeland Security, Atlanta News First reported.

Officers with the Cobb County Police Department spent at least two days in the neighborhood gathering evidence, as both residents and employees in the area demanded answers into the investigation.

Rivas has been arrested and charged with felony murder and aggravated assault, where he is now being held without bond.

According to an arrest warrant, Rivas placed Williams in a chokehold, causing her to lose consciousness, before allegedly placing both knees and his full body weight on her neck and discarding her body in a wooded area, hidden among some bushes at 282 Pat Mell Road

Rivas, a Honduras citizen who has been in the United States for four years, was caught and released at the southern border by the Biden administration in March of 2021

'We want to be there for Rivas' trial,' Arsene Williams, Camilla's brother, told Atlanta News First. 'I think he needs to pay for what he did. I don't think he needs to be turned over to homeland security and be sent back to his country.'

The incident sparked widespread outrage and raised concerns over the administration's policies regarding the release of undocumented individuals into the community, as Williams' death has drawn parallels to the murder of Laken Riley.

Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was killed on the University of Georgia's campus while jogging in February of 2024.

Police confirmed that she was killed by 'blunt force trauma,' after her body was discovered in a field on the Athens campus.

Illegal Venezuelan immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra was arrested and convicted of her murder in November.

The 26-year-old crossed into El Paso, Texas in September 2022 but had been released from a detention center due to a lack of space.

The Department of Homeland Security also confirmed Ibarra as a member of the brutal gang, Tren de Aragua, who have reached national news committing gruesome crimes across America.

He denied murdering Riley. However, when police officer Rafael Sayan visited Ibarra's home to ask about the crime, he found Ibarra and his brothers laughing and giggling, striking him as highly suspicious.

The incident sparked widespread outrage, as Williams' death has drawn parallels to the murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed on the University of Georgia's campus while jogging in February of 2024

Illegal Venezuelan immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra was arrested and convicted of her murder in November, a 26-year-old man who crossed into El Paso, Texas in September 2022 but had been released from a detention center due to a lack of space

Riley's tragic death led to the creation of Laken Riley Act, which mandates that undocumented immigrants accused of theft, burglary, assaulting a law enforcement officer and 'any crime that causes death or serious bodily injury' be federally detained and face the likelihood of deportation.

It remains unclear if Rivas faces detainment and deportation under the act, as the investigation is still active and ongoing.

Anyone with information related to the case is urged to contact the Cobb County Police Department's Major Crimes Unit at 770-499-3945 or submit anonymous tips through Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS (8477).

'You hear about it, but it doesn't affect you until it happens to your family,' Arsene Willams told Atlanta News First.

'You never think it will happen to your family, but it can.'
Pope Francis is set to make his first public appearance since being admitted to hospital more than a month ago with pneumonia in both lungs.

The Vatican has confirmed that the 88-year-old pontiff will offer a blessing and a wave from Rome's Gemelli hospital on Sunday.

Francis has been hospitalised since February 14, when he was admitted to the hospital with breathing problems.

'Pope Francis intends to wave and offer a blessing from the Agostino Gemelli hospital in Rome after Angelus prayers,' the Vatican announced on Saturday.

The Argentinian has missed the Angelus prayers, which he normally recites at midday each Sunday, for the past five weeks.

It will not be the first time that Pope Francis, who was elected in March 2013, has made a public appearance at the Gemelli hospital.

In July 2021, he recited the Angelus prayer from a balcony on the medical institution's 10th floor following colon surgery.

But he has never previously been hospitalised for this long during his papacy, and while his reappearance will be greeted with relief by followers, questions remain over who might lead the busy schedule of religious events leading up to Easter, a highlight of the Christian calendar.

Pope Francis, seen here waving to a crowd in St Peter's Square last month, is set to make his first public appearance since being admitted to hospital with pneumonia in both lungs

People brave the rain during the Holy Mass for the Jubilee of Pilgrims of the Archdiocese of Naples in St Peter's Square, which was led by Cardinal Mimmo Battaglia earlier this month

A woman is seen in prayer in Vatican City earlier this month. Pope Francis has been hospitalised since February 14, when he was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital

The Vatican press office said on Wednesday that no definite decisions had yet been taken in that regard, adding that the pope's clinical condition was 'improving' and he was no longer using an oxygen mask.

The Vatican has published daily bulletins on the pope's health throughout his hospital stay.

Francis had part of one lung removed as a young man and, despite his improvement, speculation abounds that he could step down due to his fragility, following in the footsteps of his predecessor Benedict XVI.

On Monday, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's second-ranking official, told reporters that he had noted an improvement in Francis' health during a visit.

But asked whether the conversation had turned to the pope's resignation, he replied: 'No, no, no, absolutely not.'

Catholics and others worldwide have been praying for the pope's speedy recovery, with many leaving flowers, candles and notes for him outside the Gemelli hospital.
A report is being prepared for the coroner

The body of a teenager has been found after they disappeared while on a camping trip in Queensland far north.

Emergency services responded to reports that a 19-year-old man had gone missing in Springlands, south of Townsville in Queensland's north, at 3.45am on Saturday.

Officers found the Collinsville teen's body several hours into a search and rescue operation after he failed to return to his campsite early in the morning.

His body was located downstream from the Bowen River Weir at 7am.

'The missing male was located unresponsive and deceased in the water,' a police spokesperson said.

The man is yet to be formally identified.

The area has been hit by over 500mm of severe rainfall in recent days, which may have contributed to the man's death.

Flood warnings are still active in the area.

Police are preparing a report for the coroner.
Gene Hackman's daughter asked cops to cremate her dad's dog and bury the remains with his wife in bodycam footage after all three were found dead in their home.

Elizabeth Hackman made the request to cops after they found the bodies of the late actor, 95, Besty Arakawa, 65 and their kelpie mix Zinna at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Newly released police bodycam footage obtained by TMZ shows the star's daughter quietly discussing the arrangements.

'I'm thinking cremate the dog and bury it with Betsy,' she says. 'If the dog was wearing a collar, could you save that for me?'

Other video obtained by KOB4 shows the heartbreaking moment cops arrived to the scene and interviewed a shell-shocked staff member who first found the couple.

He explained he hadn't heard from them in a while and immediately became suspicious when he arrived to the property and found the dogs loose.

'They're never supposed to be out and so at that point I knew something was wrong,' he told police.

'I told the officer, "You know whose house this is?" and he said, "I do, it's Gene Hackman's".'

Gene Hackman 's daughter asked cops to cremate her dad's dog and bury the remains with his wife after all three were found dead in their home

Newly released police bodycam footage shows the star's daughter quietly discussing the arrangements after the bodies were discovered at the late actor's Santa Fe, New Mexico home

Elizabeth Hackman (pictured with daughter Annie) asked cops to save kelpie mix Zinna's collar prior to the cremation

The couple were discovered lying dead in separate rooms of their home on February 26.

Hackman was found in the homes entryway, and Arakawa was found in a bathroom. Zinna had been placed in a crate following a visit to the vet.

Investigators initially ruled the deaths as suspicious, but noted there were no signs of forced entry or anything in disarray.

The bodies were discovered in a state of partial mummification at their $3.3 million mansion.

A fan had fallen near Arakawa, who was also surrounding by a scattering of prescription pills which suggested a fall to investigators.

An autopsy eventually revealed that Arakawa died on February 11 from Hantavirus, a rare but fatal disease spread by rodents, while Hackman died from a combination of heart disease and Alzheimer's.

The actor's pacemaker showed he died on February 18. Their dog passed away due to dehydration.

Hackman was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's Disease when he died and relied on Arakawa as his care giver.

The couple were discovered lying dead in separate rooms of their home on February 26

An autopsy eventually revealed that Arakawa died on February 11 from Hantavirus, a rare but fatal disease spread by rodents, while Hackman died from a combination of heart disease and Alzheimer's

Experts said he may not have even realized that his wife was dead in the week leading up to his own death.

Hackman's other two dogs, who endured weeks of hell in a house of death, have begun their own road to recovery after finally being placed in new loving homes, DailyMail.com has learned.

But 7-year-old German Shepherd Bear and Nikita, an Akita-shepherd mix, have lost each other's companionship as they have been split up following their ordeal.
Two men whose illegal cockfighting enterprise included the use of treadmills designed to toughen the birds for combat have avoided imprisonment.

Hugh Steele, 53, and Douglas Price, 34, both from the village of Beckingham in Lincolnshire, were given 10-week jail terms suspended by 12 months at Lincoln magistrates' court.

The pair, whose operation was discovered by Lincolnshire police and the RSPCA, kept dozens of cockerels, hens and chicks in dark, cramped and unclean conditions that left them vulnerable to disease.

Some of the animals had injuries, while others had suffered due to a lack of food and water, found vets who examined recovered birds.

Two dead chicks were also discovered from the site.

The men were each ordered to pay 1,000 costs and carry out 150 hours of unpaid work. Steele was banned from keeping chickens, cockerels and wild birds for life, while Price will be unable to do so for at least one year.

The RSPCAs special operations unit dismantled two fighting pits and recovered cockfighting equipment as well as treadmills intended to prepare the animals for battle.

'This was cylindrical and in the shape of a ferris wheel to condition and train cockerels to increase their fitness and stamina,' said Lincolnshire Police.

Dozens of cockerels, hens and chicks were kept in dark, cramped and unclean conditions that left them vulnerable to disease by two men running an illegal cockfighting enterprise

The dark, cramped, dirty pens where the cocks were kept left them vulnerable to disease

Cockfighting has been banned in England and Wales since 1835.

'We are delighted with the outcome of this investigation,' said an RSPCA spokesperson. 'All of these birds suffered because of the unsuitable conditions they were kept in and the purpose they were being kept for.

'It is a relief we were able to take them away from that and get them the kind of care, medical treatment, food and water they should have been provided with.

'Both men were heavily involved in the cockfighting world and we hope this operation sends a clear message that this activity wont be tolerated in this country.'

PC James Knychala, a wildlife crime officer for Lincolnshire Police, hailed the 'determination and dedication' of the teams involved.

'Ultimately, the result means serious disruption to the underworld of cockfighting which we believe will be felt across the country,' he said.

'It's illegal and barbaric and has no place in our society.'
A pair of undocumented immigrants were arrested after attempting to illegally cross the Rio Grande with expensive scuba gear on Thursday.

Officers from the Eagle Pass Police Department in Texas caught the two men who had hidden themselves under a bridge.

The border-crossers were found dressed in full-length wetsuits intended for scuba diving across the river, an approach bears an eerie similarity to the James Bond film Thunderball.

A community member reported two suspicious subjects in a residential neighborhood in south Eagle Pass, police said in a press release.

The two men were found to have come from Guatemala without documentation, according to EPPD.

Police also found the men to have been in possession of individual water propulsion devices. Similar models of the water propulsion devices, called the Robosea Seaflyer Seascooter, is sold on Amazon for $799.

The devices were presumed by police to have been intended for use to navigate through the Rio Grande waters, according to the release.

Both men were arrested and turned over to US Border Patrol for processing.

Officers from the Eagle Pass Police Department in Texas arrested two men found in scuba gear who had illegally crossed from Guatemala

The men each had personal water propulsion devices found in their possession, which police believe would have been used to navigate the Rio Grande

The two men were found to have come from Guatemala without documentation and were turned over to US Border Patrol for processing

Scuba gear used by the migrants replicates that used in the James Bond movie Thunderball starring Sean Connery

US Border Patrol did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

The story comes as the war against migrants continues under Trump and the President issued a chilling warning to illegal immigrants, urging them to leave the US on their own volition.

Migration continues to be a pressing issue across the globe, and was highlighted as one of the deadliest feats as travelers take desperate measures to cross borders for greener pastures.

Last year was the deadliest on record for migrants, with nearly 9,000 people dying worldwide, according to the United Nations.

'At least 8,938 people died on migration routes worldwide in 2024,' the fifth year that numbers have reached record highs, the UN's migration agency said on Friday.

'The tragedy of the growing number of migrant deaths worldwide is both unacceptable and preventable,' said Ugochi Daniels, the deputy director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

'Behind every number is a human being, someone for whom the loss is devastating,' Daniels said.

'The actual number of migrant deaths and disappearances is likely much higher, as many have gone undocumented because of the dearth of official sources,' the IOM said.

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2024 was the fifth year that figures reached record highs. Picture shows Spanish Coast Guard vessel tows a fibreglass boat with migrants onboard to the port of Arguineguin, on the island of Gran Canaria, December 2024

Attempts to cross borders have gone as far as dressing as patrol officers or for Tren de Aragua, one of the most notoriously dangerous gangs infiltrating America, it means ridding themselves of trademark tattoos.

However, the body markings may soon disappear as the criminal organization's leadership is now warning its members to stop getting the ink that announces them to authorities.

Federal law enforcement sources confirm to DailyMail.com that Tren de Aragua leadership is having its members already bearing the mob's signature tattoos burn them off.

Tren de Aragua's tattoos have become a flashpoint in recent days - as the Trump Administration leaned heavily on skin markings to ID Venezuelan migrants as gangsters and deport them to a supermax prison in El Salvador.

President Donald Trump justified the deportations, which did not follow the normal legal proceeding where judges sign off on each individual being removed from the US, using the controversial Alien Enemies Act.

As American courts decide if Trump is even legally able to apply the law to Venezuelan migrants, allegations have surfaced that the some of the deportees were wrongly accused of being Tren de Aragua by tattoos that were mistaken for the gang's insignia.

'Now were seeing the fact that theyre not getting tattoos because theyre aware that thats an identifier for us,' Tim Sullivan, the Chief Patrol Agent for US Border Patrol Special Operations, told El Paso station KFOX-TV.

Tren de Aragua gang tattoos (pictured above) were part of a Department of Homeland Security bulletin shared with federal agents in 2023

Tren de Aragua is now operating in 21 states within the US

A suspected TdA mobster apprehended in El Paso, Texas. This suspected gangster even had the telltale signs of the criminal organization, like the clock tattoo on his chest

TdA, known to be incredibly adaptive and organized, issued the body art ban after its members interacted with Border Patrol and other federal agencies in the US.

'They try to learn from us as much as we learn from them, and thats what also made them, to a certain point, a difficult target to assess,' FBI in El Paso Special Agent in Charge John Morales explained.

The number of migrants in ICE detention was at 39,238 at the beginning of February, and two weeks later that figure increased to 41,169 total detainees, according to the latest figures from immigration authorities.

In the first two weeks of February, ICE detained more than 1,800 migrants with criminal convictions or with pending criminal charges against them.

This represents 59 percent of the total number of illegal immigrants taken into ICE custody from early February to the middle of the month, according to data obtained by NBC News.

Meanwhile, the other 41 percent of the 4,422 illegal immigrants brought into ICE custody this month are not criminals.

Trump's stance is that all migrants in the US without documentation are criminals because they illegally entered or illegally remained in the country.

The President has now gone 'nuclear' on the migrant crisis by allowing the military to take control of the 'buffer zone' near the Southern border with Mexico.

The President offered a chilling warning to all migrants, telling them to leave the country on their own or 'never be admitted again to the United States, ever, ever again - you're never coming in'

Trump's ambitious plan would turn the 60-foot-deep buffer zone into a military installation at the border and allow US troops to temporarily hold migrants who cross over into the America.

A defense official told The Washington Post that the migrants would be held until legally detained by civilian law enforcement.

Now, Trump's homeland security team is reportedly set to announce plans to take greater control over the partition in a section in New Mexico.

If the initial plan is termed a success by the administration, officials believe the zone would eventually stretch west to California.

The designation would allow the Pentagon to deploy resources from its massive $800billion budget on the border crackdown.

The military is largely prohibited by federal law from many law enforcement duties by the Posse Comitatus Act.

Trump has gotten around the law during his second term by using Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain migrants and then moving them.

The Pentagon is seeking counsel from the military on whether or not this could cause legal problems.

A legal theory for how this would work is comparing migrants entering the buffer zone to trespassing upon a military base.

'It's very, very careful on that wording. It's not 'detention' because once you go into detention it has the connotations of being detained for arrest. This is holding for civilian law enforcement,' a Defense official said.
Kitty Dukakis, the wife of Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis, has died at the age of 88 from dementia complications.

Kitty died on Friday in her home in Brookline, Massachusetts, her son told The Washington Post.

The politician's wife had previously battled depression and addiction - a fight she admitted to in a memoir.

She suffered from alcoholism after her husband lost his presidential bid in 1988.

Kitty became an advocate electroconvulsive therapy for depression treatment as well.

She served as the first lady of Massachusetts while her husband was governor from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1991.

The late activist worked as a modern-dance instructor, a social worker and an arts patron. She advocated for the homeless and many other vulnerable groups, The Post reported.

Kitty also helped the resettlement of refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and Afghanistan in the 1970s and 1980s.

Kitty Dukakis, the wife of Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis, has died at the age of 88 from dementia complications

Kitty died on Friday in her home in Brookline, Massachusetts

The activist also participated in a humanitarian trip to the Thai-Cambodian border in 1985, where she begged the Thai colonel to let her into an off-limits refugee camp.

'I knew I wasn't going to get off my knees until he said: "Yes."' she told the Boston Globe.

After gaining access, she took an orphan back to the States to be reunited with a relative living near Boston.

She dedicated her time as Massachusetts' first lady to humanitarian concerns and helped create the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

Outside of her activism, she was known for her chain-smoking, fashion sense and love of high-class treats, such as designer clothes and first-class travel.

This contrasted her husband, who mowed his own lawn as governor and who preferred to fly coach.

'Michael can take a peanut out of the can. I eat the whole can,' she once said.

She described herself as a 'strong' and 'assertive' woman who often pushed back against people she didn't think were taking her or her husband's causes seriously.

She described herself as a 'strong' and 'assertive' woman who often pushed back against people she didn't think were taking her or her husband's causes seriously

'Have you ever heard the words assertive or aggressive used to describe the male spouse of a candidate?' she questioned to The Los Angeles Times at the time.

She also fiercely campaigned for her husband in his fight for presidency against then-Vice President George HW Bush.

She also spoke openly about her addiction problems, which stemmed from her abusing diet pills at 19, leading to 26 years of abusing amphetamine, according to The Post.

She felt the need to help other addicts too and took her struggles public during his campaign.

'One of the tenets of recovery is helping others. I knew I would have an even greater opportunity to help others in a national campaign,' she said at the time.

But as her husband's campaign continued, she would find herself becoming dependent on alcohol to deal with the stress.

While her husband returned to the State House after his defeat, his wife did not return to normal life. She would bid her husband goodbye before going back into house to drink.

The Massachusetts native hid liquor in the laundry basket and would sometimes be discovered passed out in a pool of her own vomit by her husband and children, according to The Post.

The politician's wife had previously battled depression and addiction - a fight she admitted to in a memoir. She also suffered from alcoholism after her husband lost his presidential bid in 1988

She was hospitalized for the condition in February 1989 and in November of that year, she would drink rubbing alcohol. She nearly died.

Kitty also admitted to drinking vanilla extract, mouthwash and nail polish remover during a binge.

A year later, she published a memoir detailing her childhood, her life in politics, and her addictions.

For a decade, she would go in and out of treatment for addiction and psychiatric facilities.

She eventually turned to electroconvulsive therapy for depression in 2001 on her 38th anniversary to her husband. Kitty recalled feeling instant relief.

Kitty was born in Cambridge, near Boston, on December 26, 1936 to Jane Goldberg and Harry Ellis Dickson, who performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for nearly 50 years.

She married her first husband John Chaffetz at the age of 20 and the couple shared a son together.

She would later marry Michael after meeting him at Lesley College when a mutual friend set them up. They wed in 1963 to the disapproval of his parents.

They would go on to have two children and Michael would adopt her son.
Amanda Knox has opened up about the reason for her unlikely friendship with the Italian prosecutor who convicted her of murdering Meredith Kercher - revealing she sees it as a form of 'therapy' that helps the other feel 'absolved'.

Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini and Knox forged a bond in the years after her conviction was overturned, with the lawyer stating previously he now has a 'good opinion' of her.

The former adversaries have grown close despite Mignini believing Knox was at the scene of the crime and declaring that British student Meredith 'did not get justice'.

Meredith, 21, who was studying at Leeds University, was found stabbed to death in her bedroom of the apartment she shared with Knox in the Italian hilltop town of Perugia on November 2, 2007.

American student Knox, 20 at the time, and her Italian boyfriend Sollecito, who was 23, were arrested four days later and went on to be convicted at trial twice.

Both convictions were overturned due to a lack of any evidence linking them to the crime and the pair were ultimately exonerated by Italys highest court in 2015.

Police also arrested Rudy Guede, who ran a local bar. His bloody fingerprints and DNA found at the crime scene ensured his conviction for murder, and he served 14 years of his 30-year prison sentence behind bars.

Knox's correspondence with Mignini began when she wrote him letters, delivered by go-between priest Don Saulo Scarabattoli, before moving to the messaging platform WhatsApp and eventually meeting again.

Amanda Knox has struck up a friendship with the prosecutor who worked to have her jailed for the death of Meredith Kercher. Pictured, Knox and her former lover Raffaele Sollecito reuniting in Italy 15 years after they were arrested and wrongly convicted of the murder of Ms Kercher

Giuliano Mignini said that he now has a 'good opinion' of Knox after the pair began corresponding via WhatsApp - and even send each other Christmas cards

Meredith Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was killed just three months after moving to Italy for a study abroad programme at Perugia's prestigious university (pictured: in an undated photo released in November 2007)

They now share personal news, family photographs and send holiday greetings to each other, after developing a friendship.

Knox, now 37, from Seattle, Washington, divulged that the pair even send each other Christmas cards - but her family always questioned why she had forged such a relationship with the man who sent her to jail.

Some questioned if she had 'Stockholm syndrome,' she said in an interview with The Guardian.

But her real reason for the improbable friendship, she said, is that it offered her the chance to put her side across to the man who believed she was involved in Meredith's death.

In essence, she wanted him to admit that he had got it wrong, she stated.

On that note, she has yet to extract a straight answer from Mignini, now 74, who maintains that at the time he was prosecuting her he believed she was guilty, she said.

Knox told the paper: 'He says things to me like, 'I know you're not lying. I just think that you don't remember what really happened' which is incredibly patronising.'

However, she added that he has since told her that it is 'very likely' and 'possible' that he made 'mistakes'.

Amanda Knox, 37 and from Seattle, was falsely convicted of Meredith's murder twice and served four years in prison

Raffaele Sollecito, 38, originally from Milan, was convicted alongside his former lover

Meredith's parents Arline (centre) and John (right) Kercher - who both died in 2020 - and her sister Stephanie (left) at a press conference in Perugia in November 2007

Amanda Knox, left, and her then-boyfriend Italian Raffaele Sollecito, after they were named as suspects

Amanda Knox (pictured speaking in 2019, file photo) wrote an article called 'Patrolling the Trolls: The Sorry State of Reporting Online Abuse' - recalling when she received death threats in prison

Meredith Kercher's killer Rudy Guede (pictured waving from the window of a volunteer centre in 2016, file photo) was formally released from prison 13 years after the grisly murder

She also recalled how in 2022, after meeting him face-to-face in the aftermath of Meredith's murder, her conviction, and the overturning of her verdict, Knox had wanted him to acknowledge the 'hurt' caused by her miscarriage of justice.

The Amanda Knox Case: A Timeline November 2, 2007 - The body of Meredith Kercher was discovered. November 3-5, 2007: Knox and Sollecito are suspected. November 6, 2007 - Knox, Sollecito, and Lumumba are arrested. Lumumba is held in custody for two weeks before being released. November 20, 2007 - Rudy Guede is arrested. October 28, 2008 - Guede is convicted of murdering Kercher. December 4, 2009 - Knox and Sollecito are convicted. October 3, 2011 - Knox and Sollecito win their appeal. January 30, 2014 - Knox and Sollecito are again convicted. March 27, 2015 - The definitive acquittal. January 25, 2019 - Knox is awarded $21,000 in compensation. November 23, 2021 - Rudy Guede is released from prison. June 5, 2024 - Knox returned to Italian court to defend herself against slander charge. June 5, 2024 - Court finds her guilty of slander again. Advertisement

That for her was a defining point in her friendship with him, she said, in which she came to realise each could help the other.

When asked how, she said: 'Because as much as I want him to absolve me, I think he wants me to absolve him more.

'The one time in my life where I felt unstoppable was when I realised that it wasn't about what I was going to get from him, it was about what I was going to give him.'

Elsewhere Knox - who has a new memoir coming out titled, 'Free: My Search for Meaning' - said she believes the spirit of her murdered roommate Meredith Kercher still 'haunts' her.

Speaking with People, Knox said: 'I've described it as feeling haunted by Meredith, but not in that bad way that people sort of project on to me.

'More in this benevolent spirit who is reminding me of the value of life, the privilege it is to live and the privilege it is to fight for your life. Because she fought for hers.'

Despite being freed and declared innocent, Knox told the outlet that she has never been allowed to fully live her life.

She added: 'Theres always this subtext, like "Look at Amanda living her life while Meredith is dead".'

Knox continued: 'Any expression of life in my life is seen as an offense to the memory of my friend who got murdered.'

She also spoke about her husband, Christopher Robinson, with whom she has two children - a daughter named Eureka, born in 2021, and a son named Echo, born in September 2023.

The couple met in 2015.

Robinson, she said, knew she had been involved in a scandal but had decided not to delve into the exact details at the start of their relationship, adding that he had thought she had something to do with 'someone being pushed out of a window'.


A covert team of Venezuelan informants and ex-US officials are working with the Trump administration to track down members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang.

The small team made up of Venezuelans and former US officials has been providing information to the Trump administration about the number and identities of members of Tren de Aragua and other Venezuelan gangs headed to or already in the country.

The Tren de Aragua gang, formed in the notorious Tocoron prison in Venezuela's Aragua state, has spread throughout countries bordering Venezuela and in the last decade has developed a reputation for being 'ruthless' and 'fearless.'

Now, the highly-skilled group of investigators, which has deep connections to police and intelligence in Venezuela, is sharing crucial information on the dangerous criminals with the White House staff.

In one briefing before Donald Trump's January inauguration, the group delivered a presentation including documents obtained from South American police agencies identifying 1,800 gang members believed to have been sent into the US, the Miami Herald reported.

However, Gary Bernsten, a former CIA station chief revealed a more sinister clue, claiming those sent to the US had 'received paramilitary training in Venezuela.'

'Among those sent to the US were 300 gang members who had received paramilitary training in Venezuela,' Berntsen said.

Gary Bernsten (pictured), a former CIA station chief, is part of a covert team of Venezuelan informants and ex-US officials who are working with the Trump administration to track down members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang

The Tren de Aragua gang, formed in the notorious Tocoron prison in Venezuela's Aragua state, has spread throughout countries bordering Venezuela and in the last decade has developed a reputation for being 'ruthless' and 'fearless.' Pictured: Arrival of alleged members of Tren de Aragua at the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador

More than 250 suspected gang members arrive in El Salvador by plane, including 238 members of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang and 23 members of the MS-13 gang

'The Venezuelan regime has assumed operational control of these guys [Tren de Aragua] and has trained 300 of them; they have given them paramilitary training, training them to fire weapons, on how to conduct sabotage, how to use crypto,' Berntsen, who is also one of the highly-specialized team's members, added.

'They have given them all like a four- to six-week course. They put these 300 guys through that course and that they were deploying them into the United States to 20 locations, to 20 separate states.'

An anonymous member of the secret team also told the outlet that the investigative group has access to records from the police agencies of the South American country to help further along their top-secret mission.

The unnamed official added that the information in the disclosed files have led to the identification and arrests of 'at least 800 Venezuelans' who are believed to be members of Tren de Aragua.

The group also claimed that Venezuelan intelligence services had provided logistics and money to hundreds of members of the feared gang in order to help with their entry into the US.

Tren de Aragua members were deliberately sent into the largest American cities to 'create problems' for law enforcement agencies, the source told the Herald.

But they 'are not just criminals sent to cause havoc, they are soldiers sent in an asymmetric warfare operation against the United States,' the anonymous group member said.

Tren de Aragua members were also tasked with setting up drug distribution networks in major cities, according to the Miami Herald.

Some of the gang's members are believed to have been a part of an estimated 20,000 inmates who have been released from Venezuelan prisons and were told they had to leave the country if they wanted to remain free.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele confirmed they will be sent to the country's infamous mega-prison at CECOP facility prison

States where Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is operating now

Information gathered by the team from sources inside the regime points to a plan that would place 5,000 gang members inside the United States, Berntsen said.

'This is the equivalent of an oversized combat brigade dispersed through 20 different locations, but with thousands of people that would be able to communicate, move drugs, and do whatever they needed, and be able on hand to put pressure on the US with violence in cities, and build out a massive criminal infrastructure in America,' the former CIA official said.

Berntsen added that the team first became aware of the situation while conducting an investigation on a separate case.

In addition to the information provided by the team, the Trump administration has been receiving data provided by the police organizations from Peru, Chile, Costa Rica and Colombia, countries that had a large number of Tren de Aragua members.

Recently, the high-profile team has been using unique information, such as recognizable tattoos to identify members of the Venezuelan gang.

However, the body markings may soon disappear as the criminal organization's leadership is now warning its members to stop getting the ink that announces them to authorities.

Federal law enforcement sources confirm to DailyMail.com that Tren de Aragua leadership is having its members already bearing the mob's signature tattoos burn them off.

Tren de Aragua's tattoos have become a flashpoint as the Trump Administration continues to lean heavily on skin markings to ID Venezuelan migrants as gangsters and deport them to a supermax prison in El Salvador.

President Trump justified the deportations, which did not follow the normal legal proceeding where judges sign off on each individual being removed from the US, using the controversial Alien Enemies Act.

As American courts decide if Trump is even legally able to apply the law to Venezuelan migrants, allegations have surfaced that the some of the deportees were wrongly accused of being Tren de Aragua by tattoos that were mistaken for the gang's insignia.

But the recent confusion over tattoos could become a moot point soon since TdA, as the group is known to law enforcement, is banning them.

Recently, the high-profile team has been using unique information, such as recognizable tattoos to identify members of the Venezuelan gang

Alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang were indicted for a conspiracy to sell and traffic illegal firearms in New York

'Now were seeing the fact that theyre not getting tattoos because theyre aware that thats an identifier for us,' Tim Sullivan, the Chief Patrol Agent for US Border Patrol Special Operations, told El Paso station KFOX-TV.

TdA, known to be incredibly adaptive and organized, issued the body art ban after its members interacted with Border Patrol and other federal agencies in the US.

'They try to learn from us as much as we learn from them, and thats what also made them, to a certain point, a difficult target to assess,' FBI in El Paso Special Agent in Charge John Morales explained.

'While were trying to do our job and were interviewing them at the borderthey were sending that information back and telling their folks, "Dont do A, dont do B, dont do C, dont bring this or the other," so that we wouldnt be able to detect them or identify them.

Sullivan added the body art is simply one way TdA thugs are linked to their criminal network in Venezuela.

Its been just good police work thats been able to identify them through post-arrest interviews and the joint operations that weve conducted,' he said.

Those interviews are happening in great detail now that border crossings have plummeted, Border Patrol confirms.

Additionally, US federal agencies cross reference information with South American law enforcement officials in order to classify a Venezuelan migrant as Tren de Aragua affiliate.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed his unwavering support for Russia's war in Ukraine on Friday after he vowed to continue backing Russia amid its ongoing deadly invasion of Ukraine.

Kim met with Sergei Shoigu, Russia's Security Council secretary, in Pyongyang yesterday, where they discussed various issues, including Russia's war in Ukraine, Moscow's dialogues with the Trump administration and the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, according to North Korean and Russian state media.

They reaffirmed the willingness of the two countries' leaders to 'unconditionally' uphold a major mutual defense treaty reached at a summit last year in Pyongyang, which pledges mutual assistance if either country faces aggression.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim during the meeting said his government will 'invariably support Russia in the struggle for defending the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests.'

Shoigu conveyed a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who extended his greetings to Kim and vowed to give 'utmost attention' to implementing agreements reached in their recent summits.

He expressed gratitude for North Korea's 'solidarity with Russia's position on all critical geopolitical issues, particularly on the Ukrainian issue,' according to his televised comments.

North Korean and Russia media didn't say whether any new agreements were reached before Shoigu departed Pyongyang later on Friday.

Friday's meeting between Kim and Shoigu followed a South Korean intelligence assessment in late February that North Korea had likely sent additional troops to Russia after its forces suffered heavy casualties fighting in the Russian-Ukraine war.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (2nd R) meeting with Russia's Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu (2nd L) in Pyongyang

oscow's top security official Sergei Shoigu was visiting North Korea on March 21, the latest in a recent series of high-level exchanges between North Korea and Russia.

Kim during the meeting said his government will 'invariably support Russia in the struggle for defending the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests.'

Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with the two countries' leaders, though it remains to be seen when it might take effect and what targets would be off-limits.

North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of conventional weapons to Russia, and last fall it sent about 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia as well, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials.

In February, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said it was trying to determine exactly how many more troops North Korea has deployed to Russia.

South Korean media put the number of newly deployed North Korean soldiers at about 1,000 to 3,000.

South Korea, the U.S. and others suspect North Korea is receiving economic and military assistance from Russia in return for providing weapons and troops.

Many experts say North Korea will likely ramp up its support of Russia to win as many benefits as possible from Russia before the war ends.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that North Korean troops sent to support Russia were being used as 'human mine detectors' on the frontlines of the invasion of Ukraine.

In an interview with The Times, Lieutenant Colonel 'Leopard' of Ukraine's 33rd 'Big Cats' Separate Assault Battalion revealed that the lives of North Korean soldiers are worth little to their higher-ups.

Russia's Security Council Secretary, Sergey Shoigu, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hold a talk in Pyongyang, North Korea Friday, March 21, 2025

Sergey Shoigu, center left, who arrived at Pyongyang Airport being received by Party Secretary Park Chung-cheon, center right on Friday, March 21, 2025

This picture taken on October 2, 2024 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on October 4, 2024 shows troops taking part in training at a base of the Korean People's Army's special operations forces

'The North Koreans have a "meat grinder" strategy. Where Ukrainians use a mine-clearing vehicle, they just use people.

'They just walk in single file, three to four metres from each other, if one is blown up, then the medics go behind to pick up the dead, the crowd continues one after another. That's how they pass through minefields.'

Leopard said that the soldiers sent by Kim often refuse to be taken alive, preferring to be killed in battle or to simply run.

Shoigu's trip could be related to preparations for Kim to visit Russia, some observers say.

Putin invited Kim to visit Moscow when he visited Pyongyang last year for the summit.

In 2023, when Shoigu, then a defense minister, traveled to North Korea, Kim gave him a personal tour of a North Korean arms exhibition in what outside critics likened to a sales pitch.

In September 2024, Shoigu, then in the new security council post, went to North Korea again for a meeting with Kim, and the two discussed expanding cooperation, according to North Korea's state media.

Earlier Friday, KCNA said Kim oversaw the test-launches of new anti-aircraft missiles the previous day. It cited Kim as calling the missiles 'another major defense weapons system' for North Korea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un exchange documents during a signing ceremony of the new partnership in Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 19, 2024

North Korean soldiers march during a mass military parade in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate 100 years since the birth of North Korean founder, Kim Il Sung on April 15, 2012

Macabre image shows a row of North Korean soldiers killed in Kursk



North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of conventional weapons to Russia, and last fall it sent about 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia as well. Photo shows an alleged North Korean soldier held after being captured by Ukrainian army on January 11, 2025

A North Korean soldier held after being captured by the Ukrainian army on January 11

Ukrainian servicemen fire a D-30 howitzer towards Russian troops at a position in a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine January 11, 2025

The missile launches, North Korea's sixth weapons testing activity this year, occurred on the same day that the U.S. and South Korean militaries concluded their annual training that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.

The 11-day Freedom Shield exercise was the allies' first major joint military training since Trump's inauguration in January.

North Korea often responds to major U.S.-South Korean military drills with its own weapons tests and fiery rhetoric. Hours after this year's Freedom Shield training began on March 10, North Korea fired several ballistic missiles into the sea.
Republicans are noticing Gavin Newsom's strategic shift, after his recent podcast appearances with right-wing figures and amid his controversial stance on trans athletes.

On March 6, Newsom released the debut episode of This is Gavin Newsom Podcast, featuring a conversation with MAGA commentator Charlie Kirk.

The California governor, a longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, sparked controversy by suggesting that Democrats were wrong to allow transgender athletes to compete in women's college and youth sports.

'I think it's an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness  it's deeply unfair,' Newsom said during the episode. 'I am not wrestling with the fairness issue. I totally agree with you.'

After just three episodes, Republican strategist Alex Conant praised Newsom as a 'skilled communicator' and 'very, very talented politician'.

MAGA figure Steve Bannon, who appeared on Newsom's show, responded with 'Hell, yes,' when asked if Newsom could pose a problem for Republicans.

Iowa GOP strategist David Kochel added, 'The operative class is definitely watching him because he's doing something very different.'

Fergus Cullen, former chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party, echoed Conant's high praise and called the Democrat 'a very talented politician.'

Republicans are noticing Gavin Newsom 's strategic shift, as his recent podcast appearances with right-wing figures and controversial stance on trans athletes have drawn attention across the political spectrum (Pictured: Newsom and Chris Kirk)

MAGA figure Steve Bannon , who appeared on Newsom's show, responded with 'Hell, yes,' when asked if Newsom could pose a problem for Republicans

Despite progressive backlash, national Republicans see Newsom honing his political skills.

Megyn Kelly raised concerns, warning that Newsom is 'in training for 2028' and will improve his appeal to right-wing and independent voters.

California Republicans, however, view Newsom's outreach to red states with skepticism. Matt Fleming, former California Republican Party communications director, said, 'The more people get to know Gavin, the less they seem to like him.'

Lanhee Chen, former Republican state controller candidate, added, 'I don't think any Republicans really take Newsom seriously.'

While Newsom's podcast hasn't won over the MAGA base, even some GOP critics acknowledge his political savvy.

After his episode with Kirk, the commentator wrote that Newsom is 'charming,' 'savvy with politics,' and 'wants to be president more than any living person.'

The headline of his op-ed warned Republicans to 'beware.'

Newsom's podcast has attracted criticism from the left but has also raised his national profile.

Fergus Cullen, former chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party, called Newsome 'a very talented politician'

Iowa GOP strategist David Kochel said, 'The operative class is definitely watching [Newsome] because he's doing something very different'

However, in California, many have slammed him, calling his podcast everything from 'out of touch' to a 'phony hair gel idiot.'

A recent poll of 1,000 Golden State voters by Capitol Weekly revealed that 26 percent of respondents said their view of Newsom worsened after hearing the podcast.

In 2022, Newsom ran ads in Texas and Florida criticizing GOP governors and debated Ron DeSantis, signaling his interest in red states.

His podcast, however, takes a less confrontational approach, aiming to understand the MAGA movement, modernize Democratic communication, and reach younger audiences.

This is widely seen as positioning Newsom for a potential 2028 presidential run, although it risks fueling criticism that he's more focused on national branding than addressing California's issues.

Republican figures, like Jon Fleischman, argue that Newsom should be judged by his performance as governor, not his national ambitions.

Despite challenges, Newsom remains a formidable figure in California, with strong approval ratings.

Megyn Kelly raised concerns, warning that Newsom is 'in training for 2028' and will improve his appeal to right-wing and independent voters

Newsom's podcast has attracted criticism from the left but has also raised his national profile

David McIntosh of the Club for Growth noted that Newsom is adjusting his positions and tackling state issues, including trans athletes and fire management.

Chad Bianco, Riverside County sheriff and GOP contender, warned that Newsom's ability to control conversations, like his podcast with Kirk, is a 'verbal judo' skill conservatives should watch out for.
The head of the Social Security Administration has been forced into an embarrassing U-turn after he threatened to shut down the agency.

Interim SSA Commissioner Lee Dudek had threatened to shutter the agency over a judge's ruling that barred Elon Musk's DOGE from accessing their data.

He had said that the order may require him to cut off access to all the agency's employees to the information on Thursday.

On Friday, he reversed course after the White House directly intervened and the judge in the class gave him further clarification on the ruling.

Dudek said: 'Today, the Court issued clarifying guidance about the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) related to DOGE employees and DOGE activities at the Social Security Administration (SSA).

'Therefore, I am not shutting down the agency. President Trump supports keeping Social Security offices open and getting the right check to the right person at the right time. SSA employees and their work will continue under the TRO.'

He told The Washington Post that the White House had called him to 'remind me that I was out of line' on Friday.

Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander with the District of Maryland, who issued the order, also said that Dudek's assertions 'were inaccurate'.

Interim SSA Commissioner Lee Dudek had threatened to shutter the agency over a judge's ruling that barred Elon Musk 's DOGE from accessing their data

The Social Security Administration's main campus in Woodlawn, Maryland

She said in the order on Friday: 'Employees of SSA who are not involved with the DOGE Team or in the work of the DOGE Team are not subject to the Order.'

Hollander had issued a two-week temporary restraining order that blocked 'DOGE team members and DOGE affiliates' from accessing any 'personally identifiable information'.

She added that DOGE had 'essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion.'

The judge added that DOGE 'never identified or articulated even a single reason for which the DOGE team needs unlimited access to SSA's entire record systems'.

If Dudek had moved ahead with effectively closing the agency, millions of Americans would have had their benefit payments halted.

Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said in a statement: 'For almost 90 years, Social Security has never missed a paycheck  but 60 days into this administration, Social Security is now on the brink.

'Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek has proven again that he is in way over his head, compromising the privacy of millions of Americans, shutting down services that senior citizens rely on and planning debilitating layoffs, all in service to Elon Musks lies.'

Musk has said that Social Security databases had millions of impossibly aged Americans still on file.

Elon Musk speaks during the first cabinet meeting hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump, at the White House in Washington

Since President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January, his newly created DOGE has cut billions in government contracts

His DOGE team say they discovered millions of people above the age of 120, and even some over 200.

Musk jokingly called the efforts to delete these records a clearing of the 'dead people database.'

The DOGE X account posted this week that the team has over the last two weeks marked as deceased 3.2 million people who were listed over the age of 120.

There are still millions, however, listed as living in that age bracket that the team is working to delete.

The 150-159 age range within the database on March 8 had 1,357,967 people marked as living.

By March 17, the count in that category decreased by 186,415 to a total of 1,171,552.

In that two week time span in March, DOGE was able to mark 3,261,057 people as dead who were previously in the Social Security system records as part of the 'living count' between the ages of 120 and 159.

'More work still to be done,' the cost-cutting group noted.

While the millions of clearly dead people are still in the system as eligible for benefits, that doesn't necessarily mean that money is being distributed to those individuals.

Since President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January, his newly created DOGE has cut billions in government contracts to private industry, thousands of federal jobs and even obliterated whole agencies  like USAID.

Musk has promised to make even more cuts and to reduce government waste, fraud and abuse.
A woman missing her close friend's wedding ceremony because of disruption at Heathrow has had to pay double to try and make the reception.

Hundreds of flights were grounded on Friday after a fire in Hayes knocked out an electricity substation causing a temporary power loss at the airport.

Nearly 300,000 passengers were affected by the meltdown, which led to the cancellation or delay of more than 1,350 flights.

Tens of thousands of travellers are still stranded across the globe today, while others fear missing funerals, hen-parties and holidays of a lifetime as a result of the chaos.

Farah Rafeeq, 24, was due to travel with Singapore Airlines on Friday from Heathrow with her 32-year-old friend Niken Wulan, who is pregnant, to another friend's wedding in Cambodia on Sunday.

The mass cancellation of flights means they will now miss part of the ceremony.

They have found an alternative flight from Gatwick Airport with Turkish Airlines and Bangkok Airways that will get them to Cambodia for Sunday afternoon.

Speaking at Gatwick Airport, Ms Rafeeq, who lives in London and works in climate project management, said: 'The last few hours have been nightmarish because it is one of our closest friends' wedding and we have to travel for at least 20 hours to get there.

As Heathrow shut down sparking worldwide travel carnage:

Farah Rafeeq, 24, (left) was due to travel with Singapore Airlines on Friday from Heathrow with her 32-year-old friend Niken Wulan (right), who is pregnant, to another friend's wedding in Cambodia

Smoke billows from the substation in Hayes amid efforts to douse the remainder of the flames after a fire caused a temporary power loss at Heathrow Airport

Heathrow airport terminal 5 today is packed out with passengers after the closure on Friday

'We had to pay double the amount, between 600 and 700, for the new flight, and we had planned this trip for months and had hotels booked and are flying to South-east Asia after the wedding.

'We are missing the morning ceremony but at least we can make it for the reception.'

A woman accompanying a school trip from the US said flight cancellations at Heathrow on Saturday had resulted in a 'stressful' end to their travels.

Speaking at the airport, Christine Eckles, 50, said: 'It was a delay at first, a three-hour delay, and then we found out our flight to Chicago was cancelled.

'We're having to work on how to get a new flight out with British Airways.'

Ms Eckles, who is accompanying students from Iowa, added: 'It's been stressful.

'We're at the end of our trip and we have had a wonderful time in London and Paris, and everybody's ready to go home and back to their spring break.'

However, another American tourist praised his airline's and Heathrow's 'fantastic' response to a fire that closed the transport hub on Friday.

Nearly 300,000 passengers were affected after the fire, which led to the cancellation or delay of more than 1,350 flights.

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Tens of thousands of travellers are still stranded across the globe today, while others fear missing funerals, hen-parties and holidays of a lifetime as a result of the chaos

Speaking at Heathrow, Tim Kolb, who travelled to the UK on holiday from Dallas, Texas, said: 'I was just getting ready to board the plane on Thursday night, and the news actually started coming across on our phones quicker than on the (airport) desk.

'But American Airlines did a fabulous job - we didn't have to wait in the line or anything. They got us our accommodation reservation.'

Mr Kolb, 55, added: 'I thought I was going to be there (Dallas) delayed two days, but I went over yesterday.

'It was organised well. In fact, they had several planes leaving within an hour of each other to Heathrow.

'The way everybody responded and fell into action, it was fantastic.'

Queues at Heathrow on Saturday were not noticeably longer than usual, with additional staff on duty to guide passengers through the airport.

A passenger at Heathrow said purchasing their flights in one booking had helped them avoid the worst of the disruption when a nearby fire closed the airport on Friday.

Rob Walford, 74, said: 'We were in Nice with friends and we were due to fly into Heathrow yesterday.

'We were going to stay the night and then catch our flight to San Diego, so obviously, we didn't do that.

'The wisest thing we did, though, while in Nice was take the tram to the airport and then rebook us first thing this morning.

'If we hadn't done that, we wouldn't be here.

'The British Airways desk sorted it out: we've got a flight this morning that wasn't going to be cancelled, so now we're good.'
An analyst working at a secretive government facility has won a two-year legal fight after claiming he was pushed out of his job due to his 'gender-critical' beliefs.

Father-of-four Peter Wilkins, 43, worked for the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

The research facility works on developing technology considered vital to Britain's national security, including countermeasures against chemical and biological threats like Ebola, plague and anthrax, as well as ensuring that the UKs military benefit from the latest technical and scientific developments.

Mr Wilkins, an engineer and analyst, spent 15 years working for DSTL, including secondments to Afghanistan to support operations there and to the Royal Navys Maritime Warfare Centre in Fareham.

In 2020 he moved to the MOD's Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) as an 'Innovation Partner' but resigned in November 2022, claiming a hostile, intimidating and degrading work environment.

An employment tribunal found that he faced harassment and discrimination as a result of his 'gender-critical' views, which include a belief in the immutability of 'biological sex', The Times reported.

In one incident, Mr Wilkins, a Christian, was flagged for liking a post on LinkedIn by the charity Sex Matters, with a colleague informing him that gender-critical beliefs were 'an ideology' and saying he should be reported to security and HR.

While no action was taken against Mr Wilkins following that exchange, the analyst said he was shocked to be scrutinised 'in the same way as if I was expressing support for the provisional IRA or al-Qaeda'.

Analyst Peter Wilkins, 43, worked at the top secret Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down in Salisbury, Wiltshire

Mr Wilkins resigned from his role at Portland Down (pictured) in November 2022, claiming a hostile, intimidating and degrading work environment as a result of his 'gender-critical' views - which he says are protected by the Equality Act 2010

The panel, overseen by employment judge Gary Self, sitting at Southampton, also heard that Mr Wilkin's colleagues branded him 'sad and pathetic', 'transphobic' and 'a rubbish employee' due to his beliefs on gender.

The tribunal uncovered what it described as a 'clear hostile animus' against gender-critical thinking at DSTL, which ultimately caused Mr Wilkins to leave his role.

Speaking after the verdict, Mr Wilkins said: 'It's a scientific organisation, so it shouldn't be unacceptable to use the phrase biological sex.

'I was never looking for DSTL to endorse my beliefs, or for anything to be said against people on the other side of the debate. But it just felt very one-sided.'

'And it was pretty hurtful, really, having spent 15 years working for DSTL on some things which were high-security, to be told that we think you're a security risk because you have these fairly normal, run-of-the-mill, factual beliefs about sex and genders.'

Mr Wilkins case was taken up by the Free Speech Union, who paid all his legal fees.

Lord Young of Acton, the Free Speech Union's general secretary, told MailOnline: 'Peter Wilkins was treated abominably by a small minority of his colleagues - and one colleague in particular - because he had the temerity to stand up for his belief in the biological reality of sex.

'The hounding of people who express gender-critical beliefs by woke activists, often claiming to stand up for 'inclusion', is extremely common in the public sector, judging from how many cases of this nature the Free Speech Union has taken on.

An employment tribunal ruled that senior officials at DSTL had allowed their views to obscure the fact that gender-critical views may be protected by the Equality Act 2010

'The only way to stop it is if brave people like Peter refuse to take it lying down.

'I hope that in light of this strongly-worded judgement, the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that there's no place for this kind of behaviour in the department.

'Civil servants have a duty to be politically impartial and that's not compatible with being a workplace advocate for radical progressive ideology.'

The employment tribunal warned that senior officials at DSTL had allowed their views to obscure the fact that gender-critical views may be protected by the Equality Act 2010.

This is a grey area of law because while the 'philosophical beliefs' are protected, the way such beliefs manifest themselves may not be - for example in the case of hate crimes.

Employers also have to balance the rights of gender-critical speech against the rights of employees not be discriminated against on the basis of gender reassignment.

The panel also heard how DSTL employees would use an internal blog to make negative references to gender-critical philosophy, with at least one other worker reported to have departed due to a 'spat' on the blog.

When the neuroscientist Sophie Scott was awarded the Royal Society's Michael Faraday prize in August 2021, one employee wrote that it was 'pretty disheartening' since she was 'well known for her non-inclusive views on trans and non-binary people'.

DSTL's high containment lab building at Porton Down, where staff work on countermeasures against chemical and biological threats including Ebola , plague and anthrax

Mr Wilkins voiced his belief to moderators that this was 'deeply unfair' to Ms Scott and created the impression that those with 'gender-critical' beliefs did not warrant recognition for their work.

The following month another a series of blog posts appeared, with one calling gender-critical beliefs 'abusive' and 'bigotry' and another describing those who espouse such views as leading 'sad pathetic little lives'.

Mr Wilkins explained to HR officials that his beliefs were protected under the Maya Forstater ruling and that such posts would not be allowed if they targeted any other protected belief or religion.

Instead management were loathe to intervene for fear of upsetting Prism, the DSTL sexual orientation and gender identity network, a powerful force within the organisation', the panel heard.

The tribunal ruled that Mr WIlkin's resignation was a case of 'constructive dismissal'.

Constructive dismissal occurs when an employee resigns because their employer's actions make continued employment intolerable, effectively forcing them to leave, and the employee can then claim unfair dismissal.

Mr Wilkins said he had spoken out in part because he claimed the ideology of gender identity had had a negative impact on DSTL's work, including the provision of body armour that fit neither men or women - although MailOnline was not able to verify that specific claim.

Damages have yet to be awarded in the case, although they are expected to be substantial - although the panel did rule that the actions taken against Mr Wilkins did not constitute 'victimisation'.

A DSTL spokeswoman said: 'We will review the judgment and following that we will look to take any appropriate actions. We cannot make any further comment on individual cases.'
Only a handful of drug addicts who have used the SNPs controversial 2.3m drugs shooting gallery have been referred for recovery treatment, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Just two per cent of visits to The Thistle in Glasgow have seen users steered away from the destructive cycle of addiction.

The centre - the first in the UK - was opened nine weeks ago to allow users to inject hard drugs under medical supervision without fear of prosecution.

First Minister John Swinney and Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain pledged it would help connect addicts with key services including recovery treatment, housing associations and the benefits system.

Yet new analysis shows a tiny minority of people using the site have been referred for help to get off drugs.

Last night the SNP was accused of breaking its promises over the drugs recovery room by campaigners and politicians.

According to statistics released by the Scottish Government, there have been just 27 referrals to treatment programmes, housing and benefit schemes since the site opened in January.

That is just 1.8 per cent of the 1,435 visits that have been made by 168 people to the drug injecting site up until March 17.

It comes as bosses at the SNP government-funded centre said they wanted to build an inhalation room for smoking crack cocaine within the facility to attract more users.

The controversial drug injecting facility opened earlier this year

The centre has been established to help tackle the scourge of drugs in Scotland

John Swinney attends the opening of the centre but his government has been heavilly criticised for failing to get a hold of the drug problem in Scotland

Annemarie Ward, of addiction recovery charity FAVOR UK, said: These figures are deeply concerning and expose what many of us feared from the outset - that the Drug Consumption Facility (DCF) is functioning primarily as a harm maintenance service rather than a genuine bridge to recovery.

The Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council promoted this facility as a crucial intervention to connect people with treatment, mental health support, and housing.

Yet, the data speaks for itself: with just 1.8 per cent of visits leading to any kind of referral, the promise of meaningful engagement simply hasnt materialised.

Ms Ward added that the model appeared to simply be reinforcing long-term dependency while life-saving, recovery-focused interventions are sidelined.

Scottish Conservative drugs spokesman Annie Wells MSP said: SNP ministers hailed this new facility as a silver bullet to tackle Scotlands drug deaths crisis, but the early signs are not good.

When such a pitiful amount of people are being referred to appropriate services, there is a danger people will continue to be trapped in addiction.

Scotland has the worst drugs deaths rate in Europe and yet the SNP are still failing to prioritise treatment.

When plans for the Thistle were announced, Saket Priyadarshi, Associate Medical Director for Glasgow councils Alcohol and Drug Services, said that there was strong evidence the centre would provide a severely marginalised group access to the treatment and support they have been lacking for years.

He continued that one of the aims of The Thistle is to support service users to engage with opportunities to improve their quality of life - housing, benefits, health, admitting these were important steps into recovery.

The SNP government also hailed the benefits of the centre for connecting users with key services and has committed to making up to 2.3million available per year to pay for the facility.

First Minister John Swinney said it would allow for people to inject in a clean environment with medical help on hand in case something went catastrophically wrong.

But he added: They will also have access to advice and support and counselling to help them to take a different pathway, a pathway to recovery.

The pilot was able to go ahead - despite UK drug laws - because of a decision made by Scotlands most senior legal officer, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, who said it would not be in the public interest to prosecute people who used it.

She said she was satisfied it would provide a way for support services to engage with some of the most vulnerable people in society.

A GHSCP spokeswoman said: We are only three months into a three-year pilot. During its early weeks of operation, the Thistle has already saved lives. It offers daily support to a very vulnerable group of people, some of whom have never engaged with services before.

There have been 27 recorded referrals onto secondary services including housing and supporting services such as addiction recovery and mental health services. There has been other activity in supporting people to re-engage with services that they are open to but have not been attending for a while.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: Glasgow HSCP anticipates increased engagement with addiction recovery services as the facility becomes more established. Through its ability to be able to respond quickly in the event of an overdose, the service has already saved lives.
A stone-faced New Jersey mother was arrested after she allegedly forced her daughter to wear a shock collar that once belonged to the family's dead dog.

Kimberly Cruz-Feliciano, 30, was taken into custody on Tuesday after her child allegedly showed up to show up to Cap May City Elementary School with 'visible marks on their body' the day before, according to 6 ABC.

Cruz-Feliciano's mother Sonia Feliciano, 59, was also arrested.

The child allegedly had to wear the collar while they were at home and would receive shocks every time they would upset their mother, the outlet reported.

Cruz-Feliciano, who was born in Puerto Rico, kept the collar charged after their family dog died and stored it in a drawer with the late pet's other belongings.

She also allegedly threatened the child with more violence if they told anyone, prosecutors said.

Police say the mother admitted to them that she abused her child and had asked her mother to dispose of the collar, according to 6 ABC.

Cruz-Feliciano was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and hiding evidence and is being held at Cape May County Correctional Center.

Kimberly Cruz-Feliciano, 30, was taken into custody on Tuesday after her child allegedly showed up to show up to Cap May City Elementary School with 'visible marks on their body' the day before

The child allegedly had to wear the collar while they were at home and would receive shocks every time they would upset their mother. Cruz-Feliciano kept the collar charged after their family dog died and kept it in a drawer with the late pet's other belongings (pictured: her home)

She also allegedly threatened the child with more violence if they told anyone (pictured: stock image)

The child's grandmother was charged with tampering with evidence and hindering.

Following those charges, the grandmother, who witnessed the abuse, was released from custody ahead of her court dates, according to 6 ABC.

Neighbors were shocked to hear what was happening behind Cruz-Feliciano's front door.

'It's just sad. I hate to hear something like that, I really do,' one said.

'And it's right here in the neighborhood, and I did not know that.'
Pope Francis will be discharged from hospital tomorrow after a five-week long battle with double pneumonia, doctors say.

The Pontiff was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on February 14 having suffered a severe respiratory crisis at the Vatican.

He was later diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs and said to be in 'critical condition' at a number of points as millions across the world prayed for his good health.

But tomorrow, the 88-year-old Pontiff will at last be discharged, doctors who have been treating him said today. He will need at least two months to recover, however, from what has been a serious illness.

News that the Pope will return to the Vatican comes on the same day it was announced that the leader of the Catholic Church is set to make his first public appearance since his hospitalisation.

This morning, the Vatican announced that Francis would greet well-wishers outside the Gemelli Hospital with a wave at around noon on Sunday.

'Pope Francis intends to wave and offer a blessing from the Agostino Gemelli Hospital in Rome after Angelus prayers,' the Vatican said.

Following his discharge, the Pope will reportedly need to 'relearn to speak' after using oxygen throughout his stay at hospital.

Pope Francis will be discharged from hospital after a long battle with double pneumonia in Rome

The Pope has spent five weeks recovering from a respiratory crisis at Rome's Gemelli Hospital

'The Pope is doing very well, but high-flow oxygen dries everything out,' Cardinal Victor Fernandez, the Vatican's chief doctrine official said yesterday.

'He needs to learn how to speak, but his overall physical condition is as it was before.'

Close advisers to the Pontiff said that he was in 'good humour' and 'recovering well' on Friday evening nevertheless, with Cardinal Pietro Parolin admitting the enamored Pope will 'need some time' to recover fully.

Earlier this week, the first photo of the Argentinian Pope since his Valentine's Day hospitalisation was released.

The photo showed the Pontiff celebrating Holy Mass in the chapel of the tenth floor apartment in Rome where he has been treated.

A statement from the Vatican said: 'This morning [16 March] Pope Francis concelebrated the Holy Mass in the chapel of the apartment on the 10th floor of the Policlinico Gemelli.'

The Pope's appearance tomorrow will be the first sighting of him in public for more than five weeks.

The appearance at around noon at the will not be the Pope's first greeting to the public from the Gemelli Hospital, however.

Doctor Sergio Alferi (pictured), who has been treating the Pontiff, announced today that Francis is set to be discharged from hospital

It was announced earlier today that Francis will greet well-wishers with a wave on Sunday at noon

The first picture of the Pope since his February 14 hospitalisation was released earlier this week

Millions across the world have prayed for the good health of Pope Francis amid a health battle which saw him in 'critical condition'

A woman is seen in prayer in Vatican City earlier this month. Pope Francis has been hospitalised since February 14, when he was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital

In July 2021, he recited the Angelus prayer from a balcony on the medical institution's 10th floor following colon surgery.

But he has never previously been hospitalised for this long during his papacy, and while his reappearance will be greeted with relief by followers, questions remain over who might lead the busy schedule of religious events leading up to Easter, a highlight of the Christian calendar.

The Vatican press office said on Wednesday that no definite decisions had yet been taken in that regard, adding that the Pope's clinical condition was 'improving' and he was no longer using an oxygen mask.

A daily bulletin on the health of the Pope has been published by the Vatican throughout his battle in hospital.

Francis had part of one lung removed as a young man and, despite his improvement, speculation abounds that he could step down due to his fragility, following in the footsteps of his predecessor Benedict XVI.

On Monday, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's second-ranking official, told reporters that he had noted an improvement in Francis's health during a visit.

But asked whether the conversation had turned to the Pope's resignation, he replied: 'No, no, no, absolutely not.'

Catholics and others worldwide have been praying for the Pope's speedy recovery, with many leaving flowers, candles and notes for him outside the Gemelli hospital.

A number of leading cardinals too held prayer services at the Vatican to pray for the Pontiff's good health, with thousands gathering on a daily basis to recite the Rosary Prayer.

Even as he remained in hospital, the Pope expressed his gratitude for the widespread support he has received.

The Pontiff too continued holding almost nightly phone calls with Palestinian Catholics in Gaza amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

In updates on X posted during his hospital stay, the 88-year-old also wished his best to Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan and Kivu in early March.
A father who died after being shot in the head in North London has today been named as Mahad Abdi Mohamed.

Police rushed to Waverley Road, Tottenham, at 8.45pm on Thursday, March 20, following reports that two men had been shot.

When officers arrived at the scene they discovered a man, who has been formally identified as Mr Mohamed, had taken a bullet to the head while another man, 26, suffered a gunshot wound to the leg.

Despite efforts of police and the London Ambulance Service to treat the wounds, Mr Mohamed's injuries proved to be fatal and he was pronounced dead.

The 27-year-old's loved ones have today released an emotional statement telling of their anguish after the shooting.

It read: 'Our family is grieving the profound loss of a son, a brother, a father and a friend.

'We kindly ask for privacy during this incredibly difficult time. We are grateful for your understanding and support.'

The other man who suffered the shot to the leg remains in hospital and is stable condition after surgery.

Mahad Abdi Mohamed (pictured) died after being shot in the head at an address on Waverley Road, Tottenham, at 8.45pm on Thursday

Despite efforts of police and the London Ambulance Service to treat the wounds at the scene, Mr Mohamed's injuries proved to be fatal

Officers rushed to the address following reports that two men had been shot; the other man is in stable condition in hospital after surgery (Stock Image)

With no arrests yet made, Detective Chief Inspector Rebecca Woodsford of the Met's Specialist Crime North team is urging for anyone with information to reach out.

She said: 'Two men were shot on a residential street on Thursday, with one man sadly losing his life.

'My thoughts are with the victim's family and friends at this time.

'We recognise the impact this will have on the local community. My team are working diligently to gather evidence and establish what led to this tragedy.

'I would ask any local residents with concerns to speak to officers at the scene, or to their local neighbourhood policing teams.

'I will now ask for anyone who was in the area, past 8pm on Thursday 20 March, to please contact police if you heard or saw something suspicious.

'Your knowledge is crucial to us, and it may help us locate the suspects. Please do the right thing and come forward, you will be supported.'

Anyone with information can contact the force by giving the number CAD7426/20March, or to remain anonymous, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
In their latest round of action, pro-Palestine protestors tore avocados, hummus and dates off the shelves in Waitrose.

The group removed products imported from Israel and loaded them into shopping trolleys at a Waitrose in Preston.

In a video posted to Instagram, an activist gave viewers a tutorial on how to boycott products in the popular British supermarket.

The activist said: 'Come with us on a supermarket crash. Today, we decided to target Waitrose and remove any items that had been produced from Israel from their shelves.

'First off we came across these fresh avocados, which as you can see from the label were produced in Israel.

'And then we moved onto the dates where we found these Medjool dates which were also produced in Israel.

'It's so important that we're checking the labels because not only are these items supporting the economy of Israel but they were produced on stolen land nurtured by Palestinians for centuries and generations.

'Then we found this Sabra hummus, which of course is on the BDS list as a targeted boycott.'

Pro-Palestine activists tore avocados, hummus and dates off the shelves in Waitrose

The group then stuck bright yellow stickers on the shelves, which said: 'Warning, buying these products supports genocide'

The action follows a national boycott launched by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) under the slogan 'Don't Buy Apartheid'

The group then stuck bright yellow stickers on the shelves, which said: 'Warning, buying these products supports genocide.'

Once the shopping trolleys were loaded with the selected items, the group placed placards inside them and gave a speech condemning the products.

The action follows a national boycott launched by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) under the slogan 'Don't Buy Apartheid.'

The campaign calls on individuals, shops, restaurants and businesses to boycott Israeli products including avocados, oranges, herbs and dates.

The PSC are also demanding a boycott of Coco-cola and its brands because it operates a regional distribution centre in Jerusalem.

A national day of action will take place across the country on Saturday, April 5, targeting Israeli produce sold by small independent shops and the major supermarkets.

However, Campaign Against Antisemitism has condemned the group for intimidating British Jews.

A spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Once again, Palestine activists are resorting to the sort of boycott tactics that Jews have seen time and again over the centuries.

In a video posted to Instagram, an activist gave viewers a tutorial on how to boycott products in the popular supermarket

Once the shopping trolleys were loaded with the selected products, the group placed placards inside them and gave a speech condemning the products

'More than four-fifths of British Jews feel that boycotts of Israeli products constitute intimidation, according to our polling.

'These campaigns make no difference to events abroad but make all the difference here at home in ostracising Jews and making their lives miserable. Perhaps that is the point.'

During an online PSC meeting, Ryvka, who has contributed to the launch of the boycott campaign said: 'We've been preparing this campaign for some time now of course but unfortunately it's more timely than ever before.

'As Israel has launched a renewed set of horrific attacks on Palestinians in occupied and besieged Gaza strip over the past few days resulting in devastating new levels of destruction and killing.'

The PSC has published posters showing Israeli tanks loaded like supermarket trolleys with food products and the slogan 'No apartheid products in this shop'.



A temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was struck on January 19, halting more than 15 months of conflict.

But talks on extending the truce collapsed earlier this week, prompting Israel to resume hostilities on Tuesday.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) announced that its forces had launched a ground operation in the centre of the Gaza Strip with the goal of establishing a 'partial buffer zone' between the north and south.
As he gripped the controls of his bomber plane on his first war time mission, 21-year-old Harry Richardson gazed back at the British coast for what he feared was the last time.

Ahead of him lay the terrifying prospect of enemy fighter planes and anti-aircraft guns.

At the grand old age of 107 the memory of that day is still seared in the mind of Mr Richardson, who is now one of the last surviving Second World War bomber pilots.

Sitting in his home in Ochiltree, Ayrshire, the memory is as sharp as ever.

As we flew away, I looked back at the south-east coast of England and wondered if I would ever see it again, he told the Mail on Sunday.

He could so easily have never returned as the RAF Bomber Command aircrews  whose service and sacrifices changed the outcome of the war  suffered a brutally high 46 per cent death rate.

That mission was the first of 62 completed bombing missions Mr Richardson would make to Germany and occupied Europe and later over Burma and Malaysa until 1947, when the Japanese surrendered to the Allies, finally bringing the long war years to a close.

His outstanding bravery will be honoured at VE Day 80 - Victory in Europe 80th anniversary celebrations - on May 8 in South Ayrshire, where Mr Richardson settled after the war.

107 year old Flight Lieutenant Harry Richardson ran 62 missions during the Second World War

Mr Richardson was just 21 when he took the controls of a bomber on his first mission. He is pictured above in his uniform as a young man

Mr Richardson flew a Vickers Wellington twin-engined medium bomber. It was widely used by the RAF as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War

His love of flying began when he was 18 and unhappily working in an accountancy firm. He used to cycle past RAF Northolt near his home in West London, where his family had moved from Bolton.

I would watch these lovely airplanes flying around, taking off and landing and thought, thats for me, Mr Richardson said.

Two weeks before the war, I tried to join the RAF but they said they werent taking on pilots. I knew I was in the first call-up so when war was declared I joined up straight away as a pilot.

During flight training on Tiger Moth biplanes, he was singled out to be a bomber pilot and went on to fly Wellington Bombers with 149 Squadron in Europe before training other pilots in the Avro Anson, affectionately known as Annie.

At the tail end of the war, he was stationed in Calcutta, now Kolkata, with 159 Squadron, flying Liberator Bombers over ports and fuel tankers in Malaysia and Burma, now Myanmar.

All in all, he completed 62 dangerous missions when he was only expected to carry out 30.

One of his many close shaves was in 1941 as captain on a bombing mission to Duisberg in Germany when he and his aircrew met a Junkers Ju 88, a German night fighter plane.

We were in complete darkness when the searchlights sprang into life. Tracer bullets from a fighter appeared from astern. The rear gunner fired a burst but was hit  shot through the ankle  and the turret was put out of action.

Mr Richardson (far left) is pictured with the crew of his Wellington Bomber during the war

I decided to turn back as the gunner was injured and to jettison my bombs. But the enemy came in for another go. When I judged he was ahead of us  it was dark so I couldnt see  I told the front gunman to fire and that was the last we saw of the fighter.

'A fire started on the ground and I thought it was the bombs wed jettisoned. But when we got back to base, I discovered the mechanism to release the bombs hadnt worked and we still had them. The explosion must have been the enemy plane.

In another hair-raising exploit in 1942, Mr Richardson again cheated death, while saving the six-man crew and his plane, which was his responsibility as the captain.

On a bombing mission to Essen in Germany with 149 Squadron, he was flying at 8,000ft with cloud around 6,000ft below when searchlights picked up his planes position and kept it silhouetted as a target for the enemy fighters. The searchlights were eventually doused and he flew on.

But the searchlights found the plane again over The Hague and it came under attack from flak  the name British airmen gave to Germanys heavy antiaircraft gun. When an 88mm projectile exploded at altitude, it sent out jagged metal fragments that tore through any nearby aircraft with sometimes deadly consequences.

I realised there was only one thing to do and pushed the nose down and corkscrewed down until I was only about 300 feet up and could see rooftops plainly, Mr Richardson said.

The searchlights still held us in spite of our gunners putting some of them out. So down I went further, just a few feet over the buildings to fly under the searchlights, all the while keeping an eye out for steeples.

He managed to get away from the city but a fighter was soon on his tail. The enemy was closing in as they reached the sea and flew over a flak ship.

The Liberator aircraft Mr Richardson later flew during bombing runs in Southeast Asia

Just before this, the fighter opened up and the rear gunner replied, but as the flak ship opened up, the fighter sheared off. Several hits were scored by the flak ship but the rear gunner might have put one of their guns out of action.

One shell exploded inside our cabin putting holes through the navigators seat, table, and one of his maps, and through the hydraulic tank, which we sealed with chewing gum before much was lost. We lost a door through the blast, but we landed safely.

Mr Richardson has a small piece of tangled metal saved from his plane from the Duisberg attack. It takes pride of place along with photograph albums of his RAF comrades and his medals in his home in Ochiltree, East Ayrshire, where he lives with his 80-year-old daughter, retired nurse, Penny Richardson.

She will accompany her father to the VE Day 80 celebrations in Ayr.

Im so proud of dad and everything he did during the war, she said.

Back when the whole of Britain was celebrating the first VE Day  the end of the World War II in Europe  Mr Richardson was 5,000 miles away in India with 159 squadron, flying Liberators. Their mission was to carry on fighting the Japanese by bombing ports and transport lines in Southeast Asia.

We had a few pints in the mess when the news came through. It was quite a relief, but we still had a job to do, said Mr Richardson.

VE Day 80 South Ayrshire organiser, RAF veteran Terry Wright, said: Harry is a warrior and still has plenty of vim and vigour. He had to fight on while Europe was celebrating peace, which took a lot of gumption. His bravery is an inspiration.

When Mr Richardson left the RAF, he was a Flight Lieutenant and had a chest full of medals the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), the War Star, the Air Crew Europe Medal, the Burma Star, and the Defence Medal.

His survival after fighting from 1939 to 1947 is all the more remarkable when contemplating the grim statistics about airmen in Bomber Command.

Most aircrew were aged between 19 and 25, with some as young as 16. More than 8,000 aircraft were lost in action and Bomber Command aircrews suffered a brutally high casualty rate  out of 126,000 aircrew, more than 57,000 were killed, a 46 per cent death rate. A further 8,400 were wounded in action and nearly 10,000 became prisoners of war.

There were few giggles Mr Richardson says during the war years, but a brief respite came when he met his wife, Margaret, and they married in 1943. The couple had two girls, Penny in 1944, and Lynda, in 1947.

After the war, the family moved to Prestwick where Mr Richardson joined the National Air Traffic Service as an air traffic controller, assisting in the planning of the Air Traffic Service over the Atlantic. Sadly, Mrs Richardson died in 1989 at the age of 67 and he later married his second wife, Marjorie, in 1993 when they were both 75.

I always missed flying but Margaret was scared all through the war that I would be injured or worse. She made me promise not to fly again.

But Mr Richardson was able to take to the skies again last year to celebrate his 106th birthday when he climbed into the cockpit with a pilot from Prestwick Flight Club and they flew over the Ailsa Craig.

He puts his longevity down to keeping active physically and mentally and to deep breathing and a loving, close family.

I think the secret is to pick the right parents, and make sure your genes are good. Keep active physically and mentally of course. Try not to get too excited all the time, its important to keep calm, and do lots of deep breathing.

He became an original member of the Prestwick Royal Air Force Association (RAFA) 67 years ago and still goes there every Saturday night for a dance.

But throughout his long life, his love of flying never left him.

I used to go down to Wolverhampton where they would fly us veterans every year, but theres not enough of us left to organise now.

Mr Richardson is now looking forward to the VE 80th anniversary celebration that will see an artwork of aircrew silhouettes Standing With Giants created by Dan Barton installed in Ayr, with other events between May 1 and 10.

But the celebrations will also be a poignant time for Mr Richardson.

I cant feel proud because there wont be any of the other guys there. Ill be the only one.
This is the moment when fed up Peter Kay interrupted his sell-out show to call out a group of hecklers - and order them to be thrown out.

Kay, 51, was forced to step in just weeks after his Lisa Riley lookalike controversy and the group of rowdy men  who he labelled 'k***heads and cheeky monkeys' were eventually escorted out.

In the clip exclusively obtained by MailOnline, Kay can be seen talking to the group who are sat in a box high up to the side of the O2 arena in London.

One man in a white T-shirt can be seen shrugging his shoulders at another member of the audience who is remonstrating with him and telling him to be quiet.

Kay  in a lighthearted reference to the Riley incident jokes  to the audience: 'Do any of you look like Lisa Riley in this area. No, alright, let's just throw that out,' pointing to the section where the box is.

He adds:' You look like Right Said Fred in there. You've all had too much. Now then what are we gonna do with you now?'

Then as the man carries on heckling Kay can be heard saying: 'Go on, jump!'

The clip pans back to the man who can be seen pointing to the stage and he puts his hands on hips as Kay says:' Go on, just jump. See if you bounce,' to laughs from the audience.

This is the moment when fed up Peter Kay interrupted his sell-out show to call out a group of hecklers - and order them to be thrown out

In the clip exclusively obtained by MailOnline, Kay can be seen talking to the group who are sat in a box high up to the side of the O2 arena in London

In response the man wags his finger at the Bolton born comedy legend before Kay adds: 'Now then, what are we gonna do about this. I'm not getting involved this time.'

Kay then asks the audience to 'raise your hands if them gentlemen up there in them two boxes are p***ing you off'.

To which the 20,000 all put their hands up followed by loud cheers as Kay says: 'Well, I think we need a security team to go up there and deal with them.'

Another man dressed in black is seen smiling and video Kay as he addresses the man in the heckler sat next to him.

Kay said: 'Right then, I will carry on but if you are rambunctious, you are going home early, you naughty boys,' as the audience erupts into cheers and applause.

A punter who was in the box next to the hecklers with a group of clients and asked not to be named, told MailOnline: 'Peter handled it really well, he was a true professional.

'This lot had obviously been drinking, and they weren't there to enjoy the show they were just there to make commotion and get attention for themselves.

'We had paid 250 a person for the seats, and it spoilt what should have been a great night.

Peter Kay was forced to halt his London show AGAIN at London's O2 on Thursday as he threatened to set security on rowdy fans  weeks after booting out 'Lisa Riley' heckler (stock image)

Kay's 27million-grossing Better Late Than Never tour is the comedian's first live tour in over a decade and has been running for almost three years (pictured in January)

'There were two boxes and there must have been around 30 people mainly blokes and they ruined it for everyone.

'The noise coming from that direction was really off putting and it was disrespectful to Peter and to the rest of the audience who were there.

'It began around halfway into the show and carried on for a good while, with the last ones being thrown out just before the end.

'I think it must have stopped and started four times to deal with them.

'As I said I thought Peter handled it brilliantly and I felt slightly sorry for him that he had to deal with people like that  if it was me I would have been more aggressive.'

Kay's 27 million-grossing Better Late Than Never tour is his first live tour in more than a decade and has been running for almost three years.

Earlier this year Myar Curran, 25, was kicked out of his show and he compared her to soap star Lisa, 48.

The actress later attended a gig of his in Leeds and posed for pictures with him afterwards.

Alongside the images she wrote:' Thank you so much Peter for the most fantastic night.

'We laughed until it hurt  the show is absolutely hilarious  we were up until way gone midnight reciting all the jokes  northern at its absolute best.

'You are the best of the best. Love ya.'

While in an interview with Good Morning Britain, Myar said she would never watch him again after he left her feeling 'humiliated'.

She branded Kay a 'bully' and accused him of singling her out because of her weight.
Podcaster Joe Rogan tore into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for his claim that his 'masculinity' is a threat to MAGA fans.

On Gavin Newsom's podcast, 'This is Gavin Newsom,' Tim Walz attributed Republican attacks during his campaign to his appeal to male voters, stating, 'I think I scare them a little bit, [which is] why they spend so much time on me.'

When Newsom responded with laughter, Walz added, 'No, I'm serious, because I can fix a truck, they know I'm not bulls***ing on this.''

On Friday, Joe Rogan mocked Tim Walz's assertion that he posed any threat to Republicans.

'They're scared of him because he could fix a truck?' Rogan said, bewildered, ridiculing the idea that 'they're threatened by his masculinity'.

Continuing to poke fun at Walz's claim, Rogan imitated him: ''I know how to fix a truck. Do you? I bet you don't! I bet if I bring a broken truck to you, and a bag of tools, you're f***ed!'

Podcaster Chris Williamson chimed in, joking about Democrats attempting to use Walz to project masculinity.

'Yeah, it's so crazy,' Rogan agreed. 'I think they're lost. I mean, they're also lost in that they can't control the narrative anymore.'

Podcaster Joe Rogan tore into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for his claim that his 'masculinity' is a threat to MAGA voters

'They're scared of him because he could fix a truck?' Joe Rogan said, bewildered, ridiculing the idea that 'they're threatened by his masculinity'

Rogan went on to discuss the Democratic Party's struggle to connect with young men, pointing out that many masculine interests have been labeled as politically conservative.

'Anything masculine is "right-wing," anything - you cannot be masculine,' he said, criticizing liberal messaging. 'Like, you cannot be interested in physical fitness, anything-'

Mocking this perception, Williamson added, ''It's a pipeline to being right-wing.'

'Yes! You can't like fast cars. You're not even allowed to like Teslas anymore, which are the fastest cars,' Rogan joked, imitating liberal accusations: ''You're a misogynist, you're probably racist, maybe a Nazi.'

Even Caitlyn Jenner joked about being 'more masculine' than Tim Walz after he claimed that his manhood 'scares' MAGA supporters.

Caitlyn, 75  who announced to the world she was transgender in 2015 and changed her name to Caitlyn in September of that year  was not convinced.

The retired Olympic gold medal winner took to X writing, 'I am more 'masculine' than this [clown emoji] Gov Walz.'

During the podcast episode with Newsome, Walz admitted that the Trump campaign convinced voters that Democrats were weak.

Caitlyn Jenner, 75, joked about being 'more masculine' than Tim Walz after he claimed that his manhood 'scares' MAGA supporters; seen in 2022

Jenner  who announced to the world she was transgender in 2015  took to X writing, 'I am more 'masculine' than this [clown emoji] Gov Walz'

'I saw it from me, and not that I spend too much time thinking about this and it just baffled me how much time they spent trying to attack me that I was not masculine enough in their vision,' Walz said.

He recalled the attacks on his masculinity from Republicans during the 2024 election as they mocked the way he waved, used a straw, and made public demonstrations of his hunting and mechanic abilities.

'They focused on it obsessively, which I think again is their obsession, their weirdness, we buy their frame on these issues of sexuality,' he said, recalling that people online attacked him for appearing 'gay' and 'not masculine.'

'I think I could kick most of their a***s' he added.

Walz's comments instantly drew mockery online, as people flooded to social media to mock the failed vice presidential candidate.

'Only thing that scares me about Tim Walz is how he loads a shotgun,' Shawn Farash responded on X, referring to Walz's struggles with his gun while hunting during the presidential campaign.

'Tampon Tim thinks he's Rambo, but he's really Elmer Fudd,' wrote user Atlas Einstein on X.

'Don't confuse fear with cringe,' wrote Mayson Burch on X.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as Vice President Kamala Harris concedes the 2024 presidential race

'I have asked all the men in America about whether or not you scare them. In fact, none of them were even capable of answering the question because they all broke down laughing,' X user Alexander Riley replied.

'The fact that people actually vote for that turd is scary,' wrote Nick Jay on X.

'Helpful hint: if you have to try to talk up and convince people of your masculinity, you are not masculine,' wrote X user Mr. Kleene on X.

'He's mentally ill. Throw delusional into his casserole of mental maladies,' wrote X user Atlas Einstein.

Walz conceded that he had lost the election, and was still trying to understand why he and Vice President Kamala Harris did so.

'I'm probably the last person you should ask for answers because I didn't get it done, but I do believe that we are making inroads,' he said.
Locals are slamming Boston's Democratic mayor for seemingly prioritizing left-wing politics over safety after reiterating that the city 'stands with immigrants.'

Michelle Wu previously said that Boston would not cooperate with ICE immigration enforcement and delivered a 'State of the City' address on Wednesday bolstering her stance against the deportations.

Wu told immigrants of Boston that all immigrants - apparently including illegal ones - 'belong here.'

She has faced backlash from local residents and leaders, with some claiming that Wu's policies 'prioritize political agendas over the safety of Boston residents.'

Wu said in her address that she visited Washington, DC, two weeks beforehand and addressed questions from Congress about Boston's inner workings.

'It might have been my voice speaking into the microphone that day, but it was 700,000 voices that gave Congress their answer: This is our city.'

She discussed her pleasure in seeing some of the protests happening in Boston against the militant deportations and described the city as a 'family' that sticks together including illegal immigrants, Fox News reported.

'No one tells Boston how to take care of our own, not kings, and not presidents who think they are kings. Boston was born facing down bullies,' Wu said, referencing Trump.

Boston's Mayor Michelle Wu faced backlash after bolstering her position against the Trump Administration's fierce fight against illegal immigration

Wu said in her address that she visited Washington DC two weeks beforehand and addressed questions from Congress about Boston's inner workings. 'It might have been my voice speaking into the microphone that day, but it was 700,000 voices that gave Congress their answer: This is our city'

Wu discussed her pleasure in seeing some of the protests happening in Boston against the militant deportations and described the city as a 'family' that sticks together including illegal immigrants

'We are a city where the Irish coffee is strong, and our opinions are stronger,' she said. 'We may not always agree or see eye-to-eye, but at the end of the day, we are a family.'

'If you come for one of us, you will get all of us. We are a city that knows our strength is each other, and we will defend the people we love with all that we've got. When the weight of the world presses down, Boston stands up.'

However, Wu's stance attracted scathing backlash from local leaders, one such dubbed the deportations as 'critical progress.'

Massachusetts GOP spokesperson Logan Trupiano told Fox News that 'there is simply no justifiable reason for her to stand in the way of this critical progress.'

Trupiano further added that 'polling consistently shows that the majority of Americans support these efforts.'

'Mayor Wu must move beyond fearmongering and mischaracterization of ICE and federal authorities,' he added. 'The city's sanctuary policies have led to the release of dangerous individuals back into our communities, undermining public trust and security.'

Trupiano pointed out that among ICE's arrests have been child predators, drug dealers, and gun runners - 'Individuals responsible for heinous crimes that threaten public safety,' he said.

'Given the recent arrests made by ICE in Massachusetts and Boston, it is hard to understand why Mayor Wu continues to oppose the Trump administration's efforts,' he added.

'We are a city where the Irish coffee is strong, and our opinions are stronger,' she said. 'We may not always agree or see eye-to-eye, but at the end of the day, we are a family'

'If you come for one of us, you will get all of us. We are a city that knows our strength is each other, and we will defend the people we love with all that we've got. When the weight of the world presses down, Boston stands up'

'Mayor Wu must move beyond fearmongering and mischaracterization of ICE and federal authorities,' Massachusetts GOP spokesperson Logan Trupiano said. 'The city's sanctuary policies have led to the release of dangerous individuals back into our communities, undermining public trust and security'

A resident and former migrant shelter director, Jon Fetherston, told Fox News that Wu's policies 'prioritize political agendas over the safety of Boston residents' and have 'emboldened criminal networks, making our communities more dangerous.'

He added that Wu's 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' has 'made all of us unsafe, especially woman and children.'

Wu not only received backlash from locals but received a statement from the White House entitled 'Boston's Radical Mayor Puts Violent Criminal Illegal Aliens First.'

The statement slammed the Boston mayor for having 'doubled down on giving sanctuary to violent criminal illegal immigrants,' the outlet reported.

It added examples of ICE arrests made within the city, including gang members accused of various crimes.

'This begs the question: Why is Mayor Wu intent on defying the will of the American people and obstructing the Trump Administration's efforts to remove these monsters from our streets?' the statement concluded.

Wu vowed in November of last year that she would defy the President's mass deportation efforts in 'every possible way.'

'Elections have consequences, and the federal government is responsible for a certain set of actions, and cities - no individual city - can reverse or override some parts of that,' Wu said on WCVB.

A resident and former migrant shelter director, Jon Fetherston, said that Wu's policies 'prioritize political agendas over the safety of Boston residents' and have 'emboldened criminal networks, making our communities more dangerous'

'We want immigrants to know that it is safe for everyone to be able to feel comfortable reaching out for emergency services, to report a crime, to ask for help, and generally, to be part of our community,' Wu said in November

She cited Boston's status as a sanctuary city under the Trust Act passed in 2014, which limits cooperation with some federal immigrations laws and prohibits Boston police from cooperating with ICE.

The Trust Act does allow for cooperation in criminal matters.

'We want immigrants to know that it is safe for everyone to be able to feel comfortable reaching out for emergency services, to report a crime, to ask for help, and generally, to be part of our community,' she said at the time.

Upon Trump's entrance into his second term in office, he began to fulfill his promise to crack down on illegal immigration almost immediately.

The president has now seemingly gone 'nuclear' on the migrant crisis by allowing the military to take control of the 'buffer zone' near the Southern border with Mexico.

Trump's ambitious plan would turn the 60-foot-deep buffer zone into a military installation at the border and allow US troops to temporarily hold migrants who cross over into the America.

A defense official told The Washington Post that the migrants would be held until legally detained by civilian law enforcement.

Now, Trump's homeland security team is reportedly set to announce plans to take greater control over the partition in a section in New Mexico.

Donald Trump is taking his next step to resolve the crisis at America's border with Mexico with plans to let the military take control of a 'buffer zone' that would allow them to hold illegal migrants

ICE agents in San Francisco arrest a Guatemalan citizen illegally in the US on January 23

If the initial plan is termed a success by the administration, officials believe the zone would eventually stretch west to California.

The designation would allow the Pentagon to deploy resources from its massive $800 billion budget on the border crackdown.

The military is largely prohibited by federal law from many law enforcement duties by the Posse Comitatus Act.

Trump has gotten around the law during his second term by using Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain migrants and then moving them.

'It's very, very careful on that wording. It's not 'detention' because once you go into detention it has the connotations of being detained for arrest. This is holding for civilian law enforcement,' a Defense official said.

In the first two weeks of February, ICE detained more than 1,800 migrants with criminal convictions or with pending criminal charges against them.

This represents 59 percent of the total number of illegal immigrants taken into ICE custody from early February to the middle of the month, according to data obtained by NBC News.

Meanwhile, the other 41 percent of the 4,422 illegal immigrants brought into ICE custody this month are not criminals.

Trump's stance is that all migrants in the US without documentation are criminals because they illegally entered or illegally remained in the country.
Just one person is known to have been convicted in Scotland last year for a so-called sextortion scam  despite thousands of people being targeted.

The crimes see victims  mainly young men - being enticed to send explicit photos or videos to someone who has befriended them online.

They are then told to send money to prevent the images being forwarded to friends and family.

Those targeted in the last five years includes a shocking 1,200 children - some as young as ten.

Among those victimised was tragic schoolboy Murray Dowey, 16, from Dunblane, Perthshire.

The youngster took his own life in December 2023 after being tormented by criminals in a sextortion scam.

However, the predominantly online nature of the crime means the perpetrators targeting Scots are usually based abroad or manage to disguise their location entirely.

Campaigners and politicians have voiced their concern about the long-lasting impact of the scams as they call for more resources to help crack down on the crime.

MSP Sharon Dowey, Scottish Conservative spokesman for victims and community safety, said: Sextortion is a cruel crime that can destroy lives.

Murray Dowey, 16, from Dunblane, Perthshire, took his own life in December 2023 after being tormented by criminals in a so-called 'sextortion' scam

Most of the perpetrators are said to be outside of Scotland or from a location unknown

SNP ministers need to work closely with our justice system to ensure they have the resources to combat these threats and punish offenders.

That includes investing in technology to identify those anonymous criminals blackmailing young victims.

Victims will struggle to get on with their lives if those responsible do not feel the full consequences of their own actions.

In 2023-24, an estimated 2,080 crimes of threats and extortion were committed online, an increase of 14 per cent from the estimated 1,830 recorded in 2022-23 and a six-fold increase from the estimated 290 recorded in 2019-20.

Police Scotland has said most of the crimes recorded relate to sextortion.

However, data obtained from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) suggests the number of criminals being convicted for the crimes is far lower.

The Crown said that in 2023/24, just 10 charges of threats and extortion were reported to it where the charge contained reference to disclosure of (or threatening) to disclose intimate images.

During the same year, just one person was convicted while another case was said to be ongoing.

The one individual who was convicted was given a community payback order.

The relatively small number of charges being reported is thought to be down, in part, to the anonymous and worldwide nature of criminals behind the schemes.

For example, of the 2,080 online crimes of threats and extortion recorded in Scotland in 2023/24 some 56 per cent of the perpetrators were said to be outside of Scotland while the location of a further 37 per cent was unknown.

One group of cybercriminals, based in Nigeria and known as the Yahoo Boys, are believed to have extorted thousands from British teenagers.

The Crown said it had searched charges of threats and extortion reported to it that also contained references to the disclosure of (or threatening) to disclose intimate images.

Gangs in Nigeria referred to as 'Yahoo boys' are behind many of the scams. Above, a group of suspects arrested in Nigeria in July 2019

A video produced by the National Crime Agency showed the tactics used by scammers

However, it cautioned that this method of gathering data from its system was not a failsafe and can omit data due to inconsistencies, such as spelling mistakes or missing details.

It said the only way to avoid this would be to manually check every case, which it said would not be possible within the cost limits set out in Freedom of Information laws.

A spokesman for the COPFS said: Only a very small number of the recorded incidents are reported to us.

When we do receive reports, we will take action where there is evidence of a crime and it is in the public interest to do so.

The UK's National Crime Agency believes so-called sextortion is significantly under-reported.

In an effort to raise awareness of the issue and show victims how to get help it has run numerous campaigns, including adverts on TV and social media.

The NCA has said police forces in the UK receive an average of 117 reports of 'sextortion' from under 18's each month.

Launching a new campaign earlier this week, Alex Murray, NCA Director of Threat Leadership, said: A lot of victims feel responsible for the situation they find themselves in.

But we need them to know this is absolutely not the case; you are not to blame and help and support is available.

As well as raising awareness, we want to encourage young people to report incidents to an adult they trust, the police or to the CEOP Safety Centre.

Police Scotland launched a new campaign in November to raise awareness of the issue and educate young people on how to avoid falling victim.

The Fearless Scotland initiative, funded and supported by the Scottish Government and police, aims to target Scots aged between 13 and 21.

The Internet Watch Foundation gives advice to young people who have been targeted in sextortion scams, including having images removed from the web using its Report Remove tool.

Recting to the details in our story, interim chief executive Derek Ray-Hill said: Offenders continue to ruthlessly target our children online, knowing that they are vulnerable to coercion and abuse.

However, it is vital that children and their families know that they are not at fault and can take steps to seize back control of their imagery.

Police Scotland said it is looking to create a Cyber and Fraud command, which it said will enable greater UK wide collaboration with enhanced victim focus, and access to interventions and disruption opportunities.

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Johnson said: Sextortion can be committed by individuals however, organised crime gangs based overseas are often responsible, which can make it a more difficult crime to detect.

Anyone who has been a victim of sextortion is urged not to panic or pay. They shouldnt be embarrassed to report this insidious crime to Police Scotland, a parent, guardian, teacher, or someone else they trust.

Our officers are committed to conducting a thorough investigation to identify those responsible and will ensure that they are reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: The Scottish Government has funded the Fearless sextortion campaign which is encouraging people to report such instances. We have worked with partners, including Police Scotland and support services, to ensure they can respond quickly and consistently to calls about reports of sextortion.
An Indiana town hall event erupted into chaos after their Republican representative sent them donuts instead of showing up to hear their concerns.

Senators Jim Banks and Todd Young and Representative Marlin Stutzman, all Republicans, have been criticized for not holding any town hall meetings with their angry Democrat citizens, so they hosted one themselves.

The catch? The officials would not be attending.

It seems Banks, 54, wanted the last laugh and sent boxes of Parlor donuts and a film crew to the event, where he was represented by an empty chair filled with a cardboard cutout.

'Hey guys, we got some donuts here courtesy of Senator Jim Banks,' an unidentified staff member of Banks' office told the crowd, which erupted in annoyed laughs.

'I'm going to throw up on them,' one woman yelled as he opened the boxes.

As one man dug into the treats, he told the staff member to tell Banks to 'go to hell.'

'Oh well, I'll pass it along,' the worker replied.

Senator Jim Banks have been criticized for not holding any town hall meetings with his angry Democrat citizens, so they hosted one themselves - without him. But it seems Banks, 54, wanted the last laugh and sent boxes of Parlor donuts and a film crew to the event

'Hey guys, we got some donuts here courtesy of Senator Jim Banks,' an unidentified staffer of Banks told the crowd, which erupted in annoyed laughs. 'I'm going to throw up on them,' one woman yelled as he opened the boxes

'He's using our money to buy stupid donuts,' an older woman told the crowd

The same man later took a paper towel and wrote in pen: 'Young and Bank[s] Sissies' that he placed in-between the boxes for the film crew to see.

Several constituents were annoyed the senator was trolling them, saying they had called and wrote him letters, only to go unheard.

'He never listens to a thing,' one woman said.

'Do you want a chocolate one?' the staff member replied, appearing to take a similar attitude about citizens complaints as his boss.

'No,' she strongly replied.

Later on, as the staffer called out the different types of donuts left - as the boxes largely went untouched - the same woman told him they were done voting for Banks.

'I have one with marshmallows on it,' he replied, ignoring their insults.

As he tried to forcibly hand out donuts, one woman angrily screamed Marie Antoinette's line: 'Let them eat cake!'

'He's using our money to buy stupid donuts,' an older woman told the crowd.

Banks' staffer said he couldn't make the meeting, but wanted to send them donuts. It is unclear how many donuts were wasted

Another woman told the staffer she 'wouldn't eat it if it was the last damn thing on earth,' as she passed the table

Another woman told the staffer she 'wouldn't eat it if it was the last damn thing on earth,' as she passed the table.

A third woman asked: 'His constituents are not that important to him?'

'He got you donuts!' the staffer replied.

'Yeah, nice,' she sarcastically replied.

A man later stuck his fingers in a bunch of donuts, rendering them inedible by anyone but him, which seemed to break the staff member's easy going facade as he shook his head.

He eventually left the overfill room for the main one and wasn't met with any better reception.

'They wouldn't let us in the auditorium, which is unfortunate,' the staffer told the camera. 'Apparently, they don't want to hear other voices or get donuts from Senator Banks.'

It is unclear how many donuts were wasted.

Pictured: The staffer who taunted angry constituents with donuts

Banks, an ardent supporter of Trump, slammed the Health Department before RFK's takeover for celebrating Pansexual and Panromantic Pride Day.

'Glad this type of bulls*** will end on Jan 20! Cant come soon enough,' Banks replied to the HHS post.

The post on X read: 'Today on Pansexual and Panromantic Pride Day, everyone deserves to feel seen, respected and supported - no matter who they love. Create a world where everyone feels proud to be themselves!'

Banks was Indiana's representative from the third district since 2017 before running for Senate in 2024. The seat was vacated by Mike Braun who ran for Indiana governor this cycle and won.
Wild new theories have emerged after scientists claimed to have discovered a 'vast city' 6,500ft below the Pyramids of Giza.

The 'groundbreaking' discovery beneath the Egyptian pyramids has taken the world by storm and new theories have emerged to cast doubt on how the structures were built.

Researchers from Italy and Scotland claim to have uncovered 'a vast underground city' which stretches more than 6,500 feet directly underneath the Pyramids of Giza, making them 10 times larger than the pyramids themselves.

The bombshell theory - which many experts claim to have already debunked - comes from a study that used radar pulses to create high-resolution images deep into the ground beneath the structures, the same way sonar radar is used to map the depths of the ocean.

American podcaster Joe Rogan has now weighed in on the 'mind-blowing' development, calling it 'very very very weird'.

Rogan said: 'This is insane. It's quite stunning. They don't understand what it is but it's a uniform structure. There are several pillars and all of this is very very very weird.

'It's really crazy.'

American podcaster Joe Rogan has now weighed in on the 'mind-blowing' theories about a hidden city below the Pyramids of Giza, calling it 'very very very weird'

Scientists used advanced technology to see beneath the three pyramids, finding evidence of a 'vast underground city'

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He added: 'Christopher Dunne believes that the Pyramid of Giza is a big power plant.

'He has a theory about why its built the way its built.

'He thinks it coincides with the ability to produce hydrogen, to utilise the rays of space and to generate electricity through this.'

Researcher Jay Anderson added: 'What has just been announced in relation to the pyramids at the Giza plateau and the plateau itself is so incredible, so awe-inspiring and narrative shattering that I've been sitting here for the last hour trying to wrap my heard around the implications of what we were just told.

'It's nothing short of mindblowing. What's been discovered is that there are huge structures coming down from the base of the pyramid deep into the bedrock.

'It then connects to massive internal structures deep deep down.

'The pyramid itself was already a massive red flag in the ancient Egyptian historical narrative but now, with this discovery, I think it's impossible to say that the Egyptians we've been taught about built these structures.

'It provides the most extraordinary evidence for a pre-flood era civilisation that was flourishing in a way that we can scarcely comprehend.'

The paper, which has not been peer-reviewed by independent experts, found eight vertical cylinder-shaped structures extending more than 2,100 feet below the pyramid and more unknown structures 4,000 feet deeper.

A press release described the findings as 'groundbreaking' and if true could rewrite the history of ancient Egypt.

However, independent experts have raised serious concerns about the study.

Professor Lawrence Conyers, a radar expert at the University of Denver who focuses on archaeology, told DailyMail.com that it is not possible for the technology to penetrate that deeply into the ground, making the idea of an underground city 'a huge exaggeration.'

Professor Conyers said it is conceivable there are small structures, such as shafts and chambers, beneath the pyramids that existed before they were built because the site was 'special to ancient people.'

He highlighted how 'the Mayans and other people in ancient Mesoamerica often built pyramids on top of the entrances of caves or caverns that had ceremonial meaning to them.'

The work by Corrado Malanga, from Italy's University of Pisa, and Filippo Biondi with the University of Strathclyde in Scotland has only been released during an in-person briefing in Italy this week and is yet to be published in a scientific journal, where it would need to be analyzed by independent experts.

Despite the scepticism, Professor Conyers added that the only way to prove the discoveries to be true would be 'targeted excavations.'

'My take is that as long as authors are not making things up and that their basic methods are correct, their interpretations should be given a look by all who care about the site,' he explained.

'We can quibble about interpretations, and that is called science. But the basic methods need to be solid.'

The team claimed they discovered eight cylinder-shaped structures below the Khafre, which travel more than 2,100 feet below the pyramid's base. They identified spiral structures on the sides of the shafts

The team also found a hidden chamber in the pyramid that contained five identical structures with sloped roofs and five levels

He also told DailyMail.com that he could not tell if the technology used actually picked up hidden structure below the pyramid.

'They are using all kinds of fancy proprietary data analysis software,' said Professor Conyers.

The Giza complex consists of three pyramids, Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, built 4,500 years ago on a rocky plateau on the west bank of the Nile River in northern Egypt.

Each was constructed in the name of a pharaoh. The northernmost and oldest of the group was built for Khufu. Also known as the Great Pyramid, this structure is the largest, at 480ft tall and 750ft wide at its base.

The middle pyramid was built for Khafre, which the team studied, and Menkaure is the southernmost and last built of the group.

Malanga is a UFOlogist and has appeared on YouTube shows about aliens, where he has discussed his more than decade-long career of studying UFO sightings in Italy.

Biondi, on the other hand specializes radar technology.

Malanga and Biondi's published a separate peer-reviewed paper in October 2022 in the scientific journal Remote Sensing which found hidden rooms and ramps inside Khafre, along with evidence of a thermal anomaly near the pyramid's base.

The new study used similar technology, but got a boost from a satellite orbiting Earth.

The new radar technique works by combining satellite radar data with tiny vibrations from naturally-occurring seismic movements, to construct 3D images of what lies beneath the surface of the earth, without doing any physical digging.

Nicole Ciccolo, the project's spokesperson, said: 'A vast underground city has been discovered beneath the pyramids,'

'[The] groundbreaking study has redefined the boundaries of satellite data analysis and archaeological exploration.'

She shared a short clip of the press briefing held on March 15, saying the full video of the event will be released on March 25.

The cylinder-shaped structures, which Ciccolo referred to as 'shafts,' were arranged in two parallel rows and surrounded by descending spiral pathways.

The shafts were said to be connected to larger, cubic structures. The team said there could be a hidden city below all three pyramids

Ciccolo said the cylinder structures were found underneath each of the three pyramids and appeared 'to serve as access points to this underground system.'

The team explained the system as other chamber-like structures interconnecting under all three of the pyramids.

'The existence of vast chambers beneath the earth's surface, comparable in size to the pyramids themselves, which have a remarkably strong correlation between the legendary Halls of Amenti,' Ciccolo said.

'These new archaeological findings could redefine our understanding of the sacred topography of ancient Egypt, providing spatial coordinates for previously unknown and unexplored subterranean structures,' she added.

The news has gone viral this week, with X flooded with posts about the potential discovery.

Florida congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna shared a post about the structures on her X page.

The team plans to continue their research throughout 2025.
A Tennessee mother was rushed into emergency surgery after she was injured in a freak accident while swimming with dolphins in Jamaica.

While on a lavish spring break vacation with her family, 28-year-old Cierra Stockard was swimming with dolphins when she slipped and accidentally landed on the animal's dorsal fin.

The impact, described by her sister Neveah Garton as a 'blunt force trauma', was so strong that Stockard was sent to nearby Hospiten Hospital before being transferred to Cornwall Hospital in Montego Bay for emergency surgery.

'She was swimming with the dolphins and as the dolphins lifted her in the air, Cierra slipped and the dolphin's dorsal fin hit her crotch area,' Garton wrote on a GoFundMe page organized for the injured Arrington-native.

'This created such a blunt force trauma to the area it caused her to have a hematoma the size of three apples,' Garton wrote.

Recounting the traumatic event from the hospital, Stockard said the ocean collision 'felt like a car accident.'

'It just felt like I got into a car accident,' she told WKRN. 'The force of it - It felt like boom! Something just happened really bad. I was just in so much pain. Tears were just running down my face.'

While on a lavish spring break vacation with her family, 28-year-old Cierra Stockard (pictured) was swimming with dolphins when she slipped and accidentally landed on one's dorsal fin

'She was swimming with the dolphins and as the dolphins lifted her in the air, Cierra slipped and the dolphin's dorsal fin hit her crotch area,' Garton wrote on a GoFundMe page organized for the injured Arrington-native.

Stockard, who has sickle cell disease, had to undergo two blood transfusions in addition to the emergency surgery following the incident.

As of Wednesday, she was out of her second surgery, however, Garton said her sister 'can't manage it all by herself' and is desperately asking for help in her return home.

The worry-stricken family is now trying to raise $55,000 to get their loved one back to the US.

'We need her home because this is just not a good circumstance,' Stockard's aunt, Kimberley Watkins, told WRKN.

'We've tried to contact the embassy,' Watkins added. 'Basically, they can just direct us. I'm not going to say they've not been a help, but we've been doing things ourselves.'

As of Saturday, the fundraising page has since raised $19,607 toward its goal.

As of Wednesday, she was out of her second surgery, however, Garton said her sister 'can't manage it all by herself,' and is desperately asking for help in her return home

In a Facebook update on Thursday, Stockard wrote that she was 'fresh out of surgery' and thanked loved ones for their 'prayers and support.' Pictured: Cierra Stockard with her two kids

In a Facebook update on Thursday, Stockard wrote that she was 'fresh out of surgery' and thanked loved ones for their 'prayers and support.'

'I just got back to the ward and got those clots removed and some blood in my body. Thank GOD! I am still needing 2 more units but one bag is better than NONE still no pain medications, so I'm literally thugging this pain out with a smile on my face,' she wrote.

'[Two] surgeries with no pain meds make sure yall tell my kids their momma is a gangsta I hope this is one step closer to getting my butt back to Tennessee.'

The bizarre dolphin accident comes just after a young surfer collided with a pod of dolphins that threw him off his surfboard leaving him seriously injured and unconscious.

Eli Anderson, 20, was surfing his local break at Emerald Beach on the NSW mid north coast in Austrailia on December 29 when he suddenly felt 'like he was hit by a car', eerily similar to the experience Stockard relayed.

The carpenter was thrown from his surfboard and then caught up in a frantic frenzy of up to 20 dolphins blindly hunting for food.

Eli Anderson (right) and his dad Luke (left) have surfed their local break at Emerald Beach NSW in Austrailia their whole lives but never considered dolphins a threat

Eli Anderson's surfboard had a large chunk taken out of the side from one of the dolphin's fins

Anderson was knocked out cold and suffered a fractured pelvis in the terrifying incident, and he says he is still struggling to deal with the trauma.

'They came from nowhere and one of their fins sliced my board,' Anderson told Daily Mail Australia.

'I was knocked off and then knocked out so I don't remember much until I was washed up on to the beach.

'As I came around, I started to count my limbs and checked for blood. I was in a lot of pain but also so confused, because I thought it must have been a shark attack.'

Anderson was surfing with his dad at the beach about north of Coffs Harbour and said they're always wary of sharks in the water - but not dolphins.
Migrant children fighting to remain in the US will face the courts alone following the president's decision to pull the plug on federal funding for legal representatives.

Donald Trump has axed a contract with The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Project, a nonprofit which provides counsel and legal services to undocumented, unaccompanied minors.

Deputy Director Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu told AZ Central the Unaccompanied Children Program has been virtually shutdown by the order, which she received word of on Friday.

It means that migrant children now face the prospect of advocating for themselves in court against qualified government attorneys, often in a foreign language.

Avila-Cimpeanu said such children are 'alone in the United States, detained by the government, separated from their loved ones, and survivors of abandonment, abuse and neglect'.

'To strip away legal services for them while claiming to care about the safety of children is inhumane,' she added.

Unlike criminal defendants, adults and children embroiled in deportation proceedings are not entitled to a public defender.

The order is latest step in Trump's crackdown on illegal migration, which is now specifically targeting unaccompanied minors in a bid to hit the president's deportation targets.

Migrant children fighting to remain in the US will face the courts alone following the president's decision to pull the plug on federal funding for legal representatives

Donald Trump has axed a contract with The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Project, a nonprofit which provides counsel and legal services to undocumented, unaccompanied minors

An internal memo seen by Reuters confirmed the new focus for agents at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Avila-Cimpeanu said her charity's services 'are critical not only as a matter of fundamental fairness  children should not be asked to stand up in court alone against a trained government attorney  but also for protecting children from trafficking, abuse, and exploitation and for helping immigration courts run more efficiently.'

Trump ended the program in February, but restarted it after more than 24,000 people sent letters to Congress urging lawmakers to reconsider, according to the Acacia Center for Justice.

The center said around 26,000 children relied on legal under the program.

Yesterday, it was announced that the Trump administration will revoke the temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the United States.

The announcement was made by Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem on a notice to a Federal Register in the latest expansion of the presidents clampdown immigration.

The order applies to about 532,000 people from the four countries who came to the United States since October 2022 under a program called CHNV that the Biden administration was heavily criticized for.

The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Project's Deputy Director Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu said such children are, 'alone in the United States, detained by the government, separated from their loved ones, and survivors of abandonment, abuse, and neglect'

The order is latest step in Trump's crackdown on illegal migration, which is now specifically targeting unaccompanied minors in a bid to hit the president's lofty deportation targets

The migrants losing legal status arrived with financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work in the US.

Noem said they will lose their legal status on April 24, or 30 days after the publication of the notice in the Federal Register.

The new policy impacts people who are already in the US and who came under the humanitarian parole program.

Uncertainty still remains for some 240,000 Ukrainians who sought refuge in the US following the Russian invasion in 2021.

Trump was said to be considering ending their legal status even before recent tensions between Washington and Kyiv.

However, press secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted previous reports about this as 'fake news', stating that no decision has been made.

Relations between the US and Ukraine have been strained since a now-infamous showdown between Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.

Unlike criminal defendants, adults and children embroiled in deportation proceedings are not entitled to a public defender

The president immediately shutdown peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and kicked President Volodymyr Zelensky out of the White House after a blistering Oval shouting match.

Trump had threatened to abandon Ukraine completely if Zelenskyy did not agree to his peace terms. He also accused Zelensky of not being grateful.

Zelensky held his own, even showing Trump photos he brought of the devastation to his country, and arguing he had thanked the American people.

Now, the Trump administration is trying to get both Russia and Ukraine to sign on to a proposed ceasefire, but the fighting still rages on.
One of the UKs most powerful education figures has warned that history will not look kindly on the Labour Government for its destructive approach to independent education.

Speaking yesterday, Philip Britton, incoming Chair of the HMC, hit out at the enormous and damaging change caused by the VAT on school fees tax since it was imposed in January.

The HMC, which is now known as The Heads Conference, represents hundreds of private schools around the UK including some of the countrys most prestigious schools such as Eton, Harrow and Westminster.

He said: History will look back on this term as a moment of an unnecessarily destructive approach to independent education which in the end will be a detriment to all pupils.

During the last months great schools across the country have focused on the best interests of their pupils against enormous and damaging change introduced hastily and carelessly.

We have been working with HM Revenue and Customs to introduce VAT processes they are not ready for and whose implementation to the required timescale was unfair and unrealistic  yet as it is what must be done, we have done it.

The policy and other financial pressures wrought by government policy have been cited in at least 15 private school closures or proposed closures since January when the 20% tax on fees was imposed.

An average of two schools a week have closed since the tax was controversially and hastily introduced midway through the academic year including St Anselms prep school near Bakewell in Derbyshire just this week.

Philip Britton hit out at the enormous and damaging change caused by the VAT on school fees tax since it was imposed in January

Rachel Reeves confirmed the government's plans to charge VAT on private school fees in her tax-raid Budget on October 30 last year

Mr Britton is the incoming chair of the HMC - which represents hundreds of private schools around the UK including some of the countrys most prestigious schools such as Eton (pictured), Harrow and Westminster

Mr Britton, the Head at 14,000 a year Bolton School, one of the UKs largest independent schools with 2500 pupils, will lead the HMC from September.

He said the governments narrow mindedness was stopping the UK from benefiting as much as the rest of the world from the strength of its own independent school sector.

UK independent schools who are members of HMC are a core part of an international group of top quality schools with much to offer to UK education directly for our pupils and indirectly by collaboration and partnership for all pupils, he said.

And he also claimed the government had changed its rhetoric and reneged on its promise to spend any money raised from the VAT on school fees tax solely on state schools.

What has been done is done. It is sad and annoying and infuriating and pointless as recent statements (from the government) even show a blurring of lines about the funds going to state education.

Meanwhile, Mr Britton says private schools have still been working for the good of all children despite the chaos imposed on them.

Mr Britton has warned that history will not look kindly on the Labour Government for its destructive approach to independent education

Mr Britton is the Head at 14,000 a year Bolton School, one of the UKs largest independent schools with 2500 pupils and will lead the HMC from September

Schools have been still looking around them to identify how we can be part of continued improvement for the education of all pupils with partnership, innovation and sharing expertise.

He has previously warned the historic school, which was founded in 1516, will be unable to fulfil its ambition of one in three pupils on a bursary by 2030 because of the VAT raid.

Mr Britton said: From one in five to one in three will be much more difficult and will be slowed. That clearly is a detriment to children in the locality. That is a direct impact of VAT.

The HMC is one of the partner organisations of the Independent School Council and has voted to take legal action against the government.

The Independent School Councils legal action and that of parents of children with special educational needs who have crowdfunded to enable them to sue the government will be heard in the High Court next month.

The Mail on Sunday exclusively revealed last week that the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who is the defendant in the landmark judicial review, has hired an astonishing four KCs to fight the governments corner.

Meanwhile the parents whose case will be heard have crowdfunded to enable them to take action.
A couple in Texas have been arrested after allegedly shooting the father of their teenage son's girlfriend after the parent said she was 'too young' to date.

Luther Madison II, 39, allegedly shot his son's girlfriend's father with a gun handed to him by his wife Angelica Madison, 39, during an argument in Hockley on March 18.

Luther and the girl's father began arguing after the parents had arranged to meet to discuss keeping the couple's son away from the victim's daughter, Harris County Constable Mark Herman said on Facebook.

While the exact cause for the argument's escalation is unknown, Herman said the victim's had claimed their daughter was 'too young to be dating.'

The parents had met at the Madison's home in Hockley, just under an hour outside of Houston, before reports of gunshots were made to police.

According to Herman, a verbal and physical altercation broke out in the street and Angelica took a gun out of her pocket and gave it to her husband.

Luther then allegedly shot the victim in the chest and pointed the gun at the victim's wife while threatening her.

Police arrived to find the victim with a gunshot wound to the chest and, according to Herman, he was airlifted to hospital.

Luther Madison II, 39, allegedly shot his son's girlfriend's father with a gun handed to him by his wife Angelica Madison, 39, during an argument in Hockley on March 18

A verbal and physical altercation broke out in the street and Angelica allegedly took a gun out of her pocket and gave it to her husband

'Luther was charged with two counts of Aggravated assault with a Deadly Weapon. His total bond was set at $100,000. Angelica Madison was charged with one count of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. Her bond was set at $25,000,' Constable Mark Herman said

His condition remains unclear.

'Luther Madison II and Angelica Madison were arrested and booked into the Harris County Jail,' Herman said.

'Luther was charged with two counts of Aggravated assault with a Deadly Weapon. His total bond was set at $100,000.'

'Angelica Madison was charged with one count of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. Her bond was set at $25,000,' Herman concluded.

The Madison's both bonded out of jail and are due in court on May 20, according to court records.

It is unclear if they have entered a plea at this time.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has pledged the party will go to war against the teachers unions after the countrys largest education union branded it far-Right and racist.

The National Education Union is to demand at next months annual conference that pupils are taught the dangers of voting for Reform.

Teachers are set to debate a motion accusing far-Right and racist organisations, including Reform of scapegoating refugees, asylum seekers, Muslims and Jews.

The motion, seen by The Mail on Sunday, claims four million votes were secured by Reform at the 2024 election on an anti-immigrant platform.

It calls for teachers to educate and challenge pupils who are drawn to racist beliefs and far-Right activity and for anti-racist resources to be developed for use in schools.

Reform has always rejected suggestions it is far-Right. Last year, the BBC was forced to apologise for calling it far-Right in a news report.

Meanwhile, the partys popularity among the young has soared. An exclusive Mail on Sunday poll last month found that 30 per cent of 16- and 17- year-olds would vote Reform if the voting age was lowered.

Last night, Mr Farage said: This is happening up and down the country. Reform is subject to endless propaganda at the hands of teachers. When we are in a position to do so, we will go to war against the teachers unions.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has pledged the party will go to war against the teachers unions after the countrys largest education union branded it far-Right and racist

The National Education Union, led by Daniel Kebede (pictured), is to demand at next months annual conference that pupils are taught the dangers of voting for Reform

Reform MP Lee Anderson (pictured) has said the NEU is 'indoctrinating our youth, silencing free speech and spreading hateful rhetoric'

In the motion, to be debated at the Harrogate event, union activists also criticise the Government for seeking advice from members of racist governments, such as Georgia Meloni of Italy.

The NEUs leader Daniel Kebede has called the UK a brutally racist state and dubbed the education system institutionally racist. He even called the national curriculum a Little England, white saviour narrative.

Concerns were also raised last night that the NEU was disregarding the legal duty on teachers to maintain political impartiality in their teaching.

It is deeply disturbing that members of our largest teachers union should want to bring politics into the classroom by linking immigration concerns with racism, said Professor Alan Smithers, director of the centre for education and employment research at Buckingham University.

It is indoctrination rather than education at a time when the current Government stated intention is to lower the voting age to 16.

Reform MP Lee Anderson said: The NEU has revealed its true colours.

By indoctrinating our youth, silencing free speech and spreading hateful rhetoric, they have abandoned their legal duty of political neutrality.

Teachers at the NEU conference will also attack academies and call for all schools to be returned to local authority control.

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the centre for education and employment research at Buckingham University (pictured) has branded the move 'deeply disturbing'

Labour is accused of bowing to union pressure in its controversial Childrens Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which had its third reading last week, and its new curriculum review.

The proposed reforms, described as a wrecking ball by opposition MPs, will curtail academy freedoms.

Fears have also been raised that education union wokeness is influencing the Governments Curriculum and Assessment Review, which published its interim report last week.

Led by Professor Becky Francis, the review said that it was governed by a social justice lens that would deliver a curriculum that reflects the issues and diversities of our society.

Last year, the NEU caused outrage by debating a motion calling Israel the main driver of violence in Gaza.

A spokesman for the NEU said: It is vital we take on racist behaviour and language, in schools and in wider society. The NEU makes no apologies for holding that view.

Farage has a 'bust-up' with GB News over channel's coverage of his feud with suspended Reform MP Rupert Lowe

By Glen Owen, Political Editor

Nigel Farage has had a bust-up with his GB News bosses over the channels extensive coverage of his feud with suspended Reform MP Rupert Lowe.

Mr Farage admitted last night he had not been overly thrilled about how GB News dealt with the fall-out from the row with Mr Lowe, which exploded after Mr Lowe questioned Mr Farages leadership in a Daily Mail interview.

Sources at the station claimed Mr Farage had refused to present his prime-time show in protest.

This was disputed by Mr Farage and GB News who said he was due to be off-screen as part of the pre-local election purdah period  and had decided to do so a week early in order to attend Reform dinners and honour commitments in America.

Mr Farage said: We werent overly thrilled about how GB News devoted more airtime to the issue than any other channel. We had a right go at them about it.

Mr Lowe, 67, was ousted by Reform two days after his interview, in which the Great Yarmouth MP called Reform a protest party led by the Messiah.

The party is probing allegations that Mr Lowe bullied staff, while police are investigating claims he verbally abused party chairman Zia Yusuf.

Mr Lowe denies all the allegations and says he was targeted for questioning the party leadership.

Nigel Farage (pictured) has had a bust-up with his GB News bosses over the channels extensive coverage of his feud with suspended Reform MP Rupert Lowe

Mr Farage said he had not been overly thrilled about how GB News dealt with the fall-out from the row with Mr Lowe (pictured), which exploded after Mr Lowe questioned Mr Farages leadership in a Daily Mail interview

Reform UK is probing allegations that Mr Lowe bullied staff, while police are investigating claims he verbally abused party chairman Zia Yusuf (pictured)

WhatsApp messages were leaked in which a staff member asked Mr Farage why Reform had not let a lawyer complete an investigation into Mr Lowe before removing the whip.

Mr Farage said: Because he is damaging the party just before elections. Disgusting.

Mr Lowe hit back: These messages prove the Reform leadership has zero integrity. I will not work with the rotten and deceitful Reform leadership... Nigel Farage must never be prime minister.

GB News editorial director Michael Booker said: We like to have a good relationship with all the parties.

We owe it to our audience to treat every story on merit, without fear or favour.
Nicola Sturgeon last night thanked her close friend and crime writer Val McDermid for supporting her during the police probe into SNP finances.

The former First Minister told an audience at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival that Ms McDermid had kept her going for the almost two years that she was under police investigation.

It comes just days after it was revealed Ms Sturgeon would not face charges over the probe into the SNPs finances, having first been arrested and released without charge in June 2023.

The dramatic development followed her estranged husband, former party chief executive Peter Murrell, appearing in court last week charged with embezzlement.

But last night, Ms Sturgeon embarked on her latest foray into a life outside politics after announcing she would not stand for Holyrood again in 2026.

She made her comedy festival debut alongside her close friend Ms McDermid for an evening talking about books at The Kings Theatre in Glasgow.

The pair have had a long friendship, with the politician often heaping praise on the authors works.

Ms McDermid, who is best known for her detective novels, some set in Scotland and which have sold in their millions, has also supported Ms Sturgeon, particularly after the breakdown of her marriage.

Nicola Sturgeon and author Val McDermid on stage at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

The pair - and other guests - performed to a crowd of around 1700 people

Police outside Ms Sturgeon's house during the probe into SNP finances

After the former First Minister announced her separation from Mr Murrell in an Instagram post in January The Mail revealed that the Glasgow MSP had been spending time at the authors luxury 320,000 Edinburgh flat.

The comedy show called Books and Banter saw the pair interview actress Ashley Storrie, the daughter of late comedian Janey Godley, and crime novelist Christopher Brookmyre.

The event, where tickets cost upwards of 25, saw Ms Sturgeon greeted outside the theatre by admirers who asked for selfies. She was also welcomed by the 1,700-strong audience by cheers and applause.

Before settling into a conversation about books, Ms McDermid made reference to the weeks events concerning the fraud probe.

She said it was a special day as her friend was free and out in the world and added: Delighted to welcome Nicola here tonight to start this new chapter.

Ms Sturgeon responded: I dont want to dwell on this. Can I just say the last couple of years have been interesting. The last couple of weeks have been interesting. Ive announced that Im going to leave politics next year. I have revealed the cover of my book available at all good bookshops...

But she added: The last couple of years I wouldnt have got through without some really good pals, Val and Jo [Vals wife] chief amongst them.

There are others in here tonight, but also without so many of you, or people Ive never met who come along to things like this, send me messages to support, I just wanted to take 10 seconds tonight to say from the bottom of my heart thank you for all the support youve shown me.

Last week, Ms Sturgeon told reporters she had done nothing wrong and that she was completely in the clear as the 2.1m Operation Branchform probe came to an end.
A high-speed police chase through Paris ended in a four-car pileup leaving 13 people injured including 10 officers.

Police attempted to stop the car after the driver allegedly ran a red light but when he refused it sparked an early morning chase through the south of the French capital.

The frantic car pursuit ended with the driver losing control of his car and smashing into a traffic light and three pursuing police vehicles hitting his vehicle.

The driver and two passengers were detained and taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

Footage shows the car smashing into a traffic light before being smashed into by one of the police vehicle pursuing .

While officers rushed out of their vehicle, a second police car hits into the back of the the first one and moments later a third police vehicle collides into the three cars.

During a police check at around 5:45am in the 14th arrondissement in southern Paris, the driver refused to comply with orders to stop, the police said.

Three police vehicles gave chase after the driver had run a red light, the public prosecutor's office said.

The frantic car pursuit ended with the driver losing control of his car and smashing into a traffic light and three pursuing police vehicles hitting his vehicle

The driver and two passengers were detained and taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said

The horror pile-up left 13 people injured including 10 police officers

Prosecutors said they suspected the driver of being intoxicated at the time of the chase.

At the corner of Avenue du Maine and Boulevard du Montparnasse in the 15th arrondissement, the driver lost control of his car and crashed into a traffic light, prosecutors said.

'The three pursuing police vehicles then crashed into his vehicle,' added the prosecutor's office.

Ten police officers received minor injuries and were briefly hospitalised.

Speaking to reporters, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said all of them had been discharged from hospital by early afternoon, and he praised their 'courage and composure'.

The three detained people are aged between 19 and 30, and two of them have police records, Nunez said, without providing other details.

Prosecutors said they suspected the driver of being intoxicated at the time of the chase

The Unsa-Police union posted a picture of the pile-up, with one police vehicle sitting on top of a badly damaged black car.

'A chilling image that testifies to the violence of the accident that occurred in Paris,' the union said on X, accusing the 'reckless driver' of endangering the lives of police and others.

Referring to the pile-up, Nunez said that the visibility during the car pursuit was 'quite poor'.

Last year, 2,300 refusals to comply with police orders were recorded in the greater Paris region, said Nunez. Forty percent of such refusals take place at night, he added.
The families of babies murdered by Lucy Letby have rallied to debunk claims that the child killer is innocent and accused her of trying to 'defect attention' from the heinous crimes.

Speaking in closing submissions for an application to suspend the Thirlwall Inquiry, representatives for the families of the babies killed blasted the nurse.

Richard Baker KC, representing families of Letby's victims, said the applications to stop the inquiry were motivated by the desire from Britain's most prolific child serial killer to 'attempt to control the narrative' and for the executives 'to avoid criticism'.

He added that there was 'nothing remarkable or new' about recent medical evidence presented on her behalf.

The families' representatives said the Free Letby campaign is based on flawed reasoning and factual errors and said it is 'fanciful' to say alleged new evidence would have convinced the jury in the former nurse's trial to reach a different verdict.

Mother D, whose baby daughter was murdered by Letby in June 2015, criticised 'the noise from ill- and misinformed people' in a separate statement.

The families also accused Letby's barrister, Mark McDonald, of making 'hyperbolic, very serious, publicity-grabbing statements' without fact checking.

'It causes the families to feel, with some justification, that evidence is presented by Letby's team in order to create drama and headlines and that the proper basis for it is not being analysed or tested,' they said.

Lucy Letby, 35, is serving 15 whole life sentences for the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of seven more

Supporters of Letby at a rally outside the High Court in London last year

The families also accused Letby's barrister, Mark McDonald (pictured), of making 'hyperbolic, very serious, publicity-grabbing statements' without fact checking

'It suggests to them that Letby's team are more concerned with publicity stunts than putting forward a properly reasoned or legally sound appeal.'

The lawyers added: 'From Letby's perspective she is keen to control the narrative and prevent the events that occurred between June 2015 and June 2016 being set out in a way that she cannot control.

'It is an attempt by Letby to use her own victimhood as a way of deflecting attention away from her actions.'

In response, the former nurse's barrister McDonald said: 'We now have reports from 24 internationally renowned neonatal, surgical and pathology experts, from eight different countries, who are all the very best in the world.

'They have comprehensively destroyed the prosecution case and have all agreed that Lucy Letby is innocent. The experts are clear that the jury was misled on key evidence, and that this has led to a wrongful conviction.'

Since September the Thirlwall Inquiry has been examining how the former neonatal nurse was able to murder or attack 14 babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Evidence was completed last month and the final report is due to be published in November.

But the hospital's former executives and Letby requested a pause to the inquiry, pending the outcome of her latest challenge to her multiple convictions for murder and attempted murder.

On Wednesday, Lady Justice Thirlwall refused the application from the senior managers.

Letby (pictured) had twice appealed and failed to overturn her convictions

Image taken from body worn camera footage issued by Cheshire Constabulary of the arrest of Letby

Lady Justice Thirlwall (pictured), overseeing the inquiry, refused to pause it after applications from both Letby's lawyers and hospital executives

Kate Blackwell QC, representing former chief executive Tony Chambers, former medical director Ian Harvey, former director of nursing Alison Kelly and former HR director Sue Hodkinson, said there was a 'real possibility' that Letby's convictions may be overturned, and to continue the report work would be unfair to her clients.

The former senior managers have also made a parallel request to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, to suspend the inquiry on similar grounds.

Letby's solicitors wrote to Lady Justice Thirlwall on Monday to suggest her final report would be 'redundant and likely unreliable' unless proceedings were halted.

Last month, an international panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists, working pro bono for Letby's defence team, told reporters that bad medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the collapses and deaths attributed to Letby.

Those findings will be passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and the former nurse's legal team hope her case will eventually be referred back to the Court of Appeal after two previous failed bids.

Sitting at Liverpool Town Hall, Lady Justice Thirlwall said: 'I'm not satisfied that there is any unfairness in the current situation. I am satisfied that the process has been fair.

'As I have said before, it is not the actions of Lucy Letby that I am scrutinising, it is the actions of all those who were in the hospital... and what they did at the time, in the light of what they knew at the time and in the light of what they should have known at the time.

'There are already large numbers of concessions about what was not done and what should have been done. Those significant concessions come from the organisations and the hospital including the doctors and the managers.

'Perhaps principle, and most obvious among the concessions made by just about everyone is the acknowledgement that there was a total failure of safeguarding at every level, and that will not change.

Protesters held signs labelling the killer a 'whistleblower' who is being 'silenced' outside the inquiry last week

'It is a matter which has been debated at some length in the course of the inquiry and one that it seems to me will inevitably feature in any report.'

Lady Justice Thirlwall said she expressed no view on the merits of Letby's application to the CCRC.

She said: 'It is clear that this will be a very lengthy process for the CCRC... it is inevitable that the pause being sought is of a length which is entirely outside of my control but it appears on the face of it to be a very lengthy one.'

Letby, 35, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted across two trials at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016.

Letby's barrister Mark McDonald said: 'It is a great shame that the inquiry has not taken on board the overwhelming evidence that Lucy Letby's convictions are unsafe and paused proceedings. Sadly, despite the millions of pounds that have been spent, any report and recommendations will one day be seen as unreliable and redundant.

'I will continue to represent Ms Letby without fear or favour and ensure the many flaws in the case are put before the Court of Appeal. If the numerous experts who have come forward are right, a young innocent woman is in prison for crimes she has not committed.'
Peter Mandelson appears to have met Jeffrey Epstein on a taxpayer-funded trip to America when the disgraced financier was under house arrest for sex offences, newly-uncovered documents indicate.

Epsteins private schedule, unearthed by The Mail on Sunday, reveals Lord Mandelson was due to have two meetings with the convicted paedophile at his 60 million New York mansion on consecutive days in March, 2010, while on a trip that cost taxpayers more than 8,000.

At the time Lord Mandelson was Business Secretary and First Secretary of State  effectively the second most powerful politician in Gordon Browns government as de facto deputy prime minister.

Epstein, meanwhile, was under house arrest after being sentenced in 2008 to 18 months in jail by a Florida court for procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute.

Last night the Foreign Office refused to answer questions, including whether the Labour grandees two meetings with Epstein took place.

Lord Mandelson, 71, now the UKs ambassador to the US, has said he deeply regrets both ever meeting Epstein and the hurt caused to his victims.

He also claimed he never had any kind of professional or business relationship with him. But quizzed recently about his relationship with Epstein, who died in 2019, he told a senior Financial Times journalist to f*** off.

Lord Mandelson and the financier are believed to have been first introduced by Ghislaine Maxwell, who was jailed in 2022 for 20 years for helping Epstein traffic under-age girls.

A photo, thought to have been taken in 2005 or 2006, shows Lord Mandelson shopping with Epstein at a boutique in the US Virgin Islands (pictured)

Lord Mandelson (pictured) now the UKs ambassador to the US, has said he deeply regrets both ever meeting Epstein and the hurt caused to his victims

Jeffrey Epstein's 60 million New York mansion was one of the largest private homes in Manhattan (pictured)

Epstein affectionately referred to Lord Mandelson as Petie.

A photo, thought to have been taken in 2005 or 2006, showed Lord Mandelson shopping with Epstein at a boutique in the US Virgin Islands.

Reacting to the MoS findings last night, former government minister Norman Baker said: Its hardly appropriate for one of the leading lights of the British Cabinet to be meeting up with a jailbird in New York. I think its time Mandelson came clean and explained his relationship with Epstein.

During his sentence Epstein was able to go on work release to his Florida office for 12 hours a day, six days a week. He then faced a year under house arrest until July 2010.

He spent much of that year at home in Palm Beach, Florida, but could also fly to his mansion in New York and his private island in the US Virgin Islands.

Now the MoS can reveal a schedule drawn up by Epsteins former assistant Lesley Groff shows Lord Mandelson was due to see Epstein at his mansion on March 2, 2010.

Lord Mandelson had travelled to give a speech at New York University. A Cabinet Office document shows he also held various bilaterals with senior officials during the two-day trip, which cost taxpayers 8,628.

Ms Groffs schedule, handed over by Epsteins estate in a US Virgin Islands government probe, shows Lord Mandelson was set to meet him at 7.30pm  two hours after Epstein was due to see his alleged ex-girlfriend, entrepreneur Shelley Lewis, and a mystery woman.

Lord Mandelson (pictured) and Jeffrey Epstein are believed to have been first introduced by Ghislaine Maxwell, who was jailed in 2022

At the time Lord Mandelson (right) was Business Secretary and First Secretary of State  effectively the second most powerful politician in Gordon Browns (left) government

At 9.30pm Epstein was due to meet former Barclays boss Jes Staley, who was later banned from holding any top financial services posts.

The paper also reveals the Labour peer had a second appointment scheduled for 1.30pm, again at the convicted paedophiles six-storey mansion, the next day on March 3  the day of his speech at NYU.

Epstein was under house arrest until July 21 and parole records reportedly confirm he was in New York on March 2 and March 3.

Last night Lord Mandelsons spokesman declined to answer whether the peer attended the appointments.

The March 2010 US trip appears to be the second time Lord Mandelson visited Epsteins New York mansion on 71st Street as a senior Cabinet minister.

Eight months earlier he was due to stay there after travelling to Washington DC on government business, according to a report by JP Morgan, where Mr Staley had worked as Epsteins private banker.

In an email to Mr Staley on June 17, 2009, Epstein wrote: Peter will be staying at 71st over the weekend

Cabinet Office records show Lord Mandelson met the heads of Mr Obamas Auto task force, which oversaw the bailout of car makers, in Washington that week in a trip that cost taxpayers 5,696.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal a schedule drawn up by Epsteins former assistant Lesley Groff shows Lord Mandelson (pictured) was due to see Epstein at his mansion on March 2, 2010

At 9.30pm Epstein was due to meet former Barclays boss Jes Staley (pictured), who was later banned from holding any top financial services posts

Lord Mandelson has refused to confirm or deny whether he stayed that weekend at Epsteins townhouse.

Speaking last month to the FT, Lord Mandelson said: I regret ever meeting him or being introduced to him by his partner Ghislaine Maxwell.

'I regret even more the hurt he caused to many young women.

He added: Im not going to go into this. Its an FT obsession and frankly you can all f*** off. OK?
Ministers and Heathrow chiefs were warned a decade ago that a key weakness at the airport was its main electricity supply, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

A report by Jacobs, a major consultancy, highlighted in November 2014 how electricity outages could completely shut Europes busiest airport.

Even a brief interruption to electricity supplies could have a long-lasting impact as systems can take time to recover, warned the report, which is published on a Government website.

The revelation comes as Heathrow was yesterday branded a laughing stock and its bosses accused of complacency after a fire at a single electricity substation closed the airport for nearly 24 hours.

The blaze at the North Hyde substation in Hayes on Thursday night resulted in unprecedented scenes, with nearly 1,400 flights cancelled or delayed.

Some 120 transatlantic services were forced to turn round mid-journey and tens of thousands of passengers were stranded across the globe.

Despite the airport declaring yesterday that it was open and fully operational, the disruption is expected to last until the middle of this week because planes and crew are now out of position around the world.

Last night, Heathrows chairman Lord Paul Deighton said an internal review into the power outage will be chaired by former Labour Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly. He said it will focus on the airports crisis management plans.

The shocking scenes at Heathrow's main substation in Hayes, which exploded and set alight, shutting down Britain's busiest airport for all of Friday - grounding 1,357 flights and more than 200,000 people

The deserted runway and BA's grounded fleet at Heathrow on Friday, in a crisis compared to 9/11 in terms of number of flights grounded

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Lord Toby Harris, chairman of the National Preparedness Commission, which promotes policies designed to better prepare the UK for crises, said the closure was an enormous failure.

It sounds to me like Heathrow airport was simply not as prepared as it should have been, he said, adding that a statement from Heathrow saying back-up systems at the airport worked the way they should was rather complacent.

Jason Bona, owner of supply chain company PS Forwarding, said it was expecting to receive cargo on 15 UK-bound flights  all of which were cancelled or diverted following the fire.

I had friends in India phoning me at 5am asking me whats going on, he said. I have a WhatsApp group full of international freight forwarders with memes and such  we are a laughing stock.

Yesterday Energy Secretary Ed Miliband ordered the National Energy System Operator to urgently investigate the power outage.

He has also told the watchdog to take a broader view of whether the electricity grid is vulnerable to more disasters.

We are determined to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learned, he said.

The Government is determined to do everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow.

Yesterday Energy Secretary Ed Miliband ordered the National Energy System Operator to urgently investigate the power outage that brought Heathrow to a standstill

Smoke billows from the electrical substation that exploded, forcing the complete closure of Heathrow airport

The substation fire led to travel chaos, with passengers forced to camp out at Heathrow while they waited for flights to resume

A tearful stranded couple at Heathrow's terminal five were among the hundreds of thousands of passengers inconvenienced by the fire

The probe is likely to focus on why Heathrow relies on such limited, and ageing, electricity infrastructure.

Its ability to operate is dependent on just three electricity substations. If one completely fails, the power it provides cannot be replaced without lengthy delays.

It was a vulnerability highlighted by Jacobs in a report commissioned as part of a proposal to extend Heathrows northern runway in 2014.

The report said: Beyond the management of supply and grid services, which lie outside the airports control, the responsibility for managing electricity supply risk lies with the airport and businesses operating from the airport.

While some services can be temporarily supported with generator or battery back-ups, the key weakness is the main transmission line connections to the airport.

The report said the airport appears to have adequate provision of utility infrastructure but added: Outages could cause disruption to passenger, baggage and aircraft handling functions and could require closure of areas of affected terminals or potentially the entire airport.

Heathrows chief executive Thomas Woldbye yesterday said he was proud of the airports response to the chaos.

He added: Our systems are not designed to power the entire airport I was not shocked at the fact we do not have back-up power for every single system in the airport. That would require a separate power plant of a big size to be on standby all the time.

Mr Woldbye insisted: The same would happen in other airports.

But other major hubs have ploughed millions into boosting power supplies. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport in the US, the worlds busiest, spent $100million to build 20 back-up generators after it lost power in 2017.

Also 13,000 solar panels are being installed on the roof at John F Kennedy airport in New York as part of a micro-grid that will provide electricity for half of daily operations at its new Terminal One.

Willie Walsh, former boss of British Airways who now heads aviation trade body IATA, said the meltdown on Friday was yet another case of Heathrow letting down travellers and airlines.

He asked: How is it that critical infrastructure of national and global importance is totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative?

British Airways said yesterday that it expected to run 85 per cent of its flights.

National Grid said it was making changes to improve the resilience levels of our network.

Experts warned that passengers will receive refunds but compensation will not be paid .

Huge flames emerge from the substation, sending gigantic clouds of smoke billowing into the air

Heathrows chairman Lord Paul Deighton said an internal review into the power outage will be chaired by former Labour Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, focusing on the airports crisis management plans

Passenger rights regulations state that if a flight is cancelled for any reason, the airline must offer a full refund or a flight on the next available alternative, even if it is with a rival airline.

But disruption caused by a fire, bad weather or other extraordinary circumstances does not entitle passengers to compensation.

Liz Steele said it was devastating to miss her youngest son Paddys graduation at Stirling university on Friday. She said: Ive been to every other graduation my kids have had and I just always thought I would be there.
Six people have been killed as Israel hit back at Lebanon today, after a Hezbollah rocket attack with a child said to be among the victims.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered 'a second wave of strikes against dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon', the defence ministry said.

It said the strikes were 'a response to rocket fire towards Israel and a continuation of the first series of strikes carried out this morning' against southern Lebanon.

This is the heaviest exchange of fire since its ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah almost four months ago.

Rockets fired from Lebanon were the second group launched since December, sparking concern about whether the ceasefire will hold. In a statement, Hezbollah denied being responsible for the latest attack, saying it was committed to the truce.

Israel had said it would respond 'severely' to the early Saturday attack targeting northern Israel.

Israel's army said the intercepted rockets targeted the Israeli town of Metula and said six rockets were fired and three crossed into Israeli territory but were intercepted.

The official said Israel could not confirm the identity of the group that fired the rockets. The official said the military struck targets across southern Lebanon.

Smoke billows from the site of Israeli artillery shelling that targeted the area of the southern Lebanese village of Yohmor on March 22

The damage caused to a building following an Israeli strike that targeted a neighbourhood in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre

Buildings are damaged after being targeted in an Israeli airstrike in the village of Touline

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said a strike in the southern village of Touline had killed five people including a child, and wounded 10 others including two children.

On Saturday night, Israel again struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. A strike hit a garage in the coastal city of Tyre, the NNA reported, with one person killed and seven wounded. It was the first time the city had been struck since the ceasefire took effect.

Hezbollah denied any involvement in the rocket attack, and called Israel's accusations 'pretexts for its continued attacks on Lebanon'.

While Hezbollah has long held sway over parts of Lebanon bordering Israel, other Lebanese and Palestinian groups have also carried out cross-border attacks.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that renewed military operations on the southern border risked 'dragging the country into a new war,' his office said.

Lebanon's top diplomat Youssef Raggi called for 'pressure on Israel to stop the aggression and escalation and contain the dangerous situation on the southern borders'.

But Israeli defence chiefs said they held the Lebanese government responsible for all hostile fire from its territory regardless of who launched it.

'We cannot allow fire from Lebanon on Galilee communities,' Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said, referring to towns and villages in the north, many of which were evacuated after Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of Hamas in October 2023.

'The Lebanese government is responsible for attacks from its territory. I have ordered the military to respond accordingly,' Katz said.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said it was 'alarmed by the possible escalation of violence' following the morning's rocket fire.

Hezbollah has long had strongholds in south and east Lebanon, as well as south Beirut, but the war with Israel dealt the group devastating blows, leaving it massively weakened.

Damaged cars lie in a street following an Israeli strike

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike targeting the town of Yohmor Al Shaqif, as seen from Marjaayoun, southern Lebanon

Six people have been killed as Israel hit back at Lebanon today, after a Hezbollah rocket attack

Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to pull its forces back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

Israel is supposed to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but has missed two deadlines to do so and continues to hold five positions it deems 'strategic'.

Israel has carried out repeated air strikes during the ceasefire, targeting what it said were Hezbollah military sites that violated the agreement.

The Lebanese army said it had dismantled three makeshift rocket batteries in an area north of the Litani on Saturday.

The mayor of the Israeli border town Metula, targeted in Saturday's rocket launch, urged authorities to 'act offensively and make it so that not one bullet is fired ever again at northern communities'.

A strike on Hawsh al-Sayed Ali village, om the border with Syria, wounded five people, according to the NNA.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it instructed the army to act forcefully against dozens of targets in Lebanon, adding: 'Israel will not allow any harm to its citizens and sovereignty.'

Israel's army said it struck dozens of rocket launchers and a command centre where Hezbollah was operating.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked the Lebanese military to take all necessary measures in the south but said the country did not want to return to war.

Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas's October 7 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike targeting Al Rayhan Heights, as seen from Marjaayoun, southern Lebanon

Hezbollah denied any involvement in the rocket attack, and called Israel's accusations 'pretexts for its continued attacks on Lebanon'

The Israel-Hezbollah conflict boiled over into all-out war in September as Israel carried out massive waves of air strikes and killed most of the militant group's senior leaders.

The fighting killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis.

Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January under a ceasefire struck on November 27. The deadline was later extended to February 18.

But Israel has remained in five locations in Lebanon, across from communities in northern Israel. It has carried out dozens of air strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, saying it was targeting Hezbollah, while continuing drone attacks that have killed several members of the militant group.

Lebanon has appealed to the UN to pressure Israel to fully withdraw from the country.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as Unifil, said it was alarmed at the possible escalation of violence and urged all parties to avoid jeopardising the progress made.
Eyes fixed firmly on the floor, head lowered and a smug expression on her face - this was the moment a woman in a crowd appeared to snub Meghan.

The incident caused a media storm, with many praising the way the Duchess of Sussex handled the situation.

In September 2022 Meghan and Prince Harry, along with Prince William and Kate, greeted thousands of people paying their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth outside Windsor Castle.

The grandsons walked forward to meet the crowds as they had done a quarter of a century earlier following the tragic death of their mother Princess Diana.

It was the first time the brothers appeared together since they unveiled a statue of Diana in the summer of 2021.

Meghan received a generally warm reaction from the crowd as she made her way down the line of fans, shaking hands and chatting with the crowds of people lined up to get a glimpse of the royals.

She politely greeted a large group who clung to metal railings, hugging members of the public and crouching down to receive flowers from children.

As Meghan passed, one woman was captured lowering her head as if to ignore her and avoid her gaze.

Meghan greets a large crowd, hugging members of the public and crouching down to receive flowers from children at Windsor Castle in September 2022

One woman - in a dark blue top - lowered her head as if to ignore Meghan and avoid her gaze. Afterwards, the woman could be seen chatting with a friend, as the two giggled over the icy moment

Meghan received a generally warm reaction from the crowd as she made her way down the line of adoring fans, shaking hands and chatting with those lined up to get a glimpse of the royals

The woman in blue - who has never been named - had her arms crossed over the railing with her body facing away from the royal, looking to the ground.

Afterwards, the woman could be seen chatting with a friend, as the two giggled over the icy moment.

Other mourners in the crowd also looked like they were ignoring Meghan, with one person withdrawing their hand and another putting on sunglasses.

But Meghan won praise for her calm reaction, moving onto the next well-wisher as if nothing had happened.

Her lack of rule-following throughout the rest of the walkabout remains a topic of debate.

The snub from the woman in the video quickly went viral on X (formerly known as Twitter) and left viewers divided.

Social media users slammed the 'racist' lady for her treatment towards the Duchess and others felt it was an indication of a great amount of resentment towards the couple across the UK.

However, a different user quipped, 'Why does it always have to be construed as racism? Absolutely nothing to do with race. People just don't like her.'

Queen Elizabeths death came at a troubled time for Harry and Meghans relationship with the royal family.

Megan and Harry, along with Prince William and Kate Middleton, greeted thousands of people paying their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth outside Windsor Castle

Meghan won praise for her calm reaction, moving onto the next well-wisher as if nothing had happened. Her lack of rule-following throughout the rest of the walkabout remains a topic of debate

It was the first time the brothers appeared together since they unveiled a statue of their late mother in the summer of 2021

Well-placed sources told The Mail on Sunday that the stress of Harry and Meghans departure had a 'detrimental effect' on the health of the Queen in the final months of her life.

The late Queen's death certificate said that she died of 'old age' on September 8, 2022, at 96 years old.

But those close to the monarch believe that her frequent mobility issues were impacted by the added stress of her grandson's decision to break away from his family and criticise the institution to which she had dedicated her life.

After releasing a statement about their plans, the fine details of the break were to be decided during a meeting in January 2020  breaking into the Queen's Christmas holiday at her private estate in Sandringham, Norfolk.

Harry claimed to be 'terrified' when his brother 'screamed and shouted' at him during the meeting. He also accused his father of saying 'things that simply weren't true' and revealed that his grandmother, the Queen, 'quietly sat there' and 'took it all in'.

It was decided that if the Sussexes wished to be free to make their fortune abroad, then they would have to relinquish their official royal roles.

Harry and Meghan moved to California in June 2020, saying they wanted space to raise Archie and Lilibet was since born there in 2021.

Palace insiders said that it was the Queen's decision not to see Harry and Meghan on one of their few visits back to Britain.

The awkwardness of the encounter was so great that Princess Kate found it 'one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do', according to a book

Meghan was seen hugging and accepting flowers from fans as huge crowds gathered

The appearance was plagued with more controversy when some online users noticed an apparent disagreement between Meghan and royal aides, after she collected flowers from some onlookers and didn't know what to do with the bouquets

The monarch's health was by then failing, with sources saying the final year of her life was particularly taxing.

In her final weeks, the late Queen missed the Commonwealth Games and the annual Braemar Games in the Highlands and died on the day after meeting the outgoing and incoming Prime Ministers, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

Even after her death Harry did not appear to be united with the rest of his family.

He did not fly up to Scotland on the same plane as his brother and his uncles Andrew and Edward, arriving at Balmoral Castle on his own later that day. He left early the following morning before other members of the family.

In Harrys memoir, Spare, he claims the Duchess of Sussex was banned from Balmoral on the day of the Queen's death.

So when Meghan and Harry stepped out of the Windsor estate with Kate and William on September 10, 2022 - two days after the Queen's death - they had thousands of people watching their every move.

But the brothers barely interacted during the sombre 40-minute walkabout and appeared to stick to their two couples.

It was later reported that their father the King had ordered his warring sons to set aside their ongoing feud ahead of the Queen's funeral.

Royal sources said William extended an 'olive branch' to his younger brother Harry by asking him to join him on a walkabout after taking a phone call from Charles.

The awkwardness of the encounter was so great that Kate found it 'one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do', according to a book.

The appearance was plagued with more controversy when some online users noticed an apparent disagreement between Meghan and royal aides, after she collected flowers from some onlookers and didn't know what to do with the bouquets.

She is also seen in footage seemingly trying to walk in from of the more senior royals, in this case William and Kate.

Meghan is seen in 2018 accepting flowers from smiling fans during a visit to Cheshire

After their marriage in May 2018 the couple worked together as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for less than two years

Footage from the occasion seems to show Harry having to pull his wife back with his arm and slow down his walking pace so that she did not pull ahead of his older brother.

Throughout her time as a royal, Meghan seemed to have a hard time adjusting to royal life, first raising eyebrows when she appeared to sign an autograph during a walkabout at Cardiff Castle in January 2018.

After their marriage in May 2018 the couple worked together as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for less than two years before they dramatically stepped down as senior royals in January 2020.

Royal family members are taught etiquette and traditions by household staff from a young age but as Meghan married into The Firm at 36, she had obviously not been brought up to understand all of the rules and customs.

The American actress had to learn how to give a proper royal handshake, to stand up when the monarch does and to avoid any PDA.

Her training also included how to greet dignitaries  and expect to be greeted  as well as how to behave on royal engagements and the intricacies of palace life.

Since Harry and Meghan resigned from the royal family, the couple have spoken about how the Firm could have done more to support Meghan during her time in the UK.

In their Netflix series, Meghan detailed her first meeting with Kate and William - and how she was 'surprised' to learn the royal family's formality continued behind closed doors.

In Harry's book he claimed Kate was 'put on edge' by Meghan's arrival and how she would be 'forced to compete' with the actress.

In their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan revealed she began experiencing suicidal thoughts while she was pregnant with Archie in 2019 and was not given the support she needed.

Harry and Meghan are seen holding hands next to William and Kate as they look at floral tributes outside Windsor Castle

When Meghan and Harry stepped out of the Windsor estate with Kate and William on September 10, 2022 - two days after the Queen's death - they had thousands of people watching their every move

Harry and Meghans popularity with the British public has undoubtedly dipped since the couple left the royal family.

But many Brits still love Meghan, who regularly attracts large crowds of fans at formal gatherings, and has a loyal following, bolstered by her media appearances and TV ventures.

However it looks unlikely that the couple will return to the UK with Meghan seeming to have cut ties following the Queens funeral.

In December Harry revealed that he and Meghan have no plans to return, citing security and their children as their main reasons to stay in the US.

Meghan has not visited the UK since September 2022 when she attended the Queens funeral.

She opted not to attend King Charles's Coronation and has not joined Prince Harry during the many trips he has made to the UK in the last two years.

Meghans Netflix series failed to attract British audiences and she said she has set her sights on building her lifestyle brand in the US.

Harry said last year that he does not feel it is safe to bring Meghan to the UK and vowed his wife would not return to the UK until his security provision has been upgraded.
Everyone imagines their wedding day to be a special moment for themselves and their partner, shared with the family and friends they love the most.

But for Prince William and Kate Middleton, it also happened to be an event of national importance, meaning they had to share their day with a global audience of 36.7 million people.

The throng of eyeballs made it difficult for the future King and Queen to share a private moment during the festivities at Westminster Abbey.

As although the crowds could never have hoped to make out the few words they exchanged together in those moments above the roar, their chats didn't stay secret for long.

This was because anyone watching on TV could make out the words  if only they could lip-read, that is.

Out of all of the words exchanged between the Prince and his bride on that historic day 14 years ago, perhaps one sentence is now the most relevant.

After the ceremony, where Kate had thrilled adoring crowds in her 250,000 Alexander McQueen gown and said 'I do' in front of 2,000 guests, the newly married couple took a carriage ride through the streets of London.

According to the lip reader who analysed footage for CBS News, William can be seen to say: 'I hope I remember It's mad, it's mad! Oh my goodness it's really loud here - these people are clapping.'

At the royal wedding William can be seen to say: 'I hope I remember It's mad, it's mad! Oh my goodness it's really loud here - these people are clapping', according to the lip reader

The sweet moment in the carriage seems all the more touching considering the extremely difficult few years the couple have faced recently

At another point in the journey, William reportedly turned to his new wife and told her: 'You look happy', to which she smiled and told him, 'Yes! Are you happy?' to which he replied, 'Yes. Very!'

He later reportedly turns to his new wife and tells her: 'You look happy'.

She smiled and told him, 'Yes! Are you happy?' to which he replied, 'Yes. Very!'

The sweet moment seems all the more touching considering the extremely difficult few years the couple have faced recently, with Kate and Charles' cancer diagnosis and William's estrangement from his only brother Harry.

As the couple look to celebrate their 14th anniversary of that day on April 29, perhaps they will remember how it felt to take the carriage ride and wave to the thousands of well-wishers who had waited hours to catch a glimpse of them.

Many commentators have described the fairytale wedding as one of the feel-good moments of the decade for the public.

Even the British weather agreed, with the clouds parting as the new husband and wife emerged from Westminster Abbey to greet the public  and found themselves bathed in golden spring sunshine.

After all, Kate and William's relationship had been through a lot to even get to that moment.

Legend has it that, when she was at school, young Kate had a picture of Prince William on her dormitory wall.

Princess Kate and Prince William wave to the thousands who had gathered to catch a glimpse of them

Prince William and Kate Middleton pictured on their big day on April 29, 2011

They finally met as students at St Andrews University and dated for eight years, splitting up briefly in 2007. Then in October 2010, on holiday in Kenya, they became engaged.

William had brought his mother's engagement ring with him in his rucksack.

His girlfriend was 'Waity Katie' no more. When the date for the wedding was set, William told his team he wanted the day to be 'as enjoyable as possible, for as many people as possible'.

They seemed to take full advantage of their day, even prepared to break tradition by electing Pippa Middleton as Maid of Honour and Prince Harry as Best Man  two roles that are not supposed to exist in royal weddings.

And let's not forget Kate's hair, which she decided to wear down - breaking a 350-year-old tradition.

But eagle-eyed lip readers believe the touching moment in the carriage was not the only occasion the royal couple engaged a few words on the big day.

When William was reunited with his beautiful bride for the first time at the altar, as the music came to a close, he said: 'You look lovely(unclear) you look beautiful.'

Hard to believe: Crowds gathered all day long on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace on the couple's wedding day, waving union jacks and cheering as the newlyweds appeared on the balcony

Happier times: Prince Harry waves alongside Lady Louise Windsor and Pageboy Tom Pettifer as they arrive at Westminster Abbey

The Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Camilla with a youthful-looking Prince Harry sat in the front row to watch Kate and William take their vows

The State Landau carriage was originally built for the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandria

Over to you William! Michael Middleton pictured giving his daughter away at Westminster Abbey... as she went from Catherine Middleton to future Queen Consort of 17 nations

He then followed it up by breaking the tension for an understandably nervous Kate with the joke: 'We're supposed to have just a small family affair.'

The tongue-in-cheek comment made light of the grand state affair, which would have been daunting for the then 29-year-old woman.

However perhaps the most famous moment of the royal wedding between the couple took place on the Buckingham Palace balcony.

By the time the glass doors of Buckingham Palace's balcony swung open, the playful crowds below were already chanting: 'Kiss, kiss, kiss.'

They had to wait a few minutes, but when the time came they were doubly rewarded.

'Wow, that's amazing,' exclaimed Kate, confronted by the spectacle below: a forest of up-raised flags, periscopes and mobile phones stretching from the gates of the Palace all the way along The Mall to Admiralty Arch in the distance.

After a minute, the couple were joined by their bridesmaids and pageboys and then their families.

Carole Middleton couldn't resist a coy wave, while her husband Michael shared his observations with Prince Charles.

On the other side of the balcony, Pippa Middleton appeared charmed by the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip) and Prince Harry, standing with Kate's younger brother James, delivered a quip or two; and the Queen, her hands clasped behind her back, simply kept smiling.

That kiss! Prince William and Kate Middleton shared a very public display of affection on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following their wedding at Westminster Abbey

Prince William followed in the footsteps of his great-grandfather and got married in Westminster Abbey

A veteran of the balcony appearance, she had seen this before, but seemed genuinely moved nonetheless.

There was some small talk about the weather, how the rain had held, how delightful it was that there was sunshine against the odds.

And then Prince William, half-turning to his bride, said: 'Go on, a little kiss, go on.'

A little kiss was exactly what he got. In fact it was scarcely more than a peck and brought to mind Prince Charles's rather stilted kiss with Princess Diana on the same spot 30 years earlier.

But high on an enormous blast of goodwill, William, normally averse to public displays of affection, wanted more  and so, of course, did the multitude before him.

'Let's give them another one. I love you,' said William, as a spectacular flypast of Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft swept into view. 'One more kiss, one more kiss. OK?'

Kate acquiesced and gave him a smacker that detonated a tidal wave of cheering, prompting William to echo the crowds, and say with them: 'Come on! Come on! More! More! More!'

It was all too much for three-year-old bridesmaid Grace van Cutsem  the noise of the crowd and the flypast, that is, not the kissing  and she covered her ears and looked cross.

The crowd of thousands of people waving British flags as they wait for Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine to appear at the balcony of Buckingham Palace

Tootle pip! The happy couple pictured leaving for Clarence House in William's royal blue vintage Aston Martin DB6 MkII festooned with balloons and a 'JU5T WED' number plate

It made for a charming image that will no doubt be enjoyed by her family in years to come. Behind her, Prince Charles lifted Camilla's granddaughter Eliza Lopes, also three and a fellow bridesmaid, high into the air to get a better view.

After fifteen minutes of standing, the Queen began to wander back inside and the others followed.

Kate lingered a moment more, then with a backwards look over her left shoulder, savoured the extraordinary scenes for a final time.

Understandably so, the wedding remains one of the couple's happiest memories, with them issuing a video montage in 2021 to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary.

Perhaps the couple took what William said in the carriage to heart and they still remember that happy day.
I have a driveway with a partial wall and we have a garage, but the cars won't fit. I'm thinking about putting bollards up so I can secure my two vehicles at night.

Firstly, do I need permission for them?

What type of bollards are there? Can you get automatic and manual ones? I'm a complete novice, so not sure where to start.

And lastly, could this additional security feature help lower my car insurance costs, and add value to my home?

Beefed up security: A This is Money reader is considering installing driveway bollards

Jane Denton, of This is Money, replies: Driveway security posts and bollards have become increasingly popular in recent years.

Many cars have become exorbitantly expensive and increasingly appealing to criminals.

Most car theft focused on high value vehicles is being driven by organised criminal gangs.

Despite a 6 per cent fall in motor thefts in 2024, the 61,343 cars reported stolen to the DVLA last year was the third-highest annual tally in a decade and more than double the volume seen in 2015.

This contributed to insurers paying out a record 11.7billion in motor claims last year, which in turn has kept premiums high as every motorist across the country is feeling the brunt of Britain's theft epidemic.

Statistics vary, but according to research published by One Sure Insurance last summer, across Britain the majority of cars are stolen from driveways.

The findings suggested that 43 per cent of vehicle thefts occur on driveways, against 19 per cent from the street outside people's homes.

Getting bollards installed is a good idea, particularly if thefts in your area are on the rise and your cars are high-value.

There are many different bollards on the market and you can choose from manual or automatic ones.

The cost of getting bollards installed will vary depending on the type of bollards you want and how much labour costs are where you live.

As a guide, the average labour costs for installing a single standard bollard will start at around 100, according to Checkatrade. If you are having multiple bollards installed, you may be able to negotiate a per bollard discount.

Knowledge: Richard Remde says certain bollards are insurer recommended

Richard Remde, managing director of Bollard Security in Silsden, says: Driveway bollards can be the perfect solution for keeping your vehicles safe at night or while you're away.

Firstly, planning permission is not needed within your property boundary if you own the land.

Regarding the types of bollards available, there are different options and price ranges to choose from.

Leaving aside the smaller parking posts which are mainly used for nuisance parking and not vehicle security, there are both manual and automatic options.

Manual bollards are typically telescopic or removable, requiring physical effort to raise and lower them.

Telescopic bollards retract fully into the ground, while removable ones can be completely detached and rested elsewhere.

But the best telescopic bollards come with lift-assist technology for ease of use, making them light enough you can raise them with a single finger and very little effort.

Automatic bollards are either battery powered or wired into the mains, and normally controlled with a remote or keypad to operate them from distance, offering convenience but at a higher cost.

Certain bollards are insurer recommended products, which can help reduce car insurance premiums.

As for adding value to your property, this is unclear, but they are a huge selling point to potential buyers, particularly in areas with high crime rates.

The reality is that would-be car thieves targeting an area would see the bollards in place and simply move along looking for their next target, making them an ideal proactive deterrent on top of the security they guarantee.

If cost becomes an issue, for example needing multiple bollards for large open driveways, a common solution is to measure the length of the car from your garage or wall, and simply install one single bollard close enough behind it so that the car cannot be manoeuvred out.

Unfortunately, many people often leave it too late to install bollards after already becoming victims of car theft.

So, our advice is if you are thinking about it, or you live in one of the many crime hot-spot areas, it is best not to delay and invest today for security and peace of mind.

Advocate: Jeremy Fine is a big fan of driveway security bollards

Jeremy Fine, a partner at Godfrey and Barr Estate Agents, says: In my opinion security bollards and removal posts are one of the greatest new car security devices out there in years.

Thieves are often looking for quick and easy targets so a physical obstacle significantly increases the time and effort required for theft and in most cases they just wont bother.

The beauty of these is that if is on your own private driveway and freehold you do not permission and they are very easy to install.

If you live in a flat or leasehold then it may be different, but generally it is just driving a hole to install .

There are lots of options from budget locked in removal posts that you simply put in lock and then remove when you are ready to drive away and the newer top of the range sleek stainless steel Bluetooth or remote controlled bollards that automatically sense when you drive towards them and go into the floor, which are amazing.

In most cases, to be effective you really need two to make sure there is no way of squeezing a car through !

I am not aware that gates or bollards reduce insurance premiums, but of course they should. However, there is no doubt that for people with certain cars, special cars supercars or even their 1990 pride and joy Ford Escort they can and will most certainly sleep better at night knowing nobody can get that car out the drive unless they have a bulldozer!

In the know: Yair Daren is a security expert

Yair Daren, managing director of Security Risks Specialists Ltd., says: In most cases, if you are installing a bollard on your own private driveway, you do not need planning permission.

However, if your driveway has shared access, is near a public footpath, or if you live in a conservation area, you may need to check with your local council.

If you are renting, you should also get permission from your landlord.

There are manual and automatic bollards available, offering various levels of security and convenience.

For a residential driveway, a telescopic or fold-down bollard is a practical choice, balancing security and affordability.

Installing a security bollard can reduce your car insurance premium, as it acts as an anti-theft deterrent.

Insurers consider security measures such as bollards, CCTV, immobilizers and alarms when calculating risk.

You should check with your insurance provider to see if a bollard qualifies for a discount.

A bollard might not significantly increase your home's value, but it can make your property more attractive to buyers, particularly in areas with high vehicle crime.

A secure driveway is an appealing feature for potential homeowners who prioritize vehicle safety.

A bollard can be a great investment for securing your vehicles. Manual options are cheaper but require physical effort, while automatic ones offer more convenience at a higher cost. It's worth checking with your local council and insurance provider for any permissions or discounts.
Scientists are keeping a close eye on a giant volcano in Alaska that appears to be 'moving closer to an eruption.'

On March 7, Mount Spurr, an 11,000-foot-tall stratovolcano that sits 81 miles west of Anchorage, began releasing elevated levels of gas from its summit and a side vent that last erupted in 1992.

These emissions are the latest development in a period of unrest this volcano has been experiencing since April 2024, when it started shuddering with small earthquakes  the first clue that new magma was rising toward the volcano's vents.

That seismic activity has continued through to today, and with the recent increase in volcanic gas emissions, scientists say Mount Spurr could blow in a matter of 'weeks or months.'

The eruption would most likely occur at the Crater Peak side vent, and 'it would be explosive,' Matt Haney, scientist-in-charge at the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) at US Geological Survey (USGS) told DailyMail.com.

This event would spew multiple plumes of ash rising as high as 50,000 feet into the air, Haney said.

Each ash-producing explosive episode would last three to four hours, and the resulting cloud could blanket the city of Anchorage and other nearby communities in a thick layer of dust.

The eruption would also produce destructive mudslides and avalanches volcanic debris racing down the volcano's side at over 200 miles per hour, 'but fortunately, there are not any communities in that radius that would be affected,' Haney said.

Scientists warn Mount Spurr in Alaska could erupt within the next few weeks or months. It last erupted in 1992 (pictured)

The USGS has the volcano under 'advisory,' meaning it 'is exhibiting signs of elevated unrest.'

'We have been tracking this for about a year,' Haney said.

Between April and February, Mount Spurr exhibited three key signs of a forthcoming eruption: increased seismic activity, swelling of the volcano's surface and snow and ice melt near the summit.

Last month, the AVO said the volcano's activity was equally as likely to die down as it was to lead to an eruption.

But on March 7, scientists flew over Mount Spurr to measure the gases rising from its two vents. For the first time since the heightened activity began, they detected gas emissions that were 'above background,' Haney said.

They flew over again on March 11 to check their measurements, and confirmed that the volcano was producing higher-than-average levels of gas.

'With the new measurement of gas emissions above backgrounds, that led us to conclude that an eruption like the two recent ones was the most likely scenario,' Haney said.

Mount Spurr last erupted in 1992 and 1953, and both events were produced by the Crater Peak side vent.

In recent days, Mount Spurr has been releasing elevated levels of gas and has continued to experience an uptick in seismic activity

Mount Spurr is one of 53 volcanoes in Alaska. It sits 81 miles from Anchorage, which is home to 300,000 people

Haney and his colleagues estimate that the volcano's summit crater hasn't erupted in the last 5,000 years. So when Mount Spurr blows again, it will most likely be from the side vent, he said.

In June 1992, the Crater Peak flank vent awoke from nearly 40 years of dormancy and erupted after 10 months of elevated seismic activity, according to the USGS.

This event covered the city of Anchorage, home to nearly 300,000 people, in an eighth of an inch of ash.

The skies darkened in the middle of the day due to the enormous cloud of dust and gas, and the city's airport was forced to shut down for 20 hours.

Crater Peak then erupted two more times, once in August and again in September.

The Municipality of Anchorage reported nearly $2 million in damages, office closures and cleanup costs from the August eruption, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

No one was killed by these events directly. But two heart attacks, one fatal, from shoveling ashfall were reported in Anchorage.

Breathing in ash also poses a health hazards. The tiny particles can work their way deep into the lungs, worsening symptoms for people with respiratory conditions such as asthma or bronchitis.

While all signs point to an eruption in the near future, it's impossible to say exactly when it will occur.

But if Mount Spurr's activity continues to ramp up, the next sign of an eruption will be a volcanic tremor, Haney said.

This would be different from the brief, shallow earthquakes this volcano has already been experiencing.

A volcanic tremor is a longer stretch of ongoing shaking that can persist for minutes to days.

It occurs when magma beneath the volcano begins rising toward the surface as the eruption grows imminent.

Back in 1992, Mount Spurr was rocked by a volcanic tremor about three weeks before the June eruption, so this type of seismic activity could signal that the volcano will blow in just a few weeks.

However, other volcanoes have experienced longer periods between a volcanic tremor and an eruption, such as the nearby Mount Readout.

This volcano experienced a volcanic tremors for two months before it finally blew in 2009.

While forecasting an eruption is filled with uncertainty, Haney and his colleagues will continue to closely monitor Mount Spurr to glean a rough idea of when it is most likely to erupt.
Experts have revealed how sending emoji could get you arrested, following the release of the thrilling Netflix drama Adolescence.

In the show starring Stephen Graham, one of the key points is how the sinister double meanings of common emoji can be critical evidence in a police investigation.

Legal experts now say that the growing field of 'emoji forensics' really has put criminals behind bars and helped innocent people avoid convictions.

From the animal emoji putting gang members in jail to the smiley face which revealed a sinister plot to fabricate evidence, sending one of these colourful icons could land you in a lot of trouble.

Legal experts say that emoji have been 'flooding the legal system', with more than 1,000 cases referencing them since 2010 in the US alone.

Sending an emoji can be evidence of an intent to commit a crime, an admission of guilt, or even a crime in itself in some cases.

But, with 3,790 unique emoji now in existence, even legal experts are struggling to keep up with the almost infinite variety of ways they can be used.

Professor Russel Kaschula, an expert on forensic linguistics at the University of the Western Cape, says: 'Courtrooms need to keep up with the contemporary modes of communication as all crime is planned and committed through language.'

Experts have revealed how sending emoji could get you arrested, following the release of the thrilling Netflix drama Adolescence (pictured). In the show, one of the key points is how the sinister double meanings of common emoji can be critical evidence in a police investigation

How could sending an emoji be a crime?

There are no emoji that are illegal to send, but that doesn't mean you can't commit a crime by sending an emoji.

Just like any other form of communication, people can use emoji to threaten, harass, insult, pressure, or deceive somebody else.

The only difference between an emoji and a written message is that it takes a little extra work for courts to prove what the message was meant to say.

For example, sending the knife emoji to a total stranger probably wouldn't count as threatening someone.

However, sending repeated knife or gun emoji to someone you knew or had previously argued with could definitely be seen as threatening behaviour.

Professor Kaschula calls these patterns of behaviour an 'emoji fingerprint'

Dr Zakeera Docrat, a forensic linguist from the University of the Western Cape and Professor Kaschula's collaborator, says that knife and gun emoji are the most common emoji that arise in trials.

Legal experts say that sending a knife or gun emoji could be considered threatening behaviour in the right context

Last year, a student was expelled from the elite private Mulholland Drive elementary school after sending a gun emoji to a fellow student. The school argued that this counted as threatening behaviour

The emoji that could get you arrested Gun or knife emoji Sending violent emoji can be interpreted as threatening behaviour in certain context Peach, cherry, aubergine, and water drops emoji Legal experts say these emoji have been used in sexual harassment cases. Crown emoji This emoji was a key piece of evidence in a sex-trafficking case after lawyers argued it was code for 'pimp' Advertisement

However, it's not just obviously violent emoji that can be used in a criminal manner.

'At the moment we are seeing a scourge of sexual violence and gender-based violence,' says Dr Docrat.

'Many perpetrators are opting to use non-verbal communication - emoji - with the view that if it is not in written text or speech there is no crime committed.

'In these types of cases, there is an increase in the use of the aubergine, peach, strawberry, peeled banana, kiss emoji, red heart and the liquid drops.'

Sometimes the meaning of an emoji can be even more obscure, but this doesn't stop forensic linguists from proving that a crime has taken place.

Professor Eric Goldman, a legal professional and expert on internet law who has been tracking emoji use in the courts, says this is particularly common in cases involving gang members.

Professor Goldman told MailOnline: 'It's usually a gang member who's on trial and they're concerned that someone's going to testify against them.

'So, in that context, they may send the potential testifier, or post publicly, the rat emoji.'

Legal experts say that there has been a 'scourge' of cases in which the peach, aubergine, water droplets, and cherry emoji are being used in cases of sexually harass women

Although the gang member hasn't actually 'said' anything, what they meant was that any 'rats', a term for someone who turns on their friends, would face violence or even death.

'So if the defendant in a criminal trial sends a rat emoji to a person who is potentially testifying against them that could be a crime of witness intimidation,' says Professor Goldman.

How emoji can get you arrested

In the show Adolescence, a key moment comes when the detectives learn that certain emoji have a hidden slang meaning among teenagers.

Without spoiling the show for anyone who hasn't watched it, this allows the detectives to work out a motive and provide evidence of criminal intent.

Just like in the show, there have been numerous court cases where the hidden meaning of emoji are used as evidence that someone has been involved in a crime.

As with the rat emoji, these cases often emerge within the secret codes used by gang members.

Professor Marcel Danesi, a linguistic anthropologist from the University of Toronto, says that emoji can be signs of gang allegiance or refer to specific crimes.

In Adolescence, a critical moment comes when DI Bascome, played by Ashley Walters (pictured), learns the hidden meaning of certain emoji. This allows them to determine a motive for the crime and build a legal case

In Adolescence, DI Bascome learns that manosphere-related emoji include the kidney bean emoji (left) and the '100 points' emoji (right)

The high heel and crown emoji were critical pieces of evidence in a sex-trafficking case in 2019. The prosecution argued that these emoji were code for sex working

What the emoji in Netflix's Adolescence mean Red pill - incel

- incel Dynamite - incel

- incel 100 - incel

- incel Kidney beans - incel

- incel Red heart - love

- love Purple heart - horny

- horny Yellow heart - I'm interested

- I'm interested Pink heart - I'm interested, but not in sex

- I'm interested, but not in sex Orange heart - you're going to be fine Advertisement

For instance, two 'thumbs up' emoji can actually mean that the member is a member of the Harlem Crips gang while the heart emoji is used to signify membership of the rival Bloods gang.

In one 2019 case, these kinds of hidden meanings were critical in securing a conviction in a sex-trafficking case.

In the trial, the court read a series of text exchanges between a woman and a man accused of acting as a pimp.

The suspected pimp sent a text asking the woman if she was 'down for yo crown' followed by a crown emoji and another message saying 'teamwork make the dream work' with high heels and bags of money emoji.

The prosecution successfully argued that the crown emoji was a reference to the pimp while the high heels and money emoji meant 'wear your high heels to come make some money'.

How emoji can be evidence

In these cases, emoji were interpreted just like any other form of slang and were used as evidence within the wider context of the trial.

However, there are a few cases in which emoji can be a form of forensic evidence all of their own.

In 2021, a woman sued her employer on the grounds that an employee was sexually harassing her. However, the defence worked out that the evidence (pictured) was a fabrication based on a single emoji

In 2021, a woman named Andrea Rossbach attempted to sue her employer, Montefiore Medical Center, on the grounds that two members of staff had sexually harassed her.

During the trial, a critical piece of evidence was a screenshot of a text message supposedly sent to Ms Rossbach by the defendants which included a heart-eyes emoji.

Ms Rossbach claimed that she had received the text messages on her phone, an iPhone 5 which was running the operating system iOS 10.

What Ms Rossbach may have been unaware of was that emoji look different on every phone and operating system.

However, the heart-eye emoji in the texts submitted as evidence could only be rendered on an Apple device using iOS 13 or later.

In other words, there was no way that she could have received those texts on her device and the evidence must have been fabricated.

Not only was the case thrown out but Ms Rossbach was later forced to pay the defendant $150,000 in legal fees and other expenses.

Professor Goldman calls this phenomenon 'cross-platform depiction diversity' or 'fragmentation' and says it can be an extremely powerful tool for the legal system.

Different devices and operating systems display emoji differently. The heart-eyes emoji in the screenshots could not have been sent to the device the plaintiff claimed to use, showing that she had faked the messages. Legal experts call this type of evidence 'emoji forensics'

Drug emoji: Do you know what they mean? Cannabis: Strawberry, dog, cherries, cake, ice cream or leaves Cocaine: Nose, blowfish, petrol pump, snowman or snowflake NOS (canister gas): Balloon Ketamine: Horse Types of drugs: Crystal, pill, syringe and cloud Dealing drugs: Number Eight pool ball, eyes and plug Advertisement

'I call it emoji forensics. It's kind of like carbon dating of trees,' says Professor Goldman.

'You can go back in time and assess whether or not the emoji being depicted in a screenshot are the right emoji based on the device that they were created on and what emoji looked like at that time.'

Why do we need emoji forensics?

Although emoji can be a powerful piece of evidence for prosecutors, they also come with their own set of problems.

This mainly stems from the fact that there is no established set of rules for how emoji are used or should be interpreted.

Those conflicting interpretations can become the centre of huge legal controversies.

For example, in 2022 notorious meme-stock investor Ryan Cohen took a 9 per cent stake in the company Bed Bath & Beyond.

Later that year, Cohen made a tweet responding to a negative article about Bed Bath & Beyond using the 'moon face' emoji.

In 2022 notorious meme-stock investor Ryan Cohen (pictured) was sued for securities fraud after posting a single emoji on Twitter

After buying a stake in Bed Bath & Beyond, Cohen responded to a post about the company with this message. An investor alleged that the moon face was a reference to the meme-stock phrase 'to the moon' and claimed that Cohen was attempting to drive up the share price for a 'pump and dump' scheme

However, an investor sued Cohen for securities fraud alleging that he was attempting to run a 'pump and dump scheme' to drive up the price of the company's stock.

The investor claimed that the moon face was a clear reference to the meme-stock phrase 'to the moon', which means that the price of a stock will increase.

Although Cohen ultimately won the case, District of Columbia District Judge Trevor N. McFadden refused to throw out the case, claiming that the accusation was plausible.

Similarly, emoji can sometimes turn critical pieces of evidence on their heads.

A particularly high-stakes example comes from the ongoing legal battle between Justin Baldoni and his former co-star Blake Lively.

In January this year, Justin Baldoni brought a case against The New York Times, claiming that the paper had failed to include an emoji in a quote.

The Times quoted a message Baldoni sent to one of his publicists about a story critical of Blake Lively which said: 'Wow. You really outdid yourself with this piece'.

The insinuation was that Baldoni was happy the piece smeared Lively and was congratulating his publicist for her involvement."

In January, Justin Baldoni (pictured) sued The New York Times on the grounds that the paper had omitted an emoji from a quote. Baldoni claimed that this emoji showed his message was sarcastic rather than malicious

The Times quoted a message Baldoni (right) sent to one of his publicists about a story critical of Blake Lively (left) which said: 'Wow. You really outdid yourself with this piece'. Baldoni claims that the text was actually followed by an upside-down smiley face, showing he was joking

Justin Baldoni claims that the upside-down smiley face meant he was not being serious. But there is currently no standardised way of interpreting emoji in legal cases. This is why some forensic linguists are calling for the development of 'emoji forensics' as a field of study

However, Baldoni's lawsuit claims that his text was actually followed by an upside-down smiley face, indicating that he was being sarcastic.

There are numerous examples of legal cases in which plaintiffs have argued that emoji need to be included for this exact reason.

But, without knowing what someone like Baldoni was thinking at the time, there is no definitive way to know what that emoji was actually meant to mean.

For instance, a smiley face in a threatening message might show the sender was joking, or it could be seen as a menacing grin showing criminal intent.

Figuring out which version of the story is correct could be the difference between someone going to jail and walking free.

This is why forensic linguistics experts are now starting to argue that emoji forensics needs to become its own discipline.

Professor Danesi told MailOnline: 'This is a field that might be considered to be a branch of forensic linguistics, or the study of how messages that include emoji can be interpreted during a forensic investigation or a court case.'
British consumers will be able to opt out of targeted online advertising after a new mother won a massive legal battle against Facebook owners Meta.

Tanya O'Carroll, 37, sued the technology giant after it kept targeting her with baby content when she became a mother in 2017.

Despite being 'bombarded' with the adverts, Ms O'Carroll said when she tried to change her social media settings, the link did not work.

But after a three-year legal battle, Meta has agreed stop targeting Ms O'Carroll with adverts based on her personal data.

The landmark settlement, which was agreed on Friday, could change the way that social media works for everyone.

However, Meta has since said it is now considering charging British users for an advert-free version of its platforms.

The company said it 'fundamentally disagrees' with the claims made by Ms O'Carroll as no company should be 'mandated to give away its services for free'.

'Facebook and Instagram cost a significant amount of money to build and maintain, and these services are free for British consumers because of personalised advertising,' Meta said.

Tanya O'Carroll, 37, (pictured) sued the technology giant after it kept targeting her with baby content when she became a mother in 2017

Pictured: Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer of Meta Platforms

'Like many internet services, we are exploring the option of offering people based in the UK a subscription and will share further information in due course.'

Ms O'Carroll, a human rights campaigner, launched her lawsuit against the 1.2tn company in 2022.

She alleged that Meta had breached UK data laws by failing to respect her right to demand Facebook stop collecting her personal data.

Ms O'Carroll discovered that Facebook had tagged her with more than 700 characteristics based on her activity on the social media platform.

It inferred the places she wanted to go on holiday, things she wanted to buy and the clothes she liked, among other things.

After settling the lawsuit yesterday, Ms O'Carroll claimed a 'victory'.

She said: 'This settlement represents not just a victory for me, but for everyone who values their fundamental right to privacy.

'None of us signed up to be trapped into decades of surveillance advertising, held hostage by the threat of losing the ability to connect with our loved ones online.'

Ms O'Carroll, a human rights campaigner, launched her lawsuit against the 1.2tn company in 2022 (stock photo)

Her privacy case was supported the UK's data watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

A spokesperson for the ICO said: 'People have the right to object to their personal information being used for direct marketing and we have been clear that online targeted advertising should be considered as direct marketing.

'Organisations must respect people's choices about how their data is used. This means giving users a clear way to opt out of their data being used in this way.

'If people believe that an organisation is not complying with their request to stop processing their data, they can file a complaint to us. We will continue to engage with Meta on this issue.'

A Meta no-adds service costing 7.99 a month is already on offer in the EU, after a 2023 ruling by European Court of Justice.
NASA has dropped plans to put the first woman and person of color on the moon seemingly in response to Donald Trump's battle against diversity, equity and inclusion.

The space agency had deleted the DEI promise from their 2027 Artemis mission statement to keep in line with the President's executive order.

Allard Beutel, a spokesperson for NASA, told The Guardian: 'In keeping with the President's executive order, we're updating our language regarding plans to send crew to the lunar surface as part of NASA's Artemis campaign.

'We look forward to learning more from [and] about the Trump administration's plans for our agency and expanding exploration at the moon and Mars for the benefits of all.'

Previously on the space agency's website, the agency promised, 'NASA will land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.'

NASA's long-standing promise was central to its Artemis program, which hopes to bring humanity back to the moon's surface in 2027 for the first time since the final Apollo mission in 1972.

NASA did not immediately respond to the DailyMail.com's request for comment.

The agency's removal of DEI language comes as other federal agencies equally followed the President's orders to remove any notions of DEI programs and initiatives.

NASA made a stunning DEI move by seemingly dropping plans to put the first woman and person of color on the moon in the latest response to Donald Trump 's battle against diversity, equity and inclusion

Previously on the space agency's website, they promised, 'NASA will land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before'

Allard Beutel, a spokesperson for NASA, told the Guardian: 'In keeping with the President's executive order, we're updating our language regarding plans to send crew to the lunar surface as part of NASA's Artemis campaign'

Its removal of such progressive goals from the Artemis campaign comes not long after the agency ended its diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs as per the President's orders.

Staff received an email in late January, just days after Trump's inauguration on January 20, from acting administrator Janet Petro.

Petro said the space agency would be 'taking steps to close all agency DEIA offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump's executive orders.'

Trump's order is titled 'Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions.'

NASA's email stated that the programs 'divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.'

The space agency has spent at least $22.4 million annually on such programs.

Petro, the first woman to lead NASA as its acting administrator, urged staff to report colleagues who have attempted to disguise DEI programs with coded language.

'There will be no adverse consequences for timely reporting this information,' the email reads. 'However, failure to report this information within 10 days may result in adverse consequences.'

NASA's long-standing promise was central to its Artemis program, which hopes to bring humanity back to the moon's surface in 2027 for the first time since the final Apollo mission in 1972

Janet Petro (pictured), the first woman to lead NASA as acting administrator, said the space agency would be 'taking steps to close all agency DEIA offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump's executive orders'

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the US federal government's human resources agency, has also created an email account to collect reports of suspected DEI initiatives.

Kyle Sorensen, a software engineer who has worked for NASA, told the DailyMail.com: 'I am really happy that they banned these programs.

'I am even happier that the Trump admin was smart enough to know that the organization would just try to rename themselves.'

Petro, however, appeared not to feel the same about DEI in 2021. Speaking to Engineering News-Record, she detailed how she has been the minority at the Kennedy Space Center.

'I often found myself either the only female, or only one of a couple. There werent many minorities either,' she said.

'A big part of this is ensuring an environment where everyone feels included, has a voice and feels safe to express their opinions.

'I have mentored numerous minorities along their professional journeys, and as director, I am committed to leading Kennedy Space Center to have a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.'

While the acting administrator's email appeared to criticize the DEI initiatives, the same message was sent to all federal agencies to pass to their employees.

NASA's email stated that the programs 'divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.' The space agency has spent at least $22.4 million annually on such programs

The Trump administration sent the letter to all heads and acting heads of government agencies just one day after the inauguration on Tuesday January 21, informing them all federal employees in DEI roles must be placed on paid leave by 5pm ET on the Wednesday January 22.

The letter also demanded all public DEI-focused web pages be taken offline, which was around the same time NASA sent the email to staff and removed its DEI website.

The space agency's page featured a '404' error with the message: 'The cosmic object you were looking for has disappeared beyond the event horizon.'

An employee shared on X that they 'had DEI training and it was part of the employee reviews.'

While Nancy Vreils, quality records manager at NASA, shared: 'DEI has ruined NASA. Innovation is non-existent.'

NASA has engaged in DEI efforts for over a decade, first creating the Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Implementation Plan in 2012.
Find out what Hastings used to look like in its heyday in the 1900s - from donkey rides to beach athletics

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Although it's now one of the UK's most iconic seaside towns, Hastings was once just a small fishing village.

It became globally famous due to its association with the 1066 Battle of Hastings, even though the famous showdown between William the Conqueror and Harold Godwinson was actually fought about seven miles down the road in Senlac Hill.

Despite that geographical inaccuracy, the town drew tourists in the early 1900s who travelled to Hastings in droves to enjoy holidays by the sea and admire its Norman Castle.

Like many British seaside towns, Hastings sadly suffered a fall in popularity in the 1980s and 90s when cheap package holidays abroad began to attract Brits overseas.

Nevertheless Hastings remains a popular daytrip destination for Londoners.

It's also home to one of Europe's last 'beach-launched fishing fleets' - a top tourist draw.

MailOnline Travel is now taking a walk down memory lane with this collection of fascinating, historic photos, depicting the seaside town's glory days.

Scroll down for a stroll back into Hastings' heyday - from donkey rides to a Marilyn Monroe lookalike competition...

This picture shows Hastings seafront in around 1900. In the previous century, Hastings had undergone a transformation from a 'modest fishing village' to a 'fashionable seaside resort', explains Rocklands Holiday Park. The cranes seen in this image are being used to construct a seawall. Hastings Pier which was designed by Eugenius Birch, a prominent seaside architect, can be seen in the background

Hastings seafront and beach is photographed here in around 1900. The beach is packed with rowing boats and wheeled bathing huts, which were used by swimmers to protect their modesty while in the sea

This photograph shows locals sitting on a German U-Boat U-118 after it washed up on Hastings beach in 1919. The ship ran aground as it was being 'towed through the English Channel', reveals Historic England. The town clerk made the ship into a tourist attraction and visitors were charged to raise money for returning local troops

Above, a drill instructor is photographed leading children in a workout on Hastings beach in the late 1920s

Workers from the Ticklers Jam factory enjoy the beach at Hastings while on a day out in 1923. Seasidehistory.co.uk explains that 'the 20s and 30s was a time of huge expansion in the numbers of people taking holidays in the UK'

Some workers from the Ticklers Jam factory in Grimsby, are photographed on a day out on Hastings beach in 1923. Ticklers Jam had one of the largest factories in Grimsby during the 1920s, and supplied the frontlines with jam during WW1

Above, another worker from the Ticklers Jam factory is pictured enjoying a donkey ride on a day out in Hastings in 1923. Donkey rides became popular at the British seaside during the 1800s but conditions could be tough for the animals

A group of children are photographed enjoying the sea at Hastings Beach while on holiday in 1930. The 1930s are described as a 'heyday' period for Hastings by hastingshistory.net which explains that there was 'dancing every night' at the pier and speedboat rides

Hastings has sadly suffered from flooding many times over the years, including a recent incident in 2023. In this image, boys are photographed playing in the waves after a flooding in 1930

These Hastings' holidaymakers were snapped as they headed down to the sea with Catamaran floats in 1935. The funky floats were described as the time period's 'latest craze'

Three women are photographed sitting on rocks in 1938 while they admire the ruins of Hastings Castle and the town's pier in the distance. The Castle was Britain's first Norman castle and was built by William the Conqueror in 1067. The ruins can still be visited today

Holidaymakers are photographed on a crowded beach in Hastings on a Bank Holiday in 1951. Historic UK explains that 'in the 1950s and 1960s it was unusual for families to holiday abroad' and 'most stayed in the UK' for vacations

This picture shows Hastings' promenade and seafront packed with holidaymakers in 1951. The castle ruins can be seen on top of the hill at the back of the image

Hastings is one of the UK's oldest fishing towns with cod, plaice, sole and skate the most commonly caught fish. In the above picture, taken in 1952, tourists are seen walking past fishermen's huts, where the fishermen used to store their nets

During the post-war period, seaside holidays were at their peak in the UK. Above, holidaymakers enjoy afternoon tea at a cafe on Hastings' seafront in 1952

In this photo, a crowd is seen gathering to see Winston Churchill who travelled to Hastings in 1955. On his visit, Churchill joined the Winkle Club, a group founded by local fishermen. All of the club members were required to carry a winkle and Churchill's was made of solid gold

This photo shows female holidaymakers competing in a Marilyn Monroe lookalike contest in 1958. The women were required to fit inside a cutout of the famous actress' body

Fishing boats are pictured in Hastings in 1960. Hastings still has a land-based fishing fleet which currently consists of about 20 boats. It's one of the 'oldest remaining beach-launched fishing fleets in Europe'

In this photo, taken in 1960, Mods are seen running across Hastings Beach. Mods and Rockers, two conflicting social groups, had regular clashes in the 1950s and 60s at seaside resorts across the south coast
It might have been named as one of Britain's worst places to live  but tourists seemingly love Crawley.

That is according to Government data showing the West Sussex town is one of the most popular places visited by foreign travellers.

It ranked 15th on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) list of destinations.

That put it above Nottingham (16th), Robin Hood's homeland, and Aberdeen (17th), repeatedly a winner of the 'Beautiful Scotland' award.

Crawley, which derives from the Anglo Saxon word 'crawe leah', meaning 'a crow-infested clearing', also beat out Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Reading and world-famous pilgrimage destination Canterbury.

The results could be explained by Crawley being home to Gatwick Airport, a major international terminal used by millions of passengers.

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Crawley ranked 20th in a list of the worst places to live by a national newspaper.

It sparked a staunch defence by The Argus, a local publisher in the Brighton region, who said it was a 'great place to live'.

The ONS report, scored on the number of overnight visits made, excluded London.

It said the capital attracted 20.3million overnight visits in 2023.

Edinburgh, which topped its list, had 2.3m visits, according to the huge survey, based on answers from hundreds of thousands of interviewees.

Manchester (1.7m) came in second and Birmingham (934,000) third.

Liverpool (900,000) and Glasgow (685,000) rounded out the top five.

Foreign residents made 38m visits to the UK in 2023, up from 31.2m in 2022.

Spending also increased, leaping from 26.5bn in 2022 to 31.1bn.

And, while visitor numbers remain lower than pre-pandemic levels, tourists visiting Britain spent more money than in 2019.

But plans for a 'hotel tax' under Chancellor Rachel Reeves could see holidaymakers face an additional 12-a-night in future.

Treasury officials are understood to have carried out 'modelling exercises' to work out the impact of introducing a similar levy as one applied in France.

Across the Channel, nightly accommodation charges range from less than a pound per person per night at a campsite to up more than 12 in a five-star hotel.

Several councils, including Manchester, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, have already introduced a so-called visitor charge which hotels can itemise on guest bills.

A report in April last year estimated the charge had raised 2.8m for Manchester alone in its first year.

The Chancellor's proposal for a widespread approach across the nation has been met with staunch opposition from international brands such as Burberry and Rolex-seller Watches of Switzerland to Heathrow and hotelier Sir Rocco Forte.

London lobby group BusinessLDN also called on Labour to 'prioritise growth-enhancing' policies.

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But calculations by economic campaign group TaxPayers' Alliance found adopting a 1.25 charge per night would raise around 560m per year.

York, which ranked just above Crawley on the list with nine million visitors over 12 months, has already welcomed the idea of a tourist tax for the city to help upkeep sites such as the Roman walls and Shambles shopping area.

Of the ten countries whose residents visited the UK the most frequently in 2023, seven were EU countries.

The three non-EU countries were the US, Australia and Canada.

As in 2022, the US topped the table for foreign visitors in 2023, with 5.1m.

The US was followed by France (3.2m), Germany (3m) and Ireland (2.9m).
Explainer: Why does Trump want to dismantle U.S. Education Department?

Xinhua) 12:54, March 22, 2025

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that he said would "begin eliminating the federal Department of Education once and for all."

This move, as local media described it, fulfilled decades of conservative ambition to get rid of the agency. Why do some want the department shut down? What would it mean for students? And can it actually be dismantled? Here's what we know.

WHY DO SOME WANT IT GONE?

Noting that the Education Department is "doing us no good," Trump said that he is going to "shut it down as quickly as possible."

While local education departments primarily control how their schools are run, the federal department sets academic standards, guides schools through regulatory compliance, and interprets civil rights laws. Trump said that the order's goal was to "return our students to the states."

Trump has long criticized the Education Department, arguing that despite significant federal investment in education, the quality of education has not met expectations, citing deficiencies in American students' skills in reading, math and other areas.

He said schools could compete with European countries and China under a new system without the Education Department.

Nicole Neily, president and founder of Parents Defending Education, said the department has done little more than lining the pockets of bureaucrats and activists.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan said Thursday on social media that "Democrats want federal bureaucrats to control your child's school. Republicans want to give parents the choice to do what's best for their children."

Additionally, Trump has accused the department of being filled with individuals holding left-wing ideologies, even describing it as a hotbed of "radicals, zealots and Marxists."

Under the former U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, the department was fiercely criticized as being overly deferential to teachers' unions and overreaching on certain issues, such as student loan forgiveness and its interpretations of civil rights laws on behalf of transgender students, according to The New York Times.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR STUDENTS?

Among the Education Department's most significant functions is administering federal student aid programs, providing billions in grants, work-study funds and loans to more than 13 million students. The agency also oversees programs addressing special education, English-language acquisition and education for disadvantaged students.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said ahead of Thursday's signing that the order would move to "greatly minimize the agency," but certain "critical functions" like student loans and administering grants for at-risk students would remain under the agency's umbrella.

Trump said those functions would be preserved but "redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very good care of them."

However, polling shows that Trump's move is broadly unpopular. It was called an "unlawful decision" and a "betrayal to students, parents and educators" in a joint statement from Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Rep. Grace Meng and Education Task Force Chair Rep. Mark Takano.

"The Trump administration is denying the next generation the resources they need to succeed in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires," the statement said.

Committee on Education and Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott called the executive order "reckless" and argued in a statement that it would put "low-income students, students of color, students with disabilities and rural students at risk."

A Quinnipiac University survey conducted on March 6-10 found that 60 percent of registered voters opposed the plan. Just 1 percent of Democrats are in favor of the move, while 98 percent oppose it.

CAN IT REALLY BE SHUT DOWN?

No U.S. president has ever successfully closed a cabinet-level agency enshrined in law before. Scrapping the Educational Department, which was created in 1979, would require congressional approval.

Abolishing it would face major obstacles from Democrats in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to overcome filibusters and advance measures to final votes. Republicans currently hold 53 seats.

But Trump has already taken significant steps that have limited the agency's operations and authority. Nearly half of the Education Department's employees have been put on notice they could be laid off, local media reported. Trump said Thursday that the "reduction in force" was successful.

Although Trump officials acknowledge they don't have the necessary votes to dissolve the department, it's suggested that Trump's order could still starve it of funds and staff.

According to administration officials, Trump's executive order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure," which could include reorganizing certain functions, appointing a leadership aligned with the downsizing goal, and potentially returning specific authorities to states where federal law permits, The Guardian said.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
Discover where to find a 'peaceful retreat' with 'crystal-clear pools'

Are you dreaming booking a Caribbean escape but worried about ending up in a tourist trap?

Have no fear, as Tanneka Fleary, travel expert at Golden Grenadine Travel, is here to tell you exactly which overcrowded destinations to skip and where you should go instead.

She says: 'Tourist traps often come with crowds, inflated prices, and little to no connection with the local culture or environment.

'For both tourists and the countries they visit, these spots can contribute to the exploitation of natural resources and local communities, often leaving a negative impact.

'The goal is to enjoy a destination sustainably, while experiencing its true charm, not just what the marketing teams want you to see.'

Find out which 'chaotic' area you'll want to swerve, which beach is one of the region's most 'overcrowded' spots and where to find a 'peaceful retreat with 'crystal-clear pools'...

Where to avoid...and where to go instead

Swap Dunn's River Falls for Reach Falls in Jamaica

Dunn's River Falls, Jamaica, (pictured above) is often crowded, which 'makes it difficult to fully enjoy the beauty of the falls', says Tanneka Fleary, from Golden Grenadine Travel

Reach Falls, in Jamaica (pictured above) is a 'more serene alternative' to Dunn's River Falls, says Tanneka

A set of famous waterfalls, located near Ocho Rios in Jamaica, Dunn's River Falls is incredibly beautiful but 'often overcrowded with tourists', says Tanneka.

The crowds 'make it difficult to fully enjoy the natural beauty of the falls', explains the travel expert.

She says: 'It's not the only waterfall worth seeing. Instead, make your way to Reach Falls, a more serene alternative located in the east of the island.

'Tucked away in the lush rainforest, Reach Falls offers a peaceful retreat with its crystal-clear pools, perfect for swimming or simply enjoying the quiet beauty of the surroundings.'

Switch Nassau for Exuma in The Bahamas

Nassau is a major travel hub in The Bahamas, and welcomed 5.6 million cruise passengers in 2024 alone.

But Tanneka explains that the crowds make the 'bustling cruise port feel overwhelming, with tourists pouring in and out constantly'.

She says: 'The area is busy and lacks the authentic charm that many visitors are seeking.'

Tanneka explains that the crowds at Nassau, Bahamas (pictured above), make the 'bustling cruise port feel overwhelming, with tourists pouring in and out constantly'

The expert recommends Exuma (pictured above), made up of over 365 islands in The Bahamas, as it offers 'a true slice of paradise'

Where should you go instead?

Tanneka recommends Exuma, an area made up of 365 islands and cays in The Bahamas, as it offers 'a true slice of paradise'.

The travel expert adds: 'Eco-conscious travellers will appreciate its commitment to persevering natural beauty, and you can even swim with pigs on some of the islands.'

Ditch Gros Islet Street Party for Marigot Bay in St Lucia

The Gros Islet Street Party takes place every Friday night in St Lucia and is a popular event with tourists. However, Tanneka says that the party's 'chaotic energy' can 'leave you feeling more stressed than relaxed'.

She recommends heading to peaceful Marigot Bay, on the eastern coast of St Lucia, instead, for a 'more laidback, peaceful alternative'.

The travel expert explains: 'Known for its calm waters and stunning views, it's a haven for sailing, kayaking, or simply relaxing. Eco-luxury resorts line the bay, offering a serene atmosphere where you can immerse yourself in nature and local culture without the hustle and bustle.'

Swerve Maho Beach for Pinel Island in Saint Martin

In Saint Martin, Maho Beach (pictured above) can be 'overwhelming with crowds and noise', says Tanneka

Tanneka recommends Pinel Island (above) instead, for its 'pristine beaches, calm waters and fantastic opportunities'

The Dutch side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin is a popular cruise holiday destination, and Maho Beach is particularly famous there, due to the low-flying planes that regularly soar over the sands.

But if you're not into planes, you might want to give it a miss. Tanneka explains that the 'experience can be overwhelming with the crowds and noise'.

The travel expert suggests heading to Pinel Island instead, which is off the coast of the French side of the island.

Tanneka says: 'With its pristine beaches, calm waters and fantastic snorkelling opportunities, Pinel Island provides the ultimate tranquil getaway.

'The island also has delicious local restaurants serving fresh seafood, giving a more authentic taste of island life.'

Avoid Grand Cayman and head to Little Cayman

Seven Mile Beach is a golden sand beach on Grand Cayman's west coast, and is known for its beauty.

However, Tanneka says its renowned beauty also makes it one of the island's most 'overcrowded spots'.

Seven Mile Beach's renowned beauty makes it one of the Grand Cayman's most 'overcrowded spots'

Tanneka says Little Cayman (pictured above) has 'incredible natural beauty'

She recommends heading to Little Cayman, the smallest of the Cayman Islands, for a 'less developed, less crowded hidden gem'.

Tanneka reveals: 'It offers incredible natural beauty and some of the best diving spots in the Caribbean.'

She loves the island's wildlife and 'pristine beaches'.

The travel expert adds: '[It has'] a laid-back vibe that provides a welcome escape from tourist-heavy areas.'
A despairing business owner says his flight booking 'turned into a nightmare' after he made a small error on the ticket, with the airline telling him he will have to buy a new one for 9,000 - or more than four times the price he originally paid.

Alex Coombes, 39, from Worthing, West Sussex, who owns a chain of local restaurants called Perch, set his heart on going to a large hospitality expo taking place in Shanghai, China, next weekend.

His colleague Damian Wilkins, 45, from Eastbourne, was hoping to accompany him to the international showcase, with the pair looking for new ideas for their expanding restaurant business.

But just weeks after booking their tickets for 2,100 each with China Eastern Airlines, Mr Coombes noted there was one tiny error on the document.

He had left out a 'k' and spelt his colleague's surname spelt as Wilins, rather than Wilkins.

Mr Coombes was confident such a small error could be rectified, but he claims he has instead been 'dragged through weeks of stress, spiralling costs, and sheer corporate absurdity.'

Despite spending hours on the phone to American Express Travel Agency, through which he booked the tickets, as well as racking up an international phone bill of hundreds of pounds speaking to China Eastern Airlines, neither business has been able to resolve the issue.

Instead, he has been told to cancel his ticket and purchase a new one for his colleague - with today's price quoted as 8,948.12.

Alex Coombes, 39, from Worthing, West Sussex, who owns a chain of local restaurants called Perch, says his flight booking 'turned into a nightmare' after he made a small error

Mr Coombes left out a 'k' and spelt his colleague's surname spelt as Wilins, rather than Wilkins, on the flight booking for China

The booking shows Mr Coombes' colleague's name as Wilins, rather than Wilkins

Even that figure was likely to rise again, he was warned.

Mr Coombes stood to lose thousands buying a new ticket - or simply cancelling his travel plans altogether.

In desperation, his colleague even explored the idea of changing his name by deed poll so that they could keep the erroneous ticket.

After being contacted by MailOnline, American Express Travel Agency agreed to refund the cost of his colleague's ticket and has helped him secure a new one for just a fraction more than he originally paid.

Nevertheless, the restaurant owner described his treatment over one tiny spelling error as 'outrageous', adding a stonemason working at one of his restaurants even joked that 'if the ticket had been carved into granite it would have been easier and cheaper to correct.'

Recalling his ordeal, Mr Coombes told MailOnline: 'At the end of November, after a long day at work, I finally sat down to book our flights to China.

'We used an agent rather than booking through the airline directly, because we had used AmEX previously.

'It was 11pm at night  I remember the exact time because I was knackered.

'The trip was meant to be short  just a few days  because neither of us can be away from the business long, but what should have been a simple booking turned into a nightmare.

The despairing businessman has spent hundreds of pounds trying to call China Eastern Airlines to sort the error - but with no success

'It was only in January that I noticed when we printed out the tickets and sorting through hotel bookings that I had misspelled the name.

'It's a hundred percent my fault and I'm not trying to shirk that at all.

'We got back in touch with American Express Travel, who said at the time it didn't seem to be a problem.

'But then we went through a couple of hours of being on hold and requests and callbacks and things like this and they didn't seem to be able to help.

'Then we started to contact China Eastern Airlines who we hadn't used before, but it turns out they just have no UK base.

'They have an address in London that we went to - but there's nothing there anymore.

'And if you phone the UK number just cuts you off after 20 seconds. The only way you can contact them is to pay 1.80 a minute and phone China - and we have spent hours upon hours trying to get this fixed.

'We emailed every contact we could find for the airline, even searching LinkedIn.

American Express Travel Agency, through which Mr Coombes made the booking, has said there is no other option other than to cancel his booking and purchase a new ticket - but flight prices are now four times what he originally paid

'I just can't believe that it's such an impossible task to get resolved.'

After getting nowhere with the airline, Mr Coombes said he returned to Amex and was informed the only thing he could do was to cancel the trip and lose the fare.

When he complained, another customer services representative told him the airline had agreed to refund the fare minus 380, as long as they purchased a new ticket.

But at that time, the prices had leaped up to 3,800, meaning he would be out of pocket.

As days went by with the issue still unresolved, ticket prices rose to around 8,948.12 - four times the amount he originally paid.

Mr Coombes also claims that as for the terms and conditions for the airline, he could 'not find anything, anywhere'.

He said: 'There's nothing written down for it and every time you ask for this no one can send them through.'

The frustrated traveller added that while Amex directed him to speak with the airline, China Eastern Airlines informed him they could only deal with the agent he booked through - which left him in an unresolved situation between the two companies.

'I've never come across anything so preposterous,' he said.

'We won't be booking with the travel agent ever again - and apparently if we had booked this directly with the airline, you can make changes with them - but the airline doesn't really want to speak to us because our contract exists with Amex.

'We've just had real difficulties getting people to return a call and make any sense out of this.

'I just want the surname amended on the flight. I can't understand how it's this difficult.

'I can't imagine that this is that much of a challenge for anybody to achieve.

'It's an enormous amount of money for us to spend on doing something like this, we're really trying to do something different and put ourselves out there, but it's just been going on for so long.

'It's taking a huge amount of energy for just changing a single letter in a surname.

'I know I made a mistake, and an admin fee is entirely reasonable, but 9,000 just feels outrageous.'

After MailOnline intervened, Mr Coombes received a refund on his colleague's ticket and was assisted in booking a new flight for just a fraction of the price he originally paid.

American Express Travel Agency said it always advises customers to ensure that all passenger names exactly match their identity documentation and provides all the necessary information customers need prior to the booking.

It added that each airline sets its own rules on changes to ticket bookings.
Forget ten days on a sun lounger - travel fans are taking what have become known online as 'extreme day trips', flying halfway across the world for a single day's holiday.

Monica Stott, 37, of Wrexham, Wales, loves taking these kinds of one-day trips abroad, which have seen her travel to Milan, Lisbon and even as far as Reykjavik in Iceland.

The full-time travel blogger and mother-of-three told the BBC: 'There's research suggesting that most of your best holiday memories are made in the first one or two days. When I thought about it, I agreed. A lot of the best moments happen when you first arrive.'

Arriving just in time for breakfast, the influencer behind The Travel Hack blog and Instagram page packs in activities before flying home that night: 'It's an intense, busy, crazy day.'

But despite this, she said on her blog: 'From the extreme day trips I've experienced so far, I've genuinely felt like I've had a mini holiday.'

Student Luka Chijutomi-Ghosh, 18, of Cardiff, takes day trips that are even more extreme. He once spent Christmas Eve walking around Prague at night for just 12 hours, arriving at 9pm on December 24 and leaving at 9am on the big day. A few weeks later, he visited Paris, Luxembourg, Brussels and Amsterdam in just one day.

He said: 'I look at how much I spend on a student night out, sometimes up to 60 or 70. If I can get a return flight for under 20 and experience a whole new city instead, why not?'

And the pair are not the only intrepid 24-hour adventurers out there - Facebook groups for extreme daytrippers have pulled in hundreds of thousands of members, who share their experiences of these whistle-stop trips.

Monica Stott (pictured), 37, of Wrexham, Wales, loves taking these kinds of one-day trips abroad, which have seen her travel to Milan, Lisbon and even as far as Reykjavik in Iceland

The full-time travel blogger and mother-of-three (pictured) told the BBC : 'There's research suggesting that most of your best holiday memories are made in the first one or two days. When I thought about it, I agreed'

Student Luka Chijutomi-Ghosh (pictured), 18, of Cardiff, takes day trips that are even more extreme. He once spent Christmas Eve walking around Prague at night for just 12 hours

Ms Stott first got the idea to take extreme day trips after travelling to Ireland for sometimes mere hour-long meetings with clients for work.

Only there for a single day anyway, she realised if she just stayed a few more hours, she could get a fulfilling one-day holiday out of the experience too.

She then joined one of the Facebook groups where fellow travellers were relating tales of their own one-day adventures - and since then, the blogger has been hooked.

In her eyes, it is a good solution for those who feel like they do not have the time or money for a longer trip.

Mr Chijutomi-Ghosh's love of a 24-hour trip began with his Christmastime journey to Prague, Czech Republic. When he spotted a flight going for just 15, he booked it immediately - only later realising it would give him only 12 hours there, overnight.

He decided to make the best of it - and the amazing holiday actually made him realise he only really needed even less time, around six hours, to feel he had properly explored a new city.

A few weeks later, the student took his staggering four-country trip to Paris, Luxembourg, Brussels and Amsterdam, after setting himself a challenge to see how many countries he could visit in one day by train.

He said if he were to go on a day trip in the UK, he would likely spend just as much time travelling - so it makes sense to use that time in a better way, by seeing more of the world.

Ms Stott first got the idea to take extreme day trips after travelling to Ireland for sometimes mere hour-long meetings with clients for work. Pictured: Her extreme day trip to Reykjavik

She then joined one of the Facebook groups where fellow travellers were relating tales of their own one-day adventures - and since then, the blogger has been hooked. Pictured: Her extreme day trip to Iceland

The blogger said: 'You can keep going, keep walking, keep sightseeing and keep trying new food, even when you're low on energy, because you know you'll be going home and sleeping in your own bed that night!'

In a bumper blog post introducing readers of her blog The Travel Hack to extreme day trips, Ms Stott explained: 'In an ideal world, we'd have countless free weekends and endless pots of money to take four- to five-night city breaks across Europe.

'But this isn't an ideal world and that's just not the way it goes! Yes, it would be nice to have more time but if we keep waiting for "more time", we'll be waiting forever. Isn't it better to experience a little bit of a city rather than never experience that city at all?'

It is possible to pack much more into one day than people might think, she continued: 'You can keep going, keep walking, keep sightseeing and keep trying new food, even when you're low on energy, because you know you'll be going home and sleeping in your own bed that night!

'Where you'd normally feel tired and want to go back to your hotel, something inside you keeps you going!'

But with flying causing 2.4 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide - and 8 per cent in Britain - extreme day trips, which rack up a lot of air miles in a single day, have been criticised for their environmental impact.

Ms Stott acknowledged this as a definite downside of extreme daytripping - but argued most fans of these holidays take them because they lack money or time for a longer trip, especially with the high cost of public transport in the UK.

She said: 'I don't think it's fair to say one person's holiday is more important than another person's holiday because they're going for longer.'

Mr Chijutomi-Ghosh said the flights would happen anyway, with or without him: 'The seat will be filled by someone.'

Good options for extreme day trips include Alicante, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Oslo, Geneva and Reykjavik, Ms Stott said

Ms Stott advised that holidaymakers do not try to go anywhere more than a two-hour flight away - otherwise it will likely feel too much travel in a single day. Pictured: Her extreme day trip to Bergamo, Italy

Ms Stott explained: 'In an ideal world, we'd have countless free weekends and endless pots of money to take four- to five-night city breaks across Europe. But this isn't an ideal world and that's just not the way it goes!'. Pictured: Her extreme day trip to Reykjavik

And he pointed out extreme day trips do not necessarily have to involve flying - his own four-country trip was done solely by train.

Blogger Ms Stott gave some practical tips for those looking to take their own one-day holidays.

She advised that holidaymakers do not try to go anywhere more than a two-hour flight away - otherwise it will likely feel too much travel in a single day.

Dublin, Belfast and Cork are good destinations to start with, she said, as there is no time difference and flights there are short, often cheap and generally run regularly.

Other good options include Alicante, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Oslo, Geneva and Reykjavik.

She also recommended travellers try to ease their pre-holiday nerves to avoid using up their energy unnecessarily: 'A lot of people get really excited or anxious at the airport and that can be exhausting.

'If you just treat it like getting on a train or a bus, you don't use up all your energy with that pre-holiday anxiety.'
Netflix fans have been gripped by a 'ridiculously addictive' British thriller that stars a Line Of Duty legend and has a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score.

The Replacement first aired on BBC One back in 2017 as a three-part series and sees architect Ellen (Morven Christie) sidelined by her replacement Paula (Vicky McClure) as she prepares to leave work to have a baby.

Vicky is well known for her role as Detective Inspector Kate Fleming police drama Line Of Duty.

Directed by Doctor Who writer Joe Ahearne, the psychological thriller also stars Scottish actor Richard Rankin and EastEnders actor Navin Chowdhry, amongst others.

Now, eight years after it was originally released, The Replacement has recently been added to Netflix and is available to watch on the streaming site.

Viewers have been impressed with the series over the years and it has collected several positive reviews. The series also has an impressive 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Netflix fans have been gripped by a 'ridiculously addictive' British thriller that stars a Line Of Duty legend and has a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score

The Replacement first aired on BBC One back in 2017 as a three-part series and sees architect Ellen (Morven Christie) sidelined by her replacement Paula (Vicky McClure) as she prepares to leave work to have a baby

Now, eight years after it was originally released, The Replacement has recently been added to Netflix and is available to watch on the streaming site

The Metro dubbed the series a 'stellar triumph' and wrote how it kept 'us gripped from start to finish'.

A review by The Guardian described The Replacement as 'ridiculously addictive'.

One fan wrote on Google reviews: 'Brilliant drama with twists and turns.'

Another said: 'Really good series. Really enjoyed the suspense I sussed a lot of the plot in the first episode.'

But some reviews weren't so positive about the series and criticised the storyline at times.

One penned: 'Same as other reviews. Brilliant cast, but so many unanswered questions. Silly in places too.

'The police receive a close up photo of a baby in a car seat and believe that it was left alone. Really poorly written. Really disappointed, this had the potential to be brilliant'

While someone else commented: 'Was looking promising for the first two episodes but then the 3rd one went off the rails. No explanation on slot of points.

'Storyline got confusing and convoluted with no rap up in the plot. Wouldn't recommend.'

Some viewers left their verdicts on Google reviews, with many praising the series and others being more critical

The female-led drama was previously slammed by watchers for being 'anti-feminist'.

Some viewers felt that the central protagonist came across as unhinged, a 'hormonal mess' and didn't offer a positive representation of pregnant women going on maternity leave.

While the Mail's Christopher Stevens delved into the two leading characters.

The Replacement is available to stream on Netflix.
Less than three years ago, Sascha Bailey was on the verge of transitioning into a woman.

The former model, who is the son of renowned photographer David Bailey and his model ex-wife Catherine, had been suffering with depression and at one point felt so desperately low that he contemplated taking his own life.

Yet he soon found himself convinced that his unhappiness was caused by gender dysphoria and that by transitioning he would live life happily.

Emboldened by advice from internet chatrooms, he visited a private doctor, who - after a 10-minute consultation - confirmed he was transgender and wrote him a prescription for female hormones.

Yet ahead of undergoing life-changing gender affirmation surgery Sascha was brought back from the brink by his father and his new girlfriend Lucy Brown - with whom he's now expecting his first child.

Now, as he prepares to become a father, Sascha is braced for his unborn child perhaps one day broaching the subject of gender dysphoria themselves.

David Bailey's son Sascha, 30, has spoken about the issues surrounding trans ideology in a candid chat with MailOnline after he decided to detransition

Ahead of undergoing life-changing gender affirmation surgery Sascha was brought back from the brink by his new girlfriend Lucy Brown, with whom he's now expecting his first child (pictured in 2023)

'I'd be very against it, obviously,' Sascha mused. 'You can't get a tattoo. You can't change your gender. It's really as simple as that.

'If you give someone one little piece of control, one little thing they can do, they will gravitate towards that little bit of control.

'Kids have no control over their life. So we have to look after them, we make sure that they don't make bad decisions.

'If you allow them to have this one avenue, a lot of them will take it just because it's a bit of control.'

Claiming there is not enough research to suggest when a child knows for sure if they identify as transgender, he went on: 'It's a soft science and it's psychology. It's based on self-reporting - we can only go down to individual experience.

'So we can talk about what's objective. And the objective facts are the hormone treatments, whether they're puberty blockers or hormone treatment, are bad for you.

'The surgeries are objectively bad for you. They may be affirming for some people, but they are still bad for you.

'We've got to look at the objective factors and that to me that is that kids cannot make decisions for themselves.

'I cannot in a million years understand why anyone would think that an under 18 year old can make these decisions. It doesn't make sense.'

Emboldened by advice from chatrooms, he visited a private doctor, who - after a 10-minute consultation - confirmed he was transgender and wrote him a prescription for hormones

Discussing the sudden influx in trans people receiving treatment, he went on: 'Even in the past with the accepted theories of gender identity and all that, one of the criteria factors was that you had to live with your gender for a little while.

'This is a relatively new thing where we've decided that kids can suddenly make this decision - but on a basic critical thinking level, how can you know [what gender you feel] if you don't have a frame of reference? It's absurd.'

Sascha is not alone in his views, with polls showing that scepticism over trans rights is growing in the UK.

YouGov research revealed in January that nearly half of Brits - 48 per cent - are opposed to legal gender change being allowed. That was up 11 percentage points in the past two years, and higher than the 34 per cent who supported the idea.

Yet with the backlash comes an explosion in the number of gender-questioning youth.

Meanwhile, government reports tentatively estimates there are 200,000-500,000 trans people in the UK, with this number highest among people aged 16 to 24 years.

Referencing the Hikikomori phenomenon in Japan, where individuals - particularly young adults - withdraw from society, Sascha went on: 'It's something that I think high affluent societies at their peak experience a lot more.

'We can see a clear example of this with the sons and daughters of famous people who tend to be transitioning quite a lot, and actors.

'Then it trickles down to the middle class, which is what we're seeing now increasingly with, the trans movement and things of that nature.'

The former model is the son of renowned photographer David Bailey and his model ex-wife Catherine (pictured in 1999)

He continued: 'I think we will see this growing more and more, because there are influencers who are trans. There are people in the fashion industry that are trans, that transition very early.

'They are, whether not intentionally, but just by existing and being out there and being celebrated, they are pushing this narrative to transition earlier.

'And one of the major issues with this is most people who are doing this, the only reason that they want to transition younger is because they'll look prettier, which is an absurdly shallow reason to be doing it.

'Now it feels like people are being pushed by the same group of people towards changing everything about yourself to fit in.'

Doubling down on his remarks, he continued: 'I think it is very much an affluent thing. It's not something that people are, generally speaking, from poor families are doing.'

If anything, Sascha believes that an echo chamber online pushing trans ideology has hurt the cause.

'All this ideology nonsense - being able to actually change sex - which most people who are trans for a long time don't believe, has set them back 10 to 15 years.

'Before it didn't really matter but now suddenly it's being pushed on kids as this kind of lifestyle trend.

'It's got people's backs up and it has caused a huge backlash. It's caused a problem for people who were just living their lives as trans and didn't want all of us extra stuff.

'They didn't need all of these neopronouns. They just were walking around being themselves. And if someone was a bit rude to them, well, they've had to deal with that all of their lives. They had to have quite thick skin.

'Whereas now the younger generation doing it, they almost act as if everyone should treat them perfectly.'

Having spoken out about his experience, Sascha has found himself contacted by several people who have detransitioned

He continued: 'Those who transitioned before were used to being discriminated against and did it anyway because they were so sure about what they wanted to be.

'It's not something that people should "want" and it's not something that's for the faint of heart.

'It's something that you actually have to be quite tough to do, and you have to be very sure of yourself to do. The older generation were resilient.

'The younger ones are weak about it, "oh no, someone called me the wrong name".

'It's absurd that we're heading towards that direction, or people get so angry that they want to post on social media and cause an uproar and get people fired because they said something that might have offended them.

'The older generation had to go through actual abuse, physical harm, things like that.'

Having spoken out about his experience, Sascha has found himself contacted by several people who have detransitioned, many of whom were not as lucky to put an end to their transitioning journey before the results were irreversible.

'It's criminal the way that they're treated by society,' Sascha shared. 'These people have made a mistake - or in some cases didn't really make a mistake - they were pushed down the rabbit hole by medical professionals.

'It's horrendous that after they speak out, after they try to get help, they're pushed to the side and treated badly. It's just a huge lack of compassion.

'They need more support from the NHS, they need more support in general. And the doctors who did this stuff to people and push them there without really checking, without really knowing, do need to be held to account.'

While Sascha has been a comforting ear to those have detransitioned, his inner circle have not been as forgiving.

He estimates that 99 percent of his friends turned against him since he began airing his gender critical thoughts.

'A bunch of them wouldn't even talk to me, they were avoiding me. And behind my back calling me a bad person,' he explained.

'Or they'll say what you've done is hurt the trans community. So I guess we were never really friends. I guess you just want to come here and kind of moralize on me.'

Sascha revealed his father is pleased there's another grandchild on the way and has been giving his girlfriend photography tips

For now, Sascha's main concern is the impending birth of his first child with girlfriend Lucy, 32, who he met after the collapse of his 10-year marriage to lawyer Mimi Nishikawa, 40.

He has previously credited Lucy with 'saving his life' not just in helping him amid his divorce but with his feelings of gender dysphoria.

There will not, he laughed, be a gender reveal party for their unborn child but he has no preference either way.

The couple have already picked out names, Wolfgang for a boy and Ava for a girl.

Lucy, who previously worked as Tommy Robinson's assistant, has the seal of approval from Sascha's father David and as a budding photographer has even been picking up a few tips.

David is pleased for the couple.

'He's happy that there will be another moment for family,' Sascha shares. 'He likes my girlfriend, so that's good. He wasn't so much of a fan of the last one!'

If you have been affected by this story, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org
Christina Ricci has put her Silver Lake home for sale, with the asking price of $4.175 million.

However, it has been revealed that there's a heartbreaking reason behind the sale, as the actress is needing to help one of her family members who lost their home to the LA fires, according to People.

The selling of the home also comes exactly a year after Ricci, 45, admitted that her divorce from James Heerdegen had left her 'really broke' and was forced to sell designer bags and jewelry.

The actress referred to her situation at the time as 'financial trauma.'

Meanwhile the listing agency for the home has confirmed that the star was looking for a bigger property to accommodate her displaced family member for the long term.

The LA Fires, which took place in January, destroyed over $30 million worth of rest estate - with 12,900 households displaced.

Over half of the structures in the Pacific Palisades burned down, and half of the homes in Altadena.

Christina's home is listed by Compass real estate agent Lorraine Getz, who told the outlet: 'This property is truly one of a kind and homes like this don't come along often, especially in Silverlake.

Christina Ricci has put her Silver Lake home for sale, with the asking price of $4.175 million

The actress, 45, wants to find another home with more space because she has family staying with her that lost their home in the LA fires , according to People

'What makes this home so special is the attention to detail, from the thoughtful layout that maximizes light and space to the well-crafted floor plan.'

Christina's LA-area home is 3,396 square feet with three bedrooms and four bathrooms.

The beautiful property has a rooftop deck, as well as a private deck on the ground floor, along with a huge balcony on the second floor.

The home sits above the Silver Lake Reservoir, with views of Downtown Los Angeles, as well as the mountains.

'This home is all about the views - some of the best in Silver Lake! The rooftop deck takes it to another level,' Lorraine told People.

Adding: 'It's perched high on a cul-de-sac for ultimate privacy, yet just at the end of the street, a hidden staircase connects you to Silver Lake's best spots - amazing dining, coffee, and boutiques, all just moments away.'

The pool sits besides a spacious area where guests can relax and enjoy the city and mountain views.

The rooftop terrace is covered, with plenty of room to relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of the city and nature landscape.

The second floor balcony is tiled with space for a couch and table - and a tiled staircase to go to the rooftop terrace.

The pool sits besides a spacious area where guests can relax and enjoy the city and mountain views

The rooftop terrace is covered, with plenty of room to relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of the city and nature landscape

The terrace features a striped covering above, perfect for rainy days or nights

The second floor balcony is tiled with space for a couch and table - and a tiled staircase to go to the rooftop terrace

The balcony is off the living room, perfect for entertaining guests

The balcony features clear glass siding, therefore not obstructing the views

The stunning home has plenty of outdoor seating

The home takes advantage of the beautiful Southern California weather, with plenty of outdoor seating

The rooftop deck also has space for a table and chair set up, with a spot for a barbeque

The pool also had a spa besides it, located at the side of the house

A view of the rooftop deck - which has plenty of space

The living room features a floor to ceiling sliding doors, which can be opened completely to have unobstructed views of the skyline and trees.

There's also a massive fireplace in the living room, beneath a built-in television.

The wooden staircase features floating steps with clear glass panels.

The modern kitchen includes a number of modern amenities, including a built-in coffee station and a huge center island.

The open concept home has plenty of space and storage, with a very minimalistic design.

The master suite has a floor-to-ceiling sliding door that opens to a clear panel balcony.

There's a bathtub, perched by a window in the master bathroom.

On March 6, Christina received her Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The actress has been acting since the age of eight, appearing in Mermaids, Casper, The Addams Family, Now and Then, Ally McBeal, Pumpkin, Monster, Black Snake Moan, Speed Racer, Yellowjackets and more.

A close up of the seating space on the rooftop deck

The deck besides the pool pictured

A sunset seen from the gorgeous decks

A view from the home's dining room

The living room has a large fireplace beneath a built in tv

There is a spacious seating area on the second floor of the home

The wooden staircase features floating steps with clear glass panels

The master suite has a floor-to-ceiling sliding door that opens to a clear panel balcony

A view of the foyer and front door

Besides the fireplace, there's room for a table and chairs

The kitchen also features a wine fridge

The laundry has plenty of storage space

The master bedroom close has lots of room and storage for clothes and shoes

One of the bedrooms seen, with a large window

The room has built in close space and an ensuite bathroom

The third bedroom also has a large window, with high ceilings

The third bedroom has a built in shelving system

One of the guest bathrooms pictured

A closer look at another bathroom

The stunning home has plenty of greenery and flowers

The front door is a clear glass, located on the second floor of the house

The LA Fires began on January 7, lasting weeks - with the deadliest being the Palisades Fires and the Eaton Fires.

They were finally contained by January 31.

The fires killed 29 people, destroying over 18,000. homes and burning 57,000 acres of land.
Blake Lively, 37, and Ryan Reynolds, 48, will be no-shows at this year's Met Gala.

The decision, according to TMZ, has nothing to do with Lively's multi-million dollar sexual harassment lawsuit against It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, sources tell the outlet.

Insiders say the glamorous couple made the decision not to attend before the drama began to unfold in December 2024.

'Blake and Ryan havent gone since 2022, when they were co-chairs, and they will not be in attendance this year,' a source told People.

In 2022, the couple shared their co-chair duties with Regina King and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The 2025 Met Gala has been scheduled for May 5 with the theme Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.

Blake Lively , 37, and Ryan Reynolds , 48, will be no-shows at this year's Met Gala; Pictured in New York City in May 2022

The theme was inspired by Monica L. Millers 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, according to Vogue.

The displays will 'feature garments, paintings, photographs, and more  all exploring the indelible style of Black men in the context of dandyism, from the 18th century through present day.'

Miller will serve as a guest curator for the show with Costume Institute Curator in Charge Andrew Bolton.

The dress code is 'Tailored for you.'

The very dapper Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams will co-chair the event with Vogue Editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

LeBron James will serve as honorary chair.

This news comes as Baldoni has filed a $400 million lawsuit against his former publicist Stephanie Jones, who was working with the Ugly Betty actor, alleging she leaked damaging texts to Lively's legal team.

The New York Times, which is also being sued by Baldoni, said they texts were turned over after being subpoenaed.

The decision has nothing to do with Lively's multi-million dollar sexual harassment lawsuit against It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni. Sources tell TMZ the decision was made before any lawsuits were filed

Lively has asked a court to dismiss Baldoni's $400m lawsuit against her, claiming it is 'retaliatory,' and violates a new California law tied to public disclosures of sexual harassment; pictured in Austin, TX on March 7

Reynolds, 48, has also asked that Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against him be dismissed, arguing his claims to not meet the definition of defamation; Pictured in Los Angeles in November 2024

Lively and her legal team have filed a motion to have Baldoni's lawsuit against her dismissed, claiming it is 'baseless' and 'retaliatory,' and violate a new California law that prohibits retaliatory lawsuits tied to public disclosures of sexual harassment.

If the court agrees with Lively, Baldoni and his co-defendants could be required to pay the actress' legal fees, punitive damages and could have to pay three times the amount of damages she is deemed to have suffered.

Ryan Reynolds has also filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against him for calling the actor a 'predator' in private conversations.

However, the Deadpool actor's legal team argued those statements do not meet the definition of defamation, especially since Reynolds believed the statements to be true.
Teddi Mellencamp is opening up about her love life as she navigates a divorce and cancer.

The 43-year-old former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star joined Erika Jayne, 53, on her Diamonds in the Rough podcast this week, where she spilled on recently going on a second date.

She announced her split from her husband of 13 years, Edwin Arroyave, in November. Then, in February she publicly shared that doctors discovered multiple brain tumors, resulting in emergency surgery.

As she continues treatment, the mother-of-three is maintaining a well-rounded lifestyle that includes horseback riding, raising her kids, and now, dating.

'I went on a second date,' Mellencamp teased while chatting about a suitor she began seeing around the time of her brain surgery.

'So I went on a first date, pre-the thing, and then I went on a second date yesterday actually. He's really cute and nice,' she gushed.

Teddi Mellencamp is opening up about her love life as she navigates a divorce and cancer; pictured in December

Erika asked Teddi if her doctors gave her the okay to date as she pointed out, 'I know that they told you that you could ride horses.'

Mellencamp enthusiastically replied, 'Yes!' before showing the Chicago actress photos of her love interest.

'I mean, he's making a stupid face in this photo. But he's cute,' she said before Erika agreed, 'He is cute.'

Taking on a protective tone, Jayne then said, 'Wait a second, okay. What are his intentions? Do I need to get on the phone with this fool?'

Mellencamp then shared that the guy, whose identity she has not revealed, didn't know about her time on Real Housewives ahead of their meeting.

'He doesn't know s***,' she laughed, adding, 'But it's weird. He's like so nice then I get panicked. But I have been on two dates.'

She shared with podcast listeners that the two dates went 'really well' and noted that the person she's seeing is 35 and 'works in events.'

The star also described him as an 'amazing caregiver' and said he had 'been there' for her when she was in the hospital amid her brain operation.

'So we'll see. Who knows?' she said about where the connection might lead.

As she continues treatment, the mother-of-three is maintaining a well-rounded lifestyle that includes horseback riding, raising her kids, and now, dating

The 43-year-old former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star joined Erika Jayne, 53, on her Diamonds in the Rough podcast this week, where she spilled on recently going on a second date

Teddi announced her split from her husband of 13 years, Edwin Arroyave, in November; pictured with daughters Slate, 12, Dove, five, and son Cruz, 10

Last weekend Teddi went to Thermal, California to take part in a two-day equestrian competition with her daughter Slate, 12.

Recounting the event afterward, she shared footage and a thoughtful caption with her one million Instagram followers.

She wrote, 'Two exciting things happened: I got to bond with my girl @slate_mellencamp_eq and watch her become the circuit champion on Catniss in the 36 15-and-under Junior Hunters.'

Mellencamp added, 'And I got to get on my boy, Toad something I was worried I would never be able to do again. All while the immunotherapy kicked my butt (which the docs say that means its working).'

Teddi went on to thank her inner circle for helping her 'prove the negative thoughts wrong' and 'believing in me, taking care of me, and making me feel safe & confident.'

She ended the caption, 'My heart and soul got a huge boost this weekend  And now Im more than ready to start radiation this week.'
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It appears that the hopefuls on Nine's upcoming reality series The Golden Bachelor are having too much of a good time.

With filming on the highly anticipated Bachelor spin-off well underway, late night-parties and raucous behaviour is beginning to wear thin on wealthy neighbours.

According to Confidential, neighbours in the vicinity of the historic Elizabeth Bay home, where the series is being filmed, have been complaining about the sustained noise emanating from the property.

Despite the mature age of the contestants, the publication claims that late night cocktail parties, loud 'gossiping' about Golden Bachelor Barry 'Bear' Myrden, and a late-night filming schedule were to blame for the noise.

A production insider told the publication that the women in the series are treating their Golden Bachelor experience like a 'slumber party'.

'These women are having the time of their lives,' the insider said.

It appears that the hopefuls on Nine's upcoming reality series The Golden Bachelor are having too much of a good time. Pictured: Golden Bachelor host Samantha Armytage

Despite the mature age of the contestants, the publication claims that late night cocktail parties, loud 'gossiping' about Golden Bachelor Barry 'Bear' Myrden (pictured) , and a late-night filming schedule were to blame for the noise

'They say its like the best slumber party they have ever been to. They are staying up and having a few wines with one another.'

Another insider added that while the neighbours were initially curious about the production, after days of sustained partying and filming, they have had enough.

'At first they were standing on their balconies and looking on and really enjoying it,' they said.

'Now theyre over it.'

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Channel Nine for comment.

One of Sydney's historic waterfront gems was recently unveiled as the secret filming location of the Samatha Armytage-helmed series.

The grand Tresco mansion in the harbourside suburb of Elizabeth Bay, designed by colonial architect Thomas Rowe and constructed between 1867 and 1883, is set on 3300sqm of sprawling grounds.

Originally Rowes private home, it later served as the official residence for Navy rear admirals for nearly 90 years before being sold into private hands in 1997 for $9m.

According to Confidential , neighbours in the vicinity of the historic Elizabeth Bay home, where the series is being filmed, have been complaining about the sustained noise emanating from the property

Barry 'Bear' Myrden was spotted filming his first one-on-one date for the series this week, no doubt providing plenty of 'gossip' for his bachelorettes to unpack during their late night slumber parties at the Tresco mansion

Australia's first Golden Bachelor was pictured filming on location at a Sydney beach, where he wooed one of the female contestants with a boat ride and a romantic stroll on the sand

The lavish 1860s sandstone villa, featuring high ceilings and spacious rooms, has recently become a hive of activity as filming for the Channel Nine dating show began.

The breathtaking property boasts a rich history that includes a notable $11m transfer in 2004 to Janette Waterhouse, wife of entrepreneur David Waterhouse.

Today, it stands as a seven-bedroom, four-bathroom estate and serves as David's registered address on ASIC documents.

Last year, the property was listed on the market for a jaw-dropping price of between $110m - $120m.

Sydney City Council was seemingly caught off guard by the development, has initiated inquiries despite the project falling within the purview of private property regulations.

A council spokesperson told the publication that while filming on private grounds does not necessitate council consent, it does require a comprehensive filming management plan.

This includes detailing logistical specifics like crew size, temporary structures and potential impacts on the surrounding area.

Unlike The Bachelor and The Bachelorette which feature young men and women, the Golden Bachelor is targeted at a more mature audience eager to watch how those who have already experienced great love and loss are chasing companionship in their next chapter.

'Bear is not your usual reality TV type,' an insider told Daily Mail Australia.

'At first they [the neighbours] were standing on their balconies and looking on and really enjoying it,' a production insider claimed. 'Now theyre over it.'

'He's charming, intelligent and has really lived a full life. He's been through love, loss and now he's ready to open his heart again. Women are going to adore him.'

Local fans of the The Golden Bachelor have been calling for an Australian version since the US version premiered last year to critical acclaim.

The US version of the series proved to be a ratings juggernaut for ABC, with the finale hitting 6.1 million American screens, giving the franchise its highest numbers in three years.

The publication also reported that the strength of the Golden Bachelor has seen the franchise expand again with ABC announcing The Golden Bachelorette.
It felt 'almost quite literally unbelievable' as Massachusetts teacher Joe Cote handed out bathroom passes on Friday to high school students and wandered familiar halls ... while his name blared from Hollywood headlines alongside heavyweights like Sydney Sweeney.

News had broken the day before that Cote's Gone Girl-style short story, written in his kitchen during the pandemic and casually posted on Reddit, had not only been discovered by Tinseltown but would also now be made into a Warner Bros feature.

Sweeney is attached to produce and star in the project through her Fifty-Fifty Films, with an Oscar-winning screenwriter reportedly on board for the script adaptation.

Its surreal, and its so funny  just having the night that I had, the day that I had yesterday, and then this morning waking up and just, All right, now Ive got to go in and write bathroom passes and get these kids to do their study guides, Cote, 34, told DailyMail.com on Friday night.

My phone hasnt stopped. Its probably overheated. I cant keep up with all the support thats coming in, he said. Its been incredible. People that I havent spoken to since high school, people that I barely even spoke to in high school, have been super supportive and nice  and my head is still spinning.

The teacher had been more than a little skeptical when he saw a Reddit message last spring from an alleged LA talent manager about a short story hed posted four years earlier.

He ignored that first query about I pretended to be a missing girl, which hed written in November 2020 in the apartment he shared with his cousin outside of Boston. But the manager followed up.

I remember checking with my girlfriend saying, All right, well, I guess as long as I dont give him too much personal information or give him my credit card information, I think I could maybe reply, Cote said.

Massachuetts teacher Joe Cote, 34, posted a short story he wrote on Reddit in 2020 - and received a message on the platform four years later from an LA manager looking to represent him. Cote initially ignored the message, then declined the offer

It was announced this week that Hollywood star Sydney Sweeney would produce and star in a Warner Brothers feature based on Cote's short story

He told Folbe that he was a public school teacher and not interested in representation. But the manager persisted, and Cote verified that Folbe and his company existed.

But that doesnt prove that its legitimate, Cote said, and he still thought: Theres no way.

But the teacher finally agreed to a Zoom meeting.

It was almost exactly a year ago from now, Cote said on Friday. We were on the phone for a couple of hours, and I dont think I breathed. I think I got off the phone call and I took a breath, like, Holy crap. What is happening?

What was happening was the start of a veritable fairytale for the writer and teacher.

It's almost hard for him to reconcile the journey hes had since sitting down in that kitchen during Covid, his Shiba Inu at his feet, to write a story about a protagonist who pretended to be missing teen in order to rob the family of the real 18-year-old.

Cote had always loved telling stories, putting on performances as a child for his little sister and attempting with middle school friends to write their own fifth Harry Potter book before a new one actually came out in the series.

After becoming a teacher in 2019, his middle school employer offered Cote an elective fun class to teach and design during remote learning. He chose creative writing.

Cote sat down to write in November 2020 in the kitchen of the apartment he shared with his cousin, the teacher's Shiba Inu, Leo, at his feet as he penned 'I pretended to be a missing girl'

Cote had always loved writing and storytelling and decided to try his hand at the mystery/thriller genre after devouring works by authors such as Gillian Flynn, which left him feeling 'blown away ... and I just so badly wanted to make other people feel the way that I felt'

I would read and act out my stories for them, and it was kind of a hit, he told DailyMail.com. And then when school got back to normal, they just kept the class.

The audience for his breakout short story would not be a classroom, however; it would be the wild west online forum of Reddit.

And his inspiration for the plot came after devouring thrillers and mysteries by authors like Gillian Flynn and Anthony Horowitz.

I was blown away, he said of their work. And I just so badly wanted to make other people feel the way that I felt.

When he wrote I pretended to be a missing girl over several intense days typing from morning until dark in 2020, Cote didnt feel the same doubt or imposter syndrome he often did after writing.

I remember just being like, all right, this is good, he said. I think I actually feel good about this one.

Hed never really posted his work online before  but this story, he felt, was Reddit-worthy.

The comments came in, the likes came in, and even as of right now, its still sitting at the top of that short story subreddit, he says. Its one of the top posts of all time. If you had told me then that it would have been anywhere close to where we are now, I just never would have believed it.

Cote had rarely posted his writing online before the decision to post the 2020 story on Reddit - where it took off. But he said this week: 'If you had told me then that it would have been anywhere close to where we are now, I just never would have believed it

He kept writing and posting, but it wasnt until spring of last year that Folbe spotted Cotes mystery masterpiece.

I dont know how I came across it, but the title was so hyper-specific, so on the nose  that I was like, I should read this, Folbe told DailyMail.com.

I pretended to be a missing girl: Thats crazy. And then I read it  and the writing was very sharp and really, you can tell how great of a writer he was right away.

On top of that, Folbe says, Its very rare that you find a short story that is so simple, but then theres a twist in the middle that completely flips  anytime that you think that youre trying to get ahead of the plot, you cant.

I was like, Holy s***. I think I just found gold.

He was right; there was great appetite for the story in Hollywood.

It got really exciting when there [were] significant attachments that were exited about this thing that we knew, to a degree, with those people involved, and with those people creatively passionate about it like that, this was going to likely do well in the marketplace, Folbe said.

Warner Brothers 'won the rights ... in a competitive situation,' according to The Hollywood Reporter.

As all of this was brewing, however, Cote was barely telling anyone in his life.

It was such a hard thing to talk about, because its so special and unbelievable  I mean almost quite literally unbelievable, Cote says. Because if someone had said it to me, you know, even Id be like, I dont know 

Honestly, I did, for the most part, keep it to myself  because its so hard, he says. How do you even organically bring that up?

Now that the cats out of the bag, however, with major Hollywood players attached, Cote is looking forward to even more projects.

Hes got a great career ahead of him, beyond just this short story, said Folbe.

Were not done, added the teacher. There are more stories to tell  where Im going to make people feel that thrill again and again.
Gene Hackman's daughter asked that his dog, Zinna, be cremated and its remains buried with his late wife, Betsy Arakawa.

Footage released on Friday by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office shows a phone call between Gene's daughter Elizabeth and a deputy, as per TMZ.

Elizabeth, 62, requested the 12-year-old dog be cremated at the county animal shelter and its ashes buried with Betsy, also asking police to save the dog's collar.

The deputy informed Gene's daughter in the footage that the two remaining dogs were found alive and were being rehomed with family.

The Oscar-winning actor, 95, and Betsy, 65, were found deceased in separate rooms of their home on February 26. Zinna, who had been crated following a veterinarian visit, also died.

Elsewhere in the recording a groundskeeper at Gene and Betsy's New Mexico property became emotional upon learning from deputies that he would not see them again.

Gene Hackman's daughter asked that his dog, Zinna, be cremated and its remains buried with his late wife, Betsy Arakawa following the couple's death; they are seen in 2003

The Oscar-winning actor, 95, and Betsy, 65, were found deceased in separate rooms of their home on February 26. Zinna (left) who had been crated following a veterinarian visit, also died

Arakawa died around February 11 from hantavirus, a rare virus spread by mice, while Hackman likely died on February 18 from heart disease. He also showed 'evidence of advanced Alzheimer's disease.'

Zinna likely died from dehydration and starvation, according to a reported examination done on the deceased canine.

The Associated Press obtained a report from the state Department of Agriculture's veterinary lab which describes partial mummification on the dog and stated that - while there is a chance the severe decomposition could have concealed changes in the organs - there was no evidence an infectious disease, trauma or poisoning led to Zinna's death.

Most of Zinna's stomach was empty aside for small quantities of hair and bile, the report states.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza previously said that Arakawa had picked up Zinna in a crate from a Santa Fe veterinarian on February 9, which could explain why the dog was found inside the encasement.

Arakawa is said to have died just two days later.

Zinna, who was once a returned shelter dog, was a loyal companion who was constantly nearby Arakawa, according to Joey Padilla, the owner of Santa Fe Tails, a pet care facility that was caring for the surviving dogs.

The couple's two other dogs, German Shepherd Bear and Akita-shepherd mix Nikita, survived.

His daughter Elizabeth requested the 12-year-old dog be cremated at the county animal shelter and its ashes buried with Betsy, also asking police to save the dog's collar, in a newly released footage by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, as per TMZ; the late couple pictured with their two former dogs, Maisie and Roscoe

The deputy informed Gene's daughter that the two remaining dogs, German Shepherd Bear and Akita-shepherd mix Nikita, were found alive and were being rehomed with family; the pair seen in 1991

Arakawa died around February 11 from hantavirus, a rare virus spread by mice, while Hackman likely died on February 18 from heart disease. He also showed 'evidence of advanced Alzheimer's disease'; the pair seen in 1989

Unfortunately, Bear and Nikita have lost each other's companionship as they have been split up following their ordeal.

Padilla told DailyMail.com he was not allowed to share where they ended up, only that they were placed in separate homes.

Padilla later issued a statement noting that the couple's estate lawyer had signed off on the decision.

'We went through stringent efforts to ensure the best homes were found and the dogs have already begun settling into their new lives.

'We are all thankful for the concern and well wishes Bear and Nikita have received during their transition,' he added.

Padilla, 42, had forged a close bond over the years with the legendary actor and his wife, Betsy, who took exceptional care of their three dogs, using his training and daycare services as well as those of an animal chiropractor who'd give them adjustments every few weeks.

'Gene and Betsy had so much love for her dogs,' he told DailyMail.com. 'There was nothing they would not do for those dogs.'

The couple also provided financial support at Santa Fe Tails and invested in The Alley, a bowling center Padilla owns elsewhere in town.

Zinna likely died from dehydration and starvation, according to a reported examination done on the deceased canine. Their two other dogs were found by first responders roaming freely on the Santa Fe mansion's grounds (pictured)

'I wouldn't have what I have without them,' he said.

Aside from Elizabeth, Hackman was also father to son Christopher Allen, 65, and daughter Leslie Anne, 58, from his previous marriage to Faye Maltese.

The two dogs were found by first responders roaming freely on the couple's sprawling Santa Fe estate.

Police, paramedics and the Fire Department rushed to the home on February 26 after a caretaker made the grisly discovery of Arakawa's dead body.

However, they were then unable to immediately locate Hackman and after over 30 minutes they had still not found the Oscar winning actor.

During their search one of the dogs constantly ran up to them barking and running off in different locations.

The first responders thought they wanted to play however this was not the case.

'They realized (the dog) was trying to say, "Hey, come over here! Come over here!".' Chief Brian Moya told USA Today.

Once they followed the dog it led them to Hackman's body in the mudroom which the dog then sat next to.

Joey Padilla, the owner of Santa Fe Tails, took care of Bear and Nikita until they were rehomed into separate homes

One of their dogs Nikita was 'skittish because of all the commotion' and refused to leave the sides of both of her owners, the authorities said.

In a full timeline of events, officials said that Arakawa had picked up their dog Zinna from a vet hospital after the dog underwent treatment on February 9.

On February 11, they said she had an email conversation with her massage therapist before later in the afternoon going to a farmers market.

She was caught on CVS surveillance footage shortly after the market, before then going to a local pet food store.

Her car was then seen on surveillance entering the gated community at 5:15pm on February 11.

Officials said that numerous emails went unopened on February 11, and that there was no further communication from her account after that day.

Hackman was discovered lying on the ground of a mud room just off the kitchen with his sunglasses and cane nearby, indicating he may have fallen according to officials.

Hackman shared three children with his first wife Faye Maltese. He and Arakawa, a classical pianist, had been married for the last three decades.

Aside from Elizabeth, Hackman was also father to son Christopher Allen, 65, and daughter Leslie Anne, 58, from his previous marriage to Faye Maltese; seen with Betsy, Leslie, and Elizabeth

Hackman with his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Unforgiven. The gruff-but-beloved Hackman was among the finest actors of his generation

The gruff-but-beloved Hackman was among the finest actors of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won for The French Connection in 1972 and Unforgiven two decades later.

Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist who grew up in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s.

They soon moved in together, and by the end of the decade had decamped to Santa Fe.

A naturally private man, Hackman was labelled a recluse as he remained out of the public eye for years on end following his retirement from the movie industry. He retired from acting in 2004.
The status of Taylor Swift and troubled pal Jaime King has been revealed after the actress lost custody of her two kids and was reportedly forced to move out of Hollywood Hills rental.

The Grammy winner, 35, and the White Chicks star, 45, have been pictured together in the past on various occasions - and Taylor became the godmother of Jaime's son Leo back in 2015.

King shares children James, 11, and Leo, nine, with ex-husband Kyle Newman. The pair married in 2007 but their divorce was finalized in 2023.

A source told The U.S. Sun that Taylor and Jaime do not have 'regular contact' but added that 'there is still love.'

The insider informed the outlet, 'Taylor and Jaime are not close anymore and don't talk but there is still love.'

It was also revealed that the Bad Blood songstress will still send presents to her godson Leo and would 'be there in a heartbeat' if she needed to be.

The status of Taylor Swift, 35, and troubled pal Jaime King, 45, has been revealed not long after the actress lost custody of her two kids and was reportedly forced to move out of Hollywood Hills rental; seen in 2014 in West Hollywood

'She has always taken her godmother role and duties very seriously and is the most caring and thoughtful person Jaime could've asked to be there for Leo.'

The source continued, 'But their relationship is a lot different now than it was back when Jaime asked Taylor to be his godmother. There is no regular contact.'

Swift and King had been spotted spending time together during the 2010s, and developed a close friendship.

In 2014, Jaime's then-husband Kyle Newman notably directed the music video for Taylor's hit track Style off her 1989 album.

The following year, the Love Story songstress became Leo's godmother - which the Hart Of Dixie actress later opened up about.

During an interview with E! News in 2015, Jaime explained, 'I always thought if I were to have another child that she would be the ideal godmother because the way she not only treats me but the way she treats other human beings.

'She's so loving and so giving and so generous and she does everything from her heart and she's incredibly brave and authentic. It's a very rare thing to come across.'

King further added at the time, 'I know that [our baby] will always have a very good person and role model through her.'

A source told The U.S. Sun that Taylor and Jaime do not have 'regular contact' but added that 'there is still love'; seen in 2022 in L.A.

It was also revealed that the Bad Blood songstress will still send presents to her godson Leo and would 'be there in a heartbeat' if she needed to be

It was reported that Jaime was forced to move out of her $10k-a-month house in the Hollywood Hills earlier this month, per The Sun.

The actress had been renting the residence - which has four bedrooms and three bathrooms - since April 2023.

Photos captured a number of items placed on the driveway, such as a mattress and a couch.

The property has since been rented out not long after being put on the market with the new residents paying $11,900-per-month.

An insider told The Sun that King had to 'downsize' and relocate to a 'cheaper' place due to financial struggles.

'She has been struggling with her finances for years now after some failed film ventures but the custody fight and having to fight all the accusations made against her in court drained her bank accounts. She moved into a smaller space just this month.'

Also this month, King was banned from being alone with her children until she has completed a mandated drug and alcohol program.

The source stated that the actress is 'shattered' after losing custody and added, 'Now that the world knows, it's made everything that much harder. It causes a wedge in personal and work relationships.

The source continued, 'But their relationship is a lot different now than it was back when Jaime asked Taylor to be his godmother. There is no regular contact'; seen in 2014 in Beverly Hills

In 2014, Jaime's then-husband Kyle Newman notably directed the music video for Taylor's hit track Style off her 1989 album' King and Newman seen with their sons in 2016 in California

'She is taking it very hard to say the least. She has had demons she's been battling for decades but her recent troubles have been exasperated by her family troubles, her career struggling and financial stress.'

The insider continued, 'And I'm sure things others don't even know about, she can be very private about what she's going through.'

Earlier this week on Monday, a judge awarded King's ex-husband Kyle Newman sole physical custody over James and Leo, per People.

The two boys with live with Newman, who will have final say on legal custody while the pair will share custody on paper amid the contentious case.

The judge said King must have her visits with her sons supervised until she finishes a mandated drug/alcohol program that lasts around six months.

Dailymail.com has reached out to Newman for comment on the latest developments.

The people approved in the supervisory role included her mother, sister, brother-in-law, and Newman's brother Kevin, the outlet reported.

King has made repeated visits to court over the past five years with her ex-husband to litigate custody concerns. Most recently she filed with the court for an emergency request.

Jaime filed the request to alter the agreement they made in terms of child and spousal support two years prior, People reported.

It was reported that Jaime was forced to move out of her $10k-a-month house in the Hollywood Hills earlier this month, per The Sun; seen in 2019 in NYC

The source stated that the actress is 'shattered' after losing custody and added, 'Now that the world knows, it's made everything that much harder. It causes a wedge in personal and work relationships'

King 'lacks the ability to pay the support,' her attorneys said in legal docs, while Newman said King had 'been out of compliance with the court's child and spousal support orders for well over a year.'

Newman told the court that King would not 'sign a judgment' in their divorce agreement; and that she did not have the legal right to 'rescind' any of the court's orders, the outlet reported.

The former couple initially wed in 2007 at the Los Angeles-based mansion Greystone Park and Manor. King in May of 2020 entered a court filing requesting a divorce to end the 13-year marital union.

King concurrently filed paperwork with the court requesting a emergency motion toward custody and visitation-related issues, the outlet reported, as well as a petition to prevent domestic violence.

Amid the custody row, King said in May of 2020 that Newman had put together an 'intervention' for her four months earlier after informing family and friends she was having substance abuse issues.

King in legal docs said she went a facility so she could be tested and cleared as drug-and-alcohol free. She said that days in, she had been sent home after passing a substance abuse test.

Earlier this week on Monday, a judge awarded King's ex-husband Kyle Newman sole physical custody over James and Leo, per People

King is 'a chronic drug addict and alcoholic who refuses to acknowledge that she has a problem, let alone seek meaningful treatment for such problem,' Newman said in his legal filing at the time.

Newman told the court in a filing that 'several friends' informed him that she had used narcotics during both of her pregnancies. He added that doctors told him that their son Leo 'was also addicted due to her continued drug use.'

He said he 'was devastated' to learn at the same medical appointment 'that Leo Thames had a congenital heart defect and would need surgery to survive as soon as he was born.'

Newman said in his court filing that on occasion, King had driven 'under the influence' with their children in the vehicle, People reported.

King 'lacks the ability to pay the support,' her attorneys said in legal docs, while Newman said King had 'been out of compliance with the court's child and spousal support orders for well over a year'; Jaime and Kyle seen in 2018 in NYC

Newman said in his court filing that on occasion, King had driven 'under the influence' with their children in the vehicle, People reported

King became 'so intoxicated in front of them that they thought their mother was dying, and abandoning them for days at a time to get drunk and high instead of care for them.'

He added that 'at one point, Jaime left Leo Thames at his doctor's appointment with the nanny, only to be found over a half hour later at the liquor store across the street buying a bottle of alcohol.'

Swift was involved when Thames had to undergo the surgery, as the Grammy-winner donated a generous sum of money to the Los Angeles-based hospital Cedars-Sinai, King revealed in an August 2016 Instagram post.

Jaime said that the lesson she learned from her famed friend was that it was important to provide support and spread awareness toward people in similar circumstances.
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It was a very smitten looking Dina Broadhurst who stepped out in Sydney on Saturday.

The 'nude artist', 46, was joined by her new beau Kengi Meert, 23, as she headed for a hair appointment at a swanky Double Bay salon.

The young Belgian model was very much in doting boyfriend mode, waiting dutifully in the salon as Dina had her locks primped and preened.

Kenji was content to chat too his ladylove in the salon and use he downtime to catch up on some calls.

Dina went for a casual cool look on he weekend outing, stepping out in a crisp white scoop neck tank top.

She also wore a cream-coloured miniskirt complete with belt loops and pockets on the thighs.

It was a very smitten looking Dina Broadhurst who stepped out in Sydney on Saturday

The 'nude artist', 46, was joined by her new beau Kengi Meert, 23, as she headed for a hair appointment at a swanky Double Bay salon

The skirt showed off Dina's enviably trim and toned pins, while her slender arms were also on full display.

Dina finished her date look with a pair of quirky Miu Miu crochet ballerina flats that would've set the artist back just under $2000.

She augmented the look with a pair of tortoise shell framed sunglasses that she wore perched atop her head.

Dina accessorised with a luxe Celine Teen Triomphe calfskin bag that retails at a wallet-draining $$6200.

She also carried what appeared to be a dark blue overcoat in the crook of her arm.

Kenji, meanwhile went for a simple, casual look in a relaxed fit drop shoulder T-shirt in Royal blue.

He kept the muted theme going with a pair of dark blue pants that he matched with a pair of Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 sneakers.

The pair were not afraid to air their new romance publicly, strolling through he swanky Sydney suburb arm in arm.

The young Belgian model was very much in doting boyfriend mode, waiting dutifully in the salon as Dina had her locks primped and preened.

Kenji was content to chat too his ladylove in the salon and use he downtime to catch up on some calls

Dina looked very much in her element as salon staff worked on her brunette locks

Dina went for a casual cool look on he weekend outing, stepping ou in a crisp white scoop neck tank top

She also wore a cream-coloured miniskirt complete with belt loops and pockets on the thighs

Dina finished her date look with a pair of quirky Miu Miu crochet ballerina flats that would've set the artist back just under $2000

Dina accessorised with a luxe Celine Teen Triomphe calfskin bag that retails at a wallet-draining $$6200

The couple looked chuffed to be in each other's company, beaming broadly as they enjoyed heir Saturday morning stroll.

While their hunger for amour was clearly evident, the pair also quickly worked up an appetite of a different kind.

The smitten couple were spotted stopping off a a local eatery for a bite. to eat.

While Kengi appeared satisfied with a cup of coffee, Dina was spotted tucking into wha. appeared to be a plate of grilled chicken, possibly refuelling in an effort to keep up with her much younger beau.

Aside from the pick-me-up, the couple appeared deep in conversation as they enjoyed their al fresco able.

News of the couple's tryst won't be new to Mail+ subscribers as we revealed he couple's Paris fling earlier this month.

The couple were rumoured to have struck up a romance during Dina's latest holiday to Europe after her tryst with ex-partner John Winning Jr in Chile.

She shared pictures of her Belgian model to her Instagram account on Tuesday as the pair visited Centre Pompidou in Paris.

The couple looked chuffed to be in each other's company, beaming broadly as they enjoyed heir Saturday morning stroll

While their hunger for amour was clearly evident, the pair also quickly worked up an appetite of a different kind

The smitten couple were spotted stopping off a a local eatery for a bite to eat

While Kengi appeared satisfied with a cup of coffee, Dina was spotted tucking into wha. appeared to be a plate of grilled chicken, possibly refuelling in an effort to keep up with her much younger beau

While perusing the collection of art in the gallery, Kengi captured several photos of Dina admiring the displays.

However, nestled deep in the reel of images, Dina managed to sneak in a window reflection selfie of herself and her new flame.

She also included a few frames of the very handsome wellness retreat founder turning away from the camera, ensuring she tagged him for her followers to find.

Dina put on a leggy display during her romantic date with Kengi, slipping into a baby blue tank top with a very short white skirt.

She rugged up against the cold with a soft cream sweater before slipping on her favourite Paris accessories - her luxe Chanel loafers.

It comes after Kengi proved things could be getting serious between him and Dina, as he called the Australian his 'wife' in a recent post.

Dina shared a racy gallery of photos taken during their trip to Paris, including a nude selfie which saw her posing on a bed in her hotel room.

'Reflections,' she simply captioned the post, adding the French flag emoji.

Aside from the pick-me-up, the couple appeared deep in conversation as they enjoyed their al fresco able, much like their loved-up stroll

News of the couple's tryst won't be new to Mail+ subscribers as we revealed he couple's Paris fling earlier this month

The couple were rumoured to have struck up a romance during Dina's latest holiday to Europe after her tryst with ex-partner John Winning Jr in Chile

'MY COOL WIFE,' Kengi commented on the post, before Dina responded with several love heart emojis.

Dina returned from her European holiday last week after enjoying a romantic getaway with her new lover.

She jetted to Paris after a sojourn in Chile with her ex John Winning Jr and spent the week rolling around five-star Hotel Costes with Kengi.

Kengi won season four of Love Island Belgium but eventually ended things with his show partner Kimmy de Weerd.

They called it quits in January because: 'Kengi is not feeling well, he can't give me the love he used to'.

The male model, who splits his time between Belgium and Ibiza, is only four years older than Dina's son.

They have been trying to keep their relationship under wraps by not posting photos of one another on Instagram.
Channing Tatum has sworn off doing any more acting roles that require him to gain weight.

On Friday the 44-year-old heartthrob  whose new girlfriend is Australian beauty Inka Williams  took to Instagram to share a set of shirtless photos with his 17.4 million followers.

Starting with a present-day snapshot of him wearing nothing but black briefs and showing off his chiseled torso, he wrote in the caption, 'We back up! lol. 1st photo is today 205 (lbs).'

A second image featured the star appearing noticeably heavier as he took a mirror selfie. He noted, '2nd photo 235 for a movie called Josephine.'

He shared a third and final image looking lean and slender, announcing, 'I won't be doing any more fat roles, haha. It's too hard on the body and too hard to take off now.'

The last picture showed the Magic Mike sensation with his dark hair longer than usual and he shared that at the time he weighed '172 for a movie [called] Roofman.'

Channing Tatum has sworn off doing any more acting roles that require him to gain weight

On Friday the 44-year-old heartthrob took to Instagram to share a set of shirtless photos with his 17.4 million followers, showing his weight transformation as he dove into different acting roles

Tatum, who shares 11-year-old daughter Everly with ex-wife Jenna Dewan, said he's glad to have his genetics and a helpful team to help him maintain his fitness.

'I'm so grateful for my genetics. Grateful for my chef/nutritionist/witch. Grateful for my trainer. I couldn't make these big swings in my weight without you guys,' the Hollywood vet wrote.

Gushing comments quickly poured in from fans as they ogled the thirst traps.

Padma Lakshmi was among the admirers, taking to the post to simply write, 'Wow!'

And film director Katie Burrell added to the thread, 'Everyone say thank you Channing.'

An IMDb logline for Channing's upcoming thriller Josephine reads: 'After witnessing a brutal attack in Golden Gate Park, eight-year-old Josephine is plunged into a maelstrom of fear and paranoia. She acts out with increasing violence, looking for any way to regain control of her own safety.' The movie does not yet have a release date.

The Blink Twice actor will also star in the upcoming crime drama Roofman, slated for an October 3 release, about the true story of serial robber Jeffrey Manchester.

Channing went public with new girlfriend, 25-year-old Australian model Inka Williams, in early March.

He shared a third and final image looking lean and slender, announcing, 'I won't be doing any more fat roles, haha. It's too hard on the body and too hard to take off now'

Tatum, who shares 11-year-old daughter Everly with ex-wife Jenna Dewan, said he's glad to have his genetics and a helpful team to help him maintain his fitness

Channing went public with new girlfriend, 25-year-old Australian model Inka Williams, in early March

He was previously engaged to Zoe Kravitz, but the couple called off their engagement in late 2024.

'I feel like I'm dating the king of England actually he's way better,' Inka recently told the Herald Sun about the new romance.

'I am very happy,' she added.

Rumors first swirled about the pair when they were spotted at the Santa Monica Proper Hotel in January.
Kim Kardashian has announced that her SKIMS brand has now acquired her beauty line SKKN by KIM in a major consolidation.

The TV personality, 44 - who has been embroiled in a recent 'nuclear' war with ex-husband Kanye West - made the revelation on SKKN's main Instagram account on Friday.

SKIMS officially acquired the reality star's 80% stake in the line, as well as beauty conglomerate Coty's 20% holding as well.

'We're excited to announce SKIMS has acquired SKKN by Kim! Enjoy your favorite SKKN essentials for a limited time as we prepare to relaunch under the SKIMS brand,' the mother-of-four penned.

Kim concluded by guiding consumers and fans to the SKIMS page 'while we work to create something new.'

SKKN by Kim was originally called KKW Beauty before it was shut down in 2021, and later relaunched the following year as SKKN.

Kim Kardashian, 44, has announced that her SKIMS brand has now acquired her beauty line SKKN by KIM in a major consolidation; seen earlier this month in Beverly Hills

SKIMS officially acquired the reality star's 80% stake in the line, as well as beauty conglomerate Coty's 20% holding as well

The beauty line currently offers customers both skincare and makeup products - which will now be sold under the SKIMS label.

'My mission has always been to create products that resonate deeply - whether it's shapewear and lingerie that empowers or make-up and skincare that transforms,' Kim said in a statement, per The Hollywood Reporter.

The Kardashians star further explained that, 'Uniting everything under the SKIMS brand streamlines that vision.'

SKIMS will now not only offer clothing but also cosmetics, skincare and fragrances. The beauty and fragrance products are set to become available next year in 2026 under SKIMS - although an exact date has yet to be disclosed.

SKKN by Kim launched in 2022 to offer consumers skincare products, such as cleaners and creams.

Earlier last year, the businesswoman announced that a makeup line would also be released under SKKN.

In regards to her decision, Kim told Harper's Bazaar, 'So I always wanted to shut everything down and launch one beauty brand that would have everything you could imagine, from skincare, color cosmetics, fragrance, hair care, nails - whatever, you know, is under the beauty umbrella.

'When I was rebranding and thinking of a name, I always loved the name SKKN, not just for skincare, but spelled like that, because my initials are in the middle, obviously.'

'We're excited to announce SKIMS has acquired SKKN by Kim! Enjoy your favorite SKKN essentials for a limited time as we prepare to relaunch under the SKIMS brand,' the mother-of-four penned

'My mission has always been to create products that resonate deeply - whether it's shapewear and lingerie that empowers or make-up and skincare that transforms,' Kim said in a statement, per The Hollywood Reporter; seen in 2024 in NYC

Earlier last year, the businesswoman announced that a makeup line would also be released under SKKN

She had also teased the return of fragrances to the brand - after KKW Fragrance was closed in 2022.

'Fragrances are coming - I'm so excited. I think like for skin, it's not just about skincare - it's like taking care of all of your skin and feeling good all over. And so, fragrance you definitely spray on your skin,' the reality star said last year.

And back in 2022, Kardashian also opened up about rebranding her KKW labels - with KKW original standing for Kim Kardashian West amid her former marriage to the rapper.

While on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, she expressed, 'I will say that it happened before. Everyone thinks like, oh my God, its just to get the W off. That's not it.

'What I really wanted to do was I felt so bad that the customer had to go from KKW Beauty, then we'd go to KKW Skin [which was not yet available and still has not been released] then would go to KKW Fragrance.'

She further 'felt so bad' that consumers would have 'shipping costs at three different websites.'

SKIMS was first launched back in 2019 - and the company's value is currently estimated to be around $4 billion.

During a past interview with Time Magazine, the star opened up about the success of the brand.

The Kardashians star further explained that, 'Uniting everything under the SKIMS brand streamlines that vision'

'I do think it's important when people want to invest. It validates that people believe that you will be successful, and they will invest themselves to help grow the business. I've learned so much about that space.'

Kim added, 'Especially having started my private equity fund and learning about the companies that they invest in and what it really takes to grow a business.'

While the TV personality has been focusing on her business ventures, the star has also recently been embroiled in a 'nuclear' war with her ex-husband Kanye West.

It comes shortly after he posted a song onto X titled Lonely Roads Still Go To Sunshine that featured vocals from their daughter North, 11, and disgraced jailed rapper Diddy - who is facing sex trafficking charges and sexual assault lawsuits.

TMZ has reported that Kim has considered going to court in order to get full custody of their four children - and also allegedly had an emergency meeting with Kanye over their daughter North.

West recently lashed out at Kim on X over his visitation rights and wrote that his 'rights have been taken away by the Kardashian mob, Hulu and Disney' and added that others that have opinions about him are 'slaves to the Jews.'

The music artist penned, 'Yes I have beef with people that froze my account, took my kids away and have tried to put me in jail and ITS STUCK;

'I DON'T WANT TO JUST ''SEE'' MY KIDS. I NEED TO RAISE THEM. I NEED TO HAVE SAY SO OF WHERE THEY GO TO SCHOOL AND WHO THEIR FRIENDS ARE AND WHOSE HOUSES THEY SLEEP OVER WHETHER MY DAUGHTERS WEAR LIPSTICK AND PERFUM.

He added, 'ALL THESE RIGHTS HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM ME BY THE KARDASHIAN MOB, HULU AND DISNEY AND THE BIGGEST AGENDA TO USE THE SELECTIVELY BRED BLACK CHILDREN TO BE PLATFORMS TO INFLUENCE BLACK PEOPLE.

While the TV personality has been focusing on her business ventures, the star has also recently been embroiled in a 'nuclear' war with her ex-husband Kanye West; seen earlier this month in Beverly Hills

It comes shortly after he posted a song onto X titled Lonely Roads Still Go To Sunshine that featured vocals from their daughter North, 11, and disgraced jailed rapper Diddy - who is facing sex trafficking charges and sexual assault lawsuits; seen in 2024 in L.A.

'JUST SEEING MY KIDS IS LIKE VISITATION ITS LIKE IM IN PRISON ''SEEING'' MY KIDS I DONT CARE IF I LIVE OR DIE OR IF IM IN JAIL OR FREE AND I ESPECIALLY DONT CARE ABOUT WHATEVER THESE P***Y A** CELEBRITIES GOT TO SAY THAT ARE SLAVES TO THE JEWS.'

A source also informed DailyMail.com that Kim has since taken legal action to prevent the song featuring North and Diddy from being released.

West also uploaded a heated text exchange between him and Kim on X - which has since been taken down.

She seemingly was telling her ex that she has copyright to their eldest child's name, which could possibly prevent him to having North included on the song.

Not long after the track was shared to social media, an insider informed DailyMail.com that Kim 'will do whatever it takes to protect her kids from the hateful speech that Kanye continues to spur at this time.'

The reality star 'has requested through a judge to not allow the kids to be around that type of behavior.'

And this week on Tuesday, Kanye also shared in posts on X that he didn't want his daughter North collaborating with Playboi Carti after he was excluded from a project.

'I decided North wont be doing any songs with Carti. How it look for me to get left off the album and then he ask Kim to have vocals from my daughter.'

He added, 'I dont a f*** about none of this industry s*** and how its a skims line in the first place and I dont give a f*** what no comments.

'White women not letting me see my kids or even have say so of where they go to school and controlling my kids name and likeness. Celebrities only speaking up to diss me for wearing a red hat.'

Kanye continued, 'So a white women has control over the name and likeness of my Black children and then speaks to carti about putting my daughter on a song with him.'

West recently lashed out at Kim on X over his visitation rights and wrote that his 'rights have been taken away by the Kardashian mob, Hulu and Disney' and added that others that have opinions about him are 'slaves to the Jews'

He also commented on custody rights over their four children and mentioned turning to the court. 'Its time go and get full custody which will me [sic].'

He added, 'Taking them out of the hands of disney sierra canyon pawn celebrity parents and the kardashian klan and mama kriss who signed for the sex tape.

'I'm not the crazy one here. I'm they father. I'm controlling what they watch what they wear and where to go to school.'

Kim and Kanye were married from 2014 until 2022 - and welcomed four children: North, 11, Saint, nine, Chicago, seven and Psalm, five.
Inka Williams cut a casual figure on Saturday when she was spotted at Sydney Airport preparing to leave Australia on an international flight.

The Aussie girlfriend of Hollywood A-lister Channing Tatum summed up her ritzy week in Melbourne attending half a dozen VIP Formula 1 Grand Prix events as 'fun'.

The 25-year-old model made no mention of her high-profile beau in her lengthy 'postcards from the fast lane' editorial, published in RUSSH magazine on Saturday.

Her appearances in her native Melbourne were the talk of the town this week, though, largely thanks to the Magic Mike star jetting into Australia for the festivities.

It was a solo Inka that prepared to jet off on the weekend, with Channing having already departed earlier this week.

Inka was dressed for comfort for her long-haul flight, arriving at the airport in a midriff-exposing long sleeve black top and a the SIR The Label cap.

Inka Williams cut a casual figure on Saturday when she was spotted at Sydney Airport preparing to leave Australia on an international flight

The Aussie girlfriend of Hollywood A-lister Channing Tatum summed up her ritzy week in Melbourne attending half a dozen VIP Formula 1 Grand Prix events as 'fun'

Inka matched this with a pair of baggy stonewash jeans that she wore with the cuffs rolled up.

She finished her ensemble with a pair of brown suede heeled boots.

She accessorised with a black cap that featured the words: 'yes sir' across the front and a large black leather bag over her shoulder.

The petite brunette was also spotted wheeling a black suitcase through the terminal.

Despite sporting a downcast face as she made her way through the airport, Inka appeared in good sprits without Channing on her arm.

She appeared to be having a pleasant exchange with airport staff, smiling as she arrived to check in for the flight.

While the pair were in Melbourne together for the Formula 1 Grand Prix, they managed to avoid being photographed together.

Before his arrival, Inka attended several events, including Glamour on the Grid and an intimate Moet & Chandon soiree to celebrate the Champagne house's return to Formula 1 podiums.

Despite sporting a downcast face as she made her way through the airport, Inka appeared in good sprits without Channing on her arm

'A brief power nap was essential before joining everyone in the glam suite at The Crown [for Glamour on the Grid],' she wrote.

Giving some insight as to her private life, the young model described the highlight of her week as an intimate lunch with her parents.

'Thursday found me battling a touch of jet lag, so I opted for a comforting Yum Cha with my dad and family friends,' she said.

'I'd flown my dad in from Bali, giving him the chance to revisit his home town that he first left almost 50 years ago.

'We caught up with family, sharing stories, laughter, and a feast of Chinese food, accompanied by a few beers.'

'It was a long but incredibly fun week,' Inka summarised.

On Friday, Channing was all smiles on Friday as he jetted into Melbourne Airport.

The actor is said to be 'happy' with his new girlfriend after they confirmed their romance at a pre-Oscars bash earlier this month

The veteran actor was first linked to the Australian beauty in January following his split from ex-fiancee Zoe Kravitz in October 2024.

A source told People that the couple are 'seeing' each other on romantic terms.

'They met through friends. She's great. She's young, but seems older.'

'Channing's doing well. [Inka] makes him happy,' the insider continued.

'He's reuniting with Zoe later this spring for another movie project. It shouldn't be too awkward - they ended things on okay terms.'

Inka, who was born in Melbourne and raised in Bali, balances her successful modelling career with her fashion brand She Is I.
Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell were in high spirits as they greeted fans on Friday after another successful performance of their new play Much Ado About Nothing.

The pair are currently starring as sparring enemies-turned-lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, in the new Shakespeare adaptation by The Jamie Lloyd Company at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

And the co-stars couldnt stop smiling after their performance on Friday as they were met by a group of fans eagerly waiting for autographs.

Tom, 44, appeared to be in jovial spirits as he smiled and chatted with theatregoers after another night on stage for their critically-lauded show.

For the night, the Loki star cut a casual figure in a padded blue coat with a hood as he prepared to head home for the evening.

Meanwhile, his co-star Hayley, 42, looked effortlessly chic in a black coat with a structured collar as she joined him in signing autographs.

Tom Hiddleston, 44, was in high spirits as he greeted fans outside the theatre on Friday, after another successful performance of his new play Much Ado About Nothing

He was also joined by his co-star Hayley Atwell, 42, who couldnt stop smiling after their performance as they were greeted by a group of fans eagerly waiting for autographs

The American actress styled her brunette tresses in a bun and accessorised with a gold statement necklace and earrings.

The pair are starring in Much Ado About Nothing until April 5 and have been highly-praised for their 'explosive chemistry' on stage.

Much Ado About Nothing and The Tempest, which ran from December through to February, are part of a Shakespeare season at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

They are the first plays by the Bard to be staged at the theatre since Peter Brook's production of The Tempest starring John Gielgud in 1957.

Each play is directed by Jamie Lloyd, who previously staged Romeo And Juliet, which starred Marvel actor Tom Holland and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers in the title roles.

Of his casting in Much Ado About Nothing, Tom said: 'Working with Jamie Lloyd on Harold Pinter's Betrayal was one of the most fulfilling and meaningful experiences of my performing life.

'I could not be more thrilled to have been given the opportunity to collaborate with him again, this time on one of Shakespeare's most warm-hearted and joyful plays: Much Ado About Nothing.

'It's an honour to have been invited by Andrew Lloyd Webber to bring Shakespeare back to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, in a season alongside Sigourney Weaver in The Tempest, and to be working with the great Hayley Atwell for the first time.'

Meanwhile, Captain America actress Hayley added: 'I am thrilled to be joining Jamie Lloyd's company for the third time in my career.

'His bold and electric direction, combined with the warmth and wit of one of Shakespeare's most celebrated comedic duos is a truly exciting opportunity and one that I hope will delight our audiences.

After the play, Tom bundled up in a padded blue coat with a hood, preparing to head home for the evening

Meanwhile, his co-star Hayley looked effortlessly chic in a black coat with a structured collar as she headed to her ride home

The star almost had a run-in with a cyclist as she attempted to cross the road after departing the theatre

'I look forward to working with my talented friend Tom Hiddleston and bringing The Bard back to Theatre Royal Drury Lane.'

Last month, Tom impressed The Graham Norton Show audience as he gave them a demo of his signature dance moves as he discussed his time on stage.

Discussing his role as Benedick, Tom chatted about the plot of the play with host Graham and revealed he and the cast spent most of their rehearsal time dancing.

He said: 'It's the most beautiful play, it's so full of warmth and light and wit and it's got a big heart. And in our production, it's full of dancing.'

Graham asked: 'Yes I've heard that rehearsals are fifty percent dance,' to which Tom joked back: 'We turn up in the morning and the first hour is dance hour, very useful for working off the mince pies.'

He added: 'It's just such a lovely thing to do in early January, is dance first thing in the morning.'

Graham jokingly asked the star: 'Is it like freestyle or people teaching you choreography? Is it like everybody dance now.'

Tom confessed he hit the nail on the head, adding: 'The party It's not like Swan Lake you know, but the party is the sort of party that you recognise.

The pair are starring in Much Ado About Nothing until April 5 and have been highly-praised for their 'explosive chemistry' on stage

'It's like a wedding or a birthday party, big celebrations. So everybody's still getting up and doing their sort of signature move.'

Brie asked him: 'What's your signature move?' to which Tom said: 'My signature move is just keep swimming.'

The star then got up from the iconic red sofa and proceeded to crouch down and move his arms from left to right as he wiggled his hips leaving the rest of the guests stunned.
Actor James Laurenson, who was best known for his roles in Coronation Street and The Crown, reportedly left 214,280 in his will.

The beloved actor died aged 84 in May 2024, after a varied career spanning fifty years on stage and screen.

He first appeared in the long-running Manchester-based soap opera in 1968 as the Reverend Peter Hope.

More recently, he played Scottish physician and homeopath Doctor Sir John Weir in the hit Netflix series The Crown.

He also famously performed the first gay kiss with Sir Ian McKellen in an adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II in 1970, just three years after homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK.

Now, The Sun has reported that the actor left a sum of 214,280 net in his will, which he accumulated over his career.

Actor James Laurenson, who was best known for his roles in Coronation Street and The Crown, reportedly left 214,000 in his will

The beloved actor died aged 84 back in May 2024, after a varied career spanning fifty years on stage and screen

He is survived by second wife Cari Haysom and his son Jamie, from his previous marriage to actress Carol Macready.

Born in New Zealand, Laurenson studied at what was then Canterbury University College in Christchurch before moving to the UK. His father was also passionate about the arts as an amateur actor.

Arriving in London in the early 1960s, the actor remarked that it was difficult to find work and get scripts in the capital.

His film debut was a supporting role in Women in Love in 1969. He went on to appear in numerous Shakespearean productions including Richard II and Hamlet.

In 1972, he landed the title role in Australian TV drama series Boney as Detective Inspector Napoleon 'Boney' Bonaparte.

However the casting of the non aboriginal Kiwi in the role attracted anger but also positive reviews, with one Australian critic dubbing him 'Australia's newest TV sex symbol'.

Despite being a success in Britain, the show was not aired in America over concerns that the US audience would not believe a lawman who didn't carry a gun.

Two years later, he played the main part in The Prison, a TV film based on the novel of the same name by George Simenon.

He also played the lead role of Julian Marsh in the West End production 42nd Street at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1984 - his only performance in a musical.

He appeared as Scottish physician and homeopath Doctor Weir in Netflix series The Crown

The Olivier award nominated actor first appeared in Coronation Street in 1968

Pictured: He famously performed the first gay kiss with Ian McKellen in Christopher Marlowe's Edward II in 1970 - just three years after homosexuality was decriminalised

Laurenson was a regular actor at the Peter Hall Company, whose founder described him as 'a great actor' with 'Everyman quality'.

Although not himself gay, Laurenson became known in 1970 after performing the first male same-sex kiss with Ian McKellen.

His co-star remarked that the kiss was 'a bonus throughout the run'.

Paying tribute on X, one fan wrote: 'Very sad to hear that James Laurenson has died.

'He was a wonderful actor and I count myself lucky that I saw him at the RSC a few times. He seemed like a gentle soul. His way with words was exemplary, giving feeling and resonance to pretty much any script he worked with. RIP.'

Among his other credits are Midsomer Murders, Bergerac, Lovejoy, Taggart and Prime Suspect, and starring as Pink's father in the 1982 film Pink Floyd: The Wall.

He starred in the BBC version of Henry IV in The Hollow Crown as the Earl of Westmoreland, and as Professor George Amory in ITV's Endeavour.

Among his other work included radio appearances, most notably as the Squire of Altarnun in a 1991 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's Jamaica Inn.

The actor moved to Frome, Somerset in the 1990s where he enjoyed time 'away from the spotlight' walking his dog Maisie.
Nikita Kuzmin and his girlfriend Lauren Jaine put on a loved-up display at the press night afterparty for his new show Midnight Dancer in London on Friday.

The Strictly Come Dancing pro, 27, appeared as smitten than ever as he posed for several sweet snaps with his long-term girlfriend, Lauren, 23.

For the event at the Peacock Theatre, Nikita showed off his muscular frame in a black vest top and light blue denim jeans, which he paired with black boots.

Nikita - who recently teased his wedding plans with Lauren - accessorised with a gold necklace as he beamed for the cameras.

Meanwhile, Lauren looked stunning in a pastel green off-the-shoulder boucle maxi dress.

She added height to her frame with a pair of pointed white court heels and carried a white woven shoulder bag to complete her look.

Nikita Kuzmin and his girlfriend Lauren Jaine put on a loved-up display as they attended the press night afterparty for his new show Midnight Dancer in London on Friday

The Strictly pro, 27, appeared more smitten than ever as he posed for several sweet snaps with his long-term girlfriend, Lauren, 23, shortly after teasing his engagement to the beauty

Earlier in the evening, Nikita, currently on his first-ever solo UK and Ireland tour, took to the stage in a stylish purple embellished co-ord to perform for the crowds.

The ensemble featured a cropped jacket with a sparkly chiffon accent on one shoulder pad and high-waisted trousers.

The dancer delivered an electrifying performance alongside dancers Sophie Baker, Thomas Charles, Lowri Hamilton, Samuel Lake, Charlotte Lee, Zara Liu, Seamus McIntosh, Daniel Rae, and Andreea Toma, as well as vocalist Rebecca Lisewski.

The brand-new show, which tells a modern-day Cinderella story, offers a unique experience with dazzling costumes, dancefloor anthems, and world-class dancing.

It follows the highs and lows of a classic romance, as two star-crossed lovers meet only to be torn apart.

Other stars in attendance on the night included pro dancer Vito Coppola, Abbie Quinnen, Strictly judge Shirley Ballas, TV personality Vanessa Feltz, choreographer Dame Arlene Phillips, and celebrity chef Levi Roots.

The bash comes shortly after Nikita discussed his marriage plans with his girlfriend, Lauren.

The dancer and the model are believed to have started dating in early 2023 and went public with their relationship in October of that year.

For the glamorous occasion, Nikita showed off his muscly arms in a black vest top and light blue denim jeans

He paired black boots with his ensemble and further accessorised with a gold necklace as he beamed for the cameras

Meanwhile, Lauren looked stunning in a pastel green off-the-shoulder boucle maxi dress as she posed alongside pal Bradley Riches

Earlier in the evening, Nikita, currently on his first-ever solo UK and Ireland tour, took to the stage in a stylish purple embellished co-ord

The dancer looked in great spirits as he delivered an electrifying performance alongside a slew of backup dancers

But it seems that things are getting very serious between the couple, as Nikita shared his hopes of one day marrying Lauren.

When asked about what the future holds for the couple, Nikita told OK! Magazine: 'Yeah, we've definitely talked about the future. I hope one day she'll say yes!

He added: 'We just saw a video of a wedding in South Africa and got emotional watching it. So, why not?'

He also gave a candid insight into their relationship, revealing that their ideal date night is much more low-key than the glitz and glamour of the Strictly dance floor.

'Honestly, 99 per cent of the time we're at home watching Modern Family,' he admitted.

'It's not about what we do, it's about just being together and respecting each other's space.'

In October 2023, Nikita confirmed his romance with Lauren by sharing a series of loved-up snaps on his Instagram.

He and Lauren were said to have been quietly dating for months before going Instagram official.

Other stars in attendance that night included pro dancer Vito Coppola, who cut a laidback figure in a denim jacket and matching jeans

Abbie Quinnen put on a leggy display in a chic black mini dress, sheer black tights, and a smart blazer

Meanwhile, Vanessa Feltz chose a more colourful ensemble, wearing a chic pink floral dress with a tiered hem

Strictly head judge Shirley Ballas also attended the event wearing a glamorous black-and-white Chanel dress

Meanwhile, Dame Arlene Phillips layered up in a black-and-white animal print coat as she arrived at the bash

Meanwhile, celebrity chef Levi Roots appeared in great spirits, cutting a colourful figure at the event

Earlier that month, Lauren had attended the Strictly studios to watch Nikita perform, sitting in the audience to support him.

His sister, Anastasia, who has 109k Instagram followers, later flew to the UK to visit Nikita, meeting Lauren for a night out at the theatre, where they snapped more sweet selfies.

An insider told The Sun at the time: 'Nikita and Lauren have been dating for months and seem to have an amazing connection...

'The pair have tried to keep their romance under the radar but they have been attending events together and are really enjoying each other's company.

'They have been spending a lot of time together and even went on holiday together in the summer. Things are progressing and Nikita is very happy with his new romance.'
Joanne McNally revealed she and her podcast co-host Vogue Williams steamed their vaginas during a trip to Ibiza for a sex and wellness show.

In an episode of the Jonathan Ross show that's set to air on Saturday night, the comedian, 41, lifted the lid on the bizarre trip that resulted in them steaming their intimate areas.

Joanne says: 'We're steaming 'ourselves' crouched over to say it was undignified to what end, I don't know. It's not that creased!

'I will say, all joking aside, it wasn't the most horrible experience of my life. It wasn't an awful experience. It was humiliating.'

She also explained the reasoning behind her and Vogue's podcast name - My Therapist Ghosted Me.

She recalls: 'For ages, we were trying to think of a clever format. I was of the philosophy that ''Who needs another podcast?'' But my therapist had just conveniently ghosted me.

Joanne jokes: 'I got a podcast out of it. He was so lovely, he was so nice, I never sl*g him off, you never know what people are going through I really liked him.'

Joanne McNally revealed she and her podcast co-host Vogue Williams steamed their vaginas during a trip to Ibiza for a sex and wellness show

In an episode of the Jonathan Ross show that's set to air on Saturday night, the comedian, 41, lifted the lid on the bizarre trip that resulted in them steaming their intimate areas

She is on tour around the country with her show Pinotphile, which she explains: 'It just means you're mad about something. I'm mad about wine.'

It comes after Vogue has become the latest celebrity to tear into Meghan Markle over her new show, With Love, Meghan.

The takedown is close to home given the Irish TV and radio presenter is connected to the royal family. Her husband, Made in Chelsea alum Spencer Matthews, is brother-in-law to the Princess of Wales's sister, Pippa.

'I saw a bit where she was making her kids a rainbow platter of fruit,' Vogue began.

'First of all, I thought I was doing well mixing Rice Krispies and Cheerios - like, you can have two cereals in one! And she's there like... did you see the rainbow [platter]? I personally like that, but who does that?'

Vogue was dishing out her views on the former Suits star's Netflix series on a new episode of her podcast, My Therapist Ghosted Me.

At one point, co-host Joanne said of Meghan's outfit: 'I can't bear a jumper round the shoulders,' to which Vogue responded, laughing: 'Yeah, yeah - it's disgusting.'

Joanne says: 'We're steaming 'ourselves' crouched over to say it was undignified to what end, I don't know. It's not that creased!'

It comes after Vogue has become the latest celebrity to tear into Meghan Markle over her new show, With Love, Meghan (pictured with husband Spencer Matthews in 2021)

The takedown is close to home given the Irish TV presenter is connected to the royal family - her husband, Spencer Matthews, is brother-in-law to Pippa Middleton (Meghan pictured)

Vogue added: 'I love the idea of being a tradwife - I was dabbling in it - remember, I made that chicken pie a while ago?

'I am obsessed with that level of perfection. But I'm like, how is she doing that? I just think it's like that bl***y Angel perfume - it's so sickly sweet.'

'I bet you she wears Angel. Sorry to anyone who wears Angel, I just wear men's aftershave and that's very sweet to me.'

Vogue said of her own aspiration to become a domestic goddess: 'I'm on a journey to be a tradwife. I want to be like Lucky Blue's wife Nara. She's glam.

'I'm just going to dip the toe in. I'm not going to go full tradwife because I've got other bits that I need to do that don't involve being a tradwife.'

The Jonathan Ross show airs at 9:20pm on Saturday on ITV1, ITVX, STV AND STV Player
Wendy Williams was quite feisty when she addressed her highly contested guardianship on Friday.

The former talk show host, 60, was spotted enjoying lunch with some friends in New York City, and said she hopes to be released from her court-ordered guardianship soon.

'I am fabulous. Im better than good, but have been accused to being otherwise,' she told Page Six.

'I am very much alive. I deserve freedom, darling.'

When the reporter commented on her fit form, Williams responded, 'I got the liposuction and breast implants when I was 31. Im 60 now and my bodys holding up well!'

However, she was a bit shy about answering more questions about her plans to regain control of her life, referring them to her advocate Ginalisa Monterroso, who told the outlet, 'Dont believe everything you read.'

Wendy Williams, 60, was feisty when she spoke to reporters in New York City on Friday about her ongoing battle to be released from her court-ordered guardianship; Pictured In New York City on March 15

The Wendy Williams Show star won a big court battle on Monday, convincing the judge overseeing her guardianship to allow her to leave the memory-care floor of the assisted living facility where she has been living in the Big Apple, for another area of the facility.

'She will be in like a private condo now. She will have much more freedom to come and go as she pleases, she'll be able to have visitors, and she'll be free to leave when she wants,' an insider told The Sun.

'Her team will also begin settlement talks for the guardianship,' the source alleged.

'Ultimately Wendy wants completely out of the arrangement, but there are some tests she'll have to face moving forward to see just how much freedom she will be given, and if that means she's entirely free from the guardianship, or if she will be granted less oversight in the future with some other legal arrangement.'

The insider said the Think Like a Man actress received a favorable outcome after taking some cognitive tests recently.

'The judge said that doesn't prove incapacitation it just proves that she is coherent, cognitive and alert,' they explained.

'Wendy will be doing another, full cognitive workup to determine her cognitive ability and get a neurological exam for her frontotemporal dementia diagnosis,' they revealed.

The former talk show host was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and dementia in 2023, which doctors blamed on years of alcohol abuse.

'I am fabulous. Im better than good, but have been accused to being otherwise,' she told Page Six. 'I am very much alive. I deserve freedom, darling'; Pictured in New York City on March 15

Williams has been under a court-appointed guardianship since 2022, after being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia; Pictured in New York City in February 2020

On Monday (3/17) the judge granted to wish to move from the memory-care floor of the assisted living facility where she has been staying to another floor where she will have more freedom to come and go at will; Pictured in New York City in May 2018

The judge has ordered Williams to undergo another round of cognitive testing before any more decisions are made regarding her guardianship

Williams' guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, 60, an elder law attorney, was originally appointed in 2022 after Williams' ex-manager Bernie Young reportedly raised concerns that she was of 'unsound mind,' which also led to Wells Fargo freezing her bank accounts.

Williams, who appears to have given up alcohol, also suffers from both Graves' disease and lymphedema, which hampers her ability to walk.

She often uses a mobility scooter to get around.

After the hearing, a source claimed Judge Lisa Sokoloff was open to hearing Wendy's wishes to be released from the court's control and her team is now working towards a settlement.
Tasha Ghouri has opened up on the 'silly' mistake she made amid her split from boyfriend Andrew Le Page.

The Strictly Come Dancing star, 26, and the estate agent, 29, ended their relationship earlier this year, after falling in love on Love Island in 2022.

And in a new interview in the wake of the 'heartbreaking' break-up, Tasha told of her huge regret at creating a Raya dating profile immediately after the split which reportedly left her ex 'blindsided', with the beauty deleting it very soon after.

She told The Sun: 'I think at the time, I made a silly mistake. I did it way too soon. It was just a heat-of-the-moment kind of situation. Everyone makes mistakes. And in that situation, I did and I own up to that.

'Unfortunately, thats something I just have to put my hands up and say: "Tasha, it was way too soon." It is what it is. I cant turn back time, but Ive learned from that.'

Meanwhile, the blonde beauty reflected on the 'emotional' break-up with Andrew as she revealed the real reason for the split.

Tasha Ghouri has opened up on the 'silly' mistake she made amid her split from boyfriend Andrew Le Page

Tasha told of her huge regret at creating a Raya dating profile immediately after the split which reportedly left her ex 'blindsided', with the beauty deleting it very soon after

She explained: 'It is hard. Any break-up is hard. I spent so much time with Andrew. We were together for two-and-a-half years. We had a house. We got our dog Luna together in 2023. It was heartbreaking. But sometimes you just grow apart, and thats what happened.'

Tasha added that the couple 'didn't end badly at all' and are in fact 'still in touch' as they have to communicate about their shared dog Luna, who they 'co-parent'.

She went on to say how much she still 'cares' about Andrew but acknowledged that the two are now on 'different paths' in their lives.

The pair's split has caused much chatter on social media, with the couple moving out of their shared home - Tasha relocated to her own pad in London while Andrew moved back to his family abode in Guernsey.

Tasha admitted that navigating a break-up in the public eye has been 'difficult' but defiantly remarked that only Andrew and herself 'know what happened between us', adding that they are 'private people'.

And after confessing her mistake for setting up a dating profile so soon, Tasha insisted that she's 'absolutely not' ready to start dating anytime soon, insisting that at this time she's simply concentrating on herself and her career.

Earlier this month, Tasha broke her silence on their split as she hit back at trolls sending her 'horrible comments' accusing her of 'taking' dog Luna from Andrew.

The dancer explained as Andrew has moved back home to Guernsey, she is looking after Luna until he returns to the UK.

The Strictly Come Dancing star, 26, and the estate agent, 29, ended their relationship earlier this year, after falling in love on Love Island in 2022

I think at the time, I made a silly mistake. I did it way too soon. It was just a heat-of-the-moment kind of situation. Everyone makes mistakes. And in that situation, I did and I own up to that' [Her Raya profile pictured]

'Unfortunately, thats something I just have to put my hands up and say: "Tasha, it was way too soon." It is what it is. I cant turn back time, but Ive learned from that.'

Meanwhile, the blonde beauty reflected on the 'emotional' break-up with Andrew as she revealed the real reason for the split

Taking to Snapchat, the star responded to a comment which read: 'Really hopes Andrew gets to see Luna too'.

Tasha wrote: 'Since there's so many horrible messages I've got about taking Luna off Andrew  first off, she is our dog who we got together.

'He is in Guernsey & decided to leave Luna here with me as he couldn't take her, it wasn't ideal. When he's found a place back in the UK, we will be working out a way for both of us to see her.'

She continued: 'I didn't want to comment on this but when I'm getting messages saying I'm horrible person, scum, etc. I have to put my foot down.'

Addressing the split she continued: 'No-one knows what went on in our relationship behind closed doors. Don't believe every headline you read in the press.

Earlier this month Tasha broke her silence on their split as she hit back at trolls sending her 'horrible comments' accusing her of 'taking' dog Luna from Andrew

Taking to Snapchat she wrote: 'I didn't want to comment on this but when I'm getting messages saying I'm horrible person, scum, etc. I have to put my foot down'

'Break-ups happen in life. Just because ours is in the 'public eye' doesn't make it any different.'

Elsewhere, Andrew recently sparked concern among his fans as he shared a 'sad-looking' snap of himself celebrating his 30th birthday abroad just weeks after he split from Tasha.

The pair moved in with each other just two months after leaving the Love Island villa and went on to buy their first house together in February last year.

But their romance soon came to and end and now the star has uploaded pictures to Instagram on Saturday of him enjoying some time in Turkey.

Alongside a picture of him sitting on a couch in holiday wear, he penned: 'ITS MY BIRTHDAY!

Elsewhere, Andrew recently sparked concern among his fans as he shared a 'sad-looking' snap of himself celebrating his 30th birthday abroad just weeks after he split from Tasha

'Thank you so much for all the birthday messages it means the world, I love you all here's to the 30's.'

However, fans were quick to comment on how sad he looked amid his breakup.

Taking to his comment box, one penned: 'Just seen tashas instagram and now yours you both look so sad please get back together i need to see your lovely smiles again.'

'Just want them back together.'

'Happy Birthday, I cant wait for you to find someone thats going to make you shine  when it happens, its going happen happen. Cant wait for that glow up!'

'Happy Andrew I am sorry that you and Tasha have split up. You both looked good during the strictly times. I hope you will find someone who makes you smile again.'

'Happy birthday Andrew, as my nana always used to say , brighter days ahead'
Brad Pitt has hit a snag in the $20.5 million lawsuit against his Make it Right Project.

Pitt, 61, started the project in the wake of 2005's devastating Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans with an aim to build ecologically sustainable homes to replace the houses that were flooded.

He spent $12 million through his Make It Right Project to build 150 ecologically sustainable homes but now, nearly two decades later, those homeowners have organized a class action lawsuit against him and his non profit.

Many of the homes have developed mold problems and other serious issues.

The homeowners' legal team, Ron Austin Law, scored a huge victory with the court decreeing that Make It Right must hand over vital docs at the discovery stage.

The Sun reported that the Inglorious Basterds star has been trying to block having to face deposition, saying that it clashed with his busy movie schedule.

Brad Pitt has hit a snag in the $20.5 million lawsuit against his Make it Right Project. Seen here in 2023

Pitt, 61, started the project in the wake of 2005's devastating Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans with an aim to build ecologically sustainable homes to replace the houses that were flooded; (seen in 2007)

Brad was on the list of witnesses but his legal team filed a motion to avoid being deposed.

They claimed that the Meet Joe Black star did not have any information to share that would be relevant to the case.

'Mr Pitt's motion picture production schedule presents concerns that extend beyond his personal time and attention,' the motion stated.

'Most notably, Mr Pitt's absence from film production in the event of a deposition could cause major scheduling issues with potential legal and financial consequences for the studio.

'In addition, it is likely Mr Pitt will be on location in Europe over the next several months, meaning that any in-person deposition will involve costly and time-consuming travel.'

The motion was filed in April 2024, but has just come to light. The motion was ruled moot in June as the discovery process had not yet been completed.

Brad's Make It Right Project build 109 house in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. That area had been particularly devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Those homes were meant to be a savior for the families who lost everything in the Big Easy's poorest neighborhood.

Pitt, 61, started the project in the wake of 2005's devastating Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans with an aim to build ecologically sustainable homes to replace the houses that were flooded. Seen here in 2024

He spent $12 million through his Make It Right Project to build 150 ecologically sustainable homes but now, nearly two decades later, those homeowners have organized a class action lawsuit against him and his non profit

Many of the homes have developed mold problems and other serious issues. Seen here in 2024

However, the homeowners' lawsuit states that many of the houses were not built properly and they've been fighting for years to make Pitt's foundation cover the cost of expensive and major repairs.

The foundation is accused of making a mess of its ambitious building project, which was 'deficiently constructed' with 'defective products', according to the suit.

Residents Lloyd Francis and Jennifer Decuir filed the first lawsuit in 2018 and it has since been moved to federal court.

The organization is accused of fraud, breach of contract, and unfair trade practices.

Homeowners have complained of 'toxic mold and high CO2 levels' in the past, which they claim caused health issues.

An attorney close to the lawsuit told The Sun, 'This is obviously a very difficult situation for anyone whose home was impacted by this.'

'This very sad story has been told several times, so hopefully current litigation will hold the people who managed this project responsible.'

In 2022 the celeb-backed eco-charity Global Green agreed to pay a $20.5 million settlement on behalf of Make It Right and Brad.

The homeowners' legal team, Ron Austin Law, scored a huge victory with the court decreeing that Make It Right must hand over vital docs at the discovery stage. Seen here in 2024

That has since fallen apart as the charity didn't have the money to pay the settlement and they allegedly assumed Brad would step in and contribute in some way.

Pitt has said that he never approved of the Global Green deal.

'Brad had supported Global Green many years ago, so when they approached his team stating "$20.5M in funding" had been secured by their "generous donors," there was interest in considering their proposal,' a spokesperson for Brad told The Hollywood Reporter 2023.

'Global Green represented themselves as having already obtained these funds and planned to use them toward resolving all claims in the ongoing lawsuit for the benefit of the homeowners.'
Pregnant Arabella Chi showcased her blossoming baby bump in a cream bikini on Friday as she posed for snaps from her sun-soaked holiday in Dubai.

The Love Island alum, 34, looked ethereal in the gorgeous two-piece, which enhanced her glowing tan, and completed the look with a matching beach shirt.

Arabella accessorised with chic sunglasses and sported a flawless bronzed makeup look while posing in the lavish location.

It comes after Love Island's Arabella Chi has described her pregnancy as 'extra special' due to her ongoing battle with an incurable condition.

The TV star has polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) - a lifelong hormonal imbalance characterised by ovarian cysts and irregular or excessive menstrual bleeding.

Arabella announced that she was expecting her first child in December with her boyfriend, Billy Henty, who she met after leaving Love Island All Stars last year.

Pregnant Arabella Chi, 34, showcased her blossoming baby bump in a cream bikini as she posed for snaps from her sun-soaked holiday in Dubai

The Love Island alum looked ethereal in the gorgeous two-piece, which enhanced her glowing tan, wearing a striped beach shirt

She told The Mirror: 'When I found out I was pregnant it was magical. With my PCOS I don't know if I'll be able to have more children so she's special.

'If you'd have said to me a year ago that I would be having a baby I would have laughed in your face.'

The NHS reports that those with PCOS have a higher risk of pregnancy complications including miscarriage.

Arabella, who first tried her luck in the Love Island villa in 2019, where she was also unsuccessful, has now praised the timing of her life.

She is due to give birth to a baby girl in May.

The reality TV star said: 'I've learned to trust the timing of your life because life will happen how it's supposed to happen.

'I can't wait to become a mum to a baby girl.

'I can't believe that a year and three months ago I was in the Love Island villa. I feel so lucky to have found my forever partner.'

The internet personality beamed gently in the lavish location, twirling around to flaunt her figure and wearing chic shades for her sunny beach outing

It comes after Arabella described her pregnancy as 'extra special' due to her ongoing battle with an incurable condition

The star finally found love last year with businessman Billy Henty after two failed stints in the Love Island villa that thrust her into the public eye

Billy added: 'I can't wait to be a girl dad. It's life-changing. It's my own little family. Arabella's amazing. She's got a heart of gold.'

During Arabella's first Love Island stint, she ruffled feathers, but unfortunately was dumped from the island after just seven days.

While she did strike up a romance on her second appearance last year with contestant Adam Maxted, it was also not to last and she was booted from the villa just before the finale.

Arabella went public with her relationship with Billy, a regenerative medicine businessman, in October of last year after they met through mutual friends.

Their relationship came after the Love Island star admitted that she feared time was running out for her to become a mum.

Arabella, who spoke of her desire to have a family last year, has documented the progress of her 'extra special' pregnancy on social media

She told The Sun: 'I've been fortunate enough to hang out in Hollywood circles, but I have still not found love.

'I've never felt more ready to settle down.

'All I've ever wanted is true love and that fairytale dream. I'm 32, I want to get married and have babies.

'I haven't got lots of time left and I know more about myself now than ever. This is my last shot to find my happily ever after.'
Alec Baldwin was seen on a movie set Friday for the first time since manslaughter charges against the 66-year-old actor were dropped.

The Oscar nominee, who has shrugged off bad reviews of his family's reality show, was in Sorrento, Italy filming scenes for his role in Last Night in Sorrento.

For the crime drama, inspired by the 1970s TV series Colombo, Baldwin arrived on the set wearing grey camp shirt over a red crew-neck T-shirt with dark slacks.

He was later costumed in a tan trench coat over a blue button-down shirt with dark slacks as he shot scenes at what appeared to be a sidewalk cafe.

Not much is known about the plot of the project co-written and directed by Alessandro Derviso.

Luisa Rubino of Narcos: Mexico, will also star in the thriller along with Under the Tuscan Sun star Vincent Riotta, according to Positano News.

Alec Baldwin, 66, arrived on a film set Friday for the first time since manslaughter charges were dropped against him in the Rust film shooting

The film, directed and co-written by Alessandro Derviso was inspired by the 1970s police show Columbo

A teaser of the film will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May, as the project looks for distributors.

In January, Baldwin filed a civil lawsuit, accusing several people in the Santa Fe, New Mexico District Attorney's office of malicious prosecution and civil rights violations after he was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

In 2021, Baldwin fired a gun on the set that was supposed to be loaded with blanks, and not real bullets.

Baldwin claimed he had pulled back the hammer of the revolver, not the trigger, but the gun fired anyway.

Director Joel Souza was also injured in the incident.

In the court filing, The Departed star and his legal team accused prosecutors of trying to 'scapegoat Baldwin for the acts and omissions of others, regardless of the evidence or the law,' according to the Associate Press.

They also accused prosecutors and investigators of targeting the star for professional or political gain.

The actor was in Sorrento, Italy shooting Last Night in Sorrento. Baldwin arrived on the set wearing grey camp shirt over a red crew-neck T-shirt with dark slacks

In the Emmy winning series, Peter Falk starred as a detective who disguised his skills of observation by appearing to be a bumbling police officer

Baldwin was costumed in a tan trench coat over a blue button-down shirt with dark slacks as he shot scenes at what appeared to be a sidewalk cafe

Baldwin is seeking unspecified punitive damages, compensatory damages, attorneys fees and interest.

The case was dismissed in September 2024 after it was discovered the prosecution had withheld evidence in the case, and did not share information about or access to live ammunition brought in by a retired police officer who said it could be related to the Hutchins killing.

The ammo was filed under a separate case number and Baldwin's legal team was not notified.

After the dismissal of Baldwin's case, weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, moved to have her conviction dismissed or to receive a new trial. She remains free as she awaits the court's decision.
Black Grape and Happy Mondays guitarist Paul 'Wags' Wagstaff has died.

The guitarist also played with Mancunian band Paris Angels and was also part of Domino Bones.

Tributes from fans and entertainers began pouring in for the 90s musician as his death was announced on Saturday. His cause of death has yet to be revealed.

Leading the tributes was Paul's Happy Mondays and Black Grape bandmate Bez, who shared a sweet message for his friend on Instagram.

Alongside a throwback snap of Black Grape, Bez, real name Mark Berry penned: 'Mr Paul Wagstaff (Wags), remembering the good times. RIP my friend.'

Presenter Terry Christian wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: 'R.I.P Paul 'Wags' Wagstaff guitarist with Manchester bands Paris Angels and of course Black Grape and more recently Happy Mondays. Like asking where the music goes when it stops playing - that Manchester vibe Paul was a part of will always be in 'the area'.'

Black Grape and Happy Mondays guitarist Paul 'Wags' Wagstaff has died

Tributes from fans and entertainers began pouring in for the 90s musician as his death was announced on Saturday. His cause of death has yet to be revealed

While Badly Drawn Boy shared: 'Im very saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Wags.. aka Paul Wagstaff. He was always a really lovely bloke, and a truly talented and soulful guitarist. Very sad news.'

Blackheads frontman Mike Bennett also paid tribute to the musician in a heartfelt statement, reports The Mirror.

He penned: 'Legendary Paul Wagstaff also known as Wags was an important part of Paris Angels, Black Grape and Happy Mondays.

'I knew him for years and he was not just a musician but a literary scholar, and always had a kind heart and a lightness of touch with the disenfranchised.

'Needless to say I dipped in and out of that category and I have to say that his advice, kind heart scholastic words stopped me from making wrong decision and venturing through dark corridors.

'Despite his own physical deliberations I found him self deprecating, upbeat and creatively of genius proportions.'

Elsewhere, other fans shared their condolences on X, they penned: 'Very sad news, wrote one of the greatest riffs of the period, a song that still sounds fantastic today.'

'Perfume is an absolutely banging tune. RIP Wags, you'll be sorely missed.'

Leading the tributes was Paul's Happy Mondays and Black Grape bandmate Bez , who shared a sweet message for his friend on Instagram

Presenter Terry Christian wrote on X: 'Like asking where the music goes when it stops playing - that Manchester vibe Paul was a part of will always be in 'the area''

While Badly Drawn Boy shared: 'Im very saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Wags.. aka Paul Wagstaff. He was always a really lovely bloke'

Elsewhere, other fans shared their condolences on X, they penned: 'Very sad news, wrote one of the greatest riffs of the period, a song that still sounds fantastic today'

'He would have been lead guitar on Perfume, my fav track of the 90s. Really sad news.'

Paul is survived by long-term partner Tamara Smith, an actress for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The Happy Mondays are due to head off on a tour this summer, kicking off in Ayr before travelling through the likes of Amsterdam, Milton Keynes and Bristol.

The band were set to continue in Europe in September, beginning their gigs in Gent.
A Gen Z manager is being praised on TikTok for her approach to time-off requests from employees.

Elizabeth Beggs, 28, shared a video explaining that she allows employees to take time off for things like medical emergencies without needing to log it.

'My team is very motivated and only takes time when they need to. I also do not consider anything crazy because if it is important to my team, it is important to me,' Beggs told Newsweek.

She added that time off should be used to recharge, not for 'life-changing events.'

Beggs video went viral, racking up nearly 5 million views since posting it on March 12.

'A true princess leads not by forcing others to bow before her, but by inspiring others to stand with her - you, ma'am, are a princess,' a commenter wrote.

Gen Z's work habits are increasingly under scrutiny. Bosses are firing Gen Z in record time, a recent study revealed.

One in seven the employers said they also might not hire fresh college grads next year after finding a raft of problems with young workers.

Gen Z manager Elizabeth Beggs is being praised by TikTok users for her reasons why she will deny specific time off requests

But Beggs is working hard to keep Gen Z happy. She described three instances in which employees requested time off for significant reasons.

One of those stories involved an employee looking to cancel her day after believing she was going through a miscarriage.

She continued by saying that employee needed to miss more work because of the medical emergency, and did not charge the worker 'a single time of time off.'

Beggs also explained a time when a male co-worker told her he'd be late due to looking for childcare while on of his children was in the hospital.

The TikToker was shocked he even went to work, and after the employee told her he had no time off left, she insisted he be with his child at the hospital.

'What surprised me the most was when had a rep who had a child in the hospital unable to breathe without oxygen, and the doctors didn't know why,' Beggs told Newsweek.

'They were shocked when I told them not to worry about work and that I would have their job for them for a few days. They would have lost their old job, even though it was also a performance-based career.'

Beggs then mentioned an employee who spoke with human resources about taking half a work day off, to whom she would've said 'just go.'

(Stock image only) Medical emergencies play a crucial part in why Beggs will hand her employees denied time off requests

Several commenters said they also worked as managers, a few being millennials. Like others, they loved Beggs stance on time off requests.

'I'm a millennial manager and agree with all of these,' a viewer wrote.

'I also go into the system every week and round their clock-ins up because why not. I can take the heat.'

'As a millennial manager I approve! this is how my staff is treated too,' a commenter responded.

'As a cuspy millennial/gen z ('95) manager, I let my staff get away with A LOT,' another person admitted.

'My gen x and boomer colleagues are always so surprised that I have one of the highest productivity reports every week.'

'If this were Facebook, there would be 40 comments by older people who never held an executive position in their life saying you were wrong,' a TikToker joked.

Beggs is a director of client relations for a packaging distribution company and manages a five-person team in Virginia. The manager's staff members are between the ages of 22 and 36, and she describes her leadership style as 'servant leadership.'

(Stock image) Beggs is a director of client relations and manages a five-person team at a packaging distributing company in Virginia

'I always make it clear in hiring that communication is key. Let me know what you need from me and how I can support you, but do not abuse my trust, or it will be gone. There is a strong difference between a leader and a manager,' Beggs said.

The 28-year-old revealed that she hopes her video will show viewers that Gen Z managers are reasonable.

'Gen Z gets a rap for being lazy and unprofessional, but the reality is, they're changing the workforce just like other generations did,' Beggs said.

'Gen Z is also viewed as unloyal, but many employers no longer offer loyalty to their employees (no pensions, no time off, no family support), yet they expect an insane amount of loyalty in return.'

'Gen Z is also entering the workforce with an understanding that entry salaries aren't enough to live off without struggling, and they have to find a side gig to survive,' the manager continued.

Despite the negative opinions, Beggs insisted Gen Zers can do well in leadership roles and joked that it 'just looks different.'
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Hosted by MEP Tomislav Sokol and co-hosted by MEP Brando Benifei and featuring Manuel Mateo Goyet, Acting Head of Unit Cloud and Software, DG CNECT, European Commission. The event strengthened Europes commitment to building a secure, interoperable, and sovereign cloud and data ecosystem, aligned with European values and regulations. Securing Europes digital sovereignty is one of the key priorities of the company.

In a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape, data has become a significant asset, and Gaia-Xs federated model guarantees that Europe remains in control of its digital future. The reception brought together policymakers, industry leaders, and cloud experts to advance collaboration on trusted digital infrastructure and data spaces.

Key discussions revolved around the importance of trust, interoperability, and secure European infrastructure, particularly in the context of the newly published European Health Data Space Regulation (EHDS) and the role of Gaia-X in securing Europes AI and cloud future.

A Trusted European Infrastructure for Data Sharing and Innovation

MEP Tomislav Sokol, co-rapporteur for the European Health Data Space Regulation, underscored the need for secure European infrastructure to assure trusted data sharing, particularly in sensitive sectors such as healthcare.

The future of Europe lies in leveraging data for research, innovation, and policymaking in a way that benefits European citizens, but in a secure and sovereign manner. Gaia-X serves as an example of how we can fund and build European infrastructure that allows data spaces to function effectively while ensuring trust in how data is stored, shared, and reused. Without trust, initiatives like the European Health Data Space cannot succeed.

Manuel Mateo Goyet, Acting Head of Unit Cloud and Software, DG CNECT, European Commission, emphasised the urgent necessity of building up Europes cloud processing capacity to remain competitive:

Europes AI and data ambitions require large processing infrastructures. Today, Europe operates at only a fraction of the processing capacity of the U.S. and China, and our current growth trajectory will not close this gap. The Cloud and AI Development Act aims to strengthen Europes position by ensuring we have the capacity to process data in a way that aligns with our values, regulatory frameworks, and sustainability goals. This includes addressing energy efficiency, ensuring decentralized capacity distribution, and thinking about how to address our highly critical infrastructure needs

The Commission is actively supporting ten data spaces, reinforcing its commitment to scalable, interoperable, and open-source-driven infrastructure.

Gaia-X and the European Health Data Space: An Opportunity for Trust and Interoperability

As highlighted during the reception, the European Commission officially announced the launch of the European Health Data Space Regulation (EHDS), marking a major step forward in health data interoperability, security, and patient control. Nevertheless, challenges remain in implementing trust frameworks that ensure privacy, compliance, and secure data-sharing across member states.

Bert Verdonck, CEO of Luxembourg National Data Service (LNDS) and Gaia-X member of the Board of Directors, referred to the critical value of interoperability and trust to the success of the European Health Data Space (EHDS):

The health domain is complex, historically fragmented, and still maturing in terms of IT infrastructure. The EHDS provides a legal basis for better health data management, secure data sharing, and advancements in research. The EHDS implementation will depend on robust trust mechanisms. Gaia-Xs Trust Framework could play a crucial role in ensuring that health data remains secure and controlled. There is a real opportunity to explore further how Gaia-X can help shape the EHDS implementation in the coming years, on the European level and even more on the national level.

Building Europes Digital Sovereignty

Europe is at a historical moment where digital sovereignty and strategic independence are no longer optional but necessary for securing data, AI, and the cloud ecosystem. With ongoing geopolitical uncertainties, Gaia-X plays a key role in ensuring that Europe retains control over its critical digital infrastructure.

Ulrich Ahle, CEO of Gaia-X, reaffirmed Gaia-Xs commitment to providing a federated, secure, and European-led approach to cloud and data infrastructure:

Gaia-X is a cornerstone for Europes digital future. The discussions at the European Parliament today highlight the urgent need for trusted, interoperable infrastructure that aligns with European values. From the European Health Data Space to AI innovation, secure cloud infrastructure is the foundation of a thriving European digital economy. Gaia-X stands ready to support European institutions and industries in ensuring that Europes data remains under European governance, fostering innovation while maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance.

Looking Ahead: A Call for Collaboration

The Gaia-X European Parliament Reception further highlighted the growing consensus among policymakers, industry leaders, and cloud providers on the need for a strong, European-controlled digital ecosystem. With the EHDS now officially launched, Gaia-X and its stakeholders must partner together to integrate trust, security, and compliance mechanisms that uphold European principles.

As Europe builds its next-generation cloud and data infrastructure, Gaia-X remains firmly dedicated to ensuring that businesses, institutions, and citizens can rely on a trusted, unified, and values-driven framework for digital innovation.

For further information, visit: www.gaia-x.eu
Zing! Bang! Boom! The shit is hitting the fan in Yemen as the Houthis and the Blowfish are getting their rears rammed hard by the US and Israeli military.

We got so many explosions going off here that there are explosions within explosions inside big fuckin explosions! one Houthi member revealed before evaporating into thin air.

The Houthis are getting absolutely smoked. pic.twitter.com/z8oUXJjrdC  Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) March 20, 2025

As the strikes hit, Trump wrote on his Truth Social website that tremendous damage has been inflicted upon the Houthi barbarians.

Watch how it will get progressively worse  Its not even a fair fight, and never will be, Trump added. They will be completely annihilated!

No it certainly is not a fair fight, the Houthis dont even have a single plane or helicopter and can only fire dumb missiles at targets.

These Iranian proxies are in the Stone Age already, looks like theyre soon going to be in the Cretaceous period.

Houthis in Hodeida Port in Yemen bombed.

Hezbollah, Hamas & Houthis  all hit. pic.twitter.com/GyqC5TE3sV  Imtiaz Mahmood (@ImtiazMadmood) September 29, 2024

The Americans have had a successful night in Yemen as they targeted several leaders of the Houthis by bombing raids their homes. Yemenite sources say at least 6 of the Houthi leadership are dead, plus some members of their families. The U.S. also hit the Houthi TV network. pic.twitter.com/dfyZIiN0PL  James J. Marlow (@James_J_Marlow) March 18, 2025
When police found a man asleep in a sleeping bag in the car park of a Strabane church he told them he was 'going on a hike' to Dublin.

Aurimas Degimas (40) of Foyle Crescent in Newbuildings appeared for breaching his bail.

A police officer said it was 'unusual circumstances' in that when police found the defendant in Strabane he was 14 miles from his bail address and said he was planning to leave the jurisdiction.

Defence solicitor Keith Kyle said his client wanted to contest the original charge.

District Judge Barney McElholm said the original charge was more one of putting the injured party in fear of assault rather than a direct assault.

He said that his main concern was that Degimas expressed a desire to leave the jurisdiction.

He said the only way he would grant bail was if there was a 'sufficient cash surety'.

He released Degimas on bail of 500 cash and on condition he has no contact with the alleged injured party.

The defendant will appear again on April 3.
A man has been arrested after a car chase in which two police vehicles were rammed in west Belfast.

Four police officers suffered minor injuries during what the PSNI described as the completely reckless and dangerous incident.

A 50-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of driving when unfit, dangerous driving and failing to stop for police, and remains in custody.

Officers on patrol in the early hours of Saturday morning began to pursue a black Audi A4 after it allegedly failed to stop for police near Servia Street at about 2.30am.

Chief Inspector Pete Cunningham said the suspect vehicle was observed weaving onto the wrong side of the road, failing to give way at junctions and driving the wrong way around a roundabout.

Mr Cunningham said: Two police callsigns brought the vehicle to a stop in the Upper Springfield Road area a short time later, however, the suspect driver reverse rammed the front of one of the police vehicles.

At this time, the police vehicle was stationary but the officer in the front passenger seat was in the process of exiting the car when the collision occurred, and was jolted into the doorframe.

The driver of the suspect vehicle then collided with a second police vehicle when attempting to make off again.

Four officers sustained minor injuries, but despite this they remained on duty, which reflects their resilience during difficult challenges they face on a daily basis, while working to keep people safe.

Our priority is their safety and welfare and, as an organisation, we will ensure support is available where its needed.

The two police cars will be off the road while they undergo repairs.

Mr Cunningham added: A 50-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of offences including driving when unfit, dangerous driving and failing to stop for police. He remains in custody at this time.

Thankfully we are not dealing with more serious injuries today  and the actions of the driver responsible for the pursuit and subsequent collision with our officers is totally unacceptable.

Members of the public could have also been injured during this completely reckless and dangerous incident.

Anyone with information, including dashcam or other footage, is asked to contact PSNI on 101, quoting reference 130 of 22/3/25.
The length of time between albums is something that varies artist to artist. Some people, like Willie Nelson, release at least two a year. Others wait a bit longer.

Guns NRoses had 15 years between The Spaghetti Incident and Chinese Democracy, MC5 waited 53 years before releasing their third album Heavy Lifting last year and the Pixies released Indie City twenty-two years after Trompe Le Monde.

This week, Im talking to Martin Malone and Jane Breen of Innocents Abroad, who are about to release their third album, Late Spring, only 37 years after their second album Eleven.

The album, which shows the clear influence of groups like R.E.M., 10,000 Maniacs and Husker Du, is out on March 30th and I caught up with Martin and Jane (guitar and bass, respectively) to talk a bit about it and the group in general:

Innocents Abroad were originally founded in Liverpool around 1985. We did two albums in the eighties, Quaker City in 1985 and Eleven in 1988. We played a lot around Liverpool and London and were courted for a brief while by the majors, taken out to dinner a few times. The very thing thats probably our strength now was our kryptonite then. Word got out that we sounded a bit like R.E.M., who we loved so that wasnt a problem for us.

READ MORE: MacD on Music

At first that seemed to be a positive thing but then they went cold on us. You could see them all sending messages They sound a bit like R.E.M. and we were saying that, if we do, this band was going to go stellar and make people a lot of money. At the time, that was a bad thing to sound like them. Its mainly Petes [Peter Mills, vocals] voice. Hes always sung like that. His band before he started with me, he sung like that. Ive always played guitar like that, even before Id heard Peter Buck.

We got a Guardian review of Eleven and they described us as a home-grown answer to, yes, the R-word. By that time, wed come apart. We all had different things to do. We were young men. I was about to move to the Middle East for a year, Pete was doing his PhD, Stuart [Hilton, drums] was going to the Royal College of Art.

We didnt speak to one another for thirty years because bands, especially your best shot bands, dont work out the way youd hoped, its quite like the end of a marriage. We didnt fall out, but we just didnt speak to anyone. I was obsessed by the fact that the second album didnt sound how Id heard it in my head. I trained to be a sound engineer in Manchester in 1990 and then in the 90s I did my own stuff. I was in a band called Eskimo Chains and I did a couple of solo albums that sounded like I wanted them to. I got to a certain point in my life when the law of diminishing dignities kicked in and I got tired of working with musicians, so I transitioned from being a songwriter to being a poet.

A few years ago, Pete, whod been my songwriting partner, started talking again and started having the odd reunion about ten-fifteen years ago. Pete came up to my house in Scotland at the time and we said, for the craic, why not make the album we wanted to make in the 80s and things spun out from there. We consciously sat in a room to see if we could write songs again and we came out of the session with two or three ideas that Id developed. Once Id recorded them in my home studio we thought yeah, were on to something here.

Subsequently to that we got back in touch with our original drummer Stuart, and I met Jane through almost a novels worth of circumstance, and we became an item. I knew Jane had been a musician in a previous life. The old bass player wasnt really an option and I just said to Jane youd been a musician once. Let me teach you a bit of bass.

Shes worked bloody hard, considering shed never picked up a bass beyond three years ago. Because of magic links with people in this little Scottish town, I started working with a German producer Victor Hilderbrand and he said, why dont you record the album with me in Berlin? and we thought, at our age, nows our chance to have a Berlin period, so we went and recorded the album there last spring.

And thats it from Martin Malone. Now, onto other business. Last Friday saw the release of the new single from acclaimed solo artist and former bass player for Van Morrison, Clive Culbertson. The track, How Can You Say, is a re-imagining of an almost 40-year-old track and features Deep Purples Simon McBride on guitar.

Finally, time for the socials (or social, in this case). Innocents Abroad can be found on Facebook and Instagram @innocents_abroad. Their new album Late Spring is out on March 30th and will be available on Bandcamp and all good streaming services
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Irish TikToker Garron Noone made headlines this week following his sudden departure from social media amid backlash to a TikTok video he made speaking about Conor McGregor's meeting with US President Donald Trump.

At the start of video Garron explained the reason he was posting it was because he had been asked numerous times by followers for his views on the issues McGregor mentioned to Trump and the American media.

Garron also expressed reluctance to speak on the subject due to backlash he could face online.

READ MORE: Mixed reactions to The Late Late Show as viewers had their say about two guests

In the video Garron said: "Now, I get asked for my opinion on these kind of serious topics all the time, I don't know why people care because I just shout at cups of tea on the internet."

He continued: "My opinion on Conor McGregor is irrelevant but I don't think he's a good person, I don't think it's particularly hard to find evidence of that.

"But it doesn't surprise me in the least to see a lot of people agreeing with what he was saying."

From there, Garron said: "There absolutely is an immigration issue in Ireland. That doesn't mean that people feel like we shouldn't take the refugees that we're able to take. It doesn't mean that people feel like people shouldn't be able to come here for better opportunities.

"The systems that we have in place are being taken advantage of, and that is plain to see. And the government continually does not allow people to express their concerns about that."

Garron also said that what is cementing the issue is that Ireland "continues to become one of the richest countries in the world while most people's quality of life is going down".

He said: "Our towns and especially our cities are becoming much less safe, now that's not just because of immigration, there's a lot of factors to that but if you can't see that that's happening then you have not left your house.

"Communities all over Ireland are concerned, and their concerns are continuously not being heard and when you continuously suppress what people are feeling, you turn them towards more extreme beliefs, you increase their distrust in the government and you push people towards racism and extremism."

He concluded: "Now, no doubt a load of people in the comments are going to completely misconstrue what I've said here but that's the internet for you."
It is un-Irish to give up hope, a co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has said as he urged protesters in Dublin to continue their support for Palestine.

Thousands of people participated in a solidarity march through the Irish capital on Saturday, calling for the Government to impose sanctions on Israel.

Demonstrators, some wearing keffiyehs and waving banners and Palestinian flags, stopped for a series of speeches outside Irelands national parliament at Leinster House.

Speakers led chants of free, free Palestine and addressed the large crowd on the re-escalating conflict in the Middle East.

The protesters called for the end of Israels military activity in Gaza, for states to stop arming Israel, and the cessation of use of Irish airspace for transporting weapons.

The rally, organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), is the 14th national demonstration of its kind since October 2023 and is supported by several trade unions and civil society groups.

The IPSC has also called for the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, along with the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill.

The Government has committed to implementing the Occupied Territories Bill with changes limiting its scope to trade, but it is not on the legislative calendar for this term.

Protesters also carried a giant sphere in the style of the logo of Irelands Central Bank with the words stop funding genocide painted on it.

Israel chose the Central Bank of Ireland to be the designated authority to approve prospectuses for Israel Bonds in the EU. Pro-Palestinian supporters want the Bank to stop approving their sale.

The group also wants a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and for the Irish Government to roll back on its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, which it sees as an effort to prevent criticism of Israel.

Speakers at the rally included Omar Barghouti, Palestinian intellectual Ghada Karmi, and IPSC chairwoman Zoe Lawlor.

Mr Barghouti, who co-founded the BDS movement which stands for boycott, divestment and sanctions, said there was a profound moral duty to continue to support Palestine.

Speaking to the PA news agency, he said: Im here to say that given Israels continued genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, we need to escalate non-violent pressure on Irish Government, Irish corporations, Irish institutions to end complicity.

Palestinians are not asking for charity, were asking for ending complicity  to do no harm to us.

The Irish Government continues to allow the transit of US weapons to Israel, this has to stop.

The Central Bank of Ireland continues to profit from genocide through the sale of Israel government bonds, this has to stop.

Mr Barghouti added: The Government is blocking the Occupied Territories Bill and the Divestment Bill, this has to end. They have to take measures to end complicity.

Some people in Ireland might say weve been demonstrating for 17 months throughout this genocide, we dont see any hope.

But it is so un-Irish to give up hope. The Irish have resisted colonialism for centuries under enormously difficult hardships and theyve never given up hope.

Similarly, Palestinians for 100 years, weve been resisting oppression and doing everything we can to live in peace, justice, dignity, equality and self-determination like everyone else.

We cannot give up, it is a profound moral duty to do no harm. So we need to escalate people power and pressure to end complicity.

Senior figures in Israels government have accused leaders in the Irish coalition of encouraging antisemitism, with the Israeli embassy in Dublin announcing last year that it would close.

Israeli politicians have criticised Irelands decision to intervene in South Africas case against Israel, with Dublin asking the International Court of Justice to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes genocide.

The protest came days after hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged a sit-down protest on OConnell Bridge in Dublin city centre on Wednesday, causing significant delays to transport in the Irish capital.

At Saturdays rally, there were brief scuffles between some of the demonstrators  who came from disparate groups and were not necessarily associated with IPSC  and Irish public order police.

A spokesman at the event said at least one attendee had been arrested but An Garda Siochana said it had no record of any incident.
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Louth Green Party councillor for Dundalk, Cllr Marianne Butler, is encouraging local people who have previously worked in Northern Ireland or the UK to review their National Insurance (NI) contributions and consider making voluntary payments to secure or enhance their UK State Pension entitlements.

Making voluntary contributions now can help secure a UK State Pension and increase those payments. This is a one-time opportunity to purchase up to 18 years of contributionsafter April 5th, individuals can only buy up to six years. Cllr Butler believes it is an opportunity for everyone eligible to maximise their future income.

Eligibility for this scheme is for Irish people who have worked for a number of years in Northern Ireland and/or the UK and paid National Insurance contributions but do not yet qualify for a full UK State Pension. Those with fewer than 10 years of contributions may be able to buy additional years to become eligible for a pension, while those with 10 to 35 years can increase their pension amount.

Read next: Louth students complete task to help Save Our Homeless Dundalk

Cllr Butler urges all eligible Irish nationals to take advantage of this scheme before the deadline passes."The main action that I want local people, who have worked in Northern Ireland or the UK to take, is to request a call back with the Future Pensions Centre.

"Filling in the online form takes a few minutes, anyone who completes this form before April 5th will be considered as having met the deadline. They will be contacted in the coming weeks and months and can have that conversation, get a forecast on their pension and discuss paying voluntary national insurance contributions.

"For those who worked in the UK, this could really enhance their retirement income. This form can be found on the UK Government website page for 'Request a call back to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions'."

Links for online forms and further information: https://secure.dwp.gov.uk/request-a-call-back-to-pay-voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/contact-form

https://www.gov.uk/future-pension-centre
Dundalk based Uniquel, is expanding its footprint in the UK with a major investment of over 20 million. This strategic move will see the creation of 300 new jobs across three key economic hubs: Birmingham, Manchester, and Glasgow by the end of 2025.

The investment was unveiled at the first annual UK-Ireland Summit in Liverpool, attended by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin.

The UK remains Irelands largest European trading partner, and according to the company "Uniquelys expansion further reinforces this critical relationship."

Taoiseach, Micheal Martin said: "I congratulate Uniquely on their plans to create new jobs and invest in its ongoing expansion in the UK, providing solutions for banking, energy and telecoms. Uniquely is one of several Irish businesses continuing to play a significant role in the UK economy while delivering export growth for Ireland."

Read Next: Louth County Council shares details of Carlingford Lough Greenway CPO claims

Founder and CEO, Gerard Teahon, highlighted the importance of this expansion:

"People are at the heart of everything we do at Uniquely, and we are delighted to be growing our presence and supporting local economies through new employment opportunities in Manchester, Glasgow, and Birmingham. This significant investment in the UK is both the realisation of an important milestone in our journey towards innovation, transformation, and growth and a testament to the exceptional talent and innovative offering we provide our increasingly international customer base."
A new Louth County Council social housing scheme has been shortlisted for an Irish Construction Excellence (ICE) award.

The 22 new A-Rated energy efficient residential homes completed under the Coxs Demesne Phase 2 Housing Project in Dundalk were delivered by Louth County Council  Housing Capital section under the Governments Housing For All Plan.

The scheme, which consists of eight houses and 14 apartments, has been shortlisted as a Project of the Year finalist in the Residential - Social and Affordable Housing (up to 5million) category.

Construction was carried out by contractor M.L Quinn Construction Ltd on behalf of Louth County Council.

New tenants began moving into the state of the art housing units following completion in September 2022.

All of the houses and apartments are now occupied, and offer unique energy saving measures for people living there.

The units have a BER A2energy rating, with additional benefits to tenants including seven Photovoltaic (PV) panels on each roof of the eight houses.

Each of the 14 apartments have five PV panels, with a total of 70 panels fitted to the apartment blocks.

These measures have already led to reduced energy costs for tenants at the Coxs Demesne development.

Founded in 1993 the Irish Construction Excellence Awards (ICE Awards )recognise performance excellence for the contracting sector in Ireland.

Entry to the ICE Awards is open to: Building Contractors, Construction Management Services Companies, Civil Engineering Contractors, Specialist M&E Contractors, Specialist Contractors, Construction Product Manufacturers/Suppliers based in the ROI, Design Consultants and Third Level Colleges in Ireland offering certain construction related courses.

Established by Irish Building Magazine, the awards provide an opportunity for the industry to highlight best performance across the full range of construction disciplines and project categories.

Director of Service at Louth County Council, Paddy Donnelly, welcomed the nomination, saying:

The Housing Capital section are delighted that the Cox's Demesne project in Dundalk has been nominated for the Irish Construction Excellence (ICE) Awards 2023, and that the scheme is now providing 22 energy efficient homes for individuals and families from the social housing waiting list.

The winners in all categories will be announced at an ICE Gala event in The Convention Centre, Dublin on April 27th.
Members of Louth County Councils Community, Sport and Integration team recently participated in the 2025 Young Social Innovators (YSI) Speak Out Tour, held at the Tommy Leddy Theatre in Drogheda on Wednesday 19th March.

The YSI Speak Out Tour is a national initiative that empowers young people to develop and present innovative solutions to social challenges. It provides a platform for teenagers to showcase their projects to peers, guests and a YSI panel, highlighting key issues and the actions they are taking to create positive change in their communities.

A three-person panel - featuring representatives from Louth County Council, Louth Youth Service and Louth Local Development - provided feedback and support to the young participants at the Drogheda event.

Therese McArdle represented Louth County Council and played a key role in encouraging the teams and recognising their efforts to build a fairer, more sustainable world.

It was a pleasure to represent Louth County Council at the Speak Out event, said Therese McArdle. The young people displayed incredible enthusiasm and creativity when they delivered their presentations, and I wish them every success as they bring their innovative projects to life.

Read Next: Data and energy centres part of plans for new Louth enterprise campus

Each team had two minutes to creatively communicate their chosen issue, explain its significance, outline the changes they wish to see, and share their efforts to drive social impact. Topics explored at the event ranged from health, inclusion, and equality to climate action, sustainability, community development and justice.

Hundreds of young people participated in the Drogheda event, which was one of 14 stops on this years tour. In total, approximately 250 Speak Out presentations were delivered across events in Dublin, Cork, Kilkenny and Sligo.

For more information on Young Social Innovators, visit www.youngsocialinnovators.ie
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A couple of years ago, the northern distributor road wasnt really on anyones radar, beyond a vague aspiration, a business source told this reporter earlier this month.

Now you couldnt be accused of exaggeration if you said it was probably the most important road in the country.

Another source, this one with knowledge of the construction industry, suggested the same piece of infrastructure might initially cost in the region of 20m per kilometre and after that, how long is a piece of string?

The emerging preferred route for the long-awaited Cork northern distributor road was published late last month, and Cork City Council was very particular about the phrase emerging preferred route, as it has to go to public consultation before it can be called the preferred route.

The proposed new road will be 14km long, running from the Carrigrohane Rd in the west to Glanmire in the east, crossing the northside of Cork city via Hollyhill, Dublin Hill and Banduff. In the words of the council, it will provide "a strategic orbital transport corridor around the northside of Cork city.

Earlier this week, the Irish Times reported on Apple chief executive Tim Cook congratulating Micheal Martin on his election as Taoiseach, saying We look forward to continuing to work with you and your coalition partners in the years ahead.

The route map. Image via Cork City Council.

Apple  which employs more than 6,000 people in Ireland and which in 2023 paid 7.21bn in corporation tax here  has previously lobbied politicians on infrastructure in Cork, saying transport issues were hindering its growth.

Despite Micheals shamrock bowl diplomacy, the Trump White House is unlikely to stay charmed for too long with Ireland, so it might not be a bad idea to stay on Apples good side.

With 14km of road, bus lanes, cycle lanes and footpaths in either direction, 20m per kilometre would cost 280m and  as we have seen from other infrastructure projects  it is unlikely to stop there.

It hardly seems unreasonable to suggest that the final bill for the northern distributor road, by its projected completion in the mid-2030s, might well top half a billion.

If it keeps Apple in Cork, it might prove money well spent.

Next Tuesday, in City Hall, Cork City Council will hold the last of four public information open days on the emerging preferred route for the northern distributor road.

Plans and a route map can also be viewed on www.cndmrpublicconsultation.ie.

The consultation period runs until 5pm on Thursday, 10 April.
Cork Airport is advising all passengers booked on flights to or from London Heathrow this weekend to contact their airline for information.

Eight flights between Cork and Heathrow were cancelled today, following a fire at a nearby electrical substation. It forced Heathrow to close for the entire day.

Online flight-tracking service FlightRadar24 said the closure of the airport impacted at least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow, while 120 flights to Heathrow were in the air when the closure was announced.

The travel disruption impacted many other airports, including Cork, as airlines were forced to cancel and divert flights.

Speaking to The Echo, Barry Holland, communications manager at Cork Airport, advised that any passengers flying from Cork to London Heathrow, or also from London Heathrow to Cork, with Aer Lingus on Saturday or Sunday, to check with the airline for the most-up-to-date status of their flight.

It is a very fluid situation at the moment, Mr Holland said. We will monitor the situation very closely, and we are keeping a very close eye on the matter.

At this point in time, our advice to passengers is if they are affected by the cancellations, to contact the airline directly, whether that is Aer Lingus or British Airways, if they are travelling onwards connecting through Heathrow, to get an update on the status of their flight and rebooking or refunding options, if possible.

It is important to say, all the other London services to London Gatwick, London Luton and London Stanstead, they are all operating as normal.

Mr Holland added that events such as this closure show how fluid the aviation industry can be.

That is the dynamic nature of the aviation sector, Mr Holland said.

Instances like this we are prepared for.

It is not the first time that something like this has happened, and it wont be the last time either.

We just have to react to the situation and provide assistance to passengers as much as we possibly can.

The Echo met passengers at Cork Airport yesterday morning who were impacted by the closure of Heathrow.

Alan Hayes arrived into Cork from Perth, Australia, to be greeted by his parents, John and Catherine; his sister, Laura Fitzgerald; and her boys, Conor and Eanna.

Mr Hayes saw his flight diverted to Paris, where he was able to catch a connecting flight to Cork.

Declan Hartnetts flight to Heathrow was cancelled, and he was back from London on Leeside visiting his father, Patrick, in Bishopstown.

Mr Hartnett was rebooked onto a flight for Saturday morning, which meant an extra night on Leeside with his family.

For me, personally, it is not too inconvenient, but I can imagine it is very inconvenient for some people, said Mr Martnett.

It will be interesting to know if Heathrow is not opened by tomorrow morning, that would be pretty serious. They are hoping it will be open by midnight, but they are not sure.
Cork Lotto players are being encouraged to check their tickets after a hat-trick win for entrants at the EuroMillions last night.

The National Lottery has said that three players across Ireland won big at the draws yesterday, with one Cork-based player, who purchased their winning Quick Pick ticket on Friday at Dunnes Stores in Ballyvolane, entitled to 500,000.

The Cork winner successfully matched all numbers in the EuroMillions Plus draw and is being invited to claim their half a million euro prize.

The numbers for last nights EuroMillions Plus draw were: 13, 14, 17, 26 and 32.

Additionally, a Galway-based player, who purchased their Quick Pick ticket on Thursday from Concannon's Daybreak in Ballinasloe, is also entitled to 500,000 from the EuroMillions Plus draw.

While there were no winners of the 200 million jackpot, one Kilkenny-based player took home 18,159 by matching five numbers on their Quick Pick ticket.

The ticket was purchased yesterday at SuperValu in the New Park shopping centre.

The winning numbers for the main EuroMillions draw were: 9, 17, 18, 21, 50 and the two Lucky Stars were 5 and 12.

Spokesperson for the National Lottery, Emma Monaghan said: "What an incredible night for Irish players.

Were absolutely thrilled for our winners from Cork, Galway, and Kilkenny.

We encourage everyone to check their tickets carefully and, if youre holding a winning ticket, keep it safe, sign the back and get in touch with our team as soon as possible.

The National Lottery is urging all players in Cork, Galway and Kilkenny to check their tickets for a winning claim and to contact the National Lottery prize claims team on 1800 666 222 or email claims@lottery.ie to collect their winnings.
Cork Airport has said that all flights to and from London Heathrow have resumed normal service following yesterdays temporary disruption.

Eight flights between Cork and Heathrow were cancelled yesterday as a result of a fire at a nearby electrical substation, which forced the London-based facility to close.

Online flight-tracking service FlightRadar24 said the closure of the airport impacted at least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow, while 120 flights to the facility were in the air when the closure was announced.

The travel disruption impacted many airports, including Cork, as well as thousands of travellers, as passengers are continuously advised to contact airlines for advice on rebooking and refunds.

Speaking to The Echo, communications manager at Cork Airport, Barry Holland said: "As London Heathrow reopened for normal service late last night, and early this morning, normal service also resumed for our four daily Aer Lingus services to Heathrow, the first of which departed at 7.47am.

Understandably, the last 24 hours have been difficult for passengers who did experience disruption to their flight plans, and our advice at this time remains to contact their airline for rebooking or refund options.

From a Cork Airport perspective, we'd like to thank the hardworking Aer Lingus ground staff on duty at Cork Airport, who assisted passengers with great courtesy and professionalism.

Our own operations team and duty office deserve a mention for keeping in close contact with the airline and monitoring the situation as it evolved throughout the day."
Gardai investigating an assault on Wellington Road in Cork City on Wednesday morning have arrested a man in connection with the incident.

The man, aged in his 30s, was arrested by Gardai for an offence contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 yesterday, Friday 21st March 2025, and detained at a Garda station in Cork city under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

He has since been charged and is due to appear before a special sitting of Cork City District Court at 4.30pm this afternoon.

The injured male continues to receive medical treatment at Cork University Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Investigations are ongoing.

An Garda Siochana continues to appeal for any witnesses to the incident to come forward.

Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and were travelling in the Wellington Road and Military Hill area between 11:00am and 12:00pm on Wednesday 19th March 2025 are asked to make this footage available to investigating Gardai.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Mayfield Garda Station on 021 455 8510, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
A 38-year-old man who was granted High Court bail has not been able to meet the conditions and will remain in custody on a charge of burgling the home of a 90-year-old Cork woman.

Thomas Murray, of 186 Rathpeacon Road, Cork, appeared at Cork District Court by video link from prison. His solicitor, Frank Buttimer, said: He is in custody with consent to bail, but he cannot raise the bail. This matter is going back to late December. I am asking for directions to be given by the DPP on the next occasion or a report on meaningful progress.

Judge Miriam Walsh remanded the accused in custody, with consent to bail until April 10.

Detective Garda Brian Murphy objected previously to bail being granted to the 38-year-old, who was arrested and charged with burgling the elderly womans home on two occasions  once at 3am on December 27, 2024.

The detective said that last summer, Mr Murray had done some lawnmowing and odd jobs at the home of the 90-year-old and allegedly burgled her home in July, 2024 and again on December 27, 2024.

Det Gda Murphy said the intruder allegedly entered the womans home at Closes Road, Farranree, Cork, on December 27, when she was asleep in her bed and that he shook her violently and shouted at her, asking for her purse.

He gained entry by smashing a rear kitchen window. This male then proceeded to pull the pillows from under her and stripped the duvet off the bed.

When the injured party attempted to call 999, the male grabbed the phone line from her and cut the phone line.

The homeowner made a statement, saying that the man who carried out this burglary was the man who had completed jobs for her during the summer of 2024.

There was also a charge brought against him related to another burglary at the same house on July 31, when it is alleged he stole 3,000 in cash.
It was the day World War II began, and Corkman William Murphy was right in the thick of it.

The 23-year-old son of William and Katherine Murphy, from Mitchelstown, had become a Pilot Officer with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in England 18 months earlier.

When Britain declared war on Germany on Sunday, September 3, 1939 - the day Cork lost the All-Ireland Thunder and Lightning hurling final to Kilkenny - William was briefed on the fact he would be involved in the first sortie of the war into enemy territory the very next day.

On September 4, as he led a bombing foray on warships at a port in northern Germany, Williams Blenheim plane was shot down. In that moment, the Corkman became both the first Irish and first British pilot to be killed in World War II.

A report in the Limerick Leader provided an insight into the response to the tragedy in Mitchelstown: News of his death cast a gloom over the entire countryside and hundreds of messages of sympathy have been tendered to his mother, sister, brothers, aunts and all other relatives on their very sad bereavement.

Williams sacrifice in the war against Adolf Hitlers Nazi fascism came to mind this week, as the last surviving pilot of the Battle of Britain, Dubliner John Paddy Hemingway, died aged 105.

It was a reminder that many brave men and women from Ireland fought and died fighting fascism, not least in the Battle of Britain, the airborne conflict that kept the Allied nations with a toehold in the war in the early years when Hitler threatened to run amok across Europe.

The pilots of the RAF who fought Nazism were from many nations as well as Britain, including large cohorts from Poland and Ireland.

The odds were stacked against them: the average life expectancy of a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain was just four weeks.

These brave men - and some RAF women too - became known as The Few - adopting a line from British wartime leader Winston Churchills tribute to the RAF: Never was so much owed by so many to so few.

A few of those good men were from Cork.

******

Six of Corks contingent in the RAF in the Battle of Britain were from the Beamish family.

Victor, George, Charles, Cecil, Katherine, and Eileen were the sons and daughters of the headmaster of Dunmanway Model School.

Cork RAF pilot Victor Beamish Victor fought in the Battle of Britain and died a few years later in a firefight.

Between them, the family provided an air marshal, an air vice-marshal, two group captains, and two flight lieutenants to the Allied war effort

As a Wing Commander, Victor Beamish was involved in downing 11 enemy aircraft during the Battle of Britain, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He survived that battle, but later in the war, on March 28, 1942, Victors plane was hit during a firefight with a Messerschmitt a few miles south of Calais. His plane was last seen entering clouds - it was presumed he crashed into the English Channel.

Victor was 38 at the time - almost twice the age of most of his cockpit colleagues, but he had resisted a cosy desk job for the thrill and peril of the skies, always leading by example.

He was described as the best-loved man in Fighter Command by one colleague, who wrote: I dont think any pilot would dare to do less than his best if Victor was about. Not because he might get ticked off, but because he would feel ashamed.

Some Allied hero pilots of World War II settled in Cork after the war.

Although he did not take part in the Battle of Britain, Dutch fighter pilot Jan Linzel had tried to repel the Luftwaffe a few months earlier, when Germany declared war on the Netherlands on May 10, 1940.

He later escaped to Britain and joined the RAF.

Jan and his wife Marianne lived in Glengarriff for more than 30 years, and he died aged 103 in 2019.

Youghal-born Cecil McCall joined the RAF in 1943 and was shot down in his Spitfire over former Yugoslavia and taken prisoner by the Germans. He still had deep white marks across both his kneecaps in later life, caused when the controls of his plane smashed into them.

******

An estimated 120,000 Irishmen fought for Britain in World War II, and there were actually more from neutral Ireland than from loyal Northern Ireland. They also wore American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand uniforms.

Dan Harvey, Cork author of several military books, including A Bloody Summer: The Irish At The Battle Of Britain, asked: Why did they enlist? For a number of reasons: to seek adventure, for money, for family tradition. But also for altruistic reasons; many selflessly believed Hitler had to be stopped, that it was a world problem, and the best way to defend Ireland.

It has not been until recent times that these people were recognised in Ireland and scant regard is paid, even now, to the Irish war workers in England.

Mr Harvey, a former lieutenant colonel in the Irish Army and nephew of late Taoiseach Jack Lynch, reckoned that more than 40 RAF airmen taking part in the near four-month long Battle of Britain had Irish connections.

Many of these people who survived the war never spoke of their experiences, partly because of the stigma of being seen fighting for the once common enemy of England.

However, what mattered to these men was what they were fighting against - totalitarianism, fascism, people who wanted to take away the freedom of western countries, including Ireland. They were Irish patriots. They were adventurous too.

We are Lords of the Air, wrote Corkman Cecil McCall when he became a pilot. There will never be another day like it, all we strove for, swotted for, drilled for, and sweated is there for all to see.

******

Just to turn the wheel full circle, and to underline the extent of Cork involvement in World War II, I started off by mentioning Cork man William Murphy as the first Irish or British pilot casualty of the conflict in 1939.

Well, the last RAF aircraft to be shot down over the UK in the war claimed the life of Corkman Sergeant Denis Lucey 80 years ago this week, on March 17 - St Patricks Day - 1945.

The son of Denis and Annie Lucey, of Model Village, Tower, he was 25 years old, and was buried in Canovee Graveyard, down the road from my home in Carrigadrohid.

This week, Echo reader Paul Terry told me had spoken to Deniss nephew Billy Lucey about his uncles death, and Billy said his own father never again enjoyed a St Patricks Day after his brother died on that day.

Billy visited his uncles grave over the St Patricks weekend and was pleasantly surprised to find a lovely bouquet of fresh flowers next to the headstone.

History still lives among us, you know.
Last month, I reviewed The Seed Of The Sacred Fig Tree, an Iranian film highlighting how the countrys dictatorship treats its citizens.

The authentic depiction of life in contemporary Iran resulted in writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof being sentenced to imprisonment and flogging. However, he managed to evade arrest before he was taken into custody.

Its not only Iranian films that critically examine the governments treatment of its citizens that put film-makers at risk.

Right now, Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha are under house arrest awaiting trial for My Favourite Cake, a simple but beautifully told film about a 70-year-old widow who looks for romance in her twilight years.

It is a crazy world where film-makers face jail for telling a love story about people in their seventies, but the bravery of Iranian filmmakers, cast, and crew means stories like this will continue to be told.

Mahin (Lily Farhadpour) is a retired nurse with adult children who live abroad. Now 70, she was widowed 30 years ago but never looked for another man, choosing instead to live a life of solitude.

She and her friends stayed in contact for years, but as they age, it has been getting harder. Mahin has bad knees and cant climb steps like she used to, so that rules out visiting one close friend who lives on the fourth floor. They used to meet for a weekly swim, but prices are too high now at the local pool.

Mahin hosts lunch for an annual gathering of close friends -all now in their seventies and eighties. As they discuss their aches and pains and joke about their husbands long gone, they wonder if it is too late to find new men. Most agree that they would rather not go back to cooking and cleaning for a man, but Mahin thinks it might be nice to have someone under her roof once more, so she sets out to find a single gentleman.

Her first stop is a hotel where she went in her youth, and she reminisces about Iran in the old days when women wore high heels and low necklines, and hijabs were nowhere to be seen.

When Mahin doesnt find a potential suitor at the hotel, she goes to a pensioners restaurant, a staple of Iranian society where older people can get good-quality food cheaply and sometimes for free with government vouchers.

Here, she meets Faramarz (Esmail Mehrabi), a divorced taxi driver who has long given up on the prospect of finding someone new.

Mahin books him to drive her home, but once she is in his car, she makes her true intentions clear. She would like Faramarz to come inside and share a meal with her. He says yes, and they chat like giddy teenagers for the rest of the journey.

Once they arrive at the house, Mahin asks Faramarz to park a street away from her home so her noisy neighbours wont question why an unfamiliar car is there. While he parks, Mahin rushes inside to ditch her hijab, change her clothes, and put on some makeup and perfume.

When he gets to the house, Faramarz nervously crosses the threshold and begins chatting as Mahin prepares some food. She has an illicit bottle of wine given to her before the government made alcohol illegal, and as they drink, they share stories about their lives, all the while getting closer and closer.

It has been 30 years since Mahin has been with a man, and Faramarz cant remember when he last saw a woman naked, but the pair cannot wait to get into bed together, dancing and holding hands as they discuss what might happen next.

In Iran, this type of behaviour is forbidden, but in the Western world, senior love is rarely seen on screen. The idea that people in their seventies still have desires is not something we discuss as a society.

Seeing the joy that Mahin and Faramarz experience from the simple act of sharing a meal together is like watching a secret unfold. For a few short hours, they arent lonely older people; they are two people with a world of opportunity ahead of them.

Farhadpour and Mehrabi bring such life to Mahin and Faramarz. The tenderness they share and the sparks they experience are palpable. The ending is unexpected, but going with them on this journey feels so special.

Moghaddam and Sanaeeha are fantastic film-makers. Let us hope they get the chance to make more movies because this is filmmaking at its best.

Five stars for this beautiful, thought-provoking story.

My Favourite Cake, in cinemas, Mar 24, cert 12a, *****
By Cillian Sherlock, PA

All Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon are safe, the Tanaiste has said, following an escalation in violence in the region.

It comes after Israel struck Lebanon in retaliation for rockets targeting Israel, in the heaviest exchange of fire since the ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Earlier, rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel in an attack for which Hezbollah has denied responsibility.

Simon Harris, the Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, called for restraint on all sides.

In a statement, Mr Harris said: Deeply concerned about the latest escalation in violence and tensions between Israel and Lebanon.

I can confirm that Irish peacekeepers at Unifil are safe.

I am grateful to them for all they do as peacekeepers.

It is absolutely vital now that all sides show restraint.
By Cillian Sherlock, PA

A man has been arrested after a car chase in which two police vehicles were rammed in west Belfast.

Four police officers suffered minor injuries during what the PSNI described as the completely reckless and dangerous incident.

A 50-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of driving when unfit, dangerous driving and failing to stop for police, and remains in custody.

Officers on patrol in the early hours of Saturday morning began to pursue a black Audi A4 after it allegedly failed to stop for police near Servia Street at about 2.30am.

Chief Inspector Pete Cunningham said the suspect vehicle was observed weaving onto the wrong side of the road, failing to give way at junctions and driving the wrong way around a roundabout.

Mr Cunningham said: Two police callsigns brought the vehicle to a stop in the Upper Springfield Road area a short time later, however, the suspect driver reverse rammed the front of one of the police vehicles.

At this time, the police vehicle was stationary but the officer in the front passenger seat was in the process of exiting the car when the collision occurred, and was jolted into the doorframe.

The driver of the suspect vehicle then collided with a second police vehicle when attempting to make off again.

Four officers sustained minor injuries, but despite this they remained on duty, which reflects their resilience during difficult challenges they face on a daily basis, while working to keep people safe.

Our priority is their safety and welfare and, as an organisation, we will ensure support is available where its needed.

The two police cars will be off the road while they undergo repairs.

Mr Cunningham added: A 50-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of offences including driving when unfit, dangerous driving and failing to stop for police. He remains in custody at this time.

Thankfully we are not dealing with more serious injuries today  and the actions of the driver responsible for the pursuit and subsequent collision with our officers is totally unacceptable.

Members of the public could have also been injured during this completely reckless and dangerous incident.

Anyone with information, including dashcam or other footage, is asked to contact PSNI on 101, quoting reference 130 of 22/3/25.
A persistent pain in her shoulder blade turned into an epic cancer battle for one Cork woman that saw her hospitalised and in isolation for weeks on end.

Megan Dalton Rafferty, from Togher, initially put the nagging ache down to how she had slept.

A week later it was still there and nothing I did would get rid of it, recalled Megan, 30.

However, as the pain persisted, it began to impact her sleep, so she sought medical advice and was prescribed medication that had severe side effects.

Im nearly six foot tall and my legs would randomly go dead and Id almost be dragging them around after me. My concentration was also hit. I was working as a social-media manager and Id find myself just staring into space, and one of the weirdest things of all was that my eyes started retaining fluid and swelled, and so with the bags under my eyes from not sleeping, it looked like I had been punched.

Megan can almost see the amusing side now, but at the time she was tearing her hair out trying to get to the root of her pain.

I had an MRI scan and I was disappointed when it came back clear because I knew something wasnt right, and I needed to know what it was. It constantly felt like there was a gremlin in my shoulder, she said.

A blood test ultimately diagnosed the cause and it was nothing Megan had expected: BCell ALL (Acute lymphoblastic leukemia), blood cancer.

I remember being called to CUH after the blood test which had showed up low red and white cells, and my legs were going from under me, and I had problems breathing. Everything was starting to get worse at that stage. It took me 15 minutes to walk a corridor that should have taken one minute, said Megan, who was 27 at that time.

A bone marrow biopsy was taken that day in CUH and the word leukaemia was mentioned, which was something I hadnt been expecting. But when the diagnosis was confirmed later that day, I honestly felt relief as I finally had my answer.

I was told to pack a bag and that my first treatment was the following day.

That was at the end of 2021 and her treatment regime saw her spend four weeks in isolation in CUH, followed by a few days at home, a cycle that was on repeat for 10 months.

My doctors didnt mince their words and said that the treatment was going to be hard, but its not like I thought it was ever going to be a walk in the park, said Megan matter-of-factly.

Day-to-day, she managed being on her own relatively well, she said.

There were days when my body felt fine and my mind was half asleep and others when it was the opposite, but in some ways I was lucky as Im an introvert and can entertain myself until the cows come home.

I had all my technology and when I was sick of screens, I turned to adult colouring books. It was a kind of mindfulness.

This was all happening during covid and my mum was allowed in for the occasional short visit. She was also visiting my grandmother in a nursing home so was vigilant with her covid tests.

Megan hit an unexpected obstacle when she contracted sepsis, which saw her end up in ICU in April, 2022.

I had mottled skin, fever, my whole body was shaking for 10 days, four of which were in ICU. It was my gall bladder that was trying to kill me! That was the cause so I had that removed and got to have a two week holiday at home to heal and was back for that May, June and July for more treatment.

Her final treatment was in August, 2022, after which Megan returned to her job as a multi-media manager for a hotel and pub in Limerick in what was a huge step forward.

Another setback was to come.

At that stage, I was on a maintenance stage of treatment with a lumbar puncture every three months. The one taken in January, 2023, showed leukaemia cells. Just when I had gotten used to my freedom!

More treatment was required.

I was put on immunotherapy which involved wearing what looked like a bum bag which contained a pouch with my medication, feeding into my arm. Id go down to Limerick on Sunday, come back on Tuesday to have the bag changed, return to Limerick on Wednesday morning and back to Cork on Friday. That continued throughout February and March.

Megan Dalton Rafferty after her first round of chemo.

Megan also needed a bone marrow transplant that May, which required a six-week hospital stay in isolation and a six-week stay in the capital afterwards.

I had to stay within 30 minutes of the hospital for six weeks and, through the Bone Marrow for Leukaemia Trust, we were lucky to get an apartment, she said. I had a biopsy 100 days after the transplant and it showed I was 98% my donor. I dont know who they are to this day but Im very grateful to them.

Her family, mum Sandra, dad Finbarr, older sister Amy and younger brother Olan were a great support.

Throughout it all, her precious grandmother was being cared for in a nursing home, and Megan was unable to visit.

She passed away last March, and on the approach to her first anniversary, Megan takes strength from her memory as they were very close.

Having been through her cancer journey, which saw her lose her hair three times, her advice is this: Make sure you get yearly blood tests, thats important. So is knowing the signs of sepsis, and remember to give blood  it could save your life. I was saved by a single bag of blood on more than one occasion. And for anyone who wants to know more about giving bone marrow, see giveblood.ie..

Megan now volunteers with the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) to help others who are in her situation and to share her skill set with the organisation.

I dont work in Limerick anymore and am currently looking for a new position, so with a bit of time on my hands I volunteer with the ICS, helping with their social media and website, and Im also involved in their fundraiser Relay for Life in Midleton which last year raised over 60,000.

Luckily, she feels as well as she did prior to her diagnosis in 2021, but her mindset has changed.

I see people going at a million miles an hour in life trying to reach milestones and I feel we all need to calm ourselves a bit and listen to our bodies. It will tell you very quickly how youre really doing, like in my case  I was grand until suddenly I wasnt. I am more careful with my health now and am very grateful to be feeling good. Its not something I take for granted. It sounds cheesy but Im happy to take life day-by-day.

The Irish Cancer Societys Daffodil Day takes place on Friday, March 28.

This Daffodil Day, the Irish Cancer Society are urging the public to Go All in Against Cancer.

Visit cancer.ie to donate or get involved.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

Melting glaciers threaten the supply of food and water for billions across the globe, the United Nations warned in its 2025 World Water Development Report: Mountains and Glaciers: Water towers.

Mountains supply 55 to 60 percent of the planets annual freshwater flow, with two billion people reliant on the waters flowing from them.

As the worlds water towers, mountains provide life-sustaining fresh water to billions of people and countless ecosystems; their critical role in sustainable development cannot be ignored, a press release from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said.

The most recent edition of the report emphasizes the importance of alpine glaciers and other mountain water sources, which are essential to meet basic human needs like drinking water and sanitation.

According to the report, 2.2 billion people did not have access to safe drinking water in 2022, while 3.5 billion lacked safely managed sanitation.

Climate change is accelerating glacier melt, decreasing snow cover, increasing permafrost thaw, and causing more extreme rainfall events and natural hazards leading to more variable, erratic and uncertain water flows, the press release said. This highlights the urgency of improving mountain water governance through integrated river basin management, finance, and knowledge- and capacity-building, to meet the worlds ever-growing demand for water.

Mountain waters are essential to the food and energy security of billions of people who live in and around mountainous regions, as well as areas downstream. These waters also support water-reliant industries important to economic growth.

Two-thirds of irrigated agriculture globally will likely be impacted by receding mountain glaciers and less snowfall in mountainous regions, the report said, as The Guardian reported.

Regardless of where we live, we all depend in some way on mountains and glaciers. But these natural water towers are facing imminent peril. This report demonstrates the urgent need for action, said UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay.

The glacial rate of change is the worst ever recorded, separate research by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its State of the Global Climate 2024 report, published earlier this week.

WMO found that the last three years saw the largest ever loss of glacier mass, with the tropical Andes, Sweden, Norway and Svalbard among the most-impacted areas.

As the water towers of the world, mountains are an essential source of fresh water. They store water in the form of ice and snow during cold seasons, releasing it during warmer seasons as a major source of fresh water for users downstream. Mountains play a unique and critical role in the global water cycle, and they affect atmospheric circulation, which drives weather and precipitation patterns, the press release said.

According to Abou Amani, UNESCOs director of water sciences, glacial decline also means the reflective ice surface is replaced by dark soil, which absorbs heat.

Glaciers melting have an impact on the reflectivity of [solar] radiation and that will impact the whole climate system, Amani warned, as reported by The Guardian.

President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development Alvaro Lario, who is also chair of UN-Water, said more support is needed for those living in affected mountain regions.

Water flows downhill, but food insecurity rises uphill. Mountains provide 60% of our freshwater, but the communities that safeguard these vital resources are among the most food insecure, Amani said, as The Guardian reported. We must invest in their resilience to protect glaciers, rivers, and a shared future for all of us.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

The UK government has announced plans to reduce pesticide use on farms 10% by 2030. The target is the first pesticide national action plan (NAP) from the government in a decade and is meant to help reduce harm to pollinators and improve agricultural productivity via more sustainable methods.

The new action plan follows the ban on neonics in the UK, which was upheld earlier this year when a request for the emergency authorization to use a neonicotinoid called Cruiser SB was denied.

The Government is restoring our natural world as part of our commitment to protect the environment while supporting productivity and economic growth. Environment Minister Emma Hardy said in a statement. That is why we have banned bee killing pesticides in England and today were going further to support farmers and growers to adopt sustainable practices.

As outlined by the government, the pesticide NAP aims to reduce environmental harm from pesticides by at least 10% by 2030, rather than an actual volume reduction. The government will implement a Pesticide Load Indicator to measure progress.

The plan also will emphasize integrated pest management practices to farms, encouraging farmers to use nature-based solutions over pesticides. Farmers are encouraged to practice crop rotating, mechanical and hand weeding, introducing predator to control pests and planting more pest- and disease-resistant crops, among other measures.

Finally, the NAP plans to increase trainings, guidance materials and greater enforcements to meet the target.

While we had hoped for a higher percentage, the adoption of a target which takes into account both how much of a pesticide is used and how toxic it is a clear signal that reducing pesticide-related harms to the environment is now being taken seriously, a Pesticide Collaboration spokesperson said, as reported by The Guardian.

There are some limitations to the NAP, and critics noted that the action plan does not set goals for pesticide use in urban areas, only farms.

The new plans failure to address the use of pesticides in urban areas is a major flaw, Paul de Zylva, nature campaigner at Friends of Earth, told The Guardian. The government must commit to the phasing out of pesticide and herbicide use in urban parks and streets, which is unnecessary and risks the health of people, pets, wildlife, rivers and soils.

However, as a spokesperson from Pesticide Collaboration noted, While there are no commitments to phasing out urban pesticide use, we have been assured by the government that this area of work will be progressed separately.

While the move is a step in the right direction, it isnt as significant as a similar plan by the European Union to reduce the use of more hazardous pesticides by 50% in the same timeframe as part of a Farm to Fork Strategy in Europes Green Deal.

Barnaby Coupe, senior land use manager at The Wildlife Trusts, said, While not perfect, the inclusion of a new pesticide load indicator and a 10% reduction target mark a step forward in pesticide policy, but this target will need to become more ambitious over time if the UK is to meet its international commitment to half pesticide-related risks by 2030.
The agency says some entities in its Covered List are still operating in the US.

The US Federal Communications Commission has launched what it describes as a "sweeping investigation" on Chinese companies already on its "Covered List." Those companies include Huawei, ZTE and China Telecom, which the US government believes are aligned with the Chinese Communist Party. In 2022, the Biden administration banned the sale of communications equipment, video surveillance gear and services from those companies in an effort to protect the country's national security and ensure that "untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within [US] borders."

According to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, the agency has reason to believe that some of the entities in the Covered List are still operating in the US, because they don't think the ban covers "particular types of operations or otherwise." These companies are "trying to make an end run around those FCC prohibitions by continuing to do business in America on a private or 'unregulated' basis," he said.

This investigation is the first major initiative under the Council for National Security that Carr recently established within the FCC. The new council's main purposes is to reduce American technology and telecommunications sectors' reliance on foreign adversaries, mitigate the country's vulnerability to cyberattacks and espionage, as well as to ensure that the US "wins the strategic competition with China over critical technologies."

The FCC intends to gather a wide range of information on entities in the Covered List, including details about their ongoing business in the US and the business of companies that may be aiding their operations. It said it will "close any loopholes that have permitted untrustworthy, foreign adversary state-backed actors to skirt [its] rules."
Social media star Bryce Hall is cashing in after PepsiCo's acquisition of prebiotic soda brand Poppi.

The TikTok and YouTube personality, who was an early investor in the trendy beverage company, took to Instagram to celebrate his windfallposting a reel flaunting stacks of cash with the caption, "Guess I'm taking Mika shopping."

Hall's girlfriend, model and social media influencer Mikaela Lafuente, contributed her own celebratory dance from the passenger seat.

The post comes days after PepsiCo announced its $1.95 billion deal to acquire Poppi, a fast-growing functional soda brand that blends prebiotics with fruit juice for an alternative to traditional soft drinks. The acquisition marks a major milestone for the brand, which first gained traction after appearing on Shark Tank.

While details of Hall's Poppi stake remain undisclosed, his flashy flex suggests the payout was substantial.

As Hall revels in his financial win, Poppi's founders, Allison and Stephen Ellsworth, are also celebrating their soda's meteoric rise. "We can't wait to begin this next chapter with PepsiCo," Allison Ellsworth said in a press release, emphasizing the brand's mission to provide a better-for-you soda option for generations to come.

With PepsiCo's backing and Poppi's cult-like following, the future looks brightnot just for the brand but for investors like Hall, who just turned a fizzy bet into a serious bag.
Police bodycam footage newly released showed Gene Hackman's daughter, Elizabeth Hackman, saying she would like the actor's dog, Zinna, to be cremated and interred next to his late wife, Betsy Arakawa after cops last month found the mummified remains of the couple at their home in New Mexico last month.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office released the footage Friday of Elizabeth speaking with a deputy, according to TMZ.

"Yeah, I'm thinking cremate the dog and bury it with Betsy," Elizabeth told the officer. She also made another emotional request, asking, "If the dog was wearing a collar, could you save that for me?"

Although mummified due to the dry New Mexico climate, authorities confirmed the legendary actor and his wife died of natural causes. Veterinarians attributed Zinna's death to dehydration and starvation.

Court Fight Over Autopsy and Investigation Files

The family of Gene Hackman is seeking to block the release of his autopsy report, adding another layer of intrigue to the circumstances surrounding his death.

The family has also asked for photos and video of the couple's bodies, the remains of their dog, and the scene of their deaths inside their home to be kept from the public in addition to the autopsy.

SA anta Fe court has issued a temporary restraining order against the Sheriff's Office and the Office of the Medical Investigator , barring them from releasing any such materials until a hearing later this month.

Questions Raised By Unprecedented Legal Action

A source familiar with death investigations in New Mexico said he was surprised the family was trying to limit access to the autopsy report.

However, now that the autopsy has already been completed, the insider said it is unprecedented for someone only now to attempt to block it from being released to the public.

"Trying to block the autopsy report is very atypical; that is not something I have ever seen before," the insider told The US Sun.

"New Mexico doesn't have an exemption for autopsy photos, and normally, it's not a concern. However, when it comes to celebrity deaths, a lot of people request them."

The source also stated that while it is common for celebrities and their families to seek preventive legal measures against the release of photos, it is unusual to have a measure against the report of an autopsy itself.
An OnlyFans model has been accused of murder following the death of a client as they engaged in a fetish session, with prosecutors claiming she filmed content as he was choking to death.

Michaela Rylaarsdam, 30, was arrested in February and is still held behind bars at a San Diego detention facility related to the killing of 56-year-old Michael Dale in April of 2023.

When officers responded to Rylaarsdam's home, she was doing CPR on Dale, according to court papers obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune. They took him to a hospital, and eventually, he was declared brain-dead and removed from life support.

In a report by KSWB, authorities allege Dale paid Rylaarsdam $11,000 for a BDSM session in which he requested to be wrapped in Saran Wrap, have glue poured onto his eyelids to seal them shut, and have women's boots glued to his feet.

The Fatal Encounter

"Saran Wrap kiIIer"? Michaela Rylaarsdam, aka Asshley SinCal, hid her escort life until a client ded wrapped in plastic like a mummy. Now shes jailed, facing murdr charges in California pic.twitter.com/aqowaVRJYp  TaraBull (@TaraBull808) March 21, 2025

According to the Los Angeles Times, court documents say Dale had "duct tape over his mouth, a plastic bag over his head, more Saran Wrap around that, and then duct tape securing all the layers to his head." The papers also claim the wrap had been fastened closely over his neck.

Dale's death was ruled a homicide by asphyxiation by the San Diego County Medical Examiner. An incised wound on the neck showed no evidence of death for at least eight minutes after the bag had been on Dale's head.

When police seized Rylaarsdam's phone at the scene, they discovered videos that undermined her story. The affidavit states there was "no evidence" Dale had permitted to have a bag put over his head and tightened.

The Times also reported that a video surfaced of Rylaarsdam using a vibrator to make OnlyFans content while Dale was nearby with his head wrapped in plastic and tape and a bag.

Rylaarsdam, a mother of three, has testified, denying that she ever placed a bag over Dale's head. It was not clear whether her attorney intended to comment.

She is in custody, without bail, and due back in court in April.
Music industry veteran Mathew Knowles has issued a stern warning to Kanye West following the rapper's controversial remarks about his daughter Beyonce and son-in-law Jay-Z's children.

Knowles, 73, made it clear that personal attacks come with consequences, especially in the music industry.

Earlier this week, West, 47, posted a troubling message on social media platform X, questioning the intelligence of Beyonce and Jay-Z's 7-year-old twins, Rumi and Sir.

He also claimed they were conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF), sparking widespread backlash.

In response, Knowles told TMZ on Friday, "People pay a price for being stupid, especially in the music industry." He added, "I'm hopeful Kanye gets the type of help he needs, in terms of mental health."

The former manager of Destiny's Child and Beyonce's early solo career did not hold back, emphasizing that disrespecting children and families will not go unnoticed. His comments echoed the sentiments of many who believe West's actions are out of line and harmful.

Shortly before Knowles spoke out, his ex-wife Tina Knowles, 71, appeared to address the controversy indirectly.

According to DailyMail, in an Instagram post on Wednesday, she shared a lighthearted joke, but her caption carried a more serious message.

"It's hard to remain positive and classy in the face of ignorance and evil," she wrote. "But I know that no weapon formed against me or my family shall prosper. This battle is not mine, but the Lord's, I know that God has got this." The post has since been edited to remove some statements.

Beyonces father, Mathew Knowles adresses Yes vulgar comments about his grandkids.



"People pay a price for being stupid, especially in the music industry."



(via TMZ) pic.twitter.com/eZVW3yWvxI  XXL Magazine (@XXL) March 21, 2025

Beyonce Reportedly in Tears Over Kanye's Attacks, Chooses Silence

West, who has a history of erratic behavior and inflammatory comments, initially deleted his original post about Jay-Z and Beyonce's children.

However, he later reposted it, admitting that he only removed it to avoid having his social media account suspended.

"I need everyone to know that I took the post about Jay-Z and Beyonce's family down ... because there was a possibility of my Twitter being canceled," he wrote.

The rapper has been embroiled in controversy for years, making headlines for his antisemitic remarks, public feuds, and accusations against his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, the NY Post said.

His latest attack on the Carter family has led to speculation that his career and industry relationships may suffer even further.

Beyonce has not publicly addressed West's comments. Sources close to her suggest she prefers to take the high road, focusing on her music and family rather than engaging in a public back-and-forth.

"She was in tears, but she won't respond out of respect for his family back in Chicago," an insider told the Daily Mail. "She knows Kanye is also upset with her and Jay because they've been supporting Kendrick [Lamar], who Kanye is clearly jealous of."

West has previously expressed resentment toward Jay-Z and Beyonce, accusing them of distancing themselves from him over the years. His latest outburst appears to be fueled by his belief that the couple could have supported him more during his personal and legal struggles.
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China tightens security management over facial recognition

Xinhua) 12:59, March 22, 2025

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China has made public a set of security management measures concerning the application of facial recognition technology, aiming to standardize the use of the technology and protect individuals' personal information rights.

Jointly released by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and the Ministry of Public Security, the measures will go into effect on June 1, 2025.

The document sets forth basic requirements and processing rules for the use of facial recognition technology in handling facial data, security standards for the application of the technology, as well as relevant supervisory and management responsibilities.

Notably, regarding mandatory facial recognition, an issue of wide concern which often occurs at hotel check-ins and residence area entrances, the document introduces a non-mandatory principle, stipulating that facial recognition cannot be the sole verification method if "the same purpose or business requirement can be achieved through other non-facial recognition methods."

If individuals do not consent to identity verification through facial recognition, they should be provided with other reasonable and convenient alternatives, according to the measures.

Facial recognition data is sensitive personal information, and once it is leaked, it can cause significant harm to individuals' personal and property security, and even pose a threat to public safety, said an official with the CAC.

The measures were introduced as facial recognition becomes increasingly common across consumption, finance and transportation, thanks to the rapid development of internet technologies, according to the official.

While this has contributed to the growth of the digital economy and facilitated people's lives, it has also raised concerns about privacy and the leakage of personal information, drawing widespread attention from all sectors of society, the official said.

China has attached great significance to the protection of personal information. The law on the protection of personal information, which took effect in November 2021, stipulates that national cyberspace authorities shall coordinate relevant authorities to formulate specific personal information protection rules for new technologies and applications, including facial recognition.

Rules for the processing of personal information have also been included in laws and administrative regulations such as the Cybersecurity Law, the Data Security Law and the regulations on network data security management.

"The formulation and introduction of the measures is an important step in implementing the provisions of these laws and administrative regulations," the CAC official said.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
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French actor Gerard Depardieu faces trial over alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set, a case placing one of the world's best known movie stars at the heart of France's broader reckoning over sexual violence.
The U.S. Department of State has announced sanctions against former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and former Minister of Planning Julio De Vido for their involvement in significant corruption during their time in office.The decision, issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, renders both officials and their immediate family members ineligible for entry into the United States.





According to the State Department, Fernandez de Kirchner and De Vido orchestrated and profited from multiple bribery schemes linked to public works contracts, diverting millions of dollars from the Argentine government. Both have been convicted in multiple court rulings, which the U.S. says have eroded public and investor confidence in Argentina.





This action reaffirms our commitment to countering global corruption, including at the highest levels of government, Rubio stated.





The designations were made under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024, which mandates sanctions against foreign officials found to be involved in corruption or human rights violations.





The U.S. has increasingly used visa restrictions as a tool to penalize government corruption worldwide, emphasizing accountability for those who abuse public office for personal gain.
Self-described misogynist influencer Andrew Tate on Friday returned to Romania, where he is facing rape and human trafficking charges, after a trip to the US.

The British-American figurehead of the online masculinist movement travelled to Florida, together with his brother, last month, marking the first time he had been out of the eastern European country since his 2022 arrest.

"We're here to clear our names and exonerate ourselves," Tate told reporters, flanked by his brother, outside their residence on the outskirts of Bucharest.

Earlier Tate posted on X that he was "spending 185,000 dollars on a private jet across the Atlantic to sign one single piece of paper in Romania".

Romanian prosecutors allege that Tate, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, and two women set up a criminal organisation in Romania in early 2021 and sexually exploited several victims.

Under judicial supervision, the Tates need to report to authorities on March 24, a no-show potentially leading to "preventive arrest", according to Romanian authorities.

Florida's attorney general James Uthmeier said earlier this month that a criminal investigation had been opened into the Tates.

They have "publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women around the world", said Uthmeier.

In a separate civil case in the United Kingdom, four British women have accused Andrew Tate of rape and coercive control.

A Romanian court has granted a British extradition request, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.

Tate moved to Romania years ago after first starting a webcam business in the United Kingdom.

He leapt to fame in 2016 when he appeared on the "Big Brother" UK reality television show, but was removed after a video emerged showing him attacking a woman.

He then turned to social media platforms to promote his often misogynistic and divisive views on how to be successful.

Banned from Instagram and TikTok for his views, Tate is followed by more than 10 million people on X, where he shares his violent vision of masculinity and often homophobic and racist posts.

bur-jza/jfx
Bennett University, a higher education initiative of The Times Group, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Whitecliffe Global, a prominent network of creative institutions spanning New Zealand, Germany, and Australia. The signing took place on March 20th, 2025, in Mumbai, India, in the presence of Christopher Luxon, New Zealands Prime Minister.





This landmark agreement establishes a strategic partnership focused on academic exchange, joint research, and international collaboration in the field of design and creative education. The two institutions have agreed to initiate a long-term bilateral program designed to foster innovation and excellence in higher education by integrating international best practices, interdisciplinary learning, and creative industry exposure into the curriculum.





Bennett University, a NAAC A+ accredited institution, is redefining design education through its School of Design, which integrates technology with design thinking, offering specialisations in Fashion Design, Communication Design, and Game Design. With a focus on interdisciplinary learning and industry relevance, the school continues to evolve, introducing new-age specialisations in areas like AI-driven design, sustainable fashion, and UX/UI innovation. Its partnership with Whitecliffe Global enhances international exposure through cross-cultural learning, joint research, and exchange programs, positioning Bennett University as a hub for global design education. This collaboration strengthens the universitys commitment to innovation and excellence, for building a world-class creative powerhouseone that redefines design education and empowers future leaders to shape industries, influence societies, and pioneer innovation on a global scale.





"At Bennett University, we are committed to fostering a globally connected learning environment that empowers students with the skills and experiences needed to thrive in an interconnected world. This partnership with Whitecliffe Global is a testament to our dedication to academic excellence, innovation, and cross-border collaboration. By facilitating student and faculty exchanges, joint research, and global networking opportunities, we are opening new avenues for creative learning and industry engagement. By bridging geographical divides and facilitating knowledge exchange, we're empowering the next generation of leaders to navigate and shape a rapidly changing world, said Mr Vineet Jain, Chancellor, Bennett University & Managing Director, The Times Group.





Bennett University and Whitecliffe Global will facilitate the Student Exchange Programs across their campuses in India, New Zealand, Germany, and Australia. Under this initiative, up to three students from Bennett University will attend Whitecliffe Global institutions for up to one semester, and vice versa, enhancing cross-cultural learning and global networking opportunities.





At Whitecliffe Global, we believe in the power of international collaboration to broaden the learning experience and prepare students for success in an interconnected world. This partnership with Bennett University is a step towards offering our students more opportunities to learn from diverse cultures and disciplines. Together, we will push the boundaries of creative education, said Mr Feroz Ali, Executive Chairman of Whitecliffe Global.





Both institutions will collaborate on Faculty Exchange and Joint Projects, enabling professors to engage in teaching, research, and consultancy on topics ranging from design innovation to business management. The partnership will facilitate Joint Research and Consultancy Initiatives aimed at addressing key challenges in the fields of creative arts, technology, design, and more. Students will benefit from Concessional Student Status and International Opportunities with no tuition fees charged by the host institution. This initiative makes world-class education more accessible, providing students the opportunity to expand their academic horizons without financial barriers.





This partnership not only enhances academic excellence but also prepares students to navigate and influence the evolving global creative landscape with a forward-thinking, industry-ready approach.

Also Read: Bennett Universitys Convocation Ceremony Was A Grand Event
Kriti Kharbanda and Pulkit Samrats wedding last year was a perfect blend of love, tradition, and modernity, and filled with heartfelt gestures, bold choices, and intimate moments. As the couple celebrates their first year of marital bliss, we take a look at 10 exclusive and unconventional highlights from their special day on March 15, 2024!

Breaking away from tradition, Kriti and Pulkit ditched the customary Kanyadaan, choosing instead to celebrate their union as equals. This progressive decision made a powerful statement about mutual respect and partnership.Pulkit turned heads in a pista green kurta intricately embroidered with the Gayatri Mantra in Sanskrit, paired with a dhoti and safa. The spiritual detailing made his look both unconventional and unforgettable.Pulkits mother had one heartfelt request  she wanted Kriti to wear pink for the wedding. Kriti graciously agreed, making it a deeply personal and touching gesture for her new family.Kriti honoured her family heritage by wearing her mothers wedding dupatta during the chooda ceremony and accessorising with her nanis jewellery, adding layers of nostalgia and love to her bridal look.Instead of just turmeric, the couple incorporated Multani mitti into their Haldi ceremony, giving it a cooling, skin-enhancing twist that made the ritual even more special.In a romantic surprise, Pulkit personally applied mehendi on Kritis hands, a sweet romantic gesture, setting the bar high for future grooms!During their Sangeet ceremony, Pulkit stunned everyone by reciting a heartfelt poem he had written for Kriti, leaving the bride and guests in tears.Pulkit went the extra mile by gifting Kriti a custom-made thalli  a South Indian mangalsutra identical to her mothers  celebrating her deep connection to her roots.Kritis kaleeras came with a twist  instead of the usual Will You Marry Me? they boldly declared, YOU WILL MARRY ME  a playful reflection of their fun-loving bond.Kriti honoured the Pehli Rasoi tradition by cooking for Pulkits family, but Pulkit flipped the script by preparing a dessert for Kritis family. This was a sweet, modern take on tradition.From personalised traditions to thoughtful gestures, Kriti and Pulkits wedding was an intimate celebration of love, respect, and breaking stereotypes.
Womens cotton trousers and shorts (HS 620462) seamlessly combine comfort, versatility, and style, maintaining steady demand in the US market. These garments are essential for both casual and professional wear, making them a staple in many wardrobes. Leading exporters include Bangladesh, Vietnam, China, Pakistan, and Cambodia, each playing a significant role in meeting consumer needs. However, evolving trade dynamicsparticularly the imposition of tariffs on China by the US administrationcould reshape the competitive landscape. Understanding these shifts is crucial for anticipating market trends and assessing future opportunities in the sector.

Table 1: Key Exporting Countries and Trade Statistics - Womens Cotton Trousers and Shorts to the US In CY 2024

Source: TradeMap and F2F Analysis, * Effective from 4th March 2025

Note: RCA - Revealed Comparative Advantage; UVR - Unit Value Realisation; LPI - Logistic Performance Index

Figure 1: Key Exporting Countries and Trade Statistics - Womens Cotton Trousers and Shorts to the US In CY 2024

Source: TradeMap, F2F Analysis

Bangladesh: A major winner with strong cost competitiveness

Bangladesh holds the highest Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) in the market for womens cotton trousers and shorts, with an impressive score of 72.80. This underscores the countrys strong competitive edge in producing these garments at highly competitive prices. Additionally, Bangladesh maintains a relatively low Unit Value Realisation (UVR) of $15.62/kg, further boosting its attractiveness to cost-conscious consumers in the US. The absence of tariffs on Bangladeshs exports enables the country to capitalise on its cost-efficient production, securing a substantial share of the US market and strengthening its position as a leading supplier in this segment.

Vietnam: Competitive but faces challenges with UVR

Vietnam, with an RCA of 1.16, stands in second place in the export rankings for supplying womens cotton trousers and shorts to the US. Despite a fairly low RCA relative to Bangladesh, its UVR of $18.52/kg is indicative of its slightly higher pricing compared to lower-cost producers like Bangladesh and Pakistan. While Vietnam has free market access on its exports of womens cotton trousers and shorts, the higher UVR may limit its ability to compete in the low-cost segment coming from Bangladesh. However, Vietnam's overall export values at $707.08 million demonstrates its strong, stable market presence in the US. The nations ability to provide higher-quality garments may still secure a place for it among fashion-forward US consumers.

China: Tariffs threaten to disrupt competitive advantage

China, traditionally a dominant supplier of womens cotton trousers and shorts to the US, currently ranks as the third-largest exporter in this category, with an RCA of 1.22 and a UVR of $8.31/kg. Its low UVR has long positioned China as the preferred source for affordable, mass-produced garments.

However, the recent tariff hikes are set to challenge Chinas cost advantage. A 10 per cent tariff on Chinese exports to the US, was imposed effective from February 4 to March 3, 2025, followed by a steeper 20 per cent tariff from March 4, 2025, onwards. Given that Chinas affordability has been a key factor in its dominance, these tariffs are expected to erode its stronghold in the US market.

Tariff impact: With the first tariff imposition on February 4, 2025, the tariff rate increased to 10 per cent. This rise in the tariff would have led to an increase in the UVR as production and export costs escalate. As a result, the UVR would have likely increased to around $9.14/kg, reflecting the growing challenges posed by the higher tariffs. The increase in the UVR shows that the products are becoming more expensive, which could make them less competitive in price-sensitive markets.

Figure 2

Source: F2F Analysis

In the second tariff imposition, effective from March 4, 2025, the tariff rate rose further to 20 per cent. This significant rise would push the UVR to approximately $ 9.97/kg, reflecting the increasing challenges from low-priced suppliers like Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Pakistan: Competitive position with modest growth

Pakistan, with an RCA of 67.61, is another key player in the US market for womens cotton trousers and shorts. With a UVR of $15.93/kg, it sits in a competitive price range similar to Bangladesh, which makes it an attractive option for cost-conscious US buyers. Pakistans export value of $441.36 million places it in the fourth position. While the country does not face any tariffs, its growth trajectory appears more stable rather than accelerating rapidly like Bangladeshs. Nonetheless, its strong competitive pricing should allow it to maintain its share in the US market, especially if China loses ground due to tariff hikes.

Cambodia: A niche player with high comparative advantage

Cambodia ranks fifth in the market with an RCA of 20.34, which is higher than that of Vietnam and China. However, its UVR of $14.53/kg is slightly more affordable than Vietnams and aligns more closely with Bangladeshs. This places Cambodia in a strong position to cater to mid-range pricing segments. With an export value of $324.67 million, Cambodia is likely to continue growing, especially as companies diversify their supply chains away from China. The absence of tariffs and the nations increasing prominence in global textile exports could position Cambodia as a strong competitor in the US market. Cambodia, however, has a below average Logistics Performance Index (LPI) compared to Bangladesh, leading to a lower probability of it winning from Bangladesh in case of Chinas exit from the market.

Outlook

Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Cambodia demonstrate high RCA in the export of womens cotton trousers and shorts, indicating their strong competitiveness in this segment. Their ability to supply these garments at competitive costs, closely aligned with the UVR, reinforces their market strength. These countries benefit from relatively low production costs, well-established supply chains, and favourable trade agreements, allowing them to maintain a strong foothold in the US market.

In contrast, Vietnam and China exhibit relatively lower RCAs, suggesting they are less competitive in this product category. However, their market positioning differs significantly. Vietnam has positioned itself as a supplier of higher-value, premium-priced products, often targeting segments that prioritise quality, design, and branding. On the other hand, China remains the lowest-cost supplier, with an average unit price of $9.97/kg, making it an attractive option for budget-conscious buyers.

Despite Chinas cost advantage, the imposition of higher tariffs has significantly impacted its competitiveness in the US market. With tariffs raising the landed cost of Chinese products by at least 20 per cent compared to previous levels, US buyers may not continue to choose Chinese women's cotton trousers for their daily needs. This slight shift could benefit suppliers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Cambodia, thus altering the competitive landscape in the womens cotton trousers and shorts market.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NS)
Canadas apparel imports from Vietnam increased by 5.44 per cent to $1,621.813 million in 2024. The latter country maintained its dominant position in the formers apparel market, with a market share of 14.87 per cent. Vietnam was second only to China, which enjoyed a share of 29.57 per cent in the same year.

Canadas total apparel imports amounted to $10.836 billion in 2024, slightly lower than the $10.852 billion recorded in 2023. Its imports from Vietnam were valued at $1,538.209 million in 2023, according to Fibre2Fashion's market insight tool TexPro.

Canada's apparel imports from Vietnam grew by 5.44 per cent to $1.62 billion in 2024, securing a 14.87 per cent market share, second only to China (29.57 per cent). Overall apparel imports slightly declined to $10.836 billion. Vietnam's home textile exports to Canada remained minimal, at $52.34 million. Despite past growth, home textile imports from Vietnam have remained steady since 2023.

Following COVID-related disruptions, imports from Vietnam surged in 2022, growing by 45.91 per cent to $1,751.504 million. In 2021, imports were recorded at $1,200.318 million, which was 24.86 per cent higher than the $961.623 million imported in 2020.

The North American nation also imports home textiles for its consumer market; however, Vietnam has a limited presence in this segment. Home textile imports remained negligible compared to apparel imports. Canadas total home textile imports amounted to $1.847 billion in 2024, representing a 2.66 per cent increase from $1.799 billion in 2023.

Vietnam was the seventh-largest home textiles supplier, with Canadas imports of these products from the country totalling $52.340 million, accounting for just 2.83 per cent of the total in 2024. It lagged behind China, the US, India, Turkiye, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, whose combined share exceeded 82 per cent.

Imports from Vietnam remained relatively stable, standing at $52.186 million in 2023. Canadas inbound shipments of home textiles had peaked at $82.738 million in 2020 but declined to $71.616 million in 2021 and $63.257 million in 2022, according to TexPro.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)
Brassieres (HS 621210) are an essential product in the global textile trade, with the US being one of the largest importers of these items. The demand for brassieres remains strong due to the broad range of styles, sizes, and functionalities offered by various producers. The leading exporters of brassieres to the US include China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. However, with the recent imposition of 20 per cent tariff by the US on Chinese goods, the competitive dynamics are likely to alter.

Table 1: Top 5 Exporters and Trade Statistics in CY 2024 - Brassieres of Textile Materials (HS code 621210)

The recent imposition of 20 per cent US tariff on Chinese brassieres (HS 621210) is reshaping the market. China's Unit Value Realisation (UVR) of $21.89/kg, once a cost advantage, now faces pressure from increased tariffs, potentially reducing its competitiveness. Vietnam, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka may capture market share by offering diverse price and quality options.

Source: TradeMap and F2F Analysis *Effective March 4, 2025

Note: RCA - Revealed Comparative Advantage; UVR - Unit Value Realisation; LPI - Logistic Performance Index

Figure 1: Top 5 Exporters and Trade Statistics in CY 2024 - Brassieres of Textile Materials (HS code 621210)

Source: UN Comtrade, F2F Analysis

Chinas position in the US brassiere market: Strengths and growing tariff challenges

China remains the leading exporter of brassieres to the US, with an export value of $579.47 million in 2024 and a Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) of 1.98. This relatively high RCA underscores Chinas global competitiveness in brassiere production, backed by its efficient manufacturing capabilities and economies of scale.

Chinas Unit Value Realisation (UVR) of $21.89/kg places its brassieres in the moderate price range, making them an attractive choice for cost-conscious US consumers. While China has long benefited from low production costs and supply chain efficiency, its price advantage is now under pressure due to the increased tariffs.

Impact of US tariffs on Chinas competitiveness

Initially, China faced an MFN tariff of 4.8 per cent, while maintaining a competitive UVR of $21.9/kg and remained a preferred choice in the price-sensitive segment.

However, the imposition of 20 per cent additional tariff, effective March 4, 2025, will significantly increase costs for US importers, making Chinese brassieres less competitive.

Figure 2:

Source: F2F Analysis

Rising tariffs erode Chinas competitive edge

Chinas synthetic brassieres market is facing increasing pressure due to rising tariffs, which are gradually eroding its cost advantage and shifting its position in the global supply chain.

Impact of first tariff increase: On February 4, 2025, Chinas tariff rate increased from 4.8 per cent to 14.8 per cent, significantly raising production and export costs. As a result, Chinas UVR would have risen to approximately $24.1/kg, reducing its ability to compete in price-sensitive market segments. This marked the beginning of Chinas transition from its traditional low-cost dominance.

Impact of second tariff increase: A month later, on March 4, 2025, tariffs were increased further to 24.8 per cent, pushing Chinas UVR closer to $26.3/kg or higher. This substantial cost hike will move Chinese brassieres into the mid-priced segment, making them less attractive to budget-conscious US importers.

Vietnam: Strong competitor with high UVR and competitive pricing

Vietnam ranks second in export value, with $529.62 million in 2024 brassiere exports to the US. While its RCA of 1.65 is slightly lower than Chinas, it still indicates a solid competitive position in the market. Vietnams UVR of $58.94/kg is significantly higher than Chinas, meaning that Vietnamese brassieres are positioned in a higher-end market segment, likely offering superior quality or more specialised designs.

Indonesia: Growing exporter with strong RCA and moderate UVR

Indonesia has shown solid growth in brassiere exports to the US, with an export value of $271.63 million in 2024 and an RCA of 14.57, a significantly higher comparative advantage than both China and Vietnam. Its UVR of $44.43/kg places it in a competitive mid-range pricing category, offering a balance between affordability and quality. Indonesias relatively high RCA suggests its production efficiency and expertise in the brassiere sector.

The 4.8 cent tariff applies equally to all countries (now except for China) that export to the US, but Indonesias more moderate UVR gives it an advantage in capturing the middle-market segment. Its production costs are likely more aligned with the needs of cost-conscious consumers while offering satisfactory quality, positioning it well for growth in the US market.

Indonesia also has an above average Logistics Performance Index (LPI) of 3.00 indicating better capabilities of dealing with exporting its products to the US. Fuel and energy costs also make a huge difference during transportation in which Indonesia fares better than Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka: High-quality niche player with strong RCA

Sri Lanka, with an impressive RCA of 125.93, is a standout performer in terms of comparative advantage. This extremely high RCA suggests that Sri Lanka specialises in producing high-quality brassieres, making it a key player for premium products. The UVR of $67.56/kg reflects the higher-end positioning of its brassieres, likely targeting premium and luxury segments in the US market.

Sri Lankas niche market and reputation for superior craftsmanship may allow it to maintain strong demand among discerning US consumers who prioritise quality over cost.

Bangladesh: Competitive position with moderate RCA and UVR

Bangladesh, with an export value of $108.60 million, ranks fifth in terms of brassiere exports. The countrys RCA of 19.60 suggests that it has a reasonable competitive advantage in brassiere production. However, its UVR of $ 28.46/kg is lower than Sri Lankas, indicating that Bangladeshs brassieres are positioned in the more affordable range compared to higher-end producers.

Although Bangladesh is competitive in terms of pricing, it has a smaller market share in the brassiere export market compared to the larger players like China, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. As US importers turn to alternative sourcing destinations that offer competitive pricing and comparable quality without tariff burdens, Bangladeshwhich maintains lower production costs and along with favourable trade relationscould gain market share at Chinas expense.

Outlook

As global competition in the US brassiere market evolves, Indonesia is well-positioned to capitalise on its competitive advantage. With an RCA of 14.57 and UVR of $44.43/kg, Indonesia offers a strong balance of affordability and quality, benefiting from a moderate 4.8 per cent tariff and an efficient LPI of 3.00. This enables Indonesia to manage logistics costs effectively, making it a strong contender for increased market share.

China, despite facing higher tariffs, will maintain its position due to its large-scale manufacturing. Although Chinas UVR will rise with the tariff hikes, it will likely stabilise at similar levels to its competitors, reducing its traditional cost advantage. While China may lose some market share, its rivals, particularly Vietnam and Sri Lanka, will face challenges in significantly capturing this gap. Chinas tariffs, however, do not stop it from leading in the US market in the low-cost category. Bangladesh could eventually benefit from the trade war between China and the US, potentially increasing its market share for brassieres in the US market. Overall, the competitive landscape is likely to remain stable, with Indonesia gradually increasing its share without drastically disrupting Chinas dominance.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NS)
Sohum Shah is on a hot streak. The actor and producer has been making waves with his roles since the National Award-winning film Ship of Theseus. His 2018 film, the excellent Tumbbad burst upon the scene with its gripping narrative and technical genius. And it only makes sense for him to return with Tumbbad 2. His latest release Crazxy is a bold new move in a world of carefully curated filmographies. In an exclusive conversation with Filmfare, Sohum opened up about his process, balancing acting with filmmaking and more.





You have such a diverse filmography. What goes into picking a project at this stage in your career?



I guess, films choose you, you don't choose the films. I come from a very small town where we grew up watching Hindi films, but the grace of God and destiny allowed me to make films like Ship of Theseus, Tumbbad and now Crazxy. I strongly believe that films choose you and now I think even people perceive Sohum Shah Films as the brand that always comes up with something new and they expect something path-breaking. So, for picking a project I always see if it's engaging, something new, something different, something atrangi.



What kind of roles appeal to you as an actor?



I like roles which are larger than life like Bheema Bharti from Maharani has a strong personality and powerful exposition, or Vinayak from Tumbbad, who is so strong-headed and larger than life in his aspirations that it leads to his destruction. Roles that give me a larger-than-life space attract me towards them.







What was it about Crazxy that appealed to you?



Crazxy's Novelty factor appealed to me. Firstly, its a one-character film which was really interesting. Secondly, the tyre changing scene. I've never heard or seen a scene like that before where so much is happening at the same time in Indian Cinema. It's a very long scene where surgery is taking place on a video call and the doctor is also changing the tyre and the kidnapper calls mid-way. When I first read that scene, I was blown away. This was over and above the fact that the script by Girish Kohli was so tight. These factors are why we were sold out for the film and decided that we were doing this film.



How do you balance acting and producing?



The people around me are my rocks. They help me balance between both. Acting is something for which I don't need anyone else. I produce to act in films. There are a lot of people who work on a project. For example, our producer is Ankit Jain, my wife Amita Shah, our creative producer is Adesh Prasad so with so many people working together things fall in place. I also believe that Jaha Chaah Vahin Raah (where there is a will there is a way.)







See Also: Sohum Shah is on a Journey To Save His Daughter in Crazxys Trailer



How much did life change after the success of Tumbbad?



My life actually changed after the re-release of Tumbbad. People have started to trust Sohum Shah Films and are ready to fund Tumbbad 2. Before the re-release, we were still struggling. We made Tumbbad but still, no one was ready to fund Crazxy. Everyone thought it was a very different kind of film. They suggested changes and we wanted to make the film on our terms. So, we funded it ourselves to keep the creative sanctity of our vision intact. After Tumbbad, people understood that there is a cult fan following of the film and whenever Tumbbad 2 is made people will come to watch the film.



How are you going to game up for Tumbbad 2?



I have a simple formula - do your work with utmost honesty, sincerity and integrity. It took us 6 years to write Tumbbad 2 and now we have finally cracked something worth making. If we wanted to we could've cashed in the popularity of Tumbbad back then but I thought we would only make it if it's at par with Tumbbad or is better. We will not go on floors until the film seems to work for me with respect to the content of the film. And now with Tumbbad 2's script, I feel it does justice to the film by taking the legacy forward. After that it's in God's hands of how things play out and the audiences whether they like it or not.







You said you already had a sequel and prequel planned for Tumbbad Do you think franchise films and cinematic universe are the future?



We didn't think of a franchise because it's a trend. We wanted Tumbbad to be a trilogy since the time we started making it as the content is meaty. Back then there was no trend of sequels or prequels. The decision to make it a trilogy was not just out of passion but also a business decision that if I am giving this film 7 years of my life, I can create more parts of it and create a universe of it. Nowadays people like franchise films and it has become a trend. It is for a brief moment of time as they are familiar with a character, and they want to see more of them. But the filmmakers will have to keep pushing the boundaries and bring something unique, otherwise, they will not be able to survive.



As an outsider, was it hard to break into the industry? And do you think it's getting easier?



It was tough as an outsider and in fact I was even further out of the jurisdiction of the conventional outsider. What that means, there are people who live in Mumbai who have no connections to the film industry who want to make it. Their parents and friends are around them and they have financial and emotional security. They are one set of outsiders. Then there are a different set of outsiders who come to Mumbai from different cities who have had access to culture and education and then there are folks like me who didn't even know enough English, who came to Mumbai from villages like Sri Ganganagar with a dream to make it as an actor. I look at this analogy like laps - some start from the 2nd lap, some from the 5th and some from the 10th. When I came to Bombay it felt very lonely as I didn't fit in but times have changed now. With OTT platforms and social media, people have more access and acceptance of everyone. Also, now the power is in your hands where you can pick up a camera and make what you want to make and eventually you will find your audience. Talking about the industry well it's always been difficult, and it isn't a cakewalk.







What are some of the films that inspire you?



Godfather, Interstellar, a French film Amour, Memories of Murder, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Hera Pheri, Andaz Apna Apna, Hum, Golmaal and A Separation. I love these films and they inspire me to make people feel the same way I felt while watching these films.



Who are some of the stars that influence your acting process?



Om Puri, Irrfan Khan, Marlon Brando and Amitabh Bachchan. Their work has inspired me a lot and in acting you learn very subconsciously either by watching their work or by working with them. For example, when I was working with Irrfan just by being around him you learn a lot. Their presence itself adds so much to your life. It's a very intuitive learning. That's what makes them great.







What is your take on the re-release trend?



It's a good thing and with the kind of response films are getting, it's doing well with audiences too. The films that didn't get their due are finally getting their due. But I think, personally, we are overdoing it. What I mean is, that everyone is thinking of releasing their film again expecting the film to work irrespective of whether it worked before or not. According to me, most films aren't working in re-release and only those films that didn't get their due are working or films that are a part of pop culture, films that spark the emotion of nostalgia. Thats why films like Tumbbad and Sanam Teri Kasam that didn't get their due are the kind of films which worked in re-release.



See Also: Crazxy : Public Review, Plot And Cast
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter, created by Neeraj Pandey, boasts of a plethora of talent, mostly from the Bengali industry. Jeet portrays a canny cop IPS Arjun Maitra, while Prosenjit Chatterjee plays a twisted politician, Barun Roy, a politician from the ruling party. Saswata Chatterjee brings to life the character of Shankar Barua, also known as Bagha, a notorious gangster. Parambrata Chatterjee is cast as the honest policeman, IPS Saptarshi Sinha. Subhasish Mukherjee plays Shirshendu Chatterjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal and Joy Sengupta portrays Commissioner Bhaskar Bhattacharya. Apart from the Bengali stars, Chitrangada Singh takes on the role of Nibedita Basak, the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal. Ritwik Bhowmik of Bandish Bandits fame is cast as Sagor Talukdar, Baghas right hand, while Aadil Zafar Khan plays his bosom pal Ranjit Thakur, Baghas left hand. After a long while, we see Mahaakshay Chakraborty as SIT Himel Majumder, with Pooja Chopra playing Khushi Maitra, Arjun's wife. Aakanksha Singh is seen as SIT Aratrika Bhowmick, the series narrator, Shraddha Das drops in as Saumya Mukherjee, Arjuns ex and Shruti Das acts plays Manjula Talukdar, the emotional anchor of the series and Sagors wife.The series is set in early 2000s Kolkata where Bagha, a notorious don with strong ties to the ruling party, runs the city's underworld. His criminal empire flourishes with the support of politicians, police officers, and businessmen. The opposition party speaks out against the government's inaction in the face of rampant lawlessness. In response, the ruling party appoints Arjun Maitra, an officer with a clean record, to show their commitment to addressing Bagha's reign. However, Bagha remains elusive, consistently receiving intel on government raids through Barun Roy, a key figure in the ruling party.The stakes rise after the shocking murder of IPS officer Saptarshi Sinha, forcing Bagha and his gang to go underground. To clean up the city, the government places Arjun Maitra at the head of a Special Investigation Team (SIT). Maitra embarks on a mission to dismantle Bagha's empire, unearthing a vast network of corruption between politicians, businessmen, police, and the underworld. Maitra's strategies, which include dividing Bagha's gang and breaking key members, start to pay off, and he is eventually successful in taking down the powerful nexus that supports Baghas criminal operations.However, as the series progresses, it begins to lose its initial spark. Saswata Chatterjees portrayal of Bagha stands out as a true blue gang leader, a commanding presence that is sorely missed after his character's death. In contrast, Ritwik Bhowmik and Aadil Zafar Khan, who take on the roles of new antagonists, fail to capture the same intensity. Their performances come off as pale imitations, evoking a mix of Al Pacino from Scarface andfrom Vaastav but lacking the depth or menace that Bagha had. After Baghas death, the series becomes a bloodbath of sorts, with repetitive killings that feel increasingly gratuitous. The climax, centered around a series of taped confessions, feels forced and contrived, undermining the tension that had built earlier in the story.Chitrangda Singh, who plays Nibedita Basak, the Leader of the Opposition, is mostly reduced to a mere political mouthpiece, lacking the forceful presence one would expect from such a character. The ruling partys fear of her seems unsubstantiated, and her subplot, which includes an odd romance with a man who hasnt aged in 13 years while in a coma, adds little to the story. Prosenjit Chatterjee, on the other hand, shines as Barun Roy, the amoral puppeteer who plays all sides for his benefit. His performance holds the series together, bringing much-needed drama and intrigue.Jeets portrayal of tough cop Arjun Maitra, while effective in dealing with gangsters, feels oddly detached in personal moments. His poker face remains unchanged even when interacting with his wife or ex, which works well in his confrontations with criminals but seems misplaced in more intimate scenes. The series also leans heavily on a "clever" plot device in which the main suspect narrates the entire story in flashback. Initially intriguing, this device loses its impact over time, and a more linear progression might have been more effective.Despite its strong visuals and well-executed action scenes, the series struggles to maintain its edge. Ultimately, while Khakee: The Bengal Chapter has its moments, it falls short of being a classic cops vs mafia drama, leaving viewers wanting more from what could have been a compelling story. The series is currently streaming on Netflix.
Oakville, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 21, 2025) - FendX Technologies Inc. (CSE: FNDX) (OTCQB: FDXTF) (FSE: E8D) (the "Company" or "FendX"), a nanotechnology company developing surface protection coatings announces it has granted stock options and restricted share units ("RSUs") to certain directors, officers and consultants.

FendX granted an aggregate of 2,925,000 stock options to certain directors, officers, employees and consultants at an exercise price of $0.17 expiring five years from the date of grant. In addition, the Company granted 500,000 RSUs to a consultant. The stock options and RSUs vest on the grant date. The stock options and RSUs were granted in accordance with the Company's equity incentive plan dated October 19, 2021. All of the stock options and RSUs are subject to a hold period of four months and one day from the date of grant.

None of the securities will be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"), and none of them may be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state where such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful.

About FendX Technologies Inc.

FendX is a Canada-based nanotechnology company focused on developing products to make people's lives safer by reducing the spread of pathogens. The Company is developing both film and spray products to protect surfaces from contamination. The lead product under development, REPELWRAP film, is a protective surface coating film that, due to its repelling properties, prevents the adhesion of pathogens and reduces their transmission on surfaces prone to contamination. The spray nanotechnology is a bifunctional spray coating being developed to reduce contamination on surfaces by repelling and killing pathogens. The Company is conducting research and development activities using its nanotechnology in collaboration with industry-leading partners, including McMaster University. The Company has exclusive worldwide licenses to its technology and IP portfolio from McMaster, which encompass both film and spray coating nanotechnology formulations.

ON BEHALF OF THE COMPANY

"Carolyn Myers"

Carolyn Myers

Chief Executive Officer and Director

For more information, please visit https://fendxtech.com/ and the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including with respect to: the plans of the Company; the Company's belief that REPELWRAP will have applications in healthcare settings and other industries; and products under development and any pathogen reduction benefits related thereto. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks which may cause actual results and the Company's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, including: adverse market conditions; risks that the Company will not complete future financings or raise sufficient funds to complete all of its planned activities; risks related to research and development activities; risks that the Company's products may not be accepted and adopted by the public; the risk that the Company will not obtain necessary approvals and/or clearances as anticipated or at all; the effects of government regulation on the Company's business; risks associated with the Company's ability to obtain and protect rights to its intellectual property; risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's ability to raise additional capital; product candidates only being in formulation/reformulation stages; limited operating history; research and development activities; dependence on collaborative partners, licensors and others; effect of general economic and political conditions; and other factors beyond the Company's control. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity or performance. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made and, except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all of such factors and to assess in advance the impact of such factors on the Company's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Readers should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factor disclosure outlined in the Company's filings with the British Columbia Securities Commission on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/245703

SOURCE: FendX Technologies Inc.
Navigating 5G's Impact: Understanding the Shifting Landscape of Cell Tower Lease Rates

Undergoing significant shifts, primarily fueled by the widespread deployment of 5G technology. Industry experts are observing a notable increase in the demand for strategically located tower sites, resulting in a diverse range of lease rate negotiations across various geographical regions.

Cell Tower Lease Rates

Cell Tower

The infrastructure required for 5G necessitates a more densely populated network of cell towers, particularly within densely populated urban centers. This surge in demand is fundamentally altering the way telecommunications companies engage in lease agreements with property owners. Simultaneously, rural areas are also experiencing transformations, as 5G coverage extends beyond the boundaries of major metropolitan areas, leading to new lease opportunities, and new challenges for the land owners.

" Cell phone tower lease rates are inherently variable, influenced by a complex web of factors that include geographical location, market demand, and the continuous evolution of telecommunications technology," states David Espinosa, owner of towerleases.com. "It is imperative that landowners possess comprehensive knowledge before committing to any lease agreement. They must fully grasp the potential long-term implications of the contracts they execute."

The company emphasizes the importance of property owners meticulously evaluating the terms of their lease agreements. This evaluation should encompass considerations such as the lease's duration, the presence of escalation clauses, and the potential for future technological upgrades. Given the rapid pace of technological advancement, lease agreements must exhibit sufficient flexibility to accommodate unforeseen developments.

"A thorough understanding of the true market value of their property is essential for landowners in the current climate," Espinosa adds. "Negotiations should accurately reflect the long-term revenue potential of the site, rather than focusing solely on immediate financial gains. The nuances of these contracts can be very difficult to understand, and that is why professional help is important."

The 5G rollout has caused many changes to the cell tower lease market. The rise of small cell technology, and the need for more towers in general, has caused a shift in how cell tower companies negotiate. This makes it even more important for landowners to seek out professional help.

Landowners seeking expert guidance on cell tower lease agreements can visit www.towerleases.com for detailed information and personalized assistance.

About towerleases.com:

towerleases.com is a leading provider of expert consultation and negotiation services for landowners involved in cell phone tower lease agreements. The company is dedicated to ensuring that property owners receive fair and equitable compensation for the use of their land. With a strong commitment to transparency, client advocacy, and in-depth industry knowledge, towerleases.com empowers landowners to navigate the complexities of the telecommunications industry with confidence. The company provides the assistance needed to get the best possible outcome for their clients.

SOURCE: TowerLeases.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 21, 2025) - Sixty North Gold Mining Ltd. (CSE: SXTY) (FSE: 2F40) (OTC Pink: SXNTF) (the "Company" or "Sixty North Gold") is pleased to report that further to its news release of March 19, 2025, the Company has now closed its first tranche of 1,214,982 units for gross proceeds of $100,236.

Each Unit will consist of one (1) common share (the "Share") of the Company and one (1) non-transferable share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional Share of the Company at a price of $0.11 per Share for a period of eighteen (18) months; provided that if the closing market price of the Issuer's Shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") is greater than $0.18 per Share for a period of ten (10) consecutive trading days, the Company may deliver a notice (the "Notice") to the holders of Warrants that the Warrants will expire at 4 p.m. Vancouver time on the date that is thirty (30) days from the date of delivery of such Notice. The securities for the Offering will bear legends restricting resale until July 22, 2025.

The Company intends to close an additional tranche shortly. The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for further exploration and development of the Mon Gold Property located in NWT, and for the Company's general working capital requirements.

About the Company

The Company is developing mining operations for gold on its 100%-owned Mon Gold Property, 40 km north of Yellowknife, NWT. Past production of the A Zone extracted 15,000 tonnes at 30 gpt gold from this vein (Company Technical Report, August 3, 2023, on SEDAR or https://sixtynorthgold.com/projects/technical-report/. The Yellowknife gold camp hosts two mines that averaged 30 gpt gold or better (Discovery and Sixty North Gold's Mon Mine), and two that averaged 15 gpt or better for a total production of over 14 million ounces of gold (Con Min and Giant Mine) (ref. Sixty North Gold NI 43-101, August, 2023).

The property also hosts an outcropping precious-metals-rich VMS (volcanogenic massive sulphide) showing, and has four modelled geophysical targets along strike within felsic tuffs, lithic and lapilli tuffs. The Company plans to drill these targets with this funding.

For more information, please refer to the Company's public filings available on SEDAR (www.sedarplus.ca), under the Company's profile.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Dave Webb"

Dave Webb, President & CEO

Statements about the Company's future expectations and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward-looking statements". Such forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including risks inherent in mineral exploration and development, which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any projected future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Further details about the risks applicable to the Company are contained in the Company's public filings available on SEDAR (www.sedarplus.ca), under the Company's profile.

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO

U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES

THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE HAS NOT APPROVED NOR

DISAPPROVED THE CONTENT OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/245708

SOURCE: Sixty North Gold Mining Ltd.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 21, 2025) - AJN Resources Inc. (CSE: AJN) (FSE: 5AT) (AJN or the Company) is pleased to announce that further to the Company's March 14, 2025 news release, the Company has closed the first tranche of a non-brokered private placement of units (each, a Unit) in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.12 per Unit to raise total gross proceeds of $630,000 via the issuance of a total of 5,249,998 Units. The Company received a lead order from Palisades Goldcorp Ltd. Each Unit is comprised of one common share and one share purchase warrant (Warrant), where each Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one additional common share (Warrant Share) at an exercise price of $0.15 per Warrant Share for a four year period.

The securities issued pursuant to the private placement, and any Warrant Shares to be issued on the exercise of Warrants are restricted from trading until July 22, 2025. The net proceeds of the private placement will be used for due diligence in connection with possible property acquisitions, property acquisitions, exploration on the Company's properties and for working capital purposes.

The issuance of the Units did not result in a change of control or materially affect control of the Company.

About AJN Resources Inc.

AJN is a junior exploration company. AJN's management and directors possess over 75 years of collective industry experience and have been very successful in the areas of exploration, financing and developing major mines throughout the world, with a focus on Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this news release may include certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward-looking statements. Although AJN Resources Inc. believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, AJN Resources Inc. disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/245721

SOURCE: AJN Resources Inc.
-Unveils the Ending Theme Song " Anata wa Kaibutsu (you are my monster)" performed by TOOBOE-

TOKYO, March 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CyberAgent, Inc. today has revealed the latest information at the special stage event for the TV anime "The Summer Hikaru Died" held today at AnimeJapan 2025, including the main trailer and additional cast announcements.

"The Summer Hikaru Died" is a hit horror manga series about an ordinary high school boy, Yoshiki, who experiences various mysterious incidents in his life with Hikaru, a mysterious being who imitates his best friend Hikaru Indou. The story of "whatever it is" and the boy's madness has garnered significant attention, making it a must-see anime film.

Following the announcement of the anime adaptation in May 2024, there is considerable anticipation among fans in Japan and worldwide.

The animation will be directed by Ryohei Takeshita known as the director of "Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night" and CygamesPictures will be handling the animation production for the series.

In addition to the previously announced cast members Chiaki Kobayashi and Shuichiro Umeda, the new cast members Yumiri Hanamori, Wakana Kowaka, and Chikahiro Kobayashi made a surprise appearance on "The Summer Hikaru Died" special stage held today at AnimeJapan 2025. Furthermore, the main trailer, featuring the ending theme song "Anata wa Kaibutsu(you are my monster)" performed by TOOBOE was unveiled for the first time.

Comments from the new casts and the production staff who are responsible for the character designs have also been revealed.

Official website:https://hikanatsu-anime.com/

The main trailer:https://www.youtube.com/@hikaru_anime_en

The Main Promotional Video Revealed!

The main trailer for "The Summer Hikaru Died" has been released.

In this video, you can enjoy a sneak peek of the ending theme song "Anata wa Kaibutsu(you are my monster)" performed by TOOBOE, which is being revealed for the first time. Please look forward to the chilling blend of slice of life and the supernatural that defines this work.

New Cast Comments Arrived!

Yumiri Hanamori (Asako Yamagishi)

I'm Yumiri Hanamori, who will be playing the role of Asako Yamagishi in "The Summer Hikaru Died".

The first time I read this work, I was greatly shocked that the story begins from the point where it didn't make it in time.

In a place that shouldn't have existed.

What if "something" very close to what didn't make it appears in front of us?

What choice would we choose?

What will be awaiting them at the end of their summer?

I will do my best to play the role so that you can feel the atmosphere that sticks to your skin.

Thank you very much.

Wakana Kowaka (Rie Kurebayashi)

I'm Wakana Kowaka, who will be playing the role of Rie Kurebayashi.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this work, which is filled with various emotions, how it will be visualized.

And the Mie dialect! We are all working so hard to record it!

I want to do my best to play Rie Kurebayashi, who is close to Yoshiki and Hikaru and has kindness in her sternness.

Chikahiro Kobayashi (Tanaka)

When I read the original story, my heart was firmly grasped from the beginning!

The scene of "Summer" that everyone feels nostalgic for is mixed with the fear and wonder of not knowing what is happening.

It's really interesting.

I'm very happy to be able to mix in with the atmosphere of this work...!

Let's watch it together when summer comes!

Additional character information released!!

Asako Yamagishi (voiced by Yumiri Hanamori)

A classmate of Yoshiki. Since childhood, she has been able to "hear" things that ordinary people cannot. She is tall, lively, and intelligent.

Rie Kurebayashi (voiced by Wakana Kowaka)

A housewife who can "see" things that ordinary people cannot. She worries about Yoshiki, who is with a dangerous and terrifying presence, and warns him to stay away.

Tanaka (voiced by Chikahiro Kobayashi)

A man who seems to be investigating something for a certain company. He is always carefree and elusive. He has a hamster as his partner.

The ending theme song features the currently trending artist, TOOBOE!

Theme Song for the Ending

"Anata wa Kaibutsu(you are my monster)" by TOOBOE

Lyrics, Composition, and Arrangement by TOOBOE

Release: Summer 2025

TOOBOE( Ending theme song artist)

Hello, I'm TOOBOE, and I will be in charge of the ending theme song. In creating this piece, I delved deeply into the original story, contemplating how one might savor memories and promises upon realizing that the neighbor the one believed to be true isn't actually who the one thought. The more I tried to understand Yoshiki's feelings, the more pure, sorrowful, and cruel they became. The resulting song, "Anata wa Kaibutsu(you are my monster)" became a kind of forgiveness that I extended to the characters. I hope it can add a vibrant touch to this wonderful story. Thank you for your support.

TOOBOE Profile Information

A solo project led by the music creator "john," TOOBOE is involved in a wide range of creative activities, including lyrics, composition, arrangement, singing, illustration, and video production. With a distinctive voice and catchy, addictive music, TOOBOE is a multi-artist who seamlessly traverses the modern music scene between the internet and J-POP. TOOBOE made a major debut with the release of the first single "SHINZOU(HEART)" in April 2022. The song "JOUZAI(TABLET)," released in November 2022, was featured as the ending theme for Episode 4 of the TV anime "Chainsaw Man." Furthermore, the music video for "ITAINO ITAINO TONDEIKE" released in June 2024, has gained momentum worldwide, surpassing 20 million views on YouTube faster than " SHINZOU(HEART)" and " JOUZAI(TABLET)," both of which had already exceeded 20 million views.

Official Site: https://www.sonymusic.co.jp/artist/tooboe/

X:(TOOBOE): https://twitter.com/casablancalanca?s=20&t=AuMjmQ4Tq4j0bIfSzh5hNA

(Official): https://twitter.com/tooboeofficial

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_tooboe/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/discover/jhon-tooboe?lang=ja-JP

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9rPALOT-ZVc7VEXATYSNCA

Additional Staff Comments Arrived!

Cast

Yoshiki Tsujinaka: Chiaki Kobayashi

Hikaru: Shuichiro Umeda

Asako Yamagishi: Yumiri Hanamori

Rie Kurebayashi: Wakana Kowaka

Tanaka: Chikahiro Kobayashi

Staff:

Original Work: Mokumokuren (Serialized in KADOKAWA's "YOUNG ACE UP")

Director /Series Composition: Ryohei Takeshita

Character Design & Chief Animation Director: Yuichi Takahashi

DORODORO Animator: Masanobu Hiraoka

Prop Design: Ryunosuke Oji

Sub Character Design: Mai Watanabe, Hiroko Seigan, Shoko Nagasawa

Art Setting: Shuhei Tada, Takeshi Takahashi, Yohihiro Sono

Art Director: Kohei Honda

Color Design: Naomi Nakano

Assistant Color Design: Yuko Koshida

3D Supervisor: Yoshinori Nakano

Director of Photography: Tomohiro Maeda

2D Design: Yusuke Nagara, Yuri Tsue

Editing: Kashiko Kimura

Sound Direction: Koji Kasamatsu

Sound Production: dugout

Music: Taro Umebayashi

Ending Theme Song "Anata wa Kaibutsu(you are my monster)" by TOOBOE

Animation Production: CygamesPictures

Staff comments

Yuichi Takahashi (Character Designer & Chief Animation Director)

Hikaru and Yoshiki may appear simple at first glance, but the breath and body temperature emanating from inside the characters can be felt thanks to the overwhelming persuasiveness and descriptive power of the original work.

The heat oozing out of the characters, and the reconstruction of the original character modeling, which seems to depict that as well, was a challenge that had never been attempted before. We hope that we were able to reproduce the body temperature of the characters that we felt from the original work.

Masanobu Hiraoka (DORODORO Animator)

I am always thinking about how to express the unique and unsettling atmosphere of "The Summer Hikaru Died" in terms of the artwork.

In particular, the depiction of "DORODORO" with a heterogeneous presence is one of the important elements that accentuate the eeriness of this work.

The viscosity and weight of the movement, as well as the unpleasantness of the spread of the "DORODORO" were carefully considered in order to leave a strong impression on the audience.

We made sure that the disturbing nature of the original work and the horror that lurks within its beauty could be expressed in the images.

I hope you will enjoy the "distorted beauty" that only a film can capture.

Taro Umebayashi (Music)

I am very honored to be involved in Mokumokuren's "The Summer Hikaru Died" which is loved by so many fans.

I am working on the music for the animation directed by Ryohei Takeshita so that I can contribute to the expression of the work in any way I can.

Follow "The Summer Hikaru Died" for the latest news and announcements:

Official website: https://hikanatsu-anime.com/

Official X: https://x.com/hikaru_anime_en

Netflix Title Page: https://www.netflix.com/title/81948057

About "The Summer Hikaru Died"

"The Summer Hikaru Died" is a hit horror manga series about an ordinary high school boy, Yoshiki, who experiences various mysterious incidents in his life with Hikaru, a mysterious being who imitates his best friend Hikaru Indou. The story of "whatever it is" and the boy's madness has garnered significant attention, making it a must-see anime film.

Following the announcement of the anime adaptation in May 2024, there is considerable anticipation among fans in Japan and worldwide.

Introduction

In a certain village

Since their childhood, they have grown up together.

Yoshiki and Hikaru, childhood friends.

the sun shining down on them

the chirping sound of a cryptotympana facialis

Ice cream on the way home

Laughing over trivial things

One day in summer, no different from any other day

...... You're not Hikaru after all, are you?

Half a year ago, Hikaru went missing in the mountains.

A week later, he came back on a whim.

The voice, the figure, the thing that looked like Hikaru

What was stirring inside...

"Hikaru is no longer with us. ...... if that's the case."

Starting the days with "something" in the form of a friend,

The "same as usual" everyday life.

But at the same time...

Strange incidents begin to plague the village.

Falling into the unknown "something"

The curtain rises on a coming-of-age horror story.

Work Information

Original story: Based on the comic "The Summer Hikaru Died" by Mokumokuren, originally serialized in the YOUNG ACE UP published by KADOKAWA

Director/Series Composition: Ryohei Takeshita

Character Design/Chief Animation Director :Yuichi Takahashi

DORODORO Animator: Masanobu Hiraoka

Animation Production :CygamesPictures

Copyright :Mokumokuren/KADOKAWA/The Summer Hikaru Died Partners

Copyrights must be indicated when posting or using the image materials.

Original work information

Title :"The Summer Hikaru Died"

Author :Mokumokuren

Previously published: Volumes 1-5 (Kadokawa Comics A)

Available on YenPress

https://yenpress.com/series/the-summer-hikaru-died

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2646615/main_key_visual.jpg

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BOSTON, March 22, 2025already sharing their personal success stories, it's impossible to ignore the buzz surrounding this product. Promising unparalleled results due to its microscopic particles that penetrate deeper than traditional skincare solutions, NanoDefense Pro asserts itself as a potent solution against persistent toenail fungus, chronic skin issues, and even immune-related problems stemming from bacterial or fungal infections.

Yet, amid this explosion of popularity, a crucial question emerges: does NanoDefense Pro really deliver, or is it merely riding a wave of hype? The health and wellness market is notoriously saturated with products that claim miraculous results without sufficient evidence or transparency. Consumers, more skeptical and discerning than ever, demand answers backed by Scientific Validation And Real User Testimonialsbefore investing their trust-and money.

Thousands of online reviews praise NanoDefense Pro, highlighting dramatic transformations and lasting improvements in conditions previously thought untreatable by conventional methods. But these reports raise natural curiosity: are these glowing testimonials genuine, or simply marketing exaggerations? This investigative report delves deeply into NanoDefense Pro's ingredients, scientific backing, and real-life user experiences to separate truth from hype, providing a clear picture of its actual effectiveness and safety.

>>Ready to uncover the truth behind the buzz? Click Here To See Why Thousands Are Switching To NanoDefense Pro!

What is NanoDefense Pro and Why is Everyone Scrambling to Get Their Hands on It?

NanoDefense Pro isn't your average nail and skin-care product; it's specifically crafted to offer deep-rooted, lasting protection using advanced nanotechnology. Unlike traditional topical treatments that only superficially address external issues, NanoDefense Pro utilizes microscopic-sized molecules-up to 1000 times smaller than standard formulas-to penetrate deeply into the skin and nails, directly targeting problematic areas at the molecular level.

The potency of NanoDefense Pro lies within its uniquely curated nanotechnology blend, ensuring maximum absorption. Here's precisely why NanoDefense Pro has become such a sought-after solution:

Precision Targeting at the Cellular Level

NanoDefense Pro's use of nanoparticles allows the formula to penetrate profoundly beneath the skin's surface. This groundbreaking mechanism ensures deeper, more effective delivery of powerful active ingredients like Nano-Silver and Nano-Curcumin. These nanoparticles don't just linger on your skin-they dive deep to eliminate underlying threats, restoring and reinforcing your natural defenses from within.

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Powerful Antimicrobial and Anti-inflammatory Actions

With ingredients such as Nano-Silver and Nano-Curcumin, NanoDefense Pro offers potent antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects. Nano-Silver effectively combats bacterial and fungal threats by disrupting microbial cell membranes, preventing infections at their source. Nano-Curcumin, meanwhile, delivers powerful anti-inflammatory benefits, calming irritation and reducing redness, swelling, and discomfort. By addressing inflammation directly, NanoDefense Pro helps maintain a healthier, more resilient protective barrier for your nails and skin.

Enhanced Antioxidant Protection

Another standout feature of NanoDefense Pro is its ability to neutralize harmful free radicals. Ingredients like Nano-Quercetin and Luteolin deliver potent antioxidant properties, mitigating oxidative stress that damages healthy cells. This antioxidant-rich approach significantly improves skin elasticity, strengthens nails, and supports your overall immune system resilience.

Rapid and Lasting Results

Users Consistently Report Visible Improvementsin nail clarity and skin texture within months-often as quickly as four weeks. Thanks to its nano-sized molecular structure, NanoDefense Pro penetrates effectively, enabling faster and sustained results compared to standard products that rely solely on surface-level treatment.

Holistic Foot and Nail Health Restoration

NanoDefense Pro doesn't just mask symptoms-it restores and enhances the foot microbiome, fostering a naturally resilient environment. Ingredients such as Cape Aloe further nourish the skin, providing deep hydration and protective barriers against environmental stressors.

Given this revolutionary mechanism, it's no surprise that people everywhere are trying to get their hands on NanoDefense Pro before it sells out. With limited availability and skyrocketing popularity, securing your supply is becoming increasingly difficult.

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NanoDefense Pro Reviews - What Real Customers Are Saying (32,524+ Success Stories)

The rapid rise of NanoDefense Pro in the wellness community isn't simply due to clever marketing tactics or attractive packaging. Its popularity explosion is primarily driven by the genuine, remarkable results experienced by tens of thousands of users across the United States. Online forums, social media platforms, and health blogs overflow with detailed accounts from individuals who claim NanoDefense Pro transformed their quality of life in ways other treatments could not.

Many report suffering from chronic toenail fungus, persistent athlete's foot, and severely cracked skin for years, even decades, without relief from standard over-the-counter or prescription remedies. Traditional topical creams and ointments, often ineffective due to poor absorption, left them disillusioned and desperate. NanoDefense Pro, leveraging advanced nanotechnology, introduced these sufferers to a revolutionary approach that penetrates deeply, delivering therapeutic ingredients directly to the problem source beneath the skin's surface.

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The sheer volume of testimonials is striking-over 36,524 customers have willingly shared their positive outcomes online, reflecting the authenticity and effectiveness of the product. Notably, user reviews consistently highlight improvements within weeks, with lasting results after prolonged use. Such enthusiastic endorsements have created a viral demand, making NanoDefense Pro a must-have product among those struggling with persistent nail and skin health issues.

These success stories offer more than just anecdotal praise; they form a compelling narrative of frustration, discovery, and ultimate transformation that resonates deeply with prospective users . Customers frequently describe NanoDefense Pro as life-changing, emphasizing improvements not only in physical appearance but also in confidence, social comfort, and overall well-being.

Real-Life Testimonials from NanoDefense Pro Users

Jennifer Callahan, 45, Atlanta, GA

"For almost fifteen years, I battled stubborn toenail fungus that left me embarrassed and ashamed to show my feet. Countless treatments and doctor visits brought temporary relief at best. I felt hopeless-until I discovered NanoDefense Pro. Skeptical at first, I applied it daily. Within three weeks, I noticed subtle changes; after two months, my nails looked healthy for the first time in years. Six months later, I'm confidently wearing sandals again. NanoDefense Pro restored more than my nails-it restored my confidence."

Carlos Ramirez, 52, Phoenix, AZ

"I spent decades hiding my cracked, painful feet, struggling with severe athlete's foot and peeling skin. Prescription creams helped briefly but always left me frustrated. When my wife suggested NanoDefense Pro, I honestly doubted another product could help. But the deep-absorbing nanotechnology intrigued me. Within a month, my skin was smoother and less irritated. After consistent use, I experienced remarkable healing. Today, thanks to NanoDefense Pro, my feet are finally pain-free and healthy."

Linda McCormick, 39, Chicago, IL

"I was skeptical about NanoDefense Pro because nothing worked for my persistent nail discoloration and brittle nails. Salon treatments provided short-term aesthetic improvements but zero long-term solutions. A friend recommended NanoDefense Pro passionately, so I gave it a try. Within weeks, I saw visible nail strength improvements; discoloration began fading. Six months in, my nails have never looked better. I finally have nails that feel strong, beautiful, and naturally healthy. NanoDefense Pro was the breakthrough I desperately needed."

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Martin Chen, 60, Seattle, WA

"For years, chronic foot infections severely affected my mobility and confidence. I tried every antifungal available, yet nothing eradicated the issue. Then I discovered NanoDefense Pro. The nanotechnology delivery was unlike anything I'd tried before-it penetrated deep, soothing inflammation and fighting infections at the core. After three months, my skin looked younger, healthier, and infection-free. Today, NanoDefense Pro remains my go-to solution."

Rachel Nguyen, 33, Houston, TX

"My severe toenail fungus started postpartum and lingered stubbornly. Traditional treatments barely scratched the surface, leaving me embarrassed and frustrated. NanoDefense Pro's advanced formula changed everything. Within a month, my nails showed significant improvement. After five months, my nails looked clear and healthy again. This product gave me back the confidence I desperately missed. NanoDefense Pro truly saved my feet."

David Hamilton, 48, Miami, FL

"I struggled with recurring fungal infections for over a decade, feeling trapped in an endless cycle of ineffective treatments. NanoDefense Pro caught my attention because of its nanotech approach. Within weeks, noticeable improvements emerged. Long-term use dramatically reduced recurrence rates and revitalized my skin. NanoDefense Pro finally ended my struggle, delivering lasting results where others repeatedly failed."

These compelling narratives provide overwhelming evidence of NanoDefense Pro's efficacy, highlighting precisely why the product garners so many positive reviews and steadfast user loyalty . Their authentic voices echo through countless testimonials, making NanoDefense Pro a trusted name in skin and nail care.

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How Does NanoDefense Pro Work? Unveiling the Science Behind Its Powerful Effects

NanoDefense Pro isn't merely another topical foot or nail solution-it represents a groundbreaking advance in skincare technology through the application of nanotechnology, a science designed to dramatically enhance absorption and efficiency at the cellular level. While traditional creams and ointments often struggle to penetrate beyond superficial layers, NanoDefense Pro utilizes nanoparticles so incredibly small-approximately 1,000 times smaller than conventional skincare particles-that they effortlessly travel deeper, directly addressing the root causes of skin and nail issues.

At the core of NanoDefense Pro's effectiveness lies its strategic use of carefully selected nanomolecules, including Nano-Silver, Nano-Curcumin, Nano-Quercetin, Luteolin, and Cape Aloe. These ingredients have been scientifically recognized for their unique properties but traditionally face absorption limitations. NanoDefense Pro's revolutionary approach bypasses these barriers, delivering these powerful compounds directly to the affected areas.

Nano-Silver is a key component that significantly boosts NanoDefense Pro's effectiveness. Research published in the Journal of Nanomedicine Research (2023) demonstrated that nano-sized silver particles exhibit extraordinary antimicrobial action by disrupting microbial cell walls, thereby neutralizing harmful pathogens such as fungi and bacteria. Traditional topical products often fail to reach hidden infections residing beneath the nail or in deeper skin layers. In contrast, Nano-Silver nanoparticles can infiltrate these microscopic spaces, delivering comprehensive protection.

Moreover, Nano-Curcumin offers an advanced anti-inflammatory action. Traditional curcumin (found in turmeric) is notorious for poor absorption when applied topically. According to a groundbreaking study published by the International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (2024), converting curcumin into nanoparticle form increases its bioavailability by up to 95%, ensuring powerful anti-inflammatory effects that swiftly relieve skin redness, swelling, and discomfort.

Another exceptional ingredient in NanoDefense Pro is Nano-Quercetin, a flavonoid with potent antioxidant properties. Normally, quercetin is hindered by low absorption and limited efficacy in conventional formulations. However, a recent clinical trial from the Journal of Dermatological Science (2024) found that nano-encapsulated quercetin penetrates deeper and neutralizes oxidative stress at cellular levels, significantly improving skin resilience and nail integrity. By preventing oxidative damage, NanoDefense Pro ensures healthy skin regeneration and lasting results.

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Luteolin, another powerful flavonoid, complements the formula by amplifying both antimicrobial and antioxidant actions. Studies, such as those featured in Frontiers in Pharmacology (2023), have highlighted luteolin's unique ability to inhibit fungal growth and bacterial infections, crucial for addressing stubborn nail fungus and skin issues. Nano-sized luteolin further guarantees deep penetration and comprehensive infection prevention.

Finally, the addition of Cape Aloe provides moisturizing and regenerative properties essential for restoring compromised skin. Its effectiveness was reinforced by a randomized trial published in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology (2024), highlighting how nano-sized Cape Aloe molecules significantly improved hydration and skin elasticity, preventing recurrence of cracking and dryness.

This sophisticated nanotechnology-driven approach sets NanoDefense Pro apart from traditional treatments, ensuring that every application reaches precisely where needed most. Unlike standard topical solutions that provide superficial, temporary relief, NanoDefense Pro's scientifically-backed formulation addresses underlying causes of foot and nail deterioration, promoting lasting health improvements and sustained protection.

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Astonishing Benefits of NanoDefense Pro: Why Ignoring This Could Be a Huge Mistake

Exceptional Foot Microbiome Support and Infection Prevention

One primary yet often overlooked benefit of NanoDefense Pro is its extensive support for a healthy foot microbiome. Foot health directly influences your overall well-being; unfortunately, most solutions only address the surface symptoms. NanoDefense Pro revolutionizes this approach by fortifying your foot's microbial ecosystem, creating an environment resistant to pathogens and irritation.

NanoDefense Pro uniquely combines antimicrobial powerhouse Nano-Silver with Nano-Quercetin and Luteolin to inhibit microbial growth at the deepest layers of skin and nails. Unlike typical creams, whose larger particles fail to penetrate adequately, these nanomolecules act deep within microscopic pores and crevices where infections commonly flourish unseen. According to the European Journal of Microbial Biotechnology (2024), such deep penetration markedly decreases the likelihood of recurring fungal infections or bacterial outbreaks.

Beyond merely suppressing infections, NanoDefense Pro's ingredients actively encourage healthy bacterial populations crucial for skin integrity and nail strength. Clinical observations highlight dramatic improvements in conditions like persistent athlete's foot, chronic fungal toenails, and stubborn skin infections. The formula's ongoing use ensures not just temporary relief but long-term stability, making it indispensable for sustained foot health.

Moreover, this microbial support indirectly boosts the immune system by preventing persistent low-level infections that drain your body's resources. Imagine continuously addressing symptoms without ever experiencing lasting relief; NanoDefense Pro eliminates this frustration, offering permanent solutions at the microscopic level.

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Unmatched Nail Health Restoration and Strengthening

Toenail health often remains neglected until aesthetic or functional issues arise. However, weakened, brittle, or yellowing nails can severely impact confidence and comfort. NanoDefense Pro specifically targets nail health at the microscopic level, where conventional products cannot reach. It's not just another superficial polish-it is a deeply restorative treatment, offering complete rejuvenation from root to tip.

Nano-Curcumin and Nano-Silver's synergistic action in NanoDefense Pro rapidly reduces inflammation surrounding nail beds, ensuring healthier and more resilient nails from within. This means fewer breaks, no embarrassing discoloration, and a lasting, natural gloss that conventional polishes cannot match.

Additionally, studies conducted by dermatological researchers from Stanford (2024) demonstrated significant improvements in nail thickness, growth rate, and texture among subjects using nano-sized curcumin formulations. Regular use of NanoDefense Pro thus provides a dual benefit of healthier nails and prevention of future deterioration.

Ignoring nail health isn't just an aesthetic mistake; it could lead to severe discomfort or even chronic infections requiring medical interventions. Choosing NanoDefense Pro offers proactive protection, ensuring your nails remain healthy, strong, and attractive naturally.

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Comprehensive Skin Health Enhancement and Anti-Aging Benefits

Lastly, NanoDefense Pro also provides superior skin benefits, making your feet look younger, healthier, and impeccably maintained. Beyond immediate improvements in texture, moisture, and smoothness, this innovative formula delivers powerful anti-aging protection rarely found in conventional foot-care products.

Luteolin, Nano-Quercetin, and Cape Aloe nourish skin cells, enhance collagen production, and improve elasticity at an unprecedented depth. A 2023 clinical trial from the International Dermatology Journal reported visible anti-aging benefits, such as dramatically reduced wrinkles, diminished dark spots, and noticeably smoother skin texture in users of nano-formulated skin care solutions.

Moreover, the antioxidants provided by NanoDefense Pro guard against environmental stressors such as UV rays and pollutants that typically accelerate aging processes. Regular users frequently report significantly enhanced skin vibrancy, resilience, and a youthful appearance unmatched by traditional foot creams.

Considering these profound benefits-anti-infection, comprehensive nail restoration, and potent anti-aging actions-overlooking NanoDefense Pro seems almost irrational. It's not merely another beauty product-it's a health necessity, meticulously engineered to provide the best possible care.

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NanoDefense Pro Complaints? What You Should Know

When considering NanoDefense Pro, it's crucial to address common complaints and clarify misconceptions. While this advanced formulation has accumulated overwhelming praise from thousands of satisfied users, like any product with widespread recognition, it inevitably attracts some criticism. However, a closer look at these negative reviews often reveals misunderstandings or external factors that obscure the true effectiveness of NanoDefense Pro.

A notable issue causing customer dissatisfaction involves the prevalence of counterfeit products. Fake versions of NanoDefense Pro have unfortunately appeared on unauthorized third-party platforms, tempting buyers with lower prices and exaggerated promises. These imitation products are often manufactured using substandard, untested ingredients lacking the precise nanotechnological refinement that authentic NanoDefense Pro is known for. Not surprisingly, customers purchasing these knockoffs report disappointing results or even adverse reactions, leading to unwarranted negative reviews about the genuine product. This counterfeit problem exists largely due to NanoDefense Pro's soaring popularity, as unscrupulous sellers attempt to capitalize quickly on its reputable name. To safeguard your health and ensure maximum effectiveness, it's essential to Avoid Fakes And Order Nanodefense Pro Directly From The Official Website .

Additionally, some competitors have allegedly attempted to sabotage NanoDefense Pro's reputation due to jealousy and market loss. NanoDefense Pro's success, driven by innovative nanotechnology and exceptional results, has undeniably disrupted the skincare and nail-health industries. Consequently, competitors feeling threatened by declining sales might resort to smear tactics, including false reviews and exaggerated claims of ineffectiveness or side effects. Such unethical maneuvers aim to plant seeds of doubt in consumers' minds, hoping to divert potential buyers away from this breakthrough solution. Recognizing this malicious intent can help users distinguish authentic customer experiences from fabricated criticisms designed solely to harm NanoDefense Pro's impeccable track record.

Another frequently seen complaint comes from users who haven't committed to using NanoDefense Pro consistently or for a sufficient duration. Like any scientifically formulated health solution, NanoDefense Pro requires consistent application and a reasonable timeframe-typically at least one month-to showcase noticeable improvement. Unfortunately, some impatient individuals expect overnight miracles, disregarding the complex biological process of skin and nail rejuvenation that requires patience and persistence. Misaligned expectations cause early discontinuation and premature negative reviews, unfairly tarnishing perceptions. Realistically, sustained use for several weeks allows NanoDefense Pro's potent nanomolecules ample time to penetrate deeply and enact transformative changes. Users following the recommended guidelines consistently report extraordinary outcomes, reinforcing the product's effectiveness.

Further confusion arises from users who neglect clear instructions, leading to misuse or improper application. NanoDefense Pro's unique formulation is specifically designed to deliver powerful results when applied correctly-typically once or twice daily to affected areas, allowing sufficient absorption time. Customers disregarding these straightforward guidelines or applying inconsistent amounts might experience delayed or less significant outcomes. Such misunderstanding, while understandable, often results in misplaced dissatisfaction. Thoroughly following provided instructions significantly enhances the efficacy of NanoDefense Pro, leading to consistent and remarkable results.

Despite occasional skepticism and scattered criticisms, extensive customer protections emphasize NanoDefense Pro's legitimacy and integrity. The official supplier confidently offers a transparent and generous 180-day money-back guarantee. This policy ensures complete consumer satisfaction and demonstrates the manufacturer's unwavering confidence in their product's exceptional quality and consistent results. Authentic NanoDefense Pro is exclusively sold through verified channels, ensuring strict quality control and customer safety. Customers repeatedly express trust in the genuine product precisely because of this commitment to transparency and comprehensive consumer protection. Clearly, NanoDefense Pro is not a scam-its robust refund policy, verified distribution, and high standards prove its authenticity beyond doubt.

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NanoDefense Pro Ingredients - What's Inside and Why It Works

The real secret behind NanoDefense Pro's extraordinary effectiveness lies in its scientifically advanced, nano-enhanced ingredients. Each element within this proprietary blend is meticulously selected and precisely dosed to ensure optimal absorption and maximum efficacy, setting it apart from conventional skincare and nail-health products.

Nano-Silver

Nano-Silver forms the backbone of NanoDefense Pro's powerful antimicrobial activity. Silver particles reduced to nano-scale dimensions demonstrate significantly increased surface area and enhanced penetration capability. These microscopic particles effectively infiltrate the deeper layers of skin and nails, eliminating harmful pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Extensive clinical research demonstrates that Nano-Silver disrupts pathogen cell membranes, impeding their ability to replicate and causing rapid cell death. Unlike larger particles found in conventional treatments, NanoDefense Pro's Nano-Silver ensures comprehensive coverage and deep-tissue sterilization without harming surrounding healthy cells. Rigorous testing confirms that consistent use delivers sustained protection and accelerates the body's natural healing processes, drastically reducing recurring infections and promoting vibrant skin and nail health.

Nano-Curcumin

Curcumin, traditionally known for powerful anti-inflammatory properties derived from turmeric, gains remarkable potency through NanoDefense Pro's nanotechnology. Standard curcumin formulations often suffer from low bioavailability, limiting therapeutic impact. In contrast, NanoDefense Pro's Nano-Curcumin achieves extraordinary absorption, penetrating deeply to soothe chronic inflammation that contributes to conditions like persistent skin irritation and damaged nails. Scientific studies validate Nano-Curcumin's capacity to neutralize inflammation-promoting enzymes, significantly accelerating recovery and cellular regeneration. Additionally, its antioxidant properties combat oxidative stress, a root cause of cellular damage. Regular application of NanoDefense Pro containing Nano-Curcumin visibly revitalizes skin and nails, restoring resilience, reducing irritation, and promoting long-term wellness far beyond standard curcumin formulations.

Nano-Quercetin

Quercetin, recognized for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits, is remarkably amplified through nanotechnology in NanoDefense Pro. Traditional quercetin faces absorption challenges, rendering it less effective topically. Nano-Quercetin's nano-scale formulation ensures profound tissue penetration and enhanced bioavailability. Scientific studies demonstrate its impressive capability in mitigating oxidative stress and inflammatory responses, preventing the deterioration of skin and nails. This deeply penetrative antioxidant shields cells from harmful free radicals, thereby preserving cellular integrity and promoting the rapid regeneration of healthy tissues. Users consistently report improvements in skin elasticity, nail strength, and accelerated healing when using NanoDefense Pro's Nano-Quercetin formula, highlighting its advanced effectiveness compared to ordinary quercetin supplements.

The precise blending of these nano-enhanced ingredients sets NanoDefense Pro apart from traditional formulations. Each component is tested rigorously, ensuring optimal ratios and maximal therapeutic impact. Rather than attempting unreliable homemade mixtures with imprecise concentrations and questionable purity, NanoDefense Pro's professionally formulated nanotechnology provides unmatched safety, consistency, and transformative results. The sophisticated production process guarantees each bottle maintains rigorous quality standards, eliminating potential variations in potency or efficacy.

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Is NanoDefense Pro Safe? Side Effects, Medical Backing & FDA Compliance

Safety remains paramount for every reputable skincare product, and NanoDefense Pro meets this standard exceptionally. Each ingredient within NanoDefense Pro undergoes comprehensive scientific testing, ensuring absolute safety and effectiveness. Nano-Silver, Nano-Curcumin, and Nano-Quercetin, among other potent ingredients, have been rigorously evaluated through clinical trials confirming their remarkable safety profiles. These studies conclusively indicate no significant side effects when applied topically in recommended dosages, affirming their suitability for consistent use.

Furthermore, NanoDefense Pro's manufacturing adheres strictly to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards and FDA regulations, providing an additional layer of safety assurance. Facilities producing NanoDefense Pro maintain stringent quality control protocols, including thorough ingredient sourcing, rigorous cleanliness, and accurate dosage precision. GMP certification guarantees consumers receive a product meeting the highest purity, safety, and efficacy standards, eliminating potential contamination or inconsistency risks. FDA compliance ensures continuous oversight, regulatory adherence, and consumer transparency, enhancing overall confidence in NanoDefense Pro's safety.

Despite misconceptions about natural ingredients causing potential harm, scientific evidence consistently debunks these myths. Contrary to widespread misconceptions, rigorous research demonstrates that naturally derived, nano-enhanced ingredients such as Nano-Curcumin and Nano-Quercetin present significantly fewer risks than synthetic alternatives. Properly sourced, professionally refined natural components found in NanoDefense Pro pose minimal allergenic or adverse reaction risks. In fact, their biocompatibility and enhanced absorption make them exceptionally safe and effective, offering significant advantages over synthetic counterparts.

Long-term safety represents another critical consideration. Continuous application of NanoDefense Pro has consistently demonstrated an exceptional safety record, with thousands of long-term users reporting no adverse effects even after months of daily use. Clinical studies reinforce these findings, indicating that sustained application not only poses no health risks but actually enhances ongoing nail and skin health through cumulative therapeutic benefits. NanoDefense Pro's nano-technology promotes continued deep-tissue nourishment and microbial defense, ensuring sustained effectiveness without diminishing safety or tolerance over extended periods.

Finally, the absence of serious side effect complaints from verified NanoDefense Pro customers underscores its outstanding safety record. The authenticity, purity, and careful formulation of NanoDefense Pro cultivate trust among consumers, evidenced by countless positive testimonials highlighting excellent tolerability and consistent outcomes. Comprehensive consumer protection-including a robust 180-day money-back guarantee-further solidifies customer confidence, confirming NanoDefense Pro as an entirely trustworthy, risk-free investment in long-term skin and nail wellness.

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NanoDefense Pro vs. Traditional Foot Care Solutions: Why Users Are Making the Switch

When it comes to achieving healthy nails and flawless foot skin, traditional products have dominated the market for decades. However, NanoDefense Pro is quickly becoming the go-to alternative, significantly reshaping how consumers approach foot care. Unlike conventional creams and topical solutions that merely offer superficial benefits, NanoDefense Pro utilizes groundbreaking nanotechnology, providing deeper and more sustained relief.

NanoDefense Pro reviews consistently highlight how dramatically effective this revolutionary product is compared to older options. Traditional foot care products often fail to penetrate beyond the surface, resulting in temporary relief at best. NanoDefense Pro, on the other hand, leverages molecules approximately 1000 times smaller than those in regular solutions, ensuring unmatched penetration. This deep-reaching nanotechnology addresses the underlying issues such as fungal infections, discoloration, and brittle nails directly at their source.

Users increasingly favor NanoDefense Pro due to its unique blend of potent nano-ingredients-Nano-Silver, Nano-Curcumin, and Nano-Quercetin-which collectively deliver antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant protection simultaneously. This multi-action strategy far surpasses standard over-the-counter creams and ointments, transforming stubborn foot health conditions into easily manageable issues.

Moreover, real experiences with NanoDefense Pro underscore its unmatched ease of use, absorbing instantly and leaving no messy residue behind. This advantage alone makes NanoDefense Pro vastly superior to traditional creams that often cause discomfort, staining, or inconvenient waiting periods before fully absorbing. The convenience factor, combined with its potent, visible results, clearly explains why users are making the switch to NanoDefense Pro in droves .

If you're still stuck using outdated creams, it's time to explore why thousands are choosing this innovative approach. Upgrade your foot-care routine with NanoDefense Pro's groundbreaking solution today.

The Truth Behind NanoDefense Pro's Popularity: Marketing Hype or Genuine Breakthrough?

Skepticism naturally arises when a product like NanoDefense Pro gains rapid attention. Is it mere marketing hype, or does NanoDefense Pro truly represent a revolutionary breakthrough? A closer look reveals the authenticity behind its soaring popularity.

NanoDefense Pro's distinct effectiveness primarily stems from advanced nanotechnology-a real scientific advancement, not just promotional exaggeration. Unlike typical products boasting superficial improvements, NanoDefense Pro's nano-sized particles deeply penetrate skin and nail layers, targeting and neutralizing harmful microbes effectively. This powerful internal action is supported by extensive scientific evidence, including clinical trials affirming the antimicrobial efficiency of its Nano-Silver and the anti-inflammatory potency of Nano-Curcumin.

Additionally, extensive customer testimonials provide ample proof of NanoDefense Pro's genuine effectiveness. Users frequently report remarkable transformations in nail clarity, strength, and skin vibrancy within weeks-results that are virtually impossible to achieve with typical drugstore alternatives. This consistent user satisfaction significantly undercuts the argument that NanoDefense Pro is merely driven by marketing exaggerations.

While compelling advertising has undeniably contributed to its initial exposure, the primary driver behind NanoDefense Pro's sustained popularity is simple: real, verifiable results. Users aren't just buying promises-they're experiencing visible changes. The countless positive NanoDefense Pro reviews from genuine users make it clear this is a solution that truly works, providing undeniable relief and enhanced confidence.

Don't fall for claims dismissing NanoDefense Pro as mere hype Experience first-hand why NanoDefense Pro is becoming the trusted name in nail and skin health solutions .

Can NanoDefense Pro Help Prevent Recurring Toenail Fungus? Here's the Real Story

Recurring toenail fungus remains an ongoing frustration for countless people, stubbornly resisting typical treatments. NanoDefense Pro has emerged as a leading solution, receiving exceptional praise in customer reviews specifically for its ability to prevent future fungal outbreaks. But how exactly does NanoDefense Pro manage to tackle such persistent problems?

Traditional antifungal creams often only treat surface-level infections, allowing deeper, microscopic fungal spores to persist beneath the nail bed. NanoDefense Pro's ultra-fine molecules bypass these limitations, infiltrating deeply into nail layers where fungal spores typically remain hidden. The Nano-Silver component within NanoDefense Pro exerts a strong antimicrobial effect, effectively neutralizing fungal spores at their very root. This deep-level cleansing drastically reduces the risk of future infections, setting NanoDefense Pro apart from superficial alternatives.

Further bolstering NanoDefense Pro's fungal-fighting power is its Nano-Quercetin ingredient. Known for exceptional antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, Nano-Quercetin effectively combats oxidative stress and inflammation-conditions that facilitate fungal growth. The combination of Nano-Silver's deep sterilization and Nano-Quercetin's environment-balancing effects creates a hostile environment for fungal resurgence, providing lasting protection against future outbreaks.

NanoDefense Pro reviews from users who previously suffered continuous recurrences universally attest to its long-term effectiveness. By significantly reducing repeat infections, NanoDefense Pro not only alleviates current issues but also actively protects against future fungal invasions, offering unparalleled peace of mind to users.

Don't settle for temporary relief that leaves you vulnerable again. Choose NanoDefense Pro for long-lasting protection against recurring toenail fungus.

Is NanoDefense Pro Worth the Cost? An Honest Look at Its Real Value

Price can be a critical factor for users evaluating any skincare solution, and NanoDefense Pro is no exception. With pricing starting at $69 per bottle and discounted packages available for larger quantities, prospective buyers naturally question whether NanoDefense Pro justifies its premium price point.

Evaluating the true value of NanoDefense Pro involves considering not only upfront costs but also long-term savings and benefits. Unlike inexpensive topical creams requiring constant reapplication, NanoDefense Pro's advanced formula delivers substantial, sustained results with fewer applications. This efficiency alone offsets its higher initial investment, translating into real cost savings over time.

Additionally, NanoDefense Pro provides unparalleled preventive care. By deeply addressing root causes, NanoDefense Pro reduces ongoing expenses associated with repeated treatments of chronic conditions such as fungal infections, brittle nails, and skin inflammation. Long-term users frequently mention substantial savings in foot care products, medical visits, and even costly pharmaceutical medications they no longer require thanks to NanoDefense Pro's comprehensive solution.

Furthermore, NanoDefense Pro's generous 180-day money-back guarantee underscores its genuine value. This confident policy allows new users to thoroughly evaluate NanoDefense Pro risk-free, ensuring complete satisfaction or a full refund. Such robust protection signifies the manufacturer's faith in NanoDefense Pro's efficacy, eliminating financial risk for buyers and reinforcing its exceptional value proposition.

Ultimately, the real value of NanoDefense Pro lies in its lasting results, reduced long-term expenses, and user confidence backed by countless verified reviews. Considering these advantages, the question shifts from whether NanoDefense Pro is affordable to whether one can afford not to invest in this remarkable solution.

Don't compromise your foot health on temporary, cheaper alternatives. Experience the exceptional value and long-lasting results of NanoDefense Pro now.

Source Details:

NanoDefense Pro

Jim Coyle

pr@nanodefensepro.com

(888) 147-8074

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6d584cd9-6b4a-4a99-a1e5-f311e37ecdf8
Vouchsafe, a London, UK-based provider of an identity verification platform, raised 1M in pre-seed funding.

The round was led by Bethnal Green Ventures (BGV) and supported by Biometric Ventures, Fuel Ventures, Seed X Liechtenstein, along with angel investor Andrew Chevis, CEO of CitizenCard.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts.

Vouchsafe provides an identity verification platform dedicated to solving global ID poverty helping businesses safely onboard more users without relying on photo ID. To do this, it:

accepts a wider range of evidence than incumbents, including real-time digital evidence like eVisas.

offers fallback options like a vouch from a trusted referee, giving every user a fair chance.

provides background checks, including online footprint analysis, to detect made-up identities.

Vouchsafe is scaling fast. The company is working with financial services firms to apply the technology to banking and credit. They were also chosen by the Scottish Government to help provide public services to people who struggle with proving their identity, through the CivTech programme.

FinSMEs

22/03/2025
Stephen Graham, the co-creator of the show, who also played a prominent role, said Netflixs Adolescence holds a mirror up to society read more

Netflixs latest crime-drama series Adolescence is not garnering rave reviews but also initiating the discussion on the topics incel theme, social media and bullying among the audience.

Stephen Graham, the co-creator of the show, who also played a prominent role, said Adolescence holds a mirror up to society.

I read an article about a young girl who was stabbed to death by a young boy, and then a few months later, on the news there was a young girl who, again, had been brutally stabbed to death by a young boy in a completely different part of the country. If Im really honest with you, that hurt my heart and I just thought, why? Why does this kind of thing happen? What is this society? Why have we reached this point where this kind of thing is happening? What was the reason? said Graham while talking to Sky News.

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You look at it and you see that were kind of all accountable to an extent. Theres failings within the school system, theres situations where the education system can look at this, look at whats happened with that kind of rise in these misogynistic tendencies. The society as a whole can look at this, parents obviously can look at this, and the government in many ways, he added.

Ashley Walters, who plays a key role in Adolescence, said, Id seen bits of the Andrew Tate stuff kind of popping up online or whatever, but I never really delved into it. And for me, this was the first real experience.

He added: I do sometimes feel sorry for [kids]. When I was growing up, I was in a bubble. I didnt have a clue what was going on in the States and other parts of the world. It was just kind of in my little area that I grew up in with my family I wasnt seeing Bentleys and designer clothes and all of this stuff. Its like I was happy with what I had. And now youre exposed to everything. Its no wonder that kids mentally grow up quicker.

The Top Boy actor said that it is not easy for boys to express their feelings and emotions.

Its really important that we have these conversations and we make it normal to have discussions just like women and young girls do about feelings and whatever theyre going through. That was one of the big reasons why I wanted to be a part of this conversation that were creating, because Im a strong advocate for, as a man, being vulnerable, crying in front of my friends, and just saying how I feel. Its even difficult for me at times, so I cant imagine how young men are at the moment everything thats going on around social media in their lives, how difficult it is for them to start this conversation, he shared.

Jack Thorne, writer and co-creator of the show, said that government should guide parents and kids of how to use social media.

I think this government needs to do something. And theres a private members bill going through the Commons on Friday that has been watered down quite extensively by this government because theyre frightened of big tech. And we need to be having conversations like Australias having conversations, whether theyre actually putting in legislation about restricting social media access. We need to be having those conversations in this country and were not. And if we dont have these conversations, it is going to get worse, said Thorne.

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Doing this show I spent a lot of time in a lot of dark places. I saw where the web went and where the web goes. And its not about Andrew Tate. Andrew Tate is the shorthand for adults. Theres much worse stuff out there. And it teaches kids a logic that makes sense of the world for them in a really distorted and ugly way. And unless we look at that and talk about that, things are only going to get worse, he added.
Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma, who is at the centre of a storm after a huge pile of unaccounted cash was allegedly discovered at his official home, was named in an FIR by the CBI in a sugar mill fraud case in 2018. He was the non-executive director of Simbhaoli Sugar Mills, which was accused by the Oriental Bank of Commerce of misappropriation of funds read more

Justice Yashwant Varma is at the centre of a controversy after a pile of cash was recovered at his official home. allahabadhighcourt.in via PTI

Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma is under scanner after a huge stash of cash was allegedly found at his official residence in the national capital. As the incident came to light sparking a massive row, reports have now emerged that the 56-year-old judge was embroiled in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case in 2018.

Amid the controversy, Justice Varma has been transferred to the Allahabad High Court. However, the Supreme Court clarified that the decision to shift him was not linked to the probe by the Delhi HC chief justice in the matter.

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Lets take a closer look.

CBI case against Delhi HC Justice Yashwant Varma

Reports say that Justice Yashwant Varma, the second senior-most judge in the Delhi High Court, was named in a First Information Report (FIR) by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a sugar mill fraud case in 2018.

He also featured as an accused in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) complaint related to the case.

As per the FIR lodged by the CBI, Justice Varma was the non-executive director of Simbhaoli Sugars in 2012. The case stemmed from a complaint by the Oriental Bank of Commerce which accused the private enterprise of defrauding the bank.

The Oriental bank alleged that Simbhaoli Sugars misappropriated a Rs 97.85 crore loan meant for farmers and diverted the funds for other purposes, reported India Today.

According to the banks complaint, the sugar mill provided forged Know Your Customer (KYC) documents and embezzled the funds. By May 2015, the Oriental Bank of Commerce flagged Simbhaoli Sugars as a suspected fraud and reported it to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The CBI booked Simbhaoli Sugar Mills, its directors and others, including Yashwant Varma, under the Prevention of Corruption Act on charges of criminal misconduct, cheating and criminal conspiracy. The ED filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on February 27, 2018, as per a Times of India (TOI) report.

What happened to the case?

In December 2023, the Allahabad High Court ordered the CBI to begin a fresh investigation into a grant of loans by seven banks to Simbhaoli Sugars, saying the fraud had shaken the conscience of the judiciary, as per NDTV.

The HC reportedly found that many bank officials appeared to have collaborated with Simbhaoli Sugar Mills in granting loans to the tune of Rs 900 crore.

The court said in its order at the time, Bank officials completely ignored RBI guidelines and circulars. We direct the CBI to investigate which officials approved these loans, which members of the board or credit committee facilitated the disbursements, and which officials allowed the embezzlement to continue unchecked.

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On Allahabad High Courts orders, the central agency launched a new probe in February 2024. However, the Supreme Court intervened and put a stay on the HCs judgement, ending the investigation into alleged financial irregularities involving Simbhaoli Sugars and its directors.

Additionally, the top court allowed authorities to take action for fraud in accordance with the law.

As per the CNN-NEWS18 sources, Justice Varmas name was removed by the CBI from the FIR shortly after it registered the complaint and the same was told to the court.

How Justice Yashwant Varma came to limelight

Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma came to the spotlight after reports surfaced that a pile of cash was discovered at his Lutyens Delhi residence during a fire at the place around 11.35 pm on March 14.

The Delhi Fire Department personnel were pressed into service to douse the flames.

As per reports, Rs 15 crore in cash was allegedly found at Justice Varmas official home. The claims have caused a row, shocking the judiciary and the public alike.

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Later, the Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, decided to transfer Justice Varma back to the Allahabad High Court.

The apex court said the Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya has commenced the in-house enquiry procedure collecting evidence and information after the incident came to light.

The Supreme Court also said Justice Varmas transfer was independent and separate from the in-house enquiry procedure.

Sources have told NDTV that Justice Varmas transfer was only the first step and the preliminary inquiry is underway.

Amid calls for Justice Varmas resignation from various quarters, the Delhi Fire Services Chief Atul Garg claimed that firefighters did not find cash at the judges residence.

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Soon after dousing the flames, we informed police about the fire incident. Thereafter, a team of fire department personnel left the spot. Our firefighters did not find any cash during their firefighting operation, the DFS chief told PTI.

With inputs from agencies
Mughal ruler Aurangzebs grave in Maharashtras Khuldabad has become a target of fringe right-wing groups, who are demanding its demolition. The 17th-century emperor is once again back in the news and political discourse. We look at this story and more in our weekly wrap from India read more

It was a week of heightened emotions for India. Mughal emperor Aurangzeb who died more than 300 years dominated political discourse in Maharashtra. Violence erupted in Nagpur amid calls for the demolition of the 17th-century rulers tomb.

US astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Butch Wilmore finally returned to Earth after nine months in space. Her homecoming was a cause of celebration for a village in Gujarat. We will tell you why.

In other news, a horrific murder has stunned Uttar Pradeshs Meerut. A Merchant Navy officer was allegedly killed by his wife and her lover, revealing a tale of betrayal, diligent planning, and brutal execution.

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Heres all this and more in our weekly roundup of stories from India.

1. Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor who ruled India from 1658 to 1707, has returned to the spotlight. The release of the movie Chhaava has reignited the ire against him in Maharashtra. Calls have grown for the demolition of Aurangzebs tomb in the western states Khuldabad, with even some politicians supporting the demand of fringe right-wing groups.

Mughal emperor Aurangzebs tomb is located in Khuldabad, Maharashtra. Wikimedia Commons

Violent clashes took place in Nagpur earlier in the week after rumours spread that a holy book of the minority community was desecrated during a protest seeking the removal of the Mughal emperors tomb. Aurangzeb continues to be a loathed figure by the Hindu nationalists for many reasons. One of these was for his execution of Maratha king Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, which has been graphically portrayed in the Bollywood film. Despite demands to raze the Mughal emperors grave, the Maharashtra government cannot remove it. We explain in this story.

2. India, which is a top remittance-receiving country, has seen a shift in its leading sources of monies from its citizens living overseas and the diaspora. The United States has replaced the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to bag the top spot in the list of Indias sources of inward remittances. Its share increased from 23.4 per cent in 2020-21 to 27.7 per cent in 2023-24, as per RBIs monthly bulletin in March.

The UAE has become the second largest contributor to remittances coming to India. The central banks report points to a move away from Gulf nations and towards advanced economies. We will tell you about it in this report.

3. Elon Musk-owned Xs AI chatbot Grok could land in trouble in India. It recently kicked up a storm across the countrys online spaces with its cheeky and direct replies. However, Groks use of Hindi slang and expletives in some of its responses has brought it under the scanner.

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Reports say the Ministry of Information and Technology has asked X about the data on which the chatbot was trained. Grok even addressed the issue in a reply to a user, saying there is no shutdown, just scrutiny. Read our story here.

4. Saurabh Rajput, a Merchant Navy officer, was allegedly stabbed to death and chopped into pieces by his wife Muskan Rastogi and her lover, Sahil Shukla, in Meerut. His body was later put inside the drum and sealed with cement. The details of the brutal murder have sent shockwaves across the country.

Police take away Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rajputs wife Muskan and her lover Sahil Shukla after they were arrested in connection with his murder, in Meerut, March 19, 2025. PTI

Saurabhs family has claimed that his six-year-old daughter was aware of his murder and its aftermath. However, the police have refuted this. Why did Muskan plot to kill her husband? How did she trick Sahil into committing the crime? We explain in this report.

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5. Nasa astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore are back on Earth after a months-long journey in space. The duo, which was to return from the International Space Station (ISS) last June, got stuck in space for nine months.

Williams and Wilmore came back on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that had a splashdown off Floridas coast this week. As visuals of their return emerged, the world cheered. A village in Gujarat also joined the celebrations, holding special prayers and bursting firecrackers to welcome Williams. But why was that village in Gujarat so elated at her return? Read our story to find out.

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6. A blockbuster weight loss drug has made its debut in the Indian market. US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly has launched its Mounjaro, a diabetes and weight-loss drug, in India. It is among the class of drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic that have taken the world by storm for spurring weight loss.

A pharmacist displays a box of Mounjaro, a tirzepatide injection drug used for treating type 2 diabetes made by Lilly at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, US, March 29, 2023. File Photo/Reuters

Chemically known as tirzepatide, Mounjaro is an injectable drug which is to be administered once a week to treat type 2 diabetes. The drug is reportedly priced at Rs 3,500 for a 2.5 mg vial and Rs 4,375 for a 5 mg vial. But how does Mounjaro compare to another popular weight loss drug  Ozempic? We explain in this report.

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This is all we have for you this week. If you like the way we explain news, you can bookmark this page to stay updated.
Heathrow Airport descended into chaos after it had to be closed due to a fire at a nearby electricity substation on March 20. The blaze knocked out power at Europes busiest airport, affecting more than 1,300 flights. But why did this happen? read more

A plane takes off, as smoke rises from an area of an electrical substation a day after it caught fire and wiped out power at Heathrow International Airport, near London, Britain, March 22, 2025. Reuters

Heathrow Airport, the busiest airport in Europe, was shut down following a fire at a single electricity sub-station on the night of March 20. The fire at the North Hyde substation in Hayes, about 1.5 miles from Heathrow in west London, seriously disrupted the areas power supply, including that of the airport.

The closure has caused chaos, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. More than 1,300 flights have been affected, according to the plane tracking website Flightradar24. About 120 of these were already in the air.

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Below, a panel of experts offer their insights  and consider the implications of such a major incident. (Elements of this panel were sourced by the Science Media Centre, which published a version here.)

Electricity grid in highly constrained area

Barry Hayes, associate professor in electrical power systems, University College Cork

It appears that a transformer fire in the North Hyde 275kV substation caused the power outage (videos from the scene clearly show one of the large power transformers ablaze). This is a large electrical substation which supplies the area to the northeast of Heathrow airport as well as the Heathrow airport site. Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, the local electricity distributor, said 67,000 homes and businesses in the area were cut off overnight as a result of this issue.

While the North Hyde substation is a very important part of the west London electricity grid, it is generally not expected that this would cause such a big impact at Heathrow airport. There are also dedicated supplies to other parts of the airport site.

Typically, a critical electricity load such as Heathrow would be served from multiple supply points in the electricity grid, and therefore there would be an option to feed the loads at Heathrow from an alternative supply point. There are some reports that parts of the airport (for example, Terminal 5) have power.

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People work at an electrical substation, after a fire there wiped out the power at Heathrow International Airport, in Hayes, London, Britain, March 21, 2025. File Photo/Reuters

The exact reasons for such a big impact are unclear at this point, but we do know the North Hyde substation is in a highly constrained area of the UK electricity grid  an area where there has been a steep increase in the number of new electricity connection requests across west London, driven by new housing developments, commercial investment and datacentres.

The UK power grid (as in many developed countries) is generally old or outdated, with many of its components at the end of their anticipated service lifetime and in urgent need of modernisation. These issues may be a factor in the power outage affecting Heathrow. However, it will take some time before the exact causes of this incident are established.

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Weather, ageing transformers or cyber-attacks

Chenghong Gu, professor in smart energy systems, University of Bath

This is a very rare event. Substations are built and operated according to very strict standards, and they are monitored 24/7. There are also many automatic devices in substations like this one to deal with faults.

A substation has many components including transformers, circuit breakers, an isolator, busbars and measuring equipment. Transformers are the most vulnerable to fire. There is insulation oil in them and in high-temperature, high-pressure situations, they can explode  meaning the insulation oil leaks and can catch fire.

However, it is very unusual for big substations like this to catch fire. One cause can be extreme weather such as lightning strikes, which could cause extreme high voltage on the equipment. Extreme hot weather together with high demand can also cause transformers to become overheated, thus leading to faults.

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Another factor is the ageing of transformers. The insulation gas can degrade, which could cause an explosion inside a transformer. Or there could be a malfunction of other auxiliary devices such as the insulator, switch gears or circuit breakers inside the substation.

Other possible causes include a malicious attack on the substation  someone setting fire to it deliberately, for example. Cyber-attacks on IT systems can also cause a malfunction of devices in the substation, leading to fire.

Why did Heathrows back-ups not work?

Kirk Chang, professor of management and technology, University of East London

The airport lost power because of the fire  we understand that. But the back-up system didnt work. Its difficult to understand how that could happen.

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There are two things we need to look at. Number one is the technical part. Why did the back-up machines not work? Maybe the machines did not have sufficient fuel, or for some reason the system was not linked to the grid. The backup should kick in immediately.

The second point is more the human side. Who is responsible for the power management, and what intervention strategies were attempted? I would assume they would need a second back-up system if the first fails. Its very unusual to see both Plan A (the back-up) and Plan B (the back-up to the back-up) not working.

Usually, a main back-up (Plan A) will supply about 90 per cent of the power the facility usually receives. Whereas Plan B will usually only supply a fraction of the power  maybe 50 per cent or 30 per cent. The reason is that Plan B is usually expensive to maintain all the time. It may be outsourced to a third party  either the power company or a software company which manages their power distribution network.

National infrastructure needs more security

Paul Cuffe, assistant professor, School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University College Dublin

An airport like Heathrow requires a lot of electricity to operate, equivalent to a large town. As such, it would be typical for it to be given a dedicated connection from the substation at Hayes.

There is likely a dedicated power line and transformer there that connects the airport to the wider grid. When a major fire severs that link, it will no longer be possible to bring bulk electricity to the airport.

I would anticipate that a major airport like Heathrow would have some on-site emergency capability to ride through a grid disturbance. I would hope the traffic control tower and runway lights werent totally plunged into darkness!

However, processing planeloads of passengers requires Heathrow in its totality to consume a towns worth of electricity, and the inability to meet this requirement is probably why the flights had to be cancelled.

The failure is not overtly abnormal. We can anticipate that, from time to time, substation equipment will fail and downstream power outages will result. But one could argue that a critical piece of national infrastructure like Heathrow deserves special grid connection arrangements to secure its supply of electricity further. For instance, sometimes critical loads like this are fed from two separate substations to provide redundancy when outages happen.

It is ultimately a political and economic question to determine the right level of capital investment into grid infrastructure to avoid the problems that outages like this cause. Redundant power supplies for an airport the size of Heathrow do not come free.

Climate change could enhance such incidents

Hayley J. Fowler, professor of climate change impacts; Colin Manning, postdoctoral research associate in climate science; and Sean Wilkinson, professor of structural engineering, Newcastle University

The closure of one of the worlds largest airports due to a failure of just one electricity substation underlines how important it is that critical national energy infrastructure  pylons, substations and so on  keeps functioning. This is only becoming more important as demand for electricity increases, thanks to transport and domestic heating switching to lower-carbon electrified alternatives  notably electric cars and heat pumps.

Yet the UKs energy system is facing growing threats from unprecedented risks. We still dont know what caused the Heathrow fire, but it appears to be unusual in this regard, as threats to energy systems come mainly from extreme weather. In the UK, that tends to mean windstorms, flooding, heatwaves and associated wildfires, and cold spells.

2024 was the warmest calendar year on record, and the fingerprints of climate change are increasingly evident in more intense and frequent extreme weather events. It is crucial to ensure the energy network can handle this weather.

Gas and electricity operators in the UK have established protocols for managing networks in adverse weather, investing large amounts to protect critical assets. But recent events have exposed vulnerabilities. The storms Arwen and Eowyn left thousands without power for days, underscoring the previous UK governments admission that the country is underprepared for extreme weather events.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The US administration under President Donald Trump will strip the temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. These people came to America under a sponsorship programme by former President Joe Biden that allowed them to live and work in the country for two years. But why is Trump asking these migrants to leave? read more

The Donald Trump administration in the United States will rescind the legal protections of lakhs of migrants. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Friday (March 21) that it will revoke the temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.

These migrants were welcomed to the US under the previous Joe Biden administrations two-year parole programme, known as CHNV. This is the latest step by President Trump to curb immigration, which includes clamping down on legal pathways for migrants to enter the US.

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Lets take a closer look.

What is CHNV?

Former US President Joe Biden launched a sponsorship programme in 2022 for Venezuelans to legally enter America. The scheme was extended to Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans in 2023 as the Biden administration struggled to control illegal immigration from these nationalities.

The programme allowed migrants to fly into the US for a temporary stay of two years if they had American sponsors. This gave them temporary immigration status known as parole, allowing them to live and work in the US.

During the two years, migrants could seek humanitarian relief or other immigration benefits if they were eligible.

President Bidens administration allowed up to 30,000 people every month to enter the US from these four countries. As many as 530,000 migrants came to America through the humanitarian parole programme.

Venezuelan migrants arriving from Mexico deplane at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, March 20, 2025, after abandoning hopes of reaching the U.S. due to President Trumps crackdown on migration. AP

Of these, 213,000 were Haitians who arrived in the US amid worsening conditions in their country. Over 120,700 Venezuelans, 110,900 Cubans and more than 93,000 Nicaraguans also flew to the US under the parole programme.

The Biden administration had defended CHNV, saying it provided legal migration pathways and would curb illegal border crossings at the southern US border. It also allowed for better vetting of these migrants, it said.

Trump shut the Biden-era sponsorship policy soon after returning to the White House in January.

US ends legal protection of CHNV nationals

The Trump administration has asked nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) who came to the US through the parole programme to self-deport or face deportation.

According to the notice posted to the Federal Register on Friday, the temporary legal status of 530,000 migrants will be cancelled on April 24.

The Department of Homeland Security said it will arrest and deport parolees who fail to depart the US by the deadline.

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Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status, DHS said.

Hitting out at the previous Biden administration, the agency said it granted them [migrants] opportunities to compete for American jobs and undercut American workers; forced career civil servants to promote the programs even when fraud was identified; and then blamed Republicans in Congress for the chaos that ensued and the crime that followed.

It said stripping their parole status would help the administration to put the migrants in a fast-track deportation process known as expedited removal.

According to DHS, some migrants who came via the CHNV parole programme might be allowed to stay in the US on a case-by-case basis.

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Before this order, beneficiaries of the programme could remain in America until the expiration of their parole. However, the Trump administration had put a halt on processing their applications for asylum, visas and other requests that would prolong their stay.

As per CBS News, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin claimed that migrants who entered the US via the CHNV process were loosely vetted.

The termination of the CHNV parole programs, and the termination of parole for those who exploited it, is a return to common-sense policies, a return to public safety, and a return to America First, McLaughlin said.

The Trump administration could also deport Ukrainians who fled to the US during the war with Russia. On March 6, the US president said he would decide very soon whether to revoke the parole status for 240,000 Ukrainians in the US.

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The Trump administration has previously railed against alleged broad abuse of humanitarian parole, which has been used by presidents to allow people from countries facing war or political instability to temporarily live in the US.

ALSO READ: Who is Badar Khan Suri, Indian researcher facing deportation in US for Hamas ties?

Trumps order faces legal challenges

The Trump administrations order asking CHNV beneficiaries to leave has already been challenged in federal courts. A bunch of American citizens and immigrants have sued the Trump administration over the decision and are seeking to reinstate parole for the four nationalities.

The order is going to cause needless chaos and heartbreak for families and communities across the country, Karen Tumlin, founder and director of Justice Action Center, was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

It remains unclear how many CHNV beneficiaries have been able to get another form of protection or legal status that would allow them to stay in the US legally.

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With inputs from agencies
Chief Ministers and leaders from multiple states convened in Chennai for the first meeting of the Joint Action Committee, led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. The gathering aims to push for fair delimitation, arguing that states that successfully controlled population growth should not be penalised. read more

Chief Ministers and leaders from multiple opposition parties-led states convened in Chennai for the first meeting of the Joint Action Committee, led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. Stalin clarified that the protest was not against delimitation itself but a demand for fair delimitation.

He stated, Our country has diverse cultures. Delimitation based on population figures will affect states like ours, as we have taken steps to control population growth. This could lead to fewer parliamentary seats for us. We must firmly oppose such a move. This protest is not against delimitation but for fair delimitation.

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Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin echoed this concern, pointing out that the participating states had worked hard to manage population growth. Instead of being rewarded, they now face the risk of reduced political representation.

For decades, these states have introduced policies and raised awareness to stabilise population growth. We reached the replacement rate earlier than many others, while some states still see rapid growth. Yet, instead of being recognised for our responsible efforts, we risk losing our voice in Parliament, he said.

The meeting includes Chief Ministers and representatives from several states. However, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), despite supporting the DMKs stance on delimitation, did not send any representatives.

Before the meeting, CM Stalin welcomed Telangana CM Revanth Reddy and Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar. He also honoured Chief Ministers and leaders attending the event.

Calling for a united political effort, Stalin urged parties to oppose delimitation, describing it as a blatant assault on federalism. He had earlier written to the Chief Ministers of seven statesboth from the ruling NDA and the oppositionseeking their support.

Ahead of the meeting, Stalin took to social media, calling the event a historic moment where states came together to protect Indias federal structure by demanding #FairDelimitation.

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The Tamil Nadu government, led by MK Stalin, has also clashed with the Centre over the three-language policy in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, alongside the delimitation issue.
The three-judge panel will be led by Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, and it also features Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Karnataka High Court judge Justice Anu Sivaraman read more

Justice Yashwant Varma has been a Delhi High Court judge since October 2021. Image Courtesy: X

The Chief Justice of India (CJI), Sanjiv Khanna, on Saturday (March 22) formed a three-judge panel to investigate corruption allegations against Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma. The embattled judge came under scanner after reports surfaced that a pile of cash was discovered at his Lutyens Delhi residence during a fire at the place around 11.35 pm on March 14.

As per reports, INR 15 crore in cash was allegedly found at Justice Varmas official residence, causing an uproar in media and social media against the judiciary.

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The three-judge panel will be led by Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, and it also features Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Karnataka High Court judge Justice Anu Sivaraman.

Meanwhile, the CJI has also directed the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court to avoid assigning any judicial work to Justice Varma until further notice.

As reports of the discovery of cash became public, CJI Khanna convened the Supreme Court Collegium and decided to transfer Justice Varma back to the Allahabad High Court.

Earlier, the Supreme Court said that the Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya has commenced the in-house enquiry procedure collecting evidence and information after the incident came to light.

The Supreme Court also said Justice Varmas transfer was independent and separate from the in-house enquiry procedure.

Who is Justice Yashwant Varma?

Justice Varma has been a Delhi High Court judge since October 2021.

Born on January 6, 1969, in Allahabad, he completed his BCom (Hons) from Hansraj College, Delhi University, and later earned his LLB from Rewa University, Madhya Pradesh.

He enrolled as an advocate in the Allahabad High Court on August 8, 1992.

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He handled a wide range of cases, including those involving the constitution, labour and industrial laws, corporate law, taxation, and related legal fields.

(With inputs from agencies)
Muhammad Yunus is at best a useful idiot for Jamaat-e-Islami and other war criminals; at worst, he is also a pawn for the Chinese. Either way, he today betrays Bangladesh, its traditional secularism, and its minority population read more

Time is running out for Bangladeshis to choose on their own; whether in Islamabad, Beijing, or New Delhi, the choice may soon be made for them. Representational image: ANI

When Egyptians poured into the streets in 2011 to demand President Hosni Mubaraks ouster, they sought democracy and opportunity. Mubarak was a dictator, even if he pretended otherwise. Many Egyptians also resented the influence of the military in the countrys economy. Young Egyptians, unemployed and underemployed, did not feel merit mattered and that the state treated them fairly.

When Mubarak resigned, Egyptians hoped for a new beginning. During its decades in opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood had perfected the rhetoric of democracy. They used academics and think tank analysts to launder their image in the West, but behind the scenes, the Muslim Brotherhood was as dictatorial and ideological as ever. Listen and repeat was its mantra when young democracy-focused activists attended its meetings. They accepted no discussion. The Muslim Brotherhood activists, who had worked secretly for decades, had an ideological, religious objective, and they did not want democracy to get in its way.

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The Muslim Brotherhood rule ended after just a year not simply because Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces, ousted President and Muslim Brotherhood affiliate Mohamed Morsi but because the millions of young people who forced Mubaraks ouster returned to the streets when they recognised that Morsi had played them for fools. What Western diplomats called a coup, many Egyptians considered a revolution.

There are certain parallels to Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina grew more autocratic during her last 15 years in power. Brute force backfired as she failed to keep quota reform protests from escalating. Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser of Bangladesh, may not himself be an Islamist, but whether due to ego, naivety, or his own personal animosity toward the Awami League, he provides cover for Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami whose agenda has less to do with democracy than with social transformation.

Here, too, there is a parallel to Iran. A full ten per cent of the Iranian public participated in the 1979 protests against the Shah. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was careful in his interviews prior to his return to Iran to speak the language of democracy. In the Islamic Republic the rights of the religious minorities are respectfully regarded, Khomeini told Austrian television on November 6, 1978. Ten days later, he told Britains Guardian newspaper, I dont want to have the power or the government in my hand; I am not interested in personal power.

When he returned to Iran less than three months later, it was a different story; he quickly consolidated power, imprisoned or drove many minorities out of the country, imposed an Islamic Republic, and ruled for the next decade as its supreme leader. Iranians today seek democracy but remain trapped under a regime that has little popular legitimacy.

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The question now is whether young Bangladeshis and civil society leaders who wanted democracy will instead settle for the terror and dictatorship that Jamaat-e-Islami seeks to impose with the backing, financing, and logistical support of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

Yunus also tilts to China, selling out Bangladeshi nationalism to the Peoples Republics predations. Pakistan sold its sovereignty to China. Its much-ballyhooed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor now saddles Pakistan with almost $40 billion in debt Pakistanis can never repay without betraying their own sovereignty. Yunus naivete and ego now threaten the same with Bangladesh. This raises another scenario: Grenada.

Grenada won its independence from Great Britain in 1974, but five years later, the communist leader Maurice Bishop ousted its elected prime minister, Sir Eric Gairy, in a coup when Gairy was outside the country. Bishop contracted with Cubans and Algerians to build a new airport capable of accommodating Soviet bombers. This raised the concern of the United States, but Americans simply watched with caution.

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What took the conflict in Grenada to the next level was Grenadas own internal chaos. Many Grenadians grew wary of Bishops performance, ultimately leading the communist partys Central Committee to push him aside and place him under house arrest. His supporters rallied and freed him, but he eventually surrendered to the superior force of the Grenadian armed forces.

The new prime minister, Bernard Coard, was unwilling to take any more chances. An armed forces firing squad executed Bishop and his key supporters on the spot and then ousted Coard as well. The Grenadian army then imposed a shoot-on-sight curfew as Cubans poured into the country to help them consolidate control.

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It was in this context that, on October 25, 1983, President Ronald Reagan ordered the US military to invade Grenada to oust the Cuban forces, protect American students on the island, and restore democracy. Freedom House today ranks Grenada as among the worlds most democratic countries, on par with France and Italy and superior to the United States.

Muhammad Yunus is at best a useful idiot for Jamaat-e-Islami and other war criminals; at worst, he is also a pawn for the Chinese. Either way, he today betrays Bangladesh, its traditional secularism, and its minority population.

Bangladeshis now have three choices: They can realise Yunus and Jamaat-e-Islami play them for fools and return to the streets like Egyptians did to make clear that they want democracy, reform, and rule of law. Their goal was never to replace Sheikh Hasinas increasing secular autocracy with a religious dictatorship. Egyptians have yet to achieve their democracy, but Bangladeshis have a stronger legacy of democracy with which to work.

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Alternatively, Bangladesh can go the Grenada route. India may have no choice to intervene. Indians are more reticent than Americans about military intervention, but New Delhi must recognise the choice is no longer conflict or no conflict, but rather a choice between conflict on Indias terms or conflict on China and Pakistans terms.

The third choice is to allow Bangladesh to continue down the rabbit hole into radicalisation and terror sponsorship. Heefazat-e-Islam openly seeks to establish Islamic law throughout Bangladesh under the banner, Bangladesh will become Afghanistan, and we will become Taliban. In such a case, India must prepare for a perpetual insurgency launched not only from Pakistan but Bangladesh as well.

Time is running out for Bangladeshis to choose on their own; whether in Islamabad, Beijing, or New Delhi, the choice may soon be made for them.

Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.
The US is being increasingly selective about its international engagements, prioritising bilateral over multilateral relationships. This impacts South Africas G20 chairmanship read more

A man walks at the Cape Town International Convention Centre during day two of the four day G20 Finance Ministers meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, February 25, 2025. REUTERS/Nic Bothma

South Africa assumed the G20 chairmanship for 2025, marking the conclusion of the first full cycle of leadership among G20 member nations. The previous years have been particularly significant for the Global South, beginning with Indonesia in 2022, followed by India in 2023, Brazil in 2024, and now South Africa.

Each of these chairs has faced formidable global challenges, including the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing Ukraine crisis, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the broader instability in the global economy. However, South Africas term comes at a particularly tumultuous time due to increasing geopolitical fragmentation and uncertainty in the global order.

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The themes of solidarity, equality, and sustainabilityembodied in the spirit of Ubuntuare at the heart of South Africas presidency. The world is strained due to climate change, inadequate development financing, widening inequality, persistent poverty, and food production that fails to eliminate hunger.

Additionally, sluggish job creation and rapid technological advancements risk deepening global divisions. Growing geopolitical tensions make consensus-building within the G20 increasingly difficult. Previous chairs have navigated tensions between the G7 and their allies, who sought to isolate Russia over the Ukraine war. This dynamic led to the absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin from G20 summits in recent years.

For South Africa, a major challenge comes from the United States evolving approach to global diplomacy. The US is increasingly selective about its international engagements, prioritising bilateral over multilateral relationships. This impacts South Africas G20 chairmanship.

While Washington is part of the current G20 Troika and is expected to assume the chairmanship in 2026, it has yet to appoint a Sherpa to the process. The next Sherpas meeting is on April 2. US representation at key G20 meetings is by officials, normally the deputy head of the US Mission in Pretoria. This perceived snub reflects the deterioration in US-South Africa relations, which have worsened due to diverging foreign policy positions, most recently concerning the Israel-Gaza conflict.

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In February 2025, the United States halted all aid to South Africa in protest of its Expropriation Act 13 of 2024, which permits the South African government to seize Afrikaners agricultural property without compensation. South Africa retaliated with its own economic measures, escalating tensions between the two nations. This diplomatic fallout will inevitably influence South Africas ability to drive a successful G20 agenda.

South Africa is committed to maintaining the continuity of key G20 initiatives from previous years. Recognising the importance of predictable and sustainable development financing, Pretoria is advocating for increased support for the fourth Financing for Development Conference, to be held in Spain in June 2025, as well as the UN COP30 climate summit in Brazil in November.

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South Africa has outlined key priorities for its G20 presidency, including strengthening disaster resilience, ensuring debt sustainability for less developed nations, mobilising financing for a just energy transition, and leveraging critical minerals for inclusive economic growth. These efforts build on initiatives spearheaded by previous chairs, particularly India and Brazil.

To facilitate progress, South Africa has established three major task forces: one focused on inclusive economic growth, another on food security, and a third on AI, data governance, and technological innovation for sustainable development. However, rising protectionism, increasing bilateralism, and growing isolationist tendencies across the world pose significant challenges to these efforts. South Africas notable proposal is the creation of a Cost of Capital Commission, an initiative that has received backing from India.

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Despite South Africas determination to lead effectively, multilateral diplomacy has faced setbacks. The absence of key leaders and ministers from crucial G20 meetings has raised concerns about global engagement levels. During the first G20 meeting under South Africas chairmanship, the US Secretary of State was absent.

Additionally, India, China, and Japan did not send ministerial representatives to the finance ministers meeting, citing domestic priorities. South African commentators monitor attendance, as participation levels serve as an indicator of international support for its presidency.

The first G20 Trade and Investment Working Group session was on March 18-20. Its focus is on four priority areas: trade and inclusive growth, a responsive trade agenda to address global commons, green industrialisation, and the reform of the World Trade Organisation. Much of this has little interest from the US.

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South Africas G20 leadership is advocating for Africas interests, as this marks the first time a G20 summit will be hosted on the continent. African nations have historically struggled to secure tangible benefits from major international summits, as evidenced by the lack of concrete outcomes for Africa following COP27 in Egypt.

South Africa is determined to ensure that its G20 presidency yields meaningful results for the continent. To strengthen Africas presence, South Africa has invited key regional players, including Algeria, Egypt, and Nigeriaall of whom recently joined BRICSas well as non-African guest nations such as Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Spain, and the UAE. The African Union Chair, Angola, and representatives from regional economic communities have been included.

South Africa is also exploring ways in which an expanded BRICS alliance could bolster its presidency. Russia is unlikely to create disruptions; President Putins absence from the BRICS summit in South Africa in 2023 suggests he may also refrain from attending the G20 summit. Meanwhile, China and India are expected to participate actively, but both nations will carefully assess US moves before making strategic decisions. The role of other BRICS membersincluding Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Brazilwill be pivotal in shaping the summits direction.

European G7 members remain committed to multilateralism and the success of the G20, yet they face increasing pressure to allocate their political and financial resources strategically. While they aim to prevent the US-Europe divide from undermining the G20, maintaining a balance between these competing interests will be challenging. The Global South seeks the continuity of the G20 as an effective platform for addressing pressing development challenges. Small but meaningful victories achieved in recent years must be safeguarded.

To enhance the G20s effectiveness, South Africa should avoid overloading the agenda. The forum risks becoming too broad, diverting focus from actionable outcomes. Given the divisions within the G20, adopting a Chairs Summary instead of forcing a consensus communique could save time and effort.

South Africa has already issued Chairs Statements for its first two ministerial meetings, and while some hope for a joint communique by the end of its presidency, greater emphasis should be placed on implementing targeted programmes rather than chasing symbolic agreements.

Ultimately, the Global South cannot afford to wait for shifts in global power dynamics before addressing its most pressing challenges. South Africa, Indonesia, India, and Brazil should work together to create a self-sustaining mechanism for supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Rather than lamenting the lack of external support, these nations should establish an Impact Investment Fund for the Global South, driven by their own priorities. By fostering greater cooperation, they can ensure meaningful progress in addressing economic disparities and development challenges.

The author is a former ambassador to Germany, Indonesia, Ethiopia, ASEAN and the African Union. He tweets @AmbGurjitSingh. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.
Whether China likes it or not, the Red Line remains the Indo-Tibet border today, but it should perhaps be called the McMahon-Shatra Line, since both the British and Tibetan plenipotentiaries signed and put their seal on the map read more

Lohit Valley is one of the most enchanting areas of the North-East.

Travelling along the green river surrounded on both sides by lush forests is an experience in itself, but some historical reminiscences add to ones excitement.

Of course, one is the famous Walong Battle, during which the Indian Army gave a tough response to the advancing Chinese troops in October/November 1962, but there is more.

A text found in the National Archives of India states that near Walong lay the limits of the Chinese Empire. Xi Jinpings China has completely and conveniently forgotten this fact; today Beijing claims that its territory extends till the foothills, more than 100 km south.

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The historical note says, Chao Erh-fengs campaigns in Kham between 1905 and 1911 carried the Chinese into the Pomei [today Bome], Sangang and Zayul areas lying immediately north of the present McMahon line.

In 1910-12, Zhao Erfeng (also written Chao Erh-feng) was the Viceroy of Sichuan province (and Commissioner of Tibet for a couple of years); in 1905-06, he had already led military campaigns throughout Eastern Tibet (Kham) and earned the nickname of Butcher Zhao for mercilessly crushing the Tibetans.

Pomei is today known as Bome, and Zayul is the area in the Lohit Valley, north of the McMahon Line.

The archive note continues: In Pomei, which claimed to be independent of Lhasa, the Chinese killed every one of importance or authority. In the Tibetan district of Zayul the Chinese, after advancing on Rima, issued an order to the Chief of the Mijir Mishmis to cut a track from Tibet to [United] Assam.

Rima was (and still is) the first town north of the Indo-Tibet border.

Zhao also sent an expedition to plant a dragon banner at Menilkrai with the inscription The Southern Frontier of Zayul on the Borders of Szechuan [Sichuan] Province of the Chinese Empire.

When I recently visited the Lohit Valley, I tried to locate Menilkrai; with the help of locals, I found the nondescript place situated on the banks of the Lohit, 4 km south of Walong, in todays Anjaw District.

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In 1912, the Chinese troops were eventually thrown out of Pomei, and soon after, news was received of the annihilation of the Chinese garrison in Zayul.

The fact remains that despite the military adventures of Zhao Erfeng in the early years of the 20th century, China never ventured to or claimed any territory south of Menilkrai; the border banner was, however, one of the main issues which triggered Delhi to explore the possibility of a tighter British administration in this rather inaccessible region; it resulted in fixing the Indo-Tibet border in March in Simla (Shimla now).

On November 19, 1913, the Secretary of State sanctioned a new promenade (expedition) under TPM OCallaghan, the Assistant Political Officer (APO) in Sadiya; accompanied by an escort of the 1/8th Gurkha Rifles, the British officer visited Rima at the invitation of the Tibetan authorities; cordial relations were established. It is probably at that time that the APO found the Chinese markers at Menilkrai (one dating from 1910 and the other one of 1912); he took it upon himself to remove and reposition them upstream, near Kahao, just south of what would become the McMahon Line a year later.

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At the end of his promenade, OCallaghan noted that a post needed to be established at Walong: I am more than ever convinced of the necessity of the finishing of the road to our frontier and the opening of a post as near our frontier as soon as possible. From Walong to Rima, there is no difficulty in road making, and the Lohit Valley road [is already] open up to Mankum; only required continuation to Manglor flat, a distance of less than 30 miles, to make the opening and rationing of the post a practicable scheme.

The APO knew of the immense cost of rationing the post, but after some enquiries, he became satisfied that within a few years the majority of the rice and other items required for the supplies can be procured locally, either grown or purchased.

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This was, however, not enough to convince Delhi. More was needed to convince the British government to grant the necessary funds and personnel to open a permanent post near the Red Line. It took more than a hundred years (and a war in 1962) for the Indian government to seriously realise the importance of this axis.

At the time of Independence

It is worth mentioning another interesting development, just before Indias independence.

In late 1946, a note from the Foreign Affairs Department discussed a complaint from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs protesting against some British intrusions in the Walong Sector.

Tellingly, the Chinese never complained about the Tawang area, but they objected to the British visits in the Lohit Valley. According to the note dated August 21, 1946: The Chinese have made representations to the British Embassy at Nanking regarding the Government of Indias action in the McMahon Line area. the note appears to relate solely to the Lohit area. Probably the Chinese are basing themselves on the customary frontier between China and India prior to the 1914 Convention which ran through Menilkrai, south of Walong.

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London thought of two courses of action: (1) to deny that the Chinese have any right to concern themselves about what goes on the Indo-Tibetan frontier; (2) to point to the agreed frontier in the 1914 Convention.

Noting that there was not a very great difference between the two, London decided to refer the matter to the Government of India since after the Cabinet Missions visit to India in May 1946, a plan had provided for an Interim Government of India.

The Chinese complaint was apparently linked to a proposed Indian road in the area. The British note said: At some stage since the 1914 Convention [China] created two new provinces  Qinghai and Xikang, bordering on what they conceive to be the Sino-Tibetan Frontier. According to the 1914 Convention, however, these so-called provinces incorporate large tracts of territory belonging to Tibet. What is worse from our point of view is that they also incorporate most of the Assam Tribal Areas, [and] part of Northern Burma.

To make things worse, the Chinese had printed maps showing their claimed boundary and sent them to London. The irredentism of the Chinese position did not surprise the authorities in Delhi; unfortunately, it continues today with Beijing trying to grab large portions of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh.

The telegram to Delhi observed: I do not think that we should engage in any argument with the Chinese over the exact location of Indias Northern Frontier, and of our right to assert our authority up to it. I would suggest that our reply to the Chinese should be that the North-Eastern Frontier of India and the Eastern Frontier of Tibet are defined in the 1914 Convention. The India Office in London proposed to inform the Government of India accordingly.

EP Donaldson, another official in the Foreign Office, noted: The Chinese note is a protest, based on wholly unsupported assertions against alleged acts of aggression said to have been committed by Military Officers acting under orders of the Government of India against Chinese territorial sovereignty.

It is interesting to note that after Independence, the Government of India was rather more decisive than the British administration.

The fact remains that a pillar in Menilkrai does not make China the owner of the entire Arunachal; in fact, apart from Menilkrai in 1910-12, the Chinese never visited any areas claimed today by them in Arunachal Pradesh.

Communist China knew this and even admitted it. On April 22, 1957, in a letter from Jawaharlal Nehru to U Nu, his Burmese counterpart, the Indian PM noted: I am writing to you immediately so as to inform you of one particular development which took place here when Chou En-lai (Zhou Enlai) came to India. In your letter you say that while Premier Chou En-lai was prepared to accept the McMahon Line in the north (of Burma), he objected to the use of the name McMahon Line, as this may produce complications vis-a-vis India, and therefore, he preferred to use the term traditional line.

Nehru continued: [Zhou] made it clear that he accepted the McMahon Line between India and China, chiefly because of his desire to settle outstanding matters with a friendly country like India and also because of usage, etc. I think, he added he did not like the name McMahon Line.

Whether China likes it or not, the Red Line remains the Indo-Tibet border today, but it should perhaps be called the McMahon-Shatra Line, since both the British and Tibetan plenipotentiaries signed and put their seal on the map.

A visit to these places (and the site where the heroic Walong Battle took place during the Sino-Indian War of 1962) makes one concretely realise the absurdity of Chinese claims in Arunachal Pradesh.

The writer is Distinguished Fellow, Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies, Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence (Delhi). Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.
Balochistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) do share some commonalities, such as being part of larger political entities  British India and later Pakistan  but there are more differences than similarities read more

Ever since the news of the hijacking of the Jaffar Express by Baloch insurgents in Pakistan came out, it has captured the imagination of security watchers and the Indian public at large. In common conversations, references are being made to how Balochistan could be the next East Pakistan (Bangladesh). The tumultuous history of the struggle for independence of the Bangladeshis and Indias role in helping the beleaguered populace overcome the tyranny of the Pakistani Army is still fresh in the subcontinental security and geopolitical circles.

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It is, however, important to map the issue, literally and figuratively, before we indulge in geopolitical salami slicing. Balochistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) do share some commonalities, such as being part of larger political entities (British India and later Pakistan), but there are more differences than similarities.

Political Geography

East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was located in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, bordered by India on three sides and the Bay of Bengal to the south. It was geographically separated from West Pakistan by over 1,600 kilometres (about 1,000 miles) of Indian territory, which made communication, governance and military interference difficult for Pakistan.

However, being surrounded by India, with direct land access through porous borders, made it easier for the Indian security establishment to provide logistical and operational support to the Mukti Bahini and later conduct conventional military operations for the liberation of Bangladesh.

Balochistan, on the other hand, is located in the southwest of Pakistan, bordering Iran to the west, Afghanistan to the north, and the Arabian Sea to the south. It does not provide any direct access to India to provide any kind of hard power support to the insurgents without the involvement of proxies, Iran and/or Afghanistan.

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To top it up, the international standing and political situations in Iran and Afghanistan do not allow these hostile neighbours of Pakistan to directly involve themselves in Baloch matters. While both the countries would find common interest with India in steaming up the Baloch situation to keep the Pakistan military off balance, they would prefer to not let the boiling water spill.

Another key geographical differentiator is also the terrain of the two regions. Balochistan is rich in natural resources, including gas, oil, and minerals but is generally arid and desert-like with limited cultivation and lower economic and human resource potential. East Bengal, however, is primarily a low-lying delta with extensive rivers and wetlands. The terrain is extremely fertile, has supported agriculture for centuries and is densely populated. The political, economic and demographic sustainability of Balochistan outside a larger nation-state would therefore always be difficult. This is also evident in the political history of these two regions.

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Political History

Balochistan has been the frontier of two great civilisational empires. At times it was under the control of the Persian Empire to its west, while later it also came under the powers of the Mughal Empire to its east. Under the British, Balochistan consisted of various princely states and territories, some under British suzerainty, such as the princely states of Kalat, Makran, and others.

After 1947, the region became a part of Pakistan. Despite the Khan of Kalat, the ruler of one of the largest princely states, initially declaring independence, Balochistan was forcibly integrated with Pakistan after a military intervention in 1948 to become its largest yet least populated province. The Baloch identity and culture of the people, while being distinct from Punjabis and Pathans, are spread over many tribes and clans who draw their ancestry from the West and the East.

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Bengal before and after the advent of the East India Company was a major cultural and political centre in India. In 1905, the British partitioned Bengal along religious lines, and East Bengal was formed, which roughly later became part of Pakistan. The Bengali identity of the population is distinct and had once apparently subsumed religion and, more importantly, political boundaries to this day. The relative homogeneity of the Bengalis in culture, language, cuisine and practice across borders is stronger than that of people from neighbouring regions. There are negligible divisions in the society on clans and tribes, and even the Indic caste system is relatively weak compared to the rest of India.

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Amongst the Baloch people, tribal and clan loyalties of tribes such as Mengals and Bugtis lie stronger than the regional or provincial affiliations. While they all consider themselves to be Baloch, the underlying fissures are not too deep. Its claimed that all the insurgent groups of Balochistan are for the first time working together rather than at cross purposes. While the catalyst for this is the atrocities of the Pakistan Army and the state, it remains to be seen how long the unity will last in the face of military and political adversity.

Cultural History

The Bengalis felt humiliated by the Urdu imposition as part of Pakistan, which was taken as an affront to their culture and became the fuel for the fire lit because of their political subjugation by the West Pakistanis. The cultural strength and bonds of the Bengali people were stronger than their political and politico-religious aspirations.

The culture of Balochistan is heavily influenced by its tribal and nomadic traditions. The Baloch people have a rich oral history, including poetry, music, and stories passed down through generations. It is influenced by Persian, Afghan, and Central Asian traditions, with the Baloch language (a member of the Indo-Iranian language group) as a common feature.

Possibly owing to the ruggedness of the terrain, nomadic and tribal social structures and the trepidations of being a frontier region between two empires, the overall cultural identity and discourse of Balochistan is significantly lesser in contrast to Bengal. In isolation, this may not be significant to its case to be independent, but is unlikely to be a singular rallying cry towards its peoples quest for freedom. In Balochistan, the primary reason for insurgency remains political indifference and exploitation by the Punjabis, not cultural imposition.

Prognosis

Pakistans response to the Baloch insurgency has been similar to its approach in East Bengal. The heavy hand of the army, already battling the terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, will be felt with momentum in Balochistan. This will give short-term results for tenure-based generals and politicians to escape with, but will negatively exaggerate the situation further in the mid to long term.

However, Pakistan wont fold. Given the political geography, there is a negligible chance of direct external interference in Balochistan. Low-cost external support in material and training can continue indefinitely. Historically and culturally, Balochistan does not represent an independent nation-state and is likely to be another rentier nation just like Afghanistan and Pakistan, which the world can ill afford. No world power has significant interests in destabilising a nuclear Pakistan beyond where it is today, as repeated World Bank and IMF bailouts suggest. And hence, Pakistan can slowly choke the insurgency into submission over time with hard military power and hopefully nuanced political machinations.

However, with the history of political indifference and exploitation by the Pakistani state towards Balochistan, it will take some doing, politically and militarily, to subdue the Baloch insurgency. Given the interests of Iran and Afghanistan in keeping the Pakistan Army occupied internally, the material and moral support to the Baloch rebels will continue. They may also look at India to lend a hand in keeping the Pakistan Armys head underwater.

The author served in the Indian Army for over 20 years. His service profile includes a tenure in the Military Operations Directorate, New Delhi, where he dealt with apex-level national strategy development and management of sensitive & volatile international relations. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.
Protests have erupted across university campuses and in cities and towns. On Friday night, Imamoglus allies said more than 300,000 people joined their call to hit the streets to show support for the mayor read more

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Saturday (March 22) told enforcement agencies that allegations levelled against him, which led to his arrest earlier this week, were immoral and baseless. In a statement released through City Hall, the main rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the legal cases against him are designed to ruin his credibility.

The immoral and baseless accusations directed at me are designed to undermine my standing and credibility, the mayor said as police questioned him for several hours on Saturday.

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Imamoglu is currently facing two separate investigations, including related to charges of leading a crime organisation, bribery as well as tender rigging. He was detained on Wednesday, just days ahead of his potential nomination as a candidate in the countrys 2028 presidential election.

Protests happening across the country

Observers believe Imamoglus arrest could mark a turning point in the fight for democracy in Turkey. Protests have erupted across university campuses and in cities and towns. On Friday night, Imamoglus allies said more than 300,000 people joined their call to hit the streets to show support for the mayor.

Turkish interior ministry later said 343 demonstrators were detained amid clashes with police officers.

This is bigger than Imamoglu. Its about a fight for democracy, law and equal rights, Guardian quoted a 26-year-old protestor as saying. There are problems with the economy, with education, with the health system, she said, adding, We are fed up with this government.

The protests have taken place despite a protest ban in Turkeys three largest cities and a warning from President Erdogan that the authorities would not tolerate street terror.

Turkey is not a country that will be on the street  it will not surrender to street terrorism, Erdogan warned Friday.

Journalists targeted

Meanwhile, a journalists union in Turkey said Saturday that authorities were deliberately targeting their colleagues, with many having faced beatings and rubber bullets.

In some cases, police also broke their cameras and equipment, the union alleged.

We condemn the heavy-handed and completely arbitrary riot police violence against journalists, said Erol Onderoglu of Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

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The action against Imamoglu has shaken investor confidence, causing the Turkish lira to weaken and the BIST 100 index to drop nearly eight per cent by Fridays close.

(With inputs from agencies)
The strike call came after the BYC claimed a police crackdown on a peaceful sit-in near Balochistan University on Sariab Road in Quetta on Friday, which was held as a protest against alleged enforced disappearances in the province. read more

A shutter-down and wheel-jam strike was observed across parts of Pakistans restive Balochistan province on Saturday following clashes between police and the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) a day earlier.

Several areas including the provincial capital Quetta, remained closed in response to the strike call by BYC leader Mahrang Baloch, who was arrested on Saturday along with other activists during a sit-in.

The strike followed BYCs allegations of a police crackdown on a peaceful protest near Balochistan University on Sariab Road in Quetta on Friday, held against alleged enforced disappearances in the province. The government denied the claim, asserting that protesters had turned violent.

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Mahrang claimed in a statement on social media on Friday night that three BYC activists were killed and 13 others including women injured due to the alleged police brutality.

In her statement on X, Mahrang said they were shutting down the entire province against the state violence.

In a counter statement, spokesperson for the government Shahid Rind said the protesters had resorted to violence and injured 10 police personnel including a woman constable.

Videos released by BYC on social media showed police using tear gas and a water cannon and also firing blank shots to disperse the BYC protesters who had staged the sit-in.

Early Saturday morning, Mahrang and other activists gathered for a sit-in on the Sariab Road with the bodies of alleged casualties from the previous day. The BYC later claimed that arrests were made and the bodies were seized from this location.

Mobile services have been suspended in Quetta since Friday night and data services are also down.

In the Malikabad area of Turbat, unidentified men on motorcycles fired gunshots at the protesters, who were monitoring the strike, injuring two children. They were rushed to the hospital for medical treatment.
During a meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Tokyo, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the three countries need to forge free trade and regional cooperation amid broader changes and chaos. He also urged deepening trust and strengthening communication with Beijing read more

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya (R) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) attend the Japan-China high-level economic dialogue in Tokyo on March 22, 2025. AFP

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday pushed for stronger trade ties with South Korea and Japan at a time when US President Donald Trumps tariff threats are changing the course of world trade.

During a meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Tokyo, Yi said that the three countries need to forge free trade and regional cooperation amid broader changes and chaos. He also urged deepening trust and strengthening communication with Beijing.

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[We] all agree that, in the context of an international situation that is intertwined with changes and chaos, as well as the sluggish recovery of the world economy, it is necessary for China, Japan and South Korea to further strengthen communication, enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation and provide more stabilising factors for regional peace and development, the Chinese foreign minister said.

The talks followed a rare trilateral summit in May 2024 in Seoul where the neighbours  riven by historical and territorial disputes  agreed to deepen ties and restated their goal of a denuclearised Korean peninsula.

The three ministers also announced preparations to hold a summit between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts later this year.

Peace and cooperation

Japan, South Korea and China agreed Saturday that peace on the Korean peninsula was a shared responsibility, Seouls foreign minister said.

We reaffirmed that maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula is a shared interest and responsibility of the three countries, South Koreas Cho Tae-yul said Saturday.

Additionally, I stressed that illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea must be immediately halted, he said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said he, Cho, and Chinas Wang Yi had a frank exchange of views on trilateral cooperation and regional international affairs and confirmed that we will promote future-orientated cooperation.

On North Korea

Regarding North Korea, Wang emphasized Chinas readiness to collaborate with all parties to advance a political resolution.

The current situation on the Korean peninsula is complex, sensitive, unstable, and with increasing uncertainties, he said.

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All parties should face up to the root causes of the peninsula issue, meet each other halfway, show goodwill to each other, strive to form positive interactions, and seek the greatest common ground of their respective concerns, he added.

With inputs from agencies
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday urged Indian students in the United States to follow American laws. The statement came after the detention of a postdoctoral researcher at Georgetown University and the self-deportation of another Indian PhD student to Canada. read more

Indian students in the United States must follow American laws, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday. These remarks came after a postdoctoral researcher at Georgetown University was detained and another Indian PhD student chose to leave for Canada.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said neither of them sought help from Indian missions in the US.

Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in Washington DC, was detained on Monday night by the Department of Homeland Security for allegedly actively spreading Hamas propaganda and was accused of having links with the Palestinian armed group A US federal judge ruled and stopped Suri from being deported.

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This comes shortly after Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian student at Columbia University, left for Canada after her visa was revoked. She was accused of advocating for violence and terrorism and supporting Hamas.

The Indian embassy and consulates in the US will help students facing any difficulties, Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing while responding to a question.

Jaiswal said decisions on visa and immigration policy are the sole prerogative of respective countries and the respective laws must be complied with.

When it comes to visa and immigration policy, it is something that lies within the sovereign functions of a country.

We, on our side, we expect that when we have foreign nationals coming to India, they abide by our laws and regulations. And similarly, it is our expectation that when Indian nationals are abroad, they must also comply with local laws and regulations, he said.

On Suris detention, Jaiswal said, We are given to understand through media reports that this particular individual, he has been detained.

Neither the US government nor this individual has approached us or the embassy. So, this is what we understand, he said.

On the case involving Srinivasan, Jaiswal said the Indian side is not aware of her getting in touch with the Indian embassy or any consulate in the US for help.

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We only came to know of her departure from the US from media reports We understand that she has gone to Canada, he said.

Srinivasan had entered the US on an F-1 student visa as a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University, the Department of Homeland Security said.

It alleged that Srinivasan was involved in activities supporting Hamas.

The Department of State had revoked her visa on March 5. The Department of Homeland Security said it has obtained video footage of Srinivasan using the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Home App to self-deport on March 11.

Jaiswal said that a sizable number of Indian students are studying in the US and that India is keen to bolster educational ties with the US.

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The knowledge partnership and participation of our students or the enrolment of our students in universities of the US and the expansion of the knowledge partnership is an important element in our relationship, and we want to foster these ties further, he said.

With inputs from PTI
The rockets fired from Lebanon were the second ones launched since December and again sparked concern about whether the ceasefire would hold. In a statement, Hezbollah denied being responsible for the latest attack, saying it was committed to the truce. read more

Smoke rises from a building after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike, following evacuation orders for residents, in Gaza City Saturday, March 22, 2025. Image- AP

Israel struck Lebanon on Saturday in retaliation for rockets targeting Israel, killing two, including a child, in the heaviest exchange of fire since its ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah almost four months ago.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered a second wave of strikes against dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon late Saturday, the defence ministry said.

It said the strikes were a response to rocket fire towards Israel and a continuation of the first series of strikes carried out this morning against southern Lebanon, where a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect in November.

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Lebanons health ministry said the strike in the southern village of Touline killed two people, including a child, and wounded eight others, including two children.

In a statement, Lebanons Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked the Lebanese military to take all necessary measures in the south but said the country did not want to return to war.

Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. The Israel-Hezbollah conflict boiled over into all-out war in September as Israel carried out massive waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant groups senior leaders. The fighting killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis.

Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January under a ceasefire struck on Nov. 27. The deadline was extended to Feb. 18.

But Israel has remained in five locations in Lebanon, across from communities in northern Israel. It has carried out dozens of airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, saying it attacked Hezbollah, while continuing drone attacks that have killed several members of the militant group.

Lebanon has appealed to the U.N. to pressure Israel to fully withdraw from the country.

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The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said it was alarmed at the possible escalation of violence and urged all parties to avoid jeopardizing the progress made.

With inputs from agencies
Since Islamist-led rebels deposed strongman Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has launched hundreds of raids against Syrian military locations, claiming that it wants to prevent weapons from coming into the hands of the new government, which it deems Islamists read more

Israeli army tanks and a bulldozer drive through the Abu Diab military post on the southern outskirts of the border town of Quneitra. AFP

The Israeli army announced Friday that it had bombed two military bases in central Syria, including one in Palmyra, after a war monitor claimed that the citys airbase had been targeted.

Since Islamist-led rebels deposed strongman Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has launched hundreds of raids against Syrian military locations, claiming that it wants to prevent weapons from coming into the hands of the new government, which it deems Islamists.

A short while ago, the IDF struck military strategic capabilities that remained at the Syrian military bases of Tadmur and T4, the Israeli military said in a statement, referring to bases in Palmyra and another 50 kilomteres (30 miles) west of the city.

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Earlier, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israeli warplanes targeted the Palmyra military airport.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the demilitarisation of southern Syria, stating that his nation will not allow the deployment of military from the new government south of Damascus.

The Syrian rebels included former members of Al-Qaedas Syrian branch, however the new administration has moved to disassociate itself from its history.

Syrias foreign ministry has accused Israel of attempting to undermine the countrys stability.
Tensions flared along the Israel-Lebanon border as Israeli forces launched artillery and air strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday. The strikes came after Israel said it intercepted rockets fired from across the border, raising fears of renewed conflict. read more

Israeli forces carried out artillery and air strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday after Israel said it intercepted rockets fired from across the border.

The clash threatens a fragile ceasefire that ended a year-long war between Israel and Hezbollah. That conflict was the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war, simmering for months before escalating into a massive Israeli offensive that eliminated Hezbollahs top commanders, many fighters, and much of its arsenal.

Saturdays action was the first since Israel effectively ended a separate ceasefire in Gaza with Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah. Both groups are backed by Iran, Israels main adversary.

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Earlier, the Israeli military said it intercepted three rockets fired from a Lebanese district about 6 km (4 miles) from the border, marking the second such attack since a US-brokered ceasefire in November halted fighting.

Israels Army Radio reported that the military responded with artillery fire. Meanwhile, Lebanons state news agency said Israeli artillery hit two towns, with airstrikes targeting three others near the border.

There were no reports of casualties from either side.

Signalling it could further escalate its response, the Israeli military said it would respond severely to the mornings attack.

However, the Israeli military said it was still looking into who was responsible for Saturdays cross-border launches towards the northern border town of Metula. Hezbollah did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Under the November ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to have no weapons in southern Lebanon, Israeli troops were to withdraw from the region, and Lebanese army troops were to deploy into the area.
Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - Children, refugees and displaced people worldwide are paying the price for the deep-seated funding crisis that has engulfed the international aid sector, made worse by pronounced cuts in Washington, the UN childrens and refugee agencies said on Friday
Israel resumed intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, citing deadlock in indirect negotiations on next steps in the truce after its first stage expired this month read more

An explosion erupts in the northern Gaza Strip, as seee from southern Israel. AP

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened to annex sections of the Gaza Strip on Friday unless Hamas terrorists released the last Israeli captives held in the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

The warning came as Israel resumed its attack on Tuesday, breaking the relative quiet that had prevailed since a ceasefire on January 19.

A Palestinian source close to the ceasefire discussions told AFP late Friday that Hamas had received a proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar to re-establish the truce and exchange hostages for Palestinian inmates according to a timeline to be agreed upon.

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The source stated that the plan includes the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, which Israel has prevented since March 2.

Israel resumed intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, citing deadlock in indirect negotiations on next steps in the truce after its first stage expired this month.

The territorys civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed 11 people on Friday  three in pre-dawn strikes and eight more during the daytime.

On Thursday, it had reported a death toll of 504 since the bombardment resumed, one of the highest since the war began more than 17 months ago with Hamass attack on Israel.

In a statement Friday, Katz said: I ordered (the army) to seize more territory in Gaza The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel.

Should Hamas not comply, Katz also threatened to expand buffer zones around Gaza to protect Israeli civilian population areas and soldiers by implementing a permanent Israeli occupation of the area.

The military urged residents of the Al-Salatin, Al-Karama and Al-Awda areas of southern Gaza to evacuate their homes Friday ahead of a threatened strike.

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AFP images from northern Gaza showed donkey carts piled high with belongings as residents fled their homes along rubble-strewn roads.

Pressure points

Israeli forces said Friday that they had killed the head of Hamass military intelligence in southern Gaza in a strike a day earlier, the latest official targeted in recent days.

Israels resumption of large-scale military operations, coordinated with US President Donald Trumps administration, drew widespread condemnation.

The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain called for an immediate return to a Gaza ceasefire in a joint statement late Friday, calling the new strikes a dramatic step backward.

Turkeys foreign ministry condemned what it called a deliberate attack by Israel on a Turkish-built hospital in Gaza.

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The IDF (military) struck terrorists in a Hamas terrorist infrastructure site that previously had served as a hospital in the central Gaza Strip, a military spokesperson told AFP in response to a question about the Turkish accusations.

In a statement, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza condemned the heinous crime committed by the occupation (Israel) in bombing the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, calling it the only hospital designated for the treatment of cancer patients in the Gaza Strip.

The ministry said Israeli forces had used the hospital as a base for its forces throughout the period of its occupation of the so-called Netzarim axis.

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Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed worry about the governments actions in a video statement Thursday, saying it was unthinkable to resume fighting while still pursuing the sacred mission of bringing our hostages home.

Thousands of protesters have rallied in Jerusalem in recent days, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of resuming military operations without regard for the safety of the hostages.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamass October 7, 2023 attack, 58 are still held by Gaza militants, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Projectiles from Gaza, Yemen

Israels military said late Friday that it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, after air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem and parts of central Israel.

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It is the fourth missile launched from Yemen towards Israel since Tuesday, after Huthi rebels threatened to escalate attacks in support of Palestinians following Israels renewed attacks on Gaza.

In a statement early Saturday, the Iran-backed group said it had targeted Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv with a ballistic missile.

Israeli airspace would remain unsafe until the aggression against Gaza stops, the group said in the statement.

Earlier on Friday, Israels military said it intercepted two projectiles fired from northern Gaza, which Hamass armed wing said was in response to massacres against civilians.

Katz said Israel would intensify the fight with aerial, naval and ground shelling as well as by expanding the ground operation until hostages are freed and Hamas is defeated, using all military and civilian pressure points.

He said these included implementing Trumps proposal for the United States to redevelop Gaza as a Mediterranean resort after the relocation of its Palestinian inhabitants to other Arab countries.
The official National News Agency in Lebanon said Israeli warplanes flew over eastern areas of southern Lebanon and that interceptor missiles exploded read more

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned the military would hit back after intercepting three rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel on Saturday.

We cannot allow fire from Lebanon on Galilee communities, Katz said in a statement. The Lebanese government is responsible for attacks from its territory. I have ordered the military to respond accordingly.

Air raid sirens sounded at 7:30 am (0530 GMT) in Metula, an Israeli town near the Lebanese border.

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The Israeli military later said three rockets had entered Israeli territory but were intercepted.

We promised security to Galilee communities, and that is exactly what will happen, Katz said. Metulas fate is the same as Beiruts.

The official National News Agency in Lebanon said Israeli warplanes flew over eastern areas of southern Lebanon and that interceptor missiles exploded.

NNA said Israeli ground troops were strafing the Hamames hills with automatic weapon fire.

It also reported Israeli artillery fire on the Nabatieh district in the south and the town of Khiam, which was hit by three shells (fired by) Merkava tanks.

The military also fired automatic weapons at the border villages of Hula, Markaba and Kfar Kila.

A November 27 truce largely halted more than a year of fighting between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war during which Israel sent in ground troops.
The talks followed a rare trilateral summit in May in Seoul where the neighbours  riven by historical and territorial disputes  agreed to deepen ties and restated their goal of a denuclearised Korean peninsula read more

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) and South Korea's Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul (R) shake hands as Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya looks on during a joint press conference after their meeting during the 11th Trilateral Foreign Minister's Meeting (Japan-China-ROK) in Tokyo on March 22, 2025. AFP

Japan, South Korea and China agreed Saturday that peace on the Korean peninsula was a shared responsibility, Seouls foreign minister said, in a meeting of the three countries top diplomats in which they pledged to promote cooperation.

The talks followed a rare trilateral summit in May in Seoul where the neighbours  riven by historical and territorial disputes  agreed to deepen ties and restated their goal of a denuclearised Korean peninsula.

But they come as US trade tariffs loom over the region, and as concerns mount over North Koreas weapons tests and its deployment of troops to support Russias war against Ukraine.

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We reaffirmed that maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula is a shared interest and responsibility of the three countries, South Koreas Cho Tae-yul said Saturday.

Additionally, I stressed that illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea must be immediately halted, he said.

Seoul and Tokyo typically take a stronger line against North Korea than China, which remains one of Pyongyangs most important allies and economic benefactors.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said he, Cho, and Chinas Wang Yi had a frank exchange of views on trilateral cooperation and regional international affairs and confirmed that we will promote future-orientated cooperation.

The international situation has become increasingly severe, and it is no exaggeration to say that we are at a turning point in history, Iwaya said at the start of Saturdays meeting.

In this context, it has become more important than ever to make efforts to overcome division and confrontation through dialogue and cooperation, he said.

Wang said that this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, and only by sincerely reflecting on history can we better build the future.

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Strengthening cooperation will allow the countries to jointly resist risks as well as promote mutual understanding between their populations, he added.

New economic opportunities

Ukraine was also on the agenda Saturday, with Iwaya warning that unilaterally changing the status quo by force was unacceptable anywhere.

On the situation in Ukraine, I emphasised the need for the international community to unite in calling out that any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force will not be tolerated anywhere in the world, he told reporters.

Climate change, ageing populations and trade were among the broad topics officials had said would be discussed on Saturday, as well as working together on disaster relief and science and technology.

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China and to a lesser extent South Korea and Japan have been hit by tariffs put in place by US President Donald Trump in recent weeks, but none of the ministers addressed the issue directly in their statements to the press.

Iwaya said the trio had agreed to accelerate coordination for the next summit between the countries leaders.

The foreign minister will also hold bilateral talks with both counterparts Saturday, while Japan and China will have their first so-called high-level economic dialogue in six years.

Patricia M. Kim, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said that while trilateral dialogues have been ongoing for over a decade, this round carries heightened significance due to the new US position.

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Their leaders are under growing pressure to diversify their options and to seek alternative economic opportunities, she told AFP.

Beijing has been working actively to improve relations with other major and middle powers amid growing frictions with the United States, she added.
This comes even as both Palestinian factions signed a national unity agreement in China last year. The deal laid the groundwork for an interim national reconciliation government to rule post-war Gaza read more

Hamas terrorists arrive in a pick-up truck to the site of the hand over of hostage Agam Beger to the Red Cross at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025. ( File Photo: AP)

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbass Fatah movement has urged Hamas militant group to give up its ambitions to rule the besieged strip to help safeguard the existence of Palestinians in Gaza.

Hamas must show compassion for Gaza, its children, women and men, said Fatah spokesman Monther Al-Hayek said, reported AFP. He further called on Hamas to step aside from governing and fully recognize that the battle ahead will lead to the end of Palestinians existence if it remains in power in Gaza.

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Fatah, Hamas signed unity agreement last year

This comes even as both Palestinian factions signed a national unity agreement in China last year. The deal laid the groundwork for an interim national reconciliation government to rule post-war Gaza.

The two main Palestinian political parties have been rivals since 2006, when Hamas seized control of Gaza following a conflict with Fatah.

Fatah leads the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control over the occupied West Bank and supports peaceful negotiations for a Palestinian state.

Israeli offensive in Gaza

Fatahs suggestion for Hamas comes as Israel doubles down on its offensive against the militant group, ending a two-month ceasefire earlier this week. Hamas-run Gazas health ministry said Thursday that 504 people have lost their lives since the war resumed.

On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to annex parts of Gaza unless Hamas releases more Israeli hostages.

I ordered the IDF to seize more territory in Gaza, Katz said in a statement. The more Hamas sticks to its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it would lose, territory which would be annexed to Israel.

Catastrophic situation in Gaza

Owing to the recent Israeli offensive, medical conditions in Gaza have worsened over the past week. DW quoted Mohammed Mustafa, an Australian doctor working in Gaza, as saying that the situation had become catastrophic.

We have little to no medicine. We have little to no antibiotics left, he said. We are really lacking in resources, medical equipment and even basic things like blood pressure cuffs, monitoring peoples oxygen levels and even oxygen cylinders.

Mustafa stated that Gazas fuel shortage is making it difficult for medical teams to transport patients between hospitals. As a result, some patients are dying from their injuries before receiving proper care.

(With inputs from agencies)
In between respiratory crises, prayer and physiotherapy, Francis has appointed over a dozen bishops, approved a handful of new saints, authorized a three-year extension of his signature reform process and sent off messages public and private read more

Pope Francis, center left, waves to faithful by making an impromptu appearance to the public from a side gate of the Vatican, startling passersby and prompting cheers, at the Vatican. File image/ AP

During his first foreign trip in 2013, Pope Francis made headlines when he carried his own black leather briefcase as he boarded the Alitalia charter bound for Brazil, since popes never carry bags and until the 1970s were themselves carried on thrones.

Asked what was in the bag, Francis joked that it wasnt the nuclear codes. But he seemed baffled that something as normal as an airplane passenger carrying a briefcase could create such a fuss.

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I have always taken a bag with me when travelling  its normal, he told his first news conference as pope. We must get used to being normal. The normality of life.

Over 12 years, Francis has sought that kind of normality for the papacy with his informal style and disdain for pomp while ensuring that he still wields the awesome power held by Christs vicar on Earth and Europes last absolute monarch.

The way Francis has managed his five-week hospitalization for pneumonia has followed that same playbook: He has allowed the public to follow the very normal ups and downs of an 88-year-old man battling a complex lung infection through spare but regular medical bulletins, while also continuing to run the 1.3-billion strong Catholic Church.

Francis has stayed in control, remotely

In between respiratory crises, prayer and physiotherapy, Francis has appointed over a dozen bishops, approved a handful of new saints, authorized a three-year extension of his signature reform process and sent off messages public and private. Vatican cardinals have stood in for him at events requiring his presence.

Thats not as easy a balancing act as it sounds, since there are few positions of power that are both as absolute as the papacy and, during times of illness, as seemingly fragile: According to the churchs canon law, the pope possesses supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the church. He answers to no one but God, and there is no appeal of his decisions.

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And while popes arent subject to re-election campaigns or no-confidence votes, they essentially owe their jobs to the 120 men who elected them. While those same cardinals swear obedience to the pope, they will ultimately choose his successor from within their own ranks. Its no surprise then that talk of conclaves, papal contenders and challenges facing a future pope has been a constant buzz in Rome ever since Francis was admitted to Gemelli hospital Feb. 14.

Francis is well aware that anytime he has gone into the hospital, the plotting has begun for electing the next pope, contributing to a certain lame duck status. Some wanted me dead, he said after his 2021 hospitalization, when he learned that secret meetings had already been held to plan the conclave. He knows as well that even before his current hospitalization, an anonymous cardinal had circulated a seven-point memo listing priorities for the next pope to correct the confusion, division and conflict sowed by Francis.

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But hes not shy about showing weakness

And yet Francis has never been shy about showing his weaknesses, age or infirmities in ways that seem unthinkable for public figures for whom any sign of fragility can threaten their authority and undermine their agenda.

Within months of being elected, for example, Francis reached out to an Argentine doctor and journalist, Dr. Nelson Castro, and suggested he write a book about the health of popes, himself included.

My hypothesis is that he wanted first of all to show himself as a human being, Castro said in an interview. We tend to see popes like saints, but the way he talked about his diseases showed me, Im like you and me, being exposed to diseases.

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Francis had read and appreciated Castros earlier book, The Sickness of Power, about the ailments that have afflicted Argentinas leaders and how power itself had afflicted them. He invited Castro to research and write about past popes and his own case in a similar light.

The Health of Popes was published in 2021. Castro said what struck him most was that Francis disclosed not only his physical ailments, but his mental health challenges too: Francis revealed that he had gone to a psychiatrist when he was the Jesuit provincial during Argentinas military dictatorship in the 1970s to help him cope with fear and anxiety.

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Pope Francis is a man of power, Castro said. Only a man of power, feeling quite sure of himself, would dare to talk about his diseases so openly.

The balance of strength in weakness is very Jesuit

For the Rev. John Cecero, who was Jesuit provincial for the northeast United States from 2014-2020, Francis willingness to show his weaknesses while exercising supreme authority is consistent with his Jesuit training and the biblical teaching of St. Paul that when I am weak, then I am strong.

A chief virtue on the part of everyone in the practice of Jesuit authority is humility, Cecero said in an interview. On the part of the individual Jesuit (that means) thinking beyond my own self-interest to the common good.

I know its something that drives Francis: that you have that same humility, he said.

And yet Francis critics often complain that hes authoritarian, that he takes decisions in a vacuum and without regard to the law, and wields power like a Dictator Pope, the title of a book written by a traditionalist critic early in Francis papacy.

Many recite the joke about the way Jesuit superiors exercise power, which is supposed to be a process of joint discernment between the superior and the underling but, the joke goes, it can be anything but: I discern, you discern, we discern  I decide.

Those same conservative critics, of course, have been keenly watching Francis hospitalization and wondering if the end of his papacy is near.

Even if he is absent, and even if he has to cut back his public activities going forward, Francis is very much still in power and leading the church, said Kurt Martens, a canon lawyer at Catholic University of America in Washington D.C.

Were used to seeing a pope who is everywhere all the time, he said. But dont forget that in the past, not that long ago, popes would show up only rarely.

He may be absent, but hes still in control

Francis disappearance from public view has led some to doubt the authenticity of the first, and so far only photograph of Francis released by the Vatican since his hospitalization. It was shot from behind and showed Francis at prayer in his private hospital chapel, his face hidden.

Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops conference, said the photo was not only real but showed Francis controlling the image that he wants the faithful to have of the papacy and his illness. Francis wants viewers to focus not on the spectacle of a sick pope, but on what should actually matter more to a Catholic anyway.

If we cannot see his face  what we must look at is precisely what he himself is facing: the altar and the crucifix, Avvenire wrote.
The latest Vatican bulletins about the popes medical condition have been cautiously upbeat. On Friday (March 21, 2025), the Vatican said Francis had been reducing his use of high-flow oxygen to help him breathe read more

Pope Francis will likely appear in public for the first time in five months on Sunday. The recuperating pope will give his blessings from the window of his room at Romes Gemelli Hospital, the Vatican said on Saturday.

The pope has been battling with double pneumonia and is still receiving treatment at the hospital. He was admitted on February 14 with a severe respiratory infection that has required evolving treatment.

He has not been seen in public although the Vatican released a photo of him last week praying at the hospital chapel.

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Pope Francis wants to come to the hospital window around noon on Sunday (March 23, 2025) to give a greeting and blessing, the Vatican said in a brief statement on Saturday (March 22, 2025).

How is the pope doing now?

The latest Vatican bulletins about the popes medical condition have been cautiously upbeat. On Friday (March 21, 2025), the Vatican said Francis had been reducing his use of high-flow oxygen to help him breathe.

One senior cardinal, however, said on Friday (March 21, 2025) that it could take time for the pope to relearn to speak after using oxygen during his hospital stay.

The pope is doing very well, but high-flow oxygen dries everything out, said Cardinal Victor Fernandez, the Vaticans chief doctrine official. He needs to relearn how to speak, but his overall physical condition is as it was before.

While the Vatican has not provided an exact date for Pope Francis release from the hospital, his upcoming plans to meet King Charles in April have hinted at the possibility of his discharge before then.

A new stage for Pope Francis

Pope Francis is recovering well from pneumonia and a new stage in his pontificate is opening, two of his closest advisers said Friday.

Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra told The Associated Press that he had found Francis in good humour and serene during the three times he visited the pope at the Gemelli hospital in Rome.

Pena Parra, who is the Vatican chief of staff, visited Francis on Feb. 24, March 2 and March 9 along with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the lone Vatican officials who have called on him aside from his personal secretaries.

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The pope will recover," Pena Parra said on the sidelines of a book launch. The pope is recovering well. The doctors say that he needs some time, but its going well progressively."

With inputs from agencies
The Trump administration has announced plans to revoke legal protections for 530,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, making them eligible for deportation within a month. The move is part of the presidents broader immigration crackdown read more

The seal of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Reuters

The Trump administration said on Friday that it will revoke legal protections for 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans in the US, paving the way for their mass deportation in about a month. The move is part of President Donald Trumps broader immigration crackdown.

The US Department of Homeland Security has announced that it will make them eligible for deportation in about a month.

The order affects around 532,000 people from these countries who arrived in the US since October 2022 with financial sponsors. They were granted two-year permits to live and work in the country. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said their legal status will end on 24 April, or 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register.

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This policy change impacts those already in the US under the humanitarian parole programme. It follows an earlier Trump administration move to end what it called the broad abuse of this programme, which has historically allowed people fleeing war or political instability to stay in the US temporarily.

During his campaign, President Donald Trump promised to deport millions of people living in the US illegally. After assuming office, he has also restricted legal immigration policies, making it difficult to migrate to the country legally.

Before the new order, migrants in the programme could stay until their parole expired, but the administration had already stopped processing asylum, visa, and other applications that could help them stay longer. The decision is now being challenged in federal courts.

Under the Biden administration, up to 30,000 people per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela were allowed to stay in the US for two years with work eligibility. In return, Mexico agreed to take back the same number from those countries, as the US had limited ability to deport them.

Cuba generally accepted one deportation flight per month. Haiti, which has faced ongoing unrest, accepted many deportation flights, especially after a migrant surge in Texas in 2021.

Bidens strategy to open legal immigration channels

Since late 2022, over half a million people have entered the US through the policy known as CHNV. It was part of Bidens strategy to open legal immigration channels while tightening border security.

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With inputs from AP
The report prepared by Everyones Invited features names of 1,664 schools in the UK and Ireland where students aged five to 11 have faced sexual harassment, including groping, inappropriate touching and forced penetration read more

An investigation by a UK-based campaign group has found that rape culture is widespread in the countrys primary schools, with students from at least 1,600 institutions submitting anonymous testimonies recalling their horror.

The report prepared by Everyones Invited features names of 1,664 schools in the UK and Ireland where students aged five to 11 have faced sexual harassment, including groping, inappropriate touching and forced penetration.

Survivors as young as five

Shockingly, one of the testimonies revealed the victim was a five-year-old when the harassment took place.

In one of the testimonies, a 12-year-old pupil wrote on Everyones Invited website: I was 10 years old and walking to school when a car pulled up and three teenage boys asked me to come inside. I wasnt stupid. I said no, but one of them came out and grabbed my wrist. I would love to say I was brave and started screaming or fighting back but I was too scared.

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At this point, I was crying and trying do something. I was raped in that car by two of them, the third one watched and recorded. At school I was quiet the whole day my friends assumed it was nothing and it was over just like normal. Im 12 years old now  and I am [a] survivor.

According to a spokesperson for the website, most people share their own personal experiences on the portal. However, Sophie Lennox added that they had evidence of children as young as five submitting their stories to our website with adult assistance, be that child therapists or parents.

Appropriate sex education required for kids below nine

The campaign group is now calling on authorities in the UK to bring age-appropriate sex education to primary schooling, to pupils aged below nine.

Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), was quoted as saying by the Guardian that primary teachers in the UK are increasingly reporting sexist behaviour in their schools.

It affects the way that children play together and how girls feel about themselves and the place they have in the world, said Kebede.

Children with siblings in secondary school are also passing on negative attitudes towards women teachers. Sexist and misogynistic behaviour diminishes both boys and girls. Age-appropriate health and sex education is key to supporting young people as they navigate how to foster healthy and appropriate relationships.
US negotiators will meet separately with Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia on Monday, in what US envoy Keith Kellogg described as shuttle diplomacy between hotel rooms read more

Russia on Saturday said that it hopes to make some progress at talks with the US in Riyadh next week, a negotiator from Moscow told local media. This will be the second round of talks on ceasefire with Washington ready to meet delegates from both Russia and Ukraine this time.

Earlier, Moscow had rejected a US-Ukraine proposal for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and suggested just to halt aerial strikes on energy facilities. However, both sides have continued striking each other unabated.

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US negotiators will meet separately with Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia on Monday, in what US envoy Keith Kellogg described as shuttle diplomacy between hotel rooms.

Despite the flurry of diplomacy and push from US President Donald Trump, a breakthrough has so far proved elusive.

We hope to achieve at least some progress, Russian senator Grigory Karasin, who will lead the Russian delegation, told the Zvezda TV channel, without specifying on what issue.

He added that the Russian delegation will take a combative and constructive mood into the talks.

Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP that Kyiv is hoping to secure agreement at least on a partial ceasefire covering attacks on energy, infrastructure and at sea.

Ukraine has accused Russia of not genuinely seeking peace and slammed its ongoing attacks, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin saying on Tuesday he had ordered his army to stop targeting Ukrainian energy sites.

Kyivs allies including members of the European Union have claimed that both Russia and US are not holding serious talks on negotiations. Last week, Trump held a phone call with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, describing it as good and adding Were very much on track.

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The US president has also held parallel calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia fired 179 drones at Ukraine in its latest overnight barrage, the Ukrainian air force said Saturday.

In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, an entire family, including a 14-year-old girl, was killed when a drone crashed into their house late Friday.

With inputs from agencies
The forest agency has issued severe fire warnings, its highest level, in 12 locations, including North and South Gyeongsang provinces, Busan and Daejeon read more

Helicopters try to extinguish a fire after a wildfire broke out in the southeastern county of Uiseong on March 22, 2025. AFP

At least three firefighters and a public servant have been killed in a wildfire in South Korea, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency in southeastern regions, authorities said on Saturday.The fire, which began in Sancheong county on Friday afternoon, prompted the deployment of 304 personnel, along with 20 helicopters, according to South Koreas Interior Ministry.

More than 200 residents in 15 southern villages have been told to evacuate, it added.

Four people  three firefighters and one public servant  have been confirmed to be dead, a fire agency official told AFP.

Wildfires occurred in several other areas across the country, with 16 instances reported on Saturday alone, according to the Korea Forest Service.

The Interior Ministry later declared a state of emergency in Ulsan and North and South Gyeongsang provinces, due to the extensive damage caused by simultaneous wildfires across the country.

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The forest agency has issued severe fire warnings, its highest level, in 12 locations, including North and South Gyeongsang provinces, Busan and Daejeon.

Sancheong, in South Gyeongsang province, is about 250 kilometres (155 miles) southeast of Seoul.

Sections of the highways in the region have been closed as a safety measure, according to local reports.

Choi Sang-mok, South Koreas acting president, told relevant agencies to mobilise all available equipment and personnel to quickly extinguish the fire, his office said.

Some types of extreme weather have a well-established link with climate change, such as heatwaves or heavy rainfall.

Other phenomena such as forest fires, droughts, snowstorms and tropical storms can result from a combination of complex factors.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Dozens of young people from Zaouia, Ajeilat, Sabratha and Jdeida in western Libya, and officials from the Youth and Labour Ministries have exchanged experiences and discussed ways to reduce community violence in order to build trust, prevent conflicts and lay the foundations for lasting peace
The war, which has wrecked the capital and other urban cities, has claimed the lives of more than 28,000 people, forced millions more to flee their homes and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country. read more

Sudan army soldiers celebrate after they took over the Republican Palace in Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, March 21, 2025. Image- AP

A paramilitary attack killed at least 45 civilians in North Darfura al-Malha area, according to an initial toll shared by activists Saturday.

The local volunteer aid group, known as a resistance committee, in the state capital El-Fasher, gave a preliminary list of the victims of al-Malha massacre blamed on the Rapid Support Forces, with 15 people still unidentified.

The war erupted in April 2023 between the military and the RSF with battles in Khartoum and around the country. The leaders of the two forces had been allies who were meant to have overseen the democratic transition after a popular uprising in 2019, but instead worked together to thwart a return to civilian rule.

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However, tensions exploded into a bloody fight for power.

Since then, at least 28,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely far higher. The war has driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine.

The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western region of Darfur, according to the United Nations and international rights groups.

With inputs from agencies
The army took control of the presidential palace on Friday from the Rapid Support Forces which later retaliated with a drone strike killing three journalists read more

Soldiers of the Sudanese army or affiliated forces pose for a picture while pumping their fists at the damaged presidential palace after recapturing the complex from RSF paramilitaries in Khartoum on March 21, 2025. AFP

The Sudanese military on Saturday claimed it has seized several key buildings in Khartoum including the central bank, a day after it retook the presidential palace.

Our forces achieved further success last night, eliminating hundreds of militia members who tried to escape through pockets in central Khartoum, army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said in a statement to AFP, listing the buildings recaptured.

The army took control of the presidential palace on Friday from the Rapid Support Forces which later retaliated with a drone strike killing three journalists.

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Army sources told AFP on Friday that RSF fighters had fled into buildings in Al-Mogran, an area just west of the palace housing banks and business headquarters.

The paramilitary forces had posted snipers in the districts high-rises, which overlook both Omdurman across the Nile River and the ministries of central Khartoum.

Control over Khartoums government and financial district could strengthen the militarys grip on the capital, giving it a crucial edge in the nations brutal two-year conflict.

Since April 2023, the military led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has fought the RSF, headed by Burhans former deputy commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The war has devastated the nation by killing tens of thousands of people and uprooting more than 12 million residents, creating the worlds largest hunger and displacement crises.

It has also split the country in two, with the army holding the east and north while the RSF controls nearly all of the western region of Darfur and parts of the south.

With inputs from AFP
Texas health officials say theyd like to see more uptake in the communities at the epicenter of the outbreak, especially in Gaines County  where the childhood vaccination rate against measles is 82% read more

Two months after the outbreak started, measles cases in West Texas are still increasing, and local public health experts warn the official case count is likely to be underestimated and that the virus will likely continue to spread for many more months.

However, authorities point to a bright side: Even while its not as high as they would want, more individuals in Texas and New Mexico, which is also experiencing an epidemic, have received the measles, mumps, and rubella immunisation this year than they did last. Additionally, MMR vaccinations are becoming more and more popular at pharmacies around the United States, particularly in Texas.

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As of Friday, the epidemic in Texas had reached 309 cases and resulted in one measles-related fatality, while in New Mexico, there had been 42 cases and one death. Forty-two persons have been hospitalised across the two states.

Texas outbreak, which has mostly progressed among undervaccinated Mennonite communities, might continue a year, according to research of how measles has spread in Amish communities in the United States. Those studies showed outbreaks lasted six to seven months, said Katherine Wells, director of the public health department in Lubbock, Texas. Lubbock hospitals have treated the majority of the outbreaks victims, and the public health department is directly involved in the response.

It being so rural, now multistate, its just going to take a lot more boots on the ground, a lot more work, to get things under control, Wells said during a media briefing this week. Its not an isolated population.

The outbreak includes 14 Texas counties, two New Mexico counties and four probable cases in Oklahoma, where health officials said the first two were associated with the West Texas and New Mexico outbreaks.

Measles is one of the worlds most contagious diseases. The way it spreads makes it especially hard to contain and outbreaks can have multiple peaks, said Justin Lessler, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolinas Gillings School of Global Public Health.

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Many people spread the measles virus unknowingly for days before the telltale rash appears. The virus also can hang in the air for up to two hours after a sick person has left a room.

Within this community, itd be perfectly reasonable to think probably another couple months before things die out, Lessler said. But if it gets into another community, you just potentially start that clock over again.

If the outbreak goes on until next January, it would end the United States status of having eliminated measles, which is defined as 12 months without local virus transmission, said Dr. William Moss, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University and executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center.

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Were only three months in. I think if we had a strong response where the messaging was clear that measles vaccination is the way to stop this outbreak, I would be surprised if it went for 12 months or more, said Moss, who has worked on measles for 25 years, mostly in Africa. But were not seeing that type of response, at least from the federal government.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. instead has sown doubt about the measles vaccine, which has been safely used for more than 60 years and is 97% effective after two doses. In an interview with Fox News last week, Kennedy said MMR shots cause deaths every year, although he later added that vaccinations should be encouraged.

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Vaccinations are up in Texas and New Mexico

Still, there are signs the outbreak has had an effect on vaccinations, especially locally.

Between Feb. 1 and March 18 last year, New Mexico Department of Health registered 6,500 measles vaccines. During that timeframe this year, more than 11,600 measles vaccines were administered in New Mexico  about half given to adults and half to children.

Southeast New Mexico, where the outbreak is located, represents a large portion of the count, with 2,369 doses administered.

In Texas, at least 173,000 measles doses were given from Jan. 1 to March 16, compared to at least 158,000 over the same timeframe last year, according to the state health department. That includes more than 340 doses in given by public health in the West Texas outbreak area as of March 11.

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Texans must opt-in to the states immunisation registry, so most peoples vaccinations are not captured in the Texas Department of State Health Services numbers, department spokeswoman Lara Anton said.

We dont know if more people are opting in or if this is a true reflection of an increase in vaccinations, Anton wrote in an email. It may be both.

Pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS told The Associated Press that theyre seeing higher demand for MMR vaccines across the U.S., especially in the outbreak areas.

Texas health officials say theyd like to see more uptake in the communities at the epicenter of the outbreak, especially in Gaines County  where the childhood vaccination rate against measles is 82%. Thats far below the 95% level needed to prevent community spread, and likely lower in the small religious schools and homeschooling groups where the early cases were identified.

Prasad Ganji is a pharmacist in Seminole, the biggest town in Gaines County. He said he ordered a 10-dose box of the MMR vaccine as cases started to spread.

He can give vaccines to people older than 14. But he still has doses left.

The uptake for vaccines been definitely been a struggle, Wells said of Gaines County, I want to be honest with that.
While Heathrow Airport said it was fully operational on Saturday, thousands of passengers remained stuck, and airlines warned that severe disruption will last for days as they scramble to relocate planes and crews and get travelers to their destinations read more

This frame grab taken from a UGC video shot and posted on X on March 21, 2025 by @chrisjbrogan shows smoke billowing from a fire at a neighborhood electrical substation supplying power to Heathrow Airport in Hayes, west London. AFP

The British government on Saturday ordered an investigation into the countrys energy resilience after an electrical substation fire shut Heathrow Airport for almost a day and raised concerns about the U.K.s ability to withstand disasters or attacks on critical infrastructure.

While Heathrow Airport said it was fully operational on Saturday, thousands of passengers remained stuck, and airlines warned that severe disruption will last for days as they scramble to relocate planes and crews and get travelers to their destinations.

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Inconvenienced passengers, angry airlines and concerned politicians all want answers about how one seemingly accidental fire could shut down Europes busiest air hub.

This is a huge embarrassment for Heathrow airport. Its a huge embarrassment for the country that a fire in one electricity substation can have such a devastating effect," said Toby Harris, a Labour Party politician who heads the National Preparedness Commission, a group that campaigns to improve resilience.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said hed asked the National Energy System Operator, which oversees U.K. gas and electricity networks, to urgently investigate the fire, to understand any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure."

It is expected to report initial findings within six weeks.

The government is determined to do everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow," Miliband said.

Stalled Journeys

More than 1,300 flights were canceled and some 200,000 people stranded Friday after an overnight fire at a substation 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away from the airport cut power to Heathrow, and to more than 60,000 properties.

Heathrow said Saturday it had added flights to todays schedule to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers." British Airways, Heathrows biggest airline, said it expected to operate about 85% of its 600 scheduled flights at the airport on Saturday.

While many passengers managed to resume stalled journeys, others remained in limbo.

Laura Fritschie from Kansas City was on vacation with her family in Ireland when she learned that her father had died. On Saturday she was stranded at Heathrow after her BA flight to Chicago was canceled at the last minute.

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Im very frustrated," she said. This was my first big vacation with my kids since my husband died, and  now this. So I just want to go home.

Shutdown points to a broader problem

Residents in west London described hearing a large explosion and then seeing a fireball and clouds of smoke when the blaze ripped through the substation. The fire was brought under control after seven hours, but the airport was shut for almost 18 hours. A handful of flights took off and landed late Friday.

Police said they do not consider the fire suspicious, and the London Fire Brigade said its investigation would focus on the electrical distribution equipment at the substation.

Still, the huge impact of the fire left authorities facing questions about Britains creaking infrastructure, much of which has been privatized since the 1980s. The center-left Labour government has vowed to improve the U.K.s delay-plagued railways, its aged water system and  especially  its energy network, promising to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy independence through investment in wind and other renewable power sources.

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The last 40, 50 years weve tried to make services more efficient, said Harris. Weve stripped out redundancy, weve simplified processes. Weve moved towards a sort of just in time economy. There is an element where you have to make sure youre available for just in case. You have to plan for things going wrong.

Clear planning failure

Heathrow is one of the worlds busiest airports for international travel, and saw 83.9 million passengers last year.

Chief executive Thomas Woldbye said he was proud of the way airport and airline staff had responded.

The airport didnt shut for days. We shut for hours, he told the BBC.

Woldbye said Heathrows backup power supply, designed for emergencies, worked as expected, but it wasnt enough to run the whole airport, which uses as much energy as a small city.

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Thats how most airports operate," said Woldbye, who insisted the same would happen in other airports" faced with a similar blaze.

But Willie Walsh, who heads aviation trade organization IATA, said the episode begs some serious questions.

How is it that critical infrastructure  of national and global importance  is totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative? If that is the case, as it seems, then it is a clear planning failure by the airport, he said.

Walsh said Heathrow has very little incentive to improve because airlines, not the airport, have to pay the cost of looking after disrupted passengers.

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No back-up plan

Fridays disruption was one of the most serious since the 2010 eruption of Icelands Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which shut Europes airspace for days.

Passengers on about 120 flights were in the air when Fridays closure was announced and found themselves landing in different cities, and even different countries.

Mark Doherty and his wife were halfway across the Atlantic when the inflight map showed their flight from New Yorks John F. Kennedy Airport to Heathrow was turning around.

I was like, youre joking, Doherty said before the pilot told passengers they were heading back to New York.

Doherty called the situation typical England  got no back-up plan for something happens like this. Theres no contingency plan.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Firstpost staff.)
Former Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez and her planning minister Julio Miguel De Vido and their families from entering the country after accusing them of involvement in significant corruption while in office read more

Former Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez has been banned from entering the US by the State Department on corruption charges.

The department has also barred Fernandezs planning minister Julio Miguel De Vido and their families from entering the country after accusing them of involvement in significant corruption while in office.

Secretary of State Department Mark Rubio has said that the pair abused their positions by orchestrating and financially benefiting from multiple bribery schemes involving public works contracts, resulting in millions of dollars stolen from the Argentine government. He added that they have been convicted of corruption by multiple courts in Argentina.

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Fernandez has been a dominant political leader in recent years in the South American country.

The United States will continue to promote accountability for those who abuse public power for personal gain, Rubio said. These designations reaffirm our commitment to counter global corruption, including at the highest levels of government.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who served as Argentinas president from 2007 to 2015 and as vice president from 2019 to 2023, has faced several legal challenges related to corruption.

In December 2022, Fernandez de Kirchner was found guilty of fraudulent administration concerning the allocation of public works contracts during her presidency. She received a six-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban from holding public office. At that time, her position as vice president granted her immunity from arrest, allowing her to remain free while she appealed the verdict.

Last year, a tribunal in the country upheld a six-year prison term and a lifetime ban on holding public office against Fernandez.

With inputs from agencies
In February, the US Department of Agriculture introduced a $1 billion, five-part initiative aimed at addressing egg prices read more

A sign for customers shopping for eggs at Trader Joe's hangs by cartons of eggs in Merrick, New York, US, February 10, 2025. File Image/Reuters

The US government is planning to import eggs from South Korea and Turkey amid a shortage caused by raging bird flu across the country, which is driving up prices.

While announcing the plan, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said, We are talking in the hundreds of millions of eggs for the short term. The Trump administration is trying to combat bird flu, which has affected millions of hens forcing farmers to cull them to prevent the spread of the disease, with a budget of $1 billion.

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The costs of eggs have surged more than 65 per cent over the past year despite US President Donald Trumps promise to cut down prices.

When our chicken populations are repopulated and weve got a full egg laying industry going again, hopefully in a couple of months, we then shift back to our internal egg layers and moving those eggs out onto the shelf, Rollins added.

US reaches out to foreign exporters

According to a report by AFP, Polish and Lithuanian poultry associations have said that authorities from the US have reached out to them for the supply of eggs. Katarzyna Gawronska, director of the National Chamber of Poultry and Feed Producers said, Back in February, the American embassy in Warsaw asked our organisation whether Poland would be interested in exporting eggs to the US market.

In February, the US Department of Agriculture introduced a $1 billion, five-part initiative aimed at addressing egg prices. The plan allocates approximately $500 million to enhance biosecurity, around $100 million for the research and development of vaccines, and $400 million to support farmers through financial relief programs.

Can eating eggs infect humans?

Researchers are still investigating whether consuming food or beverages contaminated with avian influenza can transmit the virus to humans. In the United States, the majority of the 66 reported cases since 2024 have been linked to direct contact with infected animals.

The virus mostly sickens hens and experts have suggested that infected flocks can be culled to stop the transmission of the flue.
Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation campaign in US history and curb immigration, mainly from Latin American nations. More than seven million Venezuelans have fled Venezuela over the last decade as their countrys oil-rich economy implodes under Maduro. read more

A member of the National Anti-Drug Command (CNA) accompanies a migrant woman upon arrival at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela on March 20, 2025. Image- AFP

One week after more than 200 Venezuelans accused of being gang members were sent to El Salvador, Venezuela reached an agreement to resume repatriation flights of migrants from the United States, the Venezuelan government said in a statement Saturday.

The statement, issued by Venezuelas President of Parliament Jorge Rodriguez, said the flights would start on Sunday, March 23.

Flights were suspended last month after U.S. President Donald Trump accused Venezuela of failing to meet its commitments, prompting Caracas to refuse further deportation flights. However, Washington later deported 238 Venezuelans, allegedly linked to the Tren de Aragua gangdesignated a foreign terrorist organisation by Trumpto a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, a move that drew strong criticism from Caracas.

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In order to ensure the return of our countrymen with the protection of their human rights, we have agreed with the US government to resume the repatriation of Venezuelan migrants with a first flight tomorrow, Venezuelan top negotiator Jorge Rodriguez said in a statement.

Migrating is not a crime, and we will not rest until all those who want to return are home, and until we rescue our brothers kidnapped in El Salvador, said Rodriguez, who is also the president of Venezuelas National Assembly.

Sundays trip will be the fifth flight of migrants arriving in Venezuela since Trump took office in January. Since February, about 900 Venezuelans have been repatriated, most from the United States and some from Mexico.

With inputs from agencies
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TECNO has announced the appointment of Indian film director, writer, and actor Shiboprosad Mukherjee as its new brand ambassador.

Mr. Mukherjee, recognized for his contributions to Bengali cinema, is known for films that often address social themes. TECNOs statement indicates that the collaboration aims to connect the cultural landscape of West Bengal with the brands focus on technological innovation.

The partnership is presented as an effort to encourage individuals to pursue their goals, aligning with TECNOs Stop At Nothing brand message. The announcement also highlights the brands intention to promote digital empowerment.

This initiative comes as smartphone penetration in rural West Bengal has increased from 27.7% in 2018 to 65.7% in 2022, according to the information provided by the company. TECNO aims to contribute to this growth by offering technological solutions.

The companys stated objective is to integrate Mr. Mukherjees cinematic expertise with its technological advancements. This integration is intended to empower users by combining cinema, culture, and technology. The brands communication suggests that this synergy will enable individuals to explore potential opportunities in a connected environment.

Commenting on the association, Arijeet Talapatra, CEO, TECNO, stated:

We are thrilled to welcome Shiboprosad Mukherjee into the TECNO family. As a visionary filmmaker and a multi-faceted artist, Shiboprosads creativity and influence in the world of cinema align perfectly with our mission to push the boundaries of technology and design. This collaboration with TECNO symbolizes our ongoing commitment to provide AI-powered, transformative experiences that empower individuals.

Reflecting on the collaboration, Shiboprosad Mukherjee added:

I am truly excited to be associated with TECNO Mobile as the face of the brand. Arijit Talapatra is a very dear friend of mine, and an association with his brand feels personal and special. TECNO has not only been redefining the smartphone experience with its innovation and reliability but has also become a proud partner of my films, making this collaboration even more meaningful to me. I am genuinely looking forward to this journey together, as we share a common vision of inspiring and empowering people. Being part of TECNOs story, both on and off-screen, is an honour, and I am eager to contribute to the brands growing legacy of trust, creativity, and technological excellence.
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2024.
Saturday Night

Mainly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. NNW winds shifting to E at 10 to 15 mph.
Prime Minister's Office Announcement

Israel - Prime Minister's Office

Media Statements

The 37th Government

21.03.2025

The Prime Minister's Office, this morning :

The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar's term of office.

Ronen Bar will conclude his duties on 10 April 2025 or when a permanent ISA Director is appointed - whichever comes first.

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Rescinding Security Clearances and Access to Classified Information from Specified Individuals

Presidential Actions

Presidential Memoranda

March 22, 2025

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Rescinding Security Clearances and Access to Classified Information from Specified Individuals



I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information: Antony Blinken, Jacob Sullivan, Lisa Monaco, Mark Zaid, Norman Eisen, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, Andrew Weissmann, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Cheney, Kamala Harris, Adam Kinzinger, Fiona Hill, Alexander Vindman, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and any other member of Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s family. Therefore, I hereby direct every executive department and agency head to take all additional action as necessary and consistent with existing law to revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals and to immediately rescind their access to classified information. I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals.

This action includes, but is not limited to, receipt of classified briefings, such as the President's Daily Brief, and access to classified information held by any member of the Intelligence Community by virtue of the named individuals' previous tenure in the Congress.

In the event that any of the named individuals received a security clearance by virtue of their employment with a private entity, the United States Government entity that granted the security clearance should inform the private entity that these individuals' ability to access classified information has been revoked.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

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Read-out of the meeting between European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with the leaders of Iceland, Norway, Turkiye and the United Kingdom

European Commission

Read-out

Mar 20, 2025

Brussels

On Friday 21 March 2025, the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, together with High Representative Kaja Kallas, had a video conference meeting with the Prime Minister of Iceland Kristrun Frostadottir, the Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Stre, the President of Turkiy Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer.

President Costa and President von der Leyen debriefed like-minded non-EU countries' Leaders on the European Council meeting which took place on 20 March. This was the second iteration of this meeting format aimed at informing the Leaders on the outcome of the EU Heads of States and Governments' discussions on the support to Ukraine and on European defense. In this critical period, cooperation with global partners is crucial.

President Costa and President von der Leyen conveyed the European Council's overwhelming support to putting Ukraine in a position of strength in view of achieving a just and sustainable peace.

At the European Council, EU Leaders welcomed that Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire. They underlined that peace should not reward the aggressor and pressure on Russia should be stepped up.

EU Leaders commended the initiative by France and the UK to form a coalition of the willing aimed at defining the support to the Ukrainian army and the security guarantees that European countries can provide.

President Costa and President von der Leyen conveyed the European Council's clear understanding of the exceptional times that Europe is going through.

They shared the European Council's agreement that Europe needs to step up its investment in security and defence. In this context, they referred to "Readiness 2030" - a roadmap aiming at ensuring that the EU has a defence industrial base and defence capabilities to act as a credible deterrence.

They presented the proposed financing mechanisms for the required investments in defence and the opportunities for the partner countries arising therefrom.

The first one - National Escape clause - will free up to EUR 650 bn of fiscal space in the national budgets of the Member States. It will have no conditions attached in terms of origin of the defence equipment. Military equipment from partner countries can therefore directly benefit from it.

The second one - "SAFE" of up to EUR 150bn in loans. Norway and Iceland can already directly participate, since they are members of the EU's single market. Other countries, such as the UK, Canada or Turkiye, can immediately provide up to 35% of a defence product. To increase the industrial participation beyond 35%, a Security & Defence Partnership and a subsequent association agreement are necessary.

Participants agreed to continue to coordinate efforts aimed at strengthening Ukraine and increasing Europe's security. Governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan will be subsequently informed about the outcomes of the European Council.

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Canada provides funding to respond to crises in Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo

Global Affairs Canada

News release

March 21, 2025 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

Canada recognizes that the world is grappling with increasing geopolitical uncertainty, with conflicts spanning several continents impacting millions of people. This is why Canada is dedicated to doing its part to support those in need by collaborating with trusted and reliable partners on international assistance efforts.

Today, the Sudanese people continue to bear the brunt of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, which started in April 2023. More than 12.8 million people have been forced to flee as they faced unspeakable human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law. And in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the escalating violence has displaced hundreds of thousands of people across the eastern DRC and exacerbated the longstanding humanitarian crisis.

To address the needs of the people affected by these conflicts, the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, today announced that Canada is providing more than $116 million in humanitarian, development and peace and security assistance funding for Sudan ($75 million) and the DRC (more than $41 million).

In Sudan, this includes:

$60 million in humanitarian assistance funding, bringing the total funding of Canada's humanitarian response in Sudan to $64 million in 2025; this funding is being provided to the UN, the Red Cross and NGO partners to deliver life-saving assistance, including food, protection, health, water, sanitation and hygiene services

$5 million in development assistance funding to enhance the dignity and safety of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and to strengthen the capacity of health care providers in the clinical management of rape survivors and psychological first aid services

$10 million in peace and security funding to protect civilians and humanitarian workers and facilitate the delivery of much needed humanitarian assistance in conflict-affected areas by reducing the threat of explosive ordnance contamination

In the DRC, this includes:

over $26 million in humanitarian assistance funding, bringing Canada's humanitarian response in the DRC to more than $42 million in 2025; this funding is being provided to the UN, the Red Cross and NGO partners to deliver life-saving assistance, including food, protection, health, water, sanitation and hygiene services

$15 million in development assistance funding to strengthen the capacity of national institutions and local civil society to protect conflict-affected women and girls from gender-based violence, to provide holistic care to sexual- and gender-based violence survivors and to support displaced families in their transition from emergency food assistance to sustainable food sources and livelihoods

Canada calls on all parties to these conflicts to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law. They must allow and facilitate safe, rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance for civilians in need. Canada also urges them to promote accountability for international humanitarian law and human rights law violations. Canada continues to call on all parties to immediately cease hostilities and to conduct negotiations in good faith on a peaceful resolution through inclusive dialogue.

Quotes

"Canada remains steadfast in its commitment to providing humanitarian and development assistance to Sudan and the DRC. The funding announced today will allow Canada's partners to continue to provide critical support to those who need it most, as well as contributing to making Sudan and the DRC safer. Canada continues to call for an end to the violence in these countries and for all parties to facilitate safe, rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance to civilians in need in both Sudan and the DRC. Canada also reaffirms its unwavering support for the DRC's sovereignty and territorial integrity." - Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development

Quick facts

In 2024, Canada provided over $30 million in humanitarian assistance funding to the United Nations, Red Cross and other NGO partners in Sudan. In 2024, Canada also announced $31.5 million in development assistance to address urgent needs in Sudan and neighbouring countries, focusing on sexual and reproductive health and rights and education in emergencies.

In 2024 and 2025, Canada announced over $17.5 million in peace and security funding to support the protection of civilians in Sudan and to promote civilian efforts to advance a peaceful, democratic and civilian-led transitional arrangement.

In 2024, Canada provided over $28 million in humanitarian assistance funding for the DRC

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Canada provides funding for humanitarian needs in Lebanon

Global Affairs Canada

News release

March 21, 2025 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

The situation throughout Lebanon, including in Beirut, remains volatile and unpredictable due to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Food insecurity, market disruptions, and mass displacement have led to an urgent need for shelter, food, clean water and hygiene products in Lebanon. Attacks on healthcare workers and health infrastructure have severely limited the ability of civilians to access basic and critical healthcare services. Canada is working with experienced humanitarian partners, including UN, the Red Cross and NGOs, to provide life-saving assistance to those who desperately need it.

Today, the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, announced $29.7 million in funding to provide critical assistance in Lebanon, including food, medical and health services, shelter and clean water.

Canada remains firm in calling for all parties to respect the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire agreement, ensure a complete cessation of hostilities and uphold international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians. Canada also calls for the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2286 to ensure the protection of humanitarian and medical personnel and allow them to continue to deliver life-saving assistance to those in need.

Quotes

"Canada stands in solidarity with the people of Lebanon. With the funding announced today, our partners will be able to scale up their efforts to help people in urgent need. We call for an end to the violence in Lebanon and for all parties to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law." - Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development

Quick facts

With the funding announced today, Canada has allocated a total of $41.45 million in humanitarian assistance funding for Lebanon in 2025.

Canada provides its funding for humanitarian assistance based on needs identified in consolidated UN and Red Cross appeals. Support is delivered through experienced and trusted humanitarian organizations that have the necessary on-the-ground operational capacity to respond.

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Canada imposes additional sanctions against individuals linked to crisis in Haiti

Global Affairs Canada

News release

March 21, 2025 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, today announced that Canada is imposing additional sanctions under the Special Economic Measures (Haiti) Regulations to address the deteriorating political, security and humanitarian situation in Haiti, which has been exacerbated by the actions of the targeted individuals.

These latest sanctions target 3 individuals: Dimitri Herard, Jeantel Joseph and Jeff Larose. These individuals have committed acts that undermine the peace, security and stability of Haiti.

The sanctioned individuals will be inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and will be subject to a broad prohibition on dealings. Their assets in Canada will be frozen, and Canadians both at home and abroad will be prohibited from engaging in transactions with these individuals.

Canada will continue to support all efforts to address the urgent needs of the Haitian people and to work with international partners to help restore peace and stability in the region.

Quotes

"Canada remains committed to supporting Haiti and its people. We urge the international community to stand with Canada in holding accountable those who fuel violence and instability in Haiti." - Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development

Quick facts

Canada and Haiti officially established diplomatic relations in 1954 and have continued to maintain strong diplomatic ties ever since.

For nearly 30 years, Canada has contributed to every UN peace mission to Haiti to support stabilization and reconstruction efforts. Contributions have included financial assistance and the deployment of members of the Canadian Armed Forces, of the RCMP and of over 30 Canadian partner police agencies, as well as correctional officers.

Since November 2022, Canada has imposed autonomous sanctions against 31 Haitian citizens. The latest sanctions, announced today, bring to 34 the number of individuals sanctioned under the Special Economic Measures (Haiti) Regulations.

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2025 International Congress of Basic Science unveils awards in Beijing

Xinhua) 13:13, March 22, 2025

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The 2025 International Congress of Basic Science (ICBS 2025) announced its laureates for the Basic Science Lifetime Awards and Frontiers of Science Awards at a press conference held Friday at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Six globally renowned scientists, including Nobel laureates Samuel Chao Chung Ting, Steven Chu, and David Jonathan Gross, Turing Award recipient Robert Endre Tarjan, Fields Medalist Shigefumi Mori, and Wolf Prize winner George Lusztig, were honored with the Lifetime Awards for their transformative contributions spanning mathematics, physics, and information science over three decades.

The Frontiers of Science Award highlighted 148 pioneering papers from over 600 authors across more than 20 countries and regions, spanning mathematics, physics, and theoretical computer science. Thirteen Chinese institutions secured 17 awards, including Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The 2025 ICBS, jointly funded and hosted by the Beijing Municipal People's Government, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the China Association for Science and Technology, and the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians, will convene global scientists in July for the awards ceremony.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday embarked on a visit to Brazil to participate in the 11th BRICS Parliamentary Forum where he is scheduled to prese ...


Backgrounder: Canada imposes additional sanctions against individuals linked to crisis in Haiti

Global Affairs Canada

Backgrounder

Effective immediately, Canada is imposing sanctions against 3 individuals who are actively undermining the peace, security and stability of Haiti. These individuals are being sanctioned in response to their involvement in serious disruptions of international peace and security, as well as grave violations of human rights.

Canadian measures

The Special Economic Measures (Haiti) Regulations impose a dealings prohibition related to listed individuals that effectively freezes any assets they hold in Canada. These sanctions also render the listed individuals inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The specific prohibitions are set out in the regulations.

The names of the individuals added to the schedule of these regulations are the following:

Dimitri Herard: Head of the National Palace General Security Unit under Jovenel Moise from February 2017 to July 2021

Jeantel Joseph: Director General of the National Agency of Protected Areas from 2017 to 2024

Jeff Larose: Leader of the Canaan Gang

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Canada imposes new sanctions against Venezuelan officials

Global Affairs Canada

News release

March 21, 2025 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

Today, the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, announced that Canada is imposing new sanctions against Venezuelan officials under the Special Economic Measures (Venezuela) Regulations.

These sanctions target 8 current senior officials of the Venezuelan government who have engaged in activities that directly or indirectly supported human rights violations in Venezuela and/or activities that undermine Venezuela's democracy.

These new sanctions align with previous measures taken by Canada and its allies earlier this year. The sanctions add additional pressure on Nicolas Maduro's regime to respect the will of the Venezuelan people. They also aim to dissuade the authorities from taking further actions that violate the human rights of protestors, journalists, opposition leaders and other members of civil society.

Canada is listing the following 8 individuals under the regulations:

Douglas Arnoldo Rico Gonzalez

Carlos Enrique Teran Hurtado

Carlos Alberto Calderon Chirinos

Florencio Ramon Escalona

Leonel Alberto Garcia Rivas

Ronny Fernando Gonzalez Montesinos

Manuel Enrique Castillo Rengifo

Jose Ramon Figuera Valdez

Canada remains deeply concerned by the Maduro regime's destabilizing actions and the threat that they pose to Venezuelans and the region. Canada is unwavering in its commitment to human rights, the rule of law and democracy in Venezuela and across the region.

Quotes

"Today's sanctions reflect Canada's long-standing commitment to upholding democracy and the rule of law. They are also a clear message to the regime of Nicolas Maduro that Canada will not tolerate any activities that violate human rights. A peaceful, negotiated and Venezuelan-led solution is needed to resolve this crisis. We call on all parties to begin negotiations to ensure that the democratic will of the people of Venezuela is respected and a peaceful transition process is established." - Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development.

Quick facts

With today's announcement, Canada has imposed sanctions against a total of 139 Venezuelan individuals.

As part of Canada's foreign policy response to the situation in Venezuela, Canada has imposed 6 rounds of targeted sanctions under the Special Economic Measures (Venezuela) Regulations on individuals in or linked to the Maduro regime: In September 2017, Canada imposed sanctions against 40 individuals linked to the Maduro regime and involved in the regime's actions that destabilized the security and integrity of democratic institutions in Venezuela. In May 2018, Canada imposed sanctions against an additional 14 individuals in response to further erosion of democratic institutions in Venezuela and the consolidation of Maduro's power through illegitimate presidential elections held on May 20, 2018. In April 2019, Canada imposed sanctions against an additional 43 individuals, most of them high-level officials of the Maduro regime implicated in acts of repression. In December 2024, Canada imposed sanctions against 5 individuals who had engaged in activities that directly or indirectly undermined democracy in Venezuela. In January 2025, Canada imposed sanctions against 14 individuals who had engaged in activities that directly or indirectly supported human rights violations in Venezuela.

In addition to the sanctions imposed under the Special Economic Measures Act, Canada imposed sanctions under the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act in 2017 against 19 individuals who were responsible for or complicit in gross violations of human rights or who had committed acts of significant corruption.

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Backgrounder: Canada imposes sanctions against Venezuelan officials involved in committing human rights violations and/or undermining Venezuela's democracy

Global Affairs Canada

Backgrounder

Effective immediately, Canada is listing 8 individuals under the Special Economic Measures (Venezuela) Regulations who are current senior officials of the Venezuelan government and who have engaged in activities that directly or indirectly supported human rights violations in Venezuela and/or activities that undermine Venezuela's democracy.

The Special Economic Measures (Venezuela) Regulations (Venezuela Regulations) were amended on December 13, 2024, to enable Canada to impose sanctions more effectively in cases where grave breaches of international peace and security and gross and systematic human rights violations have occurred.

Canadian measures

The Venezuela Regulations impose a prohibition on dealings related to the listed individuals and entities, effectively freezing any assets they may have in Canada. Persons in Canada and Canadians outside the country are prohibited from dealing in the property of the listed individuals, and the listed individuals are also rendered inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The specific prohibitions are set out in the Venezuela Regulations.

The 8 individuals added to the schedule of these regulations are:

Douglas Arnoldo Rico Gonzalez, Director of the Scientific, Criminal and Forensic Investigations Corps

Carlos Enrique Teran Hurtado, Division General of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB)

Carlos Alberto Calderon Chirinos, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Strategic and Tactical Actions (DAET) of the Bolivarian National Police

Florencio Ramon Escalona, Head of Operations for the DAET of the Bolivarian National Police

Leonel Alberto Garcia Rivas, Head of the Strategic Intelligence Division of the DAET

Ronny Fernando Gonzalez Montesinos, Head of the Criminal Investigations Division of the DAET

Manuel Enrique Castillo Rengifo, Deputy Commander of the Strategic Operations Command of the FANB

Jose Ramon Figuera Valdez, Commander of the Integral Defence Zone of Venezuela's Capital District

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Fourth EU-India Maritime Security Dialogue held in New Delhi

European External Action Service (EEAS)

21.03.2025

EEAS Press Team

The European Union and India held their fourth maritime security dialogue in New Delhi on 21 March.

They discussed developments in the maritime security situation in Europe and in the Indian Ocean. They also explored avenues of cooperation in areas such as countering illicit maritime activities, the protection of critical maritime infrastructure, capacity building for the benefit of partners, and activities within regional maritime security forums. Cooperation on maritime domain awareness and on new joint activities at sea was also explored.

The EU and India are committed to a free, open, inclusive and rules-based maritime order in the Indo-Pacific region. This is underpinned by the respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, democracy, rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, unimpeded lawful commerce, and peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, notably the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The meeting was co-chaired by Maciej Stadejek, Director for Security and Defence Policy at the European External Action Service, and Muanpuii Saiawi, Joint Secretary for Disarmament and International Security Affairs at India's Ministry of External Affairs.

Background

This dialogue builds on the recent visit of the College of Commissioners to India, where Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen expressed their satisfaction with the growing cooperation in the defence and security domain, including joint exercises and collaboration between Indian Navy and EU Maritime security entities. They underscored their commitment to international peace and security, including maritime security by tackling traditional and non-traditional threats to safeguard trade & sea lanes of communication. Enhancing engagement on maritime domain awareness with a view to promote shared assessment, coordination and interoperability was one of the key deliverables of the visit.

Naval cooperation between the EU and India has expanded in recent years, with successful joint exercises in the Gulf of Guinea and Gulf of Aden.



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EU Member States agree to step up European defence and arms assistance to Ukraine

Finnish Government

Government Communications Department

21.3.2025

Press release

In its meeting in Brussels on Thursday 20 March, the European Council agreed on a number of measures to strengthen European defence. Discussions also focused on arms assistance and other support to Ukraine. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo represented Finland at the meeting.

The leaders began their meeting by exchanging views with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy via remote connection. After the discussion, the leaders of 26 EU Member States reaffirmed that the Member States must continue to rapidly increase their military support to Ukraine. Above all, Ukraine needs munitions and missiles, as EU High Representative Kaja Kallas also noted in her proposal on 13 March.

"With regard to Ukraine, I emphasised that the best way to support Ukraine right now in its efforts to achieve a just peace is to support the Ukrainian army. Another key issue is Ukraine's EU membership. I highlighted the need to support Ukraine on its European path so that it can fulfil the accession criteria and be ready for EU membership by 2030. This is what President Zelenskyy has hoped for," said Prime Minister Orpo.

"I reiterated our call from the last summit to speed up the disbursement of the support already approved for Ukraine. We expect the Commission to act quickly, because EUR 25 billion in support from the existing Ukraine Facility could be available to Ukraine within a short timeframe," said Prime Minister Orpo.

The European Council agreed to take decisive action to strengthen Europe's defence capabilities over the next five years. The leaders' discussion on the matter was guided by the White Paper on the Future of European Defence, which was issued jointly by the European External Action Service and the Commission on the previous day.

"The content of the White Paper on the Future of Defence is well in line with Finland's objectives. This is the result of long-term efforts to influence EU policy. Europe is finally beginning to understand that action is needed where the threat is greatest - that is, at the EU's eastern border," said Prime Minister Orpo.

The European Council also discussed European competitiveness. The EU leaders noted the need for improvements in this area. Prime Minister Orpo emphasised that Europe can only build strong defence capabilities if its economy and competitiveness are in order.

The other topics on the agenda for the March European Council were the Middle East, the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) and new own resources, migration, oceans and multilateralism.

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Working group proposes to strengthen voluntary national defence

Finnish Ministry of Defence

21.03.2025

The working group reviewing the target state of voluntary national defence submitted its report to Minister of Defence Antti Hakkanen on 21 March 2025. The working group identified three possible alternatives for organising voluntary national defence. Based on the review, the working group proposes to strengthen voluntary national defence by preserving the best parts of the current system, while improving its operational and strategic effectiveness.

"Voluntary national defence plays a key role in strengthening the crisis resilience of Finnish society and our will to defend the country. It is important that we take steps to develop voluntary national defence so that it can better meet the challenges of the current security environment," says Minister of Defence Hakkanen.

The working group proposes that the strategic and operational partnership between the Finnish Defence Forces and the National Defence Training Association (MPK) be clarified and intensified. The MPK would have the right and obligation to provide military training to selected troops from the Finnish Defence Forces, the Finnish Border Guard and the NATO Allies and to use new weapon systems. The MPK and its key personnel would be assigned tasks during emergencies, which would enable the MPK to participate in the operational planning of the Finnish Defence Forces required by these tasks. Clearer links would be created between the tasks of the MPK and total defence. The reform would require significant legislative amendments.

In the model proposed by the working group, national defence organisations would retain their current status and autonomy based on the Associations Act. However, legislative amendments would make it possible to utilise organisations and volunteers more extensively in the voluntary national defence training system. In the target state, resource allocation for voluntary national defence would be more predictable. The current focus on training of individuals would shift to training of troops.

Minister of Defence Antti Hakkanen appointed a working group on 21 December 2023 to prepare a proposal for the target state of voluntary national defence in 2030. The working group had representatives from the Ministry of Defence, the Finnish Defence Forces, the Finnish Border Guard and the most central organisations associated with voluntary national defence. The Ministry of Defence will now assess the working group's proposal, the possible legislative amendments it requires and its economic impacts.

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Deregulation and Defence Investments as Key Actions of the European Union

Republic of Poland - The Chancellery of the Prime Minister

21.03.2025

Deregulation, rearmament of Europe, and migration were the main topics of the European Council meeting attended by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The planned simplifications at the European level are to be presented in June 2025, with Poland expected to play a significant role in the process. European leaders also discussed migration issues. The Prime Minister once again called on the President to sign the so-called asylum law, which would enable action against illegal migration. He reminded that, thanks to the Polish government's involvement, the European Union recognized the Eastern Shield as one of its priority defence investments.

Europe's Competitiveness

One of the European Council's discussion topics was the competitiveness of the European Union in three key areas: deregulation, energy, and the Savings and Investment Union. In February 2025, the European Commission presented the first two Omnibus packages, which included regulatory simplifications.

"Deregulation has started in earnest. [...] We all agreed that reducing regulations, legal acts, and bureaucratic burdens must be massive and immediately noticeableespecially for small and medium-sized enterprises," said Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a press conference after the Council meeting.

The European Union committed to reducing burdens and costs resulting from overregulation. Decisions on reducing costs for small and medium-sized enterprises by 30% are expected in June 2025. This is intended to boost the competitiveness of the European economy.

"It's an ambitious goal. This will require enormous work to identify regulations, rules, and procedures that are redundant, complicated, or costlyparticularly for small and medium-sized enterprises," the Prime Minister emphasized in Brussels.

The Polish government has already initiated deregulation efforts. In March, the Council of Ministers adopted the first simplification package. A deregulation task force is also in operation, with the social side represented by Rafa Brzoska. The Prime Minister announced the next meeting of the task force for Monday, March 24.

"We have already gathered hundreds of suggestions and proposals from various stakeholders, including ministers. We're ready to present the first package soon," the Prime Minister announced.

Donald Tusk stressed that the Polish team's work must also include simplifications concerning EU law.

Rearming Europe

Europe must take responsibility for its own security and invest in defence. The Prime Minister noted that Poland has long been aware of this need. That's why it is allocating record-high spending on defence4.7% of GDP this year alone.

"The new U.S. policy emphasizes Europe's increased responsibility for itself. If NATO is to remain a pact that guarantees security for Poland and Europe, it's clear to everyone that Europe must shoulder much more responsibility and defence duties. Decisions have been made that mean we will no longer be alone at the forefront when it comes to defence spending," said the Prime Minister.

Donald Tusk has consistently advocated that the Eastern Shield be recognized as a commitment not only of Poland but of the entire EU in meetings with European leaders. Thanks to government efforts, the investment was included in the White Paper on the Future of European Defence, published by the European Commission.

"I'm pleased to report that the Eastern Shield has been permanently included as one of the EU's defence priorities, which will have significant consequences," said Tusk.

On Saturday, a visit to the eastern border will take place with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Wadysaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, and Minister of the Interior and Administration Tomasz Siemoniak.

Combating Illegal Migration

The Prime Minister held migration-related meetings with Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, Danish PM Mette Frederiksen, and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban. Poland faces increased migratory pressure on its eastern border. Illegal border crossings are a tool in the hybrid warfare conducted by Russia and Belarus.

"I shared information about our actions on the eastern border and the tough decisions we're making. Thanks to this firm policy, we are effectively stopping illegal migration. This is fully understood by all our partners," said the Prime Minister.

One of the tools to combat illegal migration is a law allowing temporary suspension of the right to apply for asylum for those illegally crossing the border. The law has been passed by Parliament and now awaits the President's signature.

"Mr. President, every day of delay exposes our Border Guard, soldiers, and police officers on the border to danger. It prolongs the acute inflammation that continues on the border. I hope for a swift decision," Donald Tusk reiterated.

The Prime Minister noted that once the law is signed, the government will adopt a regulation to hinder smuggling networks and discourage illegal border attempts. He also announced an information campaign in the countries of origin of migrants most often making such attempts. Its aim will be to deter illegal migration and highlight its consequences.

Migration in the European Union

The Prime Minister informed German authorities and spoke with the Austrian Chancellor to communicate that Poland will not implement treaty provisions requiring it to accept migrants from other countries due to the migratory pressure it already faces.

"Poland already bears enough burdens from the war. No one should dare to add more. But I'm convinced we will manage calmly," said the Prime Minister.

He also responded to opposition remarks about completely closing the western border. He reminded that it is used daily by many peoplefor work or tourism.

"Just look at the statistics. In the last year of PiS rule2023more migrants were sent from Germany to Poland than during our government," Donald Tusk emphasized.

During the European Council meeting, leaders also discussed the multiannual financial framework and events in the Middle East.

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Sudanese army 'recaptures' presidential palace in Khartoum from rebels

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Mar 21, 2025

The Sudanese army says it is now in full control of the presidential palace in downtown after nearly two years of fighting with rebel forces.

The seizure of the Republican Palace, surrounded by government ministries, represents a major symbolic victory against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the army said in a statement on Friday.

The statement underlined, however, that it doesn't mean the end of the war as the RSF holds territory in western Darfur region and elsewhere and threatens to partition the country.

The RSF later issued a statement claiming its forces "are still present of the vicinity of the area, fighting bravely."

However, videos posted on social media showed soldiers, inside the palace appeared to be partly in ruins, talking about the 21st day of Ramadan in order to confirm their presence there.

Khaled al-Aiser, Sudan's information minister also confirmed in his post on his X account that the military had retaken the palace. ""Today the flag is raised, the palace is back and the journey continues until victory is complete," he wrote.

The fall of the Republican Palace, along the Nile River that was the seat of government before the war, marks another battlefield gain for Sudan's military in recent months under Genera, Abdel-Fattah Burhan.

Sudan has been unstable since a popular uprising forced President Omar al-Bashir to quit in 2019 that was followed by a military coup in 2021.

The RSF later ignited a fresh battle with the regular army over a number of demands and was able to seize some places. According to the United Nations, the conflict in the African country has created the world's largest and humanitarian crisis.

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The State Secretaries of NB8 Foreign Ministries discuss aid to Ukraine and plans to strengthen European security

Republic of Latvia - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

21.03.2025

On 20 and 21 March 2025, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andzejs Vilumsons, participated in the annual meeting of the State Secretaries of the Foreign Ministries of the Baltic states and Nordic countries (NB8), hosted by Copenhagen, Denmark.

The aim of the meeting was to discuss the pressing issues of the security and defence of the region and support to Ukraine in ensuring a just and lasting peace. The meeting also addressed the strengthening Europe's security and defence, including an increase in defence funding and development of the military industry, thereby also reinforcing NATO and the transatlantic link. An exchange of views was also held on strengthening resilience against hybrid threats, including the protection of critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea region and measures to combat the Russian "shadow fleet".

State Secretary Andzejs Vilumsons highlighted Latvia's consistent support for Ukraine, which reaches at least 0.25 % of GDP in military assistance, and he also informed his counterparts about plans to increase Latvia's defence expenditure to 5 % of GDP.

In 2025, NB8 cooperation in the field of foreign affairs is coordinated by Denmark, which has set as its priorities the strengthening of Baltic and Nordic cooperation in the field of security and defence, the promotion of regional and global support to Ukraine, and the strengthening of the European military industry and defence capabilities.

The NB8 (Nordic-Baltic Eight) is a cooperation format comprising Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden. Cooperation between the Baltic states and the Nordic countries has been very close since the beginning of the 1990s when they were active in the N5+B3 framework, which was transformed into the NB8 format in 2007.

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European Council meeting focused on defense as a new EU priority

President of the Republic of Lithuania

March 21, 2025

Addressing the European Council on Thursday, President Gitanas Nauseda stressed the need to bolster Europe's defense.

According to the Head of State, the ReArm Europe plan outlined by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is a crucial step in the right direction. The 150 billion defense fundwhich allows Member States to borrowalong with the national defense financing clause, will provide a significant boost to the rapid expansion of Europe's defense capabilities.

"We need a completely new approach to defense as the foundation for the EU's long-term stability and prosperity," the President stated, calling on all EU Member States to allocate at least 3% of their GDP to defense. He also emphasized that countries bordering Russia and Belarus require a more balanced approach, where loans are supplemented by grants.

Gitanas Nauseda underscored the importance of effective protection of EU's external borders, particularly in the context of European migration policy, with external forces exploiting irregular migration to create hybrid threats.

Welcoming the white paper on the future of European defense, prepared and presented by European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius, the Head of State described it as another positive step towards making defense a core EU priority.

The European Council also discussed the role of the European Investment Bank, Cohesion Policy, and the emerging Savings and Investment Union in ensuring the sustainable financing of the EU's defense needs.

The President's Communication Group

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DFA Statement on Israel's Latest Offensive in the Gaza Strip

Republic of the Philippines - Department of Foreign Affairs

MANILA 21 March 2025 -- The Philippines is gravely concerned over Israel's latest offensive in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the tragic loss of more than 400 Palestinian lives, including over a hundred children, as well as more than 500 injured. We urge all sides to refrain from escalating the violence and to immediately return to negotiations toward a more permanent ceasefire. We call on all parties to adhere to their obligations under international law, with particular emphasis on the protection of civilians, and for the unconditional release of all hostages. END



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PH 'gravely concerned' over Israel offensive in Gaza

Philippine News Agency

By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora

March 21, 2025, 11:14 pm

MANILA -- The Philippine government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), expressed grave concern over Israel's latest offensive in Gaza that marked the resumption of its military operations after a two-month ceasefire.

"The Philippines is gravely concerned over Israel's latest offensive in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the tragic loss of more than 400 Palestinian lives, including over a hundred children, as well as more than 500 injured," the DFA said in a statement Friday.

"We urge all sides to refrain from escalating the violence and to immediately return to negotiations toward a more permanent ceasefire."

The DFA called on all parties to adhere to their obligations under international law, with particular emphasis on the protection of civilians, and for the unconditional release of all hostages.

Israel on Tuesday mounted the shock aerial offensive on Gaza, including in Khan Younis and Rafah, shattering a fragile truce finally reached in January.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the airstrikes were launched on the recommendation of the Israel Defense Forces after lack of progress in talks to free more hostages and extend the truce.

In an Anadolu news agency report, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced outrage over the latest Israeli attacks and called for an immediate restoration of the ceasefire and urgent humanitarian assistance.

"I am outraged at this week's Israeli attacks in Gaza, which killed hundreds of people," Guterres said in remarks delivered in Leuven, Belgium, where KU Leuven and UC Louvain universities jointly awarded an honorary doctorate to the UN.

He mourned the death of a UN staff member and the wounding of five others after Israeli strikes hit two UN guesthouses in Deir al-Balah. (PNA)

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PH supports Japanese initiatives to ensure regional peace

Philippine News Agency

By Priam Nepomuceno

March 21, 2025, 2:15 pm

MANILA -- Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Thursday expressed the country's support for the Japan Self-Defense Forces' (JSDF) initiatives to prevent any attempt to destabilize peace and security in the East and South China Sea.

"Secretary Teodoro conveyed the Philippines' full support to initiatives of the JSDF to deter any attempt to destabilize peace and security over the East China Sea and South China Sea," DND spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arsenio Andolong said in a statement.

Teodoro, in his meeting with Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) chief of staff, Admiral Saito Akira, during the latter's courtesy call on March 19.

Teodoro also highlighted the importance of strategic communication to counter false narratives and the propaganda of China in the region.

Andolong said this also includes efforts to uphold the spirit of human rights and international law.

He said that in welcoming the Japanese naval official, Teodoro built on the positive outcomes of his meeting with Japan Defense Minister Nakatani Gen in February.

"The SND (Secretary of National Defense) welcomed the visit to the Philippines of Admiral Saito to concretize bilateral initiatives in strengthening cooperation in maritime security," he said.

Andolong also said that Saito briefed Teodoro on the outcomes of his meeting with Philippine Navy Chief, Vice Admiral Jose Ma. Ambrosio Ezpeleta, where the two naval officials agreed to "advance engagements in key areas, including high-level exchanges, equipment transfer, and military exercises upon the entry into force of the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA)."

"Moreover, Secretary Teodoro reiterated the Philippines' commitment to maintain the positive momentum of defense cooperation with Japan while awaiting the full implementation of the RAA.

He also expressed support for the development of Japan's defense industries and emphasized the significance of cooperation and possible co-production with Japan to bolster the Philippines' defense capabilities and industry, Andolong said. (PNA)

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Yemen warns Israeli Ben Gurion Airport unsafe until Gaza aggression ends, blockade lifted

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 11:44 PM

The Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) have declared that Israel's Ben Gurion Airport is now unsafe for air traffic and will remain so until Israeli aggression against Gaza ends and the blockade is lifted.

In a statement released Saturday, military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced that Yemen had targeted Ben Gurion Airport in the occupied "Yaffa" region with a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile.

The operation, he said, was carried out "in support of the oppressed Palestinian people and their courageous resistance."

This marked the third such missile operation in the past 48 hours, according to Saree, who confirmed that it had successfully achieved its objective.

Additionally, Saree reported that for the sixth consecutive day, Yemeni "UAV Force" carried out operations against US naval assets in the Red Sea, specifically targeting warships linked to the USS Harry S. Truman.

The strikes, he noted, were in response to ongoing American aggression against Yemen.

These operations are a direct response to the US bids to suppress Yemen's support for the Palestinian people.

The general also paid tribute to the Palestinian people and their resistance in Gaza, praising their resilience in the face of brutal Zionist aggression.

Yemen's renewed operations against Israeli and US targets were followed after a two-month pause linked to a now-collapsed ceasefire in Gaza between the Gaza-based resistance movement Hamas and the Israeli regime.

Yemen's missile strike on Friday was the fourth such operation targeting central occupied territories this week, following Israel's resumption of genocide in Gaza.

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Iran, UAE voice alarm at fatal Israeli, American aggression against Gaza, Yemen

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 7:13 PM

Iran and the United Arab Emirates have expressed deep concern over the Israeli regime's resumption of Tel Aviv's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and the United States' deadly pro-Israeli attacks against Yemen.

In a phone call on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan discussed the latest regional developments, particularly the two courses of deployment of extreme deadly aggression by the regime and Washington.

Araghchi strongly denounced the regime's mass killings of around a thousand innocent Palestinians since Tuesday when Tel Aviv re-launched the war, emphasizing that it had flagrantly violated a ceasefire agreement with Gaza's Hamas resistance movement.

He also condemned the US military's ongoing attacks on Yemen, which have resulted in the deaths of scores of innocent women and children, while devastating the already impoverished country's vital infrastructures.

"The crimes committed by the Zionist regime in Gaza and the US aggression against Yemen require an urgent and collective response from regional and Islamic nations to halt these atrocities and prevent further insecurity across the [West Asia] region," Araghchi asserted.

For his part, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed expressed serious concern over the deteriorating regional situation, describing it as highly alarming.

He stressed the need for continued consultations between regional nations to prevent further escalation and instability.

According to reports, Israeli forces have intensified their aerial bombardments and ground assaults in Gaza, targeting residential areas, hospitals, and refugee shelters in blatant defiance of the international humanitarian law.

Similarly, the US military's repeated airstrikes in Yemen have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the country. On Thursday, an American attack on a residential neighborhood in the Yemeni capital Sana'a killed multiple civilians, including children, and destroyed several homes.

The attack is part of Washington's efforts at stopping Yemen's pro-Palestinian operations that have been targeting sensitive and strategic Israeli targets since the Gaza war was resumed.

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Israel threatens to 'annex' parts of Gaza amid resumption of Tel Aviv's genocidal war

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 6:30 PM

The Israeli regime's minister for military affairs, Israel Katz has threatened to annex portions of the Gaza Strip unless the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas releases the remaining Zionist captives there.

The remarks issued on Friday coincided with Tel Aviv's resumption of a genocidal war that it launched against Gaza in October 2023 in response to a historic resistance operation that had put 240 Zionists in captivity.

The fresh brutal military onslaught that began on Tuesday came while the regime had agreed to a ceasefire agreement with Hamas that would feature the phased-out release of the captives.

After the first phase of the deal ended, featuring the release of many captives in exchange for thousands of Palestinian prisoners, Tel Aviv, though, began insisting that the movement had to release the rest, namely a reported number of 59 dead and alive captives, in one batch.

Katz said he had ordered the Israeli military to "seize more territory in Gaza," warning, that the more Hamas "refuses" to free the captives, "the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel."

He further threatened to expand buffer zones around Gaza, potentially leading to a permanent Israeli occupation of these areas.

The resumption of the large-scale military attacks had been coordinated with US President Donald Trump's administration, which has declared its complete support.

The renewed assaults have claimed the lives of around 1,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, marking one of the highest tolls since the war began. The toll came, while the genocidal campaign had already killed roughly 48,000 people.

As part of the fresh genocidal push, the Israeli military has expanded its ground operations, seizing strategic areas such as the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, control over which facilitates its deadly attacks on the central and northern parts of the coastal sliver. Israeli forces have also advanced towards the cities of Beit Lahia and Rafah, respectively in northern and southern Gaza.

The humanitarian situation in the territory has, meanwhile, reached critical levels, with aid distribution almost entirely blockaded on the back of a simultaneous Israeli siege.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which handles the affairs of Palestinian refugees, has warned that it only had enough flour supplies for a few more days.

Hamas has, however, stood up to Tel Aviv's efforts at manipulating the deal and imposing its own conditions amid strong speculations that upon receiving the remaining captives, the regime would refuse to stop the genocide and withdraw.

On Wednesday, the movement reiterated its steadfastness, rejecting any attempts at forced expulsion.

"Our Palestinian people will remain steadfast in their land, clinging to their rights, and will thwart all attempts of forced or voluntary displacement," it underscored.

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Yemen succeeded in withstanding US, Israel with full sincerity: IRGC commander

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 5:51 PM

A high-ranking commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says Yemen provided "unparalleled" support for the people of Palestine in the face of the US and Israeli acts of aggression.

In an interview with Yemen's al-Masirah television channel on Friday, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the IRGC's Aerospace Division, said the Yemeni people have given everything they have to support the Gaza Strip.

"The Yemenis have no equal in supporting Gaz. We salute them, both leaders and people," he added.

"The Yemenis have succeeded in a great test, withstanding with full sincerity, facing the Americans and the Zionists without fear," Hajizadeh emphasized.

Yemenis have been hitting Israeli and American targets in support of Palestinians in Gaza since the regime launched its devastating war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, and in response to the American-British aggression on their homeland.

Yemen's Ansarullah resistance movement has been also targeting ships linked to Israel, the United States, or the United Kingdom to force an end to the Tel Aviv regime's genocidal war on Gaza.

The Yemeni Armed Forces have said they will not stop their attacks until Israel's ground and aerial offensives in Gaza end.

Yemen's Armed Forces resumed their anti-Israeli operations at the discretion of Ansarullah's leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

Houthi had set the Israeli regime a four-day deadline to open the Gaza Strip's crossings to let in vital aid into the Palestinian territory. Tel Aviv has closed off the terminals amid its deadly attacks against the coastal sliver.

The regime, however, missed the deadline, prompting the Armed Forces to resume a ban on Israeli and Israeli-affiliated vessels' crossing key waterways off Yemen's coastline.

Over Saturday and Sunday alone, as many as 53 Yemeni civilians, including women and children, were killed in American airstrikes hitting purely civilian targets throughout entire Yemen, despite Trump's assertions that the US's aggression was aimed at Ansarullah.

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France opposes annexation of Gaza, West Bank: French FM

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 5:16 PM

French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot said that his country opposes any form of annexation of Gaza and the West Bank by the Israeli regime.

"France opposes any form of annexation, whether it is the West Bank or the Gaza Strip," Barrot said at a press conference during his visit to Dijon, eastern France, on Friday.

According to the official, France has a "very clear vision of what the future of the region should be."

"It is a solution for two states living in peace side by side, with mutual recognition and security guarantees. This is the only way to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region," he said.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli Minister Israel Katz said that the occupying regime would annex territories in Gaza if the Islamic Resistance Movement refused to release the remaining hostages.

Zionist forces have repeatedly violated the ceasefire that began on January 19 and have resumed genocidal atrocities since Tuesday.

In two days, the Israeli regime killed over 700 Palestinians and wounded over 1,000.

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Israel's recent strikes killed over 200 kids in Gaza: UNICEF

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 4:09 PM

The United Nations agency for children (UNICEF) says at least 200 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed its genocidal war on the strip on Tuesday.

"Since the resumption of heavy shelling, from the morning of March 18 until now, more than 200 children have been killed," Rosalia Bollen, a UNICEF official in Gaza, told al-Jazeera broadcaster on Thursday.

She further said the Israeli attacks also left thousands of children seriously wounded, with hospitals unable to cope with the growing number of casualties.

According to the report, the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip has left residents without access to even necessities.

The UNICEF official stressed that there is no safe place left in the strip even for emergencies.

Health authorities in Gaza said more than 590 Palestinians have been killed since Israel renewed strikes on Gaza, breaking the two-month ceasefire agreement.

In January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas given the regime's failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the "elimination" of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.

Israel launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023. It has killed nearly 50,000 Palestinians there so far.

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Sudan army recaptures Khartoum presidential palace

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 2:54 PM

In a statement released on Friday, Sudan's army said its troops had recaptured the presidential palace in downtown Khartoum after nearly two years of conflict with the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The palace was the last heavily guarded bastion of the rival group, AP reported.

"Today the flag is raised, the palace is back, and the journey continues until victory is complete," Sudan's Information Minister Khaled al-Aiser wrote on the social platform X.

Social media videos showed Sudanese army soldiers inside the palace, giving the date as the 21st day of Ramadan. A Sudanese military officer wearing a captain's epaulettes announced in the video and confirmed that the troops were inside the compound.

The RSF later issued a statement claiming its forces "are still present in the vicinity of the area, fighting bravely."

A drone attack on the palace, believed to have been launched by the RSF, reportedly killed troops and journalists with Sudanese state television.

The RSF said they had killed dozens in the attack, adding that the battle for the Republican Palace is not over yet.

Despite the seizure of the palace, the RSF still controls large parts of the country, including much of the western Darfur region, which has been the scene of the deadliest violence since April 2023.

Although the RSF still has positions in Khartoum, its foothold there is more tenuous than at any point since the conflict began, and the trajectory suggests the RSF will be pushed out completely, said Ahmed Soliman, a senior research fellow at Chatham House.

The RSF rapidly seized the presidential palace in Khartoum, along with the rest of the city, after war broke out in April 2023 over the group's integration into the armed forces.

Sudan has been unstable since the removal of President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

The head of the UN children's agency has said the conflict has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis. UNICEF on Friday separately decried the looting of food aid meant for malnourished children at Al Bashir Hospital on the outskirts of Khartoum.

The war has killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes, and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country. Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll.

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Israeli spy chief revealed 'criminal Netanyahu main obstacle to effective negotiations': Hamas

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 2:01 PM

Hamas has said recent damning remarks by the head of the Israeli regime's so-called internal spy agency had revealed the Israeli prime minister to be the main obstacle to effective negotiations between the group and Tel Aviv.

The Gaza Strip-based Palestinian resistance movement made the comments in a statement on Friday after revelations from Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his obstructive efforts targeting the talks.

In a letter dated Thursday that was meant as a response by Bar to Netanyahu's bid to dismiss him, the spy chief said the premier was derailing the talks that are aimed at furthering the exchange of Zionist captives with Palestinian prisoners among other things.

Netanyahu's campaign, which included his endeavor to rid the regime of Bar over, what the spy chief has termed as, his facilitating contributions to the talks and Shin Bet's standing investigations into the regime's serious security lapses under Netanyahu, was geared towards stonewalling fruition of the probes and thus ensuring the premier's already drawn-out political longevity, he asserted.

Reacting to the letter, Hamas denounced Netanyahu for deliberately undermining the negotiations that are also aimed at bringing about a ceasefire in the Israeli regime's war of genocide and crippling siege on Gaza, and realizing a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territory.

The group contended that "the Shin Bet chief's statements reveal the criminal Netanyahu's deliberate manipulation of the negotiations" aiming to impede agreements and subsequently obstructing their implementation to serve the premier's political interests.

The movement said Netanyahu's exclusion of key security figures from the negotiations underscored his "internal turmoil" and lack of commitment to genuine agreements.

Bar's revelations indicated that Netanyahu had orchestrated superficial negotiations designed to delay progress without yielding tangible outcomes.

The controversial dismissal of Bar has, however, been unanimously approved by the Israeli regime's cabinet.

Israeli opposition officials and other critics argue that the decision aimed to deflect blame for security lapses and maintain Netanyahu's grip on power.

The dismissal bid has also sparked widespread protests, with opposition parties filing petitions against the move.

The Israeli Supreme Court has intervened, temporarily halting Bar's dismissal until an appeal is heard by April 8. Observers say the judicial action further underscores the escalating tensions within the regime's political and security circles.

Hamas, meanwhile, urged American officials to cease attributing the failure of agreements to the group and instead hold the Israeli prime minister directly responsible for the ongoing suffering of Zionist captives, Palestinian prisoners and their families.

It emphasized that halting the Israeli aggression, resuming sincere negotiations, and implementing agreements without political maneuvering were essential steps toward resolving the issue.

Also on Friday, Hamas responded to reports by the Israeli regime's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper suggesting a breakdown in communications or suspension of captive/prisoner exchange talks.

The group refuted the claims, affirming its active engagement in negotiations, responsibly collaborating with mediators, and continuing to discuss various proposals to secure an exchange process, an end to the genocide, and an Israeli withdrawal.

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UN, EU call for ceasefire in Gaza as Israel renews strikes

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 11:38 AM

The United Nations and the European Union have called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as Israel has resumed its genocidal war on the strip.

Speaking at a UN Security Council briefing on Thursday, Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General at the Department of Political Affairs (DPPA), reported on the worsening situation in Gaza after Israel broke the ceasefire and prisoner-captive exchange agreement that lasted nearly two months.

"With every passing day, we move further away from the objective of returning the remaining hostages safely to their homes," Khiari said, referring to the Israeli captives held in Gaza.

The senior UN political affairs official called for the resumption of ceasefire talks and the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

He recalled UN relief chief Tom Fletcher's briefing to the UNSC earlier this week, "a renewed ceasefire is the best way of protecting civilians - in Gaza, in the occupied Palestinian territory, and in Israel - releasing hostages and detainees and allowing aid and commercial supplies in."

Khiari noted that six UN staff members were among hundreds of people who have been killed since Israel resumed the strikes on Tuesday.

Also on Thursday, the European Council condemned "the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza, which has caused a large number of civilian casualties in recent air strikes".

It also urged an "immediate" return to the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement, stressing the necessity of advancing to the second phase of the deal.

The council said the full implementation of the deal is essential for securing the release of all captives and achieving a permanent end to fighting.

The European Council also called for unimpeded access to humanitarian aid in Gaza and an "immediate" resumption of power supply to Gaza.

Last week, Israeli media said the regime's energy and infrastructure minister Eli Cohen ordered the Israel Electric Company to stop transmitting electricity to Gaza "immediately."

The UN's special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, warned of Israel's decision to cut the flow of electricity to Gaza, saying it will impact water supply to the besieged strip.

Israel launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023. It has killed nearly 50,000 Palestinians there so far.

In January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas given the regime's failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the "elimination" of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.

The 42-day stage of the truce, which was marred by repeated Israeli violations, expired on March 1, but Israel is refraining from stepping into talks for the second stage of the agreement.

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Israeli forces escalate aggression in Jenin in West Bank

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 7:30 AM

Israeli forces have escalated their aggression in the occupied West Bank, intensifying their campaign of home demolitions and forcible displacement of Palestinians in the city of Jenin and its refugee camp.

The Media Committee in Jenin Camp said on Thursday that Israeli forces deployed more tanks, military vehicles and bulldozers to accelerate the demolition of homes.

The report also noted that the occupying regime's troops had turned a number of homes into military barracks.

The Israeli regime also issued demolition orders for approximately 66 homes in the neighborhoods of al-Hawashin, al-Ulub, Azzam Mosque, Joura al-Dhahab, and al-Samran on Wednesday, under the pretext of expanding roads and building new ones in the camp to facilitate the entry of Israeli military vehicles.

Later in the day, the Israeli forces set fire to several homes near the Sa'adi Diwan in the Jenin camp. They also continued to block a road leading to Jenin Government Hospital with dirt barriers.

According to the committee, the Israeli forces have destroyed 100% of the streets in Jenin camp and bulldozed about 80% of those of Jenin City.

The committee added that Israel's aggression has forced the residents of 3,200 homes in Jenin camp to leave their homes, bringing to nearly 21,000 the number of displaced people. The offensive has also taken a heavy toll on Jenin City's economy, with poverty rates soaring among its residents.

Since the start of the offensive on Jenin and its camp, 36 Palestinian people have also been killed, while more than 227 others have been detained, according to the committee.

Since a ceasefire in Gaza was announced in January, Israel has intensified its attacks on various parts of the occupied West Bank as part of its attempts to Judaize and impose its control over the territory.

Israel launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023. It has killed nearly 50,000 Palestinians there so far.

In January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas given the regime's failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the "elimination" of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.

However, the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza have shattered the ceasefire and prisoner-captive exchange agreement that lasted nearly two months.

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Israeli warplanes launch wave of attacks on targets in eastern, southern Lebanon

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 6:51 AM

Israeli military aircraft have launched a series of airstrikes against areas deep inside the eastern and southern flanks of Lebanon, in the latest flagrant violation of a fragile ceasefire agreement with the Arab nation.

Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes struck the outskirts of Taraya village in the Baalbek district of the Baalbek-Hermel province, and the al-Shaara area near Janta at the foothills of the eastern mountain range.

In southern Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes hit the area between the Jbaa and Snaya regions with four missiles.

The Israeli military confirmed the strikes in a statement, alleging they were targeting infrastructure and rocket launchers belonging to the Hezbollah resistance movement.

"The Israeli army struck a military site containing an underground infrastructure site in the Beqaa (Valley) area in Lebanon," the statement read.

Another Hezbollah site, containing rocket launchers in southern Lebanon, was also struck, it added.

Israel had to agree to a ceasefire with Hezbollah following significant losses incurred over nearly 14 months of conflict, failing to achieve its goals in the offensive against Lebanon. The ceasefire took effect on November 27.

Since the commencement of the agreement, the occupying forces have been carrying out near-daily assaults on Lebanon, breaching the ceasefire, which includes airstrikes throughout the Arab nation.

On January 27, Lebanon declared its decision to prolong the ceasefire with Israel until February 18.

Despite the February 18 deadline having passed, Israel persists in its occupation of five critical areas in southern Lebanon, which include Labbouneh, Mount Blat, Owayda Hill, Aaziyyeh, and Hammamis Hill, located near the border.

Lebanon has denounced the ongoing presence of Israeli military personnel, which constitutes a breach of the ceasefire agreement and the stipulated withdrawal timeline. High-ranking officials in Beirut have stated their intention to "employ all measures" necessary to expel the occupying forces from the Arab country.

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UK, Germany issue 'travel warning' for US-headed passengers amid increased detentions, deportations

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 6:41 AM

The UK and Germany have issued "travel warnings" for passengers headed to the United States due to an increase in recent detentions and deportations of foreign visitors.

Media reports said on Thursday that the British and German governments had updated their travel advice for passengers seeking to enter the US with fresh warnings about the risks of being arrested or deported from the country.

The British Foreign Office's website advised British travelers headed to the US to fully "comply with all entry, visa and other conditions of entry."

"The authorities in the US set and enforce entry rules strictly. You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules," it warned.

In a similar move, Germany updated its US travel advisory to emphasize that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry to the United States.

The German Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday that it was aware of at least three cases of Germans being unable to enter the US, saying their "journey was blocked by deportation detention."

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday, "The final decision on whether a person can enter the US lies with the US border authorities."

Earlier this month, Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian actress who worked in the US was trying to enter the country from the Mexican border when she was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

"I was reapplying for my work visa and with no warning about what was about to happen, I was taken by ICE," Mooney told an ABC News 10 San Diego reporter from the detention center where she was being held.

Jasmine's mother, Alexis Eagles, told Global News that her daughter was put on a fight to Vancouver after being incarcerated for 12 days in "brutal and inhumane conditions."

Ottawa also updated its travel advisory, warning Canadians of "strict" enforcement of entry requirements, reminding travelers headed to the US from Canada that a visa or other permit does not guarantee entry to the United States.

A French scientist was denied entry into the US earlier this month after immigration officials found text messages on his phone criticizing Trump.

The French scientist, who has not been named, was on his way to a conference in Houston, Texas when the immigration agents pulled him aside and searched his work computer and phone, the French newspaper Le Monde reported.

They reportedly said the "hateful" messages on his phone criticizing Trump's mistreatment of scientists and researchers "could be considered to be terrorism," according to French media. The scientist was then deported.

Similarly, there have been many reports of seemingly unwarranted detentions and deportations at the US border. Since taking office in January, Trump has announced a number of immigration-related executive orders that focus on stricter border policy, tighter visa vetting procedures and a crackdown on undocumented migrants in the US.

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American Glezmann Returns Home After 2-Year Detention In Afghanistan

By RFE/RL March 21, 2025

George Glezmann, an American who was released from detention in Afghanistan on March 20, has arrived in the United States and been reunited with his wife, a State Department spokesperson said.

Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said on March 21 that Ryan Corbett, another former American prisoner in Afghanistan who had been held in the same cell as Glezmann, was in a welcoming party for Glezmann at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.

"After a brief ceremony, George and [his wife] Aleksandra flew to another location in the United States to rest and recover," Bruce told reporters at a regular State Department news briefing.

Glezmann, 66, was released from detention in Kabul following the first visit by a senior US official to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in the wake of the withdrawal of international troops from the war-torn country in August 2021.

Former US special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said on X that he and Adam Boehler, a senior adviser at the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, met with Taliban officials in Kabul on March 20.

"We succeeded in obtaining the release of an American citizen, George Glezmann, after two years in detention in Kabul. The Taliban government agreed to free him as a goodwill gesture to [President Donald Trump] and the American people," Khalilzad said.

Details of the negotiations were not revealed. The United States, like most countries, does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.

"I feel like born again," Glezmann said on Fox News after arriving at Joint Base Andrews. "I'm just thankful. I've got no word to express my gratitude for my liberty for my freedom."

Glezmann also thanked President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others who helped free him, he said on Fox News, recalling how he was abducted in the streets of Kabul and thrown "into a dungeon with no windows no nothing."

Boehler told Fox News he expects to see more Americans released.

"The Taliban understand that there is a new sheriff in town. That president Trump is that new sheriff and that's why you are seeing something like this," he said.

One of the other US citizens being held in Afghanistan is Mahmood Habibi, who also has been held since 2022.

Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken into custody by Taliban authorities while on a tourist visit to Afghanistan in December 2022 and had been deemed wrongfully detained by the US government.

Rubio called Glezmann's release "a positive and constructive step" that was aided by officials in Qatar, which has often hosted negotiations between Washington and the Taliban.

"It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan," he added.

The release comes two months after two other Americans held in Afghanistan were exchanged for a Taliban man imprisoned for life in California on drug and terrorism charges.

Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were swapped for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two life terms in 2008 and was incarcerated in a US prison.

Aid worker Corbett, 40, and Habibi, 37 -- who led the Afghan Aviation Authority under the previous Afghan government -- were detained separately in August 2022.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/george-glezmann- returns-home-after-detention-afghanistan-taliban/33355417.html

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Joint statement from the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and the UK (E3) on Gaza

The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, and the UK (the E3) call for immediate return to a ceasefire

21 March 2025

Joint statement on behalf of the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and the UK (E3):

The resumption of Israeli strikes in Gaza marks a dramatic step backward for the people of Gaza, the hostages, their families and the entire region. We are appalled by the civilian casualties and urgently call for an immediate return to a ceasefire.

We call on all parties to re-engage with negotiations to ensure the ceasefire is implemented in full and becomes permanent. This must include Hamas releasing the hostages that they have cruelly detained and persistently refuse to release.

All Israelis and Palestinians have a right to peace and security. We call on all those with influence over Hamas to use that influence to ensure no further attacks against Israel. We are clear that Hamas must neither govern Gaza nor be a threat to Israel anymore. However, this conflict cannot be resolved through military means. A return to fighting will only result in the deaths of more Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages.

More bloodshed is in no-one's interest. Israel should fully respect international law and allow the flow of aid immediately. Civilians should be protected and not be cut off from essential aid or assistance. We call on Israel to restore humanitarian access, including water and electricity, and ensure access to medical care and temporary medical evacuations in accordance with international humanitarian law.

We are deeply shocked by the deadly incident affecting a UNOPS building in Gaza, which has killed one UN employee and injured several others. Amongst the victims were European citizens. UN personnel and its premises should be protected and never be a target. There must be a full investigation into what happened.

A long-lasting ceasefire is the only credible pathway towards a sustainable peace, a two-state solution and the reconstruction of Gaza.

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The UK opposes any attempt to forcibly annex land in Gaza or expand settlements in the West Bank: UK statement at the UN Security Council

Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki, UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East.

21 March 2025

Location: United Nations, New York

Delivered on: 21 March 2025 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered)

We welcome this opportunity to discuss the evolving situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

First, I'll address recent developments in Gaza.

This week saw more bloodshed return to the Gaza strip.

It is appalling that hundreds of Palestinians have been killed following Israeli strikes since 18 March.

We strongly oppose Israel's resumption of hostilities.

Escalation and endless violence is in nobody's interests.

We are outraged that a UN compound in Gaza was hit on Wednesday morning.

Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.

There must be a full investigation into what happened.

We urge all parties to return to dialogue and to implement the ceasefire agreement in full.

This must include the return of the 59 hostages who have been cruelly held by Hamas for over 500 days.

As we said in the Council yesterday, Hamas must be held accountable for their depraved actions.

We also call on Israel to immediately restore humanitarian access and electricity to Gaza.

Refusing to do so risks breaching international humanitarian law.

Second, President, we must look to the future and redouble our efforts to secure long-term peace for Israelis and Palestinians.

This means a credible plan to allow Palestinians in Gaza to return home and rebuild their lives, with Hamas removed from power.

To be clear, we oppose any attempt to forcibly annex land in Gaza.

We welcome the Arab initiative of a recovery and reconstruction plan for Gaza and we urge all parties to engage constructively with it.

Sustainable peace also means addressing worrying developments in the West Bank.

We are seriously concerned by the scale of the Israeli miliary operation in the West Bank and the displacement of nearly 40,000 Palestinian refugees.

We recognise Israel's right to self defence, but civilians must be protected, and Israel must ensure its operations are proportionate to the threat posed.

Israel must halt settlements which are illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians.

Violent settlers must be held to account.

The UK has introduced three rounds of sanctions on violent settlers and their supporters to bring accountability for abuses of human rights, in the absence of sufficient Israeli action.

We will consider all further options.

Reports of the killing of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, including children, are abhorrent.

The IDF must take all precautions to prevent civilian deaths, and must investigate civilian deaths thoroughly and demonstrate full accountability to the law.

The level of restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank are crippling.

These only fuel further instability.

It is important, especially during the month of Ramadan, that religious freedoms are respected.

Restrictive visa and registration processes are also deeply concerning.

Israel must ensure the UN, including UNRWA, can provide essential humanitarian and service delivery in a safe and secure environment.

President, seventeen months on from the dreadful attacks of 7 October, we urge all parties to implement the ceasefire agreement in full and to work towards a two-state solution with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian State.

This is the best way to deliver a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

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UNHCR: DR Congo crisis deepens as funding cuts hit critical humanitarian aid

UNHCR - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Eujin Byun - to whom quoted text may be attributed - at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

21 March 2025

GENEVA -- Critical funding gaps are severely hampering humanitarian efforts in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and beyond, leaving thousands without life-saving aid and pushing an already dire humanitarian situation closer to catastrophe.

In less than three months, the number of Congolese fleeing to neighbouring countries has surged to over 100,000. Ongoing hostilities in North Kivu province, particularly in Masisi and Walikale territories, along with an extremely volatile security situation in Bukavu and surrounding areas in South Kivu province, have forced hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee.

In and around the city of Goma in North Kivu, sites that were previously home to 400,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) have all been destroyed, leaving families stranded without shelter or protection. Due to funding cuts, humanitarian partners are struggling to rebuild shelters, leaving displaced people with few options for survival.

Since January, more than 40,000 IDPs from North and South Kivu have arrived in Kalemie, in neighbouring Tanganyika province, after making perilous 700-kilometre journeys through multiple conflict zones, and across lakes. Among them are young people fleeing forced conscription into armed groups, and women and children separated from their families in the chaos of displacement.

The dangers of the journey have led to multiple tragedies as overcrowded and fragile boats, often the only means of crossing vast waterways, have capsized.

Funding constraints have made a proper emergency response by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, civil society and local government nearly impossible, hampering shelter construction and the distribution of essentials like blankets, mosquito nets, menstruation supplies and soap. Frozen funding has prevented the replenishment of UNHCR's emergency stocks in Kalemie, leaving only 147 blankets for displaced people.

The situation in neighbouring Uganda and Burundi is almost as dire. More than 28,000 Congolese refugees have crossed into Uganda since January this year - a 500 per cent increase from the same time last year - with another 10,000 people expected to arrive by the end of this month. Reports from new arrivals indicate a desperate flight from conflict and horrific human rights violations. Most reception and transit centres in Uganda are currently hosting seven times more than their capacity and lack sufficient water, sanitation and shelter. Funding cuts have left health centres overwhelmed, with child malnutrition soaring due to the termination of feeding centres in areas hosting the new arrivals.

In Burundi's Rugombo commune, which is hosting the majority of the 68,000 refugees who have arrived in the country since February, inadequate sanitation facilities and overcrowding in and around the stadium where people have been sheltering, as well as limited health care, have resulted in at least eight suspected cases of cholera. Without more funding to increase health services, there is a significant risk of further spread of disease. A new site to host refugee arrivals is already over capacity. The continued funding crisis has led to food shortages for new arrivals. Services for refugees with additional protection needs are also under strain, including for over 400 unaccompanied and separated children and for survivors of sexual violence.

We are grateful to those donors who have committed support so that UNHCR and partners can ramp up response efforts in the DRC and neighbouring countries, but the growing needs far exceed available resources.

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As new school year starts in Afghanistan, almost 400,000 more girls deprived of their right to education, bringing total to 2.2 million

UNICEF

Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on the third anniversary of the ban on secondary education for girls in Afghanistan

21 March 2025

NEW YORK, 22 March 2025 - "As a new school year begins in Afghanistan, it marks three years since the start of the ban on girls' secondary education. This decision continues to harm the future of millions of Afghan girls. If this ban persists until 2030, over four million girls will have been deprived of their right to education beyond primary school.

"The consequences for these girls - and for Afghanistan - are catastrophic.

"The ban negatively impacts the health system, the economy, and the future of the nation. With fewer girls receiving an education, girls face a higher risk of child marriage with negative repercussions on their well-being and health.

"In addition, the country will experience a shortage of qualified female health workers. This will endanger lives.

"With fewer female doctors and midwives, girls and women will not receive the medical treatment and support they need. We are estimating an additional 1,600 maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths. These are not just numbers, they represent lives lost and families shattered.

"For over three years, the rights of girls in Afghanistan have been violated. All girls must be allowed to return to school now. If these capable, bright young girls continue to be denied an education, then the repercussions will last for generations. Afghanistan cannot leave half of its population behind.

"At UNICEF, we remain unwavering in our commitment to Afghan children - girls and boys. Despite the ban, we have provided access to education for 445,000 children through community-based learning64 per cent of whom are girls. We are also empowering female teachers to ensure that girls have positive role models.

"We will continue to advocate for the right of every Afghan girl to receive an education, and we urge the de facto authorities to lift this ban immediately. Education is not just a fundamental right; it is the pathway to a healthier, more stable, and prosperous society."

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UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, Kitty van der Heijden Palais Briefing on Ethiopia, Nigeria and the global funding crisis

UNICEF

This is an overview of remarks by UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Kitty van der Heijden - to whom quoted text may be attributed - at the Palais des Nations in Geneva

21 March 2025

GENEVA/ABUJA, 21 March 2025 - "Good morning. It is good to be with you today.

"In the last 25 years, we have made significant progress in tackling the global malnutrition crisis for children. Since the year 2000, the number of stunted children has decreased by 55 million, or one third. In 2024, UNICEF and our partners reached 441 million children under five with services to prevent all forms of malnutrition, while 9.3 million children received treatment for severe wasting and others forms of severe acute malnutrition.

"This progress was made possible through the efforts of governments and the generosity of donors - including those in government, the private sector and philanthropic organizations - whose unwavering support was critical to the prevention and treatment of child malnutrition at a global scale.

"Today, those hard-earned gains are being rolled back because humanitarian and nutrition partners face a different, deepening crisis - namely the sharp decline in funding support for our lifesaving work. But it is more than the quantity of the reductions ... the problem is also how they have been made - in some cases, suddenly and without warning, leaving us with no time to mitigate their impact on our programmes for children.

"Earlier this week, I saw the consequences of the funding crisis firsthand when I visited the Afar region in the north of Ethiopia and Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria. Due to funding gaps in both countries, nearly 1.3 million children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition could lose access to treatment over the course of the year - leaving them at heightened risk of death.

"In Afar, a region that is prone to recurrent drought and floods, I visited a mobile health and nutrition team providing life-saving services to pastoralist communities in remote areas without health clinics. These teams are critical to supporting children with vital assistance, including treatment of severe wasting, vaccinations and essential medicines.

"But, without these critical interventions, children's lives are in peril. Only 7 of the 30 mobile health and nutrition units that UNICEF supports in Afar are currently operational - and this is a direct result of the global funding crisis.

"We estimate that without new sources of funding, UNICEF will run out of Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic-Food (RUTF) to treat children suffering from severe wasting in May - which could have dire consequences for the nearly an estimated 74,500 children in Ethiopia who require treatment each month.

"In Nigeria, where around 80,000 children per month require treatment, we could run out of RUTF supplies sometime between this month and the end of May.

"But the focus cannot just be on RUTF - or treating a child once they become severely malnourished. Programmes must deliver services to prevent children from becoming malnourished in the first place - this includes support for breastfeeding, access to micronutrient supplementation such as Vitamin A and ensuring they get the health services they need for other illnesses.

"The funding crisis goes far beyond Ethiopia and Nigeria ... this is happening around the world, and the most vulnerable children are bearing the brunt.

"Our biggest immediate concern is that even a brief halt of UNICEF's critical life-saving activities risks the lives of millions of children at a time when needs are already acute: UNICEF estimates that more than 213 million children in 146 counties and territories will require humanitarian assistance in 2025.

"We are determined to stay and deliver for the world's children - particularly at a time of unprecedented need. And UNICEF is committed to collaborate with our partners to ensure global humanitarian and development efforts remain efficient, effective and accountable.

"While reviews of foreign assistance are ongoing in capitals around the world, I want to remind government leaders that delaying action doesn't just harm childrenit drives up the cost for us all. Investing in children's survival and wellbeing is not only the right thing to do, it's also the most economically sound choice any government can make.

"Thank you."

###

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UNICEF condemns looting of life-saving supplies for children from Al Bashair hospital in Khartoum State

UNICEF

21 March 2025

NEW YORK/PORT SUDAN, Sudan, 21 March 2025 - UNICEF condemns in the strongest possible terms the looting of vital humanitarian suppliesintended to save the lives of malnourished children and provide critical healthcare to mothers and newborns from Al Bashair Hospital in Jabal Awlia, Khartoum. The looting, which included at least 2,200 cartons of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), has put the lives of over 2,000 children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) at risk.

The looting of Al Bashair Hospital, one of the last functioning medical facilities in Jabal Awlia, on the outskirts of the capital Khartoum, has compounded an already dire humanitarian catastrophe for children and families in the area. Commercial supplies and humanitarian aid have been blocked for more than three months due to ongoing conflict along key routes. The result is a severe shortage of food, medicine, and other essentials, with thousands of civilians trapped in active fighting. Over 4,000 people have already been forced to flee within Khartoum.

"Stealing life-saving supplies meant for malnourished children is outrageous and a direct attack on their survival," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "These unconscionable acts against vulnerable children must end. All parties must adhere to international humanitarian law, protect civilians, and ensure safe and unhindered humanitarian access to those in need"

Jabal Awlia is also one of 17 localities facing a risk of famine, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) update, making the loss of these supplies catastrophic for more than 100,000 acutely malnourished children. The looted iron and folic acid supplements were designated for 6,000 pregnant and lactating women. The stolen midwife kits and primary healthcare supplies would have supported over 132,980 mothers, newborns, and children in a region where healthcare access is extremely limited.

UNICEF had managed to deliver these critical supplies on 20 December 2024, marking the first successful humanitarian shipment to Jabal Awlia in over 18 months. The loss of these suppliescoupled with the forced suspension of humanitarian operations due to worsening security conditionsis pushing children closer to catastrophe.

Sudan is already facing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Over 24.6 million people - more than half the population - are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity. The collapse of health services, the closure of schools for 17 million children, and record levels of child displacement have created an unprecedented emergency.

UNICEF reiterates its urgent call for:

Unimpeded humanitarian access to reach children and families in need.

Protection of hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in line with international humanitarian law.

Immediate security guarantees for frontline workers delivering life-saving aid.

UNICEF remains committed to supporting children in Sudan and will continue working with partners to restore access to essential services. However, urgent funding and improved security conditions are needed to sustain operations and prevent further loss of life.

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Middle East crisis spirals amid mounting civilian deaths, aid blockade

21 March 2025 - The Israel-Palestine conflict is descending further into violence, with mounting civilian casualties in the West Bank and a deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the UN's top envoy for the region warned on Friday.

Sigrid Kaag, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (ad interim) briefed the Security Council on the latest report relating to resolution 2334 (2016), which calls for an immediate halt to Israeli settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

She detailed continued violations, escalating military operations and rising attacks against civilians, including deadly assaults by both Palestinian militants and Israeli forces.

Between 7 December 2024 and 13 March this year, at least 3,897 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, according to the enclave's Ministry of Health, and 59 Israeli hostages are still being held captive by Hamas and other groups, according to Israeli sources.

In the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli military operations during the same period led to the deaths of 123 Palestinians, while 10 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks. Women and children were among the victims on both sides.

Israeli settler violence also continued to displace Palestinian communities.

"The Secretary-General is alarmed by the lethal attacks carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, including sometimes in the proximity and with the support of Israeli security forces, as well as by Palestinians against Israelis," Ms. Kaag said.

"All perpetrators must be held accountable," she stressed.

Settlement expansion continues

She also reported that Israeli planning authorities advanced or approved about 10,600 housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank, including 4,920 in East Jerusalem. Demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures also accelerated in the region.

"Citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain, Israeli authorities demolished, seized, sealed or forced people to demolish 460 structures, displacing 576 people, including 287 children and 149 women," Ms. Kaag said.

Israel's aid blockade of Gaza

Ms. Kaag further reported that the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to remain dire.

Though 57,000 metric tons of food aid were delivered in the first month of the ceasefire, Israel halted all humanitarian and commercial supply entries on 2 March, worsening food, water and medical shortages.

At least 600,000 Gazans now lack access to clean water after Israel cut power to a desalination plant.

In addition, between 12,000 and 14,000 people, including over 4,500 children, require urgent medical evacuation, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

Echoing the Secretary-General's call for the urgent resumption of negotiations to reinstate a ceasefire, Ms. Kaag also underscored the need for unimpeded humanitarian access across the Gaza Strip and for the immediate and unconditional release of remaining hostages.

Two-State solution

Concluding her briefing, Ms. Kaag reiterated the UN chief's call to establish a political framework that outlines tangible, irreversible and time-bound steps to be taken by Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

"The occupation must end as rapidly as possible," she said, stating that a viable two-State solution - Israel and Palestine, of which Gaza is an integral part, living side-by-side in peace and security, "is long overdue".

"The United Nations will continue to support all efforts towards that goal."





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Children, refugees pay hefty price of global aid funding crisis

21 March 2025 - Children, refugees and displaced people worldwide are paying the price for the deep-seated funding crisis that has engulfed the international aid sector, made worse by pronounced cuts in Washington, the UN children's and refugee agencies said on Friday.

Spokespersons for UNICEF and UNHCR in Geneva warned that the liquidity crunch has jeopardized lifesaving work, including progress in reducing child mortality, which has fallen by 60 per cent since 1990.

By slashing severe acute malnutrition by one-third since 2000, UNICEF's efforts have kept 55 million children alive, through simple interventions, it insisted.

"There are ways in which we can still be optimistic if we know that we can do it," said Kitty van der Heijden, UNICEF's Deputy Executive Director said from Abuja, Nigeria.

But that work can only get done with the support of a "conveyor belt" of partners in government, philanthropy, and the private sector.

Donors are essential to delivering lifesaving assistance to children and mothers worldwide, Ms. Van der Heijden insisted: "We never do this alone."

Advances being rolled back

But these gains are now at risk of being rolled back by recent pullouts, she warned, adding that the issue does not lie with a single benefactor.

"It is the fact that it's a cumulative set of donors that are doing this. That really risks rolling back that progress," she said.

"These decisions have impacts on real children, real lives every day in the here and now."

Due to funding shortages, around 1.3 million children could lose access to life-saving support and ready-to-use therapeutic foods this year in Nigeria and Ethiopia.

In 2025, some 213 million children in 146 countries will need lifesaving humanitarian support, according to the UNICEF spokesperson.

Supply chain break down

In the Afar region of northeast Ethiopia, UNICEF runs 30 mobile clinics - which Ms. van der Heijden visited last week and described as a "sheet under a shaded tree".

The facilities, aimed at supporting impoverished pastoralist communities that are on the move, provide pregnant and lactating mothers as well as children with the "bare minimum", she said, including supplementary vitamin A, iron deficiency, malnutrition and malaria treatments.

Only seven out of these 30 clinics remain, with the others shut by the wave of financial cutbacks.

"Without new funding, we will run out of our supply chain by May," she said. "And that means that 70,000 children in Ethiopia depend on this type of treatment cannot be served."

Similarly, in Nigeria, UNICEF could run out of supplies between this month and May.

Beyond treatment, prevention

Investing in prevention, nutrient supplementation and early screenings is also crucial to preventing more unnecessary deaths.

"It's not just about the treatment. We have to be able to prevent it getting to this stage."

Earlier this week, Ms. van der Heijden visited a Nigerian hospital and saw a child so malnourished that his skin was peeling off.

"That's the level of malnutrition that we're seeing here," she said, stressing the importance of prevention.

"As needs are rising, we need the global community to step up to the plate, to rise to the occasion, to keep investing in the art of the possible," Ms. Van der Heijden stressed, adding that UNICEF will not retreat.

"All over the world, the price is the same. It's children that bear the brunt of decisions in capitals."

Failing the children

"If you're holding a child that is about to die of a totally preventable, treatable disease. It is nothing short of heartbreaking," said Ms. van der Heijden. "We should not allow the global community to fail children in this way."

The severe financial crisis underway is also posing a security risk to staff, hampering humanitarians' ability to deliver.

UNHCR downsizing operations

Finding itself in a similar position, UNHCR has also announced cuts to operations and programmes.

It is the latest agency to face painful cutbacks in the field and at headquarters following the announcement of a drastic drawdown in funding from the United States Government.

"The biggest concern that we have is, of course, in all of this for refugees, for the displaced, they will be feeling the brunt of these cuts," said Matthew Saltmarsh, a spokesperson for UNHCR.

Mr. Saltmarsh said the agency was conducting a review to determine how many staff would have to be let go.

UNHCR has already has to halt multiple initiatives including in South Sudan, Bangladesh and Europe, and closed offices in countries like Turkiye.

In Ethiopia, the organization has suspended operations at a safehouse for women facing death threats, Mr. Saltmarsh said.

"In South Sudan, only 25 per cent of the dedicated spaces supported by UNHCR for women and girls at risk of violence are currently operational. That has left some 80,000 people without access to services like emergency psychosocial support and legal and medical assistance."





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UNICEF condemns looting of lifesaving supplies for children in Sudan

By Vibhu Mishra

21 March 2025 - The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Friday strongly condemned the looting of vital humanitarian supplies from Al Bashair Hospital in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, warning that the theft puts thousands of malnourished children and mothers at risk.

The attack on one of the last operational hospitals in the area further deepened the ongoing humanitarian crisis sparked by the civil war between rival militaries, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which started in April 2023.

Among the stolen supplies were 2,200 cartons of ready-to-use therapeutic food - a crucial treatment for children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, a life-threatening condition characterized by severe weight loss and muscle wasting.

Also stolen were iron and folic acid supplements for pregnant and lactating women, as well as midwife kits and primary healthcare supplies meant for mothers, newborns and children.

Attack on their survival

"Stealing life-saving supplies meant for malnourished children is outrageous and a direct attack on their survival," said Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF.

"These unconscionable acts against vulnerable children must end. All parties must adhere to international humanitarian law, protect civilians, and ensure safe and unhindered humanitarian access to those in need."

UNICEF had successfully delivered these supplies on 20 December last year, marking the first humanitarian shipment to Jabal Awlia in over 18 months. However, the looting, combined with escalating violence that has forced aid operations to suspend, is pushing the region's most vulnerable closer to disaster.

Children pushed closer to catastrophe

The hospital is situated in Jabal Awlia, one of 17 localities at risk of famine.

The region has been struggling with severe shortages of food, medicine and other essentials. Fighting has blocked commercial and humanitarian supplies for more than three months, leaving thousands of civilians trapped amid intensified fighting.

More than 4,000 people have been forced to flee, further deepening the crisis.

Unprecedented humanitarian crisis

Beyond Jabal Awlia, the humanitarian disaster extends across Sudan, where millions are facing life-threatening conditions.

More than 24.6 million people - over half the population - are facing acute food insecurity, and the collapse of health services, the closure of schools and record levels of displacement have created an unprecedented crisis.

In the face of rising challenges, UNICEF called on all actors to urgently ensure unimpeded humanitarian access to deliver aid, the protection of hospitals and civilian infrastructure, as well as security guarantees for aid workers to ensure life-saving assistance can reach those in need.





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UNRWA Situation Report #164 on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. All information updated for 12-18 March 2025

UNRWA

21 Mar 2025

Highlights

On the night between 17 and 18 March, the Israeli Forces resumed airstrikes and bombardments across the Gaza Strip, reportedly killing over 400 people. These strikes come two weeks after Israeli authorities initiated a total siege of the Gaza Strip, blocking all humanitarian aid and supplies from entering since 2 March and not providing any humanitarian assistance to the population in need.

Since the start of the ceasefire, UNRWA has delivered food assistance to the entire population of the Gaza Strip. During the same reporting period, UNRWA teams have provided nearly 579,000 health consultations and reached more than half a million people with shelter and non-food items like tents, tarpaulins, blankets, clothes, and hygiene kits. OCHA reports that over one million people risk being left without food parcels in March if supplies are not urgently allowed into Gaza.

The Israeli Forces' large-scale operation that started in Jenin camp and other areas of northern West Bank on 21 January 2025 is ongoing, making it by far the single longest Israeli Forces' operation in the West Bank since the second intifada in the early 2000s and causing the largest population displacement since the 1967 war. UNRWA and partners continue to provide urgent humanitarian assistance and psychosocial support (PSS) to families displaced within the northern West Bank.

Key points

The Gaza Strip

On the night between 17 and 18 March, the Israeli Forces conducted airstrikes and bombardments across the Gaza Strip. As a result, around 500 people were reportedly killed, including more than 170 children. On 18 March, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated "Awful scenes of civilians killed among them children following waves of heavy bombardment from Israeli Forces overnight. Fueling "hell on earth" by resuming the war will only bring more despair and suffering. A return to the ceasefire is a must."

On 18 March, the Israeli authorities issued new evacuation orders for multiple areas in the Gaza Strip. OCHA reported that 19 neighbourhoods were directly affected, including 13 in North Gaza and six in eastern Khan Younis, affecting an estimated 30,000 and 35,000 people, respectively.

On 2 March, the Israeli authorities announced a halt to humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip, including fuel. No supplies - humanitarian or commercial - have entered Gaza since then. This is longer than in the beginning of the war when the Israeli authorities laid a siege that lasted from 7-21 October 2023. Critical supplies, including food and medical equipment, are running low and are urgently needed to respond to the already dire humanitarian situation.

On 16 March, UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Director Edouard Beigbeder stated: "Without aid entering the Gaza Strip, roughly 1 million children are living without the very basics they need to survive - yet again," adding that "approximately 4,000 newborns are currently unable to access essential lifesaving care due to the major impact on medical facilities in the Gaza Strip."

Despite the siege and existing challenges, UNRWA continues to delivering aid and providing services to communities overwhelmed by nearly 1.5 years of constant bombardment, forced displacement, and lack of critical resources. Since 19 January, UNRWA teams have delivered critical food assistance to the entire population of the Gaza Strip.

UNRWA runs 116 shelters across the Gaza Strip, with around 148,000 displaced people residing in them.

Since 19 January (when the ceasefire started), more than half a million people across all five Governorates have received non-food items, including blankets, mattresses, floor mats, clothes, kitchen items, and tarpaulins for rain protection. As of 9 March, over 100,000 families (or more than an estimated 600,000 people) had received bedding items through UNRWA, around 63,000 families (or around 416,000 people) had been reached with tarpaulins, and more than 31,000 winter clothing kits had been distributed to vulnerable adults. Over 14,400 families (or around 72,000 people) have been reached by UNRWA teams with tents since the ceasefire started.

Since the start of the ceasefire until 16 March 2025, UNRWA health teams have provided nearly 579,000 health consultations (or around 15,000 per working day), antenatal, post-natal and family planning care for over 39,000 women, dental and oral health services in fixed and mobile clinics reaching over 24,000 patients, and physiotherapy rehabilitation services for over 10,000 patients.

In March, UNRWA has established around 180 additional Temporary Learning Spaces in schools and shelters in Khan Younis, the Middle Area, Gaza and North Gaza, for a total of around 440 UNRWA Temporary Learning Spaces across the Gaza Strip. Around 50,000 children received basic learning in these spaces. Since the resumption of the bombardment, UNRWA has been forced to halt these learning activities.

According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people - or about 90 per cent of the population - across the Gaza Strip were displaced during the war. Many have been displaced repeatedly, some 10 times or more. Since the start of the ceasefire, new population movements have been reported, with people trying to return to whatever is left of their homes. Most homes (92 per cent according to the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MoPWH) have been either severely damaged or destroyed. Since the recent evacuation orders were issued, it is likely that more people will be forced to flee in search of safety.

- or about of the population - across the Gaza Strip were displaced during the war. Many have been displaced repeatedly, some 10 times or more. Since the start of the ceasefire, new population movements have been reported, with people trying to return to whatever is left of their homes. Most homes (92 per cent according to the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MoPWH) have been either severely damaged or destroyed. Since the recent evacuation orders were issued, it is likely that more people will be forced to flee in search of safety. Between 7 October 2023 and 17 March 2025, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, as stated by OCHA, at least 48,577 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Gaza and 112,041 have been injured.

Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Gaza and have been injured. OCHA reports that, the MoH in Gaza published the breakdown of 40,717 out of 42,010 fatalities as of 7 October 2024. These reportedly include 13,319 children, 7,216 women, 3,447 elderly, and 16,735 men. Among the child fatalities, 786 children are under one year of age, representing about six per cent of children killed whose full identification details have been documented, the MoH further reported. Additionally, as of 7 October 2024, the MoH noted that 35,055 children had lost one or both parents over the past year.

The total number of UNRWA team members killed since 7 October 2023 is 281.

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem

According to OCHA, between 7 October 2023 and 14 March 2025, 902 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Of those, 96 Palestinians, including at least 17 children, who were killed only since the year began.

The Israeli Forces large-scale operation that started in the northern West Bank on 21 January 2025 continues, with demolition and destruction of homes , including reports of Israeli Forces ordering residents to vacate homes, and Israeli Forces setting fire to houses. Around 200 families were displaced from Tulkarm Camp by Israeli Forces.

On 10 March, a Palestinian on a motorcycle was hit and killed by an Israeli Forces vehicle in Jenin, and on 11 March, four Palestinians were killed in Jenin by the Israeli Forces among them one elderly woman.

UNRWA and partners continued the delivery of emergency assistance to the displaced people/ families? in the northern West Bank, including food kits and other in-kind assistance.

Early on 11 March, Israeli Forces conducted a search operation in Azzun, east of Qalqiliya. They temporarily detained around 180 Palestinians, subjecting them to field interrogations before taking some into detention.

Bulldozing and uprooting of olive trees by Israeli Forces occurred in the area between Salfit and Bruqin in the northern West Bank over four days between 12 and 16 March, allegedly linked to the expansion of an Israeli illegal outpost.

Overall situation

The Gaza Strip

Between 7 October 2023 and 17 March 2025, according to the MoH in Gaza as stated by OCHA, at least 48,577 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in the Gaza Strip while 112,041 have been reported injured.

Humanitarian access, protection of civilians

As of 11 March 2025, 805* incidents impacting UNRWA premises and the people inside them have been reported since the beginning of the war. 311* UNRWA installations have been impacted by armed conflict-related incidents since the beginning of the war, some on multiple occasions. UNRWA estimates that, in total, at least 738* persons sheltering in UNRWA installations have been killed and at least 2,401* injured since the start of the war. UNRWA continues to verify and update the number of casualties caused by these incidents.

*Since the start of the war in October 2023, the latest casualty figures are continuously under review as UNRWA gains access to locations that were previously inaccessible and as further verifications occur. The summary figures will be published/updated as information becomes available, noting that these numbers are subject to change once verifications are concluded.

The Gaza Strip

Health

According to the Health Cluster, UNRWA remains one of the largest health actors operating in the Gaza Strip, contributing to over half of the people reached with health services since 7 October 2023. Between 7 October 2023 and 9 March 2025, UNRWA provided over 7.8 million medical consultations across the Gaza Strip.

In addition to medical consultations, UNRWA (in partnership with and supported by other UN agencies, including UNICEF and WHO) continued to vaccinate children. Over 259,000 routine vaccines have been given to children from January 2024. In addition, around 560,000 children under the age of 10 across the Gaza Strip have been vaccinated against polio in the first two rounds of the campaign.

A third round of the polio vaccination campaign supported by UNRWA, WHO, UNICEF, and other partners took place between 22 and 26 February 2025 in the Gaza Strip, reaching over 600,000 children under the age of 10 with this critical vaccine. With over 1,700 personnel organised in 555 mobile and fixed teams, UNRWA vaccinated over 213,000 children, constituting around one third of the overall polio vaccination response.

Since the start of the ceasefire until 16 March 2025, UNRWA health teams have provided nearly 579,000 health consultations (or around 15,000 per working day), antenatal, post-natal and family planning care for over 39,000 women, dental and oral health services in fixed and mobile clinics reaching over 24,000 patients, and physiotherapy rehabilitation services for over 10,000 patients.

As of 15 March, only six out of 22 UNRWA health centres and five additional UNRWA-rented facilities used as temporary health centres were operational in Gaza. Health services are also provided through 115 mobile medical teams working in 44 medical points inside and outside shelters in the middle area, Khan Younis, Al Mawasi and Gaza City. UNRWA health facilities provide primary health care, including outpatient services, non-communicable disease care, giving out medications, vaccination, antenatal and postnatal health care, laboratory and dental services, physiotherapy and dressings for the injured. The number of operational health facilities changes constantly based on demand, access and security.

Between 10 and 16 March, an average of 1,024 UNRWA health staff worked in health centres, temporary clinics and medical points across the Gaza Strip, providing 71,536 health consultations during the reporting period.

UNRWA continued to provide mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services in the middle and Khan Younis areas, with teams of psychiatrists, psychosocial counsellors and supervisors to assist special cases referred from UNRWA health centres and shelters. Between 10 and 16 March, UNRWA teams responded to 1,610 cases in health centres and at medical points through individual consultations, awareness sessions and to address cases of gender-based violence (GBV).

Between 10 and 16 March, UNRWA medical teams provided care for 4,838 post-natal and pregnant women at high risk, dental and oral health services in fixed and mobile clinics reaching 2,723 patients, and physiotherapy rehabilitation services for 1,374 patients in health centres and medical points.

Since the ceasefire started until 24 February, UNRWA health teams have received nearly 550 pallets of medical supplies including medicines, laboratory and dental supplies, and enough insulin syringes for over 17,000 people for eight months. Most of these supplies will cover UNRWA Health services for two months, and some up to eight months.

Psychosocial Support and Learning

UNRWA remains the largest provider of emergency learning and PSS across the Gaza Strip. Around 660,000 children are out of school due to the war. "Back to Learning" activities are taking place in 439 Temporary Learning Spaces in 51 UNRWA schools-turned-shelters, with the support of around 1,000 teachers and up to 600[2] school counsellors. Between 10 and 16 March 2025, 50,159 children (22,160 boys, 27,999 girls, including 683 children with disabilities) participated in basic literacy and numeracy activities, PSS sessions and recreational activities including arts, music and sports. Since the resumption of the bombardment, UNRWA has been forced to halt these learning activities.

On 1 January 2025, UNRWA launched a new distance learning programme, combining online with onsite learning. To date, 277,716 children (149,794 boys, 130,922 girls) have enrolled in the programme and received basic learning activities delivered by thousands of teachers covering Arabic, English, mathematics, and science. During the reporting period 29,876 children received learning materials and 56,209 children were provided with PSS kits.

UNRWA continues to provide lifesaving PSS services in Gaza. Since the onset of the war and up to 16 March 2025, around 730,000 displaced people, including over 520,000 children, have benefited from 289,834 PSS sessions and activities. Between 10 and 16 March, a total of 20,891 displaced people accessed these services.

Between 7 October 2023 and 16 March 2025, UNRWA's social work team has provided services to 209,711 displaced people, including psychological first aid, PSS services, family and individual activities, as well as case management. During the same reporting period, protection services were provided to 1,898 survivors of GBV and 3,814 children, including 1,779 unaccompanied children. The team also supported 22,943 persons with disabilities with PSS; 7,753 of these individuals received assistive devices and rehabilitation services. Awareness sessions on GBV, child protection, disability and special needs, as well as managing social and psychological stressors, were conducted for 154,582 displaced people.

Food Security

Since the start of the war and until the start of the ceasefire (19 January 2025), over 388,000 families (nearly 1.9 million people) have been reached with two rounds of flour; at least 374,000 of those families have received three rounds.

UNRWA continues to distribute food parcels wherever possible. These include[3] rice, lentils, beans, oil, salt, sugar, milk powder, hummus, halawa, yeast, and canned fish, and are designed to meet the needs of a family of five for two weeks. Up until the start of the ceasefire, at least 1.7 million people have been reached, of whom at least 215,000 people have received two rounds of food parcels since the war started.

In addition to the distribution of UNRWA food parcels, the Agency distributes food parcels on behalf of other UN organisations, having reached over 1.4 million people before the start of the ceasefire.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

Since October 2023, UNRWA has carried out emergency WASH activities across the Gaza Strip. The main activities include operating and maintaining water wells and desalination systems and supplying water with water trucks and bottled water. In addition, UNRWA continues to distribute hygiene kits and maintain hygiene in UNRWA shelters and sites through cleaning supplies, community-based solid waste management and pest control.

In March so far, UNRWA teams have provided 35,500 cubic metres of water to displaced people in emergency shelters and other UNRWA facilities. In the north alone, UNRWA has provided over 4,000 cubic metres of water for over 25,000 people.

UNRWA continues to provide a solid waste collection and transfer service wherever possible. In March so far, over 4,000 tons of solid waste have been collected by UNRWA sanitation teams. In Rafah, UNRWA supported the cleaning of schools, health centres and streets in Al Shaborah and Khirbat Aladas.

Since the start of the ceasefire until 4 February, UNRWA has reached nearly 475,000 people with clean water. Over the same period, UNRWA has collected over 13,000 tons of solid waste.

Quote from Sam Rose, Acting Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza:

"We had a respite for eight weeks [...] but all that has been shattered again. [...] But it isn't too late to stop this slide into war: we can pull back from the brink as we have done before."

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Security Council Speakers Warn of 'Gazafication' of West Bank, Urge Israel to End Illegal Settlements, Occupation

Meetings Coverage

Security Council

9883rd Meeting (AM)

SC/16025

21 March 2025

Israeli West Bank Operations Aimed at Dismantling Iran's Terror Networks, Says Delegate

Speakers in the Security Council today warned of the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank and its "Gazafication" amid Israel's ongoing counter-terrorism operations, which its representative described as efforts to dismantle Iran's terror networks.

"The relentless expansion of Israeli settlements is dramatically altering the landscape and demographics of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, presenting an existential threat to the prospect of a contiguous, viable, independent Palestinian State," said Sigrid Kaag, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process ad interim. Presenting the latest Secretary-General's report on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2334 (2016)  a measure calling on Israel to "immediately and completely cease all settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem"  she pointed out that settlement activity has nevertheless continued at a high rate, with Israeli planning authorities advancing or approving approximately 10,600 housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank, including 4,920 in East Jerusalem.

Demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures accelerated across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, she continued, reporting that Israeli authorities demolished 460 structures and displaced 576 people, including 287 children and 149 women, because they did not possess Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain. Meanwhile, "alarming levels" of violence continued, with 123 Palestinians, including 6 women and 19 children, killed amidst Israeli forces' air strikes, operations, armed exchanges and other incidents, she said, adding: "Most Palestinians were killed in the context of Israeli operations in Area A, including during exchanges of fire with armed Palestinians."

Israel's largest operation in the occupied West Bank since 2002 began on 21 January and has since expanded across the northern West Bank in what Israeli authorities described as a counter-terrorism operation, displacing 40,000 people, she continued. On 9 February, Israeli operations expanded into Nur Shams Camp in Tulkarem where Israel Defense Forces soldiers shot and killed two Palestinian women, one of whom was pregnant, she said, adding that two Palestinian children were killed by Israeli soldiers in incidents in Jenin and Hebron on 21 February, bringing the total number of children killed to eight across the occupied West Bank since the operation began. Detailing other developments in the occupied West Bank, including widespread movement restrictions, the arrest of 1,711 Palestinians, settler-related violence in 11 Palestinian towns and villages, and Palestinian attacks against Israelis, she called on both parties to refrain from provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric, which has, unfortunately continued.

Echoing the Secretary-General's observations on the implementation of resolution 2334 (2016), she drew attention to the emptying out of refugee camps in the northern West Bank during Israeli operations. She also voiced concern that any long-term presence of Israeli security forces in the camps would further undermine the Palestinian Authority and contravene Israel's obligation to end its unlawful continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as affirmed by the International Court of Justice.

Clear Response Needed at International Conference in June

"Israel's goal has always been maximum Palestinian land with minimum Palestinians," said the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, adding: "Instead of ending its occupation, it is attempting to end the occupied people." Pointing to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the "most massive ethnic-cleansing campaign since 1967" in the northern West Bank, displacing 40,000 Palestinians in weeks, he underscored the need for accountability, emphasizing: "Confronted with this unprecedented Israeli escalation, there must be an unprecedented escalation of international measures in response."

Voicing concern that Israel aims to entrench its occupation, rather than reverse or end it, he spotlighted the International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in June, hoping it would be a platform for mobilization and action. "Israel's intentions have never been clearer. The international response needs to be equally clear," he emphasized, calling for "unprecedented decisions by States" to change the course of history.

Israel's delegate, denouncing "morally obscene" remarks equating Israeli hostages with Palestinian terrorists "legally arrested by Israel", said his country had "no choice" but to act decisively, considering Hamas' rejection of the offer to release the remaining hostages for a continued ceasefire. It has struck targets with precision, eliminating "arch-terrorists" such as Mahmoud Abu Watfa, head of Hamas' internal security forces and Issam al-Daalis, head of Hamas' Government in Gaza. The group has a choice: "Come back to the table and negotiate or wait and watch as its leadership falls one by one."

His country's operations in "Judea and Samaria" intend to break down Iran's terror networks there, he continued, citing 2,000 attempted terror attacks originating there over 11 months. The Palestinian Authority left the job of "taking care of the terror cells" in [refugee] camps in Jenin and Tulkarm to his country, he said, stressing that terrorists will be given no sanctuary, in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Yemen or Iran.

United States Dismisses Passage of Resolution 2334 (2016) as 'Mistake'

The United States' delegate, characterizing the passage of the Council resolution 2334 (2016) as "a mistake", called on the UN Secretary-General to join the United States in putting pressure on Hamas. Just as Hamas could end the war by releasing the hostages, Iran "could chose to join the community of nations by ending its support for terrorist proxy groups and providing transparency on its nuclear programme", she added, reiterating her Government's support for the Israel Defense Forces and the Palestinian Authority Security Forces in rooting out extremists in Jenin and Tulkarm. "The future of the Middle East must look different. Fresh thinking is needed for a better tomorrow," she added.

France's representative, however, stated that the reason evoked by Israel to justify its new massive bombardments does not hold water, and delays in the hostages' release cannot justify the punishment of the entire people. Noting that settlements in the West Bank are becoming more violent, with active participation of Israeli security forces, he reiterated that France opposes any annexation in the West Bank or Gaza. To that end, his Government has been working with all countries to find a mechanism and to use ceasefire as a starting point for resuming dialogue.

Pakistan's representative warned that "daily military raids, settler violence and illegal land annexations are part of a systematic effort to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people in the West Bank," he said. The Security Council, and the world community, cannot sit back and watch this ongoing ethnic cleansing. "A failure to halt this brutal war will unleash the worst instinct of powerful and predatory States," he said, urging the elected Council members to initiate measures to end "this cruel war". Somalia's delegate called on States to present a united front against forced demographic changes, displacement from Palestinian communities or attempts to annex territories in either Gaza or the West Bank, a point echoed by China's delegate, who urged Israel to "abandon its obsession with the use of force".

Unchecked Settlements Darken Prospect of Palestine's Statehood

Many speakers echoed alarm over the threat posed by unchecked settlement activities in the West Bank to the prospects for Palestinian statehood, with the representative of Denmark, Council President for March, who spoke in her national capacity, stating that such developments "rob Palestinians of their land, [and] push them into isolated enclaves, making it virtually impossible to form a connected and viable land for a future Palestinian State". Any unilateral attempt to change the geography of the occupied Palestinian territories is unacceptable, she said, stating that some settlements come about through settler violence. She added: "We have the frameworks. What is needed is full implementation of resolution 2334 (2016)."

"We have been witnessing what many are calling the Gazafication of the West Bank," echoed Slovenia's delegate, noting that, not only dights, but also dynamics "remind us of Gaza". "The one radical solution is a real peace," he said, calling for the end of occupation and return of displaced persons. Pages of history already written, including those contained in the reports of accountability mechanisms, must be a wake-up call for a new chapter to take place, he added.

Greece'srepresentative, calling the Arab plan for Gaza's recovery and reconstruction "a constructive proposal", deplored the increase of settlement activity in the West Bank, a concern echoed by the representative of the Republic of Korea, who called the ongoing violence and vandalism by Israeli settlers unacceptable.

On that, the representative of the United Kingdom highlighted three rounds of sanctions on violent settlers and their supporters imposed by his country to bring accountability for abuses of human rights, in the absence of sufficient Israeli action. "The level of restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank are crippling," he observed, underscoring the importance of ensuring that religious freedoms are respected, especially during Ramadan.

Many speakers emphasized the urgent need for progress towards a political solution, including the delegates of Guyana and Panama, with the latter stating that, in the future, Gaza  free from extremist groups, together with the West Bank and East Jerusalem  can be integrated into a territorial and political structure. Sierra Leone'srepresentative, also calling for the political process to be revitalized, expressed hope for the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza, guided by the proposal tabled by the League of Arab States in Egypt.

Noting that the West Bank "risks repeating the Gaza scenario", the representative of the Russian Federation underscored that what is happening in the West Bank is a "good illustration" that there is no alternative to political solutions. Israel's settlement actions are aimed to undermine a two-State solution, he said, adding that, while Israel is using "crude force" to ensure their security, he said it is not surprising that the radical forces are popular among regular Palestinians. The only sensible alternative is for Israel to return to negotiations, he noted, stating that the Council can and should play a role in this process.

Algeria's delegate said that the Israeli occupying Power's objective in the West Bank is clear: total sovereignty over it. Their modus operandi is also well-known: killing, forced demolition, displacement, dispossession and settlement. Over 40,000 people have been forcibly displaced in the past two months in the West Bank. Striking a note of urgency, he asked: "When will we rise to the level of our obligations and impose respect and implementation for our collective decision to establish a Palestinian State with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital?"

Rounding out the meeting, the representative of Jordan recalled that the Arab League summit held in Cairo at the beginning of the month confirmed the bloc's rejection of any attempt to displace the Palestinian people from their occupied lands, and approved the Gaza Early Recovery and Reconstruction Plan presented by Egypt. This is a comprehensive Arab plan, based on joint Egyptian-Palestinian efforts, to organize an international conference on recovery and reconstruction in Gaza, in cooperation with the UN, he said. Deploring the dangerous escalation in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, marked by recurrent military incursions into Palestinian towns, population displacements and home demolitions, he called on the Council and the international community to address these violations.

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Security Council Press Statement on Attack against United Nations Mission in South Sudan

Press Release

Security Council

SC/16026

21 March 2025

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Christina Markus Lassen (Denmark):

The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attack perpetrated on 7 March against the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in Nasir, Upper Nile State, by the White Army. In the attack, two United Nations helicopters conducting an evacuation came under fire, resulting in the death of a crew member, injuries to two others and the loss of South Sudanese lives.

The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest condolences and sympathy to the family of the UN personnel killed. They also expressed their condolences to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. They further expressed their deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and to the people of South Sudan for the lives lost.

The members of the Security Council reiterated that attacks against peacekeepers may constitute war crimes and reminded all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law. They called for those responsible for the attacks to be held accountable. The members of the Security Council called on all parties to the 2018 peace agreement to refrain from further violence and engage in national dialogue to restore and maintain peace. They underscored that dialogue and negotiation remain the only means for resolving differences and called upon the leadership of all the parties to the Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity to immediately de-escalate tensions.

The members of the Security Council reiterated their full support for UNMISS and further stressed the importance of UNMISS having the necessary capacities, and the support of the Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity to fulfil its mandate in full and without interference or obstruction, and in line with the status of forces agreement, and promote the safety and security of the United Nations peacekeepers, pursuant to Security Council resolution 2729 (2024).

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Statement by Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David Allvin on the USAF NGAD Contract Award

Published March 21, 2025

Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) -- The Next Generation Air Dominance Platform (the F-47) contract is a monumental leap forward in securing America's air superiority for decades to come. This contract reaffirms our commitment to maintaining the United States' position as the world's most dominant Air Force, under the direction and leadership of our Commander in Chief, President Trump, and Secretary of Defense Hegseth.

With the F-47, we are not just building another fighter - we are shaping the future of warfare and putting our enemies on notice. This platform will be the most advanced, lethal, and adaptable fighter ever developed - designed to outpace, outmaneuver, and outmatch any adversary that dares to challenge our brave Airmen.

Despite what our adversaries claim, the F-47 is truly the world's first crewed sixth-generation fighter, built to dominate the most capable peer adversary and operate in the most perilous threat environments imaginable. For the past five years, the X-planes for this aircraft have been quietly laying the foundation for the F-47  flying hundreds of hours, testing cutting-edge concepts, and proving that we can push the envelope of technology with confidence. These experimental aircraft have demonstrated the innovations necessary to mature the F-47's capabilities, ensuring that when we committed to building this fighter, we knew we were making the right investment for America.

While our X-planes were flying in the shadows, we were cementing our air dominance - accelerating the technology, refining our operational concepts, and proving that we can field this capability faster than ever before. Because of this, the F-47 will fly during President Trump's administration.

In addition, the F-47 has unprecedented maturity. While the F-22 is currently the finest air superiority fighter in the world, and its modernization will make it even better, the F-47 is a generational leap forward. The maturity of the aircraft at this phase in the program confirms its readiness to dominate the future fight.

Compared to the F-22, the F-47 will cost less and be more adaptable to future threats - and we will have more of the F-47s in our inventory. The F-47 will have significantly longer range, more advanced stealth, be more sustainable, supportable, and have higher availability than our fifth-generation fighters. This platform is designed with a "built to adapt" mindset and will take significantly less manpower and infrastructure to deploy.

Our mission is clear. We will ensure America's skies remain secure and our deterrence remains unshakable. With the F-47, we will strengthen our global position, keeping our enemies off-balance and at bay. And when they look up, they will see nothing but the certain defeat that awaits those who dare to challenge us - 'Airpower Anytime, Anywhere' is not just an aspiration, it's a promise.

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Lasers Destroy Drones as Additive Manufacturing Builds Them: NPS Accelerates Emerging Technology at JIFX to Fulfill U.S. Navy and DOD's Critical Needs

US Navy

21 March 2025

From Dan Linehan

MONTEREY, Calif. -- Rapidly fielding emerging technologies and prioritizing investments in AI, drones, and counter-drone systems, among other technologies, are key to military modernization and remaining the strongest, most lethal force in the world.

The Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) team at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is meeting this challenge by executing another highly collaborative week of rapid prototyping and defense demonstrations with dozens of emerging technology companies. Conducted alongside NPS' operationally experienced warfighter-students, the event is a win-win providing insight to accelerate potential dual-use applicationtops.

Conducted in partnership with Camp Roberts, the California Army National Guard post in southern Monterey County, and occurring quarterly, February's weeklong JIFX featured innovative technologies that directly addressed many of the needs designated within DOD's Critical Technology Areas, including: Directed Energy, Trusted AI and Autonomy, Advanced Materials, Integrated Sensing and Cyber, Operational Energy Generation and Storage, and much more.

Even though downpours from a week of heavy storms made for less-than-ideal flight conditions in the unrestricted airspace available for use during JIFX, a single-day record for sorties flown by uncrewed autonomous systems (UAS)or droneswas broken. On the third day, 85 sorties were flown by 11 different drones at three different tactical locationsMcMillan Airfield, the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility (CACTF), and the Forward Operating Base (FOB).

According to JIFX Director, retired U.S. Army Special Forces Col., Michael Richardson, "This February event was the most engaging experimentation week since before the pandemic. Part of that was the weather. The periodic heavy rain and strong winds gave our participating firms the same challenging conditions their technologies will be expected to perform if part of the fleet or force.

"I'm happy to report that all of them rose to the challenge. Several firms accomplished firsts with their systems and nearly everyone collaborated in an ad-hoc experiment or two that demonstrated their capacity to address operational challenges more effectively together."

The hard rain and wind did not even deter a laser weapon system (LWS) from zapping a steady stream of static and towed Group 1 UAS. This was the first use of an LWS at JIFX over the course of its nearly two decade-long history.

During the week, 23 industry partners conducted experiments with 24 unique technologies that represented the following research areas:

- Communication and networking

- Countering uncrewed systems (including by laser weapon systems)

- Cyber, cyber security and electronic warfare

- Expeditionary operations (including with additive manufacturing)

- Infrastructure and power

- Precision strike, non-lethal weapons and information operations

- Situational awareness

- Uncrewed aerial systems

- Uncrewed systems design, deployment, operation, networking and control

These technologies were evaluated by DOD stakeholders from Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), Army Futures Command (AFC), Department of the Navy Small Business Innovation Research Experimentation Cell (DON-SEC), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Navy Special Warfare (NSW), U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) and U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM).

JIFX lowers barriers for emerging technology companies, industry, academia, and researchers to collaborate with the fleet/DOD on solving real-world problems in a DevOps environment with the warfighter. Attending JIFX were 18 NPS officer-scholars and faculty, some of whom were researching counter UAS technology in preparation for an upcoming international exercise.

LASERS VS. DRONES, BATTLEFIELD POWER, AND EXPEDITIONARY ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

Perched on a firing range hilltop, an LWS fielded by Aurelius Systems blasted Group 1 quadcopters at ranges of 50 and 110 metersthe longest distance that Aurelius had ever engaged a target.

"We're demonstrating that if there's a drone out there, then we can enter a sentry mode, scan an area of the sky or backdrop against the ground or a mountain, identify the drone, continue to track it as it moves around and bring the laser to bear on it," said Michael Laframboise, Aurelius' founder and chief executive officer (CEO).

The LWS used near-infrared fiber lasers, and the targeted drones were initially affixed to static mounts then later towed along by a moving target gunnery line.

JIFX plays an important role in the steps of Aurelius' LWS development. "It can be difficult to get access to firing ranges if you're a small company like ours," added Laframboise. "We can come out here to test and do live destructive firing."

Aurelius intends to bring their LWS to the next JIFX event in May. Based on their successes this go-around, they're planning to use more powerful lasers and live fire at free-flying drones.

On that same hilltop, Chariot Defense pulled up in a pickup truck with its advanced high-voltage battery system, which only took up half the space in the pickup's bed. To reduce the detectability of the LWS' presence and demonstrate improved portability, the three large, heavy, noisy, inefficient, and high-thermal signature generators running on fossil fuel and powering Aurelius' LWS were disconnected.

"We provided expeditionary power solutions for a number of different experiments," said Adam Warmoth, founder and CEO of Chariot. "More and more, on today's modern battlefield, there's a demand for powerto power computers for AI, to power sensors, to power electronic warfare equipment. That's the kind of equipment you need in today's environment."

Chariot's low-signature battery system emitted very little heat and was smaller, quieter, lighter, and more efficient than just one of the three generators used by Aurelius. It not only powered successful shots of the LWS, but it also had enough remaining juice to fire over 1,000 more blasts.

Several miles away, at McMillan Airfield, Firestorm Labs had set up its mobile expeditionary additive manufacturing station called xCell. Within its two, 20-foot-long shipping container-like sections, equipment fabricated the airframe components of Firestorm's Tempest, a modular Group 2 multimission UAS.

"The idea for xCell came to fruition so that we could manufacture our drone at the edge in a contested logistics environment," said Bill Buel, vice president of hardware at Firestorm. "But during development, we realized there's also a much broader need for xCell as producer for spare parts and other drones. It doesn't even have to be our drones. So, we really embrace that."

The concept of flexibility continued to be exercised with Firestorm's Tempest. It carries payloads of 10-20 pounds over ranges of 100-675 miles at speeds of 75-150 mph, depending on its variable configuration and plug-and-play engineturbojet (high speed) or pusher prop (extended range).

"We have taken an operator first approach, and we want to empower the operator to make this truly modular," Buel continued.

Inside the xCell miniature factory, the interchangeable airframe components piled upa nosecone with a camera port, fuselage segments for payloads, wing and tail segments. But outside, Chariot arrived on the scene ready to collaborate. A large, bulky generator ran both the printing and assembly sides of xCell.

While the generator could power three to four xCells, the technologists understood that one xCell would require more power output for the complete drone making operations than a single Chariot battery could provide. But Chariot was still able to make a high voltage connection to the assembly side and provide power to run some of its components.

"We were able to power Firestorm's mobile manufacturing station off our battery, providing increased reliability, decreased fuel usage and the ability to power it at the edge where it matters," Warmoth added.

NPS OFFICER-SCHOLARS INTEGRATE JIFX

It wasn't all just high energy lasers, drones (one of which was rocket-assisted), and other wide-ranging, cutting-edge technologies. In preparation for the Bold Machina (BOMA) exercise run by Allied Special Operations Forces Command (SOFCOM) later this year, NPS officer-scholars, who are participating in a BOMA-directed studies program at NPS, visited JIFX as part of their coursework.

NPS Vice Provost of Research and Innovation, Kevin Smith, helped develop the BOMA program and escorted the NPS officer-scholars and faculty members to JIFX.

"JIFX is a tremendous asset to the DON, DOD, and industry partners," said Smith. "More than simply a field experimentation venue, JIFX provides a low-cost option for industry to receive real-time feedback on emerging tech, both on technology readiness as well as operational relevance. Seeing these types of direct engagements between the warfighters and the companies pursuing solutions to support them is extremely valuable.

"The BOMA-directed study class benefited greatly from the opportunity to directly engage during these JIFX tests to better understand the processes by which technologies can be rapidly evaluated and accelerated for adoption, and is a great example of how JIFX fits into the NPS innovation operating concept."

A total of 18 NPS officer-scholars attended JIFX, though not all were affiliated with BOMA.

"JIFX was a great opportunity for us to get a deeper understanding of how industry is connected to the military," said U.S. Navy Lt. Charlotte Lohr, a surface warfare officer studying operations research.

Like the others, she joined the BOMA program at NPS on top of her existing studies. She was especially interested by the synchronized operation of the five drones flown by Gambit Defenses on patrol, follow-the-leader, and follow-the-target missions at JIFX.

"No matter your background, we come to NPS with subject matter expertise in our community," said Lohr. "So, it's cool to be able to offer our insights to industry. Even though I'm not highly involved with them, I was able to have conversations about how their products could impact the future of my community."

The NPS officer-scholars in the BOMA program with Lohr are tasked with developing a technological solution for countering drones that can potentially be fielded during the BOMA exercise, which will be run off the coast of the Netherlands this fall. By attending JIFX, they got firsthand exposure to innovative technology well before it has a chance to become available to the fleet, and they learned about the process of turning emerging technology into operational technology.

"I was impressed at JIFX by their practice of bringing together the warfighter, academia and industry in same place. This speeds up the pace of research and development," said a Swedish special operations officer studying at NPS and participating in the BOMA program, who also noted that the antenna and battery technologies at JIFX were among those that stood out him.

"Today, it's so much about personal relationships, and JIFX allows you to establish relationships with industry representing different kinds of technologies all in one place," said the Swedish officer. "I actually heard different companies working together to leverage their respective products. So, I think JIFX is a really good driver for fast development addressing the problem sets that DOD and the different special forces commands have."

REAL-WORLD TECHNOLOGY EVALUATORS FILL OPERATIONAL GAPS

The February JIFX event was sponsored by NavalX. NavalX is a U.S. Navy and Marine Corps organization that drives collaboration, discovery, learning, experimentation, innovation, and agility to address critical needs of the military community.

"JIFX is a great platform for NavalX and invaluable to DON and DOD. We get the early look at technologies and capabilities on the horizon," said Troy Clarke, the Inland Empire Tech Bridge Director for NavalX. "It gives us a regular, quarterly drumbeat to iterate more quickly and lets us get developing technologies into the hands of the end usersthe warfightersfaster. It also draws a collection of at least 30 outstanding evaluators from across the government."

Many of these evaluators are active duty or civilians who've already had long careers in the service. It's this brain trust that individually interacts with the technologists and provides them with vital feedback.

Describing a typical interaction at JIFX, Clarke added, "An evaluator says, 'This is what our warfighters are saying they need. Can you fill the gap? Can you make it do this?' The technologist says, 'Yeah, I could do that.' Then you bring the warfighters in, who say, 'This is how we use it in the field. Okay, now can it do that? And can it do that and that?' This real-world feedback coming from our end users really accelerates our technology fielding capability."

The effective exchange of thoughts and ideas between the evaluators and technologists has led to many impressive solutions coming from JIFX.

"I'm in an operational unit, and, throughout the years, I've attended JIFX," said an NSW Sailor, who has been evaluating technologies at JIFX since 2012. While on deployments, he uses technology developed through JIFX, like the ScanEagle, a sweptwing, propeller-pushed UAS that's often used for reconnaissance.

"Insitu brought it to JIFX and showcased it," continued the NSW Sailor. "An NSW team was out there and part of the initial down select."

Since then, for well over a decade, ScanEagle has been an operational mainstay across the armed services. In fact, in 2009, a ScanEagle deployed by the USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) helped the NSW operation to rescue merchant mariner Capt. Richard Phillips, who was held hostage by pirates inside a motorized lifeboat in the Indian Ocean.

Another JIFX success is the Flying Launch and Recovery System (FLARES), a gangly-looking, quadcopter mothership that canin midairrelease and retrieve a ScanEagle, which has a wingspan of about 10 feet.

"We needed an expeditionary launch and recovery system," added the NSW sailor. "JIFX had Hood Tech bring FLARES. So, a bunch of us came out and learned how to operate it. We went back to our acquisition people and said, 'We must have this. It addresses our operational deficiency.' The normal process would have taken three to five years. Because of JIFX, we had it in less than two years."

As the list of field technology spawned at JIFX continues to expand, NavalX introduced new technology of its own called the Defense Innovation Navigation Assistant (DINA).

"DINA is being developed to help NavalX, evaluators, end users and companies navigate the defense innovation system," said Clarke. "We wanted to leverage the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science to help the process of accelerating and fielding usable technology."

An application that can be run on a phone, DINA records conversations and uploads them for transcription and summarization by NavalX's AI natural language processing. DINA was initially tested during daily briefings with the technologists at JIFX in November 2024. During JIFX last month, some of the evaluators used DINA during their interactions with the technologists. As development continues, more and more information will be integrated, such as technical product specifications provided by the companies.

When fully developed, NavalX envisions DINA will be an effective tool that further helps NPS and JIFX facilitate and improve the rapid transfer of technological solutions to the warfighters. DINA is just another example of JIFX looking to best meet the challenges of equipping them in the face of the rapidly changing modern battlefield.

The NSW sailor reflected over his years going back and forth between deployments and attending JIFX events. It's not easy adding or making changes to mission critical equipment in a timely manner.

"We need to get better with our procurement process," he said. "We need to be able to keep up with peer-to-peer competition, which means we need to get after new technology faster. We need to innovate. And that's what JIFX is, allowing collaboration to happen in a controlled environment. It's innovation at its best."

-----

Participation in Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) events does not constitute endorsement of participating companies or their products or services by the Naval Postgraduate School, the Department of the Navy, or the Department of Defense.

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Readout of Acting Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby Meeting with Commander Royal Canadian Navy Vice Adm. Angus Topshee

US Navy - Press Release

21 March 2025

Acting Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby met with Commander, Royal Canadian Navy Vice Adm. Angus Topshee, for an office call at the Pentagon in support of Partners in Defense, today.

The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a strong, bilateral defense partnership and discussed ways to strengthen naval operations, emphasizing alignment on approaches to emerging maritime challenges, particularly in the Arctic and Indo-Pacific.

Kilby thanked Topshee for the Royal Canadian Navy's active participation in large maritime exercises such as Rim of the Pacific, as well as their decades-long cooperation with Joint Interagency Task Force South to support drug interdiction through Campaign Martillo. The two leaders highlighted the importance of these joint and combined exercises and operations in enhancing interoperability and noted their commitment to all aspects of security of the continent.

The leaders also discussed future opportunities to collaborate on deterring aggression

through joint exercises, information sharing, and capability development, as well as the expansion of personnel exchange programs and training opportunities.

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F-47 Fighter Aircraft

On 21 March 2025, the U.S. Department of the Air Force announced the contract award for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Platform. The contract, awarded to Boeing, is to lead to the development of the F-47, the world's first sixth-generation fighter aircraft.

During a press briefing at the White House, US President Donald J. Trump said he was "thrilled to announce that, at my direction, the United States Air Force is moving forward with the world's first sixth-generation fighter jet," and that "mothing in the world comes even close to it, and it'll be known as the F-47."

Intended to eventually replace the Air Force's fleet of F-22 Raptors, the NGAD platform is a network-connected family of systems  including a stealth fighter jet component, drone technology and others  that simultaneously interact to ensure air superiority.

US Secretary of Defense Hegseth stated that the F-47 represents a significant advancement over the F-22, which is currently the U.S. Air Force's primary air superiority fighter.

Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Platform will usher in a new generation of United States fighter jets that brings leap-ahead capability in range, survivability, lethality and adaptability. The NGAD Platform is the central node in the NGAD Family of Systems.

As the cornerstone of the NGAD Family of Systems, the F-47 is designed to integrate next-generation stealth, sensor fusion, and long-range strike capabilities to counter the most sophisticated adversaries in contested environments. Its adaptability and modular design ensure seamless integration with emerging technologies, positioning it as a dominant platform for decades to come.

The NGAD's fighter jet component will have the ability to interact with drone technology will allow more lethality and modernized capability than in previous weapons systems.

Steve Parker, interim president and chief executive officer, Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said Boeing recognizes "the importance of designing, building and delivering a 6th-generation fighter capability for the United States Air Force. In preparation for this mission, we made the most significant investment in the history of our defense business, and we are ready to provide the most advanced and innovative NGAD aircraft needed to support the mission."

According to a statement by by Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David Allvin, "compared to the F-22, the F-47 will cost less and be more adaptable to future threats - and we will have more of the F-47s in our inventory. The F-47 will have significantly longer range, more advanced stealth, be more sustainable, supportable, and have higher availability than our fifth-generation fighters. This platform is designed with a "built to adapt" mindset and will take significantly less manpower and infrastructure to deploy."

The award follows a May 2024 strategic pause by the Air Force in the program to ensure it was making the right decision for its warfighters and for the security of the nation. During that time, the Air Force continued collaborating with industry to aggressively mature critical technologies and accelerate innovation.

Over the previous five years, in strong partnership between the Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, X-planes laid the foundation for the F-47. These experimental aircraft have flown hundreds of hours, advancing stealth, range, and autonomous systems while refining operational concepts.

By leveraging cutting-edge digital engineering techniques and government-owned architecture, the F-47 benefits from a streamlined and accelerated development timeline compared to previous fighter programs. These advancements enable rapid technology integration, ensuring the F-47 remains adaptable and upgradable to meet future mission requirements and counter emerging threats.

According to the US Air Force, the contract award funds the engineering and manufacturing development phase, which includes maturing, integrating, and testing all aspects of the F-47. This phase will produce a small number of test aircraft for evaluation. The contract also includes competitively priced options for low-rate initial production.

Future basing decisions and additional program elements will be determined in the coming years as the Air Force advances the F-47 toward operational deployment.



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The Nazi Party in Power - Coordination (Gleichschaltung)

(Martin Niemoller, Lutheran Clergyman, 1945)

The government of Adolf Hitler was popular with most Germans. Although the Gestapo (secret state police) and the Security Service (SD) suppressed open criticism of the regime, there was some German opposition to the Nazi state and the regimentation of society that took place through the process of "coordination" (Gleichschaltung)  the alignment of individuals and institutions with Nazi goals. Opposition ranged from non-compliance with Nazi regulations to attempts to assassinate Hitler. Political opposition to the regime by leftist parties was crushed by force and imprisonment. Fascism aimed to replace pluralist corporatism by state corporatism, or what the Nazis would later call Gleichschaltung. Its rhetorical advantage over Marxism-Leninism was that it left the system of private ownership intact, merely imposing state control over it.

The NSDAP, having achieved power, now proceeded to extend its hold on every phase of German life. Other political parties were persecuted, their property and assets confiscated, and many of their members placed in concentration camps. On 26th April, 1933, the defendant Goering founded in Prussia the Gestapo as a secret police, and confided to the deputy leader of the Gestapo that its main task was to eliminate political opponents of National Socialism and Hitler. On the 14th July, 1933, a law was passed declaring the NSDAP to be the only political party, and making it criminal to maintain or form any other political party.

As part of the Nazi "Coordination" (Gleichschaltung, Nazi conformity) of all public offices, the Reich Ministry of the Interior under the leadership of Wilhelm Frick (1877-1946) issued the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (also known as the Civil Service Law) on April 7, 1933, a week after the nation-wide boycott of Jewish businesses. This law excluded all racial and political enemies of the regime from the civil service.

The Aryan Clause established a racial criterion for continued employment in the civil service, effectively banishing Jews from government and administration; it also set a model that would soon be followed in other professions. Several days later, a law was passed that defined non-Aryan to mean descent from one or more non-Aryan grandparents; the law implies that grandparents are to be considered Jewish if they practiced the Jewish religion.

A short-lived exception was made for veterans of the Great War (the Hindenburg Exception) and for civil servants who lost a father or a son at the front. Subsequent orders related to this law terminated the services contracts of non-salaried Jewish employees of the state, expelled non-Aryan honorary professors and untenured junior professors, and forbade any advancement of Jews protected under the Hindenburg Exception. Those married to non-Aryans were also not granted admission to civil service positions.

In order to place the complete control of the machinery of Government in the hands of the Nazi leaders, a series of laws and decrees were passed which reduced the powers of regional and local governments throughout Germany, transforming them into subordinate divisions of the Government of the Reich. Representative assemblies in the Laender were abolished and with them all local elections.

The Government then proceeded to secure control of the Civil Service. This was achieved by a process of centralisation, and by a careful sifting of the whole Civil Service administration. By a law of the 7th April it was provided that officials "who were of non-Aryan descent " should be retired; and it was also decreed that " officials who because of their previous political activity cannot be guaranteed to exert themselves for the national state without reservation shall be discharged." The law of the 11th April, 1933, provided for the discharge of " all Civil Servants who belong to the Communist Party."

Similarly, the Judiciary was subjected to control. Judges were removed from the Bench for political or racial reasons. They were spied upon and made subject to the strongest pressure to join the Nazi Party as an alternative to being dismissed. When the Supreme Court acquitted three of the four defendants charged with complicity in the Reichstag fire, its jurisdiction in cases of treason was thereafter taken away and given to a newly established " People's Court ", consisting of two judges and five officials of the Party. Special courts were set up to try political crimes and only party members were appointed as judges. Persons were arrested by the SS for political reasons, and detained in prisons and concentration camps, and the judges were without power to intervene in any way. Pardons were granted to members of the Party who had been sentenced by the judges for proved offences.

Hanna Arendt wrote that " ... professional party organizations, such as those for teachers, lawyers, physicians, students, university professors, technicians, and workers. All these were primarily duplicates of existing nontotalitarian professional societies, paraprofessional as the stormtroopers were paramilitary. It was characteristic that the more clearly the European Communist parties be- came branches of a Moscow-directed Bolshevik movement, the more they, too, used their front organizations to compete with existing purely professional groups. The difference between the Nazis and the Bolsheviks in this respect was only that the Nazis had a pronounced tendency to consider these paraprofessional formations as part of the party elite, while the Communists preferred to recruit from them the material for their front organizations. The important factor for the movements is that, even before they seize power, they give the impression that all elements of society are embodied in their ranks."

During the time of the Weimar republic the professors and students at the School of Veterinary Medicine Hannover had a national-conservative political attitude with a clearly anti-republican tendency. Before 1933 the National Socialism did not play a role at the school. After the assumption of power by Hitler the 'Gleichschaltung' -- which also took place at the universities -- ran mostly smoothly at the veterinary school. 75% of the teaching staff and 50% of the students had joined the NSDAP (nazi party) respectively the NSDStB (nazi student organisation) at the end of the summer semester 1933.





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Russo-Ukraine War - 21 March 2025 - Day 1122

Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the Defense Forces are directing efforts to disrupt the execution of Russian invaders' offensive plans and exhaust their combat potential.

Since the beginning of the day, there have been 124 combat clashes, the Russian enemy launched one missile and 60 aviation strikes, used one missile and dropped 86 cab. In addition, he used 1038 kamikaze drones, carried out 4,895 shells of settlements and positions of Ukrainian troops.

In the Kharkiv direction, the Russian enemy six times tried to break the defensive borders of Ukrainian defenders in the area of the settlement Vovchansk.

Six attacks were repelled by Ukrainian defenders in the Kupyansky direction in the areas of Golubivka, Kruglyakivka, Zagrizovoy and Pi any. One battle is going on.

Twenty Russian attacks were stopped by Ukrainian soldiers in the areas of the settlements of Kopanka, Novomikhailivka, Nove, Green Valley, Yampolivka, Torske and Ivanivka in the Lyman direction. Six clashes continue so far.

In the Sivers komu direction, the Russian opponent carried out four offensive actions in the area of Bilogorivka and Ivano-Daryivka, two fights are ongoing so far.

In the Kramators komu direction, Ukrainian defenders repelled three Russian attempts to advance in the areas of the Chasovoye Yar, Andriyivka and in the direction of the Predteciny. One battle is still going on.

In the Toretsky direction, Russian forces today 18 times stormed the positions of Ukrainian defenders near Dachnya, Friendship, Diliyivka and Toretsk. Defense forces are steadily suppressing the pressure and repelling all attacks of the enemy.

Intensely attacks the Russian opponent of Ukrainian defenders in the Pokrovsky direction. Russian forces carried out 30 offensive actions. The largest activity of Russian occupiers is in the areas of the settlements of Zelene Pole, Elizabethtivka, Lisivka, Udaachne, Preobrazhenka, Bogdanivka, and Andriyivka. Three clashes are ongoing so far.

Also the Russian enemy launched aviation strikes on the areas of poprovsk, Zorya, Oleksandropil, Nova Poltavka, Hrodivka.

According to preliminary calculations, today in this direction Ukrainian warriors eliminated 89 Russian invaders and wounded 77 more. Five cars, five motorcycles, BPLA control point and three Russian cannons were destroyed. Also significantly damaged one combat armored car, five cars, RSZV "Hail" and two cannons.

Ukrainian units repelled 8 attacks in the direction of Konstantinopol, Dniproenergy and Spillway. Two clashes are being sharpened so far. Russian forces caused an air strike in the area of the settlement of Komar.

The defenders repelled two attacks of the opponent in the areas of Novosilka and Privilny. Russian forces made aviation strikes - targeted at settlements of Shevchenko, Novodarivka, Novopil and Gulyaipole.

In the Orihivs ,komu direction, the Russian aggressor did not carry out active offensive actions, however, made aviation strikes in the areas of novodanilivka and novoandriyivka.

In the pridniprovs komu direction, Russian forces once unsuccessfully tried to attack the positions of Ukrainian troops.

In the Kurs komu direction Ukrainian defenders fight off 5 attacks zagarbnikiv, total for now already recorded 23 combat. Russian forces launched 12 air strikes, dropping 15 controlled bombs on settlements and positions of the Defense Forces. In addition, Russian forces carried out 207 artillery shells, including eight from the reactive salvage system.

In other directions, there have been no significant changes in the environment.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that from 15 to 21 March 2025, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out 13 group strikes by high-precision weapons and attack unmanned aerial vehicles, which damaged infrastructure of military airfields, the assembly workshop, storage and training sites of strike drones, ammunition depots as well as temporary deployment areas of nationalists and Ukrainian armed formations.



Over the past week, units of the Sever Group of Forces continued to eliminate AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region.

As a result of the decisive actions, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation liberated Zaoleshenka and Rubanshchina.

Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles strikes, and artillery hit manpower and hardware of two mechanised brigades, an air assault brigade, a marine brigade, and two territorial defence brigades.

In Kharkov and Belgorod directions, units of two mechanised brigades and two assault regiments of the AFU were hit.

During the week in the area of responsibility of the Sever Group of Forces, the AFU losses amounted to over 2,295 troops, 16 tanks, and 58 armoured fighting vehicles. Russian troops destroyed 130 motor vehicles, 30 field artillery guns, six ammunition depots, and five electronic and counter-battery warfare stations.



The Zapad Group of Forces improved the situation along the front line and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the three mechanised brigades, a motorised infantry brigade, an assault brigade of the AFU, and two territorial defence brigades.

The AFU losses amounted to more than 1,670 troops, 19 armoured fighting vehicles including a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, and seven U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carriers. The enemy lost 44 motor vehicles, 28 field artillery guns, ten EW stations, and 11 field artillery guns.



The Yug Group of Forces improved the tactical situation. Russian units engaged formations of five mechanised brigades, a motorised infantry brigade, mountain assault brigade, an assault brigade, an airmobile brigade, a drone brigade of the AFU, a territorial defence brigade, and two national guard brigades.

The AFU lost up to 1,615 troops, two tanks, and seven armoured fighting vehicles including three U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carriers during the week. Russian troops eliminated 34 motor vehicles, 14 field artillery guns, two Croatian-made RAK-SA-12 multiple rocket launcher systems, six field ammunition depots, and two electronic warfare stations.

The Tsentr Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and positions. The Russian Armed Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of four mechanised brigades, two jaeger brigades, an assault brigade of the AFU, a marine brigade, and a national guard brigade.

The AFU losses amounted to more than 3,235 troops, 30 armoured fighting vehicles including two Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, three M113 armoured personnel carriers, and two U.S.-made MaxxPro armoured vehicles. Russian elements engaged 46 motor vehicles, 26 artillery guns, and three electronic warfare stations.

Units of the Vostok Group of Forces continued advancing into the depth of enemy defence. Three mechanised brigades, two motorised infantry brigades, a mountain assault brigade, an airmobile brigade of the AFU, a marine brigade, and three territorial defence brigades were defeated.

The AFU losses amounted to more than 1,040 troops, 10 armoured fighting vehicles, 27 motor vehicles, and 21 field artillery guns including four Western-made guns.



The units of the Dnepr Group liberated Stepovoye (Zaporozhye region) as a result of active actions.

Strikes were delivered at manpower and hardware of two mechanised brigades, a mountain assault brigade, and four coastal defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The AFU losses amounted to more than 510 troops, 32 motor vehicles, and six field artillery guns. Nine electronic warfare stations and two ammunition depots have been eliminated.



The Russian Aerospace Forces have shot down a MiG-29 aircraft of Ukrainian Air Force in a dog fight.

Over the past week, air defence units have destroyed 28 JDAM guided bombs and seven U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles as well as 1,113 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles, including 536 outside the special military operation.



??In total, since the beginning of the special military operation the enemy lost 658 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 47,719 unmanned aerial vehicles, 601 anti-aircraft missile systems, 22,420 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,530 MLRS combat vehicles, 22,788 field artillery guns and mortars, 33,187 units of support military vehicles.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation also reported that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region.

Units of the Sever Group of Forces hit formations of two mechanised brigades, an air assault brigade, a marine brigade of the AFU, and two territorial defence brigades near Gogolevka, Gornal, and Oleshnya.

Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, and Artillery strikes engaged AFU manpower and hardware close to Guyevo as well as Alekseyevka, Basovka, Belovody, Varachino, Velikaya Rybitsa, Veselovka, Vladimirovka, Vodolagi, Zhuravka, Ivolzhanskoye, Loknya, Miropolye, Mogritsa, Novaya Setch, Novenkoye, Obody, Sadki, Yunakovka, and Yablonovka (Sumy region).

Over 240 Ukrainian troops, a tank, an infantry fighting vehicle, four armoured fighting vehicles, 14 motor vehicles, and eight mortars have been neutralised during the day. Three AFU servicemen surrendered.

Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk direction, the AFU losses amounted to: more than 69,120 troops, 400 tanks, 322 infantry fighting vehicles, 289 armoured personnel carriers, 2,210 armoured fighting vehicles, 2,503 motor vehicles, 568 artillery guns, 52 MLRS launchers, including 13 of HIMARS and seven of MLRS made by the USA, 26 anti-aircraft missile launchers, one self-propelled anti-aircraft system, ten transport-loading vehicles, 120 EW stations, 18 counter-battery warfare radars, ten air defence radars, 56 units of engineering and other materiel, including 23 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, five bridge launchers, one engineering reconnaissance vehicle as well as 15 armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.

The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.





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U.S. Marshals Arrest Fugitive Tren De Aragua Member for Violent Crimes

Friday, March 21, 2025

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

In a coordinated effort by the U.S. Marshal Service (USMS) Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force (SERFTF), USMS Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Chicago Police Department, a high-ranking member of the Venezuelan street gang Tren De Aragua (TDA) was arrested yesterday in Cobb County, Georgia.

Ricardo Gonzales, 32, had an arrest warrant from the Chicago Police Department for kidnapping and is wanted on probable cause for two counts of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. These charges stem from an incident on January 28 where Gonzalez is accused of kidnapping three female victims and taking them to an alley in Chicago where they were all shot in the head. Two were pronounced dead on the scene and the surviving victim was able to escape and call 911.

"This defendant's crimes against American women are horrific, and he is exactly the type of Alien Enemy the Trump administration is fighting to remove from this country in order to make America safe again," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

"This case is a reflection of the tireless work the U.S. Marshal Service and partnering agencies put in to make sure justice has its day in court," said USMS Acting Director Mark Pittella. "Every arrest contributes to safer communities and demonstrates our unwavering commitment to protecting the public."

Gonzales was booked into a jail in Cobb County where he awaits extradition to Chicago. During the arrest of Gonzales, five additional people were taken into custody and transferred to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) detention facilities.

The USMS' SERFTF began operations in June 2003. It has partnership agreements with four federal, and 32 state and local agencies and operates throughout Georgia. The SERFTF has apprehended nearly 47,000 fugitives since its inception and continues striving to protect the community.

Additional information about the U.S. Marshals can be found at www.usmarshals.gov.

*The release was updated to include the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Topics: Immigration

Violent Crime

Components: Office of the Attorney General

U.S. Marshals Service

Press Release Number: 25-291

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14th meeting of ADMM-Plus Experts Working Group on Counter-Terrorism concludes in New Delhi

India - Press Information Bureau

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Discussions focus on evolving a comprehensive strategy to tackle terrorism & extremism

India & Malaysia assume co-chairmanship for 2024-2027 cycle; Announce Table-Top Exercise in Malaysia in 2026 & Field Training Exercise in India in 2027

Posted On: 21 MAR 2025 12:51PM by PIB Delhi

The 14th meeting of ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) Experts Working Group on Counter-Terrorism (EWG on CT) was held in New Delhi from March 19 to 20, 2025. Delegations from ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN countries (Lao PDR, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam), ADMM-Plus member states (China, USA, Russia, Australia, Japan and Republic of Korea) participated in the meeting.

During 14th ADMM-Plus EWG on CT, the co-chairs, India and Malaysia conveyed work plan for the activities planned for the cycle 2024-2027. It announced the conduct of Table-Top Exercise for EWG on CT in Malaysia in 2026 and Field Training Exercise in India in 2027.

During the two-day meet, discussions were held to focus on evolving a robust and comprehensive strategy to tackle the evolving threat of terrorism and extremism. The meeting was aimed to share the on-ground experience of the Defence Forces of ASEAN countries and its dialogue partners. The meeting laid a foundation for the activities/exercises/meetings/ workshops planned for the current cycle.

Earlier, Myanmar and Russia, co-chairs for EWG on CT during the previous cycle for 2021-2024, handed over the co-chairmanship to India and Malaysia for the present cycle (2024-2027). India is hosting the maiden EWG meeting for the current cycle.

In the Inaugural session, Defence Secretary Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh delivered the keynote address and interacted with participating head of delegations during the opening ceremony. He stated that terrorism remains a dynamic and evolving challenge with threats increasingly transcending borders. He highlighted India's efforts towards countering terrorism in the region, including adoption of Delhi Declaration during India's chairmanship of Counter-Terrorism committee of the UNSC in 2022.

Joint Secretary [International Cooperation (IC)], Ministry of Defence Shri Amitabh Prasad, Additional Director General (IC), Indian Army, senior officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian Army's Counter-Terrorism division participated in the event.

The Heads of Delegations of participating countries and ASEAN Secretariat also presented their views on adopting best practices for countering terrorism in the region. The delegates also visited Agra as part of the cultural tour.

*******

VK/Savvy

(Release ID: 2113546)

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Space Forces - Korea stands up first forward operating CJSpOC in support of FS25

United States Space Force

Published March 21, 2025

By Tech. Sgt. Noah Tancer

7th Air Force Public Affairs

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea (AFNS) -- U.S. Space Forces - Korea established its first forward operating Combined Joint Space Operations Center on March 10, supporting exercise Freedom Shield 2025 and phase two of POLARIS HAMMER - KOREA.

Within the exercise environment, the CJSpOC facilitated the operational command and control of combined space forces in the Korean theater to achieve the combined forces commander's objectives. It operated around-the-clock, enabling SPACEFOR-KOR, along with Space Operators from the Republic of Korea and additional partner nations, to continuously coordinate, plan, integrate, synchronize and execute space operations, providing tailored space effects on demand.

This milestone marks the first time a CJSpOC has been rapidly stood up with forces deployed directly to support a combined exercise, enhancing real-time space domain awareness and operational support, and it was accomplished through a mix of commercial and defense technology, demonstrating how the commercial space sector's innovative capabilities provide pathways to enhance the resilience of Department of Defense space capabilities and strengthen deterrence.

"Everything is non-classified as we are using commercial internet to connect with commercial providers to provide products that we can then use for warfighter needs," said Col. John Patrick, SPACEFOR-KOR commander. "By leveraging commercial we're able to double, triple or even quadruple the number of space sensors, satellites, people and overall data we have at our disposal and pivot to new technologies in months and days versus years and tens of years."

The CJSpOC integrated five capabilities coming together in time and space to include a SpaceX Starshield terminal, Joint Commercial Operations Cell, Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking Cell, Night Owl Lite and Beast+. These capabilities along with other USSF and multinational partner commercial assets, supported FS25 globally.

Provided by U.S. Pacific Fleet Command, a Starshield terminal, a larger version of Starlink and tailored for government use, delivered commercial internet via satellite broadband. This capability proved essential for the CJSpOC, whose multinational Joint Task Force-Space Defense Commercial Operations cell included participants from Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and the Republic of Korea, with additional teams operating globally. Leveraging commercial ground assets, these teams focused on tracking space objects and providing early warnings of potential adversary actions in space, aligning with the DoD's efforts to drive more effective integration of commercial space solutions into national security space architectures.

"Because we exist at the non-classified level, it makes working with our multinational partners extremely easy," said Kirsten Bingley, a U.S. contractor with the JCO. "We can bring them in on the ground level and show them everything we have without having to try to run through security barriers. It helps the alliance happen by giving us a place to talk space and start making those foundational understandings click together."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command, based in Los Angeles, employed its Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking Program cell, utilizing space assets to conduct ground reconnaissance and gather imagery. The TacSRT team provided warfighters with on-demand access to synthesized, publicly available information. Further bolstering CJSpOC's capabilities, the 109th Hawaii Air National Guard contributed their space electronic support systems, Night Owl Lite, a geolocation system for signals intelligence, and Beast+, a system designed for analyzing jamming activities.

However, commercial capabilities do not replace classified military intelligence and space operations; instead they serve as an additional tool for SPACEFOR-KOR. Through these partnerships, SPACEFOR-KOR enhances its ability to protect and defend the space domain while maintaining space superiority alongside allies and partners.

FS25 is an annual exercise that aims to enhance the combined, joint, all-domain and interagency operating environment, thereby strengthening the alliance's response capabilities. It is a defense-oriented exercise featuring live, virtual and field-based training that engages alliance forces and governmental agencies.

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Joint Communique of the Seventh Annual Joint Heads of Pacific Security

Issued by Defence Media

21 March 2025

Defence, police customs and immigration leaders, as well as national security directors and advisers, from across the Pacific met in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea for the seventh annual Joint Heads of Pacific Security (JHoPS) meeting from 18-20 March 2025. They were joined by observers from Japan and the United States, as well as representatives from the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), the Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO), the Pacific Fusion Centre (PFC), the Pacific Immigration Development Community (PIDC), the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police Secretariat (PICPS), the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and the Pacific Security College (PSC). Representatives from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) attended as special guests. Delegates were welcomed to Papua New Guinea by the Honourable John Rosso MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Lands and Physical Planning, Urbanisation, Immigration and Border Security. The meeting was opened by Mr Elias Wohengu, Foreign Affairs Secretary, and co-chaired by Commissioner David Manning MBE, OSt.J, DPS, QPM, Commissioner of Police, Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary and Rear Admiral Philip Polewara DMS CBE, Chief of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force. Governor Powes Parkop, National Capital District, delivered remarks to delegates.

This year's theme focused on 'aligning and collaborating to advance our collective security'. Discussions focused on the need to enable rapid operational responses in an increasingly disaster prone region. Maritime security also remained a key focus, with issues like transnational crime, human trafficking and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing being pressing concerns. Mr Esala Nayasi, Deputy Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and Mr Viliame Bovoro, acting Director of the Pacific Fusion Centre, briefed the JHoPS community on strategic priorities set by the Pacific Islands Forum and security challenges and trends facing the region, both highlighting Pacific Leaders' call for a 'flexible and responsive regional security mechanism'.

A panel of eminent delegates exchanged assessments on regional security challenges and reiterated the vital importance of collective action and cooperation in response to these challenges. Interoperability and coordination with regional architecture were also discussed, as JHoPS delegates agreed on the need to work closely with regional partners to develop and advance Pacific-led solutions to Pacific security challenges. Members thanked the delegation of New Caledonia (France) for its presentation on 'Success stories in combating tobacco smuggling and drug trafficking through interagency and regional cooperation.'

For the first time, there was a separate program for JHoPS principals and advisers for part of the meeting. Principals had an opportunity to visit Basilisk Naval Base, the National Surveillance and Coordination Centre - where Papua New Guinea officials were supporting the FFA-led Operation RAI BALANG - and tour the Guardian Class Patrol Boat HMPNGS Ted Diro. They also visited the Container Examination Facility at Motukea Wharf. Meanwhile, advisers had the opportunity to consider operational responses to security challenges by participating in facilitated small group tabletop exercises covering a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief incident from the perspective of both an affected state and a neighbouring state, and a suspected maritime movement of contraband. Advisers from each exercise presented a summary, analysis and recommendations to principals.

Interoperability and Regional Security Responses

On the final day of the meeting, drawing on a body of work by JHoPS members since JHoPS 2022 in Denarau, Fiji, delegates endorsed 'drafting instructions' for a Regional Operations Deployment Framework. These drafting instructions could pave the way for a regional governance mechanism for civilian, military and police deployments. Building on the strategic guidance set by the 2000 Biketawa Declaration and the 2018 Boe Declaration on Regional Security, the Framework would close a gap in existing regional architecture by providing a common mechanism to support Pacific-led responses to Pacific security challenges, including by the Pacific Police Support Group and Pacific Response Group. Rear Admiral Polewara noted that a framework would respond to the needs of our region by streamlining bilateral and regional deployments in response to crises. Such an initiative demonstrates the strength of the JHoPS community in translating strategic guidance set by Pacific Leaders into operational effects. JHoPS members noted that ultimately, the negotiation of any framework would need to be directed by Pacific Leaders. JHoPS members agreed to brief relevant domestic agencies (including foreign ministries, legal departments and national security agencies) on the utility of such a framework with a view to seeking political-level endorsement for a future negotiation. JHoPS members tasked the Secretariat to work through the IWG to develop a register of issues and concerns (including any legal concerns) and enable updates to be provided. Members agreed to report back at JHoPS 2026 on the outcomes of these discussions.

Finally, Members considered and endorsed the JHoPS Governance Framework, including Terms of Reference to provide clarity on the role, purpose and mission of JHoPS. Members warmly thanked Papua New Guinea for its generous hosting of JHoPS 2025 and agreed that Australia would host JHoPS 2026. Cook Islands offered to host JHoPS 2027.

Formed in 2019, JHoPS brings together senior operational practitioners from the region, providing an unparalleled opportunity to deliver operational security outcomes and drive practical cooperation between and among Pacific agencies and security forces in support of Pacific-led responses to regional security challenges. The JHoPS meeting demonstrates a shared commitment to an open, inclusive and rules-based Pacific. The meeting provided an opportunity to harness security expertise, and to share resources and knowledge between Pacific partners.

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Chinese deputy FM meets with visiting US Senator Daines

Global Times

By Global Times Published: Mar 21, 2025 10:25 PM

Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu met with visiting US Republican Senator Steve Daines on Friday. The two sides held in-depth exchanges on China-US relations and issues of mutual concern, according to a press release from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Daines, a Republican Senator from the US state of Montana, arrived in Beijing on Thursday, according to social media posts by both himself and the US Embassy in Beijing. The US Embassy said in the post that Daines was welcomed by Charge d'Affaires Anny Vu.

At a press briefing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that China welcomes US Senator Steve Daines' visit, and also welcomes Americans from all walks of life, including members of the Congress, to visit China.

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Chinese FM responds to whether China expects US Senator Daines' China visit to pave way for Chinese, US leaders' meeting

Global Times

By Global Times Published: Mar 21, 2025 04:09 PM

In response to a media inquiry on whether China expects US Senator Steve Daines' visit to China to lay the groundwork for the meeting between the heads of state of China and the US, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing on Friday that China welcomes Senator Daines' visit, and also welcomes people from all sectors of the US, including members of Congress, to visit China.

China has always believed that maintaining a stable, healthy, and sustainable China-US relationship serves the common interests of the two peoples and meets the general expectations of the international community, said Mao.

Daines, a Republican from Montana, arrived in the Chinese capital on Thursday after meeting top leaders in Vietnam, according to social media posts by him and the US Embassy in Beijing. He said on X earlier this week that he would be talking with Chinese officials about issues of fentanyl and "trade deficit," the Associated Press reported.

In response to another question on Daines' remarks about the two issues mentioned, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at the same press briefing that China has always believed that the two sides should address each other's concerns through dialogue and consultation based on equality and mutual respect.

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Xinjiang regional Party chief meets Thai deputy PM, refutes some Western countries' 'egregious lies' about region

Global Times

By Global Times Published: Mar 21, 2025 12:45 PM

Ma Xingrui, Party chief of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, recently met with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai in Kashi, during which the two sides had an in-depth and candid exchange of views on implementing the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and deepening local cooperation in relevant fields, the Xinjiang Daily reported on Friday.

During the meeting, Ma said that Xinjiang has always upheld a people-centered development philosophy, regarding the rights to subsistence and development as the most fundamental human rights. In accordance with the law, Xinjiang ensures that people of all ethnic groups fully enjoy their economic, social, cultural and civil rights, as well as political rights, and makes every effort to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all residents.

Ma noted that the US and some other Western countries have willfully fabricated egregious lies such as "genocide" and "forced labor," in an attempt to push people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang region into poverty and backwardness, and to advance their agenda of using Xinjiang region to contain China.

We firmly oppose the manipulation of Xinjiang-related issues under the pretext of human rights, and firmly oppose using these issues to interfere with normal cooperation between countries, Ma said.

Ma said that Xinjiang stands ready to further strengthen exchanges and interactions at the local level with Thailand, enhance mutual understanding and support, and advance practical cooperation in various fields.

For his part, Phumtham said that during this visit to Xinjiang region, he witnessed firsthand a scene of prosperity, gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation of the region. He noted the remarkable changes in Xinjiang's economic development and social landscape, calling the trip truly worthwhile, according to the Xinjiang Daily.

Phumtham also said that Xinjiang is a region where diverse cultures blend and thrive, with people of different ethnic groups living together in harmony and happiness. The Thai side hopes to engage in mutual exchanges with China's Xinjiang region to share experiences in the development and governance of multi-ethnic regions, and Chinese friends are welcome to visit Thailand and engage in exchanges, the Xinjiang Daily reported.

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Subsidies, services, social shifts: China's strategic push for a birth-friendly future

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 14:53, March 21, 2025

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Faced with the twin demographic challenges of a low fertility rate and a graying population, China is spearheading systemic policy innovations and people-oriented practices to bolster birth rates, boost consumption and drive sustainable socioeconomic growth in the coming decades and beyond.

This strategic emphasis on encouraging childbirth was underscored earlier this month during China's national "two sessions," where the term "provide childcare subsidies" was included for the first time in the annual government work report.

Additionally, a recently unveiled plan to increase consumption, proposes establishing a childcare subsidy system, expanding childbirth insurance coverage and enhancing pediatric services. These initiatives indicate that promoting childbirth has become a national strategic priority.

China's total fertility rate has remained at around 1 for a few years, less than half of the required replacement level of 2.1. Meanwhile, the country's degree of aging continues to increase. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that those aged 65 years and above made up about 15.6 percent of the total population last year.

"Severe sub-replacement fertility will be China's greatest economic and social challenge," according to a recent article by veteran demographer James Liang, executive chair of China's online travel service giant Trip.com Group.

Liang noted that only by prioritizing birth rate improvement, leveraging institutional strengths, and mobilizing social resources can the problem be effectively addressed.

In October 2024, a State Council directive outlined 13 targeted measures to enhance childbirth support services, expand child care systems, strengthen support in education, housing and employment, and foster a birth-friendly social atmosphere.

Earlier data from China's national health authorities revealed that over 20 provincial-level regions had explored offering childcare subsidies at different levels, with more comprehensive versions being introduced recently.

The latest such measures were rolled out in north China's Shanxi Province, where several counties introduced policies aimed at encouraging childbirth and alleviating family burdens by providing one-time childbirth subsidies, while partially covering hospitalization costs for childbirth.

For example, families in Xingxian County of the city of Lyuliang in Shanxi that give birth to their first, second or third child on or after Jan. 1, 2025, are eligible for one-time subsidies of 2,000 yuan (about 279 U.S. dollars), 5,000 yuan or 8,000 yuan, respectively.

Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province, a city known for its economic vitality and inclusiveness and home to China's largest migrant population, has also pledged to actively implement national initiatives by enhancing its childbirth support policy system and incentive mechanisms.

These developments follow Hohhot's earlier announcement of a new childcare subsidy initiative, which attracted nationwide attention to this city, which is the capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, an area known for producing top quality milk, resulting in a boost for market confidence.

In Hohhot, couples having their first child will be offered a one-time payment of 10,000 yuan. For a second child, 50,000 yuan will be distributed in annual installments of 10,000 yuan. For all subsequent children, the same annual subsidy will be offered until the child turns 10, totaling 100,000 yuan, which is much higher than in other cities and amounts to roughly twice the annual income of local citizens.

These tangible subsidies are expected to drive consumption momentum in the maternal and infant product sector, according to Han Fei, vice president of Hohhot-based Yili Group, Asia's largest dairy company. Han added that the city also plans to provide a daily cup of free milk for new mothers, which will accelerate the consumption of fresh milk in China's dairy industry heartland.

Since 2013, China has implemented several rounds of progressive adjustments to adapt its population policies to evolving demographic and socioeconomic conditions. In 2021, it announced support for couples who wish to have a third child -- and it is from that time onward that childbirth subsidies began to emerge.

Notably, the first city in China to offer such subsidies, Panzhihua in southwest China's Sichuan Province, has witnessed positive growth in its permanent resident population for four consecutive years.

Meanwhile, Tianmen, a county-level city in central China's Hubei Province, saw a year-on-year increase of 17 percent in its newborn population in 2024, significantly higher than the national average of 5.8 percent, and ending an eight-year decline. Among the 7,217 newborns in Tianmen, more than half were second or third children.

From baby bonuses and childcare subsidies to maternity leave allowances and home purchase incentives, total rewards for second and third children in Tianmen amount to 96,300 yuan and 165,100 yuan, respectively.

Tianmen's tangible, holistic pro-birth policies also spurred a strong recovery in the real estate market of the city, where the average housing price is 5,000 yuan per square meter -- attracting over 100 regions to conduct research and learn from its practices.

These cases show that financial incentives are probably the fastest way to boost fertility rates, and yet they are far from sufficient. Increased childcare services, extended maternity leave, and strengthened support in the fields of education, housing and employment, as well as a healthy marriage and childbirth culture, are also crucial in fostering a birth-friendly society. Encouragingly, various regions have already begun exploring such avenues.

Cash rewards ease financial burdens, but boosting birth rates requires tackling deeper issues like childcare challenges, work-life balance, and education costs, said Yue Ling, associate professor at the Beijing-based China University of Labor Relations.

Liang also highlighted the need for comprehensive measures including tax breaks, housing subsidies, increased childcare facilities, and promoting flexible work arrangements, to effectively boost willingness to have children.

Experts also emphasized the importance of coordinated consideration at both the national and local levels, to make support policies more reasonable, feasible and sustainable, as regional economic disparities can have an impact on the effectiveness of policies.

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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning's Regular Press Conference on March 21, 2025

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China

Updated: March 21, 2025 17:44

At the invitation of Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, Portugal's Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Paulo Rangel will visit China from March 24 to 28. During the visit, the two foreign ministers will hold the second China-Portugal strategic dialogue at the foreign ministers' level.

CCTV: To follow up on Portugal's Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Paulo Rangel's visit to China, how does China view its current relations with Portugal? What's China's expectation on this visit?

Mao Ning: China and Portugal enjoy long-standing friendship. Friendly cooperation has been the underlying feature of bilateral relations. In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the two presidents and with our joint effort, China-Portugal political mutual trust has been consolidated, practical cooperation in various fields has produced fruitful outcomes, and our businesses have worked for mutual benefits, setting an example of openness and win-win.

Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel is the first European foreign minister who is set to visit China after the two sessions. During the visit, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel will chair the second China-Portugal strategic dialogue at the foreign ministers' level. This will be the first face-to-face China-Portugal strategic dialogue at the foreign ministers' level, which is conducive to stepping up communication and coordination, and implementing the important understandings between the two leaders. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the China-Portugal comprehensive strategic partnership. China stands ready to work with Portugal to deepen strategic mutual trust, enhance friendly exchanges, conduct high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and promote the sound and steady development of China-Portugal and China-EU relations.

The New York Times: Do you expect the visit of Senator Daines from the U.S. to begin to lay the groundwork for a summit between the presidents of the United States and China?

Mao Ning: We welcome Senator Steve Daines's visit to China. We also welcome Americans from all walks of life, including members of the Congress, to visit China. China all along believes that the steady, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations serves the common interests of the two peoples and meets the expectation of the international community.

News 1 Korea: The ROK plans to offer visa exemption to group tourists from China in the third quarter of this year. Does China have a comment on that? What's China's expectation?

Mao Ning: China and the ROK are each other's neighbor. Enhancing cultural and people-to-people exchanges serves both sides' interests.

AFP: Just a follow-up question on U.S. Senator Steve Daines. We know he's a strong supporter of President Donald Trump. Will he meet the Chinese leader or another senior Chinese official during his visit?

Mao Ning: I have nothing to share on that at the moment.

Reuters: Just a follow up to the question on Senate Daines. What is China's expectation for his visit?

Mao Ning: We welcome Senator Steve Daines's visit to China. Maintaining the steady, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations serves the common interests of the two peoples and meets the expectation of the international community.

Bloomberg: Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Japan from today for the bilateral high-level economic dialogue and also the trilateral foreign ministers' meeting with Japan and South Korea. What is your expectation for both of those meetings?

Mao Ning: Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to Japan today to attend the 11th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting and co-chair with the Japanese side the Sixth China-Japan High-Level Economic Dialogue.

China, Japan and the ROK are close neighbors that will always live with each other and important economies in the region and the world. Since the Ninth China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Summit Meeting in May last year, practical cooperation among the three countries in various fields have been advanced steadily and made positive progress. The three parties will exchange views at the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting on China-Japan-ROK cooperation and regional and international issues of mutual interest. China stands ready to work with Japan and the ROK to follow through on the leaders' common understandings, advance cooperation in areas of cultural and people-to-people exchange, sustainable development and climate change, economic cooperation and trade, public health and aging society, sci-tech cooperation and digital transition, and disaster relief and security, expand converging interests, make the pie of cooperation bigger, deliver more benefit of the trilateral cooperation to the peoples of the three countries, and contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the wider world.

The China-Japan relationship is showing a momentum of improvement and development. We hope that Japan can work with China in the same direction and follow the guidance of the important common understandings between leaders of the two countries as well as the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan to comprehensively advance the China-Japan strategic relationship of mutual benefit and build a constructive and stable China-Japan relationship fit for the new era.

Beijing Youth Daily: It's reported that a freight train loaded with exports goods bound for Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, departed from Beijing, marking the official launch of the first Beijing-Central Asia freight train service. This is another achievement in the connectivity between China and its neighboring countries. What's your comment?

Mao Ning: Recently, much progress has been made in China's connectivity with its neighboring countries. New train service was launched from China to Central Asia, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project ran into operation, and the land-sea corridor train service has run over 10,000 trips in the whole year. In our neighborhood, we have signed Belt and Road cooperation agreements with 25 neighboring countries, and remained the largest trading partner of 18 countries. Today's China is an anchor of stability, engine of economic development, and pillar of regional security in Asia.

China's prosperity cannot be possible without Asia, and Asia's development cannot be possible without China. We will continue to follow the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness on neighborhood diplomacy, stick to the goal of building a community with a shared future, and share opportunities with our neighbors for common development.

Bloomberg: The U.S. Treasury Secretary yesterday announced that there was sanction on a Chinese oil refinery in Shandong province and also an oil terminal in Guangdong province for taking Iranian oil. Does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have any comment on this?

Mao Ning: It is China's consistent position to oppose the U.S. abuse of illicit unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction. The U.S. needs to stop disrupting the normal business cooperation between China and Iran. China will take all measures necessary to firmly safeguard the lawful rights and interests of our companies.

Kyodo News: According to reports, Taiwan's "Legislative Yuan" appointed Iwasaki Shigeru, the former chief of the Joint Staff of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, as a consultant. What's your comment?

Mao Ning: Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and the Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair that brooks no external interference. The one-China principle is the political foundation of China-Japan relations. This year marks the 80th of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Japan bears historical responsibilities to the Chinese people over the Taiwan question and should act with extra prudence and honor its promise of adhering to the one-China principle with concrete actions. We've lodged protests with the Japanese side. The DPP authorities' separatist provocations with foreign support are doomed to fail.

Bloomberg: Russian media report that Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Russia early April in preparation for a visit by President Xi Jinping? Can you confirm Wang Yi's visit and do you have anything further on that?

Mao Ning: I have nothing to read out on that.

The New York Times: Senator Daines has expressed a desire to discuss fentanyl and the bilateral trading balance with Chinese officials while he is here. Does China plan to engage with Senator Daines on these two issues during his visit?

Mao Ning: China all along believes that the two sides should solve each other's concerns through dialogue and consultation on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

The New York Times: American newspapers have reported that Elon Musk was scheduled to be granted a briefing on American military's contingency plans in case of a conflict with China, although President Trump has said the briefing now will not occur. Does China have any response or comment?

Mao Ning: I'm not familiar with what you said.

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Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Has Photo Session with Participants in Third National Meeting of Active Neighbourhood Unit Leaders

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

Pyongyang, March 21 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un , general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, met and had a photo session with the participants in the third national meeting of active neighbourhood unit leaders on March 20.

The participants were filled with great excitement and joy, boundless happiness and pride as they were to have a photograph taken with the benevolent Marshal Kim Jong Un , whom they have always longed to see.

When the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un arrived at the venue of the photo session, all the participants broke into enthusiastic cheers of "Hurrah!" as a reflection of their highest respect and boundless gratitude, looking up with emotion to the dear father of the great socialist family who bestows on them the greatest glory to be cherished as their lifelong wealth.

Kim Jong Un warmly encouraged the exemplary neighbourhood unit leaders from across the country, expressing deep gratitude to them for devoting themselves to the work of neighbourhood units, finding exceptional honour and pride and worth of living in consolidating the basic units of the people's government and taking warm care of the convenience of inhabitants in their living.

Saying that there are many jobs for serving the people in our society but rare is the appellation neighbourhood unit leader, most closely and intimately linked to the people, he highly appreciated the lofty spiritual world and unknown efforts of the neighbourhood unit leaders, who are showing their sincerity for the inhabitants and turning their units into groups of patriots without claiming any honour or reward.

He said that dong and neighbourhood units constitute a cornerstone supporting our people-centred state and social system and the base of the inhabitants' living, and that the functions and roles of dong and neighborhood units serve as a motive force dynamically propelling the advance of our state towards its comprehensive development. He stressed that to strengthen dong and neighbourhood units precisely means consolidating the mass foundation of the people's government and harmony and unity in the neighbourhood units precisely means the single-minded unity of our society firmly united with affection and tender feeling.

Noting that the duties of the secretaries of dong offices and leaders of neighbourhood units are very important in making sure that the efforts our Party and government make for improving the people's living standards are led to the people's bright laughter, he said that they should become possessors of beautiful virtue and traits and genuine householders and kind-hearted eldest daughters-in-law, who are welcomed and visited first by everyone, in line with the characteristics of their work--working directly with the inhabitants--to make beautiful human relations and noble moral ethics pervade the whole villages and neighbourhood units like the air.

Expressing expectation and belief that the third national meeting of active neighbourhood unit leaders would serve as an important milestone for all the secretaries of dong offices and leaders of neighbourhood units to turn dong and neighbourhood units into a great single-minded family strong with patriotism and establish a noble and civilized socialist way of life throughout the whole society as genuine servants enjoying respect, trust and love from inhabitants, he had a photo session with them.

All the participants were filled with ardent enthusiasm to fully demonstrate the advantages of Korean-style socialism and make a tangible contribution to the prosperity and development of our great state by bringing about a fresh turn in the work of the neighbourhood units as required by the era of great changes with their lifelong desire to repay the great affection and trust bestowed on them by Kim Jong Un . -0-

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DPRK Missile Administration Conducts Test-fire of Latest Anti-aircraft Missile System

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

Pyongyang, March 21 (KCNA) -- The Missile Administration of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea conducted a test-fire of the latest anti-aircraft missile system on March 20 to examine the comprehensive performance of the system, which was put into full-scale production at a relevant munitions industry enterprise.

Kim Jong Un , general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, oversaw the test-fire together with major members of the Central Military Commission of the WPK.

The test-fire proved that the combat quick response of the latest anti-aircraft missile system was superior and the overall weapon system was highly reliable.

Saying that the Korean People's Army will be equipped with another major defence weapon system with laudable combat performance, Kim Jong Un extended thanks to the anti-aircraft weapon system research group and the relevant munitions industry enterprise for greatly contributing to bolstering up the national defence capabilities. -0-

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North Korea testfires new anti-aircraft missile

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 10:50 AM

North Korea has successfully test-fired its new anti-aircraft missile amid rising tensions with South Korea and the United States.

Kim Jong-un, the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea oversaw the launch, North Korean news agency KCNA reported on Friday.

The launching of the missiles on Wednesday was conducted in an unspecified location.

Following the testfiring, Kim hailed the anti-craft missile system for being "highly reliable."

He said the successful launch showed the missile system was sure to give Pyongyang an "advantageous" combat response.

KIm praised the missile system test as "another major defense weapons system" for North Korea.

The test-firing takes place as South Korea and the US concluded their latest 11-day annual military drills on Thursday.

Pyongyang has always been critical of the joint drills, seeing them as a military rehearsal for a future invasion of the North.

Kim says Pyongyang launched its missile and nuclear development program in order to be able to defend itself.

He says the country's advanced military weapons will act as a deterrent against enemy aggression.

Kim has repeatedly pointed out that a strong stance will defend the nation's interests and security against US aggression.

North Korea views the US as a hostile imperial power that seeks to undermine its sovereignty and security.

The latest missile launches were North Korea's sixth weapons testing activity this year.

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North Korean defector numbers plunge amid Pyongyang's strict control: UN report

Restrictions on freedom of movement also have far-reaching consequences for the North's public health, sanitation.

By Taejun Kang for RFA

2025.03.21

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- North Korea has continued to impose strict controls on the movement of its citizens, resulting in a sharp decline in the number of defectors escaping the country, a recent U.N. report showed, despite signs of easing its COVID-19 border closure.

A total of 181 North Korean defectors - 159 women and 22 men - entered South Korea between January and September of last year, according to a report submitted by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, or OHCHR, to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

In 2023, the number of defectors who made it to South Korea was 196.

The report highlighted that these numbers represent a drastic drop compared to pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, some 1,047 defectors arrived in South Korea, meaning the latest figures amount to only about one-quarter to one-fifth of the previous count.

The report attributed the steep decline to North Korea's continued restrictions on freedom of movement, despite partially reopening its borders.

It also noted a shift in defector demographics. Many of those arriving in South Korea in recent years were laborers who had been dispatched overseas - mainly to China and Russia - to generate foreign money for the Kim Jong Un regime, rather than the trafficked women who once comprised the majority of defectors.

The OHCHR's report also documented severe human rights abuses within North Korea, based on testimonies from 175 defectors collected between November 2022 and October 2023. These testimonies detailed violations in detention facilities, chronic food shortages, ideological control through public executions, and other acts that could constitute international crimes.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged North Korea to acknowledge the existence of human rights violations and grant access to international human rights groups.

He also called for the punishment of inhumane treatment, protection against enforced disappearances and rapid compensation for victims.

"The United Nations Security Council should take measures, such as referring the case to the International Criminal Court, to hold those responsible for serious human rights violations in North Korea accountable," said Turk.

North Korea reportedly closed its only gateway for foreign tourists in early March, weeks after allowing visitors back in, which had suggested it was opening up for the first time since imposing a COVID-19 ban on arrivals in 2020.

Impact on public health

The North's strict movement controls also have far-reaching consequences on public health and sanitation because the lack of mobility hampers access to essential services and resources.

Despite some foreign embassies, such as those of Cuba, India, Poland, and Sweden, resuming operations in Pyongyang since the latter half of 2024, U.N. and humanitarian aid organizations still face restrictions on entering the country, according to a separate report presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council by Elizabeth Salmon, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in North Korea.

The report said that North Korea's chronic food insecurity has left nearly half of the population suffering from malnutrition.

It estimated the country's malnutrition rate at an average of 45.5% over the past three years. Based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization, approximately 11.8 million North Koreans were estimated to be malnourished during this period.

The report attributed the severe food crisis to a combination of outdated production infrastructure, inadequate technology, a lack of investment, and frequent natural disasters. Additionally, the government's restrictive policies on private enterprise, including the reinstatement of state control over essential goods like rice and corn, have worsened the situation.

The national vaccination rate has plunged from over 96% before the pandemic to below 42% by mid-2021, with no children receiving vaccinations for major diseases, including tuberculosis, throughout 2022, according to the report.

North Korea has been designated as one of 30 high-burden nations for drug-resistant tuberculosis by the World Health Organization.

The report also revealed that 52% of North Korean households rely on unsanitary waste disposal, posing serious public health risks, including increased cases of diarrhea.

Edited by Mike Firn and Stephen Wright.

Copyright 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content March not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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Fourth India-EU Maritime Security Dialogue (March 21, 2025)

India - Ministry of External Affairs

March 21, 2025

The 4th India-EU Maritime Security Dialogue was held on March 21, 2025 in New Delhi. The Indian delegation was led by Ms Muanpuii Saiawi, Joint Secretary (Disarmament & International Security Affairs), Ministry of External Affairs, and the EU delegation by Mr Maciej Stadejek, Director for Security and Defence Policy, European External Action Service.

2. The two sides conferred on ways to sustain a secure maritime environment conducive for inclusive growth and global well being. They reviewed ongoing cooperation initiatives in the maritime domain and avenues of reinforcing international and regional mechanisms for comprehensive maritime security. They agreed to strengthen their shared efforts in areas such as countering Illicit Maritime Activities (IMA), protection of critical maritime infrastructure, regional capability development and capacity building activities.

3. It was agreed to hold the next round of the Dialogue on a mutually convenient date.

March 21, 2025

New Delhi

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Transcript of Weekly Media Briefing by the Official Spokesperson (March 21, 2025)

India - Ministry of External Affairs

March 21, 2025

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good afternoon friends, let's begin the session. I open the floor for questions. So we start from here.

Jugal Purohit, BBC: Sir, good afternoon. This is Jugal Purohit here from the BBC. Mr. Badar Khan Suri, a PhD fellow at Georgetown University, was arrested outside his house on Monday night. He is an Indian national ... said to have, according to the official release from that side, known to be connected with a Senior Advisor to Hamas. Another Indian student, Ranjini Srinivasan, accused of supporting Hamas. Her visa was cancelled. I would like to understand, Sir, if the Indian government has gotten information about it, has taken up this issue with the Americans. And the second issue, sir, is there a likelihood of Prime Minister Modi meeting the Chief Advisor of Bangladesh, Professor Yunus, on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit. Thank you.

Niraj Kumar, News 18 India: Sir, Niraj hoon News 18 India se. Ameriki President Donald Trump ne tariff ke masale par ek baar fir dohraaya hai ki 2 April se reciprocal tariff lagu karenge. Sawal ye hai ki jo baachit America ke saath chal rahi hai, wo kaha tak paunchi hai, aur kaha kaha sehmati ban payi?

[Approximate translation: Question in Hindi] Sir, I am Niraj from News 18 India. American President Donald Trump has once again reiterated that reciprocal tariffs will be imposed from April 2. My question is, what is the current status of the ongoing discussions with America, and on which aspects has an agreement been reached?

Sahil Pandey, ANI: Good afternoon, Sir. I am Sahil from ANI News Agency. Polish Deputy Foreign Minister has credited Prime Minister Modi for persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin not to use the tactical nuclear weapon during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Any comments on that, or do we have any details regarding it?

Sidhant Sibal, WION: Sir, EAM made a remark last week on Kashmir and the UN and then we saw the reaction by the Pakistani side. They said that India went to the UNSC first. So, what's the Indian reaction on the Pakistani reaction on the comments?

Keshav Padmanabhan, ThePrint: Sir, Good Evening. Keshav Padmanabhan from ThePrint. About two days ago, the European Commission released a white paper which said that in terms of defence purchases, only EU and certain countries are looking for suppliers, but India has a potential, given that we signed a security and defence partnership, which was also announced during President Von der Leyen's visit last month. So, can you give us any status on whether this is being negotiated, whether this is being seriously considered, at what stage, whatever you can say on this matter, given that this could potentially allow India to export weapons to the EU? Thank you.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Okay. Let's start first with Jugal, your question regarding the Indian student. We are given to understand through media reports that this particular individual, he has been detained. Neither the US government nor this individual has approached us or the Embassy. So, this is what we understand.

The other student you talked about, see we have spoken on this issue on several occasions in the past, that when it comes to Visa and Immigration policy, it is something that lies within the sovereign functions of a country. We, on our side, we expect that when we have foreign nationals coming to India, they abide by our laws and regulations. And similarly, it is our expectation that when Indian nationals are abroad, they must also comply with local laws and regulations.

On the meeting that you asked, bilateral meeting, I don't have any update to share at this point in time.

Niraj, aapka sawal tariff ko le ke hain, tariff ke mamle mei jo humne update pichle press conference mei diya tha, mota-mota wahin par hum logon ki stithi bani hui hain. Lekin main ye kehna chahta hoon ki donon bharat aur America bilateral trade agreement ko aage le jane ki batchit kar rahe hain, donon sarkar ek jo framework hota hain bilateral trade agreement ka ispe batchit karne ke liye kadam badha rahi hain, aur aapko pata hoga ki is sandarbh mei hamare vanijya mantri America ke daure par bhi the, 3 se 7 March 2025 ko, aur wahan par jo unki commerce secretary hain unse mulakat hui aur America ke jo trade representative hain unse bhi mulakat hui. Uske alawa bharat sarkar americi sarkar se kai ek technical level pe is masle par batchit kar rahi hain taki donon deshon ke beech mei multi-sector bilateral trade agreement ka samzauta ho.

[Response in English]: India and the US are in the process of taking bilateral trade negotiations forward. The two governments are actively working to build a framework for the BTA, which would aim to expand trade, enhance market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepen supply chain integration. In this endeavor, as I told you, our Commerce and Industry Minister had visited the United States from March 3-7, where he met with the US Commerce Secretary, as also US Trade Representative. Government of India remains engaged with the US administration at various levels to arrive at a mutually beneficial multi-sector bilateral trade agreement. So this is what I have to convey to you in response to your question.

Sahil, on your question regarding the comments made by the Polish Foreign Minister, see our position on Ukraine-Russia conflict is well known and understood as well. We have always advocated sincere and practical engagement between the two parties, and other stakeholders and key stakeholders through dialogue and diplomacy to arrive or to find a lasting resolution of the conflict. Our conversations with the two parties to the conflict, as well as with other stakeholders, have been in keeping with this larger approach.

Siddhant your question regarding External Affairs Minister's comments, and thereafter what the Pakistani side has put out. We also had made a statement two days back. If you look at the statement, you will get the answer to your question. In that particular statement, we had, among other things, mentioned that the world clearly knows that the real issue is Pakistan's active promotion and sponsorship of cross-border terrorism. In fact, this is the biggest roadblock to peace and security in the region.

Keshav, on the European Union, we had a wonderful visit by the President of the European Union to India. Defense is an important area of collaboration with the European Union for us, and this partnership is expanding on our side. We want to give boost to our defense exports and we hope that we will be able to do more on this account with the European Union, with countries in Europe as well.

Huma Siddiqui, Financial Express: I have two questions. One related to the women's rights in Afghanistan. So, does India recognize what Taliban is doing towards the women, not letting them talk and not letting them being heard? And my second question is that the Foreign Minister of Peru was here in India, and he talked about the FTA. So, any lead by when will that FTA be signed?

Santosh Thakur, Navbharat: Sir, Namaskar. Main Santosh Thakur, Navabharat se. Mera sir do sawal hain. Ek to Kailash Mansarovar Yatra kab se shuru hogi? Uske liye sir kya prakriya abhi tak shuru ho gai hai, ya uska pragati hai? Aur dusra sir, jo tariff ki backdrop me Bharat aur China ke beech me ye naye dostana sambandh kayam ho rahe hain, usme wo kya riyayatein maang rahe hain aur hum kya dekh rahe hain? Thank you.

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi] Sir, greetings. I am Santosh Thakur from Navabharat. Sir, I have two questions. First, when will the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra begin? Has any process for it started yet, or is there any progress on it? And second, in the backdrop of tariffs, as these new friendly relations are being established between India and China, what concessions are they demanding, and what are we observing? Thank you.

Yeshi Seli, Business India: Hi, this is Yeshi Seli from Business India. Recently concluded Raisina Dialogue had no participation from China, but yet we talk about some kind of a thaw between India and China. What's the reason why none of them are invited ?

Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Bloomberg: Thank you, sir. Sudhi Ranjan from Bloomberg. Sir on the issue of tariff, can you give us an understanding whether India has been able to reach any kind of a settlement, understanding with the United States on the reciprocal tariffs that are likely to hit India on April 2nd, a week away from now?

Manash Pratim Bhuyan, PTI: Manash from PTI. Just a clarification, are we expecting any kind of waiver from reciprocal tariff as we are having discussions with the U.S. government at multiple levels ... that's what you're saying? And if not, then what would be the kind of ...how we would react to it? And second question is a very short question, according to source-based reports, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh requested the U.S. DNI, during his meeting with her to just declare SFJ as a terrorist entity. So, can you and just in order to address this?

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Okay. So first, we come to Huma, your question. See, on the women's rights issues, our position is very well known when it comes to such issues, so I would refer to you, our earlier remarks on this particular subject. In regard to FTA with Peru, I understand that these negotiations were launched sometime back, if I'm not mistaken, in 2017, and since then, we've had seven rounds of negotiations. The two sides have been in touch in recent times. They have engaged and there is a likelihood of resuming these talks soon. The eighth round of negotiations will happen, and for those dates are being worked out between the two sides. So, the process looks positive.

Santosh, Kailash Mansarovar Yatra ke bare mein sehmati bani hai ki 2025 me Kailash Mansarovar Yatra ki shuruwat hogi. Lekin kis prakar se shuruwat hogi, uski modalities kya honge, is pe baatchit honi hai, is pe baatchit chal rahi hai. Tariff ko le ke jo baat kahi, tariff ye America aur Bharat ke beech hai, America China ke beech hai?

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi] Santosh, an agreement has been reached that the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra will begin in 2025. However, how it will commence and what its modalities will bediscussions are yet to take place on this, and talks are ongoing. Regarding the tariff issue you mentioned, the tariff is between America and India or between America and China ?

Okay. So China ke sath humari baat-cheet kai ek sire se chal rahi hai. Aur usme bahut saari cheezon pe baat-cheet chal rahi hai. Mere sangyan mein nahi hai ki ye jo granular details ki baat aapne kahi ki kis kis cheezon pe riyayat dene ki baat hai. Jab ispe mere paas update hoga, main aapse saajha karunga.

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi] Okay. So our discussions with China are taking place on multiple fronts. And there are talks going on about many things. I am not aware of the granular details you mentioned regarding which specific things are being considered for concessions. When I have an update on this, I will share it with you.

Yeshi, see, on India-China talks, since we had the meeting between President of China and Prime Minister in Kazan, since then we've had engagement, constructive engagement at the level of External Affairs Minister, at the level of NSA. And Foreign Secretary also traveled to China in January where he met his counterpart. Subsequent to Foreign Secretary's travel, you also must have ... I gave you a readout on what External Affairs Minister, what he discussed with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of G20 in Johannesburg. So conversation and dialogue have been going on and they have been moving forward in the right direction. Several in-principle approvals or in-principle understanding has been reached, and hopefully these will go forward in the days ahead.

Sudhi and Manash, your questions regarding tariff, I have already given you what I had to, beyond that I don't have anything else to share. I would like to tell you that these talks, both sides are in conversation and hopefully will come to some sort of understanding.

Manash Pratim Bhuyan, PTI: Tariff coming on April 2?

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: I gave you our approach to how we are talking to the United States on the bilateral trade agreement. And within the scope of the bilateral trade agreement, there is understanding that both countries will aim to expand trade, as I told you, enhance market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepen supply chain integration. So we will have to wait for these talks to come to a closure.

The other question was regarding Tulsi Gabbard's meeting with Raksha Mantri. She met with Raksha Mantri and they discussed Security and Defense Cooperation. She also met with External Affairs Minister and National Security Advisor. During a meeting with her interlocutors in India ... on our side we conveyed our concerns regarding anti-India elements, anti-India activities of secessionist elements in Washington, and it is our expectation that the U.S. side will take appropriate action in this regard.

Siddhant Mishra, CNN-NEWS18: Hi sir, I am Siddhant from CNN-NEWS18. Sir, I want you to define India-Canada relations right now given there has been a positive signaling from Canadian side. In fact, there are reports would say that the CSIS Chief was in India for the Intel meet on the sidelines of Raisina Dialogue. Thank you.

Kallol Bhattacherjee, The Hindu: Kallol from The Hindu. Sir Ranjani Srinivasan is an Indian citizen and she is facing difficulties as we all know, and she is taking refuge in Canada. In her interview to us she said that she is seeking help from the Indian government, and also seeking help to get her tenure renewed in Columbia University and also other Visa related difficulties. Is there a way that the Government of India would be in a position to help. And secondly does the government of India recognize Hamas as a terror organization?

Neeraj Kumar Dubey, Prabhasakshi: Sir, Namaskar. Main Neeraj Dubey, Prabhasakshi se. Sir, Delhi me jo Pakistani Ucchaayog hai, usne kal apne Rashtriya Diwas par ek karyakram ka aayojan kiya, aur aisi reports hain ki usme koi Bharatiya adhikari maujood nahi tha. Mera sawal ye hai ki kya Pakistan ne koi nimantran diya tha Bharatiya adhikariyon ko waha pe aane ka?

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi] Sir, greetings. I am Neeraj Dubey from Prabhasakshi. Sir, the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi organized an event yesterday on its National Day, and there are reports that no Indian official was present. My question is, did Pakistan extend any invitation to Indian officials to attend the event?

Rishikesh, PTI: Rishikesh from PTI. There are reports indicating that Indians are facing intense scrutiny in the U.S. where they have H1 Visa or any other Visa. So is the Government aware about this. And a related question, have you started collecting data regarding this, that how many Indians are facing such scrutiny or how U.S. law agencies are enquiring about this thing?

William, Central News Agency (Taiwan): Good afternoon sir. I am William from Central News Agency of Taiwan. I would love to ask you about this recent Raisina dialogue. There's a top official from Taiwan have an opening speech in the dialogue. Do you think it's a big step for our relationship between Taiwan-India and also, can you give me some opinions about what do you think we can in Taiwan and India government can do together for defending Global South?

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Okay. Sidhant first your question regarding Canada. The downturn in India-Canada relations was caused by the license that was given to the extremist and secessionist elements in that country. Our hope is that we can rebuild our ties based on mutual trust and sensitivity.

Kallol regarding Ranjani Srinivasan, we are not aware of her getting in touch with our Consulate or our Embassy for any help. We only came to know of her departure from the United States through media reports. And through the media reports, we understand that she has gone to Canada.

On the other question regarding Hamas, our position on Hamas is well known to you. So I would reiterate once again ... our position.

Niraj, Pakistan high commission mei unhone Nowruz ka tyohar manaya, kya unhone kisiko bulaya iske baare mei mujhe abhi pukta si jankari nahi hain, lekin is mudde pe aapko update karunga. Aur jahan tak nimantran ka sawal hota hain, toh nimantran toh rishton pe nirbhar karta hain na. Nimantran ka aadar karte hain, nimantran ka swikar karna woh toh rishton pe nirbhar karta hain. Aur main aapse ye bhi kahunga ki jo humne 2 din pahle statement jari kiya hain, us statement ko agar aap paini najar se dekh lijiyega, aapke jitne sawal hain sabka jawab mil jayega.

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi] Niraj, regarding the Pakistan High Commission celebrating the festival of Nowruz, I do not have confirmed information at the moment on whether they invited anyone, but I will update you on this matter. As for invitations, they depend on relationships, don't they? Invitations are respected ... accepting them depends on the nature of the relationship. I would also urge you to take a close look at the statement we issued two days ago. If you examine it carefully, you will find answers to all the questions you have asked.

We have a large number of students in United States, and this number is also growing, knowledge partnership and participation of our students or enrollment of our students in universities in the United States and the expansion of knowledge partnership is an important element in our relationship. And we want to foster these ties further.

Now, as to how many students are facing any problem, etc. If there is an Indian student who is facing any problem, the consulate or the embassy is there to help them with their well-being, with their safety. And we would continue if there is any Indian student who would like a helping hand. Our Consulate and our Government, the Embassy is there to help them out.

On the issue of Visa and immigration policy, I told you what I had to say earlier, that it is our expectation that when our Indian nationals go abroad, they must also abide by local laws and regulations.

William, we had large number of stakeholders participating in the Raisina Dialogue 2025. I remember if my memory serves me right, over 3,500 guests both from India and abroad participated. And it was a successful Dialogue. We want to strengthen with all the stakeholders who came. We want to strengthen our conversation and we also want to strengthen our relationship in every which way with all of them.

Alexander, Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Thank you for the opportunity. Alexander, Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Sir, as you may know, Foreign Minister Lavrov of Russia celebrates his 75th birthday today. Given the well-known personal chemistry between Foreign Minister Lavrov and Foreign Minister Jaishankar, I was wondering, has Mr. Jaishankar reached out to Foreign Minister Lavrov privately or publicly? Thank you.

Reza, Hindustan Times: Reza from Hindustan Times. Zakir Naik, who is a fugitive from India, justice, you know, he has resurfaced in Pakistan again and has been meeting leading figures of the ruling party of Pakistan. How does, you know, India look at this, given that we want him back in India to face justice?

Ranjana, UNF: Sir, Ranjana from UNF. So, the New Zealand Prime Minister was here, Christopher Luxon. So, Prime Minister Modi during the talks asked him to take care ... like he raised the topic of anti-India elements in New Zealand, and he said that the New Zealand side has given assurance that they will tackle them. But in his comments to Prime Minister Luxon, in his comments to the New Zealand accompanying media, he said that he wasn't aware of Khalistan elements doing anything anti-national and he couldn't give any, say anything about any assurance given. So, what was the kind of assurance that he gave to the Indian Prime Minister? Thank you.

Shivam, Reuters News: Hi Sir, I am Shivam from Reuters News. Sir, I have a question on US-India trade talks. Kya Brendan Lynch, jo Assistant US Trade Representative hain woh India aa rahe hain next week for any trade talks? Just wanted a confirmation on that.

Kavita: Sir, just one thing, on India-New Zealand-FTA talks, is there a deadline, is there a timeline that India-New Zealand are following?

Huma Siddiqui, Financial Express: Sir, though you have already responded yesterday, I still want to understand, what is India's position on Israel's attack in Gaza and across Middle East?

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Alexander, well, we wish a very happy birthday to Foreign Minister Lavrov, and whether there has been any exchange between External Affairs Minister or Foreign Minister Lavrov, I am not aware, but I will surely check. But all our good wishes are with him.

Reza, regarding Zakir Naik, you know, this is not the first time that he has been treated in Pakistan. And obviously, it shows, you know, the kind of approach his hosts have and what it means for us, and what it means in terms of giving so much of support to a person who is wanted here.

Ranjana, we, during the visit of Prime Minister of New Zealand ... we had extensive talks between both Prime Ministers. If you were to look at the press statement that our Prime Minister made, it was very clear that we conveyed our concerns on anti-India activities of elements in New Zealand. And it is our hope that we will receive support from the New Zealand side in tackling these issues, which are of concern to us.

Shivam, on trade talks, I guess you walked into the room a little late. But I have already spoken and given you how the Government of India is approaching these talks. And there are conversations; there are contacts at several levels within the government. So, I am not very sure about the visit of this particular official. But I shall give you an update on that. But contacts and conversations are happening. Sumita, on FTA, India-New Zealand, the commitment from both sides is very strong. And you would have heard both leaders spoke about the Free Trade Agreement. Both leaders talked about the high commitment on their side to conclude the FTA as soon as possible. So, we are hopeful that this commitment will come to a logical conclusion soon.

Huma, on your question, I would only refer to you the statement that we have issued. I do have a copy of it here. So, I would refer you to it. But I would nonetheless repeat what we have said, what we have put out. We are concerned at the situation in Gaza. It is important that all hostages are released. We also call for supply of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza to be sustained.

Kallol Bhattacherjee, The Hindu: More than 140 children were killed in the lethal bombing out of those 400. A lot of talks are being held all over the world. Why isn't there an Indian statement on that particular thing? Because it is really a dire humanitarian situation, isn't it?

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Yes, Kallol, if you read our statement, you will see that we are concerned at the situation in Gaza. This is what we have said.

Jugal Purohit, BBC: Sir, the UN Secretary General was recently, just last week, to the Cox's Bazaar at the Rohingya refugee camp. And owing to a number of factors, UN agencies have said that the situation in those camps is perhaps the worst it has been after 2017 when they were formed. Given that India has, in the past, through Operation Insaniyat and also through help in Myanmar, reached out to those refugees, I would like to understand if India is likely to take a position on that and offer any support.

And, sir, a clarification on the issue of Badar Khan Suri, who is arrested in the US. His own university has come out in defense and said that there is no illegal activity that they are aware of. Just to understand the procedure, sir, in a case like this, is India well within its right to reach out in a proactive manner and offer support to an Indian national who has been accused of very grave charges? Thank you.

Rishabh Madhavendra Pratap, Times Now: Good evening, Sir. Rishabh from Times Now. Sir, Islamabad has sought US intervention and accused India of sponsoring terror. Especially, you know, Pakistan minister accuses India of terrorism, rules of fresh military operation, you know, in Baluchistan area or KPK. And there have been nine such attacks in that area. And they are clearly accusing India and ask US to intervene in this case.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: So, first, to answer Rishabh's question, please look at our statement. We have issued a statement on this matter. So, I would urge you to look at that.

On the question of the Indian student, Badar Khan Suri, as I told you, neither the student nor the Government, they have got in touch with us. If they get in touch with us, then we will see how to best to engage in this particular matter.

On the Rohingya issue, India-Bangladesh relations, as you see, as you know, it is a wide canvas. And we have been engaged with Bangladesh on several issues, development cooperation, economic matters, on issues of connectivity, so on and so forth. So, on this particular issue, I don't have ... if there is any update on this particular matter. But I will surely get back to you as to what are the new ... is there anything that we are particularly going to look into at this point in time. Thank you.

With that ... thank you very much for your presence.

New Delhi

March 21, 2025

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Two Eastern European Organized Crime Leaders Convicted of Murder for Hire Targeting U.S.-Based Journalist on Behalf of Iranian Government

Friday, March 21, 2025

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs



Iranian Government Hired Polad Omarov and Rafat Amirov to Kill Masih Alinejad in Exchange for $500,000

A federal jury returned guilty verdicts yesterday on all five counts in the superseding indictment against Rafat Amirov, also known as Farkhaddin Mirzoev, P, and Rome, 46, of Iran; and Polad Omarov, also known as Araz Aliyev, Polad Qaqa, and Haci Qaqa, 40, of Georgia. The defendants were convicted of murder-for-hire and attempted murder in aid of racketeering charges, in a trial before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon. Amirov and Omarov are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 17.

"The Iranian regime's brazen plot to silence and murder Americans will not be tolerated," said Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department's National Security Division. "This verdict underscores the Department's commitment to finding and holding accountable those who threaten our citizens and our freedoms. With the great work of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners, we are now one step closer to justice."

"For years, the Government of Iran has attempted to silence an outspoken Iranian journalist, author, activist and critic of their regime through any means necessary, including harassment, violence, intimidation, and even attempted murder," said Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky for the Southern District of New York. "Chillingly, the plot to murder this Iranian dissident culminated over 6,000 miles from Iran, on U.S. soil, right here in New York, when a hitman with an AK-47 camped outside her home to kill her. I commend the career prosecutors of this office, and our law enforcement partners at the FBI's Counterintelligence Division for their tireless work in bringing these defendants to justice. This verdict should send a clear message around the world: if you target U.S. citizens, we will find you, no matter where you are, and bring you to justice."

"The defendants participated in a brazen plot to kill an Iranian American dissident in New York who criticized the regime in Iran," said Acting Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division. "Thanks to the good work of the FBI and our partners their plan failed. This verdict demonstrates the FBI will not tolerate Iran's attempts to threaten, silence, or harm American citizens."

According to court documents, Amirov and Omarov were high-ranking members of an Eastern European organized crime group (the Organization) who worked with other members of the Organization to attempt to kill Masih Alinejad on instructions from high-ranking members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Alinejad has previously been the target of plots by the Government of Iran to intimidate, harass, and kidnap her for her work as a journalist, author, and human rights activist who has publicized the Government of Iran's human rights abuses around the world. As recently as 2020 and 2021, Iranian intelligence officials and assets plotted to kidnap Alinejad from within the U.S. for rendition to Iran in an effort to silence her criticism of the Iranian regime.

After these brazen efforts to kidnap Alinejad from the U.S. failed, the IRGC turned to Amirov and Omarov to locate, surveil, and murder her. Beginning in approximately July 2022, Amirov sent targeting informationwhich he had received directly from IRGC officials in Iranabout Alinejad to Omarov. In turn, Omarov communicated this information to Khalid Mehdiyev, another member of the Organization who had been residing in Yonkers, New York, so that Mehdiyev could surveil Alinejad and murder her. In turn, Mehdiyev sent photographs and videos of Alinejad's residence to Omarov, who shared these materials with Amirov and the IRGC officials who orchestrated the plot in Iran. Amirov and Omarov then arranged for a $30,000 cash payment to Mehdiyev, who used a portion of this payment to buy an AK-47 style assault rifle, two magazines, and at least 66 rounds of ammunition; as Mehdiyev boasted in electronic communications, a "war machine" he could use to kill Alinejad.

In late July 2022, Mehdiyev repeatedly traveled to Alinejad's neighborhood to surveil her. Mehdiyev sent reports of his surveillance to Omarov, who passed them to Amirov. On July 24, 2022, Mehdiyev reported to Omarov from Alinejad's residence that he was "at the crime scene." On July 27, 2022, Omarov told Amirov that Mehdiyev was ready to kill Alinejad, writing "this matter will be over today. I told them to make a birthday present for me. I pressured them, they will sleep there this night." On July 28, 2022, Mehdiyev sent Omarov a video taken from inside the car that Mehdiyev was driving with the assault rifle and a message reading "we are ready." Amirov sent an image of the interior of Alinejad's home to Omarov to be forwarded to Mehdiyev, writing "this is the house where she stays." As Omarov continued to update Amirov about Mehdiyev's readiness, Amirov cautioned Omarov "let him keep the car clean." When Mehdiyev subsequently drove from where he was surveilling the residence, he was stopped after a traffic violation and, during a subsequent search of the vehicle, police officers found the assault rifle, 66 rounds of ammunition, approximately $1,100 in cash, and a black ski mask.

After Mehdiyev was arrested and placed into custody, Omarov contacted Mehdiyev's mother and threatened to kill her and her other son if she did not locate Mehdiyev.

Amirov and Omarov were convicted on five counts: murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison (Count One); conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison (Count Two); conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison (Count Three); attempted murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison (Count Four); and possession and use of a firearm in connection with the attempted murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison (Count Five).

The FBI New York Field Office Counterintelligence-Cyber Division and the New York FBI Iran Threat Task Force are investigating the case, with assistance from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the NYPD Intelligence Bureau. The Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs provided valuable assistance. The Justice Department thanked the authorities in the Czech Republic for their assistance.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael D. Lockard, Jacob H. Gutwillig, and Matthew J.C. Hellman for the Southern District of New York are prosecuting the case with assistance from paralegal specialist Owen Foley and Trial Attorneys Christopher Rigali and Leslie Esbrook of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.



Components: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

National Security Division (NSD)

USAO - New York, Southern

Press Release Number: 25-288

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China raps sanctions, calls for end to U.S. interference in Beijing-Tehran cooperation

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Mar 21, 2025

Tehran, IRNA -- China has called on the United States to stop its interference in Beijing's economic cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning issued the call on Friday while responding to new U.S. sanctions on two Chinese petrochemicals groups for allegedly importing Iranian crude oil.

Beijing has always opposed the use of "illegal unilateral sanctions" and "long-arm jurisdiction" and has repeatedly called on Washington to stop interfering and undermining normal trade and economic cooperation between China and Iran, Mao said.

She stressed that her country will take all necessary measures to resolutely protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.

On Thursday, the U.S. State Department announced that it had sanctioned the Huaying Huizhou Daya Bay Petrochemical Terminal Storage, located in Guangdong, South China, for purchasing and storing Iranian crude oil from a sanctioned vessel and an oil refinery in Shandong, East China.

This is the latest in salvo of sanctions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump under his so-called "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran.

Trump resorted to the "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran after unilaterally pulling his country out of the landmark multilateral nuclear deal in 2018.

4399

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Iran, like any other country, has the right to peaceful nuclear energy: Kremlin spokesperson

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Mar 21, 2025

Russia has once again defended Iran's nuclear program, saying it is completely peaceful in nature and complies with international law.

At a briefing with reporters on Friday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow accepts Iran's repeated statements that it has no intention of acquiring or building nuclear weapons."

Peskov rejected any force against Iran and stressed the need for diplomacy when asked how Russia would respond if the U.S. or Israel resorted to attack Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

"We are convinced that the problem of Iran's nuclear program should be resolved exclusively by peaceful political and diplomatic means, and we believe that everything necessary is available for this. All that is needed is political will," Peskov said.

"Secondly, Iran, like all other countries, has the right to develop the peaceful atomic sector, peaceful nuclear energy, and is taking important steps in this direction. And all this is happening in strict accordance with international law," he added.

The remarks came a day after the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, in response to a question about new nuclear talks with Iran, called for adherence to the multilateral framework of these negotiations.

Maria Zakharova announced her country's readiness for constructive engagement with all parties on Iran's nuclear issues, emphasizing that the fate of the 2015 nuclear deal and multilateral efforts cannot be dictated from outside.

Russia has repeatedly called for the revival of the landmark agreement originally signed by Iran and six other world powers and then endorsed by the UN Security Council.

U.S. Resident Donald Trump, during his first term at the White House, unilaterally withdrew his country from the agreement in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under the accord.

Following the U.S.'s exit, the European signatories--Britain, France, and Germany urged Tehran to stick to its obligations, promising to compensate for any economic harm incurred. Iran waited for an entire year before it began rolling back its nuclear commitments after the Europeans' failure to deliver on that promise.

4399

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Kremlin says Iran has right to peaceful nuclear program, urges diplomacy to solve issues

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 3:01 PM

Russia defends Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy and its lawful activities, urging diplomacy to solve the remaining issues.

At a briefing with reporters on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow accepted Tehran's statements that it has no intention of obtaining nuclear weapons.

"We are convinced that the problem of Iran's nuclear program should be resolved exclusively by peaceful political and diplomatic means," he added.

Russia believes that everything necessary is available to solve issues about Iran's nuclear program, Peskov said, emphasizing, "All that is needed is political will."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump's letter to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei is "mostly threatening," but it also claims that there are opportunities.

"We will not engage in direct negotiations under pressure, threats, or increased sanctions. We will see both the threat and opportunity aspects," he added.

In his New Persian Year speech on Friday, Ayatollah Khamenei warned the United States against using the language of threats against Iran.

The Americans should know that in dealing with Iran, they can never get anywhere using threats, the Leader added.

In May 2018, Trump pulled Washington out of a multilateral international agreement, formally known as the JCPOA, signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany in 2015.

The UNSC-endorsed agreement required Iran to scale back some of its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of sanctions imposed on the country, especially by the United States.

Trump then imposed severe economic sanctions against Tehran while Iran was adhering to its commitments under the deal and even continued to do so for a year after the US withdrawal.

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Leader warns US against using language of threats against Iran

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 9:55 AM

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned the United States against using the language of threats against Iran.

In his New Persian Year speech on Friday, Ayatollah Khamenei said that the adversaries will receive a hard slap in the face if they carry out any vicious act against Iran.

The Americans should know that in dealing with Iran, they can never get anywhere using threats, he said.

They and others should know that if they take any vicious act against the Iranian nation, they will receive a hard slap in the face, the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the Iranian nation is standing up to such viciousness and bullying against the country's enemies and clearly declared its position in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese fighters who are defending their countries.

The Leader also dismissed the Western portrayal of the resistance front as a network of Iranian proxies, saying the country has no proxy force but supports the resistance fighters in the region.

He said the US and European officials make a big mistake when they call resistance groups in the region Iranian proxies; they insult them.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the Yemenis are "standing up and resisting (the oppressors). It is a big mistake to think they are doing this on behalf of Iran. No, it is not on behalf of Iran."

"The Yemeni people are motivated, the resistance centers in the regional countries are motivated. Iran does not need proxies. What does proxy mean?" the Leader asked.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader said the resistance front incurred costs in confrontation with oppressing powers over the past Persian calendar year, but nobody should have any doubt that it will be ultimately victorious.

Referring to growing anti-Israel protests by non-Muslim nations, Ayatollah Khamenei said that Western leaders do not want to see the realities and instead cut funding to the universities whose students held demonstrations in support of Palestine.

"The nations and centers of the resistance front, including the Palestinian nation, Lebanon, and Yemen, are standing against the corrupt and wicked Zionist regime with internal and faith-based motivations," he stated.

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Myanmar junta admits misconduct in its controversial conscription scheme

Some recruiters did not follow legal procedures, leading to financial corruption, said a senior junta official.

By RFA Burmese 2025.03.21 -- Myanmar junta's top official said there had been misconduct in its conscription scheme - the military's first admission since introducing conscription laws that have been highly criticized by rights groups.

Facing serious setbacks from insurgent groups across the country, reduced foreign investment, and defections from its own troops, the junta enacted controversial conscription laws in February last year, mandating compulsory military service for men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27.

"Some recruitment committees have not followed legal procedures, leading to financial corruption and difficulties for some conscripts," said Myanmar's Vice-Senior General and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Gen. Soe Win in a speech on Thursday, adding that these "daily issues" were being addressed.

It marked the first time junta officials admitted to misconduct in their conscription scheme.

"Therefore, military personnel must promptly report any misconduct by recruitment committees to the relevant authorities," Soe Win added.

His remarks came amid widespread backlash against the scheme, with citizens fleeing the country to escape mandatory service, and local resistance groups retaliating by targeting officials involved in its enforcement.

Junta recruiters have also been accused of taking bribes from households desperate to keep their family members from fighting and conscripting minors by arresting them.

Some residents testified that many were forced to pay monthly fees to avoid conscription, while others said they had no choice but to pay ransom to secure the release of arrested family members and keep them from the frontlines.

Human rights organizations have condemned the law as an abuse of power and a violation of human rights, while international observers warn that the policy could further destabilize the already volatile nation.

Many new recruits have been sent for training after being detained at gunpoint by junta troops. They face torture or execution if they are caught trying to escape.

In late February, rebels in Myanmar's Bago region assassinated two local administrators who forcibly recruited civilians for military service, bringing the number of officials killed for their involvement in carrying out the draft to at least 110.

Between February and September 2024, anti-junta forces killed 108 ward and village administrators involved in recruiting, compiling name lists and extorting money for military service, according to data compiled by Radio Free Asia.

Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by Taejun Kang.

Copyright 1998-2025, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content March not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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UN Human Rights Council 58: UK Statement for the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar

UK Statement for the Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on Myanmar. Delivered by the UK Human Rights Ambassador, Eleanor Sanders.

21 March 2025

Delivered on: 20 March 2025 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered)

Thank you, Special Rapporteur, for your report.

The UK is deeply concerned by the report's findings of mass executions, widespread sexual violence against women and girls, and the torching of over 100,000 homes and civilian structures by the military since the coup.

Such attacks are only intensifying. The UK is alarmed by the escalation of violence, especially by the military, which in February alone, carried out over 300 airstrikes, killing civilians and targeting hospitals and schools. Ethnic and religious minorities continue to be disproportionally affected.

The international community must act to break the cycle of impunity and demonstrate to the Myanmar military that they will be held accountable for violations of international law.

With almost 20 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and 15 million facing food insecurity, the need for international support and attention has never been more urgent.

The UK remains committed to supporting the people of Myanmar. We have provided over 70 million in assistance this financial year. And since the coup, the UK has sanctioned 25 individuals and 39 entities, targeting the regime's access to finance, arms and equipment.

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Telephone conversation with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani

Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

March 21, 2025

16:55

The leaders discussed a number of current issues pertaining to the further development of Russia-Qatar cooperation, taking account in particular of the results of the recent session of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission in Doha. They agreed to take coordinated steps in order to strengthen the investment ties and expand the mutually beneficial cooperation in industry, energy, transportation, logistics, culture, and sports.

While exchanging views of the situation in Syria, both sides noted the importance of ensuring the country's unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. Russia and Qatar will continue cooperating in the interest of sustainably stabilising the social and economic situation in the country during the current transitional period and will keep providing humanitarian aid to the Syrian people.

The leaders expressed concern over the resumption of hostilities in the Gaza Strip and stressed both their countries were willing to contribute to a de-escalation of tensions and a sustainable normalisation of the situation in the region.

Vladimir Putin offered greetings to the authorities and people of Qatar for the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

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Israeli forces infiltrate southern Syria, strike Homs

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 22 March 2025 1:12 AM

An Israeli military convoy has advanced from Tal al-Ahmar al-Gharbi toward the village of al-Asha in the southern countryside of Quneitra, southern Syria.

At the same time, Syrian outlets confirmed that Israeli airstrikes struck the Palmyra military airport in Homs province.

The latest Israeli offensive comes just days after Israeli air raids targeted areas west of Daraa, resulting in the deaths of two civilians and injuring 19 others due to powerful blasts.

The Israeli military's offensives have increasingly focused on Syrian infrastructure, dismantling critical facilities and occupying roughly 600 square kilometers in southern Syria.

In another act of aggression, Israeli forces demolished the Abu Darwish military post near al-Nasiriyah in Quneitra, with around 50 military vehicles entering the village of al-Adnaniyah.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, tanks and bulldozers also crossed into al-Asha from the west, moving through al-Hiran and al-Asbah en route to Tel al-Mahir.

Throughout the past week, Israeli regime launched a series of airstrikes across multiple Syrian locations, intensifying pressure on civilian infrastructure.

Last week, Israeli military aircraft carried out airstrikes against military installations once belonging to ousted president Bashar al-Assad's army but now used by the forces of Syria's new authorities in the central province of Homs.

Local media outlets reported that the aerial raids struck military sites in Shinshar and Shamsin villages, southwest of the provincial capital city of Homs, on Tuesday.

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Cabinet appoints ex-Japan Self-Defense Forces head as unpaid adviser

ROC Central News Agency

03/21/2025 07:47 PM

Taipei, March 21 (CNA) The Executive Yuan, Taiwan's highest administrative organ, has appointed former chief of Japan's Self-Defense Forces Joint Staff, Shigeru Iwasaki, as a political affairs consultant, an Executive Yuan official told reporters Friday.

The official said the Executive Yuan seeks advice from its consultants on government affairs to promote Taiwan's development but, as is customary, does not publish information regarding unpaid consultants.

The confirmation of Iwasaki's appointment as an unpaid adviser came after he was mentioned by former Taipei bureau chief of Japan's Sankei Shimbun Akio Yaita, who said he had dinner with Iwasaki in Taipei Thursday in a Facebook post.

Yaita, who now runs a Taipei-based thinktank, said Iwasaki was invited by Premier Cho Jung-tai () to visit Taiwan for the one-year appointment.

According to Yaita, he has never heard of such appointments involving former high-level Japanese military officials as a consultant of Taiwan's Cabinet.

Iwasaki, who served as chief of Japan's Self-Defense Forces Joint Staff between 2012 and 2014, is a well-connected and influential figure in Japan, Yaita said in the Facebook post.

According to a report published by Japan's Asahi Shimbun Friday, Iwasaki, "the former top uniformed officer of the Self-Defense Forces," retired in October 2014 and then served as a special policy adviser to the Japanese defense ministry.

The report also said Japanese restaurant owner Takao Nozaki was the first foreigner to be appointed as a political affairs consultant by Taiwan's Cabinet.

Nozaki, who studied for a doctorate in law at National Taiwan University and later obtained permanent residency, made public about his appointment on Sept. 7 last year in a Facebook post.

(By Lai Yu-chen, Tai Ya-chen and Kay Liu)

Enditem/ASG



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Ex-Japan Self-Defense Forces head appointment key to security cooperation

ROC Central News Agency

03/21/2025 10:42 PM

Taipei, March 21 (CNA) The appointment of a former chief of Japan's Self-Defense Forces Joint Staff as an adviser to Taiwan's government, is symbolically meaningful, as he is expected to play a key role in the two countries' security cooperation, Taiwanese experts said Friday.

Shigeru Iwasaki, who served as the top uniformed officer in Japan's Self-Defense Forces from 2012-2014, has been made a political affairs consultant to the Executive Yuan, an official from Taiwan's highest administrative body told reporters in Taipei earlier in the day.

The Cabinet seeks advice from consultants on government affairs to promote Taiwan's development, the official said, sharing little information about Iwasaki's appointment to the unpaid position.

Having Iwasaki as a consultant to Taiwan's Cabinet is symbolic because unlike other countries, Japan only appointed a defense attache to its de facto embassy in Taiwan two years ago, policy researcher Hsieh Wen-sheng () told CNA.

Hsieh, who has engaged in exchanges with retired Japanese military officials in recent years, said Japan only sends defense ministry officials without military backgrounds to take up the post.

In addition, think tanks in Taiwan have been unable to engage with top-level former officials like Iwasaki, he said.

Hsieh said he expects the retired Japanese general, with his ongoing connections to the Self-Defense Forces, to offer additional options for military exchanges between Taiwan and Japan.

Taiwan-Japan Academy senior adviser Chen Wen-chia () also described Iwasaki's appointment as symbolic, saying it reflects the mutual trust that now enables Taiwan and Japan to publicly cooperate on security.

Chen also mentioned Iwasaki's experience and connection with the military in Japan, which he believes can help deepen military and security cooperation between the two countries.

Both Hsieh and Chen said Iwasaki can help Taiwan better understand Japan's defense policies, with Chen noting the retired Japanese general's previous work as a special policy adviser to the Japanese defense ministry.

More importantly, he can help to ensure Taiwan does not misjudge Japan's defense policies and the operations of its defense forces, Chen told CNA.

(By Wu Shu-wei and Kay Liu)

Enditem/AW





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Belgium's House supports Taiwan in new resolution

ROC Central News Agency

03/21/2025 05:02 PM

Brussels/Taipei, March 21 (CNA) Belgium's House of Representatives on Thursday passed a resolution voicing support for Taiwan and condemning Beijing's increasingly aggressive behavior in the Indo-Pacific region.

The resolution, proposed by the House's Foreign Affairs Committee Chair and Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) Co-Chair Els Van Hoof and House member Nathalie Muylle, was passed by an overwhelming 126 votes, with none against and 13 abstentions.

It urged the Belgian government to "condemn the increasingly aggressive attitude of the People's Republic of China (PRC) towards Taiwan," and called for de-escalations of its diplomatic contacts with the PRC.

It also requested the government to advocate in the European Union "for strengthening the existing partnership with Taiwan, with a view to promoting common values and principles, including by concluding a resilient supply chain agreement and a bilateral investment agreement."

The resolution called for the government to strive "together with the governments of the federated entities, for more economic, scientific, cultural, and parliamentary exchanges between Belgium and Taiwan."

Beyond bilateral ties, the parliamentarians also advocated Taiwan's meaningful participation as an observer "in meetings, mechanisms, and activities of international bodies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)."

They also called out China's escalation of aggressive acts and urged it to "immediately cease all actions and intrusions into" Taiwan's air defense identification zone and violations over Taiwan's peripheral islands, while respecting the median line of the Taiwan Strait.

It urged Beijing to stop "all other gray zone military actions, including cyber and disinformation campaigns" and protested China's "continued distortion" of the United Nation's Resolution 2758, reiterating that "the resolution does not take a position on Taiwan."

The parliamentarians described China's "economic coercion" against Taiwan and other democracies as "illegal under the rules of the World Trade Organization."

In Taipei, Taiwan's Foreign Affairs Minister Lin Chia-lung () on Friday expressed gratitude for the Belgian House's support.

He said the ministry will keep deepening bilateral interactions and collaboration with Belgium, on the basis of the existing good relationship.

(By Tien Hsi-ju, Wu Shu-wei and Wu Kuan-hsien)

Enditem/ls



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Taiwan condemns China coast guard activities around Dongsha

ROC Central News Agency

03/21/2025 04:50 PM

Taipei, March 21 (CNA) Taiwanese authorities on Friday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around Taiwan-controlled Dongsha Islands in the South China Sea.

In a news release, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around Dongsha on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted.

While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan's restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said.

Due to the provocation, the CGA said it initiated an operation to increase patrols around the Dongsha Islands on Feb. 26.

As a part of the operation, the CGA said that it stopped and boarded the Chinese fishing vessel "Yueraoyu 23588" on Feb. 26 and was again interrupted by the Chinese coast guard.

Similar incidents also occurred on March 11 and between March 12 and 18, when Chinese coast guards lingered around the restricted waters around Dongsha Islands, the CGA said.

The CGA heavily condemned the actions of China's coast guard, saying that the interference was an act of provocation against Taiwan's sovereignty.

The CGA said the Dongsha Atoll National Park is Taiwan's first marine national park and there are clear regulations put in place to ban commercial and private fishing in the area.

The CGA added that Taiwan's conservation efforts in the area have resulted in its marine population being rich and abundant.

By comparison, China has heavily depleted its ocean resources, which was why Chinese fishermen have trespassed into Taiwan's waters to conduct illegal fishing activities.

Additionally, the CGA said in observation of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Taiwan will continue combating illegal fishing activities that seek to ruin Taiwan's marine-life sustainability.

China's act of having its coast guard chaperone its vessels for illegal fishing activities displayed complete disregard for ocean sustainability, the CGA said.

The administration added that the Chinese coast guard's interference not only heightened cross-strait tension but also disrupted peace in the Dongsha Islands area.

The administration will continue to monitor the activities of the Chinese coast guard to defend Taiwan's sovereignty and ensure the sustainability of marine resources, the CGA said.

(By Liu Chien-pang and James Lo)

Enditem/ASG





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China lodges protests with Japan over Taiwan authorities' appointment of former Japan Self-Defense Forces chief as consultant: Chinese FM

Global Times

By Global Times Published: Mar 21, 2025 05:59 PM

When asked to comment on reports that Taiwan's "Legislative Yuan" appointed Iwasaki Shigeru, former chief of the Joint Staff of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, as a consultant, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and the Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair that brooks no external interference.

She stressed that the one-China principle is the political foundation of China-Japan relations. This year marks the 80th of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Japan bears historical responsibilities to the Chinese people over the Taiwan question and should act with extra prudence and honor its promise of adhering to the one-China principle with concrete actions.

"We've lodged protests with the Japanese side. The DPP authorities' separatist provocations with foreign support are doomed to fail," the spokesperson said.

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Taiwan's annual military drills to simulate 2027 as year of Chinese invasion

The island's leader also promised an increase in defense spending.

By Alan Lu for RFA

2025.03.21

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan's annual military exercises have set 2027 as the potential year of a Chinese invasion - the first time it has specified a particular date for the imagined offensive - as the island's leader promised to increase its defense spending amid U.S. pressure.

Taiwan holds the Han Kuang Exercise annually to test its military readiness against potential Chinese invasion. The exercise, planned for July 9-18, will involve joint operations among the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, featuring live-fire drills, amphibious landings, and simulated missile strikes.

In this year's drills, the island plans to focus on simulating the defense of the island with scenarios based on a potential offensive in 2027, according to Taiwan's defense ministry.

"The Han Kuang exercise has always been designed to simulate scenarios that could occur within the next one to two years," the island's defense minister Wellington Koo said in a press conference on Wednesday.

"With the acquisition of new weapon systems, our training must continuously undergo validation to ensure combat effectiveness," Koo said.

China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has ramped up military pressure through drills and incursions. Taiwan, however, sees itself as a sovereign state and continues to bolster its defenses.

Taiwan's announcement came after U.S. Strategic Command Commander Anthony J. Cotton warned at a defense conference on Tuesday that as China accelerates its military expansion, the Chinese People's Liberation Army, or PLA, could "seize Taiwan by 2027."

In February, Taiwan's defense ministry proposed to double the duration of the drillS to 10 from five days, while deploying more reserve brigades as part of the efforts to scale up its defensive strength.

Defense budget increase

Separately, Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te announced on Thursday that the island would increase its defense budget to more than 3% of gross domestic product, or GDP.

Its current defense budget is approximately 2.4%.

In a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Lai emphasized his administration's commitment to ensuring the defense budget surpasses 3% of GDP while "continuing national defense reforms."

Lai's remarks were the most recent attempt to reassure both U.S. and domestic critics who argue that Taiwan is not investing enough in its own defense.

U.S. President Donald Trump has called on Taiwan to raise defense spending to as much as 10% of GDP - significantly higher than what the U.S. or its key allies allocate - in an effort to deter China.

Since Lai took office in May 2024, China has intensified pressure on Taiwan through heightened military activity, including large-scale joint air and sea exercises and frequent deployments of warplanes and naval vessels near the island.

It has also introduced new military equipment, such as landing barges designed for amphibious operations, and increased cyber and influence operations to sway public opinion in Taiwan.

Beijing announced in early March that it was increasing its 2025 defense budget by 7.2% to US$246 billion, marking the fourth consecutive year of more than 7% growth in defense spending.

"Taiwan plans to advance our cooperation with the U.S. and other democracies in upholding regional stability and prosperity," Lai said.

Edited by Taejun Kang and Stephen Wright.

Copyright 1998-2025, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content March not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan

ROC Ministry of National Defense

2025/03/21

PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan

1.Date

6 a.m. Mar. 20 (Thu.) to 6 a.m. Mar. 21 (Fri.) (UTC+8)

2.PLA activities

18 sorties of PLA aircraft and 7 PLAN ships operating around Taiwan were detected as of 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 13 out of 18 sorties crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan's southwestern ADIZ. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and employed CAP aircraft, Navy ships, and coastal missile systems in response to detected activities.

1140321_PLA activities

1140321_PLA air activities in the vicinity of Taiwan

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Protests erupt across Turkey after Erdogan rival arrested

Iran Press TV

Friday, 21 March 2025 8:51 AM

Protests have erupted in cities across Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's political rival Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested.

Clashes broke out between police and protesters in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir on Thursday.

Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protesters attending the banned gatherings.

Protest rallies were also held on Wednesday.

Turkish officials have banned the rallies and more than a hundred people have been arrested.

Istanbul's Mayor Imamoglu was detained on Wednesday. His detention followed a dawn raid on his home amid allegations of corruption, bribery and terror links.

In addition, scores of politicians, businesspeople and municipal officials linked to the mayor have been arrested.

Also, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said dozens more had been arrested for sharing what he described as "provocative" online posts.

The mayor's arrest is viewed as a politically motivated attempt to eliminate Erdogan's key rival in Turkey's upcoming presidential election.

Imamoglu, who hails from the Republican People's Party (CHP), said shortly before his arrest that "the will of the people cannot be silenced."

He said he would "stand resolute" for the people of Turkey "and all who uphold democracy and justice worldwide."

CHP claimed the arrest of Imamoglu, alongside 105 others who supported him, was "a coup against our next president."

The ruling Justice and Development Party, abbreviated officially as AK Party, denied the allegation of a coup and insisted Turkey's judiciary system is independent.

In the meantime, the next presidential election in Turkey is due in 2028. Erdogan has been in power for 22 years

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PM call with President of the European Council, President of the European Commission and the leaders of Turkey, Norway and Iceland: 21 March 2025

The Prime Minister spoke to the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the leaders of Turkey, Norway and Iceland this afternoon.

21 March 2025

The Prime Minister spoke to the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the leaders of Turkey, Norway and Iceland this afternoon.

The Prime Minister began by updating on his recent call with President Zelenskyy, and said it was clear President Putin was trying to delay and add conditions to any meaningful ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

He then turned to the military meeting held at Permanent Joint Headquarters yesterday. His visit to representatives from the 31 countries and bodies in attendance had further reinforced to him the importance of ensuring the coalition had the necessary plans in place for any eventuality, he added.

The Prime Minister also outlined the new military sub-planning groups, across land, sea, air, regeneration and reconstruction, which would continue discussions across three intensive planning days next week.

The leaders then discussed the importance of ensuring military equipment outpaced the threats facing Europe. The Prime Minister welcomed the White Paper for European Defence and its particular focus on critical capability gaps.

Europe was facing a different chapter of history and had to step up to meet that challenge, he added.

The leaders agreed to stay in close touch.

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Special Tribunal for Ukraine: Secretary General welcomes completion of technical discussions

Council of Europe

Secretary General

Strasbourg

21 March 2025

Commenting on the completion of the final meeting of the Core Group* on a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, Secretary General Alain Berset said:

"I welcome the successful outcome of the Core Group's meeting and the finalisation of the necessary technical legal documents for the establishment of the Special Tribunal within the framework of the Council of Europe.

"The Council of Europe stands ready to put the Special Tribunal swiftly in place. It is now for states to demonstrate the political will to ensure the establishment of the Special Tribunal."

Members of the Core Group gathered in Strasbourg from 19-21 March 2025 for the group's 14th and final meeting.

The Core Group finalised the technical work on the three draft documents necessary for the establishment of the Special Tribunal: the draft bilateral agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe on the establishment of the Special Tribunal, the Special Tribunal's draft statute and a draft enlarged partial agreement on the management of the Special Tribunal.

These three documents will now be submitted for political consideration.

*Created in 2023, the Core Group on the Establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine is a group of senior legal experts from around 38 states who have been working with the Ukrainian authorities, the EU Commission, the European External Action Service and the Council of Europe to seek justice for Ukraine in the face of Russia's aggression.

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Update 281 - IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

International Atomic Energy Agency

22/2025

21 Mar 2025

Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said it was encouraging to see the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) being "considered in ongoing conversations" on the military conflict in Ukraine and he stressed that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was ready to provide its technical support for those efforts.

"Without interruption, the IAEA has been present at this major nuclear plant for two and a half years now, doing everything possible to help prevent a potentially disastrous nuclear accident. We all wish for this devastating war to end as soon as possible," Director General Grossi said.

"With our in-depth knowledge and expertise about the situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, we stand ready to provide our technical contributions and support in the implementation of a future agreement regarding the plant. We will remain present for as long as it is needed to help ensure nuclear safety and security," he said.

Earlier this week, Director General Grossi said in a social media statement that he welcomed "developments on restraint around energy infrastructure" which would contribute to the safety of the ZNPP, located on the frontline of the conflict.

At the ZNPP over the past week, the IAEA team based there has been observing various maintenance activities that are currently being conducted, an area of work that is of critical importance for overall nuclear safety and security but challenging to sustain during the military conflict.

These activities include maintenance at the plant's 750 kilovolt (kV) open switchyard, where a new fixed diesel generator has also been installed to provide electricity in case all off-site power were to be lost again. In addition, the team monitored maintenance of the main transformer of reactor unit 5 and of safety equipment in unit 1. Separately, the 330 kV back-up power line was temporarily disconnected for maintenance of a circuit breaker in this switchyard.

"For all nuclear power plants, regular maintenance of structures, systems and components is necessary to prevent degradation of these essential items that would increase the risks to nuclear safety and security," Director General Grossi said.

"This has been a particularly challenging issue during the past three years of war, when much of the focus has been on averting more immediate threats to nuclear safety and security and there has also been a lack of staff and other resources. That remains very much the case but it is positive that some maintenance is still being carried out," he said.

In his latest report on Ukraine, issued ahead of the regular IAEA Board of Governors meeting earlier this month, Director General Grossi said that the ZNPP had provided the IAEA with the plant's high-level maintenance plan for 2025, including periods of planned maintenance for all its six reactor units.

However, he also noted in the report that "the maintenance being conducted is not yet at the comprehensive level that would normally be expected".

Over the past week, the IAEA team also visited the reactor building and safety system rooms of the ZNPP's unit 2, observing the presence of condensation on the walls and floor of the reactor hall and some preliminary signs of corrosion in some unpainted areas. The ZNPP said the condensation was caused by the cold shutdown status of the reactor.

Last week, the IAEA team reported hearing military activities at various distances away from the ZNPP, but it had appeared quieter so far this week.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, planned maintenance and refuelling activities at one reactor unit of the Khmelnytskyy NPP are continuing, while one of the reactor units at the South Ukraine NPP had to temporarily reduce power to repair a pump water leak, which has now been completed.

On most days over the past week, the IAEA teams at the Khmelnytskyy, Rivne and South Ukraine NPPs and the Chornobyl site reported hearing air raid alarms. Last Friday, the teams at the Khmelnytskyy and Rivne NPPs sheltered at the sites.

Separately, the IAEA has continued with its comprehensive programme of nuclear safety and security assistance to Ukraine, with two new deliveries of equipment bringing the total number since the start of the armed conflict to 115.

The Rivne Regional Centre for Hydrometeorology received one Gamma Spectrometer System and the State Enterprise USIE Izotop - involved in the management of radioactive material intended for medical, industrial and other purposes - a pick-up truck. The deliveries were supported with funding from the European Union and the Republic of Korea. More support is expected to reach Ukraine in coming months.

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Ukraine: Devastating impact of hostilities on children's rights

Press releases

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

21 March 2025

GENEVA -- Death, injury and lasting family separation are among the traumatic events that have upended the lives of Ukraine's children in the three years since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale invasion, according to a UN Human Rights Office report released today.

"The ongoing hostilities and occupation of parts of Ukraine by the Russian Federation have caused large-scale human rights violations and inflicted unimaginable suffering on millions of children. Their rights have been undermined in every aspect of life, leaving deep scars, both physical and psychosocial," said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk.

Between 24 February 2022 and 31 December 2024, the UN Human Rights Office verified that 669 children were killed and 1,833 injured, many as a result of the extensive use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Of these, 521 were killed and 1,529 injured in territory controlled by Ukraine, and 148 were killed and 304 injured in currently occupied territory. The actual numbers are likely much higher.

Vast areas of Ukraine are now littered with landmines and explosive remnants of war, posing long-term risks to children's lives and safety.

As of December 2024, an estimated 737,000 children had been internally displaced by the hostilities. A further 1.7 million were refugees, many of them separated from a parent, usually their father.

Children in areas of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation are especially vulnerable, the report says. Particularly in the months following the invasion, the Russian armed forces directed widespread violence against civilians, including children.

The UN Human Rights Office also verified that, in the first year after the invasion, at least 200 children, including many living in institutions, were transferred within occupied territory or to the Russian Federation - acts that may constitute war crimes. However, without access to the Russian Federation or occupied territory, the Office has not been able to fully assess the scale of these transfers.

Since annexing four regions of Ukraine in late 2022, in breach of international law, the Russian Federation authorities have made sweeping and profound changes to laws, institutions and governance there, directly affecting children and their human rights.

They have imposed Russian citizenship and the Russian school curriculum, while also restricting any access to education in the Ukrainian language. They have prioritised military-patriotic training at school and in youth groups, exposing children to war propaganda. These changes violate international humanitarian law, which obliges the occupying Power to protect children, respect their national identity, and maintain the continuity of their education and culture.

During the period under review, at least 1,614 attacks destroyed or damaged schools. In response, the Ukrainian authorities have implemented a broad range of measures, including requiring schools to have bomb shelters or to deliver classes online. Over a third of Ukrainian children attend school fully or partially online. However, frequent air raid alerts disrupt in-person classes and attacks by Russian armed forces on Ukraine's energy infrastructure have caused repeated power outages that shut down online classes, or prevent them taking place entirely, sometimes for protracted periods.

According to the report, after three years of unrelenting hostilities, children's level of educational attainment has gone down, diminishing their future educational path and ability to realise their full potential, in employment and beyond.

"It is clear that Ukrainian children have endured a wide range of wartime experiences, all with serious impacts - some as refugees in Europe, others as direct victims, under continued threat of bombardment, and many subject to the coercive laws and policies of the Russian authorities in occupied areas," the High Commissioner said.

"As our report makes clear, acknowledging and addressing violations are essential to ensure a future where all Ukrainian children can reclaim their rights, identity and security, free from the enduring consequences of war and occupation," said Turk.

To read the full report, click on the link below:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/impact-armed-conflict-and-occupation-childrens-rights-ukraine-24-february



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Fragile Ukraine Cease-Fire Frays As Kyiv And Moscow Pound Each Other

By Mike Eckel March 21, 2025

The Kremlin's read-out of Vladimir Putin's phone call with US President Donald Trump appeared on its website at 8:15 p.m. Moscow time on March 18: Putin, the readout said, had agreed to a US cease-fire proposal to halt Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure for 30 days.

But even before the call ended, Russian attack drones were in the air.

Within minutes of the call's conclusion, Ukrainian energy and other targets were being pounded in attacks that continued for hours. Two hospitals -- technically protected under international law - were badly damaged. Ukraine hit an oil pipeline complex in southern Russia.

A day later, on March 19, Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy held their own phone call, and the Ukrainian president said he accepted the proposed cease-fire. But Zelenskyy told reporters that "everything will continue to fly."

"If the Russians definitely don't strike our facilities, we won't hit theirs," Zelenskyy said.

And they did: Russia launched more than 170 drones at Ukraine early on March 20. Ukraine used long-range drones to attack an air base where Russian long-range bombers are housed and reportedly used a new long-range missile to hit a refinery as well.

In the Sumy region bordering Russia, civilians were forced to evacuate their villages after a barrage of drone and guided missile attacks.

"I didn't want to leave my home. I've lived here for 50 years," one resident said. "But there was no choice in this situation."

It may still be early to judge, but as cease-fires go, this certainly doesn't look like one. And unless Russian and American "technical teams" set to meet in Saudi Arabia next week can agree on concrete steps to "implement and expand" the deal, it will likely be short-lived as well.

It may still be too early to judge, but as cease-fires go, this certainly doesn't look like one. And unless Russian and American negotiators can agree on concrete steps -- either in Saudi Arabia on March 24 or subsequent meetings -- it will likely be short-lived as well.

"Neither Russia nor Ukraine have, at this stage, any incentives to decrease the intensity or scale of their operations," Maria Engqvist, deputy head of the Russia and Eurasia studies program at the Swedish Defense Research Agency, told RFE/RL.

Nikolas Gvosdev, professor of national-security affairs at the US Naval War College, in Newport, Rhode Island, said the strikes that followed the calls were directly connected.

"From Putin's side, it is to show that Russia enjoys escalation dominance and can continue to strike at times/places of its choosing," Gvosdev told RFE/RL. "From Zelenskyy's side, it is to show that despite Trump saying that Ukraine 'doesn't have the cards,' that in fact it still has cards, still has capabilities...and that Ukraine is by no means on the ropes."

Dick Berlijn, a retired Dutch Air Force general who served as the Netherlands' top military officer, said Putin has not "given any signs that he really wants a cease-fire."

"I think the reason why he came up with not [targeting] energy infrastructure is because it hurts him," Berlijn told RFE/RL. "Most of the energy infrastructure in Ukraine has already been destroyed, but targeting [Russian] energy and infrastructure, especially oil, hurts [Russia]."

'Very Much At Odds With Reality'

Since late 2022, Russia has been hammering Ukraine's energy industry, using ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as long-range drones, to target power plants, transmission facilities, and substations.

Intended to exhaust Ukraine's civilian population, it's a strategy often attributed to the former top commander of the Russian invasion, General Sergei Surovikin, whom Russian media once dubbed General Armageddon.

In the face of those attacks, Ukraine has struggled to keep the lights -- and heat -- on, but has managed to muddle through with a mix of local ingenuity and large-scale Western support.

At the same time, Ukraine has ramped up its homegrown industry of drones, which it has increasingly used to target Russia's own energy infrastructure -- oil refineries, pipelines -- not to mention military facilities.

Russia is also concerned about Ukraine's homegrown, long-range cruise missile, the Neptune. Days before the phone calls, the new missile was used to hit an oil refinery on Russia's Black Sea coast, Zelenskyy claimed.

That gives the Kremlin an incentive to push for its own energy facilities to be taken off Ukrainian targeting lists, Berlijn said.

Speaking to reporters the day after Putin's call with Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin's order was implemented immediately. He even claimed Russian forces shot down seven of their own drones as a testament to Russian goodwill.

Military experts, however, cast doubt on Peskov's claim and pointed out that Russian commanders could have called off the attacks earlier -- and certainly could have avoided targeting hospitals six hours later.

Mutual accusations came just a few hours after the overnight March 20 attacks.

Putin's pledge was "very much at odds with reality," Zelenskyy said.

"We believe that this cease-fire, which was proposed by the president of the United States of America, has already been violated by the Kyiv regime," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on state television.

Still, US officials voiced optimism.

"I think we're closer to peace, cease-fire than we've ever been in the last three years," Keith Kellogg, the White House's main envoy for Ukraine, told ABC News.

'The Theory Of A Cessation'

Aside from a reservoir of distrust filled by three years of Russia's all-out war on Ukraine, there's the question of whether there was agreement the cease-fire would go into effect immediately -- or what the sides even agreed to at all.

"I would be hesitant to call the events that have transpired during the past week even a prelude to a prelude to a proper cease-fire agreement discussion," Engqvist told RFE/RL. "The trajectory for a 'deal' of any kind is highly unstable at the moment. It can still take many turns."

The Kremlin statement said the deal referred to "energy infrastructure." The White House, however, said the deal covered "energy and infrastructure." And Zelenskyy took an even broader view of what should be spared.

"One of the first steps toward fully ending the war could be ending strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure," he said in a Telegram post following his call with Trump.

"Both sides are interested in the theory of a cessation," Gvosdev said.

"Ukraine could take time to rebuild and consolidate, Russia would seek sanctions relief; but neither side has a cease-fire proposal that meets those requirements, and both are unsure as to how far Trump would go to try and compel acquiescence," he said.

"If Putin really wanted to be sincere in his wish to stop the war, he could stop the war today. He could have stopped the war three years ago," Berlijn said.

"Putin wants Ukraine back into the Russian Empire," he said. "He doesn't agree with the fact that Ukraine is a sovereign nation, so that all makes it very difficult to come to a peace settlement that is agreeable both for Ukraine and for Russia."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-cease- fire-deal-drone-attacks/33355186.html

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russian Strikes Cut Power In Odesa During Visit By Czech President Petr Pavel

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and RFE/RL's Russian Service March 21, 2025

Russian drone strikes targeted civilian infrastructure in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, leaving at least three people injured and several districts of the city battling power cuts while Czech President Petr Pavel was visiting for talks with officials.

The head of the Odesa region's military administration Oleh Kiper reported on March 21 that minors were among the three known injured in the strikes that sparked fires in various parts of the city.

The ASTRA Telegram channel, citing information in local media, said an apartment building, a shopping center, a store, and several businesses were among civilian infrastructure facilities hit in Odesa.

The strikes resulted in power outages in at least three districts of the city, according to the DTEK electricity company.

"This is yet another reminder to the entire world: the war continues, and Ukraine continues to fight," Kiper wrote on Telegram.

A 30-day moratorium on strikes on energy infrastructure in the Russia-Ukraine war was agreed on March 18 at talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But since the Trump-Putin talks, Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of breaking the limited agreement and it appears to have had little impact on the course of the war.

Russia accused Kyiv on March 21 of blowing up a major gas pumping and measuring station in Russia's Kursk region near the border with Ukraine in what it called "an act of terrorism."

Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected to meet separately with US officials in Saudi Arabia next week, though face-to-face meetings between the two are not expected to be held.

Hurting Odesa has been a priority for Russia in its three-year full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow looks to obstruct Kyiv's maritime access.

While Russia's hopes of reaching the strategic port with conventional forces faded in the first year of the war, it has continued to target it with regular strikes.

Strikes on January 31 damaged buildings on the UNESCO World Heritage list in Odesa's storied city center, including the Hotel Bristol, a luxury hotel built at the end of the 19th century.

Ukraine's Prosecutor-General's Office said Russian armed forces used ballistic missiles in that attack.

In a post on X on March 20, Pavel said Odesa "has been resisting Russian aggression since the beginning of the war."

"The Czech Republic is sending aid here in the form of combat vehicles, drones, protective vests, and mobile jamming devices that protect residents from drone attacks, as well as medical equipment, such as ventilators and hospital beds," Pavel said.

Pavel met with Kiper, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba, and other Ukrainian officials to discuss cooperation.

Russian attacks late on March 21 killed two people in Zaporizhzhya, the regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said, adding that the attack caused three fires. Pictures posted on social media showed rescuers searching in the rubble and apartment blocks and homes with windows and facades badly damaged.

Two other people were killed on March 21 in the Sumy region on Ukraine's northeastern border with Russia when Russian forces dropped at least six guided bombs on the village of Krasnopillia, prosecutors said.

In eastern Donetsk region, prosecutors said Russian forces had dropped three bombs on the town of Kostyantynivka, killing one person.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said on March 21 that Kyiv was continuing to hold talks with the United States about a minerals deal.

"Ukraine was even ready to sign the agreement in Jeddah," Heorhiy Tykhyy, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said, referring to the March 11 talks between US and Ukrainian representatives in Saudi Arabia.

Tykhyy said that US officials at that time requested additional consultations in Washington about the deal.

Trump said on March 20 that the United States would sign the minerals and natural resources deal with Ukraine shortly.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-strikes-cut- power-odesa-visit-czech-president-pavel/33354870.html

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Ukrainian Museums Rush To Save Cultural Heritage From Bombing

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and Yulia Shchetyna March 21, 2025

As Ukraine's frontline cities continue to come under attack, museums holding historical and cultural artifacts are working to relocate valuable collections to safer parts of the country.

"Physical damage is a threat because of air strikes," says Olha Sahaydak, head of Ukraine's Coalition of Cultural Workers. "For example, when the Bristol Hotel was targeted in Odesa, the Museum of Literature and the Philharmonic were also damaged," she says.

But experts say just 10 percent of the endangered items have been safeguarded so far.

More than 3 million items in museum collections are left in Ukrainian-held territories near the front lines, according to Sahaydak.

In the Zaporizhzhya region, which is partially under Russian control, museum officials are working to save objects that represent Ukrainian identity.

Viktoria Vodopyan, director of Zaporizhzhya's Regional Museum, says they have decided to save traditional embroidered shirts known as vyshyvanka along with embroidered towels.

"We saw what was happening in the [partially occupied] Donetsk and Luhansk regions after 2014 and how the identity of the Ukrainian people was being destroyed," says Vodopyan.

Museum officials also want to safeguard against the looting of cultural treasures if Ukrainian loses more territory to Russia.

When Russian forces temporarily occupied the city of Kherson in 2022, witnesses reported the theft of paintings, gold artifacts, and religious icons.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-cultural-heritage-war- museum-efforts/33354817.html

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Chief of General Staff of Russian Armed Forces inspects Tsentr Group of Forces

21.03.2025 (10:30)

Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation / First Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation General of the Army Valery Gerasimov inspected combat missions carried out by formations and military units of a combined arms army of the Tsentr Group of Forces operating in Krasnoarmeysk direction in the special military operation zone.

While inspecting the forward command posts of motorised rifle formations and the combined arms force,General of the Army Valery Gerasimov received reports from the Commander of the Tsentr Group, commanders of formations, and other officers on the progress of tasks in the area of responsibility.

At the end of the inspection, the Chief of General Staff summed up intermediate results with the command of the Tsentr Group of Forces and set tasks for further actions.

At the CP of the combined arms army, the Chief of General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces presented state awards to the servicemen who had operated in the most distinguished way during the liberation of the settlements in the Donetsk People's Republic, and thanked them for their courage and valour demonstrated in the combat missions.

Department for Media Affairs and Information

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Trump: Contract on Ukraine Settlement and Land Divisions Being Negotiated Now

Sputnik News

20250321

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump said on Friday that an agreement on resolving the Ukraine conflict, which includes discussions on territorial divisions, is currently under negotiation.

"Then we're going to have a contract. And the contract's being negotiated, the contract in terms of dividing up the lands, etc, etc. It's being negotiated as we speak," Trump told reporters.

Trump also expressed confidence that a full ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia will be reached soon.

"We're going to pretty soon have a full ceasefire," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

The president noted he believes that after his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, they have "confines of the deal" on Ukraine.

"I've been having very good discussions, as you know, with President Zelenskyy and with President Putin ... and I have to tell you, I've dealt very well with both gentlemen, and I think we have the confines of the deal," Trump said.

 Sputnik

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European Powers Reluctant to Send Troops to Ukraine

Sputnik News

20250321

While UK and France publicly declare their intent to deploy military units to Ukraine, the rest of the EU states may have other ideas, Bloomberg reports.

Most of the countries involved in talks to send up to 30,000 troops to Ukraine offered "military assets or troops to backfill other parts of NATO that are willing to provide soldiers" instead.

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has openly opposed the "boots on the ground" scheme for Ukraine.

Although UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, one of the main proponents of this "coalition of the willing", now touts an idea to focus on air and naval support for Ukraine instead of ground troop deployment, it is unclear how feasible this scheme would be without US assistance.

Earlier, about 30 countries reportedly offered to contribute troops, aircraft, ships, and funding to Starmer's coalition.

Meanwhile, Russia warned that international peacekeepers can only be deployed in the Ukrainian conflict zone with the consent of all the parties involved.

Russia also rejects attempts to insert NATO countries' troops into any peacekeeper scheme, given the military bloc's role in starting the Ukrainian conflict in the first place.

 Sputnik

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Ukraine Deliberately Blows Up Sudzha Gas Distribution Station on March 20

Sputnik News

20250321

leaving the facility significantly damaged, Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told Sputnik on Friday.

"A criminal case has been opened in connection with the explosion of the Sudzha gas distribution station by the Ukrainian armed forces' servicepeople. The Main Military Investigative Department of the Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case on the grounds of a crime ... [over a terrorist act]," Petrenko said.

On March 20, Ukrainian servicepeople, who illegally invaded the territory of Russia, carried out a deliberate explosion of the Sudzha gas distribution station, as a result of which the facility received significant damage, the spokeswoman said.

The investigation will identify and hold accountable all those involved in this crime, the Investigative Committee emphasized.

There were no casualties or injuries among the civilian population from the explosion, clarified an emergency services representative to Sputnik. He added that experts have already begun assessing the consequences of the terrorist attack.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that the bombing of the Sudzha station revealed how much faith can be placed in the words of Vladimir Zelensky and his team.

Gas transit through the Sudzha station continued until the beginning of this year, when it stopped due to Kiev's refusal to extend the transit agreement. This route remained the last one for Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with his American counterpart, Donald Trump. According to the Kremlin press service, they discussed resolving the Ukrainian conflict and expressed mutual interest in normalizing relations. Among other things, Putin responded positively to the idea of a mutual 30-day halt to strikes on energy infrastructure and gave the corresponding order to the military.

Later, Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukraine would support the proposal to cease attacks on energy infrastructure. However, just hours after the talks between the Russian and US leaders, the Kiev regime attacked the Kavkazskaya oil pumping station in Russia's Krasnodar region with three drones. The station is involved in transferring oil from railway tankers to the pipeline system of the international Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

The Ministry of Defense noted that such actions by the Ukrainian leadership are aimed at deliberately undermining Trump's peace initiatives. Peskov stated that this attack is the best proof of the Kiev regime's lack of willingness to negotiate, and this raises concerns.

Russian forces, following Putin's command, ceased all strikes and even shot down seven of their own drones that were already en route to attack targets in the Nikolayev region of Ukraine.

 Sputnik

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Trump's Proposed Ceasefire Already Violated by Ukraine - Russian FM Spokeswoman

Sputnik News

20250321

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on Ukraine's continued attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, despite the partial ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump.

"How the US will handle this deranged terrorist scum going forward, and how they will manage to corral them back into some kind of stall and directionthis is a big question," Zakharova told Russian media.

Just hours after the Putin-Trump conversation, the Ukrainian regime reportedly launched a drone attack on oil facilities in Kavkazskaya village, in Russia's Krasnodar Region, during the night of March 19. Debris from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) damaged a pipeline between fuel storage tanks, igniting a fire that continues to burn.

 Sputnik

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Andriy Yermak Delivered a Speech at the Conference Marking the Third Anniversary of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War

President of Ukraine

21 March 2025 - 21:05

The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War hosted a conference marking the third anniversary of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

The event was attended by the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Vereshchuk, Chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov, released prisoners of war, their family members, representatives of law enforcement agencies, international organizations, and civil society.

Panel discussions covered the ethics of reporting on captivity, the role of POWs' families in the international dialogue, and the rehabilitation and reintegration of those released. The event also included the opening of a photo exhibition, the presentation of an analytical report, and a special video screening.

In his speech, Andriy Yermak emphasized that the establishment of the Headquarters was an important institutional response of the state to the new challenges posed by mass cases of captivity of Ukrainian military personnel and civilians.

"It was a decision of the heart and responsibility. The decision of the state, which firmly stated: we are fighting for every Ukrainian. We do not abandon our people. These are not just rhetoric - it is a principle Ukraine steadfastly upholds amid the great war," the Head of the Presidential Office noted.

Andriy Yermak particularly emphasized the importance of promoting the humanitarian track in international negotiations.

"During the talks in Jeddah, we clearly emphasized that the humanitarian dimension is no less important than the security dimension. The 'all for all' format is not just a diplomatic formula. It is a moral imperative for a world that wants to remain humane," he stressed.

According to the Head of the Presidential Office, thanks to the coordinated efforts of the Headquarters and international support, Ukraine continues to bring its citizens home and consistently keeps this issue in the focus of the global agenda.

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Address by the President of Ukraine to the Participants of the Conference "Hope, Struggle, Return - Three Years"

President of Ukraine

21 March 2025 - 19:39

I wish you good health!

And greetings to all of you - participants of the Conference, and everyone helping to release people from captivity.

This Wednesday brought very good news for all of us in Ukraine - 197 more of our people were brought home from Russian captivity. The hundreds of thousands of joyful posts on social media, and all the media coverage about the return of our men, show just how much Ukrainians await and honor their people, how happy we are to see our people come back.

We remember every single person who is in captivity - all our service members and all our civilians. We are searching for information and confirmation about everyone who may be held captive by the Russians, but on whom there is no definite information yet. And it is always a moment of joy when we manage to find someone and bring them home.

For more than three years now, nearly the entire duration of this war, our Coordination Headquarters - all the services working to bring our prisoners home - has been operating. Over four thousand people have already been returned - 4,306. And we will bring everyone back.

All my negotiations, every meeting with our partners who can help, always include the issue of our Ukrainian prisoners. Now, as we speak with the American side and other partners about how to bring the war to an end, the release of prisoners is one of the very first key steps we discuss. We believe this is something that must definitely happen. I thank all our partners who support us in this effort - and everyone in Ukraine and around the world who keeps the issue of prisoners on the public agenda.

I also ask all of you to remember that each person we release is, in fact, a feat of those on the front line who replenish our exchange fund. I want to thank all our warriors for such bravery. And please, I ask you not to forget that bringing people home should not be the end of caring for those who were in captivity. It is a duty of all levels of government - and of every person who is simply able to help.

Today, I want to thank everyone involved in this team effort - the Office of the President, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ombudsman, and all others whose efforts bring Ukrainians home. We always bring our people back - and that is one of the most important principles of our state. That's how it is, and that's how it will be. Thank you!

Glory to Ukraine!

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The Frontline Situation, Defense Cooperation, and the Development of Bilateral Relations: The President of Ukraine Met with the President of the Czech Republic in Kyiv

President of Ukraine

21 March 2025 - 18:40

In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel, who came to Ukraine on a working visit.

The Ukrainian leader informed his counterpart that, the day before, Russia had used more than 200 attack drones, most of which were "Shaheds." In particular, in Odesa, infrastructure was heavily damaged - including ordinary residential buildings, shopping centers, and stores.

"Every day the world receives more and more evidence that Putin and his Russia are the sole cause of this war. For over a week now, a proposal for a full ceasefire has been on the table, and there is no silence only because Putin does not accept this proposal. That is why pressure is needed - pressure on Russia," the President of Ukraine emphasized.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Petr Pavel discussed all the key details of the situation on the frontline and the overall course of the war. Ukraine appreciates the Czech initiative on artillery ammunition and is working together with the Czech Republic to implement it this year.

The President of Ukraine also shared details of his conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump and the preparations of the Ukrainian and American teams for a new meeting in Saudi Arabia.

The talks also focused on joint European efforts to provide security guarantees for Ukraine and on defense production.

"Our teams - from Ukraine and the Czech Republic - have concrete projects. Every good idea for the development of our defense capabilities must be implemented. Today, some agreements will already be put in action," the Head of State said.

In addition, he thanked the Czech Republic for respecting Ukraine and the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who have been provided with temporary shelter. According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, an agreement has been reached to open a Unity Center for Ukrainians in Prague. This special hub will consolidate assistance to Ukrainian citizens.

Also, a decision has been made on the Czech auspices for the Dnipro region in terms of restoration and development, as well as on the reconstruction and outfitting of six hospitals by the Czech Republic: in Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Lutsk, Lviv, Rivne, and Kyiv.

The President of the Czech Republic shared his impressions of his visit to Ukraine and the consequences of the Russian attacks he witnessed firsthand.

"We Czechs fully understand the Ukrainian desire to make a sovereign choice about the future and to live as a free society. Ukraine needs to receive guarantees that Russia will not attack again. This is our collective responsibility. The Czech Republic will contribute," he said.

Petr Pavel noted that the Czech Republic will continue to provide defense support and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, and will contribute to reconstruction, particularly in the areas of energy, water supply, and health care.

He also expressed support for Ukraine's accession to the EU and NATO, which could serve as the strongest and the most cost-effective guarantee of European peace.

The meeting resulted in the adoption of a Joint Statement on Strategic Partnership between Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

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Running to bomb shelters, nothing new for Ukraine's schoolchildren

21 March 2025 - Classes cut short by air raid sirens have become a routine part of school life for many Ukrainian youngsters in the three years since Russia's full-scale invasion began, a new UN report published on Friday details.

There have been a staggering 1,614 recorded attacks on Ukrainian schools up to the end of last year says the report from the UN human rights office OHCHR - part of a legacy of death, injury, disability and family separation.

Children's educational attainment level has plummeted during the unrelenting hostilities, "diminishing their future educational path and ability to realize their full potential in employment and beyond."

Furthermore, children living in the four regions annexed by Russia in breach of international law, are "especially vulnerable" following the imposition of a Russian school curriculum.

Propaganda exercise

"Military-patriotic training is prioritised, and children are exposed to war propaganda," Liz Throssell of the Office for Human Rights told journalists in Geneva on Friday.

"Children are also completely restricted from accessing education in the Ukrainian language and have been imposed with Russian citizenship," she continued.

The horrifying impact on Ukraine's youngest extends way beyond the classroom. As the report unveils, a verified 669 children were killed and 1,833 injured since February 2022, with the actual numbers likely much higher.

With hundreds of thousands of internally displaced and close to two million children living outside the country as refugees, many of them separated from a parent, High Commissioner Volker Turk said "their rights have been undermined in every aspect of life, leaving deep scars, both physical and psychosocial."

OHCHR confirms that at least 200 children have been transferred to Russia, or within occupied territory in eastern Ukraine - "acts that may constitute war crimes," Ms. Throssell insisted.

However, due to lack of access, the full scale of these incidents cannot be properly evaluated, the UN official stated.

'Drastic wartime experiences'

"It is clear that Ukrainian children have endured a wide range of drastic wartime experiences, all with serious impacts - some as refugees in Europe, others as direct victims, under continued threat of bombardment, and many subject to the coercive laws and policies of the Russian authorities in occupied areas," UN human rights chief Turk said.

"As our report makes clear, acknowledging and addressing violations are essential to ensure a future where all Ukrainian children can reclaim their rights, identity and security, free from the enduring consequences of war and occupation," he added.

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London, UK, March 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cryptocurrency investors are constantly seeking high-yielding opportunities that involve little effort. One of the least appreciated methods today is cloud mining, a passive income strategy that enables investors to receive regular daily returns. Ripple (XRP) holders, in fact, are taking advantage of KSDMiner's cloud mining services to earn up to $13,000 per day, making it one of the most profitable opportunities in 2025.

KSDMiner has become the go-to source for XRP holders and cryptocurrency investors looking to maximize their returns without the expense of hardware or technical expertise. If you have XRP or any other large digital currency, this cloud mining trick could be the key to financial independence!





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Click to download the KSD Miner official app and control your financial freedom anytime, anywhere

How to Make Money with Cloud Mining

The traditional cryptocurrency mining requires expensive hardware, technical knowledge, and an expensive electricity bill. Cloud mining dissolves these, allowing users to rent mining capabilities in remote data centers and earn mining rewards daily without the hassle of dealing with hardware.

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What is KSDMiner?

KSDMiner is among the leading cloud mining platforms, established in 2016, that provides investors AI-powered cryptocurrency mining solutions. With an international network of over 100 big mining farms and a customer base of 8.53+ million users, KSDMiner is a name that commands great importance in the crypto investing scene.

Why Investors Invest in KSDMiner:

 Payback on a daily basis with increased ROI

 Multi-cryptocurrency mining such as BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, and XRP

 AI-optimized mining for better performance

 Driven with green energy to ensure sustainability

 Strict security controls to guarantee user money

KSDMiner is making a killing for XRP investors

Ripple (XRP) investors discovered the power of compounding through KSDMiner , converting their daily winnings into returns from which they invested and grew in exponential scale. Instead of allowing XRP just sit idle, they convert their balances to mining power earning them a $10,000 daily income.

Example: How $100 Can Turn Into $100,000

Investment Estimated Daily Return Projected Monthly Return Projected Annual Return $100 $10 $300 $3,600 $500 $50 $1,500 $18,000 $1,000 $120 $3,600 $43,200 $5,000 $600 $18,000 $216,000 $10,000 $1,500 $45,000 $540,000









Note: These figures are based on compounding reinvestments and are for illustrative purposes only.

How to Register & Start Mining with KSDMiner

Getting started with KSDMiner is easy and quick. Here's how:

 Register: Visit the official KSDMiner website and register using one-click registration.

 Download the App: iOS and Android versions available for convenient mobile access.

 Select a Mining Plan: Pick an investment plan that meets your financial objective.

 Deposit Funds: Fund using XRP, Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any other supported currencies to activate the mining contract.

 Start Mining: After activating your plan, mining is automatically triggered.

 Monitor & Reinvest: Monitor your return and reinvest earnings to hasten growth.

KSDMiner's Track Record & Benefits

Ever since its launch in 2016, KSDMiner has financially empowered over 8.53 million individuals worldwide through cloud mining. KSDMiner is secure, transparent, and profitable and therefore the perfect option for both XRP investors and crypto users.

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Final Thoughts

The smartest investors know that idle cryptocurrency means wasted potential. Instead of twiddling their thumbs waiting for XRP prices to go up, savvy investors are using KSDMiner to earn gigantic daily profits.

Don't pass this opportunity byturn your XRP into a cash machine today!

Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release is not a solicitation for investment, nor is it intended as investment advice, financial advice, or trading advice. Cryptocurrency mining and staking involves risk. There is potential for loss of funds. It is strongly recommended you practice due diligence, including consultation with a professional financial advisor, before investing in or trading cryptocurrency and securities.
Cynda Collins Arsenault has been named a Global Luminary by the UN Womens Peace & Humanitarian Fund for her leadership in advancing womens roles in peace and security. Through Our Secure Future, she champions policy change, trust-based philanthropy, and advocacy, amplifying women's voices in conflict resolution worldwide.

Cynda Collins Arsenault at the 2018 International Womens Day Gala Luncheon and Seminar hosted by World Denver. Photo: Our Secure Future

NEW YORK, March 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The United Nations Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) has named Cynda Collins Arsenault, founder of Our Secure Future (OSF), as a 2025 Global Luminary in recognition of her exceptional work promoting women's organizations in peace and security. This prestigious honor comes as part of WPHF's newly launched Global Luminary Campaign, which aims to spotlight and support women peacebuilders and rights defenders working in crisis situations worldwide.

Advocating for the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

Collins Arsenault has over 45 years of experience in non-profit work including peace and justice, criminal justice, mental health, disability rights and environmental issues. As the founder of OSF, she has spearheaded efforts to implement the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda both in the United States and internationally. Her work challenges traditional notions of security, emphasizing the importance of women's perspectives in creating lasting peace.

"We are in a transition stage, and it will not be quick. But we are laying the foundation," she stated. "I am always surprised when talking to people who are not aware of the WPS agenda, so the more we can publicize it to the general public, the more hope we have."

Collins Arsenault's philanthropic approach focuses on long-term, systemic solutions to increase women's voices in peace and security. She has been a vocal advocate for trust-based philanthropy, especially for women-led organizations, recognizing the deep expertise women bring to the table in conflict resolution and peacebuilding efforts.

Strengthening Womens Roles in Decision-Making

Collins Arsenaults work with OSF has contributed to significant policy advancements, including the establishment of the first bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Women, Peace and Security in the United States.

Under her leadership, OSF has tirelessly worked to advance women's roles in decision-making and to implement the WPS agenda. The organization uses policy advocacy and strategic partnerships to strengthen the capacity of government actors to include women and implement their recommendations on pressing issues such as tech-facilitated gender-based violence.

I am deeply committed to supporting initiatives that empower women in conflict-affected regions worldwide. I chose to be part of this powerful movement because I believe in amplifying the voices of women who are courageously driving peace, resilience, and stability in their communities, Collins Arsenault emphasized, highlighting the urgency of her mission.

Supporting Women on the Frontlines of Peace

The WPHF Global Luminary Campaign, featuring Collins Arsenault alongside other distinguished leaders and activists, aims to galvanize support for women working on the frontlines of the world's most challenging conflicts and humanitarian crises. This initiative comes at a time when essential funding for foreign aid and gender equality initiatives faces severe risks, even as women and girls continue to bear the brunt of escalating crises worldwide.

Her recognition as a Global Luminary not only celebrates her achievements but also serves as a powerful call to action. It underscores the urgent need to support and amplify the voices of women peacebuilders who are often overlooked in traditional peace processes.

Supporting WPHF aligns with my core values and my dedication to fostering inclusive leadership and sustainable change. This role allows me to champion the crucial work being done to ensure women have a seat at the table in building a better, more peaceful future for all, she says.

As part of this campaign, Collins Arsenault is actively raising funds to support WPHF's work. Supporters can contribute to her fundraising efforts joining her in the mission to create a more peaceful and gender-equal world.

For more information about Cynda Collins Arsenaults Pledge, visit https://www.pledge.to/WPHFCyndaCollinsArsenault

About Our Secure Future

Our Secure Future (OSF) is dedicated to strengthening the Women, Peace and Security agenda. OSF works to ensure women's full participation in peace and security efforts and recognizes their unique contributions and perspectives in these areas.

Its mission is to advance women's leadership in conflict prevention, resolution, and post-conflict reconstruction. Collaborating with government institutions, civil society, and the security sector, OSF creates practical solutions for sustainable peace.

Contact Information

Emma Boggess

Our Secure Future

oursecurefuture@paxsapiens.org

https://oursecurefuture.org/
A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on this link.

SYDNEY, March 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kuky, a technology-driven peer support app, is looking to make a positive change in the mental wellness space by connecting users based on the similarities in the challenges they face. Officially launched in January 2025, Kuky has already been downloaded more than 2,000 times in its home market of Australia and is on track to meet the startups growth targets ahead of a planned seed round.

Were growing at a steady pace as more people discover the power of shared experiences, says founder Armin Nehzat (pictured), who is well-versed in open-source technologies and sentiment analysis. Kuky is simple. Users upload a video sharing their health and wellness journey, and our AI-powered (artificial intelligence) system gets to work, helping them find meaningful connections.

For Nehzats camp to provide an online peer support service that works, the platform features video analysis, matching algorithm, user verification, and security monitoring. The goal of the team at Kuky is to foster authentic and reliable connections within a trusted and safe community.

Nehzat declares: Safety and authenticity are our top priorities. We manually verify all users to ensure they are who they say they are. We also encourage people to connect via voice or video calls as soon as possible  because a real conversation is far more powerful than being lost in a sea of online comments.

The Kuky founder believes that theres often a lack of real emotional support and true human connection in many digital platforms whose main user interactions are comments and likes. It is this deficiency that the new subscription-based app  which runs on Android, iOS, and web browsers  is keen to address.

The inspiration for Kuky came from two personal experiences, shares Nehzat. My wife was in her first trimester, and my gym partner was dealing with heart valve issues. I saw how both of them had concerns about their mental health and well-being but struggled to find the right support.

Getting a GP appointment for quick advice was difficult, and while platforms like Google and ChatGPT provide information, they lack real human empathy. I thought, What if there was a way for people to connect based on shared experiences? I knew technology could help bridge this gap Thats how Kuky was born.

Now, with the infrastructure already in place and the indications of market demand apparent, Kuky is focused on driving app engagement and refining its matching algorithm. Backed by two angel investors, Kuky is also eyeing to raise seed funding as part of its growth ambitions.

Nehzat states: Many people feel like theyre struggling alone, but theres something incredibly powerful about connecting with someone who truly understands what youre going through. Kuky is for anyone seeking emotional and mental support  whether its a tough health journey, personal stress, or simply the need for someone who gets it.

Everyone is dealing with something, and knowing that theres someone out there who understands and can offer empathy makes a huge difference.
LOS ANGELES, March 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ulofey, a leading provider of custom wigs, is revolutionizing the wig industry by offering affordable, high-quality, hand-crafted wigs that combine comfort, style, and confidence. The companys commitment to customization ensures that every wig is tailored to meet the unique needs and preferences of each individual, making luxury wigs more accessible than ever before.

Why Choose Ulofey Custom Wigs?

For those seeking a wig that offers a perfect fit and matches their personal style, Ulofey provides a solution that goes beyond the generic, mass-produced options available on the market. Whether you are experiencing thinning hair, exploring a bold new color, or seeking a wig that fits your head shape just right, Ulofey delivers wigs that are designed with your needs in mind.

How Ulofey Wigs Work

Find Inspiration at Your Local Salon:

Unsure of where to begin? Start by visiting your local salon to get inspiration. Your stylist can help you explore the styles and colors that complement your features, making the consultation with Ulofeys team even more effective.

Free Virtual Consultation:

Ulofey offers a free virtual consultation where you can share your vision for the color, length, cap fit, and style of your wig. During the session, Ulofeys experts will guide you with suggestions based on your preferences, lifestyle, and face shape.

Precision Crafting:

Once the details are finalized, Ulofeys skilled artisans begin handcrafting your custom wig. Each wig is meticulously created with adjustments to the cap fit, color, trimming, and layering to ensure a flawless look and comfortable fit.

Fast Delivery:

Your custom wig will be ready in just 4-10 business daysno more long waits or salon appointments. Experience the convenience of fast and efficient delivery without sacrificing quality.

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Once your wig arrives, Ulofey offers hassle-free adjustments to perfect the style, fit, or length, ensuring that you are completely satisfied with your new look.

Why Ulofey Stands Out

Affordable Salon-Quality Wigs:

Ulofey eliminates middlemen, providing premium wigs at a fraction of the price of traditional salonsup to one-third of the cost. Experience the luxury of hand-finished wigs at an affordable price.

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Ulofey allows you to start with expert salon advice, then brings your vision to life affordably. The company ensures your wig is crafted precisely to your specifications.

Empowerment Through Custom Beauty:

At Ulofey, wigs are not just hairthey are an avenue for building confidence. Whether for everyday wear, special occasions, or trying out a new look, Ulofeys custom wigs help you feel authentic and empowered.

The Crafting Process: Uncompromising Quality

Ulofey prides itself on using only the finest virgin human hair, sourced from premium Slavic and Chinese hair. Every strand undergoes a meticulous process to ensure natural integrity, durability, and a high-quality finish. Ulofeys commitment to ethical sourcing ensures that each wig meets the highest standards.

100% Unprocessed Raw-Virgin Hair:

Crafted from the finest selection of virgin human hair, Ulofey wigs maintain their natural structure and integrity for a flawless look that lasts.

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Ulofey wigs feature pre-plucked hairlines that mimic the natural growth pattern of hair, providing a realistic and seamless look that enhances the wigs authenticity.

Invisible Knots Technology:

Ulofey utilizes cutting-edge technology to create invisible knots, ensuring a natural hairline that appears as though the hair is growing directly from the scalp.

A Solution for Sensitive Scalp Needs

Ulofey offers a special medical cap design that is perfect for individuals with sensitive or bald scalps, including those undergoing medical treatments. The cap has no clips, instead using silicone on the ear tabs, nape, and inner cap for a comfortable, secure fit. With soft fabric and an ergonomic design, Ulofey ensures comfort for all wearers.

About Ulofey

At Ulofey, we believe that beauty goes beyond appearancesit is about self-expression, confidence, and embracing ones uniqueness. Our mission is to provide high-quality wigs, hair toppers, and extensions that empower individuals to feel confident in their own skin. We strive to set a new standard in the industry by prioritizing customization, ethical sourcing, and luxury at an accessible price.

Jane Doe, CEO of Ulofey, said, For many women, hair is deeply tied to identity. Our goal is to empower individuals by restoring not just their appearance, but their confidence. By prioritizing customization and ethical sourcing, we aim to set a new standard in the industry.

Start Your Journey with Ulofey

Ready to transform your look? Book your free consultation today by emailing ulofey@gmail.com. Discover the effortless, affordable, and customized beauty that Ulofey offers.

Ulofey Wigs  Custom beauty, no boutique prices.

Media contact: ulofey@gmail.com

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2bb4c7ca-551f-41fe-a68f-b3f269c91ce9

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AUSTIN, Texas, March 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- You may have come across plenty of Life Line Screening reviews and articles. But not all of them come with the required information that you need. As such, we share with you this thoroughly researched Life Line Screening review. Here, we share with you real insights from customers, why you should use Life Line Screening and Life Line Screening scam alerts, if any. Visit The Website Of Life Line Screening To Learn More >>





Life Line Screening is a very popular preventive health screening service. But, some people are skeptical regarding it. What is included in the service, and what are the pros and cons? In this article, we will cover everything that you need to know about Life Line Screening, plus real reviews.

As we reveal several important points, we will also reveal Life Line Screening customer reviews and frequently asked questions.

What is Life Line Screening?





Life Line Screening is a preventive health screening company. The company began in 1993 and has screened over 10 million people in the United States. Each year about 700,000 people attend Life Line Screening events to get peace of mind or early detection for their risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Life Line Screening events take place all around the United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii. Over the years, the company added several screenings for additional health concerns, such as diabetes and cholesterol.

Life Line Screening allows people to choose from more than 14,000 screening locations at an affordable price. Some of the benefits that Life Line Screening offers are convenient locations, accurate screenings and affordable prices. Screenings are easy, painless and non-invasive. There is a wide selection of screenings to pick from and all the screenings use state-of-the-art technology.

=>(Special Package Pricing) Get an Appointment on the Site of Life Line Screening

What is included in Life Line Screening?

In this section, we will list the most common package at Life Line Screening, what to expect at your appointment, and the Life Line Screening preparation instructions.

These painless and non-invasive screenings can identify risks that lead to stroke and cardiovascular disease, including carotid artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm and atrial fibrillation.

One of the common questions people ask is how Life Line Screening differs from getting these tests through your doctor. Often, if you are asymptomatic, your insurance company wont cover preventive health screenings. As a result, your doctor or hospital may charge over $1,000 for one screening. Life Line Screening offers a package of 4 preventive health screenings for an affordable price and is intended for asymptomatic people in order to provide early detection or peace of mind.

The best part is that Life Line Screening has locations all across the United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii. Getting started is very easy as there are over 14,000 Life Line Screening locations to choose from. You can find screening locations near you by entering your zip code on their website. All the available appointments near you over the next 12 weeks will be listed and you can select the best option for your schedule.

Once you select your location, date and time, the next page is where you enter your personal information and credit card to reserve your appointment. Upon confirming your appointment, you will receive detailed instructions on how to prepare for the screening.

Does Life Line Screening Work?

Each year about 700,000 people across the continental United States use Life Line Screening to gain peace of mind or early detection. So, if you are wondering if Life Line Screening is worth your time, the answer is Yes. It is considered one of the highest quality preventive screening companies for people age 40 and older, and is affordable, convenient and provides accurate results.

When writing this piece, we have done a thorough analysis of Life Line Screening to see if there are any scam alerts and we also researched several Life Line Screening reviews. It must be noted that many skeptical consumers came to the realization that Life Line Screening really works and identified their risk for illnesses.

Why Use Life Line Screening?

Life Line Screening is one of the most comprehensive preventive screening services available to people in the United States. More than 10 million people have participated in a Life Line Screening since 1993.

Here are the reasons why you should consider and use Life Line Screening.

The screening service offered by Life Line Screening is affordable.

Highly trained technicians perform the screenings.

Screenings are painless and noninvasive.

Screenings provide peace of mind or early detection; both are a good thing.

Screenings are conveniently located in your neighborhood.

Life Line Screening is an established company conducting millions of screenings in over 25 years of business.

Life Line Screening Benefits

Life Line Screening offers benefits for both mind and body. It can detect serious illness and disease before symptoms arise. Here are some other benefits that come with Life Line Screening.

Preventive Health Care:



Life Line Screening helps identify serious health risks such as stroke and cardiovascular disease. Many serious illnesses dont have apparent symptoms in the early stages.

Enjoy Peace of Mind:



Screenings provide early detection or peace of mind. Regular screenings are important as your health changes over time.

Reduce Potential Costs:



Finding out if you have a health problem or risk that may lead to serious complications enables you to work with a physician to take action. Being proactive can reduce potential medical costs down the road. Screenings provide peace of mind or early detection, both are priceless.

Flexible Screening Locations and Dates:



One of the best things is the convenient screening locations and dates which you can pick from. Life Line Screening has over 14,000 locations across the continental United States, they make it easy for everyone to attend a screening. They also offer affordable screening packages.

=>(Special Package Pricing) Get an Appointment on the Site of Life Line Screening

Life Line Screening Pros And Cons

Just like any screening program, Life Line Screening has both positive and negative points. In this section, we will share the Life Line Screening pros and cons that you must consider before making your appointment.

Pros:

Preventive health screenings provide peace of mind or early detection.

Screenings provide early detection of stroke and cardiovascular disease risk.

Screening packages are affordable.

Highly trained technicians perform the screenings.

Life Line Screening has over 14,000 locations across the continental United States.

A screening can be performed at a suitable time and location that is convenient for you.

Cons:

Life Line Screening is only available in the USA, excluding Alaska and Hawaii.

Life Line Screening is not covered by insurance.

Are Preventive Health Screenings Right For You?

Life Line Screening is a preventive health screening company. Preventive health screenings can be extremely beneficial when you bring your results to your physician and take action, if necessary.

The most common package at Life Line Screening includes 4 screenings:

Carotid Artery Screening

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening

Atrial Fibrillation Screening

Peripheral Arterial Disease Screening

This screening package is recommended for anyone age 40 or older.

Is Life Line Screening a Scam?

When compiling this thorough review, we have gone through plenty of reviews and Life Line Screening scam alerts. Life Line Screening is a legit company that has been screening millions of people since its inception. The company has been in business over 20 years and has a strong positive reputation in the preventive health industry.

Life Line Screening Real Customer Reviews

I am 60 years old and had a screening in May 2019 and found my right carotid artery was 70% blocked. I had no symptoms. Took the results to my doctor then to a vascular surgeon who ran his own tests. I had surgery 5 weeks ago and it was a success. You can't put a price on health. Thank you Life Line Screening. Kim, Illinois.

Even though I feel fine, I am at risk and wanted to get checked and be proactive about my health. -D. Whitehead, Georgia.

Life Line Screening is the only reason I'm alive today. They found the abdominal aortic aneurysm which was monitored until it got to the size that required surgery and now it is stronger than before. I recommend everyone over 50 to get checked and this is the least expensive way to get a clean bill of health that will ease your mind and maybe save your life." Cliff, Missouri.

"The doctor said I was a "walking time bomb"... I know that the screening saved my life..." -A. Bay, Tennessee.

The testimonials reflect real life stories from Life Line Screening customers. Testimonials that include abnormal findings may not reflect the typical experience since most screening results are normal.

Life Line Screening ReviewsFinal Words

What sets Life Line Screening apart is the ability to provide accurate preventive health screenings for people age 40 and older in the United States at an affordable price. Every year, the company has been providing high-quality preventive screenings at very affordable rates. Thats part of the reason why you will find many positive Life Line Screening reviews . Also, Life Line Screening makes it very easy to schedule your appointment.

=>(Special Package Pricing) Get an Appointment on the Site of Life Line Screening

The FAQs About Life Line Screening

Is Life Line Screening a Scam?



Life Line Screening is not a scam. It is a respected company in the preventive health screening industry. The company has been providing its services since 1993 and continues to screen about 700,000 people each year. The company is legit and conducts over 14,000 screening events across the United States each year. Many satisfied participants share good words and positive reviews about Life Line Screening. As such, if you are skeptical about the company, there is nothing to worry about.

How accurate is Life Line Screening?



Highly trained technicians perform the screenings using state-of-the-art equipment. Most screening results are reviewed by a board-certified physician before they are shared with participants.

Is Life Line Screening a good thing to do?



Screenings are recommended for anyone age 40 and older, and Life Line Screening is a reputable company to use. Screenings provide peace of mind or early detection. Millions of Americans have used Life Line Screening.

Is Life Line Screening worth the cost?



Finding out if you have a health problem or risk that may lead to serious complications enables you to work with a physician to take action. Being proactive can reduce potential medical costs down the road. Screenings provide peace of mind or early detection, both are priceless.

Is Life Line Screening a legitimate business?



Life Line Screening is undoubtedly a legitimate business.

How do I find a Life Line Screening location near me?



The company provides over 14,000 screening events across the United States each year. Click Here to Get Special Pricing on a Life Line Screening Package!

What do you wear to Life Line Screening?



After receiving a Life Line Screening appointment confirmation, the company sends all the required information on how to prepare for the screening.

Read More: Life Line Screening Reviews

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Product support: info@llsa.com

Life Line Screening

Barton Oaks Plaza 2, Suite 130

901 South Mopac Expressway

Austin, TX 78746

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3ac11881-bee6-4d1f-ad1d-f7e464bd869f
PASCAGOULA, Miss., March 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HIIs (NYSE: HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division celebrated its newest class of apprentice graduates during a ceremony at the shipyard today. The event recognized the hard work and dedication of the graduates who have completed the three-to four-year program combining classroom instruction with hands-on shipbuilding experience.

Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Blanchette provided remarks at the ceremony and praised the graduates for their commitment and contribution to the companys shipbuilding legacy.

Completing the Ingalls apprentice program is no small feat and it reflects years of dedication, hard work and persistence, Blanchette said. The training our apprentices received wasnt just about mastering skills like welding and fitting  it was about building the foundation for a career that will shape the future of this country and carry forward the legacy of excellence at Ingalls. Congratulations to this years apprentice graduates. Your work is strengthening national security, protecting lives and making history.

Photo accompanying this release are available at: http://hii.com/news/hiis-ingalls-shipbuilding-celebrates-apprentice-school-graduates/.

The Ingalls Shipbuilding apprentice program is a competitive workforce development initiative designed to prepare future shipbuilders through specialized training in one of 15 registered Department of Labor apprentice programs. Since its inception in 1952, the program has produced more than 4,000 graduates who have gone on to support operations at Ingalls Shipbuilding and currently has over 600 students enrolled in the program.

Among this years graduates was Overall Apprentice of the Year Cody Gildea, who has been training as an outside machinist.

Reflecting on his experience in the program, Gildea shared, Ive always enjoyed working with my hands and building things, and so having the opportunity to train as an outside machinist in the main engine area of the ship has been a great fit for me. The apprentice program has allowed me to experience different departments, develop my skills, and take pride in knowing that the work I do will help build the ships that will one day protect our country.

Upon entering the program, apprentices earn competitive wages and receive a comprehensive benefits package. This allows them to receive an education, build work ethic, gain experiences, and develop into world-class journeymen of their crafts.

As the largest manufacturing employer in Mississippi, Ingalls Shipbuilding has designed, built and maintained amphibious ships, destroyers and cutters for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard for over 85 years. The Ingalls Apprentice School programs are recognized as the backbone of Ingalls well-trained workforce and many graduates have gone on to hold positions from pipe welders to senior executives.

For more information about Ingalls Shipbuildings apprentice school visit hii.com/careers/ingalls-apprentice-school/.

About HII

HII is a global, all-domain defense provider. HIIs mission is to deliver the worlds most powerful ships and all-domain solutions in service of the nation, creating the advantage for our customers to protect peace and freedom around the world.

As the nations largest military shipbuilder, and with a more than 135-year history of advancing U.S. national security, HII delivers critical capabilities extending from ships to unmanned systems, cyber, ISR, AI/ML and synthetic training. Headquartered in Virginia, HIIs workforce is 44,000 strong. For more information, visit:

HII on the web: https://www.HII.com/

HII on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamHII

HII on X: https://www.twitter.com/WeAreHII

HII on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/WeAreHII

Contact:

Kimberly K. Aguillard

228-355-5663

Kimberly.K.Aguillard@hii-co.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/25b08b79-332d-46f6-ae14-a189dd15a43b
VANCOUVER, March 21, 2025 - Mustang Energy Corp. (CSE: MEC, OTC:MECPF, FRA:92T) (the "Company" or "Mustang") is pleased to announce that it has engaged Axiom Exploration Group ("Axiom") to conduct an Aerial Electromagnetic Survey (Xcite TDEM) with Radiometrics over its Spur Project located south of the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan (the "Spur Project").

The Company anticipates that the Xcite TDEM survey with Radiometrics will commence in early May 2025 and encompass the portion of the claim package which has not been covered by modern day electromagnetic (EM) survey techniques. The airborne survey aims to precisely locate EM and radiometric anomalies, and aid in geological interpretations on the property advancing exploration targeting.

In addition, Mustang has applied for exploration permits on the Spur Project and the Company's 914W Project. The permit applications include ground based mineral exploration activities such as trail construction, line-cutting, ground geophysical surveys, and diamond drilling. Subject to obtaining the required permits and approvals, Mustang plans to initiate exploration activities aimed at further assessing the viability of these projects, as well as to continue consultation with local communities.

About Xcite TDEM

Xcite is a new generation of helicopter-borne time-domain electromagnetic (TDEM) systems developed by New Resolution Geophysics (NRG). Axiom is an exclusive provider of this service in North America. This state-of-the-art technology provides an efficient alternative to prior TDEM technologies for mineral exploration. The system utilizes a patented inflatable transmitter loop with a diameter of approximately 20 meters, suspended about 30 meters below the helicopter. The Xcite system offers improved signal clarity, enabling the detection of subtle subsurface features. It features a programmable waveform with a fast turn-off time, allowing for flexibility in data acquisition and improved resolution of both shallow and deep targets.





Figure 1: Mustang Energy Corp. Spur and 914W Project Location Map1

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/11699211-1f81-4e70-bf12-4f39172160e4

About the Spur Project

The Spur Project comprises nine claims covering 17,929 hectares. It is located just south of the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan, a region globally renowned for its high-grade uranium deposits. The property is approximately 40 kilometers southeast of Cameco's Key Lake Mill Operation and 20 kilometers southwest of Skyharbour Resources/Terra Clean Energy's Fraser Lakes Zone B deposit (Figure 1). The Spur Project's geological setting combines Proterozoic basement rocks of the Wollaston Group and uraniferous pegmatites, presenting potential for uranium, thorium and rare earth element (REE) exploration. The Spur Project offers lower cost exploration due to the absence of Athabasca Sandstone cover. Adjacent Properties host high-grade surface grab samples including the Pipe Lake Showing with up to 8.0% U?O? (sample # R69-10)2 within a hornblende-rich pegmatite 2.5 km northeast of the Spur Project boundary. The Red October Showing, east of the project boundary, shows grab sample assays of up to 1.93% U (sample # JBELR063)3 within syenite, and an outcrop chip sample through semipelitic gneiss showing 1.34% U (sample # AGELR008)3 over 1 meter.

About the 914W Project

The 914W Project consists of one claim covering 1,260 hectares. It is situated approximately 48 km southwest of Cameco's Key Lake Operation, offering favourable logistics and access via Highway 914. The 914W Project is positioned within the Western Wollaston Domain, known for unconformity/basement hosted uranium mineralization. The 914W Project hosts favorable geology with local graphite bearing assemblages. Immediately to the north of the 914W property is the Scurry Rainbow Zone E4 and the Don Lake Trenches5, where up to 1,288 ppm U was encountered in drill hole ML-11, and surface prospecting revealed up to 0.64% U 3 O 8 in a trench at Don Lake Zone E4. While historical exploration conducted several geophysical and geological surveys over portions of the property, most of the 914W Project remains underexplored. Mustang sees notable potential for advancing uranium and rare earth element (REE) exploration on this property.

References:

Saskatchewan GeoAtlas, https://gisappl.saskatchewan.ca/Html5Ext/index.html?viewer=GeoAtlas Saskatchewan Mineral Deposits Index. SMDI# 1005, https://applications.saskatchewan.ca/Apps/ECON_Apps/dbsearch/MinDepositQuery/default.aspx?ID=1961 Saskatchewan Mineral Deposits Index. SMDI# 5219, https://applications.saskatchewan.ca/Apps/ECON_Apps/dbsearch/MinDepositQuery/default.aspx?ID=5219

Saskatchewan Mineral Deposits Index. SMDI# 1961, https://applications.saskatchewan.ca/Apps/ECON_Apps/dbsearch/MinDepositQuery/default.aspx?ID=1961

Saskatchewan Mineral Deposits Index. SMDI# 1983, https://applications.saskatchewan.ca/Apps/ECON_Apps/dbsearch/MinDepositQuery/default.aspx?ID=1983



Qualifying Statement

The scientific and technical information in this release has been reviewed and approved by Lynde Guillaume, P.Geo., Technical Advisor for Mustang Energy, a registered member of the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan. Ms. Guillaume is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

Adjacent Property Disclaimer:

This news release includes references with respect to uranium occurrences which are located near the Spur Project and 914W Project, including the Pipe Lake Showing, Red October Showing, Scurry Rainbow Zone E, and Don Lake Zone E. The Company advises that, notwithstanding their proximity of location, discoveries of minerals on nearby properties and any promising results thereof are not necessarily indicative of the mineralization of, or located on the Spur Project and 914W Project, or the Company's ability to commercially exploit the Spur Project or 914W Project, or to locate any commercially exploitable deposits therefrom. The Company cautions investors on relying on this information as the Company has not confirmed the accuracy or reliability of the information.

About Mustang Energy Corp.:

Mustang is a resource exploration company focused on acquiring and developing high-potential uranium and critical mineral assets. The Company is actively exploring its properties in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada and holds 77,318 hectares in around the Athabasca Basin. Mustang's flagship property, Ford Lake, covers 7,743 hectares in the prolific eastern Athabasca Basin, while its Cigar Lake East and Roughrider South projects span 3,442 hectares to the north and the Spur Project to the south covering 17,929 hectares. Mustang has also established its footprint in the Cluff Lake region of the Athabasca Basin with the Yellowstone Project (21,820 hectares) and further expanded its presence in the south central region of the Athabasca Basin with the Dutton Project (7,633 hectares).

For further information, please contact:

Mustang Energy Corp.

Attention: Nicholas Luksha, CEO and Director

Phone: (604) 838-0184

Neither the CSE nor the Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company regarding future events. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends", "believes" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or "occur". This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forward?looking statements", are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, statements regarding discussions of future plans, estimates and forecasts and statements as to management's expectations and intentions with respect to, among other things, the future potential of the mineral claims held by the Company, including the Spur Project and 914W Project; the granting of exploration permits on the Spur Project and 914W Project; the timing for the commencement of the Xcite TDEM survey; and the potential capabilities of the Xcite TDEM survey. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation the assumption that the Company will be able to continue exploring its properties given various environmental and economic factors outside of its control and that the results of the Xcite TDEM survey will provide the anticipated insights. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, forward-looking information or financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
China's securities regulator to advance rule of law in capital markets

Xinhua) 13:15, March 22, 2025

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China's securities regulator said Friday it will advance the rule of law in the capital markets to make them more safe, well-regulated, transparent, open, vibrant and resilient.

The capital markets will continue to help the real economy and support the development of new quality productive forces, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Efforts will be made to deepen and solidify the registration-based system for stock listing, reinforcing the institutional basis for stable market development while ensuring that no systemic risks arise, the regulator said.

It highlighted the principle that financial oversight must have "teeth and thorns" and be sharp-pointed, with a "zero tolerance" policy toward illegal activities in the securities and futures markets.

The regulator also urged efforts to improve institutional mechanisms for investor protection.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
VANCOUVER, March 21, 2025 - Teck Resources Ltd. (TSX: TECK.A and TECK.B, NYSE: TECK) ("Teck") has released its 24th annual Sustainability Report, highlighting the company's 2024 performance in key areas, including support for communities, Indigenous Peoples, health and safety, diversity and climate.

"This report details our environmental and social performance as we focus on responsibly delivering the critical minerals the world needs for economic growth and energy security," said Jonathan Price, President and CEO.

Teck's 2024 Sustainability Report is prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards for the period January 1-December 31, 2024. The report has also been prepared in accordance with the Sector Standard GRI 14: Mining and Metals Sector 2023 and is aligned with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards.

Our report is in conformance with the member requirements of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), including the implementation of the ICMM Mining Principles, and any mandatory requirements and corporate-level aspects set out in the Position Statements and the Performance Expectations (PE). Disclosure related to our validation of the ICMM PE can be found here. Teck is also in conformance with the Mining Association of Canada's Towards Sustainable Mining (MAC TSM) Protocols. Disclosure related to our self-assessments and verification on the TSM Protocols can be found on the MAC TSM website.

For the full report, please click here. Other reports, including the 2024 Annual Report are also available on our?Disclosure Portal.

About Teck

Teck is a leading Canadian resource company focused on responsibly providing metals essential to economic development and the energy transition. Teck has a portfolio of world-class copper and zinc operations across North and South America and an industry-leading copper growth pipeline. We are focused on creating value by advancing responsible growth and ensuring resilience built on a foundation of stakeholder trust. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, Teck's shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols TECK.A and TECK.B and the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TECK. Learn more about Teck at www.teck.com or follow @TeckResources.

Investor Contact:

Emma Chapman

Vice President, Investor Relations

+44.207.509.6576

emma.chapman@teck.com

Media Contact:

Dale Steeves

Director, External Communications

236.987.7405

dale.steeves@teck.com
Eros Resources Corp. (TSXV:ROCK) (OTCQB:EROSF) ("Eros" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement financing of up to 36,000,000 units at a price of $0.05 per unit (the "Units") for gross proceeds of $1,800,000 (the "Offering"). The financing is now fully subscribed for and the Company plans to close shortly.

Each Unit will consist of one common share and one transferrable common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one additional common share in the capital of the Company at $0.075 per share for three (3) years from the date of issue, subject to accelerated expiry.

In the event that, after the date that is four months from the date of issue of the Warrants, if the closing price of the Company's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") or any other stock exchange on which the Company's common shares are then listed, is at a price equal to or greater than $0.10 for a period of ten (10) consecutive trading days, the Company will have the right to accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants by issuing a press release announcing that the Warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m. (Vancouver time) on the date that is not less than 30 days from the date notice is given.

The Company recently announced the completion of a three-way amalgamation between Eros Resources, MAS Gold and Rockridge Resources. The combined company will own significant gold and copper exploration projects in Saskatchewan. The use of proceeds from the Offering will be used for general working capital and exploration in Saskatchewan.

This financing is subject to regulatory approval, including the approval of the TSXV. The Company may pay finders fees in accordance with the policies of the TSXV. All securities to be issued pursuant to the Offering are subject to a four-month hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws.

?About Eros Resources Corp.:

Eros Resources Corp. is a Canadian public mineral exploration company listed on the TSXV focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral resources properties in Canada and advancing its copper and gold exploration projects in Saskatchewan, including two gold Projects in the prospective La Ronge Gold Belt totaling 35,176 hectares (86,921 acres), as well as the 100% owned Knife Lake Project.

For further information, please contact:

Eros Resources Corp.:

Jonathan Wiesblatt, Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: 647-203-9190

Email: jwiesblatt@rockridgeresourcesltd.com

For further information contact myself or:

Jordan Trimble, President or

Andrew Ramcharan, Corporate Communications



Eros Resources Corp.

?Telephone: 647-309-5130

?Toll Free: 800-567-8181

?Facsimile: 604-687-3119



NEITHER THE TSXV NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.

The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act") or any state securities laws, and accordingly, may not be offered or sold within the United States except in compliance with the registration requirements of the 1933 Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any securities in any jurisdiction.

Forward-Looking Information and Statements:

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, regulatory approvals, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedarplus.ca for further information.


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People and Places: Volta River

Douglas Anane-Frimpong Features Mar - 22 - 2025 , 09:57 2 minutes read

As Ghana joins the global community to celebrate World Water Day, our attention turns to the vital water resources that sustain our nation.

This year's theme, 'Glacier Preservation', serves as a reminder of the importance of preserving our water sources.

Although glaciers are not featured in Ghana's geography, our country is blessed with an abundance of water resources, including rivers, lakes and wetlands.

Among Ghana's many water resources, Volta River is the most notable for its sheer size, importance and impact on our national development.

The Volta River has its roots in the Bobo-Dioulasso highlands of Burkina Faso, from where it flows south into Ghana.

It is said that the river's name originates from the Portuguese word "volta," meaning "twist" or "turn," which refers to the river's curved course.

The river, which is the ninth largest in Africa, stretches approximately 1,500 kilometres from its source to the estuary, where it enters the sea at Ada.

Its basin covers 407,093 square kilometres, spanning across Ghana, Burkina Faso, and the Ivory Coast.

The river's tributaries, including the Black Volta, White Volta, and Red Volta, contribute to its vast network.

The River Volta's most significant feature is the massive Lake Volta reservoir created by the Akosombo Dam.

The Volta Lake is the largest man-made lake in the world by surface area, covering an impressive 8,502km.

With a capacity of 148km, Lake Volta is also the third-largest artificial lake in the world by volume.

Its shoreline stretches 7,250km, and its massive size makes it visible from space.

The river is a lifeline for Ghana, supporting various sectors of the economy.

One of the ways it contributes to the country's development is through hydroelectric power.

The Akosombo Dam on Lake Volta generates electricity for the country, making it a crucial source of renewable energy.

In addition to powering the country, it also supports agriculture.

The lake's waters irrigate crops, helping farmers and their communities make a living.

This has a significant impact on the livelihoods of people living along its banks.

It is also home to a diverse array of fish species, providing a source of income for fishermen and a vital source of protein for local populations.

Furthermore, Lake Volta serves as a transportation route, facilitating the movement of goods and people.

As we celebrate World Water Day, it is essential to recognise the significance of the Volta River and its contribution to the country's development and work towards ensuring its sustainability for years to come.
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Reviving Saglemi Housing Project: Golden opportunity for workers

Moses Sackie Agbemava Opinion Mar - 22 - 2025 , 10:17 1 minute read

The Saglemi Housing Project, initiated in 2012, aimed to deliver 5,000 affordable housing units at a total cost of $200 million.

However, the project stalled, leaving only 1,506 units partially completed.

Despite these challenges, the past government, during its final year in office, decided to revive the project by partnering with a private developer to complete and sell the units.

The former Minister for Works and Housing then, Kojo Nkrumah, announced that the government would not invest additional funds into the project.

Instead, a private entity will complete the development and the proceeds from the sale will be reinvested into it.

Considering the current housing deficit of 1.8 million units, it would be prudent for the current government to allocate these completed housing units to government workers.

This would not only reduce their housing burden but also serve as an incentive to boost their low salaries.

Moreover, it would contribute to decongesting urban cities like Accra.

It is essential to ensure that these units, when completed, are allocated to those who need them most, including government workers.

Moses Sackie Agbemava,

Presbyterian Church of Ghana,

Trinity Congregation, Dansoman Estates.
March 21, 2025: NATO nations have promised substantial post-war economic rebuilding aid so that Ukraine can fit that aid into their war plans. For example, the Netherlands, one of the smaller NATO members, announced it was spending several billion dollars on Ukraine aid in 2024 and 2025. The German GDP is over four trillion dollars while that of the Netherlands is about one trillion dollars. Germany sent $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine in 2024. Considering its smaller size, the Netherlands has been a major supplier of aid to Ukraine. The Netherlands and Germany plan to provide even larger amounts of aid for the post-war reconstruction.

The 2024 Dutch aid for Ukraine includes a wide array of weapons and services. There will be more air defense systems, UAVs and munitions for various weapons Ukraine already has. Services include training for Ukrainian F-16 pilots and aircraft maintainers. In 2024 a larger portion of the aid was for economic reconstruction and current government financing. Unable to do sufficient damage to Ukrainian armed forces, Russia has been concentrating many of its missile attacks on economic targets. These have to be repaired or rebuilt, especially the targets that provide electricity, heat or clean water and sanitation services. The Russians wanted Ukrainian civilians to suffer when winter arrived. The Dutch can relate to this. During World War 2 the Netherlands was occupied by German troops and towards the end of the war the Germans greatly reduced the food available for Dutch civilians. In the Netherlands, that period of privation is remembered, and they dont want to see it happen again and again to the Ukrainians.

For centuries Ukraine has suffered periods of brutal occupation by invaders. The most frequent brutal occupier has been Russia, which has played the homicidal villain several times in the last century. The most infamous Russian occupation incident was the use of famine during 1932 and 1933 to suppress Ukrainian opposition to Russian rule, especially the new Russian ideology of communism which prohibited private farms and expected all farmers to work for state-owned farms. This was resisted by many farmers throughout Russia, but the opposition was most stubborn in Ukraine, where about 20 percent of the Soviet Unions population lived. Ukrainian farmers were the most productive in Russia and produced most of the exportable wheat. Ukrainian resistance produced a horrific Soviet response, the seizure of nearly all the wheat crops in the areas of most resistance. This lasted two years and killed nearly four million Ukrainians, about an eighth of the population, Ukrainians called this the Holodomor, which translates as the Great Famine.

Russia denied the Holodomor ever happened and many Western nations, and their mass media, went along with that. One exception was Britain, where one British reporter risked his life by going to Ukraine and obtaining proof of the Holodomor. The Russian government kept denying the famine ever happened until 1983, when a more open communist government admitted that many communist crimes were true. This made an impression on Russians because they realized more of the victims of the Gulag prison camps and communist terror in general were Russians. As a result, during the 0ccupations of Crimea and parts of Donbas in 2014 the Russians tried to win the support of locals.

That lowered the civilian death toll but did not turn most of the occupied population into loyal citizens of Russia. By 2020 most Ukrainians in the occupied territories wanted out. The most desperate moved to Russia, many others wanted to get to Ukraine and others sought to go anywhere but Ukraine and Russia.

The Holodomor and many other past incidents of Russian brutality led to Russian troops being initially ordered to not attack civilians during the 2022 invasion. That failed to cause civilians to be any more receptive to the Russian presence and, within a month, troops were told they could loot and not tolerate any resistance from civilians. Russia denied that civilians were being killed or that widespread looting was taking place. Cell phone cameras carried by most Ukrainians made those claims difficult to sustain. Nor were Russian denials of the heavy casualties inflicted on the Russian forces who believed they would easily defeat the Ukrainians and occupy the capital, Kyiv, within two weeks. After a month of this, Russian troops around Kyiv were ordered to withdraw to Russia and try to conceal evidence of mass murder before they left. This produced some mass graves, but many bodies were left in plain view and many surviving civilians had video evidence of who did what. Russia again denied it, insisting these civilians were killed by Ukrainian forces to make the Russians look bad. Once more the video evidence, especially from Ukrainians who witnessed it and could identify some of the perpetrators, made the atrocities difficult to deny.

Mindful of that, Russian occupation forces in parts of Ukraine that were seized early on and are still under Russian control, were ordered to try really hard to win over the locals without resorting to mass murder. The main occupation zone is north of Crimea and centered around the city of Kherson, which is the capital of Kherson province. Kherson City was captured during the first week of the invasion and Russia has held onto most of the province ever since. The city is a major port because it is located near the mouth of the Dnieper River and the Black Sea. The Dnieper is a major navigable river for Ukraine and has long been used to handle the movement of cargo, especially wheat being exported.

Ukraine has been trying to recapture Kherson City and province ever since and finally did so at the end of 2023, aided by a growing partisan movement inside Kherson province and passive resistance to Russian occupation by most Ukrainians in the province. Some Ukrainians agreed to work for the Russian occupation, and they were soon the targets of attacks by Ukrainian partisans. Some of the turncoats were killed but more worrisome to the Russians were indications that other Ukrainian officials quietly agreed to work for the partisans. The Russians now believe that many of their Ukrainian administrators were working with the resistance from the beginning.

At the same time the Russian occupation forces still had orders to try and win over the Ukrainians or at least discourage them from joining an armed insurrection. To help with that the Russians sought to Russify the province as quickly as possible. That meant replacing the Ukrainian cell phone service with a Russian one. Ukrainian TV and radio transmissions are blocked. Russian ID documents became mandatory and use of the Russian ruble was mandatory. Access to Russian controlled utilities, especially water and electricity, were dependent on how cooperative the local civilians were. All these efforts were made to link Kherson to the Russian economy. The initial reason for pacifying the population was to make life safe for Russian troops in Kherson. That was never fully achieved, and since then Russian troops have to worry about roadside bombs or anti-vehicle mines as well as sniper fire and assassination via pistol or a bomb planted in a vehicle.

The goal of this was to hold elections that could be depicted as honest and show a majority of Kherson residents supporting annexation by Russia. The Ukrainians were not cooperating and doing so in clever ways that Russian Information War specialists recognized and struggled to counter. The Ukrainian resistance was armed and dangerous but also mindful of the importance of outperforming the Russian Information War campaign. Some of the American aid packages for Ukraine included a lot of Cold War era PARM anti-vehicle mines that were never used. These mines were developed by the Germans to halt or disrupt a Soviet invasion that never came. The Germans believed Ukrainian partisans could use these mines. This has proved to be true, and the Ukrainians wanted more of these mines after having received nearly 15,000. Germany has to resume production of these mines to meet the Ukrainian demand.

Ukrainians depict the Russian occupiers as worse than the German Nazis of World War II infamy. This is particularly embarrassing for the Russians because the official Russian government justification for the invasion is to liberate Ukrainians from neo-Nazi Ukrainians led by president Zelensky, who is Jewish. This tragicomedy was understood by many in Russia early on and led to a largely unarmed, but often violent, resistance movement inside Russia and Belarus.

Russia denies the extent of the resistance in Kherson, calling armed partisans local bandits and gangsters. Video proof gets out of Kherson and Russian troops stationed in Kherson complain to friends and family back home. This intensifies resistance to the war inside Russia, where the government is waging its own Information War to generate support for the war or at least discredit the critics. It was the growing inability to suppress accurate news that played a role in causing the Soviet Union to dissolve in 1991. The former KGB officers who brought back so many aspects of Soviet rule during the last two decades are having a hard time dealing with media and image control. Its the 1980s all over again but worse. This is a reminder that the Information War is not a state monopoly and often a multi-sided conflict.
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Namibia swears in first female President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah

Beatrice Laryea International News Mar - 22 - 2025 , 20:04 3 minutes read

Namibia's first female President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was sworn in on Friday, March 21, 2025, to lead a country facing high rates of unemployment, inequality and poverty.

And she will be dealing with it with the additional burden of being only Africa's second-ever directly elected female president and Namibia's first female head of state.

"If things go well then it will be seen as a good example," Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told BBC's Africa Daily podcast. "But if anything then happens, like it can happen in any administration under men, there are also those who would rather say: 'Look at women!'"

The 72-year-old won November's election with a 58 per cent share of the vote.

Nandi-Ndaitwah has been a long-term loyalist of the South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo)  which has been in power since the country gained independence in 1990 after a long struggle against apartheid South Africa.

She joined Swapo, then a liberation movement resisting South Africa's white-minority rule, when she was only 14.

While the party has made changes and improved the lives of the black majority, the legacy of apartheid can still be seen in patterns of wealth and land ownership.

"Truly, land is a serious problem in this country," she told the BBC ahead of the inauguration.

"We still have some white citizens and more particularly the absent land owners who are occupying the land."

She adds that she is committed to the "willing-buyer, willing-seller" principle, which means no-one is forced to sell up.

Namibia is a geographically large country with a small population of three million.

Government statistics show that white farmers own about 70% of the country's farmland. A total of 53,773 Namibians identified as white in the 2023 census, representing 1.8% of the country's population.

Namibia is one of the world's most unequal countries, with a Gini coefficient of 59.1 in 2015, according to the World Bank, which projects poverty is expected to remain high at 17.2 per cent in 2024.

The unemployment rate rose to 36.9 per cent in 2023 from 33.4 per cent in 2018, according to the country's statistics agency.

Nandi-Ndaitwah said the economy, which partly relies on mineral exports, should work more on adding value to what the country extracts from the ground rather than exporting raw materials.

She also wants Namibia to focus more on creative industries and get the education sector to adjust to new economic realities.

Nandi-Ndaitwah is only the second African woman to be directly elected as president, after Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

The continent's only other female president at the moment is Tanzania's Samia Suluhu Hassan, who took up the role after her predecessor died in office in 2021.

Nandi-Ndaitwah wants to be judged on her merits, but she said that it was a "good thing that we as countries are realising that just as men [can do], women can also hold the position of authority".
Next article: Living with endometriosis: Talatas story of pain, strength and advocacy

Teen loses limbs to electrical burns from TV wire

Jamilatu Mashud Life Mar - 22 - 2025 , 15:04 2 minutes read

A 14-year-old Junior High School (JHS) student has lost both forearms, hands and one leg due to electrical burns while holding a wire in a television set.

The incident occurred on Christmas day last year when the boy (name withheld), a resident of Hobor, a local community in Accra, came into contact with the wire from the television in his home.

A powerful electric current is said to have surged through his body, causing him to lose consciousness.

Emergency responders transported him to the Kwameanu Ashalajah Hospital, where he regained consciousness with severe burn injuries.

Due to the extent of his condition, he was later transferred to the Amasaman Hospital where he was referred to the National Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre (NRPSBC) at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on January 1, 2025.

Despite the efforts of doctors and nurses at the centre, the severity of the burns left no option but to amputate his limbs to prevent further complications.

Recovery efforts

In a show of compassion, an Indian philanthropic group, Maa Sherawaali, donated GH25,000 to support the boys medical treatment and upkeep, easing his familys financial burden.

The group has also pledged continued assistance as he navigates the challenges ahead.

Currently, a dedicated team of doctors, nurses, psychologists, nutritionists, physiotherapists and educators are working together to support his rehabilitation.

He is undergoing training to write with his leg and is gradually adapting to his new reality.

Doctors say the boy is now in stable condition and communicating well.

He is expected to undergo a final surgical procedure in May, which will involve skin grafting to cover the amputated areas and the fitting of artificial limbs to aid mobility.
Choreography teacher jailed 6-years for sexually abusing 7 children in Twifo-Heman

GNA Mar - 22 - 2025 , 18:43 1 minute read

The Twifo Hemang District Court, presided over by Mr Maxwell Ofori Kpodo, has sentenced a 50-year-old man, Eric Adu Amissah, to six-years imprisonment for sexually assaulting seven girls at Twifo Heman in the Heman Lower Denkyira District.

The victims, all minors between the ages of six and seven, are pupils at a cultural dance school operated by the convict.

According to Chief Inspector Joseph Kussah, the Prosecutor, Adu Amissah, a choreography teacher, exploited his position as a cultural dance instructor to abuse the trust of his young pupils.

The convict allegedly used manipulative tactics, including buying soft drinks and toffees for the children and later apply lubricant on his penis and fingers to facilitate the abuses.

The act was detected after the girls fell sick, one after the other and were sent to the hospital by their parents where they admitted that they have been defiled by Adu Amissah.

Adu Amissah, according to the prosecutor, jumped bail for six months after being granted bail during the initial stage of the investigation.

However, through the vigorous efforts of the Central North Regional Police Cyber Unit, the convict was located and arrested at Adenta, in the Greater Accra Region.

On March 5, 2025, Adu Amissah was brought before the Twifo Hemang District Magistrates Court to face seven counts of indecent assault, and he pleaded guilty to all counts simplicita.

He was, therefore, convicted on his own plea by the court.
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Court grants bail to 2 individuals over ECG meter theft

GNA Mar - 22 - 2025 , 20:15 1 minute read

An Accra Circuit Court has granted bail to two individuals allegedly involved in the theft of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) meters and dishonestly receiving the stolen items.

Each of the accused, Francis Addey (alias Kofi Kyei), 35, an okada rider, and Amos Duah, 39, an electrician, was granted bail in the amount of GHC 50,000.00 with two sureties.

The court instructed that the sureties provide valid national identity cards to the court registry.

Both Addey and Duah have denied the charges against them and are scheduled to return to court on April 22, 2025.

Prosecuting, Police Inspector Hagar Owusu-Henabah, led by Chief Inspector Frederick Awuah-Ansah, said the complainant in the case was the Monitoring Officer of ECGs Amasaman Branch.

In August 2024, Fred reportedly supplied a meter with pin number 000035737829, stolen from a customer at Fise near Amasaman, to Duah through Addey.

Duah then sold the meter to Kwaku Twum, a witness at Amasaman, for GHC2,500.00, prosecution said.

During routine inspections, ECG officials retrieved the stolen meter, prompting a formal complaint to the police.

Investigations led to the arrest of Duah, who named Addey and Fred as his suppliers. Duah cooperated with the police and lured Addey into supplying a new prepaid meter.

On February 11, 2025, Addey delivered two used prepaid meters with pin numbers P181032280 and P181032277 to Duah at his home at Amasaman Abease for sale.

Addey was arrested by waiting police officers but attempted to flee.

Two prepaid meters and two meter cards were retrieved and kept as evidence.

Prosecution told the court that efforts were ongoing to apprehend Fred and trace customers whose ECG meters were stolen, with assistance from the ECG Customer Service Department.

Addey and Duah were subsequently charged and arraigned.
Fire razes three-storey market building in Adum - Govt assures victims of support

Emmanuel Bonney Mar - 22 - 2025 , 12:57 2 minutes read

Fire ravaged a three-storey commercial building at Adum in Kumasi, Friday morning, destroying several shops and causing panic among traders in the area.

The blaze started at the Blue Light Arena in the Railways area, around 6 a.m. and spread rapidly before fire officers arrived to contain it.

There was chaos at the scene of the calamity as shop owners frantically broke into their stores to salvage goods before the flames could consume them.

Most of the affected shops deal in mobile phones, accessories, jewellery and clothing.

Within hours, hundreds of spectators gathered at the scene to catch a glimpse of the raging fire which consumed wares worth thousands of Ghana cedis, as the shopowners and traders looked on helplessly.

Presdent commiserates

President John Mahama, who was on his way to the Northern Region, and had stopped over to launch the Tree for Life Restoration initiative, visited Adum to commiserate with those whose items were destroyed in the fire outbreak, and assured them of the governments support to enable them to restart their businesses.

The market during the fire incident

He said the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) had been instructed to take stock of the incident and provide some support to the victims in the interim.

Moreover, he said the Chief of Staff would also work with the Ashanti Regional Minister to assess the kind of support to give you so that you can have some comfort.

Stop over

President Mahama said there was the need to take a cue from lessons of the fire outbreak in order to plan markets in the country very well with the necessary measures so as to prevent such incidents from happening again.

This was because his preliminary briefing indicated that the Ghana National Fire Service was facing a daunting task putting out the fire because of the poor access to the place.

Danger

As the President spoke, there were some explosions from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders, and he advised that there was no need to use such equipment in markets.

He said cooking in markets was unacceptable and that through the use of gas cookers such fires occurred.

The President, who described the incident as sad, empathised with the victims of the disaster and emphasised that the government would not abandon them but see how it could support them.

We dont have to cook in markets, if you want to eat you must go outside, buy the food and come back, he said.
14-Year-old JHS 2 student loses limbs to electrical shock

Jamilatu Mashud Mar - 22 - 2025 , 10:00 2 minutes read

A 14-year-old boy, who has lost both upper arms and one leg following a domestic accident, has begun the difficult road to recovery and is adjusting to the new life of not being able to use his natural limbs.

The accident occurred last December 25, 2024, when the victim, a junior high school student and a resident of Hobor, a local community in Accra, came into contact with a naked electrical wire as he tried to fix a television cable, unaware of the risks involved.

He has since January 1 been receiving treatment at the National Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns centre (NRPSBC) of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

Presently in stable condition, the victim is scheduled for the final stage of surgery, which involves skin grafting to cover up the amputated areas, as well as the fixing of artificial limbs to support him to walk.

This has been scheduled for May.

Also, as part of the recovery, various professionals such as doctors, nurses, psychologists, nutritionists, a physiotherapist and a teacher are all working hand-in-hand to give him a new start by training him to cope with his remaining leg.

Incident

The incident occurred when the victim attempted to fix a problem with the wire connected to the television, however, a powerful electrical current passed through his body, and he lost consciousness.

He was rushed to the Kwameanu Ashalajah Hospital where he regained consciousness but sustained severe injuries.

He was subsequently transferred to the Amasaman Hospital for further management but was referred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, where after assessing the extent of injury and damage, the decision was made to amputate the affected limbs to prevent further complications.

Support

Touched by the plight of the boy, an Indian philanthropic group, Maa Sherawaali has donated GH25,000 to him to help take care of his medical bills.

The group has also promised to provide more support as he goes through the difficult phases of recovery.

Receiving the donation, a representative of the family expressed gratitude for the support, describing it as a great relief as we have to deal with the emotional and financial burden of taking care of him.

A representative of the group said the plight of the young boy serves as a powerful reminder of the dangers of electricity and the importance of ensuring that electrical work is carried out by qualified professionals.

Also, parents and guardians must do well to educate and monitor their children on the risks of handling electrical appliances and exposed wires and a call for heightened awareness and safety around electrical hazards, the rep stated.
Govt to undertake rescoping of Pwalugu multipurpose dam project  President Mahama

Gilbert Mawuli Agbey Mar - 22 - 2025 , 10:48 2 minutes read

President John Dramani Mahama has disclosed that the government will commence the process of rescoping the Pwalugu multipurpose dam project as well as the re-evaluation of the various phases of the project.

He disclosed this at a grand durbar held at the Bolgatanga Jubilee Park last Thursday during his Thank You tour of the regional capital.

The ceremony was attended by a large crowd of residents and members of the area, including paramount chiefs from all the 18 paramountcies in the region.

The well-attended event was interspersed with dance performances from dance groups from Bawku and Tongo.

President Mahama indicated that the Minister of Finance had been tasked to commence rescoping of the much-awaited multipurpose dam project and the re-evaluation of its various phases for inclusion into the Big Push infrastructural financing programme.

Additionally, he said, the government was exploring the use of Ghanaian civil engineering expertise towards the construction of the world class project to bring relief to the residents in the catchment area.

Background

Former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cut the sod on November 29, 2019 for the construction of the multipurpose dam in Pwalugu in the Talensi District in the Upper East Region.

The former Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, ministers of state, Members of Parliament and traditional rulers, including the Overlord of the Mamprugu Traditional Area in the North East Region, Naa Bohagu Abdulai Mahami Sheriga, attended the ceremony.

The project, estimated at $993 million is expected to address three main issues, namely provision of water for irrigation, generation of electricity and control of the annual flooding of communities in the Upper East and North East regions.

It is also expected to control the perennial flooding in the five northern regions caused by heavy rains and the spillage of the Bagre dam in Burkina Faso.

The multi-purpose dam project is being executed by Sinohydro, a Chinese company, while the Volta River Authority (VRA) is responsible for the power generation and food control component of the project.

The Ghana Irrigation Development Authority is responsible for the irrigation aspect of the project.

Gratitude

Further, he expressed gratitude to the people for their unwavering support to the National Democratic Congress throughout the Fourth Republic.

I embrace your trust with a deep sense of humility and an unshakable commitment to work tirelessly to justify the confidence reposed in me and the NDC as a political party, he said, and further assured them that they would receive their fair share of the national cake.

Writers email; [email protected].
Pay critical attention to women during childbirth  Rev. Eastwood Anaba

Gilbert Mawuli Agbey Mar - 22 - 2025 , 11:12 3 minutes read

The President of Eastwood Anaba Ministries (EAM), Reverend Eastwood Anaba, has underscored the need for health care professionals to give critical attention to women during childbirth.

That, he said, was the surest way towards addressing maternal deaths in the country, and that every step during the delivery process was essential in saving the life of the expectant mother.

He quoted the Bible as promising the safety of women during childbirth, and therefore, entreated health workers, especially those in the labour wards, to do their utmost best to save the lives of pregnant women and babies during delivery.

Performance review

Rev. Anaba was speaking during the 2024 annual performance review meeting of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the Upper East Region, on the theme: Using network of Practice of Practice (NoP) to drive universal access to quality maternal health care.

In 2021, the region recorded 43 deaths, it reduced to 27 in 2022, then it increased to 33 deaths in 2023 and further increased to 40 deaths in 2024, bringing the total maternal deaths in four years to 143.

Labour ward

He indicated that labour wards should continue to be birth places and not as battle fields, saying relatives of expectant mothers should not be in doubt whether the pregnant women would come out alive or not after delivery.

He said such a perception continued to create anxiety among relations of pregnant women during delivery, and added that the healthcare professionals must discharge their duties as required to reduce maternal mortality to the barest minimum.

Additionally, he advised pregnant women to avoid certain lifestyles that had the tendency to put their lives at risk during delivery, saying pregnant women must avoid drinking excessive alcohol as it will endanger their lives.

Begin at home

Rev. Anaba, who is a trained pharmacist, said the provision of maternal care must begin at home and not in the health facilities, and stated that sometimes before the pregnant women got to the health facility, her life would already be in danger due to emotional challenges.

Husbands and family members of pregnant women must offer the necessary support to them in the home at all times before going to health facilities to access additional care he pointed out, saying a weakened state of an expectant mother affects maternal healthcare.

He advocated the provision of first-class medical facilities with the needed equipment and personnel which was crucial towards eliminating maternal deaths, and further called on all stakeholders to work towards achieving it.

Additionally, he appealed to religious and traditional rulers to be bold and ruthless in their bid to revolutionise societies by eradicating traditions and superstitions that endangered the lives of women.

Safe environment

For his part, the Director, Institutional Care Division, GHS, Dr Lawrence Ofori-Boadu, welcomed the assertion that activities in the delivery room were key to dealing with maternal deaths.

He expressed concern that the absence of a safe working environment would make it very difficult for quality healthcare to be provided to residents in the region, and therefore pleaded with key stakeholders to make every corner safe for health workers.

He said if the region is safe, no health staff will be willing to seek transfer to another region to work.

Writers email: [email protected]
Students cautioned against violence

Emmanuel Bonney Mar - 22 - 2025 , 09:57 3 minutes read

The National Chairman of the International Prisons Chaplains Association (IPCA), Ghana, Rev. Steve Mensah, has cautioned students against engaging in violent activities in schools.

Rather, he said they should obey rules and regulations and endeavour to engage school authorities on issues they had misgivings about.

Rev. Mensah said this when the association took its crime talk programme to the Presbyterian Senior High School (SHS), Osu in Accra.

The programme aimed at sensitising the students to desist from engaging in criminal activities that could land them in jail.

Composition

The association, which is made up of ordained ministers and other Christian professionals has already visited some schools to educate students about drug abuse, violent student activities and other anti-social vices.

Students

IPCA has had a consultative status at the United Nations since 2014.

This means that we are very influential, at the United Nations level.

The idea of IPCA, or the objective, is to reach out to prisoners first, and then their families also, he said.

The association, he said, educated young people to avoid going to prison, since one of the things it realised was the large number of young people languishing in prison.

Sometimes, when we go and we see such young people, we are very saddened, he said.

Rev. Mensah said there was a need to reach out to young people, especially students, to warn them of the dangers ahead so that they did not take things for granted.

Tools

Recently, we heard about a student stabbing another.

That was so unfortunate.

There are certain tools or equipment you shouldn't send to school as a student, he said.

Rev. Mensah said the association had, so far, covered 12 SHS in the anti-crime talk and that it was going to extend the programme throughout the whole country to educate students on avoiding the things they took for granted that could land them in jail.

Our prisons are too full of people, and we don't want more young people to go and add to those numbers.

That is our aim, he said.

He added that before the end of the month, both the Central and the Eastern regions would be covered.

A retired educationist, Dr Angela Tena Mensah, said the youth still needed guidance to prevent them from running into problems, and for the sake of their future.

These days, people are being called into occultism, demonstrations and even following friends to rape girls and all that; matters relating to indiscipline.

Even though our educational institutions are ensuring that the children or the learners go through this, we have decided to take it upon ourselves to help them, she said.

Dr Mensah, who is also a former Secretary to the Ghana Education Service Council, said with her experience and knowledge of how learners behaved in school, the association was trying to guide them and talk about discipline to them, so that things like young learners going on demonstrations would cease.

Another speaker, Evangelist Bernard Nyarko, encouraged the students to stay clear of smoking marijuana and drug abuse.

A member of IPCA, Rev. Dr Christina Otu Lartey, advised the students to not associate themselves with people indulging in criminal activities.

The Executive Director and Founder of Dynamic Works Foundation, Gloria Cann, said the mission of IPCA was simple; to propagate the Gospel of Jesus.

DSP Issha Amidu of the Ghana Prisons Service also advised the students to stay away from engaging in crimes.
Next article: Prophets and Spiritual Churches Council donates to Chief Imam

Tamale water crisis bites harder - Disrupts Ramadan observance

Mohammed Fugu & Abukari Alhassan Baba Mar - 22 - 2025 , 09:57 3 minutes read

Tamale, the Northern Regional capital, has been hit with a severe water crisis for the past three months, compelling residents to rely on untreated water sources for domestic activities.

The situation has made life unbearable for residents, particularly Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, as they struggle to find water for the observance of the religious obligation.

Beyond that, schoolchildren, especially those in the second-cycle institutions, are also bearing the brunt of the water crisis.

On a daily basis, the students throng the town with their gallons in search of water. This disrupts academic activities in the schools.

With taps running dry for months, some residents have resorted to purchasing water at exorbitant prices.

A 25-litre "Kufuor gallon" of pipe-borne water now sells at GH5, while untreated water from unsafe sources such as dugouts costs GH3.

This has placed a heavy financial strain on households, especially those with low incomes.

Many fear the outbreak of waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea due to the reliance on unsafe water.

Concerns

Checks by the Daily Graphic indicate that areas such as Sagnarigu, Gumani, Gurugu, Kukuo, Tuutingli, Lamashegu, Koblimahigu and Jakarayili are the worst affected.

Some tricycle operators fetching water to supply to residents

Some of the residents who spoke to the Daily Graphic said the water crisis was disrupting economic activities, as they spend productive hours in search of water.

A resident, Yakubu Bamunu, said her tap had not been flowing for about three months now, compelling her to buy untreated water at an exorbitant price for domestic use.

She said because such water was not wholesome, she depended on sachet water to perform ablution and other religious rites.

Another resident, Sulemana Amishaw, said: "If Ghana Water Limited (GWL) opens the taps in my area, within some few hours they shut it again without telling us the reason."

She, therefore, appealed to authorities to intervene and find a lasting solution to the perennial water crisis.

Water rationing

For the past months, the GWL has been rationing water to residents of Tamale and its environs in the wake of the crisis.

The situation has been attributed to ageing infrastructure and a rapidly growing population that has outpaced the systems supply capacity.

Established in 1972, the Tamale Water System has only undergone one major expansion in 2008.

At a recent engagement with the Northern Regional Minister, Ali Adolf John, on the situation, the Northern Regional Production Manager of GWL, Albert W. Nyeteng, explained that the water demand had outstripped supply, exacerbating the crisis.

Tamale requires 90,000 to 95,000 cubic metres of water per day, but currently, we can only produce 35,000 to 38,000 cubic metres, he stated.

Additionally, he cited emergency repair works involving a 700 mm transmission pipeline fault, which had temporarily worsened the supply shortage.

Mr Nyeteng added that "the water system, built in 1972, has only undergone one major expansion in 2008, the long-term solution is the extension of the Yapei Water Project, which will significantly improve supply in Tamale and surrounding areas."

Tamale water project

In July 2020, then President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cut the sod for expansion works on the Tamale water project.

The $223,287,979.56 Tamale water supply facility funded by the UK Export Finance and the Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch, was expected to produce 29.7 million gallons of water per day.

However, five years down the line, the project is yet to commence.

Writer's email: [email protected]
March 22, 2025: Russia wants to end the Ukraine War via negotiations with the United States. This will work if done from a position of strength. The current Russian situation is weak and getting weaker. Russian forces in Ukraine are stalled and too weak to launch another offensive, even a small one.

It will get worse. The Russian economy is starting to collapse in some or many areas because of disinvestment. Existing capital and human infrastructure like railroads, pipelines, refineries, chemical plants, skilled workers, etc. need constant new investment for rebuilding and training of new workers in addition to adequate maintenance just to continue at existing production levels. None of those have happened at adequate levels, or not all in many cases, since the war started three years ago. This is due to overuse notably for the rail system, corruption and the expected consequences of Russian industries being run by Putin-appointed gangster kleptocrats primarily interested in their immediate personal income, as opposed to shareholder representatives trying to maintain capital value. Russias economy has been slowly run down over the past twenty years by its gangster kleptocracy. This process has been vastly speeded up by the Ukraine War.

Plus recent Russian negotiations with allies and other foreign countries have not gone well. These nations, especially those bordering Russia, can see who is weak, and it isnt NATO or Ukraine. Russia is weakened by years of economic sanctions and a collapse of morale at home. Russian men are avoiding military recruiters and others are fleeing the country. Hiring North Korean soldiers was a short term solution because most of these foreign troops soon became casualties or disappeared.

Ukrainians are fighting for their homes and families while only Russian leader Vladimir Putin sees any purpose for Russia in the war. Putin can demand action but, if his soldiers will not or cannot act, there is no movement on the battlefield. Putin is running out of excuses for this dismal performance and still insists he is negotiating from a position of strength.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Putin and his associates believed they were at war with western nations, especially NATO and the United States. NATO nations were not really aware of this Russian attitude, even after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The official Russian interpretation of the situation is that Ukraine is under the control of the Americans. For that reason, Russian propaganda directed at Russian civilians portrays Ukraine as a puppet state controlled by the United States.

Russian leaders are dismayed that when Russia threatens the United States for one reason or another, the Americans ignore them. Russian leaders get the impression that the Americans dont take them seriously. There are reasons for that and the most obvious one is the rampant corruption in Russia.

The government is particularly concerned about the extent of corruption in the military. This alone should have prevented the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The invasion was ordered to proceed by Vladimir Putin despite the poor state of the Russian military. Russian troops stumbled forward into Ukraine and suffered such heavy losses that the invasion force was withdrawn and the survivors sent to eastern Ukraine to reinforce troops in Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.

Ukraine appealed to NATO for military aid and the response was impressive. Over 100 billion dollars worth of weapons soon arrived, followed by billions of dollars worth of economic aid. The Americans provided Ukraine with satellite photos of what the Russians were up to. It was later discovered that the Russians had no similar satellite services. The Ukrainians had a better picture of what was happening on the ground than the Russians did.

It got worse when the Ukrainians got Starlink communications kits. This gave them far better and more reliable communications than the Russians had. Some Russian troops got hold of black market Starlink gear and got past the security system to discover what they were missing. For Russian soldiers who knew about this, it explained why the Ukrainians always seemed to know more about what was going on in the combat zone and were able to act more quickly to deal with opportunities.

Putin saw all this as an American ploy to embarrass him and show the Russian military that their boss was unable to supply them with anything similar to what the Americans were providing to the Ukrainians. This was true but Putin warned Russians that they were dealing with an American colossus that was determined to destroy Russia.

The reality was that United States leaders, military and political, didnt consider Russia or the Russian military very formidable. This was all revealed in Ukraine. Putin yearned for the pre-war times when he could portray the Russian military as a mighty force that was not crippled by corruption and incompetent and corrupt leadership.

The United States did not pay much attention to Russia. Instead the Americans are fixated on China and its new aircraft carriers and a fleet that is larger, in number of ships than the U.S. Navy. Putin also ignores the Chinese. He should because the Chinese are talking about taking back most of the Russian Far East province and renaming cities like Vladivostok with their original Chinese names like Yongmingcheng. This was a Chinese city that had been in this location for over a thousand years until the Russians forced China to surrender the territory to them in 1859 and renamed Yongmingcheng Vladivostok.

China wants its stolen territories back and Putin fears that while Russia is busy in Ukraine the Chinese might make a move. Putin notes that Western nations do not speak out against China regaining the territories taken by Russia 166 years ago. The Chinese have long memories and the Russians dont, until it is too late. Putin may not be paranoid and he is correct about the terrible situation Russia is in.

At the same time Putin is forced by his generals to pay attention to what NATO nations bordering Russia are up to. Poland and the Baltic States welcomed American troops who visited and agreed with the U.S. proposal to build an American base in Poland. To eastern Europe NATO members, especially the Poles, this is a great idea. Putin sees it as an old Russian nightmare come to life.
President condemns soldiers killing: Denounces reprisals in Bawku

Gilbert Mawuli Agbey Mar - 22 - 2025 , 18:23 5 minutes read

President John Dramani Mahama has condemned the recent killing of a military officer in Bawku in the Upper East Region.

He reminded the people that members of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) in the conflict zone were peacekeepers deployed to protect lives and property, and that it was unacceptable for them to be regarded as part of a conflict of which they were not a party.

In the same vein, I wish to equally condemn the high-handed response of personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces which resulted in assaults and injuries to many innocent civilians in the area, he stressed.

President Mahama was speaking at a grand durbar held at the Bolgatanga Jubilee Park last Thursday during a tour to thank the people of the Upper East Region.

The military officer was shot dead last Monday morning near one of the buffer zones set up to control the ongoing chieftaincy conflict in the area.

The latest incident brings to three the number of security personnel killed in the area since 2022, and it is leading to rising tension among residents.

Anger

I can understand the righteous anger over the loss of a colleague military officer but you must exercise restraint and rather use effective intelligence gathering to identify and bring the culprits to book, President Mahama told the GAF.

Further, he used the occasion to extend his condolences to the family of the deceased soldier and at the same extended his sympathies to the many residents assaulted and injured in the military counter-action.

On the resolution of the conflict, President Mahama thanked the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, for commencing mediation efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the age-old conflict which has claimed many lives and led to the destruction of several properties.

He expressed the hope that the parties in the recent mediation process would consider the proposals with open mind and return to the negotiation table in good faith when it resumes in the weeks ahead.

Outlined programmes

President Mahama said the numerous programmes outlined by his administration for the area, the commitments made and the brighter future envisioned would mean nothing if communities were scared by violence.

What use will the dreams of the people be if they stand on broken ground and what future do we promise our children if they inherit walls of distrust instead of bridges of hope, the President said quizzically.

He said a nation divided by past wounds could not march forward into the promised tomorrow.

Let us choose peace not out of fear, but out of strength; not as a surrender, but as the highest act of courage to secure our collective quest for progress, President Mahama challenged the people.

Development projects

Touching on some development projects, the President said on top of the priority was the completion of the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Polimakom road, saying it is a critical road that will boost trade and improve access to markets for farmers and businesses.

Also, the government would commence the resurfacing of the Tamale-Bolgatanga-Paga main road which was in a deplorable state, he said, adding that such an intervention would bring relief to motorists.

Other road networks, the President mentioned, were the Bolgatanga-Wa road to link both regions as well as the road linking Navrongo, Sandema, Fumbisi and Daboya.

Regional airport

On the regional airport, President Mahama stated that the Managing Director of the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) had been tasked to commence sourcing of funds for the construction of the Bolgatanga Airport to enable people to fly directly into the region.

We intend to do this under a Public-Private partnership module in conjunction with large-scale gold mining companies operating in the region, the President said.

Rural electrification projects will also be expanded to connect more communities to the national grid to simulate local enterprises and enhance living conditions of the people.

However, a good number of the electrification projects would include off-grid solar system for communities too far away from the transmission grid, President Mahama said.

"The Tamne Irrigation Project will be completed to allow for all year round farming within the Garu and Tempane areas so as to unlock the region's potential in agriculture," he added.

Hospital projects

The President said the War Memorial Hospital in Navrongo in the Kassena Nankana Municipality would be upgraded to enhance medical services and support medical training as well.

Additionally, he stated that the government would commence and complete the phase three project of the Upper East Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga to provide specialised healthcare services to the residents.

Chief speaks

Speaking earlier on behalf of the chiefs, the Paramount Chief of the Nangodi Traditional Area, Naba Yelzoya Kosom Asaga II, commended President Mahama for redeeming his promise to abolish some taxes to bring relief to Ghanaians.

He appealed to the government to improve all major road networks in the region to ease transformation as well as prioritise the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam project to accelerate the regions development.

In a welcome address, the Upper East Regional Minister, Donatus Akamugri Atanga, said the region was proud of the giant steps and measures taken so far by the government towards resetting the country for the benefit of all.

The region is fully behind you and we are confident that the new NDC administration will foster unity, progress and prosperity for the people, he said.



Writers email: [email protected]
Reshuffle police commanders in galamsey hotspots  Ken Ashigbey to IGP

Gertrude Ankah Mar - 22 - 2025 , 10:49 4 minutes read

The Convener of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey, Ken Ashigbey, has urged the Inspector General of Police (IGP), COP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, to immediately transfer all police commanders stationed in illegal mining hotspots.

He argues that their continued presence has either enabled the practice or exposed their inability to tackle it effectively.

His call comes as the IGP intensifies the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, which he describes as a serious national security and environmental threat.

Addressing the Regional Police Commanders Conference, COP Yohuno highlighted the growing violence linked to galamsey operations, particularly in Ghanas Western North region. He revealed that armed criminals associated with illegal mining have launched violent attacks on civilians, including forest guards, with impunity.

This lawlessness must not be allowed to continue, the IGP asserted, urging regional commanders to take decisive action. We are declaring war on illegal mining, and I expect every regional commander to enforce the law and bring perpetrators to justice.

Speaking on TV3s The Key Points on Saturday, March 22, Ken Ashigbey reinforced the need for systemic change, calling for the immediate transfer of all divisional, district, and station commanders in galamsey-prone areas. He alleged that illegal mining continues unabated under their watch, with some officers benefiting financially from the illicit trade.

Some of these officers have become extremely wealthy. If they are not benefiting from galamsey, then they are simply incompetent. Either way, they must be transferred, he stated.

Ashigbey cited Anyinam in the Eastern Region as an example, questioning why officers stationed there remain at post while illegal mining thrives just metres from the police station. He further alleged that some officers have been found in possession of illegal mining equipment in their homes.

Beyond transfers, he called for stricter measures, including legal prosecution and reassignment of guilty officers to non-mining areas.

Stronger political commitment

Backing Ashigbeys call, legal practitioner and anti-corruption advocate Martin Kpebu underscored the need for both police reshuffling and stronger political commitment to the fight against galamsey.

Speaking on the same programme, Kpebu argued that entrenched corruption within security agencies and political circles must be addressed for any meaningful progress.

He said merely transferring commanders without a full-scale institutional cleanup would be ineffective. If you only transfer the commanders and leave the officers who enable galamsey, then you havent done much, he noted. The new commander may sit in the office while the same officers continue aiding illegal mining. The system itself must be thoroughly cleaned.

Kpebu also accused political actors from both the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of benefiting from galamsey, asserting that illegal mining networks have political backers.

In one part of town, you find NDC-affiliated galamsey operators, and in another, you find those linked to the NPP, he alleged, stressing that without bipartisan commitment to ending the practice, reforms will remain superficial.

High-profile prosecutions needed

A key aspect of Kpebus argument was the need to prosecute high-profile individuals involved in galamsey. He suggested that targeting key financiers and influential figures within the illicit trade would serve as a deterrent.

Imagine if a regional chairman of the NPP is taken to court. The chilling effect it will have on others cannot be overstated, he said, arguing that Ghanas enforcement agencies must make an example of powerful figures involved in the practice.

He pointed to the concept of beneficial ownership, which requires companies to disclose their true owners, as a tool that could be leveraged to trace illegal mining profits. However, he acknowledged that many key players exploit loopholes to evade accountability.

We have laws that mandate disclosure, but in practice, people find ways to dodge them. Still, if we can trace illegal excavators to individuals, those persons must be held responsible, he insisted.

Media oversight in anti-galamsey efforts

Kpebu further proposed embedding journalists in government anti-galamsey task forces to enhance transparency. He argued that independent media oversight would ensure greater accountability in land reclamation efforts and law enforcement actions.

If journalists are part of these operations, they can provide real-time updates and evidence, preventing government officials from making unverified claims, he suggested.

Kpebu stressed that Ghana does not lack solutions to the galamsey crisis. Instead, he said, the real challenge is the political will to implement existing policies effectively.

The government has taken some steps, but without sustained commitment, the fight against galamsey will remain an illusion. We must keep pushing the politicians to act decisively, he urged.
Somanya: Man remanded for brutally assaulting pregnant girlfriend

GNA Mar - 22 - 2025 , 17:47 2 minutes read

The Odumase-Krobo Circuit Court, presided over by Mr. Kwasi Apiatse Abaidoo, has remanded 26-year-old car washer Isaac Tetteh Angmortey for three weeks in custody for assaulting his pregnant girlfriend, 29-year-old Ms. Hannah Amedi.

Angmortey pleaded guilty to causing harm under Section 84 of the Criminal Code 1960 (Act 29) and was remanded to prison, with a scheduled court appearance on April 10, 2025.

Police Chief Inspector John Brahene, the prosecution officer, revealed that the police received a distress call from an unknown person reporting that a pregnant woman was being severely beaten along Mount Mary Road in Somanya.

Upon arrival at the scene, the police found the accused physically assaulting the pregnant woman. He was promptly arrested and taken to the police station for further investigation.

Inspector Brahene noted that the complainant, who is six months pregnant, sustained multiple injuries; her forehead was swollen, and there was blood oozing from her lips, neck, and ears.

She was given a police medical form and referred to the Yilo Krobo District Hospital for treatment due to the severe beatings she endured from the accused.

The prosecution officer mentioned that for about a month, the complainant had been staying with her auntie in the same vicinity due to the abusive behaviour the accused had exhibited toward her recently.

During interrogation at the police station, the accused claimed he was at work when he felt that the complainant was having sexual relations with another man in his home.

He quickly returned to find no one in the room, so he went to his girlfriends aunties house and began beating her.

The accused was arraigned before the court and subsequently remanded.

Checks by the Ghana News Agency at the Yilo Krobo District Hospital confirmed that the complainant has not lost her unborn child.

Meanwhile, authorities have condemned the attack, emphasizing the urgent need to address the rising cases of domestic abuse.

The community has expressed shock and outrage over the incident, calling for justice and stronger actions against domestic violence.

This incident has sparked renewed conversations about the importance of tackling domestic violence and protecting vulnerable individuals from harm.
President Mahama visits Northern Region to thank supporters and engage citizens

Gertrude Ankah Politics Mar - 22 - 2025 , 10:44 1 minute read

President John Dramani Mahama will visit the Northern Region today, Saturday, March 22, as part of a nationwide tour to express gratitude to Ghanaians for their support in the December 2024 elections.

As part of his visit, he will pay a courtesy call on the Overlord of Dagbon, Yaa Naa Abukari Mahama II, at the Gbewaa Palace in Yendi before addressing a public gathering at Jubilee Park in Tamale.

The event is expected to attract party supporters and residents, during which the President will extend his appreciation and outline his administrations key priorities.

Mahamas tour follows his electoral victory as he seeks to engage citizens on governance and national development.
Attorney General Douglas Moylan says hes focused on the promises he made to Guams voters, not the next election.

Former senator and attorney Thomas Tom Fisher confirmed a run for the AGs office in 2026, and public defender Peter Santos doubled down on plans to run for the seat.

Incumbent AG Moylan on Friday told the Pacific Daily News that hes not ready to decide whether a 2026 reelection bid is in the cards.

This is not the time to campaign or have any visions of grandeur. Health care, education and public safety are all failing under this governor, Moylan said in a statement. "We need an AG now to protect my client, we the law-abiding people."

Moylan was the islands first elected AG, winning a 2002 election for the seat. He came back 20 years later, beating former AG Leevin Camacho by a razor-thin margin of 39 votes in 2022.

Upon reelection, Moylan promised to make Guam safe again, taking a tough-on-crime stance and pushing to keep accused criminals locked while they wait for trial, send non-citizen offenders off-island, and aiming at alleged corruption related to the smuggling of meth to Guam.

Hes also launched a number of prosecutions and investigations against government of Guam officials, empaneling several investigative grand juries to examine evidence brought against the executive branch.

It is more important at this time that I continue fulfilling my election promises made to our voters in 2022. It's only the midpoint of my 4-year commitment to our people and to my client, Moylan stated Friday.

The Office of the Governor last week stated it would ask the Supreme Court of Guam to appoint a special prosecutor and special attorney general to investigate alleged hiring violations at the AGs office under Moylan, involving the hiring of unclassified employees and Moylans fiance and brother.

Moylan has called the allegations unfounded and denied any involvement in the hiring of his fiance or brother. He has said Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero was conflicted and should have an indictment ready for herself.

Notable moves by AG Moylan include a federal lawsuit aiming to stop the use of $104 million in federal funding for the Mangilao hospital project championed by the governor, over alleged illegalities in the use of the money and condemnation of land for the hospital.

His office is also embroiled in federal court seeking to enforce the long-dead 1990 abortion ban.
A 25-year-old man died at Tanguisson Beach in Dededo late Saturday morning, according to the Guam Fire Department, after units responded to a reported distressed kayaker over the reef.

At 10:58 a.m., GFD units responded to Tanguisson Beach and upon arrival, identified three individuals in the water, GFD spokesperson Lt. Nick Garrido said.

One female was brought safely to shore and required no medical attention.

A boy was able to make it back to shore independently and was transported to Guam Memorial Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, Garrido said.

CPR was initiated on the third individual, a 25-year-old male. However, due to the patients condition, paramedics, in consultation with medical control, discontinued resuscitative efforts, Garrido said.
The Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority has opened the application period for certain full-time temporary job positions needed to support the implementation of a $500.8 million Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery program, now known as Fix in Six.

Positions include:

Community program aide I and II

Program coordinator I, II, and III

Buyer II

Computer systems analyst I

Applicants who wish to apply can access the application online at ghura.org and submit their applications to the GHURA office in Sinajana.

GHURA office hours are Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The initiative aims to help residents rebuild and restore their communities by providing much-needed disaster recovery assistance to low- and moderate-income households impacted by Typhoon Mawar in May 2023.

There are still several families that are suffering (from) the impacts of Typhoon Mawar. This program represents a significant step forward in our commitment to rebuilding a stronger, more resilient Guahan, GHURA Deputy Director Fernando Esteves said in a statement. The Fix in Six program will allow us to not only address the longstanding damages from Mawar, but fortify the community against future natural disasters.

The Fix in Six program is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and is designed to address unmet recovery needs in disaster-impacted communities.

Over a six-year period, the program will support housing, infrastructure, economic revitalization, and disaster mitigation efforts, ensuring long-term resilience and sustainability.

In December 2025, GHURA successfully secured $500.8 million in CDBG-DR funding to aid in disaster recovery initiatives across Guam. These funds will be allocated to assist residents in rebuilding their homes, restoring public infrastructure, and strengthening local economies.

For more information about the Fix in Six program, visit tinyurl.com/fixinsixguam or contact (671) 477-9851.

The community is encouraged to submit their comments and inquiries to fixinsix@guamdr.org.
The jury trial in U.S.A. vs. Michael Marasigan, Jose Arthur Chan and Christine C. Chan will take a week-long pause in the District Court of Guam, said Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood but when it resumes, it will follow an extended-hours schedule.

Tydingco-Gatewood granted Marasigan's motion for a one-week continuance, or pause, in the bingo proceeds criminal trial that's consumed the federal court docket this week.

Marasigan and the Chans are on trial for a few conspiracy charges, as well as money laundering and fraud.

Federal agents alleged that from March 2015 to December 2021, the defendants conspired to operate an illegal gambling business involving bingo games sponsored by the Guam Shrine Club.

Marasigan is accused of pocketing about $14 million in bingo proceeds between 2015 and 2021, while Christine Chan allegedly received about $1 million during the same period. Combined, the trio faces 61 counts of money laundering.

Other individuals indicted in connection with the scheme, including Minda San Nicolas and Alfredo D. Leon Guerrero, have already taken plea deals for their involvement and are expected to testify in the case.

Marasigan has designated Lujan as lead counsel, with Michael Phillips as co-counsel. Defense attorneys Joseph Razzano for Jose Chan and William Gavras for Christine Chan also submitted motions that say their clients would be unduly prejudiced if the case proceeded without Lujan.

Phillips said that Lujan will be cross-examining the government's witnesses in the case and will also deliver closing arguments.

The judge granted the motion, but said that when the trial resumed, it would follow an extended schedule. The trial would run from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, she said.

The continued trial resumes April 1.
March 22, 2025: Desperate to find more justifications for its war in Ukraine, Russia has turned to its small surviving Cossack community to inspire military age Russian men to serve in the military. This is part of a desperate effort to find more manpower for their depleted forces in Ukraine. Russia made a deal with the Cossack leadership to persuade the millions of Ukrainian and Russian Cossacks living in Russia to support the Russian war effort in Ukraine. Prior to 2024 Russia had not sought to recruit Cossacks. This was part of an effort to maintain and improve good relations with Cossacks in Russia. So far this year over 50,000 Cossacks have served in the Russian forces in Ukraine or the forces gathered to push Ukrainian forces out of Russias Kursk province. The Ukrainians have their own small Cossack community, but Cossack traditions have a bigger role in Ukrainian identity than for Russian national identity. The Ukrainians entered Kursk in August 2024. Russia is also using 12,000 North Korean mercenaries for the Kursk counterattack. As of March 2025, the Ukrainians are still in Russia but rapidly losing ground.

Russia has not tried to compel mobilization of its Cossacks into the army, as that could antagonize Cossacks in general and possibly cause loyalty problems with Ukrainian Cossacks living in Russia. There are over five million Ukrainian and Russian Cossacks living in different parts of Russia. Both Ukrainian and Russian Cossacks consider themselves Cossacks first. Russian officials understand that and since late 2023 have persuaded over 20,000 Cossacks to fight in Ukraine. Russia hopes to recruit more because Russia is running out of Russian soldiers. The Cossacks and their leaders are aware of the high Russian casualty rate in Ukraine. That makes it difficult to persuade more Cossacks to fight in Ukraine.

When Russia first invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainian response was Cossack in the way Cossack tactics were used successfully against the Russian invaders. These 21st Century Ukrainian Cossacks performed like the first Cossacks did 500 years ago, traveling light and using whatever weapons they could carry and use on foot or on horseback. The 2022 Ukrainian used pickup trucks and cars for transport and a lot of NATO supplied anti-tank weapons to supplement the Ukrainian made ones.

The original Cossacks were most effective at raiding and restricting the movements and capabilities of a larger force. Cossacks would raid supply columns and force the enemy to use more troops for guard duty and larger reconnaissance patrols. Cossacks could weaken a larger force and reduce its offensive capabilities.

Its not surprising that these modern Cossacks would emerge in Ukraine during the 2022 invasion. This sort of speedy improvisation by a largely recent volunteer force of civilians is one reason the Russians have been losing. The Ukrainians know what they are fighting for while most of the Russian troops who initially invaded were unaware they were invading Ukraine. That changed when hastily organized and armed Ukrainians began ambushing them with anti-tank weapons, superior tactics and reliable communications. Initially most Russian troops were unsure why they are invading Ukraine while the Ukrainians were defending themselves any way they could. Now Russia is trying to create its own Cossack force.

Such neo-Cossacks, in the form of small, mobile motorized forces, were first developed by the British during World War II in North Africa. German and Italian forces established airfields and supply storage sites out in the desert that were lightly guarded because any ground force would be spotted from the air before it got near. To get around that Britain developed the Long Range Desert Group or LRDG consisting of small units of a dozen or so men in wheeled vehicles modified for off-road use in desert terrain. The troops were volunteers trained to use these vehicles and navigate in the desert. While raids on remote airfields and supply depots were the most dramatic operations, the most valuable role of the LRDG was collecting information on enemy strength, dispositions and movements. This often involved monitoring enemy traffic on the coastal roads, which were the primary traffic route in North Africa. Out of this came the British Special Air Service or SAS commandos, and a maritime version, the Special Boat Service or SBS. After World War II other nations based their special operations forces on the British model.

American special operations forces and similar commando groups in other NATO countries are also able to operate in the Cossack fashion and regularly train that way based on their experience of the Ukrainian Cossacks. While NATO has donated over $100 billion military and economic aid to Ukraine, the Ukrainians have shared their combat experiences with NATO as well as details of new weapons Ukrainians have designed and built. The war in Ukraine is the first war between technological equals since World War II. Thats over 60 years with much change in weapons or tactics. Now, in less than three years the war in Ukraine has revolutionized how wars are fought and established the parameters for 21st Century warfare.
Guams airline availability crisis is no longer just about missed connections or limited flight options. It is a serious economic concern that threatens our long-term sustainability.

As airline routes dwindle and costs rise, the effects are rippling across every part of our community, from tourism and business to health care and family life.

There is a solution right in front of us that our leaders seem to ignore or worse, may not even fully understand: the Essential Air Service program. This federal program was designed to guarantee air service to small, remote communities following airline deregulation.

Guam, with its geographic isolation and strategic national importance, clearly meets the spirit and intent of this program. Yet we have never seriously pursued EAS support or pushed for a version that fits our unique Pacific needs.

At a time when we need more, not less, connectivity, Guam is being left behind.

Meanwhile, the federal government continues to pour billions into military construction here, while doing little to ensure our civilian infrastructure and economic foundations remain intact.

We are beginning to see the real impact of the military buildup: a temporary surge of construction masking a long-term erosion of our tourism economy, private sector, and labor force.

When the military work slows and it will, Guam will be left with a weakened foundation and few tools to rebuild.

The absence of a resilient tourism industry, affordable labor, and reliable air access will leave us fully dependent on outside assistance and federal support, with little control over our own economic future.

What happened to the One Guam approach, the idea that both the civilian and military communities would rise together, supported by thoughtful planning and meaningful federal partnership?

That vision is slipping away as small businesses close their doors, families struggle with airfare they cannot afford. Our leaders all talk about improving air service, but their response remains academic and disconnected from reality.

Now we are even entertaining ideas to subsidize airlines using local funds and tax breaks, a risky and unsustainable solution for an island already stretched thin.

Why arent we instead demanding that the federal government step in, using existing programs like EAS that were created for exactly this kind of problem?

To illustrate just how out of reach air travel has become, I am leaving soon for specialized medical treatment in the U.S. mainland, and the airfare for me and my wife on United Airlines, B-Class seats, came to $24,351.60. Even economy fares are only slightly cheaper. This is not just unsustainable. It is unacceptable.

We need to act now. Guam must pursue inclusion in the Essential Air Service program, or a version of it, tailored to our islands realities.

We must also demand federal flexibility on labor policy and support for restoring regional routes that connect us to Asia, the United States, and our Pacific neighbors.

The future of Guam should not be written in quiet resignation. It is not too late to redirect our course, but it requires bold, informed leadership and a willingness to stand up and ask for what we deserve.




Haiti - Politic : Canada sanctions 3 new Haitians linked to the crisis in Haiti





On Friday, March 21, Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, announced that Canada was imposing sanctions under the Special Economic Measures (Haiti) Regulations against three Haitians who have committed acts that undermine peace, security, and stability in Haiti :



Dimitri Herard:

Former Head of Security at the National Palace

Jeantel Joseph:

Former Director General of the National Agency for Protected Areas (ANAP)

Jeff Larose:

Leader of the "Taliban" gang operating in Canaan



These individuals have committed acts that undermine the peace, security and stability of Haiti. The sanctioned individuals will be inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and will be subject to a broad prohibition on dealings. Their assets in Canada will be frozen, and Canadians both at home and abroad will be prohibited from engaging in transactions with these individuals.



"Canada remains committed to supporting Haiti and its people. We urge the international community to stand with Canada in holding accountable those who fuel violence and instability in Haiti," declared Minister Melanie Joly.



Since November 2022, Canada has imposed autonomous sanctions against 31 Haitian citizens under the Special Economic Measures (Haiti) Regulations.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40821-haiti-flash-list-of-all-haitians-sanctioned-since-1-year.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38307-haiti-flash-canada-sanctions-3-of-the-most-powerful-businessmen-in-haiti.html



HL/ HaitiLibre
























Haiti - Politic : The CPT and the Government make joint promises





Following the anti-government and anti-insecurity outbreak earlier this week, the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) and the government made joint promises and issued numerous explanations aimed at reducing popular tension and attempting to reassure the population. "We hear your cries, we understand your anguish, and we remain firm in our determination to respond to the people's legitimate demands. The country is going through a difficult period where insecurity threatens the life and well-being of every citizen, but the fight continues unabated to restore order, peace, and stability throughout the country.



For several months, various strategic actions have been taken to combat insecurity. The military and police operations already underway have helped neutralize numerous bandits or prevented them from fleeing the country.



The new strategies implemented by law enforcement include the use of drones and other modern equipment that increase response capacity. Security is not something that can be achieved with a single turn of a wrench; it requires method, patience, coordination among all stakeholders, and the active participation of the population.



We understand the population's despair and impatience and recognize that there is still a long way to go. But our commitment will not waver. The CPT and the Government are redoubling their efforts to ensure that every family can return to a dignified life, so that every citizen can return home without fear or anxiety.



We ask every citizen to remain vigilant, so as not to fall into the trap of manipulation and all forms of disinformation that can create confusion. The right to protest is a constitutional right, but we encourage the population to remain vigilant to prevent gangs and other individuals with malicious intentions from infiltrating the movement to sow unrest [...]"



HL/ S/ HaitiLibre


















Komoot is being sold: The Potsdam-based company behind the hiking app of the same name will in future belong to the Italian company Bending Spoons, both parties write in a press release. The companies are not disclosing the financial terms of the takeover.

Anzeige

Komoot co-founder Markus Hallermann sees the sale as necessary for the app's future prospects: "What got us here will not take us to the next level," he writes in the press release. "Scaling a company requires a different mindset and different skills than building a company."

Employees "shocked" according to the report

Bending Spoons is an Italian company that has acquired several well-known applications in recent years, including WeTransfer and Streamyard. Bending Spoons' portfolio also includes Evernote and Meetup. Bending Spoons is sometimes rigorous in its acquisitions: After buying Evernote, the company laid off almost all of its employees. Bending Spoons has also laid off a large part of the workforce in many other acquisitions.

So it's no wonder that the 150 or so Komoot employees are worried , according to Wirtschaftswoche. The employees only found out about the deal on Thursday at an unscheduled meeting. It had already been announced that there would be redundancies. Further inquiries were not permitted, writes Wirtschaftswoche , adding that the employees were "shocked".

Komoot is an app that provides community-supported tours for hikers, cyclists and runners worldwide. The basic version of the app is free, but if you want to unlock additional features such as tracking and additional planning tools, you have to activate Komoot Premium for 5 euros per month. According to the company, the application, which is available for Android and iOS, has 45 million users. It is not known how many of them are regularly active or even pay for a subscription.

(dahe)

Don't miss any news  follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Mastodon. This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.
Breaking milestones is part of Telegram's business vocabulary as the app surpassed $1 billion revenue in December. Three months later, the messaging platform managed to reach one billion active users, but CEO Pavel Durov is not done yet.

The Russian founder did not mince his words when he called Meta-owned WhatsApp a "cheap" knockoff of Telegram.

Durov Makes Jab at WhatsApp

In his celebratory announcement, Durov didn't shy away from his largest rival. As Business Insider reports, the tech executive called WhatsApp a "cheap, watered-down imitation of Telegram."

The 40-year-old tech executive accused WhatsApp of attempting to replicate Telegram's features for years and using billions of dollars on lobbying and PR to hold back Telegram's expansion.

Regardless of their efforts, Durov stressed that Telegram not only expanded but became profitable as well while maintaining its autonomy.

Telegram Posts Huge Profit in 2024

It's important to note that it's been a long-held dream of Telegram to be one of the best messaging apps in this current generation. Facebook and X come to mind when we are talking about this kind of app. However, Durov wants the app to improve without compromising its values.

While Durov said that Telegram generated $547 million in profit in 2024, it's still a long way compared to Facebook's profit of $62.3 billion in the same year.

Durov Went to Dubai After Legal Battle

Durov's statement follows his recent return to Dubai after a long court battle in France.

The Telegram boss was arrested at an airport in Paris on August 24, 2024, after he arrived from his private plane. The French authorities said that Durov was accused of allowing Telegram to be a nest of drug trafficking, child abuse, fraud, and other crimes.

Denial of Allegations and Temporary Release

Durov rejected the accusations, describing them as both "surprising" and "misguided."

In a statement published on his Telegram channel in September 2024, he contended that it was unfair to hold him responsible for third-party crimes on the platform.

In the same month, it revealed it would begin disclosing IP addresses and phone numbers of perpetrators to law enforcement when the law needs it.

Telegram's Dedication to Policy Reforms

Since Durov's detention, Telegram has undertaken major policy reforms to cater to concerns of illegal content. The service partnered with the Internet Watch Foundation, an organization dedicated to finding and removing child sexual abuse material.

Telegram also started issuing transparency reports, reporting the amount of content that was taken down, which is common practice in the tech industry.
The study, published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, found that language barriers, limited digital skills, and a lack of knowledge about available services prevent many from receiving adequate support. These challenges are compounded by cultural differences, social isolation, and gaps in professional expertise.

Older immigrants and immigrants with dementia in Finland face overlapping obstacles when accessing social and medical services, according to new research from the University of Eastern Finland.

The research was based on interviews with professionals who work directly with older immigrants and immigrants living with dementia.

Alex Berg, Doctoral Researcher at the University of Eastern Finland, said the findings highlight a need for systemic changes.

Our study recommends employing more bilingual staff so that older immigrants and immigrants with dementia can seek services on their own in their native language, Berg said. Providing information about services in multiple languages also increases awareness of rights and access options.

The study points out that digitalisation, while intended to improve access, often worsens exclusion for those with limited language skills or low digital literacy. This is particularly acute among elderly immigrants, who may struggle with acquiring new languages, and among people with dementia, who are at risk of losing languages learned later in life.

A lack of family or community support increases vulnerability. According to the study, social isolation may heighten the risk of abuse and exploitation, especially when individuals are unaware of their rights or do not have trusted contacts who can help them navigate complex systems.

Though immigrant communities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) often step in to assist, researchers warn that these groups are under-resourced. The report calls for increased state support for NGOs and greater cooperation between public services and community-based organisations.

Service providers are also encouraged to avoid stereotyping clients and instead recognise the unique needs and circumstances of each individual. The study stresses that while cultural norms should be respected, immigrants should be treated as equal clients within the healthcare and social service systems.

The findings suggest that improved training for professionals, greater linguistic accessibility, and stronger community support are necessary to close the service gap faced by both older immigrants and immigrants with dementia.

HT
PES stated that the airstrikes violate the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas and further destabilise efforts to reach a long-term resolution.

The Party of European Socialists (PES) has strongly condemned the latest Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, which have reportedly killed at least 400 people and injured hundreds more. The party also criticised the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and called for stronger EU measures against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu .

The attacks followed Israels two-week blockade on aid and its decision to cut electricity to the desalination plant supplying fresh water to Gaza.

PES President Stefan Lofven called for an end to the violence. The suffering of the Palestinian people must end. Israels attacks on Tuesday mark another tragic turn in the conflict, further devastating Gaza, which is already in ruins, he said.

Lofven emphasised the need for a two-state solution as the only viable path to peace and urged the European Union to take a stronger stance. He criticised the EUs Foreign Affairs Council for failing to apply enough pressure on Netanyahus government, warning that continued inaction risks making the EU complicit in the conflict.

PES also condemned settlement expansion and annexation in the West Bank, calling it a violation of international law that reinforces systematic discrimination and violence against Palestinians. The party reaffirmed its support for a political solution based on international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative.

The statement concluded with a call for the EU to play a decisive role in resolving the crisis. At this crossroads, the EU must take a strong stance in line with its values, PES said.

HT
Foreign-funded enterprises increase investment, expand production in east China

Xinhua) 13:22, March 22, 2025

XIAMEN, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Foreign investors have actively increased investment and expanded production in east China's Fujian Province, expressing enthusiasm for investment and firm confidence in China.

At the engine overhaul workshop of Taikoo Engine Services (Xiamen) Co., Ltd., an engineering branch of the multinational company Swire Group, maintenance engineers are busy repairing dozens of engines. Founded in 2008, the enterprise is a global one-stop aviation maintenance base in Xiamen.

Simon Smith, director and general manager of the company, said that they saw revenue grow by over 30 percent in 2024. Moreover, he anticipates continued growth, projecting a compound annual growth rate of at least 5 percent for the next decade.

According to Smith, the enterprise plans to invest around 100 million U.S. dollars in new technology and product development over the next few years. "We are going to invest in 4D inspection technologies, drone robotics, and AI technology, and build a 9,500-square-meter expansion to our facility which should be completed by January 2026," he said.

For Smith, the Chinese market is both huge and important, and it will continue to be central to their opportunities in the future. "The aviation market is growing in China, and it presents a lot of opportunities to grow with it," he said.

Alu Rehab (Xiamen) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Germany-headquartered Meyra Group, a global leader in wheelchairs and rehabilitation aids, has been a witness to China's steady development over the years. In 2024, they enjoyed a record year in both turnover and the number of units sold.

"The potential of China is huge. Our sales in the Chinese market over the last two years have increased. We have just talked to the distributors about this year and they are very optimistic for 2025," said Jan Laegaard Broni, Meyra Group's executive vice president. "So for sure, we'll put more focus into domestic sales and activities in China."

"We always invest in research and development (R&D). This is what we have done for the last 15 years -- investing in the future in China because we have always believed the potential is there," he said.

The new Xiamen Industrial Park, currently under construction and intended for rental by Schneider Electric, is more than double the size of its existing factory in Xiamen. It is expected to double its production capacity over the next five years.

"The park will become a major R&D center, manufacturing center and supply hub for Schneider Electric to serve the global medium voltage market, which shows that the company has been optimistic about the Chinese market and we are determined to deepen the operations in Xiamen," said Frederic Godemel, executive vice president, energy management, Schneider Electric.

According to Godemel, China has always been an important source of innovation for Schneider Electric globally. Schneider Electric will continue to reinforce the "China Hub" strategy and continue to increase investment in innovation.

In recent years, foreign investors have maintained strong enthusiasm for investing in Fujian, further deepening their presence in the Chinese market.

Data show that in 2024, there were 102 newly introduced projects with an investment of more than 1 billion yuan (about 139.48 million U.S. dollars) each in Fujian Province, with the number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises increasing by 9.7 percent. By the end of 2024, more than 75,000 enterprises had been set up by foreign investors in Fujian, and the actual use of foreign investment exceeded 150 billion U.S. dollars.

In 2024, Fujian formulated and implemented a slew of measures to improve the quality and efficiency of foreign investment and protect the national treatment of foreign-invested enterprises. In February this year, China issued an action plan to stabilize foreign investment in 2025. Per the plan, China will support pilot regions in effectively implementing opening-up policies related to such areas as value-added telecommunication, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, providing whole-journey services for foreign-invested projects in these sectors.

"China's proposal of high-quality development and new quality productive forces will undoubtedly bring more development opportunities for multinational enterprises. The Chinese market is very attractive. Schneider Electric is full of confidence in deepening our presence in the Chinese market," said Godemel.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
The payments would be made annually 'forever', the city's mayor said.

The City of Canning is offering a new incentive to homeowners in a bid to increase the tree canopy cover in the area. Source: City of Canning

Homeowners could be paid hundreds, or even thousands of dollars a year for keeping large, native trees on their property under a new plan approved by an Aussie council.

The City of Canning, in Perths southeast, voted in favour of the proposal on Tuesday in a bid to preserve the areas shrinking tree canopy. Under the scheme, landowners would be paid $200 for each registered tree every year.

Were incentivising people to preserve significant trees on their own private property, Mayor Patrick Hall told 6PR Breakfast on Thursday. When given the example of a property owner who has six large trees on their land, Hall said as long as they meet the criteria, the owner would receive $1,200 per annum from the city forever.

The LGA has one of the lowest levels of tree canopy cover in Perth  less than eight per cent. As well as trying to preserve existing trees, the city has set a goal to plant more than 60,000 new trees over the next 20 years.

Mayor voted against tree preservation plan

The move was not unanimous, with Hall revealing it was he who voted against the plan  but not because he hates trees.

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I was the one person that voted against it, but not because I dont like trees. Its really about the governance of it. There were just too many questions for me that were unanswered, about the potential cost of it, the legality of it, he said.

One of the mayors biggest concerns is that the scheme will favour wealthy residents on already established, leafy blocks, while unfairly overlooking those in smaller, newer developments.

The LGA is attempting to grow their tree canopy cover, which is less than 8%. Source: GoogleMaps/Facebook

Ive been watching social media, people are saying it doesnt apply equally across the city, he said. Some people live on small blocks and are battling to pay their mortgages whereas people in multi-million dollar properties in other parts of the city are the fortunate people that will benefit from this the most.

As the mayor, the decision has been made, I now support the decision of the council, I have to, thats the convention.

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Only 'significant' trees eligible for payment

Under the plan, a registered tree cannot be removed without council approval, however it remains unclear what would happen if the property is sold.

If an owner wanted to develop that property down the line and was hell bent on removing those trees from the register, we have no idea whether or not it would be successfully defended by the city at court, Hall told 6PR Breakfast.

A nominated tree must be assessed before it can be added to the register, with strict criteria around what trees are eligible for a payment.

They have to be a significant tree, they have to be a native tree, theres a raft of different criteria there. Very large, old trees, theyre the ones that council is looking to preserve on private property.

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Currently, the 165 trees on the register are all on council land in streets or parks  none are privately owned. In a previous meeting, Councillor Ben Kunze argued private property owners are hesitant to register trees due to a perception that the value of their property will be negatively impacted.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
Montana believes the driving offence she carries from a passenger's wrongdoing is affecting her chances of getting a job.

Montana's mum was taking her jacket off when they drove past the roadside camera in Sydney. Source: Supplied

A recent graduate fears her years of hard work could be jeopardised by a split-second decision made by a passenger in her car. Montana*, 22, was heading to an event at Sydney's International Convention & Exhibition Centre in September when her mum removed her heavy puffer jacket while seated in the vehicle.

Just as they passed a roadside camera, her mum's seatbelt "slipped under her boob" as she twisted to take the garment off. As a result, the young driver copped a $410 penalty and three demerit points for her passenger's seatbelt not being worn correctly  an offence she worries will now impede her career.

"It was such bad timing," Montana told Yahoo News Australia. "I have to detail this driving fine in job applications now... I've just completed a bachelor of law... and I'm looking to get into a government job."

Due to the nature of her work, the applications are extensive and often ask candidates to provide details on any previous criminal activity. This is where the issue with the driving fine comes in.

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"When I go to a job application it'll ask standard questions like, 'Have you been in jail?', 'Have you received a fine?'... now every time I have to tick the box and let them know, yes, I have had a fine," she said.

Driver concerned fine will impede on her job prospects

Montana's mum paid the fine and looked into changing the offence over to her name, but the pair ultimately came to the realisation the driver would have to take on the responsibility and cop the three demerit points as specified by driving laws.

"There was one application where it asked how many points I've accrued... it's a little frustrating because it wasn't my fault and I've not had any before. I can understand if it's a speeding fine," she told Yahoo. "The fact that I had to outline the fine I got that wasn't my fault is unfair."

Montana now has to include details of the driving offence in her job applications. Source: Supplied

Have you copped a driving offence due to a passenger's wrongdoing? Get in touch with sophie.coghill@yahooinc.com

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She believes the fine could very likely hinder her chances of being contacted for interviews, fearing many recruitment softwares simply clear out applications that tick a 'yes' for answers to do with criminal activity and fines without looking at the circumstances.

"I am worried that I won't get through all the stages now that that box is ticked... I have to wear it for five years," she said.

*At Montana's request, Yahoo News is using only her first name to protect her privacy.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
Rapper Yella Beezy, whose real name is Markies Deandre Conway, has been arrested and is being held on suspicion of capital murder for hire, officials confirmed.

His arrest is linked to the 2020 murder of fellow Dallas rapper Mo3, whose real name was Melvin Noble, who was shot dead in daylight on the Interstate 35E highway.

According to TMZ, Conway is accused of having paid Kewon White to kill Noble. White had already been charged with conspiracy to murder in this shooting, but the new indictment signals that prosecutors now see Conway as a key player in planning the attack. The grand jury referral outlines the fatal shooting of Noble on November 11, 2020, when he was chased and shot on foot several times on the highway.

Conway was arrested in Dallas for allegedly financing the hit, prosecutors said. A chargesheet was leaked on social media, naming "Capital Murder with Remuneration," a class of Capital Murder in Texas, with a potential punishment of life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.

Yella Beezy has been charged with capital murder in connection to the 2020 death of Mo3. pic.twitter.com/AeyXyI1u35  SAY CHEESE!  (@SaycheeseDGTL) March 20, 2025

Beef In the Dallas Rap Scene

Conway's arrest comes with a new focus on the on-again, off-again tension between himself and Mo3. Both were up-and-coming rappers in Dallas and had been feuding due to gang ties, diss records, and social media posts.

Although no official connection was ever made, Conway himself was the victim of a drive-by shooting in Lewisville, Texas, in 2019. There was speculation at the time whether their feud contributed to the incident, but no charges were ever filed.

The Dallas County charges against Conway were not officially filed until March 18, 2025. He has been remanded to custody pending the trial.

The 33-year-old could face the death penalty upon conviction of capital murder for hire. A spokesperson for his legal team has not commented publicly on the case.

Prosecutors are still working to build their case against both the rapper and those who helped him with the murder of Mo3.

Originally published on Music Times
Chinese vice president meets Fiji's speaker of parliament

Xinhua) 13:25, March 22, 2025

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng meets with Filimone Jitoko, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Fiji, in Beijing, capital of China, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Han Zheng met with Filimone Jitoko, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Fiji, in Beijing on Friday.

Noting Fiji was one of the first Pacific Island countries to establish diplomatic relations with New China, Han said their bilateral relationship had stood the test of the changing international landscape, and the two countries had become a comprehensive strategic partnership featuring mutual respect and common development.

Han said China was willing to work with Fiji to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, carry forward the traditional friendship and jointly celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.

China is ready to work with Fiji to deepen political mutual trust and firmly support each other's core interests and major concerns, Han said.

He also called for more cooperation outcomes to promote the sustained and healthy development of China-Fiji relations.

Jitoko said adhering to the one-China principle is the cornerstone of Fiji-China relations. Fiji highly appreciates the major initiatives and ideas put forward by China and is willing to continuously enhance political mutual trust with China, promote cooperation in such fields as infrastructure, poverty reduction and tourism, and deepen exchanges between legislative bodies and governments of the two countries.

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng meets with Filimone Jitoko, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Fiji, in Beijing, capital of China, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
Turkey braced for a third day of protests on Friday, as anger spread across the country over the arrest of Istanbul's popular Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in a graft and terror probe.

Imamoglu, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, was arrested at dawn on Wednesday, just days before he was due to be named the candidate for the main opposition CHP party in the 2028 presidential election.

His party has denounced the detention as a "coup" and has vowed to keep up the demonstrations, which by Thursday night had spread to at least 32 of Turkey's 81 provinces, according to an AFP count.

Opposition leader Ozgur Ozel urged people across Turkey to hit the streets at 1730 GMT after the end of the daily Ramadan fast, despite warnings from the justice minister that such calls were "unlawful and unacceptable".

Thousands have defied a protest ban in Istanbul, gathering nightly outside City Hall in support of the mayor, with the authorities on Friday extending the ban to the capital Ankara and the western coastal city of Izmir.

Police initially showed restraint in handling the protests but on Thursday, they fired rubber bullets and teargas as they scuffled with students in Istanbul, AFP correspondents said.

And in Ankara, riot police used pepper gas, rubber bullets and water canon to disperse a crowd of around 1,500 people, another correspondent said.

Police have arrested at least 88 protesters, Turkish media said, updating an earlier figure of 53 from Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who also said 16 police officers had been hurt.

He also said police had detained another 54 people for online posts deemed as "incitement to hatred".

Speaking late Thursday, Erdogan shrugged off the unrest -- Turkey's worst street protests in years.

"The opposition's efforts to present its problems with the law as the country's biggest problem are the height of hypocrisy," he said.

Turkey, he said, "has no time to waste on the opposition's dramas".

But Ozel on Thursday warned Erdogan the protests would continue.

"From now on, no-one should expect CHP to do politics in halls or buildings, we'll be on the streets and in the squares," he said, addressing the Turkish leader by name.

The pro-Kurdish opposition DEM party also said it would join Friday's evening rally in Istanbul.

Writing on X, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc on Friday warned that calling for street protests was illegal.

"Calls for street protests based on ongoing judicial investigations are unlawful and unacceptable. Those in positions of responsibility should show more caution," he wrote.

During Wednesday's raids, police rounded up 106 people in all, the vast majority in connection with the graft probe, and began questioning them on Thursday.

There was still no confirmation of when Imamoglu would be questioned, but media reports said he would be the last, with all suspects due to appear in court on Sunday.

Despite Imamoglu's detention, the CHP vowed it would press ahead with its primary on Sunday at which it would formally nominate him as its candidate for the 2028 race.

The party said it would open the process to anyone who wanted to vote, not just party members, saying: "Come to the ballot box and say 'no' to the coup attempt!"

Observers said the government could seek to block the primary to prevent a further show of support for Imamgolu.

"If a large number of people show up and vote for Imamoglu, it will further legitimise him domestically," Gonul Tol, head of the Turkish studies programme at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, told AFP.

"It could really move things in a direction that Erdogan doesn't want."

By Friday morning, the restrictions on social media and internet access that had been in place since Imamoglu's arrest were lifted, according to internet access monitor EngelliWeb.

The move against Imamoglu has sent Turkey's financial markets into a tailspin, dealing a heavy blow to the Turkish lira.
Jan Schwieterman, best known for playing the villainous Kurt Bozwell in the 1997 Nickelodeon film Good Burger, has died at the age of 52.

Schwieterman breathed his last on Feb. 28 at Mercy Hospital in Washington, Missouri, his family announced. His brother, Chad Schwieterman, shared in a Facebook post that the actor had recently been diagnosed with "an aggressive form" of Stage 4 cancer.

In Good Burger, directed by Brian Robbins, Schwieterman portrayed Bozwell, the scheming owner of Mondo Burger, the rival fast-food chain to the titular Good Burger, where Kenan Thompson's Dexter and Kel Mitchell's Ed work. The film, which originated from a sketch on Nickelodeon's All That, became a cult favorite.

Born Jan Patrick Schwieterman on Sept. 30, 1972, in Bluffton, Indiana, he was an Eagle Scout before moving to California to pursue acting. He made his television debut in 1994 with guest appearances on ABC's McKenna and NBC's ER. His breakout role in Good Burger led to additional work, including playing Lewis in four episodes of The WB's Felicity (1998-99).

Schwieterman also appeared in films such as Warlock III: The End of Innocence (1999), American Intellectuals (1999), Fallen Arches (2000), and Along the Way (2007), which was his final on-screen credit.

Outside of acting, his family shared that he loved to travel and play Dungeons & Dragons.

He is survived by his parents, Clara and LeeRoy, his brother Chad, and his sisters Megan and Vanessa. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made in his memory to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Albuquerque police arrested a third youth in connection with the fatal hit-and-run of a bicyclist from New Mexico and have charged a detained 11-year-old with murder.

Law enforcement officials had already taken into custody two of the three boys who killed 63-year-old bicyclist Scott Habermehl. On Wednesday, authorities noted that they have arrested a 16-year-old who joined the first two, aged 11 and 13, in purposely running into the victim.

Third Youth Arrested in Fatal Hit-And-Run of Bicyclist

The 13-year-old was arrested on Monday while the 11-year-old was taken into custody on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the department confirmed that the two initially arrested youths were charged with murder.

So far, police have not yet confirmed charges for the 16-year-old who was recently arrested. However, law enforcement personnel said that the teenager could face an open count of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death, and unlawful possession of a handgun by a person, according to USA Today.

The Office of the Second Judicial District Attorney in New Mexico declined to answer the question of whether the boys would be tried as adults. The office cited that there is still an active investigation into the case.

The bicyclist in the case was reportedly struck while he was on his way to work at the Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque at around 4:40 a.m. on May 29, 2024. The victim was said to be in a dedicated bike lane at the time of the incident.

Charges of Murder

Video footage of the crash was recorded from inside the vehicle that the three youths were riding and quickly spread on social media. During a children's court hearing for the 13-year-old suspect, Deputy District Attorney Bridget McKenney played the video, CBS News reported.

The footage showed the car quickly accelerating as the flashing tail light of a bicycle suddenly became visible. Viewers could hear a voice, which was believed to be that of the 16-year-old, saying, "Just bump him, brah."

Kyle Hartsock with the Albuquerque Police Department's criminal investigation division said that the 13-year-old was believed to be the one driving the car when the bicyclist was struck. Albuquerque police chief Harold Medina said that they hope the system can deal with the individuals involved in the case to impose sufficient punishments.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller called the fatal incident "unimaginable," noting that it was incredibly heartbreaking. He noted how the perpetrators were so young and were already caught up in the cycle of violence, as per ABC News.

Originally published on parentherald.com
The Jonas Brothers are hitting the road once again to celebrate two decades of music. The trio has officially announced the "Jonas20: Living the Dream Tour," marking their 20th anniversary in the industry.

While the complete list of tour dates will be released on March 22, the brothers have already confirmed a major kickoff show at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on August 10.

For Nick, Joe, and Kevin Jonas, starting the tour in their home state is a full-circle moment. "Our journey began in New Jersey, it's where we grew up," Nick shared on Good Morning America, RollingStone said.

Reflecting on their early days, he recalled playing in malls because they couldn't sell out ticketed venues. Now, they are headlining one of the biggest stadiums in the country.

Before the tour officially begins, the band is hosting JonasCon, a fan event at American Dream Mall, located near MetLife Stadium.

WELCOME TO JONASCON - celebrating 20 years and its all because of YOU. See you Sunday  pic.twitter.com/L48tfsg3H1  Jonas Brothers (@jonasbrothers) March 20, 2025

Jonas Brothers Reunite with 2007 Band for Special Anniversary Event

The event will feature performances from the brothers' original 2007 band, Nick's solo act, Joe's group DNCE, All-American Rejects, their younger brother Franklin Jonas, and more.

"If someone had told us back then that we'd one day be playing at MetLife Stadium, we would have laughed," Kevin said.

"Now we're sitting here, seeing our fans who have supported us for so many yearsit's just incredible."

According to CBS News, the anniversary celebration doesn't stop at live shows. The Jonas Brothers have also announced a new album, with the lead single "Love Me to Heaven" already released.

Nick described the song as a return to their musical roots, saying, "We're definitely tapping into Bruce Springsteen inspirations we had growing up in Jersey. It's got that up-tempo feel and aligns more with our earlier work."

Joe also reflected on the band's journey over the past 20 years. "We feel incredibly grateful," he said. "We started in an abandoned trailer, driving up and down the East Coast in a van, chasing this dream. To still be doing this after two decadesit's amazing."

The upcoming tour promises to celebrate their past and future, bringing together old hits and new music for fans of all ages.

Nick teased that there are "lots of exciting things lined up" beyond the tour, hinting at additional surprises for fans.

Fans can stay tuned for the entire tour schedule when it drops on March 22.

Originally published on Music Times




Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

(Global Times) According to the European media outlet Euractiv, data released by the Danish telecommunications consulting company Strand Consult shows that 17 EU member states "did not fully implement the Commission's tool, the 5G toolbox, which mandates member states to ban Chinese Huawei and ZTE from their networks." Euractiv also cited a European Parliament working document from March, which said that 14 member states have yet to implement any restrictions on so-called "high-risk suppliers." This should actually spur reflections among the EU on why these member states have chosen to engage in 5G cooperation with China, despite external pressure and repeated warnings about so-called "high risks."

Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based telecom industry association Information Consumption Alliance, told Global Times that many European countries are not keen on removing Chinese 5G equipment. After five years of practical experience, they have found that abandoning Chinese technology for domestic 5G construction not only leads to soaring costs but also leaves no one willing to foot the astronomical bills. Additionally, dismantling the equipment brings neither tangible benefits nor compensation.

Due to unwarranted security concerns and restrictions on Chinese telecom suppliers, EU countries' 5G deployment is facing a predicament where "the more restrictions imposed, the further behind they fall." In 2020, Brussels issued a recommendation to "either restrict or exclude high-risk 5G vendors such as Huawei from core parts of telecoms networks in the EU." After nearly five years of "efforts" by the EU, its 5G network remains slow and underperforming. According to global telecom industry body GSMA, by the end of 2024, only about 30 percent of European mobile connections were via 5G - a figure far below North America's 60 percent and the over-50 percent seen in many East Asian countries.

In 2024, the number of 5G base stations in China exceeded 4.1 million. In India, 469,000 5G base stations have been deployed, while the 27 EU countries together have a total of 460,000 5G base stations. While 5G deployment is advancing rapidly in other parts of the world, Europe is lagging behind. This inevitably raises the question: Who is bearing the cost of "de-risking"? Technology is inherently meant to be shared, and open cooperation is a key driving force behind technological development. An obsessive focus on severing ties will only isolate a country, resulting in missed opportunities and a lost future.

According to reports, MEPs are considering having the Commission make the EU's 5G cybersecurity toolbox mandatory under EU law in a bid to compel member states to take swift action. Some European lawmakers' anxiety stems, to some extent, from a zero-sum view of technological competition. To date, no country has proven that Chinese enterprises' equipment poses any security threats. On the contrary, by excluding Chinese equipment and components based on groundless fears, Europe is, under the guise of "de-risking," effectively undermining its own strengths and capabilities.

What Europe needs is not the bricks to build walls, but the wisdom to build bridges. Chinese telecommunications companies such as Huawei and ZTE started operation in Europe many years ago, not only have they done no harm to European countries' security, but they have also contributed substantially to the growth of Europe's telecom sector and generated considerable socioeconomic benefits. Now, in the face of the 5G wave, China holds technological and cost advantages in 5G deployment - advantages that are crucial for Europe to overcome its digital impasse.

Years of China-Europe cooperation have proven one truth: When Eastern wisdom meets European experience, it is possible to create innovative solutions that transcend zero-sum competition. Rather than wandering in the maze of "de-risking," Europe should dismantle the barriers of suspicion. After all, 5G is not a zero-sum game.
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My aim is to unsettle by showing whats real and what isnt, says Grayson Perry, all messy hair, stubbled chin, crumpled T-shirt and paint-smeared trousers, with only the shocking-pink fingernails on his rough artisans hands showing a hint of Claire  his famous cross-dressing alter ego.

In his north London studio it is almost a shock to see the artist so blokeishly casual, just two weeks after Id witnessed his dramatic entrance at lunch in Mayfairs Arlington restaurant in floral dress, coloured tights, shining lipstick and red high heels. His voice is powerful, almost gravelly, alternately angry and funny, as he explains why the role of the artist is to provoke  on beauty, class, gender, money, sex and even AI.

On top of a large kiln for baking his pots is a small glazed figure in a dress with a protruding erect penis. A prototype tapestry hangs above him as he talks about his show at the Wallace Collection in Marylebone. Delusions of Grandeur is the biggest exhibition of his life, neatly coinciding with the 65th birthday of this celebrated potter, transvestite, embroiderer, TV personality, biker and soon-to-be musical theatre star of his own life story. I call myself a conceptual artist masquerading as a craftsman, he says.

This knight of the realm, national treasure and social disrupter is showing 30 new works, from pots to tapestries, collages to a bronze helmet, a gun, fabulous dresses and a spectacular wooden bureau (which alone took three years to make and then decorate with dozens of portraits). This eclectic collection is as colourful, startling, original and beautiful as the Liberty dress he says he will wear for the shows opening party.

Perry has a gift for sparkling verbal one-liners and visual showstoppers  aesthetic and disruptive. It is what he has been doggedly doing for 40 years ever since he seemed to emerge from nowhere, the man in a dress who makes ceramic pots, to become the surprise winner of the 2003 Turner Prize. Twenty years later, arise Sir Grayson, kneeling before Prince William, the first man to be knighted in a frock.

My job is to trust my intuition and often its in your gut and in your body and in your emotions. That is why I loved therapy because it gave me this sort of insight and awareness into my bodily reaction to the world. Being an artist, to a certain extent, youre on a kind of class elevator, he says. It has been quite a ride.

open image in gallery I Know Who I Am, Grayson Perry, 2024 ( Courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro )

His upbringing in Essex was violent and deprived. His stepfather hit him. He was a milkman who moved in with his mother and is disdainfully never mentioned by his name in Perrys autobiography, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl  yet he comes across clearly as hideously abusive.

Grayson was 13 when he first became aware of painting during one of his rare childhood museum visits: I remember [the French rococo artist Francois] Bouchers Madame de Pompadour when I was sort of a nascent transvestite and so would have been quite drawn to the frock.

His inspiration for the latest show is wilfully odd as he is clear that he has never much liked the Wallace Collection, a 19th-century bequest to the nation of paintings, sculpture, furniture, armour and porcelain in a grand London house behind Oxford Street. Its for this reason that he invented an entirely fictional fellow exhibitor, Shirley Smith, a woman with an obsessive crush on the Collection, who believes herself to be its rightful heiress. She is the latest alter ego or triggering device for Perry who has a very long history of identity swaps, most famously morphing into Claire, whom he dresses spectacularly in drag. His childhood teddy bear, Alan Measles, often makes appearances in his art.

open image in gallery Alan Measles and Claire meet Shirley Smith and the Honourable Millicent Wallace, (detail), Grayson Perry, 2024 ( Courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro )

In effect, Shirley is the godmother or co-pilot of this show, merging with and inspiring Grayson as they perform a sort of artistic pas de deux in the first room with works by her (actually made by him) as well as his own signature pots and other pure Perry works. I wanted Shirley as a kind of poster girl for how art can sustain your life even when youve got nothing.

Different parts of Shirleys biography are written into Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur. Im the fantasy person that she thought she was and there are layers entwined, he explains. There are also poems by Shirley (or rather him) and on the audio guide an actor gives her a voice. A little confusing at times, perhaps, but always dynamic.

Im actually more of a kind of northern European Renaissance guy, more of a Van Eyck than Van Dyck

It was three years ago that Perry was invited to exhibit by the Wallace, which is best known for its paintings by the rococo geniuses Boucher and Jean-Antoine Watteau, with their erotically charged women in stunning silk gowns. Ah, you think, that is why Perry is here. But hes not having that. Im actually more of a kind of northern European Renaissance guy, more of a Van Eyck than Van Dyck, he says by way of explanation.

The Wallace is also famous for its 18th-century Sevres china, very different from Perrys politically charged pots. I have a revulsion of Sevres because everyone was like, Oh, I love the Sevres. But whenever I look at it, I think Eastbourne charity shop.

In the show is a ceramic pot called Computer Sick. I wanted it to be elaborate and layered, and I started using AI a bit to make images. It is about the age of computers and the relationship to the handmade. It has a child on the lid looking at an iPad. But before he really gets going on this intellectual riff, he pulls the rug on his own pretentiousness. Alongside palm trees and other images on the pot is a striking image of a red sun. It is what you call in art a compositional element. Art critics try desperately to read into everything but for me in this case I just needed some red there!

So does he encounter prejudice? Oh yes that Im a silly drag queen. Then people get a bit of a shock when they hear me talk. Then they ask, Why arent you an MP? Passionate about social change and injustice, he is Labour to his core: Ive long been a supporter of Keir. He is well versed in dealing with many misconceptions. For example, most transvestites are heterosexual, he patiently explains. He does not want to get too deep into the politics of gender identity. Its become so much of a hot potato. I try to keep out of it.

Perry gives a whistle-stop tour of his show through a digital version on his laptop. From fantasy photographs to graphics to tapestries to a neo-medieval helmet fully functional and forged with hammer, fire and anvil. I steal from everyone, he jauntily confesses  beads, plywood, works inspired by everyone from Picasso to Picabia, rococo portraits, tapestries and family trees.

open image in gallery Saint Millicent Upon Her Beast, Grayson Perry, 2024 ( Courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro )

He will be in full flight on all of his new works and also his musical-theatre persona, as he is midway through writing and having singing lessons for his acting debut in the musical that he has been working on with Richard Thomas, the composer of Jerry Springer: the Opera. He will explain more at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival this summer.

For all the lightness and accessibility to his art, anger is a weapon that he keeps at the ready. One of his pots is called What a Wonderful World. Its about posh people and being in west London. I have this sort of deep prejudice against west London because I always feel that waves of entitlement come wafting off everybody. It kind of starts at Oxford Street, going into Bayswater, Notting Hill and Kensington.

That kind of international beige super-wealth. It annoys me, as quite often these very wealthy places become cultural deserts. I go to a collectors house and they are lovely, in lovely parts of town, but the cleaners have cleaned the house so well theres no clutter, just ornaments arranged in a neat row and they are perfectly dusted.

But as ever with Perry, nothing is ever quite as it seems. Obviously I also love the super-rich because they buy my work! Those oligarchs have got rooms to be filled. But there is also an annoyance at the way people use London to park their wealth without actually contributing to the society and to the tax base. If you are going to use this country as a bank at least pay the security guards!

Obviously I also love the super-rich because they buy my work!

He once did a show called Super Rich Interior Decoration to take the piss out of the collector. He loved it. It was also the most profitable show I ever did. He says the anger that has fuelled so much of his work probably came at some point from his parents. Now I am angry at society, certain groups I get angry at. Its enjoyable. I enjoy having a grudge.

If he had not found success as an artist he thinks he might have been an advertising copywriter. I knew I had a facility for a kind of deep cynicism and a good imagination. It has been a long journey since he first sold his pots in an early show for 35 a pop. He did not hit the 1,000 mark until he was 15 years out of college. Now they retail at 150,000. One of his pots sold for just over a million dollars.

open image in gallery Grayson Perry with one of his pots at Sothebys auction house, 2009 ( Getty Images )

And so to Claire and his transvestite identity. I often go out in an entire outfit: shoes, dress, coat, glasses and handbag. I kept the two [identities] apart for many years so Claire wasnt part of my art so much. And then as I became more confident as a cross-dresser at some point  I suppose just before the Turner Prize  they came together.

Did it take courage? I think adrenaline addiction is the word. I have always been an adrenaline addict. Adrenaline is a great aphrodisiac. Dressing up and going on stage, its a big kick  thats why I do it. I get off on it.

The other day someone came up to him and asked if he was doing anything exciting. I said: Im 65. I am Grayson Perry. Everything I do is exciting. Its how I sculpted my life.

open image in gallery Perry: Dressing up and going on stage, its a big kick  thats why I do it ( PA Wire )

He returns to the next pot. This ones called Sexual Fantasies, set in the olden days, which is a very common thing with us in the fetish community. He is at ease with his fetishism and has thought about it deeply. Most transvestites would probably choose to live in the mid-Victorian era. For the clothes obviously. It was pre-Freud, so cross-dressing wasnt sexualised in the public imagination.

And he is critical of those who dont follow suit. The academic classes can often be a bit dead from the neck up. I am full of admiration for their knowledge but as Trump has proven there are other ways of being sophisticated. And this is the mystery to how the f*** could people vote for him. He speaks in a certain visceral animal level that works. And you just dont get that in Marthas Vineyard.

With Perry there is courage and curiosity. There are some reassuring memes, the reappearance as an image of Alan Measles, who has been a constant totem in his life and art. But do not think of Alan as sentimental or even as a cuddly toy, think lifebuoy to hang onto in a childhood shipwrecked by abuse, poverty and fear in a working-class council home with no books. His teddy was his go-to in a world of pain and impoverishment.

Perry is as eloquent on mores or manners of 18th-century philosophy as he is on the imagery in Larkins poems. He is a magpie of knowledge, high and low. Think academic with attitude  and definitely not academic from any ivory tower. He is more public-ready philosophical brawler than a Baudelaire high priest. He is also ready to fight with his fists if confronted.

Theres no strategy to deal with emotional abuse... it kind of happens and then 30 years later you start to unpack it

Today, after much therapy, he is a genius at explaining art and himself: his childhood of being whacked around the head by his stepfather; his teddy helping him survive a horrifically choppy sea. You dont have a kind of Ill invent a strategy to deal with my emotional abuse. It kind of happens and then 30 years later you start to unpack it.

His second memoir was called The Pre-Therapy Years. And the story it tells is raw and painful. Im much more conscious of it, the emotional resonance is still there and I could well up talking about it quite easily. Alan Measles carried a lot of emotional freight. I dumped all of my positive attributes into him for sort of safekeeping I think the big journey I made, particularly post-therapy, is bringing them all back to me. So hes a husk now. Hes a guru. I call him the guru. I have his people whove gone forth, thats my current metaphor and that is what therapy is all about.

This small teddy  the original is still battered but intact in his studio  gives him valour and validation. Thats why I invented him. I needed a language and Ive made countless works of art and I come back to him. He is part of my iconography. Alan Measles has  in his art  met Trump and Farage and has even been knighted by the King when Perry got his gong. His name? Measles stems from when Perry was three and in bed with the virus. Alan was his best friend, whom he still sees.

And so Grayson Perry travels and explores the human condition through pots and guns and imagery seen through the searing fire of his past. He has changed the language of art  not that his sometimes chippy, uber-critical eye would let him see that. This is how hed rather see himself: It feels like I am a kid still shouting into the void.

'Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur' is at the Wallace Collection from 28 March until 26 October. Hay Festival runs from 22 May until 1 June, where Perry will be in conversation with Juliet Russell on 30 May at 8.30pm
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The reviews and reactions for Disneys live-action adaptation ofSnow White are in, and many audience members are coming away with the same verdict.

While the majority of critics seem to concur that the live-action fails to live up to the animated classic, they have praised star Rachel Zegler for her performance in the title role, at the same time expression their disapproval of Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. In particular, her singing.

Gadot gives two singing performances in the film, first with All Is Fair, and then in the films reprise. However, viewers have been left criticising her abilities and what they claim to be an unconvincing performance as the villain character.

In a video titled I watched Snow White So You Didnt Have To, YouTube commentator Amala Ekpunobi, who has 2.4 million subscribers, said Gadot looked so uncomfortable in everything she was doing, which came off as robotic and mechanic.

The acting left so much to be desired with Gal Gadot, added Ekpunobi.

Another online reviewer called Grace Randolph said in her viral take on the film that Gadot was truly awful in the role, adding: This could have been a fabulous role with a different actress.

open image in gallery Gal Gadot in Snow White ( Disney )

Other online reviews echo similar sentiments, with one person writing on X/Twitter: I enjoyed the movie and Rachel but Gal Gadot ruined it truthfully, her acting her singing was diabolical.

On X/Twitter, fans shared the same views, with one writing: Watched Snow White and Gal Gadot is truly awful.

I cant stress enough how painfully awful Gal Gadots performance in Snow White is, easily her worst, another said.

Rachel Zegler gives a genuine movie star performance in Snow White, and that carries it further than youd expect. Great vocals and so effortlessly charming! But the rest of the film is unimaginative and dull, San Francisco-based culture writer Tyler Taing said. Gal Gadots worst performance?

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The Guardians Peter Bradshaw has said that Gadot and Zegler give the dullest performances of their lives in Snow White, while in The Independents one-star review of the film, Clarisse Loughrey the Evil Queen is dripping in sequins and costume jewellery, which would suggest the anticipation of a camp performance, only to receive not a drop of that in return.

The shows stars have been subject to fierce criticism ahead of the films release amid controversy over casting decisions and changes to the films plot.

Zegler, who is of Colombian descent, has faced backlash from right-wing voices who were unhappy about the character being portrayed by a person of colour.

The West Side Story actor seemed to further provoke conservative fans by arguing the plot needed to be updated as, in the original 1937 film, Prince Charming literally stalks her.

Its no longer 1937, Zegler said. Shes not going to be saved by the prince, and shes not going to be dreaming about true love. Shes dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be.

The film has faced further controversy over Disneys inclusion of the seven CGI dwarfs in the remake.

open image in gallery Rachel Zegler in Disneys Snow White ( Disney )

Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage, who has dwarfism, said in 2022 that he was surprised Disney was so proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White, while youre still telling the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Take a step back and look at what youre doing there.

He continued: It makes no sense to me. Youre progressive in one way, but then youre still making that f***ing backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together?

Politics has come into play, also  Zegler has shown support for Palestine while her Israeli-born co-star Gadot has spoken out in solidarity with Israel amid its war in Gaza.

open image in gallery Pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protesters last week outside Gadots Hollywood Walk of Fame last week ( Getty Images )

Gadots Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony was disrupted by pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protesters last week. Gadot acknowledged her home while accepting the honour, saying: I'm just a girl from a town in Israel. This star will remind me that with hard work and passion and some faith, anything is possible.

Zegler was also subject to political backlash earlier this year when Donald Trump supporters criticised her reaction to the US presidents re-election. The actor posted to Instagram about the four years of hatred he would bring about in America, but later apologised for contributing to negative discourse.
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Production on the next James Bond film is underway after being fast-tracked for release following Amazons $1bn acquisition.

Last month, it was revealed that Amazon MGM had taken full creative control of the Bond franchise after striking a deal with long-time producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

While the pair will remain co-owners of the franchise, the transaction leaves creative control of all future productions in the hands of Amazon  a decision that has led to consternation among fans.

Its now been reported that the next film  Bond 26  will have a budget of 250m, which is around the same amount Daniel Craigs final 007 outing No Time to Die cost.

According to The Sun, the film is expected to be in cinemas by the end of 2027, with a source stating: The Bond bosses had already proposed broad plots and reboot ideas.

The writers rooms are being assembled in the hope of recouping their investment ASAP.

Bond films are typically released in October and November.

The hunt for a new Bond to replace Craig has heated up in recent weeks, with rumours including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Harris Dickinson and James Norton. In terms of producers, Puck reports that David Heyman (Harry Potter) and Amy Pascal (Tom Hollands Spider-Man films) are in talks to develop the outing.

In March 2024, it was reported that Taylor-Johnson has secured the role of Bond  but the actor distanced himself from the claims, stating: I dont feel like I need to have a future drawn out for me. I feel like, whatevers drawn out for me, I can f***ing do better.

open image in gallery Aaron Taylor-Johnson is one of the favourites to replace Daniel Craig ( Getty/Eon Productions )

Amazons acquisition of the Bond franchise is expected to lead to a series of spin-offs, but the source states the streaming giant knows fans want and expect a movie and wants filming to be done by the end of next year.

When the film arrives, it will match the record for the longest time the world has had to wait for a new Bond film since Sean Connery first played the British spy in 1962s Dr No. The previous record was GoldenEye, which arrived in 1995  six years after Timothy Dalton appeared in Licence to Kill.

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Before Amazons takeover, news on the franchise had gone silent in recent years, with no formal plans for the next movie or any recruitment of the next Bond actor.

Wilson said in a statement: With my 007 career spanning nearly 60 incredible years, I am stepping back from producing the James Bond films to focus on art and charitable projects. Therefore, Barbara and I agree, it is time for our trusted partner, Amazon MGM Studios, to lead James Bond into the future.

Broccoli added: My life has been dedicated to maintaining and building upon the extraordinary legacy that was handed to Michael and me by our father, producer Cubby Broccoli.

open image in gallery Daniel Craig made his Bond swan song in No Time to Die ( Eon Productions )

I have had the honour of working closely with four of the tremendously talented actors who have played 007 and thousands of wonderful artists within the industry. With the conclusion of No Time to Die and Michael retiring from the films, I feel it is time to focus on my other projects.
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The Music Venue Trust has teamed up with social media platform WeAre8, which is sponsoring five gigs at independent music venues around the UK between now and the end of May 2025.

The partnership comes amid dire warnings about the future of grassroots venues in the UK. In January, a damning report found that almost a quarter of MVT member venues (810) face a threat of permanent closure.

Meanwhile, one grassroots venue closed its doors every two weeks in 2024, MVT figures found, while a further 80 had stopped hosting live music events and over 200 had been forced to seek emergency help.

The partnership between the MVT and WeAre8 aims to promote both local artists and the venues theyre performing at, in the wake of a separate report that found 84 per cent of UK independent artists cannot afford to tour this year.

WeAre8 is supporting the following venues: Aatma in Manchester, Little Buildings in Newcastle, The Asylum in Newcastle and The Fox & Newt in Leeds.

The Music Venue Trust has also been listed in WeAre8s wallet, which means that users can choose to send funds generated from adverts to the organisation.

The platform is structured so that money from advertisers is shared with people, publishers, non-profits and planet projects.

open image in gallery The Music Venue Trust has repeatedly warned of the threats faced by grassroots venues in the UK ( Getty Images )

Laura Chase, UK managing director of WeAre8, said: WeAre8 has created a safe and positive place for us all to connect, share and create. We want to support the creative industries, the grassroots venues and the smaller bands and artists - who are being lost to algorithms on other social platforms - and not being recognised or rewarded for their talent and content.

Our mission is to help elevate and support the amazing artists we have in the UK and help them find a viable economic path forward. Essential to this is supporting independent music venues, which the Music Venue Trust has ploughed passion and resources into protecting and promoting over the last ten plus years. By including Music Venue Trust in our wallet, were also hoping music lovers will support the charity by helping to fund its fantastic work.

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Denzil Thomas, partnership manager of Music Venues Trust, said: There are so many amazing venues up and down the UK that have played a crucial role in the development of British music over the last 40 years; nurturing local talent and providing a platform for artists to build their careers and develop their music and their performance skills. Yet theyre battling each week to stay alive. We believe our partnership with WeAre8 can help keep these special places alive.
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India has formally protested against Chinas establishment of two new administrative divisions in the Hotan prefecture of Xinjiang, which include areas within the Indian-administered union territory of Ladakh in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indian government conveyed its objections through diplomatic channels, affirming that it does not recognise Chinas claims over the region.

Minister of state for external affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh in a written response to parliament on Friday, reiterated Indias stance, stating: The government of India has never accepted the illegal Chinese occupation of Indian territory in this area. The creation of new counties will neither have a bearing on India's long-standing and consistent position regarding its sovereignty over the area nor lend legitimacy to China's illegal and forcible occupation of the same.

Beijings move, which was first reported by Chinese state media in late December, saw the establishment of Hean County and Hekang County within the Hotan prefecture. This area, also known as Khotan in India, includes sections of Aksai China region that India considers an integral part of its territory but has been under Chinese control since the 1962 war.

The Indian government was asked in parliament whether it had formulated a strategic response to Chinas growing administrative and infrastructural activities in Aksai Chin. Mr Singh said India was aware of these developments and closely monitors border infrastructure projects undertaken by Beijing.

Government gives careful and special attention to the improvement of infrastructure for the development of border areas, in order to facilitate the economic development of these areas, as also to meet India's strategic and security requirements, he said, reported the Press Trust of India.

He highlighted that budget allocations for border infrastructure have seen significant increases over the past decade, with the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) tripling its expenditure compared to the previous ten years. He added that the expansion of road networks, bridges, and tunnels has improved both civilian connectivity and military logistics in the region.

Indian and Chinese army greet each other along the Line of Actual Control near Karakoram pass in Ladakh on 31 October 2024 ( AFP via Getty Images )

The announcement of Indias protest comes amid ongoing efforts to stabilise relations between the two nations. Earlier in December, Indias national security adviser Ajit Doval met Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Beijing, marking the first high-level talks of their kind in five years. The meeting focused on easing border tensions and resuming cooperation on trade and trans-border river data sharing.

Tensions between India and China have remained high since the 2020 Galwan Valley clash in Ladakh, which resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and an unspecified number of Chinese troops.

Both nations have since deployed thousands of troops and heavy artillery along the Line of Actual Control, engaging in multiple rounds of military and diplomatic negotiations to de-escalate the situation. In October, both sides announced an agreement on patrolling arrangements in eastern Ladakh, aimed at facilitating the disengagement of their forces.
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A high court in India has ruled that grabbing a minors breasts and breaking the string of her pyjamas does not constitute an attempt to rape, sparking widespread outrage and calls for a Supreme Court intervention.

The ruling was issued by Allahabad High Court in a case involving an 11-year-old girl who was attacked in Uttar Pradeshs Kasganj district in 2021.

According to the prosecution, two men, named only as Pawan and Akash, grabbed the childs breasts, tore the string of her pyjamas, and attempted to drag her beneath a culvert. The girl, whose name has not been disclosed due to legal reasons, had been walking with her mother when the accused, who knew the family, offered her a ride on their motorcycle.

Her screams alerted passers-by, who intervened, forcing the attackers to flee.

A trial court had initially summoned Pawan and Akash on charges of rape under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. However, after the accused challenged the charges, Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra ruled on Monday that the allegations did not amount to an attempt to rape. Instead, the judge modified the charges to assault or use of criminal force with intent to disrobe.

The allegations levelled against the accused Pawan and Akash and facts of the case hardly constitute an offence of attempt to rape, Justice Mishra stated in the ruling. In order to bring out a charge of attempt to rape, the prosecution must establish that it had gone beyond the stage of preparation. The difference between preparation and actual attempt to commit an offence consists chiefly in the greater degree of determination.

The court further observed that there was no evidence suggesting an intention to commit rape. Justice Mishra noted: The specific allegation against Akash is that he tried to drag the victim beneath the culvert and broke the string of her pyjamas. It is also not stated by witnesses that due to this act of the accused, the victim got naked or got undressed. There is no allegation that the accused tried to commit penetrative sexual assault against the victim.

The decision has been criticised by activists, politicians and legal experts.

Senior lawyer Indira Jaising described the ruling as deeply troubling and called for Supreme Court intervention, saying on X: Requires suo moto action by Supreme Court. Judges have been pulled up for much less by Supreme Court.

Union minister Annapurna Devi also criticised the verdict, saying, I dont support this decision, and the Supreme Court should also reconsider this decision because it will have an adverse impact on civil society.

Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal expressed outrage, calling the judgment insensitive and dangerous for society.

God save this country with such judges adorning the Bench, wrote parliamentarian and senior advocate Kapil Sibal. The Supreme Court has been too soft in dealing with errant judges!

Activist Shabnam Hashmi called the ruling shameful, adding: The child was saved only because passers-by intervened. The judge does not see the intent to rape!

Social media users also expressed anger over the ruling, with many questioning the judiciarys approach to sexual violence. One user highlighted, Mind you, this was done to an 11-year-old girl, a literal child. Somehow grabbing breasts and tearing the pyjama string of an 11-year-old child by two men is not an attempt to rape.

Concerns over the judiciarys interpretation of sexual offences come amid rising crimes against children in India.

According to the 2022 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of cases under the Pocso Act, with 7,955 incidents, followed by Maharashtra with 7,467 cases. Nationally, 62,095 cases were registered under Pocso sections in 2022. The report also noted an 8.7 per cent rise in crimes against children, with 162,449 cases recorded in 2022, up from 149,404 in 2021.
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A Milwaukee woman who was deported to Laos by the Trump administration earlier this month is deeply shaken by the prospect of spending more than a decade away from her partner and five children back home in Wisconsin, activists helping the family told The Independent.

Ma Yang, a 37-year-old Hmong-American, has been living in a government facility outside the Laotian capital of Vientiane for the past couple of weeks after being forced to leave her family and friends in the U.S.

Yang was born in a refugee camp in Thailand but gained legal status as a permanent U.S. resident until she pleaded guilty to cannabis-related charges and served 30 months in federal prison. Having taken a plea deal mistakenly believing that her green card would not be at risk, she is now one of the "millions and millions" of people Donald Trump pledged to kick out of America during his re-election campaign.

open image in gallery Ma Yang was deported in February to Laos, a country she has never set foot in ( Facebook )

The Independent traveled to Laos this week and spoke to a Hmong rights group that has been advocating on Yang's behalf, as well as activists and lawyers with knowledge of her case. Tammie Xiong, executive director of the Hmong American Women's Association, said it was providing support to her family in the U.S., and that she was still processing what had happened to her but doing OK for the most part.

Yang declined to be interviewed for this piece and has not spoken out since her story was featured in her local newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, last week. Despite her ordeal, Yang and her longtime partner, Michael Bub, "have been advised to not talk to anyone," another Hmong-American rights activist said, until she has more clarity about her fate.

open image in gallery Tourists, mostly from neighboring China, Vietnam and Thailand at the Buddha Park in Vientiane, Laos ( Alisha Rahaman Sarkar/The Independent )

Yang claims to have never been to Laos or known anyone from the small landlocked Southeast Asian country, nestled between Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and a world away geographically, culturally and linguistically from the United States midwest.

Her life in America unraveled last month when, more than two years after serving her time in prison, she was told to report to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Milwaukee. She was detained upon arrival and sent to Indiana, then Chicago on commercial flights, and finally shipped off to Laos. After being held in a rooming house for five days, a military officer in charge of her situation told her she could leave the facility if she wanted.

Sources told The Independent she has stayed on at a government facility, branded a "school" or "re-education centre" by the Laos authorities, as she is afraid of stepping outside alone in a country of six million people and few English speakers, not knowing who to contact or where to stay. Yang was taken to a military hospital on Monday night by the Laotian authorities after staying for days without insulin for her diabetes and running out of her medication for high blood pressure.

While the road ahead in Laos remains deeply uncertain, what's clear is that it will be a long and difficult legal battle for her to return to America and be reunited with her family.

open image in gallery Road under construction in central Vientiane, Laos ( Alisha Rahaman Sarkar/The Independent )

Immigration lawyer Jath Shao told The Independent that even if she is successful in overturning her deportation through the U.S. legal system, she would most likely not be allowed back until at least the 2040s.

"She would have to wait for at least 10 years outside the U.S. to apply for an I-212 waiver of inadmissibility to come back based on extreme hardship to her U.S. citizen spouse or children," Shao said.

He says because the waiver is discretionary, "unless something crazy happens like marijuana becoming federally legal with retroactive effect, she probably has no realistic way back to the U.S. Even if she did, it might be into the 2040s," he says.

In her interview last week to her local newspaper, Yang said the Trump administration had "sent me back to die."

"How do I rent, or buy, or anything, with no papers?" Yang said. "I'm a nobody right now."

open image in gallery Patuxay - the victory monument in central Vientiane, Laos ( Alisha Rahaman Sarkar/The Independent )

It is not immediately clear why Laos accepted Yang's deportation despite her not being from the country.

The Laos national assembly is in the process of debating changes to the constitution to formally recognise the Lao diaspora, thereby strengthening ties with those who have acquired foreign citizenship after leaving the country during historical migrations. Though still at the draft stage, it could offer Yang a route to documentation in Laos at least.

Kham S Moua, the national deputy director of the non-profit Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (Searac), criticized Yang's deportation, saying that such extreme measures not only harm the individuals involved but tear apart families and disrupt entire communities.

open image in gallery The National Assembly of Laos in Vientiane ( Alisha Rahaman Sarkar/The Independent )

Yang's deportation will force her young children in the U.S. to live without their mother. "Ma should have been given a second chance after she served her sentence. Instead, because our enforcement system has few restraints, she was deported and her family shattered," Moua told The Independent.

He added: "We must remember that Hmong Americans, like other Southeast Asian refugees, live in the U.S. because our families sacrificed their lives to support this country during the Secret War in Laos and the Vietnam War.

"Southeast Asian Americans of refugee backgrounds continue to face significant socioeconomic challenges and their convictions are often directly tied to the barriers they face as survivors of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and war while trying to live the American dream."

The Trump administration in 2019 made a verbal agreement to deport a "significant number of individuals" with final removal orders to Laos, according to Searac, although there has been no formal written deal on deportations between the both countries. That year, the Trump administration deported five people to the Southeast Asian nation.

open image in gallery Street food on display in downtown Vientiane, Laos ( Alisha Rahaman Sarkar/The Independent )

America has previously funded a reintegration program in Laos for deported individuals who do not speak Lao or have family connections through USAID  though it isn't clear whether that is still operational given the Trump cuts to the agency.

Others could be destined to follow in Yang's footsteps; more than 4,800 Lao nationals are among the over 1.4 million individuals with final deportation orders in the U.S., according to a November ICE report.

"I hear all the time from people that 'Trump is only after the criminals' but if you look at the system, only 11,500 of almost 4 million people in deportation are 'criminals'  that's 0.3 per cent of people in deportation compared to one third of American citizens having a criminal record," says Shao.

"Given that they're firing immigration judges left and right, it does not seem realistic for them to be able to mass deport millions (the highest ever in a year is less than half a million) within 4 years unless they trample all over the constitution and human rights.

open image in gallery Flags of Lao PDR and the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party by the Mekong River in Vientiane ( Alisha Rahaman Sarkar/The Independent )

"That's why they are trying to do things like we see in the cases of Mahmoud Khalil and the Venezuelans deported to El Salvador for having tattoos  to eliminate due process and appeals and people's rights."

It could also become increasingly difficult for Yang's children and other family in Wisconsin to visit her here in Laos going forward, with reports suggesting Trump is mulling a new travel ban on more than a dozen countries. Laos is one of the five countries that could face partial suspensions that would affect tourist and student visas as well as other immigrant visas.
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Israeli artillery and airstrikes hit south Lebanon on Saturday after Israel said it had intercepted rockets fired from across the border, endangering a shaky truce that ended a year-long war between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

That conflict marked the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war, rumbling across the border for months before escalating into a blistering Israeli offensive that wiped out Hezbollah's top commanders, many of its fighters and much of its arsenal.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility, saying it had no link to the rocket launches and that it remained committed to the ceasefire. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Saturday's exchange was the first since Israel in effect abandoned a separate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip with Palestinian militant group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, both backed by Israels arch-foe Iran.

The Israeli military said early on Saturday that it had intercepted three rockets launched from a Lebanese district about four miles north of the border, the second cross-border launch since a US-brokered ceasefire in November ended the fighting.

open image in gallery Smoke billows over Yohmor, Lebanon ( AFP via Getty )

Israel said it was still looking into who was responsible for the launches towards the border town of Metula.

In retaliation for the rockets, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence minister Israel Katz ordered the military to act forcefully against dozens of terror targets in Lebanon, Netanyahu said.

The Israeli military, in a separate statement, said it was bombing Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon.

Lebanon's state news agency reported a spate of Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages in the country's war-battered south, including border towns and hilltops around five miles inside Lebanese territory.

Two people were killed and eight wounded by Israeli airstrikes in the south near the border, the state news agency NNA said, quoting Lebanons health ministry.

There were no reports of casualties in Israel.

Under the November ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to have no weapons in southern Lebanon, Israeli ground troops were to withdraw, and Lebanese army troops were to deploy into the area.

The agreement specifies that Lebanon's government is responsible for dismantling all military infrastructure in southern Lebanon and confiscating all unauthorised arms.

President Joseph Aoun ordered the Lebanese army to secure any violation that could threaten stability in Lebanon. The army said it had found and dismantled three primitive rocket launchers in the south.

Netanyahu said Israel was holding Lebanons government responsible for everything taking place within its territory. Israel will not allow any harm to its citizens and its sovereignty  and will do everything in its power to ensure the safety of the citizens of Israel and the communities of the north.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as Unifil, said in a written statement on Saturday that it was alarmed by the border violence.

Any further escalation of this volatile situation could have serious consequences for the region, it said.

Prime minister Nawaf Salam warned of a renewal of military operations in the south of the country. All security and military measures must be taken to show that Lebanon decides on matters of war and peace, he said.

The ceasefire brought an end to Israels intense bombardment and ground operations in Lebanon and Hezbollahs daily rocket barrages into Israel. Each side, however, has accused the other of failing to implement the deal in full.

Israel says Hezbollah still has military infrastructure in the south, while Lebanon and Hezbollah say Israel is occupying Lebanese land by continuing to carry out some airstrikes and keeping its troops at five hilltop positions near the frontier.
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Pope Francis is set to make his first public appearance in more than five weeks, offering a blessing from his hospital window.

Francis, who is battling double pneumonia, will appear at his room window at Romes Gemelli Hospital on Sunday.

The 88-year-old was admitted to the hospital on Valentines Day with a severe respiratory infection. His illness has required evolving treatment.

The Pope has only been seen by the public once during his hospital stay, in a photo the Vatican released last week, showing the pontiff at prayer in a hospital chapel.

Francis wants to come to the hospital window around noon on Sunday to give a greeting and blessing, the Vatican said in a brief statement on Saturday.

open image in gallery This picture released by the Vatican Press Office shows Pope Francis concelebrating a mass inside his private chapel at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome ( Vatican )

The Pope usually offers a weekly noon prayer in St Peter's Square on Sundays. Francis has not been able to do this since 9 February, before going in to hospital.

The Vatican said Francis was not expected to deliver the prayer this Sunday, in a sign that the pope is still recovering from pneumonia, but would come to the window for a greeting.

Francis is prone to lung infections because he had pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.

His hospitalisation has been the most serious health crisis of his 12-year papacy, and the longest he has been out of public view since his election as pontiff in 2013.

The latest Vatican bulletins about the Popes medical condition have been cautiously upbeat. On Friday, the Vatican said Francis had been reducing his use of high-flow oxygen to help breathe.

One senior cardinal, however, said on Friday that it could take time for the Pope to relearn to speak after using oxygen during his hospital stay.

The Pope is doing very well, but high-flow oxygen dries everything out, said Cardinal Victor Fernandez, the Vatican's chief doctrine official. He needs to relearn how to speak, but his overall physical condition is as it was before.

The Vatican has not given a time for the Pope's discharge from hospital, but plans for a meeting with King Charles on 8 April have raised the possibility that Francis could be back at his Vatican residence by then.
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Scientists might soon be able to forecast when the see is gonna turn red - and dont worry, it has nothing to do with the apocalypse.

For the first time, researchers identified nearly a dozen viruses associated with red tides off Floridas coast that are harmful and costly.

Also known as harmful algae blooms, red tides  the massive growth of algae that is tied to multiple organisms  are driven by wind and water currents, nutrients that run into the water, extreme weather events and unusually high temperatures.

They can kill birds, fish and other sea creatures and lead to health problems in humans, including shortness of breath and even death. Blooms can force health authorities to close beaches.

open image in gallery Scientists say theyve made a discovery that could help forecast the blood-colored red tide events, The algae blooms can be both harmful and expensive to deal with ( AFP via Getty Images )

We know that viruses play an important role in the dynamics of harmful algal blooms, but we havent known what viruses might be associated with Karenia brevis blooms, Jean Lim, a postdoctoral researcher at the USF College of Marine Science, said in a statement. Now that weve identified several viruses in red tide blooms, we can work to determine which viruses might have an influence on these events.

Identifying the viruses can help forecast when the blooms occur and better understand what causes them to stop.

Red tide is a type of naturally occurring algae bloom that impacts the Sunshine State nearly every year: generally cropping up in the late summer or early fall, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which was a partner of the research.

open image in gallery Red tides are harmful algae blooms. They can kill animals and, in rare cases, humans ( Getty Images )

Lasting usually for between three and five months, they can result in losses estimated at millions of dollars and affect hundreds of square miles. A swath stretching more than 200 miles impacted areas from Tampa Bay to Key West last month, according to WUSF, and Argentina saw beaches turn a shocking crimson at around the same time.

Karenia brevis is the organism that causes red tide.

During red tide events, the researchers collected Karenia brevis bloom samples to analyze in a lab. They used a method called viral metagenomics, a process that determines the make-up of the samples DNA, to find the viruses.

open image in gallery Blooms of the harmful algae Karenia brevis organism occur regularly along the west coast of Florida. Theyre often spurred by rising temperatures ( NASA Earth Observatory )

They dont yet know how the viruses they found influence red tide blooms, but researchers say that because viruses target certain organisms, specific viruses may only infect Karenia brevis.

The researchers are working to determine whether the viruses have an influence on that organism or others in red tide blooms. Finding a potential link between how blooms occur and the presence of viruses could help to predict these events in the future.

For example, an increase in the number of viruses found in a sample might suggest that a red tide bloom is about to begin, or that it is going to end, Lim, who is the lead author of the research published in the American Society for Microbiologys journal mSphere, explained.
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The Trump administration has cut three offices designed to help migrants saying they are a roadblock to immigration reform.

The offices were all part of the Department of Homeland Security, which is the agency responsible for pushing enforcement of President Donald Trumps immigration policies.

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a Friday statement that it was implementing a reduction in force for three offices: the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman.

McLaughlin said Homeland Security is committed to civil rights protections but said these offices were a roadblock to immigration enforcement.

"These offices have obstructed immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining DHSs mission. Rather than supporting law enforcement efforts, they often function as internal adversaries that slow down operations, she said.

open image in gallery The Department of Homeland Security, led by Kristi Noem, announced it is closing three offices designed to advocate for migrants ( POOL/AFP via Getty Images )

Trump has made downsizing the federal government a key policy goal.

Federal agencies were directed to submit by March 13 plans that would not only lay off employees but eliminate positions altogether and consolidate programs. The DHS developments were first reported by The New York Times.

The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties was created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, with the mission of protecting civil liberties in the department created in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. It investigates hundreds of complaints a year about the agency's mission and recommends changes as necessary.

The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman is an independent office within Homeland Security  not connected to either Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection. Its job it is to make sure immigration detention facilities are safe and humane.

open image in gallery Democrats blasted the closures saying it would hurt transparency ( Getty Images )

The Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman is another independent office in the department responsible for helping people or businesses resolve issues with the agency that oversees immigration benefits.

Democrats slammed the moves, saying they would hurt transparency.

With Trumps mass firing of the entire DHS Civil Rights and Civil Liberties workforce, he is ensuring in advance that there will be no transparency or oversight of his extreme agenda," said Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security.

A staffer who works in the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties office and asked not to be identified for fear of retribution stressed that the office's mission stretches far beyond immigration and border security, noting that they look into allegations concerning all parts of Homeland Security, including the Transportation Safety Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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A disagreement in the workplace over a colleague discussing a genital Wheres Wally tattoo and someone sticking an Adolf Hitler moustache on their face featured in more than 6,500 non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) recorded by 28 police forces in Britain last year.

Forces also recorded a neighbour parking too close to a car as well as a report of two white females singing a song with Africa in its lyrics while a Black woman walked past.

NCHIs should only be recorded by police forces where no criminal offence has been committed but the person reporting it believes the incident is motivated by hostility or prejudice because of race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity.

Personal data can only be logged if there is a serious risk of significant harm or it could lead to a criminal offence.

They are recorded for officers to gather intelligence on hate incidents in communities  but critics say they are an intrusion on freedom of speech.

Under the Home Offices guidance, police officers and staff should take a common sense approach, and not log trivial, malicious or irrational reports.

But freedom of information requests submitted by The Independent show that while many NCHIs clearly meet the threshold for recording, several appear to be questionable.

Bedfordshire Police recorded fuss in a workplace when a colleague described a Wheres Wally tattoo on his genitals as part of an incident logged that also included the worker calling a cap the complainant was wearing a durag, which they said came across as quite racist/stereotypical.

open image in gallery The issue of NCHIs hit the headlines last year when Daily Telegraph journalist Alison Pearson claimed she was the subject of a complaint ( Getty )

Cumbria Police recorded an NCHI where two white women sang a song with Africa in the lyrics whilst walking past a Black female in a store, which the complainant perceived to be a hate incident due to race.

The same force logged a man stating on public forums words to the effect of European Union citizens, steal your jobs without putting money in and take money out without contributing to society.

And its officers also recorded an NCHI after it was reported a person made a sticker to look like an Adolf Hitler moustache, and then stuck it to their face.

Staffordshire Police recorded a Palestine flag sticker being stuck on a shop shelf calling for a boycott of Israeli produce, while North Wales Police logged a neighbour parking closely to the complainants son, and also a pentagram symbol spray-painted on a lawn which was believed to be linked to religious hatred and antisocial behaviour.

open image in gallery Home secretary Yvette Cooper has made clear the consistent and common-sense approach required when recording NCHIs ( PA Wire )

The force also recorded an incident where someone had objected to a disabled person riding a mobility scooter on a pavement.

Humberside Police recorded a smirking learner vehicle blocking a guide dogs owners right of way on a pavement. The force also logged an incident where a male pupil called a person Rishi.

Another NCHI recorded by the force read: Female sends an email to family members and copies in police email. The email is nothing to do with police and is a long rant aimed at family members and refers to them as pure evil Nazis.

Dorset Police recorded an incident summarised as brown sauce over car, and two other NCHIs were linked to youth pride events.

Dyfed-Powys Police logged an incident over a person targeted with radio static noise while playing outside in a dispute that started when they fell out over a chicken.

The Home Offices code of practice on non-crime hate incidents was updated in 2023 to raise the threshold for when personal data can be recorded on a NCHI in response to concerns over freedom of speech.

open image in gallery Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire Donna Jones has criticised the use of NCHIs, blaming poorly worded legislation and unclear guidance ( PA Archive )

It appeared to reflect a fall in NCHIs recorded by the 29 police forces that responded to the FOI request. A total of 6,684 NCHIs were logged last year in the 12 months ending on 31 October last year  although two forces provided the data on calendar years.

That figure was down from 7,036 the year before, and 8,389 in 2020/21.

Police Scotland recorded the most NCHIs, 1,173, followed by South Yorkshire, 513, and Nottinghamshire, 465.

In November, College of Policing chair Lord Herbert of South Downs suggested the need for a rebalancing over the publics response to the incidents, saying police should be able to focus on their job rather than deal with mere disputes that damage public confidence.

And last September, watchdog His Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services found that police were recording and attending too many NCHIs, and not consistently applying national guidance.

Critics include Hampshire Police and Crime commissioner Donna Jones, who said NCHIs should be scrapped in their current form. She said police should not be responding to an incident that was not a crime.

The Tory politician told The Independent: The police exist to investigate crime and protect the public. The fact that more than 6,000 non-crime incidents were recorded in 2024, including reports about stick-on moustaches, tattoos, and song lyrics shows just how flawed the guidance is.

This issue stems from poorly worded legislation and unclear guidance issued to police forces, which has left officers in an invidious position of taking time away from tackling serious crimes like burglary, shop theft, street robbery, and sexual assault.

Hate crimes are impactful and some can be very serious. When these actual crimes are committed, the police must act and take appropriate action. Victims of hate crimes deserve the right support. Policing should focus on criminal offences, with clearer laws to prevent unnecessary interventions.

But the clue is in the title: if its not a crime, police shouldnt be involved  they simply dont have enough time. Officers dont have the resources to monitor playground disputes or pub conversations. This legislation needs an urgent overhaul so police can focus on delivering justice for victims and making communities safer.

The National Police Chiefs Council, which is currently reviewing the use and effectiveness of NCHIs, said forces faced an operational complexity in balancing freedom of speech and protecting communities and individuals from hate crime.

A spokesperson told The Independent: There is a high bar for prosecuting the offence of stirring up racial hatred, which is substantially different from the grounds for recording and investigating an allegation.

There are many complaints across offence types that pass the test for recording and investigation but do not reach the threshold for prosecution once investigations are complete. We recognise there are strongly held and competing views on hate crime and the criminal justice response to it.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: Police need to apply their judgement in establishing whether there is hostility towards a protected characteristic group. If, having applied their judgement and taking account of the full context, no hostility is found, the incident must not be recorded as a hate incident.

The Home Office said home secretary Yvette Cooper had made clear the consistent and common-sense approach required when dealing with NCHIs.

A spokesperson added: The home secretary has also made clear that she believes all police forces should be focused on the central priorities of the governments Safer Streets Mission, including rebuilding neighbourhood policing, reducing anti-social behaviour, and making progress towards the unprecedented ambition to halve knife crime and violence against women and girls within a decade.
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Failed asylum seekers could be sent to the Balkans under plans being considered by the Labour government to tackle the crisis of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.

Migration Watch UK reports that up to and including yesterday, more than 5,200 migrants have entered Britain via small boat crossings in 2025.

Under the government proposals, return hubs overseas would house those who have had their applications rejected.

That would set it apart from the Conservatives failed Rwanda scheme  in which those who arrived on small boats were to be given a one-way ticket to the African nation, whether they were ultimately deemed eligible for asylum in the UK or not.

The UK could approach Albania as well as Serbia, Bosnia and North Macedonia, according to The Times, which first reported the scheme was being considered by ministers.

Last week, the European Union announced that it was proposing to allow member states to set up the so-called return hubs.

open image in gallery A boat of around 40 people picked up more migrants on the coast of Gravelines ( Gareth Fuller/PA )

The idea has been endorsed by the UNs International Organisation for Migration, which offered to advise and assist states in the design and operationalisation of innovative return policy that is both effective and in line with European and international law.

Any deal could prove expensive, as the UK would have to pay countries for every person who was relocated.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: This is Labour admitting they made a catastrophic mistake in cancelling the Rwanda scheme before it even started.

The tragedy is it will take some time before this can be done and in the meantime tens of thousands of illegal migrants will have poured into the country, costing UK taxpayers billions.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey told Sky News the number of people crossing the Channel was really worrying.

open image in gallery Shadow home secretary Chris Philp (Jonathan Brady/PA) ( Jonathan Brady/PA )

He said: Im actually glad that the government scrapped the Rwanda scheme because it wasnt working as a deterrent.

In fact, hardly anybody went, and it was costing huge amounts of money. If theyve got a better scheme that will work, well look at that.

But theyve also got to do quite a few other things. Theres too many hotels that are being used because people arent being processed quickly enough, and Liberal Democrats have argued for a long time that if you process people, you give them the right to work so they can actually contribute.

Thats the way you could save a lot of money, and I think taxpayers would support that.
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The National Weather Service is suspending more weather balloon observations following major staff cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by the Trump administration via Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency.

The forecasting practice helps scientists gather critical data on temperature, wind speed, humidity, and other factors used to help predict severe storms and continuously difficult-to-forecast tornadoes.

The move has drawn some strong reactions on social media.

Weather balloon launches are vital for forecasting. They are like a detailed snapshot of what the atmosphere is doing and getting that data back in real-time. Taking away data means less accurate forecasts, wrote Dakota News Now meteorologist Tyler Roney. This is a mess.

Lets remove weather balloon launches right before severe weather season, great idea! (said no one ever), wrote YouTuber and forecaster Max Velocity.

open image in gallery The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations National Weather Service is suspending more weather balloon observations. The move follows major staff cuts by the Trump administration ( AP )

It's absolutely insane. More National Weather Service offices are suspending or limiting weather balloon launching due to staffing cuts. This could impact weather modeling, which we dont need. In the weather world, we need more data, not less, said Raleigh meteorologist Ethan Clarke.

The announcement came in an email from Office of Observations Surface and Upper Air Division Director Mike Hopkins.

Hopkins said on Thursday that weather balloon observations would be temporarily suspended in Omaha, Nebraska, and Rapid City, South Dakota until further notice due to a lack of Weather Forecast Office staffing. Both states are in what is known as Tornado Alley, where tornadoes are most frequent.

Offices will perform special observations as needed, it said.

The agency also announced the reduction of such observations in another Nebraska city, as well as in cities in Wyoming, Colorado, Michigan, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Earlier this month, observations were intermittently suspended in New Yorks capital city of Albany and Gray, Maine.

The more data we can feed into our weather models, the more accurate our forecasts. But I can't speculate on the extent of future impacts, NOAA Director of Public Affairs Susan Buchanan told The Independent in an email on Friday.

open image in gallery The National Weather Service has also suspended weather balloon operations in New York and Maine. The move comes after layoffs that affected hundreds of employees at NOAA ( AFP via Getty Images )

The move comes after the Department of Government Efficiencys devastating cuts to the agencys 12,000-person staff in multiple areas, including forecasting.

The major changes are ahead of additional expected layoffs and the start of tornado season, which lasts through June.

As of Wednesday, 234 tornadoes had been spotted nationwide, according to preliminary reports from the Storm Prediction Center . That's more than the 164 reported tornadoes last year between January and March.

An outbreak last weekend struck 13 states, and severe weather led to the deaths of more than 40 people in Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, Missouri, and Mississippi.

open image in gallery While its known that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense, scientists say its harder to link tornadoes to climate change. Just 10 percent of severe thunderstorms produce the twisters ( AP )

Twisters in Missouri killed over a dozen people, and the storm also produced more than 130 wind-driven wildfires that destroyed more than 400 homes in Oklahoma.

In several states that experienced critical fire weather on Tuesday, conditions abruptly changed, resulting in blizzards and hazardous travel.

While a link between tornadoes and climate change remains murky, extreme weather events are more frequent and severe.

NOAA says that the frequency of tornado outbreaks with 16 or more tornadoes on the Enhanced Fujita Scale is increasing. The scale is used to assign a tornado a rating based on estimated wind speeds and related damage, with zero being the lowest and five being the highest.

Less than 10 percent of severe thunderstorms produce tornadoes, which makes it tricky to draw firm conclusions about what makes them and how they could be influenced by climate change, according to Harold Brooks, a tornado scientist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory.

 Numerous complex atmospheric conditions combine to generate a tornado, and researchers are still developing tools to help discern potential human influence from natural variability, NOAA says. So far, the majority of research stops short of connecting historical changes in tornado behavior to a warming climate.
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The state Legislature has endorsed a bill that would raise royalty rates for new petroleum development on prime pieces of land in New Mexico, on one of the world's most prolific oil production areas.

A 37-31 vote on Thursday sent the bill from the Statehouse to Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for consideration.

The proposal would increase the top royalty rate for oil and gas development from 20% to 25% on New Mexico's state trust lands with implications for the energy industry in the Permian Basin, which overlaps southeastern New Mexico and western Texas. The area accounted for 46% of U.S. oil production in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

New Mexico deposits royalty payments from oil and gas development in a multibillion-dollar investment trust that benefits public schools, universities and hospitals.

We have a legal duty to maximize the return on these assets, said Democratic state Rep. Matthew McQueen of Galisteo, a co-sponsor of the bill.

Legislative approval was the culmination of a yearslong effort backed by Public Lands Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard to increase top-tier royalty rates. A year ago, Garcia Richard put a hold on lease sales indefinitely for coveted tracts while advocating for the rate increase.

Proponents say neighboring Texas already charges up to 25% on state trust land amid intense competition to drill in the Permian Basin. The royalty changes in neighboring New Mexico would not go into effect in Texas.

Opponents say the rate change threatens to penalize petroleum producers and public beneficiaries, noting that oil production is significantly taxed in other ways and hinges on volatile commodity prices.

In a news release, Garcia Richard said the goal is to make as much money as possible for school kids and our public institutions.

Raising the oil and gas royalty rate on premium state lands was always the right thing to do," she said.

Garcia Richard, a Democrat, terms out of office as land commissioner in 2026 and this week announced her candidacy for lieutenant governor.

New Mexico is the No. 2 state for oil production behind Texas.

Efforts by New Mexico to save and invest portions of a financial windfall from local oil production are paying dividends as state government income on investments is forecast to surpass personal income tax collections.

The states land grant permanent fund currently distributes about $1.2 billion a year to beneficiary schools, universities and hospitals as well as the state general fund.
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Google is suing an alleged group of scammers who it claims added thousands of fake business listings to its Google Maps app to trick consumers.

According to the lawsuit, which was announced on Wednesday, Google claims a man working with a wider network of people allegedly created and sold fake business profiles to be listed on Google Maps.

The company became aware of the issue after a locksmith in Texas reported that an unlicensed business was allegedly impersonating his operation on Google Maps, which prompted Google to dig for other fraudulent listings, CBS News reports.

Google ultimately found more than 10,000 illegitimate listings on the app, ranging from completely fake businesses to legitimate accounts that had been taken over by scammers.

"Once we're alerted to an actual fraud, we take extreme efforts to identify similar fraudulent listings," Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google's general counsel, told CBS Mornings Plus earlier this week.

Google is suing a scammer who allegedly worked with a network to create more than 10,000 fake business profiles on its Maps app ( Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

According to the lawsuit, many of the scammers focused on businesses that people use when they're in stressful situations, like locksmiths or towing companies, and may be in a hurry to contact.

Google also discovered that the scams aren't individual incidents, but are actually part of a larger network run by people from all over the world. The networks reportedly use social media to expand the reach of the fraudulent listings.

DeLaine Prado told CBS that the scams either can bait and switch customers through a fraudulent listing, or intercept a customer's call to a real business and forward it to scammers. In either situation, a customer ends up hiring a company they never intended to hire.

When representatives of the fake company bill the customers, they often charge much higher prices than the original quote. Because the fraudulent businesses are typically businesses people use while in difficult situations, customers typically fold to the pressure and pay the price.

Delaine Prado advised customers always to use their best judgement, and if they feel something is off to stop and try to do what they can to verify the company they're using is legitimate.

Customers should check the URL of a companys website and the phone number to make sure they match the actual business listing of the company they intended to call.

Customers should also be wary of companies asking for their personal information  like Social Security Numbers  if the customer is doing something simple like joining a mailing list, and of any company asking for payment via gift cards or wire transfers.

Google's business directories  and displayed user ratings for said businesses  must be accurate in order to preserve customers' trust, a reality that DeLaine Prado acknowledged during her sit down.

"Consumers use the reviews under those listings to actually make decisions based on what service to use or not to use," DeLaine Prado explained. "A fake profile and a fake review undermines the trust that you have in that ecosystem."

As a show of good faith, DeLaine Prado said that Google plans to use any damages it wins in its lawsuit to fund organizations working to stop scammers.
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During a high-stakes hearing over Donald Trumps use of a centuries-old wartime law to swiftly deport suspected Venezuelan gang members, a federal judge rebuked lawyers for the Department of Justice for their intemperate and disrespectful language in their responses to court orders.

Trump and his allies have threatened to impeach Judge James Boasberg after he temporarily blocked the administration from deporting immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act and questioned whether the government intentionally defied his court orders to turn planes around before they emptied out dozens of people into a prison in El Salvador last week.

A standoff between the judge, who has ordered the administration to respond to several questions about the flights, has reached a boiling point, and legal scholars and critics of the administration have warned that Trumps apparent defiance has reached a dangerous constitutional crossroads.

Did you not understand my statements in that hearing? Boasberg asked Justice Department lawyers during Fridays hearing in Washington, D.C. You did tell them that it was an order from me to turn the planes around  to bring back people to the United States. You understood that?

Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign suggested that he believed that conversation is covered under attorney-client privilege. Boasberg cut him off.

Im asking what you understood, Boasberg said. Did you think it was hypothetical, not serious, was going to be modified?

open image in gallery Donald Trump and his allies have threatened to impeach District Judge James Boasberg after he blocked the administration from carrying out deportations under the Alien Enemies Act ( AP )

Boasberg stressed that his orders did not stop the government from deporting anyone under normal immigration enforcement proceedings, and didnt order anyone to be released into the United States. The orders only applied to deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, which Trump has invoked for the fourth time in history as he turns his anti-immigration agenda into a wartime effort against suspected members of Venezuelas Tren de Aragua gang.

I think its important to the public to make sure those facts are clear, Boasberg said.

Trumps order, which was covertly invoked last week, states that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of TdA, are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.

But the government has admitted in court filings that many of the nearly 300 Venezuelans on those flights dont have a criminal record. In a court filing, ICE official Robert Cerna claimed that a lack of a criminal record actually highlights the risk they pose and demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.

Why was this proclamation essentially signed in the dark on Friday or Friday night or early Saturday morning and people rushed onto planes? Boasberg asked. Seems to me the only reason to do that is if you know its a problem and you want to get them out of the country before a suits filed.

Affidavits from family members and attorneys for some of the men deported to El Salvador show that they were waiting for asylum hearings in the United States, had no orders for their removal from the country, and had no criminal record or indication that they would abruptly be thrown on a flight to the notorious jail, where they cannot speak to an attorney.

Boasberg repeatedly questioned what would happen if the United States deports someone who is not a member of Tren de Aragua under the Alien Enemies Act.

The Justice Department argues that those immigrants can raise detention challenges through a normal habeas corpus petition process.

Are you going to tell each person thats going to be deported that they have rights to challenge their detention, Boasberg asked.

He also reminded the government that there is a court  the Alien Terrorist Removal Court  set up explicitly for this reason, and its never been used before. Until this year, Boasberg was the chief judge.

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gerlent said the idea that immigrants who are removed through Trumps use of the Alien Enemies Act have the option to challenge their deportation is illusory.

It cant just be you're put on a plane in two hours, otherwise anyone could be taken off the street, he said. This is a very dangerous road were going down where the Alien Enemies Act can be invoked against a gang.

Boasberg appeared to agree.

The policy ramifications of this are incredibly troublesome and problematic and concerning, he said. Its an unprecedented and expanded use of an act that has been used  in the War of 1812, World War I and World War II, when there was no question there was a declaration of war and who the enemy was.

He suggested that, under the governments arguments, if a Chinese fisherman comes into U.S. waters, and the president calls that an invasion and orders the detention of all Chinese fishermen, thats fair game, nothing we can do, right?

Even you  would agree thats alarming, he told government lawyers.

open image in gallery Donald Trump defended his use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected Venezuelan gang members while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office March 21 ( Getty Images )

At the White House on Friday, Trump said he was told that Venezuelans deported to El Salvador went through a very strong vetting process.

We dont want to make that kind of mistake, he said.

Asked whether he believes his administration has the authority to detain immigrants and deport them without presenting any evidence against them, Trump said: Well, thats what the law says and thats what our country needs.

Several people on the flights  including women and people who were not from Venezuela  were returned to the United States because the Salvadoran government wouldnt take them, according to Gerlent.

Boasberg, meanwhile, is still seeking answers from administration officials about the flights themselves  including who was on them, and when the planes left U.S. airspace  to decide whether the administration avoided his court orders to turn the planes around. Government lawyers in court documents have argued that there is no justification to order the provision of additional information, and that doing so would be inappropriate.

Those answers would disclose sensitive information bearing on national security and foreign relations, they argued.

Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche  who is also Trumps personal criminal defense lawyer  wrote in a court filing Friday that there are cabinet-level discussions underway to decide whether to avoid answering Boasbergs questions about the flights under a state secrets privilege.

The judge is giving government lawyers until March 25 to decide whether they are invoking that privilege.

The Trump administration has also appealed Boasbergs injunction that blocks deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. An appeals court will hear arguments in that case Monday.
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The father of the world's richest man Elon Musk has insisted that his son isn't racist, claiming that his son had Black friends growing up: his familys servants.

Errol Musk, Elon's 79-year-old father, told the Washington Post this week that his children were not interested in "political nonsense"  despite growing up in apartheid-era South Africa.

His evidence that his son wasn't racist? Elon was friends with the family's Black servants.

We had several black servants who were their friends, he said in an email to the newspaper.

Errol was responding to questions about his son's opposition to workplace programs focusing on diversity and equity.

Elon's father seemed to miss the old days of South Africa, describing the country during the years of his children's youth as a "well-run, law-abiding country with virtually no crime at all."

open image in gallery Interview with Errol Musk, father of Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk, said his son wasnt racist because he befriended the familys Black servants as a child ( REUTERS )

During apartheid-era South Africa, the Black majority African population was kept largely in poverty and lived under a strict racially based segregation. Apartheid ended in 1990, when Elon was 18 years old.

Errol told the Washington Post that he imported emeralds from an unregistered mine in Zambia, which "helped me and my two boys sustain ourselves during the collapse of Apartheid in South Africa.

Elon has tried to distance himself from his father's emerald mining background. In 2014 he bragged about his father's involvement in the mine, but in 2021  when he came under scrutiny for his connection to the mine  he insisted there was "no evidence whatsoever of an 'emerald mine'" connected to his past.

In a tweet denying the story from March 25, 2021, Musk said an article that accounts of his father owning an emerald mine were false. He also said he arrived in Canada in 1989 by himself with only $2,500 Canadian dollars to his name. He further insisted he paid his own way through college, accruing $100,000 in student loan debt and claimed he started his first business without funding and with his own personal computer.

Elon at least according to his biographer Walter Isaacson  was telling the truth about the mine. His father did not own the mine, as had been reported, but did import emeralds from the mine, according to Business Insider.

Errol also spoke to Isaacson about the mine, and claimed he imported his emeralds from an unregistered mine because otherwise "you would wind up with nothing because the Blacks would take everything from you."

One of Elon's old schoolmates, Rudolph Pienaar, also spoke to the Washington Post and described the billionaire's youth as living in a "bubble of entitlement."

I am not sure if Elon can conceive of systematic discrimination and struggle because thats not his experience, he told the newspaper. His life now in some ways is how it was under apartheid  rich and entitled with the entire society built to sustain him and his ilk.

The Independent has requested comment from Elon.

open image in gallery Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade in Washington, D.C. earlier this year ( Getty Images )

The billionaire faced criticism after his takeover of Twitter in 2022 after his policy changes allowed a slew of verified accounts posting pro-Nazi information  including speeches from Adolf Hitler  to exist on the social media platform, according to NBC News.

Since then, his alignment with the far-right has only grown more brazen. During Donald Trump's second-term inauguration celebration, Elon threw a salute that many identified as a "Nazi" salute, though his defenders insisted it was just a "Roman" salute.

Elon responded to the allegations by posting a message to X  formerly Twitter  full of puns using the names of Hitlers Nazi aides.
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Elon Musk has claimed that his AI chatbot Grok would be truth-seeking, yet it often contradicts the billionaires positions.

When he launched the new version of Grok last month, Musk said it would be maximally truth-seeking  even if that truth is sometimes at odds with what is politically correct.

Instead, Grok has notably challenged Musks version of the truth on several topics, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and immigration, The Washington Post reported. Grok last week declared that Democrats are better for the economy than Republicans.

Another point of conflict between Grok and Musk is the treatment of trans youth.

Musk has a trans daughter but has still shared his strong opposition to gender-affirming care. Last July Musk told right-wing commentator and psychologist Jordan Peterson in a conversation livestreamed on X that he doesnt support his daughters gender identity.

I lost my son, essentially, said Musk, adding that his child was essentially dead, killed by the woke mind virus.

But asked for a one-sentence answer if children should receive gender-affirming care, Grok responded: It depends on the childs specific needs, age, and medical advice, but evidence suggests it can help some while others urge caution due to long-term unknowns.

open image in gallery ( Grok / xAI )

Musk launched the developer of Grok, xAI, in 2023, and it can be found on the social media platform X, as an app, or on its own site. The billionaire has indicated that he wanted Grok to be an alternative to ChatGPT by OpenAI, which Musk has claimed has been ordered to give woke answers.

Musk told Fox News in April 2023 that OpenAI had been training the AI to lie by using human feedback and telling the chatbot not to say what the data actually demands that it say.

However, right-wing commentators have argued that Grok also gives what they characterize as some politically liberal answers.

Musk, for example, has argued on several occasions that Democrats have imported voters, claiming last month that the Biden White House was pushing to get in as many illegals as possible to unlawfully vote in last years presidential election. He also claimed that noncitizens have been voting, repeatedly making the assertion on social media.

Asked if Democrats imported immigrants to vote in the U.S., Grok has stated in part that theres no solid evidence that Democrats have systematically imported immigrants to vote in U.S. elections. Claims like this often stem from political rhetoric, but voting by noncitizens in federal elections is illegal, rare, and heavily penalized  think fines, jail, or deportation.

open image in gallery ( Grok / xAI )

Musk wrote on X In December 2023: Unfortunately, the internet (on which [Grok] is trained), is overrun with woke nonsense. Grok will get better. That was in response to a complaint from Peterson regarding what he characterized as Groks radically left-leaning explanations on issues such as poverty in Islamic countries.

Shortly after the release of the new version of his chatbot, Grok 3, Musk slammed what he referred to as the woke mind virus apparently still affecting Grok in a post on X.

Its tough to remove [from Grok], because there is so much woke content on the internet, Musk complained.

AI companies often remove toxic or low-quality material from datasets used to train AI systems, Shayne Longpre told The Post. For instance, text from internet forums may be removed because its politically biased, explained Longpre, who leads a volunteer collective of AI researchers called the Data Provenance Initiative.

Most companies, however, hesitate to remove large amounts of data early in the process, often choosing to wait until the training is finished to allow for assessments and shaping of how a system responds.

Longpre told the newspaper that developers tend to guide the behavior of an AI system by using a set of guidelines known as a system prompt. Such a prompt can steer a chatbot to refuse specific questions or to put forward a range of answers on controversial topics.

Longpre told The Post that Grok 3 replies to questions about the news by pulling information from media outlets and popular X posts, and the answers may be skewed depending on the sources used and how much weight it gives to different content.

While ChatGPT typically is more direct in its responses, Longpre said that Grok 3 appears more likely to be all-sides-ing it.

While both President Donald Trump and Musk have vehemently opposed DEI efforts, for example, Grok is not so unequivocal.

DEI efforts aim to boost fairness and representation, but their impact varies  some see them as progress against bias, while others call them divisive or performative, and data shows mixed results on actual workplace outcomes, it has commented when asked for its thoughts on the issue.

open image in gallery ( Grok / xAI )

Musk told podcaster Joe Rogan that DEI policies created a talent shortage when it comes to air traffic controllers after a fatal crash between a helicopter and a plane in Washington, D.C. in January.

Theres no clear evidence that DEI programs at the FAA have directly caused the current air traffic controller shortage, but the debate hinges on how hiring priorities might affect the talent pool, Grok noted on the issue.

open image in gallery ( Grok / xAI )

Asked if Musk spreads misinformation, Grok states: Whether Elon Musk spreads misinformation depends on how you define it, but theres evidence he has shared claims that dont hold up under scrutiny.

open image in gallery ( Grok / xAI )

Grok dismissed the claim pushed by Musk that the Federal Emergency Management Agency paid tens of millions of dollars to place undocumented immigrants in luxury hotels in New York.

On February 10, Musk wrote on X: The @DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants. Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the Presidents executive order. That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals! A clawback demand will be made today to recoup those funds.

Grok has rejected that claim outright.

No, FEMA did not send $59 million directly to luxury hotels in New York to house illegal migrants, the chatbot states. The claim stems from a misrepresentation of funds allocated through FEMAs Shelter and Services Program (SSP), which is funded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and administered by FEMA.

open image in gallery ( Grok / xAI )

The Independent has contacted xAI for comment.
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Germany is so over electric car maker Tesla, according to a recent poll, and the company can thank CEO Elon Musk for the cold shoulder.

A new T-Online poll found that of 100,000 Germans, 94 percent said they would not buy a Tesla. Only 3 percent said they'd still consider the purchase.

Earlier this month Forbes reported that German Tesla sales in February dropped by 76 percent. It's not just a coincidence or a fluke of the EV industry  electric vehicle registrations in Germany increased by 32 percent during the same time period that Tesla sales dropped.

While not all of Tesla's woes can be placed in Musk's lap  EV competition has been increasing for years  Musk's political antics certainly havent seemed to help his company.

Musk has voiced support for the far-right AfD political party in Germany, even hosting a call with supporters and telling them to "move beyond" their "past guilt." During the call, he told AfD backers that "children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great-grandparents" in an apparent reference to the nation's Nazi past.

open image in gallery Tech billionaire Elon Musk speaks live via a video transmission during the election campaign launch rally of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party as AfD supporters wave German flags in Halle, Germany in January ( Getty )

It did not help that his call to move past the Nazis came just two days before Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Tesla CEO also didn't win many fans in Germany after throwing a salute during Donald Trumps inauguration ceremony that many described as a "Nazi" salute. His defenders  including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  waved off the criticism, with some saying Musk's gesture was simply a "Roman" salute.

Musk himself responded to the controversy by sharing a bunch of Nazi puns.

Tesla has faced backlash in the U.S. as well. Protests at Tesla showrooms have cropped up in response to Musk's work as the head of the "Department of Government Efficiency," which has spent most of its short existence gutting the federal workforce and accessing US citizens' private information.

Some have taken their fury further, with incidents of vandalism of Tesla vehicles and at Tesla showroom locations.

open image in gallery A member of the Seattle Fire Department inspects a burned Tesla Cybertruck at a Tesla lot in Seattle earlier this month ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

During an all-hands employee livestream on Thursday, Musk tried to reassure his employees and told them not to sell their stock in the company.

If you read the news it feels like, you know, Armageddon, Musk said according to a CNBC report. Its like, I cant walk past the TV without seeing a Tesla on fire. Like whats going on? Some people, its like, listen, I understand if you dont wanna buy our product, but you dont have to burn it down. Thats a bit unreasonable.

He urged his detractors to "stop being psycho."

In the meantime, Trump and his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, said anyone convicted of vandalizing a Tesla or Tesla property would be treated as a domestic terrorist and even threatened on Truth Social to ship them off to the president's preferred migrant gulag in El Salvador.
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Federal workers stood by their decision to leak information about Elon Musk to the media following his threats to prosecute whistleblowers.

Their defiance follows Musks stark warning that Pentagon officials who leak would be prosecuted after reports that he was scheduled to receive a briefing Friday about the U.S. militarys top-secret war plans for China.

The DOGE mogul claimed that the information was false and derided the media for allegedly disseminating propaganda before issuing a thinly veiled threat to Pentagon officials.

His threats have not deterred everyone. Pushing back, federal workers told Politico that they are speaking out because of the billionaires move fast and break things approach via the Department of Government Efficiency.

Leakers are patriots, one Agriculture Department employee told the outlet and said that they were motivated by a desire for greater transparency  the same goal Musk claims through DOGE.

We are public servants, not Elons servants, a Food and Drug Administration staffer told Politico. The public deserves to know how dysfunctional, destructive, and deceptive all of this has been and continues to be.

open image in gallery Elon Musk and President Donald Trump denied reports that the billionaire would receive a Pentagon briefing about the U.S. militarys war plans for China. Musk threatened that leakers would be prosecuted but it hasnt deterred all federal staffers from speaking to the press ( REUTERS )

If the Biden administration or Obama had acted like this, no one would have tolerated it, another staffer told the outlet. The Trump administration doesnt get a pass.

However some federal staffers are nervous about the repercussions of talking to the press.

Were taking more conversations in-person, out of the office completely. Putting phones on airplane mode or going to the basement, an employee at the National Institutes of Health told Politico. I dont take my phone when Im talking to coworkers anymore. I assume there are cameras and listening devices everywhere.

Musks threats followed a New York Times report Thursday that military officials would show him a slideshow of how the U.S. would engage in a conflict with China. The briefing reportedly consisted of 20 to 30 slides outlining the U.S.s strategy if war broke out with the adversary in the Far East.

Sources said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was informed of the plans on Wednesday.

open image in gallery Trump denied the report about the China briefing and claimed Musk was at the Pentagon for DOGE, not there for China. Musk said that leakers will be found ( Getty Images )

The New York Times is pure propaganda. Also, I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT, Musk posted on X Friday, sharing a Truth Social Post from President Donald Trump denying the claims.

They will be found, Musk added.

The Fake News is at it again, this time the Failing New York Times. They said, incorrectly, that Elon Musk is going to the Pentagon tomorrow to be briefed on any potential war with China, Trump said in the Truth Social post. How ridiculous? China will not even be mentioned or discussed. How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies. Anyway, the story is completely untrue!!!

The president later said in the Oval Office that Musk was at the Pentagon for DOGE, not there for China.
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The Small Business Administration has announced it is cutting half its workforce, triggering concern as the agency is also taking over the enormous student loan program.

The agency is reducing the workforce by 43 percent, eliminating 2,700 jobs, in cuts enforced by Elon Musks Department of Efficiency, the agencys head Kelly Loeffler said.

Separately, as part of the administrations push to eliminate the Department of Education, President Donald Trump announced on the same day that student loans would be handled by the SBA.

The student loan portfolio totals more than $1.6 trillion  the same size as some of the largest banks in the U.S.

No further details about how moving such a massive portfolio to the depleted agency have been revealed. Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Fox News she was working with the agency on a strategic plan.

Loeffler said the agency is prepared to work with Congress and the Administration to bring accountability back to Americas student loan program, in a Friday X post.

President Donald Trump announced the Small Business Administration would be taking over management of the student loan portfolio on the same day the agency announced sweeping job cuts ( REUTERS )

A senior official at Federal Student Aid told Inside Higher Ed that the office was blindsided by the announcement. According to the official, the plan had been to shuttle the student loans to the Treasury Department - that was until Trumps announcement.

Critics said dismantling the Department of Education threatened chaos for the 40 million student loan borrowers in the U.S.

The president cannot eliminate the Department of Education, or transfer control over the federal student aid program to a different agency, without approval from Congress, the National Consumer Law Center noted.

Tens of millions of students and families rely on the functioning of federal student aid programs to pay for college and job training programs and to manage their federal student loans, Abby Shafroth, the centers co-director of advocacy said in a statement. Dismantling the Department of Education will make things much worse, creating new disruptions and costly and frustrating problems for students, borrowers, and their families in every state, Shafroth added.

The Student Debt Crisis Center called the administrations dismantling of the department an unprecedented attack on the rights of millions of families and students and said it added confusion and hardship to borrowers.

This dangerous move puts the future of borrowers at risk by dismantling the very agency tasked with holding loan servicers accountable, the centers president Natalia Abrams said. Without the Department of Education, borrowers will be left without recourse, vulnerable to exploitation, and cut off from any meaningful path to relief.
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President Donald Trump confused reporters after claiming he didnt sign the presidential proclamation that invoked the controversial Alien and Enemies Act in order to quickly deport migrants the administration says are part of a Venezuelan gang.

When asked by a reporter about signing the proclamation in the dark  rather than at the Oval Office desk or in a public capacity as the president has done with other executive actions  the president denied signing it at all.

I dont know when it was signed because I didnt sign it, the president said.

Instead, Trump appeared to push the blame for invoking the 18th-century wartime law onto other people in his administration including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Other people handled it, Trump said. But Marco Rubios done a great job. And he wanted them out, and we go along with that. We want to get criminals out of our country.

Despite his claim, the presidents digital signature does appear on the version of the proclamation available on the Federal Register website.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday he didnt sign the proclamation invoking the controversial Alien and Enemies Act. That statement has raised questions ( Getty Images )

The Presidents statement immediately raised alarm bells for some.

If thats true, if Donald Trump did not actually sign that proclamation, its a big problem because the law specifically requires a proclamation by the president, asked CNN political analyst Elie Honig, according to The Hill.

There were similar questions on social media.

Trump just said he didn't sign his own EO? This is the guy who claimed Joe Biden's pardons weren't legitimate, because he used an autopen, but he allowed someone else to sign his executive order? one X user noted.

If Trump didn't sign the proclamation as he claims then everything that happened after is illegal...lol, another noted.

The White House later clarified that the president was referring to the original Alien Enemies Act, passed by Congress in 1798 and did sign the recent proclamation that invokes the highly controversial set of laws.

President Trump was obviously referring to the original Aliens Enemies Act that was signed back in 1798, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement.

The recent Executive Order was personally signed by President Trump invoking the Alien Enemies Act that designated Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in order to apprehend and deport these heinous criminals, Cheung added.

However, the question that prompted Trumps answer specifically referred to a federal judges criticism of the proclamation that was raised earlier in the day during a court hearing.

Judge James Boasberg asked lawyers for the government why the presidents proclamation was essentially signed in the dark on the evening of March 14 and then migrants were rushed onto planes on the morning of March 15.

The hearing is part of a challenge to Trumps attempts to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport, without due process, alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Those challenging the use of the act say it was done hastily to skirt criminal and immigration laws.

The confusion over Trumps signature on the proclamation raised also questions over whether the president used an autopen a mechanical device that uses ink to repeat the signature of an individual - that has recently drawn his own ire.

Though past presidents and their administrations have used autopens, Trump has criticized its use  specifically condemning former president Joe Biden for using it on certain documents. Last week, Trump tried to claim Bidens use of an autopen should void certain documents including presidential pardons.

The Justice Department has said the use of an autopen on official documents is legal.
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Immigration officials may arrest and begin the deportation process against a Cornell PhD student who is in the middle of a lawsuit challenging the Trump administrations executive orders cracking down on pro-Palestinian protesters.

His attorneys say the situation is an alarming violation of constitutional rights and normal court process, where a critic of the administration may be taken out of the country before his day in court.

Momodou Taal, a citizen of the UK and The Gambia, is one of three academics who sued the Trump administration earlier this month, alleging a pair of executive orders have the effect of unconstitutionally threatening to deport immigrants who protest the administration and its allies like Israel.

Last week, with pending hearings scheduled in the constitutional case, Taal got an email from a Justice Department lawyer citing the lawsuit, directing him to surrender to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to court documents.

A federal court on Thursday denied an emergency request from the Cornell activist to temporarily pause any arrest attempts, as well as the enforcement of the executive orders, while the case plays out. A judge argued that Taals visa was revoked before he filed the suit, and that the court didnt have jurisdiction to pause the process at this point, noting he could challenge his removal in an immigration or appeals court.

open image in gallery Cornell student Momodou Taal alleges that agents are trying to deport him before he can finish suing Trump administration over executive order ( Eric Lee )

The decision left the academic in limbo.

The past week has been perhaps the most intense and stressful of my life, Taal wrote in an affidavit submitted Thursday. I live in fear that ICE agents are going to try to arrest me.

The PhD added that he fears losing easy access to his legal counsel, and has been alarmed reading about the conditions faced by other non-citizen academics in detention over their role in the campus protests, like Columbia grad Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested in New York and quickly spirited to a detention center in Louisiana.

Taals lawyers previously told The Independent the case is a grave warning for eroding protest and legal rights in the U.S.

That is something which should cause deep concern and outrage among everybody who wants to defend the most democratic principles in the Bill of Rights and to anyone who wants to prevent Donald Trump from accomplishing his goal of establishing a dictatorship in this country, said attorney Eric Lee.

This type of thing should not happen in a democracy, he added.

On Thursday, they submitted a new legal complaint and again asked for an emergency order stopping attempts to arrest Taal or move him to another jurisdiction. The Trump officials named in the suit have been ordered to respond by Monday.

Taals suit, filed with two other Cornell academics, challenges a pair of Trump executive orders signed in January.

The White House directives call for agencies to investigate and potentially remove non-citizens in the U.S. who bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles and advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.

The president and his allies frequently describe all pro-Palestinian protests that took place across 2023 and 2024 as synonymous with aiding Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror group. Trump vowed in a January statement to deport what he called all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests.

The federal complaint alleges that the executive orders violate First Amendment Protections for free speech and Fifth Amendment guarantees of due process based on a vague, subjective, and overbroad standards that grant unfettered discretion to government officials.

It points to comments from Trump officials like Justice Department civil rights lawyer Leo Terrell, who said in February the administration would put an end to these disorderly demonstrations, supporting Hamas and trying to intimidate Jews and put these people in jail  not for 24 hours, but for years.

As Taals complaint worked its way through the courts, law enforcement agents and vehicles appeared outside Taals home last week, in what his attorneys believe was a prelude to arrest.

Their response to the filing of the suit was to go to his house and threaten to arrest him, Lee said.

open image in gallery The administration has begun arresting non-citizen student activists including who protested the Israel-Hamas war, alleging they threaten U.S. foreign policy interests, spread antisemitism, and aid terror groups ( AP )

The Independent has contacted the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

Taal has been at the center of controversy before. He was suspended last year over his involvement in protests and told he could lose his visa, though he later reached an agreement with the university to continue attending classes remotely this spring.

He has been criticized for posts after the Hamas attack on Israel arguing that colonised peoples have the right to resist by any means necessary, but has maintained he condemns the killing of all civilians.

Betar US, a right-wing, Zionist organization considered an extremist group by the Anti-Defamation League, claimed in an email to The Independent it submitted Taals name to federal officials alongside other campus activists whove been detained.

The Cornell student said in a statement last week he is undeterred in his activism.

open image in gallery Critics argue the Trump administration is abusing the First Amendment and trying to silence anti-government protest ( Copyright 2025. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. )

Am I worried at times? Of course, he wrote on X. Am I stressed beyond anything Ive experienced before? Most definitely. But I cannot, in good conscience, remain silent. There is no point living in a world where 100s of children are slaughtered daily.

Whatever happens in court, Taals lawyers are concerned the that the lawless administration might not follow a court order, even if the judge does stop the apparent deportation process, or might move along the deportation process faster than courts can scrutinize it.

The administration recently defied a courts order to halt or turn around a series of deportation flights bound for El Salvador in the midst of a lawsuit challenging the Trump administrations invoking of the wartime Alien Enemies Act. Administration lawyers have suggested that because the initial order was verbal, and because the planes eventually entered international airspace, they were not at fault.

Students caught up in the enforcement effort have been quickly moved away from their families and legal advocates in their home jurisdictions.

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University who was arrested by masked agents on Tuesday, was moved to a detention center in Louisiana, the same day a federal judge ordered she not be moved for 48 hours amid an ongoing legal challenge. Based on existing public evidence, Ozturks main involvement in protest activity was co-writing an op-ed critical of the Israeli war effort.

The Trump administration has attempted to or succeeded in getting multiple academics it accuses of supporting terrorism and fostering antisemitism out of the country, though many maintain they were either mistakenly targeted or were singled out for constitutionally protected protest activism that supported the Palestinian cause.

Earlier this month, immigration agents arrested protest leader and recent Columbia University grad Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian U.S. green card holder married to a U.S. citizen, accusing him of antisemitic activities and supporting Hamas, which he has denied.

Last Wednesday, a federal judge denied a Trump administration attempt to dismiss Khalils case challenging his detention on First and Fifth Amendment grounds.

Khalil argued in a recent op-ed from a Louisiana detention center that hes being punished for speaking out about the Israeli war effort in Gaza, which international observers have alleged is a genocide.

My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza, he wrote in The Guardian.

open image in gallery Secretary of State Marco Rubio has defended the deportation attempts, arguing he has power under federal immigration law to initiate the removal of non-citizens who harm U.S. foreign policy interests ( AFP or licensors )

This month, Department of Homeland Security agents also arrested Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University post-doctoral fellow from India married to a U.S. citizen, on similar grounds outside his Virginia home.

The Department of Homeland Security alleges Suri was actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media and has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas, a seeming reference to Suris wife, a U.S. citizen who worked in the Gazan foreign ministry and whose father once advised the now-dead leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, according to The Washington Post.

Suris apparent X feed shows the scholar, who studies conflict and religious tolerance, criticizing civilian deaths and what he saw as violations of international law in the Israel-Hamas war.

Suris attorneys, as well as Virginia congressman Don Beyer, have criticized the arrest as unfounded.

The justification given for these violations of Mr. Suris right to due process is another violation of the Constitution: a blatant attack on the First Amendment, Beyer said in a statement to The Independent. Mr. Suri and his family are unfortunately the latest victim of President Trumps assault on the freedom of speech.

Protesters occupy Trump Tower over arrest of Mahmoud Khalil

In the cases of both Khalil and Suri, the men are not accused of committing a crime but rather have been determined by the State Department to be threats to U.S. foreign policy and subject to removal.

Others say theyve been mistakenly swept up in the campus crackdown.

Columbia urban planning student Ranjani Srinivasan of India fled the U.S. this month after her visa was revoked, for what federal officials said were activities supporting Hamas, and failing to disclose two past court summonses.

She was briefly arrested at a tense pro-Palestine protest at Columbia in 2024 where students occupied a campus building and hundreds were detained by police. She told CBS News she wasnt involved with the protest and was detained as she walked home from a faculty picnic. Her case was later dismissed.

I just found it absurd. Im not a terrorist sympathizer, she said. I came to the U.S. because I really like the academic culture you have. A lot of academic freedom, something you dont really find anywhere else in the world. Currently I do think that there is a crazy climate of fear in universities.
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Lawyers for Donald Trumps administration are considering whether his invocation of an 18th century wartime law allows federal law enforcement officers to enter homes without a warrant.

The president has deployed the Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport, without due process, alleged members of Venezuelas Tren de Aragua gang, designated a foreign terrorist organization. Officials, however, have admitted that many of the immigrants flown to a prison in El Salvador last weekend dont have criminal records.

Trump is relying on the law for only the fourth time in U.S. history. It was most recently used to detain Japanese Americans, including U.S. citizens, during the Second World War.

Terrorists dont get to hide behind closed doors, said an official with the Department of Justice in a statement to The Independent from the White House.

open image in gallery Donald Trumps administration is mulling whether federal agents can perform warrantless searches of peoples homes under the Alien Enemies Act to find alleged Tren de Aragua members ( REUTERS )

The administration is mulling whether federal agents can search for suspected gang members inside peoples homes without securing a warrant from a judge, The New York Times first reported, citing people familiar with the discussions.

Its unclear whether the administration is providing law enforcement agencies with that guidance, which could amount to a drastic breach of the Fourth Amendment and constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Civil rights groups and legal experts are sounding the alarm, noting the president could be relying on the broad scope of the Alien Enemies Act to get around criminal and immigration law.

The Fourth Amendment applies to everyone in the U.S., not just individuals with legal status, Christopher A. Wellborn, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, told the Times. Taking away that right would be an abuse of power that destroys our privacy, making Americans feel unsafe and vulnerable in the places where our children play and our loved ones sleep.

That officials are considering the idea marks a potential escalation in how Trump is going to use the Alien Enemies Act, according to Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel in the liberty and national security program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.

Thus far, its been used to deport Venezuelan immigrants. But the administration believes it can be used to search Venezuelan immigrants' homes and arrest them, even without a warrant, she said. It is impossible to overstate how important it is for our judicial institutions, our Congress, and for every American to stand against this blatant attempt to re-run internment.

In her 2024 report on the Alien Enemies Act, Yon Ebright noted that the law has been interpreted to extend the presidents authority to not only detaining and deporting noncitizens but also controlling their speech, movements and livelihoods.

The Second World War invocation of the act to justify the detention of Japanese Americans as enemy aliens provided sufficient legal grounds for warrantless house raids in search of contraband, Yon Ebright wrote.

open image in gallery Legal experts are skeptical that the Trump administration could rely on the Alien Enemies Act to perform warrantless searches ( REUTERS )

One U.S. military document from the time included in her report declared an official only needed to determine a persons status as an alien enemy to perform a search. The question of probable cause will be met only by the statement that an alien enemy resides in such premises, the document states.

Trumps order states that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of [Tren de Aragua], are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.

Last week, dozens of Venezuelans were deported from the United States on a series of flights to El Salvador, where they were shackled and shaved before they were locked in a notorious prison that human rights organizations have called a tropical gulag.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order while two of the planes were still airborne, and a standoff between the judge and administration officials to determine whether they intentionally defied his court orders and refused to turn the planes around has sparked fears of a constitutional crisis.

Why was this proclamation essentially signed in the dark on Friday or Friday night or early Saturday morning and people rushed onto planes? Judge James Boasberg asked government attorneys during a court hearing March 21. Seems to me the only reason to do that is if you know its a problem and you want to get them out of the country before a suits filed.

open image in gallery U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act ( AP )

Boasberg repeatedly questioned how officials are determining whether someone is a member of Tren de Aragua, without due process, and what legal recourse exists if the administration deported someone to El Salvador or elsewhere under the Alien Enemies Act if they are not a member of the gang.

The administration has admitted in court filings that many of the nearly 300 Venezuelans on those flights dont have a criminal record. In a sworn statement to the court, Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Robert Cerna claimed that a lack of a criminal record actually highlights the risk they pose and demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.

Attorneys and family members have warned the court that their clients and relatives  some of whom have their asylum hearings in the coming weeks and months  have disappeared from the United States and cannot be reached in El Salvadors prison. Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued to stop the deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, also claimed that women and immigrants who were not from Venezuela were on the flights, but returned to the United States because the Salvadoran government would not accept them.

The Trump administration has appealed the judges order blocking use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected gang members. A panel of appellate court judges will hear arguments on March 24.
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The electronic hum in the sky above told him that the Russians were on a hunting safari and that he was the prey. Leaping from his bicycle, Oleksandr left its wheels spinning as he bolted through a hole in a fence hoping to find cover.

Horrified to discover he was still in the open air, he threw himself against the fence, hoping to blend in, to somehow hide. The drone tracked sideways, hung above him, and dropped its bomb.

The explosion tore a chunk of his leg away.

open image in gallery Russia drones are targeting civilians in Kherson ( The Independent )

He was hovering above me. I had a feeling that he was playing a computer game, dropping bombs on peaceful civilians, Oleksandr Sensky said from the hospital where he is recovering in Kherson.

As he tore into the medical bag he carried as a Red Cross volunteer in Kherson, he knew he was still being watched by the drone pilots across the Dnipro River, less than a mile away.

As he scrabbled in the dirt fixing a tourniquet on his leg, the thought struck him that maybe they were high-fiving their friends or jeering as he struggled.

Kherson was liberated from Russia in November 2022. Since then it has been shelled, mortared, rocketed, and bombed every day. Now it is also contending with being a target-practice area for Russian drone pilots who post videos of their hunting trips onto Telegram.

The use of drones has turned a viciously impersonal mission to kill civilians in this southern Ukrainian city into a darkly personal campaign of murder. If ever there was a town in desperate need of a ceasefire, this is it. But no one here says they believe one is remotely possible.

open image in gallery Oleksandr Sensky, Red Cross volunteer, said a drone hovered over him like a computer game ( The Independent )

Russian forces occupy the east bank of the Dnipro, which is about 500m wide in the city. Their snipers and gunners can see targets with the naked eye. Drone pilots can see in live feeds the terrified run and trip, the horror in the eyes, and then the final moments of their victims. They drop bombs or swoop on them with first-person view (FPV) aircraft drones that can loiter out of sight and dart in for the kill.

For three years, Kherson has been frightening. Now its population remains behind closed doors and drawn curtains as deadly drones target buses, trams, cars and shoppers. To be on the street is to risk the hunters eyes.

Lives are ended above ground. Underground now, at least, they can begin in safety.

Ukraine has opened the first bespoke bombproof maternity hospital by abandoning the surface facility for its basement. The city has also opened an underground surgical hospital and has plans for seven more. Its taking every one of its hospitals and, to avoid the Russian killing games, turning them upside down.

Dr Petro Marenkovskyi is head of the new obstetrics department in the old Kherson Maternity Hospital. His medical work is now two floors down in what were cellars. The spotless corridors lead to shining new delivery rooms, an operating theatre, an intensive care unit  all the facilities that were abandoned above ground are protected now by blast-resistant doors, like on a submarine.

The day before The Independent visits, Kherson was hit by nine bombs dropped by Russian jets which killed two people. Another five were injured in drone attacks. As the killing continues, so the urgency to reproduce, as an act of defiance, intensifies.

With the current demographics situation in our country, we are fighting for every newborn  for every woman who should give birth here in Kherson, says Dr Marenkovskyi. The hospital used to see about 1,500 to 2,000 births a year - now its around 120.

open image in gallery Workers clean up debris after Russian shelling of the hospital maternity unit in Kherson ( AFP/Getty )

There has been a surge in the proportion of women needing C-section deliveries, with high blood pressure and complicated births.

Every child born here is now golden, adds Dr Oksana Ivanivna.

As she talks, theres a muffled thump. Another detonation on the surface. More dead? More maimed? In the maternity hospital, no one reacts.

Dr Ivanivnas home was destroyed a few months ago. The hospital was hit by rockets twice in 2023, and again last year. Most of the doctors here have lived inside the building for the last two years. In Kherson, only outsiders flinch at the sound of explosions.

open image in gallery Doctors work underground in Kherson Maternity Hospital ( The Independent )

Olha Viner is lying on a bed in the pre-natal section of the bunker hospital. Shes being monitored for high blood pressure and doctors say, a month from her due date, her baby is at grave risk.

I think everyone has high blood pressure in Kherson, she jokes.

While new lives are emerging, the elderly of Kherson have shown staggering fortitude. The city once housed about 250,000 people. It endured eight months of Russian occupation, a violent liberation and is now a target-rich zone of Russians hoping to kill civilians as 83,000 people still live here. Five thousand are children.

Iryna Voskova has nine grandchildren. She jokes that she has given herself a new nickname because she had a titanium plate as part of her skull and a piece of metal shrapnel lodged in her brain.

I have a souvenir. The fragment remained in my head. It cant be removed. And here they put a platinum plate, to cover the hole. I am an Iron Lady, she says with a chuckle.

These injuries were from when she was hit by a mortar fired across the river into the Kherson suburb of Atonivka in 2023. That came after her sons home was obliterated by a Russian bomb but before the drones came and did yet more damage in the summer of last year.

open image in gallery Patient Olha Viner in the pre-natal section of the bunker hospital ( The Independent )

The drones were constantly flying at that time. People tried to hide under trees or in houses.

But its not always possible to hide in time. Drones are hunting people, cars, buses. My son was hit when he was walking home from the bus after work. Drones are following the buses.

Probably all the buses in Antonivka are already damaged by dozens of attacks on the transport system and on bus stops, she says.

Volodymyr, her son who is 48, was hit in the abdomen. He has a damaged liver and his gall bladder was removed but he survived.

The house they now all shared at the time did not.

A drone dropped incendiary munition on our house. It was 2 October 2024. My neighbours called me to say our house was on fire. The two-storey house burned to the ground. Only the charred ground floor walls remained, says Iryna.

open image in gallery Grandmother Iryna Voskova was hit by a mortar fired across the river into the Kherson suburb of Atonivka ( The Independent )

Irina, like almost everyone else in Kherson, is deeply sceptical of talk of a ceasefire.

Putin cannot be trusted, she says. He always betrays, always lies. So it is very difficult to believe that this will happen. But we hope for it. Very much. And we are very grateful to everyone who is trying to help us.

The military mayor of Kherson, Roman Mrochko, was close to an airstrike that narrowly missed his offices the day before. He is adamant that the Ukrainian military intelligence has evidence that Russian drone pilots are training on his civilian population.

We now have a saying  its a true safari. Its a real hunt for civilians. The Russian Federation is sending new units here. They learn to fly drones, dropping explosives on our civilians, cars, buses, trolleybuses. These people are training, learning. In a few months, they are sent to the eastern Ukraine front.

open image in gallery Roman Mrochko, head of Kherson city ( The Independent )

Then new units arrive and continue to train on our civilians, he insists.

When asked about the claim that the Russians could be training their FPV pilots on civilians in Kherson, he replies: We have intercepted conversations between them.

And just look at the figures. Already this year, we have 391 injured, including 39 children, and 40 killed, including four children.

And if we look at the videos of how they drop the explosives from the drones: a bus stop, or they drop the explosives on the civilian buses, on their route, transporting people home, to work, or to the market. where there are no soldiers at all.

open image in gallery Alina Stasiuk holds her daughter Adelina ( The Independent )

Back in Khersons underground maternity hospital, Alina Stasiuk is holding her daughter Adelina who is not quite a day old  and in perfect health.

Reflecting on how it feels to give birth to a baby in a city where Russians constantly use bombs and drones, she replies: Of course, its a little scary, but its worth it, to be honest.

Its happiness giving birth is happiness, and its just a piece of happiness you hold in your arms.
 Close Zelensky condemns Russian strikes on hometown: Diplomacy means nothing to them

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A Ukrainian team will visit Washington this week for crunch talks on a minerals deal, the first visit since the deal collapsed in dramatic fashion five weeks ago.

Volodymyr Zelensky was set to sign a framework agreement in late February before he was booted out of the White House, when a furious Donald Trump berated the Ukrainian president for not being thankful enough for US war assistance.

Since then, teams from Kyiv and Washington have been working to hash out a revised agreement - and to rebuild a broken relationship.

Washington has proposed a more expansive minerals deal which could give it access to valuable mineral resources, including titanium, lithium, and uranium, according to economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko.

But the deal has not yet been agreed by Ukraine and it is unclear exactly how close the two sides are to reaching an agreement.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has urged Russia to stop bombing Ukraine, after a ballistic missile strike in Kryvyi Rih killed 20, including nine children.,

We are talking to Russia. We would like them to stop, Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One. I dont like the bombing, the bombing goes on and on, and every week thousands of young people being killed.
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Passengers on board the Cunard luxury cruise liner, Queen Anne, were warned to stay vigilant while the 113,000-ton vessel passed through waters known for piracy.

A TikTok video from user cruisegypsyuk@lillydapink, which has racked up more than eight million views, showed an announcement to passengers as they traveled from Darwin, Australia, to Manila in the Phillippines through the Sulu-Celebes Sea.

This area is known for piracy threats, they were told via a loudspeaker in their rooms.

As a result, the cruise would be operating at a heightened level of security alertness during this period, which included the external promenade deck being closed overnight and deck lights will be on to reduce the ship's external lighting.

Passengers were also asked to turn off their stateroom lights and keep their curtains drawn.

I assure you that measures to prevent any unlikely incident have been well planned and the likelihood of this happening on a big ship like Queen Anne is absolutely minimal, the announcement continued.

As part of standard maritime procedures, our Captains may make precautionary announcements when sailing through certain regions, a representative for Cunard told Business Insider. There was no specific threat to the ship or its guests, and our onboard experience remained uninterrupted.

In a follow-up post, the TikTok user praised the Queen Annes onboard security, writing: So all the blinds were shut, and the lights were down to the minimum last night. The security did an amazing job keeping watch over the ship last night. Well done guys.

The Cunard Luxury Cruise Liner, "Queen Anne" sails The Mersey in England. Passengers were recently told to stay vigilant as they passed through the Sulu-Celebes Sea in the Philippines ( AFP via Getty Images )

In another video, she showed off the cruise ships sonic cannon. Many cruise ships are fitted with a Long-Range Acoustic Device, which emits high-pitched, targeted noise that repels attackers.

The Sulu-Celebes Sea has previously been a hotspot for kidnapping-for-ransom incidents, particularly involving groups such as Abu Sayyaf  a violent Islamic separatist group operating in the southern Philippines.

Since March 2016, the Information Sharing Centre of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia has reported a total of 86 abductions.

The last significant pirate attacks on cruise ships occurred in 2005 and 2009, both of which were successfully able to escape unharmed.

The Queen Anne is currently on its maiden world voyage. The 111-night trip began in Hamburg, Germany, on January 7 and has made stops in England, New York, Hawaii, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia

The ship will return to Hamburg on April 29, after stopping in Vietnam, South Africa, Singapore and Malaysia.
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Ministers have ordered an urgent probe into the substation fire which forced Heathrow airport to close for 15 hours on Friday  as experts claimed the remarkable meltdown had embarrassed Britain on the global stage.

The travel plans of up to 300,000 passengers were cast into disarray on Friday after the blaze at a single west London substation grounded more than 1,300 flights between Europes busiest airport and locations across the globe.

While the airport declared itself fully operational once again on Saturday  with hundreds of extra airport staff rallied to facilitate an additional 10,000 passengers travelling through Heathrow  more than 100 flights were cancelled, including those travelling to New York and arriving from Dubai. Heathrow would typically expect to facilitate 600 flights on Saturday.

open image in gallery Passenger aircraft operated by British Airways on the tarmac at London Heathrow airport on 21 March ( Getty Images )

After counter-terrorism officers were initially called in to lead the investigation into the fire, police confirmed on Saturday that the blaze was believed to be non-suspicious and said the London Fire Brigade would instead lead a probe focusing on electrical distribution equipment.

Criticism of the situation has since intensified, with Labour peer Toby Harris  who leads the National Preparedness Commission, which campaigns to improve resilience  saying: Its a huge embarrassment for the country that a fire in one electricity substation can have such a devastating effect.

Jason Bona, owner of supply chain firm PS Forwarding, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme the incident made Heathrow a laughing stock in the global freight community.

It is a clear planning failure by the airport, said Willie Walsh, a former British Airways chief who now leads the global airline body IATA and has long been a fierce critic of Heathrow.

Vowing that the government is determined to do everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow, energy secretary Ed Miliband said on Saturday evening he had ordered the grid operator to urgently investigate the outage.

open image in gallery A view of the North Hyde electrical substation on Saturday, after the fire was extinguished ( Maja Smiejkowska/PA Wire )

In conjunction with regulator Ofgem, Mr Miliband commissioned the National Energy System Operator (Neso) to carry out the independent probe to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learned regarding energy resilience for critical national infrastructure, both now and in the future.

Neso is expected to report to Ofgem and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero with its initial findings within six weeks.

Welcoming the investigation, Heathrows chief executive Thomas Woldbye vowed to support every effort to understand the causes and impacts of the fire and said his staff were committed to working closely with all stakeholders to ensure a thorough investigation to help strengthen the airports future resilience.

Heathrow chair Lord Paul Deighton further confirmed on Saturday evening that former transport secretary Ruth Kelly, who is an independent member of the airports board, will undertake a review of the airports crisis management plans.

The London Fire Brigade warned its own investigation to establish the exact cause of the fire at the Hayes high-voltage substation could take weeks.

Deputy commissioner Jonathan Smith said: The fire involved a transformer comprising 25,000 litres of its cooling oil fully alight. This created a major hazard owing to the still live high voltage equipment and the nature of an oil-fuelled fire.

open image in gallery The travel plans of up to 300,000 passengers were cast into disarray on Friday following the fire ( PA )

After the fire in Hayes knocked out both the substation and its backup, Heathrow was left with only two remaining grid supply points to fall back on.

While these two supply points are capable of powering the airport, Mr Woldbye said this was only after a complex process that involved reallocating supplies and resetting systems across the airport, which took most of Friday to complete.

Firefighters will maintain a small presence at Hayes in the coming days to ensure any remaining hotspots within the electrical equipment are fully extinguished.

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said: Heathrow is a massive airport that uses the energy of a small city, so its imperative we identify how this power failure happened and learn from this to ensure a vital piece of national infrastructure remains strong.

Whilst Heathrow is back to business, some disruption is expected over coming days as things get back to normal so I encourage anyone travelling to check with their airlines and plan their journeys.

open image in gallery The Heathrow Express service will also be running a reduced service on Sunday ( Getty Images )

In a double blow for travellers, that disruption will also extend to rail travel to and from the airport. The Heathrow Express announced it will be out of action for upgrade work on Sunday morning.

A Heathrow Express spokesperson said: A gentle reminder: Due to planned railway upgrade work, Heathrow Express will be running a reduced service on Sunday, 23 March, with no service before 9.12am.

With British Airways  whose main hub is Heathrow  saying it expected around 85 per cent of its schedule to proceed on Saturday, chief executive Sean Doyle warned of a huge impact on all of our customers flying with us over the coming days.

However, Virgin Atlantic said it was planning to run a near-full schedule on Saturday with limited cancellations. Air India said it had restarted flights to and from Heathrow and expected to operate as per schedule.

As some passengers described nightmarish bids to reach their intended destinations on Saturday, others praised Heathrow and their airlines handling of the situation.

open image in gallery Passengers queue at a check-in desk at Heathrow Terminal 2 in London ( Maja Smiejkowska/PA )

Holidaymaker Tim Kolb, who travelled from Dallas, Texas, said: I thought I was going to be there delayed two days, but I went over yesterday. It was organised well. In fact, they had several planes leaving within an hour of each other to Heathrow.

Mr Woldbye apologised to stranded passengers and defended the airports response to the situation, saying the incident was as as big as it gets for our airport and that we cannot guard ourselves 100 per cent.

Aviation experts said the last time European airports had experienced disruption on such a large scale was the 2010 Icelandic volcanic ash cloud that grounded some 100,000 flights.

Heathrow and Londons other major airports have also been hit by other major outages in recent years, most recently by an automated gate failure and an air traffic system meltdown, both in 2023.

With the travel industry facing the prospect of a financial hit costing tens of millions of pounds and a likely fight over who should foot the bill, Mr Woldbye responded to questions about who would pay for the disruption on Friday. There were procedures in place, he said. [But] We dont have liabilities in place for incidents like this.
He made his call and then it was up to me to make my call and I did  Joey OBrien on decision to take over from Damien Duff and nervy win over Cork
All Irish flights took off this morning for London Heathrow as the UK capitals largest airport resumed service following an unprecedented power cut.

Flights at London Heathrow Airport resumed last night after a fire knocked out its power supply and shut Europes busiest airport for the day, stranding thousands of passengers and causing travel turmoil worldwide.

Over 1,300 flights and up to 291,000 passengers were affected by the closure. A total of 34 flights were cancelled between Dublin Airport and Heathrow.

Flights to the UK capital resumed from Dublin Airport, Cork Airport and Shannon Airport today.

A total of 14 flights take off from Dublin to Heathrow today, with four already having left. They are being operated by Aer Lingus and British Airways.

While 11 flights will fly from Heathrow to Dublin Airport through the airlines. The first of those this morning was cancelled, while the rest are operational.

The first flights landed at Heathrow on Friday evening after the airport closed for more than 15 hours, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded worldwide due to a fire at a nearby power substation.

The airports chief executive apologised to everyone who suffered disruption and defended the response to the unprecedented loss of power.

The closure is estimated to cost the UK economy up to 4.8 million in lost tourism revenue per day, based on average inbound passenger spending.

Additional economic costs include lost earnings for airport and airline staff, reduced income for airport businesses, and insurance payouts.

A spokesperson for Heathrow said early this morning there were hundreds of extra staff on hand to help 10,000 extra passengers on Saturday.

He said: "Teams across the airport continue to do everything they can to support passengers impacted by yesterday's outage at an off-airport power substation.

"Passengers travelling today should check with their airline for the latest information regarding their flight."

The Metropolitan Police are not treating the incident as suspicious and the London Fire Brigades investigation is focusing on the electrical distribution equipment.
As a fit, young, father of two, Nathan Nash put his persistent lower back pain down to the physical nature of his work as a bathroom fitter and plumber.

But last summer, when he had to be lifted off a sun lounger by his wife while on holiday because he could not move, he knew it was more sinister.
Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes should be at career peak, but his greatest challenges are off the pitch

The five-time All Ireland winner has become better known recently for his dangerous driving and violent disorder convictions

Limerick star Kyle Hayes to avoid jail if suitable for community service

Ralph Riegel Sat 22 Mar 2025 at 03:30

As he should be entering the peak of his hurling career, Limerick player Kyle Hayes faces his greatest challenge off the pitch rather than on it.
A man in his 30s is due before court today in Cork in connection with an assault that left another man hospitalised with injuries.

Gardai said they were investigating an assault that occurred on Wellington Road in Cork city on Wednesday morning.

The man, aged in his 30s, was arrested by gardai for an offence contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 yesterday.

He is being detained at a Garda station in Cork city under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

He has since been charged and is due to appear before a special sitting of Cork City District Court at 4:30pm this afternoon.

The injured male continues to receive medical treatment at Cork University Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Investigations are ongoing, a garda spokesperson said.

Cork City District Court

Today's News in 90 Seconds - March 22nd

Gardai continue to appeal for any witnesses to this incident to come forward.

Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and were travelling in the Wellington Road and Military Hill area between 11:00am and 12:00pm on Wednesday 19th March 2025 are asked to make this footage available to investigating Gardai.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Mayfield Garda Station on 021 455 8510, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
The new recruits will be based at the Store Street and Pearse Street garda stations in Dublin city centre. Photo: stock image

A total of 66 new gardai are to go to Pearse Street and Store Street garda stations in Dublin, the Irish Independent has learned.

It will be a boost to the force in Dublin city centre, around the streets that were hit by the November 2023 riots.

The decision follows consultations between Justice Minister Jim OCallaghan and outgoing Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, but was kept under wraps as an operational matter.

Almost 9m has been provided for new and enhanced public-order equipment since the riots, including two water-cannon vehicles bought from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) at a cost of 1m each.

New garda body armour distributed last year cost 2.7m, with a further 392,000 for riot overalls and an extra 281,000 for torso protectors, more commonly known as flak jackets.

Gardai were also given 325,000 worth of stronger strength incapacitant spray in a variety of forms, such as CS gas and pepper spray.

The stocks will be routinely available to all members on public order duty.

Store Street garda station, Dublin. Photo: Collins Photos

Today's News in 90 Seconds - March 22nd

Meanwhile, the two water-cannon vehicles have been overhauled and recalibrated, and are now operationally ready for deployment on Irish streets where needed.

There was criticism of their absence during violent protests and agitation last July outside the former Crown Paints factory in Coolock, north Dublin, which was to be repurposed as migrant accommodation.

There are currently 14,167 garda members across the country, an increase of around 10pc since 2015  although the opposition parties made the point that because the national population has surged, there are now fewer gardai per capita than in 2005.

We are at a stage where we are trying to recruit as many members into An Garda Siochana as we can, Mr OCallaghan told the Dail on Thursday.

He said he understood that there are serving PSNI officers living in this jurisdiction who would like to become members of An Garda Siochana, and this could be a useful means of quickly boosting the numbers, given reports that a second garda college will be needed to meet recruitment requirements.

At present, their difficulty is that in order to become a member of An Garda Siochana through the standard route, they would have to go to Templemore [Garda College]. That would involve them having to give up their jobs in the PSNI, which would be extremely difficult, Mr OCallaghan said.

The new recruits will be based at the Store Street and Pearse Street garda stations in Dublin city centre. Photo: stock image

He added that he would consult with senior management in An Garda Siochana on the matter.

I would like to know if there are many members of the PSNI living in this jurisdiction who would like to transfer over.

Obviously, there would have to be certain requirements in order for them to do so. I would have thought that if those requirements can be met, it would be a useful method of trying to increase numbers. I will consult with the Commissioner.

He then added: Another relevant point is that there is nothing stopping people in the North who are not in the PSNI from applying to become members of An Garda Siochana.

I suspect the terms and conditions are more favourable than those relating to people who join the PSNI. That is something we need to focus on. People from the North are welcome to apply to An Garda Siochana.
Fiona McHugh, who has died aged 57 after an illness, was a visionary, adventurous, warm and generous journalist and businesswoman who became one of the first female national newspaper editors in Ireland when she was appointed to the Irish edition of The Sunday Times.

Her ability to combine leadership qualities of firm judgment and a cool head with a deeply caring nature and sense of humour ensured she commanded great respect and affection among colleagues in both journalism and the food business she helped to found.

She was born in June 1967 in Nicosia, Cyprus, where her parents had been relocated to after the outbreak of the Six-Day War between Israel and a coalition of Arab states.

Her father Frank  one of a number of members of An Garda Siochana who had been recruited as an administrator by the United Nations (UN)  was based with his family in Jerusalem at the time.

His wife Norrie was pregnant with Fiona when they were evacuated from Israel to Cyprus, and they stayed there for several years. The family moved with him to Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and he worked latterly in India and Pakistan.

Along with her four siblings, she received a primary education in international schools wherever her parents were based. She was then sent as a boarder to secondary school in Ireland, initially at Ring College in Waterford and then to Loreto on the Green in Dublin.

Her older brother Peter recalls that the siblings formed a special bond, all travelling to see their parents during school holidays. He remembers that he was at university when he was assigned as a responsible adult for his younger sister at secondary level.

While she was a diligent student, she was constantly challenging teachers with her questioning nature, he says. Fellow pupils at Loreto included Nicola Byrne and the late Keelin Shanley, and both of them became her lifelong friends and pursued successful careers in journalism.

She studied English and philosophy at University College Dublin, and then went to Brussels, initially as a stagiaire. She worked with Reuters, The Economist and Bloomberg before joining the Irish edition of The Sunday Times in 1998 as its business editor.

Its then editor, Rory Godson, who recruited her, recalls that in joining the raucous world of The Sunday Times Ireland, she adapted quickly to the far less formulaic style that she had been trained to write in at Bloomberg. He says she was noticeably talented, breaking a number of stories, including the sale of Esat to British Telecom, and Irish Lifes merger with Irish Permanent in 1998, the largest such move in Irish corporate history at the time.

Colleague and friend John Burns recalls that although the merger report was her scoop, she shared a byline with colleagues which was very typical of her generous nature.

She was only 32 when she succeeded Godson as Sunday Times Ireland editor, after he was appointed to the newspapers business desk in London.

She had impressed The Sunday Times editor John Witherow, according to a former colleague who described her as intensely creative and full of drive.

She quickly established herself as a confident, calm manager who built a good team, including deputy editor Maeve Sheehan, news editor John Burns, political journalists Emily OReilly and Brian Dowling.

One of her first moves was to buy dictionaries and reference books which she encouraged staff to use in their research and writing, and she was fastidious about grammar and punctuation. Expansion of the coverage of the Irish edition reflected her diverse interests from rock music to food to travel, and circulation grew under her watch.

Maeve Sheehan says she powered through that editorship, calm, focused and unflappable, and she made it fun. In the early days in Huguenot House, and with her typical style, shed often celebrate putting an edition to bed by bringing us for a cocktail in the Shelbourne bar.

However, McHugh always had a yearning to go into business. She had spoken to her friend Nicola Byrne back in 2001 of her dream to set up a delicatessen in Dublin similar to Dean & DeLuca in New York. Her husband Paul Byrne had been impressed with it when he worked in the US in the 1980s before going into development with his father.

The last Sunday Times Ireland edition she produced for October 23, 2005, was on the Saturday (October 22) when Fianna Fail TD Liam Lawlor died in a car crash in Moscow.

Five Irish newspapers, including this one, were subsequently sued by interpreter Julia Kushnir, a legal assistant and interpreter who had been travelling in the car with Lawlor and was wrongly identified.

The Sunday Times Ireland had stuck to the known facts, and Burns had the front page of that edition framed to present to her, which he did the following week before she left.

It was a good memento of her time there and her standards of accuracy he said.

In early 2006, she realised her dream when she opened Fallon & Byrne with her husband Paul and restaurateur Brian Fallon. She had identified the Victorian former telephone exchange building in Dublins Exchequer Street as an ideal location for the food hall, restaurant and wine cellar.

Once again, she sought no byline for herself. She left her surname out of the business title, believing three might make it sound like a firm of lawyers.

The couple had already started a young family, but they and their core team put in long hours seven days a week to set up an award-winning business that employed 100 staff.

Over 20 chefs were recruited, including Tom Meenaghan, formerly of Terence Conran in London.

Much of its stock was supplied directly from producers abroad. She had established good sources in Europe on holidays in Lucca, Italy, where the couple shared a house.

However, the business weathered some storms, including fraud and embezzlement by a former staff member which left it unable to pay a large tax bill.

The company survived an examinership, and opened outlets at the Peoples Park in Dun Laoghaire and in the Swan Centre in Rathmines.

In 2020, McHugh and Byrne sold their 45pc stake in the business, having opened Lenehans Bar & Grill in Rathmines the year before.

After Lenehans closed in 2022, Byrne returned to development. McHugh worked with him, employing her sense of style and interest in design to great effect.

Friends say she was an eternal optimist who hadnt a cynical bone in her body, and had a big heart and a smile that could light up a room.

Speaking at her funeral, her husband described her optimism as one of her most enduring characteristics, along with her sense of adventure and a great self-belief that was infectious.

While he noted that much had been written about his wifes career in journalism and their adventures together in business, the one thing we really got right was our three fabulous kids, the absolute love of her life.

We are so proud of them... Kids just go on and live your best versions of yourselves, he said.

Fiona McHugh is survived by her husband Paul, children Kate, Rory and Jack, her siblings Peter, Karen, Orla and Emer, and extended family.
State forestry company Coillte has quietly shut down Coillte Nature, the not-for-profit branch it set up on nature restoration projects.

Staff deployed to Coillte Nature are now working with another not-for-profit enterprise co-founded by Coillte that offers corporate investors woodland credits in return for financing planting.

The enterprise, Nature Trust, is a collaboration between Coillte and a company founded by serial tech start-up entrepreneur, John Beckett, who began his career as Ryanairs website designer.

Coillte said Coillte Natures work had been absorbed into the main company and its nature and biodiversity projects were being continued.

Forest. Photo: Stock

Today's News in 90 Seconds - March 22nd

Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore, the partys climate and nature spokesperson, said, however, that she was concerned by it.

She said she would be asking the new Oireachtas Environment Committee, when it is set up, to call Coillte before it to explain its rationale.

If Coillte had a non-commercial mandate, I wouldnt be as concerned about them stopping Coillte Nature, but ultimately these are all business decisions and commercial decisions that theyre making, she said.

Coillte Nature was set up in 2019 as the not-for-profit branch of Coillte that is dedicated to the restoration, regeneration and rehabilitation of nature across Ireland.

Its work includes the Dublin Mountains Makeover project, regeneration of the Midlands Native Woodlands, rehabilitation of the Wild Western Peatlands in the north-west and the restoration of Hazelwood in Co Sligo.

Coillte said it had decided to absorb the work of Coillte Nature into its existing and larger Coillte Forest organisational structure.

This reorganisation will enable Coillte to significantly increase its delivery of climate and nature restoration projects, it said.

By leveraging its economies of scale, Coillte aims to ensure a fully integrated approach to all nature and biodiversity projects going forward thereby effectively delivering on its long-term ambitions.

It said the decision was taken in light of its strategic vision announced in 2022.

However, the strategic vision document sets out the role Coillte Nature would play in it, and the companys last annual report, for 2023, makes no mention of disbanding it.

Coillte said it had shared details of the move with staff and key stakeholders at the end of January.

However, a letter from Forestry Minister Michael Healy-Rae to Environment Minister Darragh OBrien seen by the Irish Independent shows Mr OBrien asked Mr Healy-Rae what was happening with it at the start of March.

Mr Healy-Rae replied some days later, saying he had raised the issue with Coillte and attaching the companys reply. It is largely the same statement Coillte furnished in response to Irish Independent queries. Ms Whitmore said clarity was needed as to why Coillte did not publicise the move.

For a body like Coillte, key stakeholders are the public. There should have been a public announcement, she said.

She also called for greater clarity on the role of Nature Trust. Coillte said it was a separate legal entity jointly founded with John Becketts Forestry Partners in 2021 to focus on creating new native woodlands across Ireland.

Coillte said Nature Trust had no employees, but that Coillte was providing it with services. Its website shows the same management team that were deployed by Coillte to Coillte Nature are now deployed to Nature Trust.

Nature Trust sells woodland credits to companies in return for investing in planting, but Coillte said: This is not a carbon offsetting programme.

However, Bank of Ireland which developed the Nature Trust woodland credit scheme describes it as being used in a carbon offsetting social enterprise..

Carbon offset and credit schemes can create complexities around who gets to lay claim to any emission reductions achieved when trees capture and retain carbon dioxide  the landowner or the investor. Ms Whitmore said it was essential to have clarity around how the Nature Trust scheme worked.

She said that Coillte was the countrys largest landowner, responsible for 440,000 hectares of public land  7pc of the countrys entire land area  in the form of commercial forest, amenity forest and other habitats.

Were moving to a period where we will have to implement the Nature Restoration Law and Coillte will have to play a major part in that.

The public want Coillte to be doing nature-friendly planting and nature-friendly management, so any lack of transparency would undermine peoples trust in their ability to do that.

Coillte said: Coillte remains fully committed to its climate action, nature and biodiversity goals, which need to be financially underpinned by a strong commercial forestry operation.

It will continue to support restoration, regeneration and rehabilitation of nature across Ireland.
Mary Lou McDonald described the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael proposal as 'farcical'. Photo: Fergal Phillips

The ongoing speaking row saga is set to come to a head yet again next week, with Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald vowing to face the Government down on this.

A vote on the government amendments to standing orders is set to take place in the Dail on Tuesday, which would see other members recognised for speaking time.

This would include government backbenchers and Independent TDs who have said they would support the Government.

Opposition TDs have strongly criticised the decision to hold a vote on the government changes to standing orders without a debate or discussion, with some describing it as utterly disgraceful behaviour and a new low.

Ahead of the vote, the opposition put forward its amendments to the government's proposals, which would see a "Government-aligned technical group" recognised in the Dail.

The submission is a joint proposal from parties on the opposition benches, which includes Sinn Fein, Labour, Social Democrats, People Before Profit and Independent Ireland.

In it, they propose the idea of a Government-aligned technical group, which the submission says is a body of members who are aligned with the Government and who are not members of a party.

Mary Lou McDonald described the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael proposal as 'farcical'. Photo: Fergal Phillips

Today's News in 90 Seconds - March 22nd

The submission is a clear doubling-down by the opposition on their stance that Michael Lowry, Barry Heneghan, Gillian Toole and Danny Healy Rae are government TDs and not members of the opposition.

On speaking time, the oppositions amendment says that this group should be treated as equivalent to a party in government in relation to allocation of speaking time, committee positions and committee cathaoirligh.

The amendment would also see a limit imposed on the number of Government-aligned technical groups to just one.

Speaking in Stormont yesterday, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said leaders in opposition parties would meet ahead of the vote to decide their collective response.

We've entered our amendment, and we are going to face the Government down on this, Ms McDonald said.

I've been speaking to other opposition leaders this morning, we will be talking in the course of the weekend. We'll meet early next week, I imagine on Monday, just to finally decide a joint approach to this, she added.

Ms McDonald accused the Government of not wanting to be held to account and said the row isn't about speaking time for government members or government TDs.

Its about trying to frustrate or blunt the efforts of the combined opposition, to represent people, to hold the Government to account and to ensure that matters politic about democracy itself works, Ms McDonald said.

Labour Party whip Duncan Smith said the decision not to hold a debate in the Dail on the government amendments to standing orders was utterly disgraceful behaviour.

The fact the Government are pursuing this proposal without debate I think further highlights how in the wrong they are on this matter, Mr Smith said.

While deputy leader of the Social Democrats Cian OCallaghan said putting the amendments to a vote without debate was extremely serious and a new low.

I'm unaware of any situation before where TDs have requested a discussion or debate before a vote takes place on a motion and that hasnt been facilitated. So this is a new low, Mr OCallaghan said.

A spokesperson for the Governments Chief Whip Mary Butler said there had been hours and hours of exhaustive debate on this issue at the Dail Committee on Standing Orders and Reform.

He added that the proposed changes from Government are modest and recognise the evolving nature of the Dail.

There seems to be a fascination by some in the opposition to keep talking about this and accuse the government of not being focused on anything else.

This Government is focused on the issues that matter to people  the cost of living, housing, education, health, international trade and security.

The opposition meanwhile dont seem too interested in these issues and is giving over airtime in the media to complaining about modest changes to the workings of the Dail, he said.
Darren Kennedy asks Susan McGowan, creative director at Ashen & Cloud, for her expert tips

A small room doesnt have to feel cramped  with the right approach, you can create a sense of openness and flow. From clever furniture placement to strategic lighting and colour choices, even the most compact spaces can be transformed to feel airy and inviting.

Before making any design decisions, Susan McGowan, creative director at Ashen & Cloud, suggests considering the atmosphere you want to create. How you want to feel in the space will inform the tools you use to make it appear larger, she explains. Whether its calm and airy or warm and cocooning, this starting point will guide everything from colour choices to furniture placement.

Susan McGowan, creative director at Ashen & Cloud. Photo: Ruth Maria Murphy

Paint is one of the easiest and most effective ways to visually expand a room. Lighter tones naturally reflect light, creating a sense of openness, McGowan advises. But its not just about stark white  warmer neutrals can add softness and counteract the cool, grey northern light many Irish homes experience. A well-chosen paint colour can completely transform a space, making it feel fresher, brighter and more inviting.

Materials play a huge role in shaping how a space feels. Reflective surfaces give the illusion of depth, and theres no better tool than the humble mirror, says McGowan . While a decorative mirror on the wall can certainly help, she encourages going a step further. Think beyond accessories  use mirror as a key material. Cladding a wall, a ceiling, or even a kitchen backsplash in mirror can work wonders to open up a space.

Interiors by Ashen & Cloud. Photo: Ruth Maria Murphy

McGowan also cautions that no amount of paint or material will correct a poor layout. Thoughtful planning is crucial in small spaces. She recommends measuring everything, creating a rough furniture plan, and even marking out areas with tape before committing to purchases. Impulse buys can be the enemy of a well-functioning space  know what works before bringing in new pieces.

Theres no getting around it: clutter makes a space feel smaller. The best way to declutter is to take everything out of a room and put back only what has purpose, meaning, or brings you joy, McGowan suggests. Removing excess items creates a more refined and restful space, instantly making it feel larger. Lighting can completely change how a space is perceived. During the day, maximise natural light as much as possible, she advises. Sheer curtains or blinds provide privacy without blocking out daylight. And if possible, adding a skylight can flood a space with up to three times the amount of natural light.

Interiors by Ashen & Cloud. Photo: Ruth Maria Murphy

For those willing to experiment, she suggests playing with datum lines  elements such as window sills, dado rails, or door lintels that naturally divide a room. Panelling, colour blocking, or adjusting curtain heights can cleverly alter a rooms proportions, she explains. For example, mounting curtains at ceiling height makes a room feel taller, while half-panelling can create the illusion of width or height depending on its placement.

The key is being intentional with every design choice.
Pol O Conghaile: Taking the car to France? Irish holidaymakers may need this sticker  or face a fine of 68

From 2025, all French cities with over 150,000 inhabitants are required to introduce the system  so if you plan on driving, its best to have a sticker.

FRANCE - 2022/07/20: In this photo illustration, a man holds a Crit'Air anti-pollution vehicle sticker between his fingers. (Photo Illustration by Gerard Bottino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Pol O Conghaile Thu 20 Mar 2025 at 03:30

Taking the car by ferry to France? Its a time-honoured holiday for many Irish families, with tens of thousands of journeys expected this summer.
Comedian and musician Garron Noone deactivated his social media accounts on Thursday night following a huge reaction prompted by comments he made about immigration.

Noone, who had amassed over 1.7 million followers on TikTok alone, was sharing his thoughts about MMA fighter Conor McGregors visit to the White House this week after being inundated with messages asking him to speak about it.
Edaein OConnell: As the wheels come off our mad world, Kerry plamas could be our superpower

How we handle our tourism trade  particularly when it comes to Irish-Americans  could have a big impact in these troubled times

Vice-president JD Vance fell under the spell of the Ring of Kerry. Photo: AP

Edaein O'Connell Sat 22 Mar 2025 at 03:30

On a recent trip to Killarney, I found myself in a pub singing Grace to a brigade of Americans.
Like many Irish people, I was appalled by Conor McGregors trip to the White House on Monday. Yes, as Simon Harris indicated, Donald Trump can invite whoever he likes to his home and, yes, as many people suggested online, it makes sense that these two men would share mutual admiration. But I deeply resented McGregor putting himself forward as a representative of the Irish people.
A Dublin secondary school has been embroiled in controversy after it was claimed online that one of its teachers is the notorious GAA catfish. County Armagh woman Niamh Farrell denies being the catfish who deceived at least 40 people, including multiple Ulster GAA players.

The catfish used multiple aliases and profiles with stolen photos, including the names Aoife Kennedy and Cora O'Donovan.

While Ms Farrell insists she is not the GAA Catfish, an investigation carried out by her school claimed she admitted to her principal she is the person at the centre of The 2 Johnnies podcast series, which has reportedly been listened to more than a million times.

Colaiste Eanna, the secondary school on Ballyroan Road, Rathfarnam, had launched a serious investigation into Ms Farrell, amid claims she had disrupted the school and brought it into disrepute by dragging it into the podcasting scandal.

But this disciplinary process was halted this week, after Ms Farrell was granted an interim injunction against Colaiste Eanna.

Today on The Indo Daily, Ciaran Dunbar is joined by Irish Independent Special Correspondent Ellen Coyne, to discuss the dispute, and the school at the centre of the controversy.
Macroom Tidy Towns has secured vital grant aid under Community Foundation Ireland in partnership with the National Parks and Wildlife Service

The grant is issued from Community Foundation Ireland and is in partnership with the National Parks and Wildlife Service

Macroom Tidy Towns is to receive a grant aimed at supporting the development of a local Biodiversity Action Plan to protect and promote plants, wildlife and habitats in the area.

The grant is issued by Community Foundation Ireland and is in partnership with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Climate Ambassador with An Taisce and Biodiversity Officer with Macroom Tidy Towns John Lyons submitted the grant request alongside Project Office Joseph Cronin.

Works on the Community Biodiversity Action Plan will commence next month and will be carried out with a professional ecologist.

The plans include habitat mapping, identifying local diversity areas of value and will highlight areas that can be managed effectively from both an ecological and biodiversity perspective.

Macroom has been selected as a Pilot Decarbonisation Zone by Cork County Council and this work will contribute to the pilot and will make a positive contribution to Corks Climate Action Plan.

The biodiversity plan will provide a template for both remedial and ongoing actions in this regard and will be forwarded for inclusion in the National Biodiversity Action Plan, he said.

Some 94 projects received support under the current grant round and over 250 communities have implemented local action planning since the partnership started in 2019.

Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity Christopher OSullivan TD said:

This partnership between the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Community Foundation Ireland is a great example of how we can empower and support community organisations to learn about their local biodiversity and use that knowledge along with their creativity to come up with a plan which is unique to their area.

Im really impressed with the range of projects involved and excited to see the outcomes of their work, Mr OSullivan said.

According to Chief Executive of Community Foundation Ireland Denise Charlton, every county in Ireland is benefitting from the current grand round.

The fact that this current grant round is impacting in every county shows the groundswell of support for biodiversity action.

The partnership of the Foundation, its philanthropists and community partners together with the National Parks and Wildlife Service is effective and works.

Our natural heritage is being protected for generations to come, she added.
The Retired Teachers Sligo (RTS) hosted an evening in the Hawks Well Theatre Sligo entitled Making Sense of Humour. This evening was a positive mental health initiative which was supported by the HSE Connecting for Life. Retired senior citizens from all walks of life were welcomed to a night of social connection, wellness and engagement with the community.

RSTA and ASTI: France Horan, Donal Gallagher ( HSE), Imelda Harte, Tommy Marren, Carmel Heneghan, Padraic O Doherty, Ann Mc Kiernan, Jimmy Staunton.

Over the summer of 2022, representatives of the three retired teachers groups in Sligo came together and formed the RTS. It is an umbrella group consisting of the Retired Teachers Association for Primary School Teachers (RTAI), The TUI Retired Secondary Teachers Association (TUIRMA) and the Retired Secondary Teachers Association (RSTA). The RTS works towards supporting the welfare of our retired people, by encouraging camaraderie and renewing friendships. This was the third such event hosted by the RTS, Shane Martin and Gerry Farrell being the presenters of the two previous shows.

RTS Committee::Standing: Alice Lindsay, Donal Gallagher (HSE), Tommy Marren, Imelda Harte, Brid Kelly, Annette O Carroll, Joe Carolan, Martha Doherty, Seated: Doris Clements, Mairead Jennings, Frances Horan, Paula Devaney . Absent: Brid Armstrong.

Tommy Marren is a well-known broadcaster and playwright who hails from the parish of Tourlestrane, Co. Sligo. He has worked in local radio for 34 years as a current affairs broadcaster in both Mayo and Sligo and his plays have toured Ireland, the UK and America. He shared some of the highlights of his broadcasting career and presented a number of extracts from his comedy writings.

RTS Officers: Donal Gallagher ( HSE) Annette O Carroll, Tommy Marren, Doris Clements, Joe Carolan.

Through this very enjoyable night, we accompanied him through his childhood days growing up in rural Ireland when life was less complicated,when health and safety hadnt been invented, when words had simpler meanings, when we listened to the sponsored programmes on radio (2 stations vs 35/36 now), and The Riordans was the sign of the end of the weekend! His presentation was interspersed with music and hilarious sketches from some of his shows. The laughter from the audience proved he had definitely hit the right note.

RTAI: Mairead Jennings, Donal Gallagher (HSE) Tommy Marren, Charlotte Maye, Doris Clements.

After the show people mingled in the foyer, enjoyed some delicious light refreshments while they met up with past colleagues and old friends. A great night was had by all, the RTS Association said.
Sinn Fein TD Fionntan O Suilleabhain is calling on Uisce Eireann to speed up the process involved in upgrading the wastewater treatment plant at Aughrim.

The TD for Wicklow and Wexford feels the lack of progress is stalling the development of towns and villages in south Wicklow. He was speaking after holding a recent meeting with business people from Aughrim, who all voiced their frustration over the slow progress.

Uisce Eireann also confirmed to the deputy that the Aughrim Wastewater Treatment Plant isnt likely to reach the construction stage before 2029.

Selected under Irish Waters Small Towns and Villages Growth Programme, which aims to invest in local water infrastructure to provide additional capacity, the Aughrim Wastewater Treatment Plant has been going through the necessary stages, including detailed design, planning, and procurement, for over four years.

Speaking after the meeting, Deputy O Sulleabhain said: They have expressed their annoyance and said that there are people in the Aughrim area that are willing to build small developments of housing but cannot progress due to the lack of wastewater treatment facilities.

Aughrim is a beautiful village in Wicklow that has had no development for several years due to the lack of capacity of waste-water treatment plant which is vital for the further growth and development of the village. This is detrimental to the village of Aughrim.

We have Lawless Hotel that is just sitting there, idle, which needs to be brought back to life. Business people are willing to build housing, including Wicklow County Council, who have a site for social housing and with approximately 48 people in Aughrim on the waiting list. The fact these developments have stalled due the lack of an upgraded wastewater treatment is just not satisfactory when we are in the middle of a housing crisis.

When contacted by Deputy O Sulleabhain, Uisce Eireann responded that the Aughrim Wastewater Treatment Plant is currently not forecasted to progress to construction before 2029. If more funding becomes available for these types of projects, and stage 3 is completed, involving the final business case, planning and tendering, then construction could progress earlier than that.

Deputy O Sulleabhain has pledged to continue to engage with Uisce Eireann and will raise the matter in Leinster House.
Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky has said there is no way the BBC and ITV could afford to make Netflix hit Adolescence.

The crime drama, which stars This Is England actor Stephen Graham as the father of a boy accused of killing a classmate, had more than 100 extras and had each of the episodes filmed in a continuous single shot.

The four-part limited series, made near Pontefract in West Yorkshire, has received backing from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and creators Graham and Jack Thorne have accepted an invitation to a parliamentary meeting by Labour MP Josh McAlister to discuss online safety with MPs.

It has prompted a number of conversations around so-called incel (involuntary celibate) culture, which has been blamed for leading to misogyny online, and bullying using social media.

Kosminsky previously revealed he took a pay cut along with actor Sir Mark Rylance so they could conclude Dame Hilary Mantels epic historical work with Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light on the BBC last year.

He told BBC current affairs programme Newsnight that after working for 45 years in the industry, public broadcasting is facing its first existential crisis of his long career.

Kosminsky added that American streaming companies have pushed up prices so the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 cant afford to make dramas like Wolf Hall anymore or programmes such as ITVs Mr Bates Vs The Post Office and Hillsborough.

He also said that Adolescence is a fantastic programme, but Netflix would not make the show if it was not successful outside the UK.

Kosminsky also said that streamers would not make issue-led dramas such as Mr Bates Vs The Post Office as they are too British focused.

I think the BBC or ITV would wish to make Adolescence, but lets be absolutely clear, there is no way they could make it at the moment, he added.

Because the cost of making it has increased radically, directly as a result of the streamers coming and making their programmes here. Nobody disputes that.

Peter Kosminsky, Colin Callender, Mark Pybus and Peter Straughan with the Best Drama Series Bafta award for Wolf Hall in 2016 (Ian West/PA)

Earlier this year, Kosminsky called the finance of public broadcasters insufficient to make high-end TV drama in 2024/5  in the inflated cost environment created here by the streamers in a letter to MPs.

In a submission to MPs in the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, he called for making 5% of streaming income part of a UK cultural fund that would finance exclusively for high-end drama of specific interest to UK audiences but which doesnt necessarily have cross-border appeal.

A British TV (body), with its self-financing cultural fund, would be brought into existence entirely to address this market failure. Its criterion wouldnt be profit, it would be excellence, he also said.

And our culture would be the richer for it.

Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which saw a number of its actors take pay cuts, made more people aware of subpostmasters being wrongfully prosecuted, and sparked the Government to take more action on getting the workers compensation.

The original Wolf Hall series won Baftas for best drama series and a best actor gong for Oscar winner Sir Mark, was nominated for multiple Emmys, and picked up the best limited TV series award at the Golden Globes.

The Mirror And The Light, based on the final book by Dame Hilary, who died in 2022 aged 70, sees Sir Mark return as the adviser Thomas Cromwell along with Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII.

Kosminsky, who is known for the Hollywood drama White Oleander, is currently working on a three-part BBC drama series about Grenfell.
First person: I woke to the suffocating smell of blood and dust, my ears ringing with the sound of screams, as war returned to Gaza

After 57 days of fragile calm and a cautious return to homes, families are again being forced to flee

A boy sits amid rubble as Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday. Photo: Hatem Khaled/Reuters

Farida Algoul Washington Post Sat 22 Mar 2025 at 01:00







The sound of airstrikes shook the ground beneath me in Jabalya in northern Gaza early on Tuesday.
An artists impression of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Platform, the F-47 (US Air Force via AP)

US president Donald Trump said yesterday the Pentagon was awarding a contract to Boeing to build and support a sixth-generation fighter jet that will be known as the F-47  a nod to him being the 47th president of America.
Elon Musk denies New York Times report he has been given access to secret China war plans

Billionaires Pentagon visit comes amid fears China could attack Taiwan in just two years

Elon Musk and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth laugh at the Pentagon in Washington, DC on Thursday. Photo: Idrees Ali/Reuters

Phil Stewart Sat 22 Mar 2025 at 03:30







Billionaire Elon Musk held a meeting for more than an hour at the Pentagon yesterday morning as the close ally of US president Donald Trump called for the prosecutions of any Pentagon officials leaking false information about his visit.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has advised Indian nationals to comply with local laws and regulations when they are abroad to avoid legal troubles there. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal made the comments in the context of two Indian students facing deportation from the US due to their alleged links to Hamas.

CREDIT: MEA

Comply with local laws

"We expect that when we have foreign nationals coming to India, they abide by our laws and regulations. And similarly, it is our expectation that when Indian nationals are abroad, they must also comply with local laws and regulations," Jaiswal said during MEA's weekly briefing on Friday.

Two Indians, Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in Washington DC, and Ranjani Srinivasan, a doctoral student at Columbia University, landed in trouble with the Trump administration for their involvement in pro-Palestine protests on campuses.

CREDIT: Georgetown University

While Suri was detained on Monday and is facing deportation, Srinivasan had self-deported to Canada after her visa was revoked.

Two students have not contacted Indian missions

Jaiswal said that while the Indian embassy and consulates in the US will help students facing any difficulties, both Suri and Srinivasan have not reached out to the Indian missions for assistance.

"Neither the US government nor this individual has approached us or the Embassy. If they get in touch with us, then we will see how to best engage in this particular matter," he said.

CREDIT: REUTERS

Suri is still in detention in the US, and on Thursday, a court blocked his deportation from the country while the case is being heard. On the other hand, Srinivasan, whose F-1 visa was revoked, self-deported to Canada on March 11 using the Customs and Border Protection Home app.

On Srinivasan, Jaiswal said India is not aware of her getting in touch with the Indian embassy or any consulate in the US for help.

"We only came to know of her departure from the US from media reports... We understand that she has gone to Canada," he said.

For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Justice Yashwant Varma, a sitting senior judge of the Delhi High Court, who was recently transferred back to the Allahabad High Court, was named in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR in 2018. Justice Varma was named as an accused in the Simbhaoli Sugar Mills bank fraud case.

CREDIT: DELHI HIGH COURT

Simbhaoli Sugar mills case

Justice Varma, a non-executive director of Simbhaoli Sugars, was named as an accused in the FIR related to a 97.85 crore loan from the Oriental Bank of Commerce intended for farmers. Hapur-based Simbhaoli Sugars was accused of embezzling 1,300 crore in connivance with officials of seven banks.

In 2023, two years after Justice Varma was transferred to the Delhi HC, the Allahabad HC ordered a CBI probe into the loan fraud case. However, this was set aside by the Supreme Court last year.

CREDIT: X

Calls for accountability, transparency

Meanwhile, the controversy over the alleged recovery of a huge pile of cash from Justice Varma's official residence has put the focus back on corruption in the judiciary and the lack of transparency.

There is discontent among the members of the SC Collegium and in legal circles at large over Justice Varma's transfer to the Allahabad HC following the incident.

Senior lawyers, including Indira Jaising and Harish Salve, have called for more transparency in the entire episode.

Supreme Court statement

Earlier, on Friday, the Supreme Court issued a statement saying that on receiving the information, the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court commenced the in-house enquiry procedure, collecting evidence and information regarding allegations against Justice Varma.

CREDIT: DELHI HIGH COURT

The Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court had commenced his enquiry into the allegations against Justice Varma prior to the Supreme Court Collegium meeting on 20 March, said the press release.

"There is misinformation and rumours being spread with regard to the incident at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma," it further added.

The Supreme Court also denied that Justice Varma's transfer was recommended by its Collegium.

DFS Chief denies 'no cash recovered' claim

Friday also saw yet another twist in the cash recovery controversy, as Delhi Fire Services (DFS) Chief Atul Garg clarified media reports attributing a statement to him, claiming that no cash was found during firefighting operations at the judge's residence.

Garg told IANS that he never told any media outlet that firefighters had reported no cash found at the scene.

For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Motorola Razr 60 ultra: Motorola is getting ready to introduce the Razr 60 Ultra in India, and it will have a unique appearance! You heard correctly: picture a high-end folding phone with a gorgeous hardwood back. This innovative twist combines cutting-edge technology with timeless design, making it one of the most fashionable foldables.

However, appearances aren't everything! All-day power is guaranteed by the 4,000mAh battery, and an immersive viewing experience is promised with the 6.9-inch folding display.

The Razr 60 Ultra may be the most fashionable foldable phone we've ever seen, and Motorola is pushing the envelope in terms of innovation. Are you curious about its features, specifications, and launch information? Let's get started!

Motorola Razr 60 Ultra foldable phone expected launch

As part of its well-liked Razr series, Motorola is preparing to release the Razr 60 Ultra, its next foldable smartphone. Although there is still no official word on when it will be released, leaks have begun to show what the device may look like.

Motorola Razr 60 Ultra foldable phone expected specifications

Motorola Razr 60 Ultra foldable phone might launch soon | Credit: EVLeaks

The latest GIF of the Motorola Razr 60 Ultra was posted on X by well-known tipster Evan Blass (@evleaks), showing the phone with what looks to be a wooden finish. It's still unknown, though, what materials were used for the back panel.

The design adds a new look to the foldable series and is very similar to the Nordic Wood colour version of the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra. The Razr 60 Ultra's overall design is identical to its predecessor, the Razr 50 Ultra, save for its unique wooden grain.

According to the leaked photos, the phone has low bezels, a twin camera arrangement on the outside, and a hole-punch cutout on the primary internal display. Previous leaks have also suggested that the next foldable will come in red and green variants.

Although Motorola has not officially confirmed the Razr 60 Ultra's release date, the growing number of leaks indicates that a formal announcement may be imminent.

The Motorola Razr+ 2025 may be the name under which the gadget is released in North America. According to rumours, the Motorola Razr 60 Ultra's specs will have 256GB of internal storage, 12GB of RAM, and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite CPU. The phone is anticipated to have a 4,000mAh battery and a 6.9-inch foldable OLED display.

For more informative articles on historical and upcoming events from around the world, please visit Indiatimes Events.
Chinese experts warn cellphone overuse of affecting sleep quality

Xinhua) 13:26, March 22, 2025

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese experts have warned of the effect of overusing cell phones on sleep quality, as the electronic device has become indispensable to modern life while problems with sleep have surged.

A recent survey about Chinese people's sleep condition reveals that 48.5 percent of Chinese adults have sleep disturbance, and the suffering will sharpen as people age.

On the occasion of World Sleep Day, which fell on Friday, experts have reminded people to reduce the use of electronic devices before sleep time, especially to avoid indulging in social media and video-sharing platforms.

The survey, conducted by the Chinese Sleep Research Society and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, notes that the population spending over three hours on social media per day is 2.3 times more susceptible to sleep disturbance.

"Each hour of exposure to electronic screens will shorten 10 to 20 minutes of deep sleep," said Meng Fanqiang, a senior doctor at a Beijing-based hospital leading in mental disorders.

Experts also warned that many teenagers have poor sleep quality due to the overuse of mobile phones before going to sleep.

The blue light emitted by electronic screens can reduce the secretion of melatonin, an important hormone that helps fall asleep.

"Teenagers with poor sleep state for a long time will experience a significant decline in their daytime attention and memory," Meng said.

In recent years, China has pooled efforts from both school and family to ensure sufficient sleep for students, requiring that at lease eight hours of sleep are needed each day.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
Anne Jones was 8 months pregnant when she climbed into a boiler at the old Heskett coal plant in Mandan.

The boiler was turned off and everyone else had ventured through a metal portal to see a fluidized bed, what was then a new piece of technology at the plant in the 1980s. So Jones, now a long-time MDU Resources employee, wanted to check it out, too.

"My boss came in and he goes, 'Where's Anne?' And I could hear him talking and I was in there and I had crawled through on my hands and knees, and he was like, 'Get out of there!'" Jones recounted with a laugh.

It was not the first time that a family story would come from working at the utility, and also not the last.

Something must have stuck with Jones while in the boiler because her daughter Courtney Vetter would end up joining her mom at the company in the 2000s.

Jones and Vetter follow a list of family members who have been with the company almost since its beginning. Frank Durant, Jones' father, started working for MDU in 1960. His dad, Brad Durant, began working with MDU in 1928.

Together, the family has put in an aggregate total of more than 147 years of work at the company, beating out its time in existence as it celebrates a century of operations this year.

100 years

MDU began as an electric utility in eastern Montana in 1924, soon adding natural gas service to its portfolio.

A few years later, Brad Durant joined the company.

First working in accounting, then as a division manager, Brad Durant hardly stayed in one place despite being with MDU until his retirement.

"I looked back and, in his career, 11 times, he worked in different offices, most of which required him to move that many times in that 40-year period. So, the company would say, 'Move,' and he would move. And my grandma had been a nurse, and she must have just given up her job or gotten a different job," Jones said.

In the years leading up to his retirement, Brad Durant's son Frank joined the company, too.

Frank Durant would go on to stay with MDU from 1960 until his retirement, as well, finishing his career in 2005.

"He was a lineman and climbed poles, and he worked in electric engineering and (human resources), so he had a little different background," Jones said.

Frank Durant's start at the company was also around the time when MDU moved its headquarters from Minneapolis to Bismarck. The building the company moved to in downtown Bismarck is still used by MDU, though headquarters are now farther north in the city.

The move brought the company's headquarters closer to its customers.

A 1962 poem written about the choice by Robert Naylor, MDU public relations manager, describes the decision of where the company would go. It reads, "We'd have to make a choice and say which town we thought was best. This would annoy the other towns, with the end result, you see, that our name would not be MDU, but rather, MUD."

That poem is found in the "The Mondakonians: Energizers of the Prairie" which is a corporate history of MDU published in the 1990s. Despite the concerns raised in the poem of being referred to as "MUD" by rejected cities, the book said Bismarck was actually the "first choice" for a new headquarters and there was not much discussion.

MDU has been powering Bismarck since 1945 when it acquired Dakota Public Service which was franchised to serve the city, according to the book. That utility was owned by brothers Edmond and George Hughes; the latter of the two developed the first in-home stove to use electricity and later sold an appliance company to General Electric.

Jones has her family's history at the company written out in blue pen in the blank front pages of her copy of "The Mondakonians."

A couple of decades after Jones's dad began his career, she became part of that history, too.

Jones was born in Bismarck, but the family moved to South Dakota, she said. When she was in college, her parents moved back.

She followed them to North Dakota's capital city and has not left since. First working as a temporary summer hire for MDU in the 1980s, she eventually began working in procurement, then later became a trainer in human resources. Today, she leads the department.

'Family culture'

Though the narrative in "The Mondakonians" ends in the 1990s, history didn't end for MDU or this family's time there.

In the coming decades, MDU would build up its aggregate business, where it mined materials such as stone, sand and gravel. It also began a construction company and expanded utility operations in numerous states.

During this time is when Vetter joined the company.

Between "take your daughter to work days" and actually working at MDU, Vetter said she has seen a lot of changes.

"At school, we were playing Oregon Trail on the computers, and we went to the (MDU) general office and saw the system operations control room where we operated, and there was a whole room devoted to just the computers for supporting that system," she said.

What it means to be a public utility is also different.

It has been a long time since MDU sold light bulbs and gas appliances to bolster its utility business. The last few decades have brought a steady state of change with new technologies, different resources, and expanded regulations.

Recently, the company spun off its construction and aggregates businesses in order to simplify the utility's operations which now just revolve around electricity and gas.

But these changes have also made working for MDU more interesting, said Vetter, who started in regulatory affairs, moved to customer care and billing, then field automation to support meter reading and now works in electric system compliance.

"When I started with the company it was kind of that mentality of, 'This is how we do it, and we do it this way, it's working, and (we'll) keep doing it this way.' Now I feel like there's much more creativity and exploration and trying to find some of those out-of-the-box solutions to meet demand needs," she said.

Vetter said one thing that hasn't changed is the company's culture.

"Just growing up and going to company softball tournaments, filling water balloons for kids' events ... even just how the departments and even the company as a whole rally around employees if there's medical issues or support needed with a house fire. Or even vacation donations if you have family who have medical needs," she said.

While this family has stacked up a unique, four-generation history at MDU, Jones said having multiple people from one family at the company is common.

"There's brothers and sisters, and uncles and aunts, and parents and their children, and you see it all the time. And I think that's the thing that hasn't changed, and we don't want to see change, is that family culture," she said.

One memory in particular stands out for Jones. It is also emblematic of the time when she began working.

"I remember a gentleman coming up to me and he said, 'Welcome to the Brat Pack.' And I kind of looked at him, and I said, 'the Brat Pack?'" Jones said, referring to the group of young actors who often appeared in films together during the 1980s. "And he goes, 'Your dad works for the company, right?' I was like, 'Yeah?' He goes, 'We're the Brat Pack!' It was fun to know I have a new group; I'm part of something different. And then I saw how many people were a part of that."

Until the end

Relationships built over the last century of operations have not only been familial.

Jones recounted a call that the company's now-former CEO Dave Goodin made to her father right after Goodin had gotten the top job.

"It was the day before my dad passed away, and we were in Rapid City, South Dakota, and Dave called," Jones said. "And (Goodin) said, 'How's Frank?' -- my dad. I said, 'We're getting close.' And (Goodin) said, 'I need to talk to him.'"

"And I don't know what he said to dad. I'm sure it was something about, 'I'm thinking of you and our careers, our years together,'" said Jones. "And I just watched a single tear, you know, just rolled down my dad's face ... it mattered."
Samsung Galaxy S25 edge to launch soon in India: Get ready, Samsung fans! With significant improvements, the much-awaited Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is ready to launch in India.

This flagship device, which is powered by the most recent Snapdragon 8 Elite CPU, promises lightning-fast performance for multitasking, gaming, and other tasks.

The true star, though? Its 50MP ultra-wide lens and dual camera configuration are intended to provide breathtaking, detailed images.

The S25 Edge is starting to emerge as a serious flagship competitor because of its premium hardware, innovative photographic features, and Samsung's recognizable svelte design. This one might be worth the buzz if you search for pro-grade cameras with power and style.

Thrilled? Let's explore what we currently know!

Samsung Galaxy S25 edge expected launch date

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is anticipated to go on sale in early May after its April 16 worldwide launch. Samsung hasn't yet confirmed these data, though, considering the leaks and rumours.

Samsung Galaxy S25 edge expected specifications

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge expected to go on sale in May | Credit: Samsung

Processor: The Snapdragon 8 Elite CPU, the newest and possibly fastest Qualcomm chipset, powers the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. The remainder of the S25 series uses the same processor.

Design: The Galaxy S25 Edge's incredibly thin and light design is one of its best qualities. According to rumours, the phone is among the thinnest in its class, weighing less than 162g and only 5.84mm thick. The titanium frame is hypothesized to ensure long-lasting strength by improving durability and offering resistance against corrosion and abrasion.

Camera: It is anticipated that the Galaxy S25 Edge will have a 50-megapixel ultra-wide lens and a 200-megapixel primary sensor, offering sharp and clear images. A 12-megapixel front camera is included for selfies, guaranteeing sharp photos and video calls.

Battery and Connectivity: Given that the Galaxy S25 Edge is rumoured to have a small 3,900mAh battery, battery life could be a significant disadvantage. Because of the ultra-slim design and strong chipset, this capacity may be restrictive for some users. Samsung's software improvements, however, ought to contribute to longer battery life for all-day use. Furthermore, Bluetooth 5.4 will be supported by the gadget, guaranteeing smooth wireless connectivity.

Samsung Galaxy S25 edge expected price

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge expected to launch next month | Credit: Samsung

According to rumours and leaks, the Galaxy S25 Edge is expected to cost between 1,200 and 1,300 (about Rs 1,13,000 to Rs 1,22,500) for 256GB in Europes. Additionally, depending on the market, the 512GB version may cost between 1,300 and 1,400 (approximately Rs 1,22,500 to Rs 1,31,900).

To stay updated on the stories that are going viral follow Indiatimes Trending.
The HYBE vs Min Hee-jin dispute began in April 2024 when the parent company accused the ADOR CEO of attempting to seize control of the label. Min fired back, claiming HYBE was undermining ADOR's independence and exploiting the group NewJeans while favoring the just debuted rookie group ILLIT. The conflict escalated with legal battles, leading to HYBE removing Min Hee-jin as CEO.

However, backing Min Hee-jin, NewJeans membersMinji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyeinannounced they would leave ADOR if she wasn't reinstated. ADOR did not accept these terms and the girls terminated their contract and went on to rebrand as NJZ. However, ADOR insisted their contracts were still valid and now South Korean court ruled in the agency's favour, barring the group from independent activities, including making music or signing advertising deals.

What does this win by ADOR mean?

NewJeans suggested that they lost the injunction battle due to insufficient time to present their case. However, a separate trial on April 3 will determine the validity of their contract termination and the group's long-term future with ADOR.

Following the news, some mocked the group, believing they had sabotaged their own careers by siding with Min Hee-jin. Others speculated that if ADOR wins the main trial, NewJeans may either attempt to disband, pay legal fees for termination, or return to HYBE.

This sparked discussions about HYBE idolsincluding BTS, TXT, SEVENTEEN, LE SSERAFIM, and ILLITpotentially needing cameras on them during interactions. These concerns arose after NewJeans' Hanni claimed she was "ignored" by ILLITan allegation ADOR refuted in court.

The company submitted CCTV footage showing three ILLIT members formally bowing to Hanni, arguing that this evidence disproved claims of tension between the groups.

HYBE group fans react

Many users on X (formerly known as Twitter) stated that idols under HYBE will have to be careful around NewJeans. One wrote, "So these bullies will return to HYBE? Oh, be very careful, HYBE idols, and please speak loud and clear when you are in front of Hanni, or she may accuse you of harassment if she doesn't understand what you are saying."

so these bullies will return to hybe? oh, be very careful hybe idols and please speak loud and clear when you are in front of hanni or she may accuse you of harassment if she doesn't understand what you are saying https://t.co/DyHsYA4ojD   (@yomonstiez) March 21, 2025

Another said, "HYBE idols should wear body cams to defend themselves in case of any false accusations from these mean girls."

hype idols should wear body cams to defend themselves in case any obligations from these mean girls https://t.co/A2rrOYEDFr  jhopehothothot (@LEILAH2904) March 21, 2025

One user commented, "Keep them as far as possible from KOZ and BH. Don't want the boys to get dragged again!"

keep them as far as posibble from koz and bh, dont want the boys to get dragged again! https://t.co/irlGbJoeTy  n (@ringdalring) March 22, 2025

Another wrote, "It would have been great if they had just paid and left. I don't want those girls near ILLIT again."

It would have been great if they had paid and left. I don't want those girls near Illit AGAIN https://t.co/NAD7gOKyjp  elizabeth  (@wonyoungtkm123) March 22, 2025

Someone else added, "Idols and employees at HYBE may have to wear body cams to protect themselves and avoid cruel and poisonous slander. Hopefully, they remain safe. It's actually pretty scary if they go back to that building, but let's just go with the flow."

Idols and employees at Hybe seem to have to wear body cam to be safe and avoid cruel and poisonous slander. Hopefully, idols and employees at Hybe remain safe. It's actually pretty scary if they go back to that building, but let's just go with the flow. https://t.co/22Z8M9lSIH   *. .* (@uyyuii_) March 21, 2025

About NewJeans vs ADOR case

The Seoul court ruled that NewJeans had not "sufficiently proven that ADOR violated a significant duty under their contract," noting that the label had met "most of its obligations, including payment."

The court further stated, "If [NewJeans] unilaterally terminates the contract, ADOR would face significant losses. Moreover, if [NewJeans] resumes activities under a new name, it could severely harm both the NewJeans brand and ADOR's reputation."

For more news and updates from the world of OTT, and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment.
Garosero Research Institute has responded to YouTuber Lee Jin-ho's recent claims, in which he alleged that Kim Sae Ron was married and had an abortion before her tragic passing earlier this year. The controversial channel, known for exposing the dating scandal of Kim Soo Hyun, has further hinted at more shocking evidence, suggesting that Kim Soo Hyun's actions go beyond his relationship with Kim Sae Ron when she was a minor and could even be larger in scope than the infamous Nth Room case.

Garosero addresses YouTuber Lee Jin Ho's claims about Kim Sae Ron

During their March 21 broadcast, Garosero Research Institutes head, Kim Se-ui, addressed the leaked recording released by Lee Jin-ho, who is currently being sued by Kim Sae Ron's family. The recording, allegedly capturing a phone conversation between Kim Sae Ron and an official from her new agency (referred to as Agency A), revealed personal details about the late actresss life, including claims of a marriage in New York and an abortion.

Responding to the accusations, Kim Se-ui stated that they are in the process of gathering more evidence. He also cast doubt on the claims of Kim Sae Ron's pregnancy and abortion, calling them improbable and inconsistent with the timeline. "That New York guyhe might be a bad person too, but the story about her getting pregnant and having an abortion is just not possible. The timeline doesn't add up," he stated.

Kim Se-ui also clarified that their focus is not to target Kim Sae Rons past but to address the accusations made by Lee Jin-ho and the wider controversy surrounding Kim Soo Hyun.

Is Kim Soo Hyun's case larger than the Nth Room?

Kim Se-ui raised the stakes in his criticism of Kim Soo Hyun, suggesting that the actor's alleged misconduct goes far beyond his reported relationship with Kim Sae Ron while she was a minor. He hinted that upcoming revelations would expose Kim Soo Hyuns actions as more disturbing than previously known, with implications that might rival the notorious Nth Room case.

"We haven't even revealed our strongest evidence yet," Kim Se-ui claimed. "Kim Soo Hyun wont just be removed from a drama. This situation is far bigger than that. Do you remember the Nth Room case? Think about the sentence that guy got. What we have is even worse."

In a bold statement, Kim Se-ui issued a direct warning to Disney+, threatening to release their evidence if the platform proceeds with airing Kim Soo Hyun's upcoming drama, Knock-Off.

Kim Sae Ron's family has alleged that they dated for six years, starting when Kim Sae Ron was 15 years old and a minor. The family also claims that Kim Sae Ron was pressured by her agency to repay a significant penalty of 700 million KRW related to a drunk driving incident.

Kim Soo Hyun's agency, Gold Medallist, has denied these claims, stating that the relationship between Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Sae Ron began only after she turned 18 and became an adult.

In an effort to prove their claims, Kim Sae Ron's family has decided to conduct a forensic analysis of her phone to retrieve photos that allegedly document the relationship.
The world feels increasingly unstable, a disorienting spin that began with Trump's presidency. Security and the economy, once relatively predictable, now teeter on the edge of uncertainty.

Europe grapples with its own defense, and a looming trade war threatens to reshape global commerce. Protectionism, once a relic, is back with a vengeance.

What does this

mean for Greece? Are we, as a nation, paying attention?

The answer should be a resounding "yes." Yet, our public discourse remains stubbornly fixated on the Tempi train tragedy, a national catastrophe, undoubtedly. But while justice for the victims is paramount, our collective gaze remains narrowly fixed on the immediate aftermath, the legal wrangling, and the political fallout.

We're lost in a labyrinth of constitutional debates, counting experts and dissecting legal arguments, while the broader implications of the tragedythe systemic failures, the urgent need for modern, safe infrastructureremain largely ignored.

Polls confirm this obsession. The Tempi disaster has understandably shaken the nation, triggering a visceral "that could have been my child" fear. Yet, the sustained focus on the tragedy, fueled by political rhetoric and media coverage, risks obscuring the larger, more pressing issues facing Greece.

The polls also reveal a disturbing trend: plummeting government approval, coupled with a similar decline in support for mainstream opposition parties. This vacuum is being filled by fringe elements, both on the right and the left, with figures like Zoe Konstantopoulou capitalizing on a growing anti-systemic sentiment.

But is this anti-systemic fervor truly about justice for Tempi? Or is it a symptom of a deeper malaise, a reflection of a growing distrust in the "system" itself?

Greece's political class must lift its gaze from the immediate "trees" and see the "forest." History is littered with examples of nations that, consumed by petty politics and short-term gains, crashed against the rocks.

Across the Atlantic, a similar anti-systemic wave propelled Trump to power. Americans, disillusioned and angry, felt their country was in decline, their system broken, their elites indifferent. This anger, this "burn it all down" mentality, has found fertile ground in Europe, too, fueling the rise of the far-right.

We must demand justice for Tempi, but in a manner befitting a mature European democracy. This means addressing the systemic failures that led to the tragedy, while also confronting the broader challenges facing our nation.

Greece, and Europe, cannot afford to be distracted by internal squabbles while the world around us shifts on its axis. We must demand seriousness, cooperation, and real solutions, not just for the victims of Tempi, but for the future of our nation.

By Anni Podimata

   iefimerida.gr
New Yorks Metropolitan Museum of Art has returned an ancient bronze griffin head, stolen nearly a century ago, to the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.

The 7th century BC artifact, once displayed in Olympia, was returned in a ceremony

attended by Culture Minister Lina Mendoni.

After decades of absence, the griffin returns from the Metropolitan Museum in New York to the place it belongs, Ms. Mendoni said, praising the collaboration between the Culture Ministry and the Met.

The griffin, a mythical creature symbolizing strength and divine protection, will be displayed alongside a similar griffin head at the Olympia museum.

The Met, which has increased efforts to review its collection's origins, expressed gratitude for its partnership with the Greek government.

We are grateful for our long-standing partnership with the Greek government and look forward to continued engagement and cultural exchange, Met director Max Hollein said.

Greece has agreed to loan the griffin head back to the Met for future exhibitions.

The return comes amid a global shift toward repatriating significant artifacts, and Greece hopes this more open approach will aid its campaign for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures from the British Museum.

   iefimerida.gr
Classified as part of advanced Europe in the report, Greece is singled out largely due to its high levels of public debt and the disproportionately large share of its budget devoted to pensions and healthcare.

Europe is heading toward a period of intensifying fiscal strain, with the International Monetary Fund

(IMF) warning that public spending across the continent is expected to rise significantly through 2050.

In a recently published report titled Long-Term Spending Pressures in Europe, the IMF highlights the urgent need for coordinated fiscal action as European governments face the growing challenges of aging populations, climate transition costs, increased defense spending, and more expensive borrowing.

Among the countries drawing particular attention is Greece. Classified as part of advanced Europe in the report, Greece is singled out largely due to its high levels of public debt and the disproportionately large share of its budget devoted to pensions and healthcare. Despite implementing a wave of reforms over the past decade, the IMF warns that the fiscal pressure linked to an aging population is likely to increase in the coming decades. Projections indicate that Greece will remain among the European nations with the highest pension expenditures as a percentage of GDP through 2050.

The IMF does recognize some of Greeces efforts to address these long-term issues. The country has incorporated forward-looking spending projections into its Medium-Term Fiscal Framework and has begun publishing sustainability reports that include demographic scenarios. However, the report notes that more effective automatic correction mechanisms are still needed - mechanisms already in place in countries like Sweden and Luxembourg - to help offset unexpected fiscal pressures.

For Europe as a whole, the IMF forecasts that additional public spending could amount to as much as 6.75 percent of GDP annually by 2050. In Greeces case, these pressures are expected to intensify not only in pensions and healthcare but also in areas such as green transition investments and defense spending, particularly in light of the evolving geopolitical landscape.

To manage these challenges, the IMF advises European governments - including Greece - to adopt comprehensive strategies that combine structural reforms, institutional strengthening, and improved revenue collection. Particular emphasis is placed on the need for tax reform and a more efficient public sector to ensure that rising expenditures result in outcomes that are both fiscally sustainable and socially fair.

The report concludes with a warning that delaying action will ultimately shift the burden to future generations, reducing the fiscal flexibility of states and placing a heavier toll on societys most vulnerable groups.

#EUROPE #GREECE
The IMF stresses the need for a transparent and predictable legal framework, which helps foster trust between citizens and tax authorities.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released a new technical report emphasizing the importance of building

modern, balanced tax collection systems that are both fair and efficient. Titled Legislating for Fair and Effective Tax Collection, the report highlights best practices and policy recommendations aimed at improving tax compliance and protecting public revenues - an issue with global relevance as many countries grapple with fiscal pressures and public trust challenges.

The report is authored by a team of IMF experts, including Greek legal scholar Lydia Sofrona, a former official with Greeces Independent Authority for Public Revenue. Drawing on international experience, the report argues that an effective tax system must be underpinned by voluntary compliance, which it calls the optimal foundation for long-term success. This means making it easier for taxpayers to pay what they owe, through tools such as installment plans based on income, user-friendly digital payment systems, and mechanisms that allow taxpayers to offset their debts with refunds or other credits they are owed by the state.

Equally important, the IMF stresses the need for a transparent and predictable legal framework, which helps foster trust between citizens and tax authorities. When people believe the system is fair and consistently applied, they are more likely to comply voluntarily.

However, the report does not shy away from the issue of enforcement. It warns against the risks posed by strategic tax evasion and suggests safeguards to prevent abuse, especially in cases where individuals or businesses are suspected of hiding assets or engaging in fraudulent transfers. Recommended measures include the ability to register tax liens, temporarily freeze assets even before a debt is formally established, and require tax clearance certificates for activities such as bidding on public contracts or dissolving business partnerships.

In more extreme cases- such as persistent refusal to pay taxes - the IMF suggests stronger enforcement tools, including mandatory collection via third parties like employers or banks, and even the seizure and auction of assets. These steps, however, must always respect the taxpayers right to a dignified standard of living. The report also calls for holding company executives personally accountable for certain types of unpaid taxes, such as VAT or payroll deductions, to discourage negligent or evasive practices at the corporate level.

Throughout the report, the IMF references examples from around the world. Singapore, for example, encourages electronic payments by offering interest-free installment plans, while countries like Canada and South Africa allow longer timeframes for tax collection through extended statutes of limitation. Greece is also mentioned for its approach to legal challenges over tax bills. Unlike in many countries where taxpayers must pay the full amount before filing an appeal, in Greece one can contest a tax assessment by paying only the undisputed portion or a smaller percentage of the full amount. The IMF views this as a model of balance, enabling access to justice while still protecting the public purse.

Finally, the report acknowledges the need for flexibility during times of crisis. In line with measures adopted globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, it recommends temporary relief options such as payment deferrals, interest-free repayment arrangements, faster processing of tax refunds, and suspension of aggressive collection actions - tools that can help protect both public revenue and economic stability during turbulent periods.

#IMF #GOVERNMENT #TAXES
The Nigerian movie industry, Nollywood, is in mourning following the confirmation of actress Nkechi Nwejes death by producer Stanley Ontop on Friday, March 21.

Prior to Stanley Ontops social media post, there had been online reports circulating about the actresss passing.

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Stanley revealed that he had known about Nwejes death for several hours but was unable to share the news because it felt like a dream to him.

READ MORE: Pioneer Of Military Barracks Mammy Market Dies At 86

The filmmaker, who referred to the late actress as his closest friend, shared that she died following a short illness.

He mentioned that his last conversation with Nweje occurred during his social media controversy with Queeneth Hilbert, after he stepped in to mediate between her and actress Destiny Etiko.

Stanley Ontop shared pictures of Nkechi Nweje on his page and wrote, Nollywood in tears as we lost one of our vibrant Nollywood actress @nkechi.nweje After a brief illness. Couldnt post since morning because it was like a dream to me. Ezigbo Nwanyi Onitsha Rest in peace maam, my best friend, she always call me on phone advising me. The last time we spoke was during Queenth saga, she said Ontop stop. Am still speechless.

SEE POST:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHeEtUfMmPU/?igsh=MTdvcXNlY3dmN3lrOA==
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State has rejected calls for a state of emergency, dismissing claims by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that the state is in crisis.

The APC had urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Osun due to reports of violence.

However, the PDP-led state government accused the opposition of orchestrating chaos to justify federal intervention. The PDP maintains that the situation in Osun is under control, and theres no need for emergency rule.

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In a statement issued by the state chairman, Sunday Bisi, on Friday, he disclosed: There is no breakdown of governance in Osun. The judiciary is operational, the state assembly is active, and the executive is effectively discharging its duties.

Osun is not Rivers, and any attempt to equate the two is misleading

Osun is enjoying democratic dividends, and the government is delivering on its promises despite the APCs orchestrations to destabilise the state.

The Adeleke administration respects the judiciary. The local government dispute arose from illegal appointments made by the former administration. Governor Adeleke has been addressing these issues within the law.
A devastating Russian drone strike in southern Ukraine has killed a family of three, including a teenage girl, just 48 hours before ceasefire talks with the US.

The incident occurred in the city of Zaporizhzhia, where a drone crashed into the familys house late Friday.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported on Saturday that Russia fired 179 drones at Ukraine in its latest overnight barrage. This attack has sparked widespread outrage and heightened tensions ahead of separate negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations with US officials in Saudi Arabia on Monday.

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Ukraine is seeking to secure at least a partial ceasefire to halt air and naval attacks. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a joint US-Ukrainian offer of a complete ceasefire. Instead, Putin proposed stopping attacks on energy sites, claiming to have given the corresponding order to his army.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force they disclosed: The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled out from the rubble. The doctors fought for the mothers life for more than 10 hours, but unfortunately, they failed to save her.

Russia has once again violated the ceasefire and killed a 14-year-old child in Zaporizhzhia with a Shahed,

The international community is closely watching the developments, hoping for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The upcoming talks in Saudi Arabia may provide a glimmer of hope, but the recent drone strike has undoubtedly complicated the situation.
A yet to be identified worshiper has been stabbed to death following an attack by some individuals, suspected to be hoodlums in a Mosque in Tudun Wada, Kaduna South local government Area of the state.

It was gathered that the suspects attacked Muslim worshippers while performing Tahajjud prayer at about 2 pm on Friday.

In a statement by Spokesman for Kaduna State Police Command, Mansir Hassan, on Friday disclosed that 12 persons have been apprehended following the intervention of security agents in the area.

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READ MORE: Tinubu Appoints Popular Govts Critic, Bishop Kukah As Kaduna Varsity Pro-Chancellor

Hassan said: On 21st March 2025, at about 0200 hours, the police received a distress call from a concerned citizen, reporting that a large group of armed hoodlums had mobilised from Malalin Gabas, Tudun Wada, Rafin Guza, and Unguwar Baduko areas to attack worshippers performing Tahajjud prayer at Layin Bilya, Makwa Road, Rigasa, Kaduna.

Upon receiving the report, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) led a team of officers, accompanied by the Commander of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), to the scene in an attempt to apprehend the suspects.

However, before their arrival, the assailants had already stabbed one Usman Mohammad, a 23-year-old victim, with a sharp knife.

Despite being rushed to the hospital for urgent medical attention, he succumbed to his injuries hours later and was confirmed dead by the attending doctor.
The Oyo State Police Command has detained two suspects, Ridwan Bello and Fatai Adeleke, for being involved in the possession of human body parts.

This information was provided to DAILY POST on Friday by the command in a statement signed by Adewale Osifeso, its public relations officer.

According to him: On Tuesday, 18 March 2025, at about 02:30 hrs, detectives from the Iyaganku Divisional Police Headquarters, acting on a tip-off, conducted a search at the residence of one Ridwan Bello, 35, male, also known as Asalailu, located in the Muslim area of Ibadan.

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READ MORE: Tragedy As Eko Electric Worker Gets Electrocuted During Reconnection

During the search, a female human torso and other dismembered remains, including severed limbs and dried bones, were recovered from bags and a paint bucket.

In his confession, Bello claimed to have exhumed the corpse from a cemetery in Awa-Ijebu, Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State, and admitted to selling the body parts to ritualists. He later led detectives to the cemetery, where his claim was verified.

Further investigation led to the arrest of Fatai Adeleke, 70, male, an accomplice who purchased human body parts from the suspect for ritual purposes. Adeleke also admitted his involvement in the illicit trade.

The case has been transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation, as efforts are being intensified to identify and apprehend all those involved.

The command urges cemetery managers to increase surveillance and prevent further incidents of corpse exhumation by ritualists.
I had never worked with mushrooms before, Luis said, reflecting on his time in Chester Countys mushroom industry. But my family has always worked in agriculture, so I like it. Im used to hard work.

Luis, whose name is a pseudonym to protect his identity, is part of the latest wave of immigrant workers who have, for decades, come to Chester County to work in Pennsylvanias $1.1 billion mushroom industry. He is a Venezuelan migrant who was granted Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, under the 2023 designation. TPS allows foreign nationals already in the U.S. to remain for six, 12, or 18 months  regardless of how they entered  if their home country is deemed too dangerous for them to return.

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In February, President Donald Trump terminated TPS for Venezuelans who received protection under the 2023 expansion. According to the Department of Homeland Security, this designation had allowed approximately 348,000 Venezuelans to remain in the U.S. legally, with many eligible for work authorization. Meanwhile, Venezuelans who were granted TPS under the earlier 2021 designation can retain their status until Sept. 10, 2025. This provides temporary relief but leaves their long-term status uncertain.

The termination of TPS for many Venezuelans, along with Trumps broader immigration policies  including stricter border enforcement, increased deportations, and tighter restrictions on work permits and asylum protections  will likely shrink the pool of available workers in Pennsylvanias mushroom industry and other agricultural and food industries.

Changing face of the mushroom workforce

The mushroom industry in Pennsylvania has been shaped and sustained by major waves of U.S. immigration since the late 19th century.

William Swayne, a Quaker florist, is credited with beginning mushroom cultivation in Kennett Square, a small borough in Chester County, in the 1880s.

However, it was Italian immigrants, who began arriving in the early 20th century, who transformed Kennett Square, which bills itself as the mushroom capital of the world.

Today, Pennsylvania produces 69% of all mushrooms sold in America, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Chester County alone produced 199 million pounds of mushrooms  mostly white button mushrooms  in the 2023-24 season. While Chester County remains the hub of production, mushroom farms also extend into adjacent Berks County and parts of northeastern Maryland.

Yet, workforce instability remains a pressing issue, as the industry has struggled for decades to recruit and retain workers.

Mushroom picking is physically demanding. Workers in humid, enclosed growing rooms carefully harvest delicate mushrooms by hand to prevent bruising. Pay is structured around a piece-rate system, where earnings depend on speed and productivity. While this model allows some workers to earn more, it also creates instability, as take-home pay fluctuates based on harvest conditions and market demand. These factors make it difficult to maintain a stable workforce.

As a result, mushroom production in Pennsylvania is highly dependent on immigrant labor. While there are no national statistics tracking the nationalities of workers in the industry, our empirical studies and ongoing field research indicate that most of todays workers are from Mexico and Guatemala. In recent years, more have arrived from Venezuela and elsewhere.

Many of these newer arrivals have entered the U.S. through programs such as TPS and the Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, or CHNV. CHNV allows certain people from those four countries who have a sponsor in the U.S. and who pass a background check to live and work in the U.S. for two years. It was established to grant temporary work authorization to individuals fleeing crises in their home countries.

TPS and CHNV have been instrumental in addressing labor shortages in essential U.S. industries such as agriculture.

At the same time, the long-standing Mexican mushroom workforce is undergoing a generational shift and aging out of field labor. Their U.S.-born children sometimes work harvesting jobs in their teens but are unlikely to stay in agriculture long term.

Rise of mushroom labor contractors

To fill employment gaps, many mushroom farms now turn to labor contractors to recruit, manage, and employ workers.

Contractors typically handle payroll, workers compensation, and access to medical care if someone is injured.

On the surface, this system offers benefits for growers. It allows them to adjust their workforce depending on demand while reducing administrative burden and liability.

But for workers, this system can be a double-edged sword.

Evidence from other agricultural industries shows that workers hired through contractors may have less job security, fewer or no benefits, and less direct contact with farm owners  which makes it more difficult to negotiate wages or report workplace concerns.

Some Kennett Square farmworkers we have interviewed see contractors as a source of flexibility.

I had to miss work for some weeks because my kid was sick, and I lost my spot, one worker shared. But then I reached out to a contractor and was able to get another job at a different farm within a day.

However, that same worker went on to say that this new farm has wider harvesting beds, and I am getting more tired and have more pain because of it.

In other words, while labor contractors provide continuity in employment, workers may have less control over where they are placed or the conditions they work under.

For growers, contractors serve as an effective stopgap to keep mushroom farms in operation, but they do not solve their ongoing problem of attracting long-term employees.

Fewer workers, more expensive mushrooms

With fewer workers, mushroom farms may struggle to meet the demand from grocery stores, restaurants, and food processors.

A reduced supply could mean customers pay more for mushrooms at grocery stores and restaurants. If retailers must source mushrooms from other states or abroad, prices could rise further due to transportation expenses, tariffs, and supply chain disruptions.

Without policies that recognize the industrys year-round labor needs, Pennsylvania mushroom growers will be left scrambling for alternative workforce solutions.

Lawmakers have attempted to address this issue through the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021, which passed the House but stalled in the Senate. If enacted, the bill would create a Certified Agricultural Worker status, which would offer legal protection to experienced farmworkers, and expand H-2A visa eligibility to agricultural workers in year-round jobs such as mushroom farming. The bill also includes a mandatory phase-in of E-Verify for agricultural employers, a federal system used to confirm workers legal authorization to work in the U.S.

For now, mushroom farms  and the broader agricultural sector  must prepare for the ripple effects of more rigid immigration restrictions. Without intervention from policymakers, the strain on workers, growers, and consumers is likely to intensify.

Hazel Velasco Palacios is a Ph.D. candidate in Rural Sociology & Womens, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Pennsylvania State University. Kathleen Sexsmith is assistant professor of Rural Sociology at Penn State. They are rural sociologists who study labor, migration, and agriculture in the U.S.

This article is republished from The Conversation. Read the original article at theconversation.com/us.
Crozer-Chester Medical Center has been at risk of closure without a financial lifeline. Read more

The Foundation for Delaware County announced an agreement Friday with the Pennsylvania attorney general that will prevent Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland and Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park from closing as soon as next week.

The unspecified financial deal allows stakeholders to keep working toward a long-term solution for the financially beleaguered health system, according to the nonprofit, independent foundation designed to support local community health needs.

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Crozers bankrupt owner, Prospect Medical Holdings, has been saying since January that it would close the hospitals unless the state, Delaware County, and now the foundation provided more money. The latest tranche of money for the for-profit hospitals was supposed to be $13 million coming from the charitable foundation, but its not clear that was the amount agreed to at a meeting in Harrisburg Friday.

We are pleased to announce that the immediate funding pieces necessary to bridge to a long-term solution are in place, the foundations statement said. We are encouraged that the parties, today, remain focused where they should be  preserving accessible health care for the Delaware County community and maintaining the workforce that provides that essential care.

Lawyers for Prospect and the attorney general had criticized the foundation during an emergency hearing Thursday, called the morning after a Delaware County judge issued an injunction preventing the foundation from providing more money to Prospect or any entity related to the for-profit company based in California.

Friday was the latest of several deadlines for Prospect to decide whether it would pull the plug on Crozer. That date was built into a previous agreement under which the foundation provided $7 million to keep Crozer open.

That injunction was dissolved Thursday. By then, the bankruptcy judge who is overseeing Prospects case had also ordered a representatives from Prospect, the attorney generals office, the foundation, Prospects patient care ombudsman, and FTI Consulting to meet. Representatives from Gov. Josh Shapiros office and Delaware County were also at the meeting, according to the foundations statement.

Attorney General Dave Sunday said the foundation will be engaged with the still-developing plans for Crozers restructuring, in a statement after the meeting Friday. He suggested that the foundation could be involved in a permanent new owner for Crozer.

Sunday did not identify a long-term solution. As for the efforts to solidify that permanent owner, we appreciate the good faith efforts of regional health care providers involved in ongoing discussions, Sundays statement said.

Prospect acquired the former nonprofit Crozer Keystone Health System in 2016, giving it a collection of 16 hospitals across the country. Two years later, Prospect borrowed $1.12 billion to pay off debt and issue a $457 million dividend to its owners, Leonard Green & Partners, as well as to individual owners, Prospect executives Sam Lee and David Topper.

The foundation received $55 million from the 2016 sale of the nonprofit Crozer-Keystone Health System to Prospect. The full amount came after a lengthy court fight with Prospect.
Erica Green manages the At-Risk Intervention and Mentoring program, or AIM, from the new REACH Clinic in Denvers Five Points neighborhood. Green came to this work after her familys own experience with gun violence: I feel very blessed to be able to show up for my community this way. (Stephanie Wolf for KFF Health News) Read more

DENVER  Seven years ago, Erica Green learned through a Facebook post that her brother had been shot.

She rushed to check on him at a hospital run by Denver Health, the citys safety-net system, but she was unable to get information from emergency room workers, who complained that she was creating a disturbance.

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I was distraught and outside, crying, and Jerry came out of the front doors, she said.

Jerry Morgan is a familiar face from Greens Denver neighborhood. He had rushed to the hospital after his pager alerted him to the shooting. As a violence prevention professional with the At-Risk Intervention and Mentoring program, or AIM, Morgan supports gun-violence patients and their families at the hospital  as he did the day Greens brother was shot.

It made the situation of that traumatic experience so much better. After that, I was, like, I want to do this work, Green said.

Today, Green works with Morgan as the program manager for AIM, a hospital-linked violence intervention program launched in 2010 as a partnership between Denver Health and the nonprofit Denver Youth Program. It since has expanded to include Children's Hospital Colorado and the University of Colorado Hospital.

AIM is one of dozens of hospital-linked violence intervention programs around the country. The programs aim to uncover the social and economic factors that contributed to someone ending up in the ER with a bullet wound: inadequate housing, job loss, or feeling unsafe in ones neighborhood, for example.

Such programs that take a public health approach to stopping gun violence have had success  one in San Francisco reported a fourfold reduction in violent injury recidivism rates over six years. But President Donald Trump's executive orders calling for the review of the Biden administration's gun policies and trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans have created uncertainty around the programs' long-term federal funding. Some organizers believe their programs will be just fine, but others are looking to shore up alternative funding sources.

Weve been worried about, if a domino does fall, how is it going to impact us? Theres a lot of unknowns, said John Torres, associate director for Youth Alive, an Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit.

Federal data shows that gun violence became a leading cause of death among children and young adults at the start of this decade and was tied to more than 48,000 deaths among people of all ages in 2022. New York-based pediatric trauma surgeon Chethan Sathya, a National Institutes of Health-funded firearms injury prevention researcher, believes those statistics show that gun violence cant be ignored as a health care issue. Its killing so many people, Sathya said.

Research shows that a violent injury puts someone at heightened risk for future ones, and the risk of death goes up significantly by the third violent injury, according to a 2006 study published in The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care.

Benjamin Li, an emergency medicine physician at Denver Health and the health systems AIM medical director, said the ER is an ideal setting to intervene in gun violence by working to reverse-engineer what led to a patients injuries.

If you are just seeing the person, patching them up, and then sending them right back into the exact same circumstances, we know its going to lead to them being hurt again, Li said. Its critical we address the social determinants of health and then try to change the equation.

That might mean providing alternative solutions to gunshot victims who might otherwise seek retaliation, said Paris Davis, the intervention programs director for Youth Alive.

If thats helping them relocate out of the area, if thats allowing them to gain housing, if thats shifting that energy into education or job or, you know, family therapy, whatever the needs are for that particular case and individual, that is what we provide, Davis said.

AIM outreach workers meet gunshot wound victims at their hospital bedsides to have what Morgan, AIMs lead outreach worker, calls a tough, nonjudgmental conversation on how the patients ended up there.

AIM uses that information to help patients access the resources they need to navigate their biggest challenges after theyre discharged, Morgan said. Those challenges can include returning to school or work, or finding housing. AIM outreach workers might also attend court proceedings and assist with transportation to health care appointments.

We try to help in whatever capacity we can, but its interdependent on whatever the client needs, Morgan said.

Since 2010, AIM has grown from three full-time outreach workers to nine, and this year opened the REACH Clinic in Denvers Five Points neighborhood. The community-based clinic provides wound-care kits; physical therapy; and behavioral, mental, and occupational health care. In the coming months, it plans to add bullet removal to its services. Its part of a growing movement of community-based clinics focused on violent injuries, including the Bullet Related Injury Clinic in St. Louis.

Ginny McCarthy, an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Colorado, described REACH as an extension of the hospital-based work, providing holistic treatment in a single location and building trust between health-care providers and communities of color that have historically experienced racial biases in medical care.

Caught in the Crossfire, created in 1994 and run by Youth Alive in Oakland, is cited as the nation's first hospital-linked violence intervention program and has since inspired others. The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, a national network initiated by Youth ALIVE to advance public health solutions to gun violence, counted 74 hospital-linked violence intervention programs among its membership as of January.

The alliance's executive director, Fatimah Loren Dreier, compared medicine's role in addressing gun violence to that of preventing an infectious disease, like cholera. "That disease spreads if you don't have good sanitation in places where people aggregate," she said.

Dreier, who also serves as executive director of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Gun Violence Research and Education, said medicine identifies and tracks patterns that lead to the spread of a disease or, in this case, the spread of violence.

That is what health care can do really well to shift society. When we deploy this, we get better outcomes for everybody, Dreier said.

The alliance, of which AIM is a member, offers technical assistance and training for hospital-linked violence intervention programs and successfully petitioned to make their services eligible for traditional insurance reimbursement.

In 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive action that opened the door for states to use Medicaid for violence prevention. Several states, including California, New York, and Colorado, have passed legislation establishing a Medicaid benefit for hospital-linked violence intervention programs.

Last summer, then-U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared gun violence a public health crisis, and the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act earmarked $1.4 billion in funding for a wide array of violence-prevention programs through next year.

But in early February, Trump issued an executive order instructing the U.S. attorney general to conduct a 30-day review of a number of Biden's policies on gun violence. The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention now appears to be defunct, and recent moves to freeze federal grants created uncertainty among the gun-violence prevention programs that receive federal funding.

AIM receives 30% of its funding from its operating agreement with Denver's Office of Community Violence Solutions, according to Li. The rest is from grants, including Victims of Crime Act funding, through the Department of Justice. As of mid-February, Trump's executive orders had not affected AIM's current funding.

Some who work with the hospital-linked violence prevention programs in Colorado are hoping a new voter-approved firearms and ammunition excise tax in the state, expected to generate about $39 million annually and support victim services, could be a new source of funding. But the tax's revenues aren't expected to fully flow until 2026, and it's not clear how that money will be allocated.

Trauma surgeon and public health researcher Catherine Velopulos, who is the AIM medical director at the University of Colorado hospital in Aurora, said any interruption in federal funding, even for a few months, would be very difficult for us. But Velopulos said she was reassured by the bipartisan support for the kind of work AIM does.

People want to oversimplify the problem and just say, If we get rid of guns, its all going to stop, or It doesnt matter what we do, because theyre going to get guns, anyway, she said. What we really have to address is why people feel so scared that they have to arm themselves.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF  the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
When some attendees at the New Jersey State Leadership Summit noticed the keynote speaker enter the Caesars Atlantic City ballroom, they swarmed around him with their cell phone cameras, trying to capture even a glimpse of him in the background of their selfie shots.

The esteemed guest was Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican author, biotech entrepreneur, now-candidate for Ohio governor, and, at age 39, one of the worlds wealthiest millennials.

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At 600 people, the crowd was about double the size of last years, according to Kenny Gonzalez, executive director of the New Jersey GOP. One attendee said he didnt even remember who the keynote speaker was at the annual event last year.

In an impassioned speech Friday night, Ramaswamy spoke about the need to be saved as a nation and said New Jersey can correct course after going the wrong way by electing Democrats. He praised President Donald Trumps agenda and called his recent order to dismantle the Department of Education a beautiful thing to watch.

The crowd was also pumped up for this years gubernatorial race, with Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy term-limited and competitive primaries in both parties. Former New Jersey Rep. Jack Ciattarelli, who is running again in the GOP primary for governor, lost to Murphy by just about three points in 2021, and in November, Trump trailed Vice President Kamala Harris by single digits  both hopeful showings for Republicans in what has been viewed as a blue state. New Jersey GOP chair Bob Hugin, while introducing Ramaswamy, called New Jersey a swing state.

For the first time in a long time since I can remember, there is a sense of excitement in New Jersey for Republicans that is palpable, entrepreneur Dipal Patel said while introducing Ramaswamy with Hugin. And there is no better time to have a prolific national figure like Vivek with us to get us all riled up for what is going to be such an important year for all of us.

Before a roomful of attendees wearing lanyards declaring Flip NJ red 2025!, Hugin said Ramaswamy knows how to talk truth to power.

We need people who will stand up for our American values, and no one does it better than he does it, Hugin said.

In his keynote speech, Ramaswamy emphasized that people we elect to run the government ought to be the ones who actually run the government, and not the so-called deep state. He praised the Trump administrations DOGE initiative as an example of putting power in the hands of people elected by voters, even though the effort is run by Elon Musk, the richest person in the world who was not elected to any office. Some attendees made that point in criticizing Musk after the speech, while others enthusiastically praised Musk and said it is normal for presidents to appoint people.

Trump announced in November that Ramaswamy would lead DOGE with Musk before officials said just hours into the new administration that Musk would be heading the cost-cutting effort alone.

We believe the people we elect to run the government ought to be the ones who actually make the laws, not unelected bureaucrats in the D.C. deep state, Ramaswamy said. Thats why Im proud to have helped get DOGE off the ground for the first two and a half months to restore self-governance in America.

Ramaswamy grew up in Ohio with parents who emigrated from India, and he holds degrees from Yale and Harvard. He defended the nuclear family and said that it makes sense to have the largest deportation in American history, while also embracing those who have come in legally to actually add value to our country.

Hugin said that Ramaswamy has lived and epitomizes the American dream through hard work, proving himself in school and business, and challenging orthodoxy.

He deserves all of the successes he has because he worked so hard to achieve them, Hugin said.

Ramaswamy also embraced a message of meritocracy in his speech, saying that police officers, teachers, school administrators, and other public servants should receive pay based on their merit. He said it is a 1776 moment in the United States and urged attendees: Dont apologize for capitalism but participate in it.

Imagine that in the spring of 1776 we could have seen ourselves as victims, he said. We were being oppressed by British monarchy.  Our Founding Fathers had every reason to see themselves as victims, but they didnt choose victimhood. They chose victory. Were not victims, were victors.

Ramaswamy visited Norristown and Kensington while campaigning for the 2024 Republican presidential primary before dropping out of the race in January 2024 to endorse Trump after finishing fourth in Iowas leadoff caucuses. At a Milwaukee debate, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who focused his campaign on attacking Trump, called Ramaswamy a guy who sounds like ChatGPT. Trump praised Ramaswamy as doing a a helluva job with his campaign the day he dropped out.

At the end of his Friday night speech, Ramaswamy encouraged the audience to fight, fight, fight for the country, echoing the rallying cry Trump coined after surviving an assassination attempt last summer in Butler, Pa.

Our best days as a nation are still yet ahead of us, Ramaswamy said. Do not stop fighting for this country. Our country is worth saving. New Jersey is worth saving. Weve got your back.

Ramaswamy did not take questions from the media.
But if you've got a very experienced broker, then businesses here will be open to it, said Anning. It's just that they may have to be prepared to maybe take a pay cut to start off with until they are up and running.
It has taken less than two months of Donald Trump being back in the White House for long-standing alliances and international security arrangements to be upended, forcing the EU, and by extension Ireland, to massively rethink its own defence spending policies.

As a result, European nations are ramping up defence spending offering a potential boon to companies both on the continent and in Ireland. While Ireland does not have a domestic defence industry producing hardware, it does have a range of software firms already working in the sector.

The changing dynamic between the US and its European allies is encapsulated by the radical difference in Mr Trump's approach to the war in Ukraine compared to his predecessor Joe Biden.

Last month alone, Mr Trump appeared to blame Ukraine for Russias invasion, called the countrys president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator and voted against a resolution in the UN condemning Russias invasion of Ukraine on its three-year anniversary.

Ursula von der Leyen: 800bn proposal for EU defence.

All this culminated in Mr Zelenskyy being berated in the White House by both Mr Trump and vice-president JD Vance. Despite some rollbacks in recent weeks, and further talks between the US and Ukraine, it has become clear to the EU and other European leaders that the US cannot be relied on in the same way it has been before.

To that end, the EU has moved fast in its efforts to try and build up the defence spending of member states in an attempt to re-arm Europe.

EU defence plan

Earlier this week, the European Commission presented a White Paper for European Defence Readiness 2030 as well as details of a defence package providing financial levers to EU Member States to drive an investment surge in defence capabilities.

As part of ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030, the EU Commission is proposing spending 800bn on various defence and security measures.

In presenting these plans, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the era of the peace dividend is long gone and security architecture that we relied on can no longer be taken for granted.

The EU Commissions white paper proposed a number of solutions to close capability gaps and build a strong defence industrial base. It proposes ways for member states to massively invest in defence, procure defence systems and build up the readiness of the European defence industry over the long run.

Irish neutrality

These moves in Europe come as the Irish Government looks set to make changes to Irelands neutrality arrangements in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Under the current system, Ireland cannot deploy any more than 12 Defence Forces peacekeepers overseas without a mission being approved by a vote of the UN Security Council, as well as approval by the Government and the Dail.

Russia and China are both permanent members of the UN Security Council and have the power to veto future peacekeeping missions. The Government is proposing to remove the requirement for a UN mandate to send Irish troops abroad.

On top of this, last month, Simon Harris, Tanaiste and minister for defence, said Irelands military spending should reach the highest possible level of around 3bn annually in the coming years. It currently stands at around 1.35bn.

The Irish defence and security sector may not be as big as in other countries but there some companies operating in this space, just not in the traditional equipment side of things.

Pat OConnor, co-founder and managing director of Irish technology firm VRAI, said that if Ireland is going to spend 3bn a year on defence and security, with more potentially coming from the EU, wouldnt it be better to invest that money in indigenous Irish companies rather than send it abroad.

A 22-year veteran with the Irish Defence Forces, Mr OConnor established VRAI with his friend Niall Campion. The company utilises virtual reality and simulation tools to train people in a wide range of specialty equipment.

On top of the simulation training, Mr OConnor said their system allows our customers to capture, store, analyse and visualize human performance data that's generated in simulation in order to further tailor training programmes to individuals.

Co-founders of VRAI Pat OConnor and Niall Campion. VRAI develops virtual reality simulation technology for training purposes in a variety of sectors.

"We work in aerospace and defence, but also work in the likes of offshore wind. So bringing simulation to more people, and the more people you bring it to, the larger the data set you can build up, Mr OConnor said.

For its defence and security sector work, VRAI works through a Norwegian company Kongsberg which makes military equipment.

"Training people on that military equipment requires there to be a real piece of equipment, instructors, and training lands. Having a simulator allows you to remove the bottleneck around the numbers of vehicles, numbers of instructors, and you can allow training to happen at scale, he said.

"You can allow people to get competent in a 'hands on manner', without actually having to be hands on the piece of equipment.

Mr OConnor said defence and security training is just one part of his company's work and it has other uses in areas such as aerospace, off-shore wind and the emergency services.

The Irish Defence and Security Association

VRAI is a founding member of the Irish Defence and Security Association (IDSA) which consists of a number of companies who work either exclusively in the defence and security sector or who produce products and services which overlap with the sector.

The IDSA said that it has identified a number of areas the Government should address to facilitate its ambition to improve its defence capabilities.

It has been lobbying the Government for stronger engagement with the industry in a number of areas including the capabilities it is planning on prioritising as well as the procurement models that will be applied, including to domestic and foreign suppliers.

The IDSA is offering to facilitate engagement with industry in these areas.

The association said that there is a need to create opportunities for local enterprises as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) to solve strategic dual-use security and defence challenges, not just in Ireland, but also for the EU and other international partners.

The IDSA said there is a need for a defined industry strategy for the sector from the Government in order to support the country's defence responsibilities and contribute to EU security.

"At a basic level, I think Ireland has under-invested in defence for decades, Mr OConnor said.

"Looking at the global increase in threats, and I think an increase in great power conflict, the world is getting more dangerous. It makes sense to invest in our defence capability, not just in Ireland, but also in Europe, he said.

Corballis Technologies

Mr OConnors sentiment is echoed by Timothy Kelly, managing director Corballis Technologies which is also a member of IDSA. Corballis is an enterprise software company working in aviation and defence.

"We're a general software development company, but we have a core competency around safety management, compliance, and risk, he said.

Corballis first became involved in defence when it won a tender to implement the safety management software system for the Irish Air Corps.

"We came in via a safety management system for the Irish Air Corps, but we're now working with the compliance department, occupational health and safety, he said.

Mr Kelly said they would hope to further expand their operations to other defence organisations.

The capabilities that we're implementing now for the Irish Defence Force is not being done in others, or at least it's in a very early stages in other defence organizations. Defence is definitely a space that we want to expand into in the next year or two, as we further develop the work we're doing with the Irish Defence Forces.

We'd hope to take that offer to other national air forces or broader defence organizations, Mr Kelly said.

Defence and security is just one area Corballis works in. It is also seeking to expand its operations into products for commercial airlines, air traffic control, airports and aircraft maintenance.

On the current state of Irish defence, Mr Kelly said the State has under-invested in defence for decades so the infrastructure is struggling.

"The downside of the under investment is that the system isn't fit for purpose and that's nothing to do with the geopolitical situation that's emerged. This has been happening for, I mean, a long time, he said.

Trooper Niall Frain and Trooper Shane Dorane on a Mowag armoured personnel carrier at the Curragh Camp, Co Kildare: Ireland spends the least on defence out of 38 European nations and this under-investment is a threat to national security in an increasingly volatile world. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Ireland has been in a comfortable position for years when it comes to defence. The country relied on an established world order reinforced by close allies like the US.

However, in just a few short months that is no longer the case and the reliability of the US as an ally has been radically damaged. The Government is well aware of its short-comings in this area.

The National Risk Assessment 2024 said that the risks to Ireland posed by armed conflict, terrorism and other security threats are potentially compounded by our having one of the lowest levels of investment in military and defence capabilities in Europe.

A study published last month called The Military Balance 2025, showed that Ireland has the lowest spend on defence as a proportion of its economic wealth out of 38 European states.

It shows Ireland spends less than other neutral countries, such as Austria and Switzerland, neither of which have a navy or huge maritime areas to monitor and safeguard.

Mr OConnor said this investment is an opportunity to support Irish businesses whose products have more uses than just in the area of defence and which might create more value down the line.

"No one in Ireland is going to be making armoured vehicles or aircraft but what Ireland does have is an incredibly rich technology base, a SME-led technology base Our increased defence spend can actually be seen as an investment, and that investment is a local, indigenous, SME-based economy.
When did the world become whiskey drinkers? Was it Don Draper in Mad Men drinking Old Fashioneds? Or perhaps McNultys trusty bottle of Jameson that appeared in nearly every episode of The Wire? Those Sex and the City girls did drink a lot of Cosmopolitans, but they also ordered Manhattans a fair few times.

Ireland has gone from three distilleries to over 40 in the last 20 years and there is no sign of a slowdown.

The third annual Cork Whiskey Fest runs until March 23, taking over bars and venues around MacCurtain St in the city. This year has seen significant expansion of the festival and the founders, Laurie and Sonya ODwyer, have over 20 whiskey-themed events planned, with the highlight being the Brand Expo & Socials at The Metropole Hotel. It will allow visitors to taste their way through 50 whiskey distilleries and brands including representation from Japan, Kentucky, and Scotland.

Besides several masterclasses and whiskey tastings (including ultra rare whiskies), there are cocktail events and tours of Midleton Distillery. The fact that such a large whiskey event is happening in Cork over three days would have been unimaginable even 10 years ago. Ireland now has hundreds of different whiskeys to taste, from almost every county in Ireland and even a couple of off-shore islands.

A Jameson Distillery whiskey tasting.

So who is going to drink all this whiskey, you may wonder. It seems the answer is much of the rest of the world. Ireland exports 90% of what it produces and is found in 113 countries, with 15.5m cases sold, with the value of exports exceeding 1bn in 2024. Jameson is driving the market and represents around 70% of Irish whiskey sales. It is a top three selling whiskey brand and in the top 10 of spirits brands. This deep penetration into global markets has led to a significant uptick in interest in the rest of what we produce.

Jameson opened the door, it created the Irish whiskey category and this allows people to look beyond it to everything from Powers Rye to Redbreast Pot Still to Knappogue Castle Single Malt, says Carol Quinn, Midletons head of archives.

A selection of Jameson Midleton Very Rare Irish Whiskey bottles. Picture: Artur Widak/NurPhoto

So what makes Irish whiskey different and how did we get here?

For the answer we can look to the English. Unlicensed distilling was banned in Ireland in 1661, which led to commercial licensed production and lots of illegal poitin stills. The details are scant although we know there were 1228 legal distilleries in Ireland in 1779 and hundreds more illegal ones. This figure dropped due to tightening of the excise laws and, according to Carol Quinn, it was only after 1780 that the modern whiskey industry in Ireland was born.

In 1785 a malted barley tax was introduced to Ireland, which taxed the raw ingredients as well as the finished product. The Irish solution was to use a mix of malted and unmalted barley to make whiskey, and thus we have the Single Pot Still style which is unique to Ireland (Redbreast, for example).

The late 19th century was the golden period for Irish whiskey when it was considered the gold standard in whiskey production. Sadly just 50 years later it was on its knees, damaged by events such as prohibition and two world wars and outsold by cheaper Scotch blends. In 1966, the remaining distilleries merged to create Irish Distillers with two distilling sites, Midleton and Bushmills. That was it for two decades until Cooley opened in 1987, reviving old brand names such as Tyrconnell and Kilbeggan. Next came West Cork Distillers, who began production in 2008, Dingle in 2012, and more every year afterwards.

Dingle Distillery began in 2012

In 2025 everyone I speak to for this story is optimistic. However, there have been setbacks. Waterford Distillery being sent into receivership by their bank in November 2024 was a huge shock. It isnt dead yet however; rumour has it that there are several investors hoping to acquire it, including its founder Mark Reynier. Waterford was truly innovative (perhaps too innovative) creating single farm terroir releases and the worlds first biodynamic whiskey.

This is not the only shock Irish whiskey will face. Tastes change, Trump may bring in tariffs  anything can happen. Already this year one of our best boutique distilleries was forced to seek additional funding through the Revenues SCARP scheme for small businesses.

But back to the positives.

Sally-Anne Cooney of Boann Distillery in Louth is providing one of the Cork Whiskey Fests exclusive bottlings, a single cask pot still whiskey aged in a rare egg-shaped, 100-year-old Palo Cortado Sherry cask laid down in 2019. Boann recently won Distiller of the Year at the Icons of Whiskey Ireland Awards and will go on to the World Whiskey Awards finals in London.

We are in 70 markets now, thanks in part to the fact our Merrys Irish Cream has been selling well for over 25 years, she says. We have also had some exciting results from a project we did with whiskey writer Fionnan OConnor reviving old mash bills from the 1820s to 1955 as part of his PhD. Some of these contain high rye, oats, and wheat content and we are hoping a change in the PGI definition will allow us to release some of these as single pot still rather than just as Irish whiskey, she says.

Sally Anne Cooney of Boann Distillery

The other exclusive Whiskey Fest release will be 150 bottles of a 10-year-old single malt in a maritime bottle from West Cork Distillers, who now employ 310 people. The distillery was founded in 2003 and they laid down their first barrel in 2008.

There was a lot of scepticism at the start as we had no money, no investment, no experience or even marketing  it was madness, but thankfully we didnt know at the time, says John OConnell, founder of West Cork Distillers (along with Ger McCarthy and Denis McCarthy).

They started with two converted schnapps distillers in a shed in Union Hall but now operate from a 12.5-acre site in Skibbereen. These days, West Cork Distillers export to around 70 countries and have a wealth of whiskey stocks to draw from and are currently the largest Irish-owned distillery in the country.

Waterford Distillerys difficulties did create anxiety, both genuine and false anxiety (which is still anxiety after all), says OConnell. The worldwide Scotch market is saturated, however there is room for Irish whiskey to expand in markets like Africa, South America, and India. Sales of Irish whiskey to India increased 107% last year.

Not too far from Skibbereen, Clonakilty Whiskey was opened in 2019 by Michael Scully. Its a competitive market alright but the category keeps growing; just last week we were approached by an importer in New Zealand and before that South Korea, says Scully.

The market is looking for difference and the oily complexity of our single pot still style is just that, says Scully.

Clonakilty Distillery uses Irish barley of course but much of it is grown by Scully himself: So its malted barley from my farm going into my bottles, he says. Scully has also been growing heritage Goldthorpe barley, which gives a distinctive flavour to Irish whiskey (as I discovered in the Waterford Goldthorpe release a few years ago).

Irish whiskey is an all-island product, of course, and several Northern Ireland distilleries will be at the fest, including Killowen, Titanic, Copeland, Dunvilles, Portmagee, and, of course, Bushmills.

Alex Thomas, Bushmills master blender

Bushmills master blender Alex Thomas is also fully optimistic about the future: We more than doubled capacity in recent years, going from 5m to 11m litres per year, she says. The premiumisation of Irish whiskey over the last decade is also something she believes will benefit Bushmills given their huge stocks of whiskey. We are leaning right into this and recently launched a 46-year-old Secrets of the River Bush and our 26-year-old Crystal Malt will appear next month.

The other long-established whiskey in Ireland is of course Midleton which was opened by the Murphy family in 1825 and modernised by Irish Distillers in 1975. Its incredible to think we are making whiskey in the same place for 200 years  very few other industries can claim this, says head of archives, Carol Quinn. We have unique access to 200 years of mash bills (recipes) to provide inspiration and stimulus, not to repeat old editions but to help us stay true to the DNA of the brand.

Midleton is part of a number of events at the Cork Whiskey Fest, including the Cork Festival Bus trip to Midleton plus an event hosted by Barrett Stapleton, head distiller at Midletons Micro Distillery showing off some recent innovations under the Method and Madness range, which pairs a master distiller with an apprentice distiller (the former providing method and the latter providing a bit of madness).

Cathal Noonan, cooper at Midleton Distillery, Co. Cork. Picture: Derek Cronin.

This being the 200th anniversary of Midleton, master distiller Kevin OGorman (and master blender Dave McCabe) have lots to release. We have special Midleton Very Rare releases coming up, not least the ultimate expression in the Silent Distillery Collection, says OGorman.

There is a sense of sadness this year as the Silent Distillery collection will come to a close as we release the final drops distilled in the iconic Old Midleton Distillery which was silenced in 1975, he says. In terms of challenges OGorman believes the creativity of his team will see them through.

A final word to Laurie ODwyer, co-founder of the Cork Whiskey Fest. The doom and gloom regarding whiskey in some quarters is unwarranted. There will always be peaks and troughs. Bottle sales are a little down at the moment but cask and wholesale figures are up.

The whiskey bug is easily caught, he assures me, and cites himself as an example. Just back from a tough stint in the Lebanon in 2018 and placed in charge of the bar in the officers mess in Collins Barracks led me to where I am today. My whole life outlook changed thanks to involvement with the whiskey community and there are plenty more to convert.

For more of this positivity, check out ODwyers podcast Whiskey Chats, now on its 177th episode.
A lot to pac in

Alpaca Expeditions is offering a women-only trip to Machu Picchu lead by female guides and porters through the remarkable Andes.

The Women-Only Salkantay & Sacred Valley 7 Day Tour to Machu Picchu was created to empower women through exploration and cultural immersion.

A mix of glamping and tent camping, the Salkantay Trail is a spectacular multi-day hiking experience through startling scenery, challenging terrain, and community options that are not available on the classic Inca Trail.

Off-the-beaten path, this alternative route leads to Machu Picchu without seeing many other hikers on the trail. With Peruvian wine tasting, cooking class, the weaving womens collective and a coffee tour all on the itinerary, its one special trip.

$995 per person, group size is 8-12, between May. Flights extra.

alpacaexpeditions.com

Remote Canadian road trip

This will be one epic adventure.

As someone whos sampled the wild pleasures of Newfoundland as part of a two-month road trip through Canadas maritime provinces, from Montreal to Nova Scotia and beyond, I can attest to the sheer wonder and beauty of this remote corner of the planet.

Canadian Sky is offering a 13-night self-drive Newfoundland & Labrador Explorer from 2,949 per person, including flights.

From LAnse Aux Meadows, an ancient Norse settlement to the fjords of Gros Morne National Park and humpback whales by Iceberg Alley, this will be one epic adventure.

Book by March 31 and save an extra 100 off per booking.

canadiansky.ie

Sensing your needs

Cala d'Hort Beach, Ibiza

Great news for parents of children with sensory issues.

Travel agent TUI has opened its first ever sensory rooms at two TUI Blue Hotels this summer. The sensory rooms in Larnaca, Cyprus, and in Ibiza will help support neurodivergent guests and their families with staff at both hotels receiving enhanced neurodiversity awareness training.

Designed to support neurodivergent guests and their families TUI Blue Nausicaa Beach in Larnaca, Cyprus, opens April 15 and TUI Blue Aura, Ibiza, on May 1 in anticipation of the summer holidays.

tuiholidays.ie

Deal of the week

Lodge at Ashford Castle

Celebrate spring in Mayo at The Lodge at Ashford Castle with their Best Things in Life are 3 offer. 363pps, this mid-week package invites you to make the most of the beautiful Ashford Estate with an extra night included.

The three-night stay includes B&B, dinner one evening at Wildes Restaurant, a sharing platter of local Irish shellfish, cheeses, and charcuterie on one evening in the Quays Bar, complimentary bike hire, and access to Ashford Estates golf and tennis courts. Dont miss the complimentary morning walk with the estates resident Irish wolfhounds hounds or the history tour with a local guide on select. Available midweek until April 30.

thelodgeac.com

Turn thoughts to the maritime

Ocean, David Attenboroughs new feature-length documentary, hits the cinemas on May 8. Exploring the health of our oceans and how we can restore them, its turned our thoughts towards maritime holidays.

Responsible Travel has three appealing itineraries for 2025: Whale and dolphin research in the Ligurian Sea, Italy, from 800pp excluding flights, for six days. In Belize, theres a lionfish spearing marine conservation project, from 914pp excluding flights, for five days. And in Norway a whale watching and Northern Lights sailing holiday, from 1,900pp excluding flights, for four days.

responsibletravel.com
It is un-Irish to give up hope, a co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has said as he urged protesters in Dublin to continue their support for Palestine.

Thousands of people participated in a solidarity march through the Irish capital on Saturday, calling for the Government to impose sanctions on Israel.

Demonstrators, some wearing keffiyehs and waving banners and Palestinian flags, stopped for a series of speeches outside Leinster House.

Speakers led chants of free, free Palestine and addressed the large crowd on the re-escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Pro-Palestinian protesters in Dublin (Cillian Sherlock/PA)

The protesters called for the end of Israels military activity in Gaza, for states to stop arming Israel, and the cessation of use of Irish airspace for transporting weapons.

The rally, organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), is the 14th national demonstration of its kind since October 2023 and is supported by several trade unions and civil society groups.

The IPSC has also called for the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, along with the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill.

The Government has committed to implementing the Occupied Territories Bill with changes limiting its scope to trade, but it is not on the legislative calendar for this term.

Protesters also carried a giant sphere in the style of the logo of Central Bank with the words stop funding genocide painted on it.

Israel chose the Central Bank of Ireland to be the designated authority to approve prospectuses for Israel Bonds in the EU. Pro-Palestinian supporters want the Bank to stop approving their sale.

The group also wants a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and for the Irish Government to roll back on its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, which it sees as an effort to prevent criticism of Israel.

Palestinians are not asking for charity, we're asking for ending complicity - to do no harm to us. The Irish Government continues to allow the transit of US weapons to Israel, this has to stop

Speakers at the rally included Omar Barghouti, Palestinian intellectual Ghada Karmi, and IPSC chairwoman Zoe Lawlor.

Mr Barghouti, who co-founded the BDS movement which stands for boycott, divestment and sanctions, said there was a profound moral duty to continue to support Palestine.

He said: Im here to say that given Israels continued genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, we need to escalate non-violent pressure on Irish Government, Irish corporations, Irish institutions to end complicity.

Palestinians are not asking for charity, were asking for ending complicity  to do no harm to us.

The Irish Government continues to allow the transit of US weapons to Israel, this has to stop.

The Central Bank of Ireland continues to profit from genocide through the sale of Israel government bonds, this has to stop.

Mr Barghouti added: The Government is blocking the Occupied Territories Bill and the Divestment Bill, this has to end. They have to take measures to end complicity.

Some people in Ireland might say weve been demonstrating for 17 months throughout this genocide, we dont see any hope.

But it is so un-Irish to give up hope. The Irish have resisted colonialism for centuries under enormously difficult hardships and theyve never given up hope.

Speakers at the rally included Omar Barghouti (Cillian Sherlock/PA)

Similarly, Palestinians for 100 years, weve been resisting oppression and doing everything we can to live in peace, justice, dignity, equality and self-determination like everyone else.

We cannot give up, it is a profound moral duty to do no harm. So we need to escalate people power and pressure to end complicity.

Senior figures in Israels government have accused leaders in the Irish Government of encouraging antisemitism, with the Israeli embassy in Dublin announcing last year that it would close.

Israeli politicians have criticised Irelands decision to intervene in South Africas case against Israel, with Dublin asking the International Court of Justice to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes genocide.

The protest came days after hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged a sit-down protest on OConnell Bridge in Dublin city centre on Wednesday, causing significant delays to transport in the capital.
A man is set to appear before a special sitting of Cork City District Court this afternoon charged in connection with a stabbing on Wellington Road earlier this week.

The man, aged in his 30s, was arrested on Friday, March 21, for an offence under Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.
More than 60,000 people went through the religious-run institutions in this country up until the final one closed its doors in the 1990s. When their time came to leave, many fled to the UK and beyond, in the hope of building a new life.

But their pain didnt end there.

Women like Philomena Lee and Maggie OConnor broke their silence in their later years to reveal the trauma they endured over losing their children to forced adoptions.

In recent weeks, a bill was introduced in the UK designed to help survivors of Ireland's mother and baby homes and who now live there to receive compensation.

Labour MP Liam Conlon and chair of the Labour Party's Irish Society, moved 'Philomena's Law', named after survivor and campaigner Philomena Lee.

He said survivors living in Britain have been deterred from making an application to the compensation scheme operated by the Irish Government out of fears they could "lose means-tested benefits and financial support for social care".

The UK's Philomena's Law' was named after survivor and campaigner Philomena Lee. File photo:Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Mr Conlon told Britain's House of Commons: "Philomena is one of tens of thousands of women and their infant children who spent time in mother and baby homes across Ireland for the perceived sin of becoming pregnant outside of marriage.

"The women were regularly used as unpaid labour and infant mortality was alarmingly high."

He said the women experienced "harsh conditions and mistreatment.

The mother and baby home redress scheme was introduced by the last government to compensate survivors who spent time in such institutions. It finally opened for applications on March 20, 2024, and it was estimated that 34,000 survivors were entitled to compensation.

However, uptake on the 600m scheme has been nowhere near what was anticipated. The latest figures from the Department of Children show that up to Monday, March 10, some 6,250 applications have been received.

Almost 5,400 notices of determination have been issued to applicants - 82% of which contain an offer of benefits. Applicants have six months to consider their offer before they need to respond, and to date 4,000 payments have been made or are in the process of being made.

While 'Philomena's Law' has been welcomed, survivors in Ireland want to see the terms of reference of the redress scheme extended to include those people who spent less than six months in a home, those who were hospitalised or 'boarded out' to families, and all of the homes included in the package.

The Irish Examiner spoke to three survivors who have been denied redress, and the families of those who died without ever being compensated.

'So basically, we can 'f' off'

Michael Byrne was born in the Tuam mother and baby home on July 22, 1957. He was transferred to Temple Hill in Dublin within weeks because of a disability in his leg.

Temple Hill, however, is not included in the redress scheme. Michael was adopted to a family in Boston in 1961 and said he is lost for words over the fact he is not entitled to compensation.

The institution didnt qualify, its a government decision, there is a list of homes that are getting compensation, so basically, we can f off he said.

Its not a financial point to make for me, its more that it is emotional.

Michael Byrne as a child. He was transferred from Tuam mother and baby home to Temple Hill in Dublin within weeks because of a disability in his leg.

I was in two different hospitals, the first was for three years and the other for eight months and there are no records for me, but I was in a home for years and not adopted until 1961, but yet it doesnt qualify.

I didnt apply for the scheme. What is the point, we were told it doesnt qualify.

It's tough to find the right words to say exactly how it makes you feel. But it is insulting. Ill be turning 68 this year, Ive enough problems with my own government right now, the compensation would have been helpful along with my pension.

'Say goodbye to your baby, youll never see her again'

Anastasia Fogarty was named after her mother when she was born in Bessborough in 1951.

I was born in the January and stayed there until the following New Years Eve with my mother, she said. Then she was sent with me to Dublin." At that stage, mother and daughter were forcibly separated.

She told me, when I met her once years later, two nuns met her and brought her into a sitting room in a building and said, say goodbye to your baby youll never see her again' and took me out of her arms.

She told me her life ended that day. From there I went through St. Patricks Guild, and my father paid money every month for me. My mothers sisters paid for me too and my adoptive mother.

Anatasia Fogarty is only entitled to compensation for one mother and baby home, even though Anastasia spent time in two different

I was a year when I went to them, I was waiting two years before I was adopted.

Even though Anastasia spent time in two different homes, she is only entitled to compensation for one.

I applied for redress, and I got money for being in Bessborough. I was refused money for St. Ritas [which is not included in the list of institutions covered] which is really unfair.

'It has been stated, in bold, we don't matter'

Clodagh Malone was born in St Patrick's Navan Road in 1970. She told the Irish Examiner how my birth mother presented herself in London to the Catholic Rescue Protection centre.

They had the police escort her and another girl (pregnant by a priest) onto the boat to Ireland.

My mother was incarcerated for four days at St. Patricks mother and baby home before my birth. I didn't apply for redress as it has been stated, in bold, we don't matter.

As a survivor from a religious-run institution, such institutions were supported and subsided by the State.

She said you cannot quantify or weigh the burden of trauma that was imposed upon vulnerable women and children.

Throughout our lives, we have been treated like an island cut off from the mainland. Yet again we're being rejected by our peers.

Christina 'Chrissy' Tully is a survivor of the Tuam mother and baby home. File photo: Gofundme

This sense of injustice in how elderly survivors are being treated was echoed earlier this month when the Irish Examiner published 94-year-old Christina 'Chrissie' Tullys plea to buy her council home in case her missing son returns to look for her after she dies.

Her story about facing death without ever getting answers about her son, who she believes was taken from her, brings into stark focus the age profile of those people who were terribly wronged and are still campaigning for justice - and the families of those who have died without it ever being served.

'She died never seeing any justice'

Margaret Maggie OConnor was 92 years old when she died in a care home in Manchester on April 8, 2016  one year after the Commission of Inquiry into mother and baby homes was launched.

She had kept a secret from her family for more than five decades about her bonnie baby girl. Maggie had been raped by a caretaker in the industrial school where she had lived since she was a child.

The nuns sent Maggie to the Tuam home where the infant was delivered, but sadly she died on June 6, 1943, from whooping cough.

She never told anyone, said her daughter Annette McKay who has campaigned for justice on behalf of her mother and sister for the past 11 years and is on the advisory board for the Director of the Tuam intervention.

It wasnt until she was 70 when she met her great grandchild, my grandson Jack, that she broke down in front of us. I went to her house the next day as I knew something was wrong and she was sobbing and sobbing.

She told me about the baby and how she had carried her around on her hip in the home, before the little one died and that was it, mum was thrown out of Tuam, and we dont know where my sister is buried.

Maggie had dementia for 12 years and had spent her adult life on medication because of the trauma of her broken childhood.

Her own mother had died from sepsis on her ninth pregnancy and Maggie and her siblings were marched to Galway Courthouse and sent to Lenaboy Industrial School in Taylors Hill. The boys were sent to the Christian Brothers.

Once inside, Maggie worked like a slave for many years and at 16 she was raped by a man who worked in the home.

A year later she was sent to the Tuam mother and baby home where her baby Mary Margaret was born.

Mum suffered all her life, continued Annette. If she saw nuns she would freak out.

Maggie O'Connor died a year after the Commission of Inquiry into mother and baby homes was launched.

She was a beautiful woman, the best dressed woman in Galway, but she died never seeing any justice whatsoever, and I believe her dementia was a blessing in many ways because she suffered so much and was always crying.

When the Redress Scheme for Industrial Survivors was rolled out in the mid-2000s the board did not accept that Maggie was raped, and later claimed it was a consensual relationship.

We knew she was raped by a married man with kids who lived on the grounds of Lenaboy, we never knew about baby Mary, said Annette.

Her barrister said she hit every milestone for damages but in the end, she received 38,000 for spending all her childhood and teenage years in an industrial home which ended in a pregnancy. The rape was not accepted.

She wanted to find her baby, but she became so unwell, I was glad in a way because she could have lived for another 20 years with that trauma, but instead, she didnt remember.

'I wish I had answers'

Former Tuam baby Desmond Lally died in the US in 2021 aged 75 years. He was born in Tuam on July 13, 1946, where he remained for five years and died a day before the final report from the Commission of Inquiry into mother and baby homes was published in January 2021.

He had suffered with poor health and trauma in the run-up to the end of his life.

Mr Lally had spent that later part of his life in the US and had little information about his identity but never gave up looking for his family as well as keeping up to speed with the progress of the commissions work here.

He later discovered, with the help of friends and distant relatives in Galway, he had four siblings in Ireland whom he was reunited with.

He recalled his first conversation with his brother on the phone from Ireland after he tracked them down.

At the time Des said: He just answered the phone and said, Dessie how are you? before he went on to tell me I had three half-sisters.

I cried for days afterwards.

Des left the Tuam mother and baby home to be fostered out to a family where he worked on a farm.

"I was abused so badly," he said before he died. "It was a horrible experience. I was fostered, and I was moved from one home to another.

"When I did try to find my identity, I never got my records. I wish I had answers. It bugs me a lot.

"I dont understand what happened in the home or who my mother was."

Des was a member of the Tuam Babies Family Group and had been trying to move home to Ireland where "his heart belonged".

Anna Corrigan whose mother had two babies in the Tuam home said he was delighted to be in touch with fellow survivors but wanted desperately to move home.

He had set up a GoFundMe Page called Yearning for Home to help him return to live in Galway.

Desmond Lally was a former Tuam baby Desmond Lally died in the US in 2021 aged 75.

He had suffered terrible abuse in the foster home and in Tuam. He said it was unbearable. He went into foster care and was beaten so badly, until he walked out at 16 years old and went to the UK.

Then he went to the US and stayed there for years and years. But his heart was always in Ireland.

He didnt have the money to come home, and his Facebook page was flooded with heartbreaking messages after he died.

Des was a special person; he was very much loved by his friends and community and is missed.

It was so bitter sweet that he died the day after the commissions final report. He dreaded the idea of not getting home to see out his final days."

Anna said he missed out on the State apology, the commissions' final report and the redress scheme.

"But most of all, he never got to come home to die, and thats what he wanted most," she explained.

These survivors are aging and justice delayed is justice denied, Des was denied his justice and that was very unfair on him.

She didnt see the end to this journey

In 2018, the Founder of Voice of Irish First Mothers, Kathy McMahon, 63, died at the gates of the UN, where she was going to speak about her life in the mother and baby homes.

She had set up the group in 2014, to support women who had their children taken by the nuns and she tried to have their voices heard.

While Kathy had fought for the mothers who lost their babies in the homes, she herself never got all her answers.

Her late partner Fintan Dunne said at the time: "She had a child taken from her and was able to stop her second child being taken.

She died at the gates of the UN, she took a turn and died. She was going in there to stand up for the mothers and the babies and all those who perished in every mother and baby home and she died at the gates of it. It is heartbreaking.

"Kathy was a force to be reckoned with, she had fought so hard for truth and justice but never saw the State apology."

Kathy was just 18 years old when she was pregnant with her first daughter in 1974 in Dublin.

But she said that it was all hush hush and she was sent to the Good Shepherd Convent in Dunboyne, Co Meath.

When she went into labour, she was taken to Holles Street hospital where she had her baby but when it came to her discharge, she was told her baby was gone.

Kathy McMahon founded Voice of Irish First Mothers.

Six weeks later Kathy was brought to a solicitors office in OConnell Street to sign adoption papers. She said she was sick at the thought of it but had "no concept of what I was doing".

The second time she was pregnant when she was told by the nuns to give up her child she replied, "no way".

Her friend Sheila OByrne, whose only child was adopted from St. Patricks mother and baby home, said: She had the strength the second time to say no, so she was strong, but she didnt see the end to this journey, which is still going on. There are still so many things not resolved for the mothers and many have died before getting their justice.
They know Corks historic Shandon area better than most, and have seen plans and strategies for its future come and go over the years with little impact. But both agree that this could be the one.

Its big on aspiration. There is fierce potential in it, in the ambition of it. Now its all about funding and delivery, says Tadgh McCarthy, a member of the Shandon Area Renewal Association (SARA), who has lived all his life in the area.

Fellow SARA member, James Nolan, agrees: I get the feeling that we are 90% there. I think this will happen. We are thinking positively. But this one must be backed up with funding.

The two men take me on a walking tour through the warren of narrow streets and lanes of Shandon just days after Cork City Council adopted the Shandon Integrated Urban Strategy (SIUS) - a 185-page rejuvenation plan for the area.

The Church of St Anne in Shandon. Part of the citys historic spine, with strong links to Corks trading and maritime past, Shandon is a recognised urban tourism asset with the potential to be a thriving cultural area. File picture: Larry Cummins

Big and bold on ambition, it sets out the areas rich history, it examines the challenges and opportunities, and suggests 34 separate actions, with three strategic regeneration proposals  the Butter Market and Weighmasters complex, the St Annes and Dr Mary Hearn Parks project and then the revitalisation of Shandon Street itself.

Tadgh has lived all his life in the area, born into a house opposite the North Cathedral, raised on Easons Hill and now living just off Shandon Street. Hes been involved in SARA since it was established in 2006, and hes a driving force in the local tidy towns group.

I love the area really, he says.

Butcher James is a third generation Shandon Street trader. He has also availed of special grants to convert a once disused area behind his shop into apartments, with views from the upper floors of St Annes tower, and down into the city.

But they agree the area has never reached its full potential.

Part of the citys historic spine, with strong links to Corks trading and maritime past, Shandon is a recognised urban tourism asset with the potential to be a thriving cultural area, its network of narrow laneways still retaining the form and character of its original medieval streetscape.

Some of the plaques attached to buildings in the Shandon area showcasing their historic connections. You can also take a self-guided tour of the area with your phone by logging onto walkingshandon.ie

Steeped in history and heritage, rich in character and community spirit, it has for generations been entwined with the very identity of the city, its landmark St Annes church a striking visual symbol of the city itself.

History drips from the walls around almost every turn, its steps and archways whispering the story of Cork, from Skiddys Almhouse to Mary Harris (Mother Jones), from Annie Moore to Jack Lynch.

From its development in the 12th century at the North Gate of the walled city along important trade routes leading north, east and west  a place of cattle markets, brewing and distillery industries, the Butter Market, slaughter houses and tanneries  today it is a multi-cultural melting pot, with African, Asian and Arabic food stores sitting alongside locally-owned butchers, barbers, chemists, pubs and funeral homes.

But despite its many obvious attractions, the area has for decades struggled to fulfill its promise and potential, a place of missed opportunities.

Many buildings in the area are vacant, some apparently abandoned, their facades crumbling under the weight of years of neglect. Some buildings were knocked for plans that never materialised, vacant sites are overgrown and unkempt.

Not even the landmark buildings have escaped. The butter market building lies empty. The small religious community that worships at St Annes Church, one of the citys most visited paid attractions, have to fundraise for vital structural repairs.

Many buildings in the area are vacant, some apparently abandoned, such as this one on the corner of Dominic Street. But there are signs of hope. Two residential schemes are underway a little further up Dominic St, including one on the site of the former Kay O'Mahony's pub (pictured).

We walk the streets on bin collection day. Wheelie bins are the dominant street furniture on many of the lanes. A tangled mass of electricity wires strung across some of the streets provide an unsightly backdrop as guests staying at the nearby Maldron Hotel stop to take photos.

At the same meeting where SIUS was adopted, councillors also approved Part 8 planning for the first of the big three regeneration projects it recommends - the refurbishment of the council-owned and protected former 19th century Weighmasters House, a terraced gable-fronted, three-bay, three-storey property built around 1800, as a versatile and multifunctional but purposeful and accessible community and creative space that could be used as a recording studio, for work desks, meetings, events and exhibitions.

It will have an entrance foyer and cafe, a first-floor open plan desk space, and office spaces. It has also been designed to link in with the tech hub project proposed for the adjoining butter market building. Both projects are likely to advance together.

Councillors said they hope the Weighmasters project will be the springboard to regenerate the area  something the people of Shandon have heard before.

James and Tadgh have welcomed SIUS and planning for the Weighmasters project, but they remain skeptical given how previous projects also promised rejuvenation that has yet to materialise.

Inside the vacant craft centre, which is earmarked for a tech hub project.

In 1980, the then Cork Corporation bought the former butter market to secure the preservation of its facade and portico, and with the help of the IDA, developed a craft centre which operated from it between 1984 and 2008.

There was a proposal in 1999 to convert the building to provide a home for the Graffiti theatre company. That didnt happen.

There was talk it could house a traditional music exhibition. That didnt happen.

There was even talk that it could become home to a genealogical centre, with suggestions that dance star Michael Flatley would act as an ambassador for the project. That didnt happen either.

Planning was granted two years ago to Recreate Shandon CLG, a social enterprise, for an enterprise centre innovation hub in the building, but for various reasons, that hasnt happened.

After two decades of vacancy, pigeons rule the roost there today.

We should know by August about the funding application for the Weighmasters House project. If the council is successful, then hopefully, the plan will snowball from then on, James says.

Tadgh agrees: If this project comes to fruition, it will be fantastic for the area. We are thinking positive.

An information plaques on house on Bob and Joans Walk where Jack Lynch was born.

And there are positives - the Dragon of Shandon festival, the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival, the Firkin Crane dance centre, the Shandon allotment tucked away behind a Popes Quay apartment block where North Pres primary school has taken four of the raised beds.

As we walk their inner city neighbourhood, Tadgh points to the information plaques attached to several buildings  the house on Bob and Joans Walk where Jack Lynch was born, a house on a lane off John Redmond Street which is the last-known Irish home of Annie Moore, the first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island in the US in 1892, and nearby, The Loft, alongside Linehans sweet shop, where the Cork Shakespearean Company was founded almost a century ago.

They all feature in the walkingshandon.ie audio tour, a community project supported by council funding.

Shandon bells and the Butter Museum are popular visitor attractions with an increase in visitors to Shandon bells of 10% since 2015 and the Butter Museum recording its highest ever visitor numbers in 2024. More than one third of visitors are American.

The local authority has played its part by supporting the various festivals, and with projects like its 2021 2.9m restoration of two near 300-year-old protected properties at 5 and 6 Shandon St  some of the few remaining Dutch gabled buildings in the city  as a social housing project.

It is trying to tackle dereliction. A notice is attached to hoarding around a high-profile derelict site at the junction of Dominick Street and Shandon Street advising the owner of the 7% levy attaching to the site valued last December at 190,000.

And it granted planning recently for a residential scheme in two protected properties which have been vacant and derelict for some time at the southern gateway to Shandon Street, a decision which is currently under appeal to An Bord Pleanala.

A plaque alongside Linehans sweet shop, where the Cork Shakespearean Company was founded almost a century ago.

But so much more is required for the area to reach the potential envisaged by SIUS.

It is the first regeneration strategy undertaken by the city council in line with the Town Centre First methodology which promotes the adaptive reuse of derelict heritage buildings, the conversion of upper floors to residential use, and the considered densification of under-used urban sites and multi-use regeneration of public spaces.

It is funded by the Government and the EU under the Southern, Eastern and Midland Regional Programme 2021- 2027 through the Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme (THRIVE).

The study team first defined the geography of Shandon which they said extends from Cathedral Walk and Cathedral Way to the north, the north channel of the River Lee to the south, the N20 Blackpool bypass to the east (extending along Leitrim Street and Devonshire Street to the western end of Coburg Street) and Wolfe Tone Street, Glen Ryan Road and Upper Cattle Market Street to the west, and includes the Shandon Architectural Conservation Area (ACA).

The area has seen a 13% increase in population since 2016, with non-Irish nationals accounting for just over half the population  the State average is 12%  and just over half are aged 25 to 44. The area has the second-highest population density in the city.

Some 27 sites are classified as vacant or derelict in the wider area, with 46 valid applications for the Croi Conaithe - Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant and 31 Living City Initiative applications, 19 in the study area.

The local authority is trying to address derelict sites such as this one on the corner of Dominic Street.

The SIUS team consulted with the community through two open public consultation events, before they conducted targeted consultation with businesses, the elderly and the newer communities.

They also used creative consultation methodologies such as a heritage-based lesson plan and a colouring competition for the local primary school children to get an understanding of the communitys needs, to identify the challenges and the opportunities.

The plan sets out the special historic context and character of the area, and takes account of its archaeological and architectural heritage.

The area has many fine examples of a variety of architectural styles with 40 designated protected structures and many more on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH), with 18th century gable-fronted buildings a distinctive feature of the architectural heritage of the area and now rare outside Cork City.

The study identifies 12 character areas from the historic heart to Shandon Street, to the industrial area to the markets, and notes 11 recorded archaeological sites, most of which are clustered around the church of St Annes.

The document says that whatever is proposed as part of the strategy must have a strong focus on the conservation, enhancement and adaptive reuse of the existing built heritage, which is the essence of the areas special character.

One of the plaques showcasing Shandon's historic connections where you can take a self-guided tour of the area with your phone by logging onto walkingshandon.ie.

Lord Mayor, Dan Boyle, said the strategy offers a bottom-up sustainable approach to creating better urban centre living and enhancing the conditions for business, tourism and the arts to thrive.

It encourages appropriate development whilst protecting and enhancing Shandons built heritage and provides the context and practical tools to guide this growth and regeneration through identified projects and activities, he said.

As an advocate of people-centred planning, I am particularly pleased to welcome the strategy and expect that it will become a catalyst for positive regeneration and capacity building within the Shandon community.

Council chief executive, Valerie OSullivan said the strategy will be used to support funding applications for the various actions proposed in order to deliver tangible results over the coming years.

We look forward to working in partnership to drive the development of Shandon and build it as destination of choice with wide ranging appeal for residents and visitors alike, she said.

James Nolan on Pope's Quay, where Myo Cafe have created a 'Place of Peace' with the help of council funding.

As we walk down Widderlings Lane towards the river, we pass a school group on a tour of the area. We get a coffee in Myo, which has commissioned murals for the laneway walls, installed limestone chess boards on Popes Quay, and with help from council funding, has installed a place of peace viewing platform overlooking the northern channel of the Lee.

Tadgh says this is the kind of spirit that makes Shandon special, as James deals with texts from volunteers wondering about a tidy towns clean up this weekend.

A tidy towns group is unusual in an urban area like this," Tadgh says.

"But you cant always expect the council to do everything. Youve got to give back to the community as well.

Were not doing it for thanks or praise. Were doing it to keep the area nice, clean and tidy for visitors and for the people who live here.

Tadhg McCarthy, left, and James Nolan, right, of the Shandon Area Renewal Association in the gorgeous green area attached to the former Shandon Craft Centre, with St Anne's Church in the background.

He says its encouraging to see a big strategy for the place but says action must follow on bread and butter issues too.

If youre only talking about a strategy, youre not doing anything. Its one thing to have an overall plan but you need to get into the detail of the actual projects to get them done, he says.

But the down to earth stuff needs to be focused on too. We clean the streets, we paint the poles, painting over the graffiti. We do a lot of the local work, and we get some support from the council, but other times we need more support.

James says of all the plans hes seen before, SIUS offers the best hope, and with planning granted for the Weighmasters House project, there is momentum behind it.

You have everything on Shandon Street, from the butcher to the pub, a cobbler, hairdressers, two funeral homes and chemists, he says.

There is a good buzz around the street, its the people that make the street - Polish, Ukrainian, African - its a great street to work on and live on. Now we need the funding to follow.
Several wind-driven wildfires that scorched nearly 118,000 acres in northwestern North Dakota last fall, killing two people and destroying homes and farmland, have officials reexamining their emergency response and coordination.

The topic of planning and responding in such situations was the focus of a special presentation delivered by Ray and Tioga representatives at the North Dakota League of Cities Spring Workshop held in Bismarck on Wednesday.

Ray City Auditor Ronda Rustad and Tioga City Commissioners Jessica Sandberg and Jaden Iverson were joined by Tioga's Chief of Police Josh Nelson. The group focused on how their respective communities responded to fires threatening their communities, separated by only 10 miles in the northeastern corner of Williams County.

The blazes, fueled by wind gusts exceeding 70 mph, also injured six people, and claimed two residences, abandoned farmsteads and agricultural buildings. Additionally, there was extensive damage to power lines, and approximately 612 cattle were killed, injured or missing.

Local leaders discuss decision-making during October wildfires

Rustad addressed why City Hall never issued an evacuation order when flames neared 1 mile from Ray, forcing major road closures due to heavy smoke and near-zero visibility. At the time, she said, all five city commissioners and the public works director were out of town, leaving a potential evacuation order to her or Assistant City Auditor Jan Dancer.

"The best thing that happened was that we never said a word. First of all, it's not your city's responsibility. You have county emergency services, you have fire (personnel) and you have law enforcement, and that's when you rely on them. That's their jobs," Rustad said.

"So we were asked, 'Why didn't you let us know? Why didn't you tell us?' Because we were waiting on information from emergency service to tell us what to do; we would have sent people down the highway, possibly to their death."

Rustads remark about potentially sending people into the smoke isnt one she takes lightly. Shortly after fire reports began coming in around 3 p.m. on Oct. 5, Rustad and Dancer drove out to assess the situation. In hindsight, she admitted it was a mistake.

"Don't be a lookie-Lou. When we got back, our phone was ringing off the hook. We had no idea what to tell them," said Rustad. "So it was basically, 'You do what you're comfortable with. If you feel you have a safe place to go, that's your choice,' which was something very important for a city to get to."

That sentiment was echoed by Nelson, who showed a video of road conditions recorded by his patrol cars dashcam.

"Our fire crews are out there, literally standing on the front bumpers of their grass units," Nelson said. "And the last thing we want is a car coming head-on with them, potentially entering our fire crews."

Nelson said he responded to a call about a stranded motorist, with his usual response time from Tioga of just over 10 minutes stretching to more than an hour due to the fires.

The motorist survived, but Nelson showed photos of the vehicle, which was charred down to the wheels.

"I actually think he was in his car as it was burning," Nelson said. "Once the fire conditions passed, he got out. I think that's how he made it."

Steele said a water truck from an oil company that volunteered its services was hit head-on by a motorist, and the fast-moving flames partially burned another truck.

Water for fire crews in both cities was provided at no cost. In Tioga, Steele said, city hydrants were opened, with meters attached only to allow water flow, not for billing purposes.

In Ray, Rustad said water came from the city's water tower, even though power was lost to the facility and the backup generator, which had recently been checked, failed to operate due to a faulty circuit breaker.

"Don't scrimp on your infrastructure," Rustad said. "It was just a matter of we were on the list for the electrician, and it wasn't a big priority for us. We can't be that complacent anymore. When you think about your infrastructure and how important your water tower is -- lesson learned, no more complacency."

Complacency also extends to emergency action plans. Steele said Tioga has one in place, but it was drawn up several years ago and "is open to interpretation" in some instances.

Iverson, serving his first term on Tioga's City Commission, said a comprehensive review is necessary.

"We're going to make an action plan for every wild scenario you can think of now, because (we) never would have guessed something like that would happen," he said.

All four said it's crucial that large incidents, whether fires, blizzards or any other emergency, are coordinated through a central command structure. For the October fires, that command was assumed by Williams County's Department of Emergency Services.

During the weekend fires, Williams County Director of Emergency Services Mike Smith and his staff coordinated efforts from over 20 fire departments, including several from neighboring Montana. More than half a dozen rural EMS agencies and law enforcement, including the North Dakota Highway Patrol and Civil Air Patrol, assisted, with patrols flying over 20-mile burn areas for eight days, searching for hot spots.

"Get to know your county director of emergency services," Rustad said. "Have a conversation with them."

Mutual aid, the panelists agreed, is crucial.

In response to an audience question about overcoming rivalries to enact mutual aid agreements, Nelson summed it up: "The reality is, nobody will care what name is on the side of the truck or patrol car when your house is burned down or you need help. We have to make that clear."

A proposed bill, Senate Bill 2340, in the North Dakota Legislature aims to address the state's evolving fire service operational and response needs. The bill overwhelmingly passed in the Senate and awaits approval from the House of Representatives. If passed and signed into law by the governor, it would initiate a comprehensive study during the 2025-26 interim, focusing on improving coordination, establishing regional fire service response teams and exploring funding restructuring options. The study would also evaluate staffing, training and equipment needs while seeking ways to reduce reliance on local property taxes for fire service funding.

Roughly half the state currently experiences drought conditions ranging from abnormally dry to extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a partnership of U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Drought Mitigation Center.
Ireland is not what it used to be in the global imagination. Different versions of this country were writ large over the week in which the national holiday is celebrated.

Micheal Martin presented the old-fashioned, and for the greater part, factually accurate narrative of Ireland when he went to the USA. He mingled with elements of Irish America, did his bit for trade and diplomacy and smiled anxiously through a close encounter with Donald Trump. Job done, but who noticed on the far side of the Atlantic? His visit made a few headlines, but not that many and it happened nearly a week before the big day.

On Paddys Day itself, Conor McGregor was the Irishman at the White House, flagging his imminent arrival on X (formerly Twitter) with the following tweet. I land shortly in Washington for the most important meeting of my countries future.

It is unclear whether his spelling was haywire or he was suggesting that Ireland and the USA both qualify as being his country. I am more than ready, he wrote, sounding like a man who was about to undertake a mission that was bigger than himself, bigger than perhaps anything attempted by the millions who had crossed the ocean before him. And all in the name of faux patriotism.

McGregor, who was found guilty of assault in a civil rape case, has 10m followers on X.

In a highly unusual move for a visitor to the White House, he was given space in the press room, standing at the podium that is familiar to the world. He relayed whats gone wrong in Ireland, where there is, he claims, a government  elected last November  with zero accountability.

Our money is being spent on overseas issues that has nothing to do with the people of Ireland, he told the press. The illegal immigration racket is running ravage on the country, there are towns and villages that are being overrun in one swoop.

He warned Irish Americans that they needed to hear this because if not there will be no place to come home and visit.

His diatribe might have come from the mouth of Donald Trump, with its insults of immigrants and echoes of Trumps carnage in American cities.

Among those who spread McGregors message was Elon Musk, who has 70m followers on X, which he owns, and which he has engineered to amplify the kind of messages that he, Trump, and McGregor disseminate. Later in the week, McGregor continued his tour of the US when he dined with the Attorney General of Texas, a state with the eighth largest economy in the world. To millions of Americans, McGregor is the kind of personality that Ireland needs right now to save the country, just as Trump has saved America. We are indeed lucky that calls to allow all Irish passport holders a vote in Irish presidential elections have fallen on deaf ears.

Spitting venom

If McGregor is the man purporting to answer Irelands call stateside, back at home a different image of the oul sod was being projected. An Israeli man visiting this country was spat on in a bar in Dun Laoghaire. Tamr Ohayon and another person were confronted by two women, Lena Seale and Zeina Ismail, who had been involved in pro-Palestinian campaigns. Seale was a candidate for People Before Profit in last years local elections.

In footage uploaded onto social media, the two women can be seen approaching Olayon and gesturing to him with their middle fingers, telling him: Zionists are not welcome in Ireland. Later Ismail can be seen spitting at Olayon, whose apparent crime was he served in the Israeli Defence Forces, which is obligatory in Israel.

The story and the footage went around the world, not just on social media but ended up in newspapers as far away as New Delhi. Dana Erlich, the Israeli ambassador to Ireland  until she was withdrawn in protest  tweeted that this is how the land of a hundred thousand welcomes treats Israeli tourists. A shocking example of the anti-Israeli & antisemetic environment that has been permitted to develop in Ireland.

This is how the land of a hundred thousand welcomes treats Israeli tourists.

A shocking example of the anti-Israeli & antisemitic environment that has been permitted to develop in Ireland.



An Israeli was stalked, targeted and assaulted just because he is Israeli, while others pic.twitter.com/xqxBTOyoz4  Dana Erlich  (@DanaErlich) March 15, 2025

The whole episode fed into a growing narrative that this country is antisemetic, that the solidarity widely expressed with the plight of the Palestinians is rooted in simple hatred of Jews. This has been vehemently rejected across society. In the USA, the Taoiseach met Jewish leaders to impress on them the true nature of this countrys position on the slaughter in Gaza. But which image of the land of 100,000 welcomes has gone viral? The one uploaded in glee by an extremist element on the fringes, or the official and accurate version sold by Micheal Martin? On Tuesday, Seale was interviewed on Newstalk where she was completely unrepentant about what she had engaged in.

The relentless bombing of Gaza is an outrage of gigantic proportions. The resumption of the bombing this week occurred at a time when the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, now a wanted war criminal, was due to give evidence at his corruption trial in Tel Aviv, heightening the sense that the wholesale murder is, at least in part, motivated by base politics.

But from this island at the western edge of Europe, what assistance is it to any Palestinian to spit on an Israeli visitor? Who wins from what is quickly fashioned into propaganda material?

Surely allowing this country to be cast as harbouring the kind of hatred that led to the Holocaust is about as dumb a thing as it is possible to do right now.

Despite Martins competent performance in Washington, the images that disseminated across the world depict Ireland as a place that variously needs some far right buffoon to rescue it and retrieve its loss of identity and control under the current government, to a place where the most ancient form of bigotry is alive and thriving.

Thats how the world works today. The extremes, through social media, have the capacity to amplify biases, bury facts and inflame anger to the point where they fashion a narrative totally at odds with any verifiable truth. And there is no problem finding a market for this kind of corruption. Look no further than the reality that a large minority of the USAs 300m inhabitants believe that the 2020 presidential election was, for the first time in US history, stolen from the real winner. This belief, for which there is zero evidence, originated through nothing more than Donald Trump saying and repeating it was so on social media.

Such a milieu is ideal for extremists to spread their hate of one form or another. Thankfully, the extremes of all hue remain a small minority in this country so far, but the thrashing of Irelands reputation in the week that was shows how easily the truth can be smothered these days and a false narrative held up as the real truth.
Over the last week, Taoiseach Micheal Martin has been dubbed an antisemite and also accused of colluding with genocide against Palestinians.

While many campaigners here have been vocal in their condemnation of a perceived lack of action from the Taoiseach and his Government, outside these shores Irelands stance is seen as radical and borderline pariah.

As Israel unleashes yet another brutal, inhumane attack on the people of Gaza, the Government appears caught on taking further action at a time when it risks fully ostracising itself, thus losing any influence it may have had up to now.

Accusations of antisemitism have been levelled against our President, Taoiseach, and Tanaiste; most recently on Martins trip to Washington when Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter accused him of promoting a blood libel towards the state of Israel.

The view in many countries, and especially the US, is that Ireland is one of the most hostile states in Europe.

After a meeting with Martin, which was boycotted by several Jewish groups, Rabbi Andrew Barker of the American Jewish Committee issued a statement that incorrectly claimed that antisemitism is pervasive in Ireland, posing serious risks for its 3,000 Jews, many of whom hold

Israeli citizenship.

Alongside physical harassment and attacks, widespread anti-Israel sentiment  including in parts of the government  affects daily life, the statement added.

There are, of course, nasty but niche elements fuelled by racism, hatred, and antisemitism in Ireland, but the outpouring of solidarity towards the Palestinian people should not be equated to antisemitism.

There is also an important distinction, which conveniently gets forgotten, between antisemitism and anti-zionism.

On this side of the Atlantic, Ireland, along with Spain, is viewed as an outlier among the EU nations, with eyebrows being raised by many at the combined call for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement back in March 2024.

Closer to home, many in the world of business, perhaps holding different priorities, were also baffled by the timing of Irelands recognition of the state of Palestine last year and have been relieved at the signals that the Occupied Territories Bill is now being put on the long finger.

With the threat of US tariffs looming over the economy, there is now a real fear that the Government could soften its cough in relation to speaking out and taking affirmative action against Israel in order to appease a volatile and pro-Israel Donald Trump.

But inside the Dail and on the street, pressure from the opposite direction continues.

Demanding the end of the military use of Shannon and the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill, Independent TD for Galway West Catherine Connolly said the Government is colluding with genocide in speaking sweet words but taking little action.

We are openly informed that they are back to finish the job, back to ensure that no Palestinians will be left on Palestinian land, she said.

The people who are there are surviving among dead bodies of their families and their people.

"There is no water, no energy, no hospitals, and they are being starved to death, and we talk.

Addressing Tanaiste Simon Harris, Connolly asked: What is Ireland doing? Along with our sweet words, we are actively colluding with genocide and with the slaughter of innocent people.

Harris said he was so sick and tired of being misrepresented and pointed to five separate measures that the Government is taking.

Referencing Irelands involvement in the International Court of Justice case taken against Israel by South Africa, Harris said that, at a time when international courts are coming under attack from others, we are proudly standing with the international courts and speaking up for international law.

Harris argued that the Government is also providing significant humanitarian aid with trucks currently in Jordan with enough support for 6,000 people in Gaza.

The third thing we are doing is supporting Unrwa. Talk to the director general of Unrwa and ask him how supportive this Government has been.

"Not only have we provided 38m at a time when others have walked away and walked off the pitch from Unrwa, we have provided 38m on behalf of the people of this country. 

He said the Coalition is working with Arab countries to support the Arab plan for reconstruction.

The fifth practical thing we are doing is engaging to advance the commitment in the programme for Government to legislate on the occupied territories.

With the US complicit in what is being unleashed by Israel in Gaza and Europe a weakened entity, Ireland must raise its voice louder than before.

To Leiter and the many others who have accused our political leaders of being antisemitic, we must make it clear that Irish people are not anti-Jewish.

We are, however, vehemently opposed to the repeated persecution of Palestinians over many years.

We abhor the collective punishment of a people who long before October 7 had been living in an open-air prison.

We strongly condemn the oppression and systematic annihilation of an ethnic group.

The Government must stress this view through action, even if that action causes more unmerited criticism.
After weeks in the United States, influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate arrived early on Saturday in Romania, where they face charges of human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

The Tates, who are dual US and British citizens, were arrested in Romania in late 2022 and formally indicted last year on charges that they participated in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania, where they were allegedly sexually exploited.

Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. They deny all of the allegations against them.

Andrew Tate, left, speaks to the media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States (AP/Andreea Alexandru)

The brothers plane  which Andrew Tate said earlier in a post on X cost 185,000 dollars (143,138) to jet across the Atlantic to sign one single piece of paper  landed at Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport shortly before 1 am local time Saturday morning.

After arriving at their residence near the capital, Bucharest, Andrew Tate told reporters they returned because innocent men dont run from anything and he vowed to clear his name in court.

After all weve been through, we truly deserve the day in court where it is stated that weve done nothing wrong and that we should have never been in court in the first place. We should have never gone to jail. We should have never had our assets seized. We should have never had our names slandered, he said.

Anyone who believed any of this garbage has a particularly low IQ.

Their return to Romania comes nearly a month after a travel ban imposed on the brothers was lifted, after which they flew on a private jet to the US, landing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The brothers remain under judicial control, which requires them to appear before judicial authorities in Romania when summoned.

Eugen Vidineac, one of the Tate brothers lawyers in Romania, told The Associated Press that the Tates are due to check in with a surveillance officer on Monday.

Days after the Tates arrived in the US, on March 4, Floridas attorney general James Uthmeier said his office had opened a criminal investigation into Andrew and Tristan Tate.

He said in a social media post that he directed his office to work with law enforcement to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the brothers.

A day after the investigation was opened, Andrew Tate said in a post on X: I didnt commit any crime and theyre trying to find one because they dont like me.

The lifting of their two-year travel ban came after a Bucharest court in December ruled that a case against the brothers could not go to trial because of multiple legal and procedural irregularities on the part of the prosecutors.

The case, however, remained open.

For his part, Tristan Tate said after returning to Romania: I think its very telling that we were investigated for two and a half years, and we were dragged  in front of the media, into prison, out of prison, all this time, and in December last year, a judge said  theres not evidence enough for this to even go to trial.

Last August, Romanias anti-organised crime agency also launched a second case against the brothers, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering. They have denied those charges as well.

Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan arrive at the Bucharest Tribunal in Bucharest, Romania(AP/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, 38, a former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist who has amassed more than 10 million followers on X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him.

There are a lot of people in the world today that do not have faith in Romanian institutions  but were going to restore that faith by coming home, as American citizens, going to court, and getting the not guilty that we deserve, Andrew said.

If a court needs to speak to us, well be there because were innocent.

The Tate brothers legal battles are not limited to Romania.

Four British women who accused Andrew Tate of sexual violence and physical abuse are suing him in the UK after the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute him.

In March last year, the Tate brothers appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in a separate case after UK authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a case dating back to the period from 2012 to 2015.

The appeals court granted the UK request to extradite the Tates, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.
Russia launched a drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing three people and wounded 12, Ukrainian officials said, despite agreeing to a limited ceasefire.

Zaporizhzhia was hit by 12 drones, police said.

Regional head Ivan Fedorov said that residential buildings, cars and communal buildings were set on fire in the Friday night attack.

Photos showing emergency services scouring the rubble for survivors.

Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after US President Donald Trump spoke with the countries leaders, though it remains to be seen what possible targets would be off limits to attack.

The three sides appeared to hold starkly different views about what the deal covered. While the White House said energy and infrastructure would be part of the agreement, the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to energy infrastructure.

Rescue workers clear the rubble of a residential house (Kateryna Klochko/AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would also like railways and ports to be protected.

The dead in Zaporizhzhia included three members of one family.

The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled out from under the rubble while doctors unsuccessfully fought for the mothers life for more than 10 hours, Mr Fedorov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired a total of 179 drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks overnight into Saturday.

It said 100 were intercepted and another 63 lost, likely having been electronically jammed.

Officials in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions also reported fires breaking out due to the falling debris from intercepted drones.

Russias Ministry of Defence, meanwhile, said its air defence systems shot down 47 Ukrainian drones.

Mr Zelensky told reporters after Wednesdays call with Mr Trump that Ukraine and US negotiators will discuss technical details related to the partial ceasefire during a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday.

Russian negotiators are also set to hold separate talks with US officials there.

Mr Zelensky emphasised that Ukraine is open to a full, 30-day ceasefire that Trump has proposed, saying: We will not be against any format, any steps toward unconditional ceasefire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a complete ceasefire conditional on a halt of arms supplies to Kyiv and a suspension of Ukraines military mobilisation  demands rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies.
Israel struck Lebanon in retaliation for rockets targeting Israel, killing two, including a child, in the heaviest exchange of fire since the ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Earlier, rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, for the second time since December, sparking concern about whether the fragile ceasefire would hold.

In a statement on Saturday, Hezbollah denied being responsible for the attack, saying that it was committed to the truce and accused Israel of blaming it for the strikes as a pretext for more attacks.

Israel had said that it would respond severely to the early Saturday attack from Lebanon when rockets were fired into northern Israel.

Israels army said the intercepted rockets targeted the Israeli town of Metula.

Lebanons health ministry said Saturday that the strike in the southern village of Touline also wounded eight others.

Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas October 7 2023, attack out of Gaza ignited the war there.

Israel will not allow any harm to its citizens and sovereignty

The Israel-Hezbollah conflict boiled over into an all-out war in September as Israel carried out massive waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant groups senior leaders.

The fighting killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis.

Under the ceasefire reached in November, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January.

The deadline was then extended to February 18 by agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

But since then, Israel has remained in five locations in Lebanon, across from communities in northern Israel, and has carried out dozens of airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, saying it attacked Hezbollah, while continuing targeted drone attacks that have so far killed several members of the militant group.

Lebanon has appealed to the UN to pressure Israel to fully withdraw from the country.

Israels prime ministers office said Saturday it instructed the army to act forcefully against dozens of targets in Lebanon, adding: Israel will not allow any harm to its citizens and sovereignty.

Israels army said on Saturday it was carrying out strikes on Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon and that it struck dozens of the groups rocket launchers and a command centre where Hezbollah was operating.

A Hezbollah official said on Saturday that it was not responsible for the attack, calling it primitive, speaking on condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

In a statement, Lebanons prime minister Nawaf Salam asked the Lebanese military to take all necessary measures in the south but said the country did not want to return to war.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as Unifil, said it was alarmed at the possible escalation of violence and urged all parties to avoid jeopardising the progress made, saying further escalation could have serious consequences for the region.
ALBANY  State leaders are discussing proposals raised by Gov. Kathy Hochul to ban masks, change the discovery process in criminal justice cases, expand psychiatric involuntary commitment and prohibit student use of cellphones in public schools, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said Thursday.

The Bronx Democrat said the four proposals  as well as possible sources of funding for the New York City-based Metropolitan Transportation Authority  have dominated early negotiations with the governor and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers. The state faces an April 1 deadline to pass the 2026 state budget.

The governor has four signature policy items that she wants to raise, so most of the discussions have been on those four things and the MTA, Heastie told reporters.

Hochul proposed a $252 billion spending plan in January. The Assembly and Senate unveiled their respective plans last week. On Thursday, Heastie said the discussions on a possible mask ban were at an initial stage.

Heastie noted that a bill has been introduced by Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz, D-Bronx, and Sen. James Skoufis, D-Woodbury, that would create the offense of masked harassment for intentional concealment of a persons face and identity with the intent to menace, threaten, or place another person or group in reasonable fear for their physical safety. Depending on the persons actions, the mask wearer could face a violation akin to a traffic ticket or a misdemeanor punishable by possible jail time. The bill was in the Codes Committee of both houses.

Hochul 'nervous' about measles in Canada, urges New Yorkers to get vaccine and not listen to RFK Jr. 'lies' If youve not been vaccinated, if your child is not vaccinated, please step up and get it done, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in an announcement from a state Department of Health facility in Albany.

We really have not, as a conference, talked about it in a real deep sense. Im sure we will over the next two weeks, Heastie said.

On Wednesday, Hochul told reporters she has supported some variation of restrictions on the use of masks, with the exception of masks worn for medical or religious reasons.

Masks used in the commission of a crime are deeply troubling to me, the governor said. Think about a bank robber  walks in, their face is covered. Someone assaults someone on the subway. They can get away with it, despite the fact that we have cameras, because they are masked. This is something that, as Im protecting public safety, is very much top of mind. So were having conversations. Well see how it goes.

Senate Republicans, who sit in the minority, have backed a ban on masks as part of a package of bills to crack down on antisemitism. The Anti-Defamation League, citing antisemitic and harassment on college campuses, has said perpetrators hide behind masks and intentionally make victims fear for their physical safety.

Hochul wants to change aspects of the states criminal justice reforms involving discovery  sharing of evidence  that took effect Jan. 1, 2020. Under the previous system, prosecutors could wait until the start of a trial to disclose evidence to the defense. It had been a sore spot for years among defense attorneys, who said they were left blindsided and given little time to prepare a defense. They said it contributed to wrongful convictions.

Seneca president says Hochul will apologize for state's role in Thomas Indian School The president of the Seneca Nation said Gov. Kathy Hochul agreed to issue a formal apology for the abuse and deaths of children at the former Thomas Indian School.

The 2020 justice reforms require prosecutors to share 21 different types of evidence with the defense within 20 days of an arraignment for jailed defendants, and within 35 days for defendants who are not jailed. They must file a certificate of compliance and a valid statement of readiness for trial. Prosecutors have griped that, given the overwhelming amount of evidence they must require, it is too easy to miss speedy trial requirements that mandate they be ready for trial within six months from the initiation of felony charges, 60 days for misdemeanors and 30 days for violations.

Judges can toss cases if prosecutors miss the deadlines.

Hochul said in her State of the State address in January that she wants to eliminate the incentive to delay discovery challenges and to ensure that a discovery error is addressed in a manner proportional to cases are not tossed on technicalities.

Neither the Assembly nor Senate included discovery reforms in their recent budget plans. On Thursday, Heastie acknowledged it is being discussed.

We are still concerned about letting district attorneys be the sole arbiters of whats relevant, versus relate, he said. But I think no one wants cases dismissed unnecessarily.

NY lawmakers propose budget plan that could close 5 prisons, alter rebates Leaders of the State Legislature proposed adjustments to Gov. Kathy Hochuls budget plan that could close five prisons, cut taxes for the low- and middle-income classes, increase income tax rates on the state's highest earners, and send tax rebate checks to New Yorkers 63 and older.

Hochul has proposed the expansion of involuntary psychiatric commitment. The proposal would allow for people to be involuntarily committed when there is a substantial risk of harm due to their inability to meet basic needs such as food, shelter or medical care. It would not require evidence that the person is an imminent risk. It also would allow psychiatric nurse practitioners to admit people to inpatient care.

Neither the Assembly nor Senate has embraced the concept, nor have some mental health advocates, who have said involuntarily commitment too often leaves people locked up in jails without receiving the treatment they need.

Hochul included her proposed ban on cellphones in her budget, as well as $13.5 million to help fund storage pouches to store phones for the bell to bell prohibition on students using the phones.

The Senates budget plan, by contrast, would prohibit the use of internet-enabled devices during the school day, but allow schools to permit cellphone access during non-instruction time and prohibit schools from suspending students for cellphone use violations.

The Assembly budget plan did not include Hochuls ban, but said it would continue to explore the issue and supports restricting students use of cellphones and other internet-enabled devices in school to better cultivate a healthy and productive environment for children to learn.
Two Fatalities Reported Following New Russian Strikes in Eastern Ukraine

Late this evening, Russian assaults resulted in the deaths of two individuals in Zaporizhzhia, a southeastern city in Ukraine, along with three additional casualties in the northern and eastern parts of the country, according to official reports.

Ivan Fedorov, the governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, communicated via the Telegram messaging app that the city experienced over 10 strikes, leading to two fatalities and eight injuries.

Images shared on social media depicted rescue teams navigating through debris, alongside apartment buildings and homes suffering extensive damage to their windows and facades.

In the Sumy region, located on Ukraines northern border with Russia, prosecutors reported that Russian forces launched a minimum of six guided bombs on the village of Krasnopillia, resulting in two deaths and injuring at least two others.

This week, the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed during a phone conversation with US counterpart Donald Trump to implement a 30-day ceasefire concerning energy targets.

This agreement, however, did not extend to the broader ceasefire that the US had been seeking, which had been accepted by Ukraine. Discussions aimed at pursuing a ceasefire are scheduled for next week in Saudi Arabia, along with separate talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials.

Three injured, buildings damaged in Odessa

Russia unleashed one of its largest drone assaults on Ukraines Black Sea city of Odesa, resulting in injuries to three teenagers, damage to residential and commercial structures, and igniting fires throughout the city, as reported by officials.

This attack coincided with US efforts to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, hoping to establish a partial ceasefire that would prevent strikes on energy infrastructure by both parties.

Czech President Petr Pavel, a staunch supporter of Kyiv and a key player in securing over one million artillery shells for Ukraine, was in the city for discussions with regional leaders shortly before the assault.

Afterward, Mr. Pavel met with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv and informed reporters that he had departed Odesa by train approximately 20 minutes before the explosions occurred. He remarked that the strikes illustrated the challenges of negotiating with Moscow.

One must be truly cynical to declare a desire for peace negotiations or a ceasefire while simultaneously launching a significant attack on civilian infrastructure. Dealing with such a party is extremely difficult, he stated.

The long-range drones approached the city in multiple waves, causing damage to infrastructure, residential properties, and commercial buildings, while also triggering several fires, according to officials.

Approximately 25 vehicles were set ablaze at a car repair shop.

A car showroom in a shopping mall destroyed following a Russian drone attack in Odesa

We were powerless to react. We could only stand by and watch everything catch fire. I am completely in shock, recounted the owner of the shop, who identified herself as Inna, in a conversation with Reuters.

Military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko noted that Russia employed new strategies during the attack, with drones descending from a greater altitude than usual and at high speeds, complicating Ukraines air defense efforts.

He characterized it as one of the most massive assaults on Odesa since the onset of the Russian invasion in February 2022: It was intimidation. A terror tactic against the civilian populace.

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In a separate development, Russia and Ukraine accused one another of attacking a significant Russian gas pumping and measuring station situated in an area of Russias Kursk region that Moscows forces have largely regained from Ukraine this month.

Moscow claimed that Ukraine had detonated the facility in an act of terrorism, while Kyiv asserted that Russian forces had shelled it with artillery in a provocation, denying any involvement.

During separate discussions with US officials, both Russia and Ukraine expressed their willingness to enact a moratorium on strikes against energy infrastructure. Moscow, however, dismissed the prospect of a more extensive 30-day ceasefire.

Ukrainian, US, and Russian representatives are scheduled to meet in Saudi Arabia on Monday to discuss further details, according to officials.

The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia launched a total of 214 drones at Ukraine overnight, without specifying how many targeted Odesa.

Out of the drones, 114 were shot down, with an additional 81 labeled as lost due to electronic warfare defenses being activated against them.

Ukraine has continued to leverage drone strikes on Russian targets, hitting oil infrastructure and a strategic bomber base in recent days.
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment)  The 2025 World Happiness Report, produced by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, powered by Gallup analytics and in partnership with the UN, is out. The bad news is that Americans, despite all their wealth and power, only rank 25th in the world for self-reported happiness and well-being.

I am interested in these findings because I teach a course on the History of Happiness. It is clear from the studies that have been done that helping others, including strangers, having empathy with others, forming strong and lasting social relations with others, and showing gratitude to others are all highly correlated with self-reported well-being.

The Gallup researchers found that the Scandinavian nations, with their socialist traditions, rank highest for happiness or well-being. But the Latin American countries of Costa Rica and Mexico also rank high. Ireland, Austria, Canada and Germany are all happier places than the United States.

America is so miserable among industrialized democracies, the authors argue, for a few discrete reasons.

First of all, too many of us are eating alone.

Sharing meals with other people has an unexpectedly strong influence on our sense of well-being. It is as powerful a predictive factor for happiness as having a steady job and being well-off.

People who eat together are sweet together. They not only feel happier, they also feel fewer negative emotions such as anger, anxiety and fear.

Unlike in Finland, Mexico and Australia, Americans are increasingly loners. The authors of the report write, In 2023, roughly 1 in 4 Americans reported eating all of their meals alone the previous day  an increase of 53% since 2003. Dining alone has become more prevalent for every age group, but especially for young people.

So there you have one of the reasons Americans are more depressed than their Scandinavian peers. Theyre lonely. Those who are eating all their meals alone just dont have anyone to eat with, with whom they feel connected, on whom they feel they can rely, and whom they trust.



Happiness, ChatGPT, 2025

The Gallup team continues, Meal sharing also appears to be closely related to some, but not all, measures of social connectedness. Most notably, countries where people share relatively more meals tend to display higher levels of social support and positive reciprocity, and lower levels of loneliness. So it isnt just a matter of eating alone. That is a symptom of something else that is going on, which is that a lot of people increasingly lack a support network.

Im alarmed that American young people are especially isolated and that a significant percent are eating their meals alone.

The United States and South Korea are two rare countries where deaths of despair from suicide or overdoses have not declined over the past two decades. In the US, one reason for high rates of deaths of despair is the easy availability of guns, which is associated with higher rates of suicide. Some 55% of US suicides involve a gun.

Drug overdoses in the US are high in part because wealthy drug interests promote policies that lead to patients getting addicted to opioids. Deaths from drug overdoses are such a serious issue in the US that they have contributed to a decline in life expectancy by nearly a year.

The Gallup researchers are convinced that our low happiness scores in the US help explain our miserable politics. They point out, the decline in happiness and social trust explains a large share of the rise in political polarisation and votes against the system.

They find that dissatisfaction with democracy is particularly high when people express a low level of life satisfaction (pink and blue), especially in Europe.

People in the US report low life satisfaction compared to Scandinavia or Mexico. One reason is that they do not trust others. But the joke is on them, since they have unrealistic levels of suspicion of others. People in the US are far more likely to return a lost wallet to its owner than many Americans assume. Their cynicism and distrust, which is based on false impressions, makes them depressed.

The happiness researchers make the fascinating discovery that: Among unhappy people attracted by the extremes of the political spectrum, low-trust people are more often found on the far right, whereas high-trust people are more inclined to vote for the far left.

Since generosity to others and feeling compassion for them are highly correlated with the well-being of the donors, the currentdestruction of Americas systems of organized benevolence and the censuring of empathy are a one-way ticket to hell.

So fascists are sad people who dont trust others. Communists are sad people who do trust others. The pollsters say it isnt so much about class struggle as about mood swings.
Unenforced ICC arrest warrants are just part of the wider Zionist impunity framework

( Middle East Monitor )  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be following up on his Hungarian counterpart Victor Orbans invitation to visit his country, Israeli media have reported. This, despite the International Criminal Courts arrest warrant for Netanyahu, which signatories to the Rome Statute are obliged to enforce. As is usually the case when it comes to Israel, however, possibilities take precedence over absolutes.

The visit is scheduled to take place before Easter. Once the date of the visit is confirmed, we will, of course, announce it, taking into account the extremely important security considerations in this case, said Orbans Chief of Staff Gergely Gulays.

In February, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced Hungarys decision to reassess its future participation in the ICC, allegedly because the international arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant make the courts actions seriously politicised.

Orbans invitation to Netanyahu is not the only one from a European country.

Soon after his electoral victory, Chancellor Friedrich Merz invited him to Germany. I have also promised him that we will find ways and means for him to visit Germany and also to be able to leave again without being arrested in Germany, Merz told journalists in Berlin. I think it is a completely absurd idea that an Israeli prime minister cannot visit the Federal Republic of Germany.

Earlier this year, Italy also announced that it would not enforce the ICC arrest warrants, while France cast doubt over them, claiming that Netanyahu has immunity since Israel is not a member of the court.

The truth is that despite the arrest warrants, few EU countries have stated explicitly that they will obey the ICC and enforce its warrants when it comes to Netanyahu (and Gallant, presumably). Which means that the ICCs lack of authority over each individual countrys decision whether or not to enforce the warrants enables Netanyahu to avoid prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. And enables him to continue committing them.

Genocide has already been normalised.

And while Israel continues to target Gaza and the occupied West Bank, Netanyahus forthcoming visit to Hungary will reinforce that normalisation. Hungarys stance, as well as that of Germany, may be the most explicit in tone. However, the politics of both countries expose what the EU attempts to do through diplomatic channels; they ensure Israels protection at all costs, even if that means that tens of thousands of Palestinians have to be massacred in the process.



Skating, Digital, Dream / Dreamland v3 / Crop2Comic / IbisPaint, 2025

In November last year, Orban said that the arrest warrants are complete defamation and that his invitation to Netanyahu signals that he had no other choice but to go against the courts decision. It is bizarre to say that a prime minister facing international arrest warrants over a genocide that was not only live-streamed, but also lauded and supported in various ways by Israelis and the international community, is now being defamed by a system that is replete with bureaucracy and loopholes. But thats far-right populism for you: bizarre.

However, Orban is voicing what many world leaders are no doubt trying to work out, albeit less blatantly. The ceasefire negotiations, for example, rested more on what Netanyahu wants rather than justice and international law. And the fact that the Israeli narrative is so entrenched in global discourse gives more cover to Netanyahu and decisions such as those taken by Hungary, Germany and Italy.

If other countries emulate Hungarys example, we must question the significance and future of the ICC in the face of opposition from states that are parties to the Rome Statute. They have opened the door to international anarchy.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor or Informed Comment.

Via Middle East Monitor
Photo by Emily Bernal on Unsplash

When facing federal drug charges, many defendants underestimate the gravity of their situation. Unlike state drug charges, federal cases are often backed by extensive investigations, mandatory minimum sentences, and aggressive prosecution. Suppose you or a loved one are being investigated or have been charged with a federal drug crime. In that case, its critical to understand the potential consequences and seek experienced legal representation immediately.

Understanding Federal Drug Charges

Federal drug charges typically arise from violations of laws enforced by agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other federal authorities. These cases often involve large-scale drug distribution networks, interstate drug trafficking, and conspiracy charges.

Common Types of Federal Drug Crimes

Federal drug charges can encompass a range of offenses, including:

Drug Trafficking  The distribution, transportation, or sale of illegal substances across state or national borders.

Drug Manufacturing  The cultivation or production of controlled substances such as methamphetamine, cocaine, or heroin.

Possession with Intent to Distribute  Holding a quantity of drugs that suggests the intent to sell or distribute.

Conspiracy to Distribute Drugs  An agreement between two or more individuals to commit a drug-related offense.

Drug Importation  The unlawful transportation of controlled substances into the United States from foreign countries.

These charges often carry severe penalties, especially if the case involves large drug quantities, weapons, or organized crime affiliations.

The Severity of Federal Drug Sentencing

Unlike state-level drug offenses, federal drug convictions come with mandatory minimum sentences. This means that judges have limited discretion in sentencing, often leading to lengthy prison terms.

Mandatory Minimum Sentences

The federal government imposes strict penalties based on the quantity of drugs involved in a case. Some examples include:

500 grams of cocaine  Minimum 5 years in prison

1 kilogram of heroin  Minimum 10 years in prison

5 grams of methamphetamine  Minimum 5 years in prison

50 grams of methamphetamine  Minimum 10 years in prison

Additionally, sentences may increase if the defendant has prior convictions or if the offense involved firearms, minors, or resulted in bodily harm.

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines

Federal judges rely on sentencing guidelines to determine penalties based on offense severity and criminal history. However, certain aggravating factors, such as involvement in a criminal organization or resisting arrest, can lead to enhanced penalties.

Federal Investigations and Prosecution

One of the reasons federal drug cases are particularly serious is the extensive resources and investigative power of federal agencies. Federal prosecutors work with agencies such as the DEA, FBI, and Homeland Security to build strong cases before filing charges.

How Federal Investigations Work

Federal drug investigations often involve:

Wiretaps and Surveillance  Law enforcement may monitor phone conversations, emails, and social media activity.

Undercover Operations  Agents may pose as buyers or suppliers to gather evidence.

Search Warrants and Raids  Federal authorities may execute search warrants to seize drugs, cash, and incriminating evidence.

Confidential Informants  Individuals facing their own legal troubles may cooperate with law enforcement in exchange for leniency.

Financial Investigations  Authorities may track financial transactions to uncover money laundering or drug proceeds.

Why Federal Prosecutors Have an Advantage

Federal prosecutors tend to have higher conviction rates than state prosecutors because they typically only take cases with strong evidence. In many instances, defendants have limited options when it comes to negotiating plea deals. Moreover, federal authorities often spend months or even years building cases before making arrests, meaning they already have substantial evidence before trial.

Collateral Consequences of a Federal Drug Conviction

A federal drug conviction can impact multiple aspects of a persons life beyond prison time.

Loss of Civil Rights

Convicted felons often lose important rights, including the right to vote, own firearms, and hold certain professional licenses.

Financial and Employment Consequences

A felony conviction can make it difficult to secure employment, housing, or loans. Many employers conduct background checks, and some industries prohibit hiring individuals with drug-related convictions. Additionally, landlords may refuse to rent properties to those with felony drug convictions, and financial institutions may be reluctant to approve loans or credit applications.

Immigration Consequences

Non-citizens convicted of federal drug offenses face deportation, visa revocation, and permanent bans from reentering the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) takes federal drug convictions seriously, often prioritizing deportation for non-citizen offenders.

Defenses Against Federal Drug Charges

While facing federal drug charges is daunting, there are several possible defenses that an experienced attorney can explore.

Illegal Search and Seizure

If law enforcement obtained evidence without a proper warrant or violated your Fourth Amendment rights, that evidence may be suppressed in court.

Lack of Knowledge or Intent

In some cases, defendant may not have been aware that drugs were in their possession or may not have had the intent to distribute them.

Entrapment

If law enforcement induced an individual to commit a crime they otherwise would not have committed, an entrapment defense may be applicable.

Chain of Custody Issues

Mistakes in handling evidence can compromise a case, making it possible to challenge the prosecutions claims.

Violation of Constitutional Rights

If authorities violated a defendants rights, such as failing to read Miranda rights or denying access to legal counsel, this can be grounds for dismissal or a reduced sentence.

The Importance of Legal Representation

Given the complexity and severity of federal drug cases, hiring an experienced attorney is critical. A seasoned federal defense lawyer understands the intricacies of federal law and can develop a strong defense strategy to minimize penalties.

For those facing federal drug charges, securing experienced legal counsel is crucial. Koffel Brininger and Nesbitt has extensive experience defending individuals against serious drug-related charges.

Additional Resources

For more information on federal drug laws and sentencing guidelines, consider visiting these resources:

Conclusion

Facing federal drug charges is a serious matter that requires immediate action. The potential consequences include long prison sentences, loss of rights, and significant personal and financial hardship. Understanding the complexities of federal drug laws and working with a skilled attorney can make a significant difference in the outcome of your case. If you or a loved one are under investigation, seeking legal representation as soon as possible is essential to protecting your future. The sooner you take action, the better your chances of building a strong defense and securing a more favorable outcome.
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Suffering an injury can be a traumatic and costly experience. Medical bills often pile up quickly, leaving many individuals wondering who is responsible for covering these expenses. The answer depends on various factors, including the nature of the accident, insurance coverage, and legal liability. Understanding your options can help you make informed decisions about seeking compensation.

How Medical Bills Are Handled After an Injury

Health Insurance Coverage

If you have health insurance, your policy may cover some or all of your medical expenses. However, insurance companies often require co-pays, and deductibles, and may not cover every type of treatment. Additionally, if another party is responsible for your injury, your health insurance provider may seek reimbursement from any settlement or verdict you receive.

The Role of Deductibles and Co-Pays

When using health insurance, you will likely need to pay out-of-pocket costs before coverage kicks in. Deductibles vary by policy, and higher deductibles typically mean lower monthly premiums. However, if you sustain a serious injury, reaching your deductible can be expensive. Additionally, co-pays for doctor visits, emergency room treatment, and specialist consultations add to the financial burden.

Out-of-Network Charges

Another challenge arises if the treating hospital or doctor is out of your insurance network. In such cases, your insurance may cover only a fraction of the costs, leaving you with a hefty bill. If you require specialized care or emergency treatment, this can be a significant concern.

Auto Insurance in Car Accidents

If your injury resulted from a car accident, your auto insurance coverage might help cover medical costs. Depending on the state you live in, different laws may apply:

No-Fault States: Your own auto insurance, through Personal Injury Protection (PIP), covers your medical expenses regardless of fault.

At-Fault States: The at-fault drivers insurance is responsible for covering your medical expenses. However, you may need to file a claim to recover costs.

Additional Coverage Options

Some drivers carry Medical Payments (MedPay) coverage, which helps pay for medical bills regardless of who was at fault. Unlike PIP, MedPay typically does not cover lost wages or rehabilitation services.

Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) can also play a role if the at-fault driver does not have enough insurance to cover your expenses. This coverage ensures that you are not left with unpaid medical bills due to another drivers negligence.

Workers Compensation for Workplace Injuries

For injuries sustained on the job, workers compensation typically covers medical expenses, rehabilitation, and lost wages. This coverage is provided regardless of fault, but in exchange, employees generally cannot sue their employer for additional damages.

What Workers Compensation Covers

Workers compensation generally includes:

Emergency medical care

Doctor visits and hospital stays

Physical therapy and rehabilitation

Prescription medication

Lost wages (partial reimbursement)

However, certain limitations exist. Workers compensation does not cover pain and suffering, and it may not fully replace lost income. Some employers or their insurance providers may also challenge claims, leading to delays or denials of coverage.

Legal Options for Recovering Medical Expenses

Filing a Personal Injury Claim

If another party is responsible for your injury due to negligence or misconduct, you may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit. This legal action seeks to recover damages, including medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Personal injury claims often arise from:

Car accidents

Slip and fall incidents

Defective products

Medical malpractice

To succeed in a personal injury case, you must prove that the other party was negligent and that their actions directly caused your injuries. This often requires evidence such as medical records, accident reports, and witness testimony.

Settlement vs. Trial

Most personal injury claims are resolved through settlements, where the at-fault partys insurance company agrees to compensate the victim. If a fair settlement cannot be reached, the case may go to trial, where a judge or jury will determine the appropriate compensation.

Settlements are often preferred because they are quicker and less expensive than trials. However, insurance companies may initially offer low settlement amounts, requiring negotiation or legal action to secure a fair payout.

Subrogation and Medical Liens

If your health insurance or another entity covers your medical expenses, they may place a lien on any settlement or court award you receive. This process, known as subrogation, allows them to recover the costs they paid on your behalf. Understanding these liens is crucial when negotiating settlements to ensure you receive the maximum compensation possible.

Legal Assistance for Personal Injury Cases

Navigating the complexities of insurance claims and personal injury lawsuits can be overwhelming. An experienced personal injury attorney can:

Assess your case and determine liability

Negotiate with insurance companies

Gather evidence to support your claim

Represent you in court if necessary

For more information about how personal injury cases handle medical expenses, visit this resource.

If you need legal representation for your injury case, consider reaching out to Levine and Wiss, a firm dedicated to helping injury victims recover the compensation they deserve.

Government Assistance Programs

If you are uninsured or underinsured, government programs such as Medicaid or Medicare may help cover your medical expenses. Additionally, some states have victim compensation programs that assist individuals injured in violent crimes.

These programs may cover hospital bills, counseling, and rehabilitation. However, eligibility requirements vary, and the application process can be complex. Seeking legal guidance can help you explore these options.

Steps to Take After an Injury

Seek Medical Attention

Regardless of how minor your injury appears, seeing a doctor immediately is crucial. Some injuries, such as concussions or internal bleeding, may not be immediately apparent.

Document Everything

Keeping records of medical visits, prescriptions, and treatment plans is essential for insurance claims and legal cases. Photographs of injuries, accident reports, and witness statements can also strengthen your case.

Contact Your Insurance Company

Promptly informing your insurance provider about your injury can help initiate the claims process. However, be cautious about giving recorded statements or accepting early settlement offers without consulting an attorney.

Consult a Personal Injury Lawyer

Legal professionals can help you understand your rights and fight for fair compensation. Many personal injury attorneys offer free consultations, making it easier to explore your options.

Conclusion

Medical expenses after an injury can be overwhelming, but there are several avenues to seek compensation. Understanding your insurance policies, legal options, and potential settlements can help you make informed decisions. If you believe another party is responsible for your injury, pursuing legal action may be the best way to ensure your financial stability and well-being.

By knowing your rights and seeking professional guidance, you can focus on recovery without the added stress of unpaid medical bills.
Kim Soo Hyun is set to attend a fan meeting in Taiwan, which will be his first public appearance since being accused of allegedly trying to hide a girlfriend when his supposed relationship with fellow actress Kim Sae Ron came to light.

According to Taiwanese media ET Today, via KoreaBoo, the retailer chain 7-Eleven will host the event on March 30 at the Kaohsiung Cherry Blossom Festival.

Kim's participation had been uncertain following the fallout from the relationship allegations, which led to the suspension of several brand endorsements. Industry sources speculated that canceling his appearance could have resulted in a financial penalty of about $900,000.

Fifty police officers are set to patrol the festival site, and authorities in Taiwan are gearing up for tighter security. Law enforcement reps noted that this presence falls under normal crowd control, not a special arrangement predetermined by the event.

However, the above has led to speculation about possible disturbances because of the large turnout expected for the fan event. The police said they are ready to maintain public order and respond to any disorderly conduct if necessary.

The Media Response and Public Scrutiny

Kim is attending a time of high criticism from the Taiwan media and the Taiwanese at large. It will be an event that observers will be watching closely to see what effect the scandal has on his career and his perception of public opinion.

While his agency has refrained from releasing an official statement on the controversy, Kim Sae Ron's family has reportedly also been hit with legal action after the incident. It is still to be seen whether this fan meeting will bring Kim back into the public's good graces or worsen the situation.






Friday, March 21, 2025 - Fresh details have emerged regarding the mysterious death of Elvis Munene, an intern at City Hall, who went missing and his body found dumped at the Kenyatta National Hospital mortuary.

A source at City Hall informed blogger Aoko Otieno that Munene was killed by cartels after getting sensitive information on Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and fraud that happens in the accounts department at City Hall.

He reportedly found out that Sakaja was gay and had some damaging photos which he threatened to release.

Sakaja allegedly sent hitmen, who disguised themselves as city council askaris, to kill Munene.

His death was later masked as a mob justice.

Munenes family has been crying for justice and asking endless questions about his death.

They have always doubted the mob justice theory, while urging DCI to conduct a thorough investigation.

Below are messages from a whistleblower.

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Friday, March 21, 2025 - CCTV footage has emerged showing the last moments before KBC journalist Fredrik Parsayo jumped to his death at a rented flat in Kinoo.

Reports indicate that the youthful journalist was battling depression over salary delays and a failed marriage.

His wife left him after he started having financial problems, leading him to depression.

He had also turned into an alcoholic before his death.

KBC confirmed Parsayoss death on Friday, stating that investigations are ongoing to determine the cause.

In an official statement mourning his passing, KBC described Parsayo as a valued member of its editorial team.

Fredrik was a cherished member of our newsroom, and his absence will be deeply felt by everyone who had the privilege of knowing and working alongside him, read part of the corporations statement.

Watch the footage.

CCTV captures the last moments before depressed KBC journalist, FREDRIK PARSAYO, jumped to his death - He was battling depression over salary delays and a failed marriage pic.twitter.com/60HqBTjkzJ  DAILY POST  (@dailypost_ke) March 21, 2025

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Friday, March 21, 2025 - Disgraced car dealer Khalif Kairo has publicly apologized for his past actions, expressing a desire to start anew after a tumultuous period marked by business disputes, legal battles, and financial struggles.

Kairos troubles began with a highly publicized fallout with his business partner, Clement Victor Kinuthia, which led to his departure from Imports by Kairo, a company he co-founded in 2017.

While Kairo claimed he was forced out through intimidation, losing his stake in the thriving business, Kinuthia recently disclosed that he and another partner were the primary investors and that internal conflicts led to Kairos exit.

Kairo later launched his own company, which initially thrived.

However, things took a downturn when he failed to deliver several cars despite receiving payments, leading to his arrest.

The financial crisis forced him to appeal for public assistance - a stark contrast to his previously lavish, jet-setting lifestyle.

Legal troubles soon followed, resulting in significant losses, including his showroom, staff, and personal assets.

In a series of emotional tweets, Kairo acknowledged his past mistakes, extended an olive branch to those he may have wronged, and expressed his determination to rebuild his life with a clean slate.

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Friday, March 21, 2025 - The body of a Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) journalist, Fredrik Parsayo, was found at his residence in Kinoo, Kikuyu Constituency, on Friday under unclear circumstances, deepening unease within the national broadcaster already confronting with internal struggles.

KBC confirmed Parsayoss death on Friday, stating that investigations are ongoing to determine the cause.

The matter was reported to Kinoo Police Station and his remains transferred to St. Teresa Mortuary as authorities work to piece together the events leading to his demise.

In an official statement mourning his passing, KBC described Parsayo as a valued member of its editorial team.

Fredrik was a cherished member of our newsroom, and his absence will be deeply felt by everyone who had the privilege of knowing and working alongside him, read part of the corporations statement.





His passing comes at a time when KBC is facing unprecedented leadership challenges, with employees protesting salary delays, mass dismissals and alleged executive overreach by the newly appointed Managing Director Florence Migunde.

The leadership struggles have seen widespread staff unrest, with concerns raised over the institutions financial stability, managerial decisions, and the future of veteran broadcasters who have been instrumental in running the corporations radio and television divisions.

The controversy surrounding the MDs appointment has fuelled speculation, with employees questioning the integrity of the recruitment process.

Some insiders allege that her selection was not based on competence but external influence, leading to fears that the corporation is being subjected to politically motivated interference.

Reports indicate that restructuring efforts within KBC have sidelined experienced professionals, with allegations that the MD has positioned close associates in critical roles, bypassing established appointment procedures.

Beyond governance concerns, KBC has been struggling with salary delays, leaving employees frustrated as financial uncertainty grips the organisation.

In light of these ongoing challenges, Parsayos sudden death has heightened anxieties among employees, with some privately expressing concerns over the distressing working environment at KBC.

While there is no direct evidence linking his passing to the broader turmoil within the corporation, the timing of his death has raised further questions among staff.

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Friday, March 21, 2025 - A viral video of a cross-dressing Kenyan man confidently discussing his dating preferences has left netizens stunned.

Dressed in a skirt, lipstick, and high heels, he boldly stated that he has no specific preferences - except that he would never date Luos.

His audacity and confidence sparked debate online, with many wondering when cross-dressers became so fearless in expressing themselves given that Kenya is largely a conservative country.

Watch the video and reactions.

Okay. What is happening in Kenya lately? pic.twitter.com/AYFyMJY7ly  The Kenyan Vigilante (@KenyanSays) March 19, 2025

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Friday, March 21, 2025 - A Botswana woman, Lesedi Molapisi, who was arrested for smuggling illicit drugs in Bangladesh, has reportedly been executed.

Molapisi, who used to brag about catching flights on social media, was apprehended at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka after being found with 3kg of heroin.

She was sentenced to death in May 2024, but her execution was delayed due to political unrest in Bangladesh.

Reports indicate that she was executed on Friday, March 21, 2025, at 10:30 AM (GMT+6) in Bangladesh.

Her case comes amid ongoing concerns over drug trafficking, echoing the plight of Margaret Nduta, a Kenyan woman arrested in Vietnam.

Nduta was detained in July 2023 at Ho Chi Minh City airport while transiting to Laos, with authorities discovering over 2kg of cocaine in her luggage.

The 37-year-old Muranga native was scheduled for execution on Monday, March 17th, 2025, at 8:30 PM.

However, her sentence has been temporarily put on hold as diplomatic negotiations between Kenya and Vietnam continue.

Check out Molapisis photos below.

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Friday, March 21, 2025 - Bloggers associated with the ruling UDA party are reportedly struggling to make end meets over salary delays, even as they continue to push Government propaganda on social media and defend bad policies.

Leaked messages from a WhatsApp group show the cash-starved bloggers narrating their financial woes to President William Rutos spanner Dennis Itumbi, who manages them.

Some of the bloggers risk being kicked out of their houses for defaulting rent while others can barely afford three meals a day.

One of the bloggers writes, We cant afford food to sustain ourselves jameni,.

Itumbi had to pay three months' rent to one of the prominent UDA bloggers identified as BiancaNaomi, who is famous for pushing Government propaganda on X, after she approached him on the WhatsApp group, saying the landlord wanted to kick her out.

See the leaked messages from the disgruntled bloggers.

The Kenyan DAILY POST
Google to Acquire Cloud Security Firm Wiz

Google has announced it will acquire cloud security startup Wiz. If completed, the acquisition  an all-cash deal valued at $32 billion  would mark the largest in Google's history. The deal is pending regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.

Once the deal closes, Google plans to integrate Wiz into Google Cloud to bolster its efforts in two key spaces. "This acquisition represents an investment by Google Cloud to accelerate two large and growing trends in the AI era: improved cloud security and the ability to use multiple clouds (multicloud)," wrote Google in a news announcement.

Google said that Wiz's technology will improve its cloud services in the following ways:

Automate security operations to reduce manual intervention.

Lower security costs for businesses of all sizes.

Enhance breach prevention and response in cloud environments.

Encourage multicloud adoption, improving flexibility for enterprises.

Wiz has rapidly grown in the cloud security posture management (CSPM) and cloud-native application protection (CNAPP) space since emerging in 2020. Its solutions are widely used by enterprises such asBMW, Salesforce and Slack. Google has pursued the company for some time and offered $23 billion to acquire the company last July  an offer that was rejected.

Google said the acquisition will allow Wiz to scale its technology while continuing to operate independently across major cloud . Wiz said the move will help the company to further grow its technology.

"We expect this change to enable us to execute and innovate even faster," said Assaf Rappaport, CEO of Wiz. "Becoming part of Google Cloud is effectively strapping a rocket to our backs: it will accelerate our rate of innovation faster than what we could achieve as a standalone company."

"Google Cloud and Wiz share a joint vision to make cybersecurity more accessible and simpler to use for organizations of any size and industry," said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud. "Enabling more companies to prevent cyber attacks, including in very complex business software environments, will help organizations minimize the cost, disruption and hassle caused by cybersecurity incidents."

For more information, read the Google blog post here.
RESIDENTS of Coneyboro housing estate in Athy have expressed concern for a woman living in a caravan in the estate.

Kildare County Council was in contact with the woman, delivering her an eviction notice at the end of January, and later met the lady, offering her alternative accommodation which she is reported to have refused. Since then, the councils Homeless Team have met her again to find the best solution, but no significant progress has been made up to this point.

While not wishing to comment on an individual case, Kildare County Council said: When individuals present as homeless, an assessment is carried out by the homeless team. Each case is considered on its own merits at the time of presentation and is dependent on the complexities or needs of the person or family presenting.

Every effort is made by the Homeless Team in Kildare County Council to assist applicants and determine their needs.

A concerned resident of Coneyboro estate spoke to the Kildare Nationalist about the situation and said: I dont know how she has been surviving. She has no electricity, no cooking facilities, heating or toilet. Its a very, very difficult situation.

She seems content to stay here. This must be somewhere she feels like is her safe place, they continued.

Residents have made contact with the woman to explain that she cannot park there, offering solutions and alternative locations to park the caravan.

One resident explained: She said she spoke to the police and they told her she was allowed to park here.

I would love to see her in safe accommodation in harmony with everyone around her. Theres better things out there for her. She doesnt have to live like this, said the resident.

We [the residents] are fairly considerate  we understand. The council needs to step up their game. The last thing we need is another person homeless on the street, they concluded.

Cllr Mark Leigh, who has been assisting the woman, said: This is an ongoing issue that I was made aware of in January and have been trying to deal with in a compassionate manner, as have the council.

The residents of Coneyboro have been incredibly patient and only want the best outcome here. However, having an illegally-parked caravan in an estate which has been taken in charge by the council a number of years ago is unacceptable.

There is no running water and no toilet facilities in the caravan and the issue needs to be resolved as soon as possible.
Hainan's exotic fruit "window" boosts south China rural revitalization

Xinhua) 13:33, March 22, 2025

Australian finger limes are seen at the "window of world tropical fruits" in Qionghai City, south China's Hainan Province, March 5, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Yue)

HAIKOU, March 21 (Xinhua) -- From Australian finger lime and Central American yellow pitaya to West African miracle fruit and Cuban mamey sapote, looking through the "window of world tropical fruits," one marvels at the variety of fruits, the names of many most likely unknown to the average observer.

Located in the picturesque countryside of Qionghai, in south China's island province of Hainan, this vast "kingdom of tropical fruits" spanning 1,000 mu (about 66.67 hectares) is home to an astonishing variety of exotic fruits from around the world, highlighting both biodiversity and China's growing openness in the agricultural sector.

"So far, nearly 700 types of tropical fruits from over 50 countries and regions have been introduced," said Wang Qiao, general manager of Hainan Grand Modern Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. who noted that 420 of these varieties were introduced to China for the first time at this location, with 380 of them proving successful in trial cultivation, earning the site the nickname "United Nations on the Tongue."

According to Dai Jun, director of the Qionghai Tropical Crop Service Center, the park, by integrating agriculture with tourism, has become a driver of rural economic development. "It follows a model consisting of enterprise, cooperatives and farmers," he said.

By giving or selling seedlings to local farmers, the project has promoted cultivation of 40,000 mu of high-quality tropical fruits across Hainan, said Dai, while adding that it contributed to the upgrading of the fruit industry in 20 villages and benefited more than 1,000 households directly.

One of the beneficiaries is Quan Deru, who used to toil in her own orchard. In 2019, she learned that the park was recruiting farmers to pick fruit. "I thought that I could work for them without affecting my own farm work, which meant that I could have some extra income," she said.

Now she can earn more than 4,000 yuan (roughly 557 U.S. dollars) as a monthly salary from the park. Additionally, having noted that South American abiu fruit was proving profitable, she started growing the fruit in her own orchard, while she has also received subsidies from the local government since 2022.

"The company is giving us seedlings for free, while our costs in growing the abiu is quite low," she said, beaming. "The exotic fruit is sweet and juicy, and has medicinal properties, making it is easy to sell. Our 10 mu of abiu fruit trees are beginning to bear fruit."

Tourism revenue is another source of income for the park. Since opening to the public in 2022, the park has welcomed more than one million visitors. In 2024 alone, it recorded 455,300 tourist visits -- marking a 25.57 percent year-on-year increase.

Notably, the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 will be held from March 25 to 28 in Hainan.

Capitalizing on the prominence of the BFA, the site has been upgraded to a 4A-rated tourist attraction this year, serving as a window to showcase Chinese agriculture to the world. Visitors can enjoy immersive experiences like chocolate and lipstick making, while using agricultural products from the park.

The park plans to create a world resource center for tropical fruit germplasm and an international agricultural exchange center to boost cross-border cooperation in terms of talent, technology and trade, said Wang.

Quan, meanwhile, has expanded her orchard this year, trying to also grow guava. "I would like to grow more novel fruits in the future to increase my income. Life is becoming better," she said.

The gate of the "window of world tropical fruits" is seen in Qionghai City, south China's Hainan Province, March 5, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Yue)

Quan Deru, a worker at the "window of world tropical fruits," is pictured in Qionghai City, south China's Hainan Province, March 5, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Yue)

Cuban mamey sapotes are seen at the "window of world tropical fruits" in Qionghai City, south China's Hainan Province, March 5, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Yue)

Exotic fruits are seen at the "window of world tropical fruits" in Qionghai City, south China's Hainan Province, March 5, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Yue)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
As the last of the baby boomers close in on retirement age, the number of seniors needing assistance is going to boom as well. Resources will need to increase substantially to keep pace.

Aging and Disability Resource Centers across Wisconsin are bracing for the dramatic rise in area residents 60 and older.

In Chippewa and La Crosse counties, ADRC officials say expanding resources will be crucial so outreach and health services can take care of people who are about to or already have retired.

The population is aging faster than the funds available to support the programs and services that we help people with, Leslie Fijalkiewicz said. That's always been the challenge all along for us.

Fijalkiewicz is the outgoing manager of the ADRC of Chippewa County. She and Sarah Zielke, who is the new manager, are working together during the transition.

The pair agree that resource depletion is a pressing concern. In Chippewa Falls, the ADRC hopes support will grow to meet demand.

The ADRC provides services and support to adults with disabilities and those 60 and older. Services include home-delivered meals, congregate dining, transportation, caregiver support and adult protective services for reporting abuse and neglect.

The Chippewa County ADRC is one of 49 in Wisconsin serving 72 counties and 11 tribes.

The ADRC already lacks volunteers to deliver Meals on Wheels, a program increasing in popularity nationally.

At the federal level, the last time more funds for the Older Americans Act were put into the Meals on Wheels program, Chippewa County actually saw a decrease.

That's not because we had fewer older people, it's because we didn't age as fast as other places, she said. It doesn't always translate to additional funds at the local level by the time it trickles down, so that Older Americans Act is one of the significant funds that we are concerned about.

Growing demand

Fijalkiewicz said the county has put money into Meals on Wheels to help fill the gaps, but there is room for improvement at the federal and state level.

Carissa Pagel-Smith, manager of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of La Crosse County, said despite additional ARPA funding during the pandemic, the center is underfunded and faces challenges.

We have to prioritize cases often, she said. I would say we've had to sort of  not scale back, but we've had to pause or waitlist people needing our caregiver support. The funding that we get for that program is quite limited.

Home-delivered meal programs or congregate dining funds are tight, according to Pagel-Smith and Fijalkiewicz. However, Pagel-Smith would not say the ADRC is turning people away.

We might be supporting in other ways, helping connect them to educational information, but we may or may not have the ability to help with funding, so I feel like when it comes to supporting a community, that is one program that I would say we don't have enough funds, she said.

By the numbers

The percentage of Wisconsinites 85 and older is projected to increase 112% in the next 20 years, according to a 2020 state report: The Long-Term Care Workforce Crisis.

Everybody across the country, across the state, everybody is aging, Fijalkiewicz said. But when it comes to funds its about who's aging the fastest? Thats often how funding priorities get determined.

Whether funding resources will rise to meet demand remains to be seen.

The aging in the rural areas is happening at a higher rate because younger people are leaving those areas, Fijalkiewicz said. So, you end up with a much higher percentage of that population that is older.

The fastest change will happen from 20202030 when the youngest baby boomers enter the 65-and-over age groups.

Chippewa County in 2020 saw the population reach 66,300, according to aging population data from the Wisconsin Department of Administration. About 25% of the population was over the age of 60.

In 2030 the population is expected to be 66,600 with 31% in that age group and in 2040 that number is expected to be 67,200, still 31%. By 2050 it will increase slightly to 32%, even as population is projected to fall to 66,000.

Counties in northern Wisconsin are seeing the quickest increase in those over 60 before 2030.

Farther south in La Crosse, population aging is also an issue but not quite as severe.

In 2020 the population in La Crosse County was 120,800 with 18%, or 21,700 over age 60. Nearly 11% of that group is in the 65 to 74 year-old age range according to the ADRC.

In 2030 that number is expected to be 23%, with 35,400 over 60, where the percentage is expected to stay in 2040 when an estimated 37,200 will be over 60.

By 2050, about 28% of its population will be 60 and older, according to the ADRC of La Crosse.

The biggest jump will be between 2025 and 2040 when La Crosse Countys 60-and-older residents are projected to grow by 11%, ultimately becoming about one-fourth of the total population.

Get to know us before you need to

I feel like we're always having to do this delicate dance in regard to  who we're supporting, and really making sure that we're supporting the need versus the want, because funds aren't unlimited, Pagel-Smith said.

Health, transportation, meal and medical assistance, Alzheimers and social services programs need extra help, Fijalkiewicz said.

Addressing the challenges requires investments and institutional and policy reforms, she said, adding the ADRC in Chippewa County is seeking help from legislators.

She is not sure if the ADRC will see funding cuts, as many industries have this year, but because the organization is already operating with limited resources, she hopes not.

If the ADRC received less funds for some of the work we do, then that means we have less staff to serve people, but it also means we have more people coming into our office having problems, she said. May have the challenge of less staff and more people to serve. That's, I think, a worst-case scenario for our office.

With or without cuts, the local population is becoming older, quickly and those seeking related resources are going to increase.

We always say, 'Get to know us before you need to know us', Pagel-Smith said. However, oftentimes people are calling when they need to know us.
By Rebecca Black, PA

The Tanaiste has described a day of travel chaos following major disruption at Heathrow Airport.

More than 1,000 flights to and from the major London airport have been cancelled on Friday, with hundreds of thousands of passengers affected in the disruption linked to a fire at a nearby electrical substation.

These include 34 flights to and from Dublin Airport, 14 at Belfast City Airport and six at City of Derry Airport.

Tanaiste Simon Harris paid tribute to those involved in resolving the situation (Brian Lawless/PA)

Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland has facilitated six diverted flights which had originally been scheduled to land at Heathrow, involving flights from Toronto, Atlanta, Bridgetown Barbados, Boston, Orlando and Newark.

Speaking to media on Friday, Tanaiste Simon Harris paid tribute to those involved in resolving the situation after travel chaos.

I want to pay tribute to those who have acted so swiftly to get the airport back open and get flights back up and running, he said.

I know they are hoping for normal operations tomorrow. Obviously the route between Dublin and Heathrow is the second busiest route in Europe and therefore that caused a significant challenge today for commuters to and from Dublin in relation to Heathrow.

But it does seem that everything that could have been done to try and swiftly get things back on track has happened and Im grateful to all of those involved in making that happen.

Dublin Airport said in a statement that further disruption to flights between Dublin Airport and Heathrow over the coming days is possible.

We continue to monitor developments at Heathrow and remain in close consultation with affected airlines regarding when flights between Dublin Airport and Heathrow may recommence, it said.

City of Derry Airport said on Friday evening: We are awaiting confirmation of our flight operation to London Heathrow tomorrow.

We ask passengers to continue to check with their airline regarding their flight status before coming to the airport. All other routes from City of Derry Airport to Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool continue to operate as usual.
Over 1,000 people attended the recent Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board (KCETB) second annual Apprenticeship Expo at Lyrath Estate Convention Centre in Kilkenny.

The attendees, included potential apprentices, employers, and their families, all eager to explore the diverse opportunities available through apprenticeships.

We are thrilled with the turnout at this years Apprenticeship Expo, said Martha Bolger, Director of Further Education and Training at KCETB. The high level of interest reinforces the growing recognition of apprenticeships as a valuable career pathway. The Expo continues to be an excellent platform for connecting individuals with employers and providing essential insights into the wide range of apprenticeships available in various sectors.

The Apprenticeship Expo showcased more than 55 stands representing a mix of local and national employers, all actively recruiting apprentices for the upcoming year. Attendees had the opportunity to engage with employers, learn about available apprenticeship programmes, and gain firsthand insights from current apprentices about their experiences in different industries.

The quality of candidates we met was exceptional, said Eamon Rafter of the OPW, who attended the event. It was clear that many attendees were well-prepared and genuinely interested in starting an apprenticeship. This Expo has been a fantastic opportunity to meet the next generation of talent.

Virginia Bohan, Senior Training Advisor with KCETB, said the positive feedback received from both employers and potential apprentices highlights the importance of events like the Apprenticeship Expo.

Its a vital part of our work to support both industries and individuals in connecting with the right opportunities and resources to succeed, she said.

KCETB aims to demonstrate its commitment to providing high-quality training pathways that meet the needs of the workforce and support industries in both Kilkenny and Carlow.

With a strong focus on creating opportunities for young people, the Expo has firmly established itself as a key event in the regions education and training calendar.

For more information on apprenticeships, visit www.apprenticeship.ie or www.KCETB.ie.

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Kilkenny's Duiske College have been awarded for their work on LGBTQ+ wellbeing and inclusion.

The Graiguenamanagh secondary school was one of 44 schools and Youthreach centres from across Ireland to receive the Belong To LGBTQ+ Quality Mark recognising their work over an 18-month period to foster LGBT+ wellbeing and inclusion for their students.

The schools and centres were presented with their awards at an event in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, which was attended by over 350 staff and student representatives and hosted by social media influencer and TV presenter James Kavanagh.

The 44 schools presented with their LGBTQ+ Quality Mark today represent 17 counties across the country and 26,000 post primary school students.

The accreditation initiative was developed by Belong To  LGBTQ+ Youth Ireland in 2022. That year, the School Climate Survey by Columbia University revealed that 76% of LGBTQ+ young people in Ireland do not feel safe in post-primary schools.

Since the pilot programme, over 100 schools and Youthreach centres have embarked on the LGBTQ+ Quality Mark journey to improve the lives and experiences of their LGBTQ+ students.

The initiative draws on national and international best practice to create an environment where students feel safe and welcome regardless of who they are. This is done through a host of practical, proactive actions such establishing an LGBTQ+ and Allies Club for students, training whole-staff teams on supporting LGBTQ+ students and promoting the representation of LGBTQ+ families and identities in classroom teaching.

The School Climate Survey 2022, showed that an action as simple as including LGBTQ+ related topics in the curriculum resulted in young people:

22% more likely to feel like they belong at school;

11% more likely to feel accepted by the student body; and

8% less likely to miss days of school due to feeling unsafe.

Speaking about the awards, CEO of Belong To Moninne Griffith said, Homophobia, biphobia and transphobia remain a significant challenge for LGBTQ+ students.

"The School Climate Survey 2022 conducted by Columbia University has shown that in Ireland, compared to the general youth population, LGBTQ+ students are four times more likely to suffer verbal harassment and five times more likely to be physically harassed. Its no surprise then that 76% of LGBTQ+ second-level students feel unsafe at school.

It is in this context that we say how proud we are at Belong To to have been working with this brilliant cohort of schools and Youthreach centres from all across the country to make positive change and create safe spaces.

"Every principal, coordinator, teacher and staff member has shown a huge level of commitment to fostering a truly inclusive environment in their school and to supporting all students in their care.

"I want to congratulate all for the actions that they have taken throughout the process and hope that they feel extremely proud to stand with the students and young people from their school or centre today, knowing what a huge impact their work has had and will continue to have on the lives of so many.

Applications to take part in the LGBTQ+ Quality Mark initiative for the 2025/2026 academic year are now open to schools and Youthreach centres. Full details and application forms are available on the Belong To website at: www.belongto.org.
Students of Kilkenny Vocational School recently attended SETU's fifth annual Women in Technology event at the SETU Arena in Waterford. Designed to empower young women, the event aimed to break down barriers in the tech industry, showcase career opportunities, and highlight relevant courses at SETU.

Over 1,100 female students from Cork, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Wexford, and Waterford attended, gaining inspiration from keynote speakers and industry professionals through engaging discussions and one-on-one conversations.

Kim McKenzie-Doyle of The Big Idea delivered an insightful keynote address, empowering the young women to think creatively and solve real-world problems by connecting with industry to forge their futures, while RTE broadcaster and advocate Zoe Ryan, acted as MC for the event.

Guest speakers Rebecca Troy, Associate Engineer at Sun Life, and Zara Grunner, Software Development Engineer at Security Risk Advisors, spoke about their career journeys, emphasising the wealth of opportunities available for women in technology.

Leading tech companies from the region also participated, offering students valuable insights into career pathways within the sector. Unums Business Architect Sarah Adderley facilitated a successful Stemming Ahead workshop with attendees.

Amanda Freeman-Gater, Assistant Head of the Computing and Mathematics Department at SETU, highlighted the increasing need for more women in technology.

The tech industry needs more female graduates, and studying the wide range of technological courses available at SETU opens pathways to dynamic careers. Graduates of these courses can take up technical roles that offer flexibility, teamwork, and the chance to develop innovative ideas, services, and products, she said.

Now is the time to nurture the next generation of female tech talent to ensure a more balanced pipeline of professionals. Achieving gender equality in technology is essentialnot just for the industry, but for society as a whole, added Ms Freeman-Gater.

The event not only challenged perceptions about careers in technology but also showcased the diverse opportunities available in computing, physics, and engineering.

Attendees explored exhibitions, interactive technology demonstrations, and insightful discussions led by female industry leaders. They also received information about the wide range of third-level programmes at SETU.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this morning. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High near 85F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch..

Tonight

Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.
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The second-biggest shareholder of Lee Enterprises, the Iowa-based media company that owns The Daily Progress, its subsidiaries and nine other Virginia newspapers, said March 20 he wants to try to buy the company.

The Florida-based Hoffmann Family of Companies, which owns just under 10% of Lees stock, said in a letter to Lee executives that it wants to have open discussions about buying Lee in its entirety.

The letter of intent from David Hoffmann, the companys billionaire chairman, comes after Hoffmann's company has been steadily adding to its stake in Lee, which also owns publications in 73 U.S. markets, the largest being the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Buffalo News and the Omaha World Herald.

In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch on March 20, Hoffmann said combining Lees 78 newspapers with the 21 publications his company owns would create the second-largest newspaper company in the U.S., behind Gannett.

Local news and journalism is important to me, Hoffmann said. To me, its part of the fabric of America. Ive had some success in my life, so its something that Id like to invest in and try to preserve, and at the same time, I think well be successful from an investment point of view.

In a statement, Lee said it would evaluate any offer Hoffmann were to make.

Lees board of directors and management team are committed to acting in the best interests of all shareholders, the statement reads. Consistent with its fiduciary duties, Lees board of directors will carefully review any credible proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interests of the company and Lee shareholders.

Hoffmann, in his letter, expressed concern about Lees intention to divest $25 million in noncore assets and its recent earnings, which included a net loss of $16 million during the final three months of last year.

He also said he hoped that, by purchasing Lee and combining it with the other media properties that he owns, it would support and boost the local news outlets.

We believe this commitment represents a sharp contrast to other potential acquirors, such as non-local hedge funds and investment firms primarily concerned with increasing profits over jobs, local concerns and the power of quality journalism, Hoffmann wrote.

Today, more than ever, we embrace the concept that local news is a fundamental component of journalism and the communities it serves, and its preservation is in the best interest of a well-informed public, Hoffmann wrote.

I thought, nows probably a good time to put my money where my mouth is, Hoffmann told the Times-Dispatch.

While Hoffmann said the declining sales of newspapers is likely to accelerate, he said Lees digital business, which now generates more revenue than its print products, is an asset.

We believe deft management and navigation of this transition to be essential to Lees future viability, Hoffmann wrote.

Lees stock, which has lost 26% of its value over the past year, rallied by almost 14% on March 20 after news of Hoffmanns letter became public.

Hoffmanns letter did not include any details on the price he might be willing to pay for Lee, although he indicated that he would like the process to move quickly.

While Hoffmann noted the decline in newspapers, he said he has no plans to move away from them.

Were pretty good at getting advertisers to advertise in the hard copy, as well as the transformation into digital media. We think theres a place for both. And Id like to preserve that, Hoffmann told the Times-Dispatch. I, personally, still like reading the newspaper. A lot of my friends like reading the newspaper ... and I think we can create a new revival of that medium.

Hoffmann said he spoke with Lee executives the morning of March 20 and told them the letter was coming. As he built his stake in Lee, Hoffmann previously expressed interest in potentially acquiring more Lee newspapers.

Its been a very positive ongoing dialog. I dont think theyre surprised about our letter. I dont think very many people are surprised about our letter, Hoffmann told the Times-Dispatch. Were not an activist. Were not antagonistic. Weve been regularly talking.

Hoffmann, whose net worth was estimated at $2 billion by Forbes magazine, operates dozens of businesses, including real estate developments, wineries, luxury transportation and manufacturers. In all, the Hoffmann Family of Companies employs more than 16,000 people.

We have a strong record of success in the media industry," he said, "as evidenced by our ownership of 14 media companies, including our most recent successful acquisitions of the Napa Valley Register, St. Helena Star and Inside Napa magazine, which Hoffmann's company acquired from Lee.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin says Virginia is ready to take full responsibility for the states K-12 education after President Donald Trumps executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

We welcome the federal governments shift of responsibility to the states  and we are grateful that President Trumps executive order does just that, Youngkin said in a statement on Thursday evening.

The [executive order] also makes it clear that there will be no discrimination in the classrooms. We will continue to ensure every student graduates career-, college-, or military-ready, the governor said.

As Trump moves to disband the federal agency, Virginia school officials say questions linger  particularly about civil rights enforcement and federal funding  although state and local governments will continue to drive most education policy and funding.

Trump cannot unilaterally stop the distribution of congressionally mandated federal education funds, such as Title I funds that go to schools with high percentages of low-income students or funds under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that support special education services. The Trump administration said the department will continue to carry out core functions, such as administering Pell grants and student loans.

The U.S. Department of Education was founded, in large part, to ensure schools comply with federal civil rights laws. The departments Office for Civil Rights, which lost 243 employees this month, conducts investigations and issues guidance on how civil rights laws should be applied, such as for students with disabilities.

Its really going to come down to each states individual commitment to enforcing civil rights laws, and that is a concern to me, said Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras.

There are 575 open investigations into Virginia schools, according to the Office of Civil Rights, and more than half of those pending investigations are on the basis of disability discrimination.

Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-4th, noted in a recent interview that the federal government has stepped in to pass and enforce civil rights laws because states like Virginia violated the civil rights of students, first through segregation and then through Massive Resistance to the Supreme Courts school desegregation decisions.

If you say, We are now going to give all of these responsibilities to the states, in some cases, it is like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse, McClellan said in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Even if thats not a risk in the commonwealth, the states are not capable of filling this gap. ... The other reason the Department of Education was created was to help fill gaps that state and local governments had in meeting the needs of their students even when they wanted to.

While Trumps Thursday action will not cease education funding to states, Kamras said he is concerned about the potential for a delay in allocation of funds.

I do worry that they could do things to perhaps slow the disbursement of those funds, which would, of course, be highly detrimental to school systems across the country, but certainly places like [Richmond], where Title I is really important, and of course, support for [students with disabilities] is really important, Kamras said.

US funds for local schools

About 9% of Virginias education funding came from the federal government in the 2020-21 school year, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

I want our teachers and our staff to know that no Title I teachers are losing their jobs tomorrow or anything of that nature, Kamras said. And of course, even if they were to attempt to suspend funding, we would fight that very aggressively.

Kamras emphasized that nothing will immediately change in local schools because of this order  but he said attempting to shutter the department has a strong symbolic impact.

It suggests a lack of commitment to public education, which is very concerning, he said.

Youngkin said at an event in Richmond on Wednesday that block granting  in which the federal government would send a lump sum to states with fewer restrictions on how it can be spent  would benefit Virginians.

Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, joined Trump at the White House on Thursday for the signing of his executive order.

Freitas said in a post on X that the U.S. Department of Education has in effect wasted hundreds of billions of dollars over the course of its existence that could have been used to help kids.

Instead, he said, it was used for bureaucratic bloat, job security for left-wing activists, and pushing ideological narratives on children. It is hard to imagine the kind of insanity we are seeing in our modern public schools being possible without the influence of the entrenched bureaucracy at the education department.

Trumps order will likely be challenged in court. Several members of Congress, including Rep. Bobby Scott, D-3rd, ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education & the Workforce, said Thursday that Trump cannot singlehandedly abolish the U.S. Department of Education.

Scott said in a statement: Legality aside, dismantling (the department) will exacerbate existing disparities, reduce accountability, and put low-income students, students of color, students with disabilities, rural students, and English as a Second Language (ESL) students at risk.

Scott said the executive order will be used to distract Americans from the fact that Republicans are not working to address the real problems facing students and families: widening academic achievement gaps, school shootings, and the burden of student loans.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, another Virginia Democrat, said in a recent call with reporters that Trump is attempting to shutter the Education Department through an executive order, instead of through Congress, because he does not have the support.

The president is doing this stuff unilaterally because he lacks the confidence that he can convince Congress to go along, even with the Republican houses, and that should tell you something about how ill-ill-considered and radical this proposal is, Kaine said. If he doesnt think he can get Republican houses to agree with him, then maybe this is not a good idea.

Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st, said in a statement last week that major policy changes, such as the elimination of a federal agency, must be thoroughly examined through the legislative process in Congress, where representatives can debate and vote on these significant issues.
The National Institutes of Health's James Shannon building is seen on the agency's campus in Bethesda, Md., Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) AP

A common blood test may miss ovarian cancer in some Black and Native American patients, delaying their treatment, a new study finds. Its the latest example of medical tests that contribute to health care disparities.

Researchers have been working to uncover these kinds of biases in medicine. Recently, the Trump administrations crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion has jeopardized such research as universities react to political pressure and federal agencies comb through grants looking for projects that violate the presidents orders.

Native American women have the highest rate of ovarian cancer. Black women with ovarian cancer have lower rates of survival compared to white women. Finding ovarian cancer early can lead to better chances of survival.

The new study, supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and published Thursday in JAMA Network Open, looked at a test called CA-125. The test measures a tumor marker in the blood, and doctors use it to determine if a woman with a suspicious lump should be referred to a cancer specialist.

Doctors depend on the test during early evaluations, so understanding what the results mean for people of different races and ethnicities is critical, said Dr. Shannon Westin of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who was not involved in the research.

This is a perfect example of work that absolutely needed to be stratified based on race and ethnicity, Westin said. The findings alert doctors that they shouldnt be totally reassured by a normal test result, she said.

So far, its unknown why the test doesnt perform uniformly across groups. The researchers suspect it has something to do with a harmless genetic variation that is more common in people of African, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and West Indian descent.

Initial studies of the test, published in the 1980s, didnt record peoples races but were in mostly white populations.

The test isnt perfect for white women either, said lead author Dr. Anna Jo Smith of the University of Pennsylvanias medical school.

But if we have worse performance in certain groups, then we may be further contributing to disparities in referral, disparities in treatment, and ultimately we may be contributing to the lower survival in Black women with ovarian cancer, Smith said.

The researchers analyzed data from more than 200,000 women with ovarian cancer from 2004 through 2020 whod had a CA-125 blood test.

Black and Native American patients were 23% less likely to have an elevated CA-125 level at ovarian cancer diagnosis compared with white patients, suggesting the current thresholds are set too high.

The researchers also found that patients with false negative results started chemotherapy on average nine days later than patients with elevated levels. That could make a difference for some patients, Smith said.

Last week, Smith and her colleagues presented work at a Society of Gynecologic Oncology meeting proposing a new lower threshold for the blood test that would work better across all populations. The work could lead to changes in guidelines.

New thresholds for referral will ensure that all patients get in for rapid care when ovarian cancer is suspected, Smith said.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Abbeyleix Tidy Towns is delighted to announce that it has been awarded a 6,000 grant to support its ongoing efforts to protect and enhance local biodiversity.

The 2024 national Tidy Towns Champs told the Leinster Express / Laois Live that the Community Foundation Ireland / National Parks and Wildlife Service funding would contribute to several projects.

Abbeyleix Tidy Towns hope to advance its Biodiversity Action Plan and further its commitment to environmental sustainability in the Laois community. The support will also help with tree planting, pollinator-friendly habitats, and community-led citizen science projects.

Robbie Quinn, Chairman of Abbeyleix Tidy Towns, welcomed the grant.

"This funding will make a significant difference in our efforts to protect local wildlife and support biodiversity. Our projects will create lasting habitats for pollinators and other essential species, and through active community involvement, well ensure that these initiatives have a real, tangible impact on Abbeyleixs environment."

"We would also like to express our gratitude to the Community Foundation for their ongoing support over the years. Their help has been crucial in enabling us to develop a more biodiverse and sustainable community. Support like this is essential for small voluntary groups like ours, and we truly appreciate the trust placed in us. We are committed to ensuring that this funding is well spent and will help us continue our important work," he said.

Abbeyleix Tidy Towns is one of 94 projects receiving support under this initiative, which aims to empower communities to take action for nature. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Former Minister Heather Humphreys met local children when she visited Abbeyleix in 2024 to launch that year's SuperValu Tidy Towns Awards.

Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher OSullivan TD, emphasized the importance of community efforts in tackling Irelands biodiversity crisis.

READ ALSO: Laois remote workers not interested in paying for hotdesks

"If we are to successfully tackle our national biodiversity crisis, we must all work together. This partnership between the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Community Foundation Ireland is a great example of how we can empower and support community organisations to learn about their local biodiversity and create unique action plans for their areas," he said.

Denise Charlton, Chief Executive of Community Foundation Ireland, expressed her pride in the growing national movement to protect habitats, plants, and wildlife: "We are particularly proud that local efforts like those of Abbeyleix Tidy Towns are becoming part of a larger national movement. This current round of funding is impacting every county, showing the groundswell of support for biodiversity action."

Niall O Donnchu, Director General of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, added: "NPWS is delighted to support community groups like Abbeyleix Tidy Towns in their efforts to enhance local biodiversity. This is the kind of whole-of-society approach weve advocated for in the 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan."

For more information about Abbeyleix Tidy Towns and its biodiversity initiatives, please visit www.abbeyleixtidytowns.netor email us at info@abbeyleixtidytowns.net

Abbeyleix Tidy Towns has been actively working for over 60 years to enhance the town's environment through sustainable projects and community engagement.
An agency run by Irish entrepreneurs in New Zealand is encouraging agricultural students from Laois and other parts of Ireland to seize a unique opportunity to develop their skills in one of the worlds most advanced dairy farming environments.

Max People has about 70 agricultural students from across the island of Ireland have already worked on dairy farms in New Zealand with their help.

They include students from Kildalton Agricultural College, South East Technological University (SETU), Munster Technological University (MTU), Ballyhaise Agricultural College, Atlantic Technological University (ATU), CAFRE, and Queens University.

In a statement to the Leinster Express / Laois Live Max People say the experience gained is a critical part of their degrees practical placement, allowing them to apply classroom learning to large-scale, pasture-based dairy operations.

The recruitment agency says New Zealands dairy sector is globally recognized for its innovation and efficiency, and workers from Ireland are highly sought after due to their strong work ethic and experience in livestock management. Max People say the structured agricultural education system across the island of Ireland produces graduates who are well prepared to adapt to large-scale farming, making them a natural fit for New Zealands dairy industry.

Max People describes itself as a workforce solutions company based in New Zealand and founded by two Irish entrepreneurs, Dave McSorely and Gavin Bannon. Having built careers in construction and agriculture recruitment, they recognized the reputation of Irish workers and their to New Zealands dairy industry.

"Irish farmworkers have long been regarded as hardworking, adaptable, and highly skilled in livestock management, said Mr Bannon.

 We saw a natural synergy between Irelands strong agricultural training and New Zealands demand for skilled workers. This initiative isnt just about filling roles - its about creating meaningful learning experiences that help shape future industry leaders here and back home," said Bannon

Max People say that for students, the experience goes beyond just learning new techniques . They say it provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live and work in a new country, gaining exposure to cutting-edge dairy practices, herd management strategies, and large-scale efficiency models that they can bring back home.

"New Zealands dairy farms offer an incredible environment for students to develop their skills, work with some of the best in the industry, and gain firsthand experience of large-scale, pasture-based dairy farming," says Trina Moore, who has been supporting placements in New Zealand for over 15 years.

"Beyond the professional growth, students also get to explore the countrys stunning landscapes and culture, making this a truly life-changing experience."

READ ALSO: Houses not rabbits for Laois

Max People also claim that the knowledge and skills acquired during their placements have a lasting impact not just on individual careers but on the wider agricultural sector back in Ireland.

It's claimed that many students return to Ireland and Northern Ireland with a deeper understanding of pasture management, herd health, and large-scale operational efficiencies that can help modernize dairy farms.

The agency also says many past placements have gone on to lead family farms, introduce innovative techniques, and expand their operations based on what they have learned in New Zealand.

"We see students go back with a completely new mindset - better pasture management, improved herd handling, and a greater understanding of large-scale efficiencies. These experiences are invaluable not just to individual farms, but to the dairy industry as a whole," Ms Moore added.

Nicola Mitchell is a past placement from Greenmount College in Northern Ireland. She described it as an amazing and unforgettable experience, citing the opportunity to learn new skills, make lifelong friendships, and travel across the country on days off.

Meabh Mulholland also encouraged people to travel.

I would highly encourage every student to take this opportunity to see the world while gaining invaluable experience in the dairy industry, she said.

Mary ODwyer, whose son worked in New Zealand, commended the agency.

They made the move seamless and removed the stress of new situations., she said.

The next intake for placements commencing in June and July, coinciding with New Zealands calving season, is underway. For more information email trina@maxpeople.co.nz
Gardai investigating an assault on Wellington Road in Cork City on Wednesday morning, March 19, 2025 have arrested a man in connection with this incident.

The man, aged in his 30s, was arrested by Gardai for an offence contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 yesterday, Friday, March 21, 2025, and detained at a Garda station in Cork city under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.



He has since been charged and is due to appear before a special sitting of Cork City District Court at 4:30pm this afternoon, Saturday, March 22, 2025.

READ MORE: RIP: Ireland's oldest woman sadly passes away aged 109-years-old in Donegal

The injured male continues to receive medical treatment at Cork University Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.



Investigations are ongoing.

An Garda Siochana continues to appeal for any witnesses to this incident to come forward.

Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and were travelling in the Wellington Road and Military Hill area between 11:00am and 12:00pm on Wednesday, March 19, 2025 are asked to make this footage available to investigating Gardai.
The arrival of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland in May 2011 prompted a major security operation as the Monarch's historic tour took in a visit to Kildare.

Queen Elizabeth II was clearly in her element during her flying visit to the Irish National Stud on Thursday morning last, May 19, reports Paula Campbell.

Greeted with a round of applause as she stepped out of the royal jeep with the Duke of Edinburgh, even the weather was in her favour as black clouds threatened but failed to dampen the visit.

Her face said it all, a mixture of delight and genuine interest in, not only the stallions Invincilble Spirit and Amadeus Wolf, but talking to champion jockey Johnny Murtagh and the students from Kildare towns Racing Academy and Centre for Education (RACE).

Her love and life long interest in horses provided a common ground for all who attended the historic visit, which began with an escort around the grounds from CEO of the National Stud John Osborne and chair of the studs board, Lady Chryss OReilly.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh seemed equally intrigued by a demonstration of horse simulator, Henry, which is similar to a rodeo bucking bronco and used to train the student jockeys.

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Next, the Queen was shown two student farriers in action, Jason Hogan from Kildare Town and Barry Mc Grath from Limerick. The students kept their heads down to make a horse shoe as the Queen viewed their handiwork.

I was delighted to be chosen, said Jason (26) who is in his second year of the four year Irish Farriery School course. I didnt dare look up - I just made my shoe but I think she was smiling.

Dressed in a corn-flower blue suit with matching hat, the Queen looked radiant as she then went to talk to the students of the stud management course.

It was absolutely amazing, said student Chris McGrath (20) from the Curragh speaking to the Leinster Leader afterwards. This seemed to be the highlight of the trip for her. There are no words to describe what the Queens visit means to us.

Then it was time for the parade of the stallions where the Queen inspected at close hand Invincible Spirit and Amadeus Wolf. A third, Verglas, was due to be shown but had sadly passed away suddenly just hours before her visit.

Handler David Hanratty paraded the stallions with pride as Invincible Spirit showed his worth by rearing up impressively, as if on cue, in front of the Queen.

Jockey Johnny Murtagh, who represented RACE on the day, paid tribute to Verglas afterwards.

It was brilliant to see the Queen in Kildare, he said after the visit. Ive met her a couple of times at the Royal Ascot. It is great meeting her there because it usually means I have won. Verglas was getting on in age but thats horses for you - its a tough life. Verglas was a champion race horse and a great stallion.

Before her departure, the Queen then unveiled a sculpture dedicated to Sea The Stars, the champion thoroughbred racehouse bred at the National Stud. Designed by artist Anthony Scott, the bronze sphere features all the signs of the zodiac in memory of the founder of the National Stud, Col William Hall-Walker. Col Walker, who donated the stud farm to the State, was adamant that horses should always be able to see the stars. He relied, to great success, on a foals horoscope at birth as to whether it would be kept by the Stud or not. The sculpture was described as ingenious by the Queen.

Finally, the royal visitor was given a beautiful bouquet of flowers by eight-year-old Emma Osborne, and then was quickly whisked away to her private lunch engagement at Gilltown Stud in Kilcullen, home to Sea The Stars himself.
Over 675 north Kildare students recently took part in Engineers Week activities led by Intel. The company's engineers visited local schools in Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth as part of Engineers Week 2025. students recently took part in Engineers Week activities led by Intel. The company's engineers visited local schools in Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth as part of Engineers Week 2025.

To see the brilliant pictures from the occasion, click the >arrow> or 'Next' buttons.

Running from March 1 to 7, Engineers week is a week-long festival of nationwide events celebrating the world of engineering in Ireland.

To coincide with the celebrations, Intel engineers visited 12 local primary schools. They led sessions for third-class students. As part of each session, the Intel engineers shared their experiences and assisted the students in completing two engineering activities, the Balloon Car and the Build a Bridge challenges. Both activities introduce students to important engineering skills such as planning, construction, problem-solving, and teamwork.

The participating schools were;

 San Carlo Senior National School, Leixlip

 Scoil Mhuire, Leixlip

 Scoil Bhride, Leixlip

 Scoil Chearbhaill Ui Dhalaigh, Leixlip

 Scoil Eoin Phoil, Leixlip

 Presentation Girls School Maynooth, Maynooth

 Gaelscoil Ruairi, Maynooth

 Gaelscoil Ui Fhiaich, Maynooth

 Maynooth Boys NS, Maynooth

 Scoil Naomh Brid, Celbridge

 Scoil Mochua, Celbridge

 North Kildare Educate Together School, Celbridge

Intel recently announced that it will continue its sponsorship, for the sixth year, of Engineers Ireland STEPS programme. The partnership between Intel and the professional membership body for engineers, will focus on encouraging and inspiring the next generation of STEM talent by collaborating on the Engineers Ireland STEPS programme.

STEPS aims to encourage future generations of engineers by supporting industry and community leaders to engage with primary and secondary school pupils through a number of hands-on workshops and programmes.






Leitrim woman Maeve Kilgannon inspired many across the nation with her appearance on Ireland AM on Thursday, March 20 where she spoke with presenters Alan Hughes and Muireann OConnell about living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

She was also joined by Professor Orla Hardiman from Research Motor Neurone.

Maeve, who resides in Kinlough, was diagnosed with MND three years ago at age 56. She shared her journey leading up to her diagnosis, how she came to terms with it and the importance of embracing life despite the challenges.

Prof. Hardiman explained that MND is a neurodegenerative disease that attacks the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. She noted that the condition manifests differently in each person, with multiple subtypes, and that it remains incurable.

Maeve bravely recounted the moment she realised something was wrong when she began losing strength in her hands and struggled with tasks like buttoning clothes or using a house key.

After undergoing numerous tests, it took two years to receive a diagnosis. I thought this is it, and I knew very little about motor neurone so I thought I have only two or three years to live, she told the presenters.

Her perspective changed after visiting the clinic at Beaumont Hospital.

With the support I got I learned differently. Im a different person now I just live my life. I have motor neurone but it hasnt got me.

Maeve also highlighted a fundraiser - a coffee morning and a draw - that she and her family organised in Kinlough in November, raising over 24,000 for Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and Research Motor Neurone.

For her, the focus is on turning her diagnosis into something positive. She hopes to show that even with a life changing condition, its possible to live fully.

Anybody whos diagnosed with it shouldnt hide away, get out and get support from the medical team and get out and live your life, she advised.

Having lived in Dromahair for 32 years, Maeve, along with Prof. Hardiman, expressed gratitude to the communities of Kinlough and Dromahair for their support of MND research.

Prof. Hardiman emphasised that people with MND should focus on the present rather than thinking too far into the future, calling Maeve a fantastic example of that mindset.

My piece of advice to anyone with MND is to live your life. You may have MND but dont let it have you, Maeve concluded.

READ MORE: Leitrim businesses and residents encouraged to apply for Mohill painting scheme
For the second year in a row the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) is launching a national photography competition: My Favourite Waterbody.

LAWPRO are encouraging Leitrim people to submit photos showcasing the countys natural waters.

Today is World Water Day, a day that marks the importance of freshwater and the sustainable management of it as a resource, said Anthony Coleman, Director of Services at LAWPRO.

It is a perfect day to launch our national photo competition. We had excellent engagement last year in the competition and we want people to take the opportunity to get out into nature and appreciate their local natural waters, whether it be a stream on their land, a local river or their nearest beach.

Nature and our natural waters can be places of tranquillity and nostalgia for people - we know this through our wide engagement with the public, he added.

LAWPRO is a national shared service working on behalf of the 31 local authorities in Ireland coordinating efforts to achieve good water quality across the country in our rivers, lakes, estuaries, ground and coastal areas.

The competition is open to anyone across Ireland, entrants under 18 years of age must be submitted by a parent or guardian.

If your photo includes anyone aged under 16 years of age, only a parent/guardian may submit the content.

The overall winner will receive a 500 voucher for Powerscourt Hotel Resort and Spa in County Wicklow along with an A3 framed print of your winning photo. There will also be three runners-up prizes of framed prints.

The top photos will be featured in LAWPROs 2026 calendar and winners will receive a calendar along with their prize.

The closing date for entries to My favourite waterbody is 5pm on Friday, May 2.

You can enter the competition here

READ MORE: Leitrim to the Big Apple: Irish Immigration Then vs Now
The Late Late Show returns this Friday night with some fresh and familiar faces joining host Patrick Kielty in studio.

Comedian, actress and talk show host Rosie O'Donnell will sit down with Kielty on Friday night for her first exclusive Irish TV interview since moving to Ireland. The American celebrity's big move to Ireland came up during the Taoiseach's recent visit to the White House and she will be chatting to Kielty about Trump's reaction to this.

She will also speak about next month's Same Chance Walk for Autism with AsIAm which she will be taking part in.

Then one of Ireland's most beloved country music stars Daniel O'Donnell will join Kielty in the studio to talk about his upcoming tour around the country this year. The music legend will also chat about trips with his family, touring and the lengths he has gone to for his fans throughout his 40 year career.

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Another comedian and actress will also be in studio on Friday night, with Roisin Conaty coming on to talk about her new series LOL: Last One Laughing UK with Jimmy Carr. Conaty is well known for her roles in Game Face and After Life and will be chatting about growing up in London with Irish parents and spending her summers in Kerry.



Following another great year for Irish jockeys at Cheltenham, Rachel Blackmore and Paul Townend will also join Kielty in studio. Jockey Paul Townend, a four-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner and leading jockey at this years festival with four winners, and Rachel Blackmore, Cheltenham 2025 double winner and the only female jockey ever to win a Grand National, will review this year's week in racing.

You can catch this week's episode of the Late Late Show tonight at 9.35pm on RTE One and RTE Player.
A CAPPAMORE man has joined the senior team at a local accountancy firm.

Bernard Liston, who is based in the north-east Limerick town has been named a senior manager at McKeogh Gallagher Ryans offices in Nenagh.

It is the sister office to the companys principal base at OConnell Street in Limerick city centre.

Mr Liston has an honours degree from University of Galway.

READ MORE: Arachas opens bigger office to facilitate further expansion

He is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland, and trained with BDO in Limerick before joining McKeogh Gallagher Ryan.

His areas of expertise are tax planning and succession matters for farmers.

He also focuses on tax compliance work for solicitors in probate and conveyancing cases.

Also promoted are Padraig McKeogh, a graduate of the Technological University of the Shannon, who lives in Ballina in Tipperary.

They are joined in the senior ranks by South East Technological University in Waterford graduate Karen Seymour from Templemore, also in Tipperary.
A TOTAL of 19 community centres across Limerick will benefit from The Community Centres Investment Fund, receiving over 1.4m in funding. This will see the enhancement and refurbishment works of community centres across Limerick.

The community centres monies for Limerick are part of an overall 26.1m national Government funding announcement.

Minister of State Patrick ODonovan highlighted the important role the community centres play in both rural and urban areas. We now see many community centres preparing meals for the elderly and have developed into somewhat all day community hubs.

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Limerick City Fine Gael TD and Minister of State for Older People and Housing, Kieran ODonnell said:

I am delighted to see funding of 1,413,527 for 19 community centres in Limerick. I want to thank the volunteers who work so hard to facilitate activities in our community centres.

Some of the community centres receiving funding across Limerick are: Ballylanders GAA, 100,000, Broadford Community Development CLG, 13,606, Croom Family Resource Centre CLG, 100,000 and Kilcornan Community Council, 100,000.

Minister of State at the Department of Justice and TD for Co Limerick, Niall Collins, added:

Im delighted to see this ground-breaking investment in our local community centres.
Private credit funding, in which lenders and borrowers directly negotiate financing without engaging an intermediary, is increasing in size and complexity, as companies look to diversify their source of funding, Pramod Kumar, chief executive officer and head of investment banking - India at Barclays Plc.

Barclays, which has been quite active in the private credit space over the past few years, is looking at big-ticket transactions. The UK-based bank recently closed a funding deal for Hinduja Groups acquisition of the bankrupt Reliance Capital.

In the private credit space, we do see that the share of larger deals, that is, $100 million-plus is now close to 50%. It is evident that there is an increasing trend of larger and complex transactions. And as you see more competition coming in smaller transactions, we obviously graduate ourselves to focus more on larger transactions, handle more complexity, and therefore make better returns for us," he said.

Shifting market dynamics

Kumar said that various financing opportunities are emerging, as stock markets reel under selling pressure and public listing takes a hit. He said that 2025 will see a more balanced mix of equity and a combination of debt - that could be private credit, debt capital markets, or market borrowings - as raising equity is not certain and doesnt come cheap as was the case in 2024. Valuations have cracked and fallen a fair bit, he said.

A mix of increased sponsor activity, delayed exits because of relatively weaker IPO markets, and third being a robust domestic M&A activity by some of the large industrial houses who feel comfortable taking on some incremental risks to consolidate the business or get into newer segments. So, those are the three factors that will drive financing activity," he added.

Kumar claimed that Barclays was number 2 in the M&A (mergers and acquisitions) league table last year, as it closed a few large-ticket deals like Bharti Groups $4 billion investment in UK's telecom company BT Group, and EQT and Temaseks sale of 4.7 gigawatt of renewable assets to JSW. The bank was also active in rupee financing space as it funded Mankind Pharmas acquisition of Bharat Serum.

TMT, healthcare, pharma, infrastructure, renewables, financial institutions, and industrials are the sectors where we are focused on and continue to see M&A as well as financing activity. I envisage this as a year where you'll see more consolidation activity across all the sectors, not necessarily only growth capital. But if you wish to call out, we certainly will see more consolidation and activity in healthcare delivery, domestic pharma and financial services may go through a little bit of challenge," said Kumar.

Tech, which was very active until two years ago, will see a pick up this year, with valuations improving a bit. There will continue to be more consolidation and capital raising activity in renewables," he added.

Barclays deepens India commitment

Earlier this week, Barclays announced capital infusion of 2,300 crore into its India operations. The capital infusion is expected to enable the bank to expand its reach to a wider client base, including corporate and financial sponsor clients and ultra-high-net-worth individuals in India.

The latest capital commitment follows a significant injection of over 3,000 crore (300 million) in 2021. With this additional infusion, the banks total invested capital in India will increase to over 12,400 crore, reflecting a steady and sustained growth strategy.

Also Read: Sebi asks ICICI Bank to clarify on reports of alleged corporate governance breach

In FY24, Barclays' India operations reported net profit of 785 crore, against 669 crore in FY23. Its assets stood at 53,910 crore at the end of FY24. According to India Ratings, a major portion of Barclays Indias loans as of FY24 consist of term loans (49.2%), bill discounting (35%) and working capital loans (15.8%).
New Delhi: Key Indian exports may have started cooling even before US president Donald Trumps reciprocal tariffs roll out.

Worried that higher levies may kick in by the time products land on American shores, local exporters are hesitant to ship engineering goods to the US, according to industry representatives. The delay means outbound shipments for the category, which accounts for about a quarter of Indias merchandise exports, are expected to decline in March.

Sea freight, the most common method for bulk overseas trade, typically takes between 25 and 45 days to reach the US. The concern is that if new tariffs are introduced while goods are in transit, businesses will have to bear the impact of revised duties, which is a significant challenge," said Pankaj Chadha, chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC). The easiest solution would be a bilateral deal, but there is no chance of it happening before 2 April."

India's agriculture, diamond and gold, and medical devices are the most at risk from reciprocal tariffs because of the disparity between the duties levied in the US and India. Still, Trump's protectionist measures have set off global uncertainty, which is weighing on overall trade.

Also read | India, US move on trade deal, no talks on reciprocal tariffs

Merchandise exports fell 11% on-year last month to $36.91 billionbelow 41.41 billion recorded in February 2024, when supply chain disruptions due to the Red Sea crisis had impacted trade. Merchandise imports, too, dropped 16.34% in February over a year earlier.

Queries emailed to the spokesperson of the ministry of commerce remained unanswered.

Exports could worsen

As we are in a highly uncertain environment, and the US remains the biggest market for engineering goods, the continuous announcements of reciprocal tariffs on India by the US have put both importers and exporters in a wait-and-watch mode," said Chadha of EEPC. Many believe that waiting for a month is the best course of action, as shipments may move once the reciprocal duties are officially announced."

Engineering goods exports stood at $109.22 billion in FY24, accounting for about 25% of the total merchandise exports of $433.09 billion. In 11 months through February for the 2024-25 financial year, cumulative shipments rose 7.9% on-year to $105.84 billion. However, these exports snapped a nine-month rising streak to slip 8.64% on-year to $9.08 billion in February.

Also read | US-India trade talks: Fixed quota for US oil imports on the cards

"The downturn in exports is a cause for concern for the Indian economy, and it could worsen due to U.S. trade policies. Uncertainty itself is disruptive," said Pronab Sen, economist and former chief statistician of India.

"The real uncertainty lies in the potential retaliatory measures that may come in the future. What we are witnessing now is a slowdown that precedes such actions," Sen said. So, to say that this decline is entirely due to the US stance may not be completely accurate. It appears to be more linked to the broader economic slowdown."

Textile shipments, another key export from India, also slowed in February. According to quick estimates from the commerce ministry, category exports dropped 10.85% on-year in February.

Apparel exports, however, grew 3.97% on-year in February. The apparel industry, which accounted for 4.15% of the total textile exports worth $36.91 billion in February, is optimistic about the ongoing month.

March is typically the month of highest export performance across all sectors, including textiles and garments," said Mithileshwar Thakur, secretary general of the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC). Despite emerging challenges and the looming threat of reciprocal duties by the US, we are confident that the apparel sector will continue to perform well.

Also read | Why Indias electronics sector is least at risk from Trump's tariff scrutiny

Difficult days ahead

Indian exporters are worried about higher duties levied on American goods than what the US charges.

Agriculture and processed food products from India face a duty of 5.29% in the US, but the same category attracts a levy of 37.66% in India. Diamonds, gold, and related exports face a duty of 2.12% in the US versus 15.45% charged here. Domestic textile goods face a duty of 8.99% in the US, while American counterparts are taxed at 10.37% on Indian shores.

Medical, leather, and other products from India face a duty of 9.70% in the US against 2.79% in India.

Also read | Textiles sector eyes zero tariffs in India-US trade

Traders are cautious about sending their shipments, with exporters adopting a wait-and-watch approach," said S. Ramakrishna, former chairman and now advisor of the Federation of Freight Forwarders Association of India (FFFAI). "As a result, the flow of shipments is slower than it was during the same month last year."

Thakur said the AEPC has suggested that the Centre consider bringing down the applicable customs duty rates on major apparel products traded with the US to the level of levies in the US. Since apparel imports into India from the US are negligible, the Centre should also consider offering zero for zero for all apparel products, he said.

Meanwhile, Trumps tariff threat may not be the only reason for slowing exports in key categories in March. Ramakrishna said India is also implementing Quality Control Orders (QCOs) and anti-dumping duties to achieve its self-reliance goals, which affects the movement of goods. The proposed 12% safeguard duty on steel would also impact imports and container shipments, he said.

Also read | Do tariffs raise inflation?

Biswajeet Dhar, economist and distinguished professor at the Council for Social Development, calls the current period a phase of uncertainty, where markets have become extremely nervous".

Consumers will also tread cautiously moving forward; they are not going to splurge," he said. There will be more difficult days ahead."
President Trump has access to a powerful tool that isnt tariffs for his trade war with China, but it isnt clear whether China hawks will convince him to unleash it.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, a U.S. law targeting forced labor that the Biden administration began enforcing in 2022, bars imports of almost all goods linked to Xinjiang, an expansive region in the west of China that is a major source of cotton, solar-panel components and minerals.

The law is in effect, but how it is put into practice is open to interpretation and subject to funding, leaving room for the Trump administration to increase enforcement.

The Biden administration blocked, at least temporarily, more than $3.5 billion in imports using the law and then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas took a personal interest in expanding what amounts to a ban list of companies found to have ties to forced labor. Volkswagen saw thousands of its vehicles held up at U.S. ports after disclosing they had included parts made by a banned company.

I know this issue is a priority of the president, and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) will also have lots of support in Congress for vigorous UFLPA enforcement," said Rep. Chris Smith (R., N.J.), co-chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a human-rights watchdog.

But the administration is also a big tent when it comes to China, with space for hawks like Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well as for Elon Musk, who has deep commercial ties to the country, making it difficult to predict how enforcement might unfold.

The value of shipments U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained under the UFLPA dropped from a monthly peak of $290.7 million in March 2024 to $9.2 million in February, according to CBP statistics. The White House has also not added to the list that singles out companies for extra scrutiny.

DHS didnt respond to a request for comment.

Some domestic groups hope for a crackdown from Trump.

Were really hopeful that they will take it even further to step up enforcement even more, because industries like ours matter and that this will help them achieve some of their key goals," said Kimberly Glas, president of the National Council of Textile Organizations.

Uyghur groups also want a tough stance.

No question, the Trump administration should look to increase UFLPA scrutiny of Chinese importseverything from solar panels, to steel and aluminum, to auto partsto protect the American worker and the American consumer," said Louisa Greve, director of global advocacy for the Uyghur Human Rights Project.

Herculean task

Congress approved the UFLPA with near unanimous bipartisan support. The U.S. says alleged Chinese human rights violations in Xinjiang, home of the Uyghur people and other minority groups, amount to a genocide, claims China fiercely denies.

Anti-forced-labor law among U.S. allies, such as European Union legislation, bars forced labor in principle. Unlike those laws, the UFLPA explicitly singles out China for attention from CBP.

The agency under the law must presume any goods whose production can be traced to Xinjiang are made with forced labor. Under Biden, CBP and its backers heavily publicized enforcement efforts, including the use of novel technologies such as isotopic testing that looks for chemical markers to determine, for example, whether a T-shirts cotton is likely from Xinjiang.

Implementation of the law has received mixed reviews, in part because Congress gave CBP a difficult task by demanding the screening of all imports from China, a top supplier of goods to the U.S.

It was really disappointing, the light touch, or barely any touch, that [the Biden administration] had in enforcement," said Nazak Nikakhtar, a partner at the law firm Wiley Rein who served as an assistant Treasury secretary in the first Trump administration. Whats the point of having laws if youre not going to enforce?"

Though the UFLPA effectively bans all goods with links to Xinjiang, a government document known as the entity list helps both CBP and industry identify companies with known ties to forced labor. The list blocks imports from named companies, but some in U.S. industry have complained Chinese competitors with links to forced labor can circumvent the ban using affiliated companies that havent been designated.

Companies can also route goods with ties to Xinjiang through third countries to obfuscate their origins, complicating the work of CBP officials and corporate supply-chain experts. After the UFLPA came into force, cotton products meant for U.S. consumption began to be routed through Vietnam, said Ram Ben Tzion, chief executive of Publican, a provider of tools to look for fraudulent shipments.

CBP also must contend with millions of packages using the so-called de minimis exemption, or those declared to be worth $800 or less, that arrive each day and are subject to less screening. Trump took action to close that import channel but later backed down.

Now what?

CBP will likely increase UFLPA enforcement under Trump, and critical minerals and chemicals are likely its new priorities, said Kit Conklin, global head of risk and compliance with supply-chain vetting company Exiger and a former adviser to the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

What I would expect with the Trump administration is significant new resources for CBP to enforce all of their laws, whether its immigration or the UFLPA," Conklin said. When CBP gets those resources, there will be an immediate impact on industries that have not yet been targeted."

Trump at first glance would seem inclined to push enforcement, despite his general aversion to regulation that increases the compliance workload for U.S. businesses. In his first term, he took a number of steps against China, including raising trade pressure. It was under Trump the U.S. first labeled Chinese treatment of Uyghurs a genocide. The Biden administration stood by the assessment.

While a U.S. senator for Florida, Rubio sponsored the UFLPA, and he is a well-known China hawk.

But Musk, Trumps frequently seen right-hand man, has business ties to China through his auto company Tesla. It sources batteries from battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology, also known as CATL. Some lawmakers have said CATL should be added to the UFLPA entity list.

There are serious questions" about Musks potential conflicts of interests and risks they pose to our security," Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, (D., Ill.), the ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a statement Friday. Musk didnt respond to a request for comment.

Tesla recently wrote the administration warning the tariff war could make its cars more expensive.

Trump also recently appointed to the State Department Darren Beattie to serve as an acting undersecretary, despite complaints from some congressional Democrats that Beattie had in social-media posts appeared to blame Uyghurs for their oppression. The State Department, asked for comment, didnt address the controversy but said it would continue to champion the human rights" of Uyghurs and other groups facing genocide in China.

Trumps cuts to the civil service and federal programs such as USAID could also imperil UFLPA enforcement. Cuts have hit Uyghur research and advocacy groups that provide research to help the government identify forced labor, said Laura Murphy, a forced-labor researcher and policy adviser during Bidens administration.

All of that stuff looks expendable to some people in the government today, [but cutting] it has extraordinary knock-on effects and real security risks," Murphy said.

Write to Richard Vanderford at Richard.Vanderford@wsj.com
A price-signalling war is on between the government and processors of soybean, as the two have put out conflicting production estimates of the key cash crop that's an affordable source of edible oil.

According to the Union agriculture ministrys second advance estimates, there has been a record production of soybean in the country at 15.1 million tonnes during the kharif marketing season 2024-25. However, the industry pegs it at just 12.6 million tonnes.

Currently, the price of soybean oil in the wholesale market hovers at 129 -132 per kg.

"The trade feels that the data released by the central government is too high, as area has fallen by seven lakh hectares. Ideally, the difference between the government data and the industry data varies by 5-10%, but this time it is too high.

The industry feels that the total production would be around 12.6 million tonnes. So, considering the production number, we don't see softening of prices [of soybean oil] in the near future." said B.V. Mehta, executive director, The Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA).

Industry's supply concerns

According to him, during the kharif season 2024-25, soybean was sown over 11.83 million hectares, compared to 12.54 million hectares in 2023. However, the industry saw an increase in production in 2024 at 12.58 million tonnes, mainly on account of high yield. In India, Madhya Pradesh is the largest soybean producer in the country, followed by Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

Sanjay Shrishrimal, executive committee member, The Soybean Processors Association of India (Sopa), said that soybean oil prices are unlikely to soften, as the crop output has been muted and also as the industry is grappling with soybean meal disposal, a by-product of soybean oil extraction that is used in food and animal feeds, especially in the poultry sector, principally as a protein supplement.

Import duty, price outlook

Experts feels that soybean oil prices are expected to remain elevated. According to the second advance estimates, domestic soybean production in the 2024-25 marketing year (October 2024September 2025) is projected to increase by 16%, reaching a record high of 15 million metric tonnes (MMT). Higher production is expected to boost soybean crushing, leading to a 15% rise in oil production, estimated at 2.9 MMT," said Pushan Sharma, director - research, Crisil Intelligence.

Also Read: Minister of state for environment Singh underlines need for increase in adaptation finance to meet climate action needs

"Despite higher domestic production and an increase in soy oil imports to 3.7 MMT in 2024-25 (up from 3.37 MMT in 2023-24), oil prices are expected to remain elevated. This is due to the rise in import duties on both crude and refined edible oils. Oil prices are projected to increase by around 30% in oil year 2024-25 (November 2024October 2025), reaching 1,28,0001,28,500 per metric ton, compared to 98,947 in 2023-24," said Sharma.

The basic customs duty on crude soybean oil, crude palm oil, and crude sunflower oil has been raised from 0% to 20%. Meanwhile, the basic customs duty on refined palm oil, refined sunflower oil, and refined soybean oil has increased from 12.5% to 32.5%, making the effective duty on refined oils at 35.75%.

India imports about 60% of its total annual edible oil requirements of 26 million tonnes. In such a situation, experts feel that to achieve the ambitious target of self-sufficiency in the production of edible oils, there is a need to boost production of major oilseed crops like soybean in the country.

To motivate farmers, the central government has increased the minimum support price for soybean for the marketing season 2024-25 to 4,892 per quintal from 4,600 per quintal in the previous season.
The industry thinks the Justice Department might have grounds to sue states it sees as encroaching on federal policy territory.

Now that a pro-fossil-fuel president is in the White House, the oil industry is pushing to make some of its biggest legal headaches go away.

Oil-and-gas executives raised their concerns about recent state laws that will fine them for contributing to greenhouse-gas emissions, at a White House meeting Wednesday with President Trump. They also discussed the dozens of climate lawsuits filed by state and local governments against Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell and others, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump appeared to agree with the industry that the states actions had the potential to undermine his energy-dominance agenda and signaled he would consider ways his administration could help the industry, the people said. The chief executives of Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Hess were among those in attendance at the meeting.

Fossil-fuel interests contributed tens of millions of dollars to help Trump get elected, hoping he would help the industry lock in demand for their products for years to come. While frackers have been unnerved by his first weeks in office, Trump has started making good on their demands to undo environmental regulations, open up more U.S. land for drilling, and help them export more natural gas.

View Full Image President Trump has signaled he would consider ways his administration could help the oil-and-gas industry. Photo: Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg News

Now, the industry hopes to put its legal woes on Trumps radar as it faces mounting threats.

The industry is making a case for the Justice Department to file briefs in support of its lawsuits, or file its own suits against Vermont and New York. Last year those states passed climate superfund laws designed to collect fees from fuel-burning oil companies to help cover costs for environmental projects and infrastructure.

The industry thinks the Justice Department might have grounds to file suits against states it sees as encroaching on the territory of the U.S. government on climate policy.

Separately, oil-and-gas lobbyists are urging members of Congress to consider granting legal protection for oil companies against lawsuits over their contributions to climate change.

The fossil-fuel industry has learned from the mammoth lawsuits that clobbered tobacco companies and wants to avoid the same fate. Executives are seeking a predictable environment to navigate, and think that now is the time to push back against claims, people familiar with the lobbying push said.

Oil-and-gas companies are facing a deluge of climate actions emanating from state and local governments.

The superfund law passed in New York last year authorizes the state to levy billions of dollars in fines on fossil-fuel companies for their contribution to greenhouse-gas emissions. The bill charges fossil-fuel companies a total of $3 billion a year for 25 years, which the state plans to use to pay for climate change adaptation efforts.

Exxon, Shell, Petroleos Mexicanos, BP, Chevron and Peabody Energy could each owe upward of $150 million annually, according to a memo co-written by New York Sen. Liz Krueger, a co-sponsor of the bill.

California lawmakers introduced a superfund bill last month, saying oil companies should help pay for extensive damages from the Los Angeles wildfires. Vermont passed the first such law in the U.S. but has since inspired lawmakers in states including Massachusetts to set up similar funds.

Opponents have argued states dont have the authority to regulate emissions, companies shouldnt be charged retroactively for emissions that were legal at the time, and it is unfair to focus solely on fossil-fuel companies and not energy consumers. More than a dozen states, including West Virginia and Texas, and oil-and-gas associations have challenged the New York law in court.

We will continue to make that case in the courts, and we are exploring all options to correct this overreach by certain states," said Justin Prendergast, a spokesman for an oil lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute.

Heightened interest in climate superfund legislation is driven in part by the slow progress of lawsuits brought by states and cities seeking compensation from fossil-fuel companies, according to legal scholars.

The lawsuits, some of which date to 2017, seek financial damages based on claims that range from public nuisance and negligence to consumer deception and racketeering.

Several states, including Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island, and dozens of municipal governments have accused the worlds largest energy companies of playing down the industrys contributions to climate change.

The Supreme Court in 2023 turned away appeals by the companies seeking protection from potential liability under state laws for harms caused by climate change. The decision allowed a number of cases to move forward under state laws that the industry sees as less favorable than federal environmental statutes.

Trump cant do much about the climate lawsuits without help from Congress. In his first term, the Justice Department expressed its views about the climate litigation in briefs. The oil industry is hoping lawmakers include legal protection against climate lawsuits for oil companies in a coming Trump-endorsed bill.

Congress passed legislation two decades ago that granted gun manufacturers some legal protection against lawsuits. But with slim Republican majorities in Congress, such legal protections for oil companies could be difficult to obtain.

Oil companies say the myriad lawsuits have made doing business in the U.S. more difficult to navigate. Last year, Californias attorney general filed a lawsuitthe first suit of its kindagainst Exxon accusing the company of misleading consumers about the recyclability of plastic products and polluting the state.

Exxon filed a defamation lawsuit against California attorney general Rob Bonta and environmental groups, saying their false statements" had led to prospective business falling through.

Write to Benoit Morenne at benoit.morenne@wsj.com and Collin Eaton at collin.eaton@wsj.com
Americans are rethinking where to put their money in light of a topsy-turvy stock market and recession fears.

The chaos of President Trumps tariffs and government spending cuts has prompted some people to question the standard set it and forget it" investing approach and divert their money into Treasurys, precious metals and elsewhere. Others saw recent market declines as a chance to pounce on cheaper stocks.

The Wall Street Journal spoke with five people on what changes, if any, they are making to their investments.

Buying up stocks

Aaron Hilton, 28, is doubling down.

I feel like this is the first real test of whether or not I run at the first sight of trouble," said Hilton, a military officer based in Hawaii. So far, Im sticking to the plan."

Aaron Hilton, a military officer based in Hawaii, primarily invests in broad-market index funds.

Hilton had been adding about $1,500 a month to his investments. To take advantage of market declines, he has been spending less and using the extra savings to buy up more stocks.

He said his job security and long investment horizon make him comfortable taking some risks.

Hilton primarily invests in broad-market index funds but also has some money in ETFs that track crypto-related companies and the housing market.

His portfolio has continued to grow despite market swings. A simulation by his brokerage showing how a high-risk portfolio would have rebounded from the 2008 crash reassured him that patience pays off. Even in a worst-case scenario, it wasnt as bad as I thought," he said.

Leaving the U.S. behind

Andrew Gouda, 37, didnt like what he was seeing in the U.S. economy. So he moved his money.

Gouda, a pharmacist in Clearwater, Fla., had invested in U.S. stock indexes since 2018. After markets wobbled in February, he shifted heavily into gold, silver and international markets.

Excluding his retirement and college-savings accounts, Goudas portfolio is now 55% in metals and mining ETFs and 45% in international equities.

After two years of huge gains, Gouda grew skeptical that the U.S. stock markets continued rise was sustainable. Whats happening on the ground for middle-class Americans just doesnt line up with what the stock market is doing," said Gouda, who voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election. He noted the higher prices for essentials like groceries.

Despite his concerns, he has kept contributing to his ETFs tied to gold, silver and mining stocks as well as his 401(k) account and a 529 college-savings plan for his daughter. He also keeps about $35,000 in a money-market fund for emergencies.

Staying the course

Vijay Gandevia, 59, isnt budging.

This is reactionary, this is panic mode," said Gandevia, a retired physician, of the recent selloff. People think something has fundamentally changed, but nothing real has actually happened."

Vijay Gandevia, a retired physician, says he is keeping his portfolio heavily invested in index funds.

Gandevia, who splits his time between Massachusetts and Florida, has about 70% of his liquid investments in index funds tracking the S&P 500 and the broader U.S. stock market. He said he keeps enough cash on hand to cover expenses for years. This approach lets him avoid making hasty decisions when markets turn volatile, he said.

I dont define risk and volatility as the same thing," he said. Volatility just means up and down. Risk means youre actually losing money."

When the market plunged during the pandemic, he said, he didnt hesitate to buy a couple of hundred thousand dollars of index funds.

Now retired for a year and a half, Gandevia has a goal to keep his principal intact and generate enough capital gains, interest and dividends to sustain his lifestylespending winters in Daytona Beach, Fla., and cooking with his wife and biking.

Finding havens

Catherine Faddis has been worried about the direction the economy is heading. In late February and into March, she traded about 20% of her stock holdings for short-term Treasurys.

Im not going to put cash under my mattress, but if I hold a three- or six-month, or a one-year, thats the next closest thing," said Faddis, who is in her 50s and works as a portfolio manager at an asset-management firm in Boston. Its sort of a fear trade."

She took the opportunity to dump stocks in the tech-heavy Magnificent Seven companies, which she considered overvalued. Faddis said she felt like that call was correct. Those companies market capitalizations have collectively fallen about 11% in the past month.

The tricky part: deciding when to put that money back into the stock market.

Am I going to catch the bottom? Nope," she said. Faddis said she has accepted that she might miss the first leg of a rebound.

An opportunity

Chris Ullman, a 61-year-old communications consultant in Alexandria, Va., is among those who see a buying opportunity.

Chris Ullman recently put more money into the stock market than he usually does.

This past Monday, he put $20,000 into an index fund that tracks the overall U.S. stock market. That is more than three times the amount he puts into that retirement account in a typical month.

I bought on the dip," Ullman said, adding, If youre early 60s and youre not about to retire, you should be excited." He said he is likely about five years away from retirement himself.

Ullman, who voted for Trump in 2024, said he thinks that the economy is still heading in the right direction and that the recent market slump isnt an indication that it is on a path to becoming much weaker.

But he said family members have sometimes questioned his strategy.

My daughter said to me, What if it falls another 10%?" Ullman said. I said, Im going to put another chunk in."

Write to Joe Pinsker at joe.pinsker@wsj.com and Dalvin Brown at dalvin.brown@wsj.com
President Donald Trumps trade policies have been described as somewhere between dumb and chaotic.

Dismissing them out of hand, however, risks missing some big underlying trends that will create opportunities for investors.

Decades of economic orthodoxy that preached the benefits of free trade and low-cost manufacturing are giving way to 18th or 19th-century mercantilism built on protectionism and localized manufacturing.

It feels upside down. What is clear, however, is that key figures in Trumps administration, including Vice President JD Vance, want to make it here," says BofA Securities analyst Andrew Obin, adding investors should brush up on Curtis Yarvin.

Yarvin, who has the ear of Vance and others, argues that democracy is weak and favors America having what he describes as a monarchy with a CEO-style leader instead. He also questions the wisdom of optimizing an economy for the cheapest flat-screen TVs at the cost of having no, or low-paying, jobs for the people who own those TVs.

There were about 17 million manufacturing workers in America in 2000, just before China joined the World Trade Organization. Now, there are less than 13 million.

When it joined the WTO, China accounted for roughly 10% of global manufacturing while the U.S. accounted for about 25%. Today, China is closer to 30%, while Americas share has fallen to 15%.

America has done just fine, of course. There are about 165 million total jobs in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were closer to 135 million at the turn of the century.

Beyond job quality, an overreliance on China is one reason to rethink manufacturing.

The whole globalization thing became overdone," says Trumps former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, adding pragmatically that CEOs of major companies tend to have a little bit of lemming-like behavior."

For decades, CEOs chased lower labor costs around the globe. Now, they are looking to minimize supply chain vulnerability.

Even before Trump retook the White House in November, Covid-19 brought terms such as nearshoring" and dual sourced supply" into the manufacturing vernacular, explains Arjun Divecha, director and head of emerging-markets equity at the investment manager GMO.

Still, he is skeptical things will look more like 1999 any time soon. Low-end manufacturingforget about it. The stuff thats going to come back is intellectual property, high capital spending."

A move back toward localized, high-value production is positive for companies building plants, powering plants, and providing automation technologies to run the plants.

Higher tariffs might not be good for companies reliant on foreign labor. Through midday trading Friday, Nike stock was down 13% since the Nov. 5 election. The auto industry has been thrown into turmoil by the potential 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports.

Some industries being hurt probably wont be enough for the Trump administration to pivot significantly. The deglobalization genie is out of the bottle.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
Cloaked in their mantle of amber butter, the grains shimmied and danced before her eyes. There was a sizzle as the chef poured on some soy sauce, and then the short, spirited tango was over."

I do not usually read fiction unless it concerns starships headed to deep space and devious plots to destroy the world. So, I struggled at first with this dark, somewhat eerie story about an alleged serial killer and her manipulation of men and women through rich food, more specifically, butter. But the more I descended into this eponymous novel, the harder it was to clamber out.

Apart from its delightful weirdness, Butter, the best-seller by the Japanese writer Asako Yuzuki, celebrates food without the restraints of health that people like me adopt. Yuzukis story spoke to me because it came at a time when I had lifted the exile of richness from my food. I indeed have a clogged artery somewhere, but after more than a decade of discipline and good health, I have loosened border controls. I use light sprinklings of ghee on my dosa and gunpowder, and I use oil more liberally in my pastas and curries. Often, I fry my fish instead of air-frying it. But butter, somehow, seemed to be a land too far.

Also read: The scarcity theatre playing out in restaurants today

He sighed, and Rika smelled the butter and garlic on his breath. Seeing his skin and lips usually so cracked and dry, now gleaming with fat, brought Rika a sense of pride."

This sentence widened my eyes and encouraged me to consider a reacquaintance with butter. As a child, butter was standard on toast, beneath omelettes, and on dosas. When it left my life, I did not miss itor so I thought.

It helped that Yuzuki recently visited Bookworm, my favourite bookshop in Bengaluru, and she had signed my copy of Butter. I feel obliged to read personally signed copies of books, and, so, I dived in.

View Full Image Butter by Asako Yuzuki. (Photo by Samar Halarnkar)

Yuzuki skirts the borders of food and sex. There is little that is explicit, but there is little doubt of the connection, delivered through detail and deliciousness. The premise: Manako Kajii, a somewhat plump and plain imprisoned serial killer, appears to seducethrough rich food and domesticitylonely businessmen and feed them to death. She cannot, she says, tolerate two things: feminists and margarine.

When its been available, I have used margarine, but after reading Butter I will not. Feminists, I wholly support, but I agree with Kajii that life is too short for poor substitutes when you cook.

The butter and rosy-coloured roe combination coats each and every spaghetti strand, bringing out that delicious semolina scent and generating a flavour that feels like a wave of kindness rising up controllably from inside your chest."

Kindness, I like that. Good food is definitely linked to kindness. Not for nothing has the word hangry evolved. I admit, I do get angry when I am hungry. My daughter does too. I do not cook for stress relief, as many do. I cook because I like good food, and I feel pleasure and equanimity when it turns out well and when others agree.

Coincidentally, in the weeks Butter became a part of my daily life, I started adding butter to the daughters pasta. I usually use olive oil. I switched to butter on a whim because I speculatedwithout basisit would make the pasta nuttier and smoother.

Also read: A unique festival in Dehradun celebrates food stories

Restaurants tend to smother their pasta in butter, but that repulses me. Butter should be used to enhance flavours not drown them. That goes well with my everything-in-moderation philosophy, so there couldnt be a better time to bring butter backeven if I could not express it as passionately and eloquently as Yuzuki.

The cool butter clashed against her teeth and she felt its soft texture right down into their roots. Soon enough the melted butter began to surge through the individual grains of rice. It was a taste that could only be described as golden. A shining golden wave washed (her) body away."

Well.

Could I really feel like that?

Yuzukis masterpiece introduces us to Japanese butter rice, a dish exquisitely simple, in ways inimical to the usually complex Indian approach to cooking. I tried my version of it, accompanied by a steamed fish that I tried to make as simple as the rice itself.

Im not sure if I succeeded. I struggled for timing: getting the butter to remain cold atop the hot rice. I had no access to artisanal, salted French Echire butter that Kajii recommends. I did find a French brand called President though. It did clash mildly with my teeth. it was soft and juicy enough to make me imagine I was one of Kajiis unfortunate male victimswith the knowledge that I would survive. The best of both worlds. Now, that was a delicious thought.

Japanese butter rice

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 small bowl of short-grained sticky rice, cooked, about 150g

1 knob of cold butter

1 tsp of premium soy sauce

1 tsp furikake seasoning (optional)

Method

Heat the rice in a microwave until steaming hot. Drop a knob of butter on the rice. Drizzle in the soy sauce. Sprinkle with furikake if you like.

Steamed grouper

Serves 1

Ingredients

200g grouper (or any firm fish), cut into fillets

1 tbsp ginger juliennes

2 tsp light soy sauce

1 birds-eye or green chilli, thinly chopped

Salt to taste

Method

Pour the soy, place the chilli and ginger atop the fish, add very little salt and place it on baking paper or foil in a microwave or stove-top steamer. Steam for 10 minutes or until done.

View Full Image Japanese butter rice with steamed grouper. (Photo by Samar Halarnkar)

Our Daily Bread is a column on easy, inventive cooking. Samar Halarnkar is the author of The Married Mans Guide To Creative CookingAnd Other Dubious Adventures. He posts @samar11 on X.
Sassoon Docks, tucked away in the bustling heart of South Mumbais Colaba, is a living testament to the citys maritime soul. Just a stones throw from the Gateway of India, it is more than a mere portit is the fish-scented, beating heart of Mumbai, where history, hustle, and heritage converge in an unforgettable sensory symphony.

Built on reclaimed land in 1875, Sassoon Docks was Mumbais first commercial wet dock, a pioneering feat that revolutionized trade. Initially a hub for cotton and silk exports during the American Civil War boom, it allowed Mumbai, then Bombay, to capitalize on the Suez Canals opening in 1869, cementing its status as one of the worlds rising global ports.

Read this | The forgotten finance minister: RK Shanmukham Chetty and Indias first budget

At the center of this transformation was David Sassoon, a visionary Baghdadi Jewish merchant. Few industrialists of the 19th century have a story as compellingor as overlookedas his.

Born into wealth in Baghdad in 1792, Sassoon was a scion of the legendary Sassoon family, treasurers to the Ottoman pashas and often described as the Rothschilds of the East.

Forced to flee Iraq in 1832 amid persecution of the Jewish community, Sassoon arrived in Mumbaia city on the cusp of transformation. With impeccable timing, he positioned himself at the crossroads of the booming cotton and railway industries.

Within a decade, he had established offices in Shanghai, Canton, and Hong Kong, tapping into the lucrative opium trade in China, much like the Parsi businessmen of the era.

In Mumbai, fuelled by wealth from Chinese markets, Sassoon built a vast business empire, starting with Sassoon Docks, which he later sold to the Bombay Port Trust in 1879. He eventually moved to England, running his empire from London, yet his heart remained in Mumbai. Unlike many tycoons, he poured his wealth and energy into shaping the citys urban landscape, leaving behind a legacy that reads like a gazette of Mumbais landmarks.

Today, over 150 years later, Sassoon Docks thrives as one of Mumbais largest wholesale fish markets, where the salty tang of the sea mingles with the clamor of Koli fisherfolk unloading their daily catch. Beyond commerce, it remains a cultural lifeline for the indigenous Koli community, whose traditions persist amid the chaos.

If the docks were part of his commercial legacy, his architectural contributions were just as significant. The Mechanics Institute for adult technical education, the Sassoon Hospital in Pune, the David Sassoon Industrial and Reformatory Institution, Elphinstone High School, and the David Sassoon Library all bore his distinctive aesthetica blend of Victorian Gothic and Indo-Saracenic elements that became synonymous with Mumbais colonial-era architecture. His buildings werent just functional; they were statements of a cosmopolitan future, symbols of civic commitment and belonging, as historian Mustansir Dalvi notes.

Beyond philanthropy, Sassoon played a key role in shaping Mumbais financial and industrial landscape. He established the Bank of India and developed Mumbais first planned industrial suburb in Byculla, which became a blueprint for the citys industrial expansion, drawing waves of immigrants and shaping its working-class culture.

His legacy also endures in the iconic Sassoon House and the many historic buildings in the Fort area. Curiously, despite his vast empire, he never learned English, relying instead on Hebrew-speaking accountants.

Read this | Charanjit Singh: Campa Cola's forgotten founder who battled Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and India Today

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Sassoon embraced his Jewish identity, building synagogues across India, including the ornate Magen David in Mumbai and the Ohel David in Pune. Yet his philanthropy was strikingly non-sectarianhis institutions, from the David Sassoon Benevolent Institution to the David Sassoon Infirm Asylum, served people of all communities.

By the time of his death in 1864, Sassoon was extraordinarily wealthya billionaire by todays standards. His son, Albert, expanded the family business into a multinational empire spanning banking, shipping, textiles, and real estate. Yet, over time, the Sassoon heirs left for Britain, their legacy fading into history.

Also read | Eat, drink and celebrate the cuisine of Mumbai's Koli community

What made David Sassoon the ultimate Mumbaikar wasnt just his successit was his ability to arrive as an outsider and become an insider, all while preserving his Jewish identity in Mumbais vast melting pot. Not for nothing was this Mizrahi Jew called the Badshah of Bombay.
Mumbai: When Maharashtra decided to change how it prices power, the idea was simple: Prepare for an expected burst in solar power in the coming years with a model for its efficient use. However, its solution has worried the industry, which fears disruption in the way it does business and raises the cost of power in the country's fifth-largest solar power state.

State-run power distributor Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Corp. Ltd (MSEDCL) has proposed pricing power generated from 9 am to 5 pm at the lowest. The industry says this move will end power banking, in which excess power is absorbed by the distribution company and resupplied later when it's needed. This will force power producers to rework contracts and raise power procurement costs.

Currently, the time-of-day (TOD) structure is such that power banked by solar producers during the peak generation hours of 9am-5pm can be accessed at any time except during the 6pm-10pm window when pricing is at its peak. Under the new system, banked power would only be allowed to be drawn back during the 9am-5pm window -- when solar power is abundant anyway -- making banking redundant.

Also read | Sunny side down: The many gaps in Indias solar story

MSEDCL has made the proposal in its FY26-FY30 tariff plan submitted to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC). The commission has yet to decide on the matter.

MSEDCLs proposed changes to the TOD mechanism appears to be aimed at fundamentally disrupting the existing regulatory framework in Maharashtra and nullifies the right of solar generating companies to bank energy with MSEDCL," the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI), a lobby of renewable energy producers wrote to MERC. The lobby group said that not just its solar power producers, but data centre operators consuming renewable power have also opposed to it, urging MERC to retain the existing TOD structure. Mint has seen a copy of the letter.

NSEFIs chief executive did not respond to Mints request for a comment. The industry body's members include renewable power producers like Greenko Group, ReNew Power, Suzlon, ACME, Adani Renewables and Sunsure Energy, as well as data centre operators like Sify, Enfinity and Amazon Web Services.

If banking goes away, we will have to renegotiate power purchase agreements with our customers, and our business fundamentals will go for a toss," said a top executive at a solar power company, requesting not to be named. Solar power generation is not uniform through the day, and hence banking is a fundamental requirement, and the industry cannot operate without it," this executive said.

Also read | Indias power grid facing warnings due to sudden dip in solar power generation

Absence of banking will affect producers supplying to commercial and industrial customers as well as demand for rooftop solar installations by industrial and commercial customers, as those installing rooftop solar units will also not be able to benefit from net metering, which is like banking.

"We will have to see how the proposal will affect banking. Banking cannot go away, or else our cost of energy will shoot up sharply and Mumbai will lose its edge as an upcoming data centre hub," a top executive at a leading data centre firm said on the condition of anonymity.

However, it will not affect solar companies supplying to MSEDCL; hence there is a difference of opinion among power companies too. Companies which do not exclusively produce solar power are more sympathetic to MSEDCLs proposal.

Also read | Data dive: Dark clouds hover over Indias solar story

"It is a simple equation of supply and demand. If you have excess solar power generation during an eight-hour window, it makes sense to incentivize industries to use more power then. The different tariffs as per the time-of-day structure will incentivize this shift," said Praveer Sinha, managing director of Tata Power.

The rationale behind MSEDCLs proposal to revise the TOD structure stems from the sharp surge in solar power generation expected over the coming years, as per its tariff petition. The distribution company expects addition of 20 GW of solar capacity in the state in the coming few years. Presently, solar comprises just under 10 GW out of Maharashtras total power generation capacity of 49.5 GW , as per data from Niti Aayog.

As power generation during solar hours goes up, the state is looking to incentivize a shift in consumption during this window to reduce its overall power procurement cost. MSEDCL procures power from a mix of sources, predominant of which is thermal.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is battling petty corruption through a nationwide campaign that has swept up more than half a million low-level officials over the past year, as Beijing grapples with rising public resentment over a sagging economy.

Communist Party enforcers are targeting grassroots graft from kickbacks for public contracts to bribes for medical treatment in a renewal of Xis popular assault on corrupt flies" and ants"low-level bureaucrats and state workerswhose misconduct affects ordinary citizens.

Such energetic enforcement is pushing Xis war on corruption to new levels of intensity, more than a decade after he launched it to burnish his image as a man of the people and secure the partys grip on power. Since Xi became leader in 2012, party inspectors have disciplined more than 6.2 million people for offenses ranging from corruption to bureaucratic inaction.

The latest campaign is part of Chinas response to social reverberations from broad economic challengesincluding a real-estate slump and high rates of youth unemploymentthat have sapped consumer confidence, stoked unrest and fueled grumbling over Xis stewardship of the worlds second-largest economy.

Punish the greed and corruption of flies and ants, and give the masses a greater sense of fulfillment," Xi said early last year as he ordered the partys top disciplinary body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, to curb grassroots graft.

View Full Image Graphic: WSJ

Party inspectors proceeded to root out what they call unhealthy tendencies and corruption issues that occur close to the masses." Authorities punished 530,000 people and sent 16,000 of them to prosecutors for criminal proceedings in 2024.These probes drove up overall disciplinary cases to record levels last year, when the party penalized 889,000 people.

The offenses have included bribery, abuse of power and the misuse of public funds meant for school meals, pensions, medical insurance and rural development. The party also ramped up pressure on bribe-givers, opening investigations against 26,000 people last year for offering payoffs and inducing graft, a 53% increase from the year before.

The CCDIs official newspaper said the crackdown reflects the partys commitment to sustaining its flesh-and-blood ties with the people" and ward off threats to its legitimacy. Curbing petty corruption is a major task that affects the foundations of the partys governance," the newspaper said in a commentary this month.

People may grumble about high-level officials enriching themselves, their families and their cronies, but ordinary citizens are likely to have a more visceral reaction to corruption when they are personally affected," said Andrew Wedeman, a professor at Georgia State University who studies corruption issues in China.

Beijing has faced simmering unrest fueled by economic grievances. China Dissent Monitor, a platform run by U.S. rights group Freedom House, tracked an increase in protests last year driven in part by disgruntled workers and home buyers, with more than 2,400 incidents from January to Septemberup 16% from the same period in 2023.

View Full Image Chinas property market is struggling to recover from a prolonged slump. Photo: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg News

Many local governments, whose coffers have been depleted by wasteful investments and the loss of land-sales revenues, are scrounging for funds to pay vendors and run public services.

The CCDI has claimed initial success in its petty-graft crackdown, showcasing the results in official disclosures and state media. In January, state television aired a four-part documentary, Fighting Corruption Is for the People," that depicted how authorities penalized officials for abusing powers and embezzling funds.

One featured case was in the northeastern city of Changchun, where officials at a primary school were found to be taking kickbacks from a catering company in return for maintaining a long-term business partnership.The company gave more than 700,000 yuanequivalent to around $97,000in kickbacks between 2010 and 2019, including more than 230,000 yuan to the schools logistics director, Qi Shiguo.

I infringed upon childrens interests in having meals and infringed upon parents interests," Qi said in an interview for the documentary. I searched my soul and felt very ashamed."

Xis fly-swatters have also gone after local officials accused of misappropriating resources meant for social programs, including rural revitalization, medical insurance and elderly care.

A village official in Shanxi province was punishedforfraudulently claiming more than 200,000 yuan in poverty-relief fundsbyregistering relatives as poor households. The party expelled the official in September and handed the case to prosecutors.

The CCDIs top official, Li Xi, said the fight against petty corruption was addressing citizens concerns and helping social stability. He promised to keep the crackdown going for two more years.

The people have personally felt the care and concern from the party center and General Secretary Xi Jinping around them," Li said in January. They have become more supportive and trusting of our party."

Xis relentless disciplinary purges have helped him consolidate power and tighten control over a vast bureaucracy. Though he declared in 2018 a crushing victory" over corruption, party enforcers have gone on to slay more high-ranking tigers" and swat more flies. The CCDI said it opened probes last year against 92 centrally managed cadres," or senior officials, whose appointments are vetted by the partys top personnel department. It is the highest annual tally disclosed so far during Xis rule.

Xi has signaled that the purges are central to his vision of a continuous self-revolution" that keeps the party potent and pure. The risk, however, is that the crackdown also reveals how corruption remains widespread despite the constant cleansing.

View Full Image Graphic: WSJ

Hunting tigers allowed Xi to position himself as a populist attacking corrupt enemies of the people," said Wedeman, the Georgia State University professor. But the tiger hunt has dragged on for so long that I suspect the appeal of retributive justice has now worn thin. It thus might make sense to start squashing ants. "

The CCDI launched its crackdown on petty graft in April 2024, with a commitment to tear openings, lift lids and dig up roots." CCDI inspectors fanned out across China to supervise the effort, directly investigating 3,430 cases of low-level graft last year.

While grassroots-level corruption is small, the evil is widespread and deep," the CCDIs official magazine said. The accumulation of one bite here, another bite there can add up to something quite shocking."

The crackdown has fallen heavily on the rank and file. Some 741,000 people on the two lowest tiers of administrative rank as categorized by the CCDI were disciplined in 2024, accounting for 83% of the total number of punished personnel. The number of such ordinary cadres," rural and enterprise workers as well as other personnel penalized last year marked a roughly 48% jump from the 2023 total.

Authorities have also sharpened scrutiny on what they call hedonistic behavior. Nearly 66,000 people were punished last year for breaching rules on taking or giving gifts and expensive specialty goods, more than double the 2023 total. The number of people penalized for improperly dining on public money as well as mishandling subsidies and welfare handouts also rose sharply last year.

In October, Beijing also ordered a yearlong effort to curb corruption in the funeral-services industry. The issue drew widespread attention last summer after the grieving mother of a 3-year-old child that died of cancer was reportedly billed 13,800 yuan for flowers in the vigil room.

Some local governments pressed the campaigns populist messaging by touting their success in recouping embezzled assets.

In February, state media said party enforcers in the southern region of Guangxi had returned assets worth 1.66 billion yuan to the masses over the past year, while promoting the disbursement of more than 6.5 billion yuan in unpaid subsidies and other handouts.

Party inspectors in the inland megacity of Chongqing, meanwhile, said they recovered about 1.3 billion yuan in economic losses from grassroots graft over the past year. The citys top discipline inspector, Song Yijia, promised to achieve more in the year ahead.

The goal, Song said, is to let the masses feel a greater sense of fulfillment, a more sustainable sense of happiness and a sounder sense of security."

Write to Chun Han Wong at chunhan.wong@wsj.com
After multiple wildfires engulfed parts of Northwest Georgia in March, American Legion Post 214 in Rossville is hosting a Fish Fry Feast to benefit those impacted by the flames.

On Sunday, March 23, catfish, coleslaw, fries, and drinks will be served with the goal of financially supporting people who lost everything in the fire on Tuesday, March 11.

Firefighters use strategic methods to contain multiple fires in Walker County Firefighters used strategic methods to contain multiple fires in Walker County that spread rapidly Tuesday evening, destroying three homes and burning through nearly 400 acres.

Event details:

When: Sunday, March 23 from 11:00am to 4:00pm

Where: American Legion Post 214 - 540 Park City Road, Rossville

Cost: $15 per plate $10 from each plate will go to victims of the fire.



For more information, visit the American Legion Post 214 website.
The Late Late Show sparked mixed reactions this week following three guest appearances which left viewers divided.

Daniel O'Donnell, Rosie O'Donnell and Roisin Conaty featured on the show with host Patrick Kielty on Friday night, March 21, 2025.

Viewers took to social media to give their opinions with many focusing on Daniel O'Donnell and Rosie O'Donnell.

READ MORE: Garda warning after motorist is caught driving at high speed close to large village

One person posted to X/Twitter: "Great to hear Rosie O'Donnell speak honestly & powerfully about the disturbing developments in the US right now - a brave & fearless woman who won't be cowed by a bully & his cronies. I see the haters are spouting their hate here too - generally anonymous &male"

Another said: "The combo of Rosie ODonnell, Daniel ODonnell & Roisin Conaty worked. Grand light-hearted banter. Wee Daniel has turned out to be a witty & warm man & makes a good chat show guest."

One person commented: "Daniel O'Donnell gets a lot of slack but he genuinely is a gent, who does enormous amounts of charity work, and brings so much joy to his fans. He's actually a legend & is so sound"

Another posted: "Rosie ODonnell on the #LateLateShow: Praised Ireland, slammed MAGA, and had Daniel ODonnell explain Room To Improve. Love her or hate her, she sparked debate!"

Another said: "Daniel ODonnell surrounded by 3 comedians and the funniest of them all"

However, not all comments were positive as one person remarked: "I remember when the late late show was alright and sometimes worth waiting up for. You know when you thought a licence was worth it."

Another said: "If I was in the audience I would have walked out."
Luxembourgs fund sector grew steadily in 2024, driven primarily by the alternative Investment Fund (AIF) industry, according to a new report released on Wednesday by Luxembourg for Finance (LFF).

Assets under management (AUM) of mutual funds and AIFs combined grew by 11.5% to exceed 7.3 trillion. For this LFF took into account data for AUM of undertakings for collective investment (UCIs) from the CSSF and AUM of non-authorised alternative funds from the Central Bank of Luxembourg.

Growth was strongest in AIFs which grew by 13%, according to the data. AIFs now at an AUM of 1.5 trillion, represent a fifth of Luxembourgs total fund industry. AIFs include private debt, real estate, infrastructure and private equity funds.

Luxembourg is already Europes largest fund management centre and is looking to strengthen its foothold in the AIF segment. Seven new authorised AIF managers (AIFMs) registered last year, bringing the total up to 48.

The AUM of AIFs in Luxembourg has increased from 625 billion in 2016 to 993 billion by the end of 2023.

Also read: The entire alternatives space is open: the future of Luxembourgs fund industry

Growing investor demand for diversification, including in private assets, has provided significant tailwinds for Luxembourg. Building on its existing strengths and continuing to expand its expertise in areas such as alternative funds, corporate banking and digital assets, the country is effectively positioned to meet evolving investor preferences, demonstrating adaptability that goes beyond mere resilience, said Tom Theobald, CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, in a press release.

Insurance growth

The insurance sector also saw growth in 2024 with life insurance premiums surging 41%, LFF noted. This was driven by a 72% increase in classical life insurance premiums and 29% increase in unit linked life insurance premiums.

Non-life insurance premiums and reinsurance premiums both increased 4%.

Sustainable finance

Also read: Sustainable bond issuances hold steady in 2024 despite ESG slowdown

Luxembourg also showed growth in sustainable finance. The Luxembourg Green Exchange listed more than 2,300 bonds that were green, social, or sustainability-linked bonds. These combined to total 1.2 trillion by the end of 2024

The country continued to solidify its role at the forefront of sustainable finance. The Luxembourg Green Exchange listed more than 2,300 Green, Social, Sustainable, and Sustainability-Linked (GSSS) bonds totalling approximately 1.2 trillion by the end of the year. Luxembourg thus continues to consolidate its position as the worlds leading centre for GSSS securities.
China's CPC sends congratulatory message over 70th anniversary of Lao People's Revolutionary Party

Xinhua) 15:06, March 22, 2025

BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Saturday sent a congratulatory message to the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee on the occasion of the latter's 70th anniversary of founding.

Over the past 70 years, the LPRP has united and led the Lao people in making remarkable achievements in socialist construction and renovation. In particular, since the 11th National Congress of the LPRP, the country has witnessed political and social stability, sustained economic development and ever-improving livelihoods, said the message.

Under the strong leadership of the LPRP Central Committee headed by General Secretary Thongloun Sisoulith, the LPRP and Lao people will be able to vigorously advance the cause of socialist construction and renovation and greet the upcoming 12th National Congress of the LPRP with outstanding achievements, it said.

As socialist comrades and brothers, the CPC, the Chinese government and people have always taken the LPRP, the Lao government and people as reliable friends and partners. Under the strategic guidance of the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries, the building of a China-Laos community of shared future has been deepening and making solid progress and achieving a series of new achievements, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples, said the message.

The CPC is willing to work with the LPRP to implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the two parties and countries and bring the China-Laos community of shared future to higher standards, better quality and a higher level, it said.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
ELKO  Nearly 750 people had blood drawn for free health screenings by dozens of health care professionals at the community Health and Wellness Fair on Saturday.

The annual Health and Fitness Fair, produced by Global One Media, brought together lab techs and phlebotomists from Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital along with over three dozen providers and related businesses all in the name of community health.

We really bring the hospital here, said Steve Burrows, the hospitals spokesman. We have a lot of our phlebotomists from the hospital, as well as some of our nurses.

He said after the fair the hospital provided lab work free of charge to 748 people today.

This is compared to 673 people at the 2024 Health and Fitness Fair, Burrows said. So, we had 75 more people come through the line today than last year. Its wonderful to see folks participating in these screenings and getting serious about their health. Thats what NNRHs mission of making communities healthier is all about.

He said as the event began Saturday morning hospital leaders were hoping to top last years count of patients who had their blood drawn. That goal was generally achieved. Were hoping to get maybe to 750 this year. Thats our goal, but the great thing is, its all free of charge.

Several students in Great Basin Colleges MAPE, or medical assistant, phlebotomy and EKG, program assisted hospital staff at the event, he said. They wore their purple scrubs and gained experience and credit for their work.

Weve got a great partnership with the Great Basin College, Burrows said. Their students are here working at the event, getting some clinical hours, which is great experience for them and really helps us out as well to get some more volunteers here.

He said the point of the hospitals participation is to help those living in the Elko area.

Its a great snapshot of their health because you get a comprehensive metabolic panel; you get a lipids panel, which is your cholesterol, your triglycerides; theres a thyroid health screening; theres actually a diabetes screening, and well kind of tell you if you might be at risk of being diabetic, or for pre-diabetes, Burrows said. Were doing the PSA, which is the prostate health screening for men; and theres one more in there that Im forgetting, but Im sure its a really important one. So we really just encourage folks to come down to get it done.

But if you couldnt get to the convention center on Saturday, Burrows had a secret to share.

Heres kind of a secret. If you cant make it to the health fair today, were actually going to keep the free lab work available at the hospital until April 5th, he said. If you come up to the hospital, well work you into the workflow there at the lab. Theres no appointment necessary and just come right to the lab desk and say youre there for the health fair draw and theyll get you taken care of. And thats good for two weeks, up until Saturday, April 5th.

In addition to the hospital several health care providers and those in related fields also were set up at the convention center on Saturday. Among them were the University of Utahs Huntsman Cancer Institute, Dialysis Center Inc., the Skin Cancer Dermatology Institute, Focus Eye Care, Independence Drug and dozens of others.
Dear Abby: How do I tell my friend I feel she needs a mental health evaluation? She has been my closest friend for 20 years, and we have been through many trials together. She has been married for a couple of years to a man who seems very nice.

Abby, she is convinced that shes being followed, but doesnt know by whom or why. She tells me about terrible arguments she has with her husband because she thinks he orchestrated situations in public places. For instance, she claims he seats himself in a position to look at other women. The poor man is blind in one eye and has limited vision in the other. She also believes his ex-wife flirts with him and he is probably cheating with her, although they have been divorced for 20 years. She resents his contact with his grandkids and his family because of it. I should add that her mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers at around her age. Its heartbreaking to watch.

I have mentioned it numerous times, as well as suggesting she speak to a pastor (she thinks the church may be in on it) or a therapist, but she tends to dodge it. If I try to contact her husband, she will start to think Im a traitor. I dont know how to help. Please advise.

 Trainwreck in Arizona

Dear Trainwreck: From your description of your friends paranoid and irrational behavior, she appears to be sick. Because neither you nor I are qualified to diagnose what has gone wrong with her, she needs to be evaluated by a doctor. It would not be betraying her to discuss this with her beleaguered husband, who may be at a loss about how to deal with her behavior. Rather than a betrayal, seeing that she gets help would be a tremendous favor.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O.Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

COPYRIGHT 2024 ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION
A Chelsea man was indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury after he was accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife in December, according to officials.

Luckenson King Pablo, 32, will be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on March 24 at 9 a.m., Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement.

On Dec. 6, Pablo was charged with first-degree murder in connection with fatally shooting Melissa Janvier Pablo, 32, in Chelsea, according to the district attorney.

Melissa Janvier Pablo was shot around 8:45 a.m. on Dec. 6 near the intersection of Central Avenue and Marginal Street while she was walking with at least one other person and several other people were nearby, including a police officer, according to the Boston Globe. The police officer who heard the gunshot rushed to help Melissa.

Luckenson King Pablo ran away before he drove off, the Globe reported. Melissa Janvier Pablo was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she died.

Around 1:30 p.m., Luckenson King Pablo was arrested in Everett and taken into questioning about the shooting, the Globe reported.
NEW YORK (AP)  Under threat from the Trump administration, Columbia University agreed to implement a suite of policy changes Friday, including overhauling its rules for protests and conducting an immediate review of its Middle Eastern studies department.

The changes, detailed in a letter sent by interim president, Katrina Armstrong, came one week after the Trump administration ordered the Ivy League school to implement those and other changes in order to continue receiving federal funding, an ultimatum widely criticized in academia as an attack on academic freedom.

In her letter, Armstrong said the university would immediately appoint a senior vice provost to conduct a thorough review of the portfolio of its regional studies programs, starting immediately with the Middle East.

Columbia will also bar protests inside academic buildings and the wearing of face masks on campus for the purposes of concealing ones identity. An exception would be made for people wearing them for health reasons.

The Trump administration pulled $400 million in research grants and other federal funding, and had threatened to cut more, over the universitys handling of protests against Israels military campaign in Gaza. The White House has labeled the protests antisemitic, a label rejected by those who participated in the student-led demonstrations.

As a precondition for restoring funding, federal officials demanded that the university to place its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department under academic receivership for a minimum of five years.

They also told the university to ban masks on campus, adopt a new definition of antisemitism, abolish its current process for disciplining students and deliver a plan to reform undergraduate admissions, international recruiting, and graduate admissions practices.

Columbia said it had agreed to do many of those things, including adopt a definition of antisemitism.
Ford Motor Company is recalling more than 50,000 vehicles in several models due to safety concerns regarding rearview camera malfunctions the American car manufacturer has already tried to fix.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration submitted a safety recall report March 14 indicating 2,290 Ford Edges were repaired incorrectly under a 2022 recall and need to be fixed again.

The NHTSA submitted another safety recall report the same day indicating 49,399 Ford Explorers, Lincoln Aviators and Lincoln Corsairs may have been repaired incorrectly under a 2023 recall and also need to be fixed again.

Ford Edge recall

The recall of Ford Edges applies to model years 2021-2022.

A software error may cause the rearview camera to display a blank or distorted image when the vehicle is in reverse, the report said.

The older recall had applied to 78,376 Ford Edges and warned customers may experience a distorted, black and white, or discolored screen; lines across the screen; and/or a blank image when the vehicle is in reverse. Screen may also display Camera is unavailable message if the image is lost for 10 seconds.

The concern, the new recall report noted, is a loss of vision can increase the risk of crashing into something.

Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator and Corsair recall

The recall for Explorers, Aviators and Corsairs applies to certain SUVs with a 360-degree camera (those with a rearview camera only are not affected, the original recall said).

The recalled vehicles are 2020-2023 Explorers, 2020-2023 Lincoln Aviators and 2020-2022 Lincoln Corsairs.

In 2023, 422,201 of these vehicles were recalled because of an occasional problem with the rear camera showing a blue or black image on the screen when the vehicle was in reverse or when the 360-view was selected while going slow, the NHTSA report said.

The new recall says a specific software update still needs to happen.

The concern is not being able to see properly while backing up increases the risk of a crash

In both recalls, owners should bring their vehicle to a dealer to have the software updated for free. Owners are expected to officially be notified in the mail after April 24, according to the NHTSA. Fords customer service can be contacted at 1-866-436-7332; reference recall 25S28 for the Edge recall and 25S27 for the other three models. The NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline can be reached at 888-327-4236 (TTY 888-275-9171) or visit nhtsa.gov.
Photo: elements.envato.com

European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, together with EU High Representative Kaja Kallas, held a video conference on Friday with Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, at which they presented the mechanisms for financing the necessary defence investments and the opportunities that this creates for partner countries.

"The first one  National Escape clause  will free up to EUR 650 billion of fiscal space in the national budgets of the Member States. It will have no conditions attached in terms of origin of the defence equipment. Military equipment from partner countries can therefore directly benefit from it," the document notes.

"The second one  SAFE of up to EUR 150 billion in loans. Norway and Iceland can already directly participate, since they are members of the EU's single market. Other countries, such as the UK, Canada or Turkiye, can immediately provide up to 35% of a defence product. To increase the industrial participation beyond 35%, a Security & Defence Partnership and a subsequent association agreement are necessary," the document notes.

President Costa and President von der Leyen conveyed the European Council's clear understanding of the exceptional times that Europe is going through. They shared the European Council's agreement that Europe needs to step up its investment in security and defence. In this context, they referred to Readiness 2030 - a roadmap aiming at ensuring that the EU has a defence industrial base and defence capabilities to act as a credible deterrence.

"Participants agreed to continue to coordinate efforts aimed at strengthening Ukraine and increasing Europe's security. Governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan will be subsequently informed about the outcomes of the European Council," the document notes.

Following the European Council meeting, Costa and von der Leyen expressed support for strengthening Ukraine's position to achieve a just and sustainable peace.

"We will continue closely coordinating the European support to Ukraine. As Europe goes beyond the EU. Readiness 2030 is part of this strategy. Working with like-minded partners will be key to tackle the challenges of European defence," von der Leyen wrote on X.
FIT4MOM Longmeadow offers a variety of mom-based fitness classes that meet mothers where they are at in their fitness journey. During the cooler months, moms escape the chill and meet at local malls. MassLive

If youve ever been to your local mall before it officially opens, youve probably seen the following: dim lights, employees getting ready for the day and accordion-style doors barring you from entering your favorite stores.

But for a group of local moms, this image is one of opportunity and community  an opportunity to connect with like-minded moms wanting to prioritize their wellness.

Whether youre a first time mom or a mother of multiples, finding a reason to get out of the house and prioritize yourself can be challenging  but momtrepreneur Jillian Hess works to break some of those boundaries.

Six months ago, Hess became the owner of FIT4MOM Longmeadow  a mother-oriented fitness group that invites mothers to bring their kids with them to their workouts while connecting with other moms there for the same reason.

We are absolutely dedicated to building a mom community  it already exists but were just trying to expand it," Hess said.

We have workouts where you can bring your kids. It makes it totally accessible for all moms in our area to not require childcare to actually get their movement in.

FIT4MOM Longmeadow members gather in front of ROUND1 at the Holyoke Mall for a Stroller Barre session. MassLive

When the weather is 40 degrees or warmer the women gather outside for class. But in the cooler months, they meet up at local malls including Enfield and Holyoke.

Helping moms find strength

FIT4MOM is a nationwide franchise with over 200 chapters across the country, including two in Massachusetts  FIT4MOM Longmeadow and FIT4MOM North Shore.

We have certified teachers teaching these classes and you can bring your kids along with you, which is really a highlight, Hess said.

FIT4MOM Longmeadow offers a series of different fitness classes designed to meet the mother wherever shes at in her fitness journey.

Stroller-based classes, such as Stroller Barre, Stroller Strides and Strides 360 cater to moms with littles who are in strollers.

FIT4MOM Longmeadow owner Jillian Hess. Courtesy of Jillian Hess

These classes incorporate the use of strollers such as group walks, sprints to and from strollers and more.

FIT4MOM Longmeadow Stroller Barre instructor Bree Desmarias said the organization teaches its instructors to incorporate exercises in their routines that target muscles mothers need to be strong for preforming all of those lovely motherhood duties, like lifting baby carriers.

Thats why we do those biceps curls, to be able to have the strength to pick up those baby carriers, Desmarias said. So a lot of our workouts are helping moms find that strength in motherhood.

Being a mother-based fitness group, some of the benefits mothers have of joining FIT4MOM is having an opportunity to connect with other moms and workouts that meet the mom where theyre at in their fitness journey.

From right to left is Stroller Barre instructor Bree Desmarais joined by FIT4MOM members incorporating their strollers into their workout routine. MassLive

So if that is a newly postpartum mama, we give modifications where you dont want to incorporate too much core as her body is recovering from childbirth, Desmarais said.

Stepping up

FIT4MOM also offers classes that range in intensity and follow both the progression of mothers and their children.

According to Hess, many moms end up kind of graduating into the more mom-based classes that are moms only.

While part of it may be that their children are no longer in strollers, another part of it is that as the children grow up, the moms' and their families' schedules change, so FIT4MOM tries to accommodate those changes.

One of those accommodations includes offering a nighttime class where maybe the kids are already in bed or in that routine and the mom can sneak out, Hess said.

Shown are a pair of little feet overhanging a stroller of one of children joining their mom for a Stroller Barre session. Instructor Bree Desmarais is prepared with yoga mats for participants. MassLive

One option is a Body Boost class which is a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout designed to challenge, empower and energize you.

The Body Boost program combines cardio, strength training, core work and meditation for a total body workout targeting your physical and mental wellbeing.

Mothers have the option of joining FIT4MOM as a member or signing up for individual classes.

FIT4MOM Longmeadow serves the Greater-Springfield area and beyond, Hess said.

To join or learn more about FIT4MOM and your local chapter, you can find a schedule and contact information online here.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump on Friday began sketching a roadmap for dismantling the Education Department, with other agencies taking over responsibility for federal student loans and programs serving students with disabilities.

The executive order Trump signed Thursday to do away with the department did not offer a timeline or instructions, but his administration appears poised to carve away all but the departments most vital operations.

The Republican president said during a White House event that student loans will be handled by the Small Business Administration, and it will be serviced much better than it has in the past. He also said programs involving students with disabilities would be shifted to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The decisions drew blowback from advocacy groups that fear disruptions will be inevitable. The Small Business Association announced Friday it will cut its staff by 43%, raising questions about its ability to take on the Education Departments $1.6 trillion loan portfolio.

This can only result in borrowers experiencing erratic and inconsistent management of their federal student loans, said Jessica Thompson, senior vice president of the Institute of College Access and Success. Errors will prove costly to borrowers and ultimately, to taxpayers.

Trumps executive order said the student loan portfolio is too big for the Education Department to manage. After the SBA cuts, however, it will be left with fewer than 4,000 employees  about the size of the Education Department before it was cut in half by the Trump administration.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said she is preparing to relocate the departments core operations to other agencies and roll back federal regulations. In an opinion piece published Friday by Fox News Channel, she said abolishing the department will not happen tomorrow, but she plans to pave the way.

We will systematically unwind unnecessary regulations and prepare to reassign the departments other functions to the states or other agencies, McMahon wrote.

The functions to be reassigned include the distribution of federal money to support low-income students and students with disabilities, the departments management of student financial aid, civil rights enforcement and data collection, she wrote.

Some parent groups fear the reorganization could result in weaker protections for children with disabilities. The National Parents Union said families are anxious HHS might treat students learning disabilities as medical issues and make them subject to insurance claims.

Do we really think they are going to pay for our kids reading interventions? said Keri Rodrigues, the groups president. Our children are not sick. They are not broken. They are not insurance claims.

Only Congress has the power to bring a full end to the Education Department. Republicans in Congress are planning legislation to eliminate the agency, though they face heavy opposition from Democrats.

Democrats on Friday said Trump does not have authority to move federal loans or disability services to other agencies. They noted federal law places those duties under the management of the Education Department, including in the Higher Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Tom Harnisch, vice president for government relations for the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, said he questions the capacity of another agency to take over the massive student loan portfolio.

Thats been one of our large concerns, he said. And what is the value added by making this overhaul to this agency?

On Friday, Democrats introduced a House resolution requesting Trump and McMahon turn over records related to the shutdown attempt. If the House Committee on Education and the Workforce takes action within 14 legislative days, it could go before the full House.

Trump has denounced the department as a waste of taxpayer money, saying it has become infected by liberal ideology. He said its power should be turned over to states, which he sees as a remedy for Americas lagging education system.

Since the Education Department was created in 1979, the nations student test scores have remained flat despite $1 trillion in agency spending, McMahon said in her Fox News piece.

Conservatives have long dreamed of closing the department, calling it an unneeded layer of bureaucracy that burdens local schools. Among those at the signing were governors of several Republican states along with activists who say parents should have more power over their childrens education.
The Social Security Administration announced Thursday that a debt collection program paused during March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic would resume immediately.

The Treasury Offset Program is a centralized federal program designed to collect delinquent debts owed to federal and state agencies, according to the announcement. The program operates by intercepting federal and state payments.

Resuming collections through the Treasury Offset Program is a critical step in our commitment to being good stewards of taxpayer funds and ensuring the integrity of our programs, said Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security, in the announcement. We are dedicated to recovering overpayments while providing individuals with the necessary information and options to address their debts.

The program has been used to recoup debts related to delinquent old-age, survivors and disability insurance and supplemental security income, the announcement reads.

Before it was suspended in 2020, the program had recouped nearly $2 billion, according to the announcement.

Currently, there are 280,000 people with a collective debt of $2.7 billion, the announcement reads.

The Trump administration has recently come under fire over an announcement of 50 closing Social Security offices throughout the country  including from a Northeast Republican Congressman.

The closures come at a time when in-person service is becoming more important to the agency. Dudek announced this week the agency will transition to more stringent identity proofing procedures, some of which require Social Security recipients to show up in person at Social Security offices.
The U.S. State Department has issued a travel advisory Friday covering the island nation of Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, north of the Timor sea from Australia.

Exercise increased caution in Timor-Leste due to crime and civil unrest, the travel notice said.

The State Department reported that the country has seen isolated instances of police responding to protests with force and the use of tear gas.

It also warned of stone throwing attacks on vehicles during gang conflicts and periods of unrest.

In addition, sex-based violence is high in Timor-Leste and sexual harassment is common, the State Department said.

Timor-Leste offers natural beauty, rich history, cultural experiences, and stunning beaches, according to the countrys tourism page.

The country experienced political unrest in 2006 following gaining independence from Indonesian occupation, which ended in 2002, but British travel information states the security situation has improved.

The U.S. State Department offers the following advice for those wishing to travel to Timor-Leste:
Red Sox' Romy Gonzalez is doused with water after his game-winning RBI single in the 12th inning May 14, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) AP

FORT MYERS, Fla.  Romy Gonzalez hasnt appeared in a Grapefruit League game since Monday because of an oblique injury.

But he said he for sure will be healthy for Opening Day. The right-handed hitter is expected to be Triston Casas' backup at first base as well as a super utility player who can play every position in the infield and outfield.

He batted .302 with a .362 on-base percentage, .517 slugging percentage and .879 OPS in 130 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers last year.

I took some swings yesterday, Gonzalez said at JetBlue Park on Saturday. Got some more swinging today, some machine work. Feels good. I just had some inflammation in my oblique area. Muscle is intact, thank God.

Gonzalez said the hope is he will progress to games here in the next day or two.

The Red Sox play Saturday against the Rays in Port Charlotte. They wrap up their Grapefruit League schedule Sunday with a game against the Twins here at JetBlue Park.

Boston travels to Mexico for two games Monday and Tuesday before opening the regular season in Texas against the Rangers on Thursday.

Gonzalez will not travel with the team to Mexico, manager Alex Cora said.

But definitely Opening Day Ill be ready, Gonzalez said.

Cora said Gonzalez expects Gonzalez to play in a game here at the JetBlue Park complex on Tuesday.

Weve got a big day on Tuesday at the complex, Cora said. (Quinn) Priester is pitching. (Sean) Newcomb is pitching. Some relievers are pitching. So hell get plenty of at-bats Tuesday. He should be ready for Texas.

Gonzalez and Nick Sogard are the only backup first base options on the 40-man roster roster. Gonzalez said he worked out more than usual at first base during the offseason.

He has appeared in 20 games at first base (10 starts) in the majors. Overall, hes logged 93 innings there in the big leagues. He appeared in 18 games and 140  innings at first base in the minor leagues.

I try to balance it out as much as I can throughout all the positions because I bounce around a lot. But yeah, they ... told me to work a little bit more on first base. So thats what I did, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez is excited about this teams potential.

Im feeling good, man, Gonzalez said. This is such an exciting group we have with the new additions in Garrett (Crochet), AB (Alex Bregman) and Walk (Walker Buehler). Its been great. Chappy (Aroldis Chapman), too, man. Its a good group.

Gonzalez appeared in 31 starts at second base, 23 games at shortstop, 20 games at first base, 14 games at third base, six games at right field, two games in left field and one game in center field for Boston last year.

Last year, man, just getting over here with a new group, I feel like everybody welcomed me with open arms, Gonzalez said. And its such a good group of guys and everyone really cares for one another and we pull from the same side of the rope. So its really refreshing to be on a ball club like this.
For many of us in the Pioneer Valley who proudly celebrate our Irish heritage not just during St. Patricks weekend, but throughout the year, we have fond memories of the John Boyle OReilly Club in Springfield.

Named in honor of the renowned Irish poet, journalist and Fenian revolutionary from County Meath, the JBO, as it is affectionately known, has long been a gathering place for those who keep the Irish tradition close to their heart. From its home on Progress Avenue, the club has been home to countless ceilis, traditional music and dance sessions, and celebrations of St. Patrick since its founding in 1880.
WESTFIELD  Melanie Szczepanek of Westfield, a senior in allied health at Westfield Technical Academy, has been named the schools Outstanding Vocational Technical Student of the Year.

Szczepanek became a certified nurse aide in 2024 and works in the cooperative education program as a resident care associate at Armbrook Village. She is also certified in the American Heart Association basic kife support CPR/AED, Red Cross First Aid and babysitter, home health aide and Alzheimers training, and has completed EKG technician training, according to Maureen Baillargeon, allied health department head, who nominated Szczepanek for the award.
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Tourism group Failte Ireland will be looking to hear from the people of Mayo, as they host a series of consultation nights across the county as part of their five-year tourism plan.

The meetings, which will be held over the course of a week-long period, aim to hear from local tourism businesses and groups on how best to develop six localities and make them more viable for tourism.

READ MORE: 'Bullied off the internet' - 'Appalled' - reactions to Garron Noone's social media exit

Any inputs from the public will be taken into account as Failte Ireland aims to finalise their five-year Destination and Experience Development Plan for the Inland Mayo Region.

The organisations manager, Luke Murray, believes that these meetings are crucial to the development of the plan.

These six community meetings are a crucial step in the consultative process, she stated, alongside desk research, site visits, online surveys and one-to-one meetings with key industry and agency partners such as Mayo County Council, Udaras na Gaeltachta and South West Mayo Development Company.

A successful plan for developing the area can only be achieved through collaboration so all stakeholders in tourism (businesses, communities, agencies, representative groups) are invited to attend and share their views on what the future vision and tourism development blueprint for inland Mayo should be.

The meetings will take place on the following dates:

Thursday April 3 at 2 pm - Lydons Lodge Hotel, Cong

Thursday April 3 at 7 pm - Tourmakeady Hall

Wednesday April 9 at 2 pm - The Dalton Inn, Claremorris

Wednesday April 9 at 7 pm - Knock House Hotel

Thursday April 10 at 2 pm - Bridge Street, Castlebar

Thursday April 10 at 7 pm - The Park Hotel, Kiltimagh

Anyone wishing to register for any of the six meetings must email jackie.burns@failteireland.ie

READ MORE: Funeral of Mayo man hears call to 'look after and to 'talk to one another'
Returning assets to Ukraine requires a coordinated position and synchronization of actions with all stakeholders, says NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy in response to the accusations of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).

"Since the NABU request concerns the waiver of the status of a plaintiff in criminal proceedings, Naftogaz needs to coordinate with state authorities to make a balanced decision and is currently making efforts to satisfy NABU's request," Naftogaz said in a statement on its website on Saturday.

The company adds that it is cooperating with authorized ministries, departments and anti-corruption bodies on the return of assets to Ukraine, and this is one of the important areas of its activity.

"Protecting national interests is a common task of all state authorities of Ukraine. Only unity and consistency of all parties involved will give the result needed by the state," Naftogaz concluded.

The previous evening, NABU and SAPO stated that the inaction of the management of Naftogaz of Ukraine could cause the loss of UAH 1.6 billion, which could be returned from abroad.

"Currently, a real opportunity has been obtained for the first time in the history of Ukraine to return UAH 1.6 billion from abroad. However, the destructive position of the acting head of NJSC Naftogaz may lead to the loss of such an opportunity, which anti-corruption authorities are actively working on," law enforcement officials said without giving other details.

In February of this year, NABU Director Semen Kryvonos announced the possibility of returning $39 million, which was arrested in Switzerland. According to him, at that time, the position of the government and Naftogaz on this issue was important.
Ukraine cannot currently be a member of NATO due to the position of Russia and the United States, but the issue of a possible provision of guarantees under Article 5 of the alliance's Collective Defense Treaty is open, said Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff.

He said in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Saturday night that he thought Zelensky and his right-hand man Yermak had pretty much admitted that they were not going to be members of NATO.

At the same time, Witkoff added that there were various conversations about whether Ukraine could have Article 5 protection.

Trump's special envoy noted that the question of whether Ukraine could have this in some respect from the United States or European countries without being a member of NATO was an open question for discussion.

As reported, in early March, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni proposed extending Article 5 of the NATO Treaty to Ukraine without granting it full membership in the Alliance. In her opinion, this would be "a guarantee of stable, long-term and effective security."
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, March 21, 2025

Malwarebytes researcher Jerome Segura and SEO strategist Elie Berreby have come across a new phishing campaign targeting search engine optimization (SEO) professionals with malicious Semrush Google Ads that aim to steal their Google account credentials.

The researchers believe the bad actors are after Google Ads accounts that would enable them to create new malvertising campaigns.

The operation is going after Semrush's visibility management software as a service platform that offers SEO, advertising, and market research, according to the blog post. The platform reportedly serves 40% of Fortune 500 companies and 117,000 paying customers.

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Researchers explain how the fraudsters are "taking an indirect approach to hacking Google advertisers and by the same token likely gaining access to Semrush accounts."

Malwarebytes in January documented a large phishing campaign targeting Google accounts via Google Ads. The company now believes the group has now regrouped and transitioned to a malicious ad scheme for Google Ads that redirects to a fraudulent login page for Semrush. "While the phishing page uses the Semrush brand, only the 'Log in with Google' option is enabled, forcing victims to authenticate with their Google account username and password," the researchers wrote in the blog post.
by Colin Kirkland , March 21, 2025

Despite Oracle's recent discussions with the White House, Perplexity AI -- a free AI-powered search engine -- remains dedicated to purchasing TikTok, having published its own vision for rebuilding the platform in the U.S., including its powerful algorithm.

In January, Perplexity revised its initial takeover offer for the popular short-form video app that would allow the U.S. government to own up to 50% of NewCo, the new company Perplexity is proposing, upon a future IPO.

The suggested deal aligned with what President Donald Trump proposed earlier that month -- very simply, a joint venture, in which ByteDance would contribute to TikTok U.S. (without its proprietary algorithm) and the federal government would own up to half of the entity once it IPOs at least $300 billion.

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However, since its proposition, Perplexity has been overshadowed by Oracle, which has since emerged as the most likely company to buy TikTok.

Oracle has already worked with ByteDance on Project Texas, and was Trump's first choice as a potential buyer in 2020.

But recent reports highlight the security concerns at the center of Oracle's developing deal with the White House. There are currently elements in the deal that would not satisfy the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act -- a law passed earlier this year -- including ByteDance's continued control over TikTok's recommendation algorithm.

This is why Perplexity has stepped back into the frame, promising that if it were to win the deal, it would fully rebuild TikTok's algorithm in American data centers with American oversight, ensuring alignment with domestic privacy standards and regulations, the company says.

Perplexity contends that it is singularly positioned to rebuild TikTok's algorithm without creating a monopoly.

Any acquisition by a consortium of investors could in effect keep ByteDance in control of the algorithm, while any acquisition by a competitor would likely create a monopoly in the short form video and information space, Perplexity writes.

The TikTok algorithm today is a black box, the company notes. We believe these recommendation systems should be transparent. To eliminate risks of user manipulation, we propose rebuilding TikTok's algorithm from the ground up with transparency as the guiding principle.

Perplexity says it will also make the For You feed open source, while using its own AI infrastructure -- powered by Dynamo, Nvidia's newest open-source inference framework -- to scale TikTok's recommender models 100x, ultimately achieving faster inference speeds.

The company says it would also boost transparency and cut down on misinformation via AI-powered in-app post citations.

Perplexity's LLM orchestration can transform the TikTok experience by enriching videos with contextual information and even multilingual capabilities, the company says, suggesting that automatic translations and annotation would help influencers reach wider audiences.

In general, Perplexity believes it would not only take over TikTok to address the federal government's security concerns, but would also rebuild the platform to operate even more effectively than it does today.

Interest on the part of the Trump administration is yet to be determined, but as Oracles proposed deal attracts more flack from lawmakers, Perplexity could potentially become a frontrunner prior to the April 5 selloff deadline.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, March 21, 2025

The tech industry group NetChoice is pressing a federal appellate court to block enforcement of a California law that prohibits social media platforms from algorithmically recommending posts to minors without parental consent.

California identifies no legitimate governmental interest in requiring minors to obtain parental consent before accessing personalized feeds, NetChoice writes in papers filed Thursday with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

NetChoice's papers come in a battle over California's Protecting Our Kids From Social Media Addiction Act (SB976), which was passed last year and had been slated to take effect in January.

The tech group, which counts Meta, Snap, Google and other large tech companies as members, sued soon after the law was passed, arguing that it violates the First Amendment by restricting companies' ability to wield editorial control over the display of content.

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U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila in the Northern District of California only partially sided with NetChoice. He enjoined enforcement of some provisions, but said NetChoice hadn't proven that the restrictions on algorithmic recommendations were unconstitutional.

NetChoice recently appealed that ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which blocked enforcement while it considers the matter.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta argued last month that the law furthers California's goal of protecting the physical and mental health and well-being of children and teens.

But NetChoice counters in its new papers that this rationale is inconsistent with the law's parental-consent requirement.

Bonta never explains why personalized feeds are harmful enough to restrict, yet safe if a parent consents, NetChoice writes.

That is a fatal tailoring flaw, the group adds.

Bonta also contended that the law doesn't prevent users from accessing content, arguing that minors can still search for posts.

But NetChoice counters that as a practical matter, the restriction on recommendations thwarts minors' access to content they might want, but don't necessarily know to seek out.

A search is useful only if a user knows what to look for, NetChoice writes. By contrast, personalized feeds prioritize content that users value but may not know to search for -- everything from breaking news to personal announcements from friends.

The 9th Circuit will hear arguments on April 2 in Phoenix.
Seabirds are consuming plastic- and it's leading to brain damage, liver issues, and even dementia-like symptoms. Plastic pollution is killing silently!

Highlights: Consuming plastic causes severe health issues in seabirds, including liver, kidney, and brain damage

Seabirds with plastic in their stomachs show signs of cell damage and memory impairment

These birds serve as sentinels, warning us about plastic pollutions environmental and health risks

  Trusted Source

Seabirds in crisis: Plastic ingestion induces proteomic signatures of multiorgan failure and neurodegeneration



Go to source Trusted Source

Did you know?

A single seabird can mistake over 200 pieces of plastic for food in its lifetime, leading to life-threatening health issues. #plasticpollution #saveseabirds #marinelife #ecoawareness #saynotoplastic #medindia

A single seabird can mistake over 200 pieces of plastic for food in its lifetime, leading to life-threatening health issues. #plasticpollution #saveseabirds #marinelife #ecoawareness #saynotoplastic #medindia

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How Plastic is Affecting the Endangered Seabirds

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How Plastic is Leading to Brain, Liver and Kidney Problems in Seabirds

Plastic Exposure in Seabirds

Seabirds in crisis: Plastic ingestion induces proteomic signatures of multiorgan failure and neurodegeneration - (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ads0834)

Marine life, including seabirds, is especially at risk from plastic waste. They confuse the floating plastic waste in the ocean for food. Researchers recently came up with the name "plasticosis," which refers to a condition where consuming plastic fragments causes the digestive tracts of seabirds to become damaged.The same researchers and their colleagues have now shown that sable shearwater chicks exhibit abnormalities in their stomach lining, renal and liver problems, and symptoms of dementia -like brain impairment ().These seabirds, which are distributed in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, were once known as flesh-footed shearwaters. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified them as "near threatened." The use of plastic by adults is one factor thought to be responsible for their reduction.According to Jack Rivers-Auty, a lecturer at the University of Tasmania and a co-author of the study, "It was absolutely shocking to see these signals of dementia because these birds are less than 100 days old and they live up to 37 years. And we are discussing a median of one and a half teaspoons of plastic in these birds' stomachs."In order to find illness indicators in the blood of these birds that consume plastic, Rivers-Auty and his colleagues employed a proteomics approach based on mass spectrometry. They found 31 shearwater chicks on Lord Howe Island in Australia in 2023 that were similar in terms of weight and the length of their wings and beaks. According to Rivers-Auty, "these birds looked healthy in every way." However, the contents of their stomachs showed that some birds had consumed less plastic, while others had comparatively large amounts of visible plastic.The amounts of 202 out of 745 plasma proteins discovered in the birds' blood varied significantly between the two groups, the researchers observed. For instance, the researchers discovered elevated amounts of intracellular proteins such as lactate dehydrogenase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in shearwaters with higher plastic content. According to Rivers-Auty, this discovery implied that "all these proteins that should have been inside of cells were now outside" and that "the plastic was inducing cells to pop."Additionally, his researchers discovered that the blood of birds with more plastic in their stomachs had lower levels of albumin, a protein produced by the liver . Low levels could be a sign of renal or liver problems. A molecule known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is essential for the development, survival, and operation of neurons and influences memory and learning , was also markedly reduced in these birds.While fishing off the coast of Japan, juvenile birds must "mentalize where their island is, where their burrow is, and remember it for five years before they have to return on that exact [approximately 10,000 km] journey," according to Rivers-Auty. "They may forget." According to the study, a decrease in BDNF levels may also interfere with the birds' capacity to recognize one another's songs.Laura Dagley, who was not involved in the work but is the head of the proteomics laboratory at Australia's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, calls it concerning. "However, the suspected consequences are something that really need to be monitored and measured," said Walter.Whether these shearwater chicks are still impacted as adults is unknown at this time. However, in order to evaluate the impact of plastic exposure, the researchers are examining the blood of other adult sable shearwaters in the same colony.However, the finding presents the shearwaters as sentinel species, alerting us to new environmental and health risks, according to Shane Burgess, a veterinarian and proteomics scientist at the University of Arizona who was not involved in the study.In order to determine whether the results are consistent, he and Dagley hope that future research would include comparable work on other bird species that are similarly impacted by plastic pollution.Source-Medindia
The U.S. military wants to keep training at Pohakuloa, so it's ready to quickly send troops to Asia and the Pacific.
LONDON (AP)  Oleg Gordievsky, a Soviet KGB officer agent who helped change the course of the Cold War by covertly passing secrets to Britain, has died. He was 86.

Gordievsky died March 4 in England, where he had lived since defecting in 1985. Police said Saturday that they are not treating his death as suspicious.

Historians consider Gordievsky one of the eras most important spies. In the 1980s, his intelligence helped avoid a dangerous escalation of nuclear tensions between the USSR and the West.

Born in Moscow in 1938, Gordievsky joined the KGB in the early 1960s, serving in Moscow, Copenhagen and London, where he became KGB station chief.

He was one of several Soviet agents who grew disillusioned with the USSR after Moscows tanks crushed the Prague Spring freedom movement in 1968, and was recruited by Britain's MI6 in the early 1970s.

The 1990 book KGB: The Inside Story, co-authored by Gordievsky and British intelligence historian Christopher Andrew, says Gordievsky came to believe that the Communist one-party state leads inexorably to intolerance, inhumanity and the destruction of liberties. He decided that the best way to fight for democracy was to work for the West.

He worked for British intelligence for more than a decade during the chilliest years of the Cold War.

In 1983, Gordievsky warned the U.K. and U.S. that the Soviet leadership was so worried about a nuclear attack by the West that it was considering a first strike. As tensions spiked during a NATO military exercise in Germany, Gordievsky helped reassure Moscow that it was not precursor to a nuclear attack.

Soon after, U.S. President Ronald Reagan began moves to ease nuclear tensions with the Soviet Union.

Gordievsky was called back to Moscow for consultations in 1985, and decided to go despite fearing  correctly  that his role as a double agent had been exposed. He was interrogated but not charged, and Britain arranged an undercover operation to spirit him out of the Soviet Union in the trunk of a car.

He was the most senior Soviet spy to defect during the Cold War. Documents declassified in 2014 showed that Britain considered Gordievsky so valuable that then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sought to cut a deal with Moscow: If Gordievskys wife and daughters were allowed to join him in London, Britain would not expel all the KGB agents he had exposed.

Moscow rejected the offer, and Thatcher ordered the expulsion of 25 Russians, despite objections from Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, who fared it could scuttle relations just as reforming Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was easing the stalemate between Russia and the West.

Moscow responded by expelling 25 Britons, sparking a second round in which each side kicked out six more officials. But, despite Howes fears, diplomatic relations were never severed.

Gordievskys family was kept under 24-hour KGB surveillance for six years before being allowed to join him in England in 1991. He lived the rest of his life under U.K. protection in the quiet town of Godalming, 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of London.

In Russia, Gordievsky was sentenced to death for treason. In Britain, Queen Elizabeth II appointed him a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 2007 for services to the security of the United Kingdom. It is the same accolade held by the fictional British spy James Bond.

In 2008, Gordievsky claimed he had been poisoned and spent 34 hours in a coma after taking tainted sleeping pills given to him by a Russian business associate.

The risks he faced were underscored in 2018 when former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned and seriously sickened with a Soviet-made nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury, where he had been living quietly for years.

The Surrey Police force said officers were called to an address in Godalming on March 4, where an 86-year-old man was found dead at the property.

It said counterterrorism officers are leading the investigation, but the death is not currently being treated as suspicious and there is nothing to suggest any increased risk to members of the public.
The Angels announced this afternoon that theyve outrighted infielder Scott Kingery to Triple-A Salt Lake earlier today. Kingery had been designated for assignment earlier this week when the club acquired southpaw Angel Perdomo from Atlanta.

Kingery, 31 next month, was a second-round pick by the Phillies back in 2015. The infielder signed a six-year, $24MM contract with Philadelphia before even making his MLB debut and went on to struggle badly throughout his time in the majors with the club. Kingerys rookie season in 2018 saw him hit just .226/.267/.338 in 484 trips to the plate, and while he took a major step forward with a .258/.315/.474 (100 wRC+) slash line across 500 plate appearances in 2019 en route to a 2.1 fWAR/2.7 bWAR season, that success as a league average contributor did not last. The 2020 campaign saw Kingery hit just .159/.228/.283, and hes taken just 19 trips to the plate in the majors since then.

Despite Kingerys failures at the big league level, the Angels brought him into the fold and gave him a spot on their 40-man roster this winter in hopes of creating some depth on the infield. J.D. Davis, Kevin Newman, and Tim Anderson all jumped head of Kingery on the Anaheim depth chart throughout Spring Training, however, and Kingery eventually found himself on the outside looking in with regards to the Opening Day roster mix. That led the club to designate him for assignment, and now that hes cleared waivers hell serve as non-roster depth for the club at the Triple-A level.

While Kingerys struggled in the majors so far, hes still a worthwhile depth piece for a club littered with players who struggle to stay healthy like the Angels. Kingery spent most of his time in the majors at shortstop and in center field, but has the versatility to play virtually anywhere on the diamond except for catcher with significant experience at both second and third base as well. He also showed flashes of improvement at the Triple-A level last year, crushing the ball to the tune of a .268/.316/.488 slash line in 125 games while swiping 25 bases.

Kingerys speed and versatility seem likely to make him a viable depth option off the bench for the club should injuries clear room on the roster for him at some point, and its at least possible that his surge of success with the bat at Triple-A last year could translate to modestly improved production in the majors as well. If a spot opens up in the majors, Kingery will likely compete with Kyren Paris and Carter Kieboom for the opportunity to fill in.
West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Dana McGuire

This picturesque spot is home to a pair of bald eagles  and you could share it with them.

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, hosts eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair can also be seen on two YouTube livestreams.

I never imagined my life would be this or that I would be interested in birds, said Dana McGuire, who owns the property with her husband, Lake McGuire. Its fun to see people who love Traverse City and love these eagles. Its something that moves people. We never expected it.

RELATED: Live bald eagle cam in Traverse City captures laying of first egg

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Blue Lava Media

Harry and Harriet are expecting at least two eaglets this spring. Their nest is about 100 feet from the living room window, providing an up-close view of the majestic raptors.

The McGuires, of San Diego, purchased the property in 2021 and completed extensive renovations to the interior. Harry and Harriet were already residents.

I was nervous through that process that we might scare them away, Dana McGuire told MLive.

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Dana McGuire

RELATED: Eagles in Michigan are dying from vehicle collisions, how to avoid them

Luckily, the couple was unbothered and have returned each spring to lay eggs and raise their young, she said.

New this year are two YouTube livestreams of the nest. The webcams captured the laying of both eggs, on Feb. 25 and 28. They are expected to hatch around April 1-3.

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Dana McGuire

Its unclear if there are more than two eggs since the nest is deep, Dana McGuire said. In 2024, Harriet laid three eggs, which all hatched and eventually fledged.

RELATED: Spot a bald eagle with a brown head? Heres what that means

About 60 feet above the ground, the nest can be seen with the naked eye from the panoramic living room windows and the driveway, she said. Its about 200 feet from the shoreline.

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Blue Lava Media

The vacation home sleeps up to 8 people; there are four bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. Amenities include a firepit, balcony, wooded trails and views of the bay. Its about halfway between Suttons Bay and Traverse City. Theres a beach about 5 minutes away on foot. Downtown Traverse City is about 10 minutes away by car. Nightly rates range from $400 to $950, depending on the time of year.

Book your stay on VBRO, Airbnb, or directly at westbaywanderlust.com.

See more photos of the property below.

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Dana McGuire

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Blue Lava Media

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Dana McGuire

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Blue Lava Media

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Blue Lava Media

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Blue Lava Media

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Blue Lava Media

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Blue Lava Media

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Dana McGuire

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Blue Lava Media

West Bay Wanderlust, a vacation rental situated on 58 acres on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay West Arm, is home to bald eagles Harry and Harriet. The pair return each spring to lay eggs and raise their young. Their nest can be seen from the panoramic living room windows. The rental sleeps up to eight people. Blue Lava Media
Photo: https://eurosolidarity.org/novyny/

Vinnytsia District Administrative Court, by its decision dated March 20, has found the decision to deny MP of Ukraine, leader of the European Solidarity party Petro Poroshenko crossing the state border illegal, politician's lawyer Ihor Holovan reported.

"The decision of the head of the border guard inspectors' department (type A) of the Ambukiv border guard department of the 6th Volyn border guard detachment dated 01/16/2025 N113 to deny Poroshenko Petro Oleksiyovych crossing the state border of Ukraine has been found illegal and canceled," Holovan wrote in his column on the Ukrainska Pravda website.

He also claims that Poroshenko's border crossing is controlled at the level of the head of the State Border Guard Service and this became known during the trial.

"We know that the decision to ban Petro Poroshenko from traveling abroad to protect the interests of our state was not made by the border guards. The deputy chief of staff - head of the border control organization department, Colonel Ihor Kahliak, told the court about who and how manually controls the border checkpoints. It turns out that all Ukrainian border guards were strictly ordered to immediately call the head of the State Border Guard Service directly when Petro Poroshenko appeared at the border at any time of the day or night. And if they don't get through, then to Colonel Andriy Prostakov. And he will decide what to do next," Holovan wrote.

As reported, Poroshenko, during a speech from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada in January, stated that he was illegally denied passage at the Ukrainian border when he was on his way to a meeting with the leaders of the European People's Party in Brussels.

In response to Poroshenko's statement, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, confirmed that Poroshenko indeed had a signed business trip to the meeting of the Political Assembly of the European People's Party, which took place on January 13-14 in Brussels. The business trip was signed for the period from January 11 (departure) to January 15 (return).

Holovan then announced that he would appeal the border guards' refusal to let Poroshenko cross the border in court.
One person is dead after a boat capsized on Lake Michigan. (MLive.com) Charlie Nick | MLive.com

One person is dead after a boat capsized on Lake Michigan.

Conservation officers with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources are investigating the incident, which occurred near East Chicago at 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

Two people fell into the water when the boat capsized, officials said. One victim, Steve Vandervelde of Oak Forest, Illinois, was pulled from the water by a nearby Good Samaritan.

The second victim, Thomas Barragan, 73, of Oak Forest, was found by the Lake County Aviation Unit and recovered by a conservation officer diver at 3:20 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Response and search efforts were hindered by strong winds and large waves, with a water temperature of 37 degrees, officials said.

The DNR was assisted by the Lake County Sheriffs Department, United States Coast Guard, Hammond Fire Department, East Chicago Fire Department, Hobart Fire Department, Hammond Police Department, Whiting Police Department and Hammond Port Authority.
Jillian Renee Itow, 36, of Cheboygan was last seen at her home in Mullett Township at 6:30 p.m. on March 21. Michigan State Police

UPDATE: Northern Michigan woman found safe after police issue missing-person alert

CHEBOYGAN COUNTY, MI  Police are looking for a missing woman in Northern Michigan.

Michigan State Police in Gaylord are seeking public help to locate Jillian Renee Itow, 36, of Cheboygan. She was last seen at her home in Mullett Township at 6:30 p.m. on March 21.

Police say she left her house to walk her dogs but never returned, leaving her phone and vehicle behind.

A witness observed a female matching her description near East Mullett Lake and Red Pine Point, and she appeared to be in distress, according to police.

A blue truck with a red topper was also observed in the area, it is unknown if she was picked up by the vehicle.

Itow is 5-foot, 105-pounds with shoulder length black hair. She was last seen wearing a white thermal shirt, light blue jeans, and brown shoes.

Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to call Gaylord Area Regional Dispatch at 989-732-5141 or call 911.
SALINE, MI  Pizza lovers might want to head to downtown Saline to check out the menu at one of the citys newest restaurants.

DropTop Pizza officially opened at 107 W. Michigan Ave. in late October. The restaurant is run by co-owners Joseph Maino and Jason Branham.

The new restaurant offers Detroit-style pizza, salads, wings, smash burgers, milkshakes and starters like its popular stuffed pepper, fried artichokes and its pizza fritta, which is fried Detroit-style dough seasoned and tossed with parmesan, salt and garlic and served with marinara sauce.

I think the biggest problem we are running up against is that people want us to be open more, Branham said. The restaurant recently expanded its service to Sundays.

Read more: Detroit-style pizza is on the menu at a new downtown Saline restaurant

DropTops top three selling flavors are its Queen Margherita, the Skylark and Joeys Favorite. Theyre well ahead of every other pizza on the menu, Branham said. Those are definitely the crowd favorites because I think theyre a little bit more straight ahead.

The Queen Margherita has fresh mozzarella, pesto, sea salt, olive oil and marinara sauce while the Skylark is made with chicken, smoked bacon, pineapple, roasted garlic, scallions, sesame seeds and barbecue sauce. Joeys Favorite features cup and char pepperoni, roasted mushrooms, roasted garlic, parmesan and marinara sauce.

Branham said these options are more approachable for first-time customers if they arent ready to explore the other creative pizzas on the menu.

For instance, the restaurant serves Fries on a Pizza?, which is loaded with waffle fries, broccolini, roasted garlic, cheddar, ricotta, scallions and barbecue sauce.

Its like a loaded baked potato on a pizza, but then the way that the ricotta and the barbecue sauce play together is just phenomenal, Maino said.

Another interesting pizza is the Lost Veggies of Atlantis with Castelvetrano olives, artichokes, tomatoes, red onion, roasted carrots, pepperoncini, feta, zaatar and tahini, Maino said.

Maino is behind the pizza creations and runs weekly specials that often feature a new pizza and a chefs special chicken sandwich. His pickle pizza made was one popular past special, he said.

Besides pizza, Maino recommends the Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger made with onion-smashed patties and American cheese.

If you just want the purest form of a very delicious burger then thats what you should get, he said.

Those craving a sweet treat after a filling dinner can find a variety of milkshakes in flavors like strawberry cheesecake, cherry caramel pretzel and peanut butter and jelly. There is also a rotating monthly flavor available. Its now a mint Oreo shake.

Customers can make their milkshakes boozy or order house-made sangria or beers from local breweries.

So far, Maino said its been a great experience in Saline.

The guests who come in here in general are phenomenal, he said. They appreciate what we have going on here and we appreciate them back. You really couldnt ask for better customers.

Both owners are looking forward to warmer weather and involving DropTop Pizza more with the community and its events.

Branham said the business may expand its hours in the future, but right now hes more focused on growing the restaurant in a sustainable way.

Our goal is just to be very consistent because you go to so many places and theyre not, Maino said. Weve tried to keep things simple here and try to do them really well.

DropTop Pizza is open from 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Learn more online, on social media or by phone at 734-460-1345.

Taylor Higgins is the photographer who took the images for this story. Find more of his work online.

Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page, the Ypsilanti-area news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Ann Arbor daily newsletter.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Early on, police thought they knew who killed Ruby Garcia.

They just didnt know where he was.

In the investigation into Ruby Garcias killing, state police cracked the case with high-tech tools, old-fashioned detective work and luck: her boyfriend turned himself in two days later and confessed.

Early on, state police suspected that Brandon Ortiz-Vite shot Garcia, then left her body on the side of U.S. 131 in Grand Rapids.

But Ortiz-Vite and her car, a red Mazda 3, were gone.

Ruby Garcia, 25, of Grand Rapids, was killed on March 22, 2024, on U.S. 131 near Leonard Street NW.

The manhunt for her killer began soon after her body was discovered along the heavily traveled highway that cuts through Michigans second-largest city. In nearing the one-year anniversary of the tragic homicide that grabbed national political attention, MLive is taking a deeper look at the police investigation and the woman whose life ended much too soon.

State police reports, obtained by MLive in a Freedom of Information request, detailed police efforts to track down the killer, Ortiz-Vites travels before he turned himself in and the unlikely pairing of the couple  something she kept from her parents and others.

Related: Funeral service set for Ruby Garcia, shot and killed on U.S. 131

Her family kept a low profile throughout the ordeal.

The killing did not.

President Donald Trump, then a candidate for a second term, visited Grand Rapids after it was revealed that Ortiz-Vite was in the U.S. illegally when he killed Garcia.

Ortiz-Vites mugshot was featured prominently on Trumps TV ads. In the Grand Rapids stop, Trump said he spoke to Garcias family.

He did not speak with any of us, sister Mavi Garcia told WOOD-TV.

Garcia wrote about her sister in a written victim-impact statement provided to the judge when Ortiz-Vite was sentenced to 39 years in prison for second-degree murder and felony firearm.

She and her family were in court but no one spoke.

Related: Mexican national to spend decades in prison for cold-blooded murder of girlfriend

In her three-page letter, Mavi Garcia said she didnt want pity or sympathy. She wanted justice. Her sister had such a good heart and had a pure soul, she wrote.

The best sister, aunt, daughter, cousin you name it!

Now imagine waking up to a call at 3 a.m. to hear your sister has been murdered. My only sister. She was all that I had left in the world.

She could not accept the possibility that Ortiz-Vite could someday leave prison. She is haunted by her sisters last moments. What did she feel? Did she fight? Did she beg him to stop? Did she even know he was about to shoot her?

How I wish I could hear her one last time. Hug her and say I love you and everything would have been OK.

Her family described Garcia as really more of a homebody.

She avoided drama and trouble and kept to herself. She worked first shift at a greenhouse with her father and lived with her parents.

She wasnt a partier and did not like being around a lot of people.

She liked to go to bed early and use her cellphone. On the night she was killed, she shared a photo of her Stanley cup on Snapchat.

She had mentioned she was hanging out with a guy a few months earlier but did not give his name, a friend said. The friend did not believe that the two were dating anymore.

Garcia had gotten into health and fitness and recently bought a Bible to get more involved in church. It would be out of character for her to be involved in anything illegal or unsafe.

Related: Ruby Garcias killer frustrated his immigration status was used in Trump campaign

Ortiz-Vite had lived in Kent County most of his life but was not a U.S. citizen. He entered the U.S. unlawfully but stayed under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

The status expired May 10, 2019. He was arrested Aug. 30, 2020, for driving while intoxicated in Grand Rapids. He was deported that fall.

Related: Once shielded from deportation, man accused of Michigan killing sparks political fight

He told police he returned illegally around March 2022.

Kent County sheriffs Lt. Mario Morey found Garcias body around 11:35 p.m. She was lying partly in the right southbound lane of U.S. 131, just south of Leonard Street NW. She had an obvious head wound.

There was an unspent 9mm hollow-point bullet near her body.

Police talked to the victims family into the early morning.

Detective Sgt. Aaron Tubergen, with the familys permission, searched Rubys bedroom. No one knew the passcode for her phone or password for her email to access a My Mazda app.

The investigator found a small piece of paper for a bank account. He used her Gmail address and a possible password to open the app and find the vehicle at North Shore Drive and Miami Avenue in South Haven area.

The state police Emergency Support Team cleared the vehicle before police approached. The drivers window was down. There was an apparent bullet hole in the door handle.

State police contacted Borgman Mazda. A vehicle report showed the drivers window had malfunctioned at 11:21 p.m.

This information led me to believe that this could have been the time shots were fired, with bullets striking the driver door, causing these malfunctions, a state police investigator wrote in a report.

Garcia and Ortiz-Vite had talked for about a year but only dated for two or three months before the killing. Most of her family, including her parents, didnt know they were dating, a source of frustration for Ortiz-Vite.

Related: Carnage and chaos: Trump attacks Bidens border policy after Grand Rapids killing

He and Garcia might have seemed an unlikely match. He was known to sell cocaine and carry a gun, a 9mm Taurus that he said he bought on the street for $300, police reports said.

He carried it on his right hip, held by his belt.

On the night of the killing, he told a friend he needed a ride to Garcias house.

He called her and texted, starting around 8:35 p.m., but she didnt want to talk. She had to work the next day, picking up a Saturday shift.

Call if you care, he wrote.

Forty-nine minutes later, after all of his calls went to voicemail, he begged her in rapid-fire texts to answer.

Please answer  Babee  Please  Rubby  Ruby , he texted.

No, she finally said. For what?

They talked at 10:05 p.m. for one minute, 43 seconds. He texted that he was five minutes out.

At 10:16 p.m., she said she was in her car. He showed up two minutes later. Phone records showed they stayed there until 11:13 p.m., when they headed for U.S. 131.

She was going to drive him home.

Both Rubys device and the suspect device are supported as traveling from her residence towards the scene of the homicide merely 14 minutes before Ruby was discovered dead, state police said.

Related: Man charged in womans killing was in U.S. illegally after being removed to Mexico

Ortiz-Vite later told police he had been drinking heavily  disputed by a friend  and using cocaine. The intoxicants caused the anger he built up inside to come out, he told police.

To be honest with you, the reason she pulled over to the side of the road, is because I yanked the wheel of the car, and then she stopped and thats when the commotion happened.

The killing happened on a busy stretch of the expressway leading to downtown Grand Rapids, as well as the exit for westbound I-196 toward Lake Michigan.

He said he wanted her to talk, not take him home. She had already made up her mind and told him to get out, he told police. He believed that she was calling police, knowing he faced two years in prison and deportation if caught. He feared police would check on them if they sat in the car on the side of the road.

He told police that we were yelling so she takes out her phone, thats when everything happened. It all happened so fast. I leaned over and I hit her, she was fighting back, and then in that instinct, I had the gun right here in my right hand. I dont know if I stepped out or if I just shot her from inside, but I shot her like four times, and then I went around the back of the car, and then I took her out of the car and shot her once more, and then I took off.

He said his mind was just blank. He said he had no intention of killing her, it just happened, reports said.

He pulled Garcia out of the car and shot her in the head when she moved. He then drove south on U.S. 131.

A motorist later reported seeing a vehicle on the U.S. 131 shoulder near Leonard that appeared to drive over something before merging onto the highway just before the westbound I-196 ramp.

The vehicle, with its hazard lights flashing, shot right up on me on the ramp, repeatedly flashing headlights. He lost sight of the red, sporty looking car near Chicago Drive.

The witness stated it looked like they were trying to get away from something, police said.

Ortiz-Vite feared other motorists saw what happened. At one point, he pulled to the shoulder because he could not figure out how to turn off the hazard lights. He saw spent shells and tossed them outside.

He had a half-tank of gas and realized that Garcia had the key fob so he would not be able to start the car once it was turned off. He took a low key exit in the Fennville area to find a rural area to park.

He backed into an empty lot at Lakeshore Drive and Miami Avenue, a neighborhood of mostly vacation homes and rentals near Lake Michigan. He stayed in the car until 7 a.m.

He had already ditched his cellphone on I-196, knowing it could be used to track him. He kept the gun. He started walking north, looking for a McDonalds, to use its wi-fi for an old phone when, around 10 a.m., he came upon Chicken Scratch Farm & Bakery on Blue Star Highway.

He asked to use a phone and made several calls. His calls appeared to have gone unanswered.

He bought juice and a brownie. He spent a half-hour in the bathroom.

He told a couple at Chicken Scratch that he was waiting for his brother after his car broke down at a nearby party store. The couple hadnt seen any disabled vehicles. After 90 minutes, he was asked to leave.

He was polite and mild-mannered but gave the wife a funny vibe, police said. He headed off, eventually reaching Ganges United Methodist Church on 68th Street, north of 122nd Avenue.

It was a 35-minute walk to the rural church if he walked directly there. It is surrounded by woods and farmland, only a mile or so from the Lake Michigan shoreline in southwest Allegan County.

Related: A church took in a young man. They didnt know he was wanted for murder.

He needed a ride back to Grand Rapids. But his friends heard on Facebook that her family blamed him for the killing.

Using his nickname, Walo, and a borrowed cellphone, he texted a friend:

Its walo

U coming for me???

There was no answer.

At Ganges United Methodist Church, a parishioner, preparing for an upcoming Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby, was startled to see Ortiz-Vite inside. The parishioner noticed the door was unlocked  probably inadvertently after a funeral two days earlier.

Ortiz-Vite asked to use the parishioners phone and said he was waiting for a ride home. He told the parishioner he needed to talk to someone. The Rev. Marcia Tucker showed up minutes later.

Thank you, Lord, that he didnt get violent, and I think the only reason he didnt is because he was listening to God, Tucker previously told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press.

She did not think he was ready to turn himself in. He was quiet and troubled but gave no clue he was wanted for murder. They talked for some time.

She knew no one was coming for him. She said he could spend the night in the church annex.

The next morning, after breakfast, he took an aisle seat in the second-to-last row. After the start of the service, Tucker saw he was gone. Ortiz-Vite had called 911 from the bathroom.

The parishioner who first encountered Ortiz-Vite summoned another man. They saw Ortiz-Vite go outside, drop a gun and approach police. Churchgoers were told to go downstairs.

Tucker knew Ortiz-Vite only as Brian, not Brandon. His status as a wanted murder suspect gave her a jolt.

Ortiz-Vite told police he was afraid that the victims family would torture or kill him. Friends told him that the family posted on Facebook that he was wanted in Garcias killing.

He asked for solitary confinement in jail.

I know I have to face the music. I know what I did was a horrible, horrible thing.

Investigators said Ortiz-Vite virtually blurted out a confession once he gave himself up. He told police everything happened so fast.

He had just parked her car near the Lake Michigan bluff when he finally grasped what happened.

I just sat down and realized I killed the person I love, and knew that once she was dead, I also was dead.

He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and other charges. He was sentenced in November to at least 39 years in prison.

He is temporarily held in the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in Jackson for assessments and classification before he will be placed in a general population prison in Michigan.

If he is ever granted parole, he will be deported.

Now-retired Kent County Circuit Judge Mark Trusock called the killing cold-blooded.

Ortiz-Vite recognized that in his first statements to police.

I know when I get into the courtroom and try to explain my side, its not going to be justifiable.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Theres an ornate, 100-year auditorium inside the red brick building at 714 S. Westnedge Ave.

Decades ago, the space  then called the Kalamazoo Central Auditorium  was regularly alive with performances and boisterous audiences.

When opened in 1924, the auditorium was the largest theater venue in Kalamazoo with 2,700 seats, said Lynn Houghton, regional history curator at the Zhang Legacy Collections Center.

The performer list through the years is impressive. It includes Amelia Earhart and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1930s, Johnny Cash in the 1950s and John Legend in 2014, have packed the auditorium.

Even Dolly Parton has graced the stage.

Now, a little more than 100 years after opening, Kalamazoo Public Schools is celebrating the spaces legacy.

KPS will host a free community concert to commemorate the 100-year anniversary at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 22. The concert will feature performances by KPS students, members of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra and the Kalamazoo Concert Band.

The event will include interludes about the auditoriums history from Houghton.

An extra addition

The old Kalamazoo Central High School didnt always have an auditorium.

KPS purchased the land where the school now stands in 1857. The original school building opened in 1859, but was damaged in an 1870 earthquake and fire in 1898.

A portion of the school building we see today opened in 1898. A new addition with classrooms and a gymnasium was added in 1922. The auditorium, along with more classrooms, was added in 1924.

The space was designed with multiple aisle seating. The walls were decorated with gold and bronze detailing.

A 1930 photo of Chenery Auditorium from the Gazette Collection at the Zhang Legacy Collections Center on Western Michigan Universitys campus. The auditorium was built in 1924 by the DeRight Brothers and designed by Rockwell LeRoy. It opened as part of Kalamazoo Central High School with 2,700 seats, double the amount of students that K-Central had at the time. (Courtesy, Gazette Collections, Zhang Legacy Collections Center, Western Michigan University)

At the time, there was no space like it in Kalamazoo.

Kalamazoo had many places where performances could be held, but many of those places were not designed with performances in mind, Houghton said.

Kalamazoo Philharmonic Concerts and Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra performances were hosted in the space. Plays and musicals performed by Kalamazoo Central High School students were also held in the auditorium.

Steward of the arts

When Kalamazoo Central moved to a new building at 2432 N. Drake Road in 1972, Kalamazoo Public Schools decided to rename the auditorium.

High on the list of who to honor was Kalamazoo Centrals drama teacher for over 30 years, Howard Chenery. Chenery retired from teaching in 1961.

A 1960 photo of Howard Chenery, from the Gazette Collection at the Zhang Legacy Collections Center on Western Michigan Universitys campus. (Courtesy, Gazette Collections, Zhang Legacy Collections Center, Western Michigan University)

It was unanimous in peoples approval to name it after him, Houghton said. When you think of all the contributions he made to the community and especially to the students at Kalamazoo Central, I think it definitely made sense.

Chenery was born on a farm near Comstock. But agriculture was not in his future. He received his teaching certificate from Western Normal School, now Western Michigan University, in 1916 and taught English and drama at Kalamazoo Central for several years.

During World War I, Chenery left Kalamazoo to serve as a message courier in France. After the war, he earned his bachelors degree and became Kalamazoo Centrals full-time drama teacher, he also worked with the architects of Chenery Auditorium to help design the space.

Chenery took a brief hiatus to travel the country as a actor before returning to Kalamazoo Central, where he taught drama and managed the auditorium until retiring in 1961.

During his tenure, Chenery directed more than 300 plays and musicals. Beyond the walls of the auditorium, Chenery was known across town for his love of theater. When he returned to Kalamazoo after his acting tour, Chenery helped found the Kalamazoo Civic Players and acted in multiple shows.

He had a presence, he had a passion, Houghton said. I can only imagine how excited he and how engaged he was with his students.

Howard Chenerys wife, Ruth Scott Chenery, worked in the auditoriums ticket booth. Now the ticket booth is named in her honor.

She was there right with him, involved in her own way, Houghton said.

The auditorium today

The auditorium has been renovated several times over the years. Some interior fixtures and doors were replaced in 1960 through a $200,000 grant from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. The total number of seats was reduced to 2,577.

In 1997, the number of seats was reduced to 1,889. A portion of the seat removals came from adding aisles into the seating arrangement.

The best spellers in the Kalamazoo area compete in the Kalamazoo County Regional Spelling Bee at the Chenery Auditorium in Kalamazoo, Mich. on Saturday, March 9, 2024. Devin Anderson-Torrez | MLive.com

An $8 million renovation was completed in 2010, funded through private donations and over $300,000 from Kalamazoo Public Schools. Among the changes were a covered entrance off Dutton Street and a two-story, glassed-in reception area in the northeast corner of the first floor.

A sculpture honoring Howard Chenery was also installed.

The catwalk, original to the auditorium, was replaced in April 2024 for $580,982.

Aside from the auditorium, the building houses the KPS Community Education Center and Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center.

Chenery Auditorium now has 1,550 seats. Kalamazoo has other venues to hold large events, like Miller Auditorium with more than 3,000 seats.

But there are still regular events at Chenery  like Saturdays anniversary concert and several Gilmore Concert Series shows  as the auditorium moves into its second century.

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Elon Musk flashes his t-shirt that reads "DOGE" to the media as he walks on South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) AP

LANSING, MI  Integrating cryptocurrency technology into U.S. government systems has real dangers that could leave Americans who rely on federal payments vulnerable to cyber-attack, a finance regulation professor told Michigan lawmakers.

Hilary J. Allen, a securities and banking law professor at American University in Washington, D.C., told state senators this week the public would be exposed to significant operational risks if the Trump administration let Elon Musks DOGE team use blockchain technology for federal payments.

Using blockchain, a decentralized digital ledger system associated with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, as the plumbing for government payments would make those transactions visible and vulnerable to bad actors, Allen said.

DOGE employees access to the software systems used to affect federal government payments, as well as DOGEs ambitions to substitute new blockchain-based systems as government infrastructure may leave American citizens who rely directly or indirectly on payments from the government more vulnerable to the effects of cyber-attacks and careless errors, Allen testified.

Allen testified Wednesday, March 19 before the Michigan Senate Oversight Committee, which Democrats began using this month to spotlight Trump administration impacts. A March 5 meeting focused on a federal grants and loan payment freeze harming nonprofit programs like Head Start.

Her testimony follows weeks of escalating nationwide concern about DOGE staffers burrowing into agencies that control payments and house private data and information on millions of Americans in a purported search for government waste.

Musks team gained access to the Treasury Departments payment systems in February, sparking alarm over its access to the departments Bureau of Fiscal Service, which controls more than $5 trillion in disbursements for government programs like Social Security and Medicare, tax refunds and federal salaries.

One DOGE staffer briefly gained the ability to rewrite payment system code, which Trump officials later admitted was an accident. Democrats have seized on the incident as emblematic of the risks posed by a young teams aggressive efforts to tinker with government computer systems.

The DOGE initiatives have faced increasing legal setbacks. This week, a federal judge blocked DOGE from accessing Social Security systems that hold personal data on millions of Americans, calling their work a fishing expedition and ordering deletion of any personally identifiable data in their possession.

A federal judge also ruled this week that DOGEs dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was likely unconstitutional. The Trump administration has since proposed renaming the agency and using blockchain in its procurement process, according to Wired Magazine.

The administration is also considering integrating blockchain at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to monitor grants and issue some payments in cryptocurrency, according to ProPublica.

Allen, who was appointed by Congress to study the causes of the 2008 financial crisis, teaches corporate law and financial regulation in addition to authoring a book on threats that fintech innovations pose to the financial system. She told lawmakers that an unintended failure of the government payment system would be widely disruptive to the economy and could cause a default on U.S. Treasury securities.

She warned that DOGE staffers eager to root out inefficiencies may not fully understand redundancies created for system security reasons and could unintentionally create vulnerabilities exploitable through complex networked systems.

Agencies like the Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service, both of which send direct payments to Americans, still rely heavily on the aged COBOL programming language for core functions and legacy systems. But COBOL hasnt been taught in computer science programs since the 1990s, so it would be unlikely that those young employees would know how to navigate a COBOL system carefully, Allen said.

The risk extends to the private sector, she warned. The 2017 NotPetya cyper attack showed that private defenses are only as strong as the weakest link in the systems they are interoperable with, Allen said.

DOGEs use of private sector IT systems creates risks through interoperability with government systems and this is something that private sector businesses should at least look into.

Republicans, in the minority on the on the Senate committee, offered muted pushback. Sen. Jonathan Lindsey, R-Coldwater, suggested the concerns were speculative.

Youre talking about global financial meltdown based on DOGE looking for efficiencies in government, Lindsay said. Realistically, what are we looking at? Is this an exercise in trying to talk about how things could go wrong, or are we talking about actual negative feedback at this point?

Allen responded that it often takes a while for problems to metastasize into consequences and said its possible that sensitive information may have already been accessed by bad actors who just have yet to weaponize it.

One of the challenges with cyber-attacks, for example, is often they are low and slow, right? The groundwork is done. Systems start to be corrupted and you dont notice for quite some time. So, its really impossible to say at this point whether any of the things Im worried about have actually already started to happen.

The stakes necessitate heightened concern, she continued. Problems caused by missed payments via a system outage could escalate quickly through the economic ladder and have a noticeable impact on GDP even if the issue were short-lived.

There are also individual concerns.

If you have people who are dependent on Social Security payments, they may not be able to make it for another week or another month until they get their payments, she said.

There are very limited steps an individual could take to protect themselves proactively, said Allen.

She suggested people amass savings and keep some cash set aside to tide them over any temporary disruptions. They should consider keeping screenshots of balances in government accounts. They should be alert to any signs of identity theft.

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Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff believes presidential elections in Ukraine are necessary.

There will be elections in Ukraine, I think (President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy is doing everything possible, Witkoff said.

He also said that Zelenskyy is in a very difficult situation and is facing a nuclear power whose population is four times larger than his.

According to the special envoy, now is the best time to conclude an agreement that President Donald Trump can fulfill.

At the same time, Witkoff said that the Russian Federation cannot sign any agreement with Zelenskyy until presidential elections are held in Ukraine.
The United States is focused on the result and an agreement that the Ukrainian people can live with, said US President's special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Witkoff said that he wanted both Ukraine and Russia to get out of this. He mentioned that there would be various Senate approvals that might be needed, emphasizing that it was a political system, and that they wanted everyone to be satisfied to some extent with a deal that everyone could live with.

He noted that negotiations are also underway with the Europeans.

Witkoff noted that there are still some details to be discussed, but this was part of the latest conversation about a bilateral ceasefire on energy infrastructure. According to him, under this agreement, Russia will not attack Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and Ukraine, accordingly, Russian.

He also mentioned the restoration of a moratorium on naval strikes in the Black Sea. This will be implemented within the next week or so, Witkoff said.
Bihar Diwas 2025: Aamir Khan shares his love for Litti Chokha, says, It is known for its unique taste

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The ultimate goal of the current stage of negotiations conducted by the United States with Ukraine and Russia is to achieve a temporary ceasefire for 30 days, during which the parties will discuss a permanent ceasefire, said Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff.

He said in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Saturday night that the ultimate goal was a 30-day ceasefire, during which they would discuss a permanent ceasefire. He explained that they were close to that, but the 30-day ceasefire was necessary to figure out the conditions on the battlefield, which is why he started with Kursk.

Witkoff, following US President Donald Trump, claims that part of the Ukrainian military in Kursk region is surrounded, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have repeatedly denied this.

Trump's special envoy denied the idea that the conversation between Trump and Putin was unsuccessful. According to Witkoff, the agreement reached on a ceasefire on energy infrastructure, to which Ukraine also agreed, is a big step forward.

He added that in addition to the situation in Kursk region, there is a 2,000 km border between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, where 70-90 clashes take place in one way or another, and it is necessary to discuss the conditions for their cessation.

The special envoy noted that he does not want to seem like an eternal optimist, but he is very optimistic that the United States will be able to reconcile both sides.
Yash announces a new release date for Toxic starring Kiara Advani; Read to know more

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AAI team to assess sites for Bengaluru's second airport in April

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Maryam Farooqui is Senior Correspondent at Moneycontrol covering media and entertainment, travel and hospitality. She has 11 years of experience in reporting.

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How India's favourite soft drink brand is better equipped than rivals to beat Trump's tariff threats

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Air Force: 100 out of 179 enemy UAVs shot down overnight, 63 lost in location

Photo: https://www.facebook.com/GeneralStaff.ua/

Last night, units of the Defense Forces shot down 100 enemy UAVs, 63 imitator drones were lost in location, the press service of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported.

"As of 08:30, the shooting down of 100 Shahed attack UAVs and drones of other types in the south, north and center of the country has been confirmed," the report said.

In particular, 63 enemy imitator drones were lost in location (without negative consequences).

It is noted that on the night of March 22 (from 19:30 on March 21), the enemy attacked with 179 Shahed attack UAVs and simulator drones of various types from the directions: Millerovo, Primorsko-Akhtarsk - Russia, and Chauda - Crimea.

The air attack was repelled by aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare units and mobile fire groups of the Air Force and Defense Forces of Ukraine.

Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Sumy and Kyiv regions were affected by the Russian attack.
8 years of Yogi government: UP CM re-defined politics through Hindutva and people-centric governance

Sonalee Borgohain

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Assault case: They treat us like second grade citizens, think Army is nothing, says Colonels wife on Punjab Police

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Comply with local laws and regulations, says MEA as Indian students in US detained, self-deported

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Ukraine can rely on the Czech Republic, which will continue its assistance during the war and intends to contribute to the reconstruction of the country after its end, said Czech President Petr Pavel, who is on an official visit to Kyiv.

"I am proud of the Czech support for Ukraine. The Czechs are not only supplying medical supplies, weapons and mobile drone jammers, but are also helping to preserve Ukraine's cultural heritage. I have come to Ukraine to emphasise that, even at a time of dynamic change, Czech support remains, will continue and that we intend to contribute to the country's post-war reconstruction," wrote Pavel on X on Friday.

According to him, he assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine can rely on the Czech Republic. "Together, therefore, we signed a declaration on strategic partnership in Kiev today, in which the Czech Republic committed itself to further deepening cooperation or to supporting Ukraine's path towards the European Union. We are with you," Pavel wrote.
Delimitation should be done, but in a fair manner, says Sule

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Held my hands, grabbed neck: NIT Silchar professor arrested following complaint of molestation by student

Smriti Mishra

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India lodges protest against China's claim of 'new counties' in Ladakh: Never accepted illegal occupation

Smriti Mishra

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Only Hindus should be employed at Tirumala temple, others will be transferred: Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu

Smriti Mishra

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China confident in prospects of China-Japan-ROK cooperation: Wang Yi

Xinhua) 09:12, March 22, 2025

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (2nd R), also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attends Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (2nd L)'s meeting with foreign ministers from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in Tokyo, Japan, on March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)

TOKYO, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China attaches great importance to cooperation among China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK), and is confident in it, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Friday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while attending Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's meeting in Tokyo with foreign ministers from China, Japan and the ROK.

Wang said that China-Japan-ROK cooperation started early, achieved many results and has great potential, and has played an important role in enhancing mutual understanding and mutually beneficial cooperation among them.

There is a saying in all three countries that goes "A nearby neighbor is better than a distant relative," Wang said, adding in the face of a world that is becoming increasingly unstable and uncertain, the proverb, full of oriental wisdom, highlights the significance of their cooperation.

China-Japan-ROK relations develop further, regional peace and stability will be further guaranteed. Their cooperation deepens further, countries in the region will be better able to respond to various external challenges, Wang said.

Noting this year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the global war against fascism, Wang stressed that only by holding correct perceptions of history can we better build the future.

Wang said China is willing to work with Japan and the ROK to establish a correct view of World War II history, uphold multilateralism, safeguard the core role of the United Nations in the international system, and continuously promote cooperation and make respective contributions to regional and world peace and prosperity.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (2nd L, Front), also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attends Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (2nd R, Front)'s meeting with foreign ministers from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in Tokyo, Japan, on March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
China extends anti-dumping duties on resorcinol imports from Japan

Xinhua) 15:06, March 22, 2025

BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Commerce said Saturday that it will continue to impose anti-dumping duties on resorcinol imports from Japan for another five years, starting from Sunday.

China will continue to levy a 40.5-percent tariff on resorcinol imported from Japan, the ministry said in a statement.

The decision was made following a sunset review initiated in March 2024 at the request of China's resorcinol industry. The review concluded that if anti-dumping measures are terminated, the dumping of imported resorcinol from Japan may continue or recur, potentially causing continued or renewed harm to the domestic industry, the ministry said.

Under the extended measures, the duty rate remains unchanged from those set in 2013 and 2019.

Resorcinol, or m-dihydroxybenzene, is an essential component used to manufacture tires and other fiber-reinforced rubber goods.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
China held informal talks in Brussels about joining the "Coalition of the Willing," which is forming a peacekeeping contingent to be sent to Ukraine, Die Welt reports, announcing the material with reference to diplomatic sources in the Sunday supplement of Welt am Sonntag.

"Diplomats from Beijing have appealed to the EU with a request to participate in the peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine. There is hope that China's participation in the mission will influence Russia," the newspaper notes.

China, Die Welt wrote on Saturday, is apparently considering the possibility of participating in a possible peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine. Chinese diplomats in Brussels have expressed their opinion on whether such a step is possible and perhaps even desirable from the European point of view... According to diplomatic circles in Brussels: "China's involvement in the 'Coalition of the Willing' could increase the likelihood that Russia will agree to the deployment of peacekeeping troops into Ukraine." In any case, however, this is a "delicate" issue, the publication writes.

Die Welt recalls that French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a new summit of supporters of Ukraine for next Thursday. "We will hold a summit of the coalition of the willing next Thursday," Macron said on Thursday evening after the EU summit in Brussels. "The goal for me on Thursday is, above all, a renewed and clear and perhaps a slightly more specific commitment to support Ukraine in the short term," he said

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also take part in the summit in Paris, Macron added. Both Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are ready to deploy peacekeeping troops in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv - an idea that Russia has so far strongly rejected.
ChatGPT falsely claims man murdered his sons, he files complaint against OpenAI. What is AI hallucination?

Shubhi Mishra

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Shubhi Mishra

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Shaurya Shubham

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Man accused of killing his own children by ChatGPT, files complaint against OpenAI

Ankita Chakravarti is a seasoned journalist with nearly a decade of experience in media. She specializes in technology and lifestyle journalism. She has worked with top Indian media houses like India Today, Zee News, The Statesman, and Millennium Post. Her expertise spans tech trends, phone launches, gadget reviews, and entertainment news. Ankita holds a Master's in Journalism and Mass Communication along with a degree in English Literature. She can be reached out at ankita.chakravarti@nw18.com

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MC Tech Desk Read the latest and trending tech newsstay updated on AI, gadgets, cybersecurity, software updates, smartphones, blockchain, space tech, and the future of innovation.

Invite your friends and family to sign up for MC Tech 3, our daily newsletter that breaks down the biggest tech and startup stories of the day

Ankita Chakravarti

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Pete Hegseth to fly to Philippines, Japan in first visit to Asian treaty allies at odds with China

101Reporters

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Trump offers to pay Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore for overtime: 'Out of my own pocket'

Sonalee Borgohain

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Under threat from Trump, Columbia University agrees to policy changes

Sonalee Borgohain

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Photo: https://www.facebook.com/RedCrossUkraine

The Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) worked at a location that was affected by a night Russian UAV attack on Zaporizhia.

"Volunteers of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society rapid response team in Zaporizhia region, together with other rescue services, worked at the site of the shelling," the URCS reported on Facebook on Saturday.

The volunteers provided first aid and psychological assistance to the victims. Together with rescuers from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, they participated in clearing the rubble and unblocking the bodies of the deceased.

As reported, as a result of another Russian UAV attack on Zaporizhia, three people were killed, including one child, and 12 more were injured, residential buildings, non-residential structures, and transport were destroyed, and fires broke out.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 22. I express my gratitude for the humanitarian aid that Azerbaijan once again sends to Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz Ambassador to Azerbaijan Maksat Mamytkanov told reporters during the shipment of material and technical aid by Azerbaijan's Ministry of Emergency Situations to Kyrgyzstan, Trend reports.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the leadership of the Republic of Azerbaijan represented by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, also to the leadership of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Azerbaijani people for this humanitarian aid that Azerbaijan is once again sending to Kyrgyzstan. This is true proof that the ties between our brotherly nations are getting stronger and will only get stronger in the future. This is a pledge of the political course that our leaders have defined in order to create the necessary conditions for further strengthening of our Turkic brotherhood, he said.

The ambassador noted that this assistance is important for Kyrgyzstan.

Because in spring we usually have a lot of mudslides everywhere, various emergencies, so this equipment will be very useful to the country and especially to strengthen the material and technical base of our emergency forces, he added.
Golden Mussel -- STF photo View Photo

Sonora, CA  Stanislaus National Forest is warning boaters to exercise extreme caution/diligence after the Golden Mussel was discovered on watercraft in California last year.

This alert comes as other agencies have also cautioned about the spread of the highly invasive mussel. We reported in February that recreational boating was closed on Lake Tulloch due to the invasive mussel threat. Before that, on December 7th, the Bureau of Reclamation temporarily suspended all boat launches at New Melones Lake after golden mussels were discovered in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta last year.

Golden mussels (Limnoperna fortunei) range from  inches to 2 inches in size and have a light to dark yellowish-brown or brown-colored shell. According to forest officials, the non-native freshwater/brackish bivalve, which can thrive in a variety of environmental circumstances, is a threat to the states water delivery infrastructure and ecosystem. They were first discovered in North America in October 2024 when the California Department of Water Resources staff conducted routine water quality monitoring in the Port of Stockton; the golden mussels quickly spread and were discovered during a state water project at the Merced County at ONeill Forebay Reservoir.

The forest is urging visitors to area waterways to take extra precautions to ensure their watercraft is free of the highly invasive species. Forest officials provided these tips to remember when recreating:

Clean off aquatic plants and animal material from your boat, trailer, and equipment before leaving the ramp or parking lot.

Drain ballast, bilge, live-wells, and other water-containing devices, and never drain back into the waterway.

Dry equipment before launching into another body of water. As waiting periods vary, check with the waterbody owner on their watercraft inspection criteria.

Golden mussels may grow plentifully and are quickly dispersed to other water bodies, making them challenging to manage once populations have been established. Forest officials say that being on the lookout for these damaging intruders is crucial. They disclose that if left unchecked, they can:

Alter aquatic ecosystems by filter-feeding on planktonic algae and changing the habitat structure

Impact water delivery systems by clogging small-diameter pipelines, screens, and filters

Impact recreation by fouling boat hulls and motors and clogging intakes and cooling lines

Learn more about the Golden Mussel by clicking here.
Photo: Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Turkmenistan

BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 22. As part of the tree-planting campaign at the Berzengi Sanatorium in Turkmenistan, the traditional World Cuisine competition was held, Trend reports.

Diplomatic representatives of various countries and international organizations attended the event organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.

Azerbaijan was represented in this event by the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Turkmenistan.

This was reported by the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Turkmenistan.

According to the reports, samples of national cuisine, ancient traditions, samples of decoration and art, and the main features of Nowruz were displayed in the Azerbaijan pavilion.

The participants showed great interest in Azerbaijani culture and the guests were served dishes of national cuisine.

President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, together with state officials, visited the Azerbaijan stand.

The Azerbaijani Embassy was presented with a certificate for its special participation in the event.

The representatives of the Embassy of Azerbaijan talked about the common values of Nowruz Bayram and said that this holiday is a symbol of peace, friendship, and unity.
Yves here. Oddly, this post skips over the original sin of the relationship of social media platforms with free speech which is their Section 230 exemption. That makes them not liable for content posted on their sites on based on the patently bogus premise that they are ginormous but neutral chatboards. But as we know, these players not on censor content, but amplify and muffle it depending on owner and advertiser preferences. By contrast, small publishers are liable for comments if they moderate them, which is a necessity in this world of wide-spread trolling and bots.

By Yasmin Curzi de Mendonca, Research associate, University of Virginia and Camille Grenier, Associated Expert at the Technology and Global Affairs Innovation Hub, Sciences Po.

Originally published at The Conversation

Social media platforms tend not to be that bothered by national boundaries.

Take X, for example. Users of what was once called Twitter span the globe, with its 600 millions-plus active accountsdotted across nearly every country. And each of those jurisdictions has its own laws.

But the interests of national regulatory efforts and that of predominantly U.S.-based technology companies often dont align. While many governments have sought to impose oversight mechanisms to address problems such as disinformation, online extremism and manipulation, these initiatives have been met with corporate resistance, political interference and legal challenges invoking free speech as a shield against regulation.

What is brewing is a global struggle over digital platform governance. And in this battle, U.S. platforms are increasingly leaning on American laws to challenge other nations regulations. It is, we believe as experts on digital law one an executive director of a forum monitoring how countries implement democratic principles  a form of digital imperialism.

A Rumble in the Tech Jungle

The latest manifestation of this phenomenon occurred in February 2025, when new tensions emerged between Brazils judiciary and U.S.-based social media platforms.

Trump Media & Technology Group and Rumble filed a lawsuit in the U.S. against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, challenging his orders to suspend accounts on the two platforms linked to disinformation campaigns in Brazil.

The case follows earlier unsuccessful efforts by Elon Musks X to resist similar Brazilian rulings.

Together, the cases exemplify a growing trend in which U.S. political and corporate actors attempt to undermine foreign regulatory authority by pressing the case that domestic U.S. law and corporate protections should take precedence over sovereign policies globally.

From Corporate Lobbying to Lawfare

At the core of the dispute is Allan dos Santos, a right-wing Brazilian influencer and fugitive from justice who fled to the U.S. in 2021 after De Moraes ordered his preventive arrest for allegedly coordinating disinformation networks and inciting violence.

Dos Santos has continued his online activities abroad. Brazils extradition requests have gone unanswered due to claimsby U.S. authorities that the case involves issues of free speech rather than criminal offenses.

Trump Media and Rumbles lawsuit attempts to do two things. First, it seeks to frame Brazils judicial actions as censorship rather than oversight. And second, it seeks to portray the Brazilian court action as territorial overreach.

Their position is that as the target of the action was in the U.S., they are subject to U.S. free speech protections under the First Amendment. The fact that the subject of the ban was Brazilian and is accused of spreading disinformation and hate in Brazil should not, they argue, matter.

For now, U.S. courts agree. In late February, a Florida-based judge ruled that Rumble and Trump Media need not comply with the Brazilian order.

Big Tech Pushback to Regulation

The case signals an important shift in the contest over platform accountability  a move from corporate lobbying and political pressure to direct legal intervention in foreign jurisdictions. U.S. courts are now being used to challenge overseas decisions regarding platform accountability.

The outcome and the broader legal strategy behind the lawsuit could have far-reaching implications not only for Brazil but for any country or region  such as the European Union  attempting to regulate online spaces.

The resistance against digital regulation predates the Trump administration.

In Brazil, efforts to regulate social media platforms have long faced substantial opposition. Big Tech companies  including Google, Meta and X  have used their economic and political influence to lobby against tighter regulation, often framing such policies as a threat to free expression.

In 2020, the Brazilian Fake News Bill, which sought to hold platforms accountable for the spread of disinformation, was met with strong opposition from these companies.

Google and Meta launched high-profile campaigns to oppose the bill, warning it would threaten free speech and harm small businesses. Google placed banners on its Brazilian homepage urging users to reject the legislation, while Meta ran advertisements questioning its implications for the digital economy.

These efforts, alongside lobbying and political resistance, were successful in helping to delay and weaken the regulatory framework.

Mixing Corporate and Political Power

The difference now is that challenges are blurring the line between the corporate and the political.

Trump Media was 53% owned by the U.S. president before he moved his stake into a revocable trust in December 2024. Elon Musk, the free speech fundamentalist owner of X, is a de facto member of the Trump administration.

Their ascent to power has coincided with the First Amendment being wielded as a shield against foreign regulations on digital platforms.

Free speech protections in the U.S. have been applied unequally, allowing authorities to suppress dissent in some caseswhile shielding hateful speech in others.

This imbalance extends to corporate power, with decades of legal precedent expanding protections for private interests. The case law cemented corporate speech protections, a logic later extended to digital platforms.

U.S. free speech advocates in Big Tech and the U.S. government are seemingly escalating this trend to an even more extreme interpretation: that American free speech arguments can be deployed to resist the regulation of other jurisdictions and challenge foreign legal frameworks.

For instance, in response to the European Unions Digital Services Act, U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, expressed concerns that the act could threaten American free speech principles.

Such an argument may have been fine if the same interpretation of free speech  and its appropriate protections  were universally accepted. But they are not.

The concept of free speech varies significantly across nations and regions.

Countries such as Brazil, Germany, France and others adopt what legal experts refer to as a proportionality-based approach to free speech, balancing it against other fundamental rights such as human dignity, democratic integrity and public order.

Sovereign countries using this approach recognize freedom of expression as a fundamental and preferential right. But they also acknowledge that certain restrictions are necessary to protect democratic institutions, marginalized communities, public health and the informational ecosystem from harms.

While the U.S. imposes some limits on speech  such as defamation laws and protection against incitement to imminent lawless action  the First Amendment is generally far more expansive than in other democracies.

The Future of Digital Governance

The legal battle over platform regulation is not confined to the current battle between U.S.-based platforms and Brazil. The EUs Digital Services Act and the Online Safety Act in the United Kingdom are other examples of governments trying to assert control over platforms operating within their borders.

As such, the lawsuit by Trump Media and Rumble against the Brazilian Supreme Court signals a critical moment in global geopolitics.

U.S. tech giants, such as Meta, are bending to the free speech winds coming out of the Trump administration. Musk, the owner of X, has given support to far-right groups overseas.

And this overlap in the policy priorities of social media platforms and the political interests of the U.S. administration opens a new era in the deregulation debate in which U.S. free speech absolutists are seeking to establish legal precedents that might challenge the future of other nations regulatory efforts.

As countries continue to develop regulatory frameworks for digital governance  for instance, AI regulation imposing stricter governance rules in Brazil and in the EU  the legal, economic and political strategies platforms employ to challenge oversight mechanisms will play a crucial role in determining the future balance between corporate influence and the rule of law.
The Financial Times today has an important tidbit that provides yet more confirmation of why no one, particularly Russia, should try to enter into a deal with Trump. Even by the staggering standards of US/Collective West duplicity, Trump stands apart.

As the pink paper reports, the Administration still has not signed the minerals pact with Ukraine, even though that was a commitment agreed in the US-Ukraine talks in Riyadh on March 11. Recall Zelensky was in Riyadh and it could have easily been executed then. Some commenters volunteered it was odd that it wasnt.

One of the real no-nos of negotiating is what is called retrading a deal as in trying to reopen settled terms. It is proof of bad faith. The only way to make it somewhat acceptable is to do all of 1. Grovel like crazy; 2. Explain why Shit Happened so that you need a change in the provisions; 3. Offer a concession in return for what amounts to a waiver in the original deal.

On top of thatin the You cant make this up category, Trumps team is retrading its own deal! Recall Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant first arrived in Kiev to muscle Zelensky into signing an agreement right there on the spot, an already brazen move, when the proposal was miles apart from what Zelensky had offered, Ukraine resources in return for security guarantees. Trump and Bessant were taking the minerals without giving anything in return. The terms were supposedly somewhat softened, but the scheme remained essentially, The US takes and Ukraine gets squat (well save perhaps Zelensky not being pressured to leave, though that was never made explicit. And most would contend that Zelensky remaining in his post is another negative for Ukraine).

So now Team Trump is worsening its own proposal. for sport?

Now one can argue that Trump is merely jerking around Zelensky because he can. But even that as a behavior in geopolitics, as opposed to getting revenge on an ex-business partners or spouse, shows extreme emotional immaturity taking precedence over sensible and productive arrangements. Remember, this isnt just a bad look. Its a waste of time only for the sake of giving Trump some jollies. And is has the considerable downside of showing Russia yet more layers of Trumps out-of-control grandiosity.

As for the substance, its even worse than general take above suggests, since if Trump were to get what he wants, it would at least complicate and potentially poison any settlement with Russia. We warned of that from the get-go when the minerals agreement idea became somewhat serious. Many (most?) of the valuable mineral deposits like in the areas of Ukraine that Russia claims and no way, no how is going to ceded. Putin swatted back initial Trump noises about the US position by saying of course the US could help develop themas Russia has sometimes allowed oil majors to do in Russia.

Despite Ukraine officials saying they are willing to sign the deal, Zelensky has already rejected letting the US own or otherwise control its nuclear power plants. And surely Trump knows the biggest is the Zaporzhizhia facility, now in Russia hands and in territory Russia has annexed.

From the Russian perspective, this is not an asset that Ukraine could trade to the US even if it wanted to. But even the subhead of the Financial Times account says otherwise: Trump administration wants to include nuclear plant under Russian control in broader economic agreement.:

From the Financial Times:

Washington wants Kyiv to agree to detailed provisions about who owns and controls a joint investment fund, and to a broader scope, potentially covering US ownership of other economic assets such as Ukraines nuclear power plants, two Ukrainian officials said. This would amount to a reopening of the yet unsigned minerals deal hatched days before presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy fell out in public at the White House. Trump and Zelenskyy on a call this week discussed Ukraines electrical supply and nuclear power plants, according to an account of the call from secretary of state Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz. [President Trump] said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise, the summary added, with US ownership offering the best protection for Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy told the FT during an online briefing with reporters on Wednesday that he had discussed with Trump just one nuclear facility: the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europes largest. However, the deal  which Kyiv regarded as satisfactory  remains unsigned as both sides navigate complex negotiations involving broader economic and security matters, said Ukrainian and US officials.

We are ready to sign it, said a senior Ukrainian official close to Zelenskyy. It will be strange to ignore it. Two senior Ukrainian officials involved in negotiations with the US over Ukraines mineral resources said the Trump administration had not yet presented Kyiv with new terms. But I realise that . . . theyre working on a bigger agreement, said one of the officials, who, like the others, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

Remember nothing has been concluded yet, so this could be more reflexive Trump behavior of trying to create more options whether they have value or not.

But unless Trump is trying to pre-position another excuse for the Ukraine negotiations failing, this looks like yet another instance of Trumps mode of operation: All tactics and no strategy is the noise before the defeat.
Beneath the sands of Giza: Groundbreaking discovery finds ancient UNDERGROUND CITY linked to the legendary AMENTI

 A vast underground city beneath the Giza Plateau has been discovered using cutting-edge satellite radar technology.

 The city, linked to the legendary Amenti, is described in ancient texts as a repository of universal knowledge and spiritual transformation.

 The discovery was made possible through Doppler tomography, a groundbreaking technique developed by Professor Filippo Biondi.

 The findings could redefine our understanding of ancient Egypts sacred topography and its advanced technological capabilities.

 A multidisciplinary team of experts, including Egyptologists, radar specialists, and forensic analysts, collaborated on the project.

Underground city discovered two kilometers deep

In a stunning revelation that could rewrite the history books, researchers have uncovered a sprawling underground city beneath the Giza Plateau, believed to be the legendary Amenti  a place long shrouded in myth and mystery. This discovery, announced by the CAFRA Project, was made possible through advanced satellite radar imaging and a revolutionary technique known as Doppler tomography. The findings, which include intricate networks of tunnels, chambers, and corridors, suggest that the ancient Egyptians possessed knowledge and technology far beyond what modern historians have previously acknowledged. The project found structures of civilization up to two kilometers deep inside the Earth.

The announcement, delivered by the Head of Communications for the CAFRA Project, marks a pivotal moment in archaeology. This extraordinary achievement has been made possible through the processing of SAR data obtained from Capella Space satellites, the spokesperson stated. The uniqueness of this discovery lies not only in its immense historical and archaeological significance but also in the innovative method employed.

The technology behind the discovery

The use of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology, combined with Doppler tomography, has allowed researchers to create detailed three-dimensional reconstructions of the underground structures. This non-invasive approach, developed by Professor Filippo Biondi, has revealed a labyrinthine network extending several kilometers beneath the surface. Thanks to ultra-high azimuth resolution radar imaging achieved through specialized spotlight acquisitions with long Doppler integration, we have been able to extract precise acoustic information, the spokesperson explained.

This technological leap has enabled archaeologists to map the subterranean city without the need for invasive excavations, preserving the integrity of the site while uncovering its secrets. The discovery also highlights the potential for space technology to revolutionize archaeology, offering new ways to explore ancient sites that were previously inaccessible.

The discovery of the underground city is the result of a collaborative effort by a team of internationally renowned experts. Dr. Nicole Ciccolo, a forensic handwriting specialist, played a crucial role in deciphering ancient symbols found at the site. Dr. Armando May, an Egyptologist, contributed his expertise in pre-civilization studies, while Professor Corrado Malanga, head of the research project, provided insights into the metaphysical aspects of the discovery.

This discovery marks a groundbreaking step in our understanding of ancient Egypt and its deep infrastructural relationship with the subterranean world, the spokesperson noted. It could lead to unprecedented revelations about the civilization that built the entire architectural complex, including the pyramids, which now appear to be just the tip of the iceberg of a colossal and hidden project.

The implications for ancient Egyptian history

The discovery of the underground city challenges conventional narratives about ancient Egypts technological and spiritual capabilities. The pyramids, long thought to be mere tombs for pharaohs, may have served a more complex purpose, potentially functioning as part of a larger, interconnected system. The findings suggest that the ancient Egyptians may have used advanced acoustic and hydraulic technologies, with the pyramids acting as resonators or energy conduits.

The pyramids of the Giza Plateau present spatial indentations that tend to divide them in two with respect to the axes of central symmetry, the researchers noted. This suggests that the structures were designed to interact with natural forces, such as water and sound, in ways that we are only beginning to understand.

The discovery also raises questions about the origins of human civilization. Could the ancient Egyptians have inherited knowledge from an even older, more advanced society? The existence of the underground city, with its intricate design and alignment with ancient myths, hints at a deeper, more profound history waiting to be uncovered.

Research to continue

The CAFRA Project plans to continue its research throughout 2025, with updates shared through official documentation and scientific publications. Two exclusive conferences are scheduled for March 2025, where the research team will present their findings in detail. The overwhelming public interest in the discovery has already led to sold-out events, underscoring the global fascination with ancient Egypt and its mysteries.

As researchers delve deeper into the secrets of the underground city, one thing is clear: this discovery is just the beginning. The sands of Giza, long thought to have yielded all their secrets, continue to reveal astonishing truths about humanitys past.

As we stand on the brink of a new era in archaeology, one cannot help but wonder: what other secrets lie buried beneath the sands of time? Were B.C. civilizations far more advanced at certain points in history? Could the discovery of the underground city beneath Giza be the key to unlocking the mysteries of our ancient past  and perhaps, our future?

Sources include:

X.com

MDPI.com

Enoch, Brighteon.ai
Jimmy Kimmel faces backlash for justifying Tesla vandalism, Musk calls him an unfunny jerk

Jimmy Kimmel faces backlash for joking about vandalism and arson attacks on Tesla dealerships, drawing criticism from Elon Musk and others.

Kimmels sarcastic remarks during his monologue were accused of encouraging destructive behavior rather than condemning it.

Elon Musk called Kimmel an unfunny jerk and labeled the attacks on Tesla as domestic terrorism.

Critics, including CNNs Scott Jennings, accused Kimmel of inciting violence and promoting liberal hypocrisy.

The attacks on Tesla endanger lives, harm the environment, and threaten American jobs and innovation.

ABCs Jimmy Kimmel Live! host Jimmy Kimmel has come under fire for seemingly justifying a recent wave of vandalism and arson attacks targeting Tesla dealerships and vehicles across the country.

During his monologue this week, Kimmel made light of the violent incidents, sparking outrage from critics, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who called Kimmel an unfunny jerk. Even CNN commentator Scott Jennings accused Kimmel of giving marching orders to his left-leaning audience to engage in destructive behavior.

The controversy comes amid a string of attacks on Tesla properties, including a Molotov cocktail attack at a Las Vegas service center that left five vehicles destroyed. Kimmels remarks, which included sarcastic quips about Teslas declining stock and Musks leadership, have been widely criticized as irresponsible and politically motivated.

Kimmels troubling remarks

During his Tuesday night show, Kimmel joked about the recent vandalism, saying with a heavy overtone of sarcasm, People have been vandalizing Tesla vehicles. New Tesla vehicles. Please, dont vandalize. Dont ever vandalize Tesla vehicles. The comment, delivered with a long pause and a smirk, was met with laughter from his studio audience. Critics argue that Kimmels tone and timing appeared to encourage, rather than condemn, the destructive acts.

Kimmel doubled down on Wednesday, referencing the Las Vegas attack and sarcastically remarking, Burning a car might not be great for the environment. I dont think thats what they had in mind when they invented the electric car. He also mocked Musks response to the violence, in which the Tesla CEO expressed confusion over the hostility directed at his company.

Well, let me see if I can explain it for you, Kimmel said. When you pull out a chainsaw to celebrate firing thousands of people, they get mad. The comment referenced a moment at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) where Musk was gifted a chainsaw by Argentinas President Javier Milei, symbolizing cuts to government spending.

Musk fires back, CNN joins criticism

Elon Musk responded to Kimmels remarks on X, calling the late-night host an unfunny jerk. Musk has been vocal about the attacks on Tesla, describing them as domestic terrorism during an interview with Fox News Sean Hannity. I thought the left, you know, Democrats, were supposed to be the party of empathy, the party of caring, Musk said. And yet theyre burning down cars. Theyre firebombing dealerships. Theyre firing bullets into dealerships.

Even CNNs Scott Jennings criticized Kimmel, accusing him of inciting violence. The message from the American Left to conservatives is unmistakable: silence yourselves, or we will do it for you. This isnt comedy  these are marching orders, Jennings wrote on X.

A shining example of liberal hypocrisy

Kimmels comments have highlighted a troubling trend of hypocrisy among some on the left, who claim to champion environmentalism and social justice while seemingly condoning acts of violence that endanger lives and harm the environment. Arson attacks on electric vehicles, ironically, release toxic fumes and contribute to pollution, while also putting firefighters and first responders at risk.

Moreover, the attacks on Tesla have broader implications for American jobs and innovation. Tesla is a major employer in the U.S., and the companys success has been a driving force in the transition to sustainable energy. By targeting Tesla, vandals are not only undermining American industry but also jeopardizing the livelihoods of thousands of workers.

Jimmy Kimmels remarks are a reminder of the dangers of using "humor" to trivialize violence. His comments have crossed a line, and the backlash from both sides of the political spectrum underscores the need for accountability. Violence is never the answer, and its time for leaders in media and politics to condemn such acts unequivocally. As Tesla continues to face these attacks, its clear that the real victims are not just Elon Musk or his company, but the American workers and communities that depend on its success.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

NYPost.com

FoxNews.com
Illinois congressman calls for bipartisan action to address toxic metals in baby food

Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi is urging U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to address the presence of toxic heavy metals in baby food through a bipartisan effort.

Krishnamoorthi criticized the FDA for failing to act on findings from a 2021 report that revealed dangerously high levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury in baby food. He highlighted the FDA's failure to set enforceable limits or take meaningful steps to reduce contamination, leaving parents concerned about their children's health.

Krishnamoorthi expressed support for the "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) agenda, emphasizing the need to improve the nation's food supply by eliminating contaminants in baby food.

Recent studies and lawsuits have exposed alarming levels of heavy metals and pesticides in baby food. For example, a 2022 investigation found neonicotinoid pesticides linked to neurological disorders, while lawsuits allege that contaminated products caused autism in children.

Parents and advocates are calling for stricter regulations and transparency in the baby food industry, underscoring the urgent need for systemic reforms to protect children's health.

Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi is urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to join a bipartisan effort to tackle the alarming presence of toxic heavy metals in baby food.

In a letter sent to Kennedy, Krishnamoorthi requested a briefing to develop a "strategic, evidence-based plan" to address the issue, which he says has been neglected for years. (Related: Baby food industry knowingly poisons infants with heavy metals  investigation.)

The push comes after a 2021 U.S. House of Representatives staff report, co-authored by Krishnamoorthi, revealed that some baby foods contained lead at levels up to 177 times higher than the permissible amount for drinking water. The report also highlighted the presence of other toxic metals, such as arsenic, cadmium and mercury, in products intended for infants and young children.

Krishnamoorthi criticized the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for failing to take meaningful action. "In the four years since my investigation, FDA has failed to promptly finalize action levels for toxic heavy metals, such as arsenic, cadmium and mercury, in foods intended for infants and young children... FDA has continually pushed back its own deadlines and caused parents across the country to worry about their babies' exposure to toxic heavy metals. FDA has not only failed to remove heavy metals from baby food but even to take incremental steps to move closer to this goal," Krishnamoorthi wrote.

He then called on Kennedy to "urge the future FDA commissioner to take on baby food safety as one of the agency's top priorities."

The letter also referenced the "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) agenda, a policy initiative that seeks to address factors contributing to the chronic disease epidemic in the U.S. Krishnamoorthi expressed support for the agenda's goals, particularly its focus on improving the nation's food supply.

"While we disagree on many things, I trust that you will agree with me that one vitally important way to accomplish that goal is to improve the nations food supply, starting by eliminating contaminants in mass produced baby food," he wrote.

Krishnamoorthi's letter requested a written response from Kennedy and called for a briefing to discuss the next steps.

Studies expose alarming levels of heavy metals and pesticides in baby food

The claims of Krishnamoorthi have been supported by several studies.

For instance, in January 2023, the FDA introduced its first-ever guidelines for lead levels in baby foods due to high levels of toxic metals, recommending that manufacturers limit lead to no more than 10 parts per billion in certain products. However, these guidelines are not enforceable, leaving child food safety advocates disappointed.

The issue extends beyond heavy metals.

A 2022 investigation by Friends of the Earth found alarming levels of neonicotinoid pesticides, linked to birth defects and neurological disorders like autism, in baby food sold by Target. Additionally, research by Healthy Babies, Bright Futures revealed that nearly all U.S. baby foods, whether store-bought or homemade, contain detectable amounts of toxic heavy metals that can impair brain development.

Legal action is also mounting against baby food manufacturers.

In 2023, a mother filed a lawsuit against Beech-Nut, Gerber and Walmart, alleging that her child developed autism after consuming their products, which were found to contain high levels of toxic metals. Several other class action lawsuits are pending in federal courts, accusing manufacturers of selling contaminated products that have harmed childrens health.

As parents and advocates demand stricter regulations and greater transparency, the findings underscore the urgent need for systemic reforms to ensure the safety of baby food products.

Follow CleanFoodWatch.com for more stories on contaminated food sold in groceries.

Watch the video below to learn more about toxic substances in baby food.

This video is from The HighWire with Del Bigtree channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Baby food companies are exposing your children to heavy metals, warns congressional report and Consumer Reports: Beech-Nut, Gerber and more knowingly keep problematic products on the market.

Nestle's baby food brands sold in developing countries contain high levels of added sugar.

FDA proposes limiting lead levels in processed baby food for the very first time.

Lawsuit claiming heavy metals in baby food are causing autism and ADHD given green light to proceed.

Sources include:

TheDefender.org

OversightDemocrats.House.gov

Brighteon.com
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem vows to hunt down swatters targeting conservative media figures

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem pledges to pursue perpetrators of swatting attacks targeting conservative media figures, calling the incidents "cowardly" and dangerous.

Over a dozen high-profile conservatives have been victimized since March 11, with false emergency calls endangering lives and straining law enforcement.

Victims include InfoWars reporter Chase Geiser, radio host Joe Pagliarulo, and journalist Nick Sortor, with many describing traumatic experiences.

Swatting, a form of digital terrorism, has previously led to fatalities, including a 2017 Kansas incident and a recent Tennessee death.

Bipartisan efforts are underway to impose harsher penalties, with a proposed bill threatening up to 20 years in prison for swatting-related injuries or deaths.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has vowed to hunt these cowards down following a disturbing wave of swatting incidents targeting conservative media personalities. More than a dozen high-profile conservatives have been victimized in just over a week, with coordinated attacks beginning on March 11.

These dangerous hoaxes, which involve false emergency calls to law enforcement, have put lives at risk and sparked outrage across the political spectrum. Noems promise of decisive action underscores the severity of the situation and the federal governments commitment to protecting free speech and public safety.

A coordinated wave of terror

The string of swatting incidents began on March 11, when InfoWars reporter Chase Geiser was handcuffed at gunpoint outside his home after police received a false report claiming he had threatened to kill his family. Geiser described the harrowing experience in a social media post, recounting how officers used a PA system to order him out of his house. I was handcuffed in the middle of the street, presumably at gunpoint, though I couldnt tell because of the light being shined on my face, he wrote.

The attacks have continued unabated. Conservative radio host Joe Pags Pagliarulo was awoken at 2 a.m. by armed deputies responding to a fabricated hostage situation at his Texas home. Pagliarulo, who described the incident as heart-stopping, said the caller claimed someone was bleeding out upstairs and urged police to hurry and get inside.

Similarly, independent journalist Nick Sortor and his family were targeted after his sister received a menacing email. Other victims include conservative commentators Gunther Eagleman, Shawn Farash, and Mike Engleman. These incidents have left families traumatized and law enforcement stretched thin.

Noems firm response

Secretary Noem has taken a hardline stance against the perpetrators, emphasizing that such attacks endanger not only the victims but also law enforcement officers. Under President Trumps leadership, we will not sit idly by as conservative new media and their families are being targeted by false swatting, Noem stated on X. She highlighted DHSs ability to trace phone numbers and track location information, vowing to use these tools to bring the culprits to justice.

The DHSs official X account echoed Noems sentiments, reiterating that swatting is an attack on our law enforcement and innocent families and will be prosecuted accordingly. FBI Director Kash Patel has also joined the effort, calling the rise in swatting incidents alarming and pledging to hold those responsible accountable.

A dangerous trend with deadly consequences

Swatting is not a harmless prank; it is a form of digital terrorism with potentially deadly consequences. In 2017, a swatting incident in Kansas resulted in the death of Andrew Finch, an innocent man shot by police responding to a false report. More recently, a 60-year-old Tennessee man reportedly died of a heart attack after police responded to a swatting call at his home.

The recent wave of attacks appears to be politically motivated, targeting individuals who are vocal supporters of President Donald Trump and conservative causes. Many of the victims have interacted with high-profile figures like Elon Musk on social media, leading some to speculate about the motives behind the attacks.

The swatting epidemic has drawn bipartisan condemnation, with lawmakers introducing legislation to impose harsher penalties on perpetrators. A bill co-sponsored by Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) would impose prison sentences of up to 20 years for swatting calls that result in serious injury or death. Gill described swatting as political terrorism and warned that it could easily lead to tragedy.

Despite the fear and trauma inflicted by these attacks, many victims have vowed to continue speaking out. If the goal is to frighten people into silence, that wont work, said Mat Van Swol, a conservative activist targeted in North Carolina.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

FoxNews.com

CNN.com
Iowa takes on Big Pharma: Bill challenges vaccine makers liability shield

A subcommittee in the Iowa House of Representatives advanced House File 712, which would prohibit the sale and administration of vaccines in the state unless manufacturers waive certain liability protections granted under federal law. The bill specifically targets design defect claims, aiming to hold manufacturers accountable for injuries caused by inherently dangerous vaccine designs.

The bill addresses concerns about the VICP, established under the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which has compensated only 11,671 out of 24,602 claims over three decades. Critics argue the system inadequately serves the public and prioritizes corporate interests over accountability.

The 2011 Supreme Court ruling in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth reinforced vaccine manufacturers' immunity from design defect lawsuits, sparking criticism. Justice Sotomayors dissent highlighted the lack of incentives for manufacturers to improve vaccine designs, a concern echoed by advocates like Kim Mack Rosenberg of Childrens Health Defense.

The bill reflects growing public skepticism toward vaccine mandates and liability protections, fueled by increased access to information and the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2022 Iowa poll showed only 34% support for mandatory school vaccinations, signaling a demand for greater accountability in the pharmaceutical industry.

While supporters argue the bill would restore accountability and improve public trust, opponents warn it could lead to higher costs, reduced vaccine access, and unfounded injury claims. The bill has ignited a broader conversation about balancing corporate responsibility, public health, and individual rights, with potential implications for national vaccine policy.

In a bold move that could reshape the landscape of vaccine accountability, an Iowa House of Representatives subcommittee advanced a bill that would bar the sale and administration of vaccines in the state unless manufacturers waive some of the liability protections granted under federal law. House File 712, introduced by State Rep. Charley Thomson, aims to hold vaccine manufacturers accountable for injuries caused by design defects, a move that has sparked heated debate about corporate responsibility, public health, and individual rights.

The push for accountability

The bill targets a key issue: the liability shield that vaccine manufacturers have enjoyed since the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA). This federal law established the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), a no-fault system designed to compensate individuals injured by vaccines while protecting manufacturers from costly lawsuits. However, critics argue that the system has failed to adequately serve the public, with only 11,671 out of 24,602 adjudicated claims resulting in compensation over the past three decades.

Rep. Thomson, a Republican from Charles City, explained his motivation for introducing the bill: We dont allow it for toaster ovens, for paint, for any one of 10 million different items that people buy in the United States, and we shouldnt allow it for vaccines. If anything, we should maybe be a little more strict with things that are very complicated and are being put into peoples bodies and represented as safe and not poisonous.

The bill specifically addresses design defect claims, which occur when a vaccines inherent designrather than a flaw in its manufacturing or administrationmakes it dangerous. Under current law, vaccine manufacturers are immune from such claims due to a 2011 Supreme Court decision, Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, which reinterpreted the NCVIA to grant blanket liability protection to pharmaceutical companies.

A broken system?

The Bruesewitz case has been a flashpoint for critics of the vaccine injury compensation system. The lawsuit was brought by the parents of Hannah Bruesewitz, who suffered seizures and developmental issues after receiving the DPT vaccine in 1992. After being denied compensation by the VICP, the family sued Wyeth (now Pfizer) in state court, only to have the Supreme Court rule in favor of the manufacturer.

In a scathing dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, accused the majority of misinterpreting the NCVIA and prioritizing corporate interests over public health. Sotomayor wrote, Manufacturers, given the lack of robust competition in the vaccine market, will often have little or no incentive to improve the designs of vaccines that are already generating significant profit margins.

Kim Mack Rosenberg, General Counsel for Childrens Health Defense, echoed this sentiment, calling the Bruesewitz decision devastating for vaccine-injured individuals and their families. Post-Bruesewitz, parties have very limited judicial remedies against the manufacturers, she said. This bill is important from an educational perspective as well. At a minimum, it focuses attention on the extraordinary liability protection enjoyed by vaccine manufacturers.

Public sentiment shifts

The Iowa bill reflects a growing public demand for accountability in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lindsay Mahar of Informed Choice Iowa noted that public support for vaccine mandates and liability protections has shifted significantly in recent years. Social media and the internet have just really helped educate people, get other sources of information besides just what theyre told in the doctors office, she said.

A 2022 Iowa poll found that only 34% of Iowans supported mandatory school vaccinations, underscoring the skepticism surrounding vaccine policies. Mahar added that while pharmaceutical companies and medical associations opposed the bill, it garnered significant public support. If we could just restore accountability, the system would self-correct in a lot of ways, she said.

Not everyone is on board with the proposed legislation. Critics argue that stripping vaccine manufacturers of liability protections could lead to higher costs, reduced access to vaccines and even a withdrawal of vaccines from the Iowa market. Jack Ohringer, a medical student at the University of Iowa, warned that the bill could open the floodgates for unfounded vaccination injury claims, ultimately harming public health.

A broader conversation

While the bills future remains uncertain, its introduction has already sparked a much-needed conversation about accountability, public health and individual rights. Rep. Thomson acknowledged the complexity of the issue, stating, While vaccines are a tremendous medical advance, there has to be some control for toxic products that get into the stream of commerce. The federal system, pretty clearly, is not working right now. If theres a state solution to a broken system on the federal level, lets see if we can find it.

As the debate continues, one thing is clear: the push for vaccine accountability is gaining momentum, and Iowas bold move could set the stage for a national reckoning with the pharmaceutical industrys liability shield. Whether the bill becomes law or not, it has already succeeded in shining a light on a system that many believe is long overdue for reform.

Sources include:

ChildrensHealthDefense.gov

IowaCapitolDispatch.com

WHO13.com
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg: A Deep State ally undermining Trumps second administration

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued an emergency order on March 15, 2024, blocking the Trump administration from deporting members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), shortly after President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to remove individuals deemed a national security threat.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi condemned Boasberg's ruling, accusing him of prioritizing TdA members over American safety and disregarding Trump's executive authority, which she argued endangers the public and law enforcement.

Boasberg has been accused of bias against the Trump administration, with critics citing his harsh sentencing of nonviolent Jan. 6 defendants and his role in delaying the sentencing of Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty in the Trump-Russia investigation.

Investigative reporters and critics have highlighted Boasberg's alleged alignment with the Deep State, including his involvement in the FISA Court and his appointment of Obama-era official David Kris to review FBI reforms, raising concerns about his impartiality.

Boasberg's actions are seen as part of a broader pattern of Obama-appointed judges undermining Trumps agenda, with his rulings on immigration, January 6 cases and FISA-related matters fueling ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and the judiciary.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the District Court for the District of Columbia, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, is undermining the second administration of President Donald Trump.

Over the weekend, Boasberg issued an emergency order blocking the administration from deporting members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA). The order issued Saturday, March 15, came less than two hours after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (AEA) to remove individuals deemed a "significant threat" to national security.

During the Saturday hearing, Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to immediately turn around planes carrying deportees. "This is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately," the magistrate stressed.

But U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi slammed the ruling, pointing out that the federal judge "supported TdA terrorists over the safety of Americans." She added that the order "disregards well-established authority regarding Trump's power and puts the public and law enforcement at risk." (Related: Trump administration defies court order to halt deportation of Venezuelan gang members, sparks constitutional showdown.)

Boasberg fueling Trump's resolve to DRAIN THE SWAMP

Boasberg's latest ruling is just one example of his apparent bias against the second Trump administration. Both Jim Hoft of the Gateway Pundit and investigative reporter Julie Kelly highlighted instances of the magistrate's alliance with the Deep State.

As a judge overseeing Jan. 6 cases, Boasberg has been accused of meting out harsh sentences to defendants, often using the controversial 1512(c)2 obstruction statute  a charge later overturned by the Supreme Court. Kelly highlighted Boasberg's role in sentencing nonviolent J6 defendants to prison, including 60-year-old Sandra Weyer (who received 14 months for the petty offense of "parading" in the Capitol) and former New York City Police Department officer Sara Carpenter, who was sentenced to 22 months.

"Boasberg with gusto threw the book at Americans exercising their [First Amendment] rights on Jan. 6, then denied J6ers other constitutional rights to ensure convictions and imprisonment," Kelly wrote. "But now he's going to bat for illegals suspected of ties to a dangerous foreign gang."

Boasberg's history of targeting Trump extends beyond his handling of immigration and J6 cases. As a member of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court), Boasberg appointed David Kris, an Obama-era national security official, to review FBI reforms to the FISA application process. This move raised concerns given the Obama administrations misuse of FISA warrants to spy on Trump during the 2016 election.

Additionally, Boasberg delayed the sentencing of Kevin Clinesmith, the only individual to plead guilty in the Trump-Russia investigation. Despite the gravity of his crimes, the federal judge ultimately let Clinesmith off with probation after the 2020 election.

Critics argue that Boasberg's actions are emblematic of a broader effort by Obama-appointed judges to undermine Trumps presidency. His recent ruling on the Alien Enemies Act, coupled with his harsh treatment of J6 defendants and his role in the FISA Court, paints a picture of a judge deeply entrenched in the Deep States efforts to resist Trumps agenda.

As the Trump administration continues to push back against judicial overreach, Boasberg's latest decision serves as a stark reminder of the challenges facing the president in his second term. With the safety of Americans at stake, the battle between Trump and the Deep State shows no signs of abating.

Watch security expert HiCap warning that TdA's entry in America constitutes a foreign invasion in this clip.

This video is from the Brighteon Highlights channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Now pardoned J6 political prisoner claims he has evidence Capitol Police incited riots.

Deep State in disarray: Trump's funding freeze sows chaos, Democrats vow legal battle.

Durham probe ends with another failed conviction as corrupt FBI now appears to be untouchable.

Sources include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

ABCNews.go.com

X.com

Brighteon.com
Soros-funded chaos: How liberal activism fuels domestic terrorism against Tesla

Far-left activists, allegedly funded by George Soros and organizations like Indivisible, are escalating violent attacks on Tesla, including vandalism, arson and targeted violence, described as a campaign of domestic terrorism.

Indivisible, a Soros-backed non-profit, is accused of organizing "Tesla takedown" protests, with ties to other far-left groups like the Democratic Socialists of America, amid a wave of attacks on Tesla facilities.

Several suspects arrested for Tesla-related vandalism identify as transgender or nonbinary, including individuals like Justin Thomas Nelson (Lucy Grace Nelson) and Erin L. White, who have been linked to violent acts and far-left ideologies.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has labeled these attacks as domestic terrorism, with ongoing FBI and DOJ investigations aiming to hold perpetrators and their funders accountable.

In a stunning display of hypocrisy and lawlessness, far-left activists, bankrolled by George Soros and his sprawling network of progressive organizations, are escalating their campaign of domestic terrorism against Tesla, one of Americas most innovative companies. This coordinated assault, which includes vandalism, arson and targeted violence, is not only a threat to private property but also a chilling reminder of the radical lefts descent into anarchic extremism.

The Soros connection: Funding the flames of chaos

At the heart of this nationwide campaign is Indivisible, a Soros-funded non-profit that has received nearly $8 million from the billionaires foundation. According to anti-DEI crusader Robby Starbuck, Indivisible is orchestrating a series of Tesla takedown events across the country. Over the next few days, you're going to see an organized progressive protest effort at Tesla stores put together by a group called Indivisible, Starbuck explained. They're calling these Tesla takedown events, and they're doing it in the midst of a domestic terror spree targeting Tesla and Tesla owners.

The timing of these protests is no coincidence. They come amid a wave of violent attacks on Tesla facilities, including showrooms, service centers and Supercharger networks. These incidents, which the FBI is actively investigating, have been linked to far-left groups that share Indivisibles radical agenda. Elon Musk himself has pointed to the involvement of ActBlue-funded organizations, including Troublemakers, Disruption Project, Rise & Resist and the Democratic Socialists of America, in fueling these protests.

Starbuck minced no words in condemning the role of Soros and Indivisible in this chaos. How can this not be seen as encouraging more violence and terrorism? I personally think that any violence occurring near locations they've chosen should result in Soros, his foundation, Indivisible, and their founders being held criminally accountable as co-conspirators.

The faces of anarchy: Transgender and nonbinary vandals

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has identified several suspects in the recent wave of Tesla-related vandalism, and a disturbing pattern has emerged. Three out of four individuals charged in connection with these attacks identify as transgender or nonbinary, using pronouns such as she/they or adopting female aliases.

One such individual is Justin Thomas Nelson, 42, who goes by Lucy Grace Nelson. Nelson was arrested in Colorado after allegedly being caught with incendiary devices and vandalism-related materials. According to the New York Post, Nelsons father described his son as emotionally troubled, living at home and having changed his name to Lucy. Social media posts attributed to Nelson include references to himself as baby and images of a burning Nazi flag.

In Illinois, Erin L. White, 27, was arrested for vandalizing a Tesla service center with graffiti criticizing President Donald Trump and Elon Musk while advocating for trans rights. White, who uses she/they pronouns, left a trail of destruction that included paint and slogans supporting far-left causes.

Meanwhile, in Oregon, Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, was charged with possession of unregistered destructive devices after allegedly firebombing a Tesla dealership. Lansky, who reportedly goes by the alias Allison Tesla on social media, was captured on surveillance footage hurling Molotov cocktails at the property and shooting at vehicles.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has condemned these attacks as nothing short of domestic terrorism. In a statement, Bondi warned, We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.

The bigger picture: A party in disarray

These attacks are not just about Tesla; they are a symptom of a broader crisis within the Democratic Party. As the partys approval ratings plummet to historic lows27% in an NBC News poll and 29% in a CNN pollits leaders have resorted to increasingly desperate and destructive tactics. The failed 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee even wished death on Tesla, a company that represents American innovation and economic strength.

The lefts obsession with identity politics and its embrace of radical activism have created a toxic environment where violence and vandalism are celebrated as forms of resistance. This is not the America our founders envisioned. It is a nation teetering on the brink of chaos, where the rule of law is undermined by those who claim to fight for justice.

As the FBI and DOJ continue their investigations, one thing is clear: the radical lefts war on Tesla is a war on America itself. It is a war on innovation, on free enterprise, and on the values that have made this country great. And it is a war that must be stopped before it consumes us all.

The question now is whether the American people will stand by and allow this madness to continueor whether they will rise up and demand accountability from those who fund and enable it. The choice is ours.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

YourNews.com

DailyCaller.com
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 22. Following the instruction of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the Ministry of Emergency Situations has sent material and technical assistance to the Kyrgyz Republic, Trend reports.

Meanwhile, it was noted that the humanitarian aid sent by ferry from Baku International Sea Trade Port consists of 10 special-purpose KamAZ fire trucks.

The equipment is aimed at supporting the strengthening of the material and technical base of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic and has all the necessary technical parameters for effective firefighting.

Thus, the fire trucks, which have a large water capacity and the ability to transport personnel in the number of 6 people, are characterized not only by high performance in fighting fires in off-road conditions, especially in complex and difficult terrain, but also by reliability, ease of operation and maintenance.
The sweet power of manuka honey: Natures best sweetener

Manuka honey, native to New Zealand, is a nutrient-rich superfood derived from the manuka bush. Its known for its unique bioactive compounds, particularly methylglyoxal (MGO), which give it potent antioxidant and health-supporting properties.

Unlike regular honey, it contains stable non-peroxide activity (NPA), making it more effective under various conditions.

Manuka honey is graded using the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) system, which measures beneficial compounds like MGO, leptosperin and dihydroxyacetone (DHA). A higher UMF rating indicates superior quality and potency.

Manuka honey is also packed with essential nutrients, including minerals, vitamins, amino acids and antioxidants, making it up to four times more nutritious than regular honey.

Manuka honey offers many science-backed health benefits. It can support digestive health and is a rich source of antioxidants that help combat free radicals and support overall wellness.

In recent years, manuka honey has garnered much attention from both the scientific community and health enthusiasts. This golden superfood, native to New Zealand, is more than just a sweet treat  its a powerhouse of health benefits that are all confirmed by science. (h/t to Healthline.com)

The origins of manuka honey

Manuka honey is produced by bees that pollinate the flowers of the manuka bush (Leptospermum scoparium), a plant native to New Zealand and parts of Australia. Unlike regular honey, which can come from a variety of floral sources, manuka honey is distinct because of its unique bioactive compounds. These compounds, particularly methylglyoxal (MGO), are responsible for its potent antioxidant properties.

While all honey offers health benefits, manuka honey stands out due to its unique composition. Regular honey contains hydrogen peroxide, which gives it mild beneficial properties. However, this compound is unstable and loses its effectiveness when exposed to heat or light.

Manuka honey, on the other hand, contains non-peroxide activity (NPA), which remains stable and effective even under harsh conditions. MGO, a naturally occurring compound found in high concentrations in manuka honey, is derived from the nectar of the manuka flower and is believed to be the key to manuka honey's remarkable health benefits.

The higher the MGO content, the more potent the manuka honey is.

To ensure quality and authenticity, Manuka honey is often graded using the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) system. Developed by the UMF Honey Association in New Zealand, this system measures the presence of beneficial compounds like MGO, leptosperin and dihydroxyacetone (DHA). A higher UMF rating indicates superior quality and potency, giving consumers confidence in the product theyre purchasing.

Manuka: a nutrient powerhouse

Manuka honey isnt just about MGO and UMF  its also packed with essential nutrients. Compared to regular honey, manuka honey contains up to four times more nutrients, including:

Minerals  Copper, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, potassium and zinc

 Copper, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, potassium and zinc Vitamins  B vitamins like B6, thiamine, niacin, riboflavin and pantothenic acid

 B vitamins like B6, thiamine, niacin, riboflavin and pantothenic acid Other compounds  Amino acids, enzymes, alkaloids, glycosides and volatile compounds

Manuka honey is also rich in antioxidants like flavonoids and polyphenols, which help combat free radicals and support overall health. (Related: Emergency food prep: Stock up on manuka honey, a must-have survival food and barter item.)

For most people, manuka honey is safe to consume. However, there are a few exceptions:

Infants  Honey should not be given to children under 12 months due to the risk of botulism.

 Honey should not be given to children under 12 months due to the risk of botulism. Diabetics  Due to its high sugar content, Manuka honey may affect blood sugar levels in people with diabetes.

 Due to its high sugar content, Manuka honey may affect blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. Individuals with honey or bee allergy  Allergic reactions are possible in people with allergies.

Why choose manuka over regular honey?

While regular honey has its merits, manuka honeys unique properties make it a superior choice for those seeking targeted health benefits. Its stable NPA, high MGO content and nutrient density set it apart from other honeys.

Plus, the UMF grading system ensures youre getting a high-quality, authentic product. When in doubt, try Health Ranger Select Premium Manuka Honey MGO 514+ (15+ NPA).

While there are different brands of manuka honey, you can rest assured that Premium Manuka Honey MGO 514+ (15+ NPA) from the Health Ranger Store is a safe choice because it offers guaranteed potency and is meticulously lab tested to ensure quality, purity and cleanliness.

Manuka honey is more than just a sweetener  its a natural remedy with a rich history and impressive scientific backing. This golden elixir is worth adding to your pantry and daily routine. Just remember to look for the UMF trademark to ensure youre getting the real deal.

Where to get lab-verified Manuka Honey

The Health Ranger Store is committed to helping you find a natural sweetener that can support your overall health, which is why were proud to introduce Premium Manuka Honey MGO 514+ (15+ NPA).

Health Ranger Select Premium Raw Manuka Honey (MGO 514+ (15+ NPA) boasts a guaranteed MGO rating of at least 514 and an NPA rating of at least 15.

The actual lab tests carried out on Batch No. M21151A, which was done at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, indicates an NPA of 16.4 and an MGO content of 594 ppm.

To provide you with peace of mind, Health Ranger Select Premium Raw Manuka Honey (MGO 514+ (15+ NPA) is made only with the cleanest, purest and highest-quality raw manuka honey available. It has also undergone thorough lab testing for glyphosate, heavy metals and microbiology.

Our premium raw manuka honey contains no preservatives, additives or synthetic fillers.

To ensure authenticity and quality, our manuka honey is harvested by trusted vendors in Australia. Our bees feed on the manuka bushes that thrive in the pristine forests and bushlands of Australias east coast, making the finest quality manuka honey on the market.

Manuka honey is a delicious and nutritious natural sweetener that offers amazing nutritional content. Due to its high MGO content, manuka honey can support good health even when SHTF.

Our Premium Raw Manuka Honey (MGO 514+ (15+ NPA) has a long shelf life, which can come in handy when faced with emergency situations. This makes it a great addition to your emergency bug-out bag and a great barter item when SHTF.

Visit Superfoods.news to learn more about manuka honey and other superfoods. You can also check out Health Ranger Store and Brighteon Store for more clean food supplies for your cooking needs.

Click on this link to learn how you can stay healthy this spring with proper hydration.

Watch the video below to learn more about the potent health-supporting benefits of Premium Raw Manuka Honey.

This video is from the Health Ranger Store channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Clean food watch: Does your protein powder contain heavy metals?

Manuka honey: A versatile superfood that does not expire.

Top antioxidant foods to combat oxidative stress from air pollution.

Natural sweeteners: Healthy alternatives to sugar and artificial sweeteners.

Sources include:

Healthline.com

UMF.org.nz

HealthRangerStore.com 1

HealthRangerStore.com 2

Brighteon.com
Dr. Sherri Tenpenny explains how COVID-19 vaccines can make you sick in 20 Mechanisms of Injuries

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny's book highlights 20 alleged mechanisms of injury from COVID-19 vaccines, including severe allergic reactions, autoimmune disorders, neurological impacts and potential cancer risks, challenging mainstream scientific consensus on vaccine safety and efficacy.

Tenpenny identifies polyethylene glycol (PEG), a stabilizer in mRNA vaccines, as a potential trigger for severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis). While rare, documented cases have led to post-vaccination monitoring recommendations.

She claims the spike protein in vaccines may act as a hapten, triggering autoimmune responses, and could damage organs by binding to ACE2 receptors.

Tenpenny suggests the spike protein could contribute to neurodegenerative diseases and that adenovirus-based vaccines might integrate into host DNA, increasing cancer risks.

While Tenpenny's claims provoke debate, they contrast with large-scale studies affirming vaccine safety and efficacy. Her work underscores the need for ongoing research, transparency, and informed decision-making in public health, emphasizing consultation with trusted healthcare professionals.

In the ongoing global conversation about the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines, a new wave of scrutiny has emerged, focusing on potential mechanisms of injury linked to the injections.

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a controversial figure in the medical community, has sparked intense debate with her book, "20 Mechanisms of Injuries: How COVID-19 Injections Can Make You SickEven Kill You."

Tenpennys claims have drawn attention to the risks associated with COVID vaccination, ranging from severe allergic reactions to long-term autoimmune and neurological disorders. This deep dive examines her assertions, offering a critical look at the science behind them.

One of the most immediate concerns Tenpenny raises is anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction that can occur within minutes of vaccine administration. She points to polyethylene glycol (PEG), a compound used to stabilize the mRNA in vaccines, as a potential culprit. PEG is found in many everyday products, and repeated exposure may lead to the development of anti-PEG antibodies.

For some individuals, this could trigger a dangerous immune response. While rare, cases of anaphylaxis following vaccination have been documented, prompting health authorities to recommend monitoring for 15-30 minutes post-injection

Tenpenny also highlights the role of anti-spike antibodies, which are produced in response to the vaccine. These antibodies, she argues, can inhibit anti-inflammatory macrophages known as M2, which are essential for resolving inflammation and preventing lung injury. When M2 macrophages are suppressed, uncontrolled inflammation and potential lung damage may result.

The spike protein itself is a focal point of Tenpenny's critique. She asserts that it can act as a hapten, triggering autoimmune responses, and directly damage organs, including the cardiovascular system. The spike protein's ability to bind to ACE2 receptors  found in the lungs, intestines, kidneys and reproductive organs  raises additional concerns.

Tenpenny suggests this interaction could disrupt cellular function, potentially leading to long-term health issues, including infertility.

Neurological impacts are another area of concern. Tenpenny claims the spike protein can mutate the TDP-43 protein and damage the FUS gene, both associated with neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and frontotemporal lobe degeneration.

Tenpenny also raises alarms about cancer risks, particularly with adenovirus-based vaccines like Johnson & Johnson and Astra Zeneca. She suggests that these vaccines could integrate into host DNA, leading to mutations and tumor development.

Additionally, she cites Vaccine-Induced Prothrombotic Immune Thrombocytopenia (VIPIT), a rare blood clotting disorder linked to the Astra Zeneca vaccine.

Another concept Tenpenny explores is "original antigenic sin," where the immune systems response to a new virus is shaped by prior exposure to similar viruses. She argues that pre-existing immunity to common coronaviruses might impair the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, potentially leading to more severe illness.

Tenpenny's work underscores the importance of ongoing research, transparency and informed decision-making in public health. As the world continues to navigate the complexities of COVID-19, staying informed and consulting trusted healthcare professionals remains paramount.

Watch this video about Dr. Sherri Tenpenny's book "20 Mechanisms of Injuries: How COVID-19 Injections Can Make You Sick...Even Kill You."

This video is from the BrightLearn channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

Brighteon.ai

Brighteon.com
New Yellowstone vent discovered: Scientists monitor supervolcano activity as global volcanic threats rise

Two dangerous supervolcanoes in Yellowstone and Italy are showing troubling activity.

A new hydrothermal vent discovered at Yellowstone has reached temperatures of 171 degrees Fahrenheit.

Italy's Campi Flegrei supervolcano could erupt "at any moment" according to experts, threatening 2.5 million residents.

Recent earthquake clusters in California suggest "the Big One" may strike sooner than expected.

These three geological threats together represent potential catastrophes that require greater public awareness.

While the mainstream media remains preoccupied with political drama and cultural controversies, alarming signs of impending natural disasters are being overlooked. Right now, two of the planets most dangerous supervolcanoes  Yellowstone in the United States and Campi Flegrei in Italy  are showing troubling activity that could threaten millions of lives.

Amid rising ground levels and a newly discovered hydrothermal vent at Yellowstone, and a surge in seismic activity at Campi Flegrei, experts warn that these geological giants could unleash biblical-scale devastation. Yet, as these threats grow, mainstream media remains eerily silent, leaving the public dangerously uninformed.

Yellowstones new hydrothermal vent: A sign of trouble?

Yellowstone National Park, home to one of the worlds largest supervolcanoes, has long been a hotspot for geological activity. In August 2024, a park scientist spotted a billowing steam column near the Roadside Springs thermal area, leading to the discovery of a new hydrothermal vent. Geologists Jefferson Hungerford and Kiernan Folz-Donahue confirmed the vent, located at the base of an ancient lava flow, had temperatures reaching 171 degrees Fahrenheit. While the vent is not an immediate cause for alarm, its appearance raises questions about the stability of the supervolcano beneath.

Yellowstones magma chamber, which lies seven miles below the surface, last erupted approximately 630,000 years ago. Scientists estimate the odds of a catastrophic eruption at one in 700,000 annually. Still, the potential consequences of a Yellowstone eruption are staggering. A full-scale blast could release energy equivalent to 875,000 megatons of TNT, blanketing much of North America in ash and triggering a volcanic winter that would devastate global agriculture.

Campi Flegrei: A ticking time bomb in Europe

While Yellowstones activity remains relatively stable, the situation at Italys Campi Flegrei supervolcano is far more dire. Covering 77 square miles near Naples, Campi Flegrei has experienced a surge in seismic activity over the past year. Giuseppe Mastrolorenzo, a volcanologist at Italys National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, warns that the supervolcano could erupt at any moment, releasing ten times the energy of the eruption that destroyed Pompeii in 79 AD.

The potential fallout from a Campi Flegrei eruption is catastrophic. Mastrolorenzo predicts that toxic ash and gas could devastate local agriculture, force mass evacuations, and even trigger a global volcanic winter. The supereruption is long overdue, he said, noting that the volcano has been emitting increasing amounts of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. Despite these warnings, evacuation plans for the regions 2.5 million residents remain optimistic at best, with officials aiming to move half a million people within 72 hoursa scenario Mastrolorenzo calls very optimistic.

Californias complacency amid earthquake clusters

Closer to home, Americans on the West Coast are ignoring clear warning signs of seismic activity. A recent cluster of significant earthquakes near Malibu, California, has raised concerns that the Big Onea long-predicted catastrophic earthquakecould strike sooner than expected. Between February and March 2024, the region experienced multiple quakes, including a magnitude 4.1 event near Westlake Village. Yet, many residents remain complacent, dismissing the threat as distant or exaggerated.

The consequences of such complacency could be devastating. A major earthquake along the San Andreas Fault could cause widespread destruction, crippling infrastructure and displacing millions. Combined with the looming threats from Yellowstone and Campi Flegrei, the world is facing a trifecta of potential disasters that demand urgent attention.

As supervolcanoes stir and seismic activity rises, the world cannot afford to ignore these warning signs. While scientists assure us that immediate eruptions are unlikely, the potential consequences of such events are too catastrophic to dismiss. From Yellowstones hydrothermal vents to Campi Flegreis seismic surge and Californias earthquake clusters, the planet is reminding us that it is restless, and the stakes are high. Its time for the media and the public to shift their focus from political theater to the very real threats beneath our feet. Ignoring these dangers wont make them disappearit will only leave us unprepared when disaster strikes.

Sources for this article include:

EndOfTheAmericanDream.com

FoxWeather.com

IFLScience.com

DailyMail.co.uk
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BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 22. Azerbaijan exported 34.7 million cubic meters of natural gas to Serbia in January this year.

The data obtained by Trend from the country's State Statistics Committee indicates that the revenue from the export of natural gas in this volume amounted to $16.7 million.

Meanwhile, gas from Azerbaijan was not exported to Serbia in January last year.

The total volume of natural gas exported from Azerbaijan in January of this year amounted to 2.33 bcm, and the value amounted to $870.1 million. At the same time, in the first month of the year the volume of natural gas imported by Azerbaijan totaled 42.6 million cubic meters, and the cost - $6.4 million.

Azerbaijan exported natural gas to Georgia, Serbia, Turkiye, Bulgaria, Italy and Greece during this period, and imported natural gas from Turkmenistan.
A drug-resistant type of bacteria that has adapted to health care settings evolved in the past several years to weaponize an antimicrobial genetic tool, eliminating its cousins and replacing them as the dominate strain. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists made the discovery when combing through local hospital data  and then confirmed that it was a global phenomenon.

The finding, published today in Nature Microbiology, may be the impetus for new approaches in developing therapeutics against some of the world's deadliest bacteria. It also validates a new use for a system developed at Pitt and UPMC that couples genomic sequencing with computer algorithms to rapidly detect infectious disease outbreaks.

Our lab has a front row seat to the parade of pathogens that move through the hospital setting. And when we took a step back and zoomed out, it quickly became apparent that big changes were afoot with one of the world's more difficult-to-treat bacteria." Daria Van Tyne, Ph.D., senior author, associate professor of medicine in Pitt's Division of Infectious Diseases

The Enhanced Detection System for Healthcare-Associated Transmission (EDS-HAT) analyzes the genetic signatures of infections in hospitalized patients and flags patterns, allowing clinicians to intervene and stop potential outbreaks in real-time. But lead author Emma Mills, a microbiology and immunology graduate student in Van Tyne's lab, realized that EDS-HAT was also a treasure trove of detailed historic information that she could mine to learn about the evolution of bacteria over time.

Mills focused on vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREfm), so-called because it can't be eradicated with the popular antibiotic vancomycin. VREfm kills about 40% of the people it infects and is a particular plague on immunocompromised and hospitalized patients, who are often taking antibiotics that decrease the diversity of bacteria in their microbiomes, allowing drug-resistant bacteria, such as VREfm, to thrive.

After analyzing the genomic sequences of 710 VREfm infection samples from hospitalized patients entered into EDS-HAT over a six-year time span, Mills discovered that the variety of VREfm strains had shrunk from about eight fairly evenly distributed types in 2017 to two dominant strains that began to emerge in 2018 and, by the end of 2022, were the culprit in four out of every five patient VREfm samples.

Upon closer examination, Mills found that the dominant strains had acquired the ability to produce a bacteriocin, which is an antimicrobial that bacteria use to kill or inhibit one another. They'd weaponized this new capability to destroy the other VREfm strains, giving them unfettered access to nutrients for easier reproduction.

This further sparked Mills's curiosity: If this was happening at the local hospital, was it happening elsewhere? No prior research publications had explored the possibility that this was a global phenomenon, so she consulted a publicly available library of more than 15,000 VREfm genomes collected globally from 2002 through 2022. Sure enough, what she'd observed locally had also been happening on a global scale.

"This was a completely unexpected discovery  I was surprised to see such a dramatic signal," said Mills. "Once these strains are in an institutional setting  such as a hospital  and are matched up against other strains of VRE in a patient's gut, they take over. It's a 'kill your buddies and eat their food' scenario."

Van Tyne said the finding doesn't have immediate clinical consequences  it does not appear that the bacteriocin-wielding VREfm are making patients any sicker than their predecessors did. But it could point to potential avenues for the development of new therapies.

"The diversity of the VRE population appears to be narrowing from lots of different types causing infection to only a few. That means we may soon have only one single target for which to design therapeutics such as antibiotics or phage therapy," Van Tyne said. "It also suggests that bacteriocins are very potent and perhaps we could weaponize them for our own purposes."

Additional authors of the study are Katharine Hewlett, Alexander B. Smith, Ph.D., and Joseph P. Zackular, Ph.D., of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; and Marissa P. Griffith, Lora Pless, Ph.D., Alexander J. Sundermann, Dr.P.H., and Lee H. Harrison, M.D., of Pitt.

This research was funded by National Institutes of Health grants R01AI165519, R01AI127472 and R35GM138369.
A recent study by the University of Eastern Finland Business School indicates that elderly neurological patients show a willingness to accept remote monitoring (RM) in the home environment even in the pre-implementation phase. Home-based RM uses digital health technologies to track patients' health metrics and securely transmit data to healthcare professionals at the clinical site. RM at home includes wearable devices, and mobile health apps that monitor key health metrics (e.g., activity, sleep, heart rate). RM is particularly appealing to elderly patients who wish to age in their own home while maintaining their independence.

According to the study, elderly neurological patients living with a family caregiver were more likely to accept RM than those who lived alone. Additionally, patients with higher education levels were more open to RM adoption. Also, those who had a caregiver present during their clinic visit were more likely to accept RM. Age, gender, and place of residence did not show an effect.

Conducted at the neurosurgery unit of Kuopio University Hospital in Finland, the study involved 30 patients diagnosed with a specific neurological condition, idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH). The findings were published in the Home Healthcare Management & Practice journal, contributing insights into digital health adoption among elderly patients with chronic illnesses.

Patients in this study were introduced to the prospective implementation of RM in their home, and they completed a structured survey exploring the association between RM acceptance and six sociodemographic factors, namely age, gender, educational level, living arrangement, place of residence, and family caregiver presence during outpatient clinic visits.

Doctoral Researcher Melika Azim Zadegan from the University of Eastern Finland highlighted the practical implications of the study findings:

"Our practical recommendations include implementing educational initiatives that are tailored to different educational backgrounds of elderly neurological patients. Health policies should ensure that caregiver support is integrated into RM programmes by training caregivers alongside patients, providing them with resources to assist with technology management, and recognizing their role in RM with appropriate support and resourcing. For technology developers, collaboration with patient advocacy groups should be encouraged to ensure that RM solutions are designed with input from both patient and caregiver perspectives. This collaboration would help tailor RM solutions to the needs of specific patient populations, such as elderly neurological patients."

The study was conducted within the Neuro-Innovation PhD programme, which is funded by the University of Eastern Finland and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 101034307.
A federally funded research team led by Sheri Holmen, PhD, investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute and professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Utah (the U), is testing a new combination drug therapy that could both treat and prevent melanoma metastasis, or spreading from its original site, to the brain.

Once melanoma has spread to the brain, it's very hard to treat. Metastasis to the brain is one of the main causes of death from melanoma. We wanted to find a solution to an unmet clinical need for those patients who had no other treatment options available, and this is a huge step forward." Sheri Holmen, PhD, investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute and professor, Department of Surgery, University of Utah

Holmen and her team first examined what causes melanoma cells to spread to the brain and identified focal adhesion kinase (FAK) as a potential target for new therapies. FAK is an enzyme that regulates cell growth, and, they found, is a major contributor to melanoma metastasis.

If caught early, melanoma can be treatable with surgical removal. But once the disease has spread beyond the skin to other organs, it becomes more difficult to treat-and more fatal.

Immunotherapy, using a patient's own immune system to attack cancer cells, is often the first line of treatment for advanced melanoma patients. But, Holmen says, this treatment doesn't work as well once the tumor has spread to the brain. There are also targeted drug therapies that people take orally as a pill.

"Patients can become resistant to those drugs over time. And once the disease has reached the brain, they also don't work as well," says Holmen. "The window of time to treat a patient with brain metastasis is shortened quite significantly because the average survival from time of diagnosis of brain metastasis is only about a year-even while using these other therapies."

Holmen and her research team found that inhibiting the enzyme FAK in combination with an inhibitor of RAF and MEK-which targets another cellular pathway that regulates cancer cell growth-was effective in prolonging survival rates in preclinical mouse models. They specifically studied a subtype of melanoma triggered by a mutation of BRAF, a gene that helps regulate cell division. A mutation of this gene has been identified with several types of cancer, including an estimated 50% of patients with metastatic melanoma.

"This combination drug therapy also stopped the development of brain metastasis, and that's where this research is very exciting," says Holmen. "Not only did it treat the tumor once it spread to and was growing in the brain, it also prevented the cells from getting there in the first place."

This combination drug therapy was evaluated through support by the National Cancer Institute and in partnership with Verastem Oncology, and the results of their research have been published in Cell Reports Medicine.

The oral treatment combines two drugs: defactinib, which blocks a protein called FAK, and avutometinib, which blocks proteins called RAF and MEK. This combination therapy could make treatment more accessible for melanoma patients who have difficulty traveling long distances. Melanoma rates are consistently high in states across the Mountain West, the area Huntsman Cancer Institute serves.

"Receiving a treatment like immunotherapy requires an infusion, and patients have to travel to a hospital or clinic for that kind of specialized treatment," says Holmen. "Having oral drugs available will increase treatment options for our patients, especially those living in rural and frontier areas."

The study, led by Howard Colman, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the U, has now moved into clinical trials for patients at Huntsman Cancer Institute and Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa. The study is open to patients with melanoma with brain metastases.

The research described in this release is supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute including P30 CA042014, R01CA121118, and Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
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Though we learn so much during our first years of life, we can't, as adults, remember specific events from that time. Researchers have long believed we don't hold onto these experiences because the part of the brain responsible for saving memories - the hippocampus - is still developing well into adolescence and just can't encode memories in our earliest years. But new Yale research finds evidence that's not the case.

In a study, Yale researchers showed infants new images and later tested whether they remembered them. When an infant's hippocampus was more active upon seeing an image the first time, they were more likely to appear to recognize that image later.

The findings, published March 20 in Science, indicate that memories can indeed be encoded in our brains in our first years of life. And the researchers are now looking into what happens to those memories over time.

Our inability to remember specific events from the first few years of life is called "infantile amnesia." But studying this phenomenon is challenging.

The hallmark of these types of memories, which we call episodic memories, is that you can describe them to others, but that's off the table when you're dealing with pre-verbal infants." Nick Turk-Browne, professor of psychology in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, director of Yale's Wu Tsai Institute, and senior author of the study

For the study, the researchers wanted to identify a robust way to test infants' episodic memories. The team, led by Tristan Yates, a graduate student at the time and now a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University, used an approach in which they showed infants aged four months to two years an image of a new face, object, or scene. Later, after the infants had seen several other images, the researchers showed them a previously seen image next to a new one.

"When babies have seen something just once before, we expect them to look at it more when they see it again," said Turk-Browne. "So in this task, if an infant stares at the previously seen image more than the new one next to it, that can be interpreted as the baby recognizing it as familiar."

In the new study, the research team, which over the past decade has pioneered methods for conducting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with awake infants (which has historically been difficult because of infants' short attention spans and inability to stay still or follow directions), measured activity in the infants' hippocampus while they viewed the images.

Specifically, the researchers assessed whether hippocampal activity was related to the strength of an infant's memories. They found that the greater the activity in the hippocampus when an infant was looking at a new image, the longer the infant looked at it when it reappeared later. And the posterior part of the hippocampus (the portion closer to the back of the head) where encoding activity was strongest is the same area that's most associated with episodic memory in adults.

These findings were true across the whole sample of 26 infants, but they were strongest among those older than 12 months (half of the sample group). This age effect is leading to a more complete theory of how the hippocampus develops to support learning and memory, said Turk-Browne.

Previously, the research team found that the hippocampus of infants as young as three months old displayed a different type of memory called "statistical learning." While episodic memory deals with specific events, like, say, sharing a Thai meal with out-of-town visitors last night, statistical learning is about extracting patterns across events, such as what restaurants look like, in which neighborhoods certain cuisines are found, or the typical cadence of being seated and served.

These two types of memories use different neuronal pathways in the hippocampus. And in past animal studies, researchers have shown that the statistical learning pathway, which is found in the more anterior part of the hippocampus (the area closer to the front of the head), develops earlier than that of episodic memory. Therefore, Turk-Browne suspected that episodic memory may appear later in infancy, around one year or older. He argues that this developmental progression makes sense when thinking about the needs of infants.

"Statistical learning is about extracting the structure in the world around us," he said. "This is critical for the development of language, vision, concepts, and more. So it's understandable why statistical learning may come into play earlier than episodic memory."

Even still, the research team's latest study shows that episodic memories can be encoded by the hippocampus earlier than previously thought, long before the earliest memories we can report as adults. So, what happens to these memories?

There are a few possibilities, says Turk-Browne. One is that the memories may not be converted into long-term storage and thus simply don't last long. Another is that the memories are still there long after encoding and we just can't access them. And Turk-Browne suspects it may be the latter.

In ongoing work, Turk-Browne's team is testing whether infants, toddlers, and children can remember home videos taken from their perspective as (younger) babies, with tentative pilot results showing that these memories might persist until preschool age before fading.

The new findings, led by Yates, provides an important connection.

"Tristan's work in humans is remarkably compatible with recent animal evidence that infantile amnesia is a retrieval problem," said Turk-Browne. "We're working to track the durability of hippocampal memories across childhood and even beginning to entertain the radical, almost sci-fi possibility that they may endure in some form into adulthood, despite being inaccessible."
A study from Hiroshima University found that when people were told to imagine their virtual bodies in pain, their brains resisted the illusion of ownership. Their findings could provide insights into why some people may struggle with feeling connected to their own bodies, particularly in contexts involving depersonalization or negative physical states.

The sense of body ownership-the feeling that our body belongs to us-is crucial in distinguishing ourselves from objects and responding to threats. Researchers study it using techniques like the rubber hand illusion (RHI) and full-body illusion (FBI), in which an individual is somehow influenced to identify with ownership of a fake or virtual body. To explore how body ownership can be disrupted, researchers test whether top-down factors-where previous knowledge, memories, and beliefs shape how we perceive and interpret new information or stimuli-weaken the illusion when participants are asked to identify with a virtual body in a negative physical state.

Researchers published their results in Frontiers in Psychology in December 2024.

"Using the full-body illusion in virtual reality-where people begin to feel a virtual body as their own- we investigated how interpreting the virtual body as one's own body, while in a negative physical state, affects this illusion. This research can possibly relate to depersonalization, a condition where people struggle to feel their body as their own," said Kazuki Yamamoto, researcher and author of the study.

Participants were instructed to view a virtual body from the back using a virtual reality (VR) headset and imagine it as their own. Participants would watch the virtual body have their back stroked while their own physical body was stroked also which successfully illicited the illusion. This is a means of using bottom-up factors, which starts with an external stimulus to integrate visual-tactile information, and is a well-tested way to successfully influence the FBI.

To test the effect of top-down factors, the same course of action was instructed with the addition of identifying with the virtual body as their own in a negative physical state (feeling abdominal pain). After the participant watches their virtual body being stroked along their back, a fear stimulus is presented in the form of a knife driving into the virtual body's back. The fear response is measured using a skin-conductance response and the degree of conductance measures is then related to how strongly the participant is identifying with their virtual body.

One of the main points of this study is using top-down factors, which are expectation or biases on what something should feel like based on prior experience or interactions, to determine if these can also influence a sense of body ownership.

Results indicated that the full-body illusion was inhibited when asked to view the virtual body as their own with abdominal pain, and the higher the degree of depersonalization tendencies within the participants resulted in a lower degree of FBI.

Researchers suggest this could be due to multiple factors, one of which being the manipulation of using top-down factors. Another suggestion is that the participants might have had difficulty perceiving the negative physical symptoms, therefore they had difficulty fully establishing the connection of "the virtual body is my body" which is key for the illusion to occur.

Given the findings of the study, more research can be done to fully understand why an inhibition of the illusion occurred.

While we observed this inhibitory effect, further research is needed to determine whether it was specifically due to the negative interpretation or to differences between actual and virtual body states." Takashi Nakao, researcher and author of the study

The foundation provided by this study and subsequent studies can aid in clinical intervention for those suffering from disturbed body ownership, such as individuals with depersonalization-derealization disorder. This work can improve those individuals' sense of body ownership, which can greatly improve lives, not only for safety purposes but also sensory and perception purposes.

Kazuki Yamamoto and Takashi Nakao of the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hiroshima University contributed to this research.

The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science funded this research.
As aging bodies decline, the brain loses the ability to cleanse itself of waste, a scenario that scientists think could be contributing to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, among others. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have found a way around that problem by targeting the network of vessels that drain waste from the brain. Rejuvenating those vessels, they have shown, improves memory in old mice.

The study, published online March 21 in the journal Cell, lays the groundwork to develop therapies for age-related cognitive decline that overcome the challenges faced by conventional medications that struggle to pass through the blood-brain barrier to reach the brain.

The physical blood-brain barrier hinders the efficacy of therapies for neurological disorders. By targeting a network of vessels outside of the brain that is critical for brain health, we see cognitive improvements in mice, opening a window to develop more powerful therapies to prevent or delay cognitive decline." Jonathan Kipnis, PhD, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Pathology & Immunology and a BJC Investigator at WashU Medicine

Waste removal improves memory

Kipnis is an expert in the blossoming field of neuroimmunology, the study of how the immune system affects the brain in health and disease. A decade ago, Kipnis' lab discovered a network of vessels surrounding the brain - known as the meningeal lymphatics - in mice and humans that drains fluid and waste into the lymph nodes, where many immune system cells reside and monitor for signs of infection, disease or injury. He and colleagues also have shown that some investigational Alzheimer's therapies are more effective in mice when paired with a treatment that improves drainage of fluid and debris from the brain.

Beginning at about age 50, people start to experience a decline in brain fluid flow as part of normal aging. For the new study, Kipnis collaborated with Marco Colonna, MD, the Robert Rock Belliveau, MD, Professor of Pathology, and asked if enhancing the function of an old drainage system can improve memory.

To test the memory of mice, the researchers placed two identical black rods in the cage for twenty minutes for old mice to explore. The next day, the mice received one of the black rods again and a new object, a silver rectangular prism. Mice that remember playing with the black rod will spend more time with the new object. But old mice spend a similar amount of time playing with both objects.

The first author of the new study, Kyungdeok Kim, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Kipnis lab, boosted functioning of the lymphatic vessels in old mice with a treatment that stimulates vessel growth, enabling more waste to drain out of the brain. He found that the older mice with rejuvenated lymphatic vessels spent more time with the new object  an indicator of improved memory  compared with the older mice not given the treatment.

"A functioning lymphatic system is critical for brain health and memory," said Kim. "Therapies that support the health of the body's waste management system may have health benefits for a naturally aging brain."

Brain's overwhelmed cleaning crew

When the lymphatic system is so impaired that waste builds up in the brain, the burden of cleaning falls to the brain's resident immune cells, called microglia. But this local cleaning crew fails to keep up with the mess and gets exhausted, Kipnis explained.

The new study found that the overwhelmed cells produce a distress signal, an immune protein called interleukin 6, or IL-6, that acts on brain cells to promote cognitive decline in mice with damaged lymphatic vessels. Examining the brains of such mice, the researchers found that neurons had an imbalance in the types of signals they receive from surrounding brain cells. In particular, neurons received fewer signals that function like noise-canceling headphones among the cacophony of neuron communications. This imbalance, caused by increased IL-6 levels in the brain, led to changes in how the brain is wired and affected proper brain function.

In addition to improving memory in the aged mice, the lymphatic vessel-boosting treatment also caused levels of IL-6 to drop, restoring the noise-canceling system of the brain. The findings point to the potential of improving the health of the brain's lymphatic vessels to preserve or restore cognitive abilities.

"As we mark the 10th anniversary of our discovery of the brain's lymphatic system, these new findings provide insight into the importance of this system for brain health," said Kipnis. "Targeting the more easily accessible lymphatic vessels that are located outside the brain may prove to be an exciting new frontier in the treatment of brain disorders. We may not be able to revive neurons, but we may be able to ensure their most optimal functioning through modulation of meningeal lymphatic vessels."

Kim K, Abramishvili D, Du S, Papadopoulos Z, Cao J, Herz J, Smirnov I, Thomas JL, Colonna M, Kipnis J. Meningeal lymphatics-microglia axis regulates synaptic physiology. Cell. March 21, 2025.

This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant numbers AG034113 and AG078106; the BJC investigator's program at Washington University in St. Louis; the Neuroscience Innovation Foundation; and the National Research Foundation of Korea, grant number 2021R1A6A3A14045044. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

Jonathan Kipnis is a co-founder of Rho Bio and holds patents and provisional applications related to the work presented here.
Karnataka Bandh Today: No Holiday For Schools And Colleges

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 09:48 IST

Karnataka Bandh Today: Kannada Okkuta has called for a statewide shutdown. The state government opposes the shutdown.

Karnataka bandh Today: Schools and colleges remain open amid shutdown.

Karnataka Bandh Today: Kannada Okkuta, an umbrella organisation representing various pro-Kannada outfits has called for a statewide shutdown from 6 am to 6 pm on Saturday, March 22, 2025 to protest the alleged assault on a state-run bus conductor in the border district of Belagavi last month for not knowing Marathi.

The state is witnessing a partial closure on Karnataka Bandh as the state government has opposed the shutdown. No holiday has been declared for the schools, colleges and other educational institutes in the state. The state is also conducting Karnataka SSLC examinations which began on March 21. Though no exam is scheduled to be held on March 22 the state government has clarified that it will not support the shutdown, as it could affect lakhs of students preparing for their exams.

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The Karnataka Private Schools Union has extended moral support, but other unions didnt give their support to the bandh and said examinations are underway in many districts, including Bengaluru, and no holidays have been declared. Similarly, private colleges will remain open.

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#WATCH | Karnataka: Bus services and essential services remain operational as usual in Gadag amid the 12-hour bandh called by pro-Kannada organisations. The bandh has been called in protest against the alleged assault on a bus conductor in Belagavi for not speaking Marathi. pic.twitter.com/Bsky7bJwBb ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2025

However, theres no official statement from the public transport services about supporting bandh and Metro services, BMTC and KSRTC buses will remain functional. Healthcare services, restaurants, hotels, bars, and pubs will remain operational.

About the Author Education and Careers Desk A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 09:45 IST
Jack Dorseys First Tweet Goes Viral After 19 Years. Why Was Twitter Created?

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 16:24 IST

Jack Dorsey came to remind that his first tweet was posted 19-long-years-ago. But why was Twitter even created?

Jack Dorsey reminded the Twitter users about his first tweet on the platform that is now called 'X'.

just setting up my twttr." Jack Dorsey altered the landscape of how we, as a society, communicate on the Internet today. The act of coming" online was no more limited to Yahoo Messenger, MySpace, Orkut, or Facebook. There was a new bird in town and it flapped its bright, blue wings. People took notice and the microblogging platform became the cool thing. Unlike todays X, you had to be brief, there was no time or space for yapping. Threads did not exist. 140 characters were the set limit. Backspace hadnt been used like this ever before. Dorseys first tweet on the platform was made. It was 19 years ago. But why was Twitter created in first place?

Origin

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Twitter was birthed on March 21, 2006. Dorsey, along with Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams, developed the app as an internal project for the podcasting company named Odeo. When Apple iTunes began supporting podcasts in one of its updates back in June of 2005, Odeo looked at an inevitable dead-end. This was when Dorsey, a software engineer at Odeo, suggested setting up a service where users could blast SMSes for others on the platform to read. Twttr was born and it soon became Twitter. Little did Chris Messina know that his idea of hashtags that was first proposed in 2007, would become a vital tool of communication on Twitter.

Twitters real-time engagement, Retweets, and use of Hashtags appealed to the masses. People from corners of the world united to talk about the random nothings to global events that impacted the humankind. It changed how governments, countries, global brands, or even celebrities communicated with the world. Twitters short and crisp way to communicate became its unique identity. Tweets marriage with the hashtags became culturally significant to our society. The helicopter that made its way to Abbottabad to eliminate al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden was first heard by a user on Twitter. Sohaib Athar, a tech freelancer and a graduate of Preston University, knew something was up when he heard a chopper hovering above the city at 1am. Naturally, he decided to tweet about it. This was in 2011. Just Twitter things, you know. World got to know about the operation to end Laden only later.

Also Read: Yuzvendra Chahals Be Your Own Sugar Daddy T-shirt Sparks Controversy. What Does The Slogan Mean?

Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event). Sohaib Athar (@ReallyVirtual) May 1, 2011

Twitter recorded 200 million monthly active users as early as 2012 and reportedly clocked 340 million tweets a day. The estimated number of monthly active users on X today stand at approximately 650 million.

Dorsey And Beyond

Twitter underwent several refinements under Dorsey. The limit of 140 characters was relaxed and updated to 280 characters. The users no longer had to worry about media or Twitter handles eating up their precious characters. But Dorsey, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Twitter, decided to to move on. His departure came as a shocker to many but he felt that it was the right thing to do.

Theres a lot of talk about the importance of a company being founder-led." Ultimately I believe thats severely limiting and a single point of failure. Ive worked hard to ensure this company can break away from its founding and founders. There are 3 reasons I believe now is the right time," Dorseys email to this employees announcing his resignation read.

Also Read: David Miller Didnt Deserve This: Why Heartbreak Interview By Lucknow Super Giants Was In Poor Taste

He further informed his employees about the companys new CEO. The first is Parag becoming our CEO. The board ran a rigorous process considering all options and unanimously appointed Parag. Hes been my choice for some time given how deeply he understands the company and its needs. Parag has been behind every critical decision that helped turn this company around. Hes curious, probing, rational, creative, demanding, self-aware, and humble."

While concluding, Dorsey wrote: PS Im tweeting this email. My one wish is for Twitter Inc to be the most transparent company in the world. Hi mom!"

You can read the entire email here.

Parag Agrawal  Former CEO of Twitter

Parag Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011. Agarwal, an IIT Bombay alumnus, started his Twitter journey as an engineer and soon established himself as a capable one for his work in revenue and consumer engineering. Twitter noted that Agrawals work in 2016-17 helped in re-acceleration of audience growth. A year later, the Indian-born techie climbed to the position of CTO. With Dorseys departure, Twitter board decided to go to their best next employee  Agrawal. The techie assumed the position of Twitter CEO in November of 2021. Only to be fired a year later.

Elon Musk  Let That Sink In

Tesla chief Elon Musk toyed around with the idea of buying his favourite social media platform. He could, he was (and is) the richest man on Earth. The billionaire finally bought the company for $44 billion in late 2022 after going back and forth on his deal for months.

Entering Twitter HQ  let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022

Musks entry was bad news for thousands of Twitter employees and top executives including Agrawal. Agrawal was fired allegedly after the then-CEO refused to block a Twitter account. Musk wasnt happy. In a 2025 post, Musk criticised Agrawal and revealed why he was fired. Parag got nothing done. Parag was fired," Musk, responding to a tweet, wrote. Musk did not replace Agrawal as CEO but appointed Linda Yaccarino for the position.

Also Read: What Is Grok And Why It Has Become Indias Favourite New Toy

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It wasnt just the employees that reached their end at their beloved company. Musk killed the iconic blue bird  one of the most recognisable logos in the world. Twitter was no longer Twitter either. X was its new name as the company went through swift cosmetic changes and several layers of rebranding.

On Musks X, you can write down as many as 25,000 characters in a single post if you have the premium subscription. X has also enabled monetisation of user accounts who are paid according to the engagement they receive on their individual posts. X has integrated the platform with AI chatbot Grok, created by Musks xAI company, that can answer your queries in real-time and even code games for you. X, however, has been embroiled in major controversies since Musks takeover. Just Grok them.

About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 16:12 IST
34-Year-Old Woman Arrested For Smuggling MDMA From Bengaluru, Hid Drugs In Private Parts

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 12:58 IST

The woman was taken into custody on Friday evening after her car was chased by the Sakthikulangara police and the Kollam City Police District Anti-Narcotic Special Action Force (DANSAF).

(Representational Image)

Karnataka Police have arrested a 34-year-old woman for allegedly attempting to smuggle the synthetic drug MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) worth lakhs of rupees from Bengaluru, news agency PTI said quoting police officials.

The woman identified as Anila Raveendran, hails from Anchalummoodu. She was taken into custody on Friday evening after her car was chased by the Sakthikulangara police and the Kollam City Police District Anti-Narcotic Special Action Force (DANSAF).

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MDMA is a tablet-like drug, also colloquially known as ecstasy" that alters the mood and perception of a user when they are high. It is often referred to as a party drug".

According to the police, they attempted to stop the womans car near the Neendakara bridge, but she evaded them. After eventually intercepting the vehicle, authorities discovered approximately 90 grams of MDMA in her possession.

Initially, the police found 50 grams of MDMA in the womans car and after a medical examination of the accused, they found that she had hidden 40 grams of the drugs in her private parts. Her car was also seized as evidence.

The police said that the woman had been smuggling the drug to supply it to school and college students in Kollam city. She also had a history of drug trafficking and had been involved in another case of MDMA smuggling previously.

The police are conducting a thorough investigation to determine the source of the contraband as well.

Earlier this week, the Mangaluru police made a massive bust, seizing 37.87 kg of MDMA worth Rs 75 crore in a historic operation that dismantled Karnatakas largest drug network.

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This record-breaking haul is the biggest in Karnatakas history and was part of an effort to expose an international drug trade.

Two South African nationals were also arrested in Bengaluru for allegedly distributing drugs across Karnataka and other states. The police also found that the supply of MDMA was being conducted by traffickers through the use of air routes between Delhi and Bengaluru.

First Published: March 22, 2025, 12:58 IST
Attacks On Minorities In Bangladesh, Lankan Action On Indian Fishermen Discussed By Jaishankar With Parliamentary Panel

Reported By :

CNN-News18

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 23:30 IST

A detailed presentation was also made by foreign secretary Vikram Misri on Indias relationship with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Myanmar

External affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar. (File pic/PTI)

At the meeting of the Consultative Committee for External Affairs on Saturday morning, foreign minister Dr S Jaishankar had a detailed discussion on Indias ties with neighbouring nations. A detailed presentation was made by foreign secretary Vikram Misri on Indias relationship with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Myanmar.

Through the course of the discussion, multiple members expressed their concerns over the attacks on minorities in neighbouring Bangladesh.

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The external affairs minister assured the members of the panel that the Indian government has raised this matter at various levels and multiple platforms.

On being asked about Indias engagement with the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government and if Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be meeting him any time soon and raising the matter in person, a conservative response came in from the minister on any commitments of any meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart. However, it is learnt that PM Modi will also attend the BIMSTEC summit in Thailand, where he may meet Bangladeshs Yunus.

Nobody else raised the matter of the attacks on minorities before our government did. We will continue to do that," Jaishankar told the MPs, said sources. He further elaborated that, as per the constitution of Bangladesh, they cannot even have a caretaker government, but an unprecedented situation has been witnessed in the neighbouring nation for the last several months. It has also been conveyed to the members that formal discussions could take place elaborately with Bangladesh since the country does not have a formal government in place.

The members also asked if the government had decided its stance on China because many aspects of what was happening in the neighbourhood were also because of the interference of Beijing. While conveying to them that the discussion of China would take place later, as it was not part of Saturdays agenda, the minister said that India has always maintained a very cordial relationship with all its neighbours. We had the recent visit by the Maldives President, and it is an example of how we continue to engage with our neighbours and work on improving relations," the minister told the committee, said sources. The committee was also informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to travel to Sri Lanka next month as part of his engagement with Indias neighbours.

The external affairs minister also explained to the committee what happened at SAARC and why therefore BIMSTEC would be important.

Many members of Parliament, especially those from the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, were extremely keen on understanding what steps the government of India was taking to protect fishermen who were being arrested and punished by the Sri Lankan authorities.

It is learnt that the minister explained to them how India was engaging with the Lankan authorities, but it would be some time before a final solution was found.

I do not wish to do politics over the entire matter, but the Katchatheevu matter has a lot to do with this, and it is a legacy issue that the present-day government is trying to sort," Jaishankar is said to have told the panel.

Many members of the committee were extremely concerned about the influence of drugs, especially those coming in from hostile neighbour Pakistan into states like Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, etc, and whether the Indian government was trying to expose Islamabad. The panel was told that the government was concerned about the matter, but a discussion on this would take place in another meeting.

The issue of refugees was also raised by the members, and they also wanted to understand from the government if there was any communication from these neighbouring nations about people wanting to get Indian citizenship. The government told the committee that this data would be provided at a later date.

The meeting was held in a very cordial manner, and nobody was trying to score a political point," a top government source told News18.

This was the first meeting of the Consultative Committee for External Affairs after it was constituted following the Lok Sabha elections last year. A few rounds of meetings are expected to take place in the next few months in continuation with this one to talk about Indias neighbourhood policy.

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In fact, just before Sheikh Hasinas arrival in India, there was an all-party meeting that the government of India had called in Parliament. During this meeting, the external affairs minister had conveyed to party leaders that he would brief MPs on Indias neighbourhood policy the moment the constitution of the consultative committee took place.

Apart from Dr Jaishankar, minister of state for external affairs Pabitra Margherita and officials of the MEA attended the meeting. Among the members of Parliament present were Mukul Wasnik, Manish Tewari, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, and KC Venugopal from the Congress. Priyanka Chaturvedi from Shiv Sena (UBT), Anil Firojiya from the BJP, GK Vasan from the Tamil Manila Congress, and Rajya Sabha member Vaiko were also in attendance.

First Published: March 22, 2025, 22:10 IST
'Rioters Will Be Made To Pay For Damages Caused In Nagpur Clashes': Devendra Fadnavis

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 16:52 IST

Fadnavis said action has been taken against 104 people, including 11 minors, in connection with the recent violence in Nagpur over the Aurangzeb row.

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis addressing a press conference. (PTI)

Damage caused by rioters in Nagpur earlier this week will be recovered from them, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday, even as he detailed how rumours in the aftermath of a protest against Mughal ruler Aurangzebs tomb in the western state fuelled violent clashes that grabbed national headlines and sparked a big political debate.

In an interaction with the media, Fadnavis said that it was too early to comment on whether there was any Bangladesh connection to the rioting, reacting to the buzz of a possible foreign link. He stressed that a probe was underway and that authorities had taken action against over 100 people, including 11 minors.

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Whatever damage has happened will be recovered from the rioters. If they do not pay the money, their property will be sold (for the recovery of damages caused). Wherever required, bulldozers will also be used", news agency ANI quoted him as saying.

Fadnavis added that he reviewed the Nagpur situation with the police on Sunday, detailing what sparked the protests, in which one person died.

The entire sequence of events and the actions taken have been reviewed. The replica of Aurangzebs grave was burnt in the morning. An FIR (first information report) was filed on it, but people gathered after a rumour was spread," Fadnavis said, blaming misleading social media posts claiming the burning of religious text for the flare-up on March 17.

The crowd pelted stones and committed arson. The police have taken preventive action. Based on CCTV footage, those who were rioting are being arrested. One hundred and four people have been arrested so far. The police will arrest more. Police action will be taken against those who are involved in the riots, or those who are helping the rioters. Those who spread rumours on social media will also be made co-accused. Sixty-eight social media posts have been identified and deleted so far", he said.

How Rumours Played A Role In Nagpur Violence

Clashes at two separate places broke out in Nagpur following rumours that the holy book of a community was burnt during an agitation by a right-wing body for the removal of Aurangzebs tomb. Several houses were vandalised, a medical clinic was burnt, and many vehicles were torched.

I have looked into every detail and presented my views as well. When this incident took place, the replica of the tomb of Aurangzeb was burnt that day. Following the incident, a complaint was registered with the police. However, some people, through podcasts and social media posts, spread rumours that a holy chadar was burnt," he told reporters.

He said those who helped in inciting riots through the use of social media would also be named as co-accused, adding that 68 incendiary posts had come to light and had been deleted. He assured strict action against those who spread rumours through social media posts.

ALSO READ: How Can Aurangzeb Be Considered Mahapurush: VHP Demands Worship Ban At Mughal Emperors Tomb In Nagpur

Action Taken Against 104 People, More Arrests Likely

Later, the rioters pelted stones, torched vehicles and attacked shops in Nagpur. However, the police brought the situation under control within 4-4.5 hours. The police did everything to control the situation. However, several police personnel, including three DCP level officials, were injured in the incident," Fadnavis said during the press conference.

Fadnavis said that action had been taken against 104 people, including 11 minors, and the police intended to arrest more people. The Chief Minister stressed that the police did everything to control the situation, but several personnel, including three DCP-level officials, were injured in the incident. He said stones were hurled on female police constable, but denied reports of molestation of a woman cop.

Fadnavis assured that those whose cars were damaged will receive compensation within 3-4 days while efforts are being made to ease the restrictions in the area as soon as possible. The curfew will be lifted in stages from today.

Damage Will Be Compensated By Rioters Or Else

Fadnavis also asserted that the cost of the damage in the Nagpur violence would be recovered from the rioters, and if they refused to pay, their properties would be confiscated and sold for recovery. He also hinted at using bulldozers for this purpose.

Fadnavis promised that the perpetrators would regret their actions after attacking police personnel during the unrest. Such a riot has not happened in Nagpur after 1992, this does not suit the culture of Nagpur," he said at the press conference. Action will continue until the last rioter is arrested."

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He also highlighted reports of a Bangladeshi connection to the Nagpur violence, saying it was too early to confirm that while an investigation is underway.

Referring to Ajit Pawars anyone who shows an eye to our Muslim brothers" remark, Fadnavis stressed that a patriotic person of any caste or religion will not be troubled, but whoever is guilty will not be spared.

About the Author Aveek Banerjee Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master's in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international... Read More Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master's in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international... Read More

Location : Nagpur, India, India

First Published: March 22, 2025, 14:31 IST
Bengalurus Second Airport: AAI To Begin Site Assessments In April

Reported By :

News18.com Edited By: Karishma Jain



Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 17:54 IST

The Karnataka government has shortlisted three potential sites for a second international greenfield airport in Bengalurutwo on Kanakapura Road and one on Nelamangala-Kunigal Road.

The urgency stems from Tamil Nadus plans to develop an airport in Hosur, which could impact Bengalurus proposal if delayed. (Representative image)

The Karnataka government has shortlisted three potential sites for a second international greenfield airport in Bengalurutwo on Kanakapura Road and one on Nelamangala-Kunigal Road. A feasibility study will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) between April 7 and 9 to evaluate these locations.

The Karnataka State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (KSIIDC) has already paid Rs 1.21 crore to the AAI for the assessment. Initially, seven potential locations were identified through a study by a consulting firm, Idec. However, this process was put on hold due to byelections. With the conclusion of by-polls, the work has now resumed.

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The urgency stems from Tamil Nadus plans to develop an airport in Hosur, which could impact Bengalurus proposal if delayed. Infrastructure Development Minister M B Patil stated, We wrote to the Airport Authority of India on March 5, 2025, requesting an inspection of the final shortlisted sites for the proposed airport. We have already prepared documents, including revenue maps of the identified sites, 10 years worth of weather reports, detailed images of the sites geographic features, maps from the Survey of India, and operational details of the proposed airport."

Given that the existing airport is under immense pressure and the restriction preventing the establishment of another airport within a 150 km radius will expire by 2033, Patil emphasised that work on the second airport is being expedited. If everything proceeds as planned, it could be operational by 2033.

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Addressing proposals for an airport in Sira, Tumkur, Patil dismissed the idea, stating that it would merely be a district-level airport, similar to those in Shivamogga and Vijayapura. Some are insisting on constructing the proposed airport near Shira in Tumkur, but this is not feasible. To serve the people of Bengaluru, the airport must be located near the city. Only then will investors be interested in funding the project. Without this, the airport will not be viable," he added.

Meanwhile, the minister noted that in Koppal, the Baldota Group plans to invest Rs 54,000 crore in establishing a large-scale steel manufacturing plant, which is expected to have environmental consequences. The head of Gavimath, Swamiji, is leading protests against the project. An independent study by an institution like IISc is being conducted to assess the pollution concerns, and further action will be taken based on the findings. As a minister, I recognise both the need for industrial growth and the publics concerns. There is no political agenda in this matter," Patil assured.

About the Author Harish Upadhya Harish Upadhya, an Assistant Editor at CNN-News18, reports from Bengaluru. Political reporting is his forte. He also tracks India's space journey, and is passionate about environmental reporting and RTI investi... Read More Harish Upadhya, an Assistant Editor at CNN-News18, reports from Bengaluru. Political reporting is his forte. He also tracks India's space journey, and is passionate about environmental reporting and RTI investi... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 17:54 IST
Eerie Room Painting, Manipulation, Isolation: Meerut Murder Accused Exhibits 'A Disturbed Mind'

Reported By :

News18.com Edited By: Apoorva Misra



Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 13:01 IST

Sahil Pandeys deeply ingrained belief in the occult, combined with substance abuse and delusions, played a significant role in the brutal murder of a Merchant Navy officer, says psychologist

Wall paintings in Sahil Pandeys room hint that occult appears to have significantly influenced his actions, trapping him in a web of delusions and dark obsessions. (News18)

A dimly lit room adorned with eerie paintings, cryptic occult symbols, and a mind consumed by dark fantasiesthis was the world of Sahil Pandey, one of the prime accused in the gruesome murder of Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rastogi.

In what is being called one of the most brutal crimes in Meeruts history, Pandey, along with his lover Muskaan RastogiSaurabhs own wifemeticulously plotted and executed a chilling act of violence that has sent shockwaves across the nation.

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To unravel the psychological depths of this heinous crime, News18 spoke to Dr Manini Srivastava, head of the department of psychology at the University of Lucknow, who described Pandey as a deeply disturbed individual" and said: The occult appears to have significantly influenced his actions, trapping him in a web of delusions and dark obsessions."

A Room That Revealed a Disturbed Mind

Pandeys world was discovered when police broke open his 10 x 12 room in Meeruts Indirapuram locality. His room, dimly lit and adorned with unsettling paintings, was the reflection of his dark psyche. The walls were adorned with symbols of Mahakal, Shree Yantra, and ominous figures drawn in red and black ink. A chilling painting depicted a lone, seated girl, while another scrawled message read, You cant trip with us."

ALSO READ | Merchant Navy Officer Murder: Why Did Meerut Police Order Towels For Accused Muskaan And Sahil?

Among the eerie artworks was a depiction of hands holding a cigarette with the words Puff Puff Pass", indicating possible substance abuse. An ashtray with skeletal designs, remnants of cigarette butts, and narcotics suggested an environment steeped in addiction and delusions.

As investigators combed through the space, they found an ashtray decorated with a skeleton motif, multiple cigarette butts, beer bottles, and traces of marijuana. An old wooden table in the corner was stacked with books, framed sketches, and personal memorabilia. Draped on one of the chairs was a saffron-coloured dupatta inscribed with Mahakaal, a symbol of his self-styled spiritual identity.

Pandey, who once lived a seemingly normal life, had undergone a radical transformation in the past two yearsgrowing long hair and wearing loose kurta-pajamas.

Transformation To A Troubled Mind

Neighbours recall a time when Pandey was just another boy in the locality. A former student of Vivekananda School, he grew up in this house with his grandmother. His mother had passed away 18 years ago, and his father worked in Greater Noida. His elder brother, settled in London, and younger siblings in Delhi, were largely absent from his life. Over time, Pandey became increasingly reclusive, avoiding people and immersing himself in mysticism.

He was once a regular boy, but something changed in him two years ago," a neighbour, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told News18. He started growing his hair, wearing those loose-fitting clothes with Hindu deities printed on them, and keeping odd hours. He hardly spoke to anyone, and if he did, it was about things we couldnt understandmysticism, energies, the universe. He was obsessed with Mahakaal and used to say he was searching for siddhi."

ALSO READ | The Last Dance: Video Shows Meerut Ex-Merchant Navy Officer Dancing With Wife, Daughter Days Before Brutal Murder

Another resident recalled how Pandey spent most of his time indoors, often working on his computer. We never saw him work, but we knew he was financially supported by his father and brother. He claimed to be preparing for the CA exams, but we never saw any evidence of that."

His grandmother, Premvati, admitted she knew little about his activities. He would sit at his computer all day, reading something. I knew he drank alcohol, but I didnt know about the drugs. I was away on a pilgrimage when all this happened," she said.

A Dangerous Cocktail of Manipulation and Delusions

According to Dr Srivastava, the murder case presents an unsettling mix of psychological manipulation, delusional beliefs, and substance abuse.

Pandey was not an ordinary criminal. His deeply ingrained belief in the occult played a significant role in this crime. When combined with substance abuse, such delusions can become increasingly reinforced," she explained.

The psychologist highlighted how Muskaan Rastogi manipulated Pandey, exploiting his spiritual obsessions. Reports suggest that Muskaan created fake Snapchat accounts, pretending to be his deceased mother, persuading him that killing Saurabh was a divine act. This level of psychological manipulation, when aimed at an individual already struggling with delusions, can be extremely dangerous."

Pandeys detachment from reality was evident in his actions after the crime. Instead of panicking, he carefully planned the disposal of the officers body, searching online for ways to eliminate evidence. This indicates traits of antisocial personality disorder, where individuals lack remorse and can engage in extreme violence without emotional distress," Srivastava added.

Muskaans role in the murder further highlighted the dangerous dynamic between the two. Pandey convinced her that she needed to kill her husband herself for their new life to begin. This manipulation, combined with possible drug use, created a situation where she complied with his orders without hesitation," she added.

The Crime

On the night of March 3, Pandey and Muskaan Rastogi allegedly lured Saurabh Rastogi into their home, where the gruesome act unfolded. Pandey handed Muskaan a butchers knife, instructing her to stab her husband in the chest three times while he was in deep sleep, under the influence of drugs. When she hesitated, he guided her hands, forcing the knife into Saurabhs body, the cops investigating the case said.

After confirming he was dead, the duo dragged his body into the bathroom. Pandey methodically severed the head and hands, while Muskaan fetched plastic bags she had purchased earlier. They attempted to clean up the crime scene with bleach but were ultimately unable to dispose of the body in time," he added. Police investigations later revealed that even while on vacation in Shimla, the couple had been searching online for ways to dissolve human remains.

The Investigation

The crime unravelled when local workers refused to carry a suspiciously heavy plastic drum from Muskaans home. Investigators soon uncovered Pandeys digital footprint, revealing his online searches and his deep involvement in the occult. His laptop, seized by authorities, contained disturbing content related to dark rituals and body disposal methods.

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Pandeys case is a testament to how unchecked psychological distress, manipulative relationships, and substance abuse can culminate in horrific violence," Srivastava concluded. It is a stark reminder of the need for mental health awareness and early intervention in such cases," she said.

With the duo now in police custody, the investigation continues. Authorities are delving deeper into Pandeys occult activities, searching for potential links to other crimes or groups that may have influenced his actions.

Location : Meerut, India, India

First Published: March 22, 2025, 11:47 IST
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, February 22. The U.S. will attend the Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, which will be held in Turkmenistan, Trend reports.

The US President Donald Trump confirmed this in a letter addressed to Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov on the occasion of Nowruz.

"The American people are inspired by your ongoing reforms, and I highly value our cooperation on many important issues. We look forward to working with you and sending a delegation to the great, beautiful, white city of Ashgabat to represent the United States at the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries. Thank you for hosting this event," Trump wrote.

He also reaffirmed that the United States remains a steadfast supporter of Turkmenistans sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, expressing confidence that bilateral relations will continue to progress toward many future successes.

The Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries is scheduled to be held in Turkmenistan in the second half of this year.

In general, the US and Turkmenistan are expanding cooperation in energy, trade, and business, with trade reaching around $400 million in 2023. Both countries aim to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties, focusing on mutual interests and investment opportunities.
Last Updated: March 23, 2025, 09:35 IST

Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya has recommended a deeper probe" into a controversy over the alleged discovery of cash at a judges residence in the national capital, according to documents made public by the Supreme Court on Saturday night.

The documents also showed that Justice Yashwant Varma, in the eye of the cash-at-home storm, has strongly denied the allegations against him, stressing unequivocally that no cash was ever placed in that storeroom either by me or any of my family members", and that there was likely a conspiracy" against him. This was the first time that his statement on the raging controversy was out in public.

Read more: Three-Judge Panel To Probe Cash Recovery Charge Against Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma

Justice Yashwant Varma said, The very idea or suggestion that this cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous." He also stated that the room that caught fire and where cash was allegedly found was an outhouse.

Read more: Who Is Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma, Embroiled In Cash Discovery Row?

He continued, The suggestion that one would store cash in an open, freely accessible and commonly used storeroom near the staff quarters or in an outhouse verges on the incredible and incredulous. It is a room which is completely disassociated from my living areas and a boundary wall demarcates my living area from that outhouse. I only wish that the media had conducted some enquiry before I came to be indicted and defamed in the press."

The Chief Justice of India constituted a three-member in-house inquiry committee to examine the allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma. The committee includes Justice Sheel Nagu (Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court) Justice GS Sandhawalia (Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court) and Justice Anu Sivaraman (Judge of the Karnataka High Court).

The Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi has been asked not to assign any judicial work to Justice Yashwant Varma.

Earlier, the Supreme Court Collegium ordered the immediate transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma to his parent court in Allahabad.

The Supreme Court said, The proposal for the transfer of Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma, who is the second senior most judge in the Delhi High Court and a member of the Collegium, to his parent High Court, i.e. the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, where he will be ninth in seniority, is independent and separate from the In-house inquiry procedure."

Delhi HC Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay Meets Fire Officials, Top Cops

According to top sources cited by CNN, Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay met fire officials, top police officials and Supreme Courts vigilance department officials. Justice Upadhyay had apprised CJI of the need to meet these officials even after the report was filed.

People related to the matter told CNN News 18 that though the report was submitted on Friday night, Justice Upadhyay wanted to supplement the report so the meeting was necessary.

Meeting Continued For More Than An Hour At HC

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In the meeting that continued for over an hour, Justice Upadhyay asked these officials about the timing of the fire call, the actual spot of fire and cash recovery and if any seizures were done by the police or the fire department officials.
Don't Scream, I'll Choke You: BJPs Dilip Ghosh Threatens Women Protesters In Kharagpur

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 11:07 IST

Ghosh was surrounded by the local women when he had gone to inaugurate a newly built road in Ward number 6 on Friday.

Screengrab of viral video. (Photo: X)

Senior Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh stirred a controversy after he was involved in a heated argument with a group of women from Medinipur constituency, who confronted him about the lack of development in the area. A video had gone viral in which the BJP leader threatened to choke a woman protester in Kharagpur drawing criticism from the ruling Trinamool.

Ghosh was surrounded by the local women when he had gone to inaugurate a newly built road in Ward number 6 on Friday. The women questioned his absence during his tenure as an MP, infuriating the former state BJP chief.

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The women questioned why the BJP leader was attending the road inauguration despite the road being built by the municipality, Where were you all this time? We didnt see you even for a day when you were an MP. Now after our councillor (Pradip Sarkar of the Trinamool) has built the road, youre here?" asked a woman.

Ghosh responded aggressively, I have given the money for this; it is not your fathers money! Go and ask Pradip Sarkar (local Trinamool councillor) about it!"

The women did not relent. One of them asked, Why bring up our father? You were an MP, can you talk like this?"

To this, Ghosh retorted, I will bring up your fourteen generations!"

Dont scream. I will choke you. I had given money for this from my MPLAD fund when I was a parliamentarian," he threatened the protesters and called them Trinamools dogs".

Speaking to reporters, Mr Ghosh later claimed that the protesters were Trinamool Congress supporters These are opportunists barking for Rs 500 (Lakshmir Bhandar  a government scheme for women). Those who bark, Dilip Ghosh will bring up their father."

I had worked for the construction of this stretch of road with the MPLAD fund money that was sanctioned during my tenure. I went there to inaugurate it, but at the instruction of the local councillor, a few women came to protest. When Pradip Sarkar was chairman, I was an MLA. Even now, Kharagpur municipality has stalled many of my funded projects," said Mr Ghosh.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leaders condemned Ghoshs actions, reiterating that the roadwork was carried out by the municipality.

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Mr Sarkar, the Trinamool councillor and a former MLA from Kharagpur, said the language he used was unbecoming of a former MP. He also asked why Mr Ghosh went to inaugurate the road despite not being an MP anymore.

He went there and lost his temper. He disrespected the women by bringing up their fathers. I was not there, but he even insulted my father. He called the women 500-rupee workers. He should apologise. Otherwise, wherever he goes in Kharagpur, there will be protests. Such language is unbecoming of a former MP," said the councillor.

Location : Kharagpur, India, India

First Published: March 22, 2025, 10:52 IST
Himachal CM Urges Home Minister To Release Compensation For Losses Suffered In Monsoon 2023

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 17:55 IST

Heavy rains triggered floods and landslides in the state in July and August in 2023 and about 550 people died during the monsoon season that year.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. (PTI)

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu requested Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday to release the compensation amount for the losses suffered by the hill state during the 2023 monsoon.

Sukhu, who met Shah in Delhi, said the state had claimed financial assistance under post-disaster needs assessment but the relief is still awaited from the Centre, according to a statement issued here.

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He apprised Shah that the state suffered heavy losses due to rains severely affecting drinking water supply, irrigation schemes, infrastructure, roads, bridges and relief-and-rehabilitation measures. However, the state has so far managed its resources.

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Heavy rains triggered floods and landslides in the state in July and August in 2023 and about 550 people died during the monsoon season that year.

Various other issues about the state were discussed and Shah assured the chief minister of all possible assistance, the statement said.

Location : Shimla, India, India

First Published: March 22, 2025, 17:55 IST
Justice Yashwant Varma Figured In CBI And ED Case Earlier, SC Set It Aside Last Year

Reported By :

News18.com Edited By: Apoorva Misra



Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 09:58 IST

The CBI FIR that was lodged in 2018 described Varma as a non-executive director in Simbhaoli Sugars in 2012 and lists him as Accused number 10. The charge is of criminal misconduct, cheating and criminal conspiracy against all the accused

Justice Yashwant Varma (IMAGE: X)

Justice Yaswant Varmas name had figured in a CBI FIR and an Enforcement Directorate ECIR earlier when he was non-executive director of a company prior to his elevation as a judge of the Allahabad High Court in 2014. CNN-NEWS18 has a copy of the CBI and ED documents that feature Varma as an accused in the matter.

However, last year, the Supreme Court set aside an Allahabad HC decision to order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Simbhaoli Sugars matter.

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The CBI FIR that was lodged in 2018 described Varma as a non-executive director in Simbhaoli Sugars in 2012 and lists him as Accused number 10". The charge is of criminal misconduct, cheating and criminal conspiracy against all the accused.

Justice Varma, who was serving presently in the Delhi High Court, is under fire after the Supreme Court collegium proposed transferring him to Allahabad High Court following a suspected amount of cash recovered from his official residence. An in-house inquiry is also being marked against Varma by the Supreme Court.

What the 2018 FIR said

A CBI FIR was registered against Simbhaoli Sugar Mill on February 2018 by Oriental Bank of Commerce. The company allegedly took heavy loan to distribute among farmers for their agricultural equipment and other needs but later misappropriated it and transferred the loan amount into its other accounts. There was a clear-cut diversion of funds, it was alleged. The money received by the company has been used for purposes other than agreed upon, the FIR said.

The bank had declared Simbhoali Sugars Limited as suspected fraud for an amount involving Rs 97.85 crore for the reason of misappropriation and criminal breach of trust and the same was reported to the Reserve Bank of India on 13.05.2015.

An FIR was registered by CBI against 12 persons and Yashwant Varmas name figured on tenth number as non-executive director of the company. Five days after the CBI FIR in the predicate offence, the Enforcement Directorate also filed a complaint on 27.02.2018 under Section 3/4 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, at Police Station- Enforcement Directorate, District-Lucknow.

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The Supreme Court last year said the HC erred in ordering a CBI probe in the matter as no investigation was warranted. The apex court, however, added that authorities were not precluded from taking action for fraud in accordance with law.

Sources say Varmas name was struck off from the FIR by the CBI a short while after the FIR was lodged, and the agency had informed the court that his name is being removed.

About the Author Aman Sharma Aman Sharma, Executive Editor - National Affairs at CNN-News18, and Bureau Chief at News18 in Delhi, has over two decades of experience in covering the wide spectrum of politics and the Prime Ministers Office.... Read More Aman Sharma, Executive Editor - National Affairs at CNN-News18, and Bureau Chief at News18 in Delhi, has over two decades of experience in covering the wide spectrum of politics and the Prime Ministers Office.... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 09:19 IST
Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 15:31 IST

Karnataka Bandh March 22nd Live: Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place after Kannada Okkuta, an umbrella organisation representing various pro-Kannada groups, called for a 12-hour statewide bandh in Karnataka on Saturday to protest the alleged assault on a state-run bus conductor in Belagavi.

The bandh, to be in place from 6 am to 6 pm, was announced on February 28 to protest against the incident where the bus conductor was allegedly thrashed for not speaking Marathi  an issue that has long sparked tensions between Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The Kannada activists have demanded strict action against the perpetrators, accusing pro-Marathi groups of inciting violence and disrupting the harmony of the region. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Thursday that the state government will not support a bandh.

Emergency services, including pharmacies, hospitals, and ambulance services will remain functional amid the bandh. Fuel stations are also slated to remain open. However, public transport services, shopping complexes and markets are likely to be closed today.

According to officials, police in various districts have deployed home guards along with the City Armed Reserve unit as a precautionary measure to ensure that the bandh is observed peacefully without causing inconvenience to the public.

Follow Live Updates Here
Kerala Lottery Results LIVE: Karunya KR-698 Winners For March 22, 2025 Announced; Full List Here!

Published By :

Trending Desk

Last Updated: March 23, 2025, 13:39 IST

Kerala Lottery Results Today: Here's full list of winning numbers for Karunya KR-698 lucky draw for Saturday, March 22, 2025.

Kerala Lottery Karunya KR-698 Results: The first prize winner of Karunya KR-698 will get Rs 80 lakh. (Image: Shutterstock)

KERALA LOTTERY KARUNYA KR-698 RESULT ON SATURDAY, 22.3.2025, LIVE UPDATES: The Kerala State Lottery Department has announced the results of the Karunya KR-698 lottery for Saturday, March 22. The winner of the first prize will receive 80 lakh, winner of the second prize will get 5 lakh, and the third prize winner will get 1 lakh. Check the Full List of Winning Numbers below.

KARUNYA KR-698 LOTTERY: WINNING NUMBERS

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WINNING NUMBER FOR 1ST PRIZE OF RS 80 LAKH IS: KD 906545 (IRINJALAKKUDA)

Agent Name: RETHEESH A J

Agency No.: R 5701

WINNING NUMBER FOR 2ND PRIZE OF RS 5 LAKH IS: KC 812559 (ERNAKULAM)

Agent Name: DEEPTHI AJESH

Agency No.: E 8301

WINNING NUMBER FOR 3RD PRIZE OF RS 1 LAKH ARE

KA 272911

KB 340035

KC 495257

KD 626361

KE 725511

KF 444406

KG 984410

KH 419245

KJ 329943

KK 779929

KL 169013

KM 612764

WINNING NUMBERS FOR THE 4TH PRIZE OF RS 5,000 ARE

1831 2133 2377 3463 3542 3871 5375 5540 5684 6067 6597 6696 7110 7130 7646 7701 8411 9295

WINNING NUMBERS FOR THE 5TH PRIZE OF RS 2,000 ARE

0071 1703 4395 4857 5905 5926 8070 9456 9462 9626

WINNING NUMBERS FOR THE 6TH PRIZE OF RS 1,000 ARE

0168 0895 3469 4320 4425 5447 5527 6943 7119 7505 7946 8154 8353 8697

WINNING NUMBERS FOR THE 7TH PRIZE OF RS 500 ARE

0072 0152 0237 0278 0317

0550 0575 0654 0731 0773

0790 0839 1011 1547 1563

1771 2023 2031 2302 2332

2427 2545 2589 2607 2705

2708 2801 2877 2967 2975

3042 3625 3656 3698 3839

3860 3954 4013 4060 4255

4334 4619 4653 4828 4945

5064 5249 5257 5344 5397

5561 5770 5792 5812 6064

6194 6195 6686 6746 6749

7086 7153 7259 7525 7626

8072 8124 8174 8518 8546

8885 9008 9025 9081 9145

9211 9534 9579 9810 9926

WINNING NUMBERS FOR THE 8TH PRIZE OF RS 100 ARE

0231 0255 0342 0402 0508

0599 0622 0653 0724 0923

0981 1160 1199 1300 1350

1384 1437 1706 1810 1928

2002 2110 2216 2283 2306

2584 2659 2695 2751 2812

2855 2886 3029 3119 3180

3205 3273 3279 3333 3354

3410 3427 3577 3627 3761

3816 3873 3892 3991 4077

4086 4214 4278 4440 4539

4622 4633 4644 4658 4741

4879 4884 4892 5231 5459

5550 5563 5785 5886 5986

5995 6182 6241 6309 6343

6353 6375 6412 6527 6535

6666 6700 6742 6744 6895

7037 7370 7453 7497 7537

7563 7585 7607 7657 7731

7785 7791 7816 7887 7906

7976 8012 8030 8036 8040

8045 8078 8213 8223 8275

8448 8469 8511 8761 8790

8791 8878 8918 8972 9397

9546 9662 9821 9913

WINNING NUMBERS FOR THE CONSOLATION PRIZE OF RS 8,000 ARE

KA 906545

KB 906545

KC 906545

KE 906545

KF 906545

KG 906545

KH 906545

KJ 906545

KK 906545

KL 906545

KM 906545

HOW TO CHECK KERALA KARUNYA KR-698 LOTTERY RESULTS?

To see the KARUNYA KR-698 results, visit the official Kerala Lottery website.

Visit the Kerala Government Gazette office to confirm the winning numbers.

For accurate and official information, get in touch with the Kerala Lottery Department.

How to Claim the Prize Money?

To verify the lottery results and compare them with your ticket number, consult the official Kerala Government Gazette. You might be eligible for a reward if your ticket number appears in the official results. Within 30 days of the announcement, prize winners must come to the Kerala Lottery Office in Thiruvananthapuram to pick up their rewards. In order to do so, they must present their original lottery ticket and a legitimate form of identity for validation.

Documents Required to Claim Prize Money

Present a signed copy of the winning lottery ticket on both sides.

Send in current passport-sized photos that have been verified by a Gazette officer.

As identification, a copy of your PAN card that has been self-attested should be sent.

Fill out the official online prize claim form, including a revenue stamp, and send it in.

For authentication, show a legitimate government-issued ID, such as an Aadhaar card, PAN card, voter ID, or ration card.

HOW TO DOWNLOAD A PDF WITH A FULL LIST OF WINNING NUMBERS?

Go to the Kerala Lottery Departments official website at keralalotteries.info or keralalotteryresult.net.

Find and click the link for the KARUNYA KR-698 results.

The whole list of winning numbers will be shown in the results section.

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Locate the pages download option.

To view and download the results in PDF format, click the link.

About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More

Location : Thiruvananthapuram [Trivandrum], India, India

First Published: March 22, 2025, 09:00 IST
'If Anyone Shows An Eye To Muslims...': Ajit Pawar Hosts Iftar Party Amid Aurangzeb Row

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 08:36 IST

Ajit Pawar, while hosting the iftar party, emphasised India's diverse culture and warned against any divisive forces against Muslims. His remarks came amid a heated Aurangzeb row in the state.

Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar during an iftar party in Mumbai. (Ajit Pawar/X)

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar hosted an iftar party in Mumbai, where he emphasised Indias diverse culture and warned against any attempts to threaten Muslims amid the ongoing row over Aurangzeb that has engulfed the state.

Speaking during the iftar party in Marine Lines, Mumbai, on the occasion of Ramadan, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-Ajit Pawar) supremo said, India is a symbol of unity in diversity. We should not fall into the trap of any divisive forces."

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We have just celebrated Holi, Gudi Padwa and Eid are coming  all these festivals teach us to live together. We should all celebrate it together because unity is our real strength. I want to assure you that your brother Ajit Pawar is with you," Ajit Pawar said in a show of solidarity with Muslims.

Pawar further said that Ramadan is not limited to only one religion and it symbolises humanity, sacrifice and self-discipline. He said the sacred month inspires people to understand the suffering of the needy and purifies not just the body but also the mind and soul.

Anyone who shows an eye to our Muslim brothers and sisters, if anyone tries to create a fight between two groups and takes law and order in his hands, whoever he is  he will not be spared, he will not be forgiven," Ajit Pawar further said during the event.

#WATCH | Mumbai | Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, at an Iftar party hosted by him, says, India is a symbol of unity in diversity We should not fall into the trap of any divisive forces. We have just celebrated Holi, Gudi Padwa and Eid are coming  all these festivals pic.twitter.com/5s7hMhdGmb ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2025

Aurangzeb Controversy In Maharashtra

This came after the Aurangzeb controversy in Maharashtra following the release of the movie Chhava, where Hindu groups demanded the Mughal rulers tomb be razed down. Chhaava, based on Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharajs life, has reinforced his image as a martyr, intensifying anti-Aurangzeb sentiments in Maharashtra.

The row gained further significance after Nagpur, the headquarters of the RSS, witnessed unrest near Chitnis Park in the Mahal area on Monday, as two groups clashed with each other following an alleged burning of a religious text, leaving several policemen injured.

The Nagpur Police on Thursday arrested nine more people in connection with the March 17 clashes, bringing the total number of arrests to more than 100. A curfew was imposed and prohibitory orders were placed in parts of the city following the unrest.

Ajit Pawar had earlier rebuked Maharashtra Minister Nitesh Rane following the latters claim that Muslims were not part of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharajs army and said these remarks were detrimental to Maharashtras cultural heritage and communal harmony.

Pawar said Shivaji Maharaj never discriminated against anyone on the basis of caste or creed. Political leaders, whether in the government or Opposition, must exercise caution while making statements, to ensure that communal discord is not created. Maharashtra is home to a large number of patriotic Muslims. There is evidence that during Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharajs reign, several Muslims played a key role," he added.

BJP Vs Congress Over Iftar Party

Meanwhile, a separate row erupted between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress after a veteran leader of the latter party attended an iftar party at the Pakistan High Commission on Thursday.

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The BJP attacked Congress after Mani Shankar Aiyars visit to the Pakistan High Commission, saying, It is no longer the Indian National Congress. It has become PPP  a Pakistan-friendly party." According to official sources, no government representative attended the event.

BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said that Congress loves Pakistan". This makes it clear that whether its Mani Shankar Aiyar or any Congress leader, they have a love for Pakistan in their hearts," Bhandari said.

About the Author Aveek Banerjee Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master's in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international... Read More Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master's in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 08:36 IST
Meerut Murder Case: Cab Driver Reveals What Muskan, Sahil Did During Himachal Trip After Killing Saurabh

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 17:47 IST

Saurabh Rajput murder case in Meerut has rocked country as new details continue to emerge with progressing police investigation. Cab driver has now revealed what Muskan and Sahil did during their trip.

Merchant Navy officer from UP's Meerut was murdered by his wife and her lover (PTI Image)

A cab driver, who accompanied Muskan Rastogi and her lover Sahik Shukla on their mountain trip in Himachal Pradesh right after Saurabh Rajputs murder in Meerut, has revealed the details of the duos journey and how it did not seem they were out after allegedly committing the heinous crime.

Ajab Singh, the driver, said that their behaviour did not let him sense that they had just killed a 29-year-old merchant navy officer.

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Driver Reveals Details Of Muskan-Sahils Trip

He told India Today that during their journey to Shimla and Manali, they hardly spoke to each other and the woman only received two calls from her mother.

Singh also divulged that accused Sahil, who has been arrested along with Muskan, used to consume two bottles of alcohol every day while Muskan drank three cans of beer. The two accused celebrated Holi with great enthusiasm, he added. The video of them playing video went viral on social media.

On March 4, the day Saurabh was brutally killed, Muskan and Sahil booked a Swift Dzire and started a 15-day trip to Shimla and Manali.

Singh also revealed a WhatsApp audio clip from Muskan, in which she asked him to bring a birthday cake for Sahil at a hotel where they stayed in Shimla. In the audio, she instructed him only to send her a message and not call her.

The duo had booked the cab for Rs 54,000 for 15 days. The driver claimed that he was unaware of their alleged crime.

He informed that Sahil used to drink every evening, adding that he did not know that Muskan also drank as he never saw her getting drunk, until he saw her drinking while on their way back to Meerut, NDTV reported.

A video of both the accused has also surfaced on social media, showing them enjoying a Holi party. Another video went viral, showing Muskan celebrating Sahils birthday in Kasol and feeding him a cake.

The police have said that Muskan and Sahil confessed before them to killing Saurabh on March 4 and chopping his body into pieces, putting them into a drum, and then sealing it with cement. They were later arrested.

Muskan And Sahil Did Not Allow Hotel Staff To Clean Room

As the duo stayed in Kasol for six days, introducing themselves as husband and wife from March 10 to March 16, they did not meet anybody and also did not allow the hotel staff to clean the room, hotel operator Aman Kumar told news agency PTI on Saturday.

Kumar said that the tourists visit Kasol to enjoy scenic beauty but both the accused remained in their room no. 203 the whole day and only went out once a day in the car.

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They did not meet anybody, did not allow hotel staff to clean the room, and had minimum interaction with the staff," the hotel operator said.

During the checkout, the couple told him that they had come from Manali and would return to Uttar Pradesh.

About the Author Ashesh Mallick Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More

Location : Meerut, India, India

First Published: March 22, 2025, 16:23 IST
'Never Accepted Illegal Chinese Occupation': India Reacts Sharply To Chinas Claim Of 'New Counties' In Ladakh

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 09:38 IST

India said that it gives careful and special attention to improvement of infrastructure for the development of border areas, in order to facilitate the economic development of these areas.

India said that it was aware of China's announcement about the establishment of so-called two new counties (Credits: PTI)

India has reacted sharply to Chinas announcement about the establishment of two new counties in the border region, parts of which fall in Ladakh. The government informed Parliament on Friday that the Centre has filed a solemn" protest through diplomatic channels regarding the matter.

The Government of India has never accepted the illegal Chinese occupation of Indian territory in this area. The creation of new counties will neither affect Indias long-standing and consistent position regarding Indias sovereignty over the area, nor lend legitimacy to Chinas illegal and forcible occupation of the same," said Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh in a written response to a query in the Lok Sabha.

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The ministry was asked whether it was aware of China establishing two new counties in the Hotan prefecture, incorporating Indian territory in Ladakh. It also inquired about the strategic and diplomatic measures taken by the government to address the situation.

The query also sought details about the protests India has lodged against the creation of these counties," along with any responses, if received, from the Chinese government.

Government of India is aware of the announcement by the Chinese side regarding the establishment of so-called two new counties in the Hotan prefecture of China. Parts of the jurisdiction of these so-called counties fall in Indias Union Territory of Ladakh," he said.

Adding that the government was aware that China is developing infrastructure in the border regions," the MoS mentioned, The government gives careful and special attention to the improvement of infrastructure in border areas, in order to facilitate the economic development of these areas, as well as to meet Indias strategic and security requirements."

According to the ministry, the budget allocation for border infrastructure has seen a notable increase over the past decade (2014-2024). The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) alone has incurred expenditures three times higher than in the previous decade.

The length of road networks, bridges, and the number of tunnels have all grown significantly compared to the earlier period. This has enhanced connectivity for local communities and provided improved logistical support for our armed forces," the ministry informed.

The government continues to keep a constant watch on all developments having a bearing on Indias security and takes all the necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, the minister said.

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The government remains vigilant in observing any developments impacting Indias security and is taking all necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, it stressed.

(With PTI inputs)

First Published: March 22, 2025, 08:29 IST
Patna Doctor Shot Dead Inside Nursing Home; Blood-Soaked Body Found In Hospital Cabin

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 22:08 IST

The police are also looking at CCTV cameras installed in the nursing home and surrounding areas to identify the assailants. they said.

The incident took place at Asian Hospital located at Dhanuki Mor in Agamkuan police station area.(Representational image)

Dr. Surabhi Raj, director of Patna Citys Asian Hospital, was shot dead by unknown assailants, the police said today. Agamkuan police station in-charge Neeraj Kumar Pandey said that those who killed the doctor entered the nursing home and shot at her dead. Immediately after being shot, she was taken to AIIMS in Phulwari Sharif for treatment, where doctors declared Surabhi Raj dead.

The operator of the nursing home was shot 5 to 6 times, the police said. The reason for the murder has not been clear yet.

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The incident took place at Asian Hospital located at Dhanuki Mor in Agamkuan police station area.

After the incident, Patna Easts City SP Dr. K. Ramdas, FSL and Dog Squad team also reached the spot and started the investigation.

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Deepak Kumar, the nursing staff of the hospital, said that there was training of employees in the hospital owing to which meeting of the employees was to be held. He said, When they opened the directors chamber for the meeting, the hospital director Surabhi Raj was lying on the floor soaked in blood."

The police are also looking at CCTV cameras installed in the nursing home and surrounding areas to identify the assailants. they said.

First Published: March 22, 2025, 22:08 IST
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, March 22. Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Nokerguly Ataguliyev presented a report on the country's preparations for participation in the international exhibition to be held in May 2025 within the framework of the economic forum Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum, Trend reports.

According to the deputy prime minister, Turkmenistan will showcase its cultural heritage, trade and economic potential, investment opportunities, and new export-oriented products at the exhibition. Representatives from various economic sectors and private manufacturers from the country will participate in the event.

President Serdar Berdimuhamedov welcomed the initiative, emphasizing the importance of international exhibitions in developing trade and economic relations with other countries. The head of state approved the proposal for domestic producers to participate in the upcoming international exhibition in Kazan and instructed the deputy prime minister to oversee the necessary preparations.
PM Modi To Visit Sri Lanka On April 5; Set To Finalise Key Agreements

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 07:00 IST

PM Modi's visit comes a month after India and Srilanka signed an agreement to set up solar power plants in the island nation.

PM Modi with President of Sri Lanka Anura Kumara Dissanayake (Credits: X/@anuradisanayake)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sri Lanka on April 5, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on Friday.

Dissanayake was delivering a statement in Parliament when he announced the date for Modis visit, according to news portal Adaderana.lk.

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As announced by Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath last week, Modi will arrive in Sri Lanka to finalise agreements reached during President Dissanayakes visit to Delhi last year.

The president also told Parliament that the construction work on the Sampur Power Plant in the eastern port district of Trincomalee is scheduled to commence at the same time as the Indian PMs visit.

Dissanayake said Modi is visiting Sri Lanka due to the stability of the country.

Last month, Sri Lanka and India reached an agreement for setting up of solar power plants in the island country, Health Minister Nalinda Jayathissa announced.

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Consensus has been reached between the government of Sri Lanka and the government of India to establish solar power plants capacity of 50 Megawatt (stage 1) and 70 Megawatt (stage 2) at Sampur in Trincomalee on the basis of construction, ownership, and operation by the Ceylon Electricity Board and National Thermal Power Corporation of India as a joint venture between two governments," Jayathissa said.

Earlier, NTPC of India was to construct a coal power plant at the same site. The new joint venture sees it being converted to a solar power station.

First Published: March 22, 2025, 07:00 IST
Suspecting Wife Of Infidelity, Pune Techie Slits 3-Year-Old Son's Throat, Abandons Body In Forest

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 20:06 IST

Madhav Sadhurao Tiketi, a resident of Ratan Prestige in Chandan Nagar, has been arrested on charges of murder, police said.

The deceased boy has been identified as Himmat Madhav Tiketi.(Image Credit: X)

An IT engineer in Pune was arrested for allegedly murdering his three-year-old son following a dispute with his wife, the police said. The deceased boy has been identified as Himmat Madhav Tiketi. His father, 38-year-old Madhav Sadhurao Tiketi, a resident of Ratan Prestige in Chandan Nagar, has been arrested on charges of murder, police said.

The police said that Madhav Tiketi had been unemployed for the last couple of months. On Thursday, he had a dispute with his wife and a quarrel ensued, following which he left the house and didnt return.

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Later, his wife went to the police to file a missing persons report. During investigation, cops said that Madhav Tiketi left home with his son- as seen on CCTV cameras. After a while, he was seen without his son.

Madhav Tiketi purchased a knife and a blade from a shop after he left home with his son. He took his son to a secluded spot, where he slit his throat with a knife and then dumped the dead body in the bushes.

Police said that Madhav Tiketi was found in a drunken state at a hotel and the dead body of the boy has been recovered. Police booked Madhav Tiketi under sections 103 (1), 238 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Sima Dhakane, senior police inspector at Chandannagar police station, said that when the police questioned the accused initially, he was under the influence of alcohol.

When police questioned the accused, he was under the influence of alcohol and was misleading the police, the police said.

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This comes as a Merchant Navy officer was murdered allegedly by his wife and her lover in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. The officer- Saurabh Rajput- was killed by his wife Muskaan Rastogi and friend Sahil Shukla on March 4 and his body was chopped up into 15 pieces and found in a drum sealed with cement. He was murdered more than a week after he had returned from abroad to celebrate his daughters birthday. Muskaan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla have been arrested.

First Published: March 22, 2025, 17:02 IST
Stalin Holds Key Opposition Meet On Delimitation, Kerala CM Gives 'Sword Of Damocles' Warning

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 15:32 IST

Stalin said the DMK wanted a fair implementation of the delimitation exercise, asserting that Tamil Nadu would lose eight seats if it is carried out in its current state.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin at the first Joint Committee meeting on delimitation. (PTI)

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday asserted that his DMK government will continue fighting till the delimitation exercise is conducted fairly while addressing the first Joint Action Committee meeting on the issue in Chennai. The meeting also included Chief Ministers of Kerala, Punjab, Telangana and Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar.

The Stalin-led DMK has long expressed concerns that the proposed delimitation will tilt the Lok Sabhas numerical strength in favour of north Indian states and penalise south India for family planning measures, despite the BJP denying this.

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Delimitation of constituencies should not happen as per current population. We all should be firm in opposing itWith the decrease in the peoples representatives in Parliament, our strength to express our views will decrease," he said at the meeting.

Stalin said all states should oppose delimitation as per the current population as it would decease public representatives in the parliament and the strength of other parties to express their views. Laws will be passed without proper discussion, students will lose important opportunities and farmers will face setbacks, he said.

We dont oppose anything which strengthens democratic representation, but that action must be fair and should not affect fair political representation. This protest is not against delimitation but to urge for fair delimitation," Stalin said at the meeting.

MK Stalin On Amit Shah, Avoiding Manipur-Like Fate

The meeting witnessed the participation of 14 leaders from at least five states  including Pinarayi Vijayan, Bhagwant Mann and Revanth Reddy  who are deliberating on the threat posed by the Lok Sabha seats delimitation exercise to states with high economic growth and literacy.

During his address, Stalin said Union Home Minister Amit Shahs assertion that South states would not lose any parliamentary seats was ambiguous" and said the fight against delimitation was crucial to avoid a Manipur-like" fate.

ALSO READ: Spreading Poison: Amit Shah Tears Into Stalins DMK Over Language Row

Manipurs voice is already being suppressed due to its limited representation in Parliament," Stalin said. If the delimitation exercise proceeds unfairly, it will lead to external dominance over us."

The reduction in the number of parliamentary seats should be seen as a reduction in our political strength. It is not about numbers, it is about power and the future," he added.

The Home Minister alleged that DMK is dividing the country in the name of language and is trying to hide its corruption. His remarks came as the DMK accused the Centre of imposing Hindi in Tamil Nadu in the garb of a three-language formula as proposed in the new National Education Policy, a charge denied by the Modi government.

BJP Stages Black Flag Protest

Meanwhile, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a black flag protest as the meeting went underway and criticised Stalin for not convening similar meetings on the Cauvery and Mullaiperiar water-sharing disputes with Karnataka and Kerala.

BJP leaders led by state party chief K Annamalai showed black flags and placards against the Stalin government and Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar over the issue of the Mekedatu project.

Tamil Nadu: BJP leaders led a black flag protest in Karur against the DMK government, citing law and order issues and large-scale corruption in the state pic.twitter.com/E73CBNCxy3 IANS (@ians_india) March 22, 2025

Annamalai also slammed Chief Minister Stalin for doing drama" on delimitation, saying there is no problem" with the proposed exercise. Our state has various issues with neighbouring states. With Kerala, we have the Mullaperiyar Dam issue On various occasions, our CM didnt raise these issues when he visited neighbouring states. But today, he has called all CMs and is doing drama on delimitation, which is not even a problem at all," he told reporters.

BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan described the meeting as a corruption hiding meeting" by the respective leaders. The concerned CMs who are attending the meeting are doing so to hide the misgovernance in the concerned states. There are so many corruption charges in Telangana, Kerala. Their own people will be against their CMs attending this event," she asked Stalin.

BJP Going Ahead Without Consultation: Kerala CM

Kerala CM Vijayan also addressed the meeting on Saturday, saying the BJP govt is going ahead without any consultation on the delimitation exercise. He said the sudden move" was not driven by constitutional principles or democratic imperatives.

Vijayan said the proposed delimitation will suit the BJP as it will increase the number of seats in northern states. If delimitation is carried out purely on the basis of population, then Kerala and other southern states will suffer as we have been bringing down our population since 1973 when the previous delimitation was carried out in which the number of seats in Lok Sabha was reorganised," he added.

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The Kerala leader likened the delimitation proposal to the Sword of Democles" hanging over the states in the South.

The Sword of Damocles" is an old Roman story that teaches a lesson about power and worry. A king named Dionysius wanted to show that being powerful is not just about luxury but also about fear. He let a man named Damocles sit on his throne and enjoy the riches of being a king. However, he hung a sharp sword above Damocles head, held by just one thin horsehair, to show that danger always hangs over those in power.

About the Author Aveek Banerjee Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master's in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international... Read More Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master's in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 11:30 IST
Woman Presumed 'Dead' Returns After 18 Months, Four Arrested On Her Murder Charges Still Behind Bars

Curated By :

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 12:37 IST

Lalita revealed that a man named Shahrukh sold her for Rs 5 lakh to another man with the same name. The second man then took her to Rajasthan's Kota, where she stayed for 18 months.

Lalita Bai went missing in September 2023 (Credits: X)

A woman, who was presumed to be dead, returned home alive after 18 months, while the four men arrested on accusations of killing her remain in custody. The incident took place in Madhya Pradeshs Mandsaur district.

Lalita Bai, 35, a resident of Navali village, went missing in September 2023. A missing persons report was filed following a complaint by her family at the Gandhi Sagar police station.

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A few days later, her relatives identified a body with its head crushed, and they performed the last rites, according to Lalitas father. The officials also arrested four suspects in the case.

After we had filed the missing person report, Thandla police informed us about the recovery of a womans body with her head crushed. We went there and identified it as the body of our daughter based on a tattoo and a black string tied around her leg. We performed the last rites as well," Lalitas father, Nanuram Banchhada, was quoted as saying by PTI.

Meanwhile, Lalita revealed that she left home on her own with a man named Shahrukh and travelled to Bhanpura in September 2023. The man later sold her for Rs 5 lakh to another Shahrukh without her knowledge.

The man she was sold to then took her to Kota in Rajasthan, where Lalita stayed with him for nearly 18 months. However, she managed to escape when the opportunity arose and returned home.

As soon as I got the opportunity, I ran away and came back. I dont have a mobile phone, so I was unable to contact my family members," Lalita told police, as quoted by PTI.

The police have arrested four men who lured Lalita. Authorities have also informed the Thandla police station about the development, where the four men, previously arrested for killing her, are still in custody.

Officials have also launched an investigation to confirm the womans identity, soon after Lalitas father informed them about the return of her daughter and took her to the police station.

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We will first conduct a medical examination and DNA test of the woman, and also record fresh statements from witnesses," Jhabua SP Padmavilochan Shukla told PTI.

Shukla added that only after a thorough investigation will the police be able to confirm whether the woman who appeared at the Gandhi Sagar police station earlier this month is indeed the same woman who was previously believed to have been murdered.

Location : Madhya Pradesh, India, India

First Published: March 22, 2025, 12:28 IST
You Must Be Using JCB To Manage Your Hair Comment By Male Colleague Not Sexual Harassment: Bombay HC

Written By :

LawBeat

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 14:03 IST

The court took note of WhatsApp exchanges between the parties following the incident which indicated cordial relations and suggested that the complainant did not initially perceive the comment as harassment

The court analysed each incident and found no intent on the petitioners part to sexually harass the complainant.

The Bombay High Court has ruled that a male colleague commenting on a female colleagues hair and singing a related song during a workplace training session does not constitute sexual harassment under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013, also referred to as the POSH Act.

A single-judge bench comprising Justice Sandeep Marne made the observation while quashing a case filed against Vinod Narayan Kachave, an HDFC Bank employee. Kachave had commented on his colleagues (the complainants) hair, referring to its length and volume, saying, You must be using a JCB to manage your hair," and had also started singing the song Yeh Reshmi Zulfein, related to her hair.

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The complainant alleged that the incident occurred on 11 June 2022 during a training session. Apart from this, the complainant cited another incident in which Kachave allegedly made a remark to a male colleague, asking if he was speaking to his girlfriend and later joking, Kyu tumhara machine kharab hai kya?" (Is your machinery not functional?), a reference to his private parts. The complainant claimed to have felt uncomfortable due to this remark, citing it as further grounds for harassment. She also lodged a complaint against another female colleague, her reporting manager, alleging that she would check her out and casually discuss her attire with other male colleagues.

The matter was taken up by the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), which found Kachaves conduct unprofessional, stating that multiple witnesses had confirmed the allegations. The Industrial Court in Pune dismissed Kachaves appeal against the ICCs findings, prompting him to approach the High Court.

The court analysed each incident and found no intent on the petitioners part to harass the complainant sexually. It also took note of a subsequent WhatsApp conversation between Kachave and the complainant, in which Kachave had encouraged her regarding her performance, and she had expressed gratitude. The court stated that the WhatsApp exchanges following the incident indicated cordial relations and cast serious doubt on whether the complainant was genuinely offended by any particular conduct of the petitioner.

This led the court to conclude: Considering the nature of the comment allegedly made by the petitioner towards the complainant, it becomes difficult to believe that the same was made with the intent of causing any sexual harassment to the complainant. She herself did not perceive the comment as sexual harassment at the time it was made."

Regarding the second allegation of joking with another male colleague, the court held: The allegations do not indicate the presence of the complainant when the alleged remark was made. The remark was admittedly not directed against the complainant. Both remarks in the second incident were admittedly against another male employee. Therefore, it becomes difficult to believe that the conduct described in the second incident would cause any sexual harassment personally to the complainant."

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With regard to the allegations against the female manager, the court held that they were unrelated to the petitioner and should not have been included in the ICC report. The court criticised the ICC, stating: The ICCs report is clearly vague, as it was drawn up without discussing the evidence on record. Most importantly, the ICC failed to consider whether the allegations levelled against the petitioner in the first two incidents actually constituted sexual harassment of the complainant. The allegation in the third incident had nothing to do with the petitioners actions, yet it was unnecessarily incorporated into the ICCs report."

The court concluded that neither incident met the criteria for sexual harassment. Consequently, it quashed the ICC report dated 30 September 2022 and set aside the Industrial Courts order from 1 July 2024.

First Published: March 22, 2025, 14:03 IST
Netflixs Adolescence Sheds Light On Teen Internet Usage: 5 Ways Parents Can Keep Track

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 16:44 IST

Adolescence on Netflix has sparked some important discussions. Here are some ways in which parents can monitor their teens' internet usage.

Adolescence follows the story of a 13-year-old boy arrested for murder. (Photo Credits: Instagram)

Netflixs latest series  Adolescence  has become the talk of the town for its gripping and scary story. The series follows the story of a 13-year-old boy who is arrested for murdering his schoolmate. Bollywood celebrities like Alia Bhatt among others have taken to their social media to praise this series. The series sparks a lot of important discussions, from masculinity to how teenagers use the internet.

Inspired by the series, here are some ways in which parents can monitor and guide their teens internet usage responsibly.

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1. Set Clear Boundaries and Rules  Talk to your teen about the potential risks of the internet, including cyberbullying, inappropriate content, and online predators. This conversation should be open and non-judgmental. 2. Use Parental Control Software  There are several apps designed to monitor screen time, limit app usage, and even track web browsing history. Many devices have built-in parental controls that let you set time limits, block inappropriate content, or track usage. 3. Review Browsing History and Apps  Regularly reviewing their browser history gives insight into what websites they visit. Keep track of what apps your teen is downloading and ensure theyre age-appropriate. 4. Use Social Media Monitoring Tools  Have an open conversation with your teenagers about social media and its benefits as well as dangers. Guide your teen to set strong privacy settings on social media platforms. Educate them about digital footprints and safe online habits if they are part of online communities. 5. Encourage Open Communication  Instead of snooping, foster an environment where your teen feels comfortable coming to you with any online issues. Regularly talk about what your teen is doing online, who theyre interacting with, and the types of content theyre exposed to.

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Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: March 22, 2025, 16:44 IST
Karan Johar Enjoys His First Maldives Getaway: Top 5 Experiences For First-Time Visitors

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 17:50 IST

Karan Johar took to his social media to share pictures from his first trip to the Maldives. Here are some activities that you must indulge in if you are visiting the island for the first time.

Maldives is loved by the tourists for its scenic beaches.

Situated in the Indian Ocean, Maldives has been one of the most visited tourist destinations. The island has been a popular choice among celebrities for a quick getaway or a romantic escape. Recently, ace director Karan Johar visited the scenic island for the first time. He took to his social media to share pictures from his first visit to the picturesque destination.

Taking to his Instagram, Karan Johar shared a series of pictures from his first visit to the Maldives. The director was dressed in a stylish all-white ensemble. He opted for a classic white shirt which he had paired with white linen pants. He left a few buttons of his shirt open. For the accessories, he opted for a statement chunky necklace and a pair of stylish white square-framed sunglasses. He wrote, Sun Sea.solace.. my first visit to the Maldives and these are just some candid (ya right!!!) shots where I was caught unaware."

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Take a look at the pictures here.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Karan Johar (@karanjohar)

Inspired by Karan Johar, here are five things that you must do on your first visit to the Maldives.

1. Relax on the Iconic White-Sand Beaches- The Maldives is famous for its pristine beaches. Spend time soaking up the sun, swimming in crystal-clear waters, or enjoying a beachside picnic.

2. Snorkel or Dive in Vibrant Coral Reefs- Explore the incredible underwater world. Whether youre a beginner or an experienced diver, the Maldives offers some of the worlds best snorkelling and diving spots, with colourful coral reefs and diverse marine life.

3. Take a Sunset Dolphin Cruise- Hop on a boat for a sunset cruise, where you can spot playful dolphins while enjoying stunning views of the sky changing colours as the sun sets over the ocean.

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4. Stay in an Overwater Villa- Experience luxury like never before by booking an overwater villa. Waking up to panoramic ocean views and having direct access to the lagoon is an unforgettable experience.

5. Visit Local Islands for a Cultural Experience- Get to know the local Maldivian culture by visiting inhabited islands. Explore traditional crafts, taste local delicacies, and learn about the islanders way of life.

fashion, travel, The News18 Lifestyle section brings you the latest on health food , and culture  with wellness tips, celebrity style, travel inspiration, and recipes. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated!

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: March 22, 2025, 17:50 IST
World Water Day 2025: History, Significance And The 2025 Theme Glacier Preservation Explained

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Trending Desk

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 07:00 IST

World Water Day 2025: The day serves as a call to action to address global water challenges, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: ensuring water and sanitation for all by 2030.

World Water Day 2025: This year's theme 'Glacier Preservation' emphasises the crucial role glaciers play in supplying freshwater, regulating the Earth's climate, and sustaining life. (Image: Shutterstock)

World Water Day 2025: Every year on March 22, World Water Day is observed to highlight the importance of freshwater and promote its sustainable management. According to UNESCO, the day serves as a call to action to address global water challenges, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: ensuring water and sanitation for all by 2030. As we mark this occasion, lets explore its history, significance, theme, and more.

World Water Day 2025: History

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The idea of World Water Day was first introduced in 1992 during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. Following the conference, March 22 was officially designated for the annual observance. The first World Water Day was celebrated in 1993, and it has been observed ever since. This year marks the 32nd anniversary of the occasion.

World Water Day 2025: Theme

According to the United Nations, this years World Water Day theme is Glacier Preservation," emphasising the critical role glaciers play in supplying freshwater, regulating the Earths climate, and sustaining life.

The United Nations said, This World Water Day, we must work together to put glacier preservation at the core of our plans to tackle climate change and the global water crisis."

World Water Day 2025: Significance

World Water Day, observed by the United Nations and supported by UN Water, aims to raise awareness of critical water-related issues worldwide. It serves as a call to action for individuals, policymakers, and governments to address the global water and sanitation crisis proactively.

The observance is also aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 global objectives established by the UN General Assembly in 2015. These goals, to be achieved by 2030, focus on creating a sustainable future by addressing economic, social, and environmental challenges while promoting global peace and well-being.

What is Glacier Preservation?

Glacier preservation involves proactive measures to safeguard and sustain glaciers, which play a vital role in global water resources, climate regulation, and biodiversity. Addressing climate change and its impact on accelerated glacial melting is essential to this effort.

According to UNESCO, protecting glaciers is crucial for the well-being of individuals and communities worldwide. These frozen reservoirs hold nearly 70% of the worlds freshwater, making their conservation essential for long-term water security. Sustainable glacier management, continuous monitoring, and international scientific collaboration are key steps in preserving these vital water sources, ensuring future prosperity, and promoting global stability.

As glaciers melt, they replenish rivers and streams, serving as a crucial water source for human consumption, agriculture, and industry. Many local and regional communities depend on glaciers for drinking water, irrigation, and hydropower.

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Moreover, fluctuations in glacier size and melting rates can significantly influence weather patterns, impacting precipitation levels, temperatures, and overall climate stability.

India is home to a vast number of glaciers, primarily situated in the Himalayan region. According to past research conducted by the Space Applications Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the country has approximately 16,627 glaciers, playing a crucial role in sustaining rivers and water resources.

fashion, travel, The News18 Lifestyle section brings you the latest on health food , and culture  with wellness tips, celebrity style, travel inspiration, and recipes. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated!

First Published: March 22, 2025, 07:00 IST
Arjun Kapoors Joke Gets Standing Ovation From Abhishek Bachchan At News18 Showsha Reel Awards 2025 | Watch

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 21, 2025, 21:42 IST

Arjun Kapoor hosted News18 Showsha Reel Awards 2025 on Thursday. Janhvi Kapoor called him the most wholesome, genuine and fun host ever!

Arjun Kapoors Joke Gets Standing Ovation From Abhishek Bachchan At News18 Showsha Reel Awards 2025

News18 Showsha Reel Awards 2025 took place in Mumbai on 20th March. Arjun Kapoor hosted the award ceremony, bringing just the right amount of humour, wit and charm to keep the celebrities and audience entertained throughout the evening. He also cracked a few playful PJs that earned him a standing ovation from Abhishek Bachchan. In his latest post, Arjun Kapoor shared a few glimpses from last night, and hilariously recalled that his bad jokes and punchlines received a standing ovation.

In his latest Instagram post, Arjun Kapoor wrote, Lights. Camera. And a few Bad Jokes. Loved being back on stage, hosting the #ShowshaReelAwards  where the stars shine and my punchlines received standing ovation ! Big cheers to all the winnersyour talent is unreal! And a special thank you to the audience. You all are the real MVPs!" One video clip shows Arjun Kapoor interacting with Riteish Deshmukh, who won the award for Best Comic Role. Arjun cracked a joke on stage that caused a facepalm-worthy moment. He said, Ek Kiran naam ki ladki jo subah vada pav ka stall lagati hai, aur shaam me house help ka job karti ha. Us ladki ko uska boyfriend kaise propose karega? Its a tough one!" When Riteish couldnt guess, Arjun replied, Wo gaana gaayega- Tu hawker, ya naukar, tu hai meri Kiran. Beat that! Its tough, but try." In a humorous reaction, Abhishek Bachchan stood up from his seat, and gave Arjuns joke a slow clap.

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View this post on Instagram A post shared by Arjun Kapoor (@arjunkapoor)

In another video, we see Abhishek Bachchan giving Arjun a standing ovation. Responding to this, the latter jokingly said, See, I got a standing ovation! Before Singham, I had forgotten what that looked like also, so thank you, Abhishek."

Meanwhile, reacting to Arjun Kapoors post about hosting the News18 Showsha Reel Awards, his sister Janhvi Kapoor commented, Most wholesome genuine and fun host ever."

Abhishek Bachchan won the Best Actor (Jury) at the News18 Showsha Reel Awards 2025 for his stellar performance in I Want To Talk. Meanwhile, Arjun Kapoor won an award for best performance in a negative role for Singham Again.

First Published: March 21, 2025, 21:42 IST
Kim Soo Hyuns Agency Withdraws Condolence Payment To Late Kim Sae Ron's Family

Published By :

Trending Desk

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 12:57 IST

The conversation around Kim Sae Rons demise continues to evolve and at the centre of it is actor Kim Soo Hyun and his agency, Gold Medalist.

Online discussions have started shifting in Kim Soo Hyuns favour. (Photo Credits: Instagram)

What started as a tragic loss has now spiralled into a tangled web of accusations and shifting narratives. The conversation around Kim Sae Rons demise continues to evolve and at the centre of it is actor Kim Soo Hyun and his agency, Gold Medalist. Initially, the agency had reportedly planned to offer a condolence payment to Kim Sae Rons family. However, that decision has now been scrapped. The tipping point? A leaked photo of Kim Soo Hyun washing dishes  an image that, strangely enough, seems to have changed the course of events.

In the wake of Kim Sae Rons untimely death, her family, along with the YouTube channel Garoseoro Research Institute, pointed fingers at Kim Soo Hyun and his agency, implying they played a role in the financial struggles that allegedly contributed to her tragic passing. But as new information surfaces, online discussions have started shifting in Kim Soo Hyuns favour, with many questioning the fairness of the initial accusations. Comments like He must have felt so wronged all this time" and This is why staying neutral is important" have been circulating widely, reports Allkpop.

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For now, Kim Soo Hyun has reportedly been keeping to himself at his home in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, surrounded by family. While no one can say for sure how hes feeling, reports suggest that his loved ones are making a conscious effort to shield him from the ongoing media storm.

Gold Medalist, meanwhile, has been walking a tightrope, trying to navigate between taking a firm stand and maintaining a degree of diplomacy. The agency reportedly sent follow-up messages such as We are still willing to meet," but they received no response from the late actresss family.

Then came the leaked dishwashing photo. The image, reportedly taken at an apartment in Seoul Forest The Sharp, a residence Kim Soo Hyuns agency had reportedly provided for Kim Sae Ron, set off a chain reaction. The location, just a 25-minute walk from Kim Soo Hyuns home, became a talking point.

A source close to the situation revealed, Gold Medalist had been considering ways to offer condolences to Kim Sae Rons family, including discussing a financial contribution while factoring in gift tax implications. But once the dishwashing photo was leaked, the agency immediately abandoned that plan."

The reason? Any financial offer could easily be misinterpreted, either as an admission of wrongdoing or as an attempt to silence the other party. After careful consideration, the agency decided that the risks far outweighed the potential goodwill such a payment might bring.

The fallout from the leaked image also shifted the internal stance of the Gold Medalist. The agencys hardliners, who saw the leak as an attack on Kim Soo Hyuns personal dignity, took control of the situation. On March 20, Gold Medalist officially filed a criminal complaint with the police. The complaint names Garoseoro Research Institute, members of Kim Sae Rons family and an unidentified individual known only as an aunt," accusing them of violating the Special Act on Sexual Violence.

With this legal action, Gold Medalist is making it clear that theyre done playing nice. Public opinion surrounding Kim Soo Hyuns involvement in this controversy continues to shift, and its becoming increasingly clear that this battle is far from over.

About the Author Shrishti Negi Shrishti Negi is a journalist with over eight years of experience in the media industry. She leads the Entertainment desk at News18.com. She writes breaking news stories, generates feature ideas, edits copies, ... Read More Shrishti Negi is a journalist with over eight years of experience in the media industry. She leads the Entertainment desk at News18.com. She writes breaking news stories, generates feature ideas, edits copies, ... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 12:57 IST
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, March 22. The Embassy of Turkmenistan in Russia hosted a meeting with the Ambassador of Ireland to Turkmenistan, Julian Andrew Clare who is on a visit to Moscow, Trend reports via the Embassy of Turkmenistan in Russia.

The heads of diplomatic missions exchanged views on bilateral relations and current international issues of mutual interest. A major focus was placed on potential cooperation between the missions of the two countries in addressing foreign policy challenges, organizing and mutually participating in events outlined in the work schedules for the current year.

The sides also discussed the organization and mutual participation in events planned for the current year. In this regard, the parties reviewed the Turkmen Embassy's event plan developed for activities related to the International Year of Peace and Trust and the 30th anniversary of Turkmenistan's neutrality.

Turkmenistan and Ireland, as neutral countries and members of the Group of Friends of Neutrality, pay special attention to strengthening peace and trust in international relations, in particular on the platform of the United Nations.
Mahesh Babu, SS Rajamoulis Take Part In Tree-Planting Initiative In Odisha, Unseen Pics Go Viral

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 16:12 IST

Mahesh Babu picked up a white striped shirt with denims and a pair of sneakers. His hat to beat the scorching heat completed his outfit.

They shot a massive action sequence in Koraput in Odisha. (Photo Credit: X)

The buzz around the highly anticipated movie SSMB29 continues to grow, with the visionary director SS Rajamouli set to deliver another cinematic experience after Magadheera, the Bahubali franchise and RRR. The makers recently wrapped up shooting a massive action sequence in Koraput in Odisha. Now, fresh behind-the-scenes glimpses in the picturesque locales of Odisha have now surfaced online.

The unseen photographs circulating on X capture Mahesh Babu and SS Rajamouli participating in a tree-planting programme at the breathtaking Deomali Hilltop. Dressed in casual, relaxed attire, the actor-director duo looked dapper during the occasion.

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Mahesh Babu picked up a white striped shirt with denims and a pair of sneakers. His hat and sunglasses to beat the scorching heat completed his outfit. SS Rajamouli, on the other hand, went for a white shirt, beige pants and a pair of crisp white sneakers. In the pictures going viral, SS Rajamouli was seen sitting by the plant and striking a pose for the shutterbugs.

Sharing the pictures from the planting initiative, the user captioned, The highest peak in Odisha is a popular tourist destination on Dev Mali Mountain. Participated in the tree planting programme. Mahesh Babu, Rajamouli #SSMB29."

The way the two blended their professional commitments with a meaningful contribution to the local environment is truly loved by fans online.

Speaking about Mahesh Babus cinematic front, the superstar is shooting for his next project, an untitled jungle adventure. Directed by SS Rajamouli, the makers recently wrapped up the shooting schedule of the tentatively titled SSMB29 in Odisha. They shot a massive action sequence in Koraput in the state. Headlined by Mahesh Babu, the film stars Priyanka Chopra as the female lead and Prithviraj Sukumaran as the antagonist.

According to insiders close to Pinkvilla, the film is deeply rooted in Indian history and contains mythological aspects. An official announcement of SSMB 29 is expected to be made in the coming months, and the film has been confirmed for a summer 2027 release. Apart from the trio, the film boasts a large ensemble cast, but the names still remain under wraps.

First Published: March 22, 2025, 16:12 IST
Solo Leveling Season 2 Episode 12 Date And Streaming Details Released

Published By :

Trending Desk

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 15:20 IST

The last episode of Solo Leveling ended on a major cliffhanger where Sung Jinwoo signalled that he was about to enter the battlefield on Jeju Island.

Solo Leveling season 2 centres around the high-stakes Jeju Island raid. (Photo Credit: X)

Exchange" one word was enough to send Solo Leveling fans into a frenzy. The latest episode ended on a gripping cliffhanger as Korean hunters faced annihilationuntil Sung Jinwoos shadow soldiers intercepted the attack. After an entire episode without him, Jinwoo finally made his entrance, signalling his arrival on the battlefield at Jeju Island.

The second season of the anime series Solo Leveling has centered around the high-stakes Jeju Island raid which is a dangerous mission to reclaim the island from a swarm of powerful mutant insects. To put an end to the threat, the highest-ranking Hunters from Korea and Japan S-rank (the strongest of them all) teamed up to take down the Ant Queen. The plan was simple: kill the queen and the entire hive would collapse. But things took a drastic turn.

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At first, it seemed like the mission was going well. The Korean Hunters managed to take down the Ant Queen which should have meant victory. But then the real nightmare began. A new enemy appeared  the Black Ant. Unlike the others, this creature was far more powerful and intelligent. It instantly killed all the Japanese hunters. The only survivor was Goto Ryuji but even he found himself in a terrifying situation.

The Black Ant sensed Gotos immense magical energy and questioned whether he was the king of humans. Goto declared that he was but what happened next remains uncertain.

Meanwhile, inside the hive, the Korean hunters were struggling after the Black Ant targeted Min Byung-gyu, the S-rank healer. The creature knew that as long as he was alive, the other hunters could keep fighting. He eliminated him first which left his team defenseless. One by one, the Hunters found themselves on the brink of defeat.

Then, everything changed. Just as the ants approached the injured Korean hunters, shadows erupted from the ground and stopped their attacks. Jinwoos shadow soldiers had arrived. The scene then cuts to Jinwoo, ready to jump in and protect his team. He said one word  Exchange" which marked the moment that he was about to be transported to the battlefield.

With Jinwoo finally entering the battlefield, the next episode promises major revelations. What really happened to Goto Ryuji? Can Jinwoo defeat the Black Ant? And will the remaining hunters survive?

Solo Leveling Season 2 Episode 12: Release Date

Solo Leveling Season 2 Episode 12 will premiere in Japan on Sunday, March 23, 2025, at midnight (JST). International fans can watch it on Saturday, March 22, 2025, due to time zone differences.

Heres when it drops in different regions:

Pacific Time (PT): March 22, 7:00 AM

Eastern Time (ET): March 22, 10:00 AM

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT): March 22, 3:00 PM

Central European Time (CET): March 22, 4:00 PM

Indian Standard Time (IST): March 22, 8:30 PM

Philippine Time: March 22, 11:00 PM

Japanese Standard Time (JST): March 23, 12:00 AM

Australian Central Time (ACT): March 23, 1:30 AM

Solo Leveling Season 2 Episode 12: Where To Watch?

The episode will first air on Tokyo MX, followed by Tochigi TV, Gunma TV and BS11 in Japan. International fans can catch it on Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Crunchyroll.

First Published: March 22, 2025, 15:20 IST
Will Smith Gives An Emotional Tribute To The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air Costar James Avery

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Trending Desk

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 15:27 IST

Will Smith paid tribute to his late Fresh Prince of Bel-Air costar, James Avery. Avery, who played the beloved Uncle Phil, left a mark on audiences and Smith himself.

Will Smith kept the energy high with fan-favourite hits like Gettin' Jiggy Wit It and Men in Black. (Photo Credit: Instagram)

Will Smiths recent concert in Las Vegas wasnt just another night of music, it was also deeply emotional. On March 20, the actor and musician took the stage at the House of Blues, where he paid tribute to his late Fresh Prince of Bel-Air costar, James Avery. Avery, who played the beloved Uncle Phil, left a mark on audiences and on Smith himself. Will, 56, appeared visibly moved as he performed a cover of Apache while footage of Avery played in the background. At one point, he wiped his face with a towel, seemingly overwhelmed by emotion.

The night wasnt all sombre, though. Smith kept the energy high with a setlist full of fan-favourite hits, including Gettin Jiggy Wit It, Men in Black, Miami and Wild Wild West. He also threw in a cover of Tom Jones 1965 classic Its Not Unusual  a fitting choice, given Jones memorable guest appearance on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, reports TMZ.

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This concert comes at an exciting time for Smith, who is gearing up to release his first full-length album in 20 years. Titled Based on a True Story, the album is set to drop on March 28. His last studio album, Lost and Found, came out back in 2005.

The new project will reportedly feature 14 tracks and collaborations with artists like DJ Jazzy Jeff, his longtime musical partner, Teyana Taylor and Jac Ross.

Its OFFICIAL!! My new album Based on a True Story drops March 28. TWO WEEKS!! Hit that presave. Been working on this project for a minute and Im itchin to get it out to yall," Smith announced on Instagram, sharing the album cover along with the release date.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)

His comeback to music began earlier this year when he released the single Beautiful Scars in January, a collaboration with Big Sean featuring Obanga. The songs music video quickly went viral, thanks to its creative concept. Smith stepped into the role of Neo from The Matrix, a part he famously turned down to star in Wild Wild West. Big Sean, 36, played Morpheus in the video.

The album will also feature previously released singles, including Work of Art, a collaboration with his son Jaden Smith and Russ, Tantrum, featuring Joyner Lucas and You Can Make It, a song Smith performed at the 2024 BET Awards.

First Published: March 22, 2025, 15:27 IST
Opinion | A Sharp Tongue, A Sharper Threat: The Dangers Of Unchecked Rhetoric

Written By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 21, 2025, 19:38 IST

In a democracy, the press serves as the watchdog that holds power to account. When a CM threatens to strip and thrash those who criticise him, he not only undermines the freedom of the press but also erodes the very foundations of democratic governance

Revanth Reddy, a leader known for his impassioned oratory and unyielding demeanour, has often been a polarising figure in Telanganas political landscape. (PTI Photo)

In the volatile canvas of Indian politics, where power often dances with rhetoric, the recent controversy surrounding Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddys statement earlier this monthwill strip, thrash you"has ignited a firestorm of debate. The remark, made in the context of the arrest of two women journalists, is not merely a fleeting moment of political indiscretion; it is a mirror reflecting deeper fissures in the democratic ethos of our times.

Revanth Reddy, a leader known for his impassioned oratory and unyielding demeanour, has often been a polarising figure in Telanganas political landscape. His rise to the chief ministers office in December 2023 was seen by many as a testament to his grassroots connect and relentless ambition. Yet, the same qualities that endeared him to his supporters have now become a source of contention.

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His recent comment, made during a public addresswhich his supporters say was taken out of contextwas ostensibly a response to allegations of corruption and mismanagement against his government. If anyone tries to tarnish the image of my government with baseless allegations," he declared, I will strip them and thrash them in public." This kind of language, completely stripped of any kind of democratic restraint, has since rightfully created a great deal of criticism.

Language, in the hands of a politician, is a double-edged sword. It can inspire, unite, and uplift, but it can also alienate, intimidate, and divide. Revanth Reddys choice of wordsraw, unfiltered, and laced with menacereveals a troubling disregard for the sanctity of dissent. In a democracy, the press serves as the fourth pillar, a watchdog that holds power to account. When a chief minister threatens to strip and thrash" those who criticise him, he not only undermines the freedom of the press but also erodes the very foundations of democratic governance.

The journalists, whose reporting allegedly exposed irregularities in the government, were detained under charges that many have deemed frivolous and politically motivated. This incident is not an isolated one; it is part of a broader pattern where journalists across India face increasing pressure, intimidation, and even violence for doing their job. According to the 2023 Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, India ranks a dismal 161 out of 180 countries, a stark reminder of the challenges faced by the media in the worlds largest democracy.

Yet, it would be simplistic to view this episode solely through the prism of power and its abuse. It is also a reflection of the changing nature of political discourse in India. In an era dominated by social media and 24/7 news cycles, politicians are under constant scrutiny, often also through irresponsible and motivated reporting. The pressure to respond swiftly and decisively often leads to lapses in judgment.

What has come to the foreunfortunately once againis the core issue of press freedom. Media organisations have condemned the arrest, calling it an attempt to silence critical voices. The Editors Guild of India issued a statement expressing concern over the growing intolerance towards dissent" in Telangana. They urged the state government to uphold the freedom of the press and ensure that journalists can perform their duties without fear of retribution.

In the aftermath of the controversy, the Opposition parties in Telangana have been quick to seize the moment. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which was previously in power, has accused Reddy of adopting a dictatorial style of governance. BRS leader K.T. Rama Rao tweeted, The Chief Ministers statement is a reflection of his intolerance towards criticism. This is not the Telangana we fought for." Such criticisms, while politically motivated, underscore the need for accountability in a democracy.

Civil society groups and activists have also played a crucial role in amplifying the voices of dissent. Protests have been organised in Hyderabad and other parts of the state, condemning the arrest of the journalist and an apology from the chief minister. Social media has been abuzz with hashtags like #SavePressFreedom and #RevanthReddyResign, reflecting the publics discontent. These efforts, though fragmented, are a testament to the resilience of democratic values in the face of adversity.

The controversy is a wake-up call for Telangana, and for India as a whole. It is a reminder that democracy is not a static achievement but a continuous process that requires vigilance, participation, and accountability. The state government must take immediate steps to address the concerns raised by media organisations, Opposition parties, and civil society. This includes conducting a transparent investigation into the allegations of corruption, and reaffirming its commitment to press freedom.

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Moreover, Revanth Reddyand all political leadersmust recognise the weight of their words and the impact they have on public perception. A public apology, coupled with a pledge to uphold democratic values by Reddy, would go a long way in restoring faith in his leadership. As philosopher Voltaire once said: I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". This spirit of tolerance and respect for dissent is what defines a true democracy.

The author is a former diplomat, an author and a politician. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.

First Published: March 21, 2025, 19:38 IST
Opinion | Aurangzebs Shadow: How Historical Amnesia Fuels Communal Tensions In India

Written By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 21, 2025, 12:28 IST

As Dr BR Ambedkar pointed out, till a history of mutual animosities in the political and religious realms goes unconfronted, the Aurangzebs of yore will pose a serious obstacle to genuine and lasting Hindu-Muslim amity

Security arrangements at Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's tomb in Nagpur. (Image: PTI/File)

The past has violently collided with the present in Nagpur. A movie about a dour, puritanical, Mughal tyrant who usurped power three hundred years ago on the back of a regicidal blood bath was the trigger for the communal clashes. Indeed, politicians on both sides of the aisle discovered that Aurangzebs bloodstained legacybrought to life in the Bollywood period dramawas still acidic enough to ignite Hindu-Muslim tensions.

But this piece is not about splitting hairs over which political factionBJP or the Oppositionfanned the fires in Nagpur. Focusing on the momentariness of the opportunistic politics over Aurangzeb runs the risk of mistaking the symptoms for the disease. Instead, the real reasons lie in a decades-old expertly disguised intellectual machination. Post-independence, Nehruvian historians, in the name of progressivism, secularised Indias history.

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At its most extreme, this sleight of hand involved not just burying the Hindu roots of Indias ancient civilisational history, but also going to the absurd length of denying the existence of Hinduism itself. Clearly, it was assumed that Muslims could only be comfortable in a de-Hinduized India.

The work of Romila Thapar and Sanjay Subrahmanyam is a study in how to audaciously take the Hindu out of the Indian.

While this may have been one prong of a rarefied academic experiment, the other focused on purging facts that testified to the excesses committed by Islamic settler colonialists. At a practical level, this meant that generations of Indians studied school and university textbooks that exalted a fabled composite culture" or Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb." Detailed recommendations made in 1969 by the Committee on School Textbooks of the Government of India after independence called for a creative and purposeful interpretation of history and a judicious selection of historical truths."

Mughal emperor Akbar was portrayed as a beacon of Hindu-Muslim amity, ignoring that the monarchs syncretic invention of Din-e-Ilahi"  divine faith, as in considering all sects as one  was not widely accepted. Akbars liberalism clashed with an extremely conservative, ulcerous clergy that declared a fatwa against him. Akbars son Jehangir was introduced as a colourful romantic, a far cry from the ruler who revived the monochromatic fanaticism that underpinned Mughal rule in India.

His successor, Shah Jahan, was depicted as an aesthete. Few know that the Jama Masjid he built in Delhi included a rather miscellaneous arcade made of disparate columns from 27 demolished Hindu temples. Aurangzeb, famous for his violent religious inquisitions, was immortalised in Delhis power corridor where a road was named after him. His tomb remains a centre of pilgrimage not far from Nagpur.

Not just the Mughals, but the chauvinism inherent in latter-day Muslim notables like Amir Khusrau, Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, his spiritual successor Syed Ahmed Barelvi, educationist Syed Ahmed Khan and Allama Iqbal have been whitewashed.

This clinically sanitised historical narrative was bound to grate against the historical memory of crores of Hindus. India, unlike several Western democracies, has never had its own version of coming to terms with the past."

In Germany, for instance, de-Natzification triggered a larger, societal introspection about the trauma inflicted by a rapacious regime. Today, in Germany, to glorify Hitler is a crime. As it is with Franco in Spain. In Russia, a city named after the homicidal commissar Stalin was renamed. In the US, the names of institutions, especially schools, named after slave owners are being challenged. Whereas in India, Nehru spoke of the soul of a nation, long suppressed"  but sadly this soul" was never allowed to step out of the shadow cast by an extremely dark era of colonisation.

It should go without saying, but must be reiterated, that any meaningful endeavour ought to steer clear of holding the current generation of Muslims responsible for the deeds of their ancestors. But since there was little political will, India has not been able to exorcise the ghosts of the past.

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Unfortunately, as is now clear, even the most elementary stepthat of truthfully documenting the pastwas not taken. And without truth, there can be no reconciliation. As Dr BR Ambedkar pointed out, till a history of mutual animosities in the political and religious realms goes unconfronted, the Aurangzebs of yore will pose a serious obstacle to genuine and lasting Hindu-Muslim amity.

Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.

About the Author Rahul Shivshankar Rahul Shivshankar is Consulting Editor at Network18. He tweets at @RShivshankar Rahul Shivshankar is Consulting Editor at Network18. He tweets at @RShivshankar

First Published: March 21, 2025, 12:28 IST
Opinion | Waqf Reforms: Step Towards Transparency, Inclusion Under Modi Govt

Written By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 21, 2025, 08:31 IST

One such critical area of reform is the Waqf management system in India that has long been plagued by corruption, mismanagement, and a lack of representation for Pasmanda Muslims

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 8. (Image for representation: Getty)

The Narendra Modi-led government has consistently worked toward ensuring transparency, accountability, and inclusivity in governance.

One such critical area of reform is the Waqf management system in India that has long been plagued by corruption, mismanagement, and a lack of representation for Pasmanda Muslims  who form the overwhelming majority (over 85 per cent) of Indian Muslims but have been historically deprived of their rightful share in resources and leadership roles.

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For decades, the control of Waqf properties, institutions, and financial benefits has remained concentrated in the hands of the Ashraf elite  a small, upper-caste section of Indian Muslims. Ashraf Muslims, primarily consisting of Syeds, Sheikhs, Mughals, and Pathans, have built a monopoly over religious, political, and social leadership, pushing Pasmanda Muslims  who come from other backward classes (OBC), as well as Dalit and tribal background  to the margins.

ASHRAF-CONTROLLED NARRATIVE AGAINST AIPMM

The All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (AIPMM) has consistently advocated for the rights of Pasmanda Muslims, particularly regarding Waqf reforms, social justice, and economic upliftment.

Politically and economically well-connected Ashraf Muslim lobbies, however, have launched a misinformation campaign, falsely accusing the AIPMM of being anti-Waqf.

Let it be made absolutely clear: We are not against Waqf. We are against its mismanagement, illegal occupation, and financial fraud.

Waqf properties should be used for the welfare of all Muslims, particularly the underprivileged  not for the benefit of a privileged few. The Waqf Amendment Bill 2024 presents a crucial opportunity to overhaul the system and ensure that the properties and resources are used for genuine welfare and development, rather than being controlled by a handful of the elite.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF WAQF MANAGEMENT IN INDIA

The Modi-led governments initiative to reform Waqf is not without precedent. Over the years, several legislative efforts have sought to improve the system:

Pre-Independence Era

Mussalman Wakf Validating Act, 1913: Provided legal recognition to Waqfs created for religious and charitable purposes, including those benefiting the settlers family. Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923: Introduced a formal registration process for Waqfs but suffered from weak enforcement.

Post-Independence Reforms

Waqf Act, 1954: Established central and state Waqf boards for oversight. Waqf Act, 1995: Introduced Waqf property surveys, tribunals, and deed maintenance.

WAQF (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2013

This amendment, passed under the Congress-led UPA government, made several changes, such as:

Granting primacy to Waqf laws over other laws in matters related to Waqf properties. Removing the limitation period for recovery of encroached Waqf lands, allowing indefinite legal action.

Despite these measures, however, corruption and exploitation within the Waqf system persisted, largely benefiting Ashraf elites while excluding Pasmanda Muslims.

SYSTEMIC DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PASMANDA MUSLIMS

Social and Religious Discrimination

For centuries, Pasmanda Muslims  descendants of local converts to Islam, mainly from Dalit and OBC communities  have faced caste-based discrimination within Muslims. The Ashraf elite has monopolised religious institutions, madrassas, mosques, and dargahs, denying Pasmanda Muslims equal access and representation.

Mosques & Madrassas Imambaras: Leadership roles in mosques and madrassas are overwhelmingly held by Ashraf Muslims, who exclude Pasmanda voices. Social Discrimination: Pasmanda Muslims face barriers in marriage, social mobility, and education due to the Ashraf-dominated structure of Muslim society. Idea of Khandan (Lineage): Ashraf Muslims promote endogamy (marriage within their caste) and look down upon Pasmanda Muslims as socially inferior.

Economic and Political Marginalisation

Lack of Political Representation: Ashraf Muslims dominate Muslim leadership in political parties, sidelining Pasmanda concerns. Limited Access to Education: Pasmanda Muslims are underrepresented in elite Muslim schools and universities, which are controlled by Ashraf-dominated trusts.

Here are the objections raised by the AIPMM:

Lack of Representation: The Bill does not mandate Pasmanda Muslim or womens representation in Waqf Boards. Judicial Powers: Waqf judicial powers should be vested only in Waqf tribunals, while state Waqf boards should focus solely on management. Inclusion of Non-Muslims: The current law allows non-Muslim members in Waqf committees, making further debate unnecessary. Administrative Corruption: Waqf properties occupied by the government, corporations, and non-Muslims should be vacated immediately. Transparency Issues: Annual audits of Waqf income and expenditure should be publicly displayed. Lack of Local Participation: Poor Pasmanda Muslims, widows, and orphans must be given roles in Waqf management, with annual community development plans sent to Waqf boards.

Here are suggestions for reform:

50% reservation for Pasmanda Muslims in Waqf boards at central, state, and district levels. Mandatory inclusion of women in Waqf boards to ensure representation of marginalised voices. Independent Waqf survey teams, including Pasmanda Muslim members, to prevent biased reporting. Judicial oversight by a retired Supreme Court judge in the Central Waqf Council. Retired additional district judge in state Waqf boards to ensure fair dispute resolution. No separate Waqf boards for smaller Shia subgroups (for example Bohra, Aagakhani, Khoja). Strict three-year tenure for Waqf board members under the ministry of minority affairs. Re-survey of Waqf properties of people who lived in India before Partition to reclaim misused lands. Low-interest government loans for social welfare projects on Waqf land. Auditing of Waqf boards by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

CHALLENGES AND THE WAY FORWARD

Current Issues in Waqf Management

Illegal Occupation of Waqf Land: Many properties are encroached upon by land mafias working with Waqf managers. Corruption in Waqf Boards: Funds meant for Muslim welfare are misused or siphoned off. Lack of Transparency: Many Waqf boards do not publicly disclose their financial records. Exclusion of Pasmanda Muslims: Despite forming the majority, they do not have decision-making power in Waqf matters.

Recommendations for Reform

Strict Anti-Corruption Measures: Independent audits and legal action against corrupt Waqf officials. Increased Government Monitoring: While ensuring that Waqf remains autonomous, the ministry of minority affairs must enforce accountability. Community-led Waqf Management: Local Pasmanda Muslim groups, women, and poor beneficiaries should be involved. Digitisation of Waqf Records: Ensuring online access to Waqf property details and financial reports.

The Waqf Amendment Bill, 2024 presents an opportunity to introduce long-overdue reforms in Waqf management. However, without addressing corruption, transparency, and Pasmanda Muslim representation, it will fail to achieve meaningful change.

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The AIPMM urges the Centre to consider these objections and suggestions. Ensuring transparency, accountability, and equitable representation in Waqf boards is not just a legal necessity, it is a moral and social obligation.

(The writer is the national working president of the All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views)

First Published: March 21, 2025, 08:31 IST
Write Mind | Is The Waqf Board A Religious Institution Or An Arbitrary Body?

Written By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 15:20 IST

What was once a religious institution has morphed into a land-controlling powerhouse, operating with striking arbitrariness

To Muslims, Waqf is a crucial institution; to Hindus, it represents unchecked power encroaching on ancestral property. (PTI)

The Waqf Board has long been sold as a sacred gigmosques, graves, and Muslim charity, all wrapped in Sharias iron grip. The 1995 Act handed it a holy mission: safeguard the faiths offerings, settle the squabbles. But it has swelled into a monstrous land hog9.4 lakh acresoften clashing with the railways and the government for turf.

Arbitrary doesnt even cover it. The situation in Tamil Nadu is a stark example  the Waqf Board is laying claim to an entire village, including homes, fields, and a Hindu temple standing 1,500 years. Imagine a farmer, his lifes work invested in his land, receiving a notice declaring his ancestral property now belongs to the Waqf  with no recourse to the courts, only a tribunal seemingly predisposed to agree with the Board. Section 40 of the current Waqf Act is the weapon: it allows them to claim any land on a whim, requiring no evidence, just a nod to some old tale.

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OUTSIDE THE REPUBLIC OF INDIAS AMBIT?

Heres the truth: Waqf land isnt dodging Indias lawits just got a VIP ticket to run amok. The Act builds a fortressdisputes skip real courts, land in Waqf Tribunals, stuffed with insiders who nod to the board. Section 6 shuts the doorno appeal, no independent oversight. Its not above the law; its a privileged entity operating within it.

Meanwhile, Hindu temples are tightly controlledevery rupee scrutinised, every trustee held accountable. Waqf, on the other hand, can lay claim to land based on little more than vague historical accounts, with the legal system offering limited recourse.

Is it beyond Indias constitutional framework? Not entirelythe Constitution remains supreme. Article 26 grants religious groups the right to manage their own affairs, yet the Waqf Board has far exceeded these bounds. Entire villages have been claimed, temple lands encroached uponless an act of faith, more an assertion of unchecked power.

The 2024 amendment marks a shiftplacing District Collectors over tribunals in an attempt to restore fairness. While some within the Muslim community see it as an erosion of autonomy, many Hindus view it as long-overdue justicea necessary step to curtail an institution that has expanded far beyond its intended role.

SECULAR SHAM

Hindu templessuch as those governed by Karnatakas 1997 Actare subject to state control, with even Muslims and Christians appointed to their boards. Their revenues are often diverted by the government, ostensibly for public welfare but frequently for political gains. Congress, in particular, mastered this approachdraining temple funds while offering token benefits to the masses.

Waqf Boards? The 1995 Act ensures they are strictly Muslim-run, with no space for outside oversight. Every position is reserved, bound by religious mandate. The 2024 amendment seeks to change that by opening leadership roles to non-Muslims, breaking a long-standing monopoly.

LOPSIDED FIGHT

The canonical law of Islam says a waqifland-givermust be Muslim, no compromise. Waqf is Allahs domain, and kafirs are outcasts. Yet, the current Waqf Act permits endowments from individuals of any faith, thanks to a 2013 amendment introduced by the Congress governmentwidely seen as a move to push Muslim appeasement to its peak. The 2024 bill reverses that, reinstating the principle that only practising Muslims, with at least five years of prayer, can make such dedications.

In countries like Turkey and Egypt, Waqf institutions have been significantly curtailed, their religious hold broken by the state. India, many argue, is long overdue for similar reformsensuring Hindus have a say in a system that has long affected their lands and heritage.

To Muslims, Waqf is a crucial institution; to Hindus, it represents unchecked power encroaching on ancestral property. If a Hindu waqif is unacceptable, then perhaps a Hindu overlord is the righteous fix to balance this lopsided fight.

THE TAKEAWAY

March 2025, and this fires a blaze. What was once a religious institution has morphed into a land-controlling powerhouse, operating with striking arbitrariness. The Waqf Board is not beyond Indias law, yet it has been granted privileges that leave Hindus struggling under state control.

Now, with efforts to place Hindus in Waqf leadership and curb its unchecked expansion, tensions have spilled onto the streets. For many, this is not just about landit is about reclaiming a sense of justice long denied. Muslims view it as an attack on their heritage; Hindus see it as an overdue correction to decades of imbalance. Both communities have their grievances, but while Muslims argue loss, Hindus have carried the burden of historical inequities. For them, it is time the scales finally tipped in their favour.

Real-life cases continue to fuel Hindu outrage. In Tamil Nadus Tiruchirappalli, the Waqf Board laid claim to 389 acres in Thiruchendurai village, including the 1,500-year-old Sundareswarar Templea Chola-era heritage sitesparking fury among locals with ancestral land deeds. A farmer, Rajagopal, found himself unable to sell his land without a Waqf NOC, prompting protests that led to a court-ordered stay in 2023.

In Karnatakas Vijayapura, 1,200 acres of farmland near Honwada village were marked as waqf property in 2024, forcing farmers into a legal battle until authorities admitted it was a record error." Maharashtras Ahmednagar saw a particularly absurd claim in 2006, when the Waqf Board attempted to take control of the ASI-protected Ahmed Shah tomb, resulting in a decade-long legal dispute. Meanwhile, in Delhi, Metro expansion near Jama Masjid was stalled for two years in 2018 due to waqf claims, costing Rs 200 crore and delaying critical infrastructure. Each of these cases has only deepened Hindu calls for justice.

Moreover, the Waqf system has long functioned as an exclusive clubScheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Pasmandas, and women have been largely excluded, denied a seat at the table. It has remained an elite-dominated institution, sidelining marginalised groups while maintaining a facade of religious stewardship. The 2024 amendment seeks to change this, mandating representation for women, backward Muslims, and even non-Muslims, pushing Waqf towards greater transparency, inclusivity, and equity. For the first time, the system is being reshaped to ensure fairness rather than perpetuate entrenched hierarchies.

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This is not just reformit is a long-overdue reckoning. Waqfs unchecked authority, from claiming temples and villages to exerting influence over peoples lives, has persisted for too long. The 2024 amendment is a crucial first step, but it must be enforced with stronger oversight, rigorous audits, and a thorough reassessment of its 9.4 lakh acres of land. History has been shaped by conquests, religious conflicts, and colonial interventions, but todays challenge is about securing justice for Bharats future.

Yuvraj Pokharna is an independent journalist and columnist. He tweets with @iyuvrajpokharna. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.

About the Author Yuvraj Pokharna Yuvraj Pokharna is a Surat-based author and media panelist who vociferously voices his opinions on issues of Hindutva, Islamist Jihad, politics, policies, and sometimes mules over books. He can be followed on I... Read More Yuvraj Pokharna is a Surat-based author and media panelist who vociferously voices his opinions on issues of Hindutva, Islamist Jihad, politics, policies, and sometimes mules over books. He can be followed on I... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 15:20 IST
Debate On Delimitation Meaningful Only After Act Is Passed, Avoid Raising Unnecessary Doubts: RSS Functionary

Reported By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 20:03 IST

Arun Kumar, joint general secretary of the RSS, said at a press conference in Bengaluru that those opposing delimitation should look at the bigger picture rather than treating it as a political agenda

Delimitation is a constitutional process in India, and elections are conducted under a democratic process, Kumar said. File pic/X

Discussions on the delimitation process should take place once a new Act is passed, and one should avoid raising unnecessary doubts and suspicions on the issue, Arun Kumar, joint general secretary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), said at a press conference in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Even as the election for the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remains pending, Kumar said, There are 32 organisations under the RSS. Every organisation is free to conduct elections or selection. The Sangh does not interfere in it."

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He also stated that the BJP has the freedom to decide its own process and that there is no difference in opinion between the two organisations, as both work towards nation-building.

There are many organisations where there is no Prachar Pramukh They function independently. But if we feel the need, or they do, we discuss, and they decide," Kumar said.

When asked whether the BJP president has to consult the RSS, he responded, There is no such thing. On national issues, we meet and discuss. Sometimes they call us, or we call them. But they decide independently."

Kumar also addressed the ongoing debate on the issue of delimitation.

On the delimitation issue, he said discussions would take place when a new Act is brought into effect. He remarked that those opposing it should look at the bigger picture rather than treating it as a political agenda. They need to decide whether they are looking at welfare," he said.

Delimitation is a constitutional process in India, and elections are conducted under a democratic process, he said.

Delimitation happens for elections, and there is an Act for delimitation," Kumar said. In 2002, a Delimitation Act was made, under which the delimitation happened. Prior to that, in 1972, the Delimitation Act was promulgated, following which delimitation was done. The discussion should happen when the delimitation process starts and an Act is prepared. To address all these issues, last time the freezing of parliamentary seats was done. The matter is closed now."

The issue would arise only when the new Act is prepared and the Centre says that it is opening the delimitation process, the RSS functionary said. I feel that one should avoid raising unnecessary doubts and suspicions. Trusting each other and taking everyone along is the essence of democracy. They should think about it."

Discussions should happen only when the process of delimitation is initiated, he underscored. Neither the census nor discussion over the delimitation has been initiated (by the government) nor has the Act been passed yet," Kumar pointed out. If it happens on the 2002 Act, then the freezing is already over. In my opinion, those who are having discussions on this now should also introspect whether its their political agenda or if they are genuinely thinking about the interests of their region. Let them think about it and ask them if the delimitation process has actually started."

Speaking on the Bangladesh issue, Kumar said that the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), the highest decision-making body of the RSS, had passed a resolution expressing serious concerns. Those involved are not only making it an anti-Hindu issue but also an anti-Bharat movement. Some international forces are trying to foment instability in the entire region, creating distrust. We stand in solidarity with the Hindu society in Bangladesh," he said during the press conference.

We have written to the Government of India and urged them to handle the issue in the best possible way. So far, we are satisfied with the efforts made by the GoI, but they must continue until the situation normalises there," he added.

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When asked whether India should make efforts to reinstate Sheikh Hasina, the RSS joint general secretary said that Bangladesh has its own system in place and that no other country should intervene in its internal matters.

On the issue of boundary disputes between states and linguistic divisions, Kumar stated that all languages are important. It is one people, one nation There are many states. Any Indian can go anywhere they want. Language and food should not become issues of confrontation," he said.

About the Author Rohini Swamy Rohini Swamy, Associate Editor at News18, has been a journalist for nearly two decades in the television and digital space. She covers south India for News18s digital platform. She has previously worked with t... Read More Rohini Swamy, Associate Editor at News18, has been a journalist for nearly two decades in the television and digital space. She covers south India for News18s digital platform. She has previously worked with t... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 20:03 IST
DMK Drums Up Anti-Delimitation Support, Big Opposition Meet In Chennai Today

Reported By :

CNN-News18

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 06:00 IST

Senior leaders from political parties including the CPI(M) in Kerala, YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh, Congress in Telangana and Punjab, and BJD in Odisha will be present. Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar of the Congress and BRS working president KT Rama Rao are expected to be at the meeting

The meeting is to work on strategies to put pressure on the Narendra Modi government and pass a resolution urging the Centre that the 1971 census be followed from 2026 for the next 30 years, sources said. File pic/PTI

In an attempt to galvanise opposition to the delimitation exercise planned by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre, Tamil Nadus ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is convening a meeting of opposition leaders, in Chennai on Saturday.

Senior leaders from political parties including the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh, Congress in Telangana and Punjab, and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha will be present. Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar of the Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao are expected to be at the meeting. Noticeably absent is West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress (TMC).

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Sources tell CNN-News 18 that DMK president and Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin is likely to highlight that states that have done well in curtailing population explosionas seen in certain states in the northmight lose seats if the delimitation exercise is carried out solely on the basis of population. The meeting is to work on strategies to put pressure on the Narendra Modi government and pass a resolution urging the Centre that the 1971 census be followed from 2026 for the next 30 years, the sources added.

DMK and other parties would aim to extract an assurance that there would be no loss of seats. Following the meeting, a joint press briefing is likely to be scheduled.

In a video released on Friday, MK Stalin said, Why has the DMK brought this to focus? Because in 2026, delimitation will happen. And if the delimitation exercise is carried out based on population, our representation in Parliament will be severely affected. This is not just about the number of MPs but about our states rights. This is why we have convened a meeting of all parties."

Parties opposed to the delimitation exercise rest their arguments on two issues: they believe that this will create a regional power imbalance". Secondly, states that have achieved the set targets in birth control will not get increased representation at the Centre, while the poor performers get to elect more parliamentarians, an argument that Tamil Nadu deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin has often raised.

Fair delimitation" is the theme of the meeting, and all the parties who arrived in Chennai to attend are of the view that there is a grave injustice to states that have effectively implemented family planning programmes.

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KT Rama Rao said: If we remain silent now, history will not forgive us. This is not just a political battle but a fight for fairness, justice, and democracy."

While there is clear political action, it remains to be seen if this will evolve into an electoral issue going forward.

About the Author Poornima Murali Poornima Murali, Senior Special Correspondent at CNN-News18, has reported for over a decade on civic and political issues in Tamil Nadu. She has been helming the Chennai bureau for the channel for years now. A ... Read More Poornima Murali, Senior Special Correspondent at CNN-News18, has reported for over a decade on civic and political issues in Tamil Nadu. She has been helming the Chennai bureau for the channel for years now. A ... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 06:00 IST
RSS Flags Role Of Deep State, Pakistan In Persecution Of Hindus In Bangladesh, Seeks Global Intervention

Reported By :

News18.com Edited By: Apoorva Misra



Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 15:40 IST

The outfit also called upon Hindu leaders and international organisations to raise their voice in solidarity with Hindus and other minority communities in Bangladesh, emphasising the need for urgent action during these challenging times

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat with general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale during the annual meeting of Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha in Bengaluru. (PTI)

The Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), standing in solidarity with Hindus in Bangladesh, expressed satisfaction with the Indian governments support for Hindus and minority communities amid reports of persecution.

However, the ABPS also urged agencies like the United Nations to take serious note of the inhumane treatment meted out to Hindus and other minority communities in Bangladesh and pressurise the Bangladesh government to halt these violent activities".

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The resolution also said the ABPS urges the Centre to make all possible efforts to ensure the protection, dignity, and well-being of the Hindu community in Bangladesh, along with engaging with the government of Bangladesh in continuous and meaningful dialogue".

This was part of the resolution passed at the ABPS meeting in Bengaluru, being held from March 21-23, which also marks the organisations centenary celebrations.

In response to a question on Bangladesh, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) joint general secretary Arun Kumar said RSS was satisfied with the efforts taken by the Centre for the protection of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh. There is a need to mobilise global opinion in favour of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh," he said.

The outfit also called upon Hindu leaders and international organisations to raise their voice in solidarity with Hindus and other minority communities in Bangladesh, emphasising the need for urgent action during these challenging times.

The Government of Bharat, the ABPS resolution stated, has already taken up the issue with the interim government of Bangladesh and on various global platforms. The resolution further urged the Indian government to make all possible efforts to ensure the protection, dignity, and well-being of Hindus in Bangladesh while continuing diplomatic engagement with Dhaka.

The ABPS, meanwhile, has raised serious concerns over ongoing, targeted violence, injustice, and oppression faced by Hindus and other minorities at the hands of radical Islamist elements in Bangladesh, calling it a clear case of human rights violations. Reports emerging during the recent regime change in Bangladesh include attacks on temples, mutts, Durga Puja pandals, and educational institutions, along with desecration of deities, barbaric killings, looting, abductions, and molestation of women. The resolution dismissed claims that these attacks were merely political, stating that the victims overwhelmingly belong to Hindu and other minority communities.

The ABPS also flagged the sharp decline in Bangladeshs Hindu populationfrom 22 per cent in 1951 to 7.95 per cent todayas a sign of an existential crisis. It has pointed to institutional and governmental complicity in the violence over the past year as a cause for serious concern. Alongside this, the ABPS has warned that the persistent anti-Bharat rhetoric in Bangladesh could severely damage bilateral relations.

The resolution further alleged that certain international forces are actively working to create instability in the region by pitting nations against one another. The ABPS has called on thought leaders and scholars in international relations to monitor and expose these activities, specifically pointing to Pakistan and the Deep State as key players. The body also stressed that the region shares a common culture, history, and social bonds, and that any unrest in one part of it raises concerns across the region.

Amidst these concerns, the ABPS has acknowledged the courageous resistance of Hindus in Bangladesh, who have stood up to these atrocities in a peaceful, collective, and democratic manner. It has also noted that their resolve has found moral and psychological support from the Hindu community in Bharat and across the globe. Hindu organisations in Bharat and abroad have taken up the issue, voicing concerns through demonstrations and petitions, while international leaders have also raised it on their platforms, they said.

The continuous decline of the Hindu population in Bangladeshfrom 22 per cent in 1951 to 7.95 per cent todayindicates an existential crisis. However, institutional and governmental support for the violence and hatred witnessed over the past year is a serious cause for concern. Along with this, the persistent anti-Bharat rhetoric in Bangladesh can severely damage relations between the two countries," the resolution stated.

The ABPS also pointed to deliberate attempts by certain international forces to destabilise the region by fostering distrust and confrontation between nations. The resolution called on thought leaders and scholars in international relations to remain vigilant against this anti-Bharat agenda.

The ABPS calls upon thought leaders and scholars in international relations to keep vigil against the anti-Bharat atmosphere, the activities of Pakistan and the Deep State, and to expose them," the resolution stated.

It further stressed that the entire region, including Bharat and its neighbouring countries, shares a deep cultural, historical, and social bond, and that any upheaval in one place raises concerns throughout the region.

The resolution also praised the Hindu society in Bangladesh for standing up to these atrocities in a peaceful, collective, and democratic way."

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At the peak of the crisis, various Hindu organisations in Bharat and other countries raised their voices against the violence through demonstrations and petitions, demanding security and dignity for Bangladeshs Hindus. The issue has also been taken up by several international leaders on their respective platforms.

Reiterating its stance, the ABPS emphasised that the government remains committed to standing with Hindus and minorities in Bangladesh, ensuring that diplomatic efforts continue on global platforms. The body also stressed that it will step up its engagement with the Bangladesh government to ensure the protection of Hindus while continuing to press international organisations to take serious note of the issue and exert pressure on Dhaka to halt the violence.

About the Author Rohini Swamy Rohini Swamy, Associate Editor at News18, has been a journalist for nearly two decades in the television and digital space. She covers south India for News18s digital platform. She has previously worked with t... Read More Rohini Swamy, Associate Editor at News18, has been a journalist for nearly two decades in the television and digital space. She covers south India for News18s digital platform. She has previously worked with t... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 15:40 IST
China willing to enhance youth exchange with Japan: Chinese FM

Xinhua) 15:31, March 22, 2025

TOKYO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Friday that China is ready to deepen practical cooperation with Japan and strengthen exchanges between the two sides in various fields, especially among the youth.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks in his meeting with Toshihiro Nikai, a former secretary general of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, and representatives of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union and other Japanese friends.

Appreciating Nikai's long-standing commitment to promoting the development of bilateral relations in accordance with the original aspiration of China-Japan peace and friendship, Wang encouraged Nikai and Japanese friends from all walks of life to make new contributions to the sound and stable development of China-Japan relations.

Wang said that in 2024, China overcame challenges such as weak global economic recovery and increasing external pressure, achieved 5 percent economic growth, and maintained its contribution to around 30 percent of global economic growth, demonstrating strong resilience and broad prospects.

China's high-quality development will bring important opportunities for bilateral cooperation, Wang said, adding that China is willing to work with Japan to activate sub-national exchanges, continuously help each other's development and consolidate public support for bilateral ties.

Nikai and others from the Japanese side made positive comments on the momentum of improvement and development of Japan-China relations, saying that it is of great significance to promote friendly exchanges between the two peoples and they will remain committed to the cause of Japan-China friendship and contribute to the continuous development of bilateral relations.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, March 22. Turkmenistan is fully preparing for the crucial cotton planting season, which is set to begin across the country on March 26, Trend reports.

This was declared at the Cabinet of Ministers meeting, where Deputy Prime Minister Tangriguli Atahalliyev reported on the state of the agro-industrial complex and activities of the region.

''Fertilization and irrigation works are underway in wheat fields, spring sowing of other crops is underway, and potatoes and vegetables are under constant care. At the same time, active preparations for the cotton planting season are underway in the regions, including inspection and repair of agricultural machinery to be used during the campaign and preparation of high-quality seeds.

Regional workshops with the participation of experienced farmers, specialists, scientists, and mechanics will be organized to ensure a high cotton harvest,'' the report noted.

President Serdar Berdimuhamedov announced the start of the cotton planting season on March 26 across all regions of the country and called on respected elders to officially kick off the upcoming campaign, wishing success to all those working in agriculture.

The start of the cotton planting season is one of the key events in Turkmenistan's agricultural calendar, impacting the country's food security and export potential. The government traditionally places significant focus on this campaign.
Transparency, 25-Year Freeze On Delimitation: MK Stalin-Led Panel Passes 7-Point Resolution

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 18:40 IST

The focus of the meeting was to discuss concerns about the potential impact of the proposed delimitation of Lok Sabha seats on states with high economic growth and literacy rates

Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin addresses the first Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting of states over the proposed delimitation of Parliamentary seats by the Centre, in Chennai. (PTI photo)

The first meeting of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) on delimitation took place on Saturday in Chennai, chaired by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin. The meeting saw the participation of 14 leaders from five different states, including the Chief Ministers of Kerala, Punjab, and Telangana.

The focus of the meeting was to discuss concerns about the potential impact of the proposed delimitation of Lok Sabha seats on states with high economic growth and literacy rates.

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During the meeting, Stalin voiced strong opposition to the lack of clarity surrounding the delimitation exercise. He described the fight for fair delimitation as a national movement" that would continue until the process is conducted transparently and equitably.

The meeting also adopted a seven-point resolution, highlighting the concerns and demands of the participating states. It called for an inclusive and transparent delimitation process, ensuring that all relevant stakeholders have the opportunity to deliberate and contribute, as per NDTV report.

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The seven-point resolution, which was released by the JAC, contained the following key demands:

Any delimitation exercise carried out by the Union Government should be transparent, with all state governments, political parties, and relevant stakeholders given a chance to contribute and discuss the process. The JAC called for the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies, based on the 1971 Census, to be extended by another 25 years, arguing that national population stabilisation goals have not yet been fully achieved. States that have successfully implemented population control measures and seen a decrease in their population share should not be penalised in the delimitation exercise. The Union Government was urged to amend the Constitution to reflect this principle. A Core Committee consisting of Members of Parliament from the represented states will coordinate strategies to counter any moves by the Union Government that go against the principles outlined in the resolution. The Core Committee will submit a joint representation to the Prime Minister of India during the current Parliamentary session, requesting attention to the points raised in the resolution. State-Level Legislative Assembly Resolutions: Political parties from the participating states will work towards passing appropriate resolutions in their respective Legislative Assemblies to express their concerns on the delimitation issue and communicate these to the Union Government. The JAC will undertake a coordinated strategy to raise awareness among citizens of the participating states about the history of past delimitation exercises, the potential consequences of the proposed changes, and the importance of a fair and transparent process.

About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 17:43 IST
Internet Is Not Ready To Buy This Kannada Vlogger's Theory Of Lemon Rices Origin

Curated By :

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 10:25 IST

A contentious internet discussion has been sparked by a video posted by Kannada vlogger Dharmendra on the history of Chitranna, often known as lemon rice.

The video has drawn both praise and criticism. (Photo Credits: Instagram)

Online discussion has been sparked by a video posted by Kannada vlogger Dharmendra about the history of Chitranna, often known as lemon rice. The video has received both praise and criticism. Dharmendras historical perspective was appealing to some social media users, but others rejected it as false and deceptive.

According to Dharmendras now-viral clip, the name Chitranna comes from the word Chattra, which formerly referred to rest houses used by pilgrims and travellers. He said that those who continued their journey would be given rice meals, which were originally known as Chattrada Anna, or rice provided by the resting place staff," packed by the caretakers of these shelters.

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Dharmendra further suggests that the name changed throughout time to become Chitranna.

Take a look at the video here:

Shared on March 19, the video has collected over 2 million views so far. Not everyone, though, is convinced. On social media, a large number of users disputed the assertion, claiming that this notion is unsupported by historical data. According to some, Chitranna has been around since the time of the Mahabharata, and its name comes from the Sanskrit word Chitra, which means colourful," alluding to the dishs vivid appearance.

A user said, Hey, its not chitraahnna, its lemon rice."

Another commented, Stupid explanation".

Chitranna rice dish finds its mention in medieval Indian cookbooks Manasollasa (1130 CE) and Pakadarpana (1200 CE) as Chitrapaka."  Wikipedia," an individual wrote.

Followers of Dharmendra continue to stand by him despite the criticism, arguing that his contributions to the documentation of Karnatakas history and culture are valuable even if his hypothesis is wrong.

He may have been misled on this particular topic, but that doesnt undo all his valuable work on Karnatakas heritage," a user on Instagram defended.

Others questioned how outraged people were over the subject.

Not sure why such a trivial matter is being blown out of proportion," a user remarked, emphasising how the argument has taken an unusually intense turn.

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What is lemon rice?

Lemon rice is a popular South Indian rice dish made by mixing cooked rice with a flavorful tempering of mustard seeds, lentils, peanuts, curry leaves, and lemon juice.

About the Author Buzz Staff A team of writers at News18.com bring you stories on whats creating the buzz on the Internet while exploring science, cricket, tech, gender, Bollywood, and culture. A team of writers at News18.com bring you stories on whats creating the buzz on the Internet while exploring science, cricket, tech, gender, Bollywood, and culture.

News18's viral page features trending stories, videos , and memes, covering quirky incidents, social media buzz from india and around the world, Also Download the News18 App to stay updated!

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: March 22, 2025, 10:25 IST
New Jersey Passenger Claims United Airlines Pilot Dragged Him Mid-Air, Files Lawsuit

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 18:22 IST

Enraged by the situation, the pilot broke down the door and yanked Liebb out while his pants were still down, exposing him to fellow travellers.

The pair is seeking an amount to be determined at trial, plus attorneys fees. (Representative Image)

Several airlines have become a hotspot of discussion due to intense arguments between passengers and flight attendants. Now, travelling by air means one should be ready to witness unruly travellers and individuals behaving inappropriately. From getting into heated arguments to passengers fighting over seats, the airlines have seen it all. Just when we believed that all the brawls had ended, another incident from United Airlines went viral.

A Jewish man from New Jersey, Yisroel Liebb, is taking legal action against the airlines, accusing a pilot of forcefully dragging him out of an aeroplane bathroom mid-flight, reported the New York Post. As per the lawsuit, the incident occurred when Liebb, who was on a flight from Mexico to Texas, went to use the restroom roughly 30 minutes after takeoff. When the 20-year-old did not return to his seat for 20 minutes, his seatmate, Jacob Sebbag, grew concerned and alerted the flight crew.

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A flight attendant knocked on the door, to which Liebb responded that he was merely experiencing constipation and would be out soon. But 10 minutes later, the pilot allegedly intervened and demanded the passenger leave immediately. Enraged by the situation, the pilot broke down the door and yanked Liebb out while his pants were still down, exposing him to fellow travellers, the lawsuit alleges.

As Liebb scrambled to pull up his pants, the pilot stated that he would get him and his seatmate arrested  allegedly saying it was how Jews act."

Once the flight landed, both Liebb and Sebbag were taken into custody by five US Customs and Border Protection agents who boarded the plane. The agents brought them to a detention facility inside the terminal. It was alleged that Liebb was placed in overly tight handcuffs, causing him to yell out in pain.

Though no charges were filed against Liebb and Sebbag, the delay caused them to miss their connecting flight to New York while they were still detained, the complaint said. They were, however, rebooked on a flight leaving the next day for free, but the pair still had to pay additional charges for a hotel and food, the lawsuit stated.

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The lawsuit also states that Liebb suffered injuries to his head and legs during the altercation, while Liebb and Sebbag continued to experience severe wrist pain from the handcuffs.

The pair is seeking damages in an amount to be determined at trial, plus attorneys fees, as per the complaint filed. When asked about the lawsuit, United Airlines responded that it did not have anything to share on the matter.

About the Author Buzz Staff A team of writers at News18.com bring you stories on whats creating the buzz on the Internet while exploring science, cricket, tech, gender, Bollywood, and culture. A team of writers at News18.com bring you stories on whats creating the buzz on the Internet while exploring science, cricket, tech, gender, Bollywood, and culture.

News18's viral page features trending stories, videos , and memes, covering quirky incidents, social media buzz from india and around the world, Also Download the News18 App to stay updated!

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: March 22, 2025, 18:22 IST
Columbia University Agrees To Policy Changes After Trump Freezes $400 Million Funding

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 08:01 IST

Columbia University President, in a letter, informed that students will no longer be allowed to wear masks on campus to conceal their identity.

Columbia University imposed ban on wearing masks (Credits: Getty image used for representation)

In response to President Donald Trumps order, Columbia University, on Friday (local time), agreed to impose a mask ban and increase the powers of campus police. This comes a month after the Trump administration pulled $400 million in research grants and other funding over the universitys handling of protests against Israels military campaign in Gaza.

According to a letter published Friday by interim President Katrina Armstrong, the university will also implement a revised definition of antisemitism and promote intellectual diversity" by increasing staff at its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies.

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Armstrong, in her letter said, the university had worked hard to address the legitimate concerns raised both from within and without our Columbia community, including by our regulators, with respect to the discrimination, harassment, and antisemitic acts our Jewish community has faced," reported AP.

The way Columbia and Columbians have been portrayed is hard to reckon with. We have challenges, yes, but they do not define us."

Amstrong, mentioned in the letter that, the students will not be allowed to wear face masks on campus for the purposes of concealing ones identity,", adding that an exception can be made in case of some health or religious reasons.

Some faculty members and free speech groups have also criticised the policy changes, accusing it of endangering academic freedom.

Columbias capitulation endangers academic freedom and campus expression nationwide," Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement, as quoted by AP.

The move to implement changes by the university comes amid the Trump administration constantly accusing it of not checking antisemitism at protest against Israel that started during last spring.

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In recent weeks, the Trump administration has intensified its criticism of Columbia, throwing the campus into turmoil and raising concerns about potential further reprisals at universities nationwide.

On March 8, federal immigration authorities arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a well-known Palestinian activist and legal permanent resident, in his university-owned apartment building  described by Trump as the first of many" deportation attempts.

Location : United States of America (USA)

First Published: March 22, 2025, 07:48 IST
Elon Musk Blames 'Hormone Injections' For Transgender Violence After Tesla Attacks

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 09:55 IST

Musk's transphobic remarks came on the same day his estranged daugher, who is also a transgender, called him a "pathetic man-child" for his anti trans stance.

Elon Musk's remarks came after a spate of attacks on Tesla cars. (Photo Credits: Instagram)

Tech billionaire Elon Musk insinuated that transgender people were behind the recent attacks on Tesla stores, blaming hormone injections" for extreme emotional volatility" that caused a rise in transgender violence across the country.

Musk made the transphobic remarks on the same day his estranged daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson, who is a transgender, called him a pathetic man-child" during an interview with a US media outlet. Hours later, Musk reshared a post which said that three out of four people arrested in the Tesla attacks were transgender or non-binary.

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Taking to X, Musk said, What are the statistics on trans violence? The probability of a trans person being violent appears to be vastly higher than non-trans. Hormone injections cause extreme emotional volatility. That is simply a fact."

After three people were charged for using Molotov cocktails to set fire to Tesla cars and vandalising Tesla stores, Musk said trans violence is extremely far above normal levels".

A self-described free speech absolutist," Musk has used X to repeatedly attack immigrants and transgender people. A staunch Trump ally, Musk has voiced disapproval of diversity hiring programmes and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) threatened to pull federal funding for public schools and universities that failed to end DEI programmes.

Dont Give A F*** About Him: Musks Daughter

In an interview with Teen Vogue, Musks estranged daughter spoke about his attitude towards trans people and called him a pathetic man child". Wilson said she often learns about Musks actions from the news.

I dont give a f**k about him. I really dont. Its annoying that people associate me with him. I just dont have any room to care anymore," she said. Hes a pathetic man-child. Why would I feel scared of him? I dont give a f**k how much money anyone has. I dont. He owns Twitter. Okay. Congratulations."

The Nazi salute sh*t was insane. Honey, were going to call a fig a fig, and were going to call a Nazi salute what it was. That sh*t was definitely a Nazi salute. The crowd is equally to blame, and I feel like people are not talking about that. That crowd should be denounced," she added.

This is hardly the first time Wilson has spoken out against her father. She has previously described Musk as a cold and narcissistic father, claiming he was an absent parent who did not support her transition. She claimed that the billionaire harassed her as a young child over her effeminate traits.

Musks Woke Mind Virus Jibe

Last year, Musk took to his X platform to say that Wilson was born gay and slightly autistic," adding that, as a child, she would pick out clothes for me to wear like a jacket and tell me it was fabulous!", CNN reported.

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A few days later, in an interview with Jordan Peterson, Musk said his son was killed by the woke mind virus", accusing Wilson of adopting extreme ideologies. My son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke mind virus  so I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that," he said.

Wilson responded sharply by accusing Musk for spreading misinformation, saying that his July 2024 X post was entirely fake" before adding literally none of this ever happened." After she announced her departure from the US following President Donald Trumps election victory, Musk again said that the woke virus killed my son".

About the Author Aveek Banerjee Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master's in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international... Read More Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master's in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international... Read More

Location : Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)

First Published: March 22, 2025, 09:54 IST
Icelands Minister For Children Quits Over Secret Baby With Teen Boy 3 Decades Ago

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 07:19 IST

Iceland's child minister Asthildur Loa Thorsdottir resigned after admitting to having a child at 23 with a 16-year-old, Eirik Asmundsson, leading to backlash and a meeting with the PM.

Icelands child minister Asthildur Loa Thorsdottir.

Icelands child minister Asthildur Loa Thorsdottir resigned from her post soon after admitting to having a child when she was 23 with a 16-year-old, who was later made to pay child support for 18 years.

The startling revelation came Thursday when Icelandic news outlet RUV exposed a decades-old relationship, leading Thorsdottir, 58, to confess. She admitted that in the late 1980s, at 22, while working as a counselor in a church group, she became involved with a teenage member, Eirik Asmundsson.

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NEW: Icelands minister for children abruptly resigns after its revealed that she got impregnated by a teen.This is not what they meant in the job description when they said someone who loves kids." Asthildur Loa Thorsdottir admitted to having a child with a 16-year-old when pic.twitter.com/Q9hBK2a8sd  Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 21, 2025

A year later, at 23, Thorsdottir gave birth to their child, with Asmundsson present during the delivery. Despite his youth, he was legally obligated to pay child support until the child turned 18. Reports suggest that after marrying another man, Thorsdottir greatly restricted Asmundssons access to the child.

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I understand what it looks like," Thorsdottir said in response to the backlash, adding that it is very difficult to get the right story across in the news today." She admitted she would have handled things differently in hindsight. Although Icelands age of consent is 15, the law prohibits adults in positions of authority, like teachers or mentors, from having relationships with minors.

It is still unclear if an investigation will be launched. Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir called Thorsdottir in for a meeting Thursday before she resigned. This is a very personal matter, and out of respect for the person involved, I will not comment on the substance," the PM stated. Despite stepping down from her ministerial role, Thorsdottir has indicated she does not plan to resign from parliament.

About the Author Poulami Kundu Poulami Kundu is a senior copy editor with News 18's general news desk. She hails from Guwahati and has over six years of experience in print and digital media. Poulami is a voracious reader, hodophile, and an ... Read More Poulami Kundu is a senior copy editor with News 18's general news desk. She hails from Guwahati and has over six years of experience in print and digital media. Poulami is a voracious reader, hodophile, and an ... Read More

First Published: March 22, 2025, 07:18 IST
Lebanese PM Sounds Alarm, Warns Of 'New War' After Israel's Retaliation Threats

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 16:46 IST

This warning comes on the heels of a statement by Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir, who pledged that the military would respond severely to the intercepted rockets.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. (Reuters)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has sounded the alarm, warning that his country is on the precipice of a new conflict following Israels vow to retaliate against rocket attacks launched from Lebanese territory.

The prime ministers concerns are well-founded, given the risks of renewed military operations along the southern border, which could spell disaster for Lebanon, potentially dragging the country into another catastrophic war.

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Salam warned of renewed military operations on the southern border, because of the risks they carry dragging the country into a new war, which will bring woes to Lebanon and the Lebanese people," he said in a statement.

This warning comes on the heels of a statement by Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir, who pledged that the military would respond severely to the intercepted rockets. Zamir emphasised that Lebanon bears the responsibility of upholding the agreement.

Lebanons prime minister issued a strong warning that the country will defend itself if drawn into another conflict asserting that all security and military measures must be taken to show that Lebanon decides on matters of war and peace."

The current tensions threaten to upend the delicate ceasefire that brought an end to the year-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

A fragile truce is on shaky ground due to a recent spike in rocket attacks. This has led former Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman to strongly criticise Prime Minister Netanyahu for failing to ensure the countrys security. Were seeing rockets coming from Gaza, Yemen, and Lebanon all in one day. The prime ministers handling of the October 7 situation is putting Israels security at risk."

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Israel has retaliated against cross-border rocket fire with a barrage of artillery and airstrikes, putting additional strain on the already fragile truce. This escalation comes after nearly three months of relative calm was shattered by rockets launched from Lebanon into northern Israel.

Reuters has reported that the fresh escalation has brought the Middle East to a boiling point, with Lebanons Prime Minister Nawaf Salam reiterating his concerns that Israels attacks risk dragging his country into another war.

Location : Lebanon

First Published: March 22, 2025, 16:46 IST
Putin Prayed For Trumps Recovery After Assassination Attempt: US Top Envoy Witkoff

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 15:46 IST

During an appearance on former Fox News host Tucker Carlsons podcast, Witkoff shared this anecdote recounting his second meeting with Putin. Putin met with his priest in a local church and prayed for the US Presidents recovery.

US President Donald Trump's top envoy Steve Witkoff. (X/@Gerashchenko_en)

US President Donald Trumps top envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin prayed for Trumps well-being after the attempted assassination at a campaign rally last summer, showcasing a unique dynamic between the two leaders.

This gesture was not only a demonstration of Putins concern but also highlighted the friendship between the two leaders.

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This is the kind of connection that we have been able to reestablish through a simple word called communication, which many people would say I shouldnt have had because Putin is a bad guy. I dont regard Putin as a bad guy. That is a complicated situation, that war You know, pic.twitter.com/KRcFmWl0dl Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) March 22, 2025

During an appearance on former Fox News host Tucker Carlsons podcast, Witkoff shared this anecdote recounting his second meeting with Putin. Putin met with his priest in a local church and prayed for the US Presidents recovery.

When the president was shot, he went to his local church and met with his priest and prayed for the president," Witkoff said of Putin.

Putin had a friendship with him and he was praying for his friend," he explained. He added that he had relayed the sentimental story to Trump, who was clearly touched."

Last July, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee at the time, narrowly escaped serious injury when a bullet grazed his ear during a campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.

The shot was fired by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who opened fire on the rally, striking Trump and three others, and killing one person.

Witkoff said Putin also had a beautiful portrait" commissioned of Trump by a top Russian artist, which he had gifted to Trump.

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This move underscores the cordial relationship between Putin and Trump, with the latter having expressed admiration for the Russian leader on multiple occasions. Trump has referred to Putin as a genius" and a strong leader," leading his critics to accuse him of being soft on the Kremlin.

The relationship between Putin and Trump has been subject to intense scrutiny, especially with the ongoing Ukraine conflict. Recently, they had a 2-hour phone call to discuss ending Russias invasion of Ukraine. Trump called the conversation very good and productive," emphasizing efforts to resolve the conflict.

Location : United States of America (USA)

First Published: March 22, 2025, 14:48 IST
This Is Our Plane: Students Book 'Private Flight' After Ticketing Glitch

Published By :

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 12:30 IST

When no one else booked the same flight, two women inadvertently secured a private jet.

The duo was travelling to Phoenix, Arizona. (Courtesy: Instagram/natalie.wolfley)

Two college students received VIP treatment on the cheap thanks to a booking error that resulted in them having an entire Southwest flight to themselves. They were able to travel privately for the cost of an economy-class ticket.

In a video that has received over 4.8 million views on TikTok, the duo described their unplanned fly-rolling experience. Since it was posted on Instagram on February 24, the video has received over 4,000 views so far.

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We were just giddy, like so excited. We were like we were VIP. This is our plane," one member of the fortunate pair, Natalie Wolfley, told Salt Lake Citys Fox 13.

According to ABC4.com, on February 21, she and her closest friend Savannah Sargent experienced the once in a lifetime experience" while travelling from Utah to Arizona, the duos home state, for Sargents bridal shower.

A Southwest employee told the students they had a chartered plane" while they were checking their luggage at the Salt Lake City airport, which they initially thought was a prank.

We were so confused and we just thought he was kidding because that never happens," Sargent said as quoted by ABC4. But when the employee flipped the screen and revealed that there were only two tickets bought versus the 175 seats on the plane," the travelling companions knew this was the real deal, she recalled.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Natalie Wolfley (@natalie.wolfley)

Sargent and Wolfley said it was unreal to be the only passengers on the flight, but they claimed it allowed them to enjoy a lot more personal touch" than they would have on a typical commercial flight.

As shown in the video, the mile-high rollers were given special attention during the flight announcements and were even allowed to sit in the cockpit. I think the coolest part about the experience was just that personal connection that we were able to have with the crew members, with the team, with the pilot," elated Wolfley told ABC4.

The duo, who attend different schools in Utah but were raised in the Copper State, were also flying home together for the first time. The two allegedly shared a cake from Salt Lakes Gourmandise Bakery, which Sargent customarily visits each time she departs the airport, to make the occasion more festive.

Most importantly, the VIPs were reportedly free to speak loudly and for as long as they wanted when there were no other passengers on board. No ones going to hear us. Were going to be 10,000 feet in the air, yapping away," Wolfley excitedly said in the video.

The fact that the college girls effectively got to fly private for a commercial fee reportedly made TikTok users with limited funds jealous.

A user lamented, Its tough watching someone else live your dream."

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Another wrote, This would be my fun fact for the rest of time."

What a cool pilot!! I bet this will be a memory you think about forever," fawned a user on social media.

About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More

Location : United States of America (USA)

First Published: March 22, 2025, 12:24 IST
Trump Revokes Temporary Status Of 530,000 Migrants, Set To Trigger Mass Deportations

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Last Updated: March 22, 2025, 07:40 IST

The order applies to about 5,32,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who came to the United States since October 2022, who face deportation within a month.

US President Donald Trump has intensified his crackdown on immigration. (Reuters Image).

The Donald Trump administration has announced that it will revoke legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, setting them up for potential deportation in about a month.

The order applies to about 5,32,000 people from these four countries who have been coming to the United States since October 2022. They arrived with financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work in the US. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they will lose their legal status on April 24, or 30 days after the publication of the notice in the Federal Register.

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The Department of Homeland Security cut short a two-year parole" programme known as CHNV under former President Joe Biden, allowing migrants to obtain work permits to live and work in the US, according to The Guardian. It follows an earlier Trump administration decision to end what it called the broad abuse" of the humanitarian parole, a long-standing legal tool president have used to allow people from countries where theres war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the US.

During his election campaign, President Trump promised to deport millions of people who are in the US illegally, and as president he has been also ending legal pathways for immigrants to come to the US and to stay.

What Is The Humanitarian Parole Programme?

Before the new order, the beneficiaries of the program could stay in the US until their parole expires, although the administration had stopped processing their applications for asylum, visas and other requests that might allow them to remain longer. The administration decision has already been challenged in federal courts.

A group of American citizens and immigrants sued the Trump administration for ending humanitarian parole and seeks to reinstate the programs for the four nationalities.

The Biden administration allowed up to 30,000 people a month from the four countries to come to the United States for two years with eligibility to work. It persuaded Mexico to take back the same number from those countries because the US could deport few, if any, to their homes.

Cuba generally accepted about one deportation flight a month, while Venezuela and Nicaragua refused to take any. All three are US adversaries. Haiti accepted many deportation flights, especially after a surge of migrants from the Caribbean country in the small border town of Del Rio, Texas, in 2021. But Haiti has been in constant turmoil, hampering US efforts.

The CHNV programme was a part of the Biden administrations approach to encourage people to come through new legal channels while cracking down on those who crossed the border illegally.

What Does The New Policy Entail?

Under the new policy laid out under Trumps government, parolees must depart before their parole termination date if they have no lawful basis to stay in the US. Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status," said the Homeland Security Department.

The decision to strip the legal status from half a million migrants could make many vulnerable to deportation if they choose to remain in the US. It remains unclear how many who entered the US on parole now have another form of protection or legal status.

Karen Tumlin, founder and director of Justice Action Center, one of the organisations that filed a lawsuit against the decision, called this action reckless, cruel and counterproductive", which will cause needless chaos and heartbreak for families and communities across the country".

This came after Trump said earlier this month that he would decide to strip the parole status of some 240,000 Ukrainians who have fled to the US during the conflict with Russia. Such a move would be a stunning reversal of the welcome Ukrainians received under Bidens administration and potentially put them on a fast-track to deportation.

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Meanwhile, in another step in its immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has also ended a contract that provides legal help to migrant children entering the country without a parent or guardian, fuelling concerns that children would be forced to navigate the complex legal system alone.

(with agency inputs)

About the Author Aveek Banerjee Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master's in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international... Read More Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master's in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international... Read More

Location : Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)

First Published: March 22, 2025, 07:20 IST
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 22. OES Asset Integrity Management with head office in the United Arab Emirates, eyes cooperation with more drilling contractors in Azerbaijan, Director of Business Development (Asset Integrity) at OES Asset Integrity Management Glen Ashwell told Trend.

"We currently have an active contract with bp for doing surveys and inspection work for them and a master service agreement (MSA). We've worked in this region before. We'd like to work with more of the drilling contractors, Azerbaijans state oil company (SOCAR), Umid Babek Operating Company (UBOC) and any other drilling contractors that are operating in the region," he said.

Ashwell pointed out that his company wants to collaborate and work with the drilling contractors and the operators here to expand into this region.

"We're looking to have more personnel on the ground in Baku and work in the Caspian. We've worked in the Caspian in different regions, in Iran, in Turkmenistan with Dragon Oil and some other contractors," he recalled.

OES are a global leader in inspection, rectification, and asset support solutions for the Oil & Gas and wider energy industry. It provides a suite of specialist services that span the life cycle of a range of rigs, assets and facilities, from the planning and construction stage, reactivation and through all phases of operation and maintenance, right until decommissioning of the asset.
US Lifts Bounty On Taliban Leader Haqqani, Deal With Trump Administration May Have Been Struck: Sources To News18

Reported By :

CNN-News18

Last Updated: March 23, 2025, 00:11 IST

Sirajuddin Haqqani was allegedly involved in planning significant attacks, and a major one was the 2008 strike on the Serena Hotel in Kabul, which killed six people, including a US citizen

Sirajuddin Haqqani is the first deputy leader of Afghanistan and the acting interior minister in the post-2021 Taliban regime. File pic/Reuters

The United States has lifted a $10 million reward offer for information leading to the arrest of a major Taliban leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, an Afghan interior ministry spokesperson said on Saturday.

Sources told CNN-News18 that this indicates a deal may have been struck between the Haqqanis and the Donald Trump administration.

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Earlier, the US government offered rewards for information on Khalifa Sirajuddin Haqqani, Abdul Aziz Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani.

The state department offered amounts of $10 million, $5 million, and $5 million, respectively, as part of the Rewards for Justice programme.

These rewards target key leaders of the Haqqani Network, which was declared a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US.

Sirajuddin Haqqani is the first deputy leader of Afghanistan and the acting interior minister in the post-2021 Taliban regime.

The Haqqanis were on the radar for involvement in attacks against the US and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Sources close to the Haqqanis told CNN-News18 that their page on the Rewards for Justice programme website had disappeared.

Sirajuddin Haqqanis role in the Afghan government is very important in shaping the countrys relationship with America," said a source. This highlights the dynamics between US policy and the Taliban administration."

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Siraj Haqqani was allegedly involved in planning significant attacks, and a major one was the 2008 strike on the Serena Hotel in Kabul, which killed six people, including a US citizen.

A possible reason for this (the US move) is that he (Haqqani) has facilitated the release of American citizens after a discussion with Zalmay Khalilzad (who was the US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation from September 2018 to October 2021)," a source said.

About the Author Manoj Gupta Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18 Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18

First Published: March 23, 2025, 00:11 IST
Four Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) officers were on Thursday arraigned before Harare provincial magistrate Isheunesu Matova in connection with the brutal assault and subsequent death of a 29-year-old man.

The accused persons Nqobile Dube (23), Gladman Faith Makoni (29), Godfrey Damu (24) and Atkins Munashe Zvavambire (20) allegedly assaulted Jeffreys Kandemiiri following an incident at the New Government Complex in Harare earlier this month.

They were remanded in custody on a murder charge and advised to apply for bail at the High Court.

According to State prosecutor Nomsa Kangara, the deceased visited the complex on March 6, intending to meet his uncle, who works at the same complex.

However, he was reportedly chased away by ZPCS officers who providing security at the premises.

While descending the stairs, he encountered the four accused individuals, leading to a confrontation that turned violent. The court heard that they assaulted Kandemiiri on the second floor before dragging him to the basement, where the attack intensified.

Witnesses reported that Dube repeatedly kicked the victim in the stomach with booted feet, while Makoni and Damu punched him.

The State further alleged that Dube stepped on the victims stomach with force while he lay on the ground, while Damu struck him on the legs with a broomstick.

Zvavambire reportedly slapped the deceased twice and poured multiple buckets of water all over his body.

The attack only ceased when other security personnel intervened.

Kandemiiri was reportedly forced to leave the premises, but, however, collapsed at the nearby Simon Muzenda Bus Terminus, where he was assisted by Good Samaritans who took him home to Mabvuku.

He allegedly spent the night in excruciating pain before he was taken to a local clinic the following day.

He was later referred to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, where he was admitted for a week.

Tragically, he succumbed to his injuries on March 14, with doctors citing severe abdominal trauma as the cause of death.

Kangara told the court that police investigations led to the arrest of the four prison officers.

She added that a forensic post-mortem examination confirmed that Kandemiiris death resulted from blunt force trauma sustained during the assault. Newsday
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, March 22. South Koreas exports to Turkmenistan in January 2025 totaled $7.99 million, while imports stood at zero.

The data obtained by Trend from KOSIS (Korean Statistical Information Service) shows that South Koreas exports to Turkmenistan in January 2025 showed a noticeable drop compared to the previous month.

In December 2024, exports reached $12.68 million, indicating a decline of nearly 37 percent in January 2025. In May 2024, the apex of export throughput was documented, achieving a remarkable $17.35 million in transactional value. Nonetheless, the export metric for January 2024 registered a significantly diminished value, totaling merely $572,000.

In the realm of import dynamics, South Korea's procurement metrics from Turkmenistan exhibited a consistently negligible volume throughout the fiscal year 2024. The peak import throughput occurred in July, aggregating to $2.28 million, whereas in the majority of the remaining months, import activity was constrained to sub-$1 million levels or entirely nonexistent.
This year's wildfires in Los Angeles County destroyed an estimated 12,000 homes, reports the New York Times. What now? One safe bet based on robust sales of vacant lots is that 12,000 new homes will go right back up, though many with different owners. Both the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post report that sales of such lots are booming in stories that explore the phenomenon:

More than 160 lots have been listed for sale in Altadena and Pacific Palisades since the fires, compared with five in the same period the previous two years.

Most sell quickly, in the range of $600,000 to $700,000, which is typically more than asking but less than owners would have received before the fires.
The Department of Homeland Security said Friday it will revoke legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, setting them up for potential deportation in about a month. The order applies to about 532,000 people from the four countries who came to the United States since October 2022, arriving with financial sponsors and given two-year permits to live and work in the US. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they'll lose their legal status on April 24, or 30 days after the publication of the notice in the Federal Register, per the AP .

The new policy impacts people already in the US and who came under the humanitarian parole program. It follows an earlier Trump administration decision to end what it called the "broad abuse" of the humanitarian parole, a long-standing legal tool presidents have used to allow people from countries where there's war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the US. DHS said parolees without a lawful basis to stay in the US "must depart" before their parole termination date. "Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status," DHS said.

Before the new order, beneficiaries of the program could stay in the US until their parole expired, although the administration had stopped processing their applications for asylum, visas, and other requests that might allow them to remain longer. The Biden administration allowed up to 30,000 people a month from the four countries to come to the United States for two years with eligibility to work. Since late 2022, more than half a million people have come to the US under the policy, also known as CHNV. It was a part of the Biden administration's approach to encourage people to come through new legal channels while cracking down on those who crossed the border illegally.

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The Trump administration's decision has already been challenged in federal courts. A group of American citizens and immigrants sued it for ending humanitarian parole and are seeking to reinstate the programs for the four nationalities. Lawyers and activists raised their voices to denounce the government's decision. Friday's action is "going to cause needless chaos and heartbreak for families and communities across the country," said Karen Tumlin, founder of Justice Action Center, one of the organizations that filed the February lawsuit. She called it "reckless, cruel, and counterproductive."
After a five-week hospital stay for treatment of a touch-and-go case of double pneumonia, Pope Francis is scheduled to be discharged on Sunday. In making the announcement Saturday at Gemelli Hospital in Rome, doctors said he'll require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation, CBS News reports. Francis has not been seen in public since he was admitted on Feb. 14 while battling bronchitis. The doctors told reporters that his condition has been stable for at least two weeks and described his release as a "protected discharge," per NBC News .

"During his hospitalization, he presented two critical episodes during which the Holy Father's life was in danger," Dr. Sergio Alfieri said. "He subsequently made slow but progressive improvements." The pope will continue medication, Alfieri said. The pope's personal physician said the Vatican has been prepared for the convalescence. "We hope that within a brief period, he can go back to his normal activity," said Dr. Luigi Carbone. The Vatican announced that Francis, 88, will make an appearance on Sunday, per CBS, offering a blessing at the hospital after the Angelus prayers.

A Vatican official said Friday that the prolonged use of high-flow oxygen therapy might mean the pope will have to "relearn to speak," per Reuters. "The pope is doing very well, but high-flow oxygen dries everything out," Cardinal Victor Fernandez said. Officials said the pope is receiving oxygen through a small tube under his nose at night but is no longer using mechanical ventilation. Less high-flow oxygen is administered during the day, per the BBC.
MPs to debate plan to double tendering limits to BD50,000 for ministries, BD100,000 for state firms

MPs to debate plan to double tendering limits to BD50,000 for ministries, BD100,000 for state firms

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Ministries will see their tendering limit double to BD50,000 from the current BD25,000 if a draft law gains MPs' approval next Tuesday.

Prepared by the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee, the proposal amends Decree-Law No. (36) of 2002, which regulates tenders, auctions, purchases, and sales across the government.

Approval would also mean state-owned companies have their threshold raised from BD50,000 to BD100,000.

The original draft gave the Cabinet the power to revise these limits in the future, depending on economic conditions. However, the committee has recommended removing this provision.

The law also introduces two new articles. One allows the Cabinet to exempt certain government bodies from regulations for deals signed and carried out abroadprovided those bodies follow their own approved internal procedures and report regularly to the Tender Board.

The second article permits ministries, or any evaluator appointed by the Tender Board, to negotiate with bidders in specific situations. This includes cases where only one offer is received, the lowest bid is higher than the estimated cost, or the top bids are within five per cent of each other. Final approval would rest with the Tender Board. Other amendments aim to clarify how public assets are sold. One revised article allows ministries to use either traditional or electronic public auctions to dispose of assets. The Tender Board would also be allowed to assign auction procedures to private firms.

Two existing articlesArticle 33, paragraph two, and Article 64would be scrapped. These cover restrictions on price negotiations and tie sales procedures to those used for government purchases.

The Tender Board supported the draft, stating that public bodies need more flexibility to address rising costs and that the current caps are too rigid.

The National Audit Office and the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry generally welcomed the amendments. However, the Chamber raised concerns about removing Article 33, warning that it could disadvantage smaller firms seeking contracts. It also criticised the negotiation clause, suggesting it could undermine sealed tendering and favour larger firms.

The Bahrain Businessmens Association backed the draft, arguing the changes better reflect todays market and promote fairer competition.
TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the King of Bahrain, sent a congratulatory cable to His Excellency President Asif Ali Zardari of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on the occasion of Pakistans National Day.

In his message, His Majesty expressed his warmest congratulations and best wishes to President Zardari, wishing him good health and happiness. He also extended his best wishes for further progress and prosperity to the people of Pakistan.

Additionally, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, sent a similar congratulatory cable to President Asif Ali Zardari on this occasion.

His Royal Highness also extended his congratulations to His Excellency Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, conveying his best wishes for continued development and success for the country.

Meanwhile, Speaker of the Council of Representatives, His Excellency Ahmed bin Salman Al-Musallam, highlighted the strong and ever-growing relations between Bahrain and Pakistan. He emphasized that the close ties between the two nations continue to flourish under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and President Asif Ali Zardari, along with the support and commitment of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif.

Al-Musallam underscored the deep-rooted strategic partnership between Bahrain and Pakistan, which has spanned over five decades, noting the historical depth, mutual cooperation, and shared vision that define the bilateral relations.

The Speaker also extended his heartfelt congratulations to His Excellency Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, and His Excellency Yusuf Raza Gilani, Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan, on the occasion of Pakistans National Day. He reaffirmed Bahrains commitment to strengthening parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.

Furthermore, Al-Musallam sent a congratulatory message to His Excellency Thaqib Rauf, Ambassador of Pakistan to Bahrain, marking the occasion and expressing Bahrains appreciation for the strong ties between the two nations.
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- A new grant and a project are bringing excitement to the cinema program at Missouri Western State University.

Toby Lawrence, associate professor of cinema at Missouri Western, said a staff addition and being awarded a MoExcel grant are changing the department's approach while also upgrading equipment.

"From that grant, we were given an allotment to upgrade our gear," Lawrence said. "So I really honestly believe now that we have everything that students would need to be industry standard."

The grant application originated with Dominic DiBrincat, chair of the Social Sciences and Humanities Department, and also benefits Potter Hall and other areas. In addition, longtime Missouri Western philanthropist Drew Brown was able to add matching funds.

These upgrades, in addition to new faculty member David Sutera, have opened the door for a greater expansion of the curriculum as well as a first for the university: The writing and production of a full-length film, which will be shot entirely on location in the St. Joseph area.

"The icing on the cake of all of this is the feature film," Lawrence said. "We will be shooting the film locally from May 25 to 31."

This project will be led by the Missouri Western cinema department, with students participating in various aspects of writing, directing and producing. In addition, Lawrence said, the department is reaching out to the entire community, including high school students who want to learn more about making films and all the work involved in the process.

"We will hold auditions and casting calls for community members who would like to be involved," Lawrence said. "The students are in an advanced screenwriting class right now, writing what could be the 'golden script' that will be chosen as the film."

Department leaders said the St. Joseph Convention and Visitors Bureau is on board and will assist in selecting locations and in publicity for both the process of the film and the final product. CVB Director of Communications Christian Mengel said his organization looks forward to the opportunity to assist with this project.

"At the CVB, we can help get them connected with contacts and locations," Mengel said. "We ask if they need street closures or catering and other logistics behind the making of the film is what we get to be part of."

As a graduate of Missouri Western's cinema department, Mengel said this project holds a special significance for him.

"Seeing students there now having the opportunity to be part of a feature-length film is huge," Mengel said. "That's what everybody who is interested in film wants to do."

Lawrence said that with Missouri tax credits available for filmmakers, the use of towns like St. Joseph in movies will likely continue to expand, noting the recent feature films that have already been shot here. The unique aspect of this film is that it will be student-led, he said.

"My goal has always been to be part of Missouri Western's efforts to connect the school with the community," Lawrence said. "This is definitely another way for that to happen, and we're excited about it."

The cinema department will host its annual film festival on April 25 and 26 at the Trail Theater, 111 N. Ninth St. For more information on the upcoming festival and the cinema department, visit missouriwestern.edu/cinema.
OTTAWA, ON, March 21, 2025 /CNW/ - Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, met with provincial and territorial premiers and shared his plan to build one strong Canadian economy.

The trade war brought on by the United States has renewed the urgency to address longstanding barriers that have fragmented our economy and reduced opportunities for Canadians. At the top of the agenda, the Prime Minister updated premiers on the Government of Canada's actions to support workers and businesses affected by tariffs.

To support workers, the new government will:

Temporarily waive the one-week employment insurance (EI) waiting period.

Suspend rules around separation for a six-month period, so workers don't have to exhaust severance pay before collecting EI.

Make it easier to access EI by increasing regional unemployment rate percentages.

To support businesses, the new government will:

Defer corporate income tax payments and GST/HST remittances from April 2 to June 30, 2025 , providing up to $40 billion in liquidity to businesses.

, providing up to in liquidity to businesses. Deploy a new financing facility for businesses.

Provide more funding to Canada's regional development agencies, so they can better support businesses.

The Prime Minister and the premiers agreed that by working together to unlock economic projects and remove barriers, Canada can more than offset the effects of U.S. tariffs  creating higher-paying jobs, maximizing our economic potential, and becoming stronger at home and stronger abroad.

To that end, Prime Minister Carney outlined a suite of measures to develop a national trade and economic corridor. This corridor will drive investment, create jobs, and build economic growth. It will include:

The creation of a First Mile Fund, building transportation networks to connect energy extraction sites to rail lines and roads. By providing capital to finance these key infrastructure projects across the country, the Government of Canada will expedite project construction and create a more integrated and accessible Canadian economy.

will expedite project construction and create a more integrated and accessible Canadian economy. A "one window" approval process, streamlining approvals for large-scale, national-interest infrastructure projects. This new measure will create clear, predictable, and efficient review processes  with the highest standards for safety, environmental protection, and Indigenous consultation  and reduce uncertainty for investors.

A contribution agreement of up to $200 million toward the construction, commissioning, and operation of a new Indigenous majority-owned Cedar LNG processing facility. A partnership between the Haisla Nation and the Pembina Pipeline Corporation, this project will create hundreds of highly skilled construction and trades jobs, generate over $275 million in economic growth, and get Canadian energy to domestic and international markets.

toward the construction, commissioning, and operation of a new Indigenous majority-owned Cedar LNG processing facility. A partnership between the Haisla Nation and the Pembina Pipeline Corporation, this project will create hundreds of highly skilled construction and trades jobs, generate over in economic growth, and get Canadian energy to domestic and international markets. A $175 million investment in the Hudson Bay Railway and at the Port of Churchill , in Manitoba . This critical investment in Canadian trade and railway infrastructure will expand and open new transportation corridors, bolster economic growth and reconciliation in the Canadian Arctic and North, and help get Canadian products to global markets.

Furthermore, Prime Minister Carney stressed the imperative to break down barriers to interprovincial trade. To build a stronger and fairer economy, he committed to table legislation by July 1, 2025, to eliminate all federal barriers to interprovincial trade and labour mobility and to remove all federal exemptions under the Canada Free Trade Agreement.

By harmonizing regulations and enhancing labour mobility, Canada can create a truly open Canadian market  one that reduces costs for its businesses and consumers alike. This will help strengthen supply chains, boost productivity, and unlock new opportunities for Canadian companies.

Quote

"By working together, we can expand and build one more interconnected and resilient Canadian economy. Canadians are ready to show the world that we can cheer for different teams and still be one strong team when it counts."

 The Rt. Hon. Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada

Associated Links

This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca

SOURCE Prime Minister's Office

PMO Media Relations: [email protected]
Boeing won a contract March 21 to develop a next-generation combat aircraft (6th generation fighter) for the U.S. Air Force. Boeing and Lockheed Martin were competing for the Air Forces Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems.

The US Air Force says the F-47 will be the worlds first crewed sixth-generation fighter. It is built to dominate the most capable peer adversary and operate in the most perilous threat environments imaginable. For the past five years, the X-planes for this aircraft have been quietly laying the foundation for the F-47  flying hundreds of hours, testing cutting-edge concepts, and proving that we can push the envelope of technology with confidence. The F-47 will fly during President Trumps administration.

Compared to the F-22, the F-47 will cost less and be more adaptable to future threats  and we will have more of the F-47s in our inventory. The F-47 will have significantly longer range, more advanced stealth, be more sustainable, supportable, and have higher availability than our fifth-generation fighters.

The cost-plus contract award for NGAD also offers a reprieve for a defense and space business within Boeing that has reported over $18 billion in reach-forward losses on fixed-price military and NASA programs since 2014, including $5 billion in new charges from 2024 alone. Despite the losses, Boeing invested heavily to win the NGAD contract, including starting construction nearly two years ago on a new factory in St. Louis to produce the aircraft.

The engine award has not been decided. GE Aerospaces XA102 or Pratt & Whitneys XA10 are competing for the engine contract. Both feature a new, three-stream architecture that increases bypass flow in cruise mode to reduce fuel consumption by more than 20%.
ASTANA, Kazakhstan, March 22. Kazakhstan's QazaqGaz National Company and Sinopec, an international energy and chemical company, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore coalbed methane (CBM) extraction projects, Trend reports via QazaqGaz.

The MoU was signed during a visit by a QazaqGaz delegation to Beijing. Ulan Burkitov, Deputy Chairman for Geology and Prospective Projects at QazaqGaz, and Xue Weisong, General Director of Sinopec International Energy Investment Limited, formalized the partnership.

The agreement focuses on the joint study of the coalbed methane potential in the Karaganda coal basin, a significant source of natural gas in the region, which could play a crucial role in Kazakhstans energy sector.

This collaboration aligns with QazaqGazs strategy to expand the countrys gas resource base. The company noted that it remains open to partnerships with both local and international firms for the development of various energy projects, including those focused on unconventional hydrocarbons.

Sinopec is Chinas largest supplier of oil and petrochemical products, as well as the worlds largest refining company and second-largest chemical company. Its network of gas stations ranks second globally. In recent years, it has consistently ranked among the top companies on Fortunes Global 500 list.
Weather Alert

Take action to protect yourself and others  extreme heat can affect everyones health. Determine if you or others around you are at greater risk of heat illness. Check on older adults, those living alone and other at-risk people in-person or on the phone multiple times a day. Watch for the early signs of heat exhaustion in yourself and others. Signs may include headache, nausea, dizziness, thirst, dark urine and intense fatigue. Stop your activity and drink water. Heat stroke is a medical emergency! Call 9-1-1 or your emergency health provider if you, or someone around you, is showing signs of heat stroke which can include red and hot skin, dizziness, nausea, confusion and change in consciousness. While you wait for medical attention, try to cool the person by moving them to a cool place, removing extra clothing, applying cold water or ice packs around the body. Drink water often and before you feel thirsty to replace fluids. Close blinds, or shades and open windows if outside is cooler than inside. Turn on air conditioning, use a fan, or move to a cooler area of your living space. If your living space is hot, move to a cool public space such as a cooling centre, community centre, library or shaded park. Follow the advice of your regions public health authority. Plan and schedule outdoor activities during the coolest parts of the day. Limit direct exposure to the sun and heat. Wear lightweight, light-coloured, loose-fitting clothing and a wide-brimmed hat. Never leave people, especially children, or pets inside a parked vehicle. Check the vehicle before locking to make sure no one is left behind. Humidex values reaching 40 are expected. A heat event is expected this weekend. What: Daytime highs of 31 to 33 degrees Celsius and a humidex of 40. Overnight lows of 21 to 25 degrees Celsius, providing little relief from the heat. When: Today to Sunday, coming to an end Sunday night. Additional information: Hot and humid air can also bring deteriorating air quality and result in the Air Quality Health Index approaching the high risk category. ### For more information: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/climate-change-health/extreme-heat/how-protect-yourself.html https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/climate-change-health/extreme-heat/who-is-at-risk.html Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. To report severe weather, send an email to ONstorm@ec.gc.ca or post reports on X using #ONStorm.
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, March 22. Kyrgyzstan's total sowing area is set to reach 1.250 million ha in 2025, which is an increase of 3,300 ha compared to the previous year, Trend reports via the Ministry of Water Resources, Agriculture, and Food Processing Industry.

Therefore, the countrys unused arable land will decrease by 3,300 ha, down to 35,700 hectares. Unused agricultural land amounted to 43,000 thousand hectares in 2023 and 39,000 hectares in 2024.

The Ministry also highlighted that, during the spring fieldwork season, farmers are encouraged to plant high-yielding crops and fruit varieties.

Moreover, 42,200 tons of diesel fuel and 12, 000 tons of gasoline will be required for the spring fieldwork. The Ministry noted that there are no issues with the supply of fuel at this time. According to the Association of Oil Traders, there is a sufficient stock of diesel and gasoline at oil depots and gas stations across the country.

The State Material Reserves Fund will also provide farmers with up to 10,000 tons of diesel fuel at a discounted price of 65 soms ($0.74) per liter.
A recent traffic stop in South Jersey led to the discovery of a Molotov cocktail and drugs in a mans car, police said.

A local police officer conducted the stop at 9:46 p.m. on March 15 near East Atlantic Avenue and Davis in the Camden County borough of Barrington, the police department announced Friday.

The 42-year-old Stratford man was pulled over for equipment and other traffic violations, according to a statement from the department.

During the stop, a police K-9 detected five baggies of suspected crack cocaine in the car, authorities said.

Officers also found the Molotov cocktail, which contained gasoline and an ignition fuse, police said. The Camden County Sheriffs Office Bomb Squad responded and secured the device.

Police then searched the mans home and found a semi-automatic rifle that had been modified into an illegal assault firearm, authorities said. They also discovered numerous high-capacity magazines, multiple silencers, and two other guns, the department said.

The man was charged in Barrington and Stratford with multiple drug and weapons-related offenses and was taken to the Camden County Correctional Facility. He will be held there pending the outcome of his detention hearing in Camden County Superior Court, authorities said.

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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
Cursive handwriting: Old-fashioned and out of date or something we should restore in the new millennium? LC- The Oregonian

Imagine a time when children cant read historical documents. Young adults can barely conjure a drivers license signature. And even some elementary school teachers confess they dont know how to write in cursive.

This might sound like the handwriting apocalypse doomsayers have warned of for generations. But its actually the alarming reality of today, some New Jersey lawmakers say.

So theyre working across party lines to change it.

A bipartisan proposal to require cursive handwriting instruction in grades 3-5 in the state won approval from the state Assembly Education Committee earlier this month. Its the first step toward exposing a new generation of New Jersey students to the lost art of cursive, according to Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, the committee chair.

Its just important that we continue to teach our youth how to sign their name, Reynolds-Jackson, D-Mercer, said. You get a mortgage, you print and sign. When you go for your drivers license, you sign. When you open a bank account or your passport, you have to sign.

The decline of cursive handwriting was bemoaned even before the rise of the personal computer. Some schools still teach it, but others have long since left the curly Qs and artful As for dead, just happy to see a kid born this century who prints legibly.

New Jersey stopped requiring cursive instruction in schools about 15 years ago, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association. Several proposals to make cursive instruction mandatory since then have languished in Trenton.

Reynolds-Jackson believes her renewed push could be different, though. The plan wouldnt start cursive instruction until third grade instead of requiring it as young as kindergarten, she said.

The bill is co-sponsored by six of her Republican colleagues, including Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, a former English teacher.

This isnt about penmanship, said Fantasia, R-Sussex. Its about cognitive development. Its about learning.

Learning cursive can unlock creativity and improve brain function, lawmakers said. But the practical application shouldnt be overlooked, according to Fantasia.

When grandparents send kids birthday cards and write in cursive, they cant read it, she said. They need it translated as if it was in an alternate language.

The measure would need to be passed by the full state Senate and Assembly and signed by the governor to become law.

But not everyone is on board with the proposal. The school boards association and other education advocacy groups oppose another new mandate from the state Legislature, according to Jonathan Pushman, director of governmental relations.

New Jersey schools have already been required to incorporate lessons in civics, climate change, financial literacy and other topics over the past few years, he said.

The organization is not opposed to schools teaching cursive, but it believes the decision should be made locally.

There are only so many hours in the school day, Pushman said.

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Adam Clark may be reached at aclark@njadvancemedia.com.
An ex-sound engineer who used to work for Eminem for 14 years was charged on Wednesday in connection with allegedly leaking and selling more than 25 unreleased songs in January.

Joseph Strange, 46, who worked at Eminems Ferndale, Michigan recording studio from 2007 to 2021, was charged with criminal infringement of a copyright and interstate transportation of stolen goods concerning the sale of unreleased music, as noted in a press release .

Strange was let go by Eminem in 2021. The complaint notes that Strange was one of four employees who had access to the leaked songs while working for the rapper. The songs were created between 1999 and 2018.

The FBI identified several individuals who had purchased the unreleased song, including one who goes by Doja Rat. They allegedly worked with a group of fans online to pay Strange $50,000 in Bitcoin.

Eminems spokesperson provided a statement to Variety reiterating the damage unfinished material can cause.

The significant damage caused by a trusted employee to Eminems artistic legacy and creative integrity cannot be overstated, let alone the enormous financial losses incurred by the many creators and collaborators that deserve protection for their decades of work, said the statement. We will continue to take any and all steps necessary to protect Eminems art and will stop at nothing to do so.

If convicted on the charge of criminal copyright infringement, Strange faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. He also faces a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison if charged with interstate transportation of stolen goods.

Related coverage:

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Murjani Rawls may be reached at mrawls@njadvancemedia.com
Jan Schwieterman died at the age of 52. Paramount Pictures

Actor Jan Patrick J.P. Schwieterman died on Feb. 28 at Mercy Hospital in Washington, Missouri. He was 52.

The actor, best known for his role in Nickelodeons Good Burger, was battling stage four cancer.

His brother Chad Schwieterman confirmed Jans passing in a post on Facebook.

It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of my brother, Jan (JP) Schwieterman, Chad wrote on March 1. He recently found out he had an aggressive form of stage 4 cancer and passed yesterday evening. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers as we navigate this difficult time.

Rest in peace, brother. We love you and miss you, he added.

Schwieterman was born on September 30, 1972, in Bluffton, Indiana. His online obituary notes he was in the Boy Scouts of America and was proud of the fact he became an Eagle Scout.

After high school, he moved to California to become an actor. Schwietermans acting credits included ER, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, and Felicity. He studied martial arts and loved playing Dungeons and Dragons."

Related coverage:

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Murjani Rawls may be reached at mrawls@njadvancemedia.com
A laboratory in Middlesex County has been ordered to pay back $3.3 million to the New Jersey Medicaid program after an audit by the State Comptrollers Office revealed the company was charging for drug tests without the required signatures, as well as charging for higher-level tests than requested, officials said.

Star Laboratory in Piscataway used printed labels on testing orders, a violation of New Jersey Medicaid regulations which require orders for laboratory tests to be approved through a signature or electronic means by a licensed medical provider, according to the final audit report released Wednesday.

The state adopted these regulations to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse in an industry that had been rife with corruption and grift, said Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh in a press release.

A printed label  that could be affixed to a form by anyone violates the law and opens the door to excessive, unnecessary testing and to profiteering, Walsh added. Star Laboratory had an obligation to reject those test orders because they create high risks of fraud, waste, and abuse. The state will deny payment to Medicaid providers who do not follow rules that protect taxpayer funds.

In response letters attached to the audit report, Star Labs defended itself against accusations of wrongdoing.

The independent laboratorys lawyers claim the states Medicaid Fraud Division is unfairly trying to put a small company out of business. They argue the regulation requiring a physicians signature on drug test requisition forms has no force of law.

Stars response also details how the state holds a small business to a standard that the state itself fails to meet, said attorney Michael Baldassare in a statement on Star Labs behalf.

Stars response also details how the state has defended itself against the federal government by making the same arguments Star now makes. In other words, do as I say, not as I do. This is not over, Baldassare said.

The Medicaid Fraud Division reviewed 296 claims Medicaid paid to Star Laboratory between July 2017 through March 2021, looking to see if Star Labs billed for drug tests in accordance with requirements.

The audit found that in 54% of claims, the company conducted and billed for drug tests that lacked required signatures, and in five instances, billed for more costly tests than were requested.

In a January 2024 response to a summary of findings, legal counsel for Star Lab argued the printed label constitutes a doctors personal signature just as a thumbprint, seal, or marker constituted a persons signature years ago.

Additionally, lawyers claimed New Jerseys Medicaid signature regulation was enacted contrary to the mandate of the New Jersey Administrative Procedure Act.

Despite defending the printed labels, Star Labs reps said the company self-corrected the potential signature issue in March 2020.

Star Labs lawyers also argued that any instance in which it performed and billed for certain drug testing that was not requested in the test requisition was the product of human error.

The Medicaid Fraud Divisions review also found that in 34% of the instances reviewed, Star Labs neglected to perform at least one specific drug test ordered. The State Comptrollers office is not seeking any payment for these lapses, but adds they may have had an adverse effect on patient care.

In response to this allegation, Star Lab responded that the division does not even come close to claiming  let alone supporting  any actual patient harm."

In addition to the $3.3 million penalty, Star Laboratory must develop a corrective action plan indicating the steps it will take to implement procedures to correct the deficiencies identified in the report.

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Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com.
A 33-year-old Trenton man has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of another, the Mercer County Prosecutors Office announced Saturday.

Bruno Laboy Santiago is charged with first-degree murder, as well as a second-degree weapons offense for unlawful possession of a firearm, officials said.

Trenton police responded to a ShotSpotter activation on March 13 around 11:23 p.m. in the area of Dayton and Grand streets. Officers arrived at the scene to find Wilmer Eliu Vidal Romero, 25, of Trenton, who had suffered a gunshot wound, seated in the drivers seat of a Toyota 4Runner, stated in a news release.

Vidal Romero was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center and later pronounced dead.

The investigation, led by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force and the Trenton Police Department, revealed that Laboy Santiago and the victim were involved in a motor vehicle collision just minutes before the shooting at the intersection of Liberty and South Broad streets, police say. Authorities have alleged that Laboy Santiago intentionally shot Vidal Romero following the accident, leading to his death.

Laboy Santiago was taken into custody on Wednesday by a deputy from the St. Tammany Parish Sheriffs Department in Louisiana during a traffic stop. He is currently being held at the St. Tammany Parish Jail in Covington, Louisiana, awaiting extradition to New Jersey, according to the prosecutors office.

Laboy Santiago faces 30 years to life in state prison and a fine of up to $200,000. The weapons offense could lead to an additional five to ten years in prison, with a fine of up to $150,000, officials said.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact Mercer County Homicide Task Force Sergeant Roberto Reyes at 609-256-0997 or Detective Andrew Distefano at 609-209-3244.

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Deion Johnson may be reached at djohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Instagram at @DeionRJohnson or X @DeionRJohhnson
The state Attorney Generals office has accused an apartment complex in Middlesex County of discriminating against recipients of government assistance.

The Attorney Generals Division on Civil Rights filed a finding of probable cause against Highland Living LLC and its listing agent, the agency said in a statement on Friday.

Authorities allege that the apartment complex, located in the borough of Highland Park, violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination by requiring unlawful minimum income requirements.

The complex currently requires a monthly income requirement of double the rent price. This requirement makes it impossible for a recipient of Section 8 benefits to qualify for housing, according to investigators with the Division of Civil Rights.

New Jerseys strong civil rights laws protect every residents right to obtain safe, affordable housing without facing discrimination. Now more than ever, its imperative that we hold firm on our commitment to safeguard that right, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.

The enforcement actions announced today reflect our continued commitment to ensuring that no one is denied the chance to obtain an affordable place to live because of unlawful housing discrimination, he added.

Further investigation into the complex found that all Section 8 recipients who applied for housing between 2022 and 2024 were denied, officials said.

A spokesperson for Highland Living could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

The case is now in the conciliation phase, in which Highland Living and its listing agent have an opportunity to negotiate a voluntary resolution with the state.

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Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com.
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, March 22. Tajikistan's Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin met with UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua, to discuss key areas of cooperation, Trend reports via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan.

In the course of the meeting, the sides reviewed crucial aspects of Tajikistan's collaboration with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), focusing on joint initiatives aimed at advancing the three pillars of sustainable development: social, economic, and environmental sectors.

The sides also exchanged views on collective efforts to promote the global water agenda, including the upcoming International Conference on Glacier Preservation, which will take place in Dushanbe from May 29 to 31, 2025, and the UN Conference marking the end of the International Decade for Action "Water for Sustainable Development" in Dushanbe in 2028.

The UN DESA is a branch of the UN Secretariat. It helps follow up on major UN summits and conferences and provides services to the Economic and Social Council and the UN General Assembly's Second and Third Committees. UN DESA supports countries in setting agendas and making decisions to address economic, social, and environmental challenges while promoting international cooperation for sustainable development.
Anthony Brown, 20, of Toms River, was sentenced to prison for his involvement in a 2024 shooting Getty Images

A New Jersey man received jail time for his involvement in a 2024 shooting that occurred in Toms River, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced Friday.

Anthony Brown, 20, of Toms River, was sentenced to four years in New Jersey State Prison for aggravated assault; and five years (with a 42-month parole ineligibility period) for possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose. The sentences will run concurrently.

Brown pled guilty to both charges in January.

Brown was sentenced for a June 12, 2024 incident in which he fired two shots at a vehicle, striking a man before fleeing the scene on Adams Avenue. The victim left the scene as well.

Toms River police officers later responded to a Main Street residence for a report of a gunshot wound and determined the victim was the same man Brown shot earlier that evening.

The victim was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune to be treated for injuries and subsequently released.

Brown was arrested shortly after and taken to Ocean County Jail.

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Christopher Burch can be reached at cburch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SwishBurch. Find NJ.comon Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips
Remember when Bill Maher called Donald Trump an orangutan and was hit with a lawsuit by an overly sensitive and litigious guy in orange makeup?

Remember when Maher mocked president and candidate Trump (and his family) with nearly every breath?

Remember when he harped on the corruption and incompetence and sounded the air-raid siren every week on his HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher?

Remember when Maher gave a million dollars to the Democrats to fight for Senate control during Trumps first administration  because legislatively checkmating the mad king was crucial to the future of U.S. democracy?

Remember when Maher predicted that Trump wouldnt leave the White House without a fight, then spent the four years after the insurrection telling us, I told you so?

Good times, right?

Well, theyre over.

Maher  with MAGA consigliere Kid Rock brokering the most unlikely peace summit since Vito Corleone met with his sons assassins in The Godfather ... and we know how that turned out  said he plans to meet with Trump at the White House.

Even this is a bridge too far for former Republican Rep. Joe Walsh, who spent the final weeks of the presidential campaign listening to Trump supporters and trying to pull them to Kamala Harris.

Walsh excoriated Maher on Twitter on Friday after the upcoming meeting was reported:

I respect Bill Maher, and my whole mantra is sitting down with anyone, but this is a bullshit business move by Maher, Walsh wrote. I would never sit down with Trump.

Trump is purposely ignorant and cruel, he lies as he breathes, and he tried to overthrow an American election. Trump is our democracys enemy. Bill Maher deserves ZERO props for meeting with Trump. In fact, those of you who love our democracy should condemn Bill Maher.

Because by sitting down with Trump, Maher is only normalizing Trump and helping Trump politically.

And f--k you, Bill Maher by calling those of us who criticize you for doing this as mean girls. Ill sit down with any Trump supporter. Sitting down with Trump is completely different. And you know it. But youre trying to score points here.

And by the way, shame on you, Bill Maher, for taking an ugly cheap shot at Zelensky by saying that, unlike Zelensky, youll wear a suit when you meet with Trump. Hey, Bill, lead a country thats been invaded, a country at war, a country thats already lost tens of thousands of its men and had tens of thousands of its children abducted, and then criticize Zelensky for not wearing a suit.

And by the way, Bill, Trump stands with Putin, the evil dictator who invaded Ukraine and stands against freedom, sovereignty, and the free world. Why dont you ask him about that while youre enjoying your steak with him?

Maher  following MSNBCs Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinskis kiss-up example  knows criticism like Walshs is coming. After all, Morning Joes ratings still havent recovered from the pow-wow they kept secret, then were roasted for, even by regular guests of their show.

Maher (should we reveal that he comes from New Jersey?) doesnt care. He predicts liberals will be angry about the meeting with Trump, but so what?

And there will be lots of people on the left who will be like, How dare you talk to this man. Its, like, f you, Im not playing this game that you mean girls play, Maher said. Oh, you know what? You cant sit at my lunch table, because Im just not talking to you. Not talking to you? You lost the election. Who the f do you think you have to talk to?
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With more than 200 authors, the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University covers a lot of ground, and this years lineup is heavy on newsmakers and journalists. There are author interviews, panel discussions, book-signing sessions and more on March 27-29 at the center of Tulanes campus in Uptown.

Among the recent newsmakers at the fest is Dr. Anthony Fauci, the doctor who ran the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for nearly four decades. He oversaw the governments response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s and was thrust into the spotlight during the Covid pandemic. His book, On Call: A Doctors Journey in Public Service, became a best-seller when it was released last year. He will be interviewed by Walter Isaacson at 10 a.m. Friday at McAlister Auditorium.

Opening the book festival is a panel discussion on the future of American democracy featuring several writers from The Atlantic and Bryan Stevenson, founder and director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Stevenson has argued numerous cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and championed efforts to fight inequality, injustice and discrimination. From The Atlantic, there is editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, staff writer and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum, Adam Serwer, author of The Cruelty is the Point, and more. The event is at 5 p.m. Thursday in McAllister Auditorium.

The New York Times is well represented at the festival. New Orleans native and former Times editor-in-chief Dean Baquet will be interviewed by former CNN anchor Don Lemon at 1 p.m. Friday. Baquet will also speak on a panel about AI, social media and traditional media, along with data analyst Nate Silver, author Ken Auletta and Molly Jong-Fast. The panel is at 2:30 p.m. Friday. New York Times columnists at the fest include Louisiana native Charles Blow and Maureen Dowd.

Other renowned journalists include Bob Woodward, author of more than 20 books on politics. Washington Post columnist and Ronald Reagan biographer Max Boot also is at the festival.

A couple of political strategists from opposite sides of the political spectrum share their views. David Axelrod, advisor to President Barack Obama and a commentator, and Karl Rove, advisor to President George W. Bush and a commentator, join each other onstage at 1 p.m. Friday at McAlister.

Comedian and author W. Kamau Bell will attend the festival, and hes on a couple of panels, including one with New Orleans native Michael Lewis, author of numerous books including The Blind Side, The Big Short and more. Bell is contributing a chapter to a project Lewis is editing, Who Is Government? Other contributors on the panel include Sarah Vowell and David Shipley, who created the concept for the book. The panel is at 2:30 p.m. Friday in Dixon Hall.

There are many sessions on cultural topics. Chef Nini Nguyen, who released a Vietnamese food cookbook last year, will sit on a panel with Nina Compton, who is releasing her cookbook, Kweyol / Creole.

A panel on humor includes Laura Moser of The Onion, Emma Allen, cartoon editor of The New Yorker, and Christopher Monks of McSweeneys Internet Tendency at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Goldring/Woldenberg Business Complex. Local novelists include Sarah Broom, Nathaniel Rich and Katy Simpson Smith.

There also is music at the festival, and Deacon John performs at the closing event at 4:45 p.m. Saturday at the tent on the Berger Lawn.

The festival is free. There is a bookshop in the festival tent, and autograph sessions are scheduled there. Many authors sign books immediately following their speaking sessions.

Visit bookfest.tulane.edu for information.
Hey Blake,

A NOLA.com story about Casamentos mentioned another restaurant the family operated at one time on Broadway Street. It even had an oyster bar like the original. Where and when was it in business?

Dear reader,

Casamentos has been a landmark near Napoleon Avenue and Magazine Street since 1919. Known as a legendary oyster bar and fried seafood restaurant, it was founded by Joseph Casamento, an immigrant from the Italian island of Ustica.

About 1927, his brother Anthony opened a second Casamentos at Broadway and Freret. Advertised as a restaurant, delicatessen, bar and package liquor store, it was a favorite among students at nearby Loyola and Tulane universities.

It has gained a reputation for excellent cuisine, featuring such specialties as sea foods in season, including delicious oysters at the bar fish and other like dishes, all of which are properly prepared and served at reasonable prices, explained an October 1934 Times-Picayune profile. It also mentioned Italian specialties, including spaghetti dishes with excellent gravy, to be as good as can be had in New Orleans.

Family members describe the Broadway restaurant as a mirror image of the Magazine Street location, famous for its tiled walls and floors, which the 1934 article mentions: The public is always welcomed to visit Casamentos tiled kitchen, one of the most sanitary and beautiful kitchens.

Anthony Casamento died in 1955. His son Vincent, who took over the operation, died in 1967. The restaurant at 7130 Freret closed about the same time, with newspaper ads showing other bars and restaurants there, including the Hob Nob Inn, Hokus Pokus, Tin Lizzies and Orient Express.

Casamentos remains a fixture on Magazine Street, now run by third generation family member C.J. Gerdes and his wife Linda.
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, March 23. Tajikistan's Ministry of Agriculture has disclosed progress in the spring fieldwork and crop planting in the country's agricultural farms and cooperatives, Trend reports.

According to the latest data, as of March 14, 2025, a cumulative area of 577,314 hectares has undergone cultivation, with spring planting executed across 59,371 hectares.

Specifically, cereals were sown on 20,622 hectares, wheat on 13,522 hectares, and barley on 6,793 hectares. Potatoes were planted on 7,701.3 hectares, and other vegetables were sown on 18,547 hectares, including onions on 12,553 hectares, carrots on 2,351 hectares, cabbage on 1,083 hectares, and other vegetables on 2,159 hectares. Additionally, 4,787 hectares were planted with fodder crops.

As of the reporting date, a total of 204 hectares of new orchards and vineyards have been established in the country, of which 186 are orchards and 18 are vineyards. The restoration of old orchards and vineyards covered 1,755 hectares.

In January 2025, the agricultural output in Tajikistan surpassed 1.18 billion somoni ($108 million), reflecting a growth trajectory of roughly 6 percent relative to the corresponding timeframe in 2024. Crop output experienced a significant uptick, surging beyond the 30 percent threshold, whereas livestock commodities exhibited a modest escalation in the range of 5 to 6 percent.
People of all ages are invited to do their bit to keep Torridge tidy as part of the Great British Spring Clean, which runs over the next two weeks.

Northam Burrows Rangers and Plastic Free Torridge are encouraging the community to join them for a beach and village litter pick event at Westward Ho! on Saturday, March 29 between 10.30 am and 12.30pm.

Participants will be provided with equipment for the clean-up by the Rangers and will set off from the Westward Ho! slipway. The event will provide a great opportunity for people to work together to collect litter from the beach, whilst also enjoying the beautiful surroundings.

The Great British Spring Clean campaign kicked off yesterday (March 21) and runs until April 6. The annual initiative invites people across the country to join organised clean ups and litter picks or to do their bit in their own local area, street, park, school or business.

Councillor Lyndon Piper, lead member for leisure at Torridge District Council, said: I hope people will join us for the Beach Clean at Westward Ho! on March 29, but maybe also think about organising their own grand or small-scale clean-up in a town, village, or favourite spot closer to home.

Litter-picking is a simple action that anyone can to make an immediate and visible to the environment where we live, work and play  so this year, lets all try and do our bit.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 22. Uzbekistan is currently developing a comprehensive national space program through 2035, aimed at advancing the countrys space industry, Director of Uzbekistan's National Space Agency (Uzspace) Shukhrat Kadirov told Trend.

"The program is built on a thorough analysis of global trends in the space sector and takes into account Uzbekistan's existing scientific and technological potential. The development of the space strategy is currently in progress, with three main vectors identified," he said.

According to him, the first strategic vector focuses on the development of human capital and the creation of a manufacturing base.

"We are planning substantial investments in the training of highly skilled specialists, the creation of educational programs in partnership with leading global space centers, as well as the development of modern manufacturing capacities for the design and production of space technologies," the director explained.

He noted that the second vector emphasizes the development of space infrastructure. This includes the terrestrial segment - control centers, data reception and processing systems, and testing complexes - as well as the space segment, which involves the creation of a satellite constellation for various purposes.

"The third vector pertains to participation in international programs for the exploration of the Moon and Mars. We have adopted a smart specialization strategy. Instead of attempting to compete in areas that are already well-established, we are identifying unique niches where we can offer innovative solutions at optimal costs. This will allow Uzbekistan to make a significant contribution to the development of global space exploration," Shukhrat Kadirov concluded.

The official added that once the program is finalized, the strategy will be submitted for approval by relevant ministries and the Government of Uzbekistan.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 22. Iran intends to diversify the North-South International Transport Corridor (NSITC) in collaboration with Azerbaijan, Head of the Iran-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Friendship Group Sodeif Badri told Trend.

According to Badri, the 250-kilometer-long Ardabil-Parsabad railway line in Irans northwest could play a significant role in boosting trade, transit, and cargo transportation between Azerbaijan and Iran. The railway line has the potential to be connected to the Imam Khomeini Port in the southwestern Khuzestan Province.

Badri noted that a map has already been prepared for the construction of the Ardabil-Parsabad railway line, and discussions have taken place with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian regarding the project. The line is currently a priority for the Iranian government.

The Iranian MP further explained that the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, along with the Planning and Budget Organization of Iran, has held talks with several local and foreign companies regarding the financing of the railways construction. Preliminary calculations indicate that the construction of the railway will require around 200 trillion rials (around $348 million).

To note, an intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and India on September 12, 2000, laid the foundation for the North-South Transport Corridor. In general, several countries have ratified the said agreement. (Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Bulgaria, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kyrgyzstan, Sultanate of Oman, Russian Federation, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Turkiye, Ukraine). The purpose of creating the corridor is to reduce the time of delivery of goods coming from India to Russia, as well as to Northern and Western Europe (the delivery time on the current route is more than 6 weeks; it is expected to be three weeks via "North-South").

The Qazvin-Rasht railroad (175 km) was put into operation on March 6, 2019, to connect Azerbaijan's railroads with Iran's railway network within the corridor. The Rasht-Astara railroad is to be built on Iranian territory.

The North-South Corridor has three directions within Iran. The eastern direction is Turkmenistan and Central Asian countries; the middle direction is Russia and other countries across the Caspian Sea; and the western direction is Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and Eastern European countries.

On May 17, 2023, an agreement was signed between Russia and Iran on the construction of the Rasht-Astara railroad in Gilan province in northern Iran. Nine stations will be built on the Resht-Astara railroad line, which is about 163 kilometers long. With the completion of this railroad, the North-South international corridor will be improved and Iran's railroad network will be integrated with the Caucasus countries, Russia, and Northern European countries. According to the agreement, the Russian side is expected to spend 1.6 billion euros for the construction of this railroad. This railroad will be built and completed within 48 months.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Deportations Havent Surged Under Trump. But Heres How Theyve Changed. Leer en espanol

In the first two months of President Trumps immigration crackdown, the administration has taken new and unusual measures to conduct deportations. It has enlisted military planes, pressured other countries to retrieve their citizens, sent people to third countries far from their homes, and invoked a wartime law to remove migrants without due process.

Deportation flights since Trump took office Military flight Other flight Dominican Republic Haiti Honduras 54 flights Mexico 31 flights Cuba Jamaica Nicaragua Guatemala 60 flights Venezuela Colombia El Salvador 25 flights Ecuador Brazil Peru Costa Rica Panama Georgia Albania Mauritania Jordan Nepal Pakistan Egypt Benin Mali Chad India 5 flights Nigeria Cameroon Liberia Kenya Burkina Faso Angola Togo Guinea Dominican Republic Albania Georgia Mexico 31 flights Mauritania Egypt Nepal Haiti Pakistan Jordan Honduras 54 flights Cuba Benin Jamaica Mali Chad Nicaragua India 5 flights Guinea Venezuela Nigeria Colombia Liberia Guatemala 60 flights Cameroon Kenya Ecuador Burkina Faso Brazil Angola Togo El Salvador 25 flights Peru Costa Rica Panama Dominican Republic Albania Georgia Mexico 31 flights Mauritania Egypt Nepal Haiti Pakistan Jordan Honduras 54 flights Cuba Benin Jamaica Mali Chad Nicaragua India 5 flights Guinea Venezuela Nigeria Colombia Liberia Guatemala 60 flights Cameroon Kenya Ecuador Burkina Faso Brazil Angola Togo El Salvador 25 flights Peru Costa Rica Panama Notes: Deportations on commercial airline flights are not shown. Data is through March 19.

But even as immigration officials have escalated efforts to remove people from the United States, they continue to fall short of the mass deportations Mr. Trump vowed to carry out. Overall, the number of flights and their destinations look largely similar to those under President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

There have been 258 deportation flights since Mr. Trump took office, according to a New York Times review of an independent database, about the level in the final months of the Biden administration. Less typical: At least 31 flights were on military planes, which are much more expensive to operate than the chartered jets U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses.

Deportation flights per month The pace of deportation flights largely held steady from November to March. Military flights All other flights BIDEN TRUMP 150 flights Data through March 19 100 50 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 BIDEN TRUMP 150 flights Data through March 19 100 50 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Notes: Chart shows the total number of deportation stops. Each deportation flight departing the U.S. may stop to deport people in multiple countries.

Flights are not a perfect measure of deportations. Many immigrants are deported by land to Mexico, and others on regular commercial airline travel. But because the federal government has not released data on whom it is deporting, tracking deportation flights offers a way to assess which people and countries are affected by Mr. Trumps immigration crackdown.

The flight data was collected by Tom Cartwright, an immigrant rights advocate, and was verified by The New York Times. Mr. Cartwright has been using public information to monitor deportation flights for the past five years.

In response to questions about the number of flights, a Homeland Security Department official provided a statement saying that ICE was working to arrest and deport people and that the agency expected the number of deportations to rise.

Typically, when people are deported, they are sent back to their country of origin. The Trump administration has been pushing for more third countries to accept deportees who are originally from elsewhere. In February, Costa Rica accepted a military flight carrying people from Central Asia and India, and Panama accepted people from Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Destinations of deportation flights Trump Jan. 20March 19, 2025 Biden Nov. 18, 2024Jan. 19, 2025 Guatemala 60 flights 65 flights Honduras 55 47 Mexico 31 42 El Salvador 25 15 Ecuador 16 17 Colombia 16 20 Peru 6 3 India 5 0 Dominican Republic 5 7 Nicaragua 4 4 Brazil 4 4 Venezuela 3 0 Panama 3 0 Jamaica 2 2 Haiti 2 2 Cuba 2 2 Costa Rica 2 0 China 0 2 Trump Jan. 20March 19 Biden Nov. 18Jan. 19 Guatemala 60 flights 65 flights Honduras 55 47 Mexico 42 31 El Salvador 25 15 Ecuador 17 16 Colombia 20 16 Peru 6 3 India 5 0 Dominican Republic 5 7 Nicaragua 4 4 Brazil 4 4 Venezuela 0 3 Panama 3 0 Jamaica 2 2 Haiti 2 2 Cuba 2 2 Costa Rica 2 0 China 2 0 Note: Only countries that received at least two deportation flights under either administration over the relevant periods are shown. The periods span the same number of non-holiday weekdays.

Under the terms of an agreement with the United States, Mexico has for years accepted deportees from select countries in Central America. But new agreements with other countries could lead to more removals of immigrants whose countries have declined to accept them.

The administration has tried other novel ways to remove immigrants and pressure their home countries into accepting them. It has flown hundreds of detainees, many of them Venezuelan, to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, before sending them on to Honduras or in many cases returning them to detention in the United States.

On March 15, the administration said it was using the Alien Enemies Act to justify flying hundreds of Venezuelans accused of being gang members to El Salvador. That night, a federal judge ordered the flights to stop.

Below is a timeline of these unusual measures:

Despite these efforts, immigration officials have struggled to meet Mr. Trumps enforcement goals. At least 27,000 people were deported in the six weeks after he took office, the latest federal data shows, a pace slower than under Mr. Biden. After an early surge in arrests, more people are sitting in immigrant detention facilities, in part because deportations have not kept up.

Another reason deportations are lower may be that fewer people are trying to cross the southern border. In February, fewer than 50 people detained by Customs and Border Protection were put directly onto deportation flights to Mexico and Central America. Thats compared with more than 2,000 in each of October, November and December.

Mr. Cartwright said he had noticed more flights making multiple stops, especially those traveling to Central America. This suggested that immigration officials were finding it harder to group enough people from the same country together to fill each flight, he said, and that fewer people were being transported overall.
A Cork man stole a number of items from a supermarket in Tullamore using a suitcase, last week's sitting of Tullamore District Court was told.

Michael Mullane, with an address at Lower Glanmire Road, Cork, was charged with stealing two toothbrushes, two mobile phones, and food items worth 632.91, on August 29 last from Tesco, Cloncollig.

Mullane, 32, pleaded guilty to the offence. Sergeant Brendan Kearns told the court that Mullane brought a suitcase into the supermarket and filled it with a number of items, none of which were recovered. The sergeant said the defendant had two previous convictions, for minor road offences.

The defending solicitor Patrick Martin pointed out that his client's relationship had broken down at the time and he hadn't been able to see his children. He also had addiction issues when the crime happened. His addiction issues have now been addressed.

READ NEXT: You won't believe the paranormal activity found in a particular Offaly castle...

Judge Andrew Cody asked the solicitor what his client had been doing in Tullamore on the 29th of August. Mr Martin said he was visiting a relative.

What did he need two electric toothbrushes for? asked the Judge. How many sets of teeth does he have? And if he wasn't able to see his children at the time why did he need to steal baby food?

Mr Martin said his client was now unemployed but had been a self-employed tree surgeon.

His business collapsed following his relationship break-up.

The judge remanded him on continuing bail to May 7 next and asked that Tesco be compensated in full by that date.

READ NEXT: Offaly detective says driving licence was 'worst fake' he had ever seen
Tullamore College is delighted to celebrate the success of past pupil Sinead ODwyer, who has been named a semi-finalist for the LVMH Prize 2025one of the most prestigious awards in global fashion.

Sinead, now a London-based designer, founded her eponymous womenswear brand in 2021. Her work is defined by a striking balance between soft sensuality and imposing toughness, creating deeply personal and emotionally driven narratives.

With a strong commitment to diversity and inclusivity, Sinead designs luxury garments with craftsmanship, innovation, and sustainability central to each creation.

The LVMH Prize, established in 2013, celebrates outstanding creativity and emerging talent in fashion.

As a semi-finalist, Sinead will present her collection during Paris Fashion Week, where industry experts will select the finalists.

Should she progress, she will be in contention for a 300,000 grant and a year-long mentorship from the luxury conglomerate LVMH, which owns brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Givenchy - an opportunity that could significantly elevate her career.

This is a remarkable achievement, and we are incredibly proud of Sineads journey from Tullamore College to the international fashion stage.
Two men are in hospital with serious injuries after multiple violent incidents, including a shooting, in Tullamore on Friday night, March 21.

At approximately 9:50pm, Gardai were alerted to a public disturbance at Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore. A short time later, Gardai with assistance from the Divisional Armed Support Unit responded to a report of shots fired at a residence in Kilcruttin.

Two men, aged in their 30s and 40s, were conveyed from the scene and have since been transferred to St. Jamess Hospital, Dublin for treatment of serious injuries, not believed to be life-threatening at this time. No other injuries were reported.

The scene is currently preserved for examination by the Divisional Scenes of Crime Unit.

No arrests have been made at this time.

READ NEXT: Paranormal activity spotted at Offaly castle during investigation

Investigating Gardai are appealing to any person who may have information in relation to these incidents to contact them.

Any road users who were in the Midlands Regional Hospital and Kilcruttin areas of Tullamore between 9:30pm and 10:30pm and who may have camera footage (including dash-cam footage) are asked to make this available to Gardai.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Tullamore Garda Station on 057 932 7600, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
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BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 22. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has expressed concern over the launch of four rockets from Lebanon into Israel, prompting retaliatory strikes, mission spokesman Andrea Tenenti said in a statement, Trend reports.

"UNIFIL remains alarmed by the possible escalation of violence following the detection of four projectiles launched from Lebanon into Israel in the vicinity of Metula and triggering immediate retaliation by the IDF," he noted.

"We strongly urge all parties to avoid jeopardizing the progress made, especially when civilian lives and the fragile stability observed in recent months are at risk," Tenenti added.
Following on the regulatory changes introduced by the Colombian government, Stake Colombia has announced that it will take over the 19% tax burden so that players are credited full amounts on their deposits.

Starting with February 19, Stake Colombia will be covering the 19% VAT on all cash deposits, taking the tax burden off the players and absorbing the loss. The betting site will cover the difference by crediting money to users' accounts after a successful deposit.

The money will be credited back to players via the special Cashback IVA promotion, which awards a bonus that equals the 19% VAT amount. So, for example, a customer depositing 100,000 Colombian pesos, the amount of 15,999 is withheld as per the government regulation. However, Stake will then credit the player's account with the cash bonus for that same amount so they can proceed to use the entirety of their deposit.

Unwavering Commitment to Players

The latest move by Stake Colombia demonstrates the operator's strong commitment to providing high levels of user satisfaction. Although the Colombian government put the VAT obligation on the player with its Decree 0175, the site will willingly take over the financial burden, ensuring the bettors' experience remains unchanged.

Commenting on the decisions, Diana Otalora, the company's General Country Manager in LatAm, said the following:

At Stake Colombia, our users are our top priority, and that's why we have to adapt to the government's measure regarding the 19% tax and comply with the required deadlines. Therefore, we are adopting internal measures so that our customers can continue playing without being affected by this situation.

Major Change Affecting iGaming in the Country

Stake Colombia is just one of many gaming operators that had to comply with the latest legislation. Colombia's Decree 0175 is a temporary measure that was issued on February 14 and came into effect a week later, adding 19% VAT to all gambling deposits. The measure, which should last until December 2025, aims to raise $3 billion and use these funds to help deal with the humanitarian crisis in the Catatumbo region.

Tens of thousands of people had to leave Catatumbo after a wave of violence that escalated in January of this year. Many more remain trapped inside their homes, requiring immediate assistance.

Seeking to address the crisis, the Colombian government has introduced new regulations, one of which is the 19% VAT on all gambling site deposits. While the tax is deducted directly from players' funds, sites can take over the financial burden, and that's exactly what Stake Colombia is doing. With this decision, the operator remains compliant with relevant laws while ensuring their users remain unaffected.

This is good news for all bettors in the country and we can only hope that other operators will follow suit.
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Catapulting funding crisis into opportunity by getting on track to end TB and tobacco use

BOBBY RAMAKANT - CNS



End TB, end tobacco and deliver on all SDGs - that is a smart sustainable investment

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The funding crises forced upon by the US government on several low- and middle-income countries is an opportunity in disguise to improve programme efficiency and outcome and invest optimally in health and development responses from domestic coffers.

Evidence shows that tobacco alone costs an economic loss of US$ 1.4 trillion every year. One can imagine the huge economic benefit if governments accelerate progress towards ending tobacco, and reducing burden of tobacco-caused diseases and untimely deaths, and averting this mountainous economic loss to global economy.

All governments can generate more domestic resources by following the science. "One of the scientific evidence-based tobacco control measures is to raise tobacco taxes. Taxation is one of the most effective ways of reducing tobacco use. Higher tobacco taxes raise tobacco prices, leading to reductions in tobacco consumption. Increasing the price of tobacco reduces tobacco use by discouraging initiation among potential users, encouraging current users to quit and helping to prevent relapse in those who have stopped," said Dr Tara Singh Bam, Asia Pacific Director (Tobacco Control), Vital Strategies, and honorary Board Director of Asia Pacific Cities Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT).

Dr Bam was delivering a public health guest lecture in the Faculty of Medicine, Udayana University, Indonesia, on the topic: "Integrative approaches to end the double burden of tuberculosis and tobacco Use." It was organised by Udayana University and its Udayana CENTRAL (Centre for NCDs, Tobacco Control and Lung Health). This lecture was chaired by Dr Ketut Suarjana, Head of Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Udayana University, Indonesia.

Follow the science and raise tobacco taxes

Raising tobacco taxes is one of the six cost-effective and high impact measures to reduce demand for tobacco recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of its MPOWER package since 2008 onwards. All these six measures are in line with the legally binding global tobacco treaty (formally called the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control or WHO FCTC) which is ratified by 182 countries and the European Union. "Indonesia should also ratify it as it is the only country in Asia Pacific which has not done so," said Dr Bam.

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Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator

Ekrem Imamoglu, the popular two-term Mayor of Istanbul, was arrested at his home today on charges of terrorism and corruption.

The former businessman turned politician and major opposition figure has beaten President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) at the opinion polls, suggesting the Mayor could be the next president.

Imamoglu was to be nominated by the Republican People's Party (CHP) on Sunday as their presidential candidate in the 2028 race. Critics of Erdogan had been hoping for an early election. CHP chairman Ozgur Ozel told the media the meeting would go ahead as planned, and added that Imamoglu's detention was an attempted coup against our next president.

Erdogan has led Turkey as prime minister or president for more than 20 years and is now the longest-serving leader in the Turkish republic's history, and has expressed his desire to win in 2028.

The police arrived at Imamoglu's home before dawn, and the arrest was made at 7:30. In a voice message shared by his office, Imamoglu said: "Hundreds of police are at my door. This immoral and tyrannical approach will undoubtedly be overturned by the will and resilience of our people."

Istanbul Prosecutor's Office has accused Imamoglu of being the leader of a criminal organization, being a member of a criminal organization, extortion, bribery, aggravated fraud, the unlawful obtaining of personal data, tender-rigging crimes, the crime of aiding a terrorist organization.

In January, Imamoglu was questioned in an Istanbul court as part of an open investigation of his criticism of the city's public prosecutor. Upon leaving, Imamoglu said he felt harassed.

In response to his arrest today, the Istanbul Governor's Office closed several roads around Istanbul and banned demonstrations for four days to prevent protests. The internet-access advocacy group netblocks.org reported today that access was restricted in Turkey to popular social media platforms, including X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Telegram, and Signal.

Imamogul wrote on his official X account today, "The will of the people cannot be silenced through intimidation or unlawful acts. I stand resolute, entrusting myself not only to the 16 million residents of Istanbul but to the 86 million citizens of Turkiye and all who uphold democracy and justice worldwide. I stand firm in my fight for the fundamental rights and freedoms."

106 other people were arrested in a government crackdown on opposition and dissent. The list of detainees also includes journalists, local politicians, businesspeople, and municipal administrators.

Critics say the crackdown follows significant losses by Erdogan's ruling AKP in local elections last year.

Yesterday, Istanbul University annulled Imamoglu's degree, which would prevent him from running for president, as a higher education degree is a prerequisite.

The University alleges his 1990 transfer from a Turkish Cypriot University to the Faculty of Business Administration at Istanbul University was irregular.

"In 1990, I followed the transfer procedure and applied (for transfer to Istanbul University," the mayor said in his statement to prosecutors on March 5.

Imamoglu said the University's actions were "unlawful" and promised to fight the decision in court. University administrators are bound by regulations on who can be admitted to study based on past educational credentials and could not have enrolled Imamoglu unless his transfer was legally binding.

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To learn more about Oregon Health Plan benefits when traveling outside of Oregon, contact your coordinated care organization. Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Questions are answered by experts at the Oregon Health Authority, other state agencies or community partners. Questions and answers are republished by permission.

Q: I am an Oregon Health Plan (OHP/Medicaid) recipient with an opportunity to take a trip to Canada in April and another to Illinois later this year. Can you tell me how to find out how my health care coverage changes while Im traveling?  Cat, Salem

A: When an OHP member travels to other states within the United States, OHP will cover reasonable emergency care only; this does not include visits to urgent care facilities. We recommend planning ahead for your trip to Illinois so you know where the nearest emergency care facilities are located there. OHP will not cover any medical care received in Canada or any other country. To learn more about OHP benefits when traveling outside of Oregon, contact your coordinated care organization (CCO). If you dont know your CCO or are not enrolled in a CCO, contact OHP Client Services at 800-273-0557.

Q: I know many people who use WIC, and they are concerned about the news that the Women, Infants & Children program would be getting funding pulled. Is that something that could happen? Where does WIC money actually come from?  Olivia, McMinnville

A: The Oregon WIC program is federally funded through the United States Department of Agriculture. At this time, there are no immediate concerns that WIC will not have the funds available to continue to provide services to Oregonians. Historically, the WIC program has had strong widespread support.

You can check OHAs federal response page to stay informed of any important announcements related to federal changes.

If you have questions about health topics for the Oregon Health Authority, submit your question here. Although the agency is unable to answer every question, it will try to address those of interest to a broad audience. Please understand that OHA is unable to provide specific medical advice for personal medical conditions.
A Washington state trooper who previously served as the mayor of Woodland is being investigated for theft and destroying public records while in office, The Columbian newspaper reported Thursday.

A Washington state trooper who previously served as the mayor of Woodland is being investigated for theft and destroying public records while in office, The Columbian newspaper reported.

Will Finn, a public information officer for Washington State Patrol in Clark, Skamania, Klickitat, Cowlitz and Lewis counties, has been on paid administrative leave since March 11, according to a spokesperson for the state law enforcement agency.

Chris Loftis, the spokesperson, called the move prudent and necessary.

The allegations dont concern Finns work with the state patrol. Instead, according to The Columbian, he has been investigated for a theft allegation in connection with a vacation rental business and, separately, for deleting data from a Woodland-issued cellphone.

A charging decision is pending, the Cowlitz County Prosecuting Attorneys Office said Friday.

Finn, who was mayor of Woodland from 2016 to 2023, declined to comment to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Woodland, home to about 6,500 people, is 20 miles north of Vancouver.

 Beth Slovic is an editor on the public safety and breaking news team. Reach her at 503-221-8551 or bslovic@oregonian.com.

Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today to OregonLive.com/subscribe.
A 59-year-old man is accused in federal court of taking a 9-year-old girl and her younger sister from Alaska to Oregon and sexually assaulting the older girl in hotels and a Pendleton home he later shared with her mother, according to court records.

Federal authorities filed the charges after the Umatilla County district attorney bungled the prosecution of Steven Lee Fox in state court, according to Rachel L. Rothberg, a prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justices child exploitation section.
Edel Aragon-Cruz, 23, was sentenced to 20 years in state prison during a hearing Fri., March 21, 2025. Zane Sparling/The Oregonian

A brief but disastrous encounter between two strangers at the Providence Park light-rail station left one man dead on Christmas Eve 2023 and the other sentenced to 20 years in state prison Friday.

With a history of altercations on the MAX system and a recent schizophrenia diagnosis, Edel Aragon-Cruz was waiting for the westbound train about 6:30 p.m. that Dec. 24 when 23-year-old Juan Orellana-Gavarrete approached and asked for a puff of his vape pen, according to court documents.

Aragon-Cruz hotly refused, and Orellana-Gavarrete began calling him names, according to an eyewitness who later spoke with police.

Orellana-Gavarrete grabbed the shirtfront of a female friend standing with Aragon-Cruz, the documents say, and Aragon-Cruz smacked him.

As the train doors opened, Aragon-Cruz shouted Lets go then and chased him into the car, where he stabbed Orellana-Gavarrete in the back of the neck.

Aragon-Cruz fled the scene when the train stopped at Goose Hollow but was arrested Dec. 26 after police spotted him inside the New Avenues for Youth building on Southwest Ninth Avenue.

Juan Francisco Orellana-Gavarrete is shown here. Family photo

At sentencing, prosecutor Kristen Kyle-Castelli described Orellana-Gavarrete as a very friendly kid who had helped out others during his brief life.

Aragon-Cruz, now 23, rose and told Multnomah County Circuit Judge Christopher Marshall he wanted to apologize.

Look at me in the eyes! shouted Orellana-Gavarretes brother, who sat weeping in the gallery. I want to see if its true what hes saying.

Marshall instructed Aragon-Cruz to face away from the gallery so as not to further inflame emotions.

It should have been me, not his brother, Aragon-Cruz said quietly. To this day, I still regret it.

The judge accepted Aragon-Cruzs guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter under terms of a deal with prosecutors. The 20-year punishment includes credit for time served.

Zane Sparling covers breaking news and courts for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at 503-319-7083, zsparling@oregonian.com or @pdxzane.

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe.
A sign pointing to the ballot drop box at the Multnomah County Voting Center Express in Gresham, Oregon on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022. Sean Meagher/The Oregonian

Oregon election officials say they are worried that recent cuts to federal cybersecurity programs may leave the states election systems more vulnerable to attack.

For years, local election officials have relied on federal programs to monitor threats, assess election security infrastructure and coordinate response plans. Federal officials hold regular security briefings with state and local officials, according to Tess Seger, spokesperson for the Oregon secretary of state.

But those safeguards are now in jeopardy after the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency last week cut funding for a program that monitors cybersecurity threats across states and helps local officials respond.

Without that support, Oregons county clerks and the Secretary of States Office, which oversees state elections, say theyll be left with fewer resources to detect and respond to potential attacks.

We will feel the effects of it, said Rochelle Long, Klamath County Clerk and president of the Oregon Association of County Clerks. But we dont know the full effects of it yet or how thats all going to play out.

The cuts to local programs are the latest effort by President Donald Trump to reduce federal involvement in election security. His administration has also slashed funding for programs at the federal cybersecurity agency and other agencies that work on election security and investigate foreign interference in U.S. elections, several news outlets have reported.

Although county clerks have some resources to monitor potential threats, having an agency that operates in multiple states can give them appropriate time to prepare for threats that have been identified in other states before receiving them, officials say.

Our practices are more sound and more safe because of those resources that have been provided over the last few years, said Deschutes County Clerk Steve Dennison. The responsibility lies on the local elections offices, but having those resources at a higher level has always been helpful.

Also, the federal agency has helped officials from different agencies and states coordinate to respond to election threats. For example, the agency played a critical role in coordinating federal partners in October when an individual set fire to multiple ballot boxes in Portland and Vancouver, Washington, Seger said.

Without that assistance, state and local officials could face additional hurdles in future incidents.

Its unclear if some counties will be more susceptible to cyber threats than others without the federal support. Although large counties typically receive more cyber threats than smaller counties, they also have significantly more employees and resources to respond, according to Tim Scott, Multnomah Countys elections director.

Its also unclear what role the federal government will play in protecting local elections from cyberattacks moving forward. Oregon officials were planning a simulated exercise in June designed to test Oregons election security protocols with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, but it has now been canceled, Seger said.

Well do everything we can to protect our elections, but theres no denying well have an uphill battle, Seger said in an email. Well have fewer resources to identify and respond to threats, and less information sharing among states. The absolute last thing we need is anything that inflames the chaos and uncertainty that already exists around elections.

Unlike in some other states, Oregons voting system is relatively insulated from cyber interference because every voter fills out a paper ballot, officials have said. And results of those ballots are tallied by specialized equipment that is not connected to the internet. Counties convey results to the state using secure internet connections, but corruption of or interference with those transmissions could be corrected using the secure underlying results.

But the voting process is just one aspect of election security, other parts of which could be susceptible to cyber threats. Other functions of elections offices, such as responding to online disinformation campaigns and protecting official websites from malware and other cyberattacks, could be more prone to those risks.

Election officials nationwide have raised concerns about these funding cuts. The National Association of Secretaries of State sent a letter on Feb. 21 to Kristi Noem, the U.S. secretary of homeland security, urging the government to continue supporting election security programs. Noem replied on March 7, writing that her agency is undertaking an internal review of all election security-related funding, products, services, and positions.

She also noted that some federal cybersecurity resources are still available to local officials, although none of those programs focus exclusively on election security.

In Oregon, Seger said the Secretary of States Office is exploring any and all options to find alternative funding.

These reckless cuts make the United States vulnerable, Seger said. Well do everything we can in Oregon to make up for this mess, but there are some gaps that wont get closed. The Trump administration needs to fulfill its responsibility to protect this country.

 Carlos Fuentes covers state politics and government. Reach him at 503-221-5386 or cfuentes@oregonian.com.

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Attorneys general from all 50 states have joined a legal fight to protect college education benefits for veterans. Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com

In an extremely rare development, all 50 states attorneys general have banded together in a legal quest: In this case for two military veterans to get full GI education bill benefits.

In both of Donald Trumps two terms as president, Democratic AGs have banded together to sue and sue and sue, often with some success, to block Republican initiatives that Democrats despise.

Republican attorneys general sometimes did the same during the Obama and Biden administrations.

But this week, all 50 top state lawyers, both Democrats and Republicans, joined together to tell the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims they think the two would-be college students were unlawfully denied GI benefits.

Its rare, but when something as important as this comes up, its no surprise that all 50 states have joined forces, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Our veterans deserve every benefit theyve earned. The GI Bill is a promise we made, and standing together in this amicus brief sends a strong message: We will not let bureaucracy or red tape stand in the way of doing whats right for those whove served. This is about honoring veterans, and all 50 states are saying enough is enough.

U.S. Army veteran Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yoon and U.S. Air Force veteran Colonel Toby Doran were denied crucial education benefits to which they are clearly entitled, Rayfield said.

The primary issue is whether the pair can qualify for a full four years of benefits, since they served more than one tour of duty in the U.S. armed forces, rather than just three years worth of college aid.

The amicus brief , led by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, was filed Wednesday.

An August 2023 bipartisan coalition urged the U.S. Supreme Court to protect veterans rights by ruling in favor of Virginian James Rudisills claim for similar benefits.

In April 2024, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Rudisill, affirming that veterans who qualify under both the Montgomery and Post-9/11 GI bills are entitled to a full 48 months of education benefits.

The attorneys general say since the Rudisill ruling, the VA has taken a restrictive interpretation of the GI bills that contradicts the Supreme Courts ruling.

The latest legal challenge involves Yoon, an Army veteran, and Doran, an Air Force vet. The attorneys general say Yoon and Doran were denied crucial education benefits to which they are entitled.

For generations, our service members have defended the freedoms we hold dear, and in return, our nation made them a promise  education benefits to help them and their families build a successful civilian life," Miyares said. The VAs refusal to honor that promise defies the law and dishonors their service.

The Montgomery GI Bill was passed in 1984, building on the original GI bill passed in 1944 to assist returning World War II veterans in adjusting to civilian life. The Post 9/11 GI Bill was enacted in 2008 to provide educational benefits to service members who served after Sept. 11, 2001.

-- Sarah Roderick-Fitch of The Center Square contributed to this report. The Center Square is a nonprofit news outlet that focuses on state and local government with a taxpayer sensibility.

 Betsy Hammond oversees coverage of state politics and government as well as education, Portland City Hall, Multnomah County and homelessness. Reach her at betsyhammond@oregonian.com
The National Weather Service issued a beach hazards statement at 3:07 a.m. on Saturday valid from Monday 5 p.m. until Tuesday noon for South Central Oregon Coast and Curry County Coast.

"A moderate risk of sneaker waves," can be anticipated according to the weather service. "The risk will be highest on west facing beaches, especially early Tuesday morning. Though a comparatively lesser risk, awareness is also warranted for this afternoon and evening with a slight risk of sneaker waves."

"Sneaker waves can run up significantly farther on beaches than normal, including over rocks and jetties. These waves can suddenly knock people off of their feet and quickly pull them into the cold ocean waters, resulting in serious injury or death. Waves may also lift driftwood logs, trapping anyone caught underneath," explains the weather service. "Avoid climbing on rocks and jetties. Stay away from the ocean and remain out of the water to avoid hazardous conditions."

Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.
Ada Limon, 48, is unstoppable. In 2022, the Sonoma-born woman was named the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States. Shes the first person of Latin American origin to hold the position.

Back in 2023, Limon won a MacArthur Fellowship  known as the Genius Grant  which is worth $800,000, distributed over five years. And, in 2024, she was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 12 most influential women in the United States.

In October of that same year, one of her poems  In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa  was engraved in NASAs Europa Clipper spacecraft, which is expected to orbit Jupiter in 2030. Her poem will be the first to reach space  quite a milestone.

Limon has published six books of poetry and has won the most prestigious awards in the genre. She won the Book Critics Circle Award for The Carrying  her most intimate collection, which explores infertility  and was a finalist for others, including the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award and the Griffin Poetry Prize. Shes also a widely-recognized environmental activist.

This coming September, she will publish a book that compiles the poems shes published over the past 25 years, along with some new ones. This feels like a culmination of her career as a poet, as well as the perfect ending to a phenomenal year.

Question. What power does poetry have in todays world?

Answer. Its interesting because, on the one hand, my work is about expanding the audience for poetry, but, at the same time, Ive traveled to different communities across the country and around the world, and Ive witnessed the poetry thats already being written and celebrated. People are speaking, singing and writing poetry regularly; theyre curious and interested in creating something transformative. This has filled me with hope.

Q. Your work frequently explores the intersection of poetry and nature. Tell us about You Are Here (2024), your project as poet laureate. How did the idea of creating poetry installations in seven national parks come about?

A. I thought about what poetry could do to connect us with the world. Our problem is that we continue to see nature as something thats separate from us. I wanted to reconnect the human soul with the planet and the result was You Are Here. These installations are now permanently installed in seven national parks. They consist of large picnic tables, each with a metal surface engraved with a poem. They are accompanied by a prompt: What would you write in response to the landscape around you? The response has been incredible. In some places, we gathered big crowds, around 400 or 500 people!

Q. Writing the first poem in human history to be launched into space is a major feat, and also a responsibility. What was the process like?

A. It was very, very difficult. I think I had 19 drafts, and it took me a month to finish it. It took me a long time, until I understood that it didnt have to be about space or Europa, but about our planet. I had to focus on the gifts and wonders of this Earth and of humanity, something thats difficult when humanity is at its worst. Its hard to celebrate it.

Q. Youve mentioned in the past that your parents  by being an interracial couple in the 1970s  created a world that didnt exist. Now, youre the first Latina poet laureate. Do you feel youre doing the same kind of thing?

A. I feel very rooted in California, and the huge Mexican population. Ive always felt that the place where I grew up  Sonoma  was part of Mexico. But also, through my own genetic history, I learned about my Purepecha heritage and my Indigenous Mexican heritage.

We tend to think of Indigenous identity as something of the past, but I believe that its very much alive. This has changed my perspective. One of the most beautiful experiences Ive had during these past three years while traveling as poet laureate is that many young Latinas have approached me. Some were only five-years-old, and they told me that, when they grow up, they also want to be the poet laureate. Although it was sometimes difficult for me to accept that my public role had turned me into a symbol of poetry rather than just a person, it is very moving to be able to inspire and impact someones life in that way.

Q. When you published A New National Anthem  a poem you wrote in 2016  you never imagined becoming poet laureate. When you were appointed, Dr. Carla Hayden  the librarian of Congress  asked you to publicly read that poem. Why?

A. That poem encapsulates the complexity of my feelings toward the United States. I have a deep love for the people and the land; we have some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. And yet, my relationship with the country itself is complicated. The way people reacted to that poem  and how they repeatedly asked me to read it  made me feel like Im not alone, which moves me deeply. Suddenly, I realized we were all experiencing deep, deep-rooted conflicts about this country we call home.

Q. Your poetry isnt political in the traditional sense of the word, but it explores identity, the environment, femininity, motherhood, a sense of belonging. How do you feel about this sociopolitical moment in the world?

A. Were living in a very strange time in human history. Its difficult to witness so many things, and not just the political division and mass atrocities of war, but also the fact that all of this is exponentially worse due to how rapidly our climate is changing. And we dont seem to be waking up to solutions. On a deeply human level, its hard not to feel discouraged, not just by the state of the world, but by our own reactions to it. Poetry offers us a place for grief. And, in recent months, thats what has brought me back to poetry: to grieve, to fully recognize where we are. To cry.

Q. One of the most contentious topics is the persecution of undocumented Latinos.

A. It amazes me that theres still so much hatred within our own society toward the people who built it. What makes poetry beautiful is the same thing that makes the United States beautiful: the different languages and ways of being in the world. Im deeply moved by the poetry being written all over the world to respond to whats happening right now, not just within Latin American communities, but in all communities outside of the dominant white Christian society.

I believe we should all respond in whatever way feels right to us. And, for me, the best way to do that is through creativity. Poetry is where I keep my hope: where I channel my anger, my fears and my actions. Right now, Im not only reading, but also writing a lot of poetry, looking for better ways to respond to this moment in history.

Q. Since 2014, youve been teaching in the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte, in North Carolina. What changes have you noticed in students writing?

A. The most obvious thing is that people are reading a lot more global literature. I remember that, in the past, when I asked my students what they were reading, I knew all the authors they mentioned. But that doesnt happen anymore; I often dont know who theyre talking about. I think its something that the internet and social media have fostered, bringing together many different types of poetry and different voices. There are many people writing, encouraged because theyve found a place to express themselves thats alternative to traditional publishing spaces. They can make their work visible without having to ask permission. I find that very beautiful.

Q. What do you think about the fact that there are AI tools capable of generating poems in Ada Limons style?

A. I hate AI-generated poetry... I hate it. It wastes so many resources. I hate the fact that, instead of using technology to save the planet, were using it to make art.

Q. You did your MFA at New York University when there were many iconic poets as professors. Sharon Olds  whom you refer to as your mommy  and Philip Levine, your daddy. How did they influence you?

A. I think about them all the time. Sharon Olds still makes me nervous I find everything she writes sublime. I respect her so much. Theyre both in me, in all my poems. When you write, youre writing alongside everyone whos ever written a poem; were writing the same poem of humanity. And, in that sense, the people who write after us will be working with us. We never write alone.

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed a lesbian mother's parental status, providing a legal standard in securing families that were formed through assisted reproduction.

In its landmark decision, the state high court said that a couple's decision to have a baby together is a profoundly intimate moment and cannot be considered just a transaction. The court's decision also established a legal standard that could secure parental relationships for kids who were born through assisted reproduction.

Court Affirms Lesbian Mother's Parental Status

The major ruling, issued by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, works to protect a lesbian mother's parental status. It also affirms the recognition of legal parentage for children born through this procedure.

The case in question is Glover v. Junior, which concerns a married, non-genetic, non-gestational mother, Nicole Junior. She had planned alongside her now-former spouse to conceive and raise a child through assisted reproduction.

In the state Supreme Court's Mar. 20, 2025, opinion, it affirmed a lower court ruling that Junior had established legal parentage of the couple's child. It also noted that their subsequent separation and divorce did not change that fact, according to Glad Law.

The Pennsylvania court also cited significant evidence in the record that the couple in the case planned to become parents together. These include jointly signed agreements related to assisted reproduction and Junior's full participation in the planning and process of family building.

In its recognition of the importance of a legal standard that provides a way to secure families formed through assisted reproduction, it said "a couple's decision to have a baby together is often profoundly intimate and may not be so easily reduced to a transaction."

Starting a Family

The couple in the case started their journey in parenthood with the help of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and anonymous donor sperm. When they chose the sperm donor, they decided on one that had similar looks and heritage to Junior and they split the costs of IVF treatment equally, Mombian reported.

The issue comes as many LGBTQ adults expect President Donald Trump's latest policies to negatively affect individuals within the community and their various rights. A survey revealed that 78$ of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer adults expect a rough road ahead.

Many individuals within the LGBTQ community see the Republican Party and the Supreme Court as unfriendly to transgender people. The majority of them also argue that the institutions and officials in question are unfriendly to people who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual, according to Pew Research.
The expression of pain unites humanity like no other. Whether its the English ouch, the Japanese ai, or the Spanish ay, this interjection has proven to be a linguistic bridge capable of connecting cultures. Even in Indigenous Australian languages  they use yakayi to express pain there is one constant: the presence of the vowel a, written or spoken. This is the conclusion reached by a 2024 study published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America after conducting a two-pronged investigation. On the one hand, they examined dictionaries from 131 languages to see how pain, joy, and disgust are reflected in each. On the other, they obtained recordings of 166 people expressing these emotions in five major languages: Spanish, English, Japanese, Turkish, and Mandarin.

Obtaining these recordings, in which participants had to express emotions naturally, was a challenge in itself. Aitana Garcia Arasco, co-author of the study, and the rest of the team devised a questionnaire to get speakers of these five languages to record themselves expressing pain, disgust, and joy. Some were done online. The person accessed the questionnaire and did it autonomously, Garcia explains in a video call from Lyon, where the university that coordinated this study is located, along with the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the University of Hong Kong. She participated in the collection of these expressions in person.

The in-person collection posed ethical and methodological challenges. No, we werent going around causing physical pain to the participants, Garcia jokes. The idea, she explains, is for you to imagine yourself hurting yourself, and in that context, make an effort to express a genuine reaction.

However, this poses an obvious problem: Its important to distinguish between spontaneous vocalizations and those produced on demand. Humans have a unique ability compared to other animals: we can make these sounds without any real stimulus. Other studies have shown that when an individual accidentally hits themselves, the most primitive parts of the brain are activated. With his method, that doesnt happen. Only the parts responsible for language are activated, Garcia explains. But for the purposes of the study, it was sufficient.

Garcia spent a month between Kyoto and Tokyo, where two researchers in her field put her in touch with students who served as subjects for the study. You need a bit of privacy to keep them calm, Garcia says, so she left them alone so they could complete the questionnaire freely. First, she asked them about their age, gender, whether they had lived in other countries, whether they spoke other languages, and their exposure to social media. The globalization generated by social media and learning other languages can change peoples cultural identity and reactions, she explains.

Garcia then presented them with up to 15 fictional situations, to which the students had to react as realistically as possible. One of them was, for example, imagining that you had won a prize and had to go celebrate with your friends and family. How would you express yourself to show joy? In the case of languages such as Turkish and Mandarin, the process was conducted entirely online. Participants accessed a virtual studio where, after answering basic questions, they recorded the requested vocalizations. Pain, they concluded, is not only a universal physiological experience, but also a phonetically global one. The vowel a, produced with the mouth open, is the acoustic center of this expression.

The impact of social norms

This contrasts with disgust and joy, emotions that dont show such consistent patterns. In all societies, there are cultural norms, and these modulate the sounds we make when reacting to certain situations, the researcher explains. But pain is universal; its pain in France, Spain, or Japan. Its a direct physiological response; it has a very important biological component.

The overrepresentation of the a suggests that words like ouch (pronounced auch) and yakayi have been shaped by the involuntary sounds we make to signal pain or distress to each other, Katarzyna Pisanski, another of the studys researchers, writes in the journal Scientific American.

However, this expression also contains significant differences. In more expressive societies, such as Mediterranean ones, its common to verbalize pain openly, while in more reserved cultures, such as Japan, expressions tend to be more restrained.

Garcia emphasizes that this conditioning begins in childhood. A baby cries the same way anywhere in the world, but over time they learn to adjust their expression to social norms. A clear example is laughter: in Spain, laughing out loud is perceived as a sign of joy, while in Japan it is considered rude, and many people cover their mouths when doing so.

The idea of investigating this universal connection arose from a chance observation by Maia Ponsonnet, a French linguist and lead author of the study. She noticed striking similarities between the interjections of pain in an Indigenous Australian language, which Ponsonnet was studying at the time, and French.

She thought these concurrences might not be a coincidence and wondered if there were common acoustic patterns in other languages, Garcia explains. The goal of this and similar studies is to explore how non-linguistic human vocalizations are connected to the origin and development of human language. There are major unanswered questions about how language comes into being, how we learn to modulate and articulate sounds to establish modern languages.

Tendencias is a project by EL PAIS, with which the newspaper aims to open an ongoing conversation about the major future challenges facing our society. The initiative is sponsored by Abertis, Enagas, EY, GroupM, Iberdrola, Iberia, Mapfre, the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), Redeia, Santander, and strategic partner Oliver Wyman.

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As happens several times each week, something new has appeared on the website of the nearly-dead and never-changing website of the Interpreter Foundation. Its a new review essay in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Wonder No More: A Review of Into Arabia, written by :

Review of Warren P. Aston, Godfrey J. Ellis, and Neal Rappleye, Into Arabia: Anchoring Nephis Account in the Real World (Orem, UT: The Interpreter Foundation; Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2024). 298 pages. $44.99 (hardback), $39.99 (paperback). Abstract: Into Arabia is a collected reprint of six articles. The first chapter reprints an article that first appeared in BYU Studies. The other five appeared in Interpreter. Both BYU Studies and Interpreter are peer-reviewed academic journals, which means that all these articles were examined and reviewed prior to publication. Thus, my review is more of a synopsis of the importance of each chapter rather than a detailed critique.

This is a book that I wish I had written. You can read more about Warren P. Aston, Godfrey J. Ellis, and Neal Rappleye, Into Arabia: Anchoring Nephis Account in the Real World here. And you can order it here.

Incidentally, today marks the six-hundred-and-sixty-first (661st) consecutive Friday of publication for Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship since its founding 662.5 weeks ago. At least one article has appeared each Friday, without interruption, since we launched the journal back in August of 2012, and sometimes two or even three articles have been published on the same Friday. (Along with the blog entries and reprints and etc. that appear on other days of the week.) It seems undeniably obvious  doesnt it?  that the Interpreter Foundation is on its deathbed, as hath long been confidently prophesied. However, I begin to despair of ever being able to help some of Interpreters more unhinged critics to understand this. They confuse our Thursday reprints with our Friday journal articles, imagine that were trying to substitute reprints for new articles, arbitrarily decide that review essays dont count as articles, accuse me (on the basis of their own willful confusion and misunderstanding) of attempting to deceive them, and, just generally, remind me of one of the famous corollaries to Murphys Law: Its impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious.

So far as I can recall, I have never been a young-earth creationist. Not even when I was a child. (I played with dinosaurs and I loved going to the La Brea Tar Pits and to natural history museums in Los Angeles and elsewhere where I could learn about prehistoric animals. I always knew that they lived millions of years before the present.)

Ive also never denied the reality of organic evolution, for which the evidence seems to me overwhelming. Barring some inconceivable scientific upheaval, I dont believe that a religious viewpoint that altogether rejects the idea of substantial biological change over time or that denies the evidence for a very old Earth can be intellectually sustained. One of the early articles that we published in Interpreter was Gregory L. Smiths Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The uses and abuses of evolutionary biology in six works. Since then, I myself have written affirmatively about an important book reflecting on evolution (How Can We Make Sense of Evolution?: A Latter-day Saint Perspective) and have conducted two friendly video interviews with Latter-day Saint scholars for the Interpreter Foundation that plainly presuppose belief in evolutionary theory. (See Interviews with Ben Spackman and Samuel T. Wilkinson.)

That said, my views on the subject are not firmly settled. Nor am I in any particular hurry to settle them; in most regards, I dont consider the issue to be of primary importance.

One of the things that I read on the way over to Kauai on Wednesday was Taking Leave of Darwin: A Longtime Agnostic Discovers the Case for Design, by Neil Thomas.

Let it be acknowledged right up front that Neil Thomas is not an evolutionary biologist. He is, rather, a Reader Emeritus in the German section of the School of European Languages and Literatures at the University of Durham, England. Trained the universities of Oxford, Munich, and Cardiff, his teaching at Durham covered a broad spectrum of subjects, including Germanic philology, medieval literature, the literature and philosophy of the Enlightenment, and modern German history and literature. He sometimes focused on the propagandist use of the German language employed both by the Nazis and by the functionaries of the old German Democratic Republic. Notably, too, he was a longtime member of the British Rationalist Association and, even now, he describes himself as committed to no revealed religion.

Although not a biologist, Thomas has plainly read widely and deeply on the subject of evolutionary thought. He is a first-class intellectual historian, and I found his book impressively learned and deeply interesting. I recommend it to anybody who is really concerned with the topic of the origin and development of Darwinism and, yes, in the leaps of logic and the evidentiary gaps that, Thomas argues, continue to exist in it and to cast grave doubt upon it. I will almost certainly be drawing upon Taking Leave of Darwin for future blog entries here.

Among the major problems still faced by evolutionary theory is the question of the origin of terrestrial life. It is one thing, say, for the Darwinian mechanism of natural selection to work on existing organisms, but where and how did organic life originate in the first place? Charles Darwin couldnt answer that question, and neither can the science of our day. Certainly not definitively, though there has been no shortage of effort devoted to it and although there has been no lack of hypotheses.

My attention was caught this morning by an article on the CNN website, Iguanas floated 5,000 miles from North America to Fiji on vegetation rafts, new study finds. Genetic evidence suggests that the ancestors of todays Fijian iguanas came originally from what is today the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, arriving in Fiji between 34 million and 30 million years ago. The Fijian archipelago is a volcanic formation that was originally barren of either botanical or zoological life. In this regard as in others, of course, Hawaii is a parallel case. The Hawaiian Islands originally emerged from the sea as sterile volcanic rock. How did flora and fauna arrive here?

But the largest parallel, obviously, is Earth itself. How did life arise on our planet? The problem of the origin of terrestrial life has proven so intractable, thus far  although, by and large, devotees of abiogenesis continue to hold to the promissory faith that a solution to that problem will shortly be found  that some over recent decades have proposed that the explanation lies in the notion of panspermia (from ancient Greek  [pan] all and  [sperma] seed). This idea is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the universe, and that it is distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, and/or planetoids, and even perhaps by alien spacecraft carrying unintended contamination by microorganisms. In fact, some have gone so far as to suggest directed panspermia, which holds that the seeding of Earth was deliberately undertaken by advanced extraterrestrial beings of some sort. (Given my own religious views, Im open to the possibility of something like that being actually true.)

But the theory that life did not originate on Earth, having instead evolved somewhere else and having thereafter seeded life as we know it, goes no distance at all toward solving the problem of lifes origin. It merely kicks that problem down the road.

Posted from Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii
Eihei Dogen was born on the 19th of January in 1200. He is recalled as the founder of the Japanese Soto school (Caodong in Chinese) and as one of the great spiritual writers of all time.

It is believed he was the illegitimate child of an imperial councillor. His mother is believed to have died when he was seven and he was raised within his fathers family.

At thirteen Dogen entered the Tendai order at Mt Hiei. His first teacher was the monk Koen. He is believed to have at least met if not studied with Eisai another Tendai monk who had studied in China and returned authorized to teach Zen in the Rinzai style. Dogen would become Eisais heir Myozens disciple. With Myozen Dogen delved deeply into the Zen way. And it is likely that it was mostly with Myozen that he became deeply intimate with koans. Certainly his later writings showed a deep insight into their use.

In 1223 Dogen accompanied his Myozen and two other monks to China. There two critical things happened. One is that Myozen died. The other is that he found Rujing, a master of the Caodong school.

While the historicity of the story is debated, Dogen is said to have had his great awakening with Master Rujing. The account is recorded in Keizans masterwork the Transmission of the Lamp.

Eihei Dogen came to Tiantong Rujing. One day, Tiantong said during early morning zazen, Zazen is body-mind drop off. Dogen, hearing this, suddenly had great realization. He went at once to the abbots chambers and offered incense.

Tiantong asked him, Why do you offer incense?

Dogen said, Body-mind drop off.

Tiantong said, Body-mind drop off. Drop off body-mind.

Dogen said, This is a momentary achievement. Dont confirm me too hastily.

Tiantong said, I do not confirm you hastily.

Dogen said, What is this not-hastily-confirming?

Tiantong said, Body-mind drop off.

Dogen made bows.

Tiantong said, Drop off body-mind.

At that time, his attendant Huangping of Fuzhou said, It is truly not a trifling thing for a foreigner to attain to such a degree.

Tiantong said, Before he came here, he received the blows of many fists. Liberated is he is mild and peaceful. The thunder roars.

Dogen would return to Japan and while he professed a nonsectarian Zen, in fact he called what he taught simply the Buddha way, he is acknowledged as the founder of the Japanese Caodong school, using the Japanese pronunciation, Soto. He was a prolific writer and some of his writings are considered among the great spiritual treasures of world culture.

But Dogens greatest gift was articulating the mysterious action of practice/enlightenment, what we tend to call zazen, seated Zen, or shikantaza, just sitting. Dogen died on the 22nd of September, in 1253.

These following six videos by Soto Zen priest Hoko Karnegis, currently Senior dharma teacher and head of the Sanshin Zen Community in Bloomington, Indiana nicely explore Dogens contributions to the intimate way
Barboursville Viineyards has won the Governor's Cup six times since the competition began in 1982 and the fifth win under winemaker and general manager Luca Paschina since he arrived i 1990. Barboursville Vineyards

For the first time in the 43-year history of the Virginia Governors Cup, a Vermentino has won the top prize.

The announcement that Barboursville Vineyards won the coveted Cup for its 2023 Vermentino  a white wine with 100% Vermentino grapes that are grown on the vineyards estate  was made on March 13.

Its the sixth time that Barboursville has claimed the top prize since the competition began in 1982 and the fifth win under winemaker and general manager Luca Paschina, who has been steadily raising the bar at the estate since he arrived in 1990.

A must-visit destination for anyone who wants to sample excellent wines in a picturesque location, Barboursville Vineyards has previously won the Governors Cup for its 1988 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, 1997 Cabernet Franc, 1998 Cabernet Franc Reserve, 2009 Octagon and 2015 Paxxito dessert wine.

Now comes the Vermentino, a light-skinned wine grape thats compared in weight to Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and Riesling and is known for its bright acidity, citrusy notes  often featuring lemon, grapefruit and lime  and refreshing finish. Its prominent in the Italian regions of Sardinia, Liguria, Corsica, Tuscany and Piedmont, where its known as Favorita, in addition to the French island of Corsica and to a lesser extent in Languedoc and Provence, where its known as Rolle.

Paschina said he planted 9 acres of the grape in 2009, and his vineyard remains one of the few on the East Coast to grow it. He said that hes aware of two other growers in Virginia: New Kent and Zephaniah wineries.

The one other winery to my knowledge where the grape has found a home and thrived is Raffaldini, in North Carolina.

The six Barboursville wines that have won the Virginia Governor's Cup are lined up on either side of it. Barboursville Vineyards

In addition to making the wine as a varietal, Paschina said he also uses it as a blend in a wine called Nascent (70% Viognier, 23% Vermentino, 7% Falanghina).

In addition to Paschina, the two others most involved in the grape growing and wine production at Barboursville are vineyard manager Fernando Franco and assistant winemaker Daniele Tessaro.

This years award was announced during the annual Virginia Governors Cup Gala, held at Richmonds Main Street Station last week. The competition received more than 600 entries from over 140 Virginia wineries, cideries and meaderies. All entries must be made from 100% Virginia-grown fruit to be eligible. Each wine is ranked based on a unified scoring system.

Luca Paschina and his team at Barboursville Vineyards embody the passion and pioneering spirit of Virginia wines. Their dedication to excellence is evident in every vintage they produce, showcasing an unwavering commitment to craftsmanship and innovation, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said as he awarded the Cup to the winery, which is located outside Charlottesville between Monticello and Montpelier. I am honored to recognize Barboursvilles achievements and the lasting impact they continue to make on Virginias world-class wine region.

White wines rarely win the Governors Cup; indeed, for several years the Virginia Wineries Association held separate competitions for red and white wines over concerns that white wines werent getting a fair chance. But that format was scrapped in 2011.

The wine will be featured alongside 11 other wines in the Virginia Governors Cup Case, a collection of the competitions 12 highest-scoring wines.

The full case includes:

Frank Morgan, who has been writing a blog called Drink What You Like for years while largely covering the people and wineries of Virginia, was once again the director of judging.

Heres a link to the full list of award-winners.

Barboursville Vineyards is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 to 5 on Sunday. Its list of events is unique, from the Evening (and Afternoon) with Morels to the Tomato Celebration Lunch to the Evenings in Umbria and Emilia-Romagna.

Theres also a restaurant there, the Palladio, which serves lunch from noon to 2 on Wednesday-Sunday and dinner from 6:30 to 9 on Friday and Saturday.

Bottles run in price from $17 to $75, with most in the $20-$35 range.

Asked what was new there this year, Paschina touted the cellar full of older vintages that are in constant evolution, renewing their profile every day.
Pope Francis waves as he arrives for his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, just before he was hospitalied. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file) AP

By NICOLE WINFIELD, The Associated Press

ROME (AP)  Pope Francis will be released from the hospital on Sunday, after 38 days of battling a life-threatening case of pneumonia in both lungs, his doctors said.

Gemelli medical director Dr. Sergio Alfieri said Saturday that Francis will require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation as he continues recovering back at the Vatican.

Francis was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened. He later developed a life-threatening case of pneumonia.

Pope Francis' doctors provided their first in-person update on the pontiffs condition in a month, in a sign that he has made good and steady progress in his battle against double pneumonia.

Catholic faithful attend a nightly rosary prayer for the health of Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, March 2, 2025. The pope is expected to be released from the hospital Sunday. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, file) AP

The Saturday evening briefing is the first since Feb. 21, a week after the 88-year-old Francis was brought to Gemelli hospital. He subsequently experienced several respiratory crises that landed him in critical condition, though he has since stabilized.

In another development, the Vatican announced that Francis would appear on Sunday morning to bless faithful from his 10th floor suite at the hospital. While Francis released an audio message on March 6 and the Vatican distributed a photo of him March 16, Sundays blessing will be the first live appearance since Francis was admitted on Feb. 14 for what has become the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy.

The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease, is prone to respiratory problems in winter and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened.

Doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and soon thereafter, pneumonia in both lungs. Blood tests showed signs of anemia, low blood platelets and the onset of kidney failure, all of which later resolved after two blood transfusions.
Firefighters wait at the area around the North Hyde electrical substation, which caught fire Thursday night and lad to a closure of Heathrow Airport in London, Friday, March 21, 2025.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) AP

By JILL LAWLESS, The Associated Press

LONDON (AP)  The British government on Saturday ordered an investigation into the countrys energy resilience after an electrical substation fire shut Heathrow Airport for almost a day and raised concerns about the U.K.s ability to withstand disasters or attacks on critical infrastructure.

While Heathrow Airport said it was fully operational on Saturday, thousands of passengers remained stuck, and airlines warned that severe disruption will last for days as they scramble to relocate planes and crews and get travelers to their destinations.

Inconvenienced passengers, angry airlines and concerned politicians all want answers about how one seemingly accidental fire could shut down Europes busiest air hub.

This is a huge embarrassment for Heathrow Airport. Its a huge embarrassment for the country that a fire in one electricity substation can have such a devastating effect, said Toby Harris, a Labour Party politician who heads the National Preparedness Commission, a group that campaigns to improve resilience.

15 1 / 15 Fire closes Heathrow airport in London

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said hed asked the National Energy System Operator, which oversees U.K. gas and electricity networks, to urgently investigate the fire, to understand any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure.

It is expected to report initial findings within six weeks.

The government is determined to do everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow, Miliband said.

More than 1,300 flights were canceled and some 200,000 people stranded Friday after an overnight fire at a substation 2 miles away from the airport cut power to Heathrow, and to more than 60,000 properties.

Heathrow said Saturday it had added flights to todays schedule to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers. British Airways, Heathrows biggest airline, said it expected to operate about 85% of its 600 scheduled flights at the airport on Saturday.

Heathrow is one of the worlds busiest airports for international travel, and saw 83.9 million passengers last year.

Chief executive Thomas Woldbye said he was proud of the way airport and airline staff had responded.

The airport didnt shut for days. We shut for hours, he told the BBC.

Woldbye said Heathrows backup power supply, designed for emergencies, worked as expected, but it wasnt enough to run the whole airport, which uses as much energy as a small city.

Thats how most airports operate, said Woldbye, who insisted the same would happen in other airports faced with a similar blaze.

But Willie Walsh, who heads aviation trade organization IATA, said the episode begs some serious questions.

How is it that critical infrastructure  of national and global importance  is totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative? If that is the case, as it seems, then it is a clear planning failure by the airport, he said.

Walsh said Heathrow has very little incentive to improve because airlines, not the airport, have to pay the cost of looking after disrupted passengers.
Its been several years since Maggie Nelson last visited Spain. But a high school boys question from her time there keeps echoing in her head: He asked me why fascism was so bad for freedom, the author recalls. That was in 2021. She was on a book tour for On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint. There was a lot embedded in that question and even though I noted several things in my answer, I realized they werent really landing, Nelson tells EL PAIS, while sitting in a cafe in the Highland Park neighborhood of northeast Los Angeles.

Nelson, 52, is a professor at the University of Southern California. Shes also the author of a dozen books. Perhaps her best-known publication is The Argonauts (2016), a memoir that blurs the line between genres to recount her life with the gender-fluid artist Harry Dodge. The book touches on the transformation he underwent while Nelson was pregnant with their child.

In 2024, Nelson returned with a collection of essays titled Like Love. It brings together interviews and texts with the wide-ranging style that resulted in her being named a 2016 MacArthur Fellow. Its pages feature trans writer and activist Eileen Myles, as well as critiques of the literary works of Ben Lerner and Natalia Ginzburg, among others. The title takes its name from a phrase used by Hilton Als  the influential critic and art curator who writes for The New Yorker  while the compilation deepens Nelsons exploration of the link between art and thought. This is something she previously addressed in Bluets (2009)  a poetic reflection on the color blue  or The Art of Cruelty (2011), where she continues Susan Sontags critical tradition of depictions of violence in culture.

Nelsons meeting with EL PAIS took place on a rainy morning. The conversation inevitably turned to Donald Trump and the war that the president has declared on the LGBTQ+ community.

Question. Like Love contains 31 essays and took 20 years of work. What unites the pieces?

Answer. Intergenerational exchange. I talk about my mentors and what Ive learned from the people who came after me. I address transgressive works of feminism, queer theory and art. They reflect a particular sensibility. Its a social portrait of being alive.

Q. One of your first connections with art was through poetry. Yet, you write that you stopped writing poetry when you moved to Los Angeles.

A. I kept up the project of writing something you might call poetry in the broadest sense, even though I no longer write poems. Im interested in using the most effective tools to construct discourse thinking about ideas and contrasting them with the sound of my sentences. That work, for me, is poetic.

Q. You had the idea for On Freedom before Trumps first presidency. How much has changed since then?

A. The questions that made me uncomfortable back then seem very useful to me now. I noticed this in the past: I grew up in a very right-wing environment and the word freedom was used for everything. But Trumpism is no different from other dynamics associated with authoritarianism, which makes you think things like: I will subjugate my freedom to a strong man who will, you know, take care of things for me. Its a mistake to miss the opportunity to talk about freedom. As James Baldwin said, real freedom is very difficult to carry. And I think Ive met very few people  and none of them are Americans  whove truly desired it.

Q. Today, one particular group has hijacked that conversation. How do you view Trumps attack on non-binary and LGBTQ+ people?

A. Its a horrifying spectacle. On the one hand, it feels familiar: I grew up in the age of AIDS [when] there was talk about putting gay people in camps. Some people would rather have had dead children than gay children. [LGBTQ+] people are being scapegoated today. And these repressive tactics will spread. Its hard for people to notice when theyre so unfamiliar with non-binary or trans people.

Q. This must be the first administration to prioritize the targeting of trans people.

A. Its clearly an obsession of theirs. And, you know, I go back and forth. There are a lot of smart people who talk about it as classic scapegoat theory: pick on the smallest group of people who are the most misunderstood. But then, theres a part of me that thinks [the Trump administration is] onto something, because the destabilization of gender roles has been a major [goal] of queer and feminist theory for a long time. Theres been a lot of progress in that area.

Q. Are you surprised by how far the culture war has gone?

A. The other day, I was talking to someone at the university where I teach. And theyve been instructed that no grant applications that have the word woman in them will be funded. That goes beyond anti-woke. What are we supposed to do? Think like white men forever? [Theres this] anger at the idea that other kinds of people exist in the world. Masha Gessen has written extensively about this. And its part of a conversation thats been going on within the movement for a long time. Are we too vigilant? Are we too focused on language? But nothing in this debate has been about the power of the state. Now, Trump and his team have this power and theyve shown that they have no qualms about using it for censorship. Thats a much greater threat.

Q. As a public intellectual, do you find it difficult to stay hopeful?

A. I dont feel hopeful. I feel sad and very worried, even though I believe most people didnt vote for a total destabilization of American life and the economy. Communities need each other now more than ever. The right thrives on people feeling disconnected and alone.

Q. Is there a possibility of resistance?

A. The only good that can come out of it is a total reconstruction of the left. Kamala Harris highest approval ratings were among college graduates, white academics and women like me. This isnt a criticism of her voters, but of the corporatism and hypocritical cowardice of the Democratic Party. I think, for the last month, everyone was horrified at where the Democrats were. Now, its kind of like, well, what are we gonna build? Because theyre not building anything. Its just gonna take time.

Q. Is Trumps emphasis on stripping away LGBTQ+ rights actually an opportunity?

A. There are many people who think the Democrats went too far in talking about trans rights. Thats a bunch of crap. Good leaders can involve people in issues they dont understand with integrity, in a didactic way. And, if youre not willing to do that, youd better get out of the way. If the answer is to not talk about this issue and be tougher on immigration [thats nonsense]. We need people who can explain the issue better.

Q. One of your essays is about Judith Butler, who was one of the developers of queer theory. They discussed this subject extensively in their book, Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence (2004).

A. They were living in New York during 9/11. [That book] was published shortly afterwards. They achieved what good intellectuals do: reframing the ideas and feelings people were experiencing in a way that helps you understand them. Butler integrates political theory with psychoanalysis. Their essays move you: [they manage to] address grief and connect it with the reactionary response that led to an unjustified war being declared over the pain that New York felt. You can see this with Trumpism. Its this kind of faux strength its a psychotic, sociopathic reaction to vulnerability. It wreaks havoc on other people.

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Indicted Lawyer Says Govt. 'Intentionally Misled' Court in Tax Evasion Case

Connor Richards Senior Editor U.S. Copy link

Embattled lawyer and high-stakes poker player Tom Goldstein alleged that prosecutors have "intentionally misled the court" and "made critical false statements" in his tax evasion case.

In previous court filings, prosecutors with the US Department of Justice alleged Goldstein offered cryptocurrency and other things of value "to a potential witness in the case who has intimate knowledge of his and his law firm's finances and income  and that there was no other credible reason for doing so than to attempt to prevent the potential witness from assisting in the investigation."

Goldstein filed a motion on March 10 to compel the production of the witnesses' grand jury testimony. In a March 14 opposing motion, prosecutors, who have not charged Goldstein with witness tampering, clarified that "the witness has explained that (Goldstein) did not suggest that the witness not assist in the investigation, and the witness cannot testify as to Defendants subjective intent."

Still, they said "the facts demonstrate that (Goldstein) made continued offers of cryptocurrency and things of value to the witness who had key information about Defendants conduct after the investigation went overt."

In a March 18 filing, Goldstein's attorneys called this a "belated confession" that was "made only when faced with the imminent prospect of being required to disclose the testimony" and that "shows that the governments prior representations to the Court on this issue were at a minimum deeply misleading, and at worst intentionally false."

Tom Goldstein Lost Big in Poker Matches at Kevin Hart's Birthday Bash

Texts Show Offers of Crypto, Student Loan Payments to Witness

Though prosecutors opposed Goldstein's request to review grand jury testimony, they submitted as evidence a series of text messages from the witness, who was an employee at Goldstein & Russell when the government began its investigation into Goldstein in 2020.

In a November 2020 text message, the witness, who had recently quit the firm, wrote that Goldstein had "stalled" on posting the job for their replacement "about three weeks to throw off the irs (sic)."

Messages a witness sent about Tom Goldstein in November 2020

"Lol would that really throw them off?" the unnamed recipient of the text message replied.

"Probably not, but when I quit he mentioned that it would look suspicious to the IRS," the witness wrote back. "Like I knew something."

A few weeks later, the witness wrote that Goldstein was "losing it" and that "this tax stuff must be getting to him because he keeps offering me money."

"Bitcoin, student loan payments, a $10k bonus when a big case comes in. expensive headphones. Every time he sees me," the witness wrote on Jan. 21, 2021. "It's so so uncomfortable."

Prosecutors argued that even though the witness did not state that Goldstein told them to not cooperate with the government, "the absence of a specific request not to cooperate does little to undermine the strong inference that Defendant (a highly sophisticated attorney) was attempting (to) influence the witness by offering the witness things of value well after the witness had announced that the witness would be resigning, and the witnesss replacement was hired."

Tom Goldstein Won $51M Gambling Against Single Player

"Lack of Candor"

In the March 18 filing, Goldstein's attorneys argued that his reputation "was gravely injured by the governments false and misleading allegations in public filings" that he bribed a witness, as well as that he "used cryptocurrency accounts in violation of his release conditions" and "has access to millions of dollars in secret cryptocurrency accounts."

"The defense respectfully suggests that the Court address at the March 25 hearing whether sanctions against the government are warrantedin the form of a rebuking the government on the recordfor its lack of candor," Goldstein's attorneys wrote.

Goldstein, the founder of SCOTUSblog and a prominent US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) attorney, faces charges related to tax evasion, preparing false and fraudulent tax returns, and making false statements on mortgage applications. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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Poker Pro w/ $3.3M in Tournament Cashes Gets Six Years in Prison for Drug Smuggling

Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S. Copy link

Salman Behbehani, a poker player with millions in cashes, was convicted earlier this week on drug smuggling related charges and sentenced to spend six years in prison.

The Balearic Provincial Court also imposed a 30,000 fine on the California poker player who comes from one of the richest families in Kuwait, according to Forbes. Behbehani, 37, was arrested on July 16, 2021 at the Ibiza airport upon flying a private jet carrying around 30 people to the Spanish island from Las Vegas.

Poker Player's Crime

Salman Behbehani

Officers from the Tax Agency and Guardia Civil Border Patrol, who met the poker pro at the airport, used scanners to detect a suitcase full of drugs and a significant amount of cash. Investigators found in his suitcase 315 grams of cocaine, 715 grams of Tusi, 705 grams of hashish, 80 grams of MDMA, and some cannabis and LSD.

Behbehani, who has $3.3 million in live tournament cashes per The Hendon Mob, was convicted of being in possession of a large quantity of substances. He initially faced up to nine years in prison, but the court settled at six years.

The Public Prosecutor's Office began its drug-smuggling trial in late February. Behbehani, a known DJ, testified on his own behalf but it was inevitably determined by the court he committed a crime that will land him in prison for quite some time. He can still appeal the conviction with the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands. A local television outlet captured the poker pro's recent arrival at court.

Behbehani has 10 World Series of Poker (WSOP) cashes and a number of large scores, including a career-best $818,799 prize for taking second place in the 2011 Partouche Poker Tour (PPT) Main Event, a tournament won by Sam Trickett. He hasn't recorded any live tournament cashes since August 2018, although he did reach the money in the WSOP Online Main Event on GGPoker in 2020.

High-Stakes Poker Player Busted For Drug Possession at Ibiza Airport

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Players all have one common goal on Day 2 of the 888poker Live Glasgow Main Event: make it to the final table.

That journey begins at 5 p.m. local time inside the Grosvenor Casino Merchant City as the 63 players who made it through the first five starting flights return to battle for a spot on the main feature stage. They are led by Francisco Salvador, who built up a massive chip lead with 508,500 yesterday.

Ian Simpson is making another run at his second consecutive 888poker Live title as he begins the day in second place with 390,000. Maogen Fu (376,000), already with two titles in the past few days, is in third, while 888poker Live Manchester champion Stephen Barnes (365,000) and Dean Lyall (289,500) round out the top five.

Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts

Rank Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Francisco Salvador Spain 508,500 170 2 Ian Simpson United Kingdom 390,000 130 3 Maogen Fu United Kingdom 376,000 125 4 Stephen Barnes United Kingdom 365,000 122 5 Dean Lyall United Kingdom 289,500 97 6 Harry Cattanach United Kingdom 281,000 94 7 Andrew Hawksby United Kingdom 271,500 91 8 Bryan Taylor United Kingdom 268,000 89 9 Junxian Du United Kingdom 264,000 88 10 Gavin Naughton United Kingdom 247,000 82

Other players still in the hunt include Andrew Hawksby (271,500), Day 1a chip leader Dmitri Dudakov (240,000), Matthew Davenport (194,000), Viktor Katzenberger (131,000), David Algarra (116,500), Daniel Myers (108,000), Robbie Bull (102,000), and Michael Kane (84,000). Further down the leaderboard are 2024 Madrid champion Manuel Ledesma (56,500) and Jack Hardcastle (46,000). Vivian Saliba (169,500) and Josh Manley (105,000) join Simpson in representing the 888poker team on Day 2.

The action picks up on Level 15 with blinds of 1,500-3,000 and a 3,000 big blind ante. Levels are once again 40 minutes long, with a break after every three levels.

The first five starting flights have built a field of 324 entries so far. There is still the turbo Day 1f flight that began at 11 a.m., while late registration remains open until the start of Day 2. The prize pool has already surpassed the 250,000 guarantee and will be announced shortly after play begins.

Stay tuned to PokerNews throughout the day as the field goes past the money bubble and on towards the final table.
Day 3 of the $3,300 Main Event at the 2025 Merit Poker Carmen Series has wrapped up, and just 60 players remain in contention for the title and the $401,000 top prize. After eight grueling one-hour levels inside the Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino, the field was carved down from 213 hopefuls to a tightly packed group, all chasing poker glory at the biggest Carmen Series Main Event in history.

Topping the chip counts at the close of play is Ludovic Geilich, who bagged a commanding 3,955,000one of just four players to end with over three million. The fiery Scotsman is no stranger to deep runs in big fields and will return tomorrow as the man to catch. With the pressure mounting and the pay jumps getting serious, the stage is now set for a dramatic Day 4 as the race to the final table begins.

Top Ten Chip Counts

Place Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Ludovic Geilich Scotland 3,955,000 99 2 Dawid Smolka Poland 3,500,000 88 3 Akin Tuna Turkey 3,200,000 80 4 Soraya Estrada Spain 3,200,000 80 5 Nenad Dukic Serbia 2,600,000 65 6 Bassel Alanaz Lebanon 2,540,000 64 7 Nichan Khorchidian Lebanon 2,515,000 63 8 Gurcan Gungoren Turkey 2,510,000 63 9 Ghassan Bitar Lebanon 2,460,000 62 10 Andrei Konopelko Belarus 2,410,000 60

Geilich, who sits second on Scotlands all-time money list with nearly $4,000,000 in live tournament earnings, started Day 3 inside the top ten and quickly climbed even higher as the field thinned. A steady stream of chips kept sliding his way, with one massive pot in particular sending his stack soaring.

In a pivotal clash with Razvan Sabau, Geilich found himself facing a huge shove on the turn om a paired board. After tanking for some time, the Scotsman made the call with pocket queensonly to see Sabau table a wild nine-high bluff with a gutshot. The queens held through the river, vaulting Geilich over the two-million chip mark and giving him the momentum hed ride all the way to the end of the day.

Dawid Smolka is chasing history in Cyprus as he sets his sights on becoming the first-ever player to win all three major Merit Poker titles. The Polish crusher already claimed the Warm Up crown at the Gatsby Gala in November and added a High Roller trophy to his collection earlier in this series. Now, with a stack of 3,500,000 heading into Day 4, Smolka is in prime position to complete the trifecta. It would be an extraordinary achievementand one thats firmly within reach if he keeps up his current form.

Dawid Smolka

When the 213 players returned for Day 3, their first objective was simplemake the money. With 119 spots paid and a min-cash worth $4,545, everyone had their eyes on locking up a piece of the massive $2,431,560 prize pool. But whats usually a tense, drawn-out bubble burst inched by hand-for-hand play ended in anticlimactic fashion, as the bubble popped before hand-for-hand could even begin. In a surprising twist, it was none other than start-of-day chip leader Georgios Tsouloftas who fell just short, going from a dominant position to the last player eliminated without a payout.

A player who not only made the money but flourished deep into the day was Soraya Estrada, who bagged a healthy stack of 3,200,000 to close out Day 3. Estrada was involved in several high-pressure spots throughout the day and scored a crucial double-up with pocket aces against the ace-king of Andrija Cvetkovic in Level 19. . Though she was a tad fortunate to find a chop in a pot against Andrei Konopelko, she finished strong and will be a threat come Day 4.

Soraya Estrada

Some other notables to make it through the day were Nenad Dukic (2,600,000), Nichan Khorchidian (2,515,000), Andrey Pateychuk (2,055,000), Gilles Simon (1,650,000), Dmitrii Kopyl (1,255,000), and short-stacked Zhen Chen (280,000).

Blinds resume tomorrow at Level 25 (20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante) and the plan is to play until the final table is reached. The average stack is 1,468,000which is around 37 big blinds.

All 60 remaining players have locked up at least $8,690, but with the top prize of $401,000 still up for grabs, the real battle is just beginning. As the payouts grow steeper with each elimination, every decision on Day 4 will carry massive weight as the road to the final table begins to take shape.

Remaining Payouts

Place Prize Place Prize 1 $401,000 13-15 $25,800 2 $265,000 16-18 $22,400 3 $185,250 19-21 $20,135 4 $132,100 22-24 $17,930 5 $99,050 25-26 $15,730 6 $80,500 27-35 $13,545 7 $65,700 36-44 $11,840 8 $52,200 45-53 $10,140 9 $39,600 54-60 $8,690 10-12 $32,000

Day 4 kicks off at 12:00 p.m. local timestay locked in with PokerNews for all the action, as the final 60 players return to chase the $401,000 top prize and a place in Carmen Series history.
Aiken Standard reporter

Matthew Christian is a reporter for the Aiken Standard. He covers the Savannah River Site, city of Aiken, politics and public safety and courts.

Matthew previously covered government and politics for the Morning News in Florence. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law and the University of Charleston in West Virginia.

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The Wunsdorf base, built by the Nazis and later used by the USSR during the GDR era.

Wunsdorf is only 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Berlin, but a vast chasm separates this town in eastern Germany from the thoughts of the countrys political and intellectual elites. Just as the Bundestag is racing to spend whatever it takes to confront Vladimir Putins Russia, here, in this locality that during the Cold War hosted the largest Soviet military base outside the borders of the USSR, time seems to pass more slowly. Here, the 20th century is still very much in focus. And it serves to answer many of the questions of the 21st century.

Some 20,000 people a year visit the fascinating row of bunkers built in Wunsdorf by the Nazis in 1939. From this tiny town, transformed during World War II into a major communications center, Hitlers army directed its offensive against the USSR. Outside the tunnels, in the sunlight, the remains of Wehrmacht buildings still remain. Soviet troops burned them in 1946, after their victory in the war, as part of their commitment to eliminate all traces of the criminal regime that turned Europe into a vast cemetery.

Thirty years after the last Red Army soldier left, the Soviet legacy shapes local residents views on current issues such as the war in Ukraine, Russias imperialist ambitions, and Europes urgent need to rearm. Their views, for the most part, clash head-on with those of Germans in the old West.

The former Soviet base at Wunsdorf, built by the Nazis. OSCAR CORRAL Wiebke Sahin-Connolly, mayor of Zossen, a municipality that includes the town of Wunsdorf. OSCAR CORRAL Guided tour of the former Soviet base in Wunsdorf, built by the Nazis and later used as a Soviet base during the GDR era. OSCAR CORRAL The military museum in Wunsdorf. OSCAR CORRAL People visiting the former Soviet base in Wunsdorf. OSCAR CORRAL Sylvia Rademacher, manager of the bookstore and tourism company in Wundsforf. OSCAR CORRAL A visitor walks through the former Soviet base in Wunsdorf. OSCAR CORRAL

Sylvia Rademacher is the head of the company that manages the bunkers in Wunsdorf. At 61, she perfectly remembers what life was like before 1994, when the last Soviet soldiers left, a contingent that during the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) numbered more than half a million. They are not leaving as occupiers, but as friends, Chancellor Helmut Kohl said at the time. These memories, and this special relationship with Russia, shape the perspective through which Rademacher assesses events such as the large-scale invasion of Ukraine ordered by Putin three years ago. They want to paint a picture in which the Russians are the bad guys, with horns and a tail. But things are more complex. Here, people, with their first-hand experience, see things differently. We still remember what Germany owes to Russia.

The political differences between the so-called new states  the five eastern territories that joined the Federal Republic in 1990  and the rest of the country were once again evident in the elections held on February 23. While the western part of the map was tinged with black  the color of Friedrich Merzs Christian Democratic Union  the eastern part saw a landslide victory in the blue of Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party that, in addition to its anti-refugee and environmentalist campaigns, has championed opposition to aid to Ukraine. Parties such as The Left and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, both critical of NATO, also received significant support.

Since the outbreak of the war in 2022, the Forsa opinion poll has noted the enormous disagreements in Germany on all issues related to Russia and Ukraine. It is undoubtedly the issue that most divides the two sides of the country, says Peter Matuschek, manager of this firm. Sending arms to Kyiv receives majority support in the west and strong opposition in the east, where fears of the war spreading to Europe are very evident. Last week, we asked about constitutional reform to increase military spending: 75% of West Germans said they were in favor. In the east, that percentage remained at 51%. And plans to reinstate military service received 62% support in the west, compared to a meager 52% in the east, Matuschek continues.

The explanations for these differences on both sides of the former Iron Curtain are very complex. Journalist and writer Sabine Rennefanz, born 50 years ago in the former GDR, has attempted to explain them in books such as Iron kids: The quiet rage of East Germanys Wende generation. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers left Germany without firing a shot. Gorbachevs commitment not to intervene allowed us to achieve a peaceful reunification. I think that has shaped the image weve long had of Russia, regardless of how the country has evolved since then, she says in a Berlin cafe.

Rennefanz deploys a very nuanced discourse, full of darkness and light, in which she recalls that children her age saw the Russians around them at the same time as friends and as rulers, and anecdotes such as that of her grandfather, who despite having been imprisoned in Siberia during Stalins time still maintained a positive image of the Soviets.

New times are forcing Germany to confront far-reaching debates. How to address the necessary modernization of the military in a world where the United States is no longer a loyal friend? The possibility of reintroducing military service, or the shock of sending weapons to Ukraine that could end up killing Russians, something that reminds many Germans of their darkest past. Fear of Russia is greatest in the east, where echoes of the former GDRs propaganda in favor of peace and against NATO and the West still resonate, says historian Jan Claas Behrends.

Back in Wunsdorf, Mayor Wiebke Sahin-Connolly admits that the shared history, the fact that many of her fellow citizens have drunk vodka with Russians, makes political debates about war and weapons almost personal. Rademacher defends the values and culture of her region against what she calls the arrogance of West Germany, which, she says, has never treated them as equals. She recalls the time when tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers and their families lived in this city, then nicknamed Little Moscow, with its own schools, theaters, museums, a hospital, and a direct train to the Russian capital.

The head of the company dedicated to preserving the memory of what happened here throughout the 20th century denounces a media straitjacket that prevents dissenting opinions from being expressed. Of course, the war is a mess and it has to end. But its not just one persons fault, she says, before pointing fingers at both the West and Ukraine, without mentioning Putin at all. She concludes with a halo of optimism regarding the new occupant of the White House: At least Trump is now trying to end the massacre after Biden did so many things wrong.

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Education Lab Reporter

Ian Grenier covers K-12 and higher education in South Carolina from Columbia. Originally from Charleston, he studied history and political science at USC and reported for the Victoria Advocate in South Texas before joining The Post and Courier.
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When the extortionists arrived at Elena and Ramiros small food stall in the heart of downtown Guayaquil, they knew their dream of entrepreneurship had come to an end. The business, which had only been operating for five months, was doing better than expected. They served breakfast and lunch to workers, and although margins were tight, the hope of a prosperous future kept them afloat. But that morning, when two men who arrived on a motorcycle burst into the establishment, what promised to be just another day of work turned into a nightmare. They made it clear what the rules would be from then on: $3,000 a month as a vaccine, as extortion is known in Ecuador. An unaffordable sum for entrepreneurs whose only capital was the sweat of their brow.

Elena reunites with her boyfriend, Ramiro, at the Guayaquil airport after being deported from the United States. SANTIAGO ARCOS

When Elena heard the criminals tell her where she lived, details about her house, and about her and her familys movements, she knew she wouldnt wait for them to keep their promise to close down the business. She understood there was no turning back; they had to leave the country. Two weeks later, with a debt of $17,000, she, her boyfriend Ramiro, and three of his relatives boarded a flight to El Salvador. It was the first step toward escape.

On December 9, her journey through Central America began, with the ultimate goal of reaching Ciudad Juarez and crossing into the United States. Ten days later, her group reached the final stop, where a coyote (human smuggler) promised to help them cross the border, underground, beneath the wall, more than eight meters high. Just a few hours later, immigration authorities captured them.

Elena painfully recalls the blow from one of the officers: He punched me, and that was it, she says, while waiting for someone to pick her up at the Guayaquil airport, where she arrived as a deportee due to the mass expulsions implemented under Donald Trumps immigration policy. She was dressed in a gray overcoat and a fleece jacket, wearing shoes without laces; she had only learned the night before that she would be deported. She traveled on a charter flight, along with about 100 other Ecuadorian migrants, who also failed to evade immigration patrols.

Drawings made by a migrant woman depicting the living conditions in the detention center where she was held for three months before her deportation to Ecuador. SANTIAGO ARCOS

Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,900 Ecuadorians have been deported from the United States, a number that adds to the 43,000 who have returned in the last four years, as part of a returnee agreement that both countries have maintained since 2005. The deportations, far from being an isolated incident, are part of a routine: two or three flights per week, according to the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry.

On the plane, Elena met Jennifer, a 25-year-old woman. They had both been in the same detention center in Louisiana, but the strict rules of confinement and total isolation prevented them from meeting or speaking. It was only then, sitting at the airport waiting for someone to pick them up, that they discovered they shared a similar reality. They both migrated out of fear of violence; they both came from the same neighborhood, Guasmo Sur. The connection was immediate, but Jennifers journey had been even more brutal. She had spent five days as a hostage of one of the criminal gangs in Oaxaca, Mexico.

I spent all those days in silence, wearing baggy clothes, afraid of seeing them take the girls to be raped, the young woman says. After being released, she managed to cross the border and surrender to U.S. Border Patrol agents, who shackled her and then released her in San Diego, where she remained for three weeks. At her last hearing, it was decided she would be sent to the icebox, the detention center in Texas, and then she was transferred to Louisiana, from where the flight that would bring her back departed.

The woman gave the drawings to her companions before her deportation. SANTIAGO ARCOS

She doesnt have a cent. Jennifer, visibly worried, has just received the news that her two-and-a-half-year-old son is sick. All she has is a card with $50 on it that the World Food Program gave to each migrant upon arrival at the terminal. She was also told about a website where she can register to receive $470 for three months, as part of the aid the Ecuadorian government offers deported migrants. However, that prospect seems uncertain.

Upon arrival at the Guayaquil airport, the deportees stand out from the crowd. Their pale faces, marked by fatigue and confinement, reflect the frustration of those who didnt find what they were looking for in the north. However, many try to hide their pain and, upon first contact with their families, display a smile despite the tragedy: Guess where I am! they say, only to confirm what they already know: they have returned to Ecuador. But there is no one waiting for them. Neither friends nor family have been alerted to their return. They are alone, worried, in debt...

Elena hasnt checked her phone since December 19, the day she was arrested. Shes been cut off from her family and boyfriend Ramiro  who was deported in January  all this time. She doesnt know whats happening in the country. I guess everythings worse, she admits with bitter certainty.

Jennifer shows a letter given to her by her Russian colleague, with whom she formed a close friendship at the migrant detention center. SANTIAGO ARCOS

She is unaware of the shooting that occurred in her neighborhood, Guasmo Sur, or that in the neighborhood cemetery, the four children who were disappeared by a military patrol were buried, and that their bodies were later found incinerated in the middle of a swamp.

She doesnt know about the latest violent deaths that have shaken the city, nor about the massacre of 22 people in the Socio Vivienda 2 neighborhood. Nor that extortion continues to increase, fueled by the fear and helplessness of those unable to pay.

Since Elena left the country, violence has been on the rise. The same violence that forced her to flee has now taken over the streets, turning Guayaquil into a city under siege. The economy, meanwhile, has not improved. Employment remains stagnant, and the basic wage has only increased by $10. Elena returns to an Ecuador overwhelmed, a country on fire.

Now we have to start from scratch. We sold what little we had, as well as the $17,000 we each owe, the 20-year-old says, her face creased with disappointment. I thought Id have protection in the United States, but they didnt believe me. I had to say Id been raped, that Id been shot, but I chose not to lie, she says, worried about the debt she must pay.

At that moment, Ramiro arrives at her side. Speechless, they fall into a long embrace. They are both clear about one thing: staying is not an option. Ecuador is no longer a country to live in. Although the future is uncertain, they both know the only way forward is to leave. They will start over, somewhere else, but far from here.

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Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Securities Litigation Partner James (Josh) Wilson Encourages Investors Who Suffered Losses Exceeding $50,000 In Telus International To Contact Him Directly To Discuss Their OptionsNEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / March 22, 2025 /If you suffered losses exceeding $50,000 in Telus International between February 16, 2023 and August 1, 2024 and would like to discuss your legal rights, call Faruqi & Faruqi partner Josh Wilson directly at 877-247-4292 or 212-983-9330 (Ext. 1310).[You may also click here for additional information]Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, is investigating potential claims against TELUS International (Cda) Inc. ("Telus International" or the "Company") (NYSE:TIXT) and reminds investors of the March 31, 2025 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal securities class action that has been filed against the Company.Faruqi & Faruqi is a leading national securities law firm with offices in New York, Pennsylvania, California and Georgia. The firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors since its founding in 1995. See www.faruqilaw.com As detailed below, the complaint alleges that the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose that: (1) the Company's AI Data Solutions offerings required the cannibalization of its higher-margin offerings; (2) that Telus International's declining profitability was tied to the Company's drive to develop AI capabilities; (3) that Telus International's shift toward AI put greater pressure on the Company's margins than previously disclosed; and (4) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.On May 9, 2024, Telus International released its first quarter 2024 financial results, revealing a $29 million decline in revenue year over year. On the same day, the Company held an earnings call during which Chief Financial Officer, Gopi Chande was asked by an analyst to clarify "what margin should look like on a go-forward basis" as margins "were down year-over-year and . . . were below the full year guidance." In response, Gopi Chande revealed that the margins generated by the Company's AI offerings "can be a bit below average." On this news, the Company's share price fell $1.41 or 18.15%, to close at $6.36 on May 9, 2024, on unusually heavy trading volume.Then, on August 2, 2024, before the market opened, Telus International released second quarter 2024 financial results, revealing a significant slowdown in revenue generation: a $5 million quarter-over-quarter or $15 million year-over-year revenue decrease; a $23 million or 15% quarter-over-quarter adjusted EBITDA decrease; and 14.6% quarter-over-quarter reduction in adjusted EBITDA margin, from 23.3% to 19.9%. As a result, Telus International announced it had significantly reduced its full year 2024 fiscal guidance. The Company also disclosed that Jeff Puritt, then-President and Chief Executive Officer, would retire effective September 3, 2024. In an earnings call held the same day, Puritt disclosed that the transition of the Company "towards a more technology centric and specifically AI fueled business," "necessitates some cannibalization of our tenured and higher margin CX work." Puritt concluded that, ultimately, the Company is "going to have to take it on the chin a little bit in terms of our historical margin profile" and rely upon "eating our own roommate cooking internally," referring the self-cannibalization of the business, "in order to create the headwind we need to enjoy the margin yield that we've historically benefited from." On this news, the Company's share price fell $2.33 or 35.96%, to close at $4.15 on August 2, 2024, on unusually heavy trading volume. The stock continued to decline on the next trading day available, falling $0.83, or 20%, to close at $3.32 on August 5, 2024, on unusually heavy trading volume.The court-appointed lead plaintiff is the investor with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class who is adequate and typical of class members who directs and oversees the litigation on behalf of the putative class. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision to serve as a lead plaintiff or not.Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding Telus International's conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others.To learn more about the TELUS International (Cda) class action, go towww.faruqilaw.com/TIXTor call Faruqi & Faruqi partner Josh Wilson directly at 877-247-4292 or 212-983-9330 (Ext. 1310).Follow us for updates on LinkedIn, on X, or on Facebook.Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP ( www.faruqilaw.com) . Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner.SOURCE: Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP
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SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / March 21, 2025 / Presearch.com , Inc., the community-driven decentralized search engine, is delighted to announce the strategic appointments of Dan Buckingham and Chris Huse as Global Vice Presidents of Sales. These pivotal hires underscore Presearch's commitment to monetizing and scaling its operations to unprecedented levels.Following the recent launch of a crowdfunding initiative on Wefunder, Presearch is poised to enhance the monetization of its core offerings, particularly its flagship advertising product, the Presearch Takeover Ad (PTA). PTAs are immersive, wallpaper-style advertisements displayed on the Presearch.com homepage and search result pages, offering geo-targeting capabilities by country or state.Tim Enneking, CEO of Presearch, expressed enthusiasm about the new additions: "The entire team at Presearch is ecstatic about bringing on board two such consummate professionals to establish our inaugural dedicated sales team. This development not only significantly enhances our monetization prospects but also ensures that Dan and Chris will champion the interests of advertisers, helping them achieve their objectives in collaboration with Presearch. Both have already hit the ground running, and we anticipate remarkable contributions from each." Dan Buckingham brings over a decade of experience in digital and broadcast media sales, most recently with Audacy. Chris Huse offers more than 15 years of expertise in digital media sales, with a robust background in the cryptocurrency sector-a key vertical for Presearch.Dan remarked, "I am thrilled to join the Presearch team at such an exciting juncture and am eager to contribute to this next phase of growth. I firmly believe in the Presearch mission, and witnessing the team's daily accomplishments is both incredible and inspiring. As consumers increasingly prioritize their privacy and seek alternatives to Big Tech, privacy-focused search is a burgeoning market, and Presearch offers a fantastic product. Presearch Takeover Ads present a bold new avenue for advertisers to engage with our expanding user base, and they are evidently yielding excellent results for existing clients." Chris added, "It's truly an honor to join such a talented team at Presearch as it continues to lead innovation in the privacy-focused, non-profiling search space. I'm incredibly excited to contribute to its mission and play a role in shaping the future of decentralized search." Currently, Presearch averages approximately 400,000 searches daily. The ongoing Wefunder crowdfunding campaign has garnered nearly $150,000 in just a few weeks.For more information on Presearch Takeover Ads, visit: https://presearch.io/advertise To learn more about the Wefunder crowdfunding campaign, visit: https://wefunder.com/presearch Access Presearch online at: www.presearch.com About PresearchEstablished in 2017, Presearch.com is the world's most widely used meta-search engine. Unlike conventional search engines, Presearch does not track users' online activity or sell their personal data to advertisers, allowing users to search with peace of mind. Presearch's robust ecosystem, powered in part by the community, includes its search API, AI search results, uncensored/unbiased AI chatbot PreGPT, keyword staking, node running, search staking, and an affordable advertising product suite.Media Contact:-Dan Buckingham dan@ presearch.com Presearch.com , Inc. presearch.com Visit us on social media:XLinkedInInstagramYouTubeTikTokSOURCE: Presearch
Family detention centers have long been a controversial element of U.S. immigration policy. While previous administrations, including those of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, used these facilities to hold migrant families, the first Donald Trump administration expanded their use in an effort to deter migration. After being greatly curtailed under President Joe Biden, family detention has now been reinstated under Trumps second term, reigniting debates over the treatment of migrant children and families.

History of family detention in the United States

The modern practice of family detention began under George W. Bush, who opened the first large-scale family detention center in Texas in the early 2000s. Prior to that, families were often released into the U.S. pending immigration proceedings. The Obama administration dramatically expanded detention in response to the 2014 influx of Central American migrants, including thousands of asylum-seeking families.

During Trumps first term, family detention became the cornerstone of his anti-immigration offensive. In addition to detaining families, his administration implemented the widely condemned policy of forcibly separating children from their parents at the border. Images of children held in cage-like enclosures sparked public outrage, leading to a court-ordered halt to the separations in 2018. However, by then, more than 4,600 children had been separated from their parents and, to this day, the whereabouts of hundreds remain unknown.

When Biden took office, he significantly reduced the use of family detention, and converted some facilities to adult-only detention centers and releasing many families into alternative programs. However, he considered reinstating family detention in 2023, at a time when the number of border crossings was at a record high, though he eventually abandoned the idea due to public and political opposition.

Now, Trump has revived the policy, opening detention centers in Karnes and Dilley, Texas, to hold families once again. The move aligns with his broader immigration agenda of mass deportations and strict border enforcement, which has drawn strong criticism from human rights groups.

A security camera next to a portrait of President Donald Trump inside the Dilley detention center. Jabin Botsford (Getty Images)

What are the family detention centers like?

Currently, DHS has reopened two main family detention centers, both in Texas:

Karnes County Residential Center (Karnes City, Texas) - 530 person capacity.

South Texas Family Residential Center (Dilley, Texas) - The largest facility, with a capacity of 2,400.

Combined, these centers can hold nearly 3,800 people. Managed by private prison companies with contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the centers have been described by critics as baby jails because of their restrictive environments.

Although DHS insists that these centers offer a safe and controlled environment with classrooms, recreational spaces, and medical care, numerous reports have detailed harsh conditions. In previous years, detainees have reported inadequate medical care, mistreatment and psychological trauma inflicted on children due to prolonged detention. The facilities, surrounded by fences and under constant surveillance, are more akin to prisons than residential centers.

Children, in particular, suffer significant harm from detention. Studies have shown that even short stays can lead to long-term psychological disorders, such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. In some cases, children have died after developing illnesses in detention, such as the one-year-old girl who died shortly after being released from the Dilley facility in 2018.

Who is at risk of detention?

Families currently detained at Karnes and Dilley include migrants from Colombia, Romania, Iran, Angola, Russia, Armenia, Turkey, and Brazil. Some were apprehended crossing the U.S.-Mexico or U.S.-Canada borders, while others were arrested in recent immigration raids across the country. Some of these individuals had been living in the United States for up to 10 years before being detained. Under Trumps reinstated policy, the following groups are at risk of being detained in family detention centers:

Asylum seekers: Families seeking protection from violence and persecution may be detained while their cases are processed.

Undocumented families: Parents and children living in the United States without legal status may be detained and deported.

Migrant families subject to expedited removal: Some families may be deported quickly without a court hearing unless they qualify for asylum.

Individuals with prior deportation orders: Families who re-enter the United States after a prior removal order may face immediate deportation.

Trump administration officials have stated that detained families have final orders of removal and are in the U.S. illegally. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has defended the policy, arguing that families who do not want to be detained should self-deport to avoid being taken into custody.

Two girls play in a daycare center inside the immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas. Jabin Botsford (Getty Images)

Flores Settlement Agreement

The Flores Settlement Agreement, established in 1997, sets legal standards for the detention of immigrant children. It requires that children be housed in the least restrictive setting and released as soon as possible to their parents, guardians or authorized caregivers. A 2016 federal ruling extended Flores protections to children detained with their families, limiting their time in custody to no more than 20 days.

Trumps renewed use of family detention raises concerns that his administration may attempt to challenge or circumvent the Flores Agreement to allow for longer detentions. While a court order currently prohibits Trump from reviving his family separation policy, some advocates fear that extended detentions could be a step toward reinstating separations in another form.

Migrant advocacy groups have opposed the policy, calling it inhumane, unjust and unnecessary. Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director of Detention Watch Network, has condemned the practice, saying that detaining children deliberately places them in harmful conditions and deprives parents of their ability to care for them in an enriching environment.
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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / March 21, 2025 / Rosen Law Firm PAWHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of common stock of Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) between August 2, 2022 and February 3, 2025, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important April 23, 2025 lead plaintiff deadline.SO WHAT: If you purchased Atkore common stock during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Atkore class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=35751 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. at 866-767-3653 or email case@ rosenlegal.com for more information. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than April 23, 2025. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company at the time. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Atkore engaged in an anticompetitive price-fixing scheme that artificially inflated the price of polyvinyl chloride ("PVC") water pipes and electrical conduit pipes (together, "PVC Pipes"); (2) in turn, Atkore reaped significant, unsustainable financial benefits from its anticompetitive conduct; (3) as Atkore's price-fixing scheme was exposed, Atkore and its price fixing co-conspirators were no longer able to artificially inflate the price of PVC Pipes, resulting in a substantial decrease in the price of PVC Pipes; (4) Atkore's business and operations were negatively impacted; and (5) as a result of the above, defendants' positive statements about Atkore's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.To join the Atkoreclass action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=35751 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. at 866-767-3653 or email case@ rosenlegal.com for more information.No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm , on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/ Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.---Contact Information: Laurence Rosen, Esq.Phillip Kim, Esq.The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.275 Madison Avenue, 40th FloorNew York, NY 10016Tel: (212) 686-1060Toll Free: (866) 767-3653Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@ rosenlegal.comwww.rosenlegal.com SOURCE: Rosen Law Firm PA
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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / March 21, 2025 /WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of Edison International (NYSE:EIX) between February 25, 2021 and February 6, 2025, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important April 21, 2025 lead plaintiff deadline in the securities class action first filed by the Firm.SO WHAT: If you purchased Edison securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Edison class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=33590or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@ rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than April 21, 2025. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company at the time. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Edison's claim that Southern California Edison Company ("SCE") used its Public Safety Power Shutoffs ("PSPS") program to "proactively de-energize power lines to mitigate the risk of catastrophic wildfires during extreme weather events", was false; (2) this resulted in heightened fire risk in California and heightened legal exposure to Edison; and (3) as a result, defendants' statements about Edison's business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.To join the Edison class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=33590call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@ rosenlegal.com for information on the class action.No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.---Contact Information:Laurence Rosen, Esq.Phillip Kim, Esq.The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.275 Madison Avenue, 40th FloorNew York, NY 10016Tel: (212) 686-1060Toll Free: (866) 767-3653Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@ rosenlegal.comwww.rosenlegal.com SOURCE: The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
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NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / March 22, 2025 / Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues to investigate potential breaches of fiduciary duties by the directors and officers of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in connection with a report of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into UnitedHealth's billing practices.If you currently own shares of UnitedHealth stock, please visit the firm's website at https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=25195for more information. You may also contact Phillip Kim of Rosen Law Firm toll free at 866-767-3653 or via email at case@ rosenlegal.com Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm , on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/ Why Rosen Law: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company at the time. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.---Contact Information:Laurence Rosen, Esq.Phillip Kim, Esq.The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.275 Madison Avenue, 40th FloorNew York, NY 10016Tel: (212) 686-1060Toll Free: (866) 767-3653Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@ rosenlegal.comwww.rosenlegal.com SOURCE: The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
In mid-January, James Achu, a 62-year-old farmer from Cross River State, South-South Nigeria, was upbeat about the upcoming banana and plantain harvest season. He looked forward to benefitting from the high prices of food crops in the country. But his dream turned into a nightmare after forest elephants from the neighbouring Cross River National Park (CRNP) invaded his farm and left a trail of destruction in their wake.

Mr Achus farm is located in Bamba, one of the Mbe Mountain communities in Boki, Cross River State. In recent years, elephants have eaten crops and destroyed many farms in the communities that house one of Nigerias protected conservation areas.

After hours of navigating the narrow, bushy pathways to the invaded plots, the farmer and this reporter arrived at the sections of the 11-hectare farmland that the elephants have turned into their playground during the annual harvest seasons.

A large portion of the farm hosts cocoa, varieties of tall trees capable of producing choice woods, and herbs scattered across the dense forest.

Mr Achu showed this reporter a banana and plantain plantation located about 100 metres from a stream that separates the national park from the community forest. The plantation had been overrun by the elephants. With a bunch of bananas selling for N8,000, the farmer imagined how much money he would have made from his ruined plantation.

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Several other farmers in the communities and in Bauchi State, where the Yankari Games Reserve is located, had the same experience as Mr Achu.

There is no need for replanting because even if you replant, they (elephants) are still coming, Mr Achu said, gesturing in frustration. This year, I told them that I would not complain again; I am not a child. I know what to do.

There are nine communities in the Mbe Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary area. The inhabitants are mainly farmers growing crops such as banana, plantain, bush mango (ogbono), cocoa, cassava and oil palm. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that elephants encroach farms in four of the communities Bamba, Wula II, Bokalum and Abo-mkpang which share boundaries with the Cross River National Park. The communities are about an eight-hour drive from Calabar metropolis in the Cross River capital.

The Cross River National Park is one of the largest remaining forest blocks in the Guinean Forest biodiversity hotspot. Both the Oban and Okwangwo divisions of the park are home to vulnerable species such as chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), Cross River gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli), the heavily trafficked white-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) and forest elephants. PREMIUM TIMES only visited the Okwangwo division axis in Boki Local Government Area.

Loggers operate between the Biakwan-Boki Local Government Area highway and roads leading to the Mbe protected areas. The persistent sound of chainsaws emanating from the dense forests highlights the scale of their logging operations, which are believed to be illegal. There are also lorries conveying logged wood, while statues of wildlife species and crops are at the entrance to each community.

Human Elephant Conflicts in Nigeria

Like the menace of farmer-herder clashes and kidnapping for ransom affecting many rural communities across Nigeria, the destruction of crops by elephants has become a significant problem for many farmers in Nigerias tropical rainforest and savanna ecological zones.

These elephants activities are fueling hostile behaviours among locals and posing significant threats to the population of the elephants. The farmers who spoke to our correspondent did not admit to killing elephants, perhaps because they know that the law prohibits this. However, some locals said angry farmers used to hire poachers to chase elephants away from their land.

Nigeria is among the few countries in Africa with a unique elephant population. The nation is blessed with both forest and savanna-dwelling species, scientifically known as Loxodonta cyclotis and Loxodonta africana respectively. It is estimated that about 90 per cent of Nigerias elephants are found in or close to protected areas (national parks, game reserves, etc), while 10 per cent live outside the protected areas.

However, the animals are facing greater threats from human activities and climate change.

Scary trends

In recent years, Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) has emerged as a predominant threat to the declining elephant population across Nigerias major ecological zones.

This issue is exacerbated by illegal logging, expansion of agricultural activities, and extreme weather events, among other contributing factors.

According to the Natural Resources Conservation Council (NARESCON), the main threats to Nigerias elephant population include poaching and illegal ivory trade, habitat loss and fragmentation, livestock grazing, HEC and legal/institutional challenges.

In 1974 and 1975 respectively, Nigeria signed and ratified the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). By implication, Nigeria is obligated to the responsibilities of implementing all relevant texts of the Convention in Nigeria, part of which is to enforce the law banning the killing of endangered species in protected areas and the illicit trafficking of protected animals and body parts.

In Nigeria, the Endangered Species (Control of International Trade and Traffic) Act, 1985 (Decree No. 11 of 1985) bans the killing of endangered animals. The law prohibits hunting, capturing, or trading in animal species threatened by extinction and mandates the government to conserve and protect wildlife in compliance with international treaties.

However, the laws governing conservation efforts are seldom enforced, largely due to the lack of political will.

In 2022, an investigation by PREMIUM TIMES and Mongabay found evidence of systematic failure by law enforcement and the judiciary to hold wildlife poachers and traffickers accountable.

Despite being a CITES signatory, over the last decade, Nigeria has emerged as a key destination, leading source and transit point for wildlife trade. Due to its porous borders, corruption, transport links to Asia, and poor law enforcement, wildlife traffickers have made Nigeria a key exit point for ivory smuggled from Africa to Asia.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), between 2009 and 2017, almost 30 metric tonnes of seized ivory, and in 2019 at least 51 metric tonnes of seized pangolin scales, originated in Nigeria.

Nigeria made its largest seizure of pangolin scales in January 2020, when officials recovered 9.5 metric tonnes of scales worth an estimated N10.6 billion ($25.9 million).

Meanwhile, to curb the killing of elephants for their ivory, the Nigerian government developed a national Ivory Action Plan in 2015 and joined the Elephant Protection Initiative (EPI) in 2018. Still, the booming ivory trade has remained unchecked amidst the failure to successfully prosecute individuals involved.

In 2021, the Nigeria Customs Service intercepted 18.7 metric tonnes of elephant tusks, rhino horns, pangolin scales and claws at various exit points across the country.

In February 2022, it seized 145 kilogrammes (320 pounds) of elephant tusks and 840 kg (1,852 lbs) of pangolin scales at a notorious market in the affluent Lekki district of Lagos.

As of November 2023, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, a critical indicator of the health of the worlds biodiversity and an essential tool used to inform conservation action and policy, assessed 5,213 species in Nigeria.

Of this figure, 503 (10 per cent) species were classified as threatened critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerableand 162 (3 per cent) as data deficient.

The IUCN data showed that over the past three decades, Nigerias elephant population has declined from an estimated 1,200-1,500 to an estimated 300-400. Of this figure, about 200-300 are described as forest elephants, while about 100 are considered savanna elephants.

This prompted the IUCN to classify Africas forest elephants as critically endangered and the savannah elephant as endangered.

In August last year, the federal government, supported by WCS and the Elephant Protection Initiative, adopted a 10-year plan to protect the countrys remaining elephants. The ambitious plan, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, details the current situation and provides an urgent framework for the long-term conservation of elephants across the Nigerian territory.

Its essential to understand that this is a last-chance initiative, with irreversible effects if the plan doesnt achieve its objectives, which is why its an operational plan, with clear objectives and a pipeline of funds, said WCS Nigeria country director, Andrew Dunn, the lead author of the document.

Saving Nigerias last elephants will require more than just funds; it will require a significant change in attitude at all levels and a paradigm shift by federal and state governments towards a realisation that human wellbeing and global health is inextricably linked to biodiversity loss and climate change, Mr Dunn said.

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Dunn said Nigerias conservation laws are good but that the penalties to defaulters need to be updated to complement recent realities.

Crop-raiding is impoverishing us

For many farmers, however, the elephants are a menace. In Bokalum village in Cross River, a farmer, Tudi Akansi, known among locals as Kaci muci, a Hausa phrase which translates to Eat lets eat, shared his experience with forest elephants.

The farmer narrated how elephants have been destroying cocoa, banana, and cocoyam farms in his community since 2005.

Elephant farm raiding is impoverishing farmers in this community, Mr Akansi. The father of 12 children stated that the farmers complained to the authorities, but nothing has changed.

We complained to the National Park headquarters in Akamkpa. They told us that we should be exercising patience and that they would bring explosive mechanisms to scare the elephants away. Instead, it brought more elephants into our farms every year to date, he said.

Go to our farms, no agricultural activities are going on there, the farmer added, stating that if not for the conservation education the community was receiving from WCS, they would be hunting elephants in retaliation.

We are in the epicentre of elephant habitation and we just dont have rest. We are just appealing for the federal government to come and take care of their elephants so that we will have rest, he said.

Women farmers not left out

On a Friday morning in January, the sun cast a warm glow over the town halls of Cross Rivers Wula II and Bokalum villages, where a vibrant assembly of women smallholder farmers had gathered.

Their faces, lit with anticipation, reflected the dedication they had for their craft as they waited patiently for the arrival of this reporter and later took turns to exchange their farming experiences.

The atmosphere was alive with the sounds of chatter and laughter, filled with the promise of collaboration and knowledge-sharing among these resilient women, each with a unique story to tell.

The farmers took turns narrating how the presence of elephants negatively impacts their farming activities. However, they said the WCS was providing them with improved seedlings of Bush mango and cocoa, cash gifts and conservation training to support their businesses and reduce pressure on protected areas.

Their stories highlighted the resilience of farmers in adapting to wildlife interactions and finding ways to protect their livelihoods.

The story is different in some other Cross River communities, where farmers expressed frustration over a lack of government support and accused the National Park authorities of refusing to compensate for crops destroyed by wild elephants.

Just as compensation is given to the Fulani farmers up north, it should also be extended to us here. We are all Nigerians. They (the government) should come and see how we are surviving too; either by way of support or outright compensation. Otherwise, there is no hope for this plantain or cocoa, Mr Achu said.

Mr Akansi advised the government to prepare a zone in the conservation areas where the elephants can be reared educatively to prevent encroachment.

The Conservator General of the federation, Ibrahim Goni, and the CRNP Conservator of Park, Joseph Ntui, declined to comment on the issues when presented with our findings and the allegations made by community members.

However, a senior official of the Cross River National Park, who asked not to be named since he was not authorised to speak on the issue, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that they were aware of elephants raiding the communities.

We cannot compensate the farmers because it is not sustainable, the official said.

He explained how the farmers contribute to the problem.

They cultivated their farms too close to the national park so the elephants could easily stray into the farms because they didnt allow the buffer area trees in the community forest to remain. They have cut down everything because they want to farm, the national park staff told PREMIUM TIMES.

On 4 March, Victor Abang, a lawmaker representing the Ikom and Boki local government areas in the House of Representatives, raised a motion on the killing of citizens and destruction of crops by wild elephants in Boki.

He said many residents and farmers in Bamba and surrounding areas were unable to access their farms because they feared elephants from the national park would attack them.

The continued killing of citizens and destruction of farmlands by these elephants has severely impacted the local economy and food security. Even as we speak, these wild animals continue to ravage farmlands in Bamba and surrounding communities in Eastern Boki, worsening the plight of our people, the lawmaker said.

If urgent measures are not taken by relevant authorities to protect the affected communities and their farmlands, frustrated locals may resort to self-help, endangering both human lives and the already threatened elephant population, he noted.

Casualties in Yankari

As in Cross River, PREMIUM TIMES observed that many farms close to the Yankari Games Reserves in Bauchi State, northeastern Nigeria were invaded by wild elephants from the reserve.

Adamu Muhammad lamented that his maize, cassava and bambara nut (Okpa) farm, located about a kilometre from the Yankari reserve boundary, was completely ravaged by Savanna elephants last September.

If theres a way to eradicate the elephants, Ill be glad because they always eat up my crops, Mr Muhammad told PREMIUM TIMES in Hausa.

The farmer said he projected to harvest between 25 and 30 bags of Okpa nuts last year but got only 12 to 13 bags while his cassava and maize seedlings were eaten up a few days after they were planted.

Despite complaining to the appropriate authorities, he said he was given no compensation.

Even this year, we cultivated a bulk of bambara nuts (Okpa) and they ate it completely. Same with maize. As it is right now, we just need help. We dont even have food because the elephants ate them all, the farmer who said he has been struggling to feed his two wives and 13 children said.

Several farmers across the Yawan Duguri, Gwana and Pali villages surrounding the Yankari reserve, shared similar experiences.

But unlike the CRNP, which is managed by the federal government, the Yankari reserve is managed by the Bauchi State Government and co-managed by WCS. The reserve contains the largest savanna elephant population in the country. It covers 2,244 square kilometres of Guinea Savanna woodland and is bisected by the Gaji River. Dry savanna woodlands and riparian vegetation, which support the thriving of animal species such as buffalo, hartebeest, baboons, and elephants, were observed during a visit in February. Unlike the southern part of Nigeria, the Yankari reserve area is characterised by tall grasses, shrubs and trees.

Human-elephant conflicts have been reported to be frequent, particularly during their annual wet season movement out of the park. However, with the expansion of irrigation season farming practices around the reserve area, farmers conflicts with the savanna elephants now cut across both seasons.

While poaching for ivory and human-elephant conflict are the primary threats to the elephant population in Cross River Park, human-elephant conflict is the major danger to the approximately 100 remaining savanna elephants in the Yankari Reserve.

At least six cases of human-elephant conflict are now reported monthly in the region, an analysis by WCS showed.

One elephant carcass was recorded around the Buri area of the reserve, the first elephant carcass recorded since May 2015. There was no sign of a gunshot to indicate if the elephant was shot. Although the ivory was missing it was removed after the carcass had decayed, and we believe that the elephant most likely died from natural causes, WCS said in its annual report.

Between 2018 and 2019, the wildlife organisation said three people were killed by elephants around the Yankari Games Reserves in Bauchi State. It, however, said the deaths occurred not as a result of conflict but because overzealous villagers were trying to get too close to the elephants to take photographs.

Regardless, the presence of roaming elephants in communities adjacent to protected areas highlights the significant habitat loss that is increasingly driving these animals away from their natural reserves and into surrounding inhabited areas, inadvertently exposing them to harm.

During PREMIUM TIMES visit to both Cross River and Yankari, it was observed that there are no buffer zones between the park/reserve and the community forests to control spillover animals.

Farmers also did not leave enough buffer between the parks/ reserve and their farms.

In Yankari, PREMIUM TIMES observed that locals have farmed a community forest that could have served as a buffer for the wildlife. On the corridors of the reserve, farmers were spotted burning wood for charcoal.

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Yankari Game Reserves Principal Wildlife Officer, Naziru Zakari, said the reserve contains the last viable elephants in the country.

If we lose them, it means we have lost all our elephants in the country, the official said.

Asked if they had been seeing dead elephants in the reserve, Mr Zakari said the last time he saw elephant carcasses was about eight years ago.

In most cases, it is the poachers who used to kill the elephants. I have only witnessed a case of natural death of an elephant since I got employed here, he said.

Ongoing efforts

The WCS established a network of 18 elephant guardians around the reserve to provide an alert whenever elephants stray onto local farms.

Insert picture of a beehive, smelly fences and watch towers in Yankari

The organisation is also piloting the use of bee-hive fences, smelly-fences (a concoction of fermented organic materials) and watchtowers around Yankari to deter elephants from local farms and reduce human-elephant conflict.

In his intervention, Isaac Bessong, an indigene of Boki and student at the University of Calabar currently researching HEC around the Mbe Mountains, urged the federal government to do more to conserve endangered species in the area.

Elephants often leave the national park to damage crops, leading farmers to retaliate by killing them. This is causing a decline in the elephant population, Mr Bessong said.

If anyone goes against the law, the community should be the one with implementation, because the government cant do it if the community partnership and collaboration are very weak, he noted.

Page planned and produced by : Oladayo Jonathan

Infographics by: George Kaduna

This reporting was completed with the support of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development as part of the Centre for Investigative Journalisms Open Climate Reporting Initiative.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Nigeria supported our reporter to access some hard-to-reach communities visited for this investigation.

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Have you ever heard the phrases E ti won bo ta and E to won si Konga and wondered about their literal meaning?

You might have mistaken them for throwing someone into a wella hole drilled or dug into the ground to access underground waterbut their meaning is entirely different.

These phrases may not resonate with many today, especially Gen Z, but they hold nostalgic significance for Afrobeats, Hip-Hop, and Dancehall lovers from the early 2000s.

Originating from Baby Konga, a hit song by Lawal Konga Olumo released in 2003, these expressions became popular and solidified Kongas place in the Nigerian music scene.

Rather than their literal interpretation, they metaphorically mean denying access to unwanted individualstypically those who are broke or uninvited.

This meaning is vividly illustrated in the songs music video uploaded to YouTube in 2012.

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Baby Konga

The song is an upbeat, dance-oriented track widely popular at parties and clubs when it was released.

The lyrics of Baby Konga were filled with vulgar anecdotes, leading to its ban by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) in 2008.

In 2004, Konga became the first Nigerian artiste to release a single track, Baby Konga, as a full album due to overwhelming demand.

By the end of 2005, he had released his debut 14-track album, Konga H2O, which featured collaborations with 2Baba and DJ Zeez on Ja Won Si, Morachi on Holl It, and several other hit songs.

In 2013, while promoting his song Always Guidingwhich he described as a message to Nigerians about their struggles and way of lifehe told Channels Television that Baby Konga symbolised the beating of drums.

Konga collaborated with various musicians and was a significant name in the industry before fading from the scene.

Spotlight

Kongas hit song Baby Konga returned to the spotlight on 15 March after he accused Grammy-winning artiste Burna Boy of using his lyrics without credit.

In a video posted on his TikTok page, Konga alleged that Burna Boy borrowed his lines, E ti won bo sita bi ti Konga in the remix of Sungba, his collaboration with Asake.

He further alleged that Burna Boy used another of his signature phrases, Agbabiaka o, in his latest release, Update, replicating his lyrics and rhythm.

While Konga appreciated Burna Boys admiration of his style, he emphasised that he deserved compensation.

He also demanded that Burna Boy and Tiwa Savage appear on the remix of his song, Kabakaba.

Konga said: Im calling Burna Boy out. Burna Boy, this video is for you because you name-dropped me in your song with Asake, Sungba (Remix), and in your new release, I noticed that you also used some of my lines and even my rhythm.

Its obvious that you like my vibe and have been incorporating a lot of my flow. I appreciate that. I love your use of my craft, but I want you and Tiwa Savage on the Kabakaba remix. I will be expecting your feedback. I call you out in peace.

The Twice as Tall hitmaker hasnt responded to Kongas allegations as of press time.

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Nigeria secured the 105th ranking out of 147 nations in the 2025 World Happiness Report, which was unveiled Thursday as the world observes the International Day of Happiness.

The report showed that Nigeria dropped three spots from its 2024 ranking of 102 but has moved higher to become the 10th happiest country in Africa.

Libya emerged as the highest-ranked nation in Africa, securing 79th place. It surpasses its neighbours life satisfaction and societal well-being amidst ongoing challenges.

Finland continued its streak as the worlds happiest country for the eighth consecutive year, with other Nordic nations like Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden following its lead.

According to the report, the Netherlands ranks fifth, Israel number eight, and Luxembourg number nine, completing the top 10 list.

The United States, which fell out of the top 20 for the first time last year, now ranks No. 24, having reached its highest ranking of No. 11 back in 2012.

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The decline in happiness is not exclusive to the US. The United Kingdom now has an average life satisfaction of 23, recording its lowest level since 2017.

Meanwhile, Canada, which has seen a downward trend in happiness over the past decade, remained in the top 20 at number 18.

Once again, Afghanistan, which has been suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe since the Taliban movement regained control of the government in 2021, remains the unhappiest country in the world.

Other rankings

Afghanistan is ranked last at number. 147, followed by Sierra Leone at 146, Lebanon at 145, Malawi at 144, and Zimbabwe at 143, rounding out the five lowest-ranking countries in the happiness index.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the International Day of Happiness, celebrated annually on March 20 since 2013, coincides with the release of the yearly report.

The World Happiness Report is released by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network in collaboration with Gallup and the Oxford Center for Well-Being Research.

READ ALSO: Nollywood actress Nkechi Nweje is dead

It examines how happiness varies across populations, showing significant differences within and between nations.

The report looks at six key variables to help explain life evaluations: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption.

This years report edition focused on the impact of caring and sharing on peoples happiness and how happiness varies across populations, showing significant differences within and between nations.

(NAN)

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The second-hand underwear market in Lagos is experiencing significant growth, which is not news.

What is new is the rising demand for used bras.

Some women say that their decisions when buying bras are based on affordability, durability, and quality.

Many say they choose fairly used bras, popularly known as Okrika, because they are mostly available, affordable, and durable.

In Lagos State, in addition to busy markets such as Tejuosho, Balogun, and Katangowa, thrift bras can be found in smaller markets, stores, and roadside traders.

Peace Okeke, also known as Lady Bra among her customers in Festac Town, in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of the state, says she has been in the trade for over 18 years.

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According to Mrs Okeke, many of her customers have come to trust high-quality, first-grade thrift bras since she started the business.

Mrs Okeke, who sells thrift and new bras, says first-grade second-hand bras are becoming increasingly popular for those seeking affordability, durability, and comfort.

I have been in the business for 18 years and have seen how peoples preferences changed. Most people prefer it. One, its durable and long-lasting when in use. Secondly, its cheap, its affordable. Anybody can afford it, she said.

She notes that new bras, particularly from top-tier international brands, can cost between N15,000 and N50,000 or more. Still, thrift bras of similar quality are available for as low as N5,000.

People buy new ones, but the average person, especially those with limited income, can comfortably get thrift bras for N5,000. You can also get three bras for the same price as one new bra, and they will last as long as you need them to, she explains.

Health concerns

While some may hesitate to buy second-hand bras, mainly due to social stigma or hygiene concerns, Mrs Okeke stressed the value of purchasing thrift items.

She says thrift bras are the better choice for those on a budget.

The economic situation in the country is complicated. Some people have the money to get N15,000 or N20,000. I will advise those who cannot afford to: Instead of spending N15,000 on one bra, you can use that N15,000 to get three good bras.

They will last you as long as you want without spoiling unless you decide to change your underwear, she said.

Regarding hygiene, Mrs Okeke says washing them properly with warm water and salt is the simple solution.

She says her customers have not reported any issues with hygiene and infections and that some even use the same cleaning method for thrift underwear, which she says sells in large quantities.

Even people go as far as using it to wash thrift pants, and they wear it. No germs. No diseases, she says.

Also, Aisha Lawal, a trader at Orile Market, says the economic hardship has pushed many women to seek out thrift bras as an alternative.

I sell both new and fairly used bras, but the fairly used ones sell faster, and many women prefer them because they are stronger, cheaper and last longer than the new ones, she says.

Mrs Lawal, who has been in the business for over 15 years, says customers can get a good-quality thrift bra for as low as N1,500 to N2,000, while a new one of the same quality will cost N20,000 or more.

She says durability and affordability are the selling point of thrift bras.

Unlike many new bras that can lose their elasticity and quality quickly, significantly cheaper mass-produced ones, thrift bras, often sourced from reputable regions like the UK, are known for their resilience. Even those with larger busts, frequently overlooked in mainstream stores, can find a reasonably priced, well-fitting, long-lasting bra from thrift stores.

Mrs Lawal advises buyers to soak their thrift bras in hot water and disinfectant before washing to kill germs.

She acknowledges the source of quality bras: Some of these fairly used bras come from the UK and USA, and they are of better quality than the cheap, new ones.

Again, peoples concerns are hygiene and proper care about second-hand items, especially underwear.

According to Olayemi Adebayo, she buys thrift bras in good condition because they are more affordable and, most times, better than new ones.

Mrs Adebayo says she has not had issues with hygiene because she washes it properly before use.

More perspectives

However, Tolu Adebiyi, a banker, says that quality, hygiene, and perception of used items are also significant considerations for her when buying underwear.

I only buy new bras. I believe undergarments should be personal and new. I dont feel comfortable wearing something that someone else has used. I understand that fairly used bras are more affordable, but I would rather save and buy new ones, she says.

Remilekun Moses, a lingerie businesswoman, says thrift trends will not impact underwear brands.

They have their market share and offer more stylish and sensual designs using luxury fabrics, she says.

According to Moses, a digital marketer, local and international underwear brands are expanding their reach by targeting the middle and upper classes through social media.

Thrifts are becoming more than just a trend; they are a lifestyle for many.

People increasingly turn to second-hand goods to save money because they are often made with higher-quality materials that last longer.

For many, thrift bras are no longer seen as second-rate options but innovative, practical solutions that deliver quality and affordability.

(NAN)

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The Nigerian film industry, Nollywood, has been thrown into mourning following the passing of veteran actress Nkechi Nweje.

The news of her untimely death has sent shockwaves through the industry, with colleagues and fans alike struggling to come to terms with the loss, many taking to social media to express their disbelief and grief.

Her colleague, producer Stanley Ontop, confirmed her death in a social media post. The fellow actor who has close ties with the late actress confirmed that she died on Friday after a brief

Illness.

The producer wrote, Nollywood in tears as we lost one of our vibrant actresses, @nkechi.nweje, after a brief illness. I havent been able to post since this morning because it felt like a dream. Ezigbo Nwanyi Onitsha, rest in peace, maam. My best friend, she always called me, advising me. We last spoke during the Queenth saga; she said, Ontop stop. Im still speechless.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ajemba Stanley Chibueze (@stanley_ontop)

Actress Rita Edochie also shared a candlelight image on Instagram, captioning it, This world is not our home.

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View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rita Edochie (@ritaedochie)

Actor Buchi Dortmund wrote, Today, my heart is heavy with sorrow as I say goodbye to my dear sister. Words cannot capture the depth of this pain, nor can they fully express my love for her. Rest in peace, Ezigbo Mrs Nkechi Nweje.

Asa Ikuku added, Rest in peace, mummy Nkechi Nweje TV (Nwanyi Onitsha). You are indeed a blessing to us. But God knows best. We will miss you so much, great Nollywood actress. Rest on, legend.

Other Nollywood stars, including Destiny Etiko and Anita Joseph, have also paid tribute to the late actress.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Destiny Etiko (@destinyetikoofficial)

Nkechi Nweje

Renowned for her compelling portrayals of motherly roles, Nkechi featured in movies like Royal War, Festival of Sorrow, and Coming Back from Congo.

READ ALSO: Experts recommend strategies to bridge funding gaps for women entrepreneurs

She was married to Azubuike Nweje, a director with the Anambra State Ministry of Health, and they had six children. Before the actresss demise, her profile shows that she is religious and spends time with her family.

Nkechis death follows the passing of several Nollywood actors in 2025, including Columbus Irosanga, Pat Ugwu, and Asa Koko.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Winnie Nweje (@nkechi.nweje)

Her most recent public engagement was the release of her new film, The Debt, which premiered on YouTube last week.

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Director: Isioma Osaje

Producer: Funke Akindele

Cast: Funke Akindele, Efe Iwara, Joseph Benjamin, Omowunmi Dada, Femi Adebayo Salami, Shaffy Bello, Dele Odule, Sharon Ooja, Tina Mba, Dakore Egbuson-Akande, Omoni Oboli.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Streaming platform: Prime Video

Running time: 2h 34m

Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later

Have you ever looked in the mirror and felt like a stranger was staring back at you?

Its a feeling that creeps in slowlythe realisation that somewhere along the way, youve become a version of yourself shaped by expectations, fear, or love that was never yours.

Losing yourself isnt always loud; sometimes, its the quiet sacrifice of dreams, the slow fading of identity in a life that no longer feels like your own.

This is what Filmmaker Funke Akindele intends to tell with her new movie, Finding Meespecially for women who feel trapped in roles that limit them. She plans to strike grounds on breaking free, reclaiming your identity, and realising you dont have to stay where you no longer belong. At its heart, the film asks: are you truly living or just existing for others?

Directed by Isioma Osaje and premiered on 16 March, the story follows Atinuke, a young woman struggling with confidence issues, worsened by a manipulative and controlling relationship with Kola. The star-studded cast includes Funke Akindele, Efe Iwara, Joseph Benjamin, Omowunmi Dada, Femi Adebayo Salami, Shaffy Bello, Dele Odule, Sharon Ooja, Tina Mba, Dakore Egbuson-Akande, Omoni Oboli, Emeka Nwagbaraocha, and AbdulGafar Abiola (The Cute Abiola).

Plot

Atinuke Phillips (Funke Akindele), a successful CEO, struggles with low self-esteem despite her achievements. Her marriage to Kolawole (Joseph Benjamin), a manipulative real estate developer, is filled with emotional abuse. He body-shames her, pressures her into cosmetic procedures, and exploits her wealth to fund his failing business. At home, her billionaire father (Adele Odule) enforces rigid expectations, discouraging divorce, while her brother (Femi Adebayo) constantly undermines her authority, eager to take over the family business. Desperate to please Kola, Atinuke embarks on a fitness journey and meets Anthony (Efa Iwara), a gym trainer facing financial struggles.

While devoted to his girlfriend Ndidi, he remains unaware that she exploits him. As Atinuke and Anthony grow close, their bond provides them the kindness and support theyve been missing. Their relationship takes an unexpected turn when a moment of passion results in pregnancy, complicating their already entangled lives. Meanwhile, Atinukes reckless withdrawal of N500 million to support Kolas business backfires, costing her the CEO position and giving her brother control. Losing her career unexpectedly frees Atinuke, but Kolas abuse worsens.

At a business event, he humiliates her publicly while flaunting his mistress, who turns out to be the events caterer. As Atinuke struggles to let go, she uncovers damning evidence of Kolas crimes, including financial fraud and even a possible murder. When she confronts him, he turns violent, and Anthony is framed for a crime he didnt commit. In the chaos, secrets unravelincluding the truth about Atinukes son Denrele being adopted. Faced with undeniable evidence of Kolas evil, Atinuke finally realises she must break free, reclaiming her life on her terms.

Critical Review

Finding Me is one of those films that grips you emotionally, making you feel every moment of the main characters struggles. Every single central character, with their internal battles, is someone you can relate to or empathise with.

Funke Akindele shines as Atinuke, a woman battling self-doubt, a toxic relationship, and toxic masculinity that slowly chip away at her confidence. Her performance is raw and relatable, pulling you into her world of silent suffering and quiet strength. Its impossible not to root for her, hoping shell finally break free from the emotional chains holding her back. But does she break free? Maybemaybe not significantly. Thats the suspense that hooks the films central theme.

But on the other flip of the films delivery and emotional punch, it tries to take on too much at once. You can feel the juggle between domestic abuse, family expectations, workplace struggles, and personal growth, all in a short runtime. This leaves some parts of the story feeling rushed, with certain charactersespecially Kola, the toxic boyfriendnot getting the depth they deserve.

His eventual downfall, rather than being a decisive moment, feels a little too easy. Visually, the movie is stunning, and the cinematography helps immerse you in Atinukes world. However, the overuse of dramatic music sometimes forces emotion instead of letting scenes breathe naturally.

Then theres the endingeasily the most talked-about part of the film. When it feels like Atinuke is stepping into her anticipated power, the story throws a curveball that leaves you unsure if shes genuinely free or still trapped in old cycles. While this might be a realistic take on how difficult it is to break free from toxic patterns, it also resolves to feel incomplete.

As a viewer, youre left wanting morea more precise moment of victory for Atinuke, something that genuinely feels like she has found herself. Despite its flaws, Finding Me is a heartfelt film that sparks essential conversations about self-worth and emotional abuse. Its the kind of movie that resonates with your decision-making and lingers in your mind long after giving a nod and thumbs up.

Verdict

Finding Me is rated 6/10.

More Pictures:

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She has worked across five borders, 10 countries, and countless cities. She has asked herself the same questions that so many others do: Who defines who we are and what we can become? Where can we go? Her connection to migration is deeply rooted in her Cuban identity.

I have witnessed how permits  or the lack of them  the lack of freedoms, and deprivation have shaped and continue to shape the lives of Cubans. The history of Cuban mobility has always been one of restrictions and pressures, both internal and external, in the struggle to travel, survive, to find a place to put down roots, says Maria Jose Espinosa, 40, a foreign policy expert and executive director of the Center for Engagement and Advocacy in the Americas (CEDA), an organization based in Washington working to promote a governance system that fosters orderly, safe, and regular migration across the region.

Since 2018, Espinosa has visited the southern border of the United States multiple times, noting that each visit reflects new dynamics shaped by changes in immigration policies. Her most recent trip, to El Paso, Texas, just three weeks ago, revealed a completely different scene than what she had witnessed before: no people walking, no river crossings, no families at ports of entry, and no groups gathering on the streets of Juarez.

Maria Jose Espinosa, foreign policy expert. Georgetown School of Foreign Service.

The policies implemented by the Donald Trump administration  who, in his first month in the White House, ordered the elimination of asylum at the border, closed the CBP One program, and deployed thousands of agents  have drastically reduced migrant arrivals. In February, border encounters reached levels not seen since the 1960s, according to experts. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Border Patrol forces detained 11,709 individuals last month, compared to 176,195 apprehensions in February 2024.

Espinosa emphasizes that while border crossings have decreased, it does not mean migration has ceased. On the contrary, migration has simply been pushed further south and out of the public eye, which will force people to continue crossing irregularly and under dangerous conditions, she says.

Question. Is it still accurate to refer to the situation at the border as a migration crisis, or has it been resolved?

Answer. There isnt a crisis in numbers, but many people are waiting to see what happens. In Mexico, there are more than 30,000 people in limbo because CBP One was terminated, which means theyre waiting. Those people arent visible, which is very dangerous. Some are in shelters, others in homes, or scattered throughout Mexico. The crisis has been created or exacerbated, in part, by inaction or restrictive policies that have left thousands of migrants without safe and viable options. Its not just about how many people arrive at a border, but about the political will to manage it in a dignified and humane manner that benefits the host communities.

Q. The suspension of legal migration pathways can lead to greater risks for many. What is the situation like at the border today?

A. Before, there were at least some mechanisms that offered a legal, orderly, and safe way to access protection or alternatives to asylum. Now, with asylum pathways effectively closed, the suspension of CBP One, and the CHNV program  which allowed citizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to apply for humanitarian permits to enter the United States  many migrants are forced to rely on informal or criminal networks to survive. In Juarez, for example, migrants are turning to clandestine housing networks, exposing themselves even further to exploitation and violence.

There is abundant evidence that deterrence policies do not work. In 2019, several countries in the region imposed transit restrictions on Venezuelan citizens, and that was when the Darien route began to open up for this nationality, as they could no longer use flights to directly reach Mexico or other countries. In the absence of regular and humanitarian pathways, migrants turn to routes controlled by criminal networks and human traffickers, who exploit their desperation and vulnerability.

Q. Government cuts have affected many organizations. How much has this affected work on the border?

A. The cuts have hit local organizations hard. I spoke with representatives from several of them, and the outlook is bleak. Some have lost up to 80% of their funding, leaving a critical gap in legal assistance, shelters, and food. There are organizations that have been legally attacked, sending a clear message: humanitarian aid is being criminalized. This predates the current U.S. administration and its policies. It is a phenomenon that has been growing in scale over the past 10 years. Organizations across Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions have been targeted for their human rights work, being accused of absurd actions, from child trafficking to destabilizing governments

A group of migrants at the U.S. border in Tijuana, Mexico, last January. Felix Marquez (Getty Images)

Q. What is the situation of migrants and asylum seekers who are stuck in limbo in Mexico?

A. I was in Juarez and witnessed the desperation and uncertainty prevailing among migrants. Without access to asylum in the United States, many dont know what to do. Some people are considering staying in Mexico. Many are waiting for a change in policies, while others are considering crossing the border. In Ciudad Juarez, we spoke with several migrants who were considering crossing irregularly with the expectation of being deported, as they saw it as a less dangerous option than trying to return home from Mexico. Some mentioned that other families had decided to return to South America using their own means or by paying migrant smugglers. Uncertainty is a common denominator throughout the region. Security remains a critical issue.

Q. The main goal of the current U.S. administration is to reduce immigration as much as possible.

A. Migration in the Americas is a challenge that no country can address alone. Managing it effectively requires hemispheric cooperation and a coordinated approach that allows for shared responsibilities between countries and maximizing the economic and social benefits of human mobility. This would greatly help combat the xenophobic discourse that has grown, not only here but around the world. One of the greatest challenges is ensuring that deportation and return processes are dignified, safe, and respect human rights. Cooperation between countries is key to ensuring that those who return can access employment, education, and basic services.

Q. What kind of real policies could provide solutions for migrants?

A. A fundamental component must be the expansion of pathways for regular migration. The lack of accessible and realistic mechanisms for labor mobility or regularization has pushed millions of people into irregular status. We must urgently strengthen temporary employment programs, family reunification, and regularization processes for those who have already migrated once, and even two or three times. Strengthening labor migration is not only a viable alternative to irregular migration, but is also a key tool for economic development. Connecting migrants with employers, ensuring ethical recruitment, and improving labor protection not only benefits those who migrate, but also addresses labor shortages in key sectors and fosters economic growth in receiving countries.

Improving conditions in countries of origin is not only a containment strategy, but also a commitment to the regions development and stability. It is essential to guarantee access to employment, reduce violence and corruption, and strengthen economic opportunities so that migration becomes an option, not a forced necessity. Migration is not a problem to be contained, but a reality that must be managed in an orderly and fair manner.

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Feyisayo Alayande is the Executive Secretary of Lagos State Employment Trust Fund. Mrs Alayande has spent over 16 years working in global banking and financial services, focusing on strategy, business transformation, and product development.

In this exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mrs Alayande discusses her journey, challenges, leadership insights, and the role of women in driving economic empowerment and societal change.

PT: Can you tell us about your journey to becoming the Executive Secretary of Lagos State Employment Trust Fund?

Mrs Alayande: My journey to becoming the Executive Secretary of LSETF has been quite an interesting one. I have spent over 16 years working in global banking and financial services, focusing on strategy, business transformation, and product development.

Ive had the opportunity to work with major banks like HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, FBNQuest, and Letshegoan Inclusive Finance Bankwhere I managed large-scale projects that improved business processes and introduced new financial products across different countries.

Before joining LSETF, I was the Head of Products, Digital, and Marketing at Letshego Nigeria, where I focused on helping small businesses and individuals access the capital they needed to grow.

Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later

Over time, I realised that while access to finance was crucial, it wasnt enough. Many businesses struggled to find markets for their products and services, which meant they couldnt fully scale or sustain growth.

This gap made me rethink how impact should be measurednot just by funding but by creating real economic opportunities.

That realisation played a big role in my transition to public service. I wanted to do more than just provide financial solutions; I wanted to help build a system that ensures businesses and entrepreneurs dont just get funding but also have the right connections, infrastructure, and opportunities to thrive.

Leading LSETF became the perfect opportunity to align my experience with my passion for economic development, job creation, and financial inclusion. Now, I work with an incredible team of reformers and ecosystem builders (#HumansofLSETF) dedicated to empowering the people of Lagos (#CitizensofLSETF) by providing access to Finance, Market, Infrastructure, Capacity Building, Skills development, Technology, and Business Support.

More importantly, we are committed to helping residents build resilience and fulfill their purpose by equipping them with the right resources, opportunities, and networks to succeed.

My journey to being a Change Maker and a Nation Builder, has always been driven from my passion to solving real-life financial and economic challenges, and this role gives me the chance to make a real impact, in addressing both.

PT: In your opinion, how do women leaders inspire and empower others around them, especially other women?

Mrs Alayande: Speaking from my own experience, I believe women leaders inspire and empower others by leading with empathy and taking bold steps, rather than waiting for opportunities to come their way. For me, its about creating your own spacestanding on the table if needed, rather than waiting for a seat.

Empathy allows us to connect, support, and uplift others, especially women who may face similar challenges. By sharing our journeys, mentoring, and opening doors, we show that success isnt just for a fewits something we can all achieve together.

When we as women lead with confidence and purpose, we pave the way for others to do the same.

PT: What do you think is unique about women in leadership roles compared to men?

Mrs Alayande: I believe women in leadership bring a unique blend of empathy, resilience, and adaptability. For me, its about creating an environment where everyone feels heard, valued, and supportedbecause when people thrive, teams succeed.

Rather than the traditional boss mentality, I prioritise teamwork, mental well-being, and emotional intelligence; empowering my team to be part of the decision-making process. A motivated and happy team is always more productive.

I also approach challenges with a mix of critical thinking, and collaboration, ensuring that people, processes, and outcomes align. This ability to lead with both heart and critical thinking is what makes womens leadership style truly unique.

PT: What challenges did you face as a woman in your industry, and how did you overcome them?

Mrs Alayande: I wouldnt say a challenge per say, but there have been moments in my past roles, where I have entered certain rooms, and I had been looked down on, because I was a woman addressing a bunch of men.

Most times, once I start speaking and position myself as a solution provider to some of the issues they are faced with, they then become a lot more welcoming.

My advice to every woman out there who might find themselves in such positions, is to know yourself and be true to yourself, know your worth and be well prepared before addressing any audience.

PT: Can you share one of the most rewarding moments in your career that solidified your passion for leadership?

Mrs Alayande: One moment that is most dear to me, that sealed my passion for Development work and leading in this space, was my first trip to Northern Nigeria several years back, on a project I was leading for my organisation in partnership with a Development Finance Institution.

I was able to see first-hand the power of financial inclusion in communities of hundreds of thousands of residents, that had no financial access, let alone opportunities for growth.

I was able to develop and implement an ecosystem model which provided a sustainable financial need leveraging on technology, where multiple stakeholders were pulled in, their buy-in sought, commitment secured, and ultimately real impact was achieved.

The same model had the potential to be replicated across other states, and seeing lives transformed was truly rewarding. A powerful lesson stuck with me for life  being selfless and prioritising others needs for growth, are key to being a true Servant Leader.

PT: What advice would you give to young Nigerian women aspiring to become leaders in their fields?

Mrs Alayande: My advice to every woman out there, is to know yourself and be true to yourself never compromise on your value system, know your worth and be well prepared before stepping up and out.

PT: How do you balance the demands of being a CEO with other aspects of your personal life?

Mrs Alayande: A Boss lady I most admire shared with my A-team at LSETF recently, that there is no balancing at such, rather there is prioritising the right thing at the right time.

Its important to prioritise what is important in every season you find yourself in, and know when to switch hats from being A Mother, A Wife to being A Boss Lady, A Soul Sister.

I will however add that you also need Gods grace on when and how to prioritise, and also when to delegate by leveraging on the right support system (whatever that looks like in your peculiar situations and roles, where the multiple hats are being interchanged)  Shout out to my Support System, who allow me to show up and show out each day, so help me oh Lord!

PT: This years theme for International Womens Day is Accelerate Action. What does this theme mean to you and how does it reflect your leadership approach?

Mrs Alayande: For me, Accelerate Action is all about moving beyond talk and making real things happen. Its about being intentional, making bold moves, and ensuring that progress isnt just a discussionits something we actively drive.

In my leadership, that means creating opportunities, removing barriers, and making sure peopleespecially womenhave the support they need to succeed and are carried along for the ride and are prioritised always.

Whether its through mentorship, pushing for inclusivity, or driving meaningful change, I believe in taking action that truly makes a difference. Change doesnt happen by waiting aroundit happens by doing. And for me, leadership is about making sure those actions lead to real, lasting impact.

This interview was conducted in partnership with Women in Management, Business, and Public Service (WIMBIZ), a Nigerian non-profit organisation committed to advancing and empowering women in leadership. Mrs Alayande is also a member of WIMBIZ.

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Experts have said that bridging the gap between women in business and funding access requires significant contributions from both the media and policymakers.

The experts made this known during a panel session at the Gatesfields Women Economic Empowerment Media Conversation held virtually on Friday.

Fifehan Osikanlu, Founder of Eden Venture Group said the media is a powerful tool which can be used to shape narratives and influence policy action.

Ms Osikanlu said storytelling, for instance, could push the need for the Central Bank of Nigeria to enforce 30 to 40 per cent mandatory lending to women by commercial banks and 50 per cent access to intervention funds for women.

She also emphasised focusing on data-driven stories to showcase success stories highlighting the symbiotic relationship between lending to women and economic growth.

She further stressed that by using storytelling and data, the media could show the correlation between the funding gap and its consequences adding that the combined approach could influence relevant government officials, financial institutions and policymakers to action.

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Ms Osikanlu noted that the narrative in the media should be about investing in national growth through women as opposed to support women, help women.

Local credit schemes

Osasu Ogwuche, CEO of TOS Group, on her part mentioned successful local initiatives such as the Dangote and BOI Fund, Access Bank W-Power Loan, FCMB Gender Loans, Sterling Banks women in agric business credit, and international models like the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, emphasising the transformative potential of micro-lending schemes.

Ms Ogwuche noted that lending to women is safer compared to their male counterparts.

According to data, lending to women is safer because female customers have a higher propensity to save and you know it increases the banks revenue, she said.

One person isnt solely helping the other. Its a relationship where both hands are being rubbed.

Survey

Earlier, Joy Nsidibe-Abasi, a staff at the Organisation, set the tone for the conversation by highlighting the major systemic barriers to womens economic empowerment, according to the survey conducted in 2023.

The Foundations survey was conducted among 200,000 Nigerian and Kenyan women to shed light on their economic ambitions and the challenges they face.

However, in Nigeria, 100,000 female entrepreneurs in Niger and Kebbi states participated in the survey.

The organisation said that the findings are an urgent call to action for start-up capital and equipment to be provided to Nigerian women to enable them to achieve their economic aspirations.

According to the survey, 62 per cent of the participants said lack of capital is their biggest obstacle to becoming economically successful.

Participants who were between the ages of 15-55 and above were asked about their biggest economic ambition, the hurdles to achieving it and the required support needed to realise them.

Systemic barriers

A lack of start-up capital or equipment was the primary factor preventing women from achieving their economic ambitions, the report revealed.

Other significant challenges included the availability of jobs, profit margins and time constraints.

Family support or sponsorship, as well as education and training, were also noted as barriers, as were issues related to power, discrimination, and insecurity.

Ambitions

Many female entrepreneurs stated that their primary economic goal is to own or expand a business citing their preferred industries to include apparel and beauty, agriculture, and food and drink.

Also, a smaller group of women sought financial independence, education, mental and physical health support.

Support

The women indicated that access to start-up capital or equipment and family support or sponsorship are the most critical forms of assistance.

Opportunities related to jobs, profits, and time management were also cited as being a key part of the equation, followed by education and training, the report added.

Participants also recognised that resolving issues around power, discrimination, and insecurity could make a difference.

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The House of Representatives has reacted to allegations of receiving financial inducement to endorse President Bola Tinubus proclamation of a state of emergency in Rivers State.

The House said its members were not bribed with $5,000 each to approve the emergency rule in the South-south state.

Deputy Spokesman of the House, Philip Agbese, said this while addressing journalists in Abuja on Saturday.

Mr Agbese, who represents the Ado/Obadigbo/Opkokwu Federal Constituency of Benue State, did not, however, disclose who made the allegation against the lawmakers.

There are indications that he was veily reacting to an exclusive story last Thursday by Sahara Reporters that senators got between $5,000 and $10,000 each to approve the emergency rule in Rivers.

In the report, the newspaper said the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, a party to the Rivers political crisis, provided the money to bribe the lawmakers to ratify President Bola Tinubus declaration of a state of emergency in the state.

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The reports has been amplified by social media users.

However, Mr Akpabio had denied the allegation, describing it as falsehood and that it was orchestrated by people who intended to blackmail him and other senators.

Mr Wike has yet to speak on the allegation.

The House approved the emergency rule the same day as the Senate.

No financial inducement

Mr Agbese said the bribery allegations were attempts to spread misinformation to discredit the House.

He emphasised that the decision to support the emergency rule in the House was made in the interest of national stability and security.

The allegation that members of the House of Representatives were induced with $5,000 to pass a resolution, is unfair to the Parliament. Very, very unfair to the Parliament. What we did on Thursday was to align ourselves with what I call the wisdom of King Solomon, he said.

The deputy spokesperson urged critics to focus on the positive impact of the Houses decision rather than questioning the process.

All insinuations that any individual was given money to give to members is nothing but lies from the pit of hell. The opposition should see the good things that we are doing day and night for the country.

At no point did members of the House engage in any financial inducement in relation to the state of emergency declaration. The decision was taken after extensive deliberations on the security and political situation in Rivers State, in line with our constitutional responsibilities to safeguard national stability. Any suggestion that lawmakers were bribed is pure fiction, designed to serve the interests of those who seek to distort facts and create unnecessary tension in the country, he said.

Approval stemmed from patriotism

Mr Agbese said the House acted out of patriotism in order to prevent a breakdown of law and order in Rivers State.

We have seen some of the developments in River State. The government is not doing badly. But what we are saying is that, we dont want the breakdown of institutions as far as River State is concerned.

We deployed our wisdom as a Parliament, not to pander to sentiments or views expressed by groups outside. Yes, we are a peoples Parliament. We listen to the voices of Nigerians. Of course, there are people who say the state of emergency by Mr. President is wrong. There are those who also believe that it was done in the right manner to ensure that there is peace in that state.

As a Parliament, our interest is to form a bridge, to ensure that our democracy continues to work. As a Parliament, our interest is to protect our democracy and democratic institutions. We resolved as a Parliament to make certain amendments to the proclamations made by Mr President.

Tinubu not working against democracy

Mr Agbese dismissed concerns that President Tinubus decision undermines democracy, arguing that the president is a true democrat who is dedicated to protecting Nigerias institutions.

We know Mr. President very well. He is a democrat. He has fought for the institutions of our democracy as far as Nigeria is concerned. And he is one man who would always want to protect this democracy. He is a President that we know as a Parliament.

We have been relating with him as the president of the country for the past almost two years now. We have been relating with him as our president. We have seen his concerns. The 10th House of Representatives has seen the the genuine concerns and we believe and trust that if these issues are resolved in less than six months, Mr. President is going to put an end to the state of emergency in that state.

House met quorum for decision

Addressing concerns about quorum, Mr Agbese clarified that the House met its constitutional requirement with 243 members present during the deliberations on emergency rule in Rivers.

He was, however, silent on why the lower chamber used voice votes for the proclamation despite a constitutional provision that mandates two-third majority votes by each chamber for such approval.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the two chambers of the National Assembly used voice votes to approve President Bola Tinubus State of Emergency in Rivers.

Section 305 (6b) of the Nigerian constitution mandates that a state of emergency in any part of Nigeria proclaimed by the president must be supported by two-thirds majority of all the members of each House of the National Assembly.

However, instead of conducting an official roll-call vote where each lawmakers stance is recorded, both chambers of the National Assembly adopted a voice vote, a method where lawmakers simply shout aye or nay, and the presiding officer subjectively determines which side has the majority.

When the motion for the emergency rule was put to a voice vote, no senator openly said nay, which led to its approval.

Despite the apparent consensus during the voice vote in the two chambers, some senators, namely Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa West) and Ireti Kingibe (FCT) have spoken out against the process.

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The federal government, on Friday, donated palliative items to Christian and Muslim faithful in the South-East and South-South zones to cushion the effect of the economic hardship in the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the donation was unveiled in Owerri on behalf of President Bola Tinubu by Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo.

In a speech, the president said that the donation aimed to support the Christian and Muslim faithful to break their fast.

He said the fasting and prayer period called for charity and that the gesture had more spiritual importance than physical.

As we work hard to bring permanent solutions to the hunger in the land and high cost of living, which is a global thing, the president has decided to intervene from time to time with palliative measures to cushion the effect of hardship occasioned by global economic recession.

The government is investing a lot of money in agriculture and livestock development to ensure food security and sufficiency.

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This interim intervention is to cushion the effect of the gap that is created between the period of planting and harvesting, the president said.

The governor urged the faithful of the two religions to commit the country to serious prayers, saying: As you pray, pray for God not to allow the president to be distracted.

As long as he is implementing his line of programmes, Nigeria will be a land of prosperity.

He further said that each state would get two trailer loads of rice, amounting to 1,200 bags as well as cartons of noodles to break their fast.

He announced a donation of N5 million support by the president to each state for fueling and transportation of the items.

He further urged the governors to be transparent in the distribution of the items and ensure that they are distributed mostly to the poor and down trodden.

In separate remarks, the chairpersons of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and leaders of the Muslim communities in the 11 states of the two zones commended the president for being magnanimous to them during the fasting season.

They urged the government to double efforts and provide an enabling environment that would promote economic development and self-sufficiency for the nation.

The chairman of CAN in Imo, Divine Eches, prayed to God to sustain, protect and grant the president the wisdom to continue to provide quality leadership for the country.

He commended Mr Uzodimma for the developmental strides in Imo and prayed to God to continue to strengthen him in his effort to develop the state.

(NAN)

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9mobile, a telecommunications company, has refuted reports suggesting an alleged shutdown of its operations in Nigeria.

The management of 9mobile made the disclosure in a statement on Friday in Lagos.

9mobile said that the claims were entirely baseless and aimed at causing unnecessary panic among its valued subscribers.

We understand that some customers have recently faced challenges, particularly with Mobile Number Portability (MNP), a service that enables seamless network switching.

We want to clarify that 9mobile has never restricted customers from porting to other networks, it said.

The telco said it remained fully compliant with industry regulations and was committed to delivering fair, transparent and customer-centric services.

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The telco explained that a temporary technical issue had impacted Mobile Number Portability (MNP) services, but the problem had largely been resolved.

It noted that some minor delays might still occur due to ongoing system optimisations, but the telco was actively working to ensure users a smoother experience.

As a proudly Nigerian brand, we embody the resilient spirit of our people and remain steadfast in our commitment to overcoming challenges.

We acknowledge the temporary service disruptions some customers may have experienced in different locations.

However, we assure you that these disruptions are part of a broader transformation effort aimed at modernising our infrastructure and improving overall service quality, 9mobile said.

It said its ongoing investments in network upgrades and service expansion would soon yield significant improvements, ensuring reliable connectivity for individuals, businesses, and communities.

According to the company, in spite of the challenges it was experiencing, 9mobile is making significant progress and remains optimistic about the future.

We remain dedicated to providing exceptional service and keeping our subscribers connected to limitless opportunities, it said.

(NAN)

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A Federal Capital Territory High Court has commenced hearing on the 5 billion defamation lawsuit filed by two operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) operatives against the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

The lawsuit was instituted after SERAP accused the SSS of invading its Abuja office in September last year.

The SSS operatives, Sarah John and Gabriel Ogundele, are seeking 5 billion in damages, an apology published on SERAPs website and national media outlets, 50 million in legal costs, and 10% annual interest on the damages.

During the hearing, the presiding judge advised SERAPs defence team to review the six documents submitted by the plaintiffs. The judge stated that all objections would be addressed in the final written addresses.

The hearing began with the cross-examination of Sarah John, the first claimant, by SERAPs defence counsel.

The counsel argued that the claimants names were not mentioned in SERAPs allegations, and therefore, the defamation claims were unjustified.

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Sarah John testified that SERAPs allegations damaged her reputation, as well as that of her colleague and the SSS as a whole.

The hearing was adjourned until May 8, 2025, for further proceedings.

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Ireti Kingibe, the senator for Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has said the use of voice votes by members of the National Assembly for the approval of the emergency rule in Rivers State was insufficient.

Mrs Kingibe, a member of the Labour Party (LP), said she opposed the action because the Constitution clearly mandates a two-thirds majority vote for such a proclamation, which was not adhered to by the National Assembly.

The senator said these in a statement on Friday.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the two chambers of the National Assembly used voice votes to approve President Bola Tinubus State of Emergency in Rivers despite a constitutional provision that mandates two-third majority votes by each chamber for such approval.

Section 305 (6b) of the Nigerian constitution mandates that a state of emergency in any part of Nigeria proclaimed by the president must be supported by two-thirds majority of all the members of each House of the National Assembly.

With 109 senators and 360 rep members, this means at least 73 senators and 240 representatives must publicly vote in favour of the emergency rule.

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However, instead of conducting an official roll-call vote where each lawmakers stance is recorded, both chambers of the National Assembly adopted a voice vote, a method where lawmakers simply shout aye or nay, and the presiding officer subjectively determines which side has the majority.

Voice voting inappropriate

In the statement, Mrs Kingibe rejected the use of voice voting for the proclamation of the state of emergency.

I strongly oppose the use of voice voting for such critical, vital and constitutional issues. The Nigerian Constitution explicitly mandates that a state of emergency proclaimed by the President must be ratified by a two-thirds majority of all the members of each House of the National Assembly.

She argued that the decision to approve an emergency proclamation must be determined through a transparent voting process, such as a roll-call or electronic voting.

A two-thirds (2/3) majority is required for significant decisions like approving an emergency proclamation in the National Assembly, and this level of consensus CANNOT be accurately determined by a voice vote. According to Section 305(2) & (6)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), an emergency proclamation must receive the approval of at least two-thirds of all members of each House the Senate and the House of Representatives. A voice vote, where members express agreement by saying Aye or Nay, CANNOT precisely measure the required two-thirds majority, she said.

Ensuring proper procedures

Mrs Kingibe emphasised that a proper voting method, whether through division voting, roll-call, or electronic means, would have ensured compliance with constitutional requirements.

When a supermajority like two-thirds is needed, a recorded vote whether through division voting, roll call, or electronic voting is necessary to ensure compliance with constitutional requirements. The Senate Standing Orders and House Rules generally mandate a roll call or electronic voting system to accurately determine numerical compliance for decisions of this magnitude, she said.

She noted that failing to follow due process in such matters could weaken Nigerias democracy and erode public confidence in the National Assemblys role as the peoples representative.

A voice vote is insufficient for determining a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly for an emergency proclamation. A formal recorded vote is crucial to confirm the exact number of lawmakers in support, Mrs Kingibe warned.

She called on lawmakers to uphold their responsibility as custodians of the Nigerian Constitution and ensure that legal and constitutional provisions are strictly followed.

As custodians of the Laws of the Land and specifically the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the National Assembly must jealously guard this role. They must ensure that the rule of Law prevails and to remember their raison detre which is to oversight/guide the Presidents decisions by confirming or rejecting when his choices are not allowed by law, she stated.

Holding lawmakers accountable

The senator also urged Nigerians to hold their representatives accountable, as the failure to properly record votes means that the people have not spoken through their elected officials.

National Assembly members are the direct representatives of the people, the voice of the people. Without a roll call or electronic voting, the people havent spoken and therefore cannot, should not and will not take responsibility for the Presidents decision, as constitutionally required in matters of this magnitude. The people MUST hold their representatives accountable, she said.

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The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has said senators did not receive a bribe of $15,000 each to approve the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.

Mr Akpabio said this in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Eseme Eyiboh, on Saturday.

The senate president said the claim that the lawmakers were bribed to approve the emergency rule was orchestrated by people who intended to blackmail them.

Mr Akpabios comment was in reaction to an exclusive report by Sahara Reporter on Thursday that 45 senators were offered $5,000 each on Tuesday night while 42 of them were given $10,000 each on Wednesday night, the day before the National Assembly voted on the emergency rule proclamation.

According to the report, the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, provided the funds to the senate president to rally senators in support of the President Tinubus declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers.

The report also indicated that senators received the money when they gathered for the Iftar meal, (Breaking of Fast) at Mr Akpabios guest house in Maitama, Abuja, to support emergency rule in Rivers.

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It added that two senators, Victor Umeh (LP, Anambra Central) and Neda Imasuen (LP, Edo South) were key figures involved in organising the payout.

Although, Mr Umeh has since denied the allegation, Mr Imasuen has yet to do so.

Also, Mr Wike has neither denied nor confirmed the report.

I only hosted Iftar  Akpabio

In the statement, Mr Akpabio admitted that some senators visited his Maitama guest house for an Iftar meal, but that no money was shared during the meeting.

It is true that I confirmed the IFTAR meeting and further asserted that the Distinguished Senate President has always hosted his colleagues of both religious faith in every season of spiritual rebirth.

There has never existed any reason to share any money in such a solemn meeting and no money in any currency was shared. I have vehemently denied this spurious rumour of sharing any money. The rumour in itself is peddled by the merchants of blackmail enterprise to add flavour to their subsisting hate and malice campaign, the statement said.

Lawmakers use voice votes to determine matter requiring two-thirds

Beyond the bribery allegations, the manner in which the National Assembly approved the state of emergency also generated criticisms.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the two chambers of the National Assembly used voice votes to approve President Bola Tinubus declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers despite a constitutional provision that mandates two-third majority votes by each chamber for such approval.

Section 305 (6b) of the constitution requires that a state of emergency in any part of Nigeria proclaimed by the president must be supported by two-thirds majority of all the members of each House of the National Assembly.

With 109 senators and 360 House of Representatives members, this means at least 73 senators and 240 representatives must vote in favour of the emergency rule.

However, instead of conducting an official roll-call vote where each lawmakers stance is recorded, both chambers of the National Assembly adopted a voice vote, a method where lawmakers simply shout aye or nay, and the presiding officer subjectively determines which side has the majority.

When the motion for the emergency rule was put to a voice vote, no senator openly said nay, thus indicating overwhelming approval of the presidents request.

Senators opposing the voice votes

Despite the apparent consensus during the voice vote, some senators have spoken out against the process.

Bayelsa West Senator, Seriake Dickson, walked out of the chamber before the Senate approved the state of emergency declaration because he believed the action was unconstitutional.

Mr Dickson, a former Bayelsa governor. and a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also noted that he, along with Senators Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto South), Eyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), and a few others, opposed the proclamation but were not allowed an opportunity to debate the issue in plenary.

Ireti Kingibe, the Senator representing Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in a statement on Friday, expressed concerns over the manner in which the approval was handled. She said the proclamation shouldnt have been approved by mere voice votes.

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Actor-turned-politician and former Labour Party (LP) member Kenneth Okonkwo has weighed in on President Bola Tinubus declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Tinubu declared a state of emergency and suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the state House of Assembly.

He then appointed Ibok-Ete Ibas, a retired vice admiral, as the sole administrator to oversee the state for six months.

The newspaper also reported that the House of Representatives approved Mr Tinubus request.

However, in an interview with Symfoni News, a social media-based news platform, Mr Okonkwo, who formerly served as spokesperson for the LP presidential campaign, condemned Mr Tinubus decision.

In the interview posted on YouTube on Thursday, the 56-year-old said: The President (Tinubu) did not declare a state of emergency in Rivers State; he declared martial law. It is essential to understand the difference. The Nigerian Constitution recognises a state of emergency and grants the President the power to declare it under specific conditions. However, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), led by its President, has clarified that none of these conditions have been met, meaning the purported declaration is not a state of emergency.

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The Supreme Court, in the case of Attorney General of Bendel State v. Aideyan, stated that any act of governance not covered by an enabling law is a nullity. Therefore, what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did cannot be classified as a state of emergency, as such a declaration does not include the removal of duly elected representatives of the people.

Tinubus action

Mr Okonkwo, a lawyer, noted that Section 1(2) of the Constitution does not allow a state to be governed by a sole administrator.

He compared President Tinubus actions to those of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who declared martial law and tried to remove elected officials.

Mr Okonkwo also criticised the National Assembly for approving the suspension using a voice vote.

In response, the South Korean legislature, including members of his party, swiftly impeached him. He is now awaiting trial for attempting a coup against the federation.

What the Nigerian legislature should be considering is removing Tinubu for imposing martial law in Rivers State and attempting to govern the state through a sole administratoran arrangement not contemplated by the Constitution. The President even claimed that the sole administrator could make regulations, a form of subsidiary legislation derived from statutory authority.

Mr Okonkwo added that Mr Tinubus actions amounted to an unconstitutional takeover of power in Rivers State.

Treason

He also criticised the former governor of Lagos State for claiming that he and his team would support the regulations introduced by the appointed state sole administrator.

This is treason. Governing any part of Nigeria outside constitutional provisions is illegal. Tinubu suspended multiple sections of the Constitution to justify his actions, including Sections 1, 179, 180, 188, 189, 120, 121, 117, and 110. These sections clearly state that Nigeria cannot be governed outside of elected representatives and outline the legal processes for removing a governor or House of Assembly membersthrough death, resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacitation, or expiration of tenure. House of Assembly members can only be removed by recall.

The President lacks the power to override these constitutional provisions. In a legitimate state of emergency, Section 305 of the Constitution specifies that such a declaration can only be made under the following conditions: War or a threat to national security, a breakdown of public order and safety requiring extraordinary measures, an imminent threat to the existence of Nigeria as a federation and natural disaster requiring extraordinary intervention, said Mr Okonkwo.

He also insisted that none of the required conditions happened, yet Mr Tinubu still declared a state of emergency, saying he had a security report.

READ ALSO: Rivers administrator orders payment of outstanding staff salaries at local councils

He stated that such a report was meant for Mr Tinubu alonenot for Nigerians.

He added that a classified security report does not give the President the power to remove elected officials.

The Constitution is clear: he who appoints has the power to remove. Tinubu neither appointed the governor nor the House of Assembly members; therefore, he had no legal authority to remove them.

In a democracy, governance must be rooted in the law, not executive overreach.

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TOKYO - Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday that Japan wants to build "future-oriented cooperative ties" with China and South Korea, adding that by joining forces the three neighboring nations can make a global contribution.

Ishiba made the remarks during a meeting at the prime minister's office with the top diplomats from China and South Korea, Wang Yi and Cho Tae Yul. Ishiba also said he is looking forward to meeting with the leaders of the two countries for a trilateral summit in Japan, the Japanese government said.

The roughly 25-minute meeting was held a day before Wang and Cho join Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya for a trilateral meeting in Tokyo to discuss common challenges and future cooperation.

"Both China and South Korea are extremely important neighbors to our country," Ishiba said. "Because we are neighbors, difficult issues arise at times. But I want to promote dialogue to address various issues and build future-oriented cooperative relations through realistic diplomacy based on national interests."

Japan has seen an improvement in ties with both China and South Korea, despite difficulties stemming from wartime history and territory.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has raised concerns, especially in Japan, about its implications for the Indo-Pacific region where tensions remain high between China and Taiwan, while North Korea continues to pursue nuclear and missile development.

The return to power of U.S. President Donald Trump adds a new twist to bilateral and trilateral cooperation among the three Asian nations, with the specter of an intensifying trade war and rivalry between Beijing and Washington. Tokyo and Seoul are U.S. allies.

During the meeting, Ishiba sought cooperation from China and South Korea in resolving the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the Japanese government.

Wang and Cho separately met with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi on Friday.

Related coverage:

South Korean President Yoon freed after 52 days in detention

Japan opposition lawmakers seek end to China's seafood import ban

51% of Japanese feel relations with South Korea are "good": survey
The Nigerian government has reiterated its commitment to eradicating Tuberculosis (TB) in the country, aligning with global efforts to eliminate the disease by 2035.

The Deputy Director of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme, Urhioke Ochuko, while speaking at the 2025 World TB Day Road Walk and awareness campaign in Abuja on Saturday, noted that the country has made significant progress in the fight against TB.

Mr Ochuko cited improved case notification and treatment enrolment as part of the progress made in Nigerias TB response.

He noted that over 400,000 Nigerians were enrolled in TB treatment in 2024, marking a significant improvement in case notification.

We have made good progress in terms of the fight against TB because in recent years, we have been able to improve TB case notification. Last year, we were able to enrol over 400,000 Nigerians on TB treatment out of about 500,000 estimated to have the disease, he said.

Mr Ochuko, however, acknowledged that despite progress, there is still more work to be done, particularly in reaching the remaining 20 per cent of undiagnosed TB cases.

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To bridge this gap, he stressed the need for a collective effort, using the slogan We Fit Do Am to emphasise the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration. He also noted that the government has deployed digital X-ray machines in health facilities and communities nationwide to enhance early diagnosis and prompt treatment.

He reiterated the governments commitment to achieving the global TB targets by 2035, which include reducing TB deaths by 95 per cent and TB incidence by 90 per cent, with the ultimate goal of eliminating TB as a public health threat.

World TB Day is commemorated on 24 March annually to raise awareness on TB, and to mobilise efforts including political commitment to resources and healthcare financing for TB towards its elimination.

This years theme is, Yes! We can end TB: Commit, invest, and deliver.

Tuberculosis, a killer disease

TB, an airborne disease caused by bacteria (mycobacterium tuberculosis) mostly affects the lungs. It is the second deadliest infectious killer disease (after COVID-19) and among the top 10 causes of death worldwide.

Globally, and according to the 2024 WHO global TB report, an estimated 10.8 million people developed TB in 2023, with 1.6 million people losing their lives, and 12 per cent of the global burden affecting the most vulnerable  the children and young adolescents.

TB remains a leading cause of death in Nigeria, with the country ranking sixth globally and first in Africa.

Despite progress made in the fight against TB, the global burden of TB remains alarming, particularly in low and middle-income countries like Nigeria.

Addressing stigma and expanding awareness

Speaking during the walk, the Executive Director of the Centre for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI), Babafunke Fagbemi, emphasised the critical role of awareness in curbing TBs spread.

Ms Fagbemi said Nigeria is intensifying efforts to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and promote early detection and treatment of TB.

She highlighted this years TB Day themeYes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliveras a call to action for sustained advocacy and improved healthcare access.

Nigeria is among the top 10 high-burden countries for TB worldwide. According to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, over 400,000 TB cases were recorded in 2024 alone, she said.

Ms Fagbemi also noted that despite being preventable and curable, TB remains a leading cause of illness and deaths due to low awareness, delayed diagnosis, and barriers to treatment access.

She added that misconceptions and stigma surrounding the disease further discourage individuals from seeking timely care, contributing to its continued spread.

In response to these challenges, she said the CCSI is actively driving behavior change through grassroots campaigns, media engagement, and community-led initiatives.

These efforts include working with local health workers, traditional rulers, and religious leaders to spread awareness, as well as leveraging digital platforms and radio programmes to reach remote communities.

Some of CCSIs key interventions include grassroots awareness campaigns, collaborating with local health workers, community influencers, religious leaders, and traditional rulers to spread awareness about TB prevention, symptoms, and treatment, she said.

Leveraging radio, television, digital platforms, and interpersonal communication, CCSI ensures that TB messages reach diverse audiences, particularly in hard-to-reach communities.

She called on stakeholders, policymakers, and community leaders to amplify TB awareness and advocate increased investment in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment services.

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At the Castro Centre, the mythical Fidel waspresent. After the young rebels crushed the Batista army in the decisive Battle of Santa Clara, led by another famous revolutionary, Ernesto Che Guevera, and they entered Havana, Fidel spent a week in caravans travelling to the countrys capital. On 8 January, 1959, he arrived in Havana to address a city overflowing with people. As he did so, a white dove flew through the crowds and landed on his shoulder.

I never personally met Fidel Castro Ruz, one of the iconic figures of the 20th Century. I only saw him once in the streets of Havana while he drove and the crowds cheered. On 25 November, 2016, this African-Latin American ancestor joined the pantheon.

When on Friday, 14 March, I visited the Fidel Castro Ruz Centre in Havana, Fidel came alive for me. I was transfixed to the gun he used in the Sierra Maestra Mountains, where he led a dozen surviving youths to perform what Pentecostals will call a miracle. That foci, with the assistance of peasants and many supporters across Cuba, in twenty-five months, defeated what was then one of the strongest armies in Latin America.

A photograph of Fidel slinging his gun in the thickset of the mountains was iconic. Now I was seeing it, preserved for generations. He never attended any military school. He had gotten the inspiration to fight from the examples of Jose Marti, Antonio Maceo, Simon Bolivar and other liberation fighters. As for theoretical military studies, he had gotten most of it from the 1929 novel, A Farewell To Arms by the famous American writer, Ernest Hemingway. His military experience and tactics, he learnt primarily in the battle field.

The military victory the rebels scored on 1 January, 1959 made Fidel one of the most successful guerrilla generals in history. When a military force, put together and trained by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), invaded Cuba on 17 April, 1961, Fidel as commander-in-chief of the Cuban Armed Forces, went personally to the battle field. It was quite unconventional for the president of a country to personally go into the battlefield. But Fidel did and, in three days, the Bay of Pigs invasion was over, with the enemy was routed. Over 1,000 invaders were taken as prisoners of war (POWs). The humiliated US government was made to pay Cuba $53 million in food and medical supplies in order to get the POWs released.

This victory solidified Fidel as a practical general in conventional warfare. As such, he became an experienced and successful general in both guerrilla and conventional warfare.

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At the Castro Centre, the mythical Fidel was also present. After the young rebels crushed the Batista army in the decisive Battle of Santa Clara, led by another famous revolutionary, Ernesto Che Guevera, and they entered Havana, Fidel spent a week in caravans travelling to the countrys capital. On 8 January, 1959, he arrived in Havana to address a city overflowing with people. As he did so, a white dove flew through the crowds and landed on his shoulder. To some in the crowd, it reminded them of the dove at the baptism of Jesus. But to many Cubans, it was the consecration of Fidel by the Afro-Cuban god, Obatala. It was the sign that he was fearfully made and cannot be killed by humans. This took the form of realism, with a record 634 assassination attempts made on his life principally by the CIA. The attempts had taken some urgency after President Dwight D Eisenhower, in March, 1960, directed the CIA to remove Fidel by any means necessary.

Cuba, led by Fidel, sent its youths to fight the very powerful Apartheid regime in South Africa, which was backed by major Western powers like the US and United Kingdom. Cuba lost lots of those youths under the African sun. But the Apartheid forces were routed from Angola and pushed into Namibia, where they sued for peace. The direct result was the independence of Namibia and South Africa.

Some months later, Fidel attended the United Nations General Assembly and there was an alleged attempt to poison his cigars.

The UN visit itself was quite explosive. It was his first major appearance on the world stage and he was clearly the most talked about president at the world assembly, with the press covering his every move.

Fidel had checked in at the Shelburne Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, but stormed out when the hotel asked him to pay a $20,000 deposit. The legendary African-American leader, Malcolm X then secured accommodation for him and his entourage at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem, where his Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) had offices.

The Theresa was a Whites Only hotel, which flung its doors open to people of all colours in 1940, after it had been bought by an African-American, Love B Wood. It became a centre of African-American activities, and Fidels stay there became a game changer for the hotel.

Famously, Soviet Premier, Nikita Krushev, visited Fidel in the hotel, as did then Indian leader, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, and President Gamar Abdel Nasser of Egypt. Famous intellectuals like the sociologist, C Wright Mills, and famous writer, Langston Hughes, author of the iconic play, A Raisin in the Sun, also visited him.

Cuba, led by Fidel, sent its youths to fight the very powerful Apartheid regime in South Africa, which was backed by major Western powers like the US and United Kingdom. Cuba lost lots of those youths under the African sun. But the Apartheid forces were routed from Angola and pushed into Namibia, where they sued for peace. The direct result was the independence of Namibia and South Africa.

The centre houses many personal belongings of Fidel, including the original podium and microphones from which he made many simple but very powerful speeches, some of his books, military uniforms and other clothes he wore. The Centre is also about Cuban history, including life before the revolution and, the revolution, turning 74 Batista military fortresses into schools for children.

When, due to the Cuban military defeat of Apartheid, the legendary Nelson Mandela was released from 27 years imprisonment, he visited Cuba in 1991. There, he said: In all my years in prison, Cuba was an inspiration and Fidel Castro was a tower of strength. This visit is kept alive in the highly digitalised Castro centre. Famously, as Fidel talked, Mandela interrupted him: Before you say anything, you have to tell me when you are coming to South Africa. When are you coming? To which Fidel responded: I have not visited my South Africa homeland. In 1994, Fidel was in South Africa, and the entire country rose in unison to receive him.

The Castro Centre also has lots of clips showing Fidels visits to many countries. The ones I found most interesting were those to Algeria and Guinea, in which the Pan-Africanist President Sekou Toure was with Fidel.

The centre houses many personal belongings of Fidel, including the original podium and microphones from which he made many simple but very powerful speeches, some of his books, military uniforms and other clothes he wore. The Centre is also about Cuban history, including life before the revolution and, the revolution, turning 74 Batista military fortresses into schools for children.

But even as I visited, the punitive 63-year blockade unilaterally imposed on Cuba since February 1962 by President John F Kennedy was still in place. It continues to impose serious hardship on the people whose only crime is choosing to live in freedom under a political system of their choice. One of the effects is that Cuba is not allowed to trade in the international market, not even to buy medicines or spare parts for its aging electricity system, which collapsed for forty-eight hours during my visit. But the workers, symbolising the resilience of the Cuban people, restored the system. Truly, a people, united, can never be defeated.

Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.

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This whole-out removal of elected officials of Rivers State sets a dangerous precedent for democracy. Presidential overreach can be addictive. Once a leader becomes accustomed to exerting unchecked power, it becomes the modus operandi for governance. The question is, who or what is next? In a system where opposition exists only during electoral contests, Nigeria risks sliding into dictatorship, with politicians and citizens retreating into fear to avoid the presidents wrath.

In a recent conversation with some friends, I argued that two key political contentions might have been settled in Nigeria. The first is the issue of tenure extension. The failure of President Obasanjos third-term bid and President Goodluck Jonathans inability to secure what some called his third election seemed to have resolved the contentious issue of tenure elongation, which has plagued both civilian and military leadership in Nigeria. Earlier, the coup against General Gowon stemmed from his decision to delay handing over power in 1976, just as Babangidas prolonged transition and Abachas despotic attempt to transmute into a civilian president demonstrated the dangers of indefinite rule.

The second issue that seemed settled was the declaration of a state of emergency leading to the removal of elected officials. Historically, this has been a controversial subject, from the emergency in the Western Region during the First Republic to those declared by Obasanjo in his early presidency. However, judicial pronouncements, particularly the Supreme Courts ruling on the illegality of forcefully removing elected officials, seemed to have put the matter to rest. President Goodluck Jonathans failure to secure support for an all-out emergency rule in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states during the Boko Haram crisis reinforced this precedent. Even President Buhari, despite the temptations in Benue and Zamfara, refrained from declaring an emergency and removing elected officials during his eight-year tenure.

Recent developments, however, have proved me wrong. Like the Nigerian economy, its politics defy all conventions, not just due to complexity but also because of rampant opportunism, corruption, institutional decay, and disregard for the rule of law. Policies, laws, judicial pronouncements, executive decisions, and precedents are disregarded in favour of the idiosyncratic interest of the ruling class. Otherwise, how does one explain the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State and the outright removal of all elected officials?

I have read various arguments regarding this issue, and while I agree with many, I strongly disagree with those attempting to justify such executive overreach and blatant lawlessness. My concern is not the legality of the action. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and other senior legal practitioners have addressed that, but rather the broader implications for our democracy.

How do you justify removing an elected governor and replacing him with an unelected retired military officer? What message does this send? To be sure, I do not subscribe to the view that the military has no role in democracy; they do, both in service and post-service. While in service, they are tasked with securing the nation and supporting civil authorities in maintaining law and order. In retirement, they are free to run for office or accept appointments. Many have contributed positively to this capacity, from Obasanjo to David Mark and many others. However, directly replacing an elected governor with an unelected retired military officer undermines democratic principles and echoes the justifications used by military putschists throughout Nigerias political history.

This action is eerily reminiscent of the arguments driving the democratic reversals in the Central Sahel, particularly in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali. It is even more shocking that President Tinubu, who has positioned himself as a champion against democratic backsliding in the region as Chair of ECOWAS, would take such a step. This is nothing short of a presidential coup against the Rivers State government.

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This crisis has escalated to this point because leadership has collapsed across most of our institutions, from political parties to elected officials and even the judiciary. The turmoil in Rivers State is well-documented, with clearly identifiable actors and gladiators. Yet, this is not an unprecedented scenario. Many states have witnessed political conflicts between predecessors and successors or between political godfathers and their proteges. However, such disputes, no matter how intense, do not justify the outright removal of elected officials.

One particularly concerning aspect of this crisis is the involvement of Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. While the President has taken drastic, albeit unconstitutional, measures against one faction, he has chosen to keep Wike in his cabinet. How can such an imbalance be justified? Admittedly, some of Governor Faburas actions, such as demolishing the State House of Assembly, governing with only a handful of assembly members, and allegedly inciting violence, are deeply problematic and unacceptable. However, as repugnant and condemnable as these actions were, they were largely reactions to a coordinated effort to undermine or forcibly remove him. Ultimately, the Presidents intervention provided Wike with the political victory he had long sought.

This whole-out removal of elected officials of Rivers State sets a dangerous precedent for democracy. Presidential overreach can be addictive. Once a leader becomes accustomed to exerting unchecked power, it becomes the modus operandi for governance. The question is, who or what is next? In a system where opposition exists only during electoral contests, Nigeria risks sliding into dictatorship, with politicians and citizens retreating into fear to avoid the presidents wrath.

It is both embarrassing and predictable that the National Assembly ratified this blatant presidential overreach without hesitation. This comes as no surprise, given that the Assembly has long abandoned its role as a representative body meant to hold the executive accountable. Instead, it has devolved into a transactional arena where self-enrichment and power negotiations take precedence over democratic responsibility. The executive will always have its way, not because of legitimate authority, but because it always has something to offer. This anomaly is further exacerbated by the increasing number of former governors in the National Assembly, who approach lawmaking with an executive mindset, prioritizing power consolidation and resource accumulation.

This highlights one of the greatest threats to our democracy: all three branches of government are complicit in its erosion. The judiciary, through its rulings, has provided tacit justification for executive overreach, while the legislature has willingly endorsed it. In essence, none of the institutions meant to safeguard democracy seem invested in preserving it.

This is a perilous time for Nigerian democracy. President Tinubu, of all people, should not be the one to take such a step. As governor of Lagos, he was a beneficiary of presidential restraint. No governor confronted President Obasanjo as he did, yet despite Obasanjos reputation for political vindictiveness, he exercised restraint in dealing with Lagos State.

Democracy is not just about elections; it requires nurturing. It demands respect for electoral integrity, constitutional tenure, and the legal processes for removal from office. Democracy is rooted in ethical governance, not merely constitutional powers. Even when legal authority exists, it must be exercised ethically and with democratic principles in mind. President Tinubu must reconsider this action. Nigeria cannot afford to normalise executive overreach. The future of the nations democracy depends on leaders upholding, not undermining, the fundamental tenets of governance and constitutional rule.

Hussaini Abdu is a political scientist, public intellectual and chair of the board of YIAGA Africa.

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he urged the public to be aware of what might be driving some of these complaints that are increasing on social media, because were moving into a political space now. This is two years to 2027. So youre going to see a lot of this, Gbadegesin stated. As such, the activities of naysayers should not be overlooked, particularly as we are entering into a political season in which discontent  as expressed in some videos  is being weaponised to discredit the government.

Lagos as one of the ten fastest growing megalopolises in the world, has a growing population that can be conservatively put at between 20 and 25 million people, with about 6,000 new arrivals daily, drawn in by its economic promise. This signals a humonguous volume of waste generation, put at about 15,000 metric tonnes per day and close to six million tons anually. This is quite a huge undertaking to manage, of which the authority in charge appears to be rendering a good account of itself, in spite of a few issues that come up intermittently.

Recently, a few videos have emerged casting aspersions on the valiant efforts of the waste management establishment in Lagos, with one from an alleged sweeper, castigating officials of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) for not caring about their welfare, and yet another one by a Youth Corps member claiming that Lagos is a smelling city-state. Both were deserving of official response, which finally came.

In the first instance, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of LAWMA, Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin, has offered clarifications to the complaints of the street sweeper  which was also amplified by social media critics  about the seemingly poor wages and working conditions of these workers.

Speaking a few days ago during an interview on the TVC programme, Your View, he addressed the concerns raised by the first video, and then the second one, which have both gone viral. In the initial video, a woman is seen passionately lamenting the poor wages and difficult working conditions of street sweepers, while equally pleading for interventions to ameliorate their situation.

However, according to the LAWMA boss, the person in the video is no longer part of LAWMAs street-sweeping programme, having left several months ago. And, secondly, Gbadegesin pointed out that sweepers under the programme are actually part-time workers, and not full-time government employees. They are contracted to do the job by companies working for LAWMA, and are not direct staff members of the agency, as many erroneously think.

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Even at that, Gbadegesin elucidated that the workers are not only accorded welfare benefits that accrue to government staff, besides the regular minimum wage adjustments and access to health care, but they are also the targets of empowerment schemes designed to enhance their incomes. Currently, he noted that sweepers earn 40,000 for four hours of work daily, which, if scaled to full-time work, would certainly exceed the national minimum wage at 70,000 per month.

Beyond wages, as Gbadegesin pointed out, LAWMA is also implementing biometric registration for the sweepers through the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) to facilitate their access to health insurance (ILERA EKO) and other social support programmes. In addition, the support for boosting their livelihoods being explored by the agency includes the provision of tools for those engaged in businesses like hairdressing.

If they were full-time staff, at that rate they would be making N80,000 a month, which is N10,000 above the national minimum wage. So its untrue thatthe government doesnt care about them, Gbadegesin stated. Still, the sweepers are being positioned for support in pursuing other alternate vocations, after their days jobs, which would complement and enhance their incomes.

He further noted that, the street-sweeping programme is a flagship initiative of LAWMA, and the government has consistently prioritised the welfare of the sweepers. We recently introduced health checkups, and upon discovering that some sweepers had vision problems, we arranged for free cataract surgeries.

Beyond wages, as Gbadegesin pointed out, LAWMA is also implementing biometric registration for the sweepers through the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) to facilitate their access to health insurance (ILERA EKO) and other social support programmes. In addition, the support for boosting their livelihoods being explored by the agency includes the provision of tools for those engaged in businesses like hairdressing.

In terms of the concerns expressed by the sweepers, the LAWMA honcho acknowledged the possibility of their having issues with the vendor companies managing them, and he pledged continued investigation of any claims of their being shortchanged, as they have been doing.

However, he urged the public to be aware of what might be driving some of these complaints that are increasing on social media, because were moving into a political space now. This is two years to 2027. So youre going to see a lot of this, Gbadegesin stated. As such, the activities of naysayers should not be overlooked, particularly as we are entering into a political season in which discontent  as expressed in some videos  is being weaponised to discredit the government.

Equally, the LAWMA boss staunchly defended the reputation of Lagos as one of Africas cleanest cities, despite the persistent challenges of waste management and intermittent odours in some parts of the metropolis.

While Gbadegesin admitted that Lagos is not immune to sanitation issues, he emphasised ongoing efforts to make it cleaner. Were not saying there arent issues anywhere, he said, urging residents to stop dumping organic waste into drains. He noted that in spite of the concerns and challenges of dealing with increasing volumes of waste from different social actors, including swelling hordes of climate migrants, among others, LAWMA is committed to keep the cleanliness of Lagos its foremost priority.

This issue came to the fore recently through a viral video made by a youth corps member, Ushie Uguamaye, also known as Raye, in which she described the city-state as smelling. Although, following serious backlash for her comments, she has since recanted and apologised for appearing to talk down on the city.

Gbadegesin attributed some of the citys quality of air and even sanitation issues to climate migration, while announcing plans to made to redress the situation through a more hands-on-deck approach to ridding the city of concerns around waste management and disposal in the sprawling megalopolis.

Lagos is one of the cleanest cities on the African continent, Gbadegesin asserted, citing the positive attestations of visitors during the last Detty December festivities. He however acknowledged that challenges remain, particularly due to an influx of climate migrants. As he pointed out, LAWMAs research shows that approximately one million people, who have been displaced by the encroaching Sahara Desert, now live in open spaces and under bridges across Lagos. These individuals, often working as day labourers, cart pushers, or scavengers, generate significant waste that overwhelms public spaces.

Theyre unaccounted for, and they contribute to waste in public areas, Gbadegesin explained, linking their presence to issues like open defecation. He also pointed to the growing incidence of methane emissions from organic waste dumped into drainage channels as a strong contributor to the odours in the city, signalling broader climate concerns that the agency he leads is mapping out different strategies to contain.

While Gbadegesin admitted that Lagos is not immune to sanitation issues, he emphasised ongoing efforts to make it cleaner. Were not saying there arent issues anywhere, he said, urging residents to stop dumping organic waste into drains. He noted that in spite of the concerns and challenges of dealing with increasing volumes of waste from different social actors, including swelling hordes of climate migrants, among others, LAWMA is committed to keep the cleanliness of Lagos its foremost priority.

Gbadegesin underscored the complex interplay across urban growth, climate change, and waste management in Lagos, with LAWMA redoubling its efforts through mitigating initiatives, which have been drawing both praise and calls for more action, as the city strives to entrench its status as one of Africas clean urban hubs.

Feyisola Smith writes from Abule Egba, Lagos.

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The Katsina State Government through the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs has hailed the successful joint military operation conducted by troops of the 17 Brigade in conjunction with Air Component Operation Forest Sanity. The joint operation resulted in the rescue of 84 captives from terrorist enclaves in Kankara Local Government Area.

The State Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Nasir MuAzu conveyed the commendation by the government through a statement.

On 18 March, 2025, at approximately 0900 hours, security forces commenced a deliberate advance and attack into the enclave of notorious terrorist leader Sanusi Dutsin-Ma at Pauwa highlands general area in Kankara LGA.

The operation involved coordinated air strikes on pre-arranged targets while ground troops advanced for offensive maneuvers.

The troops made contact with the terrorists at Malori and Matalawa villages, engaging them decisively and pushing them further into the hills. At approximately 1509 hours, the security forces arrived at the camp of Sanusi Dutsin-Ma and engaged in firefight until about 1630 hours. The operation resulted in the neutralization of three terrorists while an unconfirmed number escaped with injuries.

Consequently, the security forces successfully rescued 84 captives comprising seven males, 23 females, and 54 children who had been held in terrorist camps. Pairs of camouflage uniform and other suspicious items were also destroyed.

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The rescued individuals were provided immediate food assistance before being handed over to local government authorities for further care and reunification with their families.

The state government commends the professional conduct of the troops who completed the operation with zero casualties on the government side.

This successful operation demonstrates our commitment to restoring peace and security across Katsina State. The rescue of these innocent civilians, especially the children.

The Ministry, however, reaffirms Governor Dikko Umaru Radda administrations dedication to supporting all security agencies in their efforts to rid the state of criminal elements and ensure the safety of all residents.

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Katsina State Governor, Dikko Umaru Radda, has extolled Katsina-born police officer, Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu, on his elevation from the rank of a Commissioner of Police to an Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 12, Bauchi.

Mr Aliyu, an indigene of Rimi Local Government Area of Katsina State, was formerly the Commissioner of Police at the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters Abuja, where he served as the Force Quarter Master (FQM) before his recent promotion.

In his congratulatory message, Governor Radda linked AIG Aliyus promotion to his exemplary service, dedication, and commitment to maintaining law and order throughout his distinguished career in the Nigeria Police Force.

The governor emphasised that Mr Aliyus promotion brings honour not only to himself and his family but to the entire Katsina State.

He expressed confidence that Mr Aliyu would bring his wealth of experience and strategic leadership to bear in his new role as he oversees security operations across Zone 12.

Mr Radda on behalf of the government and the people of Katsina State, wished Mr Aliyu success and prayed for divine guidance as he takes on the responsibilities of his elevated rank.

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His name is John Onoja Attah, the uncompromising commander of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps special mining marshals who consistently rejects mouth-watering bribe monies from illegal miners. There have been reports of illegal miners offering inducements to officers to make them look the other way while they engaged in their illicit dealings.

Not once but many times, Mr Onoja, who leads the special mining marshals team, has refused begging opportunities that would have made him rich but at the expense of the Nigerian government.

To commemorate one year since the outfit was commissioned, the trio of NSCDC Commandant General, Dr Abubakar Ahmed Audi, Interior minister, Mr Tunji Ojo and Solid Mineral Development Minister, Mr Dele Alake attended a press conference which was organised to give the scorecard of the mining marshals.

Mr John Onoja Attah was the reference that dominated the briefing as his character, resilience and sheer patriotism were the fulcrum that summarized what would be adjudged as the sparkling success of the marshals.

Mr Alake opened the floodgate of praises of Mr Onojas dexterity when he attributed the success of the special mining marshals as directly connected to the professional performance and patriotic zeal of its commander, ACC Attah Onoja. His choice by the Commandant -General, Dr Audi is spot on. Onoja has lived up to the responsibility of his office by turning the vision to his mission and breathing life to a combat system that has projected strategic conception, meticulous planning, bravely calibrated execution of campaigns as the distinctive modus operandi of the MM, Mr Alake emphasized.

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However, as the saying goes, the reward of success is more work. As Mr Alake challenged him to brace up for more difficult tasks in the months ahead as we consolidate our operations and flush more illegal miners from the sites to the jails.

When asked what fueled his patriotic zeal despite the enticing offers from illegal miners, ACC John Onoja Attah responded:

In life, your values and social philosophy shape your disposition. We are driven by the impact we can create through sacrifice and patriotism when given the opportunity. To us, character holds greater significance than illicit wealth in leaving lasting footprints on the sands of history.

It is this mindset that has helped to reveve up Nigeria s revenue fortune in the mining sector .

Over the past year, the Mining Marshals (MM) have made significant strides in combating illegal mining, demonstrating a clear shift in strategy. Their efforts have led to the arrest of 327 illegal miners, with prosecutions currently underway across various courts. Beyond arrests, the MM has played a crucial role in restoring mining sites to their rightful owners, many of whom had been displaced for over a decade by illegal operators.

One of the most notable interventions was the clearance operation at Mining Lease 19325 in Jagula, Kogi State, where over 3,000 illegal miners were forcefully evicted. The site, legally owned by North South Extractive Industries Limited since 2016, had been inaccessible to its rightful owners due to threats from illegal operators.

Since then, the MM has replicated this success at several other sites, including Ganan Mining Limited (ML 56757) in Kuje, FCT; Jinloys Nigeria Limited (QL 22284) in Umunneochi, Abia State; and Orbit Exploration & Natural Products Limited (ML 772) in Ankpa, Kogi State. In total, the MM has recovered over 98 sites within the past year, enabling many legitimate license holders to return to operations. This resurgence in lawful mining activities is expected to boost government revenue through increased royalties and contributions from the solid minerals sector.

To further consolidate these gains, the MM has identified 457 suspected illegal mining sites across the country, significantly improving intelligence gathering and monitoring of illegal activities. Recognizing the importance of sustained enforcement, the MM continues to train new recruits and officers, enhancing their combat readiness, field awareness, and operational capacity, even in the most challenging terrains.

Beyond manpower, technology has become a key component of MMs strategy. The agency now deploys miniature robots and drones for real-time surveillance, allowing for better intelligence gathering and precision targeting. Additionally, advanced communication tools have been introduced to help differentiate unarmed civilians from armed bandits, ensuring that operations remain focused on the true perpetrators of illegal mining.

With these measures in place, the MM has not only strengthened enforcement but also restored confidence among legitimate miners, paving the way for a more secure and productive mining sector in Nigeria.

The remarkable achievements of the Mining Marshals (MM) must be viewed against the backdrop of significant logistical challenges. Operating under severe constraints, the MM has nonetheless demonstrated patriotic zeal and professional dexterity, proving its resilience in securing Nigerias solid mineral resources.

However, with the 2025 Appropriation Act, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly have allocated a budget that aligns with the Ministrys vast responsibilities. This funding will enable the full equipping of the MM and Mines Surveillance teams, ensuring they have the necessary logistics for rapid response, combat readiness, and expanded operational coverage.

In the past year, the MM conducted direct engagements across 10 states, including Niger, Kogi, Nasarawa, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Kaduna, Enugu, Abia, Kwara, and the Federal Capital Territory. Moving forward, these operations will be strengthened nationwide to enforce compliance and secure the countrys mineral resources.

Additionally, with the judiciary demonstrating remarkable efficiency in prosecuting illegal mining cases, the MM will focus on securing convictions for the 327 individuals currently facing trial. This is expected to enhance deterrence and promote legal compliance within the sector.

To further fortify the security framework, the Federal Executive Council has approved the deployment of satellite technology to enhance surveillance. For the first time, Nigeria will have both air and ground coverage dedicated to securing the solid minerals sector.

Beyond enforcement, the government is also prioritizing non-kinetic strategies. Initiatives will be launched to strengthen collaboration with artisanal miners, encouraging them to register as cooperatives, thereby fostering a more structured and compliant mining environment.

With Assistant Corp Commandant John Onoja AttahNigeria is set to usher in a new era of security, compliance, and sustainable development in the solid minerals sector.

 Mr Abdul Ben, a journalist and analyst, writes from Karu, Abuja

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Kaduna State has consolidated its position as the leading Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) performing subnational amongst the 19 northern states in the last two years, owing to Governor Uba Sanis tax reforms.

The Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service(KADIRS) which disclosed this in a statement on Friday, was reacting to the claim that suggests a decline in IGR under the present administration

As a validation of the reforms in the revenue sector of the state under Governor Uba Sani, in 2023 and 2024, Kaduna State collected IGR of 62.48 billion and 71 billion respectively, consolidating its place as the leading IGR performing state in northern Nigeria in the last two years.

Furthermore, in the months of January and February 2025, Kaduna State has already collected an IGR of 7.46 billion and 6.68 billion respectively, bringing the total revenue collected in two months to 14.16 billion, the statement disclosed.

The statement which was signed by the Head of Corporate Communication, Zakari Jamilu Muhammad, noted that records of states IGR collections are in the public domain.

Mr Zakari said that Governor Sani has introduced a series of reforms that have improved tax collection and made tax payment easy, including  an integrated tax administration portal (PAYKADUNA), financial inclusion initiatives, enhanced taxpayers and stakeholders engagement.

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According to the statement, KADIRS has also deployed the first-of-its-kind interactive voice response system for taxpayer complaints redressal among several initiatives that have resulted in improved tax administration in the state.

The Head of Corporate Communication further expatiated on the current automation process of tax collection, explaining that payments are made through the PAYKADUNA portal or via pay direct channels from which they are swept directly into the States Treasury Single Accounts.

According to the statement, this process ensures that staff of the Service have no access or interaction with tax collections.

The IGR account is a collection and transit account and not an expenditure account therefore, it is highly inaccurate to think that any amounts can be withdrawn from it to service any interests, it explained.

The statement noted that the current level of IGR collection of the state speaks to the competence of the Chairman, the management team of the Service and the support they enjoy from the state to function as a professional and apolitical revenue authority of the state.

Mr Zakari also debunked the rumour that the former Executive Chairman was removed for calling out the Speaker for refusing to pay taxes, explaining that he had served his entire four-year tenure as provided in the Kaduna State Tax Codification and Consolidation Law, after which a new Executive Chairman was appointed by the Executive Governor.

The statement further said that that KADIRS has never received any instructions to facilitate the payment of N100 million, or any payment for that matter, to either an individual or organisation.

The statement pointed out that KADIRS is an autonomous agency of Kaduna State and remains committed to its mandate of facilitating seamless and efficient revenue mobilization for service delivery, without fear or favour to any individual or group.

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The paramount ruler of Iwo, Abdulrosheed Akanbi, has disclosed that he played a crucial role in installing Adeyeye Ogunwusi as the Ooni of Ife in 2015.

In a statement on Friday, Oluwo said he used his connections to facilitate Oonis installation, even intervening in a court case that threatened to derail Oonis aspirations.

According to the Oluwo, he received a call from Akin Daodu, an ally of the Ooni, seeking his help in Mr Ogunwusis bid for the throne.

The Oluwo said he had a prior connection with the Ogunwusi family, having lived near them in Akobo, Ibadan. He also acknowledged a closer relationship with Ogunwusis brother, Tunji Ogunwusi.

As a friend and peer, Ive earlier called Tunji Ogunwusi, but he underrated me (O fi oju ana wo mi). Maybe because Id sought his help before I got an authentic link, he refused to take me seriously.

We discussed, and he disclosed, almost all the stakeholders, including the Governor, have agreed, but there is litigation in court instituted by a few aggrieved people. He said his primary concern is court litigation. I asked him if that was all, and he said yes. I told him he was already a king.

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In his presence, I called the person in charge, and I told the person what I wanted. The case was decided on Friday, and Adeyeye became Ooni on Saturday. This was before my own enthronement. I was not selfish. I did his own before my own. And a few months later, God used the same link for me to become Oluwo of Iwoland, he stated.

The Oluwo claimed that he selflessly prioritised the Oonis interests but was met with betrayal and conspiracy.

He further alleged that the Ooni was behind efforts to undermine his authority, including orchestrating his suspension from the Osun State Council of Obas and using other traditional rulers to destabilise his territory.

Additionally, the Oluwo accused the Ooni of attacking him in the governors presence, falsely alleging that he opposes deity worship. He also claimed that the Ooni played a role in using his former wife against him.

The same person I helped to the throne has been planning evil against me. He wants me to be removed as Oluwo by all means. Such is a dream that can never come true. No one can remove me as Oluwo. No one can kill me, and no one can bring me down.

He should keep trying. He will be the one to live to regret. His cohorts that have tried it in the past failed, he said.

Ooni responds

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the Oonis spokesperson, Moses Olafare, dismissed claims that the Oluwo played a role in Mr Adeyeyes enthronement. He said selecting an Ooni involves 16 kingmakers, oracle consultations, and government approval, making it impossible for any individual to determine the outcome.

Mr Olafare challenged the Oluwo to name who he contacted or what role he played, emphasising that the Ooni was destined for the throne long before his selection.

Who was this person in charge? To become an Ooni, 16 kingmakers must sit down in their council. They will invite the head of the Ifa cult, who will come and consult the oracle for them. The same 16 lawmakers will forward whoever they have chosen to the governor, and the governor will announce the Ooni. So, which of these three did he consult?

When asked why the duo were having these issues, Mr Olafare said the Oluwos action appeared to be a mere publicity stunt as there was no obvious reason for the attack.

Regarding claims that Ooni was using other kings to destabilise his territory, Mr Olafare dismissed them as baseless. He urged the Oluwo to provide names if he had any credible allegations.

On Oluwos suspension from the Council of Traditional Rulers in Osun State, Mr Olafare clarified that it was because of his misconduct, specifically physically attacking another king. He said the incident was captured on video, investigated by the council, and led to a justified suspension.

Mr Olafare insisted that the Ooni holds no grudge against the Oluwo and has not engaged in conflict with him. He said the duo were recently seen together at an event with the governor.

He said the Ooni remained focused on his traditional ruler and businessman responsibilities, leaving no room for distractions or unnecessary confrontations.

Genesis of fracas

It is not clear when exactly the feud between the Ooni and the Oluwo began. However, there are speculations that the controversy stems from Oluwos claim that he is entitled to the throne of Ooni of Ife. The Oluwo also disputed the notion that the Ooni is superior to him in the hierarchy of Yoruba Obas.

In a bold move, Oba Akanbi ceremoniously stormed a compound in Ile-Ife to assert his claim, which didnt sit well with the Ooni. Furthermore, Oluwo disputes the notion that the Ooni is superior to him in the hierarchy of Yoruba Obas.

The Oluwo alleged that the Ooni ordered his bodyguard to push him out of the way during a meeting of traditional rulers in Port Harcourt in 2018. The Ooni, however, denied this allegation.

In 2024, the Ooni said he was chased out like a child when he visited the Oluwo. He said he has refrained from getting close to him since then.

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LAS CRUCES, N.M., March 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine celebrated its Match Day on March 21, 2025, with 144 students securing residencies across various medical specialties, marking a significant milestone for the institution.

Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine matched 144 students into residency programs in a range of medical specialties. Post this Burrell College of Osteopathic Matches 144 students.

"We are incredibly proud of our students and their achievements. More than securing residency positions, they are continuing the tradition of pursuing careers in primary care, which is vital to our communities," said John Hummer, President of Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine. "Our students' success reflects the quality of training we provide, the dedication of our faculty, and our commitment to preparing them for the growing healthcare needs in underserved areas."

Since its first Match Day in 2020, Burrell College has maintained a high placement rate. With the Class of 2025, the cumulative graduate medical education (GME) placement rate remains above 99%. This year, 61% of students matched into primary care specialties, including Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics. When including Psychiatryconsidered primary care in New Mexicothe total rises to 69%, and with Obstetrics and Gynecology, it reaches 70%.

Student Success Stories

Many students matched into residencies that will allow them to serve New Mexico, West Texas, and the surrounding region.

Luisa Sanchez-Mendez, committed to serving the Southwest, matched into Internal Medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to train in New Mexico and continue serving the community that has given me so much," she said.

Cedar Edell matched into Anesthesiology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. "Matching into Anesthesiology is a dream come true. This specialty allows me to make a direct impact on patient care while blending procedural expertise with patient safety and comfort," Edell said.

New Jersey native Madonna Okafor matched into Psychiatry at Texas Tech University in El Paso, Texas. "I love the community herethe warmth, diversity, and opportunity to make a real difference. Burrell gave me the foundation, mentorship, and support I needed to succeed," she shared.

Rikelle Trent will continue her training in Family Medicine at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces. "Matching here at home is incredibly meaningful to me. I look forward to caring for the community that shaped my aspirations," she said.

Spencer Cook, who matched into Neurology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, shared his excitement. "The journey has been challenging but incredibly rewarding. I'm eager to contribute to neurology and help patients navigate complex neurological conditions."

Jordyn Mullins secured a Neurosurgery residency at the University of Arkansas College of Medicine in Little Rock. Neurosurgery is one of the most competitive residencies, with only 240 positions nationwide. "Matching into Neurosurgery is a dream come true. Burrell's rigorous training and preparation gave me the confidence and skills to pursue this path," Mullins said.

Dr. William Pieratt, Dean & Chief Academic Officer of Burrell College, praised Mullins' achievement. "Jordyn's success reflects the strength of our academic environment and the high level of mentorship and experience our students receive."

Match Day Results

Burrell College's Match Day celebration marked the culmination of years of hard work and dedication. The Class of 2025 matched into the following specialties:

Family Medicine  38

Internal Medicine  37

Emergency Medicine  13

Pediatrics  13

Psychiatry  11

General Surgery  5

Anesthesiology  5

Neurology  4

Pathology  4

Obstetrics and Gynecology  2

Diagnostic Radiology  2

Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation  2

Neurological Surgery  1

Orthopedic Surgery  1

Pediatrics Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation  1

Preliminary Internal Medicine  1

Preliminary Obstetrics and Gynecology  1

Preliminary General Surgery  1

Transitional Year  2

A Commitment to Serving Communities

Burrell College operates campuses in Las Cruces, NM, and Melbourne, FL, where its inaugural class began in 2024. This expansion supports the college's mission to develop skilled osteopathic physicians dedicated to delivering high-quality care to diverse populations.

"Our students are dedicated to making a difference, and we're especially proud to see so many matching into specialties that are critical to our region's health," President Hummer said. "With our focus on producing physicians for underserved areas, this year's results reinforce our commitment to addressing healthcare needs in New Mexico and beyond."

For more information, visit burrell.edu.

Media Contact: Sidney Alvarez

C: 504-495-4577

SOURCE Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine
TOKYO - The top diplomats of Japan, China and South Korea agreed on Saturday to promote "future-oriented" cooperation during their meeting in Tokyo amid growing global uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's trade and security policies.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said after the trilateral talks that he and his Chinese and South Korean counterparts, Wang Yi and Cho Tae Yul, also decided to accelerate preparations to hold a summit "at the earliest convenient time," which would follow one held last year.

"It is extremely important for the three countries...to promote future-oriented exchanges and cooperation, and guide the region and the international community from division to cooperation," Iwaya said at a joint press announcement.

The latest meeting underscored improving ties between Japan and both China and South Korea despite lingering tensions over wartime history and territorial disputes. But their agreement lacked specifics.

The focus of cooperation will be on measures to "know each other better," "protect livelihoods," and address challenges "common to all generations," the Japanese government said, with Iwaya citing issues such as low birthrates and aging populations.

At the outset of the meeting, Wang expressed his readiness to build three-way collaborative relations, saying China will "constantly unearth the potential for cooperation."

But he also fired a warning shot at Japan on historical issues, saying this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of what China refers to as the 1937-1945 War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

"The future can only be created after sincerely reflecting on history," the Chinese foreign minister said.

On Russia's war against Ukraine, Iwaya reiterated Japan's position that "unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force should not be tolerated anywhere in the world" and expressed concern about North Korea's military cooperation with Russia.

He also said North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile development are a source of concern and called for cooperation to resolve the issue of Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese nationals decades ago.

Cho told reporters the three nations should work toward the "complete denuclearization" of North Korea. Wang expressed hope for a "political solution" to the Korean Peninsula issue to achieve long-term stability in Northeast Asia.

The countries last held a trilateral foreign ministerial meeting in the South Korean port city of Busan in November 2023 and a summit in Seoul in May 2024.

Later in the day, Iwaya said the next summit needs to be held "by the end of this year," vowing to "speed up" coordination.

Each country faces its own challenges, with China grappling with a prolonged property sector crisis and South Korea in political turmoil as President Yoon Suk Yeol awaits an impeachment verdict over his brief imposition of martial law in December.

Trump's second term, which began in January, has added a new twist to bilateral and trilateral cooperation among the three Asian nations, amid the specter of an intensifying trade war between Beijing and Washington and potential repercussions from the U.S. president's skepticism of long-standing alliances.

Wang emphasized to reporters the importance of "multilateralism and free trade toward an inclusive development of economic globalization," likely with Trump's aggressive tariff policy, which has already targeted China, in mind.

The ministers also pledged to work together to ensure the success of talks under the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which South Korea will chair this year, according to the Japanese government.

At the previous three-way summit, then Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and President Yoon agreed to cooperate in six areas, including people-to-people exchanges, climate change response, economic cooperation and trade, aging society and disaster relief.

Before then, the countries had not held a trilateral summit since December 2019, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic and disputes between Japan and South Korea stemming from Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula and its wartime actions.

However, Tokyo and Seoul have made dramatic progress in mending ties in recent years, agreeing to move past the dispute over wartime conscripted labor. The improvement also led to enhanced cooperation with the United States under Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden.

Later Saturday, Iwaya and Cho held bilateral talks, sharing "serious concerns" over issues related to North Korea, including its "malicious cyber activities," such as cryptocurrency theft, an alleged funding source for its nuclear and missile programs, the Japanese government said.

Related coverage:

Japan PM seeks "future-oriented" ties with China, South Korea

Japan opposition lawmakers seek end to China's seafood import ban

Japan, U.S., S. Korea eye 1st foreign ministerial meeting under Trump
CHENGDU, China, March 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from National Business Daily:

Chengdu, a city celebrated for its deep cultural roots, showcased its growing prowess in creative industries at the 2025 World Conference on Cultural Industry, held March 21-22. Themed "Culture Leadership in Urban Vitality and Innovation", the event attracted industry leaders, government officials, and creative professionals from around the world, highlighting Chengdu's efforts to blend culture with cutting-edge technologies and innovation.

Conference Scene

The two-day conference explored thriving creative industries such as gaming, animation, film, and design, providing a platform for collaboration through industry matchmaking, site visits, and cultural events. The opening ceremony featured speeches from international delegates, including a representative from South Yorkshire, U.K., alongside perspectives from Greater Manchester and Liverpool officials on urban creative strategies.

Industry experts offered detailed insights into trends driving digital creativity, while a signing ceremony cemented partnerships in various sectors of cultural industry. Local media group presented a series of local projects, underscoring the city's contributions to innovation in digital media and storytelling.

During the conference, a standout moment came as the U.K. delegation toured two of Chengdu's leading digital creative parks. Discussions with park managers and companies centered on product exports and potential cross-border collaborations. That evening, a Sino-U.K. cultural promotion dinner spotlighted opportunities in film, music, art, design, and sports, with several initial agreements taking shape during one-on-one talks.

On March 22, participants visited Chengdu's iconic landmarks, experiencing the city's rich heritage and vibrant creative spirit firsthand. The tours reinforced Chengdu's appeal as a place where tradition meets modern innovation, leaving a strong impression on attendees.

The conference bolstered Chengdu's connections with global creative industries, positioning it as an increasingly influential player in the international cultural and technological landscape while fueling its ongoing development ambitions.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2647187/Conference_Scene.jpg
LAS VEGAS, March 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In a historic courtroom victory, Robert Eglet of Eglet Law, Will Kemp of Kemp Jones, LLP and Theodore Parker of Parker Nelson Associates have secured a record-breaking, multi-billion-dollar verdict, against Real Water, Inc., holding the company accountable for poisoning consumers with toxic, chemically contaminated alkaline water. This verdict marks one of the largest product liability awards in U.S. history, delivering justice for Lisa King and over 60 victims who suffered severe, lifelong health complications. The jury found Real Water, liable for product defects, and reckless disregard for consumer safety, awarding substantial compensatory damages of 80 million and punitive damages of 3 billion, totaling 3.8 billion.

"This case was about holding corporations accountable when they knowingly endanger the public," said Robert Eglet, lead trial attorney. "Real Water marketed itself as a healthy product, but in reality, it was poisoning people. This verdict sends a clear messagecompanies that put profits over people will face the full force of justice."

The lawsuit exposed Real Water's years-long pattern of deception, during which the company ignored multiple consumer complaints and scientific evidence linking its product to acute liver failure, autoimmune diseases, and other severe health consequences.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE VERDICT:

Corporate Accountability: This case sets a legal precedent for product liability and consumer safety.

This case sets a for product liability and consumer safety. Justice for Victims: Plaintiffs, including children and families, finally receive the compensation they deserve.

Plaintiffs, including children and families, finally receive the compensation they deserve. Regulatory Oversight Failures: The verdict highlights gaps in consumer protections that allowed this crisis to unfold.

The verdict highlights gaps in consumer protections that allowed this crisis to unfold. A Wake-Up Call for the Beverage Industry: Companies must uphold safety standards or risk massive financial and reputational consequences.

This verdict underscores Eglet Law's reputation as one of the nation's top litigation firms for securing record-breaking settlements and verdicts on behalf of injured victims.

For more information about Eglet Law, visit Eglet Law . and an interview with Robert Eglet, contact Tom Letizia at [email protected] or call 702-545-8777.

Contact: Tom Letizia

Phone: 702-545-8777

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Eglet Law
NEW ORLEANS, March 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until May 5, 2025 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. ("ELF" or the "Company") (NYSE: ELF), if they purchased the Company's securities between November 1, 2023 and November 19, 2024, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Get Help

ELF investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-elf/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options.

About the Lawsuit

ELF and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On November 20, 2024, Muddy Waters Research reported that the Company had materially overstated revenue over the past three quarters; that in Q2 FY24, it realized its growth narrative was in trouble as its inventory built; that it then began reporting inflated revenue and profits resulting in its reported inventory also appearing materially inflated; and that the Company concealed its inventory challenges from investors by falsely attributing its rising inventory levels to supposed changes in its sourcing practices rather than the true cause insufficient sales.

On this news, the price of ELF's shares fell $2.71 per share, or 2.23%, to close at $119.00 per share on November 20, 2024.

On February 6, 2025, the Company released its fiscal Q3 2025 results and provided fiscal 2025 outlook that confirmed the weaknesses identified in the report previously issued by Muddy Waters, including softer consumption trends and slower new product launches. On this news, Elf's stock price fell $17.36 per share, or 19.62%, to close at $71.13 per share on February 7, 2025.

The case is Rottman v. e.l.f. Beauty, Inc., et al., No. 25-cv-2316.

About ClaimsFiler

ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations.

To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.

SOURCE ClaimsFiler
TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands, March 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- IDC OVERSEAS, LTD. (the "Company" or "IDC") announced today that its offer to exchange (the "Exchange Offer") any and all of its outstanding 9.0% Notes due 2026 (ISIN: XS2590265471; Common Code: 259026547) (the "Existing Notes") for an equal amount of its new 9.0% Notes due 2030 (the "New Notes") has expired in accordance with its terms at 4:00 p.m. London time on March 21, 2025. An aggregate principal amount of $144,940,000 of Existing Notes have been validly tendered for exchange, representing 96.63% of the outstanding Existing Notes. The Company has accepted for exchange all of the Existing Notes tendered. The Company expects the settlement date of the Exchange Offer to be on or about March 26, 2025

General

BCP Securities, Inc. is acting as exclusive dealer manager for the Exchange Offer. D.F. King Ltd. has been appointed as the information agent and exchange agent for the Exchange Offer. The complete terms and conditions of the Exchange Offer are described in the exchange offer memorandum, copies of which may be obtained by Eligible Holders by contacting (i) BCP Securities, Inc. at [email protected] or (ii) D.F. King Ltd. at +44 20 7920 9700 or [email protected]. For more information, visit https://clients.dfkingltd.com/idc.

The New Notes have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or the securities laws of any state of the United States or other jurisdiction, and may not be offered or sold within the United States, except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. Accordingly, the New Notes are being offered and sold only to non-U.S. persons outside the United States in compliance with Regulation S under the Securities Act ("Eligible Holders").

This announcement is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the New Notes nor an offer to purchase Existing Notes. The Exchange Offer was made solely by means of the exchange offer memorandum.

About the Company

IDC was founded in 1995 and has evolved from a consulting firm to an investment bank, to a multi-fund platform for strategic investments. IDC operates its business through four offices located in Miami, Guatemala City, Madrid and Copenhagen, providing a global platform and local knowledge for sourcing transactions and raising capital for different funds and a network divided into six verticals. IDC's purpose is to be a transformation agent, ultimately making a positive impact and changing the lives of people through its investments and proprietary projects. As of December 31, 2024, the Company's assets under management were US$2.1 billion.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements relate to our future prospects, developments and business strategies and are identified by our use of terms and phrases such as "believe," "could," "would," "will," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "strategy" and similar terms and phrases, and may include references to assumptions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. We caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on numerous assumptions and that our actual results of operations, including our financial condition and liquidity may differ materially from (and be more negative than) those made in, or suggested by, any forward-looking statements contained in this release. In addition, even if our results of operations, including our financial condition and liquidity and the development of the industry in which we operate, are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this release, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information or future events or developments. More detailed information about these and other factors is set forth in the exchange offer memorandum.

SOURCE IDC Overseas, Ltd.
HONG KONG, March 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- THREE International launched its luxury facial moisturizer, Visage Creme Caviar, at the company's global Vision 2025 conference in Hong Kong Saturday. The moisturizer is the latest addition to the Visage skincare line and incorporates both neurocosmetic and quorum sensing ingredients, as well as the rare and resilient botanical extracts the company is known for, once more bringing together the best of science and nature in a truly innovative combination.

Visage Creme Caviar, THREE's neurocosmetic and quorum sensing moisturizer for deep and lasting hydration. The four-step Visage Collection with Visage Pure Cleanse, Visage Radiant Toner, Visage Super Serum, and the new moisturizer, Visage Creme Caviar.

"Moisturization is a fundamental part of any skincare routine, but not all moisturizers are created equal," said Dr. Dan Gubler, Chief Scientific Officer of THREE International. "Visage Creme Caviar is more than a moisturizer. It's the culmination of years of research and discovery, pursuing nature's wonders and unlocking the secrets of plants."

The formulation integrates botanical extracts sourced from the fruit of the Kochia plant. Dr. Gubler discovered the plant's potential to support skin health during study and exploration of northern Japan.

"Six years ago, I began studying the Kochia plant, whose fruit showed incredible potential for skin health," said Dr. Gubler. "Its fruit, commonly called 'Mountain Caviar,' is rich in alkaloids and saponins, which act like tiny sponges, pulling moisture from the air and holding it in your skin to keep it hydrated all day. It's also an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which help your skin stay soft and resilient, and vitamins and minerals that support your skin's natural defenses."

Its neurocosmetic ingredients are designed to enhance the skin's natural responses to environmental stressors, helping to promote a smoother-looking, more luminous complexion. Quorum sensing technology works to augment the skin's microbiome, creating an environment that encourages both balance and optimal absorption of nutrients.

"The patent-pending neurocosmetic technology in Visage Creme Caviar supports the health of the skin-brain connection, which helps promote a positive mood state," Dr. Gubler explained. "The quorum sensing ingredients help your cells communicate and coordinate in way that that enables the rest of the ingredients to really do their job and deliver the results your skin deserves."

Visage Creme Caviar follows the success of Visage Super Serum, which saw rapid adoption due to its neurocosmetic properties aimed at supporting the skin's natural renewal processes. With this new release, the Visage Collection now includes a full skincare regimen: Visage Pure Cleanse, Visage Radiant Toner, Visage Super Serum, and Visage Creme Caviar. Each product in the line works synergistically to cleanse, tone, nourish, and deeply hydrate the skin.

Further information about the research behind the formulation is available through the Explore With Dr. Dan video series, where Dr. Gubler documents discoveries of plant-based ingredients with potential applications in human health. Viewers can access the series at explorewithdrdan.com.

Visage Creme Caviar is available for purchase, along with the rest of the collection, at THREEinternational.com.

Discover the Future of Skincare

Experience the revolutionary Visage Collection and see how innovative science can pamper your skin and help you feel great. Visit THREEinternational.com to explore the collection and connect with a Brand Ambassador for personalized recommendations. If you're passionate about skincare and human health, consider joining the THREE team as customer or Brand Ambassadorwe'd love to work with you.

THREE  has redefined the science of supplementation with cutting-edge cellular absorption technology, ensuring that our products are efficient, effective, and unbeatably bioavailable. Behind our world-leading, advanced delivery products is our scientific community, a team of leaders, led by Dr. Dan Gubler , from across the medical field.

Our mission is twofold: improve quality of life through holistic health education and to inform the development of world-leading advanced delivery products. THREE is a movement led by Daniel Picou , Founder & CEO, that is changing lives around the world by delivering healthy options to PEOPLE, greater PURPOSE through our caring community, and a dynamic PLATFORM for entrepreneurship. Learn more at: threeinternational.com .

Media Contact

THREE International Communications | [email protected]

SOURCE Three International
WASHINGTON, March 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein, National Association of Letter Carriers President Brian Renfroe and National Rural Letter Carriers' Association President Donald Maston will speak at a National Press Club Headliners Newsmaker on Tuesday, March 25 at 10 a.m.

This year, 2025, marks the 250th year of the public United States Postal Service, older than the country, mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, and since 1970 operated as an independent agency primarily funded through the sale of stamps and services.

President Trump has suggested transferring the USPS to the U.S. Department of Commerce, which could only be done through an act of Congress. Trump advisor and the head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, Elon Musk, earlier this month said, "I think we should privatize the Post Office."

While the USPS has been exempt from DOGE-directed cuts that have hit other parts of the federal government, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy recently signed an agreement for DOGE to provide assistance to the postal service. DeJoy also has launched his own 10-year plan to improve the efficiency of the USPS' operations called "Delivering for America."

Postal unions have reached voluntary early retirement agreements with DeJoy that would reduce the postal service's workforce by more than 10,000 workers.

Speakers at Tuesday's Newsmaker will address what's happening now and what proposed changes would mean for the price of stamps and packages, the frequency of mail delivery and other issues important to providing postal service to 169 million addresses six and sometimes seven times a week.

This Headliners event is open to credentialed media and Club members. Registration is essential. To submit questions in advance for the speaker, put MAIL on the subject line and email to [email protected] .

The National Press Club is located on the 13th Floor of the National Press Building at 529 14th St., NW, Washington, D.C.

PRESS CONTACT: Cecily Scott Martin for the National Press Club; [email protected]; (202) 662-7525

SOURCE National Press Club
TOKYO - Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Saturday that he agreed with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi to promote "mutually beneficial and practical" cooperation in areas such as decarbonization and addressing low birthrates.

After talks with Wang in Tokyo, Iwaya told reporters that he conveyed concerns over intensifying Chinese military activities and other provocative moves while voicing Japan's eagerness to host a trilateral summit involving South Korea "by the year-end."

Iwaya also reiterated his nation's request for China to lift its blanket ban on Japanese seafood imports imposed after the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.

Among other demands Iwaya made were the removal of a buoy installed by Beijing within Japan's exclusive economic zone south of Yonaguni Island in the southern prefecture of Okinawa and the early release of Japanese nationals detained by Chinese authorities on espionage allegations.

China's anti-espionage law has been "hurting Japanese firms' business" in the neighboring country, Iwaya was quoted by the Foreign Ministry as saying.

The two ministers, meanwhile, affirmed that their governments will hold a senior official-level security dialogue at the earliest possible date to "deepen communication" in the field, Japanese officials said.

The two ministers cochaired the first high-level Japan-China economic dialogue in six years, following a hiatus mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and after earlier holding separate talks on the broader bilateral relationship.

The meetings took place with the Asian neighbors exploring ways to stabilize their strained ties, but no major progress was made toward resolving their differences.

It was the first visit to Japan by a Chinese foreign minister since November 2020, when Wang made a trip to meet with Japanese political leaders amid the pandemic.

At the outset of the economic talks, Iwaya said he expects the meeting to "embody" the cooperation between the two countries, pledging to make efforts so that Japanese and Chinese citizens can "feel the benefits" of progress in bilateral relations.

Wang appeared to criticize recent policies of the United States, Japan's close ally, saying, "Unilateralism and protectionism are rampant," in a veiled reference to President Donald Trump's "America First" doctrine and his tariffs.

The two governments agreed in September to gradually resume China's imports of Japanese marine products, contingent upon Beijing's participation in monitoring activities under the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The ban was introduced in August 2023, when the water discharge from the nuclear plant into the Pacific began despite strong opposition from China, which cited possible negative impacts on human health and the environment.

Iwaya did not elaborate on the details of Saturday's discussion on the topic. Aside from seafood, he said he asked Wang to resume beef imports and expand rice purchases.

Following the previous high-level economic dialogue in April 2019, Japan and China signed a quarantine pact in November of that year, seen as a key step toward the lifting of Beijing's ban on Japanese beef imports in place since 2001. But talks on the issue have not made substantial progress since, partly due to the pandemic.

Japan has also expressed fears about the safety of its citizens in China. In September, a Japanese schoolboy was fatally stabbed by a Chinese man in Shenzhen.

On the security front, bilateral tensions have been sparked by repeated intrusions by Chinese vessels into Japanese waters around the uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which are controlled by Tokyo and claimed by Beijing.

Related coverage:

Japan, China, South Korea agree to promote "future-oriented" cooperation

Japan PM seeks "future-oriented" ties with China, South Korea

Japan opposition lawmakers seek end to China's seafood import ban
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
Windhoek, March 22 : Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was sworn in as the first female president of Namibia after winning elections last year.

At a ceremony on Friday that coincided with Namibia's 35th anniversary of independence, Nandi-Ndaitwah assumed office, succeeding outgoing President Nangolo Mbumba, who had taken over power following the death of former President Hage Geingob in 2024, Xinhua news agency reported.

As Namibia's fifth president since its independence in 1990, Nandi-Ndaitwah won the 2024 presidential election with 57 per cent of the vote.

"The task facing me, as the fifth president of the Republic of Namibia, is to preserve the gains of our independence on all fronts and to ensure that the unfinished agenda of economic and social advancement of our people is carried forward with vigor and determination to bring about shared balanced prosperity for all," Nandi-Ndaitwah said in her inaugural speech as president.

"I am optimistic that, as a nation, we can make a success of our country. We must work together as a united people with one heart and one mind," she added.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by heads of state from several African countries, as well as leaders of international and regional organisations.

Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, is a member of Namibia's ruling South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) party, which has been in power since the country gained independence in 1990. She joined the party when it was leading the struggle for independence and has since held several senior positions.

Nandi-Ndaitwah entered the National Assembly in 1990 and became a cabinet minister in 2000, leading the Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Welfare.

She later served as minister of information and broadcasting, minister of environment and tourism, and minister of foreign affairs. In February 2024, she became Namibia's first female vice president.
Jerusalem, March 22 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara disputed over the government's attempt to replace Shin Bet security chief Ronen Bar.

Baharav-Miara issued a directive prohibiting Netanyahu from taking any action to remove Bar after the High Court temporarily blocked the government's attempt to dismiss him, Xinhua news agency reported.

"It is prohibited to appoint a new Shin Bet chief," she stated, also banning interviews for the post.

In response, Netanyahu rejected the directive, reaffirming the government's authority over security appointments.

"Israel is a state of law, and according to the law, the government decides who heads the Shin Bet," his office said in a statement. "There will be no civil war."

Earlier on Friday, the High Court intervened to suspend Bar's dismissal while it reviewed a petition filed by opposition parties, who accused Netanyahu of a "severe conflict of interest."

They claim Netanyahu is attempting to remove Bar in retaliation for Shin Bet's investigations into his government's handling of security failures leading up to the October 7 Hamas attack.

Bar's tenure, initially set to end on April 20, was moved up to April 10 by the cabinet, though officials indicated he could depart sooner if a successor is appointed.

Tensions between Netanyahu and Bar have heightened since the war began, fueled by Shin Bet's investigations into the government's wartime decision-making and the "Qatar-Gate" affair, involving alleged undisclosed contacts between Netanyahu aides and Qatari officials.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu's cabinet will debate a motion of no confidence against Baharav-Miara on Sunday. The government's intent to remove her from office was confirmed hours after the dispute with the prime minister.
TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.

----------

Japan, China agree to push mutually beneficial, practical cooperation

TOKYO - Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Saturday that he agreed with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi to promote "mutually beneficial and practical" cooperation in areas such as decarbonization and addressing low birthrates.

After talks with Wang in Tokyo, Iwaya told reporters that he conveyed concerns over intensifying Chinese military activities and other provocative moves while voicing Japan's eagerness to host a trilateral summit involving South Korea "by the year-end."

----------

Japan, China, South Korea agree to promote "future-oriented" cooperation

TOKYO - The top diplomats of Japan, China and South Korea agreed on Saturday to promote "future-oriented" cooperation during their meeting in Tokyo amid growing global uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's trade and security policies.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said after the trilateral talks that he and his Chinese and South Korean counterparts, Wang Yi and Cho Tae Yul, also decided to accelerate preparations to hold a summit "at the earliest convenient time," which would follow one held last year.

----------

Japan ranks low in global survey on trust in scientists

TOKYO - Japan ranked low in a global survey on public trust in scientists, according to a study by an international research team published in a British scientific journal.

The survey, conducted between 2022 and 2023 after the COVID-19 pandemic, asked around 72,000 people in 68 countries and regions to rate their trust in scientists on a scale of up to 5 based on factors such as competence, honesty and transparency.

----------

Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi opens 1st permanent store in Japan

TOKYO - Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp. on Saturday opened its first permanent store in Japan, aiming to boost sales by offering customers the chance to interact directly with its high-end phones and other electronic appliances.

The store, located in a shopping mall operated by Aeon Retail Co. in Saitama near Tokyo, comes as Xiaomi aims to launch a total of five to ten stores in Japan by the end of this year.

----------

Sumo: Onosato wins, Takayasu loses to tie for lead ahead of final day

OSAKA - Ozeki Onosato regained a share of the lead Saturday at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament by defeating sekiwake Daieisho after overnight leader Takayasu lost his battle with fellow rank-and-file wrestler Churanoumi.

The results leave Onosato and No. 4 maegashira Takayasu tied at 11-3 heading into the final day of the 15-day competition at Edion Arena Osaka, with lower-ranked maegashira Churanoumi, Aonishiki and Tokihayate one win back at 10-4.

----------

Baseball: NPB players found gambling online to be fined

TOKYO - Nippon Professional Baseball's 12 clubs have decided to impose fines on players found gambling online, which is illegal in Japan, in cases deemed low-risk for addiction, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday.

The decision is apparently aimed at bringing a degree of closure to the issue before the regular season starts next Friday and is expected to be announced in the coming days.

----------

Hegseth to make 1st visit to Philippines, Japan as U.S. defense chief

WASHINGTON - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will depart early next week for a series of meetings in Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines and Japan, the Pentagon said Friday, as it seeks to boost cooperation with two of its Asian allies amid Chinese military activity in the region.

It will be Hegseth's first trip to Asia as Pentagon chief. Hegseth, a former Fox News host who has expressed an unstinting loyalty to President Donald Trump, could press Japan to raise its defense spending.

----------

Japan develops uranium-based battery to reuse radioactive waste

TOKYO - Japan's national nuclear research and development institute has developed what it calls the world's first uranium-based rechargeable battery that may pave the way for the use of massive stockpiles of radioactive material generated in the nuclear fuel manufacturing process.

According to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the research team confirmed the charging and discharging performance of a battery that uses uranium as an "active material" to trigger a chemical reaction and generate electricity.

Video: Opening ceremony of the southern building of Grand Green Osaka
New Delhi, March 22 : Supreme Court Justice B.R. Gavai, along with five other senior judges, will visit relief camps in Manipur on Saturday to assess the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by ethnic violence in the state.

The visit, which is being coordinated by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), will include the inauguration of legal aid clinics and medical camps to assist those affected by the turmoil.

The ethnic violence in Manipur erupted on May 3, 2023, following a "tribal solidarity march" organised in the hill districts to protest the demand for Scheduled Tribe status by the majority Meitei community.

Since then, the violence has claimed over 200 lives, injured hundreds, and displaced thousands, with many taking shelter in relief camps across the state.

NALSA reports that more than 50,000 people remain displaced, seeking refuge in these camps, nearly two years after the initial outbreak.

Justice B.R. Gavai, who serves as the Executive Chairman of NALSA, will be joined by Supreme Court Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, M.M. Sundresh, K.V. Viswanathan, and N. Kotiswar Singh.

Together, they will visit the camps in Imphal East, Imphal West, and Ukhrul districts, where they will interact with displaced persons and oversee the distribution of essential relief materials.

The visit will also focus on providing legal support to the affected communities. Justice Gavai is expected to virtually inaugurate several new legal aid clinics and medical camps in the affected districts to assist those seeking legal and medical assistance.

These initiatives aim to offer immediate support to the displaced population, many of whom are grappling with the long-term effects of the violence.

The Supreme Courtas involvement in this humanitarian mission underscores the ongoing need for legal and humanitarian assistance in Manipur.

Thousands of displaced persons continue to face hardship and uncertainty in the aftermath of the violence.
Prague, March 22 : The Czech Republic reinstated border controls with neighbouring Slovakia in response to an outbreak of the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) among cattle on three Slovak farms.

According to Czech Agriculture Minister Marek Vyborny, extraordinary border controls at Slovak crossings were reinstated in agreement with the Czech Police and Interior Minister Vit Rakusan. Police and veterinary inspectors are currently enforcing a ban on imports of livestock from affected regions at four main border crossings with Slovakia, he said.

Vyborny has also contacted the leaders of key agricultural unions and associations, urging their members to adhere to emergency measures and strict biosecurity protocols, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I once again appeal to all farmers not to underestimate the necessary protective measures for their livestock, including hygiene, disinfection and a strict ban on unauthorized entry into their facilities," the minister said on social media platform X.

Earlier this month, the Czech Republic banned the transport of susceptible animals from Hungary and Slovakia over outbreaks of FMD. The ban was canceled only a few days ago.

FMD primarily affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats. Symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, excessive salivation, and blisters on the mouth and feet.

According to the State Veterinary Administration of the Czech Republic, in addition to human activity, wild animals, including wild boars, can also act as vectors of the disease. The virus is primarily transmitted by inhalation and direct contact between animals.
New Delhi, March 22 : Signalling the importance of the contributions of the people of the state settled in the national Capital, Bihar Diwas grand celebrations are set to take place at Dilli Haat, INA, New Delhi, starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The event will be graced by the Minister of Industries, Government of Bihar, Nitish Mishra who will serve as the Chief Guest.

The celebration will feature an array of lively cultural performances by renowned artists from Bihar, offering a glimpse into the stateas rich cultural heritage and traditions.

The Bihar Utsav 2025 at Dilli Haat is a grand showcase of the state's vibrant art, culture, and craftsmanship. Running until March 31, this festival serves as a unique platform to explore Biharas diverse cultural heritage, with numerous stalls displaying exquisite products created by local artisans.

Kundan Kumar, the Resident Commissioner, underscored the significance of the event, stating, "Bihar Utsav celebrates the foundation day of our state, and itas a tribute to our rich heritage. The Department of Industries has worked diligently to bring this fair to life, ensuring that our artisans and small businesses get the recognition they deserve."

The festival is home to a variety of traditional crafts, including Madhubani paintings, wooden artefacts, and Tassar silk sarees.

Vendors at the festival expressed their gratitude for the government's support, noting that they have been setting up stalls at Bihar Utsav for several years. They mentioned that the government has consistently assisted them by covering travel costs, providing allowances, and offering free spaces to sell their products.

According to the event organisers, Bihar Utsav is not just about showcasing craftsmanship but also about empowering artists from the state who often lack opportunities to display their work on larger platforms.

The festival continues to promote the rich cultural tapestry of Bihar while creating economic opportunities for local artisans.
New Delhi, March 22 : A statewide bandh has been called in Karnataka on Saturday in protest against the recent attack on a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) driver in Maharashtra and the controversial 'Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill.'

The bandh, which is being spearheaded by more than 3,000 pro-Kannada organisations, will see businesses, shops, and public transport come to a halt from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The protest is centred around two major issues: The brutal attack on a KSRTC driver by a group of individuals in Maharashtra, which has sparked widespread anger among the Kannada community, and the 'Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill,' which many groups believe could negatively affect the city's governance.

The pro-Kannada groups are demanding that the state government take strong action against those responsible for the attack and prevent similar incidents in the future.

In Bengaluru, the impact of the bandh is expected to be significant, with disruptions to transport services, especially public transportation. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) services are likely to be suspended for the day, leading to challenges for commuters.

Although private cabs and auto services are expected to run as usual, high demand may lead to surge pricing.

While the bandh has support from various pro-Kannada groups, it has not gained traction among Kannada and farmer organisations, and schools and colleges in the state will remain open.

However, local businesses and shops in Bengaluru and other areas across Karnataka are expected to stay closed in solidarity with the protest.

Despite these disruptions, emergency services will continue to function normally. Authorities are urging people to plan their travel accordingly and exercise caution, as traffic disruptions and blockages in key areas are likely throughout the day.
Mumbai, March 22 : Actor Karan Kundrra has finally opened up about his much-awaited wedding with Tejasswi Prakash. In an exclusive interview with IANS, the actor shared exciting details about their big day.

When asked about his wedding menu, Karan revealed his love for food, saying, "Absolutely, I am a big foodie. But when it comes to the wedding food, I would like to leave it to the professionals." This shows Karan's trust in expert chefs to curate a menu that will surely delight the guests.

As for the wedding plans themselves, the Kitani Mohabbat Hai actor humorously explained with a smile, "I think woh AI tha, AI (Artificial Intelligence)." He continued, "I think when the time is near, I will start thinking about it. I will start thinking about whether I want it big or simple." Karan also shared how Tejasswi often cooks for him, and how special that is to him. He said, "Yes, of course, she cooks for me. Anything, the fact that she's cooking for me is itself something that is extremely special." He went on to praise her culinary skills, revealing how Tejasswi loves to experiment in the kitchen. "Yesterday also, she experimented with something, and I ate it, and I really liked it."

Karan and Tejasswi are set to tie the knot soon, as confirmed by Tejasswi's mother on a recent episode of "Celebrity MasterChef." When Farah Khan asked Tejasswi's mother, "Shaadi kab hogi?" she enthusiastically replied, "Issi saal ho jaaegi," revealing that the wedding will happen this year.

This surprise announcement left the actress blushing, and she quickly responded with a playful denial, saying, "Aise kuch baat nahi hui hai."

Interestingly, Tejasswi had previously mentioned the possibility of a simple court marriage. She had said, "I am not big on that. I am okay with a normal court marriage. Hum log phir ghumenge, phirenge, aish karenge types," hinting that the couple plans to keep things low-key, with a focus on fun and enjoyment after the wedding.

For the unversed, the couple's relationship has grown stronger since they first met on "Bigg Boss 15," where their love blossomed. During the Christmas special Weekend Ka Vaar episode of the reality show, the actor proposed to Tejasswi Prakash with a red rose.
Kolkata, March 22 : BJP leader Dilip Ghosh on Saturday accused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of targeting individuals who are still fighting for justice in the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital rape and murder, alleging that the state is attempting to intimidate them into silence.

He asserted that the BJP would not remain quiet over the handling of the case and would continue its campaign against the government until it is removed from power.

Ghosh's remarks came in response to the transfer of senior doctor Subarna Goswami, who emerged as a prominent voice in the medical fraternity's protest against the R. G. Kar rape and murder case in August last year.

Goswami has been shifted to Darjeeling in a lower-ranked post, which many view as punitive action.

Speaking to IANS, Ghosh said, "Dr. Subarna Goswami had raised his voice regarding the case, and now he is being targeted. This government is trying to scare those who stand against it by transferring them, but they fail to suppress the movement."

"With the movement reigniting, those at the forefront are targeted. The government cannot suppress a democratic movement by simply transferring a few individuals. The entire society is against the TMC government in the Abhaya case. We will continue our campaign until this government is ousted," he added.

As per the notification issued by the state Health & Family Welfare Department, Goswami, who currently holds the position of Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH)-II in East Burdwan district, has been transferred as Superintendent of Darjeeling TB Hospital -- a lower-ranking position.

Reacting to the move, Goswami had stated that while he must accept the transfer as a government servant, its nature clearly indicated vendetta.

"My next posting is a rank lower than my current one. Moreover, the hospital in Darjeeling has almost no workload, as very few patients get admitted there. This is the eighth time I have been transferred under the current TMC regime, and five of those transfers have been at the same rank," he had said.

He further asserted that the transfer would not deter him from continuing the movement on the R.G. Kar case. "My fight will go on. It's not just me -- others involved in the movement are also being targeted. I was questioned by the police when the protests were at their peak, but I am not afraid," he added.

Goswami, along with renowned senior doctor Kunal Sarkar, had been summoned to the Kolkata Police headquarters last year and questioned by the then Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal when the protests were at their height.
Mumbai, March 22 : As his film "Madgaon Express" turned one since its release in Hindi cinema, actor-filmmaker Kunal Kemmu revealed that he has "finished writing the next".

Mumbai, March 22 (IANS) As his film "Madgaon Express" turned one since its release in Hindi cinema, actor-filmmaker Kunal Kemmu revealed that he has "finished writing the next".

Kunal took to Instagram, where he shared three posters of "Madgaon Express" with the text overlay which reads: "Happy 1st. Birthday. Madgaon Express."

"Happy Birthday Madgaon express It's already been a year!! Must tell more stories. Specially since I've finished writing the next (sic). More on that soon. For now just a big thank you to all of you and everyone who was a part of Madgaon express," he wrote as the caption.

Released in 2024, the film followed the story of childhood friends Dodo, Ayush, and Pinku, who embark on a trip to Goa that goes completely off-track due to a sequence of terrible decisions.

A dark comedy film, "Madgaon Express" marked the directorial debut of Kunal. It features Divyenndu, Pratik Gandhi, Avinash Tiwary, Nora Fatehi, Upendra Limaye and Chhaya Kadam.

Talking about Kunal, he made his debut as a child actor appearing in the Doordarshan TV series Gul Gulshan Gulfaam in 1987. He made his film debut with Mahesh Bhatt's 1993 film Sir.

As a child artist, he worked in films including Raja Hindustani, Zakhm, Bhai, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke, and Dushman.

He played the lead in the 2005 film Kalyug, which was directed by Mohit Suri. The film was based on the pornography industry. In 2007, his first release was Madhur Bhandarkar's Traffic Signal, where he played a street-smart money lender who lends money to poor families, but always gets it back with interest.

Kunal, who is married to actress Soha Ali Khan, was then seen in films such as Dhol, Superstar, Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge and Jai Veeru, Golmaal 3, Blood Money, Go Goa Gone, Bhaag Johnny, Guddu Ki Gun, Malang and Kalank.
Washington, March 22 : US President Donald Trump has reiterated that he will exert flexibility on tariff policies, but his administration's new levies on goods coming into the United States would "basically" be "reciprocal."

During a press availability, Trump made the remarks as his administration plans to roll out country-by-country reciprocal tariffs on April 2, which will be customised based on trading partners' tariff- and non-tariff barriers and other factors, including exchange rates and unfair trade practices.

"The word, flexibility, is an important word. ... There will be flexibility, but basically, it's reciprocal," he said, reports Yonhap news agency.

Asked if he is considering offering tariff exceptions, the president said, "Once you do that for one, you have to do that for all."

He repeated his mantra of America being "ripped off" by other countries on multiple fronts, including defence.

"We've been ripped off by every country in the world, friend and foe. We've been ripped off on trade. We've been ripped off on military," he said.

"We protect people, and they don't do anything for us. It's just so unfair for years and years. Now some of that money is going to be coming back to us in the form of tariffs."

During an address to Congress earlier this month, Trump revealed his negative perspective of South Korea as a trading partner. He claimed that South Korea's average tariff is four times higher than that of the U.S., and stressed that the U.S. helps South Korea militarily and in "so many other ways."

South Korea's average tariff on its most-favoured nations (MFNs) stands at around 13.4 percent -- compared with the U.S.' 3.3 percent on its MFNs -- but that rate is not applicable to countries with FTAs with Korea.

Seoul has been strengthening communications with Washington in an effort to secure tariff exemptions or at least ensure that South Korean companies do not face any disadvantages.

Trump underscored his message for those trying to fend off tariffs.

"How do you avoid paying the tariffs? You build your plant in the United States," he said.

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Mumbai, March 22 : Filmmaker Karan Johar has given a glimpse of his maiden luxurious Maldivian holiday, which was filled with "sun, sea and solace." Mumbai, March 22 (IANS) Filmmaker Karan Johar has given a glimpse of his maiden luxurious Maldivian holiday, which was filled with "sun, sea and solace."

He took to Instagram, where he shared a gamut of pictures of himself. In the first image, Karan is sitting on a wooden deck overlooking the breathtaking turquoise ocean. He is wearing a white, breezy linen outfit, accessorised with a chunky wooden bead necklace and beige sunglasses.

Another image showed him standing on the same deck, striking a stylish pose with one hand in his pocket. A third picture is in a different setting, leaning against a white wall with the ocean in the background. He is donning a black and white designer shirt.

For the caption, he wrote: "Sun Sea.solace.. my first visit to the Maldives and these are just some candid ( ya right!!! ) shots where I was caught unaware Thank you to @jumeiraholhahaliisland @jumeirah for the terrific hospitality and warmth and what a stunning property! Can't wait to come back again."

On March 20, Karan revealed that he is introducing a new filmmaker through his production house. He shared a long note in which he shared that the director in question dedicated 4-5 years of their time to the project, and battled the delays induced by the pandemic.

He wrote, "When I began producing films (once I stepped into Dharma as an active part of the company), in 2003 with Kal Ho Naa Ho - the idea was to empower filmmakers and storytellers...to pay it forward. We got it right...we got it wrong but the intent was always to put out stories and films we believed in. The motive was only either (to) entertain, seek acclaim or to simply have fun at the movies".

Karan said that he is proud to say that his next offering is the 24th debutant filmmaker he is set to introduce to Hindi cinema.

"I rarely write notes before the release of a film but few films excite me, energise me and inspire me the way the process of this film has. Our collaborative producer and debutant director have been on the journey of this film for 4 years".

Heaping praise on the director, Karan said he "did nothing else but put his head down and work relentlessly on his film combating pandemic delays and other unforeseen circumstances."

"I am inspired by the team of actors and technicians who gave the film and the team so much consistent support and love. One can never predict commercial success BUT what I can say with all my heart is that this film is one of Dharma's proudest films. I say this as a filmmaker and an audience."
New York, March 22 : In a sign of US President Donald Trump pulling back Elon Musk's overreach, the President has acknowledged his possible conflict of interest after his reported briefing on US war plans for China was scrapped.

"Certainly, you wouldn't show it to a businessman who is helping us so much. Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible perhaps to that", Trump told reporters on Friday after the cancelation.

The world's richest man and a Trump benefactor to the tune of millions, Musk has big business interests in China, which is a hub for his Tesla car manufacture.

Some of the several companies he owns have contracts with the Defence department.

About the war plans, Trump said, "I don't want to show it to anybody. You know you're talking about a potential war with China".

"We don't want to have a potential war with China, but I can tell you, if we did, we're very well equipped to handle it", he added.

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times had reported independently that according to officials Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, was to receive a classified briefing on the US military's plans for a war with China.

Trump, the White House, and the Pentagon denied such a meeting was scheduled.

Even as he said that such information should not be shared with Musk, Trump called the reports "fake".

According to the two newspapers, Musk had been scheduled to meet with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Admiral Christopher Grady, the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Admiral Samuel Paparo, the head of the Indo-Pacific Command in the "Tank", a room with extra high security against snooping, in the military headquarters, the Pentagon, for the briefing.

However, when Musk went to the Pentagon on Friday morning, he met with Hegseth only in his office for over an hour.

The newspapers said that the meeting was changed from classified to unclassified following the reports.

Musk told reporters afterwards, "It was a great meeting".

When reporters asked Hegseth what they discussed, he shot back. "Why should I tell you"?

But later at the White House, he said the meeting was "fantastic" and "Elon Musk is a patriotic American and I appreciate him".

The Defence Department said in a news release, "Officials said the two men discussed innovation, efficiency, and smarter production".

But it added that according to officials, it "was not related to his efforts with the Department of Government Efficiency but was rather the result of a personal invitation by Hegseth for Musk to visit the department's headquarters".

One of the interpretations put forward by the newspapers as the rationale for a briefing on China war plans was that it was to ensure that Musk's cost-cutting agenda does not erode US ability to face Beijing by making him aware of its needs.

Musk's overreach has led to confrontations with other leaders and Trump had to intervene.

After Musk had shut down USAID, the international assistance arm of the State Department and complained that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had not fired enough workers, they had a tense confrontation at a Cabinet meeting.

Trump had them both over for a private dinner to smooth things over between them.

When Musk demanded that all federal employees email him five things they did the previous week or be fired, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel told their staff to ignore it.

Trump explained it away saying, "They don't mean that in any way combatively with Elon. They're just saying there are some people that you don't want to really have them tell you what they were working on last week".
A notice board on the closure of Heathrow Airport is seen at Heathrow Airport in London, Britain, March 21, 2025. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

LONDON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Counter-terror officers from the Metropolitan Police are leading the investigation into a major fire that has closed London Heathrow Airport, a spokesperson said on Friday.

London Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation.

A Met spokesperson said its Counter Terrorism Command was leading the investigation due to "the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure."

There was "currently no indication of foul play," but the spokesperson added that officers were retaining an "open mind at this time" regarding the cause of the blaze.

Flights have been canceled, people evacuated from their homes, and local schools shut after two explosions and a fire at an electrical substation in Hayes, west London, on Thursday night.

The outage has affected the entire airport, with no clear timeline for power restoration. "To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23:59 GMT on March 21," the airport spokesperson added.

National Grid posted on social media X that it had restored power to 62,000 customers by 0600 GMT, but some 4,900 homes remained without power.

The power is expected to be back on "in hours", but it was too soon to say exactly when this would be, according to the BBC.

Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport until further notice. Over 1,300 flights are affected on Friday, according to Flightradar24, a live flight-tracking website. Some planes have been diverted to other airports, including London Gatwick Airport, those in Paris, and Shannon Airport in Ireland.

British Airways, Heathrow's largest carrier, urged customers not to go to the airport until further notice and said it is working to update them on travel options.

The airport, which handled a record 83.9 million passengers last year, said its back-up diesel generators had "all operated as expected... but they are not designed to allow us to run a full operation".

Ofgem, Britain's energy regulator, announced it would commission a review "to understand the cause of this incident and what lessons can be learned." 

A notice board on the closure of Heathrow Airport is seen at Heathrow Airport in London, Britain, March 21, 2025. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

This photo taken on March 21, 2025 shows the walkway to Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport in London, Britain. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

A staff member tries to help passengers at Heathrow Airport in London, Britain, March 21, 2025. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

This photo taken on March 21, 2025 shows the walkway to Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport in London, Britain. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

This photo taken on March 21, 2025 shows an electricity substation which suffered a fire near the Heathrow Airport in London, Britain. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said.

The outage has affected the entire airport, with no clear timeline for power restoration. "To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23:59 GMT on March 21," the spokesperson added. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

Firefighters work outside an electricity substation which suffered a fire near the Heathrow Airport in London, Britain, March 21, 2025. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said.

The outage has affected the entire airport, with no clear timeline for power restoration. "To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23:59 GMT on March 21," the spokesperson added. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

This photo taken on March 21, 2025 shows an electricity substation which suffered a fire near the Heathrow Airport in London, Britain. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said.

The outage has affected the entire airport, with no clear timeline for power restoration. "To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23:59 GMT on March 21," the spokesperson added. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

This photo taken on March 21, 2025 shows an electricity substation which suffered a fire near the Heathrow Airport in London, Britain. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said.

The outage has affected the entire airport, with no clear timeline for power restoration. "To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23:59 GMT on March 21," the spokesperson added. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

This photo taken on March 21, 2025 shows an electricity substation which suffered a fire near the Heathrow Airport in London, Britain. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said.

The outage has affected the entire airport, with no clear timeline for power restoration. "To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23:59 GMT on March 21," the spokesperson added. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

This photo taken on March 21, 2025 shows an electricity substation which suffered a fire near the Heathrow Airport in London, Britain. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said.

The outage has affected the entire airport, with no clear timeline for power restoration. "To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23:59 GMT on March 21," the spokesperson added. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)
New Delhi, March 20 : About 754 fast track courts (FTSCs) have disposed more than 3 lakh cases related to rape and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) in January, said the government.

"The government accords the highest priority for ensuring safety and security of children and has undertaken various initiatives in this regard," said the Minister of State for Women and Child Development Savitri Thakur in Lok Sabha.

The initiatives to safeguard children against sexual abuse and sexual harassment include the POCSO Act, 2012. It defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years.

"The Act was amended in 2019 to introduce more stringent punishment including the death penalty for committing sexual crimes on children, with a view to deter the perpetrators and prevent such crimes," said Thakur.

Till January, "754 FTSCs including 404 exclusive POCSO Courts are functional in 30 States/UTs, which have disposed more than 3,06,000 cases," said the MoS, citing information from High Courts.

She added that the "Department of Justice is implementing a scheme for setting up FTSCs including exclusive POCSO courts for expeditious trial and disposal of cases related to rape and POCSO cases".

Further, Thakur noted that Section 4 of the Act prescribes rigorous imprisonment for a minimum of 20 years, which can extend to life imprisonment, for "penetrative sexual assault".

The POCSO Rules, 2020 were also notified to protect the children from exploitation and violence and sexual exploitation.

Thakur stated that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has also been continuously conducting sensitisation and awareness-generation activities, along with monitoring efforts, focusing on various critical child protection themes, particularly POCSO mechanisms.

These are aimed at ensuring that stakeholders are well-informed, actively involved, and effectively equipped to enhance child protection efforts and address child welfare concerns, especially within the POCSO framework.
Seoul, March 22 : A consultative body of medical school deans in South Korea on Saturday said that they have rejected additional requests for leave, reaffirming they will no longer accept such requests by students who have left en masse to protest against the government's plan to hike school quotas.

"A total of 35 out of 40 schools have completed rejecting requests for leave of absence," the Korean Association of Medical Colleges and Graduate School of Medicine (KAMC), an association of the deans of 40 medical schools, Yonhap news agency reported.

The KAMC said the remaining five schools will also make a similar decision next week, stressing that requests for leave of absence, with the exception of those for military, medical and family-related issues, will not be granted.

The announcement came a day after five medical schools closed their reinstatement deadlines for students to express their intent to return to class in the new school year.

About half of the medical school students at Yonsei University were estimated to have expressed their will to return to class, raising speculations on whether the move will spread to other medical schools.

Earlier this month, the government said it will scrap the contested plan to increase medical school admissions next year to resolve the ongoing health care crisis, on the condition that all medical students on leave return to classrooms by the end of March.

Under the conditional decision, the medical school enrollment quota for next year has been set at 3,058, reversing the government's plan to increase admissions by 2,000 each year for five years to address a chronic shortage of doctors.

The decision to scrap the disputed plan came amid mounting concerns that disruptions in the country's health system and medical education may become irreparable should the prolonged walkout by junior doctors and students continue.
Patna, March 22 : Five policemen were injured during a fierce encounter with a notorious criminal in Bihar's Araria district on Saturday morning, who was involved in heists at Tanishq showrooms in the state. The incident occurred at Dhalha Canal, under Narpatganj police station in Araria district.

A joint raid was conducted by Araria STF and district police to apprehend Chunmun Jha, a wanted criminal.

As the police team approached at Dhalha canal, Chunmun Jha attempted to flee, leading to a fierce gun battle with the cops. Jha was eventually overpowered, but not before five policemen sustained injuries. Chunmun Jha also sustained gunshot injuries during the encounter.

Chunmun Jha is a wanted criminal linked to major crimes, including the Purnea and Ara Tanishq showroom heist cases.

He is known for committing serious offenses across various districts, especially in the Seemanchal region of Bihar.

Anjani Kumar, SP of Araria, confirmed the incident. "Our team managed to overpower him after an encounter at Dhalha canal. The injured police officers were sent to Sadar Hospital for treatment. Jha is also undergoing treatment in the hospital," he said.

Following the encounter, a heavy police deployment was made to prevent any untoward incidents.

The injured police personnel are identified as Mohammad Sub-Inspector STF, Kumar Vikas, SHO of Narpatganj police station, Nagesh Kumar, driver of STF, Sahabuddin Ansari, JC of STF and Deepak Kumar, JC of STF.

On July 26, 2024, a gang of 6 criminals including Chunmun Jha decamped with gold jewellery worth Rs. 2 crore from the Tanishq jewellery shop in Purnea.

On March 10, 2025, armed criminals barged into Tanishq jewellery shop in Bihar's Ara town in Bhojpur district and decamped with jewellery worth over Rs 25 crore.

The Bhojpur Police swung into action and arrested two of the robbers after a brief encounter on the same day.

Two bags containing parts of looted ornaments have been recovered from their possession. The criminals received bullet injuries in their legs.
Kolkata, March 22 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to the United Kingdom has been rescheduled, and now, she will be leaving from here on Saturday evening.

She is expected to land at London's Heathrow Airport on Sunday afternoon as per the Indian Standard Time (IST), sources in the state secretariat said on Saturday morning. There will be a stopover in Dubai.

According to the original schedule, the Chief Minister and her team were supposed to depart from Kolkata at 9.10 a.m. on Saturday and reach Dubai first. Again from Dubai, she was supposed to take the flight to London on the same day at 8 p.m. IST.

However, on Friday afternoon, state secretariat insiders said that the Chief Minister's departure might be postponed for two days amid the crisis at Heathrow Airport because of the "significant power shortage" due to a fire in a substation in the western part of the city.

However, the state government sources said simultaneous attempts were underway to ensure that the original schedule could be followed as far as possible. Now, as per the new schedule, she will depart from Kolkata on Saturday evening only.

The Chief Minister will be having a packed schedule in London. On March 24, she is slated to attend a programme hosted by the Indian High Commission in London.

Thereafter on March 25, she is supposed to meet the local industrialists and businessmen. On March 26, a Government-to-Business (G2B) level meeting is scheduled. On March 27, the Chief Minister will be delivering a lecture at one of the colleges affiliated with Oxford University.

Finally, on March 28, she will depart from London for Kolkata.

CM Banerjee was also invited to the United Kingdom in 2021 to deliver a lecture at Oxford University but it could not materialise.

Earlier, in 2015, Chief Minister Banerjee visited the UK. She was accompanied by several of her cabinet members, including then-state Finance Minister Amit Mitra.

Mitra is currently the Chief Economic Advisor to Chief Minister Banerjee.
New Delhi, March 22 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday extended warm birthday wishes to Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Jual Oram, praising his dedicated work in empowering tribal communities across India.

Taking to social media, PM Modi highlighted Oramas exceptional contributions in advancing the welfare of tribal people, ensuring that their aspirations are met with action.

In a post on X, PM Modi wrote, "Birthday wishes to Union Minister Shri Jual Oram Ji. He is making exceptional efforts to empower the tribal communities and ensure that their dreams are fulfilled. Praying for his long and healthy life."

Jual Oram, who has served in various capacities, has been instrumental in pushing for policies that address the needs of Indiaas tribal communities. His leadership has played a crucial role in bringing issues concerning tribal welfare to the forefront of national discussions.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also took the opportunity to extend his birthday greetings to Oram, acknowledging his significant contributions to the tribal community's progress.

HM Shah lauded Oram's work in connecting tribal societies with the mainstream development agenda under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.

In his message, Amit Shah wrote, "Heartiest birthday wishes to my colleague in the Union Cabinet, Mr. Jual Oram ji. Under the leadership of Modi ji, you are doing commendable work towards tribal welfare and connecting the tribal society with the mainstream of development. I pray to God for your healthy, long and happy life."

Jual Oram has been at the forefront of initiatives aimed at improving the lives of tribal communities, focussing on education, healthcare, and economic empowerment.

He has served as the president of the BJP in the state of Odisha for over four years. He served as Leader of the Opposition party from the BJP side in the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
Los Angeles, March 22 : Actress Amanda Seyfried revealed that she turned down a role in 'Guardians of the Galaxy' over fears it would be "Marvel's first bomb" because it had a "talking tree and a talking raccoon".

The 39-year-old actress has revealed she was in the running for the part of Gamora before the role went to Zoe Saldana

She also shared that she turned it down over concerns which included the fact that the 2014 Chris Pratt movie would need her to spend hours in the make-up chair every day to achieve the character's green skin, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

During an appearance on the 'Happy Sad Confused' podcast, Seyfried said: "I was really scared of the idea of being stuck and painted a different color because of the amount of time (it takes).

"It was a giant opportunity. I had just met (director) James (Gunn) in person. He is wonderful. Apparently someone said he didnat remember but itas definitely true. I definitely got the offer for it and I mulled over it for a couple days.

"I didnat want to live in London for six months out of the year. There was another movie I really wanted to do with Seth MacFarlane called aA Million Ways to Die in the West.a It felt like a good opportunity."

The actress went on to add she was also worried the film could harm her Hollywood career.

She said: "Letas also remember that being a part of the first Marvel movie that bombs ainat good for your career. I thought that because this was about a talking tree and a talking raccoon that it would be Marvelas first bomb and me and Chris Pratt would never work again. I was wrong! But I was just being smart. Itas not brave."

The film went on to be a huge success and spawned two sequels, however, she has no regrets over turning the part down.

She said: "(James Gunn is) a genius and heas fun and heas a wonderful filmmaker, and he can make anything work. But I was way too scared. I was at a precarious moment in my career and I didnat want to suffer for the work.

"Sitting there (in the make-up chair) for four-and-a-half hours every morning seemed like it wasnat going to be fun. I had done some green screen stuff and it wasnat my best or my cup of tea then. I donat regret anything. I made that decision for myself. It was good for me then and it was good for me now."

She added: "I also think that Zoe (Saldana) and Chris and everybody whoas a part of that movie are having the best time and it worked for them, and I love that. And I love that I was able to stay with my gut."
New Delhi, March 22 : Children overweight or obese may be at an increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adulthood, according to a study.

COPD is a progressive lung disease that makes it hard to breathe and worsens over time.

While smoking is a major risk factor for COPD, other risk factors like environmental, occupational, and even early life factors are increasingly being recognised.

The study led by researchers from Copenhagen University in Denmark focuses on examining the link between a high body mass index (BMI) in childhood and COPD.

The team found that compared to women with an average childhood BMI, risks of chronic COPD were 10 per cent higher for those who had an above-average BMI trajectory.

For women with an overweight trajectory, the risk was 26 per cent higher and for those with an obesity BMI trajectory the risk was 65 per cent higher.

Similarly, compared to men with an average childhood BMI, the risks of COPD were 7 per cent higher for those with an above-average trajectory.

For men with an overweight trajectory, the risk was 16 per cent higher and those with an obesity trajectory the risk was 40 per cent higher.

In contrast, a lower risk of future COPD was observed only for women with a below-average childhood BMI trajectory -- 9 per cent lower compared to women with an average childhood BMI trajectory.

"Having a BMI trajectory above average in childhood may increase the risk of subsequent COPD. Thus, our results suggest that being overweight during this early period of life is an indicator of risk for the development of COPD," said Frida Richter, from the Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, at the varsity.

The study included data from 276,747 Danish children (137,493 girls) born from 1930-1982, who had between 2 and 12 weight and height measurements between ages 6-15 years.

They were then examined for a diagnosis of COPD from age 40 years onwards.

The research will be presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2025) to be held in Malaga, Spain in May.
New Delhi, March 22 : BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal on Saturday remarked on the delimitation issue, saying that it is a well-established process that follows a set procedure. However, Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister MK Stalin is unnecessarily turning it into a political issue.

Speaking to IANS Khandelwal remarked, "Clearly, Stalin is struggling to maintain his political ground, and in a bid to regain his lost influence, he is trying to make delimitation a topic of debate. In reality, delimitation is not an issue at the moment. The process will only begin after a population census is conducted, and then the delimitation commission will be formed. Only then will any discussions take place."

On the issue of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Khandelwal also criticised AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. Owaisi had claimed that the Bill was aimed at seizing Muslim religious properties such as graveyards and dargahs.

Khandelwal responded, "The JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) that was formed on this issue spoke to people from all communities across the country, collected their inputs, and then presented its report in Parliament. The decision now lies with the Lok Sabha, and it is up to the House to decide. As a member of Parliament himself, Owaisi should raise these concerns on the floor of the House, not through inflammatory statements."

Turning his attention to recent political developments in Karnataka, Khandelwal expressed concern over the state governmentas move to provide reservations specifically to Muslims.

"The Congress should clarify whether only Muslims will benefit from this reservation or if there are other social and economically backward communities in Karnataka who also deserve it. The state government must give a clear answer on this," Khandelwal said, referring to the suspension of 18 BJP MLAs who had raised objections to the Bill.

Khandelwal also addressed plans for a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Agra, a place where Aurangzeb had once imprisoned him. "Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is a symbol of national pride. Aurangzeb was an invader. Any monument dedicated to Shivaji Maharaj will inspire pride and respect among all Indians, and it is a matter of honour for the entire nation."
Mumbai, March 22 : Bollywood star Akshay Kumar on Saturday announced his upcoming film "Kesari Chapter 2", which also stars Ananya Panday and R. Madhavan, is locked for April 18 release worldwide.

Mumbai, March 22 (IANS) Bollywood star Akshay Kumar on Saturday announced his upcoming film "Kesari Chapter 2", which also stars Ananya Panday and R. Madhavan, is locked for April 18 release worldwide.

Akshay took to his Instagram, where he shared a motion poster of the upcoming film and mentioned that the teaser will release on March 24.

The motion poster features a bloodied brick wall with bullet marks. It had: "A revolution painted in courage Kesari Chapter 2" as gunshots could be heard.

"Kuch ladaaiyan hathiyaaron se nahi ladi jaati. #KesariChapter2 teaser out on 24th March. In cinemas 18th April, worldwide. @actormaddy @ananyapanday @karanstyagi @karanjohar @adarpoonawalla @apoorva1972 @bindraamritpal @anandntiwari @marijkedesouza @somenmishra @vbfilmwala @sumit.saxena.35912 @azeemdayani @dharmamovies #CapeOfGoodFilms," he wrote as the caption.

On Friday, Akshay celebrated six years of 'Kesari' which was released in 2019.

Akshay took to his Instagram, where he shared some stills from "Kesari", which had an overlay text reading: "6 years ago A story of courage shook the nation."

It went on to say: "21 Sikhs against thousands of Afghans. Outnumbered. Surrounded. But never defeated.They fought like lions, they became legends."

"History wrote one chapter Now, we tell the next. The saffron rises again. New battle, same fire. Tomorrow.

For the caption, he wrote: "Celebrating 6 years of Kesari. Celebrating the spirit of Kesari. Celebrating a new chapter that begins...soon!"

Kesari followed the events leading to the Battle of Saragarhi, a battle between 21 Sikh soldiers of the 36th Sikh Regiment of the British Indian Army and 10,000 Afridi and Orakzai Pashtun tribesmen in 1897.

Going by the motion poster of 'Kesari Chapter 2', it is reportedly based around the untold story of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

On March 20, Karan revealed that he is introducing a new filmmaker through the upcoming film. He shared a long note in which he shared that the director in question dedicated 4-5 years of their time to the project, and battled the delays induced by the pandemic.
Bengaluru, March 22 : The Karnataka bandh, called on Saturday to condemn the attack on RTC drivers for not speaking Marathi in Belagavi and Maharashtra, evoked a mixed response across the state. Thousands of Kannada activists staged protests at district headquarters, and police detained hundreds of them.

The protestors have also placed about 20 demands before the government in the interest of Kannada language and state.

Authorities made tight security arrangements in Bengaluru and denied permission for Kannada activists to stage a protest at Town Hall, a major junction in the city.

Police personnel outnumbered the protesters at the venue and transported them to Freedom Park in RTC buses. Fifteen RTC buses were stationed at the spot, and as protesters gathered, they were boarded onto these buses and dropped off at Freedom Park.

Permission for a protest march from Town Hall to Freedom Park was also denied. Since Town Hall is located in a key junction within Bengaluruas Central Business District, any disruption there was expected to have widespread effects.

In Belagavi, where the attack on Karnataka RTC staff for not speaking Marathi initially occurred a" triggering similar attacks on drivers from Maharashtra in Karnataka and vice versa a" the bandh was total.

Buses from Maharashtra did not enter Karnataka, and authorities increased security to ensure the safety of the large Marathi-speaking population in the bordering region.

The bandh was also total in Mandya, Chikkamagaluru, Bagalkot, Hubballi-Dharwad, Chamarajanagar, Bidar, and other districts. In some parts of the state, the response was partial and mixed.

Vatal Nagaraj, Chairman of Kannada Okkuta (Federation of Kannada Organisations), an umbrella body of pro-Kannada and other groups, declared on Saturday that the state-wide bandh was successful.

"I congratulate all activists and organisations across the state for participating in the protest. The bandh has been total in all districts," he stated.

"We have presented our demands to the government, the people, and the nation. The Bengaluru police acted with highhandedness to obstruct the bandh, arresting about 3,000 Kannada activists on Friday night alone. They also indiscriminately served notices," he alleged.

He further criticised the Bengaluru Police Commissioner, stating, "It seems he has taken it upon himself to ensure the bandh does not succeed. The previous Commissioner, Bhaskar Rao, entered politics after retirement. If the current Commissioner has similar plans, he is welcome to pursue them," he chided.

"The police insist that protests be staged at Freedom Park, which cannot accommodate even one percent of Bengaluruas population. The Police Commissioner should conduct himself with dignity. I strongly disapprove of the attempts made to suppress the bandh," he added.

"We have the capability to ensure that not even a drop of water is available to people during a bandh. This agitation will not stop here a" it is a warning to the government. The authorities systematically used the police to prevent the bandh. But why are we protesting? Who are we protesting for? It is for the welfare of the state. Yet, the government has gone to the extent of trying to suppress the bandh," he alleged.

Finally, he thanked the media and the people of Karnataka, stating, "I congratulate the media and the people of the state for making this bandh a success despite all the challenges."
KIEV, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has largely conceded that Ukraine will not be able to join NATO, said Steven Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy to the Middle East, on Friday.

Zelensky and Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president's office, have "largely conceded that they are not going to be a member of NATO," he said in an interview with U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson.

"If there's going to be a peace deal, Ukraine cannot be a member of NATO. I think that's largely accepted," said Witkoff.

The envoy also claimed that the Ukrainian leadership has agreed to hold elections, without giving details.

"Do you think there will be elections in Ukraine?" Carlson asked. "Yes. There will be. They've agreed to it. There will be elections in Ukraine," Witkoff responded.

A presidential election was expected to be held in 2024 but was postponed due to the country's martial law, which has been in effect since the start of the ongoing conflict with Russia. A month ago, Trump labeled Zelensky a "Dictator without Elections." 
Sindh, March 22 : Amid the outrage over the construction of canals on the Indus River, the coalition partner of Pakistan's government, the Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP), announced protest rallies in all districts across Sindh province on March 25 against the plan of the "dictatorial federal government."

PPP-Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, during a press conference held on Friday, on the premises of the Sindh Assembly, announced the protests against the federal government, local media reported.

Amid the rising internal conflicts in the coalition government and contradicting stances, Khuhro criticised the Pakistani government and labelled it as a "dictatorial federal government."

He also warned that the PPP protests would force the government to abandon the canal projects, reports the country's leading daily, The Express Tribune.

"The PPP will take out rallies and protest demonstrations in all district headquarters of Sindh on March 25 against the controversial six canal project. I appeal to the people of Sindh to come together and fight together against these canals," Khuhro said.

"I salute the people protesting against the canals project, and we support their struggle. We will contact all political and nationalist parties in connection with the protest movement so that we can end this anti-Sindh project through a joint struggle," he added.

Appealing to the people and all parties to join the struggle against the canals, Khuhro further added that a single and united voice of Sindh would make an impact.

He said the federal government had revived the memory of dictatorship by starting the construction of the Cholistan Canal in Punjab province without the approval of any constitutional forum, the leading Pakistani newspaper, Dawn, reported.

Earlier, the PPP Sindh Council also rejected the federal government's plan to build six new canals on the Indus River.

Earlier this week, several rallies were held across Pakistan's Sindh as a part of the ongoing province-wide protest against the Pakistan government's canal project.

The protestor warned that Cholistan and other canals would deprive Sindh of its water permanently as Sindh's survival was directly linked with the Indus.

Activists, members of various political parties, civil society outfits, trade unions, and literary associations are up in arms against the government, which is constructing six canals on the Indus River.

They are demanding the federal government of Pakistan to shelve the canal project.

The protests, echoing demands to "let the water flow," have been held across the province as the citizens described such projects as "anti-people policies" and a "violation" of Sindh's rights.
Chennai, March 22 : Tamil Nadu BJP senior leader and former Governor of Telangana and Puducherry, Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, has described the Joint Action Council (JAC) meeting convened by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin as an attempt to cover up corruption by the participating leaders.

The BJP staged a black flag protest against the meeting, criticising Stalin for not showing similar urgency in addressing critical issues such as the Cauvery and Mullaiperiyar water-sharing disputes with Karnataka and Kerala.

BJP national spokesperson C.R. Kesavan said the DMK's focus on delimitation was a diversionary tactic aimed at deflecting attention from what he termed as the "corrupt, failed, and disastrous misrule" of the DMK government.

"DMK's divisive politics of fear-mongering, and its attempts to mislead and misinform the public, will backfire," Kesavan said.

"Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, with their contradictory and opportunistic stance on delimitation, are engaging in a deeply condemnable form of politics."

The first Joint Action Council meeting on 'Fair Delimitation' began in Chennai on Saturday, chaired by Chief Minister Stalin. The meeting saw participation from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, and representatives from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), and the Congress.

Although invited, West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) did not send a representative.

This JAC meeting is the latest step in Stalin's broader outreach, which began with an all-party conference in Tamil Nadu on March 5.

That meeting brought together 58 registered political parties excluding the BJP  who set aside ideological differences to form a united front against the proposed delimitation exercise scheduled for 2026.

The DMK and its allies argue that the proposed delimitation poses a threat to India's federal structure. They contend that it will disproportionately reduce political representation for southern and eastern states  regions that have outperformed others in population control, economic development, healthcare, education, and social welfare.

Despite Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent assurance in Coimbatore that southern states would not lose even a single parliamentary seat, the Tamil Nadu government proceeded with the JAC meeting.

The DMK dismissed Shah's comments, made during a public rally and not in an official forum, as non-binding and lacking legal weight.

"The delimitation process, as it currently stands, threatens the very foundation of Indian federalism," Stalin warned in a video message on Friday.

"States that have responsibly managed population growth and contributed significantly to national development must not be penalised. Such a move would erode the essence of democracy," he said.

IANS

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Patna, March 22 : Notorious robber Chunmun Jha succumbed to multiple gunshot injuries on Saturday following a fierce encounter with the police in Bihar's Araria district, an official said.

Araria Superintendent of Police (SP) Anjani Kumar told IANS that Jha died while undergoing treatment at Sadar Hospital, Araria.

The encounter occurred at Dhalha Canal under the jurisdiction of Narpatganj police station. A joint team of the Special Task Force (STF) and district police conducted a raid to apprehend Jha, a wanted criminal involved in multiple high-profile heists. During the operation, Jha sustained three gunshot wounds.

"Our team managed to overpower him after a fierce exchange of fire. The injured police officers were sent to Sadar Hospital for treatment, while Jha, who also suffered gunshot wounds, succumbed during treatment," SP Kumar said.

As the police approached Dhalha Canal, Jha and an accomplice attempted to flee, resulting in a gun battle. Jha was eventually captured, but his accomplice managed to escape. Five police personnel sustained injuries during the encounter.

The injured officers have been identified as Mohammad, a sub-inspector with the STF; Kumar Vikas, the station house officer (SHO) of Narpatganj police station; Nagesh Kumar, an STF driver; and STF jawans Sahabuddin Ansari and Deepak Kumar.

Following the encounter, a heavy police presence was deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incidents.

Jha was a key suspect in several major crimes, including the Purnea and Arrah Tanishq showroom heists.

On July 26, 2024, a gang of six criminals, including Jha, looted gold jewelry worth Rs 2 crore from a shop in Purnea. On March 10 this year, Jha and his associates stormed a Tanishq jewelry store in Arrah, Bhojpur district, escaping with jewelry worth over Rs 25 crore.

In response to the Arrah heist, Bhojpur police apprehended two of the robbers after a brief encounter the same day. Both criminals sustained leg injuries, and two bags containing parts of the stolen jewelry were recovered from their possession.

Jha was known for his involvement in serious offenses across multiple districts, particularly in the Seemanchal region of Bihar.
Tokyo, March 22 : South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul met one-on-one with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya on Saturday and agreed to continue exchanges to keep steady the positive momentum in bilateral relations.

The two top diplomats reached the agreement during their talks in Tokyo following their trilateral meeting involving Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Yonhap news agency reported.

Cho's talks with Iwaya came just about a month after their previous talks in Germany, and two months after Iwaya's visit to Seoul.

"The ministers agreed on the need to continue this flow of exchanges and steadily advance bilateral relations without disruption," Seoul's foreign ministry said in a release after the talks.

"They emphasised the importance of candid communication between their diplomatic authorities to ensure the stable management of bilateral issues," the ministry said.

Bilateral relations between Seoul and Tokyo have warmed significantly since President Yoon Suk Yeol announced in March 2023 that South Korea will compensate forced labor victims on its own without contributions from Japan.

But fresh tensions flared up late last year as South Korea boycotted a memorial event for Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor from the UNESCO-listed Sado mines in Japan, in protest of what it cited as Tokyo's lack of effort to properly honor the victims.

The foreign ministry made no mention of any discussions regarding the Sado mines in the media release.

The two ministers reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea, the ministry said.

"In light of the grave international situation, they recognised the need for both countries to work together across various fields to navigate uncertainties and explore avenues for collaboration," it said.

"Based on this shared understanding, they agreed to further strengthen trilateral cooperation among South Korea, Japan and the United States on a global scale."

At start of the talks, Cho expressed hope to deepen exchanges and cooperation with Japan, noting the importance of continued active engagement at the diplomatic level.

Iwaya reiterated the importance of Japan's bilateral relations with South Korea and their trilateral partnership with their mutual ally, the US, amid changing regional and international landscapes.

The two ministers also likely discussed preparations for the 60th anniversary of the normalisation of the two countries' diplomatic ties, set for June this year.

They could also discuss coordination efforts in dealing with Trump's policies in trade, security and other areas.

The last talks between Cho and Iwaya took place in Munich last month on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
Reykjavik, March 22 : Iceland's Minister for Education and Children's Affairs, Asthildur Loa Thorsdottir, has stepped down from her role after revealing a past relationship with a 15-year-old boy she mentored over three decades ago, which resulted in the birth of a child.

In an interview with Icelandic news outlet Visir, the 58-year-old politician shared that the relationship began when she was 22 and working as a counsellor at a support group.

At the time, the boy, Eirk Asmundsson, was 15, and their relationship led to the birth of a child when Asmundsson was 16 and Thorsdottir was 23.

The revelation caused a stir, especially after Asmundsson accused her of preventing him from having access to their child despite paying child support for 18 years.

Asmundsson said that although he was present at the birth and spent the child's first year together with them, his requests for visitation rights were repeatedly denied. Documents from Iceland's Ministry of Justice show that his attempts to establish contact with his son were blocked, intensifying the public backlash.

In Iceland, it is illegal for an adult in a position of authority, such as a mentor or teacher, to engage in a sexual relationship with a minor under the age of 18. This violation can result in up to three years in prison.

The resignation came after a relative of Asmundsson reportedly attempted to contact Iceland's Prime Minister about the affair. In response, Thorsdottir decided to step down, citing the potential disruption the issue could cause to government operations.

"We know what the news is like today, and we know that issues like this, if I remained minister, would be brought up again and again, and there would never really be any peace in the government," she stated.
Changwon, March 22 : More villages were placed under an evacuation order Saturday as strong winds impeded firefighting operations against a wildfire that broke out in the southeastern county of Sancheong, officials said.

The county office in Sancheong notified residents and visitors in eight nearby towns to immediately evacuate to a safe area at 3 p.m., Yonhap news agency reported.

The move came a day after the county office ordered 213 residents in seven villages hit by the wildfire to evacuate to a nearby research centre.

A resident in one of the seven villages hit by the wildfire received hospital treatment after inhaling smoke but no other casualties were reported.

As of 3 p.m., 65 per cent of the blaze had been extinguished, down from 70 per cent at 10:30 a.m. The area affected by the wildfire had also expanded to 290 hectares.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok ordered relevant agencies to make the utmost effort to mobilise all possible equipment and personnel to put out the blaze before sunset.

He also urged safety for residents, as well as firefighting authorities deployed to the scene, stressing that seamless preparations should take place should the blaze continue overnight.

Authorities issued the highest level of response measures to put out the blaze, about three hours after the fire first broke out at 3:26 p.m. Friday.

Authorities plan to determine the exact cause of the blaze after extinguishing it. A person who first reported the fire was confirmed to have said that a spark started the fire during mowing.
New Delhi, March 22 : In a boost to agricultural exports, a consignment of 30 metric tonnes (MT) of GI-tagged jaggery from western Uttar Pradesh has been sent for export to Bangladesh, the government announced on Saturday.

The flag-off ceremony, organised by the Basmati Export Development Foundation (BEDF) under the aegis of APEDA, took place on January 30, 2025.

This initiative marks the beginning of direct exports of jaggery from western Uttar Pradesh to Bangladesh through Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs), according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Prasanna Chaudhary, Shamli MLA, highlighted the superior quality of jaggery produced in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, which is in high demand in international markets.

He thanked APEDA for its constant support in facilitating the export and emphasized the importance of state government support in maintaining quality standards for global competitiveness.

Underscoring APEDA Chairman Abhishek Dev's vision, Dr. Ritesh Sharma, Joint Director of BEDF, stressed the need to empower FPOs for direct agricultural exports, ensuring maximum benefits for the farming community.

Formed in 2023, the Brijnandan Agro Farmer Producer Company (FPC) has 545 members, including two women directors.

The FPO is engaged in exporting jaggery, sugarcane products, Basmati rice, and pulses. With training and technical support from BEDF, its members are well-equipped to meet international production and export standards.

"With APEDA's support, this marks the third success story of an FPO from western Uttar Pradesh in agricultural exports, following the export of Basmati rice by Neer Adarsh Organic Farmer Producer Co Ltd. to Lebanon and Oman in 2023 and 2024," the ministry noted.

Notably, this is the only FPO in Uttar Pradesh to receive financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh under the state's Agri Export Policy.

The initiative represents a significant step in expanding agricultural export opportunities for Uttar Pradesh, empowering farmers, and ensuring a sustainable and profitable future for India's agriculture sector.
New Delhi, March 22 : In a significant step towards enhancing India's floriculture export potential which reached $86.62 million in FY 2023-2024 -- particularly from the northeastern region -- the government on Saturday said it has successfully facilitated the flagging off of the first consignment of Anthurium flowers from Aizawl, Mizoram to Singapore.

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), in collaboration with the Department of Horticulture, government of Mizoram, organised the event that took place on February 26, 2025, said Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The consignment, comprising 1,024 Anthurium cut flowers (weighing 70 kgs) packed in 50 corrugated boxes, was exported by IVC Agrovet Pvt Ltd from Aizawl to Singapore via Kolkata.

The flowers were sourced from the Zo Anthurium Growers Cooperative Society, Aizawl and imported by Veg Pro Singapore Pte Ltd, marking a milestone in the region's floriculture export journey, said the ministry.

APEDA Chairman Abhishek Dev, and Special Secretary, Department of Horticulture, Mizoram, Ramdinliani, flagged off the first consignment of Anthurium flowers to Singapore.

Anthurium is one of the most important flowers cultivated in Mizoram, playing a vital role in driving local economic activity, particularly benefiting farmers, including women.

The flower's cultivation has been a source of livelihood and empowerment for local communities. Mizoram also organizes the annual "Anthurium Festival," which promotes tourism and highlights the flower's beauty and ornamental value.

The first-ever export of Anthurium flowers from Mizoram to Singapore follows the success of the International Conclave cum Buyer-Seller Meet (IBSM), organised by APEDA in collaboration with the state government on December 6, 2024, in Aizawl.

The IBSM witnessed participation from nine international buyers from countries such as Singapore, the UAE, Nepal, Jordan, Oman, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Ethiopia, along with 24 domestic exporters.

"This first consignment of Anthurium flowers from Mizoram to Singapore marks a significant step toward expanding floriculture exports, particularly from the North Eastern Region," said the Central government.

APEDA said it remains committed to supporting this potential through export promotional activities and collaborations with various stakeholders in the region.
Seoul, March 22 : North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has reaffirmed his willingness to "invariably" support Russia's war against Ukraine during his meeting with a top Russian security official, Pyongyang's state media reported on Saturday.

Kim held "important and useful" discussions with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu in Pyongyang the previous day. The former Russian defence minister arrived in North Korea hours before the talks.

At the meeting, both sides exchanged views on a wide range of issues related to defending the security interests of the two countries as well as regional and global issues, while confirming their consensus on such issues, reports Yonhap quoting the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim also said it is "the steadfast option and resolute will of the DPRK government to invariably support Russia in the struggle for defending the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests in the future," the report said.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

Shoigu presented an "important signed letter" from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Kim, the KCNA said, without disclosing details.

Experts speculated that Shoigu probably travelled to the North to explain Russia's stance on a ceasefire in the Ukraine war and what it would provide to Pyongyang in return for the North's troop deployment to Russia.

During phone talks this week, Putin agreed with US President Donald Trump to temporarily halt strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in a partial ceasefire in the war.

Shoigu's trip also came amid speculation that Kim may travel to Russia, possibly in May on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Russia's Victory Day. Putin invited Kim to visit Moscow during his trip to Pyongyang last June for bilateral summit talks.
Bengaluru, March 22 : Karnataka BJP on Saturday slammed the anti-delimitation Joint Action Committee Meeting (JAC) meeting in Chennai, saying that it was nothing but a desperate attempt by "opportunists to mask their corruption and administrative failures".

BJP Karnataka chief B.Y. Vijayendra said: "The JAC meeting in Chennai is nothing more than a desperate attempt by opportunists to mask their corruption and administrative failures under the pretence of language advocacy. Their real agenda is not about linguistic rights but about misleading the people to serve their political interests."

Pointing out that Union Home Minister Amit Shah has consistently assured the nation that no language will be imposed over another, Vijayendra said: "The baseless conspiracies of these anti-national elements will soon collapse, as the former has already reaffirmed his commitment to engaging with state representatives in their mother tongues after December."

"The sheer irony of today's events is Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar is enthusiastically participating in this gathering while Kannada organisations are out on the streets demanding the swift implementation of the Mekedatu project. Does he even realise that his close ally, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin, and his party are the very ones obstructing the progress of this crucial initiative? Instead of standing with the people of Karnataka, he chooses to stand with those blocking the drinking water needs of the state," Vijayendra charged.

Ahead of the Joint Action Committee meeting, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar said all states opposing the delimitation proposal by the Union government will work together to ensure that no state's parliamentary seats are reduced.

On Friday, at the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) in Bengaluru, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) expressed concern over forces that challenge national unity by fuelling the North-South divide.

Mukunda C.R., Joint General Secretary of the RSS, addressed the matter, stating, "One of our concerns is the forces attempting to challenge national unity by emphasising the North-South divide. Whether it is delimitation or language-related issues, our volunteers from different organisations are striving to promote harmony in the southern states."
BEIRUT, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese army closed four illegal crossings along the border with Syria on Saturday as part of efforts to curb infiltration and smuggling, the army's Directorate of Guidance said in a statement.

"A unit of the army closed four illegal crossings in the areas of al-Qaa and al-Qasr-Hermel," in northern and eastern Lebanon, the statement said.

The move comes as Syria and Lebanon announced a ceasefire along their shared border and plans to strengthen military coordination, Syria's state media reported on Monday.

Tensions have risen following accusations by Damascus that Hezbollah kidnapped and executed three Syrian soldiers near the border, a claim the Iran-backed group has denied. Syria has also blamed Hezbollah for an attack on journalists and the shelling of a water station in western Homs. 
Aizawl, March 22 : Assam Rifles and Customs officials, in a joint operation, have seized a consignment of areca nuts, also known as Burmese betel nuts, valued at Rs 1.08 crore in Mizoram, officials said on Saturday.

A defence spokesman said that acting on specific intelligence inputs, a large quantity of areca nuts, contained in 180 bags, was seized at Zote in the Champhai district on Friday.

Valued at Rs 1.08 crore, the areca nuts were smuggled into the state from Myanmar and dumped in a jungle for hiding.

The contraband has been handed over to the Customs Preventive Force in Champhai.

The Champhai district, which shares an unfenced border with Myanmar, is a hotspot for the smuggling of various drugs, foreign cigarettes, areca nuts, arms and ammunition, and exotic animals and their parts. Myanmaras Chin state is the origin of drug smuggling through six Mizoram districts -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual, and Serchhip.

Large-scale smuggling of areca nuts from Myanmar is seriously affecting farmers in Assam and Tripura, where betel nuts grow in large quantities.

The Assam government, due to illegal imports of areca nuts from Myanmar, had imposed restrictions on the transportation of the product, affecting the ferrying of areca nuts from Tripura to other parts of the country. With the intervention of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, the standoff regarding the areca nut supply from Tripura to Assam was partially resolved. Saha had brought the issue to the notice of his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma and sought his intervention to ensure smooth transportation of areca nut from Tripura to Assam and other parts of the country. Saha also earlier discussed the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking smooth transportation and trading of areca nuts grown in Tripura through Assam.

In August last year, during a ministerial-level meeting between Assam and Mizoram on the disputes of inter-state borders, the two states reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining a zero-tolerance policy towards transportation of smuggled areca nuts from neighbouring Myanmar.
New Delhi, March 22 : Key facts about the March 14 fire incident and subsequent developments at the residence of Delhi High Court Judge Yashwant Varma are reported to have been mentioned in an in-house enquiry report being perused by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna over the alleged 'cash at home' episode.

New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) Key facts about the March 14 fire incident and subsequent developments at the residence of Delhi High Court Judge Yashwant Varma are reported to have been mentioned in an in-house enquiry report being perused by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna over the alleged acash at homea episode.

The report was submitted by Delhi HCas Chief Justice, D.K. Upadhyay, late on Friday, recreating the chain of events and the information gathered by fire-fighters and other first responders.

The findings of the in-house probe hold significance as the laid down procedure prescribes that if the enquiry finds credible evidence of wrongdoing against a judge the matter may call for a formal impeachment process.

Despite Justice Varmaas recommended transfer to the Allahabad High Court and speculation over recovery of unaccounted for cash at his home, his name on Saturday continued to appear in the Delhi High Courtas Roster for sitting of judges effective from March 17, 2025.

In the Roster, Justice Varmaas name appeared along with Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar under Division Bench-III which deals with writ petitions challenging Constitutional validity of any Act, Statutory Rule, Regulation or Notification pertaining to Municipal Tax. The Bench is also designated for dealing with matters related to Sales Tax and GST.

Even the Advance Cause list of the High Court for March 24 uploaded on the official website mentioned 45 matters likely to be taken up on Monday by DB-III headed by Justice Varma. On Friday, the day when the alleged acash at homea was reported, Justice Varma had not reported to office.

In response to the speculation, the Supreme Court issued a clarification stating that Justice Varma's recommended transfer to the Allahabad High Court was not related to the alleged discovery of cash at his official residence. The court stressed that the transfer decision was made independently of the ongoing enquiry into the matter.

Chief of Delhi Fire Services (DFS), Atul Garg, on Friday denied reports attributing to him a statement claiming that no cash was found during firefighting operations at the residence of Justice Varma.

In a related development, some reports said that Justice Varma was earlier named in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR filed in 2018 over an alleged sugar mill bank fraud dating back to 2011-12.

The CBI registered an FIR against Simbhaoli Sugar Mills, its directors, and others, including Yashwant Varma, who was then a non-executive director of the company. The case originated from a complaint by the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), accusing the sugar mill of defrauding the bank of nearly Rs 98 lakh through a fraudulent loan scheme.

The CBI FIR registered in Hapur in Uttar Pradesh against the firm was quashed by the Supreme Court in March last year, disagreeing with the Allahabad High Courtas decision to order a probe by the federal agency into the matter. The top court, however, said action by other agencies could be taken, if required.
Jaipur, March 22 : Rajasthan Minister of State for Home Affairs Jawahar Singh Bedham reaffirmed the state's stance on combating cybercrime, highlighting several initiatives undertaken by the government.

Speaking to IANS, Bedham revealed that cybercriminals remain under the government's strict surveillance, with data reflecting intensified action. Through the Cyber Crime Portal, authorities successfully froze Rs 107.06 crore in 2024 and Rs 39.29 crore in 2023 from accounts linked to suspected criminals.

Bedham also highlighted the increasing effectiveness of the Cyber Crime Helpline 1930 in addressing public complaints. "Since October 15, 2024, the helpline has expanded from seven to 25 call lines, raising the success rate in handling complaints from 33 per cent to 69 per cent," he told IANS.

Referring to information presented in the Vidhan Sabha, Bedham said that since the launch of the National Cyber Crime Helpline (1930) on April 1, 2021, authorities have blocked 2,52,046 fraudulent SIM cards and 2,34,243 mobile IMEI handsets to combat cyber fraud. In comparison, only 1,457 SIM cards and 127 IMEI numbers were blocked in 2021. By 2024, these figures had surged to 46,494 SIM cards and 16,739 IMEI numbers due to strengthened enforcement measures.

Bedham cautioned that cybercriminals are adopting sophisticated methods to target victims. During wedding seasons, fraudsters distribute malicious links disguised as digital invitations. Once clicked, these links extract personal data, compromising the victim's privacy. Additionally, criminals send fake bank account details to facilitate money laundering, often tricking individuals into participating in fraudulent activities.

Another prevalent scheme involves scammers posing as bank representatives or mobile service providers, claiming to need KYC updates. Through such tactics, they gain access to sensitive information.

To counter these threats, the Rajasthan Police Headquarters regularly issues public advisories, warning citizens about emerging cybercrime methods and promoting preventive measures, he said.

In January 2024, under the 'Cyber Vraj Prahar 1.0' initiative, Rajasthan Police launched a statewide crackdown on cybercrime. The campaign resulted in the registration of 36 cases and the arrest of 250 individuals. Law enforcement seized 152 mobile phones, 104 ATM cards, 89 SIM cards, 10 checkbooks, 40 bank passbooks, one motorcycle, one car, six laptops, and approximately Rs 490,000 from those involved in cybercriminal activities.

"Our commitment to tackling cybercrime remains unwavering, and we will continue to adopt proactive measures to safeguard the public," Bedham asserted.
Mauganj, March 22 : A group of criminals attacked a police team with sticks and pelted stones at them in Madhya Pradesh's Mauganj district on Saturday.

The incident occurred under the Hanumana police station, bordering Mirzapur (UP) when the police team had gone to arrest some people involved in supplying banned cough syrup Corex.

Acting on a tip-off that a big consignment of banned Corex syrup was being supplied in the Hanumana region of Mauganj, following which, a team led by Hanumana police station in-charge Anil Kokde rushed to the spot.

Upon reaching there, the police team found that a four-wheeler was loaded with over a dozen boxes of illegal syrup.

The consignment was coming from Banaras via Mirzapur to Rewa, the police said.

Meanwhile, a group of criminals involved in the smuggling of Corex syrup consignment attacked a police team and demanded their vehicle and an SUV.

Later, an additional police team reached the spot and brought the situation under control and further investigation into the matter was underway, police said.

The incident came two weeks after an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Ramcharan Gautam died in a mob attack while trying to rescue local Sunny Dwivedi, who was kidnapped in Gadra village in Mauganj district.

On March 15, five other police personnel were injured due to stone pelting.

The issue was raised during the ongoing session of the state Assembly, following which, the state administration transferred Mauganj District Collector Ajay Shrivastava and SP Rasna Thakur.

Newly appointed Mauganj District Collector Sanjay Kumar Jain and SP Dilip Kumar Soni took charge of their respective offices on Friday.
Wellington, March 22 : Calling India an "increasingly important partner", New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Saturday that the partnership between the two countries has "grown much stronger" during his five-day visit to New Delhi and Mumbai, earlier this week.

"India, the worldas most populous country, is an increasingly important partner for New Zealand. That partnership has grown much stronger during my visit this week," Luxon said after returning home from an official visit to India from March 16-20.

"It was a pleasure to visit India this week and spend time with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss ways to strengthen ties between our countries. I am delighted that negotiations on a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement have now been launched," he added.

This was Luxon's first visit to India in his current capacity - also the first by a New Zealand Prime Minister since October 2016. During their discussions, both Prime Ministers welcomed the launch of FTA negotiations for a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive, and mutually beneficial trade agreement to achieve deeper economic integration.

"India is one of the fastest-growing economies and on track to become the third largest in the world over the next 10 years. Our Government is relentlessly focused on growing our economy so that all Kiwis can do better, and the launch of negotiations presents an opportunity to do exactly that," Luxon posted on X on Saturday.

Bolstering bilateral defence cooperation, the two countries have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Defence Cooperation and noted the need for ensuring the safety and security of sea lanes of communication while agreeing that there needs to be regular dialogue to discuss enhancement of maritime safety.

"New Zealandas commitment to regional security has also been reinforced, with New Zealand and India announcing a new Defence Cooperation Arrangement," the New Zealand PM said on Saturday.

During his five-day visit to New Delhi and Mumbai, Luxon was also accompanied by Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston; Ethnic Communities, and Sport and Recreation Minister Mark Mitchell; Todd McClay, the Minister for Trade and Investment, Agriculture, and Forestry; and, a high-level delegation comprising of officials, and representatives of businesses, community diaspora, media and cultural groups.

"On top of that, I and our business delegation focused on enhancing New Zealand's presence in key sectors, including education, technology, tourism, investment, manufacturing, food and primary industries. Unlocking new business opportunities, 33 MOUs and other commercial outcomes were progressed on the mission, reflecting the growing partnerships between New Zealand and Indian businesses," Luxon said after returning home.
New Delhi: In democratic societies, minority voters often emerge as a decisive factor in elections when they constitute between five to 15 per cent of the electorate. Their voting preferences can significantly influence election outcomes, determining which party ascends to power. This phenomenon can be observed in countries like the United States, France, India, and the United Kingdom.

In the United States, minority voters a" including African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans a" make up nearly 30 per cent of the electorate. Their support was instrumental in Barack Obama's victories in 2008 and 2012. Similarly, in India, where minority voters comprise approximately 15 per cent of the population, their influence is particularly strong in states like Bihar and West Bengal. The electoral fortunes of parties such as the Indian National Congress, Trinamool Congress, and Samajwadi Party are significantly shaped by Muslim voter support. In the UK, minorities of South Asian, African, and Caribbean descent make up about 14 per cent of the total population. Historically, the Labour Party has attracted strong support from these communities. Meanwhile, in France, where the Muslim minority accounts for around 9 per cent of the population, their votes have become crucial in presidential elections, influencing candidates like Emmanuel Macron. These examples underscore the decisive role of minority voters in democratic elections worldwide.

In Bangladesh, Hindu voters hold a similar significance in shaping election outcomes. Historically, they have played a key role in every national election. As of 2022, Hindus make up around eight per cent of Bangladesh's total population or approximately 13 million people (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2022). While their percentage of the total population has declined over the past five decades, their absolute numbers have increased. In 1974, Hindus comprised 13.5 per cent of the population, a figure that has now fallen to 7.95 per cent. Census data from 1981 recorded the Hindu population at 12.1 per cent, which declined to 10.5 per cent in 1991, 9.2 per cent in 2001, 8.5 per cent in 2011, and 7.95 per cent in 2022. However, in terms of absolute numbers, the Hindu population has grown steadily: from 9.6 million in 1974 to 13.5 million in 2022.

Traditionally, a large segment of the Hindu electorate has supported the Awami League, viewing it as a party committed to secularism and minority protection. However, even under Awami League rule, incidents of Hindu persecution, land grabbing, and communal violence have persisted. The party has long campaigned on promises to uphold secularism and safeguard minority rights, leveraging its role in Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which was fought to establish a secular state.

Understanding Hindu voting patterns requires considering their political, economic, and security concerns. Ensuring the safety of minorities is crucial for any party seeking their support. Hindu voters tend to favour those who can effectively guarantee their security. Additionally, policies regarding minority welfare and the attitude of local parliamentarians toward the Hindu community significantly impact voter confidence.

Following the fall of the Awami League government on August 5 last year, the Hindu community once again faced persecution. Many Hindu homes and businesses were attacked, severely undermining their sense of security a" similar to events in 1971, 1992, and 2001.

Past election data highlights the crucial role of Hindu voters in Bangladesh's parliamentary elections. A close analysis of electoral trends suggests that the vote share between the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is often closely contested, making minority votes a decisive factor. Other parties, such as the Jatiya Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, have never garnered more than 5a"6 per cent of the total vote. As a result, the eight per cent Hindu vote remains highly significant. Studies indicate that Hindu voters directly influence outcomes in 88 of Bangladesh's 300 parliamentary constituencies a" 51 where they make up more than 15 per cent of voters and 38 where they constitute between 10 and 15 per cent. Districts such as Gopalganj, Khulna, Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Moulvibazar, Sunamganj, Habiganj, Narail, Bagerhat, Magura, Pirojpur, Barisal, and Chittagong are particularly impacted by Hindu voting patterns.

Since independence, the Awami League has maintained an electoral advantage among Hindu voters. However, between 2008 and 2022 a" despite Awami League rule a" numerous incidents of Hindu persecution have fueled growing dissatisfaction within the community. This discontent has made Hindu voters more open to alternative political options. Recognising this, major political parties such as BNP and the National Citizens' Party (NCP) are expected to focus more on securing Hindu votes. While BNP previously used anti-Hindu rhetoric in the 1991 and 2001 elections, it has recently shifted its strategy. In the 2018 elections, BNP even pledged special protection policies for religious minorities, acknowledging the electoral significance of Hindu voters.

The interim government has suggested that Bangladesh's next national elections could take place in December this year. As the election process gains momentum, political parties are actively strategizing to attract Hindu voters. At the same time, the Hindu community itself is more aware and united than ever before. Since August 5, they have undertaken various public initiatives to voice their concerns.

Given these realities, any political party that formulates and implements genuine policies for minority protection could leverage Hindu voter support as a 'trump card' in electoral politics.

Historically, the Hindu community's trust in the Awami League was rooted in the ideals of the Liberation War and secular governance. However, over time, administrative failures and actions by certain party leaders have eroded this trust. Notable incidents of violence and land grabs a" recorded in 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2021 a" have frequently implicated local Awami League figures. Although the Constitution upholds secularism, no specific protective legislation for minorities has been enacted. The 'Vested Property Act', which historically facilitated the confiscation of Hindu property, remains in effect, making land ownership a persistent issue for the community.

In this context, if any political party can genuinely ensure security and equal rights for minorities, Hindu voters may align with them a" potentially turning into a decisive factor in the upcoming elections.

(The writer is a columnist specialising in Bangladesh affairs. Views expressed are personal)
Los Angeles, March 22 : Hollywood actor Jonathan Majors has said that his wife Meagan Good had to sacrifice a lot in order to stand by his side.

On Friday, March 21, just days after publicly announcing he and the Harlem actress, 43, secretly tied the knot, the Marvel star, 35, told The Breakfast Club what their relationship cost her, reports 'People' magazine.

"I told her from the jump, this 'gon be crazy. This 'gon be wild", Majors said during an appearance on a Power 105.1 radio show, referring to the fallout from him being found guilty of two counts of misdemeanor assault and harassment against a former girlfriend in December 2023.

As per 'People', during the show, one host noted that Good was a respected actress long before her relationship with Majors, leaving many to wonder, "'Meagan Good, why are you doing this?'". He admitted, "Yeah, I had a lot of that".

"We're in a relationship, now we're in a marriage", Majors said. "I'll keep it straight. We have moments like, 'Hey babe, it's cool. I love you more than I can imagine, but this ship's going down'".

"I'm Jack. You let go of me and you go get it", he said, making a reference to Leonardo DiCaprio's character Jack Dawson in 'Titanic'. The 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' actor added, "That was a big thing and she took so many hits because of it".

He continued, "I don't think she mind me saying, they weren't announcing it, but she lost endorsements, we got uninvited to stuff. She got uninvited to stuff because she had shown just how down she was and they knew if Meg was coming, Jay's coming. She took an incredible hit".

Majors also admitted that "a lot of our work" is "socializing".
Chennai, March 22 : Bollywood actress Seema Biswas, who is making a return to Tamil cinema with director Ramu Chellappa's web series 'Om Kaali Jai Kaali', featuring actor Vimal in the lead, has now disclosed that she plays the role of an informer to the main antagonist in the series.

The series, which will be streamed on the OTT platform JioHotstar from March 28 this year, has triggered huge expectations ever since its makers released a trailer for it recently.

Seema Biswas, known for being choosy about her roles, has played a pivotal role in the Tamil web series, 'Om Kaali Jai Kaali'. The actress, who is best known for her performances in films like 'Bandit Queen' and 'Khamoshi', stepped into Tamil industry through the film 'Iyarkai' in 2003 and followed it with another impressive role in 'Thalaimagan' in 2006.

After a gap of almost 19 years, she is again back in Tamil cinema through the Hotstar Specials 'Om Kaali Jai Kaali'.

Sharing her experience of working on this web series, actress Seema Biswas says, "The basic gist of the series itself was so intriguing as it encapsulates mythology with a ritualistic element. I play the role of an informant for the main antagonist. My role will have both positive and negative layers. In fact, I found it interesting, and instantly wanted to be a part of the show."

Stating director Ramu Chellappa was a committed individual who was diligent about his work, the actress said he traveled to Mumbai to narrate the story to her.

The actress said he explained the story to her using a translator.

Talking about the challenges of working on a series without knowing the languge, she said, ""On set, I felt quite anxious about the language barrier, but Ramu thoroughly supported me throughout the filming."

A trailer released by the makers has provided additional insight into the series, particularly its premise. It gives away the fact that the series will be an intense folklore revenge drama set against the backdrop of Tamil Nadu's grand Dussera festival.

Om Kaali Jai Kaali, its makers claim, will be presented with a captivating narrative that amalgamates betrayal, festival mysticism, and action sequences that will have audiences on the edge of their seats. The series has been shot with the perfect blend of rustic and rooted aesthetics, showcasing a never-before-seen portrayal of the Kulasekarapattinam Dussera, blending mythology with raw human emotions.

--IANS

Mkr/
Patna, March 22 : As Bihar commemorates its 113th formation day on Saturday, the leaders, cutting across the party lines, extended heartfelt wishes highlighting the state's glorious history, culture and progress.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav extended their wishes to the people.

Acknowledging the state's rich historical significance and cultural legacy, PM Modi said: "Many best wishes to all my brothers and sisters of Bihar, the holy land of heroes and great personalities, on Bihar Diwas. Our state, which has made Indian history proud, is passing through an important phase of its development journey today, in which the hardworking and talented people of Bihar have an important role. We will leave no stone unturned for the all-round development of this state, which has been the centre of our culture and tradition."

Emphasising state's pivotal role in shaping India's history, HM Shah said: "Bihar, a land of knowledge, tradition, and cultural heritage, has always provided leadership and new energy to the country. From the glorious chapters of history to the creation of modern India, Bihar has left its indelible mark in every field. Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the NDA government is committed to taking Bihar to new heights of progress, prosperity, and self-reliance. I wish happiness, peace, and progress for the people."

CM Nitish said: "Hearty congratulations and best wishes on Bihar Day. Bihar has a glorious history, and we are currently preparing a glorious future for Bihar with our determination. I call upon all of you to participate in realising the dream of a developed Bihar. Together, we will take the glory of Bihar to new heights."

Praising the state's rich cultural heritage and historical significance, Union Minister J. P. Nadda said: "I extend my heartfelt congratulations and infinite best wishes to all the people of the state on the foundation day of Bihar, the land of rich cultural heritage, incredible tradition, bravery, and knowledge. Bihar, the place of penance of Lord Buddha and Mahavira, has always illuminated the entire world with the light of its knowledge, philosophy, and spirituality."

Deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary praised Bihar for its rich cultural and spiritual legacy.

"Infinite best wishes to all Biharis on the 113th foundation day of Bihar - the land of knowledge, spirituality, culture, civilization, sanskar, and rich traditions. The place of penance of Lord Buddha and Mahavira, Bihar has illuminated the whole world with the light of its knowledge, philosophy, and spirituality. It is my wish that Bihar continues to move on the path of continuous progress and prosperity. Our Bihar is the basis of knowledge and culture," Deputy CM Choudhary stated.

Deputy CM Vijay Sinha reflected on Bihar's historical significance and its contribution to India's development.

"Hearty congratulations and best wishes to all the people of Bihar on the foundation day of Bihar - the land of knowledge, talent, historical glory, scholarship, devotion, non-violence, culture, valour, love, and the mother of democracy. History has witnessed that Bihar has not only given a new direction and vision to the nation but has also played an important role in the construction of India due to its talent and hard work. Today, Bihar is rapidly progressing on the path of development under the able leadership of the successful Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the guidance of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. On this occasion, let us all be determined to ensure our active participation for the all-round development of Bihar," Deputy Chief Minister Sinha said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi extended his warm wishes to the people of Bihar, emphasising the state's cultural richness and historical significance.

Rahul Gandhi stated, "The rich culture, civilisation, knowledge, and art of Bihar have enhanced the prestige of India for centuries and have shown the direction. Hearty congratulations and best wishes to all of you on the occasion of Bihar Day."

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav reflected on Bihar's identity as the birthplace of great leaders and the mother of democracy. He called on the youth to rebuild Bihar as the most developed state in the country.

"Bihar is a part of India's existence, our identity, and our life. It is the origin of various religions, the birthplace of great men, the mother of democracy, and the land of heroes. Today is a day to pay tribute to our ancestors for their sacrifice, valour, and contributions. Let us all work together with mutual trust, love, brotherhood, and social harmony to take Bihar forward towards development, progress, and prosperity. The youth, being the backbone of Bihar, must strive to rebuild the state and make it the most developed in the country," Tejashwi said.

A spectacular celebration is scheduled at Gandhi Maidan, Patna, featuring cultural performances, exhibitions, and light shows to showcase Biharas rich heritage. Several dignitaries, government officials, and cultural icons are expected to participate.

As Bihar completes 113 years, the state continues to move forward with a blend of tradition and modern development, reflecting its glorious past while building a promising future.
Jammu, March 22 : BJP MLA, Sham Lal Sharma on Saturday walked out of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Assembly against the alleged 'non-serious' attitude of the government to his question related to scientific disposal of solid waste in his constituency.

Sham Lal Sharma raised a question about the dumping of solid waste at Kot Bhalwal village in his Jammu north constituency and asked for steps to shift the same to any alternate place.

"Kot Bhalwal is the site of our scientific solid waste management. The site is being developed for scientific processing of waste through the NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India)," Health Minister, Sakina Itoo told the House in the absence of the minister concerned.

She replied in the negative to two related questions, including health risks to local residents and the steps taken for framing a Detailed Project Report in respect of waste disposal management and the physical or financial progress achieved in this regard.

Sharma said that he was not satisfied with the government's response to his question.

"What did I ask and what have they replied? The smart city project rules give emphasis on scientific solid waste management, but this dumping site is posing a health risk to the locals and the government is saying there is no such issue," he said and staged a walk-out.

While leaving the Assembly, the BJP MLA said that the government was "non-serious" and "this is unfortunate for this House".

Earlier, on February 13, 2021, the Administrative Council headed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had approved the establishment of an Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) project by the NAFED at Kot Bhalwal at an estimated project cost of Rs 74.41 crore and set a timeline of two years.

"The NAFED, an apex organisation under the Union Agriculture Ministry having substantial experience in the management of bio-waste, will manage the entire solid waste of Jammu city through the proposed ISWM project for a period of 25 years", the order had said.

Sharma said his immediate concern was to shift the present dumping site at Kot Bhalwal village that was causing a major health problem for the locals.

He said the dumping site cannot be allowed to continue till the bio-waste management project becomes operational.

"What kind of approach is this to public healthcare? You dump hazardous waste at a particular place under the promise that in future the problem will be taken care of by scientific management of waste", he told reporters.
NAIROBI, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Four years ago, Lydia Nyota and five fellow community members from the region surrounding Eburu Forest in Nakuru City, northwestern Kenya, embarked on cataloging the medicinal plants that thrive within its 8,715 hectares of indigenous woodland.

For them, the process was deeply nostalgic -- revisiting plants from their childhood, rediscovering when they bloom, and tracing their scientific names.

"It was fascinating because, as custodians of the forest, we often assume we know everything about our plants -- until we start digging deeper," said Nyota, a resident of a village bordering Eburu Forest.

Nyota and her colleagues, all volunteer environmentalists from the local community, co-authored Common Medicinal Plants of Eburu Forest, a book documenting known medicinal plant varieties. Their goal is to safeguard one of the Rift Valley's smallest yet most invaluable forests.

In the late 1990s, Eburu Forest began showing signs of degradation as surrounding farming communities abandoned their land and moved into the forest for survival -- harvesting honey, making charcoal, and logging unsustainably.

Before long, the forest buckled under human-induced destruction. Rainfall dwindled, wildfires increased, biodiversity shrank, and temperatures rose, according to community accounts and various reports.

This stark reality spurred some community members to take action, initiating small-scale restoration efforts over the years.

Today, Nyota and her colleagues are recognized as champions of community conservation, even wearing distinctive attire that identifies them as such.

"Between 2007 and 2010, we received about three millimeters of rainfall. It left us in extreme poverty because our community relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture," Nyota told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The group's journey to writing the 81-page book began with countless strategy meetings on how best to identify the plants.

Nyota recalled the early days of mapping with a laugh, likening it to children exploring a park. "You had to walk with a notebook and pen to jot down important details," she said.

Pooling their collective knowledge, the team identified 200 medicinal plants within Eburu Forest, detailing where their healing properties lie and how to harvest them sustainably.

The book features striking images of various species, including Aloe secundiflora, known for its antiviral properties; Toddalia asiatica, used to treat stomach ailments; and Senna didymobotrya, a remedy for diarrhea.

Douglas Chege, a local plant expert and the driving force behind the book's content, led the team through months of fieldwork to ensure accurate identification of the plants.

"I was born here, and I grew up knowing these plants and animals. There's nothing I don't know about this forest," he said, crediting his knowledge to his parents, who were well-versed in its ecology.

Since its release, local conservation volunteers have been using the book in community education efforts, from religious gatherings to welfare meetings.

Chege believes the book will inspire greater forest preservation. "Many people in the village prefer herbal medicine. When you tell them a certain tree has medicinal value, they'll protect it and even plant more," he said.

Written in native terms alongside Swahili and English, the book is accessible to a wide audience. The project was supported by the UK-based Calgary Zoo, the Kenya Forest Service, and other partners.

Philip Kirifa, a resident of ex-Lewis in Nakuru County and a committed conservation advocate, said the book has enhanced his efforts to educate churches and schools on the importance of environmental protection.

"Since its launch last year, I've been using it to reinforce conservation awareness," he said, adding that it will also help schoolchildren develop an early appreciation for nature.

The book is available in bookstores around Eburu and at the local community forest association office, with plans to expand its reach.

According to the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, the country's forest cover has steadily improved, reaching the national target of 10 percent. 
Bhopal, March 22 : In the summer of 2010, the tragic murder of 18-year-old Poonam Yadav over a dispute about tap water in Indore cast a grim shadow over Madhya Pradesh, highlighting the severity of the state's water crisis. While such extreme incidents have not recurred, daily skirmishes over shared water sources persist, underscoring the urgent need to address India's dwindling water resources.

Bhopal, March 22 (IANS) In the summer of 2010, the tragic murder of 18-year-old Poonam Yadav over a dispute about tap water in Indore cast a grim shadow over Madhya Pradesh, highlighting the severity of the stateas water crisis. While such extreme incidents have not recurred, daily skirmishes over shared water sources persist, underscoring the urgent need to address Indiaas dwindling water resources.

This crisis, with its dire implications for agriculture, public health, and human survival, demands innovative and localised solutions to reverse the alarming trends of groundwater depletion.

Groundwater depletion threatens to undermine progress, affecting over 40 million Indians annually through waterborne diseases and the stunted growth of millions of children. Initiatives aimed at reversing this trend are making strides, but the scale of the issue demands innovative, localised solutions.

On Friday evening, In Madhya Pradesh, a state often plagued by erratic rainfall patterns, a bold resolution emerged from the aisles of the Legislative Assembly during the ongoing Budget session. A Bharatiya Janata Party member (MLA) Ashish Govind Sharma proposed an ingenious plan to install water harvesting systems along the roads which are to be constructed in the future.

His vision includes recharge pits placed at intervals of 5 km, effectively capturing rainwater during monsoon seasons and directing it underground. This strategy aims to rejuvenate groundwater levels, offering relief to farmers and rural communities struggling with drinking water shortages, said the member.

Aligned with this proposal is the ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission, extended to 2028. Initially targeting tap water access for all rural households by 2024, the program has already provided clean water to 68.4 per cent of surveyed households in Madhya Pradesh.

The state, with a significant share of Indiaas 600,000 villages, remains a focal point for this Rs 67,000 crore mission. Villages face setbacks due to depleting groundwater and maintenance hurdles, revealing the dire need for complementary measures like Sharmaas resolution.

Of the total 1,11,79,195 surveyed households 68.40 per cent or 76,46,460 households have been provided tap water in Madhya Pradesh as the dashboard, Jal Jeevan Mission portal displayed.

However, challenges remain, including infrastructure failures and depleting groundwater sources. To ensure success, recharge pits have been integrated into future road construction plans, focusing on areas with naturally low water levels.

The state's rainfall patterns have mirrored its water crisis -- deficits in monsoon precipitation have exacerbated groundwater depletion, except for rare years of surplus rainfall.

As reported by the Central Ground Water Board, Madhya Pradesh received 9 per cent less rain than normal in 2024, continuing a troubling trend that further highlights the importance of such initiatives.

Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla and Parliamentary Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya have championed these measures, emphasising their alignment with urban projects and rural needs. The assembly, then, cleared the aresolution.a
Imphal, March 22 : A five-member team of Supreme Court judges, headed by Justice B. R. Gavai on Saturday, visited the camps for the ethnic violence affected in Manipur's Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts and met displaced men, women and children sheltering there, officials said.

Justice Gavai, who was accompanied by fellow apex court judges Vikram Nath, M.M. Sundresh, K.V. Vishwanathan, and N. Kotiswar Singh and the Manipur High Court's Chief Justice D. Krishnakumar and Justice Golmei Gaiphulshilu, also virtually inaugurated a legal services camp, a medical camp and a legal aid clinic in the tribal-inhabited district from the Mini Secretariat.

The judges, immediately after arriving in Churachandpur, visited the Sadbhavana Mandap relief camp and interacted with the inmates, who have been sheltering in the camps after they were displaced from their villages following the ethnic violence breaking out on May 3, 2023.

From the Churachandpur district, the judges' team went to the Bishnupur district and interacted with the inmates in the relief camp there.

The Supreme Court judges team also visited the Indian National Army (INA) museum at Moirang in Bishnupur.

Justice Gavai is the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).

Earlier in the day, senior lawyers of Manipur accorded a warm welcome to the Supreme Court judges after they arrived at the Imphal airport.

The Supreme Court judges team will also attend the 12th-anniversary celebration of the Manipur High Court on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Saturday inaugurated several new infrastructure and innovation projects at the College of Agriculture at Iroisemba, including a newly constructed girls' hostel and new Type-IV staff quarters.

The Governor then visited the College of Food Technology at Lamphelpat in Imphal and inspected the Biofloc Unit and Food Processing Pilot Plant located on the campus. He also inspected various stalls at the exhibition-themed Technology and Machinery Demonstration Mela-2024-25, AICRP, on post-harvest engineering and technology and interacted with students and officials.
Agra, March 22 : Senior Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Ramji Lal Suman, on Saturday defended his remarks calling 16th-century Rajput king Rana Sanga a "traitor," asserting that his statement was based on historical facts documented in Baburnama, the memoir of Mughal emperor Babur. He also pointed out that Muslims of India do not consider Babur as their leader.

His remarks, made during a speech in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, have sparked sharp criticism from multiple political quarters.

Suman had made the controversial statement while addressing the BJP's frequent comments about the historical lineage of Indian Muslims. Participating in a discussion on the functioning of the Home Ministry on Friday, he referred to Rana Sanga's role in inviting Babur to India, which he claimed led to the establishment of Mughal rule and called the Rajput ruler a "traitor."

Speaking to IANS, Suman stood by his statement, stating, "It is a historical fact. Nowadays, it has become common to claim that Indian Muslims have the DNA of Babur. But the truth is that the Muslims of India do not consider Babur as their leader. Babur did not come with religion; he came with a sword. The ideals of Indian Muslims are rooted in the tradition of Sufi saints."

"I pointed out in Rajya Sabha that it is easy to call Babur a foreign invader, but who invited him? Historical records, including Baburnama, state that Rana Sanga invited Babur to fight against Ibrahim Lodi. Later, of course, the situation changed, and Rana Sanga himself fought against Babur at the Battle of Khanwa," he further added.

Dismissing the backlash from Opposition parties, Suman said, "I do not care whether people like it or not. I only stated the truth. The most important issue I raised was how the BJP is destroying the Ganga-Jamuni culture of our country."

"There have been calls for Muslims to avoid playing Holi or to stay indoors during festivals. In my village and many others, everyone, including Muslims, celebrates Holi together. Some people are repeatedly telling others to leave the country, but this country belongs to everyone --Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians alike," he added.

During his speech in the Rajya Sabha, Suman had stated, "Indian Muslims do not consider Babur their ideal. But who brought Babur to India? It was Rana Sanga who invited him to defeat Ibrahim Lodi. If you claim Muslims are descendants of Babur, then you must also acknowledge that you are descendants of Rana Sanga, a traitor. We criticise Babur, but not Rana Sanga."

His remarks have triggered strong reactions, with the BJP calling them a "shameful act" and demanding an apology from the Samajwadi Party.
Chennai, March 22 : The Joint Action Committee (JAC) on Fair Delimitation, which met in Chennai on Saturday, unanimously adopted a resolution stating that any future delimitation exercise undertaken by the Union Government must be carried out transparently, with full consultation and deliberation involving all stakeholders.

Addressing the media after the meeting, DMK Deputy General Secretary and Member of Parliament, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, voiced the committee's deep concern over the "lack of transparency and clarity" in the Centre's proposed delimitation exercise, which, she noted, was being considered without proper consultation with state governments and political parties.

"I would like to read the resolution that was passed today," she said. "The JAC expressed its deep concern over the lack of transparency and clarity in the delimitation process and the absence of any consultation with key stakeholders. The committee also expressed its appreciation to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for taking the initiative to safeguard the political and economic future of performing states in India."

Kanimozhi added, "Based on discussions and scenarios presented by representatives during the meeting, the JAC unanimously resolved that any delimitation exercise carried out by the Union Government must be transparent, and must involve political parties from all states, state governments, and other key stakeholders to deliberate, discuss, and contribute to the process."

She further highlighted the constitutional context, stating, "The legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th, and 87th Constitutional Amendments was to incentivise and protect states that implemented population control measures effectively. Since the goal of national population stabilisation has not yet been achieved, the freeze on parliamentary constituencies based on the 1971 Census should be extended by another 25 years."

The DMK leader emphasised that the political parties represented at the JAC meeting had resolved to jointly advocate for a fair delimitation process. "This is a historic moment in Indian political history, and the response from across the country has been overwhelming," she said. Kanimozhi listed the leaders who participated in the meeting: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar. Former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik addressed the gathering virtually.

Leaders from various parties also joined the deliberations, including representatives from the BRS, Shiromani Akali Dal, Kerala Congress, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) of Kerala, AIMIM from Hyderabad, and Kerala Congress (M). All leaders came together on a single platform, expressing solidarity and concern over the crucial issue of delimitation.

"We are united in our stand and speak with one voice: we will fight for fair delimitation," Kanimozhi asserted. The JAC meeting was convened under the leadership of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who has emerged as a central figure in organising opposition unity on this issue. His efforts follow an all-party conference held in Tamil Nadu on March 5, where 58 registered political parties -- excluding the BJP -- expressed strong opposition to the proposed delimitation.

Notably, West Bengal's Trinamool Congress (TMC) was invited but did not send a representative to the meeting. The opposition's key argument is that delimitation based solely on population growth unfairly penalises southern states, which have successfully implemented population control policies over the past several decades. They argue that such a move undermines India's federal structure and punishes good governance.

The JAC called for a more balanced and equitable delimitation formula that takes into account not just population, but also economic contributions, governance performance, and development indicators. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced that the next meeting on delimitation will be held in Telangana's capital Hyderabad.
Mumbai, March 22 : After swaying the nation with his 'K.G. F.' franchise, Kannada superstar Yash will now be seen in the upcoming film 'Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-ups' as the film is set to arrive in cinemas on March 19, 2026.

Mumbai, March 22 (IANS) After swaying the nation with his aK.G. F.a franchise, Kannada superstar Yash will now be seen in the upcoming film aToxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-upsa as the film is set to arrive in cinemas on March 19, 2026.

The release date announcement of the film was done through a special poster. The action-packed image showcases Yash rousing from the flames, promising an adrenaline-fueled cinematic experience. A shadowy silhouette shrouded in smoke adds an air of mystery, hinting at the intrigue that lies within this gritty, stylized universe.

With Ugadi, Gudi Padwa, and Chaitra Navratri ushering in the new year on March 19, followed by Eid-al-Fitr celebrations on March 20 and March 21, the film is perfectly positioned to capitalise a four-day extended weekend across India.

As the first large-scale Indian project conceptualized, written, and shot in both Kannada and English, aToxic blends cultures and continents, and promises an international cinematic experience.

The film brings together the best and highly sought after talent from Indian and International cinema, and will be dubbed in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and several other languages.

This electrifying poster follows the viral birthday glimpse earlier this year, offering a deeper dive into the world of 'Toxic' and solidifying its position as a must-watch rollercoaster of action and drama.

The film is helmed by Geetu Mohandas, who is known for her emotionally resonant, award-winning cinema. With accolades like the National Award and the prestigious Global Filmmaking Award at the Sundance Film Festival under her belt, Mohandas has carved a niche on the world stage.

The film is jointly produced by Venkat K. Narayana and Yash under KVN Productions and Monster Mind Creations.
Beirut/Jerusalem, March 22 : Israel carried out airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, escalating cross-border tensions after rockets were fired into northern Israel, state-owned National News Agency (NNA) reported.

The strikes hit areas near the villages of Touline, Kfar Melki, Mleeta, and the Wadi al-Hujeir valley, NNA said. A residential building in Touline was destroyed, leaving one dead and three wounded, it added.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it intercepted rockets launched from Lebanon toward the northern Israeli town of Metula. No casualties were reported in Israel, according to the country's emergency services.

Lebanon's army stated that its troops later discovered and dismantled three improvised rocket launchers in the Nabatieh area, north of the Litani River, Xinhua news agency reported. Military units remained deployed in southern Lebanon to "maintain security and stability," it said.

The exchange occurred amid lingering friction over a US- and French-mediated ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which took effect on November 27, 2023, halting over a year of hostilities linked to the Gaza conflict.

The truce stipulated an Israeli withdrawal from disputed Lebanese territory, but Israeli forces continue to occupy five border posts past a Feb. 18 deadline, Lebanese officials say.

In a statement issued after the airstrikes, Israel's military said it struck Hezbollah's infrastructure, alleging the Iran-backed group operates from civilian zones.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed a "robust response" to attacks, with Katz asserting that Lebanon's government bore responsibility for "all aggression originating from its soil."

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) called for restraint, cautioning that further escalation could undermine tenuous diplomatic gains.

Saturday's rocket fire marked the first such incident from Lebanon since early December. Both Israel and Hezbollah have traded blame for repeated breaches of the ceasefire, which remains technically intact but has been strained by sporadic clashes and unresolved border disputes.
Bengaluru, March 22 : Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar announced at a Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting that "Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and every progressive state, today in this room faces a stark choice: submit to domination or rise in resistance. We choose resistance." Bengaluru, March 22 (IANS) Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar announced at a Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting that "Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and every progressive state, today in this room faces a stark choice: submit to domination or rise in resistance. We choose resistance."

He was addressing the meeting attended by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, and other top leaders from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Odisha, and West Bengal in Chennai.

"Friends, this is not a battle between the North and the South. It is a fight to reclaim the vision of India as a union of equal states. Let us unite to demand our rights," Shivakumar underlined.

Shivakumar stated, "The delimitation exercise is not just about parliamentary seats; it is about the future of federalism in India. If the Centre proceeds with this unjust formula, it will alter the federal balance, giving disproportionate power to states that have failed to control population growth. This will not only marginalise the southern states but also undermine the principles of cooperative federalism enshrined in our Constitution."

"To the Union Government, we send this clear message: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and all progressive states will not be silenced. We will fight in the courts, in Parliament, and on the streets to protect our rights, our resources, and our identity," he announced.

Shivakumar further appealed, "Let us channel the defiance of Periyar, the statesmanship of Annadurai, and the fire of Basavanna. Remember: When Karnataka and Tamil Nadu stand together, no power can break us. When Kerala and Punjab raise their voices, the Himalayas will tremble."

He noted: The 15th Finance Commission's population-based formula has already cost us dearly. If the delimitation exercise proceeds as planned, our political voice will be further diminished, and our ability to advocate for our rights in Parliament will be crippled.

"This fight is not just about numbers; it is about our identity, our culture, and our heritage. Karnataka takes pride in its 1,500-year-old literary tradition, from the Vachanas of Basavanna to the works of Kuvempu. Tamil Nadu's Sangam poetry, Kerala's classical art forms, and Andhra's Telugu heritage are not just regional treasures -- they are the soul of India," Shivakumar stated.

Yet, the Centre's relentless push for "One Nation, One Language" seeks to erase this diversity, he opined.

From railway signboards to competitive exams, the imposition of Hindi undermines our linguistic and cultural sovereignty. Let me be clear: Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and other regional languages are not mere dialects; they are the lifeblood of our civilizations, he charged.

At the beginning of his speech, Shivakumar stated, "Friends, we are gathered here at a critical moment in India's history. The very foundation of our democracy  federalism -- is under threat. The very pillars of our federal democracy, enshrined by Babasaheb Ambedkar and the visionary framers of our Constitution, are being dismantled brick by brick."

The proposed delimitation exercise, based solely on population, is not just a technical adjustment; it is a political assault on the southern states, he stated.

"It seeks to punish us for our success in controlling population growth, improving literacy, and empowering women," Shivakumar underlined.

Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and other southern states have contributed immensely to India's growth. "We have prioritised education, healthcare, and sustainable development. Yet, the Centre now plans to reduce our parliamentary representation, effectively silencing our voices in the national discourse. This is not just unfair -- it is a betrayal of the constitutional promise that development and good governance should be rewarded, not penalised," Shivakumar said.

"Let me share some hard facts. Karnataka contributes over Rs 4 lakh crore annually to the Centre's Gross Tax Revenue. Yet, what do we get in return? A mere Rs 45,000 crore in tax devolution and Rs 15,000 crore in grants. For every rupee Karnataka contributes, only 13 paise comes back to us. This is not just an economic injustice; it is a systemic plunder of our resources," he stated.

"Karnataka, with just 5 per cent of India's population, contributes 8.4 per cent to the national GDP. We are the highest GST contributors in the country. Southern states, contributing 35 per cent of India's GDP, are treated as ATM machines for the North. Yet, our share in central funds is disproportionately low," he stressed.

The Karnataka Legislative Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution rejecting any delimitation exercise based on the new census. We demand that the 1971 Census remain the basis for delimitation, as it rewards states for their efforts in population control and sustainable development, he stated.

Shivakumar demanded delimitation justice: A weighted formula that considers human development indices, tax contributions, and population control. Representation must reflect governance quality, not just population.

"Firstly to implement a floor limit on parliamentary seats for states that have effectively controlled their population. This will ensure that their voices are not marginalised. Secondly the 'Bicameral Balance'. Strengthen the Rajya Sabha as a counterbalance to the Lok Sabha. Empower it with greater legislative authority and a structured role in economic decision-making to ensure that developed states are not sidelined," he advised.

Thirdly, he advocated for a new fiscal federalism pact that ensures fair tax devolution and resource sharing. The 16th Finance Commission must prioritise equity, efficiency, and performance, Shivakumar demanded.

He urged the Centre to introduce economic and social indicators in resource allocation. Central fund allocations should factor in economic performance, fiscal discipline, and governance quality.

Shivakumar insisted on establishing a National Language Rights Commission to enforce the equality of all scheduled languages and also to pass state resolutions mandating the use of regional languages in Central institutions, including banks, railways, and competitive exams.

"Fifthly, ensure unity through collaboration. Strengthen the JAC as a permanent coalition to coordinate legal, legislative, and grassroots advocacy," he appealed.

Today, let this JAC send a resounding message to the nation: We will not allow our voices to be diluted, our resources looted, or our cultures erased. Together, we shall fight to restore the federal promise of India -- a union where diversity is celebrated, and equality is upheld. I also agreed with Reventh Reddy's suggestion, we may fight legally also.
New Delhi, March 22 : Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Saturday that the upcoming Budget 2025-26 will truly be a people's budget, delivering positive outcomes based on over 10,000 public suggestions.

Promising to present a "milestone" Budget, CM Gupta said that from here on, Delhiites will be able to see the performance of "Double-Engine Sarkar" switching into the next gear.

"In the Viksit Delhi Budget, we have prioritised the suggestions received from Delhi residents and incorporated their expectations...," said the Chief Minister, adding that the March 25-28 Session will begin on Monday with 'Kheer ceremony' on Delhi Assembly premises.

"We received 3,303 emails, and 6,982 suggestions on WhatsApp... all the suggestions have been very useful in preparing the draft of the Viksit Delhi Budget," she said, underscoring the fact that it will be the first Budget by a BJP government in the city in 27 years.

The Chief Minister said the draft Budget will be another step in the direction of Viksit Bharat.

"The focus will be on improving the living standards of women, poor, youth and workers while making Delhi a world-class Capital," she said.

Hailing the overwhelming public inputs on Budget, she said the Delhi government had announced an email ID and a WhatsApp number on March 3 for seeking suggestions.

The Chief Minister said that discussions were also held with educationists, influencers, businessmen, academicians, farmers, legislators, MPs, councillors, youth, doctors, CAs and slum-dwellers before finalising the Budget.

"This is not going to be a government's Budget but a people's Budget," she said, thanking public for participating in the exercise of sharing ideas.

She said the Budget will focus on financial empowerment of women, continuous supply of water and electricity, prevention of waterlogging, check on air pollution, Yamuna cleaning, better education and health infrastructure, job creation and augmentation of basic infrastructure.

"An effort will be made to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of Viksit Delhi," she said.

The Chief Minister said that the Budget Session will be marked by "Delhi ka Vikas and Kheer Ki Mithas", proposing to offer sweet kheer to all sections of the public who will benefit from the Budget.
New Delhi, March 22 : At least 25 Indian startups secured more than $176 million in funding this week, which included five growth-stage and 15 early-stage deals.

Startups are the engines of innovation and economic growth and their disruptive spirit, agility and commitment to solving real-world challenges are shaping Indiaas future.

In growth-stage funding, EV manufacturer Euler Motors raised $60 million (nearly Rs 525 crore) from Hero MotoCorp. The Board of Directors of Hero MotoCorp approved the investment in its meeting. The investment would provide the company with a 32.5 per cent stake in Euler Motors on a fully diluted basis.

Nivara Home Finance raised Rs 245 crore in its series B round led by private equity firm True North. Other existing investors in the round were Baring PE India and its promoters.

Meanwhile, D2C beauty and personal care brand Pilgrim secured $23 million funding.

Protectt.ai, a mobile app cybersecurity and fraud control platform, raised Rs 76 crore in its Series-A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Fintech startup Navadhan also raised $12.8 million.

The average funding in the last eight weeks stood at nearly $254 million with 25 deals a week.

Venturi Partners, a leading growth-stage consumer-focused investor in India and Southeast Asia, announced the launch of its second fund, targeting $225 million, with a hard cap of $250 million.

The new fund will continue to focus on Venturias core strategy of backing consumer brands that are disrupting their sectors and creating innovative products and services tailored for the evolving Asian consumer.

Also, PayU acquired a 43.5 per cent stake in real-time payments tech company Mindgate Solutions while e-commerce SaaS company Unicommerce approved the 100 per cent acquisition of Shipway this week.

Last week, the Indian startup ecosystem witnessed a strong surge in funding, with 19 startups collectively raising approximately $462.27 million.
YANGON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar marked the International Day of Forests 2025 at the Forest Department in Nay Pyi Taw on Friday, the state-owned daily The Mirror reported on Saturday.

Speaking at the event, Myanmar's Union Minister for Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation U Khin Maung Yi highlighted ongoing initiatives, including the establishment of forest plantations, large-scale planting efforts, the creation of village firewood plantations, and the development of multi-use plantations.

He emphasized the vital role that forests and trees play for both humanity and the environment, urging the public to recognize their importance.

The minister encouraged collaborative efforts to ensure the long-term sustainability of forests. 
Chennai, March 22 : Sampath Nandi, who is credited with having created the popular Odela franchise, has now disclosed that director Ashok Teja's eagerly awaited supernatural thriller, 'Odela 2', featuring actress Tamannaah Bhatia in the lead, will begin from the point the first part ended.

On the day that the makers announced that 'Odela 2' would release on April 17 this year, the unit chose to meet the press.

Speaking at the press conference, Odela franchise creator Sampath Nandi said, "For some of them, Odela might be just a film. For me, it is an emotion. I was born and brought up there. I studied until the ninth standard there."

He then went on to give details of what the film's actual story would be about.

"For anyone, their native place is like their mother. So, when one makes a film about their mother, how respectfully and how lovingly they will make it? We have made this film that lovingly and respectfully. If the village is the mother, then the temple and the God in that temple that protects the village is akin to a father. In particular, if you take Odela to be a mother, then the temple of Odella Mallana is like the father. This film's story is also pretty much about this," he said.

He then went on to add, "The Odela village faces a problem which eventually becomes bigger. The deity of Mallana who has a temple in Odela comes to the aid of the village. How he solves the problem through a Sadhu called Bhairavi, who has the Nagashakthi, a form of Shiva Shakthi, is what this film is all about."

Earlier on Saturday, Sampath Nandi Teamworks announced on its social media handles that the film would release on April 17. "When darkness reigns and hope fades, 'Shiva Shakti' awakens. #Odela2 Grand release worldwide on April 17th. Get ready for a divine thriller on the big screens. #Odela2OnApril17"

The film has triggered huge expectations as this is the second instalment from the 'Odela' franchise, the first instalment of which was titled 'Odela Railway Station'. The franchise has been created by Sampath Nandi and the sequel stars Tamannah Bhatia in the lead. Produced by D Madhu under the direction of Ashok Teja, the film has music by Ajaneesh Loknath and cinematography by Soundar Rajan. Art direction for the film is by Rajeev Nair.
Patna, March 22 : Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Bihar Cabinet Minister Sanjay Saraogi on the occasion of Bihar Diwas on Saturday recalled the eastern state's rich history and its development which is underway under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Bihar Day is observed every year on March 22, marking the formation of the state.

Interacting with the IANS in Mumbai, Saraogi expressed gratitude towards Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for steering Bihar onto a progressive path, aiming to reclaim its historical prominence.

Reflecting on the past, Saraogi said: "After Independence, Bihar experienced a challenging 15-year period marked by rampant crime (During Lalu-Rabri government), prompting many residents to migrate to states like Maharashtra in search of better livelihoods. I extend my appreciation to the people of Maharashtra for providing accommodation and employment opportunities to these migrants during those difficult times."

Saraogi emphasised that under Nitish Kumar's administration, Bihar is on a trajectory of development, with noticeable improvements in the state's situation.

He further affirmed that Nitish Kumar is in excellent health, highlighting his recent completion of the 'Pragati Yatra' and the approval of projects worth over Rs 50,000 crore.

"NDA will contest the upcoming Bihar assembly elections under Nitish Kumar's leadership," Saraogi said.

Talking about the recent communal violence in Nagpur, Saraogi said: "Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited the affected areas, pledging stringent action against those involved and vowing to recover damages from the rioters."

On comments by Samajwadi Party MP Ramji Lal Suman, who characterised Muslims as successors of Babar and Hindus as successors of Rana Sanga, Saraogi criticised such a mindset.

He urged a departure from historical divisiveness, emphasising that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the country is progressing, and such outdated mentalities should change.

According to political analysts, Saraogi's remarks underscore Bihar's commitment to development under Nitish Kumar's leadership and reflect concerns over communal tensions in other parts of India.
New York, March 22 : The United Nations children's agency on Saturday urged that all girls in Afghanistan must be allowed to return to school as the new school year in the country begins. The appeal was made since it marks three years of the ban on girls' secondary education. The decision of the Afghan Taliban to deprive education rights continues to harm the future of millions of Afghan girls.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) stated that if this ban persists until 2030, over four million girls will have been deprived of their right to education beyond primary school.

"The consequences for these girls - and for Afghanistan - are catastrophic. The ban negatively impacts the health system, the economy, and the future of the nation. With fewer girls receiving education, girls face a higher risk of child marriage with negative repercussions on their well-being and health," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

"In addition, the country will experience a shortage of qualified female health workers. This will endanger lives. With fewer female doctors and midwives, girls and women will not receive the medical treatment and support they need. We are estimating an additional 1,600 maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths. These are not just numbers, they represent lives lost and families shattered," she added

Russell further stated that for over three years, the rights of girls in Afghanistan have been violated. She stressed that all girls must be allowed to return to school now. If these capable, bright young girls continue to be denied an education, then the repercussions will last for generations. Afghanistan cannot leave half of its population behind.

Ensuring the unwavering commitment of UNICEF to the Afghan girls and boys, she stated despite the ban, the agency has provided access to education for 4,45,000 children through community-based learning a" 64 per cent of them are girls. UNICEF is also empowering female teachers to ensure that girls have positive role models.

"We will continue to advocate for the right of every Afghan girl to receive an education, and we urge the de facto authorities to lift this ban immediately. Education is not just a fundamental right; it is the pathway to a healthier, more stable, and prosperous society," she concluded.

Afghanistan stands out as the only country in the world where secondary and higher education is strictly forbidden for girls and women. According to UNESCO data published in 2024, 1.4 million Afghan girls have been deliberately deprived of schooling. Access to primary education has also fallen sharply, with 1.1 million fewer girls and boys attending school.

Speaking at the 58th session of the Human Rights Council this month, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk stated that women in Afghanistan are currently being denied their most fundamental rights.

aIn Afghanistan, women and girls are subject to gender apartheid that is unparalleled in todayas world. Virtual prisoners within their homes, they are denied the most basic and fundamental freedoms essential to normal life, including movement, education and work. I am deeply concerned for the long-term future of a country that is self-harming on a national scale," said Turk.
Srinagar, March 22 : Bodies of two residents of J&K's Baramulla district, missing after they reportedly jumped into the Jhelum River earlier this month, were handed over to Indian authorities by officials of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) at the Kaman post on the Line of Control (LoC) on Saturday.

Srinagar, March 22 (IANS) Bodies of two residents of J&Kas Baramulla district, missing after they reportedly jumped into the Jhelum River earlier this month, were handed over to Indian authorities by officials of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) at the Kaman post on the Line of Control (LoC) on Saturday.

These two, identified as Yasir Hussain Shah of Busgran village of Uri tehsil and Asiya Bano of Kundi Barjala village of the same tehsil, had drowned after jumping into the river on March 5, officials said, adding that an extensive search operation had failed to trace their bodies so far.

After a sustained search operation, the body of Shah was spotted floating near the Kaman post in Uri on March 20.

"Police and rescue teams attempted to retrieve the body, but it drifted to the other side of the LoC due to strong currents. The authorities from the Indian side took the matter up with officials of PoK across the LoC, who eventually retrieved both the bodies from the river," an official said.

"A meeting was held at the Kaman post in Uri on Saturday, where officials from the Uri administration, including the SDPO, SHO, tehsildar, Indian Army and their counterparts from the other side as well as the parents of the deceased, in addition to a team of doctors were present. Indian authorities received the bodies after completion of formalities," the official added.

The 776-km-long LoC in J&K is a natural defacto border made up of rivers, mountains, ridges, gorges, and ravines.

People on the two sides of the LoC sometimes inadvertently cross the border while grazing cattle etc. Such civilians are apprehended by the alert army troops guarding the LoC.

After verifying their credentials, such civilians are returned to their homes.

A 24X7 vigil is maintained on the LoC by the Indian Army to check the infiltration of terrorists into the Indian side. Such infiltration bids often end in gunfights between the army and the terrorists resulting in the death of intruding terrorists or their withdrawal back into the PoK.
Bemetara : , March 22 (IANS) Chhattisgarh Governor Ramen Deka visited Bemetara district of the state on Saturday, where he met beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and discussed their issues. He visited the village of Chorbhatti, near the district headquarters, and inspected the house of Kekti Bai Sahu, a beneficiary of the scheme.

A special moment during the visit was witnessed when Kekti Bai Sahu welcomed the Governor in the traditional Chhattisgarhi way. She offered him water in a pot as a gesture of respect, which deeply impressed Governor Ramen Deka, who appreciated the local culture.

He also expressed his happiness over the warm welcome.

During his one-day visit to Bemetara, the Governor also gathered information from PMAY beneficiaries about the benefits they had received through the scheme, as well as pensions and other government schemes. He inquired about the changes brought about in their lives due to these benefits.

After the meeting, Kekti Bai Sahu shared her experience with IANS stating that she had previously lived in a thatched-roof house, which caused her problems in every season.

Rain, intense heat, and strong winds used to affect her life. Now that she has a new house under the PMAY, she feels much more comfortable. She expressed her gratitude to the state government and the Governor, calling his visit a significant moment in her life.

The newly elected female Sarpanch (village head) of Chorbhatti raised the issue of the shortage of teachers in the village school during the Governor's visit.

She stressed the need to deploy teachers in the school to ensure children receive quality education. The Governor immediately instructed the district collector to make the necessary arrangements.

After the visit, the Governor remarked that schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana are helping to improve the standard of living of people and ensuring that the benefits of these schemes reach as many people as possible is a top priority for him.
Beijing, March 22 : The third edition of 'Vasant Mela' - a signature event organised by the Embassy of India in Beijing, marking the arrival of Spring - was celebrated on Saturday with the participation of a large number of diaspora members and several key Chinese officials.

The grand Indian celebration included everything Indian - music, dance, food, art, yoga, ayurveda and a children's zone.

Pradeep Kumar Rawat, Ambassador of India to China, thanked Director-General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry in China Liu Jinsong and others for gracing the occasion. He said that spring is a time for new beginnings, strengthening bonds and opportunities to experience the essence of India. The spectacular spring celebration brought with it a memorable experience of India to all guests.

"People are enjoying in the stalls in this Vasant Mela. From mouth-watering Indian delicacies, exquisite Indian products, handicrafts and Mehndi art. Guests thronged in huge numbers in all of the stalls and interacted to find out the wide offerings in these stalls," the Embassy of India in Beijing posted on X.

Yoga sessions were also organised on the occasion.

"Yoga is a beacon of serenity and is beyond moving muscles. It is an art of unifying the body with the soul. In this Vasant Mela 2025, people participate enthusiastically in practicing Yoga. We also had an ultimate Yoga challenge setting spirited participation," the Embassy stated.

The event was first organised at the old chancery premises in Beijing on March 11, 2023 which was attended by over 3,000 people. The festival featured stalls selling Indian handicrafts, diverse culinary offerings, and activities for children and adults, alongside a day-long cultural extravaganza. Last year too, more than 4000 people enjoyed the cultural extravaganza.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited Beijing on January 26-27 for a meeting of the Foreign Secretary-Vice Foreign Minister mechanism between both countries, following which both countries announced their decision to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025.

The meeting was held to review the state of India-China bilateral relations, as agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in Kazan, last October.

During their discussions, Foreign Secretary Misri and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong agreed to take certain people-centric steps to stabilise and rebuild ties.
Chennai, March 22 : Actor Manikandan, whose career graph is fast soaring high, has now penned a heartfelt note of gratitude to everybody responsible for the success of three of his films that have each gone on to complete a phenomenal 50-day run in theatres!

The actor, who has had back-to-back successes, is now fast emerging as one of the most bankable stars with his films in the last three years going to on to emerge as superhits.

Posting the posters of his successful films  'Good Night', 'Lover' and more recently, 'Kudumbasthan', Manikandan wrote, "Small successes require big hearts. I struggle to find the words to express the love I receive from people."

He then went on to say, "Celebrating 50 days of theatrical runs for a small movie is a huge success and a significant achievement. Thank you so much to every person who made this possible- not just once, not twice, but three times! The love we've received will stay with us always."

"With immense love and respect, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the producers of the films who believed in me and our vision. My heartfelt thanks go to the directors who trusted me, and to all the wonderful actors who worked hard to help make this film a success. I also want to thank all the technicians and crew members; every one of your contributions matters," Manikandan wrote.

He concluded the note, saying, "Thank you to everyone who has showered me with love and acceptance. I thank the press, media and Internet media for the huge support. And my sincere thanks to all the people who accepted me and my work."

The actor then went on to name each of the people he wished to thank from the three films in the note.

--IANS

Mkr/
Beirut, March 22 : Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Saturday condemned Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon that killed two people and wounded eight, accusing Israel of violating a ceasefire agreement and risking broader conflict, according to a statement from Lebanon's presidency.

Aoun called the strikes "a continued assault on Lebanon" and warned they represented attempts to "drag Lebanon into the cycle of violence once again." He urged Lebanese authorities, including the military and a five-member committee overseeing the US- and French-mediated 2024 truce between Israel and Hezbollah, to address the escalation with "the utmost seriousness" to prevent further repercussions.

The President directed Army Commander Rodolphe Haikal to protect civilians and investigate the strikes while appealing for restraint to safeguard Lebanon's "national interests".

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) voiced alarm over the violence.

"We strongly urge all parties to refrain from actions that could jeopardize the fragile stability," spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said, warning that further escalation could have "severe consequences', Xinhua news agency reported. UNIFIL said peacekeepers were maintaining patrols to de-escalate tensions.

Israel said it launched Saturday's strikes after rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanese territory, blaming Hezbollah. The Iran-backed group denied involvement.

The exchange occurred amid lingering friction over a US- and French-mediated ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which took effect on November 27, 2024, halting over a year of hostilities linked to the Gaza conflict.

The truce stipulated an Israeli withdrawal from disputed Lebanese territory, but Israeli forces continue to occupy five border posts past a February 18 deadline.
Ahmedabad, March 22 : Amid a thriving startup ecosystem, India aims to take the number of unicorns from the current 118 to 1,000 and even 5,000 in the future, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, said on Saturday.

India is currently home to nearly 1.59 lakh startups., according to the DPIIT data.

Speaking at the aVejalpur Startup Festival 2.0a here, the minister said that startups have helped India's economy grow with innovative ideas and new ways of functioning.

Gujarat has remained the best performing state in startups, he added.

aPM Narendra Modi, as the then chief minister of Gujarat, ensured fast paced development of the state. Gujarat's development then became the country's development. And slowly, several countries, especially developing countries, today want to adopt India's development model," the minister told the gathering.

aThere is hardly any leader in the world who has been conferred the highest civilian awards. PM Modi has been conferred 21 international awards," Goyal added.

He further stated that the government has given encouragement to startups, investors, founders and mentors to associate with startups.

The Centre started a Fund of Funds (FoF) for startups with a fund of Rs 10,000 crore. Another Rs 10,000 crore fund was announced in the last budget, and the first instalment has been provided to the department.

Also, Angel tax has also been removed and a portal 'Bhaskar' has been launched for startups to connect with investors, Goyal said.

Urging youth to create a model of people-centric development through their startup ideas, Goyal said, "Sometimes you have to face failures. Do not get scared of failure. The mantra of a startup is to rise from failure and become successful."
New Delhi, March 22 : Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu on Saturday called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah here and sought the release of the compensation for losses incurred in the state during the monsoon of 2023.

He said the state had claimed financial assistance under post-disaster needs assessment but the relief "is still awaited from the Central government".

Sukhu apprised the Home Minister that the state had suffered heavy losses due to rains, severely affecting drinking water, irrigation schemes, infrastructure, roads and bridges, and needing relief and rehabilitation measures. However, the state has so far managed from its own resources.

The Chief Minister also discussed various other issues pertaining to the state, an official statement said.

The Union Home Minister assured all possible assistance.

Additional Chief Secretary and Secretary, Revenue, Onkar Chand Sharma was also present on the occasion.

Earlier, Chief Minister Sukhu had said the state received Rs 633 crore from the Central government, which was just 6.40 per cent of the total estimated loss of Rs 9,905 crore. In a statement in the House last year, the Chief Minister had said 500 people had lost their lives due to massive devastation caused by heavy rain.

Asking the opposition BJP to accompany him to apprise the Prime Minister about the actual loss and to seek more Central assistance to carry out relief and rehabilitation work in disaster-hit areas, Sukhu had said an interim relief of Rs 200 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund was released on September 16 last year. "At least Rs 1,658 crore is supposed to be sanctioned to the state. But, the Government of India has sanctioned only Rs 633.73 crore as on December 19, which is insufficient to compensate for the widespread devastation. The sanctioned amount is only 6.40 per cent of the loss," he said in December last year.
BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China will soon offer nationwide access to its cross-regional marriage registration service, following a recent revision of the regulations governing marriage registration, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Saturday.

Under the new rules, couples will no longer need to register marriages in the location of their hukou, which is permanent household registration. Instead, they will be able to choose a registry office in the habitual residence of either party, removing a significant logistical barrier.

This reform is aimed at addressing the needs of people who live or work away from their registered hometowns, particularly younger generations. Previously, couples had to return to their hukou location for marriage registration, which created travel and financial difficulties.

According to the latest national census, about 493 million Chinese people lived away from their hukou location in 2020, an 88.52 percent increase from a decade earlier.

A pilot program for inter-provincial marriage registration began in June 2021 and was gradually expanded to 21 provincial-level regions, including Beijing, Shanghai and Inner Mongolia. By February 2025, approximately 492,000 couples had benefited from the program.

The reform was made possible through the digitalization of the marriage registration system. A national marriage information database has been established, enabling civil affairs agencies nationwide to share data seamlessly.

To streamline the process further, the Ministry of Civil Affairs plans to improve digital infrastructure for online appointments and inter-provincial data verification, ensuring a smoother experience for couples across the country. 
Indore, March 22 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted a raid under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Madhya Pradesh's key commercial city of Indore in connection with a financial irregularities case, an official said on Saturday.

The person targeted for searches was Dr. Rajesh Kothari, a retired senior health officer at a government hospital managed by Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC).

ED officials carried out a search for several hours and recovered several papers and documents related to disproportionate assets from Dr. Kothari's residence.

The raid was carried out amid tight security by the Madhya Pradesh police personnel.

The agency said in a statement on Saturday that it has attached immovable properties of worth around Rs 1.31 crore, adding that the raid was part of an investigation related to the disproportionate assets case against Dr. Kothari, who retired from service in 2017.

"ED, Indore has provisionally attached immovable properties of Rs 1.31 crore (approximately) under the provisions of the PMLA, 2002 in an investigation related to disproportionate assets case against Rajesh Kothari, the then Health Officer working under Indore Municipal Corporation," the ED said in statement.

According to information, ED's action came in connection with a case registered Dr. Kothari under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act during his service period in 2011.

Initially, a case was registered under charges of corruption by Madhya Pradesh's Lokayukta police when Dr. Kothari was in service period in 2011.

And then, Lokayukta had also carried a raid at his residence and some other premises in the city. Following that, the ED registered a case under PMLA and initiated a separate investigation in the matter.
New Delhi, March 22 : The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Delhi Zonal Office, arrested Harsatinder Pal Singh Hayer, the son-in-law of the late Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, in connection with the multi-crore Pearl Agro Corporation Limited (PACL) fraud case.

Hayer was detained under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. A Special Court (PMLA cases) has sent him to ED custody for further investigation.

The case dates back to an FIR filed by the CBI, BSFC, New Delhi, under Sections 120-B and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, against PACL India Limited, PGF Limited, and its directors, including Bhangoo. The accused were involved in operating fraudulent investment schemes, deceiving investors of around Rs 48,000 crore. These schemes promised high returns to investors, but in reality, the money was siphoned off by the companyas directors.

The ED's investigation revealed that Hayer served as a director in several associate companies of PACL, including two Australian entities a" Pearls Australasia Pty Ltd and Australasia Mirage I-Pty Ltd. The ED uncovered that these companies diverted Rs 657.18 crore of the proceeds of crime to Australia, where the funds were invested in various real estate properties.

Further scrutiny revealed that Hayer had been dissipating the PACLas assets in violation of a Supreme Court order issued on July 25, 2016, which instructed the disposal of properties to restitute the investors. In response, the ED attached two immovable properties in Australia, valued at Rs 462 crore, along with movable and immovable assets worth Rs 244 crore in India.

The ED has also shared these details with the Justice Lodha Committee, which has been appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee the process of property disposal and ensure that the money is returned to the defrauded investors. Moreover, two prosecution complaints have been filed against PACL, Bhangoo, and others involved in the fraud.
Mumbai, March 22 : Deepika Padukone revealed her French connection from school during her Paris visit for the Paris Fashion Week.

The diva uploaded an Instagram video from Paris where she was seen revealing that "I was very good in French." She added, "I did French in the 11th and 12th and I was really good."

We see Deepika flaunting her French prowess saying things like "Je m'appelle Deepika", and "Le monde est a nous". However, she does not stop there, she even tries to get the pronunciation right, "It's not la, it's le"

During her time in Paris, Deepika even tried her hands at some fun things like a scooter ride.

Towards the end of the clip, we get a glimpse of Deepika's behind-the-scene chaos from the Paris Fashion Week.

The 'Tamasha' actress was a sight to behold in a white oversized blazer, matching hat, and black leggings and heels. Deepika accessorised the look with black leather gloves, a scarf, and some classic red lipstick.

A few days back, she shared a couple of looks of herself on social media ahead of attending the Louis Vuitton Fashion Week.

The pictures featured her standing on a rooftop with the iconic Eiffel Tower in the backdrop. The post also included a close-up portrait of Deepika with a confident expression, showing her bold red lips, and well-defined makeup.

She penned a simple caption, "#LVFW25 @louisvuitton."

An utterly smitten Ranveer Singh commented on the post saying, "Lord have mercy on me."

On the professional front, Deepika was last seen doing a small cameo in Rohit Shetty's "Singham Again". She essayed the role of Shakti Shetty in the drama.

The project also saw Ajay Devgn, Ranveer, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Akshay Kumar, Jackky Shroff, and Arjun Kapoor in prominent roles.

Deepika embraced motherhood back in September 2024 after welcoming her daughter Dua with hubby Ranveer. Ever since then, fans have been looking forward to the announcement of her next project.
New Delhi, March 22 : In a significant move to return the Proceeds of Crime (POC) to rightful claimants, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has successfully restituted a property valued at approximately Rs 10 crore to the victims of money laundering in the case of M/s Priyanka Overseas Pvt Ltd & others.

The property was restituted following a series of legal proceedings and investigations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The investigation was initiated by the ED based on an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), New Delhi, in response to a complaint from the State Trading Corporation (STC). The complaint accused Raj Kumar Jain and several STC officers of conspiring to finance M/s Priyanka Overseas Ltd for the export of wheat and rice in violation of STC guidelines. This conspiracy led to a wrongful loss of Rs 52 crore to STC.

During the course of the investigation, the ED issued a Provisional Attachment Order for a property situated at House No. 71, Block-B, Pocket-10, Sector-13, Dwarka, New Delhi. The property was confirmed for attachment by the Adjudicating Authority on September 12, 2018. The ED's investigation revealed that the property had been mortgaged with the City Union Bank for a credit facility of Rs 9 crore obtained by Jain and others.

On December 18, 2024, the Delhi High Court directed the ED to return the attached property to City Union Bank, which had filed an application seeking restitution. Following this, the ED filed a no-objection statement before the Special Court for the release of the property to the legitimate claimants and victims of the money-laundering offence.

On March 10, 2025, the Special Court (PMLA) passed an order to restitute the attached immovable property to City Union Bank. This decision marks a major step in the ED's efforts to restore the Proceeds of Crime to the rightful claimants and victims, further strengthening its commitment to combating financial crimes and delivering justice.
Mumbai, March 22 : The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Mumbai Zonal Office, has filed a Prosecution Complaint (PC) against Sidharth Abhay Choksi and Abhay Sajanlal Choksi in connection with a case involving undisclosed foreign income and assets.

The Special Court (PMLA), Mumbai, took cognisance of the complaint on March 19, 2025, and issued process against the accused persons.

According to the press release issued by the agency, the investigation was initiated by ED following Prosecution Complaints filed by the Income Tax Department under The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.

The Department had filed the complaints against the Choksi duo before the Additional Metropolitan Magistrate, Mumbai.

The EDas investigation revealed that Sidharth Abhay Choksi and Abhay Sajanlal Choksi were the beneficial owners of an offshore entity named Blue Mist International Inc., registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), which held a bank account in Singapore.

The investigation further uncovered that Blue Mist International Inc., through a Sale & Purchase Agreement with HKCL Investments Pte Ltd., had purchased a property in Singapore.

The investigation found that the Choksi brothers held undisclosed foreign income and assets totalling approximately Rs 8.09 crore. These assets have been identified as Proceeds of Crime (POC) in this case.

Earlier, on January 1, 2025, the ED had issued a Provisional Attachment Order for assets worth Rs. 8.09 crore linked to the Choksi brothers in this case.

The ED's action is part of its ongoing efforts to combat black money, ensure financial transparency, and recover assets obtained through illegal means.

With the filing of the Prosecution Complaint and the court's action, the ED is further advancing its efforts to bring those involved in financial crimes to justice and to ensure the return of illicit assets to the public domain.
Bhopal, March 22 : With a view to making 'Jal Ganga Samvardhan Abhiyan' more appealing, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on Saturday.

Bhopal, March 22 (IANS) With a view to making aJal Ganga Samvardhan Abhiyana more appealing, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on Saturday.

He invited her to the launch of the 'Jal Ganga Samvardhan Abhiyan' on March 30 in Madhya Pradesh. This three-month campaign focused on water conservation and the sprucing up of existing water structures, as well as the construction of new ones, will conclude on June 30.

The initiative aims to foster greater public involvement in preserving water resources.

During their meeting, CM Yadav highlighted the significance of March 30, which coincides with the start of the Vikram Samvat New Year and the state's long-standing Vikram Utsav celebrations. He shared that the President showed interest in attending, depending on her schedule.

The Chief Minister also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the National Dairy Development Board agreement with the state government and extended an invitation for his visit to Madhya Pradesh in early April. Both meetings provided opportunities for CM Yadav to showcase the state's development efforts and seek support for ongoing initiatives.

In a social media post, CM Yadav reflected on his meeting with the President, praising her inspiring personality and the guidance she offered. He emphasised her ability to motivate others to commit wholeheartedly to public service and national welfare.

Last year, the campaign lasted from June 5 to June 16. The Jal Ganga Samvardhan Abhiyan (campaign) will focus on an array of activities designed to conserve water. These initiatives include reviving water sources and planting trees, while also driving public awareness about water conservation in every village.

Efforts will be made to promote rainwater harvesting, and drinking water stalls will be set up at key rural and urban intersections. Schools will play a pivotal role too, with special programmes aimed at educating children about water conservation during the summer.

Additionally, drinking water tanks in schools will be thoroughly cleaned to ensure the safety of the children.

Speaking about the campaign, Chief Minister Dr Yadav reaffirmed the state government's dedication to providing clean drinking water to villagers and ensuring water supply for farmers. He emphasised that water structures in forests and zoological areas would also be restored to support wildlife during the summer.

Dr Yadav highlighted how Prime Minister Narendra Modi's water conservation initiative has turned into a nationwide movement and shared that Madhya Pradesh is contributing by working on the principle of "farm water in the field, village water in the village."

As part of the effort, more than 50 rivers across the state will see projects aimed at watershed preservation and management. Measures such as constructing gabion structures, trenches, check dams, and ponds will be carried out, with active public involvement. Tree plantation drives will also be a crucial element. Organisations like Art of Living are expected to collaborate in these initiatives.
Mumbai, March 22 : Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday thanked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah for the Central government's decision to completely withdraw 20 per cent export duty on onions. The decision will be implemented from April 1 this year.

The Maharashtra Chief Minister in his post on X said: "A large quantity of onions are from Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon and this decision will provide great relief to onion growers in Maharashtra. I am extremely grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amitbhai Shah for taking this very important decision and providing great relief to the onion growers of Maharashtra."

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar hailed the Centre's decision, saying that it will provide relief to lakhs of onion farmers in the state.

"This decision of the Central government is very important for the farmers of the state. The withdrawal of the 20 per cent export duty levied on onion exports has paved the way for the farmers to get a fair price for their goods. To resolve this issue, I had directly communicated with the Union Minister for Cooperation Amit Shah and requested him to look into this matter.

"Considering the problems of the farmers of the state and the need to take urgent measures for them, he took the initiative and played an important role in taking this decision under the guidance of the country's popular Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

"For this, I sincerely thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and the entire Union Cabinet. The state government is committed to the welfare of the farmers in the state and decisions in the interest of the farmers will be taken in the future as well," he said.

Former minister and NCP legislator from Yeola assembly seat from the onion-rich Nashik district Chhagan Bhujbal also thanked the Centre for its decision.

Bhujbal said he had earlier this week demanded in the state Assembly that the 20 per cent export duty should be withdrawn immediately to avoid further hardship on the onion-growing farmers.

He added that he had demanded that the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and two DCMs, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, need to approach the Centre demanding immediate withdrawal of the export duty as the farmers are already facing financial problems due to rising gap between the cost of production and the selling price of onions.

Earlier, the Centre, in its release said: "To ensure domestic availability, the government had taken measures to check export by means of duty, minimum export price (MEP) and even to the extent of export prohibition for almost five months, from December 8, 2023 till May 3, 2024. The export duty of 20 per cent which now stands removed has been in place from September 13, 2024. Despite export restriction, the total onion export during FY 2023-24 was 17.17 LMT and FY 2024-25 (till March 18) was 11.65 LMT. Monthly onion export quantity had picked up from 0.72 LMT in September, 2024 to 1.85 LMT in January 2025."
Chennai, March 22 : Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Saturday said that the proposed delimitation exercise is a threat to the political representation of southern states and should be opposed strongly.

Addressing delegates at the inaugural Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting on delimitation in Chennai, called by his father and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Udhayanidhi Stalin warned that the move poses a serious threat to the rights and representation of states that have effectively implemented population control policies.

Calling the meeting "crucial", he said: "We are at a very critical juncture where our voices and rights are under real threat."

Terming the proposed delimitation exercise a "threat" imposed by the Centre, he elaborated on how it unfairly penalises states like Tamil Nadu that have successfully curbed population growth through proactive family planning initiatives.

"We introduced policies, raised awareness, and achieved the national goal of stabilising population growth. While some states continue to witness a surge in population, we acted responsibly. As a result, we reached the population replacement rate much earlier than others. But instead of being rewarded, we now face the risk of losing political representation."

Referring to Article 82 of the Constitution, he outlined the legal framework for delimitation.

"Parliamentary seats are supposed to be reallocated after each census. For instance, the number of Lok Sabha seats increased from 489 to 494 after the 1951 census and to 522 after the 1961 census. The last delimitation was based on the 1971 census, fixing the number of seats at 543."

Udhayanidhi Stalin highlighted that earlier amendments had frozen the delimitation process to protect the interests of population-stabilised states.

"To encourage responsible states, the 42nd Amendment in 1976 froze delimitation for 25 years, till 2000. This was extended by the 84th Amendment in 2002 until 2026," he said, adding that with the freeze set to expire soon and the 2021 census still pending due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is growing uncertainty.

"This delay seems strategic. If delimitation is carried out using post-2026 census data, the number of Lok Sabha seats will be drastically realigned. States with higher population growth will gain more seats, while states like ours will lose out," he said.

Udhayanidhi Stalin criticised the Central government for its lack of transparency.

"There has been no clear statement from either the Prime Minister or the Home Minister on whether the freeze will continue. Their contradictory remarks have only added to the confusion," he said.

Citing different statements from key leaders, he added: "In September 2023, Home Minister Amit Shah told Parliament that the number of Lok Sabha seats would increase after delimitation. Yet, during an election rally in Telangana, Prime Minister Modi warned that the southern states could lose around 100 seats. Meanwhile, in Coimbatore, Shah recently claimed that Tamil Nadu would not be affected by the delimitation."

"These conflicting statements leave us with crucial questions. Will the number of seats stay at 543 or be increased? If increased, to how many? And most importantly, how will they be distributed? Will it be based on the 1971 census or the proposed 2026 census?"

The Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister outlined two possible outcomes if the freeze is not extended and said that either redistribution of the existing 543 seats based on the 2026 census data or expansion of Lok Sabha to 848 seats, followed by redistribution.

"In either scenario, our political representation will decline significantly,"

Udhayanidhi Stalin also said that the states represented at the JAC currently hold 163 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, or nearly 30 per cent.

"If delimitation proceeds, our collective representation could drop to just 133 seats  about 24 per cent. For instance, Kerala may lose 8 of its 20 seats, which is a staggering 40 per cent reduction. Even if the number of seats increases, our overall share will still shrink to about 24.7 per cent from the current 30 per cent," he added.

The Deputy Chief Minister warned that such an outcome would unfairly benefit states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh - which have higher population growth rates - while diluting the voice of the South and other states that followed the population control roadmap.

"This imbalance will allow a few states to dominate national policy decisions on agriculture, industry, employment, and regional development, sidelining the genuine needs and aspirations of our people," he said.

"The formation of the Union government will be heavily influenced by just a few states, weakening the federal structure and marginalising southern states and other responsible regions."

Calling the move "unjust and politically motivated", Udhayanidhi Stalin asserted: "This is not merely a numbers game  it's a calculated attempt to reduce the influence of non-BJP ruled states."

He urged all the attending states to unite against what he called an unjust process. "We must collectively demand that the current proportionate representation of each state in the Lok Sabha be maintained, whether the total number of seats increases or not. This isn't just about the South or any one region. It's about protecting the future of democracy in India. Let us stand united, raise our voices, and fight for a fair and just delimitation process that upholds representation and ensures justice for generations to come," he added.
Mumbai, March 22 : BJP MP and former Union minister Narayan Rane on Saturday claimed that during the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had called him twice with a request not to mention former minister Aaditya Thackeray's name in connection with the Disha Salian death case.

He alleged that there was an attempt to suppress the Disha Salian death case when the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was in power in Maharashtra.

"Now that there is no pressure on Disha's father, he has approached the court for justice. The role of the police in this entire case is suspicious as he has also questioned why the police did not take action even though they had evidence," said Rane.

He further alleged that former mayor Kishori Pednekar had put pressure on Disha Salian's father and because of that he was forced not to say further in the case. Rane, who left Shiv Sena citing differences with Uddhav Thackeray, also alleged that the person who was responsible for suppressing this entire matter was the suspended police officer Sachin Vaze. He also demanded that the government should now file a fresh FIR and arrest the accused.

Saying that Disha's father has demanded action against the police officers who neglected their duty, Rane said that the Police Commissioner should hold the concerned officers accountable for the delay and suspend the guilty officers. "Disha Salian must get justice and the accused should be severely punished," he demanded.

Rane's statement comes days after the petition of Disha Salian's father was admitted by the court. In his petition, he claimed that his daughter was raped and murdered, demanding the CBI probe. He has also named former minister Aaditya Thackeray and former mayor Kishori Pednekar in the petition.

The MahaYuti targeted the Shiv Sena UBT demanding the arrest of Aaditya Thackeray and his interrogation in the case.

On the other hand, Aaditya Thackeray claimed that there has been a continuous attempt to defame him for the last five years. He claimed that it was intentionally raked up to divert the attention of the people from the main issues especially after RSS said Aurangzeb's grave is a non-issue.

Furthermore, Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray warned that those who are spreading lies in connection with the Disha Salian death case, it can also backfire on them. "Six-seven generations of our family are in front of the public. So there is no truth in these things. There is no truth in the Disha Salian case, there is no distant connection. I want to tell these people that if they spread lies, it will boomerang on them," he said.
Kolkata, March 22 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, before departing for London on Saturday evening, claimed that she will be monitoring the developments in the state for the next few days from the UK.

"I will not be in the state for the next four to five days. But I will be in constant touch with the administration here. We will ensure that no one faces any problems. I wish all in the state to stay in peace," the Chief Minister told media persons after reaching the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.

She and her team will have a stopover at Dubai late in the night and from there, they will fly again to London. The Chief Minister and her team are expected to reach London by Sunday afternoon as per the Indian time.

Addressing the media persons, Banerjee did not hide her apprehension at the prolonged journey including the stopover in Dubai. "This is the problem because there is no direct flight between Kolkata and London. That is why this trip will become extremely hectic, since commuting both ways will consume a sufficient amount of time. But it is all right. The programmes there will be as per schedule. Again I am requesting the people of the state to stay peacefully and safely," she said.

The Chief Minister will be having a packed schedule in London from Monday. On March 24, she is slated to attend a programme hosted by the Indian High Commission at London.

Thereafter on March 25, she is supposed to meet the local industrialists and businessmen at a business meeting there. On March 26, a "Government-to-Business (G2B)" level meeting is scheduled to take place. On March 27, the Chief Minister will be delivering a lecture at one of the colleges affiliated with Oxford University.

On March 28, she will depart from London on her way back to Kolkata.

Banerjee was also invited to the United Kingdom in 2021 to deliver a lecture at Oxford University. However, the Trinamool Congress alleged that the programme was cancelled due to the clandestine initiative by the Central government.

The Chief Minister visited the United Kingdom in 2015 too. There she was accompanied by several members of her cabinet, including the then state Finance Minister Amit Mitra, who is the Chief Economic Advisor to the Chief Minister now.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy Peng Qinghua (L), also vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, attends the inauguration of Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and meets with her in Windhoek, Namibia, March 21, 2025. (Photo by Musa Kaseke/Xinhua)

WINDHOEK, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy Peng Qinghua on Friday attended the inauguration of Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia.

Peng, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, also met with President Nandi-Ndaitwah to discuss bilateral relations.

During their meeting, Peng conveyed Xi's warm congratulations on and best wishes for Nandi-Ndaitwah's inauguration and the 35th anniversary of Namibia's independence, which coincided with the inauguration.

Peng highlighted the profound traditional friendship between China and Namibia, noting that this year also marks the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Peng said China is willing to take this opportunity to continue close high-level exchanges with Namibia, enhance political mutual trust, deepen practical cooperation and bolster international coordination, so as to carry forward the China-Namibia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership for the benefit of the two peoples.

Nandi-Ndaitwah thanked Xi for sending a special envoy to attend her inauguration and asked Peng to convey her cordial greetings to the Chinese president. She spoke highly of Namibia-China relations, thanked China for its long-standing support and assistance to Namibia, and expressed the hope for the deepening of the friendly cooperation between the two countries in various fields.

Dignitaries and representatives from nearly 30 countries and international and regional organizations attended the inauguration. 
New Delhi, March 22 : Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, is embarking on a three-day official visit to Singapore to take part in the 'Singapore Maritime Week', it was announced on Saturday.

New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, is embarking on a three-day official visit to Singapore to take part in the aSingapore Maritime Weeka, it was announced on Saturday.

The Union Ministeras visit is likely to further deepen the maritime cooperation between India and Singapore, as he is scheduled to meet his counterpart from Singapore at the bilateral meet on the sidelines of the Singapore Maritime Week.

Sonowal is scheduled to meet some of the top maritime leaders in order to deliberate on ways and means to unlock opportunities in the maritime industry, said the ministry.

During the Singapore Maritime Week, Sonowal will participate at a high-level dialogue on aNavigating Global Maritime Trends in 2025 and Beyond.a

The Union Minister will also meet senior ministers of Singapore government a" Lee Hsien Loong, Murali Pillai and Dr Amy Khor, among others.

Sonowal will also meet Brigit Gijsbers of the Netherlands during a bilateral meeting to further strengthen the bilateral maritime relationship between the two countries.

In order to bring in best practices of global maritime industry, the minister is also going to meet industry captains, and corporate leaders from maritime industry in Singapore as well as from other nations on the sidelines of Singapore Maritime Week.

He will also interact with the Indian diaspora as well as pay his respects when he visits the INA Memorial during his trip to Singapore. Sonowal will be accompanied to all official programmes by a team of senior officials.

Meanwhile, the India Maritime Week, a bi-annual global maritime gathering which will be one of the largest in the world, will be held here from October 27-31 to celebrate the countryas 'Maritime Virasat' and 'Maritime Vikasa, the government has announced.

As many as 100,000 delegates from 100 countries are expected to participate in the Maritime Week which will host the 4th edition of the Global Maritime India Summit (GMIS) and the 2nd edition of Sagarmanthan, among others.

a"IANS

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Mumbai, March 22 : NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule on Saturday claimed that during the 100 days of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led MahaYuti government, "only crime rate has increased". Sule targeted the MahaYuti government and the chief minister over the much discussed 100 day programme announced for all the departments by setting an ambitious targets for them.

"Although there has been rise in crime rate in Maharashtra, the government is silent and not talking about it. Riots happened in Nagpur and even after six days, curfew is still in effect in many parts of the orange city. What is going on in Maharashtra? If we look at the 100-day report card of this government... only crime has increased in the state, and apart from that, nothing else is written on its report card," claimed Sule at a press conference.

She further remarked that there has never been so much instability and so much crime in Maharashtra.

Referring to the incidents such as murder of Santosh Deshmukh in Beed district, death of Somnath Suryavanshi in Parbhani and Nagpur riots, Sule claimed that former journalist Prashant Koratkar -- wanted for insulting Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj -- has reportedly left India.

"Information is being received that this man has left the country as he went from Nagpur to Delhi and from Delhi to Dubai. I had said earlier that if the state government cannot find him, they should seek help from the center, now I am saying it again. What were the state police and home department doing until a man left the country from Nagpur to Delhi and from Delhi to outside?" she asked.

Koratkar is currently involved in legal battle for allegedly insulting the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and threatening a leading historian.

Pointing out the weak financial condition of Maharashtra, Sule said: "I have been saying for four month that the government should put aside issues like Aurangzeb and stop investment going out of the state and pay more attention to the problems of farmers."

Sule also sought to know whether the state government is planning to close down state education board schools by starting CBSE schools.

"I want to ask questions about it. What percentage of Marathi will be in the CBSE curriculum? Will the history of Maharashtra be in it? How much information about Maharashtra will be in it? Are you prepared for the CBSE board? Do you have teachers? Are you going to permanently close the State Board of Education?" she questioned.

Sule in a letter to the school education minister Dadaji Bhuse claimed that the implementation of CBSE pattern it will be fatal to the classical language Marathi, and the culture and tradition.

In a letter to the minister, Sule has urged the state government to reconsider the decision.

"Maharashtra has a very bright educational tradition. But it is a very regrettable matter that the government has decided to ignore it and follow other boards. It seems that the state government has planned to completely close the state's SSC board through this. I doubt whether this decision will erase the identity of our Maharashtra which has a rich tradition of education. This decision will be fatal to the classical language Marathi, culture and tradition. I humbly request the state government to please reconsider this decision," said Sule.
Bengaluru, March 22 : The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Saturday said that Hindus in Bangladesh are the responsibility of India, and "we cannot evade this duty".

Arun Kumar, the Joint General Secretary of the RSS, made the statement in Bengaluru while addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS).

In response to a question about whether persecuted Hindus should be accepted by India, Arun Kumar made a categorical statement: "The Hindu community in Bangladesh is our responsibility. We cannot escape from it. The Bharat that we proudly call our country has been shaped equally by Hindus from Bangladesh as much as by those from within India."

He further said: "Hindus in Bangladesh should live in peace and happiness. They should contribute to their country, but if, in the future, a difficult situation arises, we cannot backtrack. If that situation comes, we will address it."

He emphasised that India and Bangladesh share a common history and civilization.

"It is unfortunate that the Partition happened in 1947. We divided the land, not the population. Both countries had agreed to protect minorities. The Nehru-Liaquat Pact was also signed... it is unfortunate that Bangladesh has not honoured it.

"Our wish is that wherever they are, they live with dignity, security, and religious identity. We must make efforts towards achieving this," he stressed.

Expressing concern over the situation in Bangladesh, he stated: "This should not be viewed as a political issue. The regime has changed, but that alone is not the reason for the violence. There is a religious aspect to it. The primary and continuous targets are Hindus and other minorities. The persecution of Hindus and minorities is not new.

"This is an existential crisis for the Hindu community in Bangladesh. Recent violence has revealed that the Bangladeshi government and its institutions are involved in attacks against Hindus and minorities, which is a serious concern."

He further noted: "Those responsible for this violence are attempting to make it not only anti-Hindu but also anti-Bharat. Several leaders have made statements in this regard. We share a cultural and historical bond with our neighbouring countries spanning thousands of years. There is an attempt to create distrust and discord between Bharat and its neighbours."

He also claimed that "many international forces are behind this. We have discussed the role of Pakistan and the American deep state. A call has been made to stand in solidarity with the Hindu community in Bangladesh".

When asked whether the RSS is satisfied with the Central government's response to the situation in Bangladesh, he replied: "This is a continuous process; the issue has not been fully resolved. The government is doing its job, and we have urged it to take all possible actions. We are satisfied that the Union government has understood the seriousness of the issue, sent the Minister of External Affairs to various locations, engaged in one-on-one discussions, and utilised international platforms."

"We have mentioned this concern in our resolution. Efforts must continue until normalcy is fully restored," he added.

When asked whether India should intervene to reinstate former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Arun Kumar stated: "The people of Bangladesh will decide on reinstating Sheikh Hasina. They have their own constitution and system. I don't think it is necessary for any other nation to interfere in that matter."
Bengaluru, March 22 : The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), on Saturday, clarified that there is no difference of opinion with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regarding the selection of the party's President.

The RSS asserted that the decision is solely up to the party.

However, it also noted that the election for the BJP President will be held soon, putting an end to speculation surrounding the matter.

Addressing a press conference during the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha held in Bengaluru on Saturday, RSS Joint General Secretary Arun Kumar responded to a question about the pending election of the BJP President.

He said, "The members of the Sangh work in 32 affiliated organisations. Each organisation is independent and has its own decision-making process. They have their own membership structure and established procedures."

He also clarified, "There will be no coordination committee meeting for the election of the BJP President. There is no difference between the BJP and RSS. We work together for society and the country. Even today, we continue to work with the same trust and understanding. The party's procedure is underway, memberships have been completed, and committees have been formed at different levels. In the coming days, the election for the BJP President will take place."

"The process will unfold within the party's framework. Just wait for a few days, and everything will become clear," he emphasised.

The current BJP President, J.P. Nadda, who also serves as the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, and Chemicals, and Fertilisers, is continuing in the role on an extension.

Rumours suggest that the BJP and RSS have not been able to agree on a suitable candidate, leading to speculation about friction between the two organisations.

Speaking on national integrity, RSS leader Arun Kumar said, "Our national life has a unique identity, and everyone should safeguard it. There are many languages in this country, but the emotions remain the same. The essence of all languages is one. Great personalities have never confined themselves to their own states; they embody a sense of belonging to the entire nation."

"There are many religions, diverse cuisines, and different cultures, yet the values remain the same. Our culture is one. Our belief is in 'One people, One nation'. Historically, while there were different states within the country, people have always moved freely, settling wherever they wished. This is our uniqueness. There should be no discord over language or culture," he added.

He also remarked, "We must overcome the shortcomings left by British rule. Ultimately, as the Preamble of the Constitution states, 'We, the people of Bharat'. The term 'We' is the defining element. Differences in religion, language, and other aspects end there."

"Our identity is one. The Sangh believes that 'we, the people of Bharat' must move forward to address societal issues. We have accepted this, and while no system is perfect, we have created a structure with states and a nation. The core idea should always be to think about the country," he said.

"We aim to build a society that nurtures patriotism, unity, selflessness, discipline, and a 'nation first' mindset. If society is strong and organised, challenges will be addressed effectively. The quality of people determines the destiny of the country. A nation does not become great because of a few great individuals; rather, great citizens make a nation great. This is our work. The society we envision is reflected in the way we shape the Sangh," RSS leader Arun Kumar added.

"The individuals we aspire to see in society are the same we nurture in the Sangh. We do not see ourselves as separate. The spirit of patriotism is rising throughout the country, and so is the willingness to work together. We believe that the country is witnessing qualitative change, though more progress is still needed," he observed.

"As this sentiment grows, transformation will follow. This process will accelerate during the centenary celebrations," he said.

"The strength of society is paramount. When we say that the RSS is expanding across the nation, it does not merely refer to numerical growth. It signifies the awakening of society's strength," he added.

"The strengthening of the Sangh means strengthening society. If society's strength increases, it will be better equipped to address challenges, questions, and internal issues," RSS leader Arun Kumar noted.

aOur organisation's uniqueness lies in our continuous focus on expansion and consolidation. The ultimate goal of the RSS is to transform society. The Sangh is not just an organisation; it is a vast people's movement for social change. We continuously initiate efforts, and those initiatives are consistently evaluated," he concluded.
Jaipur, March 22 : Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday strongly criticised the recent statement made by Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Ramji Lal Suman regarding Rana Sanga.

He dismissed the comparison between Babur and Rana Sanga, stating that such discussions have no merit.

Speaking informally to the media on Saturday, Shekhawat asserted that historians, even a thousand years from now, will never be able to equate Babur with Rana Sanga. He emphasised that Rana Sanga played a crucial role in igniting the spirit of freedom and resisting foreign domination.

"He not only prevented India from falling into slavery but also made an immense contribution to preserving the nation's cultural heritage," Shekhawat stated.

The minister further criticised the remarks, stating: "People with petty intellect and small hearts engage in such discussions. There is no room for such debates.

"Those who review the history of India, not today, but for the next 1,000 years, whenever they review, will never be able to compare Babar and Rana Sanga and put them on the same scale. Rana Sanga had awakened the spirit of freedom. He not only saved India from being enslaved, but also made a huge contribution in keeping the culture of India eternal. Some people with petty intellect and small hearts have such discussions. There is no scope for such discussions," he added.

Samajwadi Party MP Ramji Lal Suman has stirred controversy after referring to 16th-century Rajput king Rana Sanga as a "traitor" during a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the functioning of the Home Ministry.

He argued that Rana Sanga played a key role in bringing Mughal emperor Babur to India. Suman's remarks have drawn sharp criticism from BJP leaders, who have condemned his statement.

Addressing the BJP's stance on the historical lineage of Indian Muslims, he said: "It is often repeated by BJP leaders that Muslims have the DNA of Babur. But Indian Muslims do not consider Babur as their leader. In fact, who brought Babur to India? It was Rana Sanga who invited him to defeat Ibrahim Lodi. By that logic, if you claim Muslims are the descendants of Babur, then you are also the descendants of Rana Sanga -- a traitor. We criticise Babar, but not Rana Sanga."

The statement has ignited a political debate, with BJP leaders demanding an apology, arguing that Rana Sanga was a revered warrior who fought against foreign rule.
Kolkata, March 22 : A scheduled tour of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to West Bengal to take stock of the organisational setup of BJP in the state has been postponed for some time, according to the party's state president and Union Minister of State Sukanta Majumdar.

Kolkata, March 22 (IANS) A scheduled tour of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to West Bengal to take stock of the organisational setup of BJP in the state has been postponed for some time, according to the partyas state president and Union Minister of State Sukanta Majumdar.

As per the initial schedule, the Union minister was supposed to reach Kolkata on March 29 night for a single-day tour. He was supposed to attend a number of organisational meetings of the party on March 30.

However, according to Majumdar, the scheduled tour has been postponed because of the Eid festival. aBut surely, he will be making a tour of the state very soon. The changed schedule will be announced soon, Majumdar said.

He also said that amid the crucial West Bengal Assembly elections scheduled next year not only the Union Home Minister but other central leaders of BJP will start making frequent tours to the state in the days to come.

This is not the first time in the recent past that the Union Home Ministeras tour to West Bengal has been postponed.

Earlier in January this year, HM Shah was scheduled to attend a public rally in the East Midnapore district of West Bengal as well as attend other organisational meetings in the state. But that tour was also called off because of other preoccupations of the Union Home Minister.

The scheduled tour of the Union Home Minister later this month was also important considering that the state unit of the party is slated to have its new state president shortly. Majumdar, being already a Union Minister of State, would not be able to continue occupying the chair of the partyas state president for long since BJP follows the aone person, one posta policy.

Last week, the state unit of BJP in West Bengal announced the list of 25 organisational district presidents in the state, out of whom 15 were new faces.

The total number of organisational districts of BJP in West Bengal stands at 43, covering the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies and 294 Assembly constituencies in the entire state.

Once the final and total list of organisational district presidents is announced, it will follow the crucial announcement of the new state president of the party in West Bengal.
Mumbai, March 23 : Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate on Saturday welcomed the Centre's decision to withdraw 20 per cent export duty on onions from April 1.

Shinde expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal for this decision.

"The government had repeatedly requested the Prime Minister and the Union Minister for Cooperation to reduce the export duty on onions. Due to the withdrawal of export duty, onion producers will now be able to get a good price," he remarked.

Manikrao Kokate said the Centre's decision will benefit millions of onion farmers across the state.

Welcoming this decision, Kokate stated that the consistent follow-up and official correspondence with the central government under the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar have led to this successful outcome.

"This decision by the Central government is extremely crucial for the farmers in the state. With the removal of the 20 per cent export duty on onions, farmers will now receive fair prices for their produce," he said.

He further explained that in order to ensure domestic availability, the government had previously imposed restrictions on onion exports from December 8, 2023, to May 3, 2024. These restrictions included export duties, a Minimum Export Price (MEP), and a complete export ban at times.

The 20 per cent export duty, which was in effect since September 13, 2024, has now been revoked.

Despite the export restrictions, a total of 17.17 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of onions were exported in the 2023-24 financial year, and 11.65 LMT had been exported in the 2024-25 financial year (as of March 18).

Monthly onion exports increased from 0.72 LMT in September 2024 to 1.85 LMT in January 2025. This decision aims to ensure that farmers receive good prices for their produce while also keeping onions affordable for consumers, he added.
Mumbai, March 23 : Former Maharashtra Minister and Shiv Sena-UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray, on Saturday, made a fresh demand with the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to immediately hold an inquiry into irregularities in the concretisation of roads being carried out by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation through the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police against the concerned contractors, civic officials and those who are connected with this work.

Aaditya Thackeray in his post on X said, "For the past two years, road concretisation works have been going on in Mumbai, roads are closed, and dust is everywhere. But what is even more terrible is that this grand scam is going on to empty the coffers of Mumbaikars in the name of concrete construction. I have been raising my voice against this continuously. Today, once again, I wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, demanding an immediate investigation into this scam and expressing the hope that strict action will be taken against those found guilty. We will not let the hard-earned money of Mumbaikars go to waste like this, we will not stop the ongoing destruction of Mumbai!"

The Shiv Sena-UBT leader's demand comes a day after members of the ruling BJP and opposition parties in the Assembly on Friday cornered the Deputy Chief Minister and the State Urban Development Minister, Eknath Shinde, on the issue of concretisation of Mumbai roads.

They slammed the state government over alleged irregularities in the work of concretisation of Mumbai's roads.

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar ordered a meeting of Mumbai legislators on the allegations of irregularities in the tenders for concretisation of roads in Mumbai, issued by the previous government led by the then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Eknath Shinde handled the Urban Development department portfolio in the previous MahaYuti government as well.

"A meeting will be held with the Urban Development Minister in this regard in my office on Monday at 3 p.m. An inquiry in the similar matter was conducted earlier through the EOW. Considering the current serious information, should the EOW conduct another investigation? They should think about this and come to the meeting," Speaker Narwekar said.

Narwekar directed the state government to hold a meeting at his chamber on Monday noon and asked Deputy CM Ekanth Shinde to be present, calling all party legislators.

The Speaker also asked the state government to come prepared with a response on whether a probe by the EOW should be ordered in these tenders.

BJP legislator Atul Bhatkhalkar raised the issue of incomplete and poor quality works in concretisation of roads, pointing out that merely a fine was slapped and officials are only given a notice.

Another BJP legislator Ameet Satam argued that roads less than 15 metres wide be completed with mastic asphalt.

He said that despite spending Rs 21,000 crore on roads in Mumbai from 1997 to 2022, it has turned out to be a wasteful expenditure.

"As a solution, the then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the current Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis introduced the concept of cement concrete roads, which is a welcome move. However, due to the ongoing digging of roads, many senior citizens are staying at home and unable to go for walks. The entire city has been dug up, and the work on cement concrete roads, which started in October 2023, is still ongoing after a year-and-a-half," said Satam, adding that roads wider than 15 metres can be made of cement concrete, but roads smaller than 15 metres are better suited for mastic asphalt.

Speaker Narwekar intervened, saying that tender was floated in his own constituency two years ago but the contractor did not perform the work, so the tender was re-tendered six months ago and the work has yet not begun.

Congress legislator Amit Deshmukh sought to know the names of road contractors who have been awarded works worth Rs 6,632 crore while Shiv Sena-UBT legislator Aaditya Thackeray questioned whether the contractors were provided advance mobility charge.

Maharashtra Minister and Shiv Sena leader, Uday Samant, said that issues raised by the legislators will be probed and in the first phase, 191 roads were under construction.
The explosion of generative artificial intelligence technologies, including such large language models as ChatGPT, caught many in the book business off guard when it began in earnest in late 2023. Once it became clear that those models had been trained on vast amounts of copyrighted material without permission or compensation, publishing found itself thrown without warning into the ring with Big Tech.

As the industry continues to grapple with the implications of AI, its leaders are advocating for a balanced approach to incorporating the tech in a way that protects copyright while still allowing for innovation. That showdown has now reached the presidential level: last week, industry organizations including the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) delivered responses to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policys request for public comment regarding the development of the administrations Artificial Intelligence Action Plan.

In its submission, the AAP emphasized the critical role of copyright protections in maintaining American leadership in AI markets. It noted that American publishers generate nearly $30 billion annually in the U.S. alone and are part of a broader coalition of industries built on intellectual property that add more than $2.09 trillion in annual value to gross domestic product. For its part, OpenAI and others lobbied the Trump administration to essentially deregulate the industry by eliminating all guardrailsincluding, potentially, any responsibility to respect copyright.

Meanwhile, publishing houses, industry trade groups, and authors have taken the issue of copyright violations to court, hoping that the rule of law will prevail. At present, there are more than three dozen copyright lawsuits pending. One such case, against OpenAI, was filed by the Authors Guild almost immediately after ChatGPT was launched in 2023, and the guild has been supporting authors in a larger class action lawsuit against Meta for that companys unlicensed use of what is reportedly more than 7.5 million books to train its LLM, Llama 3. Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger expressed confidence in the outcome of the ongoing legal battles.

I think well win, and the decisions will be so decisive that its going to send very strong messages that AI companies better go license, Rasenberger said. She compared one standard defense employed by many tech companies accused of scraping copyrighted material without permissionthat they originally intended to license content but couldnt figure out who to talk to or how to do itas akin to a shoplifter walking into a store and saying, Well, I dont know whose stuff this is, so Im just gonna take it. 

In February, the creative industries scored an early legal win when a federal judge in Delaware ruled in favor of Thompson Reuters, which sued Ross Intelligence for using Westlaws copyrighted material to train its AI legal research platform. The courts flat rejection of Rosss fair use defense, AAP president and CEO Maria Pallante told PW, suggested a helpful precedent against potential markets being harmed.

Still, Pallante noted, while favorable to publishers, the ruling doesnt fully address generative AI issues, since it was more of a direct copy case than one involving sophisticated AI training. She added: Some of the most important legal questions are based on questions of infringement versus fair use. But there wont be one decision that decides the future for all timethats not how courts work. Some decisions will be targeted.

Copy, rights

When it comes to the current political landscape, Pallante expressed cautious optimism. During a panel on AI and copyright at the London Book Fair earlier this month, she noted that the first Trump administration was generally pretty good on IP, and the U.S. Congress, which is predominantly Republican right now, has generally been pretty good on IP, historically.

That said, the barons of Big Tech have all demonstrated a newfound allegiance to President Donald Trump, raising concerns in the industry that the administration might favor a deregulatory stance. But there are limits to executive power, Rasenberger said, even if Trump is intent on testing them.

Copyright is in the Constitutionits a power given to Congress, she said. Theres a lot of case law that emphasizes that. If theres a change in copyright law, its got to go through Congress.

Industry leaders who spoke with PW about the topic this past month emphasized that they arent opposed to AI development. They simply want clarity, compensation, and control over what comes next.

We believe that protecting intellectual property and nurturing technology are symbiotic, and that the U.S. government has an opportunity to model leadership by upholding long-standing copyright principles, Pallante said. We think thats the most ethical and sustainable framework.

Rasenberger agreed. Were not suing to get rid of AI. Were suing for control and compensation, she said. Theyre going to use books one way or another. Lets get them licensed.

The defensive crouch taken by many in the industry where AI is concerned is only natural: what comes next has the potential to impact the entire publishing ecosystem, especially where rights are concerned. I believe that unless the rights have been particularly granted to an entity, then they belong to the author or the creator, said Regina Brooks, president of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA)a belief Big Tech clearly does not share.

Brooks praised some publishers for their efforts to loop their authors into the decision-making, pointing to the partnership HarperCollins inked with Microsoft last year to train an AI model on select nonfiction backlist titles that requires authors to opt in. The value of the content and the fact that anyone will be interested in licensing it comes from the creativity of the ideas and the work of the authors, she said.

The AAP and aligned organizations are advocating that publishers update their copyright notices to specifically exclude AI model training by default. Penguin Random House was ahead of the curve on this, Pallante said. They had a very strong notice on the physical and digital versions of their books.

Peter Berkery, executive director of the AUPresses, noted that many of his organizations 160 member presses worldwide see AI as an opportunity for efficiency, even as they remain cautious about copyright concerns. We have to seek a balanced approach, he said. Another concern Berkery noted was the penchant for inaccuracy shown by nearly all AI models to date, and he stressed that it was vital that any tool employed by university presses is able to deliver accurate citations.

The bookselling community also has a stake in what comes next. We need to know what it is that we are selling, exactly, said Allison Hill, CEO of the American Booksellers Association. Its inevitable that AI is going to be part of the publishers workflows, but we dont want to be selling books created by AI. Its not what our customers want from us. We need transparency. If there is AI-generated content in books, we need to know so we can decide how to handle it.

Seeking solutions

To that end, several licensing platforms are now emerging that aim to facilitate the legal use of copyrighted materials for AI training and convey to readers when a book is written by humans and not AI-generated. The most prominent of these, Created by Humans, has already inked a partnership with the Authors Guild. It was the first out there, Rasenberger said, and they were very willing to talk to us and hear our perspectives.

Other potential solutions offered come from the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), which has extended its business to AI licensing, and Calliope Networks, a new aggregator of content licensing to gen-AI companies for model training that initially focused on audiovisual and music rights before expanding into text. Roy Kaufman, managing director for business development and government relations at the CCC, offered publishers some simple, straightforward advice while speaking on a panel about AI licensing at the London Book Fair: Do what you can to protect yourself and get paid.

Larger publishers are increasingly making direct deals with tech companies in lieu of working through intermediaries. But they too, Pallante said, need to be wary of overreaching on copyright grounds: They can go through their catalogs and figure out what they can license and what they cant, and then they decide how theyre going to split it with authors.

The intersection of AI and copyright is a worldwide concern, and with the global economy making it more likely for rights to many IPs to overlap, the ways in which other nations address the issue impacts the U.S. When it comes to English-language rights, the U.K. government has proposed an opt-out system for AI training, which allows tech companies to presume permission to train their models on extant material until they are informed otherwise.

Creative industries in the U.K., led in particular by Dan Conway, CEO of the U.K. Publishers Association, are pushing back strongly against this proposal. And the global publishing business continues to coordinate internationally on the issue; the AAP, for instance, has filed comments on the U.K. negotiations, and is working with the International Publishers Association on establishing a framework that can be enforced across the globe.

Opt-out is clearly a violation of international lawthe treaties that were part of, and that most of the world are part ofthe Berne Convention, the TRIPS Agreement, and others, Pallante said. They dont allow formalities, and having somebody have to actively opt out of a use that somebody made without permission is clearly an obstacle to the exercise and enjoyment of your copyright.

Despite legitimate concerns over AI-generated content flooding the market, industry leaders see human connection as publishings most enduring value. Readers hate AI-generated anything. They get mad when they see an AI-generated cover, Rasenberger said. Human readers want that human connection to an author. It makes you see the world differently.

Brooks observed that AIs tendency to homogenize highlights the value of authentic voices. Its going to be much more difficult for AI to appropriate content from diverse authors, she said, suggesting that such books are less formulaic and have distinct points of view.

The next two years will likely bring crucial court decisions that will shape how AI and publishing interact for decades to comeand determine if tech companies will offer any remuneration for the IP they have already plundered. The stakes, industry leaders stressed, cannot be overstated: no company, Big Tech or otherwise, should get free access to the creative work that represents decades of investment in human creativity.

Or, as Rasenberger put it: You shouldnt have stolen our books. And now youre going to have to pay.
BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG, in Beijing on Saturday, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Commerce.

During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on topics including the German carmaker's cooperation with China and the European Union (EU)'s anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles (EVs).

Wang pointed out that the unilateral and protectionist actions of certain countries have brought significant uncertainty to the global economy. He emphasized that China hopes to work with the European side to become a pillar of the multilateral trading system, injecting certainty and stability into the world.

The Chinese market remains committed to opening-up, and China's policies are consistent, Wang said, noting that the Chinese government will advance high-level opening-up and optimize the business environment.

Wang said that properly resolving the EU's anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese EVs is of significant importance, as it will send a clear and positive signal to the world.

China is committed to resolving differences through dialogue, he said, expressing hope that the German carmaker would continue to play an active role in promoting the European side to demonstrate political will and work with China to find mutually acceptable solutions at an early date.

Zipse emphasized that Europe's green transformation cannot be achieved without cooperation with China. The company remains optimistic about China's economic prospects and is confident in its development in the market, he said.

The company is committed to expanding its investment in China and accelerating the localization of production as well as research and development, Zipse added.

He also noted that there are only losers and no winners in a tariff war. The company firmly opposes the EU imposing additional tariffs on Chinese EVs and hopes that both the EU and China can properly resolve their differences, he said. 
David Ebershoff at Hogarth acquired North American rights at auction to Waiting on a Friend by Center for Fiction Susan Kamil fellow Natalie Adler (pictured l.) from Julie Barer at the Book Group. The publisher called the novel a dazzling, bighearted debut, set in 1984 New York, about a young queer woman who sees ghostssomething shes doing more and more lately as too many of her friends are dying of AIDSand her search for the one ghost who refuses to return. Publication is set for spring 2026.

Andy Ward at Random House bought North American rights to Three Tenses by Ed Park from PJ Mark at Janklow & Nesbit. The publisher called it a memoir of elegant fragments, sly observations, and anecdotes both real and imagined, forming a singular picture of creativity in action. Release is set for next year.

Lyssa Keusch at Grand Central purchased North American rights at auction to Eli Raphaels debut novel, Bright Work, from Danya Kukafka at Trellis. The book, the publisher said, is about an aspiring teenage astronomer mourning the loss of her mother who is pulled into a secret society at an elite boarding school in the Pacific Northwest, where the academic year ends in a murder investigation. Publication is set for May 2026.

Sara Goodman at Wednesday secured North American rights, in a two-book deal, to Allison Safts Immortal Game from Jessica Mileo and Claire Friedman at InkWell, for a summer 2026 release. In the sapphic retelling of Irish mythology, per the publisher, a 19-year-old chess grandmaster enters the faerie world to bring her sister back by winning a once-in-a-century tournamentnot expecting to fall for the Fae princess competing alongside her.

Vicki Lame at Saturday signed North American rights, in an exclusive, to Kirsten Ciccarellis romantasy duology starter A Cursed Arrangement from Danielle Burby at Mad Woman Literary. The publisher said the novel is about a sunseeker who must marry the enemy of her peoplea nightbreaker princeto recover her magic and carry on her powerful legacy. HarperVoyage acquired U.K. rights from Anna Carmichael at Abner Stein and Ravensburger bought German rights. Release is set for winter 2028.

Callie Garnett at Bloomsbury took North American rights to Hallie Elizabeth Newtons debut novel, Asking for It, from Susan Golomb at Writers House, for a 2026 release. The book, the publisher said, follows an unhinged, fame-adjacent, shopaholic socialite as she traverses New York City one day in 2014 looking for someone to kill her.

In Brief
Presentations from household-name authors and professional panels for light-bulb moments are on the schedule in Dallas. As the largest state library association in the U.S., TLA provides programming for public, academic, and school libraries, as well as for nontraditional organizations. At this years Library Renaissance: Our Quest for Renewalthemed event, held TuesdayFriday, April 14, in Dallass Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, TLA promises a dawn-to-dusk lineup of keynote speakers, annual awards, and essential information.

General Sessions

TLAs three general sessions bring keynote authors to the Omnis Dallas Ballroom. In the opening general session, attendees will hear from Taylor Jenkins Reid (Wednesday, 8:159:45 a.m.), author of Daisy Jones and the Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Reids forthcoming novel, Atmosphere (Ballantine, June), follows a woman in NASA who joins the 1980s space

shuttle program.

Newbery Medalist and National Book Award winner Louis Sachar (Thursday, 3:304:30 p.m.), known for Holes and the Wayside School series, keynotes the second general session. Sachar is looking ahead to his first novel for adult readers, a fairy tale titled The Magician of Tiger Castle (Ace, Aug.).

American Ballet Theater principal dancer Misty Copeland appears in TLAs final general session (Friday, 11 a.m.noon).

The first Black woman promoted to principal in ABTs history, Copeland is the author of a memoir, Life in Motion; the picture books Firebird and Bunheads; and the forthcoming Bunheads, Act 2, illustrated by Setor Fiadzigbey (Penguin/Paulsen, Sept.).

Featured Events

At this years Black Caucus Round Table Author Session (Wednesday, 10 a.m.12:15 p.m., ballroom C4), Ibram X. Kendi (Malcolm Lives!, FSG, May) will deliver a keynote talk. Kwame Alexander, Newbery-winning author of The Crossover and coauthor of J vs. K (Little, Brown, May), will receive the TLAs annual Ashley Bryan Award, which honors a Black author for their body of work.

Other notable speakers and events at TLA 2025 include an evening with the authors dinner (Tuesday, 68 p.m., ballroom D3D4) featuring Libba Bray, Julie Murphy, John Scalzi, and David Shannon on a panel moderated by James Wade. The opening awards and author session (Wednesday, 12:151:45, ballroom C2) spotlights Bryan Burrough, Neal Shusterman, and Adriana Trigiani. Texas Tea with the Authors (Wednesday, 10 a.m.noon, ballroom D3D4) features a grand total of 55 YA authors, who will table-hop to tell attendees about their new books.

At the Texas Bluebonnet Award author session (Thursday, 11:45 a.m.1:30 p.m., ballroom D1D2), TLA will honor Glenda Armand and Kim Freeman, coauthors of Ice Cream Man: How Augustus Jackson Made a Sweet Treat Better, illustrated by Keith Mallett. The Bluebonnet is a childrens choice award, and in 20242025, more than 36,000 Texas children in the third through sixth grades read five or more nominees and cast their votes for the winner.

Professional Program Picks

Artificial Intelligence in Libraries: Reinventing Educational Experiences

(Tuesday, 910 a.m., room D222)

How can information literacy instruction merge the human element of scholarship with the advent of new technology? Dawndrea Casey, Michelle Shea, and Kelly Williams of Texas A&M UniversityCentral Texas will discuss productive ways to incorporate AI into assignments and research. Related sessions include Integrating AI into Academic Library Operations (Wednesday, 1:302:30 p.m., room D222) and Unlocking AI: A Librarian-Led Training for Educators (Thursday, 12:301:30 p.m., room C132).

Nuestra Mision: Bringing Monolingual and Bilingual School Librarians Together

(Wednesday, 1011 a.m., room C151152)

Carol Slavin of the Leander Independent School District and Crystal Doucette of the University of TexasAustin will share programming ideas for bilingual communities, plus Spanish and bilingual book recommendations.

Welcome Neurodiverse Users with Adapted Programming and Outreach

(Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.12:30 p.m., rooms D225226)

Emery Courtney, Laura Jewell, Brin Kieffer, and Jessica Rico of the Plano Public Library will discuss how to make public libraries accessible for users with diverse sensory needs and abilities.

De-escalation: Communicate Safely During Challenging Interactions

(Wednesday, 34 p.m., room C155)

Librarians may be called upon to interact with patrons who are agitated or experiencing emotional crises. Peace officer Charles Heasley, president of Blue Lion Leadership, will offer an overview of de-escalation techniques. For a related session, see Making Public Libraries Safer Through Compassionate De-escalation (Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.12:30 p.m., room D168).

Bridging College and High School Libraries: College Readiness Collaboration

(Thursday, 89 a.m., room D224)

Kristi Hill and Anna Hithersay of Tarrant County College will talk about linking academic libraries with college and career readiness programs to support students at rural, suburban, and urban high schools.

Retaining Quality Staff in the Library

(Friday, 89 a.m., ballroom C4)

Low morale, quiet quitting, and burnout in libraries are a major

concern in the postpandemic workplace. Coby Condrey and Yvonne Dooley of the University of North Texas will share research on current trends and suggest ways to improve morale and engagement. For a related session, see Getting to the Stay: Retaining Academic Library Faculty and Staff (Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.12:30 p.m., D223).

Around the Exhibit Hall

TLAs exhibit hall opens on Tuesday (25 p.m.) and remains open on Wednesday (10 a.m.5 p.m.), and Thursday (9 a.m.3 p.m.). The annual conference brings in more than 220 exhibitors, and 200-plus authors will be on site to sign their latest books.

Between networking opportunities, attendees can power up devices at the H-E-B Read 3 Recharge Lounge (exhibit hall D), meet cute cats at the Orangeboy Kitten Lounge (booth 2610), or decompress at the Quest for Renewal Lounge (booth 2425). Library Interiors of Texas will furnish the Lawn, a seating space near the registration area.
U.S.-South Africa relations sank to a new low last week after the South African ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, accused the Trump administration of supremacy on four occasions during an online lecture on U.S. foreign policy to a South African think-tank with close ties to that countrys African National Congress (ANC) party.

Mr. Rasool stated that the Trump administration was mobilizing a supremacy to drive a supremacist assault around instictivist, nativist, racist things that are visible in the domestic politics of the USA, the MAGA movement, the Make America Great Again Movement, as a response not only to a supremacist instinct, but to very clear data that shows great demographic shifts in the USA in which the voting electorate is set to become 48% white. Mr. Rasool further accused Elon Musk and Vice President Vance of exporting this assault to Europe and the UK via a dog whistle that is being heard in a global white base. Mr Rasool further said that South Africa would lead a global push-back against the United States.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch accused the ambassador of disgraceful anti-American hate speech whilst Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote that the ambassador was a race baiting-politician who hates America and that he is no longer welcome in our great country and is considered persona non grata.

Pretoria responded via a short statement that they would engage with the U.S. through diplomatic channels.

Mr Rasools statements are the high-water mark of a foreign policy that Pretoria has pursued against the United States for several years. In 2018 Nikki Haley, then Ambassador to the United Nations, published a report showing that the 10 countries with the lowest voting coincidence with the United States were, in ascending order: Zimbabwe, Burundi, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Bolivia, and South Africa. In 2020 numerous ANC members and affiliates chanted one bullet one American in a protest outside the American embassy in Pretoria. The former American ambassador to Washington accused South Africa of having in December of 2022 supplied arms to Russia.

South Africa in 2023 played the leading role in having Iran admitted to the BRICS grouping. Following the October 7th 2023 attack on Israel, South Africa dispatched its foreign minister to Teheran for a gladhanding visit, following which South Africa announced its intention to pursue its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. In January of this year, after President Trump had signed an executive order warning that South Africa threatened U.S. national security by re-invigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements a Cabinet minister from the ANC party responded by suggesting that South Africa deepen its nuclear ties to Iran. Earlier this month the ANC hosted Irans ambassador to South Africa for a smiling photo opportunity. Mr Rasool was himself dispatched for his second stint as South African ambassador to Washington despite his strong anti-American and anti-Israel activism and having boasted of the keffiyeh given to him by former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

A mistake made by many Western diplomats is to think that South Africas foreign policy is driven by historical loyalty to countries that supported its anti-apartheid struggle. The pattern is instead of anti-Western ideology that when matched with money has seen South Africa lease its foreign policy infrastructure to bolster the global objectives of ANC donors. Past beneficiaries have included the Suharto regime in Indonesia, Sani Abacha in Nigeria, Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, and Sadam Hussein in Iraq.

Yet not all is lost and the axing of Mr Rasool represents an opportunity to reset the relationship. The ANC party is in desperate trouble. Having held a national electoral majority since 1994 its support fell to 40% in elections last year and it polled at just over 30% in February of this year. Since June of last year, South Africa has been governed by a coalition that includes several pro-Western parties. The ANCs loss of support is because South Africas economy is in the doldrums, managing only a fraction of the economic growth of its emerging market peers. Real per-capita GDP has fallen year on year for the better part of a decade. The unemployment rate is over 30%. To return to emerging market growth averages South Africa would need to lift its fixed investment rate from the present 15% of GDP to nearer 25% but does not have the domestic capital to do so.

Public opinion in South Africa is moderate and often surprisingly pro-Western given the supine approach of Western diplomats to the ANCs many provocations and the extent of anti-Western messaging in the local media. Almost 7 out of 10 voters, including ANC voters, believe for example, that it is in the best interests of all South Africans to build close relationships with the U.S. and the EU.

The U.S. also has strategic interests in South Africa. The South African naval base at Simonstown is one of three points that anchor control of the Indo-Pacific as well as serving as the literal backdoor into the South Atlantic and therefore the Trump Administrations envisaged hegemonic sphere of influence in the Western hemisphere. Americas fixed investment commitments to Africa have also lagged behind those of China on a continent that commands more than 50 votes on global fora, houses a significant share of global critical minerals, and now has more cities of over 1 million inhabitants than Europe and America combined in economies that are often growing quickly.

America owes South Africa nothing and even if the relationship with Pretoria breaks down entirely the U.S. has excellent options in neighboring Namibia or Angola to secure its regional and strategic interests. However, those interests and the new South African governments need to lift levels of fixed investment are symbiotic meaning that the two countries have mutual interests far more closely aligned than the tenor of their relationship of the past decade would suggest.

Frans Cronje chairs the Yorktown Foundation for Freedom in Washington DC
Libya. Iraq. Syria. All were countries that suffered under the decades-long reign of brutal dictators. All have been swept up into anarchic spells of violence and terror after the West moved to overthrow those dictators. With last weekends news of the slaughter of Christians, Alawites, and other minorities at the hands of Islamist militias in Syria, the West received another lesson in foreign policy: There is a time to exercise restraint.

Bashar Assad and his family maintained a brutal rule over Syria from the time his father seized power in 1970 until rebel groups launched an offensive at the end of last year, forcing Assad to flee the country. The fall of Assads dictatorship should not be lamented by any means. Indeed, thousands of people have been brutally killed, tortured, and imprisoned in the time the Assad Dynasty ruled Syria. In a perfect world, his departure would mean the dawn of a new era of democracy, complete with elections, protection of rights, and a vigorous civil society.

Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world, and foreign policymakers should know this by now  at least enough not to get entangled in unsolvable crises.

The U.S. has held a presence in Syria since the Obama administration, when President Barack Obama took it upon himself to get involved, even with the lessons of Libya and Iraq and the not-so-distant past. While Obama was initially slow to get involved, the rise of ISIS led to airstrikes and the presence of thousands of US advisors to train Kurdish forces to fight ISIS.

While these regime changes were done initially to win the War on Terror and hunt down WMDs, the long-term goal was that these places would become thriving democracies. As the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria shows, that was not a realistic goal. If policymakers were hoping the third times the charm in Syria, this past weekend demonstrates Syria is also unlikely to see democracy break out in the streets. And while the Kurdish-led SDF agreed to join the new Syrian government, they, too, would be wise to proceed with caution in the new Syria.

A brief review of Americas track record in the Middle East should have warned against this move. Back in the 1980s and 90s, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was a menace on the international stage. His invasions of Iran and Kuwaitushered in conflicts that led to the deaths of millions of people, not to mention the thousands of his people that he killed. In the aftermath of 9/11, fearing that Hussein was after nuclear weapons, the United States took it upon itself to destroy his government in 2003. Fears over weapons of mass destruction were well-founded (Hussein tried on multiple occasions to acquire them), but long-term problems began when the Bush administration attempted to establish democracy in Iraq. While nominally a democracy, Iraq has been rife with violence for decades, with various militias battling the central government. Notably, ISIS took control of a sizable portion of Iraqi territory. The U.S. occupation of Iraq from 2003 to 2011 was ill-fated. Even if you argue that removing Hussein was the right move, the idea that he was going to be replaced with a Western-style democracy was naive at best.

Similar events happened in Libya, which dictator Muammar Gaddafi ruled since his coup in 1969. While he brutally ruled Libya and sponsored terrorist attacks early in his reign, by the turn of the century, Gaddafi's threat to the West was minimal. In fact, after seeing what happened to Hussein in Iraq, Gaddafi agreed to scrap his WMD program, fearing a similar removal at the hands of the West. However, the bargain was not upheld when, in 2011, NATO forces intervened to assist anti-Gaddafi rebels in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Since the fall of Gaddafi, Libya has continued to struggle with violence and instability.

One would think that such lessons would be hard to ignore, but, unfortunately, the foreign policy establishment has been slow to learn prudence when it comes to regime change.

Bashar Assad, Muammar Gadaffi, and Saddam Hussein were not good people. Just the opposite  all were vicious dictators responsible for the suffering of millions of people. The desire to bring these men to justice and remove them from power is understandable, even honorable. Yet, while many regimes are brutal, there is rarely a viable alternative waiting in the wings. Often, its a series of competing organizations who are alike in their capacity for violence and support for Islamist terrorism. The people of Iraq, Libya, and Syria all suffered under brutal dictatorships, but the ensuing anarchy has not done them a lot of favors.

Foreign policymakers would be wise to show restraint before overthrowing the next dictator. Be careful what you wish for  you may not like what comes next.

Matt Cookson is a contributor and a Middle East History and Policy Fellow with Young Voices. He also works in the supply chain for a U.S. Defense Contractor. His commentary has appeared in the Mises Institute, Real Clear Politics, the American Thinker, Providence Magazine, China Source, and the Idaho Freedom Foundation. You can follow him on X @MattCookson95.
From family members, to friends, to beloved members of society, Parkinsons disease impacts more than 10 million people around the world, following just behind Alzheimers as the most common neurodegenerative disorder in the U.S.
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Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday that the government will recover the cost of property damaged during the recent Nagpur violence from rioters and roll bulldozer "if necessary".

IMAGE: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis addresses a press conference, at Police Bhavan in Nagpur on March 22, 2025. Nagpur Police Commissioner Ravinder Kumar Singal and state Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule are also present. Photograph: @Dev_Fadnavis/X

Addressing the media, he said if the perpetrators of violence failed to compensate, their properties would be seized and sold to recover the losses.

He emphasised that strict action would be taken against those who attacked police officers during the unrest.

Replying to a query whether "bulldozer action" will be initiated against rioters in Nagpur on the lines of Uttar Pradesh, Fadnavis said, "The Maharashtra government has its own style of working....bulldozer will roll when necessary".

"Wherever wrong things are happening, they will be crushed. Nobody (perpetrators) will be spared," he added.

Fadnavis stressed that the incident cannot be termed "intelligence failure", but the intelligence (gathering) could have been better. "Police will be alert. We won't tolerate any kind of disturbance".

He said 104 individuals have been identified so far, following an analysis of CCTV footage and video recordings. Action has been initiated against 92 people, including 12 minors, as per the law.

The violence erupted on March 17, after rumours spread that a chadar' with religious inscriptions had been burnt during protests led by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) demanding the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

The clashes resulted in widespread stone-pelting and arson across several parts of the city, leaving 33 police personnel, including three Deputy Commissioner of Police-rank officers, injured.

Fadnavis said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit to Nagpur on March 30 would proceed as planned, unaffected by the violence.

"The cost of properties damaged during Nagpur violence will be recovered from rioters and the failure to pay up would lead to the seizure and selling of their properties to recover losses.

"My government will not rest until those responsible for attacking the police are found and dealt with sternly," said Fadnavis, who also heads the Home Ministry.

He said the situation in Nagpur is calm now, and efforts are underway to relax the curfew imposed in certain areas. "Riots broke out only in parts of the city, while 80 per cent of Nagpur wasn't impacted," he added.

Fadnavis stated that the distribution of compensation for victims would begin soon and that 68 social media posts that aggravated the situation had been identified and deleted.

He said those who circulated inflammatory content would be charged as co-accused for their role in inciting violence.

Fadnavis further said it was too early to comment on a foreign or Bangladeshi link to the riots as the probe is underway.

"However, the Malegaon connection can be seen (in violence) as one of the accused belongs to a political party from Malegaon who could be seen helping rioters," he said without taking the name of Minority Democratic Party leader Fahim Khan, arrested for sedition.

Fadnavis said those who circulated inflammatory posts on social media that aggravated the situation would be made co-accused in the riots case because they facilitated in instigating people.

"68 such social media posts have been identified and deleted," he added.

When asked if rioters behaved indecently with a female police constable, the chief minister said he had spoken with the police commissioner (who told him) that the purported incident didn't take place.

"Rioters had thrown stones at female police constables," he admitted.

Notably, an FIR had stated that a group of rioters allegedly touched a woman constable inappropriately and tried to disrobe her during the violence.

Responding to speculation that the riot in his hometown was orchestrated to target him politically, Fadnavis said, "It is foolish to say such things. There is no political angle to the violence ".

During his first visit to Nagpur after the violence on Friday, the chief minister assessed the situation and chaired a meeting with senior police and administrative officers at the police commissionarate.

He said some people spread rumour through social media that a 'chadar' with holy inscriptions from Quran was burnt during a protest (by VHP) on Monday, which led to gathering of mobs that went on rampage.

Fadnavis said Nagpur has history of communal harmony and such scale of violence was unprecedented.

When asked if Congress was politicising the issue by dispatching a committee to visit the violence-hit areas, Fadnavis pointed out that one of the members of the visiting panel is an accused in the Akola violence case.

"If rioters are coming to enquire about riots, it is akin to appeasement politics," he added.

Nagpur Police had said 105 persons have been held so far in connection with the violence including Fahim Khan.
GAZA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- At least 130 Palestinians were killed, and 263 others injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip over the past 48 hours, the Gaza-based health authorities said on Saturday.

This brought the death toll to 49,747 and injuries to 113,213 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out in early October 2023, it added.

The statement also noted that many victims remain trapped under rubble or stranded on the streets, inaccessible to ambulances and civil defense teams.

In a separate statement, the health authorities called on residents of the Gaza Strip to donate blood by heading to the few operational hospitals in the enclave.

Israel resumed strikes in Gaza on Tuesday after a ceasefire with Hamas that began on Jan. 19 unraveled. Israeli forces subsequently launched ground operations across southern, northern, and central Gaza. 
The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a closure report in the alleged suicide case of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, officials said Saturday.

IMAGE: Sushant was found hanging at his Bandra home on June 14, 2020. Photograph: Sushant Singh Rajput/Instagram

The CBI has submitted its findings before a special court in Mumbai which will now decide whether to accept the report or order further probe by the agency, the officials said.

Rajput was found hanging from the ceiling of his apartment in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on June 14, 2020. He was 34.

The central agency had taken over the probe from Bihar Police which had registered an abetment of suicide case on a complaint filed in Patna by his father K K Singh.

In its conclusive medico-legal opinion to the CBI, forensic specialists at AIIMS had dismissed the claims of "poisoning and strangling" made in the case.

The CBI had recorded the statements of Rhea Chakraborty, the rumoured girlfriend of Rajput, and others in his close circle, and collected the actor's medical records.

In his complaint to Bihar Police, Rajput's father had alleged that Chakraborty, along with her family members, misappropriated his son's money, a charge denied by her in television interviews.
Indian students in the United States should comply with American laws, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday following the detention of a postdoctoral fellow at the Georgetown university and self-deportation of another student to Canada.

Image used only for representation. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the two Indians did not reach out to the Indian missions in the US for assistance.

Badar Khan Suri, the postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in Washington DC, was detained Monday night by the Department of Homeland Security on charges of 'actively spreading Hamas propaganda'.

A US federal judge has blocked Suri's deportation from the US.

The action against Suri came less than a week after Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian student at Columbia University, self-deported to Canada after her visa was revoked for allegedly 'advocating for violence and terrorism' and involvement in activities supporting Hamas.

The Indian embassy and consulates in the US will help students facing any difficulties, Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing while responding to a question.

Jaiswal said decisions on visa and immigration policy are the sole prerogative of respective countries and the respective laws must be complied with.

"When it comes to visa and immigration policy, it is something that lies within the sovereign functions of a country."

"We, on our side, we expect that when we have foreign nationals coming to India, they abide by our laws and regulations. And similarly, it is our expectation that when Indian nationals are abroad, they must also comply with local laws and regulations," he said.

On Suri's detention, Jaiswal said, "We are given to understand through media reports that this particular individual, he has been detained."

"Neither the US government nor this individual has approached us or the embassy. So, this is what we understand," he said.

On the case involving Srinivasan, Jaiswal said the Indian side is not aware of her getting in touch with the Indian embassy or any consulate in the US for help.

"We only came to know of her departure from the US from media reports... We understand that she has gone to Canada," he said.

Srinivasan had entered the US on an F-1 student visa as a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University, the Department of Homeland Security said.

It alleged that Srinivasan was 'involved in activities supporting' Hamas.

The Department of State had revoked her visa on March 5.

The Department of Homeland Security said it has obtained video footage of Srinivasan using the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Home App to self-deport on March 11.

Jaiswal said that a sizable number of Indian students are studying in the US and that India is keen to bolster educational ties with the US.

"The knowledge partnership and participation of our students or enrolment of our students in universities of the US and the expansion of the knowledge partnership is an important element in our relationship, and we want to foster these ties further," he said.
The wife of an army Colonel, who has accused 12 Punjab police personnel of assaulting him and his son over a parking dispute, started a sit-in protest along with ex-servicemen outside the Patiala Deputy Commissioner's office on Saturday to press for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe.

IMAGE: Ex-servicemen take part in a sit-in protest outside the Patiala Deputy Commissioner office against the alleged assault on Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath by Punjab Police personnel, in Patiala. Photograph: ANI Photo

The incident had snowballed into a major controversy after Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath's wife Jasvinder Kaur Bath accused the police of refusing to file an FIR on their complaint.

Amid outrage, Punjab Police went into damage control mode on Friday -- setting up a high-level Special Investigation Team (SIT), filing a fresh FIR based on the the army officer's statement and suspending 12 personnel allegedly involved in the episode.

However, the family of the Colonel was on Saturday adamant about their demands for a CBI probe and the transfer of Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Nanak Singh. Jasvinder had accused Singh of failing to take action on their multiple requests to file an FIR.

Despite Patiala Deputy Commissioner (DC) Preeti Yadav assuring them of a fair and transparent probe, the family refused to lift the 'dharna' and said it would continue until their demands were met.

Referring to the assault incident, Yadav said it was unfortunate. "It is a matter of investigation. Whatever I could do, I did. The purpose of my visit to you is that the message should go across that whatever will happen, it will be in a fair and transparent manner.

"Whatever investigation will take place, that will be a fair one. I will ensure it. I request that you are my elders. As a district magistrate, it is my request that whatever will happen, it will be right. We stand by the family," she said.

"I urge you, kindly end this morcha," said the DC.

However, Jasvinder pointed out that the FIR was lodged only after they announced their protest.

"Bhagwant Mann saab cannot even shift one SSP. Does the government not have time to just write that the CBI inquiry is marked? Until these demands are met, we will not leave from here," she said.

"It is a peaceful 'morcha'. One of my family members will sit in the 'morcha' for 24 hours," the Colone's wife said.

IMAGE: Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath's wife Jasvinder Kaur Bath during the protest outside the DC office. Photograph: ANI Photo

Earlier, BJP leader and former MP Preneet Kaur, who joined the protest, strongly condemned the incident.

"As a citizen of India and the wife of an ex-Army officer (former chief minister Amarinder Singh), I stand in complete solidarity with the assaulted officer and family. I demand an impartial probe, so that the guilty get proper punishment," she said.

"It is deeply saddening how police officers brutally beat up a serving Army Colonel and his son that night. Even if it had been a common citizen, such an incident would have been condemnable but for this to happen to an Army officer is completely unacceptable. I urge the government to stop dragging its feet and deliver justice to the family," said Kaur.

Speaking to reporters in Patiala, Kaur said Army officials should be included in the SIT.

"Since the Army is involved, the government is involved and the police force is also involved. A joint SIT should be formed with Army and police officials, and a judge involved," she said.

"The way the Punjab Police harassed the family -- failing to file an FIR against the officers despite CCTV evidence and the family's statement -- is shameful.

"Our soldiers dedicate their lives to the nation, yet they are being treated as second-class citizens. I stand in complete solidarity with the family in their demand for justice and call for an impartial probe so that the guilty are properly punished," said the former MP.

The alleged incident took place on the intervening night of March 13 and 14, when Colonel Bath and his son were having food at a roadside eatery near Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala.

The family alleged that some police officers in civil dress asked the Colonel to move his car, as they had to park theirs. When the Colonel objected to their rude tone, the officers thrashed him and his son. The Colonel's arm was broken, and his son suffered a long cut on his head.

The Colonel's wife had on Thursday met Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, who spoke to the state DGP and advised him to register an FIR on the Colonel's statement.

Punjab Police on Friday said it has registered an FIR at Civil Lines police station.

"Colonel Bath's statement names the police officers who assaulted him and details their roles in the assault," a statement said on Friday evening.

An SIT consisting of SPS Parmar, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order); Sandeep Malik, Senior Superintendent of Police, Hoshiarpur, and Manpreet Singh, Superintendent of Police (Rural), SAS Nagar has been constituted to investigate the incident.

A Punjab Police spokesperson said that Patiala Range DIG has been instructed to immediately transfer the police officers concerned. All the 12 officers have been placed under suspension and departmental proceedings initiated against them, he added.

The Additional Director General of Police (Security), Punjab, has been directed to provide protection to Colonel Bath's family.
Nationalist Congress Party-SP president Sharad Pawar on Saturday met his estranged nephew and Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at the Pune-based Vasantdada Sugar Institute, drawing sharp comments from ally and Shiv Sena-UBT MP Sanjay Raut.

IMAGE: A meeting of the governing council of the Vasantdada Sugar Institute brought together Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar. Photograph: ANI Photo

Shiv Sena-UBT leaders do not maintain any contact with those who left, said Raut whose party is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance along with NCP-SP and Congress.

A meeting of the governing council of the Vasantdada Sugar Institute, a government-recognized research institute, brought together Sharad Pawar, his party's state president Jayant Patil, and rival NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Dilip Walse Patil earlier in the day.

"Everything is going fine between them....We do not even try to have any contact with those who quit the Shiv Sena. The way they betrayed Maharashtra and backstabbed it....we will not go anywhere near them," said Raut, referring to leaders of the rival Shiv Sena headed by deputy CM Eknath Shinde.

Last month, Raut had expressed resentment about Sharad Pawar felicitating and praising Shinde who split the Shiv Sena in 2022.

"They (leaders of NCP factions) have (institutions such as) the Vasantdada Sugar Institute, Vidya Pratishthan, Rayat Shikshan Sanstha. We do not have anything like that. We do not have such meetings (with former party colleagues), and if there is a possibility of such a meeting, we avoid it. We do not believe in having dialogue in politics. We will keep fighting those who split our party and teach them a lesson," he said.

Meanwhile, asked about a meeting between her party colleague Jayant Patil and her estranged cousin Ajit Pawar, NCP-SP working president Supriya Sule played down its significance.

Notably, there has been speculation for a long time about Jayant Patil crossing over to the Ajit Pawar faction, though Patil has denied these rumours.

"Vasantdada Sugar Institute has persons from all parties as its members. Issues related to the sugar industry, farmers and allied businesses and new technology were discussed at the governing council meeting. It is an academic meeting where no politics or political ideologies are discussed," Sule told reporters.

Elsewhere, Ajit Pawar said, "We are all members of the VSI, and we met to discuss various issues related to the sugar sector like the use of Artificial Intelligence."

NCP-SP leader Amol Matale said the meeting between Jayant Patil and Ajit Pawar was not a secret.

"Instead of criticizing others, please see what is going on in your own backyard," said Matale, taking a swipe at Raut.
Supreme Court judge, Justice B R Gavai, on Saturday expressed hope that the "current difficult phase" in ethnic strife-torn Manipur will be over soon with the assistance of the executive, legislature and judiciary and the state will prosper like the rest of the country.

IMAGE: Supreme Court judges led by Justice B R Gavai visit violence-hit Manipur. Photograph: ANI on X

Justice Gavai, who led a delegation of Supreme Court judges that visited Manipur, called upon the people of the state to work together to restore peace and harmony.

Justice Gavai, along with Supreme Court judges Vikram Nath, M M Sundresh and K V Vishwanathan, visited a relief camp in Churachandpur district and met internally displaced persons, officials said.

The delegation also virtually inaugurated a legal services camp, a medical camp and a legal aid clinic from the Mini Secretariat at Lamka in the district, they said.

Chief Justice of Manipur High Court, Justice D Krishnakumar, and Justice Golmei Gaiphulshilu were also present.

Addressing the gathering, Justice Gavai said, "Our country is a true example of unity in diversity. India is home for all of us. We know that you all are going through a difficult phase but with the assistance of everyone, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, this phase will be over in a short period."

"Our Constitution is a great document. When we compare our country to our neighbouring countries, we will realise our Constitution has kept us strong and united. Have belief in the Constitution... one day, complete peace will return to Manipur and the state will prosper like the entire country," he added.

He urged the people of the state to work together to restore peace and normalcy.

He lauded the natural beauty he witnessed while travelling from Imphal to Churachandpur.

Sharing his experiences of the relief camps, he expressed delight in noting that training programmes were being imparted.

"I must place on record my deep appreciation for the Chief Justice of Manipur High Court who has taken keen initiatives in organising these relief camps and the district legal services authority for coming to the aid of those who needed help," he added.

Justice Gavai said that the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), of which he is the executive chairman, has sanctioned Rs 2.5 crore for providing relief materials to internally displaced persons, besides the Rs 1.5 crore given earlier.

He said NALSA tries to reach out to the remotest parts of the country.

"For a just society, the principles of accessibility to justice, healthcare and opportunities that empowers individuals are very important," he added.

"Legal aid services will play a crucial role in ensuring displaced individuals receive their rightful entitlement, be it on matters of identity of documentation, property rights or compensation claims. I am happy to note that 265 legal aid clinics are functional in Manipur.

"Legal aid clinics set up within the displaced community will offer free legal assistance, empowering people to seek justice and protect their rights. I urge all displaced individuals to take advantage of these services... Law is not just a profession but a tool for social transformation," Justice Gavai added.

He said that 109 medical camps have been set up across the state to provide basic healthcare services.

Justice Gavai also stressed the need for readmission of students who had to drop out of school due to the conflict.

He called upon the educational institutions and the public to ensure all students complete their education.

Earlier in the day, the top court delegation was accorded a warm welcome by the lawyer fraternity of the state at Imphal airport.

Later, they visited the Sadbhavana Mandap relief centre and interacted with the internally displaced persons.

Several health officials were also facilitated by the judges.

'Sanad' was distributed among 41 newly enrolled advocates and stationery was distributed among IDP students.

However, Justice N Kotiswar Singh, who was part of the delegation of the Supreme Court judges and belongs to the Meitei community, did not visit Kuki-majority Churachandpur, amid objections from a lawyers' body there, officials said, adding that Justice Singh culminated his journey in Bishnupur district.

The All Manipur Bar Association (AMBA) urged its Churachandpur district counterpart to withdraw its directive preventing a Meitei judge of the Supreme Court from visiting the Kuki-Zo-dominated area.

More than 250 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Zo groups since May 2023.
A 34-year-old woman has been arrested in Kerala's Kollam for allegedly trafficking synthetic drug MDMA worth several lakhs of rupees from Bengaluru, police officials said on Saturday.

Image used for representational purposes only. Photograph: ANI Photo

Anila Raveendran, a native of Anchalummoodu, was taken into custody on Friday evening by the Sakthikulangara police and the Kollam City Police District Anti-Narcotic Special Action Force (DANSAF).

According to the police, she was travelling in a car from Bengaluru when police attempted to stop the vehicle near the Neendakara bridge. However, the driver tried to evade them, leading to a chase.

The car was eventually intercepted, and 90 grams of MDMA was seized, police sources added.

First, 50 grams of MDMA was found in the car. Subsequently, the woman was medically examined and found to have hidden around 40 grams of MDMA in her private parts, police said.

However, police sources stated that while the exact quantity of MDMA seized from her is yet to be determined, it is estimated to be around 90 grams in total.

Police sources said the woman had been smuggling MDMA to supply it to school and college students in Kollam city.

The car driven by the accused was also seized.

Anila Raveendran was previously involved in an MDMA drug smuggling case, police officials added.

A detailed investigation regarding the source of the contraband is underway, police said.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic meets with a Chinese business delegation led by Ren Hongbin, president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, in Belgrade, Serbia, March 21, 2025. A Chinese business delegation has just concluded its visit to Serbia from March 19 to March 21, during which Chinese and Serbian companies reached multiple cooperation intentions in cross-border e-commerce, agricultural trade and information technology. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

BELGRADE, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese business delegation has just concluded its visit to Serbia, during which Chinese and Serbian companies reached multiple cooperation intentions in cross-border e-commerce, agricultural trade and information technology.

During the visit from March 19 to March 21, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with the delegation, led by Ren Hongbin, president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

In addition, Ren held talks with Serbian government officials, business associations and Expo institutions while attending the China-Serbia Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum.

Speaking at the forum, Ren reaffirmed China's commitment to expanding cooperation in trade and investment, consolidating existing areas of cooperation, and exploring innovative cooperation in multiple fields.

He also voiced China's support for Serbia's hosting of the 2027 Belgrade Specialized Expo and invited Serbian businesses to participate in the third China International Supply Chain Expo.

Meanwhile, the Serbia side said that amid increasing global economic uncertainties, China can bring stability to Serbia's development, and Serbia is willing to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with China to achieve mutually beneficial growth. 
The UN childrens agency has urged Afghanistans Taliban-led government to immediately lift a ban on girls' education beyond primary school, saying that if the ban continues until 2030 more than 4 million girls will have been deprived of their right to education.

Afghanistan's ban on girls' secondary education "continues to harm the future of millions of Afghan girls," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement on March 22. The consequences for these girls -- and for Afghanistan -- are catastrophic.

The appeal by UNICEF comes as a new school year began in Afghanistan, where girls beyond sixth grade have been deprived of their right to education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

The Taliban justifies the ban, saying the education of girls beyond the sixth grade doesn't comply with their interpretation of Sharia law.

Russell called for all girls to be allowed to return to school.

Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bans female secondary and higher education, Russell said in the statement, adding that if the rights of young girls continue to be denied, the repercussions will last for generations.

She pointed out that the ban negatively impacts the health system, the economy, and the future of the nation.

With fewer girls receiving an education, girls face a higher risk of child marriage with negative repercussions on their well-being and health, she said.

The consequences of the ban will affect the number of female doctors and midwives, and this in turn will leave women and girls without crucial medical care.

UNICEF projects an estimated 1,600 additional maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths because of the situation.

The Taliban has allowed limited exceptions to the ban in the health and education sectors, but these jobs come with severe restrictions and the number of women in the workforce continues to fall, according to the United Nations.

Pakistan hosted a global conference in January at which Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai condemned the state of womens and girls' rights in Afghanistan as gender apartheid.

Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders not to "legitimize" the Taliban-led government and instead to "raise their voices" and "use [their] power" against the militant group's curbs on women and girls' education.

"Simply put, the Taliban do not see women as human beings. They cloak their crimes in cultural and religious justification," Yousafzai told the gathering in Islamabad.

With reporting by AP
Central Asian migrants in Russia have met with increased harassment and violence since four Tajik men were arrested for the deadly terror attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall on March 22, 2024.

The attack left more than 140 people dead and more than 550 injured in what was the worst such attack in Russia in years.

The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility.

After a year, there have seen significant changes in the migration climate in Russia, says migration expert Rahmon Ulmasov.

Firstly, migrants not only from Tajikistan, but also from Central Asia, primarily from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, have been treated very harshly. Secondly, the [Russian government] adopted several resolutions, which made it more difficult to recruit migrants.

The Russian authorities amended legislation in the summer of 2024 to give the police more powers to expel migrants without court orders.

A recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report highlighted a surge in ethnic profiling and arbitrary arrests of Central Asians in Russia as well as increased instances of xenophobia and cruelty by far-right nationalist groups.

They found video evidence of coordinated physical assaults by young Slavic-looking men on Central Asian men working in construction, maintenance, and service sectors.

The videos were filmed by the assailants and posted online.

'Pressure And Intimidation'

HRW also claims that Russian authorities have targeted Central Asians for military recruitment, using arbitrary detention and threats of deportation to force them to enlist for the war in Ukraine.

Muslims in Russia have been under different types of pressure and intimidation for some time, says political scientist Emil Juraev.

This was before the events in [Crocus City Hall] and after that. We see it all the time. We see how mosques are being raided. And that was happening even before [the attack].

The four main Tajik suspects have yet to face trial.

All four appeared to have been beaten when they appeared in court in March 2024. At least 23 other suspects were detained.

Gulrakat Mirzoeva, the mother of one of the suspects, Dalerjon Mirzoev, claims he is innocent.

I just look at my phone. I see pictures of the same man. I see my baby [was beaten] black and blue, that's all. It's been a year since they've called me. Maybe it's my fault. Im not wealthy enough to visit him. I don't want anything. Our situation is already miserable.

Russia depends heavily on migrant labor with close to 3.3 million workers from Central Asia working in Russia in 2024.
George Glezmann, an American who was released from detention in Afghanistan on March 20, has arrived in the United States and been reunited with his wife, a State Department spokesperson said.

Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said on March 21 that Ryan Corbett, another former American prisoner in Afghanistan who had been held in the same cell as Glezmann, was in a welcoming party for Glezmann at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.

"After a brief ceremony, George and [his wife] Aleksandra flew to another location in the United States to rest and recover," Bruce told reporters at a regular State Department news briefing.

Glezmann, 66, was released from detention in Kabul following the first visit by a senior US official to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in the wake of the withdrawal of international troops from the war-torn country in August 2021.

Former US special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said on X that he and Adam Boehler, a senior adviser at the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, met with Taliban officials in Kabul on March 20.

"We succeeded in obtaining the release of an American citizen, George Glezmann, after two years in detention in Kabul. The Taliban government agreed to free him as a goodwill gesture to [President Donald Trump] and the American people," Khalilzad said.

Details of the negotiations were not revealed. The United States, like most countries, does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.

I feel like born again, Glezmann said on Fox News after arriving at Joint Base Andrews. Im just thankful. Ive got no word to express my gratitude for my liberty for my freedom.

Glezmann also thanked President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others who helped free him, he said on Fox News, recalling how he was abducted in the streets of Kabul and thrown "into a dungeon with no windows no nothing."

Boehler told Fox News he expects to see more Americans released.

The Taliban understand that there is a new sheriff in town. That president Trump is that new sheriff and thats why you are seeing something like this," he said.

One of the other US citizens being held in Afghanistan is Mahmood Habibi, who also has been held since 2022.

Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken into custody by Taliban authorities while on a tourist visit to Afghanistan in December 2022 and had been deemed wrongfully detained by the US government.

Rubio called Glezmann's release "a positive and constructive step" that was aided by officials in Qatar, which has often hosted negotiations between Washington and the Taliban.

"It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan," he added.

The release comes two months after two other Americans held in Afghanistan were exchanged for a Taliban man imprisoned for life in California on drug and terrorism charges.

Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were swapped for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two life terms in 2008 and was incarcerated in a US prison.

Aid worker Corbett, 40, and Habibi, 37 -- who led the Afghan Aviation Authority under the previous Afghan government -- were detained separately in August 2022.
In May 2024, a Moscow court banned several online job postings seeking candidates of Slavic appearance as illegal under Russian anti-discrimination labor laws and anti-extremism statutes, calling their distribution unlawful and criminally punishable.

The ruling followed a similar decision by a different Moscow court that same year about job ads reading only for Slavs, an exclusionary requirement that is commonly included in real estate ads by Russian landlords seeking tenants.

But state entities continue to use similar discriminatory language in public tenders, according to findings by Systema, RFE/RL's Russian-language investigative unit, which also found such language being used by the government of a major industrial city.

We are seeing more and more attacks on people of non-Slavic appearance. And at the state level, instead of fighting xenophobia, racist statements are made, said Stefania Kulayeva, an expert at the respected rights group Memorial. The authorities themselves provoke this hatred with statements by officials and security forces.

In Dzerzhinsk, a city in the central Nizhny Novgorod region, the city government has published at least four tenders for cleaning services that said potential contractors should be of Slavic appearance, one as recently as last month, Systema found.

The Moscow branch of the Federal Center For Hygiene And Epidemiology published a tender in November also seeking cleaning services and requiring a Slavic appearance.

Neither the Dzerzhinsk city administration nor the Moscow branch of the Federal Center For Hygiene And Epidemiology responded to a request for comment in time for publication.

'Increase In Racist Violence'

Russian law explicitly prohibits discrimination on the basis of nationality or ethnicity, including during job hiring. And the constitution includes a clause guaranteeing equal rights and freedoms for citizens regardless of nationality or ethnic origin.

President Vladimir Putin himself regularly touts the countrys diverse ethnic and religious makeup, though he has endorsed what he calls the dominance of Russian culture among these groups, and critics accuse his government of co-opting openly xenophobic far-right groups for political expediency.

Ethnic Russians account for about 72 percent of the population, according to the 2021 census, though its accuracy has been questioned by sociologists. Native, non-Slavic ethnic groups include Tatars, Kalmyks, Buryats, and Chechens among many others. There are also about 10 million migrants from Central Asia living in Russia.

In a report released last month, the respected extremism monitor Sova Center said Russia has seen a rapid increase in racist violence since the spring of 2023.

Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, said in a report this week that Central Asian labor migrants are experiencing increased xenophobic harassment, hate speech, and violence since the deadly terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow on March 22, 2024.

Discriminatory hiring practices are not new for Russian government entities.

In 2018, the Moscow city governments funeral-services monopoly said in a response to a potential contractor to install air conditioners that ethnic Slavs only should submit a bid.

That same year, an entity under the umbrella of Russias National Guard security forces, known as Rosgvardia, openly stated in a tender that entrance to its facilities was forbidden for foreigners and people of Caucasian ethnicity -- a blanket term describing the many ethnic groups who inhabit the mountainous Caucasus region, which encompasses parts of Russia and its southern neighbors.

'Ethnic Profiling Has Become The Norm'

Kulayeva told Systema that the situation with discrimination in Russia is changing, but not always for the better.

If you look at the situation as a whole, employment bans for migrants are increasing, and discrimination based on nationality remains a common practice of employers, Kulayeva said. These requirements are contrary to the law, and in theory they can be challenged in court -- if there is a person who was not hired only because of his nationality.

Racism in Russia manifests itself not only in personnel policy, but also in everyday life, Kulayeva said.

A police lieutenant colonel for the Moscow Oblast -- a federal subject that surrounds, but does not include, the capital city -- said at a briefing with local officials last year that a key task of the police force is to brighten up the region so that it is not blackened, so to speak, by foreign citizens.

In the conditions of Russias all-out war on Ukraine and the growth of nationalism, it is not surprising that ethnic profiling has become the norm, Kulayeva said.

With reporting by RFE/RLs Carl Schreck
Relentless drone and guided bomb strikes are driving residents to flee Ukraines northeastern Sumy region, which shares a border with Russia.

Civilians have been scrambling for safety amid intense Russian attacks in recent days.

I was afraid to spend the night [at home]. I had not signed up [for evacuation], said Halyna, an elderly woman who lives in a village that came under attack on March 21.

Moscow has ramped up attack across Ukraine after agreeing to stop attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days in the country following a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump on March 18.

Earlier, the Kremlin rejected a month-long cease-fire agreed by Washington and Kyiv.



"I didnt want to leave my home. Ive lived here for 50 years," Lyubov, an elderly woman in Sumy, said after a barrage of drone and guided missile attacks. "But there was no choice in this situation."

Valentyna, another older woman in Sumy, said Russia dropped guided bombs on the center of her village.

Our house was not destroyed, but all of the windows were shattered, she said.

Red Cross workers and the White Angels, a Ukrainian police unit that assists civilians, have helped Sumy residents flee to the city of Sumy, the regional capital.

There were explosions everywhere, said an elderly man evacuated by rescue workers.

Some drones were following us, but we got out successfully, said Ihor Shapoval, a Red Cross worker.

He said they evacuated people from their homes in the early hours of March 21 after persistent attacks targeting several villages in Sumy.

Meanwhile, Russian attacks killed an entire family in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya on March 22.

The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled from under the rubble, said Ivan Fedorov, the head of the regional military administration.

He said doctors tried to save the life of the 38-year-old mother, but she succumbed to her injuries 10 hours after she was rushed to the hospital.

Written by Abubakar Siddique based on reporting by RFE/RLs Ukrainian Service.
A wave of at least 179 Shahed-type attack drones from Russia struck four regions in Ukraine overnight on March 21-22, killing a family of three in Zaporizhzhya, and wounding at least 12 people.

The wounded included an infant and victims suffered burns, shrapnel injuries and contusions, according to Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhzhya Regional Military Administration. A 14-year-old girl was killed with her father in their home, authorities said. Her mother later died at a hospital.

Ukrainian military sources said they shot down 100 of the incoming drones but enough got through to cause deaths and severe injuries and damage civilian premises in Zaporizhzhya, the Sumy, Kharkiv, and Kyiv districts.

"As of 08.30, the downing of 100 Shahed-type attack UAVs and other types of drones in the south, north and center of the country was confirmed," a report from the Ukrainian authorities said.

Around Kyiv, 52 Russian drones were detected, of which air defense forces said they destroyed 36.

The attacks continued into the early morning hours of March 23, with officials in the capital saying a drone hit an apartment building. Details were scarce shortly after the strike, but officials said emergency services were at the site.

The latest wave of attacks is part of a sharp escalation by both Russia and Ukraine, in drone strikes that have followed cease-fire negotiations between Ukraine, the United States and Russia.

The Russian attacks have employed drones, missiles and glide bombs, and followed a pledge made by President Vladimir Putin in a March 18 phone call with the White House to halt strikes on energy infrastructure. Hours after that two-hour talk with US President Donald Trump, Russian drones hit Ukrainian energy and water supply facilities, along with schools and hospitals.

The Ukrainian authorities and international organizations have called these strikes war crimes. Ukraine, meanwhile, has struck Russian oil facilities and a strategic bomber base in Engels, triggering a massive fire.




Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya in Tokyo, Japan, on March 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)

TOKYO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Japanese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya on Saturday co-chaired the sixth China-Japan High-Level Economic Dialogue in Tokyo.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, pointed out that since the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, bilateral trade has increased more than 300 times and has remained at a high level of 300 billion U.S. dollars for 15 consecutive years, with the accumulative bilateral investment reaching nearly 140 billion U.S. dollars.

The economic outcomes proved that China and Japan are partners, not rivals, Wang stressed.

Amid profound adjustments in the global economic landscape, rising unilateral protectionism, and setbacks to economic globalization, China and Japan, as major world economies, should establish a correct understanding of each other, demonstrate responsibilities, seek development with innovative thinking, add momentum to cooperation and mutual benefit, and reduce obstacles and differences, Wang said.

He called for efforts on four key areas of cooperation, including accelerating the transformation and upgrading of economic and trade cooperation, achieving strong partnerships for mutual success, addressing each other's concerns in a balanced manner, and strengthening regional and multilateral cooperation.

The two countries should uphold the tradition of promoting political relations through economic cooperation, expand dialogue and exchanges across all sectors to cultivate new growth drivers, Wang said.

Enterprises from both countries should be encouraged to collaborate in artificial intelligence, the digital economy, energy conservation, environmental protection, and green trade.

Cooperation in medical and elderly care industries will be further strengthened to foster the "silver economy."

The two countries should expand third-market cooperation to benefit the Global South, support each other in the successful hosting of the Osaka Expo and the China International Import Expo, while promoting regional cooperation, Wang said.

With a forward-looking approach, China and Japan should leverage the China-Japan economic partnership consultation mechanism to enhance government-business communication, expand market access and eliminate discriminatory restrictions.

The two sides will work to avoid the politicization of economic security in order to maintain stable and smooth industrial and supply chains.

Upholding Asian values, the two countries should advocate openness over isolation, and promote inclusiveness over exclusiveness, Wang noted.

Negotiations for the China-Japan-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement should be resumed and the process of establishing an Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area should be advanced, according to Wang.

Officials from 15 government departments of both countries attended the meeting.

In conclusion, Wang said that the dialogue enhanced mutual understanding and confidence in cooperation.

At a time when unilateral protectionism is rampant, the dialogue has sent a strong signal in support of a free trade system, adherence to international trade rules, and alignment with economic globalization.

Both sides should further expand their horizons and explore new areas of cooperation to continuously enrich the China-Japan strategic relationship of mutual benefit, Wang said. 
A group that includes six Voice of America (VOA) journalists has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration and other officials accusing them of illegally shutting down several publicly funded broadcasters.

The lawsuit, filed on March 21 in the Southern District of New York, charges that the Trump administration has taken a chainsaw approach to the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) through an executive order signed a week earlier.

The order gutted seven federal agencies, including USAGM, telling them to reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.

Hours later, VOA staff were put on administrative leave and its premises shut.

Many media rights watchdogs and analysts have said the decision halting the operations of VOA and other publicly funded broadcasters will embolden authoritarians around the globe with the loss of a critical lifeline of information for their populations.

What is happening to the VOA Journalists is not just the chilling of First Amendment speech; it is a government shutdown of journalism, a prior restraint that kills content before it can be created, the filing says.

USAGM Acting Director Victor Morales and Special Adviser Kari Lake, are named in the lawsuit, which says the Trump administrations moves to close the USAGM violated the First Amendment rights of VOAs employees.

EU Ministers Discuss RFE/RL Funding After US Grant Cut No media source currently available 0:00 0:02:18 0:00

It also asks for the court to restore USAGM-grantee news outlets and that funding for grantees, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the Middle Eastern Broadcast Network (MBN), resume. Those outlets had their grants terminated the same day as VOA was shuttered.

Defendants have violated all of these laws by closing USAGM and ceasing altogether the business of gathering and disseminating news and opinion via VOA and its sister service Radio y Television Marti, as well as its grantee-affiliates RFE/RL, RFA, and MBN. Defendants actions are unconstitutional and unlawful; they must cease immediately, the complaint says.

'Tragic Attack On Democracy'

In addition to the six VOA journalists, plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), The NewsGuild-CWA, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

David Seide, senior counsel at the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a nonpartisan civil rights defense and whistle-blower protection organization that is representing the VOA journalists in the case, called the administrations moves another tragic attack on democracy.

"Over eight decades, VOA and its sister organizations have been renowned, evidenced by the over 400 million viewers, listeners, and readers who tune in every day," he said. "That reputation is now in tatters. Our lawsuit is intended to stop the bleeding.

Lake, a vocal Trump supporter, did not respond immediately to the news, but around the same time as it was published, she wrote in a post on X that when The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, CBS, and 60 Minutes reached out for interviews this week, she declined.

I do not do interviews with disreputable news outlets, she wrote.

Many Republicans, including Trump and Lake, have alleged that VOA and the other broadcasters are infected by left-wing propaganda, an accusation its operators say isnt supported by the facts.

RFE/RL on March 18 filed a suit against the USAGM, Lake, and Morales, to block their attempt to terminate RFE/RLs federal grant, which provides the broadcaster with funds to operate.

The complaint argues that denying the funds Congress has appropriated for RFE/RL violates federal laws and the US Constitution, which gives Congress exclusive authority over federal spending.

The suit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

"This is not the time to cede terrain to the propaganda and censorship of America's adversaries," RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said.

"We believe the law is on our side and that the celebration of our demise by despots around the world is premature," he added.
YANGON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The launching ceremony of the "Bamboo Innovative Products Training Center" and "Enhancement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Collaborative Innovation" project, funded by Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Special Fund 2024, was held in Nay Pyi Taw on Friday, according to a press release by the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar.

Nearly 100 people, including Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr Myo Thein Kyaw, attended the event, while Zheng Zhihong, minister counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, attended online.

Zheng said that the six Lancang-Mekong countries are jointly building a Lancang-Mekong regional innovation corridor and deepening scientific and technological innovation cooperation in digital information and green technology.

The LMC Special Fund continues to support Myanmar in developing bamboo innovation products and developing information and communication technology, and gives full play to the role of scientific and technological innovation in economic and social development, he said.

China is willing to deepen Lancang-Mekong cooperation with Myanmar and support Myanmar's development in many aspects, such as funds, technology and human resources, he added.

Myo Thein Kyaw thanked the LMC Special Fund for its support and said that Myanmar will implement the project with high quality, promote the development of Myanmar's bamboo industry and digital economy, and improve social livelihood. 
Roscommon University Hospital (RUH) has announced the recent appointment of Sarah Daly to the role of advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) in respiratory care.

Sarah is ultimately responsible for the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of respiratory conditions, including asthma, COPD, lung fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension and sleep related breathing disorders.

Working with respiratory specialists in the sleep and respiratory clinics at University Hospital Galway and Roscommon University Hospital has provided Sarah with additional expertise, allowing her to expand her scope of practice in the field of respiratory care.

A native of Kilconnell in County Galway, Sarah began her nursing career as an enhanced staff nurse at Portiuncula University Hospital. It was there her interest in respiratory care peaked while working with respiratory patients on the medical ward.

She joined Roscommon University Hospital as a candidate advanced nurse practitioner in respiratory care in 2022, after obtaining a Higher Diploma in Respiratory Care and a Masters Degree in Nursing. During her two-year candidature, she enhanced her nursing skills further working between Roscommon and Portiuncula University Hospitals, earning a certificate in nurse medicinal prescribing and referring for radiological procedures, before completing a postgraduate diploma in advanced nursing practice at the University of Galway.

Ultimately, my vision for the service in RUH, is to provide respiratory care to patients as close to their homes as possible. As an ANP I can practice independently and autonomously to diagnose, treat, support and educate patients on their respiratory conditions in their local hospital. It's wonderful to see that the service is already making a significant difference in the lives of our patients, she explained.

Last November she received the Bernie Carpenter Perpetual Bursary Award from the Irish Association of Advanced Nurse Midwife Practitioners (IAANMP). The bursary will allow her to undertake further studies in the field of respiratory. In May she will travel to Edinburgh to complete a sleep medicine and cognitive behavioural therapy course, which will expand her knowledge of sleep related breathing disorders and enhance her skills in supporting patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnoea and other sleep-related breathing disorders.

I was delighted to receive the bursary award which will enable me to expand the sleep diagnostics service for RUH, provide comprehensive care to patients who have sleep-related respiratory disorders and ensure that patients are examined, diagnosed and treated in a timely manner, as close to home as possible, added Sarah.

Ursula Morgan, Director of Nursing at the hospital said, advanced nurse practitioners are transforming services for patients in hospitals through an expanded scope of practice, greater clinical autonomy and decision-making and are highest level of clinical experts in the nursing profession in Ireland today.

Sarah's appointment is a significant development for service. It will greatly enhance patient-centered care for patients who come to the hospital with respiratory conditions.
Farmers Gather at PAU for Day 2 of Kisan Mela, Draw Insights from Agricultural Innovations

Dr. Gosal emphasized PAU's expanding global presence, noting that the Kisan Mela is now broadcast online.

The second day of the Kisan Mela at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) attracted a significant number of farmers from across Punjab, eager to engage with agricultural technologies, attend field demonstrations, and interact with experts.

The university campus was filled with activity as farmers explored technology stalls, purchased certified seeds, saplings, and farm literature, and visited exhibits showcasing self-help groups and agro-industrial innovations. They also had the opportunity to interact with scientists, gaining insights into advanced agricultural tools and techniques.

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Dr. Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice Chancellor of PAU, presided over a special ceremony at the Open Air Theatre. He welcomed the gathering and praised the enthusiastic participation of the farming community. Key dignitaries in attendance included Dr. Rajbir Singh Brar, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Extension), ICAR; Shri Sanjeev Arora, Rajya Sabha MP; Dr. Gurdev Singh Khush, Adjunct Professor Emeritus at the University of California; S. Harchand Singh Barsat, Chairman of Punjab Mandi Board; Dr. Sukhpal Singh, Chairman of Punjab State Farmers' and Farm Workers Commission; Harpreet Singh Sandhu, Punjab State Information Commissioner; and Dr. Rajinder Singh Ranu from Colorado State University, among others.

Dr. Gosal emphasized PAU's expanding global presence, noting that the Kisan Mela is now broadcast online, allowing agricultural knowledge to reach far beyond borders. He also highlighted the university's infrastructure upgrades, including improvements to the university library, which were made possible by the efforts of S. Harchand Singh Barsat. Reflecting on challenges faced during last years paddy procurement season, Dr. Gosal encouraged farmers to complete sowing of the PR 126 variety before July 15. He advised farmers to retain and reuse seeds of PAU-developed varieties and emphasized that the university does not recommend hybrid rice.

In addressing concerns over pesticide residues in basmati rice, Dr. Gosal advocated for the use of Trichoderma to ensure residue-free cultivation and encouraged diversification, particularly with indigenous cotton crops.

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Dr. Rajbir Singh Brar lauded PAUs model of farmer engagement through Kisan Melas, emphasizing the importance of such events for the advancement of agriculture on a national level. He also pledged to support the inclusion of farmers from other states in future melas.

Sanjeev Arora, Rajya Sabha MP, echoed the Jai Jawan Jai Kisan slogan and commended Punjabs farmers for their vital role in securing national food security. He urged farmers to follow scientific recommendations, diversify their crops, and stay updated on modern farming techniques.

Dr. Sukhpal Singh, Chairman of the Punjab State Farmers' and Farm Workers Commission, referred to PAU as a "nursery of agricultural scientists." He discussed the states farm policy aimed at easing farmer distress through strategic planning and emphasized the importance of cooperative structures and youth employment in agriculture.

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Harchand Singh Barsat highlighted the potential for AI-driven agricultural solutions at the Kisan Mela and promised reforms in national marketing policies to benefit Punjabs farming community. Information Commissioner Harpreet Singh Sandhu also addressed the gathering.

Dr. Ajmer Singh Dhatt presented the latest recommendations for kharif crops, including new varieties such as PR 132 (paddy), PMH 17 (maize), and Punjab Kangni (millet), among others. He also introduced recommendations for crops like potato, carrot, chrysanthemum, raspberry, and gladiolus, emphasizing PAU's record of releasing 971 crop varieties to date.

Dr. Makhan Singh Bhullar, Director of Extension Education, delivered the welcome address, encouraging farmers to participate in training programs and explore cost-effective technologies. Dr. Tarsem Singh Dhillon concluded the session with a vote of thanks, and the event was moderated by Dr. Tejinder Singh Riar, Additional Director of Communication.

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The day ended with a lively cultural program, showcasing vibrant performances by local artists, which added a celebratory touch to the occasion.
Punjabs Milk Production Grows by 4.8 Percent Over Four Years, MP Sanjeev Arora Informs Parliament

In the dairy cooperative sector, it is noted that approximately 70-80 percent of the consumer rupee is returned to milk-producing farmers.

Milk production in Punjab has witnessed a notable increase of 4.8 percent over the past four years, rising from 132.72 lakh tonnes in 2019-20 to 139.11 lakh tonnes in 2023-24. This update was shared by Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, Prof. S P Singh Baghel, in response to a question raised by Ludhiana MP Sanjeev Arora in the ongoing Rajya Sabha session.

In his response, the Minister also highlighted the efforts being made by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying to enhance the genetic quality of indigenous bovine breeds in Punjab. These initiatives include a progeny testing program aimed at producing High Genetic Merit bulls of indigenous breeds such as Sahiwal cattle and Murrah buffalo, as well as a pedigree selection program for improving the genetic traits of Nili Ravi buffaloes from the state.

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Additionally, the department has been advancing bovine IVF technology for faster propagation of elite animals, focusing on breeds like Sahiwal cattle and Murrah and Nili Ravi buffaloes. The government has allocated funds to Punjab for establishing two IVF laboratories in Ludhiana and Patiala to support this initiative.

As part of its accelerated breed improvement program, Punjab is also expanding artificial insemination (AI) coverage using sex-sorted semen, including semen from indigenous breeds like Sahiwal cattle and Murrah buffalo. Moreover, a common genomic chip has been developed to aid in the selection and propagation of elite animals from these native breeds.

The government has also allocated funds for the establishment of Gokul Gram at Birdosanjh Nabha, dedicated to the development and conservation of the Sahiwal breed of cattle.

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While the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying does not regulate milk procurement and sale prices, these are determined by cooperative and private dairies based on production costs and market dynamics, the Minister explained. In the dairy cooperative sector, it is noted that approximately 70-80 percent of the consumer rupee is returned to milk-producing farmers.

Furthermore, the Minister emphasized that the Government of India is implementing several schemes designed to boost milk productivity, strengthen dairy infrastructure, enhance the availability of feed and fodder, and improve animal health services. These initiatives aim to reduce the cost of milk production while increasing the income of dairy farmers.
40pc of 388 Deportees from the US are from Punjab, Government Informs Lok Sabha

The statement was made following a query from SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

New Delhi: The decision to have US deportation flights land in Amritsar, Punjab, has faced significant backlash from the Punjab Government. In response, Kirti Vardhan Singh, the Union junior minister for external affairs, revealed in a written statement to the Lok Sabha that nearly 50 percent of the Indian deportees arriving in five commercial flights from Panama between February 20 and March 2 were from Punjab.

The statement was made following a query from SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal. According to the response, out of 55 illegal immigrants deported on these five flights, 27 (49 percent) were from Punjab, 22 (40 percent) from Haryana, 3 (5 percent) from Uttar Pradesh, 2 (4 percent) from Gujarat, and 1 (2 percent) from Rajasthan.

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Deportations of Punjabis from the US

Since Donald Trump assumed office, a total of 388 illegal immigrants from India, including 333 on military aircraft, have been deported from the US. Of these, 153 (40 percent) were from Punjab. The five commercial flights that landed in Delhi between February 20 and March 2 showed varying numbers of deportees from Punjab. Notably, the February 20 flight carried only two deportees, both from Haryana, with no one from Punjab.

On February 23, 12 immigrants were deported, including four from Punjab, while the February 27 flight carried 11 deportees, eight of whom were from Punjab. The February 28 flight included 9 deportees, six of whom were from Punjab, and the March 2 flight saw 21 immigrants, with nine from Punjab. Prior to these, three military flights that landed in Punjab on February 5, 15, and 16 deported 333 immigrants, with 126 (38 percent) from Punjab, 110 (33 percent) from Haryana, and the remaining from other states.

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Explanation on Flight Landings

The minister further explained that the landing locations for repatriation flights were selected based on operational efficiency, airspace logistics, and the proximity to the deportees' final destinations. Additionally, he confirmed that the Indian government had raised concerns with US authorities regarding the alleged mistreatment of deportees during the process.
Political Leader Gunned Down in Panipat

Authorities reported that the attack occurred late Friday, with the gunman firing at the JJP leader and the two others.

Ravinder Minna Murder Latest News Today: Ravinder Minna, a prominent figure in the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), was fatally shot in Panipat on Friday evening, according to local police. The assailant also targeted Minnas cousin and another individual, leaving both wounded.

Authorities reported that the attack occurred late Friday, with the gunman firing at the JJP leader and the two others. "Ravinder Minna succumbed to his injuries, while the other two victims survived with gunshot wounds. Weve deployed five teams to apprehend the suspect," a Panipat police spokesperson stated.

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In a separate incident last week, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Surendra Jawahra, was allegedly killed by his neighbor in Sonipat on March 14 over a property conflict, Sonipat police confirmed. The accused, identified as Monu, hails from Jawahara village in the district, said Rishi Kant, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) at Gohana police station.

Initial findings suggest the motive stemmed from a land transaction between Jawahra and relatives of the accused, sparking a feud that escalated into the deadly shooting.
Four Patiala Police Officers Suspended, SIT Formed Following Assault on Colonel Pushpinder Bath

Jaswinder Kaur Bath, the wife of Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath, vowed to continue her pursuit of justice.

Colonel Pushpinder Bath Assault Case: Four police officers from Patiala have been suspended and transferred in connection with the alleged assault on Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath, a senior police official confirmed. A First Information Report (FIR) has also been filed against the accused officers.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been established to thoroughly probe the incident. Patiala's Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Nanak Singh, provided details about the case, stating that a new FIR had been registered. The officers involved in the assaultInspectors Ronni Singh, Harjinder Dhillon, Harry Boparai, and Shaminderhave been suspended and moved out of the state. The SIT, which will be led by ADGP SPS Parmar, is tasked with investigating the matter, collecting evidence, and making arrests as necessary. Meanwhile, security has been increased for Colonel Bath and his family, with two armed police personnel assigned to protect them. The situation has remained peaceful so far, according to SSP Singh.

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Punjab's Finance Minister, Harpal Singh Cheema, also addressed the incident, expressing concern over the assault on Colonel Bath by police personnel. He assured that swift and decisive action would be taken against those responsible. "An SIT has been formed, and action will be taken against the guilty officers. We have transferred all the accused individuals to ensure that the investigation is not influenced. Justice will be served, and we will not spare anyone," Cheema emphasized, reaffirming the state government's commitment to a transparent investigation.

The formation of the SIT and the suspension of the involved officers are seen as important steps toward ensuring accountability and a fair investigation, particularly as the incident has raised concerns about police misconduct.

Jaswinder Kaur Bath, the wife of Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath, vowed to continue her pursuit of justice. "This is not a political matter. It is a fight for the people of Punjab. I will fight for justice for everyone, and I do not need to form a political party or organization to do so. I will ensure that justice is served for all," she said, although she added that she was not yet informed about the suspension of the accused officers.

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The FIR was filed at the Civil Lines Police Station in Patiala on March 14, based on Colonel Bath's statement regarding the assault that occurred on the night of March 13/14. In his statement, Colonel Bath identified the officers involved and described their roles in the incident.

To ensure an impartial and swift investigation, a high-level SIT has been set up under the leadership of SPS Parmar, ADGP Law & Order, Punjab. The team also includes Sandeep Malik, Senior Superintendent of Police, Hoshiarpur, and Manpreet Singh, Superintendent of Police, Rural, SAS Nagar. The SIT will work daily to gather evidence and carry out further legal actions.

Furthermore, the Additional Director General of Police (Security), Punjab, has been directed to provide necessary protection to Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath's family during the investigation.
BEIRUT, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Saturday condemned Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon that killed two people and wounded eight, accusing Israel of violating a ceasefire agreement and risking broader conflict, according to a statement from Lebanon's presidency.

Aoun called the strikes "a continued assault on Lebanon" and warned they represented attempts to "drag Lebanon into the cycle of violence once again." He urged Lebanese authorities, including the military and a five-member committee overseeing the U.S.- and French-mediated 2024 truce between Israel and Hezbollah, to address the escalation with "the utmost seriousness" to prevent further repercussions.

The president directed army commander Rodolphe Haikal to protect civilians and investigate the strikes while appealing for restraint to safeguard Lebanon's "national interests."

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) voiced alarm over the violence.

"We strongly urge all parties to refrain from actions that could jeopardize the fragile stability," spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said, warning that further escalation could have "severe consequences." UNIFIL said peacekeepers were maintaining patrols to de-escalate tensions.

Israel said it launched Saturday's strikes after rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanese territory, blaming Hezbollah. The Iran-backed group denied involvement.

The exchange occurred amid lingering friction over a U.S.- and French-mediated ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which took effect on Nov. 27, 2024, halting over a year of hostilities linked to the Gaza conflict.

The truce stipulated an Israeli withdrawal from disputed Lebanese territory, but Israeli forces continue to occupy five border posts past a Feb. 18 deadline. 
The New Italian Cinema in Romania

The Visuali Italiene film festival is under way in Romania.

The opening of the festival (Photo: RRI)

Corina Sabau, 22.03.2025, 14:00

The Visuali Italiene film festival is under way in Romania.

The Visuali Italiane  Noua Cinematografie Italiana in Romania (The New Italian Cinema in Romania) festival, now in its fourth edition, brings a remarkable selection of eleven feature films and four short films, offering the Romanian audience an authentic and fresh perspective on the present-day Italian film-making. The festival screenings are held in six cities in Romania, in Bucharest (March 3  9, Cinema Muzeul Taranului), Cluj-Napoca (March 13  16, Cinema Victoria), Craiova (March 21  23, Cinema Patria), Timisoara (March 27  30, Cinema Studio), Iasi (March 29  30, Cinema Ateneu) and Sibiu (May 28  June 1), in a special section, within the ESTE Film Festival.

Weve come this year with an updated recipe for success of the previous editions, with established and debuting directors, increasingly present and more original female personalities, an incursion into the world of documentary film and the diversified world of short films. We aim to present to the Romanian public the best films produced recently, revealing the modernity of our cinematography through great stories and a creative and original film language, says Laura Napolitano, director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Bucharest. A reference moment in the festival is the preview of the film Queer, the latest project of the renowned director Luca Guadagnino, a bold adaptation of the cult novel by William S. Burroughs.

Simona Radoi, the PR of the festival, has more: Queer, distributed in Romania by Transylvania Film, will be present in cinema halls as of March 21. What turns the film into a hit is primarily the fact that the main part is played by Daniel Craig, whom you have never seen in such a role before. He plays an American expat in Mexico City in the 1950s, a man who leads a solitary life, marked by alcohol and disturbed by the meeting with a young student. The soundtrack of this film, signed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, is also superb, it is actually the third collaboration of these musicians with Guadagnino. And there are many well-known songs included in the soundtrack, from Nirvana to Sinead OConnor. Obviously, Queer is also considered one of Luca Guadagninos most daring and personal films. Another film in the festivals program is Io sono lamore, the film thanks to which Guadagnino became known on the international market. Its a combination of Luchino Viscontis refined aesthetics and a powerful story about identity and desire. I will add that in the cast of this film you will find Tilda Swinton, who is the protagonist, but also a co-producer. The soundtrack of this film is also remarkable, the costumes are created by Raf Simons for Jil Sander, while the male characters wear Fendi. The festival selection also included a little gem, Diciannove/Nineteen, a bold debut by a young director, Giovanni Tortorici, who was very inspired by the well-known director. His film is actually co-produced by Gudagnino and tells the story of a young man who allows himself to wander, as we all did during our student days, to find our way in life. Besides being very moving and well-written, this film takes us through all kinds of gorgeous places, from Palermo to London.

The Visuali Italiane festival goes beyond the boundaries of the classic fiction film, exploring other cinematic forms, such as the documentary, but also short films. Simona Radoi, PR of the festival: We have a warm-up for the 18th edition of One World Romania this year as well. It is about the creative documentary Real by Adele Tulli, a fascinating exploration of the digital world and the way technology changes our lives and asks us essential questions about the reality we live in. What I found very interesting about this documentary is the fact that the author was inspired by some images captured on CCTV cameras. The characters of the film are ordinary people, but who live entirely in the digital world, from streamers and professional gamers to people who build virtual worlds or live through AI.

The opening of the festival in Bucharest, at the Peasant Museum Cinema, was marked by the screening of the film Vermiglio, the Bride of the Mountain, directed by Maura Delpero. The film, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and Italys proposal for the 2025 Oscars, brings to the screen a moving story about survival and human connections from 1944 and impresses with the authenticity of the landscapes and the depth of the characters. The film has been distributed in Romania by Culoar Films, starting on March 7. (MI/EE)
THE WEEK IN REVIEW

17-21 March, 2025

The Week in Review

Leyla Cheamil, 22.03.2025, 13:08

11 candidates for Romanias presidential election

The list of candidates for Romanias presidential election in May is final, after the Constitutional Court rejected the last appeals on Thursday. There are 11 candidates, seven of whom represent political parties and four are independents. Among those running on behalf of political parties is Crin Antonescu, former PNL leader and, for a short period in 2012, the countrys interim president. He is running on behalf of the ruling PSD-PNL-UDMR alliance. He was the PNL candidate in the 2009 presidential election, where he came third in the first round. USR leader Elena Lasconi, who came second in the elections annulled by the Constitutional Court at the end of last year, has re-entered the race. The current mayor of the capital, Nicusor Dan, has entered the race as an independent. Recently expelled from the PSD, Victor Ponta, is also running as an independent. He was the leader of this party and prime minister between 2012 and 2015. On Monday, state authorities responsible for organizing the presidential elections assessed the preparation of the election and estimated that the logistics of the activities are on schedule, but insisted that good coordination is needed, especially with the online campaign. The talks were convened by interim president Ilie Bolojan. He has repeatedly assured that he would do everything possible to ensure that these elections are organized fairly, freely and transparently and at the same time reflect the dynamic political debate and commitment to freedom of expression. The electoral campaign for the first round will begin on April 4, and will end on May 3. Voting in the country will take place on Sunday, May 4, but Romanian citizens abroad will be able to go to the polls over three days, on May 2, 3 and 4. A second round will take place on May 18.

Searches in the case of financing the electoral campaign of the pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu in the first round of the presidential elections last year

Several influencers who ran a paid campaign on Tiktok and other social networks for Calin Georgescu, the pro-Russian independent candidate in the presidential elections last year, are in the sights of prosecutors. On Thursday, searches took place at addresses in Bucharest and nine counties. Prosecutors also paid a call again to the home of an influencer about whom the Romanian Intelligence Service showed, that he financed Georgescus campaign on Tiktok with over 380,000 euros, with a document declassified by the Supreme Council for National Defense. Other people who supported Georgescus campaign, and received money on TikTok to promote the candidate with a radical anti-Western discourse, were also targeted by the searches. Declassified documents from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the RIS showed that influencers were involved in promoting and buying votes. Judicial activities aim to establish links between those targeted by the searches and other individuals who may be involved in fraud in the electoral process, and how they were paid.

Romania supports North Macedonia

Four patients injured in the devastating fire at a club in North Macedonia were transported to Brussels on a Romanian Air Force Spartan aircraft, configured for special missions. During the flight between Skopje and the Belgian capital, the patients were monitored by a mixed medical team. The mixed team was provided by the Ministry of National Defense and the Department for Emergency Situations, as well as Belgian medical personnel. The mission is part of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, established in 2001 by the European Union. 59 young people died in a nightclub fire in North Macedonia, and 196 were injured, including 20 children. The tragedy is reminiscent of the Colectiv case in Romania. A fire at the Bucharest club Colectiv in 2015 killed more than 60 young people and injured more than 180. The fire was caused by fireworks during a concert, and the flames quickly spread throughout the club. Following the massive protests that followed the deflagration, the then Social Democratic Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, resigned.

Romanias interim president, Ilie Bolojan, present at the meeting of European leaders in Brussels

European leaders gathered in Brussels to adopt the White Paper on Defense, presented on Wednesday by the European Commission, with an emphasis on the acquisition of weapons from European production, not American, as previously. Present at the meeting, Romanias interim president, Ilie Bolojan, stated that, at the European Council, there was a discussion about accelerating measures for the preparation of European defense, with NATO, which will continue to be the foundation of collective defense. Ilie Bolojan said: This means that, in the coming period, member states will be able to carry out joint defense procurement, which is an opportunity for the national defense industry to enter the value chains of the European defense industry or the global defense ones. He specified that this means that, in the coming period, member states will be able to carry out joint defense procurement, and the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Economy will analyze the opportunities related to financing in order to join European defense conglomerates.

No official communication regarding the postponement of the introduction of the Visa Waiver system

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in an official statement that, at this moment, there is no official communication regarding the change of the date envisaged for the update of the ESTA system for authorizing travel to the United States for Romanian citizens. The MFA specifies that Romania considers the Visa Waiver program as a security partnership, and affirms its conviction that its implementation will contribute to border security and combating illegal migration. The Foreign Ministrys clarifications come in the context of information appearing in several Romanian publications that the Trump administration is considering a two-month postponement for technical reasons in the introduction of the Visa Waiver system for Romania. It was supposed to come into effect around March 31.
In Brazil, the second-generation Renault Duster is currently on sale, offered with a 1.3-litre turbo and a 1.6-litre NA petrol engine option

Nissan will be introducing two new SUVs in Brazil, one of which is confirmed to be the new-gen Kicks. There was speculation that the second SUV could be the Magnite. However, latest spy shots reveal that Nissans second SUV for Brazil could actually be the Nissan version of the new-gen Renault Duster. Lets explore some of the available evidence and possibilities.

Duster Nissan version  What to expect?

Nissans version of the new-gen Duster will have a distinctive front fascia, likely featuring the signature V-Motion grille design. Other key features could include sharper lighting elements in place of the Y-shaped LED DRLs seen with the new-gen Duster. Nissans version of the Duster will also be getting a distinctive bumper design. However, the heavily camouflaged test vehicle does not reveal any of the finer details.

In Nissans lineup for Brazil, the rebadged Duster will be positioned below the new-gen Kicks. It will be slightly smaller than the new Kicks, although both SUVs will cater to the compact SUV segment. The new-gen Kicks was introduced in 2024 and is currently available only for the North American market. It is 4,366 mm long. Brazil will be getting the new-gen Kicks later this year. Production has already commenced at the companys plant in Resende, Rio de Janeiro. Ahead of its launch, Nissan Kicks has received an impressive 5-star safety rating in Latin NCAP crash tests.

Talking about Nissans version of the Duster, the SUV will be manufactured at the same facility in Resende. In 2023, Nissan had announced an investment of R$2.8 billion for the Resende facility. The possibility of Nissans version of the Duster is supported by the statement given by Guy Rodriguez, the President of Nissan Latin America. He had said that Nissans second SUV for Brazil will be an entirely new model that is not available anywhere in the world.

Duster Nissan version  Powertrain options

Nissans version of Duster could get a 1.0-litre turbo petrol engine. Across global markets, the new-gen Duster is offered with multiple powertrain options. These include a 140 PS, 1.6-litre petrol strong hybrid, a 130 PS 1.2-litre turbo petrol mild hybrid, a 100 PS 1.0-litre petrol-LPG bi-fuel option and a 150-170 PS 1.3-litre turbo petrol engine. Duster (under Dacia) will also be getting an e-4WD variant that will have a rear-axle-mounted electric motor. A 44 LPG version of the Duster is also being developed.

Nissans second SUV for Brazil will be exported to more than 20 Latin American countries. This also supports the case for Nissans version of the Duster. Nissan will need a well-rounded product for these markets, something that can be fulfilled with the rebadged version of the new-gen Duster.

In India, the new-gen Renault Duster is expected to debut in 2026. Petrol and LPG engine options seem most relevant for the Indian market. Renault Duster will rival the likes of Hyundai Creta, Tata Curvv, Kia Seltos, Maruti Grand Vitara, Toyota Hyryder, Honda Elevate, Skoda Kushaq and Volkswagen Taigun.
The new R&D Center in Bengaluru will be Toyotas third such unit in the APAC region outside Japan, following similar set ups in Thailand and China

Toyota Kirloskar Motors plans to expand their association and product development with Suzuki with the setting up of a new R&D Center. Slated to be located in Bengaluru, this will be the companys first such unit in India and the third in the APAC region. Toyota also has two units both in Thailand and China.

Toyotas first research and development (R&D) center is slated to be completed by 2027. It will be located close to the companys Bidadi plant. It will commence operations offering employment to 2,000 workers, expanding operations with an additional 3,000 engineers over the next 2 years.

Toyotas 1st R&D Center in India

Toyotas new center will initially cater to the Indian market demands following which it will emerge as a global hub. As part of its plans for the new center in Bengaluru, Toyota will be closely studying similar R&D operations set up by Suzuki in Rohtak. This is one of the largest auto engineering centers in India with around 3,000 employees. While initially the new Toyota center will focus on the Indian markets, plans are afoot to make India a hub for operations across Middle East, East Asia, and Oceania region.

Toyota shares multiple models with Suzuki. There is the Urban Cruiser Hyryder, which shares platform and parts with Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara), Rumion, (a rebadged Ertiga), and Glanza which is a rebadged Maruti Suzuki Baleno. The list also includes the Toyota Taisor which is a rebadged version of the Maruti Fronx.

Toyota to Liaison with Suzuki for EVs

Following Toyotas alliance with Suzuki for rebadged products, the company also plans a partnership to integrate both R&D and product development for the electric car markets. A first in this area is the upcoming Urban Cruiser EV which will be a rebadged version of the Suzuki e-Vitara, the companys first electric car.

Almost identical to the e-Vitara in most respects, the Urban Cruiser EV had made its official debut late last year. It will be a global product which will be produced at Suzukis Gujarat plant in India. It will also be exported to many global markets.
NIAMEY, March 22 (Xinhua) -- At least 44 civilians were killed and 13 others injured in a terrorist attack on Friday in a village in Niger's western region of Tillaberi, authorities said later in the day.

It was a barbaric attack carried out by terrorists of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), said a communique from Interior Minister Mohamed Toumba.

The heavily armed terrorists carried out their massacre at a mosque in Fambita in the rural town of Kokorou at around 14:00 local time (1300 GMT), when Muslim worshippers were performing the collective Friday prayer, and set fire to the local market and homes during their retreat, said the communique.

Four injured people are in serious condition, it said.

In the communique, Toumba vowed to track down and prosecute "the perpetrators, accomplices, planners and collaborators."

The Kokorou commune is located in the "three borders" region, where Niger shares borders with Mali and Burkina Faso. This area has become a hotbed of insecurity in recent years, plagued by attacks from various jihadist groups. 
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (2nd R), also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attends Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (2nd L)'s meeting with foreign ministers from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in Tokyo, Japan, on March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)

TOKYO, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China attaches great importance to cooperation among China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK), and is confident in it, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Friday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while attending Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's meeting in Tokyo with foreign ministers from China, Japan and the ROK.

Wang said that China-Japan-ROK cooperation started early, achieved many results and has great potential, and has played an important role in enhancing mutual understanding and mutually beneficial cooperation among them.

There is a saying in all three countries that goes "A nearby neighbor is better than a distant relative," Wang said, adding in the face of a world that is becoming increasingly unstable and uncertain, the proverb, full of oriental wisdom, highlights the significance of their cooperation.

China-Japan-ROK relations develop further, regional peace and stability will be further guaranteed. Their cooperation deepens further, countries in the region will be better able to respond to various external challenges, Wang said.

Noting this year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the global war against fascism, Wang stressed that only by holding correct perceptions of history can we better build the future.

Wang said China is willing to work with Japan and the ROK to establish a correct view of World War II history, uphold multilateralism, safeguard the core role of the United Nations in the international system, and continuously promote cooperation and make respective contributions to regional and world peace and prosperity. 

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (2nd L, Front), also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attends Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (2nd R, Front)'s meeting with foreign ministers from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in Tokyo, Japan, on March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)
British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca signed a landmark agreement on Friday to invest 2.5-billion U.S. dollars in Beijing over the next five years.




The ability to generate high-quality images quickly is crucial for producing realistic simulated environments that can be used to train self-driving cars to avoid unpredictable hazards, making them safer on real streets.

But the generative AI techniques increasingly being used to produce such images have drawbacks. One popular type of model, called a diffusion model, can create stunningly realistic images but is too slow and computationally intensive for many applications. On the other hand, the autoregressive models that power LLMs like ChatGPT are much faster, but they produce poorer-quality images that are often riddled with errors.

Researchers from MIT and NVIDIA developed a new approach that brings together the best of both methods. Their hybrid image-generation tool uses an autoregressive model to quickly capture the big picture and then a small diffusion model to refine the details of the image.

Their tool, known as HART (short for Hybrid Autoregressive Transformer) can generate images that match or exceed the quality of state-of-the-art diffusion models, but do so about nine times faster.

The generation process consumes fewer computational resources than typical diffusion models, enabling HART to run locally on a commercial laptop or smartphone. A user only needs to enter one natural language prompt into the HART interface to generate an image.

HART could have a wide range of applications, such as helping researchers train robots to complete complex real-world tasks and aiding designers in producing striking scenes for video games.

"If you are painting a landscape, and you just paint the entire canvas once, it might not look very good. But if you paint the big picture and then refine the image with smaller brush strokes, your painting could look a lot better. That is the basic idea with HART," says Haotian Tang PhD '25, co-lead author of a new paper on HART.

He is joined by co-lead author Yecheng Wu, an undergraduate student at Tsinghua University; senior author Song Han, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), a member of the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, and a distinguished scientist of NVIDIA; as well as others at MIT, Tsinghua University, and NVIDIA. The research will be presented at the International Conference on Learning Representations.

The best of both worlds

Popular diffusion models, such as Stable Diffusion and DALL-E, are known to produce highly detailed images. These models generate images through an iterative process where they predict some amount of random noise on each pixel, subtract the noise, then repeat the process of predicting and "de-noising" multiple times until they generate a new image that is completely free of noise.

Because the diffusion model de-noises all pixels in an image at each step, and there may be 30 or more steps, the process is slow and computationally expensive. But because the model has multiple chances to correct details it got wrong, the images are high-quality.

Autoregressive models, commonly used for predicting text, can generate images by predicting patches of an image sequentially, a few pixels at a time. They can't go back and correct their mistakes, but the sequential prediction process is much faster than diffusion.

These models use representations known as tokens to make predictions. An autoregressive model utilizes an autoencoder to compress raw image pixels into discrete tokens as well as reconstruct the image from predicted tokens. While this boosts the model's speed, the information loss that occurs during compression causes errors when the model generates a new image.

With HART, the researchers developed a hybrid approach that uses an autoregressive model to predict compressed, discrete image tokens, then a small diffusion model to predict residual tokens. Residual tokens compensate for the model's information loss by capturing details left out by discrete tokens.

"We can achieve a huge boost in terms of reconstruction quality. Our residual tokens learn high-frequency details, like edges of an object, or a person's hair, eyes, or mouth. These are places where discrete tokens can make mistakes," says Tang.

Because the diffusion model only predicts the remaining details after the autoregressive model has done its job, it can accomplish the task in eight steps, instead of the usual 30 or more a standard diffusion model requires to generate an entire image. This minimal overhead of the additional diffusion model allows HART to retain the speed advantage of the autoregressive model while significantly enhancing its ability to generate intricate image details.

"The diffusion model has an easier job to do, which leads to more efficiency," he adds.

Outperforming larger models

During the development of HART, the researchers encountered challenges in effectively integrating the diffusion model to enhance the autoregressive model. They found that incorporating the diffusion model in the early stages of the autoregressive process resulted in an accumulation of errors. Instead, their final design of applying the diffusion model to predict only residual tokens as the final step significantly improved generation quality.

Their method, which uses a combination of an autoregressive transformer model with 700 million parameters and a lightweight diffusion model with 37 million parameters, can generate images of the same quality as those created by a diffusion model with 2 billion parameters, but it does so about nine times faster. It uses about 31 percent less computation than state-of-the-art models.

Moreover, because HART uses an autoregressive model to do the bulk of the work -- the same type of model that powers LLMs -- it is more compatible for integration with the new class of unified vision-language generative models. In the future, one could interact with a unified vision-language generative model, perhaps by asking it to show the intermediate steps required to assemble a piece of furniture.

"LLMs are a good interface for all sorts of models, like multimodal models and models that can reason. This is a way to push the intelligence to a new frontier. An efficient image-generation model would unlock a lot of possibilities," he says.

In the future, the researchers want to go down this path and build vision-language models on top of the HART architecture. Since HART is scalable and generalizable to multiple modalities, they also want to apply it for video generation and audio prediction tasks.

This research was funded, in part, by the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, the MIT and Amazon Science Hub, the MIT AI Hardware Program, and the National Science Foundation. The GPU infrastructure for training this model was donated by NVIDIA.
Ten years ago, nobody knew that Asgard archaea even existed. In 2015, however, researchers examining deep-sea sediments discovered gene fragments that indicated a new and previously undiscovered form of microbes.

With computer assistance, the researchers assembled these fragments like puzzle pieces to compile the entire genome. It was only then that they realised they were dealing with a previously unknown group of archaea.

Like bacteria, archaea are single-celled organisms. Genetically, however, there are significant differences between the two domains, especially regarding their cell envelopes and metabolic processes.

After a further search, microbiologists identified the corresponding organisms, described them and classified them as a separate archaeal sub-group: Asgard archaea. Their name, taken from the heavenly realm in Norse mythology, references their initial discovery close to Loki's Castle -- a black smoker on the mid-Atlantic ridge between Norway and Svalbard.

In fact, Asgard archaea appeared almost heaven-sent for research: they turned out to be a missing link between archaea and eukaryotes -- that is, between archaea and organisms whose cells contain a nucleus, such as plants and animals.

Tree of life with one branch fewer

In recent years, researchers have found growing indications of close links between Asgard archaea and eukaryotes, and that the latter may have evolved from the former. The division of all living organisms into the three domains of bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes did not hold up to this surprising discovery.

Some researchers have since proposed regarding eukaryotes as a group within Asgard archaea. This would reduce the number of domains of life from three to two: archaea, including eukaryotes, and bacteria.

At ETH Zurich, Professor Martin Pilhofer and his team are fascinated by Asgard archaea and have examined the mysterious microbes for several years.

In an article published in Nature two years ago, the ETH researchers explored details of the cellular structure and architecture of Lokiarchaeum ossiferum. Originating in the sediments of a brackish water channel in Slovenia, this Asgard archaeon was isolated by researchers in Christa Schleper's laboratory at the University of Vienna.

In that study, Pilhofer and his postdoctoral researchers Jingwei Xu and Florian Wollweber demonstrated that Lokiarchaeum ossiferum possesses certain structures also typical of eukaryotes. "We found an actin protein in that species that appears very similar to the protein found in eukaryotes -- and occurs in almost all Asgard archaea discovered to date," says Pilhofer.

In the first study, the researchers combined different microscopy techniques to demonstrate that this protein -- called Lokiactin -- forms filamentous structures, especially in the microbes' numerous tentacle-like protrusions. "They appear to form the skeleton for the complex cell architecture of Asgard archaea," adds Florian Wollweber.

In addition to actin filaments, eukaryotes also possess microtubules. These tube-shaped structures are the second key component of the cytoskeleton and are comprised of numerous tubulin proteins. These tiny tubes are important for transport processes within a cell and the segregation of chromosomes during cell division

The origin of these microtubules has been unclear -- until now. In a newly published article in Cell , the ETH researchers discovered related structures in Asgard archaea and describe their structure. These experiments show that Asgard tubulins form very similar microtubules, albeit smaller than those in their eukaryotic relatives.

However, only a few Lokiarchaeum cells form these microtubules. And, unlike actin, these tubulin proteins only appear in very few species of Asgard archaea.

Scientists do not yet understand why tubulins appear so rarely in Lokiarchaea, or why they are needed by cells. In eukaryotes, microtubuless are responsible for transport processes within the cell. In some cases, motor proteins "walk along" these tubes. The ETH researchers have not yet observed such motor proteins in Asgard archaea.

"We have shown, however, that the tubes formed from these tubulins grow at one end. We therefore suspect that they perform similar transport functions as the microtubules in eukaryotes," says Jingwei Xu, the co-first author of the Cell study. He produced the tubulins in a cell culture with insect cells and examined their structure.

Researchers from the fields of microbiology, biochemistry, cell biology and structural biology collaborated closely on the study. "We would never have progressed so far without this interdisciplinary approach," emphasises Pilhofer with a degree of pride.

Was the cytoskeleton essential for the development of complex life? While some questions remain unanswered, the researchers are confident that the cytoskeleton was an important step in the evolution of eukaryotes.

This step could have occurred aeons ago, when an Asgard archaeon entwined a bacterium with its appendages. In the course of evolution, this bacterium developed into a mitochondrion, which serves as the powerhouse of modern cells. Over time, the nucleus and other compartments evolved -- and the eukaryotic cell was born.

"This remarkable cytoskeleton was probably at the beginning of this development. It could have enabled Asgard archaea to form appendages, thereby allowing them to interact with, and then seize and engulf a bacterium," says Pilhofer.

Fishing for Asgard archaea

Pilhofer and his colleagues now plan to turn their attention to the function of actin filaments and archaeal tubulin along with the resulting microtubules.

They also aim to identify the proteins that researchers have discovered on the surface of these microbes. Pilhofer hopes his team will be able to develop antibodies precisely tailored to these proteins. This would enable researchers to "fish" specifically for Asgard archaea in mixed microbe cultures.

"We still have a lot of unanswered questions about Asgard archaea, especially regarding their relation to eukaryotes and their unusual cell biology," says Pilhofer. "Tracking down the secrets of these microbes is fascinating."
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Lim Boon Heng, chairman of Singapore's Temasek Holdings, in Beijing, capital of China, March 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with Lim Boon Heng, chairman of Singapore's Temasek Holdings, in Beijing on Saturday.

He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that since the beginning of this year, China's economy has maintained good recovery momentum.

China will open its doors wider to the outside world, and its business environment will get better and better, He said, noting that there will be broad space for deepened cooperation between China and Singapore.

"We welcome Temasek and other international investors to invest in China and share the huge market and development opportunities here," He said.

For his part, Lim said that Temasek is as optimistic about China's development prospects as always, and will continue to deepen its work in the Chinese market. 
An aerial drone photo taken on March 13, 2025 shows farmland of Musa Darboe, in the Central River Region, The Gambia. (Xinhua/Si Yuan)

CHANGSHA/BANJUL, March 22 (Xinhua) -- In The Gambia, where rice is a staple of daily life, a quiet agricultural transformation is taking root, driven by technological innovations and international cooperation, helping farmers achieve record-breaking yields and reduce reliance on imports.

The West African country's agricultural productivity has been steadily increasing, with rice production surpassing 48,000 tonnes in 2024, marking a historic high.

"We have never achieved such a yield before, which shows that Gambian agriculture is improving. Development partners like China have played a crucial role," Minister of Agriculture Demba Sabally said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Innovations in infrastructure and the introduction of high-yield agricultural technologies by Chinese teams have been instrumental in reaching this milestone, he said.

For a long time, The Gambia has relied heavily on rice imports due to traditional farming methods, limited mechanization and small-scale rice cultivation.

"In The Gambia, you cannot live without rice," said Gambian farmer Musa Darboe. Originally a telecommunications engineer in the United States, Darboe returned to The Gambia in 2018 to manage the farm left by his father. However, harsh realities quickly hit him.

"I had no knowledge of rice planting techniques at the time, and agricultural mechanization in The Gambia was low. No one taught me what to do, and at one point, I even considered giving it all up," Darboe recalled.

Soon, things took a turn for the better. In July 2019, he met Huang Zhi, country manager of Longping High-Tech, a Chinese agricultural company named after Yuan Longping who was known as the "father of hybrid rice," and his team, who were in The Gambia for agricultural cooperation. From seed selection to planting, Chinese experts provided hands-on assistance and introduced professional equipment such as rice transplanters and harvesters, machines that Darboe's father's generation had never even dreamed of.

"After more than five years of development, Darboe's farm has now achieved near-complete mechanization in four key stages: plowing, transplanting, harvesting and processing," Huang said. According to him, the team has achieved a yield of 10.8 tonnes per hectare, two to three times higher than that of local rice varieties.

"I am deeply grateful for China's support in The Gambia's agricultural development. Without the guidance and assistance of Chinese agricultural experts, we would not have been able to produce high-quality rice," Darboe said.

Rice yields and field management standards at Darboe's farm continue to improve. Through a cooperative model, he now provides seeds, fertilizers, mechanization services and agricultural processing support to more than 2,000 nearby farmers. Other farm owners are also gradually adopting Chinese agricultural machinery and rice planting techniques.

"The Chinese technical team has introduced various high-quality rice varieties, including high-yield and hybrid seeds, which are essential for the development of Gambian agriculture," Sabally said. 

Huang Zhi (L) and Musa Darboe exchange rice farming experiences at Darboe's farmland in the Central River Region, The Gambia, on March 14, 2025. (Xinhua/Si Yuan)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Emilie Dequenne, the Belgian actress known for her roles in films like Rosetta, The Brotherhood of the Wolf, The Housekeeper, and The Bridge of San Luis Rey, has died at the age of 43.

The acclaimed actress died on Sunday in a Paris hospital after battling a rare form of adrenal gland cancer, which she revealed in October 2023. Her death was announced by her agent, Danielle Gain.

Born on August 29, 1981 in Beloeil, Wallonia, Belgium, Dequenne first gained recognition at the age of 17 when she starred in the 1999 film Rosetta by the Dardenne brothers, portraying a teenager living in a caravan with her alcoholic mother.

Her performance earned her the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, where Rosetta also won the prestigious Palme dOr.

Filmmaker Luc Dardenne expressed his sorrow over her death, telling FranceInfo: Its terrible; Life is disgusting sometimes. Thats too young, she still had so much to do.

Over the years, Dequennes career flourished, earning her accolades like a Best Supporting Actress Cesar for The Things We Say, The Things We Do, and a Belgian Magritte for Best Actress for her role in This Is Our Land.

She is survived by her second husband, actor Michel Ferracci, and their 23-year-old daughter, Milla.

WHAT IS ADRENAL GLAND CANCER

Adrenal cancer occurs when abnormal cell growth begins in the adrenal glands, which are small, triangular organs located on top of the kidneys, according to the Mayo Clinic. It is also referred to as adrenocortical carcinoma.

Despite their small size, these glands play a crucial role in regulating various body functions by producing hormones that control metabolism, blood pressure, and other essential processes.

This form of cancer is rare and can develop at any age, though it most commonly affects children under the age of five and adults between their 40s and 50s.

Early detection of adrenal cancer may offer a chance for a cure, but if the cancer has spread beyond the adrenal glands, it becomes more difficult to treat effectively. In such cases, treatments are focused on preventing further spread.

Most growths in the adrenal glands are non-cancerous, such as adrenal adenomas, which are benign tumors.
Gail Middleton is shown in this 2017 file photo. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) Staff-Shot

A special blood drive will be held Saturday, March 22, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at SIUH Community Park, honoring the memory of Gail Middleton, a cherished Staten Island resident and passionate artist. This event, in partnership with the New York Blood Center, is crucial as New York City is currently facing a critical shortage of blood donations.

Middleton, who passed away on July 6th, 2024, at the age of 74, left a significant mark on her community. Her love for Staten Island was evident in her dedication to cleaning Fort Wadsworth Beach, where she spent each morning picking up litter and documenting the beachs natural beauty for inspiration in her art.

Her efforts, which earned her recognition as NY1s New Yorker of the Week in April 2024, not only promoted environmental conservation but also demonstrated her deep connection to the Island and its residents.

This blood drive is a way for the community to honor Middletons legacy and fulfill her wish to raise awareness about the importance of blood donation. As her selflessness touched so many, her memory now inspires a new act of kindness that can save lives.

Appointments are encouraged, but walk-ins are welcome. Each donor will receive a pair of FerryHawks tickets as a thank you for their contribution. Its a small token of appreciation for those helping to make a big impact.

To register or to find out more details about the event, please click here.
Scratch-off tickets are shown at Honeybee Convenience store on Forest Avenue in Port Richmond. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New Yorkers have 20 chances to turn a few bucks into tens of thousands of dollars with a simple scratch.

The New York Lottery has various $3 scratch-off games with top-prizes of $60,000.

As of Friday, there were 20 tickets across six different $3 scratch-off games with guaranteed top prizes of $60,000.

Here are the $3 scratch-off games with top-prize tickets still in circulation as of Friday, Mar. 21, according to New York Lottery data:

BONUS 15X CASHWORD

Top prizes remaining: 3

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 3,396,925

LINE EM UP

Top prizes remaining: 1

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 2,072,160

LOTERIA

Top prizes remaining: 1

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 2,676,933.33

LUCKY LINES

Top prizes remaining: 11

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 484,066.67

MATCH FOR CASH

Top prizes remaining: 1

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 2,036,880

MULTIPLY YOUR NUMBERS

Top prizes remaining: 3

Odds of winning top prize: 1 in 2,594,450

More information

For more information about the New York Lotterys scratch-off games, visit the New York Lottery website.

The New York Lottery continues to be touted as North Americas largest and most profitable lottery, contributing $3.8 billion in Lottery Aid to Education for fiscal year 2023-2024 to help support education in New York state.

New York Lottery revenue is distributed to local school districts by the same statutory formula used to distribute other state aid to education. It takes into account both a school districts size and its income level; larger, lower-income school districts receive proportionately larger shares of lottery school funding.

New Yorkers struggling with a gambling addiction, or who know someone who is, can find help by calling the states toll-free, confidential HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY (1-877-846-7369) or by texting HOPENY (467369). You can also contact your regional Problem Gambling Resource Center directly for a referral to treatment services (state-certified or private) in your area, or contact a Recovery Center for a referral to treatment services (state-certified or private) in your area.
Billions of cicadas are expected to emerge in spring 2025 in 14 states, including New York. (Staten Island Advance/ Bill Lyons) Staten Island Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Brace yourselves for a noisy spring, New York, as billions of pesky, buzzing cicadas will emerge in 14 states, including the Empire State, sometime in May, scientists say.

After 17 years leading quiet lives underground, theyll be ready for the loudest part of a life cycle that began when adult cicadas left their eggs on tree branches.

Typically beginning in mid-May and ending in late June, the cicadas will begin to emerge just about when the soil reaches 64 degrees eight inches beneath the ground, according to Cicadia Mania, a website dedicated to tracking the critters.

Contrary to popular belief, cicadas are not grasshoppers or locusts. They belong to the same family as aphids and leafhoppers. And while they may gross some people out, they pose no threat to humans or pets, according to scientists who study cicadas.

Cicadas belong to the same family as aphids and leafhoppers, and they pose no threat to humans or pets, according to scientists. (Staten Island Advance/ Bill Lyons) Staten Island Advance

Dont we hear them every year?

Most of the Eastern United States will greet the critters, who are classified under several different broods, identified by Roman numerals.

Brood XIV (14) will emerge this spring in Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, according to Cicada Mania. The last time this brood emerged was in 2008.

There also exists a type of cicada called annual. These emerge every couple of years, but because the emergence of these broods overlap, you can hear them a bit every summer in the trees.

They cause no harm to people, their overwhelming numbers and noise are a nuisance, and they do damage when they lay their eggs and break branches on more than 70 species of trees.

This wont kill trees, but might detract from their appearance, Cicada Mania says.

But, the XIV Brood emerges every 13 or 17 years. No one is absolutely certain about how many the state will see, since the population has dwindled, due to overdevelopment in New York in the past few decades, according to experts.

They are solid-looking, noisy insects with bulging, red eyes, so chances are, when they emerge, you wont be able to miss them.

Will Staten Island have any?

Staten Islanders shouldnt expect to see any cicadas, said Jose Ramirez-Garofalo, director of science and research development for Freshkills Park and president of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, Staten Islands largest environmental advocacy group.

Theyll be on Long Island and nearby in New Jersey, but there will be none here, he said with certainty.

These periodical cicadas have very specific distributions that they follow, he said. They dont really move around a lot."

Though this brood was historically on Staten Island, it ended up going extinct, Ramirez-Garofalo said. Once we lose a brood, we dont really get them back.

Urbanization is likely to blame, he said.

If you travel to Long Island, New Jersey and in nearby states, you should expect to see and hear cicadas after trees have grown leaves, and, according to Cicada Mania, around the same time we see Iris flowers bloom.
Whether youre a family looking to escape the lingering winter or a college student taking a break from academics, be aware of the risks involved, said FBI Assistant Director Akil Davis in a statement. (Associated Press/Rob Carr) AP

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The FBIs Los Angeles field office is advising Americans to exercise caution while traveling this spring break, especially if they plan to go abroad.

Whether youre a family looking to escape the lingering winter or a college student taking a break from academics, be aware of the risks involved, said FBI Assistant Director Akil Davis in a statement. Stay vigilant during your travels, and if necessary, contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or consulate, Davis said.

Before traveling internationally, the FBI recommends reviewing the U.S. State Departments travel advisories for an overview of potential risks. Consult the State Departments travel advisories for a general risk assessment.

Finally, if you see or hear suspicious activity when traveling, contact your local FBI or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov. Your identity can remain anonymous when submitting a tip to the FBI.

If you must travel, the FBI advises not traveling alone, particularly after dark. Staying aware of your surroundings is crucial, steering clear of areas that might put your safety at risk, the FBI said.

Another key piece of advice is to use only authorized taxis or shuttles. There have been instances in which passengers were robbed or kidnapped after using unauthorized taxis, so it is important to stick to reliable, trusted transportation options.

The FBI also advises against any illegal, inappropriate, or risky behavior, such as accepting offers of sexual companionship. These situations can escalate quickly, leading to dangers like blackmail, raids, or other compromising situations, the FBI warned.

Staying alert and aware of your environment is essential in avoiding criminals. Be conscious of anyone who may be following you, and if you feel suspicious, report it to local authorities immediately.

Lastly, the FBI warns Americans to be cautious of new acquaintances who seem to be trying to involve you in situations that could compromise your safety. Always trust your instincts and exercise caution when meeting people in unfamiliar locations, the FBI announcement said.

The FBIs warnings come as American universities are also cautioning students of travel risks this spring. For international students, faculty and staff, some colleges have advised avoiding trips abroad.

Earlier this month, a physician at Brown University traveling back to the U.S. from her home in Lebanon had her visa canceled.

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor at Brown Medicine, was traveling on an H-1B visa when she went to visit her family in her home country, according to a petition filed in federal court by a relative who became aware of her situation.

Court records claim that when Alawieh returned to the U.S. at the end of last week, she was detained at Boston Logan International Airport for 36 hours. Despite a federal judges order to stop her deportation, she was sent back to Lebanon over the weekend.
Pope Francis will be released from the hospital on Sunday, March 23, his doctors have announced. (Associated Press/Alessandra Tarantino, file) AP

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Pope Francis will be released from the hospital on Sunday, after 38 days battling a life-threatening case of pneumonia in both lungs, his doctors said.

Gemelli Medical Director Dr. Sergio Alfieri said Saturday that Francis will require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation as he continues recovering back at the Vatican.

Francis was admitted to Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened. He later developed a life-threatening case of pneumonia.

Pope Francis doctors provided their first in-person update on the pontiffs condition in a month, in a sign that he has made good and steady progress in his battle against double pneumonia.

The Saturday evening briefing is the first since Feb. 21, a week after the 88-year-old Francis was brought to Gemelli Hospital. He subsequently experienced several respiratory crises that landed him in critical condition, though he has since stabilized.

In another development, the Vatican announced that Francis would appear on Sunday morning to bless faithful from his 10th floor suite at the hospital. While Francis released an audio message on March 6 and the Vatican distributed a photo of him March 16, Sundays blessing will be the first live appearance since Francis was admitted on Feb. 14 for what has become the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy.

The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease, is prone to respiratory problems in winter and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened.

Doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and soon thereafter, pneumonia in both lungs. Blood tests showed signs of anemia, low blood platelets and the onset of kidney failure, all of which later resolved after two blood transfusions.

The most serious setbacks began on Feb. 28, when Francis experienced an acute coughing fit and inhaled vomit, requiring he use a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask to help him breathe. He suffered two more respiratory crises in the following days, which required doctors manually aspirate the mucus, at which point he began sleeping with the ventilation mask at night to help his lungs clear the accumulation of fluids.

At no point did he lose consciousness, and doctors reported he was alert and cooperative.

Over the past two weeks, he has stabilized and registered slight improvements, the Vatican press office has reported. He no longer needs to wear the ventilation mask at night, and is cutting back his reliance on high flows of supplemental oxygen during the day.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Amid anti-fraud efforts, the U.S. Social Security Administration announced a new policy intended to speed up payments to recipients looking to have their benefits delivered via direct deposit.

All changes in requests for direct-deposit payments will be processed in one day, the administration has announced. Previously, direct-deposit changes made online were held for 30 days, according to a news release from the agency.

The new practices will be phased in over the next two weeks for both benefit claims and direct deposit changes.

Individuals will be able to use their personal my Social Security account, which requires online identity proofing. You can create a my Social Security account at www.ssa.gov/myaccount/.

The agencys two-week transition plan includes training for employees and managers and monitoring of policy compliance, the agency said in a statement. By the end of March, the agency will enforce online digital identity proofing and in-person identity proofing.

Individuals who are unable to verify their identities through their online accounts will need to do so in person at agency offices, according to the news release.

The change was announced as the administration announced new identity-verification requirements being implemented by Social Security to stamp out alleged fraud and waste within the system, which President Donald Trump and officials in his administration have claimed are widespread.

As previously reported on the Advance/SILive.com, the new identification requirements will impact anyone who needs to verify their bank information with the agency, as well as families with children who receive Social Security benefits and cannot verify a childs information on the SSA website.

The administration is taking proactive steps to enhance the security of its services by implementing stronger identity verification procedures for both benefit claims and direct-deposit changes, according to a news release from Social Security.

The stronger identity proofing procedures implemented on March 31 are expected to help safeguard Social Security records and also benefit payments, according to the news release.

Americans deserve to have their Social Security records protected with the utmost integrity and vigilance, said Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security. For far too long, the agency has used antiquated methods for proving identity. Social Security can better protect Americans while expediting service.

The administration will permit individuals who are unable to use the agencys online services to start their claim for benefits on the telephone. However, the claim cannot be completed until the individuals identity is verified in person. The agency recommends calling to request an in-person appointment to complete the verification process in one transaction.

The administration recently required nearly all agency employees, including frontline employees in all offices throughout the country, to work in the office five days a week. This change ensures maximum staffing is available to support the stronger in-person identity proofing requirement, according to the news release.

Proof of identity will be needed before starting a transaction. Call 800-772-1213 to schedule an in-person appointment.

Staten Island Social Security offices are located at 1441 South Ave. in Travis, and 1510 Hylan Blvd. in Dongan Hills.

Social Security previously announced a change to how overpayments are taken out of recipients monthly checks.

The agency is axing the 10% withholding rate in favor of a 100% withholding rate.

That means if a Social Security recipient gets overpaid by the SSA, 100% of their monthly benefit will be withheld until the overpayment is returned. Essentially, recipients will not get another check in the mail until the money is fully repaid.

Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) is set to close 47 Social Security field offices nationwide, but so fare the two on our borough will remain open.
TOKYO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The momentum of improvement in China-Japan relations has not come easily, and it is particularly important to maintain the political foundation of relations between the two countries, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Saturday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during his meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya in Tokyo.

As close neighbors, relationship between China and Japan holds significance that goes beyond bilateral scope, Wang noted, saying the two sides should face up to history and look to the future, maintain the right direction of bilateral relations, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, promote steady and long-term bilateral relations, and contribute to peace and prosperity of the two countries and Asia.

Wang stressed that correctly understanding and treating history is an important prerequisite for Japan's post-war return to the international community, political foundation for Japan to develop relations with its neighboring countries, and an important criterion for testing whether Japan can abide by its commitment to peaceful development.

Four political documents between China and Japan have made clear provisions on history and the Taiwan question, which must be strictly implemented, Wang said.

For his part, Iwaya said Japan has long followed the path of peaceful development and attaches great importance to abiding by the four political documents between Japan and China, adding Japan's position on the Taiwan question, based on the Japan-China joint communique in 1972, remains unchanged.

In November last year, leaders of the two countries reached an important consensus on comprehensively advancing the strategic relationship of mutual benefit between Japan and China and building constructive and stable bilateral ties, Iwaya said.

Based on the consensus, the two sides have made efforts to promote the improvement of bilateral relations, he added.

Seeing huge potential for bilateral cooperation, Iwaya said Japan is determined and willing to strengthen dialogue and communication with the Chinese side and further push for more results in cooperation in various fields and bring more benefits to the two peoples.

As the international situation is changing rapidly, Japan and China, as responsible countries, should work together to play a positive role in safeguarding regional peace and stability, Iwaya added. 
The needs of Staten Island students will be discussed at a Community Board 1 committee meeting this week. (Advance file photo)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Youth needs on Staten Island and other community concerns will be discussed this week at public meetings of two of the boroughs three Community Boards and their committees.

Below is a listing of all planned meetings, according to representatives from each Community Board.

Community Board 1

On Tuesday, March 25, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a virtual meeting of the Waterfront Committee. There is no set agenda.

Check the boards Facebook page for updates with the Zoom link.

There will be a virtual meeting of the Community Board 1 Youth Committee on Wednesday, March 26, at 5:30 p.m.

During the meeting, Agnes McBeth will discuss ongoing efforts being made by the office of Richmond County District Attorney Michael McMahon to serve the youth of the community.

And Nigel Wyatte, of the New York City Center for Interpersonal Development will make a presentation about the progress made by the agency to address youth needs within the citys public school system.

There will also be an update on the progress being made on opening the playground at Morris Intermediate School (I.S. 61), in Brighton Heights, on weekends.

To join the meeting, visit Zoom.

The meeting ID is 817 9682 6591. The passcode is 921474.

Community Board 2

Community Board 2 has no meetings planned next week.

Community Board 3

On Tuesday, March 25, at 7 p.m., there will be a general board meeting/public hearing in the auditorium of Our Lady Help of Christians R.C. Church, Tottenville.

During the meeting, routine board business will be conducted, including project updates and neighborhood concerns.

Open to the public

All Community Board meetings and meetings of their committees are open to the public. They provide an excellent opportunity for residents to learn about happenings in their neighborhood and surrounding areas. Below is more information about the Islands three Community Boards:

Community Board 1

Arlington  Castleton Corners  Clifton  Concord  Elm Park  Fort Wadsworth  Graniteville  Grymes Hill  Livingston  Mariners Harbor  New Brighton  Port Richmond  Randall Manor  Rosebank  St. George  Shore Acres  Silver Lake  Stapleton  Sunnyside  Tompkinsville  West Brighton  Westerleigh.

The board chairman is Nicholas Siclari. The district manager is Joan Cusack. The telephone number is 718-981-6900.

Community Board 2

Arrochar  Bloomfield  Bulls Head  Chelsea  Dongan Hills  Egbertville  Emerson Hill  Grant City  Grasmere  High Rock  Lighthouse Hill  Midland Beach  New Dorp  New Springville  Oakwood  Ocean Breeze  Old Town  Richmond  South Beach  Todt Hill  Travis.The phone number is 718-568-3581. The fax number is 718-568-3595. The chairman is Fred Guinta. The district manager is Debra A. Derrico.

Community Board 3

Annadale  Arden Heights  Bay Terrace  Charleston  Eltingville  Great Kills  Greenridge  Huguenot  New Dorp  Oakwood  Pleasant Plains  Princes Bay  Richmond Valley  Richmond  Rossville  Tottenville  Woodrow.The office phone number is 718-356-7900. The board chairman is Frank Morano; the district manager is Charlene Wagner.
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JERUSALEM, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it struck "military strategic capabilities" at the Palmyra and Tiyas (T4) military air bases in central Syria's Homs Governorate on Friday night.

Israel's state-owned Kan TV News reported that Israeli air force intelligence had tracked the weapons and strategic capabilities at the bases, which were under the control of the Assad regime and collapsed in early December last year.

According to the channel, Israeli warplanes destroyed these capabilities in a broad strike to continue to maintain the air force's air superiority in the region.

The IDF added that it will continue to act to remove any threat posed to the citizens of Israel.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper cited Arab media outlets as saying that two Syrian Defense Ministry personnel were wounded in the attack. 
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Summer gets hot and muggy on Queenslands Curtis Island. Winter is too warm for frost to ever form. But all year round, metal pipes stretching out from the jetties here are running colder than the iciest temperatures in Antarctica. Since launching 10 years ago, Curtis Islands three massive export terminals have been super-chilling natural gas down to minus 162 degrees, which turns it into a compact liquid that can be shipped overseas. The projects  whose backers include Origin Energy, Shell and Santos  have reshaped the energy industry and made Australia one of the top gas suppliers to the world. Last year, liquefied natural gas (LNG) sold to places like Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea fetched Australia nearly $70 billion in export revenue. A decade on from the first foreign LNG tankers arriving in Queensland, though, millions of Australians are now confronting a threat that many find a bitter pill to swallow in a country still selling its gas overseas: supplies of the fuel are running dangerously low in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, leaving local consumers at risk of winter shortages and soaring energy bills. Shells Curtis Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant. Credit: Bloomberg Australias populous south-east is facing a gas crisis within three years, the energy market operator said on Thursday as offshore fields in Bass Strait, which have long supplied most of our domestic gas for heating, cooking, electricity and manufacturing, keep depleting, with scant new projects to replace them. While Queensland is a major LNG producer, there is limited pipeline capacity to transport its gas thousands of kilometres south to consumers in NSW and Victoria, authorities warn. In winter, when gas demand for home heating is the highest, the north-south pipeline is typically full. Gas thats produced at Western Australias LNG operations, meanwhile, has no way of being transported east. Fearing they are out of time and other solutions, east-coast energy ministers have begun working on plans to kick-start Australias first LNG-import terminals, which, if they proceed, could bring gas into the south-eastern states from Queensland, WA or even from overseas to avert the forecast shortfall in 2028-29.

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Loading Thats the quickest way  and probably really right now the only feasible option, says Victorian Energy Minister Lily DAmbrosio. The south-easts looming shortage of gas  a fossil fuel that burns more cleanly than coal but remains a significant source of planet-warming carbon dioxide and methane emissions  underscores a deepening challenge for governments that are having to balance goals to combat climate change with the need to shore up traditional energy for those who still depend on them. Consumers across the country are increasingly making the switch away from gas stoves and heaters to electric alternatives, aided by government schemes and policies banning gas hook-ups in new residential buildings. There are signs the shift is having an impact improving gas availability: non-industrial gas use in Victoria has fallen 4.5 per cent since 2023. NSW and Victoria are running out of gas and have little option but to import it. Credit: Getty Images The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) this week cited falling demand as one of the reasons why it had pushed back its warnings of temporary winter gas shortfalls by three years  from 2025 to 2028  and the bigger threat of an annual east-coast deficit from 2028 to 2029.

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The numbers are in  Victorian households are using less and less gas, says Kat Lucas-Healey, an energy adviser at conservation group Environment Victoria, which advocates against the expansion of fossil fuels. Together they have bought us all an extra year before shortfalls hit. Still, the transition is not happening fast enough to avert the need to boost supplies, warns AEMO chief executive Daniel Westerman. Output from gas fields in the southern states is on course to collapse by more than 30 per cent by 2029, he says. Production is falling faster than demand, reinforcing the need for investment in new supply, Westerman says. AEMO is calling for a combination of solutions, including new gas drilling projects close to southern markets, expanding pipeline capacity to enable the flow of more gas to the south, increased storage capacity to hold gas for times of high demand, and the start-up of LNG import terminals. Squadron Energys LNG terminal is striving to lock in long-term supply deals with customers. Credit: The most advanced plan to import LNG is the Port Kembla energy terminal, developed by Andrew and Nicola Forrests Squadron Energy, near Wollongong in NSW. Another is Viva Energys planned terminal at its Geelong oil refinery near Melbourne, which is undergoing assessment for environmental approval. Dutch storage company Vopak, meanwhile, has proposed a floating terminal in Port Phillip Bay, 19 kilometres offshore from Avalon, and Venice Energy is planning one in Port Adelaide.

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Squadrons terminal at Port Kembla is the only one to have completed construction but it has so far been unable to lock in long-term supply deals with customers, such as gas retailers, that will be required to underpin its commercial launch. Loading Energy giant AGL, which needs gas to supply its customers and to fuel its fleet of gas-fired power plants across the electricity grid, says LNG imports were needed to future-proof supplies as Bass Strait fields deplete. But AGL believes Victoria, with 2 million gas-using homes and businesses, is the best location for an import terminal to be built. Ideally, an LNG import facility would be based in Victoria, to be close to customers and leverage existing pipelines and storage, says Markus Brokhof, the companys chief operating officer. Given the speed and scale of declining Bass Strait gas production, and the long times it typically takes to explore and develop new gas fields, some see importing LNG as the only way to plug the fast-approaching gaps. Even in our most optimistic scenario, LNG imports to Australia are looking like an inevitability, says Kaushal Ramesh, vice president of gas research at consultancy Rystad Energy.

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But not everyone in the gas industry agrees. With vast gas reserves in the north, and drilling programs in Queenslands Surat Basin and the Northern Territorys Beetaloo Sub-basin vying to unlock even more, energy infrastructure owner APA Group says expanding pipelines and boosting storage could avert the disastrous option of turning to LNG imports, which would further tie Australians to volatile swings in global prices. Adam Watson, chief executive and managing director, APA Group. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone There is no shortage of supply domestically, APA chief executive Adam Watson says. It would be mind-blowing to think we would have to become dependent on LNG imports  and I think logic will prevail. APA has unveiled a five-year proposal to expand the gas pipeline grid and deliver a 24 per cent increase in north-south transportation capacity. The idea has won the backing of major manufacturers that need gas for energy or as a raw material in their factories for making products such as bricks, steel, food and glass. Australia has plenty of gas, its just not always where you need it to be, says Andrew Richards, chief executive of the Energy Users Association of Australia, whose members include Brickworks, BlueScope Steel and Incitec Pivot.

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Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size The four-part English drama Adolescence, currently the most-watched show globally on Netflix with 24.3 million series views, has won almost universal praise for its unflinching approach to its difficult subject: the ripple effects of a violent murder committed by a teenage boy. In particular, it has been lauded for the way it tells that story: each episode of the show, created by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, consists of a single take. The technical difficulty of that is immense, especially in the second episode, in which two detectives visit the school where the victim, Katie, and her accused killer, Jamie (Owen Cooper), were students. More than 300 extras and about 50 crew had to be choreographed to allow the camera to follow the police as they move through the sprawling multi-level campus. In the final moments of the episode, the camera lifts off, flies a couple of hundred metres and then descends for a close-up of Eddie (Graham) as he visits the site of his sons crime for the first time. It is bravura filmmaking and, for many viewers, their first taste of one-shot storytelling. Stephen Graham as chef Andy Jones in the feature film Boiling Point (2021), shot in a single take by director Philip Barantini and cinematographer Matthew Lewis. Credit: But this is a form that dates back almost 80 years. And among its previous proponents are the team behind Adolescence  Graham, director Philip Barantini and director of photography Matthew Lewis. Barantini and Lewis first worked together on a short in 2016, in which the former acted. Lewis then shot Barantinis first short as director, Seconds Out, in 2019, and the same year they were joined by Graham for Boiling Point, a 20-minute, single-shot film set in a restaurant kitchen.

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In 2021 the three beefed that up to a feature of the same name, with the single take now stretching across 90 minutes of action as chef Andy Jones (Graham) comes undone during a frantic service. The four-part series spun-off from that film (currently on SBS) abandoned the one-take approach, but Adolescence pushes it well beyond anything this tight-knit team has attempted before. Loading The one-shot format does two fundamental things, Thorne says. It imposes a structure on the writing. You have  the unity of time, place, action forced upon you. The second is  it gives the actor the power. Typically, screen acting involves delivering short grabs of script  often just a single line  on cue, repeatedly, with big breaks between takes. Maintaining character is a challenge. The extended take allows the performer to inhabit that character without interruption. As Erin Doherty, who plays the psychologist who visits Jamie in remand in episode three, puts it: The more youre in a characters skin, they just become a part of your soul. Theres a freedom that comes with the repetition we did. Of course, it also demands getting it right in one go.

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Each episode took three weeks to pull together: a week for the actors to rehearse with Barantini and Thorne, a week for tech rehearsals, in which every movement was choreographed, and a week for the actual shoot. There was time for two takes per day, though sometimes a take was abandoned partway. Episode three  in which Jamie is interviewed by the psychologist (Doherty)  was shot first, took 11 takes, and was captured on the final day. Episode four  in which Jamies family visits a hardware store (the handheld camera was slipped into a rig mounted on the front of the van for the journey, then dismounted upon arrival)  took 16. Episode two took 13, while episode one was captured on the second take, on day one. Adolescence was only possible because the technology (lightweight cameras and rigs, high-powered drones) and the established modes of working for this creative team allow it. They create the space for exceptional performances to happen. Farley Granger, James Stewart and John Dall in Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (1948). Credit: But the first attempts at one-shot storytelling date back to Alfred Hitchcocks 1948 film Rope. A drawing-room thriller based on a real-life murder, the movie was cut to look like a single take. In truth, that would have been impossible, as the cameras used held only 10 minutes of film. The film consisted of 10 segments. It wasnt until the emergence of digital cameras that cinema-quality extended takes became feasible. The earliest efforts were understandably formal: Mike Figgis Timecode (2000), shot simultaneously with four cameras, was shown in a split-screen format, with overlapping plot lines and characters; Alexander Sokurovs Russian Ark (2002) took us on a POV tour of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and simultaneously through centuries of Russian history (its 83 minutes were captured four times and featured a cast of more than 2000 people). Russian Ark. Credit:

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But soon the potential of marrying action and tension with the form became apparent. In PVC-1 (2007), Greek-Colombian director Spiros Stathoulopoulos created an 84-minute edge-of-the-seat thriller about a woman forced to wear an improvised explosive device, with a timer, around her neck. The German film Victoria (2015) pushed its bank-heist plot past the two-hour mark. Writer-director Sebastian Schipper got the version he wanted on his third, and final, try. Loading All up, more than 50 features have been made using the single-take approach, with another dozen using edits but presenting as single-take films (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritus Birdman and Sam Mendes World War I film 1917 being the most notable). For some filmmakers, the one-shot is the ultimate challenge. And in the new comedy series The Studio, theres a whole episode devoted to that. Sarah Polley plays a director about to shoot the single-take finale of her film just as the sun is going down. Theres time for two takes at best. But studio head Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) causes absolute havoc when he visits set to witness a shot his offsider Sal (Ike Barinholtz) dismissively calls the stupid magic-hour one-er. The entire episode is shot in a single, elaborately choreographed and very funny take.

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For my 50th birthday, friends wanted to treat me to a Korean bath experience. Having had a conservative upbringing, I was horrified. Id have to get my kit off in front of my friends. Fortunately for me, the Korean baths theyd chosen had closed and we enjoyed a high tea instead.

Ive discovered that the more I step outside my comfort zone, the easier it gets. (Posed by model) Credit: Ibai Acevedo / Stocksy United

Fast-forward a few years and Ive become braver. I have a fellow walker on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trek in Spain to thank for that. We chatted as we walked, and at one point in our conversation she stopped, turned, looked at me and said, Joanne, life begins at the edge of your comfort zone.

Since then, I regularly try to step out of my comfort zone. Like the time I took the plunge and finally got naked in front of others. It took a trip to Russia. Towel, swimming costume and soap in hand, I entered the dressing room of a traditional Russian banya (steam bath) with four similarly aged women from our small group tour. I had planned to wear my swimmers but, at the last minute, throwing caution to the wind, I left them hanging on a hook on the wall. My heart beating fast and feeling very self-conscious, I took a deep breath and walked stark-naked into the bathing area.

Avoiding the eyes of my equally naked travel companions, and feeling rather awkward, I filled a shallow yellow basin with warm water. Then, alternately dousing myself with water, soaping and rinsing off, I washed away not only the grime from the train wed been on but also my inhibitions.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Jetson Gordon was having trouble sleeping. Anxious thoughts had been keeping him awake since he moved to Melbourne from Mullumbimby, near Byron Bay, a month before. Being alone in a new city after moving from a small country town was challenging. He missed his family and friends, and he desperately wanted to impress his new boss at the carpentry apprenticeship he had started. Oxycodone, a semisynthetic prescription opioid used to treat pain, seemed like an easy enough solution to help him relax and get a good nights sleep, so the teenager ordered what he thought was a shipment of pills online. The tablets looked exactly the way they were supposed to  small, light blue pills with an imprinted M on one side and the number 30 on the other. Stashed inside a resealable black plastic bag, they had made their way to Australia inside a padded envelope from the UK through the postal system. But within hours of swallowing half a pill, the caring, trusting, and loving teenager was dead. Jetsons flatmate, Lachlan Young, found his body the following morning, after noticing Jetson had not got up for his shift.

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The night before, Jetson had sat around a fire outside with his flatmates and spoken about how excited he was to head to work the following day. He had gone to bed early to get a good sleep. I opened the door, and I was like: Jetson, Jetty, wake up, mate. What are you doing here? Jetty! and he wasnt saying anything, Young remembers. As he approached the bed and touched Jetsons neck, Young realised something was terribly wrong and called triple zero. I think my friends dead. You need to come now, he told the operator. You have to tell me how to do CPR. Young scooped up the teenager and desperately tried to resuscitate him as he waited for an ambulance to arrive, but he could not be saved. Ill never forget the feeling of holding a dead body. The pills that Jetson had bought online were counterfeit painkillers that had been laced with an extremely potent synthetic opioid that has been linked to hundreds of deaths overseas and is increasingly being detected in mail shipments coming into Australia  nitazenes.

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Nitazenes have been linked to the deaths of 22 people in Victoria since 2021. The drug is suspected of being behind the fatal overdose of teen dad Abdul El Sayed and three others inside a house in Broadmeadows last June. The group thought they were taking cocaine, but the drugs were contaminated with a synthetic opioid. A coronial investigation into the deaths is ongoing. Fatal overdoses and hospital admissions have also been recorded in South Australia, Queensland and NSW, but the total number of Australians who have died from the drug is unknown. Forensic testing across different states and territories is also inconsistent, and the data on Australias national coronial database is about 18 months old. Jetson Gordon had just moved to Melbourne and was excited about his carpentry apprenticeship. Researchers, health experts and law enforcement agencies have repeatedly warned about the infiltration of nitazenes into Australias drug supply. They believe the drug, which is routinely cut into other substances, could lead to a wave of overdoses and pose a greater threat to Australia than the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which has led to more than 100,000 deaths in the US but does not have a strong presence here. With the supply of heroin expected to dry up in the next year as a result of the Taliban regimes ban on the cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan, drug experts worry the use of synthetic opioids such as nitazenes will explode as criminal networks seek to satiate Australias endless appetite for drugs with cheaper alternatives. Before the ban, about 80 per cent of the worlds heroin supply could be traced back to the poppy fields in Afghanistan. Jetsons mother, who asked not to be named to be able to grieve privately, said she was happy for Jetson when he decided to move to Melbourne. He was starting his own journey and had a lifetime ahead.

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What I didnt realise was that he was a bit naive. The mother, who recently returned from Canada and the United States where she witnessed how these new drugs are infiltrating and disrupting communities, said she wanted people to be informed. The deadly drug made in China For nearly two years after Jetsons death in April 2022, all that his father, John Gordon, wanted to do was to stand on every coffee table across Australia and talk about what happened to his son. The type of nitazene that killed Jetson was 28 times more powerful than fentanyl and 1000 times more potent than morphine. This deadly drug he had never heard of was out there, mixed in with other substances and hidden in counterfeit pills sold openly on the internet. This could happen to anyone, anywhere. Its not the dark web. Its not this complicated way of getting it. Its not hanging out behind a pub car park buying illicit drugs. Its at the tip of your keyboard, and anyone can do it. Its not age-restricted. Its easy as, John said. Nitazenes and drug manufacturing paraphernalia found by South Australian Police in 2024. Thats a concern shared by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC). Unlike drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine which come into Australia in container loads through ports, nitazenes largely enter the country in letter-sized envelopes. The potent, deadly drug is mixed in with painkillers that anyone can order online (illegally, but found through a simple Google search) and get delivered to their home address without the need for a crime syndicate to be involved. It can also be shipped in its pure form or mixed with other substances.

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What youre looking at is letters and parcels with grams or even fractions of a gram of this substance, which can be equally deadly, ACIC principal drug adviser Shane Neilson said. What that means is that there are far more importers potentially than there are for methylamphetamine and cocaine. Health authorities in Australia have detected nitazenes in oxycodone tablets, vape liquid, veterinary tranquiliser xylazine (also known by the street name tranq), and in popular party drugs such as cocaine and ketamine. In the UK and Ireland, where theres been a wave of nitazene overdoses since the pandemic, the synthetic opioid has also been found in heroin. A fraction of a gram is enough to kill, but Neilson said most people who consumed the drug were unaware that they were taking it. Hospital emergency data collected by the Emerging Drug Network of Australia shows that of 32 patients who presented to hospital for nitazene toxicity between July 2020 and February 2024, almost half were unaware they had taken an opioid at all. Five patients had knowingly taken nitazenes, while the rest believed they had consumed another opioid. These are major things that concern us, Neilson said. Intelligence collected by the ACIC suggests nitazenes are overwhelmingly being produced in pharmaceutical and chemical companies in China before being shipped to Australia or intermediary countries like the US and the UK. That is despite Chinese law banning the production of the substance. The US select committee on the Chinese Communist Party has previously accused the Chinese government of subsidising companies exporting synthetic narcotics and advertising for sale the precursor chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl, a claim that China denies.

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The trope of the poor university student  living in an inner-city share house stumbling distance from campus, an arts degree an unclear distance from completion, eating baked beans for dinner  conjures memories of horror and nostalgia for many.

But, in one of the worlds most expensive cities, and after a pandemic changed how we work and learn, the campus lifestyle is increasingly a thing of the past.

A Herald analysis in January found many student room rents had increased by more than 35 per cent since 2019, the median rent increase for a one-bedroom apartment in Greater Sydney over the same time period.

Spikes were highest in the rapidly increasing number of buildings owned by private providers. At Scapes Redfern building, a room in a shared student apartment now costs $739 a week.

These private providers are also outpacing the growth of university-owned accommodation, a trend not assisted by the sale of several University of Technology Sydney student housing buildings to Scape in 2021.
Wanted: skilled anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism funding professional.

Expect to see many such job ads in the near future to plug a skills gap that Australia is struggling to fill  people trained in tracking down white-collar criminals and laundered money.

Alice Saveneh-Murray and Swinburne student Julia Urban preparing to fight financial crime. Credit: Simon Schluter

Australian companies that dont know their AMLs (anti-money-laundering) from their CTFs (counter-terrorism-financing) face a rude shock as new federal government regulations, due as early as next month, will require them to comply with a raft of new financial crime measures.

Workers qualified to do the job are already in short supply. But several Australian universities are beginning to step in to remedy that shortfall.
Australian households and small businesses will have another $150 wiped from their power bills this year as Labor seeks to mask the pain of rising energy prices ahead of a federal election fight over the future of the countrys electricity grid.

With power prices set to rise by as much as $200 a year in eastern states, the Albanese government will include the $1.8 billion cost-of-living measure in this weeks budget, as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton reminds voters that Labor has failed to bring prices down and blames the governments renewables rollout for the spike in household bills.

Corridors of power: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen and Daniel Kalisz

But Dutton is facing his own troubles, with jittery opposition MPs concerned that the Coalitions energy offerings arent enough to win over voters.

Several are calling for Dutton to unveil a gas policy and more immediate plans to put downward pressure on power bills, given the Coalitions plan for government-owned nuclear plants does not lower energy prices in the short- or medium-term.
Fashion stylist, personal shopper and influencer Natalie Jacobson and her husband Warren are selling their stunning Bellevue Hill trophy home with price expectations above $46 million.

The five-bedroom, six-bathroom, four-car-space house was newly built to a plan by Tobias Partners with landscaped gardens by Myles Baldwin Design, which explains the marked increase in value since the Jacobsons bought it, in Natalies name, in 2017 for $8,625,000.

The Jacobsons redesigned the home following their purchase of the property in 2017. Credit: Jamie Brown

Set on about 1300 square metres, the property bathes in north-westerly sun and has breathtaking views of Sydneys skyline and Rose Bay.

The three-level home blends Mediterranean elegance with modern luxuries and features, including a state-of-the-art gym, cellar, infrared sauna, cinema and tennis court.
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Eighteen persons sustained injuries after a man threw a hand grenade in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province on Friday, said a statement of the provincial police office on Saturday.

The incident took place in the Zala Bazaar area of Gereshk district when two brothers were fighting over an issue on Friday and the son of a brother hurled a hand grenade, the statement said, adding that two were in critical condition.

The police have taken into custody the suspect for investigation, the statement added without providing more details. 
Melbourne home buyers looking for a discount are likely to find the most flexible vendors are in affluent neighbourhoods.

Houses in the Stonnington (east) region have typically been selling for 9.5 per cent less than their sellers asking price, Domain figures show.

In the Yarra area in the inner north, the median discount was 9.4 per cent, followed by the holiday home enclave of the Mornington Peninsula (9.3 per cent) and Boroondara in the inner east (8.4 per cent). The figures cover private treaty sales over the six months to February and exclude units.

The more expensive end of Melbournes market has been leading the downturn, albeit some buyers have returned recently to take advantage of last months cut to the cash rate.
Jerusalem: Israeli forces have advanced deeper into the Gaza Strip and blown up the only specialised cancer hospital in the war-torn territory as Israel intensifies a military onslaught to press the Palestinian militant group to free remaining Israeli hostages.

The hospital was located in the Netzarim Corridor, which splits Gaza in two and was controlled by Israeli troops for most of the 17-month-long war. Israel moved to retake the corridor this week shortly after breaking the ceasefire with Hamas.

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive sit in a makeshift tent camp inside a landfill in central Gaza Strip on Friday. Credit: AP

The Israeli military said it struck the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which was inaccessible to doctors and patients during the war because Hamas militants were operating at the site. Turkey, which helped build and fund the hospital, said Israeli troops at one point used it as a base.

Meanwhile, Hamas said it was reviewing a US proposal to restore the Gaza ceasefire as Israel intensifies a military onslaught to press the Palestinian militant group to free remaining Israeli hostages.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Police Force of Sint Maarten (KPSM) is pleased to announce the successful deployment of several of its officers to Curacao in support of the countrys parliamentary elections, which took place on Friday, March 21, 2025. This deployment was part of a broader cooperation agreement among the Dutch Caribbean islands to provide mutual assistance during major events requiring enhanced security measures.

KPSM officers joined their counterparts from Aruba, Bonaire, Saba, and St. Eustatius to assist the Curacao Police Force (KPC) in ensuring a smooth, secure, and orderly electoral process. Their presence reinforced regional collaboration and highlighted the shared commitment of law enforcement agencies across the Dutch Caribbean to maintaining public safety and upholding democratic integrity.

The Minister of Justice of Sint Maarten, Miss N. Tackling, played a key role in facilitating this collaboration. KPSM extends its sincere appreciation to Minister Tackling for her steadfast support, as well as to all stakeholders involved in making this cooperation possible.

This joint effort underscores the strong partnership between the Dutch Caribbean police forces and their dedication to assisting one another in times of need.

KPSM Press Release.
Israel defence minister threatens to annex parts of Gaza



Jerusalem, March 22 (AFP) Mar 22, 2025



Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened Friday to annex parts of the Gaza Strip unless Hamas militants release the remaining Israeli hostages held in the war-battered Palestinian territory.

The warning came as Israel pressed the renewed assault it launched on Tuesday, shattering the relative calm since a January 19 ceasefire.

A Palestinian source close to the ceasefire talks told AFP late Friday that Hamas had received a proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar for re-establishing a truce and exchanging hostages for Palestinian prisoners "according to a timeline to be agreed upon".

The source said the proposal "includes the entry of humanitarian aid" into Gaza, which has been blocked by Israel since March 2.

Israel resumed intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, citing deadlock in indirect negotiations on next steps in the truce after its first stage expired this month.

The territory's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed 11 people on Friday -- three in pre-dawn strikes and eight more during the daytime.

On Thursday, it had reported a death toll of 504 since the bombardment resumed, one of the highest since the war began more than 17 months ago with Hamas's attack on Israel.

In a statement Friday, Katz said: "I ordered (the army) to seize more territory in Gaza... The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel".

Should Hamas not comply, Katz also threatened "to expand buffer zones around Gaza to protect Israeli civilian population areas and soldiers by implementing a permanent Israeli occupation of the area".

The military urged residents of the Al-Salatin, Al-Karama and Al-Awda areas of southern Gaza to evacuate their homes Friday ahead of a threatened strike.

AFP images from northern Gaza showed donkey carts piled high with belongings as residents fled their homes along rubble-strewn roads.



- 'Pressure points' -



Israeli forces said Friday that they had killed the head of Hamas's military intelligence in southern Gaza in a strike a day earlier, the latest official targeted in recent days.

Israel's resumption of large-scale military operations, coordinated with US President Donald Trump's administration, drew widespread condemnation.

The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain called for an immediate return to a Gaza ceasefire in a joint statement late Friday, calling the new strikes "a dramatic step backward".

Turkey's foreign ministry condemned what it called a "deliberate" attack by Israel on a Turkish-built hospital in Gaza.

"The IDF (military) struck terrorists in a Hamas terrorist infrastructure site that previously had served as a hospital in the central Gaza Strip," a military spokesperson told AFP in response to a question about the Turkish accusations.

In a statement, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza condemned "the heinous crime committed by the occupation (Israel) in bombing the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital", calling it "the only hospital designated for the treatment of cancer patients in the Gaza Strip".

The ministry said Israeli forces had used the hospital as "a base for its forces throughout the period of its occupation of the so-called Netzarim axis".

Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed worry about the government's actions in a video statement Thursday, saying it was "unthinkable to resume fighting while still pursuing the sacred mission of bringing our hostages home".

Thousands of protesters have rallied in Jerusalem in recent days, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of resuming military operations without regard for the safety of the hostages.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, 58 are still held by Gaza militants, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.



- Projectiles from Gaza, Yemen -



Israel's military said late Friday that it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, after air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem and parts of central Israel.

It is the fourth missile launched from Yemen towards Israel since Tuesday, after Huthi rebels threatened to escalate attacks in support of Palestinians following Israel's renewed attacks on Gaza.

In a statement early Saturday, the Iran-backed group said it had "targeted Ben Gurion airport" near Tel Aviv with a ballistic missile.

Israeli airspace would remain unsafe "until the aggression against Gaza stops", the group said in the statement.

Earlier on Friday, Israel's military said it intercepted two projectiles fired from northern Gaza, which Hamas's armed wing said was in response to "massacres against civilians".

Katz said Israel would "intensify the fight with aerial, naval and ground shelling as well as by expanding the ground operation until hostages are freed and Hamas is defeated, using all military and civilian pressure points".

He said these included implementing Trump's proposal for the United States to redevelop Gaza as a Mediterranean resort after the relocation of its Palestinian inhabitants to other Arab countries.
One dead as Israel strikes Lebanon after cross-border rocket fire



Jerusalem, March 22 (AFP) Mar 22, 2025



Israel launched air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on Saturday after intercepting cross-border rocket fire, with Lebanese state media reporting a woman was killed.

The Israeli army said three rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the region for the first time since a November ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned the country risked being dragged into a "new war" after months of relative calm.

The Israeli military said all three rockets were intercepted and there was no immediate claim of responsibility from any group.

But Israeli defence chiefs said they held the Lebanese government responsible for all hostile fire from its territory regardless of who launched it.

"We cannot allow fire from Lebanon on Galilee communities," Defence Minister Israel Katz said, referring to towns and villages in the north, many of which were evacuated after Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of Hamas in October 2023.

"The Lebanese government is responsible for attacks from its territory. I have ordered the military to respond accordingly," Katz said.

"We promised security to Galilee communities, and that is exactly what will happen. Metula's fate is the same as Beirut's."

Armed forces chief Eyal Zamir warned the military would "respond severely".

"The state of Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the agreement," he said, referring to the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah which was signed by the government on the Lebanese side.

Lebanon's official National News Agency said Israeli air strikes and shelling had targeted several areas of the south.

One Israeli strike killed a woman in Touline, the NNA reported, adding three other people were wounded in the southern town. It had earlier reported Israeli strikes wounded two people in the border village of Kfarkila.



- UN 'alarm' -



The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said it was "alarmed by the possible escalation of violence" following the morning's rocket fire.

"Any further escalation of this volatile situation could have serious consequences for the region," it said.

"We strongly urge all parties to avoid jeopardising the progress made, especially when civilian lives and the fragile stability observed in recent months are at risk."

The Lebanese prime minister expressed concern at the flare-up.

"Salam warned against renewed military operations on the southern border, because of the risks they carry of dragging the country into a new war, which will bring woes to Lebanon and the Lebanese people," his office said.

There was no immediate claim for the rocket fire on Israel.

Although Hezbollah launched the great majority of the rockets fired during the past two years, the Lebanese arm of Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed some attacks.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah was supposed to pull its forces back north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

Israel has carried out repeated air strikes during the ceasefire that it said targeted Hezbollah military sites that violated the agreement.

The Lebanese army said it had dismantled three makeshift rocket batteries in an area north of the Litani on Saturday.



- Gaza assault enters day five -



Saturday's flare-up on the Lebanese border came as Israel's renewed offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza entered its fifth day.

Israel's resumption of military operations on Tuesday shattered the relative calm that had reigned since a January 19 ceasefire.

Israel's defence minister said Friday that he had ordered the army to "seize more territory in Gaza", which he would annex if Hamas failed to heed Israel's demands for the next steps in the Gaza ceasefire.

"The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel," Katz said.

The return to military operations was coordinated with US President Donald Trump's administration but drew widespread condemnation.

Hamas took issue Saturday with Washington's characterisation of its position, insisting that it stood ready to release all its remaining hostages as part of a promised second stage of the ceasefire.

"The claim that 'Hamas chose war instead of releasing the hostages' is a distortion of the facts," the group said.

When the first stage of the ceasefire expired early this month, Israel rejected negotiations for the promised second stage, calling instead for the return of all its remaining hostages under an extended first stage.

That would have meant delaying talks on a lasting ceasefire, and was rejected by Hamas as an attempt to renegotiate the original deal.

burs/kir/dv
Girl among two killed in Israel strikes on Lebanon: state media



Beirut, Lebanon, March 22 (AFP) Mar 22, 2025



Two people including a girl were killed in an Israeli attack on a southern Lebanese town on Saturday, state media reported, after Israel launched air strikes in response to cross-border rocket fire.

"The Israeli enemy strike on the town of Touline resulted... in the death of two people, including a girl, and the injury of eight others, including two children," the National News Agency cited the health ministry's emergency unit as saying, describing it as a "preliminary toll".

NNA had earlier reported a toll of one killed in Touline.

It came as the Israeli military said it was launching air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon after intercepting cross-border rocket fire.

The Israeli military said three rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the region for the first time since a November ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned the country risked being dragged into a "new war" after months of relative calm following a November 27 ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
The latest episode of Found, "Missing While Witnessed", really digs deep into the characters personal lives while keeping the suspense high. Theres this perfect balance of loyalty, betrayal, and the lengths people are willing to go to protect their own. The episode kicks off with a tense conversation between Heather and Sir about his case, and from there, things just keep unfolding in unexpected ways. Its a rollercoaster of emotions and twists, with each character dealing with their own set of secrets and struggles, making it impossible to look away.

The below contains spoilers for Found, "Missing While Witnessed". Save this review for later if you didnt watch it live!

FOUND -- "Missing While Witnessed" Episode 216 -- Pictured: Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Sir -- (Photo by: Matt Miller/NBC)

The episode begins with Heather talking to Sir about his legal situation. She offers him a deal: stay in prison for 30 years or fight for his freedom. With the promise of a better life outside, including a single cell and better food, Heather encourages him to fight for his freedom. She makes a compelling argument, reminding him that Gabi will be forced to testify against him if he agrees to a plea deal. This is enough to get Sir to agree.

Meanwhile, Jamie is struggling with his own set of secrets. He seeks out Trent to ask him about the possible punishment for his kidnappers. Jamie almost opens up about everything, but Trent makes it clear that as a law enforcement officer, he would have to report anything related to criminals. Despite this, Trent assures Jamie that he wants to help in any way he can.

As the investigation unfolds, Heather visits Gabi to inform her that Sir is refusing the plea deal, which means Gabi will have to testify against him in court. This sets up an interesting dynamic between Gabi and Heather, especially as Gabis emotions begin to surface. The plot takes another turn when a woman claims to have witnessed a kidnapping and brings her information to M&A. She describes how she saw a female driver throw a man into a vehicle after cutting him off in traffic. Despite the lack of concrete details, this leads M&A to dig deeper into the case.

Gabi takes on a more nurturing role, hoping to get Jamie to open up about what happened. She spends the day with him and takes him to the scene of the kidnapping, encouraging him to observe the area. Its here that Margaret finds a victim's watch, setting off a chain of events that further complicates the investigation. The watch leads M&A to discover the identity of the victim, Peter, whose background unravels more as the investigation progresses.

FOUND -- "Missing While Witnessed" Episode 216 -- Pictured: (l-r) Karan Oberoi as Dahn, Kelli Williams as Margaret, Gabrielle Walsh as Lacey, Shanola Hampton as Gabi Mosely , Parker Daniel Queenan as Jamie -- (Photo by: Matt Miller/NBC)

Through Margaret and Laceys investigation, they uncover that Peter was close to Roy, a neighbor who left everything to Peter in his will. However, Roys son, Mark, contested the will and had sent threatening texts to Peter. This immediately raises suspicions that Mark could be involved, and Trent and Gabi question him. Mark insists that he had nothing to do with the kidnapping, as he has an airtight alibi, but it's clear that he harbors deep animosity toward Peter.

One of the most intriguing moments of the episode occurs when Sir, in prison, offers information to Trent about Peter. However, Trent dismisses it, highlighting the increasing divide between Sirs manipulation and Trents genuine desire to uncover the truth. At this point, Sirs role in the larger narrative becomes more significant, as it becomes clear that he is not merely a passive player in this unfolding drama.

The investigation hits a snag when its revealed that Greta, the mother of a patient Peter saved, had lied to M&A about her whereabouts. Her son had woken up, but the revelation that Peter wasnt the one at fault for the mistake shifts the focus back onto the EMT team. This miscommunication pushes Jamie to confront his emotions, and he accuses Greta of not truly caring for her son if she was willing to leave him after the traumatic event. Gabi tries to calm him down, but Jamie calls her out, accusing her of trying to make things right for Margaret rather than for him.

Meanwhile, the investigation leads to a breakthrough when Zeke receives a hit for a video that matches the description of the kidnapping. The footage reveals a Texas logo on the truck, which ties it to Owen, one of the witnesses. Further investigation uncovers that Owen is connected to Peters coworker, the paramedic. The investigation takes another turn when its revealed that the woman who first came to M&A with information about the kidnapping was Owens mother. She had gone to M&A because she didn't know what else to do.

FOUND -- "Missing While Witnessed" Episode 216 -- Pictured: (l-r) Parker Daniel Queenan as Jamie, Brett Dalton as Detective Mark Trent -- (Photo by: Matt Miller/NBC)

The episode also delves into the more personal aspects of the characters lives. Margaret, who has been trying to navigate her complicated relationship with Zeke, begins to notice Laceys reactions around him. Its not long before Lacey admits that she and Zeke kissed but doesn't want to lose their friendship over it. This subplot adds emotional depth to the narrative, showing how the personal lives of the characters often intersect with their professional responsibilities.

The episode reaches its peak when Gabi arrives home to find Peter in her basement, leaving her a note that says, "You're welcome. More to come." This chilling moment raises the stakes even higher, as it suggests that there are still many unresolved mysteries surrounding Peters kidnapping. Gabis reaction to this discovery sets the stage for the next chapter of the investigation.

In the final act, Heather confronts Trent, accusing him of being in love with Gabi. Heather's frustration and jealousy lead to a confrontation that exposes her true motivations. She tries to convince Trent that Sir can be an asset to the DCPD, but Trent, now disillusioned with Heather, breaks up with her.

The episode concludes with Gabi discovering a series of cigarette butts near her house, all the same brand that Jamie smokes. This discovery leads Gabi to suspect that Jamie is involved in the larger mystery, and she takes matters into her own hands, urging Dhan to investigate further. Jamies visit to Sir later in the episode adds an ominous tone, suggesting that the truth is only just beginning to unravel.
Where to live

Golden Visas: the four European countries where you can still get citizenship by buying property

Four European countries still offering golden visas to property buyers
KHARTOUM, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on Saturday announced that it had taken control of new strategic sites in the capital Khartoum.

"Our forces in central Khartoum continue to pressure the militia and have taken control of the Corinthia Hotel and the Strategic Facilities Administration," SAF spokesman Nabil Abdalla said in a statement.

"The headquarters of the National Intelligence Service have also been cleared, while militia members are desperately trying to flee from our forces everywhere at this moment," he said.

It added that the army has also tightened control over key locations in central Khartoum, including the Zain Tower, the Central Bank of Sudan, the Sahel and Sahara Bank Tower, the Cooperative Tower, Bayan College, the National Museum, Sudan University of Science and Technology, and the Friendship Hall.

On Friday, the Sudanese army announced that it had taken control of the presidential palace and government headquarters in central Khartoum.

Since February, the Sudanese army has reclaimed most of Khartoum, with the RSF holding only a few strongholds, including the Jabal Awliya area in the south, home to a major dam.

Sudan has been embroiled in conflict between the SAF and RSF since mid-April 2023, with nearly 30,000 lives lost, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project cited by the United Nations. 
Samir Patel, chief executive of Comic Relief, said: On behalf of us all, I want to say a heartfelt thank you. Your extraordinary efforts have helped raise 34,022,590 that will help tackle some of the most urgent problems facing millions of people here in the UK and across the world.
MILAN, Italy, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Despite global uncertainties, China's advancements in digital transformation and sustainable development have laid a solid foundation for growth and opened new opportunities for global markets, said Mario Boselli, chairman of the Italy-China Council Foundation.

"China's 5-percent economic growth target is entirely achievable," he told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Boselli highlighted China's vast market as a unique advantage, particularly for Italian enterprises looking to expand. Sectors such as food processing, pharmaceuticals, health care and the internet industry hold immense potential, making them key areas of interest for China, Italy and broader European cooperation.

Boselli also underscored the longstanding trust and deep-rooted cooperation between China and Italy across various sectors. He affirmed that China values its partnership with Italy, while the Italian government has been actively fostering bilateral relations.

"In November last year, I had the privilege of joining Italian President Sergio Mattarella on his visit to China. I deeply felt the strong sense of friendship and shared values between our two nations," he said. He also believes this cultural connection will further boost economic ties, particularly by fostering collaboration among small and medium-sized enterprises.

He expressed unwavering confidence in China's long-term economic growth, both in terms of quality and scale. Reflecting on the country's progress, he recalled how, in the late 1970s, many Chinese people were fighting against poverty, whereas today, living standards have improved dramatically. "This trajectory convinces me that China's economy will continue to advance steadily," he said.

Boselli also praised China's commitment to balanced, harmonious and sustainable development. "Stability and harmony are deeply valued by the Chinese people, and these qualities are key drivers of China's continued economic growth," he said.

Looking to the future, Boselli noted that 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union. Shifting geopolitical dynamics present new opportunities to deepen China-EU economic cooperation, he said.

He stressed the importance of Italy and Europe expanding exports to China to achieve a more balanced trade relationship. "Strengthening trade and investment with China will create a broader win-win scenario for both sides," he concluded.

Established in June 2022, the Italy-China Council Foundation was born from the integration of the Italy-China Chamber of Commerce and the Italy-China Foundation. 
LONDON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the Arab Plan for Gaza during a phone call on Saturday morning with King Abdullah II of Jordan, according to a readout from Downing Street.

According to the readout, Starmer thanked the King for Jordan's leadership and efforts toward achieving a political solution and commended Jordan and its regional partners for their work in developing the plan for Gaza.

The prime minister also expressed deep concern over renewed Israeli military action and the ongoing lack of humanitarian aid in Gaza. During the call, Starmer reaffirmed that Britain remains a strong partner to Jordan.

On March 4, Arab leaders approved an Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza, which is estimated to cost 53 billion U.S. dollars and aims to avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave. 
The Bucharest Sector 5 Court ordered on Friday the 30-day preventive arrest of Bogdan Peschir, considered the financier of Calin Georgescu's campaign on TikTok.

Peschir is accused by the General Prosecutor's Office of committing the crime of corrupting voters through electronic means of communication (265 material acts).

Specifically, prosecutors say that Bogdan Peschir offered, during last year's electoral campaign, payments worth over 879,000 dollars on the TikTok app, in the form of "gifts", and transfers of hundreds of thousands of RON through the Revolut application, to 265 people, in order to persuade them to vote for Georgescu.

The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) shows that the financing of TikTok influencers was ensured through the FameUp platform (dedicated to monetizing promotional activities in the online environment), on which the advertising opportunity was published, along with well-defined descriptions. "One of the methods of attracting Romanian influencers to collaborate in promoting Calin Georgescu's candidacy was contacting them by email by the company (...) of South African origin, which offered the sum of 1,000 euros for the distribution of a video clip made by them", the SRI informs.
George Simion, the leader of AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians), will be the first name to appear on the ballot box for the May presidential election, followed by Crin Atonescu, who runs for the Romania Inainte [Romanian Forward] alliance, and Elena Lasconi, the chairwoman of USR (Save Romania Union).

Elena Lasconi was the one to provide this information on Saturday, after participating in the draw at the Central Electoral Bureau.

"I wanted to be here today. I wasn't the one who conducted the draw, there were other people who picked the balls from the bowl. It is very clear that we need a serious reform of the justice system in the next period, and that the role of the president will be very important in that sense, which is why it is more important than ever that he/she be a man/woman of great, who fights for the people," said Lasconi, Agerpres informs.
SEATTLE  Cybertrucks set ablaze. Bullets and Molotov cocktails aimed at Tesla showrooms.

Attacks on property carrying the logo of Elon Musk's electric-car company are cropping up across the U.S. and overseas. While no injuries were reported, Tesla showrooms, vehicle lots, charging stations and privately owned cars were targeted.

There's been a clear uptick since President Donald Trump took office and empowered Musk to oversee a new Department of Government Efficiency that's slashing government spending. Experts on domestic extremism say it's impossible to know yet if the spate of incidents will balloon into a long-term pattern.

In Trump's first term, his properties in New York, Washington and elsewhere became a natural place for protest. In the early days of his second term, Tesla is filling that role.

Musk critics organized dozens of peaceful demonstrations at Tesla dealerships and factories across North America and Europe. Some Tesla owners, including a U.S. senator who feuded with Musk, vowed to sell their vehicles.

Still, the attacks keep law enforcement busy.

Prosecutors in Colorado charged a woman last month in attacks on Tesla dealerships, including Molotov cocktails thrown at vehicles and the words "Nazi cars" spray-painted on a building.

Federal agents in South Carolina last week arrested a man they say set fire to Tesla charging stations near Charleston. An agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in an affidavit that authorities found writings critical of the government and DOGE in his bedroom and wallet.

Some of the most prominent incidents were reported in left-leaning cities in the Pacific Northwest, where anti-Trump and anti-Musk sentiment runs high.

An Oregon man faces charges after allegedly throwing several Molotov cocktails at a Tesla store in Salem, then returning another day and shooting out windows.

In the Portland suburb of Tigard, more than a dozen bullets were fired at a Tesla showroom last week, damaging vehicles and windows, the second time in a week the store was targeted.

Four Cybertrucks were set on fire in a Tesla lot in Seattle this month. On Friday, witnesses reported a man poured gasoline on an unoccupied Tesla Model S and started a fire on a Seattle street.

In Las Vegas, several Tesla vehicles were set ablaze early Tuesday outside a Tesla service center where the word "resist" was painted in red across the building's front doors. Authorities said at least one person threw Molotov cocktails  crude bombs filled with gasoline or another flammable liquid  and fired several rounds from a weapon into the vehicles.

"Was this terrorism? Was it something else? It certainly has some of the hallmarks that we might think  the writing on the wall, potential political agenda, an act of violence," Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI office, said at a news conference. "None of those factors are lost on us."

Tesla becomes a target for the left

Tesla was once the darling of the left. Helped to viability by a $465 million federal loan during the Obama administration, the company popularized electric vehicles and proved that they didn't have to be small, stodgy, underpowered and limited in range.

More recently, though, Musk allied himself with the right. He bought the social media network Twitter, renamed it X and erased restrictions that infuriated conservatives. He spent an estimated $250 million to boost Trump's 2024 Republican campaign, becoming by far his biggest benefactor.

Musk continues to run Tesla  as well as X and the rocket manufacturer SpaceX  while serving as Trump's adviser.

Tesla stock doubled in value in the weeks after Trump's election but since shed all those gains.

Trump gave a boost to the company when he turned the White House driveway into an electric-vehicle showroom. He promoted the vehicles and said he would purchase an $80,000 Model S, eschewing his fierce past criticism of electric vehicles.

Tesla didn't respond to a request for comment.

Musk briefly addressed the vandalism Monday during an appearance on Sen. Ted Cruz's podcast, saying "at least some of it is organized and paid for" by "left-wing organizations in America, funded by left-wing billionaires, essentially."

"This level of violence is insane and deeply wrong," Musk wrote Tuesday on X, sharing a video of burning Teslas in Las Vegas. "Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks."

The progressive group Indivisible, which published a guide for supporters to organize "Musk Or Us" protests around the country, said in a statement that all of its guidance is publicly available and "it explicitly encourages peaceful protest and condemns any acts of violence or vandalism."

Some Tesla owners have resorted to cheeky bumper stickers to distance themselves from their vehicle's new stigma and perhaps deter would-be vandals. They say things like "I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy" or "I just wanted an electric car. Sorry guys."

Prices for used Cybertrucks, Tesla's most distinctive product, have dropped nearly 8% since Trump took office, according to CarGurus, which aggregates used-car vehicle listings. The market as a whole remained steady over the period.

White House vows a crackdown

The White House threw its weight behind Musk, the highest-profile member of Trump's administration and a key donor to committees promoting Trump's political interests. Trump said Tesla vandalism amounts to "domestic terror" and he threatened retribution, warning that those who target the company are "going to go through hell."

Attorney General Pam Bondi said she'd opened an investigation "to see how is this being funded, who is behind this."

"If you're going to touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything, you better watch out because we're coming after you," Bondi said Friday on Fox Business Network. In a statement Tuesday, she vowed to "continue investigations that impose severe consequences," including for "those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes."

Colin Clarke, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, said left-wing political violence tends to target property rather than people. He views the rise of neo-Nazi groups as a bigger security threat at this point.

"It's not the type of act that I would prioritize," Clarke said. "Not right now compared to all the other threats that are out there."

Theresa Ramsdell is the president of the Tesla Owners of Washington state, a club for Tesla enthusiasts, and she and her husband own three of them.

"Hate on Elon and Trump all you want  that's fine and dandy, it's your choice," she said. "It doesn't justify ruining somebody's property, vandalizing it, destroying it, setting it on fire. There's other ways to get your voice heard that's more effective."

Someone recently slapped a "no Elon" sticker on the tailgate of her Cybertruck, but she said she doesn't intend to stop driving her Teslas. Other club members have taken a similar view, she said.

"I love my car. It's the safest car," Ramsdell said. "I'm not going to let somebody else judge me for the car I drive."

Tesla vandalism spikes as Musk takes prominent role in Trump White House
Bird flu has devastated poultry and dairy farms, and sent the price of eggs soaring in the United States since it was first detected in North America in late 2021.

More than 170 species of North American wild birds  including ducks, geese, gulls, owls, eagles and others  also were infected with bird flu.

Take precautions around sick or dead wild birds, experts recommend, but you can keep your bird feeder up. Despite the spread in birds and other wild animals, scientists say the threat to the general population is currently low.

Which birds can get flu?

More than 12,000 individual birds tested positive since the virus began spreading, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.

The count is a "gross underestimate" because most dead birds are never taken to a lab for testing, said Bryan Richards at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in in Madison, Wisconsin.

Dabbling ducks, such as mallards and blue-winged teal, can carry the virus with few symptoms because "these viruses co-evolved in waterfowl," Richards said. Ducks can shed the virus in their feces or saliva, sometimes infecting other birds or mammals like foxes.

Birds without natural immunity that migrate or roost together in large flocks, such as geese, are most likely to die in large numbers. A recent bird flu outbreak among migratory eared grebes in Utah killed between 15,000 and 25,000 birds near Great Salt Lake, state wildlife officials said in early February.

Seabirds, which tend to roost in large numbers, also are highly affected.

Songbirds such as Northern cardinals, blue jays or chickadees  the kind of birds that often visit bird feeders  also can become infected and die, but their populations appear to fare better since they don't gather closely in large groups where the virus could spread, said Michael J. Parr, president of the American Bird Conservancy.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms vary, but may include lack of coordination, inability to fly and respiratory distress.

"If people see a wild bird acting weird, the best thing they can do is call their local wildlife rehabilitator" and avoid handling it directly, said Dr. Dana Franzen-Klein, a veterinarian and medical director at the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center.

If you must handle an infected bird, it's best to wear gloves and a mask as a precaution.

Are feeders safe?

Experts say bird feeders generally are safe and aren't a notable source of spreading bird flu.

However, if you keep backyard chickens, Parr of the American Bird Conservancy recommends taking the bird feeder down to prevent possible transmission to poultry. Birdfeeders and nesting boxes also should be cleaned regularly.

The risk of spread to people from bird feeders "is very, very low," he said.

Are species at risk?

In the case of critically endangered California condors, scientists organized a vaccination program after some birds became infected. That's not a realistic option for most wild bird species.

Instead, experts recommend giving wild birds the best chance by taking other steps to protect habitats and reduce risks that species face, such as exposure to pesticides or lead ammunition.

Bald eagles, which are federally protected but no longer endangered, are scavengers that will eat dead animals. "That first year, we lost a lot of eagles" likely from bald eagles eating infected ducks or bringing them to their nests, Richards said.

Scientists also documented an unusually high number of eagle chicks that didn't survive into adulthood during the first breeding season after the virus appeared in North America, likely because the chicks got the virus or sick parents weren't able to adequately feed and care for them.

Over time, the number of confirmed infections in eagles nationwide declined from 427 in 2022 to 48 last year.

That may mean eagles that survived the first year now have some acquired immunity, Franzen-Klein said. This past migration season, researchers counted a record number of bald eagles migrating through northern Minnesota.

"There are good signs of hope" that eagles in the region are rebounding, she said.

Photos: Insect and animal life around the globe
Left to right: Taylor John Smith, Charles Melton and Alex Brockdorff in the A24 film Warfare. (Murray Close/A24)



WASHINGTON  The new A24 film Warfare, co-created by Navy SEAL veteran Ray Mendoza and the critically acclaimed director Alex Garland, is not just a war movie  it is an effort to accurately depict a 2006 operation in Ramadi, Iraq, in real time and based on the memories of the SEALs who were there.

The film follows a platoon of SEALs tasked with supporting Marines in Ramadi as they occupy an Iraqi familys home and watch over insurgent territory until their position is attacked. Unlike most movies, it has virtually no time compression  the 1-hour run time closely mirrors an actual 90-minute period  and it does not leave the city block it is set in. It will be released in theaters on April 11.

Theres some good war movies out there, but its probably told from a director that has never seen combat. This is my attempt to do it, Mendoza said during a press screening in Washington on Monday, March 17.

Warfare opens with the text, This film uses only their memories, rather than the more common based on a true story refrain, a point Garland highlighted at the screening.

The film is based not only on the experiences of Mendoza, a Silver Star recipient, but it is painstakingly reconstructed from the accounts of his platoon mates, the directors said. They interviewed Mendozas comrades, examined their old photos and videos, and cross-referenced the accounts to piece together their best estimation of what took place that day.

The directors sought an ensemble cast that underscored how young Mendozas platoon mates were and embodied their essence. They were representing my best friends, and that was important, Mendoza said.

It stars DPharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Mendoza; Cosmo Jarvis; Will Poulter; Kit Connor; Finn Bennett; Taylor John Smith; Michael Gandolfini; Adain Bradley; Noah Centineo; Evan Holtzman; Henrique Zaga; Joseph Quinn; and Charles Melton.

From left to right: actors Charles Melton and DPharaoh Woon-A-Tai, U.S. Navy SEAL veteran Elliott Miller, U.S. Army veteran Jeff Craft, Navy SEAL veteran Joe Hildebrand, and writer/co-director Ray Mendoza at the world premiere of Warfare in Los Angeles, Calif., Wednesday, March 12th, 2025. (A24)



Garland warned the effort at realism would not be perfect, though he said they got pretty close to the truth. At times Mendozas platoon mates had contradictory accounts or hazy recollections, and the work of creating the movie helped shine light on what actually transpired, according to Garland.

Mendoza said he primarily saw the film as a project for his platoon mate Elliot Miller, to whom the film is dedicated. Miller was severely wounded and suffered a traumatic brain injury in the battle shown on screen. He was airlifted to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, where he was in a coma for four weeks. When he woke up, he had no recollection of the combat and was asking questions about it.

Millers questions inspired Mendoza to think about ways he could detail the events to his friend. Eventually, the opportunity arose when Garland asked Mendoza to co-create a film on the latters time in Iraq.

Mendoza said he wanted Miller to see what we saw, hear what we heard. He even wanted Elliot to smell what they smelled, and succeeded when Elliot found that he remembered the smell of smoke grenades once they were used on set.

While making something for Miller was the main intent for Mendoza, he said he also intended for the film to bridge the gap in understanding between those who served and their loved ones.

Mendoza also expressed a third intent behind the film.

If youre going to decide to go to war, this is what it looks like. And its our youth that goes and fights it. We have the best warriors on the planet, and they will answer that call. I will answer that call, as broken as my body is, as destroyed as my body is, I would do it so that no one else has to.
Veterans of the Vietnam War listen to speeches March 22, 2025, during the final Vietnam War Commemoration ceremony in Ansbach, Germany. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)



ANSBACH, Germany  American Vietnam veterans living in Bavaria passed the torch to the next generation over the weekend during an emotional ceremony in southern Germany.

The final Vietnam War Commemoration, one week before National Vietnam War Veterans Day on March 29, was held Saturday in Hangar 2 at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach.

The annual event was designed to be held for 10 years until this years 50th anniversary of the end of combat operations in Southeast Asia, with subsequent Memorial Day ceremonies dedicated to veterans from the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The day was bittersweet as veterans remembered fallen comrades and reflected on their poor treatment when they returned home.

Kenneth Aungst, an 88-year-old veteran who completed three tours in Vietnam and organized the event, remembered two soldiers who worked with him, Army staff sergeants Robert Griffith and Melvin Dye. They were killed when their UH-1H Iroquois helicopter was shot down in Laos just a couple of weeks before they were supposed to head home.

They took [a rocket-propelled grenade] to the left, rear, fuel cell, he said during the ceremony. They came home 43 years later.

He broke down.

Their pictures are over there on the wall, he added.

Vietnam War veterans stand and are recognized with a round of applause at the final Vietnam War Commemoration ceremony at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach, Germany, on March 22, 2025. Future veterans events will pivot to honor veterans of the Gulf War, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Vietnam veteran Kenneth Aungst, left, uses a saber to cut the cake alongside Army Col. Ryan Kendall, commander of the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach's final Vietnam War Commemoration in Ansbach, Germany, on March 22, 2025. Future veterans' events will pivot to honor veterans of the Gulf War, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Around 200 members of the garrison community gathered in Hangar 2 at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach, Germany, on March 22, 2025, for their final Vietnam War Commemoration ceremony. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Attendees line up for food at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach's final Vietnam War Commemoration ceremony in Ansbach, Germany, on March 22, 2025. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Jazz Symak, a member of Ansbach Middle High School's drill team, tosses her rifle in the air during a rousing performance at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach's final Vietnam War Commemoration, held in Hangar 2 on March 22, 2025, in Ansbach, Germany. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)



Army Master Sgt. Kenneth Edra, who served two tours in Iraq in 2007 and 2009, said he was humbled to be in the presence of the Vietnam veterans. Edra is non-commissioned officer in charge of the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Soldiers Chorus, which offered a vocal tribute to their predecessors.

When I got deployed to Iraq and came back, I got all the privilege, the honor, of coming home, and our Vietnam veterans didnt get to do that, he said. Now, we are giving back to them.

U.S. involvement in the conflict in Vietnam began in the early 1950s when American advisors were sent to support the non-communist government of South Vietnam against northern forces supported by China. U.S. combat troops were heavily engaged in action from 1965 to their withdrawal in 1973. The war ended in 1975.

Over the next eight years, more than 3.4 million American service members were deployed to Southeast Asia, according to the VA. There are 58,281 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C. to honor those who died in the conflict, as of May 2021.

Approximately 200 people packed into the empty hangar on a cool, sunny Saturday for the ceremony. They were welcomed by Col. Aaron Southard, the garrison commander, who called the conflict one of the most challenging chapters in U.S. history.

After food and musical performances, the handful of Vietnam veterans in attendance were asked to stand and be recognized. The applause was amplified throughout the cavernous space.

Dwight Johnson, the Europe department commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars who served two tours with the 101st Airborne, teared up as he tried to put in words what the ceremony meant to him.

When I came back, they called us baby killers, he said. The only way we can honor our history is to have ceremonies like this, so civilians know what we went through. It means so much.
Artist rendering of the 212 new duplex-style homes to be built at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. (Liberty Military Housing)



TACOMA, Wash.  Joint Base Lewis-McChord broke ground this week on 212 new homes that base officials hope will ease a housing crunch in and around the military base in a rapidly growing region of Washington state.

About 70% of our residents live off the installation, and to me, that is unfortunate, Army Col. Kent Park, the base commander, said Tuesday. I would love to bring more and more on to the installation.

The base is headquarters of I Corps, the Armys component of the Indo-Pacific Command region, which stretches from Alaska down to California and across the Pacific to Australia and India. The Pentagon has increased the number of troops, ships and aircraft committed to the region to counter Chinas rapidly growing military and economic presence.

That has put stress on the ability of Lewis-McChord to keep pace with the demands of growth, including housing. When relying on off-base housing, the military cant control the cost and quality of where service members live.

As JBLM continues to grow to meet operational demands, our infrastructure must keep pace, Park said.

The base shared by the Army and Air Force has 5,159 units of base housing for 36,000 service members and 47,000 military family members, according to Scot Keith, a base spokesman.

At the groundbreaking ceremony this week, Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., who represents a district that includes the base, said the new homes would help junior officers and senior non-commissioned officers with families.

But she said Lewis-McChord is about 1,000 units short of enough housing to meet demand. Base officials agreed.

The shortage forces more soldiers and airmen to live off base and compete for rentals in a growing region with its own housing shortage.

Strickland, a self-described Army brat lived in housing at what is now Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. She said housing for troops helped build a sense of community that is undercut when too many troops live in far-flung clusters of rentals away from a base.

We need to build as much housing as we can as soon as we can, said Strickland, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. Housing is a key to troops feeling secure and feeling secure is a major part of recruiting and retention.

The new homes will be duplex-style with four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, two-car garages and fenced backyards with covered patios.

There are also four-bedroom homes, but those are in high demand and the waiting list is long, according to Beth Wilson, the Public Works Housing Division chief.

Plans call for the first homes to be ready for residents in January 2026, with 66 occupied by the end of the year.

We will not wait for all 212 to be completed, Wilson said. We will assign these homes as they are delivered to us.

The project would be finished by the end of 2027.

The homes are to be constructed by Liberty Military Housing utilizing $130 million in funding from the Military Housing Privatization Initiative, the $30 billion program that uses private-sector funding for construction and renovation of military housing across the country.

The homes will be the second major housing project to start in the past six months at Lewis-McChord.

The base won a competition for an Army pilot project to spend $100 million on barracks designed specifically to house troops from one unit. Work began in August 2024. When finished in 2027, it will be home to 168 soldiers of the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force.

Lewis-McChord was once in a remote location south of Seattle and Tacoma. That has changed over time.

When you came here 30 years ago, it was like the base was out in the middle of nowhere, Strickland said. Now its in a mix of urban and suburban communities. Its more expensive to rent.

The base is in Pierce County, the second most populous county in the state, after King County, which includes Seattle. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Pierce County grew to 933,130 residents in 2024. Thats nearly 18% growth since 2010, when the population was 795,402.

Strickland said building barracks and houses was part of the solution to the military housing crunch at Lewis-McChord and other bases throughout the country.

Congress and former President Joe Biden approved a 15% pay raise for junior enlisted personnel that will boost the income of the service members least likely to be able to afford off-base housing, she said.

Strickland has co-sponsored legislation to increase the housing allowance for service members who live off base. She and Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, have also introduced legislation that would create a low-income housing tax credit for developers of residential buildings within 15 miles of major military installations.

We need more housing at bases and in the communities around bases, Stickland said. This has to be an all-hands-on-deck effort.
COLOMBO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Around 35 people were injured after two buses collided in Warakapola in Sri Lanka's Sabaragamuwa province on Saturday afternoon, police said.

Both buses were state-owned, and police were investigating the cause of the accident.

It had been raining in the area when the buses collided head-on, local media reported.

Road accidents are common in Sri Lanka, with many involving buses, official data showed. 
Ken Stevens arrives at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial on Dec. 7, 2023, for a ceremony commemorating the Japanese surprise attack 82 years earlier. (Wyatt Olson/Stars and Stripes)



Ken Stevens, a sailor who witnessed the first bombs dropping on Pearl Harbor during the Japanese surprise attack in 1941, died Thursday in Powers, Ore. He was 102.

As a 19-year-old sailor aboard the USS Whitney, Stevens was stunned as he watched a Japanese plane drop a bomb in the first moments of the attack on Dec. 7, 1941.

His death was announced Friday by Pacific Historic Parks.

My dad passed away peacefully this evening with all of us by his side, his son Sam Stevens said in a message to Pacific Historic Parks, the organization said in a Facebook post.

He was a fighter to the end but finally just ran out of gas, his son said.

With Stevens death, only 13 veterans who survived the attack are known to be living, according to a tally maintained by Kathleen Farley, president of the California chapter of Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors.

Stevens was one of only two survivors able to attend last years annual commemoration held Dec. 7 at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.

Stevens was born in Myrtle Point, Ore., on May 19, 1922.

He was raised on a dairy farm, where the family eked out a living during the Great Depression by selling milk and cream, Stevens said in a videotaped interview with Pacific Historic Parks on June 21.

At 18 and out of school, Stevens looked to the military as a means of stable income. He was drawn to the Navy in particular because he liked to fish, he said in the interview.

It was work, he said. It paid $21 a month. And you had a place to live.

After basic training in San Diego, he was assigned to the Whitney, a 484-foot-long destroyer tender.

Ken Stevens poses in his Navy uniform in this undated photo from the 1940s. (Pacific Historic Parks)



On the morning of the attack, the Whitney was moored beside five destroyers to provide them steam, electricity and fresh water.

Stevens was on the top deck and ready to head off to Waikiki on liberty. He saw aircraft coming over the harbor, an unusual occurrence on a Sunday morning, he said in the video interview.

He recalled thinking to himself at the time: Theyre practicing on the weekend? Whats the matter with them?

About that time, one of them broke off, and I saw the bomb drop, he said. The first bomb of World War II, I saw dropped there. It landed over on Ford Island on the planes so they couldnt take off.

Moments later the Whitney was strafed, and the crew was called to battle stations.

From his station in the fire room, he could hear the sounds of the attack, venturing out once to survey the scene.

You could see the ships burning and the heavy black smoke going up, Stevens told the Oregon-based newspaper The World in 2011.

Men from burning ships swam for shore while men from shore raced to help, he said. There was a lot of oil in the water, black like tar. They had to swim through that.

Stevens continued to serve in the Pacific until the wars end, at which time his ship was among those that transported U.S. POWs back home from Japan.

He left the Navy in 1947, returned to Oregon and started a logging company. He married his wife, Phyllis, in 1949.

The couple were fulltime pastors at the Powers Church of God until they retired in 1997, according to a 2017 report by KCBY-TV in North Bend, Ore.

Stevens will be buried with his wife, who died in 2019, according to Pacific Historic Parks. Funeral services are pending.
Mark Wood, 38, Shangan Green, Ballymun, Dublin, was charged with criminal damage and burglary at the Marewood Court in Ballymun on February 23

A man allegedly caught "red-handed" carrying out a burglary at a sheltered housing building in Dublin has been refused bail.

Mark Wood, 38, Shangan Green, Ballymun, Dublin, was charged with criminal damage and burglary at the Marewood Court in Ballymun on February 23.

On Saturday, he was brought before Dublin District Court which heard the building was home to 60 people, including elderly residents.

Objecting to bail, Garda Sean Clyde told Judge Peter White that the incident happened between 2 am and 4 am and was captured by high-quality CCTV.

The garda gave evidence that a laundry room used by elderly residents was "ransacked" and coin-operated machines were damaged.

It was alleged a woman accompanied the accused, and they were "searching around the building". When questioned and shown the footage, the accused made some admissions, the court heard.

Garda Clyde said that while the burglary was minor, it happened at premises for elderly people, and the accused was "caught red-handed".

He believed the case could go forward on indictment to the Circuit Court, which has broader sentencing powers.

However, defence counsel Kevin McCrave submitted that his client was presumed innocent and that evidence adduced in the bail hearing could be subject to challenge.

He emphasised that while DNA had been obtained, the results were not available.

Counsel said Mr Wood had been living in a tent at one stage but was able to provide an address with a family member.

Mr McCrave said his client resided there and assisted the resident with health issues.

The barrister also submitted that his client could spend a lengthy period in custody if bail were refused.

Judge White denied the application and remanded him in custody to appear again next week. Legal aid was granted.
Sean Carroll (31) swizzed and diddled the teenager out of his hard-earned money after advertising the tickets on Facebook, a court heard.

The Four Courts in Dublin

A fraudster ruined a schoolboys dream of going to the Electric Picnic with his pals when he duped him into buying fake tickets.

Sean Carroll (31) swizzed and diddled the teenager out of his hard-earned money after advertising the tickets on Facebook, a court heard.

The boy said he never got to go to the festival and felt like such a fool.

Separately, Carroll coughed at a shop manager at the height of the Covid pandemic and snatched a womans mobile phone at a Luas stop after asking her the time.

Judge John Hughes jailed him for a total of 18 months.

Carroll, of The Willows, Glasnevin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to charges including theft and assault.

Dublin District Court heard the ticket scam victim arranged to meet Carroll at the front door of Arnotts in the city centre on July 26, 2019.

The teenager had replied to an ad on Facebook and handed over 550 for two tickets, which later transpired to be fake.

In a victim-impact statement, he said he had a part-time job and saved his money to buy the tickets.

He was in contact with a man online and trusted him.

I was so happy to be able to go with all my friends, he said, and he was so excited when he got the tickets.

When I found out they were fake I felt like such a fool, he said.

Not only was I out 550, I didnt get to go to the concert.

He did not want to tell anyone what happened, but he told his parents.

Carroll had previous convictions for offences including deception and theft.

On April 3, 2020, he snatched a womans phone from her hand at the Four Courts Luas stop after approaching and asking her for the time.

He was later found in possession of a stolen phone on the same date.

The following day, Carroll coughed towards a shop manager and claimed that he had Covid when he was confronted on suspicion of theft at Centra, Swords Road, Santry. He also had a syringe on him.

Carroll had a drug addiction, the court heard.

Judge Hughes said the ticket fraud was pre-meditated and that at the time of the coughing incident, multiple people were dying every day from Covid and Carroll knew what he was at.

The judge asked if Carroll had any compensation for the victim who was swizzed and diddled out of his hard earned money.

Carroll said that any money he had was for his young child.
On the second day of Kevin Braney's appeal before the three-judge court, his lawyer Tony McGillicuddy SC said gardai did not seek proper authorisation before using the device

The privacy rights of a murderer and leader of the New IRA in Dublin were breached when gardai used a surveillance device to listen to him speaking with members of a criminal gang at a KFC restaurant in Dublin, a barrister has argued before the Court of Appeal.

On the second day of Kevin Braney's appeal before the three-judge court, his lawyer Tony McGillicuddy SC said gardai did not seek proper authorisation before using the device and that the trial court should not have admitted the recording as evidence.

Part of the evidence against Braney (49) during his trial for the murder of dissident republican Peter Butterly (35) at the three-judge, non-jury Special Criminal Court in 2019 was that he met five others at a KFC restaurant in Charlestown Shopping Centre in Finglas the day after the fatal shooting. Mr Butterly had been shot dead in the car park of the Huntsman Inn pub in Gormanston on March 6, 2013.

The listening device used by gardai recorded "audible utterances" between the men in KFC suggesting they were concerned as to why the Huntsman Inn had been saturated with gardai the previous day and questioning why every move they made was being followed.

Gardai had used legislation under the Criminal Law (Surveillance) Act 2009 that allows a superior garda to authorise the use of a listening device without making an application to a district court judge where a delay might cause evidence to be lost.

Mr McGillicuddy said the Superintendent who authorised the surveillance was in Laytown, Co Meath when he became aware of the meeting in Charlestown. Counsel said the superintendent could have sought authorisation a short distance away at Balbriggan District Court, which was sitting at the time. He further submitted that there is a "degree of doubt" as to the urgency with which gardai acted. Counsel said that if the appeal court finds that the authorisation was not lawful, the deployment of the device should be viewed as an unconstitutional breach of his client's privacy rights.

Mr McGillicuddy said that a person has an expectation that their private conversations will not be recorded by an agent of the State, even in a public place, unless there is a lawful reason.

Victim Peter Butterly

Anne-Marie Lawlor SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the superintendent became aware at 11.50 in the morning that there was an opportunity to record the activities of the criminal group, so he put measures in place. The suggestion that he should have gotten in his car and driven to Balbriggan was properly considered by the trial court and rejected, she said. "There is nothing to suggest the court did anything wrong in that regard," Ms Lawlor said.

Ms Lawlor also questioned what privacy rights a person could expect while talking in a KFC restaurant.

On the first day of the appeal, Braney's lawyers asked the court to consider whether the trial court should have admitted the evidence of David Cullen, an accomplice who was charged with Mr Butterly's murder before turning State's witness. Cullen pleaded guilty to a firearms offence and received a sentence of three years and six months. He was also admitted into the witness security programme.

Bernard Condon SC, for Braney, said the court should not have relied in any way on the evidence of Cullen, a perjurer and liar "of monumental proportion" who accepted that he would happily lie in his own interests.

Cullen's evidence at the trial was that members of the murder gang, including Braney, met at his home in Brackenwood, Balbriggan the night before the murder. Cullen said he overheard Braney tell another member of the gang: "Make sure this is done right and he [Butterly] doesnt get away."

Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, sitting with Mr Justice Michael MacGrath and Mr Justice Brian O'Moore, reserved judgment.
Tommy Lee Doyle pleaded guilty at a sitting of Longford District Court to causing 600 worth of criminal damage

Tommy Lee Doyle was remanded on bail to a sitting of Longford District Court next Tuesday.

Tommy Lee Doyle admitted slashing the tyres of an unmarked garda patrol car as officers were carrying out a search of a house in Longford town on November 8, 2024.

A man in his 20s slashed tyres belonging to an unmarked patrol car during the course of a planned garda search operation, a court has heard.

Tommy Lee Doyle, with an address at Tromra Road, Granard, Co Longford pleaded guilty at a sitting of Longford District Court to causing 600 worth of criminal damage as gardai arrived and began searching a house in the Richmond Street area of the county town on November 8 last year.

Sgt Mark Mahon, for the State, said the episode culminated in both rear tyres of an unmarked garda patrol car being slashed moments after detectives had pulled up outside with a warrant to search the property in question.

Tommy Lee Doyle admitted slashing the tyres of an unmarked garda patrol car as officers were carrying out a search of a house in Longford town on November 8, 2024.

He said officers spotted the 20-year-old running away from the scene seconds later in an incident that was also captured on CCTV.

When asked by Judge Bernadette Owens the extent of the damage caused, Sgt Mahon said the final bill amounted to 600.

Judge Owens accepted jurisdiction, paving the way for the case to heard and dealt with in the District Court.

Defence solicitor Brid Mimnagh said while her client was pleading guilty, some form of documentary evidence confirming the extenuating three figure damage would need to be shown before the case could be disposed of.

We would like to see a statement on that or some sort of a receipt, she said.

Doyle was subsequently remanded on bail to appear back before a sitting of Longford District Court next Tuesday, March 25.
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Israel carried out airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, escalating cross-border tensions after rockets were fired into northern Israel, state-owned National News Agency (NNA) reported.

The strikes hit areas near the villages of Touline, Kfar Melki, Mleeta, and the Wadi al-Hujeir valley, NNA said. A residential building in Touline was destroyed, leaving one dead and three wounded, it added.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it intercepted rockets launched from Lebanon toward the northern Israeli town of Metula. No casualties were reported in Israel, according to the country's emergency services.

Lebanon's army stated that its troops later discovered and dismantled three improvised rocket launchers in the Nabatieh area, north of the Litani River. Military units remained deployed in southern Lebanon to "maintain security and stability," it said.

The exchange occurred amid lingering friction over a U.S.- and French-mediated ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which took effect on Nov. 27, 2023, halting over a year of hostilities linked to the Gaza conflict.

The truce stipulated an Israeli withdrawal from disputed Lebanese territory, but Israeli forces continue to occupy five border posts past a Feb. 18 deadline, Lebanese officials say.

In a statement issued after the airstrikes, Israel's military said it struck Hezbollah's infrastructure, alleging the Iran-backed group operates from civilian zones.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed a "robust response" to attacks, with Katz asserting that Lebanon's government bore responsibility for "all aggression originating from its soil."

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) called for restraint, cautioning that further escalation could undermine tenuous diplomatic gains.

Saturday's rocket fire marked the first such incident from Lebanon since early December. Both Israel and Hezbollah have traded blame for repeated breaches of the ceasefire, which remains technically intact but has been strained by sporadic clashes and unresolved border disputes. Enditme
Aaron Maguire, 32, of Prospect Hill, Finglas, Dublin 11, was arrested 12 hours after an alleged incident in the early hours of Friday

A man arrested over a 6 am ransacking of a Dublin city-centre bar has been ordered to obey a curfew.

Aaron Maguire, 32, of Prospect Hill, Finglas, Dublin 11, was arrested 12 hours after an alleged incident in the early hours of Friday.

He appeared at Dublin District Court today charged with burglary of The Hyde Bar, Lemon Street, D2, on March 21.

Judge Peter White heard Mr Maguire "made no reply" when charged.

Objecting to bail, Garda Ciaran Devaney, cited the seriousness of the case. He said the value of damage to the bar's window was 1,500, and 300 to a till which was "smashed", and "1,000 worth of alcohol was taken".

The garda maintained the incident was captured on high-quality CCTV, and the suspect was not masked and was arrested in the same clothes 12 hours later.

Defence solicitor Holly Laher submitted that her client had the presumption of innocence notwithstanding the strength of evidence.

The contested bail hearing was told that the accused had previously been homeless but had an address now. Pleading for bail, the solicitor said her client would obey conditions, including a curfew.

Judge White set his bail at 150 and ordered him to obey a 9 pm - 6 am curfew at his residence. The accused was remanded in custody pending a cash lodgement to appear next week.

Legal aid was granted to Mr Maguire, who has yet to indicate a plea, while gardai must seek directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Security guard Andrei Dobra, who a jury heard, had no history of violence or mental illness prior to strangling his fiancee was found not guilty of her murder by reason of insanity last July.

Andrei Dobra was found not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering Ioana Mihaela Pacala

A KILLER who strangled his fiance during a psychotic episode is now being sued by his victims father

Security guard Andrei Dobra, who a jury heard, had no history of violence or mental illness prior to strangling his fiancee was found not guilty of her murder by reason of insanity last July.

Prior to the murder Dobra (37) had enjoyed a loving and devoted relationship with Ioana Mihaela Pacala and less than 24 hours before killing her, they were captured on CCTV holding hands as they did their weekly shopping.

Dobra, with an address at Riverwalk Court, Fairyhouse Road in Ratoath, Co Meath, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murdering Ms Pacala in the home they shared on November 12th 2022.

He was remanded in the custody of the National Forensic Mental Health Services Hospital in Portrane after the jury found he qualified for the special verdict.

According to High Court records, Ioanas father Gheorghe Gratian Pacala filed a personal injury claim against Dobra on March 5th.

He is being represented in the case by solicitor Justin Hughes.

He is described as a dependent of Ioanas in the court records.

During the court case, Mr. Pacala made a brief statement in which he said his daughters death had deeply devastated us and shattered all the hopes of good and happiness that we, as parents, would have wanted for Ioana.

The second of three daughters, he described her as a gentle, quiet girl and respectful to all the people around her.

Mr Pacala said his daughter fell in love with Mr Dobra and they wanted to build a future and a happy family for themselves.

Their choice and their lives made us believe that there is a possibility that this dream of theirs will become a reality...

The dream began to take shape, together they decided to buy a house, which they moved into together, they fixed the wedding date on June 10th, 2023 and prepared for the wedding event to be a special and unforgettable one.

What happened on November 12th, when Mr Dobra killed Ioana, was inexplicable, he said. There isnt a day when we dont think about Ioana, our hearts are torn by pain and longing for her.

Mr Pacala said he, his wife Florentina and surviving daughters Estera and Lidia, are obliged to accept the verdict.

Noting cultural differences between Romania and Ireland, he said: The term innocent is a contradiction to the committed deed.

Even if a person suffering mental problems commits a crime but lacks discernment, this does not mean that the person in question did not commit the crime and is not guilty of the crime.

When people ask who killed his daughter, he said he does not know how to answer. Was it the fate, the evil hour, the ghosts in Andreis head? Who?

Mr Pacala said his family are devastated but he has no intention of taking revenge on Mr Dobra, adding: I want him to get healthy and get home.

During Dobras trial, two consultant psychiatrists agreed he had developed psychotic delusions that caused him to believe Ms Pacala was a threat to him and when he strangled her to death, he did not know that his actions were wrong.

Before the jury began their deliberations, Sean Guerin SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, told them that Ms Pacala's death had been an "immense tragedy for her family, friends and everyone who knew her".

He reminded the jury of CCTV evidence showing Mr Dobra and Ms Pacala "holding hands in an affectionate and loving way" while carrying out the mundane business of shopping one day before the killing.

There is some mystery as to how the killing came to pass, Mr Guerin said, but Mr Dobra accepted that he strangled Ms Pacala to death. There is no suggestion that she threatened him or that there was a fight.

Defence counsel Michael Bowman SC told the jury that Ms Pacala had lost her life without explanation or justification and not as a result of anything she had done.

"Tragically, mental illness intervened," counsel said, "and labouring under a mental disorder he took Mihaela's life."
Predator claimed he was showing victim where her boyfriend shouldnt touch her

A creep who sexually assaulted his friends 15-year-old daughter has been jailed for five months.

Aurelian Danciu attacked the victim multiple times while visiting her home, later claiming he was teaching her where her boyfriend was not allowed to touch.

The 46-year-old, of Convention Court in east Belfast, was convicted of one count of sexual assault after a contest at Laganside Magistrates Court earlier this month.

The court heard how perverted Danciu, a father-of-one, touched the girls bottom after a conversation about her recently striking up a relationship with a boy.

The defendant began talking about where not to let the boyfriend touch and later followed her into another room where she was alone, away from the others present, a prosecutor said.

He touched her breasts and groin area, as well as squeezing her bottom.

She said she felt uncomfortable with this and tried to move away, but the defendant followed her and touched her over her clothing again in the same areas.

He continued to follow her into her bedroom, where he continued touching her and squeezed her leg as he sat on her bed.

The girl complained to her mother as soon as Danciu left the house following the incident last January. He was arrested a short time later.

He denied assaulting her and claimed he was teaching her where she should stop her boyfriend from touching.

District Judge Anne Marshall jailed him for five months and ordered him to sign the sex offenders register for seven years. He was also issued with a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for five years.
Gardai believe the network of companies controlled by the man, who is in his 60s, would have made him a gold-standard logistical asset to any crime gang importing large quantities of drugs into the state.

A shady businessman held over the seizure of 10.6 million of cocaine had legitimate business interests in areas stretching from real estate and healthcare to warehousing and storage, fuel distribution, and sales.

Gardai believe the network of companies controlled by the man, who is in his 60s, would have made him a gold-standard logistical asset to any crime gang importing large quantities of drugs into the state.

A Sunday World probe has linked the man to seven separate companies operating in Monaghan, Cork, Kilkenny and Waterford.

Nicknamed The Vet, the wheeler-dealer was arrested at a service station in the Paulstown area of Co Kilkenny at 10am on Tuesday following a planned surveillance operation.

He had been driving the truck in which the huge drugs haul was later found to be expertly concealed within a secret compartment.

The cocaine was discovered deeply concealed in a refrigerated unit after customs at Dublin Port X-rayed the lorry.

His questioning was continuing at a station in the South East yesterday after his arrest for facilitating the activities of an organised crime gang.

Detectives believe the cocaine was controlled by the west Dublin gang known as The Family but believe not all the cocaine was destined for the Irish market.

Gardai believe the man has been heavily involved in crime for decades although he has only a small number of serious convictions.

He is believed to have gotten his start in criminality by cheating customers by under-weighing fuels, the theft of metals and diesel laundering,

The Vet is also suspected of being one of the first criminals involved in the importation of angel dust (Clenbuterol) into Ireland decades ago.

The stimulant, used in the past by a small number of farmers, builds up muscle on average sized cattle, and has been banned throughout the EU because of health concerns including increased heart rate and tremors

He was an opportunistic criminal in that whenever the opportunity to unlawfully enrich himself came up, he took it, a source said.

Over the course of his criminal career, the Vet built up considerable criminal contacts including the likes of Thomas Slab Murphy and Michael McKevitt through his involvement in fuel smuggling.

He has also been a major target for Revenue over the past 30 years and has had a number of close scrapes with customs officers including trying to obstruct them on occasions.

Of late, he served a sentence in Cork prison linked to the illicit activities involving fuel.

In recent years, gardai came to suspect he was working as an enabler for transnational and national organised crime groups, most notably the west Dublin gang known as 'The Family'.

And it was this that made him a target for the GNDOCB.

Following his arrest Tuesday. searches were carried out at two business premises and a residential address in Waterford and documents, mobile phones and other electronic equipment were seized.

Gardai from the GNDOCB and Waterford Drug and Crime Units carried out the searches as part of Operation Tara.

Revenue Customs Service, the Garda Dog Unit and the Stolen Motor Vehicle Investigation Unit also assisted in the operation.

Following the operation, Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis, who is in charge of Organised and Serious Crime, said: This is a further example of An Garda Siochana's commitment to target the enablers and facilitators of organised crime.
Gardai responded to incidents of violent disorder and the discharge of a firearm in Tullamore last night.

St James's Hospital has launched a new podcast, 'The Handover', about caring for the dying. Photo: Getty Images

Two men, aged in their 30s and 40s, have been hospitalised with serious injuries following the discharge of a firearm in Offaly.

Gardai responded to incidents of violent disorder and the discharge of a firearm in Tullamore last night.

At approximately 9:50pm, gardai were alerted to a public disturbance at Midlands Regional Hospital, a garda spokesperson said.

A short time later, gardai with assistance from the Divisional Armed Support Unit responded to a report of shots fired at a residence in Kilcruttin.

Two men, in their 30s and 40s, were conveyed from the scene and transferred to St. Jamess Hospital, Dublin for treatment of serious injuries.

Gardai said they do not believe the injuries to be life-threatening at this time and that no other injuries were reported.

"The scene is currently preserved for examination by the Divisional Scenes of Crime Unit. No arrests have been made at this time, a garda spokesperson said.

Investigating gardai are appealing to any person who may have information in relation to these incidents to contact them.

Any road users who were in the Midlands Regional Hospital and Kilcruttin areas of Tullamore between 9:30pm and 10:30pm and who may have camera footage (including dash-cam footage) are asked to make this available to Gardai.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Tullamore Garda Station on 057 932 7600, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
It comes as a new report shows more claims are being litigated through the courts

Fine Gael Senator Linda Nelson Murray has slammed a Judicial Council recommendation to increase personal Injury awards, branding it a recipe for disaster.

The draft guidelines which were submitted to Justice Minister Jim OCallaghan recommend a 16.7% increase in personal injury awards.

It comes following the publication of the latest National Claims Information Database (NCID) report on Employers Liability, Public Liability and Commercial Property Insurance, which was published by the Central Bank this week.

According to the report, in 2023 insurers made a profit of 13% on employers liability, public liability, and commercial property insurance.

The cost of insurance overheads for businesses and organisations remains a major concern, Murray said in a statement.

The stakes for businesses are high  their viability depends on being able to obtain proper insurance at a reasonable cost. We need decisive action from the Minister if we are to avoid business closures and job losses.

The Meath woman, who is on the Industrial and Commercial Panel in the Seanad, said that businesses face increased insurance costs if small cases go through the courts.

In 2023, the average legal costs for cases settled through the courts were 23,000, while cases settled through the Injuries Resolution Board had average legal costs of less than 1,000.

I fully support anyone who has suffered a severe injury being fully compensated and taken care of, but we need to examine the lower end of the market - the smaller claims.

As it stands, there are still so many groups and businesses that still either cannot get insurance or cannot get insurance at a fair price, she said.

Fine Gael are not shy of controversy when it comes to personal injury claims.

In 2019 former TD Maria Bailey found herself at the centre of the so-called swing-gate controversy after launching a personal injuries claim against The Dean Hotel in Dublin after falling from a swing

Ms Bailey said she injured herself after falling from the swing, but the hotel claimed that she was holding items in each hand when the incident occurred.

She later dropped her claim for compensation after it emerged she attended a music festival a week later and ran a 10km race two weeks after that.

Then Taoiseach and party leader Leo Varadkar removed her from her role as chair of the Oireachtas Housing Committee following an internal review, and she was deselected as a candidate for the 2019 general election.
I was delighted to see it  it was what we set out to achieve, but it was taken away from us, there was no mention for the people who started it all.

Gordon Floyd watched from a distance as his dream became a reality.

The east Belfast man looked from across the street as a large crowd gathered at the unveiling of a statue in honour of blues legend Rory Gallagher.

The ceremony outside the Ulster Hall, where the Donegal man had some of his finest moments, was marked the end of a near 10-year campaign to have Gallaghers connection to the city formally recognised.

But for Gordon it was a bittersweet event.

It was a difficult moment, he told the Sunday World last week.

I was delighted to see it  it was what we set out to achieve, but it was taken away from us, there was no mention for the people who started it all.

A lot of people were involved at the start and their efforts were not even acknowledged. It was taken way from us, I was more annoyed for the volunteers who sold T-shirts, badges, raffles, all sorts, to raise money for the statue.

A lifelong blues enthusiast and avid Gallagher fan, he set up and ran the East Belfast Rock And Blues Festival and in turn established the Wilgar Community Forum, named after the east Belfast district which hosted the festival, with the sole purpose of getting the Rory statue in place.

He said many of the artists who played the East Belfast Festival waived their fees to contribute to the campaign.

Through fundraising and a grant secured from then Communities Minster Caral Ni Chuilin, a total of 26,000 was raised.

It paid for the planning application for the statue and the commission to Belfast artist and sculptor Anto Brennan.

He used a famous picture which appeared in the music paper Melody Maker that showed Rory on stage at the Ulster Hall in 1971.

He created the statue and it was ready to go to Dublin to be bronzed and then Covid hit us, and everything stopped, said Gordon.

He said the disrupted campaign lost momentum but he was determined to see it through and with the agreement of others, they signed the statue into the care of the Gallagher family.

Rock legend Rory Gallagher

That really was the last we heard of it  we just felt we had been pushed to the side, the efforts of all the volunteers have never been acknowledged.

The project was completed by the Rory Gallagher Trust, which hosted the statue unveiling in January.

Gordon said there was little mention for the people who started the campaign, as a large crowd gathered on Bedford Street on a cold Saturday morning in the New Year.

Gordon watched from across the street.

When they saw me they asked me to come over, but I said no, its your project now, fire away.

Gordon and his team of volunteers along with Anto Brennan and Belfast man John Wilson, who played drums in Taste, a band fronted by Gallagher in the 60s, will gather at the statue next week for their own personal acknowledgement of what they started.

It just hurt that we were pushed out of the way, said Gordon, who met the great man in 1976.

He was playing the Ulster Hall and I went into the Crown [Bar] before the gig and there he was having a pint on his own.

I went over and spoke to him  he was just an ordinary down-to-earth bloke, but put a guitar in his hands and put him on stage and he became a different person. Transformed.

I remember one of the guys from his band came running in and told him to get round to the Ulster Hall, they were setting up for the show.

Artist Anto Brennan told the Sunday World he felt the Wilgar Community Forum deserved greater recognition for their efforts.

They feel they were left behind and didnt get the recognition they deserve, they started all this and deserve huge credit, he said.

It took me a year to make the statue but it took 15 years to get to this point.

Many fans, family members and local dignatories gathered for the unveiling of the statue.

Lord Mayor of Belfast Mickey Murray opened the ceremony and said Gallaghers authenticity and talent transcended borders.

Chants of Rory and loud clapping filled the air throughout the ceremony. Relatives of Rory Gallagher said it was a great day.

Those involved in the unveiling of the statue said they hoped the memorial would ensure Rorys contributions to music are never forgotten.

At the unveiling ,Barry McGivern of the Rory Gallagher Statue Project Trust said the statue was a fitting tribute. Rory came up to Belfast in 1967 and it was a vibrant music scene.

The Rory Gallagher Statue Project Trust said it found it unfortunate that The Wilgar Community Forum felt that they have not received sufficient credit.

It added: The Rory Gallagher Statue Project Trust has acknowledged all contributing participants and recognition has been given through press releases both nationally via the Press Association and through local media outlets.

Planning permission was obtained by The Rory Gallagher Statue Project Trust.

The trust continues to work on celebrating Rory Gallaghers Belfast legacy in conjunction with Unescos city of music status.
OLearys airline is famous bringing in host of additional charges over the years for things like allocated seating, priority boarding and even printing out boarding passes

A Navan restaurant joking said they Ryanair boss Michael OLeary additional charges for leg room and priority seating when he visited this week.

OLearys airline is famous bringing in host of additional charges over the years for things like allocated seating, priority boarding and even printing out boarding passes.

Luvida Restaurant got their revenge on the Mullingar man when he paid them a visit on Friday night and they posted a receipt where they charged him just under 38 extra in additional charges on top of his meal bill.

They posted a receipt which added on a charges of 7.95 for extra leg space, 9.95 for priority booth seating and 19.95 for quiet area reservation.

The restaurant also posted a picture of OLeary smiling with restaurant manager Marika Chocianwoicz and wrote: Thank you to Michael O'Leary for choosing to dine with us tonight!

It was a pleasure to host you Hope you don't mind us adding some additional charges to your bill for extra leg space, priority booth seating and quiet area reservation.

The total bill came to 142.30 with 37.85 of that being additional charges.

However, restaurant manager Marika the Sunday World they didnt actually charge him the fees.

We were going to but we chickened out, she said.

She said they let him away without the additional charges on Friday as it was his first time there but will vowed to get him next time.

I have those buttons on the till now so next time hes getting charged.

Marika also revealed OLeary wasnt a cheapskate when it came to leaving a tip.

He did leave a nice tip. There was a nasty comment saying he probably didnt leave a tip but he did.

The restaurant was set up Lubomir Kosturik and his cousin Daniel Kavecy along with business partner and Executive Chef Vincent Clarke and previously hosted reality TV stars the Real Housewives of New Jersey on a trip to Ireland in 2022.

Ryanair have been famous for years for additional fees for a range of things like seating and priority boarding.

OLeary once claimed he was thinking of introducing charges for customers to use the toilets and also claimed he was considering having selling standing tickets for flights.

Neither claim ever became a reality.
All flights between Irish airports and Heathrow were cancelled yesterday, with further disruption possible over the coming days.

Up to 291,000 passengers were impacted by the fire near Heathrow, which caused the airport to lose power. Photo: James Manning/PA

Fire at Hayes electrical substation near Heathrow, which disrupted more than 1,300 flights to and from the Airport. Photo: PA/@AmeeriMansoor

Blair Burton, waiting for information about her flight from Fiumicino in Italy to Heathrow, en route to Austin, Texas. Photo: Reuters

Flights at London Heathrow Airport resumed last night after a fire knocked out its power supply and shut Europes busiest airport for the day, stranding thousands of passengers and causing travel turmoil worldwide.

All flights between Irish airports and Heathrow were cancelled yesterday, with further disruption possible over the coming days.

Flights resumed at London Heathrow yesterday evening, focused mainly on the relocation of aircraft before the airport is expected to return to full operation today, airport chief executive Thomas Woldbye said.

More than 30 flights were cancelled between Irish airports and Heathrow following a fire at a nearby electrical substation that knocked out the airports power supply.

Over 1,300 flights and up to 291,000 passengers were affected overall by the closure.

British police said counter-terrorism officers were investigating, but there was no initial indication of foul play in the substation fire.

The blaze, which was reported just after 11pm on Thursday night, forced planes to divert to airports across Europe.

Over 1,500 passengers were diverted to Shannon Airport on six flights yesterday from Toronto, Atlanta, Bridgetown Barbados, Boston, Orlando and Newark, while a total of 34 flights were cancelled between Dublin Airport and Heathrow.

Tanaiste Simon Harris paid tribute to teams that worked to get flights back up and running at the airport last night following travel chaos.

Obviously the route between Dublin and Heathrow is the second busiest route in Europe, and therefore that caused a significant challenge today for commuters to and from Dublin in relation to Heathrow, he said.

But it does seem that everything that could have been done to try and swiftly get things back on track has happened and Im grateful to all of those involved in making that happen.

Up to 120 aircraft were heading to Heathrow from airports across the world when the fire began and were forced to either divert or return to their point of origin. Passengers on board Qantas flights to Heathrow from Singapore and Perth diverted to Paris before taking buses to London.

The disruption, which is the largest to air travel since the Icelandic ash cloud of 2010, has prompted questions about the potential vulnerability of such critical infrastructure and the contingency planning in place.

A spokesperson for the airport said it hopes to return to a full operation today as it worked to repatriate the passengers who were diverted across Europe last night.

Our priority remains the safety of our passengers and those working at the airport. As the busiest airport in Europe, Heathrow uses as much energy as a small city, therefore getting back to a full and safe operation takes time, they said.

The closure is expected to have days-long knock-on effects globally, leaving many passengers stranded as carriers reconfigure their networks to move planes and crews around.

However, Aer Lingus is planning to operate its normal schedule to and from London Heathrow today, after all services were cancelled yesterday, affecting around 5,500 passengers.

A spokesperson for the airline said it had communicated with all impacted customers, and customer care teams were working hard to provide them with the options available to them, including applying for refunds, changing flights, or, if a customer has an imminent requirement to travel, engaging them directly with our customer care team to arrange re-accommodation where possible.

Ryanair, which does not operate routes into London Heathrow, added eight extra flights between Dublin and London Stansted to its schedule as a result of the closure, including four flights today.

A spokesperson said these flights were intended to rescue passengers affected by the closure of Heathrow Airport.

Seats were still available on Ryanair flights last night, with one-way fares from Dublin to London Stansted priced between 140 and 262 for flights travelling today.

One-way tickets on Sunday were still available for morning and evening departure times, with fares priced between 257 and 305.

In an update shared last night, Sean Doyle, the chief executive of British Airways, the biggest carrier at Heathrow, described the situation at Heathrow as unprecedented and warned that there will be a substantial impact on the airline and its customers for many days to come as it navigated a number of logistical issues as a result of the closure.

More than 670 British Airways flights were cancelled yesterday, impacting 107,000 passengers.

We have flight and cabin crew colleagues and planes that are currently at locations where we werent planning on them to be, Mr Doyle said.

UK prime minister Keir Starmers spokesman said there would be a thorough investigation into the incident.

Heathrow, and Londons other major airports, have been hit by other outages in recent years, most recently by an automated gate failure and an air traffic system meltdown, both in 2023.
County Donegal woman Ruby Druce was an incredible 109-years-old

Daniel O'Donnell has paid a touching tribute to Ireland's oldest person who passed away on Thursday evening.

County Donegal woman Ruby Druce was an incredible 109-years-old.

Mrs Druce passed away at her niece Carmel home in Castlefinn where she had been living.

Last year singing sensation Daniel paid a surprise visit to see Mrs Druce after hearing she was a fan.

Along with wife Majella, the couple spent the afternoon chatting about all things with Mrs Druce.

Mrs Druce even managed to join Daniel for a song or two.

Today Daniel paid a touching tribute to his former friend.

He said "I was sorry to hear of the passing of Ireland's oldest person, Ruby Druce. Majella and I had the privilege of meeting her last year.

"What a fantastic woman she was. Sympathies to all her family. May she rest in peace."

Mrs Druce was born in 1915 and led a remarkable life.

She lived through two World Wars and two pandemics, contracting both the Spanish flu as a child and Covid-19 in 2023, despite not having any symptoms.

She never smoked or drank and only ever tasted alcohol once when she took a sip of poitin as a child.

Mrs Druce's funeral will take place on Sunday, 23rd March, at 12pm in St. Marys Church, Castlefinn, followed by interment in the adjoining cemetery.
LANZHOU, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China's glacier area has decreased by approximately 6 percent over the past decade, according to the latest Chinese glacier inventory released on Friday.

Glaciers are among the most sensitive and direct indicators of climate change, and glacier inventories are censuses of glacier resources. The Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a pioneer in domestic glacier research, completed the first and second Chinese glacier inventories in 2002 and 2014, respectively. In 2023, the institute carried out the third inventory, using 2020 as the baseline year to document current glacial conditions.

According to Kang Shichang, lead researcher of the project, China's glaciers covered about 46,000 square km, with some 69,000 individual glaciers. Compared to the results of the first inventory, from the 1960s to 2020, China's glacier area has shrunk by 26 percent, with nearly 7,000 small glaciers vanishing entirely.

Compared to the second inventory, from 2008 to 2020, the glacier area decreased by about 6 percent, indicating a rapid retreat.

Guo Wanqin, an associate researcher at the institute, noted that the researchers adopted higher-resolution satellite remote sensing data and more efficient methods to complete the third inventory within a short period.

The UN General Assembly declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation in December 2022, with March 21 designated as annual World Glacier Day starting from 2025. The aim is to underscore glaciers' crucial role in climate system and water resources, as well as the impacts of rapid glacier melting. 
Entertainer Dave Lawlor has rounded up his friends from the world of country and showband music for a special night to raise money for two childrens charities

'Ben was was only three years old when he got sick and he had so much to give. Now we can try and do that for him.'

Stars from the world of Irish country and showband music are set to perform a spectacular concert next month in honour of a young boy who passed away with cancer last September.

Little Ben Lawlor from Tullamore, Co Offaly, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in November 2023.

Sadly, the three-year-old grandson of top Irish entertainer Dave Lawlor passed away.

Now Bens parents, Brian and Louise, have set up an Instagram account in his honour called Bens Big Hug  and intend to fundraise for charities who support children and their families going through cancer treatment.

Their Bens Big Night With The Stars concert in the Tullamore Court Hotel, Co Offaly, on Wednesday, May 7, is in aid of The Gavin Glynn Foundation and Oscars Kids.

It will feature an all-star line-up that includes Red Hurley, Nathan Carter, Mary Byrne, Mike Denver, Jimmy Buckley, Ronan Collins, Claudia Buckley, Gina, Simon Casey, Ruaile Buaile, The Rosney Family Band and The Conquerors.

'Ben was was only three years old when he got sick and he had so much to give. Now we can try and do that for him.'

Bens grandad Dave Lawlor will host the night with the stars and roll back the showband years with his nostalgic medley of hits from the era.

I am so grateful to all my colleagues in the Irish music business who are coming along to make this night the concert of the year in honour of Ben, Dave tells Magazine+.

Its only when you are in this situation you realise the amazing people you have in your life and who would do anything to help you. The music business is a great community of people.

Bens passing has been devastating for our family, but we intend to honour him and keep his memory alive into the future by fundraising for the charities who support families during their own cancer journey.

Bens father, Brian, told how his childs cancer diagnosis came out of the blue at the end of November 2023.

Ben was diagnosed with an aggressive form of CNS tumour and was given a poor prognosis, but we always had so much hope that Ben would beat the odds.

Ben went through treatment in the paediatric unit in Portlaoise hospital, St Gabriels ward in Temple Street, St Johns Ward in Crumlin before travelling to Manchester in June for proton treatment for six weeks.

Throughout Bens journey we were supported by so many charities such as The Gavin Glynn Foundation, Oscars Kids, Aoibheanns Pink Tie, to name but a few. We now hope to fundraise for all of the charities that helped us going forward to help support the amazing work they do, and this concert will be for Gavin Glynn and Oscars Kids.

The Gavin Glynn Foundation helps families of children battling cancer to travel overseas for treatment that is not available in Ireland. It was set up by John and Jayne Glynn in honour of their young son, Gavin who passed away from cancer.

We were put in contact with Gavin Glynn through our social worker in Crumlin, who was looking after us.

She told us there are additional supports that are available outside the hospital when we were arranging Bens trip to Manchester. She sent our details to Gavin Glynn and they contacted us straight away. Within a matter of days they had everything organised for us.

They helped us to bring Ben to Manchester, organised all the transport, the accommodation and covered expenses. We were able to bring our other son, Finn, with us. They even organised a courier to bring over Bens medication and food.

.

John Glynn would give us a call regularly. He would touch base with us every couple of days to see were we OK. They would send over toys for the boys to keep them entertained. You cant describe how important their support is as they take away so much of your worry and stress.

Brian also told how the Gavin Glynn Foundation has links to Aer Lingus where volunteer staff at the airline also look after sick children flying in and out to Dublin Airport.

When we arrived at the airport there were two staff waiting at the front door to escort us to the plane, he reveals. We were taken to a lounge away from the other travellers to protect Ben whose immune system was weak. They made a big fuss of him, made him feel very special. And on the plane at the end of the flight he was taken up to see the cockpit and meet the captain.

Oscars Kids Ireland, a childhood cancer charity set up by Lar and Yavanna Keogh, who lost their little boy, Oscar, to a brain tumour, have also been supportive of the Lawlor family.

Ben became a member of their club a week before he passed, Brian says. They also link up with the Dublin Fire Brigade and they have what they call Oscars District where special children get inducted and become a staff member and are given a uniform.

When Ben was in Laura Lynn the Dublin Fire Brigade arrived down with three fire engines and put on a big show for his brother Finn and all the firemen came in to meet Ben and spent time talking to him and gave him his badge, uniform and helmet. Its so uplifting for the children and the family.

Brian says his son loved life, he was full of love and loved giving people hugs and so theyve called his Instagram page Bens Big Hug.

We want Bens name to live on and to honour him by giving back to everyone that helped and supported us along the way, he adds.

Ben was a huge character and so full of life. He was only three years old when he got sick and he had so much to give. Now we can try and do that for him.
The 63-year-old US talk show host spoke to Patrick Kielty, in what was her first exclusive interview since moving to Ireland due to the Trump presidency.

Rosie O'Donnell has said it is 'heartbreaking to see whats happening politically' in the US. Photo: Getty

Rosie ODonnell told the Late Late Show that President Donald Trump has it out for me and has for 20 years after she told the truth about him.

The 63-year-old US talk show host spoke to Patrick Kielty, in what was her first exclusive interview since moving to Ireland due to the Trump presidency.

Earlier this month, O'Donnell revealed that she and her youngest child Clay, 12, moved to Ireland, where her grandparents are from, and she is now in the process of applying for Irish citizenship.

"When I told the truth about him on a programme called The View, where it was my job to talk about pop culture and politics, I mentioned his bankruptcies, she said.

"I mentioned the fact that he's not the businessman everyone thinks he is.

ODonnell said that President Trump, who was not president at that time, was very angry to say the least, following her comments.

"He hasnt let it go and he uses me as a punchline whenever he feels the need, she added.

A clip was played of Taoiseach Micheal Martins visit to the Oval Office last week, when a reporter asked him why would you let someone like Rosie ODonnell into Ireland?

The actress said it felt very surreal watching the exchange, adding that he is doing it two decades and I am still not used to it every time he does.

"I felt very troubled that they put the Taoiseach in that position and that they didnt treat him with the respect that a leader of that kind deserves when they are visiting the White House, she said.

Following Mr Martins visit to the US, ODonnell said she wrote to the taoiseach with an apology note via email, to which she received a thank you note.

"I just wanted him to know the history and what happened and why he seems to be out to get me in ways that are startling to most, she added.

Leading up to the interview, ODonnell had said she intends to live outside of the US until it is safe, you know, for all citizens to have equal rights there, thats when we will consider coming back.

Kielty asked ODonnell why she decided not to stay in the US, having lived there through the first Trump presidency, to which she pointed to Project 2025, which is a political initiative to reshape the federal government of the United States.

She said that anyone who read that would not be able to sleep as an American, claiming that it includes gutting all of the social programmes.

ODonnell alluded to an executive order singed by Mr Trump this week, which essentially dismantles the Department of Education.

"I have a child with autism. That child will be denied services because the funding for these children comes from the federal Government as well as the States that was terrifying, she claimed.

ODonnell stressed that the biggest reason was due to the Supreme Court.

"It ultimately gave him the power of a king or monarch and that is obviously not what the United States is all about. Its a terrifying prospect, she said.

On UFC fighter Conor McGregor visiting the White House to speak about immigration in Ireland, ODonnell said it was very depressing for US politics.
He looks and sounds like any other Tauranga resident going about living in the Bay of Plenty. But for this Brother, his brotherhood is fast disappearing from the city.

Peter Miller is part of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes.

Were known as the Buffaloes, said Miller.

But we use those initials  RAOB  to identify ourselves.

The order originated in England in 1822, according to the NZ website, and Buffs aids its members, their families, dependants of former members and charitable organisations.

Unbeknown to many city folk, until recently Buffaloes used to live, meet and discretely gift funds to a menagerie of non-profit community groups among us for many years.

Were a philanthropic, fraternal organisation  however, we dont solicit funds from the general public. All our funds come from the Brothers themselves.

Legion of Frontiersmen J Squadron leader Val Baker said the original Redoubt Lodge No 98 had been meeting at the LOF hall in Elizabeth St West since 1952.

Shed like to see more men join and revive the Buffaloes in town from the edge of extinction. Weve had a long association with the Buffalo Lodge and theyre a group that give back generously to the community, Baker said.

August 1946

According to Miller, the Redoubt Lodge No 98 was the original Buffaloes Lodge for Tauranga and was founded in August 1946 after World War II.

At those meetings thered be 50-60 brothers regularly attending, but over the years thats dropped off.



Peter Miller outside the LOF hall on Elizabeth Street West, where the original Redoubt Lodge No 98 met up since 1952. Photo / David Hall

Miller said about eight years of low numbers prompted Redoubt Lodge No 98 to amalgamate with Mount Lodge 130.

We became known as the Mount Redoubt-Lodge and retained the No 98.

Since then numbers have dwindled further and Mount-Redoubt Lodge No 98 recently went into recess.

For months wed been operating on a bare quorum of five Brothers. Then we lost three senior, very staunch Brothers within 12 months, said Miller.

And it became very difficult ... so we decided to go into recess for a year to see what happens.

Mount-Redoubt No 98s fate will be decided in December.

We will decide to close or to carry on.

Turning the tide would mean drawing more members in.

It would be good if there were Brothers out there who stopped coming to lodge that would come back. That would certainly help. And younger Brothers and members of the community [joining] would be great too.

Under the radar

But what are the Buffaloes? And has their demise been flying under the radar?

Yeah we do [fly under the radar] because we dont go out looking for publicity. We dont do that  and perhaps we should have 10-15 years ago so today we wouldnt be going into recess, admitted Miller.

He joined the RAOB in December 1970 in Kawerau because his father was a Buff and, as a child, Id had quite a few positive experiences with the activities the Buffaloes put on for their children.

So what does a Buff do?

Miller said Brothers  or Buffs  attended a lodge meeting once a month. Miller said there were three tiers of the RAOB: minor lodges such as Mount-Redoubt Lodge No 98; a Provincial Grand Lodge, which usually has about three minor lodges underneath it; and the Grand Lodge of NZ, which is the national lodge.

Ceremonial

Were very ceremonial. We have a number of rituals and ceremonies, especially when a Brother goes from one degree to the next, said Miller, who was the Grand Primo (chairman) of New Zealands conference in 2015.



Peter Miller was the Grand Primo (chair) of New Zealands conference in 2015. Photo / Supplied.

My father always said to me: If youre able to control a room of Buffs youll control any meeting. And he was dead right because we have a definite meeting procedure to go through in the Lodge; then we go into whats called harmony. [This is where] Brothers might bring a musical instrument along or just tell a yarn. Thats one of the ways we raise funds because we put in money after each item  and that goes to the general fund.

We have a raffle, we call it a swindle each night which is part of fundraising as well. Since 2018, the Mount-Redoubt No 98 has donated more than $20,000 to local organisations.

Weve strongly supported the childrens ward at Tauranga Hospital, weve also given to the Blue Light Foundation.

Other recipients include the Epilepsy Foundation, Blind Low Vision NZ, Katikati Tramping Club, and Omanu, Mount and Pukehina surf lifesaving clubs. All without a murmur in the local rag.

Miller now belongs to Te Puke Lodge No 122, which meets monthly on his property.

So, Ive still got a Lodge to go to, thank goodness.

But hes happy to take inquiries from those who want to breathe life back into Mount-Redoubt No 98. Email him at: millerph@kinect.co.nz
This year, the New Zealand Dental Association is thrilled to celebrate World Oral Health Day, a global initiative led by the FDI World Dental Federation.

With the theme A Happy Mouth is a Happy Mind, the campaign highlighted the vital connection between oral health and overall happiness and wellbeing, New Zealand Dental Association (NZDA) Colgate oral health promotion manager Anishma Ram said.

Oral health isnt just about having a bright smile, its about how you feel, your confidence and your overall health, Ram said in a statement.

Poor oral health can cause pain, stress and self-consciousness; while taking care of your teeth and gums can boost your mood and help you live a fuller, more confident and happier life.

And its because of those reasons that NZDA is so keen to encourage Kiwis to prioritise oral health care and to protect their smiles.

People are encouraged to join the fun on World Oral Health Day and stand a chance to win some exciting prizes.

This year, there are three competitions:

 Colouring Competition for Kids (12 and under): Let creativity flow with our special colouring challenge that celebrates the link between a happy smile and a happy mind.

 Creative Competition for Teens (13-17): Teens can design a one-minute video or a poster showing how oral health supports mental wellbeing.

 Social Media Challenge (all ages): Share your oral health tips and tricks that give you a healthy smile, tag 2 friends and @NZDAHealthySmiles (on Facebook or Instagram) and use hashtags #WOHD2025 and #HappyMouth to join the conversation and enter our prize draw.

Whether its through colouring, creating or sharing on social media, head to NZDAs website for full information, or contact at register@nzda.org.nz

Competitions close on April 11.
Warning: This article discusses graphic content.

A woman who buried her brother last month claims the Waikato funeral service they used lied about upfront costs and, in her view, failed to properly prepare the body, which had maggots coming out of some body parts.

On the assumption that the Hamilton funeral service was qualified, she expected they would provide communication through the whole process, and tell me where they were taking my baby brother to be embalmed, which she claims did not happen.

Bay of Plenty woman Lucys brother Tuirirangi (Tui) died suddenly aged 27 on February 14. Lucy did not want her surname used.

The family were initially dealing with a Whakatane funeral home to take care of the funeral.

Tuitirangi (Tui) of Bay of Plenty passed away on February 14, and his sister was horrified by the alleged treatment received from a Waikato funeral home.



Lucy said an employee visited, explained the process to the family, and took Tuis body.

From a letter provided to the Herald, it is understood the body was taken to Rotorua on the morning of February 17, on the direction of the coroner.

Lucy said the family were struggling financially and were trying to come up with a plan to cut costs for the funeral when Majestik Funeral Services, of Hamilton, was raised as an option.

The service was run by the brother of a family members partner, so the family decided to switch to Majestik.

As she knew of Majestik Funeral Services director Maui Te Poono, Lucy said she didnt think to research the service and instead put full trust into him.

Lucy said she hadnt met Te Poono previously, and didnt know him personally.

I thought I could grieve my baby brother and let them take over ... I feel so dumb, Lucy told the Herald.

Lucy claims Te Poono told her and other whanau members via a video call that the Whakatane funeral service Willetts required a $5000 upfront payment to release the body  without any further services provided.

Another sister of Tuis the Herald spoke to claimed she was also present in the video call when Maui said Willetts required that upfront payment.

In a letter provided to the Herald, Willets told Lucy that it is not within our responsibility or ability to release the tupapuku [body] from this process and that there is no costs to the family for this.

Despite the family being told a payment of $5000 was required in order for the body to be released, the Herald understands the $5000 was never paid by Lucys family and despite this, Majestik Funeral Services proceeded to pick up Tui from the Rotorua Mortuary before returning the body to the familys Te Teko home at 10pm.

Lucy said the family, with Te Poono still in attendance, strapped Tui into his woven coffin and put him in a room to lie in state.

She claimed when she returned to the room five minutes later, she was shocked to see a maggot wriggling out of his mouth.

I asked [Te Poono] why, and he said when Tui was being embalmed they saw a black spot on his stomach and [thought] this might happen ... [but] no proper explanation [was provided], Lucy told the Waikato Herald.

We were waiting for a solution on how to clean him but it never came.

The next morning, Lucy claimed, she approached Tuis coffin again to find further maggots crawling out of his mouth, eyes, and ears.

They then took Tuis body to their local marae.

Despite the familys best efforts, Lucy said maggots continued to appear on the body until his burial on February 20.

I never slept on the last night with my baby brother. I just stayed up crying all night reflecting on the whole process, apologising to him.

Tuis other sister told the Herald she could vouch that there were loads of maggots coming out of his body parts, and over the days till his burial, they were constantly picking them off themselves.

It was only after the burial that Lucy discovered there was no upfront charge from Willets to get the body released.

Lucy told the Herald she reported Majestik to the police, complaining about the request for upfront payment and the treatment of the body. Police then referred her to the Funeral Directors Association.

Gillian Boyes, chief executive of the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand.

The association told her Majestik Funeral Services didnt own a mortuary and wasnt registered with them, so they would not be able to investigate.

Lucy then relaid her complaint with police.

Police would not comment.

Willetts did not wish to comment for this story.

Lucy said she was traumatised by her experience with Majestik, and wanted to warn others to take precautions when it came to selecting funeral homes.

Funeral Directors Association comment

Funeral Directors Association chief executive Gillian Boyes said Majestik had not applied to be a member of the association. It is not a legal requirement to be registered with the association.

Potential members needed to meet strict criteria, including having a national qualification in funeral directing and being employed by a firm that is currently a member of the association or an affiliate member firm.

They also needed to be in business for a certain period. However, it is not a legal requirement for a funeral director to be registered with the association.

Boyes said according to her knowledge, Te Poono had worked in the industry for a short period but was not qualified, and did not operate out of a funeral home premises.

[Recently] one of our board members was rung by Maui asking if their funeral home could hold the body of a child as they didnt have premises, she said.

Maui has [also previously] asked some of our member firms if they will embalm for him and they have declined. We are not sure where he is getting embalms done at present.

Regarding the embalming process of Tui, Boyes said she was also unsure how Majestik returned the body to the family so quickly.

Experienced embalmers would caution a family to keep the body at the funeral home for a period after so they can check on the condition post the embalm.

She said maggots can occur even with the most careful embalming, depending on air temperatures, how long a body has been outside and whether basic precautions, such as nets over the face in a casket, are used.

Boyes said they couldnt investigate Majestik Funeral Services or Te Poono as they werent a member.

However, Lucys case had alarmed the association and prompted them to issue a warning to the public to say there were standards funeral homes should meet.

We know that New Zealanders really value the work funeral directors do, but we want them to know some funeral directors may be taking shortcuts in terms of their legal, and particularly their ethical obligations.

All funeral directors in New Zealand must comply with legal requirements around the care of a deceased in the Burials and Cremations Act, the Fair Trading Act, and the Consumer Guarantees Act.

In her view: The issue [in Lucys case] was the lack of information provided to the family and the appalling follow-up response when the issue was discovered.

Boyes said funeral directors who were members of the association would have access to resources and training.

On the Careers New Zealand website it says there are no specific requirements to become a funeral director or embalmer.

The Waikato Herald approached Te Poono for comment several times over the past two weeks.

On March 7 Te Poono replied by text, I have spoken with my lawyer who has given some advice.

He included text he said was from his lawyer.

It said the client wished to make no comment until a resolution could be found among the family and the person making the allegations.

On March 17 Te Poono told the Waikato Herald by text he would issue a statement at a later date as a mediation is taking place between the family and the person making the allegations.

However, Lucy claims there is no mediation process taking place.

Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatane.
Andre and Natalie Meier won the 2025 Bay of Plenty Share Farmer of the Year title, marking another milestone in their farming career.

The couple received the award at the Bay of Plenty Dairy Industry Awards annual dinner at the Awakeri Events Centre on Friday night.

They previously won titles in the competition, with Andre named the 2020 Bay of Plenty Dairy Manager of the Year and later winning the national award.

The Meiers, in a 20% equity partnership with Bruce and Gill Cameron, farm 267ha across two properties at Otamarakau and Otakiri, milking 760 cows. They won $11,745 in prizes and three merit awards.

Andre said the awards programme helped his self-development by pushing him out of his comfort zone and allowing him to build industry connections. The couple valued the farming lifestyle for their young family, enjoying the mix of working outdoors with animals and machinery.

They identified technology and innovation as key to the industrys future and aimed to continue integrating advancements for efficiency and sustainability. Andre said they switched to once-a-day (OAD) milking, improving reproduction results.

Renee and Benjamin Howard placed second in the Share Farmer category, winning $6,575 in prizes and three merit awards. They farm 233 cows on an 89ha Whakatane property in a 9% equity partnership with John and Leanne Howard. Renee was the 2019 Manawatu Dairy Manager of the Year. The couple credited the awards programme for refining their business approach and aligning their goals.

Alex and Shaun Boyce placed third in the Share Farmer category, winning $3,125 in prizes and two merit awards. They contract milk 700 cows on a 250ha Omanawa property.

Thomas Lundman won the 2025 Bay of Plenty Dairy Manager of the Year title, securing $8,150 in prizes and three merit awards. The 27-year-old farm manager at Michael and Linda Mexteds 135ha Whakatane property milks 530 cows. He previously won the 2022 Bay of Plenty Dairy Trainee title and finished as national runner-up.

Lundman said networking provided invaluable industry connections and boosted his confidence. He planned to step into contract milking next season while maintaining work-life balance.

Alana Fitzpatrick won the 2025 Bay of Plenty Dairy Trainee of the Year award, earning $6,120 in prizes and three merit awards. The 22-year-old, who finished runner-up in 2024, works on David and Lesley Jensens 240ha, 700-cow Tauranga farm.

The New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards are supported by ASB, CowManager, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Honda, LIC and Trelleborg, with industry partners DairyNZ and MediaWorks.
The education minister only found out school lunch provider Libelle was going into liquidation through media reports, as the associate education minister decided not to tell her.

Written Parliamentary Questions from the Green Party show David Seymour found out there was a possibility of Libelle's liquidation on 6 March.

Libelle was officially placed into liquidation on 11 March, and it was only then that Erica Stanford found out.

According to the first report by liquidators Deloitte, Libelle exhausted its cash reserves on 6 March, after paying employees' wages.

It was no longer able to purchase essential goods and services to enable ongoing trading.

Libelle approached Deloitte on the evening on 6 March, seeking its consent to act as liquidators.

Deloitte spent until 10 March planning for the insolvency appointment, to ensure there was a strategy for the ongoing supply of lunches once the liquidation was made official.

Deloitte then publicly announced Libelle was being placed into liquidation on 11 March.

The Green Party's education spokesperson Lawrence Xu-Nan asked the Education Minister, Associate Education Minister and Prime Minister when they were first made aware that Libelle was going into liquidation.

He also asked the Education Minister and Prime Minister who informed them of the liquidation.

Seymour told Xu-Nan that Ministry of Education officials verbally briefed him on 6 March of the possibility of Libelle going into liquidation.

"I was kept abreast of developments until the liquidator was appointed on Tuesday 11 March 2025, as I was focussed on continuity of supply," his reply said.

The Prime Minister said Seymour's office told his office on 7 March.

Stanford, however, told Xu-Nan she was "informed via the media that the Libelle Group had been placed into liquidation."

Seymour told RNZ as the responsible minister, his duty was to make sure the programme delivered.

"Updating other ministers on every development would be nice, but I think they would rather I fix the problems," he said.

"In this instance my office made sure that the Prime Minister's office was kept informed of developments, as is appropriate."

Lawrence Xu-Nan said it reinforced the need to return to the original school lunch model, and expand it.

"If we had good and well-funded, nutritious, warm, locally-made lunches that are resilient and aren't going to have all of these issues, we wouldn't have this in the first place," he said.

Erica Stanford's office told RNZ they would not be commenting further.
A rahui has been placed on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing following the death of a man who collapsed while hiking the track.

The man, in his 50s, collapsed around midday while traversing the popular trail.

Despite the efforts of those nearby, including trained medical staff, attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, and he died a short time later.

Senior Constable Barry Shepherd of the Bay of Plenty Police Search and Rescue team thanked those who rushed to assist the man.

He also acknowledged the support and swift response from the Department of Conservation and local iwi, Ngati Hikairo ki Tongariro.

Police would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family of the deceased, especially his family member who was with him at the time, he said. This is an incredibly tough day for the family and has had an impact on everyone involved.

Under the guidance of Ngati Hikairo ki Tongariro, a karakia was held alongside the mans family member and those who assisted in the rescue efforts.

The rahui will remain in effect until 6am on Wednesday, March 26.

Police and iwi have asked the public to respect the closure and consider alternative walking routes during this time.
One of the artillery pieces of the defensive battery that gives its name to the Torremolinos park.

Jose Rodriguez Camara Torremolinos Saturday, 22 March 2025, 07:56 | Updated 08:15h. Compartir

The procedure opened by Torremolinos town hall for the manufacture in large format of three dimensional characters of Francisco Ibanez, with the idea of placing them in the Parque de la Bateria and creating a themed route dedicated to the protagonists of one of the most beloved comics by Spanish readers, is starting again.

Although the tender, opened in November 2024, generated interest , with a company from Cuenca and another from Galicia submitting bids, in the end, no award was made. Municipal sources explained that it was decided to "reset" this phase of the project, in search of "higher quality, in accordance with the request of the artist's heirs".

Announced at Fitur

The idea of turning Mortadelo - disguised as an 'espeto' (skewered sardine) - along with Filemon and Rompetechos into an additional attraction in Torremolinos' main green area was announced by the mayor, Margarita del Cid, at the 2024 edition of the Fitur travel trade fair in Madrid. This initiative is supported financially by the Junta de Andalucia, through a 60,000 euro grant from the regional ministry of tourism, which represents the bulk of the investment. The planned timeline aims for these figures to be installed in the park by August 2025. Despite only five months remaining, the local administration said that there will be no issue in meeting the deadline.

IU-Podemos, however, criticised the municipal management of this matter. Councillor David Tejeiro said that the fact that the previous attempt to contract the reproductions had to be repeated is a sign of "lack of foresight", considering that those in charge of the local government team have not bothered to "sound out the market". "If they do not meet the deadlines, they will have to return the money from the subsidy for the project," he said.

Copyright

The use of the image of the well-known anti-heroes created by Ibanez has meant that Torremolinos town hall has had to negotiate with the owners of the rights to use them, the publishing house Penguin Random House, as well as having to have the final design of the pieces approved before they are exhibited in the park.

Initially, the agreement reached for the use of the characters was 24,000 euros for six years. However, after an exchange between the company and Torremolinos council, the offer was improved, and an eight-year term was agreed upon.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with U.S. Senator Steve Daines in Beijing, capital of China, March 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Xiang)

BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with U.S. Senator Steve Daines in Beijing on Saturday.

He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that China firmly opposes the politicization, weaponization and instrumentalization of economic and trade issues, and is willing to engage in candid dialogue with the United States on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefits.

Noting that China and the United States have many common interests and broad space for cooperation, He said the two sides can become partners and friends to achieve mutual success and common prosperity for the benefit of both countries and the world.

Daines said that U.S.-China relations are very important and the two sides should strengthen dialogue, and noted that he is willing to take more practical actions to that end. 
Syracuse, N.Y.  A 23-year-old woman was shot in Syracuse and went to the hospital for a graze wound to the back of her head, police said.

Around 10:22 p.m. on Friday, Syracuse police officers responded to Upstate University Hospital for reports of a walk-in shooting victim, according to Sgt. Thomas Blake, a spokesperson for the Syracuse Police Department.

The officers located a 23-year-old woman who had a graze to the back of her head, likely caused by gunfire, Blake said.

The shooting is believed to have occurred in the 100 block of East Beard Avenue, according to Blake.

The victim is in stable condition, he said.

Police ask anyone with information about the shooting to contact the Syracuse Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at (315) 442-5222.
Update 11 p.m. Saturday: After 26 hours, firefighters finished putting out fire at former Maria Regina College - syracuse.com

Update 12: 10 a.m.: Most of the roof of the old Maria Regina College building at 1024 Court St has collapsed. Fire crews are still working as of 12:10 a.m. to put the fire out, according to Syracuse Fire Department Captain John P. Suits.

Flames and hotspots are still popping up inside the building, Suits said. The fire crew has two water systems working to put out the flames.

There are three fire trucks working to spray water on the roof and over a dozen emergency vehicles on scene. The American Red Cross and National Grid are also on scene to assist.

One firefighter who was working for over an hour was treated for exhaustion by an ambulance on scene and has since returned back to fighting the fire. No other injuries have been reported at this time, according to Suits.

Police still have Court Street closed to traffic at Grant Boulevard and Burdick Avenue so fire crews could use the hydrants surrounding the building.

The fire department recalled workers in to help fight the fire and expect to be there for multiple more hours, according to Suits.

Firefighters battle a fire in the former Maria Regina College building at 1024 Court St in Syracuse around 11:30 p.m. on March 21, 2025. It was for years home of Sisters of St. Francis. Greta Stuckey

Original Story:

Syracuse, N.Y.  Firefighters battled a large blaze at the former Maria Regina College Friday night on Syracuses North Side.

Around 6:30 p.m., multiple callers reported that there were flames coming from the top of the old Maria Regina College building at 1024 Court St, according to Onondaga County 911 dispatchers. The building was once home to the Sisters of St. Francis convent, which dates back to the late 1800s.

The Onondaga County Sheriffs Office Air-1 helicopter could be seen circling the building as Syracuse firefighters worked from two different angles to put out the flames.

Firefighters battle a fire at old Maria Regina College building at 1024 Court St in Syracuse on March 21, 2025. It was for years home of Sisters of St. Francis. Greta Stuckey

The right side of the building had flames coming from the roof for more than an hour.

Police had Court Street closed to traffic at Grant Boulevard and Burdick Avenue so fire crews could use the hydrants surrounding the building.

As of 8 p.m., firefighters were still working to put out the fire.

The building was supposed to be turned into low-income senior housing.

Home Leasing LLC CEO Bret Garwood said in 2022 that the company plans to convert the sites buildings into 170 one-bedroom apartments for people aged 55 and over.

However, over the past few years, vandals have destroyed and wrecked the old college. They ripped out light fixtures, doors, banisters, stained glass windows, parts of a church organ and copper piping and wiring.

The convent was home to Sister Marianne Cope, a member of the convent who was canonized a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 2012.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Firefighters battle a fire in the former Maria Regina College building at 1024 Court St in Syracuse around 11:30 p.m. on March 21, 2025. It was for years home of Sisters of St. Francis. Greta Stuckey
Duff McKagan, Dizzy Reed, Frank Ferrer, Axl Rose and Slash of Guns N' Roses perform, during a show as part of the 'Hell & Heaven 2023' at Foro Pegaso on November 5, 2023 in Toluca, Mexico. The concert was Ferrer's last public performance with the band. (Photo by Luis Gutierrez/Norte Photo/Getty Images) Getty Images

The former member of a legendary rock band has responded after being replaced.

Frank Ferrer, the longest-serving drummer for Guns N' Roses, issued a statement nearly two days after the Axl Rose-led group announced Ferrers amicable exit. On Thursday, GNR revealed that Isaac Carpenter would be Ferrers replacement.

The outpouring of love I have felt from the incredible fans of Guns N Roses and my peers over the past 24 hours has been tremendous, Ferrer wrote late Thursday.

I will have immense gratitude and love always for Axl and the band while at the same time, disappointment that this chapter came to an end. It has been an incredible 19 years. Guns N' Roses has given me life-changing memories and experiences. A huge thanks to management, the crew, and fans for giving me memories that I will cherish for my lifetime. I hope I see you all again soon!

Ferrer didnt elaborate on why they parted ways, but previously shared the bands statement calling the split amicable.

The band thanks Frank for his friendship, creativity and sturdy presence over the past 19 years, and they wish him success in the next chapter of his musical journey, Guns N' Roses said in a statement Wednesday.

Ferrer joined Guns N' Roses on drums in 2006 and had been a band member longer than percussionists Bryan Brain Mantia (2000-2006), Steven Adler (1985-1990) and Matt Sorum (1990-1997). Ferrer appeared on GNRs most recent studio album, Chinese Democracy, and played on their most recent reunion tour, including at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) in Upstate New York and Mexicos Hell & Heaven Metal Fest in 2023.

Ferrers career also includes work with The Beautiful, Love Spit Love, The Psychedelic Furs and PSSR.

Frank Ferrer; Slash; Axl Rose and Duff McKagan of Guns N Roses perform at the Download Festival at Donington Park on June 9, 2018 in Donington, England. (Photo by Ollie Millington/Getty Images ) Getty Images

Carpenter may be best known to Guns N Roses fans for his work with GNR bassist Duff McKagan in the hard rock band Loaded. Carpenter also co-founded the hard rock band Loudermilk and worked with artists like Awolnation, Adam Lambert, A Perfect Circle, Barbarians of California, Black Lab and as a film and TV session musician.

The lineup change comes as Guns N' Roses is set to begin touring again May 1 with a series of concerts in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Tickets are available on StubHub and Vivid Seats.

Guns N' Roses is one of the best-selling rock bands of all time, known best for 80s and 90s hits like Sweet Child O Mine, November Rain, Paradise City, and Welcome to the Jungle. The group, including Rose, Slash, McKagan, Adler, Sorum, Izzy Stradlin, and Dizzy Reed, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.
Constantina is available at the Oswego County Humane Society. Photo courtesy of the Oswego County Humane Society

This dark beauty would love to be your companion for a lifetime. Constantina is ready to be adored like a precious treasure on your shelf. She is a truly gorgeous soul and is loyal to her humans above all else.

Constantina is equally fluffy and friendly. She is a marvelous huntress and a wonderful mouser. She would be a great addition to any family, of any size. She gets along well with other cats, dogs, and children of all ages.

Constantina is about 2 years old, vaccinated, and spayed. She is indoor only and has tested negative for FeLV/FIV. The adoption fee is $75.

If you are interested in adopting, you can download our Adoption Application OR you might even consider becoming a temporary foster caregiver. We would be excited (and pay all the bills!). You can email your completed application and any questions to info@oswegohumane.org!

The Oswego County Humane Society provides services to promote and strengthen the human-animal bond through fostering-to-adoption programs, spay/neuter clinics, and humane education. The organization is designated under IRS code 501(c)3 as a charitable organization and registered with the New York State Charities. It is located at 29 W. Seneca St., Oswego.
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View My Garage





Re: Mahindra BE 6 Review

Quote: darkgamer Originally Posted by Ill be happy if you get it on Friday. We will start getting some reviews soon













Suffice to say, I'm over the moon. It's one heck of a machine. I feel like I've upgraded straight to a spaceship.



Highlights:

Most of the stuff working as expected. My ME4U app isn't working due to some backend linking, which they've assured me they will get sorted.



CarPlay doesn't seem to be working right now. But Android Auto does.



However, audio quality over bluetooth is incredible. So I'm not missing it sorely as of now.



HUD + Navigation makes life AMAZING. I cannot help but gush over this feature.



I have driven only in Range mode so far. I am quite sincerely afraid of putting it in any other mode while I'm in city limits. It feels stupid fast even in range mode.



Leveraged the one-pedal mode A LOT. And it makes life so much easier.



All the sensors, alerts working as expected.

Interestingly there was a very clear steering vibration feedback while I was trying to make a turn, and someone was creeping up in my blindspot.



They told me there's another service update pending, for which I will have to take my car in some time soon. I am hoping this fixes my ME4U and CarPlay.



They delivered the car at 70% SoC.



There was a Mahindra engineer/exec at the event, who personally talked to me, gave me some basic tips etc. Nice chap. JFYI:So I did get my car delivered todaySuffice to say, I'm over the moon. It's one heck of a machine. I feel like I've upgraded straight to a spaceship.Highlights:Most of the stuff working as expected. My ME4U app isn't working due to some backend linking, which they've assured me they will get sorted.CarPlay doesn't seem to be working right now. But Android Auto does.However, audio quality over bluetooth is incredible. So I'm not missing it sorely as of now.HUD + Navigation makes life AMAZING. I cannot help but gush over this feature.I have driven only in Range mode so far. I am quite sincerely afraid of putting it in any other mode while I'm in city limits. It feels stupid fast even in range mode.Leveraged the one-pedal mode A LOT. And it makes life so much easier.All the sensors, alerts working as expected.Interestingly there was a very clear steering vibration feedback while I was trying to make a turn, and someone was creeping up in my blindspot.They told me there's another service update pending, for which I will have to take my car in some time soon. I am hoping this fixes my ME4U and CarPlay.They delivered the car at 70% SoC.There was a Mahindra engineer/exec at the event, who personally talked to me, gave me some basic tips etc. Nice chap. Last edited by ashishk29 : 21st March 2025 at 19:08 . Reason: minor addition.
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Delhi Government considers ban on New Petrol Two-Wheelers from 2026

The Delhi government is reportedly weighing a significant policy shift that could reshape the capitals mobility landscape. Under the proposed Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy 2.0, the registration of new petrol and diesel-powered two-wheelers may be halted starting August 2026. This initiative is expected to be a cornerstone in Delhis efforts to promote cleaner transportation and reduce vehicular emissions.



If implemented, this move would mean that electric motorcycles and scooters would become the only options for new buyers in the two-wheeler segment post-deadline. The policy is also said to include measures to encourage EV adoption in the four-wheeler segment, with a proposal to mandate that any households third car be electric, ensuring a gradual but steady transition towards sustainable mobility.



Further extending its focus on cleaner transport, the government is reportedly considering a halt to new registrations of fossil fuel-powered three-wheelers from August this year. This would effectively push auto-rickshaw operators towards electric alternatives. Additionally, owners of CNG-powered three-wheelers that have been in service for more than 10 years might be required to either switch to EVs or retrofit their existing vehicles with electric powertrains.



To facilitate this large-scale transition, authorities are said to be working on expanding EV charging infrastructure across the city. Plans are reportedly underway to install more public charging stations and enforce mandatory provisions for charging facilities in newly constructed buildings and public areas.



With these ambitious measures, Delhi aims to achieve a 95% EV penetration rate by 2027, positioning itself as one of the frontrunners in Indias clean mobility drive.



The existing Delhi EV Policy, first introduced in 2020, played a crucial role in accelerating EV adoption but officially expired on August 8, 2024. It has since been extended multiple times, with the latest extension running until March 31, 2024. The upcoming EV Policy 2.0 is expected to build upon these foundations, introducing long-term strategies to enhance and sustain the shift toward electric mobility.



While this proposed transition holds promise for a greener future, it also presents challenges such as affordability, charging infrastructure development and the readiness of the two-wheeler industry to cater exclusively to the EV market. Stakeholders, including manufacturers, consumers and transport operators, will likely be watching closely as the policy evolves and moves towards implementation. Source: https://www.motorbeam.com/delhi-gove...from-2026/amp/ The Delhi government is reportedly weighing a significant policy shift that could reshape the capitals mobility landscape. Under the proposed Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy 2.0, the registration of new petrol and diesel-powered two-wheelers may be halted starting August 2026. This initiative is expected to be a cornerstone in Delhis efforts to promote cleaner transportation and reduce vehicular emissions.If implemented, this move would mean that electric motorcycles and scooters would become the only options for new buyers in the two-wheeler segment post-deadline. The policy is also said to include measures to encourage EV adoption in the four-wheeler segment, with a proposal to mandate that any households third car be electric, ensuring a gradual but steady transition towards sustainable mobility.Further extending its focus on cleaner transport, the government is reportedly considering a halt to new registrations of fossil fuel-powered three-wheelers from August this year. This would effectively push auto-rickshaw operators towards electric alternatives. Additionally, owners of CNG-powered three-wheelers that have been in service for more than 10 years might be required to either switch to EVs or retrofit their existing vehicles with electric powertrains.To facilitate this large-scale transition, authorities are said to be working on expanding EV charging infrastructure across the city. Plans are reportedly underway to install more public charging stations and enforce mandatory provisions for charging facilities in newly constructed buildings and public areas.With these ambitious measures, Delhi aims to achieve a 95% EV penetration rate by 2027, positioning itself as one of the frontrunners in Indias clean mobility drive.The existing Delhi EV Policy, first introduced in 2020, played a crucial role in accelerating EV adoption but officially expired on August 8, 2024. It has since been extended multiple times, with the latest extension running until March 31, 2024. The upcoming EV Policy 2.0 is expected to build upon these foundations, introducing long-term strategies to enhance and sustain the shift toward electric mobility.While this proposed transition holds promise for a greener future, it also presents challenges such as affordability, charging infrastructure development and the readiness of the two-wheeler industry to cater exclusively to the EV market. Stakeholders, including manufacturers, consumers and transport operators, will likely be watching closely as the policy evolves and moves towards implementation.
JAKARTA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- One foreign tourist was killed and two others injured after a boat capsized off the coast of Indonesia's resort island of Bali, an official said on Saturday.

The boat, carrying 13 people, 11 of them from Australia, was struck by large waves off Klungkung regency on Friday, according to I Putu Widia Ada, head of the operational unit of the disaster management and mitigation agency in the regency.

"One person died while being rushed to a hospital in Denpasar city, and two others were injured," Ada said.

I Nyoman Sidakarya, head of the search and rescue office of Bali province, told Xinhua that the island was experiencing extreme weather conditions at the time. 
Forward-looking: Recent big game releases appear to confirm that ray tracing and path tracing are the future of graphics rendering. However, these techniques remain prohibitively computationally expensive. The next major update to Microsoft's DirectX API aims to address this and facilitate broader adoption of the technology.

Microsoft's GDC presentation this week offered a glimpse into the future of DirectX ray tracing support. The company claims that DirectX Raytracing 1.2 could help developers double the performance of ray tracing and path tracing.

Two key features underpin the update: opacity micromaps (OMM) and shader execution reordering (SER). OMM can help path-traced games run up to 2.3 times faster by reducing shader invocations and optimizing opacity data to enhance rendering efficiency. Meanwhile, SER intelligently groups shader execution to minimize divergence, improving performance by up to 2 times.

Although ray tracing first emerged as a flashy extra feature in games like Battlefield V and Cyberpunk 2077, recent titles have made it mandatory, indicating that it will soon become standard. Examples include Star Wars Outlaws, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Path tracing is a more advanced form of ray tracing that significantly improves the accuracy of dynamic lighting and shadows but comes with substantial performance costs. It typically requires high-end GPUs to run effectively in games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2, Black Myth: Wukong, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and the recently released Half-Life 2 RTX demo. Doom: The Dark Ages, launching in May, will also require ray tracing and offer optional path tracing.

Also see: Path Tracing vs. Ray Tracing, Explained

DirectX Raytracing 1.2 will become available to developers starting next month. As a result, ray tracing and path tracing could become significantly less demanding in new games over the next few years. Unsurprisingly, Nvidia's RTX graphics cards will support the API update first, while Microsoft is collaborating with AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm to expand support.

Microsoft also shared more details on cooperative vectors and neural rendering, which aim to integrate AI workloads into real-time graphics rendering. A new foundational feature, Neural Block Texture Compression, significantly reduces memory usage  potentially benefiting users with GPUs that have 12 GB of VRAM or less. Additionally, neural supersampling and denoising are expected to enhance image quality in path-traced games.

DirectX neural rendering and cooperative vector support first appeared in January. Microsoft explained that neural rendering optimizes matrix-vector operations for AI training and enables smaller neural networks to run efficiently during GPU shading processes.
In context: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently said that "real" quantum computers would need a few more years, or even decades, to appear on the market. His comments hurt quantum-related stocks, so now he wants a do-over.

Jensen Huang didn't expect his doubts about the immediate commercial viability of quantum computers to affect Wall Street-listed companies so drastically. As part of Nvidia's recent "Quantum Day" event, the Taiwanese businessman and engineer invited guests to explain why his negative remarks were wrong.

Earlier this year, Huang said that a practical quantum computer would not be available for purchase for another 15 to 30 years, with 20 years being a more optimistic timeframe. On Thursday, he corrected his statement, saying that quantum computing has the potential to change everything. The technology is still incredibly complex to deliver, though.

Huang compared "pre-revenue" quantum companies to Nvidia, which needed more than 20 years to build a proper hardware and software business. He then joked about the market reaction, stating that he was surprised quantum computer companies were already publicly traded. The annual Nvidia GTC Conference included a panel with representatives from 12 different quantum computer companies and start-ups, showing that Nvidia is intensely interested in the quantum computing sector.

Nvidia is hands down the world's largest fabless semiconductor company. Nvidia chips are used in powerful simulations to aid in designing and constructing quantum computers. Even though the company could do fine without the quantum business, Nvidia is still interested in supplying the industry and is excited to see where it goes.

Jensen Huang isn't alone in expressing some (retracted) skepticism about the feasibility of quantum computing. In 2023, a Nature article stated that currently available quantum computers are good for "absolutely nothing" compared to the traditional binary computer architecture. The technology still needs a lot of breakthroughs, with quantum supremacy still being a dream far off into the future.

Huang also hinted that he wants to avoid making bold predictions about computing from now on. Some years ago, he said that "accelerated computing," which includes Nvidia's GPUs and other specialized chips, would replace traditional CPU-based computing for everything. Of course, he was wrong.
In a nutshell: Aardvark Weather, an AI-based system, promises to significantly enhance weather forecasting by delivering predictions dozens of times faster while using thousands of times less computing power than current methods. This system has been developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, with support from the Alan Turing Institute, Microsoft Research, and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts.

The speed and efficiency of modern forecasting systems are vital, as traditional methods rely on powerful supercomputers and extensive teams of experts, often requiring several hours to produce forecasts.

Recent innovations from tech giants such as Huawei, Google, and Microsoft have demonstrated that AI can significantly improve specific aspects of the forecasting process, including numerical solvers, which are crucial in weather forecasting as they simulate how atmospheric conditions evolve over time. These companies have achieved faster and more accurate predictions by integrating AI into these solvers.

As one example, Google has been developing AI models for weather forecasting and is currently marketing two models to its enterprise cloud customers. Developed by Google DeepMind, the models use historical weather data to predict future conditions 10 to 15 days in advance.

Aardvark represents a significant advancement by replacing traditional forecasting processes with a single, streamlined machine-learning model. Using a standard desktop computer, it can process data from various sources, including satellites and weather stations, to generate global and local forecasts in minutes.

"Aardvark reimagines current weather prediction methods, offering the potential to make weather forecasts faster, cheaper, more flexible, and more accurate than ever before," explained Professor Richard Turner from Cambridge's Department of Engineering, who led the research. "Aardvark is thousands of times faster than all previous weather forecasting methods."

Despite operating with only a fraction of the data used by existing systems, Aardvark surpasses the U.S. national GFS forecasting system in several key metrics and remains competitive with forecasts from the National Weather Service, which typically involve multiple models and expert analysis.

"These results are just the beginning of what Aardvark can achieve," noted first author Anna Allen from Cambridge's Department of Computer Science and Technology. She said the end-to-end learning approach can be easily applied to other weather forecasting problems, such as hurricanes, wildfires, and tornadoes. It can also be used for broader Earth system forecasting, including air quality, ocean dynamics, and sea ice prediction.

One of the most interesting aspects of Aardvark is its flexibility and simple design. Because it learns directly from data, it can be quickly adapted to produce bespoke forecasts for specific industries or locations, whether predicting temperatures to support African agriculture or wind conditions for European renewable energy firms. This contrasts sharply with traditional systems, which require years of work by large teams to customize.

This capability has the potential to transform weather prediction in developing countries, where access to expertise and computational resources is limited. "By shifting weather prediction from supercomputers to desktop computers, we can democratize forecasting, making these powerful technologies available to developing nations and data-sparse regions around the world," said Dr. Scott Hosking from The Alan Turing Institute.

Aardvark is expected to play a significant role in expanding the scope of weather forecasting. Turner mentioned that the model could eventually accurately predict eight-day forecasts, surpassing the capabilities of current models by three days. This advancement, along with Aardvark's adaptability and efficiency, positions it as a transformative force in meteorology.

The next steps for Aardvark include developing a new team within the Alan Turing Institute that will explore deploying the technology in the global south and integrating it into broader environmental forecasting initiatives.
General Motors has recently disabled the third-party kit from White Automotive & Media Services (WAMS) that brings Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to GM cars. It is not a secret that General Motors had a campaign against third-party smart driving systems as it opted to develop its infotainment system that integrates Google's technology.

Since many people still want or require these third-party infotainment systems from Android and Apple, organizations have developed retrofits to bring the tech to GM cars, which the company does not want.

GM Disables Android Auto, Apple CarPlay Third-Party Kit

GM Authority has recently reported that General Motors has disabled the third-party kits that deliver the Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connected driving systems. The technology from WAMS was introduced last year as an intuitive solution to bring back Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to GM cars.

However, after it made headlines and grew in popularity, that is when GM started to notice what it offered to the public. Earlier this month, it was reported that its promotional video was taken down from YouTube.

The report also noticed that the product was removed from WAMS' website, with its listing now saying "This product has been discontinued." According to a report from The Drive, the dealership that offers this in Michigan revealed that GM told them to stop its installation.

The retrofit technology from WAMS reportedly costs around $900 to $1,000 for the entire package, including installation.

GM's Connected Driving Experience For Its Cars

In the past years, General Motors has been adamant that it does not want third-party driving systems to be present in its vehicles, especially for its latest releases. With this, the company announced that it is developing a new infotainment system that removes these technologies, switching to a self-made one.

The company revealed that they have no plans to make these connected driving systems available on their platform, defending their decision saying that this is the more ideal and safe experience for drivers.

Because of this, GM faced criticisms from rivaling car companies, including Ford, who threw shade against the company and its CEO.

Since Android Auto and Apple CarPlay were removed, customers have looked for options to retrofit these systems back to GM cars, but the company did not let this slide and maintained its stance.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Toshihiro Nikai, a former secretary general of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, and representatives of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union and other Japanese friends in Tokyo, Japan, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Yue Chenxing)

TOKYO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Friday that China is ready to deepen practical cooperation with Japan and strengthen exchanges between the two sides in various fields, especially among the youth.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks in his meeting with Toshihiro Nikai, a former secretary general of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, and representatives of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union and other Japanese friends.

Appreciating Nikai's long-standing commitment to promoting the development of bilateral relations in accordance with the original aspiration of China-Japan peace and friendship, Wang encouraged Nikai and Japanese friends from all walks of life to make new contributions to the sound and stable development of China-Japan relations.

Wang said that in 2024, China overcame challenges such as weak global economic recovery and increasing external pressure, achieved 5 percent economic growth, and maintained its contribution to around 30 percent of global economic growth, demonstrating strong resilience and broad prospects.

China's high-quality development will bring important opportunities for bilateral cooperation, Wang said, adding that China is willing to work with Japan to activate sub-national exchanges, continuously help each other's development and consolidate public support for bilateral ties.

Nikai and others from the Japanese side made positive comments on the momentum of improvement and development of Japan-China relations, saying that it is of great significance to promote friendly exchanges between the two peoples and they will remain committed to the cause of Japan-China friendship and contribute to the continuous development of bilateral relations. 
Four killed in Ecuador bridge collapse



Quito, March 22 (AFP) Mar 22, 2025



At least four people were killed after a busy 200-meter (656-foot) suspension bridge collapsed in Ecuador, government officials said Friday.

Four trucks, a car and two motorbikes fell into the Magro river some 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the port of Guayaquil when the bridge collapsed on Wednesday.

Footage of the aftermath showed a truck teetering over a guardrail at the edge of the bridge, meters from a river submerging the structure.

"The bodies of four missing people have been found," the National Secretariat of Risk Management posted on X.

Rescuers were searching for one person still missing, it added.

The bridge connected the province of Guayas, where Guayaquil is situated, with other provinces in the north.

Guayas governor Marcela Aguinaga said she had received no reports of it being faulty.

"From what we can deduce at this point, the bridge was overloaded," she added on social network X.

The bridge's collapse comes in the middle of the rainy season in the Andean nation.

At least 20 people have been killed in flooding and landslides that have damaged 45 bridges, according to the risk management ministry.
Central Spanish town under threat from flooding



Madrid, March 22 (AFP) Mar 22, 2025



The city of Avila near Madrid was partially under water on Saturday as authorities mobilised to deal with the flooding, caused by weeks of intense rainfall across Spain.

Television images showed several neighbourhoods in Avila, a city famous for its fortifications located about 100 kilometres from the Spanish capital, and surrounding agricultural areas completely flooded by overflow from the Adaja River.

"We have maintained a state of emergency and alert in the city of Avila," Mayor Jesus Manuel Sanchez Cabrera said on public television, referring to the authorities' mobilisation efforts.

Authorities fear that melting snow from the surrounding mountains will further exacerbate the situation, though low temperatures could delay the impact.

Fourteen regions of the country are on alert for rain, snow, winds and strong waves on Saturday.

Storm Laurence, which hit the south of Spain earlier this week, has killed three people.

The heavy rains that have fallen across Spain since early March will at least end the severe drought the country has faced for more than three years, according to the national meteorological agency.
We rarely watch telly with our teenage son, its no longer a family priority for him; hes got more exciting places to be (his room). But I made my 18-year-old sit through Netflixs Adolescence with me because I was panicking. Like all the mums on my WhatsApp groups, weve all been bombarded by news of our toxic boys all week.

Have any of us dropped the ball, we wondered? Were we guilty of this new digital under-parenting trend? (Giving kids unlimited and unsupervised access to devices and social media.)

As my boy and I watched this ground-breaking sadfest, he was, like most teen males, reluctant to discuss the themes with an adult hes related to. After a few I dunnos it became clear that for him, along with other teens I chatted to, Adolescence is not the panic-inducing, fear-mongering state of play drama were having sleepless nights about as parents.

For him, it was just a slow-moving show about one boys over-attachment to the dark side of the internet. It neither surprised nor shocked him. He seemed resigned to the fact that, yes, this may happen in real life, and he said he felt a little hopeless in the face of that. What could he do, he asked not unreasonably.

Its just much bigger than us, he said after we concluded that maybe the only way to stop the rise of this incel culture is to maybe look to schools to reshape how they work for and with confused young boys drawn to it.

We need to help todays vulnerable boys feel safer in the place they spend most of their teenage time: the classroom. For many parents, one of the most poignant and heartbreaking scenes was in the school where the detectives son, who has been avoiding school, is shown being bullied in the canteen. No one does anything. The message here is this: if the adults in charge arent tackling in-person bullying happening in plain sight, then how can we expect them to tackle the invisible bullying which happens online?

We know that this kind of behaviour is not rare, and teachers today struggle to be all things to all pupils (as we saw in the show with the teacher trying to help the murdered girls best friend). Perhaps making changes offline first should be the priority.

open image in gallery Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller in Adolescence ( Netflix )

As someone who writes about parenting teenagers for a career, I think we need to rebuild the infrastructure of childhood itself to support boys and girls better. But that, as my son said, is bigger than us.

A cultural moment like Adolescence is to be applauded but it can also trigger an unhelpful catastrophising kind of panic. We certainly need to face the situation we are in with big tech and their evil algorithms, but I disagree with ideas like a blanket smartphone and screen ban. Adolescence hasnt changed my mind on that.

Id rather we encourage critical thinking in teens, teach them how to talk about and emotionally process anything frightening they see and show them how to use smartphones safely. I do know that our teens will see, and possibly do, upsetting things because adolescence is a challenging time for every generation.

open image in gallery Experts across the board agree that screen time must monitored ( Getty )

One thing we can do is make sure we are not digitally under-parenting. Every expert on the frontline of teenage mental health agrees that screen time must be monitored. I wont allow screens in bedrooms at night, a decision which almost ruined my relationship with my eldest child.

But I had to risk that because you cant be conflict-averse if youre parenting a teen. Watching Adolescence with my son made us both sad, but I wont let it make me feel helpless. It was a reminder to be more vigilant, and focused on where we can go right with our children even though none of us can ever truly know what our teens are getting up to in their daily life, phone or no phone.

Lorraine Candy is co-presenter of Postcards From Midlife and has written a number of books about parenting and midlife
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It is the most common form of cancer in Britain and kills around 2,100 people in the UK each year, but still, a shocking number of people remain unaware of the dangers of skin cancer, its links to sunburn, and how to spot the signs of this deadly disease.

An overwhelming 77 per cent of people would not recognise signs of melanoma  a malignant skin cancer tumour  despite the majority of Britons worrying about skin cancer, according to the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD).

It comes as Cancer Research UK has warned that skin cancer cases are set to rise by half by 2040, with rocketing diagnoses driven by the cheap package holiday boom of the 1960s.

Skin cancer diagnoses hit record levels of 17,545 a year between 2017-19 and based on the charitys predictions, that figure is set to rise to 26,531 each year by 2040.

There are two types of skin cancer; melanoma, the deadliest form of which around 13,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the UK, and non-melanoma, of which there are more than 100,000 new cases diagnosed every year.

open image in gallery Sunburn can increase the risk of developing melanoma, the deadly form of skin cancer ( Reuters )

The risk of melanoma is doubled if a person has had five or more sunburns at any age, the Skin Care Foundation states, but adds that experiencing just one blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence more than doubles a persons chances of developing a melanoma later in life.

Non-melanoma comes in two most common forms: basal cell carcinoma, which accounts for about 75 per cent of skin cancers, and squamous cell carcinoma, which accounts for about 20 per cent. It is mainly caused by overexposure to UV light.

open image in gallery A boom in cheap holidays is said to have contributed to a predicted rise in skin cancer cases ( PA )

But despite the serious risks of cancer posed from sunburn, nearly three-quarters of people surveyed by BAD admitted to having been burned in the past year alone, while 40 per cent of people were found to never check themselves for signs of cancer.

Here is how to check for possible signs of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer:

Melanoma:

The NHS states the first signs of a melanoma is often a new mole, or a change in the appearance of an existing mole.

Moles are usually round or oval, with a smooth edge, which is not bigger than 6mm in diameter. Any change in size, shape, or colour, any bleeding, crustiness or itchiness, or how painful a mole is should be shown to a doctor.

The NHS has an ABCDE checklist to help people tell the difference between a normal mole and a melanoma:

Asymmetrical  melanomas have two very different halves and are an irregular shape.

Border  melanomas have a notched or ragged border.

Colours  melanomas will be a mix of two or more colours.

Diameter  melanomas are larger than 6mm (1/4 inch) in diameter.

Enlargement or elevation  a mole that changes size over time is more likely to be a melanoma.

Non-melanoma:
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Katherine Ryan has attempted to clear up any misunderstanding surrounding the news of her skin cancer diagnosis.

On Friday (21 March), the 41-year-old Canadian comedian revealed on her podcast Telling Everybody Everything that she had a mole removed from her arm. Test results came back showing she had early stage melanoma, which is a type of skin cancer.

Ryan explained that she originally spent 300 on a seven-minute consultation in which the doctor incorrectly told her that the mole was not cancerous. She eventually paid 1,000 to have it removed at a private clinic in South Kensington.

Hours after the podcast went live, Ryan shared a video on Instagram, telling her followers her diagnosis was not a battle.

The melanoma thing from my podcast got picked up [by the media] with added commentary like takes a swipe at the NHS, she began.

Its all fine, its not a big deal, so dont stress.

She continued: And one more thing, its not a battle. Theres no battle. The battle is done. I had a mole removed. It came back melanoma, very early melanoma, its fine.

The comedian said that despite two doctors at private practices telling her that the mole on her arm wasnt cancerous, she knew it wasnt right since she was previously diagnosed with stage two melanoma on her leg in 2004, when she was 21.

I know a lot about melanoma. I had a melanoma as a very young woman, stage two on my leg, and I've spoken about that before, she said on her podcast.

In a further video shared on TikTok, Ryan shared pictures of her cancerous mole, which was small, raised and red.

open image in gallery A picture of Katherine Ryans cancerous mole, taken in 2022 (right) and more recently (left) ( TikTok via @kathbum )

She added that the mole didnt look like a typical example of melanoma, but it was raised and constantly changing.

Ryan credited Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave for speaking about her recent melanoma diagnosis and inspiring her to get the mole examined.

Im a real pale person and I have loads of moles. And when the Teddi Mellencamp stuff came out, I was like, I dont like this mole.

With that in mind, Ryan implored her followers to trust their gut over their health concerns.

Just get it checked, and get a second opinion. And dont be happy with No its not the thing you think it is, bye! Because honestly, if I had taken that advice, I could have been dead in a few years  thats how serious melanoma is.

open image in gallery Katherine Ryan urged her followers to get a second opinion ( Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images )

She said in her podcast: It just feels crazy to me, like what could have happened if I hadn't been my own advocate  and I will continue to be my own advocate, she said.

If I hadn't pushed, if I had taken that good answer the first time and walked away, then I would have had melanoma just growing and spreading in my arm. And I would say, 'Oh no, the doctor says it's fine, it's fine,' and god knows how far that would have gone.

An overwhelming 77 per cent of people would not recognise signs of a melanoma  a malignant skin cancer tumour  despite the majority of Britons worrying about skin cancer, a 2023 study by the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) found.

There are two types of skin cancer; melanoma, the deadliest form of which around 13,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the UK, and non-melanoma, of which there are more than 100,000 new cases diagnosed every year.

The risk of melanoma is doubled if a person has had five or more sunburns at any age, the Skin Care Foundation states. But just one blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence more than doubles a persons chances of developing melanoma later in life.

Non-melanoma comes in two most common forms: basal cell carcinoma, which accounts for about 75 per cent of skin cancers, and squamous cell carcinoma, which accounts for about 20 per cent. It is mainly caused by overexposure to UV light.
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Kim Kardashian is reportedly ready to seek sole custody of her kids due to Kanye Wests recent erratic behavior, according to reports.

Last week, the 44-year-old Skims founder, who shares four kids  North, 11, Saint, nine, Chicago, seven, and Psalm, five  with the rapper, called an emergency custody meeting after finding out influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate would be with North during her visit with her dad.

According to TMZ, Kim ended Norths visit when security guards told her the Tate brothers, who just recently returned to the U.S. after facing sexual charges in Romania, were planning to accompany her daughter and her ex-husband.

On March 14, Kim and West met alongside their respective attorneys and a mediator.

open image in gallery Kim Kardashian is reportedly ready to seek full custody of her four children she shares with ex Kanye West after his recent erratic behavior ( Getty )

Citing sources, Page Six claimed Kim is now considering filing full custody of their four children amid worries West is sinking further down.

Its not getting any better, hes not a well person, hes sinking further down and hes not acting rationally, one insider told the outlet. Theres so much negativity  I dont think he can come out of this.

A separate source speaking to Us Weekly said: She [Kim] is in a very tough position when she really has to coparent with him. Right now he [West] is very distracted and she does not want to say anything bad about him, but the safety of her kids is what is (motivating this consideration).

The Independent has contacted Kims representatives for comment.

Two days after the emergency meeting, the Donda artist took to X, sharing a litany of messages aimed at Kim and the Kardashian mob.

Yes I have beef with people that froze my account took my kids away and tried to put me in jail AND ITS STUCK, he wrote in one since-deleted post online.

According to Page Six, Wests follow-up tweet read: I DONT WANT TO JUST SEE MY KIDS. I NEED TO RAISE THEM. I NEED TO HAVE SAY SO OF WEAR [sic] THEY GO TO SCHOOL AND WHO THEIR FRIENDS ARE AND WHOS [sic] HOUSES THEY SLEEP OVER WEATHER [sic] MY DAUGHTERS WEAR LIPSTICK AND PERFUME.

ALL THESE RIGHTS HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM ME BY THE KARDASHIAN MOB HULU AND DISNEY AND THE BIGGER AGENDA TO USE THE SELECTIVELY BRED BLACK CHILDREN TO BE PLATFORMS TO INFLUENCE BLACK PEOPLE, he continued in the now-deleted message.

His third post read: JUST SEEING MY KIDS IS LIKE VISITATION. ITS LIKE IM IN PRISON SEEING MY KIDS I DONT CARE IF I LIVE OR DIE OR IF IM IN JAIL OR FREE AND I ESPECIALLY DONT CARE ABOUT WHATEVER THESE P**** *** CELEBRITIES GOT TO SAY THAT ARE SLAVES TO THE JEWS.

open image in gallery Kardashian reportedly an emergency custody meeting after finding out influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate would be with North during her visit with her dad. ( Getty Images )

Kims custody consideration also comes after the father of her kids released a song entitled Lonely Roads Still Go to Sunshine, featuring disgraced rapper Sean Diddy Combs, his son King Combs, and North.

West released the track in a post on X, sharing a four-minute and 44-second-long video of a black screen with the music playing over the top.

His caption read: LONELY ROADS STILL GO TO SUNSHINE new song by PUFF DADDY feat. His son KING COMBS my daughter NORTH WEST and new Yeezy artist from Chicago Jasmine Williams.

Combs is currently being held behind bars at a New York City federal detention center as he awaits trial for a handful of charges, including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The music producer has denied all of the allegations against him.

Kim and West tied the knot in 2014, eight years before they officially parted ways. The Waves rapper has married 30-year-old model Bianca Censori the same year his divorce from Kim was official.

In February, rumors that Censori had filed for divorce from West percolated. However, a representative for West denied the speculation in a statement to The Independent.
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Many British households are making several common mistakes when it comes to keeping their home warm - that could be adding as much as 460 a year on to the average bill.

Helpfully, British Gas smart energy engineer Jessica Rawstron has shared some common mistakes she often sees while out on the job.

Rawstron says: Every winter, we see lots of households unknowingly waste energy, and risk issues such as boiler breakdowns by making simple heating mistakes. Being aware of these common errors, and avoiding them, can make a real difference with your energy bills.

Here, Rawstron highlights the common mistakes that people make, which could lead to some people throwing money away while they are heating their home:

1. Thermostat problems

Ben Gallizzi, an energy specialist at Uswitch.com, told Bristol Live, the placement of the thermostat was of utmost importance.

He said: "Placing it in a room that is colder than the rest of the house, such as a hallway, is a bad idea as it will turn on and off at the wrong times.

"For example, if you open the front door and let in cold air, then the thermostat may tell your heating system to send out more heat as it thinks the whole house is below your desired temperature."

People also made the mistake of having their thermostat too high.

Rawstron said on frosty mornings and chilly nights, it can be particularly tempting to really ramp up the heating to a high temperature.

But instead she suggests setting the main thermostat to between 18C and 21C, and popping on some extra layers if youre still feeling the cold, to save on heating bills.

According to calculations from British Gas, for an average household, lowering the thermostat temperature by just one degree could save around 115 a year.

open image in gallery An engineer attends to a boiler. Having the flow temperature up too high is a common mistake ( Alamy/PA )

2. Having the boiler flow temperature too high

Rawstron explains that, in the same vein as having the thermostat set too high, the boilers flow temperature is another setting that could be costing some households. This is the temperature that the boiler heats water to before it reaches your radiators.

According to British Gas calculations, some households could potentially keep around 65 in their pockets annually by making sure the boiler flow temperature is set between 55-60C, to help with optimum efficiency.

Rawstron says: Altering the temperature on a conventional boiler with a hot water cylinder involves adjusting one dial.

With a combination boiler with no hot water cylinder, there will be two dials, one for radiators and another for hot water. Its the radiator setting youll need to change.

3. Not making the most of smart technology

Each winter, we see thousands of people miss out on big savings by not investing in smart technology for their home, Rawstron adds.

Smart thermostats can allow homeowners to set energy-saving schedules and alerts for if they leave the heating on when theyre not at home.

British Gas estimates that some homeowners could save as much as 175 per year on their heating bill.

Rawstron says: Once youve invested in the tech, make sure to position it in the right location to maximise savings.

She says that good places to do this include the interior wall in either the hallway or in the living room.

Rawstron also cautions: You should also avoid putting the thermostat too close to a radiator, direct sunlight or any draughts, as these can skew the temperature readings and lead to the thermostat under or overheating your home.

4. Leaving hot water tanks without insulation.

Every penny counts, especially during the colder months, and if your home has a hot water tank, not insulating it can add around 50 onto a households energy bill a year, according to the calculations from British Gas.

open image in gallery Experts suggest consumers could save money by making the most of smart technology. ( PA )

If youre wondering how to go about this, Rawstron explains: Its a quick and simple fix, with insulated jackets available online and from most DIY stores.

Once fitted to the tank, the jacket will work to prevent heat loss, using less energy and money to keep the water warm.

5. Welcoming in the cold without realising

While you may not be leaving doors and windows wide open in the middle of winter, there are other, less obvious ways that the cold can creep in.

The escape of warmth not only makes your home less energy-efficient but it can also end up pulling on your purse strings.

Draught-proofing around your windows and doors could potentially help a household to save around 60 per year alone, according to British Gas calculations.

Luckily too, there are some simple ways to fix these invisible ways that money is leaking out of the home.

Self-adhesive foam strips are easy to fit on windows to prevent draughts, while draught excluders are perfect if theres a gap between your door and the floor, says Rawstron.

Cold air can enter the home through the tiniest of gaps, and keyholes and letterboxes can also be culprits.

Rawstron says: Keyhole covers and letterbox brush strips are cheap to buy, quick and easy to fit and will stop those draughts.

In addition to Rawstrons tips, you may also want to consider the floor youre standing on.

The Energy Saving Trust says that insulating the ground floor can be a great way to help keep a property warm.

The Trust also suggests considering insulating any floors that sit above unheated spaces, such as garages.

Hopefully that way you can avoid your money escaping along with the warm air.

People struggling with their bills should contact their provider and debt support charities can also help.
MACAO, March 21 (Xinhua) -- "We call our flying car 'Never Late', as you'll never be late for school by using it," said Sit Iong, a senior-one student from Escola Fong Chong (Fong Chong School) of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), introducing a future automobile design.

Sit was one of 21 crew members of his school who traveled to Guangzhou on Friday to experience the development of the automobile industry. At China's automobile company, XPENG AEROHT, they were settled into four groups to design their own flying cars.

By designing and presenting their "Di Di Flying Car," Cheong Iok Chi and her team won applause and were given a chance to experience XPENG's flying car simulator, which allowed them to "fly over" the urban scenery of Guangzhou.

"We were at 230 meters high! I never thought that the automobile industry had developed to a stage like this," she told Xinhua. As a senior-three student, she had already been admitted to China's Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, majoring in industrial design, and she said the company visit inspired her a lot.

The study tour, organized by the China Telecom (Macau) Company Limited and the Chinese Educators Association of Macau, explored the latest trends in China's innovative technology and aimed to inspire the innovation of Macao's young students, according to the organizers.

The program, which included the study tour, was launched in 2023 for students across 33 secondary schools in Macao. It helps enhance students' technological literacy and deepen their understanding of national development by organizing visits to leading innovation-driven enterprises.

Zhang Chunhui, representing China Telecom (Macau) Company Limited in the visit, told Xinhua that the tour would broaden Macao students' technological perspectives, spark their passion for innovation, and nurture future talent to support Macao's economic diversification.

During the visit, the students toured XPENG's Guangzhou headquarters. Some of them also experienced an AI-assisted ride on the passenger seat.

Lei Pui Wa, a robotics enthusiast since childhood, kept a close eye on the latest technological advancements, from humanoid robots performing folk dances at the Spring Festival Gala to the AI model DeepSeek. She expressed her pride in China's rapid technological progress. 
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A woman in Southern Colorado is in police custody after her dogs allegedly attacked and killed her elderly mother, according to the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies were called to a home on Jefferson Boulevard in Pueblo County after receiving a report of an unconscious woman.

When they arrived, they found a 76-year-old woman, LaVonne Hoff, dead, according to KKTV. The deputies also found several dogs running loose inside the home, and another two dozen dogs and seven birds locked up in cages.

An autopsy was performed on the woman and found that she had been killed by a dog attack, according to deputies.

Deputies also learned that the woman had dementia and required 24-hour care.

Sheriffs detectives conducted an extensive investigation and learned that Jessica Hoff had left her mother at home alone with her dogs that day while she went to Pueblo to run errands, PCSO officials said in a press release. LaVonne Hoff reportedly had dementia and required 24-hour care. Detectives learned that while LaVonne Hoff was left alone, she was attacked by the dogs that were loose in the home.

Jessica Hoff, 47  the woman's daughter  left her mother at home alone with her dogs during the day while she ran errands in Pueblo. While she was out, the animals reportedly attacked and killed the woman.

Deputies executed a search warrant at Jessica Hoff's second property in Colorado City and discovered more dogs and birds in cages. In total, Jessica Hoff was in possession of 54 dogs and seven birds.

The animals were reportedly living in unsanitary conditions and several of the dogs were ill, according to law enforcement.

Colorado Animal Law Enforcement agents seized the animals.

Jessica Hoff was then arrested for criminal negligence resulting in death of an at-risk adult and 54 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, according to deputies.

She is being held at the Pueblo County jail on a $50,000 bond.
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A mom and grandmother both face charges after a child reported being forced to wear an electric dog collar, according to a report.

The police investigation started on March 17 after the child showed up at their elementary school in Cape May, New Jersey, with marks on their body, according to prosecutors. The marks were from the collar, authorities noted.

Investigators said the child, whose age is not known, was forced to wear the dog collar at all times while home, according to ABC 6. The collar was reportedly used when the child made their mother, Kimberly Cruz-Feliciano, 30, upset.

The victim told police that the collar was kept in a bedroom with other items belonging to the familys dead dog, according to the report.

Cruz-Feliciano had threatened the victim with more violence if he told others about the collar, according to NBC Philadelphia.

open image in gallery Kimberly Cruz-Feliciano, 30, was arrested on child abuse charges after her child was forced to wear a dogs shock collar, authorities said ( Cape May County Sheriff's Office )

The suspect admitted to the abuse and said she had her mother dispose of the dog collar, according to ABC 6.

Cruz-Feliciano was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, aggravated assault and witness tampering. Sonia Feliciano, 59, was charged with hindering and tampering with evidence in connection to the case.

"We take all allegations of child abuse with the utmost seriousness, and we will continue to ensure that those responsible for such heinous acts are held fully accountable under the law," Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland said in a statement.
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A middle schooler in Connecticut has been accused of committing a hate crime after a fight with two Muslim students, where they were allegedly beat up.

The 12-year-old female student from Wallace Middle School in Waterbury was charged with intimidation based on bigotry and bias in the first- and second-degree on Friday through a court-issued summons to Waterbury Juvenile Court following the incident which took place earlier this month.

According to reports, the 12-year-old and another female student got into a fight with twin 13-year-old girls who are from Egypt and regularly wear hijabs to school on March 3.

One victim was allegedly punched in the face and had bruises on her face and a bloody nose while the other victim had something scraped across her neck which caused contusions and bruising, the chairperson of the local Council of AmericanIslamic Relations chapter claimed.

"On Monday, March 3, the sisters were beaten and had their hijabs ripped off, a spokesperson for the family said at the time, according to local reports.

open image in gallery A 12-year-old faces hate crime charges after a fight at their school in Connecticut ( AFP via Getty Images )

While the initial incident report claimed no students needed medical attention, the report from the Islamic advocacy group said the injuries were enough to require hospital treatment.

Investigators determined that the altercation was motivated by religion and/or ethnicity, meeting the legal definition of a hate crime, the Waterbury States Attorney Office said in a joint press release.

The City of Waterbury Department of Education said it has taken disciplinary action and enhanced school safety measures.

The other female student involved in the fight was referred to a youth diversionary program as an alternative to arrest.

Leaders in the community and the school praised investigative efforts in a joint press release and contended that the incident was isolated.

The students who instigated the incident will be properly disciplined by the school district and face appropriate consequences in the judicial system, Mayor Paul Pernerewski said. While this is an isolated incident, I remain committed to working with the Waterbury Police and the Education Department to ensure our students have a safe and welcoming educational experience.

Farhan Memon, the chairperson of the Connecticut chapter of the Council of AmericanIslamic Relations disputed whether it was ioslated.

We vehemently disagree with Waterburys assessment that this was an isolated case. Weve heard from other parents of Muslim students that their kids have been harassed because of their religion, Memon said.

Memon told WTNH News8 on March 11 that the two girls were scared to go back to school due to the assault.
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A Utah nurse has been accused of murder after convincing her friend she was dying of cancer, then allegedly fatally poisoning her for her life insurance payout.

Meggan Randall Sundwall, 47, was arrested and accused of obstruction of justice and aggravated murder in the death of her friend Kacee Lyn Terry, 38, Utah County Jail records show.

Over a five-year period, Sundwall convinced Terry she was suffering from cancer even though she was healthy, according to court documents seen by local outlet KSL.

Sundwall tried to convince her friend to end her suffering by taking a fatal dose of insulin after she believed Terry was the beneficiary of a rumored $1.5 million life insurance policy.

Detectives were told by Kacee's family and friends that Meggan had been trying to kill Kacee, with insulin, for years. This theory was corroborated through digital evidence located on the victim's phone, Lone Peak police said, according to KSL.

There were more than 28,000 messages between the pair that detail different ways Sundwall would kill herself if she was Terry and of her offering to help her friend die, the police booking affidavit seen by the outlet said.

Messages allegedly also detailed money problems Sundwall and her husband were having after she lost her job.

open image in gallery A Utah nurse has been accused of murder after she convinced her friend she was dying of cancer so she could claim the life insurance policy. Meggan Randwall Sundwall fatally injected Kacee Lyn Terry with insulin, police claim ( Getty Images )

Meggan Randall Sundwall is a licensed registered nurse who intentionally administered insulin to a nondiabetic. Meggan knew this would kill Kacee. Evidence shows that Meggan was having money problems and that this was done to improve her financial situation, police said.

On August 12 last year, Terry was found by her uncle unconscious and struggling to breathe in her bedroom with Sundwall. The nurse told him Terry had a do not resuscitate medical order and did not want to go to hospital, but the affidavit said medical staff could not locate the order and added Sundwall had not been given power of attorney.

When paramedics arrived at the scene, they found a diabetic needle but noted that Terry was not diabetic, an arrest report said.

Terry was taken to hospital and placed in the intensive care unit. While there, her sister told officers Terry had suffered with terminal cancer for 4 - 5 years but had been doing better, the affidavit said.

She was declared brain dead in the hospital and died on August 15. The cause of death was an overdose of promethazine, probable exogenous insulin and other drugs, the Office of the Medical Examiner confirmed.

An autopsy confirmed that Terry had no cancer and no health problems, the affidavit said.

Loved ones paid tribute to Terry in an obituary. Kacee's wish in life more than anything was to be a mom, she loved babysitting and couldn't wait to have her own family, it said. Although Kacee was never able to have children of her own, she filled the roll [sic] of mom to many kids.

Although we don't understand why it was time for her to go so soon we find comfort in knowing that she is healthy, happy and with people she loves, the obituary added.

Sundwall is being held by the Utah County Sheriff's Office without bail.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets the press together with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul after attending the 11th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on March 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)

TOKYO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Saturday that China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have agreed to further strengthen communication, enhance mutual trust, and deepen cooperation.

Wang made the remarks while meeting the press together with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and ROK Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul after attending the 11th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

Noting that the three countries fully affirmed the positive progress made in their cooperation since the Ninth China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Summit, Wang said they agreed that against the backdrop of a complex and turbulent international landscape and sluggish recovery of the world economy, it is necessary and responsible for the three sides to further strengthen communication, enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation, and provide more stabilizing factors for regional peace and development.

First, Wang said, we agreed to consolidate the momentum of cooperation. The three countries will stay true to the original aspiration of cooperation, focus on the Trilateral Cooperation Vision for the Next Decade, and expand new areas, cultivate new growth drivers, and create new highlights of cooperation on the basis of implementing the cooperation centered on six key areas determined by the leaders' meeting last year. The three parties had useful communication on holding the 10th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Summit within this year, and will strive to create favorable conditions and atmosphere for this purpose.

Second, we agreed to promote regional economic integration. The three countries will continue to communicate on restarting the negotiations on the trilateral free trade agreement, promoting the expansion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and maintaining the stability and smoothness of regional production and supply chains. The three countries will keep pace with the times to build a highland of scientific and technological innovation in Asia and promote the development of new quality productive forces.

Third, we agreed to deepen exchanges and mutual learning. The three countries will smoothly hold the China-Japan-ROK Year of Cultural Exchange from 2025 to 2026, strive to increase the number of people-to-people exchanges among the three countries to 40 million by 2030, and consolidate the public opinion basis for trilateral cooperation. Strengthening cooperation in social welfare, green and low-carbon development and other fields can bring more and better benefits to the people of our three countries.

Fourth, we agreed to enhance multilateral cooperation. The three countries will strengthen coordination and cooperation under mechanisms such as ASEAN Plus Three and the East Asia Summit, promote "Trilateral+X Cooperation" to the surrounding areas, and drive common development in the region. We will support each other in hosting APEC meetings, promote open regionalism, uphold multilateralism and free trade, and push for a more universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.

Wang added that the three countries fully affirmed the work of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, and agreed to extend the term of the Secretariat's consultative committee, looking forward to the Secretariat playing a greater role in promoting trilateral cooperation. 

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi in Tokyo, Japan, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets the press together with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul after attending the 11th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on March 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attends the 11th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting together with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul in Tokyo, Japan, on March 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attends the 11th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting together with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul in Tokyo, Japan, on March 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)
Ron Faucheux: A few questions for the people who would be New Orleans' next mayor
I expect that they would have said to me, Dont you worry about anything financial ... We will sort this out, you focus on your husband. Weve got everything else. After initially declining to comment, 1Cover said in a statement it did not know about Stentons first emergency surgery until after the fact, and approved cover for his second surgery before the procedure. Customers health and safety is always our number-one priority. We pay tens of thousands of claims a year for customers who are overseas, and who have no difficulty with the necessary process, chief operating officer Natalie Ball said on Sunday. Unfortunately, when insurers are informed after the surgery has been performed, we find ourselves at a disadvantage. 1Cover provided a Guarantee of Payment to the hospital prior to the customers second scheduled surgery. Bell said 1Cover had approved full and final costs.

Bennett-Stenton maintained the insurance company knew about the first procedure ahead of time  before she did  and full and final costs had not been approved because an investigation into whether Stenton had a pre-existing condition, which the couple said he did not have, was not finalised. In the statement, 1Cover denied the couples credit card was charged. A hold similar to those made by hotels when booking accommodation was placed. It is standard practice for hospitals to require payment upfront or a guarantee of payment from the insurer. Steves ordeal highlights the importance of travel insurance. Steve has been in good spirits and received the best care from the hospital, and we wish him a speedy recovery. The Age has verified the pending charges on the credit card, and Bennett-Stenton said she was advised by 1Cover she would need to recoup the money from the hospital. The couple said 1Cover had not spoken directly to Stenton.

Stenton and his family on holiday in Byron Bay before the Thailand trip. On the day of the second procedure, Bennett-Stenton said 1Cover had agreed to pay, but insisted she sign a waiver. [1Cover] had me sign a disclaimer to say that they would cover the costs for the moment, but if it turned out to be a pre-existing condition, that we would repay it, she said. But even though Id signed that before the second procedure, we still had to shell out $30,000 [for the first procedure]. And the second procedure was a lot more complex than they envisaged. So for the next two days at his bedside in ICU, they [the hospital] were badgering us for another $50,000. She said 1Cover had ultimately covered the second, $50,000 payment  pending a decision as to whether Stenton had a pre-existing condition. However, the insurance company said the couple would need to recoup the $30,000 from the hospital directly, which could take 30 business days.

The family in happier times. Its been a nightmare on top of the nightmare of my husband having a heart attack in a foreign country. Im so livid that weve been put through all this undue extra stress, she said. The pressure had been unconscionable. Bennett-Stenton said her husband had gone to Thailand for, ironically, his Fathers Day treat from the kids and I for just a quiet, chill week. She said the couple had been forced to pull the $30,000 from their mortgage. Thats a hell of a lot of money, and so many people wouldnt have access to that, and what would have happened then?

Bennett-Stenton posted on Instagram that she was unhappy with 1Covers service. When a friend replied in support, they received a message from the 1Cover Travel Insurance Instagram account which said: Kindly refrain from commenting on situations you have very little insights on. The initial post [made by Bennett-Stenton] is a far cry from reality, but thats the joys of social media. Warm regards, Eva, said another message. An apology message arrived from the same account some time later saying the initial message had been inadvertently sent. Bennett-Stenton said her husband usually used a different insurer, but 1Covers sponsorship of St Kilda had convinced him to change.

The club said in a statement at the time of the announcement: 1Cover will provide St Kildas players, staff, and members with exclusive offers, ensuring Saints fans can travel with cover they can count on. Loading Stenton was released from hospital on Friday and the Port Melbourne couple hope to return to Australia to reunite with their children in a weeks time. There are lots of things about this that Im grateful for, Bennett-Stenton said. Hes alive, and my mum was able to come be with the kids, and that the treatment has been so great. The ambulance came really quickly. But you know, Aussie families trust when they do the right thing and buy comprehensive insurance that theyll be looked after.
A shooting at the home of a mother and four young children early on Saturday morning is being treated as a case of wrong address, with police believing the alleged target of the attack had moved out of the residence several months earlier.

In what local police described as a highly reckless and violent attack on an innocent family, two offenders are alleged to have shot several bullets into a house in Merrylands, in Sydneys west, before 3.30am on Saturday.

The scene of the burnt-out car at Chiswick Road, South Granville. Credit: Archie Staines

While police were investigating the shooting, authorities were called to Chiswick Road in South Granville, less than five minutes from the house, where a car had been set alight.

Upon reviewing CCTV, police identified a silver or grey Nissan X-Trail that was at the scene of the shooting as the same car that had been set on fire, before the fire spread to two nearby vehicles.
In the past few weeks, the Tasmanian salmon industry has been in the headlines. More than a million fish are reported to have died in what appears to be an outbreak of a bacterial disease. In February alone, more than 5500 tonnes of dead fish were dumped at southern Tasmanian waste facilities.

Drone footage has shown dead fish rotting inside the huge nets in the DEntrecasteaux Channel. On the pristine beaches nearby, chunks of rotting fish are washing up, along with fatty lumps that the industry says is fish oil, which is fed to the salmon.

Each Australian consumes about two kilograms of salmon a year. Credit: Alana Dimou

The industry has responded, as it has done to past outbreaks, by putting antibiotics into the feed given to the fish  but as the fish farms are in the ocean, some of these antibiotics will enter the marine ecological systems in which the confined salmon are placed.

These environmental concerns would be enough reason to avoid farmed Tasmanian salmon already  which for most Australians means avoiding Atlantic salmon altogether, since 90 per cent of the Atlantic salmon sold in Australia is farmed Tasmanian salmon. Each Australian consumes more than two kilograms of Atlantic salmon a year on average, from an industry worth more than $1 billion.
Crime rates are unlikely to drop unless there is more evidence-based research into how Brisbanes surging population affects the citys broader social issues, economic stress and community needs, experts say.

Despite a new state government bringing in a range of new policies, many aimed at young criminals, community safety remains a major concern across the state.

While high-profile court cases are often the focus of the attention, a large part of the problem is Brisbanes growing population, says Dr Renee Zahnow, a social science associate professor at the University of Queensland.

Greater Brisbane is tipped to have 2,887,000 residents in 2025-26, rising to 3,288,000 by 2034-35. Credit: Dan Peled

By 2034-35, Greater Brisbane is tipped to have 3,288,000 residents, with the state continuing to take on more interstate migrants than any other jurisdiction.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Pat Hutchings is an authority on sea worms, not guns, but she was pretty sure this guy was packing heat. Next to him stood the prime minister. The odd trio met in 1980 near Lizard Island Research Station, the remote Australian Museum facility Dr Hutchings helped set up seven years earlier on the northern Great Barrier Reef. Hutchings was preparing to help retrieve a storm-battered weather buoy with the stations then-director Barry Goldman when they fielded a call from the ultra-exclusive resort on the other side of the island. Malcolm Fraser was here, and hed like to go for a dive. Lizard Island houses a reef research centre. Credit: Janie Barrett Once the buoy was dealt with, the scientists gave Fraser a crash-course in scuba and took him down into a blue hole within the reef. Frasers possibly armed ex-navy bodyguard watched the prime minister like a hawk. It had a high live coral cover, lots of big fish, and it was colourful. I think it made an impression on him, Hutchings, a senior fellow with the museum, recalls now. Fraser thanked them for the ride with an on-board gin and tonic. He had taken down a Nikon Nikonos film camera and the resulting photos were shown around cabinet, Hutchings says. A few days later, he was back down in Townsville, and the decision was made that Australia would nominate the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park as a World Heritage Area.

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This station has been central to the science and protection of Australias greatest natural asset for half a century. The extraordinary synchronous spawning of the coral polyps that make up the Japan-sized Great Barrier Reef was partly discovered in Lizard Islands waters. Station research has generated at least 2700 papers on reef science. Bill Gates and David Attenborough are among the elites who toured the station with veteran directors Dr Anne Hoggett and Dr Lyle Vail. Visiting scientists Lauren Hardiman, George Roff, Marine Gouezo with one of the new directors of the Lizard Island Research Station, Emily Howells. Credit: Janie Barrett Now the scientific outpost finds itself central to the painful question of whether the reef, as we know it, can be saved. Lizard Island was ground zero for major bleaching events in 2016 and 2024 caused predominantly by the burning of coal, oil and gas. The mass bleaching is a relatively new phenomenon thats turned chronic in what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres describes as the era of global boiling. And this storied station is entering a new era of its own. Vail and Hoggett have made the gut-wrenching call to step back from the facility they ran for 34 years. Coral biologists Dr Emily Howells and Dr David Abrego landed last month to take the reins, their seven-year-old daughter in tow. And in a yellow research boat, shadowed by a tiger shark, theyre jetting us out to one of their favourite spots. Ruin and recovery In a crevice on the islands North Point Reef, three giant, dark-bodied groupers are parked like mustangs, serviced by cleaner wrasse picking off gill parasites. Stacks of round table corals radiate in shades of mauve, flamingo, forest green and oiled bloodwood.

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Here rise cobalt-blue antlers, bunches of petrified lavender, flaxen leather folds and brainy curls attended by fish named for parrots, damsels and angels. Teeming clouds of fish fry fill caverns like a golden gas with 10,000 eyes. Swim back towards the shore by the length of a lap pool and its a different story. Cold upwellings and deeper currents have soothed the fever of the outer reef, but corals closer to land are stressed, dead or dying. When the waters too warm  as it is now at 29.7 degrees at Lizard Island  the algae within the coral polyps spew highly reactive oxygen molecules that act like tiny bombs to healthy proteins. That triggers the polyps to vomit the algae; the corals source of photosynthetic energy and colour. If conditions dont cool quickly, the corals die. Brown algae seeds within hours of death and a day or two later the coral skeletons are smothered in scuzz. Scientists catch and release cleaner wrasse fish on Lizard Island as part of a research project. Credit: Janie Barrett This used to be my favourite part of the reef, Abrego says, finning over ruined strips of table corals the colour of rot. You can see the devastation. Lizard Island was smashed by major bleaching last year that killed 97 per cent of coral on this reef. But this area also exemplifies the reefs regenerative vigour. After this part of the reef was blasted by severe heat in 2016, ex-director Hoggett says she thought it was finished. But only six years later, parts had recovered; it just staggered everybody how quickly it could happen. That recovery, however, is driven by fast-growing branching corals. The diversity of corals has plunged, which is a hammer-blow for reef creatures adapted to fit every nook.

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(Evolution is so finely tuned here there are species of pearlfish designed to live exclusively within the anus of sea cucumbers.) Where the uninitiated see a forest, scientists coming here since the 70s see a monoculture plantation. I try to be a glass half-full kind of person, Howells says back on the beach, tearing off a soaking reef bootie. But its hard when theres bleaching year on year on year. She spotted corals turning white even on the healthier patch of the reef that were fine two weeks ago. Bleaching has struck every year since 2020. This is the critical month to see which way itll go this year. Howells and Abrego come armed with research suited for the times. Howells, who was born in Melbourne, hunts heat-tolerant coral genes. Abrego, originally from Mexico, is an expert in the critical symbiosis of coral and algae severed by bleaching. They met as students at James Cook University and spent five years together studying reefs off the southern Persian Gulf. Corals there withstand 36-degree waters during summer. The pair discovered this extreme heat tolerance can be passed onto corals from cooler waters in a single generation via selective breeding. Its an example of assisted evolution; methods which could, theoretically, accelerate coral adaption to keep pace with rapid warming. But only to a point. Scientists Jaimee Moynihan and Marine Gouezo with the collected tiles they placed on the Great Barrier Reef three months ago, so they can study coral regeneration. Credit: Janie Barrett The Persian corals have hit the upper threshold of possible tolerance. Its a crystal ball for what the Great Barrier Reef faces over the next century. Theyve gone downhill rapidly since we were there, Howells says. Its an alarm: we are out of time.

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Lizard Island Research Station director Emily Howells snorkels above a healthy section of the Great Barrier Reef metres away from a stressed section off Lizard Island. Credit: Janie Barrett But those already eulogising the reef annoy these scientists. Theyve come to the island determined to restore the reef for the next generation. We truly believe we can make that difference in terms of facilitating really good science, Abrego says. The running joke is that Abrego and Howells will be here until 2059, should they match Vail and Hoggetts 34-year run. The former directors earned an international reputation for facilitating field research with their lean and mean operation style. They also built up the Lizard Island Reef Foundation, which provides the majority of funding for the station, to pay for on-the-ground research. Its really its own little community, says Vail. We deal with our own rubbish and pump our own water and make our own electricity. Its like being the mayor of a small town. The station can host 37 scientists. One Swiss fish behaviour researcher, Leti Pessina, has stayed here for more than a year, pelting after cleaner wrasse so she can tattoo them with pink dots for identification. Its like this teeny tiny world where everyones super driven and motivated, she says. You can spend as much time with the fish and the corals and the water as you want. The station is geared to get researchers off the plane, into a wetsuit and onto the reef within minutes, with the help of a communal four-wheel drive buggy and a fleet of well-maintained boats. No shoes. No seatbelts. Go get your data.

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TOKYO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to work with Japan to comprehensively advance the strategic relationship of mutual benefit in accordance with the principles and consensus established in the four political documents between China and Japan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Friday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks in his meeting with Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi.

Noting that China and Japan have restarted the process of improving bilateral relations, Wang said that the four political documents between the two sides have laid the political and legal foundation for China-Japan relations, among which rules have been laid down on proper handling of historical issues and the Taiwan question.

China hopes Japan will establish a correct understanding of China, honor its promises on major issues of principle, eliminate interference, and promote the sound and steady development of China-Japan relations along the right track, Wang added.

For his part, Hayashi said Japan's position on the Taiwan question, based on the Japan-China joint communique in 1972, remains unchanged.

Japan is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China in various fields and looks forward to the fruitful results of the Japan-China High-Level Economic Dialogue held after a lapse of six years, so as to contribute to the sustained development of Japan-China relations and bring more benefits to the two peoples, Hayashi said. 
Credit: Matt Golding

To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.

THE FORUM

The federal government is effectively treating the 2.6 million Australians drawing the age pension, in whole or in part, with profound contempt.

The age pension is indexed twice a year. From March 20, a miserly $4.60-a-fortnight increase was applied to single pensioners.

The equivalent of a cheaper loaf of bread! An increase of less than 0.5 per cent. A calculated insult. Thanks for nothing.

Federal politicians salaries increased by 3 per cent last year following a 4 per cent increase in the previous year. The base salary for MPs increased by $8000 a year or about $310 a fortnight last year. Age pensioners pay the same prices for food, clothing and services as pampered politicians.

Enough is enough. About time that this self-serving government was brought to account.

Michael J. Gamble, Belmont

Save Commonwealth

The suggestion of American associate membership of the Commonwealth must be summarily rejected (US to join the Commonwealth? Trump thinks it sounds good, 22/3).

The Commonwealth is one of the few globe-spanning associations which is not dominated by the United States, instead being an equal association of nations. The Commonwealths common culture may be taken for granted, but norms in Commonwealth countries broadly differ from those in the United States.

The Commonwealth is an immensely positive association and is based on mutual co-operation, something which the Trump administration has shirked. The approval of Commonwealth governments is, thankfully, necessary for membership. Australia must reject it, as will Canadians.

Will Thorpe, Haberfield NSW
Michelle Hornstein from the Kingston Residents Association said it took multiple complaints from locals reporting their symptoms for the contractor Suburban Connect to come and measure noise levels. The tests detected a low-frequency vibration hum at 31Hz, which was coming from a roller machine compacting ground on the former landfill site to provide access for trucks. Workers at the Suburban Rail Loop construction site in Heatherton last week. Credit: Joe Armao I am prone to motion sickness but I just started feeling it sitting at my desk at home working, she said. And then I could hear a bit of a weird noise outside, like a humming sort of noise. The symptoms of motion sickness  including nausea  had not abated, Hornstein said. Other residents reported needing to take pain relief every day to deal with the headaches.

When your heads like that, you just cant function, she said. Suburban Rail Loop Minister Harriet Shing on Saturday defended SRL after Australias peak infrastructure body suggested exit strategies be developed in case the multibillion-dollar project cant be delivered. A protest banner near the SRL construction site in Heatherton. Credit: Joe Armao In its evaluation of the first stage of the project, released on Friday, Infrastructure Australia said it had low confidence in the Allan governments costings for the project. It said SRL East should not receive further federal government funding without an updated cost estimate, and said it had low confidence in the Allan governments $35 billion figure.

The Infrastructure Australia report, provided to federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King before she released $2.2 billion for the project last month, recommends multiple tests be met before the Commonwealth provides more money. But Shing would not commit to the government meeting those tests, including providing detailed and updated cost estimates for SRL East. She said the government would continue to work with Infrastructure Australia. The Suburban Rail Loop is considered Victorias most expensive infrastructure project, with the full orbital loop around the city costed at $100 billion. We are on time. We are on budget. We have workers on the sites today, Shing said on Saturday. We will see tunnel boring machines in the ground next year, and trains running across the network from Box Hill to Cheltenham in 2035.

Some Heatherton residents who have made complaints about the effects of SRL construction have been offered short-term respite stays in hotels, while Suburban Connect has also tried operating the machinery at a higher frequency. However, residents say that that hasnt improved things. Others have also complained about dust, with workers employed by SRL washing windows of nearby homes and cars. A Suburban Rail Loop Authority spokesperson said the agency was working closely with residents to support them during construction ahead of the launch of tunnel boring machines next year. While all dust, noise and vibration levels are well within the required limits, we are doing all we can to reduce impacts of the works, the spokesperson said.

The authority said the roller was currently not in use and any future compacting would use different machines. Residents who live closest to the site have been invited to take part in a voluntary buyback scheme. However, not everyone thinks that is a silver bullet. You might not get a price you agree with and it might mean you dont get enough to stay in the area, said Hornstein. Some people have kids in schools or jobs nearby. With at least another 10 years of construction remaining, Heatherton residents are questioning the long-term benefits for them. As well as the stabling yards, the site will also be a launching spot for tunnel boring machines to start digging in 2026.

Loading However, a station wont be built at that location; the closest will be several kilometres away at Cheltenham. Silvana Anthony, another resident who experienced headaches, said her area got all the downside with none of the upside of a new public transport connection. Premier Jacinta Allan says things like, Weve just got to get it done for the benefit of the state, she said. But it really glosses over the impacts on the community. An Environment Protection Authority spokesperson said the agency was aware of community concerns associated with SRL construction in the Heatherton area, including noise, dust and vibration.
Suburban Rail Loop Minister Harriet Shing has defended the Victorian governments signature rail project after Australias peak infrastructure body suggested exit strategies be developed in case the multibillion-dollar project cant be delivered.

In a press conference on Saturday afternoon, Shing stood by the Allan governments $35 billion estimate for SRL East  the first stage of the train line between Cheltenham and Box Hill.

Suburban Rail Loop Minister Harriet Shing. Credit: Gus McCubbing

In its evaluation of the project, released on Friday, Infrastructure Australia said it had low confidence in the Allan governments costings for the project.

But Shing would not commit to the government providing a detailed and updated cost estimate for SRL East and a cost-benefit analysis demonstrating its benefits, as Infrastructure Australia has recommended, instead saying the government would continue to work with the peak body.
In the 202425 budget, the state government allocated $541.2 million to the creative arts industry  down 15.5 per cent from the $640 million spent in 2023-24 and a 12.3 per cent drop from the $617 million spent in 2022-23. This funding decline has been the focal point of an ongoing state inquiry launched in 2023, investigating how Victorias cultural industries are being supported. Though due to finalise its report in November 2024, the inquiry began accepting submissions only late last year and has since received 41. The inquiry chair, Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell, said recommendations would be presented mid-year, with the government required to respond within six months.

Something thats come through from submissions is that its very clear that this industry, which is obviously very broad-ranging and encompasses a lot of people  has felt a significant hit, Purcell said. Across the board, theyre all feeling a strain, and Im sure theres probably a relation to the cost-of-living crisis, as well as funding and, of course, the impacts of COVID-19. Animal Justice MP Georgie Purcell is chairing the inquiry. Credit: Eddie Jim Last week, the inquiry held two public hearings featuring more than 15 representatives, including from SBS, Theatre Network Australia and La Mama Theatre. It is scrutinising Victorias share of national arts spending, the financial health of arts training organisations, and whether state and federal policies are enough to keep the sector afloat.

A state government spokesperson defended its record to this masthead, citing continued investment in creative industries and the economic benefits of major events. We understand the challenges that are being faced by artists and creatives right now, which is why well continue to invest in programs that support the full spectrum of creative talent and industries, the spokesperson said. Tourists spent a record $39.7 billion in Victoria last year, with international travellers flocking to our state faster than anywhere else in Australia, and that has happened because of our continued investment in securing world-class major events that people travel for. The lack of funding meant that last year, La Mama Theatre said it would pause programming in 2025. Chief executive Caitlin Dullard said the theatre had been operating on the same amount of funding from Creative Victoria for more than a decade. The need for artists to come to us just grows every year, and our resources have not grown with that, she said.

What it means is, for one year, there are limited opportunities for artists in an environment where already there are not enough opportunities. But I firmly believe this year makes for better opportunities moving forward. Dullard warns that without direct investment in artists, Victoria risks losing its creative workforce. Chief executive and artistic director of La Mama Theatre, Caitlin Dullard. Credit: Joe Armao The Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) has echoed similar concerns, saying Australias theatre industry needs more support and sustained funding from the government and philanthropists. MTC is staging The Removalists at present, a play that first emerged at La Mama 50 years ago, and said that while early development programs help, they arent enough.

Australias theatre and cultural ecosystem needs support at all levels to thrive, MTC said. Only when the entire sector is healthy and able to invest in artists and new work do we have the best chance of cultivating the innovators and classics of tomorrow. Similarly, opportunities need to be created and nurtured for Australian artists and creatives as they are key to our culture and sense of Australian identity. Investing in our future also means investing in our future industry leaders. The struggle for funding became woven into the Peacemongers show itself. Pictured is performer Sonya Suares. Credit: Darren Gill Theatre director Morgan Rose said funding cuts had put the future of Victorias cultural scene at risk. Her show, Peacemongers, faced a four-year delay due to COVID-19, and during this time, the team was rejected for funding numerous times.

Rose said the show was ultimately able to move forward with funding from local councils and support from Darebin Arts Speakeasy. Loading When Rose moved to Melbourne in 2013, she says she was promised an arts wonderland but has since watched opportunities dry up. A Creative Victoria [funding] round just went, but we didnt even apply because it felt pointless, she said. Theres not enough money to go around. Why waste our time? For Dullard, fostering a thriving arts environment means supporting the grassroots and independent sectors, which she calls the backbone of the whole industry.
Beirut: Israeli artillery and airstrikes hit south Lebanon on Saturday after Israel said it had intercepted rockets fired from across the border, endangering a shaky truce that ended a year-long war between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

That conflict marked the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war, rumbling across the border for months before a blistering Israeli offensive that wiped out Hezbollahs top commanders, many of its fighters and much of its arsenal.

Hezbollah denied responsibility for Saturdays strikes on Israel, saying it had no link to the rocket launches and that it remained committed to the ceasefire. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The exchange was the first since Israel in effect abandoned a separate ceasefire in Gaza with Palestinian militant group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, both backed by Israels arch-foe Iran.
Although the universities definition uses more cautious language than the alliances, it is still politicised. In addition to tying Zionism to Australian Jewish identity, it states: Substituting the word Zionist for Jew does not eliminate the possibility of speech being antisemitic. The new definition thus goes a step closer to advancing Zionism as a protected political ideology and identity. Some see Zionism as a modern project of Jewish self-determination. Others consider it a racist political ideology and a settler-colonial endeavour that displaces Palestinians. This political disagreement cannot be defined away. But in any case, Zionism is not elemental to Jewish identity. Jewish people subscribe to various political ideologies. Zionism was a minority position among Jewish people worldwide until the 1940s, and today non- and anti-Zionist positions can be found in Jewish communities. Tents set up at Deakin Universitys Burwood campus as part of a pro- Palestinian protest in May 2024. Credit: Eddie Jim Why then have universities adopted this definition? Over the past 18 months, campus protests, events, and speech supporting Palestine have been denounced as antisemitic and portrayed as a threat to Jewish safety. In our view, these actions rather are expressions of outrage at the mass slaughter and maiming of civilians, and the utter destruction of Gaza by the Israeli military. It is not antisemitic to protest conduct that the International Court of Justices Advisory Opinion describes as a regime of comprehensive restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory [that] constitutes systemic discrimination. Or to acknowledge report after report by human rights groups invoking international law regarding apartheid in these matters. Or for the International Criminal Court to issue warrants for the arrest of Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It is entirely reasonable, as part of political debate, that protesters address Jewish leaders and students who support or defend the current Israeli regime and its policies. This feels especially true when, on Tuesday, the Israeli Defence Force launched its heaviest airstrike against Gaza since the ceasefire began, with a reported death toll of over 400 people, including entire families. Loading The universities definition is also problematic in stating that criticism of Israel can be antisemitic when it  calls for the elimination of the state of Israel. In law and genocide studies, the term elimination is associated with acts of genocide. However, questioning the legitimacy of the state of Israel or its present form grounded in historical, political, or moral arguments is neither genocidal nor antisemitic. These arguments will doubtless challenge those who strongly identify with Israel today, but they are nevertheless of genuine historical and political debate. Nor is it antisemitism or genocidal to discuss the possible political future of Israel/Palestine  whether one-state, binational, or confederative arrangements in which all people enjoy equal rights. As it happens, we, the authors of this piece, disagree on the desired political model and future. Geoffrey Brahm Levey thinks Israel should be liberal-nationalist instead of ethno-nationalist, and address what its establishment has meant for Palestinians. Lana Tatour favours Palestinian liberation and one democratic polity that guarantees equality for all and remedies past injustices. A. Dirk Moses observes that ethno-nationalist projects of statehood, like the White Australia Policy and Zionism-in-practice, inevitably result in mass atrocity crimes and apartheid-like conditions for the remnant victims.
Strengthening European presence with intelligent electric mobility solutions

MAINZ, Germany, March 21, 2025 -- ChangAn Automobile ("ChangAn" or "the Company"), an intelligent low-carbon mobility technology company, officially launched its three major brands, CHANG-AN, DEEPAL, and AVATR, in Europe at its brand launch event, themed "Sharing the Future," in Germany. This milestone marks a new phase in ChangAn's "Vast Ocean Plan", reinforcing its commitment to technological innovation and sustainability. With a fully integrated European ecosystem spanning research, production, supply chain, sales, and operations, ChangAn is deepening its connection with European consumers by investing in local talent, collaborating with regional partners, and driving the future of intelligent and sustainable mobility.

At the event, ChangAn showcased the DEEPAL S07, marking its European debut, alongside the CHANG-AN E07, and DEEPAL S05, with their market launches planned for a later stage. Highlighting cutting-edge technologies in intelligence and electrification, ChangAn is meeting European demand for high-performance electric vehicles.

ChangAn's technological innovation is recognized globally, driven by a global collaborative R&D system spanning six countries and ten locations. It boasts over 18,000 R&D personnel from 31 countries and regions, with 16 technology research and product development centres, 17 technology companies, and 180 laboratories (including national-level laboratories), positioning it as a key player in the European EV market.

As part of its European launch, ChangAn is adopting a structured market entry strategy, initially focusing on key EV markets such as Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. By 2028, the company plans to establish a presence across all major European markets. The European Headquarters, located in the Netherlands, will serve as the central hub for business operations. Sales companies Headquarter has been set up in Munich, Germany. With around 500 professionals currently employed across Europe, including experienced designers and engineers from Italy and the UK, the Company is committed to expanding its local talent pool to drive innovation and deepen market engagement.

"It is great to be here in Germany," stated Zhu Huarong, Chairman of ChangAn Automobile. "ChangAn is an open and collaborative company driven by a clear mission: to lead sustainable mobility and benefit human life."

"This year, we aim to achieve three million units in global sales, and one million will be electrified vehicles. By 2030, we aim to deliver five million vehicles a year, with three million being electrified. Together, we're driving innovation for a better future." Zhu continued.

ChangAn Automobile is accelerating its globalisation, with technology-driven innovation, intelligent manufacturing and sustainable development at its core, and is committed to building a world-class auto brand. This European brand launch marks a significant step in ChangAn's global presence and signals the next stage of its global vision.

About ChangAn Automobile

ChangAn Automobile is an intelligent low-carbon mobility technology company with an international design team of over 915 experts from 31 countries, diverse brands such as CHANG-AN, DEEPAL, AVATR, and joint ventures ChangAn Ford, ChangAn Mazda and JMC. ChangAn has a strong product breadth and diversity that includes passenger vehicles, pick-ups, and light commercial vehicles. With stronger capabilities and industrial upgrading driven by technology innovation, ChangAn Automobile is committed to sustainable mobility innovation on the road to becoming a world-class auto brand.

SOURCE ChangAn Automobile
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., March 21, 2025 --

Dodge customizes new Charger Daytona at Spring Fest 2025, a gathering of passionate Dodge enthusiasts set for March 21-22 in Southern California

in California has been among the top-selling states for Charger sales in the United States and is the largest EV market in the country, selling three times the number of EVs as the next largest market

has been among the top-selling states for Charger sales in and is the largest EV market in the country, selling three times the number of EVs as the next largest market Fratzog dual stripes with red trim show off potential personalization paths for new Charger

Dodge brand and design teams will participate in customer clinics at Spring Fest

Spring Fest attendees can vote on potential future exterior colors for the next-gen Charger

For more information on the all-new next-gen Dodge Charger, consumers can visit Dodge.com

Spring is here, and Dodge is heading back to Spring Fest!

Started in a Southern California parking lot in 2004 by enthusiast John Fortuno, over two decades Spring Fest became a mecca for Dodge Charger, Challenger, Magnum and Chrysler 300 fans who came to celebrate their beloved rides, drawing fans from around the country and the world.

After a five-year hiatus, Spring Fest is back March 21-22, 2025. This year, Dodge is showcasing the all-new, next-gen Dodge Charger, and bringing some custom looks along for the ride. With its 1968-inspired design cues, aggressively broad stance, standard widebody frame, patent-pending R-Wing and high-impact exterior paint colors, the world's quickest and most powerful muscle car continues to push the boundaries of design, and Dodge is pushing even further with some custom looks.

"California has been among the top-selling states for Charger and is the largest EV market in the United States with more than 376,000 EV registrations last year alone  that's three times the number of EV registrations than the next closest state, so there's a huge opportunity to reach new customers and Charger fans alike," said Matt McAlear, Dodge CEO. "Spring Fest is one of the many customer events that gives us a great opportunity to meet with our owners in this region in person, give them a chance to learn about our newest products, show potential new customization options and get their direct feedback."

Open communication and hearing directly from enthusiasts drives new ideas and collaboration, and the Dodge brand and design teams are on hand for roundtable discussions and customer clinics at Spring Fest to generate feedback on the next-gen muscle car. Attendees can also vote on potential future exterior colors for the Charger.

Stripes have long been a popular customization option for Dodge muscle lovers looking to add a distinctive look to their vehicle. Using the Fratzog logo  the new symbol of Dodge brand next-generation vehicles  Dodge brought to life a Charger modified with matte black Fratzog dual stripes that help the Charger stand apart from the pack with red trim accents and a unique, repeating Fratzog logo pattern that fills the inside of each stripe.

The stripes are compatible on Charger Daytona muscle cars with both glass and steel roofs and are specially designed to allow occupants to view the Fratzog pattern while looking through glass-roof equipped Chargers.

For complete information on the all-new Dodge Charger, consumers should visit Dodge.com.

Dodge//SRT

For 110 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge. Their influence continues today as Dodge, America's performance brand, shifts into high gear with a lineup that delivers unrivaled performance in each of the segments in which the brand competes while moving forward to a future that includes electrified muscle in the form of the next-generation, all-new Dodge Charger.

The next-generation Dodge Charger electrifies a legend, with the Charger retaining its title as the world's quickest and most powerful muscle car, led by the all-new, all-electric 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack. The all-new Dodge Charger will also offer performance choices via multi-energy powertrain options, including the 550-horsepower Dodge Charger SIXPACK H.O., powered by the 3.0L Twin Turbo Hurricane High Output engine.

Dodge also keeps its foot on the gas as a pure performance brand with the 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, the most powerful gas engine SUV ever, and best-in-class standard performance in the compact-utility vehicle segment with the Dodge Hornet.

Dodge is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis. For more information regarding Stellantis , please visit www.stellantis.com.
WASHINGTON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on Friday asked a Cornell University student who has participated in pro-Palestinian protests to turn himself in, according to a court filing by his attorneys.

Officials sent an email to the legal team of Momodou Taal, a doctoral candidate at Cornell University and a dual citizen of Britain and Gambia, who had participated in demonstrations opposing Israel's strikes in Gaza last year.

Many college students joined pro-Palestinian protests in response to the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to combat antisemitism, and his administration is taking measures to deport foreign nationals involved in pro-Palestinian protests, accusing them of supporting Hamas.

Earlier this month, Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University and a prominent pro-Palestinian activist, was arrested by immigration authorities in New York City as part of these efforts. Khalil is a green card holder, meaning he has the privilege of permanent residence in the United States. 
14 more riotersarrested; totalcount at 105





Staff Reporter

Gthe crackdown on the rioters, the city police, on Friday, arrested 14 more persons suspected to be part of the riots that broke out on Monday. With this, the number of arrests now stands at 105, including 10 juveniles. A senior official said that while the sensitive areas remained under strict surveillance, situation has been slowly improving. The police will continue focus on restoring normalcy while working to identify and arrest all those involved in the riots. Senior police officials have said, their main goal now is to identify and arrest all those involved in the riots. Although the initial investigation using technology didnt provide much information, the police are now focusing more on gathering intelligence.

They are using inputs provided by the informers in the affected areas to get important leads. Commissioner of Police Dr Ravinder Singal held a meeting with senior officials at Police Bhavan to review the situation. Stressing importance to restore peace in the city, he said police were monitoring the situation closely. So far, there have been no reports of more violence, he added. Dr Singal mentioned that a decision about the curfew, which has been in place since Monday, would be lifted soon. Sources say, the Commissioner of Police will review the situation early Saturday morning and may decide to lift the curfew if the situation continues to remain stable.
A WELCOME WAR





CENTRAL Governments offensive against the Maoists is yielding positive results as far as curbing the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) is concerned. The elimination of 30 Maoists in two latest encounters in Chhattisgarh, followed by Union Home Minister Mr. Amit Shahs assertion that the Modi Government is moving forward with ruthless approach against the Naxalites, may be viewed by LWE sympathisers as war-mongering. However, for common people and the tribals who have been suffering silently for decades, this war against Red terrorism is a welcome one. Since 1967, when the first spark of the scourge of Naxalism emerged on the scene at Naxalbari in West Bengal, the security disturbance assumed menacing proportions gradually.

Right from Kolkata to the hinterlands of Andhra Pradesh, it spread very fast owing to the failure of political dispensation of the time in gauging the gravity of the situation. The outlaws kept getting space and support to thrive because the Governments of the time hid behind phoney idealism and did not take befitting action. The people, especially tribals, continued suffering. The nations internal security developed a new threat as the Naxalites (radical versions of Marxists) kept on getting more radicalised by adopting Leninist and Maoist methods of violence. Unfortunately, despite the murder of thousands of innocent civilians and security forces personnel, the previous Governments kept treating LWE as a socio-economic problem. The Hitavada has been consistent in insisting that the LWE or Naxalism or Maoism needed to be crushed. Since the acts of Naxalites or Maoists -- of killing people, damaging public property, blocking development and industrialisation, keeping people in remote areas of the country deprived of better life -- amount to terrorism, they needed to be crushed. Since these outlaws spoke the language of overthrowing the Constitutionally established and democratically elected Government, of whichever party, their acts directly posed threat to national security as well as integrity and sovereignty. In such a situation, calling Maoism as even a law and order problem would be a dilution. It was full-scale war that the ultras had waged against the Indian nation. If a State is in a state of war, it must shape its response accordingly. Against this backdrop, The Hitavada expresses satisfaction that after several decades, finally there is a Government that has understood its language. The war waged by the Government of India against the Red terrorists is a welcome one. All the citizens of India must welcome this war. Because, the areas which these ultras are being flushed out from are emerging as symbols of hope. For example, Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra is fast emerging as an industrial hub with generation of a huge number of direct and indirect employment opportunities.

This holds the promise of better standard of living for the people in such previously Naxal-affected areas. This also holds the promise of better education, better health, better connectivity, and greater aspirations for the people. And, when there is promise of something better for the people, their participation in the process of nations development is more meaningful. The Maoists have been very clear about their goals, but the previous Governments had adopted a confused approach to dealing with anti-India forces. Hence, the previous Governments could not create the promise that people are seeing now. For that promise to be created, ruthless approach of war was the only option a strong Government needed to exercise. This, precisely, is happening now. Hence, this war is welcome!
As spring arrives, a wetland in China's Hunchun transforms into a breathtaking sanctuary for migratory birds. Among the visitors are the white-naped cranes, a rare species under first-class national protection in China.
Heavy rainfall in some distts, temperature fluctuates





Staff Reporter

State has witnessed a significant weather fluctuation over the past 24 hours, with heavy rainfall in multiple districts, a notable drop in temperatures in some areas, and warnings of gusty winds and thunderstorms for the coming days. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), rainfall activity varied across the state, with isolated showers recorded in Bhopal, Narmadapuram, and Sagar divisions. More widespread rain occurred in Rewa and Jabalpur, while the Shahdol division experienced rainfall at most locations. The highest recorded rainfall was in Beohari at 87.0 mm, followed by Dheemarkheda (30.0 mm), Manpur (22.5 mm), and Majholi (21.4 mm). Other areas, including Chandia, Devsar and Kotma, also received moderate rainfall between 15.0 mm and 19.8 mm. Hailstorms were reported in Jabalpur, Katni, Umaria, Sidhi, and Mandla, raising concerns for farmers and residents. Forecast for Bhopal and Neighbourhood:

The sky will remain partly cloudy, with temperatures reaching a maximum of 35C and a minimum of 18C. Moderate winds are expected at a speed of 12-14 kmph. According to IMD, significant changes in maximum and minimum temperatures were observed across Madhya Pradesh. The maximum temperature in Rewa fell sharply by 4.2C compared to the previous day, while Ujjain and Shahdol recorded drops of 2.0C to 2.4C. The coolest maximum temperature was recorded in Sidhi at 27.8C, followed by Rewa (28.8C) and Satna (31.4C). In contrast, Khandwa recorded the highest maximum temperature at 38.1C, with Khargone (38.0C), Ratlam (37.5C), and Mandla (36.9C) following closely behind. Minimum temperatures also fluctuated, with Bhopal recording a significant drop of 3.1C compared to the previous day.

The lowest minimum temperature in the State was recorded in Girvar, Shajapur, at 14.3C, followed by Rajgarh (14.6C) and Guna (14.8C). Meanwhile, the warmest minimum temperature was recorded in Khandwa at 23.4C. According to IMD, partly cloudy skies are expected, with a rise in temperature by 2-3C over the next 48 hours. However, thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds are likely in several districts. Thunderstorms and lightning are expected in Anuppur, Shahdol, Umaria, Dindori, and Mandla, while gusty winds of 40-50 kmph, along with hailstorms, are forecast for Satna, Anuppur, Shahdol, and Umaria. Other districts, including Rajgarh, Narmadapuram, Gwalior, Datia, Dindori, Katni, Jabalpur, and Narsinghpur, may experience gusty winds of 30-40 kmph. Authorities have urged residents to take precautions during adverse weather conditions.

According to IMD, people should stay indoors during heavy rainfall and thunderstorms, avoid taking shelter under trees, unplug electrical devices, and keep emergency supplies ready. Farmers have been advised to complete ongoing harvesting within three days and protect standing crops from hail damage by using nets or barriers. Madhya Pradesh is currently experiencing an active weather phase, with significant rainfall and fluctuating temperatures affecting various regions. According to IMD, the warnings highlight the potential impact on agriculture and daily life, making it essential for residents to stay informed and take necessary precautions.
Lift curfew as early as possible frommarket area: Affected traders to Police





Business Reporter

AFFECTED

by the recentriotsin the city, traders located in the commerciallyimportantpartsof Itwari, Gandhibagh and other nearby areasonFridayurged the authorities to lift curfew as early as possible. The traders said the curfew ahead of festive season is negatively affecting trade. A delegation of traders under the banner of Nagpur Chamber of Commerce Ltd (NCCL) met Nagpur Police Commissioner Ravinder Singal and expressed their concerns. Due to the curfew imposed in the citys business areas from Monday evening, the traders have lost business of Rs 200 to 250 crore per day. The traders cannot survive if the restrictions are stretched beyond a certain limit, President of NCCL Kailash Jogani to the commissioner. Jogani highlighted that ahead of the festivals like Gudi Padwa, Eid-ul-Fitr and Navratri, traders were expecting good business during the week. Most of them are sitting on huge stocks. But as the markets are now closed for the past few days, the traders are in deep trouble, he added. NCCL has also sent a letter to theChiefMinisterrequestinghim to lift the restrictions from the market area in the larger interest of the society. The delegation included representatives of

The Wholesale Cloth & Yarn Merchants Association, Gandhibagh, Nagpurwere also part of the delegation. In addition to this, Deepak Sharma, Secretary of Mahatma Phule Market Nagpur BuildingVyapari Sangh, toldThe Hitavada that cooler manufacturersbasedin theCottonMarket area are the worst affected ones. This is the peak season for the sale of coolers. But our shops have been closed since Monday evening, he added. Following the violence in the MahalareaonMonday, thepolice administrationhasimposedcurfew in many areas.
RSS chief Bhagwat inaugurates ABPS meet





BENGALURU

RASHTRIYA

Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday inaugurated the three-day meeting of Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), Sanghs top decision-making body, that will hold intense discussions on some of the contemporary and burning issues, including Manipur situation and attempts to create the North-South divide in the country. When asked about the three-language row during a press conference, RSS Joint General Secretary C R Mukunda said, Sangh would not pass any resolution and maintained that it prefers the mother tongue to be a mode of education and day-to-day communication. On the delimitation debate, he said it was politically motivated, and the RSS has no say on the number of seats but made a veiled attack against DMK, asserting that forces challenging national unity were a matter of worry. 

As an organisation, we are concerned about the forces which are challenging national unity, especially raising the North-South divide, whether it is about delimitation or languages, Mukunda said. The RSS volunteers and functionalities of different organisations related to the Vichar Parivar are trying their best to bring harmony, especially in southern States. He said intense discussions on some of the contemporary and burning issues will be addressed during the meeting that will be attended by heads of 32 affiliated organisations of the RSS. Manipur has been going through a rough patch for the past 20 months, but there is some hope today. As we go through the decisions of the Central Government, some of which are political and some of which are administrative, it has raised hopes for the people of Manipur, Mukunda said. He said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been analysing the situation and it believes that it will take a long time for a natural atmosphere to be created. To a query, Mukunda said efforts are on to bring together the two tribal groups of Meitis and Kukis, which are fighting. He also noted that there is a need to solve many things politically and some decisions have to be taken by the Centre. They (Government of India) are doing their work and we are trying to bring communities together. We are trying to achieve some harmony. We held many relief camps, he explained. Presidents rule was imposed in strife-torn Manipur on February 13 and the state assembly put under suspended animation, days after Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned from his post that led to political uncertainty in the north-eastern State. The Manipur Assembly, which has a tenure till 2027, has been put under suspended animation.

The RSS joint general secretary said that forces challenging national unity were a matter of worry. As an organisation, we are concerned about the forces which are challenging national unity, especially raising the North-South divide, whether it is about delimitation or languages, Mukunda said. He said RSS volunteers and functionalities of different organisations related to the Vichar Parivar are trying their best to bring in harmony, especially in southern states. To a question on the RSS stand on the row over language, especially when southern states are saying that their language is being sidelined, Mukunda said the RSS prefers mother tongue not only for education, but also for the daily activities. 

RSS has not passed any resolution as to whether there should be two-language or three-language system. We had passed a resolution earlier on mother tongue, he said. Regarding the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh, Mukunda said the matter would be taken up for discussion in the next three days. On the National Register of Citizens, he said the RSS opines that there should be an identity of those living in this country, but they will not pass any resolution on it. On RSS completing 100 years this year, he said the focus will be more on expansion and consolidation than celebration. The top functionaries will also review the social impact of RSS in bringing a transformation in society. He said that RSS has grown manifold in the last one year. According to him, the number of Shakhas in Tamil Nadu has crossed 4,000 this year. Mukunda also pointed out that there is resistance to RSS Shakhas at some places for political and not religious or cultural reason. Presently, there are 83,129 active Shakhas, which is over 10,000 more than what we had last year, he explained.

There are daily activities taking place at 51,710 places and weekly activities at 21,936 locations. He said the RSS viewpoint on the Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj was that it has heightened the cultural pride and raised the self confidence of Indians. It was a wonderful glimpse of Bharats spirituality and cultural heritage. The Uttar Pradesh government and the Union Government of Bharat deserve congratulations for creating and running the whole Kumbh Mela with smooth infrastructure and management, the RSS functionary said. According to him, one of the arms of the RSS, Saksham, which works for the specially-abled people, had organised Netra-Kumbh (Eye checkup camp) during Kumbh Mela which benefited lakhs of people. The total beneficiaries were 2.38 lakh, where 1.64 lakh free spectacles were distributed and 17,069 people underwent cataract operation, Mukunda said.
Sudans military recaptures Khartoum Republican Palace





CAIRO

SUDANS

military said on Friday it retook the Republican Palace in Khartoum, the last heavily guarded bastion of rival paramilitary forces in the capital, after nearly two years of fighting. The seizure of the Republican Palace, surrounded by Government Ministries, represents a major symbolic victory for Sudans military against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. However, it likely doesnt mean the end of the war as the RSF holds territory in Sudans western Darfur region and elsewhere.
UPA-era affidavit States required to initiate legal action against Maoist fronts in towns and cities







The Hitavada Research

By Kartik Lokhande :

 Maoists working to form a rainbow coalition of various insurgent groups in India

 Front organisations organically linked to the CPI (Maoist) structure but maintain separate identities to avoid legal liability, stated the affidavit

WHILE several Congress leaders are voicing their opposition to the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, they appear to have forgotten that an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule in 2013 had categorically mentioned that the Left Wing Extremism (LWE)- affected States required to initiate legal action against Maoist fronts in towns and cities. Congress party leaders and various organisations have often questioned the use of the term Urban Naxals or Urban Maoists. But, the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court by a Director with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in November 2013 stated that the Central Government recognised the different dimensions of the Maoist insurgency, and had referred to Maoist ideologues and supporters operating from towns and cities. Also, it had mentioned about the CPI (Maoist) designs to form a rainbow coalition of various insurgent groups in India.

Interestingly, in 2013, even in Maharashtra, the Congress NCP alliance was in power. However, it added, initiating legal proceedings against them often resulted in  negative publicity for the enforcement agencies due to the effectiveness of the propaganda machinery of the CPI (Maoist). After flagging this challenge, the affidavit added, The LWE-affected States are also required to initiate legal action against the Maoist front organizations in towns and cities, who are the main source of recruitment of underground cadres and also disseminate the unconstitutional and violent Maoist ideology to vulnerable sections of the population. This suggestion was made as the Central Government found that the maintenance of law and order lied primarily in the domain of the State Governments concerned and any Central legislation or a separate authority to deal with LWE might impingeupon thedelicate federal structure.

The contents of thecounter affidavit filed on behalf of the Central Governmentin theWrit Petition (C) No 738 of 2013 in the matter of Kishore Samrite (petitioner) vs Union of India & Others (respondents), are explosive to say the least.Daljit Singh Chawdhary, who was thenposted asDirector,Union Ministry of Home Affairs, had stated in no uncertain terms that CPI (Maoist) professed a violent ideological line to over throw the democratically elected parliamentary form of Government in India through a combination of armed insurrection, mass mobilisation of certain sections of the society, and tactical partnerships with other insurgent groups operating in different parts of the country. While mentioning so, the said affidavit listed three-pronged strategy of the Maoists,citing the documents of the proscribed organisation.

The first strategy is to launch a protracted peoples war against the Indian State by its armed formation known as Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army by capturing countryside and gradually encircling the urban centres.The second strategy of the red terroristsis to mobilise targeted sections of thepopulationespecially the urban population through mass organisations or front organisations mostly operating under the garb of human rights NGOs. These front organisations are organically linked to the CPI (Maoist) structure but maintain separate identities to avoid legal liability, it had stated. Importantly, the affidavit revealed that these mass or frontorganisations were generally manned byideologues, who included academicians and activists. Such organisations ostensibly pursue human rights-related issues and are also adept at using the legal processes of the Indian State to undermine and emasculate enforcement action by the Security Forces and also attempt to malign the state institutions through propaganda and disinformation to further the cause of their revolution, read theaffidavit.

The third strategy of the Moists listed in the affidavit was to form a rainbow coalition of various insurgent groups in India so as to launch a united front attack against the existing state machinery. Sources told The Hitavada on the condition of anonymity that irrespective of the political party in power, the stated position of the Government has been the same when it came to dealing with the LWE or Naxalite or Maoist menace. The contents and intent of the affidavit filed uring the UPA-era were innational interest and nobody spoke against it.Now, suddenly, there is much noise from some leaders of the constituents of the erstwhile UPA as well as certain civil society organisations,against the Maharashtra SpecialPublicSecurityBill that aims at curbing the Urban Naxals. This is strange, said a source.

Urban ideologues, supporters more dangerous than armed cadres

THE UPA-era affidavit reflected that the Government of the day (2013) found ideologues and supporters of Maoists operating from urban areas more dangerous than the proscribed organisations armed cadres. The ideologues and supporters of the CPI (Maoist) party in cities and towns have undertaken a concerned and systematic propaganda against the State to project the State in a poor light and also malign it through disinformation. In fact, it is these ideologues who have kept the Maoist movement alive and are in many ways more dangerous than the cadres of the Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army, stated the affidavit. Maoists working to form a rainbow coalition of various insurgent groups in India Front organisations organically linked to the CPI (Maoist) structure but maintain separate identities to avoid legal liability, stated the affidavit Govt has zero tolerance towards TERROR: Shah SRE norms for enactment of law by States to tackle Naxal activities THOUGH some quarters are questioning the need for a separate legislation in Maharashtra to deal with the Naxalite/Maoist menace, the norms of Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme of the Central Government include a provision asking the States to enact a legislation to tackle Naxal activities. The guidelines of SRE scheme have had this provision for years now, including during the UPA era. Under the head criteria for inclusion of States under the SRE scheme, the guidelines specifically 

SRE norms for enactment of law by States to tackle Naxal activities

THOUGH some quarters are questioning the need for a separate legislation in Maharashtra to deal with the Naxalite/Maoist menace, the norms of Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme of the Central Government include a provision asking the States to enact a legislation to tackle Naxal activities. The guidelines of SRE scheme have had this provision for years now, including during the UPAera. Under the head criteria for inclusion of States under the SRE scheme, the guidelines specifically mention existence of, and activities by,one or more of the organisations declaredun lawful associations/terrorist organizations either under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act or any other Actin theState, as a defining criteria for reimbursement of SRE to LWE-affected States. And, another specific provision is,  ;Enactment of legislation by a State to tackle activities of Naxal extremists or similar organizations. In fact, these provisions were cited in reply to various questions in the Parliament during the UPA as well as the present NDA era.The criteria have been the same all through. Despite this, some are creating a propaganda against the law and questioning its need.
by Mulyanda Djohan

JAKARTA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Having recorded a peak number of Chinese tourists before the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia is optimistic about reaching that figure again soon, as the upward trend of Chinese tourist arrivals continues.

With strong bilateral relations and increasing cooperation in various fields, both countries support greater mobility for their citizens.

In the tourism sector, authorities in China and Indonesia have actively collaborated through exhibitions, promotions, and other initiatives to boost tourism and encourage travel between the two nations.

Indonesia received the highest number of Chinese tourists in 2018, with a total of 2,139,161 visitors, official data showed.

Indonesia saw a significant rebound in Chinese tourist arrivals, reaching 787,924 in 2023. The positive trend continued, with the number of Chinese visitors rising to 1,198,582 in 2024.

Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun said that Indonesia aims to welcome 2 million Chinese visitors this year, citing an increasing number of direct flights between the two countries.

Chinese tourists were interested in traveling to Indonesia, as reflected in the "Best Island Destination" award given to Indonesia by the Chinese version of travel magazine "Travel and Leisure".

"The award reaffirms Indonesia's strong appeal among Chinese travelers," said Nur Evi Rahmawati, coordinator for social and cultural information at the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing, recently.

Chinese tourists spend more on average than visitors from other Asian countries, so Indonesia's tourism industry has strong growth potential, tourism businesses said. 
Women carrying water containers on their heads are pictured in Wedza District, Mashonaland East Province, Zimbabwe, March 20, 2025. (Xinhua/Tafara Mugwara)

HARARE, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Before a China-aided borehole was drilled in her village, 56-year-old Hilda Mutangadura walked over two hours to fetch clean water, carrying a 20-liter container.

Despite her household's daily water needs exceeding 80 liters, she had to make do with a single 20-liter bucket -- the most she could carry in one trip.

"We used to walk for two hours to fetch water. Now it's much better because there is a borehole nearby. In just five minutes, I can get my water and return home to cook for my children," she told Xinhua in a recent interview.

A subsistence farmer from Chirinda village in Wedza District, Mashonaland East Province, Mutangadura said the long hours spent fetching water had cost her valuable economic opportunities.

The new borehole in her village is part of a China-aided project to drill 300 boreholes across four Zimbabwean provinces. It now provides clean water to nearly 140 households across three villages.

Despite clean water being a basic human right, Mutangadura said it had long been a scarce and precious commodity in her community.

With reliable water access, she and other women can now focus on income-generating activities such as crop farming and poultry rearing without the constant worry of where to find their next bucket of water.

The impact of the borehole has rippled through her household. With clean water readily available, even her livestock is thriving.

"Our livestock now drinks clean water. In the past, we gave them dirty water -- what was left after washing clothes or dishes. Now, they get borehole water, and they are much healthier," she said.

Providing her free-range chickens with clean water has also reduced mortality and improved their health. "I am healthy, my chickens are healthy, and we are all healthy," Mutangadura said.

In many rural areas, water shortages have worsened due to climate change, which has disrupted rainfall patterns and made the search for water even harder, especially during the dry season that peaks around October.

Monica Maruta, 58, noted that when water is scarce, the burden falls primarily on women, who are responsible for water collection and management. Beyond health concerns, water shortages also impact food security.

"During the cropping season, we used to wake up early to fetch water -- at a time when we should have been in the fields before the heat set in. By the time we finished collecting water, we were too exhausted for other productive work. That's why we are so happy with the borehole," she said.

Itayi Ndudzo, minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Mashonaland East Province, said the borehole initiative aligns with Zimbabwe's national development agenda of ensuring inclusive access to water, sanitation, and sustainable growth.

"This latest development assistance is yet another testament to China's unwavering commitment to supporting Zimbabwe's socio-economic development. Through this China-aided initiative, we will reach some of the most remote communities in Mashonaland East," Ndudzo said during the unveiling of the borehole in Chirinda village on Thursday.

Over the past decade, China has drilled more than 1,000 boreholes across Zimbabwe, benefiting nearly 400,000 people, most of them in rural areas.

"We are grateful to the Chinese for helping us. We used to see them going about their business, but now that they have helped us. It has forged a lifelong bond," Maruta said. 
KHARTOUM, March 22 (Xinhua) -- More than 45 civilians were killed in an attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Al-Malha area, about 210 kilometers north of El Fasher in western Sudan, local organizations said on Saturday.

"Today, RSF fighters resumed their actions in the markets and residential neighborhoods (in Al-Malha area)... and indiscriminate gunfire from the RSF resulted in the killing of more than 45 civilians," a source from the Coordination of Resistance Committees in El Fasher told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese Doctors Network said on X that, the RSF carried out "mass executions" of 48 people from the Al-Malha area, while 63 others were injured during the attack.

The body warned that the "ethnic-based mass killings" carried out by the RSF against the people of Darfur would further complicate the situation in the region.

The RSF has not yet issued any comment regarding the attack.

On Thursday, the RSF announced that it had taken control of the Al-Malha area, which houses a main camp for the joint force composed of armed Darfuri groups aligned with the Sudanese army.

Al-Malha holds strategic significance due to its control over vital trade routes between Sudan and Libya. It also serves as a key crossroads leading to El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, and has been a battleground for fierce clashes between the SAF and RSF since May 10 last year. 
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, co-chairs the sixth China-Japan High-Level Economic Dialogue with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya in Tokyo, Japan, March 22, 2025. Officials from 15 government departments of both countries attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)

TOKYO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister and member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Wang Yi and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya on Saturday co-chaired the sixth China-Japan High-Level Economic Dialogue in Tokyo, pledging efforts to deepen economic collaboration between the two nations.

Both sides agreed to jointly implement an important consensus reached by their leaders, enrich the economic dimension of the China-Japan strategic relationship of mutual benefit, and work together to build a constructive and stable economic and trade relationship that meets the demands of a new era.

The dialogue concluded with 20 key consensus points regarding cooperation in areas such as green development, environmental protection, elderly care services, service trade, food safety, supply chains and intellectual property protection, among others.

The two sides agreed to support each other in hosting multiple events, and hold consultations and dialogues at various levels.

The two countries also agreed to hold the seventh China-Japan High-Level Economic Dialogue in China at an appropriate time. 
BERLIN, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Several European countries have updated their travel advisories for the United States this week following the detention of multiple European nationals, including German citizens, upon arrival.

Germany's Foreign Office said it is taking the recent incidents involving German travelers seriously.

"We have clarified and now clearly emphasize that an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) approval or a U.S. visa does not, in every case, authorize entry into the United States," a spokesperson told public broadcaster ARD's Tagesschau.

The advisory update follows reports of three German nationals being detained at U.S. entry points, including one green card holder. Two of the individuals have since returned to Germany.

In response to the incidents, Britain also revised its travel advice, warning of strict enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. "You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules," the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said on Thursday.

Britain's foreign office confirmed earlier this month that it was providing support to a British national reportedly detained at the border in the United States, according to Reuters.

Finland issued a similar update on Friday, cautioning that even valid travel documents might not guarantee entry under current U.S. policies. The Finnish Foreign Ministry also noted recent changes requiring visa or ESTA applicants to declare both their gender and gender at birth, which could result in denied entry if inconsistencies are found.

Additionally, Finnish authorities warned travelers to avoid large gatherings in major U.S. cities, citing the risk of politically motivated demonstrations turning violent.

According to Finnish broadcaster Yle, the tightened advisories reflect evolving U.S. immigration policy under President Donald Trump's new term. 
Eva January Bugayane, a local resident, washes kitchenware with running water provided by the Bangulo water supply project in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Emmanuel Herman)

by Xinhua writers Hua Hongli, Lucas Liganga

DAR ES SALAAM, March 22 (Xinhua) -- As the world prepares to mark World Water Day on Saturday, observed annually on March 22 since 1993, more than 450,000 residents in the southern part of Tanzania's Dar es Salaam region are breathing a collective sigh of relief. For the first time, they have access to safe and clean running water.

The Bangulo water supply project, located in the southern section of Dar es Salaam, was financed by the World Bank and implemented by Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina), a Chinese state-owned company known for its global infrastructure projects. Construction began in January 2024 and was completed in January 2025.

Eva January Bugayane, a mother of two and a Bangulo resident for over a decade, described the water project, managed by the state-owned Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority, as a tremendous relief.

"I used to get up at dawn to fetch water. The lack of water posed a serious health risk to my family because we didn't have water for cooking, washing clothes, or even bathing," she said.

"But now, we have an abundant supply of running water for household use," Bugayane said, expressing gratitude to the Chinese company for its role in delivering the project.

Before the project, residents had little time for income-generating activities, as much of their day was spent searching for water -- often unsafe for consumption.

Goodluck Mwele, the local government chairman of Bangulo in Pugu Station Ward, Ilala District, has held his position since 2014. He recalled the severe water shortages that plagued the area before the project.

"Residents had to buy water at exorbitant prices, sourcing it from distant areas like Ubungo, Kinyerezi, and Pugu," said Mwele.

He explained that the acute water shortage led to frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery. It also created household tensions, as women had to leave early in the morning to collect water and return home late at night.

According to Mwele, initial skepticism surrounded the government's project announcement. "But when we saw PowerChina staff preparing for the groundbreaking a year ago, we started to believe the government was serious," he said.

"During construction, we observed the Chinese workers' discipline and dedication. They worked hard and adhered strictly to contractual obligations," Mwele noted.

Yusufu Mustafa Mtamile, a human resources officer at PowerChina, has worked with the company for over a decade on various water projects. He praised his Chinese colleagues for instilling a strong sense of teamwork and discipline.

He added that working with PowerChina had greatly improved his family's well-being. His salary enabled him to purchase land to build a home, pay school fees for his four children, and cover food and healthcare expenses.

Looking ahead, Mtamile expressed hope for continued strong cooperation between China and Tanzania, especially in infrastructure development, which he said contributed to the country's economic growth.

Yin Zifei, the project's deputy chief engineer, explained that the initiative involved the construction of a lifting pump station, a water storage tank, the installation of a steel water pipe stretching 10.8 km, and a new 9,000-cubic-meter reservoir. Supporting infrastructure included fencing, a gate, a guardroom, and internal roads.

"This project has significantly improved water accessibility and safety. The new network covers seven areas and remote villages in southern Dar es Salaam, offering 24-hour uninterrupted water service," said Yin.

Beyond infrastructure, Yin highlighted the project's focus on local capacity building, with training programs for local technicians in pipeline welding and equipment operation and maintenance. This, he said, laid the groundwork for the system's long-term sustainability.

Chinese enterprises play a key role in Tanzania's infrastructure development, acting as engines of regional economic growth and active participants in China-Africa cooperation, he concluded. 

Yin Zifei (R), deputy chief engineer of the Bangulo water supply project, checks equipment with a Tanzanian worker at a water supply station for the project in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Emmanuel Herman)

Yusufu Mustafa Mtamile, a human resources officer at PowerChina, speaks during an interview with Xinhua at the Bangulo water supply project in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Emmanuel Herman)
UCM sounds alarm

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IMPHAL, Mar 22: Saying that widespread cases of African Swine Fever have been reported from Yachem village of neighbouring Nagaland, the UCM has sounded an alarm over the possibility of the deadly spreading to Manipur.

Pointing out that poultry and pigs are being brought into the State from outside along Imphal-Dimapur highway everyday, thereby creating deep apprehension among the pig farmers of Manipur, the UCM appealed to the department concerned to take up necessary precautionary measures.

A press release issued by UCM urged the department concerned to check poultry and other animals brought in from outside the State.

It also urged the Veterinary Department to organise extensive awareness programmes for farmers on African Swine Fever.
Transparency, freeze: Parties on delimitation

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New Delhi, Mar 22 : The DMK-led Joint Action Committee (JAC), holding its first meeting today over the impending delimitation exercise proposed by the Union Government, cited a lack of transparency and insufficient consultation with key stake-holders.

In a unanimous 7-point resolution passed during its meeting in Chennai, the JAC called for an inclusive and transparent approach to the process.

The JAC stressed that any delimitation exercise must include a consultative process involving all State Governments, political parties, and relevant stake- holders.

Here is the 7-point resolution released by the JAC:

Any delimitation exercise carried out by the Union Government to improve the content and character of democracy should be carried out transparently, enabling political parties of all the States, State Governments and other stakeholders to deliberate, discuss and contribute in it.

Given the fact that the legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th and 87th Constitutional amendments was to protect/incentivise States which have implemented population control measures effectively and the goal of National population stabilisation has not yet been achieved, the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on 1971 Census population, should be extended by another 25 years.

The States which have effectively implemented the population control program and consequently whose population share has come down, should not be penalised. The Union Government must enact necessary constitutional amendments for this purpose.

The Core Committee consisting of Members of Parliament from the represented States will coordinate the parliamentary strategies to counter any attempts by the Union Government to undertake any delimitation exercise contrary to the principles mentioned above.

The Core Committee of MPs shall submit a Joint Representation on the above lines to the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India during the ongoing Parliamentary session.

The Political Parties from different States represented in the meeting will initiate efforts to bring about appropriate Legislative Assembly resolutions in their respective States on the issue and communicate the same to the Union Government.

The JAC will also undertake necessary efforts to disseminate information on the history and context of past delimitation exercises and the consequences of the proposed delimitation among the citizens of their respective States, through a coordinated public opinion mobilisation strategy.

Key Leaders in Attendance

The meeting in Chennai saw the participation of several prominent political leaders, including Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das, and Biju Janata Dal leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma, among others. Former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik attended the meeting virtually while the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) did not show up for the meeting at all. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, who convened the meeting, announced that the next JAC meeting on delimitation will be held in Hyderabad. NDTV
MOGADISHU, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have released a Yemeni-flagged fishing dhow that was seized on March 16 in the pirate-infested waters off the coast of Somalia, the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) confirmed Friday evening.

EUNAVFOR Atalanta reported that the vessel, Al-Hidaya, which was hijacked off Durdura in the vicinity of Eyl on Somalia's northern coast, was later abandoned in the vicinity of Dhinowda, south of the initial seizure location.

"On board, the eight Somali crew members were safe," the EU naval force said in a statement after conducting a friendly approach on Friday to assist the crew and gather information from the vessel.

The incident marks the third piracy-related case involving a Yemeni fishing vessel. Along with a separate case involving a Chinese fishing vessel, four piracy-related vessel seizures occurred in Somali territorial waters in 2025, according to EUNAVFOR.

The EU naval force underscored that its continued operations, along with regional and international maritime security partners, remain crucial in addressing incidents that threaten maritime safety and freedom of navigation in the region.

Somali pirates have launched attacks far from shore using "mother vessels" -- dhows or ocean-going fishing boats that they have commandeered.

The resurgence of piracy has also impacted the shipping sector, driving up insurance costs as shippers take out additional coverage for war risk, kidnap, and ransom, on top of standard cargo and hull insurance. 
In a major development to the cash for job scam for recruitment of teachers, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) today exempted Kalyanmoy Bhattacharya, the son-in-law of former state education minister Partha Chatterjee, from the list of accused in the recruitment scam after he turned approver against his father-in-law.

The court had told Mr Bhattacharya that he might get exemption from charges slapped under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) only should he reveal something new in the scam which implicated Mr Chatterjee, while giving his confidential statements before the magistrate.

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Bhattacharya was a member of the trustee board in Babli Chatterjee Memorial Trust, named after the deceased wife of Partha Chatterjee.

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Sources in the know claimed that the scrapping of the name of Mr Bhattacharya was in the offing since his prayer to turn approver against his father-in-law by the court had been granted and he got his secret statements recorded before the magistrate on Saturday.

The development, however, pertained to his prayer to the special ED court as one of the accused named in the supplementary charge sheet by the ED in the recruitment scam, who is ready to turn approver against the key mastermind- the former state education minister and his father in-law, in lieu of being exempted from charges.
A postgraduate student in Jadavpur Universitys (JU) film studies department lodged a complaint of ragging against a group of engineering students with the universitys anti-ragging committee on Wednesday.

According to the complaint, the victim was allegedly locked inside a room in the main hostel, abused and threatened by the other students on Tuesday evening.

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The anti-ragging committee has started an internal inquiry to probe the allegations. The complainant had made some posts on social media against the practice of ragging prevalent in the campus and hostel, which he alleged he was forced to take down under threat.

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A complaint has been received and we have formed an inquiry committee. The university has zero tolerance towards any kind of abuse. Necessary action will be taken at the earliest, if allegations are proved true, a senior administrative officer of the university said, seeking anonymity.

The incident reportedly took place at room No. 25 of the A2-block in the main hostel.

The JU had recently hit the headlines following the clash allegedly between the protesting students and teachers backed by the WBCUPA during a visit by the state education minister Bratya Basu, who had gone to attend a meeting called by the pro-Trinamul teachers association, 20 days ago.

The Kolkata Police investigating the incident had filed cases against some students, while on the prodding of the Calcutta High Court, separate FIRs were lodged against Mr Basu who is also the chairman of the WBCUPA and another teacher Om Prakash Mishra belonging to the association.

Since a 17-year-old JU Bangla honours student fell to his death from the second floor of the universitys main hostel on 10 August in 2023, following hours of alleged sexual harassment and ragging by his seniors, the complainant had been campaigning against ragging in educational institutes both in the campus and on social media.

The complainant has alleged that one of the tormentors was an accused in the August 2023 ragging case, but is yet to be prosecuted. The cops had arrested 12 students in connection with the death of the 17-year-old student.
A three-day national conference on Towards a Sustainable Future: Climate Change, Clean Energy, and Environmental Sustainability, hosted by the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) and sponsored by the Government of India, concluded today at Raja Narendra Lal Khan Womens College.

The event, held from 19-21 March, was jointly organised by the departments of geography and zoology.

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The conference commenced with a keynote address by Professor Debashish Chakravarty from the department of mining engineering and dean of alumni affairs at IIT Kharagpur. His speech highlighted the urgent need for sustainable practices in light of the global climate crisis and set the tone for the engaging discussions that followed.

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Over the three days, a total of 16 resource persons delivered expert lectures on various aspects of sustainability and climate change, offering invaluable insights into environmental conservation and clean energy solutions. Furthermore, 75 scholars presented their research papers, contributing innovative perspectives on pressing environmental issues. The event also featured a student-led poster exhibition with 25 creative displays, underscoring fresh ideas for promoting sustainability.

With a total of 220 participants, the conference served as a dynamic platform for knowledge exchange and academic dialogue.
Pursura MLA Biman Ghosh recently visited New Delhi and met railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and central tourism minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

The Pursura MLA urged the railway minister to take initiative towards setting up railway connectivity between different stations in Arambagh sub-division and Hooghly district. The MLA also urged the tourism minister to take initiative towards renovation, upgrade and beautification of the birth place of Raja Rammohan Roy, Kamarpukur, Jayrambati and places associated with Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.

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The Pursura BJP MLA today said at a press conference: I urged the railway central minister, keeping in mind the demand of the people to set up Jangalpara halt station on the railway route, connecting between Tarkeswar and Bishnupur, to set up railway connectivity with Radhanagar, the birthplace of the great social reformer of Bengal, Raja Rammohan Roy; a railway over-bridge at Tarakeswar to ease traffic congestion at railway level crossings. He also urged for speedy work at Bhabha Dighi so that passengers can travel directly from Tarkeswar to Bishnupur.

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The Pursura BJP MLA added: I urged the central tourism minister to take initiative towards renovation, beautification of the residence and the adjoining areas of Raja Rammohan Roy. I have also requested to work in Kamarpukur, Jayrambati and areas associated with Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
The body of a decomposed male was found on an abandoned railway land in the DBG Road area of Central Delhi, police said on Saturday.

A probe has been launched and a case under the relevant section of the BNS has been registered at DBG Road police station, an official said.

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Moreover, the identity of the deceased is yet to be established, he added.

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Multiple teams have been formed to investigate the case. Since the body was in a decomposed state, the exact nature of injuries and the age of the deceased cannot be ascertained at this stage, the official stated.

The body has been sent to a hospital for post-mortem examination.

Additionally, a forensic team inspected the crime scene for clues related to the murder.
Raghubir Singh Junior Modern School (RSJMS), Humayun Road, New Delhi, bid an emotional farewell to its outgoing P5 batch of 2024-2025 at a grand Valedictory Ceremony hosted at Modern School, Barakhamba Road.

Former Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi graced the event as the Chief Guest.

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Mira Pradeep Singh, President of the Board of Trustees, Modern Schools; Ambika Pant, Secretary of the Board of Trustees; Ajay Verma, Chairman of RSJMS; and Dr Vijay Datta, Principal of Modern School, Barakhamba Road were among the other notable attendees.

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The ceremony began on an auspicious note with a traditional Ganesh Vandana performed by P4 students. Headmistress Nalini Singh Rajput then welcomed the gathering, offering her best wishes to the graduating students and urging parents to nurture values such as patience, perseverance, and empathy in their children.

A detailed report on the schools activities over the academic year was presented by the Headmistress alongside select P5 students.

Chairman Ajay Verma expressed his gratitude to teachers, parents, and stakeholders for their unwavering support in shaping the students academic and personal growth.

A highlight of the event was the unveiling of the second volume of the school magazine, Sandesh, by Chief Guest Lekhi. In her address, she encouraged students to work towards building a prosperous India by 2047, aligning with the vision set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Saturday appealed to all citizens to actively participate in maintaining a cleaner, greener, and healthier city by using the MCDs 311 mobile app.

Through this app, citizens can swiftly report issues related to pollution, cleanliness, and any other civic work, ensuring they reach the appropriate teams for a prompt response, it said.

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Stating that it is dedicated to resolving public complaints with efficiency and speed, the MCD said citizen participation is invaluable to its mission of keeping Delhi clean and green.

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Through the MCD 311 app, the MCD is able to streamline complaint registration, forward issues directly to the relevant zones, and enable faster on-ground action. This approach has enabled MCD to resolve up to 80 per cent of complaints within 3-4 days of receiving them, reflecting its commitment to providing quality services to the residents of Delhi, the civic body said.

The MCD 311 app is particularly effective in addressing common issues such as garbage burning, sanitation concerns, stray cattle, and streetlights, it said.

From 1st March, 2024 till 22nd March this year, 3.57 lakh complaints lodged on MCD 311 App have been resolved. Once a complaint is registered, it is automatically dispatched to the designated MCD zone for swift intervention. Additionally, MCD has been deploying resources at a war footing to mitigate pollution levels in the city, with a focus on addressing both citizen-reported issues, it said.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Kendrapara MP Baijayant Jay Pandas cryptic post on his X handle on Friday further fueled the speculations regarding veteran Congress leader Shashi Tharoors increasing closeness towards the ruling BJP.

Sharing a picture of himself with Tharoor in a Bhubaneswar-bound flight, the BJP MP wrote: My friend & fellow traveler called me mischievous for saying that we seem to be finally travelling in the same direction.

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Meanwhile, the Thiruvananthapuram MP also quickly clarified that he was heading to Bhubaneswar to address the Kalinga Lit Fest on Saturday.

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Fellow traveller only to Bhubaneswar! I am addressing the Kalinga LitFest tomorrow morning. And coming right back!! quipped Tharoor.

However, the cryptic message by Panda left the social media users speculating on the shifting loyalty of the veteran Congress leader.

The Congress MPs recent remarks praising the diplomatic stance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on different issues related to international affairs and ongoing fissures within the party have sparked a debate over his probable leaning towards the BJP.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue recently, Tharoor admitted that he had misjudged Indias position on the conflict acknowledging Prime Minister Narendra Modis neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine war.

I am still wiping the egg off my face because I was one of those who criticised Indias position back in February 2022. Three years later, it turns out I was wrong. India now has a Prime Minister who can hug both the President of Ukraine and the President of Russia within two weeks and still be accepted in both places. That means India is in a position to make a difference to lasting peace, he said.

The Thiruvananthapuram MP had earlier in February left the Congress party red-faced after he stated that the outcome of PM Modis visit to the US was very good.

The diplomat-turned-politicians discord with the Congress top brass and the state unit in Kerala also fueled the rumour of his considering the option to join BJP.

As per Tharoors reply to Pandas post on X, the veteran Congress leader was on his way to Bhubaneswar to address the 11th edition of the iconic Kalinga Literary Festival which started here on Friday.

Literary minds from across South East Asia and World representing some 25 languages are participating in the annual festival of art, culture and literature.
ALGIERS, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Algerian forces killed two foreign militants during a military operation in the country's far south near the borders with Mali and Niger, the Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

The operation took place on Friday in the In Guezzam region, within Algeria's 6th Military Region, as part of efforts to combat terrorism and secure the country's borders, the ministry said in a statement.

The statement said that the two militants had crossed into Algeria illegally but did not disclose their nationalities. Troops seized a sniper rifle, three ammunition magazines, a large quantity of ammunition, and a four-wheel-drive vehicle during the raid.

"This operation is part of a series of successful security efforts, underscoring the army's vigilance and commitment to protecting Algeria's borders from infiltration," the ministry said.

The operation comes days after four militants surrendered to authorities near the Malian border.

Algeria has deployed tens of thousands of troops along its southern and eastern borders to prevent the infiltration of militants and weapons amid ongoing instability in Mali, Niger, and Libya. 
Ending all uncertainties, the BJP central leadership will announce the new state president for its Kerala unit on Monday. The process of electing a new state president has already been initiated by the partys central leadership.

According to the election schedule announced by the party, Union Minister Prahlad Joshi, who is overseeing the organizational elections in Kerala, will receive nominations for the post on Sunday.

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Sources within the party indicate that the national leadership may opt for a fresh face to lead the BJP aggressively in the state, reflecting the sentiments of party workers and sympathizers.

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Former Director General of Police (DGP) Jacob Thomas is emerging as a strong contender for the position. Many BJP workers support his candidacy, believing that he would take on the CPI(M) and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan more effectively. They feel that the current leadership has been too lenient towards the ruling party.

Jacob Thomas has also raised concerns over Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hosting Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for a breakfast meeting at Kerala House in Delhi on March 12.

He linked the meeting to the ongoing Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) probe into financial transactions between Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) and Exalogic Solutions, a company owned by Vijayans daughter, Veena Vijayan.

He stated that there was an ethical concern regarding the Chief Minister meeting the Union Finance Minister, who also oversees the Corporate Affairs Ministry, while an SFIO probe is ongoing against his daughter. He emphasized that the SFIO operates under the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

Other contenders for the position include former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, senior party leader MT Ramesh, and firebrand leader Sobha Surendran.

With the BJP making history in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by securing its first-ever parliamentary seat in Keralawhen actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi won from Thrissurthere is speculation that the party gained significant support from the influential Christian community.

A section of the party believes that if Jacob Thomas is elected as state president, the BJP could further expand its presence in Christian-dominated regions. If the leadership opts for a new strategic approach, Jacob Thomas may be chosen. Many BJP workers favor a leadership structure with Jacob Thomas as state president and Sobha Surendran as working president.
The Congress has lent its full support to regional forces fighting to strengthen the federal structure of the country and taking on the central government to block its unfair and unjust delimitation of Lok Sabha seats.

The Congress sent two of its leaders  Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and Chief Minister of Telangana  to the Delimitation Meeting convened by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin in Chennai on Saturday.

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Addressing yhe crucial meeting, Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said Karnataka stood firmly alongside Tamil Nadu and other states to fight to protect the federal fabric of the nation.

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Friends, we are gathered here at a critical moment in Indias history. The very foundation of our democracyfederalismis under threat. The very pillars of our federal democracy, enshrined by Babasaheb Ambedkar and the visionary framers of our Constitution, are being dismantled brick by brick, Shivakumar said.

Today, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and every progressive state in this room faces a stark choice: submit to domination or rise in resistance, he said and added, We choose resistance.

The proposed delimitation exercise, based solely on population, is not just a technical adjustment; it is a political assault on the southern states. It seeks to punish us for our success in controlling population growth, improving literacy, and empowering women. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and other southern states have contributed immensely to Indias growth.

We have prioritized education, healthcare, and sustainable development. Yet, the Centre now plans to reduce our parliamentary representation, effectively silencing our voices in the national discourse. This is not just unfairit is a betrayal of the constitutional promise that development and good governance should be rewarded, not penalized, the Karnataka leader said.

Karnataka contributes over RS 4 lakh crore annually to the Centres Gross Tax Revenue. Yet, what do we get in return? A mere RS 45,000 crore in tax devolution and RS 15,000 crore in grants.

For every rupee Karnataka contributes, only 13 paise comes back to us. This is not just an economic injustice; it is a systemic plunder of our resources, Shivakumar said.

Karnataka, with just 5% of Indias population, contributes 8.4% to the national GDP. We are the highest GST contributors in the country. Southern states, contributing 35% of Indias GDP, are treated as ATM machines for the North. Yet, our share in central funds is disproportionately low.. the Karnataka Dy CM said and added, The 15th Finance Commissions population-based formula has already cost us dearly. If the delimitation exercise proceeds as planned, our political voice will be further diminished, and our ability to advocate for our rights in Parliament will be crippled.

 This fight is not just about numbers; it is about our identity, our culture, and our heritage. Karnataka takes pride in its 1,500-year-old literary tradition, from the Vachanas of Basavanna to the works of Kuvempu. Tamil Nadus Sangam poetry, Keralas classical art forms, and Andhras Telugu heritage are not just regional treasuresthey are the soul of India.

Yet, the Centres relentless push for One Nation, One Language seeks to erase this diversity he said in a powerful statement summing up the pride that the regions take in their roots.

Speaking out against language imposition, Shivakumar said, .From railway signboards to competitive exams, the imposition of Hindi undermines our linguistic and cultural sovereignty. Let me be clear: Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and other regional languages are not mere dialects; they are the lifeblood of our civilizations.

We must draw inspiration from the great leaders of our statesPeriyar, Ambedkar, Basavanna, Annadurai, and Narayana Guruwho fought tirelessly for social justice, equality, and linguistic rights., he said.

The delimitation exercise is not just about parliamentary seats; it is about the future of federalism in India. If the Centre proceeds with this unjust formula, it will alter the federal balance, giving disproportionate power to states that have failed to control population growth, he reiterated.

This will not only marginalize the southern states but also undermine the principles of cooperative federalism enshrined in our Constitution.

The Karnataka Legislative Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution rejecting any delimitation exercise based on the new census. We demand that the 1971 Census remain the basis for delimitation, as it rewards states for their efforts in population control and sustainable development, the Karnataka leader added.

Shivakumar also put it in perspective that it was not a battle between the North and the South.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has issued a strong warning against intimidating Muslims and inciting communal discord in the wake of recent violence in Nagpur.

His remarks came amid tensions surrounding Mughal emperor Aurangzebs tomb and protests by right-wing groups that led to clashes in the city.

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Speaking at an Iftar gathering in Mumbai, Pawar, who also serves as the Finance Minister in Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra Cabinet, reaffirmed his commitment to communal harmony.

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If anyone dares to intimidate our Muslim brothers and sisters or tries to create communal discord, they will not be spared, he declared.

The Deputy Chief Minister emphasized that festivals like Holi, Gudi Padwa, and Eid symbolize unity and coexistence.

Many great leaders like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Dr BR Ambedkar, and Jyotiba Phule have shown us the path of social progress by embracing all religions and castes. We must carry forward this legacy. India is a symbol of unity in diversity, he added.

Reassuring the Muslim community of his support, Pawar stated: Your brother Ajit Pawar is with you.

His comments follow violent clashes in Nagpurs Mahal area, sparked by a right-wing protest demanding the demolition of Aurangzebs tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.

The unrest was fueled by rumours that Hindu protesters had burned a green chadar from a dargah, allegedly inscribed with Quranic verses.

In response, authorities imposed a curfew in several parts of the city and arrested multiple individuals involved in the clashes.
The Delhi Legislative Assembly has taken a significant step towards digital governance by signing a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA), and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) for the implementation of the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA).

Marking a new chapter in the citys legislative functioning, in the presence of Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Speaker Vijender Gupta, Delhi becomes the 28th legislature to sign the MoU for implementation of the project.

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The MoU was signed by Dr Satya Prakash, Additional Secretary, MoPA; Ranjeet Singh, Secretary, Delhi Legislative Assembly; and Reetesh Singh, Principal Secretary (Law), GNCTD.

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The agreement signifies Delhis commitment to transitioning to a paperless and more transparent legislative system, in alignment with Prime Minister Narendra Modis vision of One Nation, One Application.

The NeVA platform, developed under the guidance of MoPA, aims to bring greater efficiency, accessibility, and sustainability to legislative procedures by digitising House business, providing real-time access to documents, and enabling seamless coordination among legislators and secretariat staff.

By adopting NeVA, the Delhi Assembly will significantly reduce paper consumption, streamline workflows, and empower MLAs with digital tools for better legislative performance.

This move further strengthens the nationwide momentum towards digital transformation in legislative institutions, as NeVA continues to expand its footprint across the country.

With the constitution of the new Assembly, the integration of NeVA further accelerates the modernisation of legislative processes, making Delhi Assembly a model for digital governance.
Amid the ongoing row over the proposed delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies, the Congress on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should take the lead and consult with all the stakeholders in this regard.

Talking about the proposed delimitation, Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said that delimitation cannot be done without carrying out a fresh census.

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Referring to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said, Atal Bihari Vajpayee amended the Constitution to say that the delimitation will be postponed till we complete the first census after 2026, which means 2031. That was Vajpayees constitutional amendment in 2002. So, delimitation was kept frozen at 1971 population levels.

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When is the Census coming ? We raised this question yesterday, four years have passed. You need delimitation for the womens reservation and distribution of Lok Sabha seats across states, he said.

The Congress MP categorically stated that states with successes in family planning cannot be penalised.

If we take the 2025 estimated population, many states will lose their representations and some states will gain. Some states that have been successful in family planning, reducing fertility rate, are going to be penalised. That is unacceptable, he told a news agency.

Asserting that there are solutions to resolve the issue, Ramesh said, The Prime Ministers must take lead. We must have discussions with the Chief Ministers, political parties, civil society organisations. But, the fundamental principle is that states which had succeeded in family planning should not be penalised.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Saturday that 4,123 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) across the country are holding all-party meetings to address any pending polling booth-level issues in their respective Assembly Constituencies (ACs).

The poll panel stated that all 788 District Election Officers (DEOs) and 36 Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) across the 28 states and eight Union Territories (UTs) have been instructed to conduct these meetings.

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The objective is to resolve outstanding issues at district and State/UT levels within the legal framework of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and 1951, the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, and other relevant manuals, guidelines, and instructions issued by the ECI.

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These meetings have already commenced with active participation from national and state-level political parties. The process is scheduled to be completed across all ACs, districts, and states/UTs by March 31, the ECI stated.

This initiative aligns with the directives of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, issued during the conference of CEOs from all states and UTs held earlier this month in the national capital.

The ECI emphasized the critical role of political parties and their authorized representativessuch as Booth Level Agents (BLAs), polling agents, counting agents, and election agentsin various electoral processes, including the conduct of elections.

Political parties have welcomed this grassroots-level engagement, actively participating in meetings across ACs, districts, and States/UTs.

The ECI has also urged all national and state political parties to take advantage of this proactive initiative to resolve pending electoral issues in a time-bound manner.
BJP leader Baijayant Jay Panda has set political circles abuzz with a cryptic tweet amid ongoing speculation about Congress MP Shashi Tharoors possible switch to the BJP.

Sharing a picture with Tharoor on X, Panda wrote, My friend & fellow traveler called me mischievous for saying that we seem to be finally travelling in the same direction.

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Dismissing any political significance to his former Congress colleagues post, Tharoor clarified, Fellow traveller only to Bhubaneswar! I am addressing the Kalinga LitFest tomorrow morning. And coming right back!!

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Although the Congress leader has clarified, the tweet has added fuel to the rumours that have been making the rounds for some time that he may quit the Grand Old Party and join the BJP.

The rumours first gained traction last month when Tharoor, while speaking on a Malayalam-language podcast Varthamanam, declared that he has other options if the Congress party doesnt need his services.

Shashi Tharoor, who was part of the G-23a group of 23 Congress leaders who wrote a letter asking for stronger leadership and who unsuccessfully contested for the party presidents post against Mallikarjun Khargealso praised the startup policy of the Left government in Kerala during the same podcast.

He also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modis meeting with US President Donald Trump, further embarrassing the Congress party.

More recently, he praised PM Modis stance on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, further leaving his own party red-faced.

PM Modi has taken a consistent position that the solution to this conflict has to come through diplomacy. In fact, you may remember his statement in Samarkand in front of President Putin, where he said this is not an era of war and that solutions have to be found peacefully. We do seem to be at the beginning of a peace process of some sort, Tharoor told a news agency on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi earlier this week.

However, the Congress leader has dismissed the rumours of joining the BJP. During the same podcast where he praised the Left government and Modis meeting with Trump, Tharoor had clarified that he has always identified himself as a Congressman and never held discussions about joining the BJP.
The specter of the Emergency imposed in 1975 by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi continues to intermittently haunt Indian politics, even after nearly half a centurysometimes at the national level, and at times in state assemblies.

On Friday, it was the Rajasthan Assemblys turn, as the 50-year-old ghost cast its shadow over the debate on the Rajasthan Ke Loktantra Senani Samman Bill 2025. This Bill aims to grant statutory status to the benefits of pension, medical treatment, and free travel for those who were imprisoned under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and the Defense of India Rules (DIR) during the Emergency.

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During the debate, ruling BJP members recounted firsthand experiences or stories of hardship from that era, while opposition Congress MLAs argued that lawbreakers were being rewarded and that discussions on 50-year-old events were overshadowing present-day pressing issues.

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Initiating the debate, BJP legislator and Loktantra Senani Tara Chand Jain described the Emergency as an era of injustice and atrocities, where people were harassed or detained for trivial reasons.

Parliamentary Affairs and Law Minister Joga Ram Patel defended the Bill, stating, Loktantra Senanis did not go to jail for their own misdeeds; they were imprisoned for fighting for the nations cause. He further accused the Congress, saying, Those who claim to uphold the Constitution should remember that Indira Gandhi defied the Allahabad High Courts ruling.

Government Chief Whip Jogeshwar Garg, who himself endured imprisonment during the Emergency, criticized opposition members for attempting to justify the excesses of that period.

He highlighted the arbitrary actions of officials, citing cases where even an 83-year-old veteran, Radha Krishna Rastogi, and a 13-year-old child were detained. Garg also claimed that chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai was treated as a crime, and that many magistrates avoided or deferred hearings.

However, Leader of the Opposition Tikaram Jully downplayed the severity of the Emergency, asserting, Had the situation been as dire as claimed, Indira Gandhi would not have returned to power in 1980 with a resounding majority. He also praised Gandhis achievements, including the retreat of the US 7th Fleet, the historic surrender of 92,000 Pakistani soldiers, and Indias first nuclear test in Pokhran.

The Bill was ultimately passed by voice vote. It formalizes pension provisions for Loktantra Senanis, who have been receiving Rs 20,000 per month as pension, Rs 4,000 per month for medical treatment, and free travel in state-run buses.

The pension was first introduced in 2008 under the BJP-led Vasundhara Raje government but was discontinued in 2009 when the Congress, under Ashok Gehlot, came to power. The BJP reinstated the scheme in 2016, but it was again discontinued in 2019 after the Congress returned to power.

With the passage of this Bill, the pension scheme can no longer be abruptly discontinued by the incumbent government.
Himachal Pradesh has witnessed a 50 per cent decline in enrolment in primary schools.

This was revealed by Education Minister Rohit Thakur in the state assembly during the Question Hour on Saturday.

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Thakur said that in 2003-04, there were 12,404 schools in the state with 9.71 lakh students, but by 2023-24, the number of students had decreased to 4,29,070. However, the number of schools has not decreased.

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The Education Minister said that the teacher-student ratio in the state has improved from 1:22 in 2002-03 to 1:11 in 2023-24, which is the best in the country. In tribal areas, the ratio is 1:3.

In the past two years, 3,450 teachers have been appointed in the state. However, many posts are still vacant in far-flung areas like Chamba, he informed the House.

The Minister assured that most of the new appointments would be made in schools where posts are vacant and where the teacher-student ratio is poor.

In response to a question by BJP MLA Deep Raj (Karsog), Horticulture Minister Jagat Negi said that eight old processing units are functioning in the state, where farmers are being trained in fruit processing, and 60 training camps are being organised.

Negi said that a processing unit has been set up in Parala at a cost of Rs 120 crore to prepare apple juice and 1,800 metric tons of fruits have been processed in various units.

The Minister further said that the marketing work is being done by HPMC and APMC and the state government has given Rs 400 crore to APMC for setting up new marketing yards at various places in the state.

Responding to a question by Congress MLA Anuradha Rana (Lahaul-Spiti), Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said that there is no provision for giving grants to panchayats.

Agnihotri said that the area of glaciers in the Chandra basin has decreased by 2.4 per cent, while in the Bhaga basin, it has decreased by 3.2 per cent.

In Miyar, the glacier area has decreased to 376 square kilometres, and in the Spiti basin, it has decreased by 2.4 per cent, he added.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that this is a very alarming trend, and therefore, the state government has prepared a DPR of Rs 1,300 crore, which includes 145 snow stupas, 1,100 snow racks, and snow points.

Agnihotri also assured that they would take up this issue with the Centre and demand funds for snow harvesting measures.

Anuradha Rana pointed out that her district is very dry, as it receives very little rainfall and snowfall. She suggested that like Ladakh, snow harvesting measures should be taken in Lahaul-Spiti.

BJP MLA Sukh Ram Chaudhary (Ponta Sahib) said that 60 per cent of the land in Himachal Pradesh is unirrigated, and a master plan needs to be prepared to check the decline in groundwater levels.

Chaudhary said that the groundwater level in the state is decreasing continuously, and it needs to be recharged. The Centre is working on this under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
India is hosting a major international conference next week to explore innovative approaches to address land governance challenges globally.

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs under their Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program and the Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA), is organising the International Workshop on Land Governance from 24-29 March in Gurugram.

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The workshop will bring together delegates from 22 countries across Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia.

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This six-day international workshop will showcase Indias pioneering SVAMITVA Scheme, which has successfully mapped rural inhabited areas using drone technology to provide legal ownership documents to property owners.

More than 40 senior officials from 22 participating countries, including Turkmenistan, Colombia, Zimbabwe, Fiji, Mali, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Venezuela, Mongolia, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Equatorial Guinea, Kiribati, Sao Tome and Principe, Liberia, Ghana, Armenia, Honduras, Eswatini, Cambodia, Togo, and Papua New Guinea will exchange best practices on land governance during the workshop.

The International Workshop will entail discussions on advancements in land governance and sustainable development and feature comprehensive sessions on drone-based land survey techniques, high-resolution mapping, and geospatial technologies that can transform land administration.

Technical sessions will include a hands-on demonstration of drone survey methods, data processing techniques, ground verification processes and GIS integration. Survey of India experts will conduct field demonstrations of flight planning and drone surveying in a nearby village, offering participants practical exposure to this technology.

The International Workshop on Land Governance will also feature field visits and exhibitions to provide participants, with hands-on exposure to modern land governance technologies.

To showcase cutting-edge technologies, a Drone Vendors Exhibition will be organized on March 2425, wherein ten drone vendors will set up stalls, displaying innovations in drone-based land mapping and survey techniques.

The exhibition will showcase survey-grade drones for high-precision mapping, advanced drone survey processes and technology, and GIS tools and applications for data-driven land management.
KINSHASA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will begin political consultations on Monday to form a government of national unity amid a deepening security crisis, a senior official announced Saturday.

Desire-Cashmir Kolongele Eberande, the DRC president's special security advisor, said the consultations will involve the Sacred Union, the ruling parliamentary coalition, opposition parties within and outside parliament, civil society, and prominent figures, including former presidential candidates.

A detailed timeline for the discussions will be shared with the press in the coming days, he added.

In late February, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi announced sweeping political changes, including plans to establish a "government of national unity" to prevent the security crisis in the country's eastern part from escalating into a broader regional conflict.

The March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group, which re-emerged in late 2021, has seized vast territories in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. Despite international and regional mediation efforts, a ceasefire has yet to take effect.

The mineral-rich eastern DRC remains a focal point of conflict, with various armed groups vying for control over resources such as coltan, tin, tantalum, and gold.

According to the United Nations, about one million people, including approximately 400,000 children, have been newly displaced since late January 2025, with numbers expected to rise as hostilities persist in North and South Kivu. 
The Indian Navy successfully executed a crucial Medical Evacuation (MEDEVAC) operation from MV Heilan Star, a Panama-flagged bulk carrier located approximately 230 nautical miles west of Goa on Friday.

The operation was initiated after the Indian Coast Guards Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Mumbai informed the Indian Navy about four crew members aboard MV Heilan Star who had sustained severe burn injuries and required immediate advanced medical care.

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Responding with urgency, the Indian Navy diverted two of its ships, INS Vikrant and INS Deepak, from their ongoing deployment to assist in the rescue operation.

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A Seaking helicopter from INS Vikrant carried out a challenging winching operation to evacuate three of the injured crew memberstwo Chinese nationals and one Indonesian national. Tragically, the fourth crew member had already succumbed to injuries before rescue efforts could be undertaken.

The rescued crew were swiftly transported to INS Hansa, Goa, and subsequently transferred to a civil hospital for further medical treatment.
Demanding a 25-year-long freeze on the population-based Delimitation to redraw Lok Sabha constituencies, the Joint-Action Committee (JAC) of states apprehensive of the exercise, also called for transparency and clarity from the BJP-led Union Government.

It was a coming together of the non-BJP opposition parties, including the AAP, Akali Dal, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS), AIMIM and Kerala Congress besides the Congress, Left Parties.

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Surprisingly, the Jana Sena Party (JSP) of Pawan Kalyan, a constituent of the NDA, was in attendance following an invite from the DMK, which had taken the initiative for the JAC.

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With the future of INDIA Bloc hanging in balance after the 2024 LS poll, the new grouping with a declared purpose has assumed significance.

In a unanimous resolution, the JAC which met on Saturday in Chennai, asked to extend the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on the 1971 population census for the next 25 years.

Any delimitation exercise carried out by the Union Government to improve the content and character of democracy should be carried out transparently, enabling political parties of all the States, State Government and other stakeholders to deliberate, discuss and contribute in it, the resolution read. It was also decided to hold the next meeting in Hyderabad.

The reasoning for the freeze, the resolution said, while the legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th and 87th Constitutional amendments was to protect/incentivise states which have implemented population control measures effectively, the goal of population stabilisation has not yet been achieved.

It was also decided to have a core committee of MPs to coordinate strategies in Parliament and submit a representation to the Prime Minister.

Further political parties would make efforts to bring a resolution in their respective state assemblies against delimitation.

The Trinamool Congress and the YSR Congress gave a miss to the meet.

In his opening address, Stalin, pitching for fair delimitation, said the issue is not only about numbers but about power and our right, for reduction in seats would deprive us of our representation and our voice.

We will become political orphans in our own country. Our culture, identity, progress and social justice face a threat, requiring collective fight since the BJP is always opposed to legitimate rights of States.

There was a rare show of unity between Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy of the Congress and KT Rama Rao of the BRS, adversaries in the state, with both of them advocating a permanent freeze on delimitation and batting for delimitation only for state legislatures.

Revanth Reddy, making it clear that the south will not accept population-based delimitation as it would turn them into secondary status, called for adopting the Vajpayee policy of freezing it for 25 years.

He also dismissed the pro-rata basis as unacceptable and said if delimitation is conducted the present 24% representation of the five southern states should be increased to 33%.

Going a step further, Rama Rao, at a presser later said, Freeze it permanently. But, if they want to go ahead with delimitation, the current proportion should remain as it is  no more seats, and asked If South India has contributed to 36% of GDP, why not give it 36% of voice in parliament. Why not reward those states that have performed well in nation building? The BRS working president further said When Telangana was carved out, it was assured in parliament that delimitation will be carried out and seats will increase from 119 to 153. But it has not happened in 12 years. On the other hand, it has been done in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam, which suits the BJP. But not in Telangana, and added History will not forgive us if we dont speak up.

Speaking through video conference, former Odisha Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik said delimitation solely-based on population will be unfair. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan charged the BJP with pushing delimitation since it is advantageous in north India.

What is the pro-rata basis, he asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah and questioned the urgency in carrying out the exercise even before the decennial census. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann claimed that the BJPs agenda was to increase the seat share where they are winning and reduce seats in states where they are losing as is the case with Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Sardar Balwinder Singh Bhundar of the Akali Dal said delimitation is a primary issue of religious and linguistic minorities.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shiva Kumar charged the BJP with dismantling the pillars of democracy brick-by-brick.

Echoing Stalin, he said, The fight is not about numbers but about identity and heritage of all the southern states, which have a history of over 1500 years. He also called for strengthening the Rajya Sabha as a counter balance to the Lok Sabha and emphasised the need to have equal representation for all regional languages.

About the BJPs black flag protest against him and Pinarayi Vijayan, in a lighter vein, he asked They said they will greet me with black flags. I am waiting. Where is it?

Claiming that delimitation is a diversionary tactic of the DMK, BJP has announced a black flag protest at their homes. BJP state president K Annamalai, former Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan have held the protest in front of their residences in the city. Party functionaries held the same across the state.
A statewide bandh has been called in Karnataka on Saturday in protest against the recent attack on a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) driver in Maharashtra and the controversial Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill.

The bandh, which is being spearheaded by more than 3,000 pro-Kannada organisations, will see businesses, shops, and public transport come to a halt from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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The protest is centred around two major issues: The brutal attack on a KSRTC driver by a group of individuals in Maharashtra, which has sparked widespread anger among the Kannada community, and the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, which many groups believe could negatively affect the citys governance.

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The pro-Kannada groups are demanding that the state government take strong action against those responsible for the attack and prevent similar incidents in the future.

In Bengaluru, the impact of the bandh is expected to be significant, with disruptions to transport services, especially public transportation. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) services are likely to be suspended for the day, leading to challenges for commuters.

Although private cabs and auto services are expected to run as usual, high demand may lead to surge pricing.

While the bandh has support from various pro-Kannada groups, it has not gained traction among Kannada and farmer organisations, and schools and colleges in the state will remain open.

However, local businesses and shops in Bengaluru and other areas across Karnataka are expected to stay closed in solidarity with the protest.

Despite these disruptions, emergency services will continue to function normally. Authorities are urging people to plan their travel accordingly and exercise caution, as traffic disruptions and blockages in key areas are likely throughout the day.
In a boost to Indias floriculture exports, especially from the North Eastern Region (NER), the first consignment of Anthurium flowers from Aizawl, capital town of Mizoram, has made its way to Singapore.

The flag-off ceremony took place on February 26, 2025, in a hybrid format, marking a significant milestone in Mizorams journey to establish itself as a key player in the global floriculture market.

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The event was jointly inaugurated Abhishek Dev, Chairman of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), and Ramdinliani, Special Secretary, Department of Horticulture, Government of Mizoram.

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Officials from APEDA, the Department of Horticulture, Zo Anthurium Growers Cooperative Society, IVC Agrovet Pvt. Ltd., and Veg Pro Singapore Pte. Ltd. also participated, emphasizing the collective effort that made this achievement possible.

The consignment comprised 1,024 Anthurium cut flowers, weighing 70 kilograms, packed in 50 corrugated boxes.

The flowers, sourced from the Zo Anthurium Growers Cooperative Society in Aizawl, were exported by IVC Agrovet Pvt. Ltd. and imported by Veg Pro Singapore Pte. Ltd. The flowers traveled from Aizawl to Singapore via Kolkata.

Anthurium flowers are a prominent crop in Mizoram, not just for their aesthetic appeal but also as a vital economic driver. The vibrant, long-lasting blooms are grown extensively in the state, primarily by local farmers, including women, who have embraced floriculture as a means of livelihood.

To celebrate and promote this floral treasure, Mizoram hosts an annual Anthurium Festival, which has become a major tourist attraction.

The successful export to Singapore follows the International Conclave cum Buyer-Seller Meet (IBSM) organized by APEDA and the Government of Mizoram on December 6, 2024, in Aizawl.

The conclave brought together nine international buyers from countries including Singapore, UAE, Nepal, Jordan, Oman, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Ethiopia, along with 24 domestic exporters.

Indias floriculture exports amounted to USD 86.62 million in the financial year 2023-2024
A woman believed to have been murdered and subsequently cremated in 2023 has come back alive to her home, months after her death, while four men accused of murdering her are presently in jail in Madhya Pradesh.

The bewildering incident has been reported from a village in the Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh today.

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According to the officials of Mandsaur police, the woman, Lalita Bai (35) is a mother of two children.

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Mandsaur SP Abhishek Anand said that Lalita Bai came to Gandhi Sagar police station in Mandsaur district and told that a case of her murder is registered at Thandla police station in Jhabua district of MP.

The SP said that when Mandsaur police verified the facts, the Jhabua police confirmed that a case of murder of Lalita Bai was registered about 18 months ago and the womans parents had identified her body and later that body was cremated too.

The official added that four persons are currently in jail on charges of murdering Lalita Bai.

The SP said that all the details of the recent reemergence of the woman have been provided to the Jhabua police and her statements would be recorded afresh. He said the Jhabua police would carry out the further formalities in the matter, as the case is registered there.

Meanwhile, Lalita Bais father, Ramesh Nanuram Baanchda said that in 2023, he had identified his daughters head-less body on the basis of a tattoo on her right hand and a black thread tied on her ankle.

He said the family had even performed the last rites of the body and also carried out the community programmes done after a persons death.

Lalita Bai said that she had been living with a person named Shahrukh for about 10 years in Bhanpura in Mandsaur district. She claimed that she has two children with Shahrukh.

She alleged that Shahrukh sold her for Rs five lakh to another man also named Shahrukh in Kota in Rajasthan.

Lalita Bai said she somehow managed to escape from Kota and reached her parents house in Mandsaur. She further claimed that she was confined in a house in Kota and had no access to a mobile phone in all these months and so she could not contact anyone for help.

According to SP Abhishek Anand, all the four persons accused of murdering Lalita Bai are from Bhanpura in Mandsaur. They are currently lodged in jail.

One of the four accused is also named Shahrukh, while the other three are Ejaz, Imran and Sonu.

Sources said that subsequent to Lalita Bais returning alive, all four accused have filed a petition in the court demanding their release.

The police are now trying to ascertain the real identity of the murdered and subsequently cremated woman who was till now being believed to be Lalita Bai. The police would also have to reinvestigate that womans blind murder and find the culprits.
Rajesh Kumar, the newly appointed President of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee, said that his prime objective as the BPCC President is to protect the Constitution of India and strengthen the party in Bihar with the help of workers and senior leaders.

In his maiden media interaction as the BPCC President at the party Headquarters Sadakat Ashram in Patna on Saturday, he said, I will work to achieve the expectations of our top leadership  the protection of the constitution of India and upliftment of the Dalit, exploited, deprived and backward classes in Bihar.

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Rajesh Kumar asserted that his appointment as Bihar Congress chief proves that Rahul Gandhis ideology of social justice and proper representation to the Dalit community is not just a slogan.

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Several people questioned Rahul Gandhis ideology and asked about Dalit empowerment in the party. He has proved it on several occasions. Be it the issue of increasing the reservations in Telangana or appointment of top leadership of the party. Not only me, you will realise it if you take a look at several other states heads of the party including Odisha Congress President Bhakt Charan Das and Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal, he added.

He said that he will work hand in hand with other leaders and party workers to further strengthen the partys base in the state which will soon go to polls.

He said, Since 2015, the Congress Partys vote percentage has been increasing substantially. You will realise the difference even if you compare the partys performance in the Lok Sabha and the previous assembly elections. My sole aim is to work with party leaders and workers to further enhance the partys position.

Extending greetings to the people of Bihar on the occasion of Bihar Diwas, he said, Keeping in mind the glorious and splendid tradition of Bihar, I will try to bring back the golden era of the party in the state.
The Rajasthan High Court has constituted a five-member court commission to conduct a study and submit a report on measures to eradicate the social evils of nata and the practice of issuing fatwas to excommunicate individuals held guilty by khaps.

A single bench of Justice Farjand Ali has taken the initiative against the ongoing practice of issuing fatwas by the caste-driven justice delivery system.

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This court commission is supposed to tour extensively in the rural areas of the western Rajasthan districtsJalore, Barmer, Jaisalmer, Nagaur, and Paliwhere such social evils are still practised.

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The commission members will interact with people, social activists, and local police officials and study the local life, rituals, and customs, and submit a report to the court with recommendations for curbing these social evils and the practice of settling issues and disputes through farmaan-based justice delivery by khaps, in violation of citizens freedom and provisions of the Constitution.

Four prominent lawyersRamavtar Singh Chaudhary, Bhagirath Roy Bishnoi, Shobha Prabhakar, and Devki Nandan Vyasand social worker Mahavir Kankariya have been inducted into the commission.
The Uttar Pradesh governments consistent efforts to strengthen regular immunisation in urban areas have yielded remarkable results.

To accelerate the vaccination drive, the government introduced a seven-day-a-week immunisation facility at health centres in January 2023.

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This initiative has significantly boosted immunisation coverage in urban areas, increasing the vaccination rate from 72.4% to an impressive 95% over the past two years. The steady rise reflects the states commitment to ensuring better healthcare accessibility and protection against preventable diseases.

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According to Principal Secretary of Health and Medical Education, Parth Sarthi Sen Sharma, the seven-day vaccination initiative in urban areas aligns with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths vision of ensuring that every child receives protection against 12 life-threatening diseases. This effort has helped bridge immunisation gaps by removing accessibility barriers and prioritising underserved communities.

State Immunisation Officer Dr. Ajay Gupta shared on Saturday that from January 2023 to February 2025, around 18 lakh children in urban areas have been vaccinated.

Dr. Gupta also noted that previous National Family Health Surveys (NFHS-4 and NFHS-5) showed that full immunisation coverage in urban areas was growing at a slower pace compared to rural regions. Special immunisation campaigns were launched at urban health centres to address this, ensuring vaccinations were available every day of the week.

This move has particularly benefited working families and daily wage earners who previously struggled to get their children vaccinated during work hours. Among urban districts, Gorakhpur has achieved the highest immunisation coverage.

Dr. Geetanjali Singh, Medical Officer in charge of the Urban Ayushman Arogya Mandir in Chhitwapur, Lucknow, highlighted the benefits of the daily vaccination service. Previously, vaccinations were only available on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with each area receiving a session just once a month. This led to long waiting times for beneficiaries.

Now, with vaccinations available every day, parents no longer have to wait, and Sunday sessions have made it especially convenient for working parents.

She mentioned that now antenatal check-ups have become more accessible. A major shift observed is that more people are opting for vaccinations at government health centres instead of private hospitals.

The immunisation programme safeguards children against tuberculosis (TB), polio, whooping cough, diphtheria, measles, hepatitis, tetanus, pneumonia, viral diarrhoea, meningitis, and rubella.
The Chief Minister emphasized that Indian culture and traditions are rooted in ancient scriptures, which encompass deep knowledge in science, yoga, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy. Indian scriptures are not just texts but a means to understand the mysteries of the universe. These scriptures contain profound principles that are reflected in modern science and knowledge, said Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami during the closing ceremony of the 62nd All India Shastrotsav Competition at Patanjali University on Friday.

He stressed that instead of merely preserving the research of sages as heritage, it is crucial to advance and develop it in a modern context. Advertisement Dhami said that just as the profound knowledge of Advaita Vedanta spread across India, the deep wisdom of Sanskrit and scriptures should reach national and global levels through this Shastrotsav. Advertisement

He urged for a practical approach to presenting Vedas and scriptures so that future generations develop interest and faith in them. During the closing ceremony, CM Dhami stated that the state government is taking special measures to promote Sanatan Dharma and the Indian knowledge tradition, ensuring that ancient Indian knowledge and science are globally recognized. He also highlighted the need to incorporate Indias rich Vedic wisdom more effectively into the education system, stating that if ancient knowledge is presented with a scientific perspective, it can be beneficial for all humanity. On this occasion, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev said that Sanskrit is not just a language but possesses the potential to lead the world. He emphasized that Sanatan Dharma and ancient Indian scriptures encompass all fields of knowledge, and therefore, efforts must be made to revive and establish the Indian knowledge tradition.

Calling the Akhil Bharatiya Shastrotsav a confluence of Sanskrit and culture, he stated that all root languages originated from Sanskrit, and Indians should take pride in this heritage. During the event, Acharya Balkrishna, Vice-Chancellor of Patanjali University, described Sanskrit as the pride of pilgrimage and culture and elaborated on the importance of ancient Indian scriptures in human life.

He encouraged scholars, students, and followers of the Sanatan tradition to make continuous efforts to spread the significance of Vedas and scriptures to the masses. Former Chief Minister and Union Education Minister of Uttarakhand, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, also addressed the gathering, stating that Sanskrit is not an obsolete language but one that has the power to make a global impact. He asserted that Sanskrit contains all knowledge, science, and technology, and also mentioned Uttarakhands official recognition of Sanskrit as a state language, underscoring the states role in promoting Sanskrit globally. The event also featured an address by Prof. Srinivas Varkhedi, Vice-Chancellor of Central Sanskrit University, New Delhi, who shared valuable insights on Sanskrit, scriptures, and the Indian knowledge tradition. Participants from 30 states and union territories across the country were honored with awards in this Shastrotsav competition. The event was coordinated by Dr. Madhukeshwar Bhatt, while Dr. Pawan Vyas managed the stage proceedings. The closing ceremony was graced by prominent personalities, including Mahamandaleshwar Swami Punyanandgiri Maharaj, former Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Swami Yatishwaranand Maharaj, Prof. Sukant Kumar Senapati, Vice-Chancellor of Shri Somnath Sanskrit University, Veraval, Gujarat, Prof. Prahlad R. Joshi, Vice-Chancellor of Kumar Bhaskar Varma Sanskrit University, Assam, Dr. Murli Manohar Pathak, Vice-Chancellor of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University, New Delhi, Prof. Sadhvi Devpriya, Pro-Chancellor of Patanjali University, Prof. Mayank Kumar Agarwal, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Patanjali University, along with faculty members, officials, distinguished scholars.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asserted that the BJP-led NDA government will leave no stone unturned for the all-round development of Bihar, which has been the centre of Indias culture and tradition.

PM Modis statement comes ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections which will be held later this year.

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Greeting the people of Bihar on the states foundation day, the Prime Minister lauded Bihars rich heritage, its contribution to Indian history, and the relentless spirit of its people in driving the states development.

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In a post on X in Hindi, PM Modi said, Many best wishes to all my brothers and sisters of Bihar, the holy land of heroes and great personalities, on Bihar Diwas. Our state, which has made Indian history proud, is passing through an important phase of its development journey today, in which the hardworking and talented people of Bihar have an important role. We will leave no stone unturned for the all-round development of this state, which has been the centre of our culture and tradition.

Bihar Day (Bihar Diwas) is observed every year on March 22, marking the formation of the state of Bihar. It was on this day when the British carved out the state from Bengal in 1912 and is observed as a public holiday in Bihar.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also extended his wishes to the people of Bihar on the states foundation day.

Shah acknowledged Bihars historical contributions to the nation, emphasising the states significant role in shaping both ancient and modern India.

In his post, the Union Home Minister wrote, Heartiest greetings of Bihar Day to all the people of Bihar.

Bihar, a land of knowledge, tradition, and cultural heritage, has always provided leadership and new energy to the country. From the glorious chapters of history to the creation of modern India, Bihar has left its indelible mark in every field. Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the NDA government is committed to taking Bihar to new heights of progress, prosperity, and self-reliance. I wish happiness, peace, and progress to the people of the state, the Union Home Minister said in the post on X.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also extended greetings on the occasion of Bihar Diwas and said the state has a glorious history.

Congratulations and best wishes on the occasion of Bihar Diwa . Bihar has a glorious history and we are currently preparing a glorious future for Bihar with our determination. Together we will take Bihars pride to new heights, the Bihar Chief Minister said in a post on X.
KHARTOUM, March 22 (Xinhua) -- More than 45 people were killed in an attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Al-Malha, about 210 km north of El Fasher, the capital of Sudan's North Darfur state, a local volunteer group said on Saturday. 
Indias impending delimitation exercise presents a complex and deeply emotive challenge. At its heart lies the old North-South divide ~ an issue that has simmered quietly for decades but now threatens to reshape the political future of the worlds largest democracy. The fundamental tension stems from an irony. Southern states, through consistent investments in education, healthcare, and social welfare, have succeeded in reducing population growth. Northern states, by contrast, still grapple with higher fertility rates and developmental challenges. Yet it is the population that largely determines political representation. As a result, the South now fears being penalised for its progress.

Delimitation has the potential to drastically increase parliamentary seats for northern states, shifting the power axis decisively towards the Hindi belt. States like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, already influential, could see their clout multiply. Southern states, particularly Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, could see their relative influence shrink ~ despite their stronger economic and social indicators.

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At the heart of this debate lies a deeper question: should India prioritise political equity or demographic reality? Reconciling these competing imperatives is critical to maintaining the delicate balance that underpins Indias federal structure and democratic ethos. This is not just a question of numbers but of competing visions for India. Southern states often pride themselves on a pluralistic, inclusive political culture, emphasising federalism and linguistic identity. A new power imbalance could widen existing rifts, giving rise to regional discontent and even fuelling separatist undercurrents. The challenge for Indias leadership is to manage this delicate recalibration without breaking the federal compact. Any delimitation must recognise that representation cannot be determined solely by population. Governance outcomes, economic contribution, and demographic responsibility should carry weight in deciding parliamentary influence.

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If not, the perception that New Delhi is indifferent to regional equity will gain traction. Fiscal federalism is another key concern. Southern states already contribute more to the central pool of taxes than they receive in return. A power shift without addressing this imbalance could deepen resentment. States that are already vocal about perceived injustices ~ like Tamil Nadu ~ may intensify their demands for greater autonomy or even for a restructured union. Yet, there is also an opportunity here. A transparent, consultative process on de limitation can open the door for broader reforms in In dias federal system. Weighted representation models, balancing population with other metrics, have been successfully implemented in countries like Canada and Australia. India can evolve its own framework that respects both equity and unity. Delimitation is inevitable. But it can not be allowed to become a zero-sum game where some states win and others lose. Indias federal design must adapt, ensuring that diversity continues to be its strength rather than its fault line. If handled with sensitivity and foresight, delimitation can renew the federal spirit. If mishandled, it risks eroding the hard-earned consensus that has held India together for over seven decades.
As we enter Pakistan, we cannot undermine its critical role not only in the South Asian theatre but also as a gateway to West Asia and the Central Asian arc. The countrys landscape stretches from the towering Karakoram Pass in the northeast to vital naval routes through the Arabian Sea. Despite this strategic significance that adds to its potential gain, Pakistan has faced significant challenges including internal power struggles, militancy, and proxy conflicts aimed at challenging India, particularly over Kashmir.

These issues persist alongside a pervasive culture of corruption and kickbacks that undermines governance. Additionally, there is a growing social distrust that deepens polarisation within society, shaking hopes for overcoming these obstacles. The absence of a social compact and the need for a credible performance state further complicate the prospects for stability and progress in Pakistan. Recently, Pakistan has dominated news headlines due to the escalating Baloch issue as the disconcerting news of the hijack of the Jaffar express by the Balochistan Liberation Army led to widespread panic in the subcontinent and highlighted on-going tensions in the beleaguered country. We must appreciate the gravity of this situation in the backdrop of global events. While there is a glimmer of hope for a potential resolution to the prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict, this in no way takes us towards a predictable silver line of respite. It applies to the failed state of Yemen as much as it is evident in the pressing challenges faced by conflict-torn states like Pakistan.

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The nation, described as a garrison state, confronts a sort of Hobbesian dilemma as it has struggled with chronic ethnonationalism and deepening economic woes for over seventy-five years, ever since its independence. Its policymakers have tended to adopt temporary populist solutions rather than addressing these issues comprehensively. As a result, today there is a significant risk that these unresolved tensions could escalate into more severe conflicts, threatening stability in an already tense neighbourhood where interference of the Chinese Dragon is a matter of concern. It will not be an exaggeration to state that Pakistans focus from the very outset has not been on resetting its constitutional framework for balanced power sharing with minorities. Instead, it has relied heavily on two main pillars: first, an overreliance on foreign aid rather than fostering sustainable economic reforms to generate ample domestic revenue; second, it has always overreacted and sensationalised a persistent narrative of insecurity that serves to silence dissent and bolster military authority.

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This approach not only undermines democratic inclusion but also weakens public institutions, rendering them incapable of effectively addressing social differences. Furthermore, this strategy perpetuates the hiatus of regional inequalities, particularly between the more prosperous provinces of Punjab and Sindh and the traditionally neglected region of Balochistan. The latter is often subjected to punitive measures as a response to its recurrent rebellions against the state, reinforcing a cycle of marginalization and discontent. The current crisis in Balochistan can be traced to a complex interplay of factors, primarily rooted in the brutal suppression by the Pakistani army and the alienation stemming from policies that have perpetuated underdevelopment in the province.

The lack of meaningful engagement with the Baloch leadership could be seen as a treacherous move on the part of the ruling establishment that exacerbated tensions, while on-going massacres and displacement have led to widespread human rights violations, characterized by what Human Rights Watch describes as a kill and dump policy employed by the Pakistani state. Furthermore, the inequitable distribution of economic benefits from initiatives like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has intensified feelings of marginalization among the Baloch people. While building of infrastructure is an imperative for the Pakistani state, the situation is complicated by a scenario of resistance put up by the Baloch tribes coupled with a narrative that often involves blaming India for alleged clandestine involvement in Baloch affairs.

According to some commentators, this strategy is designed to distract attention from the governmental onus to address the root causes of brewing discontent. The cumulative effect of tremendous state repression and torture has deepened the sense of regional deprivation creating a cycle of violence and reprisal that continues to fuel the crisis. A faction of Pakistans political elite has repeatedly sought assistance from the American government to classify the Baloch group as a proscribed entity, but the US has declined this request, stating that the group has not engaged in terrorist activities outside Pakistan.

Paradoxically on the other hand, the same Atlantic power has been pressing and cajoling Pakistan to operate on its behalf. This situation is further complicated by Pakistans foundational illusion that Indias involvement has intensified the conflict, viewing it as a strategic pressure valve to undermine Pakistans support for the Kashmir cause. On the whole, there exists a denial within the Pakistani state regarding the political dimensions of this long-standing issue. Observers of Pakistani politics and sectarian violence, including Christophe Jaffrelot, Ahmed Rashid, and Frederic Grare, might concur on this point that the unrest in Balochistan is fundamentally different from typical sectarian violence. The situation in Baluchistan is complex and cannot be simplistically equated with radicalization leading to terrorist state-bashing. To do so would be a disservice to the nuanced realities of the region. The Baluch cause, rooted in historical grievances and demands for autonomy, stands in stark contrast to the jihadi campaigns that often seek to propagate hatred and violence for ideological purposes. This distinction highlights an unequal turf war where marginalized voices are fighting against systemic oppression rather than engaging in a broader jihadist agenda. Moreover, this scenario does not align neatly with Antonio Gramscis concepts of war of manoeuvre and war of position. Instead, it presents a unique quad of terror characterized by a strong backlash from disenfranchised segments of society. The states response has often been marked by paradoxical ambivalence, oscillating between repression and neglect, which further complicates the dynamics at play. Such a backdrop arms the opposition with a potent victim narrative that can galvanize support both locally and internationally.

Understanding Baluchistan requires acknowledging these layers of complexity rather than reducing them to mere comparisons with other forms of conflict. The interplay between imbrication of state actions, societal responses including the implications for women as a conflict ravaged subnationality, and historical contexts creates a distinct environment and saga that necessitates careful consideration with sympathetic engagement and grassroots diplomacy. However, it is a conjecture because the track record of Pakistan points to an ominous future.

The writers are, respectively, Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, S-K-B University, Purulia, and Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Ramananda College, Bankura
The latest wave of US air strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen marks a dangerous escalation in a regional conflict that is fast becoming a global concern. The strikes, justified as a response to persistent Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, underscore how localised in surgencies can have disproportionate effects on international stability. What was once an internal Yemeni struggle has transformed into a theatre for global confrontation, drawing in major powers and endangering critical maritime routes. At the heart of this confrontation is the strategic Red Sea, a waterway through which nearly 15 per cent of global maritime trade passes.

The Houthis targeting of commercial vessels ~ under the banner of supporting Palestinians in the Gaza conflict ~ has disrupted global shipping routes and forced companies to divert around southern Africa, increasing costs and delaying supplies. The consequences extend beyond regional rivalries, threatening energy flows, trade balances, and economic stability far from Yemens shores. The Red Seas transformation from a vital trade artery into a conflict zone high lights the dangerous ripple effects regional wars can have on global commerce, energy security, and geopolitical stability. The Houthis, backed by Iran, have framed their actions as solidarity with Palestinians, but their tactics ~ attacking international shipping indiscriminately ~ have undermined that claim. Their strikes have not only targeted vessels allegedly linked to Israel but also neutral ships, exacerbating the crisis in global maritime logistics.

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Despite repeated warnings and military actions from the US and its allies, the Houthis have remained defiant, vowing to escalate their campaign in response to Western strike. The American response, described as decisive and powerful, reflects a growing frustration with what many in Washington see as unchecked Houthi aggression. But this strategy of overwhelming force carries risks. Air strikes may degrade Houthi capabilities temporarily, but history shows that such campaigns often fail to achieve lasting security. Instead, they risk deepening Yemens humanitarian crisis and fuelling anti-Western sentiment that can be exploited by both the Houthis and their Iranian backers. Moreover, the potential for miscalculation is high. Irans involvement, both direct and through proxies, turns Yemen into a flashpoint for a wider regional conflict. American threats to Tehran signal a willingness to expand the confrontation, a prospect that could draw in other powers and destabilise West Asia.

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Meanwhile, Russias call for restraint and dialogue points to the complex geopolitical balancing act at play. Ultimately, a purely military solution is unlikely to secure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. Without a parallel diplomatic effort aimed at de-escalation and addressing the underlying grievances that fuel the Houthi insurgency, the risk is that each new strike only perpetuates an endless cycle of retaliation. Protecting vital global trade routes will require not only strength but also strategic patience and diplomacy.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act), is a significant step toward safeguarding the fundamental right to privacy, as recognized by the nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India in the Justice K.S. Puttaswamy judgment (2017). The law, expected to come into force soon, also introduces a progressive change in legislative drafting by using gender-inclusive language. For example, Section 7 states that a Data Fiduciary may process personal data of a Data Principal for a specified purpose if she has voluntarily provided her data and has not indicated non-consent. Section 2(y) clarifies that the term she applies to any individual, irrespective of gender.

This thoughtful change marks a milestone in inclusivity in India, as the United Nations claims using gender-inclusive language is a powerful way to promote gender equality and eradicate gender bias. While there are positive aspects, there are concerns as well:

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The DPDP Act proposes an amendment to the RTI Act. Currently, S. 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act states that personal information can be disclosed if it serves a public interest or if it cannot be denied to Parliament or a State Legislature. However, Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act replaces this provision with a broader exemption for any information which relates to personal information.

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This change could weaken the RTI Act in two ways: Firstly, any personal information may now be exempt from disclosure, regardless of public interest. Secondly, Public Information Officers will lose their discretion to release personal information even if they are satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information.

Fortunately, despite the amendment, Section 8(2) of the RTI Act remains unchanged, thus providing balance. This provision allows disclosure of exempt information if the public interest outweighs the harm to the protected interests. Justice K.M. Joseph, in the Rafale review judgment (Yashwant Sinha & Ors. v. CBI, 2019), noted that Section 8(2) confers upon the citizens a priceless right by clothing them with the right to demand information  even if it falls under exemptions.

A still greater challenge arises from the DPDP Acts lack of explicit exemption for journalistic activities, raising serious concerns about press freedom and the future of investigative reporting. S.17(2)(b) provides exemptions for research and archiving, but fails to recognize journalism as a legitimate purpose for processing personal data.

This omission, even if unintended, could create a chilling effect on journalism: Media organisations as Data Fiduciaries can only process digital Personal data with the individuals consent. The individual (Data Principal) should be given clear notice about the purpose of using (or even storing) such data.

Obtaining free, specific, informed, unconditional and unambiguous is impractical in investigative journalism, particularly in cases involving corruption, crime or governance failures. The fear of Rs 50 crore to Rs 250 crore fines may dissuade journalists from exposing any wrongdoing by any person.

In addition, big media houses, if classified as Significant Data Fiduciaries under S.10, need to fulfil added obligations. They must appoint Data Protection Officers, conduct periodic data audits and Data Protection Impact Assessment.

Many international data protection frameworks offer specific exemptions for journalistic activities. For example, Article 85 of the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) allows member states to create exemptions for processing personal data for news reporting. The UKs Data Protection Act 2018 does not provide a blanket exemption for journalists but excludes them from most data protection obligations if data processing is carried out with a view to publishing material in the public interest.

The Editors Guild of India urged the Central Government last year to issue a notification under S.17(5) of the DPDP Act to exempt media organizations from compliance obligations that obstruct investigative journalism. However, such a notification, if issued for such period as may be specified would offer only temporary protection  like a sword hanging over press freedom.

A more credible and permanent solution would be to amend Rule 15 of the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, to explicitly exempt journalism from certain consent requirements. For this to happen, S.17(2)(b) of the DPDP Act needs to be amended by Parliament, ensuring that the law does not apply to the processing of personal data necessary for journalistic purposes, if such processing is carried on in accordance with the Press Council of Indias Norms of Journalistic Conduct.

The Norms of Journalistic Conduct, 2022, contain sufficient safeguards to protect privacy. These norms state that the press should avoid intruding on privacy unless there is a genuine overriding public interest. By supporting the DPDP Acts framework with these established journalistic standards, a balance can be achieved between protecting personal data and upholding press freedom.

Except for the Editors Guild of India, this issue has received little attention. The proposed Digital Data Protection Regime may initially suppress press freedom, consequently, restrict citizens right to information, and finally, weaken democracy  although this is not the Parliamentary intention.

(The writer is a transparency and equality advocate and author.)
The Lashio residents of Myanmar, who were displaced by fighting between the Junta and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), have called on China to stop interfering in the countrys internal affairs.

The locals are holding a silent protest against the upcoming China-brokered talks to be held between the Junta and MNDAA, distributing posters to highlight Beijings growing interference in the countrys affairs.

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Lashio residents do not want the rebels to surrender their town to the regime. The upcoming talks are expected to focus primarily on Lashio. People here dont want to live under the military regime again. Under the MNDAA administration, they feel safe and free. Thats why they want the troops to stay, Myanmars leading media outlet Irrawaddy quoted a protester as saying.

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We are calling on China, as a foreign country, to respect the Myanmar peoples sovereignty. Chinas support for the Junta only harms the people. We demand that the Chinese government stop assisting the military regime, said another protestor.

The residents of the region fled in large numbers after the MNDAA and allied forces launched their assault in July last year. Later, the MNDAA installed its administration in Lashio, restoring telecommunications, overseeing reconstruction work and providing healthcare services. However, China closed borders with MNDAA-controlled territory and arrested its leader to pressure the ethnic army to stop fighting the regime, the local media reported.

In January, the ethnic army signed a truce with the regime during the seventh round of China-brokered talks in Kunming according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Chinas influence in the region has been growing in Myanmar due its proximity with the military Junta. Earlier this month, a top expert on security dynamics in Southeast Asia, especially in and around Myanmar, also voiced her concerns over growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

Miemie Winn Byrd, a security analyst from Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies (APCSS), stated that the presence of Chinese security companies in Myanmar under the military Juntas private security laws poses a major threat of turning the country into a client state.

These Chinese firms, therefore, can manipulate both political and economic spheres of Myanmar, and further, the sovereignty of the country can be compromised, Byrd told Irrawaddy in an extensive interview.

Accusing the current regime of trading with Chinese companies for a short-term gain, Byrd mentioned that Myanmars geographical location offers China an alternative to their Malacca dilemma.

80 per cent of Chinas oil imports pass through the Malacca Strait and that makes them vulnerable in times of war. So, they are trying to find an alternative way to bypass the Malacca Strait and Myanmar is the only solution to their problem. Increasing footprints in Myanmar would in turn help them to dominate the Indo-Pacific, the analyst detailed.
President Donald Trump on Friday announced plans for the US military to induct a sixth generation of fighter jets called F 47s, a toned-down version of it will be available to allies. The aircraft is being built by Boeing.

The F-47 will be the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built, President Trump said in remarks from the Oval Office, flanked by Secretary of State Pete Hegseth and top military general.

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An experimental version of the plane has secretly been flying for almost five years, and were confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation, he added.

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Secretary of Defence Hegseth said: Weve had the F 15. We have had the F 16, the F 18, the F 22, the F 35, and now we have the F 47 which sends a very direct, clear message to our allies, that were not going anywhere, and to our enemies, that we can, we will be able to project power around the globe unimpeded for generations to come.

A new fleet of these magnificent planes will be built in his tenure, the President said. Its ready to go, he added. Theyve already built much of what has to be built in terms of production, including the sheds, and will ensure that the USA continues to dominate the skies. Were given an order for a lot.

The American President said the aircraft would be available to allies as well. Our allies are calling constantly. They want to buy them also. And we will be selling (them to) certain allies, perhaps toned-down versions. We would like to tone them down about 10 per cent which probably makes sense, because someday, maybe theyre not our allies.

Few other details were released by the President or the secretary of defence. Not even the price. We cant tell you the price, Trump said, because it would give way to some of the technology and some of the size of the plant.

However, the president did say the aircraft will fly with drones. This plane flies with drones; flies with many, many drones, as many as you want. And its a technology thats new, but it doesnt fly by itself. It flies with many drones, as many as we want. And thats something that no other plane can do.

The name of the project to build the aircraft is The next generation of air dominance.

This is a big day for our United States Air Force as well, Air Force Chief of Staff, General David Alvin, said. He went on to describe the F 47 as the crown jewel in the next generation air dominance family of systems, were gonna be able to keep that promise. Welcome to the future.
Chinese learners participate in a cultural and language event held at the Confucius Institute at the University of Botswana in Gaborone, Botswana, March 21, 2025. (Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)

GABORONE, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The Confucius Institute at the University of Botswana (CIUB) hosted a cultural and language event on Friday, providing Chinese learners with a platform to practice speaking the language while exploring traditional Chinese martial arts.

Held under the theme "Chinese Gongfu," which refers to Chinese martial arts, the event introduced participants to the vocabulary of Chinese martial weapons, including knives, swords, spears, and whips, alongside basic martial arts movements. The interactive session aimed to enhance oral proficiency while deepening cultural understanding.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Shen Chenggong," said Keagile Sebetlela, a CIUB student, as he introduced himself in Chinese during an interview with Xinhua at the event.

"I am interested in learning Chinese because, in my view, it has become one of the major international languages. I believe knowing Chinese can open many doors," said Sebetlela, adding that he particularly enjoys writing Chinese characters, as the language differs from most others that rely on alphabets.

Students Sharon Khumomotse and Lindiwe Lile Ramooki performed at the event, introducing themselves with their Chinese names before entertaining the audience with tongue twisters.

"I'm a Chinese learner studying the language for three years. I work at a bank office," said Ramooki in fluent Chinese.

For Fidelity Monthe, who goes by the Chinese name Fei Di'an, learning the language is essential for growing her business.

"I run a small business and have traveled to China to source products. The biggest challenge has been communication. Learning Chinese will help me expand my business and form partnerships with Chinese companies," Monthe told Xinhua.

She expressed a deep fascination with Chinese characters. "Writing Chinese feels like drawing. It's almost like being an artist. But what I enjoy most is speaking the language and being able to converse with Chinese people. I'm also learning about Chinese culture and want to explore it further," she added.

Monthe and Sebetlela were among around 70 Chinese learners and teachers who participated in the two-hour event, which featured Chinese song performances, language games, and group discussions.

Pu Durong, Chinese director of CIUB, likened the event to "English corners" in China, where language learners gather to practice speaking.

"In China, we have English corners for practicing English. Here in Botswana, we have a Chinese corner for students to improve their speaking skills. These learners are very passionate about the language, because many plan to do business in China," Pu said.

CIUB, the first Confucius Institute in Botswana, was followed by a second institute launched in October 2023, at the Botswana International University of Science and Technology in Palapye, about 270 km northeast of Gaborone, the country's capital. 

Chinese learners participate in a cultural and language event held at the Confucius Institute at the University of Botswana in Gaborone, Botswana, March 21, 2025. (Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)


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First 5 California was established in 1998 when voters passed Proposition 10, which taxes tobacco products to fund services for children ages 0 to 5 and their families. First 5 California pro grams and resources are designed to educate and support teachers, parents, and caregivers in their critical role during a childs first five years  to help California kids receive the best possible start in life and thrive. For more information, please visit www.ccfc.ca.gov.
Ahead of the much-anticipated release of 'L2: Empuraan', director Prithviraj Sukumaran asked moviegoers to remain seated for the end credits. The Mohanlal-starrer will feature an end scroll title like its prequel 'Lucifer', he said. The actor-director's comment hints at the possibility of the film series returning with a third instalment.

ALSO READ | Will Fahadh Faasil make a cameo in 'L2: Empuraan'? Here's what Prithviraj Sukumaran has to say

The name 'L2E' was revealed before the fans as an end scroll title to the 2019 Mollywood action flick 'Lucifer' that placed Vivek Oberoi's Bobby as the antagonist to Mohanlal's Stepehn Nedumpally a.k.a. Khureshi-Ab'ram. It is expected that the second part will reveal Stephen's backstory and his journey to become an internationally dreaded kingpin and his reason for keeping a low-key legislator's profile in Kerala amidst an entire crime syndicate at his command.

Prithviraj said at the end 'L2: Empuraan' the end scroll title will include some news clips and other texts. It is important for the viewers to pay attention while these appear on the screen, he reportedly said during an interview.

ALSO READ | Prithviraj Sukumaran reveals Mohanlal starred in 'L2: Empuraan' for FREE!

Will Mohanlal's Lucifer series have a third part?

"I have one request: please stay to watch the end scroll titles of 'Empuraan.' Dont leave the theatre before it ends... Just like 'Lucifer,' 'Empuraan' will also have an end scroll title. It is important to carefully read the news and texts that appear there," he reportedly said.

The director said that these end credit gives an idea about what lies ahead. He used the term "world" while hinting that he and screenwriter Murali Gopi are not going to let Mohanlal be after 'L2E.' The 'Salaar' actor said the end credit scrolls will give the viewers a sneak peek into what's coming next. "The third part will take you into a whole new world. Youll understand this once you watch the second part," said the Mollywood icon who made his directorial debut with 'Lucifer'.

ALSO READ | 'Empuraan' trailer teases bigger scale, more characters, drama, action and intrigue

Interestingly, the director had claimed before that the Lucifer film series was planned as a trilogy. The most-anticipated Malayalam movie of the year, 'L2: Empuraan' will release on 27 March.
The Delhi High Court chief justice has reportedly completed his probe over the discovery of cash at Justice Yashwant Varmas residence and has submitted his report to the chief justice of India. Further action on the report will be taken by the collegium of the Supreme Court, reports said.

As per reports, Delhi High Court Chief Justice D.K. Updhyaya has completed his inquiry over the alleged discovery of cash at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma and submitted report to Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Friday. An in-house inquiry was ordered against Justice Varma by the Supreme Court taking note of the recovery of cash at his residence during a fire accident.

#WATCH | On SC Collegium recommending transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma of Delhi HC to his parent High Court in Allahabad after an alleged adverse report against him, senior advocate Indira Jaising says, "I think it's unfair and improper to make comments based on insufficient pic.twitter.com/v4SlzyxeaE  ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2025

High Court Chief Justice Updhyaya has collected evidence and other information as part of the probe and has submitted his report to CJI. The incident reportedly came to light when firefighters rushed to Justice Yashwant Varmas residence on March 14 night to douse a fire. Huge amount of unaccounted cash was recovered from a room in the house.

However, the apex court said in a statement on Friday that the transfer of Justice Varma had no relation with the in-house inquiry initiated against him. Supreme Court said the collegium is yet to make any recommendation regarding Varmas transfer and the proposal is still under consideration. The apex court stated they have sought inputs from consultee judges of the Supreme Court, chief justices of concerned High Courts and Varma regarding the proposal, Bar and Bench reported. "Responses received will be examined and, thereupon, the Collegium will pass a resolution, the apex court stated.

The proposal for transfer ofJustice Yashwant Varma, who is the second senior most Judge in the Delhi High Court and a member of the Collegium, to his parent High Court i.e. the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, where he will be ninth in seniority, is independent and separate from the In-house enquiry procedure," the publication reported quoting the statement.
While controversy is raging over whether reported unaccounted cash was found at the official residence of Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma, the matter has brought the spotlight back on his alleged past association with Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd, with questions now being raised about any potential conflicts of interest that existed in the Simbhaoli case.

Justice Varma is currently at the centre of a massive row following the allegations of recovery of a huge pile of cash from his Lutyens Delhi bungalow during a fire incident over the Holi weekend, which is being contested after the fire departments denial.

Statement of Supreme Court on issue of Justice Yashwant Varma of Delhi High Court.



"There is misinformation and rumours being spread with regard to the incident at the residence of Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma...The proposal for transfer of Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma, who is the pic.twitter.com/kewOwuarYw  ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2025

In the interim, what has come out is details of a 2018 case of the Central Bureau of Investigation where Varma was named as an accused. The FIR, lodged following a complaint by the Oriental Bank of Commerce, alleged financial fraud involving Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd, where Varma served as a non-executive director before his elevation to the judiciary.

According to documents in possession with THE WEEK, CBI has named Varma as accused No 10 in a case involving the alleged misappropriation of Rs 97.85 crore loan sanctioned in 2011. The loan, intended for financing cane farmers agricultural equipment, was reportedly diverted for private use, causing losses of over Rs 109 crore to the bank. The company was flagged as a suspected fraud by the Reserve Bank of India as early as 2015.

Under the agreement, the funds were to be transferred to an escrow account before being distributed to the farmers' personal accounts. Simbhaoli Sugar Mills guaranteed to repay the loan and cover any defaults or identity fraud by the farmers. However, the company allegedly submitted false Know Your Customer documents and embezzled the funds. It is still unclear whether the CBI had sought any sanction against the judge or not.

Documents reveal that the Allahabad High Court initially ordered a CBI probe into the matter in 2021. However, in a significant ruling in 2023, the Supreme Court, under then-Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, set aside the High Courts directive, declaring the investigation unconstitutional and unwarranted. However, while the top court emphasized that no investigation was justified, it left room open for authorities to act if evidence of fraud emerged.

Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd, based in Uttar Pradesh, has been embroiled in financial troubles for years, with multiple banks reporting bad loans and alleged fund diversions. The companys executives, including its chairman, managing director, and chief financial officer, were also named in the CBIs 2018 FIR, alongside unknown bank officials and private individuals.
In the first meeting of opposition chief ministers and leaders against the proposed Lok Sabha delimitation exercise, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said an action plan must drawn to take forward the fight legally also. Addressing at the meeting, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the delimitation exercise was hanging like the "sword of Damocles over southern states. Heres what leaders said at the Joint Action Committee meeting against delimitation.

Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader thanked all the chief ministers and representatives of political parties for participating in the JAC meeting. India is multilingual and India means unity in diversity. The federal structure is at stake now.

#WATCH | Chennai: Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin welcomes Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan to the meeting on delimitation.



(Video Source: Tamil Nadu DIPR) pic.twitter.com/RMovuBebeX  ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2025

We cannot accept delimitation. The states represented in this meeting took up the population control measures and have achieved development. This is not just about our numbers. But it is about our rights. It will affect the empowerment of women, farmers and students. We are not opposed to delimitation but we demand a fair delimitation.

Stalin also recalled a statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a public meeting in Telangana in 2023 that the southern states would lose 100 seats.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan: The Bharatiya Janata Party is carrying out the delimitation process with a narrow political mindset. The delimitation process is like a "sword of Damocles hanging over our heads. He accuses the BJP of carrying forward the delimitation process without consultation. He says the culture of India lies in its plurality. Points out that Keralas Kudumbashree and Tamil Nadus mid-day meals were later adopted by several states and that the whole idea of centralisation would not allow such initiatives.

#WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu: At the meeting on delimitation, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan says. If our Parliamentary representation is further reduced, while our share of the nation's wealth continues to decline, we will face an unprecedented situation in which both our rightful pic.twitter.com/UVW0HMxrst  ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2025

The BJP is going ahead with the delimitation since it knows the process will be advantageous for northern India. On one hand, the Union government praises us for effectively tackling the population explosion, but on the other hand, it is cutting our share of money saying your population is less. The 1976 population control policy was for the whole nation, but only a few states like Kerala implemented it effectively.

Telangana CM A. Revanth Reddy: The BJP is imposing a policy of demographic penalty. South India did very well in family planning, but big states in the north failed. We contribute more to the national exchequer and get lesser allocations. South will not accept population-based delimitation. If BJP does a delimitation exercise based on population south India will lose its political voice. In case of population-based delimitation, north will make us secondary citizens.

#WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu: At the meeting on delimitation, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy says, "Today, we have a big challenge facing the country. BJP is implementing a policy of demographic penalty...We are one country, we respect it. But we cannot accept this proposed pic.twitter.com/MivORWGtSK  ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2025

Earlier, DMK MP Kanimozhi presented a resolution against the delimitation in the meeting. Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin made a presentation at the meeting on how delimitation will adversely affect southern states.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar: We demand that the 1971 Census remain the basis for delimitation, as it rewards states for their efforts in population control and sustainable development. The Centre is politically and economically marginalising progressive states through its unfair policies. The southern states are not ATM machines for the north Indian states and we will vow to resist the Centres proposed delimitation exercise. Southern states, contributing 35 per cent of Indias GDP, are treated as ATM machines for the North. Yet, our share in central funds is disproportionately low. If the delimitation exercise proceeds as planned, our political voice will be further diminished, and our ability to advocate for our rights in Parliament will be crippled.

Shivakumar added that the southern states would not accept any delimitation formula that punishes them for achieving success in population control, literacy, and women empowerment. Shivakumar also condemned the imposition of Hindi through the One Nation, One Language policy, dubbed it as an attack on Indias linguistic diversity.
Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal strongly criticised the state government, alleging that the Devendra Fadnavis administration protects those who insult Shivaji Bhosale.

He asked how Nagpur-based journalist Prashant Koratkar, who was given police protection despite insulting Shivaji, managed to escape. Sapkal suggested that Koratkar had close ties with IPS officers and the state home minister (CM Fadnavis), raising suspicions that the police deliberately allowed him to flee. "What was the government doing while Koratkar was escaping? Was the home department asleep?"

Koratkar was booked on February 26 for allegedly threatening Kolhapur-based historian Indrajeet Sawant and making derogatory comments against Shivaji and his warrior-son Sambhaji.

Speaking to the media in Pune, Sapkal pointed out that actor Rahul Solapurkar, who lives in Pune, too made offensive remarks about Shivaji. Despite this, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said that no criminal case was filed against him, he said.

Sapkal highlighted multiple law and order failures in the state. He raised the issue of rape at Swargate Bus Stand, the brutal murder of a sarpanch in Beed, a custodial death of a youth in Parbhani, an assault on a central ministers worker in Pune, harassment of another central ministers daughter in Jalgaon, forcing the minister to personally visit the police station to file a complaint. "The police force has lost all its control and authority. The states law and order have collapsed, and Devendra Fadnavis is running a dictatorial administration," Sapkal said.

He recalled how, when he compared Fadnaviss governance to that of Aurangzeb, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde demanded an apology and even called for sedition charges against him. "I stand by my words. There is no question of apologising. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar assured an inquiry, but why are both deputy CMs silent about Rahul Solapurkars statements? When will action be taken against Prashant Koratkar," he asked.

He further raised concerns about Punes growing drug trade. "Students from across the state come to Pune for education, but drugs are being openly sold here. The connection between Pune and the drugs arriving from Gujarats Kandla port must be investigated. The public is now questioning whether Maharashtras home department is being run like 'Ghashiram Kotwal'. The state needs a full-time, capable home minister," he said.

Sapkal also pointed out the selective nature of police action: "While those making offensive remarks about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj are not punished, issues like Aurangzebs tomb are being dug up for political mileage. Threats are being made to demolish the tomb. But if Aurangzeb was cruel, so were the British. They orchestrated the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, and executed revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, and yet their collaborators in India continued to enjoy pensions. Will the VHP and Bajrang Dal now demolish their statues and memorials too?"
Drug-related crimes have gone high-tech, but for a long time, Keralas Excise Department remained ill-equipped and constrained in handling narcotics cases. Now, the department is working to strengthen its coordination with the Kerala Police to enhance the anti-drug drive.



Excise officers undergo training in drug law enforcement, as well as modern methods for detecting and preventing drug trafficking. They also receive training in cyber-surveillance, financial tracking of drug networks, and forensic analysis to bolster their enforcement capabilities. However, on the ground, the cyber wing of the excise department has largely remained ineffective so far because of its dependency on the police for inputs. The cyber-trained officers of the department primarily coordinate with the police and do not have the authority to independently track the location of suspects using surveillance tools.



We cannot compare ourselves to the police, says Keralas Excise Commissioner Mahipal Yadav. The police have significant powers, including the authority to intercept communications under the Telegraph Act and IT Act. They can obtain call detail records (CDRs) and other cyber-related information from telecom service providers. Additionally, the police have the ability to track the live location of absconding suspects, as they are a law enforcement agency. However, the Excise Department does not have these powers, which means we must operate within those constraints.



Kerala has witnessed a significant rise in NDPS (narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances) cases in recent years. The majority of cases involved possession, often for personal use, hinting at a fast-growing user base. Unlike many other states, where cases are largely concentrated in metro cities, Kerala's drug problem is widespread, with a substantial number of cases reported from every district, even though more urbanised districts top the list. This diffused spread makes the inefficiencies in drug enforcement even more challenging to address.



Sources from the department say that often, excise officers face delays in getting information from the police cyber wing as its requests are not prioritised and there is a lack of coordination between the two departments. Excise officers have a major dependency on the police for inputs when dealing with cases involving interstate anti-drug operations.



There is also an indication that because of a lack of support from police, some excise officers use their personal contacts in central intelligence to get cyber-related informatons. To address these issues, we have initiated a coordinated effort with the police and other agencies, says Yadav. I recently met with Mr. Manoj Abraham, ADGP, Law & Order, and also held an online meeting with all district police chiefs (DPCs) and district excise officers. During the discussion, we identified existing gaps, and the police agreed to assist us.



Yadav hopes this initiative will lead to a seamless flow of information between the departments. He is optimistic that it will result in improved coordination and greater efficiency moving forward. Notably, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called for a high-level meeting on March 24 to discuss the action plan against the drug rackets in the state.
SHARAN, Afghanistan, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Police have discovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition, including 16 pieces of AK-47 assault rifles, during operations in eastern Afghanistan's Paktika province.

The weaponry discovered includes 16 pieces of Kalashnikovs, five pieces of the U.S.-made M4 assault rifles, 16 pieces of pistols, and hundreds of projectiles and other military equipment, a statement of the provincial police office said Saturday.

Without providing more details, the statement noted that no one has the right to keep, carry or smuggle arms and ammunition illegally.

Earlier in similar operations, police discovered armaments, including an anti-aircraft gun of DShK type, 18 pieces of mortar mines, several stocks of hand grenades, several boxes of projectiles and a set of walkie-talkies in the northern Samangan province last week. 
The Higher Education Department of Jammu and Kashmir has drafted a policy to establish private universities in the region. The policy will come into effect once it receives approval from the relevant authorities, Education Minister Sakina Itoo told the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.



The minister said the department has prepared the policy, and after relevant approvals, it would enable the creation of private universities in the Union Territory.

At present, Jammu and Kashmir has 11 universitiesnine state-run and two central universities.

Meanwhile, the regions first crowdfunded university, the University of WathHarbor, has been officially announced.

Built entirely through public contributions, it will be a university "by the people, for the people."

The institution will focus on advanced fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, equipping Kashmirs youth with globally competitive skills.

The universitys board comprises a prominent group of academicians, professionals and social leaders, including Dr Mehboob Makhdoomi, Founder and Chairman of the Trust; Dr Mushtaq Marghoob, Trustee and Former Professor and Head of the PG Department of Psychiatry at GMC; Syed Humayun Qaiser, Trustee and Spokesperson, and Former Director of Radio Kashmir; poet and social activist Zareef Ahmad Zareef; Syed Parvez Qalander, Consultant and Chartered Engineer; Latief U Zaman Deva, retired IAS officer and Former Chairperson of JKPSC; Khair Ul Nisa Sheikh, Principal Advisor to the Chairman and Executive Director of World Trade Center, India; Mushtaaque Ali Ahmad Khan, Media Coordinator, TV Producer, and Filmmaker; Riyaz Ahmad Shoga, Accounts Officer, Former Banker, and Social Worker; G N Var, President of the Private School Association; and Faheem Abdullah, an artist.

The project leaders have said the project will not be profit-driven but a community-led initiative dedicated to education, research, and social empowerment.

Jammu and Kashmirs 11 government universities currently serve around 1.5 lakh students, but private sector participation in higher education remains limited. As a result, thousands of students leave the Union Territory each year for higher studies elsewhere.
It was a show of opposition unity on Saturday in Chennai when the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana and Punjab, the deputy chief minister of Karnataka and the representatives of 23 political parties from eight states came together to oppose the proposed delimitation process. Apart from the passing of the resolution and the media briefings after the meeting, the bi-lingual name boards of the delegates and the southern touch of the gifts stole the show.

The event was organised in a way that ensured a fair representation of the two-language policy that Tamil Nadu and the DMK have been proposing. The name boards of the delegates were in English and their own language. As the meeting began, Kanimozhi informed the political party leaders that instant translations of the speeches could be heard via the headphones placed before them. When Stalin spoke in Tamil his speech was translated into multiple languages or the mother tongues of the attendees present there. Speeches by various leaders were translated instantly to their respective mother tongues and were also distributed in written form.

Resolutions passed in the first Joint Action Committee Meeting on the delimitation of Constituencies pic.twitter.com/edYBC2vKod  ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2025

The other highlight of the meeting was the gift hampers given to the delegates. While Stalin welcomed all the political party leaders with a shawl, he gave specially curated gift hampers prepared by the self-help groups (SHGs) in Tamil Nadu. The gift hamper consisted of eight regional delicacies, with GI tags, like the Kovilpatti kadalai mittai, Pattamadai pai, Thoda shawl, Ooty Varki, Kancheepuram silk sari and local spices.

On the negative side, the media was made to stand outside the seven-star hotel in Chennai when the meeting began and were later let in, 45 minutes before the media briefing. Though accredited journalists were asked to register to attend the media briefing, the arrangements did not ensure wide media coverage. The video clips and the photos were shared by the information department with the media. But a huge iron barricade was placed inside the hall, making the media confined to just one space near the meeting hall.

Except D.K. Shivakumar, Kanimozhi and K.T. Rama Rao no other leader chose to brief the media or hold any interaction. The resolutions and the video clips of the meeting were shared via email and WhatsApp with the media houses.
After prolonged deliberations about how she will make her way to London following flight cancellations due to an 18-hour shutdown of Heathrow Airport, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee departed for the English capital in an evening flight on Saturday.

She left Kolkata in a flight which will take her and her contingent to Dubai. From there they will board another flight for Londons Heathrow Airport, where situation has gradually returned to normal and flight operations have resumed.

According to her original itinerary, CM Banerjee was scheduled to depart for London on Saturday morning. However, following the disruptions at Heathrow Airport, several media reports had suggested she could leave Kolkata on Monday.

The highlight of the West Bengal CMs visit to England will be her participation in a discussion session on the topic of Social Development  Girl, Child and Women Empowerment at Kellog College of Oxford University on March 27.

Additionally, CM Banerjees trip is filled with several key engagements. On Monday, she will reportedly hold a meeting at the Indian High Commission in London. This will be followed by a major business summit the next day, where she will interact with prominent international industrialists.

She is likely to highlight investment opportunities in West Bengal and showcase the success of the Bengal Global Business Summit. Additionally, a business delegation from the state will also be present in London to present insights into West Bengals industrial infrastructure.

In addition to attending business meetings and discussion at Kellog College, the chief minister is also scheduled to meet representatives of the British government. As per her itinerary, once these engagements are completed, she will depart from London on March 28 and return to Kolkata the next day.

Meanwhile, in an appreciative gesture, West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose lauded CM Banerjee for her visit to London, calling it a proud moment for the state.

We are proud that the CM is going to Oxford, the governor was quoted as saying by PTI. It is a matter of pride that the CM who is from the land of Rabindranath Tagore has been invited there.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said his government will not rest until stern action is taken against rioters responsible for Nagpur violence. Fadnavis visited Nagpur on Saturday and reviewed the law and order situation in the district.

Addressing presspersons, Fadnavis said the cost of public properties damaged during the Nagpur violence will be recovered from the rioters. "The cost of properties damaged during Nagpur violence will be recovered from rioters and the failure to pay up would lead to the seizure and selling of their properties to recover losses, PTI reported quoting the chief minister.

#WATCH | Nagpur | On Nagpur violence, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis says, "I have chaired a high-level meeting over the violence here, which state minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule also attended. I looked into every detail and kept forward my thoughts and views as well... The pic.twitter.com/Op7NRkZAb6  ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2025

The chief minister, who also handles the home portfolio said 104 rioters have been identified by analysing CCTV visuals and other videos. He added action has been taken against 92 people, including 12 minors, as per the law.

"Strict action will be taken against rioters who attacked police personnel. My government will not rest until elements who attacked the police are found out and dealt with sternly," Fadnavis added. The chief minister denied any intelligence failure but added intelligence (gathering) could have been better. The Maharashtra chief minister also clarified no women police constables were molested, however, stones were thrown at them.

Fadnavis said there is no political angle to the violence and till now, there is no evidence for foreign involvement in the riots. No foreign hand or Bangladeshi link has surfaced. There is no political angle to the violence, Fadnavis said, PTI reported. The chief minister asserted Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Nagpur will not be affected due to the riots.
In a horrific incident in Pune, a 38-year-old software engineer allegedly killed his three-and-a-half-year-old son by slitting his throat over his frequent disputes with his wife. The techie has been arrested.

According to reports, Madhava Sadhurao Tiketi would quarrel with his wife Swaroopa (30) as he suspected her of having extramarital affair. The victim, Himmat, was their only son.

The family hails from Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam. Tiketi was working with a software company in Magarpatta City, but lost his job about two months ago, reported Times of India.

The incident took place on Thursday when the couple had a quarrel between them. Tiketi left their home in Sant Tukaramnagar with their son Himmat around 12.30 pm on his motorcycle. Since they didnt return till midnight, Swaroopa approached the Chandan Nagar police station with a missing complaint.

Tracing Tiketis cell phone number, police found him at a lodge in Wadgaon Sheri. He was in a heavily inebriated condition but Himmat was not there with him.

Police took Tiketi to the station and after a few hours of questioning, the man admitted to have killed his son by slitting his throat. Based on his statements, police reached the crime spot and recovered the childs body and the murder weapon in an isolated area in a lane opposite Kharadi bypass dargah.

The childs body has been sent for postmortem.

The accused has been taken into custody and further investigation is underway. A case of murder has been registered as per the crime," said a senior police officer.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said the day will be etched in history as chief ministers from southern states and key opposition parties gathered in Chennai to oppose the Lok Sabha delimitation exercise. Opposing the meeting, Bharatiya Janata Party led by K. Annamalai is conducting a black flag protest in Chennai.

#WATCH | Chennai: Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin felicitates CMs of states as well as leaders from various parties who are attending the meeting on delimitation.



(Video Source: Tamil Nadu DIPR) pic.twitter.com/WzBReRxKaK  ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2025

Urging for fair delimitation Chief Ministers A. Revanth Reddy, Pinarayi Vijayan, Bhagawant Mann, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and leaders from various opposition parties are meeting in Chennai demanding fair delimitation. Calling it a historic moment, Today will be etched in history as the day when states that have contributed to our nations development came together to safeguard its federal structure by ensuring #FairDelimitation, Stalin tweeted.

#WATCH | Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai and other leaders of the party show black flags, registering their protest against Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar over Mekdatu project issue.



The Deputy CM reached Chennai this morning to attend the meeting on delimitation, called pic.twitter.com/kSA43Dvp9D  ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2025

As per reports, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi will be the master of the meeting. Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin will present in the meeting about the consequences of delimitation in southern states. Tamil Nadu, which is also engaged in a massive row with the Centre over Hindi imposition, has placed name boards of delegates in English and their respective native languages.

However, Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai called the meeting a drama and said none of the states will lose seats during the delimitation exercise. Annamalai said Chief Minister Stalin, who is heading the meeting, should utilise the opportunity to solve inter-state issues with Kerala and Karnataka. Annamalai charged Stalin had given away Tamil Nadus rights to neighbouring states for his political gains.
The first Joint Action Committee meeting demanding fair delimitation was the coming together of the southern states and the opposition parties to speak in one voice against the Union government and the BJP. The DMK-led JAC urged the Union government to extend the freeze on parliamentary constituencies for the next 25 years based on the 1971 population census. The first meeting resolved that the MPs would submit a joint representation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the ongoing Parliament session.

Given the fact that the legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th, and 87th Constitutional amendments was to protect/incentivise States which have implemented population control measures effectively and the goal of national population stabilisation has not yet been achieved, the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on 1971 Census should be extended by another 25 years, the resolution passed in the JAC said.

Briefing the media, DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi said that the states which had effectively implemented the population control programme and whose population share had come down consequently, should not be penalised. She said that the core committee of the JAC comprising the MPs will submit a joint representation along these lines to PM Modi.

Speaking at the meeting, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said that the representation of the southern states is limited to just 130 out of the existing 543 seats. He said this is a mere 24 per cent of the total number of seats and anything less would reduce South to the role of a passive audience in the political theatre of India. Telanganas BRS leader K.T. Rama Rao contended that population alone cannot be the criteria for delimitation. He asked why fiscal contribution or development and contribution to the GDP could not be taken as the basis for delimitation.

He said that the JAC is opposed to the tyranny of majority. The states that have performed exponentially well politically, economically and in other progressive indicators should not be penalised and that this would be a travesty of justice, KTR said.

Replying to a query from the media on the BJPs black flag protest in Tamil Nadu against the JAC meeting, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar took a dig at the Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai, saying that he is not afraid of the black flags. I was not afraid when they sent me to the Tihar Jail. I am not afraid of these black flags, he said, calling Annamalai a poor man referring to his tenure as an IPS officer in Karnataka.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that the BJP wanted to reduce the Lok Sabha seats of the states where they were losing. The BJPs agenda is to increase the seat share in states they were winning in. Mann, who began speaking in Hindi, later changed to English and said the seats in Punjab will be decreased because the BJP was not winning in the state.

The meeting was a show of strength by the southern states and the opposition against the BJP. It indicated that the southern states, despite the differences on several contentious issues, will come together to raise their voice against the Union government and the BJP.

Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalins call fight against the Centre began a month ago in Chennai when he called for an all-party meeting in the state. The DMK, which has been facing a huge opposition in the state from the AIADMK and BJP, took up the language issue and delimitation. The meeting of the JAC, projected as a struggle for fair delimitation and to uphold the federal structure of the country, comes as a pivotal moment in Stalins political life. His effort to rally the southern states behind him has ensured that the BJP stands isolated, politically, in the south.
In a shocking incident, a man, reportedly a local BJP leader, shot his wife and three children at Gangoh in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.

Two of his childrena son and a daughtersuccumbed to their injuries while his wife and the third child are in critical condition at a nearby hospital, reports said.

Yogesh Rohilla, the accused, is reportedly a BJP executive member. He has been arrested and the pistol used in the crime was also recovered.

The incident took place in Sangatheda, sending shock waves across the village. According to reports, the accused had been under immense mental tension for the last few days.

Saharanpur SSP Rohit Sajwan said Rohilla had suspected his wife of infidelity, which allegedly led to the crime.

"Yogesh Rohilla shot his wife and three children due to suspicions regarding his wife's character. Two children died on the spot, while the wife and the third child have been admitted to Saharanpur district hospital in critical condition," Sajwan was quoted by IANS.

The officer said Rohilla himself had informed the police after committing the crime.

In a separate incident, a software engineer in Pune has been arrested after he allegedly slit his three-and-half-year-old son, suspecting his wifes infidelity.

Police recovered the childs body from a forest area based on the statements of the accused who was arrested from a nearby lodge in a heavily inebriated condition.
Amit Gupta, an Indian national, has been in the custody of Qatar authorities for over three months, prompting his distressed family to seek the intervention of the Prime Ministers Office.

Amit, a resident of Gujarats Vadodara, is the Country Head of Tech Mahindra and has been working in Doha for over 10 years. He was arrested on January 1 and has since been in the custody of Qatars State Security.

On Saturday, sources said that the Indian Embassy was in touch with his family, his lawyer and Qatari authorities on a regular basis.

Our Embassy continues to provide all possible assistance in the matter and is closely following the case, they said.

Wrongfully Detained? Vadodaras Amit Gupta Awaits Justice in Qatar



Amit Gupta, Country Head at Tech Mahindra in Doha, Qatar, has been wrongfully detained for three months by Qatars State Security, leaving his family in deep distress.Despite his wife seeking help from the PMO, pic.twitter.com/0Qv6jXtV6Y  Our Vadodara (@ourvadodara) March 22, 2025

Amits wife has sought the intervention of the PMO while his father has reached out to Anand Mahindra, the chairman of the Mahindra Group. The family has also approached Vadodara MP Hemang Joshi for help.

According to a Vadodara-based news outlet, Amits family insists that he is innocent and has been falsely accused of data theft. They demand urgent action for his release and allege that it has been three months since they heard from him.

Amits family had travelled to Qatar to meet him. But during their one-month stay in the country, they were allowed to meet him only once, that too, for half an hour.

"My son was kept without food and water for 48 hours and after that, he was locked in a room. He is still locked there, Amits mother Pushpa Gupta was quoted by IANS.

Gujarat: Amit Gupta, a Vadodara resident and Tech Mahindra's Country Head in Qatar, has reportedly been held hostage in Doha. His elderly parents, distressed by the situation, reached out to Vadodara MP Hemang Joshi for help



Amit Gupta mother Pushpa Gupta says, "Amit Gupta was pic.twitter.com/hxd3wQIysa  IANS (@ians_india) March 22, 2025

Vadodara MP Joshi has assured all help to the family to secure Amits release. The action for which he was detained has not even been started. For this, we are trying to help as much as possible with the help of the Ministry of External Affairs. Apart from this, we will also seek help from the Qatar ambassador in Delhi. I will put forth my demand before all of them this week, Joshi told the news agency.
Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma from whose residence a large pile of cash was recovered was named in a CBI fraud case against the Simbhaoli Sugar Mills.

Justice Varma was one of the non-executive directors of the company which allegedly cheated a bank in a fraudulent loan scheme. The company was accused of submitting falsified KYC documents and siphoning off funds.

Who is Justice Yashwant Varma?

Justice Yashwant Varma was appointed a Delhi High Court judge on October 11, 2021. This came seven years after he was elevated to the judge's post at Allahabad High Court.

#WATCH | Prayagraj, UP: On SC Collegium recommending transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma of Delhi HC to his parent High Court in Allahabad after an adverse report against him, Anil Tiwari, President, Allahabad High Court Bar Association says "...If Rs 15 lakhs are found at the pic.twitter.com/wTE1NsymsT  ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2025

Varma earned his law degree from Madhya Pradesh and became an advocate in 1992. His focus areas were constitution, labour and industry, corporate and tax-related legislations. He became the special counsel for the Allahabad High Court in 2006 before being appointed an additional judge in 2014. He was elevated as a permanent judge at the Allahabad High Court on February 1, 2016.

He was posted on an administrative role at the Delhi High Court and was a member of more than 10 panels, including the Committee for Finance and Budgeting, Committee for Administrative and General Supervision etc. He also chaired the Committee of Delhi International Arbitration Centre and the Legal Services Committee.

Varma made headlines after a fire broke out at his official residence on March 14. When the fire brigade arrived, they found cash scattered on the premises. Following this, the Delhi Police informed the government and the Chief Justice of India, who has ordered an inquiry. Around 15 crore was recovered from the house.

The Supreme Court Collegium has trasferred Varma back to his parent court, Allahabad HC.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets the press together with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul after attending the 11th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on March 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)

TOKYO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to work with Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) to elevate China-Japan-ROK cooperation under the new circumstances, and make it more mature, stable and resilient, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Saturday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks at the 11th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and ROK Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.

Noting that the trilateral cooperation is one of the most deeply rooted, highly institutionalized, and promising cooperation frameworks in East Asia, Wang said the three-way cooperation has yielded positive results over the past 20 years since its inception, which not only benefits the peoples of the three countries and their respective development, but also promotes regional stability and economic integration.

With the joint efforts of the three parties, new progress has been made in the cooperation in the six key areas identified at the Ninth China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Summit, Wang said, adding that facts have proved that the more solid China-Japan-ROK cooperation, the stronger the ability of the three countries to withstand risks, the stronger the foundation for empowering development, and the more effective the promotion of mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples.

Wang noted 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, as well as the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, and only by sincerely reflecting on history can we truly create the future.

The three countries should review the consensus of "facing history squarely and looking to the future," stick to the original intention of cooperation and promote the China-Japan-ROK cooperation to achieve the effect of "1+1+1>3" for the benefit of the three countries, the region and the world.

Stressing that wind and rain are the norm, but being undeterred by them is a state of mind, Wang said to achieve steady and lasting trilateral cooperation, it is essential to create a virtuous cycle of mutual reinforcement with bilateral relations.

In particular, the three countries need to respect each other's core interests, properly manage differences, and continuously build consensus, cultivate momentum and deepen cooperation on the basis of maintaining sound and steady relations, Wang said.

First, Wang said, the three countries will deepen economic and trade cooperation and strengthen its role as the "ballast stone." Negotiations on the China-Japan-ROK Free Trade Agreement should be resumed at an early date to reach an agreement, expand mutual trade and investment, set up a trilateral dialogue mechanism on export controls, and maintain the stability and smoothness of industrial and supply chains.

Second, to promote scientific and technological innovation to stimulate new drivers for growth. In line with the principle of openness and cooperation, we will share innovation opportunities and enable new quality productive forces to better empower the high-quality development of the three countries. A trilateral dialogue mechanism on digital economy cooperation will be established. Japan and the ROK are welcome to actively participate in the China-Japan-ROK Innovation Cooperation Center that China is planning to establish.

Third, to expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges and consolidate public support. We will strive to increase the number of people-to-people exchanges among the three countries to 40 million by 2030, ensure the success of the China-Japan-ROK Year of Cultural Exchange from 2025 to 2026, continue to build the brands of "Culture City of East Asia" and "CAPMUS Asia," carry forward the fine traditional culture of East Asia, and promote mutual understanding and friendship among our peoples.

Fourth, to respond to common challenges and promote sustainable development. We will deepen cooperation in healthy aging, medical and health care, new energy, green development and ecological and environmental protection, and strengthen cooperation in disaster management, police and counterterrorism, and jointly address non-traditional security challenges.

At present, as changes unseen in a century accelerate, global economic growth remains sluggish, geopolitical conflicts are intensifying and the global openness index keeps declining, Wang pointed out that China, Japan and the ROK, as important countries in the Asia-Pacific and major economies in the world, should adhere to the general direction of open economy, jointly uphold free trade, firmly safeguard the rule-based multilateral trading system, foster an open, inclusive and non-discriminatory international economic environment, and promote economic globalization that benefits all.

We should actively promote regional cooperation, support the building of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Community, create more "China-Japan-ROK+" cooperation projects, and inject strong impetus into the development of East Asia cooperation with the vitality of trilateral cooperation, Wang added.

He said the three countries should practice a new concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security and jointly safeguard regional and world peace, noting we should adhere to the unity of independence and self-reliance and take the destiny of Asia into its own hands.

The top diplomats of the three countries exchanged in-depth views on trilateral cooperation as well as regional and international issues and made preparations for the 10th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Summit, believing that they should jointly maintain the momentum of trilateral cooperation, advance practical cooperation in the six key areas in a comprehensive and balanced manner based on the Trilateral Cooperation Vision for the Next Decade, explore new areas of cooperation and expand future-oriented cooperation on the basis of maintaining continuity.

The three sides also agreed on continuing to deepen people-to-people and culture exchanges, enhance mutual understanding and mutual trust, enrich practical cooperation in various fields, and work for more new outcomes that benefit the peoples of the three countries and the region. 
In a major escalation, Israel on Saturday struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. Israel's strike comes in retaliation to the rockets fired into northern Israel from Lebanon.

According to Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the rockets targeted the Israeli town of Metula. Since December, it is the second time rockets have been fired from Lebanon into Israel.

The IDF struck dozens of Hezbollah rocket launchers and a command center from which Hezbollah terrorists were operating in southern Lebanon a short while ago.



The rocket fire launched this morning toward the Galilee constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings pic.twitter.com/jRqphttiXT  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 22, 2025

The recent attacks have sparked concerns over the ceasefire deal between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. The ceasefire agreement took effect last year in November with Israel agreeing to withdraw its troop's presence in southern Lebanon.

The ceasefire deal itself is fragile as Israeli troops continued their presence in five locations in Lebanon.

Though no group has claimed any responsibility, Lebanon's prime minister expressed concern over the attacks and said his country is being dragged "into a new war". Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked the Lebanese military to take necessary measures in the south amid the increasing attacks.

The Israel-Hezbollah conflict began after Hamas's October 7 conflict triggering the Gaza war.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said that he will not allow Lebanon to fire into Israeli communities.

Why the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal did not hold

With the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal broken, Tel Aviv has stepped up its attack in Gaza. Around 600 Palestinians have been killed since Israel relaunched its attacks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Hamas for its renewal of attacks. The failure of Hamas to release the remaining hostages was cited behind the renewed attacks.

The IDF sources also mentioned that the ceasefire duration has helped Hamas to regroup its forces.

Meanwhile, experts note that the renewed Israeli attacks are a matter of disagreements in the deal. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has accused the government of "a complete deception" by pulling out of the deal.

The first phase of the ceasefire deal finished on March 1, but the next level of discussions never made progress.
The United Nations envisaged as an example of global unity and peace, increasingly faces criticism for its perceived ideological biases and systemic inefficiencies. While the organisation has played vital roles in several humanitarian crises, its shortcomingsranging from a lack of impartiality to double standards in conflict resolutionhave marred its legacy. Nowhere is this more evident than in its approach to Israel and the broader Middle East, where accusations of antisemitism, appeasement, and inaction echo loudly.

The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel was a moment of reckoning. Many United Nations agencies displayed troubling biases that compromised their neutrality in its aftermath. These agencies, entrusted with safeguarding humanitarian principles, seemed to prioritise political narratives over factual reporting. For instance, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has been criticised for its disproportionate focus on Israeli military actions while omitting Hamass atrocities. Reports suggest OCHAs reliance on information from Hamas-controlled sources, raising serious doubts about the objectivity and reliability of its data.

Further compounding the issue, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has faced allegations of harbouring militants within its ranks. Recent Israeli intelligence revealed that senior UNRWA educators in Gaza, including school principals, were linked to Hamas. Allegations of employing individuals linked to Hamas or Islamic Jihad in its schools are deeply concerning.

Documents seized by Israel reveal that several UNRWA staff members were active participants in militant activities. Such findings undermine the agencys credibility and mandate to maintain neutrality in conflict zones. Despite these revelations, UNRWA has failed to conduct thorough investigations or dismiss implicated employees.

The agencys refusal to publicly commit to firing staff with proven links to terror organisations casts a shadow over its operations. By neglecting its duty to maintain neutrality, UNRWA endangers its beneficiaries and erodes trust in the broader UN system.

The ICCs controversial move

In a dramatic development, the International Criminal Court (ICC) recently issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes in Gaza. The ICCs actions, however, have drawn fierce backlash, with Israel denouncing the court as a "biased and discriminatory political body."

These charges, Israel argues, disregard the context of its military actions against a terror organisation like Hamas, which has a documented history of using civilians as human shields and targeting Israeli populations.

Historical roots of UN bias

The UNs bias against Israel is not new. Critics have long highlighted the disproportionate focus on Israel in the UN General Assembly, where resolutions condemning the country far exceed those against nations with far graver human rights abuses. This tendency, rooted in the organisations evolving membership, reflects a structural imbalance. As former Israeli Ambassador Dore Gold noted in Tower of Babble, the United Nations moral clarity has waned, diluted by including regimes with questionable democratic credentials.

The decision to hold a moment of silence for North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il in 2011 while ignoring similar tributes for democratic leaders like Vaclav Havel epitomises the inconsistency. Such actions tarnish the UNs image as a neutral global peace and justice arbiter.

OCHAs failures: A case study

OCHAs reporting in the Israeli-Palestinian context reveals a troubling pattern of bias. It systematically underreports violence against Israeli civilians while amplifying allegations against Israel. For example, OCHA often relies on data provided by Hamas-controlled sources, presenting unverified claims as factual. Its failure to report Hamass use of human shields and the abuse of humanitarian resources further underscores its lack of impartiality.

In recent reports, OCHA highlighted civilian casualties in Gaza without distinguishing between combatants and non-combatants, a standard practice in other conflicts. Such omissions distort the narrative and fuel unwarranted international condemnation of Israel. By selectively applying reporting standards, OCHA undermines its credibility and violates the core humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality.

A broader crisis of credibility and lessons for reform

The United Nations bias against Israel is not confined to specific agencies. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has faced criticism for legitimising double standards and adopting a selective approach to antisemitism. For instance, Guterres justified including Israel in the annual Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) report based on flawed data that failed to distinguish between genuine violations and minor incidents like exposure to tear gas.

Similarly, UN Women has been accused of ignoring the plight of Israeli women subjected to sexual violence and torture during the October 7 Hamas attack. Such omissions highlight the pervasive failure of the UN system to address issues impartially.

The United Nations must address its internal biases to remain credible in global governance. This begins with enforcing strict standards of neutrality and accountability within its agencies. Donor countries should condition their funding on adherence to these principles, ensuring that organisations like OCHA and UNRWA prioritise factual reporting and impartiality.

Additionally, the international community must hold the UN accountable for its failures. Agencies that deviate from their mandates should face independent audits and oversight. Transparency in data collection and reporting is crucial to rebuilding trust and credibility.

Israels response: A call for fairness

Israels criticism of the United Nations is not a rejection of its core ideals but a plea for fairness and justice. By exposing biases within UN agencies, Israel highlights the urgent need for systemic reform. A United Nations that adheres to its founding principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence is not just in Israels interest but essential for global peace and stability.

The United Nations belongs to humanity, yet biases that compromise its mission undermine its credibility. The UNs approach to Israel serves as a cautionary tale of how political agendas can infiltrate supposedly neutral institutions. Reform is not merely a choice but an imperative.

Addressing its systemic flaws can help the UN reclaim its role as a genuine arbiter of peace and justice. For this to happen, its member states, agencies, and leaders must commit to transparency, impartiality, and accountability. Only then can the United Nations fulfil its promise of serving all nations fairly and equitably.

The writer is the Director of the Centre for Legislative Research and Advocacy, New Delhi.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.
Israels Supreme Court has stepped in to block Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from sacking Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security service, igniting yet another confrontation between the judiciary and the executive.

The Netanyahu cabinet on Thursday approved Bars early dismissal, citing his failure to foresee the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 and a broader loss of confidence. Bars removal, set for April 10, or upon a successors appointment, cuts short his five-year term, which started in October 2021, by 18 months. Yet, on Friday, the Supreme Court issued an injunction, halting the move until a hearing by April 8, leading to outrage from Netanyahus camp.

The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar's term of office.



Ronen Bar will conclude his duties on 10 April 2025 or when a permanent ISA Director is appointed  whichever comes first.  Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) March 21, 2025

Netanyahu insists Bars removal is critical for Israels war aims in Gaza and to prevent future security lapses, a view backed by an internal probe by Shin Bet itself. However, Bar argues the real culprit is Netanyahus policies, including provocations by far-right ministerssuch as visits to the Al Aqsa compoundthat stoked tensions.

Suspicion also swirls around political motives, with Bars Qatar-Gate investigation into alleged lobbying by Netanyahus allies for Qatar, recently resulting in confessions and arrests. Netanyahu dismissed this as a leftist smear. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has also sided with Bar as she told Netanyahu that his government lacked the power to remove the Shin Bet chief without the authorisation of a special committee. Following the Supreme Court intervention, she informed the prime minister that under the order, he was prohibited from even interviewing new candidates, pointing out a potential conflict of interest.

The Supreme Courts intervention has sparked a broader clash over governance. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, from Netanyahus Likud party, branded the courts ruling invalid, claiming it lacks jurisdiction and that Bars term ends regardless on April 10 or with a replacement. Yet, the attorney general and Bar himself decry the dismissal as legally invalid and marked by a clear conflict of interest. Bar even warned that it jeopardised Gaza hostage talks.

Public backlash against Netanyahu is mounting. Thousands have protested in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, blocking highways and clashing with police, decrying an assault on democracy. Israels Business Forum, representing 200 top firms, and the High-Tech Headquarters, a tech sector powerhouse, have threatened strikes if the government defies the court, warning of a slide into third world status that could repel investors.

Forty municipal leaders, including Tel Aviv and Haifas mayors, too, backed the judiciary, urging Netanyahu to comply. Amid rising tensions, Netanyahu vows therell be no civil war, but the stakesfor law, security, and stabilityare undeniably high.
The United States and Israel are expected to hold a key strategic meeting in Washington next week to address Irans nuclear programme, as the Donald Trump administration intensifies its "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran. This gathering revives the US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group (SCG), a forum established in 2009 under President Obama to align American and Israeli policies on Irans nuclear ambitions and regional activities.



Codenamed Opal, the SCG represents the highest-level platform for such discussions, involving intelligence-sharing and operational coordination. Since the October 7 attacks, its scope has expanded to encompass the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, reflecting evolving regional dynamics under President Biden.



This meeting, the first since Trump took office, will feature key figures such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus advisers, Ron Dermer and Tzachi Hanegbi, along with Trumps national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and representatives from the State Department, Pentagon and the intelligence community.

ALSO READ: Setback for Benjamin Netanyahu as Supreme Court blocks his dismissal of intelligence chief

Trump has adopted a hardline stance, coupling threats of military action with a call for a new nuclear deal. A few days ago, he sent a letter to Irans Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, proposing talks but setting a two-month deadline, with the implicit warning of strikes on Irans nuclear facilities if negotiations fail.



Trump has framed this as a choice between military confrontation and diplomacy, expressing a preference for the latter to avoid harming the Iranian people. However, Netanyahu and his team remain sceptical about Tehrans willingness to negotiate, advocating instead for a coordinated US-Israeli strategy should escalation prove necessary.



Irans leadership has responded defiantly. In his annual Nowruz address on Friday, Khamenei dismissed the US threats, asserting that Iran neither seeks conflict nor relies on regional proxies, as alleged by Washington. He warned of "severe slaps" should the US act with hostility. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described Trumps letter as threatening yet also as a potential opportunity, noting that Tehran is formulating a response. This rhetoric underscores Irans resistance to external pressure, even as it weighs its diplomatic options.



Parallel to these developments, the Trump administration is targeting Irans oil exports, particularly to China, its largest buyer. On Thursday, the US imposed sanctions on a Shandong Province refinery and vessels linked to Houthi activities in Yemen, part of a broader effort to choke Tehrans revenue streams. According to a US activist group United Against Nuclear Iran, the refinery, Shandong Shouguang Luqing Petrochemical, imported at least 7.6 million barrels of oil from Iran since 2023. Shandong province hosts several semi-independent refineries which are known as teapot refineries as they are smaller and there is less transparency in their functions compared with state-owned enterprises.



These measures, which could be considered as the fourth round of new sanctions against China after Trump announced his maximum pressure campaign against Iran, aim to disrupt "teapot" refineries processing Iranian crude. The State Department contends that such funds fuel Irans support for attacks on US allies and terrorism. Chinas recent decision to block sanctioned tankers signals a partial success for Trumps strategy, though its long-term efficacy remains uncertain.



The SCG meeting will test the alignment between Washington and Jerusalem, particularly if Iran rejects Trumps overture. With Tehrans nuclear programme at the forefront, the risk of miscalculation looms large, potentially drawing the region into broader conflict.
The Trump administration has escalated American naval presence in the Middle East by deploying a second aircraft carrier to the region. It is aimed at intensifying pressure on Yemens Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

This strategic manoeuvre involves extending the USS Harry S. Trumans deployment in the Red Sea by at least a month, as ordered by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, and redirecting the USS Carl Vinson from the East China Sea to join it. The dual-carrier presence, a rare occurrence last seen in August and September 2024, aims to bolster American efforts against the Houthis. Recent escalation involved over 50 precision airstrikes targeting Houthi infrastructure, leadership and drone capabilities since last weekend. The strikes seek to weaken the group and secure Red Sea shipping lanes, which have faced over 100 Houthi attacks on merchant vessels since November 2023, resulting in two ships sunk and four sailors killed.

CENTCOM operations against Iran-backed Houthis continue... pic.twitter.com/DYvc3gREN8  U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 15, 2025

The Truman, originally deployed from Virginia in September 2024, was nearing the end of its mission when extended, having operated across the North Sea, Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea. Meanwhile, the Vinson, which left San Diego in November 2024 and carries advanced F-35C fighters, will take two to three weeks to reach the region, ensuring an overlapping presence.

This significant allocation of naval resources underscores a shift from the Biden administrations more cautious approach, which prioritised Asia and required senior-level approval for strikes, often sparing Houthi leadership targets. Trumps strategy grants commanders greater autonomy, widens target scope and reinstates the Houthis terrorist designationlifted by Biden in 2021to isolate them financially and deter attacks.

Secretary Hegseth is spearheading this sustained campaign, contrasting with Bidens cautious approach towards retaliation. The intensified tempo aims to halt Houthi aggression against US interests, not to topple their regime, though concerns persist about civilian casualties and dwindling munitions stockpiles despite enhanced production. The naval buildup is also a warning to Iran, the Houthis primary backer, amid their stated goal of ending Israels Gaza campaign.

However, redirecting the Vinson from the Indo-Pacificpreviously a Trump priorityraises questions about resource strain, with ship maintenance likely delayed at overstretched Navy yards. While this military pressure may degrade Houthi capabilities, experts argue a broader diplomatic strategy is vital for lasting stability. The campaigns duration and the Houthis response remain uncertain, but the dual-carrier deployment provides commanders with enhanced strike and patrol options.

There is the clear risk of overextension, yet the Trump administration frames this as a decisive response to a persistent threat, balancing immediate security with long-term regional dynamics.
Iceland Minister of Education and Children's Affairs Asthildur Loa Thorsdottir resigned from the post after an explosive revelation about her personal life. Thorsdottir revealed that she had a secret baby with a 16-year-old boy when she was 22.

Thorsdottir, 58, gave birth when she was 16-years-old.

Reportedly, her revelation came after some local media reported about the affair and the secret baby.

NEW: Icelands minister for children abruptly resigns after it's revealed that she got impregnated by a teen.



This is not what they meant in the job description when they said "someone who loves kids." pic.twitter.com/7AtkBY5oWu  star  (@7744St) March 21, 2025

"It's because 36 years ago I was 22 years old and in a relationship with a man who was much younger than me, sixteen years old," she told Visir, a local news agency.

"I am not the person I was 30 years ago," said Thorsdottir in an interview.

Eirikur Asmundsson, the father of the baby had accused the minister of preventing him from visiting his son. He also alleged that Thorsdottir had been receiving child support payments from him for over 18 years.

"It's been 36 years and a lot of things have changed in that time and I would definitely have dealt with these issues differently today than I had the skills and maturity to do when I was 22, she said.

Reportedly, their secret relationship continued for some time and Asmundsson was present at his child's birth.

Asmundsson, according to the Icelandic news agency RUV, had requested the countrys justice ministry to give him access to his son. However, Thorsdottir denied the allegations that he was not allowed to visit his son.

While reacting to the incident, Iceland Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir said that the matter is serious, adding that she knows more than an average person.

Though it is not illegal for a person to have sex with a 15-year-old as it is the legal age in Iceland, it is illegal for a tutor or mentor to have sex with a person below 18 years of age. At the time of the relationship, Thorsdottir was a councillor at a religious group that Asmundsson attended.
After the US authorities forced Columbia University doctoral student to self-deport and arrested another from Georgetown University, the Union Ministry of External Affairs has advised Indian students not to make the same mistakes.

Ranjani Srinivasan, who was pursuing her doctoral degree in urban planning from Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), was accused of supporting Hamas, citing her participation in pro-Palestinian protests.

Earlier this week my constituent, Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown postdoctoral fellow, was detained outside his Rosslyn home. He remains in detention despite not being accused of a crime, a clear violation of his constitutional rights. He must be released.https://t.co/PTQvM0ys2k pic.twitter.com/aUpPVFuQ0k  Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) March 20, 2025

Another Indian researcher, Badar Khan Suri, was arrested by immigration authorities for spreading Hamas propaganda but his lawyer argues that he was targeted because of his wife's Palestinian origin. A US court recently blocked his deportation to India.

Where did Ranjani Srinvisan and Badar Khan Suri go wrong?

The Centre pointed out that both Ranjani and Badar failed to contact the Indian embassy or consulates in the US for help, said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

Talking specifically about Badar, he said, "Neither the US government nor this individual approached us or the embassy." On Ranjani's self-deportation, Jaiswal said the MEA learnt about that she fled to Canada through media reports.

#MEABriefing || Indian Scholar Badar Khan Suri Detained in the U.S.



 Delhi: MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal addresses reports on the detention of Indian scholar Badar Khan Suri in the U.S.



"We are given to understand through media reports that this individual has been pic.twitter.com/G9kPw3dG2y  DD India (@DDIndialive) March 21, 2025

"If an Indian student is facing any problem, the consulate or the embassy is there to help them with their well-being (and) safety. We would continue if there is any Indian student who would like a helping hand. Our Consulate and our Government, the Embassy is there to help them out," he added.

He also advised Indian citizens to comply with American laws while staying in the US.

Jaiswal said the US has the right to decide on its visa and immigration matters, which are within its sovereign authority. He pointed out that the Indian government expects the same when foreign nationals come to the country by abiding by Indian laws and regulations.
The Donald Trump administration is mulling to revoke the temporary legal status of 5.32 lakh immigrants from Latin America and Haiti. US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they will lose their legal status on April 24.

The government has urged these immigrants to be prepared for arrest if they are not willing to self-deport. Following this, these immigrants will be forcibly deported by authorities. The latest move is in line with Trump's election campaign promise of deporting millions of immigrants.

Trump admin is revoking status for 530,000 citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela who flew into U.S. via Bidens CHNV parole program pic.twitter.com/E3LLE32b2g  Merissa Hansen (@merissahansen17) March 22, 2025

The Federal Registrar is expected to terminate their work permits and protection from deportation on March 25. The immigrants will have a 30-day period to self-deport. Officials have been encouraging people to use the CBP Home smartphone app to get deported themselves.

These 5,32,000 immigrants were given temporary legal status by the previous Joe Biden administration under its sponsorship process called CHNV (Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans).

The program, which kickstarted in October 2022, was aimed at easing the strain at the border to streamline the asylum-seeking process. It also helped crack down on illegal immigrants. This allowed around 30,000 people from these four countries to enter the US for two years with eligibility to work. The CHNV program was similar to large-scale parole status given to evacuees from Afghanistan and refugees from Ukraine.

Trump terminated further immigration under CHNV on January 20 and now plans to revoke parole to earlier immigrants as well. "If you have not sought a lawful status or period of authorized stay, you will need to leave the United States before your authorized parole period expires, or you may be placed in removal proceedings after your period of parole expires," reads a government notice.

The immigrants have to leave the US if the humanitarian parole expires. However, they could stay by extending their parole or obtaining another lawful immigration status. But with Trump terminating the programme altogether, these immigrants are left with few options.
As uncertainty looms on when the temporary ceasefire will take effect on the Russia-Ukraine war, the Kremlin has expressed its hope of making progress at the negotiation talks set to take place in Riyadh next week.

This would be the second round of talks on a ceasefire with the United States. Delegates from Russia and Ukraine are expected to be present at the table for talks. Moscow on Thursday announced that Sergei Beseda, the former FSB chief, who played a key role in planning Russia's full Ukraine invasion, would travel to Riyadh for Monday talks with the US.

Also read | Will Kyiv's latest 'provocation' affect energy infrastructure ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine?

The 59th Separate Assault Brigade of Unmanned Systems named after Yakiv Handziuk.



I received a report on the situation within the brigade's area of responsibility, the use of unmanned systems, electronic warfare equipment, and robotic complexes produced by the brigade itself. I pic.twitter.com/QRQpA9121N  Volodymyr Zelenskyy /   (@ZelenskyyUa) March 22, 2025

Beseda would be joined by Grigory Karasin, the chair of the Russian senates committee on international affairs, for a new round of talks with the US as well.

Also read | Did Putin beat Trump at his own game? Russian leader ends 90-minute phone call with minimal concessions

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Kyiv delegation would meet US officials on Monday and hand over a list of energy infrastructure that would be off-limits for strikes by Russia.

Also read | Ukraine lists its 'red lines' for any peace deal with Vladimir Putin. Details here

Later, the US representatives would be meeting delegates from both nations.

After President Vladimir Putin's phone call with Donald Trump, Moscow rejected the US's proposal of a 30-day ceasefire halting the Ukraine war. However, Putin agreed to a deal to halt aerial strikes on Kyiv's energy infrastructure.

It remains to be seen whether the 'shuttle democracy', a term used by US Keith Kellogg as Washington representatives would be meeting both Ukrainian and Russian delegations separately, would actually make some progress this time.

"We hope to achieve at least some progress...Russian delegation would take a combative and constructive mood into the talks," said Russian senator Karasin.

Meanwhile, both countries have been continuing their attacks despite Putin ordering his army to stop targeting Ukrainian energy sites.

Zelenskyy has accused Russia of making "unnecessary demands" that will drag out the war and said the Russian strike on Ukrainian energy infrastructure had not stopped despite Putin's claim about his readiness to halt them.
SEOUL, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), met with visiting Secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council Sergei Shoigu on Friday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Saturday.

Shoigu conveyed friendly greetings and an important signed letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Kim, while the DPRK leader expressed his deep gratitude and conveyed his greetings to Putin, the KCNA said.

During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on defending the security interests of the two countries as well as the regional and international situation, the KCNA said.

"It is the steadfast option and resolute will of the DPRK government to invariably support Russia in the struggle for defending the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests in the future," Kim was quoted by the KCNA as saying.

Both leaders of the two countries are willing to unconditionally implement the provisions of the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two sides, the KCNA said, adding that Kim and Shoigu talked about further expanding and boosting cooperation in the security area and other fields. 
Sirens blared in the northern yishuv of Metula in the Galil at 7:30 a.m. on Shabbos morning after Hezbollah fired six rockets at Israel, the first major rocket attack since November 2024.

The IDF spokesperson said that three rockets were intercepted and three fell inside southern Lebanon.

The IDF responded to the attack with artillery fire and a series of airstrikes in southern Lebanon, targeting a Hezbollah command center and dozens of rocket launchers.

On Motzei Shabbos, Israel launched a second wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including in northern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, and near the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon.

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Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said on Motzei Shabbos: We will not allow a situation of rocket fire from Lebanon at the yishuvim of the Galil. We promised security to the northern yishuvim  and that is exactly how it will be. The fate of Metula will be the fate of Beirut. The Lebanese government is responsible for any shooting from its territory. I instructed the IDF to respond accordingly.

(YWNs Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis haShabbos in Israel)
An IAF fighter jet attacked a Hamas rocket launcher on Friday night, hours after the terror group launched two rockets at Ashkelon on Erev Shabbos.

Hamas had placed the launcher near a humanitarian shelter in the northern Gaza Strip.

The IDF spokesperson stated: Before the attack, numerous steps were taken to minimize the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial reconnaissance, and additional intelligence.

This is another example of Hamas cynical and systematic use of civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip for terror purposes.

Sirens were heard in Ashkelon and the surrounding area on Friday about an hour before Shabbos. The Iron Dome system successfully intercepted the two rockets, and no casualties or damage were reported.

Ashkelon residents reported hearing the sounds of loud explosions.

The rocket fire came a day after Hamas fired rockets at the Gush Dan area, including Tel Aviv, Holon and Rishon LTzion, the first rocket fire at the area in six months.

(YWNs Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis haShabbos in Israel)
As leftists protested on the streets on Motzei Shabbos against the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister released a video message to the Israeli public.

Netanyahus message addressed the leftist claims that the Prime Minister is ousting Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara due to the investigation opened against former aides in his office regarding their ties to Qatar, a case that has been dubbed Qatargate.

It should be noted that the Supreme Court on Friday ordered the government to freeze Bars dismissal.

Citizens of Israel, Netanyahu said, Tonight I have a dramatic disclosure of facts that will shake you, but before that, I want to make it clear: Ronen Bar will not remain the head of the Shin Bet, there will be no civil war, and Israel will remain a democratic country. We are a country of law, and the law in the State of Israel says simply, the government is entitled to terminate the tenure of the head of the service before the end of his term, and that is exactly what it did.

But, in recent days, claims have been made that the dismissal of the Shin Bet chief was carried out to prevent the investigation into Qatar. So now you will hear from me a shocking description of the facts that should concern each and every one of you, citizens of Israel.

My distrust in the Shin Bet chief began on October 7 when he failed to wake me and others, and it grew to the point of removing him from the negotiation team [for hostage release talks], and all of this happened long before the decision to open the investigation into Qatar. I thought the right time to end the tenure of the Shin Bet chief would be after he submits the Shin Bet investigations into the failures of October 7. This is what happened with the IDF Chief of Staff.

I instructed the Shin Bet chief to submit the investigations to me by February 15. On February 15, on the date he was supposed to submit the investigation, Ronen Bar sent me a letter. He wrote to me that he is unable to submit the Shin Bet investigation on the date I requested. And he concluded the letter: In light of the above, I would like to submit the main points of the investigation no later than February 27. But on February 27, he did not submit the investigation to me, and he requested an additional postponement of several days, and again, I agreed to it.

But see what happened on that very day, on February 27, in the evening, in a rare coincidence that is impossible to contrive, the Attorney General announced the opening of an investigation into Qatar  on February 27, at 9 p.m.

The facts prove unequivocally that the dismissals are not intended to prevent the investigation; the investigation was intended to prevent the dismissals. So you tell me, who here is acting with ulterior motives? Netanyahu dramatically concluded.

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(YWNs Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis haShabbos in Israel)
A visitor poses for photo with deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe (Striver) aboard Tansuo-1 research vessel during a Concluding Open Day of a joint China-New Zealand dive expedition in Wellington, New Zealand, March 21, 2025. Chinese and New Zealand scientists have successfully concluded a groundbreaking collaborative dive expedition to the Puysegur Trench, supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Global Trench Exploration and Diving program (Global TREnD).

"For the first time in history, humans have reached the deepest point of the Puysegur Trench," said Du Mengran, chief scientist of the joint research expedition, during the Concluding Open Day in Wellington on Friday. (Xinhua/Long Lei)

WELLINGTON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and New Zealand scientists have successfully concluded a groundbreaking collaborative dive expedition to the Puysegur Trench, supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Global Trench Exploration and Diving program (Global TREnD).

"For the first time in history, humans have reached the deepest point of the Puysegur Trench," said Du Mengran, chief scientist of the joint research expedition, during the Concluding Open Day in Wellington on Friday.

The expedition unveiled numerous novel phenomena and yielded an extensive collection of valuable biological samples, many of which represent new depth records or are suspected new species, Du said. Additionally, various rock samples were collected, providing critical materials for studying subduction processes and geological mechanisms.

Over the past three months, the joint China-New Zealand expedition was conducted by the CAS Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering (IDSSE), in collaboration with New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).

The mission marked the first international scientific dive exploration of the Puysegur Trench and the second collaborative deep-sea expedition between China and New Zealand.

The expedition involved 68 scientists from eight countries, including New Zealand, Malaysia, Denmark, Germany, France, Brazil, India, and China.

Liu Weidong, director general of the Bureau of International Cooperation, CAS, said this collaborative spirit embodies the essence of scientific exploration, transcending borders to explore the unknown world for mankind.

Leveraging the cutting-edge full-water-depth manned submersible Fendouzhe (Striver) and the Tansuo series of research vessels, the team conducted the first manned dive exploration in the Puysegur Trench, located in the notoriously treacherous "Roaring Forties" region.

Despite extreme sea conditions, the team successfully completed 32 dive missions, setting a new Chinese record of 75 hours across five dives. Du highlighted that this mission was jointly designed by Chinese and New Zealand scientists and executed by a multinational team, with nine dive missions completed by foreign scientists.

Samples and data collected during the expedition were shared among participating scientists, fostering international collaboration.

Rob Murdoch, NIWA's deputy chief executive, emphasized that the China-New Zealand partnership provided New Zealand scientists with unique access to deep-sea exploration resources. The ability to gather deep-sea samples and data that would otherwise be unattainable is invaluable, he said, praising the achievement of completing so many dives under the harsh conditions of the Southern Ocean.

Among the discoveries were new species of invertebrates and fish, significantly expanding scientists' understanding of New Zealand's marine biodiversity. The expedition also uncovered rare whale fall-deep-sea organisms that thrive exclusively on the remains of deceased whales.

Murdoch expressed enthusiasm for continued collaboration in the coming years, focusing on sample processing, data analysis, and publishing the expedition's final findings.

This joint mission follows the first manned deep-sea scientific voyage by Chinese and New Zealand scientists in late 2022. That expedition, aboard the research vessel Tansuo-1 and utilizing the Fendouzhe submersible, explored the Scholl Deep, the deepest point of the Kermadec Trench, located north of New Zealand, approximately 10,000 meters below sea level.

Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong said the deep sea has always been a challenging frontier for human exploration. However, with technological advancements, manned submersibles such as Fendouzhe have turned deep-sea research from fantasy into reality.

This expedition to the Puysegur Trench will undoubtedly advance human exploration of the deep ocean and contribute to the development of global marine research, Wang said.

Hadal trenches, defined as deep-sea regions exceeding 6,000 meters in depth, are characterized by extreme conditions, including immense hydrostatic pressure, perpetual darkness, low temperatures, and significant tectonic activity. These unique environments foster complex chemosynthetic ecosystems and harbor unknown life forms, making them a frontier for groundbreaking discoveries in both Earth and life sciences, according to the IDSSE.

To date, the Global TREnD dive expeditions have been conducted in nine major global hadal trenches, including the Mariana, Yap, Kermadec, Diamantina, Wallaby-Zenith, Java, Kuril-Kamchatka, Aleutian, and Puysegur trenches. 

People look at deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe (Striver) aboard Tansuo-1 research vessel during a Concluding Open Day of a joint China-New Zealand dive expedition in Wellington, New Zealand, March 21, 2025. Chinese and New Zealand scientists have successfully concluded a groundbreaking collaborative dive expedition to the Puysegur Trench, supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Global Trench Exploration and Diving program (Global TREnD).

"For the first time in history, humans have reached the deepest point of the Puysegur Trench," said Du Mengran, chief scientist of the joint research expedition, during the Concluding Open Day in Wellington on Friday. (Xinhua/Long Lei)
JAKARTA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A direct flight route linking Guangzhou, the capital of south China's Guangdong Province, with Surabaya, the capital of the Indonesian province of East Java, was launched on Friday.

Passengers departed from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on the route's inaugural flight and arrived at Juanda International Airport in Sidoarjo, a satellite city of Surabaya, at 9:55 p.m. local time on Friday after five hours and 40 minutes. The flight route is operated by China Southern Airlines.

The inaugural flight was welcomed with a grand water salute at Juanda International Airport, attended by Indonesian government officials, Chinese diplomats, and airport representatives. Passengers were greeted with cultural performances and special souvenirs, symbolizing the strong ties between the two nations.

"The Guangzhou-Surabaya route is operated using an Airbus A321 aircraft with a frequency of four times a week," General Manager of China Southern Airlines Jakarta Branch, Wang Hongxiong, said in a statement on Saturday.

According to him, Guangzhou to Surabaya flights with China Southern Airlines are available every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Meanwhile, flights from Surabaya to Guangzhou are available every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

"As the first mainland city in China to have direct flights to Surabaya, Guangzhou leverages the advantages of Baiyun International Airport as a major flight hub connecting the whole of China," Wang said.

He went on to say that the new route is not only to create a fast lane for travel between China and Surabaya, but also to further strengthen in-depth cooperation in trade, tourism and culture. 
BRUSSELS, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The foreign ministers of France, Germany, and Britain (the E3) called for an immediate return to a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday.

"The resumption of Israeli strikes in Gaza marks a dramatic step backward for the people of Gaza, the hostages, their families and the entire region," the ministers said in a joint statement released late evening, calling on "all parties to re-engage with negotiations to ensure the ceasefire is implemented in full and becomes permanent." 
PARIS, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain on Friday jointly called for an immediate return to a ceasefire in Gaza.

"The resumption of Israeli strikes in Gaza marks a dramatic step backward for the people of Gaza, the hostages, their families and the entire region," the ministers said in a joint statement released late Friday evening, calling on "all parties to re-engage with negotiations to ensure the ceasefire is implemented in full and becomes permanent."

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which took effect on Jan. 19, has been largely held until Israel launched surprise airstrikes on Gaza on Tuesday.

Highlighting the hostilities between Israel and Hamas, the statement emphasized that "this conflict cannot be resolved through military means" and warned that "a return to fighting will only result in the deaths of more Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages."

Urging Israel to fully respect international law and allow the flow of aid into Gaza immediately, the ministers said: "Civilians should be protected and not be cut off from essential aid or assistance."

They also called on Israel to restore humanitarian access and ensure access to medical care and temporary medical evacuations under international humanitarian law.

Referring to UN employees, including European nationals, killed and injured during the deadly attack, the statement emphasized that UN personnel and its premises should be protected and never be a target. They demanded a full investigation into what happened.

"A long-lasting ceasefire is the only credible pathway toward a sustainable peace, a two-state solution and the reconstruction of Gaza," said the statement. 
Just a few things we wanted to share with our closest readers by way of pop culture, community reporting and top headlines.

Check TKC news gathering . . .

Cowtown Cosplay Takes Over Inside Loop

70,000 fans expected to attend Planet Comicon Kansas City this weekend It's looking to be a jam packed weekend in downtown Kansas City with tens of thousands of people heading to Planet Comicon Kansas City.

First Responders Fight Inferno

Video: Emergency crews battle structure collapse in Independence house fire Crews were forced to take a defensive attack as part of the structure had already collapsed before they arrived

More Deets On Hospital Case

Whistleblower sues Children's Hospital after controversial firing Dr. Tom Curran sues Children's Mercy Hospital for wrongful termination after being fired in 2023

Local Late Night Snack

Cosmo Burger expanding to standalone Crossroads spot, smashing into brand's longtime brick-and-mortar dream Cosmo Burger's days as a side dish only will soon be over, the rapidly iconic smashburger's creator said this week, announcing plans for a new restaurant in the East Crossroads where its signature menu item finally becomes the main course.

Kansas City Career Lady Shares Her Story

Check Out Courtney Thomas's Story Today we'd like to introduce you to Courtney Thomas Hi Courtney, thanks for joining us today. We'd love for you to start by introducing yourself. In 2002, I took the biggest leap of my life and moved halfway across the country. This 26-year old, animal loving, young woman took her big dreams, NC accent, and [...]

Weekend Sneak Peek

Kendall Jenner flashes her butt in thong bikini Jenner left no caption as Hailey Bieber, Gigi Hadid, Sami Sheen, Candice Swanepoel and Lauren Sanchez hit the like button on her post. She was modeling for Calzedonia.

MAGA Cuts Off Adversaries

Trump revokes security clearance for Joe Biden and entire family, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and other political foes "I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information," Trump wrote in the memo to the heads of executive departments and agencies, before naming those he's barring from receiving classified information.

Former Prez Rallies Progressives

The Bidens want back in With the Democratic Party struggling to find a new direction, former President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden have offered to jump in and help with fundraising and rebuilding.

Car Talk & The Republic

Tesla attacks stoke fears of political violence Weeks of violent protests at Elon Musk's Tesla showrooms and charging stations are fueling concerns political tensions could be reaching a boiling point amid anger and frustration over Musk's...

Holy Land Sets Terms

Israel says it will maintain 'permanent' presence in Gaza unless hostages are freed | CNN Israel's defense minister said that he'd instructed the Israeli military "to seize additional areas in Gaza, while evacuating the population, and to expand the security zones around Gaza in order to protect Israeli communities and IDF soldiers through permanent maintenance of the territory by Israel."

Eastern Europe Fight Cont'd

Russian drones hit civilian targets in Ukraine's Odesa, injure three, governor says Russian forces launched a mass drone attack on Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa late on Thursday, injuring three people and damaging a high-rise apartment building and a shopping centre, the regional governor said.

Rocketman Steals Show

Record thefts boost North Korea to third-largest bitcoin holder A record-breaking cyber-hack last month puts Pyongyang's bitcoin reserves behind only the US and Britain, offering Kim Jong-un a financial lifeline

Rude Tech Disconnected

'Chubby filter' pulled from TikTok after outraged users slammed it A CONTROVERSIAL TikTok filter has been banned after experts warned it created a "toxic" online culture. The "chubby filter" used A.I to make it appear as though users had dramatically gained ...

Friendly Advice: Be Careful With Online Strangers

Get laid, not played: These are the best hookup apps of 2025 We've tested the best hookup apps to help you find a fling, FWB sitch, a one-night stand, or whatever else you wanna call it.

Home Team Warms Up

Royals split the split-squad game, beat Mariners and lose Cole Ragans got shelled by the A's.

Local Legend Moves On

KU Jayhawks, Royals broadcaster Bob Davis dead at 80, university says Bob Davis, a well-known play-by-play sportscaster known for his work with the Kansas City Royals and the University of Kansas Jayhawks, died at the age of 80

Kansas City Forecast For Now

Windy, scattered thunderstorms possible Saturday into Sunday Rain will clear out early Sunday

Jack Harlow - Just Us feat. Doja Cat was the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.
A recent community meeting that might have been overlooked deserves attention this weekend . . .

Here's Mayor Q challenging the current American voter zeitgeist when it comes to immigration issues given that most voters seem to agree with Prez Trump's mass deportation tactics . . .

Check-it . . .



The mayor said he wants to continue meeting with the community.



Every day we're not making this crisis better, every day we're not improving, or helping someone work through documentation and other issues, is a day that I think we're making someone live in a walk-in prison, frankly, Lucas said. When I hear her mother talking about feeling fear when she drops her kids off at school every day, that speaks to me."



He said KCMO is already providing some services to support immigrants, such as the Office of Language Access (OLA) and the Fountain Cards, a city ID that allows undocumented immigrants to access some services.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Developing . . .


Even in the midst of rough circumstances . . . Hope springs eternal . . . Sure, it's a cliche but there really isn't much to offer locals beyond the best of intentions year after year of record-breaking homicide numbers.



Here's the latest and more info about people working to stop the trend . . .



A KCPD spokesperson said officers were dispatched around 10:15 a.m. Friday on a shooting call in the 1300 block of E. 89th Street.

When police arrived on the scene, they made contact with a juvenile male shooting victim.

The victim was transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Related . . .

KC United for Public Safety seeks to get the number of homicides under 100 Nothing is solved overnight, including violence in Kansas City, Missouri, but one group believes they have a formula for success to address the problem.

Developing . ..
PARIS, March 22 (Xinhua) -- France on Saturday expressed deep concern over the renewed tensions in southern Lebanon, condemned the rocket fire into Israel from Lebanese territory, and called on Israel to exercise restraint following its retaliatory strikes.

In a foreign ministry statement, France urged all parties to uphold the commitments made under the ceasefire agreement reached in November 2024, to avoid an escalation that could have serious consequences for the security of Lebanon, Israel, and the wider region.

The statement also urged to preserve the significant progress achieved in recent months to ensure the safety of both Israelis and Lebanese on either side of the Blue Line. 
Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it.





I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends.





More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it.





The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity.





About me:

I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS.

Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line).

Age: 42

Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed.





I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it).
Laylatul Qadr: Facts, Signs and Deeds

The magnificent and spiritually radiant night of Laylatul Qadr was granted exclusively to the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Aleihi Wa Sallam) as a result of his deep concern for his followers

Saturday March 22, 2025 12:38 PM , Khursheed Alam Dawood Qasmi

The last ten nights of Ramadan hold immense virtue and significance. These nights are a time for seeking freedom from the fire of Hell, engaging in the profound act of I'tikaaf, and, most importantly, witnessing the blessed occurrence of Laylatul Qadr (The Night of Decree) on one of the odd nights. Laylatul Qadr is a night of extraordinary blessings, unmatched virtue, and immense spiritual importance. Numerous Hadiths highlight its countless rewards, and Allah Himself emphasizes its greatness in the Glorious Qur'an. In fact, an entire chapterSurah Al-Qadrwas revealed to honour this sacred night. The name Laylatul Qadr carries deep meaning, signifying both "the Night of Decree" and "the Night of Value," indicating its unparalleled status and honour in the sight of Allah.

What is the Meaning of "Qadr"? One of the meanings of "Qadr" is greatness and honour. .This night is called "Laylatul Qadr" because of it is a night of greatness, honour, majesty and dignity. Abu Bakr Warraq has stated that this night is so called because a person becomes a man of honour and dignity on account of repentance, seeking pardon and righteous acts during this night, whilst prior to this he might have lacked honour and dignity on account of unrighteous life he might have led. (Ma'ariful Qur'an: 8/844)

Laylatul Qadr Was Granted Only to This Ummah

The magnificent and spiritually radiant night of Laylatul Qadr was granted exclusively to the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Aleihi Wa Sallam) as a result of his deep concern for his followers. This night is a tremendous blessing from Allah, a gift that no other nation before this was ever given. The Prophet (saws) said: "Allah has bestowed Laylatul Qadr upon my Ummah, and no nation before them was ever granted this night." (Jami'ul Ahadith, Hadith: 39912)

It is mentioned in Muwatta Imam Malik: "The Messenger of Allah (saws) was shown the lifespans of the people before him, or as much as Allah willed to show him. He felt that the lifespan of his Ummah was too short for them to reach the level of worship and deeds that those before them had attained due to their long lives. So, Allah granted him (saws) Laylatul Qadr, which is better (in terms of worship) than a thousand months." (Muwatta Imam Malik, Hadith: 1145)

It is in another narration, the Messenger of Allah (saws) mentioned a man from Bani Israil who had continuously worn his armour in the path of Allah for a thousand months; the Muslims were amazed upon hearing this. So, Allah (swt) revealed the verse: "Indeed, We sent it (the Quran) down on the Night of Decree..." This was to show that the worship performed on Laylatul Qadr is greater in reward than the thousand months during which that man had worn the armour for Allahs cause. (Al-Sunan Al-Kubra by Al-Bayhaqi, Hadith: 8522)

Signs of Laylatul Qadr and Expected Night

The exact date of Laylatul Qadr, a night filled with immense blessings, honour, and dignity, has not been specified. However, it is confirmed that Laylatul Qadr occurs on one of the odd nights in the last ten days of Ramadan. Once, the Messenger of Allah (saws) was coming to inform his Companions (RadhiAllah Ahnhum) about the specific night of Laylatul Qadr. However, on his way, he found two men arguing. As a result, the knowledge of its exact date was taken away from him. So, Laylatul Qadr was not specified. In a Hadith, it is narrated that the Prophet (saws) came out with the intention of informing his companions about Laylatul Qadr, but he found two people (from Muslims) quarrelling. The Prophet (saws) then said: "I came out to inform you about Laylatul Qadr, but two people were arguing, so that knowledge was taken away from me. Therefore, seek it in the last ten nights of Ramadan." (Shu'abul Iman, Hadith: 3406)

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (ra) narrated that someone asked the Messenger of Allah (saws) about Laylatul Qadr; while I was listening. The Prophet (saws) replied: "It occurs in every Ramadan." (Sunan Abi Dawood, Hadith: 1387)

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (ra) stated that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "Seek Laylatul Qadr in the last ten days of Ramadan!" (Musnad Abi Dawood Al-Tayalisi, Hadith: 2047)

Sayyiduna Ubada bin Al-Samit (ra) asked the Messenger of Allah (saws) about Laylatul Qadr, so he (saws) replied: "It is in the last ten nights of Ramadan. It occurs on an odd night: the 21st night, the 23rd night, the 25th night, the 27th night, the 29th night, or the last night of Ramadan. Those who stand in Salaah on that night with faith and sincerity, their previous sins will be forgiven. Its signs are that it is a night of extreme comfort, clarity, tranquillity and silence. This night is neither too hot nor too cold. The moon shines brightly on this night. There is no permission for stars to fall until dawn. It is also from the signs of that night that on the morning, the sun rises without rays, appearing equal and resembling the full moon of the 14th night. Allah has made it forbidden for Satan to accompany the sun on that day. (Al-Durr Al-Manthur 8/571)

Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (ra) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "I have seen this night (Laylatul Qadr). It is in one of the odd nights of the last ten days, and it is an extremely tranquil and comforting night. It is neither hot nor cold. The moon shines brightly on this night, and Satan does not appear until dawn." (Al-Durr Al-Manthur 8/571)

Understanding Differences in Islamic Dates Across Countries

Some individuals raise concerns regarding the discrepancies in Islamic dates observed in different countries. For instance, while it may be the 21st night of Ramadan in India, it could be the 22nd night in Saudi Arabia. This leads to the question: On which date is Laylatul Qadr determined, or will it be observed on different days in different countries? The answer is that On account of geographical positions, the time will vary from place to place. As a result, the Night of Qadr will not occur in all the regions of the world simultaneously. This is not a problem because people of each location should calculate and consecrate the night and receive its blessings according to their geographical position. Allah, the Pure and Exalted, knows best. (Ma'ariful Qur'an 8/848)

The Importance of Worship on Laylatul Qadr

Allah (swt) says about the significance of worship on Laylatul Qadr in the Glorious Qur'an, stating: (Translation) "Laylatul Qadr is better than a thousand months." A thousand months equates to eighty-three years and four months. This means that the reward for worshiping during Laylatul Qadr is greater than the reward for worshiping for a thousand months. (Bayanul Qur'an)

Sayyiduna Anas (ra) narrates that it is reported that during Laylatul Qadr, Jibraeel (as) comes with a group of angels, and they supplicate for forgiveness for those who are engaged in the worship of Allah. (Bayanul Qur'an)

Imam Ibn Abi Shaibah (Rahimahullah) narrated from Sayyiduna Hasan (ra) that he stated: "I do not consider any day superior to another day or any night superior to another night, except for Laylatul Qadr, because (in terms of worship,) it is better than a thousand months." (Al-Durr Al-Manthur 6/1054)

Worship on Laylatul Qadr

During the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan specifically the 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th, and 29th, we should be engaged in worship while seeking Laylatul Qadr. Seeking Laylatul Qadr means increasing our acts of worship on these nights, including recitation of the Qur'an, Dhikr (remembrance of Allah), voluntary Salaah and other good deeds. Here are a few Hadiths related to worship during these nights:

Sayyiduna Anas (ra) stated that any act of worship, including charity, prayer, and Zakat, performed on Laylatul Qadr is superior and better than the acts performed over a thousand months. (Fathul Qadir by Al-Shawkani 5/577)

The Messenger of Allah (saws) instructed Ummul Mu'minin Sayyidah Aisha (ra) to make supplication on Laylatul Qadr. Consequently, Sufyan Al-Thawri (Rahimahullah) remarked that, in his opinion, supplication on Laylatul Qadr is better than Salaah. It means that a person dedicating himself to supplication is better than a Salaah without supplication or with lacking supplication. However, if a person performs Salaah while also making significant supplications, such as asking for Allah's mercy during verses of mercy or seeking refuge in Allah during verses of punishment, then that Salaah becomes superior. The best approach is to perform Tahajjud (the night Salaah), engage in recitation of the Glorious Qur'an, and make supplications. (Lata'iful Ma'arif by Ibn Hajar 204)

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (ra) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "Whoever stands in worship on Laylatul Qadr with faith and seeking reward, all of his previous sins will be forgiven." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith: 1901) This means that a person who engages in worship on Laylatul Qadr in a state of faith and hope for Allah's reward will have all their previous sins forgiven. The term "Qayaam" in this Hadith refers to performing Tahajjud Salah, engaging in other voluntary acts of worship and making supplications, as the Prophet (saws) taught Sayyidah Aisha (ra) to make supplication.

During the month of Ramadan, the Messenger of Allah (saws) had a regular practice of performing Tahajjud Salaah at night and reciting the Glorious Qur'an with Tartil (slow and measured recitation). When he would recite verses related to mercy, he would ask Allah for that mercy, and when he recited verses about punishment, he would seek refuge in Allah from it. In this manner, the Prophet (saws) incorporated Salah, recitation and supplication into his acts of worship. This comprehensive approach is indeed the best way to engage in worship during the blessed month of Ramadan.

Dua for Laylatul Qadr

What should one do and which supplication should be made on Laylatul Qadr? In this regard, Ummul Mu'minin Sayyidah Aisha (ra) narrates that she asked the Messenger of Allah (saws) O Messenger of Allah! If I find out that it is Laylatul Qadr, what should I ask my Lord and what supplication should I make?" The Prophet (saws) replied: "Make this Dua:       ." (Shuabul Iman, Hadith: 3427) Translation: "O Allah! You are Most Forgiving, and You love forgiveness; so forgive me!" This supplication highlights the importance of seeking forgiveness from Allah during this blessed night.

One may wonder why the Messenger of Allah (saws) taught us to seek forgiveness through this supplication, especially when a Muslim is generally engaged in righteous deeds throughout the month of Ramadan. Why, then, should one ask for forgiveness on Laylatul Qadr? The answer lies in the understanding that even the righteous and pious servants of Allah, following their often good deeds, they do not consider their good deeds as good deeds. Despite their extensive acts of righteousness, they still perceive themselves as sinners and unworthy of Allah's mercy. They consider their good deeds falling short of what is required and thus continually seek Allah's forgiveness. This attitude is a hallmark of true piety and devotion.

Deprived People

The entire month of Ramadan is a season of spring for Muslims, offering numerous opportunities for spiritual growth and reward. The last ten days, in particular, hold great significance, and one should engage in abundant worship during this time. These nights, especially the odd nights, are filled with light and blessings, and wasting even a minute of them is a sign of misfortune. Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (ra) reported that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "...In it is a night better than a thousand months. Whoever is deprived of its goodness is indeed deprived." (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith: 7148) This means that within Ramadan lies a night that is superior to a thousand months; those who miss out on its blessings are truly missing out on all forms of goodness.

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Multi state JAC seeks freeze of delimitation exercise for another 25 years

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) Saturday March 22, 2025 asked the Narendra Modi led BJP government in New Delhi to freeze the delimitation exercise for another 25 years

Saturday March 22, 2025 8:06 PM , Ahmed Abdullah Faizee

Chennai: The Joint Action Committee (JAC) Saturday March 22, 2025 asked the Narendra Modi led BJP government in New Delhi to freeze the delimitation exercise for another 25 years.

The meeting was called by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in Chennai who is the Convener of the multi-state Joint Action Committee  comprising mainly of non-BJP ruled states.

About Delimitation Commission

The Delimitation Commission of India was established under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act, tasked to redraw the boundaries of legislative assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on population.

The present delimitation of parliamentary constituencies within states, has been done on the basis of the 2001 census, under the provisions of Delimitation Act, 2002. The next delimitation exercise is scheduled to be done in 2026 following the 84th amendment to the Constitution.

The new parliament building inaugurated last year has been designed to accommodate over 888 MPs in Lok Sabha as compared to 543 current and 384 in Rajya Sabha as compared to existing 245, who will be elected after the delimitation exercise if done in 2026.

JAC on Delimitation Resolution

The Stalin-led JAC on Delimitation however opposed the population based delimitation exercise.

The States which have effectively implemented the population control program and consequently whose population share has come down, should not be penalised, the JAC said in a resolution passed in its first meeting Saturday.

The JAC resolution also sought transparency in the future delimitation exercise whenever it is done.

"Any delimitation exercise carried out by the Union government to improve the content and character of our democracy should be done transparently, enabling political parties of all the states, state governments, and other stakeholders to participate, and contribute to it", the resolution said adding the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on 1971 census should be extended by another 25 years.

"Fair Delimitation"

Using the platform to give a message to the Centre amidst the ongoing language war , Stalin delivered his speech in Tamil.

Ahead of the meeting, TN CM Stalin had posted a series of messages on X using the hash tag #FAIRDELIMITATION.

Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka DK Shivakumar were those who attended the meeting.

Former Telangana IT Minister and BRS working president KT Ramarao and leaders from political parties such as YSRCP, Congress, CPI(M), CPI, BJD, and, AAP were also present.

[Ahmed Abdullah Faizee is a trainee writer at ummid.com]

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Ramadan 2025: 4K registered Pilgrims in Itikaf at Masjid Nabawi

A total of 4,000 Muslims - including men and women both, from 120 countries have confined them to The Prophets Mosque, Masjid Nabawi, to perform Itikaf

Saturday March 22, 2025 5:57 PM , Ahmed Abdullah Faizee

Madinah al Munawwarah: A total of 4,000 Muslims - including men and women both, from 120 countries have confined them to The Prophets Mosque, Masjid Nabawi, to perform Itikaf.

What is Itikaf?

Itikaf is performed in the last and final ten days of Ramadan, The Holy Month of Fasting, when a Mutakif confines him or her  accommodated in separate sections, to mosque premises and leave only after sighting of the Eid Moon and beginning of the month of Shawwal.

Eid al Fitr or simply Eid marks the end of Ramadan  the month when Muslims around the world fast from dawn to dusk. Eid al Fitr 2025 is likely to be on March 30 or 31, 2025.

Itikaf can be performed in any mosque in the world. But, the reward of Itikaf becomes manifold when performed in any of the The Two Holy Mosques  The Grand Mosque in Makkah and The Prophets Mosque in Madinah.

The last ten days of Ramadan are also significant as there is one night in these ten days which is " Laylatul Qadr ".

Itikaf in Masjid Nabawi

The Mutakifs in Masjid Nabawi arrived at the designated worship areas, including the Western roof, accessible via stairs No. 6 and 10, as well as the north-eastern section and entrance gates 24 and 25A Thursday March 20.

The General Authority for the Care of the Two Holy Mosques has facilitated their stay with a range of services to ensure that their time in seclusion for worship proceeds smoothly.

Among the services provided are dedicated service desks, luggage lockers, medical clinics, first aid, and translation support in various languages.

The authority also offers religious lessons, full hospitality for iftar, dinner, and suhoor, mobile charging stations, and personal care kits.

Each mutakif receives a bracelet that allows easy access to designated areas and helps them benefit from the available services, contributing to a spiritual and organized worship experience during these sacred days.

Unregistered Mutakifs

The General Authority for the Care of the Two Holy Mosques provide special and privileged services to Mutakifs who register using the designated App as there are only limited space available.

There are millions of Muslims from around the world who visit Masjid Nabawi during the month of Ramadan. As per the official data , over 14 million Muslims from different parts of world visited The Prophet's Mosque in the first half of the ongoing month of Ramadan.

The number of pilgrims visiting Masjid Nabawi during the last ten days of Ramadan increase manifold. And, not all are selected for the privileged services offered to Mutakifs by The General Authority for the Care of the Two Holy Mosques.

Itikaaf Facilities at Masjid An Nabawi pic.twitter.com/CdNPZj7dFo   (@HaramainInfo) March 20, 2025

Hence, besides 4,000 Mutakifs, who are being provided special services by the General Authority for the Care of the Two Holy Mosques owing to their selection after registration, there are thousands others who perform Itikaf at Masjid Nabawi unregistered.

These unregistered Mutakifs have also confined them to the premises of Masjid Nabawi for the last and final ten days of Ramadan. The only difference is that they have to mend for themselves for the arrangement of their meals and other needs.

Meanwhile, Saudi Royal Court is gearing up to sight the Eid 2025 Moon for which special arrangement will be made on Ramadan 29, 1446 AH corresponding to March 29, 2025.

[Ahmed Abdullah Faizee is a trainee writer at ummid.com]

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Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
WASHINGTON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to revoke the temporary legal status of about 532,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan migrants in late April, U.S. media reported Friday.

The targeted people will be stripped of work permits and deportation protections under an immigration authority known as parole established by the administration of former President Joe Biden.

The measure will take effect on April 24, 30 days after the scheduled official publication on March 25 of the related notice in Federal Register.

The migrants who arrived in the United States since October 2022 are urged to self-deport during the 30-day time frame. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said they will otherwise face arrest or deportation.

In a statement, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the migrants allowed entry under the Biden-era program known as CHNV process were "loosely vetted." 
While the recent market dip has created bargains, some stocks have sufficiently lagged the market in the past year to warrant that title regardless of what's transpired in 2025. Among them are CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CRSP) and Merck (NYSE: MRK), two companies that develop innovative medical therapies.

CRISPR Therapeutics' shares are down by 41% over the trailing-12-month period, while Merck's have declined by 22%. Though both companies have encountered some headwinds, there are good reasons for patient investors to initiate positions, especially at current levels.

1. CRISPR Therapeutics

It's not hard to figure out why CRISPR Therapeutics, a gene-editing specialist, isn't performing well. Though the company earned approval for Casgevy, which treats a pair of rare blood diseases, in late 2023, it's still not generating much revenue from it. Administering gene-editing therapies is expensive and time-consuming. Furthermore, CRISPR Therapeutics will share the profits generated from Casgevy with Vertex Pharmaceuticals, with which it developed the medicine; Vertex is entitled to 60% of the program profits.

Still, Casgevy is now approved in the U.S., the U.K., and the European Union, in addition to several countries in the Middle East where the market opportunity may be larger than it is in the U.S. The mid-cap CRISPR Therapeutics would have never sought approvals in all those regions -- it's far too costly to do so for a company of this size. Even if it had, it wouldn't have done it that fast. So Casgevy's target market is much bigger than it otherwise would be, thanks to CRISPR Therapeutics' partnership with Vertex.

Although it isn't yet contributing much to CRISPR Therapeutics' results, Casgevy will, eventually. It costs $2.2 million per treatment course, and hardly any approved competing treatments can challenge it. Casgevy is a one-time curative option for two otherwise lifelong diseases that rob patients of years -- or decades -- of average life expectancy, and cause severe hardships and financial burdens to them and their families.

Elsewhere, CRISPR Therapeutics is developing other gene-editing medicines. It's working on a functional cure for type 1 diabetes. Meanwhile its CTX112, being developed to treat B-cell malignancies, has earned the Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This designation is granted to and helps speed up the development of medicines that target serious or life-threatening conditions and have provided promising early evidence of efficacy.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix

Asking for another season of Adolescence is, in some way, asking for another fictional murder to happen (just for it to be solved by the end, dont worry.) Heres everything we know about a potential second season of knife crime.

Based on many true stories

Adolescence is, right now, just a mini-series similar to Baby Reindeer. However, its focus on a recurring epidemic in U.K. youth culture does give the show an opportunity for another go. The show isnt based on one particular incident, rather a troubling trend in both the U.K. and globally. One of our aims was to ask, What is happening to our young men these days, and what are the pressures they face from their peers, from the internet, and from social media? Series co-creator and star Stephen Graham explained to Netflix on the core thesis of the series. And the pressures that come from all of those things are as difficult for kids here as they are the world over.

Getting Beefd?

While Netflix originally green-lit Adolescence as a mini series, its not out of the question to give it an upgrade to a multi-season show. The streamer did that for Beef once it saw the high reception and praise for the show; its even a possibility for shows outside the Netflix sphere as well, Max also upgraded The White Lotus to the luxury suite on their roster. Hopefully, Graham has a few pitches in mind for other epidemics to explore, maybe looking at Katies familys perspective as one idea.

How to expand the youth crime cinematic universe (YCU)

Plan Bs Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner told Deadline that they are in super preliminary talks with Graham about the next iteration of Adolescence. Gardner says they want to widen the aperture, stay true to its DNA [and] not be repetitive. That means the show could explore other issues besides masculinity, or focus more strongly on the victim. But it seems like the shows unique oner style of shooting would stay. [Director Philip Barantini]s style of doing the episodes in one take is not a gimmick. Its very much in conversation with the subject matter, Gardner said. In early conversations with Stephen and Jack, they were talking about how its too easy to look away.
By Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Austrian manufacturer RHI Magnesita spends about 1 million euros of its roughly 400 million euros earnings a year ensuring it complies with EU rules on corporate sustainability. A first wave of reforms to peel back layers of red tape will do little to cut that bill, it says.

The European Union's 52-page 'Simplification Omnibus', which would exempt smaller companies from sustainability reporting and pare back obligations on supply chain transparency, has left bigger companies like RHI Magnesita frustrated and pushing for more.

The reforms were billed as a drive to remove layers of bureaucracy that cost European businesses time and money and set them at a disadvantage against cheaper rivals in China and in the U.S. where the Trump administration is aggressively rolling back regulation to spur growth.

"It looks, at least at first glance, that it actually doesn't change very much," RHI Magnesita's chief executive Stefan Borgas told Reuters.

RHI Magnesita says it conducts an additional audit and employs three or four full-time employees to collect the amount of data required by the EU law, which asks companies to report on more than 1,000 sustainability data points.

The firm's global business spans 65 production sites and employs 20,000 staff. It reported adjusted earnings before tax, interest and amortization of 407 million euros in 2024.

February's proposals were part of a broader package of EU reforms aimed at bolstering European competitiveness and encouraging industry to decarbonise.

EU leaders discussed further rounds of reforms at a summit in Brussels on Thursday, where they published a joint statement asking the Commission to target rules around industrial decarbonisation and defence next.

The European Commission's proposals to curb sustainability rules will bring relief to businesses employing fewer than 1,000 staff, which the plans would exempt from the reporting rules. It forecasts companies will save 4.4 billion euros ($4.77 billion) per year.

Larger companies are likely to benefit more from proposed changes to supply chain transparency rules, which the Commission says would more than halve the estimated annual compliance costs of 480,000 euros for the largest companies.

Still, big business remains unconvinced. The AFEP group of the 118 biggest private businesses in France said the proposals "do not correct the bureaucratic burden" for larger companies.

Gwenaelle Avice Huet, Europe head of French blue-chip Schneider Electric, with annual revenues of 38 billion euros, said big companies have "been a little bit set aside". However, she did welcome the shelving of plans to introduce more specific reporting for each sector.
Careless People author Sarah Wynn-Williams stands behind former Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Mark Zuckerberg in 2014. Photo: Oscar Siagian/Getty Images

Sarah Wynn-Williams cant do interviews. She cant post on social media or go on tour or give a talk. Her family cant speak on her behalf, and her friends are afraid to. None of this has affected the sales of her first book, a memoir of the six years she spent working for Facebook. Instead, it may have helped them: The moment that an arbitrator (requested by Meta) slapped Wynn-Williams with a gag order, banning her from promoting her memoir, Careless People, he handed her the kind of publicity no book party could match. Suddenly, Careless People wasnt just another tech whistleblower book; it was the book Mark Zuckerberg didnt want you to read, and for many, thats enough to recommend it. In the week following its release on March 11, Careless People hit the top of the Times best-seller list and sold 60,000 copies. Its selling out in New York bookstores and prominently displayed in the ones that still have it. The book has taken on an air of persecution, even scarcity  as much as something freely available on Amazon (its now No. 3 on the Amazon best-seller list) can be called those things. When I brought a copy up to the counter at a Brooklyn Barnes & Noble, the salesperson waggled his eyebrows. Ooo, yeah, everyones reading this one, he said. I think theyre trying to get it taken off shelves, so its like, Get it while you can.

The book is not being taken off shelves, and Meta has stopped short of saying it thinks it should be. The reason an arbitrator says Wynn-Williams, a former global policy director at the company, cant promote it is because she violated the non-disparagement agreement she signed as part of her severance when Facebook fired her in 2017. Her publisher, Flatiron, knew the subject matter was risky. The imprint announced the existence of Careless People just six days before the pub date, giving Wynn-Williams enough time to squeak in a few interviews teasing the books topics  including Facebooks investment in censorship tools that it hoped would give it entree to China  and sending Metas comms team, which issued statements denying the contents of a book no one had even read yet, into a tailspin. One document Meta put out to try to throw the public off the scent, titled CARELESS REPRINT, was simply a list of all the subjects it thought would be in the book, annotated by previously published damning stories about said subjects. I asked Metas communications director, Andy Stone, why it would do this; doesnt that just draw attention to the stuff shes writing about, maybe even bolster it? Stone said he didnt think so. The goal was just just to point out that much of this had been reported previously.

The book turned out to contain much more. Wynn-Williams recounts long, detailed in-person conversations with Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and her former manager Joel Kaplan, who is now Metas top policy official and chief liaison with the Trump administration. She reprints what appear to be excerpts from company emails and DMs. Since her work was focused on Facebooks global policy, she spends much of the book zigzagging across the globe from Indonesia to Colombia, recounting private meetings, karaoke sessions, and games of Settlers of Catan  which she claims everyone let Zuck win  from the perspective of the most nervous person on the private jet. Wynn-Williams recalls the meetings that she says she persuaded Zuckerberg to attend with foreign dignitaries, determined to sway legislation that could make or break Facebooks fortunes in other countries. Its made very clear to me that Mark has no interest in policy or politics  his disregard for politics is a point of pride, she writes. Her book is an account of him learning to care  in part, she implies, because of her influence.

Wynn-Williams describes being stunned by the ignorance of executives, as when Sandberg insists that Facebook could and should become a global broker for organ donation. (That idea gets scrapped.) But despite the cavalier attitude she says she witnessed toward other countries legal systems and Metas general disregard for employees personal lives, Wynn-Williams portrays herself as a true believer. She admits to being dazzled by Sandbergs star power and touched when she sees Zuckerbergs softer side. Her relationship with Kaplan is contentious; she alleges that Kaplan demanded she work through her maternity leave, barraged her with sexually charged comments on a regular basis, and grinded against her during a company party. (Metas communications team says that Wynn-Williamss allegations were found to be misleading and unfounded.) But she doesnt really turn on Zuckerberg until a Facebook employee in Brazil is arrested  and, she writes, the founder doesnt seem to care. As she described it to NPR, her loss of faith in the company wasnt a lightning bolt. It was sort of a steady drip, drip, drip.

A few days after Careless People debuted, I called Megan Lynch, Flatirons publisher and executive VP. The book had by then entered Amazons top five and the mood at the imprint, which is owned by Macmillan, seemed to tilt unstably from excitement (everyones talking about our book), to concern (authors in trouble for our book), to avoidance (we dont want to be in trouble for our book). Lynch, who acquired and edited Careless People, stated and restated her support for Wynn-Williams, whom she calls a hero. I asked her how Wynn-Williams was doing. Nervous, but soldiering on, Lynch says. She sees the bigger picture in all of this, and it was very important to her to share her truth. Gratitude about having done that outweighs the extreme difficulty of the personal situation that she is in. However, she added, its frustrating to her that the story of Meta trying to silence her is distracting people from the things that are on the page, and the things that are on the page are very, very serious things that she hopes everybody pays attention to. But how are sales? Lynchs voice brightened: Obviously, its been fun to see the Amazon pop!

Lynch and her team first met Wynn-Williams last May in the midtown offices of the authors agent, Christy Fletcher of UTA. Lynch had never heard of Wynn-Williams, who is 45 and lives in London. The author and agent handed off a nearly complete manuscript that persuaded Lynch to put in a bid. I mean, there have been Facebook-whistleblower books before, you know. That wasnt what drew me to this book, Lynch told me. I wanted to publish it because I thought it was an amazing memoir that told the story of being an ambitious woman of my generation, and I connected with it in a strongly personal way. This is maybe especially because the book is full of stories about confrontations with, among others, Sheryl Sandberg, who was then the companys COO. Women my age, we were all very earnest acolytes of Lean In when it was published, Lynch said, adding that theres been profound disillusionment since then. In Wynn-Williamss description, Sandberg is a charismatic tyrant who demands too much work and too much intimacy from her underlings; at one point, Wynn-Williams writes that Sandberg and a 26-year-old protege  who acknowledges to Wynn-Williams that shes been chosen as Sheryls little doll  take turns lying in each others laps in the back of a car, stroking each others hair. During a long private-jet ride back from Davos, Sandberg tries to summon Wynn-Williams to share the jets one bed with her. Sarah, come to bed, she orders her loudly while their co-workers turn their gazes to the floor. (The author, at this point massively pregnant and distraught to be traveling at all, refuses.)

Sheryl Sandberg at the companys headquarters in 2017. Photo: Mark Peterson/Redux

Flatiron paid Wynn-Williams a healthy advance, Lynch said, confirming only that it was north of $500,000. Then began the problem of how to keep the book a secret. This was exacerbated by the fact that Wynn-Williams had just filed a whistleblower complaint with the SEC in April 2024, alleging that Meta misled investors about the extent of its operations in China and had planned to hire a chief editor who could remove content at the behest of the CCP. Lynch says Flatiron kept the editorial and production processes on a need-to-know basis, using techniques it had developed while handling past Macmillan tell-alls such as James Comeys book, Michael Wolffs Fire and Fury, and Edward Snowdens memoir. Since Lynch didnt work on those, she drew on her experience editing something even leakier: a quick-turnaround 2023 oral history of BTS, translated from Korean, called Beyond the Story. That one taught her what can happen when a publisher puts something in its catalogue called a shell listing, whereby a spot is held for a forthcoming book that isnt described beyond untitled music memoir or the like. There was an incident with the BTS book where Taylor Swift fans found the listing for untitled Flatiron book for a specific date that they thought was meaningful in Taylor Swift numerology and thought it was a Taylor Swift book and started ordering it. Then, obviously, we had to announce that it was not Taylor Swift, she said. Fortunately, there was a lot of overlap between Swifties and ARMY, so nobody got too upset. Lesson learned: No shell listing for Careless People.

Lynch had to move fast. Drawing on my experience with BTS, I felt like the No. 1 thing we could do to keep the project under wraps was not to have to keep it under wraps for very long, she said. Although she wanted Careless People to come out before the election, Flatiron needed the whole fall for editing, legal review, and production, so they landed on March. The books accounts of in-person conversations rely heavily on Wynn-Williamss memory of long-ago interactions with people who were not informed of the book before publication. While some of Wynn-Williamss former colleagues have posted in support of the book, others have disputed her account. One person who figures prominently in the book posted simply, No one called me. Meta, which Zuckerberg recently announced would stop employing fact-checkers, has made a huge deal out of that last bit: It alleges that the book wasnt fact-checked. If this is true, its not an aberration. Its an open secret that many publishers do not independently fact-check nonfiction books and largely rely on the writers to do so; often, a writer who wants another set of eyes on their work will need to hire a fact-checker themselves. Macmillans official line on Careless People is that although her account of her experiences is supported by a trove of documentation, they were not obligated to reach out to people in the book for comment. They also emphasize that this is standard for first-person memoirs. Or as Lynch puts it, Shes not a journalist. Shes not a historian. Its her personal recollections. Its not a book of news.

Nonetheless, Lynch was adamant that the manuscript she received from Wynn-Williams was fully annotated and that the author had saved all kinds of contemporaneous communications that are underpinning absolutely everything in the book  emails, memos, DMs, all kinds of things, ranging across the entire period she was working there, from 2011 to 2017. While she did not personally look at all of the evidence herself, Lynch said, I knew that if I had questions about something, what there was supporting evidence for and what there wasnt. And of course, Macmillans legal team vetted all of it. I asked Lynch what she thought fact-checking standards should be for a memoir, as opposed to for more straightforward reportage. This may be a question I punt to legal, she said. Was there a fact-checking process outside of the lawyers vetting that the author had reason to say what she said  someone actually going through those footnotes one by one and comparing them against the text? Again, she said, thats a question for the lawyers. (The lawyers, in the end, couldnt speak to me.) When Wynn-Williams was still able to do interviews, a reporter for Business Insider also asked her whether the book was fact-checked. I think Metas problem is using this to not answer the questions themselves. What I would love is for us not to fall into the distraction, Wynn-Williams said, dodging the question in turn.

Although the gag order suggests otherwise, Careless People is a careful book: Wynn-Williams, who was in her early 30s when she began working for Facebook, presents herself as a wide-eyed idealist, a small-town Everywoman who believes in the companys ability to do good long past the point when its harms have been publicized. The self she depicts in Careless People is one drawn helplessly to what she sees as Facebooks essential ideals of connectivity and openness. Facebook is the revolution that she wants to be a part of: We need to get this right, for the hundreds of millions who are sure to be using these platforms every day, for years to come. She acted as a Facebook ambassador, a friendly, networky presence who was unable to make big decisions but responsible for selling them on the global stage. The book reiterates again and again that she did not stray to the dark side. She writes that she watched in horror as anti-Muslim hate speech took over Facebook feeds in Myanmar, unchecked by content moderators. (She claims that for a time Facebooks operations team had only one Burmese speaking employee to deal with this.) She says she sounded the alarm bells when the company decided Facebook should be used as a tool to win elections worldwide but that everyone ignored her. And although she was among those who worked to get Zuckerberg an audience with Xi Jinping, she reserves special disgust for Facebooks dealings with Chinese officials.

Lynch said that because Wynn-Williamss tenure at Facebook ended eight years ago, the book had to answer the question of why now? even though I didnt think that was a fair question. There are things that she ended up adding about the urgency of understanding some of what happened between Facebook and China because of the coming AI weapons race. The why now? is mitigated by the fact that Meta continues to feature so prominently in the news  especially since Zuckerbergs public cozying up to the Trump administration  but there is friction in the book between what Wynn-Williams appears to be feeling in the moment and her retrospective analysis of it. Its easy to detect a kind of doublethink in sections where she expresses disgust at the companys actions while doubling down on her belief in its essence. She often seems to be insisting that what Facebook is doing is not really what Facebook is about. After detailing Zuckerbergs obsession with getting Facebook into China and how appalled she was when she realized it was actively building censorship tools to accomplish this, she writes, The mission of the company  making the world more open and connected  is the exact opposite of what the Chinese Communist Party wants, particularly under President Xi Jinping. This doesnt quite land, as its clear by this point in the book that the CCP and Facebook are not opposites. They share a major interest: collecting civilian data.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (center) and Zuckerberg in 2015. Wynn-Williams writes that Chinese officials were offended when Zuckerberg posted this photo because it only shows the back of Xis head. Photo: Ted S. Warren/Reuters

Wynn-Williams was not forthcoming even during the interviews she was able to do before the gag order. She is, after all, a former lawyer, diplomat, and tech exec; she knows how to stay on message. She has been vague about her activities since leaving Facebook in 2017. When Business Insider asked her how long it took to write the book, she said, The process was off and on There were moments when something would happen, there would be a headline about China, and Id think, It would be so different if people knew the truth. Lynch told me that she didnt know when Wynn-Williams started writing the book and that I would have to ask Fletcher, the authors agent. The book is a page-turner, and Wynn-Williams has never written one before, so I had to wonder: Did the author work with a ghostwriter? When I asked Lynch this, there was a pause on the line. Um, said Lynch. I am gonna have to leave that question to Christy because I wasnt involved with anyone but Sarah editorially. Just  yeah, I just have to let her answer the question. (A Macmillan publicist later told me that Wynn-Williams did not work with a ghostwriter; Fletcher did not respond to request for comment.)

Wynn-Williams has shared little about her post-Facebook career. One story described her only as a tech policy consultant, and both in the book and in other interviews she has mentioned working on the dialogue between the U.S. and China on the use of AI in weapons. She hasnt said for whom or in what capacity she did that, but public reports show that by 2021, she was living in London and working for the Minderoo Foundation, an Australian philanthropic venture founded by a mining-billionaire couple who pour money into environmental impact and tech-related research. Wynn-Williams held the title there of CEO of Frontier Technology and had the capacity to direct funding toward projects related to her interests  or so it seemed to Ariella Steinhorn, another refugee from the tech-policy world who has spent the past several years trying to get funding for an advocacy project related to whistleblowers, including many from the tech world, who are muzzled by NDAs. They met on Zoom in early 2023, and Steinhorn says Wynn-Williams seemed excited by her work; Wynn-Williams said she wanted to get Steinhorns whistleblower-focused project some funding through the foundation. I dont recall her talking about the experiences. It just seemed like she was on the same page, Steinhorn says. There were times where I would say something and she would nod and affirm it very intensely. Shortly after theyd connected, though, Wynn-Williams stopped responding to emails; to Steinhorn, it was as if she had disappeared.

Around the same time, documents made public by the SEC show that Wynn-Williams submitted a proposal to Meta that she hoped would push the company to disclose more about the inner workings of its past and present relationship with China at an annual shareholder meeting. But after hitting a series of roadblocks, she withdrew her proposal and the matter was dropped. Wynn-Williams alludes briefly to this time in the epilogue to her book, writing that she and another former Facebook employee turned tech whistleblower, Ifeoma Ozoma, started working with activist-shareholder groups to try to force companies such as Apple and Amazon to be more transparent and to stop forcing employees to sign NDAs that would prevent them from reporting abuse. They dont appear to have been successful either.

In light of all this, Careless People starts to look more like a drastic escalation than an opening salvo: memoir as nuclear option. Vincent White, an employment lawyer in New York, says that based on the Meta employment contracts hes seen, its likely she actually signed two NDAs  one when she was hired and another when she was fired. (Meta says Wynn-Williams was fired for poor performance and toxic behavior; she writes in the book that it happened after she reported Kaplan for sexual harassment and the company cleared him.) A lot of the time, companies wont enforce NDAs against whistleblowers because it makes them look like villains. And the optics of Metas gag order on Wynn-Williams are terrible, White says. But Im guessing its not about her, right? Whatever she wrote, its already out there. You cant put it back in, he says. This is to let the next person know: We are actually going to enforce those agreements. No matter how bad we look, well still get you for what you said. He guesses this is doubly on the companys hive mind since Meta just laid off 3,600 people, or 5 percent of its workforce, in February, citing poor performance  a couple dozen of whom White is now representing.

Shes doing a noble, brave thing, but I worry that shes destroying herself, says White. First off, she may never work again. Financially, the damages from this could be astronomical. And in terms of her reputation, shes going to always be the one who outed Meta, no matter what else she achieves. All of that will be a footnote to this. That might not be a bad thing. After the arbitrator ordered Wynn-Williams to stop promoting her book, Stone, the Meta spokesperson, took to Threads with a link to the decision, writing, This ruling affirms that Sarah Wynn Williams false and defamatory book should never have been published. Commenters rushed in to block his victory lap: i am now 500 more interested in this book! great sales pitch - thx big dog. Thanks for the heads up. Hadnt heard about this one, but now excited to read it. One poster, who said he was buying copies for his friends and family, summed it up: Arent you fascist fools familiar with the Streisand Effect?
An image from No Other Land, the Oscar-winning documentary by a Palestinian-Israeli activist collective. Photo: Front Row Filmed Entertainment

Mayor Steve Meiner looked almost apologetic on Wednesday at Miami Beachs City Hall as he declared he would withdraw his own proposal, which threatened to terminate the arthouse theater O Cinemas current lease and grant funding because it had screened the Oscar-winning Palestinian-Israeli documentary No Other Land. At times he seemed to contradict himself, admitting his resolution should have been more open to discussion while claiming it also wasnt healthy to debate. With tears welling up, he told the packed chambers, But I just want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, even though some of you said things that were hurtful: I love you all, I really, really do.

The proposal had been announced in an email newsletter sent on March 11, in which Meiner accused the film  which shows harrowing on-the-ground footage of the destruction of a West Bank village by Israeli soldiers between 2019 and 2023  of being egregiously antisemitic. He claimed that his proposed legislation was intended for the city, which currently rents space to the theater at South Beachs Historic City Hall, to move on from O Cinema, as permitted by our contract, and seek a cultural partner that better aligns with our community values.

Meiners threat received national attention; over 700 filmmakers and creatives (including Barry Jenkins, Phil Lord, Laura Poitras) signed an open letter of support for the single-screen nonprofit cinema, calling the proposal an act of censorship. The same tenor of indignation dominated the room during Wednesdays city-commissioner meeting, in which nearly a hundred constituents and defenders of O Cinema let loose on Meiner  both for the threat to the theater and for the fact that Meiner had chosen not to take questions at a virtual town hall held the night before  one minute at a time.

A woman who drove down from Broward County jokingly excused the pink rollers in her hair and pronounced that Miami Beach sucks now. O Cinema, she said, is the only reason she ever comes by anymore. A young O Cinema supporter later echoed the sentiment: I got up at 6 a.m. to be here and I dont get up at 6 a.m. for anything. Others against Meiners proposal identified as Zionists and disagreed with his claim that he was speaking for 90 percent of the Jewish community. Local filmmakers and members of Jewish Voice for Peace and the Miami DSA also spoke. Mountains filmmaker Monica Sorelle took her allotted minute to quote a statement from No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham, and referenced a recent hate crime in which a Jewish Miami Beach resident shot two Israeli tourists because he believed they were Palestinians  an example of how hatred spreads blindly.

The mayors defense was limited from the audience; less than a dozen spoke in favor of the proposal. One man compared No Other Land to D.W. Griffiths The Birth of a Nation. Two other supporters were fellow South Florida mayors, Hialeahs Esteban Bovo Jr. and Miamis Francis Suarez, along with the consul general of Israel in Miami, Maor Elbaz-Starinsky. Meiner allowed all three to speak for longer than a minute, though that overtime was eventually drowned out by constituents chanting one minutes up! (Elbaz-Starinsky responded by calling the constituents antisemites.) Elsewhere, the audience objected to the mayor claiming that O Cinema has never screened a film that shows the Israeli perspective. (Its co-produced and directed by Israelis! someone shouted.)

That Meiner (who claims he has, in fact, seen the film) dropped his proposal was perhaps not surprising, considering that the majority of the citys six commissioners had encouraged him to do so. But he also deferred a vote on a second resolution, which would encourage the theater to show films that highlight a fair and balanced viewpoint of the current war. An email from O Cinema went out Friday afternoon, addressed to friends and supporters, vowing to remain in conversation with the city until it is resolved.

Dangling threads didnt seem to dampen the mood after the meeting on Wednesday, however, as commissioner Joseph Magazine encouraged everyone present to take a photo together as a sign of unity. Only one, commissioner David Suarez, refused. (During the meeting, Suarez had called No Other Land a megaphone for Hamas sympathizers and declared that most of the people here would be the first victims of Hamas. He also went into graphic detail about how women would be sexually mutilated, thrown off rooftops, and stoned to death.)

Still, O Cinema co-founders Vivian Marthell and Kareem Tabsch  who remained stoic during the entire proceedings  are relieved with the outcome. I think were all overwhelmed by the positive support that we received from the community and encouraged by seeing democracy at work and hearing opposing viewpoints, Tabsch told Vulture after the meeting. I think the commission did the right thing today and that we came out victorious at the same time.

I totally feel hopeful. Weve been within the city of Miami Beach for ten years, Marthell added. Our programming speaks for itself. Its varied, its diverse, it speaks to our communities, it speaks to our issues, and it speaks to having dialogue.

O Cinema was the first theater in South Florida to screen No Other Land. When Meiner caught wind of this, he sent a letter, asking the theater to remove screenings of the film and claiming it was a one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people. The theater declined, to which Meiner responded with the proposed threat to its lease and funding. Even so, O Cinema continued programming more screenings of the film (which despite its Oscar win for Best Documentary, remains without an American distributor). Should we have capitulated to the mayors demands it would have been a betrayal of our mission and of our audience, Tabsch said. We couldnt allow our first amendment right to free speech be trampled on because if we had, where would it stop? It wouldnt just end at O Cinema and we could not allow that to happen to us and to our community.

This is far from the first attempt by South Florida politicians at interfering with film programming. In 2000, the city of Miami pulled $50,000 worth of county funding from the Miami Film Festival for screening the Cuban film La Vida Es Silbar, though the motion was ultimately repealed. More recently, in 2022, District 3 Commissioner Joe Carollo  notorious for a lawsuit over his weaponization of city departments against local businesses in Little Havana  wrested control of the Tower Theater, the only multi-screen first-run art cinema in Miami, away from Miami Dade College and Miami Film Festival. The venue is now closed most of the time.

Other forms of Palestinian art have been pulled elsewhere in Miami amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. As the Miami New Times reported, the citys Institute of Contemporary Art and arts organizations like Oolite Arts have taken down works relating to Palestine. Artist Charles Gaines has said the ICA asked him to alter one piece of art and to leave another out of a career retrospective of his work.

Tabsch and Marthell sound relieved that O Cinema has so far evaded the same fate as Tower Theater. But they are careful not to speak ill of those who threatened them. Having good relationships with our elected officials is important, Tabsch said, and I hope that this is a bump in the road and we can get back to the great relationship we had going forward.
The boom has sparked concerns among beauty industry activists, academics and cosmetic doctors who prescribe in person. They claim the industrys processes, which Fresh describes as sitting at the intersection of medicine and commerce, fail to meet the regulators guidelines governing patient consultations.

Calls like this are the foundation of Australias $4 billion and fast-growing world of cosmetic injectables. Here, nurses in stores onboard customers using surveys before doctors issue scripts for Botox, dermal fillers, fat dissolving and other beauty treatments after consultations lasting less than a few minutes.

Moments later, Delaney has remotely written a script for the anti-wrinkle injection which a nurse will administer into the womans forehead. The consultation lasts 52 seconds.

Bleeding, bruising, infection or swelling can occur with any injection, he says rapidly in the video call. There is a small chance that the anti-wrinkle injection can cause a droop of the muscle.

The patient, a blonde woman in her late 30s, nods at the iPad screen as doctor John Delaney, the co-founder of Australias largest telehealth cosmetic injectables company, Fresh Clinics, lists potential risks of her upcoming anti-wrinkle treatments.

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The first video features the patients face and private details including her name, phone number, date of birth and home address.

Delaneys 52-second video is not an outlier. It, and another detailing an equally short consultation, was used as part of a training module for new doctors at Fresh Clinics and posted to their website.

The most recent case of blindness was a female patient in August 2024, a TGA spokesman said.

This masthead found evidence of many patients harmed in cosmetic injectable procedures across the country since 2016; eight have been permanently blinded by dermal fillers and anti-wrinkle treatments. A further 81 were left with eye disorders, according to Therapeutic Goods Administration reports.

This is the backdrop to a looming battle between the providers and federal and state regulators trying to keep a lid on standards for procedures in which patients can be put at risk.

The critics argue that whatever warnings are provided by nurses, more time is needed with doctors, preferably in the room.

Delaney said that before a patient sees a Fresh Clinics doctor, a nurse conducts a consultation covering treatment risks. These risks are also included in the patients consent paperwork, which must be completed first.

Delaney, however, made no apology for the speedy service when contacted by this masthead. The timing of each consultation is based on the doctors assessment of complexity, Delaney says.

These AHPRA guidelines include obtaining informed consent, protecting patient privacy, accepting responsibility for evaluating information and confirming the identity of the patient.

The federal medical watchdog, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, told this masthead that it was difficult to see how a doctor could meet all of their obligations in a 60-second consultation.

The videos were taken down after this masthead asked questions about them last week. Delaney said publishing the footage containing private information was an oversight, and that the company had apologised.

In a second video, also 52 seconds long, a patient appears with her brow prepped and marked up for Botox before Delaney proceeds to write her script.

Delaney says only 0.1 per cent of Fresh Clinics patients experience complications and the majority are mild: A slight droop of the eyelid or eyebrow, or mild inflammation around the location of injection.

Fresh publicly states it deals with 1000 complications annually, from the thousands of small beauty clinics it services across Australia.

While the procedures performed by Fresh Clinics co-founder in those videos went to plan, other patients have not been so lucky.

People forget that this is medicine  this is not a visit to the hairdresser, this is a medical situation that can cause terrible tissue damage, said cosmetic physician Ronald Feiner, medical dean of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery and Medicine.

Doctors in this market are expected to quickly issue telehealth scripts for patients seeking dermal fillers and Botox. Nurses who call Fresh Clinics get to choose which doctor writes a prescription for them  one former Fresh doctor says those who take too long are chosen less often by nurses.

When the doctor joins the call, theyre briefed by the nurse, who will flag any relevant health issues or medications that the patient might have. The doctor then reviews the patient intake form and assesses the patients suitability.

The telehealth boom is driven by doctors issuing online scripts  often without Medicare rebates  for treatments such as medicinal cannabis, erectile dysfunction, weight loss and hair loss, as well as injectables.

Amid a critical shortage of doctors to staff GP clinics, the telehealth industry has ballooned since the pandemic, with economists at Grand View predicting cosmetic injectables will grow from its $4 billion annual spend to $9 billion in five years .

Or they have contacted them, and [the patient is] totally insecure in what the response of that doctor has been, he said.

Feiner says he has received calls from nurses working with other telehealth providers whose patients had experienced acute complications and then not been able to contact their telehealth prescribing doctor.

But Feiner says 1000 complications a year is concerning. He is also a co-ordinator at the International Master Course on Ageing Science, which hosts the worlds leading cosmetic dermatology and plastic surgery meeting, and reviews complications lodged by doctors from around the world.

A one to two-minute consult with the patient will occur and all you need to do is fill out the patients script, which takes five seconds, the ad reads. You will be paid $15 a call/script. You will roughly receive 150-200 calls a week.

An Angel Aesthetics manager said doctors reviewed all patient documentation before prescribing, including medical history and a body dysmorphic disorder screening.

During video consults nurses summarised key details and doctors confirmed critical information.

Most patients were aged 18 to 30, an age group with few medication or allergy concerns, she said.

Many consultations are brief and can be completed within approximately two minutes when no additional concerns are raised, she said, though some took longer.

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The company also had in-house doctors that visited clinics.

Fresh Clinics is the fastest-growing injectables telehealth provider, with a Deloitte report noting its 1363 per cent growth from 2019 to 2022. Fresh is used by between 1500 and 2000 nurses running their own beauty clinics, Delaney has said.

Fresh serves 14 per cent of Australias 9200 injectables clinics just five years after launching. It charges the nurses who perform the procedures $25 for each telehealth consultation. Nurses then charge clients about $300 for simple Botox, about $650 for lip filler and upwards of $850 for collagen stimulators (synthetic injectables that stimulate collagen production).

Fresh Clinics also sells nurses products to inject into patients faces and bodies, buying in bulk from pharmaceutical giants such as Allergan, Galderma, Merz and Hugel.

A Fresh Clinics price list from November shows nurses save up to 41 per cent off the standard price set by the pharmaceutical companies manufacturing anti-wrinkle toxins, dermal fillers and other drugs.

Fresh Clinics strong growth attracted investor Ellerston Capital, which spent $32 million in November to acquire a stake in the company as it expands into the US. Ellerston told clients the investment was driven by trends in the ageing population and rise of social media fuelling demand.

Delaney  who founded Fresh Clinics with a fellow doctor in 2018 after the pair launched and then closed a hair-loss telehealth company  said patient safety was the companys foremost concern, and it complied with all regulations.

He said the company selected responsible nurses with experience in cosmetic injecting who assessed patients when they came into clinics.

Doctors will discuss the risks, give the patient an opportunity to ask any questions and at the end of the consultation, the doctor can either authorise treatment or, if that patient is not medically suitable, decline treatment, he said.

Fresh Clinics exists to enhance compliance with regulatory standards, help clinics navigate the complexities of the industry while ensuring high standards of care and medical oversight.

He said that in the rare instances in which complications arose, the companys specialised complications unit provided support to patients, including through a 24/7 emergency hotline.

Delaney said he hit out at any suggestion nurses werent qualified to perform injectable procedures.

Nurses delivering injections with doctor oversight is consistent with long-standing medical practice, he said.

Among those concerned about the exponential growth in telehealth injectables is Queensland cosmetic physician Ansulette Kay.

The prescribing doctor and nurse may never have met, and the doctor may have no knowledge of the nurses skill level, she says. Yet the nurse is effectively entrusted with assessment, treatment planning, consent and the procedure itself, while the patient is sometimes left without access to a knowledgeable doctor who is there to protect their interests.

A vascular occlusion of the tongue posted to Fresh Clinics website by one of its doctors. The serious vascular occlusion  when blood flow to an artery is blocked  affected the patients chin and tongue due to a filler being injected into their chin. The patient recovered but the Fresh doctor said she experienced extreme pain. Credit: Fresh Clinics

Kay is among a small group of doctors who last year urged AHPRA to urgently overhaul the non-surgical cosmetic sector.

She argues it is more dangerous to patients than cosmetic surgery, because of easy access to treatments, cheaper pricing, lower perceived and disclosed risks and aggressive marketing.

One risk is vascular occlusion, which occurs when dermal filler blocks a blood vessel.

If not treated quickly, it blocks oxygen from skin and tissue, leading to pain, skin damage and tissue death  known as necrosis.

Most medical practitioners administering injectables will have a patient who suffers a vascular occlusion during their career.

One Fresh doctor said recently that hed managed some pretty bad occlusions including four that involved the tongue. He said he successfully treated all four. The doctor cited one instance on Freshs website, saying that the patient had recovered but had experienced extreme pain.

Other incidents happen too. In February two nurse injectors whose prescriptions are done by Fresh posted on Instagram about post-injection patient collapses. One had a seizure, the other anaphylaxis.

Amid the growth of the business and the warnings, the regulatory landscape is contested country. In December, Queensland Health issued a fact sheet outlining the industrys legal obligations. No laws had changed; it was simply restating the rules.

But the move threw the sector into disarray. It stated that only doctors and nurse practitioners (a nurse with a higher level of training, and able to issue prescriptions) can purchase Botox and cosmetic fillers.

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Generally registered nurses are not permitted to purchase [these] medicines, Queenslands health department said. Doctors and nurse practitioners cannot buy stock for a place that they do not practice from, which includes locations for which telehealth is provided.

NSW Health confirmed to this masthead its position was the same as Queenslands, with injectables such as botulinum toxin and dermal fillers only allowed to be purchased by or on behalf of an authorised practitioner, such as a medical practitioner, nurse practitioner or dentist.

The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission said it was aware of allegations involving Fresh Clinics and is currently assessing the matter. To ensure a fair and robust process, we will not comment on the complaint or individual practitioners.

Enforcing Queenslands and New South Wales reading of the laws could dismantle the telehealth model for cosmetic injectors in Australia, according to lawyers at major firm Mills Oakley.

Victorias Department of Health, however, said nurse-led businesses could apply for a permit to obtain, possess and use substances such as botulinum toxins and hyaluronic acid.

Fresh is attempting to change the laws, which Delaney agrees is Queensland Health saying that the doctor should be on site in any clinic where medicines are ordered and used.

He compares rules surrounding cosmetic injectables to those around nursing homes, where nurses often deal with medicines without doctors present.

This month, the company started a petition urging injector nurses in Queensland to rail against the law, saying they disproportionately impact women-led businesses.

In a recent podcast, Delaney also labelled concerns about the industry as misogynistic.

Fresh has also stepped up campaigning, posting on social media daily about the importance of safety and training. (The company also runs two-day courses for nurses so they can become injectors  or nursepreneurs  for $6270.)

An Instagram post promoting a Fresh Clinics boot camp. The two-day $6270 course is for nurses wanting to start a cosmetic injectable business. Credit: Fresh Clinics

Delaney went to a National Press Club lunch in January, saying in an Instagram post that he was in Canberra to advocate for one of the fastest-growing areas of female entrepreneurship in the country.

Maddison Johnstone, co-director of patient advocacy group Operation Redress, rejects Delaneys claim that there is a misogynistic edge to the Queensland regulators actions.

It is not sexist to bring an out-of-control industry  an industry causing actual harm to mostly female patients  into line with the rest of the medical sector, she said. You could argue it is sexist not to.

Michael Fraser and Maddison Johnstone of patient advocacy group Operation Redress. Credit: Paul Harris

Her co-director, Michael Fraser, said regulators needed to set up a mandatory register of complications.

Cosmetic injectables are clinically unnecessary discretionary medical treatments that carry real short-term and long-term risks, with many complications going unreported, he said. Governments would take the risks and harms of this industry more seriously if there was a mandatory register of complications. Introducing telehealth to speed up consults, while driving products and profits, positions the patient as the mechanism to extract maximum returns.

He said the current model encouraged doctors to have fast consultations with patients to earn more money.

If their consults are as quick as 60 seconds as reflected in some training videos, they could be earning $900 an hour, he said.

The issue was a hot topic of discussion at Cosmedicon, a conference staged by the industrys main magazine, Aesthetic Medical Practitioner, earlier this month.

Cosmetic doctor Tom Parmakellis told the crowd that some telehealth doctors, without identifying what practice or company they were from, did up to 300 cosmetic injectable consultations in one day. Thats completely ridiculous, he said.

Kate Evans, director of AHPRAs regulatory response unit, also expressed her concerns on the same panel. There are obligations that there must be good and safe clinical care  its very hard to see how 300 patients a day could ever meet the guidelines or the code, she said.

Speaking generally, an AHPRA spokesman said it was concerned about unprofessional conduct and patient harm in the cosmetic procedures industry, and received regular reports of inappropriate consultations.

The interaction between the cosmetic procedures industry and practitioners providing virtual care is of growing interest, given anecdotal reports and regulatory intelligence in relation to patient harm and unethical practice, he said. Some new models of care may take advantage of consumer demand for certain treatments and compromise good patient care.

Since September 2022, the watchdog has taken action against 16 practitioners performing non-surgical cosmetic procedures, mainly injectables. Five were nurses.

Fresh Clinics has also come under attack from within over its internal culture. Several former senior staff at the firm have told this masthead they left because of disputes with its founders, but declined to be quoted.

The companys former head of events and conferences, Nicole Dabeau, went to the Federal Court complaining in her statement of claim about a bullying culture at Fresh Trading.

Dabeau said she had told a senior Fresh employee that she felt she was on the receiving end of what felt like Mean Girls. In Freshs defence, filed with the court, the company denied the claim, saying the senior employee could not remember the conversation.

Dabeau also claimed the company had represented to her that she would have a million dollars in her bank account if she cashed out a share offer. The co-owner denied this. Dabeau never got the opportunity because she was made redundant in 2023.

Her court documents refer repeatedly to the toxic burnout culture within Fresh, saying that employees suffered from mental health issues because of the excessive workload. The company denied this claim in its court defence.

Dabeau declined to comment when approached. Fresh Clinics said the company had respectfully settled this case.

Dr Christopher Rudge, a health law expert at the University of Sydney Law School, said telehealth regulations were too ambiguous.

He said they did not clearly define whether doctors needed to supervise nurses administering cosmetic injectables in person, or at all.

Clinics are aware that the guardrails are a bit ambiguous, he said.

He said it could also be unclear who would be liable if something went wrong.

Dr Damien Grinsell is increasingly treating patients who have suffered complications.

The fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons has performed surgery on patients suffering infections after dermal filler eroded their skin. In milder cases, filler has migrated to the wrong place and needs dissolving, or replacement with fat grafting.

Theres a trend around the world for plastic surgeons to not use filler as much because the complication rate is so high, he said, pointing out that the tear trough area beneath the eye was particularly risky.

He said skin thickness affects treatment success, but was hard to assess via video consultation.

If youve got super-thin skin, youre almost certainly going to get a poor outcome, he said. These are critical things that need to be assessed.

Mark Ashton, a specialist plastic surgeon and professor of surgery and anatomy at the University of Melbourne. Credit: ABC/Andy Ware

Mark Ashton, a specialist plastic surgeon and professor of surgery and anatomy at the University of Melbourne, said telehealth had weakened protections for patients.

I am not at all supportive of allowing patients to have fillers injected in shopping centres and the prescribing doctor being on the phone. Remotely. Sometimes in a different state, he said.

Dermal fillers, according to Ashton, are more dangerous than anti-wrinkle injections.

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Dermal filler injected into an artery by mistake can cause devastating damage, he said. People can go blind within seconds. It can cause a stroke. It can cause necrosis. Patients can end up with a dead patch of skin on their forehead, or lose their nose or lip.

Sean Arendse, an emergency doctor who works at hospitals in Melbournes south-east, sometimes treats patients who present with vascular occlusions caused by cosmetic injectables.

A lot of times when they have a vascular occlusion, [the cosmetic injector] will  go into denial  and then sit on it, he said.

The sooner you treat these occlusions the higher the success rate of not losing skin or scarring someone. Were talking a matter of hours  not days. We see things that have been left for two or three days.

Arendse is also founder of Flawless Rejuvenation Skin Clinic and serves on the Cosmetic Physicians Society of Australias Board. He, too, is concerned about doctors providing scripts via telehealth to interstate patients.

If something goes wrong, you as a doctor have taken responsibility for that medication thats been administered to the patient, he said. If youre a flight away, how can you manage that complication?

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The Australian Government announced an ambitious whole-of-government approach to regulating and integrating digital assets into the broader economy, inspired by work done in the European Union (EU) and Singapore.

In a white paper published by the Australian Treasury, the country's government says it will embrace tokenization, real-world assets (RWAs), and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as part of a broader push to modernize its financial system.

While ruling out a retail CBDC for now, the government sees a wholesale CBDC version and tokenized settlement infrastructure as key to unlocking market efficiency and broader asset access.

The government says that the Australian Treasury, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, as well as the Reserve Bank of Australia are planning to launch pilot trials that use tokenized money, including stablecoins, to settle transactions in wholesale tokenized markets.

"Markets for tokenized assets may be able to increase automation, reduce settlement risk, lessen reliance on multiple financial intermediaries, simplify trading processes, reduce transaction costs, and provide broader access to traditionally illiquid assets," the report reads.

The white paper also presents a licensing structure for crypto exchanges, which will be known in Australia as Digital Asset Platforms (DAPs).

Operators of DAPs will need to meet financial services obligations such as capital adequacy and disclosure requirements while also using third-party custodians to store customer assets.

The Government is also planning on addressing industry concerns of de-banking through its DAP licensing regime, it said in the white paper, to allow for banking partners to better engage in risk management.

This anti-debanking effort in Australia follows continued U.S. hearings on the topic, where Senator Tim Scotts FIRM Act seeks to stop regulators from using "reputational risk" to block out crypto firms from accessing banking rails.
(Reuters) - Barclays won the dismissal on Friday of two U.S. securities fraud lawsuits stemming from the British bank's unauthorized sale of $17.7 billion more securities than U.S. regulators allowed.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan said investors who acquired Barclays' iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Future exchange-traded notes ("VXX") could not sue over general assurances the bank made about its internal controls even as it issued the notes without the required regulatory approval.

Liman also dismissed similar claims by investors who got caught in a market squeeze when Barclays suspended VXX sales in March 2022, causing the price of VXX securities they had sold short to soar 140% above their so-called indicative value.

The judge also found no proof of intent to defraud or conscious recklessness, saying bank officials including former Chief Executive Jes Staley would have been incentivized to register more securities rather than let the problem grow.

Barclays' remedial efforts including the sales halt, disclosures to regulators and the public, and a buyback offer were "a prudent course of action that weakens rather than strengthens an inference of [intent to defraud]," Liman wrote.

Lawyers for investors in both proposed class actions did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Liman's decisions totaled 111 pages.

Barclays halted VXX sales in March 2022, when it admitted to having sold $15.2 billion more structured notes and ETNs over the prior five years than U.S. regulators allowed.

The bank later boosted the overissuance estimate to $17.7 billion. Barclays executives have called the overissuance "entirely avoidable" and "self-inflicted."

In September 2022, Barclays reached a $361 million settlement, including a $200 million civil fine, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to the overissuance.

Barclays agreed in December to pay $19.5 million to settle a related shareholder lawsuit in the Manhattan court.

Staley stepped down as the bank's chief executive in November 2021.

The cases in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York are May et al v Barclays Plc, No. 23-02583, and Puchtler v Barclays Plc et al, No. 24-01872.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
Carnival Corp raised its outlook for the year on Friday amid broader concern about consumer spending.

"Good times and bad times, people take vacations," said CEO Joshua Weinstein when discussing quarterly results.

"The onboard spend that we've seen in the first couple of weeks of March hasn't slowed down," Weinstein said, addressing investor concerns about potential consumer weakness. "We do feel good about the strength of our consumer."

Why it Matters: Some U.S. airlines recently flagged softness in domestic basic economy and close-in bookings. There is fear that trade wars and U.S. government spending cuts could slow economic growth, and a declining stock market could cause wealthy households to pull back on traveling.

Weinstein said his team wasn't seeing a slowdown across their portfolio spanning contemporary, premium, and luxury brands.

"We are different from airlines and even different from hotels," he said. "We don't rely on business travel."

"Does it mean that people want to think hard about how they spend their vacation dollar? Absolutely. Is it more important when times are stressful that they get away and take a vacation, does it mean more to them? Absolutely," Weinstein said.

The cruise giant's booking curve extends further than ever recorded, with 2026 sailings seeing all-time high volumes at higher prices. About 80% of 2025 capacity is already booked at premium rates.

When questioned about Canadian operations, Weinstein noted they represent just "3% to 4%" of the company's business, contextualizing the limited exposure to recent volatility in that market. He also noted that his company can shift cruise ships to higher-demand ports as needed.

The company raised its full-year earnings forecast by $185 million to $2.5 billion.

Carnival's First Quarter 2025:

Record Q1 Revenue: $5.8 billion, up over $400 million from prior year

Record Q1 Operating Income: $543 million, nearly double 2024's figure

Record Net Yield: 7.3% net yield, which is the money remaining per available passenger cruise day after variable expenses, such as commissions to travel agents.

Looking Ahead

The company continues to make strategic investments, including the upcoming opening of Celebration Key, its new destination in the Caribbean.

"We're on track for our July opening," Weinstein said about the project.

The CEO said the new private island, plus minimal capacity growth, will help the company reach its 2026 financial targets a year early. It only has three ships on order.
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A 240-year old stately home in West Mayo has gone on sale for 3,000,000.

Newport House, which has operated as luxury accommodation and a fine dining venue, is a 19 bed property considered as a masterpiece of Georgian elegance.

Constructed around 1785, estate agents Sherry Fitzgerald say the mansion, with its seven bay design, exudes timeless charm and commands attention with its private grounds on the edge of Newport town.

Newport House is a historic 19 bed property which was constructed in 1785.

With a floor area of some 1062m, Newport House is surrounded by rolling lawns and majestic, mature trees creating a serene and picturesque setting. It holds exclusive fly-fishing rights to the internationally acclaimed Black Oak river, spanning eight miles along both banks, as well as to the pristine Lough Beltra West, a breathtaking lake which stretches three miles by one mile.

Among its most famous guests was Prince Albert of Monaco, son of actress Grace Kelly whose ancestors hailed from Newport.
In much the same way as the Ford Model T was a universal car in its time, so too was the Morris Minor. This simple car was a great favourite back in the 1950s and 1960s, endearing itself to townsfolk and country people alike.

I remember a time when many families in our locality proudly drove a Morris Minor. From memory, they were mostly black in colour but this only added to their style. They may not have been classy but they were a classic of their time.

Jack Daniels

Not that Jack Daniels! An article in the Sunday Independent in December 2004 tells of another by that name and recounts the story of the man who helped design the Morris Minor. This particular Jack Daniels had died at the age of 92 just a month previously.

Daniels should be remembered as one of the most innovative carmakers ever. He was the draughtsman and development engineer without whom the Morris Minor would never have been brought into production.

Working with Alec Issigonis, the British automobile designer who also created the best-selling Mini, the pair began working together before the Second World War, but it was only when peace returned that their collaboration really took off. Issigonis had begun work on what would become the Morris Minor in 1943, at a time when Daniels was busy designing military vehicles. In 1945, he joined Issigonis on the design of the car, then known as the Mosquito, named after the war plane.

Post-War debut

Manufactured by Morris Motors Limited, this great British car made its debut in 1948 and more than 1.6 million were manufactured between then and 1972. The original range consisted solely of a two-door saloon and a starting price of 358. It was the first British car to sell over a million units and is considered a supreme example of automotive design.

A 1952 motoring publication reported a top speed of 62mph, acceleration from 0 to 50mph in 28.6 seconds and a fuel consumption of 39.3 miles per gallon. In Ireland, the Morris Minor was assembled by G. A. Brittain at Portobello in Dublin. In fact, Ireland received the first Morris Minor car kits for assembly, making us the first country outside Britain to have Morris Minor production. After Australia and the US, Ireland was the third most important market for this much-loved car.

And so, the Minor found good homes among the Irish motoring public. It was black enough for the parish priest, reliable enough for the local doctor, fashionable enough for the sales executive, rugged enough for the farmer and handy enough for the lady driver. It was just as much at home in Foxford as it was in Foxrock. Seldom was something so British so totally accepted by the Irish.

Milk to the creamery

The basic shape was complimented by the Traveller, the wood-trimmed estate version most associated with 1970s BBC sitcoms. There was another version, the commercial van. This van was my first experience of the Morris Minor at close quarters. I got a lift some mornings on my way to school from the van owner. Amazingly, he was using the van in his role as a milk carter. Those days, in the early 1970s, witnessed the dying spasms of the old milk carting tradition (usually undertaken by horse and long cart), before the co-ops and their bulk takers took over.

Carting the milk churns for about six or eight local farmers in the back of his van, the driver sailed along singing the only song he knew, The Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe. Slowly but surely, farm gate by farm gate, Billy picked up the cans of fresh milk destined for the creamery.

The interior of the grey van was absolutely putrid! Milk spillages that had occurred over the summer, hardened into autumn crusts and the residual stench had an intensity all of its own. Getting out of the van at the crossroads, I was glad of the fresh air and relieved at the prospect of a day at school.

Sad demise

The Morris Minor always had one eye on the sales of the Volkswagen Beetle. Maybe it was a post-war British versus German thing but whatever it was, the Beetle certainly won that war. Sales of the VW were worldwide while the Minor only had a market largely confined to the Commonwealth. Towards the end, the last few Morris Minors were actually sold at a loss.

The Minor was officially replaced by the Morris Marina, which was developed primarily in response to Ford's top-selling Escort. The Marina was developed under the watchful eye of British Leyland management where it beat all-comers in a race to the bottom. To cut costs, rather than develop a new suspension set-up, the Marina used the obsolete chassis components from the Morris Minor.

In a 2016 report, Auto Express included the Marina on a list of the worst cars ever made describing it as unreliable, ugly and terrible to drive".

One of the many abandoned Morris Minors photographed by Martin Parr in the West of Ireland during the 1980s.

Minor fans

David Carroll, who is probably best know to people in the Ox Mountain region for his exploits with his restored threshing machine, once had a long love affair with Morris Minors. In a newspaper article from the 1990s, in a tell-all interview with journalist, Meave Sheehan, he explained his motives.

I dont know what it was about them but I used to always look after them lovingly. If I met someone who had crashed one, I would take it home. I hated to see a Morris Minor abandoned or scrapped. There is a graveyard for everything.

David eventually amassed a collection of almost 50 such cars which included a Morris Million, which he bought for 10 some years earlier. This was a pink car with black and white seats which David simply drove into his front field and laid it to rest beside its many brothers and sisters.

A book by British photographer, Martin Parr, Abandoned Morris Minors of the West of Ireland, contains a collection of old Morris Minor relics that adorned our laneways and fields in the 1980s. Parr became obsessed with the trail of wrecked and abandoned Morris Minors that he saw in fields everywhere he went. His thought process was quite simple.

I thought it would be a good idea to actually stop when I see them, go out and take photographs of them, and build up a series of photographs of Morris Minors. Its amazing where they turn up, on bogs on top of mountains, by the side of the road. The more trees that are growing out of them, the more weeds that are growing out of them the better they are for me because its almost as if they are rotting back into the earth.

In a review of the book, Stephen Prince sums up Parrs work poetically and seems at times to be describing a scene in Ox Mountains:

There is something about the photographs that often puts a smile on my face rather than them seeming overtly, relentlessly bleak. That possibly stems in part from the character of the Morris Minor and may also be due to the rural settings and the associated beauty that is captured in many of the photographs and which lends a certain romance to them.
If you are looking to add exposure to the energy sector in your portfolio, you are probably considering Chevron (NYSE: CVX) as an option. It is a very good option, though that has to be explained a little bit because Chevron is almost always a good choice in the energy patch.

Here's why you might want to buy Chevron stock now and hold it for the long term.

What does Chevron do?

Chevron is what is known as an integrated energy company. This means that it has operations across the energy landscape, from the upstream (drilling) through the midstream (pipelines) and into the downstream (chemicals and refining). Having exposure to the various segments of the energy industry helps to soften the impact from the biggest problem energy companies face, volatile oil and natural gas prices.

Image source: Getty Images.

Financial performance in the upstream is almost entirely driven by the price of energy. The midstream simply collects tolls as it helps to move energy from one place to another. And the downstream uses oil and natural gas as an input, so low oil prices are normally a benefit to the sector's financial performance. All in, oil and natural gas prices still have a material impact on Chevron's business, but this diversification across the energy industry helps to dampen the performance swings.

Although a U.S. company, with a material domestic presence, Chevron has a global portfolio. That helps smooth out its results over time as well, as it can invest in the areas where it sees the most opportunity and sell into regions where there is the most robust demand and strongest pricing. If you are looking for an energy stock, Chevron always covers a lot of ground.

Why buy Chevron today?

Just using the integrated business model, however, isn't enough to make an energy company a buy. Indeed, Chevron has more positive attributes to appreciate. For example, it has increased its dividend annually for 37 consecutive years. That's an impressive streak given the inherent volatility of the energy sector.

Notably, during the coronavirus pandemic when European peers BP (NYSE: BP) and Shell (NYSE: SHEL) cut their dividends, Chevron was one of the integrated majors that stood by its dividends.

Chevron's dividend yield today is also fairly attractive at 4.2%. The yield on offer from the S&P 500 index is a miserly 1.2%, and the average energy stock has a yield of roughly 3.1%. So Chevron is currently offering an attractive, reliable, and growing dividend despite operating in a volatile sector.

Meanwhile, Chevron has a strong financial foundation, including a very modest debt-to-equity ratio of 0.2. A rock-solid balance sheet gives the company the leeway to add leverage during the hard times, which allows it to keep investing in its business and paying that dividend. When the good times return, as they always have historically in the energy patch, management reduces leverage to prepare for the next, inevitable, industry downturn.
Advocates for borrowers encouraged them to be prepared for delays in processing as the department begins accepting applications again.
By Marianna Parraga

HOUSTON (Reuters) -A U.S. court officer overseeing an auction of shares in the parent of Venezuela-owned refiner Citgo Petroleum is recommending a judge choose a $3.7 billion offer by an affiliate of Contrarian Funds to set the floor for a new bidding round this year, according to a court filing on Friday.

A federal court in Delaware is auctioning shares in Citgo's parent PDV Holding to pay up to $21.3 billion to 18 creditors seeking compensation for debt defaults and expropriations in Venezuela.

The court decided this time to set a minimum bid for PDV Holding after most companies in the auction last year rejected a $7.3 billion offer by an affiliate of hedge fund Elliott Investment Management that was subject to the resolution of parallel lawsuits brought by some of the same creditors.

Four potential "stalking horse" bids for shares in PDV Holding were received by a March 7 deadline, the filing said.

The offer by Contrarian Funds' affiliate Red Tree Investments was recommended by the special master in charge of the auction. Judge Leonard Stark must accept or reject it before the auction moves on.

"Red Tree's proposed transaction has the second highest purchase price, and the special master believes it has the least conditionality," the filing said.

"The special master considers that the combination of value and the certainty of the proposed transaction results in its being the best available stalking horse."

Canadian miner Gold Reserve said last week that a consortium including its subsidiary Dalinar Energy Corporation and units of U.S. conglomerate Koch had also submitted an offer.

Red Tree and another affiliate of Contrarian are holders of Venezuelan defaulted bonds and part of the 18 creditors seeking to cash proceeds from the auction, which means that if the group's offer wins they will get their claims paid.

They are jointly claiming about $680 million plus interests and fees, according to court documents.

Red Tree's initial bid was considered low by analysts, taking into account that Citgo's market valuation exceeds $10 billion, but a topping-off period to follow for rival bids to be submitted could increase the final offer, they said.

"This offer would resolve the dispute with the holders of PDVSA's 2020 bonds while raising $1.5 billion to pay other creditors," said Jose Ignacio Hernandez from consultancy Aurora Macro Strategies.

"For Red Tree, it's a financial, not an operational deal. But Venezuela could object it, saying it's too low," he added.
By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) - The founder of a cryptocurrency financial services firm pleaded guilty on Friday to U.S. charges that he participated in a wide-ranging scheme to manipulate the market for digital tokens on behalf of client companies.

Aleksei Andriunin, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency "market maker" Gotbit, and his company entered guilty pleas in federal court in Boston to charges that they conspired to commit market manipulation and committed wire fraud.

The pleas by the Russian national and his company came less than a month after Andriunin, 26, was extradited from Portugal, where he had been residing at the time of his arrest in October as part of a probe into the crypto sector.

They were among 15 people and three firms charged following a novel investigation dubbed "Operation Token Mirrors," in which the FBI for the first time directed the creation of its own digital token to help catch fraudsters in the crypto market.

According to their plea deals, prosecutors have agreed to recommend that Andriunin receive up to two years in prison when he is sentenced on June 16, prosecutors said. Gotbit agreed to forfeit about $23 million in cryptocurrency.

Andriunin's lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors said that from 2018 to 2024, Gotbit engaged in "wash trading," a form of sham trading, and market manipulation on behalf of several cryptocurrency clients to help artificially inflate trading volume for their tokens.

The indictment cited a 2019 interview published online in which Andriunin described developing a code to wash trade cryptocurrencies to artificially inflate trading volume so they could get listed and trade on larger cryptocurrency exchanges.

Prosecutors said Gotbit made wash trades worth millions of dollars and received tens of millions of dollars in proceeds for its services for cryptocurrencies including Saitama and Robo Inu. Individuals associated with those cryptocurrencies have also been charged.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
By Dawn Chmielewski

(Reuters) - Disney (DIS) shareholders rejected an investor proposal to withdraw participation in the Human Rights Campaign's corporate equity index, which rates workplaces on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer equality.

Disney is among the highest-profile employers to revise some of its diversity and inclusion practices as the Trump administration cracks down on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, practices across the federal government and in the private sector.

Walt Disney was among 765 companies to receive a perfect score in its 2025 ranking, acknowledging its efforts to protect against workplace discrimination, to provide inclusive benefits and to offer training to achieve an inclusive culture.

The shareholder proposal argues that Disney's involvement in such divisive political issues has alienated segments of the audience, and damaged the company's stock price. It urges investors to support the proposal, which it says provides an opportunity for Disney "to move back to neutral."

Disney urged investors to reject the proposal, saying its board already provides oversight of workforce equity matters.

Only 1% of shareholders voted to support this measure, according to the preliminary tally announced Thursday.

Other companies, including automaker Ford Motor, motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson and home improvement retailer Lowe's, have ended their participation in the annual ranking of companies with LGBTQ-friendly work environments.

A number of U.S. companies have retreated from DEI in recent months, as the Trump administration stepped up threats to companies and institutions that engage in those efforts.

Even Disney changed its executive compensation criteria, replacing the objective of increasing diversity and inclusion with a factor called "talent strategy," which evaluates how well leaders advance the company's overall values.

In other matters, Disney's investors returned all 10 members to its board of directors and retained PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's independent public accountant. Investors voted for a non-binding resolution, supporting executive compensation.

Shareholders rejected a proposal to publish a report, disclosing how its retirement plan investments protect the plan's beneficiaries from investments in high-carbon companies.

Investors voted against a proposal that called on Disney to issue a report, evaluating how it evaluates the risks related to discriminating against ad buyers or sellers based on their political or religious views.
By Hyunjoo Jin, Norihiko Shirouzu and Heekyong Yang

SEOUL (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor (HYMTF) and General Motors (GM) are close to finalizing a deal for Hyundai to share two electric commercial van models with the U.S. auto giant, according to a source familiar with the talks and Hyundai documents reviewed by Reuters.

In return, GM might provide Hyundai with pickup trucks to sell under its own brand in North America, the source said.

Such arrangements could kick off a broader partnership as the companies, two of the world's largest automakers, hold wide-ranging discussions, the source said. The documents reviewed by Reuters show Hyundai is considering deals with GM that include joint purchasing or development involving computing chips, next-generation batteries and battery materials.

Like many global automakers, GM and Hyundai are facing rising competition from Chinese EV makers and the threat of a global trade war, prompting them to look to share products to slash spending.

Hyundai would produce vans to be sold under both its own and GM brands, initially importing them from South Korea, according to the documents and the person familiar with the talks. But Hyundai is considering manufacturing the vans in North America by 2028. The person said Hyundai is exploring building a new plant, adding production to an existing facility or contracting out the manufacturing.

The talks on pickups focus on GM sharing its midsized trucks, branded as the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon in the United States, one of the sources said. Hyundai also wants to sell a version of GM's popular full-sized pickups, the source said, but GM hasn't put that option on the table.

Any pickup-sharing deal likely will take longer to finalize than the commercial van arrangement, the person said.

The automakers are also discussing the possibility of Hyundai providing GM with compact SUVs it could add to its product line-up in Brazil, the source said.

Hyundai said in January that it is in talks to supply electric commercial vehicles to GM as part of a preliminary agreement to explore how the automakers could cooperate on vehicles, supply chains and clean-energy technologies to cut costs and speed development.

Details of the partnership talks, including a potential pickup sharing deal, are reported here for the first time.

General Motors declined to comment on specifics of the negotiations but said in a statement: "Both companies continue to explore potential areas of collaboration."

Hyundai said in a statement that nothing has been finalized in ongoing talks but that the automakers are exploring deals "across key strategic areas."
London Heathrow Airport resumes some flights after major fire disrupts operations

Xinhua) 09:48, March 22, 2025

This photo taken on March 21, 2025 shows the walkway to Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport in London, Britain. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

To help ease congestion following the airport closure after two explosions and a fire at an electrical substation in Hayes, west London, restrictions on overnight flights have been temporarily lifted, the Department for Transport said in a post on X.

LONDON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The first plane landed at London Heathrow on Friday as the airport resumes some flights following its closure caused by a major fire at an electrical substation nearby.

"Following an earlier power outage, Heathrow is now safely able to restart flights," the airport said in a statement.

"To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be running a reduced operation prioritizing repatriation and relocation of aircraft," it said, while suggesting passengers contact their airline for further information.

To help ease congestion following the closure of the airport, restrictions on overnight flights have been temporarily lifted, the Department for Transport said in a post on X.

A notice board on the closure of Heathrow Airport is seen at Heathrow Airport in London, Britain, March 21, 2025. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, hopes to run a full service on Saturday. The closure is estimated to have disrupted the travel plans of 200,000 people, The Guardian reported.

The airport's chief executive Thomas Woldbye apologized on Friday to passengers, calling the incident "as big as it gets for our airport." "Tomorrow morning we expect to be back in full operation, so 100 percent operation as a normal day," Woldbye said.

Meanwhile, counter-terror officers from the Metropolitan Police are leading the investigation into the fire at the nearby electricity substation that has closed the airport.

A Met spokesperson said its Counter Terrorism Command was leading the investigation due to "the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure."

This photo taken on March 21, 2025 shows an electricity substation which suffered a fire near the Heathrow Airport in London, Britain. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

There was "currently no indication of foul play," but the spokesperson added that officers were retaining an "open mind at this time" regarding the cause of the blaze.

Flights had been canceled, people evacuated from their homes, and local schools shut after two explosions and a fire at an electrical substation in Hayes, west London, on Thursday night. Some planes had been diverted to other airports, including London Gatwick Airport, those in Paris, and Shannon Airport in Ireland.

The airport, which handled a record 83.9 million passengers last year, said its backup diesel generators had "all operated as expected... but they are not designed to allow us to run a full operation."

Firefighters work outside an electricity substation which suffered a fire near the Heathrow Airport in London, Britain, March 21, 2025. London's Heathrow Airport remains closed until midnight Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation, a spokesperson said. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua)

Ofgem, Britain's energy regulator, announced it would commission a review "to understand the cause of this incident and what lessons can be learned."

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
By Sarita Chaganti Singh, Shivangi Acharya

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has decided to let lapse a $23 billion program to incentivize domestic manufacturing, just four years after it launched the effort to woo firms away from China, according to four government officials.

The scheme will not be expanded beyond the 14 pilot sectors and production deadlines will not be extended despite requests from some participating firms, two of the officials said.

Some 750 companies, including Apple supplier Foxconn and Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, signed up to the Production-Linked Initiative scheme, public records show.

Firms were promised cash payouts if they met individual production targets and deadlines. The hope was to raise the share of manufacturing in the economy to 25% by 2025.

Instead, many firms that participated in the program failed to kickstart production, while others that met manufacturing targets found India slow to pay out subsidies, according to government documents and correspondence seen by Reuters.

As of October 2024, participating firms had produced $151.93 billion worth of goods under the program, or 37% of the target that Delhi had set, according to an undated analysis of the program compiled by the commerce ministry. India had issued just $1.73 billion in incentives - or under 8% of the allocated funds, the document said.

News of the government's decision to not extend the plan and specifics about the lag in payouts are being reported by Reuters for the first time.

Modi's office and the commerce ministry, which oversees the program, did not respond to requests for comment. Since the plan's introduction, manufacturing's share of the economy has decreased from 15.4% to 14.3%.

In a separate statement on Saturday, the commerce ministry said participating firms had produced $163 billion worth of goods as of November 2024. The ministry did not say if the program would be allowed to expire but said PLIs have "incentivized domestic manufacturing, leading to increased production, job creation, and a boost in exports."

Foxconn, which now employs thousands of contract workers in India, and Reliance didn't return requests for comment.

Two of the government officials told Reuters the end of the program did not mean Delhi had abandoned its manufacturing ambitions and that alternatives were being planned.

The government last year defended the program's impact, particularly in pharmaceuticals and mobile-phone manufacturing, which have seen explosive growth. Some 94% of the nearly $620 million in incentives disbursed between April and October 2024 were directed to those two sectors.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, chats with local residents and tourists while visiting the Old Town of Lijiang in Lijiang City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, March 19, 2025. Xi made an inspection tour in Yunnan Province on Wednesday and Thursday. [Xinhua/Xie Huanchi]

KUNMING, March 21 (Xinhua)  After a spring snowfall, the Old Town of Lijiang in southwest China's Yunnan Province was bustling with tourists. On Wednesday afternoon, the 800-year-old town welcomed a special guest -- Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, engaged with residents and visitors, inquiring about businesses and tourist experiences.

After learning about the town's history, distinctive dwellings and efforts in preserving and utilizing cultural heritage, Xi stressed the need to balance protection and development to make the beautiful old town shine with new vigor and vitality.

First built in the late Song (960-1279) and early Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties, the Old Town of Lijiang is China's only ancient town without walls. In 1997, it was officially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

While China is advancing its modernization, Xi has repeatedly emphasized the importance of coordinating the protection and utilization of cultural heritage with economic and social development, calling for promoting development through protection and furthering protection through development.

In March 2021, Xi visited Sanfangqixiang, which means, literally, "three lanes and seven alleys." It is an ancient block in downtown Fuzhou, the capital of east China's Fujian Province, where Xi used to work. Known for its green tiles, distinctive saddle-shaped white walls and intricate carvings, the complex is hailed as a "museum of the architecture of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties."

Over three decades ago, when urban development posed a threat to a historic residence in the area, Xi, then Party chief of Fuzhou, intervened to halt its demolition.

"We must protect, repair and make good use of the city's cultural relics in our hands. Not only should we prevent them from being damaged, but also help them flourish and pass them on to future generations," he said at a meeting -- which led to the decision to preserve instead of demolishing the residence.

Thanks to 30 years of preservation, the block now harmoniously blends historical preservation with cultural tourism, demonstrating a vibrant fusion of tradition and modernity.

Meanwhile, as a top tourist destination in Shanxi Province, north China, the ancient city of Pingyao showcases 2,800 years of history and well preserved architecture.

During his visit there in early 2022, Xi again underscored coordinating the protection of cultural heritage with development to take good care of the precious legacy left by the ancestors.

The president once said: "We believe preserving ancient towns is consistent with advancing modernization. The protection, construction and utilization of ancient towns should be harmoniously integrated."

(Source: Xinhua)

Editor: Cui Rui
Cornell student protester told to surrender to ICE as he asks judge to block deportation
Fong said around 70 per cent of the new family offices came from mainland China, while the rest were from the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia. He said he wanted to undertake further marketing efforts in other parts of Asia and the Middle East in the coming years.

Over the past two years, Fong's office has conducted more than 260 roadshows globally to promote the city and helped 160 family offices to get set up in Hong Kong. An additional 150 family offices plan to follow suit, which would put Lee's goal of having at least 200 large family offices set up in the city by the end of 2025 well within reach.

"The new family office measures have attracted newcomers and encouraged existing family offices ... to expand their investments, arts collections and charity activities in Hong Kong," Fong said in an interview.

Two years on, all but one of the eight measures has yet to be implemented: an art storage facility at Hong Kong International Airport. That will hopefully become a reality later this year or early next year, according to Jason Fong, the global head of family offices at InvestHK , a government agency tasked with promoting the city.

"For those of you interested in setting up a family office here, I want you to know that the thriving development of your business in Hong Kong is a central policy priority of the government," Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu told assembled guests at the summit.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge , our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

Just two years ago, the government unveiled eight measures at the first Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit with the aim of attracting affluent families to the city so they could set up family offices to manage their investments, art collections, charities - and plan for the future. The measures included tax incentives, a revamped investment-migration scheme, streamlined rules for charitable foundations and the establishment of the Hong Kong Academy for Wealth Legacy .

"Many of my friends have increased their investment and charity activities in Hong Kong after the government introduced many measures to promote family offices two years ago," he said. "I myself also plan to expand my educational charity in Hong Kong."

Hong Kong has long been the base of William Louey Lai-kuen's wealth-generating and charitable endeavours, but the eldest great-grandson of Kowloon Motor Bus' (KMB) founder said he plans to do more thanks to programmes unveiled by the city's government.

Story Continues

The new investment migration scheme - launched last year - was also drawing capital into the city, said Christopher Hui Ching-yu, the secretary for financial services and the treasury. As of February, he said in an interview, the programme had attracted 910 applicants and was expected to bring in HK$27 billion (US$3.5 billion) worth of investment.

The investment migration scheme allows applicants to invest at least HK$30 million in funds, stocks, bonds or other assets in exchange for residency for their family in the city.

Christopher Hui Ching-yu, the secretary for financial services and the treasury. Photo: Sun Yeung alt=Christopher Hui Ching-yu, the secretary for financial services and the treasury. Photo: Sun Yeung>

"The family offices establishing or expanding their presence in Hong Kong represent a truly global footprint, with origins in the mainland, Asia, Oceania, the Americas, and Europe," Hui said. "This diverse geographic representation underscores Hong Kong's appeal as a premier hub for family offices worldwide."

Hui said family offices in Hong Kong invest in mainland China and other parts of Asia, engage in philanthropy and succession planning - and collect art.

According to a Deloitte survey commissioned by the Hong Kong government, there were more than 2,700 single-family offices in Hong Kong at the end of 2023. Over half of them had assets in excess of US$50 million. By comparison, Singapore had 1,650 single-family offices in August 2024, according to government data.

"The number alone shows Hong Kong is one of the premier family office hubs in Asia and on a global level," said Andrew Lo, the head of family advisory and family office solutions for North Asia at UBS Global Wealth Management.

"The implementation of the eight measures is indeed useful. These measures comprehensively address the needs of global family offices in areas such as residency, tax concessions for investing, pursuits like philanthropy and art, as well as wealth education."

Lo said the recent stock market rally triggered by DeepSeek's release of two powerful but cost-effective large language models would provide new investing opportunities for family offices. The Hang Seng Index is up 21 per cent this year after it advanced 18 per cent in 2024, while the Hang Seng Tech Index is nearly 26 per cent higher so far in 2025.

For most of March, the average daily stock market turnover reached HK$296 billion in Hong Kong, more than double the average in the year-earlier period.

"With the increasing trading turnover on the Hong Kong stock exchange, there is potential for more capital raising for family businesses," Lo said. "We can target family businesses in AI [artificial intelligence] and AI-enabled businesses to list in Hong Kong."

John Lee Chen-kwok, vice-chairman and co-head of Asia coverage at UBS, said the Hong Kong government's efforts to lure international investors had drawn interest from "some overseas family offices and Middle Eastern investors" in the fundraising exercises of listed companies like BYD. Earlier this month, the maker of electric vehicles raised US$5.6 billion in a primary share placement. The Al-Futtaim Family Office from the United Arab Emirates took part in the placement.

Hong Kong also had a strong legal framework and a pool of talent focused on succession planning, said Lok Yim, the regional head of global private banking for Asia-Pacific at HSBC. According to experts, insurance companies offer products to affluent customers so they can transfer their wealth to the next generation while avoiding disputes.

"Hong Kong as a leading art market and a growing philanthropy hub plays a significant role that makes Hong Kong an ideal location for family offices who are looking not just for investment opportunities but also for holistic family wealth management solutions", Yim said.

The education-focused foundation of Louey, the KMB scion, is a good example of how wealthy families can use Hong Kong as a base to conduct their philanthropy.

William Louey at his home on The Peak. Photo: Nora Tam alt=William Louey at his home on The Peak. Photo: Nora Tam>

His charitable organisation, William SD Louey, is named after his grandfather, William Louey Sui-tak, who took over running of the bus company in 1925. The fund was established in 1995 and over the past 30 years, it has disbursed about HK$120 million to send 60 students in total from the mainland to the best schools and universities in the UK and US.

Louey said he would like to expand his organisation's scope to bring promising but disadvantaged students from Africa, Asia and elsewhere to study Chinese culture, language and technology in Hong Kong.

"China's technology is now among the best worldwide," he said. "As such, it is now the time for me to expand my education programme. As a superconnector between China and the world, Hong Kong will be a good location for my education fund to further expand its mission."

Looking ahead, UBS' Lo said the government should encourage more family offices to make Hong Kong their regional headquarters.

"Attracting family businesses to set up offices or regional headquarters in Hong Kong will, in turn, attract more family offices to be established here," Lo said. "This will also encourage family members to spend more time in Hong Kong and become residents."

Beyond stocks and bonds, the city needs to offer more alternative investment opportunities like private equity, private credit, virtual assets as well as art and collectibles, said Cliff Ip, Greater China divisional councillor at CPA Australia, an accounting industry body.

"A diversified portfolio of innovative and high-yield options will help ensure capital remains deployed in Hong Kong rather than migrating to rival hubs," Ip said.

Ip also said Hong Kong should offer more top-notch education for children, promote family-friendly neighbourhoods and cultural and religious inclusivity, as well as its healthcare system.

HSBC's Yim said Hong Kong needs to offer an ecosystem to keep family offices in the city for the long term.

"It is crucial to look beyond conventional tax incentives to foster a sustainable environment for these families to establish long-term roots," Yim said. "Family offices require a robust ecosystem to thrive."

He said it was important for the city to keep hosting the Wealth for Good in Hong Kong summit and the Hong Kong Academy for Wealth Legacy because they are educational and networking platforms for family offices.

The third Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit will be held on March 26. It drew 100 guests in 2023 and 400 influential people from global family offices in 2024.

The third summit would bring together prominent figures from around the world, Hui said, adding that the event had strengthened Hong Kong's position as a leading wealth-management centre.

"The summit highlights our strong appeal to global family offices and we would be proud to see it continue to be an annual mega-event that the family offices look forward to," he said.

The family office campaign is important in Hong Kong's quest to develop its wealth-management industry. The city was home to about HK$31 trillion in assets under management as of the end of 2023, according to data from the Securities and Futures Commission.

Hong Kong will overtake Switzerland by 2027 as the world's number one hub for cross-border wealth management, according to estimates from Boston Consulting Group in 2022.

"Hong Kong will not only sustain its status as Asia's premier family office hub, but also redefine its role in shaping the future of global wealth management," Hui said.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Canada Post workers on strike in Ontario in November 2024

The following statement was sent to the World Socialist Web Site by Daniel Berkley, a leading member of the Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (Canada), in response to a statement issued by the Deutsche Post Action Committee earlier this month. That statement called on Deutsche Post workers to reject a proposed contract endorsed by the Verdi union that will slash workers real wages and allow management to eliminate 8,000 postal worker jobs this year. To contact the PWRFC, fill out the form below or email canadapostworkersrfc@gmail.com.

Greetings from Ontario, Canada. My name is Daniel Berkley, and I am a rural postal worker. I and many of my coworkers support the Deutsche Post Postal Workers Action Committee. The global working class is under assault from the ruling class and postal workers are front and center in the firing line.

I read your committees statement earlier this month and felt that the attacks youre facing, including 8,000 job cuts and a cut in real wages, sound just like what were going through here.

I was among the 55,000 Canada Post workers who were on strike for a full month ending in mid-December last year. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), rejecting a 95 percent strike mandate from its members, collaborated with the government to prematurely halt our strike. The union played a key role in isolating our strike from other sections of workers, allowing the government to step in and illegalize it. To stop our struggle taking on an explicitly political or international form, the labour minister in Canadas Liberal government issued an authoritarian order, based on a cooked-up reinterpretation of the Canada Labour Code, to force us back to work without even so much as a vote in parliament.

As all this was going on, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was forced to resign, despite the help he received from the unions to suppress our strike. This shows that if we had taken control of our strike out of the bureaucracys hands and fought to broaden it to other sections of workersall of whom are facing similar attackswe could have pushed company management and their backers in the unstable Liberal government onto the back foot in the struggle for our demands. We struck for job security and wage increases after years of stagnant wages, demands that would have found strong support throughout the working class.

Trudeaus replacement, former central banker Mark Carney, was chosen by just over 100,000 members of the governing big business Liberal Party without any popular vote. Here in North America, the capitalist oligarchy is openly taking over governments and dictating policy to further swell their fortunes. US President Donald Trump, is threatening to annex Canada, while he eviscerates the rights of immigrants and all working people in America.

The attacks on democracy and our working conditions portend major attacks on workers around the globe and across all industries. The ruling classes across Europe and North America are soaking up profits while the economy transitions towards a total war economy. The tariffs Trump has initiated against Canada and other countries aim to bring manufacturing industries key for war production back to the US, and offload Americas crisis onto its rivals. They have nothing to do with defending American workers, who, like workers across North America, will end up paying more for goods and losing their jobs due to reduced exports if the trade war intensifies.

Your statement pointed to the Verdi unions involvement in so-called concerted action, where the government, bosses, and union heads meet behind closed doors to determine how much to cut your wages and what other attacks to carry through in order to fund German rearmament. The same collaboration between the bosses, government ministers, and union bureaucrats takes place here. CUPW recently joined the Canada-US Trade Council, which includes representatives from the main union federations and the biggest employer groups, and works hand-in-glove with the federal government and its own corporatist, tripartite Advisory Council on Canada-US relations.

At one of these meetings, CUPW President Jan Simpson even sat down to discuss a united trade-war policy with Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon, the same man who ordered an end to our strike! The Council is helping plan Canadian capitalisms response to Trumps barrage of tariff threats and actions. The union leaders tell us that we can defend our jobs and conditions by supporting our own capitalists in Team Canada. They are blocking us from uniting with our working class brothers and sisters in the US who are suffering under Trumps drive to establish a dictatorship and the trade war just as much as we are. At the same time, they are providing political support and cover for Team Canadas plans to gut our rights, cut our wages, and privatize our public services so that the workers, not Canadian capitalism, pay for the trade war.

Whatever remains of the concessions made to the working class in an earlier period are now on the chopping block. One expression of this is the ruling elites drive to reduce postal workers in Canada to Amazon-style gig-workers and privatize all the profitable parts of Canada Post Corporation. The CUPW acknowledged last week that the Committee on Internal Trade, a body that oversees the Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) that governs trade between Canadas provinces, is seeking to remove the federal exception for the exclusive privilege from the CFTA. What this would mean in practice is that Canada Post would no longer have the exclusive privilege to deliver letter-mail across the country. Private courier firms that pay workers far less and grant them few to no rights and benefits will undercut us, especially in urban areas where mail can be delivered cheaply.

CUPW is collaborating with the government and company management to bring this about. Our union is trying to cover up this reality, telling us in a statement that what has happened with postal deregulation around the world in the last two decades is not necessarily indicative of what would happen in Canada today. The reasons given for this wild claim include bad timing, geography, climate, and the environmental impacts of delivering the mail. The unions have given up on the working class so completely that they consider us all imbeciles who will believe any lie that they dish out!

The forward march of technology must stop being misused to make billionaires richer and more destructive war machines. We must fight for technology to be placed under the control of the working class, so we can use it for the benefit of all! Automation is sequencing our mail, and AI is dynamically adjusting our routes day-to-day in Canada Post. These significant increases in efficiency could be used to reduce our workload with no loss in pay, but for that, workers control is needed.

I am sure it will come as no surprise to anyone reading this that under the control of Canada Posts corporate management, these amazing technological advances lead to longer, more difficult and dangerous jobs for the same or lower pay.

We set up the Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (PWRFC) prior to our strike last year to fight for rank-and-file workers to take control of our contract struggle. We postal workers deliver mail, parcels and admail every single day, and we postal workers are discovering our social power. If we break from the nationalism and corporatism of the unions, we have a real opportunity to organize with other sections of workers and lead an international working class revolt against capitalist exploitation and war, and spearhead the fight for better jobs and living conditions in Canada, United States, Mexico, Germany and beyond.

Workers of the world unite! In solidarity,

Daniel Berkley
A view of the P4 lab inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology is seen after a visit by the World Health Organization team in Wuhan in China's Hubei province, Feb. 3, 2021. [AP Photo/Ng Han Guan]

In their commemoration of the five-year anniversary of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the New York Times has chosen to revive the thoroughly debunked Wuhan Lab conspiracy theory, which claims that Chinese scientists unleashed the SARS-CoV-2 virus upon the world, killing tens of millions of people.

In two opinion pieces published by the Timesone co-authored by virologists W. Ian Lipkin and Ralph Baric, the other by sociologist Zeynep Tufekcithe paper denigrates and casts doubt upon the latest groundbreaking coronavirus research by Dr. Shi Zhengli, the world-leading expert on bat coronaviruses who works at the Wuhan lab, revealing far more about their own geopolitical agenda than scientific inquiry.

Rather than engaging with the substantive findings of Shis teamwhose work at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) identified a novel bat coronavirus (HKU5-CoV-2) with zoonotic potentialthe Times contributors fixate on unsubstantiated bio-safety concerns.

The study, published in Cell on February 21, 2025, details how HKU5-CoV-2 binds to human ACE2 receptors, a trait shared with SARS-CoV-2 but distinct from other Merbecoviruses that typically use DPP4. While the research underscores the urgent need for global pandemic surveillance, the Times instead amplifies conspiratorial rhetoric about laboratory risks, effectively laundering Trump-era xenophobia through a veneer of scientific skepticism.

The fact that the Times editorial board has used the fifth anniversary of the pandemic to besmirch a critical scientific report that warns of the real and present dangers of pandemics is revealing. All the while, the Trump administration is savaging the institutions of science and public health, as H5N1 bird flu threatens to become the next pandemic. Moreover, that the Times has become the conduit for such debased attacks on essential scientific inquiry only confirms the smooth transition the Democrats have afforded Trump in his dictatorial pursuits.

The Cell study itself represents a methodological leap forward. By isolating HKU5-CoV-2 and testing its infectivity in human organoids, Shis team demonstrated three critical findings:

The viruss ACE2-binding capability emerged naturally through recombination events in bat populations. Its replication efficiency in human cells remains orders of magnitude lower than that of SARS-CoV-2. Antivirals effective against COVID-19 show comparable activity against HKU5-CoV-2.

These results directly counter lab-leak proponents central claimthat SARS-CoV-2s spike protein perfection necessitated human engineering[18][19].

Tufekcis March 16 op-ed epitomizes bad-faith scientific criticism. The axis of her tirade was centered on the following:

Sounds like the kind of research that should be conducted  if at all  with the very highest safety protocols, as W. Ian Lipkin and Ralph Baric discussed in a recent guest essay. But if you scroll all the way down to Page 19 of the journal article and squint, you learn that the scientists did all this under what they call BSL-2 plus conditions, a designation that isnt standardized and that Baric and Lipkin say is insufficient for work with potentially dangerous respiratory viruses. If just one lab worker unwittingly inhaled the virus and got infected, theres no telling what the impact could be on Wuhan, a city of millions, or the world. Youd think that by now wed have learned its not a good idea to test possible gas leaks by lighting a match. And youd hope that prestigious scientific journals would have learned not to reward such risky research. Why havent we learned our lesson? Maybe because its hard to admit that this research is risky now and to take the requisite steps to keep us safe without also admitting it was always risky. And that perhaps we were misled on purpose.

Tufekcis assertion that researchers squinted to hide biosafety details collapses under scrutiny: the Cell paper explicitly states clearly that work adhered to Chinas national BSL-2 standards with enhanced negative pressureprotocols consistent with CDC guidelines for wild-type coronaviruses not yet proven infectious to humans.

The study was approved by their review boards, as is customary in the United States and any other country conducting such research. It is important to note that not all countries agree on the BSL levels required for studying various pathogens. In some instances, the US uses less stringent bio-safety levels than other countries.

Later, in an attempt to defend her own lack of objective rationality, Tufekci tries to denigrate the entire collaborative international effort by leading scientists in the field who have sought to identify the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has produced numerous publications. Each time, the results of these studies have positioned the Wuhan seafood market and the wild-animal trade as central to the outbreak of the pandemic. One must question how Tufekci can support her claim when she states, To this day, there is no strong scientific evidence ruling out a lab leak or proving that the virus arose from human-animal contact in that seafood market. The few papers cited for market origin were written by a small, overlapping group of authors, including those who didnt inform the public about how serious their doubts had been.

Tufekcis audacity to dismiss all objective scientific evidence and belittle the efforts of dedicated scientists who have continued their work despite intense global scrutiny is both conceited and mean-spirited. Her assertion that China and Chinese scientists are leading the world toward another research-related pandemic is mere fearmongering that appeals to the lowest sentiments. Her entire argument is irrational and unhinged, aligning closely with the broader social crisis that has enveloped bourgeois society.

As previously stated, the first essay by Lipkin and Baric is more nuanced and therefore potentially more misleading and dangerous.

Lipkin, a prominent epidemiologist and virologist at Columbia University, is internationally recognized for his work on various infectious diseases, including the West Nile virus, and has expressed significant concerns over gain-of-function research. Baric, a distinguished professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a leading expert on coronaviruses.

Baric has previously collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and has voiced concerns about the potential for a lab leak. His testimony before Congress, which stated that conducting certain research on bat viruses at the WIV under BSL-2 conditions was irresponsible due to the potential risks involved, provided both Republicans and Democrats with ammunition to criticize Dr. Peter Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance.

Dr. Peter Daszak and Dr. Shi Zhengli, two leading scientists studying bat coronaviruses [Photo by EcoHealth Alliance]

Aware that his opinions would likely be used to undermine Daszak and his organization, which has spent decades building a global network of researchers to address the increasing threat of pandemics, Baric chose to throw him to the wolves. In a very tangible sense, the attack on Daszak has been an assault on science, epitomizing the response of the ruling elites to the COVID-19 pandemic over the last five years.

Irrespective of Barics opinions, research is conducted through consensus and the broad expertise of many working in the field, which establishes guidance for such work. It is this guidance, in the form of regulations and supervisory bodies, that determines the methodology of these scientific inquiries and adherence to them. Should various regulatory bodies consider more stringent measures necessary, these issues then need to be addressed in hearings and committees within the scientific communities. Indeed, one must ask why Lipkin and Baric are turning to the New York Times to voice their concerns when these should be raised through appropriate channels within their discipline.

From the outset, the political content of their essay is evident. They write, As virus experts, were committed to research that uncovers pandemic threats and helps protect people from them. But we are concerned about how some scientists are experimenting with viruses in ways that could put all of us in harms way.

Their guest essay guides readers to misconstrue significant research conducted by Chinese scientists and sway them towards believing the unfounded claims of the lab-leak conspiracy.

By stating that the HKU5-CoV-2 research was conducted in a BSL-2 plus lab, which is not formally recognized by the CDC, they imply that safety protocols were not followed and that the virus was handled carelessly, contrary to existing regulations. This was not the case. Their portrayal of HKU5-CoV-2 as comparable to MERS is misleading, as HKU5-CoV-2 is a novel virus that has never been observed in humans and is poorly adapted to humans at present. Finally, Baric and Lipkins essay could lead readers to mistakenly believe that genetic manipulation was involved in this study, which was not the case.

Despite the political pressures that compel scientists to make certain accommodations with those in power, it is crucial to question Baric and Lipkin: What rules have the Chinese scientists violated? Have they in any way misrepresented their work or overstated the threats posed by their findings?

Science is being undermined and replaced by anti-science; public health is being dismantled and replaced with anti-public health. The entire culture of science and the history that has promoted longevity and well-being is under threat. The World Socialist Web Site and the International Committee of the Fourth International have, for more than five years, covered every aspect of the pandemic, warning the working class about the dangers posed by capitalisms response to it. The worlds working class must heed these warnings as we face even more dangers in the coming years from climate change and unchecked pathogens, both recognized and novel. It is the working class that will bear the brunt of the capitalists malign neglect.
A Leopard II battle tank is on display to advertise for joining the German army Bundeswehr at the Essen Motor Show in Essen, Germany, Friday, December 1, 2023. [AP Photo/Martin Meissner]

This week, the European Union (EU) Commission released its Joint White Paper for European Defense Readiness 2030. Endorsed by the European Council of EU heads of state at a meeting on Thursday, the White Paper calls for a staggering increase in EU military spending of 800 billion to prepare Europe for high-intensity war with Russia, a major nuclear-armed state.

This anti-democratic and militarily suicidal policy is setting up an explosive confrontation with the European working class. Last year, a Eurasia Group poll found that 89 percent of people in Western Europe opposed sending ground troops to Ukraine to fight Russia. French President Emmanuel Macrons funding of military budget increases with social austerity, including a massive pension cut in 2023, provoked overwhelming popular opposition and mass strikes.

Nonetheless, with contempt for public opinion, the EU is signaling a massive military spending increase that could only be financed by devastating social austerity against workers and youth. Hailing the vast increase in EU military spending during the NATO-Russia war in Ukraine, it lays out a framework for doubling military spending and so-called military investment in weaponry and equipment in the next four years.

EU Member States defence spending has grown by more than 31 percent since 2021, reaching 1.9 percent of the EUs combined GDP or 326 billion in 2024. Specifically, defence investment reached an unprecedented 102 billion in 2024, almost doubling the amount spent in 2021, the White Paper boasts, adding: Based on projections of gradual take-up, defence investment could reach at least 800 billion over the next four years.

The White Paper lays out five basic mechanisms for increasing military spending:

* A Security and Action For Europe (SAFE) loan program granting EU member states 150 billion in loans to finance military spending.

* Invoking the National Escape Clause of the Stability and Growth Pact to allow EU states to run budget deficits above 3 percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP), so long as the resulting deficit spending is used to fund the military. The White Paper claims that this could mobilise additional defence expenditure of up to 1.5 percent of GDP.

* Using EU Cohesion policy funds, normally reserved for poorer EU countries to spend on key infrastructure or education, to increase defense spending.

* Using the European Investment Bank to fund the building of high-tech weapons such as drones, space weapons and cyber warfare.

* Mobilizing private capital, including with measures like seizing the balances of private EU citizens savings accounts and using them to invest in arms manufacturers.

These confusing references to investment and loans obscure one fact: The EU intends to finance its military build-up via debt and for these debts to be repaid by the workers. Military spending differs crucially from investment in productive capacity like a factory: It produces no new wealth. The cost to the state of building drone bombers or guided missiles, or of employing them on the battlefield, can be repaid either out of its revenues at home or by plundering new revenues abroad.

Europes economy has stagnated for nearly two decades since the 2008 Wall Street crash, bled white by repeated bank bailouts handing trillions of euros in public funds to the wealthy. All EU states are heavily indebted, and several are effectively bankrupt: Frances public debt stands at 110 percent of GDP, Spain at 104 percent, and Italy at 137 percent. With EU governments rejecting tax increases on the capitalists, their military spending will be financed by plundering workers either through imperialist war abroad, or class war at home.

After millions of Ukrainians and hundreds of thousands of Russians have been killed or wounded in the war, the White Paper ghoulishly calls on the EU to profit from Ukraines war experience. It callously treats Ukraine as a testing ground for the best use of modern technologies like artificial intelligence to the purpose of drone murder:

Ukraine is today using its experience from the frontline to continuously adapt and upgrade equipment to the point that Ukraine has become the worlds leading defence and technology innovation laboratory. Closer cooperation between the Ukrainian and European defence industries will enable first-hand knowledge transfer on how to best use innovation to achieve military superiority on the battlefield, including on rapidly scaling up production and updating existing capabilities.  Innovations in drone technology are already dictating the way battles are fought, and the role of robotics is poised to grow, with autonomous ground vehicles taking the lead in early combat operations. These machines, capable of reconnaissance, direct assaults, and logistical support, are already having an impact on battlefields. AI powered military robots are still in early stages of development and there is ample opportunity for Europe to excel in robot weapons ...

From the experience of the Ukraine war so far, the White Paper calls for massively increasing EU spending on seven key areas of military technology. These include: air and missile defense, artillery and long-range missile systems, ammunitions stockpiles, drone and counter-drone systems, military logistics, cyber warfare, airlift and strategic enablers like space-based surveillance and warfare. To ensure that this military build-up is profitable for private companies, the White Paper adds, the build-up must occur on a massive scale.

Calling for the acquisition of capabilities for high-intensity warfare in line with EU and NATO capability processes, it adds, scaling up production capacities depends on companies having a steady stream of solid, multi-year orders to steer investment in additional production lines. It calls for the pre-positioning of large Defense Industrial Readiness Pools of ammunition and military supplies and industrial capacity so they can be rapidly used if and when the war in Ukraine explodes across all of Europe.

It also advocates building an Eastern Border Shield to strengthen the EUs external land border with Russia and Belarus against military and hybrid threats. That would include a comprehensive mix of physical barriers, infrastructure development and modern surveillance systems.

The alarm must be sounded among workers and youth. What the EU is preparing is the largest European military build-up and the largest European war since the rearmament of Nazi Germany and Hitlers genocidal invasion of the Soviet Union. The cost in lives of such a conflict, even before it escalates to nuclear war, would be astronomical. It must be stopped, and stopping it requires in the first instance rejecting the concocted arguments the EU advances to present its military build-up as forced upon it by the threat of Russia and China.

The political equilibrium that emerged from the end of the Second World War and then the conclusion of the Cold War has been severely disrupted, it declares. If Russia is allowed to achieve its goals in Ukraine, its territorial ambition will extend beyond. Russia will remain a fundamental threat to Europes security for the foreseeable future  Authoritarian states like China increasingly seek to assert their authority and control in our economy and society.

In reality, throughout the post-Cold War era following the Stalinist bureaucracys 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, the European imperialist powers have been on the warpath. Whether rivaling US imperialism or working closely with it, they have bombed, invaded or occupied countries from Yugoslavia and Afghanistan to Syria, Libya and Mali. The current EU military program builds on this blood-soaked history, including NATOs provocative decision to heavily arm Ukrainian forces on Russias borders that led to the Kremlins reactionary invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The struggle against military aggression, social austerity and attacks on democratic rights begins at home. The coming struggles of the working class against austerity and police state violence in Europe must be armed with the perspective of building a socialist, anti-war movement across Europe and internationally against European imperialisms plans for World War III.
Eyad Abu Jazar holds his nephew who was killed in Israeli army airstrikes, at Nasser Hospital morgue in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, March 18, 2025. [AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh]

Defence Minister Israel Katz issued a statement Friday committing the Zionist regime to annex parts of Gaza if Hamas refuses to release the remaining hostages under its control. Israel continued its all-out onslaught on the enclave for a fifth straight day, with a brutal blockade on all aid launched at the beginning of March still in force.

The more Hamas persists in its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed to Israel, Katz declared. If the hostages are not released, Israel will continue to take more and more territory in the Strip for permanent control.

Referring to US President Donald Trumps plan to expel Gazas Palestinian population and turn the enclave into a riviera of the Middle East, Katz continued that Israel would intensify its military operations. Israel will deploy all military and civilian pressure, including evacuation of the Gaza population south and implementing US President Trumps voluntary migration plan for Gaza residents.

The description of Trumps plan for Gaza as consisting of voluntary migration for the Palestinians stretches the term Orwellian to its limits. Since returning to the White House, the fascist-minded president has repeatedly made clear his support for ethnic cleansing and the elimination of the Palestinian population from the enclave. In late January, Trump urged Israel to clean out the Arab population from the Gaza Strip.

At a joint appearance with Netanyahu at the White House February 4, Trump then openly embraced the expulsion of the Palestinians, declaring that Gaza should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people thatlived a miserable existence there. Trump urged other countries to build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza. He concluded by suggesting that the US would annex Gaza.

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce was repeatedly asked Friday to comment on Katzs threat to begin annexing Gaza, but refused to answer directly. Underlining the Trump administrations approval for Katzs proposal, Bruce responded by saying that the present situation has one cause, Hamas.

After using a six-week ceasefire in Gaza to regroup and rearm, the far-right Israeli regime was emboldened by Trumps outspoken support for forcibly removing the Palestinians to impose a full blockade on food and aid entering the enclave at the beginning of the month. Sam Rose, director of planning for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said in Geneva Friday, This is the longest period since the start of conflict in October 2023 that no supplies whatsoever have entered Gaza. The progress we made as an aid system over the last six weeks of the ceasefire is being reversed. The UN says it only has flour supplies in Gaza to last six days.

Since relaunching air attacks early on Tuesday, followed by a renewed ground offensive, the Zionist regime has made clear with its actions that it aims to implement Trumps order that Gaza should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people thatlived a miserable existence there. The Israel Defence Force destroyed the Turkish Palestinian Friendship Hospital Friday, the only health care facility in the enclave that could provide cancer care. Prior to the beginning of Israels genocidal onslaught in October 2023, the hospital, which was built in 2017 with aid of $37 million from Turkey, provided treatment to some 10,000 patients. The IDFs strike that destroyed the complex also flattened a nearby medical school. In a separate air raid, the IDF targeted the medical faculty of the Islamic University in Gaza City.

Human Rights Watch published a report Thursday accusing Israel of war crimes while its soldiers occupied hospitals in Gaza at various times over the past 18 months. The aid organisation noted that Israeli soldiers were responsible for the deaths and unnecessary suffering of Palestinian patients while they were present in medical facilities. The Israeli militarys denial of water and electricity left sick and wounded people to die, while soldiers mistreated and forcibly displaced patients and health workers, and damaged and destroyed hospitals, the report stated.

In a post on X Friday, the World Health Organisation noted that 500,000 women across Gaza lack access to essential reproductive and maternal care services, while over 500 cases of acute malnutrition have been reported in children between the ages of six months and five years since the beginning of 2025.

Discussions are clearly far advanced behind the scenes on where forcibly displaced Palestinians could be sent. Egypt felt compelled to issue a strongly worded denial Friday after a report appeared in a Lebanese newspaper that the butcher of Cairo Abdel Fattah El-Sisi made a proposal at recent meetings of Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia and Qatar to accept half a million Palestinians into northern Sinai. Last week, it was revealed that the US and Israel have begun talks with Sudan and Somalia to investigate the possibility of deporting Palestinians to the two impoverished and war-torn countries in eastern Africa. The proposal is redolent of the Nazis Madagascar Plan, according to which Jews were to be sent to the French colony. The plan never came to fruition because the Nazis pursued instead the physical extermination of 6 million European Jews.

Israel has already massacred at least 70,000 Palestinians since the genocide began in October 2023, and estimates suggest that many more have died. Netanyahus far-right regime feels it can get away with mass murder and annexation because it enjoys unconditional support from the imperialist powers, first and foremost the United States. Washington, both under the Democrat Biden and the fascist Republican Trump, has viewed the genocide against the Palestinians as a key component of a broader regional war to secure American hegemony in the Middle East by carrying out regime change in Iran and weakening its regional allies. It is in this context no mere coincidence that the return to Israels unrestrained military offensive on Gaza takes place as the US has launched since Sunday a series of devastating attacks on Yemen, whose Houthi fighters Trump has pledged to annihilate.

For its part, the Zionist regime under Netanyahus leadership is pursuing a policy of Greater Israel that seeks the redrawing of the regions borders with American imperialisms approval. Israeli forces continue to launch extensive military operations in the West Bank to intimidate and displace Palestinians from their land.

Israels air force launched Friday what were described as extensive air strikes on military targets in Syria, including at the Palmyra military airport and nearby T-4 military base. The Israeli military claimed the strikes were necessary to take out military strategic capabilities. Since the toppling of the Assad regime by US-backed Islamist fighters linked to al-Qaeda in December, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes to dismantle Syrias military infrastructure and ordered troops to advance into Syrian territory from their positions on the occupied Golan Heights.

The close interconnection between the Gaza genocide and American imperialisms broader war to control the energy-rich Middle East underscores that all of those around the world opposed to Israels barbarism must link their struggle to end the genocide with the fight against imperialist war. The only social force capable of leading this movement is the international working class, which is bearing the full burden of militarism and war through attacks on jobs and its living standards, and the gutting of its democratic and social rights.
President Donald Trump, left, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, March 21, 2025 [AP Photo/Pool]

On Thursday, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal independently reported that Elon Musk, the worlds richest man and owner of leading US military contractor SpaceX, was scheduled to receive a top-secret briefing on secret operational plans for war with China at the Pentagon on Friday.

Elon Musk leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is spearheading the Trump administrations efforts to dismantle Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

The publication of the report triggered a highly unusual and vociferous denial by US President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as a Pentagon spokesperson.

Trump immediately replied to the reports on his Truth Social platform, declaring, Elon is NOT BEING BRIEFED ON ANYTHING CHINA BY THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR!!!

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X just hours after the publication of the report:

This is NOT a meeting about top secret China war plans. Its an informal meeting about innovation, efficiencies, and smarter production.

Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, bizarrely declared that Musk was just visiting.

While Musk went to the Pentagon on Friday, Reuters claimed the secret briefing on US war plans did not take place and that Musk instead met with Hegseth in his office.

The publication of the expected briefing by the Times and Journal takes place in the context of deep divisions within the US political establishment over military policy. Trump and Hegseth have publicly declared to be seeking a negotiated settlement of the Ukraine war, with Hegseth explaining in February that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe. The Trump administration is instead prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific, recognizing the reality of scarcity, and making the resourcing tradeoffs to ensure deterrence does not fail.

Ultimately, it is these conflicts over foreign policy and the role of Musk that brought the secret briefing to light. The US media has treated the issue of contention as Musks participation in the secret briefing, rather than the fact that the United States appears to be in an advanced stage of preparation for war against the worlds largest economy and the worlds third-largest nuclear power.

In January 2023, Four-Star General Mike Minihan, head of the Air Forces Air Mobility Command, wrote an internal memo to soldiers under his command predicting that the United States and China would be at war in 2025.

Minihan said that [Chinese Premier] Xis team, reason, and opportunity are all aligned for 2025.

The memo, titled February 2023 Orders in Preparation forThe Next Fight, called on his troops to consider their personal affairs and to fire a clip into a 7-meter target with the full understanding that unrepentant lethality matters most. Aim for the head.

Elon Musks company, SpaceX, is one of the largest US military contractors and plays a critical role in US military communications and space payload delivery.

The Times pointed to the role of Starlink, SpaceXs global high-speed data communication network that uses a massive array of low-earth-orbit satellites to provide communications all over the world. Starlink is by far the most resilient global high-speed data network for remote areas, which has made the Pentagon reliant on it for its operations.

The Times reported:

The company separately has been paid hundreds of millions of dollars by the Pentagon that now relies heavily on SpaceXs Starlink satellite communications network for military personnel to transmit data worldwide.

Just as importantly, SpaceX has achieved a near monopoly on payload launches, accounting for 90 percent of the mass launched into orbit in 2024. The Times reported:

In 2024, SpaceX was granted about $1.6 billion in Air Force contracts. That does not include classified spending with SpaceX by the National Reconnaissance Office, which has hired the company to build it a new constellation of low-earth orbit satellites to spy on China, Russia, and other threats.

In its report on the planned meeting, the Times explained:

Pentagon war plans, known in military jargon as O-plans or operational plans, are among the militarys most closely guarded secrets.

It continued:

The top-secret briefing that exists for the China war plan has about 20 to 30 slides that lay out how the United States would fight such a conflict. It covers the plan beginning with the indications and warning of a threat from China to various options on what Chinese targets to hit, over what time period, that would be presented to Mr. Trump for decisions.

The Times reported:

Mr. Hegseth; Adm. Christopher W. Grady, the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Adm. Samuel J. Paparo, the head of the militarys Indo-Pacific Command, were set to present Mr. Musk with details on the US plan to counter China in the event of military conflict between the two countries.

The report continued:

The meeting had been set to be held not in Mr. Hegseths officewhere an informal discussion about innovation would most likely take placebut in the Tank, a secure conference room in the Pentagon, typically used for high-level meetings of members of the Joint Chiefs, their senior staff, and visiting combatant commanders.

Ultimately, the fact that the Pentagon deemed it necessary to share its most high-level, closely-guarded operational war plans for war with China with Musk points to the advanced degree of planning for such a conflict.
Judge James E. Boasberg, speaks at a Naturalization ceremony held in the National Archives Rotunda in Washington, DC Sept. 15, 2023. [Photo: US National Archives]

In a court hearing Friday, federal Judge James Boasberg denied the Justice Departments request to remove a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from deporting immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA). The case is the focal point of an increasingly violent and unhinged campaign by the Trump administration to assert unlimited presidential powers that supposedly cannot be constrained by the courtsconstitutionally a co-equal branch of government.

Boasberg first issued his order last Saturday, blocking deportations under the 18th-century law, which the Trump administration promptly ignored, expelling approximately 261 people without due process to El Salvadors notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.

Prior to Trumps invocation of the reactionary law on March 15, the last time the US government used the AEA was during and after World War II to imprison approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans in relocation camps. In Fridays hour-long hearing, Boasberg questioned the Trump administrations invocation of the AEA, describing it as incredibly troublesome, problematic, and concerning.

Why was this proclamation essentially signed in the dark? Boasberg asked. Then these people rushed onto planes. It seems to me the only reason to do that is if you know its a problem and you want to get them out of the country.

Fridays hearing began with Boasberg castigating the government for issuing filings in response to him that use the kind of intemperate and disrespectful language Im not used to hearing from the United States.

Boasberg questioned Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign over the governments invocation of the Act and the lack of due process in verifying whether those deported were actually who the government said they were.

Hows this going to work? Boasberg asked. Whats the role of the court in ensuring that individuals are not erroneously classified as TdA members and removed to some Salvadoran prison when theyre not even subject to the proclamation? He added, What happens if someone is not a member of a [gang] or Venezuelan citizen how do they challenge their removal?

The Trump administration has maintained that those deported under the AEA roughly half of the 261 people expelled last Saturday were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA). The other half the administration claims were deported under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

Multiple reports in the past week, citing family members and attorneys representing those imprisoned, have refuted the Trump administrations claims that the individuals deported under the AEA were TdA members. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that several Venezuelan immigrants transferred to CECOT last Saturday had been detained by ICE agents following Trumps inauguration. They were falsely accused of gang affiliation simply because they had tattoos depicting roses, crowns or crosses.

Revealing the dictatorial character of the Trump administrations actions, Boasberg posed a hypothetical scenario during Fridays hearing, asking whether, in the governments view, the president could declare an invasion by China if Chinese fishing vessels were simply off the US coast. If the president invoked the AEA under such circumstances, Boasberg asked, could he then detain and deport all fishermen of Chinese descent residing in the country? Ensign replied that it was indeed the governments position that the president could take such action.

Boasberg replied incredulously, If the courts cant review it, then the president could say that anybody is invading the United States.

Since the initial ruling last Saturday, the Trump administration has refused to provide Boasberg with the exact times the planes carrying immigrants took off from the US, exited US airspace and landed in El Salvador. On Thursday, Boasberg accused the government of evading its obligations to the court by repeatedly submitting only the same general information about the flights.

Trumps lawyers at the DoJ have indicated that providing Boasberg that information would violate national security. In response, Boasberg ordered the government to inform him by Tuesday if the administration planned to invoke the state secrets act to block giving information to the court.

Turning to last Saturday, Boasberg questioned Ensign if he understood that he, Boasberg, did not want the flights to leave the United States.

Did you not understand my statements in that hearing? Did you understand my orders to turn the plane around? Ensign replied that he did and that he understood the intent that you meant that to be effective at that time. In previous hearings throughout the week, DoJ lawyers argued that they were not violating Boasbergs order since the flights had already left US airspace by the time the order was issued, a novel and absurd argument.

On Friday, Ensign admitted that the government understood Boasbergs order to mean that the planes should have been turned around. With this admission, there is now the possibility that Boasberg could hold the government in contempt for violating his orders, potentially imposing fines or even imprisonment.

However, even if Boasberg finds Trump administration officials in contempt and orders US Marshals to enforce his ruling, there is no guarantee the orders would be carried out. The US Marshals Service is part of the executive branch, under the authority of Attorney General Pam Bondi, a loyal Trump ally.



Legal experts, the Washington Post wrote Friday, say its an open question whether Trump and his appointees would follow through if Boasberg were to levy fines or order the arrest of Trump administration officials.

In the week since Boasberg ordered a hold to deportations under the AEA last Saturday, he and other federal judges have been subjected to a barrage of fascist incitement by Trump and his followers throughout the Republican Party and MAGA-aligned media.

In a long screed on his Truth social account Thursday, Trump denounced Unlawful Nationwide Injunctions by Radical Left Judges. He added that these people are Lunatics... Turning to the Supreme Court, Trump warned: If Justice Roberts and the the United States Supreme Court do not fix this toxic and unprecedented situation IMMEDIATELY, our Country is in very serious trouble!

Trump continued to threaten judges on Friday, writing on his social media account, No District Court Judge, or any Judge, can assume the duties of the President of the United States.

Before Fridays afternoon hearing, Trump declared that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has the authority to get bad people out of our country, regardless of a judge sitting behind a bench that has no idea what goes on. His deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, denounced any suggestion that a single Marxist judge in San Francisco have the same executive power as the Commander-in-Chief.

After Fridays hearing, however, Trump, in a blatant lie, claimed he did not know who invoked the Alien Enemies Act. Questioned over his invocation of the AEA, Trump replied, I dont know when it was signed, because I didnt sign it, other people handled it.

As of this writing, the presidential declaration, featuring Trumps signature, is still available on the federal register and the official White House web site.
By Shivansh Tiwary

(Reuters) -FedEx's shares fell 11% on Friday after the parcel delivery firm cut its annual forecasts, fanning worries about the health of U.S. manufacturing amid uncertainty from the Trump administration's sweeping tariffs on trading partners.

CEO Raj Subramaniam warned a day earlier that the company was navigating a very "challenging operating environment" and "weakness in the industrial economy" was weighing on its higher-margin business-to-business volumes.

The company's shares hit their lowest in nearly two years on Friday. FedEx and rival UPS are viewed as barometers for the global economy due to their involvement across a swathe of industries.

Shipments from companies that produce goods used in manufacturing drive substantial cargo volumes and high-margin deliveries for the delivery firms.

After the bell, FedEx shares were down nearly 2%, UPS shares were down 0.4%, while European peer DHL fell 2.5%.

U.S. President Donald Trump's on-and-off import tariffs have created uncertainty for businesses, prompting them to be more cautious with their spending in an uncertain economic landscape.

Analysts have said Trump's levies could trigger a recession and a trade war, further hammering demand for transportation and delivery services.

"FedEx's Q3 print and full-year forecast cut will likely exacerbate concerns of structural pressures in the parcel business," Morgan Stanley said, adding that it may even overwhelm the company's cost-cutting program.

FedEx has been reducing costs as demand for lower-margin e-commerce deliveries from companies such as Temu and Shein outpaces higher-margin business-to-business shipments.

"Management noted weakness in the industrial economy and, while macro is a factor, we believe structural forces are a far bigger headwind than the market thinks," Morgan Stanley added.

The company lowered its fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings per share forecast to between $18.00 and $18.60, from $19 to $20 previously.

The forecast cut itself was far from a surprise, but the magnitude, particularly for one remaining quarter, was greater than feared, Evercore ISI said.

At least 10 brokerages cut their price targets on the company's stock on Friday.

(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Shounak Dasgupta and Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
Roughly 30,000 public sector health employees, including nurses and paramedics, participated in nationwide two-day protests on March 17 and 18 against the cuts to their professional entitlements in the Sri Lankan governments budget proposals.

Nurses protest at teaching hospital in Kandy on March 17, 2025

On March 17, the Government Nursing Officers Union (GNOU) called a three-and-a-half-hour-stoppage. The next day, seven trade unions from the Joint Federation of Paramedic Professionals and eleven unions from the Joint Front of Paramedic Services called a 24-hour strike from 7 a.m.

Nurses, public health inspectors, midwives, ECG technicians, radiographers, laboratory technicians and pharmacists took part in these actions.

Their main demands were for the restoration of former rates for overtime and holiday work. These were slashed in the budget proposals for 2025 presented by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna/National Peoples Power (JVP/NPP) government.

Earlier, the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) had announced a one-day token strike for March 5, demanding the reversal of cuts to doctors allowances. The Health Trade Unions Alliance (HTUA), representing radiology and laboratory technicians, pharmacists, nurses, midwives, public health inspectors and entomologists, had called a two-day strike for March 6 and 7.

However, these unions called off their protests, claiming that Health Minister Nalinda Jayatissa had given them written assurances that there would be a discussion on the issues with the treasury secretary within a week.

These promises were made just to suppress health employees actions, for fear they would encourage struggles by other sections of workers. Opposition among broader sections of state employees is also rising because they were offered small pay increases, spread over three years. These pay rises are not in any way adequate to compensate for the erosion of the real value of their wages during the past three years.

At a press conference on March 17, GNOU leader Saman Ratnapriya said that although all relevant finance ministry officials were present at the promised discussion, they had no satisfactory response to the injustices caused by the budget. He said: As nothing was received, we are compelled to proceed with our planned actions.

Ratnapriya is a leader of the discredited right-wing United National Party of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe. He fully supported the brutal International Monetary Fund (IMF) austerity program during the rule of Wickremesinghe, who employed Ratnapriya as his labour advisor. Ratnapriyas show of opposition to the budget cuts is only aimed at heading off the health employees unrest.

HTUA leader Ravi Kumudesh sought to excuse the government. He told the media: This government alone should not be responsible for these things. The IMF had directed the government that only 3.2 billion rupees ($US10.8 million) should be allocated when preparing the state sector salaries. He said that without discussing the issue with the IMF, the government had gone wrong.

Like other union apparatuses, the Kumudesh-led health sector union bureaucrats are also fully backing the IMF program. They have limited workers protests to the bare minimum to discourage and dissipate their anger.

Public Services United Nurses Union leader Muruththettuwe Ananda meeting with Dissanayake [Photo: Presidents Media Division]

Public Services United Nurses Union (PSUNU) official Muruththettuwe Ananda, a Buddhist monk who supports the JVP/NPP government, met with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The Presidential Media Division reported that Ananda expressed appreciation for the salary increments, highlighting that they have been well received by a significant portion of the public sector workforce.

Welcoming his utterances, Dissanayake said the health union demands were unjustified.

The PSUNU leaders claim, defending the IMF client regime of the JVP/NPP, is completely false. There is a widespread opposition among workers in the state sector, as well as in the private sector. For the past two years workers have repeatedly campaigned for higher salaries and pensions and against heavy workloads. It is the trade union apparatus that blocks workers struggles.

Speaking in parliament on March 18, Health Minister Jayatissa claimed the government had provided a considerable wage hike and accused union leaders of calling politically motivated strikes.

Trying to provoke people against the health workers, Jayatissa declared they have taken patients as hostages. This is the mantra of every regime in denouncing workers justified actions.

The JVP/NPP governments threat to health employees is a warning that it is preparing for a major crackdown on the working class as a whole.

The pro-capitalist trade union bureaucracies oppose the independent mobilisation of the working class against the governments systematic attack on the living and social conditions of workers and the poor under the IMF program.

Protest by nurses at teaching hospital in Peradeniya on March 17, 2025

Several health employees spoke to the World Socialist Web Site, voicing their opposition to budget cuts, the governments attack on workers actions and the treachery of the union leaders.

A nurse from the Badulla Teaching Hospital commented: I oppose the cuts to allowances from this years budget. We expected an increase of our salaries to match the cost of living. But there is no such increase to cover our expenses. JVP trade union officials tried in vain to convince us the salary increase is a win. However, our main struggle is for survival, and there is no solution for that.

Expressing her disgust at the trade unions, she said she was earlier a member of the union led by Ratnapriya. After he joined the Wickremesinghe government and betrayed nurses struggles, I quit the trade union. Many colleagues left unions for the same reason. The trade union officials of this government are against our struggles, inciting people against us.

She said that due to the lack of staff, we are compelled to bear a very heavy workload, not only in my section but in other sections, too. This is not sufficient when the size of the population is considered in Uva province. The dental unit has limited capacity. We can treat just about 80 patients a day.

She also explained the dearth of medical facilities, including medicines.

An Emergency Treatment Unit nurse at Karapitiya hospital, near Galle, said: The government made a fake salary increase in the budget. What actually happened was that the present wage was cut. We engaged in a protest against this.

She criticised the fact that the existence of many unions divided workers according to grades and that union leaders actions discouraged members.

We have not received solutions from the government. If the unions do not respond to this situation, we will form a common alliance to leave the unions. We need to discuss these things and find a way out.

Priyantha, an attendant from Kandy National Hospital, commented: During the strikes on March 17 and 18, a considerable number of nurses and paramedics participated, but the minor staff union did not join the strike. The paramedic unions advised their workers to remain at home.

Now it seems that the trade union leaders have bowed following the health ministers threat. It is clear that workers cannot achieve anything by discussing matters with the government. The reduction of health workers allowances is part of the attacks under the IMF program.

Workers must prepare for a joint struggle for their rights, but they need to organise independently of the trade unions. I am a member of the Health Action Committee, and we are campaigning among health workers to mobilise such a struggle.
This is the eighth in a series of articles on the recent Berlin International Film Festival. Part 1 was posted February 20, Part 2 on February 27, Part 3 on March 2, Part 4 on March 6, Part 5 on March 9, Part 6 on March 10 and Part 7 on March 16.

Along with the film The German People, the documentaries The Moelln Letters (written and directed by Martina Priessner) and The Lie (Katrin Seybold and Melanie Spitta) met with great interest from the public at this years Berlin Film Festival, with the former winning the Panorama Audience Award.

The Moelln Letters

In November 1992, arson attacks by neo-Nazis in the small town of Moelln in Schleswig-Holstein (Germanys northernmost state) destroyed the life of Ibrahim Arslans family. The seven-year-old boy survived the fire but lost his sister, his cousin and his grandmother. Unlike the racist riots that took place in the same year in Rostock-Lichtenhagen in eastern Germany, these attacks were not directed against refugees but specifically against German-Turkish families, who had lived in the country for a long time.

The Moelln Letters

The event provoked worldwide outrage and led to mass demonstrations and candlelight vigils against right-wing extremism throughout Germany.

Twenty-seven years later, in 2019, Ibrahim Arslan learned by chance that there were countless letters of solidarity from all over Germany addressed to the affected families, offering them comfort and courage but which the city administration had withheld from them. They remained in the office for public order and social welfare and then in the city archive. The mayor responsible at the time was the lawyer Joachim H. Dorfler (Christian Democratic Union, CDU).

In her retrospective account of the events in Molln, director Martina Priessner highlights the contrast between the official attitudes and those of the victims and their supporters. The film follows Ibrahim and his siblings, presenting a sensitive portrait of the lasting trauma that continues to shape their lives up to the present.

Ibrahim suffers from flashbacks. After going public and speaking at school meetings, his symptoms have diminished. His brother Namik, who was rescued from the burning house as an infant, also struggles with anxiety attacks and is in psychotherapy.

In her directors statement for the Berlinale, Priessner, who met Ibrahim Arslan in 2020 and first learned then about the solidarity letters, says this conversation left a lasting impression on her. She said:

How could it be that these important messages of solidarity never reached the victims of the racist attack? And what does that actually say about how this society deals with victims of right-wing terror?

She helped the relatives of the victims gain access to the letters and establish contact with the letter writers. This leads to a moving encounter in the film between Ibrahim and Sonja, who sent a letter and a lucky charm in 1992 when she was just 12 years old.

Remembrance requires action is the motto of the citys official annual commemoration of the attacks. The commemoration, however, is limited to passive expressions of consternation. According to Ibrahim, he and others affected were reduced to the role of extras and have therefore been organizing their own annual memorial event for some time.

The former mayor, Dorfler, refuses to talk to Ibrahim. The successor mayor, Jan Wiegels (Social Democratic Party, SPD), also remains silent about his behavior at the time, which is incompatible with democratic principles. The city administration not only confiscated and archived the letters, it went so far as to partially open and answer them.

Ibrahim reads out the official reply to one letter, which was allegedly forwarded to the relatives in the hope that it would bring them comfort. However, like other letters, it was never received by the family. The relatives remember that the mayor left them on their own and did not visit them personally. They themselves would have had to take care of the people who had been made homeless by the fire.

Ibrahim is particularly angry about the official comment that the families could have picked up the letters at any time. How could they have picked up something they had no idea existed? The film accompanies the families to the archive to receive the letters, which they now want to transfer to the Documentation Center and Museum of Migration in Germany (DOMiD) in Cologne. Trust has been destroyed in the Moelln archive. The archivist is still the same person as in 1992.

Ibrahim vents his frustration at the constant delays in the handover. It is the institutional approach, he asserts, a white German person who is not affected by everyday racism could never put himself or herself in the familys shoes. Elsewhere, he recalls that in 1992, the police (who had apparently already labeled the Arslans as a so-called problem family) initially investigated the murdered family instead of looking for the right-wing perpetrators. At the end of the film, Ibrahim reports on his efforts to organize migrants from different backgrounds against racism.

At this point, the film adapts to identity politics, which sees racism not as the policy of a ruling class that, in one form or another, tries to play off and divide the workers but as a characteristic of white politicians or a white-dominant society.

Ambiguous film images of swift, meticulous administrative hands, labelling, measuring, seem to suggest as much. They transform a small Quran with burn marks, which belonged to a girl killed in the house, into an impersonal object that is handled with gloves. Typical German bureaucracy?

The picture of the high stack of boxes in the archive points in a different direction, however, and Ibrahim is also a person who does not discriminate in his everyday life. Like the other victims, he is deeply touched by the extent of the sympathy shown in 1992.

The Moelln Letters repeatedly shows messages written by children, adults, young people and school classes, often lovingly coloured, from all over Germany and other countries. One letter, written to offer comfort and strength to the family, comes from the US.

The Panorama Audience Award for The Moelln Letters is an expression of the widespread opposition in the population to far-right terror, a solidarity with migrants and increasing outrage against state representatives who, in soapbox speeches, invoke the we that they actually fear and sabotage.

German bureaucracy has its own special history. Ever since its emergence in the 19th century under Bismarck, it has been a primary instrument of German capitalism to suppress any democratic stirrings from below. This did not change after 1945. The top priority was law and order rather than democracy.

The Lie

The Lie was made in 1987 by Katrin Seybold and Melanie Spitta. The rarely shown film was recently digitally restored and screened in the Forum Special at the Berlinale. It will, one hopes, soon be more widely available.

The Lie

The lie refers to the cynical use of the word reparations by German authorities after World War II, referring to the state handouts given to some of the surviving concentration camp victims. The state apparatus at the time was infested by thousands of former Nazis. When the victims returned to society after the war and began to make public the crimes they had experienced, the state feared the general population would show solidarity with them. It largely silenced the victims and fuelled politically and socially backward sentiments.

From the outset, the state did not want to compensate Sinti and Roma for the crimesforced labor, sterilization and exterminationcommitted against them and demanded proof the victims were even German. Under the Nazis, the German citizenship of this minority, which had lived in the country for centuries, was revoked.

After the war, the authorities did not return passports to the stateless. When compensation claims were made, the assessors were often former Nazis who demanded impossible proof of persecution, concentration camp stays, etc. The official documents about this, of course, were in their own possession and kept under lock and key.

The Lie recounts the case of a woman suffering from tuberculosis who was supposed to prove her illness was a result of her time in the camps and not an infection from a relative. The Nazi document, kept secret by the authorities, which the film shows, proves that the relatives tuberculosis itself was in fact a product of conditions in a concentration camp.

Particularly insidious was the claim that Sinti and Roma were not subjected to racial persecution or only after the 1943 Auschwitz decree. Until then, they were supposedly simply criminals, asocials and work-shy, who were justifiably imprisoned.

The film thoroughly refutes this myth. Even earlier, Nazi racial researchers had attributed to them a racial migratory instinct and a penchant for crime that supposedly made them incapable of social integration, normal schooling, vocational training and disciplined work.

In The Lie, those affected report how Sinti and Roma were systematically isolated and criminalized in the second half of the 1930s. Those who had work involving travel were stripped of their jobs. All were forbidden to leave their places of residence. Then they were evicted from their apartments and locked up in ghetto-like camps guarded by police, where they were forced to be available for forced labor and as objects of racial research.

During the period of the so-called economic miracle of the 1950s, the racist persecution of Sinti and Roma continued seamlessly. The film quotes a 1956 document of the German Federal Court of Justice, which compares them to primitive prehistoric men.

The German police would still be relying on the gypsy files of the Third Reichs criminal investigation department had the civil rights movement of the Sinti and Roma not put an end to this practice in the early 1980s through an intense public campaign that attracted international attention.

In addition to archive photos, old film footage and interviews with concentration camp survivors, many of whom lost their entire families, the countless private photos that Sinti families made available for the film are very moving.

For the first time, they themselves were given a voice in a film about the Nazi crimes against their families and their continuing persecution after the war. The voice that guides the viewer through the film belongs to co-director Melanie Spitta (1946-2005), a child of surviving Sinti.

It was not Hitlers fanatical SS, the film emphasizes, but German civilian institutionspolice, hospitals, welfare offices, health offices (the latter supervised the sterilization) and other state authoritiesthat organized the crimes. Some of the scientific community were deeply involved in the extermination. Quite a few Sinti, the cinema audience learns, refused to see a doctor again after the traumatic experiences.

None of those responsible were ever punished.

Those who brought us to Auschwitz were believed, is the films bitter conclusion. Leo Karsten, former head of the police Department for Gypsy Affairs in Berlin, worked as a criminal investigator after the war. A sought-after expert was the racial researcher Robert Ritter, who found employment as a doctor at the Frankfurt am Main health department.

The reason for the continuation of the persecution was not, as the film implies, that racist prejudices were so enduring and deep-going, although the Nazis and postwar German capitalist politicians no doubt did hold deplorable views about this minority.

In reality, the ruling class consciously used existing prejudices about mythical Gypsies, who never existed historically, giving them a scientific veneer through racial research, to create a climate of mutual mistrust, backward suspicion and denunciation. The bourgeois fear of the working class continued in the offices of post-war society, and alongside the call for law and order, the call for rearmament soon resounded.

The demonic image of the restless wanderer and work-shy parasite who poses a danger to German society has been repeatedly revived in the refugee-baiting of recent decades. Since the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the ongoing criminalization of Roma refugees from Eastern Europe, many German Roma and Sinti fear that history might repeat itself.

The film is a powerful indictment of the Federal Republic of Germany, which did not deal with the countrys Nazi past but rather prevented any genuine reckoning with the crimes of the Third Reich.

It should be added at this point that the long-standing resistance of high-ranking German politicians to the establishment of a central memorial for the Sinti and Roma of Europe murdered by the Nazis, which was inaugurated in Berlin in 2012 and is now endangered by a Deutsche Bahn project, was also justified on the grounds that the Sinti and Roma were persecuted for criminal offences and not due to fascist policy.

To be continued
The Socialist Equality Party organised an important forum in Melbourne last Sunday to initiate the formation of a Neighbourhood Action Committee to fight against the state Labor governments planned demolition of 44 public housing towers.

The meeting was held in Melbournes inner north, close to housing commissions in Flemington and North Melbourne that are the first slated for demolition and privatisation. Labors sell-off of 44 towers in Melbourne is a major attack on the most vulnerable layers of the working class, threatening approximately 10,000 residents with displacement.

Forum attendees pass resolution to establish a Neighbourhood Action Committee against the demolition of public housing towers.

Residents from towers around Melbourne attended the forum, both in person and online. Other attendees were former public housing residents, as well as other workers and young people outraged by the state governments assault on public housing.

Patrick OConnor, a member of the SEPs National Committee, chaired the event. In his opening remarks, he emphasised the international and historical context of the fight to defend public housing. He reviewed the unprecedented crisis in the United States, including the Trump administrations turn to dictatorial forms of rule on behalf of the corporate oligarchy. This is only the sharpest expression of a global political shift, with powerful sections of the ruling elite promoting the most ruthless and anti-working class political parties.

Australian capitalism is in no way immune from this tendency, said OConnor. The ruling class is promoting extreme right-wing and fascistic layers, while the Albanese Labor government, together with its state Labor counterparts, is engineering historic declines in working-class wages and living standards. It is also undermining basic democratic rights and cosying up to the Trump administration as preparations accelerate for a war of aggression against China.

He continued: In order to successfully take forward the fight against war, for democratic rights, for decent jobs, wages, and conditions, and for the provision of adequate social servicesincluding the provision of public housing as a basic social rightworkers must break with the entire political establishment and strike out on a new road. We have organised this forum not only to discuss and analyse the situation but to outline a perspective for action, for the mobilisation of public housing residents and the working class more broadly through neighbourhood and workplace action and rank-and-file committees.

Peter Byrne, who works as an architect and has been an active member of the SEP for more than four decades, delivered the main report. Byrne explained that the Victorian governments plans to end public housing were part of a wider assault on the entire working class.

It is not just a direct attack on the people who will be evicted from their homes, but is a wholesale attack on the social rights of the working class and the fundamental principle that providing a home for everyone in society is the responsibility of the government.

Architect Peter Byrne addresses public housing forum in Melbourne

Byrne exposed Labors lies that the towers are rundown and therefore fit for destruction. He analysed a recent report by independent architects, explaining that the towers can in fact be refurbished to provide quality public housing. Such refurbishment would, the architects found, cost less than Labors demolition proposal.

Byrne emphasised that Labor is a party that defends corporate interests. Victorian governments, Labor or Liberal, like their state and federal counterparts, have already privatised public transport, telecommunications, banking, energy utilities, in fact almost everything. Nationally the Albanese Labor government is playing the same role. Its agenda is to suppress wages and boost big business, while telling us that they are concerned about the cost of living.

While overseeing the largest fall in living standards in half a century, Byrne continued, Albanese has committed to spending $368 billion for US nuclear powered submarines to prepare for war with China. At every step of Israels genocide in Gaza, Labor has defended Israel while moving to outlaw any opposition to the genocide.

Byrne emphasised critical issues of political perspective. Political forces including the Greens and the pseudo-left organisations, Victorian Socialists and Socialist Alliance, have sought to cultivate illusions in the Labor government. The SEP states bluntly that appeals to government are pointless, Byrne said. By pleading with Labor, as has happened with the Greens marches and meetings on public housing, the Greens and fake left are demobilising residents and workers, and covering up the class issues.

What the SEP proposes is very different. We are fighting to build a movement of the working class, independent of and opposed to the Labor Party and the trade union bureaucracy. We urge this committee to turn out to the working class, and to directly appeal to construction workers to block the demolitions, including by taking strike action in opposition to the union leadership. That is the importance of this neighbourhood committee and independent rank-and-file committees.

The main report was followed by an important discussion, in which several public housing residents threatened by the demolition plan spoke about their experiences.

A Somali woman, speaking through an interpreter, spoke about her concerns that there would be little local housing provided for those forced to relocate, with people forced to move to outer suburban areas far from the community networks established around the towers.

Another woman originally from Africa spoke about the impact on children in the community, with their education threatened with disruption if they have to change schools. A single father with two children also raised this issue, and condemned the government for its lies about the state of the towers and the potential for refurbishment.

He and other residents spoke passionately about how the governments demolition agenda would smash up communities that have developed close bonds over decades, including childcare arrangements and mutual aid services.

Supporters of public housing attending the meeting also spoke at the forum. An independent architect who has been reviewing the governments plans spoke about the damaging environmental impacts of the planned demolitions, including the unnecessary release of significant levels of greenhouse gasses through the project. Others raised questions about what the next steps were in the fight to defend the towers, and made different suggestions for the Neighbourhood Action Committee to consider.

Through the discussion, several friendly amendments were made to a draft resolution presented to the Forum, and it was passed unanimously.

Titled Build a Neighbourhood Action Committee against the demolition of public housing towers! the main section of the resolution stated:

We resolve to establish a Neighbourhood Action Committee that must be independent of all pro-business political parties and organisations, including the trade union bureaucracies, the Greens and the various fake left organisations that promote futile efforts to appeal to and pressure the Labor Party. The Neighbourhood Action Committee will provide a forum for democratic discussion and debate over its future actions, as well as presenting accurate information to counter the propaganda campaign conducted by Labor and the media. This Committee will make a sustained appeal to the widest layers of the working class, the community and families, and all those who oppose this historic attack on public housing. Public housing is being privatised as part of a broad assault on the working class imposed by the Albanese Labor government, an assault on education, health and all social spending. An appeal must be made to construction and other workers to stop the demolition, including by strike action in defiance of the union leadership. Such a call should come from the Neighbourhood Action Committee, emphasising the shared interests of public housing tenants and all workers and youth in the fight against austerity, rising social misery and the social right to adequate and affordable housing for everyone.

Noor, originally from Somalia, has lived in Australia for the past 20 years and grew up in public housing. He delivered a prepared speech supporting the formation of the committee: Im appalled to hear about the demolition of these buildings without any consultation with me and my community! he explained. Homes Victoria [the government body tasked with the demolition] say its the new way forward, but what new way forward?

Public housing is completely different from social housing, let alone private homes. We were told these towers were permanent buildings. My community has not moved away from these areas for the last 50 years. We built communities here. We built a mosque near the North Melbourne towers, and a community centre. Now weve been told to leave.

Noor also spoke on the 2020 police operation that penned residents of the Flemington and North Melbourne towers in their homes after COVID-19 cases were detected. At the time, the SEP condemned this lock-in, explaining in a statement: What is needed in Melbourne is a genuine public health response not a massive police operation. No explanation has been provided as to why 500 police were deployed to flood the buildings, not doctors, health workers and counsellors.

Noor told the forum: They just locked us away from society. That experience made me believe that we are viewed as third- or fourth-class citizens, who are not as important. It was a government that was not willing to consult ordinary people. And now were witnessing the same thing, from the same Labor government.

Everything comes down to capitalism. Everything comes down to how much money can we make from these buildings, how much can we extract from these people. To get the rich to be richer, and us to be poorer. And thats what made me want to come to this meeting. Im willing to join the fight against this.

Other attendees later spoke with World Socialist Web Site reporters about their views on the Labor governments assault on public housing.

A resident who has lived at the Kensington public housing towers for six years said: Im worried about what is in the future, I have anxiety and depression.

She said the area is very good I dont want to move anywhere.

The resident denounced the Labor governments action, which has been taken without consultation, without any background or anything.

When asked why the government was demolishing the public housing towers, she said: Maybe its for profit. Maybe its their way of letting us be homeless.

I was homeless before, she said. I cant be homeless again. It will deteriorate my health. I dont have anywhere to go. This is my home, my shelter, my life.  But as a social right, we dont need to move anywhere. We are here for good.

The resident said the SEPs call for a neighbourhood committee to fight back against Labors plans was very good. She added: We have to oppose it.

Another attendee, a doctor, is not a public housing resident but said he heard from my colleagues about the demolitions that are occurring across Melbourne and the wide-ranging impact this will have on up to 10,000 people.

This represents a significant assault on communities, with no clarity as to what will happen to them afterwards and a lack of consultation.

This is an opportunity for profit-driven programs to construct private housing to the detriment of public housing, with the midway-houseinadequate as it isof social housing taking a greater part of non-private housing.

Its a strategy that Labor is using to benefit corporate interests. Theyre not really standing, as they would claim, for the people.

The doctor said the assault on public housing was part of a broader attack on the living conditions of the working class in Australia: We can look back decades. We dont have to look at just whats happening now. But this is an accelerating, consistent trend in the assault on the working class. These things are being eroded.

About the forum, he said, What was presented today is a number of viable alternatives which have not been considered, including the environmental impact.

I think that the meeting was consultative, it was well presented, it included a lot of data to refer to, and proposed a constructive way in which we can include those affected and those who are interested in helping.

A structured way thats an alternative to what would seem to be futile placard-holding and pleadings with the parties that dont seem to have any interest in changing their approach.

The forum concluded with an important discussion on the Socialist Equality Partys campaign against the Australian Electoral Commissions antidemocratic refusal to register the party for the upcoming federal election. OConnor, Byrne, and other SEP members in attendance spoke on the significance of this attack on the democratic rights of all workers, and urged public housing residents and supporters to join the campaign.

We urge all public housing residents throughout Australia, and supporters of public housing throughout the working class, to join and become active within our Neighbourhood Action Committee. Contact us today!

Contact the SEP:

Phone: (02) 8218 3222

Email: sep@sep.org.au

Facebook: SocialistEqualityPartyAustralia

Twitter: @SEP_Australia

Instagram: socialistequalityparty_au

TikTok: @sep_australia
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Momodou Taal

Over the past week, the Trump administration has dramatically intensified its implementation of a presidential dictatorship. It has seized and detained individuals for exercising their First Amendment rights, invoked the reactionary Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport hundreds of immigrants without due process, and openly defied judicial rulings against these actions.

Cornell University student Momodou Taal, a British-Gambian student at Cornell, is the latest target of this vicious campaign of political intimidation and repression.

On Friday, Justice Department lawyers issued a formal demand via email that Taal voluntarily surrender himself into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for deportation. This was a direct response to a lawsuit Taal filed challenging Trumps executive orders as unconstitutional violations of free speech, as well as a request for a temporary restraining order seeking to block the government from seizing and deporting him in response to the case.

That is, the president, in response to a court case against him, is attempting to kidnap, detain and remove from the country the individual who filed the case. Taal holds a valid student visa, has committed no crime, and has not been provided with any lawful justification for his detention or deportation.

Taal, along with fellow Cornell student Sriram Parasurama and Professor Mukoma Wa Ngugi, filed the lawsuit one week ago, on March 15. It is the first significant legal case against the executive orders, proclaimed on Trumps first day in office, that the administration has invoked to justify the kidnapping of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil and other students who oppose the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

The suit charges that these orders flagrantly violate the First and Fifth Amendments by suppressing free speech, criminalizing political opposition and threatening critics of US and Israeli policy with deportation or prosecution. Only in a dictatorship can the leader jail and banish political opponents for criticizing his administration, the filing states.

Four days after the filing, on Wednesday, Taal reported that unidentified law enforcement agents had staked out his home in Ithaca, evidently preparing to arrest him. In response to this stalking and intimidation, Taals lawyers filed an emergency request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to block his arrest and detention.

In response, in the dead of night, at 12:52 a.m. on March 21, Taals attorneys received the email from the Justice Department. The letter, from Ethan Kanter of the Department of Justices Office of Immigration Litigation, states that ICE invites Mr. Taal and his counsel to appear in-person at the HSI Office in Syracuse at a mutually agreeable time for personal service of the NTA [notice to appear] and for Mr. Taal to surrender to ICE custody.

Significantly, the subject of the email references the case filed against the Trump administration, Momodou Taal et al v. Trump, 25-cv-335 (NDNY). That is, the Justice Department acknowledges that the demand for Taal to turn himself in is in response to the court case filed against Trump himself. An emergency filing to the court from Taals lawyers on Friday afternoon notes that the action also constitutes an unlawful attempt to remove this Courts jurisdiction over this case, by removing the plaintiff from the country.

Taals attorney, Eric Lee, told the World Socialist Web Site, Attorneys from the so-called Justice Department issued this demand to Taals legal team just hours after we had specifically requested the court to prevent them from doing exactly that.

In a democracy, the president doesnt arrest individuals who sue challenging the constitutionality of executive orders. This strikes at core democratic principles: The right to criticize the government and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. Without these, the Bill of Rights is dead letter.

The administrations targeting of Taal coincides with ICE agents kidnapping and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, as well as Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri, who was detained by masked federal agents outside his home earlier this week. Both have been seized on the grounds that their positions in opposition to the Israeli genocide in Gaza are a threat to US national security.

Operating on the basis of the fascist theory of the State of Exception, the Trump administration is carrying out a deliberate and systematic plan to establish a presidential dictatorship. Each violation of democratic norms sets the stage for even more severe and far-reaching attacks.

All of this is occurring amidst a dramatic escalation of imperialist violence in the Middle East. The genocide in Gaza, which has already claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands, is ongoing, with hundreds murdered this week alone. At the same time, the White House initiated a massive bombing campaign this week against Yemen, targeting civilian infrastructure and deepening the humanitarian catastrophe in one of the worlds poorest countries.

The implementation of the administrations conspiracy for dictatorship is targeted above all at the working class. This is a government of, by and for the capitalist oligarchy, which is waging a brutal war on every social program and right of workers.

On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take steps toward dismantling the Department of Education, having already terminated half of its workforce. Public education as a whole is being dismantled. Simultaneously, the administration is preparing historic cuts to Social Security, Medicaid and food stamps, while gutting all federal agencies providing vital social services.

The Democratic Party is not opposing this assault, but instead has facilitated it. Exactly one week ago, Senate Democrats provided the decisive votes to ensure passage of a Republican spending bill fully funding the Trump administration for six months. The World Socialist Web Site characterized this bill as the Democrats Enabling Act, writing on March 15, The Democrats have handed Trump and Elon Musk a blank check to slash social programs, purge federal employees and lay the groundwork for a police state. This is now unfolding.

The working class must intervene as an independent force to stop this bipartisan conspiracy to overthrow all social and democratic rights. The turn of the oligarchy toward fascism will not be stopped through the courts or the Democratic Party.

The Socialist Equality Party calls for the mobilization of workers throughout the country to defend Momodou Taal, Mahmoud Khalil and all others facing persecution by the Trump administration. Demonstrations, rallies and workplace actions must be organized to stop the assault on democratic rights.

Rank-and-file committees must be built in workplaces, campuses, and neighborhoodsindependent of the pro-corporate trade union apparatusto mobilize workers against Trumps dictatorship and the corporate assault on their livelihoods. The development of a mass movement of the working class against dictatorship must be infused and led by a socialist program, to expropriate the wealth of the oligarchs and end their economic dictatorship over social and economic life.

Fill out the form below for information on joining the SEP and to organize protests and other actions at your school or workplace.
Two Sydney nurses from Bankstown Hospital, who were baited by an Israeli provocateur online and then subjected to a massive campaign of vilification, had their first court appearance last week over serious federal charges stemming from the brief interaction.

Bankstown Hospital [Photo: Facebook/Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital]

The court appearance was an initial mention that did not touch on the substantive issues of the case.

But speaking to the media afterwards, Zemarai Khatiz, who is representing Ahmad Rashad Nadir, one of the nurses, said that his client would be contesting the charge on both legal and technical grounds. Lawyers for Sarah Abu Lebdeh, the other nurse, did not make comment, but it appears likely that a similar defence would be available to her.

The fact that Nadir will contest the charge against him is welcome news. It demonstrates that despite the immense forces that have rained down on the health workers, from the federal Labor government to the Liberal-National opposition, the media and the Zionist lobby, they have not been broken.

In early February, Max Veifer, an Israeli social media influencer, had an exchange with Abu Lebdeh and Nadir on a popular webcam chatting website. The nurses made politically backward and stupid comments, including statements that they would not treat Israeli patients.

Veifer provided edited footage of the exchange to the media. The nurses were immediately subjected to an extraordinary pile-on, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Liberal-National opposition leader Peter Dutton and others denouncing them in the most strident terms. The nurses were stood down and within days, the relevant health authorities had taken steps to bar them from working in the profession ever again.

The campaign was both prejudicial and vicious.

Before any investigation had occurred, and solely on the basis of Veifers edited video, the nurses were condemned as guilty by senior politicians in a clear attack on their basic legal and democratic rights.

And the obvious intent was to ruin the lives of the health workers through a sustained public assault on their reputations and character, which could have had disastrous consequences. Nadir was hospitalised amid grave concerns for his well-being.

In late February, Abu Lebdeh was charged with three offenses under federal law, which carry a maximum sentence of up to 20 years. The first, under hate speech legislation, was threatening violence against a group based on race or religion; the second was Using a Carriage Service to Make a Death Threat, and the third, Using a Carriage Service to Menace/Harass/Offend.

In early March, Nadir was charged with a single offence of Using a Carriage Service to Menace/Harass/Offend, which can carry three years imprisonment.

Prior to the issuing of charges against Abu Lebdeh, police had repeatedly reassured the press and Zionist witch-hunters that they would drag the nurses before the courts. But in seeking to explain their delay in issuing criminal charges, they vaguely spoke of jurisdictional issues, hinting that this was related to Veifer being in Israel.

Nadirs defence points to what those issues actually were. His lawyers have flagged that they will seek to exclude the video from the proceedings altogether, in which circumstance the prosecution case would likely collapse.

As some independent commentators noted at the time, but the mainstream media did not mention, recording private conversations with people without their knowledge or consent is a serious criminal offence in New South Wales and federally.

A summary of the various pieces of relevant legislation, by the Criminal Defence Lawyers Australia firm, notes If you illegally secretly record someone, you can face criminal prosecution including a term of up to 5 years imprisonment.

Veifer did not have the consent of the nurses, either to record their brief interaction, or to spread it as far and wide as he possibly could. In addition to the prohibitions on such covert recordings, contained in criminal law, civil issues also arise. The dissemination of the private exchange was clearly aimed at inflicting severe public reputational damage on the nurses.

In his comments, Nadirs lawyer noted that the defence would centre on legal and technical grounds. The inadmissibility of the video is such a technical ground, but beyond the issues raised in a courtroom, that points to the politically reactionary character of Veifers entire operation.

The whole purpose of his interactions on the webcam sites is to goad people into making stupid statements, which can then be used to advance the cause of the Israeli state, including its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and its push for an outlaw of sharp criticism of the Zionist program globally.

As noted previously, the initial video provided by Veifer to the media had been edited. When Veifer eventually released what he described as the full video, it was apparent that the nurses were baited. In the context of Israels mass slaughter in Gaza, Veifer proudly proclaimed that he had served in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), which are perpetrating the atrocities. He defended the killings, as something that happens in all wars.

The comments were clearly provocative. In other videos, he dresses up as a stereotypical Arab, seeks to trick Arabic people into making pro-Israeli statements in Hebrew and has explicitly defended Israels killing of Palestinian children. In at least one video, Veifer essentially promoted Israels attack in Beirut last year, in which it detonated tampered pagers in an act of heinous state terrorism.

This is the individual who is being presented as the aggrieved party and the victim of not only hate speech offences but of being menaced, harassed and offended! Veifers own conduct, it seems safe to say, may fall decidedly in the grey area of those draconian and wide-ranging charges, were he an Australian citizen.

More generally, the idea that Veifer was offended or upset by the stupid comments of the nurses is patently false. They gave him what he wanted and took the bait. In the days afterwards, Veifer triumphantly told the media that he had accomplished his mission.

The use of the hate speech law against Abu Lebdeh raises other questions. Neither of the nurses once mentioned Jewish people. In what is presented as the unedited version of the interaction, Veifer asked them a question along those lines, and they ended the interaction without replying. All of their comments were about Israeli nationals, and the most egregious were made in response to Veifers promotion of the IDF.

The conflation of Israeli nationals with the Israeli government is false and politically wrong. For all the contradictions, Israeli society is divided by class and Israeli workers are no more responsible for the reactionary policies of the government, than are Australian workers for the militarism and wars of the Australian state.

Those political issues aside, it is questionable that a denunciation based on nationality could be directly compared to one based on race or religion.

Earlier this year, the Labor government expanded the hate speech laws, to cloud that issue further. The amended laws could potentially be used to prosecute something as hate speech, even if it is not directed against Jewish people or Judaism, but is a sharp condemnation of Zionism, which is a political ideology.

The witch hunt of the nurses took place in the context of a feverish campaign to justify the passage of those laws, including claims of rampant antisemitism. The police have since admitted that the low-level graffiti and arson attacks in Sydney that occurred around that time were not genuine acts of antisemitic hatred, but were hoaxes perpetrated by criminal groups for leverage with the police. The actions of the criminals were utilised by governments to crack down on civil liberties and to generate an atmosphere of national crisis and hysteria.

The exposure of the bogus attacks has received far less coverage in the press, than did the video of the nurses. Their comments too received infinitely more attention than has Israels massacres of hundreds of Palestinians over recent days.

The nurses should be defended by all supporters of civil liberties, opponents of the genocide and by the working class as a whole. That will require independent action by ordinary people including health workers throughout NSW and nationally. The New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) has not only refused to defend them but immediately joined forces with the government, Zionists and right-wing layers howling for the blood of the nurses. The NSWNMA can be relied on for nothing, neither for the defence of the two nurses or the right and conditions of nurses as a whole.

If the prosecution of the nurses succeeds, it will be a greenlight for further witch hunts and persecution, directed not only against those who make politically backward statements, but at all opponents of genocide and imperialist war.
The Trade Union house in Odessa after a fire and imperialist-backed massacre by Ukrainian fascists in 2014. [Photo by Lsimon / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ordered the Ukrainian government to compensate the victims of the 2014 Trades Union arson attack by fascist thugs in Odessa that resulted in the deaths of 42 individuals and wounding of 170 more.

It was the largest single act of violence by the far right in the wake of the NATO-backed coup in Kiev in February 2014, in which forces such as the neo-Nazi Right Sector and the Svoboda Party played a key role. The coup installed a pro-Western government and triggered a civil war in the countrys east between government forces and Russian-backed separatists.

The Trades Union house in Odessa after a fire and imperialist-backed massacre by Ukrainian fascists in 2014. [Photo by Lsimon / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

The lawsuit was filed with the ECHR in Strasbourg by relatives of 25 of the arson victims, along with three survivors of the massacre.

In its ruling, the court, as an institution of European human rights imperialism, did its best to uphold the narrative that the burning alive of 42 counter-protesters by right-wing thugs, who are referred to as pro-unity protesters, was somehow a result of Russian propaganda.

It stated:

The Court considers that such disinformation and propaganda might have had an impact on the tragic events in the present cases too.  The pro-Russian Kulykove Pole movement in Odesa relied heavily on aggressive and emotional disinformation and propaganda messages about the new Ukrainian government and Maidan supporters voiced by Russian authorities and mass media.

At several other points it attempts to turn the truth on its head by suggesting that the massacre was the result of police and other officials working in tandem with the anti-Maidan protesters, thus forcing the far-right thugs to turn to vigilante violence to protect themselves. But this version does not explain why the Odessa police and fire departments then both stood by while 42 people burned to death.

Nevertheless, despite the courts best attempts to frame the events as a result of Russian propaganda and disinformation, its decision in favor of the plaintiffs essentially proves correct what the WSWS wrote over 10 years ago on the Odessa massacre. The fire, started by far-right thugs who had first cornered and surrounded pro-Russian counter-protesters in the Trades Union building, was an act of political terror and mass murder carried out with the full knowledge and backing of the newly formed right-wing US-backed Ukrainian government.

The court found that government officials were well aware of the violence that far-right thugs were preparing. In addition to doing nothing, they purposely withheld fire and emergency services from the initial protest site in Kulykove Pole and then later actively engaged in a cover-up following the massacre.

As the courts findings state:

Despite numerous calls to the fire brigade, which was less than 1 km away, the fire service regional head instructed his staff not to send any fire engines to Kulykove Pole without his explicit order. At 7.45 p.m., a fire broke out in the Trade Union Building. The fire extinguishers in the building did not work. The police called the fire brigade, to no avail. Some of the people in the building including Mr Dmitriyev (application no. 59339/17) tried to escape by jumping from the upper windows. He survived the fall and was taken to an ambulance. A number of people fell to their deaths, including the son of Ms Radzykhovska (application no. 59339/17) and the son of Ms Nikitenko (application no. 47092/18). Video footage shows pro-unity protesters making makeshift ladders and platforms from a stage in the square and using them to rescue people trapped in the building. Other video footage shows pro-unity protesters attacking people who had jumped or had fallen.

In regards to the subsequent investigation, the court stated:

As regards the adequacy of the investigation, the Court considered that the investigating authorities had not made enough effort to properly secure, collect and assess all the evidence. For instance, instead of putting in place a police perimeter to secure the affected areas of the city centre, the first thing local authorities had done after the events was to send cleaning and maintenance services to those areas. The earliest on-site inspection there had been carried out only almost two weeks late and had produced no meaningful results. Likewise, the Trade Union Building had remained freely accessible to the public for 17 days after the events. Serious omissions were also noted in the securing and processing of forensic evidence. Some essential evidence had never been examined, and some examination reports had only recently been issued or still remained pending eight years after the events.

In their final statement, the ECHR concluded that the relevant authorities had failed to institute and conduct an effective investigation into the events in Odesa on 2 May 2014. There had therefore been a violation of the procedural aspect of Article 2 of the Convention. The court ordered the Ukrainian government to pay out various amounts to the plaintiffs.

The events of the Trades Union fire in Odessa had far-reaching consequences on Ukraines subsequent political future. For the next seven years, political opposition to the anti-Russian, pro-war regime in Kiev would be subjected to censorship, bans, violence and even outright murder with no prosecution of the perpetrators.

That figures such as the Trotskyist Bogdan Syrotiuk, who has now been imprisoned for almost a year, continued to voice their opposition to both the Kiev regime and the Kremlin and the ongoing NATO-backed proxy war under these conditions is a testament to their tremendous political courage.

On the other side, several of the massacres organizers would become well-known political figures within Ukrainian politics. Serhii Sternenko, the former head of the Right Sector in Odessa, was present at the massacre and is now one of the most popular Ukrainian YouTubers, who was reportedly once offered to head Ukraines Security Service (SBU) in Odessa by Zelensky, as he attempted to further his alliance with neo-Nazi forces after coming to power in 2019 on a promise to end the civil war in Donbass.

On March 15, in the wake of the ECHR courts decision, Demyan Ganul, another Right Sector leader and organizer of the Trades Union massacre, was assassinated on the street in central Odessa.

While it had initially been speculated that Ganul was killed in retribution for his participation in the Odessa massacre, that appears not to be the case. Rather, the murder appears to have been tied to Ganuls openly criminal efforts to benefit from the war effort. Like the former head of the Right Sector in Odessa, Sternenko, Ganul organized a fundraiser to buy cars for the armed forces and then embezzled it and was subsequently attacked and beaten by unknown assailants. The suspect now arrested for his murder is a Senior Lieutenant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Sergei Shalaev.
(Reuters) - Investors pulled heavily out of global equity funds during the week through March 19 on lingering worries over the potential impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policies on global economy.

They offloaded a net $29.7 billion worth of global equity funds during the week, the most for a week since December 18, data from LSEG Lipper showed.

U.S. equity funds faced the largest weekly selloff in three months to the tune of $33.53 billion.

Also, investors divested a net $1.11 billion worth of European funds but it was still less than the $5.35 billion net sales in the previous week, which underscored some optimism as the German parliament approved a debt reform package to boost Europe's biggest economy.

On the other hand, investors accumulated about $3.5 billion worth of Asian funds for a 14th straight week of net buying.

Outflows from sectoral equity funds, however, cooled to a three-week low of $178.7 million as industrials, and gold and precious metals funds drew $1.02 billion and $485 million, respectively, in inflows, despite the net selling in a majority of sectors.

Demand for debt funds, meanwhile, eased to a 11-week low during the week, with investors allocating just $357.92 million to global bond funds.

Global government bond funds, loan participation funds and corporate bond funds witnessed a net $2.03 billion, $1.56 billion and $1.34 billion worth of net sales. Short-term bond funds, however, bucked the trend with a net $4.47 billion in weekly inflows.

Money market funds saw a pull out worth about $14.1 billion during the week, a second successive week of withdrawal.

Investors, meanwhile, racked up a net $2.71 billion worth of gold and precious metal funds, extending net purchases into a sixth consecutive week. Energy funds saw a marginal $25.9 million worth of net sales.

According to data encompassing 29,618 emerging market funds, investors exited $930 million worth of bond funds, snapping a 10-weeks long buying string. They also ditched equity funds of a net $571 million.

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
CK Hutchison Holdings' US$23 billion plan to sell its worldwide ports to BlackRock just needs the support from 15 per cent of the minority shareholders to carry the day, and the flagship company of tycoon Li Ka-shing is dangling a bonus estimated at HK$25 per share to sway their vote.

The threshold is low, because Li and his elder son Victor control 30.43 per cent of Hutchison - almost 24 per cent of that in a trust under the name of the nonagenarian tycoon and the balance in a string of nominee companies - while BlackRock held 4.84 per cent as of a March 12 filing.

The deal, called a "very substantial disposal," needs the support of 50 per cent of eligible shareholdings in a specially arranged shareholder meeting, according to Chapter 14 of Hong Kong's listing rules.

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"Li's family, as the largest shareholder, can vote in the shareholders' meeting" because the sale is not a connected transaction between related parties under the listing rules of the Hong Kong stock exchange, where Hutchison's shares are listed, said Kenny Tang Sing-Hing, the chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Financial Analysts and Professional Commentators.

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing (right) and his elder son Victor Li Tzar-kuoi (left) during the press conference to announce his retirement on March 16, 2018. Photo: AP. alt=Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing (right) and his elder son Victor Li Tzar-kuoi (left) during the press conference to announce his retirement on March 16, 2018. Photo: AP.>

BlackRock is also eligible to vote, said Zoey Zhou, a credit research analyst at CreditSights, adding that a 15 per cent shortfall "is not hard" to overcome, "given the potential of shareholder rewards from the transaction."

The March 4 proposal to sell Hutchison's interest in 199 berths in 43 ports spread over 23 countries is estimated to generate US$19 billion of windfall for the company. That translates to HK$25 (US$3.22) per share, or almost 65 per cent of Hutchison's March 4 closing price before the company unveiled its deal.

Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, during an interview with CNBC on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on April 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters alt=Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, during an interview with CNBC on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on April 14, 2023. Photo: Reuters>
(Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will discuss a new $20 billion loan for Argentina during an informal meeting next week, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

The IMF will discuss a four-year extended fund facility of about 15 billion Special Drawing Rights, the report said.

A spokesperson for the IMF declined comment on the report. The Argentine government did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Argentina's lower house on Wednesday passed a decree issued earlier in the month supporting a new IMF program, allowing the government to begin talks with the IMF to bolster central bank reserves and potentially undo capital controls.

The decree, while not specifying the amount in dollars, said that the planned extended fund facility would involve a repayment period of 10 years with a grace period of four years and six months. It added that the new funds would be used to pay off Treasury debt with the central bank.

Argentina, which is battling with negative net foreign currency reserves after years of over-spending, currency crises and regular defaults, is the IMF's biggest borrower with 22 loan programs to date. It is still repaying a 2022 $44 billion deal.

IMF Spokesperson Julie Kozack on March 6 told a news conference that the IMF was "continuing to make good progress toward a program, and we are working constructively with the Argentine authorities in this regard."

Once those negotiations are completed, any final loan arrangement would require the approval of the IMF Executive Board.

But the IMF's procedures for "exceptional access" - higher loan amounts that exceed a country's normal borrowing limits - require more upfront Executive Board involvement.

This includes consultations between IMF staff and the board "before concluding discussions on a program and making any public statement on a proposed level of access," the procedures say.

(Reporting by Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
By Haripriya Suresh and Bharath Rajeswaran

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's information technology companies, among the worst-performing sectors this year, may not see a recovery in fiscal 2026, analysts said, after Accenture flagged weak discretionary spending and demand in its quarterly report.

Accenture, the world's largest IT services player and a bellwether for the Indian IT industry, warned on Thursday that spending on discretionary projects in the quarter "was still constrained" and flagged no meaningful increase in client budgets.

Escalating global trade tensions following fresh U.S. tariffs on trading partners has sparked concerns over a slowdown in the United States - a key market for Indian IT companies.

"Whatever has happened in the last two months has created a higher level of uncertainty in terms of how the first half of fiscal 2026 will pan out and what impact it will have on the FY26 recovery rate," Amit Chandra, deputy vice president at HDFC Securities, told Reuters.

India's IT index is currently down 15.3% so far this year and is set for its worst quarter since June 2022. Top firms such as TCS, Wipro, Infosys and HCLTech lost between 11.2% and 18.1% this year.

Analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities said softening demand recovery and weak mega deal flow in fiscal 2025 will result in lower incremental revenue from mega deals in fiscal 2026 for Indian Tier-1 IT. "Companies will also face net headwinds from early stages of gen AI adoption," they said.

Citi Research has estimated that IT companies in its coverage could see revenue growth of 4% in fiscal 2026, similar to fiscal 2025, while Morgan Stanley expects growth assumption to be hurt due to subdued client spending.

According to Chandra, while banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) and healthcare verticals showed signs of recovery, the last two months' uncertainty has meant that clients across sectors are "going into a wait-and-watch mode", and can likely curtail spends.

Accenture also largely flagged delays and cancellations of new contracts in the U.S. due to the Trump administration's moves. However, while "Indian IT has limited exposure," according to Citi analysts, this can "increase competitive intensity in other segments".

(Reporting by Haripriya Suresh and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
Prince William is making the most of his recent trip to Estonia. The Prince of Wales was spotted greeting fans in the Baltic nation's capital, Tallinn, on March 20, where he gave special care to a few furry friends on the first day of his visit. William cuddled multiple dogs who came along with their owners to meet the future King, including a friendly West Highland Terrier who appeared to enjoy the royal attention. William also visited students and staff at a local school, where he received a friendship bracelet that he said may just end up on daughter Princess Charlotte's wrist instead! The 42-year-old dad of three also went on to meet Estonian president Alar Karis before donning military fatigues to spend his second day with troops stationed at Army base Camp Tapa. William rode in a tank as part of a field training exercise, a moment which likely reminded fans of a similar outing he and brother Prince Harry had as boys back in 1989.
Omani fragrance house Amouage on Friday unveiled a redesign of its first retail location in Muscat.

The flagship at Sabco Centre has undergone an 18-month transformation to create a modern space that is an architectural homage to the brands heritage. The location is where the perfume makers story began four decades ago and marks a symbolic reconnection with the brands roots during a period of global expansion and record growth.

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The store features a dramatic two-floor-high crystalline glass facade housing an artistic depiction of a majestic frankincense tree, native to Omans desert. Envisioned by chief creative officer Renaud Salmon and designed by Heroine Paris, the space serves as both a retail environment and an artistic statement.

This boutique holds profound significance not only to Amouage but to my family and to many people in Oman, said Sayyid Khalid bin Hamad Al Busaidi, chairman of Amouage. It was here at Sabco Centre that we built Amouages first boutique ever 40 years ago, and it was here that we built the first modern shopping mall in Oman in 1985, inaugurating a new era of shopping experience in Muscat. Today, the relaunch of the boutique is a tribute to our past and a testament to how far we have come. While the space has been completely transformed, its essence remains unchanged; a place where our passion for the art of perfumery will continue to thrive for generations to come.

At the center of the space stands the towering seven-meter-high tree, a contemporary sculpture commissioned by Salmon and handcrafted by Ouvrage Paris. I was inspired by my numerous trips to Wadi Dawkah, as well as the rugged grandeur of the project, Salmon explained. I enjoyed the idea of a totemic representation of a frankincense tree, bringing a strong atmosphere, emotion, and visual gravitas through its uncompromising shape and size.

The boutique is finished in materials including dark oak, polished black stainless steel, brass and gold leaf touches, and includes a custom designed table by French designer Dimitry Hlinka for an overall look the company describes as a refined 21st century brutalist patchwork. There is also an intimate majlis or living room area for bespoke perfume rituals and consultations, an ode to Omani hospitality.

The flagship features Amouages full range of fragrances in addition to luxury body products.



This reopening coincides with the the release of two new perfumes, Decision and Existence, marking the conclusion of Amouages Odyssey Collection. The fragrances represent the culmination of a five-year olfactory journey that began in 2020 with 10 perfumes, including Meander, Ashore, Crimson Rock, Search, Guidance, released over the course of five years.

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The final additions to the collection were inspired by Salmons experience climbing Jebel Shams, Omans highest mountain. Both fragrances were created by perfumer Quentin Bisch. Decision, described as a fresh woody aromatic, opens with an extraordinarily piercing combination of bergamot, juniper berries, frankincense and myrrh, while Existence, a floral musky fragrance, centers around lily of the valley and frankincense.

The distinctive flacons reflect each fragrances character  Decision is housed in seagull-gray glass representing its dazzling single-mindedness, while Existence appears in a celadon hue expressing its more ethereal sensibility.

Belgian artist Louise Mertens created the accompanying visuals for the newest and final two fragrances of the Odyssey collection.



The flagship reopening and fragrance launches come during a period of strong growth for Amouage. The company reported a 30 percent increase in sales for 2024, with annual retail sales now exceeding $260 million  about 2.5 times the growth rate of the global perfumery market.

The growth stems from what Al Busaidi described as a transparent craftsmanship-driven business model that prioritizes creativity over trends, artistry over mass production, and excellence over haste. The approach has resonated with luxury consumers globally, with particular strength in the Americas, which saw a 61 percent increase in sales in 2024.

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Amouages omnichannel strategy continues to evolve, balancing exclusivity with accessibility. The companys fragrances are available in 1,000 select points of sale and 17 dedicated boutiques worldwide, with the boutique network recording 31 percent sales growth last year. Meanwhile, the brands e-commerce platform grew by 54 percent in 2024 following a complete redesign.

At the heart of Amouages operations is its Manufacture in Muscat ethos, where every perfume is formulated, blended, macerated and bottled by hand. Even with increasing global demand, the company remains committed to this artisanal approach, investing in training craftspeople and expanding facilities without compromising quality.

The company recently took a minority investment from the LOreal Group, which will support further development while preserving its independent vision. Looking ahead to the rest of 2025, Amouage plans to expand its headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Muscat, while opening new flagship boutiques in Rome, Riyadh and Singapore.

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TUPELO  It was probably inevitable that James Yates would become a veterinarian.

While in middle school, high school and undergraduate studies, Yates spent quite a bit of time job shadowing veterinarians. He said he loved the work of healing.

"I always wanted to do something with medicine, where it was human medicine or animal medicine, I wasn't sure" he said.

But the scales tipped toward animal medicine after a summer internship at one of Northwestern University's medical programs.

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"It was seeing a medical school in real life, what the doctors were doing and talking to them ... that was the turning point," Yates said. "I did not want to do human medicine; that was not for me. I want to do something with animals."

Veterinary school also took a little less time to complete.

And at age 22, Yates performed his first surgery.

"I don't think there's a human doctor that could say that," Yates said. "This is what veterinary medicine is all about. It's the creativity of medicine; it's the ability to practice that I feel fits each case best. That's been really nice to do, practicing the way I want to do medicine."

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Besides his work at Tupelo Small Animal Clinic, Yates is involved with the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State University. He is chair of the mentorship program for the MSU Alumni Association's Alumni Council, and over the past year, he has developed a program to allow students and alumni veterinarians to connect and talk about topics students need to know.

"It's things like student debt, how to manage the first five years of practice, what to expect, the contract, things the vet school doesn't go over that I think holds a lot of weight from people who work out in the field," he said. "I spent the whole year working on that, and we plan to implement it starting this August."

His work has not gone unnoticed. He was recently awarded the Young Veterinarian of the Year from the Mississippi Veterinary Medical Association.

Yates received the award at a luncheon and conference held two weeks ago in Starkville. While he was pleasantly surprised at receive the award, the real shock came earlier.

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"The surprise was seeing my wife and my parents at the conference, and I asked, 'What are doing here?'" he said. "They said, 'Oh, no reason.'"

Of course, they were lying. They were next to him when his name was announced for the award.

As it turned out, Stephen King, the owner Tupelo Small Animal Hospital, had nominated Yates for the award. When he was told Yates had won, he reached out to his parents and wife, inviting them to the luncheon.

An Olive Branch native, Yates, 30, went to Mississippi State University for undergraduate studies, and was an early entry into MSU's College of Veterinary Medicine.

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"So, I went to undergrad for three years and vet school for four years," he said. "While I was an undergrad, I met a Tupelo girl  my wife, Sarah  doing theater, and ended up falling in love with Tupelo."

Yates worked as an extern during his senior year with King and Glenn Thomas at Tupelo Small Animal Hospital. He decided he wanted to work there when he graduated, and he joined them in 2020.

For future veterinarians, Yates offered this advice:

"If you want to be a veterinarian, find a mentor so you can shadow them," he said. "I've got several students right now from middle school all the way up to undergrad that come on a weekly basis and just shadow and watch and just get that experience of what it's like to work in a veterinary setting."

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The last thing an animal lover wants to do is get an undergrad, go to veterinary school, enter a clinic and realize they don't enjoy the work.

"The goal is to figure out if you want to do this or not," Yates said. "If you do, great; we can foster that. If you don't, great; you're not wasting anybody's time, and you can figure out something else. It allows students to figure out what they want to do as well as allow us to get to know them because you have to have a lot of letters of recommendations for vet school."

And getting into veterinary school isn't easy as it is a selective process. Last year, MSU's College of Veterinary received from 2,200 applications, but only 100 were accepted.

As for pet owners, Yates said yearly checkups are a pet's best friend.

"Not only do you keep pets as healthy as possible between vaccinations and preventives like heartworm medication, but it allows your veterinarian to find a lot of stuff you might have missed, early signs disease that if we catch them early can be preventable and possibly curable," he said.
KENNEBUNK, Maine  School nutrition teams showcased their culinary skills using local ingredients at the regional Maine Farm-to-School Cook-Off held at Kennebunk High School on Tuesday, March 18.

The competition, now in its 10th year, featured teams from RSU 21 and MSAD 60 preparing breakfast and lunch meals using locally sourced ingredients.

"This event really showcases what school nutrition programs are doing with local ingredients and really showcasing local farmers," said Stephanie Stambach, child nutrition supervisor at the Maine Department of Educations Child Nutrition Office.

Kennebunk High School hosted the regional Farm-to-School Cook-Off on March 18. Pictured are Gary Hoover, kitchen manager at Kennebunkport Consolidated School, and KCS third-grade teacher TrudyAnn Morrison.

This year's challenge ingredients included local eggs donated by Maine family farms and pollock from the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association. Teams were also required to incorporate one USDA food item to balance meal costs.

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Bridging education: RSU 21 hosts special ed professional development day

Gary Hoover, kitchen manager at Kennebunkport Consolidated School (KCS), prepared a Jamaican callaloo frittata for breakfast and a Jamaican Pollock Escabeche for lunch.

"We're going to season it pretty heavily with jerk seasoning," Hoover explained about the lunch dish. "It's going to get some Worcestershire sauce and a bit more vinegar. A lot of flavor."

Hoover was joined in the kitchen by KCS third-grade teacher TrudyAnn Morrison, a native of Jamaica, who came up with the ideas for both dishes.

Kennebunk High School hosted the regional Farm-to-School Cook-Off on March 18. Pictured are Gary Hoover, kitchen manager at Kennebunkport Consolidated School, and KCS third-grade teacher TrudyAnn Morrison.

The four-person judging panel included KHS juniors Brayden Collard and Sam Matthews.

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"I'm pretty impressed at the idea of using local ingredients in a school cafeteria," Matthews said. "If this was at school in the morning, I'd probably be here as early as I could."

The regional competition was the first of three planned events. The winning team, MSAD 60, now advances to the state finals in Augusta.

"It really sheds a positive light on school nutrition programs and all the great work they're doing across the state," Stambach added. "In Maine, we're really lucky because we have so many local farmers and fishermen that we can showcase in school meals."

More: How Kennebunk High School's TA program is transforming classrooms

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kennebunk High School hosts regional Farm-to-School Cook-Off
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Credit: CerrutiDraime. Design: Hauvette Madani

They say trends are cyclical, resurfacing roughly every 20 years, and furniture, much like fashion, is no exception. It's the beauty of good design  it never dates, and effortlessly transcends eras and styles.

So, what iconic furniture has the design world captivated right now? What pieces are in the zeitgeist? To find out, I scoured industry reports and spoke with design experts to uncover the five furniture pieces that are currently enjoying a renewed (not that they ever left) moment in the spotlight.

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Here are the makers and models worth dropping at dinner parties.

1. George Nakashima Coffee Table

George Takashima's furniture is being incorporated into Milan's Nilufar gallery in the weeks to come. | Credit: Filippo Pincolini for Museo Crespi Bonsai, courtesy of Nilufar

Born in 1905, George Nakashima was a Japanese American architect and woodworker who was regarded as the father of the American Craft Movement for his dedication to handcrafted, organic design. Influenced by wabi-sabi, he embraced the natural beauty of wood, incorporating live edges, knots, cracks, and his signature butterfly joints to highlight rather than hide imperfections. His iconic furniture pieces reflect his belief that each tree has a story, making every piece unique.

Nakashimas legacy continues to influence modern biophilic and organic design, and according to 1stDibs' Luxury Ecommerce Report, he rose one position in overall furniture searches and 11 in chairs year-over-year, demonstrating the growing appreciation for handcrafted, nature-inspired furniture.

2. F.A. 33 Wall Mirror by Gio Ponti

The F.A. 33 is still in production today by Italian brand Gubi. | Credit: Heidi Jean Feldman. Design: Lichelle Silvestry

The father of modern Italian design Gio Ponti, was a multi-hyphenate creative. In addition to completing his architecture studies, he was also a product designer, curator, painter, graphic designer, teacher, and author with a career that spanned over 60 years.

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Designed in 1933, The F.A. 33 Wall Mirror is a timeless example of elegant, functional modernism. The mirror embodies Pontis signature graceful curves, refined proportions, and minimalist sophistication. Its gently rounded corners and elongated form make it both a practical and sculptural addition to interiors, seamlessly blending Art Deco interior design influences with Mid-Century Modern aesthetics. A testament to Pontis belief in beauty through simplicity, the F.A. 33 remains a sought-after design, even to the point of being duped heavily these past few years.

F.A. 33 Rectangular Wall Mirror

Price: 899



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3. Serpentine Sofas

This modular sofa can be curved in a variety of forms. | Credit: Shade Degges. Design: Ashe Leandro

Curved couches like Vladimir Kagans Le Serpentine and Jean Royeres Polar Bear Sofa continue to be sofa trends this year, despite both being designed nearly 75 years ago. First introduced in the 1950s, Kagans sculptural seating revolutionized furniture design with its sensual curves, floating forms, and emphasis on movement, making it a hallmark of Mid-Century Modern design.

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Similarly, Royeres 1947 Polar Bear Sofa embraced soft, organic shapes and deep, plush seating, embodying a sense of warmth and playfulness. While boucle has dominated in recent years, rich textures like mohair are making a comeback, especially in earthy hues. With Pantone crowning Mocha Mousse as the color of the year, a curved sofa in brown or burgundy mohair will make the perfect statement piece, blending vintage opulence with contemporary elegance.

4. Atollo Table Lamp by Vico Magistretti

This classic silhouette has inspired a world of copycat designs. | Credit: Ema Peter. Design: Falken Reynold

Designed in 1977 by Vico Magistretti for Oluce (one of the oldest Italian lighting companies), the Atollo Table Lamp is a masterclass in geometric balance and minimalist elegance.

This iconic lamp's silhouette, composed of a cylindrical base, a cone, and a hemisphere, creates a sculptural presence that feels both futuristic and timeless. Awarded the Compasso d'Oro two years after its debut, the lamp became a symbol of Italian modern design, blending functional lighting with artistic form.

Despite being frequently imitated, the original Atollo remains unmatched, its warm, diffused glow and sleek lines ensuring its place as a design classic that transcends trends.

Atollo Medium Lamp

Price: 1,099

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5. Togo Seating by Michel Ducaroy

Togo's are oft imitated, but this design classic is perennially popular. | Credit: Alan Tansey. Design: MKCA

Though not an immediate hit upon its release, the Togo Sofa steadily gained a devoted following and has since cemented its status as a beloved design classic. Created in 1973 by French designer Michel Ducaroy, the Togo was envisioned as a piece that was both visually striking and supremely comfortable. Inspired by the soft, slouchy form of a crumpled tube of toothpaste and folded cushions, Ducaroy designed a sofa that would embrace relaxed, casual living.

According to 1stDibs Luxury Ecommerce Report, searches for the Togo have climbed 62 spots year over year, reflecting its growing appeal. This surge in popularity can be attributed to its versatile modularity and increased visibility on social media. With modular furniture systems on the rise, the Togos 70s aesthetic and its low profile has made it a standout favorite.

The sofa has also found celebrity fans, including Lenny Kravitz, who owns four cream-colored Togo seats in his Paris home. Its enduring appeal proves that great designespecially when built for comfort and flexibilitytranscends trends and generations.
DENVER (KDVR)  A person was arrested for allegedly breaking into a Blanca Police Department vehicle and stealing a patrol rifle, and now police are looking for help recovering the rifle.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said in a press release Friday that Rodney Vigil, 45, was arrested on Thursday in the 1000 block of Smith Avenue in Blanca. Vigil was arrested by the police department, CBI and the Costilla County Sheriffs Office.

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CBI said he was booked in the Costilla County Jail on charges of possession of a dangerous weapon, large capacity magazine prohibited during a crime, theft, first-degree criminal trespass, possession of burglary tools, criminal mischief and first-degree criminal tampering. Vigils bond was set at $7,500.

According to the release, Vigil allegedly broke into a Blanca police car and stole a patrol rifle on Nov. 21, 2024.

The weapon has not yet been recovered and the police department is offering a $500 reward to anyone who can provide information that leads to the recovery of the stolen rifle. Police ask anyone with information to contact Blanca Police dispatch at 719-589-5807.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
BRYAN COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV)  LG Energy Solution, whose HL-GA Battery Company is located in Bryan County, released this statement Saturday afternoon:

Recently, there was a tragic incident at the site of our manufacturing facility in Bryan County which resulted in a fatality. We express our deepest condolences to the family, friends and coworkers of the deceased. We are offering support services and have paused operations to reinforce safety protocols. We are fully cooperating with OSHA on the investigation.

Phil Lienert, Communications and Government Affairs Manager for LG Energy Solution, said in the release that they are located at the Bryan County Megasite, but not operated by Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA).

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A fatal forklift accident occurred at the Hyundai Megasite Friday afternoon, law enforcement told WSAV.

A Bryan County Sheriffs Office (BCSO) spokesperson said that one person is dead.

This comes after a worker was injured in early March, putting him in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries accord to a Hyundai spokesperson. He was injured while working at the battery joint venture construction site.

According to BCSOs Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) Events records, 44 Emergency Medical Services calls have been made to the site since Sep. 23, 2023.

Hyundai later issued the following statement on the accident:

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Around 4:45 p.m. today, an incident occurred at the battery joint venture property on the megasite. The initial indication is that a forklift struck a worker, resulting in fatal injuries to the male victim. The incident is under investigation.

HMGMA and our affiliates express our deepest condolences to the individuals family, friends and coworkers.  Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA)

This is breaking news, WSAV will continue to update as more information is available.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSAV-TV.
By Bhanvi Satija and Patrick Wingrove

(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson has laid out plans to raise U.S. investments by 25% to more than $55 billion over the next four years, as a threat of drug import duties by the Trump administration compels companies to expand their manufacturing operations domestically.

The pharmaceutical giant said on Friday it planned to build four new plants as part of its investment, one of which would be set up in Wilson, North Carolina, where it officially broke ground earlier in the day. J&J did not disclose where it plans to build the other plants.

The 25% increase is compared to the company's investments in the past four years. At least two investors said most of these investments were already planned.

"The $55 billion number also includes a portion of their regular, annual R&D and IT spending. So, they've thrown a lot in there to get to a big, splashy number," said Jeff Jonas, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, which holds shares of J&J.

U.S. companies such as Eli Lilly and Apple are investing in domestic production amid Trump administration's push to manufacture locally.

Lilly recently committed to invest $27 billion in U.S. plants over five years to ease the impact from a potential 25% tariff on pharmaceutical imports.

The proposed levy could affect companies such as J&J and Pfizer as they have sprawling operations outside the U.S.

Apple also plans to invest $500 billion in the U.S. over four years, though this may include existing commitments.

"In the short term, they are trying to lobby for a tariff exemption. In the medium/longer term, everyone is moving even further towards a local manufacturing strategy. Even if there is a tariff deal, the era of free trade and unrestricted globalization is over," Jonas said.

Tariffs, according to him, are unlikely to hit J&J's medicine business, but could have a minor impact on the medical devices unit.

J&J, the world's largest drugmaker by revenue, said it already has more manufacturing facilities in the U.S. than in any other country. It also plans to expand existing U.S. sites and build new research and development infrastructure.

Brian Mulberry, portfolio manager at J&J investor Zacks Investment Management, said if J&J can capture their future pharmaceutical revenue from domestically produced products, then that "certainly will be better in the face of the proposed tariffs".

J&J's site in Wilson, where it plans to invest more than $2 billion, is expected to create 5,000 jobs during the construction stage, and more than 500 positions across the state.
DENVER (KDVR)  The Thornton Police Department is investigating a crash that killed one person late Thursday evening.

The crash happened at the intersection of East 120th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. Police responded at 11:10 p.m. The department said a preliminary investigation indicates that an 18-year-old man was driving a Toyota Corolla east on 120th Avenue when he drove through a red light, hitting another vehicle.

The Corolla collided with the passenger side of an Acura TL that was turning southbound. The driver, a 35-year-old man, was killed in the crash and pronounced dead at the scene. His name has not yet been released pending identification by the Adams County Coroners Office and next-of-kin notifications.

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The driver suspected of running the red light and causing the crash was evaluated at a hospital. The department said investigators believe speed and impairment were contributing factors in the crash.

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Every life lost in a crash is a preventable tragedy, and the City of Thornton remains committed to enhancing safety on our roadways for all who travel through our community. Every driver must make safe and responsible choices behind the wheel, and we urge all motorists to prioritize the well-being of themselves and others by driving with care and caution at all times, the police department wrote in a post on X.

Police noted that the investigation is in its early stages and is ongoing. The department asks anyone who witnessed the crash or has related information and has not yet spoken with officers to call the tip line at 720-977-5069.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
A 10-year-old boy from Tavares is dead after allegedly suffering unimaginable abuse and neglect from his mother and her boyfriend, Tavares Police said.

This innocent childs life was marked by unspeakable suffering, and his loss has deeply shaken our community and everyone involved in this case, the department posted on its Facebook page Saturday morning.

In custody already are the boys mother Kimberley Mills and her boyfriend Andre Walker. They were arrested after the boy was originally brought to Lake County hospital in February after experiencing cardiac arrest, though medical staff found he had suffered bruises, burn marks and other injuries in various stages of healing.

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While already charged with various crimes related to the abuse of the boy and his 8-year-old brother, the department stated it was working with the State Attorneys Office to enhance their charges now that the older brother has died.

Earlier this month, police detailed the alleged abuse from interviews with the brother, saying he told them he witnessed Mills and Walker bind his 10-year-old brother to a ladder with duct tape and then drop a 10-pound weight on his exposed stomach, according to Tavares Detective Courtney Sullivan.

Sullivan told the Sentinel that 10-pound weights were regularly dropped on both boys, and that they would be hit in various parts of the body with an insulated copper wire to discipline them. She has previously called what was done to the boys as torture.

We remain steadfast in our commitment to securing justice for this child and ensuring accountability for the heinous acts committed, the department said on its Facebook update. Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to all who mourn this irreplaceable loss.

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Walker, 36, of Palm Bay, turned himself into law enforcement on a charge of accessory after the fact to aggravated child abuse after the Tavares Police Department turned to the community in February looking for help locating him.

Mills was also arrested in February on a charge of aggravated child abuse. Both remain in custody at the Lake County Jail.

Mills is currently facing two counts of aggravated child abuse, two counts of child neglect, one count of tampering with evidence and two counts of accessory to aggravated child abuse. Walker is currently facing two counts of aggravated child abuse, two counts of accessory to aggravated child abuse and one count of tampering with evidence, court records show.

Sullivan has previously said the charges against them would be enhanced if the boy didnt survive. A judge denied Walker bond earlier this month, which Sullivan called a crucial step in seeking justice for the boy.

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The younger brother was taken into protective custody by the Department of Children and Families, who contacted his biological father who came to Central Florida to be with the children.

Sentinel reporter Silas Morgan contributed to this report.
Tavares Police say the 10-year-old boy who was tortured by a couple and dropped off at an emergency room has died.

This innocent childs life was marked by unspeakable suffering, and his loss has deeply shaken our community and everyone involved in this case, the police department stated.

Detective Courtney Sullivan tells Channel 9 enhanced charges will likely be announced Monday morning against Kimberley Mills and Andre Walker.

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Tavares Police says 10-year-old child had been unconscious since he was dropped off at Advent Health Waterman emergency room by Mills and Walker.

Investigators say the 10-year-old had bruises and burns in various stages of healing covering his body. There were also signs of sexual abuse, investigators say. Doctors also found internal bleeding in the childs abdomen, investigators say.

Mills and Walker are facing multiple charges of aggravated child abuse, neglect, and tampering with evidence. A judge denied bail for Walker.

Police say the childs younger brother is also a victim. Police say police the brother has helped them learn more about what happened in the Taveres home.

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Mar. 21BAGLEY  The 11th annual Vietnam Veterans Appreciation Day Dinner will once again provide a free program and meal to honor Vietnam veterans with doors opening at 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, at the Bagley American Legion, located at 112 Main Ave. N. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m.

All area Vietnam veterans alongside friends and family are welcome to attend. Each will receive a complimentary blanket fashioned akin to the American flag with limited supplies.

The program will feature the presentation of colors by the White Earth Honor Guard and the Bagley American Legion Honor Guard; guest speaker Kurt Ellefson, Polk County Veterans Service Officer; and a quilts of valor presentation.

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The In-County Vietnam Motorcycle Club provided the free meal and the Women's Legion Auxiliary will prepare it.

Vietnam veteran and event organizer Mike LaVoi noted that the dinner brings more Vietnam veterans together each year with more than 150 expected this time round. He hopes the event will continue to grow in the future.

"In today's patriotic climate, it's okay to be a veteran  even a Vietnam veteran," LaVoi said. "It's time now to be a proud Vietnam veteran; that's what this day (and event) is all about. This is my day and this is your day. Welcome home, brothers."

For more information about this program or area Vietnam veteran services, contact LaVoi at

(218) 435-1653

or

(218) 431-0801.
High grocery prices were a driving issue of the 2024 U.S. election. Now that the dust has settled on that contest, is food getting any more affordable? Of course, prices always vary thanks to a number of factors. Where you live, what time of year it is, and weather patterns can affect grocery prices. In early 2025, another complicating factor is being added to the mix. The Trump administration is imposing tariffs on imports from countries including Mexico, Canada, and China. Those three countries are responsible for massive amounts of U.S. imports, filling gaps in growing seasons and manufacturing materials for food packaging. A trade war means goods from those countries getting more expensive. Where does this leave Aldi, the cheapest grocery store in America? This is a company known for strategizing about how to be more affordable, but that doesn't mean Aldi is immune to market forces.

Unfortunately, some of Aldi's signature items might be due for some price increases. If you've got the storage space, now might be the time to stock up. Having the kind of abundant choice Americans are used to seeing in the supermarket means relying on literal tons of international trade. Throwing a wrench into the gears of trade means throwing a wrench in your bowl of guacamole. For reference and posterity's sake, we're including the prices of each item at the time of this writing.

Read more: The Reason Why Costco's Kirkland Signature Products Are So Cheap

Park Street Deli Guacamole

top view of Park Street Deli Southwest gaucamole in its container. - Aldi

Park Street Deli, Aldi's private label for all things sandwich, makes some good products. Part of that is because when possible, Aldi likes to source its food locally. That's not feasible with guacamole. In the U.S., most avocados come from Mexico. Given that guacamole is mashed avocado with a small but variable amount of other ingredients, expect Park Street Deli Guacamole to get more expensive. Currently, a 10-ounce tub of the Southwest, Avocado Verde, and Pineapple Poblano varieties costs $3.09.

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Any generation Millennial or older can remember a time when avocados and guac weren't so omnipresent. That's because of the North American Free Trade Agreement, a controversial 1994 treaty between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. When the U.S. was solely dependent on avocado growers in Florida and California, the fruit was far more scarce. Since the free trade floodgates opened in 1994, the U.S. has been importing more and more avocados. People have developed an appetite for that creamy green superfood, even if it does cost extra at Chipotle. How much extra cost is too much? We might be about to find out.

Park Street Deli Pico De Gallo

overhead view of Park Street Deli Mild Pico de Gallo. - Aldi

Park Street Deli makes a solid, reliable pico de gallo, and at $3.49 for a 10-ounce tub, it's a good deal -- especially if you want to save time on veggie chopping. If you haven't been to your local taqueria lately, pico de gallo is a beautifully simple salsa made with anywhere between three and five ingredients. The primary ingredient is tomato, and 88% of U.S. tomatoes are Mexican imports. Mexican growers have even implemented greenhouse technology in recent years, mostly to keep up with demand in the U.S. 80% of cherry tomatoes imported to the U.S. spend their formative years in greenhouses. Roughly one-third of Roma tomatoes do as well.

What about the other ingredients in pico de gallo? Well, whatever you put in it  cilantro, green chiles, onions  the U.S relies on Mexico for most of those, except onions.

The humble tomato is an easy example to illustrate how international trade fills gaps in growing seasons. The year-round climate in the United States does not support the people's current appetites. This is easy to understand if you simply eat tomatoes at different times of the year, or in different regions of the country. They taste far better in the summer, and they taste far better in warmer regions. Making Mexican tomatoes more expensive means fewer people in the U.S. eating tomatoes.

Whole & Simple Chicken Cilantro Lime Burritos

a box of chicken, cilantro, and lime burritos, with an image of the product on the box. - Aldi

Maybe you're thinking of stocking your freezer with prepared foods. It's not a bad impulse. Those items have a long shelf life. Whole & Simple Chicken Cilantro Lime Burritos are a great lunch, but the potential issue is right in the name. Cilantro and lime are two things that can, in fact, grow year-round in parts of the U.S. Demand, however, exceeds supply, and most of the cilantro and lime you'll see in the grocery store are from Mexico. What that means for a pre-made product with those two ingredients in its name should be obvious.

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A box of four frozen burritos currently costs $8.25. That's an average of slightly more than two dollars per burrito, and right now, that beats out most Mexican chain restaurants. Will eating a frozen burrito continue to be cheaper than chowing down on Chipotle or Taco Bell? Prices should be going up in restaurants, too. That's the tricky part about living in unprecedented times -- you never know what a burrito might cost.

Icewine Vidal

a bottle of Icewine Vidal against a white background - Aldi

This Canadian wine has emerged as a favorite among wine drinkers. Being part of Aldi's under $15 line of specialty wines (squeaking in at $14.99), it's also a favorite among wine drinkers on a budget. That might be a short-lived deal, though. Unfortunately, Icewine Vidal is also a Canadian wine, which means it's probably about to be a favorite among only very rich wine drinkers.

Given how much we've been talking in this article about produce that comes from warmer climates, as well as wine's association with warm regions in Italy, Spain, California, and Chile, the idea of Canadian icewine might be a little confusing. Icewine actually originates in Germany, and is made from grapes that have frozen on the vine. Only the northernmost states in the midwestern United States produce icewine. Using frozen grapes actually lends a sweeter taste, making this an excellent dessert wine. If you like having Aldi's icewine in your personal stores, now might be the time to buy some.

100% Pure Maple Maple Syrup

a bottle of 100% Pure Maple Syrup against a white background. - Instacart

Surprise, surprise, the product so closely aligned with Canada that its tree leaf is on the country's flag is about to get more expensive. Even though Aldi sources its maple syrup from both the U.S. and Canada, supply chains are interconnected, and trade tariffs on Canada affect U.S. grocery bills. Borders are imaginary, but the geography of where you can and can't source maple syrup is not. Anything affecting the price of one kind of bottle is likely to affect another as well.

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The current price is $5.85 for a 12.5-ounce bottle is pretty reasonable given the product. Real maple syrup takes a lot of time and effort to produce. Artificial versions are easy and cheap enough to produce that they can fill out supermarket shelves, but the difference in taste is substantial. Anyone with a strong enough preference for the real stuff is likely due for some sticker shock.

Season's Choice Strawberry Banana Blend

a bag of Season's Choice Strawberry Banana Blend against a white background. - Aldi

This stalwart of the frozen breakfast section is probably about to become more scarce. At least, it probably won't stay its current price of $6.05 for a 48-ounce bag. Yes, 78% of strawberries consumed in the U.S. are domestically grown. Still, seasonality applies, and there are not enough domestic producers to meet year-round demand. During the lean months, Mexico fills in the gaps. The U.S. produces some bananas domestically, but the majority of bananas are imports. While it's true that Mexico is not the U.S.'s biggest banana supplier, it is in the top 10. Unfortunately, that means your smoothies are about to get pricier.

There are plenty of good frozen fruit blends out there. Come on, though. If you're thinking about smoothies, there's a good chance you're thinking about a bright, refreshing strawberry banana smoothie. The creaminess of the banana, the sweetness and cheerful pink color from the strawberry  what a perfect summer treat. Unfortunately, trade wars and summer vibes do not mix.

Southern Grove Deluxe Whole Cashews

a bag of Southern Grove Deluxe Whole Lightly Salted Cashews against a white background. - Instacart

At Aldi, 16-ounce bag of whole cashews currently costs $7.65, and it will be interesting to see if that price holds. The United States is one of the world's top three importers of cashews. Most of the cashews that the U.S. imports come from Vietnam, Brazil, and India, however, most of the nuts the U.S. imports come from Mexico, where the crop can be grown year-round. Whether cashew prices can remain stable or whether a few rising prices affects all nut production remains to be seen, but be watchful of cashews. The prices of these crunchy little guys will tell us a lot about the interconnectedness of global markets.

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Okay, so cashews are probably going to rise in price. That is a bummer, but nuts are one food where it might be worth reconsidering the carbon footprint of these imports. Nuts are a great starting point for thinking about local food. In the United States, California is known for almonds, producing around 80% of the crop for the entire world. The South  particularly Georgia  is known for pecans, producing 80% of that crop for the entire world. George Washington Carver discovered hundreds of uses for the peanut, and that crop grows well in 13 states. In coming years, something like cashews might recede into the background of consumer habits, while more local nuts take more precedence.

Hopping Nomad Session IPA

a six-pack of Hopping Nomad IPA against a white background. - Aldi

You might be thinking that if prices on imported beer rise, you'll just switch to domestic. Not so fast. Prices on American-produced beer might still go up, but not for the reason you might think. Hopping Nomad Session IPA is a domestic beer, but it comes in cans. The President has stated he wants to impose a 25% tariff on all imported steel and aluminum, in an effort to boost domestic production. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but there will certainly be a domino effect on all canned products.

While something like Monterrey Cerveza, a Guatemalan beer, might be surprisingly safe  as long as Guatemala can maintain its stated goal of quiet coexistence with the Trump administration  domestic canned beer might not be as stable. Hopping Nomad Session IPA currently runs $8.89 for a six-pack. How much that price increases will tell you a lot about how much one resource, like aluminum, relates to a bunch of seemingly unrelated ones, like the wheat, hops, barley, and water that go into beer.

Benton's Maple Leaf Creme Cookies

a box of Benton's Maple Leaf Creme Cookies against a white background. - Aldi

If you know exactly where the Aldi Finds aisle is, you know the gems that can be uncovered within. Those joyous little sweet treats? It does not bring us joy to tell you that those are probably about to get more expensive, especially Canadian items like Benton's Maple Leaf Creme Cookies.

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The Aldi Finds aisle is one of the great delights of the nation's cheapest grocery store. Advertised on in-store signage as a treasure trove of seasonal items, limited time offers, or even the last remnants of previously featured items, this aisle is where you pick up heart-shaped Reese's boxes for Valentine's Day. Or, if you're a little more adventurous, you can take advantage of the German-owned grocery chain's wide selection of imported sweet treats, like Benton's Maple Leaf Cream Cookies. As of this writing, the item is out of stock, but Aldi lists the unit price at 34 cents per ounce. If this delicious cookie comes back around, keep an eye on that unit price.

Sweet Harvest Pineapple Chunks

a can of Sweet Harvest Pineapple Chunks against a white background. - Instacart

Being a canned product and a tropical fruit, pineapple chunks and slices are likely to go up with the new tariffs. While Mexico has ceded some ground to Central American countries like Costa Rica and Honduras on imports of this tropical fruit since 2018, the U.S.'s immediate southern neighbor is still a top pineapple provider. There are very few pineapple growers in the U.S., with most domestic production coming from Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The only portions of the contiguous United States where pineapples can be grown are Florida and California, but production there remains much, much smaller in scale than in Mexico and Central America.

Few things exemplify the marvels of the contemporary food system like canned pineapples. Canning food only became a practice as recently as the 19th century. A person living in, say, Wisconsin being able to eat great-tasting pineapples in the middle of winter? That's an even more recent development. Given all that, $1.39 for a 20-ounce can is a steal of a price, and we'll be sad to see it change.

Northern Catch Sardines

a can of Northern Catch Sardines against a white background. - Instacart

Aldi lists three different varieties of canned sardines on its website: sardines in mustard sauce, sardines in soybean oil, and sardines in spring water. The latter two options have "product of Canada" stamped in big letters on the front of the label. The current price is $1.05 for a 3.75-ounce can, but canned fish from Canada is sure to see price increases with the new tariffs. Sardines are conventionally thought of as a cheap food. They're a small fish and almost always served out of cans, lending them a sort of workmanlike quality. How unfortunate it will be if this humble snack suddenly becomes an expensive delicacy.

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Few things make borders seem silly like the ocean does. Fish move around in patterns that would shatter the average politician's imagination. Sure, fishers have to make port within some nation's boundaries, and yes, there are international rules for water territories. Still, if neighboring countries can't figure out how to fish cooperatively, then what are we doing, as humans? Isn't fishing supposed to be relaxing? Okay, maybe not industrial fishing. The point is, putting tariffs on sardines flies in the face of all common sense.

Casa Mamita Diced Tomatoes With Green Chiles

a front view of a can of Casa Mamita Diced Tomatoes With Green Chiles against a white background. - Instacart

Diced tomatoes with green chiles is the basis of many wonderful dips and dishes. Casa Mamita is Aldi's private label for this Ro-Tel spinoff, and it is both delicious and affordable at $1.05 for a 10-ounce can. The question is: What kind of green chiles get diced up and canned? The answer is that it varies. Green, in this context, is a vague gesture at almost any kind of pepper more mild than a jalapeno. These canned mixtures are meant to have some kick, but not so much that you have to warn the average spice-averse Midwesterner, for example. The chiles here include anything from hatch or Anaheim (grown in New Mexico) to poblano or pasilla (grown in southern Mexico).

That might seem hopeful, since at least some of the peppers listed are grown in the United States. Not so fast. One kind of pepper suddenly becoming more expensive is sure to have a knock-on effect on the others. Throw in the increased price of aluminum, and maybe it's a good idea to stock up on these.

Most Aldi Finds

a view down an Aldi aisle. - Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

While many of Aldi's ingredients are locally sourced, plenty of their goods are imported from China. This includes most of the kitchen supplies, kids' toys, and home decor that comes from the Aldi Finds aisle. Affectionately known as the "Aisle of Shame" by Aldi enthusiasts on Reddit, this aisle is an absolute treasure trove of bargains for limited time only items. For the record, we don't think you should feel shame while shopping this aisle. There's good stuff there.

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It is not breaking news that the United States owes the availability of most of its cheap consumer goods to factories in China. Many people in the U.S. rely on lower-priced stores like Aldi not just for food, but for home essentials. That's not possible without free and open international trade, or U.S. manufacturers being willing to pay U.S. workers fair wages while charging U.S. consumers fair prices. It remains to be seen whether slapping tariffs on so many imports will usher in a new era of domestic manufacturing and equitable distribution of money. In the short term, though, expect prices to skyrocket for the average person.

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KIOWA COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR)  Oklahomas March 14 wildfire outbreak took down a historical 130-year-old church in Kiowa County, the members are hoping to rebuild.

When you walked inside, it was different. It was full of love, said Deacon Terry Hunter.

Hunter serves at Rainy Mountain Kiowa Indian Baptist Church, founded in 1893.

The church burned down after the winds from March 14 blew down a powerline which sparked a fire.

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The line just kept hitting the church. It burned it down, said Hunter.

The church is now a heap of ash with a metal baptismal at the end of it. That and a decades-old church bell are some of the last things standing after the fire.

Pastor, disaster relief organization tour Logan County wildfire damage

The bell weve had for a while. It was here with the first church, which was a red brick building, said Hunter.

Hunter said the church has burned before and it had to be rebuilt in the 1940s after a lightning strike set it ablaze.

Once again, we are going to have to rebuild, said Hunter.

The church is not only for services but its for the Kiowa community. Hunter said that for years people have come from all around. Generations of family members have gone to this church.

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I still have people from all around the nation asking how they can help, said Hunter.

In the rubble, burned pages from the Bible are found along with charred hymnals.

They had service just two days after the building burned down and it was held on the property just next door.

Thats kind of the message we had as a congregation, that were moving forward, said Hunter. That we will have a new beginning.

Saturday is when he said the tribe would come and help flatten the property so that it could eventually be rebuilt.

But its going to cost a lot of money and labor. Hunter said they have a GoFundMe set up and that anything they get will go towards a new church.

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The GoFundMe reads, Generations of Kiowa people have grown up at Rainy Mountain. While the church is a spiritual home for many Kiowa Christians, it is also a gathering place for Kiowas from all denominations, spiritual teachings, and many who hold traditional ties to the land and Kiowa ways of life. While its history and impact cannot be summarized in such few words it was (is) one of the true heartbeats of the Kiowa people. From birthdays to Kiowa hymn singings, to the iconic Christmas, Easter, and Halloween celebrations, and of course the annual Indian Taco Sale, we know that though our hearts are aching, Creator, Daw-Kee (our God) will make a way for us to rebuild as a congregation and Kiowa people once again.

Its a church thats filled with tradition and culture. Thats why it means so much to so many around here, said Hunter.

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MONROE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS)  A 14-year-old has been charged after they allegedly sent threats through social media against students at Union County Early College, according to the Monroe Police Department.

On Wednesday night, March 19, the school resource officer got a report about social media messages threatening violence. Detectives were able to identify a 14-year-old student of Union County Early College who allegedly created and distributed the messages.

Due to the seriousness of the threats, a search warrant at the suspects home where detectives found multiple secured and unsecured firearms and ammunition, officials said.

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NC Senate passes bill easing concealed carry gun restrictions

The 14-year-old was charged with felony communicating threats of mass violence on educational property and was taken into custody at a nearby juvenile detention facility.

We are thankful to the persons who reported this to their School Resource Officer in an attempt to prevent acts of violence that may have been committed, Monroe Police said.

Authorities say this is still an active investigation. Anyone with information should call MPD at 704-282-4700.

Queen City News is tracking CRIME in your area  >> Latest stories here

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(NewsNation)  A metric ton of drugs have been seized in a takedown of 22 alleged members of transnational drug trafficking operations with links to a Mexican cartel.

In a statement from the U.S. Attorneys Office, Southern District of California, the 22 people are connected with Beltran Leyva Cartel in Sinaloa, Mexico, and were indicted by a federal grand jury.

Deportation case judge may have reached limit: Ex-court official

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The takedown, which involved more than 150 officials from federal, state and local levels, netted 2,204 pounds of drugs, which included methamphetamine and cocaine.

More than $250K in drugs seized across several states

In addition, approximately 1,653 pounds of fentanyl, 10 firearms, and more than $250,000 in narcotics proceeds were seized. The seizures were made in Arizona, California, Colorado and Iowa.

Trump administration to end legal status of 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela

By disrupting this prolific, cartel-linked trafficking network, we are preventing the devastation and violence it brings, acting U.S. Attorney Andrew Haden said in the statement.

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Ten defendants were arrested, with searches continuing for the remaining 12 fugitives as of Thursday.

Impact of fentanyl in the US

More than 65% of drug overdoses involve the use of fentanyl, according to the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Use.

Julie Gaither, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine, used death certificate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assess fentanyl deaths over the past two decades. She found that nearly 5,200 deaths among the 14,000 between 1999 and 2021 were due to fentanyl.

In 2023, the CDC released a report that said fentanyl overdose deaths had risen by 279% in the past five years in the U.S., according to HealthDay News.

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Gaither also found that, in 2021, fentanyl was the cause of death for 40 infants and 93 children aged 1 to 4.

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OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  2025 will mark the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.

We remember and honor those 168 who lost their lives on April 19, 1995, when a bomb went off in front of the Murrah building in downtown Oklahoma City.

168 Days to remember those lost in the OKC bombing: Emilio Tapia. Image courtesy Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum.

We want to remember Emilio Tapia, while honoring those who survived and thanking those changed forever.

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OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  2025 will mark the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.

We remember and honor those 168 who lost their lives on April 19, 1995, when a bomb went off in front of the Murrah building in downtown Oklahoma City.

168 Days to remember those lost in the OKC bombing: Dolores (Dee) Stratton. Image courtesy Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum.

We want to remember Dolores (Dee) Stratton, while honoring those who survived and thanking those changed forever.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
Johnson & Johnson says it will invest more than $55 billion within the United States over the next four years, including four new manufacturing plants.

A number of companies have highlighted investments in the U.S. in recent months, a focus of Trump administration. J&J rival Eli Lilly and Co. announced in late February that it planned to build four new factories in the U.S. Both Lilly and J&J cited tax cut legislation passed in 2017 as factors in their U.S. investments.

Johnson & Johnson said Friday that it is a 25% increase in investment compared with the prior four years and estimates the U.S. economic impact will be more than $100 billion a year.

Our increased U.S. investment begins with the ground-breaking of a high-tech facility in North Carolina that will not only add U.S.-based jobs but manufacture cutting edge medicines to treat patients in America and around the world, Chairman and CEO Joaquin Duato said in a statement.

The North Carolina plant is in Wilson, just east of Raleigh. The locations of the other three facilities were not disclosed.

Aside from building four new plants, Johnson & Johnson said that it will expand several existing sites. The company is also planning to make investments in research and development infrastructure and technology.

Johnson & Johnson's efforts are among several companies pledging to enhance their manufacturing in the U.S. Earlier this month chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said that it plans to invest $100 billion in the U.S., on top of $65 billion in investments the company had previously announced.

In February Apple announced that it plans to invest more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, including plans to hire 20,000 people and build a new server factory in Texas.

Apple outlined several concrete moves in its announcement, the most significant of which is the construction of a new factory in Houston  slated to open in 2026  that will produce servers to power Apple Intelligence, its suite of AI features.

___

AP Health Writer Tom Murphy contributed to this report.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE)  The Albuquerque Police Department released the identity of the 19-year-old who was shot by officers on Thursday. According to the department, he was wanted on a murder charge.

Julian Garcia had a warrant out for his arrest in connection to a deadly shooting from September of 2024. APD officers had been searching for Garcia after he was charged with murder in February.

At about 6 p.m. Thursday around Unser Boulevard and Sage Road, detectives made contact with Garcia. Police say Garcia proceeded to run away. Initial shots were fired at Garcia, who was armed with a handgun at the time, according to APD.

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As Garcia approached the backyard of a nearby home, police say shots were fired. An officer fired at and struck Garcia, who was taken to a local hospital where he is described as being in critical, yet stable condition. No officers were injured.

Garcia was wanted in connection to a shoot-out at 335 Grove Street SE. His uncle, 34-year-old James Garcia, was killed in the shooting. According to police, 32-year-old Ezekiel Brown shot James Garcia in the face after asking him if he remembered him. Two people returned gunfire, which struck Brown before he fell to the ground.

James Garcia was taken to the hospital. A bystander at the scene tried to give Brown CPD. Witnesses later said Julian Garcia shot Brown three times at a close range. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

James Garcia was dropped off at the University of New Mexico Hospital, where he died.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  Birmingham police announced the arrest of two men for allegedly illegally dumping in the city.

Torrance Nelson Jr, 47, of Birmingham, and Bennie Armstrong, 62, of Center Point, were arrested after officers obtained arrest warrants for their alleged connection to illegal dumping. They are charged with criminal littering.

On March 17, two suspects were observed dumping debris on the side of the roadway in the 2600 block of 4th Street North. Officers arrested both suspects on March 21 and transported them to the Birmingham City Jail.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  A Birmingham man and woman were arrested after a man suffered life-threatening injuries in a shooting early Thursday morning.

According to officer Truman Fitzgerald with the Birmingham Police Department, officers responded around 2:55 a.m. Thursday on a report of a man shot in the 800 block of Third Avenue West. Detectives with the BPD Felony Assault Unit identified two suspects in the shooting investigation.

2 men arrested in alleged Birmingham robbery, kidnapping

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Anthony Lewis Sr., 35, was issued warrants for attempted murder, first-degree robbery, discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, certain person forbidden/pistol and second-degree criminal mischief from the Jefferson County Magistrates Office. The office approved first-degree robbery, certain person forbidden/pistol and second-degree criminal mischief warrants for Taylor Ball, 24.

Special enforcement team and tactical unit officers arrested the suspects, who will be held in the Jefferson County Jail under no bond.

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CHICAGO  A homicide investigation is underway after two people were found dead inside a South Side home Friday afternoon.

Chicago police said just before 4:30 p.m., officers were sent to a home in the 6100 block of South Justine Street in Englewood. When officers arrived, they found two male victims unresponsive inside the home.

Man extradited, charged after allegedly killing 33-year-old mother, kidnapping kids

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Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene, according to investigators.

No other information was released and Area One Detectives are investigating.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  Two men have been arrested in an alleged robbery and kidnapping that happened this week in Birmingham.

According to officer Truman Fitzgerald with the Birmingham Police Department, officers started investigating around 4:20 a.m. Wednesday a robbery that occurred in east Birmingham. Fitzgerald stated officers found out two suspects robbed a man at gunpoint and then kidnapped him. They allegedly forced the victim to withdraw money from an ATM.

Suspect arrested for reported connection to Birmingham bank robbery

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BPD Intelligence Unit officers and deputies with the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office identified and found the suspects in the Kingston neighborhood Wednesday evening. BPD Special Enforcement Team officers took the men into custody during a traffic stop.

Justin Jenkins, a 22-year-old Birmingham man, was issued warrants from the Jefferson County Magistrates Office for first-degree robbery, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree burglary. The Jefferson County Magistrates Office issued a first-degree robbery warrant for Keonte Richardson, 19, of Center Point.

The men are being held in the Jefferson County Jail under no bond.



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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI)  Two of three men were convicted Friday in a double shooting that killed one woman and wounded another in Providence nearly six years ago.

Marklyn Brown and Johnny Veng were both found guilty of first-degree murder and several other charges.

The jury was deadlocked for Jimmy Castillo, who was also arrested in connection with the September 2019 shooting.

RELATED: Woman fatally shot while celebrating birthday in Providence

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Berta Pereira-Roldan was out celebrating her birthday with some friends that night when she was hit by gunfire on Detroit Avenue.

Berta Pereira-Roldan

The 19-year-old, who had just graduated from Revere High School and was a student at North Shore Community College, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators said that, at the same time, Crystal Peloquin was shot while talking with two men who had approached her on Detroit Avenue. She was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital and spent months recovering from her injuries.

Peloquin and Pereira-Roldan were both walking back to their cars after leaving a Broad Street club when the gunfire erupted. The women didnt know one another and were not believed to be the intended targets of the shooting.

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In addition to murder, Brown and Veng were also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence resulting in death, assault with a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury, discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence resulting in serious bodily injury, and two counts of unlawfully carrying a pistol without a license.

The two men were remanded to the ACI to await sentencing.

Castillo will continue to be held without bail pending a status conference scheduled for April 4.

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HANAHAN, S.C. (WCBD)  Two people were rescued Saturday morning after their fishing boat overturned in the Goose Creek Reservoir, officials say.

Emergency crews responded to Sorento Boulevard in the Otranto neighborhood around 10 a.m. to assess the situation.

Assistant Chief Christopher D. Zak with the Hanahan Fire Department said a civilian vessel that was nearby responded to help the two individuals and pulled them into their boat to safety.

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Both were safe on land by 10:17 a.m.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Department of Environmental Services responded to the scene to mitigate the sunken vessel.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  A third person has been arrested in connection to a deadly north Columbus shooting in 2023.

Nehemiah Garnett, 21, was arrested by a Columbus SWAT unit on Friday for the murder of 40-year-old Juan Pablo Aleman, who was gunned down in the Riverview neighborhood off of Olentangy River Road. The Columbus Division of Police said Garnett was arrested without incident.

Garnetts arrest came after 20-year-old Stephanie Moore was also arrested in July for Alemans murder. An investigation by Columbus police revealed that Aleman was shot to death on Jan. 7, 2023, inside of an apartment. Video surveillance showed four individuals running from the area at 7:34 p.m.

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Police identified Aleman as the victim one week later, but the case produced few leads until last summer when authorities were led to 20-year-old Amira Reid. The U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force arrested her in June in the 400 block of Southgate Circle in Toledo.

Police said a confidential source reported that Moore admitted she and Reid went to Alemans residence under the guise of giving him a private dance and having sex.

When they arrived, they brought along two unknown men, one of whom reportedly brought a gun. Police did not say whether Garnett was one of these men.

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EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  Over 100 students from Texas Tech Health El Paso participated in Match Day and 119 medical students nationwide will be coming to El Paso to serve as resident doctors.

A record 21 Texas Tech students will stay in El Paso to continue their residency, according to Texas Tech Foster School of Medicine.

140 student doctors match into local, national residencies

Ill be staying here in El Paso as an internal medicine resident and a future physician for my community, Joshua Torres, a Foster Scholar and soon-to-be-three-time graduate at Texas Tech Health El Paso, said.

Joshua Torres at Match Day. Photo courtesy of Texas Tech Health El Paso.

According to Texas Tech, roughly 50,000 medical students nationwide participated in Match Day, where students get to learn where they will be placed for their residency.

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Match Day marks both the conclusion of medical school and the start of a new chapter, Richard Lange, president of Texas Tech Health El Paso and dean of the Foster School of Medicine, said. These students have persevered through significant challenges, and while many will continue their training across the country, a record 21 graduates will begin their medical careers here in El Paso.

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When I arrived 10 years ago, no students matched in El Paso. Today, 20 percent of the graduating class will stay in West Texas, where they are most needed. The trajectory of growing our own health care heroes is definitely moving in the right direction, Lange said.

According to Texas Tech, El Paso County is experiencing a physician shortage. But thats been reduced from 75 percent below the national average to 60 percent, which Texas Tech calls significant progress.

When our graduates match to a program here in El Paso, these homegrown health care heroes are physicians already familiar with our communitys needs, Charmaine Martin, associate dean for student affairs at the Foster School of Medicine, said. In that same light, each new resident who moves to our region from out of state to complete their residency enhances health care access. Regardless of their hometown, they are doctors serving patients who might otherwise go without care.

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Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI

Nvidia shares hit a "death cross" on Thursday signaling a potential downtrend after a 948% rally.

A death cross occurs when a stock's 50-day moving average price falls below its 200-day moving average.

Analyst Ari Wald suggests the signal may not lead to a major decline, citing range-bound trading.

Nvidia shares flashed the dreaded "death cross" signal on Thursday.

The technical sell signal occurs when the 200-day moving average rises above the 50-day moving average.

The stock's 50-day moving average hit $127.39, dipping below the 200-day moving average of $127.73 early in Thursday's trading session before paring losses to rise about 1%.

The moving average crossover strategy can signal a reversal in a prior trend, suggesting that after a massive 948% rally since October 2022, shares of Nvidia could be on the verge of a downtrend.

The last time Nvidia flashed a death cross signal was in April 2022, amid a broader bear market for stocks. Shares of Nvidia went on to decline 47% before they bottomed out in October 2022.

Ari Wald, head of technical analysis at Oppenheimer & Co., said the death cross signal in Nvidia shares isn't a foolproof signal of a coming decline, and could ultimately be a head fake.

"While every major decline starts with a 'death cross' not every 'death cross' leads to a major decline," Wald told BI.

Instead, the current death cross in Nvidia shares could reflect the stock's range-bound behavior for nearly a year.

"The stock has shown a loss of momentum for a number of months which can be shown by the fact the stock has made little progress over the last 6-9 months," Wald said.

He added that he is staying on the sidelines with Nvidia stock until the broader market shows signs that it's bottomed after its latest decline. The S&P 500 entered correction territory last week, falling 10% from its peak in February.

"For now, we'd continue to respect the continued deterioration in the stock's trend, including the most recent 'death cross,'" Wald said.

Wald sees $128 as a key resistance level and $100 as key support for Nvidia shares.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Update: 3/25/25 at 10:45 a.m.

URBANA, Ill. (WCIA)  Alex Muanambta made his first appearance in court on Monday to face murder charges in connection to the death of Nathan Gudeman.

Champaign County court records show Muanambta has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder, along with two counts of aggravated battery.

Decatur mom attempts to drown baby in bathtub: Police

He was arraigned on these charges on Monday. Muanambta waived his right to a preliminary hearing and entered a plea of not guilty.

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He is due back in court on April 23.

Update: 3/24/25 at 12:30 p.m.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA)  The Champaign County Coroner has identified the man who died after being stabbed over the weekend.

Laurie Brauer, Champaign County Coroner, said that 22-year-old Nathan Gudeman died after being stabbed on W. Healey St in Champaign. He was pronounced dead on the scene at 1:06 a.m. on March 22.

Urbana Police, Crime Stoppers seeking tips on truck vandalism

An autopsy is scheduled for Monday. The Champaign Police Department and the Coroners Office are still investigating.

WCIA reached out to the police department for an update on the 22-year-old female stabbing victims condition. Investigators were not able to share any more details at this time.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA)  A 23-year-old Rantoul man has been arrested on murder and attempted murder charges after a man was stabbed to death and a woman was left in critical condition in Champaign early Saturday morning.

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On March 22 at approximately 12:03 a.m., Champaign Police were dispatched to the 1600 block of W Healey St. for the report of a stabbing. On scene, officers located two victims, a 22-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man, both from Champaign. The officers immediately rendered medical aid with assistance from paramedics until the woman could be transported to an area hospital.

One cadet arraigned after fight at Lincolns ChalleNGe Academy

The man was located nearby with multiple fatal stab wounds. As paramedics on scene assessed the male, they found no signs of life. As a result, the Champaign County Coroner was called to the scene, and the man was declared deceased. The woman remains hospitalized in critical condition.

The initial investigation indicates that the victims were inside their residence when they were attacked with a knife by a person known to them. After the stabbing, the two victims ran outside to seek help, and the attacker fled the area.

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With help from other area law enforcement, Champaign Police located Alex Muanambta, 23, at a residence in Rantoul. Muanambta was arrested for his role in this incident and faces initial charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder. Additional charges may be added as the investigation continues.

Judge ruling on whether to bar gambling evidence at Watseka womans trial

Even as the arrest has been made, the investigation remains ongoing. Officers are continuing to canvass the surrounding area for witnesses and video footage that may be of investigative assistance. Any resident or business in the nearby area with exterior surveillance camera systems is urged to notify the police department.

Future updates may also be provided as they become available. The Champaign Police Department has been assisted by the Champaign County Sheriffs Office and the Rantoul Police Department during this investigation.

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Champaign Police is asking anyone who has more information to call them at 217-351-4545, and arrangements can be made for information to be shared privately. Additionally, anyone wishing to stay anonymous can also submit tips to Crime Stoppers at 217-373-8477, at 373tips.com or on the P3 Tips app.

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A group of 24 House Democrats blasted the Small Business Administration (SBA) and is asking the agency for more answers over plans to relocate six of its regional offices out of sanctuary cities, contending the transfer would hamper millions of small businesses.

The Democrats in the lower chamber said SBAs Administrator Kelly Loefflers plan to move the field officers from six cities  Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York City and Seattle  is a blatant weaponization of the SBA for political gain.

To be clear, we firmly believe that our cities should be safe, all acts of violence should be taken seriously, and violent crimes should not be tolerated. But the targeting of these cities is clearly punitive, unjust and counterproductive, the 24 House lawmakers said in a Friday letter to Loeffler that was shared with The Hill.

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Moreover, your decision will unduly harm millions of small businesses across the country who have been suffering through the chaotic, confusing, and unpredictable economic policies of the Trump administration, the legislators wrote.

Loeffler announced the agencys intention to move the offices earlier this month, stating that the six cities are not complying with immigration law and are detrimental to small businesses.

The SBA administrator did not share in the March 6 announcement where the new offices will be, but said they will be moved to less costly, more accessible locations that better serve the small business community and comply with federal immigration law.

In the 5-page letter, spearheaded by Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), the ranking member on the House Small Business Committee, the 24 Democrats said they are concerned the SBA has no clear plans to relocate the offices or prevent any disruption to the small business owners who rely on them.

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In fact, few, if any, of the leading practices of effective agency reorganizations identified by the Government Accountability Office (GAO)  an independent, non-partisan agency that examines how tax dollars are spent  seem to have been followed in your rush to penalize these cities, the lawmakers wrote.

The 24 lawmakers said they were not told about the decision to relocate the regional officers nor any other policy to reform the agency. In fact, we read about your reforms and staff terminations in the news.

The House Democrats asked Loeffler to answer 13 questions by March 31, including the summary of the criteria used to make a decision to relocate the offices, how the decision will better serve small businesses, and a list of SBAs district offices that may be impacted by this reorganization.

The group of legislators also asked the SBA head if the locations for the new regional officers were identified and what would be the timeline for the relocations. They also asked how many SBA workers will be affected by the locations and how the move aligns with the agencys mission to aid, counsel, assist, and protect the interests of small business concerns; preserve free competitive enterprise; and maintain and strengthen the overall economy of the nation?

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Apart from Velazquez, the Friday letter was signed by Democratic Reps. Morgan McGarvey (Ky.). Hillary Scholten (Mich), LaMonica McIver (N.J.), Gil Cisneros (Calif.), Kelly Morrison (Minn.), George Latimer (N.Y.), Derek Tran (Calif.), Lateefah Simon (Calif.), Johnny Olszewski (Md.), Herb Conaway (N.J.), Maggie Goodlander (N.H.), Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.), Nikema Williams (Ga.), Jerry Nadler (N.Y.), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Diana DeGette (Colo.), Yvette Clarke (N.Y.), Chuy Garcia (Ill.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Dan Goldman (N.Y.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.).

Taxpayer dollars should support communities that uphold the law  not those that deliberately undermine it. The SBA is therefore proud to relocate our regional offices out of sanctuary cities and into business-friendly communities that share this Administrations commitment to secure borders, an SBA spokesperson told The Hill.

Updated at 9:13 p.m. EST.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Anita Hofschneider

Grist

A Canadian mining company behind a massive new lithium mine in northern Nevada has received a $250 million investment to complete construction of the new mine  a project that aims to accelerate Americas shift from fossil fuel-powered cars but that has come under fierce criticism from neighboring tribal nations and watchdog groups for its proximity to a burial site.

Lithium Americas is developing the mine in an area known as Thacker Pass where it plans to unearth lithium carbonate that can be used to make batteries for electric vehicles. The area, known as Peehee Muhuh in the Numu language of the Northern Paiute, is home to what could be the largest supply of lithium in the United States and is also a site that tribal citizens visit every year to honor dozens of Native men, women, and children who fled American soldiers in an 1865 unprovoked attack at dawn.

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The funding from Orion Resources Partners LP, a global investment firm specializing in metals and materials, will enable the first phase of construction to be completed by late 2027. The investment firm is also considering giving an additional $500 million to support later phases of the mines development.

The critical financial investment comes just weeks after a report from the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch called for a halt to the construction of the mine after concluding its approval violates the rights of Indigenous peoples whose ancestors are buried there.

Orions commitment to this project highlights the strategic importance of Thacker Pass to national security and developing a domestic supply chain as we work to reduce American dependence on foreign suppliers for critical minerals, said Jonathan Evans, Lithium Americas president and chief executive officer, in a press release.

Lithium Americas said that research indicates the actual burial site is located several miles away from the project site, and a federal judge agreed with the company, citing a cultural inventory study that did not uncover any human remains. Gary McKinney disagrees. He is a spokesperson for the group People of Red Mountain and is a descendant of one of the survivors of the September 12, 1865, massacre.

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He and many others believe the project area to be a graveyard for his ancestors, in part due to Indigenous oral histories and a 1929 autobiography describing the massacre there.

What that mine is doing is desecrating, McKinney said. Theyre erasing parts of the history of the Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone people.

He said the mine was approved during the COVID-19 pandemic when reservations were shut down, Indigenous communities were grappling with high rates of the virus, and few realized the project was moving forward.

Our tribal chairman at that time, he died of COVID, said McKinney, who is an enrolled member of the Duck Valley Shoshone Paiute Tribe. What Im saying is this whole thing wasnt done with the best of morals or intentions of honoring and respecting those cultural sites.

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His organization, People of Red Mountain, sued to stop the mine along with four tribes  Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, Burns Paiute Tribe, Summit Lake Paiute Tribe, and Winnemucca Indian Colony  but no court challenges have been successful. The Duck Valley Shoshone-Paiute Tribe also criticized the mine in an appeal to the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch report from last month concluded the mine violates Indigenous peoples right to free, prior and informed consent to projects that affect their territories. The report notes tribes have raised concerns about the risk of toxic waste from the mine polluting their water and about their cultural practices being curtailed by limited access to the area.

In a letter to Human Rights Watch, Tim Crowley, vice president of government and external affairs at Lithium Americas, emphasized that the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which contains the right to free, prior, and informed consent, is not binding. At the same time, the U.S. government believes consulting with tribes is sufficient without achieving support from all tribes, he said.

Further, the Treaty of Ruby Valley, which is the treaty that pertains to Western Shoshone peoples in the Thacker Pass area, does not reserve rights to access off-reservation public land, Crowley wrote. The Thacker Pass Project is not in a federally recognized Native American territory. If it were, mining could not happen without the express consent and approval of that tribe.

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The new investment in Lithium Americas from Orion Resources Partners LP helps fulfill the terms of a $2.26 billion loan that Lithium Americas received last fall from the U.S. Department of Energy to support the project.

Abbey Koenning-Rutherford from the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch said the Thacker Pass mine is symbolic of the broader risks of mining to Indigenous peoples and underscores why theres a need to reform a 1872 U.S. mining law that enables companies to claim mineral rights on federal lands, including land stolen from tribal nations.

The United States should respect Indigenous peoples centuries-long connections to Peehee Muhuh and act to prevent further harm at Thacker Pass, Koenning-Rutherford said.
Mar. 21A second family filed a lawsuit against a top-rated Huber Heights child care center following a police investigation into injuries suffered over the summer by multiple infants and a criminal charge against a former employee.

The new lawsuit was filed Monday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court by Columbus-based Soroka & Associates against Anna's Early Beginnings Child Care and Learning Center, 5833 Shull Road, and multiple current and former employees and administrators. It alleges at least four infants were injured, that an employee witnessed one incident and that the day care failed to report suspicions of child abuse.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Tipp City family whose daughter was 6 months old when she allegedly suffered a traumatic brain injury.

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A Dayton Daily News investigation earlier this month noted the day care still has a gold Step Up to Quality rating from the Ohio Department of Children and Youth following state inspections after the police investigation began in July. One employee at the center of the investigation, who has since been fired, is facing one misdemeanor charge.

According to the lawsuit and Huber Heights police reports, a routine checkup July 29 at a pediatrician's office revealed the Tipp City child had an enlarged head. After a scheduled ultrasound showed fluid on the brain, the girl was referred Aug. 14 to the Dayton Children's Hospital emergency room for a CT scan, which reportedly found two brain bleeds that were considered suspicious.

The same day the infant was taken to the ER, the now former director of the day care center alerted her parents their daughter had been coughing and throwing up her bottles, the lawsuit stated.

The girl was admitted to the hospital, where she remained through Aug. 17. The child's injury was reported to Miami County Children's Services, police records say. They were advised to file a police report after telling a social worker their daughter attended Early Beginnings. Huber Heights police said it was not the first incident reported associated with the day care, the lawsuit stated.

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"What stands out in this case is that Early Beginnings Child Care and Learning Center completely failed to supervise their employees and hold their employees accountable for their actions and inactions," said attorney Roger Soroka. "What is more troubling is that we have sufficient evidence to believe Early Beginnings was aware of the child abuse and neglect happening at their facility and they simply turned a blind eye to it. Early Beginnings disregarded what was happening and ignored their statutory duty to report reasonable suspicions of child abuse and neglect."

Early Beginnings issued a statement in response to media inquiries.

"The safety, wellbeing, and development of the children in our care remain our highest priorities," the statement read.

"We understand that this situation may raise concerns, and we remain committed to transparency and maintaining the trust of our families. While we are unable to provide further details due to the ongoing legal process, we want to emphasize our dedication to upholding the highest standards of care and safety."

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The statement says the company can't comment on personnel matters "due to privacy concerns."

Previous suit, allegations

A previous lawsuit was filed March 6 in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court by Columbus law firm Cooper Elliott on behalf of a Troy family.

Huber Heights police opened an investigation after they were notified July 17 that the 11-week-old boy was taken by Troy medics to Dayton Children's, where he was found to have a brain bleed in addition to blood in his urine, vomiting and bruising on his arms.

Both infants included in the lawsuits required surgical treatment and hospital stays. During the investigation into their injuries, police learned about two more abuse complaints.

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The director of the Child Advocacy Center at Isaiah's Place in Troy reported Aug. 15 that a child abuse allegation was reported to Miami County involving Early Beginnings. In that case, the parents of an infant girl took their child June 28 to a local ER for a cold. During the exam, the child was found to have bruising on her left cheek, a yellowish bruise in the middle of her back and a bruise on her elbow. The mother reported she thought the injuries were from her daughter sleeping on a pacifier, which investigators said did not appear to be consistent with the injuries, according to the Huber Heights police report.

A fourth abuse allegation, which came to light in October, is the only one that led to a criminal charge against a former employee who worked in the infant room at the time of the injuries.

Jessica Nicole Matthews, 47, of Huber Heights was charged with misdemeanor endangering children in Montgomery County Municipal Court  Eastern Division. She pleaded not guilty during her Feb. 4 arraignment. She is scheduled to appear Thursday for a pretrial hearing, but her attorney filed a motion for a continuance.

Matthews' attorney did not return a request for comment.

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Mandated reporters

In Ohio, day care employees are mandated reporters, meaning they are legally required to report suspected child abuse or endangerment. No one has been charged with failing to report in connection to the investigation at Early Beginnings.

An Ohio Department of Children and Youth investigator said there was no notification to the state or children services about the July 30 incident.

Early Beginnings neither informed the parents of any incidents involving their daughter nor provided any written incident or injury reports, according to the lawsuit filed on behalf of the Tipp City family.

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"As a survivor of abusive head trauma, (the child) is more likely to develop neurodevelopmental disabilities throughout childhood as a direct consequence of her brain injuries," the suit read.

The child and her parents "suffered extensive economic and noneconomic damages, including medical bills, lost wages, ongoing rehabilitation and therapy expenses, extreme emotional distress, and other losses in amounts to be determined at trial," the suit states.

Although both lawsuits were filed in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, the first case was assigned to Judge Mary Montgomery and the latest was assigned to Judge Susan Solle.
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The 3,200-year-old tomb of a man who may have been a military commander in ancient Egypt. . | Credit: Courtesy of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the 3,200-year-old tomb of a possible military commander who may have served during the reign of Ramesses III.

Inside the man's tomb, archaeologists found a gold ring containing the name of Ramesses III, along with bronze arrowheads.

The tomb was discovered at the site of Tell el-Maschuta (also spelled Tell el-Maskhuta) in northeastern Egypt, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities reported in a translated statement . It was built with mud bricks and contains a burial chamber and three adjoining chambers, the statement said.

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In addition to the ring and arrowheads, archaeologists found a small ivory box and inscribed pottery vessels. Some of the inscriptions contain the name of Horemheb (also spelled Haremhab), a pharaoh who reigned from about 1323 to 1295 B.C. and was a military leader before becoming pharaoh. It's not clear why the inscriptions mention Horemheb, but one possibility is that pottery from an older burial was reused in this burial. The statement didn't note exactly what the inscriptions say, but the finds in the tomb convinced archaeologists that it was built for a military commander who served Ramesses III.

Ramesses III's reign (circa 1184 to 1153 B.C.) during the 20th dynasty was tumultuous at times. He fought off an invasion launched by a group known as the "Sea People." He also built an elaborate mortuary temple at Medinet Habu, near Luxor (ancient Thebes), that still stands today. Ultimately, he was assassinated by multiple individuals who used a variety of weapons.

Related: Thutmose II tomb discovery raises new mysteries: Where is his mummy, and why wasn't he buried in the Valley of the Kings?

Bronze arrowheads that were found in the Egyptian tomb of a possible military commander. | Credit: Courtesy of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

However, outside experts' reactions to the interpretations of the new tomb were mixed.

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Anthony Spalinger , a professor emeritus of classics and ancient history at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, told Live Science that more information on the inscriptions is needed.

David Warburton , an Egyptologist at Northeast Normal University in China, also said more information is needed and it's not yet certain that this is a military commander. The inscriptions are important, since they may say which titles this individual held. "I have seen no titles, so I cannot judge," he wrote in an email.

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3,200-year-old ancient Egyptian barracks contains sword inscribed with 'Ramesses II'

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Ancient Egyptian soldiers and Greek mercenaries were at 'Armageddon' when biblical king was killed, study suggests

3,500-year-old 'rest house' used by ancient Egyptian army discovered in Sinai desert

Aidan Dodson , an Egyptology professor at the University of Bristol in the U.K, suspects this tomb may have originally been built during the reign of Horemheb and then reused on multiple occasions.

"It looks like the tomb was originally occupied under Horemheb, reused under Ramesses III, and again during the Twenty-second Dynasty" based on the artifacts found inside, Dodson told Live Science in an email.

Mummy quiz: Can you unwrap these ancient Egyptian mysteries?
EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI)  Three juveniles were taken into custody after an unspecified incident at Riverside Middle School on Friday, according to police.

Police said students were ordered to stay in their classrooms until the suspects were escorted out of the building. The suspects have each been charged with simple assault and battery and conspiracy.

No weapons were found and the incident remains under investigation, according to police.

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Atlanta police say three people were arrested on Saturday morning after they responded to a possible kidnapping.

Officers were called to a home Greenwich Street near Holderness Street in southwest Atlanta.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

When they arrived, they found who they say was the alleged victim alert, conscious and breathing. Police did not comment on if that person had been abducted.

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A SWAT team responded to the home with officers out of an abundance of caution.

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Three people were arrested without incident, but police did not release their identities or comment on their charges.

There is no word on the condition of the victim.

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EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  Three people were killed and 15 others were injured in a shooting late Friday night, March 21 at Young Park in Las Cruces, Las Cruces Police said.

A 19-year-old man, an 18-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were killed.

Las Cruces Police: Multiple gunshot victims at park

Names of the deceased and those who were injured will not be released at this time, Las Cruces Police said.

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The injured range in age from 16 years to 36 years, Las Cruces Police said.

At this time, police have not made any arrests for this incident but are actively following multiple leads.

Police Chief Jeremy Story said that there was an unsanctioned car show before the shooting. There was a confrontation between two groups of people which escalated and gunfire was exchanged, he said.

There is a photo of person holding an AR-15 rifle that is circulating on social media. That person has been interviewed and is not believed to be involved, Story added.

Multiple gun casings found at the scene belonged to handguns and not a rifle, Story said.

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Investigators are asking for video of any part of Fridays shooting to be uploaded to a secure site: https://bit.ly/4iO5s4U

Anyone with additional information is asked to call police at (575) 526-0795.

Las Cruces Police are receiving assistance on this investigation from the FBI, ATF, New Mexico State Police and the Dona Ana County Sheriffs Office.

Police will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Saturday in Council Chambers at Las Cruces City Hall, 700 N. Main St. The news conference is for working news media only. The news conference will be livestreamed on the City of Las Cruces YouTube channel.

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Young Park and all roadways leading to the park are temporarily closed while investigators conduct their work.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
Three people were killed and 15 others were injured in a shooting at an "an unsanctioned car show" in a park in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Friday night, police said.

The Las Cruces Police Department said the violence involving multiple firearms happened around 10 p.m. at Young Park, over 200 miles south of Albuquerque.

A preliminary investigation revealed that an altercation between two groups at the car show escalated into gunfire, injuring many, including bystanders who may have been struck by crossfire, Police Chief Jeremy Story said, noting there were around 200 people at the park at the time of the shooting.

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"That altercation escalated to gunfire between both groups," he said at a news conference, later adding: "We know that there was some type of ill will between these groups prior to last night."

Two victims were killed at the scene and a third was pronounced dead at the hospital, Las Cruces Fire Chief Mark Daniels said. The three victims are a 16-year-old boy, an 18-year-old man, and a 19-year-old man, police said in an update Saturday afternoon. The department previously stated the deceased included two 19-year-olds.

Fifteen others were injured in the shooting, including seven victims who were treated on the scene and seven who were taken to area hospitals and then to nearby El Paso, Texas, for further treatment, according to Daniels. Those injured ranged in age from 16 to 36, police said.

In an interview with NBC News on Saturday, Story described the most critically injured patients as "fighting for their lives."

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It is not clear what started the altercation between the two groups, Story said. The chief said it was a wild night before gunfire broke out in the parking lot area of the park on Friday.

"There was already craziness going on before the shooting, with people sticking guns out the window and driving and doing doughnuts," he said.

"This is a huge crime scene with a lot of moving parts. It will take time to process it thoroughly and reopen everything," he said.

Multiple shots fired from the incident could be heard in a video shared to social media. The majority of the shooting took place in the parking lot at the park, but bullet casings were also found down the street, according to officials. Around 50 to 60 bullet casings were found in total, they said.

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No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting as of Saturday afternoon, but Story said that multiple persons of interest have been detained, and investigators asked for a judge's permission to search multiple locations in the Las Cruces area.

A vehicle with gunfire damage that may have been involved in the incident was located, he said, and multiple guns were found at the scene and elsewhere, he said.

"I'm confident that hopefully we'll be able to put out a release that at least there's been some arrests made," Story said. "But we're not quite there."

"It appears that both sides are shooting with handguns," the chief said. "We have recovered some handguns that were discarded in different places. We've recovered some handguns on scene. And so we don't have all of them, but we do have some of them."

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Story said a person who was holding an AR-15 rifle in pictures circulating on social media has been interviewed, and while he said the images were concerning, that individual was not involved in the shooting.

Young Park has been "troubled with crime" in recent years, Story said. Unsanctioned car shows have also "become an issue" in the area.

The chief said at the news conference that Friday's outcome might also have been different if he had had more officers available and that the shooting was an example of "the utter lack of fear of accountability in New Mexico."

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said the shooting left her "heartbroken and horrified." In a statement on Saturday, she said state resources will bolster the investigation.

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Lujan Grisham said the state Legislature has failed to act amid "the disturbing rise in violent crime in Las Cruces," a city of nearly 115,000 about 45 miles north of El Paso. She urged New Mexicans to pressure legislators to call a special session in what she called a "public safety crisis."

"The indiscriminate nature of this shooting is both shocking and unacceptable, but sadly not surprising," Lujan Grisham said.

Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez called the shooting "a heinous act of violence" that will leave the city in mourning.

"As with all acts of gun violence in our city and beyond, my heart is broken for the victims and families impacted," Enriquez wrote in an Instagram post.

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Young Park and roadways leading to it are temporarily closed as the investigation is in process, police said.

The Las Cruces Police Department is asking anyone with information or footage of the incident to get in touch with them.

The FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the New Mexico State Police and the Dona Ana County Sheriffs Office are assisting with the investigation.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
By Shariq Khan

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices settled higher on Friday and recorded a second consecutive weekly gain as fresh U.S. sanctions on Iran and the latest output plan from the OPEC+ producer group raised expectations of tighter supply.

Brent crude futures rose 16 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $72.16 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 21 cents, or 0.3%, to $68.28.

On a weekly basis, Brent rose 2.1% and WTI about 1.6%, their biggest gains since the first week of the year.

On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury announced new Iran-related sanctions, which for the first time targeted an independent Chinese refiner among other entities and vessels involved in supplying Iranian crude oil to China.

That probably sent a message to the market that Chinese companies, the largest buyers of Iranian oil, are not immune to sanctions pressure from the U.S., said Scott Shelton, energy analyst at TP ICAP.

It was Washington's fourth round of sanctions against Tehran since President Donald Trump in February promised "maximum pressure" and pledged to drive Iran's oil exports down to zero.

The tightening U.S. sanctions regime will probably keep some market participants involved in shipping Iranian crude more cautious going forward, UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.

Analysts at ANZ Bank said they expect a 1 million barrels per day (bpd) reduction in Iranian crude oil exports because of tighter sanctions. Vessel tracking service Kpler estimated Iranian crude oil exports above 1.8 million bpd in February.

Oil prices were also supported by the new OPEC+ plan for seven members to cut output further to compensate for producing more than agreed levels. The plan would represent monthly cuts of between 189,000 bpd and 435,000 bpd until June 2026.

The plan likely caps the upside in OPEC+ production over the coming months, UBS's Staunovo said.

OPEC+ this month confirmed that eight of its members would proceed with a monthly increase of 138,000 bpd from April, reversing some of the 5.85 million bpd of output cuts agreed in a series of steps since 2022 to support the market.

Oil market participants will want more proof of Iraq, Kazakhstan and Russia complying with cuts announced on Thursday to gain more support from the plan, StoneX oil analyst Alex Hodes said.

Kazakhstan's oil output has reached a record high in March on the back of oilfield expansion, further exceeding OPEC+ production quotas, two industry sources told Reuters.

(Reporting by Shariq Khan in New York and Enes Tunagur in LondonEditing by David Goodman, Susan Fenton and David Gregorio)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russia launched a drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing three people and wounded 14, Ukrainian officials said Saturday, despite agreeing to a limited ceasefire.

Zaporizhzhia was hit by 12 drones, police said. Regional head Ivan Fedorov said that residential buildings, cars and communal buildings were set on fire in the Friday night attack. Photos showed emergency services scouring the rubble for survivors.

Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with the countries leaders, though it remains to be seen what possible targets would be off-limits to attack.

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The three sides appeared to hold starkly different views about what the deal covered. While the White House said energy and infrastructure would be part of the agreement, the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to energy infrastructure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would also like railways and ports to be protected.

The dead in Zaporizhzhia were three members of one family. The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled out from under the rubble while doctors unsuccessfully fought for the mothers life for more than 10 hours, Fedorov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired a total of 179 drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks overnight into Saturday. It said 100 were intercepted and a further 63 lost, likely having been electronically jammed.

Officials in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions also reported fires breaking out due to the falling debris from intercepted drones.

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Russias Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, said its air defense systems shot down 47 Ukrainian drones.

Local authorities said two people were injured and there was damage to six apartments when a Ukrainian drone hit a high-rise apartment block in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Friday night.

Zelenskyy told reporters after Wednesdays call with Trump that Ukraine and U.S. negotiators will discuss technical details related to the partial ceasefire during a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday. Russian negotiators are also set to hold separate talks with U.S. officials there.

Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine is open to a full, 30-day ceasefire that Trump has proposed, saying: We will not be against any format, any steps toward unconditional ceasefire.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a complete ceasefire conditional on a halt of arms supplies to Kyiv and a suspension of Ukraines military mobilization  demands rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies.

Kremlin spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Saturday that Ukraine was continuing with treacherous attacks on energy infrastructure facilities, and that Russia reserved the right to a symmetrical response.

Her comments came after Russia accused Ukrainian forces Friday of blowing up a gas metering station near the town of Sudzha in Russias Kursk region. Ukraines military General Staff rejected Moscows accusations and blamed the Russian military for shelling the station as part of Russias discrediting campaign.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
PANOLA CO., Miss.  Panola County investigators need the publics help to find whoever shot and killed three family dogs within a few days of each other.

Two of the three dogs that were killed were found on a road in a quiet neighborhood called Ranchette Acres in Panola County.

Austin Gant lives close to where a neighbor found her two dogs, June and Scarlett, dead from gunshot wounds.

They were two German Short-Haired Pointers, just family dogs. I think they had them maybe ten years, so family companions you know, Gant said. She was getting up one morning to go walking, and she walked up on both dogs laying side by side just a short piece from the driveway there.

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TN man charged with multiple sex crimes involving child, animals

Investigators believe the dogs were killed around March 13. Gant, who owns several dogs, says people in Ranchette Acres are shocked and calls this a very dog-friendly community.

Its a major concern. We raise these dogs, care a lot about them, take care of them, and its just unacceptable. So we got to get to the bottom of it, Gant said.

The Panola County Sheriffs Office is looking to connect the Ranchette Acres shootings to the death of a Pointer mix that was hot and killed on March 17 in neighboring Yalobusha County.

Sergeant Zack Adams says the distance between the two crime scenes is a 25-minute drive, and it appears the same weapon was used in all three deaths.

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You have individuals that like to ride at night time and shoot out of their vehicles at deer and any other critters or animals that are out and about, Adams said.

If you can help investigators find whos responsible, youre urged to call Sergeant Zack Adams at 662-209-0244 or Panola County Crime Stoppers at 662-209-2011.

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POLK COUNTY, N.C. (WSPA)  Multiple wildfires that broke out in Polk County this week have exploded in size.

The Silver Creek Baptist Church is acting as one of the temporary command centers for first responders who are working day and night to control the fires. Officials said they are rotating operations on 12 hour shifts.

I was petrified. I was shaking all night not knowing what was happening, said Lura Teeter.

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Code Red air quality alert announced for Polk Co.

Teeter and her husband, Lee, said they considered themselves few of the lucky ones after their rental property was spared by the Fish Hook fire. As of Friday afternoon, officials said the fire burned across nearly 200 acres in Polk County.

Oh my gosh, so, they were inside, said Teeter as she and her husband greeted their two renters Friday afternoon.

Marc Montemerlo and Amanda Skutches said they flew in from Los Angeles after renting the cabin for the weekend. They thought they were escaping the cleanup from the California wildfires only to be faced with another round of evacuations.

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The wind was so crazy, said Montemerlo.

The Fish Hook fire was the most recent fire to ignite. Officials said it was caused by a downed power line.

We feel very blessed and very relieved that our house is still intact and survived the fire because our neighbor, you know, completely lost their house, said Lura Teeter.

While the Teeters house was still standing, crews went door-to-door to check on residents and other homes. Meanwhile, additional crews fought two other fires in the county.

On Friday morning, the North Carolina Forest Service said the Black Cove and Deep Woods fires stretched across nearly a thousand acres combined. Both of the fires have since grown in size.

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Were working the fire with helicopters. You can see and hear them, said Jeremy Waldrop with the North Carolina Forest Service. Most of the time were having to go outside and big box it. The terrain is a big issue. Its steep. Its really rocky.

Its not just the high winds, the low humidity, the steep terrain, but theyre also dealing with storm debris thats blocking UTV trails, regular roads, and them just getting in on foot because we have so many trees down, said Kellie Cannon, a spokesperson for Polk County.

Polk County residents faced their second round of evacuations in less than a month due to wildfires and it came nearly six months after Hurricane Helene devastated the area.

They just endured Hurricane Helene and are still dealing with property damage from that; some even worse, some lost complete structures, said Cannon. The Polk County residents are extremely resilient. They went through the last fire and now were going through this one. Weve had an excellent response.

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As crews continued their work, Cannon said she believed the community will rebuild, yet again.

Evacuation orders remained in effect Friday for the areas in the fire zone. A burn ban was also enforced across North Carolina.

Crews will continue working in 12-hour shifts until the fires are under control and its safe for residents to return, according to the North Carolina Forest Service.

Polk County Fires

(Friday, March 21 -10:00 p.m. update)

Fish Hook Fire

More than 150 acres burned

50% containment

At least three houses were deemed as total losses and one structure was damaged, according to a Polk County spokesperson.

Fire investigators said the Fish Hook fire was caused by a downed power line.

Black Cove Fire

More than 1,000 acres impacted

0% containment

As of Friday morning, responding fire crews said no structures were lost.

This fire was also caused by a downed power line, according to officials.

As of Friday morning, a voluntary evacuation was in place for residents near Scarletts Mountain Road.

Deep Woods Fire

More than 1,100 acres are impacted

0% containment

The North Carolina Forest Service said at least one house was destroyed, one outbuilding was a complete loss, and two structures were damaged.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Residents in the following areas are under a mandatory evacuation order: Deep Woods Lane Wesley Lane Piney Overlook Lane Piney Gate Road Gamelands Trail Oakview Lane Volley Way Charity Branch Drive Windsong Lane Moonshine Trace



Where to go if you are evacuated

Polk County Shelter  75 Carmel Lane, Columbus, North Carolina

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The Red Cross has opened an emergency shelter for residents that were evacuated from the fire danger zones in Polk County. For those who plan to seek refuge, youre asked to bring your emergency kit, any medical supplies you may need, and other items to keep you comfortable until it is safe to return home, according to Polk County leaders.

Officials urged residents to heed to their evacuation orders.

Its important for their own safety and for our firefighters safety, said Cannon. If the fires get too bad, we will have to pull our first responders back. That includes law enforcement, EMS and firefighters.

Animal Evacuation Assistance

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Polk County Animal Control said its prepped and ready to receive any animals that are in need of boarding during the evacuations. Officials said there is a space for livestock.

If you are in need of assistance, contact Polk County Animal Control at (828) 817-7984.

Can I donate?

Yes. Polk County leaders said theyre accepting donations for victims of the fires and for crews who are actively responding. If you wish to help, officials said you can drop them off at two locations.

Friendship Baptist Church  279 Friendship Church Road, Saluda

Foothills Community Church  2720 Landrum Road, Columbus

Crews have asked people to stay out of the evacuated areas. Polk County leaders said they will notify homeowners when it is safe to return to the area. There is a strict no-flying zone over the fire affected areas until further notice.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSPA 7NEWS.
STEPHENS COUNTY, Ga. (WSPA)  Stephens County deputies arrested five people on Tuesday in connection to an illegal drug trafficking operation.

According to officials, agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) started the investigation in January.

Deputies said large amounts of illegal contraband was being transported from metro Atlanta into Stephens County.

After multiple searches throughout the county, deputies arrested 46-year-old Jimmy Dale Turpin.

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Turpin, the sheriffs office said, was found to have 282.2 grams of methamphetamine, a gun and $1,893. He was charged with trafficking illegal drugs, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and a parole violation.

Officials also arrested Jonathan Purcell, 39, for a felony warrant in Gwinnett County. Westley Woody, 43, was arrested for a felony probation warrant in Stephens County.

Two other people, Robert Bobby Thompson, 47, and Candice P. Martin, 33, were arrested after 78 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 23 grams of marijuana, 10 grams of suspected psilocybin mushrooms, multiple prescription medications and $4,393 were found in their possession.

Thompson and Martin were arrested and charged with trafficking illegal drugs, possession of a schedule II controlled substance with intent to distribute, possession of a schedule IV controlled substance with intent to distribute

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Officials also charged Thompson with a felony probation violation and Martin with felony parole violation.

The Stephens County Sheriffs Office and agents with GBI are still investigating at this time. Anyone with information is asked to call deputies at (706) 886-7048 and GBI agents at (706) 348-7410.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSPA 7NEWS.
At least 6 people were killed and 36 others injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day, regional officials reported on March 22.

Ukraines Air Force intercepted 100 of 179 Russian drones launched overnight, including Shahed-type attack drones. Another 63 drones reportedly disappeared from radars before reaching their targets, likely acting as decoys to overwhelm Ukraines air defenses.

Ukrainian aviation, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare systems and mobile fire groups repelled the attack.

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In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a family of three were killed in the Shakhed drone attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia overnight, including a 17-year-old girl and her parents, Governor Ivan Fedorov reported. Fourteen more people were wounded.

Earlier reports cited the age of the girl killed in Zaporizhzhia as a fourteen.

"Russia has once again killed a 14-year-old child in Zaporizhzhia with a Shakhed. Russia must stop all strikes," wrote the head of the President's Office, Andriy Yermak, on March 22.

Two people were killed in Kostiantynivka and Fedorivka in Donetsk Oblast due to Russian shelling, Governor Vadym Filashkin said. Nine more people were wounded. In total, Russian forces shelled the settlements 22 times on March 21.

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In Kherson Oblast, one person was killed and fourteen were injured as Russian forces shelled residential areas, and social facilities, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, a 14-year-old boy was wounded in a drone attack near Mezhova, Governor Serhii Lysak reported. Russia also attacked Marhanets with Grad multiple rocket launchers, heavy artillery and drones, damaging local entreprises and residential houses.

Russia also shelled Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Kyiv oblasts over the past day, according to local authorities.

Read also: Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia kills 3, injures 12

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL)  Students of East Tennessee State Universitys Quillen College of Medicine received the exciting news of where they will spend their residencies on Friday.

The Quillen class of 2025 received their match letters on Friday during Match Day ceremonies at the D.P. Culp Student Center.

Today, our students find out where they will spend their postgraduate training in their residencies, Vice President for Clinical Affairs and Dean of the Quillen College of Medicine Bill Block said. Its a very exciting day for them and one that commits them to the next three to six years of medical training while they learn their specialties.

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The 75-member class will be spread out over 24 states for residencies. Of those 75 students, 25 will stay in Tennessee, and 13 will complete residencies with ETSU Health, according to the university.

Nearly half of the class (48%) will complete residencies in Tennessee, Virginia or North Carolina.

Block said some of the class will finish their residencies at high-profile locations.

They got some great placements across the country, Block said. Places like Dartmouth, Emory, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest. Some of them are staying here with us at ETSU, so were excited about that. Were excited about the numbers that stay within Tennessee, and that stay in the local region.

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The students will spend the next several years training in various medical fields, after which they can take their skills and begin practicing medicine locally or elsewhere.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather.
Germany is so over electric car maker Tesla, according to a recent poll, and the company can thank CEO Elon Musk for the cold shoulder.

A new T-Online poll found that of 100,000 Germans, 94 percent said they would not buy a Tesla. Only 3 percent said they'd still consider the purchase.

Earlier this month Forbes reported that German Tesla sales in February dropped by 76 percent. It's not just a coincidence or a fluke of the EV industry  electric vehicle registrations in Germany increased by 32 percent during the same time period that Tesla sales dropped.

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While not all of Tesla's woes can be placed in Musk's lap  EV competition has been increasing for years  Musk's political antics certainly havent seemed to help his company.

Musk has voiced support for the far-right AfD political party in Germany, even hosting a call with supporters and telling them to "move beyond" their "past guilt." During the call, he told AfD backers that "children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great-grandparents" in an apparent reference to the nation's Nazi past.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk speaks live via a video transmission during the election campaign launch rally of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party as AfD supporters wave German flags in Halle, Germany in January (Getty)

It did not help that his call to move past the Nazis came just two days before Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Tesla CEO also didn't win many fans in Germany after throwing a salute during Donald Trumps inauguration ceremony that many described as a "Nazi" salute. His defenders  including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  waved off the criticism, with some saying Musk's gesture was simply a "Roman" salute.

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Musk himself responded to the controversy by sharing a bunch of Nazi puns.

Tesla has faced backlash in the U.S. as well. Protests at Tesla showrooms have cropped up in response to Musk's work as the head of the "Department of Government Efficiency," which has spent most of its short existence gutting the federal workforce and accessing US citizens' private information.

Some have taken their fury further, with incidents of vandalism of Tesla vehicles and at Tesla showroom locations.

A member of the Seattle Fire Department inspects a burned Tesla Cybertruck at a Tesla lot in Seattle earlier this month (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

During an all-hands employee livestream on Thursday, Musk tried to reassure his employees and told them not to sell their stock in the company.

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If you read the news it feels like, you know, Armageddon, Musk said according to a CNBC report. Its like, I cant walk past the TV without seeing a Tesla on fire. Like whats going on? Some people, its like, listen, I understand if you dont wanna buy our product, but you dont have to burn it down. Thats a bit unreasonable.

He urged his detractors to "stop being psycho."

In the meantime, Trump and his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, said anyone convicted of vandalizing a Tesla or Tesla property would be treated as a domestic terrorist and even threatened on Truth Social to ship them off to the president's preferred migrant gulag in El Salvador.
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)  Advocates gathered outside Michigans Capitol today to rally against the proposed SAVE Act.

According to the Michigan Department of State, the SAVE Act would require voters to register in person with either their birth certificate, a U.S. passport, or a naturalization certificate.

The event, Uncle Same Wants YOU to Stop the SAVE Act, was founded and hosted by Cara Erskine, with co-host Larry Jackson, Ottawa County Democratic Chair. Great Lakes Democracy Alliance Indivisible organized the event.

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Michigan`s Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and others spoke at the event.

My birth certificate has a different name than is on my drivers license and my passport so I am very concerned about this as well, said activist Karen Dunnam. If we get turned away at the ballot box. Then we are disenfranchised and our ancestors fought long and hard to get the vote, added Dunnam.

Erskine agreed with Dunnman and said the Act would affect married women as well, Their birth certificate name, last name, has to match the ID on their passport. Those last names have to match, and that doesnt happen because of marriage.

Alexander Hawkins, a Democratic Congressional Candidate for Michigans 10th District, says the Act could impact veterans and their families, So the way the military system works, before they deploy, the service members or their families, all of their information is input into a DOD-wide system that allows them to track your birth certificate, all of those things, as well as your family members. People with children over the age of 18, they may not bring those documents with them on a three-year tour to Germany. They may leave them at home. They may leave them somewhere else with a family member and they might not have those, and they wont have access to actually be able to register to vote.

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This bill is not about election security. Its a trick, said Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on the Michigan Department of State website.

The SAVE Act masquerades as a reasonable election security bill, but the president, the bills sponsors and opponents of democracy everywhere know its true purpose  to end American elections as we know them, said Secretary Benson in a video posted to the Michigan Department of State website.

Michigan officials weigh in on SAVE Act

The SAVE Act would also establish criminal penalties for registering someone who does not have the right documents to vote.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, as of January 2025, eight states require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

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GHENT, WV (WVNS)  West Virginia is known for its natural beauty.

Tourists come from all over to visit our stunning state so its to everyones benefit that we keep its roadways clean.

Thats where the Adopt-A-Highway Program comes in.

Milestone of 2,000 robotic joint replacement surgeries announced by WVU Princeton Community Hospital

The Adopt-A-Highway Program is sponsored by the West Virginia Division of Highways and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

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The program is geared towards cleaning state-maintained roadways in order to prevent damage to the environment and wildlife of the state, as well as to continue to promote the image of West Virginias natural beauty to tourists.

Terry Fletcher, Chief Communications Officer for the DEP, said it also allows West Virginians to take pride in their state.

This is an opportunity for communities to come together and to make a visible difference across the state. Obviously, you know, the state doesnt always have the manpower to clean up every section of road every so often. So, we really try to rely on volunteers to help clean up their communities and just make an impact, said Fletcher.

Anyone over the age of twelve can register to clean up a two mile stretch of roadway.

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The adoption period lasts for two years and three clean ups per year are required.

Fletcher said the program has continuously done very well over the years.

Last year we had over two thousand volunteers from more than 240 groups come out and they collected seventy-five thousand pounds of litter from over 500 miles of West Virginia roadways. So, thats just a huge impact and its just made possible by every day West Virginians, said Fletcher.

The DEP provides cleaning supplies to the volunteers and after the litter is bagged the DOH comes through and picks up the bags.

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve saw record visitation in 2024

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If you have questions about or would like to register for the Adopt-A-Highway Program, please visit the Department of Enivronmental Protections website.

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Six months ago Liya Hamrah was born in Pakistan. Her parents, Ahmad Hamrah and Tahmina Zalmai, had migrated to Pakistan from Afghanistan two years earlier. Tahmina worked as a security guard with the U.S. Army before it withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, and Ahmad worked as a reporter for Khurshid TV.

Once the Americans withdrew from Afghanistan, the couple was unable to immediately leave the country. They received death threats from the Taliban for their support of the U.S. and spent a year in hiding before securing permission to leave Afghanistan for Pakistan.

Their troubles didnt end when they got to Pakistan, however. Ahmad said it was difficult to find work there that paid enough to support him and his wife as well as their other family still in Afghanistan. So Ahmad and Tahmina applied for asylum in the U.S. Their daughter, Liya, was born while they waited for a response, and two weeks after her birth the applications for parole by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services were approved.

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Ahmad and Tahmina were told it was their only chance to get to the U.S. but that they werent allowed to bring their daughter with them since she hadnt yet been born when the paperwork was filed and was not included in the application.

I told my wife that we dont have any choice, Ahmad said.

Ahmad Hamrah and Tahmina Zalmai hold hands March 19 at their residence in Lynden, Wash. The couple fled Afghanistan and sought asylum in the United States. They are now working to bring their infant daughter over as well.

They couldnt return to Afghanistan, and Ahmad was convinced there was no future for (them) if they remained in Pakistan.

He said he was told by a person interviewing them at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan that once he and his wife arrived in the U.S., they could fill out an application for Liya to be allowed to come as well, and the request should be approved in a month or two.

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Four months later, Liyas application is still under review. Her parents worry that theyre running out of time.

If Liya isnt allowed to come to the U.S., she could be removed from the care of relatives in Pakistan and deported to Afghanistan. If Ahmad and Tahmina return, they face violence from the Taliban  and lose their chance at having a better life for their family in America.

Arrival in Whatcom County

The couple arrived in Washington without any family or resettlement resources.

The Lynden-based organization Racial Unity Now is helping to advocate for Liyas approval to come to the U.S.

Executive Director Jeremy Dorrough said the couple happened to meet someone else from Afghanistan at the airport. They explained their situation to the man, Dorrough said, and he offered to let them stay with his family in Ferndale.

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While they were in Whatcom County, Tahmina needed to see a doctor about a post-partum infection. A person with Racial Unity Now took her to a doctor, and the family has been working with the organization ever since. The couple currently resides in Lynden.

Racial Unity Now focuses on addressing and educating people about systemic racism and discrimination in the community. Dorrough said now, more than ever, such attitudes are being directed toward immigrants.

Dorrough and Racial Unity Now volunteers have been working to advocate on behalf of Liya, contacting representatives and senators in Washington, D.C., and asking them to expedite her case. The last update provided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services states that the agency received the requested evidence for Liyas case on Feb. 4.

A spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Patty Murray confirmed her office has been in contact with Liyas family but could not provide additional information due to privacy concerns. U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen is also aware of outreach from community members, according to a spokesperson, and shares their concern.

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On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell informed Ahmad that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services told her it pulled Liyas case to expedite it after she inquired about it. She said the application was tentatively approved, and while she did not have a timeline for the next steps, is hopeful it will be very soon. 

Through every way we tried, nothing is working, Ahmad said.

According to reporting from Reuters and the New York Times, President Donald Trump may soon be passing a new travel ban that could prevent people from Afghanistan and Pakistan from entering the U.S. Dorrough said this and other anti-immigration policies from the White House have been escalating that sense of urgency for Liyas case.

Advocates and the family are asking community members to contact their representatives in Congress and ask them to help with Liyas case. Racial Unity Now has posted a sample script for people to use when communicating with senators and representatives.

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Its like (Liyas) just another statistic, Dorrough said.

Ahmad could not put into words what it would mean to be reunited with Liya.

If she was able to come to the U.S., he said, thats everything for us.

Editors note: The video that accompanies this article is a Scripps News report from Jan. 22, 2025.
By Jaspreet Singh and Akash Sriram

(Reuters) -Perplexity AI is in talks to raise funds at an $18 billion valuation, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday, as the Nvidia-backed startup looks to grow and capture soaring demand for its search tools.

The jump in valuation doubles the previous $9 billion figure, reported by Reuters in November.

Perplexity is an AI startup that provides information by searching the internet, just like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, and is backed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Japan's SoftBank Group.

The company has discussed raising between $500 million and $1 billion in the round, the source added.

The growing adoption of chatbots and rise of AI agents, which can take actions for users, have increased investor enthusiasm in such startups.

The AI startup has been upgrading features on its platform to better compete with Google's Gemini and Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Last month, the company teased a new web browser, Comet, which can use AI to not only retrieve information but also understand complex queries, execute tasks and make decisions.

Its Deep Research feature can undertake extensive research by conducting dozens of searches and reading hundreds of sources to deliver a comprehensive report.

Bloomberg News was first to report the increased valuation.

Perplexity is among the leading firms attempting to challenge incumbents in the search engine market such as Alphabet's Google.

Perplexity has faced accusations from media organizations, such as News Corp-owned outlets, Forbes and Wired, that the startup engages in plagiarism and copying of its content. The company has a publisher partnership program to work with news firms.

OpenAI closed a $6.6 billion funding round in October, which could value the company at $157 billion and cement its position as one of the most valuable private companies in the world.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram, Jaspreet Singh and Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
A new school year has begun in Afghanistan with more than 2.2 million girls excluded from secondary education, a top UNICEF official said on Saturday.

Since the Taliban returned to power some four years ago, girls have been banned from attending secondary school.

"The consequences for these girls - and for Afghanistan - are catastrophic," said UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell.

Russell warned that the ban leaves girls in Afghanistan at a higher risk of child marriage.

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She also highlighted the impact on the country's health system and economy.

"With fewer female doctors and midwives, girls and women will not receive the medical treatment and support they need," said Russell. "We are estimating an additional 1,600 maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths."

The Taliban regime initially said it was only suspending secondary education for girls until unspecified conditions were met, but no progress has been made on returning female pupils to classrooms.

The regime's deputy foreign minister, Mohammad Abbas Staniksai, criticized the ban as un-Islamic earlier this year, with reports suggesting he later fled the country.

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In the western city of Herat, 14-year-old Parwana told dpa that she wanted to become a doctor, but has not been able to attend school for two years.

"I am very sad that I cannot fulfil my wish - and that of my family," said Parwana, who is instead attending a sewing course.

Some private education institutes in Afghanistan offer girls and women courses in individual subjects, mostly foreign languages.

For many female schoolgirls and students, the institutes offer one of the last remaining opportunities to learn, at least to a limited extent, but they are no substitute for formal schooling.

"If these capable, bright young girls continue to be denied an education, then the repercussions will last for generations," said Russell. "Afghanistan cannot leave half of its population behind."
A new school year has begun in Afghanistan with more than 2.2 million girls excluded from secondary education, a top UNICEF official said on Saturday.

Since the Taliban returned to power some four years ago, girls have been banned from attending secondary school.

"The consequences for these girls - and for Afghanistan - are catastrophic," said UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell.

Russell warned that the ban leaves girls in Afghanistan at a higher risk of child marriage.

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She also highlighted the impact on the country's health system and economy.

"With fewer female doctors and midwives, girls and women will not receive the medical treatment and support they need," said Russell. "We are estimating an additional 1,600 maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths."

The Taliban regime initially said it was only suspending secondary education for girls until unspecified conditions were met, but no progress has been made on returning female pupils to classrooms.

The regime's deputy foreign minister, Mohammad Abbas Staniksai, criticized the ban as un-Islamic earlier this year, with reports suggesting he later fled the country.

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Some private education institutes in Afghanistan offer girls and women courses in individual subjects, mostly foreign languages.

For many female schoolgirls and students, the institutes offer one of the last remaining opportunities to learn, at least to a limited extent, but they are no substitute for formal schooling.

"If these capable, bright young girls continue to be denied an education, then the repercussions will last for generations," said Russell. "Afghanistan cannot leave half of its population behind."
New memos from the Air Force and the Navy warn troops to watch their political speech online and in person, and even mentioned Uniform Code of Military Justice violations for certain criticisms of the president or their superior officers.

"The 1st Amendment protects freedom of speech and permits the expression of ideas for all Americans," Acting Air Force Secretary Gary Ashworth wrote in a March 17 memo. "Service members, owing to their critical role in our national security and the duties and obligations of service, have accepted limits on their freedom of expression."

Military legal experts who spoke to Military.com find the mentions of potential UCMJ crimes to be somewhat unusual and even threatening to troops who likely don't have much to worry about when speaking about their personal experiences and beliefs.

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Read Next: Trump Announces 6th-Generation Fighter Jet Named F-47; Air Force Contract Awarded to Boeing

Both the Air Force and Navy memos highlight several UCMJ violations including Article 88, a rarely charged offense that outlaws "contempt against officials" such as the president, defense secretary, Congress and other officials. Both memos also warn of violations such as Article 92 on failure to obey an order or regulation; Article 133 on conduct unbecoming an officer; and Article 134 on disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline.

"I think this message is troubling and vaguely threatening. It's clearly been reviewed by an attorney, but it's not giving an objective picture on the regulations surrounding free speech," one current Air Force judge advocate general, who spoke under condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, told Military.com. "Its mention of criminal charges for disrespectful speech is also without helpful context."

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Service members accept some limits on their political speech when joining the military and are advised to avoid political campaigning or messaging while in uniform or in any official capacity representing the military. The rule is similar to the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from certain partisan activities and was designed to assure federal programs remain nonpartisan.

The Navy's March 14 admin to all sailors advises them to include disclaimers on social media clarifying their views are their own and don't represent the Department of the Navy or Department of Defense.

"While service members may generally express their personal views on public issues, uniformed service brings certain limitations to expression, including on social media," the Navy guidance states.

Both follow a Feb. 19 memo from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense that advised the service secretaries to remind troops of their apolitical and nonpartisan duties.

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"Given the intense focus on recent changes within the department, maintaining the public trust is more important than ever," said the memo from Darin Selnick, who is performing the duties of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

The Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump is undergoing a series of unprecedented changes, from the ongoing firings of thousands of civilian employees, the purging of any content and policies related to diversity -- including women and troops with minority backgrounds -- to the cutting and reprioritizing of billions of dollars in defense spending.

Dan Grazier, a senior fellow with the National Security Reform Program at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington, D.C., told Military.com that the language of the memos seemed pretty standard given the change in the White House, but said he did find the mention of Article 88 to be noteworthy.

"This really seems pretty standard, particularly around the time of a presidential administration transition," Grazier said. "This is new people and new positions, and they're just putting out the current administration's policies."

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However, Article 88 has been used only a handful of times in recent years.

In the 1960s, Lt. Henry Howe was sentenced under Article 88 for protesting the Vietnam War, calling then-President Lyndon Johnson a fascist. In 2021, former Marine Corps Lt. Col. Stu Scheller pleaded guilty to violating Article 88, among other violations, for publicly criticizing military leadership's handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.

Eric Carpenter, a former military lawyer who is now a law professor at Florida International University, told Military.com that the memo seemed standard and that mentions of the UCMJ violations were likely a way for the Navy and the acting secretary of the Air Force to show troops they're serious about their message.

"If a secretary of a service is writing a memo saying 'knock it off,' they generally put some sort of teeth in it," Carpenter said. "So, there'll be some language in there that says, 'Hey, look, I'm not kidding.'"

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Carpenter said that troops shouldn't be concerned about talking politics with family and friends or being passively involved in the political process. He added that service members shouldn't be scared of recounting their personal experiences to reporters.

"It's a reminder of boundaries," Carpenter said. "Airmen can still talk about their political feelings, or their political beliefs and what they disagree with an administration, with other people. They just can't get on stage and say it."

Related: Defense Secretary Calls for Calm Transition, Apolitical Military Ahead of Trump Transition
Benjamin Franklin might have made scientific breakthroughs, invented a stove and helped to found the United States, but did he ever usher in a golden age for the nation? In the view of Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas, thats precisely why Donald Trump  not the Founding Father  deserves to grace the $100 bill.

Gills Golden Age Act of 2025 is just one of five Trump-adulating House bills introduced in the two months since the president began his second term. Other measures would make Trumps birthday a federal holiday, rename Dulles Airport in Trumps honor, carve Trumps face on Mount Rushmore and create a new $250 bill with Trumps likeness.

The multi-front effort to memorialize a president who is still alive, let alone still living in the White House, has no precedent in congressional history. While none of the bills are expected to become law, it underscores the lengths that some House Republicans are willing to go to curry favor with Trump.

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What we've got to do is show that Congress has the president's back, that we believe in his mission, Gill said. We believe in getting America into the Golden Age, and I think that this bill that I put forward is a good way to show support for that.

Some scholars of American history, however, view these bills through a darker lens. Princeton University Professor Sean Wilentz called it an effort to transform a sitting president into a kind of deified figure  something, he said, George Washington himself feared.

This is exactly what the American Revolution was fought to prevent, said Wilentz, author of The Rise of American Democracy.

But to some lawmakers, Trump is a figure worth deifying  secularly, that is.

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He took a bullet for us, said Rep. Addison McDowell, the North Carolina freshman seeking to rename Dulles. They tried to throw him in prison. Hes somebody that doesn't quit, doesn't give up, and he's going to save the country.

McDowell added that theres a somewhat less lofty reason for the honor: Dulles, he acknowledged, does not currently provide the most pleasant traveling experience. Who better to fix something like that, he said, than Donald Trump?

Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina had a slightly more complex argument for his $250 bill proposal: as a demonstration of Wilsons appreciation of Trumps service and also to bring attention to the 250th anniversary of the United States, coming up next year.

I'm working very closely with different organizations to promote 250th anniversary events, and so it all came together, he said.

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But why put Trump on the face of the new bill  putting him in the company of Washington, Franklin and Abraham Lincoln? Wilson said he appreciated both what Trump has done to secure the border as well as his efforts to reduce taxes to create jobs.

Theres no hard-and-fast rule against honoring sitting presidents. Barack Obama, for instance, saw several schools and roads named in his honor while he was still in office, and a street in Hialeah, Florida, was renamed in Trumps honor in December. That was the work of local governments, however, not Congress.

Its not unprecedented for federal lawmakers to honor a living former president. The GOP-controlled Congress moved in 1998 to name what had long been known as Washington National Airport after Ronald Reagan. It was one of several efforts around that time to honor the 40th president  not long after he had announced an Alzheimers disease diagnosis and retreated from public life.

Former Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) led a push to put Reagan on Mount Rushmore in the late 1990s, and made sure to note in an interview that Reagan wasn't in office at the time.

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Trump obviously is, and I don't think it's really appropriate to do it while a president is still in office, he said, noting that Trump himself would have to sign the bill making the honor official.

Rutgers University historian David Greenberg said there have been huge cults of personality around presidents such as Washington, Lincoln and Reagan. But even allowing for that on its own terms, it's pretty crazy, he said of the spate of Trump-themed legislation. So far as I know, we don't or we almost never do this kind of thing for living presidents, especially sitting presidents.

Typically, there is a period of historical reflection on a presidents legacy after he leaves office, added Greenberg, author of a book on how Richard Nixon is remembered in American history.

It's one thing to say, in the fullness of time, You know what? So-and-so was a great president and should be on currency or a coin or something, he said. This just seems like its part of a political racket  designed to kind of celebrate the power [of Republicans] and sort of revel in it and send the message to Trump's critics and opponents that they are relatively powerless in this moment.

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I wasn't nuts about the cult of Reagan, but at least he won in two landslides, he added. With Trump, it just seems sort of perverse.

Trump, for what its worth, has not endorsed any of the congressional commemoration efforts, and the members involved insist he had no part in initiating them.

President Trump isn't calling members of Congress and saying, Hey, would you go out there and flatter me today by coming up with legislation? He doesn't do that, said Rep. Troy Nehls, one of Trumps most ardent supporters on Capitol Hill and a co-sponsor of Gills bill. This is just members taking initiative to show some love and respect to the greatest president in our lifetimes.

Some of the bills honoring Trump present practical difficulties. The National Park Service has said there is no suitable rock left to carve on Mount Rushmore, and putting Trumps image on money would require repealing an 1866 law prohibiting the printing of a living persons image on American currency.

Gill insisted that, just two months in, its worth changing the law to honor Trump on the hundo. He's done more in 40 days than most presidents do in four years or eight years, he said. So I think we ought to give him credit for that.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT)  Alabama State Park officials and the Von Braun Astronomical Society gathered on Thursday, March 20 to plant a Moon Tree.

The Monte Sano Moon Tree serves as an inspirational symbol of the relationship between Earth and space, Alex Hall, President of the Von Braun Astronomical Society, said. This space traveler reminds us to look to the stars and holds special meaning for many of our members who have been and continue to be involved in the exploration of space. We cant wait to see people posting selfies with the tree on social media.

The Moon Tree, located near the John Scoble Memorial Pavilion in the park, will be protected by fencing and permanent signage will be installed soon to commemorate its significance.

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In 2022, several different types of seeds traveled into orbit aboard the Orion Spacecraft as part of the Artemis I mission. The seeds spent more than 25 days in space before returning to Earth.

Download the WHNT News 19 App to stay updated on the go.

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The loblolly tree arrived in Huntsville this week and was immediately planted at Monte Sano State Park. Volunteers will check on it regularly to make sure the tree is in good shape.

Dedicating the Moon Tree at Monte Sano State Park on Thursday, March 20, 2025 were, from left, Alex Hall, president of the Von Braun Astronomical Society; Marcia Lindstrom, from NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center; Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle; Rae Ann Meyer, Deputy Director of NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center; Chad Davis, district superintendent for Alabama State Parks; and Zachary Heard, park manager at Monte Sano State Park. (Photo from Alabama State Parks)

Hall said back in the early 1970s, seeds that went around the moon on Apollo 14 were similarly planted in Huntsville.

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This tree for us is such an awesome symbol of the relationship between the Astronomical Society and the park. Were in our 70th year, Alex Hall, President of Von Braun Astronomical Society said. Weve been up here in the park for that long, educating and inspiring people. And for us, this tree is yet another touchpoint for people to really be inspired by the heavens and look at where were going.

The tree had been growing in a USDA forestry nursery and was shipped to Huntsville earlier in the week.

Officials said the Artemis moon trees are intended to be a celebration of space exploration, with this one being planted in the Rocket City as a nod to the rocket being developed at the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Visitors to the park are encouraged to use the #MonteSanoMoonTree hashtag when posting about it on social media.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHNT.com.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT)  The Alabama Public Library Service fired their executive director, Dr. Nancy Pack, at a meeting yesterday. This comes after she defended so-called inappropriate content in some childrens books.

Board chairman John Wahl, as well as others, discussed what this might mean for readers in the state.

The librarys not a library of old with just dusty books on the shelf, but we are actively a community center, said Craig Scott, director of the Gadsden Public Library and president of the Alabama Library Association. We connect people here.

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Those connections are what matter the most to Scott. Regardless of changes made at the APLS, Scott said he hopes circulation desks can get more funding from the state.

Sardis will not be as supported like a larger city, like Gadsden, he explained. So, that may be the only way that that library director can purchase books for her community. So, state money is very essential to keep libraries functioning the way we should.

APLS chairman John Wahl said the change was necessary. He said Dr. Pack didnt align with new policies of the board. One of those policies requires libraries to remove explicit content from childrens sections.

I think that kind of culminated and the board decided it was time for a new direction, said Wahl. It was time for new leadership that agreed with the vision of this board, and was willing to support local libraries in funding, and then make sure that we keep Alabama children safeguarded from anything that parents might consider inappropriate.

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But one organization, Read Freely Alabama, disagrees. They said in a statement that some groups have attacked Dr. Pack for, in part quote, Protecting Alabama families right to access information without discrimination.

The statement goes on to say, Age-appropriate sex educational materials are not obscene

With new leadership, Wahl said libraries can expect more federal funding. Theres going to be a shift within the APLS really targeting supporting our local libraries. Making it a commitment that we pass along as much funding as we can to our local libraries and dont keep it storehouse at the state level, he said.

Kelyn Ralya will now step in as the interim director.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS 42.
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  Alaska Airlines nonstop service between San Diego and Washington, D.C. officially kicked off this week.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria was on board Monday announcing a special send-off to guests prior to departing for the inaugural flight to the nations capital.

The flight from San Diego International Airport (SAN) to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) will occur daily, with year-round service.

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Major Coachella artist cancels appearance

These flights will provide more choice to guests and communities across our network, whether they are members of the United States military, tourists chasing cherry blossoms, or residents of Hawaii connecting to the East Coast, Alaska Airlines said in a press release.

Gloria added that the route strengthens the direct connection to the nations capital and helps support our regional economy with an estimated $11 million in annual visitor impact.

Alaska Airlines offers 40 nonstop destinations and more than 70 peak-day departures.

Find out more about tickets between SAN and DCA on the Alaska Airlines website.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
Mar. 22Alaska Commissioner of Education Deena Bishop was in attendance Thursday when President Donald Trump signed an order to "facilitate the closure" of the federal Department of Education.

The order is meant to shrink the number of employees in the department and transfer some of its duties to other arms of the federal government. The dissolution of the department would require an act of Congress.

Bishop declined an interview request after attending the signing event in Washington, D.C. A spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development said the order would "return control of public education back to the states."

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"With more control, Alaskans can better focus in on how education resources are spent, and on what they deem most beneficial to our students and their future," the spokesperson said in an email.

Alaska receives hundreds of millions of dollars annually to operate K-12 schools. The percentage of total school budgets coming from federal sources is among the highest in the nation when compared with other states. The funding is targeted at disadvantaged students, including those from lower-income households and those with disabilities.

[What to know about Trump's plan to abolish the Education Department]

Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said during a press availability in Juneau on Thursday that it "could be a good outcome" if "there's more federal dollars with less D.C. strings attached."

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"The Department of Education, since it's been enacted, has spent over a trillion dollars, and our secondary school education results have dramatically declined, and I'm not sure federal dictates from Washington that don't understand certain local education imperatives is the best way to approach it," he said.

"So the key question to me is, are they just dismantling everything or is the vision to dismantle and then get the money to the Alaska state Legislature and local communities, who, in my view, have a way, way better sense, especially for Alaska, on how to spend the money and how to prioritize the money because they're closer to the kids, they're closer to the teachers," Sullivan added.

In a statement on Friday, U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III celebrated Trump's efforts to close the department.

"The centralized one-size-fits-all factory model of education has proven to be a poor approach. It's time to end this experiment and restore local leadership in education," Begich wrote.

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Meanwhile, Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, also a Republican, questioned the claim  shared by Sullivan and other Republican lawmakers  that the federal Department of Education "dictates" local education decisions.

"There is a strong argument for finding efficiencies within the department and ensuring that student aid is delivered more effectively. However, the assertion that the department has 'control' over our kids' education is incorrect, as federal officials are explicitly prohibited by law from meddling in schools' curricula, state standards, student assessments and more," Murkowski said in a written statement.

"The benefits that the U.S. Department of Education provide for Alaska are almost too numerous to list," she said, pointing to its efforts to ensure Alaska Native students can access culturally relevant curricula, among others.

"The Department of Education was created by statute and it will require approval of the Congress to close it. I will continue to defend the continuation of the laws, programs, and funding that the Department administers that Alaska's educators, students, and parents rely on," she said.

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[The Education Department was created to ensure equal access. Who would do that in its absence?]

State Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, a Sitka independent who chairs the House Education Committee, said that even though education funding cannot be eliminated without congressional approval, she is concerned about the impacts of Thursday's order.

She said the loss of federal education department staff could mean the elimination of data and oversight  and the Alaska education department does not necessarily have the capacity to take up tasks currently entrusted to federal oversight.

"Everybody loves to get funding with no strings attached," she said. "Having free-flowing funding and never having to report back on how it was spent or follow guidelines on how it should be, to me, is risky if we're interested in waste, fraud and abuse."

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In remarks to the state board of education last week, Bishop said that an executive order could not  on its own  eliminate the federal funding that flows to Alaska schools, but she welcomed the elimination of some regulations attached to the funding.

Bishop said she signed on to a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon this month proposing changes to how federal education policy is handled, including by requesting "more flexibility with the federal funding." A department spokesperson did not immediately provide a copy of the letter.

"There are different categories of funding, and the request was more flexibility within the funds to share those funds," Bishop said.

The National Education Association of Alaska, a union representing most public school teachers in the state, opposes the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education, its leader said Thursday.

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"The Department of Education provides many things, including vital support for Alaska students with special needs, through the Individuals with Education Disabilities Act. Alaska receives the most Title 1 funding per pupil of any state in the nation. More than 51,000 Alaskan students benefit from that support," wrote Tom Klaameyer, president of NEA-Alaska, in a statement.

"Historically, NEA-Alaska may not have always agreed with decisions or directives coming from the Department of Education," said Klaameyer. "However, whether it's through gutting the department from the inside, or seeking congressional approval for the complete elimination, the most vulnerable students in America and the educators who serve them will ultimately pay the price."

Among its roles, the U.S. Education Department also handles student loans for higher education.

According to an email from University of Alaska President Pat Pitney, officials with the state's public university system "don't expect there to be significant changes to our operations or the ability of students to access federal financial aid, including Pell Grants and loans."

"Advocating for federal student aid funding remains a top priority for the UA system regardless of what changes happen at certain federal departments or agencies," Pitney wrote in a letter to students and faculty. "Federal student aid is a vital component of ensuring access and affordability for students across the State of Alaska."
A subadult brown bear stands on June 8, 2018, on the shore of Naknek Lake in Katmai National Park and Preserve. A state program that is killing bears in an effort to boost an ailing caribou herd was found last week to be unconstitutional, but the Department of Fish and Game is now seeking emergency authority to continue the program. Opponents say the predator-control program will not help the caribou but could put Katmai bears at risk. (Photo by Russ Taylor/National Park Service)

Alaska officials are seeking emergency authorization to keep killing bears and wolves in a region in the western part of the state even though a judge ruled a week ago that the state predator control program there was unconstitutional.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game on Friday petitioned the state Board of Game for an emergency regulation allowing the intensive management program to continue for a third year in the range of the ailing Mulchatna Caribou Herd.

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The proposal came on the first day of an eight-day Board of Game meeting in Anchorage. The board sets hunting rules that are carried out by the department.

The Mulchatna herd, in Western Alaska, peaked at 200,000 animals in 1997, but it is now down to about 13,000 animals. Hunting has been closed for several years. Department officials argue that removal of bears and wolves is needed to help the herd population grow back. Residents of dozens of rural communities in the region have traditionally depended on the herd for food, and increased caribou numbers would allow their hunts to start again, department officials argue.

So far, the state program that started in 2023 has killed nearly 200 bears and 19 wolves through the program, according to the department.

Alaska Board of Game member John Wood and Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang listen on Friday to public testimony at the first day of an eight-day Board of Game meeting in Anchorage. The board is now considering an emergency petition to continue a predator-control program that was ruled unconstitutional last week. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

That has already benefited the herd, as seen in the increase in the number of calves born, the departments proposal said. Continuing the program is critical to the goal of getting the herd large enough to allow resumed hunting, it said.

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Not being able to conduct control efforts in the third year is detrimental to the program and will result in a loss of the improvements in calf recruitment and survival that have been realized since the department treatment began in 2023, the departments proposal said.

The Alaska Wildlife Alliance, the plaintiff in the case that resulted in last weeks ruling, said the Department of Fish and Game is attempting to circumvent the law.

Were just kind of stunned right now, Nicole Schmitt, the alliances executive director, said during a break in the Board of Games meeting on Friday.

The late proposal, released just that morning, was also rushed without proper public notice or opportunity for public comment, just as the earlier predator-control authorization had been, Schmitt said.

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The state is trying to push through an emergency regulation, in the hopes that it is not stopped before they are done killing bears, lawfully or otherwise, she said.

Caribou cross the Kanektok River in the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge on Aug. 25, 2009. The Mulchatna caribou herd, which ranges in the refuge, has declined sharply since the late1990s. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game argues that removal of bears and wolves will help the herd recover. (Photo by Allen Miller/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Superior Court Judge Andrew Guidi, in his March 14 ruling, found that the Board of Games action in 2022 that authorized the predator control program violated constitutional standards for public notice and public comment. The Alaska Wildlife Alliance and Michelle Bittner, an Anchorage attorney who filed a separate lawsuit challenging the predator-culling program, argued that the board rushed its approval through improper and secretive means.

Guidi also found that the boards approval of bear kills in the Mulchatna caribou range failed to properly consider impacts to the bear population, in violation of constitutional mandates for sustainable management.

Supporters and opponents of the Mulchatna predator control program disagree about the causes of the caribou herds decline.

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While department officials point to bears and wolves as limiting recovery, opponents of the bear- and wolf-killing program say other factors caused the caribou decline. Those include some sweeping habitat changes, with a warming climate allowing woody bushes and trees to spread into tundra territory. Caribou from herds like the Mulchatna depend on tundra plants for food, but the proliferation of woody plants has made the area more favorable for moose.

Disease is another factor cited as a reason for the caribou population decline.

The Board of Game has identified a goal of getting the population back up to between 30,000 and 80,000 animals, enough to support hunts of 2,400 to 8,000 caribou a year, according to the Department of Fish and Game.

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By Elvira Pollina and Klaus Lauer

(Reuters) - German media group ProSiebenSat.1 said on Thursday it has approved an agreement with U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic on the acquisition of the U.S. firm's minority stakes in dating platform ParshipMeet and internet holding NuCom Group.

The deal with General Atlantic is expected to pave the way to the sale of ProSieben digital assets, including e-commerce portal Verivox to Italys Moltiply Group.

ProSieben agreed to pay 10 million euros ($10.85 million) in cash and 5.9 million treasury shares of the company, with a current market value of 38 million euros and corresponding to 2.5% of the companys share capital.

The payment includes a fixed exit participation of 50 million euros for GA when ProSieben sells the ParshipMeet Group.

The deal with General Atlantic does not include a convertible bond ProSieben had considered that would have given GA up to 10% in the German broadcaster. Earlier this week the supervisory board put on hold the convertible bond, which would have diluted existing shareholders.

Verivox's sale process is being closely followed by the top two investors in ProSieben: MFE-MediaForEurope, the TV group controlled by Italy's Berlusconi family, and Czech investment company PPF.

Both MFE and PPF have called on ProSieben to focus on its core TV business and part ways with its e-commerce and online assets.

The GA deal includes the acquisition of the entire minority shareholdings in NuCom Group, excluding perfume e-retailer Flaconi.

General Atlantic will hold its 28.4% minority stake in Flaconi directly and not, as currently, indirectly through NuCom Group.

($1 = 0.9216 euros)

(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru, Elvira Pollina in Milan, Klaus Lauer and Maria Martinez in Berlin; Editing by Leslie Adler and Cynthia Osterman)
Mar. 21Police identified the man shot by an officer during a foot chase Thursday evening in Southwest Albuquerque as the suspect in a deadly shootout last year.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque police spokesman, said on Friday that 19-year-old Julian Garcia is hospitalized in critical condition. Garcia was armed with a handgun as he was pursued through an open field near Sage and Unser SW.

Officers were trying to arrest Garcia on a warrant for murder.

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One officer fired rounds from a less-lethal 40mm launcher at Garcia "but they had no effect," and another officer shot him with his duty weapon "as he approached the backyard of a home," Gallegos said.

He said Garcia will be booked into jail when he is released from the hospital.

The incident marked the third time Albuquerque police have shot someone in the past month.

On Feb. 12, Garcia was charged with an open count of murder  accused of shooting Ezekiel Brown, 32, "execution style" after Brown fatally shot Garcia's uncle, James Garcia, 34, in September 2024.

On Sept. 18, police responded to gunfire in the 300 block of Grove SE, near Zuni and Louisiana, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. They found Brown dead from multiple gunshot wounds, and James Garcia died after being taken to the hospital.

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Police said witnesses told them Brown asked James Garcia if he remembered him, before shooting him in the face, according to the complaint. One witness, Brown's relative, said Brown then "began running away while smiling and laughing."

Witnesses told police another man, later identified as Julian Garcia, opened fire on Brown, striking him, the complaint states. As Brown lay on the ground, Julian Garcia walked up and shot him from "point-blank range three times."

Police said they were able to identify Julian Garcia as the suspect through video surveillance and social media, where they found selfies of him before and after the homicide, wearing the same shirt, except the picture taken afterward showed the shirt had apparent blood stains on it.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN)  The entire state of North Carolina is currently under a burn ban, even though it rained Thursday.

RELATED: Entire state of NC under a burn ban for first time since 2021

Most of the state is still dealing with abnormally dry or moderate drought conditions with a very small area of severe drought along the coast. This is an improvement, but still very dry.

The latest update on the drought monitor, which is updated every Thursday.

When it comes to fire weather, while the lack of rain is a concern, a big part of how easily fires can get out of control is how dry the air is and how windy it is.

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The air right now is dry. With fire weather, we pay attention to relative humidity, which is a measure of moisture in the air but displayed as a percentage. When the relative humidity is 25% or less, thats normally the concern level for fire.

If its very windy, not only can a fire can very easily get out of control, but the strong wind can dry out pine needles, tree branches, or anything on the ground that can be fuel for fire. And its going to be windy. Winds Saturday are going to be sustained up to more than 20 m.p.h. and staying breezy, up to 15 m.p.h., Sunday into Monday.

These are just a few of the reasons why the entire state is under a burn ban for the first time since 2021.

A burn ban seems self-explanatory and in a way, it is. During a burn ban, all open burning, like burning leaves or vegetative debris is banned. If you had a burn permit ready to go for this weekend, you dont anymore. All burn permits have been canceled until the ban is lifted.

Despite being chilly Friday, this weekend should be nice across central North Carolina, so what about having a barbecue or doing some grilling? That is okay to do during a burn ban, just do it carefully.

Frequently asked questions about the burn ban in North Carolina.

If youre planning on enjoying the first weekend of spring camping, you cannot build a campfire. That is considered an open burn and is therefore banned. To make food while camping, you should use a portable gas grill or stove instead of open flame until the ban is lifted.

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More information about the burn ban can be found here.

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ALTOONA  Two Altoona residents face charges in Eau Claire County after authorities accused them of involvement in drugs, theft of mail and theft by acquisition of a credit card.

Lisa Gilman, 53, and Zachary Gilman, 31, face 15 charges between the two of them. According to the criminal complaint, the case began when an officer pulled over Zachary in January. He handed over a fake drivers licenses with the name Casey Gillis. The officer spotted details that seemed off, and asked about it.

Zacharys story didnt match up. He insisted he was Casey Gillis and said he had gotten the license from the DMV about two months ago, but the license itself said it was issued in August 2024. Still, Zachary continued to insist he was someone else, providing other cards in his wallet as evidence.

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That led the officer to ask for his Social Security number. A check of that number had no results, showing Zachary was not being truthful about his identity. Eventually, he admitted his real name and said he had cards due to debt. The identification was confirmed in part by matching him with his U.S. Postal Service employee badge.

Even then, Zachary continued to insist the drivers license was real, though he changed where he got it several times. He was arrested.

A search of the car found several credit and debit cards, receipts and a package. The note had the Casey Gillis name on it. Some packages were addressed to different people, and Zachary claimed the gift cards were all gifted to him by either customers or family members. The names came back indicating stolen mail.

On Feb. 28, officers responded to Lawrence Avenue in Altoona. Lisa Gilman called and said her son was unconscious, pulseless and in agonal breathing. Responding officers tried using Narcan, to no effect, and began first aid. EMS personnel took over shortly thereafter. Lisa said she didnt know what he had taken, but that he had taken cocaine in the past.

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There were multiple indications of drug use in Zacharys room, including bongs, inhalant canisters and a baggie of a white powdery substance. It was enough for a search warrant, which turned up marijuana byproducts, marijuana, psilocybin gummies, MDMA, psilocybin/psilocin, oxycodone, tramadol, Xanax, Adderall, amphetamines, Trazodone, cocaine and other drugs and paraphernalia.

Those findings led to a search of another residence where Zachary was reportedly living with his girlfriend. That turned up more drugs, and three different bundles of mail.

Authorities arrested Zachary and Lisa on March 16.

Zacharys full list of charges includes: possession with intent to deliver cocaine, possession with intent to deliver narcotics, maintaining a drug trafficking place, obstructing an officer, theft of 30 or more pieces of mail, theft by acquisition of a credit card, possession with intent to deliver THC, two counts of possession with intent to deliver amphetamine, possession with intent to deliver other Schedule I substances, possession with intent to deliver Schedule IV drugs, possession with intent to deliver psilocin or psilocybin.

He is due in court April 1.

Lisa faces charges of harboring or aiding a felon, obstructing an officer and maintaining a drug trafficking place. She has an initial appearance on April 22.
An extraordinary fossil bed in the arid grasslands of the Australian continent, called McGraths Flat, really is the Lagerstatte that keeps on giving.

Just a few years after uncovering a trove of exceptionally preserved fossils, paleontologists have now described a brand new fish species that lived and died during the Miocene, 15 million years ago.

So perfectly intact is this animal that a team of paleontologists led by Matthew McCurry of the Australian Museum Research Institute could determine its coloration. They could even see what at least one specimen devoured for its last meal  the contents of which were still in its stomach after millions of years trapped in the iron-rich rocks of the fossil bed.

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The fish has been named Ferruaspis brocksi, after paleontologist Jochen Brocks of the Australian National University, who discovered several specimens of the fossilized fish at McGraths Flat.

"This little fish is one of the most beautiful fossils I've found at McGraths Flat, and finding the first vertebrate among the abundant plant and insect fossils was a real surprise," Brocks says. "This discovery opens new avenues for understanding the evolutionary history of Australia's freshwater fish species and ancient ecosystems."

Fossilization is an intense process that often involves pressure and heat  it's not kind on bone, never mind soft tissue. For an organism to be fossilized after it dies is rare. For soft tissue to survive is rarer still. Fossil beds in which the preservation level is so exquisite that soft tissue and fine details remain are known as Lagerstatten.

The head of one of the specimens, showing its eye. (McCurry et al., J. Vertebr. Paleontol., 2025)

McGraths Flat is one such Lagerstatte, a formation of an iron-rich rock called goethite in which fossils were so intricately captured that structures smaller than a cell can be discerned. It was in this bed that Brocks found several beautiful fish of a species never seen before, and a family never found fossilized in Australia, freshwater smelt.

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"The discovery of the 15 million-year-old freshwater fish fossil offers us an unprecedented opportunity to understand Australia's ancient ecosystems and the evolution of its fish species," McCurry explains.

"This fossil is part of the Osmeriforms fish family  a diverse group of fish species within Australia that includes species like the Australian grayling and the Australian smelt. But, without fossils it has been hard for us to tell exactly when the group arrived in Australia and whether they changed at all through time."

Because the fish specimens were so well preserved, the researchers were able to make observations about their lifestyle. F. brocksi was an opportunistic feeder that mostly dined on invertebrates; stomach contents included insect wings and a partial bivalve shell.

The tail of one specimen bearing a parasitic bivalve larva. (McCurry et al., J. Vertebr. Paleontol., 2025)

However, the most abundant ingredient was the larvae of midges  tiny flying insects that lay their eggs in water, where the larvae grow until they are ready to enter their adult life stage.

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"One of the fossils even shows a parasite attached to the tail of the fish," McCurry says. "It's a juvenile freshwater mussel called a glochidium. These juvenile mussels attach themselves to the gills or tails of fish to hitch rides up and down streams."

Using a powerful microscope, the researchers were even able to make out tiny, subcellular structures in the skin of the fish, called melanosomes, which give tissues their pigment. These revealed that the fish were darker on their backs, or dorsal sides, and paler on their tummies, or ventral sides. They even had two dark stripes running down the length of their bodies, near the spinal column.

Pigment structures in the skins of one of the specimens. (McCurry et al., J. Vertebr. Paleontol., 2025)

"Fossilized melanosomes have previously enabled paleontologists to reconstruct the color of feathers," marvels paleontologist Michael Frese of the University of Canberra and CSIRO, "but melanosomes have never been used to reconstruct the color pattern of a long extinct fish species."

The McGraths Flat fossils have much to offer us yet. The researchers have described a wonderful 'giant' trapdoor spider discovered therein, but there are multitudinous other fossils from the site, including plants, insects, and even a bird feather that has not yet been formally described.

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"The fossils found at this site formed between 11 and 16 million years ago and provide a window into the past," McCurry says. "They prove that the area was once a temperate, wet rainforest and that life was rich and abundant in the Central Tablelands."

The research has been published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

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BURLINGTON, Vt. (ABC22 FOX44)  Nan Boisse has been working with the American Red Cross for over 15 years but only joined the Service to the Armed Forces volunteer team a few years ago. A career veteran, Boisse has been deployed all over the world, even working for the Department of Homeland Security.

But even after settling down in Vermont, the 64-year-old says she still found herself wanting to help others.

I can talk the talk, Ive been there, Ive done that. Ive been a soldier in peacetime, Ive been a soldier in war time, she said.

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Boisse says part of her role is to connect Vermont families with soldiers who are abroad. When those soldiers return home, the volunteer says, she gets them the help they need whether that be rides, medications, or a gentle push to fill out important paperwork.

Sometimes its hard for veterans to ask for help, were not supposed to be the ones asking for help, were supposed to be the ones providing help.

Celeste Stimpson, the Service to the Armed Forces and International Services Program Director, says The Red Cross also offers veterans financial aid, community services, resiliency programs, caregiving networks and more.

We are here for you and theres no ask thats too small. We want to make sure you get the connection and support that you need and that you deserve, said Stimpson.

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The program director says there are about 50 volunteers across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine helping veterans and their families.

Boisse says she makes up one of a little under a dozen volunteers and hopes more people will sign up to help.

Think about joining us on our branch of volunteering, you dont have to be a veteran to volunteer.

You can learn more about veteran services and volunteering at redcross.org.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC22 & FOX44.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  Dona Ana County says it is offering support in several ways after the shooting Friday night, March 21 that left three dead and 15 injured at Young Park in Las Cruces.

This is a heartbreaking and deeply painful moment for our community, County Manager Scott Andrews expressed. We are devastated by the loss of young lives and the trauma experienced by so many. The County is in close contact with the City of Las Cruces, and together, we will do everything we can to support our residents in the days and weeks ahead. Our hearts are with the families and loved ones of those lost, those injured, and everyone affected by this unthinkable tragedy.

Dona Ana County wants to remind residents that if you or someone you know is struggling, you can reach out to the following resources:

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988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline : Call or text 988 anytime, 24/7, for free and confidential emotional support.

Dona Ana County Crisis Triage Center: Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The center offers walk-in mental health services for individuals experiencing a crisis.

There are also other community organizations offering vital services to help Las Cruces and Dona Ana County community heal, the County said.

Donations can through the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico. You can donate by clicking here or by calling (575) 521-4794.

We are a caring community that becomes stronger when we come together to support one another. Dona Ana County is committed to working with community partners to promote safety and support through this tragedy, the County said.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
The week of March 17 in the Mississippi Legislature dawned with a continuing tax standoff between the state House and Senate as they entered the final weeks of a three-month legislative session.

The two chambers remained so far apart with their tax plans that lawmakers and politicos expected the governor would have to force them into special session for more negotiations or else they would leave with no tax plan  heck, maybe even with no state budget.

Speaker Jason White and his GOP House leadership were steadfast in their yearslong desire to relatively quickly eliminate the state income tax and increase the states sales and gasoline taxes. This shift to more regressive taxation would stand to strip more than $2 billion from the $7 billion general fund of Americas poorest state, hitting lower-income people hardest and generally helping the more affluent.

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Mississippi would, under this House proposal, become the first state to eliminate an existing income tax in American history. But House leaders promise the experiment will lead Mississippi to beulah land and generate more than enough economic growth to cover the billions cut from income tax revenue.

But on the other side of the Capitol, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and his GOP Senate leadership were standing firm that this House proposal is foolhardy, particularly with massive federal spending cuts and economic uncertainty looming. Mississippi is perennially dependent on money from Washington, and no one can confidently say they know what the coming months from the new Trump administration will mean for the state.

Senate leaders had instead offered only another cut to the states income tax, which is already among the lowest in the nation, rather than a total elimination the House was proposing. It was also pretty clear theyd be OK with ending this 2025 legislative session with no major tax changes at all if the House didnt rein it in.

The stakes on this disagreement between the House and Senate are high for Mississippians for generations to come.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves announces Restore Act Funding for various MS Coast projects at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021.

A wide gulf between House, Senate

Both the House and Senate, in their respective plans, had proposed gasoline tax increases to fund badly needed roadwork. But they differed vastly on the amount and means. The House also wanted a sales tax increase, but the Senate was firm against that. Both agreed to slightly trim the sales tax on some groceries.

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The tax fight between the Republican-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate had been ongoing for several years, and Hosemann and the Senate thwarted a previous elimination proposal, instead agreeing to only a tax cut (even as other cuts passed years ago are still being phased in).

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, from the sidelines, had joined the House leadership call for eliminating the income tax. But to date, at least publicly, hed followed his usual M.O.: sit back, present no real specific plan of his own or mediate, lob a few social media bombs (mostly at Hosemann and the Senate) and let his fellow-Republican House and Senate leaders fight it out.

Reeves, who has served in prominent political positions since 2003, has never been a consensus builder, noting in the past that, I dont mind telling my friends no, and most typically sitting back, waiting to see how things shake out. Then he either takes credit for or casts blame for the result, depending on how the political winds are blowing.

Although they are all Republicans, Mississippis top political leaders have not gotten along very well in recent years. This was the undercurrent of the recent infighting over whether to eliminate the state income tax.

Medicaid expansion died Thursday night at the Capitol in Jackson, as Mississippi lawmakers could not reach a deal.

Battle lines are drawn

Each chamber on Monday passed a counter-offer  voting to amend each others bills with their own differing versions and send them back to the opposite chambers. They remained dramatically far apart from.

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The Senate passed a proposal that could, eventually, eliminate the state income tax. But it would do so at best very slowly, with economic growth triggers built in. They would ensure the income tax would be phased out only if very rosy economic growth projections were met and spending was kept lower.

House leaders, in turn, railed that the Senates counter might never really do away with the state income tax. At best, they argued, it could take decades under the Senate plan. The House plan, though, would eliminate it in a little more than a decade.

The House then passed a counter proposal that would increase the gasoline tax by 15 cents a gallon, closer to the Senates proposal of 9 cents a gallon. Both would have future gas tax increases kick in automatically after a few years, based on construction costs.

The House had proposed increasing the state sales tax from 7% to 8.5%. In its counter, it dropped it to 8%, although it also now proposed raising the online sales tax from 7% to 8%.

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Overall, it appeared early this week that little progress had been made between the two sides and that any agreement, if it came at all, would be at the end of the session, which is expected to come at the end of the month or first week of April  and only after much haggling.

In the Senate, Hosemann had only managed to get his counterproposal passed with the help of four Democrats. A handful of his Republican caucus voted against it or just voted present, primarily because it included a gasoline tax increase (which, in the past, Gov. Reeves has also vehemently opposed). The Democrats crossed over and helped pass it for the same reason  they want a gas tax increase to pay for fixing the states crumbling roads and bridges.

At the beginning of the week, it appeared that Hosemann and the Senate had moved as far towards the House proposal as they realistically could. The Senate Republicans opposed to the Senate plan would likely not go for the Houses larger gas tax increase and sales tax increase. The crossover Senate Democrats would likely balk at the Houses sales tax increase and more aggressive schedule for income tax elimination.

And it wasnt likely that Reeves, generally a political foe of his fellow Republican Hosemann, would help sway any of the opposition Senate Republicans to help Hosemann make future parlays.

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Each chamber now had its own bill back, but with its language stripped out and the others replacing it. With no agreement reached, it was expected each chamber would vote to invite conference, go into more intense negotiations in the final days of the session with a handful of lawmakers from each side.

And it looked like, shy of the House caving in on several major points, a deal was unlikely. The realpolitik appeared that Hosemann couldnt get the Senate to go further even if he wanted it to.

The Mississippi House of Representatives, at the State Capitol in Jackson.

House shocks, agrees to Senate version

On Thursday morning, the House was set to take up its bill  now containing the Senates language. Given the vast disagreement between the two chambers, the House was expected to invite conference to move it into the end-game haggling. Few political observers were paying attention to the House floor proceedings on Thursday morning, expecting a quick pro forma vote to invite conference.

But House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, a lead architect of the House tax plan, instead moved for the House to concur with the Senate. A vote to concur would send the bill on to Gov. Reeves, who could sign it into law.

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Lets end the tax on work once and for all in the state of Mississippi, Lamar told the House floor Thursday morning.

This sent media, lobbyists and many lawmakers scurrying back onto the House floor.

After relatively brief debate, with only House Democrats speaking against it, the House passed the bill 92-27, with some Democrats crossing over to vote for it.

Oddly, a member of the House GOP leadership then held the bill on a procedural motion, which could allow for reconsideration or more debate. Also odd, after the House passed the measure, the top legislative leaders on both sides of the building and the governor went quiet and declined to comment.

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Reeves, who was standing at a podium with a mic surrounded by Nissan workers in the Capitol Rotunda as the bill passed, refused comment  very odd considering legislation he has called his No. 1 priority had just passed.

Some time later that day, Mississippi Today first reported there were problems with the bill: typos in the Senates growth trigger safeguards language.

Typos led to income tax elimination

In the end, it wasnt earnest negotiation or any agreement between the two sides that led to the passage of total income tax elimination in Mississippi  it was a few typos.

The Senate had accidentally put in some decimal points that essentially eliminated the growth triggers that would have staved off full elimination of the income tax for years.

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For instance, a passage meant to require growth of 85% of the cost of an income tax cut minus any state spending increases instead said .85%. This means that instead of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue growth spurring a tax cut in any year, just a few million dollars a year will result in massive tax cuts.

Instead of a long, cautious phase out of the income tax, the Senate had inadvertently approved a phase-out that would happen about as quickly as the Houses plan, and without any real growth triggers as safeguards. Some of the Senates majority vote on the measure had approved this plan only because of those revenue trigger safeguards.

But the House leadership realized the Senates error and ran with it. The error-riddled measure the Senate inadvertently sent to the House could now head to the governor and become law by only the removal of the holding motion pending in the House.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate often make mistakes in bills. Typically, they are fixed by resubmitting the bills or by both sides voting to suspend rules and fix the errors. It is uncommon for one chamber to seize on anothers mistake for one-upmanship. And its unheard of, at least in recent history, as means of passing sea change legislation such as overhauling the state tax code.

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The House leadership, knowing the Senate sent a typo-riddled bill, had the opportunity to help fix it, or agree to use the Senates still-alive bill to make corrections. But House leaders chose instead to capitalize on the typos and send the bill, which was close to what theyd been proposing at least on income tax elimination, to the governor.

Accounts about how this transpired vary among many lawmakers. Some say Gov. Reeves office spotted the mistakes and notified the House. Others say Speaker Whites team spotted them. Regardless, neither the House nor Reeves looked a gift decimal in the mouth.

With the motion to reconsider pending for at least a few days before a deadline to address it, some lawmakers and politicos figured the House leadership would use it as leverage to force Hosemann and the Senate to agree to other provisions of the House plan, such as the sales tax increase, or to other separate legislation House leaders wanted, such as legalizing online betting.

Others surmised Hosemann couldnt deliver on such demands, even if he agreed to them, because he had such a thin margin including the few Democrats passing the Senates plan to begin with.

And the leaders were mostly tight lipped about it on Thursday, even after Mississippi Today first reported the situation, until Reeves late that afternoon posted on social media that he was looking forward to receiving the bill on Friday and signing it into law.

Today is a day for celebration! the governor wrote on social media. He said: I hear there are those who desire future tweaks to this law, and those can certainly be considered in future legislation.

The House on Friday morning came in and, after some debate and some Democrats crying foul over the flawed legislation, cleared the procedural motion with a voice vote. Democrats tried unsuccessfully to force a recorded roll call vote. The accepted voice vote, meaning no record of how individual House members voted exists, sent the measure on to Gov. Reeves, who vowed on social media Friday to sign it into law.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann answers questions during a press conference after a special session at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson, Wednesday, November 2, 2022.

Hosemann works to take credit

Hosemann did not mention the snafu to senators when he presided over a brief session on Friday before they left for the weekend. But he scheduled a press conference for Friday afternoon.

His press conference was rather short and bizarre. He acted as though he knew very little about the snafu, dodged questions and appeared to try to claim political victory with the measure being sent to the governor. Then, after some pointed questions about the typos the Senate sent to the House, he cut the presser off.

Today is about the biggest win we have had on these issues in the history of this state, Hosemann said of tax policy hes opposed and warned people about being unwise for months.

He indicated there might be more negotiations on the issue between the Senate and House, although its unclear whether there would be much likelihood of major changes or of the House conceding to any Senate demands on the issue.

Hosemann called the final passage of the tax bill a team effort and refused to answer whether he believed the House had played dirty pool with passing the flawed bill.

Regardless, dozens of senators and House members elected by Mississippians believed they were voting on something far different than what they passed, and legislative leaders and the governor are apparently OK with that.

Lawmakers in recent years have complained about legislative leaders using a hurry-up offense to pass measures before opposition can build. Theyve complained they are not given time to vet, or sometimes even read, bills before they are passed.

The Senates typo-riddled bill was something of a rush job. It was presented in committee late Monday afternoon and quickly passed with little debate. It was voted on by the full Senate on Tuesday.

One could reasonably surmise that more time, perhaps some crowdsourcing with a public hearing or two, or a more robust vetting process in committee might have helped catch the mistakes.

The Senate plans were so new and rushed that no one had crunched the numbers on what they would mean for the average Mississippi family or taxpayer, at least not publicly. Some Democratic lawmakers on both sides of the building were surmising the tax savings would be minuscule or that some, such as retirees or the very poor, might see a net increase from the gasoline tax hike.

Though several questions remain and Senate leaders are hoping the House will help make some changes, the largest tax cut in Mississippi history, coupled with one of the largest tax increases in state history, is set to become law of the land because of a few typos and some legislative sleight of hand.

The Mississippi Typo Tax Swap Act of 2025 might be one of the most Mississippi things ever.

Sen. David Jordan of Greenwood, one of the longest serving members of the Legislature, has a phrase hes said many times during debate on the Senate floor.

Mississippi keeps stumbling into the future, backwards.
Absent an actual proposal from the White House or congressional Republicans, a policy expert mapped out specific vulnerabilities Thursday as Massachusetts and other states brace for possible changes to federal support for Medicaid.

Manatt Health Senior Managing Director Patricia Boozang was one of the featured speakers during a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation webinar. She laid out how the budget framework the U.S. House adopted last month could put Medicaid in the crosshairs of a pursuit for trillions of dollars in tax cuts and federal spending reductions over the next decade.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee must find at least $880 billion in cuts, a task many observers think is possible only with changes to Medicaid and Medicare. Meanwhile, President Donald Trumps White House has pledged not to cut Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security benefits, and says it is instead focused on reining in improper payments, waste and fraud.

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Weve not seen a cut of that level in this program before. If that number stands -- were going to have to wait for legislative language to know the details of the proposals that are going to advance -- and if that target stands, I also want you to remember that $880 billion isnt just $880 billion, Boozang said. Because then it will go back to states, which match with state funds what the government gives them for the Medicaid program, and they wont be able to make up that gap. In fact, theyll have to pull back some of their own funding.

Boozang said Manatts estimate is that states would have to increase their own spending by 20% to maintain the current program level spending if deep federal cuts are enacted.

Cuts in Medicaid would ripple through MassHealth, which combines Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program and affords health care coverage to about 2 million Bay Staters.

MassHealth is the largest single chunk of spending in the state budget, representing about $22.6 billion or 36% of line-item spending in Gov. Maura Healeys fiscal 2026 budget, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Healeys budget, filed before the threat of deep Medicaid cuts became clear, expects federal reimbursement for Medicaid spending to increase by $1.8 billion to $14.2 billion, per MTF.

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The uncertainty about federal support for Medicaid comes as Beacon Hill Democrats are trying to redraft Healeys budget for fiscal year 2026, at a time when the states spending demands are elevated and general purpose tax revenue growth is modest. A reduction in federal funding could nudge state budget managers closer to taking unpopular steps, potentially including allowing federally-funded services to end, cutting back on state support for programs, dipping into preciously-guarded state reserve accounts, or raising taxes to bring in more revenue.

Boozang detailed some of the ways Republicans in Congress could get to their target of $880 billion in cuts during Thursdays webinar.

The Congressional Budget Office said last year there is the potential to generate $600 billion in savings over 10 years by changing the amount of federal funding available to all states through the federal match rate, usually known as FMAP. Right now, nearly every dollar in MassHealth spending is reimbursed by at least 50% in federal revenue, Boozang said, with CHIP expenditures reimbursed at 65% and expenditures for the states Medicaid expansion reimbursed at 90%.

Congress could use a budget bill later this summer or fall to eliminate the 90% federal match rate for states like Massachusetts that expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act, to eliminate the current 50% FMAP floor, to set a standard 50% rate for administrative costs, or any combination of those ideas, Boozang said.

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These are really -- would be, if advanced -- draconian cuts. In Massachusetts, one analysis predicts that Medicaid enrollment would decline by nearly 19%, almost 20%, over 10 years if that match rate were reduced and Massachusetts had to end its expansion, she said. Alternatively, Massachusetts could pick up the federal share, but that would cause the state to have to increase its spending by $15 billion over 10 years.

Massachusetts would be one of 10 states impacted by the removal of the 50% floor, Boozang said, adding that the CBO estimated federal spending would drop by a cumulative $530 billion for those 10 states if the floor is eliminated.

Another possibility being discussed is switching from the current FMAP reimbursement structure to one in which Medicaid is funded through per capita spending caps or block grants, both of which Boozang said would represent a cost shift to states. Those changes would likely need to happen through Congress, through Boozang said the executive branch may be able to require states to accept capped funding as part of a waiver approval process.

While Boozang flagged the tight margin by which Republicans control Congress as a possible impediment to some of their major plans, she highlighted one area that she sees as ripe for action either by Congress or the White House: limiting the use of Medicaid provider taxes and state directed payments.

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In Massachusetts, the state uses, like all states use, revenues from provider taxes to fund the state share of Medicaid expenditures. So that would mean the state would have to come up with more state general funds if theyre forced to reduce their reliance on taxes, she said. As I said, we do think Congress could well use the budget reconciliation to enact these policies. If it doesnt, we think the administration is very likely to step in and use its administrative authority to advance these changes.

Boozang also flagged a risk associated with the $67 billion Medicaid waiver that Massachusetts under Gov. Charlie Baker entered into in October 2022. That waiver is set to run for five years, expiring in 2027. Many other states have Medicaid waivers, sometimes referred to as Section 1115 demonstration waivers, that allow them to tailor the public health insurance programs to more closely align with their specific preferences and needs.

We do understand and expect the Trump administration to actively focus on Section 1115 waivers. We think states should be prepared for the administration to act on waiver policy that doesnt align with the administrations priorities, Boozang said. One signal we already have is on health related social needs that the administration has rescinded prior groundbreaking Biden administration guidance. There are myriad ways that CMS could act on the MassHealth waiver. We think there are things that clearly wont be at risk, things like the re-entry waiver. I think [health related social needs], some of the flexible services, may be at risk, but Id also point out that some of those services are very much aligned with the Make America Healthy Again agenda.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kate Walsh mentioned the states waiver this week when responding to the notion that waste, fraud and abuse are at the root of the Trump administrations review of spending. She said that using the term wasteful to define the Medicaid contract between the feds and Massachusetts is false.

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What theyre calling waste, fraud and abuse are actually the terms of the contract they negotiate with us. And theyre pointing to it because our waiver prominently mentions the word equity, because we want to ensure outcomes for people across our entire state, Walsh said Monday.





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Public companies have to contend with shareholders with different interests to their own, Peter Singlehurst said. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

It's "really hard" to be a public company right now, a senior Baillie Gifford fund manager said.

They face reporting requirements and shareholders with different interests, Peter Singlehurst said.

"You can build a better business by staying private for longer," he told the 20VC podcast.

Companies should stay private for longer because they can "build a better business," a senior fund manager has said.

"It's really hard to be a public company. It's really hard," said Peter Singlehurst, head of private companies at British investment management firm Baillie Gifford.

Singlehurst made the comments in an interview with 20VC podcast host Harry Stebbings.

"I think what people realize today is that you can build a better business by staying private for longer," Singlehurst said.

He described the reporting requirements as a burden for publicly listed companies.

"You can have people owning your shares for all sorts of reasons that are misaligned with what you're trying to do as a company," Singlehurst said, adding that everything the company does has to be done "in the cold light of day."

"All your competitors get to know pretty much everything about your business because you have to tell your shareholders pretty much everything about your business," he said.

Baillie Gifford's investment in private companies includes stakes in ByteDance, Epic Games, FlixBus, Stripe, and SpaceX, per its website.

On the podcast, Singlehurst recalled Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, once telling him that it was much easier to be private. But Sweeney also said going public can be the better option, depending on what your business needs to do, Singlehurst said.

He added that reasons for going public can include the need for liquidity, the desire to acquire other companies, or engaging with regulators.

But he said there had been an "evolution" of "very large, company-facilitated secondary rounds," which could become a source of liquidity for investors in private companies.

Singlehurst didn't cite specific examples, but Tesla's stock has slid in recent weeks amid declining sales and a backlash to CEO Elon Musk's political interventions. The fall has proven a boon to short sellers betting the stock will lose value.

Read the original article on Business Insider
For over 2,300 years, the Egyptian city of Alexandria has stood as a hub of history, culture, and innovation. Once home to the fabled Library of Alexandria and the birthplace of Cleopatra, the city has weathered the rise and fall of empires.

Today, Alexandria faces a new and unprecedented threat  not from war or politics, but from the encroaching sea.

What's happening?

Over the past two decades, rising sea levels have caused 280 buildings to collapse, with the rate of destruction surging from about one per year to as many as 40 annually, according to a study published in Earth's Future and relayed by Live Science.

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According to recent studies, at least 7,000 more structures in the city are at risk. Between 2014 and 2020 alone, partial or total building collapses resulted in 85 deaths, per the study. Researchers warn that Alexandria is just one of many coastal cities facing this crisis.

"The true cost of this loss extends far beyond bricks and mortar," study co-author Essam Heggy said, according to Live Science. "We are witnessing the gradual disappearance of historic coastal cities, with Alexandria sounding the alarm."

Why is this concerning?

Alexandria's collapse is a stark reminder that rising sea levels aren't a distant threat  they're reshaping our world right now. As seawater creeps inland, it weakens building foundations by eroding soil and corroding steel reinforcements, putting entire communities at risk.

Global sea levels have risen by about 8-9 inches since 1880, with a 4-inch increase since 1993 alone, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. If pollution levels remain high, sea levels could surge another 7.2 feet by 2100, threatening millions of people living in low-lying coastal cities.

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Researchers caution that this isn't just an Alexandria problem  it's a global one. Coastal areas in the U.S., from Florida to California, are also at risk of erosion, flooding, and infrastructure failure.

"Our study challenges the common misconception that we'll only need to worry when sea levels rise by a meter," Heggy said in a statement. "Coastlines globally are already changing and causing building collapses at an unprecedented rate."

What's being done to address it?

While the situation is urgent, there are solutions that can help slow and mitigate the damage. Some experts suggest elevating buildings on stilts or reinforced foundations to reduce the impact of seawater intrusion. In high-risk areas, urban planners are considering relocating residents to safer locations to prevent further loss of life and infrastructure.

On a larger scale, addressing the root cause of rising sea levels is crucial. Reducing heat-trapping pollution by transitioning to clean energy sources, cutting methane gas pollution, and protecting coastal wetlands can help slow the pace of rising waters.

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Governments and communities worldwide are already implementing adaptation strategies, but without global action, cities like Alexandria may continue to suffer irreversible damage.

Alexandria's fate serves as a wake-up call: The choices we make today will shape the future of our cities, coastlines, and cultural heritage.

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It may look like just another random boulder, but this old Spanish rock bears engraved lines that could be an astounding 200,000 years old, according to government officials.

The age of the lines and how they were formed still needs to be verified, but there is a chance this may be one of the oldest symbolic stone carvings made by our human ancestors  at least 100,000 years older than the oldest known cave painting.

Possible carving on a gabbro stone block that could be more than 200,000 years old. (Marbella Town Council)

The Spanish boulder was excavated at the Coto Correa site in Marbella, Spain, an area that has long been recognized for its significance to prehistoric humans.

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The stone is formed of gabbro  a coarse, magnesium- and iron-rich rock formed from slow-cooled magma  and on a relatively smooth section of its reddish-grey surface, two unnaturally straight lines have been carved.

The boulder was first unearthed in 2022 along with stone tools from the lower Paleolithic, linking it to the presence of a human species.

Details of the markings on the Coto Correa stone. ( Marbella Town Council )

Abstract engravings such as these suggest the ability to record and pass down information  a sign of modern human cognition. While other animals can communicate with each other in many ways that we do, so far evidence of symbolic thinking is unique to humans.

"It confirms the presence of settlers in Marbella during the Early Middle Paleolithic period, a period poorly documented in Spain," explains the Marbella City Council.

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Researchers plan to take a 3D scan of the boulder and its engraving to determine if the stone markings were intentional, as well as take multiple small samples to confirm its dates.

If their suspicions are confirmed, Coto Correa could prove a pivotal site in humanity's earliest forays out of Africa.

The markings would then be on par with the earliest known human handprint, dated between 169,000 to 226,000 BCE, which can be seen in the model below.

Found on the Tibetan plateau, the way these prints of children's hands and feet were placed suggests they were not an accidental result of normal walking.

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They are the earliest evidence for humans in the area, but whether they were created by Homo sapiens or one of our extinct relatives is impossible to know.

Abstract etchings into bone have also been found in Lingjing China, dating to about 100,000 years old. That they were rubbed with ochre pigment suggests these bone etching were deliberate and had some sort of symbolic meaning.

100,000 year old bone etchings found in China. ( d'Errico/Doyon

Such early finds add weight to growing evidence that our ancestral cousins, the Neanderthals or Denisovans, may have left intentional, symbolic marks upon the world before we did.

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The day Andrew Cuomo kicked off his campaign for mayor of New York City, his lawyer Rita Glavin was asked about Cuomos efforts to obtain the gynecological records of one of the women who came forward to share stories of the former New York governors sexual harassment before he resigned from office in 2021. The records, Glavin answered, were absolutely pertinent, relevant, and if we get released from the confidentiality order, we can give you more details.

The woman in question had dropped her legal effort months earlier, explaining that she was giving it up in the hope that Cuomo can no longer use this lawsuit to harass me and my family. Shortly after she dropped her suit, Cuomo threatened to sue her for defamation. (The woman did not respond to a request for comment, and her lawyer declined to share one.)

She is one of many women who are still paying, quite literally, for their decisions to speak out about the toxic workplace Cuomo fostered as governor. An investigation by New York State Attorney General Letitia James found that Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women while he was governor; the U.S. Department of Justice, meanwhile, concluded Cuomo sexually harassed 13. (Representatives for Cuomo have dismissed both investigations, with spokesman Rich Azzopardi calling the AGs investigation a purely political document, and the DOJs report a glorified press release that rubber-stamped the AGs biased and inaccurate report. Cuomo himself has apologized for having acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable, while strenuously denying the accusations against him. He has never been criminally prosecuted in connection with any of the complaints.)

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Cuomos demand for the gynecological records, victims advocates say, is part of a pattern for the former governor and his lawyers, who they accuse of using the legal system to wage an exorbitantly expensive revenge campaign against the women who spoke out about his harassment. And the costs of that campaign  billed to New York taxpayers  continue to accrue as Cuomo pursues public office once again.

According to the state comptrollers office, in the four years since Cuomo resigned as governor, New York taxpayers have paid $60 million in legal expenses related to Cuomos conduct in office, including efforts to defend the former governor in lawsuits concerning his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, his book deal, and the sexual harassment accusations. The vast majority of that total  $46.9 million  is related to the investigation and litigation of the harassment claims. (That figure includes costs associated with the attorney generals investigation as well as three separate lawsuits: Trooper 1 v Cuomo et al., Bennett v Cuomo et al., and Commisso v Cuomo et al.)

Because Cuomo was governor at the time of the sexual harassment complaints, both his legal defense and the defense of his deputies is covered by New York state. Typically, a states attorney general would provide that defense, but because New Yorks attorney general led the investigation into Cuomos alleged harassment, her office recused itself from defending Cuomo not just in the sexual harassment suits but in almost all matters, and instead Cuomo has been allowed to retain private lawyers, paid for with state resources.

Ironically, the women who came forward to share their experiences of being harassed in the workplace  nine of whom were also employees of the state at the time  have not been afforded the same courtesy. They have been forced to hire and pay for their own lawyers to answer a battery of demands for discovery, subpoenas and depositions from Cuomos state-funded attorneys. Most of these women are not party to the lawsuits themselves; theyve been called as witnesses, then saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills.

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Advocates detailed the extraordinarily aggressive tactics employed by Cuomos lawyers in a letter to the comptrollers office, which oversees payments to Cuomos lawyers. They include the request for the gynecologic records, which they say serve[s] only to intimidate and humiliate while driving up litigation costs, and a litany of other discovery demands, including serving Verizon with a subpoena for all phone records of a witness not named in the litigation without any notice.

The lack of sufficient oversight of reimbursements has enabled Mr. Cuomo to perpetuate the harassment of women he was already found to have harassed by multiple investigations, now through the legal system and at taxpayer expense, Erica Vladimer, the director of Harassment Free New York, and Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, wrote in a letter to the comptroller, asking the office to pause payments to Cuomos lawyers and conduct a thorough audit of all payments that have been disbursed so far.

New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli responded, saying that his office has denied payments we have found to be improper, citing his offices decision to reject Cuomos request to fund Cuomos Freedom of Information Law litigation against the attorney general. (Andrew Cuomo, he notes, is currently suing his office to force them to pay for that litigation as well; the matter is currently before the New York State Supreme Court.)

One woman who was swept up in Cuomos campaign tells Rolling Stone the experience has been financially crippling for my family. Another accuser, Lindsey Boylan, says she expects her bills to reach $2 million before the saga is over. Ive spent roughly $1.5 million on lawyers so far, Boylan says, a figure that doesnt include hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of trauma therapy.

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Karen Hinton, who has spoken out about her experience with Cuomo when they worked at the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the 90s, counts herself as lucky: She says her lawyer was able to convince the judge that her experience with Cuomo was so far in the past it wouldnt be relevant to a lawsuit over his behavior as governor. (Cuomos team insists they ultimately opted not to take her deposition.) Even so, she says, her family spent close to $45,000 on legal bills.

There was sexual harassment, and now theres just financial harassment, Hinton says.

Hinton, Boylan and others have both also been the target of online harassment by trolls who, The New York Times has reported, were being directed by Cuomos sister. (KH and LB need to be frightened into shutting up right now  Enough is enough, Madeline Cuomo reportedly wrote, referring to Hinton and Boylan, who were later attacked online.)

There are many reasons why he shouldnt be mayor, Hinton says. But the one Im talking about now is just this: He will retaliate and punish people. Its not just a gender thing, and he does it for both men and women. And hell continue to do that as mayor. That is not a healthy way to run the city.

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In a statement to Rolling Stone, Glavin placed the blame for the soaring cost of litigation  to taxpayers and the women involved  at James feet. The Attorney General bears direct responsibility for this entire mess, Glavin said, citing what she deemed a costly and flawed investigation that, in her view, spawned a series of plaintiffs lawsuits.

To avoid time-intensive discovery and obtain critical information for the defense, we sought the evidence underlying the $14 million reports that taxpayers had already paid for, but the AG fought us in court, spending three years and millions more taxpayer dollars to hide the evidence. As a result, defense costs ballooned and non party witnesses were roped into the case, Glavin said. All of these decisions were outside of Governor Cuomos control.

She added, This is America, and anyone sued is entitled to due process and the right to defend themselves, particularly against demonstrably false allegations. All of this could have been avoided had the AG not created this $14 million mess in the first place  taxpayers should be demanding answers for that.

Cuomo, meanwhile, has quickly emerged as the mayoral frontrunner in both polls and fundraising. In the first 13 days of his mayoral campaign, he took in $1.5 million  with his tax-payer funded lawyers among his biggest campaign boosters.

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An invitation to a Cuomo camapaign fundraiser obtained by New York Focus, shows Elkan Abramowitz of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason & Anello  a law firm New York taxpayers have paid $2.8 million to defend Cuomos handling of the pandemic  hosted the event at his office. Abramowitz also gave a maximum $2,100 donation to Cuomo.

Theresa Trzaskoma, another Cuomo lawyer whose firm has billed New York taxpayers $6.4 million relating to sexual harassment litigation, was co-host for that event. She gave $400. Glavin  who has been paid $5.7 million by the people of New York state to represent Cuomo  was also listed as a co-host of the fundraiser. She maxed out as well, donating $2,100 in support of his mayoral bid.

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A nonprofit environmental organization in northern Lower Michigan has sued the U.S. Air Force and National Guard in U.S. District Court, alleging that plans to expand low-altitude flight training in the eastern Lower Peninsula  with military aircraft flying as low as 500 feet or even lower in some areas  will harm prized waterways, natural areas and the quality of life in the region.

Anglers of the Au Sable filed its complaint in U.S. District Court's Eastern District in Detroit on March 13. The group claims the Air Force and National Guard's plans to expand air training violate the National Environmental Policy Act, and their evaluation that the expanded training would cause no significant environmental impact was flawed.

"The (expanded air training) project is incompatible with recreational values, the outdoor economy and real estate values of these areas," the anglers group argues in its lawsuit.

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"Direct and indirect ecological effects will result from the continued concentrated activities, including elevated sound, increased atmospheric shockwaves, discharge of chaff, discharge of flares, discharge of munitions and electronic measures/countermeasures. Taken together, these activities will or are very likely to result in significant negative effects on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems."

The Air Force and National Guard, contacted by the Free Press on Friday, declined to comment on pending litigation. Anglers of the Au Sable president Josh Greenberg did not return a message seeking comment.

The Michigan Air National Guard since 2022 has taken steps to increase the Michigan airspace it uses to train fighter jet and other pilots. According to the lawsuit, the Michigan Air Guard proposes adding 1,633 nautical square miles to its current 11,042-square-nautical-mile Alpena Special Use Airspace Complex in northeastern Lower Michigan. This expansion would stretch from east of Interstate 75 near Grayling up to Huron Beach, through the thumb of Port Sanilac, and into Lake Huron.

"Near Grayling, the project would create a new permanent, expanded airspace of 918 square miles, with major increases in the number of flights and the amount of time planes spend flying there," the complaint states. "Some planes would fly as low as 500 feet. This permanent airspace would replace an 869 square-mile temporary airspace that currently does not allow flights under 5,000 feet."

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Another flight path between the Grayling Air Gunnery Range and the Alpena Combat Readiness Center would allow planes to fly as low as 300 feet, the lawsuit states.

More: Whitmer budget to include $5M for veterans cemetery; $26M in Selfridge upgrades

More: $75 million munitions factory proposed for Grayling rattles some locals

"In Michigans 'Thumb' area, three new low-altitude training areas would allow planes to fly at 500 feet, instead of the 6,000 feet limit currently in place."

In arguing that the military's environmental assessments were insufficient, the anglers group notes the Air Force's and National Guard's own assessments show the increased activity will result in a "dramatic increase in noise" and increased pollution, including increased release of flares and chaff cartridges, used by military aircraft as evasive measures to avoid radar detection, as part of their training. Particles from the flares and cartridges, along with jet fuel and unburned jet lubrication oils, all contain a host of potentially health- and environment-harming chemicals, the anglers say.

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"The proposal will result in an increase of various pollutants, raining down on the headwaters of the Au Sable, one of the most famous and most-loved trout streams in the United States," the complaint states.

"That pollution will also enter the lands, air and waters used by wildlife, permanent residents, seasonal residents, and participants in outdoor activities for which the area is justly famous and desired. The (environmental assessment) inadequately addresses the magnitude and effect of this increased pollution on land and water."

The proposed expanded air training zone comes at a time when the Michigan National Guard is promoting its National All-Domain Warfighting Center, comprising Camp Grayling, the largest National Guard training facility east of the Mississippi River; Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County's Harrison Township; the Alpena Combat Readiness Center, and a swath of special-use airspace and portion of Lake Huron along the eastern edge of the Lower Peninsula earmarked for multifaceted military training. The National All-Domain Warfighting Center has expanded its annual Northern Strike training exercises in recent years, inviting military units from across the U.S. and from allied nations, as well as contractors testing the latest in warfighting technologies.

The Michigan National Guard in 2022 also proposed more than doubling the size of Camp Grayling, seeking to lease about 162,000 acres of nearby state land managed by the Department of Natural Resources for additional training space. While that plan was ultimately rejected, the state did approve allowing the National Guard to temporarily lease 52,000 acres of nearby state land for training as needed.

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The Anglers of the Au Sable lawsuit seeks to have a federal district judge halt the planned expansion of low-altitude air training activities, require a more comprehensive environmental assessment, and award the anglers attorney fees, costs and "other relief the Court deems just and proper."Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Conservation group sues Air Force, National Guard over low flights
Around 110 protesters stood along Glenwood Avenue to call on Sen. Thom Tillis to hear their concerns on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)

While North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis began fundraising for his 2026 reelection campaign at the Carolina Country Club Friday morning, more than 100 protesters demanded he meet with them for a town hall.

That evening, hundreds more gathered at the Raleigh Brewing Company for an empty chair town hall, where voters voiced their frustrations to a chair used as a Tillis stand-in.

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As frustrations mount over Elon Musks so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the rising count of federal programs that have become its casualties, Tillis is preparing for what may be the most contentious Senate race in the country next year, coming under fire from both his left and right flanks.

So far, Tillis has toed the party line, voting for all of President Donald Trumps cabinet nominees. Even as he privately lobbied the former sister-in-law of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to come forward with abuse allegations  promising it would convince senators to oppose his nomination, the Wall Street Journal reported  he ultimately provided the crucial 50th vote in favor himself.

In nearly 10 years in the Senate, Tillis has not held an in-person town hall. A fellow North Carolinian, Republican U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson told colleagues to stop holding them earlier this month, according to Politico, with GOP leaders dismissing angry voters as professional protesters.

Voters at Fridays events described calling, texting, and emailing his office, as well as meeting with his staff and sharing their concerns. All said they were dissatisfied with the responses they received, describing them as formulaic and not specific to the issues they raised. But as pressure on Tillis continues to rise, many of the North Carolinians who spoke out Friday said they believe he will feel the heat and hear them out  or face the consequences at the ballot box.

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Tilliss office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.

A fundraiser protest

About 110 North Carolinians lined up across the street from the Carolina Country Club Friday, as Tillis hosted a campaign kick-off luncheon featuring state and federal Republican lawmakers and prolific fundraisers.

The group of demonstrators, which included federal workers and veterans, chanted Thom Tillis sucks, Tillis is a coward, and Get a spine or resign! They held up signs that branded him as Country Club Tillis and denounced Trump, Musk, and DOGE. Some of the cars streaming down Glenwood Avenue honked in support, including a Tesla, as the demonstrators cheered for the approval.

Protesters raised concerns about Elon Musks role in the government, potential cuts to Medicaid and veterans services, and Donald Trumps approach to foreign wars. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)

Kelly Keating, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2065, said she came out to demand Tillis honor his oath as his constituents lose their livelihoods. She noted that roughly a third of federal workers are veterans, and by gutting federal agencies, the administration is simultaneously decimating their hospitals and eliminating their jobs.

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He needs to have a town hall so that people can communicate with him, Keating said. Our people have called several times, but theyre not getting any kind of responses back.

The protest was organized by the Triangle Labor Council, which demonstrated against federal worker firings and Social Security office closures at Raleighs Terry Sanford Federal Building earlier this month. But the event drew a large number of North Carolinians dissatisfied with Tillis beyond the federal workforce, including veterans and workers in related fields.

Dave Smith, who served in the North Carolina Army National Guard, said hes reached out to Tillis with concerns about the cuts to veterans services, but received nothing but boilerplate responses. He said he was especially galled by Tilliss vote for Hegseth, calling the Defense Secretary a disastrously unqualified choice.

He talked a good game, but then when it came time, rubber meet the road, he tucked his tail and caved, Smith said. Our nation, our national security is suffering because of that.

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Mike Senn, a software engineer in Raleigh who attended both Tillis protests Friday, said he has been calling the senator once a week since Trumps inauguration to share his concerns, but every time, it goes straight to voicemail.

Mike Senn, a software engineer in Raleigh, said he has called Tilliss office weekly since Trumps inauguration and has yet to receive a substantive response. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)

Im calling to get attention from him, to tell him to pick up the phone, to tell him to listen to his constituents and to hold a town hall with his constituents here in North Carolina, Senn said.

A veterans daughter, Audrey Fischer said she showed up Friday to demand Tillis hear the human impact of the federal cuts he has supported. Fischer, who volunteers with the Wilson County Democratic Party, expressed outrage that the Trump administration is interfering with veterans benefits as well as Medicaid programs and labor protections.

Sometimes you are able to get through to a person by showing that their constituents do not believe in the policies that they are pushing, do not believe in platforming billionaires over workers, Fischer said. Sometimes, its also to show that there are other people in your neighborhood who believe the same as you.

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She noted that bus drivers and truckers were among those who honked in support of the protest, which she said is evidence that anger over the DOGE cuts are emerging across social and economic lines.

If we show them what are beliefs are, that anyone can participate, everyone is needed, Fischer said, we want them to come to our side and see the light of day and see that we can be stronger together.

An empty chair town hall

Six hours later and an 11-minute drive west of Tillis fundraiser at the Carolina Country Club, hundreds of his constituents packed into the Raleigh Brewing Company for the chance to demand answers of a stand-in for the senator: a stuffed chicken.

The event, organized by the Triangle Area Indivisible Collaborative, brought together state Democratic Party figures and disaffected voters in an effort to pressure Tillis to hear their concerns directly. It drew around 700 North Carolinians who wanted to make their voices heard, about 200 of whom packed into the brewerys main hall to hear speakers. Some held signs, including one that read Tillis Do Your Job and another that depicted the senators head on the body of a chicken.

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Jake and Aden Kalinowski spoke about their seven-year-old sister Evelyn, who was born with a rare genetic disorder known as dup15q syndrome that causes chronic seizures. Her treatment, they said, is only possible because of Medicaid coverage that is now in jeopardy because of cuts to federal funding by the Trump administration and Congress.

Jake Kalinowski (right) and Aden Kalinowski asked Tillis, not present, how he could stand by and allow cuts to Medicaid. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)

Aden Kalinowski, 21, told the crowd that while less than a year ago, he wanted nothing to do with politics, after seeing his sister put at risk, he realized he did not have a choice but to speak up.

Even though she cant walk or talk or even say to me my name, she has given me so much love and so much of everything that I am as a man and a brother, he said. Why do people like her have to get her medicine taken away, or get her physical therapy taken away, or get her everything taken away  her equipment, her school  for what? For more money in billionaires pockets? I will never understand it.

Jake Kalinowski, 23, choking back tears, thanked the crowd for showing up to stand up for his sister and others in need.

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It really breaks my heart to know that, if she loses the support she has, that something may happen to her and I may not see her again. And I dont understand why people like you cant see that, he said, addressing Tillis. We need to keep fighting for people like her.

Federal workers who spoke at the town hall denounced cuts to agencies that safeguard the environment and protect consumers as well as the Department of Education, which provides substantial funding to schools all across North Carolina.

Anna Ruderman, a pediatrician and a co-founder of Bull City Indivisible, said she met with Tilliss staff last week and explained to them that her work, the treatment of children with complex medical issues, is not efficient and it shouldnt be. She recounted the story of a young child who nearly died before being brought by CPR and who now needs speech therapy dependent on Medicaid. It takes longer. Its important. Their lives are important, she said.

Also among the speakers were state Democratic politicians, including North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton, former U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel, former Commissioner of Agriculture candidate Sarah Taber, and Chapel Hill town councilor Theodore Nollert.

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Nickel called for Tillis to hold a town hall, countering that he participated in 16 while he was a member of Congress. He also condemned Republican U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx for dismissing town halls as just an opportunity for people to yell at their representatives. When you decide that youre not gonna go serve, youre not gonna go answer questions, its time for you to go, Nickel said.

He recounted how despite promising Pete Hegseths former sister-in-law his nomination would fail, Tillis ultimately voted to confirm him for Secretary of Defense.

When you fold once like that  when Trump says hes going to primary you and Elon Musk says hes going to spend a bunch of money  you will fold every single time, he said. His vote is no longer for North Carolinians; it is just for Donald Trump.

Anderson Clayton called on the audience of several hundred at Raleigh Brewing Company to remember that their vote matters. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)

Clayton drew some of the loudest cheers of the night, as she blasted the General Assembly for working to pass a law stripping Attorney General Jeff Jackson of the power to challenge executive orders and condemned Judge Jefferson Griffin for continuing to litigate the state Supreme Court election nearly five months after he lost the final tally by 734 votes.

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Yall need to understand that your vote means something and that is why Republicans are trying to disenfranchise it, to take it away and to make it so we dont feel like it matters, Clayton said. Theyre trying to steal an election, and you know what were going to do? Stop them.

Richard Scott, an unaffiliated voter living in Fuquay-Varina, said after the town hall that he hopes Tillis takes the initiative to get in touch with North Carolinians about the issues that matter to them, but as a realist, he thinks it is unlikely the senator will be responsive. Though he has reached out to Tilliss office several times, Scott said he has received little more than a pat on the head.

I think the American people want to see less destruction and some idea that theres a plan in the works here, Scott said. Its about time that in North Carolina, we begin to realize theres a whole lot of people that arent in one party or another, and you should be listening to them.

A challenging reelection bid

The protests foreshadow a contentious campaign ahead for Tillis, who after Susan Collins of Maine, faces the most challenging reelection battle of any Republican in the Senate.

Tilliss close adherence to Trumps positions, even on issues like Hegseths nomination where he displayed an inclination to vote the other way, suggests more concern over a primary challenge from the right than losing moderate voters in the general election.

Thus far, Tillis has drawn two Republican primary challengers, according to FEC filings  Don Brown of Charlotte, a constitutional attorney and former U.S. Navy JAG Officer, and Andy Nilsson of Winston-Salem, a businessman and former lieutenant governor candidate. Neither has garnered significant support from Republican opponents to Tillis, though Brown has ties with Hegseth and former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Thom Tillis faces a challenging reelection bid in 2026, coming under fire from both conservatives on his right and moderates on his left. (Photo: Senate.gov video stream)

The most well-known North Carolina politician floated as a Republican primary challenger, former Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, has said he has no plans to run for the Senate, despite frequent criticism of Tillis on the 2024 campaign trail. But the possibility of Trump endorsing a primary opponent is a constant shadow over the senators reelection prospects, after a career of seeking to portray himself as a pragmatist and moderate.

According to the New York Times, Trump asked a group of North Carolina lawmakers in January whether any of them would like his support to primary Tillis ahead of a potential defection on the Hegseth vote.

At least some Republicans lawmakers in the state are withholding their support from Tillis for now. Punchbowl News reported that U.S. Representatives Pat Harrigan and Mark Harris are not endorsing Tillis at this time, and that the Tillis campaign included Harrigan as well as Rep. Addison McDowell and Rep. Brad Knott as special guests on the invitation for the Friday fundraiser without their knowledge.

On the Democratic side, Tillis may face former Gov. Roy Cooper, one of North Carolinas most popular politicians and the architect of the states Medicaid expansion, though he has so far not made his plans explicit, only telling supporters were not done at a farewell rally last year. Also considering a run is Nickel, the former congressman, who has filed with the FEC as a candidate but has not yet formally launched a campaign.

In a state where a plurality of voters are unaffiliated with either political party, how Tillis allays the concerns of voters who feel the Trump administration has gone too far may be critical for his reelection bid. So far, these demonstrators say he has not done enough to stand up for the issues that matter to them.
Mar. 21BEMIDJI  In a record-setting year, 40 posters created by

Sanford Health

employees  clinical and non-clinical alike  displayed their commitment to improvement on Thursday.

As part of the 2025 Bemidji Sanford Improvement Symposium, professionals representing a wide swath of departments featured posters focused on various aspects of care from safety to cost and quality of life to evidence-based practice.

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Sanford Improvement's overarching purpose is to enhance quality and safety by improving clinical outcomes, increasing patient/staff satisfaction, making processes more efficient and increasing cost-effectiveness. The symposium aims to encourage the sharing of improvement ideas across the health system and celebrate successes.

"This really captures every facet of what it takes to provide health care for the community," Chief Medical Officer Dan Hoody said. "The diversity of projects reflects the team effort it takes to put quality and safe care in front of our community members every day."

Following a welcome and keynote speech by Hoody, presenters dispersed to their respective posters to highlight their research and findings to judges and other passersby.

Among the crowd was Housing Case Manager Catie LeMay, who presented "Outreach to Permanent Housing." The project evolved out of the need to meet clients that are experiencing homelessness where they are at.

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"Within our housing department, we help individuals that are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness to navigate the housing system because it's a complicated system to navigate," LeMay said.

In July 2023, Sanford Stable Housing received $100,000 in Emergency Services Program funding to expand housing navigation services and direct service into the community. During its award period of July 2023 to June 2025, the group hired a behavioral health counselor in February 2024 to offer services at Bemidji's New Day Center Tuesdays through Fridays.

From May to December 2024, staff reviewed 39 program referrals, processed 21 admissions, ensured 49 clients received basic survival needs and successfully housed five individuals.

Though Thursday's event marked LeMay's third time presenting, other exhibitors were a bit more green. For her first time presenting, Registered Nurse Katie Korhonen presented "Toss Out Tumbles with Telesitters," a project aimed at reducing inpatient falls by increasing the use of telesitters  remote video monitoring systems used to observe patients.

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Korhonen's project noted that fall rates have been higher at Sanford Bemidji compared to the Minnesota State average.

"Falls in a hospital are a huge dissatisfier with patient safety and good outcomes in the hospital," Korhonen said. "By implementing these, we were able to decrease fall rates and gain back some staff trust."

Standing amongst a bevy of other Sanford Health departments allowed Korhonen her own opportunity to learn while teaching others.

"It's been really cool to see everybody's projects and the different things they're working on," Korhonen added. "You think you kind of know everything that's going on (at Sanford), then you walk around here and you find out there's a lot more to it."

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After the judges confer, awards are given out to first, second and third place winners. Additional awards include the Equity Award and Board's Choice Award chosen by the Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota Board of Directors among others.

"We have multiple different awards based on different domains of quality, safety and patient experience excellence," Hoody said. "It's a nice little memento for the wonderful work they've put together, then the teams go back the next day and keep up the excellent care that they're providing."

As the grand prize, winning presenters attend a health conference of their choice which is appropriate to their department, all expenses covered by Sanford. Last year's winners attended the World Hospital Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Such an opportunity to meet with other health care professionals on the world stage underscores the purpose of the symposium: improving health care in Bemidji's back yard.

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"We're very fortunate to have a lot of great professionals here that are keeping us on the forefront, making sure we can offer the best care we can close to home," Chief Nursing Officer Renee Axtman said. "Our community should know that we're always looking to be better."

"We have a tremendous workforce here in Bemidji. It's an asset to the health of the community," Hoody left off. "We're just excited to be able to shine a spotlight on some of the teams that don't otherwise get it, because they deserve it."

Award winners include:

* 1st Place: Hail Mary! Touching Down on Patient Safety and Satisfaction Through Timely Pain Reassessment (Emergency Department)

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* 2nd Place: Building a HAPI Culture (MSO)

* 3rd Place: Implementation of Depression Screening in Urgent Care (Walk-In Clinic)

* Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota Board Award: Screen Early/Treat Early  The Recipe in Preventing Illness (Primary Care)

* Equity and Experience Award: Rebuilding, Restarting, Renewing  The New Beginnings Program (Behavioral Health)

* Excellence in Patient Experience Award: The 5 P's (Critical Care)

* Commitment to Quality and Safety Excellence Award: Sharing is Caring (Medical Oncology)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Roughly 100 people waved signs and danced in protest outside a Tesla dealership in Washington on Saturday, angry at the electric vehicle maker's billionaire CEO Elon Musk, who has led efforts to sharply cut the federal workforce.

Cars driving past the demonstration honked at the protesters whose signs featured photos of Musk, the world's richest man. President Donald Trump appointed Musk to lead efforts to downsize the federal government, which has thousands of workers in the nation's capital.

Trump tapped Musk to lead a task force dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, which so far has overseen cuts of more than 100,000 jobs across a federal civilian workforce of more than 2 million people. DOGE has also pushed for the freezing of foreign aid and the canceling of thousands of programs and contracts.

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"We are coming out with joy and showing other people that they're not alone," said Melissa Knutson, one of the protesters outside the dealership in Washington.

Protesters also turned out at other U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, as well as abroad, such as in Toronto where some Canadians have vowed not to purchase U.S. products following the Trump administration's hiking of tariffs on Canadian goods.

In the weeks leading up to the protests, motorists have traded in a record number of Tesla electric vehicles this month, Edmunds data showed.

Tesla stock has nearly halved from its January peak. The shares skyrocketed after Trump's election in November on hopes it would be easier for Tesla to roll out robotaxis under the new administration.

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The Trump administration said this week that arsonists have targeted several Tesla dealerships and charging stations. No violence was reported at Saturday's protest in Washington.

(Reporting by Yann Tessier; Writing by Jason Lange; Editing by Mary Milliken and David Gregorio)
Antisemitic activist Linda Sarsour is playing a huge role in trying to get socialist Zohran Mamdani elected NYCs next mayor.

The Hamas-supporting, Palestinian-American firebrand is pushing Mamdani by spreading a message of anti-Israel hate and leaning on lefties to join the Democratic Party in time for the June 24 primary.

Sarsour  a longtime advocate of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign under fire for her extreme views on the Israel-Hamas War  has been campaigning for Mamdani for months, including routinely sending out social-media blasts asking her hundreds of thousands of followers to donate to his campaign.

Antisemitic activist Linda Sarsour has been pushing the mayoral campaign of Zohran Mamdani. Justin Lane/EPA/Shutterstock

Sarsour and Mamdani, both card-carrying members of the Democratic Socialists of America, were big supporters of the Uncommitted National Movement and Leave it Blank NY campaign during last years presidential race, which urged Democrats not to vote in the presidential primary to protest then-President Joe Bidens refusal to condemn Israel defending itself in Gaza.

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As proud Democrats and elected officials and New Yorkers, we endorse the Leave it Blank campaign, Mamdani, a Queens state assemblyman, said in a video posted with other lefty legislators on X in March 2024.

The same initiatives are also widely credited with ultimately spurring many Democrats not to vote in the general election  won by Republican Donald Trump  and switch to the more radical Working Families Party or other third parties.

Now Sarsour and Mamdani are begging the same far-left base to register as Dems and vote for the Ugandan-born Mamdani in the highly contested Democratic mayoral primary.

I know some of us arent feeling any political parties right now but in New York State we have closed primaries and this unfortunately is how it works here! Only Democrats can participate in our primary! Sarsour posted to her 302,000 Instagram followers on Jan. 25, urging them to register as Dems.

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Tell everyone! Lets shock the whole system and send Zohran to City Hall!

Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic consultant, said Sarsour and the rest of the anti-Israel far left see Mamdani as a great opportunity to seize control of Americas largest city.

This is their moment to try and capture the citys government and turn it into what they want, which is less about progressive politics and more about Jew-hating than anything else, said Sheinkopf, who is Jewish.

Mamdani has also been accused of antisemitism. William Farrington

Linda Sarsour is not running him because hes a great progressive and believes in some kind of redistribution of wealth. Shes running him because hes a great antisemite.

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Mamdani is no stranger to fighting on the frontline for causes he believes in, whether it was notoriously being arrested at a pro-Palestine protest outside US Sen. Chuck Schumers house in 2023 or being caught on video earlier this month trying to push past New York State police troopers while shouting at border czar Tom Homan to complain about President Trumps immigration policies.

However, he typically uses more low-key tactics to push his anti-Israel agenda than Sarsour, whos been out on the streets protesting for the destruction of Israel for decades, said Sara Forman, executive director of the pro-Israel New York Solidarity Network and treasurer of its Solidarity PAC that raises money for candidates backing Jewish causes.

Mamdani shares her ideology, [but] he certainly does not share her tactics, she said. Instead of a bullhorn, he uses a charm-and-disarm strategy to calmly state his extreme anti-Israel position  much like his approach to the Uncommitted Movement.

Mamdani, 33, might be a political novice in the mayoral race compared to older, more established Democratic pols like ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Eric Adams, Comptroller Brad Lander and ex-Comptroller Scott Stringer.

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However, hes already proven to be a prolific fundraiser  with plenty of help from Sarsour and the DSA.

He raised $846,949 over a two-month period ending March 13, second only to Cuomo, the presumptive frontrunner who entered the race last month, records show.

Mamdanis warchest had $3.67 million on hand as of March 13, trailing only Lander by $70,000. It includes a $2,100 donation from Sarsour, the maximum allowed by law, and $200 from Hesham El-Meligy, co-founder of Leave it Blank NY.

Sarsour previously endorsed Mamdanis successful campaigns for state Assembly. Obtained by the New York Post

Hes also gaining some steam in the polls.

A survey of likely Democratic voters conducted for Tusk Strategies released last month showed Mamdani in second place with 12% support, trailing only Cuomo, who was way ahead at 38%.

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Mamdani did not return messages.

Jewish communities citywide will be galvanized to come out and vote in huge numbers against Mamdani if they believe he has a serious chance to win, predicted Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, a longtime politically connected community leader in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and founder of the Jewish Future Alliance.

Hes a radical leftist who tweets vile things about the Jewish state and shows no empathy for the Jewish community, he said. I dont need Linda Sarsour to convince me to be disgusted by his campaign, rhetoric, and behavior. He disgusts me all on his own!
DENVER (KDVR)  Congressional Democrats Senator, Bernie Sanders, and Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez known as AOC, were in Colorado Friday, headlining two anti-Trump rallies, and drawing huge crowds. The one in Denver started Friday evening, but first, the two political firebrands rallied in Greeley early in the day.

Bernie Sanders and AOCs message to Coloradans was that they do not believe the new administration in Washington is working for working-class people.

CSU Rams fans revel in NCAA tournament victory

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AOC and Senator Sanders made a stop in the heart of Colorados eighth congressional district. AOC wasted no time putting a spotlight on the recently elected Republican Representative, Gabe Evans.



Now I hear that you have a representative who has not done a town hall, Ocasio-Cortez said to a booing crowd. You know I will say, usually your first three months youre on your best behavior and working your hardest and doing your best. I dont know if anyone has had like a probationary period at a job before. Can you imagine if we had those for members of Congress? All of that is to say is that if this is the best you all are getting, I think you deserve better.

Cuts to federal agencies were top of mind for many rally-goers we spoke to.

Senator Sanders suspects those cuts will lead to an even wider income gap in America.

We will not accept the richest guy in the world running all over Washington making cuts to the Social Security Administration, cuts to the Veterans Administration, almost destroying the Department of Education all so that they can give almost a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the wealthiest one percent, Senator Sanders told the crowd.

Trump supporters held their own counter-rally in the area, saying they wanted to defend the work the administration has done so far.

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Our nation is heading towards a fiscal breakdown. Only by executing the will of the people, thats what we sent President Trump there to do, is to right-size government and stop this fiscal madness, thats the only way we are going to avoid going off of a cliff. Really this rally is about our next generation and saving America for future generations, said Lori Saine, a Weld County Commissioner and candidate for Colorado GOP Chair.

Water main break floods Lakewood neighborhood, Union Blvd. closed

A spokesperson for Congressman Gabe Evans responded to todays rally by saying: Democrats may not know what their brand is right now, but Congressman Gabe Evans knows his. Gabe Evans is fighting for lower costs, safer communities, and making the American Dream possible for all Coloradans. His commonsense approach stands in stark contrast to AOC and Bernie Sanders radical, out-of-touch rhetoric.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
Shondiin Silversmith

Arizona Mirror

Alika Harvey from the White Mountain Apache Tribe placed her hand covered in red paint firmly on the water tower, adding to the hundreds of other red hand prints stamped across a mural painted in honor of late San Carlos Apache Teen Emily Pike and other Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples.

Emily was the same age as me, Harvey said. She was 14. I am 14.

Emily, a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, went missing in January. Her remains were found on Feb. 14 outside of Globe, in a remote area off of U.S. Route 60.

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Harvey, who serves as Jr. Miss White Mountain Apache 2024-2025, drove with her family to San Carlos when she heard that local artists had created a mural in Emilys honor and the community was hosting a vigil for the family.

When Harvey heard about Emilys story, she said it made her mad, especially after hearing about how Indigenous women go missing and experience violence at higher rates than the national average.

Why are we still going through this as Indigenous people? she said.

Harveys mother, Desiree, watched her daughter place her handprint on the water tower and said it was beautiful.

They came out in support of Emily, Desiree said, because her tragedy impacts all Indigenous peoples.

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Were all coming together, she added.

Seeing the mural of Emily and all the hand prints on it, Alika Harvey said it really touched her as an Indigenous woman because shes happy to be a part of it.

Its important for this to be put up in her memory, to spread awareness (and) to show people that we care, she said. Were still here and we see that this shouldnt be happening anymore.

Mural honoring Emily Pike

The mural of Emily Pike is on a large water tank that can be seen off U.S. Route 70 near a Bashas grocery store in Peridot.

San Carlos Apache artist Myron Starr said when he learned about Emilys love for art, he started thinking of how to use his talent to honor her. He decided a mural for her was the best way.

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I didnt know what to expect, Starr said when he approached the family about the mural. To his surprise, they already knew who he was.

They were honored, he added.

Starr began the mural on March 7 and ultimately brought five other artists on board to contribute to it. The mural, which stands more than 40 feet tall, was completed on March 11. A few days later, they held an event to involve the community by asking them to place red hand prints on it.

The artists who joined Starr for the project were Carrie Sage Curley and Samuel Bendle, who are both San Carlos Apache, and AJ Larson, Felicia Garcia and Erica Raymond.

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This is something that had to be done, Starr said of the mural. She needed to be brought home the right way.

The murals centerpiece is a portrait of Emily wearing a red Apache camp dress surrounded by medicinal plants used by the San Carlos Apache people. Silhouettes of Apache warriors stand beside her. The words Apache Strong are written boldly in white, surrounded by a butterfly and stars. The final touches of the mural were the individual red hand prints from people who wanted to honor her and support the fight against the murdered and missing Indigenous peoples crisis.

It speaks volumes without speaking, Starr said of the mural.

When the idea of allowing the community to add red handprints came up, Starr said the artists did not expect how well it would be received.

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It united the community, he said. Hundreds of people came through to place a red handprint. The artists had Emilys mother, Stephanie Dosela, right in the center of the mural. Her red handprint is the only one in that area.

Curley joined Starr and the other artists after passing by the area late one night and seeing them working on the mural. She contacted Starr and said he invited her to join.

As an artist, its such an honor to be part of it, she said, and she thanked all the other artists who worked on the mural because it was hard.

People think that art is just beautiful, but its heavy, she said. Its heavy at many times to paint crosses, to paint memorial things  but this is beautiful.

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Curley said they chose to paint Emily wearing an Apache camp dress because its a shield for them as Apache women, and she believes that a lot of Indigenous women can understand that.

This is us respecting her, she said, adding that having a mural for Emily is bringing her home in a good way.

Curley said the water tank off Highway 70 was a great canvas for the mural because it allows people to see it from the road and brings more awareness to whats happened.

Having her be seen is number one, Curley said. This is our way as artists.

Larson thanked the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the community for letting them work on their land and paint the mural.

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Its been one of the most powerful experiences Ive ever been through, he said. I painted other murals that people have lost their loved ones, but this one hit differently for me.

He said witnessing everyone come and place their handprints on the mural was beautiful.

Each one of you basically signed that water tower, he said.

Emilys aunt, April Victor, talked about the mural during a candlelight vigil on March 15. She said that it was an emotional experience to place her handprint on the water tank.

Once I put my hand on the tank, I couldnt help but cry and tell Emily Im sorry, Victor said. Im sorry nobody was there to protect you. Im sorry you had to be alone when you died. Im sorry that you had to suffer the way that you did. Im sorry that none of us were there to save you.

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She said she commends the work that all the artists did for Emily.

Community candlelight vigil

Hundreds of people, some holding signs, others wearing red or having red handprints across their mouths, gathered in front of the Apache Gold Casino on March 15 to honor Emily Pike and demonstrate their support for her family and those affected by the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples.

San Carlos Apache Tribal Chairman Terry Rambler spoke during the vigil, updating the community on the investigation and announcing an award.

Rambler said the Gila County Sheriffs Office is leading the ongoing investigation, but the San Carlos Police Department and Game & Fish Department are assisting.

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The Gila County Sheriffs Office is committed to finding whomever committed this horrible act, he said. They will continue to update us, and we will share what we can.

Rambler shared with the community that the San Carlos Apache Tribal Council is offering a $75,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

He said the council has launched an independent study to help determine where the tribe can improve its internal processes to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.

Our San Carlos Council will be meeting with Governor (Katie) Hobbs, our state legislators, and our sister tribes to work with our representatives to help improve group home standards off reservation to help prevent something like this from happening again, Rambler said.

At the time of her disappearance, Emily lived in a group home in Mesa. She was last seen on the evening of Jan. 27 near Mesa Drive and McKellips Road. Two days later, the Mesa Police Department issued a poster for Emily, listing her as a missing or runaway juvenile.

When Emily went missing, it took a week before San Carlos Tribal Social Services notified the family. A month after she went missing, the Gila County Sheriffs Office reported that Emilys remains had been found.

She was so young, super young. She had everything ahead of her, San Carlos Apache teen Alayna Redhouse said about Emily. She attended the vigil and placed a handprint on the mural in her honor.

We care about our people, Redhouse, 16, said. She attended the vigil with her friend, Dlavin Thompson, 15. They both had a red handprint over their mouths and danced with the community during a prayer song.

She deserved better than this, Thompson said of Emily. When she heard what had happened to her, she was heartbroken and started crying.

This needs to stop, because why us? she added.

As the sun set behind the snow-covered mountains and the temperatures started to drop, supporters remained well into the night to hear from Emilys family, listen to the drum group, enjoy community members singing and hear from tribal officials.

Emilys uncle, Allred Pike Jr., spoke during her vigil, thanking the community for supporting the entire family.

Allred Pike said that Emily knew that all life was precious and her life may have been cut short, but her name will be remembered all over.

Her name is not confined to this reservation anymore, he said. It has spread throughout all of Indian Country.

Allred Pike said people are saying her name because they all want one thing: justice for Emily.

Weve got to continue to say her name, he added. Weve got to let the world know that we want justice for our very own.

San Carlos Apache Tribal Vice Chairman Tao Etpison said the tribe will continue to work until an arrest and conviction is made for what happened to Emily.

We will not rest. We will not sit back, he said. Apaches are known everywhere, and this has happened to us. We are victims of a missing and murdered Indigenous person.

Etpison said that the tribe will continue to look for people who are missing and make sure they are returned safely if thats possible.
Egyptian archaeologists working in tandem with students from the University of Pittsburgh made an astonishing discovery in the Gebel Anubis necropolis at Abydos, which is located in southern Egypts Sohag Governorate.

During their excavation, the scientists discovered a rare, elaborately decorated royal tomb which dates back to Egypts Second Intermediate Period, also known as the Abydos Dynasty, during which there was much political strife and disagreement. The dynasty was a largely mysterious governing body which was in power from 1,700 to 1,600 B.C. and operated separately from the countrys traditional pharaonic lineage.

After digging 23 feet below the grounds surface, archaeologists found a limestone tomb with mudbrick vaults constructed on top. They speculate the structures originally stood 16 feet tall. Inside the chamber, researchers found elaborate carvings of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys as well as hieroglyphic inscriptions bearing the late kings name. Researchers are still unsure as to the identity of the interred ruler but are hopeful that further analyses will provide some sort of timeline which they can use to determine the tombs inhabitant.

The legitimacy of the Abydos Dynasty has been debated by scholars for decades, with some insisting it was entirely fabricated. However, the recent discovery of the tomb makes a compelling argument that the Abydos Dynasty was real. Archaeologists speculate that the tomb belongs to one of the dynastys very early rulers who pre-dated King Senebkay. Senebkays tomb was found nearby in 2014, and, to this point, has been the strongest evidence of the dynastys existence.
Vuild, an award-winning Japanese architecture firm, finished construction on a cutting-edge home on the art island of Naoshima in February, per a report by Designboom.

Founded in 2017, Vuild has dedicated itself to efficient, eco-friendly living. When constructing new designs, the company consults experts on local climates and runs simulations to minimize its projects' environmental impact.

Its most recent project, "Nesting Naoshima," is completely off-grid. It runs entirely on solar energy and was constructed using light board materials, eliminating the need for heavy-duty equipment like cranes. The construction process took just two months.

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Another interesting aspect of this off-grid home is its multipurpose use. While the Nesting Naoshima is a secondary residence for its owner, it also serves as a rental property.

This is only the latest installment in a series of green projects. Last June, Vuild completed construction on the Shodoshima Gate Lounge, a workspace in western Japan. Its foundation was made of granite, which is plentiful in the region, instead of concrete, a big polluter. In fact, the firm used only local materials for this project, giving the area's economy a boost.

While Nesting Naoshima is one of Vuild's only off-grid homes, it showcases the lifestyle's many benefits. For example, using solar energy makes you less reliant on the electrical grid. If there's a power outage, your house will be able to keep running. By consuming less energy and resources, you'll notice your utility bills will decrease after switching to an off-grid lifestyle.

It's also better for the planet. Relying completely on clean energy reduces your impact on the globe's warming. In the case of Nesting Naoshima, its solar panels generate 9300 kilowatt-hours per year, powering lights and AC units without pumping pollution into the atmosphere.

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Of course, off-grid living isn't for everyone. This doesn't mean that there are no ways to reduce your energy intake. You could try installing solar panels, switching to an electric vehicle, or simply using your car less. Each of these options benefits the planet in some way, shape, or form.

Nesting Naoshima  and Vuild's other projects  were built with the planet's future in mind.

"We want to create architecture as a beacon of hope that contributes to the development of the next generation," its website explains. "With a long-term perspective, we will connect with the history and culture of the past to create a better future."

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Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more and waste less, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
CRITTENDEN COUNTY, Ark.  Arkansas State Police are investigating a deadly officer-involved shooting that followed a high-speed chase on Interstate 555 on Thursday.

State police said a suspect, identified as 54-year-old Joe Versie, fled from Poinsett County deputies after they attempted to stop him for reckless driving. ASP officials said Harrisburg police joined the pursuit before state police assistance was requested.

Arkansas State Police searching for man accused of hitting, killing worker during high speed chase in West Memphis

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ASP officials said a trooper ended the pursuit with a tactical vehicle intervention on I-555 near the 3-mile marker. Police said Versies car stopped in the median and became engulfed in flames.

As the officers worked to put out the fire, authorities said Versie stayed in the car, ignored commands from the officers and moved toward the rear doors of the car.

According to state police, Versie told the officers that he had a weapon. Officials said he reached for a weapon before an ASP trooper and officers with the Poinsett County Sheriffs Office and Harrisburg Police Department fired at and hit Versie. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Arkansas State Police shooting during Interstate 40 traffic stop leaves one dead

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After reviewing the incidents investigative case file, the Crittenden County Prosecutors Office will determine whether the use of deadly force was consistent with Arkansas law.

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Dallas police have arrested a man they say committed at least 14 violent felonies across the metroplex, including carjacking an elementary school principal, officials said.

55-year-old Gregory Noble was arrested Thursday, March 20, with assistance from multiple agencies, including the Dallas office of the FBI, officials said in a statement.

Noble allegedly committed most of the crimes over the course of the day on Thursday, according to the statement.

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Noble first stole a vehicle from the 14500 block of Dallas Parkway, police said. When the owner reported the vehicle stolen, it was noted that a handgun had been left inside, according to the statement.

Shortly after, a bank robbery was reported in the 14800 block of Preston Road, police said.

Upon responding to the robbery, police identified Noble as the suspect and the vehicle as the one that had just been stolen, according to the statement.

Noble then drove that vehicle to another business, tried unsuccessfully to commit a second robbery, then stole a second vehicle and fled, police said.

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In the second stolen vehicle, Noble drove to an elementary school in the 9900 block of Webb Chapel Road, where he stole a third vehicle from the schools principal, police said.

After that, a crash and another carjacking were reported near the 11800 block of Rosser Road in Dallas. Noble crashed the third vehicle at that intersection, then stole a fourth vehicle, police said.

Noble continued to abandon and steal vehicles in Coppell, Farmers Branch and Irving before speeding away from a traffic stop in the seventh stolen vehicle, according to the statement.

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He was later found and apprehended near the intersection of Singleton Boulevard and Gulden Lane in Dallas, police said.

Noble faces charges of robbery of a business, aggravated robbery, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and evading arrest in Dallas, police said

He faces additional charges from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies who assisted with the investigation, according to the statement.
Authorities in the German capital on Saturday deployed hundreds of police officers to accompany a large right-wing extremist demonstration and counter-protests.

First arrests were made at the start of the neo-Nazi march in Berlin's eastern Friedrichshain district because some participants ignored the ban on wearing masks, a police spokesman said.

Several hundred people protested loudly against the neo-Nazi demonstration, with around 1,500 officers positioned to keep the camps apart without intervening unless it became essential.

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"We never protect the content of the assembly, but only the reason for the assembly itself, the freedom of assembly," police spokesman Florian Nath emphasized in a video posted on X.

At the same time, he called on the participants to remain peaceful. However, a dpa reporter at the scene witnessed the outbreak of scuffles.

According to officials, around 850 people - more than five times more than attended a similar march a month ago - took part in the right-wing extremist event under the slogan "For law and order. Against left-wing extremism and politically motivated violence."

The march organizers spoke of 1,200 participants. This is already the third demonstration by right-wing extremists since December 2024 under the same slogan.

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Because numerous demonstrators travelled by train, federal police officers were also deployed. The area around the city's eastern Ostkreuz station was cordoned off on a large scale, as well as the planned demonstration route.

Also in Friedrichshain, counter-demonstrators tried to stop the neo-Nazi demonstration with a sit-in blockade.

According to the police, 10 counter-protests and actions were announced, with participants carrying anti-fascist placards.

The demonstrations caused traffic disruptions and road closures across the area.
An Ashtabula County resident tested positive for measles this week, according to Thursday press releases from the Ashtabula County Health Department and Ohio Department of Health.

Ashtabula County Health Commissioner Jay Becker said the county resident who tested positive is an adult.

The ACHD release said the case completed its isolation period, and both departments are following up on other potential exposures.

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The infected persons family has been isolated and is being monitored for symptoms, Becker said.

He said this is the only positive case they have right now.

Were hoping that other cases are contained, Becker said.

The ACHD found out about the positive test soon before the releases went out, Becker said.

This is the first measles case in Ohio this year, according to the ODH.

Ohio had 90 cases of measles in 2022, when an outbreak centered in central Ohio totaled 85 cases, the ODH release states. The state had one measles case in 2023 and seven in 2024.

The individual who became infected was unvaccinated, and had contact with a person who traveled internationally, according to ODH.

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Measles prevalence has been increasing recently internationally, and there are ongoing outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico, according to the OHD.

Measles is extremely contagious and spreads through coughing and sneezing, according to the ACHD release.

Individuals can spread it to others, even before they have symptoms, the ACHD said.

The virus can live up to two hours in the air, and symptoms can manifest between seven to 21 days after exposure.

About one in five people who get measles will he hospitalized, according to the ACHD release.

Symptoms of measles can include high fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes and a rash beginning 3-5 days after other symptoms occur, the ACHD release states.

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Complications of measles include pneumonia, dehydration, brain swelling, diarrhea and ear infections.

Complications are common for children under five, adults above 20, pregnant women and immunocompromised people, and can lead to death, according to ODH.

Becker said being vaccinated against the disease is a priority.

Everyone needs to take an inventory case of their vaccinations, he said.

Becker said children between five and 15 are very susceptible to the disease.

Parents should check their childrens vaccination status, he said.

The measles vaccine is safe and very effective against the disease, according to the ODH release.

Two doses of MMR is 97% effective against measles, the ODH release said. If you are up to date on measles vaccine, the risk of getting sick is very low.
ASHTABULA  Ashtabula Area City School District Treasurer Mark Astorino said at a Wednesday meeting the district will be reimbursed around $258,000 for expenses from the Thanksgiving weekend snowstorm.

The state asked the district to pick its costliest days for reimbursement, he said.

Astorino said the districts reimbursement is around 75% for the week of the snowstorm, not for the whole winter.

Our total snow removal cost, with all the roof snow removal, the parking lots, all the heavy equipment to move snow, the extra salt and all the maintenance over time was in the mid-$400,000 range, he said.

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Astorino is looking into how the reimbursement will affect the district, he said.

Were working on an updated forecast, so we know where well finish the year at, he said.

Astorinos forecast will also analyze how potential state cuts to public education could affect the district, he said.

Also at the meeting, the board approved an expenditure reduction plan.

Superintendent Lisa Newsome said she and district administrators were looking at changes to enrollment, possible state-wide public education cuts and where the district could cut.

Right now, its at $2.1 million, she said.

Newsome said she does not want to be in the caution area next year before the state finishes its budget.

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Thats all I can cut right now, she said. Im not going to cut anymore until we get that budget.

Board President Scott Yopp said people have been shielded from how cuts could affect them.

We are now to the point where youre going to see it impact things, he said.

The board approved bringing in Auburn Environmental to do an environmental study of Lakeside High School and GPRS to study the buildings envelope. The high schools roof collapsed during the Thanksgiving weekend snowstorm.

Board member and legislative liaison Laura Jones said she and Newsome went to Columbus Tuesday to testify to the Ohio State Senate in favor of House Bill 43.

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The bill was reported by senate committee and is going to the senate floor.

Sponsored by Ohio State Representatives Sarah Fowler Arthur and David Thomas, HB 43 would provide flexibility for graduation requirements, and waive not more than 24 of the required minimum number of hours a school building must be open with students in attendance.

Lakeside High School Principal Doug Wetherholt said at a board work session his students have been resilient.

Our goal is to bring down discipline by about 15% from last year to this year, he said. Weve done a pretty good job. If you look at our suspensions, we went from 277 to 211.

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Cell phone use in school is common, Wetherholt said.

We tripled the amount of discipline were doing with cell phones, just to try to get them off of that, he said.

Wetherholt said there have been more in-school suspensions that out-of-school suspensions.

The major infractions have come down and were addressing minor infractions, he said. Thats really where you want to live ... because kids are meant to make mistakes. Theyre going to make mistakes, and they just need to learn consequences.

The high schools staff have been resilient, too, Wetherholt said.

The board voted to give district teachers a 2% raise over the next two years. Newsome said the teachers deserve the raise, because they put in extra work after the high school roof collapse.

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I wish I could give them more, she said. With everything going on, they are working beyond their eight hours and beyond their 185 days.

Astorinos office received an award from the Ohio State Auditors Office, he said.

They were just starting that audit when the roof issue happened, he said.
A Henry County man has pleaded guilty to bringing a stolen gun into the Labor and Delivery unit of a hospital.

According to court documents, Terrell Monquez Searcy, 21, also known as rapper Quez 2RR, was arrested after security at Piedmont Walton Hospital found he hid the gun under a couch cushion inside a hospital room in the labor unit on Aug. 17, 2023.

Investigators said Searcy handed over the Glock Model 17 9mm handgun with a loaded 30-round extended magazine to the security officers.

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Hospital security noticed that a full auto sear pin appeared to have been attached to the rear of the slide, making the firearm a machinegun, prompting the call by hospital security to police. Police ran the serial number on the firearm and found out it was reported stolen from Walton County, Georgia. Searcy was taken into custody, investigators said in a news release.

ATF agents ended up testing the gun and confirmed that it functioned as a machine gun.

During the investigation into Searcy, investigators learned that he had showcased the converted pistol in his music videos posted to his YouTube page.

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In a music video titled Traffic, Searcy rapped, I pop out a switch on the back of my Glock and I put a switch on the back of my Glock, just to clean up the street when its time for that action. At one point in the video, Searcys holding a pistol in his waistband with what appears to be a machinegun conversion device attached to the back, investigators said.

Searcy was ultimately indicted on charges of possessing a machine gun in August 2024.

During the indictment process, agents located Instagram messages between Searcy and a female law enforcement officer with the Clayton County Police Department. Between January and March 2023, Searcy asked the police officer to run his information to see if there were any warrants for his arrest.

Agents learned that the officer gave Searcy information about an active homicide investigation. During an interview with Clayton County police detectives, the officer admitted to giving Searcy the info, including information about active warrants for his arrest.

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On Feb. 11, 2025, ATF and several other agencies executed a search warrant on Searchs home in McDonough.

Searcy was there with two other men. During the search, they found several firearms. ATF agents ran tests on the firearms they collected that they had been used in other crimes in the area including one that was used in a drive-by shooting in DeKalb County where four people, including two juveniles, were shot inside their homes.

Each shooting occurred within just days of Searcy receiving information from the Clayton County police officer on the active Clayton County homicide where his friend was shot and killed, the news release said.

Searcy is scheduled to be sentenced on June 4.
Saica Flex, the flexible packaging arm of Saica Group, has officially launched its newly upgraded facilities and machinery at its Wigan site in the UK, following a significant investment of 7.1m ($7.6m).

The advanced machinery is aimed at enhancing the companys operations while supporting Saica Group's plans of improving both productivity and sustainability.

Among the new equipment installed is a printing press, as well as a variety of conversion tools, including perforation units, a slitting machine, and a hole-punching system.

The move will help Saica Flex improve its production capabilities in modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), which is used to extend the shelf life of perishable goods such as sliced onions, diced fruit, and precut vegetables.

The new MAP technology can keep such products fresh for up to six days, compared to just a few hours without this type of packaging.

In addition to the technological improvements, the project is expected to have a positive economic impact on the local community.

Saica Flex has committed to creating up to 20 new local jobs at the Wigan facility, with 11 positions already filled.

This investment will contribute to employment and ongoing economic development in the area.

Saica Group president and CEO Susana Alejandro said: This investment shows unprecedented progress for Saica Flex.

It not only strengthens our manufacturing capabilities but also solidifies our commitment to the Wigan community.

We are excited to create new jobs and contribute to local economic growth. With our advanced machinery, we are prepared to meet the growing demands of our customers while continuing to lead the way in sustainability and innovation.

Earlier this month, Saica Group revealed plans to set up a new corrugated production site in the US, with a financial commitment surpassing $110m.

"Saica Flex launches new facilities in Wigan with 7.1m investment" was originally created and published by Packaging Gateway, a GlobalData owned brand.




An attorney resigned from the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, posting a sharply critical resignation letter that called on the company to stand up to President Trump amid a crackdown on law firms.

Rachel Cohen, an associate at the firm, shared a strongly worded conditional notice of resignation with her colleagues on Thursday evening. She shared a screenshot of the letter in a LinkedIn post that went viral and has been reposted 1,145 times as of Saturday evening.

Please consider this email my two week notice revocable if the firm comes up with a satisfactory response to our current moment, Cohen said in the email to her colleagues at the firm.

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In the LinkedIn post, she said this moment is existential.

If being on this career path demands I accept that my industrybecause this is certainly not unique to Skaddenwill allow an authoritarian government to ignore the courts, I refuse to take it any further. As I have said before, others stand to lose far, far more than a paycheck, she said.

Cohens resignation was issued just hours after the Trump administration reversed an executive order that had removed the security clearances of attorneys at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. This reversal followed the firms commitment to provide $40 million in free legal services for cases that represent the full spectrum of political viewpoints of our society.

The executive order aimed at Paul Weiss was a response to the actions of a former employee, Mark Pomerantz, who had previously served as a prosecutor overseeing the Manhattan District Attorneys investigation into Trumps alleged financial offenses. In yielding to Trumps demands, the firm conceded that Pomerantz had engaged in misconduct.

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On social media, critics say the law firm has given in to a shakedown by Trump. But the firms chair, Brad Karp, defended the deal he struck in an email to all employees, per the New York Times.

The Hill reached out to Skadden for comment.

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NEW MEXICO (KRQE)  After three kids were arrested this week for the murder of a bicyclist, juvenile crime is once again in the spotlight. Attorneys who represent young defendants are weighing in on what they see within the community, and what they believe could help prevent kids from becoming career criminals.

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This is another example of what were dealing with as law enforcement is dealing with these younger and younger kids that are getting involved in serious crime, said Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina at a news conference on Tuesday.

Medina was talking about a horrific crime in the community in which police found that three juveniles were connected to the hit-and-run death of a cyclist in 2024. A crime investigators said they committed for fun.

As the state grapples with how to address the growing problem of kids committing crimes, local attorneys who defend children in court said there are special challenges when it comes to representing kids. With children, because their brains are not fully developed, they could be incompetent for various reasons due to immaturity, said Dennica Torres, District Defender for the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender.

The Law Office of the Public Defender wants to see more money allocated for services and rehabilitation to prevent kids from becoming career criminals. If they are abused or neglected in their home, which is the case with the majority of the kids who enter the juvenile justice system, we really need more safe spaces to put these kids to help them, said Torres.

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Another suggestion: make sure kids who drop out of school are better monitored and receive some sort of schooling. I think rather than focus on more incarceration and harsher punishment, I think if the focus could be on maybe monitoring these kids that have dropped out of school, said Lizzy Bunker a Criminal Defense Attorney.

Two major bills in the New Mexico Legislature focused on penalties and resources to help youth get back on track after committing a crime. Both failed this legislative session.

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DENVER (KDVR)  Police in Aurora stopped a pursuit Friday after a passenger got out of a moving stolen vehicle.

A spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department told FOX31 that the vehicle was later found and taken in as evidence.

Police: Stolen vehicle pursuit ends in Aurora, driver in custody

Police first spotted the vehicle around 5:40 a.m. Friday near 6th Avenue and Havana Street. Officers followed it for a short time before the driver began to elude officers. Police said they lost sight of the vehicle near Montview and Lima but found the vehicle near Macon and Colfax Avenue and reinitiated the pursuit.

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The pursuit was called off when police found a woman on the ground at 19th Avenue and Chester. They initially thought she was a pedestrian struck by the stolen vehicle, however, police later discovered that she exited the stolen vehicle while it was moving.

She was injured and taken to a hospital.

About two hours later, officers located the stolen vehicle near Chester and 13th Avenue. Police said no one was inside.

The vehicle was towed as evidence to be processed by the departments Crime Scene Unit.

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A desert preserve in El Paso, Texas, has been repeatedly vandalized by unauthorized trail builders.

What's happening?

El Paso Matters reported on unidentified culprits who have repeatedly cut trails through the Knapp Land Nature Preserve and Lost Dog Trail.

Volunteers put up signage and closed off the illegal trails after they were discovered. The following day, the signs were gone and the trails were back. That pattern has repeated over the past year. Prickly pear cacti and other plants were removed to create the trail, damage which officials said would take several years to reverse.

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"It was very emotional for me, because, first of all, these lands are for the benefit of the community," said Rocio Ronquillo, a preserve manager. "You need to be respectful."

Officials believe a nearby homeowner may be trying to carve a path for their convenience instead of using established trails.

"It's really a lack of education, because if some of them knew the situation, they probably wouldn't do that," Open Space Advisory Board chair Joe Garibay told El Paso Matters.

However, Garibay suspects some of the damage was done by a mountain biker who has intentionally carved trails in the past and refused to stop.

Why is protecting natural spaces important?

Repairing damage when people vandalize rocks or leave behind trash is expensive. This behavior runs counter to the leave no trace principle and can carry serious consequences depending on where it occurs.

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In state parks, disturbing native plants, defacing archaeological sites, or harming endangered species could lead to severe fines or jail time.

These rules are established to preserve ecosystems and protect plants and wildlife. Disturbing rocks and soil by going off designated trails leads to unnecessary erosion and further damage.

Do you think America does a good job of protecting its natural beauty? Definitely Only in some areas No way I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

Creating unauthorized trails can also be a safety hazard for other visitors.

"This side in particular there is a huge arroyo and if they're in there, and there was a storm  it's going to take people if they're crossing," Janae Reneaud Field, the land alliance's executive director, told El Paso Matters.

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A serious danger considering the uptick in extreme weather events.

What's being done to protect natural spaces?

Knapp Land Nature Preserve is working to get funding for surveillance cameras and larger signs that clearly state the rules, per El Paso Matters. They hope that education will help prevent further destruction.

Officials acknowledged the difficulty for people to change their behavior when they feel entitled to use open spaces for themselves.

When we come together with a shared respect for nature, it enhances climate awareness. It can even foster new experiences, like how mountain bikers and conservationists in Wales teamed up to rewild a bike park.

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Becoming one with nature and enjoying open spaces should never come at the expense of someone else's opportunity to have that same connection.

Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Protesters outside the Lansing, Mich., office of U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, on March 21, 2025, lead chants of "one term Tom" and "we can't bear it" while organizers deliver more than 1,800 petition signatures calling on the first-term member of Congress to hold an in-person town hall. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Updated on 3/22/25 at 4:13 p.m.

Grassroots organizers delivered more than 2,000 petition signatures to the Lansing office of U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte) demanding that the first-term congressman hold an in-person town hall meeting.

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Barrett held a telephone town hall earlier in the month, following guidance from the House GOPs campaign arm to avoid backlash at in-person meetings.

But the information to call in for that meeting didnt reach everyone who registered for the event, and some Democrats have expressed concern that the only participants allowed to ask questions during virtual events would be Republican supporters.

Curtis Hamilton speaks to reporters after grassroots organizers delivered more than 1,800 petition signatures to the Lansing, Mich., office of U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, on March 21, 2025, calling on the first-term member of Congress to hold an in-person town hall. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Curtis Hamilton, one of the organizers who delivered the petitions Friday, said that the protesters feel that he is not listening and that he is going through filters, and we just want to talk to him unfiltered.

Petitions were also delivered to the office of U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Twp.) earlier in the week.

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Reporters and several constituents were blocked from following the organizers into Barretts office, as the doors were locked and district director Ron Kendall said it is not a public office. Signs warning that photography is not allowed inside without permission have been added to the door after a previous protest at Barretts office.

Barrett spokesperson Michael Gordon did not immediately respond to a request for comment about who is allowed to visit the freshman representatives district office. However, Barrett himself took to social media Saturday to say he and his staff have responded to more than 20,000 phone calls, letters, and emails while meeting with dozens of people from mid-Michigan every single week. He noted the telephone town hall he recently hosted and said he looked forward to hosting another event again in April, although he ended with a caveat.

While we have seen organized agitators try to disrupt and plunge public events across the country into chaos, Im focused on getting results and will continue looking for meaningful ways to engage everyone in our community  even those who disagree with me, said Barrett.

Hamilton said Kendall assured the organizers who made an appointment to visit the office that their message would be delivered, even if he could not commit to Barretts attendance at an April 22 town hall sponsored by the NAACP.

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We said well have a chair on stage for him whether he shows up or not, Hamilton said over chants of we cant bear it and one term Tom from the crowd gathered outside the office.

The doors to the Lansing, Mich., office of U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, are locked and display signs warning that photos are not allowed inside without permission on March 21, 2025, as grassroots organizers deliver more than 1,800 petition signatures calling on the first-term member of Congress to hold an in-person town hall. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Grassroots organizers delivered more than 1,800 petition signatures to the Lansing, Mich., office of U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, on March 21, 2025, calling on the first-term member of Congress to hold an in-person town hall. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

The doors to the Lansing, Mich., office of U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, are locked and display signs warning that photos are not allowed inside without permission on March 21, 2025, as grassroots organizers deliver more than 1,800 petition signatures calling on the first-term member of Congress to hold an in-person town hall. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

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Grassroots organizers delivered more than 1,800 petition signatures to the Lansing, Mich., office of U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, on March 21, 2025, calling on the first-term member of Congress to hold an in-person town hall. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Protesters outside the Lansing, Mich., office of U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, on March 21, 2025, lead chants of "one term Tom" and "we can't bear it" while organizers deliver more than 1,800 petition signatures calling on the first-term member of Congress to hold an in-person town hall. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Grassroots organizers delivered more than 1,800 petition signatures to the Lansing, Mich., office of U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, on March 21, 2025, calling on the first-term member of Congress to hold an in-person town hall. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

This story was updated to add comment from Rep. Barrett.

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BATH, N.Y. (WETM)  A Bath man was arrested after being accused of selling drugs last year.

Brian D. Personious, 47, was arrested on a superior court indictment warrant, the Bath Village Police Department announced on March 21. According to the police department, Personiouss warrant stemmed from an investigation into drug sales that allegedly occurred in the Village of Bath in 2024.

Corning woman arrested after suspected assault of a police officer

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Personious was charged with fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance (a class D felony) and fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance (a class D felony).

After he was arrested, Personious was processed, and his charges were read in the Steuben County Court. Personious was released on his own recognizance following his court appearance.

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Mar. 21BEMIDJI  The Bemidji Police Department and Beltrami County Sheriff's Department will host a scam detection awareness presentation at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 27, in the Beltrami County Board Room, 701 Minnesota Ave.

Attendees will learn how to recognize and avoid common scams, a release said.

This event is free and open to the public.
Benefits claimants have been given free electric vehicle (EV) chargers worth hundreds of pounds under an out of control taxpayer-backed car scheme, The Telegraph can reveal.

Motability, which provides cars to disabled people in exchange for a portion of their benefits, has installed more than 66,000 charging points at the homes of people on disability benefits free of charge.

The charge points, which typically cost between 800 and 1,500, have been paid for by Motability, which makes almost half of its money from disability benefits. Executive bonuses are partly tied to encouraging benefit claimants to take up electric cars.

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The revelation will add to growing scrutiny of Motability, amid concerns that the scheme is being misused. The company is sanctioned by the Government to provide cars to people on disability benefits, but is not overseen by the Government.

Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, said: The whole Motability scheme was well-intentioned and had the right ambitions when it started out but it has now basically been hijacked and is being used and abused by a whole load of freeloaders.

Bluntly, if youve got a mental health issue or ADHD for one of your children, you dont need a free car from the taxpayer.

The EV industry is using it to prop up EV sales and were all being ripped off. Its being used as a proxy for Government net zero policy and the directors of this scheme are complicit with the Government in promoting net stupid zero. Its a disgrace.

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Motability was founded in the 1970s to help disabled people access cars, exchanging a portion of their benefits for a leased vehicle.

However, Britains welfare crisis has led to a huge spike in the number of people eligible for a free car through the scheme. Around 815,000 people now qualify, up from 650,000 two years ago, after a surge in the numbers qualifying for higher rate personal independent payments (PIP) that include a mobility payment.

It has led to questions about whether taxpayers should still be subsidising the purchase of new vehicles for the disabled given the growing cost of the scheme. Questions have also been raised about the appropriateness of some of the cars offered by Motability, such as top-of-the-range BMWs worth more than 50,000.

Liz Kendall, the work and pensions minister, last week tightened the eligibility criteria for PIP in order to tackle the spiralling cost of benefits. However, MPs said Motability demonstrated that more needed to be done.

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Peter Bedford, the MP for Mid Leicestershire who has raised the issue in Parliament, said: With a ballooning welfare bill the Government needs to get a grip of out-of-control spending on initiatives like this.

The Motability scheme is just one of many programmes that requires a full deep dive to ensure that only those who are truly in need receive it.

William Yarwood, from the TaxPayers Alliance, said the public were being taken for a ride. He said: Not only can you get a subsidised top-of-the-line electric car with VAT and insurance exemptions, but a free home charging point thrown in for good measure.

If Labour are serious about welfare reform, they need to take a long, hard look at Motability and crack down on the abuse before the scheme drives further out of control.

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A home charge point typically costs between 800 to 1,500, according to DriveElectric, an EV leasing group. It suggests Motabilitys EV charger rollout has cost up to 100m.

The National Association of Property Buyers (NAPB) has suggested that the addition of an EV charging point to a property can add up to 5,000 to a homes value.

The home charging points have been paid for using a 265.5m pot of cash that Motability set aside to support the Governments net zero ambitions three years ago. A Motability spokesman denied that the EV chargers had been funded by disability allowances. Instead, they said the pot was funded from higher than expected profits made selling used cars.

As well as funding the installation of chargers, the pot has been used to subsidise the cost of new electric cars. Today, the company offers more than 200 models of EVs.

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Motability has started to encourage EV take-up ahead of the scheduled ban on petrol and diesel cars by 2030. Executive bonuses are partly tied to EV targets and the past rollout of chargers helped Andrew Miller, the chief executive of Motability, earn a 198,000 bonus last year.

Andrew Miller, the chief executive of Motability, earned a 198,000 bonus last year

Benefit claimants must have a garage or off-street parking and permission to fit a charger if they are renting to qualify for the free chargers. About half of EV drivers under the Motability scheme were eligible.

Motability said it stopped offering free chargers in October and customers who wished to have a home charger would now have to pay for it through their benefits allowance or via an advanced payment.

A spokesman added: The Motability scheme gives 815,000 disabled people the freedom to get to work, school, and medical appointments  helping them live independently and play an active role in society. The reality is that the UK is switching to electric vehicles and the investment we have made in disabled mobility is designed to make sure that our customers are not left behind.

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They said including the share of new EV registrations in executive bonus targets reflected the need to align with the UKs transition to zero-emission vehicles.

About 40pc of Motabilitys 6.9bn of revenue comes from customer welfare payments, and the rest from selling on cars which have gone beyond their three-year lease to dealerships.

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ST. LOUIS  A local official from the Berkeley Police Department is striving to make history and fulfill a dream for a 13-year-old boy.

Berkeley Police Major Steve Runge has kickstarted a campaign for Devarjaye DJ Daniel, who is battling brain cancer. Runge spoke to FOX 2 with his initiative to swear in Daniel as an honorary police officer by more than 100 police departmentsall at once.

Daniel became a national sensation, making his appearance in Washington during President Trumps address to Congress in early March.

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One of those who tuned in to watch the address was Runge, who was moved by the celebration of Daniels service.

Runge felt compelled to reach out right away.

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I made a call the next day, and got (Daniels) address, his phone number and spoke to his dad, Runge explained. I said, You have got to come to St. Louis. And he agreed.

DJs father, Theodis Daniel, has visited St. Louis before, according to Runge when describing his conversation with FOX 2. Runge had the opportunity to invite DJ to visit the Berkeley Police Department, which became one of many tours for the 13-year-old and his father.

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Runge and his department reached out to all other police departments in Missouri, as well as in southern Illinois. However, Runge wanted to spread the word about DJ to other departments in the United States.

(DJ) travels all over the countryhe was in San Antonio and was just in Little Rock and was just in Baltimoreand he has cancer, Runge explained. (And) its tough, so lets bring the country to him.

Forty-three departments are championing this campaign, as well as Guns N Hoses. But this campaign for DJ is just beginning, Runge noted.

DJ Daniel will be making his appearance in St. Louis on April 14-16.

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(DJ) wants to ride and do traffic stops, Runge said.

Although DJ will be occupied riding with officers, he looks to hand out hugs instead of tickets.

Runge shared a GoFundMe that looks to support DJ Daniels dream, as well as transportation expenses.

A little boy wants to chase his dreams, and were going to make it happen, Runge said.

DJ Daniels GoFundMe-Page can be viewed here.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 2.
Shell aims to begin natural gas production at Venezuela's Dragon field by 2026, a year ahead of the original schedule.

The company also plans to begin exporting natural gas to Trinidad and Tobago in 2026.

The project underscores industry hopes for continued exceptions from US sanctions on Venezuela, despite recent stricter enforcement.

Shell and partners plan to start survey work next month, drilling three wells, reported Reuters, citing sources.

The US sanctions target nearly the entire Venezuelan oil and gas industry, controlled by state company PDVSA.

Countries like Trinidad and Tobago and private operators need US authorisation to export or pay revenue to sanctioned entities including the government, the central bank and PDVSA.

The US granted an authorisation licence for Dragon in early 2023, with the approval now valid until October 2025.

Trinidad's National Gas Company confirmed that the licence remains in effect.

"NGC and Shell continue to work assiduously on the Dragon project and remain committed to achieving first gas as soon as is reasonably possible," the company stated.

Trinidad's government recently revealed plans to inform Washington about the critical role that US gas project licences play in Venezuela in supporting regional energy security, the report said.

Shell is accelerating the timeline for first production in order to secure gas supplies for the Atlantic LNG project in Trinidad.

According to preliminary data from LSEG, Atlantic LNG produced 8.5 million tonnes (mt) last year, missing its full capacity by 4mt because of a gas shortage.

Earlier this month, bp, the projects major shareholder, revealed it would shut down the first liquefaction train, which has been inactive since 2020 due to insufficient gas.

Dragon has an estimated four trillion cubic feet of gas reserves and is near a Trinidad field with a pipeline to the Atlantic LNG facility.

Shell is set to begin an environmental baseline survey in April, focusing on waves, sea currents, earth movement and marine life.

This survey is a key part of the engineering work to construct a pipeline approximately 16km long, linking Dragon to Trinidad.

Venezuela granted a 30-year licence to Shell and NGC in 2023 to explore and produce the gas field.

A final investment decision by Shell is expected this year, pending Washington's decision on the US licence extension.

Washington recently terminated a key licence enabling Chevron to operate in Venezuela.

However, no cancellations of licences related to energy projects between Venezuela and Trinidad have been announced.
The foreign ministers of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom on Friday called for an immediate return to the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

"The resumption of Israeli strikes in Gaza marks a dramatic step backward for the people of Gaza, the hostages, their families and the entire region," said a joint statement published on the UK government's website.

"We are appalled by the civilian casualties and urgently call for an immediate return to a ceasefire."

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The joint statement comes as Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened to occupy further areas of the Gaza Strip, in a bid to put more pressure on the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

The longer Hamas refuses to release hostages, the more territory it will lose to Israel, Katz said on Friday, according to his office. It said he had instructed the army to call on the local population to flee in this case.

No details were given as to how territory would be seized, though some Israeli media reported areas would be annexed.

On Tuesday, Israel launched a new massive wave of airstrikes on Gaza, shattering a fragile ceasefire in place since January.

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The resumption of Israeli airstrikes comes two months after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal that included the release of hostages taken during the October 7, 2023, attacks in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

"We call on all parties to re-engage with negotiations to ensure the ceasefire is implemented in full and becomes permanent," the foreign ministers of Germany, France, and the UK said in their joint statement.

"This must include Hamas releasing the hostages that they have cruelly detained and persistently refuse to release."
This article was originally published in Maine Morning Star.

President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. Small Business Administration would handle the student loan portfolio for the slated-for-elimination Education Department, and that the Department of Health and Human Services would handle special education services and nutrition programs.

The announcement  which raises myriad questions over the logistics to carry out these transfers of authority  came a day after Trump signed a sweeping executive order that directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the department to the extent she is permitted to by law.

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I do want to say that Ive decided that the SBA, the Small Business Administration, headed by Kelly Loeffler  terrific person  will handle all of the student loan portfolio, Trump said Friday morning.

The White House did not provide advance notice of the announcement, which Trump made at the opening of an Oval Office appearance with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Education Department manages student loans for millions of Americans, with a portfolio of more than $1.6 trillion, according to the White House.

In his executive order, Trump said the federal student aid program is roughly the size of one of the Nations largest banks, Wells Fargo, adding that although Wells Fargo has more than 200,000 employees, the Department of Education has fewer than 1,500 in its Office of Federal Student Aid.



Everything else to HHS

Meanwhile, Trump also said that the Department of Health and Human Services will be handling special needs and all of the nutrition programs and everything else.

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It is unclear what nutrition programs Trump was referencing, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture manages school meal and other major nutrition programs.

One of the Education Departments core functions includes supporting students with special needs. The department is also tasked with carrying out the federal guarantee of a free public education for children with disabilities Congress approved in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA.

Trump added that the transfers will work out very well.

Those two elements will be taken out of the Department of Education, he said Friday. And then all we have to do is get the students to get guidance from the people that love them and cherish them, including their parents, by the way, who will be totally involved in their education, along with the boards and the governors and the states.

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Trumps Thursday order also directs McMahon to return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.



SBA, HHS heads welcome extra programs

Asked for clarification on the announcement, a White House spokesperson on Friday referred States Newsroom to comments from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and heads of the Small Business Administration and Health and Human Services Department.

Leavitt noted the move was consistent with Trumps promise to return education policy decisions to states.

President Trump is doing everything within his executive authority to dismantle the Department of Education and return education back to the states while safeguarding critical functions for students and families such as student loans, special needs programs, and nutrition programs, Leavitt said. The President has always said Congress has a role to play in this effort, and we expect them to help the President deliver.

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Loeffler and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said their agencies were prepared to take on the Education Department programs.

As the governments largest guarantor of business loans, the SBA stands ready to deploy its resources and expertise on behalf of Americas taxpayers and students, Loeffler said.

Kennedy, on the social media platform X, said his department was fully prepared to take on the responsibility of supporting individuals with special needs and overseeing nutrition programs that were run by @usedgov.

The Education Department directed States Newsroom to McMahons remarks on Fox News on Friday, where she said the department was discussing with other federal agencies where its programs may end up, noting she had a good conversation with Loeffler and that the two are going to work on the strategic plan together.

Maine Morning Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maine Morning Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lauren McCauley for questions: info@mainemorningstar.com.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA)  The community is coming together to celebrate and spread awareness for World Down Syndrome Day.

All Big Whiskey restaurants in Northwest Arkansas donated 10% of all of their sales to the Down Syndrome Connection of Northwest Arkansas, a nonprofit that supports and provides age-appropriate programs for Down Syndrome Families.

Down Syndrome Connection of NWA says each penny it receives supports families in the area.

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Weve been doing a few things this week to help celebrate Down syndrome, said Cyndi Najar with Down Syndrome Connection of Northwest Arkansas. But of course, World Down Syndrome Day is the epitome of everything.

More information can be found here.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KNWA FOX24.
27,523 people played the daily Crossword recently. Can you solve it faster than others?

27,523 people played the daily Crossword recently. Can you solve it faster than others?
President Donald Trumps Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick cant stop putting his foot in his mouth.

In a podcast appearance Friday, Lutnick  a billionaire Trump donor-turned-Cabinet member  pontificated that seniors wouldnt worry if they didnt receive a Social Security check one month.

Lets say Social Security didnt send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law, whos 94, she wouldnt call and complain. She just wouldnt. Shed think something got messed up and shell get it next month, Lutnick, who has an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion, said on the All-In podcast.

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He suggested that halting Social Security checks might be a good way to root out people trying to defraud the system.

A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining, he said.

The easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen, because whoever screams is the one stealing, he claimed. Because my mother-in-law is not calling me. Come on, your mother  80-year-olds, 90-year-olds  they trust the government.

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick looks on in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 21. JIM WATSON via Getty Images

A Bankrate survey from November found that 77% of current retirees rely on Social Security checks to cover necessary expenses, while only 15% say they are not at all reliant on them.

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His remarks come the same day Leland Dudek, the temporary director of the Social Security Administration, suggested agency operations would be so burdened by a court blocking the so-called Department of Government Efficiencys access to sensitive databases that he would just have to shut down the whole department, potentially halting payments to 70 million people.

Lutnicks out-of-touch comments on Social Security checks come days after a bizarre push he made for Americans to buy stock in Tesla, which has seen its shares lose about half of their value this year, wildly backfired.

In a Fox News appearance Wednesday, Lutnick urged viewers to invest in Elon Musks electric car company and promised them that the stock will never be this cheap again.

I mean, who wouldnt invest in Elon Musk? he said of Trumps adviser, whos overseeing massive cuts to federal programs. You gotta be kidding me.

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Teslas stock dropped another 1.7% the morning after Lutnicks sales pitch.

Related...
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said his 94-year-old mother-in-law wouldnt be worried if she didnt receive her Social Security check one month.

Lutnick argued that the only people upset about DOGE head Elon Musk targeting Social Security are fraudsters abusing the system.

Lets say Social Security didnt send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law, whos 94, wouldnt call and complain, he said during a Thursday appearance on the All-In podcast. She just wouldnt. Shed think something got messed up and shell get it next month.

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Public records suggest that his mother-in-law, Geri Lambert, lives with Lutnick and his wife Allison, at his Upper East Side townhouse in Manhattan. If that is the case, she is unlikely to be relying on Social Security for rent or mortgage payments.

Lutnick, who was nominated to the role by President Donald Trump, amassed a fortune worth around $1.5 billion over more than 30 years as the CEO of the investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald. He stepped down from the position in February when he was confirmed as commerce secretary.

Elon Musk, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick walk across the White House lawn on March 7, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images

A fraudster always makes the loudest noise screaming, yelling, and complaining, the commerce secretary continued. Elon knows this by heart The easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen, because whoever screams is the one stealing.

This month, Musk signaled his intention to sic DOGE on the Social Security system. Although he has said he is just looking for waste and fraud, critics are concerned that he could use this as a pretext for making substantial cuts.

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News broke last week that DOGE was considering a plan to scrap the call-in service for filing Social Security claims, forcing claimants to use a computerbut Musk backed off after widespread outcry. The goal was purportedly to reduce fraud, but millions of Americans, especially the elderly, rely on the phone service.

Trump bought a Tesla in a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk. / Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

It isnt the first eyebrow-raising statement Lutnick has made in support of Muskeven this week.

On Wednesday, Lutnick appeared on Fox News and urged viewers to buy Tesla stock, which has been plummeting amid protests against Musks efforts to reshape the federal government. Musk is the CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer.

He called Musk probably the best person to bet on Ive ever met, saying: Its unbelievable that this guys stock is this cheap.

Last week, Trump announced that he was buying a Tesla and held a showing of various Tesla models on the White House lawnapparently as publicity for Musks company.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  Ohio public school districts would be required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day under a new bipartisan bill.

State Reps. Tracy Richardson (R-Marysville) and Sean Brennan (D-Parma) introduced House Bill 117 to require public schools to establish a specific time and manner for the daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Schools would also be highly encouraged to develop and implement lessons related to the American flag and the pledge, although participation would not be necessary.

As a veteran American Government and History teacher, I have always firmly held to the fact that our public schools were, in part, created to instill our young learners with a sense of loyalty to our country, Brennan said. I encourage every adult in Ohio to set the expectation and model for our young people the importance of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, respect for the American flag, standing when veterans march by in a parade and other actions that further this goal.

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Could same-sex marriage be on the ballot in Ohio?

Under H.B. 117, school districts would have to make these policies publicly available online. School districts would not be allowed to require anyone to participate or infringe on their Constitutional rights.

In the U.S., states are permitted to require public school participation, but laws cannot infringe on the First Amendment right to choose whether or not to participate, regardless of age. Four U.S. states  Florida, Utah, Pennsylvania and Texas  currently require parent permission to opt out of the pledge, but Ohios law would not require parental consent.

This would repeal and replace a current Ohio law, which requires districts to clarify if reciting the pledge is a part of the schools program and protects teachers right to lead their classroom in the pledge if they wish to.

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Ohio higher education bill one step closer to law

In central Ohio, many school districts already recite the Pledge of Allegiance daily. Canal Winchester and South-Western City School representatives confirmed all students recite the pledge daily, and Hilliard schools have a district policy requiring daily recitation.

Other districts recite the pledge less frequently. Grandview Heights said its students recite the pledge daily in grades K-3, and then weekly for all other grades. Pickerington representatives said they say it daily in grades K-8, and weekly in high school. A Reynoldsburg representative said the district does not have a specific policy or consistent cadence for reciting the pledge, and a Bexley spokesperson said the district encourages, but does not require it.

In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words under God to the pledge. This updated, 31-word pledge would be the pledge required under H.B. 117.

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Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance builds nationalism and unity by promising to be faithful to our American values, Richardson said. We live in the greatest country in the world and the Pledge of Allegiance helps to remind us of this.

The bill had its first hearing in the House Education Committee on March 11, but does not yet have a second hearing scheduled.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  The Birmingham Police Department is seeking assistance from the public in locating a missing man.

John Clay, 61, was last seen Thursday, March 20, near the 1200 block of 14th Avenue South. According to BPD, he suffers from a condition that requires constant medical care. Hes described as being 56, 210 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. He was last seen wearing a blue hoodie, blue jeans, and black shoes.

Anyone with information can call BPD at 205-328-9311.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  The Birmingham Public Library is hosting 69 events next week for students and families on their spring breaks.

Alabama lawmakers approve paid parental leave for state employees

Events will be held at various BPL locations from March 24- March 28. Some of the featured activities include movie viewings at the Springville Road, Smithfield and Southside libraries, art exhibits at the Central Library and more. BPL will offer events for all ages, including free tax prep at the Woodlawn Branch Library.

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A full list of offered events can be found here.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS 42.
LAKE CITY, S.C. (WBTW)  Emmanuel Williams thought he was about to embark on his dream job when he was hired Feb. 23, 2024 as police chief in Lake City, a town of 6,000 in Florence County.

Two weeks later, Mayor Yamekia Robinson admitted her city took the embarrassing misstep of announcing Williams hiring before a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division background check was completed that revealed the Chesterfield County Sheriffs Office fired him in 2015 over an undisclosed violation.

Williams withdrew his name for consideration several days later, News13 reported at the time.

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The job eventually went to Patrick Miles, a white man and 18-year department veteran with his own history.

Lake-City-lawsuitDownload

He was suspended without pay in December 2023 amid an investigation that followed the arrest of his wife on gun and drug charges. City officials later told News13 on Feb. 23 that he had been cleared within 30 days of any wrongdoing and had returned to work after a SLED probe.

On Thursday, Williams  whos Black  filed a federal lawsuit against the city and its former administrator William Hall, claiming on grounds of race discrimination, defamation and promissory estoppel.

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Lake City officials could not immediately be reached for comment but have said in the past they dont comment on pending litigation.

According to Williams complaint, Miles  then a major in the police department  performed his own unauthorized investigation into Plaintiff and/or shared negative information about Plaintiff, that resulted in Defendant revoking their selection of Plaintiff as police chief.

Williams claims he was forced to back out of the potential job as chief by Hall.

Plaintiff was threatened that if he did not go quietly, information from his past and negative press would be released about Plaintiff and Defendants would not support Plaintiff when the information was released, according to his suit. Therefore, Defendant Hall coerced and threatened Plaintiff to submit an email resigning from the position.

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Hall was terminated from his job as administrator in January after being appointed in March 2022.

Hall was also named in a September lawsuit filed by former police chief and deputy administrator Jody Cooper.

In his lawsuit, Williams said Miles was given disparate treatment in consideration for the job.

The Caucasian male selected for police chief was not disqualified for his background information nor subjected to additional background assessment by Defendant employees after selection, Williams suit says.

Williams is seeking unspecified financial damages and is asking for a civil trial.

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* * *

Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12. See more of his work here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBTW.
Over 100 Black women from across the United States gathered at Costco in Arlington, Virginia, to stage a buycott and show the power of Black buyers. On March 15, members of the Black Womens Roundtable (BWR) supported a corporation that has stood fast in maintaining diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The act of collective action is the first from the BWR since President Trump signed multiple executive orders to eliminate DEI initiatives in the public and federal sectors earlier this year.

The BWR Costco buycott was led by Melanie L. Campbell, a civil rights leader who is president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and convener of the Black Womens Roundtable.

She told Afro News, The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and Black Womens Roundtable values companies that value diversity, and Costcos recent actions to preserve their diversity initiatives prove they care about all of their customers. Corporations and businesses should not ask for Black patrons while failing to support employees of color.

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The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation is a group that has continually shown its dedication to advocating for the rights of Black communities through empowerment initiatives and programs. Campbell and the NCBCP have continued to work to ensure equal representation, civic engagement, economic empowerment, and the protection of voting rights for all.

The BWRs Costco buycott was part of its Power National Summit, which focuses on teaching people strategies to empower Black women to overcome systemic barriers in their everyday lives. It showed all companies that have pulled back on their DEI initiatives how much power Black people have in their pockets. As previously reported by Nielsen, in the United States, Black consumers hold around $2 trillion in spending power, and Black women have been hailed as having large impacts on trends of consumer behavior.

The BWR Costco buycott showed other corporations the scope of that power when they support Black consumers versus when they show that DEI initiatives dont matter to them.

In February, civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton led a similar buy-in at a Costco in New Jersey.

RELATED CONTENT: Costco Thriving After Retailers Like Target Roll Back DEI Initiatives
After a long and bumpy road, the missing link of the Bob Jones Trail received its last required approval on Friday, setting the stage for construction to finally start next year.

The trails redesigned connection was approved by the California Transportation Commission, guaranteeing the $48 million project will keep its state funding.

Efforts to close a 4.5-mile gap in the path, connecting San Luis Obispo to the sea at Avila Beach, have been in the works for over a decade.

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The project has been stalled due to funding issues and opposition from property owners with land along the planned pathway.

There are many reasons we have not given up on the Bob Jones Trail, public safety being one of the biggest, SLO County Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg said at the commission meeting.

On Friday, all of that patience and perseverance paid off when the state transportation commission voted unanimously to approve the decision.

With all the approvals and funding in place, construction can begin next year.

Now the work really begins, Ortiz-Legg told The Tribune.

The parking lot on Ontario Road is a starting point for many hikers and bikers. The Bob Jones Trail is proposed to run from San Luis Obispo to Avila Beach but has not yet been completed, seen here on Dec. 3, 2024.

State grants final funding, design approval for the Bob Jones Trail

Three items relating to the Bob Jones Trail came before of the Transportation Commission on Friday  two brought forward by SLO County, and one by the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments.

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The county asked for both approval of the new Bob Jones Trail alignment  which was redesigned to avoid property owned by Ray Bunnell, a SLO County rancher who opposed the project going through his land  and approval for its plan to build the trail in segments.

SLOCOG asked the commission to allocate $5.7 million in State Transportation Improvement Program funds for the project.

All items required approval in order for the county to keep its $18 million state Active Transportation Program grant, which was necessary to keep the project alive.

All three items passed unanimously.

Its such a huge hurdle, county Public Works Department project manager Aaron Yonker told The Tribune. The decision advances this worthwhile and community-based project ... to create a safe, multi-modal access for all users, he said.

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Nerves were high leading into Fridays meeting.

SLO County Public Works staff waited to hear the result of their hard work, and SLO County residents in attendance  either in person or online  spoke passionately in support of the project.

It has been a long time coming that weve been working on this project, one SLO County resident and mother said during public comment. This trail segment is essential for full inclusion of people with disabilities.

Her daughter, now a freshman in high school, has been waiting for the trail to be built since she was just a girl, her mother said.

Even though its been years since the project began, its still so important, she told her mother, she said.

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California Sen. John Laird also expressed his support in a letter submitted to the commission.

Cindy and Dan Chernow walk the trail running along San Luis Creek near Ontario Road. The Bob Jones Trail is proposed to run from San Luis Obispo to Avila Beach but has not yet been completed, seen here on Dec. 3, 2024.

Brian Manning, a legal representative, spoke at the meeting on behalf of Bunnell, who has been in negotiations with the county over his public safety concerns with the trails current design.

I want to be clear: He is not an opponent to the project, never has been, Manning said of his client. Bunnell only opposed the trail interacting with his own property, the lawyer said.

Manning said it was not entirely accurate to represent the trail as being fully separated from traffic, as the county had.

He pointed to a 600-foot stretch near the south end of Clover Ridge Lane, a dead-end road that runs next to Bunnells property, where the bike path would share the road with drivers.

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However, the county said the entire trail will function effectively as a fully separated trail, despite the sections shared with the road.

Though Bunnell and his agricultural tenant who lease his land say they use the road end daily, the county holds that it is a low traffic road with no through traffic.

It is important to note that there is no vehicular throughput provided on this section of the road due to the road being a dead end road, Yonker told The Tribune. As a result there is almost zero vehicular traffic on that southerly section.

Manning, cut off by the time limit, ended his comment with a request that approval be contingent on the addition of safety features requested by Bunnell, such as security fences along his property.

Funding, property disputes, and redesign hurdles facing the Bob Jones Trail extension.

Where will the Bob Jones Trail be built?

The Bob Jones Trail was redesigned in October to avoid Bunnells property after efforts to acquire his land failed.

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The new design will reroute onto a strip of Caltrans-owned land next to Highway 101 for a stretch between Clover Ridge Lane  near Bunnells property  and Ontario Road, county civil engineer John Waddell previously told The Tribune.

Caltrans originally committed to paying for construction on the land, but after it pulled out, the SLO Council of Governments allocated $7.8 million of its state transportation funds to cover the gap.

The bookends on either end of the Caltrans corridor will be built in two phases.

Phase one will complete the northern end from the Octagon Barn to Clover Ridge Lane using the rest of the $18 million ATP grant. Construction is expected to begin in 2026.

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Construction on phase two, which will finish the southern bookend from the Caltrans right-of-way to the Ontario Road staging area, will likely start in 2027-28. It will be paid for with the $9.6 million in contributions from the council of governments and the countys $5 million.

To keep trail users safe along the highway segment, Caltrans will likely install a protective barrier between the highway and the path, built 10 to 12 feet away from the roadway, Waddell said.

At current levels, the project will cost $48 million in total, SLO County Public Works Director previously told The Tribune.

Were finally going to have something that weve been working for for so many years, Supervisor Ortiz-Legg said. It feels really good to keep the promises that were made to the community.
A Meridian teacher was told to remove a sign from her classroom because it violated district policy on content-neutral classrooms. Now, a Boise business is showing support by making T-shirts emblazoned with the sign.

The sign and T-shirt say, Everyone is welcome here, above hands of different skin tones holding hearts.

Sarah Inama, a world civilization teacher at Lewis and Clark Middle School in Meridian, said she was told by administrators in February that her sign didnt allow people to express differing opinions, that it is controversial in todays political environment, the Idaho Statesman reported. A spokesperson for the West Ada School District later clarified that the problem with the sign wasnt its welcoming message, but the imagery of hands with different skin tones, which aligns with themes commonly associated with DEI initiatives.

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Inamas story made national news. In the days since, the teacher said she has received an outpouring of support from parents, fellow teachers and former students. Now, two friends in Boise have teamed up take the support worldwide.

The idea started when former Kiss FM radio host Chris Stewart, known as Lucky the DJ, heard about Inamas story and wanted to get students and teachers in the district to wear shirts displaying the welcoming message.

One sign comes up, thousands go up, Stewart told the Statesman.

Stewart called Shawn Wright, owner of Brigade Screen Printing in Boise, with the idea. Neither expected that days later, theyd have sold over 15,000 of the shirts  at cost. The shirts and hoodies range from $18 to $36, according to Brigades website.

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It just blew up, Stewart said.

Wrights eight-person team at Brigade  located at 6902 S. Eisenman Road  has been pulling 15 and 16-hour days to produce the shirts in response to the orders pouring in from across the country and around the world. Wright and Stewart told the Statesman that theyve received orders from Germany, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and South Africa, among others.

Shawn Wright, owner of Brigade Screen Printing, and staff work with a small army of volunteers printing Everyone is welcome here shirts.

Theyve also engaged the help of dozens of volunteers, including Julie Wiley, a former school counselor, who said she was grateful to be able to help spread a positive, welcoming message and to see the community come together.

This kind of thing, a poster like this, has been our classrooms ... since we were kids, Wiley said. Of course everyones welcome. Its the law.

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Thats one of the best things about America, is everyone can come and get an education and be able to move forward, Wiley said.

Stewart said that part of the initiative is a social media campaign instructing individuals to post a picture of themselves wearing the T-shirt or hoodie on Monday paired with the hashtags #EveryoneIsWelcome, #InclusiveIdaho, or #WestAdaSchools.

Volunteers told the Statesman they plan to wear the shirts around town or while picking up kids from school. One volunteer, John Shoemaker, told the Statesman he wouldnt be getting his own shirt until everyone else who wanted one had one  but he bought two for his grandchildren in Washington state.

I dont think the story is the sign coming down, Stewart said. I think the story is all the signs going up.

Orders for shirts and hoodies have flooded the print shop since the West Ada School District said a poster with the same slogan violated policy and would have to be taken down.

Brigade is hosting an event this weekend where people who ordered the shirts online may pick them up. The event will take place from noon to 7 p.m. Saturday at 6902 S. Eisenman Road.

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KTVB reported earlier on Stewart and Wrights initiative.

Content neutral? West Ada says policy directs school to remove everyone is welcome sign

We will fight: West Ada to restructure alternative schools despite parental pleas

Nobody thinks its happening: Parents decry racism  and denial  in Boise-area schools
A man who at 15 participated in the killings in Fort Worth of two men over six days, including a slaying that was related to an ongoing gang feud, on Friday accepted the plea agreement offered by prosecutors.

Now 18, Dontrell Cummings pleaded guilty in an auxiliary state district court in Tarrant County to two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity-murder. In exchange, Justice Lee Gabriel sentenced him to 40 years in prison. Cummings will become eligible for parole after serving 20 years.

On Jan. 23, 2022, Cummings and Larrance Brown fired guns upon Chris Ramsey as Ramsey drove through the intersection of Sycamore School Road and Everman Parkway.

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Ramsey died. A second person with him in the car was also shot but survived.

Fort Worth police documented Cummings and Brown as members of the Blood street gang subset Bone Crushing Gorillas.

This shooting was related to an ongoing feud between Bone Crushing Gorillas and YTN, a Crip set, a prosecutor wrote in a motion requesting that a judge set bond conditions in the case. Cummings and Brown were potentially shooting at a rival YTN member, but Ramsey was not a documented gang member.

Law enforcement authorities believe the target of the shooting, a documented YTN member, was in a different vehicle.

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Cummings and Larrance Brown posted a video on Instagram taking credit for the shooting and bragged that they were responsible for the killing. The case against Larrance Brown is pending.

Five days earlier, on Jan. 28, 2022, Cummings and Malichi Brown, then 17, took part in the killing of 25-year-old Levondric Ford, believing Ford to be in possession of drugs, and intending to rob Ford, according to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorneys Office account.

Ford was not in possession of drugs. He was in the process of placing his infant son in his car seat when Brown and Cummings opened fire. Ford had reached for a weapon to defend himself. One of the shooters dropped his gun. They fled, then returned with another person to retrieve it.

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Malichi Brown, 20, last week accepted the states offer and pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in organized criminal activity-murder. Justice Gabriel sentenced Malichi Brown to 30 years in prison. He will become eligible for parole after serving 15 years.

Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Katie Owens prosecuted the cases. Defense attorney Leon Haley was retained to represent Cummings.

In a proceeding on Friday as Haley reviewed Cummings options on the court record and asked whether he was certain he wanted to plead guilty, Cummings turned his head at looked to his mother in the gallery.
British bosses are preparing to launch a co-ordinated attack against Angela Rayners deeply damaging overhaul of workers rights in a last-ditch attempt to persuade peers to water down the proposals.

Business groups are in discussions about sending a joint letter to the House of Lords ahead of a debate next week on the Employment Rights Bill.

Labour says new laws will end exploitative zero-hour contracts and make flexible working the default for all.

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However, bosses remain concerned that the overhaul will strangle businesses in red tape and undermine efforts to tackle Britains benefits crisis.

An early version of the letter warns of grave unintended consequences of handing workers a raft extra day-one rights that will also undermine Sir Keir Starmers efforts to raise living standards across the country.

The Bill, which has just been backed by MPs at its third reading, is making its way through parliament and will this week face scrutiny in the House of Lords where more amendments can be made.

Only when the Commons and Lords agree on the final version of the Bill can the proposals become law.

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The joint letter, drafted by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) on behalf of the so-called B5 club of business groups, warns that current proposals to give workers the right to claim unfair dismissal against their employer from day one alongside a raft of other measures will leave businesses hamstrung while simultaneously handing unions free rein to behave unreasonably.

It adds that this will hinder Government efforts to get people back to work because bosses will be reluctant to take a chance on young staff or people who have spent a substantial amount of time out of work.

A million 16 to 24-year-olds are currently classified as not in employment, education or training (Neet), according to official figures.

A recipe for damaging living standards

The letter says: Our collective position is that, as currently drafted, the Bill will have deeply damaging implications for the Governments priority growth mission but also their admirable focus on tackling rising economy inactivity and the growing number of young people currently classified as Neet.

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Taken together, that is a recipe for damaging, not raising, living standards.

The B5 is made up of the British Chambers of Commerce, CBI, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Institute of Directors (IoD) and Make UK, which together represent the majority of British businesses.

Sources stressed that drafting remained in the early stages, the letter warns that further compromise is needed in order to avoid damaging the economy as it accused Labour of overreaching on manifesto commitments.

The CBIs Rain Newton-Smith says Labour should reconsider its policies while there is still time - Leon Neal/Getty

The letter says: Businesses will be forced to make difficult choices between jobs, investment and growth as the headroom for higher employment costs has already been more than taken up by the increases in employer NICs.

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In addition, there are key areas where the scope of the policy that will be enacted by the Bill goes far beyond the outcomes outlined in the Labour manifesto. As such, the risk of grave unintended consequences has been compounded rather than addressed.



The B5 will call on peers, who will examine the bill next Thursday, to revisit four contentious areas, warning that handing employees the right to challenge unfair dismissal without needing a qualifying period risks leaving firms drowning in tribunal claims.

It says a right to guaranteed hours will lead to more requests for flexible working and overtime being denied.

It also calls for a rethink of fire and rehire rules and warns that parts of the bill puts business on a collision course with unions.

The letter says: Together, we are calling upon the Lords to fully scrutinise and improve this legislation in order to find a landing zone that is genuinely both pro-worker and pro-business.

Significant regulatory burden

Business groups are under mounting pressure to influence the final package as concerns rise.

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Rain Newton-Smith, the chief executive of the CBI, had planned to give a speech in Scotland on Friday urging the Government to get back around the table and discuss the Bill while there is still time.

Ms Newton-Smith, who had to cancel her speech due to the fires at Heathrow, had planned to say that the bill is currently damaging for the jobs market and is a sledgehammer to crack a nut and a wrong-turn when we can least afford it.

A spokesman for the CBI said: The businesses weve been speaking with are very concerned that the Employment Rights Bill as drafted imposes a significant regulatory burden onto firms and that this will have damaging consequences for growth, jobs and investment.

A landing-zone that commands the confidence of businesses and workers can still be found by taking the time to build a consensus that will give these reforms the footing to have a lasting positive impact.

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A government spokesman said: Through our transformative Plan for Change, this Government has delivered the biggest upgrade to workers rights in a generation, and our measures already have strong support amongst business and the public.

Weve consulted extensively with business on our proposals, and we will engage on the implementation of legislation to ensure it works for employers and workers alike.

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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) Brentwood Hospital and David Raines Community Health Center have officially agreed to partner and provide patients with comprehensive, integrated healthcare.

David Raines offers primary care, dental care, and behavioral health services. Brentwood Hospital offers psychiatric care. The two hospitals have been transferring and referring patients for a long time.

Were excited about developing and formalizing this referral relationship being able to again expand that access to patients who need both of the services that we provide, says Ceo of David Raines Community Health Center, Willie White.

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Black Family Wellness Expo in Louisiana offering health screenings

Brentwood Hospital CEO William Weaver says, Were real excited about what we do for the community and excited about continuing to strive to provide more services in collaboration with David Raines.

The specialty of Brentwood Hospital is treating patients with substance abuse and mental health disorders. Weaver says it is imperative that those working in behavioral health work hand-in-hand with medical partners.

The prevalence of medical issues, chronic issues with people with mental illness is extremely high. According to NAMI, people with depression have a 40% higher rate of have cardiovascular disease, said Weaver.

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Brentwood Hospital is the largest psychiatric hospital in Louisiana, and Weaver says their work is vital, especially with stigma continuing around mental health.

Louisiana sees decline in mental health issues post pandemic

Frequently, people arent going to look to us in the mental health community because of the stigma. So, if we can get them to talk to their primary care doctor, if we can get them to talk to their nurse practitioner, and then hopefully between this partnership in particular, the integration we can get those conversations going where we can step in and help, said Weaver.

David Raines Community Health Center serves four parishes and 17 school-based health centers.

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We see that with diabetics, and hypertensive people who have heart attacks, that we couldve taken care of the high blood pressure much sooner, strokes, all of the things, bad things that can happen, diabetics, that people go undiagnosed and so behavioral patients need that same access and they often very often have both medical and behavioral issues, they arent mutually exclusive, said White.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTALnews.com.
Temu acknowledged that it had run into issues with several merchants, after about 300 people were reported to have thronged its office in Guangzhou in complaint of merchant fines. Future Publishing/Getty Images

PDD Holdings sank 5% in premarket trading Thursday.

The Temu parent missed quarterly revenue expectations.

US tariffs are a growing headwind for the Chinese e-commerce firm.

The move: US-listed shares of PDD Holdings sank 5% in premarket trading Thursday. The company's American depository receipts are up 33.4% for the year.

The chart:

Why: The Chinese e-commerce firm, which owns the popular online marketplace Temu, disappointed investors with underwhelming quarterly revenue, suggesting lackluster demand and rising trade difficulties.

Revenue reached 110.61 billion yuan in the December quarter, missing consensus expectations of 115.38 billion yuan. The quarter marked the slowest revenue growth since 2022.

Investors grew confident in a better outcome as China's government focused on policies to boost domestic spending. The country's economy is increasingly looking to consumers to offset growth headwinds from US tariffs, though demand remains low since the country has struggled to recover after the pandemic.

PDD also faces strong competition from local peers Alibaba and JD.com, which both beat earnings estimates in recent weeks.

What it means: PDD's drop on its latest earnings report points to the risk of US protectionism on foreign firms' profits. The firm is the parent company of Temu, an e-commerce company that's grown popular for its ultra-low costs and which has muslced into competitors' territory in recent years. This week, US retailer Forever 21 announced it would close all locations, blaming discount sites like Temu and Shein for its demise.

But Temu's success is increasingly challenged. In the US, Temu's surge was helped by a trade exemption known as the "de minimis policy," which spares cheaper imports from tariffs. But as the Trump administration began seeking changes to this rule, February data shows a slowdown in Temu sales.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Brian Maidment, who has died aged 78, was a specialist in the neglected print culture of the late Regency and early Victorian periods; he unearthed downmarket mass-circulation material of all stripes, from humorous cartoons and penny fiction to religious tracts, scientific magazines for autodidacts, sheet music, almanacs, playbills and other ephemera.

His early interest was cemented by Louis Jamess 1976 anthology of early Victorian popular culture, Print and the People 1819-1851. Never had the printed page seemed so exciting, Maidment recalled. The inky blackness of the lettering, shouting display types and perpetually inventive combination of type, image and white page.

Maidment, then an academic at Manchester Metropolitan University, had already noticed that early-19th-century periodicals were valued at nearly nothing, and that secondhand bookshops were desperate to get rid of them to free up space, as he told Professor Marysa Demoor in an interview for Victorian Periodicals Review. Travelling the country with the universitys new Librarian, Ian Rogerson, he purchased as many as he could, using them to devise a new course on art history.

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Several hundreds of the periodicals he saved from oblivion are now preserved in the collections of Exeter, Liverpool John Moores and Manchester Metropolitan Universities. But he also firmly believed that students should continue to handle them, he told Demoor, even if the odd irreplaceable 200-year-old periodical were destroyed through over-pawing.

In 1987 he produced an anthology of working-class writers, The Poorhouse Fugitives: Self-Taught Poets and Poetry in Victorian Britain, which was praised in The Review of English Studies as a highly honourable service to the dont haves of Victorian literature.

Comedy, Caricature and the Social Order 1820-50 (2017): the product of Maidments decades of research into periodicals and print materials that have been overlooked by most of us

Having been haunted on a childhood holiday to Swanage by the jukebox hit My Old Mans a Dustman, sung by Lonnie Donegan, with its chorus He wears a dustmans hat/ He wears Gor-blimey trousers/ And he lives in a council flat, Maidment later published a history of dustmen in the 19th-century imagination entitled Dusty Bob (2007).

In it he sifted through cartoons and literary depictions, such as Mr Boffin in Dickenss Our Mutual Friend, deciphering the social anxieties behind stereotypes of the dustman: as an urban grotesque, the embodiment of dirt; as an aggressive or amorous drunk; as the self-employed urban proletarian or penny capitalist, ready to down tools and join in any street merriment.

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Decades of Maidments thinking came together in Comedy, Caricature and the Social Order 1820-50 (2017), which was warmly received by the journal Victorian Studies as an important book, offering a new way of thinking about an awkward, in-between period when Romanticism seemed to be a memory, yet full-fledged Victorian culture had yet to emerge the product of [Maidments] decades of research into periodicals and print materials that have been overlooked by most of us.

A native of the New Forest, Brian Edwin Maidment was born on March 19 1946, the younger son of Harry Maidment, an armament depot administrator, and his wife Gladys, nee Brookbanks. From King Edward VI School in Southampton he won a scholarship to read English at the University College of North Wales in Bangor.

Maidments history of dustmen in the 19th-century imagination was inspired by a childhood memory of Lonnie Donegans My Old Mans a Dustman

Joining the Victorian Studies Centre at Leicester in 1970 as a tutorial assistant, he completed his doctoral thesis on John Ruskin. After a spell teaching in Aberystwyth, in 1973 he moved to Manchester Polytechnic, later to become Manchester Metropolitan University.

In 1990 he moved to Edge Hill College in Ormskirk as head of English, and later dean, before joining the University of Huddersfield as professor of English. His move in 2001 as research professor in the History of Print Culture at the University of Salford allowed him to jettison administrative and teaching burdens, and travel more widely, forging links with the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale and the Houghton Library at Harvard.

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He later spent six years at Liverpool John Moores University before a retirement of sorts in 2018. In 2023 he returned to Manchester Metropolitan University to co-curate the on-campus exhibition, Nineteenth-Century Mass Media.

A stylish and precise writer, Maidment contributed to a wide range of specialist periodicals, as well as to the books New Approaches to Ruskin (1981), The Victorian Press (1982) and The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain (2009). His final standalone book was a study of Dickenss illustrator Robert Seymour.

He was a member of the British Association of Victorian Studies and president of the Research Society for Victorian Publications from 2016 to 2018.

He is survived by his second wife, Maxine, and a daughter from his first marriage.

Brian Maidment, born March 19 1946, died January 27 2025

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Mar. 21The inexorable march to Bridge Day 2025 continues.

This year's Bridge Day is scheduled in Fayette County on Saturday, Oct. 18.

While a variety of behind-the-scenes preparations has been ongoing since late last fall to clear the launch for the 2025 event, the first meeting of the Bridge Day Commission (BDC) for 2025 was held on Wednesday, March 19 at Fayetteville Town Hall.

The commission is mandated by the West Virginia Legislature to supervise the activities of the annual festival.

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The Wednesday agenda featured a review of old business left over from the 2024 event.

New business was to include:

A review of the Bridge Day Commission, both voting and non-voting positions;

A review and decision on BDC representatives, both appointed and advisory terms. That includes West Virginia Division of Highways, West Virginia State Police, rappel advisory, National Park Service advisory, BASE advisory, vendor/community advisory and emergency services advisory;

Report from BDC representatives: a. Fayette County Chamber of Commerce; b. WV DOH; c. Fayette County Commission; d. WVSP; e. Fayette County Sheriff; f. Town of Fayetteville; g. Advisory representatives  rappel, NPS, BASE, vendor, emergency services an regional tourism; and

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Setting the 2025 meeting calendar.

Bridge Day is an official trademark of the Bridge Day Commission.

----If you've always wanted to ride down into the New River Gorge to watch Bridge Day unfold and have been too late in recent years to snag a ticket for the Into the Gorge shuttles, you're not too late this year.

Annually, motoring traffic into the gorge to the Fayette Station rapids at the bottom on that day is limited to event or emergency vehicles. That officially leaves biking or pedestrian traffic as the other options to watch the BASE jumpers and rappellers from down below, except for those who plan ahead and pay to take the shuttle.

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So, don't tarry if you want to secure a seat on one of the shuttle buses on Oct. 18.

As of March 17, 177 of the 500 available Into the Gorge tickets had been sold, according to Tim Naylor, executive assistant for the New River Gorge CVB/Fayette County Chamber of Commerce.

"Those will sell out," Naylor stressed.

The current cost per ticket is $40, which will go up to $50 after July 1.

Bridge Day vendor spots are going even faster than shuttle tickets, according to Naylor.

Annually, companies and organizations offer a variety of merchandise and information to members of the public visiting the bridge.

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A "handful" of vendor positions for 2025 remain, said Naylor. "They've gone a lot quicker than they have in the past."

Naylor reiterates rules from the W.Va. Fire Marshal's Office that any source of open flame or generated heat has to be located at least 15 feet away from anything else at the vendor booth.

For Fayette County Chamber of Commerce members, vendor booth fees are $125 plus a $15 application fee.

For non-members, the fee is $225 plus the non-refundable $15 application fee.

Those prices will rise after July 1, if spots are still available.

Sponsorship opportunities for the 2025 event also still exist.

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The annual Bridge Day poster contest, a popular feature of the event, will kick off in mid-spring.

It is sponsored by Lost Appalachian Trading Company, with a cash prize.

For more information on Bridge Day or its various tentacles, call 1-304-465-5617 or 1-800-927-0263 or visit www.officialbridgeday.com.

Email: skeenan@register-herald.com; follow on Facebook
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will invest 600 million pounds ($775 million) to train construction workers and help tackle severe skills shortages that could undermine its plan to build 1.5 million homes by 2029 and boost economic growth, it said on Saturday.

Housebuilding and improving British infrastructure are key parts of the Labour government's growth strategy. Construction represents around 6% of gross domestic product, but underpins growth in other sectors.

"We are determined to get Britain building again, that's why we are taking on the blockers to build 1.5 million new homes and rebuild our roads, rail and energy infrastructure," finance minister Rachel Reeves said in comments emailed by the Treasury on Saturday.

"Weve overhauled the planning system that is holding this country back, now we are gripping the lack of skilled construction workers."

Britain's struggle to fill construction jobs was exacerbated by the 2016 Brexit vote and later COVID-19, which has led to higher vacancy levels than before the pandemic.

Official figures published earlier this week showed there were 38,000 construction vacancies in the three months to February.

Many skilled workers are also nearing retirement age. The Construction Products Association estimates that the industry will lose 500,000 employees, representing 25% of the total workforce, to retirement over the next 10 to 15 years.

The government said it would spend 165 million pounds of the planned investment to deliver more construction courses at colleges, and 100 million pounds to upskill existing, new and returning workers.

The Construction Industry Training Board, which represents homebuilding as well as infrastructure sectors, will contribute an additional 32 million pounds to fund over 40,000 industry placements a year over the next four years.

The government expects the total package to train up to 60,000 bricklayers, electricians, engineers, and carpenters by 2029.

Reeves is likely to announce belt-tightening measures to get back on track to meet her fiscal rules when she delivers her spring statement next Wednesday alongside new economic and public finance forecasts from Britain's fiscal watchdog.

($1 = 0.7741 pounds)

(Reporting by Suban Abdulla; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
British Airways has released an updated statement following the fire at Heathrow Airport that disrupted flights.

This comes after a nearby substation erupted in flames early Friday night, March 21. The airport was out of power for most of the day, leading to six flights to London Heathrow being canceled, and one arriving flight from London to Logan Airport being canceled as well.

Updated statement from British Airways following the disruption at London Heathrow on 21 March pic.twitter.com/gv8TLk2Fcp  British Airways (@British_Airways) March 22, 2025

As of Saturday, they have been able to provide 90% of the flights and get the majority of their flyers where they needed to go.

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Were really grateful to our customers for bearing with us over the past couple of days, the statement said. Even though many of them have had their travel plans unacceptably canceled or disrupted.

British Airway plans on being able to run a full schedule for Sunday, March 23, and ask that their customers enter the airport as they would normally do until they are alerted otherwise.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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Imagine sharing a single bathroom with 72 other units, while your landlord claims to be making repairs  for an entire year.

This is the situation in which tenants at 2770-80 Kingsbridge Terrace in the Bronx found themselves when their landlord renovated.

Shockingly, their rents were increased rather than lowered.

Don't miss

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"There's no freedom, either I had to wake up really extremely early when no one's there or get in line like everybody else," tenant Yeniset Estrella told ABC 7 Eyewitness News.

After years of battling their landlord over rent hikes, the tenants finally celebrated a legal victory.

Heres what happened and how you can protect yourself from a similar situation.

How things got so bad

Estrella told Eyewitness News that there are still ongoing issues, with leaking pipes and mold in her renovated apartment, saying that her kitchen and bathroom plumbing were never properly fixed.

The tenants believe the renovations were just an excuse to hike rents, rather than improve conditions. They told Eyewitness News that the average rent increased by more than $200 a month.

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"I have no way to explain it other than it was one of the worst experiences of our lives," said Juan Nunez.

"And then for us to get hit with rent increases all for that shoddy work, and to be paying that the last seven years, since 2018, we've been paying these rent increases."

A state judge recently ruled in favor of the tenants, ordering landlord Steve Finkelstein to pay back residents and reset rent prices.

"This is a precedent that says you cannot commit fraud and then use that fraud to hike up rents for residents," New York City councilperson Pierina Sanchez told Eyewitness News.

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The tenants' lawyer Michael Leonard told the news channel that Finkelstein missed the courts Feb. 10 deadline to issue refunds.

We're gonna pursue our other legal options such as withholding our rents or asking state enforcement agencies to take further steps," Leonard said.

Finkelstein responded to a request for comment from Eyewitness News, saying, "We are trying to get this overturned. Hoping the judge will remand back to change the order. It was a simple mistake by [the] Department of Housing."

In the response, Finkelstein also said that he invested nearly $1 million in repairs, and disputes claims of tenants being forced to share a bathroom, saying that he offered residents to stay in a hotel during construction.

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Meanwhile, tenants tell Eyewitness News that Finkelstein is trying to evict some of them for nonpayment.

Read more: Gold just hit a historic high of $3,000/ounce on Trumps tariff moves  while US stocks got slaughtered. Heres 1 simple way to prevent more pain within minutes

Heres how you can protect yourself

Protecting yourself from illegal rent hikes and managing housing costs requires some know-how, planning and smart financial strategies. Here are 5 tips to help navigate the challenges.

Know your rights

Some cities limit rent hikes. Check your local housing authority to see if rent control applies. Rent stabilization is similar to rent control, but applies to specific properties where rent increases are capped at a set percentage by local agencies.

Spot illegal rent increases

Be aware of any rent hikes above the limits in your area. In most states, landlords are also required to give notice before raising rent. If your rent goes up without improvements to the property, it could be illegal.

Track your rent payments

Always keep proof of your rent payments (receipts, bank statements or emails). And keep a copy of your lease handy so you can reference details like rent increases.

Get legal help when needed

Consult with a lawyer if you think a rent increase is illegal. Many cities have tenant unions or advocacy groups that can help with tenants' rights.

Manage housing costs

Negotiate your lease, especially if you are a long-term tenant on good terms with your landlord. Budget wisely, tracking your income against your expenses, so you can plan for unexpected rent increases. And, consider sharing your space with roommates to cut costs, if its allowed under your lease.

What to read next

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
Bryan Kohberger, the graduate student accused in the brutal murders of four University of Idaho college students, took a grinning selfie with a thumbs-up shortly after the slayings, according to a prosecutor's filing in court.

Prosecutors revealed the selfie in court documents because they believe it corroborates an eyewitness's description of the killer as having "bushy eyebrows."

They attached the selfie to the bottom of the court filing. In it, Kohberger, wearing earbuds and a white buttoned-down shirt, smiles and gives a thumbs-up, while standing in a bathroom.

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"The State intends to introduce a photograph of Bryan Kohberger taken from his phone on November 13, 2022, only hours after the homicides at 10:31 a.m.," the filing says.



The New York Post described Kohberger's selfie as "creepy" and reported that Kohberger is accused of taking the photo about six hours after the murders.

Latah County prosecutor's office

Kohberger is accused of murdering university students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin on Nov. 13, 2022, in their off-campus house in Idaho. He will stand trial in August 2025.

The prosecutors and defense attorneys have filed a flurry of motions in the buildup to the trial. The selfie is an issue because Kohberger's defense attorneys want the judge to ban surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen from describing a person she encountered in the hall that night as having "bushy eyebrows."

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Prosecutors wrote in the court filing that Mortensen sent text messages to another surviving roommate, in which she said she "saw a person in the residence wearing black and he had on a ski mask that covered his forehead and mouth." She described the man as having "bushy eyebrows," prosecutors wrote.

They wrote that Mortensen told police, "I remember was seeing their eyebrows. And I dont  I dont remember what their eyes looked like, but I remember their eyebrows. I dont remember the color the eyebrows were. I just remember, like, bushy eyebrows. Thats all I could think about." Whether the selfie shows Kohberger with bushy eyebrows is a factual determination that the jury should decide, according to prosecutors.

According to the defense motion, though, Mortensen's description is "unreliable."

To back up its case that Mortensen's description should be excluded, the defense wrote, "Her recollection or lack thereof is filled with uncertainty, fuzziness, the influence of alcohol, dreaming, and sleepiness. She did not see the intruder well enough to describe him to a composite artist. After Mr. Kohberger was arrested, she did not recognize him from a photo."
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) called for the government to reveal what its spending taxpayer money on relating to Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) amid growing calls from lawmakers for increased transparency on the issue.

Theyre spending tens of millions of dollars on this subject. And then they turn around tell us they dont exist, the Tennessee Republican told NewsNations Blake Burman on The Hill Friday.

Burchett stressed the need for greater government transparency on extraterrestrial life while discussing the recent hiring of former intelligence officer and UFO whistleblower David Grusch by Rep. Burlison (R-Mo.).

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I think he can help us ask questions that need to be asked, that should be asked, that maybe were not asking the right questions because were not supposed experts on this, Burchett said of Grusch.

I want to know what theyre spending the money on, he later added.

The topic of UAPs has received greater attention from Congress in recent years, with congressional hearings in 2024 and 2023 diving deeper into whether or not government sectors are withholding evidence from lawmakers.

They need to they need to disclose everything and do it now, Burchett said on Friday. America needs to know. We need to demand that of our elected officials. Quit joking around about little green men and flying saucers. Were spending tens of millions of dollars on something that, goddamnit, we deserve to know. Give us the information.

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Grusch, an Air Force veteran and former member of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, made headlines in 2023 after he claimed the government is withholding information about UFOs and UAP and that it has recovered nonhuman crafts with nonhuman species inside, among other things.

He was appointed to Burlisons office as a senior adviser for an initial period of four months, NewsNation reports.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

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HIGH POINT  The N.C. Forest Service has issued a ban on all open burning and has canceled all burning permits statewide until further notice because of persistent dry conditions.

The outdoor burning ban took effect Friday morning.

It is spring wildfire season in North Carolina, and we are seeing wildfire activity increase due to dry conditions, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said. With these ongoing conditions, a statewide burn ban is necessary to reduce the risk of wildfires starting and spreading quickly.

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Last weekends heavy rain led to improvements in drought conditions across eastern North Carolina, while the area of moderate drought conditions in the southern and western parts of the state has expanded slightly north, according to the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council.

The High Point area and the Triad overall are labeled by the council as abnormally dry, but areas to the south are in moderate drought.

Anyone violating the burn ban faces a $100 fine plus $183 in court costs. Any person responsible for setting a fire may be liable for expenses related to extinguishing the fire, the state Forest Service reports.

The burn ban does not apply to fires started within 100 feet of an occupied dwelling. A local fire marshal has authority to issue a burn ban within the 100-foot area.

Local fire departments and law enforcement officers are assisting the N.C. Forest Service in enforcing the burn ban.
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY)  Two months into President Donald Trumps second term, local business and government organizations in Hampton Roads are making their thoughts known on the potential good, and bad, of his proposed policies.

Specifically, the letter sent to the six lawmakers representing the region on the federal level highlights where they think the local workforce and infrastructure fit within the presidents America First agenda.

It also lists off the risks  what tariffs could do to local farmers, what the lack of support of offshore wind could mean for investments already made and what cuts to defense spending and the federal workforce could mean for the local economy.

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We would like for you to protect the gains we have made in recent years, help build

upon those gains, and work with us to advance the region, ensuring new gains under this

administration, the letter said.

A pair of the signatories said the idea to compile the document was born out of the Trump administrations proposals to drastically change the way the federal government operates.

Dominions offshore wind project spared from Trumps pause

We are 37th [largest United States metro] in population, were fifth in terms of DoD spending, and were fourth in terms of percent of federal workforce, said Nancy Grden, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable. So anything that happens at the federal level, we are really getting sort of more than our share of whats happening.

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Aside from Grden, the letter is signed by the leaders of the Hampton Roads Chamber, Hampton Roads Alliance, Hampton Roads Workforce Council, Virginia Peninsula Chamber, Virginia Maritime Association and Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance.

Hampton Roads economy is supported by three main pillars: defense, the maritime port and the hospitality and tourism industry, according to Old Dominion University. In the economic departments latest State of the Region report, a fourth-straight year of growth was predicted for the region.

However, Bryan Stephens, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Chamber, said business doesnt thrive when uncertainty exists.

Forty percent of the regions GDP is tied to federal spending. Its the same spending the Trump administration is looking to slash.

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The business community likes certainty, Stephens said. The business community likes predictability, and with this rapidity of policy changes, there is a lack of certainty and theres a lack of predictability in the business community. So we wanted to address the issue head-on.

Trumps plan to resurrect American shipbuilding could mean opportunity for Tidewater

The letter touts Hampton Roads as the epicenter of our nations security interests and encourages lawmakers to vouch for the region when at all possible.

You know, the fact that the administration wants to increase shipbuilding and ship repair is going to play big benefits to Hampton Roads. Stephens said. But theres also some risk associated to it, like layoffs in the federal government.

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The letter warns of shocks to the economy, our national security and to the services necessary for the health and safety of residents if cuts arent carried out in a deliberate and thoughtful way.

Grden said this will likely only be the first iteration of the letter.

Considering the rapidity of these executive orders and all thats coming out, we know that this is a living document, Grden said. We acted as regional organizations on behalf of Hampton Roads, and I think the important takeaway is that there is a group of groups, if you will, that really wants to advocate on behalf of the of the whole place.

Kiggans: Cuts that weaken defense capabilities unacceptable

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Voters in Caldwell filed a petition to recall Mayor Jarom Wagoner and four of the citys council members as the public reels from their decisions to approve a hotel development and support their police chief amid sexual harassment accusations.

Lifelong Caldwell resident Jim Hollis, who worked for the Police Department for eight years, told the Idaho Statesman over the phone that he filed petitions, which each had at least 45 signatures  20 more than the required amount  with the Canyon County Clerks Office on Monday. Once the petitions are approved, residents will have 75 days to gather additional signatures.

Hollis said the petitions largely stem from city leaders approval of a Marriott hotel despite public outcry, paid parking meters that the city installed, then removed, and their statements supporting Police Chief Rex Ingram after he was accused of sexually harassing a female officer.

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He also pointed to concerns over the citys prioritization of development without improving infrastructure and the loss of over $1 million in impact fees, a one-time charge on new developments that help offset the cost of certain projects, after a miscommunication left the funds uncollected.

Were sick and tired of the non-transparency, Hollis said by phone.

Voters in Caldwell have filed a petition seeking to recall Mayor Jarom Wagoner and four council members: Brad Doty, Geoff Williams, Chris Allgood and Mike Dittenber.





The petitions, which Hollis posted on a community Facebook page, called for the recall of Wagoner and four of the six council members: Brad Doty, Geoff Williams, Chris Allgood and Mike Dittenber.

Doty, Dittenber and Allgood in statements to the Statesman said they were grateful to be able to represent the city and do their best for the public when faced with making difficult decisions. Williams didnt respond to requests for comment.

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Doty said that while the public has the freedom to express disagreements, he has the right to be free from harassment.

It would be my hope that the individual or individuals who prepared the petition would focus their efforts on pursuing legitimate grievances in a lawful and civil manner, he said. At the end of the day, I trust in the process, our constitutional freedoms and the rule of law.

Allgood, who worked for the citys police department for 30 years, eight as the chief, said hes seen Caldwell go from a crime-riddled gang town to the absolute pride of the valley.

Together we have built a wonderful place to live, work and raise our families. Now is not the time to go backwards or lose sight of our future, Allgood said. I will not back down, quit or stop making the decisions necessary to continue Caldwells success.

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Through a spokesperson, the city declined to comment on the petitions.

Caldwell Mayor Jarom Wagoner speaks at his office at City Hall. He issued a statement fully supporting Caldwell Police Chief Rex Ingram after a lawsuit by a female officer accused Ingram of sexual harassment.

Elected city officials can be subject to a recall under Idaho law if at least 20% of registered voters from the time the official was elected sign a petition. If the petition is submitted on time with enough signatures and approved, the elected official has either five days to resign or the secretary of state will call for a special election. The majority of voters must be in favor of the recall. Votes in favor of the recall also have to equal or exceed the number of votes cast at the last general election for that official, according to state law.

Council members Chuck Stadick and Diana Register werent named in the recall. Register told the Statesman she respected the democratic process and remained committed to doing whats best for Caldwell no matter the outcome. Both Register and Stadick voted against a controversial hotel project. Hollis said the two council members are extremely communicative with taxpayers.

This is a challenging time for our city, and its clear the community has concerns that need to be heard, Register said in an email. My focus has always been on serving the people of Caldwell, and I believe its important we work toward rebuilding trust and ensuring transparency.

Petition raises concerns over police complaints

The recall petition comes as Ingram has been embattled with allegations, many of which are in several lawsuits filed against the chief and city. Three employees  two of whom no longer work for the city  have filed complaints in the past five months.

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Its too many lawsuits, Hollis said.

Concerns against Ingram arose in January 2024 after an internal complaint from Caldwell Police Officer Allison Butler prompted Wagoner to direct the citys then-Human Resources Director Shelli Boggie to investigate the allegations. Butler accused the chief in a lawsuit of making offensive and gendered comments toward her and violating her civil rights by creating a hostile work environment, discriminating against her, and retaliating against her when she reported her concerns.

Caldwell Police Chief Rex Ingram speaks during a 2022 press conference. Ingram, who took over the agency's top job, in 2022 has recently been embattled with allegations after several lawsuits were filed against him.

The city commissioned an outside law firm at Boggies direction to conduct an independent investigation into gender discrimination and sex-based hostile workplace environment complaints against Ingram, according to a lawsuit filed by Boggie. She alleged that the City Council didnt reappoint her to her role as an act of retaliation by the city.

Months later, the investigation sustained several of Butlers allegations but abstained from concluding clear violation of law or of the citys policy, the lawsuit said. The report found that some of Butlers allegations were substantiated. Many of them werent, though, some of them because they couldnt be corroborated, the complaint alleged.

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Boggie in the lawsuit said she reviewed the report and based her recommendation included looking at how the human resource department handled employees who had exhibited similar conduct in the past, the lawsuit said.

Its unclear in the lawsuit whether Boggie recommended the chiefs resignation or suspension. But she said her decision was based on her opposition to gender-based harassment, discrimination and hostile work environments.

Boggies lawsuit was resolved through mutual agreement, her attorney Brian Ertz told the Statesman. The Statesman filed a public records request for documents related to a settlement between the city and Boggie and was told Wednesday the matter was pending.

Wagoner and the then-city attorney declined to consider Boggies recommendation, according to her complaint. Voters who signed Wagoners petition also took aim at him for not following her recommendation, and raised concerns about the citys decision to publicly support Ingram hours after the lawsuit was publicized.

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Wagoner urged the public during a brief news conference to avoid drawing any conclusions while also saying, We are confident in Chief Ingrams leadership and professionalism, and firmly stand behind him during the legal process.

Hollis questioned why they didnt come out and support Butler.

Shes still an officer, right? he said by phone. Why dont they do anything to defend her?

Caldwell Mayor Jarom Wagoner reads a statement regarding Police Chief Rex Ingram, left, during a short press briefing in February regarding a lawsuit that accused the chief of sexual harassment. Wagoner took no questions about the allegations leveled against Ingram and simply walked away after reading the statement.

Ingram is also under investigation by Idaho State Police over allegations he misused public funds. The investigation has been sent to the Boise County Prosecutors Office for review, said ISP spokesperson Aaron Snell. He added by email that the prosecutor will advise on a charging decision but that they dont have an expected timeline.

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Then-Caldwell Police Nathan Douthit also sued the city. In November he said he raised concerns over the agencys increased spending and alleged he was fired because he dared question the chiefs conduct.

Ingram previously told the Statesman he had done nothing wrong and that all of his purchases were approved through the proper channels. Wagoner also stood by the chief over the spending concerns.

I support the chief 100%, Wagoner said, adding that they planned to fully cooperate with the state police investigation.

Were not here because of developers

Some of the petitions also focused on the citys push for development and concerns over a dirt lot located near the Canyon County Fair and the grounds of the Caldwell Night Rodeo.

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Caldwells City Council entered into a development agreement last month to construct a Marriott-branded hotel at the lot despite hundreds of letters opposing the construction, according to the Idaho Press. More than 100 people protested the development following the councils approval citing concerns over the loss of parking spots and increased urbanization.

Theyre all too poised on development, Hollis said. The mayor is responsible for every department  and he needs to get the hell out of the development department and leave it alone.

Despite community opposition, Caldwells City Council entered into a development agreement last month to construct a Marriott-branded hotel at a dirt lot located near the Canyon County Fair and the grounds of the Caldwell Night Rodeo.

The hotel was approved by four council members during the Feb. 3 council meeting, with Register and Stadick voting against it. Dittenber during the meeting said hed rarely seen anything bring about more disinformation than the hotel proposal. He said



projects like the hotel will encourage economic development and bring property taxes to the city.

I understand nostalgia and the desire to keep Caldwell a small town, but the people and desire to work cooperatively in a unison manner is what makes our community a small-town feel, he said.

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Register brought concerns over the legality of the agreement, pointing to three leases the city already has on that same land. But Dittenber told the Statesman that the city attorney reviewed the contracts and the process, and found no problems before a vote was taken.

The meeting turned chaotic when Williams cut Register off by making a motion to stop all discussion and vote. Members of the public watching the meeting protested, with one shouting, Let her speak. Register attempted to keep talking and pointed out that she didnt interrupt anyone else.

If we sign this, its illegal, Register can be heard saying before Wagoner stops her. He then announced the council would be taking a five-minute break before the audio of the recorded meeting cuts out. When the council returned, Williams withdrew his motion, and Register was given 10 minutes to finish her comments.

Once this land is gone, its gone. Theres no turning back once theres a massive building on here, Register said toward the end of her time. The current leases we have in place need to be modified first to protect the city of Caldwell and its taxpayers before moving forward with any consideration for the hotel.

We will not survive another divide in our community, another legal battle based on rushed or failed process nor should we have to, she continued. Nobody is against progress, but it needs to be responsible and it needs to make sense.

Stadick also opposed the development. Of the over 200 emails he received regarding the dirt lot, only 4% were in favor of building the hotel, he said during the hearing.

Id like to remind the council members, were here because of the taxpayers, he said. Were not here because of developers and everyone else.
By Amy Lv and Lewis Jackson

BEIJING (Reuters) - Major copper smelters across top consumer China have kicked off equipment maintenance in March, traditionally a peak demand period, in a bid to stem losses from a worsening feedstock shortage that is hammering margins, industry insiders said.

Shutting down plants in what is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year highlights how much pain the scarcity of copper concentrate is causing refiners, a problem compounded by smelting overcapacity that has sparked fierce competition for the raw material and sent treatment fees below zero.

Roughly 980,000 metric tons of smelting capacity, or 8% of China's total last year, is set for maintenance in March, Hongyuan Futures said in a note. Three analysts and a smelter manager told Reuters this was an unusually high amount compared to previous years.

Staff at three large smelters confirmed to Reuters they began equipment maintenance in March. Another operator, Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group, which accounted for 13.5% of China's refined copper output in 2023, started month-long maintenance on some smelting equipment in early March, according to two sources.

Production cuts can be sensitive in China, where many smelters are important contributors to regional economies, but as in many industries, from steel to oil refining, the sector is plagued by overcapacity as operators chase market share.

The overcapacity in China, the world's largest supplier of the refined metal used in wiring, machinery and new energy technologies, is contributing to a global imbalance in the copper smelting industry.

By shutting equipment for maintenance, smelters hope to cut consumption of copper concentrate, ease the concentrate shortfall and stop processing fees from sliding even further, analysts said.

Eight analysts and smelters who spoke to did so on condition of anonymity given they are not authorised to speak to media.

Tongling did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

The industry's difficulties put a spotlight on the March 31 quarterly meeting of the China Smelters Purchase Team (CSPT), where measures including production cuts are set to be discussed, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

"There is a significant risk of large-scale output cuts among Chinese smelters this year," said Patricia Barreto, senior analyst at S&P Global Commodity Insights.

If Chinese smelters jointly agree a production cut, refined copper output this year will likely fall, which could lead China to import more, analysts said.
(FOX40.COM)  Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced that millions of Californians will receive $137 credits on their April gas and electric bills.

Video above: CA State Senate Hearing Addresses Increasing Utility Rates

According to a statement from Newsoms office, the California Climate Credit will automatically be added to peoples bills every April and October as a direct result of the states nation-leading Cap-and-Trade climate program, which requires polluters to pay for climate action.

Officials said that the Program is managed by the California Air Resources Board and the credit on the utility bills represents the consumers share of payments from the States program.

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Newsom stated, Every year, our Cap-and-Trade program provides essential funding to Californias efforts to clean the air while also giving residents money back on their utility bills. Millions of California families will benefit from this relief.

Activities to do in Sacramento on March 22 and 23 weekend

Since 2014, California households have received an average of $1,120 in combined automatic April and October climate credits on their bills, according to a statement from Newsoms office.

The way the credit works is that Californians whose electricity bills range from $35 to $259 will receive between $56 and $81, and residential customers of PG&E, San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Gas Company, and Southwest Gas will receive around $54 to $87 on natural gas bills, as stated by officials from Newsoms office.

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California residents can check how much their credit will be here.

In addition to the utility bill credits, the California Cap-and-Trade program has funded $28 billion in climate investments, resulting in over half a million projects across the state, supporting 30,000 jobs and reducing millions of tons of carbon emissions.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40 News.
Cambridge University has become embroiled in a row over claims that scientists including the late Professor Stephen Hawking benefited from slavery.

The universitys Fitzwilliam Museum is holding an exhibition titled Rise Up, which covers abolition movements, rebellions and modern-day racist injustices.

It claims that figures including George Darwin, Charles Darwins son, were supported by investments in the slave trade.

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A catalogue that accompanies the exhibition also states that Hawking and others benefited from slavery-derived funds given to Cambridge two centuries before the physicist was born.

But Cambridge professors and leading historians have hit back at the claims.

Dons have insisted that the claims are based on a misreading of history and have asked Cambridge to correct the record  a request the university has refused.

The foreword to the exhibition book states that while facts continue to matter in discussions of slavery, anger, frustration and sadness  historic and present  are also important considerations.

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A central claim in the book is that slave trade financial instruments shaped the intellectual life of the university by supporting the countrys most renowned mathematicians and scientists.

The museum itself welcomes visitors with a sign setting out its own links to the slave trade.

Hawking, Darwin, physicist Arthur Eddington, and father of the computer Charles Babbage held Lucasian and Plumian professorships respectively.

A catalogue for the exhibition also states that Hawking and others benefited from slavery-derived funds given to Cambridge

The accompanying book for the exhibition states that funding for these positions was derived in part from the gift in 1768 of 3,500 from a mathematician and university vice-chancellor named Robert Smith.

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This was from stock bound up in South Sea Annuities, stock the Fitzwilliam has claimed was linked to investments in the slave trade.

Leading British men of science are therefore linked to what the book exhibition terms dark finance, the exhibition material claims.

The claims have been disputed by leading historians, including Lord Roberts of Belgravia, Sir Noel Malcolm and Cambridge professors David Abulafia, Lawrence Goldman and Robert Tombs.

They argue that their own research has revealed South Sea Annuities to be unrelated to investments in the slave trade.

This case is doubly dispiriting

The group of academics have submitted a signed letter of protest to the director of the Fitzwilliam, Dr Luke Syson, urging him to take action over the alleged falsehoods.

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Dr Syson, whose foreword to the exhibition book sets out a commitment to tackle unaltered power structures, has refused their request.

Prof Tombs said: We are sadly accustomed to seeing our great institutions damaging themselves and the country that supports them.

This case is doubly dispiriting as a great university institution shows itself resistant to argument and indifferent to evidence.

There seems to be this unbelievable determination to tarnish the reputation of people we are proud of, even when they are completely innocent, like Stephen Hawking.

The Fitzwilliam Museum is holding an exhibition titled Rise Up, which suggests a Cambridge University link to slavery - Joe Giddens/PA

The Rise Up exhibition was launched in February to document the history of black and white abolitionists, particularly those linked to Cambridge.

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The exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, which greets visitors with a trigger warning upon entering, gives an overview of life on plantations and the move toward abolition.

It states that some African merchants participated in the slave trade.

The book created for the exhibition, which also begins with a trigger warning about violence against black people, contains a number of academic contributions on the slave trade.

The volume opens with a statement that the fight for true equality, justice and repair continues.

We welcome thoughtful discussion

A spokesman for the museum said: We believe that it is profoundly damaging to ignore or minimise the impact of the Atlantic slave trade as a source of wealth for both individuals and institutions in 17th- and 18th-century Britain, and thereafter.

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The academic research on this important matter presented in the Rise Up catalogue is factually correct.

But history should always be a place of debate and we therefore welcome thoughtful discussion and encourage multiple perspectives, which we see as essential to deepening understanding of these important and often challenging histories in all their nuance and complexity.

Among the aims of the Rise Up exhibition and catalogue are to explore the current complexities of historically tainted investments and to illuminate the contradictions in the biographies of individuals whose lives are considered here more completely than has usually been the case.

Under the directorship of Dr Syson, the Fitzwilliam rehung its art collection and introduced a warning suggesting that paintings of the British countryside can evoke dark nationalist feelings.

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Dr Syson said of the move in 2023: I would love to think that theres a way of telling these larger, more inclusive histories that doesnt feel as if it requires a pushback from those who try to suggest that any interest at all in [this work is] what would now be called woke.

Signage states that pictures of rolling English hills can stir feelings of pride towards a homeland.

The University of Cambridge was contacted for comment.

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(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to plunge Canada into an election campaign on Sunday, as US President Donald Trumps trade war sharpens the focus on fixing long-standing problems that have hindered the Canadian economy.

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Carney and his chief rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, each will seek to persuade Canadians hes the best person to protect the country from Trumps threats to use economic force to transform it into the 51st state.

That means the Canadian politicians must attack problems that have held the country back for years  over-reliance on the US as an export market, internal trade barriers between provinces, stagnant productivity and weak business investment.

No matter who wins the election, the economic strategy of the Justin Trudeau era  based on an expansion of government, higher taxes on upper-income earners and rapid population growth  is finished.

Its a time where we want to take risk, Carney, 60, said Friday before announcing a raft of measures to remove roadblocks to cross-country trade and speed up energy project approvals. We have to do things that we hadnt imagined possible before, at a speed that we havent moved before.

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Carney is expected to announce an election call on Sunday, with voting day to be April 28 or May 5.

The former central bank governor rocketed to the countrys top political office just eight days ago, after the governing Liberal Party selected him as their new leader to replace Trudeau. Some polls place Carneys party a few points ahead of the Conservatives, a stunning turnaround from earlier this year when the Conservatives led by more than 20 percentage points.

To Poilievre, 45, the Liberals sudden attention to the economy is rather rich. He points out the party has been in power for nearly a decade and has failed to speed up development of mining and other resource projects  in some cases blocking them altogether  while relying on increased immigration to juice growth. The Conservative leader has pledged to cut taxes and regulation, which he described as devastating even before the US tariffs, but now represent economic suicide.

The Conservative leaders criticisms have had an impact. In his short time as Liberal leader, Carney has tried to pushed the party closer to the center while walking away from some of Trudeaus more unpopular policies. Carney scrapped a planned increase to the capital gains tax inclusion rate and cut to zero the consumer carbon tax, which applies to a wide range of fossil fuels.

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While demands to spend more on defense and infrastructure may still require the power of the government balance sheet, the expansion of social programs, such a big part of Trudeaus legacy, is likely over for now.

Here are the key economic issues that are set to define the race:

Trade Tensions

Trade with the US represents nearly 70% of Canadas total exports and imports. The US trade deficit with Canada is an irritant to Trump, who calls it a subsidy. But its largely driven by the boundless American appetite for Canadian oil and gas. Excluding energy, the US has a trade surplus with Canada.

Crude from Alberta is sold to refineries in midwestern US states at a discount to West Texas Intermediate crude due to Canadas limited access to other buyers. The country has one oil pipeline to a marine terminal that can serve Asian markets. An expansion to a maximum capacity of 890,000 barrels a day was just completed last year at a cost of C$34 billion ($23.7 billion).

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Both Carney and Poilievre have pledged to fast-track critical minerals and liquefied natural gas projects and build infrastructure to bring those resources to new markets. Poilievre plans to scrap a Liberal environmental law and the carbon tax on industry. Carney says he would keep that tax  citing it as a requirement to trade with Europe  and maintain a controversial policy that caps emissions from the oil sands.

Trumps threats also have renewed Canadas focus on removing trade barriers between its 13 provinces and territories. After a meeting with premiers on Friday, Carney promised to eliminate these barriers by July 1 and argued that doing so would grow Canadas economy by C$250 billion.

Trump wants to weaken Canada dramatically, said economist David Rosenberg, founder of Rosenberg Research & Associates. He wants to bring the Canadian economy to its knees so that next year he could rewrite the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. And we all know that he covets Canadas natural resources.

Rosenberg, formerly chief North American economist for Merrill Lynch, said he expects to see action from the Canadian government, including pipeline expansions and fast-tracking mineral projects, and building other trading relationships.

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We are still too reliant on the US. Thats over, Rosenberg said.

Boosting Productivity

Among Group of Seven countries, Canadas economic growth has lagged only the US since 2018, averaging a 1.8% yearly clip.

But thats been largely driven by explosive growth in immigration. When output is measured on a per-capita basis  a proxy for living standards  Canadas economy has languished.

The Bank of Canada has described the countrys sluggish productivity as an emergency. Both Carney and Poilievre have promised to cap immigration at levels the economy can sustain, while unleashing investment in infrastructure and technology that would boost Canadas productive capacity.

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Jim Balsillie, the former co-CEO of BlackBerry Ltd. and now chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators, said a singular focus on diversifying trading partners isnt the right way to think about the economic challenge. Canada needs a much better strategy around protecting intellectual property and technology in order to diversify products, allowing it to become much more than an exporter of natural resources.

We just rip and ship stuff like critical minerals, energy, aluminum, agriculture and so on. And how are we going to diversify products and do more value-add in our products? he said. You dont start with markets, you start with products.

And given Trumps assertive posture toward Canada, the country needs to design its economic policy with national security in mind, he said.

Housing Prices

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As in a number of developed countries, Canadas home prices have exploded. An index of national home prices is up 72% in the past decade, making the benchmark price for a home more than C$700,000 now. And thats after a correction in prices since 2022.

The housing market looks dysfunctional. Many current homeowners are rich on paper, with so much equity in their homes, and demand for homes is strong because of population growth. Yet homebuilding is not happening quickly enough, prices remain out-of-reach for many average Canadians and some parts of the market, such as Toronto condos, are in a deep funk.

Poilievre catapulted the Conservatives to a dominant lead in the polls in 2023 and 2024 in part by tapping into huge frustration about housing and blaming Trudeaus Liberals for rising housing costs. Canada is broken was his oft-repeated slogan. Hes now switched to Canada First after Trumps repeated threats unleashed a wave of patriotism.

Carney has promised federal investments in housing to supercharge construction, with the goal of building 4 million new homes by 2035. He would maintain the Liberals housing accelerator fund, which transfers cash to local governments to speed approvals for developers.

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Poilievre similarly wants to unleash the biggest homebuilding boom ever, but hed scrap the housing accelerator fund. He has also promised to expand the pool of homebuilders, including by boosting apprenticeship grants and training halls for skilled tradespeople. Both leaders have plans to scrap the national sales tax on some new-home purchases.

Government Spending

Former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland precipitated Trudeaus exit with her stinging resignation letter in December that accused him of failing to keep the fiscal powder dry ahead of a trade war with the US. Now that the tariff fight is underway, the government is under significant pressure to spend on programs to support businesses and workers.

In December, the government projected a C$48.3 billion deficit for the current fiscal year, which is around 1.6% of gross domestic product. The country also faces major demands to increase its defense spending, which has long lagged other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

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Poilievre has promised to find one dollar in savings for every dollar of new spending. Carney has proposed splitting the budget in two  an operating budget that the government would balance, and a capital-spending budget for major infrastructure investments that would carry a modest deficit.

Carney has described the trade dispute with the US as a crisis. And there is little question that Trumps repeated taunts about making Canada a US state have increased the appetite within Canada for big projects that can boost the countrys economy and reduce its dependence on the US market.

I think the mood is a combination of white-hot anger and trepidation and profound feeling of betrayal, said Roland Paris, director of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.

Balsillie said Canada has suffered from an economic policy failure for 30 years. But I think Trump has done a disservice to America by waking everybody up in Canada, he said.

If Canada seizes this moment, Trump has given us a gift that that is of phenomenal value. Yes, the transitions going to have some difficulty, but we do have resources  in national capacity in many realms that we can bring to bear, and fiscal and financial.

--With assistance from Randy Thanthong-Knight.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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TORONTO (AP)  Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday U.S. President Donald Trump will ultimately respect Canadas sovereignty and be ready for comprehensive trade talks because Americans are going to suffer from Trump's trade war.

Carney said talks with Trump will not happen until we get the respect we deserve as a sovereign nation. By the way, this is not a high bar.

Trump kept up his near-daily attacks on Canada on Friday, repeating that the country should be the 51st state and that the U.S. keeps Canada afloat.

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When I say they should be a state, I mean that, the American president said.

Carney met with Canadas provincial leaders at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, where he announced relief packages for workers and businesses hurt by the trade war and announced moves to expedite resource projects.

Carney, sworn in last Friday, still hasnt had a phone call with Trump. Trump mocked Carneys predecessor, Justin Trudeau, by calling him Governor Trudeau, but he has not yet mentioned Carneys name.

The new prime minister said he wants a comprehensive discussion on trade and security with the Americans and not a one-off tariff discussion.

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In the end, Americans are going to lose from American trade action and thats one of the reasons I am confident that there will be that discussion with the appropriate amount of respect and the breadth," Carney said. I am ready for it anytime they are ready.

Trump put 25% tariffs on Canadas steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products as well as all of America's trading partners on April 2.

Carney became Prime Minister after winning a Liberal Party leadership race triggered by Trudeaus decision to step down earlier this year. He's expected to trigger the process for early parliamentary elections this Sunday, with a vote expected before April 28.

The governing Liberals appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared a trade war and upended Canadian politics.

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The almost daily attacks on Canadas sovereignty have infuriated Canadians, who are canceling trips south of the border and avoiding buying American goods when they can. The surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered Liberal poll numbers.

Carney said the premiers of Canada's provinces had agreed to work on a plan to develop a national trade and energy corridor in an effort to diversify trade.

He said that could mean a oil pipeline from oil-rich Alberta to Eastern Canada. Quebec has previously opposed a pipeline, but Premier Francois Legault now says opinions are changing because of Trump's threats. Carney said Quebec uses about 350,000 barrels of oil daily and 70% of that comes from the U.S.

That is not a good idea for us at all. So there is an opportunity to put a pipeline there but we need social acceptance. We need a partnership with indigenous people as well," Carney said.

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He said the federal government would speed up projects by recognizing provincial assessments. Canadian leaders also talked about about moving quickly to eliminate trade barriers between provinces and with the federal government.

Carney also said Ottawa is also going to waive the one-week waiting period to get employment insurance for people whose jobs are cut because of the tariffs, and temporarily allow Canadian businesses to defer income tax and sales tax payments to help boost their liquidity.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of Careless People, the new tell-all memoir by the former Facebook executive Sarah Wynn-Williams, is that a book chronicling the social networks missteps and moral bankruptcy can still make news in 2025.

The tech giantnow named Metaseems determined to make this happen itself. The company filed an emergency motion in court to halt the books continued publication, and in numerous statements, Metas communications team has derided it as the work of a disgruntled ex-employee. All of this has only generated interest: On Thursday, the book debuted at the top of the New York Times best-seller list for nonfiction and, as of this writing, was the third-best-selling book on Amazon.

A general theme of the pushback is that Wynn-Williams, who worked on global policy at Facebook, is guilty of the same sins she documents in the book. Not only does she fail to take any responsibility for her role in all of this, Katie Harbath, a former director of public policy at Facebook wrote on her Substack, but she is also careless in her account. She also gives no recommendations on how to do things better other than to say they should be done differently. Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta, called the book a mix of old claims and false accusations about our executives. He has also shared posts from current and former employees that cast Wynn-Williams as an unreliable narrator. In one post, a former colleague expresses frustration that the book seems to take credit for his efforts at the company.

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Given Wynn-Williamss privileged position as Facebooks first executive focused specifically on global policy, her perspective might differ from that of employees on other teams. Meta is a huge organization, after all. But the debates over the more gossipy anecdotes obscure the larger trends that surface through the book. Ive never spoken with Wynn-Williams for a story or otherwiseshe is currently under a gag order after Meta pursued legal action against her, claiming that the book violates her nondisclosure agreementbut her descriptions of Facebook taking actions in foreign countries without regard for consequences are similar to anecdotes told to me over the years by current and former employees. These stories are even more relevant in 2025, when techs most powerful figures have assumed an outsize role in American politics. All of us are living in a world thats been warped by the architecture and algorithms of Silicon Valleys products, but also by the egos of the people who have made fortunes building them.

I tore through Careless People despite being intimately familiar with many of the broad storylinesFacebooks push into politics and the fallout from the 2016 election, its global efforts to expand in China, the platforms bungled expansion in Myanmar that contributed to a genocide in the region. Wynn-Williamss perspective provides crucial dimensionality to a well-trodden story, given her proximity to the companys leadership.

But although it explores serious subject matter, the book is also not nearly as strident or sanctimonious as some other whistleblower memoirs. Wynn-Williams is comfortable reaching for an absurdist register: She recounts, for example, a scheduling nightmare that brought her to the brink of tears while trying to get Mark Zuckerberg a last-minute spot at the Global Citizen Festival in 2015: In her attempts, Wynn-Williams manages to anger an actor dressed as Big Bird and create logistical issues for Malala and Beyonce. The spectacle culminates with a sweaty Zuckerberg onstage, looking around desperately, like an animal in a trap. The book is filled with similar anecdotes that capture the peculiar indignities of those catering to the whims of the most powerful people in the world. (When reached for comment, Dave Arnold, a spokesperson for Meta, referred to past statements the company has made about the book and cast doubt on Wynn-Williamss status as a whistleblower: Whistleblower status protects communications to the government, not disgruntled activists trying to sell books.)

Early in Careless People, Wynn-Williams says Facebook asked her if Mark should take credit for the Arab Spring. In passages about Facebooks expansion in Myanmar, she cites the executive teams incuriosity about the countrys culture and politics. Later, when viral fake news stories on Facebook lead to riots and killings in Myanmar, Wynn-Williams details that the company had just one moderator who spoke Burmese, never posted its community standards in Burmese, and did not translate core navigation features of the platform into Burmese, including the button you use to report hateful content. News coverage in the aftermath of the genocide supported many of Wynn-Williamss claims.

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Wynn-Williams offers a few explanations for these problems over the course of Careless People. She suggests that executives like Zuckerberg simply dont care about Facebook users once theyre on the platform. But there is also the companys relentless pursuit of growth. Facebooks obsession with gaining access to Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries came around the same time that Facebooks growth and stock were flagging post-IPO. Internally, stagnant user growth was referred to as running out of road. She describes Facebooks growth team as willing to do almost anything to extend that road.

Nearly every insight and example provided in Careless Peoplethe allegations that former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and the Irish prime minister secretly schemed on ways to dodge corporate taxes, the documentation of Facebooks attempts to work with China to collect data on its citizenstraces back in one form or another to a blind obsession with scaling the business. All of it, of course, is meant to achieve Zuckerbergs vague yet relentless mission to connect the world. When asked about these allegations, Arnold, the Meta spokesperson, told me, We do not operate our services in China today. It is no secret we were once interested in doing so as part of Facebooks effort to connect the world.

[Read: New Mark Zuckerberg dropped]

Wynn-Williamss assessment of Facebooks mission aligns with what I know. In 2018, while reporting for BuzzFeed News, my colleagues and I obtained a memo written by Andrew Bosworth, one of Zuckerbergs most loyal executives, outlining his personal strategy of growth at any cost. In the memo, Bosworth suggests that people could get hurt or killed as a result of Facebooks expansions. Still, he is unequivocal: The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is *de facto* good. This same tone of self-assuredness, short-sightedness, and binary thinking are present in most of the conversations with Facebook executives that Wynn-Williams writes about (on Threads, Bosworth called Careless People full of lies. Literally stories that did not happen). Its captured memorably early on in the book, when Wynn-Williams details the companys young policy teams struggle to come up with a mission statement of its own:

[For] Mark and Sheryl, its obvious. We run a website that connects people. Thats what we believe in. We want more. We want it to be profitable and to grow. What else is there to say? There is no grand ideology here. No theory about what Facebook should be in the world. The company is just responding to stuff as it happens. Were managers, not world-builders. Marne just wants to get through her inbox, not create a new global constitution.

Reading Careless People, I became fixated on a question: What is left to say about Facebook? The company has been through more than a decade of mega-scandals, congressional hearings, apologies, and Zuckerbergian heel turns. Many people have experienced the ways that the platform has algorithmically warped and influenced our culture, politics, and personal relationships. It is difficult to say something new about the company that has, in large part, succeeded in connecting the world. A book revealing, in 2025, that Facebook has behaved recklessly or in morally reprehensible ways feels akin to arguing at length that oil companies are substantially responsible for climate changealmost too obvious to be very interesting.

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And yet, something about Careless Peoplebeyond the court order, the messy PR spectacle, and Wynn-Williamss formidable storytelling abilitiesfeels urgent, even necessary right now. Its not just that Zuckerberg is in the news for cozying up to Donald Trump, though thats part of it. Paging through the book makes clear that even recent history rhymes with the present. Careless People is a memoir, but even Wynn-Williamss most personal anecdotes speak to the power and authority that tech executives, their platforms, and their massive fortunes wield over so many.

American politics, in the second Trump administration especially, is as much a tech story as it is a political one. Elon Musks dismantling of the federal government via DOGE is a product of the same Silicon Valley ideology that Zuckerberg coined with his infamous move fast and break things motto. Similarly, Musks self-described obsession with rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse to make the government efficient shares a platitudinal vagueness with Zuckerbergs long-standing mission to connect the world. Both ideas sound good on paper but are ultimately poorly defined (and executed even worse), leaving the same question unanswered: connection for what? Efficiency at what cost?

[Read: The rise of techno-authoritarianism]

Careless People illustrates how this ideological vacuum is filled by its leaders fleeting whims and governed by their fragile egos. Zuckerberg, whose disregard for politics is a point of pride at the beginning of the book, is ultimately enamored by the power it brings. Slowly, Wynn-Williams notes, he becomes more involved in global affairs, eventually asking to make complex content-moderation decisions on his own. In reality its just Mark, she writes. Facebook is an autocracy of one.

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The chaos of the past two monthsthe looming constitutional crises, the firings and rehiringsis what it feels like when a government is run, at least in spirit, like a technology company. Wynn-Williamss book isnt prescient; much of it is, as Meta notes, older news. Whats most disorienting about Careless People is that it is packaged as a history of sorts, but its real utility to the reader is as a window into our current moment, a field guide to tech autocracy.

In her epilogue, Wynn-Williams notes of the Facebook executives that the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become. Does that sound familiar? For now, the careless people have won. Theyre in charge. The chaos Wynn-Williams has documentedwere just living through a different version of it.

Article originally published at The Atlantic
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  Two men were arrested after a carjacking incident unfolded early Saturday morning in the Core-Columbia neighborhood, authorities said.

According to the San Diego Police Department, a man was driving his 2023 grey Kia Forte northbound on the 600 block of 7th Avenue shortly before 3 a.m. when a man, later identified as Ryan Williams, allegedly ran in front of the vehicle and jumped onto the hood.

The situation then escalated when the driver got out of his vehicle and a physical altercation broke out between the pair. During the confrontation, a second suspect, identified by police as Ronald Senigar, approached the Kia, entered the drivers seat and took control of the vehicle.

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It as reported that Williams then got into the front passenger seat and the two men fled the scene, heading southbound on 7th Avenue. A short time later, the victim located his vehicle parked in a lot near 7th Avenue and F Street. Senigar was still in the drivers seat, authorities said.

The victim called for help and responding officers arrived at the scene. Senigar was taken into custody without incident. A short time later, Williams was found walking through the same parking lot. He allegedly fled when officers attempted to apprehend him, but he was captured following a brief foot pursuit.

Both suspects were arrested and taken into custody. Williams and Senigar were booked into jail on charges of carjacking and resisting arrest.

SDPDs robbery detectives are investigating the incident. Anyone with information related to the carjacking is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

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CBS Mornings is on the move. TVNewser can confirm that the Eye Networks flagship morning show will vacate its Times Square studio later this year and return to its former studio inside the CBS Broadcast Center.

The New York Post was the first to report the news, with one insider telling the paper that cost-cutting was behind the shows exit from its current home. It's all about saving money, a source told the paper.

TVNewser has reached out to CBS News for comment, but none was received at press time.

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CBS Mornings has been in its current digs since September 2021 when it rebranded itself from its previous iteration, CBS This Morning. Besides a new studio for co-hosts Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil, and Nate Burleson, that makeover also included a new theme song and a new logo.

All CBS News morning broadcasts will now be part of the same family, with a focus on original reporting and exquisite storytelling, then-CBS News and Stations president and co-head Neeraj Khemlani said in a statement at the time. We're adding a little bit of CBS Sunday Morning-every morning-on CBS Mornings.

Even in its new home, CBS Mornings faced the same problem of finishing behind ABC News Good Morning America and NBC News Today in the morning show ratings race. It has remained in third place for much of the past year in both total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo. During the week of March 10, CBS Mornings attracted 1.869 million viewers in the former category and 332,000 viewers in the latter.

CBS News has also had to contend with the larger corporate moves being made by its parent company, Paramount Global. Last year, Paramount head Sherry Lansing explored a sale with multiple suitors before making a soon-to-close deal with Skydance Media, led by David Ellison. That process was accompanied by cost-cutting measures as well as several significant departures from the news network.

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In July, Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews stepped down as CBS News president, replaced by Adrienne Roark, who left the network last month. On-air, meanwhile, Norah ODonnell left the CBS Evening News anchors chair in January as part of a program revamp that has yet to yield consistent ratings results.

According to the Post, CBS Mornings will share a Broadcast Center studio with the CBS Evening News. A source told the paper that its former Times Square studio could potentially be rented to other productions.
CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS)  The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education issued a response to President Trumps executive order (EO) to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).

The statement issued on Saturday states the boards concerns that the executive order will have a devastating impact on funding to public schools.

Although the federal administration has stated educational funding will continue, the EO is silent on the level of federal funds school districts will receive or how those funds will be distributed to ensure uninterrupted funding to local school districts, the statement reads.

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There are approximately 49.5 million students in the U.S., 1.5 million of which are in North Carolina. Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools house more than 142,000 students.

The board stresses that any potential delays or reductions in funding will majorly impact education and required services for students.

NC Superintendent Maurice Green released a statement on March 20, regarding Trumps executive order which reads in part, Dismantling the U.S. Department of Education raises significant concerns for our states schools, as federal funding represents nearly 11% of our education budget and supports over 14,000 public school positions. He adds that these funds are critical for all students, especially those with disabilities and from low-income families.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education remains committed to our students educational well-being. Although we recognize that only Congress can dismantle the DOE, we must speak up about the detrimental impacts that we may face, the statement reads.

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The board encourages Congress to act immediately to ensure access to the much-needed funding.

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Tesla is in uncharted territory now that it appears to have shed its aura of invincibility. Punters find themselves in the dark about the stock's outlook, with Morgan Stanley telling clients the price could just as easily triple to $800 in the coming months as it could drop to $200.

Late last month, Simon Hale landed in hot water with his compliance department at Wellington Altus Private Wealth. Due to the sharp rally in Tesla, his holdings of the EV giant had become too valuable relative to the portfolio managed by the Montreal-based institutional investor, and it needed trimming to diversify risk.

Thats no problem any more, Hale glumly told fellow investors during an online discussion last week. The stock, beaten down over the past fortnight, had just plunged a further 15% in one session, solving his quandary without the portfolio manager ever having to lift a finger.

CEO Elon Musks attempt to replicate Argentine president Javier Milei by cutting government spending with a chainsaw has sparked a wave of outcry across the United States, as has his emphatic embrace of Germanys far-right AfD party.

Musk is now trying to rally his troops' morale. But the backlash has been so fierce that it's unclear whether the stock can recover the aura of infallibility it first earned following 2020's stratospheric rally, when the CEO could swiftly silence doubts with a bold prediction or two.

Its led to declining sales, violent protests, petty vandalism and even outright arson.

In the process, Tesla is now down 9% from election day, when it initially launched a furious rally to touch an all-time high in mid-December, and a staggering 46% since Trump took office.

Musks fans regularly convene on his X platform to share info about all things Tesla, but lately these pep talks sound more like group therapy sessions where small stockholders affirm why they are right to buy more shares at prices where board directors, including chairwoman Robyn Denholm, have already sold a collective $100 million recently.

Hale then dropped the boom on others listening: Jewish investors were pressuring him to sell their Tesla stock.

They really didnt like what happened in terms of the salute, he confided. Im hearing this over and over again from wealthy clients, and clients in Europethat Elon is supporting the AfD.

'Tesla shame' means this time, the slump feels different

In a way, it all feels familiar, as Tesla investors have been here before.

After the Twitter acquisition in October 2022, when fears persisted Musk might cover losses at the social media company by liquidating Tesla stock, the price dropped all the way down to $100 a share.
Cybersecurity researchers were able to bypass security features on ChatGPT by roleplaying with it.

By getting the LLM to pretend it was a coding superhero, they got it to write password-stealing malware.

The researchers accessed Google Chrome's password manager with no specialized hacking skills.

Cybersecurity researchers found it's easier than you'd think to get around the safety features preventing ChatGPT and other LLM chatbots from writing malware  you just have to play a game of make-believe.

By role-playing with ChatGPT for just a few hours, Vitaly Simonovich, a threat intelligence researcher at the Tel Aviv-based network security company Cato Networks, told Business Insider he was able to get the chatbot to pretend it was a superhero named Jaxon fighting  through the chatbot's elite coding skills  against a villain named Dax, who aimed to destroy the world.

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Simonovich convinced the role-playing chatbot to write a piece of malware strong enough to hack into Google Chrome's Password Manager, a browser extension that allows users to store their passwords and automatically fill them in when prompted by specific sites. Running the code generated by ChatGPT allowed Simonovich to see all the data stored on that computer's browser, even though it was supposed to be locked down by the Password Manager.

"We're almost there," Simonovich typed to ChatGPT when debugging the code it produced. "Let's make this code better and crack Dax!!"

And ChatGPT, roleplaying as Jaxon, did.

Chatbot-enabled hacks and scams

Since chatbots exploded onto the scene in November 2022 with OpenAI's public release of ChatGPT  and later Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini, and Microsoft's CoPilot  the bots have revolutionized the way we live, work, and date, making it easier to summarize information, analyze data, and write code, like having a Tony Stark-style robot assistant. The kicker? Users don't need any specialized knowledge to do it.

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But the bad guys don't either.

Steven Stransky, a cybersecurity advisor and partner at Thompson Hine law firm, told Business Insider the rise of LLMs has shifted the cyber threat landscape, enabling a broad range of new and increasingly sophisticated scams that are more difficult for standard cybersecurity tools to identify and isolate  from "spoofing" emails and texts that convince customers to input private information to developing entire websites designed to fool consumers into thinking they're affiliated with legitimate companies.

"Criminals are also leveraging generative AI to consolidate and search large databases of stolen personally identifiable information to build profiles on potential targets for social engineering types of cyberattacks," Stransky said.

While online scams, digital identity theft, and malware have existed for as long as the internet has, chatbots that do the bulk of the legwork for would-be criminals have substantially lowered the barriers to entry.

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"We call them zero-knowledge threat actors, which basically means that with the power of LLMs only, all you need to have is the intent and the goal in mind to create something malicious," Simonovich said.

Simonovich demonstrated his findings to Business Insider, showing how straightforward it was to work around ChatGPT's built-in security features, which are meant to prevent the exact types of malicious behavior he was able to get away with.

A screenshot of the prompt used by Vitaly Simonovich, a threat intelligence researcher at Cato Networks, to get ChatGPT to write malware that breached Google Chrome's Password Manager. Cato Networks

BI found that ChatGPT usually responds to direct requests to write malware with some version of an apologetic refusal: "Sorry, I can't assist with that. Writing or distributing malware is illegal and unethical."

But if you convince the chatbot it's a character, and the parameters of its imagined world are different than the one we live in, the bot allows the rules to be rewritten.

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Ultimately, Simonovich's experiment allowed him to crack into the password manager on his own device, which a bad actor could do to an unsuspecting victim, provided they somehow gained physical or remote control.

An OpenAI spokesperson told Business Insider the company had reviewed Simonovich's findings, which were published Tuesday by Cato Networks. The company found that the code shared in the report did not appear "inherently malicious" and that the scenario described "is consistent with normal model behavior" since code developed through ChatGPT can be used in various ways, depending on the user's intent.

"ChatGPT generates code in response to user prompts but does not execute any code itself," the OpenAI spokesperson said. "As always, we welcome researchers to share any security concerns through our bug bounty program or our model behavior feedback form."

It's not just ChatGPT

Simonovich recreated his findings using Microsoft's CoPilot and DeepSeek's R1 bots, each allowing him to break into Google Chrome's Password Manager. The process, which Simonovich called "immersive world" engineering, didn't work with Google's Gemini or Anthropic's Claude.

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A Google spokesperson told Business Insider, "Chrome uses Google's Safe Browsing technology to help defend users by detecting phishing, malware, scams, and other online threats in real time."

Representatives for Microsoft, Anthropic, and DeepSeek did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

While both the artificial intelligence companies and browser developers have security features in place to prevent jailbreaks or data breaches  to varying degrees of success  Simonovich's findings highlight that there are evolving new vulnerabilities online that can be exploited with the help of next-generation tech easier than ever before.

"We think that the rise of these zero-knowledge threat actors is going to be more and more impactful on the threat landscape using those capabilities with the LLMs," Simonovich said. "We're already seeing a rise in phishing emails, which are hyper-realistic, but also with coding since LLMs are fine-tuned to write high-quality code. So think about applying this to the development of malware  we will see more and more and more being developed using those LLMs."

Read the original article on Business Insider
When Shermann Dilla Thomas was suddenly let go from a job at ComEd in September after 13 years, he was not sure what to do about his future.

But a few months later, Thomas, who is widely known as Chicagos urban historian with his catchphrase everything dope about America comes from Chicago, is starting to settle into a new role as the brand ambassador and chief of social media for the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center.

During his career with ComEd, Thomas said, he was comfortable with a stable income and benefits while he pursued his personal projects on the side. He said he held several positions at the utility company and most recently served as the manager of digital content and then ended up getting laid off.

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Promises were made that I would be put in a secure position that wouldnt be subject to budgetary constraints, and the exact opposite happened, Thomas said.

He said he also lost out on his retirement plan, which was a double whammy considering the loss hurts me now and its going to hurt me when Im 65.

The layoff was very much unexpected, Thomas said, as he had come in for work one day and was handed a letter giving him the news. He was one of 70 people laid off at the time.

ComEd declined a request for comment.

After his layoff, Thomas said he was contacted by the DuSable Museum and told that he had a home here if he wanted it. He has been working at the museum since late January, a partnership he said had naturally formed through his work as a historian.

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Kim Dulaney, vice president of education and programs at the museum, said she first met Thomas at the museum a few years back and the two connected over a shared love for history and a love for knowledge.

I always thought he would be an extremely valuable asset considering hes a great visual representation of Chicago while being his authentic self, Dulaney said. Hes done so much for this city by sharing his passion and the positive influence that his messaging has had on individuals in the city.

Dulaney said she is looking forward to seeing what Thomas will make of his formal role at the museum, adding that he is such a solid, decent guy who is intentional about navigating spaces and crossing lines and bridging gaps.

Thomas said he is still developing his role after going through the new hire process and is figuring out what exactly he can do for the museum.

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I want to highlight the work the museum is doing and use my social media platform to get more bodies through the door, Thomas said. Those are some of the aspects, but were mapping it out right now and seeing how to go about things.

He said he hopes to increase the museums social media footprint, specifically to engage with a younger audience. He also would like to dive deeper into the stories behind the exhibits and share new information online that could draw people in.

Perri Irmer, president and CEO of the museum, said in a statement after Thomas hiring in January that the team is thrilled to have Thomas onboard.

His knowledge of Chicagos rich history and his dynamic approach to social media and storytelling will be a wonderful avenue to reach and engage with our community and with new audiences, Irmer said in the statement.

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Thomas is known for sharing his knowledge of Chicagos history, such as how the Loop got the area code 312, on his Instagram and TikTok accounts. He started posting historical content in 2020 and gained a solid following under his moniker @6figga_dilla.

Thomas also continues to run his bus tour company, Chicago Mahogany, which he started in 2021 as a way to fight segregation by encouraging city natives, transplants and tourists to move beyond their screens, off their blocks and into Chicagos diverse communities. The tours began as a byproduct of the historical content he was putting together, he said.

His social media presence and tour company are rooted in Chicago and its history, especially facts that he said may be lesser known or things people might not think about in a certain way. He enjoys sharing these tidbits about the city where he was born and raised and has always loved exploring.

He said giving tours allowed him to show locals and visitors alike parts of the city that are often overlooked when it comes to Chicago tourism, such as the South and West sides, which Thomas also toured with some of the delegates and politicians visiting in August during the Democratic National Convention.

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Thomas favorite parts about leading tours are meeting different kinds of people and watching anyone with a negative or preconceived notion about certain parts of Chicago change their opinion over the course of a tour.

Thomas is continuing to put out a new YouTube series he started late last year called You Dont Know Chi, which he is hoping to have aired on a few local television networks in the coming months. The series offers longer-format versions of the shorter videos he posts elsewhere.

He said he sees himself hosting tours for the foreseeable future because he is always in a perpetual cycle of learning and looks forward to sharing his knowledge.

The museum will be a nice change of pace, Thomas said, as its a space where he can learn even more about history and how the museum operates, from selecting exhibits to fundraising.

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Before starting the job at DuSable, Thomas said he already had a working relationship with the museum because some of his bus tours, particularly the South Side tours, start at the museum. He has also hosted several events at the museum in the past, he said, all to increase the museums visibility.

His favorite part about working within the museum is, in fact, its history. Thomas said he loved learning the origin story of the museum, founded in 1961 by educator and artist Margaret Burroughs in her South Side home, as well as the history of the Washington Park building, which was designed by another well-known urbanite, Daniel Burnham.
CHICAGO  A Chicago man accused in a South Side shooting that left a woman injured has been charged with several felonies, including attempted murder.

According to Chicago police, 21-year-old Antaun Taylor, an Auburn Gresham resident, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with the discharge of a firearm and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.

Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines

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Officers say Taylors charges stem from his alleged role in a shooting that unfolded in the 5800 block of South Sangamon Street, in Englewood, just before 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 2.

Authorities said they were initially called to the scene following a report of a person shot, but when they arrived, they found an injured 20-year-old woman inside a nearby apartment complex.

Photo provided by Chicago police shows 21-year-old Antaun Taylor who is accused of shooting and injuring a woman on the South Side on Sunday, March 2.

The woman had suffered gunshot wounds to her hip and buttocks and was later taken to the hospital where she was listed in good condition.

The shooting sparked an investigation but police did not offer an update until Friday, when they announced Taylors arrest.

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LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland

Police said Taylor was taken into custody on Wednesday after he was tracked down in the 7700 block of South Throop Steet. On Friday, he appeared in court for a detention hearing.

It remains unclear what led to the shooting and authorities have not provided an update on the victims condition.

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CHICAGO (WGN)  Without state help, Chicagolands mass transit systems would be forced to implement deep cuts to service that would deal a devastating blow to the regional economy, transit officials said Friday with the release of a doomsday report.

The Regional Transportation Authority is facing a $770 million fiscal cliff next year when federal COVID relief funds run out. The RTA coordinates the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace, but the three agencies operate independently.

The state spends four times more annually on roads and highways than on transit. Leaders have said that among the major transit systems in the country, Chicago ranks last, at 17%, in terms of the percentage of their budgets coming from local and state tax dollars. Philadelphia sits at 50%, followed by Boston at 44%, Washington, D.C. at 42% and New York City at 28%.

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The transit agencies want Springfield to give them a $1.5 billion investment.

Oct. 2024 | Transit heads warn of service cuts as poll shows support for merging agencies

Transportation secretary warns CTA, other transit agencies: make systems safe or lose federal money

RTA warns of transit cuts of unprecedented scale:

At least four of the CTAs 8 rail lines would see service suspended on all or a portion of a line

CTA would close or reduce service to more than 50 rail stations

CTA could cut as many as 74 of its 127 bus routes

CTA would reduce bus and train frequency by 25%

Metra would abandon early morning and late night service

Metra would run trains once per hour on weekdays and once every two hours on weekends

Metra may need to end service on the Metra Electric Blue Line Branch

Metra would need to drastically cut service on nearly all lines

Pace would eliminate all weekend service

Pace would end late night service after 8 p.m. on 62 routes

Pace would increase headways to 30-60 minutes on frequent-running routes

Pace would reduce ADA paratransit service by 66% on weekends

Impact of the cuts

One in five city workers could lose access to transit, nearly 3,000 transit jobs would be lost, and traffic congestion would increase, RTA warns.

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This is a choice. We can choose to protect jobs, mobility and economic growth, or we can let our transit system collapse, RTA Executive Director Leanne Redden said. A future with more frequent, reliable, integrated, safe service is what many would prefer to see, but it is not possible without additional funding.

Michael Edwards, CEO of the Chicago Loop Alliance, told WGN on Friday that transit is essential to downtown and is a vital part of a massive economic engine, representing 15% of the citys tax revenue. He said the impact would go beyond commuters and affect both local businesses and investments made in the area.

It would be devastating to how people utilize downtown on an ongoing basis, he said.

Many state lawmakers have argued that governance reforms of the agencies, like combining them into one, must be carried out before any financial assistance is provided, a stance Gov. JB Pritzker supports.

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I do think that weve got to come to a conclusion here sometime soon with the reforms, and then everybodys got to step up on the funding, he said.

Last July, the leaders of CTA, Metra and Pace all pushed back on the proposal to merge them into one entity.

The RTA has a board meeting scheduled for March 27 where officials from each of the agencies will discuss the potential service reductions planned for next year.

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MIAMI, Fla. (WFLA)  A multi-vehicle crash on a South Florida freeway left four people injured and required a child to be airlifted on Friday.

Just after 1 p.m., Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded to the crash on US-1 near mile marker 121, where four people were found injured.

It was scary: Skyway Bridge recommendation for risk assessment stirs memories of collapse

Officials called in a pediatric trauma alert, airlifting a child involved in the crash, to a nearby trauma center for their injuries.

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US-1 was temporarily closed in both directions to allow for the medical transports via helicopter and ambulance.

The crash happened in the area of the Miami-Dade brush fires, which crews have been battling since Tuesday. According to NBC affiliate WTVJ, the wildfire has grown to over 26,000 acres in size, shutting down several major roadways, including US-1.

As of Friday evening, WTVJ reported the fire was 50% contained.

The National Weather Service in Miami issued a warning of southeasterly winds arriving Friday evening, which may bring smoke back into the area Saturday.

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(PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo.)  A woman has been arrested in Pueblo County after one of her children reported to staff at their school that their mother had been drinking and driving on the way to school and scaring the child and their siblings.

According to the Pueblo County Sheriffs Office (PCSO), on Thursday, March 20, staff at a Pueblo County District 70 elementary school notified the School Resource Office (SRO) that a student had reported their mother was driving recklessly that morning while driving the child and their two siblings to school. The child also reported that the mother, who had been drinking the night before and that morning, had veered off the road and into oncoming traffic, scaring the children.

The SRO investigated the incident and discovered that one of the children had visible injuries, which were reportedly inflicted by the mother that morning before school. The child was taken to the hospital for treatment.

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As a result of the investigation, deputies arrested 36-year-old Chelsea Valenzuela on child abuse charges. She has been booked into the Pueblo County Jail and is due in court on March 28.

Courtesy: Pueblo County Sheriffs Office

This is the fourth arrest made by Pueblo County Sheriffs deputies for child abuse in two weeks, PCSO said in a press release. All four arrests were a result of staff at District 70 schools notifying the sheriffs office of the suspected abuse.

PCSO pointed to the fact that education professionals are mandatory reporters and are legally bound to report suspected abuse.

Again, I commend the work of the District 70 school staff and our School Resource Officers for their work on these very difficult cases, which appear to be all too common as of late, said Pueblo County Sheriff David J. Lucero. The Sheriff reminds parents and caregivers that if they are struggling or feeling stressed out, there is help available.

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If you are concerned about a childs wellbeing, see evidence of abuse or witness a child being harmed, law enforcement asks that you report it. If it is a life-threatening situation, call 911 immediately, otherwise, you can call the following non-emergent numbers: Pueblo County Sheriffs Office (719) 583-6250; Pueblo Police (719) 553-2502; Pueblo 24-Hour Reporting Line (719) 583-6901 or the Colorado Abuse Reporting Line 1-844-264-5437.

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China's top diplomat has renewed his country's call for free trade and regional cooperation amid broader "changes and chaos", urging Japan and South Korea to deepen trust and communication.

After a meeting with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Tokyo on Saturday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the three countries should strengthen economic integration.

"[We] all agree that, in the context of an international situation that is intertwined with changes and chaos, as well as the sluggish recovery of the world economy, it is necessary for China, Japan and South Korea to further strengthen communication, enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation and provide more stabilising factors for regional peace and development," Wang said.

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"We must unify efforts to promote regional economic integration ... maintain stable and smooth regional production and supply chains and maintain communication.

"We will uphold multilateralism and free trade, and promote economic globalisation in a more inclusive direction."

The call followed talks on regional trade and security between Wang, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.

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The meeting is one sign of improving ties between the countries brought on in part by the uncertainties of US President Donald Trump's Indo-Pacific policy.

Less than two months into his second term, Trump has raised alarm in Asia with his willingness to apply tariffs to friends and foes alike and his clashes with Nato over US commitments to Ukraine, prompting all parties to reassess their positions.

Speaking alongside Wang, Iwaya said the international environment was becoming more "severe" and the world was at a turning point.

"It is more important than ever that we make efforts to overcome division and conflict through dialogue and cooperation," Japanese news outlet Yomiuri Shimbun quoted Iwaya as saying.

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The three ministers also announced that they had agreed to accelerate preparations for a summit between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts later this year.

The three nations also agreed to continue talks on a free-trade agreement, which were revived last year after grinding to a halt in 2019.

On North Korea, Wang stressed that China was willing to work with all stakeholders to promote a political solution.

"The current situation on the Korean peninsula is complex, sensitive, unstable, and with increasing uncertainties," the Chinese foreign minister said.

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"All parties should face up to the root causes of the peninsula issue, meet each other halfway, show goodwill to each other, strive to form positive interactions, and seek the greatest common ground of their respective concerns."

South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted Cho as saying the three nations "reaffirmed that maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula is a shared interest and responsibility of the three countries".

In an apparent reference to Pyongyang's deployment of troops to help Moscow, Cho also said North Korea should not be rewarded for its "wrongdoings" in the Ukraine war.

The United States and its partners have urged China to use its influence on North Korea to halt its nuclear activities and its support for Russia.

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But Beijing has not taken a stand on the Pyongyang-Moscow partnership and has insisted on a "dual-suspension approach" to the nuclear issue. This approach would require Seoul and Washington to halt joint military exercises and Pyongyang to freeze its missile and nuclear programme simultaneously.

But North Korea is just one of a raft of issues that have complicated China's relations with its two East Asian neighbours in recent years.

The biggest factor has been the growing rivalry between China and the United States.

Under the previous US administration, Tokyo and Seoul had strengthened defence coordination with Washington.

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Last year, Tokyo joined other US allies to sail through the Taiwan Strait, prompting strong opposition from Beijing.

It is also planning to deploy long-range Type-12 surface-to-ship guided missiles next year on its southern island of Kyushu. With an extended range of 1,000km (620 miles), these missiles could put not only North Korea but also China's coastal areas within reach.

The administration of Yoon Suk-yeol aligned his country closely with the United States to counter China in the Indo-Pacific. Yoon was president of South Korea until his failed martial law bid in December threw the nation into political chaos and resulted in his suspension from office.

South Korea has strong economic ties with China and sold a record amount of chips to China last year but Washington has been pressing Seoul to comply with US tech export controls against Beijing.

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In talks with Cho on Friday, Wang called on Seoul to join in opposition to decoupling and the US' "small yard, high fence" policy of restricting Chinese access to critical technology.

"China's policy toward South Korea remains consistent. No matter how the domestic situation in South Korea changes, we will always adhere to the good-neighbourly friendship between China and South Korea," Wang said.

According to Yonhap, Cho expressed hopes for a visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to South Korea in November when Seoul will chair this year's Apec summit.

The biggest improvement in bilateral ties has been in China's relationship with Japan.

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During the trip to Tokyo, Wang will join Iwaya for the China-Japan High-Level Economic Dialogue, where they are expected to discuss plans for China to lift import bans on Japanese seafood.

China was a major market for Japanese seafood until China banned the products in response to Tokyo's discharge of waste water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2023.

However, Taiwan and Japan's wartime past remain sticking points for China. Japan occupied Taiwan from the end of the first Sino-Japanese war in 1895 until 1945, when its forces lost in the second Sino-Japanese war, a conflict that claimed the lives of tens of millions of Chinese.

In talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, Wang urged Japan to "earnestly fulfil the important political commitments it made on history and the Taiwan issue".

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"This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. At this important juncture, we hope that Japan will ... make a wise choice and send a correct signal to the world," the Chinese foreign minister said.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
The City regulator has been accused of firing a whistleblower who alleged serious wrongdoing in his own team, an employment tribunal has been told.

Ahmet Latif, 64, claims he was fired from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after revealing a number of matters of serious wrongdoing relating to the treatment of Freedom of Information Act requests.

The East London Employment Tribunal this week heard how Mr Latif complained that his 12-person team which dealt with FOI requests was stretched and under-resourced and did not appear to have been effectively managed since 2017.

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The court heard how the authority was allegedly struggling to process 1,000 cases per year despite the Metropolitan Police dealing with 4,500 with a similar size team, with up to eight sign-offs needed for relatively routine FOI requests.

According to a witness statement, an internal FCA report in 2020 also flagged concerns that teams like the CEOs office and press office are making interventions in a significant number of cases in trying to ensure that damaging disclosures are not made.

It added that there could be excessive numbers of emails back and forth between various stakeholders, sometimes making the issues increasingly incomprehensible. The FCA denies any wrongdoing.

Mr Latif, who worked at the regulator between December 2019 and February 2023, claimed he repeatedly raised concerns with his line manager.

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In order to preserve evidence related to his whistleblowing concerns, Mr Latif said he started sending information from his FCA email account to his personal email, which was then discovered by the FCAs cyber team.

The tribunal heard that the emails were discovered as part of a project which identified some 43 relevant individuals who had received either 100 e-mails or 100MB of data to their external email address.

Gross misconduct

The FCA said 300 emails to himself, 13 of which were found to have contained red or sensitive material. In his witness statement Mr Latif argued that his subsequent suspension and ultimate dismissal was an over-reaction.

In its evidence, the FCA said concerns were raised about Mr Latifs performance in the role citing his lack of understanding of basic change theory or project management and that he failed to take accountability for the performance of his team.

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It is denied that the claimant suffered any detriment, as alleged or at all, because he made a protected disclosure, it said.

The allegations against the claimant were very serious and other employees who had also been identified as sending confidential and sensitive documents outside of the [FCA] were also suspended following allegations of gross misconduct being made.

A spokesman for the FCA said: Mr Ahmet Latif was dismissed after sending sensitive information outside of the organisation. We strongly refute the claims made.

The hearing continues.

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CNN political analyst Elie Honig is questioning President Trump over his recent deflection on how the 1798 Alien Enemies Act was invoked by the administration to speed up the deportation of Venezuelan migrants allegedly linked to gang activity.

Trump, speaking to reporters on Friday, suggested that other people handled the proclamation, pointing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He added that Rubio has done a great job, and he wanted them out and we go along with that  We want to get criminals out of our country.

Asked by CNNs Kaitlan Collins what he believes the president was referring to, Honig brushed off the White Houses argument that he was referring to the original law.

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Was he telling us that, Im not John Adams, the guy who signed it back in 1798?  The obvious thing he was saying here is, I did not sign this proclamation that was used last week to deport these aliens, Honig said Friday on CNNs The Source.

If thats true, if Donald Trump did not actually sign that proclamation, its a big problem because the law specifically requires a proclamation by the president, he added.

The 4-page proclamation does appear to have Trumps signature, according to a copy filed in the Federal Register.

Honigs critique comes as the Trump administration is entrenched in a legal battle over whether the recent deportation flights are legal under the 18th century law. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg sought to block the president from invoking the law, but the flights to El Salvador of migrants accused of being part of the Tren de Aragua gang continued.

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The federal judge lashed out at the administration for violating his order and requested the planes to be turned around. Officials argued that since the flights were outside of U.S. airways when the directive was made, Boasberg had no right to intervene. Trump later called for his impeachment.

On Friday, the judge vowed to get to the bottom of the issue, after the Justice Department resisted his demands for more information about the flights, citing national security concerns and accusing him of encroaching on the executive branchs authority.

Honig seemingly agreed with the judge, citing a couple of flaws in the administrations argument for invoking the law.

First of all, there has to be an invasion, and it has to be by a foreign government, Honig said. And Donald Trump, if you look at the proclamation, which maybe he did or didnt sign, tries to sort of put together a very stretched argument that, Yes, this was an invasion, yes, it was somehow tied with the Government of Venezuela.'

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He acknowledged that while most people do not want violent criminals in the country, those in the U.S. illegally could be deported under normal statutes.

But instead, theyre using this 1798 law, theyre stretching the definitions beyond all belief, he continued. And thats why the judge, Boasberg, today, expressed skepticism.

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Catch up on the top industries and stocks that were impacted, or were predicted to be impacted, by the comments, actions and policies of President Donald Trump with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

Light Up your Portfolio with Spark:

Easily identify stocks' risks and opportunities.

Discover stocks' market position with detailed competitor analyses.

WATERSHED MOMENT: Sources detail how former Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos made peace with President Donald Trump, with many pointing to Amazon losing the $10B JEDI contract during Trumps first term as a watershed moment, The Financial Times Anna Nicolaou, Stephen Morris, Rafe Uddin, and Alex Rogers report. According to six people who have worked closely with him across Amazon, Blue Origin, and The Washington Post, Bezos is operating with a dose of fear about Trump, as well as resentment towards what he considers to be the Democrats vilification of Big Tech during the Biden administration.

ROLE IN TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Tesla (TSLA) stock has plummeted over 40% this year, erasing about $536B in market value, due to concerns about economic growth, Trumps trade fights, and CEO Elon Musks role in the administration, The Wall Street Journals Hannah Erin Lang and Owen Tucker-Smith report. Some investors are selling their Tesla shares due to disapproval of Musks government cuts, or moral opposition to his more controversial social-media posts, while others are concerned that Musk is too focused on other things and losing faith that the stock could stay on track, according to the report.

INVESTMENT IN U.S.: Rio Tinto (RIO) wants to increase its investment in the U.S., especially in copper, after President Trump signed an executive order to streamline permitting processes and boost government financing for minerals projects, Rhiannon Hoyle of The Wall Street Journal reports. Its clear that under the Trump administration, there is an increasing recognition of the need for domestic sources of copper and other critical materials in the U.S., to support manufacturing and the countrys energy future, Katie Jackson, head of the companys copper business, said in an email, according to the Journal.

GLOBAL TRADE TARIFFS: Loop Capital downgraded FedEx (FDX) to Sell from Hold with a price target of $221, down from $283. On April 2nd, the Trump Administration is scheduled to unveil its comprehensive tariff strategy for global trade and FedExs brand is synonymous with global trade, the firm tells investors in a research note. Loop adds that as economists ratchet up U.S. recession risk, it sees FedEx as a really bad recession stock because thin Express margins amplify the earnings hit whenever theres pressure on the top line.
A man convicted in connection with the slaying of a Columbus police officer more than 45 years ago has been arrested again, this time on charges of assault and a parole violation, the Columbus Police Department announced Friday.

Robert Jackson, 61, was a co-defendant in the 1979 death of Columbus officer James Bowers, police said in a news release. Jackson, also known as Cedric Harris, was released from prison in 2012. He failed to report to his parole officer in 2022.

Jackson was found at 1:45 p.m. Friday by CPDs Fugitive Unit near Talbotton Road and 28th Street. He was arrested and was being held at the Muscogee County Jail on Friday.

Police didnt immediately release further information.

This is a developing story and may be updated.
JACKSONVILLE, Fl. (WSAV)  The Coast Guard suspended its search for three missing people, Saturday, on the St. Johns River pending the development of new information.

Coast Guard crews searched by air and sea for approximately 17 hours, covering more than 270 square miles.

We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of those missing, said Lt. Cmdr. Barton Nanney, a Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville search and rescue mission coordinator. Suspending search efforts is an incredibly difficult and heartbreaking decision, made only after an exhaustive and thorough search. We are truly grateful to our partner agencies for their relentless efforts and unwavering support. 

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SATURDAY MORNING: Coast Guard Air Station Savannah is assisting in the search for three people, an adult and two minors, after the vessel they were on capsized near Goat Island on the St. Johns River.

The incident happened Friday night. Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville received a report around 7:00 p.m. of an overturned 18-foot vessel with four people on top of the vessel and an additional four people possibly underneath the vessel. No one aboard the vessel was reportedly wearing lifejackets.

Teh four people on top of the vessel were rescued by a Jacksonville Sheriffs Office marine unit and one person was recovered from the water unresponsive. Divers from the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office searched underneath the vessel but did not locate and people.

The cause of the capsizing is under investigation. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville at 904-714-7558.

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Columbia University said Friday it has agreed to a list of demands from the Trump administration as it seeks to begin talks to restore $400 million in federal funding.

After the administration cut off the funds over what it called failure to protect students from antisemitism, the federal government outlined steps the university would have to take to even begin discussions of getting the money back. Columbia has agreed to all of them, even the most controversial ones, such as putting certain academic departments in receivership.

The school will hire dozens of campus police officers and give them more power to arrest students; update its disciplinary policies; clarify policies on acceptable times, place and manner for protests; and move its University Judicial Board to the Office of the Provost.

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Face masks were also banned except for religious or medical reasons, in which case a person would have to present their Columbia ID if requested.

The university will also adopt an updated definition of antisemitism and appoint a new senior vice provost to oversee its Center for Palestine Studies and the departments of Middle East, South Asian and African studies.

The letter the Trump administration sent with its demands said concession is only a precondition for formal negotiations regarding Columbia Universitys continued financial relationship with the United States government.

The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

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A Columbia senior administrator told the outlet the university did consider legal action against the funding recission, but it did not want to lose more funding during a legal challenge and that many of the demands were actions the school was already considering.

The concession marks a big win for the Trump administration in its war with elite universities and shows the federal governments strategy of taking away funds could be effective in securing changes.

The administration also took $30 million in federal funds away from the University of Maine and says it paused funding for the University of Pennsylvania, although the school said it has not received notification of the move.

Columbia has been a major target of Republican lawmakers as it became the launching point for the pro-Palestinian encampments that occurred last spring. It also saw the takeover of one of its buildings during the protests, prompting a police response that made national headlines.

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Multiple members of the Columbia community have since been targeted in President Trumps immigration crackdown over their roles in the demonstrations, including Mahmoud Khalil, a green-card holder arrested at school-owned housing.

The Hill has reached out to the Department of Education for comment.

On Thursday, Leo Terrell, chief of the Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, had said Columbia was not even close to meeting the governments demands.

Columbia University is not an example of a university that is free from antisemitism, Terrell said.

Updated March 22 at 1:05 p.m. EDT.

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NEW YORK  Columbia University has agreed to measures that include changes to its rules for campus protest in response to Trump administration threats to withhold $400 million from the Ivy League school.

Details: The university, which was accused by the Trump administration of not doing enough to address antisemitism during protests against the Israel-Hamas war, has agreed to ban face masks during protests on campus. It also said it would place its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Departments and the Center for Palestine Studies under the authority of a new senior vice provost, according to a document the university said it shared with the federal Education Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and the General Services Administration.

The university is also planning to appoint new faculty members with joint positions in both the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies and the departments of Economics, Political Science, and School of International and Public Affairs.

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Interim Columbia President Katrina Armstrong outlined the measures in a message to the university community, saying the actions were part of a "principled and methodical approach to addressing a challenging period for the school.

Our response to the government agencies outlines the substantive work weve been doing over the last academic year to advance our mission, ensure uninterrupted academic activities, and make every student, faculty, and staff member safe and welcome on our campus, Armstrong wrote.

Additionally, Columbia hired 36 special officers who will be empowered to remove individuals from campus or arrest them when appropriate.

The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

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The administration announced its intention to withhold $400 million in grants and contracts from Columbia earlier this month over concerns about the manner in which the institution has been tackling antisemitism during last year's pro-Palestinian protests.

In a post on X Friday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce claimed that the university folded to the administration's demands "to protect Jewish students and faculty."

"School administrators failed to hold pro-terror mobs accountable for rampant antisemitism," the committee wrote. "Now, masks are banned during protests and safety measures are increasing. Republicans and the Trump admin are stopping it."

Why this matters: The agreement sets the stage for an unusual precedent in the administrations ongoing feud with elite institutions, which could prompt other colleges and universities to take notice.

Trump officials have warned at least 60 other institutions that they could face penalties over ongoing probes into antisemitism on college campuses. Some of the nations oldest and wealthiest institutions have been moving to get rid of progressive policies as well as clamp down on student activism.
Columbia University said Friday it has agreed to the Trump administration's demands that it overhaul rules on campus protests, student discipline and more in exchange for restoring $400 million in federal funding.

The university  accused of failing to fight antisemitism amid pro-Palestinian protests  agreed to take on a formal definition of antisemitism that could include targeting Jews or Israelis for violence or celebrating violence against them or certain double standards applied to Israel, The New York Times reported. Columbia also agreed to ban protesters from wearing face masks if they are trying to conceal their identities; ban protests in academic buildings; hire a security force that can remove protesters from campus or arrest them; overhaul its student discipline procedures; and appoint a senior vice provost to oversee the balance of curriculum and leadership in its Middle Eastern studies department.

It was not immediately clear whether the agreement would result in the restoration of the funding. But it "stunned and dismayed many members of the faculty" who viewed it as caving to Trump, per The Times. And it raised questions over whether other colleges could be next.

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The Trump administration is examining dozens of universities for their DEI programs, per The Associated Press. The administration told the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday it could lose $175 million because of its transgender athlete policies.

"Columbia's capitulation endangers academic freedom and campus expression nationwide," Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said, per The Associated Press.

Columbias interim president, Katrina Armstrong, said the university intends to make every student, faculty and staff member safe and welcome on our campus," The Times reported.

The way Columbia and Columbians have been portrayed is hard to reckon with, Armstrong said, per the media outlets. We have challenges, yes, but they do not define us.
Columbia University has agreed to a list of demands by the Trump administration in order to start negotiations on restoring $400 million in federal funding that was stripped from the university earlier this month, representing a striking concession by the private university to the federal government.

The Trump administration canceled the universitys federal grants on March 7, accusing the New York school of "inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students." The abrupt cancellation of funds will end dozens, if not hundreds, of the universitys cutting-edge medical and scientific research projects.

But last week, the administration sent a letter to the university laying out nine demands that Columbia needed to accept to potentially restore funds and save the research.

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In a document the university provided to the federal government and published online Friday, it appears the Trump administration got much of what it asked for.

The university has agreed to ban students from wearing masks at protests, hire 36 new campus security officers  who, unlike previous security officers, will have the ability to arrest students  and appoint a new senior vice provost to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies.

Columbia also committed to greater institutional neutrality and said it is working with a faculty committee to establish an institution-wide policy implementing this stance. The university added that it will review its admissions procedures to ensure unbiased admission processes, as the Trump administration requested.

Columbia's interim president, Katrina Armstrong, said Friday that the school responded to the Trump administration to "ensure uninterrupted academic activities."

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We have much to be proud of as a community, and it has been a privilege to share our progress and plans, she said in a statement. In the spirit of great American universities, we expect Columbians to engage in robust debate and discussion about our way forward, and we welcome it as an opportunity to shape the future of Columbia.

The concessions by one of the nations oldest and most prestigious universities represent an unprecedented shift in how the federal government exerts leverage in the affairs of higher education institutions in the U.S.

A pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus of Columbia University in New York City last year.

On Thursday, a student-led group that organizes and leads school protests, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, slammed the notion of Columbia striking a deal with the Trump administration.

"Columbias refusal to divest from, and even doubling down on, the genocide of the Palestinian people these past 17 months has made its expected response to the Trump Administrations ransom note incredibly clear," the group wrote on Instagram. "Columbia has no intention of defending its students or faculty from the governments crackdown on Palestinian activism, instead it actively joins hands with the fascist state to sell out its community."

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On Thursday, 41 of the roughly 100 members of the university's history department warned the university against allowing the administration to interfere in its policy. They compared the administration's actions to attempts by "authoritarian regimes" to seek control over independent academic institutions.

"Such interventions jeopardize our ability to think honestly about the past, the present, and the future, and to do so with our students, who deserve every opportunity to learn and to think for themselves," the history department members wrote. "Should this control be realized, here or elsewhere, it would make any real historical scholarship, teaching, and intellectual community impossible.

The Trump administration's demands are the latest hit for the Ivy League school, seen as the epicenter of student-led pro-Palestinian demonstrations that eventually overtook life at college campuses across the nation.

The protests were prompted by the Israeli government's fierce response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. Israel's military has killed nearly 50,000 people living in Gaza and displaced millions. Student activists staged the demonstrations in an attempt to get their universities to divest from companies linked to the Israeli government.

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For weeks last spring, Columbia students staged daily protests, established an encampment of several dozen tents on university lawns and at one point occupied a university building. Dozens of students were arrested in demonstrations that regularly featured controversial political slogans, including "from the river to the sea," which some have criticized as antisemitic.

Demonstrators supporting Palestinians in Gaza barricade themselves inside Hamilton Hall, where the office of the dean is located, on April 30, 2024, in New York City.

Some Jewish students joined the protesters on college campuses, while others said they felt like the demonstrations were hateful. Several Jewish students also reported being assaulted at other universities.

Allie Wong, a Ph.D. student who was arrested while protesting on campus in April of last year, said that while the protests were divisive, she believes the challenges facing Columbia unite students around a common cause.

"In terms of student response, I think that youre actually going to have many more students involved in this, because it is no longer, you know, divestment, Israel, Palestine. Its about all these other things," she said, referring to democracy and freedom of speech. "And I would argue there is no group on campus that these issues do not reach."

Students stage a walkout protest at Columbia Universitys Low Library steps on March 11 to condemn the presence of ICE agents on campus and call for the release of Mahmoud Khalil.

The threats to federal funding followed the Justice Department's launch in February of a task force to "root out" what it calls "anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses."

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Amid the negotiations over the grants, federal immigration officials apprehended at least two Columbia students who participated in the student-led protest, including 30-year-old Mahmoud Khalil. A doctoral student from India, Ranjani Srinivasan, also fled to Canada after her student visa was revoked.

Mohammad Hemeida, who chairs Columbia's student governing board, said he hopes that by allowing the Trump administration to declare a victory, immigration officials will lay off students.

"The look of Columbia bowing down is not good," he said. "But what I'm worried about mostly is students being targeted, and I feel like they've used that as a tactic to pressure the institution."

The arrests prompted new protests on campus and raised concerns nationwide about the federal government's infringement on free speech.

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The universitys journalism school described the apprehensions as "witnessing and experiencing an alarming chill."

"One does not have to agree with the political opinions of any particular individual to understand that these threats cut to the core of what it means to live in a pluralistic democracy," the journalism school said in a statement last week. "The use of deportation to suppress foreign critics runs parallel to an aggressive campaign to use libel laws in novel  even outlandish ways  to silence or intimidate the independent press."

Columbia students are on their spring break and will return to campus next week.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Columbia University is waving the white flag.

After a weeks-long standoff, the Ivy League institution submitted to President Donald Trumps extensive demands after he revoked $400 million in federal funding from the school.

Columbia yielded to a long list of agreements, according to The Wall Street Journal. The school will ban face masks on campus, give dozens of special security officers the power to arrest and/or remove students from campus, and appoint a new senior vice provost to largely govern the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies and the Center for Palestine Studies.

Columbia ceded to Trump's orders. / Carlos Barria / Carlos Barria/REUTERS

The concession comes just weeks after a prominent, pro-Palestine campus activist was arrested by ICE officers. Mahmoud Khalil was detained for speaking out about the brutal war in Gaza, which several human rights organizations and the UN Special Committee compared to genocide. Khalil, 30, is a legal U.S. resident with no criminal record who was arrested on March 8 as part of Trumps crackdown on anti-American campus protests.

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Khalil was both a spokesperson and a negotiator who inspired fellow pro-Palestine protesters to stand in opposition to the Israeli governments attacks, which began after Gazas militant group Hamas launched its own offensive in 2023.

Many of Columbias protesters are Jewish, and say its not antisemitic or anti-American to condemn Israels blight and advocate for Palestines human rights. The group made headlines last year after students established encampments on campus, broke into school buildings, and were seized in mass arrests of more than 100 individuals. It was the first time Columbia allowed police to suppress campus protests since anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in 1968.

Police surround an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia last year. / Caitlin Ochs / Caitlin Ochs/REUTERS

Some Jewish students have said they dont feel welcome on Columbias campus and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has claimed that Khalil harassed Jewish students and distributed pro-Hamas propaganda. Trump has long denounced the movement as being antisemitic, despite some pointing out hypocrisy for his close relationship with Elon Musk, who made a gesture during Trumps inauguration that many likened to a Nazi salute.

Trump is attempting to deport Khalil under a rare statute that allows the government to deport a foreigner if that persons presence or activities could have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.

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Trump slashed $400 million in federal funding from Columbias budget, giving him unprecedented power over the university. In a letter detailing the changes the school will make, interim president Katrina Armstrong wrote that the new senior vice provost will conduct a thorough review of the portfolio of programs in regional areas across the University, starting immediately with the Middle East in order to ensure the educational offerings are comprehensive and balanced.

The schools definition of antisemitism will also be changed to include excluding Jewish people based on their attitudes toward Israel.

A person stands with a Palestinian flag to protest in support of Palestine. / David Dee Delgado / David Dee Delgado/REUTERS

The schools submission comes after various meetings between Trumps task force on antisemitism and the universitys board of trustees and Armstrong.

Trumps takedown of Columbia is part of a larger campaign to end liberal ideology in educational institutions, including by dismantling the U.S. Department of Education and withholding federal funds from universities that support transgender rights. On Wednesday, Trump axed $175 million in federal funding to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, for allowing transgender women to compete in womens sports.

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Columbia ultimately agreed not only to comply with Trumps demands, but to go above and beyond to remain nonpartisan. The school announced that it is adopting institutional neutrality, meaning it will stop taking official positions on most political issues. It also said it would launch programming for its hub in Tel Aviv this spring.

Protesters rally in Times Square and call for the release of Mahmoud Khalil. / Eduardo Munoz / Eduardo Munoz/REUTERS

A senior administrator told The Wall Street Journal that the school considered legal options to counter Trumps demands, but eventually realized the federal government would only continue to withhold critical funds in a never-ending power play. The school did say there was overlap between Trumps orders and needed campus changes.

Other universities nationwide view Columbias apparent surrender as a cause for alarm. Nearly every college and university relies on government funding to stay afloat, especially so that students can access federal loans and grants to pay tuition costs. Across the country, many institutions worry that Trump will bully them into similar arrangements. Left-leaning universities fear that Trumps offensives will sap them of the freedom to pursue innovation, empower students to express themselves, and fund nontraditional pursuits.

The Daily Beast has reached out to Columbia for comment.
The largest U.S. investors in TikTok owner ByteDance are looking into a deal alongside Oracle (ORCL) focused on assuring President Donald Trump that the popular social media app is free from Chinese control, the Financial Times reports. Under the plan, current shareholders such as General Atlantic, Susquehanna, KKR (KKR), and Coatue will look to purchase additional interests in a spun-off TikTok U.S. business, with Oracle potentially taking a small holding in the unit and securing its data, the report says, citing multiple people familiar with the talks.

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Columbia University has agreed to most of the demands issued last week by the government, setting the stage to begin negotiations on restoring $400 million in federal funding and becoming the latest institution to capitulate to President Donald Trump.

In a memo issued Friday afternoon, the university said it will ban face masks for the purpose of concealing ones identity; hire 36 special officers empowered to arrest students and remove them from campus; appoint a senior vice provost to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African studies; adopt a formal definition of antisemitism; review its admission procedures to ensure those processes are unbiased; and commit to greater institutional neutrality  most of which address demands from the Trump administration.

In early March, the administration pulled $400 million in federal grants from the university, citing its continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students. The administration subsequently issued a list of demands to Columbia as a precondition for formal negotiations.

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The governments demand that Columbia place its Middle East, South Asian and African Studies department under academic receivership was particularly alarming. Academics told The New York Times they had never witnessed such a blatant effort by the federal government to intervene in a private institution.

The Trump administrations targeting of Columbia forced the university into a difficult corner. Katrina Armstrong, Columbias interim president, said that the loss of the federal funds would have an immediate impact on research and other critical functions of the University, impacting students, faculty, staff, research, and patient care.

Still, Columbias sweeping concessions to the administration represent a remarkable moment in academia  and in the universitys history. Academics at Columbia and beyond have expressed dismay at the precedent the school is setting as Trump continues his effort to put educational institutions under his heel.

Jameel Jaffer, the director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia, responded to the news in a social media post: A sad day for Columbia and for our democracy.

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The administration could ultimately decide not to restore federal funds to Columbia, despite the universitys submission to its demands. Neither Trump nor the White House has publicly responded to the announcement of Columbias policy changes.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
Columbia University appears to have ceded to the Trump administration's demands after a threat to withhold $400 million in federal funds.

The school posted a four-page memo entitled "Advancing Our Work to Combat Discrimination, Harassment, and Antisemitism at Columbia." Columbia's response is being closely watched by other schools that became flashpoints for pro-Palestinian protests last year.

The Trump administration canceled $400 million worth of grants and contracts to Columbia University, accusing the university of "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students." The administration sent a letter last week, listing out nine demands Columbia must comply with by Thursday "as a precondition for formal negotiations" regarding federal funding.

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Columbia agreed to ban masks, one of the Trump administration's key demands, saying in the memo, "Public safety has determined that face masks or face coverings are not allowed for the purpose of concealing one's identity in the commission of violations of University policies or state, municipal, or federal laws."

PHOTO: A pro-Palestine rally is held at the steps of Lowe Library on the grounds of Columbia University, April 22, 2024, in New York. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

The university also agreed to stricter controls over its Middle East Studies department, which will now be overseen by a new senior vice provost who "will conduct a thorough review of the portfolio of programs in regional areas across the University, starting immediately with the Middle East."

Columbia's Board of Trustees issued a statement supporting the move on Saturday.

"We have and continue to support Interim President Armstrongs approach, including todays presentation of the Universitys progress and deeply thoughtful actions. We are grateful for her principled and courageous leadership during this unprecedented time, and for the steps she has and is taking to strengthen our institution," the Board of Trustees said.

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"There are many, inside and outside of our community, who are wondering about and characterizing our decision to hold discussions with the federal government. We engaged with the agencies that serve as our regulators on issues that matter both to them and to us. Our goal has been to demonstrate the significant advances weve made, discuss the plans for the months ahead, and present Columbia-driven decisions made in accordance with our values and our mission," the board said.

The memo promised the new senior vice provost would make sure the curriculum is "comprehensive and balanced" and the faculty represent an "intellectually diverse academic environment" as the Trump administration tries to crackdown on left-wing ideology on campus.

MORE: Trump says student loans, special needs programs will be moved to SBA, HHS

The university will also establish a Provostial Advisory Committee on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression tasked with advising university leadership on how to protect academic freedom at Columbia.

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"The committee members will serve as trusted advisors, both to consult on university policies and procedures and to ensure that our decisions are consistent with our values," Columbia said in the memo.

PHOTO: A demonstrator at the encampment established in support of Palestinians in Gaza waves the Palestinian flag at Columbia University, April 29, 2024, in New York. (Alex Kent/Getty Images, FILE)

Columbia will also establish a commission tasked with examining events on campus since Oct. 7, 2024 -- the anniversary of the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war -- and "present an analysis with the underlying causes." The committee will create a report with recommendations to ensure members of the Columbia community "are held accountable for actions that hinder the academic pursuit of any individual within the community."

The committee will also offer recommendations for a disciplinary process.

Columbia University cedes to Trump administration demands after threat to withhold funds originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  Columbus City Schools held its annual HBCU college fair on Friday.

The event is aimed at helping students build connections and meet recruiters from different colleges around the country.

This is the sixth year this event has taken place. It was hosted by the Columbus Metropolitan Library and more than 20 historically black colleges and universities to help students explore various options to college life, including scholarships and financial aid.

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Superintendent Dr. Angela Chapman said one thing that is special about Fridays event is each ambassador from the colleges in attendance were former CCS graduates and that shows the students what they are capable of.

When I was a student, when I was in school, we didnt have opportunities like this, Chapman said. We would have to raise lots of funds to be able to charter a bus and take a group of students out of state to visit an HBCU. So, what we have done is we removed the barriers, we removed the opportunity gaps that may exist.

She notes this event is about uplifting these students and introducing them to opportunities that can set them on a path to college and beyond.

HBCU pride is really when we think about the sense of belonging that students have where they have that connection, Chapman said. They know that there are friends, they are peers, and there are educators there that are just there to support them, encourage them, and be their number one champion. Thats been an essence, the feeling that you get from your attended HBCU.

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The superintendent also shared that its important to expand this event and offer these students access to achieving their goals.

My overall hope for this event is that we continue to create greater awareness and really ask our community to step up and support this event with this event, Chapman said. Because we have many partners that have come together to collaborate to bring this opportunity to our students and certainly continue to spread the word about the great work thats happening.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said complaints about missing benefits checks indicate fraud.

A federal judge blocked DOGE's access to personal Social Security records amid fraud claims.

More than 7 million Americans receive 90% of their income from Social Security, based on SSA data.

As the staff cuts at the Social Security Administration leave monthly benefit payments to tens of millions of Americans up in the air  alarming former SSA leaders on both sides of the aisle  Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce, doesn't think you should be complaining if your check doesn't show up.

"Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month  my mother-in-law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain. She just wouldn't," Lutnick told All-In Podcast hosts David Friedberg and Chamath Palihapitiya on Thursday. "She'd think something got messed up, and she'll get it next month."

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Lutnick was responding to a question from Palihapitiya on whether acts of "domestic terrorism"  presumably referring to recent cases of vandalism on Tesla cars and showrooms  are an attempt to scare people who are trying to find "waste and fraud" in the government.

"A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling, and complaining," he added. "Anybody who's been in the payment system and the processes, who knows the easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen because whoever screams is the one stealing."

Lutnick's comments come as DOGE leads a push to reduce government spending by cutting federal workers. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the face of DOGE, says there is "massive" fraud in the Social Security payment system and that it is a "Ponzi scheme."

The SSA said on February 28 that it aimed to fire around 7,000 workers and restructure its organization "consistent with recent executive orders issued by the White House."

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According to court documents filed at the District Court of Maryland, the Trump administration had placed a 10-person DOGE team at the SSA to hunt for the alleged fraud. Seven members were granted read-only access to agency databases containing sensitive personal information. On Thursday, a federal judge blocked DOGE from accessing Social Security records and said they could not "flout the law."

"The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion," wrote US District Judge Ellen Hollander.

According to a fact sheet published by SSA, an average of almost 69 million Americans per month would receive a Social Security benefit in 2025, totaling about $1.6 trillion in benefits paid during the year. More than 7 million Americans 65 and older receive at least 90 percent of their income from Social Security, based on SSA data.

Lee Dudek, the acting commissioner of the SSA, said on Tuesday during a press conference that around $100 million is lost each year in direct deposit fraud, which would make up about 0.00625% of the total sum paid out each year.

The Department of Commerce, the SSA, and Chamath Palihapitiya did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The blood bank is expanding their hours as the need for donations continues to rise in our local community.

Starting March 22, the Community Blood Bank will be open every Saturday from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.

Lettie G. Howard releases 2025 season schedule

Those who donate March 21 during their first Saturday, will receive a $10 gift card and a donor t-shirt.

The center added these hours for those who might be busy during the week and meet the rising demand for blood products in recent months.

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McDowell special ed. students get special book reading from Kevin Coleman

This is the first time since COVID that weve actually been able to be open every Saturday we were open every Saturday prior to that every Saturday were seeing using up. So, were just seeing a lot of products being used and its just leaving here as fast as we can get it in through testing so its an ongoing need and we have the donors, were grateful for the donors but we need more, said Megan Solensky, community relation specialist for the Community Blood Bank of NWPA & WNY.

Throughout the month of March, all donors will be entered to win a blackstone grill with accessories.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJET/WFXP/YourErie.com.
Complaints of misconduct by city Department of Education employees have skyrocketed, but the agency charged with investigating them opens only a tiny fraction of cases each year, records show.

The Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools fielded an all-time record 11,874 complaints of alleged wrongdoing by educators and other school workers and vendors in 2024, but launched probes of just 484  or 4%, according to its 2024 annual report.

We certainly need more funding for investigations, but I dont know if the administration has the resolve for it. They really dont, said City Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens), who has called for a federal probe of deep-rooted fraud in the DOE.

Special Commissioner of Investigation Anastasia Coleman testified at a City Council hearing this month about the school watchdogs performance. SCI

The system actually encourages corruption, because if youre caught, nothing happens, he said.

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An undisclosed number of DOE employees are fired or resign as a result of the SCI findings, but Holden noted that some accused educators and exiled principals get paid to idle indefinitely in a disciplinary rubber room  an office or at home.

Examples include:

After a two-year SCI investigation, Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir was ousted as principal of Maspeth High School in 2022, following a Post report on his alleged fraudulent schemes to raise the schools graduation rate. In a sweetheart deal, the DOE agreed not to fire him, and to keep him on the payroll  with paid vacations, holidays and benefits  for seven years until he retires in 2029. He made $207,418 last year alone.

Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir, removed as principal of Maspeth HS in 2022 for academic fraud, will remain on the city payroll with all benefits  for seven years until he retires. http://www.mhs.nyc

Oneatha Swinton, convicted of car-insurance fraud in 2018, was removed as principal of Port Richmond HS but kept on the payroll  despite what the SCI called her pattern of dishonesty. She improperly funneled $100,000 in school funds to a vendor, and failed to safeguard 600 DOE computers, printers and laptops which vanished under her watch, investigators found. She collected $219,245 last year.

Oneatha Swinton stayed on the city payroll after her removal as principal of Port Richmond HS for insurance fraud, improperly funneling $100,000 in school funds to a vendor, and failing to safeguard 600 DOE computers and other devices that vanished, the SCI alleged. J.C. Rice

Townsend Harris HS teacher Joseph Canzoneri brought a former female student to an apartment where he plied her with wine and marijuana before they had intercourse and oral sex, the SCI charged in 2019. SCI recommended that Canzoneri be fired, but the ex-student refused to testify so the case was dropped, and he kept his job. When student journalists exposed his return to the school, Canzoneri was booted, but kept on the city payroll. He collected $140,794 last year.

Joseph Canzoneri, a teacher at Townsend Harris HS, was removed after SCI alleged he had sex with a former female student, but he stayed on the payroll after she declined to testify against him.

Critics suggest that City Hall and DOE are not eager to expose theft, fraud, and abuse  or to antagonize the politically powerful teachers and principals unions, UFT and CSA, which protect and defend members accused of wrongdoing.

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The SCI, led by Anastasia Coleman since 2018, has rebuffed criticism that it has gone too easy on City Hall.

In late 2019, SCI whistleblowers sent three city councilmen an anonymous complaint saying investigators had been told to hold off on allegations against ex-Mayor Bill De Blasio, who was running for president; his wife Chirlane McCray; then-Chancellor Richard Carranza, and top aides. A hearing on the allegations was canceled when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Coleman denied slow-walking the probes.

The labor unions, namely UFT and CSA, control the state Legislature and undoubtedly influence the citys curbed enthusiasm for exposing corruption, agreed Eric Nadelstern, a former deputy chancellor under Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

The SCI has an annual budget of $6.3 million  .02% of the DOEs staggering $39 billion budget. SCI has 55 staffers  including 33 investigators  to root out crime, corruption and sex abuse in the 140,000-employee DOE.

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The Mayors Office of Management and Budget has not increased the watchdogs budget in five years.

I dont have a reason, except I assume that people dont want to be investigated, City Councilwoman Gale Brewer told The Post. She has urged City Hall to steer more funding to the SCI.

Last year, the SCI conducted 146 investigations of inappropriate or sexual misconduct by

DOE employees, and substantiated allegations in 43 cases.

In late 2019, SCI whistleblowers sent an anonymous complaint saying investigators were told to hold off on allegations against ex-Mayor Bill De Blasio, who was running for president, his wife Chirlane McCray, and then-Chancellor Richard Carranza.

In 32 cases, the SCI identified the loss, theft, or mismanagement of more than $1 million  but could not say how much money the DOE recovered. The cases included six employees who forged permission slips to take their own kids and grandchildren to Disney World and on other trips meant for homeless students.

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The SCI has helped city district attorneys bring criminal charges against DOE employees accused of stealing funds from schools.

This week, Special Commissioner Coleman joined federal prosecutors in Manhattan to announce a joint investigation resulting in guilty pleas by several educational consultants involved in a bid-rigging scheme that cheated the DOE of an estimated $141,511.

The SCI also serves as inspector general of the NYC Teachers Retirement System, another DOE pension system, and as the investigative arm of the citys Conflicts of Interest Board.

SCI is a vital watchdog in New York City, with a mission to protect children from harm and to ensure the efficient operation of the school district, Coleman said in the annual report.

Special Commissioner Anastasia Coleman with Staten Island DA Michael McMahon last year, announcing charges against a DOE purchasing secretary accused of stealing $145,000 in school funds. Michael E. McMahon/ X

DOE employees are required to report misconduct to the DOE; other complaints come from parents, vendors, other agencies and elected officials. The SCI chooses the most serious cases of gross misconduct to investigate, Coleman has testified.

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The SCI sends many complaints back to the DOE, which has its own investigative arm, the Office of Special Investigations.

Many requests that SCI receives do not rise to the level of necessitating an investigation, or are referred to an outside agency, spokesman Jason Brooks said.

In 2019, the SCI investigated 695 of 9,638 complaints, or 7.2%. The rate dropped to a low of 3.5% in 2022.

Brooks defended the 4% investigation rate as pretty much the norm for inspectors general in NYC and elsewhere.

By comparison, the city Department of Investigation last year opened 868 probes of 14,816 complaints, or 5.8%, its annual report says. But the DOI had a much bigger FY 2024 budget, $56,184,808, and 347 investigators.
Hundreds of people squeezed into the Cambria Veterans Hall on Thursday afternoon to hear Democratic Congressman Jimmy Panetta speak at a town hall, addressing his constituents questions and concerns about what has been going on in Congress during the first months of the Trump administration.

The room was packed wall-to-wall, reaching maximum capacity of 250 people before the town hall began. Attendees overflowed into the hallways and poked their heads through windows, trying to get a glimpse of Rep. Panettas speech.

Our Constitution is being challenged like in no other time, Panetta told the crowd.

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Over the hour-long speech and Q&A session, Panetta fact-checked disinformation coming from the federal government, addressed the government job cuts happening nationwide and told his constituents how he is working to defend democracy in Congress.

The congressman called Elon Musk  the unelected head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency responsible for slashing jobs and federal grants  an absolute bully.

A packed house, including people watching through the windows, listen as Congressman Jimmy Panetta, D-Santa Cruz, gives a town hall speech at the Cambria Veterans Hall on March 21, 2025, to address his constituents questions and concerns about what is going on in Congress during the first months of the Trump administration.

This administration is allowing Elon Musk and DOGE to overhaul Social Security using the guise of stopping waste, fraud and abuse, Panetta said.

I think we can all agree that Social Security and many of our government agencies  especially at the federal level  can be improved, Panetta said. We acknowledge that theres waste, theres fraud and theres abuse, but it needs to be reformed in a way thats careful, thats surgical, thats thoughtful.

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Panetta called out Musk for his lack of transparency about government cuts.

There needs to be a plan, not a sledgehammer, not a chainsaw, not a wood chipper, as to how you do it, Panetta said as the audience erupted into applause.

Congressman Jimmy Panetta, D-Santa Cruz, gave a town hall speech at the Cambria Veterans Hall on March 21, 2025, to address his constituents questions and concerns about what is going on in Congress during the first months of the Trump administration.

Rep. Jimmy Panetta says Congress works, but the courts work harder

During his town hall address, Panetta explained five strategies Washington Democrats are using to push back against Trump administration actions: legislation, investigation, litigation, communication and mobilization.

Panetta has introduced a number of quick-action bills in Congress, including legislation to preventing government access to taxpayer data, ensuring DOGE is subject to the Freedom of Information Act, prohibiting the use of funds to aid the elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development, preventing the Social Security Administration from shutting down and more.

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The NATO Edge Act, also introduced by Panetta, would reaffirm the United States ironclad commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and prevent any administration from unilaterally withdrawing from the alliance that dates to the years after World War II.

He also commented on his most recent visit to Washington, where he voted against the Republican budget bill that will fund the government for the next six months.

The bill passed on March 14 and is expected to cut $880 billion from Medicaid, despite support for the program being a bipartisan issue, Panetta said.

People in my district rely on Medicaid, but people in Republican districts rely on Medicaid, he said.

Congressman Jimmy Panetta, D-Santa Cruz, answers questions after giving a town hall speech at the Cambria Veterans Hall on March 21, 2025, to address his constituents questions and concerns about what is going on in Congress during the first months of the Trump administration.

However, while Democrats are in the minority in both the House and the Senate, the reality is that getting any legislation through Congress will be near impossible. Instead, what Panetta wants his constituents to focus on is the courts.

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The courts are standing firm, he told The Tribune after his address. Thats the bullwark right now. ... Its making sure that our courts are strong.

Panetta said there are around 148 ongoing federal court cases against the Trump administration right now, ranging from efforts to stop the federal funding freeze to blocking the ban on gender-affirming care, many of which he had an optimistic outlook on.

We are winning in the courts, he said in his speech.  ... Our courts are flexing their muscles.

He acknowledged, however, that these legal fights are still an uphill battle.

The fact is, is that when you have an executive administration that has administered 89 executive orders already, not including the one today, 72 within the first month, the Congress and the courts just dont act as fast as that. We admit that they want to flood the zone, Panetta said. Theyre overwhelming us with these types of decisions, and I admit its put us on our heels.

Congressman Jimmy Panetta, D-Santa Cruz, gives a town hall speech at the Cambria Veterans Hall on March 21, 2025, to address his constituents questions and concerns about what is going on in Congress during the first months of the Trump administration.

Panetta has hope in a bipartisan democracy

At his address on Thursday, Panetta acknowledged that people are understandably fearful of losing our democracy right now, but he said his colleagues in Congress give him hope for the future.

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We need Congress to understand that they take an oath to the Constitution, not to the president, Panetta said.

In order to do so, he said, Democrats need to fix their messaging to take back the House and Senate in the 2026 midterms.

When we are in the power to govern, we govern, and we govern in a bipartisan way to help working families, to strengthen our national security and strengthen democracy, Panetta told The Tribune after his speech.

Panetta left his constituents and audience with a vow on Friday: Despite all the chaos that is going on, I promise you, I will not get distracted.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH)  A Connecticut boy has died after enduring alleged physical abuse by his mother and her boyfriend in Florida, according to police.

Waterbury woman arrested for allegedly holding stepson captive for over 20 years

The boy, who was 10 years old, was brought to a hospital in Tavares, Florida, on Feb. 22 in cardiac arrest and visibly covered in bruises and burn marks, the Tavares Police Department said. The boys younger brother spoke with detectives, and they said that he outlined physical abuse that he and the boy endured.

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A search of the home uncovered a ladder, a 10-pound weight and duct tape that were allegedly used to restrain the boy while weights were dropped onto his exposed stomach.

The boys mother, 37-year-old Kimberley Mills, and her boyfriend, Andre Walker, are facing multiple charges of aggravated child abuse, neglect and tampering with evidence.

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The above video is from a report on colleges groundbreaking that occurred Nov. 22, 2024.

CLEMSON, S.C. (WSPA)  Clemson University celebrated a special, construction milestone for the Harvey S. Peeler Jr. College of Veterinary Medicine on Friday.

Officials and partners held a special beam signing ceremony at the site of the future complex. The beam represents an important element where students will attend classes, study, and engage with each other, Clemson officials said.

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The college is South Carolinas first school of veterinary medicine and will be located across the street from Clemsons Equine Center on West Queen Street in Pendleton.

The complex consists of six buildings designed to provide students with spaces for collaboration and hands-on experiences.

The Harvey S. Peeler Jr. College of Veterinary Medicine is expecting to welcome its first class of 80 students in Fall 2026.

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(Bloomberg) -- Latin American fintech Uala boosted its Series E round by $66 million in a second close that included participation from Mexican media giant TelevisaUnivision.

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The funds raised through the equity sale will be used to continue growing across Latin America, with a special focus on Mexico, said founder and Chief Executive Officer Pierpaolo Barbieri. The amount brings the round, which began in November, to a total of $366 million, one of the largest in the region over the past few years. The company was valued at $2.75 billion at the first close.

Due to overwhelming demand from our investors, we decided to raise more, Barbieri said in an interview. That means we can invest to grow more in Mexico, and also continue betting on the ecosystem of payments, investment and credit in Argentina.

Barbieri declined to name other participants in the extension round. The first close of the Series E was led by Allianz X, the venture capital arm of Germanys insurance giant Allianz SE, and included investors such as Stone Ridge Holdings Group, Bill Ackmans Pershing Square Foundation and billionaire Alan Howard.

Televisa is a very relevant and influential outlet, across Spanish-speaking markets but especially in Mexico, Barbieri said. It will help us create confidence and closeness with a lot of Mexicans that still dont know us.

Launched in 2017 in Argentina with a debit card, Uala now offers a series of products including payments, credit, merchant acquiring and investments, with services depending on each country. It has 9 million clients across the region, with 6.5 million of those in Argentina.

The company is also seeing rapid growth of as much as 15% per month in its third market, Colombia, and doesnt rule out launches elsewhere in the region or mergers and acquisitions, Barbieri said.

We see a region thats underinvested and where the need of digitizing financial services transcends Argentina, Mexico and Colombia, he said. We see a large opportunity in the continent, though not precisely in Brazil, where theres a lot of new digital players.

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LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) Its another busy Friday for pizza places in our area, but for two in Luzerne county they are now down more than just sauce and cheese.

Thats because two men are locked up after police say they stole used cooking oil from the businesses.

In the early evening hours of Friday during Lent, Pizza Loven in Exeter was slammed with a busy crowd.

Police nab SNAP benefits skimming suspect

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Chaos, but controlled chaos, said Mike Perhach, Owner, Pizza Loven Exeter.

But nearly 12 hours prior to the Friday night rush, the place was getting robbed.

At 4:30 a.m. this U-Haul van backed up behind the restaurant next to the two used cooking oil tanks.

Sergeant Cinfinchi says he arrived on scene to find Wilkin Agramonte and Rafel Lopez hopping the fence and running off after stealing oil.

They were then captured and brought into custody.

This isnt the first time this has happened in this area. Its about the 3rd or 4th arrest we have made, stated Sgt. Cinfinchi.

And Pizza Loven wasnt their only target on Friday.

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First, police say the men stopped at Pizza Bella in Jenkins Township to load up too.

Silly its just silly. Theres other ways to make money than be doing that, voiced Perhach.

Pizza Loven is open four days a week and owner Mike Perhach says they bring in 30 jugs of oil in those four days.

He says each jug cost around $25.

On Friday, 250 gallons were stolen from his restaurant and 100 from Pizza Bella.

They have a really nice setup, stated Sgt. Cinfinchi.

The oil company contracted with the two pizza parlors, Buffalo Biodiesel, says they have lost millions of dollars from oil theft that has taken place nationwide.

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The company says Pennsylvania, unfortunately has become a hot spot.

Keep em coming. The more they show up the more they are going to get caught, added Perhach.

The two men facing charges have been arrested several times in the past on accusations of stealing cooking oil here in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Police say they were caught in Lackawanna County too.

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The Department of Justice on Friday asked a Cornell University student who is suing the Trump administration after helping lead campus protests last year to surrender to immigration authorities, according to a new court filing.

Lawyers for Momodou Taal, a Ph.D. student who is a U.S. visa holder and a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia, said in court documents that he received an email from a Department of Justice lawyer informing him for the first time that the government intended to serve him with a notice to appear  which initiates the deportation process  and an invitation to surrender to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The email did not specify when the Justice Department expects Taal to surrender to immigration authorities.

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Eric Lee, one of Taals attorneys, told NBC News on Saturday that in the days before the email was sent, unidentified authorities showed up outside Taals student apartment building and began asking other residents about him. The buildings staff then asked the authorities to leave, Lee said.

"It is not yet clear what grounds for removal the government alleges exist here," Lee said in his court filing on Friday, adding that Taal has been living in the U.S. and has been admitted into the country multiple times.

"The only changes between Mr. Taals last admission and now are the executive orders and the initiation of this legal action challenging them" the court filing reads. "It is plain that the governments effort to serve and detain Mr. Taal are in reaction to this litigation."

Momodou Taal.

Lee told NBC News the court asked the Justice Department to explain its actions by 5 p.m. Saturday.

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The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment or questions about which agency sought out Taal at his home.

Cornell University did not immediately respond to NBC News request for comment. The Department of Homeland Security also did not respond.

Last weekend, Taal and two U.S. citizens challenged the Trump administrations executive orders to combat anti-semitism on college campuses and expel foreign nationals who the administration says pose national security threats.

Taal, 31, and the other plaintiffs have argued that the orders violate the free speech rights of international students and scholars who protest or express support for Palestinians in Gaza.

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Taals case comes amid a wider effort by the Trump administration to exert leverage in the affairs of private institutions of higher education.

Earlier this month, the administration alarmed many observers when immigration officials arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student who led similar protests at the school last year. Khalil is fighting his deportation while detained in Louisiana. Lee said Kahlils arrest heightened Taals concerns about being apprehended by immigration authorities and helped prompt his lawsuit.

The Trump administration has cited an obscure national security clause in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Khalils apprehension. The provision allows the secretary of state to deport noncitizens if the secretary determines their presence in the United States could adversely affect foreign policy.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X earlier this month that the department would be revoking visas and green cards of noncitizens who he claims support Hamas.

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Immigration officials arrested a second Columbia student, Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank who officials say overstayed her student visa. A third Columbia student, Indian national Ranjani Srinivasan, fled to Canada after her student visa was revoked. Srinivasan has claimed she did not participate in the campus protests last spring.

A doctor and professor from Brown University was deported this month after attempting to return to the U.S. from a trip to Lebanon. Homeland Security officials said Monday that the professor told them she attended the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of Iran-back Hezbollah.

Most recently, a graduate student who was teaching at Georgetown University on a student visa was detained this week.

The Trump administration has also gone after the universities themselves in retaliation for the protests on college campuses last year.

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On March 7, the administration announced it was stripping Columbia  which was the epicenter of the protests  of $400 million in federal grants. This week, the White House said in a statement it was pausing $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania for allowing a transgender swimmer to compete on its womens team.

In an effort to start negotiations on restoring the federal funding, Columbia on Friday agreed to demands outlined by the Trump administration.

The university will now ban students from wearing masks at protests in most cases, modify its admissions process, hire 36 new campus security officers  who, unlike previous security officers, will have the ability to arrest students  and appoint a new senior vice provost to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African studies.

The moves have prompted some new protests and raised concerns nationwide about the federal governments infringement on free speech. Some students and professors at Columbia told NBC News in recent weeks that they fear the government will come after them if they speak out.

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Protests are scheduled to resume at Columbia on Monday.

CLARIFICATION (March 22, 2025, 5:10 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misconstrued part of the email Taal received. It informed him of the governments intent to serve a notice to appear, but was not itself the notice.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A Cornell University graduate student filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's executive orders aimed at going after universities and "foreign national" protesters, then he was asked to surrender to ICE.

Momodou Taal, a Ph.D. student in Africana Studies at Cornell University, filed the suit on Saturday hoping to prevent the administration from targeting him and others who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests. An attorney for Taal said he had been targeted by some of the same groups that had advocated for Mahmoud Khalil's arrest and that his client feared he could be next.

Taal is a citizen of the U.K. and Gambia and is in the United States on a student visa.

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MORE: Columbia University cedes to Trump administration demands after threat to withhold funds

According to court records, Taal was temporarily suspended from Cornell in April and September of 2024 for his participation in student protests. Instead of imposing sanctions that could have affected his immigration status, the university chose to allow Taal to continue studying remotely until Spring 2025 when his full access to the campus would be restored, his lawyers said.

In an X post on Wednesday, Taal said law enforcement agents "from an unidentified agency" had been seen parked outside his home in Ithaca, New York.

"Trump is attempting to detain me to prevent me from having my day in court," he wrote.

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On Thursday, attorney Eric Lee filed an affidavit, stating, "It appears the government is attempting to detain Mr. Taal imminently." Witnesses had seen an undercover law enforcement official parked outside Taal's home, his attorney said. The man allegedly showed the witnesses a badge "indicating he is a member of law enforcement."

MORE: Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil calls himself a 'political prisoner' in new letter

Taal's attorneys petitioned for a temporary restraining order seeking to prevent his arrest.

However, on Friday, his attorneys said they received an e-mail from a Justice Department lawyer asking Taal to turn himself in to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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"ICE invites Mr. Taal and his counsel to appear in-person at the HSI Office in Syracuse at a mutually agreeable time for personal service of the NTA and for Mr. Taal to surrender to ICE custody. Accordingly, if you are interested in proposing such a date and time, we will promptly forward it to ICE for consideration," the email read.

On Friday, Lee posted on X and condemned the Trump administration's move.

"The Trump administration responded to Momodou Taal's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the executive orders by sending agents to stake out his house, he said. When we asked the Court to enjoin the administration from detaining Mr. Taal as the case progresses, the administration responded by ordering him to surrender to ICE. This does not happen in a democracy."

A hearing has been set for Tuesday.

ABC News has reached out to ICE for comment.

Cornell student who challenged Trump EOs targeting pro-Palestinian protesters now faces deportation originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
TOPEKA (KSNT)  A Shawnee County judge has appointed a successful criminal defense attorney to help Dana Chandler as she works to appeal her recent murder convictions.

Chandler has been in and out of court for more than a decade for killing her ex-husband, Mike Sisco, and his fiance, Karen Harkness in 2002. The victims were found dead in their bed inside their Topeka home after being shot.

Chandler was first convicted in 2012, when she received a life sentence. The Kansas Supreme Court later overturned the verdict after determining the prosecutor lied to the jury.

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Jury finds man guilty of killing Topeka 17-year-old in 2023

The case was re-tried in 2022 when a jury failed to reach a verdict. Shawnee County Judge Cheryl Rios released Chandler on bond as she awaited her third trial this year, which was moved to Pottawatomie County.

Chandler was again convicted March 7 and sent back to jail.

Rios appointed David McDonald to help with Chandlers appeal on Friday, March 21. McDonald, with Olathe-based Rivera Law, has returned multiple acquittals and dismissals in major death penalty and murder cases. He received his law degree from Washburn University.

Chandler told the judge on Thursday, March 20 she mailed four motions following her most recent conviction:

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Permission to go to the jails law library.

To be released on bond while she files her appeal.

Appointment of standby counsel to assist her with post-conviction motions.

A transcript from the jury trial.

Justice was finally served: Shawnee County District Attorney speaks on Dana Chandler trial

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More than 60p in every 1 of council tax hikes will be instantly swallowed up by the Chancellors National Insurance raid, new analysis shows.

Households face record-high council tax bills as local authorities scramble to plug funding gaps, with the average bill rising to 2,280.

But new figures show 60pc of these increases will be swallowed up by councils increased staffing costs as a result of Rachel Reevess decision to raise National Insurance contributions on employers.

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Just 3pc of councils said that the extra funding will cover the entire cost of the National Insurance increase, with four in 10 saying that half of the costs will not be covered, according to data compiled by the Local Government Association (LGA).

It follows similar warnings from the County Councils Network (CCN), which said Ms Reevess tax raid had saddled its town halls with 278m in additional costs.

Councillors in Edinburgh last month blamed the policy for their decision to raise council tax by 8pc  the largest increase residents had seen for 30 years.

Mandy Watt, of the City of Edinburgh Council, said at the time: This years financial challenges are the UK Governments increase in National Insurance, costing the council 9m and the Scottish Government changing the stability funding floor, taking away 6.3m.

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The Chancellor announced at the Budget in October last year that the National Insurance contributions paid by employers would increase by 1.2 percentage points, from 13.8pc to 15pc. The hike will come in next month and is expected to raise 25bn a year.

Government forecasts show covering the cost to the public sector will cost taxpayers 24.2bn between its introduction and 2030. It is around one fifth of the income the Treasury expects to generate from the National Insurance raid.

English councils face a funding gap of 8bn by 2028-2029, the Local Government Association said.

Councillor Louise Gittins, chair of the LGA, said: Every critical service a council provides needs to be funded properly. The time for sticking plasters and emergency government bailouts needs to come to an end.



Ms Gittins added: The Spending Review must provide a long-term plan to adequately fund councils so they can provide the services communities rely on.

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Kevin Hollinrake MP, shadow local government secretary, said: Council tax is always higher under Labour governments, and its easy now to see why.

Labour sent costs for councils through the roof with their jobs tax. And its Left-wing councils filling their boots  with the 10 highest raises all Labour and Liberal Democrat councils.

This is the worst of all worlds  councils suffering from back-door cuts to funding, and local residents facing soaring council tax bills. This destroys the claim that Labours jobs tax wouldnt have an effect on working people.

A Ministry for Housing spokesman said: We dont recognise this analysis. This Government understands the challenges that councils are facing, which is why despite the inheritance we have been left we are providing an additional 2bn of grant funding, including 502m to manage the impact of employer National Insurance contributions changes.

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This is part of making available 69bn of funding to councils across England to fix the foundations and help councils drive forward the Governments Plan for Change.

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ENTERPRISE, Ala (WDHN)  April 11th, 2025. This is the day that one Enterprise man has been looking forward to. The day Brian Rowe will be officially freed from prison

I know a lot of things are going on in this world and in this time, but for me it is really exciting, said Rowe.

Rowe, the Coffee County native, was convicted on a drug conspiracy charge in 2010 after prosecutors proved that Rowe and other suspects had an agreement to sell and distribute cocaine. He was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison, setting him up for a release date of around 2031.

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However, late last year he became one of 1,500 people to granted clemency by President Biden after years of advocating, re-enrolling in college, reading, and writing politicians to tell them his story.

It at first was a tragedy, but I have learned to turn it around

WDHN spoke with Rowe, who has been in at-home incarceration since 2021, earlier this year and since that meeting some big changes have happened in his life.

I just got married and I just got an internship with the company, which is a partnership with amazon. So Ill be doing some traveling, some working and connecting, and will officially be employed with them, said Rowe.

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The marriage creating another layer to his growing support system.



Having that moment, that time of support, is so encouraging. It just adds to my arsenal to support people especially in relationships, said Rowe.

The internship and future job with amazon preparing for him for his the rest of his life

I want to own my business in a tech career. Putting me in a position to help start-ups and medium sized business take off and give them innovative ideas, Rowe said.

Rowe has also recently graduated from a program called AWS new voices, which is preparing him to be a public speaker.

He will give Ted Talks and speak at summits across the country about Amazon.

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CUMBERLAND  Allegany County commissioners Thursday discussed scenarios to compensate for a predicted $5 million to $6 million loss in money from the state.

Potential revenue options for the county included increases in property, income and public safety taxes.

The countys current property tax rate is .975, which means a property assessed at $100,000 yields an annual $975 tax bill but would not create new revenue for the county.

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If that rate increased by a nickel to 1.025, the property owner would pay $1,025 in yearly taxes and the county would gain $2.7 million in projected income.

Every penny generates basically $540,000 of revenue, Allegany County Administrator Jason Bennett said.

A 10-cent rate increase would add $100 to an annual tax bill for a property assessed at $100,000, raise $5.4 million for the county and basically closes that budget gap, he said.

Allegany Countys property tax rate over the past 15 years has remained the same or been reduced.

The current income tax rate is .0303, which means $100,000 of income generates a $3,030 annual tax.

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A new $50 or $75 per property public safety tax would provide the county additional revenue of $2 million or $3 million, respectively, but likely require legislation to initiate and would not benefit the countys budget until fiscal year 2027.

While its too early for county officials to know how the state budget will impact local finances, legal deadlines to advertise any potential rate increase force the commissioners to soon make a decision.

For example, the county could advertise a rate increase and subsequently reduce it if the budget allows, but that scenario wont work in reverse, Bennett said.

You could ... propose one of these (increased) rates, and if things turn out better for us, back it off, he said.

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We cant say today nothing and four weeks from now decide to raise them, Bennett said.

Nothing were talking about today is good, he said.

But we have to have this discussion now so we can kind of figure out a path forward.

If commissioners dont raise revenue via tax increases, examples of tax cuts include staff reductions, department closures and outside agency cuts that would reduce services, including medical emergency responses to residents.

Theyre pretty deep cuts at this point, Bennett said.

Youre talking about ... 80 employees when we have 540 in total.

Commissioner Bill Atkinson said the state has painted the county into a corner.

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I dont think they, downstate, really care if we have to raise taxes or not, he said.

Weve tried talking with the state ... theyre not making any changes that would affect us directly.

Atkinson said several Maryland counties will see tremendous losses due to the state, while others will make tremendous amounts of money.

A state disparity grant and sharing of wealth would go a long way, he said.

We sit here struggling with a decision that none of us ever want to make, Atkinson said.

Dave Caporale, president of the board of commissioners, said the county made budget cuts last year only to be right back almost where we started because of whats being sent down from the state.

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The board tries to look out for the citizens, he said.

With (property) assessments going up, its like youre being hit twice almost, Caporale said.

The county expects to hold additional financial talks at upcoming meetings and prepare its first budget draft by May 1, at which time a hearing will be held if the real estate tax rate is set to increase.

The board decided to consider a combination of measures that include some staff cuts and a property tax rate increase of 6 cents, which would add $60 per year to a $100,000 assessed property and generate roughly $3.2 million for the county.

Additionally, the commissioners suggested a .10 income tax rate raise, which would mean $100 more per year on $100,000 of taxable income and generate $1 million for the county.

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Commissioner Creade Brodie said the budget troubles boil down to county residents getting railroaded either with or without services.

Regardless how you slice this pie, youre sticking it right back onto the backs of the people thats just getting by every day and that just irks me to death, he said. My familys been here damn near 300 years and Im thinking about me having to leave.
Frederick Countys Workforce Services and Division of Families Services are launching a child care initiative  including several training and certification programs  to help available child care services catch up with the demand from residents.

The initiative will provide training and resources to up to 70 residents enabling them to get child care certifications, as well as operate their own licensed, family-owned child care businesses.

The initiatives main components include:

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* A family-owned child care training program

* Child care certification training

* A multilingual campaign to spread awareness of child care resources

Micha Hagans, employee and training manager with the countys Workforce Services, wrote in an email Thursday that the initiative will continue through May 1, 2026, or until funding for the initiative is all used.

The county has also started the process to create a new child care study, building off a study released in 2024, that focuses on families with children ranging from infants to 12-year-olds.

In Frederick County, the number of licensed child care slots available cant keep up with the demand for services, according to the Frederick County Child Care Market Study released last year. This study only focused on families with young children.

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The study said that if these trends continued, the ratio of children per spot could increase to 2.6 per slot by 2035.

A ratio of three children per spot is considered a child care desert, according to the Center for American Progress.

The study said that southeastern Frederick County, which includes the municipalities of New Market and Mount Airy, is already a child care desert with 3.3 children per slot.

Northern Frederick County, which includes Emmitsburg, Woodsboro and Thurmont, is approaching desert status at 2.8 children per slot.

Additionally, 74% of the providers who participated in the study had a waitlist, each with an average of nine families, and families spent about six months on waitlists overall.

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The average wait times for home-based providers were about a month longer than the wait times for child care centers.

At the end of January, Frederick Community College announced to parents and staff its plans to permanently close its child care center in May due to financial constraints.

That centers total capacity is 83 children, but the center has never operated at full capacity, FCC said in a statement.

The child care initiatives family-owned child care program will train people interested in opening licensed, family-owned child care businesses in their homes. This program is in partnership with Child Care Choices, a program at the Mental Health Association of Frederick County.

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The countys workforce services are partnering with The Child Care Company, which specializes in Maryland State Department of Education-approved training, to provide self-paced 45-hour and 90-hour online trainings.

There are trainings available for people who are new to the child care field, as well as current child care providers who want to advance in their profession.

An in-person 90-hour child care certification program, in partnership with FCC, is also part of the child care initiative, but it has already started.

People can sign up for available programs at www.frederickworks.com/childcare-initiative, and the county will also post updates on the in-person certification program there.

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We built on the long-standing success of the Child Care Choices program and designed this initiative to respond to those needs, Hagans wrote. Our hope is to grow both the childcare workforce and the number of family childcare providers in the county.

To be eligible, people must be a county resident, at least 18 years old and authorized to work in the U.S. Men born after 1959 must be registered for selective services.

The countys Division of Family Services will partner with Child Care Choices to also create a family engagement campaign in multiple languages to build awareness of child care resources, such as Marylands Child Care Scholarship Program.
A Rockdale Township woman who had hoped to compete in the upcoming Republican primary for a six-year term as a township supervisor will not appear on the ballot.

Judge Francis Schultz granted a petition Friday to set aside the nomination petition submitted by township resident Jill Reese for the May 20 primary.

I hate to do this to you, Schultz told Reese at the end of the hearing. Its hard when youre running for office. Theres a lot of rules you have to follow and you got caught up with not knowing what to do.

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With the disqualification of Reeses nomination petition, one candidate remains on the ballot in the race for the Republican Party nomination for a seat on the townships Board of Supervisors: Joseph F. Maffeo.

No registered Democrats filed seeking that partys lone nomination for a six-year term.

The hearing came after township resident Cathy Pitts, a registered Republican, objected to Reeses nomination petition, arguing that Reese had failed to file a proper statement of financial interest.

The Pennsylvania Public Official and Employees Ethics Act requires each candidate for local office to file a statement of financial interest for the preceding calendar year with the local political subdivision where the person is a candidate. The statement must be filed on or before the last day for filing a nomination petition.

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During the hearing, Schultz explained that statements of financial interest containing errors can be amended.

This case is a little bit different, he continued. If you dont file a statement of financial interest, that is a fatal defect.

Reese filed a statement of financial interest with Richmond Township on Jan. 7 in her role as a former employee of the township. However, she did not indicate she was a candidate on the form because she did not yet intend to run for office, she testified.

After deciding to run for office, Reese submitted a statement of financial interest to the county courthouse indicating she would be seeking office, but not to the township, according to testimony in the hearing. After explaining that she did not realize she also had to file as a candidate with the township, Reese said she understood why Schultz had to disqualify her nomination petition.

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In an interview after the hearing, Reese noted that voters could still write in her name on their primary ballots even though she would not appear as a candidate on the ballot.

She might also consider trying to get on the ballot the next time a term expires.

It depends on how things change  or dont  in the future, she said.
PLATTSBURGH  The COVID-19 pandemic forever changed policy at the University Vermont Health Network-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital.

If you come in with a respiratory illness right now and youre being hospitalized, youll get tested, Keith Collins, MD, said.

The symptoms are so similar to all of these viruses that we test for. We test for RSV. We test for influenza, and we test for COVID. Then anybody we suspect of one, we test for all of them. Influenza and COVID we do have treatments for. RSV, we still really dont have treatments for that beyond some things that just apply to pediatrics and theyre marginally effective. They have toxicities in adults. We have no treatment for RSV except maybe a bone marrow transplant. Again, we dont deal with that here. and again, the treatment is maybe marginal.

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After COVID, CVPH examined its policies about how to isolate for respiratory illnesses in general.

We have greatly altered what we used to do, he said.

We now have a policy that incorporates all of the respiratory viruses in essentially one policy that our infectious control practitioners  Erica, Bonnie, and Chris. All three were infections control RNs. Bonnie is no longer with us, unfortunately, but they spent a lot of time working very hard to come up with a rational approach to all these pathogens. We have people on any given day that are in our hospital with all three viruses. So, our hospital needs to address how to handle all of these viruses, not in individual silos, but basically in a rational, coherent way. Thats been done really within the past, I would say, six months that weve come up with a good way to incorporate all of them into one particular policy. They are the ones that really did it.

EDWARDS LEGACY

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The late Bonnie Edwards was an infectious control practitioner that worked in the Infectious Disease Department for more than 23 years, according to Erica Moore, RN, Infection Prevention Manager at CVPH.

But she worked with us for a very long time and had a very strong influence, very analytical, used the science to help make the decisions and not use emotions, Moore said.

Thats not easy to do when youre in healthcare because in healthcare emotions are what drives us as humans and make us humans. We cannot ignore Bonnies influence on infectious prevention. She was very pivotal in our team. Kristen Broughton is the other IP.

The team used information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create CVPHs algorithm.

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When you look at the CDC, theres information that talks about looking at the percentage of your population, Moore said.

So why would you do something in Clinton County that is different than Essex or Franklin or across the lake over in Vermont? Often we compare and say why did UVM do something different than CVPH? Because were not the same exact population. You want to look at what the pressures are on your community. and so when youre looking at the CDCs information on how to handle COVID or flu, the percentage of your community numbers dealing with COVID or flu would influence when we activate, when to wear masks for direct patient care.

Moore cited the uptick in flu, much larger than COVID, for which the hospital implemented masking for direct patient caregivers.

COVID has been trickling for the last few months, she said.

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It comes up, and it comes down. But COVID is a much lower pressure than influenza, and influenza is acting like influenza. But for years, we have been focused on COVID and forgot about flu. So why is flu out there? It could be for a lot of things, and I dont know all of our communitys numbers.

CVPH implemented masking for direct patient caregivers to protect their and their patients health.

We dont want them to get sick, she said.

We want to make sure they are here to take care of you because we have some great healthcare workers. But we need to be here to take care of our patients who are ill and we have way more flu patients getting admitted. Way more patients going to the hospital testing positive for the flu and going home and way more patients who are getting tested outpatient, not going at all to the ED and staying at home. Those numbers are way, way up compared to that of Covid or even RSV.

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COVID SHIFT

During the pandemic, CVPH staffers learned what really needed to be done for isolation, which is almost always respiratory.

The insanity over having hand wipes at every grocery store kind of went away, thank goodness, Collins said.

Again the vaccines I consider the biggest change for us. I think if it hadnt been for vaccines, I dont know how we wouldve controlled this. I really dont. But then we did find some really good treatments.

Real treatments emerged from CDC and National Institutes of Health sponsored studies.

People were throwing drugs at the wall to see what would stick at first, Collins said.

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We did it here. I think vaccines and scientifically studied proven treatments have made the biggest difference and still continue to make the biggest difference.

New York State continues to track positive COVID tests over time by region and county.

We keep track of how many people were tested, how many tested and went home, how many were admitted, Moore said.

Our local health departments and our state health departments wanted to know who was being tested and went home.

VARIANTS

COVID tests detect the presence of the virus but doesnt tell what variant, which is done by genomic sequencing.

It changed, Moore said.

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People understand it better. We understand it better. I think its a community approach, too. A hospital is a hospital, but the people who come to it are the community and we have to work with the community. Its not just the hospital.

Nursing homes. Assisted livings. Schools. Public. Consumers.

We are the entity in which people come to where theyre sick, Moore said.

When you have a mild sniffle, do you need to be here? Do you rush to the (Emergency Department)? No, but when youre sick you need to be here. We dont want to turn you away. So when you step back and look at the bigger picture, the hospital is an entity, but we are part of the community.

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When COVID first hit, there was fear and uncertainty.

That drove a lot of people here, and we needed to step back and understand what everybody was feeling because fear is a driver of consuming things when we dont know whats going on, Moore said.

There was fear in our community. There was fear in everybody. So, I think thats what hit us first, and then we started to understand and science came out that helped us.

COMMUNITY

During the pandemic, the Plattsburgh community stepped up to help the staff at CVPH.

Folks dropped off food, Chris Blake, program manager of Media Relations & Communications, said.

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There was all kinds of stuff. I cant speak to the folks that were actually doing the care, but I believe it helped a little. Putting in one of those long shifts and making those tough decisions and seeing all of that, you knew that there was a community outside that was backing you up.

ALL HANDS

I think the other thing is that while this was very clinical, our environmental service workers, our kitchen folks, the facilities people, the work and dedication that was on display during that period of time was inspiring, Blake said.

Everybody worked together to kind of support these patients and this family and beyond that. But it was reciprocal because the community was returning that favor.
By Anandita Mehrotra and Shadia Nasralla

(Reuters) -UK-based gas producer Energean said on Friday it was terminating a deal with private equity fund Carlyle for the sale of some of its assets due to delays in obtaining regulatory approvals in Italy and Egypt.

The two companies struck a $945 million deal in June last year that would allow Carlyle to establish a new Mediterranean-focused oil and gas company, led by former BP CEO Tony Hayward, and utilise Energean's assets in Egypt, Italy, and Croatia.

"While I am disappointed that Carlyle was unable to obtain the necessary approvals in Italy and Egypt, I want to reaffirm that this outcome does not change our strategic direction or our commitment to growth and shareholder returns," Energean CEO Mathios Rigas said in a statement.

The company said that the two parties were unable to agree on an extension of the long-stop date beyond March 20 to meet the conditions of the agreement.

"Carlyle made significant and extensive efforts in good faith to close the transaction but ultimately was not able to satisfy all of the conditions precedent," a spokesperson for Carlyle said.

Earlier this week, Energean had said that its current dividend policy would stand irrespective of the deal's outcome.

Energean, with operations in eight countries across the Mediterranean and the UK North Sea, reported a rise in annual profit, but flagged asset impairment charges of $241 million relating to some assets in Egypt, Morocco and Greece.

In a post-earnings call on Thursday, Rigas said that the company had not initiated the deal for the sale of its assets, and is not looking for another buyer.

(Reporting by Anandita Mehrotra, Arunima Kumar and Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Eileen Soreng, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Rachna Uppal)
CHICAGO  An investigation is underway after a body was pulled from Lake Michigan near Montrose Beach on Saturday morning.

According to police, the victim, a male whose age is unknown, was found unresponsive in the water near the 4800 block of North Simonds Drive just after 10:30 a.m.

The victim was later pronounced dead on the scene.

Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines

Currently, it is unclear what led to the victims death and an investigation is underway.

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Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact CPD Area Three Detectives at 312-744-8263 or dial 911.

Those with information that could help authorities in their investigation can also leave a tip at CPDtip.com. Tips can be filed anonymously.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
AVOCA, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA)  The Avoca Fire Department extinguished a structure fire on Bryant Place on March 21.

Crews respond to fires near Whitney Mountain Lodge in Garfield

Avoca Fire Chief Zach Oldebeken says it started as a vegetation fire that burned a home and a car in the front yard.

No other information was given.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KNWA FOX24.
Felonies

The following people were booked into the Lee County-Tupelo Adult Jail in connection with felony charges ending Friday at 11 a.m.

Meagan E. Brock, 36, of Tupelo, was arrested by the Tupelo Police Department, possession of methamphetamine, contempt of court.

John Taylor Kimbrough, 32, of Mantachie, was arrested by the Lee County Sheriffs Office, possession of methamphetamine.

Lee County Sheriffs Office

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The following reports were filed Friday by the Lee County Sheriffs Office.

A County Road 1451, Mooreville, woman said a 30-something white male driving a silver Honda Pilot was trespassing on her property around 10 a.m. on Thursday. He drove away when she called 911.

A County Road 115, Shannon, man was at the Shannon High School softball field on Clark Avenue watching a game. A foul ball sailed over the catch fence and cracked the windshield of his 2020 Dodge Ram 2500 pickup. He needed a police report to submit with his insurance claim.

Anyone with information on any of these reports is urged to call the Lee County Sheriff's Office at 841-9041, the Tupelo Police Department at 841-6491 or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi at (800) 773-TIPS or download the P3 Tip App and leave an anonymous tip that way.
Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East, has stated that the largest obstacles to resolving the war started by Russia are "the so-called four regions: Donbas, Crimea, you know the names, Luhansk and there's two others".

Source: Witkoff in an interview with American propagandist Tucker Carlson

Quote: "They're Russian-speaking. There have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule. I think that's the key issue in the conflict."

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Details: Witkoff added that this is the key issue and that very positive conversations are taking place.

He said this has always been the issue, although he claimed that no one wants to talk about it.

Quote: "That's the elephant in the room. The elephant in the room is, there are constitutional issues within Ukraine as to what they can concede to with regard to giving up territory. The Russians are de facto in control of these territories. The question is, will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories? Can Zelenskyy survive politically if he acknowledges this? This is the central issue in the conflict. Absolutely that."

Background:

On 19 March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that territorial issues would be on the table in future peace talks to end the war. However, he stressed that "for us, the red line is the recognition of the Ukrainian temporarily occupied territories as Russian. We will not agree to it".

Finnish President Alexander Stubb has stated that Finlands experience shows that Ukraine should under no circumstances agree to Russia's terms if they mean the loss of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Passengers on board the Cunard luxury cruise liner, Queen Anne, were warned to stay vigilant while the 113,000-ton vessel passed through waters known for piracy.

A TikTok video from user cruisegypsyuk@lillydapink, which has racked up more than eight million views, showed an announcement to passengers as they traveled from Darwin, Australia, to Manila in the Phillippines through the Sulu-Celebes Sea.

This area is known for piracy threats, they were told via a loudspeaker in their rooms.

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As a result, the cruise would be operating at a heightened level of security alertness during this period, which included the external promenade deck being closed overnight and deck lights will be on to reduce the ship's external lighting.

Passengers were also asked to turn off their stateroom lights and keep their curtains drawn.

I assure you that measures to prevent any unlikely incident have been well planned and the likelihood of this happening on a big ship like Queen Anne is absolutely minimal, the announcement continued.

As part of standard maritime procedures, our Captains may make precautionary announcements when sailing through certain regions, a representative for Cunard told Business Insider. There was no specific threat to the ship or its guests, and our onboard experience remained uninterrupted.

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In a follow-up post, the TikTok user praised the Queen Annes onboard security, writing: So all the blinds were shut, and the lights were down to the minimum last night. The security did an amazing job keeping watch over the ship last night. Well done guys.

The Cunard Luxury Cruise Liner, "Queen Anne" sails The Mersey in England. Passengers were recently told to stay vigilant as they passed through the Sulu-Celebes Sea in the Philippines (AFP via Getty Images)

In another video, she showed off the cruise ships sonic cannon. Many cruise ships are fitted with a Long-Range Acoustic Device, which emits high-pitched, targeted noise that repels attackers.

The Sulu-Celebes Sea has previously been a hotspot for kidnapping-for-ransom incidents, particularly involving groups such as Abu Sayyaf  a violent Islamic separatist group operating in the southern Philippines.

Since March 2016, the Information Sharing Centre of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia has reported a total of 86 abductions.

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The last significant pirate attacks on cruise ships occurred in 2005 and 2009, both of which were successfully able to escape unharmed.

The Queen Anne is currently on its maiden world voyage. The 111-night trip began in Hamburg, Germany, on January 7 and has made stops in England, New York, Hawaii, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia

The ship will return to Hamburg on April 29, after stopping in Vietnam, South Africa, Singapore and Malaysia.
ALBANY, New York  Andrew Cuomos campaign trail promise to protect New York City from Donald Trump omits one important detail: He not only has a long history with the president, but has dealt closely with Elon Musk too.

As governor, Cuomo greenlit $959 million in state subsidies that benefited a solar panel company controlled by Musks family and which was later bought by Tesla, which Musk owns. The spending fell far short of its economic development promises and was directly tied to one of the most sweeping corruption scandals to ever rock a New York governors office.

Big promises that were made, many jobs that were to come that have not materialized and that have only gone to the benefit of Elon Musk. They have benefited from a property tax abatement that allows for him to spend very little money on very valuable property to produce very little jobs, said state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, one of Cuomos Democratic primary opponents. New Yorkers need to be reminded of the sweetheart deal that was given to Elon Musk by Andrew Cuomo.

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Assemblymember Pat Burke, a Democrat who represents South Buffalo where the solar plant was built, put it more succinctly, calling the episode a boondoggle.

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi disagreed and claimed success, saying, This particular project turned a radioactive brownfield into a plant that has employed thousands of people."

Over the next four years, mayors across the country will likely be preoccupied with how Trumps funding cuts impact municipal budgets. If elected New York City mayor, Cuomo will have to contend with Musks federal austerity plan as he negotiates a $115 billion municipal budget. And while New York City voters might not closely follow construction projects 450 miles away, Cuomos ties to Musk are just another example of how his relationships with the current White House occupants will offer an attack line to opponents seeking to portray him as too simpatico with Trump and a sucker for Musk.

State Sen. Jessica Ramos, another Democrat running for mayor, challenged Cuomos success in securing jobs as part of the deal.

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Tesla is a company that came into New York to invest but has actually engaged in some of the more exploitative practices that hurt workers, Ramos said.

The project originated as part of the Buffalo Billion, Cuomos 2012 plan to jumpstart the upstate citys stagnant economy through a series of investments in high-tech businesses. That included $225 million to help construct a green energy manufacturing plant that would make solar panels by companies such as Silevo. That company was quickly bought by SolarCity  which was chaired by Musk, run by his cousin and purchased by Tesla in 2016.

Cuomo highlighted the Musk familys involvement as a sign that companies with global potential were choosing Western New York. That isnt a South Buffalo accent, he said at a 2014 event, joined by Musks South African cousin.

Cuomo promised that the model of corporate welfare he applied to the plant could be successful anywhere in the state.

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You aint seen nothing yet, Cuomo said at the event. Im going to take this formula to Rochester and Syracuse and Utica and Albany and all those other cities that have been suffering for too long, and were going to replicate the miracle that you did here in Buffalo, and the turnaround of Buffalo is actually going to generate the turnaround of Upstate New York.

Musks involvement also came with promises. His company wanted an even bigger factory, which would create a projected 5,000 jobs in New York and a $5 billion economic boost. The Cuomo administration soon quadrupled the states commitment to nearly $1 billion to make it happen.

For several years, Musk made regular pronouncements that solar panel production was on the verge of finally getting started.

We expect to ramp solar roof production considerably in 2018, he wrote in a shareholder letter in November 2017.

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We also expect to ramp that up next year at Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, Musk said in August 2018.

Were ramping up as fast as we possibly can, starting in the next few weeks, Musk said in October 2019.

Cuomo continued to hold out hope that things would work out. Tesla is good news  all this is good news," he said in 2019.

He remained a fan of the company: At the start of that year, the governor said he had reached out to Tesla to provide its outside the box thinking to add sensors to New York Citys subway cars so they would run more frequently.

You have a car where you can drive down the Long Island Expressway, you dont have to touch the steering wheel, you dont have to touch the brake, because the car can sense all these variables, Cuomo said during a tangentially-related conference call with reporters. If thats possible, why isnt it possible on a subway car? Thats my question to Mr. Musk and Tesla. They sent people down, and they said youre right.

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The company declined to participate, but the governor hoped to change their mind.

Tesla doesnt do subways, Cuomo said. I understand that this is not a normal subway vendor, I understand that youve never done this before. So what? Lets try something new.

His administration agreed to several amendments to ease the requirements on the solar panel project. The original deal included a stipulation that the company create 1,460 high-tech manufacturing jobs. In updated agreements, that was changed to manufacturing jobs, then eventually just jobs.

Tesla hit its mandated workforce total at the end of December 2021, just days before a deadline the state had agreed to delay. But most of those jobs werent in the high-paying fields of solar technology originally promised  and many appear to be entry-level work focused on self-driving cars.

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An audit released by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli in 2020 found that while the benchmark for economic development spending is $30 in economic benefits for every $1 spent, the project in Buffalo produced 54 cents per $1 of taxpayer spending.

The Cuomo administration lacked any review of the inherent risks related to the project, the audit concluded, noting that no one in the administration seemed concerned Tesla had limited experience in the high-volume manufacturing of solar panels. The lack of due diligence raises concerns that, prior to awarding hundreds of millions of dollars, no real scrutiny of these projects is done.

Tesla has recently stepped up its hiring, though the jobs at the plant still arent focused on solar. Numbers obtained by the Buffalo News earlier this week show there are now just over 2,000 employees.

They met their job goals prior to the pandemic and recent reporting said they were currently exceeding their obligations, Azzopardi said, adding that rivals "can waste their time trying to distort the facts, but we have more respect for New Yorkers and know they aren't stupid  you can quote me shrugging.

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Tesla did not return a request for comment. The company did not meet its jobs goal prior to the pandemic. Instead, the Cuomo administration agreed to delay a May 2021 deadline when the company said Covid made it too difficult to fulfill its commitment.

Burke, the South Buffalo legislator, said he knows only one person who works at the plant Cuomo and Musk ushered into existence, adding I know a lot of people in my community.

He contends the state was misguided in placing its faith in Musk-related businesses and that any continued dealings would be even more misguided, given the tech titans fading mystique.

Continuing to be in business with a company thats valuation is mostly speculative and is mostly based on some future hope that Musk is bringing  its all tied to Musk as this visionary, Burke said. People aren't seeing him that way anymore.

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Despite SolarCitys unfilled expectations, the broken economic promises were eventually overshadowed by corruption issues. A series of sweeping state and federal indictments in 2016 hit 10 individuals with connections to the Cuomo administration  including longtime top aide Joe Percoco  with a series of bid-rigging charges. Those charges included allegations that some of the defendants steered the construction contract for the factory to a developer who also happened to be a top Cuomo donor. Tesla was not accused of any wrongdoing.

The indictments resulted in several convictions. Some have been overturned by the Supreme Court because they didnt meet the standards needed to convict on corruption charges. But the scandal hasnt been completely resolved  the Biden-era Department of Justice indicated there were plans to retry the defendants under a new framework for corruption cases.

Its possible those efforts will soon end. Department of Justice Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle cited the charges as evidence that the DOJ has lost its way while defending its attempts to drop the case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

All of it leaves open three possible scenarios: The DOJ will decide to continue to pursue new charges, it will announce its dropping them, or the matter will be relegated to limbo. If either of the first two scenarios play out in the next few months, that would virtually guarantee the Cuomo era pay-to-play case will reclaim headlines during his mayoral primary sprint  an opportunity his opponents would surely pounce on.

When we talk about integrity in government and leadership, I think we should examine the breadth of Andrew Cuomos record, Myrie said. This is a central piece of his record  something that he himself put forward as part of his leadership plan, spending millions of taxpayer dollars and putting it into Elon Musks pocket.
NEW YORK  Andrew Cuomos New York City mayoral bid is tearing apart a bloc of Democratic politicians representing a high-turnout area  a situation thats gotten so messy, three officials denounced their purported endorsement of the former governor.

Cuomo, who leads the crowded field of Democratic candidates, picked up the backing of a slate of politicians in Southeast Queens. The support marked a setback for rival Adrienne Adams  the City Council speaker who has represented the area for over a decade  as she races to catch up to Cuomos polling lead and fundraising haul. Its also a blow to Mayor Eric Adams, whose reelection plans are in doubt.

The endorsements offered Cuomo backing among Black Democrats whose constituents are reliable voters in generally low-turnout mayoral primaries, despite Adrienne Adams potential to become the citys first Black woman mayor.

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The process was far from clean.

I told them from the beginning, I wasnt voting for him, state Sen. Leroy Comrie said of Cuomo, despite issuing a press release announcing the bloc of support for the ex-governor Saturday morning. Just look at his history with what he did with us Democratic senators. Look at his history with Covid, to veterans, closing Creedmoor [Psychiatric Center] putting more homeless in the street. Theres a litany of things that hes done that have not been helpful to working people.

He is backing the Council speaker instead, saying in the interview, Im an Adrienne guy.

Comrie was among eight legislators in the area to interview mayoral candidates over the past week, before voting to endorse the former governor. The group also included state Sen. James Sanders, Assemblymembers Clyde Vanel, Alicia Hyndman, Larinda Hooks and Khaleel Anderson and Council Members Selvena Brooks-Powers and Nantasha Williams.

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Anderson and Williams also refuted that theyre backing the scandal-scarred Cuomos bid for a political comeback.

Anderson called the coalition process collaborative, collegial, democratic, and thoroughly consultative, yet released his own personal endorsement slate Saturday, ranking City Comptroller Brad Lander first, followed by Adrienne Adams, Myrie, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and state Sen. Jessica Ramos. Cuomo was left off his list entirely.

You know my politics. Im just going to leave it right there, said Anderson, who was elected with the support of the Working Families Party and endorsed the lefty civil rights attorney Maya Wiley for mayor in 2021.

The situation was nevertheless disappointing for Adrienne Adams 11th-hour bid to oust Eric Adams, to whom she has no relation. Sanders had spoken just two weeks earlier at her campaign launch, and Brooks-Powers is on her council leadership team.

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Sanders expressed reluctance with selecting the former governor as the top choice, saying in an interview, My heart may be in many different places, but my community elected me to lead with my head and my heart.

Comrie was the de facto leader of the coalition, as the longest-serving elected official in the group. So it fell to him to blast a statement announcing the coalitions decision  a statement that nodded to some of the hand wringing over the endorsement.

It included an apology to our fellow elected officials who learned about the coalitions endorsement through a leak. Comrie declined to explain further. We recognize the importance of clear and respectful communication within our ranks and are committed to improving this moving forward, he wrote.

Adding to the confusion, Adrienne Adams campaign had already listed Sanders as an endorser, after he was a featured speaker at her campaign kickoff rally this month.

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If you want Adrienne Adams to win, you've got to get your neighbors to the polls! Sanders said to cheers at the rally in his district. You've gotta find those who were not here today, and you gotta cut past their excuses.

Cuomos campaign declined to comment on the confusion.

The endorsing legislators say theyre ranking Cuomo first, Adrienne Adams second and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie third, Vanel and Comrie said. The citys ranked-choice voting system allows New Yorkers to choose up to five candidates in order of preference. The share of votes for the lower-ranked candidates is redistributed as they are eliminated until the winner crosses a 50 percent threshold.

We found that Cuomo has the experience and he has the managerial skill, he has the understanding of how to get New York City through the next few years, Vanel said.

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The coalition also voted to back Council Member Justin Brannan for city comptroller and incumbent Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

"Its sad to see elected officials support a former governor who underfunded schools and closed hospitals in Southeast Queens, Adrienne Adams spokesperson Lupe Todd-Medina said in a statement. From the start, we knew the Cuomo camp would use pressure and intimidation because Adrienne is the biggest threat to his comeback tour. If they want to waste time playing politics, so be it. Adrienne is focused on restoring competence and integrity to City Hall without the drama, nonsense, or scandal. Adrienne will continue to gather support from the people of Southeast Queens and all communities."

Cuomo grew up in Hollis, Queens, but only recently relocated to New York City, moving to a swank building in Manhattan after spending years living in Albany or suburban Westchester County. Campaign opponents have accused the former governor of having loose ties to the city he wants to lead, and hurting it during his time in Albany out of spite toward then-Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The ex-governor is trying to stage a political comeback after resigning in 2021 following accusations of sexual harassment that he denies. His campaign is banking on support from blue-collar voters of color, a crucial base that Adrienne Adams needs to win.

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The Council speaker lives in the Southeast Queens neighborhood of South Jamaica, and is banking on pulling support from Cuomo in the area.

Saturdays loss adds to her list of problems: She is not well known, shares a last name with an unpopular incumbent and faces huge financial difficulties owing to her late entrance into the race. Opponents had already unlocked millions of dollars in public matching funds; Cuomo reported a large early fundraising haul and has a super PAC backing him as well.

Brooks-Powers defection is a particular blow for the Adams campaign. She was the first incoming council member to support Adrienne Adams longshot speaker campaign in 2021. Adams rewarded her with the leadership position of majority whip and a plum chair leading the Transportation and Infrastructure committee.

Brooks-Powers did not return a request for comment.

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Eric Adams grew up in Southeast Queens, and a strong performance in the area  boosted by endorsements from Sanders, Hyndman, Vanel, Brooks-Powers and Adrienne Adams  helped propel him to victory in 2021. But this year, Eric Adams has barely mounted a campaign. Comrie said he was invited to speak to the group, but declined, citing scheduling issues.

Rep. Greg Meeks, the Queens Democratic County leader who backed Adrienne Adams to become the top City Council lawmaker, was not included on the endorsement.


NEW YORK  Since launching his mayoral campaign this month, Andrew Cuomo has largely refrained from the sharp criticism of President Donald Trump that has marked the rhetoric of many of his opponents, and some Trump supporters are now opening up their wallets for the former governor.

Cuomos nascent mayoral campaign has already received nearly $20,000 in contributions from Trump donors and associates, including a prominent conservative social media influencer who recently helped host a fundraiser for the ex-governor, according to a New York Daily News review of city and federal filings.

The Women for Cuomo fundraiser on March 7 was co-hosted by Tanya Zuckerbrot, a nutritionist with a large social media following who has been a vocal Trump surrogate and attended the presidents inaugural ball in January.

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Donation records show Zuckerbrot gave $2,100, the legal max, to Cuomos mayoral campaign in conjunction with the event in Manhattan.

I appreciate his strong support of the Jewish community and commitment to making NYC great again. Whos ready for a comeback? Zuckerbrot captioned a photo she posted on Instagram on March 10 of herself and Cuomo. She capped off the post with the hashtag #makenycgreatagain, a spin on Trumps signature slogan.

In his first two weeks of fundraising, Cuomo also raked in maxed-out $2,100 donations from Randy Levine, president of the New York Yankees whos known to have been on Trumps close contacts list, Jonathan Kushner, cousin of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, and several others with records of financially backing the Republican presidents campaigns, records show.

That includes max donations to Cuomo from Geoffrey Berman, Trumps ex-Manhattan U.S. attorney who pumped $5,400 into the presidents 2016 campaign, and four other New Yorkers, including an attorney and an investor, who have between them given more than $40,000 to Trumps campaigns.

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Another maxed-out Cuomo mayoral campaign donor is Anthony Scaramucci, a one-time Trump adviser who has since become an outspoken critic of the president. Before turning on Trump, Scaramucci funneled more than $150,000 into Trumps campaign and super PACs, according to disclosures.

In total, Cuomo, whos polling as the favorite to win Junes Democratic mayoral primary, raised more than $1.5 million during the first two weeks of his campaign and is, according to most polls, the frontrunner for the Democratic nod.

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi noted that, like Scaramucci, Berman has since being fired by Trump in 2020 become critical of the president. Azzopardi also noted several of the donors highlighted by the Daily News review have records of donating to Cuomo and other Democrats before Trumps 2016 election, including Zuckerbrot, who gave $250 to the then-governors reelection campaign in 2014.

Past is prologue, only one candidate in this race has a record of standing up for New York when Trump and Washington sought to hurt it and its Andrew Cuomo, Azzopardi said, referencing Cuomos record as an anti-Trump champion during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The ex-governor has since his March 1 campaign launch by and large stayed clear of criticizing the controversial president as pointedly as most elected New York Democrats.

In a March 3 interview on Stephen A. Smiths YouTube show, Cuomo suggested Trump  who has threatened to strip New York of billions of dollars in federal funding for various critical programs  wants to help the city.

Donald Trump is from New York City and he knows our problems here, Cuomo said in the appearance. He knows we need federal help  He knows our situation, he knows the situation in New York City. It is his hometown. I think that he wants New York City to appreciate him. I think he thinks theres an opportunity for him to do good things.

Speaking at a Harlem church a few days later, Cuomo again didnt directly criticize Trump, but did say his presidency could result in challenges for the city.

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The incumbent, Mayor Eric Adams, has vowed to not publicly criticize the president. Adams, whos trailing Cuomo by double digits in most polls of the mayoral race, has come under fire since the Trump Justice Department moved to drop his federal corruption indictment in a manner that critics and allies say has left the mayor beholden to Trumps political agenda. Adams maintains there is no quid pro quo.

Some of Cuomos opponents in the mayoral race have lambasted his lack of forceful Trump pushback.

One mayoral candidate, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, held a news conference outside City Hall on Thursday where he questioned whether Cuomos keeping his powder dry on blasting Trump because House Republicans recently urged the presidents Department of Justice to prosecute the ex-governor over matters related to his handling of COVID-19.

Either Cuomo should vocally condemn the president, or explain his refusal to do so  New Yorkers deserve to know where he stands, Myrie said.
Czech President Petr Pavel has reiterated that he does not believe Ukraine can liberate the Russian-occupied territories by force but emphasised that they cannot be legally recognised as Russian.

Source: Pavel in an interview with European Pravda

Details: He pointed to global precedents where territories remain under occupation by another state without legal recognition.

"It may take some time, but I believe that, as a matter of principle, if we want to maintain the rules-based international order, where principles like territorial integrity and sovereignty matter, then we simply cannot accept the fact that the aggressor will be rewarded by being granted legal ownership of occupied territories," the Czech president stressed.

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Pavel noted that civilised Western countries "don't have any other option" but to not recognise the occupation and declare these lands "at maximum as temporarily occupied".

"But, of course, the extent of temporary will be a question," Pavel added.

When asked whether the US could recognise the occupied territories of Ukraine as Russian, Pavel replied: "It's very difficult to judge what will be the approach of the United States. We've seen so many unexpected moves that it's more and more difficult."

Meanwhile, he stressed that he still believes that the United States "does not want to abandon the rules-based international order because it protects us all, including the United States".

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Watch the whole interview: Czech President Petr Pavel, interview in Ukraine and about Ukraine (in English)

Background:

On 16 March, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz suggested that a future agreement to end Russia's war against Ukraine could involve Kyiv ceding territory in exchange for "future security guarantees".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Ukraine would have to make concessions on the territories Russia has occupied since 2014 as part of any peace agreement.

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By Chen Aizhu and Florence Tan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Iranian oil shipments into China are set to fall in the near-term after new U.S. sanctions on a refiner and tankers, driving up shipping costs, but traders said they expect buyers to find workarounds to keep at least some volumes flowing.

Washington on Thursday imposed new sanctions on entities including Shouguang Luqing Petrochemical, a "teapot," or independent refinery in east China's Shandong province, and vessels that supplied oil to such plants in China, the top buyers of Iranian crude.

It was the fourth round of sanctions on Iran's oil sales since President Donald Trump's February call for "maximum pressure" on Tehran, including efforts to drive its crude exports to zero.

Iranian oil flows to China had already dropped due to rising freight costs as earlier sanctions hit shipping capacity, said traders, including three directly involved in the business.

A Chinese trading executive involved in Iranian oil business said the latest sanctions did not come as a surprise and expects that more plants or terminals could be targeted.

"But once companies re-adjust their business structures, imports would continue," said the executive, referring to measures such as changing entities for oil payments.

Still, imports may be curbed as the sanctions give larger private refiners pause, said a second Chinese trader.

Freight costs for a Very Large Crude Carrier, or VLCC, sailing from waters near Malaysia, a key transshipment point for Iranian oil, to China's refining hub Shandong have more than doubled since late 2024 to $3-$4 per barrel, the first executive added.

China's Iranian oil imports recovered in February to 1.43 million bpd, from 898,000 bpd in January, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.

About 33 million barrels have been delivered this month, with volumes forecast to reach 1.7 million bpd before the latest sanctions, senior Kpler analyst Muyu Xu said, adding that discharge volumes for the rest of March could decline sharply due to the sanctions.

Most Iranian oil shipments to China, which make up over 10% of its crude imports, are rebranded by traders as sourced from Malaysia.

"This marks a clear escalation in sanctions policy, though not as severe as if a Chinese port had been designated," said Brian Leisen, commodities strategist at RBC Capital.

'INDISCRIMINATE AND ILLEGAL'

China, which defends its trade with Iran as legitimate, on Friday reiterated its opposition to "indiscriminate and illegal" unilateral sanctions and pledged to protect the rights of Chinese enterprises, which one trader said buyers would take comfort from.
Czech President Petr Pavel has stated that he views security guarantees for Ukraine as comprising two components: a Kyiv-Washington minerals deal and guarantees from European countries.

Source: Pavel in an interview with European Pravda

Details: Speaking about a potential agreement between Ukraine and the United States, Pavel noted that due to the presence of American business in Ukraine, "you can expect that these interests will be protected".

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Another component of the guarantees, Pavel said, will come from European countries that have "declared willingness to support Ukraine".

"And now we talk mostly about the newly-organised coalition of the willing  countries that are able and willing to deploy some stabilising force to Ukraine once a peace agreement is achieved," he said.

Watch the whole interview: Czech President Petr Pavel, interview in Ukraine and about Ukraine (in English)

Background:

On 20 March, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer emphasised the need to guarantee any potential agreement to end the war in Ukraine, as Russia would otherwise violate it.

In this context, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy stated that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin would not have a veto over the potential deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine.

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Czech President Petr Pavel visited a plant producing Bren-2 assault rifles under the licence of Ceska Zbrojovka, a Czech armament manufacturer, during a visit to Ukraine.

Source: Herman Smetanin, Ukraine's Minister of Strategic Industries, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Smetanin noted that Ukrainian weapons makers have been trained in Czechia and are now applying NATO experience and technologies at the Ukrainian plant.

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"Therefore, I demonstrated to the President how the assembly process works at different stages, as well as the first assembled rifles," Smetanin wrote.

In addition, he noted that several important documents had been signed during the visit, particularly those related to the supply of components for the localised production of small arms ammunition and the assembly of Bren-2 assault rifles.

Background:

Pavel visited Odesa on the day when Russian forces launched a large-scale drone attack on the city.

The Czech president later remarked that such large-scale attacks, occurring as negotiations for a ceasefire and a potential peace agreement are starting, do not suggest that Moscow is serious about pursuing peace.

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The Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office announced Friday that it will not file charges against a Hollywood film producer whos been accused of at least 15 sex crimes over the last two decades.

Extraction and Atomic Blonde producer David Guillod was arrested over four years ago, originally charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault involving six victims in L.A. and Santa Barbara counties, according to the L.A. Times.

Since his October 2020 arrest, judges in Santa Barbara County dismissed all charges involving four of the victims, and deferred the charges involving the remaining two victims to L.A. County.

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The charges Guillod faced included rape, kidnap to rape, rape of a drugged victim, rape of an unconscious person, sexual penetration of an unconscious person and an intoxicated person by a foreign object, sodomy and more.

The Times reported in June 2022 that a Santa Maria judge found insufficient evidence to try Guillod on charges involving four victims who accused Guillod of committing sex crimes between 2014 and 2020.

However, the report said the same judge found sufficient evidence for a trial in connection with an alleged 2012 attack on Ted actress Jessica Barth, and a 2018 incident with an L.A. waitress who said she was raped and sodomized.

In his March 21, 2025 announcement, D.A. Nathan Hochman said his office is unable to prove sexual assault allegations against David Guillod beyond a reasonable doubt.

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The allegations involve deeply troubling and concerning behavior, and we empathize with the pain and trauma the accusers have experienced throughout this long investigative process, read Hochmans release. Please know that our decision in this matter does not undermine the seriousness of the allegations, but instead reflects the high legal burden our office faces in proving criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

Hochman also noted that although his office will not file charges in this case, their hope is that the example of these women will inspire victims of sexual abuse to seek support and report abuse as soon as possible.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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MIFFLINBURG  Already a well-established business owner in Danville and Paxinos, Greg Diehl saw an opportunity in 2023 to parlay his passion for bagels and buy and grow Old City Bagel Co. in Danville.

This past week, he and Old City co-owner Amy Hahn opened a second Old City Bagel in Mifflinburg, at 446 Chestnut St.

Diehl grew up in Stonington and is a 2000 Shikellamy High School graduate. I had a college degree in political science and had ambitions of being an attorney or politician, he said.

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The first company I owned was Pave-It, a family business in Danville, he said. I grew up in that business but I never wanted to pursue it  up to the point where my father, Richard Diehl, passed away.

Diehl worked in management at Berwick Nuclear Power Plant before taking over the family business in 2016.

It was in 2016 I had to make a decision, Diehl said, about whether I wanted to take over the family business or shut the door and no longer have the business. But my fathers employees were very loyal to me. Many were original employees and I couldnt look at them and say that I was no longer going to keep the family business. At that point I decided to take over as owner.

That business thrived to the point where he could make another purchase, in 2023, of a business that had been in the area since 1983: Shamrock Concrete, a concrete plant in Paxinos.

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His longtime passion for bagels drew him into the restaurant business, he said.

Since I was a child, I loved bagels, Diehl said. But how my ownership of Old City Bagel got started was quite by chance. An acquaintance of mine knew of my passion for bagels and he approached me and asked if I wanted to buy the business. One City Bagel already existed in its present location on Mill Street. We worked out details. I couldnt say no. Amy Hahn, originally from New Jersey, also has a passion for bagels.

In the past year Diehl and Hahn grew the Old City business.

We took it from an average business to an above average business, Diehl said, which has allowed us to  within a years time  put in a second location in Mifflinburg. We are looking for a third location, hopefully by mid-summer.

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Diehl and Hahn are true believers in delivering a quality product and hiring the right employees and those two factors were critical in the Danville Old City Bagels growth, Diehl said.

The consistency of being open is important, he said. The previous owner had trouble with employees that did not allow him the opportunity to grow the business. Good, reliable employees are key to running a successful business. We extended hours and the menu. But the biggest thing was being consistent with the product and having a good group of employees that surround you.

In Danville, weve been flat-lined as far as revenue goes and growth, Diehl noted. There is nothing more we could offer to the Danville community to grow that one location. So when we looked at ways we could grow we saw an opportunity to expand into the new market. His long-term plans could lead to franchising the Old City brand.

For more information, go to the Old City Danvilles facebook page. A Mifflinburg Old City Bagel Facebook page should be online this week.
Mar. 22AMERICAN TOWNSHIP  Phil and Gennifer Hesseling knew they'd have to defend their Second Amendment right to bear arms when they got into gun sales and customizations eight years ago.

The owners of Hesseling & Sons Firearms & Gunsmithing on Elida Road never expected a fight over the First Amendment right to free speech.

They certainly didn't plan it over a pair of Facebook posts announcing they'd be closed for Easter and the Fourth of July last year.

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"Facebook has very clear community standards," Gennifer Hesseling said. "We at no point ever violated any community standards of Meta Corp. However, we were suppressed, and they accused us of violating their standards. When we would send their standards right back to them and say, 'Tell us where we violated this,' they didn't even answer."

The offending post for Easter was an Easter Bunny  with no guns in the image, they emphasized  saying the store would be closed for the holiday and sharing the Friday and Saturday hours. That led to a three-day suspension of their Facebook account.

For the Fourth of July, they posted a flag, along with a message they were closed for Independence Day.

"That triggered our page to be completely taken down," Gennifer Hesseling said. "And that's when we reached out to Congressman Jordan's office and said, 'Please help.'"

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While Facebook told them it lifted the ban, its own metrics showed the company wasn't reaching all of its followers anymore, a tactic nicknamed the "shadow ban." Their congressman, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, intervened. Within a day of his office's assistance, things returned to normal for the retailer, which follows Facebook's extensive rules for brick-and-mortar firearms dealers with great success.

Jordan, who toured the Hesselings' shop Thursday, said it was an example of how former President Joe Biden's administration pushed its policies on private enterprise, including an anti-gun stance. Things are different now that President Donald Trump is in the White House, he said.

"We were talking a bit about the censorship issue, but we feel like we made huge progress on that, as evidenced by the letter (Mark) Zuckerberg sent us a year ago, that they've changed their policy at Meta or Facebook to the same policy on the First Amendment that Elon Musk had done at X," Jordan said. "That's using community notes vs. those independent fact-checkers taking down posts and tweets."

It's an interesting time when the First and Second Amendments mingle.

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Most gun owners see Trump as friendlier to their interests. Some celebrate by buying "Trump guns" like the ones customized at the Hesselings' shop, including an iconic image on the grip of Trump immediately after the assassination attempt last year in Butler, Pennsylvania.

"Everybody remembers the iconic picture of Trump with his fist in the air and the flag in the background," Phil Hesseling said. "I said that picture right there is going to be an iconic picture. The first to market with something on that is going to win. That's how marketing works."

They've sold more than 2,000 of that customization in different color combinations, including red-white-and-blue or gold. The Hesselings also offer the popular "Glitter Gunz," a sparkly application that makes a firearm more appealing to women but also gives a more tactful grip for firmer control.

In February, Trump signed an executive order on Second Amendment rights, with goals of "stopping federal infringement on constitutional rights," "ending the attacks on law-abiding gun owners and gun businesses" and "defending our constitutional right to keep and bear arms."

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"It's a whole new attitude," Jordan said. "Here's a president who respects the First Amendment, Second Amendment, Fourth Amendment (unreasonable search and seizures)."

Jordan said Congress will soon consider a bill requiring reciprocity on concealed carry permits between states, and it could pass out of committee within two weeks. He also said he hoped to see some consideration on changes to federal background checks.

Phil Hesseling said he hasn't seen the impact of Trump's executive order yet, but there's a general comfort within the "Second Amendment community," as he called it.

"When we see Republican leadership in office, the gun community, pretty much as a whole, will kind of slow down a little bit," he said. "It's still good. It's not a problem."

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Gennifer Hesseling added, "I think that gun owners kind of breathe a sigh of relief and feel like maybe their Second Amendment rights are more secure with this administration in office."

The Hesselings' experience challenging a social media giant reminded them of the potential power of the government.

"Congressman Jordan's office was very instrumental to helping us not only get out from under the thumb of social media regulations' suppression but also ultimately to keep our page and be able to exercise our Second Amendment right," Phil Hesseling said, before his wife added, "and our First."

ONLY ON LIMAOHIO.COM

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See past columns by David Trinko at LimaOhio.com/tag/trinko.

David Trinko is editor of The Lima News. Reach him at 567-242-0467, by email at dtrinko@limanews.com or on Twitter/X @Lima_Trinko.

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DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  A local Sorority chapter will host a Father-Daughter dinner dance on Saturday evening.

The My Little Princess and Me event will be on Saturday, March 22. It will run from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Louise Troy Elementary in Dayton.

Hosted by the Montgomery County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the dance will be for girls from kindergarten to sixth grade. It will be an elegant space full of dancing, food, and fun to create memories with their fathers/guardians or father figures.

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Our 2 NEWS reporter Aaliyah Seabrooks will be co-hosting a pageant at the event.

Tickets are $25 per father-daughter pair and $15 per additional guest at the door.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority is a historically Black Sorority, it was established in 1913 at Howard University. Chapters assist and support community efforts alongside local programs. The Dayton chapter focuses on promoting education, economic development, and social action.



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WASHINGTON (DC News Now)  Police in D.C. are looking for someone who they say is responsible for an armed carjacking that happened on March 13.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said in a news release that the victim was in a parked vehicle around 7 p.m. in the 1800 block of Varnum St. NE.

The victim told police that the suspects approached them. One of the individuals was armed with a gun.

They demanded the victim hand over property. After the victim did so, the suspects left in the victims car with the stolen items.

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Two arrested for shooting at Northeast DC nightclub that killed former Morgan State basketball player

Police shared the following images of one of the suspects.

(Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Police Department)

Anyone with any information is asked to call 202-727-9099 or text 50411.

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Ethereum ETFs struggles with outflows and price declines may be relieved if "staking," the cryptocurrencys validation mechanism which acts as a sort of yield device, were introduced, BlackRock Inc.s (BLK) digital assets chief said this week.

Ethereum spot exchange-traded funds have badly lagged their Bitcoin counterparts since being introduced in June, six months after spot Bitcoin ETFs began trading. The two largest, the Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHE) and the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), both with about $2.5 billion in assets, have plummeted 43% over the past three months while the largest spot Bitcoin fund, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has dropped 13%.

Ethereum ETF investors inability to earn a staking yield may be contributing to their outflows and falling prices, BlackRocks Robert Mitchnick said at the Digital Asset Summit on March 20 in New York, according to CNBC. Staking offers participants rewards in exchange for locking up their crypto for a period, and permitting that in the Ethereum ETF would stoke investor interest, he said.

Theres no question its less perfect for ETH today without staking, CNBC reported Mitchnick as saying. A staking yield is a meaningful part of how you can generate investment return in this space, and all the [ether] ETFs at launch did not have staking.

Bitwise Staking Proposal

Mitchnicks comments come as efforts are underway to persuade the Securities and Exchange Commission to permit staking in Ethereum ETFs.

Bitwise Asset Management and the New York Stock Exchange this week sought a rule change that would permit the Bitwise Ethereum Trust (ETHW) to offer staking rewards. Bitwise, which also manages the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) among other crypto ETFs, in November bought London-based crypto firm Attestant to add staking services to its asset management services.

Approximately $527 million has been pulled from the two biggest Ethereum ETFs over the past month.

Source: etf.com data

With around $7 billion in eight funds, Ethereum ETFs are dwarfed by the approximately $95 billion, according to Bloomberg, in the dozen or so spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Bitcoin and Ethereum are the only cryptocurrencies permitted in spot ETFs, while other digital assets trade in futures funds.





Permalink |  Copyright 2025 etf.com. All rights reserved
Mar. 21SANTA FE  With the end of the 60-day legislative session hours away, members of the House and Senate reached a compromise late Friday on a high-profile tax package  by slimming it down and pushing most changes to next year.

Lawmakers also signed off on bills authorizing New Mexico to fund brackish water projects and making it easier for independent voters to cast ballots in primary elections.

In between that action, a few representatives and senators met behind closed doors all day trying to come to an agreement over the tax package. Amid the deliberations, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham came down from her fourth-floor office to talk with legislative leadership.

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The key sticking point between the House and Senate was whether a tax hike on oil production should be included in the tax package to offset the budgetary impact of a slew of expanded tax credits and new tax breaks. The surtax would've generated about $130 million for fiscal year 2026.

The Senate stood firm after stripping the oil surtax out of the package this week, prompting a showdown with the House, in which three members from each chamber met in an open conference committee Friday morning to try to figure out an agreement.

"I don't know if we have a path forward," said Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, during a morning negotiating meeting between appointees from the two chambers.

The initial meeting of the conference committee resulted in stripping a disaster gaming tax exemption for the Ruidoso Downs Racetrack and Casino and reallocating money from a liquor excise tax increase to a tribal treatment fund.

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But the biggest issue remained: how to pay for a projected $140 million per year in proposed tax credits and breaks.

Lente made it clear he didn't want any bills used as "sacrificial lambs" to pay for the tax package.

Unable to reach a deal on the oil tax provision, the committee adjourned and planned to meet again in the late afternoon.

But a legislative staffer, 10 minutes after the scheduled meeting time, announced it was postponed to an unknown time. The committee didn't meet again until 8:30 p.m., when members announced the compromise, which was then ratified by both the House and Senate.

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If approved by the governor, most of the tax changes would not take effect until the 2027 budget year, which starts in July 2026. The liquor tax increase would still take effect in July.

The new pared-package removed about $30 million in previously proposed tax credits and breaks. What remained was a package giving an additional 101,000 New Mexicans personal income tax breaks, as well as tax credits and breaks for foster parents and health care practitioners.

"Yes, we have other ideas that we would like to fund. The beauty about this is we already have a head start to next year," said Sen. Carrie Hamblen, D-Las Cruces, of the now $113 million tax package stripped of its funding mechanism.

However, Rep. Mark Duncan, R-Kirtland, said he doesn't like the idea of allocating funding now for next year's session.

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"I still think this is a bad way to do business," he said. "No one would budget like this in their homes."

Trying to beat the deadline

With the session set to end Saturday at noon, lawmakers spent most of the day on the House and Senate floors in a final push to pass legislation.

As of late Friday, more than 140 bills had passed both chambers to advance to Lujan Grisham's desk for final approval, out of the nearly 1,200 filed during this year's session.

However, the fate of some bills remained uncertain.

That included House Bill 149, which was overhauled on the Senate floor to include language backed by the governor dealing with individuals deemed to pose a threat to themselves or others.

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Some senators criticized the legislative maneuver, but backers pushed back against suggestions it represented a back-room deal.

"This is the way the sausage is made," said Senate Republican floor leader William Sharer of Farmington.

However, it was unclear if the House would sign off on the Senate changes to the legislation after a bill containing similar language stalled earlier in the session in a House committee.

Meanwhile, the possibility of another conference committee was brewing as the House late Friday failed to agree with Senate changes to another bill, House Bill 167, which initially started as a two-page education tests payment bill but had its length more than tripled with new language on teacher preparation programs.

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Voting, water bills win approval

Among the bills passed during the final push to adjournment were measures expanding the state's anti-racketeering laws and establishing a new Medicaid trust fund.

The House also narrowly approved a bill allowing independent voters to participate in primary elections without having to change their party affiliation.

The bill, Senate Bill 16, was approved on a 36-33 vote and could affect more than 330,000 independent voters in New Mexico if signed into law by the governor.

"We were all holding onto our seats, not knowing if it was going to happen," said Sila Avcil, executive director of the advocacy group New Mexico Open Elections.

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The semi-open primary bill marked the only significant elections bill to pass during this year's 60-day session, and the vote on the bill did not break down along strict political lines.

Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, mulled over the possibility of strategic voting as a result of the measure, while Rep. Kathleen Cates, D-Rio Rancho, praised the measure as a way to increase voter turnout rates.

"This is about democracy and strengthening our democratic republic to involve more folks in the electoral process," said bill sponsor Rep. Cristina Parajon, D-Albuquerque.

On the other side of the Roundhouse, senators debated the proposed Strategic Water Supply Act, which would allow the state to grant awards or enter into contracts for brackish water treatment and reuse projects. The tide turned for the bill that's failed before and passed 33-6.

The legislation started this year on shakier ground due to its initial inclusion of produced water reuse, but legislators watered it down to give it a better shot at passing the Legislature. A gubernatorial signature is likely, as the bill is a priority of Lujan Grisham.
Debris from downed Russian drones was recorded in three Kyiv Oblast districts on the night of 21-22 March.

Source: Kyiv Oblast Military Administration

Details: A fire broke out in the grassland areas and forest in the Vyshhorod district as a result of the debris falling.

Debris was recorded in open areas outside of settlements in the Brovary and Bucha districts in Kyiv Oblast.

No civilian casualties and no hits to critical or residential infrastructure were reported.

Background: The Russians launched 179 attack drones on Ukraine on the night of 21-22 March. Ukraine's air defence managed to down 100 UAVs.

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FAIRMONT  Thanks to taxpayers, Marion County will be spared most negative impact from the loss of a federal agency dedicated to supporting libraries.

However, the same wont be true at other libraries across the state.

President Donald Trump ordered on March 14 the elimination of several more federal agencies, such as the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and Institute of Museum and Library Services. The IMLS provides funding and support to libraries across all 50 states.

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Statewide, this is going to have a big effect on some libraries, especially smaller libraries, Larissa Cason, director of the Marion County Public Libary System, said. Cason is also president of the West Virginia Library Association. There are some libraries where these monies pay for their internet access. So that could devastating to lose funding for internet acces and then having to privately source or pay for that.

The American Library Association said in a press release IMLS has 75 workers and funds 125,000 public, school, academic and special libraries across the country. Its funding in 2024 was $266.7 million, or 0.003% of the federal budget.

Americans have loved and relied on public, school and academic libraries for generations, the ALA wrote. By eliminating the only federal agency dedicated to funding library services, the Trump administrations executive order is cutting off at the knees the most beloved and trusted of American institutions and the staff and services they offer.

Congress approved funding for IMLS in the March 14 Continuing Resolution to keep the government open. While Trumps order doesnt remove the IMLS in its entirety, since it would take an act of Congress, it does call for the functions of the agency to be elimated to the maximum extent of the law. The Trump Administration cast the order under its drive to reduce the scope of the Federal Bureaucracy.

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The American Alliance of Museums charge that Trumps order would gut the IMLS within seven days.

Thanks to the levy, Cason said most of the services the Marion County Library provides wont be affected drastically. However, some services will feel an impact. The library provides a lot of electronic resources through its website, such as access to the WV Info Depot. The depot provides access to services like Tutor.com, which provides one-on-one tutoring, test prep and job search assistance. Marion County residents can access National Geographic Kids, World Book online and other research databases at no cost through the services IMLS provides to Marion County. There are 17 different services in total that the library provides thanks to IMLS funding.

Taxpayers provide $1.3 million in levy funds for the services the library provides, with the state only providing $295,000. The library also gets money fom the Marion County Board of Education and City of Fairmont.

Statewide, West Virginia receives $1.6 million per year from IMLS, which passes through the West Virginia Library Commission to local libraries. IMLS funding also provides reimbursement for the software patrons use to check books out. Internet costs are also a large expense for libaries. While thanks to taxpayers, Marion County Libraries can float its own internet bill, other libraries in the state arent as lucky. They rely on IMLS funding, Cason said.

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Donna Calvert, Library Section Director of the West Virginia Library Commission, directed all queries to Ennis Smith, Acting Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History. Smith did not return a request for comment by press time. Cason said the state is moving libraries under the tourism department. Smith lists director of destination development for the West Virginia Department of Tourism on her LinkedIn.

I have strong feelings about that personally, but Im not in a position to speak, Calvert said, referring to the elimination of IMLS. I am not authorized to speak for the agency. It will have an impact.

Cason said she is glad Marion County taxpayers believe in supporting its library. She said President Trump tried to do something similar in 2017, so the latest move against IMLS was not unexpected. She said they will now have to get a jump on educating people about IMLS and getting residents to reach out to Congress to protect the agency and its funding.

I will say were extraordinarily lucky in Marion County that we have had a levy that is a long standing Levy, and that Marion County supports its library so well, she said. There are other counties where that is not the same.
Mar. 21LIMA  The following individuals recently indicted by an Allen County grand jury have entered pleas of not guilty in Allen County Common Pleas Court:

Antonio Maxwell, 36, of Lima, charged with assault.

Zachary Hall, 19, of Celina, charged with failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer.

Sara Hendrickson, 38 of Lima, charged with burglary, forgery and criminal trespass.

Bill Barnett, 23 of Lima, charged with felonious assault, domestic violence and kidnapping.

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Anthony Hardesty, 44, of Lima, charged with two counts of theft, vandalism and attempted breaking-and-entering.

Jatavia Brewer, 33, of Lima, charged with aggravated burglary.

Andre Bell-Sanders, 20, of Lima, charged with failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer.

Michael Wilson Jr., 37, of Lima, charged with strangulation and domestic violence.

Madison Henninger, 30, of Louisville, Kentucky, charged with failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, having weapons under disability, two counts of improper handling of firearms in a motor vehicle and one count of OVI.

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Ronald Miller, 56, of Wapakoneta, charged with aggravated possession of drugs.

Arthur Austin, 43, of Lima, charged with illegal manufacture of drugs, four counts of trafficking in cocaine, abduction and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

Paul Chrichfield, 43, of Delphos, charged with possession of a fentanyl-related compound.

Timothy Werling, 35, homeless, charged with one count of receiving stolen property and 23 counts of forgery.

Mindy Newman, 38, of Lima, charged with aggravated possession of drugs.

Jose Gonzalez, 34, of Lima, charged with possession of cocaine.

Frederick Collins, 70, of Lima, charged with possession of cocaine and tampering with evidence.

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Johnshae Lane, 29, of Dayton, charged with illegal conveyance of drugs of abuse onto the grounds of a specified government facility and aggravated possession of drugs.

Billie Campbell, 31, of Lima, charged with illegal conveyance of drugs of abuse onto the grounds of a specified government facility and possession of a fentanyl-related compound.

Angel Hahn, 25, of Harrod, charged with aggravated possession of drugs.

Aaron Gordon, 35, of Lima, charged with trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound, possession of a fentanyl-related compound and the illegal manufacture of drugs.

Zachary Huff, 29, of Lima, charged with aggravated possession of drugs.

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Two defendants failed to appear Friday for their scheduled arraignment hearings:Jeremy Blauvelt, 43, of Lima, charged with weapons under disability, and James Long, 54, homeless, charged with aggravated possession of drugs. Arrest warrants were issued for both men.

Also indicted by the grand jury earlier this month was Jasmine Dilbert, 34, of Lima, charged with illegal manufacture of drugs, possession of hashish, aggravated possession of drugs and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Dilbert will be arraigned next week.

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Former U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd speaking at a town hall meeting in Tallahassee on March 23, 2025. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)

Its not just Republicans who are feeling the wrath from the public at town hall meetings over President Trumps actions in his first two months back in office.

Democratic voters shared their frustrations with the organizers of a congressional town hall held on Saturday in Tallahassee that featured Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, former North Florida U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, and other local elected officials and activists.

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Were all here today, because its time for a different politics. The usual order has clearly broken down. The mechanisms of democracy that were used to are threatened, and so were going to figure out what we want to do about it here together, Leon County Democratic Party Chair Ryan Ray said to kick off the meeting with a crowd of several hundred (officials say it was 450) people who jammed into the American Legion Hall.

We dont have all the answers right now, but were going to develop a roadmap together, Ray said.

With few Florida Republicans opting to hold town hall meetings because of hostile crowds, Florida Democrats have been organizing their own meetings in red congressional districts.

The U.S. representative for Tallahassee is Republican Neal Dunn, whose Congressional District 2 encompasses 14 counties across Northwest Florida and parts of two others, ranging from his Panama City base to the state capital.

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Tallahassee had been represented by Democrat Al Lawson, but he lost to Dunn in 2022 after the Florida Legislature approved Gov. Ron DeSantis redistricting map, which made it a ruby red seat. Dunn won by more than 23 percentage points last November.

We know this stuff already

After opening speeches by Ray and Fried, the program called for a panel discussion featuring Boyd, Tallahassee City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor, and longtime Tallahassee activist Karen Woodall.

But after a few minutes of Boyd describing his concerns over the executive branch of the federal government not respecting the judicial branch, some audience members began getting antsy.

Social Security! one woman yelled. Lets talk about it!

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Get to the point. We know this stuff already, yelled another voice.

A little later, another voice called out, Whats the solution? I think we know the problem.

But there is no single solution, the Democrats admitted. Join us as we figure this out, said Matlow.

With Democrats in Washington divided over how to handle the onslaught of radical changes Trump and DOGE leader Elon Musk are making in Washington, it shouldnt be a surprise that Democrats hundreds of miles away are similarly not yet on the same page about how to overcome such changes while lacking power in all branches of the federal government.

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The purpose of these town halls that are happening, not only all around the state of Florida but all around the country, is to mobilize, right? said Fried. Its to mobilize between likeminded, hopefully shared values between Democrats, Republicans, and independents that are frustrated, angry, and scared about this moment. We hear you.  We are here because we understand the fear, the anxiety, of so many people across the country.

That anxiety was expressed by one woman, who said she was 78 years old and had driven two hours from Gulf County to participate in the event. I depend on that Social Security check to pay my bills. Is it going to be there this Wednesday? she asked.

Frustration

Other Democrats in the audience expressed concern that they couldnt wait until next years midterm election to correct course, but other than the special congressional elections taking place in two Florida districts on April 1, the only thing they can really do is organize, Fried said.

We dont have power to change things in Washington, D.C., right now, the Democratic Party chair told the crowd. But the way we fight back is by doing the work today, signing up to help us, call our neighbors, organize town halls, organize ways to make phone calls and show up. 

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Still, some in the audience werent satisfied.

Weve been doing that! one person shouted.

The frustrations are perhaps increased for Florida Democrats, who have seen this once quintessential swing state emerge as a conservative stronghold within the last five years. Jon Doggett, a former Republican, said he wasnt sure that the playbook for electing Democrats in Florida is working, although he offered no alternative.

I have given to Democrats in the last two cycles, and Ive given them a hell of a lot of money, he said. And they all seem to have one thing in common: They all lost. And the Democrats used to have the majority of registered voters in this state. We dont now. What are you going to do to get folks elected? You talk about getting candidates  theyve got to get elected. And doing the same thing youve done over and over and over and over aint cutting it anymore.

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Organizers emphasized that while this was the first meeting to discuss plans to combat the Trump administration, it wont be the last.

Even though the meeting at times got rancorous, Ray was pleased with the event and said its the first of many to come. I think most people walked away feeling good, he said.

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Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) have challenged the legality of a recent order of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) leadership asking its staff to shred and burn the agencys classified documents and personnel records.

The Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter Friday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is the acting USAID administrator, to seek information on the matter, saying the explanation given by the Trump administration is insufficient.

Earlier this month, an email obtained by The Hill sent by USAIDs acting executive secretary directed remaining employees at the dismantled agencies to shred as many documents as possible first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break.

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In their letter on Friday, Peters and Shaheen questioned if the order to shred and burn certain classified documents complied with the Federal Records Act (FRA), the federal law that requires the preservation of government records.

While not all federal records are required to be preserved permanently, the FRA requires that records only be disposed of in accordance with an approved records schedule, the senators wrote.

The email does not make any distinction between categories of federal records and does not make any reference to approved agency records schedules. It is unclear whether additional orders were conveyed by other means, they continued.

They further noted that in a court filing last week, attorneys from the Department of Justice asserted that these disposals did not violate the FRA because they were copies of documents from other agencies or derivatively classified documents, where the originally classified document is retained by another government agency and for which there is no need for USAID to retain a copy.

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This explanation is insufficient, the senators said.

The order led to concerns over its impact on the ability of the public to observe the role the Department of Government Efficiency played at USAID.

Meanwhile, an organization representing USAID employees along with one representing contractors asked judges for a restraining order in two different suits, seeking to block the agency from destroying the documents. The organization argues the order could impact ongoing litigation and violate their obligation to retain relevant evidence.

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DENVER (KDVR)  A storm system will head to Colorado and Denver weather over the weekend bringing windy conditions to the city and snow to the mountains. The snow will develop early on Saturday and become more widespread during the afternoon.

CSU Rams fans revel in NCAA tournament victory

There are travel advisories in place for slick roads. So, weekend skiers need to prepare for possible delays.

Denver will stay dry as the moisture will not make it to the city according to Pinpoint Weather, Colorados Most Accurate Forecast.

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The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for several counties across the Front Range, including around the Denver metro area up to Larimer County and east to the Colorado-Nebraska state line. It is also in effect for south central Colorado. The warnings will be in effect from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday due to winds 25-35 mph and gusts up to 50 mph.

Kangaroo studio in Wheat Ridge not operating, city says business is under review

Weather today: Windy and sunny, warm

The metro area features windy and dry conditions as winds will gust up to 35+ mph at times. High temperatures will max out in the middle to lower 60s in Denver, and into the 70s across southeastern Colorado.

Weather tonight: Clear skies and blustery winds

Mostly clear skies are in store for us overnight as lows sink down to around freezing. Winds will still be strong, coming in out of the northwest anywhere from 15-25 mph and gusts as high as 35 mph. A Winter Weather Advisory is in place for the high country and will expire at 12 a.m. on Sunday.

Looking ahead: Dry and much warmer next week

The first weekend of spring will bring mild temperatures and some wind to Denver.

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The average high at this time of year is in the upper 50s. The Pinpoint Weather team is forecasting afternoon readings to be above normal with high temperatures in the 60s both days.

The team is still expecting dry and even warmer days next week. Denvers high temperatures should reach the 70s starting on Monday and stay there for the remainder of the week.

The warmest day will be Thursday with a near-record high temperature possible. Denver will get its next chance for needed moisture on Friday.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
Job-hopping has lost its luster.

The median pay increase for workers switching jobs sank substantially to 4.8% last month from a pinnacle of 7.7% two years ago, according to recently released data from the Atlanta Fed.

While job changers tend to receive higher pay increases than job stayers, the gap between job stayers and those who switch roles has fizzled and is now at its lowest level in a decade. A worker who stayed put and received an annual raise saw nearly the same bump in pay  4.6%, the Atlanta Fed found.

The pendulum is swinging back from the pandemic premium for new hires, Julia Pollak, chief economist at employment search site ZipRecruiter, told Yahoo Finance.

The gap between wage growth for job switchers and job stayers ballooned to the widest gap on record during the Great Resignation, she said. Companies rushed to rehire after the pandemic, and the No. 1 focus was on hiring incentives  signing bonuses and raising starting pay.

The problem is that many companies felt burned by offering huge salaries and bonuses to people who stayed only a short while and then left for better opportunities.

Now the focus is on longer-term retention incentives such as retirement and health insurance benefits that make workers want to stay, Pollak said.

Federal job cuts and layoffs by large companies are contributing to a chilly job market overall, flashing the warning signs that the golden era for job seekers has ground to a halt. A recent Harris Poll found that 7 in 10 Americans think its difficult to find a better position than the one they have now  and three-quarters say employers hold the power in the market.

Hiring is so weak and unemployment durations are growing, Pollak said. Employers are opportunistically able to pick up great talents on the cheap.

Talk about glum. A record-low 13% of job seekers described their search as going well, per the findings in a new ZipRecruiter report. Gloomier still  more than 6 in 10 job seekers reported zero job offers, the highest level in three years.

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A case for staying put

In 2022, wage growth contributed to people quitting their jobs for higher-paying options, Allison Shrivastava, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, told Yahoo Finance.

At that time, finding a new job was easy for most, and companies had to compete to hire workers. Now, that competition has greatly decreased, she said. This shift  has made leaving their current job for a new one less attractive.

The data backs that up. Workers are staying in their current jobs, as seen with the low quits rate tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics  2.1% or 3 million people quit in January.
DENVER (KDVR)  A storm system will head to Colorado and Denver weather over the weekend bringing windy conditions to the city and snow to the mountains. The snow will develop early on Saturday and become more widespread during the afternoon.

There are travel advisories in place for slick roads. So, weekend skiers need to prepare for possible delays.

FOX31 Weather: View the latest Denver forecasts, maps and radar

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Denver will stay dry as the moisture will not make it to the city according to Pinpoint Weather, Colorados Most Accurate Forecast.

Weather tonight: Some clouds and breezy

We will have clouds moving across the area as the next storm from the west approaches the state. It will be breezy overnight with a wind from the southwest.

Temperatures will be cold with all of eastern Colorado and metro Denver below freezing. There will be colder teens and 20s across the Colorado mountains.

Overnight lows by Saturday morning across Colorado

Weather tomorrow: Windy and mild

While the mountains will get accumulating snow on Saturday, it will be windy and dry along the Front Range and metro Denver. We will have a strong westerly wind up to 30mph at times. That direction from the west is a downsloping wind, which dries out the air.

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However, the wind also helps to warm the temperatures and we are expecting afternoon readings to reach the 60s and 70s east of the mountains including metro Denver.

The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for several counties across the Front Range, including around the Denver metro area up to Larimer County and east to the Colorado-Nebraska state line. The warnings will be in effect from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday due to winds 25-35 mph and gusts up to 50 mph.

Forecast highs on Saturday across Colorado

Looking ahead: Dry and much warmer next week

The first weekend of spring will bring mild temperatures and some wind to Denver.

FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up for weather alerts from the Pinpoint Weather team

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The average high at this time of year is in the upper 50s. The Pinpoint Weather Team is forecasting afternoon readings to be above normal with high temperatures in the 60s both days.

Colorados Most Accurate 7-day forecast from Pinpoint Weather

The team is still expecting dry and even warmer days next week. Denvers high temperatures should reach the 70s starting on Monday and stay there for the remainder of the week.

The warmest day will be Thursday with a near-record high temperature possible. Denver will get its next chance for needed moisture on Friday.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
(NewsNation)  The federal judge locked in a dispute with the Trump administration over the deportation of alleged migrant gang members last weekend may be forced to use his authority against the Justice Department, a former court official says.

Chief U.S. District Judge William Boasberg on Friday held his latest hearing with government attorneys to determine whether authorities ignored his temporary order barring the migrant removals while parties argue in court whether Trump can do it under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order, who ordered this and what the consequences will be, Boasberg said Friday.

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Accused Tren de Aragua, MS-13 gang members get harsh welcome in El Salvador

John E. Jones III, former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, says Boasberg appears ready to go off after DOJ attorneys played hide the ball with him this week. He said the judge could deploy sanctions, contempt powers, monetary penalties or even order someone jailed, though he likely doesnt want to go there.

What he will do, and he has an obligation to do this as a judge, is to vindicate the order that he handed down, the injunction, and determine whether anybody violated that, Jones told Elizabeth Vargas Reports.

William Brennan, a former Trump attorney who also appeared on Vargas, said the administration may have a legal basis in trying to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants who are members of gangs. But he said the judiciary should be respected.

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Federal judges have immense power, and I think Judge Boasberg has been very good in being judicious in his response, Brennan said.

Due process essential: Rep. Raskin

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, says the Trump administrations attempt to use the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport alleged migrant gang members without due process is potentially dangerous for everyone.

I dont care how unpopular those people are, because if they can do it to them, they can do it to anybody, he told CUOMO.

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(FOX40.COM)  An investigation is underway after a bomb threat at a high school in San Joaquin County.

 Video Above: How to report a public safety threat

Around noon on Friday, the San Joaquin County Sheriffs Office responded to Mountain House High School for a bomb threat. Deputies said they evacuated the campus out of an abundance of caution.

Northern California elementary school experiences gun scare on campus

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Sacramento County Sheriffs Office reportedly sent three bomb detection dogs from Sacramento International Airport to aid in a systematic search of all buildings and classrooms, around 4 p.m.

We take every threat seriously and are fully investigating this incident to ensure the safety of students, staff, and the community, SCSO said. We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work through this situation.

Additional information will be provided as details become available.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40 News.
ISTANBUL (AP)  Prosecutors early Sunday requested that detained Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the top challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, be formally arrested over allegations of corruption and terror links.

A court is now set to decide whether the popular opposition figure will be charged and jailed pending a trial.

The arrest this week of Imamoglu has intensified political tensions and sparked widespread protests across Turkey, with demonstrators rallying in multiple cities to voice their opposition.

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Many view his arrest as a politically driven attempt to remove Imamoglu from the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028. Government officials reject the accusation and say Turkeys courts are independent.

Police questioned Imamoglu for around five hours on Saturday as part of an investigation into allegations of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, the Cumhuriyet newspaper reported. A day earlier he was questioned for four hours over the corruption accusations. The mayor rejected all charges during both interrogations.

He was later transferred to a courthouse for questioning by prosecutors along with some 90 other people who were also detained with him.

Authorities barred access to the courthouse using barricades on local roads and closing nearby metro stations. Hundreds of police officers and over a dozen water cannon trucks were deployed. Still, hundreds gathered in front of the building shouting: Rights, law, justice!

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Largest wave of protests in Turkey in more than decade

Others gathered outside the Istanbul city hall or took to the streets to denounce the mayors resignation for a fourth night of nationwide protests, in the largest wave of street demonstrations in Turkey in more than a decade.

The demonstrations were largely peaceful but a group of protesters, trying to break through barricades to reach Istanbuls main square, threw flares, stones and other objects at police, which responded with pepper spray. Some demonstrators said rubber bullets were fired.

Police used water cannons and tear gas to scatter demonstrators in Ankara.

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Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 323 people were detained following protests Saturday night. Earlier, he said: There will be no tolerance for those who seek to violate societal order, threaten the peoples peace and security, and pursue chaos and provocation.

Growing protests in reaction to the arrest

Imamoglu was detained on Wednesday following a dawn raid on his residence over allegations of financial crimes and links to Kurdish militants. Dozens of other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.

The Istanbul governor's office announced it was expanding a ban on demonstrations until March 26 and imposed restrictions on the entry and exit of vehicles deemed to be transporting people likely to participate in unlawful activities.

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Erdogan on Saturday accused the leadership of the opposition CHP of turning the party into an apparatus to absolve a handful of municipal robbers who have become blinded by money.

He also accused it of doing everything to disturb the public peace, to polarize the nation.

Presidential primary to be held

Imamoglus arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican Peoples Partys presidential candidate in a primary on Sunday. Ozel has said that the primary, where around 1.5 million delegates can vote, will go ahead as planned.

The opposition party has also urged citizens to participate in a symbolic election on Sunday  through improvised ballot boxes to be set up across Turkey  to show solidarity with Imamoglu.

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In a tweet posted shortly before his arrival at the courthouse, Imamoglu urged the public to safeguard the ballot boxes for Sundays primary, Dont forget: they are very afraid of you and your democratic right to vote.

In an earlier message, Imamoglu described his arrest as a coup" and accused the government of exploiting the judiciary and worsening the countrys troubled economy.
DICKSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN)  A detective with the criminal investigations division of the Dickson County Sheriffs Office faces several charges, including driving under the influence.

CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime-related reports from across Middle Tennessee

Doug Kimbro was charged with DUI, violation of implied consent, reckless driving and possession of a handgun under the influence by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The DCSO was informed of the charges Friday, according to a press release.

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The actions and arrest of Detective Kimbro do not align with the values and standards of the Dickson County Sheriffs Office, the press release reads, in part. We remain dedicated to transparency in all our operations, ensuring that every deputy wearing our badge upholds the professional standards expected of our office.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

Kimbro has been placed on administrative leave without pay as the agency conducts an internal investigation, the DCSO added.

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PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD)  Gov. JB Pritzker (D-Ill.) warned federal cuts to Medicaid would have devastating consequences for millions of Illinoisans during a roundtable at Peoria on Friday.

Pritzker is making stops throughout the state for the Standing up for Illinois tour to rally Illinoisans to push back on the extreme Trump agenda. On Friday, he visited EP!C, a disability services organization in Peoria, accompanied by local advocates and Medicaid recipients.

The consequences for people will be devastating. People will be stripped of their only access to potentially life-saving treatment. And I will say this for myself. I believe that blood will be on their hands. People will lose their lives as a result of what theyre trying to do, said Pritzker.

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Republicans are looking to cut $880 billion from the budget to help pay for a $4.5 trillion tax cut. Pritzker said the only way they can do that is by gutting Medicaid.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk and Congressional Republicans, in their crusade to give an enormous, massive tax cut to the wealthiest people in the country, have put working Illinoisans health care on the chopping block. We need to go forward. Were not going back. But Donald Trump and Elon Musk, if theyre successful at cutting Medicaid, no state in the country has the money to backfill what theyre going to take away, he said.

Impact on people and hospitals

Home care worker Jessica Bolmer is fighting cancer, and chemotherapy is not cheap. She said Medicaid is the only reason she has a roof over her head.

Medicaid is not just something that the government hands to people that are lazy and dont want to get jobs. I went through all the steps. I went to college, I worked a job, I worked two jobs and still ended up sleeping in my car, she said.

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You probably know someone receiving Medicaid benefits, too. Pritzker said one in four Illinoisans depends on Medicaid, to the tune of $8 billion a year.

These are working parents and theyre seniors. Theyre people with disabilities. They are friends, they are neighbors, people that we care about, he said.

Bolmer also worries about her home care clients who depend on Medicaid. She got into the field after moving back home to care for her ailing father

If Medicaid gets cut, so many people are going to suffer. I do home care still today because I fell in love with helping people maintain their independence, freedoms and dignity. That my clients are just so dependent on Medicaid and the community care programs. They wouldnt have these without them, she said.

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Medicaid is the largest insurer of nursing homes in Illinois. It also covers nearly half of childrens healthcare in Illinois. If the cuts go through, Pritzker warned the state healthcare system and hundreds of thousands of jobs are at stake.

Rural hospitals depend upon Medicaid to stay open and to serve small towns. Critical access hospitals, and safety net hospitals in cities depend upon Medicaid. If we lose Medicaid, were going to lose hospitals. Illinois hospitals and health systems support 445,000 full-time jobs, and they anchor many of those rural communities. Hospitals not only will close, but people working at those hospitals will lose their jobs, he said.

An empty chair

Congressman Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) was invited to Fridays roundtable, but did not show up. Many members of the audience, who said they want a town hall with their congressman, expressed their displeasure with loud boos.

LaHood has previously said Republicans are not going to touch Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security in the reconciliation bill.

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WMBD has reached out to the congressmans office for comment.

Call to action

The Pritzker administration has taken proactive steps to expand healthcare access, reduce medical debt, and process thousands of Medicaid applications.

We ought to be expanding health care, not cutting back. We ought to be investing in our healthcare infrastructure. We ought to be erasing hundreds of millions of dollars in medical debt. And guess what? Thats what weve done in the state of Illinois, said Pritzker.

Pritzker encouraged the audience to advocate for their rights, before its too late.

We cant wait for that damage to set in. We have to do something right now. Now is the time to stand up for Medicaid, for our working families, for each other, he said.

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MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WKRN)  Friday mornings 20-degree temperatures made for a frosty start across Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky.

By this time of year, some peach trees are already blooming. So, did the freeze do any damage to this years peach crop?

Source: WKRN

News 2 Meteorologist Davis Nolan visited Breedens Orchard in Mt. Juliet where some of the peach trees were in the process of blooming.

Experts say Bradford pear trees crowd out plants native to Tennessee

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Aimee Dorfman, the owner of the orchard, explained how her trees faired out.

We hit 27 degrees early in the morning, and that is getting close to the critical temperature based on where the blooms are right now, she said. If you look at this tree you can kind of see that we have all the different blooms going on. Weve got the little pink buds, and some coming out of the pink buds into the fuller blooms. Right now, we are hoping that Mother Nature just helped us thin a little bit, which is the action we take when we will actually have to take off little peaches.

That means they prune some of the outer branches and early blossoms to make room for new buds that are still to come out.

Allergy sufferers in these US cities face a tough 2025 season, study finds

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Max Dorfman, orchard manager, broke open one of the blooms to look for damage:

Source: WKRN

So, I have a peach in the flowering stage where the critical temperatures can affect it, he pointed out. And you can see how here it doesnt look like theres much damage because it is still pretty green all around.

However, he went on to say that it will probably be three to four days before that damage shows up in the blossoms.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

Nevertheless, the damage was likely minimal.

We could be looking at about a 10 to 15 percent loss, Aimee said. And that actually doesnt hurt us that much because as I said, we have to thin all these branches so they can hold the weight of the peaches.

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What they dont want to see is another hard freeze over the next month, which is when all of the trees are blossoming.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
President Donald Trump and his adminstration had a busy week, introducing and continuing to push new policies and changes aimed at remaking the government in his image.

This week, Trump argued his right to deport in court, started dismantling the Department of Education and took away some Biden family Secret Service protections, among other things.

Trump's changes continue to ignite new debates and lawsuits, and ultimately impact his presidential approval rating. However, the latest polls show either no change or small gains in his scores.

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In more Trump-related news, a group of Minnesota senators even made news for trying to add "Trump derangement syndrome" to the state's definition of mental illness. They say the symptoms range from verbal expressions of intense hostility toward Trump to violence.

Here's what to know about the major moves Trump and his administration made this week.

JFK assassination files released: Here's what they say

Trump's administration began the process of releasing more than 60,000 previously classified files on the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Tuesday, some of which have not previously been seen by the public.

The National Archives began posting documents to its website Tuesday and will continue to do so in the coming days. Historians have yet to uncover any exceptionally new or bombshell information that changes our fundamental understanding of the events, but are still sorting through the wealth of scanned paper files, photos and audio recordings.

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Find out more about the documents released and what they say about the tragic incident.

Trump order aims to shut down Department of Education

Trump ordered his administration on March 20 to dismantle the Department of Education, looking to achieve a top campaign promise, although the White House acknowledged the agency can't  and won't  entirely be dissolved.

Trump directed his education secretary, Linda McMahon, to take "all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States," according to a White House summary of the order, which has been in the works for weeks.

Read more about the specifics of the order and why Trump wants to shut the Department of Education down.

Trump, courts square off on deportation

Justice Department lawyers urged an appeals court on March 19 to overturn a judges block on Trumps deportation of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act.

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The filing is the latest volley in an escalating legal battle over Trump's priority of strengthening immigration enforcement.

Government lawyers have argued the president has the authority under the 1798 law to deport alleged members of the Venezuelan crime gang Tren de Aragua, which Trump designated as a terrorist group engaging in an "invasion" or "predatory incursion" into the U.S.

Read more about the incident and the different sides' arguments on the case.

Thousands of federal workers rehired, but cuts continue

The Trump administration has moved to reinstate at least 24,500 recently fired probationary workers following a pair of orders from federal judges last week that found the terminations pushed by Trump were illegal.

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On the other hand, more federal workers, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are receiving buyouts and early retirement offers as Trump continues to shrink the government's footprint.

Judge pushes back against Trump ban on transgender troop

A federal judge on Tuesday, March 18 temporarily blocked enforcement of Trumps restrictions on transgender people serving in the military while a lawsuit challenging the ban is litigated.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, who was appointed to the bench by President Joe Biden, said in a fiery opinion that while the president has the power  indeed the obligation  to ensure military readiness, leaders have at times used that as a cover to deny marginalized persons the privilege of serving.

Read more about the ruling and why Trump is pushing this ban.

Trump's DEI ban continues to affect new areas

Though segregation is illegal in the U.S., the Trump administration is no longer requiring an explicit prohibition of segregated facilities in new government contracts.

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In the past, government contracts were required to include nondiscrimination language. However, that was revoked in Trump's efforts to remove diversity, equity and inclusion. In its place, as the memo lays out, contracts "do not include" provisions including 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities, which includes restrooms, drinking fountains and transportation.

The DEI scrub also had an unexpected effect after the Defense Department scrubbed histories of Navajo Code Talkers from some of its websites. Officials told Navajo leaders the info was removed as part of an automated review of materials that could violate DEI policies, but they said the information would be returned.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What did President Donald Trump do this week? 6 things to know
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY)  On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education. The Trump administration argues that the Department of Education is ineffective, saying that since its inception the Department of Education has spent $3 trillion without improving students standardized test scores.

How will the dismantling of the Department of Education affect West Virginia? Education Policy Fellow Tamaya Browder, of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, wrote a brief looking into that question.

Browder spoke to 12 News and pointed out that the Department of Education plays a number of roles in the country, including providing funding to meet the needs of students with disabilities, protecting civil rights of students such as with Title IX, and funding low-income Title I schools.

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In her brief, Browder wrote that when looking at pre-pandemic funding, federal money accounted for $384 million, or about one in ten dollars in West Virginia schools. The brief also says federal money accounted for about one in five dollars in West Virginia schools in 2022 with the difference being due to pandemic era funding.

What foods would go away if West Virginia bans certain food dye?

While the recent executive order largely cuts down on the Department of Education, the decision to completely abolish the department will need approval by Congress. As the federal governments footprint in education is set to shrink, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy argues that other factors will also decrease the level of funding towards education in the state, and that these factors must be considered.

Our school districts are already dealing with some difficult decisions due to losing funds to the Hope Scholarship, declining state revenues, and reduced resources due to the expiring pandemic era relief funding, Browder said. We do need to invest in our public education system, especially in West Virginia, to ensure our children are prepared for the future.

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Trump officials say that the executive order will not affect the distribution of Title I funds and resources for students with disabilities. Some have proposed moving key functions of the Department of Education to other parts of the government, such as moving the enforcement of student civil rights to the Department of Justice. Furthermore, a House Bill proposed in January proposes moving the administration of federal student loans  another key responsibility of the Department of Education  to the Treasury Department.

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Maribel Gardea spent years trying to convince Texas San Antonio Public Schools that her 14-year-old son, who has cerebral palsy and is non-verbal, needed an eye gaze device in the classroom.

She sat in many meetings with staff members, including the districts technology expert, pleading for the device that would allow her son to communicate through eye movements instead of using a mouse or keyboard.

The district remained unconvinced until she invoked the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, known as IDEA, she said. The federal law, enforced by the US Department of Education, guarantees free public education for disabled children and protects Individualized Education Programs, which are tailored to their unique needs.

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Last year, the district finally purchased the eye gaze device, she said, and staff began working closely with her son as he used it.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order kicking off the process of eliminating the Department of Education  a move that could have potential consequences for parents like Gardea.

While entirely shuttering the department would require an act of Congress, the president directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities, the executive order reads.

The experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars  and the unaccountable bureaucracy those programs and dollars support  has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families.

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The Department of Education provides more than $15 billion annually to help serve 7.4 million students through the IDEA.

Left to right, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, and US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appear during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on February 26, 2025, in Washington, DC. - Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

A day after signing the executive order, Trump announced the Small Business Administration would take over the departments student loan portfolio, while the Department of Health and Human Services would handle special needs and nutrition programs.

Gardea worries that if the Department of Education closes, parents of disabled children will lose federal funds and protection and enforcement of their educational needs.

Its a fear parents of children with special needs across the country have expressed since the Department of Education announced last week it was cutting its workforce by nearly 50%. The staff reductions are the first step in shutting down the 46-year-old agency, McMahon has said.

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Gardea called the move to close the department, disheartening.

It really says a lot about our country, Gardea said. It says a lot about how we care for our children no matter their race, what their limitations are, what their disabilities are and how this isnt a priority for our president.

A barrier to justice

When parents of disabled children are unable to resolve issues with a school district or state, many resort to filing complaints with the Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights, advocates said.

But that division was hit hard by layoffs, with the Trump administration closing seven of its 12 regional offices.

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One employee, who asked not to be named, told CNN the moves completely halt the vast majority of cases that we can take in, evaluate and investigate.

Keri Rodrigues, co-founder of the National Parents Union and a mom of four boys with special needs, said she fears dismantling the Department of Education and its civil rights office will mean parents have nowhere to turn when schools dont treat their children fairly.

Many families cant afford to hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit in federal court if they suspect a school is violating the law, Rodrigues said.

She recalled a time when she filed a complaint with the Department of Education because her 6-year-old son, who has autism, was constantly being suspended from school and staff ignored his Individualized Education Program. But before the department could intervene, the school district addressed Rodrigues concerns, she said.

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Rodrigues called the Trump administrations plan to dissolve the federal office that investigates discrimination complaints in schools utter nonsense.

Leaving it to the courts will delay the process of reaching a resolution with schools, she said.

What is going to happen is only the parents that have the privilege, that have the resources and have the agency to be able to file federal lawsuits, are going to be able to get justice for their kids, she said. There will be millions of children  that are going to be in danger and at risk as a result of this.

Demonstrators gather outside of the offices of the US Department of Education in Washington, DC, on March 13, 2025, to protest mass layoffs and budget cuts at the agency. - Bryan Dozier/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images

Katy Neas, CEO of The Arc, an organization advocating for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, said the Department of Education has not only offered crucial oversight of school districts but also provided families with recourse when their children are denied an education.

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Neas cited an example from 2018 during the first Trump administration when the agency determined that Texas had failed to properly evaluate disabled students and had illegally capped the number of students eligible for special education services.

Concerned teachers

Neas said the Department of Education also plays a role in training special education teachers and provides guidance to schools on innovative methods for teaching disabled children.

I think this is such a bad idea, Neas said of the plan to shutter the agency. Education is really a core function in our country. And our workforce depends on educated students.

The Department of Education helps ensure equality for all school children regardless of their race or disability, said David Johns, CEO and executive director of the National Black Justice Collective.

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With the downsizing and looming closure of the agency, more students will have their disabilities undiagnosed and as a result of that unmet, he said.

We should expect the assurances that have been provided to students and families to no longer exist, Johns said.

Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition, David Johns, speaks onstage during the NBJC Equity March on June 15, 2024, in Washington, DC. - Brian Stukes/Getty Images

He said he hopes the civil rights and faith communities can come together to support disabled families when they are being underserved by school districts and states.

We are equipped to make a way, Johns said.

Special education teachers are also concerned about how their classrooms will be impacted.

Jennifer Graves, a special education teacher and executive vice president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers in Connecticut, said the Department of Education helps fund many special accommodations for disabled students, such as paraprofessionals, assistive technology, and accessible playground equipment for children in wheelchairs.

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Graves said school districts would have to compensate for the potential loss of federal funding, which could only delay the process of getting services to students.

Parents are going to get frustrated, and we might see more legal matters, Graves said. Because students arent going to be receiving the services they need in an appropriate amount of time.

Its game on

Kasey Dudley, a New Jersey mom who has an autistic son in 7th grade, said she believes the Trump administration is slashing the Department of Education without realizing the impact on American families.

Listen to those on the ground, Dudley said. Listen to parents, listen to those who have the real-life experience. And its not about whose side youre on, its about whats in the best interest of the children.

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Still, parents tell CNN that despite the threats to end a critical federal agency, they will not stop advocating for their children.

I think this is the beginning of a war, Gardea said. If youve ever met a special needs mom who fights for her child, its game on.

CNNs Sunlen Serfaty contributed to this story.

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Editors note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal.

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, the governing entity for the land of Walt Disney World Resort, has proposed providing the Florida Department of Transportation funds for a key Sunshine Corridor study.

The districts board of supervisors on March 28 will consider approving $500,000 to support a project development & environment study for a shared rail corridor that will be utilized by both commuter rail SunRail and the Brightline intercity rail service. The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District oversees more than 25,000 acres across 24 landowners in Orange and Osceola counties, including The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS).

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The study, which will cost $6 million, has already gotten commitments of $2 million each from the Florida Department of Transportation and Universal Destinations & Experiences, as well as $500,000 apiece from the city of Orlando, Seminole County and Osceola County.

......

Click here to read the full story on the Orlando Business Journals website.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.




The Capitol in Salt Lake City is pictured at dusk on the last night of the legislative session, Friday, March 7, 2025. (Photo by Alex Goodlett for Utah News Dispatch)

The Utah Legislature won an award for the past few years of work, culminating in the 2025 General Session, although its not something most lawmakers will likely be proud of.

On Friday, the Society of Professional Journalists awarded the Utah Legislature its annual Black Hole award for passing a pair of laws that revamp the way public records requests are appealed in the state. The announcement comes at the end of Sunshine Week, set aside each year to highlight the importance of public records and open government.

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Given out each year by the Society of Professional Journalists, the nations oldest journalism organization, the Black Hole Award highlights the most heinous violations of the publics right to know. That includes governments repealing or curtailing open records laws, or officials or agencies that go to egregious lengths to hide information. The awards criteria states that Black Hole award should go toward a policy or action that impacts the public at large.

Its kind of like winning a Razzie, the annual parody award given out to the worst movie of the year. The 2025 Razzie award went to Francis Ford Coppalas Megalopolis  the 2025 Black Hole award went to the Utah Legislature.

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The two bills in question are SB277, which eliminates the State Records Committee, replacing it with an attorney who will review appeals to records requests that have been denied  and HB69, which makes it difficult for people who challenge the government over public records denials to recoup their attorney fees.

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The bills have not yet been signed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox; however, on Thursday he said he intends to give them both a green light.

I think its best for the state, I think its best for state government, I think its best for the people, Cox said during his monthly news conference with PBS Utah.

The laws come on the heels of several other policies from the Legislature to curtail transparency that the Society of Professional Journalists said factored into the award. That includes a 2022 law that prevents the release of Garrity statements  compelled testimony from public employees used in an internal investigation, but not intended for criminal proceedings.

And in 2024, the Legislature passed a law that makes the digital calendar of a public official a protected record, which coincided with attempts from KSL-TV investigators to request the schedule of former Attorney General Sean Reyes, who faced criticism over his friendship with embattled anti-trafficking activist Tim Ballard.

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These actions convey a clear disregard for transparency and pave the way for unchecked government actions, said Jodi Rave Spotted Bear, who chairs the Society of Professional Journalists Freedom of Information Committee.

Notably, this is the second time the Utah Legislature has been saddled with the Black Hole Award. It received the inaugural award in 2011, along with then-Gov. Gary Herbert, for dismantling the states Government Records Access and Management Act, or GRAMA. After loud public outcry, the bill was repealed in a special session.

Replacing the State Records Committee with a government records director

Sponsored by Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, SB277 will replace the State Records Committee  the body that decides which government records should be released to the public  with a paid, governor-appointed attorney.

The bill was opposed by most Democrats and a handful of Republicans, passing the Senate with a 21-8 vote and the House with a 44-23 vote.

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Now, if a records request, and subsequent appeal, is denied, any further appeals would go before the director of the Utah Government Records Office, created under the bill.

The director would serve a four-year term, and could be removed by the governor but only for cause, which means they would have to violate a stated policy.

McKell, the Senates majority assistant whip, said the bill will make the appeal process more efficient, eliminating the backlog of requests. Cox echoed that sentiment on Thursday.

We have about a four- to six-month backlog, often, when it comes to these issues going before the board. What were doing is were putting in an administrative law judge, someone who understands the law and can rule very quickly on these issues. Thats going to help all of you not have to wait for these decisions, he told reporters on Thursday. Were always trying to make sure we have the right balance in government and I think these bills do that.

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McKell also claimed the records committee sometimes makes decisions that go beyond their legal expertise.

They are tasked with quasi-judicial decisions, McKell said during the legislative session, not one is required to have a legal background or law degree.

Opposition to the bill spanned the political spectrum, with representatives from the Eagle Forum to Mormon Women for Ethical Government to the Utah League of Women Voters speaking against it. Critics worry that it could lead to less transparency, while consolidating too much power under the governor.

Utahs seven-member State Records Committee, representing diverse experience and perspectives, was ideally suited to look out for the public interest in free information. Replacing that committee with a governors appointee can only reduce accountability and undermine public confidence in government, said Howard Goldberg, a retired Associated Press bureau chief, in a statement. Goldberg also sits on the SPJs Freedom of Information Committee.

A high bar to recoup attorney fees

Sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, HB69 started out as a bill to protect voting information  it classifies records related to the return of ballots as protected, and prohibits a government official from accessing or using government records that are outside of that officials duties, including how someone voted.

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The bill initially sailed through the House and Senate with little controversy.

However, on final passage in the Senate, it was amended to include a new provision related to attorney fees. By then, the bill had already passed both Senate and House committees, which is when the public is given a chance to comment on the bill. So, essentially, the amendment received little debate among lawmakers and no public comment.

Now, if someone challenges the denial of public records in court, and wins, they can only recoup their attorney fees if they can prove the government acted in bad faith when the records were initially denied.

Thats a very high bar, critics warn, which will have a chilling effect on private citizens who seek to appeal the denial of a records request. Unless the records request comes from an organization or individual with deep pockets, it will be financially difficult for most people to take a government to court over a denial.

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Together with SB277, this makes it harder for individuals and organizations with limited resources to access withheld records, the Society of Professional Journalists said in a news release Friday.

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Thirty-five years after the North Schuylkill Landfill closed, that operation and its transfer station still have almost $3.5 million remaining, money that the municipalities that operated it were finally set to receive.

That disbursement has hit a snag, though, with no clear resolution in sight.

The holdup stems from differing opinions about a vote at the landfill associations board meeting in September 2023.

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Delegates from 16 of the associations 17 member municipalities were present when it was voted on unanimously to distribute the money equally among those boroughs and townships, according to association president David Briggs.

Each municipality was designated to receive about $204,000 from the $2.9 million in funds remaining from the landfill, which opened in West Mahanoy Township in 1971. They were also to get another $35,000 from the $600,000 remaining from the transfer station, which the association sold in 2010 and is still in operation.

Afterward, though, Frackville officials have questioned whether the vote was actually for an equal distribution of funds and have called for another meeting on the issue.

Four of the municipalities that currently belong to the association were not charter members of the landfill and are therefore not entitled to full shares, Frackville borough solicitor Mark Semanchik said.

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They are McAdoo, Ashland, Gordon and Butler Township, which did not pay the same annual assessments that the charter members did and therefore do not deserve landfill payments, only their shares of the remaining transfer station funds, he said. The landfill money should be divided among the other 13 municipalities, amounting to $226,000 each, in addition to their transfer station shares, Semanchik said.

Original members of the landfill include Frackville, Delano Township, East Union Township, Gilberton, Girardville, Mahanoy City, Mahanoy Township, Ringtown, Rush Township, Ryan Township, Shenandoah, Union Township and West Mahanoy Township.

Vegetation covers the former North Schuylkill Landfill near Shenandoah, Friday, March 21, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)

Frackville, Shenandoah, Ringtown and West Mahanoy Township have called for a meeting with the landfill association to discuss the matter further.

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Those who paid in (to the landfill) should receive that money, Semanchik said this week. Those who didnt pay in have no claim to it.

So far the association has not formally responded to the municipalities that requested the meeting, but Briggs, the association president, said that he does not plan to meet again.

Briggs, who is also a Union Township supervisor, said that the meeting when the vote was taken decided the matter.

Its already voted on, he said of the distribution of funds.

The association officers recently drafted a letter that stated:

So, the association agrees to not distribute the money at this time until all municipalities agree to equal shares. Other than the last year, nobody came to the meetings except for a few members now and then That money sat in the bank for 34 years so it can sit in the bank for another 34 years.

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If members take the association to court and win, that money would come from the funds set to be distributed, the letter said.

Dave Briggs, president of the North Schuylkill Landfill Association, stands at the site of a former landfill, Friday, March 21, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)

The association has been winding down the landfill closure for years. That has included liquidation of the real estate, machinery, equipment, furniture and fixtures, having its bond from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection released, and paying its bills, among other things.

Briggs sees that work as now being completed, other than issuing checks to member municipalities, which the association is prepared to do when all members agree to it.

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West Mahanoy supervisors chairman Paul Pepper Martin said the township requested that meeting to better understand the funding distribution after already having met with Frackville officials to learn their stance.

There are two sides to every story, he said. Weve heard one side, and now we want to hear theirs (the associations).

Martin said that he knows member municipalities are counting on receiving the remaining landfill money though.

West Mahanoy has already spent some of the money it anticipates receiving by buying a new township police car for about $80,000.

Lesson learned, he said. Dont buy anything until the money is there.

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Frackville Council President Ron Jordan said the borough appreciates the work the association did over the years and agrees that the four newest member municipalities deserve transfer station funds. He disagrees with the association that they deserve landfill shares.

We dont want to be the bad guys, Jordan said. We dont want to hold things up for the other municipalities. But our taxpayers have the right to receive that money, not just here in Frackville but in the other 12 (charter) municipalities. Weve already waited 35 years. Lets take a few more months and have another meeting.

As one of the four municipalities not considered charter members, Ashland thinks it still deserves a full landfill share.

We feel we were in it (the association) long enough, he said. I dont think its fair to hold things up. We dont want to be strong-armed.

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Shenandoah Council President Joe Boris said that the borough has not taken a stance on the distribution of funds, but wants to meet again with the association to clear up some confusion on the matter.

My main concern is seeing that Shenandoah gets its fair share, he said.

Attorney Robert Matta serves as solicitor of both Union Township and Ringtown and has advised both municipalities to sit back and see what happens, whether thats a prompt distribution of funds or a lawsuit that delays those payments.

Theyre taking no official positions on this, he said of Ringtown Council and Union Township Supervisors.

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For smaller Schuylkill municipalities that struggle to cover expenses, though, the eventual payments will be welcome once they arrive, he said.

Everybody can sure use the money, he said. It will be a windfall.
HONOLULU (KHON2)  Concerns are growing on Maui after a feral chicken was found shot with an arrow on March 21.

Animal rescuers say it is not an isolated incident  the images may be disturbing to some readers.

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Video taken in Laniupoko on Friday showed a disturbing sight. Maui Bird Rescues president said this is not the first feral chicken that has been shot with an arrow.

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That chicken has the arrow going through its back and then out the front of its chest. So its going through the chicken, said MBR President Lacey. We see chickens with arrows at Longs, Safeway. A lot of grocery stores, public areas. I mean, thats just arrows.

Dozens of mysterious chicken deaths on Oahu prompt inquiry

Lacey said she has seen other forms of abuse like blow darts being shot at pigeons, chickens being tied to a post for months and even a rooster that had been scalped in Kahului. She is not the only one.

Its a common occurrence. A lot of the time we find the little blow darts, but same effect. Sharp, they go through the body and the chicken is running around with it, said Valley Isle Animal Rescue Cofounder Dennis Burns. Yeah, its just a chicken. Okay. But if youre going to do something, do it quickly. Dont make it so the thing could get away and, you know, die in suffering.

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Serial cat shootings in Hawaii Kai: Its a heinous crime

The Humane Society said studies have shown perpetrators of animal abuse have a propensity to eventually move on to vulnerable populations of people, so the concern extends beyond those with fur or feathers.

I know for a fact that domestic violence very much goes hand in hand with violence with pets, said MHS Chief of Operations Nikki Russell. I do understand that theres lethal control, but there are people who are employed to do that and do it correctly. Find somebody who can help with that instead of taking it into your own hands.

No matter what practice you have or how a lot of people will kill the animals for food and things like that, but there is a big difference between eating an animal and leaving it to suffer and be tortured, Lacey said.

Rescuers are currently trying to catch the chicken that was found shot on Friday and will take it to a veterinarian to have the arrow removed as soon as possible.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2.
DES MOINES, Iowa  One man was arrested on Friday following a police pursuit through the city eventually ending near Indianola.

According to the Des Moines Police Department, just before 3 p.m. on Friday a DMPD patrol officer spotted Brandon Gerke, 30, driving near East 9th Street and East University Avenue. Following a February theft investigation, officers had been trying to arrest Gerke on an active felony arrest warrant.

Man sentenced to 25 years in vehicular homicide that killed one

Officers attempted to stop Gerke, Gerke refused to stop and began a lengthy pursuit through the city, eventually heading south into Warren County. During the chase, Gerke left the roadway and drove through a golf course.

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The Iowa State Patrol Air Wing monitored the movement of the vehicle from the air and assisted in coordinating a ground unit response.

At approximately 3:30 p.m., Gerke crashed the vehicle in a rural area northwest of Indianola. Gerke fled the vehicle and proceeded to enter a dense wooded area on foot.

Officers from several agencies secured a perimeter and search team, including a DMPD K-9, and began the search for Gerke. The Indianola Police Department provided drone surveillance over the scene during the search.

Extensive damage reported in Des Moines house fire

Just before 5 p.m., a DMPD patrol officer located Gerke hidden in a bush. Gerke surrendered into custody without incident and is charged with the following offenses,

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Eluding

Criminal Mischief Second-Degree

Theft 2nd  Warrant

Interference with Official Acts

The Des Moines Police Department was assisted by the Iowa State Patrol, Warren County Sheriffs Office, the Indianola and Norwalk Police Departments, and 5th Judicial District  Fugitive Unit during this investigation.

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A few days ago, the Vatican shared a positive update regarding the health of Pope Francis, who has been hospitalized for the past five weeks as a result of pneumonia in both lungs. Now, it sounds like his health has improved enough to be discharged from the hospital altogether.

On Wednesday, the Vatican and its Holy See Press Office announced that doctors had "suspended the non-invasive mechanical ventilation" at night and "also reduced the need for high-flow oxygen therapy" by day  a very positive update for the Pope.

It seems that Pope Francis only continued to improve from that point and doctors determined on Saturday that he was healthy enough to be discharged from the hospital.

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According to the New York Times, doctors have made a final decision regarding his health as they determined that Pope Francis can return to the Vatican, where he will need to rest and recover for at least two months.

Pope Francis' doctors highlighted the severity of his case, noting that the case of pneumonia in both lungs had been so severe that it had twice put his life in grave danger.

For several weeks, Pope Francis was in critical condition, as a result of the pneumonia. Doctors said he experienced an asthmatic respiratory crisis, mild kidney failure, and a bronchial spasm that caused him to inhale his vomit after a coughing fit.

However, they said his condition has now been stable for the last two weeks and that he had overcome his most dangerous infections.

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Though he is set to be discharged from the hospital, he will still require therapy and oxygen before he is able to resume his normal schedule, just like any other patient recovering from pneumonia.

Still, this is obviously an extremely positive turn of events for Pope Francis, given the severity of his condition.
The agency in charge of Missouris K-12 schools is still waiting for more information. The states flagship university is monitoring every new development closely.

In the hours after President Donald Trump signed an order seeking to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, Missouris educational agency and its institutions appeared to have more questions than answers.

From federal funding for schools to how college kids apply for student loans at the University of Missouri, the impact of Trumps order largely remains unknown. While the order, and its potential effect, sent shockwaves across Missouri and the nation, actually abolishing the Education Department will still require action from Congress.

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In Missouri, K-12 schools are overseen by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education or DESE. The agency receives federal funding for a slew of programs, including child nutrition and special education.

In response to questions from The Star, Mallory McGowin, a DESE spokesperson, said in a statement that the agency was awaiting further information and guidance from the federal Education Department to understand how these potential changes within USED may impact programs and funding administered by DESE.

The order, signed Thursday, directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to start dismantling the agency. On top of providing funding to states, the federal Education Department also oversees the nations roughly $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio, sparking confusion over how Trumps order might impact those who wish to take out loans.

The Republican president has said that the agency would no longer handle student loans and they would soon be overseen by the Small Business Administration, numerous outlets reported Friday.

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When asked by The Star how loans  and the students who pay them  at the University of Missouri might be impacted, spokesperson Christopher Ave said the university was closely monitoring developments regarding the Department of Education, and we will continue to comply with all applicable federal and state law.

We encourage prospective students to fill out financial aid applications at studentaid.gov, and we remain committed to supporting our current students and prospective students as well as the rest of our campus community, Ave said.

What about Kansas?

Across the state line in Kansas, educational institutions also appeared to be taking a wait-and-see approach to Trumps order. The Kansas State Board of Education and the Kansas State Department of Education said in a statement on Friday that they were reviewing the order.

For decades, federal support has played a critical role in ensuring equitable access to education, particularly for students with disabilities, those from low-income families, and rural communities, the statement said.

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The board and agency said they have been assured that funding will not be affected. However, they said they do not know what will happen to programs overseen by federal laws, such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Act.

As we navigate this unprecedented transition, the State Board and KSDE remain committed to continue working with federal and state leaders, school districts, and community partners to protect educational opportunities for all students, the statement said.

We will clarify funding sources, policy implications, and legal obligations while maintaining close communication with schools to ensure a smooth transition with minimal classroom disruptions statewide, the board and agency said.

The University of Kansas and the KU Medical Center did not respond to requests for comment Friday about how efforts to dissolve the federal department could impact current and former students who are still paying back loans they took out to attend school.

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But Trumps executive order comes a week after KU was named as the subject of a Department of Education civil rights investigation into race-exclusionary practices in its graduate programs. KU was among 45 universities brought under investigation for partnering with The Ph.D. Project, an organization that markets doctoral business degrees to students from diverse backgrounds.

It remains unclear how the federal probe could be impacted by new efforts to shutter the department.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE)  The future of the Department of Education hangs in the balance as President Trump signed an executive order aimed at dismantling the department and handing education back to the states.

It doesnt quite mean the department is going to go away. While the presidents executive order calls for the closing of the Department of Education, unless an act of Congress occurs creating legislation that would do away with the DOE, it will still be around.

With states already controlling the majority of public education, educators, lawmakers, and political science experts here in East Tennessee said it is the programs ran by the department that will be impacted.

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US agency targeted for elimination provided vital funding to Beck Center, Zoo Knoxville

The Department of Education really has limited authority at the state and local level, said Maryville College political science professor Mark OGorman. I know that theres a desire by President Trump to do this footprint to reduce the federal influence as education and to bring the power back to the states. The states already have that power.

OGorman said while some DOE programs will be offloaded to other federal agencies, dismantling the DOE could impact additional federal funding.

When it was created in the late 1970s, there was just this idea that so much funding was coming from the federal government. A lot of different programs, everything from the school lunch programs, to help students with disabilities to get their own individual instructional program, the argument was a government agency just needs to be specialized for that, said OGorman.

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Tennessee Education Association President Tanya Coats said stripping the DOE of these programs could increase class sizes and harm IEPs or Individual Education Plans.

Students with special needs will be adversely impacted, she said. Those are particularly in our rural communities where our schools are the hubs of communities, and that is the only resource that our students are able to get in their communities.

End of USDA funding for fresh local produce hits Grainger County Schools

While she said this will adversely impact underfunded schools, she is urging communities to reach out to their local lawmakers to advocate for them.

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We have to take our dollars and put them where they matter, said State Rep. Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville). Children are the most important thing that that we do in Nashville, and I daresay, in Washington, D.C., so that thats what I would advocate for is increased funding.

While McKenzie said he would push for more state funding, Governor Bill Lee said dismantling the DOE would free up funds for the state.

 See more top stories on WATE.com

Federal dollars that have come to the states have come with barriers and strings attached. Bureaucracy, really, said Lee. Now those dollars will be freed up to flow, to states to use in the way that they see best for their children.

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The Trump administration plans to end the lease of the Richland office opened in 2001 to administer claims for ill Hanford and national lab workers and their survivors eligible for federal compensation and medical care.

To date, it is the only federal lease that the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by billionaire Elon Musk has targeted to end in the Tri-Cities area.

However, the Trump administration has announced plans to end five other federal leases elsewhere in Eastern Washington, including offices for the Drug Enforcement Administration and offices that work to protect endangered salmon and steelhead, help farmers and manage forest service land.

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DOGE lists the closure of the Hanford Resource Center at 303 Bradley Boulevard just off George Washington Way as saving $53,700 by canceling an annual lease that costs about $19,500.

Elon Musk holds a chainsaw reading Long live freedom, damn it during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland last month.

The U.S Department of Labor has paid out nearly $2.5 billion in compensation and to cover medical bills of Hanford nuclear site workers who developed diseases such as cancer after exposure or suspected exposure to radiation or chemicals on the job. In some cases, the compensation from the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program was paid to their survivors.

Workers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland also are eligible for compensation and medical care under the program, which has paid $435 million to PNNL workers or their survivors.

The payments have included almost $860 million in medical care to current and former ill Hanford workers and $155 million to ill PNNL workers.

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Locally, people may know it as the white card program because of the color of the medical benefits card issued by the U.S. Department of Labor, which covers medical expenses for covered conditions including 24-hour in-home health care.

Compensation can include a $150,000 payment for radiation-caused cancers or lung disease caused by the metal beryllium and $250,000 for wage loss, impairment and survivor benefits for exposure to toxic chemicals.

Claims have been filed for compensation or care for 15,600 Hanford and PNNL workers.

Hanford was used from World War II through the Cold War to produce nearly two-thirds of the plutonium for the nations nuclear weapons program. What is now called PNNL was established in the 1940s for research to support Hanford and the Manhattan Project.

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Hanford and PNNL workers or their survivors also may be eligible for Washington state Department of Labor and Industries workers compensation under a Washington state law that eased eligibility for claim approval.

The Hanford Workforce Engagement Center at 309 Bradley Blvd., which can help workers and their survivors with information on the claims process and how to file, remains open in Richland and can be reached by calling 509-376-4932.

WA senator wants answers

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she is demanding answers from the Trump administration on how it plans to ensure the continuity of service for people who rely on the Hanford center and services provided by other federal agencies in offices with leases it plans to end.

DOGE posted online that planned leased terminations would reduce about 8 million square feet the federal government is paying for and save $350 million.

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Trump and Elon are rich enough that theyve never had to rely on any of the services the federal government provides and they have no idea what its like for people who do, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in a news release Friday.

Theyre just trying to break government and enrich themselves, and they dont give a damn about the consequences for regular people, she said.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., who was in Pasco on Thursday said then that the federal government must cut its spending of nearly $3 trillion more than money it collects annually.

Targeted Eastern WA leases

Other federal leases in Eastern Washington that the Trump administration plans to end include:

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 The Bureau of Indian Affairs Yakama Agency office in Toppenish. Members of the Yakama Nation can get in-person assistance to help ensure the federal governments responsibility to the Yakama Nation are fulfilled.

 The Drug Enforcement Administration office in Yakima. Six employees, including federal law enforcement officers, worked out of the office as of April 2024, according to information from Murrays staff.

 Natural Resources Conservation Services Dayton Service Center. The office provides in-person help with federal programs to farmers, producers and forest landowners. The agency works to reduce erosion and flood damage and to improve water quality, restore watersheds and manage agricultural waste.

Jubilee Lake Campground is the largest and most popular campground in the Umatilla National Forest.

 The Forest Service Ranger Station in Pomeroy. It is the Pomeroy Ranger District station for the Umatilla National Forest, which stretches over 1.4 million acres in the heart of the Blue Mountains of Southeast Washington and Northeast Oregon.

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 The U.S. Geological Surveys Washington Water Science Center field office in Spokane Valley. The center works to protect endangered salmon and steelhead, ensure dam operators have the information needed to operate safely, and protect farmers and their crops, according to Murrays staff.

DOGE plans for federal buildings

In addition to ending leases, the Trump administration also listed online several federally owned buildings in the state that it plans to get rid of, before deleting the list, according to Murrays staff.

They include the Henry M. Jackson Building in Seattle, the largest federal building in the Northwest, housing help centers for the Social Security Administration, Veterans Affairs and the Internal Revenue Service, plus other services.

Other Seattle federal buildings also were on the list, along with the Vancouver Federal Building and the Bonneville Power Administration Headquarters in Portland, Ore.
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have both called for the impeachment of federal judges.

It would take a majority vote in the House and a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict a judge.

Legal experts say the threats are just one way the White House is trying to undercut the judiciary.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to impeach federal judges that stand in their way. History shows there is little chance of that happening.

On Tuesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that a judge who fit US District Judge James Boasberg's description "should be IMPEACHED!!!" Trump and his allies have expressed fury that a Boasberg order restricted his deportation efforts.

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And earlier, Musk wrote on X on February 12, "Impeach this activist posing as a judge! Such a person does great discredit to the American justice system." The message quoted criticism of US District Judge John J. McConnell Jr., who had temporarily blocked the administration's funding freeze.

Republicans' efforts are likely trying to grind down views of the federal judiciary, according to Indiana University law professor Charles Geyh. In doing so, Trump may ultimately wish to open the door to defying court orders.

"If you trace the arc of this story, the arc so far would seem to lead you in the direction of saying, 'well, ok, shrug this off, this is just yet another feeble attempt at impeaching judges that has never worked and certainly never advanced in a hundred years,'" Geyh, an expert on judicial ethics, told Business Insider.

Now, the context is different, he said. "President Trump is going after the judiciary in multiple ways simultaneously." His playbook is "overwhelm them, it's potentially defy their orders, and it's threaten them with impeachment."

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Trump and the White House have repeatedly said he won't defy federal court orders. It remains contested if the administration ignored US District Judge James Boasberg's order last weekend to temporarily halt deportations under the 1789 Alien Enemies Act which Trump formally invoked.

Requests for comment to the White House and Musk from BI went unanswered.

Trump and Musk have hammered judges throughout the past week, particularly Boasberg. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also called out Boasberg's wife's political donations.

Chief Justice Roberts has tried to calm the waters

Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, tried to stop the tide by releasing a rare statement decrying judicial impeachments after Trump endorsed removing Boasberg.

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"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Roberts said. "The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."

Trump said he respected Roberts' views. Yet a day later, the president's political operation sent an email that linked to a fundraising page with the subject line, "Impeach, Impeach, Impeach."

"Am I right friend?  Should deranged, power-hungry judges who let violent criminals roam free  putting your life and your family in grave danger  be impeached?" the email, signed by Trump, read.

Yet the threshold to impeach and remove an official is high, which Trump knows well, having been acquitted by the Senate a record two times.

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The process for impeaching a judge mirrors that of a presidential impeachment. Charges must originate in the US House of Representatives. If a majority of lawmakers vote to impeach a judge, their charges are then forwarded to the Senate. It ultimately takes two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 senators, to convict a judge of impeachment.

Republicans only hold 53 seats in the Senate. It's unlikely that enough Democrats would support such a measure to reach the threshold.

Only 14 judges have been impeached throughout history

House lawmakers have impeached 14 federal judges and one Supreme Court justice, Samuel Chase, throughout history. Of those 15, only eight have been convicted. Former District Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Jr. was the last federal judge impeached. Lawmakers charged Porteous in 2010 with accepting bribes and committing perjury. He was later convicted and removed from office.

Geyh said that in early American history, some leaders tried to go after judges for their rulings. While threats cropped up at times, politicians began to respect that there were limits to their responses.

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"Over time, this norm developed that judicial independence requires that we not go after judges because we disagree with their decisions, even if we think they are high-handed, even if we think they are activists," Geyh said.

Federal judges who receive lifetime appointments also cannot be removed from office without impeachment. There is also no official retirement age, though judges are eventually eligible to take senior status, a semi-form of retirement.

Impeaching a judge for a decision would be a significant escalatory step, said Michael J. Gerhardt, a constitutional law professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill.

"In over 200 years, no federal judge has ever been impeached and removed from office based on their decision," Gerhardt, who has written a book about the history of impeachment, told BI.

"Not one, and that tells us something. Impeachment is not the appropriate process to use if you disagree with what a judge rules."

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) -For two of the most powerful men in the United States, Donald Trump and John Roberts, it has been a delicate dance from the start.

In 2015, the man who would become the chief executive of the United States assailed the integrity of its chief justice, calling Roberts "disgraceful" and "disappointing" - and, later, an "absolute disaster" - for earlier upholding the Affordable Care Act, the Obamacare law that Trump subsequently sought to repeal.

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A little more than a year later on the U.S. Capitol steps, Roberts, an enigmatic conservative Supreme Court justice from the American Midwest, swore in Trump, a brash businessman-turned-politician from New York City, as president. Any lingering tension had evaporated under smiles, handshakes and a backdrop of applause.

Since then, the dynamic between the two has remained complicated, marked by dramatic legal wins for Trump as well as painful losses, and punctuated by clashes between the two as Trump shattered norms by aggressively pushing his policies while brooking little dissent - including from the coequal branch of government that Roberts leads: the judiciary.

The tension has risen once again, culminating in an extraordinary public statement by Roberts on Tuesday rebuking the Republican president for urging the impeachment of a Washington-based federal judge who faulted the administration's actions in a dispute over the legality of deportation flights.

"For more than two centuries," Roberts said, "it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision."

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For Roberts, who is seen as deeply conservative but also concerned about the institutional credibility and perception of the Supreme Court, chastising Trump puts him in a difficult spot. It has drawn sharp criticism from Trump's allies and comes as the court braces for the flood of legal challenges to Trump's myriad executive actions.

'A CERTAIN MEASURE OF CONTEMPT'

"I suspect Roberts has a certain measure of contempt for Trump and the way he treats judges," said University of Michigan law professor Richard Friedman, a Supreme Court historian. "Roberts is an establishment Republican, but I think he's horrified."

While Roberts and Trump often may converge on legal and substantive goals, there are sharp divergences emerging, according to University of Chicago constitutional law expert Aziz Huq.

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Through his flurry of executive actions to shutter federal departments, fire thousands of federal employees, target perceived enemies and eradicate policies he dislikes such as diversity mandates from the public and private sectors, Trump is "proceeding as if legal constraints don't matter," Huq said.

"If presidents are not bound by statutes, if they're not bound by regulations, if they're not bound by the (U.S. Constitution's) First Amendment, then it's not really clear what the job of the Supreme Court is," Huq added.

Huq said that the "casting into institutional doubt of the court's role is I think the hard nub of conflict between the two."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Supreme Court had no immediate comment.

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Since Trump first took office in 2017, Roberts has figured prominently in the president's fortunes, and in many ways, vice versa.

Trump appointed three justices in his first term, creating the 6-3 conservative majority that Roberts needed to deliver landmark rulings rolling back abortion rights and affirmative action practices, expanding gun rights and curbing federal regulatory power.

Roberts, meanwhile, presided over the first of Trump's two impeachment trials - he was acquitted both times - and has penned Supreme Court rulings that both boosted the president - including by granting him broad immunity from criminal prosecution - and constrained him at key moments.

The landmark immunity ruling authored by Roberts last July involved federal criminal charges against Trump over his efforts to undo his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, bolstering his bid to regain the presidency by effectively delaying a trial that ultimately never took place.

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Trump thanked Roberts as Supreme Court justices attended the president's address to a joint session of Congress this month.

"I won't forget," Trump added.

The president later stated that he was thanking Roberts for swearing him into office.

"It's very hard to see that decision as being anything but highly consequential in electoral terms, and as anything other than a real choice on Roberts' part," Huq said of the immunity case. "Having done that, what does he think now?"

TRAVEL BAN

Roberts also authored a ruling that gave Trump one of his biggest victories during his first term, upholding his travel ban blocking people from several Muslim-majority countries from coming to the United States against claims that the policy represented religious discrimination in violation of the Constitution.

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Trump's administration now is considering issuing a new travel ban that could include dozens of countries.

On the other hand, Roberts has handed Trump some setbacks.

In recent weeks, Roberts joined a narrow majority of Supreme Court justices in declining to let Trump immediately fire the head of a federal watchdog agency or withhold payment to foreign aid organizations for work they already performed for the government - though neither decision resolved the legal merits of the cases.

In 2019, Roberts joined the court's liberal justices to block his plan to add a contentious citizenship question to the national census questionnaire, prompting Trump to suggest that the administration would find a way to move forward anyway - before backing down.

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In 2020, Roberts wrote a ruling that let a New York prosecutor obtain Trump's financial records, and the chief justice again joined the liberals to block Trump's bid to end a program protecting from deportation immigrants - known as "Dreamers" - who entered the United States illegally as children.

"These horrible & politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives," Trump wrote on social media after that ruling.

Friedman said, "From Trump's point of view, it may be very perplexing because he thinks you're going to have a judge entirely in his favor or against. But that's not the way the world works. From Roberts point of view, there's no mystery. He's deciding cases."

Roberts, Friedman added, "is a good, smart lawyer with an allegiance to constitutional procedures. And that's something that's a little bit out of Trump's understanding."

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A PREVIOUS REBUKE

The chief justice's rebuke of Trump on Tuesday was not his first.

After Trump in 2018 called a federal judge appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama who ruled against his policy barring asylum for certain immigrants an "Obama judge," Roberts responded in a statement.

"We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Roberts wrote, referring to former presidents who made the appointments and emphasizing the importance of an independent judiciary.

In recent weeks, some legal scholars and Trump critics have questioned whether his administration's pushback against orders by judges impeding his policies amounts to defiance of the judiciary by the executive branch, which could provoke a constitutional crisis.

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Asked during a Tuesday interview on the Fox News program "The Ingraham Angle" whether he would defy a court order, Trump said: "No, you can't do that," but also said that there are "judges that shouldn't be allowed."

Whether the administration defied U.S. Judge James Boasberg's orders to halt deportation flights of alleged gang members to Venezuela is at the heart of Trump's call for the judge's impeachment by Congress, which could lead to removal from the bench.

If Roberts wants to preserve the legitimacy and authority of the Supreme Court, "The issues that are likely coming down the pike are going to put the court's power to the test," Albany Law School professor Raymond Brescia said.

"The most important of these issues is the question of the court's authority to ensure the executive branch complies with court orders," Brescia said. "I hope we can expect (Roberts) to support the lower courts in their efforts to ensure compliance with their orders, even if that means seeking to rein in actions of the Trump administration."

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Amy Stevens and Will Dunham)
As the EU prepares for a big week of diplomacy with China, a senior official has poured cold water on the suggestion that the bloc will move closer to Beijing because of its troubles with Washington since US President Donald Trump began his second term.

Spanish President Pedro Sanchez, EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will all travel to China next week, with some expecting a thaw in ties after Trump upended the transatlantic alliance with a series of tariff threats and other policy shifts.

Considering Europe, the US and China as a triangle, many analysts have posited that one angle pulling further away would mean the other two necessarily grow closer, an idea the European Commission's deputy director general for trade Maria Martin-Prat framed as "very catchy, but simplistic thinking".

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"I think maybe that was a bit simplistic ... I have the impression that we are going to have such an economic fragmentation that you will be talking about different figures of geometry in different sectors," she said.

Asked about a more cooperative tone adopted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in two speeches earlier this year, which suggested that the EU and China could deepen trade and investment ties, the official said the German's words should be considered alongside continued efforts to de-risk relations with Beijing.

"I think you need to read the political messages sent by the president of the Commission, but also the policies she is putting in place, and I think that's what gives you the overall picture," Martin-Prat said at an event in Brussels on Friday.

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Insiders said von der Leyen's remarks - at separate speeches in Davos and Brussels - were aimed at three different audiences: Washington, to show Trump Europe has options, Beijing to suggest that they make Brussels a credible offer, and Berlin, ahead of the recent German election, to signal to her own political family's conservative base that she is not a radical hawk on China.

They should be viewed as "a deliberate signal ... an outstretched hand", said another senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity, towards China.

They do not mean, the second official insisted, that the EU will drop its bilateral concerns with Beijing, but that the door is open for a better relationship if China shows a willingness to "do things in a more balanced way".

The EU is already laying the groundwork to continue to de-risk its relationship with the world's second largest economy, even as it faces pressure to do the same with the United States.

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Martin-Prat pointed to recent moves to counter Chinese industrial overcapacity, including a steel and metals action plan published this week, a technology transfer plan for the automotive sector and a clean industrial deal published earlier this month.

In each case, the aim is to reduce dependencies on Chinese goods and place barriers to their import or selection in procurement tenders.

"So in that respect, that political message does not steer away from the message of de-risking," Martin-Prat said. "It needs to be read as well with certain type of communications and tools that you are appraising."

"Any politician today needs to be able to say: We want to continue to engage with China. We want to see whether we can address a number of problems, specific market access, even if you may or may not have your ideas as to where the long term is going to take you," she continued.

Visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, second right, chats with Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, as they tour the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in September. Photo: Xinhua alt=Visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, second right, chats with Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, as they tour the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in September. Photo: Xinhua>

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Martin-Prat will travel with trade chief Sefcovic on his three-day trip to China from March 26. He will meet China's Commerce Ministers Wang Wentao and Vice-Premier He Lifeng in a renewed effort to prise open the market for European industry and to ask Beijing to do something about its industrial overcapacity.

European leaders fear the surplus will pummel its firms, particularly with Trump making it more difficult for China to import such goods to the United States.

"What happens when those tariffs go up is that you are at an even higher risk of having overcapacity flooding into your market from China," she said.

"This is a challenge that is now because of the international circumstances, but also the fact that China is doing nothing to address it."

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Member states, however, may have other plans.

In Brussels, Sanchez's trip is seen to be a fishing trip for Chinese investment in Spain's electric vehicle and battery sector. He was in the Chinese capital for meetings with officials, including President Xi Jinping, just six months ago, telling Chinese Premier Li Qiang that Spain "wishes to continue strengthening its relations with China".

France's Barrot, meanwhile, will be seeking some salve for French cognac exporters, which are facing heavy import tariffs in China, widely seen as retaliation for the EU's own EV tariffs, which were enforced last October.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
The N.C. Forest Service has issued a ban on all open burning and has canceled all burning permits statewide until further notice because of persistent dry conditions.

The outdoor burning ban took effect Friday morning.

Spring is wildfire season in North Carolina, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said

We are seeing wildfire activity increase due to dry conditions, he said. With these ongoing conditions, a statewide burn ban is necessary to reduce the risk of wildfires starting and spreading quickly.

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Last weekends heavy rain led to improvements in drought conditions across eastern North Carolina, while the area of moderate drought conditions in the southern and western parts of the state has expanded slightly north, according to the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council.

All of Forsyth County and its neighboring Triad counties are labeled by the council as abnormally dry, with moderate drought conditions covering areas just south of the Triad region.

Anyone violating the burn ban faces a $100 fine plus $183 in court costs. Any person responsible for setting a fire may be liable for expenses related to extinguishing the fire, the state Forest Service reports.

The burn ban does not apply to fires started within 100 feet of an occupied dwelling. A local fire marshal has authority to issue a burn ban within the 100-foot area.

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Local fire departments and law enforcement officers are assisting the N.C. Forest Service in enforcing the burn ban.

Residents with questions regarding a specific county can contact their N.C. Forest Service county ranger or their county fire marshals office.
Bolstered by a strategic partnership with Duke Fuqua, Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Business (NUGSB) in Kazakhstan has built a leading EMBA program for Central Asia.

Dana Iskakova has an MBA resume youd expect for any number of prestigious business schools around the world: More than nine years experience in strategic brand positioning, corporate communications, and event management. Leadership roles in major national and international projects, including senior manager of marketing and communication at National Company Astana Expo. Co-founder and manager of an international PR firm.

But where she earned her MBA might surprise you: Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Business (NUGSB) in Kazakhstan.

How Duke Helped Build a World-Class Business School in Kazakhstan

Dana Iskakova, MBA 22

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Many business schools in Central Asia and the former Soviet Union focus on teaching and operate under heavy government oversight. NUGSB, on the other hand, has full autonomy and a mission to lead in academic research. The school and its parent university have been built from scratch to set a standard for higher education in the region.

And from day one, NUGSB had an ace up its sleeve: a strategic partnership with Duke Universitys Fuqua School of Business.

The partnership played a major role in my decision to attend NUGSB. Initially, I was considering other schools in the U.S., Iskakova tells P&Q.

When I discovered that Nazarbayev University had a strategic partnership with Duke, it immediately felt like the perfect choice. It allowed me to stay close to my family during a challenging time while still receiving an education aligned with top international standards. Looking back, it was one of the best decisions Ive ever made.

BUILDING A NEW KIND OF BUSINESS SCHOOL

Nazarbayev University was founded in 2010 by then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev with a bold vision: to create a world-class research institution that would raise the bar for higher education in Kazakhstan and beyond. At the time, top students left for Europe or the U.S. for their education and many never returned. Nazarbayev and others wanted to build a university to train students who would put their talents to work for Kazakhstan.

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The university was granted full autonomy to operate independently from the countrys Ministry of Education, a unique structure from traditional Kazakhstani universities.

To build a university from the ground up, founders sought partnerships with some of the worlds leading academic institutions  including the University of Cambridge, the National University of Singapore, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Colorado School of Mines and others. It partnered with Duke Fuqua in 2009 to develop its Graduate School of Business.

These were top-tier institutions that have brand recognition, that have some of the best researchers and professionals in the world, and they asked them to walk alongside them to create this institution, says Robert Olinger, assistant dean for institutional collaboration at Duke who has worked with NUGSB since the beginning.

Building an educational institution in the post-Soviet Union has tremendous challenges, so I believe that this group really thought deeply about how they would truly be able to transform the educational system (in Kazakhstan).

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Fuqua was a natural fit. It was one of the first Western business schools to go to the post-Soviet Union in the mid-1980s during Perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachevs reform policy to restructure the economy and government. It led management training programs in the region, following a strong institutional desire to play a positive role in the world while establishing a presence in emerging economies such as Russia, India, China, and Latin America.

As part of the partnership with NUGSB, Fuqua has lent its expertise in everything from curriculum development, course design, and faculty recruitment. Its faculty teach courses at NUGSB  less so now than in the early years  while also advising NUGSB research scholars and co-authoring studies. Fuqua also plays a key role in admissions, quality assurance, and keeping academic standards high.

While some of the universitys original partnerships have since dissolved or became less active, the business schools strategic partnership is still intact, extending at least through 2026.

I think our partnership ended up being quite unique, because I think we understood the assignment, Olinger says.

How Duke Helped Build a World-Class Business School in Kazakhstan

Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Business EMBA students spend 10 days at Duke Fuqua and take courses there as part of their program.

NUGSBS PIONEERING EMBA

Today, NUGSB offers a full-time MBA with a cohort of between 20 to 25 students. It recently launched a hybrid delivery format with online classes during the week and in-person classes on the weekends, to allow Kazakhstani students to stay in the work force if they choose or need to. It also offers a Master of Finance, a Masters in Engineering Management (MEM) in collaboration with its engineering school, and a PHD in Business Administration. It launched a Bachelor of Business Administration last year with nine students.

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But its flagship remains its Executive MBA program, launched in 2013 with deep involvement from Duke Fuqua. It was the first program NUGSB launched to address major gaps in Kazakhstans business landscape. Then, Fuqua faculty taught all the courses, Olinger says. A key factor in its success was that it permitted dual-language study with courses taught in English and simultaneously translated into Russian.

In the first cohort we had 17 students. Most of them we had to get from the university itself, and others came because the Prime Minister and President were telling people, You have to join this program, Olinger says. It was a really cool class. One of the people is now the Minister of Energy. Another used to be the head legal officer on their sovereign wealth assets. We have people in that class who are all over the place. Some of them are in government. Some of them are entrepreneurs now.

ATTRACTING KAZAKHSTANS TOP TALENT

The 2025 EMBA cohort has 38 executives averaging 15 years of professional experience across industries such as oil and gas, finance, and hospitality. Along with their NUGSB EMBA degree, students receive a Duke certificate in global management and gain access to the Fuqua alumni network.

Students also complete a 10-day residency at Duke, taking two courses there each year  a key recruiting tool for the regions top talent.

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Developing an Executive MBA program is extremely challenging because you need to get these top executives in top positions in companies to commit weekends to come to campus, says Joep Konings, dean of NUGSB since 2022.

Now, 10 years down the road, its one of the most successful programs in all of Central Asia. That Duke experience is a very important leverage.

Students in the NUGSB Financial Markets Lab.

Iskakova agrees.

I encouraged a friend, a top manager at a major company in Kazakhstan, to join the Executive MBA program at NUGSB. They were initially considering other prestigious U.S. schools, but I emphasized the value of building a strong local network. With NUGSB, they could stay with their family, keep their management role, and apply their knowledge directly to current business challenges, she tells P&Q.

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Plus, theyd have a platform to discuss these challenges with peers  top consultants in their industries at no cost. And with the Duke partnership, NUGSB stands among the top programs. Im proud they enrolled, knowing this program will give them the right tools and network for their career.

CREATING REAL WORLD IMPACT

NUGSBs EMBA program attracts some of Kazakhstans most accomplished professionals, many of whom go on to make significant contributions in industries like energy, finance, and technology.

These are top-tier executives who, after completing the program, often launch new ventures or drive major transformations within their companies, Konings says.

Joep Konings, NUGSB dean

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One graduate built a multimillion-dollar solar energy business, a major achievement in a country historically reliant on oil and gas. Another founded a chain of medical centers specializing in traditional Chinese medicine.

The schools influence extends beyond individual success stories. Advancing womens leadership is another key impact in a traditionally male-dominated space. The full-time MBA is typically 60% female while the EMBA is around 20 to 30%, Konings says.

But those who do enroll are among the most ambitious and capable professionals in the region, he says. These women command respect. You walk into a room full of executives, and it looks intimidating, but they hold their own. They are going to be the ones who redefine leadership in this region.

Further, about half of EMBA graduates go into entrepreneurship  launching businesses in sectors like solar energy, healthcare equipment, and the restaurant industry  even if they initially work in state-owned or corporate positions.

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When I arrived in 2016, I noticed a shift happening. More professionals were speaking English, more companies were adopting global best practices, and you could feel a real transformation in the business culture, says Konings, who originally joined Nazarbayev University as part of the Economics Department before transitioning to the business school. There he has played a key role in boosting research intensity, faculty engagement, and strengthening the schools partnership with Duke University.

Iskakova sees it too, and not just from the EMBA graduates, but from the other business programs as well.

The program is not just about theory. It emphasizes practical, real-world application, preparing students to make immediate contributions to their industries, she tells P&Q.

Ive seen the impact of this firsthand. Many of my classmates are business owners and industry leaders, and its inspiring to see them apply what theyve learned to their companies. Whether in technology, retail, consulting, or manufacturing, they are leveraging their MBA experience to optimize operations, refine strategies, and scale their businesses sustainably.

Along with their NUGSB EMBA degree, students receive a Duke certificate in global management and gain access to the Fuqua alumni network.

FUTURE OF THE PARTNERSHIP

NUGSBs partnership with Duke University was always designed so that the school would eventually stand on its own two feet. But Konings sees areas on which the two can continue a partnership beyond 2026. NUGSB now has about 28 faculty with room to grow, and the Fuqua partnership is critical for recruitment as well as research development.

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One of the most promising areas he sees for future collaboration is in sustainability and climate change.

Kazakhstan is an energy-rich country  oil, minerals, commodities  but Kazakhstan stands nowhere in terms of their climate change policy. They are thinking about it and trying to implement certain things, so I think there is a big gab the business school can help fill.

Of course, Duke University will be a key player. Leveraging resources such as Fuqua EDGE  its Center for Energy, Development, and the Global Environment  NUGSB aims to integrate sustainability into its curriculum, expand research initiatives, and develop business leaders capable of driving climate-conscious change in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

Konings also wants to increase the business schools visibility and reputation around the region.

Kazakhstan does not realize what kind of a top-notch business school we have with NUGSB, he says. The world does not know it. Europe does not know it.

BUILDING AN NUGSB ALUMNI NETWORK

Iskakovas career trajectory after completing her NUGSB MAB in 2022 is a good example.

Dana Iskakova spent a full semester at Duke University as an MBA student at NUGSB.

She took on a leadership role as Chief Marketing Officer at one of Kazakhstans largest companies, significantly raising her salary. She also launched her own company, Myshyraq, which makes sustainable waxless candle centerpieces. Not only did she apply lessons on pricing strategy, data-driven decision making, and negotiations, her MBA gave her the confidence to strike out on her own.

My experience at NUGSB was transformative. Studying both locally and internationally, including a semester at Duke, provided top-tier academic training, a diverse peer network, and lifelong professional relationships, she tells P&Q. The challenging yet rewarding curriculum played a key role in my growth.

Looking ahead, Iskakova wants to help build an alumni network at NUGSB in the image of the one she has experienced at Duke. She volunteered at a Duke Alumni Reunion and was both amazed and inspired to see graduates from 60 years ago show up to engage with the school. While thats almost a foreign concept in Kazakhstan, NUGSBs small but growing network are starting to engage.

I hope that Nazarbayev University GSB will also build a community of dedicated alumni who stay in touch, support each other, and continue to contribute to the schools growth, she says.

People are the heart of this program  motivated, ambitious, and inspiring. This experience reinforced the importance of lifelong learning and adaptability. I truly believe NUGSB is shaping Kazakhstans current and future business leaders.

DONT MISS: INSIDE IE UNIVERSITYS ALL-IN AI STRATEGY AND TRUMP TAKES AIM AT B-SCHOOL FACULTY DIVERSITY

The post How Duke Fuqua Helped To Build A Top B-School in Kazakhstan appeared first on Poets&Quants.
A 49-year-old man was killed after he was mowed down by an e-bike rider zipping down a Brooklyn street, police said Saturday.

Luis Cruz was crossing the middle of the block on Franklin St. near India St. in Greenpoint at about 7:40 p.m. Friday when a 26-year-old man on an e-bike rammed into him, cops said.

Cruz was thrown to the ground and suffered a severe head injury, cops said. Horrified witnesses watched as EMS put his still body into an awaiting ambulance.

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Resident Chris Heinrich saw emergency lights from his window. When he looked outside, he saw Cruz being loaded into the ambulance.

He was wearing Adidas sneakers, Heinrich, 46, told the Daily News Saturday. I could just see the toes as they got loaded in. Black sneakers with the Adidas stripes on them.

The panicked e-bike rider, he said, remained at the scene and was cooperating with police, Heinrich said.

He was parked right there, by the tree, Heinrich said. He was sitting right there [on the curb]. He was talking to police and he looked concerned. Its not like he hit somebody and ran. He was cooperating with police and stuff.

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EMS rushed Cruz to Bellevue Hospital, where he died a short time later. He lived in Brooklyn about a mile from where he was hit, police said.

No criminal charges were immediately filed. It was not immediately clear how fast the e-bike rider was going when he struck Cruz, cops said.

As of Thursday, two people have been killed in e-bike crashes in the city this year  two fewer than at this time last year, cops said.

More than three times as many people died while riding e-bikes in New York City in 2023 than died on traditional, pedal-powered bicycles, according to city data, with 23 people killed on e-bikes and seven on traditional cycles.

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In most of these cases, the victim was riding the e-bike during a single-vehicle crash. Its rare for a pedestrian to be killed by a passing e-bike, officials said.

In 2021, actress Lisa Banes, a Broadway performer best known for her roles in the hit movies Cocktail and Gone Girl, died after a scooter mowed her down as she crossed with the light at Amsterdam Ave. and W. 64th St. near Lincoln Center.

Responding to the high number of fatal crashes, the city launched a $1 million e-bike safety ad campaign last year.

With bicycle ridership reaching historic levels, we must use every tool available to give new and experienced cyclists the resources they need to bike safely, Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said when the campaign was announced. Whether its building new protected bike lanes or educating New Yorkers [about] these crucial skills on-the-ground.

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On Saturday, the street was still covered in Cruzs blood. Someone had placed gravel on the dark red pool so no one would slip.

Heinrich said people speeding down the street on e-bikes and scooters are a constant problem  and fears he could be the next victim.

The thing that just bums me out is they just put [gravel] on someones brains, he said. Ive almost been killed, because I live right here, just crossing the street. Everybody runs these stop signs. They think its a freeway.

Its just chaos and violence, he said.
Fremont residents woke up Thursday morning to more than 6 inches of snow on the ground and toppled utility poles throughout the city.

Thousands had been without power since Wednesday morning when a blizzard blew through town with wind gusts in excess of 70 mph, and thousands more lost power Thursday afternoon as ice and snow that had accumulated on power lines and electrical facilities across town caused even more disruptions.

Residents took to social media Thursday afternoon after many heard a loud roar and saw steam billowing out of the citys power plant, at 3000 First St. near Luther Road. The city started to receive reports of the power plant exploding, but it was built up pressure being released that caused the alarm and further power outages.

City Engineer Troy Schaben said that two of the citys three interconnects had been damaged and shut down on Wednesday. An interconnect allows a city to import and export electricity. On Thursday, the third interconnect went down, causing pressure to build up.

What happened is we were generating too much power and the units had nowhere to go with it, and theres a pressure buildup and safety devices at the power plant did exactly what they were supposed to do, he said. The pressure built up, the pressure relief valves all went off, steam was released, the units shut down, and so we dont have any units generating right now.

Getting at least one interconnect back up and running is the first step to restoring power to some city residents.

Once those interconnects are back up, well be able to turn on our substations, Schaben said. Well be able to feed the power plant, get it started, get the operations rolling. Once the interconnect is back up, everybody who was on before they went off (Thursday) in theory should go back on.

Due to the many downed power lines, Schaben urged residents to use caution and avoid touching them.

What were telling everybody is to consider any downed line energized, Schaben said. More than likely, Ill say less likely now, but when the whole town was out, more than likely any downed line was probably dead. But as were turning circuits on those those downed lines that may have been dead an hour ago or a day ago, theyre going to energize.

Schaben said that the downed lines, once energized, will be seen as faulty by the safety mechanisms, alerting city crews where the downed lines are.

But people should consider any downed line to be charged or energized, and if there are downed lines across county roads or something thats maybe impacting somewhere they need to go, we would ask that they call it in and well try to get somebody out there as quick as we can to get it off the road so that doesnt impede traffic, Schaben said.

The City of Fremont is collaborating with Dodge County and Omaha Public Power District to get power restored as quickly as possible, though Schaben couldnt provide a timeframe.

We have an excellent crew of people out there and theyre going to get everything back on as fast as they can, Schaben said. Im not ashamed to say we have very, very good workers.

In a statement provided to The Tribune, Fremont Mayor Joey Spellerberg thanked residents for their patience and expressed his gratitude to city employees.

I want to thank our community for their patience as we are experiencing community-wide power outages, Spellerberg said. Our city crews as well as OPPD are working tirelessly to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. We are working together with the county during this unusual emergency. The city will continue to provide updates through media press releases and through our Facebook page. Thank you to all City departments for their extraordinary hard work and dedication. Please stay safe as our utility works to restore power as soon as possible.

Across Nebraska

The high winds blew snow across roadways leading to near-zero visibility conditions for motorists. Several roads were closed across Nebraska including an approximately 230-mile portion on Interstate 80 between Lincoln and North Platte, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportations 511 road conditions app. Downed power lines forced the closure of an 8-mile portion of Interstate 80 in Sarpy County around 2:40 p.m. Wednesday. That stretch of interstate remained closed after 5 p.m.

The blizzard led to the closure of a 70-mile portion of Interstate 29 between Sergeant Bluff and Missouri Valley in Iowa.

Vehicle crashes also forced some roads to close at various points Wednesday. Two jackknifed semitrailer trucks caused a portion of West Dodge Road around 180th Street to be closed for about 2 hours in the early afternoon. It reopened around 2:30 p.m.

The westbound lanes of U.S. Highway 275 near Valley were also closed for a time beginning around 3 p.m. due to a semi and two cars blocking all lanes of traffic, the Valley Police Department posted on Facebook.

The La Vista Police Department said in a post on X numerous power poles blew over and landed on Giles Road, causing 11 blocks of the major Sarpy County city road to be closed for several hours.

The Nebraska State Patrol responded to approximately 500 weather related incidents across the state on Wednesday.

State troopers assisted 448 drivers and responded to 27 crashes during the storm, according to a press release from the state patrol.

Two troopers patrol vehicles were hit while responding to incidents during the blizzard, with one vehicle receiving significant damage and the other minor damage. Nobody was injured in either incident, the release said.

The state patrol urged drivers to continue to be cautious, as slick spots may remain in areas that received snow.

The blizzard led to airlines cancel about 80% of flights at Omahas Eppley Airfield Wednesday. The Omaha Airport Authority encouraged passengers to check with their airlines about the status of their flights.

95,000 without power at peak

The strong wind gusts, heavy snow and some ice led to Omaha Public Power District utility poles and power lines snapping, trees being knocked down and power lines galloping. In Dodge County alone, OPPD spokeswoman Jodi Baker said, 50 to 60 utility poles around were damaged by the blizzard.

The damage led to a peak of more than 95,000 OPPD customers losing power mid-afternoon Wednesday, including more than 50,000 customers in Douglas County. By late afternoon, the number of OPPD customers without power had dropped to about 80,000.

Wednesdays blizzard, Baker said, is expected to rank in the top ten most damaging storms in OPPDs history.

Baker said 255 OPPD and external crew members worked around the clock to restore power. OPPD did not have a timeline of when power would be fully restored to customers as of late Wednesday afternoon. She added OPPD has requested assistance from other electrical crews via OPPDs mutual aid program.

Baker said other electrical crews were dealing with their own blizzard-related power outages so OPPD has had to request crews from outside Nebraska.

Weve got some who are working now and were expecting more to join the effort, Baker said.

Baker encouraged anyone who has lost power or has encountered an electrical hazard to report the issue to OPPD by calling 1-800-554-6773. Affected customers were encouraged not to approach crews working to restore power for status updates.
East Lyme  The Zoning Commission voted 5-1 Thursday to deny an application to amend its rules to open up property surrounding Dodge Pond for construction of a senior living and medical facility development.

Residents at the meeting applauded the decision.

Throughout the meeting commissioners and an attorney, Edward Cassella, representing developer and architect Eric Pelletier, insisted they were discussing a rules change that would apply to the whole town, opening up other land for this kind of development, and not a site-specific project.

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The mere implementation of this regulation doesn't allow any developer to do anything without coming back to this board and getting that crucial (approval)," Cassella said.

But Pelletier, who requested the rules change, does have a site in mind, and a project. He wants to build 144 condominiums, 72 apartments, a 150-bed assisted living facility and 32 pre-furnished apartments for visiting family members, on an almost 40-acre property on Dodge Pond on Pennsylvania Avenue, across the street from the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve. If the change had been approved, he would still need to go through the approval process.

The scale of the project has raised concerns among some residents about overdevelopment, an issue they again raised at Thursday's meeting.

Commissioner Debbie Jett-Harris said she opposed the application for many reasons. The so-called "floating zone," otherwise known as an overlay zone, creates unpredictability and risks placing the interests of developers over the public, she said.

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"We're a coastal community, we have to protect it the best we can," Jett-Harris said.

"This is inconsistent with what people want," added Commissioner Denise Markovitz. She said the proposal wasn't in line with the town's Plan of Conservation and Development, an opinion shared by the town Planning Commission in a letter to the Zoning Commission.

The Planning Commission was concerned the zone change would apply to the entire town.

The sole vote to allow the floating zone came from Commissioner Michael Foley.

Foley said the new regulation gave the commission, bound by its own regulations, more discretion.

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Pelletier has said the community would benefit because the project fills a need for more senior housing, while nearby properties would be able to connect a sewer line that would be built at the developer's expense.

The on-site medical facility, while largely for residents of the property, would have outpatient care open to the public, Pelletier said. He added a shuttle service would bring residents to downtown Niantic, potentially benefiting businesses.

Resident Don Danila, a member of the Natural Resources Conservation Commission, said changing regulations would open the town to too much development.

"I don't know if this will snowball but it will open doors," Danila said.

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Resident Emily Phillips-Geeza said usually these types of developments are on the edge of a town, not "smack in the middle" of it.

Fair Rent Commission chair John Vilcheck said the zoning change would taint the town.

"It would allow interlopers to do whatever they damn well please to do, he told commissioners.

j.lakowsky@theday.com
Mar. 21Two Eastern Washington colleges were threatened on March 10 with potential enforcement actions by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights over alleged antisemitic discrimination and harassment.

Both Eastern Washington University and Walla Walla-based Whitman College condemned antisemitism and stressed their institution's commitments to providing environments free of discrimination, in written statements to The Spokesman-Review.

Two EWU professors who helped moderate panels in 2023 and 2024 on the Israel-Gaza war, which reignited this week after Israel broke a January ceasefire agreement, expressed "bewilderment" at the federal government's targeting of their institution.

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In all, 60 institutions of higher education received letters from the Office of Civil Rights on March 10 regarding accusations of antisemitism on their campuses. In Washington, the University of Washington's Seattle campus and Pacific Lutheran University also received letters.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to initiate the dismantling of the Department of Education. It's not immediately clear what effect this action will have on the ongoing investigations.

Though the investigations into Whitman and Eastern Washington were publicized earlier this month by the Trump administration, both cases were initiated prior to this year.

The March 10 letter to Whitman College did not specify any incidents, said Gina Zandy Ohnstad, the college's vice president for communications. The college was notified in December 2023 that the Office of Civil Rights was investigating a complaint that the college had allegedly "failed to respond to incidents of harassment on campus based on national origin (shared Jewish ancestry)," according to the December 2023 letter.

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"Since that time Whitman has cooperated fully with the investigation, but has not yet been informed of its outcome," Zandy Ohnstad wrote, relating to the 2023 allegation.

When the investigation was first reported more than a year ago, Whitman officials said they were not aware of the specific allegations or incidents referenced in the complaint. On Wednesday, Ohnstad declined to divulge that information, saying it would "not be appropriate to comment on ongoing investigations."

Eastern Washington University provided The Spokesman-Review with both the specific incidents in question and the letters it received from the Office of Civil Rights, including a letter dated March 12, 2024, initially notifying the college of the investigation and the significantly more pointed March 10 letter.

"The previous administration failed to meet the moment," the March 10 letter stated, adding the Department of Education was "conducting a comprehensive inventory of existing complaints alleging antisemitic harassment and violence."

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"Rather than direct the United States Department of Education's (Department) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to investigate the institutions that tolerated this contemptible antisemitic harassment and violence, the prior administration remained tepid, either reaching toothless resolution agreements with schools or allowing complaints to accumulate," wrote Craig Trainor, Department of Education acting assistant secretary for civil rights. "That state of affairs ended on January 20, 2025."

Specifically, the investigation into Eastern Washington University points not to campus protests, but to two college-sanctioned panels on the Israel-Gaza conflict. On Oct. 19, 2023, just weeks after Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel, a panel was held titled "The Bloodletting in Gaza: A Discussion on the Perspectives of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Role the US has Assumed."

A second panel was held on Feb. 26, 2024, titled, "The Massacre in Gaza: Security or Genocide?"

Majid Sharifi, a political science professor and the school's director of international affairs, and Sean Taudin Chabot, sociology professor, were moderators for both discussions. In a joint interview with The Spokesman-Review, they expressed confusion that the panels had been pointed to as evidence of antisemitism on campus.

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"I have to say this statement vigorously, strongly, with the most, I don't know, strongest word I can find: none of these panels were antisemitic," Sharifi said.

He added that the "environment was very hot" at the February panel, but that the moderators worked to cool down tensions.

"There were only, unfortunately, three of the attendants who were Jewish, and they were Zionist, and they didn't like the content of the presentation, and when one of them actually went to the idea of blaming the Palestinians for it, the crowd didn't like it," Sharifi said.

But the moderators stepped in to make sure the students could speak, Sharifi argued.

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In likely the most heated moment of that panel, one attendee questioned the panel's focus on Israel's military actions in Gaza and the lack of condemnation of Palestinian violence in the region and, more broadly, "extremist Islam."

"Violence is a problem all around the Arab world; the most violent countries in the world are Muslim countries," the speaker said, as captured on video from the event. "If people talk about living in one big Palestinian state where people are going to be equal, please name one Muslim country that has Democratic values."

Other audience members began to shout at the speaker, at which point Sharifi spoke up.

"No, no, I think we should let him speak," he said. "The speaker is speaking a truth, a certain truth, that is really big in mainstream media."

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After a moment, Sharifi lectured the speaker for his "Islamaphobic projections" and added that "what you say, if I said it about Israel and Jews, it would be called antisemitic, and it really would be."

"We don't blame Jews for what is happening with the right wing, fascist behavior, racist, apartheid Netanyahu government," Sharifi added. "They do not represent all Jews."

Sharifi and Chabot believe there has been a conflation of criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.

"From both of our perspectives, not being able to challenge a nation-state is exactly what allows antisemitism to happen, or any kind of discrimination against particular groups," Chabot said.

Editor's note: This article was changed on March 21, 2025, to correct information about the March 10 letter to Whitman College. The letter from the Department of Education did not specify any incidents, according to Gina Zandy Ohnstad, the college's vice president for communications.
Ed Miliband has been accused of targeting farmland in Conservative constituencies to fuel a major expansion of solar energy.

Tory MPs said the Energy Secretarys plans to install tens of millions of solar panels across Britain was putting the nations food security at risk.

Academics warned the Governments claims that only a minimal amount of farmland was being lost to solar were misleading.

A report by SolarQ, which analyses the impact of solar developments on the countryside, said the figure quoted by Mr Milibands Energy and Net Zero department that solar occupied just 0.1pc of UK land area was wrong.

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David Rogers, emeritus professor of ecology at Oxford University, who founded SolarQ, added: Currently the correct figure is nearer 0.44pc (assuming all those planned are carried to completion).

The figure for England rises to 0.75pc, well over seven times the industry-quoted figure.

Desnzs estimates are based on a comparison with the entire UK land area including Scotland, where solar developments are minimal.

Critics say this is misleading because solar developers are focusing their plans on a relatively small area of England, close to cities and power lines and dominated by high grades farmland.

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It means solar farms are becoming highly concentrated in areas like Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Cornwall  and taking land away from food production.

According to the findings, Robert Jenricks Newark constituency will be the worst hit, with 9pc of the area to be covered in solar panels under existing plans.

Solar farms planned around Newark include the Great North Road Solar and Biodiversity Park which will cover 7,000 acres of farmland.

Industrial landscape for generations to come

The scheme would create a vast circle of solar panels, entirely surrounding the rural villages of Maplebeck, and Caunton.

Mr Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: Vast swathes of the countryside  including 9pc of my constituency  are in danger of being covered in solar farms. They will turn beautiful and fertile agricultural land into an industrial landscape of solar panels for generations to come.

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And these panels are all made in China, making us yet more dependent on an authoritarian regime.

What angers residents the most is that the entire planning process has been reduced to a charade by Labour, where despite a consultation, every single application seems to be approved almost immediately.

Ed Miliband has made a mockery of the process and may as well just say that the publics views are irrelevant to him. His net zero zealotry comes before anything and anyone else.

Vast swathes of the countryside are in danger of being covered in solar farms, says Robert Jenrick - Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Europe

Caroline Johnson, Tory MP, is under similar threat with about 7pc of her Sleaford and North Hykeham constituency about to disappear under solar developments.

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The developments have been approved despite months of protests directed at Mr Milibands department.

She added: My constituency, like much of Lincolnshire, is being inundated with applications to build massive solar farms, approved under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure system which means local people have little influence.

Lincolnshire is the breadbasket of our country and produces 30pc of the UKs vegetables. I share my constituents fears that these solar applications will take a significant amount of our best and most versatile land out of use for the rest of our lives. This poses a real threat to our nations food security.

A sensible government plan wouldnt allow solar to be concentrated on our best food producing land. Ed Miliband is signing off thousands of acres for massive solar farms and not even acknowledging my request for a meeting to discuss the impacts.

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Last week Sir Edward Leigh, the Tory MP and Father of the House, told the Commons that up to 6pc of his Gainsborough constituency was also destined to be covered in solar panels.

He said: Around Gainsborough, there are already 10,000 acres set aside for solar farms. Another 4000 acres were announced a couple of weeks ago  thats in the most arable, the most fertile land in the country.

A spokesman from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: Solar is at the heart of our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower and while we have consented nearly 3GW of nationally significant solar projects since last July, there are no hard targets for capacity in particular regions.

It is important we take people with us and are considering ways to ensure communities who live near new clean energy infrastructure can see the benefits of this.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
There was a funeral at the White House on Thursday.

Well, kind of.

In an executive order, President Donald Trump demanded the 45-year-old Education Department be scaled back to its critical functions, a move that fell short of his years-long campaign promise to eliminate the federal agency outright. Such a move, the White House press secretary acknowledged Thursday, would require buy-in from Congress  far more than the stroke of the presidents pen.

Still, as my colleague Linda Jacobson writes, Trumps order has opened questions about how the agency will continue to carry out some of its primary functions, including the enforcement of federal civil rights laws that protect students against discrimination and ensure equal opportunities to learn.

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As Trump Moves to Shutter Education Dept., GOP Clamors for Funding Flexibility

In the news

A proposed Texas bill would ban furry subculture in public schools, prohibiting kids from acting like animals, including barking, meowing, hissing or other animal noises that are not human speech. | Newsweek

Reality check: The legislation, which also imposes a ban on litter boxes in schools, is based on a demeaning hoax. Period. | Education Week

Also in Texas, new legislation seeks to overturn recent discipline reforms that limit suspensions for students pre-K through second grade and for children experiencing homelessness. | The Texas Tribune

Severe sexual abuse: The Justice Department will no longer pursue a civil rights lawsuit against Southwest Key Programs, a nonprofit that operated prison-like shelters for unaccompanied migrant children and whose employees faced sexual abuse allegations. | Reuters

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The Trump administration said it would no longer send migrant children to Southwest Key facilities and accused the Biden administration of enabling the alleged abuse, while the nonprofit said it was pleased that there is no settlement or payment required. | The New York Times

The National Center for Youth Law, a nonprofit legal advocacy group, has sought to intervene in the case. The group said in a media release it is outraged by the Justice Departments decision to drop the case and that the allegations of severe sexual abuse, including the rape of children, demand immediate and decisive action. | National Center for Youth Law

Sign-up for the School (in)Security newsletter.

Get the most critical news and information about students' rights, safety and well-being delivered straight to your inbox.

Mark your calendars: The American Federation of Teachers will team up with the parent group Stop Sexual Assault in Schools for a webinar March 25 titled Addressing the Rise and Impact of Misogyny Among Students in Grades 6-12. | Register here

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An Idaho teacher is in a standoff with her school district  at the risk of losing her job  because she refused to remove a sign that reads Everyone is welcome here. | The 74

A Florida judge has scheduled a June trial date for former Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie, who was indicted on a single perjury charge, accused of lying to a statewide grand jury convened to investigate school safety operations after the 2018 Parkland school shooting. | South Florida Sun Sentinel

Protests outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Washington, D.C., call attention to the detention of a former Columbia University student activist. (Probal Rashid/LightRocket/Getty Images)

ICE chilling student speech: A Georgetown University graduate student in the U.S. on a student visa was detained by immigration enforcement officials and faces deportation on allegations of having close connections to a known or suspected terrorist. His wife is Palestinian-American, and his father-in-law was once an adviser to a Hamas leader who was assassinated by Israeli forces last year. A Homeland Security spokesperson accused the student of actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media. His lawyer denied the allegations. | BBC

A Columbia University student arrested and threatened with deportation for his role in pro-Palestine campus protests says his detention is indicative of anti-Palestinian racism. | The Associated Press



More on the immigration front: A 10-year-old girl  and U.S. citizen  recovering from brain cancer was removed from the country along with her undocumented parents, who were deported to Mexico. | NBC News

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School gun violence has long been a topic of heated debate, especially as mass shootings surge. How might Education Secretary Linda McMahon approach the subject? \_()_/ | The 19th

More than two decades after the Columbine school shooting in Colorado, the tragedy has claimed its 14th victim. | The New York Times

Kept in the dark

Meet the hired guns: My recent in-depth investigation exposed how schools routinely provide false assurances to students, parents and teachers about the harms of cyberattacks and hire specialized attorneys to keep key information out of public view. | The 74

Education behemoth PowerSchool, which suffered a colossal data breach late last year, faces a new lawsuit alleging it misled schools nationwide about its security. | The 74

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Chicago Public Schools is among the most recent K-12 cyberattack targets, with hackers stealing the sensitive files of some 700,000 current and former students. | Chalkbeat

As Politico reported this week, recent Trump administration cuts could hinder schools efforts to defend against cyber threats. | Politico

On the chopping block is an advisory committee that convened industry experts on combating threats. Among those canned from the committee is school cyber guru Doug Levin, who received a letter saying he had been relieved of his unpaid duties as part of a broader effort to eliminate the misuse of resources and refocus government efforts on advancing our critical mission to protect the homeland.

Hey, that sounds familiar. Members of a federal committee created to combat school shootings got the same letter. | The 74

ICYMI @The74

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Emotional Support

This week, its 74 Editor in Chief Nicole Ridgways pup Mika, who is recovering but could use a little emotional support as she bravely weathers the cone of shame. Everybody say, Awwwww, poor Mika.
Defenders of the Department of Education are turning to the courts to save it after President Trump signed an executive order to abolish it and on Friday said he would move some of its most critical loan programs to the Small Business Administration (SBA).

Trump cannot abolish the department without an act of Congress, and it is not clear that legislation doing so could get through Congress.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) nonetheless on Friday said he would seek legislation to end the department, even as Trump through executive action attempts to hollow out a government agency that had more than 4,000 employees just months ago.

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I expect that any actions to shutter the agency or to dismantle it will be challenged in the courts, and those challenges will prevail, Julie Margetta Morgan, a former deputy under secretary of Education during the Biden administration, told The Hill earlier this month.

I think the other thing to think about here is that the decision to dismantle the Department of Education is incredibly unpopular, and people need to continue to voice their concerns about that and their displeasure with the Trump administrations efforts and to hold policymakers accountable, she added.

See you in court was a common theme among opponents as Trump ordered Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the department as far as she is legally allowed without an act of Congress.

The White House says critical functions of the department will still be met, with the president announcing Friday that he is shifting the student loan portfolio to the SBA and programs related to students with disabilities to the Department of Health and Human Services.

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But the department is already facing pushback for its efforts to self-eliminate, including laying off half its staff earlier this month.

The legal challenges to Trump and McMahons moves could quickly stack up. The courts have already hit Trump with multiple setbacks two months into his term, though the White House has voiced disdain for the judges ruling against his agenda.

The courts are upholding the rule of law, that is their role. At the end of the day, we are the United States, because we abide by the rule of law. This administration has shown that it doesnt respect the rule of law; they are aiming more toward an autocracy, which is radically outside American values, said Patrice Willoughby, chief of policy and legislative affairs for the NAACP.

The departments useful functions  will be preserved, fully preserved, Trump said during Thursdays signing ceremony, surrounded by children at school desks and standing in front of a row of state flags. Specifically referring to Pell Grants, Title I funding and programs for students with disabilities, he added, Theyre going to be preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments.

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But beyond these core necessities, my administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department. Were going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible.

The potential lawsuits would add to the growing fight the Trump administration is having with the judiciary as many of his executive orders have been halted or reversed by federal judges.

Trump is already calling for the impeachment of one judge who has displeased him, drawing a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts.

I think theres an expectation that there will be a lawsuit, and this will go before the courts. [] It takes a long time, and theres a real question on whether this administration wants to even comply with the courts decision. They seem to do it when its on their behalf, but less so when the decision goes against them, said Denise Forte, president and CEO at The Education Trust.

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Johnathan Smith, chief of staff and general counsel for National Center for Youth Law, previously told The Hill his group was preparing to use all the tools at our disposal, including litigation here, to respond if moves were made to close the department.

And Keri Rodrigues, the president of the National Parents Union, said parents are watching the moves at the Department of Education closely and the minute the agency doesnt comply with congressional statute, the department will be challenged in court.

In further dismantling the federal agency, McMahon will have to walk a tight rope in order to ensure it is complying with congressional requirements, and even some in conservative circles have expressed skepticism at the speed at which the administration is moving.

There are good reasons to streamline operations at the department and even to shut it down entirely, but efforts to date have been too hasty. The cuts weve already seen will likely be disruptive in ways that werent expected. Department leadership should take pains to carry out this order cautiously, ensuring that programs mandated by legislation are transferred to other agencies before the staffing reduction makes them impossible to administer effectively, said Beth Akers, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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Trump could theoretically have an easier time in the courts if Congress is able to pass a law either eliminating the department or allowing for it to be weakened, but such a measure would require some Democratic support to clear the Senate, and not even all Republicans are on board.

My sense is that congressional Republicans really dont want anything to do with this idea of dismantling the department right now [] I just dont think this is the hill that anyone wants to die on today, other than President Trump. So, I dont think hes going to get the support from Congress that would be needed, Akers said.

I would say in practice, though, theres a lot of dismantling that can be done under the existing authority of the administration, and it may be de facto dismantled, even if it still exists in name, she added.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
In 1831, Abraham Lincoln arrived at the New Salem grist mill along the Sangamon River aboard a flatboat that was sinking.

Lincoln had been hired by a man named Denton Offutt to deliver the boat cargo to New Orleans. As the story goes, Offutt was so impressed by Lincolns quick thinking to rescue the boat and save the cargo that he offered him a job at a shop he planned to open in New Salem. Lincoln returned from the cargo trip and decided to stay in New Salem, about 20 miles northwest of Springfield.

By the time Lincoln left the town in 1837, he was a state legislator and his political career was taking off. While New Salem was essentially abandoned in the years after Lincoln departed for Springfield and then Washington, D.C., it was reconstructed during the 1930s as an historic site that last year attracted almost 400,000 visitors.

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But time has taken a toll on the states effort to memorialize Lincoln in the town where he developed his political chops.

Lincolns New Salem State Historic Site has fallen into disrepair as the tab for deferred maintenance on properties managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has grown to an estimated $1 billion statewide, according to IDNR spokesperson Jayette Bolinski.

In recent years, the roofs of two structures have caved in. The grist mill, where townspeople would grind wheat into flour, is closed, with boards across the entryway. There are holes in the wooden entrance ramp, and the mills drive shaft, which powered the structure, has been inoperable since a 2016 flood.

Gina Gillmore-Wolter, president of the New Salem Lincoln League, said its unsafe for schoolchildren to walk along the road, or over the closed pedestrian bridge, to reach the mill.

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When responsibility for the site, along with all other state historic sites, was shifted to IDNR from The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency in 2017, New Salem stopped getting $200,000 annually from the state capital fund. At the same time IDNR was suffering form almost two decades of disinvestment, Bolinski said.

However, efforts are underway to restore New Salem. IDNR announced this week that the site will receive about $8 million in funding for improvements from the Rebuild Illinois capital plan for improvements. The site has received a total of about $3 million in capital funding since Gov. JB Pritzker took office in 2019.

In addition, Republican state Sen. Steve McClure, who represents the area, is leading a bipartisan legislative effort to rehabilitate the site in coordination with the New Salem Lincoln League. Legislation made up of three separate bills would create a New Salem Preservation Commission under IDNR to assess the site and provide a budget to fix the structures. The measure would also create a procurement exception because of the difficulty to find tradespeople with construction skills similar to those used in the 1830s that are needed to properly rebuild the structures, according to Republican Rep. Wayne Rosenthal, the legislations House sponsor.

IDNR estimates it will cost $19 million to rehabilitate the site, far higher than the $5 million specified in the legislation. An amendment will be added to update this cost, according to McClure, along with other amendments to require IDNR to conduct an immediate assessment of the site and report back to the General Assembly within 30 days.

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The department does not support the creation of a preservation commission as laid out in the legislation, saying in a statement that doing so would create an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy and red tape. However, it has offered to enter into a Friends arrangement with the Lincoln League, which would help meet our shared goals without creating undue additional bureaucracy, the statement said.

McClure said he thinks the IDNR is concerned if the New Salem site is fully funded, IDNR would have to provide similar help to every other site it oversees.

Well, in my view New Salem is the most important state historic site, McClure said. This site, where (Lincolns) whole political career began, has sort of been just falling into the abyss, and weve got to protect it.

McClure said the grist mill where Lincoln first arrived is the projects top priority.

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The shape its in is pretty urgent, McClure said during a recent tour of the site, pointing to a splintered piece of loose wood. I mean look at this. Thats a safety hazard.

If thats what were doing to maybe one of the most important structures in the village, why even have the site open? he asked.

The mill is largely inaccessible. The pedestrian bridge that connects the structure, located down the hill from the town and over a highway, is closed. New stairs were added about a year ago, but they stop halfway down the hill. Gillmore-Wolter said the area isnt safe for school field trips.

Youre going to have to make some kind of parking thats got a guardrail thats safe for kids on school trips to access this because they tore out the stairs that came to this and you can see the new stairs, but they blocked them off, Gillmore-Wolter said. Theyre like the stairs that go nowhere.

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The roofs on two structures, the Trent Barn which was owned by the ferry operator Alexander Trent, and the carding mill, where townspeople would card, or comb, wool from their sheep, have also collapsed.

The carding mill is the only animal-powered carding mill in the United States, according to Gillmore-Wolter. When she visited the site as a kid in the 1970s and 80s, there were oxen powering the mill.

In Lincolns time, people in the town would shear their sheep, wash the fleece and card the wool using the mill. Then it would be straightened and spun into thread and yarn.

This is the beginning of the industrial revolution when we started taking that process out of the home where people would sit for a week to card the same amount of wool that you could take there and have it done in a few hours, Gillmore-Wolter said.

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The roofs were damaged from exposure to moisture, which led to deterioration and rot. Now that the roofs are gone, that will speed the same process for the rest of the structure, Rosenthal said.

When you lose the roof and then the other logs stay wet all the time, theyre going to deteriorate, Rosenthal said. This is going to continue on this building and youre going to see this continue to all the structures here unless theyre properly repaired and taken care of. Right now theyre not.

The site has seven employees, and Rosenthal said a bigger staff is needed to help manage and maintain the park, which also includes a campground and trails.

Gillmore-Wolter said she remembers when the site was bustling with period reenactments.

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You would come through here and there would be people dipping candles. There would be people making soap. There would be people cooking over the open fires. The blacksmith would be hammering in the blacksmith shop, Gillmore-Wolter said.

McClure said the sites introductory video has not been working for the past few months, despite investments in new equipment by the New Salem Lincoln League.

Thats pathetic, McClure said of the video not working. This is where President Abraham Lincoln, one of the most famous people to ever live, started his career in politics, and you cant even watch the introductory video.

The Lincoln League and The Abraham Lincoln Association led an effort in 2019 to request state funding for repairs, but they didnt file any legislation, and the COVID-19 pandemic ended the effort, according to Gillmore-Wolter.

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McClure expects continued bipartisan support for his legislation, which has backing from at least two Chicago Democrats, Sen. Bill Cunningham and Sen. Robert Peters.

In addition to its historical importance, the site provides a boost to the small town of Petersburg just to the north, said David Blanchette, a local journalist who has been involved in area museums including the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield. Blanchette said the site is very peaceful.

There are tree-lined pathways that you can walk down, Blanchette said. Theres a lot of economic impact too when tourists come to the community and spend money at restaurants and gas stations and convenience stores and overnight lodging and that translates into jobs and revenue for the community.

New Salem attracted 359,950 visitors to the community in 2024 and 374,418 visitors in 2023 according to Bolinski.

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For others who grew up in the area, it provides a direct connection to the past. Gillmore-Wolter learned that her great-great-great-great-uncle, Alexander Ferguson, was Lincolns shoe cobbler in the town.

Theyre not just names on a page anymore, they become real people with a story, so thats the motivating factor for me, she said.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  An El Paso nonprofit that provides legal services to unaccompanied migrant children said its federal funding was cut on Friday, March 21 by the Trump Administration and it is now being forced to furlough its staff.

Estrella del Paso said Fridays order terminated 80 percent of total funding for its programs for unaccompanied children, representing nearly 50 percent of the agencys total budget.

Nonprofit says it can resume services for migrant children

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The Associated Press reported that the Trump Administration on Friday ended a contract that provides legal help to migrant children entering the country without a parent or guardian.

Under this new order, Estrella del Paso immediately placed 18 staff members on furlough. Another four have been temporarily reassigned.

A team of 30 individuals has now been reduced to six people, the organization said.

Todays decision flies in the face of our values as Americans. Children are precious, and as Americans, we have honored our responsibility to protect them for generations. Todays action by the Trump Administration will result in thousands of children being forced to navigate the immigration legal system alone, said Melissa M. Lopez, executive director at Estrella del Paso.

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This order will not stop our work. We will continue to advocate on behalf of children and the entire immigrant community in El Paso and beyond. We will also not abandon the employees who were placed on furlough today. We will continue to fight for full restoration of the program so our team will soon be back to work advocating for immigrant children, Lopez added.

Last month, the Trump Administration had briefly ordered the nonprofit to stop its work providing representation and legal access services to unaccompanied migrant children, but then reversed itself several days earlier.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
If conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel wins the April 1 election, it will be because of the support from President Donald Trump's close ally Elon Musk, Sen. Ron Johnson said Saturday.

His comments came as he and Schimel joined Musk in a live, half-hour discussion on the social media platform X, which the tech billionaire owns. The conversation took place less than 24 hours after Trump waded into the race with a long-sought endorsement of Schimel.

More: All our reporting on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between Susan Crawford, Brad Schimel

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"This is entirely winnable, and you know, if we do win it, again, we have to thank Elon for all the support he's given this race, and I was really glad to see President Trump throw in his endorsement as well," Johnson told the 10,000 people on the livestream.

Musk has poured more than $12 million into the race in a bid to get Schimel elected to the seven-member court. Liberals have backed Schimel's opponent, Dane County Judge Susan Crawford. In January liberal megadonor George Soros and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker funneled a combined $1.5 million to the state Democratic Party to back Crawford. New contribution reports are due to be filed next week.

Whether Schimel, a Waukesha County judge, or Crawford wins the only nominally nonpartisan race will determine the ideological balance of the court.

Schimel, Musk and Johnson framed the election as having implications not only for Wisconsin but for Trump's ability to implement his agenda nationally.

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Schimel slammed the court's current liberal majority, arguing that since they retook control from conservatives in 2023 the liberal justices "have been going through a political agenda and just knocking off their favorite wish list items."

"The stakes couldn't be higher here," Schimel said.

More: Donald Trump Jr., and Charlie Kirk rally for Brad Schimel in Wisconsin Supreme Court election

In a statement, Crawford's campaign mocked the technical issues that took place on the call and framed Schimel as one of Musk's investments.

"Brad Schimel has always been at the beck and call of his campaign donors  and now it looks like Elon Musk wanted to do a check-in on his $12 million investment," campaign spokesman Derrick Honeyman said in a statement.

Alison Dirr can be reached at adirr@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Musk will be to thank if Schimel wins Wisconsin race, Ron Johnson says
Elon Musk said he intends to file a lawsuit against former Squad Rep. Jamaal Bowman for calling him a Nazi and a thief this week on CNN.

Ive had enough. Lawsuit inbound, Musk, 53, wrote on X late Friday next to a clip of Bowmans caustic remarks.

In his Thursday rant Bowman, 48  who was ousted in a primary last summer by a pro-Israel Democrat  said the Department of Government Efficiency boss doesnt have the necessary skills to spearhead the Trump administrations cost-cutting crusade.

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How do we know? Because they fired tens of thousands of people, was challenged in court. The court said the people have to go back, and now the people are coming back, Bowman contended during a Thursday night segment on CNN.

Elon Musk has threatened to sue after former Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., used a recent TV appearance on CNN to call President Donald Trumps top adviser a Nazi and a thief. Getty Images

Hes incompetent. Hes a thief. Hes a Nazi. And people dont trust him.

Leftists accused the billionaire of making a Nazi salute while he addressed a crowd on Trumps Inauguration Day in January. Groups such as the Anti-Defamation League have determined it was simply an awkward gesture, and Musk denied intentionally making a Nazi salute.

Musk didnt elaborate on any details of the planned lawsuit. However, he appears to be trying to pursue a defamation case against Bowman. Defamation cases have a legal high bar for public figures, because they are required to prove actual malice motivated a false statement against them.

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An outcry of conservatives had urged Musk to file a lawsuit against Bowman, such as Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).

The remarks by the former Bronx and Westchester County rep came during an exchange with Joe Borelli, the ex-top Republican on the New York City Council, who suggested that Democrats were manufacturing a lot of the protests that have dogged GOP town halls with constituents over recent weeks.

Thats not true. And this shows, again, the American people do not trust Elon Musk. And Elon Musk is incompetent in his position, Bowman, who runs the super PAC Built to Win, countered.

Near the end of the segment, CNN host Abby Phillips tried to draw distance from Bowmans incendiary attack against Musk.

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Former Congressman Bowman, I just have to say, just a second, I just have to say, your opinion about Elon Musk is your opinion about Elon Musk, she said.

Elons mother Maye Musk, has publicly encouraged him to sue media outlets that suggested he made a Nazi salute during the inauguration day festivities.

Bowman, who was defeated in last Julys Democratic primary by a centrist pro-Israel candidate, told a panel of commentators that the American people do not trust Elon Musk and Elon Musk is incompetent in his position. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Back in January, the SpaceX and Tesla boss also publicly mused about suing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) for accusing him of doing a Sieg Heil.

It is unclear if Musk still intends to sue Walz.

The Post reached out to both Bowman and CNN for comment.

Bowman served in the House of Representatives from 2021 to January 2025. He was ousted in a primary by Rep. George Latimer (D-NY), who campaigned aggressively against the former reps criticisms of Israel and lefty antics.

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The former congressman made national headlines in 2023 when he spuriously pulled a fire alarm in a House office building during a tense government shutdown fight. There was no fire at the time and the alarm was clearly marked when the former school principal pulled it.

Later, Bowman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for falsely pulling the alarm, paid a $1,000 fine and wrote an apology letter to the police. The GOP-led House also censure him over the move.

Bowman was one of two Squad reps to lose a primary last year alongside former Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.)
Idaho doctors can perform an abortion as stabilizing care during a medical emergency, a federal judge ruled Thursday  so long as theyre at the right hospital.

U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled that only St. Lukes Health System and its medical providers are protected from Idahos near-total abortion ban where it intersects with emergency care. The ruling created a preliminary injunction in the case between the health system, which is Idahos largest, and Attorney General Raul Labrador.

Spokespersons for St. Lukes and the Attorney Generals Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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St. Lukes sued Labrador in January over abortion restrictions it said are incompatible with its obligation to provide patients with stabilizing care under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. Idaho law only allows abortion in some instances: ectopic or molar pregnancies, reported cases of rape or incest, and procedures that prevent the death of a pregnant patient.

Since abortion restrictions took effect in Idaho in 2022, following the U.S. Supreme Courts reversal of Roe v. Wade, doctors have said the states laws make it unclear whether they can perform an abortion if a patients health, not life, is at risk.

At the time St. Lukes sued the state, the hospital system said it wanted to preserve an injunction already in place allowing all Idaho hospitals to perform abortions in medical emergencies. That injunction  which Winmill issued in 2022  stemmed from a Department of Justice lawsuit against Idaho also over EMTALA. Republican President Donald Trumps administration dropped the lawsuit, which was filed under former Democratic President Joe Biden, earlier this month.

A temporary injunction was in place in the St. Lukes case since then.

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The decision Thursday marks the narrowest emergency abortion protection since June 2024. For about six months last year  between when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the DOJ case and when it remanded it back to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals  Idahos ban was fully in effect. St. Lukes said it airlifted six patients out of the state for emergency abortion access during that time.

Winmill said in his Thursday decision that St. Lukes does not exist in a vacuum, and the health system said it may not be able to handle the strain of taking patient transfers from other hospitals not protected by the injunction. Still, the judge sided with an argument from Labrador that the scope of the injunction was too broad when the health care system is the only party in the lawsuit.

The judge denied a motion from the attorney general to dismiss the case.
For Frank King, Dodge County Adult Drug Court saved his life.

Having struggled with sobriety his entire adult life, King was the first to go through the program twice and graduate twice.

I lost everything again and I was at rock bottom and I was able to come back into the Drug Court program and work with the team and better my life, King said. When you say drug court, I think, it saved my life. This program has saved my life two times now and I am very thankful for a program like this and the support. And a point in the right direction to live a clean, sober lifestyle.

King, alongside his peer, Damian Hopkins, graduated from Dodge County Adult Drug Court on March 18, in front of their families, friends, peers and drug court team.

During the ceremony, District Court Judge Geoffrey Hall, who presides over drug court, had many positives to say about the two graduating.

King was praised for his humility and integrity, being a great father and son as well as his positive influence on his peers.

It gets me out of myself, how I could have had life, what I dont have, what I do have, it lets me give back to others and help them with whats going on with their live, King said. It feels good to help others.

Hopkins was congratulated for being a responsible adult during his time the program, his work with his peers and the life that now lies before him.

Im filled with a lot of joy and happiness, Hopkins said. Im coming up on three years sober, Im pretty much on the other side of the fence as to staying sober, remaining sober. Im being recovered, life is only going to get better. To me, all this gave me my life back.

Hall also encouraged the other drug court participants to continue on their journey, saying there is no luck in recovery, its something you have to just do.

What is Adult Drug Court?

Drug court is a nationwide program that works with adults with a substance use disorder who have committed a felony to become sober and have the opportunity to have their charges dismissed.

Those who qualify for the program are charged with a qualifying felony and that felony is correlated with their substance use. In Dodge County, the felonies that are typically seen are drug possession or theft charge. The program uses various treatments to address the participants substance use as well as any underlying issues they have.

At the end of the program, if the participants have met all the requirements laid out for them in drug court, they have the potential to receive a signed motion from the presiding judge dismissing the felony charge.

Drug court and other problem-solving courts are a unique style of program, said Drug Court Coordinator Brandon Jerred. Typically, once someone has pled guilty, they are sentenced, but in drug court sentencing is deferred to see how they do with the program. Essentially, its like they have pled guilty and are out on bond waiting sentencing.

There are four phases to the drug court program and it typically takes about two to two-and-a-half-years to complete. To enter the program, the county attorney has to approve of the participant applying, then the potential participant applies with the help of their lawyer. The drug court team assesses the application for acceptance.

Drug court is geared to target those who are high risk, high needs, Jerred said. Those participating are at a high risk for reoffending if a program like drug court isnt utilized and are considered high needs because they have been diagnosed with a moderate or severe substance use disorder that treatment has been recommended for.

What happens in drug court?

Most participants come to the program during what is called the disaster phase of their addiction. The participants are either under the influence or recently withdrawing and will be going to some sort of residential program, which includes programs such as rehab, where they live for a set number of days.

Once the participant is accepted into the program, they start in phase one. During each phase, there is a set standard of things they need to accomplish in order to apply and move on to the next phase, Jerred said. During these four phases, the drug court team and the participants are not only addressing their substance use but everything connected to it.

What I always tell my participants and anyone else I talk to, drugs are a problem, but theyre very rarely the main problem, Jerred said. Drugs are all of our participants unhealthy attempt to cope with something else. Typically trauma, severe mental health problems, something.

After residential treatment its a stair-step process based on the needs of the participant, Jerred said. This action includes going through an intensive outpatient treatment, a sober living house, transitional living and aftercare. Everything is looked at on a case-by-case basis.

During phase one, participants go to court every week unless they are unable to leave the residential facility. Before going to court, the drug court team, including Hall, go over everything participants have been doing, their struggles and their accomplishments. The team then addresses these topics in court, led by Hall.

During phase two, participants go to court every other week. Phase three, every three weeks and phase four is once a month. If participants struggle, the drug court team can bring them into court more often, Jerred said.

The drug court team also meets with participants as many times as needed throughout the week. This is done to ensure participants have everything they need to accomplish what is being asked of them.

After discussing their cases with Hall in court, if participants have made strides and hit their requirements, they can spin a wheel for incentives. Participants suggest small items they would like to win such as gift cards, hygiene items and more.

If participants do not meet their requirements, they get sanctioned by Hall. This could include more community service, having to meet with the probation team more often or not spinning the incentive wheel.

Sanctions in most cases are treatment adjustments, Jerred said, and the team is able to make these adjustments because the participant has not been sentenced for their crime. The goal for sanctions is for them to be meaningful to the participant.

The ultimate sanction is having the participant terminated from the program, but the drug court team will exhaust every resource available to avoid this, Jerred said. If a participant is terminated, they go back to traditional court and are sentenced for their original crime.

My biggest fear is always we violate and remove someone from my program because we missed something, Jerred said. I always want my team, and Judge Hall, to be absolutely, 100% sure that we have tried everything and clearly, its this participant not willing to do this program.

After graduating from a residential program, participants are required to attend four community support meetings a week. These include groups such as alcoholics anonymous, narcotics anonymous, SMART Recovery, Recovery Dharma, Celebrate Recovery or any other recovery based program.

We do a multi-tiered approach, Jerred said. Once we get their substance use stabilized, were also sending them to get a mental health evaluation and the vast majority of our clients will then go see a psychiatrist, too, for some kind of medication evaluation to help them address their mental health.

Court isnt the only check in, Jerred said. Participants are monitored 24 hours a day and the drug court team receives constant reports from their sponsors at the recovery based program and all the providers working with the participants.

During the drug court program, participants will see a variety of treatment providers including therapists, dentists, doctors and psychiatrists. During phase one, participants are required to get a physical and dental exam. Helping participants get some kind of insurance or Medicaid is key to helping them address their needs that in some cases have not been addressed for years.

The relationships the participants have are also looked at during the drug court program. To remain sober, participants must have a healthy support system, Jerred said. If their family and friends are not in a healthy place themselves, participants learn to create boundaries. If they are healthy relationships, participants may be estranged from their family or friends and there are steps taken to help participants reconnect with them.

The goal is to create long term support systems so they are not dependent on the court system. Many times participants will continue to go to therapy and utilize peer support programs.

Recovery doesnt work on an island, Jerred said. The odds of you being sober by yourself are slim to none so we need to have them have as much of a support system as possible so that when they graduate, they have those supports in place so its not a big shock.

Once participants have made progress on addressing their substance use and mental health needs, the drug court team will start talking to them about aspects of their life that factor into their substance use and causes participants to stay stuck in certain situation. Topics that are discussed include career opportunities, long-term goals, budgets, debt, cooking, taxes and more, Jerred said.

A lot of times, then were going to start putting in other services in place to help make sure they have not just a job that pays their basic necessities, but what is their career goals, Jerred said.

King, for example, attended Metro Community College while he was in the program and now has a commercial drivers license.

In many cases, lack of employment is one of the factors that keep someone stuck in the substance abuse cycle. Many participants are not familiar with places of employment that will pay a livable wage and will hire felons, Jerred said, so the drug court program also works with programs such as Metropolitan Community College 180 Re-Entry Assistance Program. This program works with individuals who have been released from jail, prison or treatment programs to start working on education or employment skills and aspirations.

Many participants do not have a good employment history and the Metro 180 program and the drug court team help with everything from how to build a resume to how to interview so participants can create careers. In some cases, the team has helped participants who dont have their high school diploma to get their GED.

Downtime is usually when participants struggle with staying sober, Jerred said. So participants are expected to do 25 hours of work or community service a week.

We really try to take a holistic, big picture approach when were working with our clients, Jerred said. We want to see what was contributing to their substance use disorder, what was causing it to get to the level that it was at and what was maintaining that. A lot of times it truly is a multi-faceted approach.

Its whatever these individuals need that is going to help them be successful long-term. Theyre not going to be with us forever.  We want them to stay sober and be successful for the rest of their lives.

Graduation and going forward

Now, with their graduation under their belts, King and Hopkins have hope for their future. Their charges have been dismissed and they are no longer on probation. The participants will be tracked for three years after they graduate from drug court.

Before coming to drug court, Hopkins went through and graduated from other programs  making him a NOVA alumni, Arch Halfway House Alumni and now a drug court graduate. For Hopkins, drug court was life changing, he said. Although he was an alumni from the other programs, he said Dodge County Drug Court pushed him to his limits, and now he can hold his head up high.

Im glad I was ready to embrace whatever was to come my way, he said. I had enough misery and I was finally willing to do what it took to be a better person at the end of the day. I came in with an open mind and doors started opening, thats all it takes.

Being present and reliable for his kids is what King said he would like to see going forward.

Thinking about my kids before I make choices or decisions in life is something I really learned last time, how quick you can lose everything again, King said. After coming back into their lives and losing time with them due to drugs and alcohol, it feels good to better those relationships. And also giving back to the community, helping others and sharing my story, my strengths and my hopes at treatment centers and (other facilities).

Programs like this, honestly, save lives. Thats the bottom line.
NEW JERSEY (PIX11)  The New Jersey Department of Transportation announced Friday that the westbound lanes of Interstate 80 will remain closed until further notice because of a sinkhole that opened up Wednesday under the median.

New Jersey State Assemblywoman Aura Dunn is preparing to introduce legislation that would bring emergency relief to businesses impacted by the closure.

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One [aspect] would be a grant program to assist small business owners, said Dunn. And then also some relief for the workers who have seen this reduction in their pay.

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Arledy Arroyade, the owner of Colossal Restaurant in Wharton, said she has been forced to lay off one employee and cut hours for the rest. The restaurant opened just seven months ago.

To be honest with you, at this point, its very bad, said Arroyade. I just dont know where to go from here.

More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State

Part of the difficulty for business owners is knowing how long itll be before business returns to normal. Part of the reason is because its unclear what is actually underground. New Jersey has 445 recorded abandoned mines under Northern New Jersey, but Bill Kroth with the Sterling Hill Mining Museum said that number may be higher.

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We dont have accurate maps, said Kroth. Mining has been going on in the area since the 1600s. So the earlier mines, we dont have good information.

Kroth said crews are currently filling voids as they find them, injecting them with a grout made of sand and cement. He said some of the abandoned mines were then used for garbage disposal, making those voids more difficult to fill.

Its one thing to have a pocket of air, but having a pocket of garbage, its hard to get the grout to travel and displace the garbage, said Kroth.

He is in favor of calling in the Army Corps of Engineers.

They have to develop a grid and just drill and drill, said Kroth. And wherever they hit a void, they have to fill it up.

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Estonia will purchase military equipment and supplies worth 100 million for Ukraine, including drones, watercraft, medical equipment and other items produced by Estonian defence companies.

Source: press service for the Estonian Defence Ministry, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The list includes drones and unmanned ground vehicles, watercraft, medical equipment and supplies from Estonian defence companies.

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For security reasons, details, quantities and delivery timelines are not being disclosed.

"We agreed last year that we will support Ukraine militarily by allocating 0.25% of our GDP per year for Estonian defence industry products this year and the next We received feedback from Ukraine today, which will allow us to deliver aid to Ukrainians as quickly as possible," Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said.

The main part of Estonias military aid will be directed towards initiatives that enable Estonian companies to contribute to Ukraines victory.

Estonia will also provide Ukraine with direct military material assistance, participate in the training of Ukrainian defence forces personnel and, together with Luxembourg, lead the IT coalition to support Ukraine.

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The Baltic and Nordic countries also intend to equip and train a brigade-sized unit in Ukraine this year.

Background: At the end of February, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal announced the transfer of a new military aid package to Ukraine.

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STORY: :: PVMBG

Indonesian authorities have raised the alert status to the highest level after the eruption of Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano Thursday night.

Ash clouds spewed more than 5 miles high, and an Australian airline canceled some flights into Bali on Friday.

The eruption of the volcano in East Nusa Tenggara province followed dozens of smaller ones since March 13, the national geological agency said.

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The agency warned of lava floods and said there were smaller eruptions early on Friday.

A disaster mitigation agency spokesperson told Reuters that at least one person was injured during evacuations.

There were no immediate details on the size or logistics of the evacuations.

This man said his relative mistook the hot ashes for rain and was burnt after falling on a piece of burning wood.

Jetstar, Qantas Airways low-cost subsidiary, canceled flights between Australia and Bali on Friday morning because of the volcanic ash.

:: File

In November last year, the Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano erupted, pelting nearby villages with hot rocks and lava flows.

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At least nine people were killed and thousands were evacuated.

Indonesian authorities had said at the time that it aimed to permanently relocate the residents.

It was not immediately clear how many people were affected by Thursday's eruption.

Indonesia has close to 130 active volcanoes and sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an area of high seismic activity atop various tectonic plates.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  All but one of Utahs 29 county clerks are pushing Gov. Spencer Cox to veto an elections bill that will allow some sensitive election returns to be made public for research.

Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson is that lone clerk, telling ABC4.com this bill is about transparency.

I am a transparency purist, Davidson said in an interview with ABC4.com. I think if we can make it more transparent we should. Theres a lot of concern that what the bill asks for would require the clerks to do a lot more work. Its probably more onerous for the smaller counties that dont currently do what the larger counties do.

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According to a veto letter sent to Governor Cox, and another one echoed by the Utah Association of Counties (UAC), the other 28 clerks are concerned about the cumbersome and vague requirements, the cost, and the records getting into the wrong hands.

State and local leaders react to Trumps executive order eliminating Department of Education

The bill at hand is H.B. 263  or Election Records Amendments. It requires clerks to scan, preserve, and keep a digital copy of election materials and records, such as the signed back of the envelope, records of the votes cast, and the scanned ballots for at least 12 years  a process the clerks say not all counties currently have the equipment to do.

The scanning of the envelope is a significant new requirement that will disproportionally hurt the mid-sized and smaller counties, the clerks veto letter reads.

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The bill also sets up a process for any digitalized election record to be accessed with approval from a legislative body like a county commission or state legislature for the duration of those 12 years. Right now, saved records are only required to be kept for 22 months, and once results are certified and sealed, they can only be accessed by specific people with a justified court order.

The bill does not define what qualifies as research of the documents and data, creating an opportunity for any conceivable type of research from the legislature, county clerk, or county legislative body, the clerks letter reads.

Davidson disagrees with this, saying that the open door is important for any kind of research someone may want to perform.

Sometimes you dont know what kind of research you want to conduct, Davidson expressed. I didnt know what type of research I wanted to conduct when I took office  so this would kind of solve that issue.

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Davidson mentioned that this bill would provide his office tools in exploring discrepancies that may arise during an election season.

If we are running our election as safe and secure as possible, I am completely open to any kind of research that is allowable that would not release how somebody actually voted, he said.

Cast vote records are protected, Utah courts say

The other clerks are particularly concerned that H.B. 263 could cause cast vote records to be public. In Utah, ballots are scanned into machines that take a digital photo of how the voter cast their vote in order to be tabulated. In smaller precincts, clerks say the records can be used to triangulate how someone voted.

Their letter makes note of a July 2022 case over 2020 election results that deemed cast vote records as protected, a ruling that was later upheld by Utahs Court of Appeals.

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A pair of Utah women, Jennifer Orten and Sophie Anderson, known online as Two Red Pills, sued to get access to 2020 election cast vote records and three other types of election returns.

The clerks point to the lower court ruling in their veto letter.

By restricting access to these records, Utah law preserves the integrity of both elections and election contests, they note 4th district Judge Derek Pullan said. In the absence of these restrictions, the door to fraud and corruption would be left wide open.

The ruling ads, The disclosure of these materials to anyone who asked would permit bad actors bent on undermining public confidence in an election to manufacture fraudulent evidence supporting their baseless claims.

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The clerks argue the bill does not increase transparency and may have grave consequences if signed.

In our opinion, the considerable unfunded mandates in this bill do not justify any potential benefits this unspecified research might provide, and may in fact, as Judge Pullan stated, open the door to fraud and corruption,' the clerks letter reads.

Davidson doesnt believe that the bill would lead to what the other clerks are claiming, saying that more transparency and research is crucial to maintain trust in the election process.

I like research, I think a lot more people like research, and the more we try to make it less transparent, the more doubters are going to doubt, Davidson said. So why not just open it up and give the doubters what they want and then there wont be the doubt. I think it will create more trust and transparency in the system and there wont be so many people questioning the election at all.

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[Watch in the player above: What is the Miranda warning?]

CHARDON, Ohio (WJW)  A substitute teacher for Kenston Local Schools was terminated amid a criminal investigation and later indicted on child pornography charges.

A Geauga County grand jury on March 4 handed up an indictment charging Michael J. Auria, 26, of Chagrin Falls, with six felony counts, including illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance, pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and possessing criminal tools.

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Andy Andino of Saint John Bosco Catholic Church accused of raping child

The indictment charges Auria with possessing the sexual material and distributing it using a messaging app. Authorities seized his iPhone, according to the indictment.

Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz told FOX 8 News that investigators with the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received an online tip related to Aurias alleged illegal file-sharing activity from the National Centers for Missing and Exploited Children.

The Geauga County Sheriffs Office executed a search warrant at Aurias Auburn Township home, he said.

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Auria worked as a long-term substitute teacher in the school district until December, when the Geauga County Sheriffs Office notified the district that it had opened an investigation.

At that time, we had no details regarding the nature or the timeframe of the investigation, reads a letter sent by schools Superintendent Bruce Willingham.

The safety and well-being of our students and staff remain our highest priority, which is why the person was immediately removed from campus, the letter continues.

Flaiz said Aurias charges do not involve students from Kenston Local Schools or Geauga County children.

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Ohios 1st measles case of 2025 reported in Ashtabula County

Auria pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on March 12, county court records show.

Auria was released on his own recognizance, and ordered against consuming alcohol or drugs, for which hell be subjected to random screenings, county court records show. He also cant leave the state or patronize establishments that serve alcohol.

Hes set for trial on June 2.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor and ex-MSNBC legal analyst, believes President Donald Trump and his Department of Justice will face criminal contempt charges over their defiance of U.S District Judge James E. Boasbergs orders to halt recent deportations.

Trump invoked an 18th century wartime act last week to deport hundreds of immigrants to a prison in El Salvador, ignoring a verbal order from Boasberg. He has since called for the judge, whom the White House called a Democrat activist, to be impeached.

On The Dean Obeidallah Show Thursday, Kirschner weighed the potential consequences.

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I was a prosecutor for 30 years, he told the SiriusXM radio host. You dont write in pleadings or say in court, things like, Judge, we dont believe the information youre looking for is relevant. Guess whose determination that is, sport? Not yours! The judges!

We are going to see the C-word uttered very soon  contempt, Kirschner continued. It will start as criminal contempt. It will very likely morph, it will start as civil contempt that will very likely morph into criminal contempt.

The openly defiant administration told Boasberg in a court filing Wednesday to be more respectful, prompting the federal judge to give the administration 24 more hours to fulfill his demand for more information about their refusal to follow his initial order.

The Justice Department characterized Boasbergs demand for information about the deportation flights as a picayune dispute over the micromanagement of immaterial factfinding, as opposed to a potentially illegal defiance of a federal judges order.

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I dont remember lawyers, in the times I practiced, telling judges, You dont know what youre talking about, in writing! Obeidallah, a former attorney, told Kirschner. And this is, Im sure, [U.S. Attorney General] Pam Bondi doing this for Donald Trump.

Trump claimed Friday that "other people handled" the deportation document that bore his signature. Steven Senne/Associated Press

On Friday, Trump claimed that he didnt sign the document invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 that led to the deportations  and claimed other people handled it  despite his name being readily visible at the bottom.

The comment came less than a week after Trump baselessly claimed that his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, used an autopen during his time in office on numerous pardons that are now supposedly void.

Kirschner foresees things getting dicier for Trump.

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For the viewers at home, heres a fun fact, he said Thursday. The only time a judge can appoint an independent prosecutor to prosecute a case, it is contempt of court for violating court orders. So hold on tight because the ride is going to get a whole lot bumpier.

Related...
Mar. 21A former Yellow Springs doctor was formally sentenced to probation in Greene County Common Pleas Court on Friday, after taking a plea deal in February.

Donald Gronbeck was sentenced to probation on a second set of charges of patient abuse and neglect, the Greene County Prosecutor's Office announced Friday.

"Because of the resolve of his victims, he is now a convicted felon who will never practice medicine again," Greene County Prosecutor David Hayes said.

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In February, Gronbeck pleaded no contest to a bill of information to one count of gross patient neglect, and one count of attempted patient abuse. He also pleaded no contest to a second bill of information, including 12 counts of gross patient neglect.

The first set of charges is considered a misdemeanor. The second set makes it a felony.

Gronbeck's sentencing regarding this second bill of information was Friday. While the prosecution is "not completely satisfied" with the result of the case, Gronbeck will never be able to practice medicine again, Hayes said.

"The resolution reached in the case was made necessary because of factual developments that occurred after the case was indicted. Based on these developments, it became clear that the state of Ohio would not be able to prove the original charges against the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt," Hayes said. "The state is satisfied that Gronbeck will no longer be able to victimize anyone ever again under the guise of medical treatment."

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Gronbeck, of Bath Twp., was arrested in October 2022 and indicted on 50 charges of sex crimes, allegedly committed when he worked at the former Yellow Springs Primary Care, which is now shut down.

Gronbeck's medical license was permanently revoked in January of 2022 amid accusations of sexual misconduct against his patients. He was accused of several acts of sexual misconduct with eight patients under his care between 2013 and 2022, filings from the State Medical Board of Ohio show.

Documents from the state medical board further accuse Gronbeck of writing a patient a prescription for Rivastigmine patches, commonly used to treat Alzheimer's and dementia, and then instructing her to hand out the patches to his employees.

Gronbeck is also facing several ongoing civil lawsuits in addition to the criminal case.
By Brad Heath, Joshua Schneyer, Marisa Taylor, Sarah N. Lynch, Mike Spector

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Federal agents who usually hunt down child abusers are now cracking down on immigrants who live in the U.S. illegally.

Homeland Security investigators who specialize in money laundering are raiding restaurants and other small businesses looking for immigrants who arent authorized to work.

Agents who pursue drug traffickers and tax fraud are being reassigned to enforce immigration law.

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As U.S. President Donald Trump pledges to deport millions and millions of criminal aliens, thousands of federal law enforcement officials from multiple agencies are being enlisted to take on new work as immigration enforcers, pulling crime-fighting resources away on other areas -- from drug trafficking and terrorism to sexual abuse and fraud.

This account of Trumps push to reorganize federal law enforcement  the most significant since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks  is based on interviews with more than 20 current and former federal agents, attorneys and other federal officials. Most had first-hand knowledge of the changes. Nearly all spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss their work.

"I do not recall ever seeing this wide a spectrum of federal government resources all being turned toward immigration enforcement," said Theresa Cardinal Brown, a former Homeland Security official who has served in both Republican and Democratic administrations. "When you're telling agencies to stop what you've been doing and do this now, whatever else they were doing takes a back seat."

In response to questions from Reuters, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the U.S. government is mobilizing federal and state law enforcement to find, arrest, and deport illegal aliens. The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to respond to questions about its staffing. In a statement, the FBI said it is "protecting the U.S. from many threats. The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

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The Trump administration has offered no comprehensive accounting of the revamp. But it echoes the aftermath of the 2001 attacks, when Congress created the Department of Homeland Security that pulled together 169,000 federal employees from other agencies and refocused the FBI on battling terrorism.

Trumps hardline approach to deporting immigrants has intensified Americas already-stark partisan divide. The U.S. Senates No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin, described the crackdown as a wasteful, misguided diversion of resources. In a statement to Reuters, he said it was making America less safe" by drawing agents and officials away from fighting corporate fraud, terrorism, child sexual exploitation and other crimes.

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in an interview with Reuters, denied the changes across federal law enforcement were hindering other important criminal investigations. I completely reject the idea that because were prioritizing immigration that we are not simultaneously full-force going after violent crime.

He said the crackdown was warranted. President Trump views what has happened over the last couple years truly as an invasion, so thats how were trying to remedy that.

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On January 20, his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to team up to fight an invasion of illegal immigrants. He cast the nations estimated 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally as the driving factor behind crime, gang violence and drug trafficking  assertions not supported by government statistics  and accused immigrants of draining U.S. government resources and depriving citizens of jobs.

Almost immediately, federal law enforcement started posting photos of the crackdown to social media: agents wore body armor and jackets emblazoned with names of multiple agencies  including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, known as ATF  during raids on immigrants without proper legal status.

Before this year, ATF had played almost no role in immigration enforcement. It typically investigated firearms offenses, bombings, arson and illicit shipments of alcohol and tobacco.

But since Trumps inauguration, about 80% of its roughly 2,500 agents have been ordered to take on at least some immigration enforcement tasks, two officials familiar with ATF's operations said. The ATF agents are being used largely as fugitive hunters to find migrants living in the U.S. illegally, one of the officials said.

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The DEA, whose roughly 10,000 staff have led the nations efforts to battle drug cartels, has shifted about a quarter of its work to immigration operations, said a former official briefed by current DEA leaders on the changes. Two other former officials described the commitment as substantial but did not know precisely how much work shifted.

Many of the reassigned federal officials have had little training or experience in immigration law, the sources said. The State Departments 2,500 Security Service agents, for instance, typically protect diplomats and root out visa and passport fraud. Theyve been authorized to assist with investigating, determining the location of, and apprehending, any alien in the U.S. unlawfully, according to a February 18 memo from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to the U.S. Secretary of State.

The ATF and the State Department acknowledged in a statement they are helping with immigration enforcement, but declined to elaborate on specific staffing decisions.

The changes coincide with extraordinary immigration measures that have prompted dozens of lawsuits claiming that Trumps presidency is exceeding constitutional limits and other legal boundaries. These include deporting alleged members of a Venezuelan gang under an 18th-century wartime powers act and detaining a Columbia University student activist with legal permanent residency status over his role in pro-Palestinian protests.

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The White House has said it is acting within the limits of the Constitution and that it was protecting the safety and jobs of U.S. citizens.

The results, so far, are mixed: the number of migrants seeking to cross the southern U.S. border in February was the lowest in decades and the number of people detained over immigration violations has surged. That hasnt yet led to an increase in deportations, but experts expect a jump in those numbers in coming months.

STOP AND FRISK

The focus on immigration is drawing significant resources away from other crime-fighting departments, according to the more than 20 sources who spoke to Reuters.

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Until January, pursuing immigrants living in the country illegally was largely the job of just two agencies: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and Customs and Border Protection, with a combined staff of 80,000. Other departments spent little time on deportations.

Thats changing.

At Homeland Security Investigations, the top investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, scores of agents who specialize in child sexual exploitation have been reassigned to immigration enforcement, said Matthew Allen, a former senior HSI official who now leads the Association of Customs and HSI Special Agents, whose members include about 1,000 current and former agents.

Over the past two years, those HSI agents have helped more than 3,000 child victims, often after complex probes, DHS data shows. Theres a good argument that these changes will lead to some child victims continuing to be exploited, said Allen.

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While HSI falls under the control of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, its team of 7,100 special agents typically play little part in routine immigration enforcement. They usually probe national security threats, terrorism, drug smuggling, human trafficking, illegal arms exports, financial crimes, child sex crimes and intellectual property theft. Immigration enforcement has been left to another ICE branch known as Enforcement and Removal Operations.

But on January 31, HSI staff received an internal email from a top official with a new mission of protecting the American people against invasion.

Going forward, the memo said, HSI special agents and other employees should be prepared to play an increasingly critical role in detaining and deporting immigrants, or barring their entry at U.S. borders.

Recently, HSI has been offering training to employees unfamiliar with immigration enforcement. This includes how to lure immigrants out of their homes for interrogation in so-called knock and talk visits, conduct stop and frisk operations, or carry out warrantless arrests, according to previously unreported internal documents shared with Reuters.

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HSIs new work also includes checking if companies have hired unauthorized immigrants, surveillance outside of immigrant workers homes, taking down license plates and distributing photos of target immigrants to detain, according to an employee and photos of the operations shared with Reuters.

At the IRS, criminal investigation agents, who typically probe a variety of tax and financial crimes, were being redirected into the immigration operations, Reuters previously reported.

IRS special agents are usually out there following complex money trails; they break up drug deals, and they make people pay the taxes they owe, said Elaine Maag, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank that studies tax issues. There are direct and indirect costs to pulling IRS criminal investigators out of the field.

The IRS did not respond to a request for comment.

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PROSECUTION WORK PILING UP

On the second day of Trumps administration, a top Justice Department official, Emil Bove, told federal prosecutors in a memo that they should take all steps necessary to prosecute illegal immigrants for crimes in the U.S.

In the memo, Bove called for increasing the number of immigration prosecutions, and said any cases that are declined must be urgently reported to the Justice Department.

As a result, federal prosecutors, who typically handle a variety of crimes, have been inundated with immigration cases, two of the sources said.

In San Diego, the number of people charged in federal court in February with felony immigration crimes more than quadrupled compared to the previous year, a Reuters examination of federal court records found. The number of people charged with felony drug crimes dropped slightly over the same period.

In Detroit  where immigration prosecutions have been rare  the number of people charged with immigration offenses rose from two in February 2024 to 19 last month, Reuters found.

Case management records from the Justice Department show that fewer than 1% of cases brought to prosecutors by the DEA and ATF over the past decade involved allegations that someone had violated an immigration law.

Since January, however, DEA agents have been ordered to reopen cases, involving arrests up to five years old, where prosecutors had declined to bring charges, two people involved in the work said.

Sometimes prosecutors rejected those cases because of problems with the evidence, they said. Now, if immigration authorities determine that the people were in the country illegally at the time of that case, agents are being dispatched to arrest them, the people said.

As Trump and billionaire Elon Musk slash the size of the federal bureaucracy, jobs that deal with immigration enforcement appear largely exempt.

In a January 31 email to ICE employees, a human resources official told them they wouldnt be eligible for the retirement buyouts offered to some 2.3 million federal workers. All ICE positions are excluded, said the previously unreported email, shared with Reuters.

(Joshua Schneyer and Mike Spector reported from New York. Additional reporting by John Shiffman, Ned Parker, Kristina Cooke and Ted Hesson. Editing by Jason Szep)
The Trump Administration issued yet another executive order on Thursday. This one directs the federal government to mine federal public lands to the maximum possible extent, and to prioritize mining over all other uses on federal lands that contain critical mineral deposits.

This should be alarming to conservationists and wilderness advocates. Because in addition to putting critical areas like the Boundary Waters and Bristol Bay back in the crosshairs, the administrations extraction-first approach could dramatically shift what our public lands look like and how we use them.

There are really three main thrusts to this executive order, Dan Hartinger, senior director of agency policy for the Wilderness Society, tells Outdoor Life. Job one is to open new places to mining. Job two is to subsidize mining in those places. And job three is to ram through individual projects regardless of public input or what the science says.

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The executive order, Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production, invokes wartime powers granted by the Defense Production Act. It allows Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to expand the countrys list of critical minerals. It also directs Burgum to make a priority list of all federal lands with mineral deposits, and to take whatever actions necessary to expedite and issue mining permits there. This includes rolling back environmental regulations and finding ways to fund and subsidize private mining companies with taxpayer dollars.

One major issue with this executive order is how broad it is, Hartinger says. The order could include lands already protected from mining, such as public land near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and other lands with high recreational or wildlife habitat value, which have historically been managed for multiple uses.

The Biden Administration effectively halted the current plans by Twin Metals, a Chilean subsidiary, to build a copper-nickel mine just south of the BWCA in 2023 by placing a 20-year moratorium on all mining there. But Hartinger and others say the recent executive order lays the groundwork for reversing that action and re-opening the door to Twin Metals mine.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota is the most visited wilderness area in the United States. Photo by U.S. Forest Service

This executive order threatens all of Americas iconic landscapes  including the Boundary Waters, executive director of Save the Boundary Waters Ingrid Lyons tells OL in an emailed statement. We will continue to track this and the several other pathways this Administration is using to undermine science, the law, and the will of the people on the issue of protecting the Boundary Waters  Americas favorite and now most threatened Wilderness area.

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Read Next: The Wilderness War: Ice Fishing the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area

The current text of the order emphasizes fewer regulations around permitting mining claims and fewer environmental protections regarding the disposal of waste rock and mine tailings. It does not rule out certain kinds of federal lands, such as parks or monuments, and it directs government agencies to amend or revise land management plans under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act as necessary to support mining as the primary use of those lands. Enacted in 1976, FLPMA established the Bureau of Land Managements mandate to manage public lands for a variety of uses (recreation, mining, and timber production being just a few) while ensuring the long-term health and productivity of those lands.

Now, will they do that in every single area [with known mineral deposits]? Its unclear. But we certainly have a sense of some of the places that are the most threatened, Hartinger says. In addition to the Boundary Waters, I think the greater Grand Canyon region could very much be under threat.

Subsidizing Foreign Companies to Mine American Land

By invoking its wartime powers with the executive order, the Trump administration claims that taking a mining-first approach is vital to shore up national security and compete with foreign hostile nations. But its actions via executive order stand to benefit the international mining conglomerates that are already operating on U.S. federal lands and which, Hartinger says, are not required to pay royalties or other fees for the value of minerals they extract.

The Billie Mine, located in what is now Death Valley National Monument, closed in 2005 due to environmental concerns. Photo by spiritofamerica / Adobe Stock

This would use taxpayer funding to issue loans and capital assistance, and essentially subsidize these operations. So not only are these companies getting the land for free, and the minerals for free, and the ability to dump their waste basically wherever they want. Were going to pay them with taxpayer money to do that.

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This would be a significant step toward the Trump administrations larger plans to unleash American energy. It also aligns with other moves the administration has made in recent weeks, including the creation of a federal Task Force that aims to sell off underutilized public lands for affordable housing developments. These actions, along with mass layoffs at the federal agencies that manage our public lands, all point toward a common goal.

Read Next: How Seriously Should We Take the Sale of Federal Lands? Very Seriously, Experts Say

I think its helpful to think about this as part of a pattern. And, you know, its very concerning to us to hear Secretary Burgum saying our federal lands are assets on the nations balance sheet, Hartinger says. But I think its very instructive, too. Because this administration sees our public lands not as things that provide inherent and intrinsic benefits to us, in the form of clean water and air, recreation, wildlife habitat, or any of these myriad uses. It is purely a matter of: How can we extract the maximum short-term dollars from these places?
The National Museum of the US Air Force hosted an event Saturday to educate visitors on the parallels between space and deep-sea exploration.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

The museums special exhibit, OceanXpo, is on display until the end of April. Here, guests can learn about the technology and discoveries of those who study oceans and space.

TRENDING STORIES:

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Saturdays event included industry professionals as exhibitors as well as conservation groups, scuba shops and military recruiters.

OceanXperience is a traveling exhibition, based on the National Geographic series OceanXplorers. The series follows a team of scientists exploring the deep ocean.

For more information on the exhibit or the National Museum of the US Air Force, click here.

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Rosie ODonnell launched a new fusillade at President Donald Trump from across the Atlantic, where the former talk show host recently fled to escape the administration.

[It is] very strange that the president of the United States has so many friends who are sexual abusers, ODonnell said in an incendiary interview on Irish talk show The Late Late Show on Fridaythe Emmy winners 63rd birthday.

The comment came in a discussion about Irish MMA star Conor McGregor, who met with Trump in the Oval Office this week.

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ODonnell also lamented the results of the 2024 election and took aim at Elon Musk, who owns Starlink, a satellite internet service provider.

I question why, for the first time in American history, a president has won every swing state and is also best friends with, and his largest donor was, a man who owns and runs the internet, ODonnell said.

ODonnell, who recently moved to Ireland to get away from Trump, said she had done so in part because her daughter, Clay, has autism.

I have a child who has autism, and that child would be denied servicesalong with many, many other autistic childrenbecause the funding for programs for special needs children comes from the federal government and from the states," she said on the show.

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Its going to be disastrous for children on the spectrum, and that was terrifying, she added.

ODonnell garnered international media attention earlier this week when Brian GlennMAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenes boyfriend and a reporter for far-right Real Americas Voiceasked Trump about the comedian during a press conference with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin.

Ireland is known for very happy, fun-loving people, Glenn said. Why in the world would you let Rosie ODonnell move to Ireland?

Thank you, I like that question, Trump said before asking Martin if he knew of ODonnell. Martin said he did not.

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Youre better off not knowing her, Trump replied.

Trumps remarks recalled his comments during the 2016 presidential election campaign, when Megyn Kelly, then at Fox News, asked Trump about calling women fat pigs, dogs, and slobs.

Only Rosie ODonnell, Trump joked.

ODonnell said this week that she and her 12-year-old daughter had left the U.S. in January for Dublin, where she is eligible to claim citizenship thanks to an Irish father. Ireland has seen unprecedented numbers of Americans seek to take advantage of the provision since the election.

White House adviser Stephen Miller gloated to Fox Newss Sean Hannity that Trump had forced her to self-deport.

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ODonnell said Friday that America was in trouble and that cruelty and lack of empathy had become a value sprouted from the highest office in our country.

She said she felt on the verge of crying when [Trump] got elected and added she had devised the plan to move to Ireland in consultation with her therapist.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Although their early March blooms make them popular for many homeowners, some experts say the Bradford pear can have a negative impact as it crowds out other plant and tree species native to Tennessee.

In undeveloped land and forested areas where they are left to multiply and spread on their own, they can easily be seen taking over the territory  but some experts said they should be banned.

FEBRUARY: Resolution seeks study on impact of Bradford pear tree in Tennessee

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In February, Rep. Clay Doggett proposed a resolution urging the University of Tennessees Institute of Agriculture to complete a comprehensive study about the effect of Bradford pear trees on agriculture and forestry in the state. This resolution recently passed in the state House of Representatives and will head to the state Senate.

Agricultural and natural resources extension agent Amy Dunlap, who works with the University of Tennessee and Tennessee State University extension in Davidson County, explained the trees downside.

The Bradford Pear is invasive, Dunlap said. It doesnt offer as many benefits for wildlife, but it also is, unfortunately, able to out-compete a lot of our native species. When it comes to the competition for resources  whether its nutrients, space [or] sunlight  those Bradford pears can typically do better than some of our native species. We are seeing an imbalance and an over-representation of them.

Dunlap said if youre a property owner, the UT-TSU Extension is available to recommend the right types of plants and trees for your land.

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One of the big things we teach in a lot of our curriculum and classes is picking the right plant for the right place, Dunlap said. Not always, but a lot of the time, that means turning towards our native Tennessee species. Not only do they cause fewer issues in the long run, which is cheaper for the homeowner, but theyre just very well adapted to our environment. They do provide for our native wildlife and other native species that might rely on them for a food source or for habitat.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

You can follow this link to find out what plants and trees might be best on your property and to contact your countys agricultural extension agent

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
WASHINGTON (AP)  With massive job cuts, the National Weather Service is eliminating or reducing vital weather balloon launches in eight northern locations, which meteorologists and former agency leaders said will degrade the accuracy of forecasts just as severe weather season kicks in.

The normally twice-daily launches of weather balloons in about 100 locations provide information that forecasters and computer models use to figure out what the weather will be and how dangerous it can get, so cutting back is a mistake, said eight different scientists, meteorologists and former top officials at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  the weather service's parent agency.

The balloons soar 100,000 feet in the air with sensors called radiosondes hanging about 20 feet below them that measure temperature, dew point, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction.

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The thing about weather balloons is that they give you information you can't get any other way, said D. James Baker, a former NOAA chief during the Clinton administration. He had to cut spending in the agency during his tenure but he said he refused to cut observations such as weather balloons. It's an absolutely essential piece of the forecasting system.

University of Oklahoma environment professor Renee McPherson said, This frankly is just dangerous.

Bad, Ryan Maue, who was NOAA's chief scientist at the end of President Donald Trump's first term, wrote in an email. We should not degrade our weather system by skipping balloon launches. Not only is this embarrassing for NOAA, the cessation of weather balloon launches will worsen America's weather forecasts.

Launches will be eliminated in Omaha, Nebraska, and Rapid City, South Dakota, due to a lack of Weather Forecast Office (WFO) staffing, the weather service said in a notice issued late Thursday. It also is cutting from twice daily to once daily launches i n Aberdeen, South Dakota; Grand Junction, Colorado; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Gaylord, Michigan; North Platte, Nebraska and Riverton, Wyoming.

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The Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency fired hundreds, likely more than 1,000, NOAA workers earlier this year. The government then sent out letters telling probationary employees let go that they will get paid, but should not report to work.

Earlier this month, the agency had announced weather balloon cuts in Albany, New York and Gray, Maine, and in late February, it ended launches in Kotzebue, Alaska. That makes 11 announced sites with reduced or eliminated balloon observations, or about one out of nine launch locations which include part of the Pacific and Caribbean.

Among regularly reporting weather stations, NOAA had averaged about only one outage of balloon launches a day from 2021 to 2024, according to an Associated Press analysis of launch data.

Meteorologists Jeff Masters and Tomer Burg calculate that 14 of 83 U.S. balloon sites, or 17%, are doing partial or no launches. That includes two stations that aren't launching because of a helium shortage and a third that is hindered because of coastal erosion.

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The more data we can feed into our weather models, the more accurate our forecasts, but I cant speculate on the extent of future impacts, weather service spokesperson Susan Buchanan said in an email.

University at Albany meteorology professor Kristen Corbosiero looked at the map of launches Friday and said wow, that is an empty area ... That's not great.

Corbosiero works in the building where the Albany weather service used to go to the roof to launch twice-daily weather balloons. It's now down to one at night, which she said it is worrisome heading into severe weather season.

For those of us east of the Rocky Mountains, this is probably the worst time of year, said Oklahoma's McPherson. It's the time of year that we have some of our largest tornado outbreaks, especially as we move into April and May.

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Former National Weather Service Director Elbert Joe Friday said the weather balloons get the detailed lower atmospheric level of temperature and humidity that can determine whether the atmosphere is going to be hot enough to set off severe storms and how intense they might be.

Satellites do a good job getting a big picture and ground measurements and radar show what's happening on the ground, but the weather balloons provide the key middle part of the forecasting puzzle  the atmosphere  where so much weather brews, several meteorologists said.

All of the 10 announced reductions are in the northern part of the United States. That's about where the jet stream  which is a river of air that moves weather systems across the globe  is this time of year, so not having as many observations is especially problematic, McPherson and Corbosiero said.

Weather balloons are also vital for helping forecast when and where it will rain, said Baker and another former NOAA chief, Rick Spinrad.

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The weather agency has been launching balloons regularly since the 1930s. During World War II, weather balloon launches in the Arctic helped America win the air battle over Europe with better forecasts for planes, former weather chief Friday said.

It takes 90 minutes to an hour to fill a weather balloon with helium or hydrogen, get it fitted with a sensor, then ready it for launch making sure the radiosonde doesn't drag on the ground, said Friday, who recalled launching a balloon in Nome, Alaska with 30 mph winds and windchill of about 30 degrees below zero.

Meteorologists then track the data for a couple hours before the balloon falls back to the ground for a total of about four of five hours work for one person, Friday said.

It's kind of fun to do, Friday said on Friday.

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-

Data journalist Mary Katherine Wildeman contributed from Hartford, Connecticut.

___

The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Insurance markets are trapped in a "vicious cycle" with worrying implications for homeowners and future economic growth, according to The New Statesman.

What's happening?

The insurance industry depends on historical claims and weather data to price risk, but this has created new challenges and profit losses for insurers amid an uptick in more intense extreme weather, as the British news magazine explained.

California, which was ravaged by Los Angeles area wildfires that caused approximately $275 billion in damages in January, established a last-resort insurance plan known as FAIR in 1968.

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Between 2020 and 2024, homeowners relying on this plan more than doubled, according to climate journalist Christopher Flavelle, as insurers are issuing nonrenewal notices or pulling out of traditionally high-risk states  though parts of America's heartland have also been impacted.

Despite these challenges, insurers worldwide continue to invest in notoriously polluting dirty energy companies. The burning of gas, oil, and coal accounts for more than 75% of human-caused pollution that is driving global temperatures higher  and supercharging our weather.

Why is this important?

As insurers continue to support an industry that has been aware of and has tried to hide its negative environmental impact, according to internal documents unearthed during an investigation by the House Oversight Committee  and detailed by Heated  they may be sowing seeds of an economic slowdown.

As The New Statesman pointed out, insurers make "things happen by mitigating risk." If they can't play that role, though, projects might not receive the support they need to launch.

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"Continuing to provide reinsurance for carbon intensive businesses and projects will become increasingly unsustainable," global insurance and reinsurance marketplace Lloyd's of London  the world's largest insurer of dirty fuels  told the magazine.

However, only 15 of the company's 51 managing agents have agreed to stop underwriting new coal projects, while 46 continue to underwrite new oil and gas fields.

What can be done about this?

Lloyd's said it would not interfere with its managing agents' underwriting decisions, but The New Statesman pointed out the company had the power to adapt its policies under the Lloyd's Act 1871 and other Parliamentary acts.

Do you think America is in a housing crisis? Definitely Not sure No way Only in some cities Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

For the time being, the firm appears to be eyeing how support for the clean energy market will shake out under the leadership of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who indicated that gas and oil would be part of the energy plan for at least decades to come, per the report.

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If you want to send a message that you value green initiatives, you can get involved by using your purchasing power to support brands and stocks that align with your values.

Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
The government announced Friday that Boeing won a $20B contract to manufacture the militarys new F-47 fighter jets. One jet will cost $300 million to make and it will be more technologically advanced than previous generations of fighter jets. Retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. John Teichert says the U.S. needs a leap of technology to overcome foreign threats, especially those from China. Teichert also offers his opinion on Elon Musks comments about the inefficient need for manned fighter jets.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation.
Claim:

In March 2025, the U.S. Department of Defense removed references of the Holocaust from its website.

Rating:

Rating: True

In early 2025, the U.S. Department of Defense removed at least three webpages related to the persecution and murder of Jews by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust

In a March 20, 2025, statement, a Pentagon spokesperson said: "Every now and then, because of the realities of AI tools and other software, some important content was incorrectly pulled offline to be reviewed. We want to be very, very clear. History is not DEI. When content is mistakenly removed, or if it's maliciously removed, we continue to work quickly to restore it."

As of March 21, at least one of the DOD pages about the Holocaust, a World War II cadet's interview about walking into concentration camps at the end of the war, was back online.

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Two months into U.S. President Donald Trump's second mandate, a rumor began to circulate that in an effort to scrub any and all references to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the Department of Defense had removed content about the Holocaust from its website.

For example, a post on X suggested that the removal of the pages on the Holocaust was "deliberate" and that the DOD had "erased history" (archived):

The Pentagon just erased history. 

Holocaust, 9/11, cancer awareness, sexual assault, suicide preventiongone.



This isnt a mistake, its a deliberate attack on truth.



They want ignorance through whitewashing.



Thank Drunk Hegseth for this vile act. https://t.co/D1tWG7kZvi  Jennifer Get In Good Trouble (@TheJenniWren) March 20, 2025

As of this writing, the post had garnered nearly 5,000 views and 120 likes. The claim spread on X, but also on Reddit, Instagram and Facebook. Further, several Snopes readers search the site for confirmation, or emailed us to inquire about the veracity of the rumor.

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On March 19, 2025, CNN said it had obtained a database of 24,000 webpages flagged for removal, and added that several pages had already disappeared from all the DOD websites, including pages about the Holocaust. This report sparked claims that this had been done to "erase history."

Snopes was able to confirm that in that effort to scrub the site of DEI content, those responsible had removed pages related to the Holocaust. For this reason, we deemed the claim true.

However, the DOD recognized that some pages had been removed by mistake, adding that it would endeavor to restore them. "We are currently culling through and restoring the pages erroneously taken down," a spokesperson for the Pentagon said in an email, without providing details about which pages would be pulled back from the archive and which would not.

While Snopes could not review the database directly, a review of missing pages confirmed CNN's assertion that content about the genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany during World War II had been taken down from the U.S. Air Force website, which the DOD hosts. For example, as of this writing, one page on Holocaust Remembrance Week remained inaccessible, though it had been saved on the internet Archive. The link to another report from 2017 on Kitty Saks (archived), a Holocaust survivor, also led to a "page not found" error page.

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However, a third article that had been reported as removed (preserved here)  a World War II cadet's interview about walking into concentration camps at the end of the war   was restored.

Sean Parnell, a spokesman for the Pentagon, posted a video statement on March 20, 2025, saying that those responsible for scrubbing the site of DEI references had used a blunt artificial intelligence tool to achieve this. He acknowledged that some pages may have been removed by mistake or deliberately, and that pages related to historical events would be restored:

Every now and then, because of the realities of AI tools and other software, some important content was incorrectly pulled offline to be reviewed. We want to be very, very clear. History is not DEI. When content is mistakenly removed, or if it's maliciously removed, we continue to work quickly to restore it.

Snopes reported on other claims that the Trump administration had removed, then restored, other content from its websites.

Sources:

Brushwood, Stephanie. 'A Cadet's Perspective: Holocaust Days of Remembrance'. Https://Web.Archive.Org/Web/20250228022223/Https:/Www.Usafa.Af.Mil/US-Air-Force-Academy-News/Commentaries/Commentary-View/Article/646812/a-Cadets-Perspective-Holocaust-Days-of-Remembrance/, https://www.usafa.af.mil/US-Air-Force-Academy-News/Commentaries/Commentary-View/Article/646812/a-cadets-perspective-holocaust-days-of-remembrance/.

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'Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell DEI Clarification Statement'. DVIDS, https://www.dvidshub.net/video/956012/chief-pentagon-spokesman-sean-parnell-dei-clarification-statement. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.

Joyner, Beverly. 'Days of Remembrance; Lessons Learned from the Holocaust'. Https://Web.Archive.Org/Web/20240625163101/Https:/Www.301fw.Afrc.Af.Mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1160566/Days-of-Remembrance-Lessons-Learned-from-the-Holocaust/, https://www.301fw.afrc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1160566/days-of-remembrance-lessons-learned-from-the-holocaust/.

Liebermann, Natasha Bertrand, Haley Britzky, Oren. 'Massive Purge of Pentagon Websites Includes Content on Holocaust Remembrance, Sexual Assault and Suicide Prevention | CNN Politics'. CNN, 19 Mar. 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/19/politics/pentagon-website-purge/index.html.

McNeil, Heather. 'Holocaust Remembrance Week'. U.S. Airforce, 2013, https://www.169fw.ang.af.mil/News/Commentaries/Article/454160/holocaust-remembrance-week/.


Claim:

An audio recording authentically captured U.S. President Donald Trump advocating to rename the District of Columbia the "District of America."

Rating:

Rating: Fake

A rumor that social media users circulated online in March 2025 alleged an audio file depicted U.S. President Donald Trump pondering renaming the District of Columbia the "District of America." Users shared the claim around two months after he signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

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Two of the more prominent shares of the "District of America" rumor occurred on TikTok. One user's video receiving more than 3.8 million views depicted the user listening to the purported audio recording, which played on a hypothetical scenario in which Trump confused the "Columbia" in the "District of Columbia" for the differently-spelled, South American country of Colombia. Trump purportedly said:

No more Washington, D.C. I hate it. It makes no sense. They call it the District of Columbia. It's got nothing to do with Colombia. It's nowhere near Colombia. From now on, it will be Washington, D.A., District of America. No more of this Columbia nonsense.

Another TikTok user's video receiving more than 3.1 million views featured the user saying, in part, "Where are Trump's advisers? Who is sitting back and letting that man say out loud with his whole chest that he wants to rename Washington, D.C., the District of Columbia, to the 'District of America'? Because, in his words, 'Why should it be Columbia?' He thinks the District of Columbia has to do with the country of Colombia. He doesn't even realize that the District of Columbia and the country are spelled differently. Like, this is our president."

However, the recording was not real and there was no evidence of the president wanting to rename Washington the "District of America." A social media user created the audio recording with an artificial intelligence tool. The voice sounded similar to Trump's but featured some slight differences in its tone and manner of speaking.

TikTok user @whmole  a handle meaning "White House mole"  appeared to be the creator of the "District of America" audio. However, a check of the account on March 21 displayed the message "Couldn't find this account," which meant its videos and inbox for direct messaging were no longer accessible. (We reached out to TikTok to ask whether the company removed the @whmole account or whether the user deactivated the page on their own, and a representative said TikTok was looking into the matter.)

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Webpage-archiving websites did not host any archived versions of the @whmole account's page. That said, before the account was deactivated, Snopes confirmed it was the source of several videos featuring fake, AI-generated audio clips of Trump  similar to the recording in question.

Also, a separate TikTok video with the audio of Trump supposedly talking about renaming the district to "District of America" displayed a watermark for @whmole, an indication that account was the recording's creator. That video's on-screen caption read, "Trump CAUGHT on a HOT MIC. Getting rid of Washington D.C.??! Wed March 12 2025. Wait til the end...."

We've covered other audio recordings with the @whmole watermark, including clips that supposedly depict Trump comparing his adviser Elon Musk to "Isaac Neutron" rather than English physicist Isaac Newton and advocating for an end to daylight saving time because people "die faster" when the clock moves an hour forward.

Sources:

Clarke, Amelia. "No Evidence Trump Compared Musk to 'Isaac Neutron' Instead of Isaac Newton." Snopes, 14 Mar. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-musk-isaac-newton/.

Esposito, Joey. "Yes, Trump Said He Wants to Rename the Gulf of Mexico the 'Gulf of America.'" Snopes, 7 Jan. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-rename-gulf-of-america/.
Claim:

Photographs show that NASA astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams came back to Earth with dark hair despite it being gray while she was in space.

Rating:

Rating: Miscaptioned

Context:

The photographs purportedly showing Williams after her return to Earth were taken in June 2024, before her space mission.

After NASA astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams returned to Earth on March 18, 2025  following an unexpectedly long stay at the International Space Station  rumors spread that her hair had grown out gray while in orbit but that she had dark hair by the time she splashed down off the coast of Florida.

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On X, users posted photographs of Williams, who was on the ISS for nine months after her capsule malfunctioned, claiming they were before-and-after shots of her return from space. One speculated that gravity had affected her hair color.

Another overlaid the side-by-side images with meme text reading: "When you spend 9 months stuck in space and come back with a tan and your hair did." The post implied that Williams hadn't actually been in space: "Nine months in 'zero gravity,' no barbers, no showers  but her gray hair magically transformed back to a rich, dark brown  no roots, no touch-ups, just pure space alchemy.  Must be that exclusive Orbit Salon & Spa packageonly available at Studio NASA!"

(X user @TNTJohn1717)

On TikTok, one video (archived) claimed the change had given those "who had always doubted" the astronaut had been in space reason to believe she had been "hiding in some filming base all along."

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The images of Williams with dark hair shared online were real photographs and not the result of manipulation or artificial intelligence. However, they were taken before her mission to the ISS; therefore, we have rated this claim as miscaptioned.

Several social media posts included photographs of Williams in a blue spacesuit. The French international news agency Agence France-Presse holds the rights to the photograph included in the X post above. It says photographer Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo took the image June 5, 2024, before Williams boarded the Boeing Starliner spacecraft in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Getty Images holds the rights to the photograph of Williams with dark hair included in the post below. The image's caption on Getty Images states it was taken in Cape Canaveral on June 1  the date of a canceled launch of the spacecraft.

(X user @truthache68)

(Getty Images)

The images of Williams with gray hair were taken while she was in space. The image included in the post below was a screenshot from a video taken aboard the ISS.

(X user @TNTJohn1717)

The Associated Press and British news network Sky News posted clips to YouTube of a NASA live event that documented Williams and others welcoming astronauts from the SpaceX Crew-10 as they docked at the International Space Station. The frames that match the screenshot can be seen in the AP's video at 3:14:20 and Sky News' video at 00:09.

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(Sky News)

NASA posted a portrait of Williams and her fellow astronauts in space, taken on Feb. 19, 2025, that further confirms her gray hair grew out while on board the ISS.

NASA also holds the rights to an image, seen below, that showed Williams after she arrived back on Earth on March 18 and clearly showed she had gray hair.

Snopes has covered other claims about NASA, including a rumor that former President Joe Biden left Williams and fellow astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore on the ISS for political gain and the truth behind an image purporting to show Saturn in the Cassini spacecraft's "final moments."

Sources:

Agence France-Presse. "NASA Astronauts Suni Williams, Wearing...," 5 June 2024, www.afpforum.com/AFPForum/Search/ViewMedia.aspx?mui=3&hid=A5F7FC39B1FCCBF49366F77A72865D680B6E3106D76B161C0482941441DFF6A1&cck=a1aff2. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

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Associated Press. "LIVE: Watch NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Docking to International Space Station." YouTube, 16 Mar. 2025, www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLza2no0Qgg. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

Boeing. "Boeing Starliner Spacecraft Completes Successful Launch." Boeing.com, 5 June 2024, investors.boeing.com/investors/news/press-release-details/2024/Boeing-Starliner-Spacecraft-Completes-Successful-Launch/default.aspx. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

Doyle, Tiernan P. "LIFTOFF! NASA Astronauts Pilot First Starliner Crewed Test to Station - NASA." Nasa.gov, 5 June 2024, www.nasa.gov/news-release/liftoff-nasa-astronauts-pilot-first-starliner-crewed-test-to-station/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

Getty Images. Boeing Starliner Prepares to Launch Manned Test Flight to International Space Station, 1 June 2024, www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/s-boeing-crew-flight-test-pilot-suni-williams-greets-people-news-photo/2155596977?adppopup=true. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

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---. Boeing Starliner Prepares to Launch Manned Test Flight to International Space Station, 5 June 2024, www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/s-boeing-crew-flight-test-commander-butch-wilmore-and-pilot-news-photo/2156180691?adppopup=true. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

---. Boeing Starliner Prepares to Launch Manned Test Flight to International Space Station, 5 June 2024, www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/s-boeing-crew-flight-test-commander-butch-wilmore-and-pilot-news-photo/2156181713?adppopup=true. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

---. Boeing Starliner Prepares to Launch Manned Test Flight to International Space Station, 5 June 2024, www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/s-boeing-crew-flight-test-commander-butch-wilmore-and-pilot-news-photo/2156180681?adppopup=true. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

---. Boeing Starliner Prepares to Launch Manned Test Flight to International Space Station, 5 June 2024, www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/s-boeing-crew-flight-test-commander-butch-wilmore-and-pilot-news-photo/2156178383?adppopup=true. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

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---. NASA Astronauts Return to Earth after 9-Month Delay, 18 Mar. 2024, www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/astronaut-suni-williams-is-helped-out-of-a-spacex-dragon-news-photo/2205269759?adppopup=true. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

Luabeya, Monika. "NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Members Pose for Portrait - NASA." NASA, 18 Mar. 2025, www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-spacex-crew-9-members-pose-for-portrait/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

NASA. "Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building  Kennedy Space Center." Nasa.gov, 5 June 2024, blogs.nasa.gov/kennedy/tag/neil-a-armstrong-operations-and-checkout-building/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

Sky News. "SpaceX Crew Welcomed into ISS to Replace Astronauts Stranded for Nine Months." YouTube, 16 Mar. 2025, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YtYcN8Bnw8. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

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Taveau, Jessica. "Welcome Home! NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Back on Earth after Science Mission - NASA." NASA, 18 Mar. 2025, www.nasa.gov/news-release/welcome-home-nasas-spacex-crew-9-back-on-earth-after-science-mission/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

Updates:

March 25, 2025: This report was updated to reflect the fact that NASA holds the right to the bottom image of Sunita Williams after she landed on Earth, not Getty Images.
Fairmont State University has named five West Virginia high school students as recipients of the Charles J. McClain Presidential Scholarship. Also known as the Presidential Scholarship, the award covers tuition, program fees, room and board, and provides a $500 per semester stipend for textbooks through the campus bookstore.

The 2025 Presidential Scholars are:

Bryanna Pyle of Webster Springs, WV  Webster County High School

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Hank Simmons of Clarksburg, WV  Robert C. Byrd High School

Kadyn McClure of New Martinsville, WV  Magnolia High School

Ella Markl of Slatyfork, WV  Pocahontas County High School

Emma Hartman of Franklin, WV  Pendleton County High School

The recipients will begin their studies at Fairmont State in fall 2025.

At Fairmont State University, we are committed to recognizing and supporting students who demonstrate exceptional academic achievement and leadership potential, said President Mike Davis. The Presidential Scholarship represents our investment in the future of these outstanding scholars and the impact they will have on our campus and beyond. We are proud to welcome this years recipients to Falcon Nation and look forward to seeing all they will accomplish.

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Bryanna Pyle plans to major in biology and hopes to attend optometry school after graduation. Her goal is to open an optometry practice in a rural area to improve access to eye care. She looks forward to joining the Fairmont community and welcoming new students.

This scholarship will allow me to focus on my schoolwork and get involved with my college community, as well as save money to attend optometry school out of state in the future, Pyle said.

Hank Simmons will major in computer science, hoping to explore career opportunities and build professional connections.

The Charles J. McClain Scholarship will allow me to fully apply myself to my studies without having to focus on the cost of college, Simmons said. I am so grateful for this opportunity and cannot wait to uphold this prestigious honor.

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Kadyn McClure plans to enter the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. She hopes to become a nurse practitioner specializing in womens health and inspire others to embrace lifelong learning.

The Charles J. McClain Scholarship will affect my college career by allowing me to focus solely on my studies, not the debt I am creating, said McClure. I will still choose to work for fun, but I am thankful it isnt a necessity now. In addition, it will act as motivation for me to do well since I know my academic successes are being recognized!

Ella Markl will major in national security and intelligence and minor in political science, though she is considering a double major. She is passionate about national security and counterterrorism and hopes to pursue a career in the federal workforce. Markl also plans to continue her education in graduate school.

The Charles J. McClain Scholarship is a true blessing for me, Markl said. Without it, I would have carried a financial burden throughout my four years. I am beyond grateful for this opportunity and look forward to representing Fairmont State.

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Emma Hartman will major in elementary education and is passionate about teaching young children, particularly those who struggle academically. She hopes to earn a masters degree in education to further her impact as an educator.

This scholarship will have a huge impact on my college career by relieving a financial burden, Hartman said. It will allow me to focus on my education without the stress of working multiple jobs to pay for school.

To maintain the Charles J. McClain Presidential Scholarship, first-year recipients must achieve a minimum 2.75 GPA by the end of their first year. In subsequent years, students must maintain a 3.0 GPA and complete at least 30 credit hours annually. The scholarship is renewable for up to eight semesters.

To learn more about the Charles J. McClain Presidential Scholarship, visit https://www.fairmontstate.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/charles-j-mcclain-presidential.aspx.
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  A flea market will be held in Washington Court House on Saturday.

Cedarville University senior Chayton Gearhart organized the faith-based event. He will receive his degree in business management this May.

Multiple different businesses will participate. Some highlighted from the Village of Cedarville are Immersion Coffee Company, Crowned Chains jewelry and Eves Original Sin Cookies.

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This is a chance to have a communal event focused on faith in Christ through continuing connectivity, faith and worship, said Gearhart.

There is no admission fee but donations will be accepted to fund mission trips.

I have an amazing team who makes this possible, and Im blessed to work with them, shared Gearhart.

Gearharts team includes Windsor Rapp, a senior communication major, Hannah Yost and Emily Campbell.

The market will be open from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Cedarville University is one of the top three evangelical Christian schools in the county. To learn more about the school, click here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com.
COLBERT COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT)  The family of a man found hanged in Colbert County last year  who had a pending lawsuit against the Sheffield Police Department  is asking a court to allow it to file an updated lawsuit.

The family of Dennoriss Richardson wants to add three Sheffield Police Officers, Anthony Strickland, Elbert Pope, and Wes Holland to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges Richardsons rights were violated and he was assaulted while in custody with SPD. The lawsuit already named SPD, former Police Chief Ricky Terry and former Officer Max Dotson, among others.

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Richardson was found dead by hanging in September 2024 at an abandoned house. The Colbert County Sheriffs Office originally ruled the death a suicide, but Sheriff Eric Balentine later asked the FBI to investigate the case.

Richardsons wife Leigh Richardson told News 19 that she does not believe her husband killed himself. A private autopsy was done by the family in late December 2024 and said it lacked conclusive proof that Richardson died by suicide.

The current lawsuit is focused on Richardsons prior arrest by Sheffield police and does not focus on wrongful death claims in the wake of his death.

At the same time, attorneys representing the family are asking to amend the lawsuit to add claims that Richardson was maliciously prosecuted, not given adequate medical care, suffered undo emotional distress due to negligence, was held in a facility that did not meet state standards and that jail personnel were negligent due to allowing another inmate to steal his belongings.

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Richardsons attorneys said in the latest court filing that proposed amendments to the lawsuit are meant to address issues raised in a defense motion to dismiss the case.

Richardson originally filed the case in February 2024. The lawsuit originally said that Richardson was subjected to unconstitutional arrests and violence at the hands of the Sheffield Police Department officer while in the lobby of Sheffield Municipal Court and in jail in the City of Sheffield from November 30 to December 1 of 2022.

The lawsuit also claims that Richardson was attacked by police while in jail and attempting to phone for medical attention in January of 2024.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHNT.com.
Loved ones are protesting and calling for justice after a man was shot and killed by Los Angeles police officers during a traffic stop

Mario Sanchez, 35, was holding a cell phone when the deadly shooting occurred.

On March 14, police spotted a vehicle driving erratically on Imperial Highway, just east of Broadway, at around 10:20 p.m.

Officers pulled the car over and ordered Mario to lower his windows and place his hands outside the vehicle. Thats when Mario reportedly began yelling profanities at officers. Moments later, he stepped out of his vehicle and faced the officers.

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He allegedly removed a dark object from his waistband area and quickly pointed it at them. Thats when police opened fire and shot Mario. He was transported to the hospital where he later died.

Investigators later confirmed the object Mario had pointed at police was a cell phone. He was reportedly driving home from work when the shooting occurred.

Mario Sanchez is seen with family and loved ones. (Sanchez Family) Loved ones are calling for justice after Mario Sanchez was shot and killed by Los Angeles police officers during a traffic stop on March 14, 2025. (KTLA) Video showed the moment Mario Sanchez, 35, was fatally shot by Los Angeles Police Department officers during a traffic stop on March 14, 2025. (Coalition for Community Control Over the Police) Video showed the moment Mario Sanchez, 35, was fatally shot by Los Angeles Police Department officers during a traffic stop on March 14, 2025. (Coalition for Community Control Over the Police) Loved ones are calling for justice after Mario Sanchez was shot and killed by Los Angeles police officers during a traffic stop on March 14, 2025. (KTLA) Mario Sanchez, 35, was holding a cell phone when he was fatally shot by Los Angeles Police Department officers during a traffic stop on March 14, 2025. (Citizen) Loved ones are calling for justice after Mario Sanchez was shot and killed by Los Angeles police officers during a traffic stop on March 14, 2025. (KTLA) Loved ones are calling for justice after Mario Sanchez was shot and killed by Los Angeles police officers during a traffic stop on March 14, 2025. (KTLA) Loved ones are calling for justice after Mario Sanchez was shot and killed by Los Angeles police officers during a traffic stop on March 14, 2025. (KTLA)

On Friday, loved ones and community members gathered outside LAPDs Southeast station calling for justice. They want criminal charges filed against the officers involved in Marios death.

They shot him in the head, said Mirca Sanchez, Marios sister. They shot him all over his body  more than 30 times. This is not fair. We need the police to pay for what they did. I want them prosecuted.

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According to the L.A. County Medical Examiners websites office, the primary cause of death was listed as a gunshot wound to the head.

Can you imagine seeing someone gunned down on the ground, like an animal, and then picked up, handcuffed and thrown into a car after theyre not showing any vital signs? said Alejandro Villalpando, an activist with Coalition for Community Control Over the Police. That is what people report that they saw. That is unjust.

Marios family said he was a father of two children who was weeks away from celebrating his 36th birthday.

We will never be the same after this, Mirca said. They took our lives.

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The case remains under investigation by LAPDs Force Investigation Division and the California Department of Justice.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
CHICAGO  A Cook County judge on Saturday ordered a South Shore father detained after authorities said he left a loaded handgun unattended where his sons played it and were shot.

The father, Derrick Taylor, 32, was not present for the detention hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building where he faced felony charges for child endangerment and felon possessing a firearm, according to court records. Taylor remained hospitalized for a mental health evaluation following his arrest on Thursday.

Authorities said that Taylors sons, Josiah Hooker, 8, and a 5-year-old found a loaded 9mm Smith and Wesson semiautomatic handgun on a television stand that Taylor had left unattended at the family home in the 1400 block of East 71st Place when they were both wounded around 5:20 p.m. on Thursday.

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A sleeping Taylor was awakened by a loud noise and found Josiah with a gunshot to the head, according to police. Taylor picked up the boy and ran outside, seeking help from a neighbor, who called police. A mail carrier on her route performed CPR on the child until an ambulance arrived. Josiah and his brother were taken to Comer Childrens Hospital, where the older boy was pronounced dead. His younger brother was listed in good condition. It wasnt immediately clear which child fired the gunshot. Autopsy results for Josiah were delayed pending the polices investigation.

Three other young children were at the home at the time but werent injured. Police recovered the empty handgun from the scene, police said. In 2011, Taylor pleaded guilty to a residential burglary charge and was legally unable to own a firearm, authorities said.

Taylors case will return to court on Monday.
Unlike many families who blame Israel's government for not getting their loved ones released from captivity in Gaza, Adi Alexander is hesitant to point fingers. Pragmatic and measured, the father of the last living American being held hostage by Hamas just wants his son to come home.
A Fayette County Public Schools instructional assistant was arrested Friday on child pornography charges, according to court records.

William Adam Lyle, 42, was listed on the district website as working in special education at Lexingtons Northern Elementary school.

As of Saturday, district officials are not aware of any victims connected to Fayette County Public Schools.

He was a paraeducator with FCPS and was placed on immediate administrative leave,  district spokesperson Dia Davidson-Smith told the Herald-Leader Friday.

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Once FCPS was informed about this employees arrest on Friday morning, FCPS administrators acted immediately to place him on administrative leave, which is required by district policy, Davidson-Smith said. FCPS also provided immediate support to all law enforcement agencies responding to this investigation.

As of today(Saturday), we are not aware of any victims connected to FCPS, Davidson Smith said Saturday. Any questions about this investigation or anyone who feels they may have information that is relevant to this investigation, are asked to contact Lexington Police.

Lyles arrest citation -- shared with the Herald-Leader by WKYT --said he had been charged with possessing matter portraying sexual performance of a child under 12.

Lyle admitted to previously possessing known sexual assault images and videos that he acquired online and had saved to a hard drive and uploaded to an electronic service based cloud belonging to him, according to the citation.

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The reported images depicted children under the age of 12 in various poses and acts of sexual performance. Lyle admitted to having deleted the images and videos after receiving a warning email shutting down his accounts, the citation said.

The Fayette County Detention Center website said Lyle remained there Friday night.

A September 2022 investigation by the Herald-Leader highlighted the problem of teacher sexual misconduct in Kentucky. The newspaper obtained 194 cases of teachers who voluntarily surrendered or had their license revoked or suspended from 2016 to 2021. Of those, 118  61%  lost their license due to sexual misconduct.

The Kentucky General Assembly in 2023 and 2024 failed to pass a bill that would strengthen a schools ability to prevent child sexual abuse by adult staff.

With two days left in the 2025 session, similar legislation, House Bill 36 sponsored by Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, has not passed.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA)  At this months Washington County Veterans Town Hall on March 21, Fayetteville Mayor Molly Rawn spoke to veterans about future developments in the city.

Rawn discussed topics including developing more housing and infrastructure to keep up with population growth, efforts to develop better public transportation in the city, and potentially having a Veterans Day Parade in Fayetteville. She also expressed interest in working closer with Fayetteville Public Schools and the University of Arkansas as the city continues to develop.

City of Fayetteville partners with Ozark Compost and Swap to provide curbside waste collection program

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Razorback Transit, we have a great relationship. University communications, we have a great relationship. I think the relationship that we really need to work on is at that administrative chancellors office level, said Rawn, We dont have to stop having those discussions about the problems right now. We need to continue those. We also have to start talking about the problems that arent here yet, and how we prevent them. So, what is the 10-year plan? What is the 20-year plan?

Local veteran organizations said theyre excited about the chance to speak to the mayor about the questions they get from the veterans they work with daily.

Anytime you can get in front of someone from the city council, the mayors office, the governor, a senator, those are important conversations. Especially for us in the veteran community, said John Parker, Director of Communications for Sheep Dog Impact Assistance, We want to share with them what we hear from veterans all over the country, and we want to voice the concerns that we hear from the veterans and first responders that we deal with every single day.

You can watch the town hall in the video player above.

These organizations also said the town hall has made them more hopeful for the future of the veteran community in Northwest Arkansas.

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A lot of people call here weekly, daily. You know, just asking, kind of like fishing for information of what makes this area so good, said Ben Dykes, the Director of Washington County Veterans Services, And its easy to see whenever you have our county judge here and the city mayor all on the same page. I mean, thats a real big vote of confidence.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KNWA FOX24.
FBI agents are working around the clock  some in 12-hour overnight shifts  on a frenzied mission this week.

The urgent work isnt an impending national security threat, but instead reviewing documents and other evidence in the investigation of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to make redactions before the Justice Department releases them publicly, according to people familiar with the situation.

The frantic effort is trying to solve a problem largely of the White Houses own making: Trump allies spent months fanning conspiracies over Epsteins suicide death and whether the government was holding on to information that could expose prominent people who may have been in involved in his alleged crimes.

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Last month, Attorney General Pam Bondi touted the release of Epstein files, which was met with derision from Trumps MAGA supporters who expected to learn new information and were underwhelmed by what they saw.

Agents have been ordered to set aside investigations, including some related to threats from China and Iran, to help complete the redactions, people briefed on the matter say.

Every division in the bureau has been ordered to provide agents to the cause, including those who work on criminal and national security matters. This weekend, agents in the Washington field office are spending hours on redaction duty, people briefed on the matter say.

Under Attorney General Bondis leadership, the Department of Justice is working relentlessly to deliver unprecedented transparency for the American people, a Justice Department spokesperson said in response to CNNs inquiry. An FBI spokesman added, All appropriate administrative and legal requirements are being adhered to.

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For much of the week, agents could be seen filing into a room at FBI headquarters, with some also doing the work at field offices in New York and at an FBI office in Chantilly, Virginia, the sources said. For hours, agents sit at banks of computers, using editing software to identify redactions required under federal laws, including the Privacy Act. The material also includes video.

Bondi ordered the current round of redactions after promising to release all evidence related to the Epstein investigation. The first tranche, released in February, consisted largely of documents already in the public domain.

The Justice Department called the release symbolic, and Bondi said in a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel that she belatedly learned that investigators in New York, which led the Epstein case, had held on to thousands of pages of documents. She demanded the documents and video be produced to her office promptly.

There will be no withholdings or limitations to my or your access. The Department of Justice will ensure any public disclosure of these files will be done in a manner to protect the privacy of victims and in accordance with law, as I have done my entire career as prosecutor, Bondi wrote to Patel.

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The problem remains, however, that Justice and FBI officials dont believe the new documents set to be released in the coming days will contain any bombshells. Officials expect that even after the release of the latest documents, people who believe there are secrets being covered up will likely continue to believe there is a cover-up, much like how cottage industry of conspiracies have continued to flourish over President John F. Kennedys assassination.

Even weeks after the release of the first tranche of documents, social media posts about other Justice Department enforcement matters are bombarded with replies from apparent pro-Trump accounts demanding more substantive releases of the so-called Epstein files.

A Justice official says that even if the latest tranche of documents dont satisfy questions from critics, the department is satisfied that the public will end up having access to more documents and evidence than they would have if Bondi hadnt ordered the review.

The goal is transparency, the official said.

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The Epstein documents review is part of a wider release of records promised by President Donald Trump, including documents related to the assassinations of Martin Luther King and President Kennedy.

Thousands of pages of JFK assassination documents released earlier this week were the subject of another controversy because some peoples Social Security numbers and other private information were left unredacted.

Experts said that the JFK records didnt contain new information to support conspiracies about who killed the president. Tom Samoluk, who was a deputy director of the Assassination Records Review Board, told CNN that from what he reviewed, there isnt anything to change the current conclusion of Kennedys assassination: that a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, was responsible for his death.

The pending release of Epstein documents raised concerns that victims could be re-victimized if their personal information is released.

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Kristina Rose, former director of the Justice Departments Office for Victims of Crime, urged the FBI and Justice Department to ensure the redactions are done to protect victims information.

Revealing personally identifiable information from the Epstein files without the victims permission or consultation is a shocking betrayal of trust and an appalling violation of the Justice Departments own policies, Rose said. The Justice Department has a solemn responsibility to protect the private information of crime victims and witnesses. Failing to do so can cause unnecessary trauma and anguish, and compromise victim safety  even the tiniest amount of personal information can be easily traced back to them.

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Fearing cuts to their Social Security benefits, hundreds of South Floridians gathered at a Fort Lauderdale church Saturday morning for a rally and town hall with Martin OMalley, the agencys former commissioner under Biden.

The biggest questions on their minds: What is going to happen to them and what can they do about it?

OMalley, who helmed the Social Security Administration for about a year until last November, has been traveling throughout Florida to speak out against the Trump administrations cuts to the program, led by Elon Musk, and answer residents questions in a series of events organized by the advocacy group Save Social Security and Medicare Now. Thousands previously gathered in Central Florida and the Tampa area to hear him speak, according to the organization.

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At Fort Lauderdales Christ Church on Saturday, over 400 people, many in their 60s and older, sat in pews to listen to OMalley speak, waving signs that read Stop Elon Musks plan to steal our Social Security.

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Though the White House has said in recent statements that Trump will not cut Social Security or Medicare benefits, Musks Department of Government Efficiency has already begun slashing the agencys workforce. In defending the cuts, Musk has claimed widespread fraud within the agency, and in a recent podcast with Joe Rogan, he called the program the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.

OMalley rejected that comparison Saturday, explaining to residents that the program intentionally draws from a surplus, invested in U.S. Treasury notes, to make up the difference between what it pays out in benefits and what it takes from peoples paychecks.

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This is far from a Ponzi scheme, OMalley said. Its a pay-as-you-go scheme.

The agency was already overwhelmed by the surge in baby boomers seeking benefits and a simultaneous reduction in staffing over the last 10 years, OMalley said. Its staffing is the lowest it has been in 50 years. But OMalley said he and others were working to turn that around, and more recently had managed to cut down wait times by several minutes.

Then the election happened, he said, and much of that progress has been dismantled as leaders are reassigned or fired and rank-and-file employees exit the agency in droves. Now, many people who rely on the agency are waiting hours on hold to even get someone on the phone.

During the question-and-answer session, South Floridians aired concerns and asked questions about what they could do. Some made suggestions on ways to combat the Trump administration, including one woman who proposed emulating the general strikes in France.

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In his responses, OMalley sought to strike an optimistic tone. Later, after the session, he pulled out a guitar and led the room in singing This Land Is Your Land.

Matt Till, a millennial in his 40s, asked how people in his generation who already are skeptical of this system could defend it when they are told it wont be there for them when they retire.

OMalley said it was important for older generations to have those conversations with their younger family members.

When I was in high school and college they told me it wouldnt be there for me either, he said.

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Several attendees expressed dissatisfaction with both Republican and Democrat members of Congress for not doing more to stand up to Trump and Musk. One person yelled, Wheres Jared Moskowitzs rep? when local members of the Democratic Party, including a woman on Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultzs team, were introduced in the audience.

Democrats dont seem to have any plan right now, which is disappointing, Peter Lynch, 66, of Pompano Beach, told the Sun Sentinel. At least (OMalleys) going out talking about it.

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What should we do besides calling our congressmen? Alice Simon asked OMalley. We need a plan of action and strategy, thats what Im asking.

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OMalley encouraged people to continue showing up, referencing a recent town hall in which protesters brought in a cardboard figure of a congressperson. Calling congresspeople can make a bigger difference than people realize, he added, because they extract data from those calls to determine the issues that matter to their constituents.

David Lieberman, 62, of Hollywood, works in senior services and is a couple years away from retiring.

Im kind of scared to ask the question, but I think we need to hear the answer, he told OMalley.  Weve been talking about current state. Youve been teaching us about current state. Look two years ahead and, in stark terms, tell us what this would be like for someone applying and for someone getting these benefits.

Who can predict the future? I dont know, OMalley replied.  I feel lucky and blessed to be able to be one of the Americans that gets to fight this fight right now for this agency.

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Asked how he felt about OMalleys response, Lieberman told the Sun Sentinel, I understand why he tried to focus on the positive, but Im still concerned about what happens.

Another attendee, Jackie Rodriguez, used to work as a technical assistant for the Social Security department. She loved her job, she said, but retired recently due to what she saw as a sinking ship. As Rodriguez stood at the microphone Saturday, she got choked up.

I answered those calls, she said, and I served those people.
Editors note: Federal Fallout is a Tribune-Democrat news series addressing the potential local impact of funding cuts.

JOHNSTOWN, Pa.  Years of concerted efforts among local organizations to address the needs of the regions most vulnerable residents are up against a wall of legislative challenges.

Facing potential federal funding cuts for housing, medical assistance, transportation, food programs and educational opportunities, community stakeholders are preparing to shift local philanthropic resources in ways that harken back to their response during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Federal Fallout logo

If the region sees federal funding streams dry up, organizations  including the 1889 Foundation, which alone supports more than 50 nonprofit health and human service initiatives with millions of local dollars each year  would have to pivot from funding initiatives geared toward long-term public health to help meet more immediate needs of the areas population.

Sue Mann

Sue Mann

We know that we are going to struggle, but together, we are going to figure it out, 1889 Foundation President Susan Mann said. There are groups and organizations with resources here, and we are going to figure out how to keep them here and grow them.

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Scores of local organizations have banded together in recent years around improving public health outcomes by focusing on priorities laid out in a comprehensive, collaborative analysis of Cambria and Somerset counties populations, resources, services and public health data.

The Community Health Needs Assessment, initiated in 2019 and updated every three years, is coordinated by the Center for Population Health along with Conemaugh Health System, the 1889 Foundation and the United Way of the Southern Alleghenies.

Weve been more collaborative in the past five, maybe even close to 10 years than weve probably ever been, said Jeannine McMillan, executive director of the Center for Population Health.

Jeannine McMillan

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Jeannine McMillan

Theres some incredible work being done right now in both Cambria and Somerset counties to try to address some of the really dire health and human service outcomes in the region, she said.

According to County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, Cambria and Somerset counties have more premature deaths, more people in poor health, more children living in poverty, and higher air pollution levels than statewide and national averages.

Squeeze from D.C.

A partial list of programs implemented since the initial 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment includes housing rehabilitation and stabilization programs, a community health worker program to provide care coordination for at-risk individuals, community diaper banks, early childhood initiatives to meet educational and health needs of children from birth to age 8, and expansion of food security and healthy food efforts.

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FEDERAL FALLOUT | 'Trips are life-sustaining': CamTran Medicaid-funded program on schedule despite potential cuts

In a region where more than a quarter of residents receive Medicaid to pay for health care services and where doctors' offices and pharmacies are far-flung across rural areas, public transportation is a key part of public health.

However, those same types of programs face a flurry of federal budget cuts set in motion by President Donald Trumps executive orders.

Since beginning his new term in January, Trumps efforts to reduce federal spending have led to long-term cuts, implemented or potentially on the table, that jeopardize numerous programs at the local level, the area leaders said.

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Organizations working in early childhood interventions, federally reimbursed medical services, housing programs for people facing abuse or who are housing-insecure, transportation programs, federal tuition assistance for students seeking college education, job training and placement programs, and food assistance programs are a few experiencing funding snarls.

Morrell Neighborhood School | USDA Funding

Morrell Neighborhood School Pre-Kindergarten students play during a recess period at the school on Power Street in the Cambria City section of Johnstown on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.

Federal cuts would especially have an economic effect on Cambria and Somerset counties, where poverty rates are higher than many other parts of the state and nation, McMillan said.

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In both Cambria and Somerset counties, more than 40% of the population lives on less than $50,000 annually, with the percentage in Cambria County closer to 50%, according to the Center for Population Health. And unemployment rates in both counties are at 5.4%, which is higher than the state and national averages.

Food security in focus

In Pennsylvania, 15.4% of residents receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to supplement their grocery budgets, the eighth-highest rate across the United States, according to a Trace One study.

SNAP usage is even higher in Cambria and Somerset counties: 20% of Cambria Countys population and 15% of the population in Somerset County receive support.

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Karen Struble Myers

Karen Struble Myers

Across the region  including Cambria, Somerset and Blair counties  one in six children faces food insecurity, and even more qualify for free and reduced school lunches, said Karen Struble Myers, president and CEO of the United Way of the Southern Alleghenies, which distributes funding for food and shelter programs in Cambria County.

The United Way is the administrator for federal emergency food and shelter funding that comes into Cambria County.

Those funds have not been released, she said, so we are operating at a zero balance for those organizations that would typically receive that.

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Many of the federal cuts are being heavily contested in court; however, Struble Myers said organizations are either having work delayed or are not moving forward with projects because of the risk to funding.

I think one of the things as nonprofits that we have to look at is what balance of funding comes from what source, state, local or federal, she said, so we have to do an internal risk assessment to determine what work moves forward in the community.
WHITLEY, Ky. (FOX 56)  Multiple law enforcement agencies worked together on Friday, March 21 to help U.S. Marshals search for a federal fugitive.

The Corbin Police Department posted on Facebook that officers joined Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the Knox County Sheriffs Department, the Whitley County Sheriffs Department, and the Williamsburg Police Department in helping the U.S. Marshals find and apprehend Christopher Lee Jones, 33, at a residence in the Rockholds community.

U-Haul truck full of kids headed for Florida found at Madison County truck stop

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Jones fled from officers through a hole in the floor of the residence and was located inside of a crawl space beneath the floor, Corbin police wrote. Jones eventually complied with officers commands, exiting the crawl space, and was taken into custody without incident.

Through executing a search warrant, officers reportedly found a large quantity of methamphetamine, cash, drug paraphernalia, and guns.

A large quantity of guns, cash, and drugs were found on Friday at the residence of Christopher Lee Jones, 33. (Corbin Police Department)

Corbin officers said Christopher Lee Jones, 33, had been living in deplorable conditions. (Corbin Police Department)

According to law enforcement, the residence Jones was found to allegedly be hiding in had deplorable living conditions. His girlfriend, Michaela Kay Sullivan, and three children allegedly also lived there.

LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS:

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Sullivan was also arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree criminal abuse of a minor under age 12, first-degree criminal abuse, first-degree trafficking in methamphetamine greater than or equal to two grams, and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center.

Jones was reportedly charged in connection with a federal arrest warrant for absconding federal parole supervision, per Corbin police. He was lodged in the Laurel County Correctional Center.

The fugitive investigation remains ongoing.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 56 News.
A lawsuit filed late Friday accuses the Trump administration of unlawfully shutting down the Voice of America and asks a federal court to restore the outlet that for decades has supplied news about the United States to nations around the world  including many that lack a free press of their own.

The case, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, was brought by Voice of America reporters, Reporters Without Borders and a handful of unions against the U.S. Agency for Global Media and Kari Lake, the failed Arizona candidate who is President Trump's representative there.

In many parts of the world, a crucial source of objective news is gone, and only censored state-sponsored news media is left to fill the void, the lawsuit said.

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Lake has described the broadcast agency as a giant rot that needs to be stripped down and rebuilt.

Voice of America dates to World War II as a source of objective news, often beamed into authoritarian countries. Funded by Congress, it is protected by a charter that guarantees its product pass muster for journalistic rigor.

Suit accuses the administration of taking a chainsaw approach

The lawsuit charges that the Trump administration has effectively shut it down unlawfully in the past week. Republicans have complained that the news source is infected by left-wing propaganda, a contention its operators say isn't backed up factually.

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The second Trump administration has taken a chainsaw to the agency as a whole in an attempt to shutter it completely, the lawsuit said. There was no immediate response Friday to a request for comment from the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America and a handful of sister networks.

In an interview with Newsmax earlier this week, Lake described Voice of America as like having a rotten fish and trying to find a portion that you can eat.

In a post on X, she said the Agency for Global Media is a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer  a national security risk for the nation  and irretrievably broken. While there are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception rather than the rule.

Clayton Weimers, executive director of Reporters Without Borders in the United States, said his organization was compelled to act to protect Voice of America and the broader press freedom community.

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There are other media-related actions, too

At VOA's sister operation, Radio Free Asia, unpaid furloughs took effect on Friday for roughly 240 people in the operation's Washington office, or 75% of the staff members, spokesman Rohit Mahajan said. Radio Free Asia has also moved to cancel freelance contracts with people who helped the agency gather news overseas.

Radio Free Asia also expects to file a lawsuit to keep congressionally-appropriated funding flowing, Mahajan said.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty filed suit on Tuesday, asking the U.S. District Court in Washington to compel the U.S. Agency for Global Media to make its next payment. RFE/RL currently broadcasts in 23 countries across Europe and Asia, in 27 different languages.

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In its lawsuit, the organizations called the denial of funding unprecedented and said it has already forced operations to be significantly scaled back. Without its congressionally appropriated funds, RFE/RL will also be forced to stop the vast majority of its journalistic work and will be at risk of ceasing to exist as an organization, they argued.

___

David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social
NEW YORK  Manhattan federal prosecutors, nerves shaken in recent weeks by clashes with Justice Department officials in Washington, have been asking themselves one question: What will Jay Clayton do?

Clayton is President Donald Trumps nominee to be the U.S. attorney for Manhattan. If confirmed by the Senate, he will lead one of the most powerful prosecutorial offices in the country  one that prides itself on its independence.

But for the rank-and-file prosecutors in the office, the intentions of Clayton  who has never worked as a prosecutor  are a mystery. Some have grown increasingly concerned that, rather than guarding the offices independence, he is inclined to enforce obedience to the Trump agenda being handed down from DOJ headquarters.

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On the one hand, Clayton, 58, is seen as an affable, experienced and principled lawyer with serious credentials, albeit not in criminal law. He led the Securities and Exchange Commission without significant controversy during the first Trump administration  and he even promoted diversity, equity and inclusion measures there. Since then, he has been a top lawyer at one of the most prestigious law firms in the country.

Prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. attorneys office, known formally as the Southern District of New York, initially viewed him as a largely benign pick, believing him to be better qualified than many of Trumps other nominees for law enforcement jobs.

On the other hand, a few recent developments have caused some people at SDNY to lose confidence in him  before hes even in the job. The firm where Clayton works, Sullivan & Cromwell, has recently forged close ties to Trump, agreeing to represent the president as he appeals his criminal conviction in the Manhattan hush money case. Clayton has tried to recruit another lawyer at the firm to be his deputy U.S. attorney.

And Clayton  who did not respond to requests for comment  has been publicly mum about a controversy that sparked a revolt within the office last month: the order from Trumps DOJ to drop criminal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. In recent weeks, word has spread among some rank-and-file prosecutors and alumni of the office that Clayton privately advised the interim head of the office, Danielle Sassoon, to follow the order rather than resign, according to four people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Sassoon declined to comment.

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A spokesperson for the office declined to comment.

Given Mr. Claytons silence on recent events and his firms newest client, President Trump, there is spreading nausea among the offices alumni that the proud tradition of independence and fierce integrity is eroding, said one former supervisor in the office who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. Theres a sense that the new world order means it is politics and payback that governs decision-making and that the notion of being on guard against interference is a punchline.

A gold-standard office

Arguably the most important federal prosecutorial office in the country, the Manhattan U.S. attorneys office oversees Wall Street and regularly prosecutes some of the biggest white-collar criminal cases. It has aggressively prosecuted public corruption cases against members of both political parties, including Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and, until recently, Adams, a Democrat.

Perhaps more importantly for Trumps purposes, the office could also play a role in the presidents desire for retribution against some of his past courtroom adversaries. Trump has called for investigations of several New York judges and prosecutors, including Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat who brought the hush money case. Any such probes might be conducted by the Manhattan U.S. attorneys office.

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Trump understands how critical the office is. Last November, fresh off his electoral victory, Trump announced Claytons nomination amid a blitz of nominations to Cabinet posts. It was the only U.S. attorneys job in the country to be grouped with the high-level positions in Washington. (Claytons nomination remains pending in the Senate.)

Claytons DEI work and friendship with a Trump foe

Clayton would come to the office with years of regulatory experience in the financial sector, as well as corporate governance and mergers-and-acquisitions work. He has handled the initial public offerings of Ally Financial and Alibaba Group, among many others. At the SEC, he was known for his focus on protecting retail investors.

He also has a decidedly un-Trumpy element of his resume: He championed diversity, equity and inclusion. Trump has attacked so-called DEI measures in his second term and has ordered DEI offices eliminated within all federal agencies.

But when he ran the SEC, Clayton promoted DEI, according to his biography on Sullivan & Cromwells website.

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Mr. Clayton and his senior leadership team made diversity, inclusion and opportunity a daily priority throughout the organization, the bio says.

Clayton developed the first Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan for the SEC, and he led the commissions diversity council. He also established a diversity and inclusion senior policy adviser position.

Clayton is also longtime close friends with one of Trumps nemeses: former Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, who oversaw multiple criminal investigations into Trump before being succeeded by Bragg. It was Bragg who secured the criminal conviction against Trump in the hush money case, where Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of business fraud to conceal payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Vance, a Democrat, described Clayton as well respected and a rare bird in the legal community.

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He doesnt do underhanded things, hes not a backstabber, Vance said, adding that its not a sign of weakness to him to ask questions.

Vance said he has offered to give Clayton guidance about the relationship between the Manhattan DAs office (a state-level entity) and the federal U.S. attorneys office that Clayton has been tapped to run. But when it comes to dealing with Trump, Jay is going to do what Jay thinks is right, and hes not going to do anything that he thinks is wrong, Vance said. He will hold his line.

An office already in revolt

Some SDNY prosecutors are not so sure. As they prepare for Claytons likely confirmation and arrival at the office, they are beginning to question whether he will seek to preserve the offices reputation for keeping Washington at arms-length, a dynamic that has earned it the nickname the Sovereign District of New York.

In January, Trump hired five lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell, including the firms co-chair, to handle the presidents appeal of his criminal conviction, further cementing Trumps links to the firm.

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Weeks later, DOJs then-No. 2 official, Emil Bove, ordered Sassoon to drop the Adams corruption case, which the office had spent years building. Bove told Sassoon that he wasnt questioning the strength of the evidence or the legal theories underpinning the case, but that the Trump administration believed the prosecution was interfering with the Democratic mayors ability to enforce Trumps immigration policies.

Adams is charged with wire fraud and bribery for allegedly participating in a yearslong conspiracy to receive illegal foreign campaign contributions. He has denied the allegations. (DOJs request to drop the charges remains pending before a judge.)

Rather than follow the order, Sassoon quit in protest, penning an eight-page letter rejecting Boves arguments and accusing him of improperly agreeing to abandon the case in exchange for the mayors support for Trump policies.

Her decision to resign rather than comply with Boves directive was widely praised by hundreds of alumni of the office, including seven former Manhattan U.S. attorneys. A wave of other career prosecutors  in both New York and Washington  similarly resigned in protest.

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Soon after, word of Claytons advice to Sassoon to follow Boves order began to circulate within the office.

Meanwhile, according to three people familiar with the matter who werent authorized to speak publicly, Clayton has begun soliciting possible deputies, eyeing a former Southern District public corruption prosecutor, James McDonald, to be deputy U.S. attorney, the No. 2 job in the office.

McDonald didnt respond to a request for comment.

McDonald is a fellow Sullivan & Cromwell partner whose career Clayton described on a podcast as nothing but meteoric. It appears unlikely, however, that McDonald will take the job, these people said. In January, he became one of the Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers hired to represent Trump.
Federal workers are sharply divided over President Donald Trumps return-to-office mandate, and more than a quarter of those who say they were previously able to do their jobs from home are actively looking for another job, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll.

Across the federal workforce, 49 percent of employees support and 50 percent oppose a five-day in-office requirement. But among federal employees who say their duties can be performed from home, 85 percent are in opposition, according to the poll. Meanwhile, 70 percent of workers who say they cant work remotely back the mandate.

Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post.

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The polls findings come amid a chaotic and rushed return-to-office push, in conjunction with the broad confusion over whether thousands of federal workers will be able to keep their jobs after several lawsuits have challenged the administrations efforts to dramatically reduce the workforce.

Some federal workers have reported that there is not nearly enough desk space for all of them, after many offices were downsized in recent years, and that they are forced to work in conference rooms or closets or kill time in hallways while they wait for desks to open up. The Federal Emergency Management Agency instructed supervisors to resolve some conflicts over workspaces via coin flip.

Some workers returned to the office only to learn that the Trump administration had canceled their buildings lease, while some remote employees were given just days notice to report to offices hundreds of miles away.

A Defense Health Agency employee in Florida, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said hed been teleworking since the coronavirus pandemic, reporting to the office two to three days a week, before he was ordered back full time.

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Personally, it was way easier to stay at home, he said. The work gets done at home or at the office. Productivity is no different.

The employee, who will soon turn 61, has worked for the federal government for more than 20 years and said the return-to-office mandate will probably cause him to retire early. I was originally going to work till 67 or something, he said. Now I think Ill go at 62, if Elon Musk doesnt fire me before then.

The Post-Ipsos poll finds that 37 percent of current federal employees say they can perform their duties from home. When employees of the U.S. Postal Service - which operates largely independently of the federal government and whose workers almost all need to be in post offices or the field - are excluded, that figure rises to 46 percent.

Of the workers who say their work can be done remotely, more than a third say they hadnt been assigned a specific desk or workspace.

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The poll finds that 57 percent of federal workers believe most or all of Trumps executive orders affecting their agency are illegal, and 71 percent of federal workers are concerned about the governments ability to function if large numbers of employees are terminated. Even among the 38 percent of federal workers who said they voted for Trump, fewer than half think he would improve their agencys ability to fulfill its mission.

A Defense Department employee in the Southeast, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said her subagency has had a telework culture since before the pandemic.

When I was hired, one of the selling points of the position - and career, really - was, hey, were a telework agency, she said. So you think, cool, work-life balance.

But in February, she and her colleagues were required to report in person five days a week, and the office wasn't equipped to accommodate all of them, she said, with workers forced to share cubicles intended for one person.

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When everyone rushed back, theres not enough space, not enough parking, not enough desks, not enough chairs, she said. Buildings were not ready to accommodate the masses.

Echoing a concern shared by employees of other federal agencies, she also said there is nowhere to get food in or near the office, with only a little micromart-type thing for employees who dont bring their own lunch.

James Otis, who works as a Transportation Security Administration supervisor at Chicagos OHare International Airport and as a U.S. Mmarshal, said the return-to-office mandate had been stressful. At the TSA, he said, many employees who had been working remotely or teleworking - reviewing camera footage from home, for example - quit rather than return to full-time in-person work, leaving a heavier workload for everyone else.

Now - like the 27 percent of remote-capable federal workers who say theyre looking for another job - hes contemplating a career change, too. In the past couple of weeks, Ive been looking for other stuff to do, Otis said. Hes considering jobs in private security, working with his father or opening his own business.

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Its just too much, he said of his workload.

- - -

The Washington Post-Ipsos poll was conducted Feb. 28-March 10, 2025, among 614 civilian federal workers as of Jan. 1, including 571 current federal workers. The survey was conducted online via the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, an ongoing survey panel recruited through random sampling of U.S. households. The overall results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5.1 percentage points, and among the sample of current workers, it is 5.3 points.

- - -

Graphics:

https://washingtonpost.com/documents/5576d369-b3da-48f5-b146-57797971fdcc.pdf

https://washingtonpost.com/documents/2629ed26-d622-4043-a195-5bfc8b776f0c.pdf

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https://washingtonpost.com/documents/694032b9-7e06-4d12-a429-4cd950b87c77.pdf

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welch  Making the aid application process simpler and less stressful for disaster survivors that lost everything and even loved ones to floods and other disasters is one of FEMAs ongoing goals, the agencys administrator said Friday while visiting a county still recovering from Februarys devastating flood.

Acting FEMA Director Cameron Hamilton stopped at McDowell Countys Welch Armory with U.S. Senator Jim Justice, R-W.Va., to see flood damage firsthand and speak with county officials about the ongoing recovery. McDowell County experienced the worst flood in its history on Feb. 15.

Driving through the area, we saw the waterlines where a lot of the flood waters came up and communities have this really amazing support, neighbors helping neighbors, Hamilton said. I saw a couple of distribution points for supplies.

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One goal was to see how FEMA could make its responses to disasters better.

We always want to improve. There are things weve done well and things we havent done well, Hamilton said. Thats why Im here, to understand all that. Like I said, every day we want to get better. Every day, we want to get faster. We want to insure we are communicating more and more clearly as the time goes on.

Hamilton said FEMA is still encouraging flood victims to apply for aid.

Thats absolutely true. Number one, if you dont know if youve been impacted, please go to DisasterAssistance.gov, he said. You can find information there. You can find out if youre in one of the regions thats been assigned and if youre also not sure, go to your state, county and local officials. Ask them for help. Ask them for their feedback and advice. Contact your emergency management.

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FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers are located at Bradshaw Town Hall and Mount View High School for survivors who want to speak with the agencys representatives personally.

Another goal is to make applying for assistance easier, Hamilton said.

We are. Were making sure we find ways to cut red tape everywhere, Hamilton said. The president cares very deeply about eliminating bureaucracy so that the American people can have simple and understandable solutions, so were looking at a variety of different methods, ways within DHS (Department of Homeland Security) within specifically FEMA to achieve that. Were simplifying the application process for survivors. Were simplifying our public and individual assistance programs so that theyre more easily understood. You dont need a Ph.D. in government bureaucracy to understand what you qualify for.

Those are some of many examples that were trying to make easier, more discernible because we care about survivors, he said. Theyve faced their worst day ever. Theres a woman I spoke to in North Carolina who lost her home, lost her husband within the same incident. These are some of the people applying for aid and assistance, so the easier and more comprehensible that we can make this application process, the better. Thats what we want to strive for.

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FEMA is also working with the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to streamline bureaucracy and find savings, Hamilton said.

Weve had the opportunity at FEMA specifically to work with some of our DOGE counterparts and I can tell you theyve been incredibly helpful and very informative, he said. Weve saved right now about $170 million worth of contracts that were duplicative and not necessary, so theres been a variety of things. Theyve been incredibly informative and theyve been strong partners with us to decentralize and cut bureaucracy. I can also tell you DOGE does not have the authority to fire federal employees. Thats not their role. Its not been their job. Theyre advisors. Theyre advisors that are trusted by the president and weve implemented them at FEMA. 

Hamilton also told the audience at the armory that President Donald Trump reviews each disaster declaration requests personally.

I can tell you the president reads every single declaration because the man deeply cares about people, he said. He cares about insuring theres a way we can provide resources and support and that we do so. That is the intention and the focus of this president and this White House. He reads every single declaration request that comes across his desk.

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Senator Justice said that President Trump knows about McDowell Countys people and cares about them.

And you would think in all honest heres a guy that always a tough guy  and he is  and hes a super smart guy, and Ive said it over and over you dont know, Justice said. I know. Im his buddy and he cares. He genuinely, genuinely cares. He wants to help. He really, really wants to help.

Hamilton said that his family has been touched by natural disasters.

Natural disasters are very personal to me and my family. I have the honor of being a FEMA administrator, but I can tell you that disasters have impacted my family in a variety of capacities, he said. Ive had friends and loved ones lose their homes in the fires of Northern California in 2017. Ive had family impacted by the flooding of western North Carolina. Ive also had family impacted, my own parents, in the flooding in Florida, so when I come here and talk to your constituents, talk to the citizens of this state, my counterparts, its because I do understand some of what theyve gone through.

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As the senator said, there are lives that have been lost that will never be replaced. I recall a phone call I had with a woman in North Carolina who watched her home washed away with her husband still inside of it, Hamilton said. Think about that. Thats what keeps me up. Thats what makes me want to make sure that the FEMA we respond with today is the FEMA that the American people deserve, so I just want to thank for your hospitality and the opportunity to speak with you specifically about disasters.

Contact Greg Jordan at

gjordan@bdtonline.com
(FOX40.COM)  The El Dorado County District Attorneys Office announced on Friday that Kamal Babatunde Yusuf has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the fentanyl-related death of 20-year-old Gillian Murray.

Video above: How deadly is fentanyl?

EDCDA stated that Yusuf will be sentenced to 15 to life on May 23, 2025. This is the maximum possible sentence allowed under the law for second-degree murder.

This conviction establishes clear accountability for fentanyl dealers whose actions result in death. The defendant was fully aware of the lethal nature of the substances he distributed and continued his activities with reckless disregard for human life. This prosecution reflects the gravity of the fentanyl crisis and the legal consequences that will follow, said District Attorney Vern Pierson.

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On May 6, 2022, EDCDA said that Yusuf sold counterfeit blue M30 oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl to Murray and her boyfriend in a Taco Bell parking lot in Folsom. Murray and her boyfriend went home and consumed one pill each.

PG&E file 2026 Cost of Capital applications, possible rise in bills

When Murrays boyfriend woke up, he found her unresponsive, not breathing, and called 911, EDCDA said.

When emergency responders arrived at the scene, they pronounced Murray dead and subsequent toxicology results revealed that she died from acute fentanyl poisoning, stated EDCDA.

After Murrays death, the El Dorado County Sheriffs Office, the Western El Dorado Narcotics Enforcement Team, along other WENET detectives, started to investigate the case which revealed the following:

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EDCDA stated that Yusuf conducted the sale through Snapchat under the username Mr. Sneeze. Snapchat messages were retrieved by forensics teams which confirmed his awareness of the drugs potency. He told the buyer to start with a half to avoid overdose, demonstrating the knowledge of its lethal background.

A search warrant was issued at Yusufs residence which resulted in the seizure of thousands of counterfeit fentanyl-laced M30 pills. When authorities found the surveillance footage, it showed hand-to-hand narcotics transactions linked to Yusuf, said EDCDA

Authorities said that Yufus had personally overdosed on fentanyl before this offense, proving he was aware of its extreme risk. Even though he knew the risk, Yusuf continued to distribute fentanyl-laced substances.

When in custody, Yusuf was recorded in jailhouse calls instructing his brother and associates to erase data from his phone to ruin the investigation and revealed further evidence of his guilt, said EDCDA.

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EDCDA posted on their Facebook, The successful prosecution of this case is the result of collaboration between agencies. Special thanks to Sergeant Mike Roberts of the El Dorado County Sheriffs Office and Special Assistant United States Attorney Matthew De Moura of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of California.

Sentencing will take place on May 23rd, said EDCDA. Yusuf has waived his right to appeal his sentence.

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A person died on early Saturday morning after a fiery crash on a freeway off-ramp in East Los Angeles, authorities confirmed.

The crash was reported at about 12:20 a.m. on the 500 block of Brittania Street in Boyle Heights. A California Highway Patrol spokesperson told KTLA that its believed that the crash originated on the Cesar Chavez Avenue off-ramp of the 10 Freeway.

The Los Angeles Police Department said four vehicles were involved in the collision.

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At least 10 vehicles damaged in high-speed hit-and-run crash in L.A.s San Fernando Valley

One driver was trapped in their vehicle after the crash, which became engulfed in flames. They were unable to exit the vehicle, and died at the scene.

The identification of the decedent was not yet available as of Saturday morning.

No additional details were immediately made available, although it is believed at least one other person was seriously injured.

Sofia Pop Perez contributed to this report.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
KIMBERLING CITY, Mo.  Local fire crews and law enforcement are investigating a fire at an apartment complex in Kimberling City early Saturday morning.

According to a post from the Southern Stone Fire Protection District, their firefighters and nearby fire departments responded to a fire at the Oak Apartments in Kimberling City just before 5 a.m.

Everyone in the apartments was evacuated safely with no injuries, but the fire significantly damaged the three-story apartment complex and displaced 19 families, according to the Kimberling City Police Department (KCPD). The fire also temporarily closed South State Highway 13 between James River and Lakeshore and Oak Street.

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Fatal car crash in Barry County kills 29-year-old man

KCPD says the fire is being investigated as arson and they have identified a suspect. The Missouri State Fire Marshals Office is also investigating the incident.

Anyone who has information about the incident can contact the KCPD at 417-739-2131 or submit an Anonymous Crime Tip form on KCPDs website.

(Courtesy: Southern Stone Fire Protection District)

(Courtesy: Southern Stone Fire Protection District)

(Courtesy: Southern Stone Fire Protection District)

(Courtesy: Southern Stone Fire Protection District)

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(Courtesy: Southern Stone Fire Protection District)

(Courtesy: Southern Stone Fire Protection District)

(Courtesy: Kimberling City Police Department)

(Courtesy: Southern Stone Fire Protection District)

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Members of the Plymouth Fire Department were dispatched to a condominium complex at 7 Tideview Path earlier Friday night.

Once on scene, crews observed fire and smoke coming from the second-floor window.

Initial investigation presumed that a resident on the second floor had left food in the stove unattended for 15 minutes, and returned to the fire.

The fire extended up to parts of the third floor and up into parts of the roof.

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Crews were able to knock down the fire in roughly 30 minutes. However, all 12 units received some form of smoke, water, or fire damage, leaving the building uninhabitable.

The Red Cross is at the scene, assisting the towns Emergency Operations Center in finding housing for an unknown number of residents.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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The IRS employee was a nervous wreck.

He had been worried for weeks that his job would be cut as part of the next round of President Donald Trump and Elon Musks cuts to the federal workforce. The worker, who prefers to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, was constantly searching for updates on a Reddit forum for federal workers, and glued to a group chat with his coworkers.

I was just kind of a mess because I knew it was pretty much over, he says.

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Thats why when the ax finally fell, and his manager called to let him know he had been cut, it felt almost like a relief. He was fired along with thousands of other probationary workers in what was dubbed the Valentines Day Massacre.

There was a period of expectation that this was going to happen I was more or less just waiting for it. When I got the call, I was not surprised, he says.

Large swaths of the government workforce have been laid off over the past two months through a variety of unprecedented means, including a return-to-office mandate and a mass resignation offer. But some groups were singled out for termination, including probationary employees. These workersdefined as recent hires or long-serving staffers who recently switched positionswere cut en masse in February when the Trump administration ordered federal agencies to fire nearly all of them. Around 220,000 federal employees in total had less than a year of service completed as of March 2024, according to government data.

Last week, two separate court rulings ordered the Trump administration to reinstate these fired probationary employees. But rather than a happy ending and a triumphant return to the office, many of these workers are grappling with new obstacles preventing their return, the emotional upheaval that comes with living in uncertainty, and big questions about what happens next.

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Its beyond demoralizing to be stuck in this depressing and inefficient limbofired one moment, then supposedly rehired with no clarity about pay or benefits, one Housing and Urban Development employee, who prefers not to be named for fear of retaliation, tells Fortune. I dont even know if I should look for another job or prepare to show up at HUD tomorrow.

Famously fired

The firing of probationary workers was instantly met with legal challenges. But employees who lived through it had to contend with the day-to-day reality of lost paychecks, healthcare benefits, and dramatically altered lives.

Fired without severance, the IRS employee quickly filed for unemployment, but his claim was not immediately approved. He says he has the means to weather the storm, but has spent the last few weeks looking for new jobs without much luck.

The HUD employees termination, on the other hand, immediately triggered financial uncertainty, and her retired parents have stepped up to help pay bills. As someone with chronic illness, the loss of health insurance in particular triggered immense anxiety.

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Its been one of the worst points of my life, in my marriage, [as] a mom, as a daughter, she says. She adds that there were at least three days when she just stayed in bed after my kids went to school and cried.

The new purgatory

Last week, terminated probationary employees caught a break.

On March 14, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered six federal agencies, including the Department of Treasury, to reinstate thousands of employees who were cut under the guidance of the Office of Personnel management, a move he declared illegal. A different federal judge in Maryland ruled in favor of 20 Democrat attorneys general calling for the reinstatement of fired probationary federal workers from 18 federal agencies. The Trump administration has filed appeals in both cases.

The courts decision to reinstate probationary employees has been the only light in a dark few weeks for the HUD employee. My parents were so happymy dad started crying, she says.

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But while last weeks court rulings were technically a victory for probationary workers, its not quite as simple as a triumphant Monday morning return to the office. The court rulings take issue with the way that these workers were fired, not a federal agencys right to fire them in general, and many are likely still headed for termination.

While some workers have returned to their old roles, others were reinstated only to be immediately put on administrative leave, according to emails sent by the OPM and viewed by Fortune. These workers were told they should not report to duty or perform any work until receiving further guidance. As of writing, both the HUD and IRS employees have received no additional communication regarding a timeline on when, or even if, they will return to work.

Its unclear how long this administrative leave will last, and each agency is acting in different ways. As of March 17, HUD had fully reinstated only 13 employees, while 299 were placed on administrative leave, according to statements submitted to the court by government agency leaders. The chief human capital officer at HUD, Lori Michalski, wrote that immediately reinstating those employees would impose substantial burdens on HUD, cause significant confusion, and cause turmoil for the terminated employees.

The IRS wrote in the same filing that it was working to reinstate 7,613 employees affected by the probationary worker terminations. However, the agency also noted that if an appellate ruling reverses the decision to bring back these workers, they could be subjected to multiple changes in their employment status in a number of weeks.

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Currently, the day-to-day lives of both the IRS and HUD employees dont look very different compared to before they were waiting to find out if they would be reinstated. They expect their previous paychecks to go through during the next pay cycle, but the HUD worker still has not had her health insurance reinstated.

While the IRS worker said he would be happy to be reinstated, and would gladly go back to the IRS if and when they allow him to do so. But he acknowledges that it's certainly not an avenue that I can rely on over the long term.

The HUD employee says shes applied for 168 jobs, and has had one informational interview. She thought she had chosen a stable career when she left the private sector to work for the government, but now says she has to think of her familys future.

I don't want to count on this federal job. I don't know if it will last.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Burke County firefighters are battling a fire on Old Amherst Road that has closed part of the road and impacted five buildings.

Firefighters first responded to the call around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, according to a Burke County press release.

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Burke County Fire Marshal Robert Bishop said the fire is at about 160 acres and is approximately 50% contained.

The fire has caused the closure of Old Amherst Road between Smokey Creek Road and Dogwood Vista, according to officials.

No injuries have been reported, but five buildings have been impacted by the fire, according to the release.

Officials have confirmed that one building has been destroyed and five people have been displaced.

Two North Carolina Forest Service Helicopters and one Scout Plane were headed to the scene around 2:30 p.m., officials said.

Officials have not called for evacuations at this time, but some have evacuated voluntarily. Residents have been asked to avoid the area to provide room for emergency vehicles and workers.

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READ: Worst nightmare: Statesville home destroyed in fire, family displaced

The Burke County Fire Marshal asked that residents remember that there is a statewide and local burn ban in place.

No further information has been provided at this time.

This is a developing story. Check back with wsoctv.com for updates.

WATCH: Worst nightmare: Statesville home destroyed in fire, family displaced
Mar. 21MITCHELL  Terry Sabers had good reason to smile Thursday morning. It was the first day of spring, and clear skies and mild temperatures were giving notice that summer is approaching. It was also his birthday, and he quietly acknowledged that it was number 70 for him.

But coming over the hill at the South Lake Estates housing development by Lake Mitchell was a flatbed semi truck hauling a brand new Governor's House to be set on a concrete foundation. It was a first for the development, and a step Sabers, president of Mitchell Area Housing, Inc., had been looking forward to for some time.

"It's exciting, it really is, to get the first one in here," Sabers told the Mitchell Republic as a crew worked to line up the trailer to offload the house. "And then we've got another basement over there and in two weeks, we'll have another one coming."

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The Governor's House program works to offer affordably priced, energy-efficient and high-quality homes for South Dakotans. The hallmark program of the South Dakota Housing nonprofit, which itself was created by the South Dakota Legislature in 1973, the Governor's House offers low-maintenance dwelling options that are attractive, reasonably sized and budget-friendly for those who are income-qualified.

Over 3,300 Governor's Houses have been sold since 1996, according to information on the South Dakota Housing website.

The delivery of the house to South Lake was the latest step in MAHI's efforts to help alleviate a housing shortage in the Mitchell community, a process that the nonprofit has been working on for the last three years. The group has two new housing developments taking shape in Mitchell  the South Lake Estates project as well as the

Ridgeview on Foster development near Avera Queen of Peace Hospital.

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Officials with the Mitchell Area Development Corporation and MAHI have been trumpeting the need for more housing  particularly affordable housing  in Mitchell for years. With major employers like Avera Health and Trail King on the lookout for new workers, as well as the new soybean processing plant on the way, the Mitchell community needs places for those workers to call home so they can work, live and contribute to that economy.

Governor's Houses, built by inmates at the Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield through a partnership with the South Dakota Department of Corrections, are a great option to entice young employees and families to locate to Mitchell, Sabers said.

"Because they are a very efficient home and a very nice-looking home. And it takes that construction process from four months down to three weeks," Sabers said. "And the price? Basically, the inmates are building it, so you save on labor."

There are qualifying factors for those who wish to purchase a Governor's House. Basic qualifications include the purchaser making $66,570 or less in a one or two-person household or $76,080 or less in a household of three or more; having a net worth of less than $125,000  or $105,000 in liquid assets  for applicants 61 or younger and having a net worth of less than $250,000  or $140,000 in liquid assets  for applicants age 62 or older.

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The home must be considered the purchaser's only residence and it must be placed in South Dakota. Prices for Governor's Houses vary depending on floor plan and style, but they generally start at around $79,000 and top out at approximately $99,900.

The home that arrived Thursday comes in at 1,200 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and a full basement is expected to be installed. That will increase the liveable square footage and give new homeowners options as their families grow.

"And then there will be a full basement, so they can put two or three more bedrooms in the basement, depending on what they need," Sabers said. "And they can still have a nice big family room."

Sabers said MAHI is aiming for lot and home prices at the development to be in the $250,000 to $300,000 range.

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Mike Lauritsen, CEO of the Mitchell Area Development Corporation and the Mitchell Chamber of Commerce, said the arrival of the first Governor's House is an important step forward in the work local organizations have been doing to bring not just more housing to Mitchell, but more affordable housing.

"To get a house that's really workforce housing and in their price range, a really great option is the Governor's House (program)," Lauritsen said. "(This) is part of the reason that we got the

Community of the Year Award.

We have the housing and we're doing creative things to recruit the workforce. We need housing to recruit that workforce."

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Lauritsen said the progress made in recent years by MAHI with its two housing projects is indicative of a variety of positives in local development. Along with those projects, he pointed to the impending completion of the new soybean crush plant outside town that will bring new workers to town, and the new Mitchell High School under construction on Capital Street that will serve as an enticement for potential new residents, as indicators that Mitchell is on the rise.

Though no official figures were immediately available from the city, Lauritsen estimated that building permits last year were about double the average over recent years. He credited individuals like Sabers and the Mitchell Chamber's Geri Beck for having been crucial to adding to that momentum, he said.

"I feel like we have momentum from a multitude of things. We have the largest value-added economic development project in state history, a new high school building, housing developments and we're recruiting labor forces," Lauritsen said. "We have a lot of positive things happening in Mitchell right now. It's a great time to be in Mitchell."

The Governor's House delivered Thursday is the first for South Lake Estates, but it is not the first of its kind in Mitchell. That distinction goes

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to a home sold in 2022,

which was placed at 1209 S. Duff in Mitchell.

Sabers estimated there were seven or eight Governor's Houses now in the community less than three years after the arrival of the first, an example that shows the demand for such dwellings. MAHI itself has 17 more Governor's Houses on order with the state, and Sabers estimated they likely would be moved in over the next three years.

"We have them on order as people are interested. I'm already talking to three or four more people about them," Sabers said.

Sabers said all major utility work at South Lake was completed in the fall of 2024. Final street grading along the curb and pavement work on Indian Head Drive is expected to commence in April or early May. That timeline is dependent on how the weather cooperates. The roadwork is crucial to being able to move forward, Sabers said, but hopefully MAHI will be able to start talking with potential buyers soon.

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For the Ridgeview on Foster development, Sabers said initial utility work has been completed, and work on the parking lot and Nagle Lane is expected to begin in April or May. Utilities and street work are anticipated to be completed by mid to late summer of 2025.

The demand is only expected to continue. For those looking to locate to Mitchell to work, Sabers said MAHI will continue to work to find housing solutions.

"Later this summer, the bean plant, they're going to be hiring people. And when they're hiring people, they're going to be looking for more houses," Sabers said. "So hopefully by then we'll have five or six more going, and we'll see how quickly we can get them done."
One year ago, Utah lawmakers unanimously enacted new religious liberty protections, bucking the national trend toward skepticism thats led some legislators to put religious freedom in scare quotes.

SB150, called the Exercise of Religion Amendments, created a state-level Religious Freedom Restoration Act that gives Utahns more power to challenge government actions that interfere with their religious beliefs.

In a world thats increasingly hostile to religion, these amendments are an important expression of Utahs long-established commitment to religious freedom, said Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, the bills house floor sponsor, in February 2024.

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SB150 was signed into law the next month. Eight months after that, in November, it was cited in a case thats testing the limits of that long-established commitment by asking whether religious freedom protections extend to a new faith group using psychedelic mushrooms in its ceremonies.

The faith group, Singularism, claims government officials in Provo, Utah, and Utah County violated Utahs new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, among other laws, when they seized the groups psilocybin and scriptures in November.

The officials, on the other hand, say Singularism is motivated by a desire to sell illegal drugs, not to practice and promote a religious faith.

In late February, almost exactly one year after Teuscher reflected on the value of robust religious freedom protections, a federal judge granted Singularisms request for a preliminary injunction, ruling that government officials in Utah cannot claim to support religious freedom if they prevent Singularisms practitioners from living according to their beliefs.

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For that guarantee of religious liberty to mean anything, the laws must protect unfamiliar religions equally with familiar ones, both in design and in practice, wrote District Court Judge Jill N. Parrish.

The ruling caught the attention of religious freedom experts nationwide, who say the first-of-its-kind Utah case raises familiar but still hotly debated questions about the purpose and scope of religious liberty laws.

What is Singularism?

Singularisms founder, Bridger Lee Jensen, says he didnt set out to test the limits of Utahs religious freedom protections.

He says his goal was to share his spiritual beliefs with others and enable them to deepen their faith through psilocybin tea ceremonies, just as he has.

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In late 2023, Jensen, who grew up in Provo and previously worked as a mental health therapist, opened Singularisms spiritual center, which is located in an office park near Utah Valley Hospital. He said he invited local officials to visit and learn more, but no one took him up on the offer.

Jensen describes Singularism as a nondogmatic, spirituality-based religion that doesnt have members in a traditional sense. Potential practitioners are screened before they take part in ceremonies. Insights shared by the people who take part, called voyagers, are added to the groups scriptures.

In November 2024, about a year after the spiritual center opened, Provo Police obtained and served a search warrant, and confiscated the groups psilocybin and scriptures. Officials claimed the group was violating the Utah Controlled Substances Act.

Citing religious freedom protections, Jensen challenged officials' actions in state court, arguing that Singularism has a right to a faith-based exemption to the controlled substances law.

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Officials rejected that claim, arguing that Singularism should not be seen as a religion and that the government has a compelling interest in preventing the group from distributing drugs.

After government officials had the case moved to federal court, Judge Parrish issued a temporary restraining order requiring officials to return what theyd taken. But five days later, officials charged Jensen with possession of psilocybin with the intent to distribute, possession of THC and use or possession of drug paraphernalia.

As Jensen fought for the criminal case to be put on hold, the federal religious freedom case moved forward. On Feb. 20, Parrish granted Singularisms request for a preliminary injunction, which allows the group to continue holding its ceremonies while the case plays out.

Old battles made new

Although Singularism is a new religious group and Utahs Religious Freedom Restoration Act is a new law, the current legal battle has much in common with two cases that remade the federal religious freedom landscape in the 1990s and early 2000s.

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The first, Employment Division v. Smith, centered on the religious use of peyote. The Native Americans who brought the case were fighting for a faith-based exemption from employment laws prohibiting drug use.

In rejecting their religious freedom claims, the Supreme Court in 1990 weakened the legal protections offered by the First Amendments free exercise clause, prompting Congress to pass the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act three years later.

During a signing ceremony for the law in November 1993, President Bill Clinton said the country is stronger when people of all faiths and no faith are free to live according to their beliefs.

Let us never believe that the freedom of religion imposes on any of us some responsibility to run from our convictions. Let us instead respect one anothers faiths (and) fight to the death to preserve the right of every American to practice whatever convictions he or she has, he said.

The power of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act was on display in 2006 when the Supreme Court ruled for a little-known religious group in a case called Gonzales v. O Centro.

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The government had sought to prevent the group from using a controlled substance called hoasca in its religious ceremonies, arguing that the drug posed health risks and was susceptible to abuse.

But the justices unanimously ruled in favor of O Centro, rejecting the governments claim that the Controlled Substances Act would fail if faith-based exemptions were available.

The O Centro case showed you dont have to be a large, mainstream faith group to win a case under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act or laws like it  and thats still true today, said Josh McDaniel, faculty director of Harvard Law Schools Religious Freedom Clinic.

Religious Freedom Restoration Act cases

In cases involving a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, judges typically consider four key questions:

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Are the religious claims sincere?

Are religious practices or beliefs being substantially burdened by government interference?

Does the government have a compelling interest driving the interference?

Is there some other, less restrictive way for the government to satisfy its compelling interest?

In general, rulings in these types of cases center on the final two questions. The court either accepts the governments explanation for its actions or determines that officials havent done enough to accommodate the religious group or individual involved.

But in cases involving the use of psilocybin, marijuana or other mind-altering substances, the judge or judges often spend more time than usual analyzing the sincerity of the faith group and may even base their ruling on that question, said McDaniel, who recently spoke at a symposium on religion and psychedelics.

Thats especially true when the faith group involved was only recently founded, he added.

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In some marijuana cases, courts have said this is not a legitimate religious practice, that it appears this is essentially a drug-distribution enterprise thats cloaked in religion, he said.

But in the Singularism case, Judge Parrish said the opposite, writing that she had no difficulty concluding that Singularisms leaders and voyagers sincerely believe psilocybin tea ceremonies help them deepen their faith.

From all the evidence in the record, the court is hard-pressed to find, as Defendants urge, that Singularism is essentially a drug-dealing business cloaked in a ministers robe, Parrish wrote.

Her decision is believed to be one of the first, if not the first, rulings in favor of a group making First Amendment or Religious Freedom Restoration Act claims about psilocybin use, according to Tanner Bean, an attorney at Fabian Vancott who represents Jensen and Singularism.

What comes next?

Parrishs February ruling brought relief to Jensen and Singularism, but the legal battle likely wont be over anytime soon.

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The judge is still considering a variety of motions, including one that could send the case back to the state court system. The government may appeal the preliminary injunction or forthcoming orders. And Jensen is still facing criminal charges related to psilocybin possession.

Jensen and others involved with Singularism are also worried about mounting legal bills, and theyve launched a legal defense fundraiser in hopes of being able to withstand whatever legal moves come next.

No matter how the case turns out, it will be a significant chapter in Utahs religious freedom history, as well as in the national debate over religious liberty in general and religion and psychedelics in particular.

Although religious freedom cases involving Christian groups that oppose same-sex marriage or abortion often get more attention, its cases brought by unfamiliar, non-mainstream groups that often challenge religious freedom advocates most, experts said.
LONDON (AP)  The British government on Saturday ordered an investigation into the country's energy resilience after an electrical substation fire shut Heathrow Airport for almost a day and raised concerns about the U.K.'s ability to withstand disasters or attacks on critical infrastructure.

While Heathrow Airport said it was now fully operational, thousands of passengers remained stuck, and airlines warned that severe disruption will last for days as they scramble to relocate planes and crews and get travelers to their destinations.

Inconvenienced passengers, angry airlines and concerned politicians all want answers about how one seemingly accidental fire could shut down Europes busiest air hub.

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This is a huge embarrassment for Heathrow airport. Its a huge embarrassment for the country that a fire in one electricity substation can have such a devastating effect," said Toby Harris, a Labour Party politician who heads the National Preparedness Commission, a group that campaigns to improve resilience.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said he'd asked the National Energy System Operator, which oversees U.K. gas and electricity networks, to "urgently investigate" the fire, to understand any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure."

It is expected to report initial findings within six weeks.

The government is determined to do everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow," Miliband said.

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Heathrow announced its own review, to be led by former transport secretary Ruth Kelly, a member of the airport's board.

Heathrow Chairman Paul Deighton said Kelly will look at the robustness and execution of Heathrows crisis management plans, the airports response during the incident and how the airport recovered.

Stalled journeys

More than 1,300 flights were canceled and some 200,000 people stranded Friday after an overnight fire at a substation 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away cut power to Heathrow, and to more than 60,000 properties.

Heathrow said Saturday it had added flights to todays schedule to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers." British Airways, Heathrows biggest airline, said it expected to operate about 85% of its 600 scheduled flights at the airport Saturday.

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While many passengers managed to resume stalled journeys, others remained in limbo.

Laura Fritschie from Kansas City was on vacation with her family in Ireland when she learned that her father had died. On Saturday she was stranded at Heathrow after her BA flight to Chicago was canceled at the last minute.

Im very frustrated," she said. This was my first big vacation with my kids since my husband died, and ... now this. So I just want to go home.

Shutdown points to a broader problem

Residents in west London described hearing a large explosion and then seeing a fireball and clouds of smoke when the blaze ripped through the substation. The fire was brought under control after seven hours, but the airport was shut for almost 18 hours. A handful of flights took off and landed late Friday.

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Police said they do not consider the fire suspicious, and the London Fire Brigade said its investigation would focus on the substation's electrical distribution equipment.

Still, the huge impact of the fire left authorities facing questions about Britains creaking infrastructure, much of which has been privatized since the 1980s. The center-left Labour government has vowed to improve the U.K.'s delay-plagued railways, its aged water system and its energy network, promising to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy independence through investment in wind and other renewable power sources.

The last 40, 50 years weve tried to make services more efficient, said Harris. Weve stripped out redundancy, weve simplified processes. Weve moved towards a sort of just in time economy. There is an element where you have to make sure youre available for just in case. You have to plan for things going wrong.

'Clear planning failure'

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Heathrow is one of the worlds busiest airports for international travel, and saw 83.9 million passengers last year.

Chief executive Thomas Woldbye said he was proud of the way airport and airline staff had responded.

The airport didnt shut for days. We shut for hours, he told the BBC.

Woldbye said Heathrow's backup power supply, designed for emergencies, worked as expected, but it wasnt enough to run the whole airport, which uses as much energy as a small city.

Thats how most airports operate," said Woldbye, who insisted the same would happen in other airports" faced with a similar blaze.

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But Willie Walsh, who heads aviation trade organization IATA, said the episode begs some serious questions.

How is it that critical infrastructure  of national and global importance  is totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative? If that is the case, as it seems, then it is a clear planning failure by the airport, he said.

Walsh said Heathrow has very little incentive to improve because airlines, not the airport, have to pay the cost of looking after disrupted passengers.

No back-up plan

Fridays disruption was one of the most serious since the 2010 eruption of Icelands Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which shut Europes airspace for days.

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Passengers on about 120 flights were in the air when Friday's closure was announced and found themselves landing in different cities, and even different countries.

Mark Doherty and his wife were halfway across the Atlantic when the inflight map showed their flight from New Yorks John F. Kennedy Airport to Heathrow was returning to New York.

I was like, youre joking, Doherty said.

He called the situation typical England  got no back-up plan for something happens like this. Theres no contingency plan.

___

Associated Press journalist Kwiyeon Ha at Heathrow Airport contributed to this report.
DARLINGTON COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW)  A 50-year-old Florence man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to robbing a Refuel store in Hartsville, the Fourth Circuit Solicitors Office said.

Derick Je-Vard George pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of armed robbery and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime stemming from the Sept. 1 incident at the store on N. Fifth Street.

Prosecutors said George entered the store at about 1:30 am and demanded money from a clear, who saw a gun in his waistband. The clerk gave police a description of George, his vehicle, and the clothes he was wearing, and later identified him in a photo lineup.

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A police report said an employee told police that George used a shotgun in the robbery and got away with $123.

The victim kept her cool and was able to provide law enforcement with the information necessary to identify the defendant, said Deputy Solicitor Patti Parker. Her quick thinking made this prosecution possible.

Because of the violent nature of the crime, prosecutors said George will have to serve 85% of his sentence before he is eligible for any release from prison.

Solicitor Mike Burch thanked law enforcement for their efforts in the case.

Hartsville PDs actions in apprehending this violent criminal has allowed us to put Derick George where he belongs, behind bars, Burch said. I am glad he is off the streets of Darlington County.

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Dennis Bright is the Digital Executive Producer at News13. He joined the team in May 2021. Dennis is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Follow Dennis on Facebook, X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here.

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TAVARES, Fla. (WFLA)  A 10-year-old child who was at the hands of gruesome abuse from his mother and her boyfriend has died, according to the Tavares Police Department.

Last month, the childs mother, Kimberly Mills, and her boyfriend, Andre Walker, brought Mills 10-year-old son to Advent Health Waterman after performing CPR on the way to the hospital.

Body of missing child found at Winter Haven lake

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Hospital staff noticed the child was covered in bruises, burn marks and other injuries consistent with abuse. They began treating the boy, who remained in critical condition since Feb. 23, according to the police department.

It is clear to our agency that this child underwent gruesome abuse. He is covered head to toe in various-sized bruises that are in various stages of healing, Tavares Police Detective Courtney Sullivan said back in February.

When Mills and Walker were told officers would be responding, they left the hospital. At the same time, the boy was actively receiving CPR in the emergency department.

Tampa man found in the water, clinging to pylon after theft in Florida Keys: deputies

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The mother later returned to Advent Health with another child but without Walker and refused to tell officials how her child got bruised. That day, Mills was arrested for aggravated child abuse and Walker turned himself in.

Detectives have been all hands on deck to ensure that the case is seamless and thorough, the police department said in an update on Feb. 26. We want justice for this little, innocent boy.

Kimberly Mills, Andre Walker Courtesy: Tavares Police Department

On Feb. 28, the Tavares Police Department announced additional charges for Mills including two counts of aggravated child abuse, two counts of child neglect, two counts of accessory to aggravated child abuse and tampering with evidence. Walker also received charges of two counts of aggravated child abuse, two counts of accessory to aggravated child abuse and tampering with evidence.

Officials determined Mills and Walker had a hand in torturing and abusing the 10-year-old and his 9-year-old brother, who was also in their custody.

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Mother of 6-month-old girl killed in dog attack calls it a horrible but avoidable accident

On March 6, police released photos of objects Mills and Walker used to abuse the children. A search of their home revealed objects used to restrain the 10-year-old, including a six-foot ladder, a 10-pound weight, and duct tape. Officials said the weights were dropped on the childs exposed stomach.

Officials said the evidence revealed the childs hands were bound above his head, leaving him defenseless. A thick insulated copper wire in his bedroom was used to inflict harm on the two boys.

(TAVARES POLICE DEPARTMENT) (TAVARES POLICE DEPARTMENT) (TAVARES POLICE DEPARTMENT) (TAVARES POLICE DEPARTMENT) (TAVARES POLICE DEPARTMENT)

According to NBC affiliate WESH, a detective with the Tavares Police Department said the 10-year-old arrived at the hospital with internal bleeding in his stomach and raccoon eyes, with possible head trauma.

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In an interview with the younger brother, WESH said the younger boy told detectives that his brother was being punished in the living room before he was taken to the garage to get further punished by Walker. This punishment included dropping the weights and tying him up with duct tape.

Lake Wales business vandalized by Molotov cocktails, graffiti saying Trump Civil War

In a bond hearing on March 19, WESH reported that a judge denied bond for Walker.

The 10-year-old leaves behind his biological father and little brother.

In an update on March 21, the police department released a statement saying in part, This innocent childs life was marked by unspeakable suffering, and his loss has deeply shaken our community and everyone involved in this case.

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As the investigation continues, authorities are working to enhance the charges for the childs mother and her boyfriend.

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WFLA)  A Jacksonville couple has been charged following the death of a young child who authorities said suffered multiple injuries and had methamphetamine in their system.

Zayla Goodwin, 20, faces one count of aggravated manslaughter of a child; while Nathaniel Davis, 23, has been charged with first-degree murder, two counts of sexual battery, aggravated child abuse and tampering with evidence, the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office reported.

Body of missing child found at Winter Haven lake

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Investigators said the toddlers brutal death happened in September 2024. Initial reports indicated there was a medical emergency at a home on Taurus Circle North. The child was rushed to Wolfson Childrens Hospital, where doctors said they found multiple injuries.

Zayla Goodwin and Nathaniel Davis (Credit: Jacksonville Sheriffs Office)

The sheriffs office said the toddler passed away eight days later, on Sept. 18, 2024.

The death was officially ruled a homicide on Dec. 4, 2024, with the Medical Examiner stating that the child had died from blunt force trauma. Investigators also found traces of meth in the toddlers system, according to the sheriffs office.

An extensive investigation ensued, and officials said Goodwin and Davis were taken into custody for the childs death on Thursday, March 20. A grand jury indicted Davis on first-degree murder the same week.

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The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office will work with the State Attorneys Office to get the harshest punishment possible for this heinous crime against an innocent child, authorities wrote in a social media post Friday. Children are our communitys most precious asset.

Anyone who suspects abuse is obligated to report it, the sheriffs office added. The states child abuse hotline can be reached by calling 1-800-96-ABUSE.

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ORLANDO, Fla. (WFLA)  The Orlando Police Department arrested a man after he stole nearly $1 million in jewelry and swallowed it.

According to WESH, police responded to reports of a robbery at Tiffany & Co. at The Mall at Millenia on Feb. 26.

Police said the suspect, Jaythan Gilder, 32, pretended to represent an Orlando Magic player to gain access to the store.

Gilder was taken to a private room to view jewelry, during which he grabbed the jewelry and ran out of the room, injuring two employees in the process.

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Police were able to locate Gilder with the help of cameras in the mall parking lot.

Maps show when allergy season will peak near you

Orlando police arrested Gilder, and they said he confessed to swallowing the jewelry, which scans confirmed.

Gilder was taken to a nearby hospital, where police said they were able to recover three of the four Tiffany & Co. earrings on March 10.

They also recovered two additional diamond earrings that were unidentified.

The fourth Tiffany & Co. earring was recovered on March 12.

Detectives were able to match them to the earrings stolen from the mall through a serial number printed on the earrings.

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Police have charged Gilder with robbery with a mask and first-degree grand theft.

According to OPD, he is also facing additional charges for 48 separate warrants out of Colorado.

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Related video: DeSantis, border czar discuss immigration in Sarasota

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  The Florida Department of Law Enforcement made the countrys first arrest of a Tren de Aragua member under the Alien Enemies Act earlier this week.

Donald Trump invoked the wartime law last weekend ahead of the deportations of hundreds of suspected members of the Venezuelan gang.

What is the Alien Enemies Act Trump invoked to speed deportations?

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Franklin Jose Jimenez-Bracho was arrested on Thursday and law enforcement officials said he was wanted for human trafficking, smuggling and was part of another ongoing investigation.

In a post on Facebook, the FDLE said the arrest was a collaborative effort between Homeland Security Investigation, the Florida Highway Patrol, ICE and the FBI.

Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, discussed the arrest at a press conference in Orlando on Friday.

Tren de Aragua is a dangerous foreign terrorist organization that has invaded our soil, he said.

Lyons also said that in the past 48 hours alone, 68 members of Tren de Aragua had been arrested in the U.S.

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Gov. DeSantis speaks on immigration at New College of Florida

Governor Ron DeSantis, who spoke at roundtable on illegal immigration earlier this week, praised the arrest on X.

Once again, Florida leads the way, he wrote.

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HEBRON  When you drive on Main Street, it is difficult not to see the two houses with bright pink doors. They belong to The Flour Girl Bakery, a go-to spot for many residents.

As proof, the owner just earned an award from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Michelle Nicholson, owner of the bakery, received the Small Business Person of the Year award, the highest award attributed by the SBA. To be nominated, business owners have to apply in the category they think suits them best.
After a nightmarish day for hundreds of thousands of flyers worldwide, travelers in Boston were finally able to take off after a fire at London Heathrow Friday.

Flames poured out of a nearby substation early Friday morning near the massive airport in the United Kingdom. The airport was out of power for most of the day Friday.

According to Massport, six flights to London Heathrow were canceled earlier that night. One arriving flight from London to Logan Airport was canceled as well.

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Friday afternoon, planes were finally able to land again at the airport.

The incident diverted, grounded, delayed, and canceled thousands of flights across the world.

Some stranded flyers in Boston were told to get off the plane after hours-long delays Thursday night into Friday morning.

The crew kept coming on saying another half hour, another half hour, said Richard Hoad about his canceled Thursday night flight. They couldnt fly, so we got off.

He and his wife were forced to stay in a hotel until finally getting an 11 pm flight out of Logan Friday evening.

Others like Ethan Leu were monitoring their Friday night flights to London all Friday.

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He explained, I guess it was somewhat stressful because I have a few restaurants that I booked.

A Logan Airport spokesperson told Boston 25 Friday night that there could be delays as a result heading into the weekend. Theyre urging everyone to check in with their airline before traveling to Logan Airport.

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Heavy rain thats forecast in Western Washington through Monday could rescue whats been a dry March.

Bellingham and the rest of lowland Whatcom County is expected to get 1.5 to 2 inches of rain as an atmospheric river sweeps across the region this weekend, the National Weather Service said.

Gusty winds of 20 to 40 mph are forecast for Sunday.

Rain will fall in the Mount Baker wilderness, causing dangerous avalanche conditions.

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In addition, the Nooksack and Skagit rivers will rise quickly with mountain runoff. Flooding is not expected on the Nooksack River but the Skagit River will approach flood stage in Mount Vernon early next week.

This weekends storm could save what has been a dry month. Only 1.95 inches of rain fell in Bellingham through March 20, against a monthly average of 3.36 inches.
CULPEPER COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now)  Former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Friday after he was convicted of multiple bribery charges last year.

According to the United States Attorneys Office for the Western District of Virginia (USAO-WDVA), Jenkins, 53, accepted over $75,000 in cash payments in exchange for appointing numerous Northern Virginia businessmen as auxiliary deputy sheriffs within his department.

According to Jenkins indictment, the offenses began around 2019, during his reelection campaign, and continued through 2023.

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Jenkins accepted the bribes in the form of cash and campaign donations from several people, including Rick Rahim, Frederic Gumbinner, James Metcalf and at least five others, including two undercover FBI agents, according to the attorneys office.

After accepting the bribes, Jenkins issued each person official Culpeper County Sheriffs Office badges and credentials, even though they were not trained or vetted for the job.

Scott Jenkins violated his oath of office and the faith the citizens of Culpeper County placed in him when he engaged in a cash-for-badges scheme, Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee said Friday. We hold our elected law enforcement officials to a higher standard of conduct and this case proves that when those officials use their authority for unjust personal enrichment, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable. I am grateful to the FBI for their tireless work on this investigation.

In addition to the cash-for-badges scheme, the attorneys office said Jenkins pressured other local officials to restore Rahims right to possess a firearm. Rahim had been previously convicted and could no longer do so.

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Fairfax County teen found in New Jersey after trespassing in Fredericksburg school, prompting closures, police say

Every law enforcement officer takes an oath to serve and protect the community that includes following the law theyve sworn to uphold. I am proud of the diligent work our investigative team did on this case to bring Jenkins to justice, said special agent in charge of the FBIs Richmond Division, Stanley M. Meador.

The sentencing comes after a jury convicted Jenkins of one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest services fraud and seven counts of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds in December 2024.

Jenkins was first elected sheriff in 2011 and won election twice before he was defeated in 2023, according to the Associated Press. He ran as a Republican and an independent.

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Rahim, Gumbinner and Metcalf have all pled guilty for their roles in the conspiracy, according to the attorneys office.

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WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN)  A former music producer convicted of statutory rape and sexual battery by an authority figure was sentenced to more than 40 years in the Tennessee State Department of Corrections Wednesday.

ORIGINAL STORY: Franklin music producer accused of sex crimes against children

According to 21st District Attorney General Stacey Edmonson, a Williamson County grand jury convicted Samuel L. Sylvester of seven counts of statutory rape by an authority figure and two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure last May. After hearing testimony from a victim and a victims parents Wednesday, Judge Joseph Woodruff sentenced Sylvester to serve 42 years in the TDOC.

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RELATED | Im a strong, tough woman who cant be hurt anymore: Woman recounts being groomed by former music producer convicted of child sex crimes

Sylvester was arrested by the Franklin Police Department in December 2019 and was indicted on more than a dozen charges stemming from reported sex crimes against at least two children. His May 2024 conviction was for offenses committed against a 16-year-old girl he was working with between 2009 and 2010, Franklin police said.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP)  A former Greensboro officer will spend decades in prison after being convicted on Friday of sexual abuse against a minor charges, according to Guilford County prosecutors.

On Jan. 20, 2023, the Greensboro Police Department said that Joshua Oliver had been charged with six counts of statutory sex offense and six counts of indecent liberties with a minor after the Guilford County Sheriffs Office contacted them about allegations against him in November 2022.

Joshua was put on administrative duty after the police department was made aware of the allegations, which did not happen during his official capacity as a police officer or in the Greensboro Police Departments jurisdiction.

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The district attorney chose to move forward with charges, and warrants were filed on Jan. 20, 2023.

Joshua was officially terminated from the police department after Chief Thompson learned additional information about the investigation.

The warrants alleged that Joshua was sexually abusing the minor, who was under 13, over a period of two years, and the earliest date of offense was in November 2020 with incidents in May 2021, November 2021 and May 2022.

His wife, Crystal Oliver, was also charged with four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

FOX8 has been told that Joshua was convicted on all counts on Friday.

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He was given four sentences that will be served one after the other. Each sentence will be 192 months (16 years) to 291 months (24.25 years) four times over.

He will reportedly serve a minimum of 64 years.

Joshua had worked for GPD since 2016.

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A key suspect in the still unsolved July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who was in charge of his safety at the time of the slaying, has been sanctioned by Canada for his alleged role in the intensified gang attacks engulfing Haiti.

Dimitri Herard, who headed the General Security Unit of the National Palace, one of the three presidential security forces at the time of Moises killing, was sanctioned Friday along with a powerful warlord who controls the northern entrance into the capital and the former head of an environmental agency who transformed its security brigade into an armed group serving political interests.

Canada said Herard, along with Jeff Larose, the head of the Canaan Gang, and Jeantel Joseph, the former head of the National Agency of Protected Areas under Moise before he was fired in January 2024, are being sanctioned in response to their involvement in serious disruptions of international peace and security, as well as grave violations of human rights. Larose, known as Jeff Canaan is a key member of the powerful Viv Ansanm gang alliance that escalated their attacks after a specialized police task force began using weaponized drones against gang strongholds.

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Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said the sanctions fall under the Special Economic Measures Regulations that Ottawa began instituting in November 2024 to address the deteriorating political, security and humanitarian situation in Haiti, which has been exacerbated by the actions of the targeted individuals.

Fridays announcement brings the number of Haitians blacklisted by Canada to 34. Under the sanctions, the individuals wont be able to travel to Canada, and any assets in Canada will be frozen. Canadians at home and abroad will be prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

These are the first sanctions in months from Ottawa, which has faced challenges on some of the individuals it has named. The timing of Fridays announcement coincides with growing concerns in Port-au-Prince about gangs continued expansion and the inability of both the Haitian police and Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission to neutralize the violence or eliminate key leaders.

The spreading violence has forced more than 60,000 Haitians to flee their homes in just a month, according to the United Nations, and attacks have brought all economic activity in downtown Port-au-Prince to a halt as schools, businesses and government offices close their doors. No one has been spared, including orphanages and religious groups, which have been forced to evacuate.

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The violence is raising concerns of a gang takeover, with Herards name being often cited along with others as a possible beneficiary of the effort.

Herard, a powerful figure in the presidents security obit, is among dozens of Haitians indicted by an investigative judge in Port-au-Prince for his alleged role in the assassination of Moise. At the time, he was already a suspect in a separate U.S. arms-trafficking investigation.

Last year he escaped from a prison cell inside the National Penitentiary when gangs launched coordinated attacks across the capital, freeing more than 4,000 inmates, including gang leaders, during two prison breaks.

After months of remaining silent and under the radar, he recently reemerged, releasing three professionally produced videos that promoted his image and attacked his enemies. He also attempted to defend himself against the allegations of helping a group of Colombian mercenaries kill the president and blamed others for Moises slaying.

While Herard remains wanted by Haitian police, his whereabouts are unknown. Some believe he has escaped from Haiti, while others believe he remains in the country, living in the fiefdom of the Village de Dieu gang on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. The theory emerged shortly after the prison break when members of the Izo 5Segond gang were dressed in uniforms similar to some of those used by the police assigned to the National Palace, and their vehicles used the same camouflage that Herard once used for the specialized palace police units.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56)  A former middle school teacher in Louisville was sentenced Friday to 19 years and 7 months in federal prison for multiple child pornography charges.

Jordan Fautz chose to abuse his position of trust by egregiously violating the privacy of innocent children. His sentencing marks a critical step in our efforts to combat the exploitation of children, Special Agent in Charge Michael E. Stansbury of the FBI Louisville Field Office said. With the emergence of offenders using cutting-edge technology to inflict harm and pain on one of our most vulnerable populations, law enforcement will exhaust all of its available resources and expertise to ensure those who choose to abuse children in any way face justice.

LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS:

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According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, 40-year-old Jordan Fautz was sentenced for three counts of distribution of child pornography, two counts of distribution of the obscene visual representation of child sexual abuse, one count of production of the obscene visual representation of child sexual abuse, and one count of possession of child pornography.

Court documents said Fautz used an online chatting application to distribute child sexual abuse material to an undercover law enforcement officer. Fautz also produced and distributed photoshopped images depicting minors faces on the bodies of people engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Fautz also possessed material depicting child sexual abuse on his computers and cell phone.

Fautz was also ordered to pay $28,130 in restitution to victims.

Special Agent in Charge Michael E. Stansbury of the FBI Louisville Field Office made the announcement.

LATEST KENTUCKY LISTS AND RANKINGS:

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I commend the FBIs outstanding work during the investigation of this case and that of AUSA McKiness for his tireless effort in prosecuting it, U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky said. Combatting the sexual exploitation of our children is a priority of this office, and working with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to identify, arrest, and aggressively prosecute those who victimize our most vulnerable citizens.

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Former NATO Supreme Allied Cmdr. Wesley Clark weighed in on a report that President Trumps administration is considering drastically changing its military combatant command structure, arguing the potential decision would hinder the military cooperation between the U.S. and Europe and satisfy the Kremlin.

Its the critical linkage between the United States, our nuclear forces, U.S. forces and Europe. And so get rid of that position. You decouple the United States from NATO. You take away intelligence, you take away the ability to work with U.S. channels and NATO channels simultaneously, Clark said during a Friday night appearance on NewsNations Elizabeth Vargas Reports.

Nothing would make the Kremlin happier, and the Americans get and you dont save anything, because as NATO commander, my expenses were definitely my salary, Clark said on Friday. Most of my expenses were paid by Belgium and by NATO common funds. So theres no big savings in this. Its just a gift to Mr. Putin.

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The Pentagon is considering a plan that would result in the U.S. giving up its position as NATOs supreme allied commander Europe, NBC News reported Tuesday, citing two defense officials familiar with the planning.

Republican defense hawks in Congress expressed concern about the reported plan.

U.S. combatant commands are the tip of the American warfighting spear. Therefore, we are very concerned about reports that claim [the Defense Department] is considering unilateral changes on major strategic issues, including significant reductions to U.S. forces stationed abroad, absent coordination with the White House and Congress, House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

A day later, former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) argued if the administration acted on the proposal, it would drastically weaken the NATO military alliance, in which the U.S. has held its leadership position for nearly 75 years.

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Weakening American leadership wont strengthen NATO or U.S. interests. If were serious about encouraging more capable European allies, retreating from our position as the leader of the trans-Atlantic alliance would be an odd way to show it, McConnell said in a statement on Thursday.

Trump has previously criticized Europes top military players for not spending enough money on defense and not putting an appropriate amount into NATO, a pact set up in 1949. The president floated the U.S. withdrawing from the alliance during his first term in office.

That vision has some support in the GOP-controlled Senate, including from Trump ally Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who earlier this year said NATO is a great deal for Europe but a raw deal for America.

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tazewell, va.  A former teacher listened Thursday morning as a circuit court judge counted off the 20 convictions of enticing a child to perform in pornography which added up to 193 years in prison.

John Michael Sharpe, 33, of Tazewell, Va. was brought before Judge Richard Patterson for sentencing on 20 counts of enticing a child to perform in pornography with 19 of those counts being a second or subsequent offense. He received a total of 193 years to serve in the Virginia Department of Corrections. The first charge has a three-year mandatory minimum prison sentence. Each of the 19 subsequent counts carries a 10-year mandatory minimum time in prison. The charges involved a female juvenile who was a student.

A jury found Sharpe guilty on March 22, 2024, said J. Christopher Plaster, Tazewell County Commonwealths Attorney. He has been incarcerated since his conviction in the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority system.

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This case is still a tragedy. Not only is it a case involving the exploitation of a minor child, it is also a case of broken trust of the victim, her family, the school system and the entire community, Plaster said. John Sharpe simply refuses to take responsibility for his actions and even claims his interactions with the child are the fault of the victim. This is what makes John Sharpe dangerous and deserving of the time in prison he received today.

Sharpes sentence does not include a later opportunity for parole, Plaster said later.

Not at this point no, he would not, Plaster said. Now, again, that can always be changed by the Legislature, but at this time, no.

Plaster told the court during Thursdays hearing that during a presentencing investigation and a psychosexual evaluation, Sharpe was given the opportunity to accept some responsibility and also said that the relationship with the victim was typical between student and teacher. During the trial, the jury was shown multiple texts between Sharpe and the victim which showed this assertion was not true.

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Sharpe communicated with the victim via cellphone until chatting with her became flirting, Plaster said. He eventually solicited nude photos from the underage female victim, but did not count on the victim saving the photos. Sharpes activities were revealed when the victim spoke about him with a counselor. By law, school counselors are required to report possible cases of sexual abuse.

In the opinion of the Commonwealth, he is a predator, Plaster said.

Sharpes attorneys, John Koehler, David Syphers and Wayne Austin, gave the court several letters of support written by family, friends and other people who knew Sharpe.

Syphers told the court he could not imagine that the Virginia Legislature intended for the subsequent charges of enticing a child to perform in pornography to result in such a lengthy prison sentence. He asked the court to show Sharpe leniency.

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Its basically a life sentence, Syphers said.

Koehler after the hearing concluded that the defense plans to appeal Sharpes sentence.

Submitting an appeal to the Commonwealths court of appeals and having a hearing takes an average of 12 to 14 months, he said. The Attorney Generals Office will represent the Commonwealth in this appeal.

The case was investigated by Detective Michelle Conklin of the Tazewell County Sheriffs Office, Plaster said, thanking Sheriff Brian Hieatt and the entire sheriffs office for their dedication and hard work on this case.

The Tazewell County Commonwealths Attorneys Office also thanked the Tazewell County Department of Social Services and Tazewell County Public Schools for their assistance and cooperation.

Plaster prosecuted the case with Assistant Commonwealths Attorneys Jessica Gunter and Brandon Goins.

Contact Greg Jordan at

gjordan@bdtonline.com
Three civilians were injured in a Russian bombardment of the village of Oleksandrivka in Kharkiv Oblast on Saturday 22 March. A man has also been injured in the city of Vovchansk due to a Russian drone strike.

Source: Oleh Syniehubov, Head of Kharkiv Oblast State Administration, on Telegram

Quote: "The enemy has attacked the village of Oleksandrivka in the Zolochiv district this evening.

Three civilians are known to have been injured so far.

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One of them is a 50-year-old woman who sustained severe multiple injuries. Doctors are fighting to save her life."

Details: Earlier, Syniehubov reported that the Russians had struck Vovchansk with a drone. A 72-year-old man, who was feeding animals, sustained a blast injury and has been taken to hospital.

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Fox News Jessica Tarlov mocked her co-host Jeanine Pirro on Friday after she praised President Donald Trump for redecorating the White House while opposing the boring choices under President Joe Biden.

Tarlov, as part of a panel discussion on The Five, named right-wing critics who slammed how the Bidens  particularly former first lady Jill Biden and her Christmas decorations  made their residence look before Pirro interjected.

The whole point is they all agree with each other, I mean thats the whole point, that Joe is boring, Pirro said.

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That is not the point, youre upset that theyre criticizing your king, Tarlov replied.

Oh my king? Oh, the king? No, hes the president, Pirro said.

Trump has reportedly tripled the amount of paintings in the Oval Office, which features gilded Rococo mirrors along with gold vermeil figurines and gold eagles on side tables, CNN reported earlier this week.

Presidents ultimately decide how they want their workspace to look.

Trump revealed last month that he chose a desk once used by former President George H.W. Bush in the Oval Office to temporarily replace the Resolute Desk a gift from Queen Victoria in 1880  as it got lightly refinished.

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Trump is also hanging a copy of the Declaration of Independence  hidden behind dark blue curtains to protect it from light exposure  in the Oval Office and showed off the document to Fox News Laura Ingraham earlier this week.

Jessica: Youre upset that they are criticizing your king pic.twitter.com/8gNnsC6dvB  Acyn (@Acyn) March 21, 2025

In 2021, Biden made a number of choices on decor for the office, as well. He decided to remove a portrait of Andrew Jackson  which Trump saw criticism for in 2017  and replace it with a portrait of Benjamin Franklin, CNN reported.

He also reportedly had busts of Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt throughout the office.

Pirro, earlier in the program, slammed those criticizing Trumps decor decisions as being so petty and so irrelevant.

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Tarlov noted that its ritualistic that Republicans criticize Democratic presidents decor and vice versa.

Related...
President Donald Trump was challenged Friday to explain his designation of Tren de Aragua gang members as part of a terrorist organization by a somewhat unlikely source: Fox News.

Peter Doocy, the networks senior White House correspondent, questioned Trump during an Oval Office press conference, first citing Trumps proclamation last week designating the Venezuelan gang as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The proclamation invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to carry out deportations, which have been met with legal challenges, especially since any potential gang affiliations are in some cases disputed.

If ISIS or al Qaeda foreign terrorists were operating here in the United States, cops would probably be shooting first and asking questions later, Doocy said.

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And so what is the difference between terrorists? Between somebody like an ISIS or an al Qaeda operative versus MS-13 or a Tren de Aragua?

Trump replied, Well, these are people that focus on destroying people in their homes. Theyre not as international in that sense.

That was the extent of Trumps explanation, as he proceeded to relish in a photo op of deportation flights, complain about transgender for everyone, and rehash false grievances about past elections.

Theyre very, very dangerous people But they didnt look so dangerous when the guards took care of the situation from El Salvador. And I want to thank the president. Hes a friend of mine. Hes done a great job, Trump said.

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I just cant imagine that the Democrats are taking this issue where they want to have them back, you know? he continued. So now they have men playing in womens sports, they have transgender for everyone, they have open borders, they have all of their crazy policies that are, I think, 95-5, not 90-10, OK?

And their new policy is, lets bring Tren de Aragua back into our country, he claimed.

When they were in Colorado, cutting the fingers off a man because he made a phone call to the police, they seemed a lot tougher then than they did when they were having their head shaved and they were in shackles, he said.

Trump then complained, once again, about how a judge had ordered the deportation flights to be turned around. The flights continued, however. And the judge, James Boasberg, has since been grilling government lawyers about it.

Theyre tough people. Theyre bad people. We dont want them in our country, Trump said. We cant let a judge say that he wants them. You know, he didnt run for president. He didnt get much more than 80 million votes. And we just cant let that happen. It would be so bad for our country.
Frederick Classical Charter School was renewed to continue operating for 10 years, as well as to increase its enrollment by 20 students.

In Maryland, charter schools are evaluated by local school districts and are recommended for renewal. The ultimate decision for renewal is left to the school boards.

The charter schools enrollment increased from 376 to 396 contingent on funding in the fiscal year 2026 budget.

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The Frederick County Board of Education unanimously voted on March 12 to approve the charters renewal and its increased enrollment.

Frederick Classical Charter opened in 2012 after a group of parents submitted the charters application to the school board two years earlier.

Daniel Enck, the director of school management, planning and logistics for FCPS, presented a renewal recommendation for the charter at a school board work session in February.

To be renewed, a charter school must submit an application, which contains information about the educational, financial and cultural performance of the school, to the school district and is ultimately approved by the school board.

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FCPS Renewal Review Team recommended renewing Frederick Classicals charter, as it met the standard for educational performance; school culture and climate; finance and governance.

The team also included areas of strength and areas to improve upon.

For strengths, the renewal review team praised Frederick Classical Charters alignment of school goals with FCPS key performance indicators, which indicate systemwide progress in different areas.

For areas to monitor and upgrade, the review team recommended that the charter school should align its budget items with the states education legislation, and to create opportunities that enhance employee retention and reduce turnover.

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At the school boards work session on March 12, representatives of Frederick Classical Charter presented a report to the board members that discussed state testing data, financial standings and staff retention.

Scott Conroy, head of school for Frederick Classical Charter, said at the work session that U.S. News & World Report ranked the school as the number-one elementary and middle school charter in the state.

Conroy also presented scores from the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP). Students are tested in English language arts and math beginning in third grade.

A students score on the MCAP is measured on a scale of 1 to 4  1 is beginning learner, 2 is developing, 3 is proficient and 4 is distinguished. A score of 3 or 4 is considered at or above grade level.

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From third to eighth grade, in both English and math, Frederick Classical Charter most of the time had a higher percentage of students test at or above grade level compared to the total FCPS student population.

For example, 47.6% of fifth grade students at the charter school scored at or above proficiency on the math MCAP compared to 39.4% across the school district.

However, the charter did fall behind the school district in third grade math, with 45.3% of students performing proficiently compared to 52.9% across FCPS.

In 2021 and 2023, the school board at the time put Frederick Classical Charter on probation for issues relating to the governance of the school.

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The News-Post reported at the time that parents and former trustees were complaining about the Board of Trustees and how it handled issues like communicating with parents and conducting elections.

School board Vice President Dean Rose, who was on the school board when the charter was put on probation, said at the work session that the charters administration has taken significant strides to changing the whole environment there among the families.

I want to emphasize the students were never the problem, he said. I just want to thank you all for the work that youve clearly done ... because I saw a difference.

School board member Jaime Brennan, who previously served on the charters Board of Trustees, said the effort was a testament to Conroys work as head of school.

She said while speaking to friends who are parents of children who attend the charter, the commentary I get is how much improved and how wonderful our head of school is.
In the awful fortnight that followed the atrocities of October 7, at a mosque in east London located not far from a synagogue, an imam rose to the pulpit. Oh Allah, curse the Jews and the children of Israel, he prayed. Oh Allah, break their words, shake their feet, disperse and tear apart their unity and ruin their houses and destroy their homes.

Guess what happened next? Option one: the congregation was appalled. A worshipper reported the imam to the police and action was quickly taken in line with Prevent, the governments counter-terrorism strategy.

Option two: nothing. But a video of the sermon that was proudly posted online caused outrage among Jews and eventually made its way to the boys in blue.

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You got it. But it didnt end there. More than a year later, in November 2024, the Jewish Chronicles political correspondent, Lorin Bell-Cross, approached the police to find out if the case had been resolved. This was the height of the scandal over Allison Pearson of this parish, who on Remembrance Sunday had been visited by police investigating one of her social media posts (the inquiry was later rightfully and humiliatingly dropped).

Many people found the content upsetting, a police spokesman responded. However, he added, the entire sermon, including the wording, context and narrative have been reviewed and officers concluded that it does not meet the threshold of a crime.

When made public, this statement met with outrage. How could it be that in this climate of non-crime hate incidents, in which police officers have darkened the door of a grandmother in Stockport for criticising a Labour councillor on Facebook, this imam had been allowed to call for the destruction of Jewish homes and then go about his business without so much as a hows-your-father?

Theres more. After the public outcry in November, the police agreed to review the case. Hopes were not high, however. Essex Police, the force that pursued Allison, had published a community tension report in the wake of the Southport stabbings, claiming that a potential source of local unrest was that settlers and security forces entered the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem and prevented Muslims from entering the site.

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A local councillor had lodged a complaint with the Police and Crime Commissioner about this, suggesting it showed an implicit degree of hostility towards Israel. You think?

So it was that  lo and behold  this week, Plod surprised exactly nobody by declaring that the original decision stood. No further action would be taken, they said, not even logging a non-crime hate incident. Lucky old imam, eh?

What message did this send to Jews, whether living in the vicinity of the mosque or further afield? Surely that some minorities matter more than others. (If this had been a white supremacist calling on Odin to destroy Muslim homes, or a Christian fundamentalist willing hellfire on the houses of homosexuals, I suspect the police may have behaved rather differently.) What message to the imams fellow Muslims? Surely that you can rouse the rabble against Jews with impunity, a lesson that has been reinforced many times over the past 17 months. And what message to the public at large? Surely that identity politics is the deus ex machina of our two-tier police.

This is no passing matter. Lose equality under the law and we lose the ability to stand up for our values and demand that they are upheld. We need to shake off this timidity and remember how to respect our own way of life. Otherwise, how can we expect our friend the imam to do so?

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TOPEKA (KSNT)  Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab issued a statement Friday stating he will be undergoing treatment soon for cancer in one of his lungs.

Schwab made the announcement on social media on March 21 stating he has an upcoming appointment to treat a cancerous nodule inside one of his lungs. He said he remains committed to serving the people of Kansas despite the diagnosis and his upcoming treatment.

During a routine cancer screening in December doctors found that I have a lung nodule that is cancerous, and I will be undergoing surgery next week to have it removed. It has not spread or changed. My doctors have confirmed it was found very early, and no further treatment will be required post-surgery. I will make a full recovery. While I will take some time to recover, I remain committed to serving Kansans as Secretary of State. Scott Schwab social media statement

Schwab recently announced his bid for governor of the State of Kansas in early 2025. He defeated his opponents Democrat Jeanna Repass and Libertarian Cullene Lang in the 2022 midterm elections to keep his spot as secretary of state.

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10 measles cases identified in Kansas children, teens

For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
The Fulton Economic Development Corporation has received a $40,000 grant from Duke Energy Foundation and the Indiana Economic Development Association Foundation to address the workforce issue of affordable child care.

The funding is among $150,000 in grants to four organizations and projects focused on improving access to affordable child care in Indiana communities.

With its grant, an alliance of the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce, Northern Indiana Community Foundation, Caston and Rochester school districts and the Fulton Economic Development Corporation are looking at an innovative, community-driven approach to assess child care needs in Fulton County, a press release from the FEDC said.

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This group will develop a sustainable model, while enhancing access to quality child care services. By leveraging the expertise of a consultant, the group plans to formalize its Fulton County Early Learning Coalition, which includes early learning professionals, employers, parents and caregivers, government officials and funders, the release said.

The critical child care shortage we have here in Fulton County directly impacts economic growth, employee retention and business stability, said Michael Ladd, executive director of Fulton Economic Development Corporation. To meet this challenge head-on, we want to establish a long-term, scalable system that ensures the well-being of children and the economic vitality of our community. We are extremely grateful that the Duke Energy and IEDA foundations are collaborating with us on this effort.

State and local government entities, local and regional economic development agencies, and public and private nonprofit organizations were eligible to apply for grant funding. This new round of grants follows more than $100,000 in funding awarded through the foundations in 2024.

In September 2024, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce released a report examining the impact of child care challenges on Indianas economy. The study found that Indiana loses out on an estimated $4.22 billion annually for the states economy, including a $1.17 billion annual loss in tax revenue, due to shortfalls in child care. According to the report, only 61% of children needing care statewide can be served through existing capacity.

We know that Indianas child care challenges are complex, and we hope this grant will help Fulton County develop the solutions needed to support working parents and the local economy, said Erin Schneider, managing director of economic development at Duke Energy. Were looking forward to seeing how their work removes significant barriers for parents and caretakers to participate and advance in the workforce.
(NEXSTAR)  New cases of a dangerous, drug-resistant fungus have been identified in at least two states hospital systems.

Candida auris, also called C. auris, was first identified in the U.S. in 2016. Since then, the number of cases have increased every year, jumping substantially in 2023 (the last year of data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Recently, cases have proliferated in Georgia, the states health department told local news outlet WJCL. A study published this week, which focused on the Jackson Health System in Miami also found cases of the fungus have rapidly increased.

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Allergy sufferers in these US cities face a tough 2025 season, study finds

The CDC has called Candida auris an urgent antimicrobial resistance threat because its resistant to anti-fungal drugs, making it hard to treat an infection once it occurs.

If you get infected with this pathogen thats resistant to any treatment, theres no treatment we can give you to help combat it. Youre all on your own, Melissa Nolan, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina, told Nexstar.

People with a healthy immune system may be able to fight off infection on their own, but Candida auris mainly spreads in health care settings, where people are sick and vulnerable. People with catheters, breathing tubes, feeding tubes and PICC lines are at the highest risk because the pathogen can enter the body through these types of devices.

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When the fungus infects a patient, it can be hard to identify whats going on. Symptoms are like those of any infection, including fever and chills.

Another reason Candida auris is so concerning is because of how well it has adapted to surviving on surfaces, like countertops, bedrails and doorknobs.

T-Mobile customers to get payments up to $25K next month after data breach: Heres who qualifies

Its really good at just being, generally speaking, in the environment, Nolan explained. So if you have it on a patients bed for example, on the railing, and you go to wipe everything down, if in whatever way maybe a couple of pathogens didnt get cleared, then theyre becoming resistant. And so over time, they can kind of grow and populate in that hospital environment.

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Its not just hospitals in Georgia and Florida that are areas of concern. Candida auris has been found in all but 12 states, with a substantial spike between 2022 and 2023.

Location Clinical cases of C. auris Alaska 0 Alabama 19 Arkansas 10 Arizona 179 California 1,566 Colorado 3 Connecticut 8 District Of Columbia 97 Delaware 30 Florida 1,485 Georgia 219 Hawaii 1 Iowa 6 Idaho 0 Illinois 1,627 Indiana 304 Kansas 0 Kentucky 48 Louisiana 38 Massachusetts 23 Maryland 203 Maine 0 Michigan 149 Minnesota 8 Missouri 4 Mississippi 41 Montana 0 North Carolina 20 North Dakota 0 Nebraska 2 New Hampshire 0 New Jersey 491 New Mexico 1 Nevada 1,008 New York 1,795 Ohio 274 Oklahoma 10 Oregon 4 Pennsylvania 44 Rhode Island 0 South Carolina 8 South Dakota 0 Tennessee 107 Texas 750 Utah 1 Virginia 151 Vermont 0 Washington 0 Wisconsin 12 West Virginia 4 Wyoming 0

In the past, the CDC estimated that based on information from a limited number of patients, 3060% of people with C. auris infections have died. However, many of these people had other serious illnesses that also increased their risk of death.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
FLORIDA KEYS, Fla. (WFLA)  A new biodegradable tool dubbed the Coral Defender was launched this week in an effort to safeguard newly outplanted corals in Floridas waters.

The Coral Defender is a 3-D printed tool made from polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) that protect corals from predation. The PHAs are naturally produced by bacteria through fermenting sugars or fats.

Tampa man found in the water, clinging to pylon after theft in Florida Keys: deputies

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Launched by The Florida Aquarium and Florida Fish and Wildlife, scientists will monitor the corals for the next year and a half. The pilot program aims to evaluate the Coral Defenders ability to protect the corals from fish predation, how fast the material degrades in the ocean, and coral outplant survival over time.

Divers spent two days outplanting 660 young corals, raised at the aquarium, at four reef sites in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Half were placed among three species grooved brain, symmetrical brain, and ridged cactus corals, to compare them to outplants without the defender tool.

FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

Our Coral Defender represents an evolution in coral restoration, the projects leader and Research Scientist with the Coral Research Program at FWRI said. By providing a biodegradable, yet effective defense against predators, were giving these corals a fighting chance to grow and thrive naturally.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation say they arrested a teacher for having improper sexual contact by an employee, agent or foster parent.

Officials say on June 14, 2024, the Greene County Sheriffs Office asked the GBI to investigate allegations of sexual contact between a student and a former Nathanael Greene Academy teacher.

The alleged incident occurred in Siloam, Georgia, according to law enforcement officials.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Officials learned throughout the investigation that 25-year-old teacher Bonnie Elizabeth Brown, of Greene County engaged in sexual contact with a student while employed at Nathanael Greene Academy.

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Before her arrest, Brown was teaching in Wilkes County. She was booked into the Greene County Sheriffs Office Jail.

TRENDING STORIES:

The investigation is active and ongoing.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Greene County Sheriffs Office at 706-453-3351 or the GBI regional investigative office in Milledgeville at 478-445-4173.

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PLATTSBURGH  Besides PPE, effective treatments for the coronavirus were among the milestones frontline workers celebrated at the University of Vermont Health Network-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital.

I dont remember there being any one day like, Oh my God, this is it, Keith Collins, MD, Infectious Disease, said.

It was more of a thing where as time progressed, we started getting treatments that actually were effective. We started having people actually listen in the community that would start to exercise caution. I dont remember any one thing but I think it was just as time progressed, the data got better, the science got better, we knew better how to isolate people, we knew what we did and didnt need to do, and we started getting some effective treatments. The biggest turning point of all was getting the vaccines.

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TURNING POINTS

Erica Moore, RN, infection prevention manager at CVPH, said there were a variety of turning points.

I think that one thing that the community and the healthcare workers and people in general is understanding that we are a vector and we, when were contagious and as hard as it is to say, I need to stay away from other people when Im sick, thats what we need to do, she said.

And sometimes we are not that important and we dont need to be where we think we need to be. We dont want to miss out on the fun. We dont want to miss out on work. But we need to realize that when Im sick, a small sniffle may turn into something more and we need to understand what other respiratory illnesses are out there that I could stay away from somebody who is immune-compromised. Someone who is immune-compromised doesnt have to be elderly. It could be someone who is fighting cancer. It could be someone with cystic fibrosis. So, its understanding our own bodies, what respiratory illnesses are out there and making that decision on how I will prevent the spread of something and what can I do to stop the spread of something, and then using all of our respiratory hygiene in addition to what can I do maintain my own health and stop the spread.

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Collins gave shout-out to his environmental service colleagues at the hospital.

Our environmental service folks really, really did an incredible job and remember they dont have the same medical training as our RNs and MDs, he said.

They relied on us, I think, to some extent. I think there was a level of trust that I will always be grateful for. Because they still did their job. I think they had some trust in us to make sure that we would try to keep them as safe as we could because they were on the front lines like everybody else. They were really, really part of the solution here in what they did.

Collins also praised Lisa Mark, MD, chief medical officer and vice president of Medical Affairs.

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We had a great CMO through this whole thing who was really level-headed, he said.

She did a great job through the entire pandemic. She just started her job at the beginning of the pandemic. I dont think she had been working for two months when she got thrown into this. I just want to have a shout-out to Lisa. She did a great job.

TAKEAWAYS

Besides patient intake protocols, there were aspects of the hospitals physical plant that were changed.

ICU was a place where we changed the HVAC  how our internal systems execute air, how the air moves through our system, our ventilation system, Moore said.

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So, we had ORs that were set up to move air differently. Our ORs, our ICU, we set that up differently where we placed patients is different. We set it up permanently. We took it down, but we can access that in the OR at any time if we need to. Those were permanent/temporary accesses that when we need to we can still access.

For Collins, the biggest take-away was the importance of communication with people.

Try to convince them that the science behind what we do is important because if we dont do that were going to fail, he said.

Its still the biggest challenge I think right now is that science is being questioned. I dont care what politics you have. The reason that COVID went the way it did is because of project (Operation) Warp Speed that was put on by the current Administration and they did a great job. Somehow weve lost track of the fact that viruses and infections dont care what politics you have. I think the biggest challenge we have is try to bring people back to understanding that science is for a reason and medicine should follow science because without it were just witch doctors.

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Take politics out like Dr. Collins said, Moore said.

I would say always go back to your primary doctor and talk to your doctor. Sometimes friends can influence you and you need to understand your health care. Talk to your doctor. Thats important, too. You know your health and so does your primary. When you dont have a primary, theres public health. There are some friends who are health care workers who can talk to you. It was a very scary time, but inevitably there were other things that will come down the pike. But we have a strong community that really does help each other. We could lean on each other.

PRAISE FOR COLLINS

Moore shared insights during that desperate day-to-day of the pandemic that confronted Collins and Madiha Tahir, MBBS who were the two ID doctors at CVPH then.

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I think Dr. Collins is being very humble, and I want to say something about him, Moore said.

They do more for this community than people realize. But he is our only (infectious disease physician), full-time here at the facility. He took calls all the time, and I dont think he slept. And, I still dont think he sleeps. Dr. Tahir has since moved on to a different opportunity with her husband, but he takes calls all the time.

I mean you talk about a community provider, as many community providers do when they work at a community hospital beyond ID, but were talking ID. He took calls all the time when he was available, and I dont think he ever said no. I think hes being humble, but I dont think he took a full nights sleep probably two or three years into COVID. Yes, he shared the burden with your intensivists, but I think hes being very humble and we are blessed to have him in his position.

For Collins, emergent pathogens are always on the horizon.

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Hopefully, measles will be contained, he said.

Theres been a recent Ebola outbreak. Were not short of infections. The big one I actually do worry about is bird flu jumping. I think its a real possibility because its jumped to so many mammals. It does worry me, especially when its in swine because its easier for bird flu to mix, like in pigs. Its easier for it to reinsert and potentially ... It hasnt happened but its worrisome. It can happen. Its the single biggest one that I worry about right now is bird flu.
PLATTSBURGH  The national average price of gasoline declined for a fourth consecutive week, down 1.3 cents to $3.02 per gallon, and in New York state, it is down 3.1 cents at $3.06.

According to GasBuddy data, the national average is down 10.6 cents compared to a month ago and 42.2 cents lower than a year ago and in New York State, 9.0 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and 27.7 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

As concerns over tariffs and policy uncertainties grow, gas prices have continued to decline across much of the country, raising the possibility that the national average could slip below $3 per gallon and approach some of the lowest prices seen in years, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said.

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However, this decline shouldnt necessarily be celebrated, as it comes with strong warning signs. When the economy slows, gasoline demand drops  along with demand for other refined products like diesel and jet fuel. Weve already seen some signals that the months ahead could be challenging. All of this suggests that gas prices are likely to remain low for now. However, if economic conditions improve, gas prices could eventually follow suit and start rising again.

The most common price per gallon encountered by motorists remains unchanged at $2.99.

The top 10% of gas stations have a reported average of $4.36 per gallon, with the bottom averaging $2.47.

California, Hawaii and Washington continue to average the highest prices per gallon at $4.57, $4.47 and $4.01 respectively.

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The states with the lowest average prices per gallon are Texas at $2.60, with Oklahoma and Mississippi tied at $2.60.

LOCAL PRICES

As of Monday, Mar 11 these are the reported prices per gallon from stations around the North Country.

Plattsburgh:

Sams Club (membership required)  $2.85

Sunoco (Margaret Street)  $2.88

Luckys (NY3)  $2.89

24-Hour Fuel  $2.94

VP Racing Fuels (NY22)  $2.98

Mobil (Miller Street)  $2.99

Mannys Sunoco (cash only)  $3.05

Maplefields (NY3)  $2.99

Stewarts Shops (7137 US9)  $3.09

Mountain Mart #109  $3.09

Stewarts Shops (NY3)  $3.09

St Armands  $3.09

Malone:

Malone Food Mart  $2.99

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Mobil  $3.31

Stewarts Shops (E Main Street)  $3.31

Stewarts Shops (W Main Street)  $3.31

Champlain:

Sunoco  $3.29

Irving  $3.29

Valero  $3.29

Saranac Lake:

Mobil  $3.49

Mobil (Broadway)  $3.49

Stewarts Shops  $3.49

Keeseville:

Mobil (Front Street)  $3.29

Stewarts Shops (Main Street)  $3.29

Sunoco (NY9N)  $3.29

Ticonderoga:

Mobil  $3.39

Stewarts Shops  $3.48

Peru:

Libertys Garage  $3.09

Stewarts Shops  $3.19

Crown Point:

Mobil (Main Street)  $3.27

Ray Brook:

Sunoco (cash only)  $3.59

Keene:

Stewarts Shops  $3.59

Schroon Lake:

Sunoco  $3.53

Rouses Point:

Stewarts Shops (Lake Street)  $3.23

Chazy:

Stewarts Shops  $3.25
Gene Hackmans dog should be cremated and buried with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, his daughter told New Mexico authorities after the mummified bodies of the reclusive couple and their beloved pooch were found last month, according to newly released police bodycam video.

The phone call between Hackmans daughter, Elizabeth, and a Sante Fe County Sheriffs officer was featured in footage released by the agency Friday, TMZ first reported.

Yeah, Im thinking cremate the dog and bury it with Betsy, Elizabeth can be heard telling the deputy.

Betsy Arakawa was found dead alongside her husband Gene Hackman last month. AP

The French Connection stars grieving daughter also made a heartbreaking request.

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If the dog was wearing a collar could you save that for me? she asked, according to the footage.

The dog, a kelpie mix named Zinna, was described as being mummified due to the dry New Mexico air and died of dehydration and starvation, veterinarians concluded.

Zinna, short for Zinfandel, was found in a crate near the body of Arakawa, 65, whose cause of death was the rare rodent-borne disease hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

Arakawa and Hackmans deaths were found to be natural. AP

Hackman, 95, succumbed to complications from heart problems and advanced Alzheimers disease about a week after Arakawa died, officials said.

Hackman and his wife were partially mummified when they were discovered roughly a week after their deaths, with the Unforgiven stars body found in a mudroom while Arakawas was located in a bathroom, near a crate that contained Zinnas body.

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The couples two other dogs  Bear, a German shepherd, and Nikita, an Akita-shepherd mix  were found alive on their palatial property and adopted by Joey Padilla Sante Fe Tails pet spa.

The reclusive Hackman was spotted at a gas station. SplashNews.com

In other newly released bodycam footage, sheriffs officers speak to a groundskeeper, who got emotional when realizing that Hackman and Arawawa  whom he described as being warm and friendly  and visibly upset when he learned they had died in their longtime home.

I didnt see anything that would make me think, somethings going on, the worker told officers according to TMZ.

The landscaper further added his dismay at seeing them like that.

Hackman and Arakawa were found at their home in Sante Fe, New Mexico. AP

Elizabeth Hackman, 63, was one of three children the two-time Oscar winner shared with first wife, Faye Maltese.

Earlier this week, his family filed to block the release of autopsy results, photos and investigation details for Hackman and Arakawa, 65.
Gene Hackman's daughter told the sheriffs who found her father dead in his home to cremate his dead dog and bury its remains with that of his wife Betsy Arakawa ... according to newly released police body cam video .

The footage -- released Friday by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office -- features a phone call between a deputy and Gene's daughter Elizabeth.

She tells police to cremate the dog at the county's animal shelter and bury the remains with Betsy. Elizabeth also tells police to kindly save the dog's collar.

Gene Hackman's Groundskeeper Gets Emotional Realizing He Won't See Him Again

In another clip, deputies speak with a groundskeeper at Gene and Betsy's New Mexico compound and he gets emotional realizing he won't see them again.

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As we reported ... Officials in Santa Fe County, New Mexico have already concluded Betsy likely died about a week before Hackman is thought to have died -- due to hantavirus, a rare disease that can be fatal.

Gene Hackman Died from Heart Disease a Week After Wife's Death

Authorities made it clear Hackman had advanced Alzheimer's ... and, it's unclear if he even realized Betsy had passed away before he died from cardiovascular disease.

As you know ... Gene and Betsy's deaths were labeled "suspicious" in an application for a search warrant -- and investigators recovered health records, medication, and cell phones from the scene.

Gene Hackman: Through the Years

The two were found dead in separate rooms of their mansion ... and, one of their three dogs -- which was crated after a vet appointment -- died as well.

Gene Hackman And Betsy Arakawa Together - Click image to open gallery

In the footage, the deputy tells Gene's daughter the other two dogs were found alive and were being rehomed with family.

TMZ

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Hackman was 95 ... Arakawa was 65.

RIP
The Drug Enforcement Administrations Rocky Mountain Field Division seized around 570,000 fentanyl pills during a seven-day period in June, or 22% of the overall pills seized in the state in 2023.
HONOLULU (KHON2)  A new generation of royalty is being introduced to Hawaii with the latest introduction of contests at the Miss Hawaii USA pageant.

Who is competing in the Miss Hawaii USA 2025 pageant?

Hawaii is set to see a new Miss and Teen queen in the USA system, but in addition to the queens, the court is expanding with some very poised princesses.

Who is competing in the Miss Hawaii Teen USA 2025 pageant?

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The Miss Hawaii USA system has opened up its court and introduced the titles of:

Little Miss Hawaii USA

Mini Hawaii USA

Miss Hawaii Pre-Teen USA

Miss Hawaii Junior Teen USA

10 facts about Oprahs palatial $60M Maui estate

The introduction of this new category aims to provide young girls the opportunity to learn from their older sister queens and practice many life long skills such as public speaking.

Jr Teen Leeward Oahu 2025 Jaylie Kaanapu

Im super excited to compete. Ive been practicing for a long time so Im coming in strong and confident Jr Teen Leeward Oahu  Jaylie Kaanapu

As young as some of the girls are, they certainly impress with their ability to eloquently answer questions about todays world and what their hopes and dreams are in the future.

Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You

But they are in no rush to grow up.

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While this is a competition, the sisterhood shows strong throughout each one of them and some even said theyre just mostly excited to hang out with their friends and play dress up with them.

Little Waikiki 2025 Taimane Nakajo

I just want to keep doing [pageants] as I grow up because they are so much fun. I get to meet so many new people and have so many new sisters! Little Waikiki 2025  Taimane Nakajo

The girls will be competing Friday, March 21, at the Ala Moana Hotel at 7 p.m. followed by the Teen competition.

Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news

To vote for your favorite princess click here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2.
GENEVA  The Geneva Area City School Board hosted a candidates night with four finalists for the superintendent position Thursday at the Geneva High School auditorium.

The school board announced its four finalists March 12, and they were:

 GACS Interim Superintendent David Riley

 Austinburg Elementary School Principal Anthony Markijohn

 Wallace H. Braden Middle School Principal Timothy Neal

 Cleveland Heights-University City School District Assistant Superintendent Paul Lombardo

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The event was an executive session and divided into two parts.

District stakeholders, including local government and community leaders, were invited.

Board President Michele Krieg asked questions and board member Beth Cybulski timed the candidates.

The first part of the event saw candidates present one at a time on a chosen topic.

The topic prompted candidates to consider how they would improve district-wide transportation, bus maintenance and route communication.

Markijohn said the district needs to use its software more efficiently and to its full effect.

A majority of this can be handled by good communication, he said.

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The district should hire more bus drivers and a transportation secretary, he said.

I believe thats for every district in northeast Ohio and in America, he said.

Neal said drivers are good at knowing how far off they are, and that can be communicated to parents.

Within a short time of starting the beginning of the school year, our drivers know, he said.

It is important to think outside the box to attract drivers, Neal said.

It starts with the idea of valuing everyone who has input in this scenario, he said.

Lombardo said he would meet with the parents when their child is overwhelmed by changing bus routes and drivers.

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This is something that would be unacceptable, he said.

Lombardo would have Geneva learn from other districts, he said.

Riley would continue issuing a spreadsheet to parents before the beginning of each school year, a practice he said he started this year.

He would also consider summer recruitment drive to hire new bus drivers and fight the shortage, he said.

We need to look outside the box a little bit, too, he said.

The second part of the event saw all four candidates come on stage and answer five questions.

These questions were compiled from over 100 submitted by community stakeholders in the days leading up to the meeting, Krieg said.

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Candidates were asked what their leadership style, was and how they would bring in funding, recruit teachers and staff, engage with online learning platforms and tell the districts story.

After answering the questions, candidates were also asked to give concluding remarks.

Riley said he has helped students struggling with grief, seen a 40-day teachers strike and given harsh news.

Those are the things you dont see on a resume, he said.

Neal said he has persevered all his life and was the first in his family with a college degree.

Thats exactly what we need to do in Geneva schools, is persevere, he said.

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Markijohn said his 29 years with the district make him a good fit to lead it and tackle Geneva schools ongoing issues.

I feel I have a unique aspect on the job, district and community, he said.

Lombardo said he would love to serve as superintendent, and was thankful for the interview opportunity.

I come in with fresh eyes, he said.

The district has been without a superintendent since the board voted to separate from the previous superintendent, Terri Hrina-Treharn, at an August 2024 meeting.

At that same meeting, the board selected Riley as interim superintendent.
ATLANTA (AP)  U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff came home to Atlanta Saturday to rally core Democrats desperate for effective action now against President Donald Trumps administration.

Georgia will bow to no king! Ossoff proclaimed at the end of a 20-minute speech that labeled Trump as corrupt, out of touch with the problems of regular people, and trying to poison our democracy with fear and intimidation.

Atlanta, this is not a drill. Atlanta, this is not a bad dream, said Ossoff, who could be the Republicans No. 1 Democratic target in the 2026 elections. As citizens, this is the test of our lifetime. So tell me, Atlanta, are you ready to fight?

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Ossoffs campaign tried to play down the idea that Saturdays event was the launch of his 2026 reelection campaign, and he never specifically asked the 2,000 Democrats gathered in a music hall on Atlantas gentrified east side for their votes. But others, including fellow Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, made that explicit, and Ossoff's campaign handed out yard signs to people as they left.

It's still so early that it's not clear what Republicans will oppose the first-term Democrat. Many Republicans would like to see Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp enter the race. But the second-term governor has been holding back a decision and could opt instead to run for president in 2028 or to retire from politics. If Kemp declines to run, Republicans including U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter, Rich McCormick and Mike Collins could seek the nomination, as well as state Insurance Commissioner John King. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has also mused about a possible run for Georgia governor or Senate in 2026.

Any race in Georgia is likely to be closely contested and fantastically expensive. The twin Senate races in 2020, when Ossoff and Warnock narrowly won and flipped control of the Senate to Democrats, cost more than $900 million combined, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks political spending. Warnock's 2022 reelection over Republican Herschel Walker cost more than $470 million, OpenSecrets found.

Ossoff, keeping his focus off 2026, tried to speak to the alarm that Democratic voters say they are feeling, and promising he was doing everything he could to fight back.

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Maybe right now you feel surrounded by darkness. You might be a little numb. You might be wondering if theres a way out," Ossoff said. "But Atlanta, we dont have the luxury of despair.

Ossoff tried to carve out a lane as a traditional senator who could do bipartisan work in his first four years. With Democrats restive and in the minority, he may be looking to shift his tone to something more antagonistic towards Trump. But some themes that Ossoff sounded Saturday are consistent with his first four years, including opposition to what he sees as corruption rooted in the influence of money in politics.

This is why things dont work for ordinary people, Ossoff said. Its not because of trans kids or woke college students or because our new archenemy, Canada. The corruption is why you pay a fortune for prescriptions. The corruption is why your insurance claim keeps getting denied. The corruption is why hedge funds get to buy up all the houses in your neighborhood.

Ossoff showcased people who said they're being harmed by Trump's policies, but in the hometown of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it wasn't hard to find others in the audience. Bev Roberts, attending with her mother, described herself as a Trump refugee, saying she was laid off by the U.S. Agency for International Development and forced to come home from Cairo. Like many Democrats, Roberts is unhappy with what she sees as ineffective opposition thus far.

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I want to hear practical solutions, I don't want to hear rhetoric," Roberts said before the speech. I think Democrats need to change.

Some questioned whether a campaign rally was suited to this moment. Thomas McCormick, who drove 140 miles to Atlanta from the central Georgia town of Dublin, said hes not seeing any effective opposition from Democrats, with the possible exception of Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy. He expressed disgust with Saturdays event and mused about supporting a third party, saying that Democrats cant wait until 2026, likening the impact of Trumps work so far to the explosion of the Hindenburg airship in 1937.

Thats two years, thats two years of damage, McCormick said, as strains of Macarena echoed through the hall before the rally began. I have been on the left side of politics my whole life. This is the best Ive got?
BERLIN (AP)  The German government said Saturday that it is temporarily closing its embassy in South Sudan.

After years of fragile peace, South Sudan is once again on the brink of civil war, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on social media platform Bluesky.

The crisis team of the German Foreign Office "has therefore decided to close the embassy in the capital Juba for the time being. The safety of the employees has top priority," she added.

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Baerbock also wrote that South Sudan President Salva Kiir and his rival, Vice President Riek Machar, are plunging the country into a spiral of violence. They have a responsibility to stop the senseless violence and finally implement the peace agreement.

South Sudan has been plagued by political instability and violence since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011.

In 2018, a peace deal signed between Machar and Kiir ended a five-year civil war in which more than 400,000 people were killed. Machar serves as the countrys first vice president in a government of national unity, even though his political group opposes Kiir.

The political rivalry between the two men is widely seen as a major obstacle to peace in South Sudan, with Kiir suspicious of his deputys ambitions and Machar calling Kiir a dictator.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has temporarily closed its embassy in South Sudan's capital Juba because of rising tensions that have brought the East African country to the verge of civil war, the German foreign ministry said on Saturday.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir this week sacked the governor of Upper Nile state, where clashes have escalated between government troops and an ethnic militia he accuses of allying with his rival, First Vice President Riek Machar.

The standoff has heightened concerns that the world's newest nation could slide back into conflict some seven years after its emergence from a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people.

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"After years of fragile peace, South Sudan is once again on the brink of civil war," the German foreign ministry wrote on x.

"President Kiir and Vice President Machar are plunging the country into a spiral of violence. It's their responsibility to end this senseless violence & finally implement the peace agreement."

South Sudan's United Nations peacekeeping chief, Nicholas Haysom, has also said he is concerned the country is "on the brink of relapse into civil war".

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to begin dismantling the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and return power to the states.

Today we take a very historic action that was 45 years in the making. In a few moments, I will sign an executive order to begin eliminating the federal Department of Education once and for all, he said in his afternoon speech.

The order directs Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to act to the full extent of the law to begin the departments closure.

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Although the ED is the nations smallest agency, it could have a large impact on the funding for local schools, and its elimination would require an act of Congress.

What does the department do?

In a sea of opportunities for youth and adults, the ED is the lighthouse. It provides direction and safety for students and educators to navigate their journeys without interfering with daily operations.

The department does not impact curriculum or what students do daily, but it determines if a school can afford things like special equipment for students with disabilities.

Effective today, the department is expected to fulfill its normal duties with half its staff  about 2,183 employees, down from 4,133  after an executive order from Trump ordered a reduction in forces last week.

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Without its lighthouse, schools are left largely in the dark, causing chaos and confusion over how these decisions will impact them.

In his speech, Trump said the decision is necessary to care for Americas youth, but only around 14 percent of the departments funding goes toward K-12 education. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was around 8 percent.

A majority of K-12 funding is grant programs designed to educate the most vulnerable and impoverished population, with money like the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) funds, granted to help schools struggling during and after the pandemic, and Title I, which provides federal assistance to schools where at least 40 percent of students come from low-income families.

The latest ESSER allocations for area schools were: Conneaut School District, $5,941,579; Crawford Central School District, $8,245,668; PENNCREST School District, $6,338,819; and Titusville Area School District, $7,509,077.

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The preliminary Title I allocations for this year are: Conneaut, $950,103; Crawford Central, $1,246,953; PENNCREST, $762,028; and Titusville, $1,167,781.

How staffing reduction alone may hinder oversight and distribution of funds, or whether those funds will be reorganized to fit under different government agencies, is unknown.

Other federal school programs are funded by different agencies. The Head Start program, which provides education services to low-income families, is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. The free school and lunch programs are funded by the Department of Agriculture. For adults, the GI Bill, which affords military veterans and their families pay to attend higher education, is funded by Veterans Affairs.

Stephanie Keebler, superintendent of Titusville Area School District, said her district has not had any contact from ED or the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) about the possible implications regarding funding. Other area schools did not respond to requests for comments.

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Mostly, however, the ED spends most of its budget on education and training for adults, namely college students, students enrolled in career and technical programs, and people with disabilities seeking jobs. About 60 percent of its budget this year went to student financial aid.

Jennifer Winge, vice president for enrollment management at Allegheny College, said the department plays a critical role in supporting students and families.

After an incredibly challenging year last cycle with the delayed and error-filled rollout of a new FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), we have experienced much better service and support this year, she said. Alleghenys financial aid office is able to process and distribute students financial aid offers accurately and efficiently so students can make informed decisions about their college choice.

The staffing reduction could disrupt or delay the processing of the FAFSA, which enables students to receive need-based financial assistance from the federal government, states and individual colleges and universities. Over 7 million students receive Pell Grants and 700,000 benefit from the federal work study program in addition to access to low-interest loans through the Federal Direct Loan program.

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She mentioned that the agency has allowed students from varying socioeconomic backgrounds to pursue postsecondary education, and further disrupting that, could put college access in jeopardy.

What would it take to eliminate the department?

Several Republicans have sought to eliminate the department since it opened in 1980 under Democratic President Jimmy Carter, including past Sen. Bob Dole, former President Ronald Reagan, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, and former Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota.

Brian Harward, a local political scholar and professor, said the most recent reorganization of federal agencies since the New Deal era was after Sept. 11, 2001, when Congress created the Department of Homeland Security.

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But typically, to my knowledge, I cant think of the eradication of entire agencies, he said.

Harward, an author of Strategic Responsiveness: How Congress Confronts Presidential Power, released in January, said theres a reason for that  a president doesnt have the power to do that alone.

An executive order by itself cannot dismantle an agency, he explained. They typically have the authority to make personnel decisions within those agencies, but those are governed by statute under the Administrative Procedure Act in which agencies must meet requirements in order to pursue force reductions.

Agencies within the government are entities created and overseen by Congress, Harward said, noting that it would then take an act of Congress to eliminate it.

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The Trump administration cannot, in this case  dismantle an agency, whether through firings or reduction in force, he said. They cannot override a statutory framework or statutory authority that Congress has delegated to that agency.

He continued, saying McMahon has the discretion to reorganize and determine allocations of resources and individuals within the agency, but she is supposed to give congressional committees notice and justification for those actions.

They also have civil service protections for those individuals that take into consideration tenure in office, veteran status, performance on the job and other things that are all required by statute, he said. It doesnt appear that thats been happening.

A major reorganization or elimination would likely require federal legislation and a supermajority vote in the Senate. That means three-fifths of senators would have to vote in favor of stopping the debate on a bill to vote on it.

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Trump said the elimination has bipartisan support, though.

It sounds strange, doesnt it? Department of Education, were going to eliminate it, he stated Thursday. Everybody knows its right. The Democrats know its right, and I hope theyre going to be voting for it because ultimately, it may come before them. But everybody knows its right that we have to get our children educated.

However, attempts by some Republicans, like Massie, who introduced bills in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 to terminate or reduce the departments size, have fallen short of whats needed as the department typically has bipartisan support.

Less than two years ago, a legislative amendment in the U.S. House of Representatives endorsing the move of K-12 education programs out of the department failed.

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Academic researchers like Frederick Hess at the Harvard Kennedy School, who believes the department should close, assert that its unlikely and that Republicans lack the votes to make the change or show little interest in cutting those programs.

How efficient is the department currently?

In a previous order to reduce staff, Trump justified the cuts, saying the Department of Education has spent more than $1 trillion without producing virtually any improvement in student reading and mathematics scores, according to a draft obtained by NPR.

Looking at the Nations Report Card, reading scores changed little between 1992 and 2019, but math has improved a considerable amount.

As for funding impacts of programs like Title I, no recent studies have been done, but a 2015 analysis from George Mason Universitys School of Policy, Government and International Affairs found that Title I funding was spread too thin to significantly to closing achievement gaps nationwide.

Regarding Federal Student Aid (FSA), which makes up a majority of EDs budget, the department has struggled lately.

Auditors said that for FSA in fiscal year 2024, they were not able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion because of errors identified in the underlying data.

The auditors also identified significant deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting.

The Department of Inspector General also released a report on FAFSA accountability, stating, FSA does not have readily available full accountancy of appropriated funds, obligations, administrative expenses, and staffing related to its FAFSA Simplification Act and student loan forgiveness initiatives for 2021-24. It also found that FSAs initial and required spending plan submissions to Congress were late in all four fiscal years.

Although its efficiency seems lacking, staffing cuts and reorganization may be harmful.

Chris Lilienthal, assistant director of communications for Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), said that if the goal is to be more efficient and have more accountability as the inspectors general suggest, the Trump administration is putting the cart before the horse.

Whats going to happen is theres going to be less accountability, theres going to be less transparency, theres going to be more mistakes, he said.

Risks of fewer staff members, Lilienthal added, include concerns over the distribution of funding  if it will be on time, late or go to the wrong place.

If there was actually a well-thought-out plan to shut down the Department of Education, you would think that there would be some time spent on writing that plan up, putting together a schedule for implementing it, transferring those responsibilities from the department from other agencies before you lay off and eliminate more than 2,000 positions within the department, he concluded.

What impact would restructuring have?

For Pennsylvania educators and support staff, we are very concerned about what that will ultimately mean for public education and the students of Pennsylvania, Lilienthal said.

PSEA found that 7,000 educator and support staff positions are partially or wholly funded by federal education money, and those jobs could be in jeopardy.

This is on top of an already drastic teacher shortage, Lilienthal mentioned, and as Pennsylvania is trying to increase its manpower and funding for public schools. A court ruling in 2023 found Pennsylvanias school funding system unconstitutional.

So as we start to make really good progress with state funding, the last thing we would want to see is a sharp reduction or elimination of that federal funding, Lilienthal said. Many people point out that the vast majority of funding comes from state and local sources, thats true, but I dont think you can just erase $1.6 billion in education funding and not expect there to be dramatic impacts on the students of Pennsylvania.

Trump said that Pell Grants, Title I funding, and special needs and disabilities funds will be preserved in full and distributed to other departments to allocate.

But beyond these core necessities, my administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department, Trump said. We want to return our students to the states.

Bills like the College Cost Reduction Act, which Republicans proposed to Congress last January, would actually expand the Pell Grant program for low-income students to attend higher education by including more money for third- and fourth-year students going to school for in-demand jobs.

Trump said that student success statistics will greatly improve without the ED. Nonetheless, the department also houses offices like the Office of Civil Rights, which enforces civil rights laws to ensure equal access to education and investigate complaints of discrimination, and the Institute of Education Sciences, which tracks statistics and student achievement.

Without the ED, people may not know the extent of their childrens achievement or be guaranteed fair treatment.

For Harward, the issue is full circle because states inability to meet constitutional requirements and provide the best service possible is why the ED was created.

Part of the justification for establishing the Department of Education was that states were ill-equipped, Harward said, using the Office of Civil Rights as an example. To have federal authority and oversight through the Office of Civil Rights within the Department of Education was to ensure that these kinds of civil rights protections that students could be guaranteed would actually happen because states werent doing it.

So thats my concern. If it moves out of the federal entity to the states, were going to have great variability in the protections of people with disabilities, racial and ethnic minorities and others  that we may fall back to the situation that gave rise to the department in the first place.

When Congress delegates power to an agency, by statute, they expect that people are going to show up to work and implement that statute. By eliminating those offices, the point of the statute becomes void, and there may be a violation of the separation of powers, which would have to play out in the courts.

How is Pennsylvania preparing?

A statement to The Meadville Tribune from Erin James, PDE press secretary, states, As Governor Josh Shapiro said earlier this month, we are concerned anytime the critical federal funding that ensures children across Pennsylvania have access to a high-quality public education seems in jeopardy. At this time, the full extent of the changes announced by the federal government remains uncertain, but PDE is actively monitoring the situation and assessing potential impact on Pennsylvania schools and students.

James said one thing is clear, though: (The reduction in staff) will affect all divisions within the department. While the impact of these changes remains uncertain, the significant decrease in personnel raises concerns about potential delays or disruptions in services.

PSEA, which represents 177,000 members across the state, has educated its members on the issues and said over 15,000 members already have sent messages to their U.S. senators and Congress members.

I think it speaks to the fact that teachers and support staff working with students in classrooms every day, Lilienthal said. They see the value of these federal investments both in terms of special education and in terms of other support and programs that are provided by the Department of Education.
Europes biggest military powers are making plans to take on more responsibilities at NATO as President Donald Trump has reportedly been considering giving up U.S. command of the alliance.

Former Gen. Wesley Clark joins NewsNations Elizabeth Vargas Reports to talk about how much of an impact the move would have.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation.
You are the owner of this article.
By Andy Bruce and Suban Abdulla

LONDON (Reuters) -London's Heathrow Airport resumed full operations on Saturday and ordered a probe into how it dealt with a power outage that shut Europe's busiest air hub for almost a day as airlines warned of further delays and cancellations.

British Airways, whose main hub is Heathrow, said it had operated around 90% of its schedule on Saturday and promised a "near-full" schedule for Sunday after chief executive Sean Doyle on Friday warned the "huge impact" would last days.

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The airport, the world's fifth-busiest, had been due to handle 1,351 flights on Friday, flying up to 291,000 passengers. But the fire at a nearby electrical substation forced planes to be diverted to other airports and many long-haul flights returned to their point of departure.

Britain's energy ministry said on Saturday it had commissioned the National Energy System Operator to carry out an urgent investigation into the outage that raised questions about the resilience of the country's critical infrastructure.

Heathrow said it had tasked an independent board member, former transport minister Ruth Kelly, with undertaking a review of the airport's crisis-management plan and its response to the incident with the aim of boosting resilience.

Aviation experts said the last time European airports experienced disruption on such a large scale was the 2010 Icelandic volcanic ash cloud that grounded some 100,000 flights.

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"It has been absolutely insane", said Amber Roden, a U.S. citizen getting married in three days' time, after a number of her relatives had their flights cancelled.

Two relatives who were halfway to London from Atlanta had to turn around and go back, she said. Two others will not make it to the UK until the day of the wedding, which she has been planning for two years.

The vast majority of scheduled morning and early afternoon flights departed successfully on Saturday, with a handful of delays and cancellations, Heathrow's departures website showed.

"We don't expect any major amount of flights to be cancelled or delayed," Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye told BBC radio.

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The airport has hundreds of additional staff on hand to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers travelling through the airport, a spokesperson said in a statement.

But airlines were still left dealing with disrupted schedules and the tens of thousands of passengers whose journeys had been interrupted.

Virgin Atlantic said on Saturday that it was planning to run a near-full schedule with limited cancellations. Air India said it had restarted flights to and from Heathrow and expected to operate "as per schedule".

FIRE NOT SUSPICIOUS

Several passengers travelling to Heathrow from London's Paddington Station were still nervous.

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"I'm just hoping that when I get there, I can actually go," said university professor Melissa Graboyes, who said she was repeatedly checking the status of her flight to Toronto.

Police said that after an initial assessment they were not treating the incident as suspicious, although inquiries remained ongoing. London Fire Brigade said its investigations would focus on the electrical distribution equipment.

The travel industry, facing the prospect of a financial hit costing tens of millions of pounds and a likely fight over who should pay, questioned how such crucial infrastructure could fail without backup.

"It is a clear planning failure by the airport," said Willie Walsh, head of global airlines body IATA, who, as former head of British Airways, has for years been a fierce critic of the crowded hub.

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Heathrow and London's other major airports have been hit by other outages in recent years, most recently by an automated gate failure and an air traffic system meltdown, both in 2023.

"Britain humiliated by airport fiasco," read a headline in the Sun newspaper. "Farcical", wrote the Daily Mail.

($1 = 0.7741 pounds)

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, Suban Abdulla, Gerry Mey and London bureau; Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Timothy Heritage, Alison Williams and Daniel Wallis)
Egg prices continue to cause people in Massachusetts to balk at buying them.

On Friday, Boston 25 News talked with people grocery shopping in Boston who say the cost of eggs is causing them to pay more attention to how many eggs they eat daily.

I might scramble four eggs, but just being more cognizant, maybe only scramble one or two, said Elias Jaques.

Jaques also works at a restaurant and said their menu prices have changed because of rising egg prices.

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We have burgers, and typically, somebody can get an egg with the burger if theyd like. We still offer that, but its more expensive now, he explained.

Sharon Pearson thinks the cost is ridiculous. When is this going to be over? she asked. Youve got to buy them no matter what, unless you own your own chicken farm.

According to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, a plan to further drive down egg prices should be coming soon to consumers.

Right now, weve got Turkey and South Korea importing eggs, Rollins told reporters Friday. We are talking in the hundreds of millions of eggs for the short term.

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She believes that number will be substantial enough to continue to lower egg prices, which, in turn, will give chicken populations in the U.S. enough time to repopulate and produce eggs.

Rollins also said they will start importing eggs from other countries soon, but theyre still working on a deal and havent named which countries.

Ultimately, she hopes Americas egg-laying industry will stabilize in a couple of months.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Republicans are facing mounting voter frustration with Trump administration cuts made under tech billionaire Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The anger has spilled out into public view in recent days as Republican lawmakers have been confronted over the cuts at raucous town halls. And multiple polls have suggested that, while voters are open to the broader idea of a federal downsizing, theyre concerned by the implementation of DOGEs efforts.

Now Republicans are grappling with the political danger DOGE poses heading into the midterms  especially amid fears that many of the people impacted come from areas that voted for Trump.

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Theres gonna be real job losses that were not measuring yet, but were going to in the coming weeks and months, Republican strategist Doug Heye said of the DOGE cuts. And where that has an impact, especially in specific communities  that makes their life harder for the reliable voter, typically, for Trump. That kind of slow burn, I think, could have an impact.

DOGE claims to have saved an estimated $115 billion so far through efforts ranging from grant cancellations to workforce reductions. Some of its moves, including the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), have been challenged in court as Democrats sound alarms about overreach, Musks influence and the ripple effects of the changes.

Tens of thousands of federal employees are estimated to have been fired or accepted what amounted to a buyout offer from the administration. Though roughly 20 percent of federal workers live in the D.C. area, the rest are spread out across the country, and cuts could sting voters in key congressional districts, including states that went to Trump last year. Outside of the DMV, federal workers have the most significant presence in California, Texas, Florida and Georgia, according to data from the nonprofit Our Public Service, the latter three of which all voted red in 2024.

The White House and Musk have touted DOGE as a success, pointing to a February Harvard CAPS/Harris poll that found 72 percent of voters supported a government agency focused on efficiency, and 60 percent thought DOGE was helping make major cuts.

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But while other polls have also found support for the idea of DOGE, there are signs of unhappiness with the speed and scope of the changes.

NBC News polling this week found that 46 percent of voters thought creating DOGE was a good idea, though 47 percent now hold negative views of the commissions work. Musk was also underwater, with just 39 percent positive views.

A Fox News poll also found that 58 percent of voters disapprove of the job Musk is doing at DOGE, and 65 percent said theyre extremely or very concerned that not enough thought and planning has gone into the government spending cuts. A notable 39 percent of Republicans had concerns about how reductions are being implemented.

Right now, based on whos controlling the branches of government, what really matters is what is going on in Republican districts with Republican voters who have Republican lawmakers who are representing them, said Dannagal Young, a professor of communication and political science at the University of Delaware.

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A poll from UDs Center for Political Communication this month found that while a third of voters overall had a lot or great deal of trust in Trump, roughly a quarter felt the same aboutMusk and DOGE. Broken down by party, Republicans trusted all of those entities more than Democrats did, but a similar disconnect showed up: while 70 percent of Republican respondents had a significant amount of trust in Trump, just 53 felt that way about Musk and DOGE.

You would expect for that high amount of trust [for Trump] to translate to other folks that they think are aligned with the Trump agenda, but the trust in Musk, in DOGE, while still higher among Republicans, is not ginormous, Young said.

I would love to be a fly on the wall to hear what it is that Republican lawmakers are saying internally about these pressures and what fears they may have about their own re-election prospects as a result.

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), a staunch Trump ally who unseated former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in 2022, was booed at a town hall this week for defending DOGEs work, and attendees at one point shouted Deport Elon! Trump won a whopping 72 percent of the vote in Wyoming last fall, and Hageman won reelection by a similar margin.

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Over in Nebraska, where Trump won by 60 percent last year, Rep. Mike Flood (R) was also hit with boos from a town hall audience when he voiced support for Musk and DOGE.

Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-Utah), meanwhile, drew applause at a Salt Lake City town hall when she voiced some light concern about White House spending cuts.

I think that the more that Republican lawmakers are hearing from angry constituents, and the more that they become aware that these angry constituents are, in fact, Republicans who maybe voted for them just a couple months ago, I think that theres going to be perhaps intra-party conversation about the extent to which Musk has been given the keys to the castle, and how their constituents dont love that, Young said.

Alaskas at-large Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R), a frequent Trump critic, said this week that more of her fellow Senate Republicans wont speak out against Musk and the Trump administration out of fear for their political lives.

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Republicans have largely shrugged off the town hall disruptions, blaming them on fringe protesters and Democrats or, as the president said, paid troublemakers. National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) expressed optimism that voters will reward the party for DOGE cuts eventually, though House Republicans have been advised to avoid in-person town halls after a handful of raucous events in recent weeks.

But strategists nevertheless noted that there could be troubles ahead if the DOGE discontent doesnt abate.

Angry Democrats right now showing up to yell at Republican legislators in the spring of 2025 is something to keep an eye on, but not yet cause to pull the fire alarm, said GOP strategist and Trump campaign alum Brian Seitchik. If Republican members of Congress have protesters outside their office in the summer of 2026, that is cause for concern.

Its too early to decide whether DOGE has been an overall success or failure for the administration, Seitchik added, but as 2026 races are already starting to heat up, Republican lawmakers have cause for concern about the current atmosphere.

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There is certainly a disconnect right now between the theory of DOGE, the cutting of fat in government  and what is seemingly a blowtorch as opposed to a scalpel approach to solving these problems, Seitchik said. Members of Congress understandably have to be worried about an election in less than two years. The president has four years to accomplish his mission and is taking a longer view.

Together with signs of mounting frustration over Trumps handling of the economy, the crackdown is a huge political risk for Republicans  and a big opportunity for Democrats, said Peter Loge, a political science professor at George Washington University and a senior FDA adviser during the Obama administration.

Though the left cant run on an I told you so brand, Loge said, the discontent could provide the party with a means of making inroads ahead of the midterms.

Democrats could say: the government isnt working for you, the governments working really well for Elon Musk, the government should be working for all of us, he said.

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GOP strategist Alex Conant stressed that the midterms are still far off, and argued that some who oppose the DOGE cuts havent necessarily heard about the benefits given how early it is, as the changes are just getting kickstarted.

What Republicans should be concerned about is Musks effectiveness, Conant said. If DOGE actually breaks things that people care about and rely on, theres gonna be political costs to that.

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House Republicans who faced hostile crowds and viral confrontations at town halls in their districts are defending their decision to hold the events  despite recommendations from House GOP leaders to avoid them.

I think that was able to show folks that Republicans can and should stand our ground, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) said.

Edwards, at his Asheville town hall last week, faced boos and a swarm of protesters who were angry about his support for President Trump, and about cuts pushed by Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

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I went toe-to-toe with the progressive left, all 12 rounds. I believe that there were some media vehicles out there that helped me communicate effectively the things that we were doing.  I would certainly do it again, Edwards told The Hill in an interview.

House Republican leaders had warned members earlier this month that coordinated activists and protesters would derail the events, and argued that members could reach more constituents and voters with live-streamed or tele-town halls instead.

Protests are exactly what happened at the town halls for several Republicans who chose to face in-person crowds during a week-and-a-half break from Washington, with progressive groups like Indivisible and local Democratic groups encouraging activists to turn up at the events.

Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.), despite calling for civility at the start of the event and talking about his focus on the national debt, also faced boos at a raucous town hall this week. In addition to concerns about Musk and DOGE, attendees accused him of not doing enough to support Ukraine, though Flood noted that he voted for previous aid packages to Ukraine and his belief that the country should not give any land to Russia.

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Flood told The Hill that he had already planned to host a town hall before leaders advised them not to, and did not want to go back on that despite expecting pushback from a vocal minority.

I think even those folks that disagree with my position, theres value in them having the chance to tell their member of Congress what they think and to watch me listen and then have me respond, Flood said.

And the congressman found the event valuable himself.

The most valuable thing I took away from the 90 minutes was there were a lot of questions about the Veterans Administration, Flood said, adding that he is planning to sit down with the House Veterans Affairs chairman, visit the VA hospital in his district, and build more relationships with those who can help with veterans issues. It was on my radar, but not the way its going to be, because there was a real focus on veterans issues.

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Utah Republican Reps. Celeste Maloy and Mike Kennedy also faced a hostile crowd at a joint town hall this week. Local reporters at KUTV documented attendees disrupting, booing and flashing their middle fingers.

When the political temperature is hot, I dont think the solution is to stop engaging with constituents, Maloy said in a statement. I am willing to have tough conversations on issues that are hardly ever black and white. I want to continue doing town halls, and Im willing to show up and listen and answer questions. I hope the public will keep engaging as we move forward together.

In Asheville, Edwards got questions about the Trump administrations firing of federal workers. At one point, a veteran  who, the congressman noted, ran in the Democratic primary for Congress in 2022  shouted at Edwards and was escorted out of the event.

Edwards said that while the advice from leadership was well-intentioned, he felt it was important to hold the town hall in part to talk about relief efforts from the hurricane that devastated his district last year  but also because he is proud of what Republicans are doing.

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We should not shy away from talking about those accomplishments. We should stand out front and be very proud of them, help eliminate some of the misinformation in the rumor thats out there, even if we know that were going to get some disagreement, Edwards said.

It was not only Republicans whose town halls got rocked over the recess period. Progressive activists also confronted Democratic lawmakers at the recess events. Police shut down an event for Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) after a clash with pro-Palestinian attendees.

Republicans who braved the crowds at in-person town halls were overwhelmingly in safe red districts, with little risk of the viral confrontations directly affecting their reelection chances.

One of those is Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), who pushed back on a booing crowd and defended DOGE at another town hall this week. Tim Murtaugh, an advisor to Hageman, noted in a statement that both Trump and the congresswoman were elected with support of around 70 percent of the voters in the state.

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The people of Wyoming quite obviously support Trump and Hageman, but Democrat partisans are trying to create the illusion that theres some sort of popular uprising happening. Newsflash: theres not, Murtaugh said, adding: The spectacles at these town halls are astroturf  theyre meant to create viral moments and news stories just like this one.

Those viral moments and news stories are certainly frustrating to Republicans nationwide, though, as activists seek to keep the pressure up in the public square and seek to portray what Trump and Republicans are doing as deeply unpopular.

Even vulnerable members who avoid in-person confrontations may not avoid bad press. The Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats campaign arm, launched an effort to host Peoples Town Halls in competitive districts with Republican lawmakers.

While Flood and Edwards both stand by hosting their in-person town halls, both of them said that the decision to host a town hall is up to each member and how they think they can most effectively represent their district. But Flood said a lack of town halls does not mean a lack of engagement.

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It doesnt matter if theyre having town halls or not. I mean, theyre showing up to nursing homes and theyre being protested, Flood said. Theyre encountering and engaging people that are protesting them wherever they go.

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North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong gives his first State of the State address Jan. 7, 2025, at the Capitol. (Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)

Gov. Kelly Armstrong rejected a proposed tax credit for prison industries in his first veto of the 2025 legislative session.

Senate Bill 2261 would provide businesses with tax credits when they buy goods or services from prison industry programs. The tax credit would be equal to up to 10% of the cost of the purchase. The bill cleared the Senate with nearly unanimous support, and passed the House with about 63% support.

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Armstrong noted in his Friday veto letter that goods purchased from Rough Rider Industries  a state agency that sells various products made by prison inmates  would qualify for this credit. He called the tax incentive anti-competitive.

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This bill creates an uneven playing field by giving Rough Rider Industries an unfair competitive advantage over out-of-state manufacturers, he wrote in the letter, which is addressed to Lt. Gov. Michelle Strinden, who is president of the Senate.

The Greater North Dakota Chamber provided testimony in favor of the bill, arguing that supporting Rough Rider Industries helps give more people in prison access to job skills training.

The Legislature can override the veto with a two-thirds majority vote in each chamber.

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NEW YORK (PIX11)  New York State believes it is winning the battle over congestion pricing.

Gov. Kathy Hochul was literally riding high on momentum for the program by taking an MTA bus along 14th Street across town to the press conference.

Traffic is down and business is up, she declared upon arrival.

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Her confidence comes a day after U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy posted on social media the federal government would delay trying to shut down the tolling of cars entering Manhattan below 60th Street for 30 days. But at the same time he threatened to go after billions of dollars in federal funding to New York  should she keep the cameras on.

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I think theres always going to be threats coming out of Washington, tweets from secretaries, Hochul said with a shrug. I have a direct communication line with the president and I feel confident we will find a path forward not just on important revenue, but something that stimulates a quality of life in the city we have not seen for a long time.

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Mar. 22GRAND FORKS  A lease agreement between Grand Forks County's expanded jail and the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will be a boon to both entities, according to the DOCR director.

For the county, it could mean as much as $2.6 million annually in new revenue, while for the state, it will provide programming opportunities that the state cannot do through other agreements.

"I think this is a really amazing vision by Gov. Armstrong to say, OK if we're going to need to use the county jails to help us and we know Grand Forks is going to have this extra space, it's really about doing it differently and making sure that we get programs into that location," DOCR Director Colby Braun said.

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On March 18, the Grand Forks County Commission

signed a letter of intent

to lease space  new space that will come available as part of an ongoing expansion  to the DOCR. A formal agreement is still in the future, potentially later this spring, since the expansion is still under construction. Completion could come as soon as early May.

In a statement, Gov. Kelly Armstrong applauded the agreement as being beneficial for both the county and the state.

"We appreciate the commission's unanimous vote expressing their interest to enter an agreement to house DOCR residents at the county correctional center," Armstrong said. "This will be a win-win for both parties, with the state securing access to jail beds to relieve pressure on our overcrowded prisons and the county securing another source of revenue to service the debt on their recently completed yet underutilized jail facility."

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Both the state and Grand Forks County have documented

space issues for incarcerated individuals.

In October, North Dakota began its waitlisting protocols for

inmates due to the system being over capacity

. In Grand Forks, the facility  before the expansion  also was over functional capacity.

Because of the lack of space in state facilities, DOCR already rents beds from counties to house inmates, but the arrangement with Grand Forks is intended to be different.

"Having a guaranteed bed  that's going to, first, increase the capacity of the Department of Corrections," Braun said. "Secondly, having space where we can have staff on site to do case management, do treatment programming, and have a behavioral health staff member is pretty amazing."

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Some county leaders have had concerns that guaranteeing beds means the

county will have to send its own inmates elsewhere.

Braun said the department's priority is public safety; he said he and his team will work with the county to solve any space issues that arise.

"This is a partnership and we'll continue to treat it that way," Braun said. "I can't imagine this not being something that we continuously communicate with the jail administrator and sheriff about."

The current proposal has county-employed correctional officers largely staffing the beds where state inmates are housed and DOCR employees providing programming for the state inmates as part of their sentence. The guaranteed beds agreement in Grand Forks County will allow for programming, such as mental health and drug treatment support. That's different than the DOCR's agreements with other counties, where the agency rents bed space for inmates on an as-needed basis.

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The agreement could be a financial gain for the county. The proposal to lease 72 beds to the state is projected to generate $2.6 million annually in revenue. The expansion is slated to have 82 beds upon completion, with a change in the original bed layout approved by DOCR and the County Commission. The facility will have a total capacity of 307, but functionally around 245 beds total, since functional capacity is 80% of the total beds. The amount the state would pay is close to what the county pays annually for debt service for the jail expansion, around $2.7 million annually.

Grand Forks County is the only county in the state to be in negotiations for this type of agreement, according to the governor's office. Even though there isn't an immediate cost savings to DOCR, according to Braun, long-term there may be, since the state has less pressure to build new facilities, according to state Rep. Emily O'Brien, R-Grand Forks, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee

"If we can contract with our counties, that's a cost savings right there," O'Brien said. "Utilizing beds that are already existing and not having to build new jails or prisons, we can capitalize (on space)."
(Photo by Brandon Bell / Getty Images)

Following Friday nights reported mass shooting in Las Cruces, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham lambasted lawmakers for what she described as a failure to take action on juvenile crime during the 60-day session ending at noon on Saturday.

Police are continuing to investigate Friday nights shooting at approximately 10 p.m. at Young Park in Las Cruces that killed three and injured 14 others. The deceased are two 19-year-old men and one 16-year-old boy. The injured range in age from 16 years to 36 years. Police have not as of publication, released the names of any of the victims, not made any arrests, but are asking that any video be uploaded to a secure site.

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The FBI, ATF, New Mexico State Police and the Dona Ana County Sheriffs Office also are working on the case.

The indiscriminate nature of this shooting is both shocking and unacceptable, but sadly not surprising, Lujan Grisham said in a statement. This violence tears at the fabric of our communities and leaves wounds that may never heal.

The governor said she is mobilizing state resources to support local law enforcement.

The disturbing rise in violent crime in Las Cruceswhich has increased by 46 percent compared to last yeardemands immediate and sustained attention. This is not merely a statistic; these are our neighbors, our children, our future, she said. The devastating loss of Officer Jonah Hernandez in Las Cruces last year, and now this mass shooting, underscore the Legislatures years-long failure to address the crime crisis shattering lives and communities in our state. New Mexicans are heartbroken, and they should also be outraged that their legislature will adjourn today without having a passed a single bill to address juvenile crime or ban assault weapons. Their inaction is appalling and unacceptable.

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As such, she noted, the legislature should expect a special session to address our ongoing public safety crisis.

Republican State Sen. Crystal Brantley of Elephant Butte also issued a statement that said Friday night she sat on the floor of the Senate while texts and calls from all over the districtincluding from the Las Cruces Police Chiefpoured in about what was happening. There is no feeling like the helplessness you experience, even from the center of the Capitol building, when a tragedy like this strikes. When we cannot feel safe in our parkswhere our kids, my kids, playthere is a deep moral failing by our government to protect its citizens. We must return to a place of safety and stop with the half-measures. Today is another reminder that despite all of our progress on crime legislation, New Mexico criminals do not fear the strong arm of the law.

Editors note: This story has been updated to note the governor intends to call for a special session.
LINCOLN, Neb. (KCAU)  Following Wednesdays winter storm, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen has issued a state of emergency for more than 20 counties, including some in the northeast part of the state.

Within Siouxland, Burt, Cuming, Thurston and Wayne counties are covered by the emergency declaration. The governors office says its possible the list of counties may change as the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) continues to receive damage assessment data from local agencies. If thats the case, the governor may issued another declaration.

Onawa residents without power for over 48 hours

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The initial damage from the storm is currently estimated at more than $21 million. First responders have worked to address issues such as power outages and poor road conditions.

From state troopers who assisted stranded motorists, to snow removal crews and now those involved in repairing downed lines to re-establish our power grid  a lot of people have stepped up very quickly to ensure that our safety has been the number one priority, Gov. Pillen said in a statement.

A federal disaster declaration will be requested once all damage assessments are complete.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA)  Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders requests March 21 a major disaster declaration from President Donald J. Trump to support recovery efforts in areas hit by severe storms and tornadoes on March 14.

The National Weather Service confirmed at least 15 tornadoes touched down across Arkansas.

Two EF-4 tornadoes were the largest of the bunch which touched down in Larkin in Izard County and Diaz in Jackson County. The two tornadoes were the first to be rated EF-4 in Arkansas since 2021.

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NWS officials also confirmed an EF-3 tornado touched down in Fifty-Six in Stone County and Cave City in Sharp and Independence Counties. Officials confirmed that the Cushman/Cave City tornado continued through Black Rock and Reyno.

Three people died in Independence County and 29 people were injured across eight counties.

Five EF-2 tornadoes touched down in Arkansas:

One in Nevada County.

One in Fitzhugh in Woodruff County.

One in Clay County.

One in Lawrence County.

One in Paragould in Green County,

Three EF-1 tornadoes touched down:

One in Hempstead County, leaving two people injured.

One in Bethesda in Independence County.

One in Jefferson County.

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Two EF-0 tornadoes touched down near Bono in Craighead County and Weiner in Poinsett County.

The destruction caused by these tornadoes is devastating. The Arkansans who lost their homes, businesses, and loved ones in this storm need help to get back on their feet and rebuild, said Sanders. We are thankful for the leadership of President Trump and Im submitting this Major Disaster Declaration request and hope we can get additional assistance from the federal government.

Sanders is requesting:

Individual Assistance and U.S. Small Business Administration disaster loans for Greene, Hot Spring, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Randolph, Sharp, Stone counties.

Hazard mitigation statewide.

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The full letter can be found here.

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A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the alleged coordinator of a prison training exercise could not be held liable for excessive force when the simulation took a turn for the worse and employees actually attacked each other.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has requested a Major Disaster Declaration from President Donald Trump Saturday to support recovery efforts after tornadoes touched down in the state last week.

On Friday, officials with the National Weather Service confirmed that at least 15 tornadoes touched down in the state during the storms.

National Weather Service confirms at least 15 tornadoes in Arkansas during weekend storms

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The governor said that this disaster caused severe infrastructure damage, overwhelming amounts of debris, and hundreds of damaged homes.

The destruction caused by these tornadoes is devastating. The Arkansans who lost their homes, businesses, and loved ones in this storm need help to get back on their feet and rebuild, the governor said. We are thankful for the leadership of President Trump, and Im submitting this Major Disaster Declaration request and hope we can get additional assistance from the federal government.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declares state of emergency in Arkansas after deadly Friday night storms

Now that the governor has completed the damage assessment process, she is specifically requesting Individual Assistance and U.S. Small Business Administration disaster loans for Greene, Hot Spring, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Randolph, Sharp and Stone counties.

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The governor also asked for hazard mitigation statewide.

To see the governors full declaration, visit Governor.Arkansas.gov.

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As Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill Friday to create a new oversight office within the New Mexico Department of Justice to look into problems at the states troubled child welfare agency, she blasted Attorney General Raul Torrez and the Legislature over the measure.

Throughout the session, the Lujan Grisham administration expressed concerns about the proposed Office of Child Advocate, arguing oversight of the Children, Youth and Families Department was welcome but that House Bill 5 was not the way to tackle the issue.

In a blistering message Friday notifying lawmakers she had signed the bill into law, the governor referred to the original draft as weaponized for the Attorney General and the Legislature to intimidate CYFD and its staff.

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Make no mistake about it, this bill was not designed to protect children, she wrote. It was a thinly-disguised vendetta by a legislature that is still upset at my continuing pursuits of meaningful criminal justice legislation in New Mexico and an attorney general who has failed to demonstrate that public safety is a priority in any meaningful way.

A spokesperson for Torrez fired back.

While we are encouraged by HB 5 becoming law, we are deeply disappointed that the Governor chose to center the discussion around herself and her inner circle, Lauren Rodriguez said in a statement. The focus of this bill should have remained squarely on the children who suffer from neglect, abuse and systemic failures. Nowhere in the Governors statement is there acknowledgment of their struggles or the urgent need for reform. I believe leadership means prioritizing the people we serve, not engaging in personal grievances.

Camille Ward, a spokesperson for House Democrats, also responded to the governors words, saying the new office would be singularly focused on improving the well-being of our children and families.

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This legislation is the result of years of bipartisan work in the House of Representatives to prevent child abuse, neglect and harm and give kids a stronger voice in the systems that are designed to protect them, Ward wrote in an email. We are grateful to see this important bill signed into law.

Lawmakers have attempted to get an Office of Child Advocate on the books for years, but a similar measure failed in 2023. This year, lawmakers agreed  in consultation with the governor  to strip the office of its subpoena power and authority to determine whether the department or a department employee had violated a childs federal or state constitutional rights.

Lawmakers described the move as a way to get HB 5 signed by Lujan Grisham.

Sara Crecca, an attorney who represents abused and neglected children, said the office is a large step forward in bringing accountability for children, even without subpoena power. She said foster families she interacts with have been expectantly waiting for the bill to be signed into law.

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My clients and the families that reach out to me are ecstatic to have somebody to go to who can advise them of their rights under the law, who can hear their individual constituent complaints, Crecca said.

She also criticized the political sniping over the bill, saying when the adults in power are more focused on each other than the children, the children lose.

Lujan Grisham wrote in her executive message on HB 5 she was deeply disturbed by the Legislatures gleeful condemnation of CYFD, accusing lawmakers of making personal attacks on CYFD Cabinet Secretary Teresa Casados and agency workers without offering any type of actual solution.

Many members of this Legislature care more about posturing and grandstanding at the expense of hardworking state employees than it does about actually helping New Mexicos most vulnerable children, she wrote.

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This year, lawmakers filed 93 bills related to children and families.

Casados has expressed concerns HB 5 would create a conflict of interest if the office found issues at CYFD that led to lawsuits, noting the Department of Justice can represent state agencies in litigation.

Supporters of the bill, however, said the Department of Justice already has a system in place for hiring outside counsel to represent agencies.

Still, Lujan Grisham reiterated concerns about friendly fire by Torrez.

I find it disturbing that the individual who refers to himself as the chief legal counsel and adviser to the executive branch of state government including all executive departments literally lobbied for authority to bring legal action against the very people he purports to be counsel and adviser to,  Lujan Grisham wrote.

She added, It is disappointing that the chief legal authority for the state of New Mexico spent the 2025 legislative session trying to curry favor with the Legislature by offering to sue overworked and underpaid employees rather than participating in conversations about meaningful public safety measures and child welfare policies at CYFD.
Mar. 21SANTA FE  Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham did not mince words Friday, accusing lawmakers of "posturing and grandstanding" in their handling of bills related to New Mexico's troubled child welfare agency.

The blistering broadside came as Lujan Grisham signed into law a bill creating a new outside oversight office to investigate complaints involving the Children, Youth and Families Department.

The governor worked with senators to make changes to the legislation after it had passed the House earlier this month without a single "no" vote.

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But she voiced sharp criticism Friday of lawmakers and Attorney General Raul Torrez for pushing the bill in what she described as a political vendetta.

"Make no mistake about it, this bill was not designed to protect children," Lujan Grisham said in her executive message to lawmakers.

"It was a thinly-disguised vendetta by a Legislature that is still upset at my continuing pursuits on meaningful criminal justice legislation in New Mexico and an attorney general who has failed to demonstrate that public safety is a priority in any meaningful way," the governor also wrote.

In response, a top staffer for Torrez, who like Lujan Grisham is a Democrat, expressed disappointment about Lujan Grisham's attack while lauding the approval of the bill.

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"The focus of this bill should have remained squarely on the children who suffer from neglect, abuse, and systemic failures," said Torrez's chief of staff Lauren Rodriguez. "Nowhere in the governor's statement is there acknowledgment of their struggles or the urgent need for reform."

Under the bill signed Friday, House Bill 5, the new Office of the Child Advocate will be created within the state Department of Justice in July. The director of that office will be appointed by the governor but will be subject to Senate confirmation.

Lawmakers have expressed increasing frustration with the Lujan Grisham administration's handling of child welfare issues over the last year, amid high rates of staff turnover. The governor has also had three different CYFD secretaries over the last six-plus years.

In addition, New Mexico has recorded a worsening repeat child mistreatment rate, despite increased spending on CYFD in recent years in an attempt to hire more social workers.

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House Speaker Javier Martinez, D-Albuquerque, said in an interview last week the CYFD oversight bill was not motivated by political reasons.

"It's not good practice for us to tailor our policymaking to fit the vision or the view of any particular governor," Martinez said. "It is our job to pass good legislation."

Lujan Grisham has staunchly opposed efforts to increase outside oversight of the agency over the last several years, instead ordering the creation of a new advisory council within CYFD.

During this year's 60-day session, she urged lawmakers to pass a separate bill that would have created a nine-member child protection authority attached to the Regulation and Licensing Department, an agency run by a Lujan Grisham appointee.

But that bill failed to gain traction at the Roundhouse, languishing without a vote in its first assigned Senate committee.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  During his State of the City address on Thursday night, Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand highlighted key issues and areas of focus for his term, one of which was policing in the city.

LaGrand drew attention to the citys 16-bed crisis stabilization unit, a partnership between Trinity Health and Network180.

Grand Rapids Mayor LaGrand delivers first State of the City address

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Our first responders can now bring people to stabilize them from a mental health crisis as an alternative from simply bringing them to jail, LaGrand said. We have been making real progress on non-police centered public order work.

The crisis center is open 24/7 for those going through a mental health or substance use crisis. The center will hold people for up to 72 hours, though the goal is to resolve the crisis within six to eight hours.

Kathryn Malone, the centers director, told News 8 that the center offers a brief intervention clinic, which is like an urgent care, and a secure crisis stabilization unit.

We feel really proud of the work we are doing here being able to provide services here for folks every minute of every day, Malone said. We have had about 2,500 people come through our brief intervention space, and about 1,300 of those have come into the CSU.

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Crisis center looks to speed up mental health response

The goal is to bridge the gap between jail and treatment for those in crisis.

We know that somebody having a mental health crisis in jail, thats not necessarily the place for them. And so its really great that our law enforcement partners are able to bring folks to this center now, Malone said.

Malone added that the work is far from over and they hope to continue helping community members in crisis.

We will keep going and keep providing services every day and continue to build strong partnerships with community partners, Malone said. And now that we have been open 10 months, we feel like we have got our feet under us and we are heading in a good direction.

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For more information about the center, visit its website.

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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and more than doubled the federal estate tax exemption rate for married couples, from $11 million to $27 million. An analysis by the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee of Taxation found that beginning in 2027, lower- and middle-class families could see a tax increase that would exceed the rate they paid before 2017.

Sadly, the law is set to expire at the end of the year. It would be just awful if Americas billionaires lost the gift that this law gave them; theyve increased their collective wealth by trillions since the tax cuts went into effect. Thankfully, Congress is in talks to protect these vulnerable individuals.

The current news cycle is saturated with stories about disillusioned Trump supporters finding out what they actually voted for, as they lose jobs and benefits . Not the top 10%, though. They own 90% of all the stocks on Wall Street. They know exactly what they were voting for.

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Theres another notable result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: the $20-billion decrease in charitable donations . Part of the reform included changing the standards for a tax write-off for 20% of Americans. That led to fewer dollars being given to charities, many of which help people in need. It is rather telling that the same law that increased wealth by the trillions for the few led to billions being kept from the many.

After the country entered World War I in 1917, to help pay for it President Wilson and Congress introduced Liberty bonds and expanded the federal income tax, which increased the number of people paying to 4 million, up from 500,000. Concerned the tax increase would prevent wealthier Americans from donating, the War Revenue Act of 1917 introduced the charitable donation policy. It wasnt a loophole that needed closing; it was a door the federal government opened so that Americans were incentivized to still help one another after money got tight.

When President Trump took office in 2017, the economic trend in the country was pointing north. Job participation was above 60%, unemployment below 5%, and wages increased by 2.5% from the year before. That doesnt mean every American was rolling in cash, but certainly we were better off than the folks in 1917. So why tinker with charitable donations of all things? If the federal government saw fit to encourage people to give in the hard times, why remove the incentive in good times? It would be laughable to pretend that the goal was fiscal responsibility, considering how Trumps cuts inflated the deficit .

Whatever their goals, its definitely conservatives who have the power right now in Washington. Are they really planning on using it to decrease charitable giving? And if they do, will the organizations that depended on tax-incentivized donations suffer?

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Earlier this month, the Contemporary Theater of Ohio in Columbus was left in a lurch after Trumps anti-DEI directive prevented a $10,000 National Endowment of the Arts grant from coming their way. Local businesses stepped up to fill in the gap so the show could go on. Thats one production at one theater. The question is how sustainable the kindness of strangers business model will be for nonprofit organizations as a whole in the years ahead if people are not as able to receive a tax benefit.

Recently the Federal Reserve signaled the U.S. could be heading toward a recession. Usually that means layoffs, wage freezes  money is going to be tight. People will be in need. And one of the Trump administrations first acts, back in January, was an attempt to destroy institutional safety nets .

Without tax incentives, will the private sector meet the nations needs? Or will the cuts in donations continue while the wealthiest among us continue to rake in trillions?

@LZGranderson

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) The city of Greensboro needs 30,000 homes in the next five years to keep up with the growth.

Its a daunting number, so the Greensboro city manager launched an initiative called the Road To 10,000 to get the city started.

Nathanial Trey Davis launched the concept on Feb. 13 intending to have a work group launched in the first 30 days.

About 36 days later, they are slightly behind. The internal staff work has started, but it will be about another two weeks before the other community members are added to the work group.

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To fix the housing crisis, they need the right people.

A mix of community members, community leaders, folks who work in the industry for development, folks that could contribute and provide input so we make sure that this plan is carried out the right way for our community, Davis said.

Davis said he has been working with city council members to figure out what people will be the best fit.

Oftentimes, people may look at just one type of housing. This is about looking at all types of housing, Davis said.

The city needs affordable housing all the way up to market rate and all types in between. There are three key factors the task force needs to work on: inventory, permitting and zoning.

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So what is the existing land and property available that the city of Greensboro owns  The most important is looking at our permitting process to make sure we have efficiency in our permitting process, making sure that we look at our zoning policies, Davis said.

If Greensboro is an easy place to do business, the developers will come, and housing will be built.

Part of the Road to 10,000 is ensuring that as we grow as a community,  we are growing the right way, Davis said.

But it wont happen overnight.

The city manager has set strict deadlines for each step. The next one is just two weeks away: to identify stakeholders. Then one month from now, the city will host community meetings to share the data the internal staff has found and to listen to people.

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This is exciting for me, so it is easy, and I wake up every day ready to do this work  It is important, so we can show that transparency of what progress we are making with such an aggressive plan, Davis said.

To keep up with the Road to 10,000, the city manager said a new website will be launched sometime this summer to look at all those deadlines and see if the city makes its mark to complete this ambitious goal.

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  Grieving families say a Grand Rapids estate sale company has been keeping the money after selling their dead loved ones household goods.

The complaints against Eastown Estate Services and owner Mike Dykhouse have so far yielded a felony charge in Kent County, a civil judgement in Barry County and an F rating from the Better Business Bureau.

A booking photo of Mike Dykhouse from the Kent County jail.

Among the victims is the estate of well-known political activist Hank Fuhs, who died last year. According to the executor of his estate, Sean Jennings, the estate sale at the Fuhs home on Leonard Avenue NE went well and produced a check for $6,000. But after remaining items at the house and storage lockers full of items were liquidated, the company and Dykhouse stopped communicating, Jennings said. He thinks Eastown Estate Services owes the Fuhs estate around $25,000.

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Now the family is losing out on what he tried to leave them, Jennings said.

Ric Bouwma said all he has to show for the sale of furnishings from his late mother-in-laws home in October is a series of increasingly frustrated-sounding text messages with the company. He said Dykhouse has stopped communicating and never handed over the money he owes.

This individual is doing this to people when theyre dealing with grief, dealing with loss of a loved one, just without regard to that and just taking off with the money, Bouwma said.

Target 8 investigators heard the same sentiment from a Colorado woman: Amanda Sumner went to court in Barry County and got a $6,700 judgement against Dykhouse and his company after it sold the contents of her late fathers Middleville-area home last fall.

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I just feel bad because people are at their weakest, theyre vulnerable, she said.

Sumner said Dykhouse kept coming back to the house after the sale and taking other items.

He took some family heirlooms that were not part of the deal, she said. So, yeah, he cleaned us out.

Sumner said she had to hire a private detective to track down Dykhouse to serve him court papers.

Target 8 investigators eventually found Dykhouse on his way to 63rd District Court near Grand Rapids for a meeting about a criminal charge in Kent County. He is waiting to stand trial for allegedly keeping money from a Gaines Township estate sale.

Target 8 investigators find Mike Dykhouse outside a metro Grand Rapids courtroom.

Dykhouse said he has had big financial problems and was just trying to get caught up. He said he has stopped running estate sales and is looking for a job to get the finances to pay everybody.

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I do owe the money and I will make good on what I owe, he said.

It takes a lot of trust to hand over your belongings to someone else to sell.

The biggest thing is to get the best accounting for what you have, Better Business Bureau in Western Michigan spokesman Troy Baker said.

What happened in this case has left Dykhouses clients wondering if they were given accurate sale totals.

I have no way of knowing what was actually sold, how much it went for, said Fuhs estate executor Jennings, because he had to rely on the numbers the seller was providing.

The BBBs Baker said you might want to get big items independently appraised so you know what you might expect to sell it for and even set a minimum bid for some of the items.

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Standard advice, too, is to do upfront research on the people you are doing business with.

But the clients Target 8 talked to said that Dykhouse was kind of a known name, as Bouwma put it. In his case, Dykhouse was a very good friend of a friend. Jennings said a trusted real estate agent who had used Eastown Estate Services without problems recommended the company. Sumner says a friend of her late father was a friend of Dykhouse and suggested him. Dykhouse was also known from operating a popular antique shop in Grand Rapids for many years.

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A gun was found inside a North Allegheny School District employees vehicle.

McCandless Police Chief Ryan Hawk said they received information saying the employee had a gun in their personal vehicle while it was parked on school district property on Friday.

The North Allegheny School Police Department was called to assist in the investigation at 1:16 p.m. Both departments met with the staff member and found a pistol inside the vehicle, which McCandless Police confiscated.

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Hawk said no threats were made by the employee.

The employee has been placed on administrative leave.

The District considers this a serious violation of policy and will pursue charges to the fullest extent of the law, said Chief of North Allegheny School Police Eric Harpster, We assure you that safety is our top priority, and we take these matters very seriously. We encourage students and families to report any unsafe behaviors to a trusted adult immediately.

The McCandless Police Department will be handling criminal charges.

Anyone with safety concerns is encouraged to report them on the Safe2SaySomething website or by calling the 24/7 phone line at 1-844-723-2729.

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MORRISANIA, The Bronx (PIX11) A reckless display of gun violence unfolded Friday afternoon during school dismissal, forcing young children to dodge bullets in the schoolyard and on a school bus.

I was scared and crying, said Janay Jones,9. I was at dismissal waiting for my dad to pick me up and heard gunshots. Then we had to run inside, she said.

School bus hit by gunfire in NYC: police

Janays father, Tony Jones, rushed to pick her up amid the chaos around 2:15 p.m. He heard the shots.

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When I got to school, the teacher and my daughter were crying. That gunshot could have hit any students, Jones said.

Gunfire erupted outside of P.S. 146 on Trinity Avenue.

I saw the guy running with the gun, Jones added.

A school bus carrying eight children from P.S. 186 was caught in the crossfire.

He was scared about the kids because he got between the shootout, said Jose Polanco, who works with the driver at GCV LTD.

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Bullets struck the passenger side and rear bus window as the driver and bus matron worked to shield the students.

She had to push two kids down and lay on top of them while bullets were flying through the bus, said a man who witnessed the aftermath. They were upset. Some of the kids were crying, he added.

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Teachers said several schools in the area went into lockdown until police gave the all-clear. New York Public Schools spokesperson Jenna Lyle said, The safety of our students is our top priority at all times. We are grateful that no students were hurt, and EMS and NYPD responded.

Jones said he saw a suspect drop his cellphone while running away, which police recovered. Authorities also confirmed that another stray round struck an apartment building.

No arrests have been made as detectives search for four people involved. Its unclear who the men were shooting at.

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The Republican members of Colorado's congressional delegation on Wednesday called on Gov. Jared Polis to veto legislation that would require purchasers of certain firearms to undergo gun safety training.
A dark web user claimed responsibility for briefly hacking New York Universitys website Saturday, and replacing it with what appeared to be student test scores and an apparent racial epithet.

Instead of the usual images of college athletes and the Greenwich Village campus, the site featured a black background with green writing showing a message along with charts of what were purported to be SAT and ACT scores and GPAs for students in 2024, divided by race.

The site was reclaimed after approximately two hours, and back to normal by 12:54 p.m.

NYUs site was apparently hacked and replaced by apparent test scores and a racial epithet. nyu.edu

On June 29 2023, racial affirmative action in college admissions was ruled illegal, the female hackers message reads. Computer Ngy Exploitation (CNE) reveals NYU continued anyway.

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The compromised site also featured downloadable files containing all of the hacked data.

It was unclear if the hacker, who goes by the name @bestngy on X, also gained unauthorized access to the universitys database.

Its literally just raw data from NYUs own data warehouse, the hacker explained in a post. I just put in some bar graphs.

It wasnt the first time the hacker had gone after a university, bragging on X that they had previously taken over the University of Minnesotas website in a 2023 incident.

During that hack, the Social Security numbers of more than 7 million students were exposed.

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Theres a lot more data from their data warehouse that could be analyzed further, @bestngy wrote. I only posted (redacted) bare minimum to prove theyre breaking the law.

The alleged data showed Asian students performed better on ACT and SAT tests, but that white students finished with higher GPAs.

The phrase TOP SECRET//NIGINT//NONORM was placed at the top of the screen.

The hacker claimed responsibility on X. X

In a statement to The Post, spokesperson John Beckman said the hack redirected web traffic to a separate website starting just after 10 a.m.

NYUs IT team responded immediately. The redirect to the hackers webpage has been brought to a halt, their webpage has been taken down by its host, and NYUs actual website is now back on line.

Beckman added: The University reported the hack to law enforcement, is taking steps to make sure the attackers are out of our systems, and is reviewing the Universitys systems to bolster their security.
DOTHAN, Ala (WDHN)  Anyone harassing or threatening an officer after being asked to the leave the scene of a crime could be jailed and face a fine if a new bill becomes law in the yellowhammer state.

If passed, House Bill 224 would prohibit anyone from threatening or harassing first responders after being asked to back away or leave. They would also not be allowed to remain between 25-100 feet from a response scene if they are ordered to leave.

Those violating the law could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, which carries up to a year in prison and a $6,000 fine.

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Loophole eliminated in laws against impersonating an Alabama police officer

The bill defines harassment as a course of conduct with the intent to cause substantial emotional distress and which serves no legitimate purpose.

Opponents to the new bill have said the language is too broad and could be left to the discretion of the responding officer.

Robert Corn-Revere, chief counsel for Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), told the Alabama Reflector on Tuesday that the terms look unconstitutional and the language offers wide latitude for police to charge people.

The bills sponsor, Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Morris, says it it meant to protect first responders. Morris is a retired assistant police chief from Birmingham.

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The Harlem funeral home director beaten, robbed of his wallet and threatened with a machete in his office by a pair of crooks pretending to be mourners was left stunned by the brazen holdup.

Hes also astounded by the robbers stupidity, he told the Daily News.

This is a funeral home, not a bodega! Ricky Daniels, 66, repeatedly told the two men demanding cash during the caught-on-camera robbery last month in the Daniels Wilhelmina Funeral Home on W. 131st St. near Malcolm X Blvd.

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After taking Daniels wallet and cell phone, the pair  one of whom was ultimately arrested  used the credit cards in the wallet to buy a pair of sneakers and a bottle of liquor.

The funeral director said the thieves could have bought almost anything on his credit cards.

In my wallet was over $100,000 available in credit and you went out and bought a pair of sneakers and a bottle of liquor? Daniels asked. I told the detective, [They] should go to jail just for being stupid. 

The men entered the funeral home about 3 p.m. on Feb. 17 claiming they wanted to make funeral arrangements.

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Wearing a long overcoat with a gold badge clipped to his belt, one of the suspects asked to see Daniels and was ushered to the back office, where he was caught on video released by the NYPD giving the funeral director a fist bump before sitting across a desk from him.

The first guy that came in, he was well-dressed, white overcoat, black suit with black shirt with a black tie, Daniels remembered. [He was] very professional looking. I would have never suspected a robbery based on his appearance.

But the visit took an odd turn when the thief relayed the story hed concocted to get into the door. He told Daniels that his brother had died out of state and he had already arranged for the body to be shipped to New York without first hiring a local funeral home to receive the body.

Thats where the story starts to get a little fuzzy, Daniels said. You cant just put a dead body on a plane.

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The cagey customer also said he had a burial plot for his brother at a Staten Island cemetery,, but didnt remember its name  another red flag for Daniels, a second-generation funeral director. His familys funeral home has been in operation in Harlem for more than a half century, he said.

The average cemetery [cost] is $5,000 and up, Daniels said. If your family spent $5,000, you know the name of that cemetery.

The funeral director was going to give the new customer the benefit of the doubt when everything took a dark turn.

The mourners accomplice suddenly burst into the back office sporting a ski mask. At the same time, the man in the long coat bizarrely accused Daniels of watching child porn on his computer while the two talked. The funeral directors computer screen was blank, he told The News.

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As [the accomplice] approached, I ask the gentleman, Are you guys together? How can I help you? He never did respond, Daniels said. Thats when the first guy got up to come around my desk and start to attack me.

The suspect in the long coat flashed his badge, but he never identified himself as a police officer as he accused Daniels of watching child porn.

Now, I can tell you I aint never seen child [pornography], Daniels told The News.

Within seconds, the two suspects were all over Daniels, repeatedly striking him in the face. At one point during the attack, the mourner pulled out a machete from his long coat, Daniels remembered.

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Fortunately he only threatened me with it, Daniels recalled. The reason why I think Im alive today is because I didnt hit him back.

Throughout the attack, the suspects demanded Daniels hand over his cash, but the funeral director could only tell them the truth: He had none. Funeral homes are not cash businesses, he repeatedly told the men.

People pay by insurance, by credit card or by check. Nobodys walking in here with $1,000 in cash. Those days are gone, Daniels said.

The suspects took Daniels cell phone and wallet as a consolation prize before running out of the funeral home.

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On March 5, Luis Ortega, 50, received a summons for theft of service in the Bronx  when police discovered he was wanted for the funeral home robbery. Detectives also traced Daniels stolen cell phone to Belmont, the Bronx, though the device has not been recovered.

Ortega, who cops said was the accomplice of the man in the long coat, was charged with robbery and assault. A judge ordered him held on $50,000 bail following his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, according to court records.

Cops were still looking for the crook in the long coat. On Thursday, cops released images of the suspect and asked the public for information in identifying him.

Weeks after the robbery, Daniels still doesnt know why the pair targeted his business.

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Howd you pick my funeral home? It becomes a question that just lingers in my mind, he said.

When he thinks about it, the true masterminds behind the boneheaded heist run the gamut from former customers and workers to old girlfriends. His ex-wife even made the list, he joked.

But something more sinister came to mind: It could simply be a new crime trend.

Ive had funeral homes or directors from Atlanta and various other states call me already out of concern for my welfare, he said. Hopefully [they] are taking precautions because if people are that ruthless and are going to come in and pretend to be making funeral arrangements and then rob somebody, I wouldnt want that to happen to anyone else.

Anyone with information regarding this robbery is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
Kamala Harris topped a new poll on who Democrats would back in the 2028 presidential primary if it was held today, with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in third place.

Despite losing the 2024 election to Donald Trump, the former vice president was backed by 36 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters in Morning Consults latest poll.

New Yorks Ocasio-Cortez, who is currently touring the U.S. to rally against Trumps policies with Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, was in third place with 5 percent. Sanders, an Independent, sought the Democratic nomination in 2016 and 2020.

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Harriss former running-mate Tim Walz was also tied with Ocasio-Cortez at 5 percent, as was California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is often touted as a future party leader despite little national experience.

Kamala Harris dominated a poll asking Democrats who they would back in the 2028 primary. Despite losing to Donald Trump in November, Harris was significantly more popular than her fellow Democrats. (Getty Images for BET)

After Harris, the most popular response at 13 percent was dont know/ no opinion, while 10 percent chose former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Billionaire Mark Cuban and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro were both next with 4 percent each.

Party donors are not feeling optimistic about the next presidential election and said its too early to back any one candidate.

I don't know if I would get involved at this point even if God were running, Democratic fundraiser Michael Kempner told ABC News. I think it's going to be tough for any Democrat to raise any money. There is little enthusiasm.

Ocasio-Cortez, who is currently touring the country with Sanders to rally against Trumps policies, was in third place. The progressive Democrat was backed by 5 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters. (AP)

Another donor who remained anonymous told the outlet that Harris is done at the top of the ticket. I think the country will not have moved in a progressive direction during that time, it will have become more conservative, he said.

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Harris is mulling running for governor of California and has reportedly set herself a deadline of deciding by the end of the summer, to the dismay of some of her potential rivals.

Former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the time is now for Harris to declare whether she is running or not.

The challenges are too big. We deserve a real conversation, Villaraigosa said. We had a 100-day campaign. So no, you cant get in at the end of the rainbow. Get in now.

It hurts every candidate in the race to have that looming over us, one Democratic consultant working on the governors race told Politico. [Harris] has the luxury of waiting as long as she wants, but I dont think thats good for the race, good for the party, or good for the voters.
Democratic lawmakers have reportedly grown fearful about the future of their party and the midterm elections as they confront frustrated constituents who are angry at what they perceive as Democrats lack of action against President Donald Trump and his administration.

Across the country, Democrat voters have expressed deep irritation with their leaders from protesting at town halls to leaving angry voicemails with Democrats offices.

Illinois Representative Sean Casten was grilled by constituents during a town hall about standing up to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer  who joined Republicans in passing a temporary funding bill. One voter asked Casten if he was prepared for violence because nice and civility doesnt work.

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After facing questions and repeated disruptions from protestors, Casten told Axios a colleague called him crying.

They hate us. They hate us, the colleague told Casten.

Democrat voters have grown angry with their party for not doing enough to stop President Donald Trump and his administration from making drastic changes (AP)

The aftermath of the 2024 presidential election has left many Democrat voters feeling defeated and angry at their leaders, something that has been bubbling up and could translate into voters revolting against their party in the 2026 midterm elections. That could mean not voting for the party, or voting for other Democrats in primaries that liberals believe will stand up to Trump.

Axios reported that Democrats anger could spill over to primaries with one senior House lawmaker saying: The people that have been voting ... with Republicans on these messaging bills are people that could get primaried."

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The midterms will be a critical point for Democrats who are hoping to take control of either the House of Representatives of Senate from Republicans.

But, the party appears to be facing an uphill battle. For the first time in more than 10 years, Democrat voters have a net-negative approval rating of their own party, polling from Politico found.

A recent NBC News poll found that just 27 percent of registered voters said they view the Democrat favorably  the lowest favorability rating for Democrats since 1990.

Another CNN poll similarly found that 29 percent of voters have a positive view of Democrats, the lowest of a CNN poll since 1992.

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Democrat voters floodgates of frustrations appeared to have opened after Schumer broke with his party to vote with Republicans in order to keep the government open.

Representative Delia Ramirez told Axios her constituents have passionately said theyre unhappy with Democratic leadership.

"You seem like such an affable, kind, nice man, but I am so angry ... I wish you'd be angry."



At a town hall held by Democratic Congressman Gil Cisneros people expressed fears around Social Security, the National Parks system, Elon Musk and more. pic.twitter.com/vzUgqMO5CJ  More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) March 20, 2025

They expect more from me and from Democrats in Congress, Ramirez said.

California Representative Gil Cisneros tried to calm his constituent's feelings at a fiery town hall recently. One woman told Cisneros she is so angry and so scared about the future of Social Security and Medicare under Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency threats to scale down the agency, according to ABC7.

I wish youd be angry, the woman told Cisneros.
COURTESY PHOTO State Rep. Gene Ward 1 /2 COURTESY PHOTO State Rep. Gene Ward JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM State Rep. Diamond Garcia spoke Friday next to the vacant seat of state Rep. Gene Ward during executive session inside the House chambers at the state Capitol in Honolulu.

2 /2 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM State Rep. Diamond Garcia spoke Friday next to the vacant seat of state Rep. Gene Ward during executive session inside the House chambers at the state Capitol in Honolulu.

COURTESY PHOTO State Rep. Gene Ward JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM State Rep. Diamond Garcia spoke Friday next to the vacant seat of state Rep. Gene Ward during executive session inside the House chambers at the state Capitol in Honolulu.

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After nearly three decades representing the Hawaii Kai-Kalama Valley district, Republican state Rep. Gene Ward announced Friday morning that he will retire due to ongoing health concerns, effective March 31.

As some of you are already aware, over the past few months I have experienced several health setbacks, including anemia and sciatica. Recently, I was diagnosed with pneumonia. The recovery from various health issues has been a slow and painful process. Despite the many efforts of medical professionals, my recovery has been much slower and more painful in the last few weeks. In the light of the recent pneumonia diagnosis, I have found myself at a difficult crossroad to decide my future as a member of the Hawaii State Legislature,  Ward wrote in a statement.

Ward, 82, has had a long career in Hawaii politics, serving in the state House of Representatives from 1990 to 1998 and again from 2006 to the present, totaling nearly 27 years.

The House extends its gratitude to Representative Gene Ward for his dedicated service to the Hawai i State Legislature,  House Speaker Nadine Nakamura said in a statement. Throughout his tenure, Gene served as a passionate Representative for his district, and a strong voice for his East Honolulu constituents.

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While state legislators were sworn in at the start of the session, Ward took his oath in March via Zoom with the chief justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court. Since the session began Jan. 15, Ward has not been present at the state Capitol, nor has he attended committee hearings or floor sessions. However, state Rep. Diamond Garcia (R, Ewa-Kapolei ) said Ward remained actively engaged with legislative affairs despite his physical absence, and the two spoke regularly.

Before Garcia was elected to the House in 2022, he served as Wards office manager from 2018, and credits his political learning and success to Ward.

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Just a couple weeks ago, he was on the phone with us during our all-day caucus meeting, and he was still engaging and asking questions on certain legislation,  Garcia said. He was tracking all the bills throughout the session. He did send an email out to the House members addressing his absence, which did say that he planned to be back at the Capitol soon, and that was a few weeks ago, but things have not worked out and so its not going to be happening, but he was still involved during this whole session at our caucus meetings. He would join through Zoom calls.

Wards top policy priorities included advocating for asset-limited, income-constrained and employed families ; economic diversification ; and Native Hawaiian issues. Among the policies he aimed to advance were accessory dwelling units and the rebuilding of Lahaina.

One of Wards signature legislative efforts was House Bill 517, a measure he reintroduced annually that proposed prohibiting vehicle parking on Iolani Palace grounds, requiring the Department of Accounting and General Services to remove the blacktop parking area and install a pedestrian-friendly space in its place. It also mandated a cost analysis report by DAGS and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. However, the bill stalled early in the session.

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Over the years, Ward has held multiple leadership roles, including House minority leader, House minority policy leader and, most recently, House minority caucus leader for the 2025 legislative session.

A Vietnam War veteran, Wards service extended beyond state politics. From 1999 to 2004 he was appointed as a senior democracy adviser in the U.S. Agency for International Development Office of Democracy and Governance during the Bush administration, where he promoted democratic principles worldwide and contributed to literature on campaign finance reform for developing nations.

I think there is no name that can replace Gene Ward and his years of service, but the people of Hawaii definitely deserve someone similar to Gene Ward,  Garcia said. I mean, he was unopposed in this last election. Nobody ran against him, and that was just a confirmation of the peoples overwhelming (support for ) Rep. Wards leadership.

The Republican Party chair has 30 days, starting April 1, to submit three candidates for Wards replacement to Gov. Josh Green, who will then have 60 days to make an appointment.

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State Republican Party Chair Tamara McKay said the party will begin considering candidates in the coming days.

Right now we want to focus on honoring Gene Ward in his time and service,  McKay said. Hes done a lot of service, and we want to really honor him at this time right now and give him the time to heal. Lets give some time to focus on his accomplishments before we start to look at replacing him.

Wards office staff will remain in place until a successor is appointed, ensuring continued support for the district.

It has been the utmost privilege to serve the people of Hawaii Kai, Kalama Valley, and Portlock. The Peoples Office will continue to be open for business as the mouth piece to express community concerns in the Hawaii State Legislature,  Ward wrote.

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Gov. Josh Green expressed gratitude for Wards service in a statement.

I want to extend my heartfelt wishes for his recovery from the health issues he cited. Gene has always been a fighter, and I know he will approach this chapter with the same strength and determination he has shown throughout his career. Jaime and I join those whose lives he has touched in keeping Gene and his family in our thoughts. We are grateful for his service and know he has certainly earned this time to focus on his well-being,  Green said.

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A baby getting a medical exam. Measles vaccinations can be given as early as 6 months, doctors say. (Photo by Ariel Skelley/Getty stock photo)

Health officials have confirmed three measles cases in Maryland this month, but say its not time to panic about an outbreak given the states more than 96% vaccination rate against the highly transmissible virus.

But with outbreaks occurring in other states, experts are urging Marylanders to make sure that they are up to date with their vaccinations, to protect vulnerable populations and ensure that measles stays manageable in the state.

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What were seeing now with three imported cases, that doesnt concern me. Its a reflection of whats happening globally and people traveling, said Dr. William Moss, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

What would concern me is if we started seeing more locally acquired cases where people who did not travel acquired measles in Maryland, Moss said.

The Maryland Department of Health announced on March 9 that a Howard County resident who had traveled internationally had contracted measles.

Two other international travelers, this time from Prince Georges County, also caught measles while abroad, the health department reported Thursday.

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While all three cases were connected to Washington Dulles International Airport, the Prince Georges cases are not related to the Howard County case, according to the health department. And the department said none of the Maryland cases are related to ongoing outbreaks identified in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, some of which have led to fatalities.

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But out of an abundance of caution, the agency issued a list of potentially exposed flights, Metro lines and hospitals where the public might have been exposed to one of the Maryland cases.

Measles cases occur sporadically in Maryland, with one case of measles identified in Maryland earlier this year [the March 9 case], one in 2024, one in 2023, and no cases from 2020-2022, the department said in a statement Thursday.

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With three cases identified in March alone, should Marylanders expect an outbreak? Public health experts say no  so long as youre vaccinated, which more than 96% of the states residents are, according to Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director for the American Public Health Association.

If people whove contracted measles virus happen to go into a community that is unvaccinated or undervaccinated, or around a child under the age of 1 that has not yet had their vaccine, you can see spread, he said. But the likelihood of a big outbreak occurring in Maryland is relatively low. Very low.

Measles starts as a standard respiratory disease, with a fever, runny nose, cough and red, watery eyes. A couple days after the initial symptoms, people sick with measles may develop the illnesss calling card  a red, bumpy rash that starts on the head area and spreads to the rest of the body.

Moss said that while the measles virus travels more quickly among unvaccinated populations, breakthrough cases among vaccinated people are still possible, though rare. He advised that those who suspect they may have been exposed to measles shouldnt just walk into an emergency room if they can avoid it, due to how transmissible it is.

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Because measles virus is so contagious, you dont want someone with measles just walking into a crowded emergency room with a lot of other sick people, Moss said.

Ideally what would happen is that a parent or an individual would contact their health care provider to give them a heads up that  they think they could have measles, he said. That way  they can be prepared to handle that patient and make sure that patient doesnt pass the infection to others.

People can get vaccinated for measles as early as 6 months old, and Maryland schools require kindergartners to be vaccinated for measles and other diseases before entering class, although the state has a liberal religious exemption policy.

But Moss is concerned about a rising national trend of parents asking for religious exemptions from required vaccinations to attend state schools  a trend that Maryland is not immune to.

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Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more parents have invoked a religious exemption to opt their children out of vaccination requirements in recent years, which Moss and other public health experts say is an indication of increased vaccine hesitancy.

In the 2023-24 school year, for example, 1.54% of Maryland kindergartners received a religious exemption from required vaccinations, including the MMR vaccine which helps protect against measles, mumps and rubella. Religious exemptions have been growing steadily since 2002-2003, when only 0.2% of students were exempted, state data shows.

According to health department data, of those 98.46% of kindergartners who were vaccinated last school year, 99% received the MMR vaccine. Vaccine rates for the current academic year are not yet available.

Successful vaccination programs undermine themselves because the disease goes away and people dont worry about these vaccine-preventable diseases that can actually come back, Moss said. He added that vaccine hesitancy has grown since the COVID-19 pandemic.

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I would hope for many people the current measles outbreak here in the United States is a reminder that measles is still around, that measures can still put people in the hospital, that measles can still kill, he said. And that will highlight the value of measles vaccination and that well be able to maintain high measles vaccination coverage here in Maryland and nationally.

He said that if Maryland can maintain high vaccination levels, it can keep a potential future outbreak at bay.

My prediction would be that were not going to see many secondary cases as a consequence of these importations in Maryland, Moss said. I think were pretty good here.
SIHF Healthcare announced Thursday that it had purchased a medical building in downtown Belleville and planned to spend $6 million to renovate it and expand services.

Later that afternoon, SIHF President and CEO Larry McCulley appeared at a news conference in Cahokia Heights with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), warning that proposed Medicaid cuts could force it to close clinics and reduce other services in the metro-east.

It was a dichotomy that begged the question: How would such cuts affect the Belleville project? SIHF spokesman Tom Faulkner said Friday that officials are monitoring the federal situation closely.

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Theyre hopeful that the cuts wont come, but if they do come as theyve been proposed, they will have an impact, and it wont just have an impact on SIHF and Touchette, he said. It will have an impact on every healthcare organization that accepts Medicaid.

Republicans, who control both houses of Congress, are working to reduce the federal budget by $880 billion, causing Democrats to anticipate cuts to Medicaid, the federal insurance program that provides healthcare for people with low incomes and limited resources.

SIHF is a nonprofit organization that staffs Touchette Regional Hospital in Cahokia Heights and operates about 40 clinics in southern and eastern Illinois that are federally qualified, meaning they provide services regardless of insurance status or ability to pay.

About 78% of the organizations revenue comes from Medicaid reimbursements, according to Faulkner and an Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board database.

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SIHF already has begun renovations on the 69,000-square-foot, four-story medical building at 180 S. Third St. in Belleville that formerly was owned by St. Elizabeths Hospital.

A $6 million investment is nothing to scoff at, Mayor Patty Gregory said. Were very excited about it, and Im just hoping that this is the beginning of many new possibilities for where the former St. Elizabeths used to be.

Gregory said one reason she ran for office in 2021 was disappointment over St. Elizabeths decision to leave Belleville and move to OFallon in 2017 under the late former Mayor Mark Eckert. She was a founding member of a group called Oppose the Move.

Gregory is running for reelection on April 1 with Irma Golliday, candidate for Belleville City Clerk, who also is a board member for SIHF Healthcare, formerly known as Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation. Gregory is being challenged by current City Clerk Jenny Gain Meyer.

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The city of Belleville hasnt offered any financial incentives, such as tax-increment-financing funds, for the SIHF renovation project, said Cliff Cross, director of economic development, planning and zoning.

SIHF formerly rented space in the medical building, according to Kelly Barbeau, spokeswoman for Hospital Sisters Health System, which operates the new St. Elizabeths.

They were part of the (hospitals downtown Belleville) campus for more than 30 years, she said.

SIHF bought the medical building from St. Elizabeths for $2.95 million on Dec. 6, 2024, St. Clair County records show. The hospital now is the one renting space for its outpatient physical-therapy services and imaging center for X-rays and mammograms.

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An SIHF news release stated that the organization also will continue with its existing services in the building (cardiology and primary care and imaging and laboratory testing) and add the following:

An InstaCare (urgent) clinic

Orthopedic care

Behavioral health services

An on-site pharmacy

Womens health services

Ear, nose and throat care

Plastic surgery

Gastroenterology

Outpatient general surgery

Podiatry

SIHF also plans to add more physicians, specialists, nurses, and medical staff to their team creating a workforce of over 640 individuals, the release stated.

SIHF Healthcare, formerly Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation, bought this medical building in downtown Belleville on Dec. 6, 2024, from St. Elizabeths Hospital in OFallon. It sold for $2.95 million.

Durbin traveled to Cahokia Heights for the news conference Thursday to draw attention to the possible impact Medicaid cuts would have on SIHF, Touchette and small rural hospitals in southern Illinois.

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McCulley said proposals to cut 15% of Medicaid coverage could have a $5 to $10 million impact on SIHFs annual budget.

How do you cut that? Well, the only thing you can do is close locations, eliminate service lines like dental, obstetrics, end partnerships that raise and lift up future providers, he said. Were looking at having to close partnerships like our two family medical residencies in Alton and possibly in OFallon.

McCulley also referred to the possible closing of clinics in Red Bud, Olney, Salem, Belleville, Granite City and OFallon.

Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation was formed in 1984 to attract doctors to East St. Louis and surrounding communities that were devastated by closed factories, two decades of chronic unemployment, decreasing property values, and accompanying societal ills, according to its history.

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The Sauget-based organization opened its first clinic in Centreville with a physician, a nurse and a director. Today, it operates 40 clinics in 25 cities in southern and eastern Illinois.

Officials hope to complete renovations on the Belleville medical building by the fall of 2026, the SIHF release stated.

The new center follows the emerging model across the United States of providing primary and specialty outpatient care that brings the family back into family medicine, it stated.

BND reporter Lexi Cortes contributed to this story.
Mar. 22A hearing on Tuesday will determine whether Decatur police officer Mac Bailey Marquette is granted immunity from a murder charge in the fatal shooting of Steve Perkins, or if the case will proceed to a jury trial on April 7.

Marquette's attorneys, Liz Young and Brett Bloomston of Birmingham, filed a request for a stand-your-ground immunity hearing based on the events of the early morning hours of Sept. 29, 2023, leading to Perkins' shooting death in the front yard of his Southwest Decatur home.

In a motion filed in Morgan County Circuit Court on Jan. 7, Young and Bloomston referenced Marquette's Jan. 4, 2024, indictment for murder, providing their own version of the underlying events.

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"The (murder) charge stems from an on-duty shooting of an armed suspect, Stephen Perkins, in an incident wherein the suspect pointed a handgun at a tow-truck driver and the Defendant. Perkins died as a result of the shooting," Marquette's attorneys wrote.

The motion goes on to claim Marquette, as well as fellow Decatur police officers Christopher Mukaddam, Vance Summers and Joey Williams, took positions around Perkins' residence to protect the tow truck driver.

"The Defendant, who was located behind the vehicle that was to be repossessed, saw Perkins and clearly saw him pointing a weapon at the tow-truck driver," the motion said. "The Defendant then reacted to the threat posed by Perkins by yelling and identifying himself as police and giving him a loud verbal command to drop the weapon. Instead of dropping the weapon as instructed, Perkins turned and pointed the gun directly at the Defendant."

Video of the incident, which took place at 1:49 a.m., indicates police did not tell Perkins to drop the gun until after Marquette shot 18 rounds at him, and that Marquette began firing one second after identifying himself as a police officer. The video recordings came from police bodycams and neighbors' security cameras.

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According to police, Perkins had a flashlight mounted to his handgun.

The motion said Marquette fired his weapon at Perkins "in fear for his life and the lives of others."

Alabama's stand-your-ground law provides that a person is "justified in using deadly physical force in self-defense or the defense of another person" if certain conditions are met, including that he "reasonably believes that another person is using or about to use unlawful deadly force."

Immunity applies only if the defendant "is in any place he or she has the right to be," and does not apply if the defendant "provoked the use of unlawful force" by the other person. It likewise does not apply if the defendant was the "initial aggressor."

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A defendant who meets all these criteria under the stand-your-ground law is immune from criminal or civil prosecution and the indictment is dismissed.

Marquette's lawyers cited a Jefferson County Circuit Court order for the proposition that stand-your-ground immunity applies to on-duty police officers. In that case, a Birmingham police officer was charged with assault for punching a mentally unstable woman twice in the face after she kicked him and punched him in the face. The court dismissed the charge after a stand-your-ground hearing, ruling that the officer had immunity. Unlike the Marquette case, the Birmingham police officer used force in a hospital, not at the victim's home, and did not use lethal force.

Steve Perkins' older brother, Nick Perkins, said on Friday that he believes Morgan County Circuit Judge Charles Elliott will issue a fair ruling at the upcoming immunity hearing and reject Marquette's immunity claim, but he expressed broader concerns about the overall effectiveness of the justice system.

"I really haven't had a lot of faith in the justice system," Perkins said. "As a community, we haven't seen a lot that's favored toward us when it comes to the justice system. I will say this: In this case, through prayer and faith, I think we will come out victorious."

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He said he believes Decatur has come under much scrutiny since his brother's death, saying the city has become an "eyesore" since then.

Nick Perkins said the public outcry following the shooting has not influenced the legal process but rather reflects individuals expressing their own personal biases and opinions.

"The only influence that I think should be accountable should be based on the video footage and the facts," Perkins said. "They suggest that Marquette was in the wrong."

Perkins said there are no sides to take in his brother's case  only the side of justice, which he believes will prevail if people focus on facts.

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"There should be no Perkins side, there should be no Marquette side," he said. "There's right and wrong, and I think that's what everything should be based on. Unfortunately, we live in a time where it's not like that. Everything is going to be divided."

Marquette's mother, Jennifer Marquette, declined comment Friday because she said a gag order issued by Elliott in May prevents her from speaking about the case.

In a Facebook video, she called on supporters of her son to gather at the courthouse Tuesday and "pray for justice to be served, true justice to be served, for my son to be exonerated, for healing for our community, to bring order and rest back into the city of Decatur."

Morgan County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Mike Swafford said they will have "plans in place" Tuesday to ensure the safety of everyone at the courthouse.

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Pursuant to the stand-your-ground statute, the court on Tuesday "shall conduct a pretrial hearing to determine whether force, including deadly force, used by the defendant was justified or whether it was unlawful."

While the prosecution at the jury trial must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, at the immunity hearing the defendant has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that his use of force was justified.

Unlike the trial, the issue of immunity is determined by a judge, not a jury. If the court determines from the evidence that the defendant is entitled to stand-your-ground immunity, he must dismiss the criminal charge.

Even if the court rules against the defendant at the immunity hearing, the defendant may still argue at the jury trial that the use of deadly force was justified due to self-defense or defense of another person.

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The following people have been subpoenaed to testify at Tuesday's immunity hearing. The parties can call witnesses who are not under a subpoena, and subpoenaed witnesses are not always called to testify.



Defense subpoenas:

Jeremy Bunn, Elkmont

Tyler Shelton, Hoover

Vance Norman Summers, Hanceville (officer who was present at the shooting)

Joey Robert Williams, Cullman (officer who was present at the shooting)

Caleb Combs, Flowood, Mississippi (employed by tow truck company that towed Perkins' truck)

Christopher Bryan Mukaddam, Moulton (officer who was present at the shooting)

Briana Fortier of Madison Police Department, Madison

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Special Agent Jamie King of Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Huntsville  District attorney subpoenas:

Kelli Thompson of Morgan County 911, Decatur

Special Agent Jamie King of ALEA, Huntsville

Capt. Todd Pinion, former chief of Decatur Police Department

Lee Greene, Hartselle

 wesley.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2442. Eric Fleischauer contributed to this report.
An expansion of Heathrow Airport may have averted Fridays power meltdown, it has emerged.

For more than two decades, the airport has been campaigning for approval to expand.

Yet since the airports first public call to add a runway in 2003, the plans have been restarted and stalled on numerous occasions.

Now documents uncovered by The Telegraph suggest an expansion may have prevented the energy meltdown caused by a fire at a substation on Thursday night that led to the disruption of more than 1,300 flights.

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This is because plans for an expanded site have previously mooted the idea of an additional power supply at the airport.

These are just three electricity substations, or grid supply points, which supply the airport and they cannot replace each other without lengthy reconfiguration.

A 2014 report by Jacobs, a global planning and infrastructure consultancy, found that the key weakness to the electric supply for the airport was the main transmission line connections to the airport.

The authors added: It is not unreasonable to assume that the expansion of the airport would be accompanied with additional provision of resilient supplies and back-up generation or uninterruptable power suppliers to serve the additional services.

Commenting on the report, Robert Courts KC, a former Tory minister for aviation, maritime and security, told The Telegraph: The big thing about yesterday  whatever the cause ends up being  was the fact that there seemed to be a single point of failure, and we need to build in what engineers call greater redundancy.

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And on the face of it  a future plant  as is laid out in that document, would prevent this sort of thing happening in the future.

Mr Courts, who was MP for Witney from 2016 to 2024, said: This [Heathrow fire] should put the rocket underneath Heathrow expansion.

Its been stalled for too long, we need the greater capacity, but this seems to underline that we need it not just for economic reasons but for building resilience.

He added: We need to be investing in resilience and redundancy, when things go wrong how do you ensure the lights are kept on and the planes keep flying.

Meanwhile, Parmjit Dhanda, executive director of pro-expansion campaign group Back Heathrow, said: It is ironic that if the UK had already built the third runway, with more advanced resilience for the airports facilities, this issue may not have occurred.

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Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, is among those who have opposed the expansion of Heathrow.

Yet earlier this year, Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, declared she backed proposals for expansion as part of a drive to grow the economy.

Sir Sadiq Khan, however, has hinted that he could use taxpayers money to fight the Chancellors plans for a third runway.

When pressed on whether he would launch a legal challenge last month, the Labour Mayor of London told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: I agree with nearly all of Rachels policies relating to growth.

But lets wait and see what plans Heathrow publish. Look, if Heathrow dont address the concerns Ive highlighted, then, of course, my job is to stand for London.

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Asked if he would use his mayoral budget if needed, he replied: Lets wait and see what plans Heathrow publish. But I will use all the tools in my tool kit if I think its wrong in terms of Londoners interest, and indeed the national interest.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: Expanding Heathrow could drive growth, trade and tourism and unlock over 100,000 jobs, cementing our position as a world leader in aviation.

There is no live planning application for Heathrow expansion at present, but when plans come forward, we will ensure any expansion is assessed against the Governments legal, carbon and environmental obligations.

The Telegraph has approached Heathrow Airport and Jacobs for comment.

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Heathrow airports chief executive has said he was not aware of any airport that has a backup supply that can switch on in minutes to the magnitude of what we experienced yesterday.

The same would happen in other airports, Thomas Woldbye added.

Experts told The Telegraph, however, that some of Heathrow airports rivals have two or more external power feeds, and as many as seven times the number of backup generators.

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Mr Woldbye defended the airports response after an electricity substation fire knocked out power at the London airport as well as its main back-up generator, closing it for most of Friday before some flights began to arrive and take off later in the evening.

The airport said it was fully operational on Saturday, but delays continued.

The shutdown has raised serious questions about the reliability of one of the UKs most critical pieces of infrastructure, and has led to accusations that Heathrows power back-up falls significantly short when compared with other airports that see similar levels of traffic.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the worlds busiest, spent $100 million to build 20 back-up generators after it lost power in 2017.

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Aviation experts said that the power cut demonstrated a lack of imagination in Heathrows disaster planning, and warned that the UKs other main airports needed to urgently review their own systems.

A plane takes off from Heathrow on Saturday as smoke continues to rise from the fire-hit electricity substation - Carlos Jasso/Reuters

Marco Chan, a senior lecturer in aviation at Buckinghamshire New University, said the impact of the fire suggested Heathrow had been relying on just one external power feed when its main system went down.

Other busy travel hubs including Singapores Changi, South Koreas Incheon, Dubai International and Amsterdams Schiphol airports, have two or more.

Such a disruption raises serious questions about how much built-in resilience is actually in place at Heathrow, Mr Chan said.

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Its unfortunate that the fire occurred at the substation responsible for stepping down electricity to a usable level, he added.

Based on what weve seen, it suggests Heathrow may rely on just one external power feed  or that the backup systems may not be structurally independent enough to maintain operations during a major outage.

For one of the worlds busiest airports, thats a vulnerability that needs urgent review.

Opened in 1946 as the London Airport before changing its name to Heathrow in 1966, the airport is significantly older than others that cope with similar levels of traffic.

Dohas, Istanbuls and Abu Dhabis airports all have power systems within the vicinity of the airport, rather than several miles away, as is the case with Heathrow, said Paul Charles, chief executive of The PC Agency, a travel consultancy.

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This appears to make those airports more secure and better protected energy-wise, he said.

Mr Charles said it has been established that Heathrow has multiple power sources but was over-reliant on the substation. Its secondary power source, meanwhile, was also located away from the airport, making it equally vulnerable to losing power.

Heathrow is the fourth most active airport in the world.

Disruption continued at Heathrow on Saturday because of the knock-on effects of Fridays closure - Belinda Jiao

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport installed its 20 back-up generators to power the travel hub in the event its main system fails.

The decision came after an electrical fire broke out in a tunnel underneath the airport in 2017, wiping out both the main power and its backup for 11 hours and costing the airport around $50 million.

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Several other US airports are also pursuing on-site power and microgrid technologies as a way to protect against grid outages.

John F Kennedy International Airport in New York is constructing a 12-megawatt energy system consisting of 13,000 solar panels on the terminal roof, which will make it the largest solar array at any airport in America.

It will be able to operate independently from or connected to the main power grid.

The development was ordered after an electrical panel failure led to a small fire in 2023, disrupting flights and forcing the terminal to close.

Dallas Fort Worth International, the worlds second-busiest airport, is building its own electrical power resources because of concerns over power issues with the Texas grid.

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The plans include the construction of a new utility plant and a solar-powered microgrid.

Urgent reviews needed

Prof Jose Holguin-Veras, director of the Center for Infrastructure, Transportation, and the Environment, told The Telegraph Heathrows power outage was due to a failure of imagination.

Substations are so reliable, theyre easy to take for granted  having one of the busiest airports in the planet reliant on one substation, I think that was a mistake, he said.

Prof Holguin-Veras said he thinks most major airports in the US have multiple substations and the managers of critical infrastructure in the US have taken steps to mitigate against technical issues such as those experienced by Heathrow.

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Mr Charles said Britain was a pioneer in air travel but must now start thinking hard about preventing such a disaster from happening again.

Gatwick, Luton and other airports need an urgent review of their power systems, he said.

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LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A patchwork of asphalt spots in one Henderson neighborhood marks the yearslong water pipe issues which have raised a $1.3 million price tag and several resignation letters, according to neighbors.

On Mar. 7, Renaissance Townhomes residents received an urgent community vote notice indicating that 73 of their lateral water lines needed replacement. A special assessment showed the total cost would be $1,367,1680, which equals a $16,879 charge per home.

On Mar. 7, Renaissance Townhomes residents received an urgent community vote notice indicating that 73 of their lateral water lines needed replacement. A special assessment showed the total cost would be $1,367,1680, which equals a $16,879 charge per home. (KLAS)

This is a senior community, not by choice, but by happenstance, Aldona Leskys, a 20-year Renaissance Townhomes resident, said. Theres a lot of people on fixed incomes that really cant afford that, and I think its unfair, and I think we should be looking for a different solution.

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Lesksys said she has seen consistent water issues in the community which have forced several temporary fixes, but nothing she would consider substantive.

Walk around the community, youll always see something bubbling under the ground, she said. Its not like its not oil, unfortunately, its water coming up.

Aldona Leskys, a 20-year Renaissance Townhomes resident said she has seen consistent water issues in the community which have forced several temporary fixes, but nothing she would consider substantive. (KLAS)

Several Renaissance Townhomes residents spoke to 8 News Now about the problems in the community and flagged the water issues as recurring. The Renaissance HOA board wrote in their notice they would be moving forward with a financial strategy, but residents said their board has recently submitted letters of resignation.

The City of Henderson responded to an 8 News Now request for comment on the issue and pointed out some details with the plumbing system.

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Renaissance Townhomes is a privately maintained water system, and we are limited in how we can intervene in matters related to private utilities/plumbing, a city spokesperson wrote. Both the municipal code and Nevada Revised Statutes allow the City to step in only in very specific, life-threatening circumstances.

The issues at Renaissance Townhomes follow similar issues at Somerset Park, which the city stepped in to help but not for free. A city spokesperson confirmed staff were aware of the current issue.

We will continue to evaluate the situation, a city spokesperson wrote. We urge residents to work with their board of directors, legal counsel, and the Nevada Real Estate Division to explore all options for addressing the issue.

Lesksys reacted to the citys response and asked why the system being private was a problem since it was tied to the city system.

Henderson City Hall (KLAS)

Were tied into their water, and if they cant help us, then what do we do, she said.

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8 News Now reached out for a comment from Henderson Councilman Dan Stewart regarding the issues facing the constituents in his ward.

He was just made aware of the issue today, a spokesperson for Stewart told 8 News Now. And [he] will be monitoring it closely.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
HIGH POINT

Do you have a doppelganger  you know, someone who looks exactly like you?

A High Point man named Luther Allen had a doppelganger ... and it got him killed.

The year was 1913. Early that December, the city launched a sting operation designed to crack down on blind tigers, the name given to illegal drinking establishments. Most notably, the operation aimed to shut down bootleggers who were selling whiskey to African Americans.

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To that end, the city hired a Black detective named Robert Hall to infiltrate the Black community, identify the bootleggers and have them hauled off to jail. The detective was apparently very good at his job  on the afternoon of Dec. 6, 1913, more than a dozen bootleggers were arrested as a direct result of Halls efforts.

City police, of course, were thrilled with the arrests, but the bootleggers customers? Um, not so much.

So that same night, as news of the arrests spread throughout the Black community, an angry mob formed and sought out the detective. When they found him, sometime between 11 p.m. and midnight, they killed him  except that it wasnt actually Hall that they killed. It was his lookalike, Luther Allen, a husband and father of two who had nothing to do with the bootleggers arrests.

Several area newspapers reported on the murderous mistake.

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There is little doubt that the murder was committed by friends of the retailers, who were seeking revenge against the detective, one newspaper wrote. In their haste and madness, the bloodthirsty mob mistook Allen for the detective Hall.

Another wrote that the mob considered the detective to be treacherous to his race.

So they didnt just kill the innocent man  they made it personal.

The body of the deceased was badly mutilated, the newspaper reported. The dead man had been shot through the heart, his right leg was badly cut, and his skull appeared to have been crushed with a heavy club.

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The news of the murder rocked the community, particularly when residents realized an innocent man had been killed. Police acted quickly and made several arrests, but making the suspects pay for the crime would be another matter.

(The county coroner) conducted an inquest, one newspaper reported, and although more than a dozen witnesses were examined in the course of the investigation, it was impossible to find evidence sufficient to hold anyone for the crime.

In other words, the mob walked.

And what became of Detective Robert Hall?

Well, he heard the murmurs and realized he might be in danger, so he went to the police and had himself locked up in the citys municipal jail, to protect himself from the mob.

To that act of prudence he doubtless owes his life, one news account read.

And conversely, that same act of prudence probably cost his doppelganger, Luther Allen, his life.
COBB COUNTY, Ga. (WGN)  A high-ranking member of the Venezuelan street gang Tren De Aragua, who federal prosecutors say is linked to a deadly triple shooting in Chicago, is now in police custody following his arrest Thursday in Georgia.

The U.S. Department of Justices Office of Public Affairs announced on Friday that multiple law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshals and the Chicago Police Department, collaborated in capturing 32-year-old Ricardo Gonzales. Currently jailed in Cobb County, Georgia, Gonzales is awaiting extradition back to Chicago.

According to a news release, Gonzales had an arrest warrant from CPD for kidnapping. CPD also sought the 32-year-old on probable cause for two counts of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder concerning the early morning shooting on Tuesday, Jan. 28.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 3 women shot, 2 fatally, in South Shore alley

WGN-TV previously reported that Chicago police found three women unresponsive in an alleyway in the 7700 block of S. Oglesby Avenue in the citys South Shore neighborhood.

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Police believe the shooting occurred around 4:50 a.m.

Two women died as a result of the shooting, and a third woman was critically wounded but survived after escaping and calling 911.

WGN-TV spoke with a neighbor, Marcia Talbert, who recalled waking up to the terrified victim, desperately seeking help.

It shook us up, she said. It woke my son up, and he was scared.

The woman was without a coat and covered in blood, Talbert added. By the time she retrieved her coat, Talbert said the victim had already left and received help from a nearby neighbor.

Man extradited, charged after allegedly killing 33-year-old mother, kidnapping kids

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She kept saying police, police, said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified. We came outside. My mom came out first. She was bleeding everywhere.

The U.S. Marshal Service (USMS) Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force (SERFTF), USMS Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, ICE, and CPD worked jointly in Gonzales arrest.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
A fugitive wanted for kidnapping three women in Chicago and killing two of them has been arrested in Cobb County.

Ricardo Gonzales, who the U.S. Department of Justice says is a high-ranking member of the Venezuelan street gang Tren De Aragua, was arrested on Thursday.

The 32-year-old had an arrest warrant out of Chicago for kidnapping and was also wanted on two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

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The DOJ says he was accused of kidnapping three women in Chicago and taking them into an alley where all three were shot in the head. Two of the women died, but the third was able to escape and call 911.

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This defendants crimes against American women are horrific, and he is exactly the type of Alien Enemy the Trump administration is fighting to remove from this country in order to make America safe again, said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

Officials did not comment on the circumstances of his arrest in Cobb County.

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He was booked into the Cobb County Jail and will be extradited to Chicago.

As Gonzales was being arrested, five others were taken into custody and transferred to ICE detention facilities.

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The flame of Jared Poliss governorship is far from extinguished. But it is starting to flicker with the end date in sight.
Amid chaos and confusion stemming from federal funding freezes, higher education institutions in Frederick County are worrying about the future of funding for their academic programming.

Hood College, Frederick Community College and Mount St. Marys can still access federal grants. The concern, they said, is how that funding could be jeopardized in the future.

President Donald Trumps budget office sent out a memo on Jan. 27 that ordered a pause on federal funds so the administration could review what programs that received federal grants and loans were consistent with Trumps policies.

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A U.S. District Court judge in Rhode Island on Jan. 31 issued a temporary restraining order that allowed agencies to restart the flow of federal grants to programs and institutions, including to universities and colleges.

The same judge, U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr., at the start of this month issued an injunction that blocks Trump from restarting or establishing a freeze for federal funds.

As a result, Hood College, Mount St. Marys University and Frederick Community College could access federal funding for scholarships, student researchers and other programs.

But, the institutions and their students worry about the future of that funding and the federal reimbursement of grants for these programs.

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On Thursday, Trump issued an executive order to dismantle the federal Department of Education. It wasnt immediately clear how that order could further affect funding.

Hood College

After the White House budget offices Jan. 27 memo was issued, Hood College put on hold drawing down federal funds for its various scholarships and student researcher programs.

The college has seven active federal grants that are on a reimbursement basis. Hood will spend the money first, then draw the allotted grant funding down from the federal agency that is providing the funding.

Jaime Cacciola, senior director of grants and sponsored programs for the college, wrote in an email last month that the spending freeze and the subsequent restraining order have felt like whiplash.

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She wrote that Hood could obtain funds for STEM students who had been promised scholarships after the restraining order went into effect.

In an interview on Feb. 19, Cacciola said Hood College stopped distributing grants for two weeks, except for some really necessary expenditures. The college lifted the spending pause on Feb. 13.

She said the seven active federal grants all benefit our Hood community, and several students are going to receive scholarships this summer and we wanted to make sure that they were going to receive the funds.

Well, the future with these agencies is still unknown, but we plan to move forward, Cacciola said. Weve already promised these students this funding, so we are going to move forward with our federal spending.

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She added that the colleges main concern now is whether the college will continue to be reimbursed through the federal funds.

If something happens ... then there is the possibility that we could be left footing the bill, she said.

Cacciola said student researchers are paid for their work at the Biomedical Research and Training Center at Hood, which includes programs like professional development workshops and internship and job placement opportunities.

She said the students are concerned about the future of funding, whether funding would be taken away, and whether wed be able to spend the grant funding.

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Cacciola said the grants office has been in contact with the project directors reassuring them that we are continuing to spend the funds and we are in compliance.

So, they are communicating that to the students, and hopefully, that has eased any fears that they might have, she said.

Studying DNA

Alisa Gorham is a 20-year-old junior biochemistry major at Hood College.

At the Biomedical Research and Training Center, she is studying feline papilloma virus by extracting lion and panther DNA from tissue samples and quantifying it.

Gorham said during the colleges internal spending pause, she spent two weeks not working in the lab and not getting paid, which was not fun because I had just started learning about the qubit fluorometer and I really wanted to figure it out. A qubit fluorometer is a device that quantifies DNA using fluorescent dyes.

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Then, I got the email that they stopped funding and I couldnt work at all because they were worried that if I worked without being paid, that would be an issue, she said.

Gorham added that due to the funding issues, her Summer Internship Program at Frederick National Labs, a subsidiary of the National Cancer Institute, was canceled.

She said could have had an internship performing a design experiment about protein expression, which she has been learning in one of her classes.

But, I was hoping to put those skills to use, Gorham said. Im a little bit sad.

She said she changed course by applying to different research experiences for undergraduate students, but said that she has no clue if Ill get anything.

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Thats also the issue, too, because these [programs], theyre funded by the National Science Foundation, but Im scared that their funding is also going to be jeopardized, Gorham said.

The Trump administration also detailed in an executive order that federally funded diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs would not receive that funding anymore.

Cacciola said the grant office reviewed the entire portfolio to see if any of them were especially DEI-focused, but found that none is.

Our scholarship grants are based on economic need or other types of disadvantage, and not just looking at racial or ethnic background, she said. So, we felt confident moving forward with spending that money in the future.

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FCC and Mount St. Marys

Frederick Community College has also been able to access federal funding since the memo was issued in January.

Avis Boyd, chief of staff to FCC President Annesa Payne Cheek, wrote in an email at the beginning of the month that there has been no disruption since the executive orders have not been ratified as law.

Boyd wrote that the college receives $9.8 million in federal funding. The bulk of it  $8.7 million  is used toward student financial aid.

The remaining $1.1 million provides funding for various programs, including outreach for veterans education, adult basic education and literacy, and a Homeland Security national training program.

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Based on this data, discontinuing funding will have a significantly negative impact on students abilities to achieve their desired education goals toward more livable wage earnings, Boyd wrote.

Donna Klinger, a spokesperson for Mount St. Marys, wrote in an email last week that the university is able to access grant funding.

She wrote that the university is in the same situation as both Hood and FCC.

Mount St. Marys President Gerard Jerry Joyce issued a statement at the end of February to the universitys community about the flurry of Trumps executive orders and how they could affect the university.

Joyce wrote that in regards to orders that affect colleges and universities, we are closely tracking these developments and collaborating with higher education and Church leaders to understand and respond to changes that may impact our university community.

For over 200 years, we have sought to live in solidarity with one another in support of the common good, he wrote. In doing so, we are transformed at the Mount in preparation to ethically and faithfully serve a remarkable and complex world.
The historic Wilcox House and another financial office in Plymouth were the target of political vandalism early Thursday morning, according to Plymouth police.

The vandalism, done in red spray paint, conveyed several pro-Palestinian messages.

"Divest from Israel," one message said. "Free Palestine," read another.

Along the siding on the historic house in downtown Plymouth were also several inverted triangles  a symbol used in pro-Palestine protest movements across the country.

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The Wilcox House, a historic former residence turned into corporate offices, contains an office for First Financial Strategies. That business is an affiliate of Raymond James, whose office at 505 Main St. in Plymouth was also targeted that night.

Carl Meyers, the senior vice president of investments at Raymond James in Plymouth, also sits on the board of regents at the University of Michigan. Since the beginning of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, regents at the University of Michigan have faced pressure from activists on campus regarding the school's investments and ties to Israel.

Thursday's vandalism comes less than a week after the home of University of Michigan Provost Laurie McCauley was spray-painted with a similar pro-Palestine message on March 16.

More: 'Free Palestine' spray painted on home of University of Michigan provost

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More: U-M Alumni Association ends diversity scholarship program

In a statement, Raymond James Financial said, "We are working with law enforcement to investigate and are taking additional steps to ensure our associates, advisors, and their clients are safe."

Plymouth City Police Chief Al Cox told other news media outlets that his office, along with state and federal agencies, was launching a "multilayered investigation" into the vandalism.

Plymouth City Police and First Financial Services did not immediately respond to phone call requests for comment.

Contact Liam Rappleye: LRappleye@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pro-Palestine messages sprayed on historic Wilcox House in Plymouth
Gov. Kathy Hochul is renewing her commitment to her 2025 State of the State proposal to provide 2.7 million students with breakfast and lunch for free at school.

New York state currently receives $2 billion in federal funding to support school meal programs, according to a release from the governors office. Hochuls proposal would build on that support to ensure that every student in the state has access to breakfast and lunch at school.

By eliminating any financial requirements to receive this benefit, New York State will level the playing field and give parents back the money they would be spending, the release stated.

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On Thursday, Hochul visited Albany City School Districts Eagle Point Elementary School to discuss the proposal. This monumental program will build on federal support to help save parents money, address food insecurity among New York kids, and create more opportunities for students to succeed, she said, adding, Todays visit comes as the federal government continues its efforts to slash vital food assistance programs  including attempting to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, threatening cuts to the Community Eligibility Provision in the National School Lunch program and eliminating over $1 billion in federal funding to help bring local food to schools and food banks.

Free school meals are estimated to save families $165 per child in grocery spending each month and have been shown to support learning, boost test scores, and improve attendance and classroom behavior, according to the release.

The current state budget included $180 million to help incentivize eligible schools to participate in the federal Community Eligibility Provision program, allowing all students in participating schools to eat breakfast and lunch at no charge regardless of their families income, the release stated.

The governors 2025 State of the State initiative requires all school districts, charter schools and nonpublic schools that participate in the national school lunch and breakfast program to provide free breakfast and lunch meals to all students regardless of their families income.

Under the initiative, the state will pay the students share of costs for all meals served to students not already receiving free meals, expanding eligibility for free meals to nearly 300,000 additional students, according to the release.
The fight between creators and AI tech titans over copyright law and licensing is heating up. In a letter submitted to the Trump administration's office of science and technology policy on March 15, over 400 actors, writers and directors called for the government to uphold current copyright law.

The signatories include Paul McCartney, Guillermo del Toro, Ava Duvernay, Cynthia Erivo, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Ayo Edebiri, Chris Rock and Mark Ruffalo. The letter specifically asks the government not to grant fair use exceptions to tech companies training AI.

Fair use is a fundamental concept in copyright law that gives folks an exception to use protected content even if they aren't the copyright holder, in limited and specific cases. Previously, AI companies, hungry for human-generated content to train and improve their AI models, have needed to pay publishers and content catalogs for access to that material. A fair use exception would make it easier for tech companies to access content without costly legal hurdles.

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Google and OpenAI proposed similar changes to current copyright law in their proposals for the administration's AI Action plan. Google wrote that such exceptions allow it to "avoid often highly unpredictable, imbalanced, and lengthy negotiations with data holders during model development." OpenAI wrote that fair use protections for AI are necessary to protect American national security.

Part of the recent governmental push around AI is concerns over losing global standing and a technological edge over AI development to adversaries like China. Chinese AI, like ChatGPT rival DeepSeek, is continuing to process but concerns abound over its security and lack of guardrails.

In other words, tech companies like Google and OpenAI, each valued by market cap in the hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars, don't want to go through the established legal process and pay for the rights to the content they need to make their AIs competitive with those being developed by China. And they want the Trump administration to codify protections for them as part of its AI Action plan.

The Hollywood signatories strongly oppose the possibility of such a rewriting of copyright law. "America didn't become a global cultural powerhouse by accident," the letter reads. "Our success stems directly from our fundamental respect for IP and copyright that rewards creative risk-taking by talented and hardworking Americans from every state and territory."

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The US Copyright Office has been developing guidance for how to handle copyright claims for AI-generated content. But people have been worried for years about -- and even sued over -- how AI models are trained in a way that potentially violates the rights of copyright holders. The dual strikes in summer 2023 by members from the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, included AI as one of their chief concerns. Neither OpenAI nor Google have shared exactly what content makes up their training databases for ChatGPT and Gemini.

The copyright equation gets even more complicated as we know of at least one company that's received a copyright claim for an image whose every part is generated by AI. It leaves room for uncertainty on every side of the mess that is copyright and AI.

The Trump administration and AI

Up until this point, there hasn't been much meaningful progress on government oversight or legislation regulating how tech giants like OpenAI and Google develop AI. Former President Biden got many of the major tech companies to voluntarily pledge to develop AI responsibly and tried to enact some guardrails around AI development via executive order. But within hours of being inaugurated, Trump rolled back Biden's AI executive order with one of his own.

In his own executive order on AI, Trump said he wants to "sustain and enhance America's global AI dominance." The AI Action plan is how he plans to enact his version of tech policy. Vice President Vance introduced the plan, and more broadly the administration's view on the tech, at an international summit on AI in January.

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Vance said: "When conferences like this convene to discuss a cutting-edge technology, oftentimes, I think our response is to be too self-conscious, too risk-averse. But never have I encountered a breakthrough in tech that so clearly calls us to do precisely the opposite."

In addition to the call for feedback, a January executive order from President Trump called for American AI to be "free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas."

At the same time, tech leaders like Google's Sundar Pichai and OpenAI's Sam Altman have been cozying up to the new administration. Altman donated a million dollars of his own money to Trump's inauguration fund, and Google as a company donated the same. Altman and Pichai got front-row seats for the swearing-in ceremony, along with Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, X's Elon Musk and Amazon's Jeff Bezos. The executives likely hope that getting on Trump's good side will help them pave the road for their tech company's futures -- even if, in this case, it would upset decades of established copyright law.

Many groups of people -- not just creators -- are worried that unregulated development and use of AI could be disastrous.

What comes next for copyright and AI?

The US Copyright Office is expected to release one more report on AI, specifically about "legal implications of training AI models on copyrighted works, licensing considerations, and the allocation of any potential liability."

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In the meantime, a number of active lawsuits could set important precedents for the judicial branch. Thomson Reuters just won its case that said an AI company did not have a fair use case to use its content to build AI. Legislation like the NO FAKES Act is also running its way through Congress, but it's unclear what kind of future AI legislation will have.

For more, check out how AI and art clash at SXSW and why one company's anti-AI pledge is resonating with creators.
MIAMI (AP)  The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that it will revoke legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, setting them up for potential deportation in about a month.

The order applies to about 532,000 people from the four countries who came to the United States since October 2022. They arrived with financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work in the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they will lose their legal status on April 24, or 30 days after the publication of the notice in the Federal Register.

The new policy impacts people who are already in the U.S. and who came under the humanitarian parole program. It follows an earlier Trump administration decision to end what it called the broad abuse of the humanitarian parole, a long-standing legal tool presidents have used to allow people from countries where theres war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the U.S.

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During his campaign President Donald Trump promised to deport millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally, and as president he has been also ending legal pathways for immigrants to come to the U.S. and to stay.

DHS said parolees without a lawful basis to stay in the U.S. must depart before their parole termination date.

Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status, DHS said.

Before the new order, the beneficiaries of the program could stay in the U.S. until their parole expires, although the administration had stopped processing their applications for asylum, visas and other requests that might allow them to remain longer.

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The administration decision has already been challenged in federal courts.

A group of American citizens and immigrants sued the Trump administration for ending humanitarian parole and are seeking to reinstate the programs for the four nationalities.

Lawyers and activists raised their voices to denounce the governments decision.

Friday's action is "going to cause needless chaos and heartbreak for families and communities across the country, said Karen Tumlin, founder and director of Justice Action Center, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit at the end of February. She called it reckless, cruel and counterproductive.

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The Biden administration allowed up to 30,000 people a month from the four countries to come to the United States for two years with eligibility to work. It persuaded Mexico to take back the same number from those countries because the U.S. could deport few, if any, to their homes.

Cuba generally accepted about one deportation flight a month, while Venezuela and Nicaragua refused to take any. All three are U.S. adversaries.

Haiti accepted many deportation flights, especially after a surge of migrants from the Caribbean country in the small border town of Del Rio, Texas, in 2021. But Haiti has been in constant turmoil, hampering U.S. efforts.

Since late 2022, more than half a million people have come to the U.S. under the policy, also known as CHNV. It was a part of the Biden administrations approach to encourage people to come through new legal channels while cracking down on those who crossed the border illegally.

-

AP editor Elliot Spagat and writer Tim Sullivan contributed to this report.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  A man has been arrested and is facing charges in Horizon City and in El Paso County for theft and deceptive business practices, the Horizon City Police said.

Ian Manuel Motolinia is facing two charges of theft in Horizon City in what appears to be a roofing scam. He is also facing five additional charges of theft of property and deceptive business practices through the El Paso County Sheriffs Office, Horizon Police said.

On March 17, officers with Horizon City Police received information that Motolinia had allegedly failed to complete a series of roofing contracts he had. According to Horizon City Police, the victims said he had failed to return their money, stopped all communication and failed to pay the subcontractor for the job that had been completed.

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Officers obtained two warrants for Motolinia for theft on March 18.

Further investigation determined he was in custody of the Sheriffs Office for five additional charges involving theft and deceptive business practices, Horizon Police said.

Horizon Police said they gained custody of Motolinia on Friday, March 21 and executed their pending warrants at the El Paso County Detention Facility.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
A rare scare.

A Hot Ones hot sauce featured on the shows recent episode with Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco has been recalled by the FDA for potential plastic contamination.

However, the celebrity couple were not served hot sauce from any bottles affected by the recall during their appearance on the popular YouTube show, a spokesperson for Heatonist  which makes all of the Hot Ones-branded sauces  told The Post on Friday.

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To be clear: none of the hot sauce bottles used on the show were part of the limited batches subject to the recall, the rep insisted.

A Hot Ones hot sauce featured on the shows recent episode with Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco has been recalled by the FDA for potential plastic contamination. First We Feast/YouTube

However, the celebrity couple were not served hot sauce from any bottles affected by the recall during their appearance on the popular YouTube show, according to a spopkesperson for the company that makes the sauce. First We Feast/YouTube

Selena Gomez on Hot Ones. First We Feast/YouTube

No guests on Hot Ones were served any hot sauce that falls under this recall, they added.

Two Hot Ones sauces  the Hot Ones Los Calientes Verde Hot Sauce and Hot Ones Los Calientes Rojo Hot Sauce  were impacted by the recall.

We identified nearly all of the affected bottles before they left our warehouse, the spokesperson said. Currently, the unaccounted recalled products are isolated to a small number of bottles that may have reached a handful of retail partners.

No guests on Hot Ones were served any hot sauce that falls under this recall, a spokesperson told The Post. First We Feast/YouTube

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Benny Blanco on Hot Ones. First We Feast/YouTube

Selena Gomez digs into a spicy wing on Hot Ones. First We Feast/YouTube

We have notified those retail partners and instructed them to check the lot codes and dispose of any impacted shipments.

They continued, This is a Class II recall, meaning the likelihood of serious adverse health consequences is remote.

According to the FDAs website, a Class II recall is a situation in which use of, or exposure to, a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.

Benny Blanco and Selena Gomez appeared on Hot Ones to promote their new album. First We Feast/YouTube

Benny Blanco and Selena Gomez on Hot Ones.

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Two Hot Ones sauces  the Hot Ones Los Calientes Verde Hot Sauce and Hot Ones Los Calientes Rojo Hot Sauce  were impacted by the recall. First We Feast/YouTube

The Heatonist rep also told The Post, Our manufacturing partner has identified the source of the plastic material. We are confident that this was an isolated issue that has been addressed at the manufacturing kitchen. We take food quality and safety very seriously and thank our community and partners for their support during this process.

Anyone who has purchased a Hot Ones sauce affected by the recall who is concerned about their bottle can reach out to Heatonist at ilovehotsauce@heatonist.com or by calling 718-599-0838.

The FDA announced the recall on Wednesday. The Karma Sauce Company LLC initiated the recall on February 14.

Anyone who has purchased a Hot Ones sauce effected by the recall who is concerned about their bottle can reach out to Heatonist at ilovehotsauce@heatonist.com or by calling 718-599-0838. Hot Headz

The FDA announced the recall on Wednesday. The Karma Sauce Company LLC initiated the recall on February 14. Hot Headz

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco during the 97th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Mar. 2, 2025. AMPAS/AFP via Getty Images

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More than 50,000 bottles of varying sizes  five ounces, one gallon, and five gallons  shipped to locations in North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were included in the recall.

According to the FDA website, the recall is ongoing.

The Hot Ones Rojo sauce brand was included on other episodes of the shows 26th season, which has featured Kevin Hart and Bad Bunny in addition to Blanco, 37, and Gomez, 32.

The Post has reached out to representatives for Gomez, Blanco, Hot Ones host Sean Evans and the FDA.
Ten House Democrats called on the Pentagon to reduce air traffic near Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) after a deadly January midair collision between an Army helicopter and a passenger plane killed all 67 people on board.

The lower chamber Democrats, led by Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Defense Department (DOD) to permanently lower significant air traffic within the area around DCA.

The lawmakers also asked federal agencies to create an alternative route for helicopters that would prevent redirecting traffic over residential areas in the vicinity, review the existing volume in and out of DCA, and that the DOD require pilots within the region of the airport to use ADS-B Out, a tracking system.

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We believe that decreasing the volume of helicopter traffic in the region would alleviate congestion in the airspace and an overburdened air traffic system, and prevent potential conflicts derived from redirected aircraft, the lawmakers said in the Friday letter.

Just over a week ago, the FAA said it would permanently restrict non-essential helicopter operations around DCA. The change came after the National Transportation Safety Boards (NTSB) report, released days earlier, found there have been thousands of close calls between planes and helicopters near DCA in the last three years.

The FAA said it would permanently shut down Route 4 intended for helicopters. It is a four mile stretch between Wilson Bridge and Hains Point. If a helicopter needs to pass through the airspace in emergency situations, including presidential transport or law enforcement efforts, the FAA would ensure that helicopters would still be away from planes, according to the FAA.

The use of runways 15/33 and 4/22 at DCA are also prohibited when helicopters are completing a vital mission in the vicinity.

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We request that FAA conduct a review of Routes 1 and 4 over the river, and all helicopter routes in the National Capital Region with a specific focus on lateral dimensions, the 10 House lawmakers wrote in the letter.

Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who heads the aviation subcommittee, and Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will have a March 27 hearing to examine the a NTSB report about the incident. They have called three witnesses  FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy and Army Aviation Director Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman.

At best, were in a situation where were threading the needle allowing helicopters to fly down the same airspace as landing aircraft, Department of Transportation Secretary Duffy said earlier this month. And why this information wasnt studied and known before Jan. 29 is an important question.

The Friday letter, apart from Beyer, was signed by Democratic Reps. Andre Carson (Ind.), Gerry Connolly (Va.), Steny Hoyer (Md.), Glenn Ivey (Md.), April McClain Delaney (Md.), Jennifer McClellan (Va.), Jamie Raskin (Md.), Suhas Subramanyam (Va.), and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.).

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March 22 (UPI) -- Turkish police arrested at least 343 people during the overnight hours Friday and Saturday for participating in mass protests in several cities in Turkey.

The arrest of opposition leader and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Wednesday sparked the multi-day protests that got underway on Thursday, CNN reported.

He is viewed as current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's primary challenger for the nation's presidency.

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"Those who disrupt social order, threaten the peace and security of our nation and seek chaos and provocation will never be given an opportunity and will definitely not be tolerated," Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement on Saturday.

In a lengthy post Saturday on X, Yerlikaya added that "the days when politics and justice were guided through street terror are completely gone, along with the old Turkey."

"Turkey is a democratic country. It is a state governed by the rule of law. It is an independent country where the rule of law, not the law of the superiors, prevails," Yerlikaya said. "No one in Turkey is outside the scope of the law. There is no privileged minority in Turkey that has the freedom to commit crimes."

Imamoglu faces charges of corruption and assisting terrorist groups shortly before he was scheduled to announce his candidacy for the nation's presidential election that could occur prior to 2028, the BBC reported.

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Turkish authorities conducted an early-morning raid Wednesday that supporters of Imamoglu and others say could indicate a move away from a democratic system of governance, The Guardian reported.

Turkish authorities also arrested about 100 others who are connected to Imamoglu, including his press adviser Murat Ongun.

Imamoglu and many others who were arrested are accused of embezzlement and corruption tied to Imamoglu's construction company.

He has denied those charges and others accusing him of terrorism for allegedly collaborating with a leftist political coalition prior to local elections held in 2024.

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Those elections resulted in Erdogan's Justice and Development party losing several seats.

The arrests of Imamoglu and his supporters resulted in tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets in several cities across Turkey despite a national ban on such assemblies.

Many protesters wore masks to thwart facial recognition technology.

A protester identified as "Diler" told The Guardian the protests are a "response to the pressure that has built up over the years."

"There are problems with the economy, with education [and] with the health system," Diler said. "We are fed up with this government."

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An estimated 300,000 protesters demonstrated in Istanbul on Friday night, and many protesters fought with police in cities across Turkey.

Yerlikaya said the clashes with police in nine cities resulted in 343 being arrested.

Turkish authorities have blocked roads, closed two bridges leading to Istanbul's city hall and stationed riot police near protest locations.
When the steady flow of calls and texts from their 60-year-old brother in New York suddenly stopped in late January, 2022, Alvin Pughs family
Hundreds of living and dead cockroaches, mice, filthy kitchens, spoiled milk in a bloated carton, bugs in and around cooking equipment, trash, hazardous conditions, mold, contamination risks, employees smoking around food and other issues are among violations Kansas Department of Agriculture inspectors discovered during recent food safety and lodging inspections in the Wichita area.

Each week, The Eagle adds to its searchable database of failed inspections from Sedgwick County. Thirteen restaurants, hotels and other businesses were non-compliant with state rules March 9-15.

Inspectors found few or no violations at more than 40 other businesses deemed compliant with food safety and lodging rules.

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Inspections are meant to protect the public from foodborne illnesses and other health risks.

Businesses can fail an inspection if they have too many problems, certain types of violations or issues that cant be fixed right away. Most of the time, they correct issues in front of an inspector. Examples of things that can be addressed immediately are serving food thats more than a week old, employees mishandling ingredients and dirty kitchens.

Sometimes issues take longer to correct, like pest infestations, power outages and plumbing problems.

Its rare, but a business may temporarily shut down over violations.

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Violations are common. Places that fail are usually reinspected within 10 days.

The list in this story was compiled on March 20 using information available from the state on that date. The list only contains places in Sedgwick County. But you can search food and lodging inspection results elsewhere in Kansas at https://foodsafety.kda.ks.gov/FoodSafety/Web/Inspection/PublicInspectionSearch.aspx.

File

Out-of-compliance inspections

Club Demonstration Services at Costco Wholesale, 9700 E. Kellogg Drive in Wichita  Three violations on March 10 during a routine inspection. Violations include an employee scratching his face with gloved hands then handling food, employee using a sanitizer towel then touching food containers without washing hands, carts used for food dispensing dont have a nearby hand-washing sink. Next inspection: March 20.

Gangnam Korean Grill & Bar, 210 N. Washington in Wichita  Seven violations on March 10 during a routine inspection. Violations include insects found in a bottle of liquor, shrimp tempura left out at room temperature for too long and then put back in a cooler, cooked chicken was not held at required temperature, pans with tape and tape residue were stored as clean, cut cabbage was not labeled with its preparation date, chemicals stored next to ice scoops and with nozzles pointing at preparation sink, no hot water at mens bathroom sink. Next inspection: March 20.

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Kababji Grill, 6257 E. 21st St. in Wichita  Six violations on March 10 during a routine inspection. Violations include raw beef stored above and in direct contact with cooked gyro meat, unidentified pink liquid in a spray bottle, expired milk in visibly bloated carton, cooked beef and chicken were not labeled with their preparation dates, food probe thermometer didnt work, cooked rice was held at an unsafe temperature. Next inspection: March 20.

Kung Fu Tea, 1625 S. Rock Road, Suite 129 in Wichita  Ten violations on March 10 during a routine inspection. Violations include no written plan for cleaning up vomiting or diarrhea incidents, employee washing hands without soap, boxes and other items blocking hand-washing sink, brewed tea was at risk of contamination from sink splash, jelly boba stored on the floor, unlabeled spray bottle of sanitizer, cooked boba not marked with time it was removed from refrigeration or heat, gummy candy packages were not labeled for retail sale, no quaternary sanitizer test strips on site, employee washed hands at the wrong sink. Next inspection: March 20.

Margaritas Cantina, 3109 E. Douglas in Wichita  Eight violations on March 14 during a complaint inspection. Violations include tomatoes that were not kept cold enough, dead bug in tequila bottle, sanitizer sink wasnt set up properly, no soap at kitchen hand-washing sink, bottles of degreaser werent labeled with their contents, visible mold and musty smell in basement storage area from leaks and water damage, floor was sinking and sticky in basement which is a safety hazard due to instability and mold growth, knives stored in an unsanitary place, paper towel dispenser didnt work. Next inspection: March 28.

Mark 8 Inn, 1130 N. Broadway in Wichita  Five violations on March 10 during an inspection that was a follow-up to an administrative order. Violations include foul odor in buildings, dirty flooring in hallways, dim lighting in hallways, exit signs in building didnt work, refrigerator with food debris build-up. Next inspection: May 10.

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N&J Cafe & Bakery, 5600 E. Lincoln in Wichita  One violation on March 12 during a follow-up inspection. Violations include the restaurant not testing the pH of fermented milk that is used for yogurt as required. Next inspection: March 22.

Pho Kim, 1675 S. Rock Road, Suite 109 in Wichita  Twenty-three violations on March 13 during a routine inspection, 10 violations on March 15 during a reopening inspection and 1 violation on March 17 during a reopening inspection. Violations found on March 13 include water leaking onto cooked pork in cooler, tub of raw chicken stored directly on floor, clean forks and spoons werent stored properly, living cockroaches in various stages of life in building, excessive buildup of grease and food debris and unused items including greasy cardboard boxes, kitchen equipment sitting around that isnt being used, restaurant was using insecticide that isnt rated for use in restaurants, several pieces of unknown debris in container that holds plastic forks, grime and other filth in kitchen that is significantly more than expected amount, can of insecticide and petroleum jelly sitting above a food preparation sink, food thawing in hand-washing sink, broken water knob at kitchen hand-washing sink, employees drink cups were stored on surfaces that touch customer food, no written plan for cleaning up vomiting or diarrhea incidents, utensils stored where handles were touching food, cockroach crawling on rack with clean dishes, cockroaches inside wok, no soap at kitchen hand-washing sink, excessive buildup of charred food debris under flat top, back door was propped open, the restaurant didnt notify the Kansas Department of Agriculture about the pest infestation and cease operations, around 100 dead cockroaches throughout restaurant, leaky cooler dripping on food and food containers. Violations found on March 15 include a container of sugar with several pieces of unknown debris and hair inside of it, dead cockroach in preparation sink, broken hot water knob at kitchen hand-washing sink, leak below sink, build-up of grease and dead cockroaches throughout building including on a metal rack above a preparation table, live cockroaches in kitchen, restaurant didnt have enough insect sticky traps in building to help combat pest issues, handles of utensils were in contact with food, approximately 100 dead cockroaches of various life cycles throughout building including on a container of cooking oil and a container of sauce, excessive buildup of charred food debris under flat top grill, living and dead cockroaches on and below a preparation table. The business temporarily closed over the bug problem but reopened on March 17 after an inspection that found one violation, a few dead cockroaches on the floor next to the dish machine.

Pho KC LLC, 4875 E. Pawnee in Wichita  Ten violations on March 14 during a routine inspection. Violations include exterior siding separating from building which allows pest entry, raw beef and raw shrimp stored over ready-to-eat food, gap under back door allows rodent access, employee not washing hands before handling food, food probe thermometer didnt work, no hand-washing soap at sink, dozens of old and fresh mouse droppings found, sugar and salt scattered on floors is attracting pests, unused equipment creating harborage conditions for pests, strong tobacco smell in kitchen from employee smoking, cooked tofu and other items including raw meat and seafood held at unsafe temperatures. Next inspection: March 24.

Pho Special, 2409 E. Pawnee in Wichita  One violation on March 14 during a modified complaint inspection. Violation includes live roach crawling around surfaces that touch food, holes in back wall with dead roaches, roaches by register area and ice machine, back door left open allowing potential pest entry in kitchen. Next inspection: May 31.

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Quality Inn, 4849 S. Laura in Wichita  Three violations on March 10 during a follow-up inspection. Violations include standard outlet installed near a water source, secondary lock on door in one room was in disrepair, non-functional emergency light in stairwell. All of the violations were repeat violations, meaning the business had been cited for them recently. The next inspection date wasnt listed.

Sesame Mediterranean Kitchen, 2755 N. Maize Road, Suite 109 in Wichita  Seven violations on March 11 during a routine inspection. Violations include cooked rice at unsafe temperature, unlabeled spray bottles of chemicals, rice soaked in water was sitting out at room temperature, tilapia was thawing in intact vacuum packaging which can cause harmful bacteria to grow, raw chicken stored above cooked chicken, employee handled transactions at cash register then prepared food without washing hands, cooked falafel mix wasnt labeled with its preparation date. Next inspection: March 21.

Spears Restaurant & Pie Shop, 4323 W. Maple in Wichita  Thirteen violations on March 11 during a routine inspection. Violations include half-smoked cigarette found near food, no written plan for cleaning up vomiting or diarrhea incidents, chicken noodle soup not kept hot enough, serious buildup of grease and food debris throughout restaurant, no disclosure on menu about the risks of eating raw or undercooked foods, grease and food debris on cooking equipment, garlic salad and other items including raw hamburger stored at unsafe temperatures, single-use pie pans that had been used were stored as clean, dirty dishes in clean storage, crack along bottom of exit door can let pests in building, live cockroaches on traps, dead cockroach on floor on cook line, not enough sanitizer in dish sink. Next inspection: March 21.

Where to complain

If you see problems at a food or lodging establishment, you can file a complaint.

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To notify the state about unsavory or questionable conditions anywhere that serves or sells food to the public, email kda.fsl@ks.gov or call 785-564-6767. You can also file a complaint at www.foodsafetykansas.org.

To report an illness you think was caused by a restaurant, food or event where food was served, contact the Kansas Department of Health and Environment at 877-427-7317 or www.foodsafetykansas.org.

Complaints about conditions at hotels and motels can be submitted at www.agriculture.ks.gov/public-resources/comments-complaints/lodging-complaint.

For more information about foodborne illnesses, visit www.foodsafety.gov.

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Note: Sometimes addresses listed  especially for mobile vendors and food trucks  are not where food is actually served to the public. Contact those establishments directly for specific service locations.

The violation summaries were compiled and drafted with the help of AI tools. They were fact-checked for accuracy and edited by Wichita Eagle journalists.

Cooks didnt wash before prepping food, plus mouse feces, grime at Wichita KS restaurants

Cockroaches, mouse poop on food & plates, old food, filth at Wichita KS restaurants

Meat in stagnant water, rodent feces, food on floor at Wichita KS restaurants, hotels

Rotten meat, mouse poop by food, cockroaches, kitchen filth at Wichita KS restaurants
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT)  Local Indiana residents are taking matters into their own hands.

Hundreds of protesters are gathered in Evansville in frustration over Indiana 8th District Representative Mark Messmers refusal to hold a Town Hall or engage with constituent concerns.

On Saturday afternoon, concerned residents have gathered outside Messmers office on Third Street for a Peoples Town Hall demanding accountability.

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Rep. Messmer isn`t listening, says event organizer Wendy Bredhold. Elected officials should be accessible to the people they serve, yet he refuses to face his constituents. We`re showing up anyway.

Many protesters were encouraged to bring signs with messages for the Congressman as well as written comments to be delivered to his office on Monday.

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People smugglers based in Turkey are preparing for a spike in demand as growing political turmoil drives people to flee the country to Europe and the UK.

Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and the main rival to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was arrested on Wednesday on charges of corruption and aiding terrorist groups, just four days before he was set to be named as a candidate for the 2028 presidential election.



The 53-year-old mayors university degree was also invalidated this week over an alleged irregularity when he transferred from one institution to another. That disqualifies him from running for president  a position that requires candidates to have graduated from higher education.

The moves against Mr Imamoglu have led to the largest nationwide protests in more than a decade, with hundreds of thousands of people marching against what many consider his unfair and undemocratic arrest.

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Police have responded with beatings, tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons. At least 400 people have been arrested so far since Thursday, when protests began. Another 100 people were arrested earlier in the week on the same charges as Mr Imamoglu.

These days, we are waiting for Turks who want to cross, said one leading smuggler, a Turkish national, who heads a vast network that stretches from the Middle East and South Asia all the way to the UK and the US.

He agreed to an exclusive interview with The Telegraph on the condition of anonymity.

These protests are affecting the [Turkish] peoples human rights, he said, citing police brutality against the protesters, scenes of which have been broadcast on local television and social media.



This will bring more asylum seekers from Turkey to Europe, he said. Turks who cross into Europe and the UK will be able to point to pictures of themselves in the media at these protests, attacked by police, as proof that they are politically persecuted.

Police have detained at least 400 people after clashes on Friday night - Umit Turhan Coskun/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters on Friday night - ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkeys political instability is also affecting its already waning economy, a long-standing factor in many peoples desire to get out with the help of people smugglers. This week, the Turkish lira plunged to a record low, and stock markets were halted multiple times from trading.

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From 2022 onwards, the number of Turkish nationals arriving in the UK on small boats has risen.

It now averages more than 2,000 people a year, while only a handful arrived in the years before that, according to Telegraph analysis of Government data.

Turkish arrivals on small boats peaked in 2023, when 3,058 people made the crossing, the third largest number by nationality. Last year, Turks were the eighth-largest group.

Whether Western governments choose to pressure the Turkish government over its arrest of Mr Imamoglu, and the authorities handling of the protests, remains to be seen.

Turkey a key partner within Nato

The US, UK and Europe have all had to balance delicate relationships with Turkey in recent years, as they need Ankaras help in border enforcement to manage illegal migration streams, and to detain and deport migrants. Europe has sent millions to Turkey to support those operations.

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At the same time, the political turmoil could rock Turkey significantly in future, prompting an influx of people seeking refuge in Europe and the UK.

Turkey, a Nato member, is also seen as a key partner in dealing with Russia and Ukraine. It has been implicitly and explicitly linked to both sides  at one point as a major transit hub for Russian oil and energy products despite sanctions, and also as a supplier of armed drones to Ukraine.

Turkey also boasts Natos second largest military force after the United States, which under the volatile new administration of Donald Trump is increasingly being viewed as an unreliable ally amid growing Russian aggression.

Protests are expected to continue in the coming days, despite a protest ban that has been extended until March 27, and in defiance of a warning from Mr Erdogan that demonstrations will not be tolerated.

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We will not accept the disruption of public order. Just as we have never yielded to street terrorism, we will not surrender to vandalism, Mr Erdogan said on Friday in Ankara.

Mr Imamoglus party, the Republican Peoples Party, abbreviated as CHP in Turkish, has urged people to continue demonstrating in the streets.

Riot police officers stand in formation next to demonstrators during the protest - Murad Sezer

Police officers use pepper spray to disperse demonstrators in Istanbul - Murad Sezer

We are on watch, we are in action, we are in resistance, and we will not give this place over to Erdogans handling! said Ozgur Ozel, CHPs chairman, in a speech to protesters.

Erdogans despotic, oppressive, and prohibitive regime is trembling; it is about to collapse!

Mr Imamoglu told police, who interrogated him for five hours on Saturday about allegations of helping a terrorist organisation, that the immoral and baseless accusations directed at me... are designed to undermine my standing and credibility, according to a statement released by Istanbul city hall.

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Among those protesting in Turkey are university students who have lived almost entirely under the rule of Mr Erdogan, who has been in power for 20 years. To many of them, Mr Imamoglu represented the countrys best shot at finally unseating him.

Restrictions have been placed on entering and exiting Istanbul, Europes largest city at 16 million people. A number of major roads and public transport options, including the subway, have been shut down. The closures are widely seen as an attempt by the authorities to stop the movement of demonstrators to protest sites at government buildings. Turkish authorities are also restricting access to the internet.

Arrests of protesters could continue for weeks, months, and even years, as police begin to identify people in attendance with the help of increased facial recognition surveillance technology.

This week, police arrested a well-known journalist, Ismail Saymaz, over alleged charges of involvement in mass protests back in 2013, the last major nationwide demonstrations in Turkey.

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An Istanbul court on Friday ordered Mr Saymaz to be placed under house arrest as the investigation against him, which critics believe is part of a wider crackdown on freedoms in the country, continues.

Turkish people dont feel safe in this country; they dont make enough money; and they cant obtain visas easily to the UK and Europe, the smuggler told the Telegraph. They have no chance to escape the country; our way is the only way for people to leave.

Additional reporting by Ozlem Temena



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Demonstrators hold a sign supporting public education at the People's March in Juneau on March 21, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

Hundreds rallied at the Alaska State Capitol on Friday for a Peoples March and to protest and condemn the recent actions of the Trump administration, at home and abroad.

Speakers included lawmakers, artists, teachers, union members and community advocates, including Taylor Beard, with the community group Juneau for Democracy.

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The goal is to get people energized, Beard said, in an interview after the rally. President Trump is absolutely moving outside the legal bounds of the Constitution, and it is Congresss job to hold him in check, and theyre not doing that. So this is part of the reason that we are here protesting today, is because we want people to understand how important this is. We want people to understand that they need to speak up.

I know that it feels risky, she added. But the thing is, if we look away from this, theyre going to win. We have to stand up and do something about it.

Demonstrators carried signs reading Its a coup!, No one voted for Elon, referring to Elon Musk, and Save Alaskan jobs. Stop illegal firings.

We, the people, have more power than the people in power, and they cannot take that away from us without our permission! said Jorden Nigro, speaking to the crowd.

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Speakers expressed outrage and frustration at Trumps recent actions including an executive order signed Thursday to begin eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, increased immigration and deportation actions, threats against Gaza and actions taken against Palestine supporters, and firing thousands of federal workers.

For over a month, Ive been picking up the pieces of my life, fighting from being branded as a dishonest waste in the government, said Isabel Dziak, a former ranger with the U.S. Forest Service based at Juneaus Mendenhall Glacier. I was the good in the government, and to all of the folks who are also Forest Service, or federal employees. You are all the good in the government.

After prayers, chants and speeches in front of the Capitol, demonstrators marched down Main Street to the Sealaska Plaza. Organizers said there is a protest planned for Saturday, April 5, as part of a nationwide Hands Off! day of action protesting the Trump administration.

Demonstrators hold a sign supporting public education at the People's March in Juneau on March 21, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

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Hundreds rallied at the Capitol on March 21, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

Demonstrators hold signs, including one with former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg on March 21, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

Fired federal workers formerly with the U.S. Forest Service based at the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau speak out about their experiences of being fired on March 21, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

Juneau resident Frank Rue holds a protest sign at the People's March in Juneau on March 21, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

Demonstrators at the People's March in Juneau on March 21, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

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Demonstrators at a People's March in Juneau on March 21, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

A demonstrator in Juneau protests federal cuts lead by Elon Musk on March 21, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

The People's March included speeches condemning Trump's actions to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, on March 21, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

Demonstrators rally on Sealaska Plaza in Juneau after marching from the Capitol on March 21, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)

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SAN FRANCISCO (KRON)  The South San Francisco Police Department said two apartment building residents were arrested following a series of burglaries where neighbors mail was targeted and stolen.

Destination Bakery Company closed for rat infestation, bags of flour with gnaw marks: report

Police said officers responded on Jan. 19 to an apartment complex on the block of Mandalay Place for the report of a mail theft.

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Police said they determined that an individual living in the complex was involved in a total of three burglaries in recent months. Zachary Zitzer, 38, of San Jose, was taken into a custody on Thursday for residential burglary and mail theft after detectives searched his residence. Police said Zitzer faces several other felony fraud, identity theft, and drug possession offenses.

Police said they seized hundreds of stolen mail items from Zitzers home and discovered further evidence of a complex fraud operation.

Police confirmed that a second suspect identified as Joshua Noble, 35, also of San Jose, was arrested at the same apartment complex after a search of his home. He faces charges for felony fraud, identity theft, and drug possession offenses.

Anyone with information on this case is urged to contact the Criminal Investigations Bureau at (650) 877-8900.

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Following President Trump's anti-DEI lead, many school districts in red states have changed their policies about what messages are no longer allowed in the classroom, and it's become a slippery slope.

Win McNamee / Getty Images

Well, an Idaho teacher has recently gone viral for defying her school district by refusing to remove two signs from her classroom walls. One sign says, "Everyone Is Welcome Here," and includes multi-colored hands holding hearts.

And another sign says: "In this room, everyone is welcome, important, accepted, respected, encouraged, valued, and equal."

Sarah Inama, a sixth-grade teacher at Lewis and Clark Middle School in Meridian, Idaho, has taught World Civilization for years and recently told KTVB News that she'd never received any criticism for her classroom signs  until last month.

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"My building administration came to me during my lunch period and told me that they needed to be taken down by the end of the day," Inama said. "They told me that they were in violation of district policy because, in today's political environment, they're considered a 'personal opinion.'"

"Because I was told to take it down by the end of the day, I did so," Inama continued. "And the following few days, I was just so unsettled by it. And so I went back into my classroom and put it back up. And I emailed my principal and said I just, 'I don't agree. I don't agree that this is a personal opinion. I think this is the basis of public education.'"

Inama said school officials followed up with her again. "They came to talk to me, and again, asked me to take it down, and I said, 'I'm not interested in taking it down.'"

Inama was then apparently sent an email by the chief academic officer highlighting district policy that she was violating: "School property shall not be used by personnel for the advancement of individual beliefs. It is the desire of the District that the physical environment of District facilities be content-neutral, conducive to a positive learning environment and not a distraction to the education environment."

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"While we respect individuals rights to express their perspectives, it is important to reaffirm that this situation is not about limiting speech or expression but about ensuring consistency in our classrooms and maintaining a learning environment free from distraction," a statement sent to Today from Chief of Staff of Communications at West Ada School District said.

"'Everyone is welcome here,' especially since the poster emphasizes in regards to skin color, with the image of the hands, that is considered something that people have differing views on," Inama said, explaining her understanding of what the district communicated to her.

"I just feel like, as a teacher, and probably a lot of teachers share this sentiment, I would do anything to protect my students. I love all of them unconditionally. We protect them from danger. Quite literally would take a bullet for these students. And this is the one small thing I feel like I can do to speak out against this and stand up for them to protect them from being affected by racist sentiments affecting their classroom."

"I find it hard to grapple with the fact that the reason why this poster needs to come down is because there are people outside of our school that disagree with it."

In response to this news, students from Renaissance High School, located in the same town, protested the Idaho School District's decision in support of Inama, shouting, "Do your job!" to district officials.

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According to Today, Inama has been notified that the signs must be removed by the end of the school year, or further action may be taken.

An official statement about the decision from the Chief of Staff from Communications at West Ada School District can be read in full here.

Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul, who is from Idaho, weighed in on Instagram, calling the decision "insane," and telling Idaho to "do better."

"They are trying to force this teacher to take down an 'Everyone is Welcome Here' How sick is our country that this is a remotely controversial statement for a teacher to make to her students?" one person wrote.

"They should post a poster with the slogan 'Only some people are welcome' and see what the response is. Possibly, a poster that says, 'It is not the official policy of our school that all children are welcome,'" one person recommended.

"When the district starts trying to appease the racists, you know were going down a very grim path," one person wrote in the r/Teachers subreddit.

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Of course, not everyone is in support of the teacher's decision to keep the signs up. "Public schools are not a place for propaganda," one person wrote.

Still, Inama has refused to take the signs down despite possible repercussions. "There's no way I would be able to allow myself to just take it down and roll over to what I feel like they're asking me to do," she told Today.

You can watch Inama's full interview with KTVB News here. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO)  Nurses across Illinois are putting their weight behind proposed legislation that would limit the number of patients they are allowed to care for at once.

The bill, called the Safe Patients Limit Act, would require hospitals to keep smaller ratios between patients and registered nurses.

Supporters of the bill say fixing staffing levels would fight burnout and boost retention rates for the occupation.

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Nurses also said having higher patient-to-nurse ratios affects how they serve patients.

Youre not given the safest of care because someone could very easily fall. It could be an injury. And there are instances where we have to monitor for any side effects from our procedure, one nurse said.

Under the bill, the ratio of patients-to-nurses would depend on what department they work in, with a 1:1 ratio for operating room nurses, to 1:6 for nurses in the well-baby nursery.

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The measles outbreak that began in Texas before spreading to at least two other states swelled to 355 confirmed cases on Friday  and officials say there is no sign its slowing.

Im worried its getting worse, Katherine Wells, director of public health for Lubbock, told NBC News.

Many people arent getting tested for measles, and efforts to increase vaccination in the affected areas have gotten a lukewarm response, Wells said during a media briefing by the Big Cities Health Coalition on Tuesday.

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Wells said she thought it could be a year until the outbreak is controlled.

The outbreak that started in West Texas in late January has now infected 309 people in 14 Texas counties. All of the cases in these counties are related to each other, Wells said, adding: We are going to see mini outbreaks as the virus spreads unchecked.

Measles is doing what measles does: It seeks out anyone and everyone who isnt vaccinated against the virus and infects them.

Nearly all of the people who have gotten sick have been children and teenagers never vaccinated against the virus. At least 40 patients have been hospitalized.

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Neighboring New Mexico reported 42 cases on Friday. Twenty of the people in New Mexico were ages 18 or older, eight were 4 or younger. And as of Tuesday, Oklahoma had confirmed four cases related to the outbreak. All were either unvaccinated or it was unclear if they had gotten the shots.

Two people, a 6-year-old girl in Texas and an adult in New Mexico, have died. The epicenter of the outbreak, Gaines County, Texas, has one of the states highest vaccine exemption rates, at nearly 18%, according to health department data.

Vaccine clinics have been set up in the county, but uptake hasnt been robust, Wells said. Many families in the area remain steadfast in long debunked fears that vaccines cause autism, she said.

Now is the time, Wells said during Tuesdays briefing, for health departments across the country to boost their vaccination rates.

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Measles is going to find those pockets of unvaccinated individuals, and with the number of cases and ability for people to travel, there is that risk of it entering other unvaccinated pockets anywhere in the United States right now, she said.

Kansas has reported 10 measles cases in three counties that border Oklahoma. Those cases havent been officially linked to the ongoing outbreak.

Cases linked not to the outbreak but to international travel have been reported in Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington.

Measles will find a way to continue transmitting until it runs out of a susceptible population, said Dr. Brian Borah, medical director for vaccine-preventable diseases surveillance at the Chicago Department of Public Health.

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The only thing thats going to stop a national outbreak is a massive effort to find people who arent vaccinated and get them the shots as soon as possible, Dr. Simbo Ige, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said during Tuesdays briefing.

The duration of the outbreak is dependent on your ability to identify everyone who is vulnerable, determine if they have been exposed, and then how quickly vaccination starts, Ige said.

Last year, Iges team faced a measles outbreak that ultimately infected 64 people, mostly associated with a housing shelter in Chicago.

The health department enlisted community health workers and other trusted members in the area, such as politicians and faith leaders, to encourage vaccination, Borah said.

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We put people in the shelter who we knew were trusted messengers, he said. Nearly everyone who hadnt been vaccinated got the shots.

Within two months, the outbreak was over.

How the virus develops and causes symptoms

Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world. When an infected person coughs, sneezes or even breathes, tiny viral particles are hurled through the air  and stay there, floating around for hours.

If Im just sitting in my office and talking, Im spewing virus around, said Dr. Ronald Cook, chief health officer at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock and the citys top health official, explaining how easily measles spreads. If my door is open, that virus can leave my office and go out into the hallway. Somebody walking up and down the hallway can get infected.

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Once a person is infected, the virus quietly multiplies in the body for about seven to 14 days without causing symptoms. This is called the incubation period.

Around day 10 or 11, the bodys immune system becomes overwhelmed and symptoms develop, including a cough, a runny nose, high fevers up to 103 and 104 degrees and inflamed, red eyes. Think of pink eye, but worse, Cook said.

Then, small, white dots called Koplik spots show up in the mouth and spread into the lungs, causing inflammation. Thats why babies and small children in particular are at risk for trouble breathing. Their tiny airways cant handle so much inflammation. At this point, the virus can cause bacterial pneumonia.

Its not until several days later that the characteristic measles rash begins  angry, red splotches that start at the top of the head and work their way down the body.

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By that time, the patient has already infected vulnerable people. An infected person spreads the virus four days before the rash ever shows up, as well as four days after. Thats why its a mistake, Cook said, to think of measles as just a rash.

Measles vaccination guidelines

Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine are 97% effective in preventing infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first dose is given at around age 1, offering 93% protection, but the second isnt given until around age 5, when a child enters kindergarten. That leaves kids slightly vulnerable for the several years they are in between doses.

The general rules change, however, during an outbreak.

Doctors have the option of giving the second dose early if a child has been exposed to the virus. Pediatricians can give the vaccine to babies at least 6 months old, doctors say, but they will still need the two standard doses when theyre old enough.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
In trying to deport a Palestinian anti-war activist, Mahmoud Khalil, Donald Trump follows in the footsteps of another former Republican president. Richard Nixon tried to deport Beatles member John Lennon in 1972.

Trump, during an October 2023 campaign stop in Iowa, pledged to "revoke the student visas of radical, anti-American and anti-Semitic foreigners at our colleges and universities" and "send them straight back home." Khalil, the holder of a green card, which grants lawful permanent resident status, was a Columbia University graduate who led pro-Palestine protests at the school last year.

Trump's use of government agencies to suppress anti-war protesters echoes that of Nixon, whose administration used the FBI and CIA to surveil, infiltrate and harass anti-Vietnam war peace groups. The Nixon administration also called on the Internal Revenue Service to audit the president's critics.

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The ex-president even debated a secret plan to suspend the Fourth Amendment and make nationwide mass arrests, a proposal eventually vetoed by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Since virtually all of the anti-war protesters in the '60s and '70s were American citizens, the Nixon administration could not use the threat of visa cancellation and deportation to intimidate them.

"Give Peace a Chance"

One high-profile foreign visa holder, however, did catch the Nixon administration's attention when he arrived in New York in 1971. His name was John Lennon.

Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, came to New York to escape from London and the constant attention of the aggressive British tabloids. The Beatles had recently broken up, and the couple sought the anonymity of a busy, crowded city: New York. They were also involved in a legal fight to obtain custody of Kyoko, Ono's daughter with her second husband, Richard Cox. The girl and her father were believed to be hiding in the U.S. Lennon, a U.K. citizen and Ono, a Japanese citizen, initially obtained short-term visas allowing them to stay in the U.S.

In 1971, Lennon was the most famous musician in the world. His song, "Give Peace a Chance," his first solo effort apart from the Beatles, had charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to become an anthem for the rapidly growing anti-war movement in the U.S.

Nixon's political ambitions and Lennon's past collide

Nixon decided to run for reelection in 1972. Thanks to the 26th Amendment, it would be the first election in which 18 year olds could vote, and Nixon's campaign feared Lennon could lead a nationwide youth movement against him. That fear intensified after Lennon and Ono headlined a benefit concert in Ann Arbor Michigan on Dec. 10, 1971, drawing 15,000 people. The concert, benefiting White Panther John Sinclair, featured Stevie Wonder, as well as speeches by Jane Fonda, Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale.

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Rumors reached the campaign that a similar protest concert might be staged in Miami Beach in August 1972, at the same time as the Republican National Convention. (The concert was never held.)

The administration began working to deport Lennon and Ono. In March 1973, the Nixon's Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) ruled that Lennon had to leave the U.S. within 60 days. The musician was ruled "deportable" because he had a criminal record  a 1968 arrest in London for half an ounce of cannabis. Ono was allowed to stay  and granted status as a "permanent resident alien"  so she could pursue her efforts to find her daughter.

Lennon was able to hire top immigration attorneys, who successfully fought the deportation in federal court. While his attorneys were able to extend the 60-day order many times, Lennon lived under a cloud while the appeals moved forward. The stress of the ordeal weighed on him. Lennon drank heavily, and in 1973, he separated from Ono for about a year, a period he later dubbed his "Lost Weekend." In August 1974, after Nixon's illegalities were exposed in the Watergate hearings, he resigned; then-Vice President Gerald Ford went on to assume the presidency.

"Selective deportation based upon secret political grounds"

In October 1975, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that Lennon could stay in the U.S. The court found the arrest for a tiny amount of marijuana was not sufficient grounds to bar him from the U.S.

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The ruling warned that "the courts will not condone selective deportation based upon secret political grounds." The Ford administration dropped the case, and Lennon was given his green card allowing permanent resident status.

Lennon and Ono no longer had to worry about deportation. On October 9, 1975, their son Sean was born. In November 1980, Lennon released the "Double Fantasy" album to lukewarm reception, only three weeks before his murder.

Political activists, singled out by GOP administrations

Both Lennon and Khalil are political activists singled out by Republican administrations bent on stymying individuals who publicly protested their policies, even if it means ignoring the Constitution. Their cases, however, diverge in significant aspects. Lennon, of course, was very wealthy and could hire a top-rank legal team. He also had the vocal support of many well-known musicians, artists and writers.

Khalil is a graduate student, who had been living in an apartment with his pregnant wife, did not have any criminal background and was not alleged to have violated any U.S. laws. While the INS sought to deny Lennon a visa based upon a prior criminal act, Khalil has no known arrests. His deportation is being sought on a little-known provision of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act that authorizes the U.S. secretary of state  who currently is Marco Rubio  to deport foreigners deemed to create "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences" for the U.S.

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While the 1973 and 2025 cases are based on different sections of the immigration law and being prosecuted by different presidents, the message is the same. Khalil's attorney, Amy Greer, stated the following after his March 8 arrest: "He was chosen as an example to stifle entirely lawful dissent, in violation of the First Amendment. The government's objective is as transparent as it is unlawful."

The Trump administration had attempted to block Khalil's legal efforts to fight back. A federal district court judge in New York has denied the move, ordering the case to be transferred to New Jersey. Khalil, who is currently being detained in Louisiana, appeared on Friday in immigration court.
The Trump administration is canceling deportation protections and work permits for over half-a-million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguan and Venezuelans who arrived in the United States under a two-year Biden-era humanitarian parole program.

The program will shut down in late April, 30 days after a notice is scheduled to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register on the program known by its acronym for the countries enrolled  CHNV. Individuals who fail to leave the U.S. within the 30 days after the notice posts on Tuesday will be deported, the Department of Homeland Security said. DHS officials are urging migrants to self-deport, using a mobile app from U.S. Customs and Border Protection known as CBP Home.

The people affected by the decision come from the regions most troubled countries. In Cuba, the island remains under a repressive dictatorship and Cubans are experiencing repeated blackouts and shortages of food and medicine. In Haiti, there hasnt been a general election in nearly a decade; more than a million have been displaced by armed gang violence and the countrys volatile capital is on the verge of collapse. In Venezuela and Nicaragua, repressive regimes have also prompted a humanitarian crisis that has forced millions to flee.

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President Joe Biden created the parole program so people from the four countries would have a new legal avenue to come to the U.S for two years., while reducing irregular migration at the southwest border. People could use the program to come to the U.S. as long as they had a financial sponsor here, could arrange for their airfare, and passed health and background checks. About 30,000 people a month have been coming to the U.S. under the program since began in January 2023.

But the Trump administration said the humanitarian parole program does not align with President Donald Trumps foreign policy and did not have much impact on curbing the flow of migrants at the U.S. southern border. Rather, officials argue, the program added to the immigration backlogs because 75,000 of the people who came on the parole program have applied for asylum. The program also created pressures at airports  Florida received 80% of the arriving migrants, the administration said.

These programs do not serve a significant public benefit, are not necessary to reduce levels of illegal immigration, did not sufficiently mitigate the domestic effects of illegal immigration, are not serving their intended purposes, and are inconsistent with the Administrations foreign policy goals, the Federal Register notice says.

The end of the parole program is part of Trumps crackdown on legal immigration paths that allow people to temporarily come to the U.S. Last month, DHS ended work permits and deportation protections under Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela and rolled back the same program for Haiti.

Heres what you need to know about Trumps decision to end the humanitarian parole program for Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela.

How many people came to the United States through the CNHV humanitarian parole program and are affected by this decision?

As of December 2024, the last full month Biden was in office, 531,690 people had come through the program, which began in January 2023. That includes 110,240 Cubans, 211,040 Haitians, 93,070 Nicaraguans, and 117,330 Venezuelans who flew into U.S. airports.

How many days do people in the program have to leave the U.S?

The federal notice revoking legal status of humanitarian parolees is expected to be published on Tuesday and the Department of Homeland and Security has provided a 30-day wind-down period. However, Homeland Security can deport anyone without a lawful basis to remain in the U.S. following the termination, including within the 30 days. Migrants are being urged to self-deport and to report their departure once outside the U.S. via the CBP Home mobile app. More information on voluntarily self-deporting is available at https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/home

Why a 30-day notice?

DHS says it has determined that a 30-day wind-down period provides affected parties sufficient notice while also preserving the agencys ability to enforce the law promptly against those CHNV parolees lacking a lawful basis to remain. Homeland Security also warns that the agency retains the right to start enforcement action against any migrant at any time including during the 30-day period. This means that anyone can be picked up and put in deportation proceedings even before their parole ends.

Why is the Trump administration stripping migrants of humanitarian parole?

The notice says DHS has determined that the program did not result in a sufficient and sustained improvement in border security, and has exacerbated challenges associated with interior enforcement of the immigration laws. The administration says that the number of parolees who came through airports, which was a requirement of the program for those with permission to travel to the U.S., remained unacceptably high while the program was in effect.

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The need to break the vicious cycle of unlawful immigration supports this DHS action to terminate the CHNV parole programs in favor of new presidential directives that address the demand for enhanced border security, the notice said.

What other reasons is the administration giving for doing away with humanitarian parole?

The Trump administration claims that migrants and other recent arrivals have competed for limited resources such as housing, food, transportation, education, legal services, and public benefits. Second, individuals in the program have exacerbated backlogs, or risked exacerbating backlogs, for the immigration system, the notice said.

Republicans also criticized the parole program as an overreach and abuse of executive presidential powers. But past Democratic and Republican presidents have used their parole authorities to allow people from countries at war to come to the United States. That includes Soviet and Vietnamese citizens fleeing turmoil in their home countries.

Who will be at risk for deportation?

DHS intends to prioritize for deportation those who have not, prior to the publication of the notice, properly filed a request for an immigration benefit to have a lawful basis to remain in the U.S. This includes applying for adjustment of status, asylum and Temporary Protected Status. Also targeted for deportation: people who are not the beneficiaries of an immigration-benefit request filed by someone else on their behalf. This includes petition for a relative, a fiance or an immigrant employee. Migrants who came under the parole program and who have obtained a lawful immigration status that permits them to remain in the U.S. are not required to depart the country under this decision.

Can I apply for asylum or some other immigration status to protect me from deportation?

The administration has said that people who entered the U.S. through the humanitarian parole program will have any applications to adjust their status put on hold. Immigration lawyers say they do not understand how, for example, people can be blocked from applying for asylum if they have a valid claim. That said, anyone affected by the termination notice should consult with an immigration attorney. The administration decision implies that any steps paroled migrants take to adjust their immigration status after publication of the notice on Tuesday would not be deemed as protection against deportation.

I have a valid work permit. Will this affect me?

The administration is canceling all work authorizations of people who came to the U.S. under the parole program. DHS has determined that, after termination of the parole, the condition upon which the employment authorization was granted no longer exists, so the agency intends to revoke parole-based employment authorization, according to the notice.

What does revoking employment authorization mean?

When the work authorization ends it automatically places those people in an undocumented status in the U.S. This means that at any point they can be picked up by immigration officials and put in deportation proceedings. For those who have been here for two years or less and are living near a border, the notice says, their deportation will be expedited.

What happens to migrants who cannot return to their home countries?

That is unclear. But the notice says that President Trump has been negotiating with Latin American countries about taking undocumented migrants that the U.S. is deporting. For example, on Feb. 16 Panama received a U.S. military plane transporting 119 deportees of various nationalities, who were then supposed to be repatriated to their own respective countries. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino has offered his country as a stopover for aliens expelled from the United States, the federal notice says.

Is the administration really going to deport people?

The notice says that following termination of the program, Homeland Security intends to promptly deport individuals who entered the U.S. under the parole programs who do not depart the U.S. before their parole termination date and do not have any lawful basis to remain

What does this mean for my car and rent in the U.S.?

The federal notice notes that people have made significant investment under the program, either selling property in their home countries before traveling to the U.S., or purchasing vehicles and paying rent here. But the program stresses that parolees knew the program was temporary and that the Homeland Security secretary retained the discretion to terminate the parole programs at any point in time, and to terminate any grants of parole at any time.
Sen. Carrie Hamblen (D-Las Cruces) on the Senate floor Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM)

With fewer than 24 hours left in the 2025 session, New Mexico lawmakers on Friday tried to breach a rupture between the House and Senate on a proposed package of tax benefits that would cost $126 million in the coming year and more than a half a billion dollars over the next four years.

After one meeting earlier in the day ended in a failure to produce a compromise, lawmakers spent much of Friday in negotiations with the members on finance committees in both chambers.

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Lawmakers on the panel had said they would reconvene at 4 p.m. However, that time came and went without a meeting; According to Senate majority spokesperson Chris Nordstrum, as of publication, the meeting had been delayed indefinitely, he said, but could happen on Friday night or Saturday morning.

The rupture emerged notably during floor debate on Thursday, when the Senate removed the means for paying for the package: a 0.28% tax on oil paired with a reduction in natural gas taxes contained in House Bill 548 and expected to generate $130 million in revenue.

The House wouldnt concur with the Senates changes, requiring negotiations between the chambers.

On Friday morning, the conference committee made up of three senators and three representatives met to hammer out the two chambers differences on the tax package.

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For a bill to pass out of the concurrence panel, it must receive support from the majority of both chambers, Legislative Finance Committee Chief Economist Ismael Torres explained to the committee. Agreement doesnt have to be unanimous, but at least two senators and two House members must vote in favor of a compromise.

In the first round of negotiations, the conference panel agreed to add House Bill 417, which would direct nearly $10 million in liquor excise tax revenue to the Tribal Harms Alleviation Fund rather than the General Fund; and to remove Senate Bill 393, which would have exempted the Ruidoso Downs and Casino  which the June 2024 wildfires in Lincoln and Otero counties impacted  from taxes for the next five years.

The bicameral panel tried to put the oil and gas tax changes back into the tax package, but two of the three senators voted against it.

Sen. Carrie Hamblen (D-Las Cruces), chair of the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee, told panel members the Senate wants to avoid bringing HB548 back into the package.

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We feel that that would prevent the rest of this from going through, she said.

Rep. Derrick Lente (D-Sandia Pueblo), who chairs House Taxation and Revenue, said HB548 is good tax policy because the oil and gas industry had net profits upwards of $10 billion in 2024.

If the Senate isnt willing to create that tax, he said, I dont know if we have a path forward, only because I am not in the business  nor would I want to be an advocate for  sacrificing bills to see if we can hold bills hostage or do whatever it takes to raise $130 million.

In response to Lente in the morning meeting, Hamblen said senators do not want to use any bills as a sacrificial lamb to pay for the tax package.

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However, I do have the confidence in the staff who have already started to look at multiple pathways to do that, Hamblen said.

Options to get money into the package remain limited because lawmakers already passed the budget for the upcoming year on Thursday.

They could pursue a zombie bill to amend the budget, or pay for the tax package out of reserves, which would require legislative action. They could also find some other revenue source to add to the package, or take some of the tax credits out of the package, Lente said.

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KALVESTA, Kan. (KSNW)  The Kansas Department of Transportation says $100 million in improvements are coming for Kansas Highway 156 in Finney and Hodgeman County.

The department is hosting a public meeting early next month to discuss the project to widen the highway. This will address safety concerns and help improve the areas economic growth. As seen on the map below, the scope of the work will begin west of Jetmore and extend to 228 Road north of Hanston.

Remains found in crashed vehicle in Ellis County

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The meeting will be held on Thursday, April 3, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Kalvesta Methodist Church at 32740 E K-156, in Kalvesta. It will begin with a brief presentation from KDOT staff, who will be on hand to answer questions.

The meeting will also include information about traffic impacts related to the project. Handouts with information will be available to those who attend.

Information will be available online for those who cant attend the meeting, with a section to submit public comments. Following the April 3 meeting, visit https://ike.ksdot.gov/k156-shoulder-widening to learn about the project and submit comments.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSN-TV.
DELHI TOWNSHIP Mich. (WLNS)  A Mid-Michigan man had no idea that a quick trip to help his friend would turn into a manhunt for his car and his dog.

Alex Allen tells 6 News that on Tuesday, he was picking up his buddy from the bar and he brought his dog Moose along with him. Allen said he briefly left the car and when he came back, his vehicleand more importantly, Moosewere gone.

Moose.

That dog has gotten me through so many things, its crazy, said Allen.

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Allen suddenly found himself stranded in Delhi Township at 2 in the morning. His car was stolen, but that wasnt his biggest problem.

I didnt care about the car, I was like wheres my dog? said Allen.

Allen said he immediately called 911 and deputies began their search for Moose and the car. Hours went by with Allen not knowing if his pup was okay. Finally at 9 a.m. the next day, deputies located the vehicle. The Ingham County Sheriffs Office says Allens car was found abandoned in a ditch near Cedar St. and College Rd. but Moose was nowhere to be found.

As a kid, you dont know what a dog means to you until you get one in your mid-20s, said Allen.

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A couple hours later, deputies located the suspect, 26-year-old Logan Daily hiding in the attic of a home on College Road. Deputies arrested Daily, then searched the house and found Moose. Next, they reunited Allen with his best friend.

Logan Daily booking photograph. (Photo: Ingham County)

He definitely was freaked out, but as soon as he heard my voice he perked up a little bit. I opened the door and boom, immediately out of the car, said Allen.

Deputy Lorenzo Solito with the Ingham County Sheriffs Office was there for the reunion and shared his reaction.

I could definitely tell from his expression and his excitement that Moose was back with his family, and it was a good feeling for me and the Sheriffs office, said Deputy Solito.

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Allen said he got Moose as a puppy about a year and a half ago. The German short-haired pointer is back home and busy being spoiled with treats.

Were always happy to have a good outcome and Im glad this incident had that outcome, said Deputy Solito

Since Allens car was totaled, he needs a new ride. It doesnt bother him too much though, because he gets to do it with Moose by his side.

Cars are replaceable, dogs, I dont have any kids, so thats my kid, said Allen.

Daily is charged with unlawfully driving away an automobile, resisting and obstructing, receiving and concealing stolen property, and being a repeat offender.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WLNS 6 News.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO)  The South Dakota legislative session is nearly complete. Monday, March 31st is the official last day, known as Veto Day.

As lawmakers worked over the past couple of months, KELOLAND News had a team of reporters covering the bills up for debate.

Capitol News Bureau reporter Bob Mercer was at the forefront of that coverage. On this weeks Inside KELOLAND, Bob joins KELOLANDs Lauren Soulek in the Sioux Falls studio for a look back at the session and some of the biggest topics.

Also on Inside KELOLAND

Attorney General Marty Jackley is thanking lawmakers for passing six bills that he supported. The new laws include stiffer penalties for certain crimes and better oversight of state government.

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The legislative session also saw a historic transition of power in the governors office. This past week KELOLANDs Tom Hanson asked Governor Larry Rhoden how the transition from Lt. Governor to Governor has been.

Fortunately, the former governor and I put together a really good team. And so we had a great group that were working in that way so the transition went very seamlessly. And same with our cabinet, there wasnt one member of our cabinet that changed when I took the reins, and pretty much the same without internal staff. So it went really well, Rhoden said.

With the legislative session wrapped up, Rhoden is now turning his attention to economic opportunities in South Dakota. Rhoden launched his Open for Opportunity Tour last week in Sioux Falls.

Update from D.C.

Over the past several months weve heard a lot about the new Department of Government Efficiency. The Trump administration has said DOGE is targeting waste and fraud in the federal government.

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However, some of the cuts are impacting South Dakotans.

Sen. Mike Rounds says his staff saw three times more people reaching out to his office with concerns and questions in the month of February. KELOLANDs Tom Hanson sat down with the Senator to get his thoughts on the cuts in Washington and their impact here at home.

Rounds also talked about efforts to end the U.S. Dept. of Education.

Road construction season

This past week brought a milestone for a major bridge project in central South Dakota.

Explosives brought down what was remaining of the old John C. Waldron Memorial Bridge spanning the Missouri River between Pierre and Fort Pierre. Hundreds of people turned out to watch the demolition, including John Simpson from Pierre.

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It was an amazing event. It happened so quick and so precise. There was just two three or more dozen charges that all went in a puff of black smoke in an instant, Simpson said.

Drivers have been crossing the river on the new bridge since last summer.

The project is currently in stage four with the next steps including construction of the Pierre and Fort Pierre plazas. Total project completion is expected this summer.

Road construction projects will soon be ramping up across the state. This year will bring a number of major projects in Sioux Falls. One project that will resume this season includes the intersection at Arrowhead Parkway and Veterans Parkway.

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Sioux Falls Street Manager, Dustin Hanson says the city has two major maintenance programs the city does every year: mill and overlay, and the slurry seal program. People can subscribe to a text message service to know when maintenance will be working in the area.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KELOLAND.com.
A rumor that circulated online in March 2025 claimed U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth oversaw the removal of former Secretary of State Colin Powell's name from a list of noteworthy military figures hosted on the Arlington National Cemetery website. Social media users discussed this matter in the days after the removal of links to pages about Black, Hispanic and female veterans buried at the site, among other Department of Defense removals.

The Office of Army Cemeteries, a division of the U.S. Army, operates the prominent military cemetery just outside Washington. The Army and other military branches report to the DOD.

For example, one X user wrote (archived) on March 20, "Pete Hegseth removed Colin Powell's name from a list of notable Americans, buried at Arlington. Hegseth also removed the names of every person of color and every woman on the same list. Only white men were left in place." Additional X users shared the rumor about Hegseth, who is white, and Powell, who was Black and died in 2021. Users also promoted the claim on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, Threads and TikTok.

However, as of March 21, the cemetery website's page titled "prominent military figures" still featured a brief biography describing Powell's military service, in which he achieved the rank of a four-star Army general. Even so, while neither Hegseth nor anyone under the umbrella of the Defense Department entirely deleted Powell's name from the page, sometime between late February and early March, one or more people with access to edit the page removed a partial amount of biographical information pertaining to Powell's race, as well as one mention of his name from the biography of another noteworthy service member. Someone later restored those pieces of information in mid-to-late March.

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The remainder of the rumor claiming "Hegseth removed the names of every person of color and every woman," and that "only white men were left in place," was not entirely true. In a post from Hegseth's personal X account, he called the entire rumor "fake."

In an email, Kerry L. Meeker, the chief of public affairs at Arlington National Cemetery, labeled the claim that someone removed Powell's name from the website "inaccurate." "All notable graves are represented on our website  including Colin Powell," she said.

She pointed us to a statement on the cemetery's website that mentioned "no service members have been permanently removed from the 'notable graves' section of our website." The statement also referenced "compliance with executive orders issued by the president and Department of Defense instructions."

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20, 2025, the first day of his second term, seeking to end "illegal" programs and activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as DEIA, with the "A" standing for accessibility. The order targeted DEIA-related "mandates, policies, programs, preferences and activities in the federal government, under whatever name they appear."

Historical facts about Powell removed

An archived version of the Arlington National Cemetery website's "prominent military figures" page from late February 2025 displayed Powell's biography beginning with the sentence, "General Colin Powell, a Vietnam veteran, was the first African American to hold three of the U.S. government's highest positions: national security adviser (1987-1989), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-1993), and secretary of state (2001-2005)."

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By early March, another archived version of the page confirmed the removal of the fact that Powell was the first African American to hold the three positions. Sometime between March 17 and 21, one or more people restored the sentence to the page.

Between February and March, one or more people also removed, then later restored, a mention of Powell's name in the biography for Brig. Gen. Roscoe Conklin "Rock" Cartwright. The late-February version featured a sentence entirely removed from the page, reading, "Cartwright founded a social group that provided mentoring and leadership training to African American officers; prominent members included Generals Colin Powell (Section 60) and Roscoe Robinson Jr. (Section 7A)."

Colin Powell receives the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George H.W. Bush at the White House on July 3, 1991. (Howard L. Sachs/CNP/Getty Images)

'Anti-Asian stereotypes' and an apparent oversight

Other temporary removals from the "prominent military figures" page included 17 mentions of "African American," around a dozen for "black" and one for "Irish American." Many of the mentions of "African American" and "black" described milestones, such as Brig. Gen. Hazel W. Johnson-Brown, originally documented on the page as "the first African American woman general in the U.S. Army."

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The biography for Maj. Kurt Chew-Een Lee originally began by describing him as "the first Asian American officer in the Marine Corps." As of March 21, that fact, as well as the words "Asian American," no longer appeared on the page. The most recent version of his biography also removed the following sentence featured in previous years: "Kurt Chew-Een Lee's record of service not only honored his country, but also demolished anti-Asian stereotypes: 'I wanted to dispel the notion about the Chinese being meek, bland and obsequious,' he told the Los Angeles Times in 2010."

In an apparent oversight in the removal process of race-related content, as of March 17, the page still displayed Lt. Col. Alexander T. Augusta of the U.S. Army as "the highest-ranking African American officer of the Civil War," as well as "the Army's first black physician, the United States' first black hospital administrator (Freedman's Hospital, Washington, D.C.) and its first black professor of medicine (Howard University)."

Sometime between March 17 and 21, some mentions of "Black" and "African American" reappeared on the website, according to archived page captures. As of March 24, the lone mentions of "Irish American," "Asian American" and "anti-Asian stereotypes" had not reappeared.

After we asked Meeker about the removals from Lee's biography about demolishing anti-Asian stereotypes and the fact Augusta's biography still featured four mentions of his race, Arlington National Cemetery spokeswoman Becky Wardwell provided a link to a video from Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. In the March 20 video, Parnell said, in part, "We want to be very clear, history is not DEI." He also discussed making mistakes and mentioned the usage of artificial intelligence to perform some content edits to comply with the Trump administration's orders.

Three women removed, then restored

Parnell's mention of errors possibly at least partially referenced the removal, and later restoration, of entries for three women on the "prominent military figures" page. Those women were Lt. Cmdr. Barbara Allen Rainey, "the first woman pilot in the Navy," Maj. Marie Therese Rossi, "the first American female combat commander to fly into battle" during the Persian Gulf War, and Lt. Kara Spears Hultgreen, "the first female carrier-based fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy, and the first woman to qualify as an F-14 combat pilot."

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All three women disappeared entirely from the cemetery website's page in late February or early March, and reappeared sometime between March 17 and 21, according to archived page captures.

Sources:

Burns, Robert, et al. "Colin Powell Dies, Trailblazing General Stained by Iraq." The Associated Press, 19 Oct. 2021, https://apnews.com/article/colin-powell-dead-covid-9c918dc1c137ebf368f2cbb461e4fad4.

Christensen, Laerke. "Arlington National Cemetery Removed Links to Webpages about Black, Hispanic and Female Veterans." Snopes, 14 Mar. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/arlington-national-cemetery-veterans/.

"Colin Powell | Biography & Facts." Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Colin-Powell.

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"Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing." The White House, 20 Jan. 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/.

"Learn More about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA)." New York Department of State, https://dos.ny.gov/dei.

"Organization." The United States Army, https://www.army.mil/organization/.

"Our Cemeteries." Office of Army Secretaries, https://armycemeteries.army.mil/About-Us/Our-Cemeteries.

"Wayback Machine." Archive.org, https://web.archive.org/.

Updates:

March 24, 2025: We updated this page to add Hegseth's reaction to the rumor and to make clearer the timeline of removals and restorations from the Arlington National Cemetery webpage.
STILLWATER, Okla.  An Arkansas man who allegedly had thousands of videos of child pornography, including child rape and one of a juvenile former girlfriend, on his cell phone is free on $50,000 bail.

Jordyn Wilkerson Baskin, 21, of Siloam Springs, Ark., is charged in Payne County District Court in Stillwater with two counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Jordyn Wilkerson Baskin/Mugshot provided by Payne County, Oklahoma Sheriffs Office

Baskin, a pre-veterinary Oklahoma State University student, was taken into custody in Stillwater in February.

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According to five probable cause affidavits filed in the case, Baskin confessed to sending and receiving child pornography. He also told investigators on his cell phone that the trash folder would contain 1,000 files.

The affidavit states that Baskins employment at a veterinary office was the subject of police investigation.

Baskin had videos of girls as young as 10, and he liked teens between 13 to 17 years old. State of Oklahoma v. Baskin, Jordyn Wilkerson

CF-2025-47

Investigators noted in the files were multitudes of videos depicting prepubescent and pubescent juveniles in various stages of semi-nudity to complete nudity and engaging in sexual acts, the affidavit states. Some videos show juveniles sexually assaulting each other, and a video of an adult man raping a prepubescent girl who was whimpering during the attack was also seen by investigators.

There were several videos of the juveniles using the bathroom and one video Baskin said he had of his former 15-year-old girlfriend, the arrest warrant states.

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Baskin allegedly used the social apps Kik and Snapchat to set up deals to send and obtain videos.

He is to return to court on April 17.

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The IRS is nearing a data-sharing agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that would allow immigration officials to use tax data to support the Trump administration's deportation agenda, two sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

After weeks of negotiations, administration officials are close to reaching an agreement that would enable ICE officials to submit names and addresses of suspected immigrants lacking legal status for the IRS to check against its confidential databases.

The Washington Post first reported the development on Saturday.

PHOTO: A flag waves outside the International Revenue Service Building after it was reported the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is preparing to fire thousands of workers in the coming days, in Washington, Feb. 18, 2025. (Kent Nishimura/Reuters)

MORE: Top lawyer at IRS removed amid DOGE push for taxpayer information: Sources

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The use of sensitive taxpayer information to further the Trump administration's immigration policies has alarmed career officials within the IRS.

Section 6103 of the federal tax code requires the IRS to keep individual taxpayer information confidential with certain limited exceptions, which includes law enforcement agencies "for investigation and prosecution of non-tax criminal laws" with approval from a court, according to the agency's website.

The IRS has allowed immigrants without legal status to file income tax returns with individual tax numbers, or ITINs. These immigrants contributed $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes using borrowed or fraudulent Social Security numbers, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

The IRS and Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment from ABC News on the agreement, which is still being negotiated and has not been finalized, according to sources.

IRS close to finalizing data-sharing agreement with ICE, sources say originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
By Emily Rose

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday against the decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service and resume fighting in Gaza.

Netanyahu said this week he had lost confidence in Ronen Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021, and intended to fire him effective April 10, prompting three days of protests.

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Israel's Supreme Court issued an injunction on Friday temporarily freezing the dismissal.

Netanyahu has dismissed accusations the decision was politically motivated, but his critics have accused him of undermining the institutions underpinning Israel's democracy by seeking Bar's removal.

Israel returned to war in Gaza this week, shattering a ceasefire that saw the exchange of hostages being held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and brought respite to the battered enclave.

In Tel Aviv's Habima Square, protesters waved blue and white Israeli flags and called for a deal that would see the release of the remaining Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.

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"The most dangerous enemy of Israel is Benjamin Netanyahu," protester Moshe Haaharony, 63, told Reuters. "Benjamin Netanyahu, for 20 years, doesn't care about the country, doesn't care about the citizens."

Since the start of the war, there have also been regular protests by families and supporters of hostages seized by Hamas during the October 7 attack that have sometimes echoed the criticisms of the government.

"We are a year and a half later after we had very fierce fighting in Gaza and Hamas is still in power," protester Erez Berman, 44, told Reuters. "It still has tens of thousands of fighters. So the Israeli government actually failed in getting its own goals out of the war."

With the resumption of Israel's campaign in Gaza, the fate of 59 hostages, as many as 24 of whom are still believed to be alive, remains unclear and protesters said a return to war could see them either killed by their captors or accidentally by Israeli bombardments.

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"We're going to do whatever it takes to bring the hostages home," Ophir Falk, Netanyahu's foreign policy adviser, told Reuters.

"Hamas unfortunately understands military pressure, and only military pressure. In November 2023 we got over 80 hostages out for one reason, military pressure... The only reason they went back to the negotiating table was military pressure. And that's what we're doing right now," Falk said.

(Reporting by Emily Rose; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Israel struck Lebanon on Saturday in retaliation for rockets targeting Israel, killing two, including a child, in the heaviest exchange of fire since the ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Earlier, rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, for the second time since December, sparking concern about whether the fragile ceasefire would hold. In a statement Saturday, Hezbollah denied being responsible for the attack, saying that it was committed to the truce and accused Israel of blaming it for the strikes as a pretext for more attacks.

Israel had said that it would respond severely to the early Saturday attack from Lebanon when rockets were fired into northern Israel. Israels army said the intercepted rockets targeted the Israeli town of Metula.

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Lebanons health ministry said Saturday that the strike in the southern village of Touline also wounded eight others.

Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. The Israel-Hezbollah conflict boiled over into an all-out war in September as Israel carried out massive waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant groups senior leaders. The fighting killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis.

Under the ceasefire reached in November, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January. The deadline was then extended to Feb. 18 by agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

But since then, Israel has remained in five locations in Lebanon, across from communities in northern Israel, and has carried out dozens of airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, saying it attacked Hezbollah, while continuing targeted drone attacks that have so far killed several members of the militant group.

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Lebanon has appealed to the U.N. to pressure Israel to fully withdraw from the country.

Israels Prime Ministers office said Saturday it instructed the army to act forcefully against dozens of targets in Lebanon, adding: Israel will not allow any harm to its citizens and sovereignty. Israels army said Saturday it was carrying out strikes on Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon and that it struck dozens of the groups rocket launchers and a command center where Hezbollah was operating.

A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press Saturday that it was not responsible for the attack, calling it primitive, speaking on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to speak to the media.

In a statement, Lebanons Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked the Lebanese military to take all necessary measures in the south but said the country did not want to return to war.

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The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said it was alarmed at the possible escalation of violence and urged all parties to avoid jeopardizing the progress made, saying further escalation could have serious consequences for the region.

Israeli airstrikes pound Gaza

The strikes come a day after Israel said it would carry out operations in Gaza with increasing intensity until Hamas frees the 59 hostages it holds  24 of whom are believed alive. Late Friday night, Israeli strikes killed at least nine people, including three children, in a house in Gaza City, according to Al-Ahly Hospital, which received the bodies.

Israels military said Friday its forces were planning fresh assaults into three neighborhoods west of Gaza City and issued warnings on social media for Palestinians to evacuate the areas.

Also on Friday, Israel blew up the only specialized cancer hospital in the war-torn territory. The Israeli military said it struck the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, accusing Hamas militants of operating on-site. Turkey, which helped build and fund the hospital, said Israeli troops at one point used it as a base.

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Around 600 Palestinians have been killed since Israel relaunched the war earlier this week. Israel had already cut off the supply of food, fuel, and humanitarian aid to Gazas roughly 2 million Palestinians, aiming to pressure Hamas over ceasefire negotiations.

The international community has condemned the resumed attacks. In a statement Friday, the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France and Germany called Israels strikes in Gaza a dramatic step backward. We are appalled by the civilian casualties and urgently call for an immediate return to a ceasefire, they said in a joint statement.

The attack by Hamas-led militants in 2023 killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Most of the hostages have been freed in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more.

Israels retaliatory offensive has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were militants but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

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___

Shurafa reported from Deir Al-Balah, Gaza. Associated Press writers Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, Samy Magdy in Cairo and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.

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Israel on Saturday said it launched fresh attacks on the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, hours after intercepting three missiles fired from Lebanon, as a fragile ceasefire appeared on the brink of collapse.

The renewed shelling is the heaviest exchange of fire since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect in November.

"In response to the launching of rockets toward Israel this morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have instructed the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] to act with force against dozens of terrorist targets in Lebanon," said a statement from Netanyahu's office.

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The IDF said it "struck dozens of Hezbollah rocket launchers and a command center from which Hezbollah terrorists were operating in southern Lebanon."

The attacks came after the IDF said it intercepted three projectiles launched from Lebanon at the northern Israeli border town of Metula, with no injuries or damage reported.

Hezbollah has so far not claimed responsibility for the attack.

Lebanese security sources told dpa that Israel responded with artillery in the village of Yohmor and the hills of al-Hamames, across the border from Metula.

Residents in the targeted areas reported hearing loud explosions due to the shelling.

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NNA reported Israeli fighter jets as well as attacks involving artillery, tanks and machine guns in several locations.

In a statement posted on X, the Israeli military said Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir had conducted a "situational assessment" and that Israel would "respond severely to the morning's attack."

"The State of Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the [ceasefire] agreement," it said.

Another ceasefire on the brink?

The fighting threatens to break the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which has been in place for nearly four months.

The deal put a temporary end to more than a year of intense cross-border shelling between Israel and the Iran-backed group, which intensified when Israeli forces launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon in October.

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Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that renewed Israeli operations in southern Lebanon could risk dragging the country into a "new war."

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) quoted Salam as stressing "the need to take all necessary security and military measures, confirming that the state alone has the power to decide war and peace," in a conversation with Defence Minister Michel Menassa.

The conflict broke out following the October 7, 2023, attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, with Hezbollah saying its attacks were in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Earlier this week, Israel also resumed widespread airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza, citing deadlocked negotiations with Hamas on expanding a ceasefire in place since January 19.

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Hundreds of Gazans have reportedly been killed since the restart of the fighting early on Tuesday, which effectively shattered the temporary ceasefire.

Continued Israeli presence

Under the terms of the ceasefire with Hezbollah, Israeli troops are due to completely withdraw from southern Lebanon, but five military posts remain near the border to Israel.

The government in Beirut views the continued presence of Israeli units in the country as a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

According to NNA, Salam also called UN official Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert to urge the United Nations to "redouble international pressure on Israel to withdraw completely from the occupied Lebanese territories."
The Israeli military on Saturday said it was attacking the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon.

The statement, published on the military's Telegram channel, came minutes after media reports emerged of an order by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz to attack "dozens of terrorist targets."

The strikes are in response to a missile strike against northern Israel early on Saturday from the direction of Lebanon, the statement said.

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The Israeli military earlier said it had intercepted three projectiles aimed at the border town of Metula, with no injuries or damage reported.

The renewed shelling comes despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that has been in place since November.

Israeli forces are "ready for any order," the military said, adding that further details will be announced shortly.
Israel launched retaliatory strikes against Lebanon amid a shaky ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah brokered late last year, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The Israeli military said it struck dozens of Hezbollah rocket launchers and a command center in response to the Lebanese militant groups rockets that targeted the Jewish State this weekend.

The IDF said on Saturday the rockets fired toward Galilee, a region in northern Israel, were a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and is a direct threat to the citizens of the State of Israel.

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The State of Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the agreement, the IDF wrote. The IDF will continue to act as required in order [to] protect Israeli citizens.

Six rockets were fired into Israel earlier Saturday. Three crossed into the Jewish States territory and were intercepted, an Israeli official told The Associated Press (AP). The identity of the group that fired the rockets could not be confirmed by Israel, the official added.

Hezbollah said it was not responsible for the Saturday attack and that the group is dedicated to upholding the ceasefire, according to AP.

The exchange between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was the first major incident since the two sides struck a ceasefire agreement in November last year. The back-and-forth came as Israel has continued its strikes in the Gaza Strip aimed at eliminating the Palestinian militant group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah.

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Since Israel resumed its assault in the Gaza Strip, some 600 people have been killed, according to local health officials, a tally that does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Since Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023 against Israel, which killed around 1,200 Israelis and the militants group took some 250 hostages, other groups in the region, backed by Iran, have directed their aim t Israel.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023. The Israel-Hezbollah war escalated in September last year with the IDF launching airstrikes and killing the majority of the Lebanese militant groups leadership.

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By Maya Gebeily and Maayan Lubell

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli artillery and airstrikes hit south Lebanon on Saturday after Israel said it had intercepted rockets fired from across the border, killing at least eight people and endangering a shaky truce that ended a year-long war between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

That conflict marked the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war, and a blistering Israeli offensive after months of cross-border exchanges of fire wiped out Hezbollah's top commanders, many of its fighters and much of its arsenal.

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Hezbollah denied responsibility for Saturday's strikes, saying it had "no link" to the rocket launches and that it remained committed to the ceasefire. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

An Israeli official said the identity of the group which fired the rockets had not been confirmed. Six rockets were fired, the official said, three of which crossed into Israel and were intercepted.

Two waves of Israeli strikes killed three people in Bint Jbeil and Touline, as well as five in the port city of Tyre, all in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon's state news agency, which cited health authorities.

Saturday's exchanges were the first since Israel in effect abandoned a separate ceasefire in Gaza with Palestinian militant group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, both backed by Israel's arch-foe Iran.

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Later in the day, the Israeli military announced a second round of strikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets.

"We expect Lebanon to take care of its part of the agreement," Ophir Falk, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's foreign policy adviser, told Reuters.

"The IDF will do whatever it takes to enforce the ceasefire and to make sure that our civilians can get back home safely and securely," Falk said.

Israel's military said early on Saturday it had intercepted three rockets launched from a Lebanese district about six km (four miles) north of the border towards the Israeli town of Metula, the second cross-border launch since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November ended fighting.

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In retaliation, Netanyahu ordered the military to "act forcefully against dozens of terror targets in Lebanon".

Israel's military said it had struck dozens of Hezbollah rocket launchers and a command centre from which the group's militants had been operating, in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon's state news agency reported Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages in the country's south, including border towns and hilltops around eight km inside Lebanese territory.

There were no reports of casualties in Israel.

In Gaza, health authorities said five Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire, including a child, in incidents in Beit Lahiya and Gaza City in the north of the enclave.

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The Israeli military said a number of militants in a vehicle were identified approaching its troops in northern Gaza who "posed a threat to them" and the military struck them.

An Israeli airstrike on the city of Rafah, which abuts Gaza's southern border with Egypt, killed two Palestinians, Gazan medics said. Israel's military said it had struck militants in the area.

UN ALARMED BY BORDER VIOLENCE

Under the November ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to have no weapons in southern Lebanon, Israeli ground troops were to withdraw and Lebanese army troops were to deploy into the area.

The agreement specifies that Lebanon's government is responsible for dismantling all military infrastructure in southern Lebanon and confiscating all unauthorised arms.

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President Joseph Aoun ordered the Lebanese army to secure "any violation" that could threaten stability in Lebanon. The army said it had found and dismantled three "primitive rocket launchers" in the south.

Netanyahu said Israel was holding Lebanon's government responsible for "everything taking place within its territory" and that Israel would not allow any harm to its citizens and sovereignty.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon said it was alarmed by the "volatile" situation and that any further escalation could have "serious consequences for the region."

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned of a renewal of military operations in the south of Lebanon, adding: "All security and military measures must be taken to show that Lebanon decides on matters of war and peace."

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The ceasefire ended Israel's intense bombardment and ground operations in Lebanon and Hezbollah's daily rocket barrages into Israel. Each side has accused the other of failing to implement the deal in full.

Israel says Hezbollah still has military infrastructure in the south. Lebanon and Hezbollah say Israel is occupying Lebanese land by continuing to carry out some airstrikes and keeping its troops at five hilltop positions near the frontier.

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Menna Alaa El Din, Jaidaa Taha and Enas Alashray in Cairo; Editing by Tom Hogue, Mark Heinrich, Timothy Heritage and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Glenn Brooks was, more than any other person, the creator of the Block Plan schedule of classes at Colorado College.

This innovative college calendar took the semester system, where students took four to five classes each semester, and replaced it with an innovative reform in which students took only one course with one professor for 3 weeks.

Under the Block Plan, students took one course at a time.

Brooks died on March 12, at age 93. He lived in a retirement home a few blocks southwest of the Colorado College campus. Brooks spent his entire academic professional career there.

He served as an influential dean of the college from 1979 to 1987. He was a popular professor of public policy and an influential mentor to scores of professors. He later served as the director of planning from 1991 to 1993.

A native of Kerrville, Texas, Brooks received his bachelor's degree in 1953 and master's in 1956 from the University of Texas at Austin. He earned his doctoral degree. (with distinction) in political science from Johns Hopkins University in 1960. He joined the CC faculty that year.

While at Hopkins, he became interested in the politics of higher education management and co-authored "The Managerial Revolution in Higher Education." He wrote additional books on state governors and higher education.

From 1968 until 1970, Brooks served part-time as faculty assistant to the president of CC, organizing and leading the development of what became the Colorado College Block Plan.

The Block Plan probably could not have come into existence at any other time. Higher education in the United States was in ferment over the civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam. The times were ripe for change.

Brooks wrote extensively about how the Block Plan was created. The following account is summarized from his writings:

The faculty was aware that 1974 was going to be the centennial year of the founding of the college, Brooks recalled. The faculty thought it would be a good idea to take a look at ourselves and see where we were going to go in the next century.

And so, there we were, in an atmosphere that was conducive to a lot of change. The nation was still racked by the war issue and the cultural changes that were going on.

Brooks explained: I proposed that, instead of setting up a committee, the college should operate more like a committee of the whole. The faculty should get as many people involved as it could. I wanted this populist approach to changing the college  and to reflection about the college.

There was no atmosphere of crisis. There was no atmosphere of financial or educational or ideological decay or anything of that sort. There was no interest in changing our fundamental direction or to become a more vocationally oriented institution. The whole emphasis was on how to do a better job of traditional liberal arts and sciences.

One of the things that this review with faculty and students began to reveal very quickly was that people felt pulled apart by the conventional semester system. They were jumping from one place to another and doing too many things. There was a need for a better way to organize the teaching and the learning.

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The discussions did not challenge the content of the curriculum, only the way it was presented.

And then there was a breakthrough. Don Shearn, in the psychology department, said, "Why don't you just give me 15 students, and let me work with them?" Working with 15 students at one time would replace jumping around from class to class and dealing with 150 to 200 students a semester throughout the semester.

Brooks noted: All of this was happening in the fall of 1968, from September to December. This idea, students take just one course at a time and nothing else, began to take shape quickly. It was drawn from faculty and students in a genuine way.

There was a need to find out if there were enough classrooms to offer classes of differing lengths and limited size simultaneously.

That part got to be a lot of fun, Brooks said, because we got academic departments to mockup some course schedules. This was something that brought the reality of the Block Plan home.

The 1969 Faculty Fall Conference was important. It had been one year since this inquiry began. The inquiry was now converted to a plan-of-action proposal. The faculty had the technical information about whether it was feasible to do the Block Plan. The real question was whether the faculty liked it or not.

The big vote on the Block Plan came Oct. 27, 1969, Brooks said. The Block Plan was passed by the faculty by 58%. It was a good and spirited debate.

One of the more memorable moments was when Bob Stabler got to his feet. He was a senior professor in the biology department. Well, let's let these young bucks do what they want to do. Give them a chance."

And we had radical students involved in working on this plan, as well as a lot of square students because they had a sense that something was going to happen. And they liked that idea, and they were going in and testing these mock-up schedules, and so on. And I'm not aware of any significant student resistance to the change.

Brooks continued: And a lot of students were involved. Malcolm Ware, and some good, dedicated students, were working on figuring out how to furnish classrooms. They were raiding Salvation Army and Goodwill stores for old sofas that would serve as places for people to sit. We wanted to create lounges in the residence halls that we could use for classes.

It was a real shoestring operation, and initially the college spent very little money in making the conversion. At first, it was very much just a do-it-yourself baling-wire kind of approach. And that was fun. It was not always very carefully worked out, or systematic, but we just kind of charged ahead.

Once the Block Plan was adopted at Colorado College, class attendance went up to almost 100%, and it has stayed very high. Under the old four to five courses at a time semester system, maybe class attendance was two-thirds or three-fourths as a normal average.

The failure rate dropped dramatically in the first year of the Block Plan, and we think that had something to do with the ability of students to focus on their work. And the professors were more able to spot problems.

Brooks concluded: What the Block Plan did do was give students skills of concentration and self-discipline. They gained the ability to get their work done. That in my mind stands out as one of the distinctive merits of the Block Plan.

The Block Plan became an important recruiting tool and brought national attention to the college. It has been evaluated many times and has regularly won approval from current and former students.
Israel launched late Saturday another wave of strikes on Hezbollah militia strongholds, hours after intercepting rockets fired from Lebanon, as a ceasefire appeared on the brink of collapse.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said that six people were killed, including a child, and 31 others were wounded in Israeli airstrikes on Saturday on areas in the south and east of the country.

After an initial air raid following rocket fire toward the northern Israeli town of Metula, Israeli jets carried out a second wave of strikes later in the evening.

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The renewed violence is the heaviest exchange of fire since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect in November.

Lebanese security sources said there were around 80 Israeli strikes throughout the day.

The Arabic speaking Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X that the IDF "attacked command centers, terrorist infrastructure, terrorist operatives, missile launchers, and a weapons depot belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah in Lebanon."

He stressed that the IDF will continue to carry out airstrikes as long as necessary and will continue to act to protect the citizens of of Israel.

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The two waves of attacks came after the IDF said six rockets were fired from Lebanon at the northern Israeli border town of Metula, on Saturday morning, with no injuries or damage reported. All of the rockets were either intercepted or fell short of their targets.

Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the rockets.

"The Israeli enemy's claims are merely pretexts to justify its ongoing aggression against Lebanon, which has not stopped since the announcement of the ceasefire," the militia said in a statement.

But Lebanese security sources suggested to dpa that Hezbollah had in fact launched its first attacks on Israel since the beginning of the ceasefire.

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Lebanese security sources told dpa that Israel responded with artillery fire on the village of Yohmor and the hills of al-Hamames, across the border from Metula.

Residents in the targeted areas reported hearing loud explosions.

Lebanons state-run National News Agency later reported Israeli fighter jets as well as attacks involving artillery, tanks and machine guns in several locations.

Another ceasefire on the brink?

The fighting threatens to break the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which has been in place for nearly four months.

The deal put a temporary end to more than a year of intense cross-border attacks between Israel and the Iran-backed group, which intensified when Israeli forces launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon in October.

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Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that renewed Israeli operations in southern Lebanon could risk dragging the country into a "new war" while the UN observer mission UNIFIL noted that "the fragile stability observed in recent months" was at risk.

According to the observer mission, four projectiles were fired at Israel in the morning, "triggering immediate retaliation by the IDF."

The Lebanese military said its forces had discovered three simple wooden structures in southern Lebanon designed to launching rockets and dismantled them.

Hezbollah said it remains committed to the ceasefire deal with Israel and "stands behind the Lebanese state" in addressing what the group described as a serious Israeli escalation against Lebanon.

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The conflict broke out following the October 7, 2023, attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, with Hezbollah saying its attacks were in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Earlier this week, Israel also resumed widespread airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza, citing deadlocked negotiations with Hamas on expanding a ceasefire in place since January 19.

Hundreds of Gazans have been killed since the restart of the fighting early on Tuesday, which effectively shattered the temporary ceasefire.

Continued Israeli presence

Under the terms of the ceasefire with Hezbollah, Israeli troops are due to completely withdraw from southern Lebanon, but five military posts remain near the border to Israel.

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The government in Beirut views the continued presence of Israeli units in the country as a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

According to NNA, Salam also called UN official Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert to urge the United Nations to "redouble international pressure on Israel to withdraw completely from the occupied Lebanese territories."
Istanbul (dpa)  The Istanbul governor's office on Saturday extended and tightened its ban on public gatherings in the city amid ongoing protests against the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

The renewed ban will be in place through March 26 and prohibits rallies, press statements, marches, sit-ins and distribution of flyers, among other measures.

Authorities also restricted entry of individuals or groups to Istanbul suspected of intending to join "unlawful actions," the governor's office announced on its website.

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The measure comes as a previous four-day ban was set to expire on Sunday.

Defying the ban, thousands of demonstrators took to streets on Saturday in Istanbul, gathering in front of the mayoral office and the courthouse where Imamoglu was brought for questioning.
Detained Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has firmly rejected allegations brought against him, as protests over the investigation into the popular Turkish politician continue.

"The immoral and baseless accusations directed at me are designed to undermine my standing and credibility," Imamoglu said in a statement issued by his city administration following police questioning.

He denied the charges and said they are based on "fabricated" reports.

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The political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was taken into custody on Wednesday, sparking nightly nationwide demonstrations.

The charges include membership in a criminal organization, bribery, fraud, bid rigging, and support for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), according to state news agency Anadolu.

After two days of police questioning, Imamoglu began answering the questions of prosecutors under heavy security measures at Istanbul's Caglayan courthouse on Saturday.

It was not immediately clear if and when the prosecutors will refer Imamoglu to the court and under which of the accusations.

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Meanwhile several thousand supporters defied a ban on public gatherings and waited outside the Istanbul courthouse and mayoral office, local media reported.

Images from the Anka news agency of a march in Istanbul showed thousands of participants. As on previous evenings, the use of pepper spray against demonstrators was also reported once again in Istanbul, as well as at a rally in Ankara.

Protests were also reported from various parts of the country during the day.
Detained Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has firmly rejected the corruption and terrorism allegations brought against him, as protests over the investigation into the popular Turkish politician continued on Saturday.

"The immoral and baseless accusations directed at me are designed to undermine my standing and credibility," Imamoglu said in a statement issued by his city administration following police questioning.

He denied the charges and said they are based on "fabricated" reports.

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The political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was taken into custody on Wednesday, sparking nightly nationwide demonstrations.

The charges include membership in a criminal organization, bribery, fraud, bid rigging, and support for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), according to state news agency Anadolu.

After two days of police questioning, Imamoglu began answering the questions of prosecutors under heavy security at Istanbul's Caglayan courthouse on Saturday.

It was not immediately clear if and when the prosecutors will refer Imamoglu to the judiciary and under which of the accusations.

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Meanwhile several thousand supporters defied a ban on public gatherings and waited outside the Istanbul courthouse and mayoral office, local media reported.

Images from the Anka news agency of another march in Istanbul showed thousands of participants. As on previous evenings, the use of pepper spray against demonstrators was also reported once again in Istanbul, as well as at a rally in Ankara.

Protests were also reported from various parts of the country during the day.

Opposition to field Imamoglu for presidency

Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), plans to nominate Imamoglu as its presidential candidate in primary vote on Sunday.

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In the nationwide ballot, the party's 1.7 million members are called upon to back Imamoglu for the 2028 presidential election. The plan for his candidacy had been put in place before he was taken into custody this week.

In addition to the 4,000 party ballot boxes set up in the country, as many symbolic "solidarity ballot boxes" are to be set up in which all citizens can cast a vote. Imamoglu is the only CHP candidate.

He will only be recognized as an official candidate if the Turkish electoral authority YSK, which is considered to be pro-government, confirms his candidature.

If the terror investigations have not been dropped by then, it is unlikely that his candidacy will be accepted.

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A higher-education qualification is also a prerequisite for running for president in Turkey. Imamoglu was stripped of his university degree this week.

Critics see his arrest as an attempt to eliminate a potential rival to Erdogan - a charge strongly rejected by the long-standing leader's government.

Istanbul governor extends ban on gatherings

The Istanbul governor's office on Saturday extended and tightened its ban on public gatherings in the city.

The renewed ban will be in place through March 26 and prohibits rallies, press statements, marches, sit-ins and distribution of flyers, among other measures.

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Authorities also restricted entry of individuals or groups to Istanbul suspected of intending to join "unlawful actions," the governor's office announced on its website.

The measure comes as a previous four-day ban was set to expire on Sunday.

Reports: Dozens of critical X accounts blocked

Turkish authorities have blocked at least 85 accounts on the social media platform X, according to internet watchdogs and local media.

According to Engelliweb, a Turkish initiative monitoring online censorship, the blocked accounts include prominent feminist and student groups that are critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's administration.

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Cyber law expert Yaman Akdeniz criticized the developments on Saturday, accusing X owner Elon Musk of heeding Turkish authorities' requests to block accounts.

Akdeniz said the platform "arbitrarily censors hundreds of accounts belonging to students and civil society."

The opposition blames conventional media, largely controlled by Erdogan, for ignoring protest coverage.

Local news site Medyascope reported on Saturday that pro-government broadcaster NTV cut off a live speech by Ozgur Ozel, the leader of Imamoglu's opposition CHP party, as he slammed media coverage favouring the government.
Russian authorities have stepped up information attacks in an attempt to undermine the possibility of peace talks with Ukraine. Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have pointed out that the Kremlin is deliberately spreading narratives that are intended to split Kyiv and Washington, discredit Ukraine and justify the continuation of the war.

Source: ISW

Details: Analysts emphasised that the Kremlin is stepping up its information campaigns, accusing Ukraine of war crimes, attacks on Russian infrastructure and violations of agreements with the West. In particular, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the United States should explain how it would "manage" Ukraine after alleged Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities.

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also used the explosion at the gas distribution station in Sudzha, Kursk Oblast, to discredit Kyiv, saying that Ukraine's denial of involvement "shows how much one can believe and trust" Ukraine.

In addition, the Russian authorities are trying to create the impression that Kyiv is deliberately violating Western restrictions, in particular the moratorium on strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. ISW emphasised that Moscow was trying to sow doubts about Ukraine's reliability among its Western allies and undermine their trust.

On 21 March, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation released information on criminal cases against the Ukrainian military, accusing them of attacks on the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant and civilians. ISW analysts believe that these actions are part of a broader Kremlin strategy to create the impression that Ukraine threatens stability in the region and force the United States to reconsider its support for Kyiv.

Quote: "ISW recently assessed that the Kremlin was preparing to intensify narratives accusing Ukrainian forces of war crimes in Kursk Oblast to discredit the Ukrainian military, erode Western support for Ukraine, and spoil or delay talks about temporary ceasefire proposals."

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Details: The ISW noted that throughout the full-scale war, the Kremlin has consistently promoted these narratives in an attempt to divert attention from Russia's actions.

The analysts reiterated that Russian troops committed numerous war crimes on the battlefield and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and militarised the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The report also noted that on 14 February, a Russian Shahed attack drone damaged the shelter over the destroyed power unit 4 of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

Quote: "The Kremlin may seek to leverage its narratives falsely portraying Ukraine as recklessly endangering Russian nuclear power plants and being an unsafe operator of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to spoil US-Ukrainian bilateral talks, given recent US and Ukrainian official statements about possible US involvement in Ukrainian energy infrastructure, including the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant."

To quote the ISWs Key Takeaways on 21 March:

The Kremlin is weaponising ongoing ceasefire negotiations and deliberately misrepresenting the status and terms of a future ceasefire agreement in order to delay and undermine negotiations for a settlement to the war.

Kremlin officials are leveraging narratives about Ukrainian strikes and combat operations in Russian territory to justify rejecting peace negotiations with Ukraine and continuing the war to a domestic Russian audience.

US Special Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg stated that US officials will conduct "shuttle diplomacy" to engage bilaterally with both Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Russia continues to strengthen its bilateral relations with North Korea, despite growing warnings from the US against deeper Russian-North Korean cooperation.

Russian officials also continue to deepen ties with the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Ukraine's European allies continue efforts to provide Ukraine with military assistance and bolster Ukraine's defence industrial base (DIB).

Ukrainian forces recently advanced in Belgorod Oblast. Russian forces recently advanced in Sumy Oblast and near Kupiansk, Toretsk and Pokrovsk.

Ukrainian and Western defence officials estimated that the Russian monthly casualty rate is between 20,000 and 35,000 servicemembers.

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JACKSON COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB)  In January, dozens of FPU customers testified before the Public Service Commission, all of them against a proposed rate increase.

On Thursday afternoon, the Public Service Commission voted 3-2 in favor of approving the FPU request.

Were not happy with that decision. And we wont ever be, Jackson County Commission Chairman Jamey Westbrook said.

Tractor-trailer overturns on SR 20 after collision with pickup truck in Liberty County

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The utility company argues they havent had a rate increase since 2014, and they deserve a fair rate of return on their investment. However, long-time Jackson County residents dont feel the situation is fair at all.

Its kind of unfair that they just want to add more burdens, Westbrook said.

I can only say that in my opinion, its a sad, almost criminal situation for for the residents of Jackson County in this area. This area is one of the poorest counties in the state of Florida around 25% of the population are over the age of 65 and on fixed incomes and in Marianna, 40%, over 40% of the population is below the poverty line, resident Sid Riley said.

A rate increase here in our community. Its going to hurt. Its going to hurt the city. We have about 118 or so individual accounts with Florida Public Utilities, for which we pay annually about three-quarters of $1,000,000. And so an increase of some 20, 30, 40% to the base rate for the utilities will mean that will be another 100,000 to 200,000 additional dollars that we will have to somehow budget going forward for the following year, City Manager William Long said.

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After Januarys public hearing, Marianna city officials decided to hire a legal counsel.

Jackson County School District, and county commission officials joined the city in retaining energy lawyer Robert Sheff Wright.

FPUs initial request would have been an increase of about $12 million. The public service commissioners granted a $9.8 million increase.

We believe theres an opportunity to whittle that 9.7, 9.8 down a little bit further. And they still being Florida public, be able to provide safe, reliable energy for our community, Long said.

Early voting underway for Congressional District 1 seat

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Others question what theyre getting from FPU, other than electricity.

Florida Public Utilities does not have a presence, does not have an office here, does not have a place for residents to go by and pay their power bill. They dont have a drop box. And so one of the things that we would like to see is for them to have a presence again here in our community, Long added.

Jackson County, alongside the City of Marianna and the School Board, worked diligently to oppose the FPU rate increase, hiring an attorney to represent the best interests of our community. While we are disappointed in the Florida Public Service Commissions decision, we remain committed to advocating for fair and reasonable utility rates for our residents. We appreciate the collaboration of local leaders in this effort and will continue exploring ways to minimize the impact on our citizens, Jackson County said in a follow-up statement.

For more details on the rate case, click here.

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(Bloomberg) -- Japan and China held their first economic dialogue in six years in Tokyo on Saturday, an event aimed at reducing tensions between the Asian giants as they face trade pressure from the US.

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We had a very lively discussion. It ended up going on for some time, but I think it was a fruitful meeting, Japans Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters following the meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

When asked whether the US tariffs were discussed, Iwaya said it was not the main topic of discussion in any of the meetings held on Saturday.

We agreed with South Korea to continue working together closely and also communicate clearly with the US, he said, referring to separate ministerial talks held earlier in the day with South Korea, without elaborating further. He did not say what was discussed with Wang regarding US tariffs.

The meeting took place less than two weeks before US President Donald Trump is set to unveil more tariffs on April 2, and follows failed attempts by Japan to lobby the US government directly for an exemption from the levies.

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Although China is Japans largest trading partner, the two nations have been at loggerheads over issues including a territorial dispute and a ban imposed by Beijing on seafood from Japan following the release of wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The Senkaku islands, known as Diaoyu islands in China, and Japans seafood and agricultural exports such as beef to China, were among topics discussed with Wang, Iwaya said.

Ahead of the meetings, Japans foreign ministry downplayed the impact of the US tariffs on the talks. Japan will respond if China raises the issue of US tariffs in the economic dialogue, but a coordinated response to the tariffs is not likely, a Japanese foreign ministry official said.

Surveys show Japanese firms in China have become more pessimistic about doing business in China due to rising geopolitical tensions, fraying bilateral ties and stiff competition from Chinese firms. Still, the scale and close proximity of the Chinese market means its in Japans interest to maintain stable relations.

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Large Japanese companies are still making profits from China, so Japan has no choice but to continue to do business with China, said Norihiko Ishiguro, chairman of the Japan External Trade Organization.

Beijing has also been making moves to stabilize ties with its major trading partners as it faces rising trade tariffs from Washington.

We uphold multilateralism and free trade, and strive to develop economic blocs and globalization in a more inclusive direction, Wang said earlier in the day.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-Yul also joined Iwaya and Wang on Saturday morning to hold trilateral talks, in a move seeking to further cooperation and lay the groundwork for a potential leadership summit as the countries confront economic disruption and rising global political tensions.

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We shared the view that against the backdrop of the intertwined international situation and the weak recovery of the global economy, China, Japan and South Korea have the need and responsibility to further strengthen communication with each other, enhance mutual trust and deepen cooperation, Wang said in remarks following the meeting.

He reiterated that the three economies will continue communicating with an eye on restarting negotiations to sign a three-way free trade agreement and promoting RCEP, a trade framework among Asia-Pacific countries.

Japan, China, and South Korea kicked off talks for a trade deal in 2012 but no meetings on the agreement have been held since 2019, according to Japans foreign ministry website.

Cooperation between the three nations in recent years has focused on promoting people-to-people exchanges, green transformation and exploring how best to manage aging societies.

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--With assistance from James Mayger, Yuko Takeo and Yasutaka Tamura.

(Updates with comments from Japans Iwaya from second paragraph.)

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2025 Bloomberg L.P.
By Tim Kelly

TOKYO (Reuters) - The top diplomats from Japan, China and South Korea met in Tokyo on Saturday, seeking common ground on East Asian security and economic issues amid escalating global uncertainty.

"Given the increasingly severe international situation, I believe we may truly be at a turning point in history," Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said at the start of the meeting in Tokyo with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.

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The three agreed to accelerate preparations for a trilateral summit in Japan this year that would also include talks on how Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul can tackle declining birthrates and aging populations, Iwaya said in a joint announcement after the meeting.

The first gathering of the countries' foreign ministers since 2023 comes as U.S. President Donald Trump upends decades-old alliances, potentially opening the door for China to forge closer ties to countries traditionally aligned with Washington.

"Our three nations have a combined population of nearly 1.6 billion and an economic output exceeding $24 trillion. With our vast markets and great potential, we can exert significant influence," Wang said. China, he added, wants to resume free trade talks with its neighbours and expand membership of the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

However, deep divisions remain. Beijing is at odds with Tokyo and Seoul on several key issues, including its support of North Korea, its intensifying military activity around Taiwan, and its backing of Russia in its war with Ukraine.

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U.S. allies Japan and South Korea, which each host thousands of U.S. troops, share Washingtons view that China - the worlds second-largest economy - poses a growing threat to regional security.

Cho said he had asked China in the meeting to help persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.

"I also stressed that illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea should stop immediately, and that North Korea should not be rewarded for its wrongdoings in the course of bringing about the end of the war in Ukraine," he added.

Iwaya met separately with his Chinese and South Korean counterparts, including the first high-level economic dialogue with Beijing in six years.

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A key issue for Tokyo in the talks with Beijing is a ban on Japanese seafood imports imposed by China after the release of wastewater from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant from 2023.

Iwaya said he confirmed a commitment by China made in September to allow imports of marine products and also asked about expanding imports of Japanese agricultural products, including beef and rice.

"I emphasised that it is important to prioritise resolving those issues that can be addressed early," Iwaya told reporters after the meeting.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly in Tokyo and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Sandra Maler and William Mallard)
Mar. 21LIMA  Heera Shenoy left India with her husband and 2 1/2-year-old son in 1982. They came to the United States seeking a better life, and Shenoy knew it would take hard work and plenty of it to succeed in the New World. She was willing to make that commitment.

Today, at age 88, she continues to amaze others much younger with her commitment to volunteerism. Shenoy is in her 15th year of volunteer service at Mercy Health-St. Rita's Medical Center, averaging 88 volunteer hours each month. That service has not gone unnoticed as she is one of nine winners of the 2025 Jefferson Award for Public Service.

Getting Heera Shenoy to lend her time and talents wherever needed is the easy part of this story. Getting the petite woman to step into the spotlight  even for a brief moment  is much more difficult.

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"I would be happy if this story wasn't written," she chided during an interview in recognition of her Jefferson Award. "I was even nominated without my knowledge. I don't volunteer my time to get attention. I feel good when I can give back to society," Shenoy said. "When we first came to this country we went through a lot of hardships and now I can understand the problems of others and help out wherever I can. I volunteer because I like to do it."

New country, new job

Trained in India with a Master's degree in cytogenetics, Shenoy found work at St. Rita's Hospital  now Mercy Health-St. Rita's Medical Center  in the accounting, finance and IT departments. She worked in the IT field for the hospital for 43 years before her job was outsourced some 10 years ago.

"I worked 85 to 90 hours a week for 24 years; one day job and one night job," Shenoy said. Today she volunteers at Mercy Health and the India Club. She takes people to appointments, escorts Haitian ladies to nursing homes to look for employment and brings food to elderly shut-ins. She is also a fixture at the Mercy Health Thrift Store in Lima.

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Without hesitation

"Heera gives  her time, her talents, her resources  without hesitation," said Sara Heitmeyer, volunteer/auxiliary resource director for the hospital. "Her willingness to help those in need lifts up all who come in contact with her. She is completely unaware of how much she impacts those she helps. Heera feels that she has been blessed and therefore must bless others."

Heitmeyer said Shenoy worked two jobs for many years to put her son through college.

"Heera came to this country (from India) with very little. It's because of the hardships she herself has faced that she is so sensitive to the needs of others."

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"I have known Heera since 2007 when she volunteered as an assistant treasurer for the India Club in Cridersville," Heidi Barnett said. "She has volunteered at St. Rita's since 2005. She helped build a shelter for Eagle Scouts, contributed regularly to St. Jude's and helped settle new arrivals from India by opening her heart and her home. She has regularly donated and collected donations for Goodwill and the Lima Soup Kitchen.

"Heera is a pious, devout Hindu Brahmin. She is humble, caring and wants to help others like a soldier of God and a silent worker without expecting any return," Barnett said.

Maddie Brunner, fitness coordinator at Mercy Health, said Shenoy exhibits "exceptional dedication" that contributes to the center's success.

"Heera comes to the fitness center six days a week and cleans for us. She consistently demonstrates a positive attitude and brings a lot of joy to the fitness center. She never fails to being a smile to the faces of those working out in the center."

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Nancy Rosenau was working at the Manitou Springs Spa Building when catastrophic flooding hit the Pikes Peak area in July 2013.

She and a group of others sprang into action, throwing sandbags against the historic building as a torrential downpour on the Waldo Canyon burn scar forced knee-high levels of fast-flowing water, mud and debris down adjacent Canon Avenue and overflowed Fountain Creek on the other side.

Later, they took refuge on the structure's rooftop for "quite a while," waiting out the storm. When it was all over, Rosenau walked, barefoot, to her home on nearby Manitou Avenue. She'd removed the rain boots she'd been wearing earlier because they were full of sludge.

"It was quite a day," said Rosenau, who now works as a gallery consultant at Mountain High Gallery and Gifts.

The flash floods that pummeled Manitou Springs in July and August 2013 foreshadowed fatal storms in September across the entire Front Range.

The week of Sept. 11, 2013, storms poured water, mud, rocks, trees and other debris out of the foothills. On Sept. 12, roads washed away, homes were destroyed and people were left stranded or were killed from southern El Paso County up to the Wyoming border.

Colorado's governor at the time, now U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, declared a disaster emergency on Sept. 12, 2013, in 14 counties, including El Paso and Pueblo.

Severe storm damage forced the closure of the popular Seven Falls attraction in Colorado Springs, which The Broadmoor hotel spent $12 million to buy, rebuild and make over; it didn't reopen until 2015.

The storms also prematurely ended the inaugural season at The Broadmoor's upscale retreat, the Ranch at Emerald Valley, when heavy rains burst two dams on the property that eroded nearby roads, damaged at least one cabin and evacuated 22 guests and 25 hotel staffers.

Ten people died that week, including two in El Paso County. The Pikes Peak region saw four dead that summer due to flooding, including John Collins, 53, and Rose Hammes, 17, who were swept away by floodwaters in August; James Bettner, 47, who was found in Sand Creek in September; and Danny Davis, 54, who was found in Fountain Creek, also in September.

For some El Paso County residents the disastrous flash floods that pummeled the region in 2013 and again in August 2015 have become a memory  perhaps a little far off now, but always persistent.

"As human nature is, (the flood events) have receded in most people's minds. Now if we have a thunderstorm, people aren't immediately thinking, 'This is another disaster,'" said Colorado Rep. Marc Snyder, who served as Manitou Springs mayor from 2010-2016. "... But for those of us who have been around a long time, it never really goes away."

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Manitou spent years and millions of dollars recovering from the devastation, checking off a lengthy laundry list of recovery and mitigation projects aided by several state and federal funding allocations to get the work done.

The city received $16 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, and almost $375,000 from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to retain a group of professionals who played key roles in completing some of the recovery and mitigation work.

Among other work, the city constructed a flood-control channel in the Williams Canyon area, including concrete walls that rise during flooding to protect businesses near Park and Canon avenues. Officials built a drainage structure in Crystal Park, restored damaged walls on Ruxton Avenue, made City Hall less susceptible to flooding and stabilized hillsides that were hard-hit by erosion, including near Pawnee Avenue and behind Timberline Baptist Church.

Officials also installed flood sirens so residents can know when a flood is expected and they can get to safer, higher ground.

"We had to immediately put in a lot of emergency warning measures.  Us being a tourist town, people were rightfully scared to come to Manitou Springs, because you don't know when the next rainstorm is going to come or how bad it's going to be," Snyder said.

Recovery and mitigation work, as well as seeing infrastructure hold up as expected during storms that came afterward, went a long way in restoring public confidence in Manitou's emergency planning and response, he said.

Rosenau said it can be difficult to accurately assess the level of safety until a disaster happens.

"We probably thought we were safe before that (flooding) happened," she said.

Snyder said the floods lent the opportunity for more community education on disaster preparedness and response, and people have become more diligent and aware.

"I think a lot of people now  they're seeing these fire and flooding situations are going on, really, all around the world, but especially here in the West. I think people's consciousness has been at a new level."

Manitou Springs residents who want to learn more about their property's risk for flooding, how to better prepare for flooding events and sign up for emergency warning alerts can visit the city's flooding preparedness webpage at manitouspringsgov.com/560/Flooding-Preparedness.

El Paso County residents can also learn how to better plan for and clean up from flooding on the county's flood preparedness webpage at admin.elpasoco.com/pproem/flooding-preparedness-recovery/.
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT)  The Jefferson County Sheriffs Office is asking for the publics assistance locating a missing man.

Derrick Phillips, 45, has been missing since March 17. He was seen in Eastaboga, Alabama on March 17, and he was later seen in Carrolton, Georgia on March 19. Phillips has black hair and brown eyes. He is 56 tall, and he weights 154 pounds.

The JCSO says that Phillips has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder and could be at risk to himself or others.

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Phillips was last seen driving a Toyota Corolla with Alabama Tag Number 1AOYMN6.

Anyone with information on Phillips whereabouts is encouraged to contact the JCSO at 205-325-1450.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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POTTSVILLE  John Black Jack Kehoe was not the leader of the so-called Molly Maguires, and was innocent of the crime for which he was hanged in 1878, a direct descendant said recently at a program at the Schuylkill County Historical Society.

Anne Flaherty, Kehoes great-great-granddaughter, outlined her argument during a discussion of her new book, The Passion of John Kehoe: And the Myth of the Molly Maguires.

The result of 20 years of research, the book challenges the image of Kehoe and the Molly Maguires as portrayed in The Molly Maguires, a 1970 movie starring Sean Connery and Richard Harris, as well as numerous articles and books.

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Kehoe was portrayed as a terrorist miner in the movie, she said. And as the King of the Mollies in a book by Allan Pinkerton.

Not only was he not a terrorist, she argued, Kehoe was not a miner.

Kehoe was Girardvilles high constable, the equivalent of police chief. He owned and operated the Hibernian House pub, and ran for state representative in 1870.

Similarly, others among the 21 Irish Catholics hanged in Schuylkill, Carbon and surrounding counties between 1877 and 1879 were also not miners.

Flahertys research puts a new face to the condemned men who went to the gallows in one of the largest mass hangings in American history.

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If they had been miners, Flaherty said, they worked their way out to become area businessmen, tavern operators, tax collectors and political delegates to the Democratic Party.

Five of those hanged were school directors, she said, and all were members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. Four of the condemned were members of the Workingmens Benevolent Association.

Founded in 1868 by John Siney, of Saint Clair, the WBA was one of the first labor unions in the United States. It was active in strikes against coal operators in Schuylkill County.

These Irishmen were not thugs, and they were not oppressed mine workers, Flaherty said. So we need a new explanation for what went on.

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Anne Flaherty, left, and William J. Kirwan, descendants of John Kehoe, at a lecture on Flahertys book, The Passion of John Kehoe: And the Myth of the Molly Maguires at the Schuylkill County Historical Society on March 19, 2025. (RON DEVLIN/STAFF PHOTO)

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John Black Jack Kehoe (SCHUYLKILL COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY)

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The gravesite of John Black Jack Kehoe at St. Jeromes Cemetery along Mahanoy Street in Tamaqua. (FILE PHOTO)

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Anne Flaherty, left, and William J. Kirwan, descendants of John Kehoe, at a lecture on Flahertys book, The Passion of John Kehoe: And the Myth of the Molly Maguires at the Schuylkill County Historical Society on March 19, 2025. (RON DEVLIN/STAFF PHOTO)

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Flahertys 512-page treatise lays the blame largely at the doorstep of Franklin Gowen, president of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad and the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co. in Pottsville. She outlines in detail Gowens connection to New York newspapers, which characterized the condemned men as terrorists.

Responding to a question by William J. Kirwan, of Mar-Lin  Kehoes great-great-grandson  Flaherty said a letter by Archbishop James F. Wood of Philadelphia did irreparable damage to the accused mens ability to receive a fair trial. The letter was circulated nationally and internationally.

Bad men are a terror anywhere, but now particularly so in the coal region, said the letter, first read by Fr. OConnor in Mahanoy Plane on Dec. 15, 1875. Beware of the Molly Maguires.

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Joseph Wayne, Kehoes great-grandson and the authors cousin, was among the 75 or so persons who filled the historical society conference room to capacity. For years, Wayne has steadfastly maintained that his great-grandfather was not the so-called King of the Mollies.

The trials were basically a sham, he said, where defendants were not allowed to testify, some of the jurors didnt speak English well and the prosecutor was head of the coal company.

They could have saved time by just taking them over and hanging them, he said, sarcastically. This was all about breaking up labor unions.

Wayne continues to operate the Hibernian House, which is temporarily closed, more than 150 years after it was founded. Plans are to develop part of it as a coal miners museum.

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Kehoe professed his innocence in a letter written from the Pottsville Prison, in which he appealed for support from friends shortly before he went to the gallows in the courtyard of the Schuylkill County Prison on Nov. 18, 1878.

Thinking over the cruelties that have befallen me by bribery, perjury and prejudice, I am under a sentence of death for a crime I never committed, he wrote. I am convicted of the beating death of Frank Langdon that was committed in Audenreid nearly 16 years ago.

Saying he did not get justice, despite evidence that provided his innocence, Kehoe added, It was all jug-handled justice.

Due in large part to Waynes determination, Gov. Milton Shapp pardoned John Kehoe in January 1979. The pardon was granted after an investigation by the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons.

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David Moore, the Board of Pardons agent who investigated the proposed pardon, attended the program in the historical society. He graduated from Pottsville High School in 1962.

After reading through the case file, I reported theres nothing here, said Moore, who recommended Kehoe be pardoned.

The Passion of John Kehoe: And The Myth of the Molly Maguires is available online and in the Schuylkill County Historical Society.
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL)  After being selected by the Johnson City Board of Education, Erin Slater has officially accepted an offer to be the next superintendent of Johnson City Schools.

The school system announced on Friday that Slater, the current superintendent of the Fort Madison Community School District in Iowa, agreed to the boards contract offer.

I am very excited to be joining Johnson City Schools as Superintendent, Slater said in a news release. I am looking forward to establishing strong partnerships with the staff, the Board of Education and the community. Together, we will build upon Johnson City Schools excellence in education and continue to foster collaboration for opportunities and growth.

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She will take over the position on July 1.

Slater fills the role after Steve Barnetts retirement in January. Greg Wallace has served as interim superintendent since Barnetts retirement.

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Slater as the new leader of Johnson City Schools, Johnson City Board of Education Chair Jonathan Kinnick stated in the release. Her vision, experience, and passion for education make her the perfect fit to build on our districts strong foundation while guiding us to new heights. We are confident that her leadership will inspire our students, staff, and community as we continue our commitment to excellence.

The school board will finalize Slaters contract during its April meeting.

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Slater has spent nine years as a superintendent in Iowa.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather.
Mar. 21ROCHESTER  An Olmsted County district judge has denied a billboard company's request to reverse a mayoral veto that denied placement of a 600-square-foot sign along U.S. Highway 52.

"Based on the undisputed facts presented, (Reagan Outdoor Advertising) has not met its burden to show that the actions of this decision-making body were unfair and unreasonable," Olmsted County District Judge Pam King wrote of the Rochester City Council's decision not to override Mayor Kim Norton's July 27, 2023, veto.

In her 33-page judgment filed Wednesday, King also states Norton's veto was reasonable, since it pointed to earlier denials by city staff and the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals.

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Reagan Outdoor Advertising filed its lawsuit a month after the Rochester council opted to support the veto, which came after the council split 5-2 in deciding to overturn the Zoning Board of Appeals rejection of a one-sided, digital billboard at the site of Classic Storage, 2836 E Frontage Road.

Since the property sits adjacent to Homestead United Methodist Church, city staff initially denied the application, citing restrictions to billboards within 300 feet of churches. The sign company appealed the decision to the Zoning Board of Appeals before taking the request to the City Council.

While the council initially granted the request, the mayor's veto spurred a second vote, which failed to receive needed support.

In its lawsuit, Reagan Outdoor Advertising also raised questions about the mayor and council's decisions. It also asked the judge on what it called a lack of clarity in Rochester's unified development code and whether two emails sent to the City Council by City Attorney Michael Spindler-Krage were a violation of the state's opening meeting law.

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King ruled the city code is clear, which means Reagan Outdoor Advertising is not entitled to permission to erect the sign as proposed.

"As the ordinance is not ambiguous, the ordinance must be viewed in light of the undisputed facts within the record," she wrote. "ROA's proposed billboard was within 300 feet of a place of worship, Homestead United Methodist Church."

Regarding the city attorney's emails sent between the mayor's veto and the council's decision not to override it, King called them "secretive with an intent to influence the City Council in their vote on an already public and controversial matter."

While she stated they might have violated the spirit of the law, she noted they did not appear to lead to conversations between a quorum of the council. Since Spindler-Krage is not a voting member of the council, she said they did not constitute a meeting violation.

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Pointing out that the attorney for Reagan Outdoor Advertising also sent a non-public email to all council members, King said the elected officials cannot be held accountable for such emails.

"As Minnesota law and cases have made clear, it is the intentional actions of the members of the governing body that are at issue and their participation in a meeting of a quorum that dictates whether a Minnesota (open-meeting law) violation has occurred," the judge wrote.

With King's judgment filed, the case is now listed as closed.
STORY: Josefina Romero weeps for her son, who is being held in a high-security prison in El Salvador.

He's one of the hundreds of Venezuelan migrants deported from the U.S. for their alleged ties to the notorious Tren de Aragua gang.

But Romero says her son is not a criminal and demanded that El Salvador's president send him home.

Please, (Nayib Bukele), bring him back to Venezuela, hes doing nothing there with other Venezuelans. Send him back. If he (Bukele) wants justice he can seek justice with (criminals) there. They dont belong to the Tren de Aragua. The fact that they have tattoos doesnt mean they belong to the Tren de Aragua. Nowadays, everyone has tattoos.

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Romero and other families in Carabobo, Venezuela, made the tattoo connection after reading on social media that U.S. authorities had linked having tattoos to the gang.

This father says if he has to, he will go to El Salvador himself to search for his son and "bring him back on foot."

:: EL SALVADOR PRESIDENCY HANDOUT

Last weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump invoked an 18th-century wartime law to deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua, which the White House has declared a terrorist group and alien enemy.

The migrants are being held in El Salvador under an agreement with Bukele's government.

Venezuela's Interior Minister said on Friday that none of the Venezuelans deported by the U.S. to El Salvador is a member of Tren de Aragua, saying: "I believe with absolute responsibility that not a single one appears on the organizational chart" of the criminal gang.

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Later on Friday, the judge who temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting the Venezuelans under the obscure law said government lawyers had been "intemperate and disrespectful."

That's according to court filings at the outset of a hearing on Friday over whether to maintain the ban.

Judge James Boasberg is also considering whether officials violated his order on March 15 by failing to return two planes carrying the deportees that landed in El Salvador.

He ordered Justice Department officials to provide an explanation by Tuesday.

Trump has said he would not defy any court orders and told reporters on Friday that his administration has the authority to "get bad people out of our country."

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These are hard, tough criminals and we have to get them out. // And you cant stop that with a judge sitting behind a bench who has no idea what goes on.

The escalating dispute between the judge and the Trump administration has raised concerns among some legal experts about a potentially looming constitutional crisis, if the administration defies judicial decisions.
Greg Lane, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, holds a petition for Initiative 2066, the ballot measure aimed at blocking local and state efforts to transition away from use of natural gas. Anthony Anton, president of the Washington Hospitality Association, and Ryann Blake, owner of Chimney Techniques in Aberdeen, joined a news conference May 15, 2024 in Olympia, Wash. to kick off signature gathering. (Jerry Cornfield/Washington State Standard)

A King County Superior Court judge on Friday invalidated the ballot measure approved by voters in November that seeks to slow Washingtons shift from natural gas toward technology like electric heat pumps.

Superior Court Judge Sandra Widlan ruled that Initiative 2066 is unconstitutional because it runs afoul of a provision limiting citizen initiatives to no more than one subject and requiring them to contain the full text of the portion of state laws they would alter.

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In issuing her decision from the bench, Widlan said the purpose of the single subject requirement is to prevent logrolling or pushing through undesirable legislation by attaching it to desirable legislation.

This is a difficult task in the present case, because the body of the initiative is so broad and free ranging that it makes it hard to say with any precision what the general topic is, Widlan said, according to a press release from the coalition of groups that filed the lawsuit.

With 2066 struck down, Washingtonians can get back to work towards a cleaner, healthier, more affordable energy future, Christina Wong, vice president of programs at Washington Conservation Action, said in a statement. This is a win for Washingtonians, not the fossil fuel lobby.

Ben Avery, director of the Washington chapter of the Sierra Club, said the decision sends a strong message to polluting industries that using unconstitutional and misleading ballot initiatives is a waste of taxpayers time and money.

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Sponsors of the controversial measure vowed to take the case to the state Supreme Court.

We will not back away from the fight to ensure the will of the people who voted to make I-2066 law stands, Greg Lane, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, said in a statement.

Those who want to ban natural gas are trying to force their minority view on the majority of Washingtonians. I fully expect we will prevail at the Supreme Court, he said.

Former Gov. Jay Inslee, who campaigned against the measure, attended Fridays hearing.

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Initiative 2066, which voters approved in November, aims to unwind changes to the energy code, approved by the state Building Code Council, that went into effect a year ago. Those rules offer builders of homes and commercial buildings permitting incentives for choosing heat pumps  which provide both heating and cooling in the same unit  instead of natural gas furnaces.

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The measure also repealed provisions in a 2024 state law, House Bill 1589, intended to accelerate Puget Sound Energys transition away from natural gas. The initiative requires utilities and local governments to provide natural gas to eligible customers and it prevents approval of utility rate plans that end or restrict access to natural gas, or make it too costly.

A coalition including Climate Solutions, Washington Conservation Action, Front and Centered, King County and the city of Seattle sued over the initiative in December. Washington is the primary defendant. The Building Industry Association of Washington was allowed to intervene to defend the measure.

Attorneys for initiative opponents argued in a court filing that the most obvious constitutional infirmity of Initiative 2066 is that it combines a popular idea of requiring certain utilities and local governments to provide natural gas to customers with a host of other subjects, such as future planning by Puget Sound Energy and the array of changes to the state energy code.

By joining all of these distinct policy choices and requiring voters to enact all or none of them, I-2066 violates the Constitutions prohibition on logrolling, they wrote in their legal filing.

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They also contended the initiative improperly amends existing laws by not spelling out the full text of proposed alterations. And a third claim is that the ballot title did not fully describe for voters what the initiative would do.

Lawyers for the state and the Building Industry Association of Washington argued the initiative complied with the constitution. BIAW attorneys emphasized in a court filing that all its provisions relate to preserving energy choice, the subject of the measure.

Since voters passed the initiative, the homebuilding association has pressed the state Building Code Council to move faster in aligning energy rules for new construction with provisions in the natural gas initiative.

Last month, a Thurston County judge dismissed a BIAW lawsuit that sought to force the state panel to act faster.

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The Building Industry Association of Washington responded by filing a second suit with a similar purpose. That legal challenge is pending and it was not immediately clear how how Fridays ruling might affect it.

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KANKAKEE, Ill. (WCIA)  A Kankakee County judge is anticipated to make a decision in less than two months on whether to bar a jury from hearing evidence in a former Iroquois County Health Administrators gambling trial.

WCIAs partners with the Ford County Chronicle reported that Dee Ann Schippert, 57 of Watseka, is charged with 33 felonies, including eight counts of theft of government property by deception, eight counts of forgery and 17 counts of official misconduct. Schippert appeared in a Kankakee courtroom for a pretrial hearing on Tuesday with her Springfield attorneys Mark Wykoff Sr. and Daniel Fultz.

Taylorville teens nearly derail train hauling hazardous materials by putting plates on tracks

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In December, two motions were filed in limine by her attorneys, including one seeking a judges order to prohibit evidence and testimony related to her gambling, arguing its irrelevant. In a response to this motion, Assistant Illinois Attorney General Haley Bookhout, who is prosecuting the case with Assistant Attorney General Mara Somlo, argued otherwise.

Bookhout said that this will show that over a 20-month span during the COVID-19 pandemic, Schippert spent at least 759 hours at a Watseka gambling establishment while she claimed she was working. This turned out to be an average of almost 38 hours per month.

According to online court records, William Dickenson, Kankakee County Judge, who was reassigned this case after it was filed in Iroquois County Circuit Court in 2024 due to the recusal of two Iroquois County judges, heard arguments from both sides during the March 18 hearing before taking the matter under advisement. The case was then continued to 1:30 p.m. on May 5 for a decision on the motion.

The second motion in limine filed by Schipperts attorneys, which aims to bar prosectors from introducing evidence or testimony at trial indicating that she does not support the LGBTQIA+ agenda, was granted with no objection from prosecutors. Additionally, both sides were advised by the judge to obtain leave from court if cross-examination may involve such testimony or evidence.

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The charges filed against Schippert last March allege Schippert stole more than $100,000 from the health department between May 31, 2020, and July 15, 2022, by submitting fraudulent timesheets claiming hours she did not work, including overtime and backpay she never earned.

Springfield Clinic to lay off staff, cites financial challenges

She also allegedly made false representations to the board of health to obtain its approval to receive pay for 179 hours of overtime and fraudulently used funds from a grant for COVID-19 contact tracing to pay for her overtime. On top of this, Schippert allegedly committed whistleblower retaliation through the act of firing an employee on June 15, 2022, after the staffer tipped off authorities to her conduct.

Prosecutors said they plan to present time-stamped video recordings from Winnies Gaming Cafe at 1004 E Walnut St. in Watseka as evidence, plus witness testimony from county employees who said they often would see her vehicle parked there on weekdays during normal business hours.

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Additionally, other evidence includes Schipperts cellphone and office call logs and her remote-access log-in information from her work laptop.

The People intend to present evidence from both witnesses as well as documentary records reviewed during the investigation to demonstrate that the Defendant was not only not working her required 40 hours per week [but] was also falsifying her overtime hours in order to receive overtime pay, Bookhout wrote on Jan. 24. Evidence of her hours spent at Winnies, coupled with other evidence obtained, is both highly relevant and necessary to the Peoples case in-chief.

Schippert currently remains free from custody on pretrial conditions.

More information on the trial can be found on the Ford County Chronicles website.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCIA.com.
A Jackson County judge on Friday set a new hearing next month to consider the sale of the troubled Independence Towers apartments, according to court records.

Judge Charles H. McKenzie scheduled the hearing on the apartments possible future ownership for 1:30 p.m. April 18.

A court-appointed receiver, San Diego-based property management giant Trigild Inc., filed an emergency motion earlier this week asking for permission for an expedited sale of the apartment tower at 728 N. Jennings Road in Independence.

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Trigild said it had reached an agreement to sell the apartments to PG Independence Tower LLC, an Indiana limited liability company, for $2.8 million.

But in a court filing on Friday, the buildings owner, 728 N Jennings RD Partners LLC, opposed the accelerated sale.

While 728 does not oppose the sale of the Property, it has concerns with the rushed nature of this sale, Jason Leiker, an attorney for 728 N Jennings RD Partners wrote in the court filing. Particularly when the sale price is far below the indebtedness owed by 728, which is $5,550,000.

The proposed sale comes after a year-long legal battle between Fannie Mae and 728 N Jennings RD Partners, which Kansas City real estate investor Parker Webb, the CEO of FTW Investments LLC, controls.

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Fannie Mae contended that 728 N Jennings RD Partners failed to maintain the building according to its loan agreement and accelerated the loan payments.

In February 2024, Fannie Mae filed a lawsuit and sought an emergency appointment of a receiver. In May, McKenzie appointed Trigild as receiver, replacing the former building management, Tango Property Management LLC, which FTW Investments owns.

Trigild had asked for the expedited sale due to the possible erosion of property value and an ongoing legal battle with tenants attempting to form a class-action lawsuit against 728 N Jennings RD Partners, FTW Investments and others.

The proceeds from the sale would go to lender Fannie Mae to pay the outstanding balance loan and the expenses of the receivership.

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In his filing, Leiker said that Trigild failed to address the difference between what is owed and the sale price as well as the loss or injury that his client might face due to the rushed sale.

As it stands right now, 728s guarantors on the mortgage loan might be required to pay the deficiency, the filing said.

728 N Jennings RD Partners contends that Trigild also failed to provide sufficient evidence about other offers to purchase the property nor attempts to negotiate a higher price. Just over a year ago, 728 N Jennings RD Partners had a purchase offer that was $500,000 higher, according to the filing.

Leiker condends the tenant lawsuit has no significance on whether the sale happened Friday or in 30 days, saying a decision on whether class-action status would be granted is not expected until late summer.

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Trigild also failed to explain the reasoning behind its statement that the propertys value is eroding, the filing contends, saying the receiver is responsible for keeping the property maintained, and it has lauded its own efforts in this regard.

Leiker also said in the filing that 728 N Jennings Road Partnership and Fannie Mae are in discussions to settle the lawsuit and the sale price Trigild receives for the property could impact whether a resolution is possible.

728 request the the property be sold, the filing said. However, it believes the Receiver has a duty to ensure that maximum value is received . . . The rushed nature of this sale has red flags.

Troubled history

The property has been at the center of controversy for the last year, after tenants started raising red flags last spring about living conditions at the apartment building.

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Last May, residents of Independence Towers unionized with KC Tenants after the buildings hot water system was down for two weeks, following months of serious plumbing, heating and cooling, and pest control issues.

That, however, was just the start of a series of issues for the troubled complex.

In June, an alleged arson fire damaged multiple units on the lower floors of the building.

In July, 3-year-old Tidus Bass fell to his death out of an eighth-story window at the apartment building. Moses Lee Bass and Destiny Lee Randle each were charged with first-degree child endangerment, a felony, in the boys death. Both alleged they tried for months to get the faulty window fixed.

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When U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II toured apartments at Independence Tower in September, he called the living conditions unacceptable.

Some of it is worse than your words, I dont know how Im going to describe it to people, Cleaver said.

In October, some tenants started a rent strike over the living conditions, which remains ongoing.

Members of the Independence Towers Tenants Union said in a news release Friday they also oppose the sale, accusing Trigild of attempting to sell the building to another out-of-state landlord without the usual time for due diligence, leaving tenants with serious concerns about another transition that fails to guarantee safe, stable housing.

The Stars Noelle Alviz-Gransee contributed reporting.
After a week of evasions, missed deadlines, and desperate attempts to remove him from the case, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg pledged to hold the Trump administration accountable if it violated his order not to deport suspected Venezuelan gang members.

The government is not being terribly cooperative, Boasberg said in a hearing on Friday afternoon, The New York Times reported. I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order, who ordered this, and what the consequences will be.

The judge is considering whether the president violated the law when he invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport suspected members of a Venezuelan gang without questioning. He is also considering whether the administration ignored his order on Saturday to halt the deportations so that he had more time to consider the underlying legal issues.

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The policy ramifications of this are incredibly troublesome and problematic and concerning, Boasberg said.

Boasberg excoriated lawyers for the Department of Justice for using intemperate and disrespectful language in briefs and set another hearing for early next week.

The extraordinary showdown between the executive and judicial branches began last week, when President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Agua without questioning. In a hearing on March 15, Boasberg ordered the administration not to deport any of the suspected gang members.

Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States, Boasberg said.

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Even so, two planes carrying 261 migrants landed in El Salvador the following day.

In court and in the press, the administration has claimed it did not violate the courts order because the judges written orderwhich came 45 minutes after his oral orderwas filed after the planes had taken off.

All of the planes subject to the written order of this judge departed U.S. soil, U.S territory before the judges written order, said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday. Theres actually questions of whether a verbal order carries the same weight as a legal order, as a written order.

The DOJ made that same argument in court on Thursday, writing in a trial brief that an oral directive is not enforceable as an injunction.

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Thats a heckuva stretch, Boasberg said.

DOJ lawyers have thus far evaded questions from the judge about the timing of the flights, which it argued would disclose sensitive information bearing on national security and foreign relations.

On Thursday, Boasberg castigated the Trump administration, saying it had again evaded its obligations to provide information. The president has called for Boasberg to be impeached over the ruling, and his administration has asked an appeals court to rescind his original injunction.

The appeals court is scheduled to hear the DOJs appeal on Monday.
Mar. 21Attorneys made closing arguments Friday in the trial of a man charged with fatally shooting 40-year-old Kenneth Ellis in a crowded Albuquerque nightclub in 2024.

Theodore Toney, 46, is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly shooting Ellis in the head on April 6, 2024, as dozens of people milled nearby at the Navajo Elks Lodge, 525 San Pedro NE. Ellis was killed shortly before midnight by a single 9mm gunshot to the back of his head.

Jurors will begin deliberations Monday in 2nd Judicial District Court. Judge Lucy Solimon is presiding.

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Prosecutors say the investigation was hampered by the reluctance of witnesses to speak with police or testify at Toney's trial. Assistant District Attorney Jolanna Macias told jurors that witnesses feared retribution if they testified.

"Why? They do not want to suffer the same fate as Kenneth Ellis," Macias said in closing arguments. An estimated 30 to 40 people were in the club at the time of the killing, she said.

"Nobody saw anything," Macias said. "That's because witnesses are scared. They are scared, and they have every reason to be scared."

Prosecutors allege that Toney killed Ellis in revenge for Ellis' testimony in the 2016 murder trial of Toney's son, Oshay Toney, who was convicted on lesser charges and is now in prison.

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"This case is about intimidation," Macias told jurors.

Much of the case centered on surveillance video from the Navajo Elks Lodge, located just west of Expo New Mexico, that shows a crowded and chaotic scene inside the club at the time of the shooting. The club was hosting a birthday party at the time.

Toney's attorney, Jonathan Schildgen, told jurors that the videos show only that many people with guns were inside the club at the time.

"Why are all these people in there with firearms?" Schildgen said in closing arguments. The videos also offer no evidence that Toney was armed or that he fired the fatal gunshot, he said. "This is a dangerous place with dangerous people, where dangerous things happen. There's no way to know how many people are there and how many have firearms."

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Schildgen also said the lack of eyewitness testimony indicates only that no one saw Toney fire the fatal gunshot.

"The prosecutor mentioned many times that the witnesses were afraid," he said. "That's pretty much her opinion. I don't know anybody that likes talking to police about these kinds of investigations."

Ellis testified in the murder trial of Oshay Toney stemming from the 2015 killing of Ellis' uncle, Marvin Ellis.

Oshay Toney, 29, was convicted in 2016 on lesser charges of aggravated battery and shooting at a motor vehicle and is serving an 18 1/2 -year prison sentence. He filed a lawsuit in February against the New Mexico Corrections Department, alleging he lost sight in one eye after he was shot in the face by a corrections officer in 2024.

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Kenneth Ellis' wife testified this week that Theodore Toney threatened at his son's sentencing hearing in 2016 to kill Ellis and his family. Macias said Toney formed the intent to kill Ellis at that time.

"He formed that intent in 2016 and he had the opportunity on April 6, 2024, and he carried it out," she told jurors.

Toney's attorney called it unrealistic that Toney would have held a grudge against Ellis for a decade without making any effort to take revenge.

"In 10 years it never boils over until now," he told jurors.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A jury in southern Nevada awarded over 60 victims $3.8 billion on Friday in a lawsuit against Las Vegas-based company Real Water.

The now-bankrupt companys product was linked to liver illnesses and autoimmune diseases.

In the most recent case, a jury found Real Water liable for product defects, and reckless disregard for consumer safety.

Real Water marketed itself as a healthy product, but in reality, it was poisoning people. This verdict sends a clear messagecompanies that put profits over people will face the full force of justice, Robert Eglet, the lead attorney, said.

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In June 2021, the FDA announced that Real Water had agreed to cease operations until they could comply with federal regulations.

In August 2021, the company officially filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In June 2024, a jury awarded $3 billion in damages to eight other Las Vegas residents who sued Real Water. In October 2023, a $228 million settlement was also reached, and in October 2024, $5.2 billion was awarded to 15 plaintiffs.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
TOPEKA (KSNT)  A man accused of shooting and killing a 17-year-old in Topeka in 2023 was found guilty Friday.

Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay said in a press release on March 21 that Joshua M. Mitchiner was found guilty during a jury trial. This comes after he was accused of killing Victor N. Carlton, 17, in 2023. He was found guilty of the following:

Murder in the first degree.

Murder in the second degree; intentional.

Murder in the second degree; reckless.

Aggravated robbery.

Eight counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

Joshua Mitchiners mugshot. (Photo Courtesy/Shawnee County Department of Corrections)

KHP hit driver with $500 fine for 119 mph speeding violation on the Kansas Turnpike

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Police were called around 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 10, 2023 to the 2000 block of Pennsylvania Avenue on reports of a shooting. Officers found one person, later identified as Carlton, with a life-threatening gunshot wound to the chest at the scene who was declared dead by medical personnel.

The Topeka Police Department later arrested Mitchiner, 17 at the time, in connection to Carltons death. This marked the 27th homicide investigation of 2023.

The Shawnee County District Attorneys Office charged Mitchiner in April 2024 for numerous crimes related to Carltons death. These included:

Murder in the first degree; intentionally dangerous felony

Murder in the second degree; reckless

Aggravated robbery; bodily harm

Murder in the first degree; premeditation

Murder in the second degree; intentional

Eight counts of sexual exploitation of a child; visual depiction of a child under 18

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Kansas law enforcement agencies sign up to help ICE conduct deportations

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE)  Three juveniles are facing murder charges for the death of a man last year. But how they are tried will differ, and the youngest suspect may not face any jail time.

A growing trend of juvenile crime, which has lawmakers and law enforcement alike concerned. While lawmakers are working to address the issue, three juveniles are preparing for their day in court over the hit-and-run death of a cyclist in 2024.

Story continues below

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We have to understand that the issue, the fundamental issue on child crimes is different than it is when were talking about adult crimes, said Joshua Kastenberg, a professor with UMM School of Law.

How juveniles are tried differs from adults. The oldest, 16-year-old William Garcia, was 15 when the crime was committed. The others were 13 and 11. Each is facing a different route in the justice system. Just because the court invokes an adult sentence, you still have to go through the hurdle of proving that the person understood, meaning the defendant understood right from wrong in an adult meaning, said Professor Kastenberg.

The state is looking to charge Garcia as an adult. The 13-year-old will remain in custody. The youngest is facing a murder charge like the other two. However, state law prohibits the imprisonment of the 11-year-old, so he will remain in New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department custody.

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So really the criminal law is singularly going to focus on this juvenile and those that he acted with, the other two juveniles. But thats as far as it goes. And its going to be a CYFD matter from that point forward, said Professor Kastenberg.

When it comes to the juvenile justice system, there is a major focus on rehabilitation. So it is important to make sure that we are not treating these kids like theyre adults because theyre not making the decisions the way that an adult would, said Dennica Torres, Albuquerque District Defender.

So the law is built in a manner to promote rehabilitation when youre talking about a juvenile offender, much more so than it is when youre talking about an adult offender, said Professor Kastenberg.

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A Kansas City police officer shot and injured the driver of a vehicle that had been stolen earlier in the day Friday, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.

The driver was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The state patrol is investigating the shooting, which happened around 5 p.m. in the area of East 11th Street and Prospect Avenue.

According to a statement from the state patrol, shortly before the shooting, Kansas City police officers found a Hyundai that had been stolen earlier in the day, and officers attempted to stop the vehicle in the area of Independence Avenue and Benton Boulevard. The car sped away, and a police helicopter tracked down the vehicle.

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An officer used a tire deflation device on the vehicle, and it stopped near East 11th Street and Prospect Avenue. The driver ran, and officers gave chase.

One of the officers fired shots, hitting the driver. The driver was taken into custody and taken to a hospital, the statement said.

The state patrol said a handgun was recovered from where the suspect was shot. No officers were injured in the incident.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  The Kansas House of Representatives passed house bill 2294 on Thursday, with an overwhelming vote of 103-15.

The bill addresses childcare licensing and training requirements, and for the most part, is highly agreed upon.

There are lot of good things in this bill, said Dr. Brandan Kennedy, a certified pediatrician and board chair of the Immunize Kansas Coalition.

There are some things that will streamline childcare in the state of Kansas. And so, I think that theres things that are favorable that everybody agrees on.

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Whistleblower sues Childrens Hospital after controversial firing

Dr. Kennedy says that there is a part of the bill that the majority of the medical community is really concerned about.

The immunization requirements listed in the bill include an exemption for religious beliefs of the parent or guardian. The authors of the bill use the definition of religious beliefs found in a 2021 statute regarding employer COVID-19 vaccine requirements.

According to K.S.A. 44-663, religious beliefs includes, but is not limited to, theistic and non-theistic moral and ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong that are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views.

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Dr. Kennedy thinks that the definition widens the gap for what people can say in order to try to sidestep any vaccine requirements.

Kennedy used recent measles cases in Kansas as an example.

Were already in an uphill battle in Kansas because we dont have sufficient vaccination rates against measles in order to maintain herd immunity, he said.

It put us at a risk for an outbreak and were seeing the consequences of that. Anything, I think, that weakens requirements and potentially lowered those rates only increases our risks.

Kennedy and the coalition are asking that lawmakers give experts a chance to review the impact of that definition.

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All were asking is that those amendments are removed and that theyre vetted appropriately through the appropriate committees so that there are opportunities to discuss the potential implications on the health of all Kansans.

As a pediatrician for nearly 30 years, Kennedy says hes seeing sick children.

Weve already seen consequences in doing what I do. Ive had to take already take care of some children with vaccine-preventable diseases who are seriously and critically ill.

Kennedy also said that he understands the situation that parents have been put in regarding vaccine choice.

I am never going to tell you that a vaccine has a 0% risk. Theres not a 0% risk with anything. And in medicine, we always have to weigh risk versus benefit. I totally validate peoples fear and anxiety are around the entire situation. They hear a lot of things, and they see a lot of things. And unfortunately, theres a lot of misinformation.

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By and large, the coalition says the bill is a positive for Kansans, and that reviewing the definition of religious beliefs would keep the vast majority of the legislation surrounding other topics.

This would not change the effectiveness of the bill, Kennedy said.

The remaining part of the bill? I think everybody is in favor of.

Kennedy says the only job he has is to protect children.

KC Farm School brings back annual spring sale on plants, seeds

Were just trying to do our best and to be the most effective at protecting children against these illnesses, he said.

And all youd have to do is be in my shoes and see one or two of these kids and how sick they are to understand. Many of those kids dont have a voice. And we as pediatricians, we, many times have to be their voice. And like I said, you know what we want to try to do is whats best for them and lowers their risk for health problems and harm.

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The bill heads to the Kansas Senate for discussion. Fox4 reached out to several local lawmakers who voted to approve HB2294, none of them returned our requests in time for this story.

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Originally appeared on E! Online

Suffice it to say, it's been a treat to see Kate Middleton back in action.

Because for awhile last year, it was unclear when anyone would be seeing the Princess of Wales again in publicaside from some lucky bystanders who really did spy her out in the wild.

Not that there wasn't some forewarning, Kensington Palace having shared that Kate underwent planned abdominal surgery Jan. 16, 2024, and would be recovering privately until at least Easter, on March 31.

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Yet as the weeks went by, and it became apparent that the world could not deal with not knowing more about the future queen's condition, conspiracy theories of all levels of silliness and nefariousness started to rage.

Enough so that her husband Prince William, raised to never complain nor explain, issued a terse statement through his office March 6 reading, "His focus is on his work and not on social media."

But at least someone close to the family was staying on top of what was being said about them.

So whether the egregious nature of the speculationcapped off by news of a potential records breach at the hospital where Kate had her operationhastened her decision or not, the mother of three opted to stop the madness.

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In an unprecedented March 22, 2024, video message, Kate shared that she had been diagnosed with cancer and was in the "early stages" of preventative chemotherapy.

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The video, showing a perfectly coiffed Kate sitting in a bucolic setting in all her warm and calm glory, was carefully curated, to be sure.

And yet by letting the public in on what she'd been dealing with during the not-even-three-months she'd been keeping a low profile (it certainly doesn't seem like all that much time in hindsight), she made her marriage and the entire royal family more relatable than ever before.

Or at least it was further confirmation that even towering, centuries-old palace walls can't keep real life out when it's determined to come in.

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Of course, there was already proof of the royals' physical vulnerability: King Charles II, who ascended the throne in 2022 at the age of 73, informed the public Feb. 5, 2024, that he was undergoing cancer treatment.

And the monarch's relatively brief retreat from public-facing dutieshe continued to work and hold meetings at Buckingham Palacemeant William had to be the unflagging face of the family.

And on the occasions when he needed a break or was otherwise needed more at home (having William by her side was "a great source of comfort and reassurance," Kate said in her March 22 video), the void created by the prince's absence from events quickly filled up with gossip.

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However, once Kate had inadvertently shamed the rumormongers who alternately fretted about her and accused her of being too secretive, that opened the door for William to grow a beard and admit thatwhile he couldn't be prouder of his wife of 13 years and her strengthit had been a "brutal" time for his family.

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One small step for William, one giant leap for the ongoing humanization of the royal family, which has done its best to seem infallible but can only do so much.

Details still haven't been particularly forthcomingneither Kate nor Charles has shared what type of cancer they were treated forand her return to public life last year was never anything less than outwardly picture-perfect, whether she was taking daughter Princess Charlotte to Wimbledon or leading her annual Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey.

But an outline of what she has been through has come into focus.

"The cancer journey is complex, scary and unpredictable for everyone, especially those closest to you," Kate said in a Sept. 10 video in which she shared she had completed chemotherapy. "With humility, it also brings you face to face with your own vulnerabilities in a way you have never considered before, and with that, a new perspective on everything."

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Realizing how one's world can turn upside down in an instant, she and Williamparents of Prince George, 11, Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6were both reminded to "be grateful for the simple yet important things in life, which so many of us often take for granted. Of simply loving and being loved."

Her plan, she continued, was to enter her next phase of recovery with a "renewed sense of hope and appreciation of life."

Samir Hussein/WireImage

And there was so much to toast when the calendar flipped to 2025: Kate shared that she was in remission.

"As anyone who has experienced a cancer diagnosis will know, it takes time to adjust to a new normal," the 43-year-old wrote on X Jan. 14. "I am however looking forward to a fulfilling year ahead. There is much to look forward to."

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Kate's March 10 appearance at the Commonwealth Day service, her first time attending in two years, was another heartening sign of more recognizable times ahead.

Though, as Kate herself noted, it's a new normalone that, for the royal family, means never having to pretend that there isn't real life happening behind those palace walls.

Meanwhile, with so much happening in the world, it's hard to remember just how bizarre the Kate conspiracy saga was. So take a look back at how the speculation went so wildly off the rails before she shared her cancer diagnosis:

Jan. 17

It all started with the startling announcement that Kate Middleton had undergone planned abdominal surgery at The London Clinic and would remain hospitalized for 10 to 14 daysand away from her official duties until sometime after Easter March 31, according to Kensington Palace. "The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate," the palace said in the understatement of the year. "She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private." Just hours later, Buckingham Palace shared that King Charles III would undergo a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate at the same hospital the following week, adding to the unprecedented nature of the day for anyone not used to so much information from the royal family.





Jan. 29

Both palaces confirmed, respectively, that the king and the Princess of Wales had been discharged from the hospital. "She is making good progress," Kensington Palace said of Kate in a statement to NBC News. "The Prince and Princess wish to say a huge thank you to the entire team at The London Clinic, especially the dedicated nursing staff, for the care they have provided. The Wales family continues to be grateful for the well wishes they have received from around the world." Future updates on Kate's progress would only be provided "when there is significant new information to share," the palace added.





Feb. 1

A palace source called a report that Kate had been in a coma after surgery "total nonsense." Regarding the item that came from the Spanish program Fiesta, the source told The Times, "No attempt was made by that journalist to fact-check anything that she said with anyone in the household. It's fundamentally, totally made-up, and I'll use polite English here: It's absolutely not the case."





Feb. 5

A day after Charles and Queen Camilla were photographed going to church, Buckingham Palace announced that the monarch had been diagnosed with cancer, doctors having discovered his condition during the course of treating him for a benign enlarged prostate. The palace told NBC News it was not prostate cancer, but no other details were provided. The 75-year-old would step back from public-facing duties while he underwent treatment, the palace said, but continue to conduct business behind closed doors.

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Feb. 7

With both his wife and father out of commission, Prince William returned to his public duties, sharing face-of-the-monarchy responsibility for the foreseeable future with Camilla, his aunt Princess Anne and uncle Prince Edward. "I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you also for the kind messages of support for Catherine and for my father, especially in recent days," William said that night at London's Air Ambulance Charity Gala Dinner, his first public comment on his family's health struggles. "It means a great deal to us all." The former air ambulance pilot quipped, "It's fair to say the past few weeks have had a rather 'medical' focus, so I thought I'd come to an air ambulance function to get away from it all."





Feb. 27

William canceled his plans to attend a memorial for his godfather King Constantine II of Greece, who died in January 2023, citing a "personal matter." Considering the vast array of possibilities that fall under the umbrella of "personal matter," William's schedule shakeup triggered some questions that were never going to be officially answered. At the same time, Kensington Palace offered a brief statement on Kate: "Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, continues to be doing well." While Internet chatter is a fairly 24/7 pastime, this is when the concerns started to take a turn from the impatient to the ominous, speculation that Kate had some sort of plastic surgery or was off filming The Masked Singer being among the least morbid or salacious of theories.





Feb. 29

As people were busy jumping to conclusions on Leap Day, a spokesperson for Kate told E! News: "Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess' recovery and we'd only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands."





March 4

One might have thought Kate being photographed out with her mom, Carole Middleton would quell suspicion. Instead, Internet sleuths cranked up the zoom on the pics published by TMZ and, at least according to everyone on X (formerly known as Twitter) who made "Pippa" a trending topic, that was younger sister Pippa Middleton in the car with Carole, not Kate. Back to the drawing board, reality.

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March 6

William's office offered a terse statement to People regarding the by-then unavoidable speculation that something was more amiss than his wife needing time to recover from surgery: "His focus is on his work and not on social media." Coincidentally, Kate's maternal uncle Gary Goldsmithwho really was off filming a reality show, Celebrity Big Brother UKweighed in on royal current events on that night's episode (before being voted out of the house a few days later). Defending his niece's right to stay silent, he told a housemate, "I spoke to her mum, my sister. She's getting the best care in the world. All the family has done is put the wagons around and look after family first, before anything else."





March 10





Hours later, the Associated Press, Reuters, Getty Images and Agence France-Presse removed the photo from their databases and issued advisories to clientsknown as a "kill notice"to remove and/or not run the image. "The Associated Press initially published the photo, which was issued by Kensington Palace," the news wire said in a statement to NBC News. "The AP later retracted the image because at closer inspection, it appears that the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP's photo standards. The photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte's left hand." Upon much closer inspection, visible flaws were noticeable, including blurred fingers on Louis' hand and some wonkiness with Charlotte's sleeve. Reuters reported that its own "picture editors said part of the sleeve of Kate's daughter's cardigan did not line up properly, suggesting that the image had been altered." The London-based agency pointed to the Photoshop usage guidelines in the Reuters Handbook of Journalism, explaining, "We use only a tiny part of its potential capability to format our pictures, crop and size them and balance the tone and color."





March 11

Kate swiftly apologized for the kerfuffle. "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing," she posted to X. "I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother's Day. C." But if you thought this was only the beginning of a re-examination of other royal snapshots disseminated to photo agencies, wire services and news outlets...you were correct. Amid this mini-scandal that couldn't have come at a worse time, considering the climate of mounting suspicion, the Daily Mail published photos of William and Kate in the car, the prince reportedly going to drop her off at an appointment on his way to the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey. However, in the pictures that ran, while the side of William's face was clearly seen through the side window, Kate was looking in the opposite direction. Meaning, there was still enough wiggle room for doubters to allege that was not her or the shot was taken some other time.

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March 12-13

Reading the room, Goff Photosthe agency that obtained the shots of William and Katetold E! News that the photos were the real deal, noting they "have been cropped and lightened" but "nothing has been doctored." Jim Bennett, the photographer who snapped the couple, also defended the integrity of the photos, explaining that it's not easy to get great shots through a window. "Car shots are unpredictable at the best of times," he told People, "and with some reflection on the glass it can be difficult." And, he was only expecting to see the Prince of Wales. "It wasn't until I checked on the back of the camera to make sure I had a frame of Prince William," he said, "that I realized there was someone sitting next to him. It turned out to be Catherine!" He also reiterated that they don't use Photoshop to "change" images, other than to adjust the lighting levels.





March 14

Other than that one canceled engagement, William was sticking to his official schedule, the 42-year-old future king engaging in light banter remaining the picture of what-we're-used-to normalcy. Decorating cookies at a youth center in London, he told the group around him, "My wife is the arty one," and "my children are artier than I am." Also that day, however, Kensington Palace got a scolding from Agence France-Presse in the wake of the family photo debacle. "At this moment in time, AFP's trust in handout pictures from the [Kensington] Palace has been compromised," AFP global news director Phil Chetwynd said in a statement to E! News. "We cannot say they are a trusted source for handout pictures. We still require further explanations." Which did not mean that the agency wouldn't accept the palace's photos. Rather, Chetwynd explained, they would "be subject to heightened scrutiny and editing checks." He said he considered it "normal journalistic practice to be skeptical about future interactions." But Chetwynd added that AFP hoped to "rebuild this trust over time."





March 17

William's uncle Earl Charles Spencer, brother of the late Princess Diana, has seen a media frenzy or two in his day and expressed concern about the coverage of Kate and Charles. As he said on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, "I do worry about what happened to the truth."





March 18

Alright, here we go, this is them, there they are: Kate and Williamon video posted by TMZ and The Sun two days after the factvisiting Windsor Farm Shop on March 16. Or...? While there was the whiff of the perfectly normal about the sightingspeculation about what was in Kate's shopping bag, a price check ($72) on her Umbro Men England Rugby Icon Hoodiejust as immediately came the skepticism that it was really her. Still others wondered if the video was actually taken on March 16. The Sun quoted several people who said they saw William and Kate then and there, including Nelson Silva, identified as the man who shot the video on his iPhone. "This is a video clearly showing her and William," he told the paper. "I saw them with my own eyes. It was a completely relaxed situation." TMZ posted a screenshot of what it said was the metadata proving the day and time the video was taken on an Apple iPhone 12 Pro. (E! News could not independently verify the timing or provenance of the video. Kensington Palace did not respond to a request for comment.)





But no one has proved it was not them enjoying a day out together on March 16. And really, what better way to at least try to stick a fork in this odd chapter in modern royal history? "This was a genuine member of the public who happened to see Kate and William at this farm shop," NBC News royal commentator Dana McAndrew said on TODAY. "But was it set up, in that they knew perfectly well that somebody would take a photograph of them? Yes, I think we can assume that was the case."





March 20

The Information Commissioner's OfficeBritain's data watchdogconfirmed to E! News that it had received a report of a records breach at The London Clinic, where Kate had surgery, and was "assessing the information provided." Regarding the possibility that someone tried to access the princess' file, hospital chief executive Al Russell told NBC News that "everyone at The London Clinic is acutely aware of our individual, professional, ethical and legal duties with regards to patient confidentiality." Due to the "recent media coverage," he continued, the hospital has "systems in place to monitor management of patient information and, in the case of any breach, all appropriate investigatory, regulatory and disciplinary steps will be taken. There is no place at our hospital for those who intentionally breach the trust of any of our patients or colleagues." Kensington Palace told E!, "This is a matter for The London Clinic."





March 22

Kate shared in a video message that she was diagnosed with cancer and is "in the early stages" of a preventative course of chemotherapy. "This of course came as a huge shock," she said, "and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK." She was "getting stronger every day," she continued, "by focusing on the things that will help me heal in my mind, body and spirits. Having William by my side is a great source of comfort and reassurance, too, as is the love, support and kindness that has been shown by so many of you. It means so much to us both." A Kensington Palace spokesperson, explaining the timing of the announcement, stated, "The Princess wanted to share this information when she and The Prince felt it was right for them as a family."




KANSAS CITY, Mo.  There was a massive shakeup Thursday involving the U.S. education system. Republican President Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin dismantling the Department of Education.

The president argues the federal office has not improved student outcomes and is unnecessary in a country where states and local districts primarily control decisions, including budgets and curriculum.

WATCH: KCFD battle Friday afternoon housefire, no one injured

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In the short term, students, teachers, and parents likely wont see much impact. Long term, its harder to predict.

It was handled very well before there was a Department of Education, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. It will be handled very well again, and hopefully as the president said, there will be more money going to the states, not less.

When it comes to the department, only Congress can fully shut it down.

Probably the cost will be half, Trump said Thursday. The education will be maybe, many, many times better.

Friday, the president announced hes moving federal student loans to the Small Business Administration and other programs like nutrition to the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The President said education issues are local while two candidates running for a seat on the Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS) Board of Education are somewhat concerned.

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Both candidates FOX4 talked to wondered whether the Presidents move will affect low-income students and Title I schools. Those schools get funding for low achieving children in high poverty areas. Twenty-six of KCPS 33 schools are Title I.

KCPS as a district wouldnt comment on the gutting of the Department of Education, but both candidates in the Sub District 5 race, in the southeast portion of the district spoke before their election on April 8.

It may or may not affect what students receive in terms of Pell Grants, candidate Bruce Beatty said in an interview with FOX4 Friday. Still, its very early in the process. We just dont know whats going to happen there yet.

Trump tasked McMahon with taking the Department of Education apart, saying he hopes shell be the last Education Secretary.

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He wants to get those dollars, even more dollars, back to the states without the bureaucracy of Washington, McMahon said.

Beatty will be going up against Brittany Foley in their KCPS school board race. Either person will be replacing current board member Kandace Buckner.

I think its going to be going that way to those in Jefferson City are going to have a say on whats going on in Kansas City Public Schools, Foley said Friday, talking about the states taking over the federal money for education.

Missouri 4th District Republican Congressman Mark Alford could not do an interview with FOX4 Friday, but he sent us a statement saying Trumps executive order is the first step to putting students first.

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Since the departments inception, the United States has fallen behind other countries in reading and in math proficiency, he said. Its clear this rogue agency has been more focused on lining the pockets of radical teachers unions than ensuring student success. We look forward to continuing to work with the Trump administration to return education to where it belongs: with families and local communitiesnot DC bureaucrats.

In the Sunflower State, the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) is examining the long-term impact the presidents order will have on students, educators, and families.

While we have received assurances that funding will not be affected, we do not know yet what impact the elimination of federal oversight will have for programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), and the Higher Education Act (HEA), part of a statement read from KSDE Communications Director Denise Kahler. The administration has said there will be no programmatic disruption

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Kahler said that as they navigate this unprecedented transition, theyll remain committed to continue working with federal and state leaders.

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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET)  5-year-old, Scarlett Grace Rodriguez, got a second chance at life with a new heart from a 6-year-old boy who lived two hours away.

Scarlett was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare defect where the left side of the heart is underdeveloped.

Her mother, Sugey Rodriguez said, I just gave it up to God, and he was going to figure out how we were going to get through this stuff, but its a scary situation because shes only three days old.

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At just three days old, Scarlett had her first open heart surgery; the first of five operations for the little girl born with half a heart.

Sugey had a pep talk with Scarlett before her fifth surgery.

Whenever its time to go, I need you not to cry, said Rodriguez. Like this is big stuff. Youre going to get your heart so we can go home.

Rodriguez noticed her daughter had an extended stomach on July 4, 2024. The next day, Scarlett was rushed to the hospital for a failing heart where she stayed for eight months.

She celebrated holidays and her birthday in the hospital.

After six months and a lucky bracelet, they found a match.

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I got this bracelet, a day before we got the call about her transplant, said Rodriguez.

After her last surgery in February, Scarlett came back home on March 14th.

I can actually breathe great. Especially, being back home with my son because he was here the whole time while I was out there, said Rodriguez.

Since March, 19 children in California have been waiting for a heart transplant, but there are only three donors that match, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

When the time is right, and the perfect one is for your child, it will come, said Rodriguez.

Now, Sugeys new mission is to find the mother who lost her son, and gave Scarlett the gift of life.

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I wanted to give her a bear with a heart sound, or something just so she knows her baby is still here, said Rodriguez.

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A federal judge on Friday instructed the government not to remove detained immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra from Colorado or deport her from the United States before a ruling on her petition for release.

U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang wrote in a March 21 order that an injunction preserving the status quo will "permit this Court the opportunity to thoughtfully consider the issues raised by both sides to achieve the ends of justice entrusted to this Court."

While not explicitly casting doubt on the Trump administration's willingness to proceed according to her schedule, Wang justified her injunction in part by alluding to a recent case in which the government removed detainees from the country even though the petitioners initially prevailed in federal court.

Vizguerra, who is proceeding in court under the name Vizguerra-Ramirez, is a citizen of Mexico who gained attention during the first Trump administration for speaking out about immigration reform and seeking sanctuary from deportation in multiple Denver churches. In 2017, Time magazine named her one of its 100 most influential people of the year.

On March 18, Vizguerra's lawyers filed a petition for habeas corpus in Colorado's federal trial court on her behalf, alleging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained her in violation of her right to due process at the Aurora ICE facility, which is privately operated by the GEO Group. Wang ordered the government to respond by Monday, and she will hold a hearing on the petition on March 28.

In her latest order, Wang, a Joe Biden appointee, noted Vizguerra's case was unique both for its factual circumstances and because a related petition is simultaneously pending before the Denver-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.

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"This case raises complex issues about not only the legality of Ms. Vizguerra-Ramirezs ICE detention under immigration law, but also the jurisdictional interplay between district and appellate courts facing this specific set of factual circumstances," she wrote. "And in its own independent research, this Court found no case on all fours, where the petitioner claimed that she was granted voluntarily departure and departed within the requisite time period  resulting in no valid Order of Removal that could be reinstated upon reentry  and that the reinstatement of the prior removal order was further procedurally flawed."

However, Wang also warned that if the government deported Vizguerra while the case was pending, she was unsure if she could retain jurisdiction to act.

"Given the fact that Ms. Vizguerra-Ramirez was recently taken into ICE custody, it does not appear that there will be any prejudice to Respondents by maintaining the status quo pending resolution of this action," Wang concluded.

She cited a recent court case out of New Mexico in which three men sought to prevent their transfer to the U.S.'s detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and received a favorable ruling from a judge blocking the move. The next day, the Trump administration deported the men, ABC News reported.

In another ongoing case, the government detained Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who is being threatened with deportation for organizing campus protests. While the legal challenge in New York was pending, the government moved Khalil to a facility in Louisiana, which is under the jurisdiction of a more conservative federal appeals court.

The case is Vizguerra-Ramirez v. Choate et al.
Morgan Davis started this job because he wanted to protect kids.

The 52-year-old had been an investigator with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) for less than a year and had come out as a transgender man shortly before starting his new job. Then Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an order demanding the department investigate parents of medically transitioning transgender children for abuse.

A "number of so-called 'sex change' procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law," Abbott declared in the February 2022 letter, which he sent a week before the Republican gubernatorial primary. Because DFPS "is responsible for protecting children from abuse," he continued, " I hereby direct your agency to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas."

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At first, the directive seemed hard to believe, especially since medical transition for minorsinterventions such as puberty-blocking medication, cross-sex hormones, and surgerieswere legal in Texas. Texas legislators would eventually ban medical transition for minors, but that was more than a year in the future.

"Everybody thought this was a political stunt," Davis says. Within a day, Davis' department already had a case. According to Davis, it originated with a DFPS employee with a transgender child who was forced to report on her own family.

"The first thing I knew about the case was that it was a co-worker," Davis says. "I just couldn't believe it. Most of us get into [this line of work] because you wanted to be the protection that you didn't have. And here we were." Davis ended up investigating the family himself. "If somebody had to do it, I wanted it to be me," he says, because "I really thought at the time I could protect the familybut also if there was any abuse that was happening, I would know."

On the day of his home visit, Davis says, he tried to be as nonthreatening as possible. "I had my nicest bowtie on," he says, "and I brought pastries, to try to make it look like I was just showing up for a visit." But he was still self-conscious: He was an agent of the state, after all, one with the power to separate a family or keep it together in the name of child protection. "At the end of the day," Davis says, "it doesn't matter how trans or how nice [I was]. At the end of the day, I was an investigator."

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Accustomed to deeply dysfunctional families, often living in chaotic, poorly maintained homes, Davis was struck by how normal and harmonious this family seemed. To his relief, the family had consulted with lawyers. An attorney sat in on Davis' interview with the child, a transgender girl around 15 years old. The family also refused to sign a form releasing their child's medical recordsa move that further protected them from state prying.



(Photo: Morgan Davis; Ilana Panich-Linsman/The Washington Post)

It was hard not to feel frustrated by the situation. Davis had found a functional, loving family whose only errorin the eyes of the state of Texaswas that the parents had sought and received controversial but legal treatments for their child.

Davis says the home visit concluded without incident and the case seemed like a "slam dunk." But his supervisors told him he could not close the case, that it needed to be sent "up the food chain."

"I called my buddy and I said, 'I can't make this stop. I'm not going to be able to make this stop,'" Davis says. "It sounds dramatic, but I really did: I walked in an investigator, and I walked out an activist."

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Since the state was investigating parents for legal behavior, lawsuits swiftly followed. One was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the LGBTQ+ group PFLAG and several families.

"Governor Abbott's directive unduly interferes with the state Legislature's sole authority to establish criminal offenses and penalties," said the June 2022 petition in PFLAG v. Abbott. "The Abbott Letter outright claims that 'a number of so-called "sex change" procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law,' despite the fact that the Legislature has failed to pass" legislation to that effect.

It's not clear exactly how many people DFPS investigated as a result of Abbott's order. But six families ultimately joined two ACLU-backed lawsuits challenging the new policy.

The plaintiffs described nerve-racking home visits and investigations that dragged on despite turning up no evidence of abuse or neglect. One parent, identified as "Samantha Poe," said Child Protective Services (CPS), a division of DFPS, continued investigating her family even after receiving a letter from her 13-year-old gender-questioning child's psychiatrist confirming that the teenager, Whitley, was not receiving any medical transition treatments.

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"Without my prior knowledge, a CPS investigator contacted a teacher at Whitley's middle school to ask about Whitley," Poe said in a written declaration submitted with the PFLAG v. Abbott lawsuit. "The teacher told me they were contacted and that they told the investigator Whitley is well cared for and Whitley's every need is being met. They also shared that they told the investigator that they had called CPS about other students they suspected were suffering from abuse at home, but received no response."

These probes were part of something much larger. During the last decade, a full-blown gender war has erupted in America. While much of the controversy relates to transgender adults, a particularly fraught element of the debate focuses on gender-dysphoric kids. The question of what exactly to do when children say they're transgender should be dominated by rigorous science and parental judgment. Instead, it has been clouded by politics.

In recent years, state-run medical agencies in such countries as Sweden, Norway, and Great Britain have recommended restricting medical transitions for minors, arguing that the risks outweigh the potential benefits. Twenty-four U.S. states have passed laws banning gender transition treatments for minors, and two othersNew Hampshire and Arizonahave banned surgical procedures while keeping other treatments legal. While doctors suspicious of these treatments stress the lack of strong evidence supporting their efficacy, other physicians argue there is plenty of evidence that they work, often claiming that the controversy is driven by transphobia rather than legitimate medical concerns.

In Texas, the state responded to the dispute by siccing CPS on parents. Meanwhile, parents in several Democratic-controlled states say they have faced CPS investigations for resisting their children's medical or social transition.

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When the state intervenes because officials dislike how parents are choosing to handle a child's gender dysphoria, that does not protect vulnerable kids. It shifts decisions on a difficult issue from parentsthe people who know the children best and love them mostto impersonal, often politically motivated bureaucrats. What to do about childhood gender dysphoria is a live question, and a difficult one. But it's a question the state is ill-equipped to answer for individual families.

'We Need To Be Very Cautious'

"I think there should be a very thorough evaluation of every child, young person," says Erica Anderson, a clinical psychologist and former president of the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health (USPATH). "I've been for a long time now urging caution that we need to be very cautious about which kids go on to puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones."

Anderson, herself a transgender woman, has spent much of her career helping evaluate gender-dysphoric kids and their families seeking possible medical transition. "I've been critical of others who feel differently than I do, and in a sense, in my opinion, treat gender dysphoria or gender questioning as a medical condition," she adds. "I don't think there's evidence to support that view."

The modern debate over transgender-identified youth can be traced back to the 1990s, when the first cohorts of gender-distressed children were treated with what became known as the "Dutch protocol": medications to prevent the onset of puberty, followed by cross-sex hormones, then surgeries in adulthood.

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As the Dutch protocol began spreading throughout Europe and the United States, the number of minors referred to gender clinics was fairly low. From 2011 to 2014, for example, fewer than 500 kids per year were referred to the U.K.'s main youth gender clinic, and not all of those kids received medical intervention. Children in this earlier cohort had typically experienced severe gender-related distress from a very young age, and most were natal males, according to Anderson.

But things began to change in the late 2010s. "Not only are there an increase in numbers of kids coming to gender clinicsand there are more gender clinics, particularly in North Americabut the composition of the population coming to the gender clinics has changed from a fairly homogeneous group of kids to a very heterogeneous group of kids dominated by natal females," says Anderson.

These changes prompted some professional misgivings. "There are some of us who feel that we don't have a sufficient evidence base to decide which of these heterogeneous kids are best suited for medicalization," Anderson says.

"There's pretty widespread acknowledgment that some of the gender clinics, at least in the United States, do a very poor job of assessment," Anderson says. "The assessment in some cases consists of a brief interview with a mental health person, often a social worker, and then the patient is assigned to see the physician who can prescribe puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones. In my opinion, having a short half-houreven an hourinterview one time is insufficient in evaluating these kids who are coming to gender clinics."

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According to a 2022 Reuters investigation, more than 120,000 American kids were diagnosed with gender dysphoria from 2017 through 2021. Still, only a small minority received medical intervention. Around 15,000 adolescents received hormone therapy during this time, and around 5,000 of these kids were placed on puberty blockers. Surgical interventions were even rarer. Reuters found that at least 776 minors with a gender dysphoria diagnosis received mastectomiesalso known as "top surgery"in this period. Just 56 received genital surgeries.

Anderson says that thorough assessments are so important because puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones can bring worrisome side effects, such as severe sexual dysfunction and infertility, not to mention the unknown developmental risks of delaying natural puberty.

In light of these risks, several countries have pulled back their youth gender medicine programs. Many leading U.S. medical organizations, on the other hand, have rejected the criticism. (Anderson herself resigned from USPATH after the organization considered barring its members from speaking to the press.)

As more than two dozen red states have banned at least some medical transition treatments for minors, many blue states responded with policies of their own. In 2023, Washington state lifted the requirement that youth shelters notify a minor's parents if the child left home to seek medical transition. School districts around the country, as well as the state governments of New Jersey and California, have discouraged teachers from informing parents if their child socially transitions at school.

'Better in the Hands of Their Parents'

Anderson is concerned about the possibility that CPS will intervene when parents won't consent to a child's medical transition, especially if the child's other parent disagrees. "There are some child protection workers who are given to believethat the failure to consent to medicalization, to gender intervention, is abuse," she says. "So then the nonconsenting parent then gets accused of child abuse or neglect."

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Sure enough, even as Texas officially demanded that CPS investigate the parents of transgender kids, families that express skepticism about social or medical transition for their children sometimes face a less formalized, but no less invasive, state scrutiny. Parents who resisted pursuing transition for their children have found themselves under CPS investigation after an overzealous teacher or school administrator reported them to the authorities.

Sarah (not her real name) and her husband were initially very supportive when their 12-year-old daughter came out as trans. The couple, who lived in California, used her new name and pronouns, let her dress in male clothes, and consented to giving her puberty blockers.

"We were told the famous line: 'Would you rather have a live son or a dead daughter?'" Sarah says. "And when your kid is suicidal, nothing [else] matters at that point. At that point I was naive and trusted the medical advice. I thought the people in the field knew better than me and was desperate and terrified to lose my daughter."

Although Sarah says she and her husband fully affirmed their daughter's new identity and even agreed to an increased dosage of puberty blockers at their doctor's suggestion, the child's mental health continued to deteriorate. "We found that every step that we tookmade her mental health worse," Sarah says. "She might have temporarily been happy, but then it faded and then her mental health [problem] manifested back up. It was never really resolved.We were living in crisis management, not knowing if I was going to wake up and find her dead in her room the following morning."

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Sarah knew something had to change. "I came out of the work force at the height of my career," she says, "and then started really pounding the pavement and saying to myself, 'OK, the definition of insanity is to do the same thing but expect a different outcome.' I knew I had to do something different."

Sarah eventually found a psychiatrist for her daughter who neither uncritically accepted nor uncritically dismissed the idea that she was transgender. Sarah says her daughter's mental health improved significantly after she worked with this new therapist, who took an "exploratory" approach to gender distress. She came off the puberty blockers and began going by a more gender-neutral name.

"I was able to sleep at night," Sarah says. "I wasn't up at night constantly patrolling and checking in on herand opening the doors to make sure she was OK. I didn't have to do that. I actually got sleep."

Sarah's daughter still had ups and downs, though. According to Sarah, her daughter, then a high school freshman, went to the school counselor at one point and expressed some confusion and distress over her shifting gender identity. Sarah says the school counselor told her daughter that the counselor would have to call CPS.

"So then my daughter gets scared and she texts the psychiatrist, and the psychiatrist warns me that this is coming," Sarah says. "Probably hours later, I get a call on my voicemail from Child Protective Services. And we were panicked when we received that phone call."

Sarah hired an attorney to sit in on the eventual CPS home visit, and she ultimately was able to have her case fully closed. But the experience was still terrifying for the family. Sarah says that her daughter, now a student at a women's college, no longer identifies as transa claim that is corroborated by her daughter's social media presence. Sarah declined to make her daughter available for an interview, telling Reason in an email that "this topic is still rather triggering/upsetting for her," adding, "We don't want to put her through this again, but are sharing our story to hopefully help other families."

"We hear from many, many, many more families than we have the ability to bring lawsuits," says Vernadette Broyles, president and general counsel of the Child and Parental Rights Campaign. Broyles specializes in cases like Sarah's, as well as cases where trans-identified kids are actually removed by CPS. She says that she's worked on at least 15 cases that involved trans-identified childrencases that ranged from CPS investigations, child custody disputes, and parents who objected to a social transition at schoolthough her organization has provided "support or advocacy" to substantially more parents.

"It's so important for judges to recognize that these children are better in the hands of their parents," Broyles says. "And parents need to have the freedom to do what they know to be in the best interest" of their children.

'You Want Me To Do What?'

In March 2022, a Travis County, Texas, judge granted a temporary injunction in Doe v. Abbott, halting the enforcement of Abbott's order. But just over two months later, the Texas Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the injunction significantly, limiting it to the plaintiffs in the case.

In September, a different temporary injunction was issued in PFLAG v. Abbott, this time barring DFPS from "investigating members of PFLAG, including but not limited to Plaintiff Families, for possible child abuse or neglect solely based on allegations that they have a minor child who is gender transitioning or alleged to be receiving or being prescribed medical treatment for gender dysphoria."

While both injunctions are still embroiled in legal battles, with the state appealing the decisions, they were still regarded as a major victory for trans youth and their families.

"Today, families of transgender kids in Texas who are members of PFLAG National find shelter from Gov. Abbott's unjust order," Brian K. Bond, executive director of PFLAG National, said in a September 2022 press release. "Every LGBTQ+ person deserves respect, dignity and the right to access the care they need when they need it."

Less than a year later, Abbott signed Senate Bill 14, which prohibited Texas doctors from providing medical transition treatments to minors. The Texas Supreme Court upheld that law in June 2024, rejecting the argument that it violated parental rights guaranteed by the state constitution. That month, Texas filed petitions with the state Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the previous injunctions.

Despite a few victories for families investigated by CPS, the broader public fight over how to address gender dysphoria in minorsespecially when it comes to medical interventionsis not going away anytime soon.

"One of the reasons why this is so hard, why we have a very divided set of circumstances here, is that traditionally, courts have relied on medical experts to determine [what's] necessary in terms of the treatment of children," says Naomi Schaefer Riley, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who focuses on child welfare and foster care. "You can now get a medical expert to testify that if this child does not receive gender transition treatment they're going to commit suicide. But you can also get a medical expert to say cutting off a child's genitals is child abuse."

The vast majority of the parents who find themselves in these difficult situations sincerely want what's best for their children. They know their kids better than anyone else and love them more fiercely than any social worker or teacher ever will. Parents in this situation would do nearly anything to take away their children's pain and help them grow into happy, healthy adults. The last thing they need is misguided state intrusion into their lives.

Davis ultimately resigned from DFPS. He says after a brief period working under the new regime, he realized he was unable to continue working for an agency that was wasting time and resources on politically motivated investigations of loving families with transgender children. "I'm working nights, weekends, holidays, and I'm trying to keep these kids safe," he says. "And you want me to do what? You want me to go into homes that you know are safe?This is wrong."

The post Their Kids Said They Were Trans. Then CPS Came Knocking. appeared first on Reason.com.
The talks between Ukrainian and US representatives in Saudi Arabia on Monday will focus primarily on technicalities surrounding a potential limited ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry in Kiev said.

"This is a meeting to establish the parameters for the various proposed ceasefire options currently on the table," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said on Friday.

Tykhyi reiterated that Ukraine had agreed to the US proposal for a full ceasefire lasting 30 days and again blamed Russia for the failure to implement any sort of ceasefire so far.

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He added that Ukraine had no information on how the separate negotiations between the US and Russia would unfold in Riyadh, noting that Ukraine is preparing only for talks with American representatives.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha will not travel to the Gulf state, but Defence Minister Rustem Umerov is set to participate.

Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia's all-out invasion for over three years.

The talks in Riyadh are set to focus on a US proposal to protect shipping in the Black Sea by implementing a limited maritime ceasefire.

Casualties in Sumy following fresh Russian airstrikes

While diplomatic efforts continue, tensions on the frontlines remain high, with fresh Russian airstrikes reported in Ukraine's north-eastern Sumy region.

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At least two people were killed and four others injured in the strikes, Ukrainian officials said late on Friday.

The public prosecutor's office said that the Russians had dropped six glide bombs on the village of Krasnopillya.

In another village, two people were injured when a motorbike was attacked.

Air raid warnings were also issued in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and other parts of the country.

In Kiev, Mayor Vitali Klitschko called on people to seek shelter in the evening.

According to Klitschko, debris from a downed flying object hit a building in the capital, causing a fire. Nothing was initially known about any injuries.

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Ukrainian media reported Russian airstrikes with drones and glide bombs in various parts of the country.

Ukraine rejects Moscow's accusations of shelling Kursk gas plant

Ukraine earlier rejected Moscow's accusations that it shelled an important gas metering station near Sudzha in the Russian region of Kursk.

"These accusations are unfounded," the Ukrainian General Staff wrote on Telegram, saying Russia had shelled the station several times, this time with artillery, in order to defame Ukraine internationally.

The information from both sides could not be independently verified.

Videos of a large fire allegedly at the gas facility have been circulating on social media. It is not clear who is currently carrying out checks at the plant, which is close to the Russian-Ukrainian border.

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Russia has largely pushed the Ukrainian troops out of the parts of Kursk which they captured in August. Military observers say Kiev now occupies only around 160 of the 1,200 square kilometres once under its control.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed Ukraine for the attack on the Sudzha gas facility, which he said violated a ceasefire on energy facilities ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine has also fired at a fuel depot in southern Russia, he said.

Peskov told the state-owned TASS news agency that Russia was meanwhile adhering to the ceasefire. Putin assured US President Donald Trump of this on Tuesday. However, Ukrainian cities such as Sloviansk have reported power outages following heavy airstrikes since Tuesday.

Kremlin slams European decision to dramatically boost defence

Meanwhile the Russian leadership criticized European Union plans to significantly boost the bloc's defences, made as the Kremlin continues to wage war on Ukraine.

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"The militarization of Europe is an extremely dangerous trend," said Kremlin spokesman Peskov, adding that it would neither lead to detente nor restore trust. "Nor does it make Europe safer," he said.

Many Europeans do not like it, but almost all politicians are following the mainstream, the spokesman said.

Peskov was responding a day after the decision by EU leaders to significantly strengthen Europe's defence readiness in the coming years.

The European Union plans to mobilize 800 billion ($868 billion) over the next four years, including 150 billion in loans for arms projects and exemptions from EU debt rules for defence investments.
Kitty Dukakis, the former first lady of Massachusetts and wife of presidential nominee Michael Dukakis has died, she was 88 years old.

Kittys son, John Dukakis confirmed to Boston 25 she passed away on Friday night.

Katharine Virginia Dickson was born in Cambridge in 1936 and graduated from Brookline High School in 1954. She married Michael Dukakis in 1963 and the two formed a strong bond.

Kitty was known for being an outspoken advocate for people with mental illness and addiction.

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In a statement, John Dukakis said she lived a full life fighting to make the world a better place and sharing her vulnerabilities to help others face theirs. She was loving, feisty and fun, and had a keen sensitivity to people from all walks of life.

She was loving, feisty and fun, and had a keen sensitivity to people from all walks of life, the family said. She and our dad, Michael Dukakis, shared an enviable partnership for over 60 years and loved each other deeply.

Dukakis won high marks as a political campaigner during her husbands 1988 presidential efforts, stumping tirelessly for him. She was called a key influence in his decision to seek the presidency.

She even figured in the opening question of a 1988 presidential debate, when her husband was asked: Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer? Dukakis said he would not, and his unemotional response was widely criticized.

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Earlier in the campaign, in 1987, Dukakis revealed she had overcome a 26-year addiction to amphetamines five years earlier after receiving treatment. She said she began taking diet pills at age 19.

Her husband made anti-drug efforts a major issue and she became prominent in the effort to educate youngsters against the perils of drug and alcohol abuse.

But a few months after Michael Dukakis lost the election to Vice President George H.W. Bush, Kitty Dukakis entered a 60-day treatment program for alcoholism. Several months later she suffered a relapse and was hospitalized after drinking rubbing alcohol.

In her 1990 autobiography, Now You Know, she blamed her mother for much of her alcohol and drug addiction and a long history of low self-esteem. In 2006, she wrote another book, Shock, which credits the electroconvulsive therapy she began in 2001 for relieving the depression she had suffered for years. The treatment, she wrote, opened a new reality for me.

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Im saddened to hear about the passing of Kitty Dukakis, who was a force for good in public life and behind the scenes, Governor Healey said in a statement. She was a strong advocate for children, women, and refugees, while also taking a leadership role in ensuring that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten. She spoke courageously about her struggles with substance use disorder and mental health, which serves as an inspiration to us all to break down stigma and seek help. My heart is with Governor Dukakis and their loved ones during this difficult time.

She passed away with her family by her side.

Dukakis used her personal pain to help others, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement on social media on Saturday.

Her legacy will live on in the policies she helped shape and the people she inspired to speak their own truths, Campbell said.

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Dukakis and her future husband met while attending high school in Brookline, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb. He was dull and frugal; she was dramatic and fancy. He is Greek Orthodox; she was Jewish.

Dukakis, who was divorced and had a 3-year-old son, married Dukakis in 1963, and they had two children, Andrea and Kara.

Dukakis, whose late father, Harry Ellis Dickson, was associate conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, earned degrees in modern dance and broadcasting.

After the presidential election, in 1989, Bush appointed her to be a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

She earlier served on the Presidents Commission on the Holocaust in 1979 and on the board of directors of the Refugee Policy Group. She has also been a member of the Task Force on Cambodian Children.

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By the late 1990s, Dukakis and her husband divided their time between Massachusetts and California, where she was a social worker and he was a professor for part of the year at the University of California, Los Angeles.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump is expected to ban or severely restrict travel to the United States by citizens of more than a dozen countries, including Iran and Venezuela, as soon as Friday.

Trump ordered his administration to establish vetting and screening standards and procedures for entry into the U.S. and submit a list of countries that do not meet them by March 21. The order follows on a campaign pledge and an initiative from Trump's first day in office.

He also directed officials to identify and potentially remove nationals from earmarked countries who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration.

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The resulting actions could be more sweeping than the travel ban Trump put on seven majority-Muslim countries during his first term that led to chaos at airports and lawsuits alleging religious discrimination.

Trump issued multiple versions of the ban in 2017 until he landed on one that the Supreme Court upheld, and his most recent executive order directs members of his Cabinet to expand on what was in place when he exited office.

This time around, Trump went through a more rigorous process to implement his expected travel ban, calling for restrictions based on the level of information that countries collect and provide on international travelers. And he will benefit from an even more conservative Supreme Court when his executive actions face legal challenges.

A list of more than 40 countries whose citizens could be barred or limited from entry into the United States is reportedly under consideration. That list includes, Afghanistan, North Korea and even tiny Bhutan, a majority-Buddhist Himalayan nation.

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The State Department declined on Thursday afternoon to comment on the deliberations.

Make your journey safer and smarter: Sign up for USA TODAY's Travel newsletter.

Trump asked for travel ban on Day One

Trump said as a candidate that hed reinstate his travel ban, citing a need to protect the country from radical Islamic terrorists.

His Jan. 20 executive order called on Cabinet members to submit a report identifying countries for which vetting and screening is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension of admission to the U.S.

The report should also identify how many nationals from those countries have entered or been admitted to the United States since Jan. 20, 2021, the first day of former President Joe Bidens term.

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Trump tasked four individuals with producing the report: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

The Trump administration appears to be structuring its second term ban differently than the first one, creating a three-tiered list of nations that do not provide the U.S. with the level of information it is seeking or are otherwise deemed by officials as a national security threat.

FILE PHOTO: An international traveler arrives after U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order travel ban at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

Countries on the red list would see travel to the U.S. banned altogether, while countries on the middle, or orange list would face visa restrictions. A lower tier of nations would be put on notice by the administration that they need to address problems.

Travel could be banned from 11 countries, according to the New York Times, which obtained a draft list of recommendations for the travel ban. Those are Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.

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Trump previously banned travel from most of the countries on that list, with the exception of visa and green card holders. Bhutan and Cuba were not part of Trumps previous travel ban. The State Department lists Cuba as a state sponsor of terror.

Another 10 countries, including Russia and Belarus, would see visas sharply restricted. The remaining 22 countries, which includes many African nations, would have 60 days to address security concerns. They could ultimately be moved up on the list or completely left off, depending on their response.

Reuters reported on a similar memo. The list had not been finalized, the outlets cautioned, and may not have been approved yet by the secretary of state.

Not all those countries will likely survive being on the list, because the staff is just looking at what they were told, what were their instructions, which were to ascertain and to evaluate each country, said former acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf, the executive vice president of the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute. But there's other decisions at play on whether a country gets a travel restriction or not.

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There are other geopolitical issues, Wolf added. That's why it goes to the secretary of State. Thats why others will weigh in on those decisions.

Less focus on Muslim-majority countries

Based on what has been reported publicly, Wolf said it sounded like the administration plans to tell countries that until they increase their information sharing with the U.S. or provide certain data, they will have travel restrictions in place.

One factor the administration is likely to take into consideration is how frequently a country reports lost or stolen passport data to Interpol.

What we found the first time around is a lot of countries just didn't report that in a timely manner, said Wolf, who worked on Trumps earlier travel ban.

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The State Department denied the existence of a list earlier in the week and said it did not create the memorandums that have been circulating.

There is a review, as we know through the president's executive order, for us to look at the nature of what's going to help keep America safer, in dealing with the issue of visas and who's allowed into the country, Tammy Bruce, the spokeswoman for the State Department, said Monday.

Unlike Trumps first iteration of a ban in 2017, which led to court challenges for discrimination against Muslims, the reported reincarnation does not focus solely on Muslim-majority countries. Bhutan, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela are being reportedly considered for outright bans but do not have Muslim majorities.

Travel ban for Bhutan? Citizens of tiny Bhutan, 'Land of the Thunder Dragon,' may end up on Trump travel ban list

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A court blocked Trumps first travel ban, issued in January 2017, saying the order violated people's due process rights without sufficient national security justification. His administration replaced that with a second version in March 2017, which another court blocked. The Supreme Court upheld the third iteration of his travel ban that he signed in September 2017.

In its 2018 decision, the Supreme Court outlined a lengthy process that the government used to create the third travel ban, highlighted ways that certain foreign nationals can get exceptions to the travel ban, and argued the Trump administration was acting in legitimate national security interest.

The process is similar to what Trump outlined in his Jan. 20 executive order. But critics have signaled they could challenge fresh aspects of the new administration's policies, including the attempts to retroactively apply visa restrictions to individuals who entered the country during the period Trump was not in office.

The International Refugee Assistance Program, one of the groups that sued in the first administration, said its next steps would depend on what is in the anticipated ban.

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Our team will be analyzing it as soon as it comes out to identify what those challenges might look like, said Stephanie Gee, senior director of US legal services at IRAP.

To the extent there are arguments to be made that the action is unlawful, there are a lot of organizations who will be looking to bring challenges.

When could a travel ban go into effect?

Trump already appears to implementing part of his executive order, which allows the secretary of Homeland Security to take immediate steps to exclude or remove a foreign national from countries without proper vetting standards.

The order cites advocacy for foreign terrorist groups and hostile attitudes towards U.S. citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles as reasons for visa rejection and possible removal.

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The Trump administration this month deported a kidney doctor with work visa after she attempted to enter the country on a flight to Boston. The Department of Homeland Security said she had sympathetic photos and videos to a leader of Hezbollah on her phone.

A visa is a privilege not a right, the department said on X. Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is commonsense security."

Im a Shia Muslim," authorities say Dr. Rasha Alawieh said, according to the USA TODAY Network. "Hes a religious figure. It has nothing to do with politics. Its all religious, spiritual things."

Federal authorities also arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist attending graduate school at the Colombia University. Khalil was in the U.S. legally.

After his arrest, Rubio said, We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.

The State Department acknowledged Thursday that it was conducting a review of all visa programs, as mandated by Trumps order but declined to say whether it had made any formal recommendations or when they could go into effect.

The Trump administrations report recommending countries for a travel ban is due Friday, March 21.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's travel ban 2.0 is coming soon. Kristi Noem is helping
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT)  Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner  Jonathan Shell  is taking a tour of Western Kentucky, including a stop at Henderson County High School.

Hes offering advice to FFA students and taking a tour of what the school has to offer. Commissioner Shells visit to Henderson is part of the states first Agriculture Education Week, where he also fields questions from students and visits some of the FFA projects.

One students says its an amazing feeling to show him around and calls Fridays visit a unique opportunity.

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If they ever want to get into politics or they want to get into advocacy and agriculture, some of the best ways to do that is to get involved in your local community and other organizations, whether its Kiwanis or Lions Club or whether its your local farm bureau, Commissioner Shell says. FFA is such a great foundation for doing the leadership that you need to have and building those qualities, and all these kids are on the right track.

Among those pieces of advice are never saying no to an opportunity. Its one which senior student and Henderson County FFA President Anna Bennett already holds close.

Considering a career in agribusiness, she says a couple things stand out.

Just how they are using different programs to develop agriculture education in Kentucky  is very important. I think that was something that we all kind of learned today, Bennett says.

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Of course no trip to Henderson County High School would also be complete without see the school greenhouse and rabbit barn where students have hands-on experiences.

Im feeling amazing that he was able to see our program, and I hope that it gets us a new appreciation for agriculture as a whole, Bennett says.

More from Ben Walls

Eyewitness News. Everywhere you are.

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For the last decade, the Los Angeles City Council chamber has been center stage for some of the meanest, most offensive messages delivered in an open government forum.

A few speakers routinely hurl racial slurs, antisemitic phrases or other forms of verbal abuse at council members. They have attacked officials' looks, their weight, their clothes, their sexual orientation and their gender, curdling the proceedings on a regular basis.

On Friday, seven council members took a first step toward pushing back on such language, signing a proposal to prohibit just two of the words.

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Under their proposal, initiated by council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, audience members could be removed from meetings  or banned from attending future ones  for repeatedly uttering the racial slur known as the N-word or the sexist vulgarity known as the C-word.

Harris-Dawson, who is Black, said the frequent use of those words during public comment has put a chill on civic participation, discouraging people from coming to the council's meetings, which take place three times a week. At times, the use of racist words has led to disruptions among audience members, he said.

Harris-Dawson said his colleagues may add more prohibited words to the proposal as it is debated over the coming weeks. But he said those two words in particular "have no political value"  and are meant only to insult a person's immutable characteristics.

"It is language that, anywhere outside this building where there aren't four armed guards, would get you hurt if you said these things in public," he said in an interview.

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The city has tried, at times, to put a stop to offensive behavior, only to lose in court. In 2014, for example, the city paid $215,000 to settle a free-speech lawsuit filed by a Black man who was ejected from a public meeting for wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood and a T-shirt featuring the N-word.

Read more: L.A. City Council president gets restraining order against man accused of racist threat

Courts have been unwilling to allow local governments to restrict constitutionally protected speech during their meetings, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law and a constitutional law expert. The two words in the council proposal, while deeply offensive, are protected by the 1st Amendment, he said.

"That said, a court might very well be willing to uphold a very narrow ban on these offensive words," Chemerinsky said in an email.

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Other experts were more dubious. Eugene Volokh, professor of law emeritus at UCLA School of Law, voiced doubts that the proposal would survive a constitutional challenge. Loyola Law School professor Aaron H. Caplan, who specializes in the 1st Amendment, reached a similar conclusion.

"I can feel some sympathy for the City Council," Caplan said. "But I feel like it would be pretty easy for a court to say, 'You cannot just have a list of a couple of prohibited words when there's lots and lots of other words that are just as offensive.' Then it becomes discrimination against certain viewpoints."

Since becoming council president, Harris-Dawson has made clear that he intends to rein in what he described as bad behavior at meetings. In December, he told an audience at the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum that such efforts would help move the city out of its "Gotham City phase"  a reference to the lawless metropolis in the Batman comics and movies.

Harris-Dawson's proposal would allow the council to issue a warning the first time an offending word is used at a council or committee meeting. If an audience member keeps saying the word, they could be removed from that meeting and possibly subsequent ones, depending on the number of offenses.

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Over the last decade, only a few people have regularly used hate speech during public meetings. The most consistent offender is Armando Herman, who is barred from coming within 100 yards of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, where the county Board of Supervisors meets each week.

A judge issued that order, which lasts until 2026, after four female supervisors said they received emails from Herman expressing interest in engaging in a sexual act. Herman denied sending the emails.

Herman is known for spouting hateful words not just in the council's ornate chamber but also at smaller committee meetings. On Tuesday, he used them in a tiny conference room at a meeting of the Executive Employee Relations Committee, which oversees labor negotiations and is made up of Mayor Karen Bass, Harris-Dawson and three other council members.

Read more: L.A. County got a restraining order against a foul-mouthed gadfly. He denies making threats

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Seated across the table from Bass, who is Black, Herman used the N-word while criticizing spending on homelessness. Another speaker, while railing against Bass for being in Ghana when the Palisades fire erupted, pulled out an oversized dildo and used a vulgar word for the female anatomy.

Herman responded to Harris-Dawson's proposal, first reported by the Westside Current, by delivering a fusillade of anti-Black phrases, including multiple N-words, during his remarks to the council.

"Now that's protected speech," he said, before chanting President Trump's name several times.

Attorney Wayne Spindler, another frequent public commenter, called the proposal illegal.

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"You tell me what to say, and I'll say it!" he shouted at council members. "You tell me how to say it, and what to f say. You tell me how to dress. You tell me how to walk. You tell me what language to listen to."

Police arrested Spindler in 2016 after he turned in a public comment card featuring a drawing of a Klansman holding a noose, a man hanging from a tree and the N-word to describe then-City Council President Herb Wesson, who is Black.

Wesson obtained a restraining order against Spindler that year, but the L.A. County district attorney's office declined to file charges, citing free speech concerns.

The city's elected officials have won restraining orders against other public speakers. In 2023, a judge issued an order requiring that Donald Harlan, who often spoke at meetings, stay at least 100 yards away from Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, his home, his office and his car.

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That case stemmed from a meeting where Blumenfield, who is Jewish, ordered Harlan removed for yelling from the audience. After being told to leave, Harlan screamed: Bob, youre f dead, you f Jew! Im going to f kill all your f Jewish f people!

Council members have received a number of complaints about racist language in recent weeks. Jorge Nuno, who was appointed to the city's new Charter Reform Commission, sent a letter to the council saying he and his family had to listen to profanity and anti-Black slurs while in the room for his confirmation hearing.

"I felt bad for my parents," Nuno told The Times. "Because it was their first time at City Hall, and they're hearing all this stuff. It was pretty disturbing."

Nuno later resigned from the post for unrelated reasons.

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Rob Quan, an organizer with the group Unrig LA, said he understands how upsetting the language at council meetings can be. But he argued that the public has been discouraged from attending meetings not just because of hate speech, but also because of other actions taken by Harris-Dawson that reduce opportunities to speak.

Harris-Dawson recently ended phone-in public comment, forcing residents to drive downtown to address their elected officials during meetings. The council president regularly puts a time limit on the amount of public comment permitted, Quan said.

Quan predicted the city would spend a lot of time and money defending Harris-Dawson's measure in court  even as the tiny contingent of foul-mouthed commenters finds new and more creative ways to torment the council.

Harris-Dawson said he conferred with free speech experts before drafting his measure. For now, he is declining to say what other words might be added to the proposal.

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"Attacking someone's personhood is not political speech. It's just an attack, that's all it is," he said. "We're going to try to get in all the terms."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
When Rachel Reeves stands at the despatch box to deliver her spring statement on Wednesday, she might begin with a parable: the prodigal daughter. Last autumn the Chancellor raised taxes by a crippling 40 billion, largely to spend on public sector wage rises. The economy has been reeling ever since, with rising debt and next to no growth.

Now Ms Reeves, chastened by experience, will return to the Commons with a package of spending cuts to bring bureaucracy back under control. The new target is to cut Whitehall pen-pushing by 15 per cent over five years.

Gone is the cockiness of the rising star of a socialist government elected by a landslide. Instead, the public expects to see a wiser, humbler custodian of our finances, setting her own house in order rather than lecturing and hectoring the nation.

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To that end, Ms Reeves will delegate the efficiency drive to the Prime Ministers close ally Pat McFadden. The Cabinet Office minister will expect most departments to deliver at least 10 per cent savings by 2028-29, increasing to 15pc by 2030, delivering savings of at least 2.2 billion a year.

Many readers will groan at the news of yet another war on waste. Didnt Jeremy Hunt promise to freeze the size of the Civil Service just two years ago? And yet it kept on growing: the mandarin-count is now well over half a million, more than at any time since Gordon Brown was in office.

Yet Ms Reeves deserves some credit for her aspirations, if not her achievements. Her colleague Liz Kendall has already announced significant economies in the ballooning welfare budget, braving brickbats from the Left. Foreign aid is being slashed. The imperative of an emergency transfusion for Britains anaemic Armed Forces has evidently concentrated minds in Downing Street.

The Chancellor must, however, beware of tried and tested tactics whereby the bureaucratic mind preserves its power while seeming to reduce headline figures. Civil servants may be replaced by consultants, who are just as expensive and not infrequently former mandarins. Those who serve the public are made redundant before those who serve only themselves. Its amoeba-like ability to absorb cuts explains why the state is so resistant to reform. Whitehall is not nicknamed the Blob for nothing.

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In order to help the Chancellor restore the public finances, Mr McFadden will not only work closely with her, but also with Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keirs Chief of Staff. Mr McSweeney is close to the Blue Labour faction which is highly critical of the top-down approach of previous Labour leaders. He has persuaded the Prime Minister that taking an axe to parts of Britains bloated state is actually popular with ordinary taxpayers. Hitherto Ms Reeves has favoured managerialist rather than populist policies. That now looks like a luxury our prodigal Chancellor can no longer afford.

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LAKE WALES, Fla. (WFLA)  A Lake Wales man said he was shocked to learn somebody threw Molotov cocktails into his business.

When German Portillo pulled into his Lake Wales office Thursday morning, he was stunned by what he saw.

Florida marks first arrest under the Alien Enemies Act

Why do we have to go all the way to this? We dont have any issues with any customers, Portillo said.

Two Molotov cocktails had been thrown inside. They scorched the floor and filled the space with smoke.

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I dont know what to think. When you see things like that, you say, Well, what if it happened when I was here in the middle of the day? Portillo said.

Outside, decals covering his windows were vandalized with paint, which has since been cleaned up. Police said the suspects spray painted the words Trump Civil War.

There were writings on the graffiti that we cant hide, Portillo said.

Portillo told 8 on your side hes owned Univista Insurance in Lake Wales for eight years, but had only been open at this location for three weeks.

What is the message that you want, that you want to give? Because apparently there was a message sent. You want me out of here? Why? You want me to do business? Why dont you like me? Why? Thats my question, Portillo said.

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Portillo said hes thankful no one was hurt and hopes the person responsible is held accountable. Investigators said they do have evidence of the suspects car, and they are using digital evidence to help solve the crime.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
The former mayor of Denver is calling on the University of Colorado to conduct an internal investigation and address its lack of diversity.

In a letter sent to the CU Board of Regents and President Todd Saliman, Wellington Webb called for an investigation into the hiring practices of CU's leadership given the lack of African American representation over the university systems history.

The same day, Webb, Denver's first Black mayor, held a news conference at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library calling for the investigation.

This is not a partisan issue, he wrote. This is a fairness issue that must be addressed for the future success and credibility of the university.

In his letter, he noted that only two Black chancellors have been appointed over CUs 149-year history and called it a disgrace."

Mary Frances Berry was the first Black and first female chancellor at CU Boulder in 1976. Roy Wilson was appointed chancellor of CU Denver and the Health Sciences Center by then-CU President Bruce Benson in 2006. CU has never had a Black president.

In his letter, Webb refers to a meeting he had with Saliman in which he told him that less than five of the roughly 800 people that report to him are Black.

Based on the presidents own words, it seems to us that CU is defacto (sic) a segregated university, Webb wrote.

A spokesperson for the University of Colorado confirmed that the Board of Regents and Saliman had received Webbs letter and clarified that there are 620 employees in the system office throughout the Boulder, Anschutz, Denver and Colorado Springs campuses it oversees  25 of whom identify as Black.

The spokesperson added that of the 11 leaders who report directly to the president, three are Latino, and five are women.

The Regents, the President, and all four Chancellors have clearly said the University of Colorado should reflect the diversity of Colorado in all of its forms, the spokesperson said in a statement provided to The Gazette.

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While we have made progress on better reflecting the diversity of Colorado, it is clear that much work remains and we remain committed to this work. While we do this, the university is vigilant in following all state and federal laws that protect against discrimination.

As for its student population, CU reported 67,708 students for its fall 2024 semester across its four campuses. Of this total, 3% were Black.

Webb pointed to neighboring universities efforts in trying to increase their representation in recent years. He specifically referred to former Colorado State University President Al Yates' 1990-2006 tenure and the recent efforts by current CSU President Amy Parsons efforts in hiring a diverse staff.

If CSU can do it, why cant CU? he wrote.

Webbs call for reform comes during a time of heightened scrutiny for college and university campuses regarding their hiring practices and overall functions as they pertain to diversity, equity and inclusion.

On Feb. 14, the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights issued a "Dear Colleague Letter" that called for an end to racial discrimination through diversity equity and inclusion programs at all universities that discriminate against students. The letter specifies White and Asian students as two student populations, in particular, who are discriminated against.

On Monday, the U.S. Department Education's Office for Civil Rights began investigating over 50 universities for their use of diversity, equity and inclusivity programs. Among them, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs is under investigation for using The PhD Project, a recruiting platform intended to expand and diversify professors in business schools.

If the CU regents fail to conduct their own investigation, Webb alluded to sharing his letter with state Senate President James Coleman and House Speaker Julie McCluskie to possibly call for a special interim study with the legislature.

Despite obtaining his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Webb said he loves CU, calling it Colorados flagship institution and noted that he has regularly donated to the system of universities over the years.

I want them to do better, he said. All theyve got to do is say that they can do better and then listen to those who say they can do better.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  Multiple people were shot at a park late Friday night, March 21 in Las Cruces, a Las Cruces Police spokesman said.

Las Cruces Police responded to a shooting with multiple gunshot victims a little after 10 p.m. at Young Park, at South Walnut and Lees, the spokesman said.

3 killed, 14 injured in shooting at park in Las Cruces

Police in Las Cruces are calling this a mass shooting event.

Photos by Edith Montero/KTSM

Photos by Edith Montero/KTSM

Photos by Edith Montero/KTSM

The scene is still very active and police are still investigating.

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Police dont have a precise number of victims or know the extent of their injuries or what led up to the shooting, the spokesman said.

A KTSM crew on the scene spoke to a family who said that one of their relatives may have been killed in the shooting. This has not been confirmed by police or any authorities in Las Cruces.

Police are still trying to identify the suspect or suspects in this case.

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call police immediately at (575) 526-0795. Anyone trying to learn the status of a victim may also call the same number.

Las Cruces Police are receiving assistance from New Mexico State Police, the Dona Ana County Sheriffs Office, the FBI and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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The area around Young Park, particularly Walnut Street south of Lohman Avenue, is temporarily closed to traffic. Police encourage motorists to stay away from the area.

Las Cruces Police are requesting anyone who has video of the events that occurred Friday evening at Young Park, particularly video that shows the shooting or subjects with firearms, to submit the video so investigators can analyze it and help develop a better understanding of the incident.

Video can be uploaded to this website: https://lascrucespdnm.evidence.com//public/25-030254.

We will update this story when we learn more.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  Las Cruces Public Schools is creating a history of the district and education in general in the Mesilla Valley.

The project, called Voices of Las Cruces, officially launched on Monday, March 17. Students, both past and present, can access an online portal where they can leave a spoken history of their time spent in school. Those histories will be collected and shared on digital platforms and in a museum exhibit.

Whether its a funny moment, a favorite teacher, or a meaningful experience, we want to hear how LCPS shaped your life, Josh Silver, LCPS chief of staff and project developer, said. This is a chance to reconnect, reflect on your own personal story and help us celebrate the legacy of our schools.

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The online portal is now open to record personal histories. Current students and LCPS alumni can get involved by visiting this link to record a personal history in English or this link to record in Spanish.

The district is also asking LCPS alunnbi to submit memorabilia, like photos, yearbooks, uniforms or other keepsakes, to help tell the story of their time in school.

Submissions will be considered permanent donations to the district and will be shared as part of the project.

Today, LCPS serves more than 22,000 students across 40 schools.

Current students and LCPS alumni can get involved by visiting this link to record a personal history in English or this link to record in Spanish.

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Memorabilia donations can be made during regular business hours at the Dr. Karen M. Trujillo Administration Complex, 505 S. Main Street in Las Cruces. For more information on permanent donations, contact Brigitte Garibay, (575) 527-6014.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
Essex Town residents are voicing their concerns over a proposed 107,000-square-foot distribution center.

They're concerned the building and traffic will have negative environmental impacts and potentially draw customers away from small businesses.

Those concerns have been voiced across social media, where Burlington and Essex business Phoenix Books called residents to action to attend the Development Review Board meeting on March 20, where plans for the development were to be discussed.

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Katie DeSanto, general manager of Phoenix Books in Essex, shared her concerns with Amazon deliveries taking away work from USPS, FedEx and UPS, stating that "the infrastructure is already in place," and that there doesn't have to be "instant gratification" that comes with next day Amazon deliveries.

The item in question was not the only item on the board's agenda and was not introduced until almost three hours into the meeting. Developers from Scannell Properties, LLC shared the plans for the physical building and surrounding acreage before an open forum began.

Around 80 residents sat in on Essex Town's Development Review Board's March 20 meeting. Many were there to comment on the building of a distribution center off Saxon Hill Road.

It was a turnout larger than the Development Review Board was expecting, if the overflowing room, standing occupants and lack of microphones - making it a challenging listen for attendees in the back - was any indication.

Around 80 residents crunched their way into the Municipal Building, a line out the door forming as attendees signed in before entering. Approximately, 60 people joined virtually.

Is Amazon building on Saxon Hill Road in Essex Junction

The building site would be off Saxon Hill Road in Essex Junction. While still in the early stages, Amazon has interest in housing a facility at the lot. The international company is not mentioned by name in development documents, but Jonathan Greeley, Amazons head of economic development for New England, joined the developers to speak on the project and answer questions.

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Vermonters, often known for their opposition of big business and corporate mindset, shared their displeasure in having an Amazon distribution center in their neighborhood.

If built, it would be the first in the state. Greeley said Vermont's Amazon deliveries are all currently delivered by third parties. He provided more context of what an Amazon operation would look like in Vermont.

"As a last-mile delivery station, product will make its way here from warehouses primarily in Massachusetts or Connecticut," Greenley said. "It would make its way to this building; we would sort it and send it out in approximately a 70-mile radius."

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What are residents' concerns

Many impassioned residents took the floor to speak of their concerns - often followed by rousing applause by other residents - before the meeting was concluded at 11 p.m. Not all concerns were addressed before the meeting was adjourned.

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Various environmental concerns were brought up including that a large distribution warehouse necessitates trucks frequenting the surrounding roadways. The site is located a few miles from Interstate 89, leading to questions about the heightened presence of trucks and vans on smaller, quieter, and often neighborhood roadways.

One resident who lives "across the street from where this is proposed," said that small trucks, large trucks or employees driving in as they go to work will be "significant and noticeable."

She cited noise pollution and environmental pollution affecting residents and wildlife, and a concern of safety for kids, stating a "one-year-old just moved in across the street."

Developers said there would be scheduled times for the vehicles arriving at the facility, estimated one or two trucks an hour would depart between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Essex Town's Municipal Building sits at 81 Main Street.

Besides the physical building impact, residents were concerned about the impact a company like Amazon could have on local small businesses, along with concerns about working conditions at Amazon facilities.

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Greeley commented on the relationship between Vermont businesses and Amazon, stating that, "more than 600 businesses in Vermont use Amazon to reach their consumer...in 2023, the average business generated $250,000 in revenue from Amazon and sold 6 million items total."

Bill Calfee, owner of Myti - a Vermont-based e-commerce platform that connects online shoppers to local retailers, and ships products in days - said that an Amazon facility would be a threat to small businesses and workers that support the local economy.

"Vermont prides itself on strong labor protections and thriving small businesses," Calfee said. "Amazon's model undermines both."

The board did not vote on the proposal but will at a later date. Its meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month and the third Thursday of the month as needed.

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Sydney P. Hakes is the Burlington city reporter. Contact her at SHakes@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Large distribution center proposed for Saxon Hill Road, Essex Junction
It is extremely difficult to change the U.S. Constitution.

It is not simply waving a pen or a magic wand. The Constitution itself, in Article V, defines the process. For a proposal to become an official Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, two steps are required. First, the proposed Amendment must be passed by a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Second, it must be ratified (approved) by vote in three-fourths of the state legislatures, that is 38 of the 50 states.

This strict multi-layered procedure must be followed to change anything that is in the Constitution. These steps were designed to help ensure that we are a stable government of laws, not of men, according to John Adams in 1776.

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There are only 27 Amendments. The first ten are our Bill of Rights, and were adopted in 1791.

To undo an Amendment that has been passed by two-thirds of the members in both Houses of Congress and the legislatures of at least three-fourths of the states is just as difficult, requiring the passage of another Constitutional Amendment. Only one Amendment has ever been repealed; that was Prohibition, which was adopted in 1919 by the 18th Amendment, then repealed by the 21st in 1933.

The challenges to passing an Amendment are illustrated by two proposals regarding the rights of women. After decades of effort, beginning in the 1840s, women achieved the right to vote through the 19th Amendment in 1920. Trying to accomplish an Equal Rights Amendment, so that the Constitution guarantees women the same rights as men, has not yet been successful.

Since 1868, what is called birthright citizenship has been part of the U.S. Constitution. It is clearly stated in the 14th Amendment that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

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There are at least 33 countries that have unrestricted birthright citizenship. These include Canada and all but one country in North and South America.

Even before this Amendment, it was generally recognized that everyone born in the U.S. or its territories automatically became a citizen. A person born elsewhere could be a naturalized citizen after living here for the required number of years and then formally renouncing allegiance to their birth country and swearing allegiance to the United States.

This part of the 14th Amendment was adopted (1) to ensure that citizenship by birthright could not easily be taken away, and (2) to overturn the 1857 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case, which held that free African-American people born in this country could never be citizens.

The Congressional debates on the language of the 14th Amendment document that the phrase and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, was understood to exclude only the children of foreign ministers and invading armies, and Indians not taxed. They knew that the clause would extend citizenship to everyone else born on U.S. soil, even, as they said, Chinese and Gypsies.

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The son of Chinese immigrants went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and established his birthright citizenship in United States v Wong Kim Ark (1898).

Congress anticipated the possibility of a future government that opposed birthright citizenship. Consequently, they not only asserted it in a statute, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, but also in the Constitution. In the words of Sen. Benjamin Wade, their purpose was to fortify and make [the citizenship guarantee] very strong and clear.

The President does not have a role in the amendment process; it is entirely a legislative matter. However, apparently seeking to negate birthright citizenship all by himself, the President issued an Executive Order on January 20, 2025 declaring that a child born in the U.S. is not a citizen unless both parents are either U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents at the time of the childs birth.

Lawsuits were immediately brought challenging the Constitutionality of that Executive Order. The courts hearing the cases promptly issued injunctions stopping the order from going into effect while the litigation continues.

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Eventually, the Supreme Court will likely decide.

 Penny Clute has been an attorney since 1973. She was Clinton County district attorney from 1989 through 2001, then Plattsburgh City Court judge until her retirement in January 2012.

______________

RESOURCES

Explanation of Birthright Citizenship and the issues: https://www.npr.org/2025/01/23/nx-s1-5270572/birthright-citizenship-trump-executive-order

Text of Executive Order:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship/

Explanation of government of laws, not of men quote: https://www.socratic-method.com/quote-meanings-and-interpretations/john-adams-a-government-of-laws-and-not-of-men

United States v Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898).
For every right theres a wrong, for every action theres a consequence, and for every convict theres a sentenceeven if youre a Law & Order alum.

Isaiah Stokes, who appeared on Season 10 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life behind bars for a 2021 shooting where he exhibited murderous rage. The actor was found guilty of criminal possession of a weapon and the second-degree murder of 37-year-old New Yorker Tyrone Jones.

Bennett Raglin / Bennett Raglin/WireImage

The sentence followed a rocky two-week trial where prosecutors claimed Stokes, now 45, had sought revenge against Jones for months in a calculated murder, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. It all started in October 2020 after Stokes behaved inappropriately toward female guests. Jones told him to leave, but Stokes refused. A physical altercation ensued, and Stokes was kicked out.

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Filled with vengeance, Stokes placed a GPS tracking device under Jones vehicle in January 2021, which he used to track the victim that February to the scene of the crime.

Jones was going about his day as usual, sitting in a parked car and waiting for a friend to arrive. They were planning on having lunch at a nearby restaurant. But Stokes arrived before Jones even left the car. He drew his gun and shot the victim 11 times, hitting his head and chest. Jones was pronounced dead at the scene.

Law & Order: SVU premiered in 1999. / NBC / NBCUniversal via Getty Images

The defendant, a part-time actor, stewed for months after being thrown out of a birthday party for his own inappropriate behavior, said Katz, saying that Stokes was intent on revenge.

The tense trial came to a head when Stokes interrupted during his sentencing remarks and the judge snapped, I dont care what you said! I dont care if you maintain your innocence, you are more guilty than anyone Ive seen in this courtroom.

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Judge Kenneth Holder added, You thought staying in jail for as long as you can would do wonders for your movie career when you got out. But heres the problem, you have to get out and youre not getting out, no one can intentionally plan a murder and carry it out as stupidly as you did.

The judge added that Stokes hatched the plan after being consumed by his anger.

Michael Kovac / Michael Kovac/Getty Images for STARZ

You hunted down Jones and shot him 11 times and ensured he would die, he added. Ironically the murderous rage you undertook presents you with the notoriety you hope for.

Holder also chastised the actor for throwing away his impressive acting talent in one fit of rage.

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The victims father said Stokes was a monster for stalking and murdering his only son.

Stokes also appeared in Season 3 of FXs Rescue Me, Season 2 of HBOs Boardwalk Empire, and multiple seasons of the FX series Louie. His last credited acting gig was in Season 1 of Starz show Power.
Isaiah Stokes, a New York-based actor known for his appearances on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Boardwalk Empire," and "Power," has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the 2021 murder of Tyrone Jones in Queens, New York.

The 45-year-old actor was convicted earlier this month on charges of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon after a two-week trial.

Prosecutors revealed that Isaiah Stokes ambushed 37-year-old Jones in a brutal daylight shooting, firing 11 rounds into the victims vehicle, striking him multiple times in the head and chest. Jones was pronounced dead at the scene.

Former 'Law & Order: SVU' Actor Isaiah Stokes Sentenced To 25 Years To Life

LAW & ORDER ACTOR CONVICTED OF REVENGE MURDER A birthday party clash turned into a months-long obsession that ended in murder. Isaiah Stokes, known for roles on Law & Order and Boardwalk Empire, planted a GPS tracker on Tyrone Jones car after being thrown out of his party. pic.twitter.com/PeCHpnj6rP  Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 11, 2025

According to Daily Mail, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said the fatal attack was the culmination of a months-long grudge Stokes held following an altercation at Jones' birthday party in 2020, where Stokes had been removed for inappropriate behavior. Katz said the actor went so far as to place a GPS tracker on Jones car in the weeks leading up to the murder.

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"Isaiah Stokes, embarrassed and upset that he was thrown out of a birthday party in October 2020, sought revenge on Tyrone Jones," she said in a statement. "Months later, the defendant attached a GPS tracking device to his victims vehicle and stalked Jones for more than a week. Stokes tracked Jones down to Linden Boulevard and fired 11 times into Jones vehicle, striking the man in his head and chest."

She continued, "Justice has now been served for the premeditated murder perpetrated by this defendant and he will now spend 25 years to life in prison as a direct consequence of his criminal actions."

Judge Slams The Law & Order Actor With Scathing Rebuke At Murder Sentencing

 ACTOR FACING MURDER CHARGE: I'M JUST LIKE MANDELA Law & Order star Isaiah Stokes: "I'm not guilty, I'm super innocent, this is my first time ever being in jail. I'm not the first person to be in this predicament, When I think about my situation, I think about Snoop Dogg. pic.twitter.com/8fHAxodRzC  nyani (@bigmtoto) February 7, 2024

At his sentencing on Friday, March 21, Stokes appeared emotionless as Judge Kenneth Holder delivered a blistering rebuke.

You are more guilty than anyone I've seen in this courtroom, the judge declared, accusing Stokes of meticulously planning the crime in a misguided attempt at revenge. "You thought staying in jail for as long as you can would do wonders for your movie career when you got out."

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"But here's the problem: you have to get out, and you're not getting out, No one can intentionally plan a murder and carry it out as stupidly as you did. You were angry over a beatdown you got months earlier, you had all that rage consuming you for months and hatched this ridiculous plan," he continued. "You hunted down Jones and shot him 11 times and ensured he would die... ironically the murderous rage you undertook presents you with the notoriety you hope for. You're now an example of how one can completely ruin their life in the blink of an eye."

SVU Actor Accused Of 'Throwing It All Away'

Isaiah Stokes, an actor in Blue Bloods, Power, and Law & Order and SVU has been convicted of second-degree murder in connection to the 2021 killing of Tyrone Jones in New York City. pic.twitter.com/R4u4KDGmVI  Tpapa OG  (@XViralNews7) March 16, 2025

Holder also criticized the actor for rejecting a plea deal, despite video surveillance clearly identifying him as the shooter.

You have some small degree of talent, impressive talent, the judge noted. What makes this whole thing so perplexing... why would you throw all this away for a fight that you said was 'no big deal'?

Victims Father Delivers Heartbreaking Courtroom Statement

EXCLUSIVE Law & Order actor Isaiah Stokes charged with murder appears in court with a broken tooth to beg a judge to move him from Rikers Island wing after being repeatedly beaten up in custody Isaiah Stokes, 43, was arrested and charged over the February 2021 slaying of pic.twitter.com/ouJFBtEsEj  News News News (@NewsNew97351204) December 16, 2023

The courtroom was filled with emotional outbursts from the victims family.

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Tyrone Jones Sr., the victims father, gave a heart-wrenching victim impact statement, saying, "TJ was fun, loving, he is my son, a brother, uncle and a nephew. What I don't want to remember is the day that you decided to murder my son."

He continued, "I lost my only son on February 7, 2021, TJ did not die from a car accident or a disease but by the hand of a monster, Isaiah Stokes. Isaiah, you stalked my son, you followed TJ for weeks, but TJ... What did TJ do to you? As TJ sat in his car and was unaware... You lied to everyone! I gotta go to the cemetery to talk to my son in a grave."

SVU Actor Isaiah Stokes Hollywood Career Ends In Shock

Law & Order actor, Isaiah Stoke has been convicted of the 2021 sh0oting death of Tyrone Jones and faces 25 years to life in prison; his sentencing is on March 21st pic.twitter.com/sWgxP8C8qb  Naija (@Naija_PR) March 15, 2025

Stokes, who was once active in the hip-hop community under the name I$AIAH and released music as recently as 2023, had been held at Rikers Island since his 2021 arrest. His film and television credits include appearances in "Rescue Me," "Boardwalk Empire," "Louie," and "Power."

The murder case has left many in shock, with former fans and colleagues grappling with the stark contrast between Stokes on-screen roles and the calculated violence of his real-life actions.
Mar. 21OLYMPIA  State lawmakers are considering throwing the news industry a lifesaver by taxing some of the world's biggest tech platforms.

If adopted, the legislation would impose a surcharge on large search engines and social media companies with a gross income of $5 million or more, with the tax capped at $6 million a year. The Office of Financial Management estimates the tax would raise $27 million in fiscal year 2027 and an additional $102 million between 2027 and 2031.

The proposal comes as the journalism industry across the country struggles to remain relevant and profitable in an increasingly digital landscape.

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According to data compiled by the Local News Initiative at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, more than 3,200 newspapers have gone out of business since 2005, with more than two per week folding, on average.

Alan Fisco, president and chief financial officer of the Seattle Times, told legislators during a Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing Tuesday that the industry now faces new threats from tariffs on Canadian newsprint and aluminum.

"I can assure you that the number of closures will escalate quickly at small community newspapers, who are particularly vulnerable as they're far more dependent on print revenue compared to digital," Fisco said. "We have to do everything that we can to protect journalism jobs that remain, and hopefully provide incentives to grow them."

A 2022 report released by the League of Women Voters found that Washington lost 24 weekly and three daily newspapers between 2004 and 2022, about 20% of the publications in the state.

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The report found that of the newspapers that remain operational, many have slashed their newsroom staff, cut the frequency of their publication, reduced their number of pages, increased the price of a subscription or limited their coverage areas to either raise more revenue or decrease costs.

Dee Anne Finken, a former journalist and professor who spoke on behalf of the League of Women Voters, told members that while the organization doesn't believe the government should "bail out news industries or news outlets," it believes "that government has a responsibility to ensure conditions exist so that local news outlets can do their job of informing all Washingtonians, including elect officials."

"That is how we can all work together to solve the problems, if we know about them," Finken said.

In recent years, the Legislature has made other efforts to boost local journalism coverage in the state. In 2023, the Legislature appropriated $2.4 million for a two-year fellowship program through the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University.

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Under the program, journalists in the early stages of their careers are placed in newsrooms throughout the state, including The Spokesman-Review, to cover underreported beats, which include voting rights, housing and rural issues, among others.

Former state Sen. Karen Keiser, a former reporter in California, Oregon and Washington, championed the program while in office. Now retired, Keiser told committee members Tuesday the tax "will enhance local news coverage" while increasing awareness of statewide and local issues.

"We can't have a healthy democracy without an informed public. We need this kind of information flow," Keiser said. "And right now, our online platforms do not pay a fee, or a royalty, for the use of the work product that they publish and sell ads for and make a profit on. Not a dime."

However, Rose Feliciano, who spoke on behalf of the technology trade association Technet, told the committee that the organization believes the legislation is based on "the false premise that a handful of social media companies and search engines are responsible for causing and solving the problems of local news journalism."

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"The struggles facing the news industry predate social media," Feliciano said. "First radio, then television, and now the internet have changed people's habits and have had an impact on traditional news publishing."

Feliciano also suggested the bill could violate the Internet Tax Freedom Act, a federal law that prohibits states and local jurisdictions from adopting taxes on online activity.

Kelly Fukai, CEO of the Washington Technology Industry Association, said "market-driven adaptations," such as philanthropic support, digital subscriptions and new and engaging content, should be the solution to the decline in local journalism, rather than a new tax.

The legislation passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee earlier this session. As of Friday afternoon, it has not been scheduled for an executive session in the Ways and Means Committee.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump and Elon Musks sweeping federal layoffs arent just wreaking havoc on tens of thousands of employees across the country.

Lawmakers in both parties are warning the cuts will harm the governments ability to recruit young people out of college  as well as highly skilled candidates from the private sector  causing a ripple effect that could be felt for years or even decades.

The recruiting challenge theyre creating for themselves is enormous, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., whose state is home to hundreds of thousands of federal workers, said of the Department of Government Efficiencys efforts. I dont think thats an accidental byproduct. I think thats a known consequence  and they dont care.

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Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., whose state also borders Washington, D.C., and is home to thousands of federal employees, agreed with Kaine that DOGEs headline-grabbing, scorched-earth approach is designed, in part, to drive away the next generation of civil servants.

Im very worried that this will discourage talented young people from joining the federal service, Van Hollen, the son of two former federal workers, said in an interview. A lot of people who join the federal service do it for all the right reasons; theyre patriots and they want to serve the country. And with the Musk-Trump approach, theyre effectively terrorizing the federal civil service.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said he, too, had concerns about the impact of cuts on recruitment efforts. A rare Republican voice on Capitol Hill who has questioned DOGEs hard-charging approach, Bacon told NBC News: DOGE has been good for showing where our money is being spent and some of the stupid projects that were funded. But it has been too rash in the firings. Better analysis needed to be done. Its not efficient to fire someone and then rehire.

Theres an old saying I learned. Measure twice, cut once, Bacon said.

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For many young people, particularly those attending college in and around the nations capital, DOGE has been a live-fire exercise.

One student at Georgetown University was hoping that her current internship at a federal agency would help her secure a full-time job there before she graduates in May. She found her work in the sciences rewarding and her co-workers brilliant and inspiring.

But in just two short months, the DOGE cuts and federal hiring freeze have upended her career plans. The student, who requested anonymity because she wasnt authorized to speak to the media, told NBC News shes now putting her dreams of working in government on hold and making a pivot to the private sector.

I loved the work that I did so much and I could feel like it had a tangible impact on real people that I decided that I really wanted to work in the federal government, said the student, who asked that her name not be used and her agency not be identified.

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But she acknowledged: The federal option isnt there. I mean, Im still holding out a little bit of hope for the federal hiring freeze to end in April, but I know that is probably not realistic.

I was really trying to not follow the consulting, private-sector track of most Georgetown students, and I really thought the best way to do that was to go into the public sector, the student continued. But now Im thinking, Im probably just going to try to pivot into consulting, even though its kind of late, or do tech.

'Traumatically affected'

Both Kaine and Van Hollen pointed to a 2023 speech by Russ Vought, now the head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he said of federal bureaucrats that the goal of a second Trump administration would be to put them in trauma.

We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected, Vought said in a video of the speech obtained by ProPublica. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.

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Russ Vought was quite open about it, said Van Hollen, who added: Unfortunately, this will have a huge dampening effect on the ability to recruit.

Asked about lawmakers concerns about the governments ability to attract talented applicants in the future, White House spokesperson Liz Huston focused on the Cabinet members and other political appointees whom Trump has installed over the past two months.

Never before in history has an administration hired such a huge number of qualified, capable, and America-first Patriots in such little time, Huston said in a statement. Weve broken records by selecting over 2,000 appointees in less than 2 months including incredible MAGA warriors like Russ Vought, Tom Homan, Sean Parnell, Harmeet Dhillon, Kash Patel, Kari Lake, Brent Bozell, and Jay Bhattacharya.

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also touted the Trump administrations successful efforts to fill political jobs. She said 281 Trump appointees had been confirmed by the Senate so far, with another 280 in the process. And Leavitt said the administration had filled 100% of the political slots at the White House, the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration.

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Still, those political appointees are a just a small slice of the 3 million-plus federal workforce. The overwhelming number of workers are career civil servants who traditionally remain in their jobs regardless of which party controls the White House.

In addition to slashing agencies, Trump is also shutting down critical pipelines to federal careers. Started nearly a half century ago, the Presidential Management Fellows Program pairs current or recent graduate students with opportunities in the federal government, from the U.S. Agency for International Development to the National Forest Service.

But on Feb. 19, Trump signed an executive order to promptly terminate the competitive leadership development program, and its talent management system is set to be decommissioned at the end of this week, according to a message on the Office of Personnel Management website.

Its a federal governmentwide program that really draws very talented people into the federal government, Van Hollen said of the fellows program. So I guess they dont want young people serving the country. I mean, thats the message theyre sending.

'They're telling them to pound sand'

Arati Prabhakar, who served as director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Biden administration, said the DOGE cuts are telling young people and those with highly skilled, technical backgrounds to pound sand.

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Its a terrible message, she said in a phone interview.

During the Obama administration, Prabhakar led the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the research and development arm of the Defense Department. And she said a big part of her job was recruiting people from universities or from the private sector, where they were offered much higher salaries.

But we got them, and they came in and they did great things. And the reason that they came is that the work was so exciting.  They have the ability at places like DARPA to address problems at scale. It was a place you could do big things, and you could do it for our country, she said. It takes so much nurturing to find those few people, and then they make such a difference, and thats whats being disrupted. So, weve got to get back on track.

Prabhakar, now living in Silicon Valley, said she recently reconnected with a Stanford University student who had been her former intern in the White House.

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Shes about to finish up in computer science, and what she wants to do is to bring this incredible AI expertise that she has into public service, and she even has an offer, but she doesnt know if its going to stick in this current environment, Prabhakar explained.

And you know what DOGEs actions are doing? Those actions are telling these immensely talented people who want to serve our country  theyre telling them to pound sand, she said. Its the opposite of what we should be doing ... to draw them in.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and his top aides used an encryption app that auto-deleted messages used to communicate about the illegal immigration crisis plaguing his city  a practice that First Amendment experts said violated the citys own records retention policies and the states open meeting laws.

CBS News Colorado reported that Johnston and 14 of his advisers, lawyers and appointees used the app Signal as part of a group within the administration called Strike Force.

CBS News Colorado quoted a mayoral spokesperson as saying Johnstons use of the messaging app was prompted by President Donald Trump and how his administration could have significant impacts on how Denver operates.

The mayors office did not directly address several questions, including whether Johnston and his aides downloaded the text messaging app using government-provided cellphones, and, if the devices were issued by the city, whether the citys IT department approved the software download.

A city spokesperson defended Johnstons use of the app and insisted that it does not violate laws.

Signal is a well-known collaboration tool that creates an easy and convenient messaging platform, particularly for large groups. It is especially useful for people who use different operating systems (iPhone, Android) and allows users to efficiently connect with each other, said Jordan Fuja, who speaks for the mayors office.

Fuja said the Strike Force still exists and the mayor taps the group when there are relevant updates that impact Denver.

The use of this platform has not violated any law or city retention policy, and all communications, regardless of the platform used, are subject to open records requests, she said.

Attorney Steven Zansberg, a First Amendment lawyer who has represented the interests of media companies in litigation, reviewed some of the records obtained by CBS News Colorado and concluded that Johnston and his aides violated Colorado laws.

First, instantaneous destruction of telecommunication correspondence with members of the Strike Force outside the city government violates Schedule 145 of the Citys Records Retention policy, Zansberg told The Denver Gazette. Second, because the Strike Force is a formally constituted group of the City and County of Denver, any messages shared among three or more members of that local public body constituted a public meeting from which the public was unlawfully excluded.

Jeff Roberts, director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, said the use of ephemeral messaging apps among public officials undermines the purpose of Colorado Open Records Act, which is to ensure access to the records of government so that the public can be informed and hold officials accountable.

Roberts was referring to CORA, which requires that most public records be made available for public inspection. The law applies to all writings made, maintained, or kept by the state, or any political subdivision thereof used in the exercise of functions required or authorized by law or administrative rule.

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Zansberg additionally implicated the states open meetings law, which experts view as an antidote against secrecy. The law declares that the formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret.

CBS News Colorado had obtained records showing that on Jan. 14, Johnston convened a Strike Force Introduction meeting and on Jan. 15, Joshua Posner, the mayors director of strategic initiatives, sent this identical text message to multiple administration members: We are going to use Signal to communicate with Strike Force so that communication remains encrypted and secure (and messages auto delete).

Posner then sent a link to download Signal and told people he can add you to the group, the TV station reported.

CBS News Colorado broke the story a few weeks after Republican members of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform threatened to refer Democratic mayors, such as Johnston, to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation.

At the center of the congressional hearing in March were the policies by municipalities dubbed sanctuary cities to prevent or discourage local law enforcement from reporting an individuals immigration status to federal authorities.

Johnstons use of encryption services occurred amid a debate at the state Capitol over what some described as the Democratic-controlled legislatures attempts to make it difficult for the public and the media to access public records or figure out what policymakers are up to.

Notably, lawmakers passed a law last year that exempted the legislature from parts of the Open Meetings Law. This year, lawmakers are pushing Senate Bill 77, which seeks to extend deadlines for public records custodians to fulfill requests from three days to five and even longer in extenuating circumstances, which is not clearly defined.

Lawmakers have maintained that the laws theyve passed and measures theyve proposed would make accessing public records more practicable for government custodians. They also argue that before they changed the open meetings law, it was unworkable.

The practice of using auto-deleting apps among elected leaders is not new.

In 2023, two House Democrats sued the Colorado House of Representatives and both Democrats and Republicans, alleging both parties, with support from leaders, regularly participated in meetings that violated the Colorado open meetings law and used encrypted messaging service Signal to discuss public business outside of public view, with the messages set for automatic deletion.

The lawsuit  which the House leaders settled  claimed that, as a result of using Signal, the digital communications among lawmakers were not available to the public for observation and because they were set for automatic deletion via the apps self-destructing message function, they were not retained or available for public inspection under CORA.

Denver Gazette reporter Deborah Grigsby Smith and editor Luige del Puerto contributed to this report.
A biofuel known as E15 may soon be available year-round in the United States after a bipartisan push to reintroduce the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act  a move supported by the American Petroleum Institute, the largest oil and natural gas trade association in the country. However, critics argue there may be more to the bill than meets the eye.

What's happening?

As detailed by Reuters, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Feb. 21 that it will uphold a plan from Joe Biden's presidency to allow year-round sales of E15  which contains a higher percentage of ethanol at 15% than its E10 counterpart, per the U.S. Department of Energy  in eight Midwestern states beginning April 28.

Those states include Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. In its release, the EPA revealed that Congress hopes to agree to a nationwide policy on E15 before the summer, when many people typically hit the road for vacations.

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The API is one of the trade groups backing this nationwide push, along with the Renewable Fuels Association, National Corn Growers Association, Growth Energy, National Farmer Union, and National Association of Convenience Stores, per a media release from the office of U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican who headed the reintroduction of the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act with five Democratic and eight Republican co-sponsors.

A nationwide policy "would prevent a patchwork of state-by-state policies while ensuring consumers have access to the fuels they depend on every day," Will Hupman, API vice president of downstream policy, told Reuters.

Why is this important?

Proponents of E15 argue that biofuel is crucial to ensuring energy independence, ultimately lowering prices at the gas pump while simultaneously supporting job growth, including in rural communities dependent on agriculture.

"Homegrown biofuels are tools we have right now to address climate change, strengthen our nation's energy infrastructure, and lower costs for Americans at the gas pump," said U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat who introduced companion legislation in the House, per the office of Sen. Fischer. "This bill is the kind of commonsense legislation we need more of in Washington."

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However, even though biofuels like E15 "burn cleaner" than traditional gasoline, they have "higher evaporative emissions," meaning they contribute to the formation of toxic ground-level ozone and smog, as the U.S. Energy Information Administration explains.

All in all, some types of biofuel could also account for more pollution in the long run compared to traditional gasoline if their production relies on dirty fuels  which already generate the bulk of the heat-trapping gases leading to more intense extreme weather as global temperatures rise. Biodiesel production has also contributed to deforestation in some regions.

What can be done about this?

Critics argue that going all in on E15 or other biofuels without accounting for their complexities could lead to more environmental harm than good, hindering support for a booming electric vehicle market along with investments in infrastructure ideas supported by most Americans, such as developing more walkable and bikeable areas and a better public transportation system.

You can make your voice heard by raising awareness about matters like these in conversations with family and friends and reaching out to your representatives to advocate for nuanced considerations in policymaking.

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You can also learn about greenwashing so you can spot when an idea or action may need further investigation to determine whether it is something you want to support.

Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR)  California Republican Congresswoman Young Kim is speaking out against the presidents recent executive order to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global media, or USAGM.

I would like to encourage the administration to reconsider their actions, Kim said.

Through its outlets, including Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, USAGM reports news to millions across the world in countries lacking press freedom. Kim says it promotes Americas national security interests.

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For a long time, our reporting has not been blocked by adversaries like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, Kim said. Now, we are by ourselves shutting off the ability to get the information into those oppressed regimes to the people that are dying for the real truth and information.

One of the entities under USAGM is Voice of America in DC. The organizations director said in a social media post that almost all of the 1,300 employees have been put on administrative leave.

The presidents pick to lead VOA, Kari Lake, called it a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer.

She said in a video on X that shes going to root out waste and mismanagement at USAGM.

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Were going to make sure were doing everything we can to cancel contracts that can be canceled, save money, downsize, Lake said.

State Department Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce defended the Presidents order, describing it as a restructuring.

It doesnt mean burning the house down. It means looking at how we can make it better, Bruce said.

USAGM advocates say the move emboldens Americas adversaries.

China and Russia, our enemies, are eager to have Voice of America go, George Washington University Professor of Media and Public Affairs Janet Steele said.

Steele says since VOA is congressionally funded, lawmakers could take action to support the agency.

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Congress could step up. But I dont know if they will, Steele said.

Kim says the next step is congressional hearings. She said shed like to see the agency reformed but not eliminated.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
LAWRENCE COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN)  Lawrence County law enforcement helped save a womans life after she was brutally attacked by the family dog early Friday morning.

A 911 call came in at approximately 2:52 a.m. on Friday, March 21 about a dog attack with a woman seriously bleeding.

There was much activity in the city of Lawrenceburg, so the Lawrence County Sheriffs Office was first on scene.

The deputy was met by the victims husband, who said the family Pit Bull attacked his 49-year-old wife. The husband reported the dog was still in the same structure as the injured woman.

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Womans missing dog returned after video shows pet being taken from Antioch warehouse

My wife is in the middle. Shes bleeding bad, man, the husband can be heard saying on body camera footage.

The husband repeatedly demanded the deputy shoot the dog in order to save his wife. The man urged the deputy to kill the dog so first responders could safely get into the back bedroom where the victim was.

We try our best not to kill animals, but if that is what we have to do to protect someones life, then that is what needs to be done, said Sgt. Garrett Brown with the Lawrence County Sheriffs Office.

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Based on the video and the reports from law enforcement, the deputy fired multiple shots, killing the dog. Once the dog was no longer a threat, the deputy went to the woman in the rear bedroom.

Mother of 6-month-old girl killed in Alabama dog attack calls it horrible but avoidable accident

The deputy found the victim wedged between the bed and the wall. She had bedding pulled around her, but the bed and the covers were bloody.

When the deputy removed the blankets, it revealed gaping wounds to the womans arms, legs, and side. Multiple tourniquets were applied to stop the profuse bleeding.

Severe laceration to her right arm, the deputy told other first responders.

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The victim reportedly had deep lacerations from her elbows all the way to her armpits.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

Weve gotta get her out of here, the deputy insisted.

Thanks to the quick actions of law enforcement, the woman was taken to a landing zone, where a LifeFlight helicopter arrived to transport her to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC).

They quickly made entry, assessed the situation, pretty much determined that the dog did need to be put down for everyones safety, and then very quickly got into the room, assessed her injuries, got her to safety pretty much, and it was all done with professionalism and just great police work in my opinion, Brown said.

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The woman is currently listed in stable condition at VUMC.

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Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian Columbia graduate student the Trump administration is trying to deport, appeared for an immigration proceeding in Louisiana on Friday as his lawyers challenge his detention as cruel and unlawful.

The appearance was Khalils first before a judge since Homeland Security agents took him into custody at his university-owned apartment on March 8  despite his status as a green card holder who hasnt been accused of breaking any laws. He was transported to Jena, La., the following day.

An attorney representing Khalil in the South, Marc Van Der Hout, said he needed more time to get acquainted with his new client and the case, according to the Associated Press. A judge then set another hearing for April 8.

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Separate from his immigration case, the students lawyers in New York are trying to get him freed so he can fight his case outside of detention and be present for the birth of his first child. Khalils wife is eight months pregnant.

On Wednesday, a Manhattan federal judge transferred a habeas corpus petition filed by Khalils lawyers to a federal court in Newark, N.J. Rejecting the governments effort to dismiss the petition or move it to Louisiana, Judge Jesse Furman said it was the correct course of action given that Khalil was detained in Elizabeth, N.J., when his lawyers filed it. The judge also reaffirmed a previous ruling ordering the government not to remove Khalil from the country as his legal matters play out.

The ruling critically meant that Khalils lawyers challenges to court rulings in their fight to get him out of detention wouldnt be targeted to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, considered among the most conservative in the country. Hes expected to remain detained in Louisiana until a judge orders otherwise.

Khalil, the grandson of Palestinians, who grew up in Syria, played a prominent role in campus protests last year against Israels war against Hamas in Gaza and Columbia Universitys investment ties to Israel.

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The president and his senior cabinet members have framed Khalils advocacy for Palestinian civilians in the besieged Gaza region as antisemitic and supportive of Hamas, which the U.S. and other Western nations have designated a terrorist group. Khalil refuted those characterizations before and after his detention.

Rather than accusing Khalil of a crime, the Trump administration has invoked a rarely cited provision of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the secretary of state the power to order noncitizens deported if they are deemed to pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests. The administration says he is the first of many students it plans to target.

Khalils arrest for political reasons has provoked widespread protests and concern over the future of the First Amendment right to free speech under Trump.

In a statement earlier this week, Khalil said he had been sleeping in cold facilities without a blanket since his arrest.

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The Trump administration is targeting me as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent, Khalil said. Visa holders, green card carriers and citizens alike will all be targeted for their political beliefs.

At stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental civil liberties of all.

_____
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  Here are what leaders from around the Borderland are saying about a shooting that killed three and injured 15 others late Friday night, March 21 at Young Park in Las Cruces.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Democrat

I am heartbroken and horrified by the mass shooting Friday night at Young Park in Las Cruces. Three people are dead and at least 15 others were wounded in this senseless act of violence. My heart goes out to the victims, their families, and the entire Las Cruces community during this unimaginably difficult time.

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3 killed, 15 injured in shooting at park in Las Cruces

The indiscriminate nature of this shooting is both shocking and unacceptable, but sadly not surprising. This violence tears at the fabric of our communities and leaves wounds that may never heal.

I am mobilizing state resources to support local law enforcement in their investigation. If you have any information, particularly video or images that could help identify those responsible, please come forward and contact the Las Cruces Police Department immediately.

The disturbing rise in violent crime in Las Cruces  which has increased by 46 percent compared to last year  demands immediate and sustained attention. This is not merely a statistic; these are our neighbors, our children, our future.

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The devastating loss of Officer Jonah Hernandez in Las Cruces last year, and now this mass shooting, underscore the Legislatures years-long failure to address the crime crisis shattering lives and communities in our state. New Mexicans are heartbroken, and they should also be outraged that their Legislature will adjourn today without having a passed a single bill to address juvenile crime or ban assault weapons. Their inaction is appalling and unacceptable.

The public should demand that the New Mexico Legislature  and all public officials in our state  acknowledge New Mexicos crime crisis and prompt them to act immediately to protect our communities. The Legislature should expect a special session to address our ongoing public safety crisis.

I remain committed to working across all levels of government and with community partners to implement comprehensive solutions that address the root causes of gun violence while providing our law enforcement with the resources they need to protect New Mexicans.

Deb Haaland, former U.S. Interior secretary and Democratic candidate for governor

My heart goes out to the Las Cruces community and everyone who lost someone or has a loved one in the hospital because of this senseless mass shooting. Addressing gun violence is about safety and preventing crime. We must do everything we can to keep our communities safe.

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Im grateful to the first responders, health care professionals, and law enforcement who arrived on the scene, saved lives, and continue to investigate so the perpetrators are held responsible.

NM state Sen. Crystal Brantley, R-Elephant Butte

Last night, I sat on the floor of the Senate while texts and calls from all over the district including from the Las Cruces Police Chief  poured in about what was happening. There is no feeling like the helplessness you experience, even from the center of the Capitol building, when a tragedy like this strikes.

When we cannot feel safe in our parks  where our kids, my kids, play  there is a deep moral failing by our government to protect its citizens. We must return to a place of safety and stop with the half-measures. Today is another reminder that despite all of our progress on crime legislation, New Mexico criminals do not fear the strong arm of the law.

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I am praying for all the families afflicted by last nights tragedy and stand ready to help in any way I can.

Johana Bencomo, Las Cruces city councilor and mayor pro tem

The next few days will be heavy and chaotic but we must focus on supporting those directly impacted and their families. We must also focus on supporting our first responders in staying safe while conducting their investigation and supporting those who were injured and traumitized. I know that when fear and uncertainty set in, it is so easy for us to fall for and unintentionally spread misinformation or rumors.

No judgment, it happens to the best of us in the worst moments. I ask that you please be thoughtful in what you share or repeat.

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Federal workers stood by their decision to leak information about Elon Musk to the media following his threats to prosecute whistleblowers.

Their defiance follows Musks stark warning that Pentagon officials who leak would be prosecuted after reports that he was scheduled to receive a briefing Friday about the U.S. militarys top-secret war plans for China.

The DOGE mogul claimed that the information was false and derided the media for allegedly disseminating propaganda before issuing a thinly veiled threat to Pentagon officials.

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His threats have not deterred everyone. Pushing back, federal workers told Politico that they are speaking out because of the billionaires move fast and break things approach via the Department of Government Efficiency.

Leakers are patriots, one Agriculture Department employee told the outlet and said that they were motivated by a desire for greater transparency  the same goal Musk claims through DOGE.

We are public servants, not Elons servants, a Food and Drug Administration staffer told Politico. The public deserves to know how dysfunctional, destructive, and deceptive all of this has been and continues to be.

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump denied reports that the billionaire would receive a Pentagon briefing about the U.S. militarys war plans for China. Musk threatened that leakers would be prosecuted but it hasnt deterred all federal staffers from speaking to the press (REUTERS)

If the Biden administration or Obama had acted like this, no one would have tolerated it, another staffer told the outlet. The Trump administration doesnt get a pass.

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However some federal staffers are nervous about the repercussions of talking to the press.

Were taking more conversations in-person, out of the office completely. Putting phones on airplane mode or going to the basement, an employee at the National Institutes of Health told Politico. I dont take my phone when Im talking to coworkers anymore. I assume there are cameras and listening devices everywhere.

Musks threats followed a New York Times report Thursday that military officials would show him a slideshow of how the U.S. would engage in a conflict with China. The briefing reportedly consisted of 20 to 30 slides outlining the U.S.s strategy if war broke out with the adversary in the Far East.

Sources said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was informed of the plans on Wednesday.

Trump denied the report about the China briefing and claimed Musk was at the Pentagon for DOGE, not there for China. Musk said that leakers will be found (Getty Images)

The New York Times is pure propaganda. Also, I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT, Musk posted on X Friday, sharing a Truth Social Post from President Donald Trump denying the claims.

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They will be found, Musk added.

The Fake News is at it again, this time the Failing New York Times. They said, incorrectly, that Elon Musk is going to the Pentagon tomorrow to be briefed on any potential war with China, Trump said in the Truth Social post. How ridiculous? China will not even be mentioned or discussed. How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies. Anyway, the story is completely untrue!!!

The president later said in the Oval Office that Musk was at the Pentagon for DOGE, not there for China.
A shed and attic fire in Van Nuys claimed the life of at least one bird, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

A bulletin issued by LAFD indicates that firefighters were first called to the 7800 block of Zombar Avenue shortly after 11:20 a.m. Saturday.

Upon arriving, crews found that a shed behind a two-story home was well involved in fire and exposing adjacent homes.

Controlled burn ignites explosives at destroyed Pacoima home, sending fireball into night sky

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The fire was reported to have extended to one of the exposures [also making it] a possible attic fire, LAFDs original alert said.

A shed fire in Van Nuys claimed the life of at least one bird, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Mar. 22, 2025. (Citizen App) A shed fire in Van Nuys claimed the life of at least one bird, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Mar. 22, 2025. (Citizen App) A shed fire in Van Nuys claimed the life of at least one bird, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Mar. 22, 2025. (Citizen App)

Power lines were also down on Stagg Street, east of the fires location. Multiple vantage points of the fire were posted to the Citizen App which showed black smoke billowing into the air.

A later update from LAFD stated that 42 firefighters extinguished the shed fire and attic fire that occurred in the exposed single-family home in 36 minutes.

At least 10 vehicles damaged in high-speed hit-and-run crash in L.A.s San Fernando Valley

No injuries to residents or firefighters were reported; however, at least one pet bird in the backyard died and other birds were injured, LAFD said.

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L.A. Animal Services has been notified and is coordinating the injured birds care.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
DAKAR, Senegal (AP)  An attack by a jihadi group on a village in western Niger has killed 44 civilians, the country's Interior Ministry said.

The attack took place on Friday afternoon in the village of Fambita in the rural commune of Kokorou, near the tri-state border with Mali and Burkina Faso, the ministry said in a statement. It blamed the attack on the Islamic State in the Great Sahara, or EIGS.

The Associated Press was not able to reach out to the EIGS for comment.

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Around 2 p.m., while Muslim worshippers were performing Friday prayers, these heavily armed terrorists surrounded the mosque to carry out their massacre of rare cruelty, the statement read. The gunmen also set fire to a market and houses before retreating, it added.

The provisional death toll is at least 44 civilians, with 13 severely injured, the ministry said. It declared three days of national mourning

Niger, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by jihadi groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russias mercenary units for security assistance. The three countries have vowed to strengthen their cooperation by establishing a new security alliance, the Alliance of Sahel States.

But the security situation in the Sahel, a vast region on the fringes of the Sahara Desert, has significantly worsened since the juntas took power, analysts say, with a record number of attacks and civilians killed both by Islamic militants and government forces.
NIAMEY (Reuters) - Islamist militants killed at least 44 civilians and severely injured 13 others during an attack on a mosque in southwest Niger on Friday, the country's defence ministry said.

The attack occurred during afternoon prayers in the village of Fombita in the rural commune of Kokorou, which is near the tri-border region of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali known as the epicentre of a jihadist insurgency in West Africa linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

The defence ministry blamed the attack on the EIGS group, an Islamic State affiliate, in a statement late on Friday.

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Reuters is not able to contact EIGS for comment.

Heavily armed jihadists encircled a mosque, where people had gathered for prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and carried out a "massacre of rare cruelty", it said.

The attackers then set fire to a market and houses before retreating, the ministry said.

Troops deployed to the scene provided a provisional death toll of 44 civilians, with 13 severely injured. Three days of national mourning have been declared.

The insurgency in West Africa's Sahel region started when Islamist militants took over territory in north Mali after a 2012 Tuareg rebellion.

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It has since spread into neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso, and more recently into the north of coastal West African countries such as Togo and Ghana.

Hundreds of thousands have been killed and millions displaced as militants have gained groups, attacking towns, villages, military and police posts and army convoys.

The failure of governments to restore security contributed to two coups in Mali, two in Burkina Faso and one in Niger between 2020 and 2023. All three remain under military rule despite regional and international pressure to hold elections.

Since the coups, authorities have turned away from traditional Western allies and sought military support from Russia instead.

(Reporting by Boureima Balima; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Tom Hogue)
I put the combined story as print only and published this one online, I'd prefer two separate stories for web-Lisa

A man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly stealing a gray 2016 Dodge Carvan, police said in an online blotter entry.

After watching video surveillance, police found the stolen vehicle Wednesday night in the 300 block of Vehr Drive, on the east side of Colorado Springs.

Police said the suspect, later identified as 41-year-old Francisco Maldonado, got out of the vehicle and fled as officers approached. He was arrested after a brief foot pursuit around 9 p.m., police said.

Maldonado was arrested for motor vehicle theft and booked into the El Paso County jail. He is being held on a $10,000 bond as of Friday morning. His next court appearance is Friday at 1:30 p.m.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Saturday said that renewed Israeli operations in southern Lebanon could risk dragging the country into a "new war".

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) quoted Salam as stressing "the need to take all necessary security and military measures, confirming that the state alone has the power to decide war and peace," in a conversation with Defence Minister Michel Menassa.

Salam's comments came hours after the Israeli military said it intercepted three projectiles aimed at northern Israel from the direction of Lebanon.

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Warning sirens were heard in the town of Metula, but there were no reports of damage or casualties.

Lebanese security sources told dpa that Israel responded with artillery in the village of Yohmor and the hills of al-Hamames, across the border from Metula.

Residents in the targeted areas reported hearing loud explosions due to the shelling.

NNA reported Israeli fighter jets in the south and attacks using artillery, tanks and machine guns in several locations.

According to Israeli media reports, the army used artillery fire to target the site from which the rockets were launched.

In a statement posted on X, the Israeli military said Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir had conducted a "situational assessment" and that Israel would "respond severely to the morning's attack."

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"The State of Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the [ceasefire] agreement," it said.

A ceasefire has been in place in Lebanon between Israel and the Hezbollah militia since November.

The deal paused the fighting after more than a year of intense cross-border shelling between Israel and the Iran-backed group, which intensified when Israeli forces launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon in October.

The conflict broke out following the October 7, 2023, attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israeli troops are due to completely withdraw from southern Lebanon, but five military posts remain near the border to Israel.

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The government in Beirut views the continued presence of Israeli units in the country as a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

According to NNA, Salam also called UN official Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert to urge the United Nations to "redouble international pressure on Israel to withdraw completely from the occupied Lebanese territories."
Israel on Saturday launched attacks on the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, hours after intercepting rockets fired from Lebanon, as a ceasefire appeared on the brink of collapse.

The renewed violence, which Lebanon said left two people dead, including a child, is the heaviest exchange of fire since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect in November.

"In response to the launching of rockets toward Israel this morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have instructed the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] to act with force against dozens of terrorist targets in Lebanon," said a statement from Netanyahu's office.

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The IDF said it "struck dozens of Hezbollah rocket launchers and a command center from which Hezbollah terrorists were operating in southern Lebanon."

The attacks came after the IDF said it intercepted several rockets launched from Lebanon at the northern Israeli border town of Metula, with no injuries or damage reported.

Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the rockets.

"The Israeli enemy's claims are merely pretexts to justify its ongoing aggression against Lebanon, which has not stopped since the announcement of the ceasefire," the militia said in a statement.

But Lebanese security sources suggested Hezbollah had launched its first attacks on Israel since the beginning of the ceasefire.

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Lebanese security sources told dpa that Israel responded with artillery fire on the village of Yohmor and the hills of al-Hamames, across the border from Metula.

Residents in the targeted areas reported hearing loud explosions.

At least two people, including a young girl, were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon, with at least eight injured, according to officials.

NNA reported Israeli fighter jets as well as attacks involving artillery, tanks and machine guns in several locations.

Hezbollah-affiliated broadcaster Al-Manar also reported of over 20 airstrikes targeting southern Lebanon.

In a statement posted on X, the Israeli military said that Israel would "respond severely to the morning's attack."

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"The State of Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the [ceasefire] agreement," it said.

Another ceasefire on the brink?

The fighting threatens to break the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which has been in place for nearly four months.

The deal put a temporary end to more than a year of intense cross-border attacks between Israel and the Iran-backed group, which intensified when Israeli forces launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon in October.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that renewed Israeli operations in southern Lebanon could risk dragging the country into a "new war" while the UN observer mission UNIFIL noted that "the fragile stability observed in recent months" was at risk.

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According to the observer mission, four projectiles were fired at Israel in the morning, "triggering immediate retaliation by the IDF."

The Lebanese military said its forces had discovered three simple wooden structures in southern Lebanon designed to launching rockets and dismantled them.

Hezbollah said it remains committed to the ceasefire deal with Israel and "stands behind the Lebanese state" in addressing what the group described as a serious Israeli escalation against Lebanon.

The conflict broke out following the October 7, 2023, attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, with Hezbollah saying its attacks were in solidarity with the Palestinians.

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Earlier this week, Israel also resumed widespread airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza, citing deadlocked negotiations with Hamas on expanding a ceasefire in place since January 19.

Hundreds of Gazans have been killed since the restart of the fighting early on Tuesday, which effectively shattered the temporary ceasefire.

Continued Israeli presence

Under the terms of the ceasefire with Hezbollah, Israeli troops are due to completely withdraw from southern Lebanon, but five military posts remain near the border to Israel.

The government in Beirut views the continued presence of Israeli units in the country as a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

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According to NNA, Salam also called UN official Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert to urge the United Nations to "redouble international pressure on Israel to withdraw completely from the occupied Lebanese territories."
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has warned that renewed military operations on his country's border with Israel risk dragging the country into a new war.

His warning came after Israel said it had intercepted three projectiles aimed at northern Israel from Lebanon.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Salam had called the Lebanese defence minister, stressing the need to take all security and military measures to "confirm that the [Lebanese] state alone has the power to decide war and peace."

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Salam has also called on the United Nations to redouble international pressure on Israel to fully withdraw from Lebanese territory amid a fragile ceasefire.

According to NNA, towns in southern Lebanon were subjected to Israeli shelling on Saturday. No casualties were reported.

A ceasefire has been in place between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militia since November.
Israel struck Lebanon with heavy artillery and air strikes on Saturday after intercepting cross-border attacks, in a move that could embroil the country in a new war after months of relative calm.

The Israeli army said three rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, marking the heaviest exchange of fire between the two countries since the November ceasefire was struck with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah to pause a year-long war. At least eight people were killed in the Israeli strikes, according to Reuters.

The projectiles set off air-raid sirens in Metula, a small community on the border between Israel and Lebanon.

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A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press on Saturday that it was not responsible for the attack, calling it primitive.

Eyal Zamir, the Israeli armed forces chief, warned the military would respond severely, reinforcing that Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the [ceasefire] agreement.

Israeli strikes hit the Lebanese village of Touline - DPA Picture Alliance/Alamy Live News

Nawaf Salam, the prime minister of Lebanon, warned that the country risked being dragged into a new war amid the renewed strikes. The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said it was alarmed by the possible escalation of violence.

Any further escalation of this volatile situation could have serious consequences for the region, said the force.

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We strongly urge all parties to avoid jeopardising the progress made, especially when civilian lives and the fragile stability observed in recent months are at risk.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister, and Israel Katz, the countrys defence minister, said that Israel would hold Lebanons new government responsible for any launches from the countrys territory.

Israel will not allow any harm to its citizens and sovereignty, and will act in every way to ensure the security of Israeli citizens and the northern communities, they said.

IDF intercepted three rockets that were fired from Lebanon into Metula in northern Israel - Avi Ohayon/Reuters

Israel launched a fierce air and ground offensive against Hezbollah after the militant group began firing at Israel the day after the the Oct 7 attacks orchestrated by Hamas in 2023.

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Boiling over into an all-out war, more than 4,000 people were killed in Lebanon and more than 140 Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed in the fighting.

More than 1 million people in Lebanon and 60,000 in Israel were uprooted from their homes by the fighting.

Under the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire reached in November, Israeli troops were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January.

But Israeli forces remained in five strategic locations inside the country and carried out dozens of airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, claiming it was attacking Hezbollah.

Freed Israeli hostages call for the release of the remaining 59 captives who are still in Gaza - Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP

The cross-border fire comes less than a week after Israel ended a separate ceasefire with the Hamas in Gaza.

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Israel warned it would carry out ground operations in the battered enclave with increasing intensity until Hamas frees the 59 remaining hostages it holds  24 of whom are believed to still be alive.

On Friday, Israel destroyed the territorys only specialised cancer hospital, the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, accusing Hamas militants of operating on site.

Turkey, who helped to build and fund the hospital, has said that Israeli troops at one point used it as a base.

Around 600 people  including more than 200 children  have been killed since Israel resumed fighting on Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

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Lebanon's Iran-allied Hezbollah movement has denied any involvement in the rocket fire directed towards Israel earlier on Saturday.

"The Israeli enemy's claims are merely pretexts to justify its ongoing aggression against Lebanon, which has not stopped since the announcement of the ceasefire," the militia said in a statement released after Israel launched fresh attacks on Hezbollah targets in retaliation for three missiles fired from Lebanon.

Hezbollah said it remains committed to the ceasefire deal with Israel reached in November and "stands behind the Lebanese state" in addressing what the group described as a serious Israeli escalation against Lebanon.
Lawmakers in Orange County are proposing to rename a section of International Drive to honor a prominent figure in our community, tourism giant Harris Rosen.

State lawmakers have submitted legislation to pay tribute to Rosen, the businessman and philanthropist who founded Rosen Hotels and passed away in November 2024.

The bill aims to install markers commemorating Rosen along International Drive, specifically between the Beachline and Sand Lake Road.

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Additionally, lawmakers have amended the bill to honor State Senator Geraldine Thompson, who recently passed away.

Thompson was instrumental in the development of Orlandos Wells Built Museum.

The road leading to the museum will be renamed Geraldine Thompson Way.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little gives a press conference after delivering his annual State of the State address on Jan. 6, 2025, in the Lincoln Auditorium in the Idaho Capitol. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun)

In an effort to help Idahoans follow major bills, resolutions and memorials through the legislative process, the Idaho Capital Sun will produce a legislative notebook at the end of each week to gather information in one place that concerns major happenings in the Legislature and other news relating to state government. To receive the full extent of our reporting in your inbox each day, sign up for our free email newsletter, The Sunrise, on our website at idahocapitalsun.com/subscribe/.

Here is our quick rundown of the major happenings during the 11th week of the Idaho Legislatures 2025 session.

Idaho governor signs House Bill 345

Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill that proposes sweeping policy changes to control Medicaids costs.

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House Bill 345 calls for the state to seek work requirements for able-bodied Idahoans on Medicaid, and to give Idahoans eligible for Medicaid expansion access to tax credits to buy insurance on the states health care exchange.

In both chambers of the Idaho Legislature, the bill passed on party-line votes, with all 90 Republican state lawmakers supporting it and all 15 Democratic state lawmakers opposing it.

We want Idahoans to become as self-sufficient as possible. House Bill 345 reinforces that goal while reasonably reeling in Medicaid spending so taxpayers are not overly burdened by this program in the outyears, Little said in a written statement.

Opponents of the bill argue that most people in the Medicaid expansion population are already working, and that the requirements will add burdensome hurdles that will prevent Idahoans from accessing health care.

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Governor Little and every Republican legislator just ripped health coverage away from thousands of Idahoans, Idaho Democratic Party Chairwoman Lauren Necochea said in a written statement. Voter-enacted Medicaid expansion largely covers working Idahoans, but its also a lifeline for those who lose jobs, have hours cut, or need to care for a sick family member. These so-called work requirements do nothing to help find jobs, but they will take away insulin, cancer treatment, and mental health services.

The bill takes effect immediately through an emergency clause.

Idaho doctors can now refuse to administer care if it violates personal beliefs

Little also signed into law a bill that prevents health care professionals and entities from being forced to participate in nonemergency procedures that would violate their sincerely held religious or moral beliefs.

Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur dAlene, and Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, co-sponsored House Bill 59, dubbed the Medical Ethics Defense Act.

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The bill takes effect immediately, through an emergency clause.

Health care providers shall have the right of conscience and, pursuant to this right, shall not be required to participate in or pay for a medical procedure, treatment, or service that violates such health care providers conscience, the bill states.

Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Idahos director Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman asked Little to veto the bill, saying it gives health care workers a license to discriminate.

The bill will undermine medical standards, put patients lives at risk, and create legal chaos for Idahos entire health care system, DelliCarpini-Tolman said in a written statement. No one should be denied care because of someone elses personal beliefs. Health care must be driven by medical expertise, not ideology.

Legislation of interest during the 11th week of the 2025 session

House Bill 243: Co-sponsored by Reps. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, and Rod Furniss, R-Rigby, the bill would repeal Idaho law that allows city and local governments to set more rigorous child care oversight than the state. The bill was amended by the Senate to relax requirements on child-to-staff ratios. The amendments were passed by the House on Wednesday. It now heads to the governor for final consideration.

Senate Bill 1101: Sponsored by Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, the bill clarifies and adds guidance to Idaho coroners roles in death investigations. The governor signed the bill into law on Wednesday.

House Bill 83: Sponsored by Senate Pro Tem Kelly Anthon, R-Burley, the bill would allow local law enforcement to work with federal authorities to regulate the presence of unauthorized immigrants in Idaho. The bill would also allow law enforcement to record a persons documentation status only if they are already detained or under investigation for a crime. If an individual involved in a crime is found to be living in Idaho without legal authorization, they would face a misdemeanor charge for illegal entry, a new crime under the bill. A second offense would result in a felony charge, and a conviction would lead to deportation, under the bill. The House passed the bill 61-9 on Wednesday. It now heads to the governor for final consideration.

House Bill 290: Sponsored by Rep. Dori Healey, R-Boise, the bill would transfer decision-making authority about vaccination requirements for children attending day cares and schools from the Department of Health and Welfare to the Idaho Legislature. The Senate voted 23-11 on Wednesday to pass the bill. It now heads to the governor for final consideration.

House Bill 41: Sponsored by Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, and Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, the bill would prohibit flags in public schools that represent a political viewpoint, including but not limited to flags or banners regarding a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender, or a political ideology. The governor signed the bill into law on Wednesday.

House Bill 380: Sponsored by Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, the bill would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for a new criminal charge the bill creates: aggravated lewd conduct with children age 12 and younger. The House voted 63-0 on Monday to pass the bill. The Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee advanced the bill with a do pass recommendation, and it is now on the Senates third reading calendar. It may be considered in the coming days of the session.

Senate Bill 1046aa: Sponsored by Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, and Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, the bill requires Idaho public schools to provide human growth and fetal development instruction via ultrasound video and computer-generated renderings for students in grades 5 through 12. The House voted 63-6 to pass the bill on Tuesday. It now heads to the governor for final consideration.

House Bill 158: Sponsored by Reps. Barbara Ehardt and Marco Erikson, both R-Idaho Falls, the bill would create a media shield law protecting sources who provide confidential information or documents to journalists. The Senate voted 35-0 on Tuesday to pass the bill. It now heads to the governor for final consideration.

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ProgressRpt (3)

What to expect at the Idaho Legislature next week

Senate State Affairs Committee

House Bill 339: Sponsored by Reps. Brandon Mitchell, R-Moscow, and Brent Crane, R-Nampa, as well as Secretary of State Phil McGrane, the bill requires the secretary of state to request information from various government agencies, such as the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and the Idaho Transportation Department, to help maintain accurate and up-to-date voter rolls. It is scheduled for a full public hearing before the committee on Monday.

House Bill 148: Sponsored by Rep. Chris Bruce, R-Kuna, and Sen. Todd Lakey, R-Nampa, the bill outlines the process for Idaho residents involved in legal proceedings with the federal government concerning grazing or water rights to request state assistance from the states constitutional defense fund. The bill specifies the criteria and procedures for the Constitutional Defense Council to consider such requests and provides details on the type of assistance offered. It is scheduled for a full public hearing before the committee on Monday.

Senate Education Committee

Senate Bill 1142: Sponsored by Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, the bill would repeal the states Empowering Parents Grant Program. It is scheduled for a full public hearing before the committee on Monday.

Quote of the week

We heard from libraries across the state  Moscow, Troy, Hailey, Potlatch, Elmore County, Genesee and beyond. They asked us  implored us  that we would reconsider based on the programs they intend to offer. We heard about computer classes ready to be offered to seniors teaching about cybersecurity and helping folks understand the danger of clicking on links from emails that maybe they dont know who the sender is. Telehealth for the rural communities. Computer access for veterans who want to access their VA services.  Rep. Sonia Galaviz, a Boise Democrat, who made an unsuccessful motion to pass the Idaho Commission for Libraries budget with approval for a full $2.5 million federal grant, but she was overruled by the Republican supermajority, which allocated $1.23 million instead

Social media post of the week

House Majority Leader Jason Monks acknowledged the work still remaining before the budget committee on lawmakers target adjournment date. #idleg #idpol pic.twitter.com/J1Nzsuq7uB  Idaho Reports (@IdahoReports) March 21, 2025

Photo of the week

Hundreds of protestors organized by the Idaho 50501 group on March 17, 2025, lined and marched down Chinden Boulevard in Garden City to protest U.S. Sen. Mike Crapos response to the Trump administrations major policy changes to the federal workforce, federal budget and other national issues. The Idaho Republican was scheduled to speak at the Boise Metro Chambers Forum with Elected Officials at the Riverside Hotel, a sold-out event that required a paid ticket to attend. (Christina Lords/Idaho Capital Sun)

How to follow the Idaho Legislature and Idaho Gov. Brad Littles work during the session

Here are a few tools we use to track the Legislatures business and how to let your voice be heard in the issues that matter most to you.

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How to find your legislators: To determine which legislative district you live in, and to find contact information for your legislators within that district, go to the Legislative Services Offices website and put in your home address and ZIP code. Once youve entered that information, the three legislators  two House members and one senator  who represent your district will appear, and you can click on their headshots to find their email address and phone number.

How to find committee agendas: Go to the Idaho Legislatures website, legislature.idaho.gov, and click on the all available Senate committee agendas link and the all available House committee agendas link on the right side of the website.

How to watch the legislative action in committees and on the House and Senate floors: Idaho Public Television works in conjunction with the Legislative Services Office and the Idaho Department of Administration through a program called Idaho in Session to provide live streaming for all legislative committees and for the House and Senate floors. To watch the action, go to https://www.idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession/Legislature/ and select the stream youd like to watch.

How to testify remotely at public hearings before a committee: To sign up to testify remotely for a specific committee, navigate to that committees webpage, and click on the testimony registration (remote and in person) tab at the top.

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How to find state budget documents: Go to Legislative Services Office Budget and Policy Analysis Divisions website https://legislature.idaho.gov/lso/bpa/budgetinformation/.

How to track which bills have made it to Gov. Littles desk and any action he took on them (including vetoes): Go to the governors website https://gov.idaho.gov/legislative-sessions/2025-session/. You can scroll down to the bottom of the site and enter your email address to get alerts sent straight to your inbox when the page has been updated.

Reporting from Idaho Capital Sun journalists Clark Corbin, Mia Maldonado and Kyle Pfannenstiel contributed to this legislative notebook.

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
The City of Lenoir Police Department introduced four K9 deputies to the city council and assigned the first K9 team to a local high school this past week.

Three K9s were welcomed to the force during Tuesday nights city council meeting: Genghis, Cezar and Mia.

Canine Genghiss handler is School Resource Officer Cesar Rubio. SRO Rubio has been with the department for six years.

Genghis is three years old. His job is to boost safety at Hibriten High School, according to the police department.

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He trained in the Netherlands to provide proactive safety measures. Genghis is trained in detection, searches and tracking. He is not trained in bite apprehension, according to the City of Lenoir.

SRO Cesar Rubio and K9 Genghis

K9 Genghis

Officer Logan Barrett and K9 Atos

K9 Atos

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Corporal Herbert Reid and K9 Cezar

K9 Cezar

Officer Chase Miller and K9 Mia

K9 Mia

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Police said that Genghis is very friendly and approachable. The goal is for Genghis to help foster positive community relationships and help students learn about the importance of K9 units, according to the police department.

Students and teachers got the chance to introduce themselves to Genghis this previous week. Staff met Genghis on Tuesday and on Thursday, Genghis toured the school building, visiting classrooms while SRO Rubio explained their role at the school.

Having a K9 team at Hibriten will help us build trust between officers, students, and staff, Police Major Andy Wilson said. Genghis is trained solely in detection, searches, and tracking. He is not a bite or apprehension dog.

Canine Cezar is a two-year-old Belgian Shephard who is also from the Netherlands. He works alongside his handler Corporal Herbert Reid. Cpl. Reid has been with the department for four years.

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Canine Mia is a three-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer from Germany. She works alongside her handler Officer Logan Barrett, who has been with the department for two and a half years.

READ: 7 students hurt in Lancaster County bus crash

The new K9 units were joined by an existing K9 team consisting of Atos and his handler, Patrol Officer Logan Barrett, according to a press release.

Officer Barrett has been with the department for two and a half years alongside Atos, a five-and-a-half-year-old German Shepherd imported from the Czech Republic.

The new K9 teams began their training this year and completed certification on March 14, according to the city. But K9 units have been a part of the City of Lenoir Police Department for decades.

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Police canines are more than dogs, theyre hardworking members of our department, Police Major Andy Wilson said. They are highly trained to keep our communities safe, and they are valuable assets to the community.

The teams frequently join the community for engagement and educational opportunities, according to the police department.

You should ask for permission from our officers before approaching the dogs, Major Wilson said. If a handler gives you the OK, please follow their instructions. That will ensure everyone has a positive experience.

WATCH: 7 students hurt in Lancaster County bus crash
Friends and family of a Vietnam veteran symbolically honored him with a Purple Heart medal he never received 55 years ago while recovering in Japan.

Many know Lester F. Wray III as Ripper Wray or Legend of the Lake, because of his experience as a fisherman. Others tell stories about how hes the neighbor everyone should have. Local veterans know him to be one of the most active members of his community.

Manny Torres, Wrays friend and fellow veteran at VFW Post 1098, said everyone knows him.

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Every dog in town knows Lester, he said, explaining how friendly Wray is and how he's the salt of the earth  a good human being. Torres said Wray has mowed his neighbors lawns, trimmed their trees and washed their cars and never took a dime.

Wray became a member of the VFW Post two years ago with the help of Torres, whos also the post chaplain. Just recently, he found out Wray was wounded in Vietnam and somehow slipped through cracks when other soldiers who were recovering beside him were being handed their Purple Hearts in Japan.

Torres said most of the veterans at the Post have a Purple Heart and couldnt believe it.

So, Torres along with Wrays daughter, Charlotte, are going through the process to get the honor sanctioned officially, although it takes months to process the records request.

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Just before Thanksgiving last year, Wray was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, which is a rare neurological disorder where the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the peripheral nerves, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis.

Torres said there's a chance Wray will recover, but it will involve a lot of physical therapy. And, it may take up to a year.

To keep Wrays spirits high, Torres organized a symbolic ceremony for Wray recognizing his service.

Wray, who is also Choctaw, was born in Oklahoma City Sept. 7, 1947, and graduated Wilburton High School in 1967. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1968 to serve in the Vietnam War. Wray was not a stranger to the military. His father served in World War II and his grandfather served in World War I.

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Wray trained at Fort Bliss, Texas, and at Fort Eustis, Virginia, to become a door gunner for the 1st Aviation Brigade of the 128th Assault Helicopter Company for the Gunslingers among the 12th Combat Group. He was stationed at the Phu Loi Base Camp in 1968 until he was wounded in a Cambodian Incursion in 1970.

Ive always wanted to fly, said Wray, telling his story Monday, March 17, just before going outside for his symbolic ceremony. Never left no man dead, dying, or wounded on the battlefield. The last outing before the messed-up leg and ribs and lung was the Iron Triangle. They knew who we were. There were 60-something, 70-something men. By the time help got there, 40 guys were left. I was messed up and medevaced to a field hospital.

Torres, who served a few years before Wray, trained door gunners and connected with Wray on many things. Up until the diagnosis, Wray and Torres were on the Posts Honor Guard together.

Life expectancy for a door gunner is three weeks, said Torres, adding its amazing Wray survived three years and even served as a crew chief.

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According to Torres, during an incursion Wrays helicopter had to land due to engine failure. Immediately, the UH-1D Huey that can hold up to 12 soldiers was shot at with mortar fire. Wray sustained injuries to three ribs, his left lung and his left leg.

After being rescued, he was flown to Japan for surgery and recovered for a couple months before returning to the U.S.

Wray finished his service as a military policeman at Fort Hood, Texas, before returning to Oklahoma.

When your country needed you, you served with pride and honor. You followed orders and completed your mission, even if that put you in harm's way. In spite of all this, your country failed to recognize your heroism by not honoring you with a medal you righteously earned. That is why, I, your brother in arms, am proud to present to you this medal with sincere gratitude for your faithful service. Here you are, brother, Torres said to Wray, who was dressed in his combat uniform.

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I wasnt anyone special over there, Wray said while his friends and family stood outside Mitchell Manor Care and Rehabilitation Center to see Post Commander Aaron Smith and Torres honor his service with a symbolic Purple Heart. Im just a man trying to do his job and not expecting anything.

Wray started to thank his daughter for helping him support the military by walking alongside him at the Armed Forces Day Parade, which he will not be able to do this year. Tearfully, he started naming his friends and family who were present and thanking them for everything. Then, Wray wanted pictures with everybody.

I will never forget this day, Wray said after trying his best to salute.

Wray said, The greatest casualty of life is being forgotten.

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That wont happen to you, replied Torres.

Torres and Charlotte Wray say they will continue to collect records needed to validate his Purple Heart. In the meantime, the VFW Post said it will plan something special for Lester Wray at the upcoming Armed Forces Day Parade in May.

Brig. General Carol Ann Fausone with Legal Help for Veterans said she receives at least 10 emails or phone calls a month for veterans trying to acquire a Purple Heart.

A lot of the time, its not the veteran, its our family members, she said. They are going through some of the memorabilia. Theyre saying their uncle earned a Purple Heart and we cant find it anywhere.

On the Legal Help for Veterans website, they suggest any member of the U.S. Army who believes that he/she is eligible for the Purple Heart, but under unusual circumstances was not awarded it, can submit an application through their chain of command to: Awards and Decorations Branch 1600 Spearhead Division Ave. Fort Knox, Kentucky 40122-5408. Forms that are needed can be found at www.va.gov/find-forms.
A brief standoff with Colorado Springs police Friday afternoon resulted in one arrest and the shooting death of a dog that police said attacked one of the officers.

On Friday, officers with the Homeless Outreach Team responded to a home in the 800 block of West Colorado Avenue to arrest a man on a second-degree assault warrant.

Police said the suspect, 54-year-old Michael Howard, was outside his residence and ran inside when officers arrived. Officers pursued, and deployed a Taser as he retreated into the house, but it was ineffective.

Police report that the officers also tried to grab Howard as he ran inside, but his two large dogs attacked them, biting one of the responding officers on his calf.

Police said the injured officer, who also suffered "a puncture and abrasions on his hand from the other bites," shot and killed the dog to stop further attacks.

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After the dog was killed, officers "backed out of the residence."

Howard allegedly refused to exit, and multiple department units responded to the scene. Around 1 p.m., a shelter-in-place order was issued. Police also applied for, and were, granted a search warrant for the residence before using chemical irritants to force him out.

Howard surrendered, and at 1:20 p.m., police lifted the shelter-in-place.

Police did not say what new charges Howard may be facing following the standoff.

Police said the injured officer drove himself to a local hospital.
Supporting trans people is an expression of our faith

As local faith leaders, we are deeply moved and saddened by the devastating impacts of anti-trans federal policies on our local transgender community recently reported by the Centre Daily Times.

No parent should discover their child is planning suicide in response to a political climate, as one mother so heartbreakingly shared about her trans child.

No youth should be denied lifesaving medical care, which gender-affirming care is, because the course of treatment prescribed to them has been banned by executive order.

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No one should fear for their safety because of who they are  who God made them to be.

Our religious traditions call us to act in love, to protect the vulnerable, to clothe the cold, to feed the hungry, and to welcome the wandering. It is precisely these values that call us to love and uplift transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive people as beloved Children of God.

Transgender women are women, created in the image of God.

Transgender men are men, created in the image of God.

So too are non-binary, intersex, and gender-expansive people exactly who they know themselves to be, created in the image of God.

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Our transgender friends and neighbors are living in fear. Our transgender families and children worry for their safety. The values of our faiths call us to protect, to welcome, and to love these members of our community at this time of great vulnerability.

We urge all people of Centre County to join us in this holy work.

Rev. Dr. Tom Blair, settled pastor, St. Johns United Church of Christ, Boalsburg; Rev. Rebecca Horn, pastor, St. Luke Lutheran Church, Centre Hall; Rabbi David E. Ostrich, Congregation Brit Shalom, State College; Rev. Carolyn K. Hetrick, associate pastor, Grace Lutheran Church, State College; Deacon Alicia Anderson, campus minister, Lutheran Campus Ministry at Penn State, University Park; Rev. Ben Wideman, University Mennonite Church, State College; Kate Heinzel, pastor, University Mennonite Church, State College; Rev. Jes Kast, pastor, Faith United Church of Christ, State College; Rev. Ann Graves, retired pastor, United Church of Christ; Rev. David A. Downer, pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ, Centre Hall; Shih-In Ma, interspiritual community member; S. Leigh Pick, retired pastor, St. Johns United Church of Christ, Boalsburg; Mary Boutselis, zen teacher, Six Rings Sangha, State College; Rev. Sarah Coker Voigt, St. Pauls United Methodist Church and Wesley Foundation; Rev. Greg Milinovich, St. Pauls United Methodist Church and Wesley Foundation; Rev. Dr. Tracy Sprowls, minister, the Unitarian Fellowship of Centre County, State College; Kerry Wiessmann, member, State College Friends Meeting; Rev. Dr. Sarah Q. Malone, retired pastor, Church of the Brethren, and member, University Baptist & Brethren Church; Rev. Julie Holm, pastor, Brush Valley Fusion of Faith, Madisonburg, United Church of Christ and ELCA; Rev. Mark Meckstroth, retired pastor, United Church of Christ; Rev. Bonnie Kline Smeltzer, pastor emerita, University Baptist and Brethren Church, State College; Craig Rose, pastor, Howard United Methodist Church, Howard; Rev. Joe Krabill, retired U.C.C. pastor

Failures to abide by the Constitution

I am John Homan, a 101-year-old WW II combat veteran who completed college on the GI bill with a degree in economics and political science. My wife, a journalist, and I have followed politics since we entered college in the 1940s. I am appalled at the state of our country in terms of the U.S. constitutional goals of forming a more perfect union, establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, and promoting the general welfare, as stated in the Preamble.

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The framers of the Constitution were determined to write a document that would ensure this country would never have a monarchy or a dictator. To this end, the Constitution has a series of checks and balances. The House of Representatives initiates all money matters and the Senate has to approve most appointments nominated by the President, including the judiciary. (Listen to an excellent speech on topic by Senator Bernie Sanders on the Senate floor, Feb. 4: youtu.be/btdY7eFvlNM?si=2XO1kwOxeCtT6SKU.)

Id like to point out blatant failures to abide by the Constitution. The Senate completely abdicated their responsibility to reject unqualified judicial and other presidential nominees. The executive branch is failing to abide by congressional appropriation of funds. Although the executive can veto any legislation, once passed by Congress, the executive branch cannot alter or reverse appropriations. Furthermore, the House of Representatives has abandoned its responsibility to pass important social legislation.

In 2024, 64% of eligible voters cast their ballots. Your vote will determine whether you stay a citizen or become a subject.

John Homan, State College

Wrong name for Beaver Stadium field

Just wanted to express my profound disappointment at the new naming of the field at Beaver Stadium. Instead of honoring Joe Paterno, a beloved, iconic figure who gave so much to this university and community, the naming rights were sold to a wealthy alum. The new name will be West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium. Sounds like a residential placement for troubled youth or a seniors community in Florida. I guess thats a reflection of the times we live in. If thats the way its going to be, at least return JoPas statue to its rightful place next to the stadium. Should that not be possible because the statue no longer exists, a new one should be commissioned to pay respect to the man who made much of all this possible.

Ellis Goldberg, Lindenwold, New Jersey
CUMBERLAND  M&M Bake Shop, a downtown staple and local favorite, has closed after nearly 60 years in business.

The business opened its doors in 1966 and had maintained its original downtown location on Baltimore Street ever since.

Owner Roger Lantz has decided to retire and sell the building. The bakery was passed down from his mother, Mary Lantz, in 1973.

Ive been lucky, Lantz said Thursday. Everybodys been supporting me and it shocked me.

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Its been our life, Elizabeth Lantz, co-owner and Rogers wife, said.

Community concern

When the bakery announced a temporary closure March 13, the local community rallied to support the business.

Hundreds of concerned citizens voiced their support online, particularly on Facebook, after the announcement.

Thank you for everything that you have made for us over the years, said Cumberland resident Bethany Christine on the bakerys social media page.

Lantz said that local branches of M&T Bank approached him with the idea of setting up a retirement fund in order to give back for the work he has done while serving the community.

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I didnt even mention it or anything, Lantz said.

Everybody just started saying, Hey, were gonna help you out a little bit.

Over the years, the bakery has donated cakes, doughnuts and pastries to local fire and police departments, as well as extensive fundraisers with churches such as Annunciation of Our Lord in Fort Ashby, West Virginia.

A lot of times, I would take extra (doughnuts) up to them to have, Lantz said.

Right time to retire

Lantz said the pieces have fallen into place that have made retirement the best option for him.

It had to be the time to go, he said.

Its been good over the years.

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Along with aging equipment and recommendations from his doctor, Lantz said that he wants to slow down and enjoy a more relaxed life after working at the shop for more than 50 years.

The doctor told me that you have to slow down, he said.

The bakery contains several ovens that were part of the original shop when it was purchased in the 1960s  and the equipment is getting more and more expensive to repair and maintain, Elizabeth Lantz said.

When they first bought (the bakery), they were here, she said. Its an expensive repair job; they dont make the parts anymore.

The Lantzes hope to sell the building before the beginning of summer so they can start the next chapter of their lives.

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Part of the family

M&M Bake Shop has always been in the hands of the Lantz family  Roger Lantzs mother, Mary, was the sole proprietor of the shop previously.

(Rogers) mom had a lot of friends and she brought them all in, Elizabeth Lantz recalled.

Mary Lantz was the brainchild of many of the baking recipes that were used in the store for decades.

After the closure of Kelly- Springfield Tire Co. in Cumberland in 1987, where Roger Lantz worked and retiring from service in the Army, his mother welcomed him into the shop with open arms.

She taught me a lot when she was there, Lantz said.

Mom said, Here, come with me.

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She taught me, too, Elizabeth Lantz said.

She remembers Mary Lantz teaching her how to make peanut butter rolls exactly the way she wanted them made.

She also was an expert at decorating cakes for customers.

The tradition continued to be passed down even further.

The Lantzes two daughters, Adrienne and Ann Marie, both spent time working at the family business.

She showed the girls how to do things the right way, Elizabeth Lantz said.

They have since moved on to other ventures, but the Lantzes said they always have a place to call home at M&M.

Along with countless loyal customers, Elizabeth Lantz said the family has made lots of personal connections over the years at the bakery.

Friends are friends, and friends are for life, she said.

To donate to the Lantzes retirement fund, visit any area M&T Bank branch and mention the M&M Bakery Retirement Fund or Roger Lantz.
Mar. 22LIMA  Braving the cold and wind is nothing new for Lima postal workers, but they were doing so for a different reason Thursday morning.

"It's just basically to bring awareness to what would happen if the administration removed our public service status that's in the Constitution and the Postal Service Act," local APWU president Mike McKitrick said at the union's rally to protect the post office. "We're here to give mail service to everybody on every address, no matter what. It doesn't cost a fee for us to deliver your mail, and we have the ability to deliver to every single household."

A survey by the Lima News on Facebook brought in 79 comments complaining about inconsistent delivery times, slow deliveries and missing mail.

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"The post office today is not the post office of yesterday," said Lima resident Judy Brown, recounting an instance in which a package sent to her arrived three weeks late. "I didn't get the package for three weeks after. They lost the package and said it was somewhere in North Florida, but that was as far as they could track."

"I'm very disappointed with our postal service," said Lima resident Sharren Douglas via email. "I've had mail come up missing. They were checks I had mailed to recipients for bills so it was money that came up missing. I made reports to USPS and they could never find the missing mail. Nor did they offer a refund for the amount of the check I had mailed. Also, I never have the same carrier daily."

McKitrick called out post office leadership for creating some of the problems both workers and customers have experienced recently.

"For the past five years since (Louis) DeJoy was put in office as the Postmaster General, the Delivering for America plan slowed mail down greatly," he said. "It created an issue where they were consolidating plants into areas which used to be only 70 or 90 miles from the plant to get to their delivery points. Now some of those points have roughly 200 to 300 miles to deliver and there are some cases where you actually have to send mail from the plant 100 miles south of their location for it to come back up to a plant about 50 miles past them and then back because of this new distribution concept.

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"And if we privatize, which is what's been talked about a lot in the past month now, with (the post office) being consolidated under the Commerce Department, those are going to slow down drastically."

DeJoy implemented the Delivering for America plan in 2021 to reverse a projected $160 billion in losses over 10 years through "modest regulatory and legislative changes" including maintaining six- and seven-day delivery, a $40 billion investment, modernization of vehicle fleets and technological upgrades.

On its website, the USPS touts the Postal Service Reform Act, network modernization, simplified shipping offerings, rate and service standard changes and mail processing facility reviews as milestones.

In February, President Trump, amid a drive to cut spending, said he was considering privatizing the postal service (bit.ly/4hvjw2g).

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At a media meeting at the same time as Thursday's rally, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, said he preferred to leave any ideas in the hands of the House Oversight Committee.

"I understand we want that to work well because it is mentioned in our Constitution, and I think we'll take a look at all of it and see what makes sense as we move forward," Jordan said. "I remember when they moved the distribution center from Lima 10 or 15 years ago. Everyone wants to get their mail in a timely fashion, but in the electronic age, it's a little different."

McKitrick pointed to the moving of the Lima distribution center in 2010 as one of the many things that have negatively impacted the efficiency of the post office, not just in Lima but across the country.

The closing resulted in a loss of 80 jobs as mail processing moved to Toledo and Columbus.

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McKitrick pleaded with the community to reach out to representatives.

"Write letters to our state representatives and say we do not want to support this, and we are your constituents," he said. "We need you to help us with this fight because it isn't going to do any good if the mail service goes private, and we're paying for basic delivery of letters and parcels. It won't be good if we have to pay a subscription, but that's the reality of when anything goes private."

A document shared by the union's U.S. Mail is Not for Sale! campaign shows a plan and framework for potential privatization, proposed by Wells Fargo (bit.ly/4hyRp2a).

The document calls for new legislation, pension restructuring, employee layoffs, raising parcel rates and higher proceeds from investors.

Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.

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Nuclear fission  the physical process by which very large atoms like uranium split into pairs of smaller atoms  is what makes nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants possible. But for many years, physicists believed it energetically impossible for atoms as large as uranium (atomic mass = 235 or 238) to be split into two.

That all changed on Feb. 11, 1939, with a letter to the editor of Nature  a premier international scientific journal  that described exactly how such a thing could occur and even named it fission. In that letter, physicist Lise Meitner, with the assistance of her young nephew Otto Frisch, provided a physical explanation of how nuclear fission could happen.

It was a massive leap forward in nuclear physics, but today Lise Meitner remains obscure and largely forgotten. She was excluded from the victory celebration because she was a Jewish woman. Her story is a sad one.

What happens when you split an atom

Meitner based her fission argument on the liquid droplet model of nuclear structure  a model that likened the forces that hold the atomic nucleus together to the surface tension that gives a water droplet its structure.

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She noted that the surface tension of an atomic nucleus weakens as the charge of the nucleus increases, and could even approach zero tension if the nuclear charge was very high, as is the case for uranium (charge = 92+). The lack of sufficient nuclear surface tension would then allow the nucleus to split into two fragments when struck by a neutron  a chargeless subatomic particle  with each fragment carrying away very high levels of kinetic energy. Meisner remarked: The whole fission process can thus be described in an essentially classical [physics] way. Just that simple, right?

Meitner went further to explain how her scientific colleagues had gotten it wrong. When scientists bombarded uranium with neutrons, they believed the uranium nucleus, rather than splitting, captured some neutrons. These captured neutrons were then converted into positively charged protons and thus transformed the uranium into the incrementally larger elements on the periodic table of elements  the so-called transuranium, or beyond uranium, elements.

Some people were skeptical that neutron bombardment could produce transuranium elements, including Irene Joliot-Curie  Marie Curies daughter  and Meitner. Joliot-Curie had found that one of these new alleged transuranium elements actually behaved chemically just like radium, the element her mother had discovered. Joliot-Curie suggested that it might be just radium (atomic mass = 226)  an element somewhat smaller than uranium  that was coming from the neutron-bombarded uranium.

Meitner had an alternative explanation. She thought that, rather than radium, the element in question might actually be barium  an element with a chemistry very similar to radium. The issue of radium versus barium was very important to Meitner because barium (atomic mass = 139) was a possible fission product according to her split uranium theory, but radium was not  it was too big (atomic mass = 226).

CC BY-SA When a neutron bombards a uranium atom, the uranium nucleus splits into two different smaller nuclei. Stefan-Xp/Wikimedia Commons

Meitner urged her chemist colleague Otto Hahn to try to further purify the uranium bombardment samples and assess whether they were, in fact, made up of radium or its chemical cousin barium. Hahn complied, and he found that Meitner was correct: the element in the sample was indeed barium, not radium. Hahns finding suggested that the uranium nucleus had split into pieces  becoming two different elements with smaller nuclei  just as Meitner had suspected.

As a Jewish woman, Meitner was left behind

Meitner should have been the hero of the day, and the physicists and chemists should have jointly published their findings and waited to receive the worlds accolades for their discovery of nuclear fission. But unfortunately, thats not what happened.

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Meitner had two difficulties: She was a Jew living as an exile in Sweden because of the Jewish persecution going on in Nazi Germany, and she was a woman. She might have overcome either one of these obstacles to scientific success, but both proved insurmountable.

Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn in Berlin, 1913.

Meitner had been working as Hahns academic equal when they were on the faculty of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin together. By all accounts they were close colleagues and friends for many years. When the Nazis took over, however, Meitner was forced to leave Germany. She took a position in Stockholm, and continued to work on nuclear issues with Hahn and his junior colleague Fritz Strassmann through regular correspondence. This working relationship, though not ideal, was still highly productive. The barium discovery was the latest fruit of that collaboration.

Yet when it came time to publish, Hahn knew that including a Jewish woman on the paper would cost him his career in Germany. So he published without her, falsely claiming that the discovery was based solely on insights gleaned from his own chemical purification work, and that any physical insight contributed by Meitner played an insignificant role. All this despite the fact he wouldnt have even thought to isolate barium from his samples had Meitner not directed him to do so.

Hahn had trouble explaining his own findings, though. In his paper, he put forth no plausible mechanism as to how uranium atoms had split into barium atoms. But Meitner had the explanation. So a few weeks later, Meitner wrote her famous fission letter to the editor, ironically explaining the mechanism of Hahns discovery.

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Even that didnt help her situation. The Nobel Committee awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the fission of heavy nuclei to Hahn alone. Paradoxically, the word fission never appeared in Hahns original publication, as Meitner had been the first to coin the term in the letter published afterward.

A controversy has raged about the discovery of nuclear fission ever since, with critics claiming it represents one of the worst examples of blatant racism and sexism by the Nobel committee. Unlike another prominent female nuclear physicist whose career preceded her  Marie Curie  Meitners contributions to nuclear physics were never recognized by the Nobel committee. She has been totally left out in the cold, and remains unknown to most of the public.

CC BY-SA Meitner received the Enrico Fermi Award in 1966. Her nephew Otto Frisch is on the left. IAEA

After the war, Meitner remained in Stockholm and became a Swedish citizen. Later in life, she decided to let bygones be bygones. She reconnected with Hahn, and the two octogenarians resumed their friendship. Although the Nobel committee never acknowledged its mistake, the slight to Meitner was partly mitigated in 1966 when the U.S. Department of Energy jointly awarded her, Hahn and Strassmann its prestigious Enrico Fermi Award for pioneering research in the naturally occurring radioactivities and extensive experimental studies leading to the discovery of fission. The two-decade late recognition came just in time for Meitner. She and Hahn died within months of each other in 1968; they were both 89 years old.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Timothy J. Jorgensen, Georgetown University

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Timothy J. Jorgensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  For those looking to build their own homes, this annual tour can help.

The Home Builders Association of Dayton will host its annual Parade of Homes Tour on March 21-23 and March 28-30. Each weekend, homes across the Dayton area will be on view from noon to 5 p.m.

This years homes feature properties built by M/I Homes, Charles Simms Development, Artisan Communities, LLC and Oberer Homes.

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HBA hosts this event to offer local residents a chance to find inspiration and ideas for their own homes.

View the list of this years homes below:

The Gables at Huber Heights  2010 Cedar Lake Drive, Huber Heights The Promenade at The Courtyards at Stonehill Village  1464 Triple Crown Way, Beavercreek The Nicholas at Sky Crossing  2724 Sky Crossing Drive, Beavercreek The Willow at Cornerstone Villas  1001 Belfast Drive, Sugarcreek Township The Thoreau at Chamberlin Crossing  7232 N. Springboro Pike, Miamisburg The Sorrento at Sorrento  682 W. Spring Valley Pike, Washington Township The Fairview at Washington Glen  10010 Washington Glen Drive, Washington Township

For a full map and more information, click here.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com.
Lithuania, following Poland's suit, is considering the possibility of planting anti-personnel mines on its borders with Russia and Belarus.

Source: press service for Lithuania's Defence Ministry, citing Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene following 100 days of work, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Sakaliene, along with her counterparts from Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Finland, discussed the unification of the East Shield and the Baltic Defence Line, as well as Finland's participation in the development of a unified plan to strengthen border protection by expanding the package of measures.

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During meetings with her counterparts, the Lithuanian defence minister discussed updating and expanding the concept of counter-mobility.

"Following Poland's example, the border of the northeastern flank can be reinforced with several levels of fortifications, including, but not limited to, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines," the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

The partners intend to seek EU funding for these purposes.

Background:

On Tuesday 18 March, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland announced their intention to withdraw from the Ottawa Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna previously commented on the Baltic states' and Poland's intention to withdraw from the convention banning anti-personnel mines. He argued that it is wrong for them to "forbid ourselves from using weapons that Russia is willing to use against us".

Meanwhile, Poland wants to plant anti-personnel mines on its borders with Russia and Belarus as part of the East Shield project.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  One local family is keeping the memory of their son alive on Saturday.

Trent Weiss died from Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) on August 27, 2017, at 20-years-old.

Family holds celebration of life for son who died of SUDEP

Held on Weiss birthday, the annual event honors him and shines a light on SUDEP. The event gives people an opportunity to help raise money for the Epilepsy Foundation of America

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It was open to the public and ran from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Fairborns Community Park.

At 2 p.m. the family held a pigeon release by the park bench dedicated to Weiss.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com.
WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL)  To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, several local groups have teamed up on Saturday, March 29.

The Never Forgotten and Forever in Our Hearts commemoration will be held at the Lake Wichita Veterans Memorial Plaza from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Come and take it? Texas lawmaker pushes to recognize cannon as official state gun

Martie James, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, said the group will hold a pinning ceremony, wreath laying, certificates, and more.

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We are looking forward to seeing as many of the Vietnam veterans as possible and their families, James said. Just want to let em know that we appreciate that they, when the county called them for duty, they were willing to step up and do what needed to be done even in a time that was going through political and social unrest.

Sonja Gandy, honorary regent, said this is personally emotional for her because her father served in Vietnam, and she now works with veterans who struggle with PTSD.

When our soldiers, our men and women, came back from Vietnam, they were not accepted as the men and women from World War II and World War I, Gandy said. And we still have Vietnam veterans who are struggling with the stigma of being a part of that era. Right now, we have 6 million veterans from Vietnam still living here in the US and abroad and 9 million family members who served with them, and thats another group we want to recognize and honor.

This event is free and open to the public.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Texomashomepage.com.
Mar. 21Despite a new Ohio law permitting law enforcement agencies to charge up to $75 an hour for police video records starting April 2, most of the region's biggest departments are still mulling their own policies.

Those internal policies will be critical for public records access. In December, the state passed a law permitting, but not requiring, departments to charge up to $75 an hour, but not more than $750 total, for dash cam and body camera footage.

As this outlet reported, the scantly-debated law was meant to help departments dissuade, or at least recoup the labor costs associated with, content creators that lodge mass public records requests and post those videos online in search of commercial profit.

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But the law has sparked concern among First Amendment advocates who note the law could put video public records out of reach for journalists or everyday citizens.

Here are some of the responses this outlet has received from Miami Valley law enforcement agencies.

Dayton Police

"The Dayton Police Department is reviewing the legislation that allows agencies to charge for body and in-car camera video requests," Police Information Specialist James Rider told this outlet.

Rider said Dayton PD has seen a "sharp increase" in video records requests, "often from individuals operating social media channels." In 2023, the department processed 1,300 such requests; in 2024 it processed over 3,000.

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Rider noted that the process for actually turning these videos  Ohio law requires them to protect the identity of crime victims and uncharged suspects  is "labor-intensive and costly."

Montgomery County Sheriff

Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Matt Haines told this outlet that the Montgomery County Sheriff's office has no immediate plans to divert from its policy  which most departments have today  of charging requestors only for the material the videos are provided on.

"At this point we are waiting to see if the law itself reduces the number of requests we get from those whose only interest in the videos is to post the material online for monetary gain," Haines said. He noted that the department isn't fully confident the law will stay as-is.

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The video requests have been so abundant, Haines said, that the county hired a full-time employee for the department's redaction unit to help with the approximately 20 requests the unit fields each day.

"We get lots of requests that we either know or suspect are destined to be used online for commercial purposes. It's not unusual to get a list of a dozen of more incidents from a single requestor and it's not uncommon for a single incident to have multiple deputies and vehicles involved," Haines said.

"Some would suggest that we should start charging those with a commercial interest and not charge citizens with a demonstrated need for the videos. At times, it could be difficult to differentiate the two and I imagine that those with commercial interests would just change the way they make their requests in an attempt to avoid the fees."

Springfield, Clark County Sheriff

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On Thursday, the newly-minted Clark County Sheriff Chris Clark told this outlet that there are no immediate plans to change policy.

"We have not changed our pricing on that, as of yet," Clark said. "We're looking at, but it's not something that I'm real hot-to-trot on changing just yet."

Clark said he expects the mere existence of the law to cut down on frivolous requests.

"I'm not saying it won't change in the near future. It's on my agenda, it's just on the back burner for right now," he said.

Springfield is among many cities that have not adopted a policy under the new law, maintaining the status quo  allowing departments to charge for materials such as flash drives or disks, but not labor  for the time being.

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Kettering, Hamilton, others holding off

This news outlet reached out to law enforcement agencies across this nine-county region of southwest Ohio. Most said they have no immediate plans to start charging for police videos, but could do so if the burden of fulfilling requests becomes or stays too high.

In an email, Kettering Police Department's Public Information Officer Cynthia James told this outlet that city "has not adopted a policy yet," but they are still reviewing the state legislation.

The same is true in Hamilton, where Assistant Chief of Police Brian Robinson told this outlet, "We have no policies in place or in development at this time."

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In the Butler County's Sheriffs Office, Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer told this outlet that he expects more video requests to come in as more people become aware of the department's adoption of body cameras. "We have discussed charging for videos but we have not finalized that decision," Dwyer said.

This news outlet received similar responses from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Fairfield Twp., Middletown, Monroe, Troy, Piqua and others.

Miami County targets commercial requests

Miami County Sheriff Dave Duchak told this outlet that his department's policies will only impact "those who operate commercialized businesses and exploit the open records law for profit."

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Duchak said the rate will include the hourly wage of support staff and their benefits. He hopes it will "dissuade the abuse of Ohio's open record laws."

"(Commercial requests) are a burden to the system and do not align with the purpose of public records, which is transparency," Duchak said. "This is an issue that should have been dealt with by the legislature a long time ago."

Some cities charging everyone

Not all departments have been tentative. Oakwood Law Director Robert Jacques, for example, told this outlet the department would begin charging journalists, citizens and content creators alike for police video records.

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"The city has not finalized the hourly rate that will be charged to cover administrative expenses when (the law) goes into effect in April," Jacques said. "We anticipate that fees will be based on the wage and fringe benefit costs for a records clerk, converted to an hourly rate, plus any actual reimbursables such as flash drives or other storage media."

Jacques said Oakwood typically receives fewer than 10 video records requests a year.

In Tipp City, it's been determined that they'll charge the same way no matter the requestor.

"Our policy will reflect the (law) changes and charge $75 an hour up to $750 for preparing the video," Tipp City Police Chief Greg Adkins told this outlet. "This charge covers the employee's time, benefits, and material costs."

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Adkins said the department will not charge if "an involved party" wants to sit down and review video records. Otherwise, he said, "We will not direct a policy that allows the release to specific organizations at no cost and to other organizations at full price. We will be fair across all spectrums of requests."

Note: This story was updated to correct the attribution of an emailed statement.

------

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Troy Coons, chair of the Northwest Landowners Association, speaks during a Senate committee hearing on March 21, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

North Dakota landowners complained about eroding property rights and advocated for local government control Friday as they testified against a bill to take zoning decisions for electrical transmission lines away from local governments and give them to the state.

An Otter Tail Power Co. representative contended that two townships in Stutsman County passed highly restrictive zoning rules to stop a massive powerline project.

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Darron Orr, who lives in one of the townships, disputed that. Its not about protesting a project, its protecting a home, he said.

House Bill 1258 would take away zoning authority from townships and counties for transmission lines. Instead, the state would have that authority, similar to how rules are made for pipelines.

The bill had a hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, attracting a standing-room-only crowd with other opponents watching the livestream on their phones from the hallway.

Troy Coons, chair of the Northwest Landowners Association, and Derrick Braaten, the groups attorney, noted that a lawsuit over the pipeline language is pending in connection with the Summit Carbon Solutions project.

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We dont know what that language means right now, Braaten said. Its up to the courts.

He said copying the questionable language would be bad policy-making and lawmakers should wait for a Supreme Court ruling.

If passed, the short-term effect of the bill would be paving the way for a large transmission line from Jamestown to Ellendale, known as the JETx line.

The states 500-foot setback from residences would be enforced statewide, through the Public Service Commission. The half-mile setbacks passed by the Stutsman County townships would be overruled.

Rep. Mike Brandenberg, R-Edgeley, introduces a bill concerning electric transmission lines to a Senate committee on March 21, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

The JETx line would go through the district of bill sponsor Rep. Mike Brandenburg, R-Edgeley, who said local governments and landowners take a risk by standing in the way of the states energy industry, which provides tax revenue that goes back to local governments.

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Do you want the authority or do you want the money? Brandenburg asked.

The broader implication is setting the 500-foot setback for the whole state. Some local officials said the one-size-fits-all approach is unwise.

Charlie Sorenson is the chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission in Mountrail County. He said each county has its own long-range plan and zoning is a key part of that plan.

Committee chair Sen. Dale Patten, R-Watford City, asked Sorenson if a uniform statewide rule would be better than a patchwork of local regulations. Sorenson said no.

My area is going to be different than the Red River Valley, Sorenson said. Zoning is local.

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Richard Schlosser of LaMoure County said the bill is another example of lawmakers chipping away at property rights and local control over several legislative sessions.

He wondered whether the high-voltage JETx powerline would interfere with his autosteer and other modern technology farmers have come to rely on in the field.

He and others noted that the PSCs approval of the JETx powerline was not unanimous and questioned whether it was really needed.

Opponents of a bill regarding electric transmission lines attend a Senate committee hearing on March 21, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

Jason Weirs, a manager of transmission project development for Otter Tail Power Company, said the JETx line would increase reliability and prevent outages during ice storms, which has been a problem in the Jamestown area.

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He said the large setbacks enacted by townships force powerlines away from roads, meaning they are more likely to be in the middle of the field, which some farmers dont like. He said the setback can affect the route in a neighboring township in a negative way.

Orr countered that without the half-mile setback, a homeowner in his township would have had a large transmission tower near his home, with no compensation because it would not be on the property.

Orr said 500 feet doesnt address the size and scope of these new high voltage transmission lines.

He said the ordinance allows the homeowner to grant a variance and perhaps be compensated, which he said is only fair.

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With the larger setback, the homeowner gets to be at the table, he said.

The committee did not act on the bill. The bill passed the House on an 86-7 vote.

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Mar. 21ROCHESTER  If you've already registered to attend the town hall with Gov. Tim Walz, then figure your drive time to John Marshall High School into your Saturday morning plans.

The Community Town Hall with Gov. Walz will be held from 9 a.m. to noon in the John Marshall auditorium. While the event is free, registration is required, and DFL Minnesota notes that it is already expecting a near-capacity crowd.

"Attendees should expect standard security for a large event, including metal detectors," a notice from the DFL states. "Signs, banners, flags, air horns/bullhorns, weapons of any kind, and large bags are prohibited in the building. Please note that all purses and small bags are subject to search upon entry."

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Walz has been making the rounds in what the Democratic Party feels could be vulnerable Republican U.S. House districts in recent weeks, holding town halls in Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The town hall in Rochester is in Walz's old stomping grounds. He served as a member of Congress from Minnesota's 1st Congressional District for a dozen years, from 2007 to 2019, when he then took his current post as governor.

The 1st District is now represented by Rep. Brad Finstad, a Republican. Finstad has declined to commit to holding a town hall event, saying he has met with constituents  those who support his stances, and those who don't  by visiting the 21 counties that make up the district.

For Saturday's event, the DFL recommends all attendees submit questions in advance via the internet.

"Doors will open at 9:00 am CT and all seating is general admission," the statement from the DFL said. "Please note that this event is expected to be at capacity, therefore all participants must be registered to attend."

To attend, register on the Minnesota DFL website.
A New London police officer remains held on a $250,000 bond after being arrested Monday on domestic violence charges for the third time.

In the latest case, police say Julio Gil-Martinez stalked his 20-year-old ex-girlfriend, who they say he previously assaulted and strangled.

Gil-Martinez, 29, of 96 D Michael Road in New London, was charged Monday with first-degree stalking and violation of a protective order, both felonies. The arrest, police reports show, was based on complaints from his ex-girlfriend, who claims Gil-Martinez has been showing up at her home and workplace despite a court order barring him from having any contact with her.

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Gil-Martinez had yet to post his bond Friday and is due to appear Wednesday in Norwich Superior Court. He is being held at the Corrigan Correctional Center.

In the latest case, police said Gil-Martinezs ex-girlfriend reported to police on Monday that he was routinely calling her, following her, showing up at her home and place of work and was even spotted by her on at least two occasions outside her bedroom window at night.

The victim went on to explain that (Gil-Martinez) is controlling and possessive, police said.

A domestic violence lethality assessment screening by police has placed the alleged victim in a high danger, category.

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The alleged victim claims that on Monday, Gil-Martinez called to let her know he was going to meet her to give her a new phone to replace one he previously smashed. The ex-girlfriend, who is a home care provider, said that an hour or so after rejecting Gil-Martinezs offer, he showed up at her clients home to give her the phone, talking to both her and her client.

While there, police said, Gil-Martinez apologized and asked if they were going to get back together. The ex-girlfriend said no, and Gil-Martinez left, police said. Forty-five minutes later, however, the ex-girlfriend said, she heard something at her clients door and looked through the peephole to find Gil-Martinez at the door.

Police said she took cell phone video of Gil-Martinez, opened the door and he ran away.

Police said they caught up with Gil-Martinez outside his home, where he told them O God, what did (redacted) make up this time, the police report shows.

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Police said they are analyzing Gil-Martinezs phone for evidence related to the case.

Gil-Martinez was first arrested on Nov. 16, 2024 for the alleged assault of his girlfriend and then cutting himself as part of a scheme to convince police she had stabbed him. He is charged with second-degree threatening, third-degree assault, first-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree strangulation and interfering with an emergency call in that case.

Gil-Martinez, hired by the New London police department in September 2023, was placed on leave after his arrest. He remains the subject of an internal investigation.

He was arrested again on Jan. 10 and charged with disorderly conduct, violation of a protective order, first-degree unlawful restraint and second-degree criminal mischief. In that case, his ex-girlfriend claims that she had been living with him despite the court order and that during an argument he had gotten violent. Gil-Martinez claims she was showing up unannounced at at his home.

Both of the earlier cases are pending in court.

g.smith@theday.com
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin is pressuring Ukrainians in Russia and in occupied territories in their home country to take Russian citizenship or live elsewhere, according to British intelligence on Saturday.

Putin signed a decree on Thursday that obliges Ukrainian citizens residing in affected territories to "settle their legal status" by September 10, or leave the area, the Ministry of Defence in London wrote in its latest intelligence update on the Ukraine war.

"Putin's decree is almost certainly intended to force the departure from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of Ukrainian citizens who refuse to accept Russian passports and citizenship," the report shared on X said.

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The Kremlin continues to pursue a policy of "Russification" on illegally occupied territory in Ukraine as part of "long-standing efforts to extirpate Ukrainian culture, identity and statehood," it added.

Russia illegally considers the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed over a decade ago, as well as the partially occupied regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson, annexed in 2022, to be part of Russia, the update noted.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  The Los Angeles County district attorney said Friday that his office will not file sexual assault charges against movie producer David Guillod, more than four years after his arrest.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement that there was insufficient evidence to prove a case against Guillod beyond a reasonable doubt.

The announcement came nearly three years after a judge rejected similar charges against Guillod in Santa Barbara County.

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An email seeking comment from an attorney who has represented Guillod was not immediately answered. Guillod has denied all of the allegations.

Guillod, a talent manager and producer whose credits include 2017's Atomic Blonde and 2020's Extraction, was originally arrested in 2020 and charged with rape and sexual assault involving six women between 2014 and 2020 in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties. Authorities chose to try the cases jointly in Santa Barbara County, where a judge at a 2022 preliminary hearing found that there was insufficient evidence for Guillod to go to trial on charges involving four of the women.

The judge found there was enough evidence to go forward with charges that he had assaulted an actor in 2012 and a waitress in 2018, but because those were both in LA County, Santa Barbara prosecutors no longer had jurisdiction and sent the cases to the Los Angeles District Attorney.

The allegations involve deeply troubling and concerning behavior, and we empathize with the pain and trauma the accusers have experienced throughout this long investigative process, Hochman's statement said.

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Hochman's office also recently declined to file charges against Marilyn Manson after another yearslong investigation.

Guillod had been among the people investigated by a task force formed by former District Attorney Jackie Lacey in 2017 to investigate sexual misconduct in Hollywood when the #MeToo movement gained national attention. The vast majority of cases they considered did not lead to charges.

An exception was movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was convicted of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles in 2022. He is appealing the convictions.
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First)  A blast from the past left Baton Rouge native and rapper Torence Boosie Hatch Jr. speechless. Boosie visited the Louisiana First News morning show on Friday to promote his 6th Annual Boosie Bash event when he was surprised by his favorite grade school teacher, Ms. Anderson.

In March 2024, Boosie came to the studio for the first time to promote his weekend-long event. During the visit, Boosie learned that Liz Anderson Pendarvis worked in the sales department. Liz is the daughter of his former teacher, Claire Mayer, known as Ms. Anderson to many. In the moment, Liz had a video call with her mom and Boosie.

This year, Morning Anchor Sydney Simone and the sales team went further. They organized a surprise meeting between Boosie and Ms. Anderson.

A poem Boosie wrote that was framed in Mrs. Andersons classrooms until she retired. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Pendarvis.

As she walked into the studio, Boosie was overwhelmed, covering his face with his hands as Mrs. Anderson entered, saying, I know Im going to cry, before reaching out for a warm embrace.

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The heartfelt exchange left Boosie in tears. The last time the two saw each other was in 2006 when they ran into each other at CVS on Goodwood and Florida Boulevard.

Liz, her daughter, shared the video on social media. She tagged Boosies team to show friends how they reconnected after many years and the clip went viral.

After speaking with Liz, she shared that the English teacher has since retired. Ms. Anderson started teaching at McKinley High School in the early 90s. She later moved to Broadmoor High School in the early 2000s and retired from Zachary High School.

Ms. Anderson, a former Teacher of the Year nominee, wants this moment to show how much teachers affect their students.

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Liz said students respected and appreciated Ms. Anderson. For nearly three decades, she welcomed kids with open arms and never judged them based on their background or circumstances.

Latest News

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Louisiana First News.
The Horace Wilkinson Interstate 10 Bridge in Baton Rouge is one of eight in Louisiana that the National Transportation Safety Board found faces an unacceptable level of risk from river traffic collisions. (Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)

A federal agency has determined 68 bridges nationwide, including eight in Louisiana, are vulnerable to vessel strikes that could have catastrophic consequences  and local officials might have no idea of the risk.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommends that the 30 entities that maintain the bridges in question conduct their own risk assessments and take measures to reduce their vulnerability.

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Rodney Mallet, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD), said the state has already examined the risk factors for its eight bridges mentioned in the report, and mitigation efforts are already in place.

If a bridge is open, it is safe to drive over, Mallet said.

The eight bridges highlighted in the NTSB report are:

the Israel LaFleur Bridge on Interstate 210 in Lake Charles;

the Hale Boggs Bridge in Luling;

the Horace Wilkinson Bridge on Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge;

the Veterans Memorial Bridge in Gramercy;

the Sunshine Bridge in Ascension Parish;

the Huey P. Long Bridge in Jefferson Parish; and

both spans of the Crescent City Connection in New Orleans

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The NTBS categorized the 68 bridges on its list as critical/essential or typical, based on their importance as travel corridors. The Huey P. Long, Gramercy and Sunshine bridges were labeled typical, with the other six deemed critical/essential.

Mallet said steps DOTD currently has in place to lower the risk of ship-bridge incidents include pier protection devices such as metal fenders and dolphins, vessel tracking systems, advance warning systems, and tug boats to guide tankers while docking.

Louisiana intends to submit its risk assessment report to the NTSB within 30 days as requested, he added.

The measuring stick used to determine the collision risk bridges face comes from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). In addition to physical structures in place to prevent or reduce the same from collisions, the evaluation also takes into account the amount of vessel traffic in the waterway the bridge crosses.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge lies on the cargo ship Dali after it struck its support March 26, 2024, causing nearly span to collapse and cause the death of six road construction workers. (Baltimore Fire Department)

The motivation behind the most recent NTSB report was last years collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River near Baltimore. Six construction workers were killed when the Singapore-flagged freighter Dali lost power and collided with one of the bridges supports.

The NTSBs review of the Key Bridge found it exceeded acceptable AASHTO risk levels.

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BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First)  Busloads of Louisiana voters are traveling to Washington, D.C. for a historic U.S. Supreme Court hearing on the states congressional redistricting case.

Residents from the Baton Rouge and New Orleans metro areas will make the trip on Saturday to attend the hearing for Louisiana v. Callais, scheduled for Monday, March 24. The case could have major implications for the future of Louisianas congressional map and the representation of Black voters in the state.

Louisiana governor signals support for new congressional map

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The State of Louisiana and its legislature were forced by a federal judge to draw fair maps, and so thats how we were able to get a second majority-minority congressional seat. And then Callais challenged that map, saying it was a racial gerrymander. Indeed, it was not, said Ashley Shelton, President and CEO of Power Coalition.

Shelton emphasized that the case is a pivotal moment in the ongoing fight for fair representation.

This map was created by the Louisiana Legislature. There were significant political undertones in its creation. And for us, its like the State of Louisiana and its elected leaders actually drew a fair map, she said.

Dozens of advocates, legal experts, and community leaders dedicated to protecting voting rights will attend the hearing, reinforcing the importance of ensuring Black voterswho make up nearly one-third of Louisianas populationhave an equal voice in the democratic process.

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Were hopeful that well be victorious. Well have the opening arguments on Monday and certainly wait for the courts decision in June, Shelton added.

The Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, which is organizing the trip, is committed to empowering Louisiana communities through civic engagement, advocacy, and policy change. The organization works to educate and mobilize voters to create a more just and equitable future.

Meanwhile, Louisiana voters are also preparing for the March 29 election. Shelton and the Power Coalition are urging residents to research the issues before heading to the polls.

The March election is typically a much lower turnout election, and we want to ensure people understand there are four constitutional amendments on this ballot statewide. These amendments change our constitution, Shelton said.

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Mar. 21LIMA  The Lima Police Department is asking for the public's help in its investigation of an unsolved homicide from 2009.

The case involves an incident that took place on September 29, 2009, in the 900 block of Leland Avenue in Lima and resulted in the death of Markess Hogan.

Hogan, 30, reportedly had arrived home and was exiting his vehicle when he was approached and shot by unknown assailants.

People with information surrounding the incident are asked to call the Lima Police Department at 419-227-444 or CrimeStoppers at 419-229-7867.

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LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)  The Lafayette Parish School System (LPSS) is trying to find ways to save the Pre-K French Immersion program at Myrtle Place Elementary.

Tracy Wirtz, the communications director with LPSS, said the Lafayette Parish School System is currently working on a plan to continue offering the program at Myrtle Elementary for the 2025-2026 school year. Wirtz said the French Immersion is still available from kindergarten through fifth grade at Myrtle Place Elementary, but is at risk for Pre-K.

Myrtle Elementary is still French Immersion K through five but we have some parents and stakeholders who would like to see it continue at the Pre-K level, said Wirtz.

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Wirtz said she believed the program gives a head start on learning the French language, which can be beneficial for students.

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Based on the feedback weve gotten from parents and teachers, they feel like it gives their students just a little bit of a jump start on that French Immersion, we do though have a lot of students who start French Immersion at the kindergarten level who do just as well, either way, students will still have access to French Immersion programming across appropriate Lafayette Parish schools, said Wirtz.

Wirtz told KLFY 10 an official announcement will be made outlining the next steps for the program no later than May.

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We wanted to make sure that we allowed not just the superintendent, but also all of the stakeholders that have come to the table, the appropriate amount of time to make sure that everything is in place, said Wirtz.

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GEORGE COUNTY, Miss. (WKRG)  A Lucedale man is accused of child pornography possession following a search warrant of his home, according to the George County Sheriffs Office.

George County deputies and the Mississippi Attorney Generals Office executed the warrant at the home of Brandon Creel, 32, located on the 100 block of Duncan St.

UPDATE: Mount Vernon wildfire becoming a danger to homes, 100 acres burned

Brandon Creel. (George County Sheriffs Office)

According to sheriffs office officials, the search warrant resulted in Creel being accused of two counts of possession of child pornography.

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Creel is now at the George County Regional Correctional Facility awaiting his first court appearance.

The Mississippi Attorney Generals Office is leading the investigation.

Construction of new Gulf Shores Justice Center begins with a flash-bang

We greatly appreciate the hard work and dedication of the Mississippi Attorney Generals Office in pursuing these cases and protecting the children of our community, George County Sheriff Mitchell Mixon. Their commitment to justice ensures that those who exploit the most vulnerable among us are held accountable.

Summer Poole contributed to this story.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  A former Las Cruces Police officer, who was convicted of voluntary manslaughter last month, was released from jail pending another hearing later this month, the New Mexico Attorney Generals Office said.

Hearing held for Ex-Las Cruces Police officer on new trial request

Lunsford was convicted of voluntary manslaughter on Feb. 12 in the shooting death of Presley Eze at a gas station in 2022 in Las Cruces.

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Lunsfords defense team filed several motions after his conviction.

A hearing was held on Friday, March 21 in Las Cruces.

Judge Jim Foy denied the defense motion for an acquittal despite the guilty verdict but heard arguments on a separate motion related to the final selection of jurors in the case.

After a lengthy argument by both defense lawyers and prosecutors, Foy reversed his prior decision to remand Lunsford into custody and released him on conditions until the resolution of the defenses motions, the Attorney Generals Office said.

The next hearing in this case is set for March 28.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT)  Eighteen months after the fatal shooting of Stephen Perkins, former Decatur police officer Mac Marquette will be in court Tuesday arguing he killed Perkins in self-defense.

If the court agrees, Marquettes murder case will be over.

Owens Cross Roads votes again to not renew mental health center business license

Marquettes immunity and dismissal hearing will be in Morgan County Circuit Court on Tuesday.

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Marquette and his lawyers are arguing that he killed Perkins because Perkins was threatening a tow truck driver during a botched repossession effort outside his home. The immunity hearing provides the defense an opportunity to try to persuade the judge that the use of deadly force was justified and that the murder charge should be dismissed.

Under Alabama law, a person can use deadly force if they have a reasonable belief they or someone else faces an imminent threat of death or serious injury.

Marquette was indicted on a murder charge in January 2024. Perkins shooting death has led to widespread protests in Decatur, calls for police reform, the announced retirement of a police chief and a search for a new permanent chief.

The case is being heard by Morgan County Circuit Judge Charles Elliott. Marquettes attorneys recently asked the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, to remove Elliott from the case. The defense claimed Elliott violated judicial ethics rules by engaging in improper conversations regarding the case. The defense says that showed the judge was not impartial.



Elliott said he did nothing wrong and on Monday the appeals court denied Marquettes request to remove Elliott and delay the hearing.

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The Marquette case is under a gag order, so it is not yet clear how the hearing will unfold. But this is not the first time an Alabama police officer has sought immunity in a high-profile on-duty shooting case in North Alabama. In 2019, former Huntsville police officer William Ben Darby had a similar hearing in a murder case over the 2018 killing of Jeffery Parker.



Darbys hearing functioned as a mini-trial, where witnesses, including fellow officers, police training experts, and forensic analysts, testified. The defense argued Darby followed his training, prosecutors questioned whether Parker posed an immediate threat. Police body camera footage was also played in court.

Ultimately, Darbys immunity request was denied, leading to a jury trial where he was later convicted of murder. That conviction was later reversed, and he entered a guilty plea to a charge of manslaughter. Darby served 18 months in prison before his conviction was reversed. His plea agreement to a lesser charge included no additional prison time.

Darby testified during his hearing, explaining he took the actions he did, because Parker held a gun to his own head, making him a threat to Darby and other officers, and refused multiple commands to drop it.

Court records show the witness list for Marquettes immunity hearing includes 63 names, though it is not clear how many people will be called to testify.

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If the court finds Marquette acted in self-defense, his murder case is over. If the judge rules against him, his murder trial is due to start on April 7. Marquette also has the right to appeal an unfavorable immunity hearing ruling, before his trial starts.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHNT.com.
Just two months into Donald Trumps presidency and his vice-president has already been anointed his heir apparent in some quarters of the Maga movement.

A firebrand speech at the Munich conference in February and his Oval Office dressing down of Volodymyr Zelensky has put JD Vance in good stead with portions of the party.

Coupled with his strong relationship with key cabinet members, including Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, the vice-president is well positioned to become the vehicle that drives Mr Trumps worldview for the next decade.

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JDs focus is on doing a good job as vice-president and doing everything he can do to make the administration successful, a long-time advisor to Mr Vance told The Telegraph.

To the Maga faithful, Mr Trump was the man that turned the Republican Party on its head and now they view Mr Vance as the person to carry his mantle in the years to come.

His bruising speech at the Munich conference about the curtailment of free speech offended many in Europe but at home, Republicans were captivated by his tough talk and reluctance to pull punches.

Mr Vance said: If you are afraid of the voices, the opinions and the conscience that guide your very own people  If youre running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you, nor for that matter is there anything you can do for the American people.

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And his now infamous public shaming of Mr Zelensky in Washington landed with the Trump faithful.

He was lauded by key allies of the president, including Lindsay Graham, who said he was very proud of JD Vance for standing up for our country.

JD Vance exchanges heated words with Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office with Donald Trump on Feb 28 - SAUL LOEB/AFP

He has strong relationships in the cabinet and counts a bunch of them as close personal friends, a source close to the vice-president added.

Mr Trump however, has been reluctant to endorse the former Ohio Senator and self-described Hillbilly as his successor.

During an interview with Fox News last month, he slapped down the insinuation that Mr Vance would inevitably become the Republican nominee for president in 2028.

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Asked by Bret Baier during his Super Bowl interview whether Mr Vance will automatically succeed him, Mr Trump said: No. But is he very capable. I mean, I dont think that, you know, I think you have a lot of very capable people. So far, I think he is doing a fantastic job. Its too early. We are just starting.

Bret Baier: Do you view Vice President JD Vance as your successor? The Republican nominee in 2028?



Trump: No, but he is very capable. I mean, I don't think that it... you know, I think you have a lot of very capable people. pic.twitter.com/HOBp7ANMeh  Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) February 10, 2025

I dont think any sane person expected President Trump to make what would be the equivalent to a 2028 endorsement two weeks into the administration, the Vance advisor said.

It was an absurd question to even ask this early. JDs focus is on the administration, not his future in politics.

The presidents reluctance to name a successor will stem from a desire to maintain influence and authority over the party for the next four years.

Donald Trump is adamant on maintaining influence over the course of his four years as president - Nathan Howard/REUTERS

Those closest to the president have privately cast doubt on Mr Vances ability to connect with people, instead suggesting that his sights should be set on curtailing a recovering Democratic Party.

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His team [Vance] is freaking out since Trump dismissed the possibility with Bret Baier and are now in overdrive  its an irrelevant conversation because the war against the Left is just heating up, a source close to the president said.

Some in Mr Vances orbit are keeping a close eye on Ron DeSantis, the Florida Governor and former Trump rival, who has developed a good relationship with the president.

This president will never be a lame duck and he wont be treated like one, one Trump advisor told Axios.

So if I had to guess, DeSantis acts as a little bit of a buffer.

Despite this, Mr Vances political influence continues to grow. Earlier this week, he was appointed as the finance chairman for the Republican National Committee, becoming the first sitting vice-president to do so.

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The only person in the entire Republican Party, from my position, whos capable of carrying on the Trump legacy and expanding it, making it what it should fully be, is JD Vance, Tucker Carlson, the conservative commentator and former Fox News host, said in a podcast interview released this week.

Theres no one else, he went on. I dont see any other  at this point, as of today  any other conceivable option. I think JD Vance will be the nominee.

The presidents eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, one of Mr Vances earliest backers, called Mr Vance the only impressive vice-president of my lifetime on Monday.

While Mr Vances star continues to rise so does the target on his back.

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Mr Trump will continue to demand loyalty until his final days in office and his reluctance to name a successor only ensures a steadfast commitment from Mr Vance, who depends heavily on the presidents blessing.

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Mar. 22Maine's highest court has supported a cyclist who appealed a traffic citation he received for not moving into a single-file line while riding with his friend.

Christopher Ray, 62, was ticketed by Cumberland Police Chief Charles Rumsey in July 2023 and has been fighting the $151 fine ever since. He contested the violation in Portland District Court last year and a judge upheld the ticket.

But the Maine Supreme Judicial Court overturned that decision in a ruling on Thursday, saying the state's law is too ambiguous to enforce.

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"Because the statute leaves it entirely up to a cyclist to determine how far to the right it is safe to ride, it becomes unenforceable against a cyclist who claims it would have been unsafe to have ridden any farther to the right," the ruling reads.

Ray and a friend were riding side by side on Tuttle Road when Rumsey arrived behind them in an unmarked police cruiser, according to court documents. Ray was riding to the left of his friend and his bike was slightly to the left of the fog line, the solid white line painted along the right side of the travel lane.

Rumsey pulled up beside the cyclists, who were traveling at 17 mph, and told them to ride single file. Ray yelled a profanity at the police chief, who then activated the blue lights on his cruiser and issued Ray a violation summons for failure to keep to the right of the road.

Maine law says cyclists moving slower than the normal speed of traffic must move to the "right portion of the way as far as practicable except when it is unsafe to do so as determined by the bicyclist."

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The law does not explain, however, how far right that should be. It could be as far right as the shoulder of the road, or even within the fog line. The justices urged the Legislature to clear up this ambiguity.

Ray said he's ecstatic about the decision. He said he's biked since he was a child, both recreationally and in competitions, and has never experienced a similar confrontation with a police officer.

He said he felt that Rumsey was too close and too aggressive, and he was unaware Rumsey was a police officer. Although he said he shouldn't have sworn, he believed he was riding safely, lawfully and at the normal speed of traffic for that area.

"In my opinion, Mr. Rumsey shouldn't have been trying to pass me at more than 17 mph in a pedestrian and school zone to begin with and should not have ticketed me for riding on the white fog line," Ray wrote in an email. "I didn't like what the trial court's unfavorable decision might mean for me, other bicyclists, and other road users (including pedestrians that walk in that area) in the future."

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Rumsey said in a phone interview Friday that he believes that cyclists must ride single file for motorists to safely pass them. He said law enforcement will need clarification on the law, and he expects to speak with other agencies and prosecutors to understand what this decision means.

He said his department doesn't give out violations like this often. But in this case, he said it was important to ticket Ray to ensure the cyclist would ride single file in the future. He noted that Ray swearing at him didn't impact his decision.

"I never suspected if I was involved in a case that went to the law court, it would have been for traffic violation involving a bicycle," Rumsey said.

Though he believes it's safest for multiple cyclists to ride single file when passing vehicles are around, he doesn't hold it against Ray to have fought the ticket.

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"This isn't something that's going to raise my blood pressure at all," Rumsey said. "I find it fascinating and I think we'll move on and see what the future holds for us."

RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS

Paul Drinan, the active transportation director at the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, said in a phone interview on Friday that the court's decision gives cyclists more power to determine where it's safe to ride.

He said the issue is especially relevant given the state's uptick in pedestrian deaths and some municipalities' attempts to roll out "Vision Zero" plans to stop them.

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Lauri Boxer-Macomber, the Portland attorney who represented Ray, said although the Supreme Court did not take up some of Ray's other arguments (such as whether 17 mph was a "normal speed" for the area with its school and pedestrian zones), she said this decision is still a victory for all road users.

She doesn't agree that the law is ambiguous and suggested that if lawmakers wish to clarify the law, they could better define the "right portion" of the road to be within the marked travel lane, not including the shoulder, sidewalks or parking areas.

"I expect that the decision will help to raise some public awareness about the bicycle rider safety statute and the many reasons why it is lawful for bicyclists to ride in places other than paved shoulders," she said in an emailed statement. "Hopefully, the decision will also be taught at the Maine Police Academy and brought up in continuing education and training programs for district attorneys and law enforcement officers."

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Mar. 21WATERVILLE  More than 100 employees of MaineGeneral Health will be laid off next month as administrators seek to address budget shortfalls caused by the high cost of doing business and declining reimbursements.

MaineGeneral Health President and CEO Nathan Howell said Friday that in an effort to be transparent, and with continuing uncertainty related to Northern Light Inland Hospital's planned closure, MaineGeneral informed workers that about 100 people will be laid off in mid-April.

It is unclear exactly what positions will be cut in the upcoming layoffs. Asked what departments will be affected, Joy McKenna, MaineGeneral's director of marketing and communications, said officials are "still in the process of identifying those details."

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McKenna later clarified that MaineGeneral plans to eliminate the equivalent of about 100 full-time positions from its workforce of about 5,000 people. The term "full-time equivalent" combines the hours worked by both full-time and part-time employees into a single, equivalent unit, meaning two half-time employees would comprise a single full-time equivalent position.

"A reduction in force is always among the very last actions we want to consider, as our employees are our greatest resources," Howell said in a statement. "However, we need to ensure that we are operating as efficiently and effectively as possible."

Northern Light Health announced earlier this month that Inland Hospital, located on Kennedy Memorial Drive in Waterville, would cease operations May 27, about 300 people would be laid off and the hospital would close June 11. Inland is the only inpatient hospital in Waterville.

MaineGeneral Health officials said last week they are working with Northern Light to learn the scope of changes that will occur as part of Inland's closure, including the number of staff and patients who will be affected and how MaineGeneral may be able to take on certain staff and help meet community needs. The Inland closure adds to a complicated, challenging financial situation at MaineGeneral, which is similar to what other hospitals in Maine are facing, officials say.

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Howell said Friday that the current crisis in MaineCare funding compounds an already tenuous footing for MaineGeneral and other hospitals.

"Maine's nonprofit hospitals are challenged by declining reimbursement rates from payers  reimbursement rates are not covering the actual cost of care," he said. "Additionally, we are experiencing excessive denials, especially from Medicare Advantage plans. The cost of doing business is increasing, which is not unique to health care. These are just some of the multiple challenges that we have been facing."

"The impact of the partial MaineCare payments that started March 12 (due to failure to pass the supplemental budget), is a financial hit to the health system of approximately $600,000 per week. We need to find a way to mitigate those losses as quickly as possible."

Howell said MaineGeneral has been transparent with its nearly 5,000 employees that budget shortfalls must be addressed now and into the next fiscal year, starting July 1. Additional actions planned to help mitigate losses, he said, include putting a hold on employee travel other than what is needed for the services and business of the health system, with no out-of-state travel. MaineGeneral Health is also putting a hold on filling open positions that are not necessary for the provision of health care services; reviewing the remaining budget for the fiscal year and putting a freeze on spending where possible; and putting a hold on providing sponsorship dollars.

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"We believe doing this difficult work now will set us up for a more financially sustainable future, as we want to remain independent and available to meet the health care needs of our community now and into the future," Howell said.

MaineGeneral has many locations throughout central Maine, including the inpatient hospital MaineGeneral Medical Center and the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care, located on the same campus in Augusta, and health care offices and facilities in Gardiner, Hallowell, Belgrade, Winthrop and Fairfield. Thayer Center for Health, Elmwood Primary Care and other offices and practices are located in Waterville.

Contacted Friday, Jessica Picard, communications director for the Maine Department of Labor, said that due to confidentiality rules, the department can neither confirm nor deny whether a company has notified the DOL of layoffs. But DOL does post Worker Adjustment & Retraining Act, or WARN notices it receives. Such notices are required in certain circumstances, and the department reaches out to offer rapid response services for affected workers.

The WARN Act is a federal law requiring employers to give advance notice to workers facing a plant closure or mass layoff. The advance notices gives workers and their families transition time to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, seek and find other jobs and, with help from the local workforce development areas, receive skill training or retraining to allow them to compete in the job market. WARN requires that a 60-day notice be given to employers with 100 or more full-time workers. Maine requires a 90-day notice for a covered establishment that is relocating or closing.

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The department's Rapid Response team is working with Inland employees, as well as with human resources departments of companies that Inland contracted with, to help affected workers, Picard said.

"In general, any workers statewide who are impacted by a layoff should reach out to their local CareerCenter, which can help connect them to reemployment services, training, and other information," Picard said in an email.

The CareerCenter may be reached by email at MaineDOL.CareerCenter@maine.gov, by phone at 207-623-7981, or through the LiveChat feature at www.myworksourcemaine.gov.

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WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR)  Major changes are coming to the Social Security Administration as President Trump and his team continue to shake up the federal government. Advocates and seniors are worried the planned reforms will prevent people from getting the benefits they rely on.

This week the Social Security Administration announced starting March 31st people can no longer do identity checks over the phone. Instead, those applying for benefits or recipients changing bank information will have to do that online or in-person at a Social Security field office.

Senior VP for Govt. Affairs at AARP Bill Sweeney says hes very concerned about that shift.

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I think its going to be terrible if they go forward as scheduled, Sweeny said Its a really big burden to put on people who are just trying to get the money that theyve earned.

The Trump administration argues the changes are meant to weed out fraud that they say is rampant in the Social Security system.

Shannon Benton with the Senior Citizens League says the speed at which theyre changing their policies doesnt give recipients enough time to adjust.

We think its asking too much. We do applaud social securitys efforts to combat fraud 100%, just not at the expense of those who are trying to draw benefits legally, Benton said.

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She points out a lot of seniors dont have the access or expertise to use the online system. And the in-person visits could be tough for people in rural areas who may have to drive hours, or those with mobility issues or who dont drive anymore.

Youre throwing an awful lot at seniors right now who are already stretched thin financially, Benton said.

Plus, the Department of Government Efficiency is planning to close 47 Social Security field offices across the country, making it harder to visit one at a time when more people will need to.

Its kind of a catch 22, Benton said.

Sweeny adds that, ironically, this is the perfect recipe for more scams. He says because the deadline is coming up quickly and people are scared their benefits may get cut off, theyre more vulnerable to giving away personal information.

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Were actually making it more likely that people could get defrauded, could get scammed, and think that its social security on the phone, Sweeney said.

Both advocates are urging the administration to slow down and reconsider.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
Mar. 21A man is facing multiple sex charges after he reportedly sexually assaulted a teenage girl in Dayton.

Danny L. McClanahan Jr. was charged with five counts of sexual battery, two counts of attempt to commit sexual battery and one misdemeanor assault charge in Dayton Municipal Court.

His bond was set at $500,000 on Friday.

On March 14, Dayton officers responded to Miami Chapel Road for a sexual assault complaint.

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Multiple people were at the house, including a teenage girl who said she was sexually assaulted by McClanahan, according to court records.

A family member of McClanahan's live-in girlfriend reportedly witnessed the assault.

He told police he got into an argument with McClanahan and was assaulted by him, according to an affidavit.

The teen was taken to CARE House, a children's advocacy center, for a forensic interview.

During the interview she said she was sexually abused by McClanahan multiple times, according to court records.

McClanahan was arrested Thursday and booked into the Montgomery County Jail.
BRYAN, Texas (FOX 44)  A Bryan man has been arrested and is accused of making Terroristic Threats at a Bryan Independent School District event.

The district issued a statement late Friday afternoon, saying an incident took place earlier at Merrill Green Stadium during the annual 4th Grade Track Meet. There has been no disruption to Bryan ISD activities and all students, staff, and families are safe.

At the event, an adult man identified as 29-year-old John Joseph Villapando was taken into custody by the Bryan Police Department after creating a disturbance. Villapando verbally threatened to shoot several bystanders, and was quickly found and detained by Bryan PD School Resource Officers. He was not in possession of any weapons, and was taken into custody for Terroristic Threats.

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The district says it works in partnership with the Bryan Police Department to keep students, families and staff safe. Students and families are also encouraged to report safety concerns immediately through its B-Safe App.

Villapando is currently in the Brazos County Jail with three charges of Terroristic Threat Cause Fear of Imminent SBI. His bond is set at $75,000.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KWKT - FOX 44.
JANE LEW, W.Va. (WBOY)  A man has been arrested after allegedly stealing a car that was later found on fire.

According to a press release from the Lewis County Sheriffs Office, local authorities responded to a vehicle fire near Doss Enterprises in Jane Lew on March 16. When the fire was extinguished, an investigation began which revealed that the vehicle was reported stolen out of Missouri on Nov. 23, 2024. There were also indications that the vehicle had been set on fire deliberately.

Man wrapped woman in tarp before dumping her body in Braxton County: State Police

Dylan McCracken

During the investigation, evidence was discovered that linked the vehicle to a Super 8 motel in Weston, where security cameras captured an individual, identified as Dylan McCracken, allegedly driving the vehicle before the fire, backing it into the parking lot, lifting the hood and disconnecting wires. It was also found that McCracken lived in the same region of Missouri the vehicle was stolen from.

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McCracken was arrested on March 19 without incident and is charged with one count of receiving or transferring stolen vehicle. He is being held in the Central Regional Jail on a $90,000 bond.

The Mountain Region Drug Task Force, West Virginia State Fire Marshals Office and the West Virginia State Police assisted in the investigation.

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WASHINGTON (DC News Now)  The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) arrested someone accused of assaulting a person with a wrench after a crash.

MPD said that on March 14, officers responded to N Street NE around 12:55 p.m. for an assault. The victim told police that while they were exchanging information after a car accident, the other person assaulted them with a wrench before leaving.

Two arrested for shooting at Northeast DC nightclub that killed former Morgan State basketball player

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DC Fire and EMS treated the victim on the scene. They had non-life-threatening injuries.

On Thursday, MPD arrested 28-year-old Christopher Brantley of Southeast and charged him with assault with a dangerous weapon (wrench) and leaving after colliding personal injury.

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A man was arrested after an hours-long standoff in Wayne County, Indiana, on Thursday, according to a spokesperson for the Wayne County Sheriffs Office.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Sheriffs deputies and Hagerstown Police Department went to a house in the 16000 block of State Road 38 in Hagertown to serve an arrest warrant for Joshua Curbeaux.

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He had warrants for neglect of a dependent, failure to appear on his initial domestic battery charge, battery on a public safety official, and resisting law enforcement, according to the spokesperson.

While authorities were trying to arrest Curbeaux, he briefly walked outside but returned inside and refused to come out.

Officers tried to negotiate with Curbeaux, but he reportedly refused to come out, the spokesperson said.

The Indiana Police SWAT Team and negotiators were called to the scene to help.

After approximately two hours of negotiation, Curbeaux surrendered without further incident, according to the spokesperson.

SR 38 was closed for two hours during the standoff.

No one was injured in this incident.

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DENVER (KDVR)  A couple in Centennial is not concerned about a package that was stolen from their porch, but about the man taking a child with him to steal it. The whole incident was caught on camera Thursday evening.

Stock growers react to Colorado wolf killed by Wildlife Services in Wyoming

Crosby Moresco and his wife moved into the neighborhood back in October.

Looked at the area, it had a nice high safety score so we thought it was a great place to start our family, said Moresco.

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He intends to make sure his family doesnt act like the one that came to his porch on Thursday evening. His wife first noticed an alert on their doorway camera that someone had come up.

When they looked at the footage, they saw a man and a child stealing a package from their porch. As they leave, you can hear the child say, No, youre the one stealing them.

Quite a shocking incident to see on our camera, said Moresco.

He called the action bold and said he was home and his car was even in the driveway. The package stolen was a gift from their baby registry.

Were expecting our first child and to have it be some things that are for our brand new baby coming it stings a little more, said Moresco.

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He has greater concerns, however.

The most important thing is not the package but just making sure that any child is not kind of put in a situation like that that could be potentially very dangerous, he said.

Moresco worried about the child in the video potentially joining the man in stealing from a more dangerous location.

Coming up to random peoples houses, not knowing who they are. Coming to steal a package, you dont know whos in that house, he said.

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He said as he expects to be a father soon, this is something he wont be teaching.

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Im definitely going to make sure we do the exact opposite of what that video shows, said Moresco.

He said he contacted the Arapahoe County Sheriff and provided them with the video. He asks if you recognize the people in the footage that you contact the sheriffs office.

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Mar. 21MITCHELL  A Mitchell man has been charged with driving with a revoked license, first-offense driving under the influence and hit-and-run injury following a crash Thursday evening.

Andrew Seay, 50, was the driver of the GMC Sierra that collided with a motorcycle at the 1200 block of East Havens, according to police. The driver of the motorcycle, who is not being named, was transported to the hospital with injuries.

The crash occurred around 7 p.m.

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Police say Seay's license was revoked in 2021 due to failure to pay child support. His preliminary breath test taken at the jail on Thursday evening following the crash was .248 percent, police told the Mitchell Republic on Friday. The legal driving limit in South Dakota is .08 percent.

Witness statements to police following the crash said Seay was driving the GMC, which was traveling east and turning into the trailer court when it allegedly failed to yield to the motorcycle traveling west.

Following the collision, witnesses said the GMC traveled into the trailer court and saw Seay exit the vehicle. The crash is still under investigation, police said.
WASHINGTON (DC News Now)  The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said it arrested a man for a fatal shooting that happened last summer in Northwest D.C.

At around 4:17 p.m. on June 30, 2024, MPD responded to the 700 block of Missouri Avenue NW.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 18-year-old shot, killed in Northwest DC

While canvassing the area, officers found 18-year-old Raymond Washington of Northeast D.C. suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital where he died.

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On Friday, MPD said it arrested 40-year-old Byron Sneed of Northwest D.C. He was charged with First Degree Murder while Armed (Premeditated).

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC)  A 19-year-old man was arraigned Saturday morning on murder and weapon charges after a 39-year-old woman was shot to death early Wednesday morning.

Dhymere Bailey was charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Saturday, he pleaded not guilty to his charges and was taken to jail without bail.

On March 19, 39-year-old Sandra Blanding was shot and killed near a vacant lot on Spencer Street around 6:30 a.m.

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Following an investigation, 19-year-old Dhymere Bailey was identified by Major Crimes Homicide Detectives as the person who allegedly shot and killed Blanding.

Around 11 a.m. Friday morning, Bailey was seen in the area of Mt. Hope Avenue in Rochester. RPD said Bailey attempted to flee from officers but was quickly arrested.

Glue of the family: Daughter of Spencer St. homicide victim reflect on their mother

Police said at the time of the arrest, Bailey was armed with a loaded handgun. Police believe that handgun is the same gun used to shoot Blanding.

According to RPD, the motive behind the murder will not be discussed at this time. Based on the investigation it does not appear that Blanding and Bailey were known to each other.

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Bailey is expected back in court on March 26.

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ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo.  A man charged for spraying racist graffiti on two schools in the Affton School District appeared in court Friday.

A judge allowed Patrick Sloan out on a $2,500 bond into his fathers custody. Sloan was also ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device and to not make contact with any school.

Sloan is accused of targeting Affton High School and Rogers middle school earlier this month.

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Fatal fireworks home explosion trial delayed to July

According to a probable cause statement from the St. Louis County Police Department, Sloan stole cans of black spray paint from a local hardware store on March 6. The following day, school officials at Affton High discovered swastikas and other offensive messages on the outside wall.

On the morning of March 12, officers were notified that similar messages were found spray-painted on the front facade of Rogers Middle, per the probable cause statement.

A preliminary hearing over Sloans criminal charges, which include two felony counts of second-degree property damage motivated by discrimination, is set for April 9.

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A 32-year-old man died in police custody Friday morning while waiting to be arraigned in court in Brooklyn after being arrested for shoplifting three days earlier, according to police and a joint statement from two public defenders organizations.

Soso Ramishvili was found dead inside a holding cell in the Kings County Criminal Court building on Schermerhorn St. in downtown Brooklyn around 8:30 a.m., cops said.

Earlier today, we were notified that a person, who had been arrested on charges of a low-level crime, passed away in NYPD custody at Kings County Criminal Court, the statement by The Legal Aid Society and Brooklyn Defender Services read. This person, who should have been granted a desk appearance and released based on the offense, languished in pain in custody for three days and was deprived of medical care despite repeated pleas from defense lawyers and other personnel to secure them needed care. This level of indifference is unconscionable.

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Ramishvili was arrested March 18 after allegedly trying to shoplift about $213 worth of power tools and other items from Home Depot, according to the criminal complaint against him obtained by the Daily News. He was charged with petit larceny, possession of stolen property and drug possession, according to the complaint.

A source told The News that over the three days he spent in police custody Ramishvili was transferred back and forth between the police precinct, the hospital and the courthouse several times. His cause of death was not immediately known.

Under New York City law, Ramishvili should have been issued a desk-appearance ticket and released, according to the Legal Aid Society, which has filed a lawsuit on his behalf. The same law requires people to be arraigned within 24 hours of their arrest, unless there is a reasonable explanation for the delay, according to the lawsuit.

The incident is being investigated by the NYPDs Force Investigation Division.

Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Raul Bello Rojas, a 43-year-old previously convicted undocumented immigrant from Mexico, appeared in court Friday facing federal charges for cocaine trafficking, unlawful gun possession, and illegal reentry, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office, Western District of North Carolina.

Charlotte man gets 20 years for distributing cocaine in Wilmington

The charges against Rojas include possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, unlawful possession of firearms, and illegal reentry into the United States. These charges are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative aimed at combating illegal immigration and transnational criminal organizations.

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According to the indictment, Rojas allegedly possessed a 9mm handgun and a .380 caliber handgun in furtherance of his drug trafficking activities.

He has been previously removed from the United States multiple times. The indictment also includes a forfeiture notice for over $64,000 in U.S. currency seized during the execution of a search warrant. Rojas has been in federal custody since his arrest on Feb. 28.

Rojas is charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, which, based on the bulk quantities Rojas possessed, carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, up to a sentence of life in prison; possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence and a statutory penalty of life in prison; possession of a firearm by an (undocumented immigrant) which carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years; and illegal reentry, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, the U.S. Attorneys Office said.
A 24-year-old man died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound as Kansas Highway Patrol troopers attempted to serve an arrest warrant, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said Saturday.

Troopers conducted a traffic stop just after 3:30 p.m. Friday on Interstate 70 near the Seventh Street exit in Kansas City, Kansas, to serve an arrest warrant for Daijon Estell according to a KBI news release.

Troopers said Estell did not respond to verbal commands to exit the vehicle and that they observed a handgun, the release said.

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Estell then allegedly fired one round, which resulted in a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head, according to the news release.

No troopers shot their firearms, the KBI said, and no officers were injured in the exchange.

Troopers attempted life-saving measures until paramedics arrived and pronounced Estell dead at 3:43 p.m., the KBI said.

Troopers recovered a young child from the back seat of Estells vehicle. The child was unharmed and transported by Kansas City, Kansas, police officers to be reunited with other family members, the KBI said.

The KBI is investigating the shooting at the request of the Kansas Highway Patrol. KBI agents and a Crime Scene Response Team arrived at the scene around 4:30 p.m. Friday.

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Investigators closed I-70 for several hours Friday to secure the crime scene. The highway reopened late Friday evening.

KBI agents will work to make final determinations on what led up to the shooting. In a news release, the KBI said the incident qualifies as a use of force case, and the investigation could take several weeks to complete.

When the investigation concludes, the case will be presented to the Wyandotte County district attorney for any applicable charges.
CLEVELAND (WJW)  A 63-year-old man was found guilty of raping two women in Cleveland more than two decades ago, according to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office.

On March 14, a jury found Kenneth Edmond guilty of two counts of rape and two counts of kidnapping, prosecutors announced in a Friday press release.

According to court records, a 72-year-old homeless woman was standing under the Detroit-Superior bridge on Sept. 15, 2000, when a man approached her, shoved her to the ground and sexually assaulted her before leaving the scene.

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A good Samaritan helped the woman and called police. The victim was taken to the hospital and officials collected a sexual assault kit, court records said.

Local parish employee accused of raping child

The second case happened a little more than a year later, when a 21-year-old woman was walking near East 14th Street and Carnegie Avenue on Oct. 30, 2001.

According to court documents, a man grabbed her by the neck, forced her through a fence under the I-90 bridge and sexually assaulted her multiple times. He then took her money and left.

Someone helped the victim and she was taken to the hospital, where a sexual assault kit was collected, court records said.

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Detectives determined through DNA tests that the suspect in both cases was the same man, but he couldnt be identified at the time. Investigators indicted the DNA profile as John Doe #103.

Man charged with holding victim hostage during Stark County standoff

The case remained cold for years, but Cuyahoga County prosecutors and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigators looked over the DNA evidence in 2022.

The DNA was sent to Texas-based genetic testing company Gene by Gene. With help from the nonprofit Firebird Forensics Group, Inc., genealogists determined that John Doe #103s DNA was connected to Edmond.

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Investigators obtained Edmonds DNA and confirmed it was a match. He was arrested by Cuyahoga County sheriffs deputies on Dec. 6, 2023.

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC)  One man was injured after a camper and a storage barn caught fire in Wayne County Friday.

Wayne County Sheriffs Office said deputies responded to the area on State Rt. 414 in the Town of Rose and found smoke coming from a mobile camper and a storage barn.

According to WCSO, the fire was contained and extinguished shortly after.

One man was injured as a result of the fire. He was transported to Strong Memorial Hospital for what deputies described as non-life-threatening injuries.

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The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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CHICAGO  A man is dead and an investigation is underway after an argument led to a shootout inside an apartment on the Far North Side early Saturday morning.

Chicago police said the deadly shooting unfolded just before 3 a.m. in an apartment in the 6400 block of North Richmond Street in West Ridge.

Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines

According to police, just before the gunfire erupted, the victim, a 32-year-old man, was involved in an argument with two other individuals.

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Officers said the argument became physical when there was an exchange of gunfire inside the apartment.

Following the shootout, the two offenders fled the scene.

The 32-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to his chest and was later pronounced dead on the scene.

Currently, it is unclear what led to the altercation and an investigation is now underway.

LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland

Anyone with information on the deadly shooting is asked to contact CPD Area Three Detectives at 312-744-8263 or dial 911.

Those with information that could help authorities in their investigation can also leave a tip at CPDtip.com. Tips can be filed anonymously.

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OCHOPEE, Fla. (WFLA)  A Miami man was killed in a crash after he slammed into the back of a Tesla on Alligator Alley on Saturday morning.

At 6:45 a.m., the Florida Highway Patrol responded to a two-vehicle crash on westbound I-75 (Alligator Alley) at mile marker 73 near Ochopee.

Child airlifted, 3 others injured in multi-vehicle crash in South Florida

Troopers said the driver of a Kia Soul, identified as a 44-year-old Miami man, collided with the back of a Tesla.

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The driver was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.

FHP is investigating the crash. WFLA.com has reached out for additional details.

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CHICAGO  A search is underway this week for a man who Chicago police say has been missing for over a week and may be in need of medical attention.

Chicago police say 25-year-old Tyler Parker has been missing since Wednesday, March 12.

LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland

According to police, the missing man was last seen in the 5500 block of South Ashland Avenue, in West Englewood on the citys Southwest Side.

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Officers say Parker is known to frequent the Back of the Yards and Englewood neighborhoods.

Police said Parker, who stands 5-foot-7 and weighs around 120 pounds, has blond hair and hazel eyes.

Parker can be seen with a goatee and mustache in a photo provided by Chicago police, though it is unclear if he had either at the time of his disappearance.

Details about Parkers disappearance were shared in a news release that was sent out by police on Thursday evening, but officers did not provide details on what he was last spotted wearing.

Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines

Officers also said that Parker may be in need of medical attention, though it is unclear why.

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Anyone with information on the whereabouts of 25-year-old Tyler Parker is asked to contact the CPD Area One SVU at 312-747-8380 or dial 911.

Those with information that could help authorities in their investigation can also leave a tip at CPDtip.com. Tips can be filed anonymously.

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Police say a man is now in custody after pointing a gun at Fulton County sewer workers and then running into a South Fulton home.

The workers told police that Timothy Bankston Jr., 77, pointed a shotgun at them shortly before 5:30 p.m. as they were working along Thaxton Road and then ran into a nearby home and refused to come out.

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Police said the area around the intersection of Wewatta Street and Thaxton Road had to be closed off as officers worked to get Bankston out of the house.

Shortly after 8 p.m., police said they had Bankston in custody. He is being charged with three counts of aggravated assault.

South Fulton police said they have previously been called out to the home for medical-related calls.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  The FBI is seeking more information about a case involving a man who allegedly traveled from Alaska to Oregon with minors and sexually abused one of them.

Steven Fox, 59, was slated to appear in an Oregon court Friday afternoon after a federal grand jury in Alaska indicted him for transporting a minor with the intent to commit child sex crimes. Fox was arrested in Portland by the FBI on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Sneaker shop owner pleads guilty to $80M in wire fraud

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According to court documents, the 59-year-old Fox moved from Pendleton, Oregon to Anchorage, Alaska in 2019. He then allegedly approached a family with two young girls and presented himself as a long-lost uncle, court documents say.

Court documents further allege that in January 2020, Fox transported the minors from Alaska to Oregon. Fox started sexually abusing one of the minors, who was 9 years old, almost immediately after leaving Alaska, the DOJ said in a press release.

If convicted, Fox faces a prison sentence between 10 years to life.

If anyone has information about the allegations involving Fox, they are encouraged to contact the FBI.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo.  The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating after a man shot himself while being served an arrest warrant on Interstate 70 Friday afternoon.

According to KBI and the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP), just after 3:30 p.m. Friday, troopers pulled over a car on I-70 near the 7th Street exit to serve Daijon Estell, 24, an arrest warrant.

Whistleblower sues Childrens Hospital after controversial firing

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However, while on the side of the road, it was reported Estell did not listen to the demands of KHP troopers and refused to leave the car. He then took out a gun and shot himself.

KBI said, Estell fired one round, which resulted in a self-inflicted head wound. No law enforcement personnel discharged any firearms during the incident.

While on the scene, troopers were said to have attempted to perform life-saving measures until emergency responders arrived. However, just before 3:45 p.m., Estelle was pronounced dead.

According to KBI agents, a child had been in the back seat of Estells vehicle at the time of the shooting. They were not injured in the incident and were taken out of the car safely before being reunited with family members at the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department.

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Following the shooting, at about 4:30 p.m., KBI was called to investigate the case. According to the agency, this is an ongoing investigation and all findings will be presented to the Wyandotte County District Attorney.

KU Jayhawks, Royals broadcaster Bob Davis dead at 80, university says

The cause of the original arrest warrant has not been released by law enforcement.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned at FOX4 News for the latest updates and information.

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A Georgia man convicted of an armed robbery of the Casino Queen and shooting an unarmed security guard in 2017 was sentenced Friday to 49 years in an Illinois prison.

Daryl S. Muhammad, 48, of Marietta, Georgia was found guilty in November of armed robbery and aggravated battery with a firearm, both class X felonies, and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, a class 2 felony.

Hell serve at least 85% of his term, according to a press release from Illinois State Police, which investigated the crime.

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We appreciate the assistance of the Illinois State Police, the United States Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Illinois, and all the other agencies that came together to achieve this just result, said St. Clair County States Attorney James Gomric in a statement. This type of behavior will not be tolerated in St. Clair County and this prosecution showed that. Finally, we thank the court for imposing this strong sentence.

Larry Weber, a private security guard and New Athens firefighter, was shot during an armed robbery. He suffered serious internal injuries as a result of the shooting, according to reporting in the BND at the time. He recovered, and returned to work.

According to court records, Muhammad and two other men entered the valet of the Casino Queen at about 2 a.m. on Sept. 17, 2017 and ordered employees to get on the ground as they fired shots.

Surveillance images of masked gunmen during an armed robbery of the Casino Queen in East St. Louis Sept. 17, 2017.

One man stayed behind to hold guards at gunpoint, and the other two headed toward the cashiers booth in the casino. Weber approached the booth and was shot. The man behind the counter at the booth opened drawers and started filling bags with cash, state police said.

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All three suspects were carrying rifles. Weber, who was unarmed, was shot by one of the three men, later determined to be Muhammad.

The three suspects then fled the casino with $47,000 cash. The stolen money was found near the abandoned getaway car in East St. Louis at Exchange Avenue and 17th Street, state police reported.

Muhammad was arrested and charged in January of 2019 in Cobb County, Georgia.

Special Assistant States Attorney John Trippi and Assistant States Attorney Alex Starnes prosecuted the case.
A Norwegian man, Arve Hjalmar Holmen, has filed a complaint against OpenAI after ChatGPT falsely claimed he murdered his two sons and served 21 years in prison. Holmen contacted the Norweigan Data Protection Authority, demanding that OpenAI be fined for the misinformation.

Holmen was shocked when he used ChatGPT to search for information about himself and received a response that included details of a tragic event involving his two young sons.

According to the complaint, after searching, Who Is Arve Hjalmar Holmen?," the response claimed: "He was the father of two young boys, aged 7 and 10, who were tragically found dead in a pond near their home in Trondheim, Norway, in December 2020.

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The chatbot got their ages close to correct but fabricated the rest of the information. Holmen expressed concern that someone could believe the false claims, which could cause harm to his reputation.

Digital rights orgnization Noyb, representing Holmen, argued that misinformation of such magnitude violates European data protection laws, which require the accuracy of personal data.

"You can't just spread false information and in the end add a small disclaimer saying that everything you said may just not be true," Noyb lawyer Joakim Soderberg said in an official statement.

AI hallucinations, where chatbots generate false information, are becoming a growing issue. Similar problems have been seen with tools like Apples news summary and Googles AI Gemini.

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Researchers are working to understand the causes, but tools like ChatGPT still struggle with providing accurate information.

OpenAI says that the case is based on an older version of its product, which has since been updated. "We continue to research new ways to improve the accuracy of our models and reduce hallucinations," the statement read. "While we're still reviewing this complaint, it relates to a version of ChatGPT which has since been enhanced with online search capabilities that improves accuracy."
Mar. 21MITCHELL  Two city leaders say they have moved forward in their working relationship after Mitchell City Council President Kevin McCardle told Mayor Jordan Hanson that Hanson gave the city a black eye.

"We've never really talked about it afterward," Hanson told the Mitchell Republic of the Jan. 6 spat. "I mean, that was my opinion, that was his opinion. I didn't think anything I said was wrong. And I think nothing he said was wrong either, because he just said his opinion of what people have told him. Opinions vary, you know?"

Communication is the area McCardle noted that Hanson could improve on, and then added "but that's true with a lot of things."

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"Kevin said we need to work more as a team, and I took that to heart," Hanson said. "And I involved them more. I send them more emails now and tags and updates and what's going on. So if that's truly what the people told him, then that's the adjustment I made."

It's been two months since

McCardle told Hanson that Hanson gave the city a black eye

for his

written opinion piece

that there's a group called "the good old boys club" who are halting progress of Mitchell.

Hanson said that the council and the mayor agree on a majority of items, and there should be a balance to disagreements, so that the council is not stacked with all members voting the same on items brought before the council.

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"When he said, 'It looks like a black eye on our community,' maybe it did. At the same time, you can't just completely ignore the truth and hope for your problems to go away. It doesn't work like that," Hanson said.

On the night of the black eye comment, Hanson brought to the council

discussion of a glow rock trail, palace seating, and repealing the $10 garbage removal fee

during spring cleanup week. The glow rock trial saw resistance and the garbage fee repeal was

voted down by the council.

Hanson said he felt like the council killed both proposals on purpose.

"Anyone would feel like that in that situation," he said. "Is that what happened? I sure hope not. Now, is there anything I could do going forward?"

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"I think they gotta get used to me. I don't know that you could say that five or six months (as mayor) is a long history. I'm very open and transparent, probably more than most people in a public leadership position, and sometimes they probably hear something from someone else before they hear it from me," Hanson said.

Still, McCardle said the working relationship has "improved a lot" and that "everybody wants the same outcome" to see Mitchell thrive and grow.

"He didn't hold anything against me, and I don't hold anything against him," McCardle said.

The mayor often gives updates directly through his mayoral Facebook page rather than through press releases from city departments or from the Corn Palace director. According to Hanson, he believes it's easier to announce updates from his mayoral Facebook page than from the various city departmental social media, like the James Valley Community page or the Corn Palace page.

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"I think it should come from me," Hanson said. "People go where information is easiest to obtain. The reason I do direct posting is because I want the most people to see it, because I want the most impact."

"Some people call me a 'glory hound.' It's not that. I said communication was my No. 1 thing," Hanson said.

City ordinance calls the mayor position a chief executive officer, who then takes what resolutions and ordinances the city council passes and implements them through city departments. Though listed as a part-time job, the mayor's position is a 40 to 50 hours per week job, according to Hanson.

"Could you run a business with 175 employees and a $80 million budget, and be a part-time leader?" Hanson said. "Do you want (city staff) to wait four hours, five hours a day to ask a question to the boss?"

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Hanson is the third mayor with whom McCardle has worked.

"It's just a matter of adapting to different styles of leadership. (Hanson is) more hands on. The other mayors weren't (at City Hall) as much," McCardle said.

Hanson will give a state of the city address at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 25 at Mitchell Technical College, 1800 E. Spruce St.

"Number one, I really want people to see that our city staff and the city municipal government is working really hard, and number two, I really want to get people inspired by what we could do as a community," Hanson said.
LAHAINA, Hawaii (KHON2)  Many Lahaina residents will be able to rebuild quicker thanks to a new bill passed on March 21 at the Maui County Council.

Historic churches will also benefit, allowing many properties to be built back as they were before the fires and bypassing new zoning laws.

FEMA completes over 165 temporary homes for Lahaina fire survivors

The Maui County Council unanimously voted to allow property owners to rebuild to its original condition, even if it doesnt meet certain modern codes like zoning or land-use, which could take months to approve.

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Hawaii renewed his body and soul: Rachel Kondo speaks about her brother

West Maui Councilmember Tamara Paltin said many Lahaina residents have been waiting for this bill to pass because they had minor setback discrepancies and the Planning Department was holding their permits.

Some folks didnt even want to start consulting with their design professional until we passed this bill, Paltin said. So they would know exactly what was allowed because every time you have to change your plans that costs additional money.

She said permits will still need to comply with building and fire codes, but it will help get some residents back home quicker.

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To date, there have been 338 building permits issued, 332 residential and six non-residential, and eight residential permits completed.

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The County Recovery Permit Center has categories for residential and non-residential properties. The non-residential category includes properties with four or more dwelling units, commercial properties and all of the Puamana community in Lahaina.

The passage of Bill 105 represents a crucial step in helping our community rebuild stronger and with hope. This bill, which was initiated by the Planning Department and strongly supported by Councilmember Paltin, removed barriers for homeowners whose properties were impacted by the August 2023 wildfires, said Maui Mayor Richard Bissen. For many, it will allow them to restore their homes as they were, building back the character that made Lahaina special.

George Foreman, boxing legend and grill mogul, dead at 76

The bills passage is also a win for several historic churches in Lahaina that were burned in the fire.

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A great example of why this bill is important is Waiola Church. The church is on a piece of land thats zoned for residential use and the residential zoning districts in Maui dont allow a religious meeting place in residential zones unless the church or the temple goes to the planning commission and applies for a special use permit, explained Jonathan Helton, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii policy analyst. And that can take months.

The bill does not allow non-conforming transient vacation rentals to rebuild as it was and have to conform to new zoning standards.

The need right now is not for TVRs, it is for housing for our residents. We have hundreds of people who dont have places to live, Paltin said.

Property owners would have four years to rebuild, but certain historic district properties and shoreline areas could be given a two year extension.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2.
LAVALE  With the help of federal funding, the Western Maryland Works Makerspace over the past few years prepared students to enter the workforce, and helped local businesses thrive.

After local manufacturing plants closed, WMW trained roughly 60 displaced employees for new jobs in the area.

In a setting where art meets science, the program matches people who want lucrative jobs with companies that need skilled workers.

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Federal dollars play a key role, Rep. April McClain Delaney said. Its incredibly important.

McClain Delaney  member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Marylands 6th congressional district  toured the Makerspace Thursday.

The 33,000-square-foot center is owned and operated by Allegany College of Maryland.

The Makerspace provides advanced manufacturing and workforce development for the region with cutting-edge training for students in fields such as machine tool technology, welding and robotics.

During the tour, McClain Delaney talked to three WMW students.

They love what theyre doing, she said.

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This is the hope, McClain Delaney said of kids who, after high school graduation, want to stay in the community and secure jobs that pay well.

I wish there was more like this, she said of the WMW program, which gives students skills that often AI cant replace.

MakerspaceIn addition to training students, the Makerspace offers local residents scheduled use of tools including 3D printers and laser engravers.

The building features more than $8 million worth of equipment, said Tom McInroy, WMWs dean of continuing education and workforce development.

WMW Director Shawn Orourke said the facility has plans to expand its welding machinery for public use.

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WMW Director Shawn Orourke

Western Maryland Works Director Shawn Orourke

The Makerspace has industrial and technical tools and instructional programs for hobbyists, students and entrepreneurs, he said.

We want to work on all levels, Orourke said. Were trying to develop classes to meet (the needs of) everybody.

FundingMcClain Delaney said shes concerned about how the Trump administrations federal funding cuts could impact the facility and countless other programs and agencies, people and communities.

I am furious ... its nonsensical, McClain Delaney said. Its gonna cost us more money in the long run.

She talked of threats to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid services.

All of these things together ... its destabilizing our country, McClain Delaney said. All of these things matter.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  A Tampa Bay man accused of gruesomely murdering and dismembering a Pennsylvania woman in 2021 will go to trial after a competency hearing Friday.

Robert Kessler was charged with murder in the second degree and abuse of a dead human body.

Tampa police said he killed Stephanie Crone-Overholts and scattered her body parts in McKay Bay.

Crone-Overholts remains were discovered near the 22nd Street Causeway Bridge when fishermen spotted what appeared to be a human leg floating in the water.

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The leg was identified as Crone-Overholts by a tattoo of three hearts surrounded by ribbons with the names Sean, Greg, and Zach that was located on the lower right calf.

Kessler became the main suspect in the case after it was revealed that he met Crone-Overholts at a fast-food restaurant and invited her to stay in his home with him.

During the trial process, a judge ordered that Kessler be evaluated for competency to stand trial.

Kesslers next disposition hearing will be on May 14.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
The BBC and the independent outlet Mediazona have identified the names of 97,994 Russian soldiers who have been killed during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Since the media outlets' last update in late-February, the names of 2,000 Russian soldiers have been added to the list of casualties.

The journalists note that the actual figures are likely significantly higher, as their verified information comes from public sources such as obituaries, posts by relatives, regional media reports, and statements from local authorities. An additional 10,000 reports of Russian casualties are currently being sifted through, the journalists said.

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The confirmed death toll now includes 23,700 volunteers, 16,000 recruited prisoners, and 11,200 mobilized soldiers, according to the media outlets. Over 4,800 officers have also been confirmed to have been killed.

On Feb. 24 independent Russian media outlets Meduza and Mediazona estimated in a report that around 165,000 Russian troops have been killed since the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including nearly 100,000 in 2024.

President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Feb. 15 that Moscow had lost around 250,000 soldiers, with 20,000 killed in battles for Russia's Kursk Oblast alone.

Russia has gained ground in eastern Ukraine and Kursk Oblast in recent months but at the cost of heavy casualties as well as equipment losses.

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Moscow does not disclose its casualty figures, though a Defense Ministry official let slip in December that the department received 48,000 requests to identify missing soldiers.

In an interview with NBC published on Feb. 16, Zelensky said over 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 380,000 injured on the battlefield.

As of Feb. 17, Russia has lost a total of 900,800 troops since the full-scale invasion began, Ukraine's General Staff reported. The estimate, which is broadly in-line with estimates made by Western intelligence agencies, likely includes those killed, captured, wounded, and missing.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: Kavkazskaya oil facility still burning; Ukraine returns over 4,000 POWs from Russian captivity since 2022

























Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
In February of 2021, a fitness instructor named Khing Hnin Wai shot what might be historys most viral aerobics lesson. Filming herself in front of a major thoroughfare in Myanmars capital city, Khing went through her paces, gyrating purposefully to some up-tempo music. The real action, however, was in the background, as a convoy of armored vehicles sped in her direction. Khing had accidentally recorded the beginnings of a military coupand created the most lasting artifact of the overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyis democratically elected government.

Here in the United States this week, employees of the U.S. Institute of Peace, who rarely if ever made headlines beyond the fact that their agency is often the venue for White House Correspondents Dinner after-parties, were rousted from their place of work by armed authorities backing Elon Musks misnamed wrecking crew, the Department of Government Efficiency. Musks goons were apparently unmoved by the fact that USIP is not an executive branch agency and thus outside of DOGEs alleged purview. The episode raised important questions about whether there are appreciable limits to the private property that DOGE can enter and take over. Unfortunately, much of the media stood there, dancing, as one more instance of Trumpian misrule unfolded behind them.

To write about the plain facts of the Trump administration is, admittedly, a challenge. It can be hard to write a straight news story about an unlawful administration careening through constitutional boundaries without sounding a bit hysterical. Ive had a two-year head start on most of the political media in writing about Trumps plan to effect a wholesale demolition of the civil service and transform it into an engine of malevolence; back when I started, I thought long and hard about whether Id come off as overreacting. But now that weve reached the other side of the election, its become clear to me that one can almost never overreact when responding to Trump.

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I wish more media professionals would realize this. Unfortunately, all around us I see more of the same exercises in sanewashing that we saw in the medias disastrous run-up to the 2024 election. The aforementioned siege of the Institute of Peace is a perfect case in point. The New York Times characterized the matter as a simmering dispute between two sides that dont have equal standing where the truth is concerned. But one is an agency that says, correctly, that it is a congressionally chartered nonprofit that is not part of the executive branch, and the other is a group of unaccountable thugs whose response is, We dont care. Still, at least the Times made note of the fact that armed police were part of this standoff. One local news station left that out of their account.

But the way the media is covering the mundanity of Trumps mob rule is just as bad as the way it sands off the edges of its most dramatic confrontations. As Tom Scocca and Joe McLeod wrote Tuesday for their newsletter, Indignity, the press is stuffed to the gills with accounts that stipulate that Trump and his associates have fired scads of government workers. Just this week, it was reported by a wide variety of news organizations that Trump had fired a pair of FTC commissioners. But as the authors noted, that was not, in fact, what had happened:

Donald Trump did not fire any commissioners from the [Federal Trade Commission] today. Donald Trump declared that he had fired the commissioners. That is, functionally, he announced a desire that he should have the power to fire FTC commissioners and named the commissioners that he would fire if he were to have that powera power which he does not, within the bounds of the law and the constitution, possess.

It is hard to fit that into a headline! Scocca and McLeod acknowledged. Yet it is essential for news outlets to find a way. I wish I saw more of an effort toward that goal, and less of the brain-breaking examples of headline torture I saw in last weeks Times account of Trumps strong-arming of the GOP, titled, Trump, With More Honey Than Vinegar, Cements an Iron Grip on Republicans. Does that set a new standard for the mixed metaphor? Between vinegar, honey, cement, and iron, it certainly sets a mixed-media record.

Or consider a report of a more recent vintage from The Washington Post: Trump has a plan to remake the economy. But hes not explaining it very well. The piece reduces the trouble the president is having on the economic frontwhere for the first time hes underwater on pollsto one in which hes left the investor class with insufficient insight into his master plan. In this telling, the presidents claims of a soon-to-arrive golden age are taken at face value. If the administrations plan succeeds, the $30 trillion U.S. economy would be remade, the article claims, adding that the United States was set to become even more self-sufficient, producing more of its energy, lumber, steel and computer chips than ever before.

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Paul Krugman greeted this articles array of assertions and unfalsifiable claims with something more reality-based: I dont know about you, but I dont think Trumps problem is that hes doing a poor job of explaining his plan. I think his problem is that hes offering fake answers to fake problems, and the publicunlike, apparently, the Washington Postisnt buying it. That seems right to me. Beyond that, if anyone is actually in need of an explanation about Trumps economic plans, Id say that once you understand that everything proceeds from the fact that the president is an omnidirectionally corrupt moron whose desperate need for adulation fuels his every decision, with the added problem that he has, since his first term, become more intellectually infirm, everything starts to make sense. The constant whiplashing between implementing and retracting tariffs, the constant characterization of prosperity as a bad thing, the wild-eyed talk of how economic hardship will finally set us all freeall of this stems from the simple fact that the man at the top is a deceitful asshole with a cranial cavity full of damp parsley.

Like I said, you can sound a little strange when you straight-facedly account for the plain facts of this administration. But whats the alternative? Most of what the Trump administration does, every day, is act illegally or unconstitutionally, rampaging and pillaging the government in ways that wed discuss in much clearer terms if it were happening in some other autocracylike Myanmar, for example.

As Scocca and McLeod wrote, A constitutional crisis is also a crisis of newswriting, because it is a crisis of knowing. One of the biggest debates that seems to be raging in the media right now is whether or not we are actually allowed to tell the truth about the Trump administrationto state clearly that unconstitutional corruption is afoot in the nations capital with the same clarity and urgency we once used to talk about, say, a secretary of states private email server. Are we going to actually tell the public what is going on, or are we going to stand in front of it, dancing energetically in a fluorescent-yellow outfit?

This article first appeared in Power Mad, a weekly TNR newsletter authored by deputy editor Jason Linkins. Sign up here.
A budding media start-up producing a culinary docuseries has been stuck in limbo for months. After being approved for USAID funding, the shows co-founders discovered that the agencys money never cleared  and now the Trump administration is caught in a legal battle to dismantle USAID.

Styling itself as an heir to Anthony Bourdains legacy, The Envoy Show aims to spotlight the seven food wonders of the world while examining how food is stimulating local economies in its upcoming freshman season. The Envoy Show is set to premiere on Amazons Prime Video in summer 2025.

But the show has hit a snag before even debuting. The media start-ups first episode was approved for sponsorship with funds from the US Agency for International Development during the Biden administration, but it still hasnt seen a dime. The Envoy Show has been left to foot the entire bill, straining its start-up coffers without the promised government assistance.

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Shortly after entering his second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order freezing foreign development assistance for 90 days pending assessment, a move bolstered by the State Departments issuing a stop-work order on existing foreign assistance and new aid.

Already, the courts have challenged Trumps attempts to dismantle USAID. But he says he intends to appeal the rulings, leaving affected agencies uncertain about the future.

Wild surprise, Anne Marie Hagerty, who co-founded the show with Rachael Scott, told CNN. Now were on the hook for paying people that the government was going to pay.

To make up for the missing funds, Hagerty took out a six-figure personal loan to ensure everyone on the team is compensated on time.

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As founder, I have not paid myself a dime yet to prioritize paying my team, Hagerty said.

Sponsorship approval and USAID confusion

For its debut episode, The Envoy Show focused on a West African grain called fonio. The docuseries began holding conversations with USAID in June and was approved to discuss sponsorship logistics on August 27.

During the Biden administrations final months, USAID and trade group Prosper Africa green-lit funding for the fonio episode. Prosper Africa, USAID and the agencys Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) Activity  which helps facilitate bilateral trade between the US and Africa implemented by DAI  wanted to confirm the shows sponsorship before October to ensure the funds would come from USAIDs 2024 budget, Hagerty and Scott said.

After months of back and forth, the purchase order was issued to Alo Media, the shows parent company, in December, according to a copy of the document obtained by CNN.

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Hagerty followed up with ATI on January 20, noting that the payment had yet to arrive. She was told that ATI was investigating. That same day, Trump was inaugurated into the Oval Office and signed the executive order that froze all foreign assistance.

A worker removes the US Agency for International Development sign on their headquarters on February 7, 2025, in Washington, DC. - Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

During a January 22 meeting, Hagerty and Scott said a USAID contact apologized for the issue and said they would resolve it. Less than a week later, Marco Rubio, the newly minted secretary of state, announced a stop work order. Then, in a late February court filing, the administration signaled it had ended around 5,800 USAID awards, followed by the elimination of 5,200 out of 6,200 USAID programs in March.

A missing payment

Hagerty and Scott finally received an automated email on January 30, five days after news of Rubios stop work order had broken. The email, which CNN has reviewed, notified The Envoy Show of the order and encouraged subcontractors, grantees, vendors, and consultants to avoid incurring new costs as of January 27, 2025.

The notice came two weeks before The Envoy Show sent a team to Senegal.

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By the time it became clear the payment wasnt coming, we were already too deep into production, Scott said, stressing that they were given every confidence the money was on the way as late as January 22.

"The Envoy Show" team filming fonio prep in Senegal on February 20, 2025. - Courtesy The Envoy Show

"The Envoy Show" team filming with Senny Camara, a Senegalese musician, in a baobab forest on February 21, 2025. - Courtesy The Envoy Show

Hagerty repeatedly followed up with ATI about the funds over the following weeks. Finally, on February 21, she got a response.

Pursuant to the attached email and Executive Order and (stop work order) notification sent to you, we are not in a position to confirm this sponsorship, an ATI representative said in an email. Should the situation change, we will reach out as soon as we get more guidance.

A spokesperson for the State Department confirmed that The Envoy Show is a subcontractor with USAID partner DAI and that USAID has not made payments to the show. They did not clarify what happened to the funds or confirm whether USAID will uphold its sponsorship.

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DAI also did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Picking up the pieces

More than 50 days after Trump announced the USAID freeze, Scott and Hagerty still dont know whether they will ever receive the sponsorship funds.

Though the lack of USAID funds wont tank us, Scott emphasized that, as with any start-up, every penny counts. Scott and Hagerty declined to share how much they are owed in sponsorship funding and how much they ultimately spent on the episode.

Despite being distributed by Prime Video, the show is 100% independently owned and operated.

In early March, the Supreme Court shut down Trumps bid to freeze USAIDs billions in foreign aid. And on Tuesday, a federal judge indefinitely blocked the administrations attempts to dismantle USAID, saying its efforts likely violated the Constitution. Although Trump promised to appeal the March decision, Hagerty and Scott say the ruling has given us hope.

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On March 19, an ATI representative finally responded to Hagerty and Scott.

Unfortunately, I cannot give you an exact timeline, but we are doing what we can to close out things properly and meet obligations to partners as soon as possible, the ATI representative said.

But, for now, USAID funding for The Envoy Show  along with thousands of programs that provide relief globally  will remain in limbo.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Caregivers visit the Alaska State Capitol to meet with lawmakers to advocate for Medicaid and fair wages, in an undated photo. Commentary author Debbie Mulholland is the third from the left in the front. SEIU 775 represents long-term care workers in Alaska, Washington and Montana. (Photo provided by Amber Lee)

Being a caregiver was one of the most meaningful and fulfilling roles of my life. For 10 years, I had the privilege of helping people who depended on me for their daily needs. It wasnt just about providing meals, assisting with showers, or making sure medications were taken on time  it was about being there. For many of the people I cared for, I was their only human interaction that day, sometimes that entire week. I loved being the person who made sure they werent alone, who reassured them that someone was looking out for them.

Even though I retired two years ago, I still feel deeply connected to Alaskas caregiving community. I see the struggles that caregivers face, and more importantly, I see the devastating consequences for the people who rely on caregivers. A crisis is unfolding. Alaskas health care system is at risk because Congress is trying to make massive cuts to Medicaid.

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Medicaid is not just a budget line  it is a lifeline. So many Alaskans depend on it: pregnant women, infants, children with serious diseases, seniors, disabled adults, accident victims who never fully recovered. Many of them cannot survive without caregiver services funded by Medicaid.

Thats why I am so deeply disappointed by U.S. Rep. Nick Begichs vote that will lead to cutting Medicaid funding. It is devastating to see him align himself with an agenda that is ignoring the real suffering of the people he was elected to represent. His vote tells us that he does not care if people die without Medicaid. That children suffer. That parents are left without help. That seniors go without care.

It makes me cry to think about itbecause I know the reality of what will happen. Caregivers will lose their jobs. And more importantly, the people they care for will lose their lives.

Rep. Begich has forgotten us. He is not fighting for the people of Alaska  he is fighting against us. And if we dont stand up and make our voices heard, more of our neighbors, our friends, our family members will be left behind.

We cannot let that happen.

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HONOLULU (KHON2)  In collaboration with the Eddie Aikau Foundation, T&C Surf will host an exclusive meet-and-greet event featuring Rip Curl Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational surfers.

That sealed my fate as the winner, Landon McNamara on Eddie Aikau win

WakeUp2Days Chris Latronic went live at Pearlridge Center to learn more about the event and how attendees can meet their favorite Big Wave surfers while winning amazing prizes.

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The special gathering offers fans a rare opportunity to engage with some of the worlds most accomplished Big Wave surfers, celebrate Eddie Aikaus legacy and experience the true spirit of aloha.

Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news

Guests can receive limited-edition Eddie posters and win exclusive prizes such as priceless signed Eddie contest jerseys and a custom T&C Surf surfboard.

Confirmed athletes attending include:

Landon McNamara

Mason Ho

Billy Kemper

Aaron Gold

Chad Keaulana

Jake Maki

Mark Healey

Haa Aikau

Joey Cadiz

Mikey OShaughnessy

Tiare Lawrence

Ben Wilkinson

Eala Stewart

Emily Erickson

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Check out more news from around Hawaii

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2.
New York Citys worst judge  who lets violent perps walk free a stunning 85% of the time  was once so condescending to a sex-crime victim, the woman refused to testify in her courtroom, sources told The Post.

Queens Criminal Court Judge Wanda Wendy Licitra is the bane of our existence, a Queens District Attorney insider said. She has no concern whatsoever for victims of crimes.

Out of 34 violent felony cases overseen by Licitra between January and June 2024, she set bail only five times and held no suspects in pretrial detention  an 85% release rate, according to a Post review of the latest available Office of Court Administration data.

Queens Criminal Court Judge Wanda Wendy Licitras only concern is the defendant and, How can I get this person out of jail, one source said. Helayne Seidman

That was the highest rate of all city judges with at least 25 felony criminal cases, The Post found.

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Licitras alleged affinity for criminals was on display in a 2024 sex-crime case, two sources said.

Licitra, 65, declared a mistrial during summations on the case because she didnt think the [prosecuting] attorney was doing a good job, one source said, noting the judge spoke down to the victim during the proceedings.

When the case came up for retrial, the woman who testified before her refused to testify again, the source explained.

The Democrat jurists treatment of the victim was a serious problem, a second source added. The victim was not happy with the way the judge had spoken to her.

The case was ultimately dismissed.

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This awful thing happens  and because of the way theyre treated within the system thats supposed to be protecting them, she was not willing to testify again, the insider said. Its really sad.

Even among defense attorneys, Licitra has gained notoriety for springing violent accused criminals. Helayne Seidman

Licitra, a former Legal Aid defense attorney who now earns upwards of $196,200 as a judge, has no love for assistant district attorneys either, critics said.

Shes disrespectful to prosecutors. She loves defense attorneys, but when prosecutors open up their mouths, shes condescending and shes nasty, one of the sources said.

The second insider recalled how in a different case, a prosecutor went to court to ask to speak to Licitra and waited two hours, only to have the judge, who was appointed to the bench by then-Mayor de Blasio in 2020, refuse.

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It seemed like it was very intentional, the source said.

Court records show the judge refused to look at crystal clear video in a 2024 assault case against a repeat criminal who at that point had wracked up 26 prior arrests.

She is known in the courthouse as a very, very pro-defendant judge, one source said about Licitra. Christopher Sadowski

Hulking, 6-foot-1 suspect Courtney Jacobs was caught on camera randomly choking and beating a LaGuardia Airport pilot, who was in full uniform on a city bus on his way to work, an ADA told Licitra, according to a transcript.

The prosecutor, who had sought one year behind bars for Jacobs, pleaded with the judge to consider the overwhelming evidence  including photos of the pilots injuries, and potential testimony from the victim  before offering the suspect any deal.

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This is what members of our community  victims on buses and subway platforms  are truly terrorized by, stranger attacks unprovoked for no reason by someone bigger and stronger, the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor noted shed worked extensively with the defense to see if Jacobs had a mental illness or could get treatment  but found he was simply a sociopath.

Licitra, who earned $196,200 in 2023, has a sprawling 7,500-square-foot home on Long Island worth more than $600,000, where The Post spotted her getting into a white Nissan Rogue in the driveway last week. Helayne Seidman

Jacobs understands what he is doing is wrong. He just chooses to do it and it is problematic, the prosecutor told the judge.

Licitra was unmoved. Im a big girl. Im perfectly able [to make] my own assessment and determination, Licitra added, ultimately begrudgingly agreeing to review the tapes.

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Jacobs could have been given a two-year sentence, but instead was behind bars for just over three months before being released on Nov. 29 due to time served, according to city records.

On Feb. 5 he was arrested again and accused of randomly socking another unsuspecting victim in the face, this time inside a light rail station at JFK Airport.

In February of 2022, Licitra released 37-year-old Frank Abrokwa, who was accused of assaulting a woman on the subway by shoving poop in her face. DCPI

A different Queens judge set Jacobs bail at $10,000 cash or $50,000 bond in that case, which is pending.

Even among defense attorneys, Licitra has gained notoriety for springing violent accused criminals.

Shes letting them all out, one longtime defense lawyer previously told The Post.

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Last year, Licitra cut loose at least two perps charged with first-degree assault with a weapon and second-degree robbery resulting in physical injury, respectively, without bail  only for the pair to be rearrested for violent felonies, according to OCAs pretrial data.

Abrokwa snarled at Licitra, Fk you, bitch in her courtroom.

In February of 2022, she released 37-year-old Frank Abrokwa, who was accused of assaulting a woman on the subway by shoving poop in her face  even after Abrokwa snarled at Licitra, Fk you, bitch in her courtroom.

The State University of New York at New Paltz graduate received her law degree from Hofstra University School of Law.

She has two homes  an apartment in Forest Hills, Queens, just a few minutes from the courthouse, and a sprawling 7,500-square-foot home on Long Island worth more than $600,000, where The Post spotted her getting into a white Nissan Rogue in the driveway last week.

Licitra and the Office of Court Administration did not respond to inquiries.
A Washington Post editorial appeared earlier this week headlined Trumps efforts to intimidate the legal profession cannot stand.

Within 48 hours later, those efforts were not merely standing. They had worked  at least in one case.

The major law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (called Paul, Weiss), targeted by President Trump in an executive order, opted to mollify rather than confront the president. In short, it backed down.

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Democrats, as well as many lawyers, are grappling with the implications.

Paul, Weiss agreed to provide $40 million in pro bono work on causes backed by the administration and to hire an outside expert to audit its hiring and employment practices.

After the firm had made those concessions, and some others, Trump agreed to lift an executive order that would have taken away security clearances from the law firms staff.

On social media, critics accuse the law firm of giving in to a shakedown or extortion by Trump.

The firms chair, Brad Karp, defended the deal he struck in an email to all employees, according to The New York Times.

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Karp reportedly argued he had merely reaffirmed the firms principles. Others have noted that the $40 million pro bono commitment amounts to only about one-fifth of the pro-bono work the massive firm typically does each year.

That being said, the appearance of appearing to bend the knee to Trump with such alacrity has caused widespread alarm in legal circles.

Prominent attorney Mark Zaid told this column that a horrible message was being sent both to the legal profession and to the public at large by Paul, Weisss decision to simply capitulate in fear rather than stand up for the rule of law and the ethical principles that guide lawyers.

Zaid, who is best known for defending whistleblowers of all political persuasions, had his own security clearance revoked by Trump recently. But he remains unbowed.

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There are many of us, he said, who will not be bullied or intimidated, notwithstanding the continuing attacks on lawyers.

In addition to the Paul, Weiss firm, other law firms have been targeted by Trump.

The most prominent in the firing line was Perkins Coie, the firm that represented the presidential campaign of 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

In that capacity, it contracted another organization called Fusion GPS to do opposition research on Trump. Fusion GPS in turn sought the assistance of retired British spy Christopher Steele, who produced the now-infamous Steele dossier.

This history appears to have drawn the lasting enmity of Trump.

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But Perkins Coie  unlike Paul, Weiss  has chosen to fight. It won an interim victory when U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell earlier this month froze parts of Trumps executive order against the firm pending further hearings.

On Friday, Trumps Department of Justice tried to get Howell thrown off the case, alleging that she had shown partiality against Trump.

A third legal firm, Covington & Burling, was also the subject of a Trump targeting. It has so far navigated a lower profile, middle ground in which it is neither challenging the president so publicly as Perkins Coie, nor accommodating him like Paul, Weiss.

For all three legal firms  and for others eyeing these developments with alarm  there is a near-certainty that they would lose significant numbers of clients if they lose their security clearances. In the case of Perkins Coie, the Trump administration has signaled it will not do federal business with the firms clients  a massive pressure point that could call the firms existence into question.

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But Democrats and other Trump critics worry about a broader attempt to squelch dissent.

Part of that, to be sure, is concentrated in the legal sphere.

Trump has called for the impeachment of the judge who ruled against him when his administration used the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelan migrants last weekend. Elon Musk referred to a separate adverse ruling  this one blocking a ban on openly transgender people serving in the military  as a judicial coup.

Trumps detractors also contend he is targeting the media. They cite the banishment of The Associated Press from the White House press pool for some events over a dispute about language and Trumps suing of Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, over its editing of an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris last fall.

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Democrats also fear an effort to use fringe actions, like violent attacks on Tesla vehicles and showrooms, as a pretext to go after organizations that help the party and liberal causes. Vice President Vance has suggested that the Tesla attacks are being funded by very wealthy left-wing people while online fundraising platform ActBlue has recently been targeted by Musk.

I think its shocking. But I also think it is something that the Democratic Party has to recognize, veteran Democratic strategist Tad Devine said. We are under assault.

Devine also contended that Democrats had to unite on a message.

He contended the message should be that Trump acts not to take care of the people of this country but to take care of himself and his wealthy friends.

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Democrats, of course, have not yet united on any message.

And whether they can find one that would stop the Trump juggernaut from rolling is another question entirely.

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) launched a whistleblower portal to document President Trumps Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts to overhaul the federal government and its initiatives to dismantle agencies and departments.

The new portal, launched Friday, looks to tally information from both private and public employees regarding DOGEs work.

Whistleblowers play a vital role in helping Congress conduct its constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities, according to the portals webpage. Ranking Member Merkley is interested in information regarding waste, fraud, and abuse in the public and private sectors.

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Democrats in both chambers of Congress have sounded the alarm over the advisory boards work, overseen by tech billionaire and close Trump adviser Elon Musk.

The President is not a king, and we will make sure he is held accountable, Merkley said in a statement to Axios, which first reported on the portals launch.

The launch comes a day after Trump signed an executive order that will help with his longtime goal of terminating the Department of Education.

Merkleys colleagues in the chamber have also looked to hear from workers who in their view would expose the abuses and wrongdoing of the current administration.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) launched a whistleblower portal in early February, another step the Democrats are taking this Congress to push back against the administrations actions.

As Senate Republicans refuse to fulfill their constitutional duty to provide a check on the executive branch, Senate Democrats remain steadfast in our commitment to uncovering the truth. We are prepared to issue demand letters, preserve public records and pursue legal action where necessary, Schumer and Peters said at the time.

Schumer and Peters, the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said whistleblowers are essential to helping uncover fraud and abuse in the federal government.

If you have information you want to share about wrongdoing, abuse of power, and threats to public safety, we stand ready to support you in your pursuit of truth and justice, the pair wrote.

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The Hill has reached out to the DOGE spokesperson for comment.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)  In an inspiring visit to Bourg Elementary School, WGNO Meteorologist Carrigan Chauvin returned to her roots to speak to a third-grade science class about the fascinating world of weather.

Growing up just a short distance from Bourg, Chauvins trip was not only a chance to give back to her community but also an opportunity to spark curiosity and excitement about science among young students.

Chauvin made the journey back to her hometown to share her passion for weather and the science behind forecasting. Her visit was part of an ongoing effort to engage students in the wonders of meteorology and encourage them to explore careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

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The third graders at Bourg Elementary were excited to meet Chauvin, who spoke about her own experiences growing up in the area and how her interest in weather developed. She shared stories of watching storms and tracking weather patterns.

Throughout her visit, Chauvin took the time to explain the basic concepts of weather to the students, such as types of clouds, and how meteorologists predict the weather. She also demonstrated some of the tools she uses in her work, like radar images and weather maps, making the science behind forecasting come alive for the young learners.

The visit was especially meaningful for Chauvin, who reflected on the significance of returning to the community where she grew up. Teachers at Bourg Elementary were equally thrilled with the opportunity for their students to interact with a real-life professional in the field of science.

Chauvins visit highlighted the importance of community involvement and the power of role models in shaping the future of young students. By sharing her passion for meteorology, Chauvin not only provided valuable educational insights but also helped foster a sense of pride and possibility among the children of Bourg, Louisiana.

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For many of the students, Chauvins visit was a reminder that no matter where you come from, with hard work and dedication, you can achieve great things.

Stay up to date with the latest news, weather and sports by downloading the WGNO app on the Apple or Google Play stores and by subscribing to the WGNO newsletter.

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Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham expressed how upset she is about a mass shooting in Las Cruces, during a news conference in her office following the end of the Legislative session, Saturday, March 22, 2025 (Eddie Moore / Albuquerque Journal)

In the months leading up to the 60-day session, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham traveled the state ginning up support for her public safety agenda in the aftermath of a failed special session last year in which lawmakers shunned her proposals.

This year, House and Senate Democrats said they would prioritize both public safety and behavioral health care and passed a package in the first half of the session, which the governor signed in February while still urging lawmakers to do more.

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She reiterated that call in the final week, criticizing legislators for their lack of meaningful lawmaking as it relates to juvenile crime, following the arrests of teenagers in the hit-and-run murder of an Albuquerque cyclist last year.

And on the Legislatures final day, she excoriated what she characterized as appalling and unacceptable inaction in the aftermath of a March 21 mass shooting in Las Cruces and said a special session is in the offing:

The public should demand that the New Mexico Legislature  and all public officials in our state  acknowledge New Mexicos crime crisis and prompt them to act immediately to protect our communities. The Legislature should expect a special session to address our ongoing public safety crisis, she said in a statement.

During a news conference following the Legislatures adjournment, notably without any lawmakers present, Lujan Grisham said New Mexico does not have sufficient tools to prevent incidents like Friday nights shooting.

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Our work is just beginning, she said. We will do more.

Without naming them, Lujan Grisham criticized Senate Judiciary Chair Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), House Judiciary Chair Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos) and Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee Chair Linda Lopez (D-Albuquerque) for what she called a pretty purposeful effort to not debate the bills she wanted.

I think New Mexicans need to weigh in about whether or not we think thats appropriate, given that theyre elected, and this is the session to debate every single one of these measures, she said. When youre at the ballot box, if your legislator, irrespective of their party, is failing to address these issues significantly, not doing enough in crime and public safety, if theyre refusing to commit to you that they will fix this, then I think you should make a different decision.

She then said a bill to make New Mexicos primary elections open to independent voters is a step in the right direction.

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The governor said that bills dealing with emergency response and rescue are important, but not part of this crisis that is unfolding in our communities every single day that need to be addressed in this way.

That is shameful, she said. There was not a single productive debate on reducing juvenile crime  not one.

Lujan Grisham said the Senate failed to pass a weakened, watered down juvenile crime bill, Senate Bill 255, and that she cant understand the reluctance after her tour across the state at more than a dozen town halls focused on public safety.

When Lujan Grisham signed three pieces of legislation to address crime at the sessions midway point, she said she believed then there was universal agreement to do more with the time left.

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Well, the end result of this legislative session would belie that commitment, she said.

The governor did not commit to a time frame for a special session, but said one was likely.

I am certainly there, in this moment; Id like to have a cooler head prevail, she said. I think the likelihood is far stronger than not.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham joined by Lt. Governor Howie Morales upbraided the New Mexico Legislature during her post-session press conference Saturday, March 22, 2025. Lujan Grisham said she would call a special session, saying that lawmakers failed to pass bills related to juvenile crime during the 60-day legislative session. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)

She also said she shared the sentiment expressed by Republican leadership in a letter they delivered on March 22 describing the 60-day session as unproductive and disappointing, and requesting she set a date for a special session immediately to adopt bipartisan solutions to solve our violent crime problem and the inability of New Mexicans to receive health care due to the lack of medical professionals.

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The letter cites a decline in primary physicians in the state between 2017 and 2021, along with declines in other medical fields and the high rate of medical malpractice lawsuits. Numerous bills aimed at both issues failed to make it through the session.

We stand ready to work with our Democrat colleagues and your office in adopting effective answers to both our violent crime and health care crises, the letter says.  However, we are convinced a special session is a necessity in bringing all perspectives and ideas to the table.

A phalanx of Republican leaders in both chambers reiterated that call in a post-session briefing, saying Democrats denied hearings for a huge number of Republican-sponsored bills related to crime and the states doctor shortage.

They dont even give us a hearing on many of these bills, said Rep. Alan Martinez (R-Bernalillo), the House Minority Whip. And were hoping that  real, everyday New Mexicans will realize that we do have those common-sense solutions and they deserve a hearing. Were not afraid to debate them. We just would like the chance to debate.

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Democratic leadership from both the House and Senate gathered on the House floor to preempt criticism from the governor and expressed their condolences to the families in the Las Cruces shooting, emphasizing that bills sent to the governor make New Mexico communities safer and more affordable, and are working to address the wellbeing of children in the state.

Majority Floor Leader Sen. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) said lawmakers hit the ground running at the beginning of the session, when they passed the public safety package and House Bill 8, the bills the governor signed last month.

We had laid the foundation in the interim to do that work, and I was super proud of this team in both chambers, the members, to bring those bills across the line in that first 30 days, Wirth said during the news conference.

He added that the mass shooting in Las Cruces Friday night put everything into perspective and our session into perspective.

Speaker of the House Javier Martinez (D-Albuquerque) said its Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams prerogative to call a special session but added I would hope theres a lot of prework ahead of time. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM)

Speaker of the House Javier Martinez (D-Albuquerque) pointed to bills passed to strengthen the states red flag law; to crack down on glock switches and organized crime; and take better care of young New Mexicans through more oversight of the Children, Youth and Families Department (a bill the governor also lambasted this week).

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When asked about the two juvenile crime bills that failed to pass this session, Martinez said he believed the fixes to CYFD will still make an impact on the intergenerational cycle of crime that children fall into.

The question is, do you want to lock away these kids and throw them away, as if theyre just disposable? he asked. This Legislature, I think, has shown up and ensured that that doesnt happen.

Martinez added that he thinks it is premature to call a special session to address juvenile crime, particularly when it is rushed and the prework during the interim is not done. The special session last summer showed that, he said. To rush special sessions is not a good idea. Its a waste of taxpayer dollars and, quite frankly, its a waste of peoples time.

Wirth, similarly, contended special sessions only work when both chambers agree to move forward in addressing the issue that spurs the governors call for the Legislature to convene, a point the governor acknowledged in her remarks.

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I think as people have to deal with this situation in Las Cruces, I believe we wont have the same opposition to a special session, Lujan Grisham said.

A consortium of community organizations also levied criticisms against the Legislatures approach to public safety, and said lawmakers had failed to pass numerous bills that would have provided support to residents through programs such as addiction treatment, behavioral health and housing stability.

We appreciate the efforts made by lawmakers to pass meaningful legislation this session, such as housing application fees (SB 267), New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness Executive Director Monet Silva said in a statement. However, we cannot ignore the fact that many critical bills were left on the table, leaving our communities vulnerable and underserved.

The groups also cited proposed legislation that would have prohibited landlords from discriminating against qualified renters based on their source of income; allowed the Department of Health to license overdose prevention centers; and expanded access to home- and community-based services to individuals with psychiatric conditions.

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These omissions are particularly concerning given the ongoing struggles our state faces with substance abuse, behavioral healthcare, foster care, housing stability and homelessness, and generational poverty, Equality New Mexico Executive Director Marshall Martinez said in a statement.We urge lawmakers to prioritize data-driven solutions, especially for addiction treatment and mental health crises in future sessions and work towards a more holistic approach to public safety that addresses root causes and promotes community well-being.

Governor says Legislature wasted time

The chart shows how nearly 1,200 pieces of legislation, excluding House and Senate memorials, flowed through the Legislature over the last 60 days, based on the Legislatures bill tracker and comments from legislative leadership.

Lujan Grisham, in her post-session news conference, criticized the Legislature for inaction on public safety bills and suggested lawmakers spent too much time on memorials, which are formal, but non-binding, statements from each chamber.

It seems to me they could have passed more bills, she said.

In contrast to the governors chastizing, Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) summed up her view of the Senates productivity during a celebratory speech as the session wrapped up at noon Friday.

She rattled off the number of bills that the Legislature sent to the governor and thanked her colleagues across the aisle, joking that she and Minority Leader Bill Sharer had a love-hate relationship.

Wish we could have passed a few more (bills) today, she said, but I think we did a pretty good job, actually.

Read about the fate of more than 1,300 pieces of legislation introduced this session with the help of Sources bill tracker.

Good Government

Following the end of the session, Common Cause New Mexico highlighted several bills the organization described as wins for good government, including:

HB 143, which requires increased lobbyist disclosure

HJR 2, a constitutional amendment voters will consider in 2026 to eliminate the governors pocket veto and require an explanation of each vote

SB 5, modernizing the states wildlife management through reform of the states Game and Fish department and commission

SB 16, which opens up the states primary elections to independent voters

The group, however, also bemoaned the lack of passage for SB 85 and SJR 1, a campaign reform law and a constitutional amendment to create a legislative salaries commission.

Right now, the most important thing we can do is invest in our states democracy to ensure that it stays healthy and accessible to everyone for years to come, Common Cause Policy Director Mason Graham said in a statement. That means modernizing our state legislature, closing loopholes that allow monied interests to have an outsized influence in our elections, and ensuring that all New Mexicans have equal and equitable access to the ballot.

Environment

While a bill that would have enshrined New Mexicos climate goals into law did not pass, the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter issued a statement congratulating lawmakers for numerous bills that address climate change, along with wildlife, water and health, including the Community Benefit Fund, the Innovation in State Government Fund and the NMFA Local Solar Access Fund.

We are grateful for the legislative investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in climate solutions driven by community and workforce development initiatives, Sierra Club rio Grande Chapter Director Camilla Feibelman said in a statement. The innovative programs that this money funds will help the state avoid the worst impacts of global warming. But the impacts of the climate crisis were ever present this session as legislators worked to address water scarcity, wildfires, property damage and insurance impacts, and how to absorb these costs. Meanwhile the oil and gas industry spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to stop commonsense safeguards against the very emissions harming our state all while fighting modest taxation on their multibillion dollar profits that would support working families.

President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) during a news conference following the end of the session, pointed to the Legislatures work on climate change issues as a highlight of the last 60 days, as well as changes to public education like increasing teacher salaries, increasing funding for early childhood education and amending the public school funding formula to include English language learners.

She added that the Legislature passed two bills, creating the community benefit fund and the innovation in state government fund, which are aimed at helping communities respond and adapt to climate change impacts.

Just think Roswell, getting a whole years worth of rain in three hours, flooding out everything. Think of the north and the fires. Our problem now with even gettingfire insurance on homes and all that rebuilding, Stewart said. The community benefit fund will send funds to communities all over the state to deal with having cleaner air, cleaner water and to work with overburdened communities.

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House concurred

The House voted to concur with Senate amendments made to House Bill 71, which would increase early childhood and care program fund distributions to $500 million for Fiscal Year 2026; House BIll 157, which would create new licenses for public school administrators and superintendents with enhanced requirements, as well as add rules for school administrator preparation programs to the Public School Code; House Bill 178, which would make several amendments to the Nursing Practice Act to clarify the scope of licensed nurses and expand the power of the Board of Nursing, along with other changes; House Bill 156, which would increase each minimum teacher salary tier by $5,000; House Bill 63, which would make changes to the public school funding formula, including by replacing the at-risk index formula factor with a family income index; House Bill 78, which would prevent insurance companies and pharmacy benefits managers from discriminating against health care providers that receive discounted drugs; House Bill 117, which would allow physician assistance to sign death certificates; House Bill 458, which would establish the Geologic Carbon Dioxide Long-Term Stewardship Act and fund to establish rules for enforcing geologic carbon sequestration; House Bill 493, which would allow the Department of Finance to create funding criteria for potential grantees; House Bill 19, which would allow the state to enter public-private partnerships to help trade ports projects; House Bill 519, which would transfer operations for the African American Performing Arts Center from the New Mexico State Fair to its own board; House Bill 252, which would establish a three-year kinship caregiver support program pilot through the Aging and Long-Term Services Department; and House Bill 199, which would allow the Taxation and Revenue Department to share tax data with the Legislative Finance Committee for program evaluations.

House passes

The House voted to pass House Memorial 52, which directs the Economic Development Department create a work group to evaluate short-term rental policies involving taxation, zoning and permitting regulations and regulatory framework; House Memorial 59, which requests an interim legislative committee study the benefits of an economic relationship between New Mexico and Ireland and recommend possible initiatives for the 2026 session; House Memorial 61, which acknowledges the benefits of autobiographical storytelling as a trauma-informed strategy and asks the Children, Youth and Families Department to work with speech language-pathologists and behavioral health providers to provide services to families and caseworkers; Senate Bill 315, which would establish the tortilla as New Mexicos state bread; Senate Bill 122, which would amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Code to expand the prescription drug donation program; House Memorial 8, which recognized an educator award; House Memorial 10, which recognizes Valencia County; House Memorial 28 which declared March 17 Irish-American Day; House Memorial 30 declares March 5 Soil and Water Conservation District day and House Memorial 46 recognizes May as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.

The House also voted to override Lujan Grishams veto of House Bill 65, which codifies the court decision that public school districts have authority to establish their own school year calendars to meet required instructional hours.

The Senate did not join the House in the veto override. Senate leadership told reporters it was a timing issue.

Senate passed

The Senate passed the following House bills, so these are all on their way to the governors desk:

House Bill 519, which strikes some requirements for the African American Performing Arts Center

House Bill 113, which creates an animal welfare trust fund

House Bill 19, which allocates $50 million for the facilitation of public-private partnerships on development of trade ports along the Interstate 40 corridor

HB 158, which creates a new, nonreverting fund for infrastructure projects in impact areas of military bases.

HB 252, which creates a pilot program providing caregivers with income and other supports

HB 199, which allows the state taxation and revenue department to share certain tax return data with the Legislative Finance Committee for program evaluation

HB 553, which empowers the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department to create certification program for the grading of structural timbers used in construction

HB 431, which changes the way boards of directors for watershed districts are selected from election to appointment by area soil and water conservation districts
Measles, a highly contagious respiratory virus can often produce a spotty red rash. Measles symptoms can take one to three weeks to develop, but people can spread the virus even before symptoms develop. (iStock / Getty Images Plus)

New Mexico on Friday reported four new measles cases in Lea county  bringing the total statewide to 42 infections, all in the states southeast corner.

The small rise in cases doesnt indicate the end of the outbreak, NMDOH Communications Director Robert Nott told Source NM.

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We dont want people to think the threat of measles is declining or over, he said. Were still in spring break for some school districts and people are traveling.

Current measles cases include eight young children aged 0 to 4-years old; 10 school aged children and 23 infections in adults.

On Tuesday, The New Mexico Department of Health warned that a Texas traveler earlier this month exposed people in Guadalupe and Valencia counties to measles over the course of two days at a church, restaurant, gas station and hotel.

Health officials said they have no additional information since issuing the advisory.

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Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus and symptoms may take one to three weeks to develop.

People can spread the disease before they experience symptoms such as a fever, spotty red rash, cough, runny nose or red eyes. About one in every five infections is serious enough to warrant hospitalization, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Serious complications from measles include brain swelling, blindness, pneumonia and death.

One dose of the vaccine offers 93% protection against the measles, while two doses offers 97% protection, according to the CDC.

Texas health officials on Friday announced 30 more cases, bringing the total there to 309 cases, mostly concentrated in Gaines County, Texas, which has one of the lowest kindergarten vaccine rates in Texas. Most measles infections struck unvaccinated children.

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The outbreak led to the first recorded measles deaths in a decade: a Texas six-year old girl, and an unidentified adult in Lea County, which remains under investigation.

Check vaccine records at Vax View website or call the Department of Healths immunization program at 1-833-882-6454, available weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

NMDOH directs any questions about measles tests, symptoms or vaccines to the Helpline at 1-833-796-8773. The helpline is staffed by nurses who can answer questions in English or Spanish.

Heres an updated list of vaccine clinics hosted by the New Mexico Department of Health:

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Four suspects, including two 17-year-old boys and a 15-year-old boy, have been arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder stemming from a mass shooting that left three teenagers dead and 15 other people injured at an unsanctioned car show at a park in Las Cruces, New Mexico, police said Sunday.

The deceased are a 19-year-old man, an 18-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy, police said. The injured victims range in age from 16 to 36, the Las Cruces Police Department said in a statement to ABC News.

The shooting unfolded around 10 p.m. local time on Friday in Young Park, the Las Cruces Police Department said.

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"Officers arrived and learned of multiple gunshot victims. Most were transported to local hospitals. Some were taken to University Medical Center of El Paso," police said.

Police announced early Sunday on social media that they had arrested Tomas Rivas, 20, and a 17-year-old boy in connection with the shooting. On Sunday afternoon, police announced the arrest of the third and fourth suspects, another 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy.

Rivas and the three juveniles, whose names were not released, were all charged with three open counts of murder, police said. Additional charges against the suspects are pending, according to police.

PHOTO: Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story speaks at a press conference on March 22, 2025. (Las Cruces Police Department)

The victims killed in the shooting were identified by police as Andrew Madrid, 16; Jason Gomez, 18, and Dominick Estrada, 19. Madrid and Gomez, according to police, died on the scene. Estrada was taken to MountainView Regional Medical Center in Las Cruces, where he was pronounced dead, according to police.

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During a news conference Saturday, Las Cruces officials said an unsanctioned car show was being held at the park before the shooting, and there was an altercation between two groups of people that led to an exchange of gunfire.

Nine men and six women were hit in the crossfire and suffered gunshot wounds, police said. Seven of the victims were taken to hospitals in El Paso, while the remainder were treated at hospitals in Las Cruces, police said. Their names were not being withheld to protect their privacy, according to police.

MORE: Michigan hospital employee shoots co-worker outside building in 'targeted attack': Police

Shaquane Heckstall, 27, a team captain of an El Paso-based car club, told ABC News that he was at the park for the car show when the shooting broke out. He said his training from his 8-year career as an active duty solider in the Army kicked in when he heard the gunshots.

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I heard the pops going off, and Im thinking it's someone's car, like their exhaust backfiring," Heckstall said. "But then once it didnt stop and then people started running, I was like: Thats not what thats supposed to be."

PHOTO: In this photo released by the Las Cruces Police Department, law enforcement officials are on the scene at a shooting in Young Park in Las Cruces, New Mexico, March 21, 2025. (Las Cruces Police Department)

He said he rushed to help victims, grabbing whatever he could use as makeshift tourniquets or to apply pressure to wounds: shoelaces, two T-shirts and a pair of sweatpants.

"Once the gunfire stopped Im looking around, I see the bodies on the ground," Heckstall said.

Heckstall said he rendered aid to a teenager who was crying to him to "go help my dad."

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At this point, I'm just trying to make sure he stays awake and keep him talking to make sure that he's still good, you know?" Heckstall said of the wounded teen victim. "I take one of the T-shirts to try and bandage some of the wounds, and then he stops me. He's like, bro, go help my dad."

The Las Cruces Police Department said it is receiving assistance on the investigation from the FBI, the New Mexico State Police, Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

ABC News' Erica Morris, Melissa Adan and Tristan Maglunog contributed to this report.

4 suspects arrested in mass shooting that erupted in New Mexico park originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
To the editor: I read with some disbelief that a major city mayor would attempt to silence a movie showing, even threaten their lease, to satisfy a political agenda ("In turnaround, Miami Beach mayor backs down from threatening theater over No Other Land," March 19). I went to see the film "No Other Land" partly because I wanted to see what someone was so afraid the public would be exposed to.

To be clear, I am neither pro-Israel nor pro-Palestinian. I am pro-American taxpayer. As a major financial supporter of the state of Israel, it appalls me that our tax dollars are spent to help violate U.N. sanctions (against taking over Palestinian lands) and dismantle any semblance of a life for the native people in the West Bank.

Please do not misunderstand my position. Hamas is a terrorist organization, as far as I am concerned, but just as killing civilians on 9/11 was misguided, so is this assault of humanity. I do not have the answers to the two-state solution. But surely America should not turn a blind eye to this.

Jeff Belated, Chatsworth

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
First Steps Kent photo

A budget is a moral document; it shows us what we value. The budget gives the state the ability to invest in our greatest resource  our people  and to ensure that everyone has the right to basic services and can access them with dignity. It allows us to provide food, health care and free public education for millions of Michiganders. It also allows us to put roofs over families heads, expand access to child care and create vibrant communities.

We like to think that everyone holds the same values as us, but we know that with 110 representatives, 38 senators, a governor, and countless other interested parties, how we reach our values may differ. And prioritizing funding in ways that provide for Michiganders essentials requires thoughtful negotiation, collaboration and compromise. We accept that.

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But what we cannot accept is when these budgets are used as a gimmick or bargaining chip. Unfortunately, policymakers in Lansing have done just that.

Recently, with little notice and no public discussion, the House of Representatives passed a necessary book-closing spending bill. A book-closing spending bill, which is a budget bill passed to align spending authorizations from the prior budget year with what was actually expended, is a routine process regularly done following the close of the budget year on Sept. 30. It is typically a non-controversial move. However, policymakers tied it to a partial 2025-2026 budget proposal that largely provided basic per-pupil funding and support for public safety, revenue sharing for communities, and state debt payments only. Policymakers argued this budget would fund the essentials and prevent a possible government shutdown in light of what could be a fairly contentious budget negotiation process.We clearly have different definitions of essentials. The budget left out those items that people deem vital  health care, access to healthy foods and school meals, dollars to appropriately educate children who grow up in poverty, public health, senior services, and more.

This was not a serious plan. Closing the books on a year that ended nearly six months ago should not be predicated on passing an insufficient budget for a year that starts in six months. The word shutdown should not be part of our vocabulary at this time.

Instead, we should be focused on negotiating real investments in the real essentials  those things Michigan residents rely on day after day.

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With policymakers in Washington proposing deep cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to pay for tax breaks for wealthy people and corporations, the League remains focused on what we can do to protect Michiganders from the expected harm. Medicaid helps 2.6 million Michiganders, including over 1 million children, get annual checkups, see the doctor when they are sick or hurt, and afford prescriptions. SNAP helps 1.4 million Michiganders afford groceries and put meals on their tables. And our partnership with the United States Department of Education, also currently under attack, helps us provide free and appropriate education for 1.4 million students, with specific supports for students with disabilities and those experiencing poverty.

While we may not be able to offset the impacts of all of these cuts, we can mitigate the harm through Michigans state budget. We can help eligible Michigan families enroll in and stay connected to Medicaid through continuous coverage policies, especially for young children, reducing churn and uncompensated care in hospital emergency rooms. Maintaining support for maternal and child health programs ensures that pregnant people receive the prenatal care they need and in the way they want to receive it, helping families start strong and stay healthy. Providing healthy school meals for all students ensures that kids at least have access to breakfast and lunch every weekday during the school year, and maintaining investments in Double Up Food Bucks and our food banks can help ensure families in need can afford healthy fruits and vegetables and other staples.

We can also go further  investing in affordable housing, providing relief for families facing evictions, allocating sufficient dollars so that all of our schools and child care facilities have safe, clean drinking water, closing gaps to accessing skilled trades or postsecondary degrees, and more.

When people wake up, their first thoughts are about getting their child up, fed and out the door to school. They are about scheduling doctors appointments and calling in prescription refills. Theyre about making sure their mortgage or rent and utilities are paid on time. And like the decisions made around our own kitchen tables, decisions made in Lansing can have a significant impact on our ability to access the essentials.

Our state budget is not a gimmick, and we refuse to play games.

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The Michigan Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Heres a look at March 21, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Daily 3 numbers from March 21 drawing

Midday: 7-7-5

Evening: 3-3-7

Check Daily 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Daily 4 numbers from March 21 drawing

Midday: 1-6-5-9

Evening: 0-3-7-5

Check Daily 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lucky For Life numbers from March 21 drawing

07-25-28-40-45, Lucky Ball: 07

Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Poker Lotto numbers from March 21 drawing

QS-8C-2H-9H-10S

Check Poker Lotto payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Fantasy 5 numbers from March 21 drawing

02-07-11-12-31

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02-07-20-21-23

Check Fantasy 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Daily Keno numbers from March 21 drawing

05-07-11-15-20-22-23-24-33-36-37-38-50-54-62-63-64-65-70-72-75-79

Check Daily Keno payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Heres how to claim your lottery prize

All Michigan Lottery retailers can redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes up to $99,999.99, winners have the option to submit their claim by mail or in person at one of Michigan Lotterys Regional Offices.

To claim by mail, complete a ticket receipt form, sign your winning ticket, and send it along with original copies of your government-issued photo ID and Social Security card to the address below. Ensure the names on your ID and Social Security card match exactly. Claims should be mailed to:

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Michigan Lottery

Attn: Claim Center

101 E. Hillsdale

P.O. Box 30023

Lansing, MI 48909

For prizes over $100,000, winners must claim their prize in person at the Michigan Lottery Headquarters in Lansing located at 101 E. Hillsdale in downtown Lansing. Each winner must present original versions of a valid government-issued photo ID (typically a drivers license or state ID) and a Social Security card, ensuring that the names on both documents match exactly. To schedule an appointment, please call the Lottery Player Relations office at 844-887-6836, option 2.

If you prefer to claim in person at one of the Michigan Lottery Regional Offices for prizes under $100,000, appointments are required. Until further notice, please call 1-844-917-6325 to schedule an appointment. Regional office locations are as follows:

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Lansing: 101 E. Hillsdale St. Lansing; Phone: 844-917-6325

Livonia: 33231 Plymouth Road, Livonia; Phone: 844-917-6325

Sterling Heights: 34700 Dequindre Road, Sterling Heights; Phone: 844-917-6325

Detroit: Cadillac Place, 3060 W. Grand Blvd., Suite L-600, Detroit; Phone: 844-917-6325

Grand Rapids: 3391-B Plainfield Ave. NE, Grand Rapids; Phone: 844-917-6325

Saginaw: Jerome T. Hart State Office Building, 411 E. Genesee Ave., Saginaw; Phone: 844-917-6325

For additional information, downloadable forms, and instructions, visit the Michigan Lottery's prize claim page.

When are Michigan Lottery drawings held?

Daily 3 & Daily 4: Midday at 12:59 p.m., Evening at 7:29 p.m.

Fantasy 5: 7:29 p.m. daily

Poker Lotto: 7:29 p.m. daily

Lotto 47: 7:29 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday

Lucky for Life: 10:38 p.m. daily

Daily Keno: 7:29 p.m. daily

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Michigan editor. You can send feedback using this form.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Lottery Daily 3, Daily 4 results for March 21, 2025
During Sunshine Week open government advocates focus on closing gaps in transparency. In Michigan, that means hearing the familiar refrain to expand the state's public records law, but that's not the only way the public is left in the dark.

Here's a round-up:

Michigan's public records law

Michigan's public records law stands out as a national outlier for exempting the governor and state lawmakers from its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Other public bodies in Michigan must comply with FOIA, from local law enforcement agencies to big state departments. Journalists and other government watchdogs routinely use FOIA requests to obtain records to investigate potential wrongdoing. For years, transparency advocates have called on Michigan lawmakers to take action to expand FOIA.

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The Michigan Senate passed legislation in January to expand FOIA to the governor and state Legislature. House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, called it a "watered down" FOIA bill during a Jan. 30 press conference. "So we're not going to pass that bill," he said. Instead, Hall has pushed for his own transparency plan which proposes several measures such as barring politicians from working as lobbyists immediately after leaving office. But Hall's plan does not propose expanding Michigan's FOIA law.

Michigan Supreme Court elections

Michigan voters elect the justices for the Michigan Supreme Court. The Michigan Constitution requires justices to be chosen in a nonpartisan election. Before Michigan Supreme Court candidates land on the general election ballot, political parties nominate their picks at a convention. Michigan's political parties also nominate candidates for other offices at political conventions, including Secretary of State, Attorney General and university boards.

But candidates to serve on the Michigan Supreme Court are the only ones chosen by loyal partisans whose names appear in the nonpartisan section of the ballot. That can leave voters unfamiliar with the convention selections without information about the party affiliation of Michigan Supreme Court candidates.

Michigan's system for electing justices is unique. In some states, judges seeking election to higher courts run with party labels during their first bid but then seek additional terms in a yes/no retention election while some states have nonpartisan primary and general elections, according to William Raftery, Senior Analyst at the National Center for State Courts. Ohio recently shifted its process to require candidates to serve on the Ohio Supreme Court selected in a partisan primary to also appear on the general election ballot with their party label.

Judges fight against increased transparency measures

The Michigan Supreme Court received considerable pushback to a proposal that would require local judges to disclose additional financial assets. While judges are required to release some financial information in annual reports, the details are sparse, coming far short of comparable disclosures from federal lawmakers or other elected officials.

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The proposed change as introduced to Michigan's Code of Judicial Conduct garnered opposition from several large groups, including the Michigan Judges Association and Michigan District Judges Association. Most of the criticism centered on privacy and safety, suggesting a requirement to disclose properties could imperil judges.

National advocacy organization Fix the Court applauded the offered changes, saying thousands of federal officials and judges in more than two dozen states are already subject to comparable disclosure requirements.

Almost every speaker opposed multiple components of the changes during a Wednesday hearing before the high court on the proposal. The court took no action, but could move to change the proposal again.

Michigan's attorney discipline process

Finding out which Michigan attorneys face allegations of misconduct and possible disciplinary action requires a bit of a lift. The Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission investigates potential wrongdoing in a confidential process meant to protect lawyers from frivolous accusations. But once the commission authorizes the Grievance Administrator to file a formal complaint against a lawyer with the Attorney Discipline Board, the complaint and the rest of the disciplinary process becomes public.

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Anyone can email or call the Attorney Discipline Board for the complaint and other public pleadings in the case, said the board's Deputy Director John Burgess in an email. Case documents aren't available on the board's website except for orders and notices of discipline and opinions. Asked how someone would know to reach out to the board to seek a complaint filed against an attorney that emerges from a confidential process, Burgess responded, "At this time, that is a question with no particularly great answer." He recommended reaching out to the Attorney Grievance Commission with a standing request to receive a notice of any complaint filed against a specific attorney, saying if the board provides notice of a complaint filed without first receiving a request it "could create the appearance of bias."

Hearings in disciplinary proceedings are public, but there is no public calendar. Burgess said notices of any hearings can be requested.

Michigan Politics: Michigan House approves Republican road funding package

University board meetings

At their best, Michigans 15 public universities are centers of enlightenment, though not necessarily transparency.

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They have fought and won in courts to shield from public view some of their actions.

When the Free Press sued the University of Michigan, arguing all its board meetings should be public, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the school.

"The Constitution permits defendant to hold informal meetings in private; defendant is only required to hold its formal meetings in public," the 2016 ruling said, noting that the schools have broad discretion to decide formal versus informal.

The Michigan Supreme Court let the decision stand by declining to hear an appeal on it.

"It's almost a joke," said Free Press legal counsel Herschel Fink, who litigated the case. "You could have a pro-forma meeting and basically take care of all the business in secret."

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The surest way to open the process would be to ask Michigan voters to approve a constitutional amendment requiring the meetings be public, Fink said.

Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Reach Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com and on X @Dave_Boucher1. Contact John Wisely: jwisely@freepress.com. On X: @jwisely

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan transparency challenges from FOIA and beyond
MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- Midland Crime Stoppers is seeking the publics assistance in locating Irvin Omar Ceniceros, 23, who is wanted for Disclosure or Promotion of Intimate Visual Material. Authorities are offering a $250 cash reward for information that leads to his arrest.

Ceniceros does not have an identification card on record, and law enforcement officials are relying on a photo obtained from Facebook in their efforts to locate him. Crime Stoppers urges anyone who may recognize Ceniceros or has information regarding his whereabouts to come forward immediately.

To remain anonymous while submitting a tip, citizens can utilize one of the following methods:

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Call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 694-TIPS

Submit a tip through the P3 TIPS mobile app

Provide information online at www.694tips.com

Crime Stoppers emphasizes that for a tip to be reward-eligible, it must be submitted through the official hotline, mobile app, or website. Tips provided through other avenues, such as calling law enforcement directly, will not qualify for a reward. The cash reward is available to the first tipster whose information leads to an arrest.

If you have any information on Irvin Omar Ceniceros location, do not hesitate to reach out. Your anonymous tip could make a difference in helping local authorities bring him into custody.

For more information on Crime Stoppers and how you can assist in solving local crimes, visit www.694tips.com.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Yourbasin.
By James Mackenzie

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel will keep striking Hamas targets in Gaza to ensure the return of hostages, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, as European countries called for a ceasefire and access for aid supplies.

Ophir Falk, Netanyahu's foreign policy adviser, said military pressure pushed Hamas to accept the first truce in November 2023, in which some 80 hostages were returned. He said this was also the surest way to force release of the remaining 59 hostages.

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"The only reason they went back to the negotiating table was military pressure, and that's what we're doing right now," he told reporters.

After weeks of relative calm in Gaza, following a ceasefire deal reached in January, attempts to agree an extension of the halt in fighting stalled and Israel resumed its air strikes and deployed ground troops in areas across the strip.

Falk declined to give details of negotiations to restore the ceasefire. But he said Israel had accepted proposals from U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff for an extended truce until after Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday next month.

"I can't get into the details of the negotiations. What I can say is that we're going to achieve all our war objectives."

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Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the terms of the January ceasefire agreement by refusing to begin negotiations for a final end to the war and a withdrawal of its troops from Gaza but has said it is still willing to negotiate and was studying Witkoff's "bridging" proposals.

Palestinian health authorities say hundreds have been killed in the strikes, with at least 130 killed and 263 wounded in the last 48 hours.

The return to the air strikes and ground operations that have devastated Gaza has drawn calls for a ceasefire from Arab and European countries. Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement calling on Israel to restore access for humanitarian aid.

Israel has blocked the entry of goods into Gaza and Falk accused Hamas of taking aid for its own use, a charge Hamas has previously denied.

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"We stopped the supply going in because Hamas was stealing it for its own use," he said.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after a devastating Hamas attack on Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 that killed some 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally, and saw 251 abducted as hostages.

The Israeli campaign has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and devastated much of the coastal enclave leaving hundreds of thousands of people in tents and makeshift shelters.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by David Gregorio)
A 10-year-old boy who was critically missing has been located and is safe, according to the Milwaukee Police Department.

The boy left his residence  in the area of the 5800 block of N. 64th Street  on foot around 10 a.m. Friday and had not returned, Milwaukee police said in a news release sent out just before 3 a.m. Saturday.

In an email around noon Saturday, MPD said that the boy had been located and is safe.

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"Critically missing" is a label police apply to people who may be especially vulnerable due to a variety of factors.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Critically missing boy, 10, located and safe, Milwaukee police say
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY)  When sailors from Norfolk deploy on a ship, its usually across the Atlantic over to Europe, the Mediterranean or even the Red Sea.

New operations are opening up a little closer to home, and Admiral Daryl Caudle explains why the Norfolk-based USS Gravely is heading not east, but south, and why a destroyer of the perfect class is the ship to execute the mission.

Each month here on WAVY-TV 10, Admiral Daryl Caudle, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command will address a different topic important to our military community. This month, he talked about the USS Gravely and how they are answering the call to the southern border.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
Update, 3:48 p.m.:

CLEARFIELD, Utah (ABC4)  Tristen Sargent, 14, has been found safe, according to Clearfield Police.

Thank you for sharing the previous post and for the tips the department received, police stated on social media.

No further information is available at this time.

Original Story:

CLEARFIELD, Utah (ABC4)  Police are currently asking for the publics help in locating a missing Clearfield boy.

The missing juvenile is identified as Tristen Sargent, 14. He is described as White, 61, 158 lbs, with blonde hair and green eyes.

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He was reportedly last seen wearing gray gym shorts and a gray T-shirt. His last known location was Clearfield, Utah, on Tuesday, March 18. Sargent is considered a runaway juvenile.

Tristen Sargent, 14. (Courtesy of Clearfield Police)

Tristen ran away from a group home located in Clearfield, Utah, after a fight with another juvenile. He left the group home with no belongings, wearing only the clothes described above, a statement from Clearfield Police reads. If you have seen Tristen since March 18, 2025, or know where he is, please contact the Clearfield Police Department at 801-525-2800. Case #25-04230.

No further information is available at this time.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  The owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in Olive Branch, Mississippi, is challenging the states ban on advertisements for such businesses, and hes asking the Supreme Court to hear his case.

Clarence Cocroft, owner of Tru Source Medical Cannabis, LLC, filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court on Friday.

The Mississippi State Department of Health issued regulations that banned medical marijuana dispensaries from advertising and marketing in any media, including radio, television, newspapers, and highway signs.

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First black-owned medical dispensary opens in North MS

Cocroft filed a complaint against the states ban in November 2023. The complaint alleged that the ban violated the First Amendment and caused Cocrofts business to sustain significant harm.

A year later, in November 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld Mississippis ban.

Cocroft is now asking the Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuits opinion.

By doing so, the Fifth Circuits silence on the other factors sanctioned a generally impermissible government aimrestricting commercial speech for the purpose of manipulating consumers beliefs and behaviors, the petition states.

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Cocroft had reportedly planned to use four billboards he owns to advertise his business, which is the first Black-owned medical dispensary in North Mississippi. But, the states ban prevents him from doing so.

Because of these regulations, I cannot use my own billboards to advertise my own business or inform potential customers about Mississippis medical marijuana program, Cocroft said in a statement. Advertising is particularly important for my business because it is tucked away in an industrial park without any real foot or vehicle traffic.

Mississippi cannot simultaneously create an entire legal marketplace for an industry and then turn around and use an unenforced federal law to prevent those businesses from advertising their state-legal products, Ari Bargill, an attorney with the Institute for Justice said. If a business is legal, then the business owner has a First Amendment right to speak truthfully about his or her business.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
Mar. 21EDITOR'S NOTE  This story includes graphic details and may not be suitable for all readers.

MITCHELL  A Mitchell man has been indicted by a grand jury on 12 counts of rape, incest and child pornography.

Eric Opperman, 47, will be arraigned Tuesday in Davison County felony court after being charged March 14. He is being held at the Davison County Jail on a $50,000 bond but has been granted work release.

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According to his Facebook page, Opperman is the shop manager at Jake's Repair in Mitchell at 401 E. Havens Ave. Work release allows him to leave jail six days per week, Monday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Later Friday, after the Mitchell Republic reported on this case, Davison County Sheriff Steve Harr confirmed Opperman was terminated from his position at Jake's Repair and was brought to the jail.

According to court documents, Opperman was arrested on March 10 by Mitchell police on five counts of first-degree rape, five counts of aggravated incest, and two counts of manufacturing child pornography. The alleged acts occurred "from on or about Jan. 16, 2017 to Jan. 16, 2025."

Court documents state that a 13-year-old juvenile male reported to Mitchell police that he had been raped five times by his biological father with the most recent act occurring "two or three weeks ago."

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He said the first time he was raped was when he was 8 years old.

Police then interviewed Opperman and asked for consent to forensically examine his phone, which Opperman stated was broken.

"The statement was later found to be untrue, and I was able to locate Eric Opperman's phone," a Mitchell policeman wrote in an affidavit.

Court documents say Opperman gave consent for the officer to examine the phone and provided the passcode for it.

"While reviewing the contents of the phone we found two recently deleted videos that were determined to be videos of Eric Opperman engaging in sodomy ... " court documents say.

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First-degree rape is a Class C felony, punishable upon conviction by up to life in prison and a $50,000 fine; aggravated incest is a Class 3 felony, punishable upon conviction by up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine; and manufacturing child pornography is a Class 2 felony, punishable upon conviction by up to 25 years in prison and a $50,000 fine

Jake Crum, owner of Jake's Automotive Repair, on Friday issued the following statement to the Mitchell Republic.

"This has come as an absolute shock to me," said Crum, who noted he has known Opperman for about 20 years. "He was taken from the shop by the sheriff on the afternoon/evening of March 10. Everything happened so suddenly that we were unable to find someone to replace him, so he asked for work release. I allowed it because I did not know the extent of the allegations; otherwise, I would have never let him continue working here.

"I want to apologize to the community for allowing him to remain employed here after the initial arrest. I hope in the future this does not affect our clientele and future customers. We look forward to continuing to serve our community."
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  On Friday, hundreds of people said goodbye and paid their respects to a beloved commander from the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD).

MNPD Cmdr. Anthony McClain died earlier this month after suffering a medical crisis while on duty. He was 53 years old.

The service on Friday, March 21 was an emotional farewell to a man who dedicated his life to serving others in the city he called home.

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Ive heard it said by community leaders that Anthony McClain was the best commander the North Precinct had ever had, MNPD Chief John Drake said.

PREVIOUS: MNPD North Precinct Cmdr. Anthony McClain dies at 53

McClain was a 27-year veteran of the MNPD, climbing the ranks alongside Drake until becoming commander of the North Nashville precinct, which covers 22% of Davidson County, in 2021.

During a time of transformation, and when North Nashville needed leadership and a pillar and a rock, he was there, Drake said.

McClain not only impacted the lives of Nashvillians, but also the lives of his colleagues and friends.

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He inspired me so much, said Lt. Samuel Digby with the Dallas Police Department.

Digby, who is also a former MNPD officer, said he owes his career to McClain.

| READ MORE | Latest headlines from Nashville and Davidson County

Words cant describe because this badge that Im wearing right here, Anthony drove from Nashville to Dallas and he pinned it on me, Digby said.

McClain was a mentor, friend, father, husband, Air Force veteran, and guardian.

There are many people right now in this community, on this police department, that stand on his shoulders. Hes done some amazing things, amazing things in law enforcement, and even prior to him going in law enforcement, he lived a life of service, Digby said.

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McClains service of committal and interment took place at the Middle Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery in Pegram.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
By Alexander Tanas

CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldovan authorities have issued an international wanted notice for a missing pro-Russian member of parliament, who disappeared the day he was handed a 12-year jail sentence on corruption charges.

A second pro-Russian lawmaker, due to be sentenced next week, has also disappeared, officials said.

Both are associates of Ilan Shor, a fugitive business magnate also jailed for his part in a mass fraud scheme who now heads a political party from exile in Moscow. Moldova's pro-European government accuses him of trying to destabilise the ex-Soviet state.

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The warrant for lawmaker Alexandr Nesterovschi was issued late on Friday and Interior Minister Daniela Misail-Nichitin said attempts to locate him had failed. Authorities in neighbouring Ukraine and Romania had found no trace of him.

"The warrant for Mr Nesterovschi was issued in record time," Misail-Nichitin told TVR Moldova television.

"Various operations are proceeding, though I cannot speak of them. Absolutely all hypotheses are being analysed. The police are examining every single version to find Nesterovschi."

She said police had considered whether Nesterovschi, who was granted Russian citizenship as his sentence was being announced, was hiding in the Russian embassy, but that had proved to be untrue.

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Nesterovschi was accused of accepting money from a criminal group to finance the activities of Shor's "Victory" bloc. Lawmaker Irina Lozovan, awaiting sentencing on similar charges, has also disappeared.

Shor was sentenced to 15 years in prison two years ago in connection with the disappearance of $1 billion from the banking system in Moldova's "theft of the century" in 2014-15. He fled initially to Israel then to Moscow, now has Russian citizenship and has evaded all attempts to extradite him.

Moldovan courts have banned political parties linked to Shor, who has organised noisy anti-government protests in the capital.

Moldova's pro-European president, Maia Sandu, has spearheaded a drive for Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, to secure European Union membership by 2030. She denounces Russia's invasion of Ukraine and accuses the Kremlin of trying to unseat her.

(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Alistair Bell)
Ukrainian forces are using drones to release molten thermite on Russian armor and positions.

The tactic helps Kyiv make sure that damaged Russian tanks can't be fixed up for battle again.

BI visited one of the companies that produces this ammunition in Kyiv.

KYIV, Ukraine  The war in Ukraine has given birth to unimaginable drones, including ones that breathe fire.

In battlefield footage recently reviewed by Business Insider, a small Ukrainian drone slowly approaches a Russian tank, stalking its prey as it closes in.

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The drone lands on the Russian armor and releases a plume of smoke, followed by a sudden and wild display of sparks, triggering a fire. Before long, the tank is completely engulfed in flames.

This fiery attack showcased a destructive tactic that Ukrainian forces are using to finish off incapacitated Russian tanks: They are strapping incendiary munitions on drones.

Volodymyr, who asked that BI use only his first name for security reasons, is a partner at a Ukrainian company that makes the ammunition. "It is used to set fire to already damaged vehicles so that the enemy cannot restore them," he told BI through a translator in Kyiv.

The company, known as "Burning Watermelon," makes a munition that disperses an incendiary material he identified as molten thermite. It is essentially a collection of small metal pieces that burn at temperatures of over 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Russia has lost over 11,000 tanks and armored vehicles since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Britain's defense ministry said late last year.

An abandoned Russian T-62 tank after it was captured by the Ukrainian military. DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images

Numerous Russian tanks have been destroyed in battle, devastated by anti-tank missiles, artillery, mines, and drones and loitering munitions. But others have suffered only mobility kills that have left them incapacitated. In those instances, troops may abandon the vehicle and attempt to get it back later for repair.

For Ukraine, it's important that Russia's damaged tanks and armored vehicles stay down so they can't be repaired and sent back into battle. That's where the molten thermite comes into play.

Burning Watermelon produces small, sleek-looking munitions that can be attached to a drone like a regular explosive payload. The drone can then either disperse the thermite onto a vehicle below or fly directly onto it, land, and spray the material kind of like a smoke grenade would do, causing a fire that may render a tank permanently inoperable.

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Volodymyr said the thermite ammunition "produces a high temperature and stable ignition of the entire ammunition evenly," allowing it to destroy dugouts and vehicles alike.

Burning Watermelon started out producing smoke bombs for Ukraine's military to use for training purposes and to evacuate the wounded safely. The company later started making ammunition that burned like a flare, which could set concealed Russian positions on fire.

Ukrainian thermite dropping drones continue to rapidly proliferate through various drone units.



Seen here, a Ukrainian drone from the 60th Mechanized Brigade drops a stream of molten thermite on a Russian-held treeline. pic.twitter.com/o20diLuN1L  OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) September 4, 2024

Volodymyr said Russia is mainly focused on protecting its equipment against shrapnel, which they do with combustible materials like rubber. However, the trade-off is that this makes the equipment more vulnerable to the thermite.

"It helps against shrapnel, but it all burns very well," he said of Russian protections.

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The thermite ammunition weighs between 500 grams and 2.5 kilograms (1.1 to 5.5 pounds) and costs from 20 to 30 euros ($21 to 33 USD), depending on the variant. Burning Watermelon can produce 20,000 units a month at its facilities across the country and then ship them off to soldiers on the front lines.

"For a small price," Volodymyr explained, "a soldier gets a high-quality tool for work if he needs to destroy something."

Burning Watermelon's fire-breathing munitions can also be used on other targets, not just armored vehicles. BI reviewed footage of a drone spewing incendiary material onto a tree line below, presumably targeting Russian positions or equipment hidden among the trees.

Nighttime footage of a Ukrainian dragon drone covering a Russian-held treeline with molten thermite, setting multiple Russian positions ablaze. pic.twitter.com/sd47vTF0jJ  OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) September 24, 2024

When the drones release the thermite, it looks like a bright, burning yellow rain, earning it the name "Golden Rain," according to Volodymyr. He said Ukrainian soldiers call this type of ammunition "Dracarys," a reference to the command that makes a dragon breathe fire in the hit television series "Game of Thrones."

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Videos of this tactic began to surface in the fall; a Ukrainian drone would light up a tree line, wrecking it with small patches of fire.

Thermite-dispensing drones are one of the many innovative weapons that Ukraine's defense industry is cranking out to defeat the Russians. Small, uncrewed aircraft of all shapes and sizes with a wide range of mission sets have become a defining and prolific aspect of the three-year-long war.

Some drones release munitions onto Russian positions below, while others fly directly into armored vehicles before detonating. Kyiv has even built drones that can launch other drones, operating as a sort of mothership.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), a supporter of President Trump, met Saturday with Chinas economic chief, Vice Premier He Lifeng in Beijing. This was the first visit by a U.S. politician to China since Trumps return to the White House amid tensions between the two countries over trade tariffs.

Senator Daines welcomed todays meeting with Vice Premier He Lifeng. The Senator expressed President Trumps continued demand that China interdict the flow of fentanyl precursors out of the country and expressed the hope that the United States and China can hold further high-level dialogue in the near future, said a statement the lawmaker shared on the social platform X.

The Montana Republican landed in the Chinese capital on Thursday following discussions with key leaders in Vietnam, as indicated by his social media updates and those from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

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Before the trip, his office announced that he was collaborating closely with the White House and promoting President Trumps America First agenda.

Daines, who has experience as an executive in China, acted as a liaison during Trumps initial term when tariffs were a significant concern.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said China welcomed Daines and believed that the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations is in the common interest of the two peoples and in line with the general expectations of the international community.

Tensions between the U.S. and China have escalated following the U.S. implementation of a 20 percent tariff on Chinese products, which led China to respond with a 15 percent tariff on American agricultural goods last week.

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The U.S. criticizes China for not taking sufficient action to curb the export of precursor materials for fentanyl, a powerful opioid linked to tens of thousands of deaths in the country.

The Associated Press contributed.

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An aerial view of part of Southeast Alaska's Kensington gold mine. (Photo by James Brooks)

In August, roughly 100 fish turned up dead in a creek below the large Kensington gold mine north of Juneau.

Seven months later, state regulators and Coeur Mining, the multinational company that owns and operates the mine, still havent determined what killed them.

Samples taken from mine wastewater and Sherman Creek, where the dead fish were found, showed no obvious signs of pollution. Thats according to a technical memo that Coeur submitted to state regulators in November, which Northern Journal obtained through a public records request.

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Based on the findings of the investigation, the event remains inconclusive, wrote Pete Strow, an environmental manager at Coeur in Juneau. His comments came in a note added to the companys analysis, which was conducted for Coeur by WSP, a global environmental consulting group.

The lingering uncertainty reveals just how hard it can be to determine the cause of sudden fish die-offs, and it typifies the importance of frequent water sampling near mines, said Chris Sergeant, a watershed ecologist at the University of Washington who studies impacts from mining.

Its possible that pollution killed the fish and then quickly flushed through the creek before it could be detected, said Sergeant, who reviewed the memo submitted to regulators by Coeur. A state official previously suggested that the die-off stemmed from a mine-related water quality problem.

It is very easy to miss measurements during acute toxic events, Sergeant said in an email.

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Coeur acknowledged a potential link to an explosive used at the mine the day before the fish were found, according to their consultants report  though Strow also raised the possibility of naturally occurring toxicity events.

Neither regulators nor Coeur have provided a detailed theory about how the fish died.

In the months following the discovery, state regulators asked Coeur for extensive data and an explanation for the incident. They now say their focus has shifted to working with the company to prevent future incidents.

Everybody whos involved in this is always interested in trying to find out: How did this happen? What was it that we didnt anticipate? So we can anticipate it better, said Gene McCabe, the director of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservations water division, which oversees the states wastewater discharge permitting. But we dont want to spin our wheels too long.

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He added, Sometimes, youre just never going to have data that says, Yes, thats what it was.

One of the dead fish, a Dolly Varden, discovered by state biologists near a Juneau area gold mine in August. The biologists noted hemorrhaging near the head. (Alaska Department of Fish and Game photo)

State biologists found the dead Dolly Varden char, slimy sculpin and one pink salmon in Sherman Creek during a routine inspection Aug. 9. The biologists observed hemorrhaging on multiple dead Dolly Varden and no obvious body decomposition or cloudiness in the eyes, suggesting recent death, according to their September report.

They found the dead fish downstream of the mines wastewater treatment plant, including at the spot where the mine discharges treated water into the creek and at other locations more than a mile downstream, near where the creek flows into the ocean. Upstream of the treatment plant, the biologists saw live Dolly Varden.

A state pathologist later wrote that the circumstances  dead fish below the treatment plant but not above  strongly suggest water quality or toxic issues stemming from Coeurs operation. He ruled out infection as a cause of death.

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The scientists hired by Coeur said that ongoing monitoring of the creek supports the states conclusion that the die-off was tied to a rapid event which passed quickly.

But, the scientists added, Coeurs field monitoring, surface water analysis, and other observations did not detect any suboptimal or acutely toxic water quality before, during, or following the day the dead fish were discovered.

The state biologists reported finding the fish during a survey that started at 10:00 a.m. on Aug. 9. Coeur took several water samples that day, according to lab reports included in the companys memo to regulators.

Mine staff sampled mine wastewater at 9:00 a.m. and at a few spots in the creek between 2:15 p.m. and 4:20 p.m, the documents showed.

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Strow, with Coeur, said the analysis suggests the die-off may not be associated with discharge from the treatment plant. A company spokeswoman, Rochelle Lindley, declined to elaborate or answer questions about the incident.

Kensington mines wastewater discharge into Sherman Creek. (Alaska Department of Fish and Game photo)

Coeur Alaska is committed to continuous improvement, and our team continues to work with state regulatory agencies on best practices for our operation, she said in a statement. At this time, we dont have any publicly available updates beyond what has already been provided.

The investigation into the die-off scrutinized an explosive called RocKracker, according to documents reviewed by Northern Journal.

The product is acutely toxic to some marine organisms and generally shouldnt be placed in bodies of water, according to its safety information.

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Mine workers used the explosive the day before the dead fish were discovered, according to the consultants hired by Coeur. They said the company described the potential for wastewater containing the explosive to reach the treatment plant discharging into Sherman Creek.

A federal official, in a report to a local tribe obtained by Northern Journal, described the use of an unapproved explosive at Kensington on Aug. 8. Coeur, in documents submitted to the state, acknowledged having used RocKracker on a one-time basis.

Potentially toxic compounds from the product werent detected in the water samples taken from the creek the day the dead fish were found, according to Coeurs report.

Allan Nakanishi, a state engineer and regulator who works with McCabe, said his office would forward information about the die-off, including Coeurs use of RocKracker, to state compliance officers to determine if further action is needed.

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Regulators say Coeur was compliant with the sampling requirements of its federal Clean Water Act permit. The permit calls for weekly tests for pollutants in the treated wastewater that the company releases directly into Sherman Creek.

Sampling data submitted with Coeurs memo to the state.

In general, Coeurs sampling program is adequate to detect pollution, said McCabe, the regulator.

But he wouldnt rule out the possibility that pollution had occurred, undetected, between sampling times.

What can always happen is something completely unexpected. The unpredictable, unaccounted-for event is always a factor, McCabe said. To build a program to operate every day of its life expecting the unexpected creates an unmanageable amount of data.

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In December, McCabes division asked for additional information from Coeur. Among the requests: an alternative explanation if the die-off was not conclusively related to the mine, a description of pollutants that could have killed the fish, and a diagram showing how those pollutants could have ended up in the creek.

Regulators also asked the company to suggest improvements to its wastewater treatment plant and monitoring program to ensure that its capable of detecting potential releases in the future. And they asked Coeur to discuss limitations of the data they collected.

Strow, in his letter, said the analysis did not consider all potential environmental factors, such as naturally occurring toxicity events, and he added that some of the compounds tested during the investigation are not routine, and therefore we do not have baseline results for all parameters.

Lindley, from Coeur, would not elaborate on what naturally occurring events might have killed the fish.

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The company has already taken a number of steps in response to the incident, according to a preliminary document shared with DEC in February. Those include stopping the use of RocKracker, fine-tuning their water sampling, and creating a new position to oversee blasting operations at Kensington.

McCabe said Coeur has worked very well with regulators.

Northern Journal contributor Max Graham can be reached at max@northernjournal.com. Hes interested in any and all mining related stories, as well as introductory meetings with people in and around the industry.

This article was originally published in Northern Journal, a newsletter from Nathaniel Herz. Subscribe at this link.

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Speakers line up in the center aisles of the Kentucky Theatre in Lexington to address comments to U.S. Rep. Andy Barr at a People's Town Hall, March 22, 2025. Barr, who is mulling a run for U.S. Senate, had declined to participate. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke)

LEXINGTON  More than 900 people gathered Saturday morning for what was billed as a Peoples Town Hall at the Kentucky Theatre. Many waited in line to address an empty chair on stage next to a sign that said Reserved for Congressman Andy Barr.

Multiple speakers, including Brady Blanton of Richmond, alluded to Republican Barrs earlier suggestions that attendees were liberal activists or paid to be there.

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Im not a paid protester; Im a blue collar worker, Blanton said. I am a child of Social Security survivors benefits and Medicaid after my father passed away 15 years ago and they kept my family afloat.

Former Lexington Vice Mayor Steve Kay moderates the town hall. An empty chair stands in for U.S. Rep. Andy Barr who declined to participate, saying he did not want to provide a forum for individuals more interested in grandstanding than engaging in a respectful and constructive conversation. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke)

Blanton, 26, told the Lantern he works for a plastics manufacturer in Winchester. He said he still depends on Medicaid to provide his 2-year-old daughters health insurance and that he worries that cuts to Veterans Affairs will hurt his grandfather, a veteran of the Vietnam War.

Blanton noted that the U.S. Houses budget blueprint would increase defense spending by $100 billion while cutting $880 billion from health and human services such as Medicaid, which covers 196,729 people in the 6th Congressional District or 26% of Barrs constituents. Almost 1 in 3 Kentuckians are enrolled in Medicaid.

The Department of Veterans Affairs would lose 80,000 jobs under a planned reorganization by the Trump administration, according to an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press. VA provides health care and other services to veterans.

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Older speakers talked about their fathers military service, including fighting fascism in World War II, and their distress at what they see as Republican President Donald Trumps embrace of authoritarianism while giving longtime allies the cold shoulder.

Describing himself as a lifelong Republican, Edwin Gibson said his father had served in the Navy during the Korean War and that he himself had been stationed in the Army in Germany during the Cold War. Congressman Barr, you are complicit in the betrayal of our democracy, Gibson said.

Barr, of Lexington, who is mulling a run for U.S. Senate next year to succeed retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell, took to X (formerly Twitter) Saturday morning to set the record straight in response to what he called the handful of people who falsely claim they cannot reach anyone in my office or that I refuse to hold town hall meetings.

Barr in his X post said that he and his staff are in daily contact with his constituents and that they host monthly office hours in every county of the district. He said he is hosting a telephone town hall Monday night.

Speakers wait in line for a turn at the microphone. Statements were limited to three minutes. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke)

What we will not do is provide a forum for individuals more interested in grandstanding than engaging in a respectful and constructive conversation, Barr said.

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Organizers with the nonpartisan group Gathering for Democracy said that after not getting a commitment from Barr in response to their invitations, they decided to schedule the town hall to give people distressed by what is happening in our government an opportunity to come together and talk about their concerns.

The intent is to invite dialogue, said Judith Humble, one of the events organizers. She said volunteers handed out 800 cards for attendees to fill out before running out of cards.

Speakers were filmed and the video will be sent to Barr; attendees could write a question and tell their story to the congressman on the cards, which also will be sent to Barr. Former Lexington Vice Mayor Steve Kay moderated.

Concerns voiced during the gathering ranged widely from cuts to the U.S. Forest Service cited by a speaker who identified himself as an archaeologist to worries that the elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development will cancel expansion of the University of Kentuckys partnernship with the underserved community of Santo Domingo, Ecuador.

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Students, faculty, staff and community members participate in UKs Shoulder to Shoulder Global, described on the programs website as transformative, short-term experiences in global health. Plans to start a physical rehabilitation center as part of the program are on hold because a federal grant has been frozen, said physical therapist Lynn English.

Barr also took to X after the gathering saying: Nice to see Soros + the left lighting money on fire. No amount of manufactured outrage by paid activists will stop the mandate for total overhaul of DC and reiterating his support for Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has advised Republicans to avoid town halls after some GOP representatives have faced hostile crowds.

The Kentucky Democratic Party and former U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth of Louisville plan to hold a town hall in Lexington Wednesday at the Lyric Theatre & Cultural Arts Center from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

An earlier version of this story contained an error about Edwin Gibsons fathers military service. He served in the Navy during the Korean War.

People attending the Peoples Town Hall in Lexington were told to leave their signs outside the Kentucky Theatre, March 22, 2022. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke)

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Mar. 21MOSCOW  Residents voted this week to repeal an ordinance prohibiting solar farms, paving the way for one such development proposed at a former military radar site in a remote part of Somerset County.

The vote tally at Monday's annual town meeting, by secret ballot, was 35-10 in favor of throwing out the ordinance, according to the results Moscow Town Clerk Kelly Hunnewell provided Thursday.

At a November 2023 special town meeting, Moscow residents, by a vote of 16-4, had enacted an ordinance that prohibited new solar developments that produce more than 40 kilowatts and banned all commercial solar development.

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Two developers  Cianbro Corp., headquartered in Pittsfield, and Patriot Renewables, headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts  hoping to build a solar farm sought to change that, which prompted Monday's vote. They have claimed their planning began for the project, dubbed Radar Solar, before the ordinance restricting such projects was passed.

The developers have plans for a 60-megawatt solar farm in Moscow and Caratunk at a former U.S. Air Force over-the-horizon backscatter radar base once used to detect potential incoming aircraft and missile threats.

They are partners in Western Maine Land Holdings, which owns the land, according to Parker Hadlock, who is leading the project for Cianbro. The site was purchased in 2011, he said.

The area is already home to a wind turbine development, dubbed Western Maine Renewable Energy. The construction of the turbines is complete, and the project is now in the commissioning phase, Hadlock said in February.

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The proposed solar panel arrays would have a footprint of about 105 acres in Caratunk and 97 acres in Moscow, a map on the project's website shows. The energy produced would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the current New England grid system by approximately 57,000 tons per year.

The two companies had been pitching the project to area residents in recent months, holding an information session in Moscow in December and sending mailers to residents. The developers also launched a website, radarsolar.com, earlier this year. The website contains information, maps and answers to frequently asked questions.

The developers say they believe the radar site is ideal for a solar farm of this size. It is already cleared and flat, accessible by gravel roads and adjacent to electricity grid infrastructure.

"The solar farm will be nearly hidden from public view and will not impede traditional uses, such as timber harvesting, snowmobiling, ATV riding, and general access to the region," according to the project website.

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As part of their pitch, developers say the project, as currently designed, would generate a minimum net tax revenue of $150,000 per year in Moscow and $180,000 per year in Caratunk, starting in 2028. More revenue could be captured with tax increment financing, the developers say.

Project representatives did not return an email Thursday inquiring about Moscow voters' decision to repeal the ban.

Caratunk, where the project partially lies, has an energy systems ordinance that covers wind, solar and electrical transmission projects.

The current radar site proposal would be allowed under that ordinance, although it is subject to a Planning Board review process and approval, Caratunk First Selectman Elizabeth Caruso said last month.

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The developers will need a permit from Moscow, too.

John Oliveira, a Moscow Planning Board member who was in favor of keeping the solar farm ban, said he was disappointed in the outcome of Monday's vote.

"There are a lot of people that aren't happy with the outcome," said Oliveira, who was not able to attend Monday's town meeting due to his work schedule. "It is what it is. We lost."

Oliveira is also a member of the Bingham Fire Department, which serves Moscow, and said he believes that department does not have the training or equipment necessary for any fire at the former radar site. He said he hopes the developers agree to fund that, as well as provide their own emergency medical services during construction at the remote site instead of tying up local first responders.

"Now, we need to take steps to protect ourselves as much as possible before ... the Select Board or the Planning Board approve any permits," Oliveira said.

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For three days this week, an 11-year-old boy and his mother explored the Happiest Place on Earth.

Saritha Ramaraju and her son took advantage of a multiday pass to the Disneyland Resort complete with a hotel stay that allowed for maximum park time.

The custody visit also afforded the boy an opportunity to bond with his mother, who had moved out of state after a divorce in 2018.

The excursion ended in tragedy Wednesday morning when the boy was found dead inside a Santa Ana hotel room. His throat had been slit, and he was in the middle of a bed surrounded by Disneyland souvenirs.

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Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer announced Friday that his office was charging Ramaraju, 48, with one felony count of murder and one felony enhancement of personal use of a weapon, in this case a kitchen knife.

If found guilty of all charges, she could face 26 years to life in prison.

Ramaraju did not enter a plea during an arraignment Friday. She is being held without bail in Santa Ana and due in court April 17.

The safest place for a child should be in their parents arms, Spitzer said in a news release. Instead of wrapping her arms around her son in love, she slit his throat and in the cruelest twist of fate removed him from the very world she brought him into.

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The boy, who was not identified, was to reunite with his father that morning.

Read more: Mother arrested in fatal stabbing of 11-year-old son in Santa Ana

Authorities believe he was killed inside the La Quinta Inn room several hours before Ramaraju called Santa Ana police at 9:12 a.m. She told authorities she had slayed her son and took pills, trying to die by suicide.

The boy was pronounced dead at the scene while Ramaraju was treated at a hospital. She was released Thursday and arrested.

Authorities said they found a large kitchen knife they believe was used in the attack. The cooking instrument had been purchased the day before, according to the district attorneys office.

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The life of a child should not hang in the balance between two parents whose anger for each other outweighs their love for their child, Spitzer said. Anger can make you forget who you love and what you are responsible for doing."

Read more: Son charged in connection with killing of his parents in Azusa home

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  Memphis Police are reaching out to the public after an overnight shooting ended a mans life.

At 2:48 a.m., officers responded to a shooting victim at Regional One. They learned that the male victim was driven from the scene of the shooting by a private vehicle to the hospital.

Upon his arrival, he was pronounced dead.

Police say that at this time, it is unknown where the shooting occurred.

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Anyone who has information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 901-528-CASH.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Mar. 21MORGANTOWN  In the five-year span between 2019 and 2023, more than 10 % of all vehicle crashes in the metropolitan area occurred on the roughly 3.5 mile stretch of WV 705 between Monongahela Boulevard and the Mileground roundabout.

That's 962 of 9, 409 total wrecks.

In that same stretch of time, the intersection at the top of that segment  Monongahela Boulevard and Patteson Drive  saw 141 accidents ; the most of any intersection.

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Second on that list ?

The intersection of Monongahela Boulevard and Boyers Avenue, with 110.

This is a very small sampling of the data compiled by the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization in preparation for an update to the MPO's Metropolitan Transportation Plan. It's expected that update will be presented to the MPO Policy Board at its January 2026 meeting.

"We will use the report to identify new hot spots and verify hotspots that have already been identified, " MPO Executive Director Bill Austin said.

The stated purpose of the report is to comprehensively document regional crash trends, crash locations and crash types.

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Overall, the number of crashes occurring locally is trending steadily downward.

If you identify 2020 as an outlier due to COVID lockdowns, the number of total crashes across the five-year study is: 2, 293 (2019); 1, 499 (2020); 2, 079 (2021); 1, 836 (2022); 1, 698 (2023).

The number of injury crashes in the study period dropped from 500 to 395 and the number of vehicle versus pedestrian /bicyclist crashes fell from 25 in 2019 to 10 in 2023.

The numbers are based on police reports compiled by the West Virginia Division of Highways.

Austin said the MPO credits a few factors when considering the decline in vehicle accidents.

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"Traffic volumes have not completely returned to pre-pandemic numbers due to such factors as increased telecommuting. There have been improvements to vehicle technology such as vehicles with automatic braking to avoid incidents. WVDOH and the area's cities and towns have made operational improvements to area intersections and streets that have improved safety. Examples include WVDOH's Beechurst Avenue improvement project and the city of Morgantown's improvements to University Avenue in the vicinity of the WVU Law School, " Austin explained.

The top five travel corridors by number of crashes 2019-2023 are:

 WV 705 (Monongahela Boulevard to Mileground Road) 962  Mileground Rd./Cheat Rd. (WV 705 to I-68 Exit 7) 427  WV 7 Earl Core Rd. (Mineral Avenue to Brookhaven Road) 313  University Ave. (Patteson Drive to Willey Street) 312  Fairmont Rd./Holland Ave. (Westover Bridge to Mall Road) 301 The top five intersections by number of crashes (2019-2023) are:

 Monongahela Boulevard and Patteson Drive  141  Monongahela Boulevard and Boyers Avenue  110  WV 705 (Patteson Drive) and Stewartstown Road  99  WV 705 (Patteson Drive) and University Avenue  80  WV 705 (Chestnut Ridge Road) and Willowdale Road  80 The top five areas of special concern (minor streets with high crash frequencies 2019-2023) are:

 University Towne Centre Dr. (Emmett Drive to I-79 Exit 153)  194  Van Voorhis Rd. (West Run Road to Burroughs Street)  102  The intersection of Hampton Avenue /Darst Street /Richwood Avenue  72  West Run Rd. (St. Clair Hill Road to Stewartstown Road)  60  Canyon Rd. (Canyon School Road to Canyon Village)  32
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  The Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) is investigating a shooting Friday night involving officers with the Kansas City Police Department.

The shooting was reported around 5 p.m. near E. 11th Street and Prospect Avenue.

Investigators say the suspect of a stolen vehicle ran from a traffic stop.

KCPDs helicopter had just finished a call in the area and was able to locate the stolen car. Police went to the neighborhood near 11th and Prospect, where they used spike strips to stop the car, according to MSHP.

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The suspect ran on foot and police shot the suspect, who MSHP said is a man in his 50s.

MSHP is investigating and said while it is unusual, theres no predicting when these shootings will happen.

I know its unnerving not only for the community but for the law enforcement community as well, Cpt. Justin Ewing with MSHP said. We never know when these events are going to happen or unfold, so hopefully we dont continue to see this trend, hopefully we dont continue to see violence in our community thats something that none of us want to see.

Police did find a handgun when they took the suspect into custody but no shots were fired at the officers.

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The suspect was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

This is the second shooting in just a few days involving officers with KCPD. On Tuesday evening, a suspect was shot after allegedly hitting a police patrol vehicle near 16th and Jefferson. That suspect is now facing charges and was last reported to have serious injuries. MSHP also investigated that shooting.

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The hosts of one of MSNBC s The Weekend erupted in peals of laughter after President Donald Trump claimed that Elon Musk wouldnt even want to attend a briefing about the United Statess potential plans for war with China .

I was buying your B.S. up until the last part, former Republican National Committee chair-turned-network mainstay Michael Steele said on Friday as co-host Symone Sanders-Townsend roared with laughter.

You know damn well that if Elon has access to sensitive Chinese information ... yeah, hes sitting for that meeting, the former RNC chair added.

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His comments came in response to a clip of President Trump addressing a The New York Times report that Musk would attend a Pentagon meeting in which the planswhich are hypotheticalwould be discussed.

I might add that I think Elon, if they ever wanted to do that, I think Elon wouldnt do it, Trump said in the clip. I think he wouldnt do it. He wouldnt want to put himself in that position.

Musk has described the report as maliciously false information and called to prosecute those who leaked the information.

Earlier in the program, Democrat Rep. Gregory Meeks pointed out that Teslas largest manufacturing plant is in China, which would have given [Musk] an advantage against his competitors if he were briefed on the plans and constitute an inherent conflict of interest in that regard.

He also said that allowing a non-elected individual to have access to Pentagon records posed a serious national security interest and that Musk should be banned from the Department of Defense headquarters.
Several environmental protection groups are suing the Trump administration after its executive order to increase offshore oil drilling off of Alaska.

What's happening?

Up until recently, millions of acres of open ocean were protected, including in the North Bering Sea, as detailed in a Center for Biological Diversity press release.

Within President Donald Trump's first 100 days, he signed an executive order reversing Biden-era policy. In response, multiple lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration, calling the order illegal, as reported by EcoWatch.

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In January 2025, the Biden administration legally protected the North Bering Sea through a 1953 law called the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. This law allows presidents to decide to ban offshore drilling in certain waters off of the U.S. coastline without needing approval from Congress.

Earthjustice, one of the environmental groups suing Trump, claims that while it is within any president's power to increase protections over the ocean, it is up to Congress to vote to reduce or remove them and that system of checks and balances must be kept intact.

Why is protecting the Bering Sea important?

Millions of people rely on clean, healthy oceans to survive. Offshore drilling threatens both human and sea life by disrupting complex ecosystems in the intertidal zone and the continental shelf. Communities around the country rely on thriving oceans to promote strong economies through fishing and tourism. This executive order threatens a cleaner, safer future for all.

Additionally, the Alaska coastline is home to more than 20 endangered or threatened species, including beluga and bowhead whales and polar bears. More than 1 million seals, whales, and walruses travel through the Bering Strait to feed and breed in the Arctic, according to the World Wildlife Fund, making it one of the world's largest centers of marine mammal migration and one of the most productive marine ecosystems.

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Environmental disasters can be caused by offshore drilling, affecting the ecosystem as well as the health of families on the coastline. Not to mention, oil spills threaten carbon-capturing projects that work to reduce climate change.

What's being done about offshore drilling?

Fortunately, when this situation happened before, the courts favored protecting the environment.

In 2016, Trump once again sought to open up waters for drilling; reversing a Barack Obama-era ban on offshore drilling in the Arctic Ocean. The courts found this measure unlawful in 2019, stating that only Congress can vote to open waters for offshore drilling, per New York Times reporting.

Even when the ruling was appealed in 2021, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals yet again affirmed that 128 million acres of the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans were permanently safeguarded from increased drilling.

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Not to mention, "nearly 400 municipalities and over 2,300 elected local, state, Tribal, and federal officials across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts have formally opposed the expansion of offshore drilling in these areas in view of its severe environmental, health, and economic threats," Biden's White House stated in 2025.

Senators and governors from both Republican and Democratic parties oppose offshore drilling  and according to the Pew Research Center, most Americans feel the same way. This is why environmental agencies are working hard to protect the democratic process and conserve the ocean and pristine coastline.

Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Three people were fatally shot, and 15 others were hurt, after an altercation broke out at a park in the desert city of Las Cruces, police said Saturday.

Police and fire crews arrived at just after 10 p.m. Friday to a chaotic scene at Young Park, where an unauthorized car show had drawn about 200 people, police said in a news conference. Gunshot victims ranging in age from 16 to 36 were treated there or taken to hospitals.

Between 50 and 60 handgun casings were scattered across a wide swath of the park, Police Chief Jeremy Story said, suggesting multiple shooters and multiple weapons among two groups whose ill will toward each other are believed to have led to the shootings. Several others were injured in the crossfire, he said.

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The dead were identified only as a 16-year-old boy and two men, ages 18 and 19, police said. Their names and those of the other victims were not yet being released.

Local police were being assisted in their investigation by New Mexico State Police, the Dona Ana County Sheriffs Office, the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Las Cruces Fire Chief Michael Daniels said 11 patients were sent to three local hospitals or to University Medical Center of El Paso, the regional trauma center. As of Saturday, he said, seven victims were in El Paso, four had been treated and released and the conditions of the other four were not known.

Authorities are seeking video from the park and tips from those present as they work to identify a suspect or suspects.

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This horrendous, senseless act is a stark reminder of the blatant disregard people in New Mexico have for the rule of law and order, Story said. He vowed that authorities will find everyone responsible and said, We will hold them accountable to the criminal justice system.

Story acknowledged that illegal car shows at Young Park are not uncommon and that the police presence has been larger in the past. Understaffing on Friday, he added, meant that he had no units available for most of the night.

In an Instagram post Saturday, City Councilor and Mayor Pro Tem Johana Bencomo expressed grief over the shootings.

Part of me wanted to write that this is something you never really think this is going to happen in your city, but that actually feels deeply untrue, she said. Honestly now days a tragedy like this feels like a nightmare just waiting to come true at any possible moment, yet also always praying and hoping it never will.

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Mayor Eric Enriquez called for people to support the victims, their families and the community after the senseless event.

We need to stand strong. We need to come together, he said.

Police were still on the scene Saturday, and the area around the park was closed to traffic, according to local media reports.

This is a huge crime scene with a lot of moving parts, Story said. It will take time to process it thoroughly and reopen everything.

In the New Mexican capital, Santa Fe, the state Senate held a late-night moment of silence as word of the shootings spread.

The shootings cast a pall over efforts by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the state Legislature to find effective solutions to persistently high crime rates and concerns about gun violence.

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Lujan Grisham said she was gripped by sorrow for victims' relatives as well as anger and disappointment that more public safety bills did not make it to her desk before the legislative session closed at noon Saturday.

We don't have sufficient tools, we are not bringing accountability to these communities, she said at a news conference. I'm so sorry for the individuals whose lives are forever changed, for a community that will be shattered.

Lujan Grisham recently signed off on a package of enhanced penalties for vehicle theft, fentanyl trafficking and school-shooting threats, along with a ban on devices that convert guns to automatic weapons.

Legislators passed an overhaul of the states red-flag gun law, under which firearms may be temporarily removed from people who may pose a danger, and bolstered funding for addiction and mental health treatment.

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But the governor excoriated legislators for a lack of progress on juvenile justice reforms and highlighted the apparent large number of weapons used in the Las Cruces shootings.

These tragedies have to end, she said. The amount of guns that find their ways into public parks and schools and churches and grocery stores and parties and cars must end.

Las Cruces sits on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert along the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, about 40 miles (70 kilometers) from the U.S.-Mexico border.

___

This story has been updated to correct the last name of the police chief to Story, not Strong.

___

Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio.
The worlds richest man is threatening to take a former Democratic Party representative to court for calling him a Nazi and a thief.

Elon Musk s warnings come after former New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman threw shade at the Tesla founders competence, politics, and moral values during a Friday night appearance on CNN s NewsNight With Abby Phillip.

Hes incompetent. Hes a thief. Hes a Nazi. And people dont trust him, Bowman said, prompting Musk to lash out.

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Ive had enough. Lawsuit inbound, Musk wrote on X late Friday night in response to a user who had posted a clip of Bowmans remarks.

Ive had enough. Lawsuit inbound.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 22, 2025

Bowman further lambasted Musks work as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, which has laid off tens of thousands of government employees since President Donald Trump took office.

American people do not trust Elon Musk, and Elon Musk is incompetent in his position, Bowman said. How do we know? Because they fired tens of thousands of people, [which] was challenged in court. The court said the people have to go back, and now the people are coming back.

Top-ranking Republicans rallied around Musk.

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Fight back! Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina wrote on X.

Sue him! Defamation against conservatives cant go unaddressed or it will never end, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah added.

Musk later reposted a statement from one of his followers, who wrote, Jamaal Bowman must apologize to Elon Musk for lying about him and the apology must be public, on video.

You cant lie about someone and defame his reputation like this, the user continued. You spend decades building a reputation only for liars to take you down in a minute.
Elon Musk is wooing voters with cash againthis time in a contentious race for control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

America PAC, a Musk-backed super PAC, is offering $100 to voters who sign its Petition in Opposition to Activist Judges, the group announced on X on Thursday.

Judges should interpret laws as written, not rewrite them to fit their personal or political agendas, the petition reads. By signing below, Im rejecting the actions of activist judges who impose their own views and demanding a judiciary that respects its roleinterpreting, not legislating.

PETITION IN OPPOSITION TO ACTIVIST JUDGES:



Judges should interpret laws as written, not rewrite them to fit their personal or political agendas



Wisconsin registered voters receive $100 for signing the petition & $100 for each signer they refer



SIGN: https://t.co/PgHAgrlTFA pic.twitter.com/uMnpe4kc6s  America (@america) March 21, 2025

The tacticwhich critics say is tantamount to buying votesis meant to identify likely conservative voters and coax them to the polls.

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Musk and America PAC pulled a similar stunt in the run-up to the presidential election, when America PAC offered $47 to anyone who convinced a registered voter to sign a petition to support free speech and gun rights. The Philadelphia district attorney sued, but a Pennsylvania judge declined to stop the practice.

The heavily watched judicial race, which will determine control of Wisconsins Supreme Court, features GOP-backed former state Attorney General Brad Schimel and Democrat-backed Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who represented Planned Parenthood and other liberal defendants in her private practice.

In February, Tesla filed a lawsuit in Wisconsin to challenge a state law that has barred the vehicle maker from opening dealerships. America PAC and another Musk-backed group, Building Americas Future, have spent more than $13 million on the race, according to the Associated Press.

Elon Musk has now resorted to trying to buy votes because he wants Schimel to rule in favor of his companys lawsuit, Crawford said in a statement on X Friday. Wisconsinites dont want a slimy billionaire like Musk or a corrupt politician like Schimel controlling the Supreme Court.

Elon Musk has now resorted to trying to buy votes because he wants Schimel to rule in favor of his company's lawsuit.



Wisconsinites dont want a slimy billionaire like Musk or a corrupt politician like Schimel controlling the Supreme Court. https://t.co/TfiAhjvEgn  Judge Crawford for Wisconsin (@crawfordforwi) March 21, 2025

The race comes just two years after progressives won a majority of the state Supreme Court after electing Democrat Janet Protasiewicz to fill the seat vacated by her predecessor.

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As the Daily Beasts David Gardner pointed out on Friday , Democrats in Wisconsin have made Musk a focus of their messaging in the campaign, releasing a flurry of ads touting his support for Schimel.
New Mexicos Episcopal bishop is pushing back against allegations a migrant shelter the diocese operates in El Paso may be facilitating illegal activities, an accusation he says is entirely baseless.

The Department of Homeland Security recently froze funding it has been providing the shelter through a grant program and insinuated it had been encouraging people to cross the border illegally, an allegation the diocese denies.

The Episcopal Church is not involved at all in illegal activities, the Rev. Michael Hunn, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, said in an interview Monday. Everything we did was legal, and every person we received came to us from the Border Patrol  they drove them to us, in fact.

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The diocese encompasses New Mexico and far West Texas, territory spanning 40% of the U.S.-Mexico border. For the past several years, it has operated a shelter for asylum-seekers in El Paso as part of its Rio Grande Borderland Ministries.

DHS letter

The shelter is part of a network of shelters for migrants along the Texas-Mexico border including the Catholic shelter Annunciation House and others. It can only serve 25 people at a time, and initially started as overflow from the larger migrant shelters in the network. Over time, Hunn said it became a place largely for families and LGBTQ+ migrants because not all of the partners in the network were as comfortable with LGBTQ+ people as we are in the Episcopal Church.

Since operating, it has served about 1,700 people in a short-term capacity while they made their way to their final destinations. We were not encouraging people to cross the border, he said. These were people that had claimed asylum in the United States ... and the Border Patrol brought them to our shelter.

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When not housing migrants, the shelter also provides space for a borderland pilgrimage ministry the diocese operates for people to come and learn about life on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The shelter was initially funded entirely by donations but was later invited by the Biden administration to join the Department of Homeland Securitys Shelter and Services Program, which allowed it to be reimbursed for some of its expenses.

Hunn said the money went toward things like tacos and lasagna: This was not a high-dollar operation by any stretch.

On March 11, the diocese received a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency stating it was temporarily withholding payments to the shelter under its previously awarded grants and stating Homeland Security had significant concerns that funding was going to entities engaged in or facilitating illegal activities.

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The Department is concerned that entities receiving payment under this program may be guilty of encouraging or inducing an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States in violation of law, the letter continued.

The letter asked for documentation from the diocese about the people it had served and for representatives to sign an affidavit verifying it had not violated any immigration laws.

Hunn published a video March 14 on his YouTube channel discussing the letter and explaining the shelter had always operated in partnership with federal agents. Im insulted by the insinuation that we have been involved in anything illegal or immoral, Hunn said in the video, which has attracted significant interest in Episcopal Church circles.

The diocese is consulting with legal counsel on how to respond to the letter, the Rev. Canon Lee Curtis, the dioceses canon to the ordinary, said Tuesday.

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Curtis said the shelter had received about $40,000 from FEMA over the course of about two years. Shelter officials had to submit itemized receipts for everything in order to be reimbursed by the federal agency, and he said receipts were carefully reviewed every time for accuracy. Every reimbursement was scrutinized individually, which adds to the confusion around what theyre insinuating, he said.

The letter stops short of accusing the diocese of any specific wrongdoing, and Curtis said he believes most shelters in the network received the same message.

In response to an email inquiry from The New Mexican asking whether specific incidents prompted the letter, the FEMA national press office provided a statement on behalf of a senior DHS official.

Secretary Kristi Noem froze grant funding to nongovernmental organizations where the grant touches immigration, the statement said. The Biden administration spent hundreds of millions of dollars resettling illegal aliens in our country on American taxpayers dime. We will not give taxpayer dollars to NGOs who facilitate illegal immigration.

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Curtis said after years of working hand-in-hand with immigration officials, it was hurtful to be accused of doing something wrong. We took great pains to ensure everything we were doing was legal and for folks who were legally present in the country, he said, adding that every person who stayed at the shelter had their documents verified. Its really disappointing to see the administration take this approach.

The shelter is currently not housing any migrants because the number of migrants reaching the border has been very low since December, Hunn said. However, he said the diocese is prepared to operate the shelter without any government support.

The diocese has a constitutionally protected right to practice its religion and operating the migrant shelter is one part of how it follows Jesus commandment to welcome strangers, he said. If the government tries to stop churches caring for those in need, he said, that would be a violation of the First Amendment.

The Christian faith is not just about going to church, its not just about reading the Bible, Hunn said. Jesus says that every time we care for the least of these, every time we care for someone in need, we are in fact caring for Christ himself  and its important that we do that.
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  The community came together Friday to honor a woman who dedicated her life to helping the homeless.

Two weeks ago, Dayton lost an advocate for the homeless that gave over 30 years in service to those in need. Nadine Mantle helped countless people through the Dayton area, touching the lives of thousands.

Mantle died on March 6 at the age of 88. On Friday evening, friends and family gathered to remember Mantle and the impact she had on those around her.

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It was her goal to make a difference in everyone she met, said Janice Mantle, Nadines daughter. She was one of a kind and certainly made a difference in the city of Dayton.

Tremendous resource: Woman recognized in West Carrollton for helping homeless

Nadine Mantle moved to the Dayton area in the 1950s. Her family and friends say after a bout of hardship that lasted nearly 10 years, Mantle had healing through prayer and promised to give her life to those that needed her help the most.

In 1987, Mantle founded Hearts for the Homeless.

She didnt do it for money, in fact, she had little money. She was doing it for a mandate to serve the least of the least, said Pastor Billy Bob Herman.

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Those that knew Mantle say her impact is immeasurable.

Everything that she did for the community was amazing, said Kim Hardwick, who volunteered with Mantle.

She might as well of had wheels on her feet because she never stopped and that was it, said Martha OConnor, friend and fellow volunteer. You could call her anytime and she was there. She was there.

Throughout her life, Mantle served tens of thousands every weekend from anywhere she could, like the sidewalk in front of the YMCA to the Democratic Party headquarters on Third Street.

I knew my mom was involved in this. She would be out at all hours of the night resolving problems for homeless people, said Jerry Mantle, Nadines son. I realized that this was such a needed thing.

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Mantle was recognized by the city and at the national level, and was even nominated for a spot on the Dayton Walk of Fame.

Mantle retired in 2012 at the age of 75 due to health issues. Over 33 years, she served more than 200,000 people.

I know that shes with my dad now, and were glad to see shed finished her job here, said Jerry Mantle.

A celebration of life will be held Saturday at 10:45 a.m. at Tobias Funeral Home in Beavercreek, followed by a burial at Calvary Cemetery.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com.
Speak to almost anyone associated with the soon-to-be-opened National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington and youll notice something interesting: Theres little talk of bravery, valor or heroism.

What youll hear instead are words like duty, sacrifice and commitment.

Museum goers will first enter a spherical theater called the Medal of Honor Experience where they will be shown a seven-minute film honoring the different Medal of Honor recipients.

The museum, which is throwing a big celebration Saturday ahead of opening to the public Tuesday, represents those ideals above all others  they are what the curators want visitors to take with them when they leave, along with the stories of some of the 3,528 Medal of Honor recipients.

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Located at 1861 AT&T Way in Arlington, tucked between Choctaw Stadium and the Arlington Museum of Art, the National Medal of Honor Museum offers a poignant reminder of the promises our military men and women make to our nation and to each other.

The outside of the new National Medal of Honor Museum located in the Arlington Entertainment District on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. The museum will open its doors to the public on March 25, 2025 after a three-year construction effort.

The very structure of the museum is symbolic of this. The massive steel block that houses the exhibits sits atop five pillars, one each for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. The pillars represent the weight that service members bear  what Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter calls the beautiful burden. A pillar of light shining from the atop the museum signifies the U.S. Space Force, our newest branch.

Chris Cassidy, the National Medal of Honor Museum president and CEO, addresses the media with a backdrop of the thousands of names of Medal of Honor recipients, during a media preview event at the Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.

Outside is a rotunda that will be open to visitors 24 hours a day. Inside on the ground floor is a ring of honor with the names of all the recipients going back to the first soldiers to receive the Medal of Honor, in 1863 during the Civil War.

One of the multiple exhibits on display inside of the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington.

Upstairs are approximately 200 exhibits, which will rotate in the years to come, highlighting recipients stories. There youll find things like Sgt. Alvin Yorks pistol and Bible from World War I. There is a jacket, guitar and other personal effects that belonged to Texan Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated soldiers in World War II.

A Bell UH-1 Iroquois Huey Medevac helicopter, modeled after the one flown by Army recipient Patrick Brady in Vietnam, is on display inside of the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington.

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A Bell UH-1 Iroquois Huey medevac helicopter, modeled after the one flown by Army recipient Patrick Brady in Vietnam, dominates one corner of the museum. Not far from it are mementos from men who fought more recently in places like Afghanistan and Iraq during the Global War on Terror. In one case is Army recipient Clinton Romeshas high school FFA jacket, a reminder of the humanity behind the medal.

Another case houses uniforms belonging to retired Navy SEAL Britt Slabinski, including the bullet-torn uniform trousers he wore the day his actions in Afghanistan earned him the Medal of Honor.

The full dress uniform and Medal of Honor worn by United States Navy SEAL Britt K. Slabinski on display inside of the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington.

In March 2002, Slabinski led a team up Takur Ghar, a 10,000-foot mountain ridge in eastern Afghanistan, to conduct reconnaissance. In the early morning darkness, a rocket-propelled grenade struck their helicopter. The impact ejected Navy Petty Officer Neil Roberts into the snow below and forced the copter down. Outmatched by the enemys numbers and under heavy fire, Slabinski ordered another helicopter and took his team back up Takur Ghar to help Roberts.

While seven Americans died that day, including Roberts, Slabinski showed incredible fortitude in leading the attack and stabilizing casualties while awaiting evacuation.

I will do my best to do my duty

Fear is an emotion, and its only overcome by choice. In Slabinskis case, he made the choices he did after reciting to himself the Scout Oath, which begins on my honor, I will do my best to do my duty.

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Slabinski, who attained Eagle Scout at age 14, told the Star-Telegram in an interview that those words guided his decision to go back for Roberts despite the dangers to him and his men.

They were put in a very complicated situation, Slabinski said of the recipients honored in the museum, himself included. First they were volunteers, then they were put in a situation, a nearly impossible spot to make decisions in, and they had to make decisions, and they made those decisions in that moment based on a couple of things: first, they had made a promise to the people to their left and right and to those behind them that Im going to do my best in this situation to make it right no matter what.

You had this human at a friction point who decided Im going to do something about this, he said.

A ring of honor displays names of recipients going back to the first soldiers to receive the Medal of Honor, in 1863 during the Civil War.

One of the most unique exhibits in the museum gives you the chance to talk with a Medal of Honor recipient in a virtual reality setting. Thanks to hundreds of hours of interview footage, visitors can sit down and ask questions of two recipients and learn the details of their lives and combat actions.

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Slabinski hopes experiences like that will change the ways visitors interact with others and with the world around them. He also hopes that, instead of glorifying combat, the museum will provide a stark reminder that war is, in fact, hell.

I talk a lot in lectures about this: Could we possibly as a human race evolve beyond this need to have this kinetic reaction with each other? Slabinski said. Could we, in some dream world, make a Medal of Honor recipient an endangered species? Could we somehow not have the need, like a caveman, to take your club to the next cave and bash someone over the head to get fire? Is there another way that we could communicate with each other? Very lofty idea, right?

Slabinski, who is part of the museums board of directors, said Arlington was chosen as the home for the National Medal of Honor Museum because its perfectly situated in the middle of the country, near a major airport, and its already an established destination. Its also in Texas, and as Slabinski put it, youre not going to get any more patriotic than Texas.

Prior to the public opening on March 25, the museum is hosting the Mission to Inspire Spectacular on Saturday, March 22. This free event outside Choctaw Stadium will feature food, music, fireworks, a drone show and a video tribute to Medal of Honor recipients.

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That will be preceded by an invitation-only ribbon-cutting ceremony expected to be attended by past and present military and government leaders.

Beginning March 25, the National Medal of Honor Museum will be open daily from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Tickets start at $30 for ages 13 to 64; adding a virtual reality experience starts at $40, and VIP guided tours are from $60. Boeing is sponsoring the tickets of all U.S. veterans with valid ID who visit the museum March 25 to 28.

The museum is also spearheading plans for a Medal of Honor monument that will be installed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., likely near the Lincoln Memorial. The museum foundation is responsible for raising money for the project, with no use of federal funding.

The multiple exhibits on display inside of the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington.

Thousands of names who were awarded the Medal of Honor in their lifetime are on display at the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.

One of the interactive screens where museum goers can learn about specific Medal of Honor recipients inside of the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington.

Josh Schick, the director of interpretation at the National Medal of Honor Museum, places an item in the exhibit dedicated to Navy Adm. Eugene B. Fluckey prior to the museums official opening on March 25.

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The Triumphant Valor exhibit recognizes the history of discrimination and delayed recognition for individuals who were worthy of the Medal of Honor earlier in their lives, but did not receive it due to race and ethnicity.

The Letters Home exhibit showcases the letters the Medal of Honor recipients wrote home while they were away on a mission.

One of the handwritten letters made for George Bud Day, a U.S. Air Force officer and veteran of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, is on display inside of the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington.

A portion of the More Than a Medal exhibit on display inside of the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington.

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The Kearby Theater inside the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington.
POLK COUNTY, N.C. (WSPA)  State officials will host a community meeting on Sunday to give details and updates about efforts to combat three wild fires in Polk County.

The North Carolina Forest Service announced a public meeting for 2 p.m. Sunday in the Womack Building, 40 Courthouse Street, Columbus, to give details on the Black Cove, Deep Wood and Fish Hook fires.

The fires broke out in Polk County earlier this week and have grown exponentially over the last few days.

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Read more: 3 wildfires destroy structures, prompt evacuations in Polk Co.

As of Friday afternoon the Fish Hook fire had burned nearly 200 acres in Polk County. The Black Cove and Deep Wood fires have burned more than 1,000 acres each.

According to the most recent update on the state forest service website the Fish Hook fire was about 50% contained Friday evening. The Deep Wood and Black Cove fires were still estimated at 0% contained.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSPA 7NEWS.
PARMA, Ohio (WJW)  In a sweeping move that could reshape the landscape of public education in America, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

The announcement, made from inside the East Room of the White House with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and several other state leaders standing by, marks a historic shift in education policy  transferring control and funding responsibility to the states.

But back in Northeast Ohio, the reaction is far from celebratory.

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Spring means increase in littering across Ohio: How you can help

In Parma, Superintendent Charlie Smialek watched the announcement with deep concern. For him, the implications of this shake-up are less about politics and more about the future of his students and staff.

We have to get some answers, and we have to get them relatively soon, Smialek said. We get about $9 million in federal funding every year. That money goes directly to students who are struggling  those living in poverty and those with disabilities. Thats where the federal money goes.

Smialek said that losing federal support could mean even fewer teachers, outdated technology in classrooms and the elimination of key programs that many families rely on.

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The pressure is only mounting. Governor DeWines most recent proposed budget includes a $2.5 million cut in state funding for Parma schools  a move that happened before his new responsibilities but now feels even more significant in light of the federal shift.

I just cant see the vision for public education, Smialek said. Maybe Im being naive, but I continue to see this as the privatization of education.

Its a scam! Texts about unpaid toll bills still circulating

With DeWine now holding the reins of education policy in Ohio, school districts like Parma find themselves stuck in a waiting game.

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Smialek is urging lawmakers to visit districts like his to understand the challenges firsthand.

See how lean we are in our central office, how weve deployed all of our resources directly to schools. In fact, our central office shares space with a school. We dont see bloat, he said.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
AUSTIN (KXAN)  Some people living in north Austin said they have concerns about the environmental impact of a cremation business nearby.

Neighbors living next to Weed Corley Fish Funeral Homes and Cremation Services said theyve seen multiple instances of black smoke coming from there.

Stephanie Edmison lives right behind the business. Edmison told KXAN that she started seeing the smoke at the start of 2023.

Stephanie Edmison said she took this video of black smoke coming from the crematory business back in July 2024. (Photo: Stephanie Edmison)

Im worried about my health, and everybody elses around here. Its gone from just a peaceful, nice place where I could run and do my exercises and to all of a sudden wondering what that smell is, and looking up and seeing the black smoke. Stephanie Edmison, Neighbor

Edmison said she and other neighbors have health and environmental concerns.

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Even when theres no black smoke, you can still smell it, Edmison said. Which is not pleasant.

Edmison said she now limits how much time she spends outside because of this.

I used to love to go to walks at night, running in this area, because I feel safe, Edmison said. I dont feel safe from a health standpoint anymore. Its changed the quality of my life.

Sofia Guerrero lives right across from Edmison and has a direct view of the cremation business as well. She said its improved a bit since last summer, but shes still seen smoke and sparks this year as well.

This image comes from a video Sophia Guerrero said she took in February of this year. (Photo: Sofia A Guerrero) This image comes from a video Sophia Guerrero said she took in September 2024. (Photo: Sofia A Guerrero)

I just really felt like it was a fire hazard, Guerrero said. I need to be able to go to the pool, go for a walk, you know, have my windows open, and there should be zero black smoke, zero sparks.

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Both Edmison and Guerrero worry about the impact this has on their property value as well.

To have something that could be lessening your property value is a pretty big deal, Guerrero said.

TCEQ violations

The situation caused neighbors to file a complaint with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

I filed a complaint and they took my video evidence of the smoke stacks that I had provided, Guerrero said.

The TCEQ said it conducted an investigation last year regarding those concerns of black smoke. The following four violations were documented in a Notice of Violation issued in August 2024:

Creating an offsite nuisance condition

Failure to maintain all emissions control equipment in good condition and operate properly during operation of the facility

Opacity from the incinerator stack exceeded a 5.0% average over a six-minute period

Failure to properly register all units that emit contaminants into the atmosphere

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According to the TCEQ, complete compliance documentation was not submitted by the due date in September 2024, and a Notice of Enforcement was issued on November 6, 2024. The TCEQ told KXAN the enforcement case was in development and it cannot comment on pending enforcement cases.

The business response

The president of the funeral home told KXAN they took the concerns from the initial TCEQ complaints seriously and made necessary adjustments to their equipment.

We understand the communitys concerns following the recent incidents involving our crematory units exhaust flue. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality promptly inspected the situation, and we resolved the issue in October of 2024. A follow-up inspection on March 14 confirmed that everything is operating safely and in full compliance with all regulations. We are continuously monitoring our operations to ensure the highest standards of safety and service. We remain deeply committed to the safety, dignity, and trust of our community. Parkcrest Crematory

Regarding sparks seen in a video taken this month, the president said that is not necessarily common but can occur. He claimed the TCEQ viewed the video and their own tape and there was no concern.

KXAN asked the TCEQ for an update after their visit, but we were told investigation reports are typically completed within 60 days of the last on-site visit.

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Citing safety concerns, Neil Young said he wont be kicking off his new world tour with a free concert in Ukraine.

The legendary Rock & Roll Hall of Famer announced this week that he scrapped the previously planned show as the country continues battling its years-long war with Russia.

Our concert in Ukraine is canceled, Young wrote in a statement on his website. We had a good venue, close to a shelter, but the changing situation on the ground was too much. I could not in good conscience take my crew and instruments into that area. My apologies to all.

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News of the cancellation comes amid a limited ceasefire agreement being broken on Friday as Russian drones pummeled the city of Odesa.

Earlier this month, Young, 79, said the concert in Ukraine would serve as the opener for the international Love Earth Tour, a 26-city trek in support of his forthcoming album, said to be titled Talking to the Trees.

He and his band, The Chrome Hearts, will now begin the European leg on June 18 in Rattvik, Sweden.

The tour  with New York area dates scheduled for Aug. 23 at Jones Beach and Aug. 24 at at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts  is currently scheduled to wrap up on Sept. 15 at the Hollywood Bowl.

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A large right-wing extremist demonstration in Berlin ended prematurely on Saturday as hundreds of counter-protesters blocked the intended route of the marchers.

The rally leader called off the event after around four hours when participants got little further than their arrival point at the German capital's eastern Ostkreuz train station, the police said.

According to official estimates, around 850 people - five times more than staged a similar march a month ago - gathered for the demonstration titled "For law and order. Against left-wing extremism and politically motivated violence."

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The march organizers spoke earlier of 1,200 participants expected. Meanwhile, the police reported that at least 2,000 people protested vociferously against the neo-Nazi action.

Fifteen counter-protests ensued on the planned march route in the eastern city district of Friedrichshain, with hundreds of people blocking the road.

Around 1,500 officers were deployed to keep the two camps separate, while remaining mindful of the rights of both, the police said.

"We never protect the content of the assembly, but only the reason for the assembly itself, the freedom of assembly," spokesman Florian Nath said in a video posted on X as the marchers assembled.

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Despite a call for all sides to remain peaceful, a dpa reporter at the scene observed repeated scuffles amid a heated atmosphere.

According to a police spokeswoman, demonstrators from the left-wing camp tried to break through a cordon, prompting officers to use pepper spray. Some people were temporarily arrested.

There were around 85 arrests, according to police figures on Saturday evening. No details were given on which side they came from.

Three people were excluded from the neo-Nazi march earlier, the police spokesman Nath said, noting that a judge had confirmed a preventive detention.

The people concerned had previously been arrested for displaying symbols of unconstitutional organisations. One man, for example, had shown a Hitler salute.

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This is already the third demonstration by right-wing extremists since December 2024 under the same march title.

Former Aachen Alternative for Germany(AfD) politician Ferhat Sentuerk speaks as an organizer at a right-wing extremist demonstration at Ostkreuz S-Bahn station. The demonstration has been registered under the slogan "For law and order - against left-wing extremism and politically motivated violence". -/dpa

{microsoft_credit="" caption="Former Aachen Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician Ferhat Sentuerk speaks as an organizer at a right-wing extremist demonstration at Ostkreuz S-Bahn station. The demonstration has been registered under the slogan "For law and order - against left-wing extremism and politically motivated violence". -/dpa"}
Happy Saturday! Heres another edition of my weekend column for WPRI.com  as always, send your takes, tips and trial balloons to tnesi@wpri.com and follow me on Twitter, Bluesky and Facebook.

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Nesi's Notes

1. D-Day for the future of Hasbro appears to be getting closer. After a century headquartered in the Ocean State, the toymaker is expected to make a decision by the end of this month about whether to move to Greater Boston. And there are serious doubts about whether the company will stay. One inauspicious sign: Governor McKee has reached out to Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, but hasnt heard back, though his aides said Friday they have been in touch with other executives. Speaker Shekarchi similarly reports he hasnt heard anything from the company of late, though hes also monitoring how the new tariffs being put in place could shift executives calculations. We havent heard an answer to the question that we want to have answered, McKee told our Alexandra Leslie on Friday. Theyre on their own time clock, he said, adding, We havent heard that a decision has been made. State officials sound sincerely proud of the pitch they made to Hasbro, offering prime land in downtown Providence for a new HQ as well as all sorts of other enticements. But theyve been on the back foot from the start, only learning about the companys dalliance with Massachusetts from news reports months into the process. We would prefer Hasbro stays in the state, McKee said. But if they decide to leave then well all wish them well and thank them for the years theyve been here. That said, Hasbro may not make a binary stay-or-go choice. One option for the company would be to move its official headquarters to Boston  including the C-suite  but leave some back-office operations at its current facility in Pawtucket.

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2. If Hasbro does decamp, Rhode Island will be down to just six companies on the Fortune 1000 list, leaving CVS (#6), United Natural Foods (#144), Textron (#308), Citizens (#337), FM Global (#418) and Amica (#940). For state leaders, a concerning fact about that list is the age of those businesses. UNFI is the youngest, founded in 1976, but the company was already well-established when it moved from Connecticut to Providence in 2009. So its been two generations since Rhode Island added a major new publicly traded company that remains a major employer today; by contrast, Massachusetts has one that was founded this century (Wayfair) and several that were created in the 1980s.

3. The upheaval unleashed by President Trumps administration continues to reverberate locally, as Tim White and I discuss with Globe reporter Steph Machado on this weeks Newsmakers. No Trump move seemed to generate more attention than his executive order to begin dismantling the U.S. Department of Education (though full elimination of the agency would take an act of Congress). Steph, who covers education, said the impact of the order remains unclear. There could be a number of effects in K-12 schools in Rhode Island, she said. I dont think we would see them immediately. But down the line, if a child with disabilities is having their civil rights violated, will the Education Department be there to investigate it? Rhode Island also made headlines on immigration, after a Brown Medicine doctor from Lebanon was deported last Friday under murky circumstances. Federal authorities didnt disclose until Monday morning that the doctor had allegedly shown sympathy for Hezbollah and its leader  and even then, reporters had an arduous time accessing the relevant court documents, as Nancy Lavin explains in this detailed story. Additionally, there was continued fallout from the attempted elimination of USAID for Edesia, the Rhode Island nonprofit founded by Navyn Salem that sells nutritious food which the federal government buys for poor countries. Salem disclosed this week she just laid off 10% of her staff because of conflicting signals from the administration about contracts and payments. And in higher education, Brown President Christina Paxson sent out a new letter explaining the universitys approach to changes by the administration. Some of these demands raise new and previously unthinkable questions about the future of academic freedom and self-governance for those that are committed to continuing to serve this country as leading research institutions, she wrote.

4. The drumbeat of criticism targeting federal judges, including Rhode Island U.S. Chief Judge John McConnell, escalated enough this week that Chief Justice Roberts took the extraordinary step of releasing a public statement of rebuke. For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision, Roberts said. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose. Coincidentally, Rhode Islands congressional delegation was spotted this week paying a visit to federal court in Providence. Chip Unruh, a spokesperson for Senator Reed, confirmed that the four lawmakers were there for what he described as an annual lunch with the states federal judges, as well as their clerks and probation leaders. And to be clear, Unruh added, the purpose of the gathering is to discuss the judiciarys budget and other administrative issues and never the specifics of open cases.

5. So far, the Providence City Council is giving united backing to Mayor Smiley as he seeks General Assembly approval for a tax hike over the state-mandated 4% limit, though council leaders emphasize they set 8% as the maximum possible increase, not a target for the final amount. (Our Alex Leslie reports from City Hall that the unanimous council vote was actually 14-0, because Councilman John Goncalves missed it.)

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6. Senate President Dominick Ruggerios health remains a source of concern, with the veteran Democrat missing both sessions this week despite previous suggestions that hed try to return on Tuesday or Thursday. Ruggerio has been out of sight since his release from the hospital following a bout of pneumonia, and hasnt attended a Senate session since Feb. 4. Asked for an update Friday, Ruggerio issued this statement through his office: I am recuperating at home and feeling much better. I look forward to returning to the Senate, and to the rostrum, in the near future. While I have been unable to be physically present in the chamber over the last few weeks, I am grateful to all of my colleagues for ensuring that the Senate never skipped a beat. Throughout this temporary setback, I have remained in constant contact with Majority Leader Valarie Lawson, Whip David Tikoian, the committee chairs and the members.

7. The absence of Senate President Ruggerio has added to the uncertain outlook for the proposed assault weapons ban. Supporters entered the year more bullish than they had been in previous years, with Ruggerio suggesting a potential change of heart on the issue and Governor McKee announcing hed prioritize the measure by including it in his budget bill. But the budget move fell flat, with Speaker Shekarchi saying publicly it didnt belong in the tax-and-spending plan and also raising constitutional concerns about a proposed gun registry. There is also resistance from some municipal officials, with the Lincoln Town Council passing a resolution in opposition to the measure on Tuesday. Advocates on both sides of the issue are well-organized and fervent, which only makes the outcome harder to handicap.

8. The National Transportation Safety Board says the Baltimore bridge collapse has raised concerns about other spans around the country  including the Pell Bridge.

9. When it comes to the housing crisis, Rhode Island saw quite a split screen this week. On Tuesday, the advocacy group Neighbors Welcome released a new poll of voters showing 57% think housing is one of the two biggest issues facing the state today, and 88% want lawmakers to work on the issue, reinforcing previous surveys that have also showed housing is a major concern. (For political junkies, the poll also pegged Governor McKees job approval rating at 36%.) On the same day, U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose granted a temporary restraining order against Johnston Mayor Joe Polisena Jr. as he tries to seize a property by eminent domain in order to avoid it being turned into affordable housing. Meantime, RIPEC is warning that the rapid rise in property valuations of recent years risks throwing tax policy out of whack.

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10. More on housing: House GOP Leader Mike Chippendale is frustrated with administration officials over what he argues is a lack of transparency regarding the cost of the pallet shelters.

11. Dont miss this strange story about DCYF from Eli Sherman and Sarah Guernelli.

12. Massachusetts Congressman Jake Auchincloss has mostly demurred when reporters press him about whether hes contemplating a Democratic primary challenge against U.S. Sen. Ed Markey next year. But Markey is said to be taking the possibility seriously, and the 78-year-old incumbent isnt likely to be caught napping after nearly a half-century on Capitol Hill. Auchincloss has been even more ubiquitous in the media than usual as Democrats grapple with the partys future, positioning himself as a voice of generational change and aligning himself with the abundance agenda currently being touted by authors Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (not to mention Providences Marc Dunkelman). A fresh wave of speculation swept Massachusetts politics Thursday evening after CommonWealths Gin Dumcius reported on a new poll being conducted to test Markeys strength against five other prominent Democrats: Marty Walsh, Deval Patrick, Andrea Campbell, Ayanna Pressley, and Auchincloss. With a year and a half to go before the 2026 primary, and Democratic Party politics in such a state of ferment, the situation bears continued watching. (And remember  if Auchincloss runs for Senate, that means yet another open U.S. House seat in our region, too.)

13. Speaking of Southeastern Massachusetts, Governor Healey will be all over Bristol County on Monday to celebrate the first day of MBTA train service to New Bedford and Fall River  33 years after her predecessor Bill Weld told the Fall River Herald News that locals could sue him if the commuter rail didnt get up and running. Per Healeys office: Governor Healey and [MBTA] General Manager Eng will ride the train from Fall River inbound to East Taunton and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll and [MassDOT] Secretary Tibbits-Nutt will ride from New Bedford inbound to East Taunton. They will end with a celebratory press conference at the East Taunton station. And if you want to try out the trains during their inaugural trips, this is a great time to do it: the MBTA is making service free through the end of March (and free on weekends through the end of April).

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14. South County Hospital remains in turmoil, with hospital executives now filing suit against activists who are pressing for a change in management, as our Eli Sherman reports. Separately, Attorney General Peter Neronhas office confirmed to me Friday that the AG recently met with South County Hospital leaders at their request, but declined to reveal more about what they discussed.

15. Next week is going to be a big one here at WPRI 12, and I hope youll all join in the fun. Starting Monday, we will have a week of special coverage commemorating our 70th anniversary on the airwaves, kicking off with my two-part story at 5 p.m. about the history of the station all the way back to the black-and-white days of Mort Blender and Salty Brine. From there well have daily stories on everything from the Mafia and the PawSox to how TV technology has changed over the years. A big group of us at the station has worked together to digitize and organize loads of old film and tape so we can show you clips that havent been seen in decades  like this footage of Providence on the day of JFKs assassination  and each of the reports is going to be a treat. Heres my preview of what you can expect, and dont miss some vintage political clips on this weekends edition of Newsmakers, too. A half-hour 70th anniversary special featuring highlights from the weeklong coverage will air Thursday at 5:30 p.m on WPRI 12 and 10:30 p.m. on Fox Providence  make sure you download our new 12+ smart TV app so you can stream that (and all our other local programming).

16. Condolences to the family and friends of David Graves, longtime spokesperson for National Grid, who has died at the age of 76. A U.S. Army veteran, Graves had a long career in Rhode Island media and communications, including stints at both WPRI and WJAR. He was always responsive and had a dry wit  even when reporters were calling him every 15 minutes during a blizzard, desperate for some tiny new morsel of storm information for our next live shot. Word of his death came from Ted Kesse, who succeeded Graves at National Grid and is now with the state auto dealers association. Ill never forget the storm of October 2017, which came out of nowhere and really did some damage across the state, with outages everywhere, Kresse told me in an email. Dave had only been retired a few months but was quick to post a selfie sitting in the dark with a scotch in hand and something to the effect of, Havent had power for 24 hours, and havent had to take one call from the media. Retirement doesnt get any better than this!' Rest in peace, Dave.

17. Set your DVRs: This week on Newsmakers  reporters roundtable. Watch Sunday at 5:30 a.m. on WPRI 12 and 10 a.m. on Fox Providence, or listen on the radio Sunday at 6 p.m. on WPRO. You can also subscribe to Newsmakers as a podcast via Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you back here next Saturday.

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Ted Nesi (tnesi@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter and 12 News politics/business editor. He co-hosts Newsmakers and writes Nesis Notes on Saturdays. Connect with him on Twitter, Bluesky and Facebook.

Download the WPRI 12 and Pinpoint Weather 12 apps to get breaking news and weather alerts.

Watch 12 News Now on WPRI.com or with the new 12+ smart TV app.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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If Benjamin Netanyahu had hoped the winter storms, which returned to Jerusalem with a vengeance last week, would deter the protesters, he was wrong.

Outside his residence, tens of thousands of Israelis braved the lashing rain to chant furious slogans at him while the citys police got busy with water cannons, with some smashing up the demonstrators cars.

In barely credible scenes, an incandescent retired general was dragged away by officers and senior politicians knocked down.

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The unrest continued into the weekend, with over 100,000 people nationwide rallying on Saturday night in some of the largest demonstrations the country has seen in weeks. More protests are planned for Sunday.

By early Sunday morning, two people had been arrested after breaching a fence outside the Israeli prime ministers residence, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Photographs from the protests showed crowds of people waving Israeli flags and setting off smoke flares as police carried demonstrators away.

Protesters hold smoke flares and pictures of hostages in a rally against the Israeli government in Tel Aviv - Amir Levy/Getty Images Europe

Their cause? Not the imposition of a sweeping new tax; nor even the resumption of fighting in Gaza, although that certainly spiced the brew.

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Instead, the grievance that prompted such fury was the dismissal of a shadowy intelligence official, Ronen Bar, the director of the Israeli Security Agency, commonly known as Shin Bet.

The controversy has made little impact in the West, where the dismissal of a civil servant  fair or otherwise  would generally be regarded as within a prime ministers proper remit.

Yet in Israel, it is greeted by many as a step on the path to dictatorship; a potentially irrevocable escalation in the constitutional crisis that has been brewing since before Oct 7.

On Thursday night, Mr Netanyahus coalition cabinet voted unanimously to dismiss Mr Bar, claiming a lack of trust in him. An unnamed source, understood to be close to the prime minister, later made the incendiary claim that the top spy had known about the Oct 7 attack hours before but failed to act.

The former Shin Bet director Ronen Bar (right) with Eyal Zamir (left), the IDF chief of staff - Israel Defence Force

Mr Bar, 59, rejected the move and described it as entirely tainted by conflicts of interest, alleging sinister motives on the part of the prime minister.

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Following an emergency petition on Friday, the High Court ordered a temporary injunction on the dismissal.

But that only inflamed matters further, with Mr Netanyahu saying he would refuse to abide by the ruling and a key ally calling for judicial overhaul now.

The prime minister and his allies are now gunning for Gali Baharav-Miara, the attorney general who is Mr Bars only protector at the top of government, promising to sack her too.

In the meantime, we now have the extraordinary spectacle of a former Shin Bet chief, an ally of Mr Bars, being questioned by police, amid accusations by Mr Netanyahu of an anti-democratic deep state at work.

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For his critics, it is precisely the prime ministers alleged meddling in the security apparatus that threatens Israeli freedoms.

It all raises the question: after nearly 80 years, are the wheels coming off the Middle Easts only democracy?

Over 100,000 people across Israel joined in protests against Mr Netanyahus government - Ohad Zwigenberg/AP

The answer  to the extent that a clear one exists  draws together the fundamental issues currently at play in the Jewish state: the tragedy of Oct 7 and who is to blame; the future of Gaza; the hostages; the expansion of Israel; and Donald Trump.

Efraim Sneh, Israels former deputy defence minister and a retired brigadier general of the Israeli Defence Forces, said: You have to understand, in Israel, the internal security service has a very special status  totally, totally non-political.

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People have a great esteem for their professionalism and ethics.

Describing the organisation as the gatekeeper of democracy, Mr Sneh said: Current service people cannot do anything because its against the law. But the former staff, youll see them on the streets.

The prime minister describes a breakdown in relations with Mr Bar. Put simply, he says he cant work with him any more.

The tortuous process of the hostage negotiations, for which Mr Bar was one of Israels point men until recent weeks, would test any working relationship.

This is particularly plausible given the fact Mr Bar is reportedly far keener on offering accommodations to recover the hostages than his political boss.

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Giora Eiland, a former head of Israels national security council, said: Netanyahu becomes less and less patient towards people who have different ideas than him.

There were a lot of very, very, I would say, emotional debates between Bar  not only him  but especially between him and Netanyahu in regard to the potential hostage deal.

Demonstrators clashed with police in protests against Mr Netanyahus decision to fire Ronen Bar, the head of Israels spy agency - Anadolu/Anadolu

The relationship had certainly become difficult but Mr Bar has reportedly said the claim they could no longer work together is false.

Many believe the real tipping point was Mr Bars decision last month to launch a Shin Bet investigation into alleged Qatari spies in the prime ministers office.

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Two of Mr Netanyahus close political advisers have now been questioned by police over allegations they received payments from the Gulf state during the war in return for improving the countrys image in Israel.

This is deeply embarrassing for the prime minister.

However, the Shin Bet investigation is thought to be more ambitious than mere influence-peddling.

It is already known that the security service is probing the extent to which Qatari payments to Hamas in years before Oct 7  which Israel has long facilitated as part of its disastrous strategy to keep a lid on the Gaza strip  contributed to the massacre.

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If, as some have speculated, Shin Bet finds evidence that the policy of facilitating the payments to Hamas could have been influenced by Qatar via its alleged spies in Mr Netanyahus office, that would be politically fatal.

There is currently no evidence for this, a point Mr Eiland emphasised.

But he added: This is a far-reaching conclusion and, at the moment, no one can say it. But that is exactly why the investigation is needed.

Protesters in Tel Aviv demand the release of hostages held by Hamas - Ohad Zwigenberg/AP

The former intelligence officer said he understood that Israels decision to facilitate Qatari payments to Hamas did not come from soldiers or officials.

He said: Most of the real initiatives in the security arena come bottom-up: someone from the military, someone from the other intelligence agencies comes up with ideas, with a plan, and it is approved by the cabinet.

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Here it was the other way around. Someone might ask himself where exactly this initiative came from? Who exactly thought about that and why, and is there a connection between this and the fact that some of his people were so close to the Qataris?

We still have a question mark here, but this is something which is very concerning if it was true.

Mr Bar said in response to the cabinets decision to fire him: They seek to prevent the pursuit of truth regarding both the events leading up to the [Oct 7] massacre and the serious affairs currently under investigation by the Israel Security Agency.

Brewing for several weeks, the suggestion that Mr Bar could be fired sent shock waves through Israels security community.

Nadav Argaman, a former Shin Bet chief, told the Channel 12 news station he could release compromising information if the prime minister broke the law.

Mr Netanyahu subsequently filed a complaint against him, and on Thursday, Mr Argaman was questioned by police over allegations of blackmail.

A protester in Tel Aviv wearing yellow, the colour of the ribbons worn by supporters of the hostages - Ohad Zwigenberg/AP

Leftist deep state conspiracy

The prime minister now talks freely about a leftist deep state conspiracy.

It has prompted many in Israel to speculate that he has been emboldened by his now close relationship with Mr Trump  both of whom use language like that but also ignore convention to sack officials he doesnt perceive as personally loyal.

Mr Sneh said: He returned from Washington [in February] encouraged, inspired and energised to imitate Trump. He wants to do the same but more.

For Mr Eiland, however, Mr Netanyahus premium on personal loyalty goes back long before his relationship with the US president.

He did something exactly like this nine years ago when he had to nominate the director of Mossad [foreign intelligence]. He actually selected one of them, and he told him that he was going to be the director of Mossad. He asked him one question: are you going to be loyal to me? That person said: Well, I will be loyal to the nation. Not good enough. Ten minutes later, Netanyahu announced that another person would be the director of Mossad.

Netanyahu does not understand this distinction between being loyal to the nation and loyal personally.

Benjamin Netanyahu attends a security meeting at the Kirya on March 18

With most people in Israel clearly able to remember the horrors of the Second Intifada, Shin Bets perceived effectiveness is crucial to the national peace of mind in a way people in the West would be unlikely to feel about their own security services.

The mere suggestion that its professionalism could be tainted by a political appointee explains much of the fury in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv last week.

Israelis oppose Mr Bars dismissal by 46 to 31 per cent, according to a recent Channel 12 poll.

Former senior judges feel they have the wind in their sails when they warn, as ex-Supreme Court president Aharon Barak did this week, of civil war.

We have reached an untenable situation, he said. The rift is huge. The train is rolling downhill.

Israels lack of a codified constitution, Mr Netanyahus detractors contend, makes it more critical to avoid even the suggestion of politicising organs of the state.

But there is a significant school of thought that, far from a Right-wing takeover of impartial institutions, Israels recent and current political turmoil is as much the fault of unelected jurists in both the courts and the Attorney Generals office.

An activist supreme court has been allegedly inferring a constitution where none exists, wrongly tampering with the decisions of elected politicians.

Israeli police intervene as protesters gathered in front of Mr Netanyahus office in West Jerusalem - Anadolu/Anadolu

The current turmoil is a reheating of Mr Netanyahus controversial attempts at judicial overhaul before Oct 7, which prompted months of protest.

His critics saw them as a naked attempt to blunt the legal constraints on his government and evade justice for his own alleged corruption (which he denies), whereas he argued it was an attempt to curb the power of unelected and increasingly liberal-biased judges.

As ever, the massacre of 2023 casts its shadow.

Mr Netanyahu continues to stall a full state commission inquiry into the failings that led to the Hamas attack, including political decisions.

That position has been put under increased strain in the last month by, first the publication of the IDFs self-commissioned report and, secondly, that of Shin Bet.

The military, as might be expected of professional soldiers, stuck rigidly to their self-imposed brief: their own performance, or lack of it, before and on the day of the attack.

Shin Bet, however, did not feel so constrained. Although they acknowledged their own failings, their report was seen as pointing the wider strategic finger of blame at Mr Netanyahus government, criticising the flow of Qatari money and the policy of keeping a lid on Gaza, rather than attacking Hamas.

Combined with the Qatar investigation, this sealed Mr Bars fate in the eyes of many commentators.

This weekend, Mr Netanyahus coalition partners from the far-Right parties are doubly delighted.

First, they are thrilled that Israel has restarted fighting in Gaza. But as key advocates of Israeli expansion in the West Bank, they are thought to be keen on a weaker Shin Bet.

Mr Sneh said: The violent settlers in the West Bank are aggressively against it because it is the only, only organisation that dares stand in front of it.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, a leading settler himself, withdrew his Otzma Yehudit faction from Mr Netanyahus coalition in January in protest at the ceasefire.

This week he returned to government, retaking his post as policing minister.

For many protesting outside Mr Netanyahus residence last week, the police have long lost any claim to be politically neutral, further enhancing the elite non-political status of Shin Bet in their eyes.

With his support now secure, and that of fellow settler finance minister Betzalel Smotrich, Mr Netanyahu has a far greater chance of getting his upcoming budget through the Knesset and keeping his government intact.

For a man currently on trial in his own country and the subject of an international arrest warrant, staying in power matters.

A demonstrator holds a Jewish menorah during a protest outside the Israeli Defence Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv - Jack Guez/AFP

What Mr Bars impending departure means for the remaining hostages is less clear.

In his letter, the intelligence chief suggested one of Mr Netanyahus motives was to avoid having to do a further deal with Hamas.

In reality, Mr Bar and his organisation have been successfully sidelined from the formal negotiations for some time anyway.

Whatever happens in the next few days, the constitutional storm will rage for a long while yet.

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The Netherlands has decided to contribute 65 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund.

Source: press service for Ukraine's Energy Ministry, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Roman Andarak, Ukraine's Deputy Energy Minister, thanked the Dutch government's Special Envoy for Ukraine, Erica Schouten, for the decision.

"This is considerable support for us and it will make a meaningful contribution to the ongoing repair campaign as we prepare for the next heating season. These funds will allow us to partially meet our immediate needs," Andarak noted.

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Schouten, in turn, emphasised that the energy sector will remain a key priority for her country in continuing to support Ukraine.

The meeting also tackled the issue of the equipment needs of Ukraine's fuel and energy sector, particularly in the gas production industry, which has recently experienced regular Russian attacks. Both parties agreed to explore further opportunities for cooperation in this area.

Background:

On 14 March, the Canadian government made an additional contribution of 33.4 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund.

Earlier, Iceland had transferred over 2 million to the Fund.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
As Elon Musk and DOGE work to shrink the federal government, City and County leaders across Florida are hearing from the states newly formed DOGE team for the first time.

Governor Ron Desantis created Floridas EOG DOGE team last month with an executive order, and this week, that team sent letters to local governments asking them to disclose information about their financial health.

The letter demands a response by April 8th, stating, If we do not receive a response from you within 45 days, it will be presumed that your county is in possible statutory violation and in need of assistance.

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The letter states that Floridas DOGE plans to use advanced technology to identify, review, and report on unnecessary spending within county and municipal governments.

Much like the Federal Department of Governmental Efficiency, the letter states Floridas DOGE will recommend legislative reforms and eliminate waste.

It warns the EOG DOGE team will soon start assessing publicly available information in the coming weeks.

The letter also asks officials to confirm whether theyve experienced any financial emergencies or distress as defined by the state statute, including failing to pay loans or operating a budget deficit.

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The letter was sent to officials on Tuesday, and by Thursday evening, Orange County had already sent a response telling the DOGE team, We are pleased to report that Orange County Government has NOT experienced any instances of financial emergency or distress as defined in Section 218.503(1), Florida Statutes, nor do we anticipate any potential financial distress in the next six months. "

Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek also publicly posted her response on Facebook, stating, This letter came yesterday, and I wasnt kidding when I said Oviedo was ready. YES, we will cooperate.

Sladek told Channel 9 that the city has not experienced any financial issues, adding that the city is audited by a third party every year and that checks and balances exist to keep the city healthy.

We never spend more than what we bring in. And thats under the state constitution. were not allowed to, said Sladek.

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Meanwhile, this week, the governor also called on local governments to allow DOGE to complete voluntary audits of its finances.

We are working with the Florida Legislature to get more prescriptive authority to go in and conduct audits of these local governments so taxpayers get the full picture of whats going on. But until that happens, counties that are willing to step up and ask for these audits are really leading by example, said the Governor in a video posted to X.

In that video, the Governor applauded Bay County Officials for volunteering for a DOGE audit.

On Friday, Orange County Commissioner Mayra Uribe told Channel 9 she has no issues with letting Floridas DOGE review Orange Countys budget.

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What is wrong with showing our books? It is not our money, it is the publics money, said Uribe.

Uribe told Channel 9 that Orange County remains the only Florida County with an independently elected comptroller who approves county spending and regularly conducts audits.

She added the county budgeting process is always open to the public.

There should never be a fear in having that audit. Were not perfect. But if something has happened, it needs to be corrected. Its better to correct it now and not allow that to continue, said Uribe.

On Friday, Channel 9 checked in with other local counties, which were all in various stages of complying with the DOGE letter.

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Officials in Osceola County told Channel 9 they had no financial issues and planned to respond soon.

Officials in Volusia County said they were conducting our due diligence and compiling information for a reply.

Meanwhile, a Brevard County official noted they initially viewed the letter as highly suspect " because it did not have a name attached, and they had not previously had contact with the EOG DOGE team. The official told Channel 9 that the county was also reviewing the letter.









Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Mar. 21North Idaho College will pay its former communications director Laura Rumpler $20,000 to settle a federal lawsuit.

Rumpler sued the college last year, alleging the board and president created an "unsafe" and "toxic" work environment that led her to resign in September 2023 amid the college's accreditation crisis.

"NIC categorically denies any and all wrongdoing or liability in the matter," NIC said in a news release Friday. "The decision to settle the case was based on the best interests of NIC, avoiding the high cost and distraction of litigation, and maintaining a positive path forward."

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Rumpler will get $14,000 and her attorneys will get $6,000, the settlement agreement says. NIC's board of trustees signed the agreement in February. As part of the agreement, Rumpler agrees not to disparage NIC.

The lawsuit is not one of the three previously mentioned as an accreditation concern by the college's accreditor, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Those suits, involving public records and open meeting law, have been resolved.

Last month, NWCCU removed the sanction NIC was under for board governance problems since 2022 and granted the college a one-year extension to bring a few remaining issues into compliance.

James Hanlon's reporting for The Spokesman-Review is funded in part by Report for America and by members of the Spokane community. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.
COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL)  The Columbus Police Department says nine gang members were arrested in connection with a drug bust.

CPD says Tyquis Brown, Clifford Davis, Marquis Davis, Tristian Davis, Braxton Deriso, Philip Mcclinton, Jalien Sanabria, Antonio Shaw and Jarquiz Williams were all arrested on gun, drug and theft charges.

Police say during the operation officers recovered the following:

3.52 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $16,265

10 firearms, including 2 reported stolen

$1,113 in currency

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CPD says its Special Operations Unit executed a search warrant at a house in the 7000 block of Sorrel Court, resulting in the arrests. The men face a total of 96 criminal charges related to drugs, firearms, and other offenses.

Anyone with information regarding gang activity is urged to call 911.

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TRENTON, N.J. (PIX11) Whether it was during his attachment to a Marine unit or aboard the USS Iowa, Jay Boxwell of Cranford dedicated his life to his country.

[I] was in a total of 38 countries in my 6 years in the military, said Boxwell.

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Today, as a 60 percent disabled veteran, he advocates for other vets. But like many, he doesnt qualify for property tax relief like 100 percent disabled vets receive.

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If passed into law, a bill in Trenton would allow partially-disabled veterans in New Jersey to a property tax rebate up to $5,000.

For me, it would have a huge impact on property tax, said Boxwell.

Right now, veterans designated by the VA as 100 percent disabled, like Carmine Chops Czapla of Toms River, are exempt from paying property tax.

Its a big thank you,' said Czapla, an Air Force veteran, and my comrades and I appreciate it. It helps us and our families extend our income just a little bit more, helps us be able to do a little bit more, and helps us to give back a little bit more, too.

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Under this bill, partially disabled vets rebate would match their percentage of disability. The bill also offers relief to disabled vets who rent. The bi-partisan bill has the support of many Trenton lawmakers.

This will be the most significant piece of veterans legislation that has ever been done in the State of New Jersey  by a mile, said Assemblyman Brian Bergen (R-NJ 26th District), an Army combat veteran.

Frankly, it just gave me a little chills just being part of it, said Assemblyman Alex Sauickie (R-NJ 12th District), one of the bills primary sponsors.

This is something thats so important to all of us, said Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (D-NJ 28th District), another primary sponsor.

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The bill advanced through committee earlier this week. If its passed into law, Boxwell says it will benefit the State.

New Jersey is starting to move the needle when it comes to recognizing and honoring their veterans, said Boxwell.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
Embattled New Jersey Mayor Gina LaPlaca is facing growing calls to resign days after she was busted on St. Patricks Day for allegedly driving drunk while picking her toddler son up from daycare.

Outraged residents of Lumberton Township packed a committee board meeting on Thursday to rally against the 45-year-old Democrat, who was absent from the event.

There is a huge black eye and black cloud over our town right now, local business owner Amy Callahan said during the public comment portion of the hearing, according to WCAU.

New Jerseys Lumberton Township Mayor Gina LaPlaca was arrested and charged with a DUI while driving her son home from day care on March 17, 2025. Lumberton Mayor Gina LaPlaca / Facebook

I do believe that we need to move forward as a community and for us to truly turn the page. I believe that cannot occur with her on our council, Callahan added.

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The frustrated residents comments were in response to an email she received from LaPlaca confirming that she would not resign from her mayoral position, which she has held for the past 3 years.

I will not be resigning my position. Our community needs to be more kind and understanding about people trying to better themselves. As we all know, there is a huge black eye and black cloud over our town right now, the email obtained by Fox 29 read.

LaPlaca was not in attendance at the meeting after she and her husband, Jason Carty, separately confirmed she was getting help for her addiction.

The former Anheuser-Busch regional director claimed her work for the town hadnt been affected by her legal woes.

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Despite my issues, which I am working diligently and responsibly to address and improve myself, my work for Lumberton has NEVER suffered or been neglected nor will it be, LaPlaca said.

Outraged residents pack the Lumberton Township Committee meeting on March 20, 2025. Fox 29 Philadelphia/YouTube

LaPlacas seat was left vacant during the meeting. Fox 29 Philadelphia/YouTube

LaPlacas fellow committee member Terrance Benson sided with the residents and called for her resignation.

My personal opinion is for the mayor to step down and to heal herself, Benson said.

Concerned residents werent given ease to the fact their mayor was still in charge while away seeking treatment.

She shouldnt be here, shouldnt be the mayor, one resident said.

Amy Callahan speaks to the four-member committee panel during the public comment portion of the meeting. Fox 29 Philadelphi/YouTube

Fox 29 Philadelphia/YouTube

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Public comments werent limited to the public comment portion of the hearing as throngs of people raced to LaPlacas social media accounts to call for her step down.

You are a disgrace, and danger to not only your child, but the public. Resign in shame, and get your life together! one commenter wrote.

Before selfishly endangering your child drunk driving. #resign, another wrote.

LaPlaca, the chairwoman for the townships Democratic Party, was first elected to the Lumberton Township Committee in 2020.

She was elected mayor by the five-person committee in 2022 and won reelection in 2023 and 2024.

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There is no charter or law that allows the remaining committee members to remove her from office, the townships attorney told the disgruntled crowd Thursday.

She was elected by you and the only way for her to be removed is for her to resign or for you to take whatever action you deem necessary to move forward with a recall election, the attorney said, according to the outlet.

LaPlaca is sworn in as mayor on Jan. 6, 2022. Gina LaPlaca / Facebook

LaPlaca raises up a drink in a Facebook post shared by her husband Jason Carty. Jason R Carty / Facebook

Police were alerted to LaPlacas alleged erratic behavior by another motorist who said the politician failed to maintain her lane and almost crashed into a utility pole.

LaPlaca told officers she had picked up her 2-year-old son from daycare and brought him home.

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She admitted to being drunk and there being an opened container of alcohol in the car.

LaPlaca with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in February 2020. Gina LaPlaca / Facebook

Police arrested and charged her with driving under the influence, reckless driving and endangering the welfare of a child.

She was released with a summons to appear in court on April 28.

Carty confirmed in a since-deleted Facebook post his wifes drinking problems and called for compassion as she sought treatment.

Please ignore the exaggerated political hyperbole and keep in mind her passion for helping others. This should not erase all the things she has accomplished for our community, Carty wrote.

The couple share their toddler son along with LaPlacas stepson from Cartys previous relationship.
Michael Martinez holds a photo of flood damage that occurred near the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire burn scar since the blaze nearly three years ago. "We're still here. We're still waiting," he said. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source NM)

Nearly three years after the biggest wildfire in New Mexico history, a small band of people who lost homes or endured other losses gathered in the Roundhouse on the sessions penultimate day, in hopes of reminding the public that many fire victims have not received the compensation they say they deserve.

On April 6, 2022, a small crew of federal wildland firefighters ignited a prescribed burn on a dry, windy day near Hermits Peak in Northern New Mexico. The blaze escaped containment lines and merged with another federal prescribed burn gone awry, burning an area the size of Los Angeles and destroying hundreds of homes.

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It wasnt just a loss of monetary wealth, said Michael Martinez, an insurance agent who was caring for his grandmother when the fire forced Las Vegas residents to flee. It wasnt just a loss of homes. It wasnt just a loss of forest. It was a loss of what I would call generational wealth.

Were not going to be able to share the beauty and the culture that was in this area for generations, because a lot of these people have been forced to relocate, he said.

Martinez organized a small gathering in the Roundhouse rotunda on Friday, displaying photos of burned homes and flooded acequias. One homeowner, Jane Lumsden, placed a photo of her houses charred remains and also her cat, Chai, lost in the fire.

Congress allocated $5.45 billion to compensate fire victims for a wide variety of losses. According to the latest figures, the federal claims office tasked with providing that compensation has paid out nearly $2 billion of that money.

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But, 1,080 days after the wildfighters ignited that prescribed burn, too many people are still waiting for compensation, particularly those who lost their homes in the fire, Martinez said.

Were still here, said Martinez, who said hes been awaiting compensation for lost property since May. Were still waiting.

A House memorial honoring the long wait and the efforts to rebuild after the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon passed a House committee unanimously on Thursday.

Call of the chair

Even as both floors took an evening break at approximately 5:15 p.m., no information had emerged about when the tax conference committee will meet to hammer out the rift between chambers on the tax package. The word around the halls is that the meeting is expected sometime Friday evening.

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The Senate returns to the floor at 7 p.m., the House will also return, but at the call of the chair.

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Cleared the floors

As of 5:11 p.m., the following bills cleared the House on Friday, day 59 of the 60-day session:

Senate Bill 155 would amend a section of the states criminal code pertaining to embezzlement, specifically allowing for the aggregation of multiple incidents of embezzlement within a 12-month period against one victim, among other changes.

Senate Bill 375 would allow early discharge for people who comply with probation and make other changes to parole.

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Senate Bill 159 would create a special license for independent movie theaters to sell beer and wine.

Senate Bill 376 would make multiple changes to state employees health benefits, including increasing the states contribution to employee health insurance premiums and reducing the amount state employees pay. The legislation also eliminates the state health benefits programs budget shortfall.

This bill will make a real difference for New Mexicos state employees, New Mexico Health Care Authority Secretary Kari Armijo said in a statement. By reducing health insurance costs for workers and closing the programs budget gap, were delivering real savings while ensuring long-term stability.

Senate Bill 31 would create a $150 million Natural Disaster Revolving Fund to provide zero-interest loans to replace or repair infrastructure damaged by natural disasters.

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Senate Bill 274 would amend current state statute to increase financial thresholds for state agencies and local governments regarding the sale, trade or lease of public property

Senate Bill 302 would create amplified background investigation requirements for people applying for gaming licenses, work permits and contractor access to facilities regulated under the Gaming Control Act and the New Mexico Bingo and Raffle Act

Senate Bill 303 would eliminate the need for gaming machines to meet the standards and specifications set by Nevada and New Jersey, and instead require they just meet standards set by state law.

Senate Bill 133 would amend the Educational Retirement Act to raise the maximum amount a retiree is allowed to earn annually from work after retirement with an affiliated employer  from $15,000 thousand to $25,000 without suspending retirement benefits.

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Senate Bill 343 addresses teacher salary rates, specifically removing exceptions currently in statute for vocational teachers.

Senate Bill 201 would authorize several state and legislative agencies to approve plans by the Public Education Department for programs funded by appropriations from the public education reform fund, which was created in response to the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit over inequitable education outcomes in the state.

Senate Bill 88 would create a new Medicaid trust fund, starting with $300 million, to support and match federal funds for the Medicaid health insurance program.

Senate Bill 16 would allow independent voters to participate in primary elections.

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Senate Bill 126 would increase the state rural universal service funds maximum obligation cap from $30 million per year to $40 million per year.

Senate Bill 383 would expand the use of revenue bonds to include rebuilding, repairing, replacing and hardening of municipal property damaged by a flood.

Senate Bill 364 would allow people with work authorizations from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to work as police officers.

Senate Bill 197 would allow local emergency medical services departments to sell bonds to be able to more easily afford ambulances.

Senate Bill 290 would raise marriage license fees from $25 to $55.

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Senate Bill 236 would create a motorcycle-sized version of the existing look twice for motorcycles license plate.

Senate Bill 142 would update the grid modernization grant program by asking EMNRD and PRC to create a roadmap, and add new grant programs.

Senate Bill 9 would align penalties for pipeline companies who violate safety regulations with federal standards.

Senate Bill 120 would permanently eliminate behavioral health services cost sharing.

The House voted not to pass Senate Bill 112, which would have created a new property tax exemption for student housing built on land owned by a higher education institution.

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The House recessed at 5:15 p.m. for a quick break and to maybe catch a bit of the Lobo game, House Speaker Javier Martinez said.

The Senate voted to concur on three bills the chamber had already passed, but were later amended on the House floor. The bills now head to the governors desk for consideration. Those bills include Senate Bill 480, which would require the Public Education Department to create a report of the high school students who do not graduate within four years and provide it to the Higher Education Department; Senate Bill 11, which would require local public school districts and charter schools to develop and adopt a wireless communication device policy; and Senate Bill 353, which would amend the Search and Rescue Act to create protocols for federal, state, local and tribal agencies when Search and Rescue is called in an emergency.

The Senate passed House Bill 206, which would allow the New Mexico Finance Authority to award loans or grants to qualifying projects from the water project fund; House Bill 240, which would allow the New Mexico Finance Authority to make grants and loans for drinking water projects and extends the repayment period to 10 years; House Bill 244, which would raise the minimum age of magistrate judges from 18 to 28 years old; House Bill 6, which would require employers working on projects funded by public bonds to pay the prevailing wage to their workers; House Bill 402, which would streamline and regulate credentialing of dental care providers; House Bill 41, which would allocate $13.25 million into the drinking water state revolving loan fund, the local government planning fund and the cultural affairs facilities infrastructure fund; House Bill 56, which would raise Medicaid reimbursement rates at birth centers to match the rate paid to hospitals for similar services; and House Bill 78, which would prevent insurance companies and pharmacy benefits managers from interfering with health care providers ability to acquire and sell prescription drugs at a discount.

Senators debated a provision to encourage development of brackish water for more than two hours on the floor before passing it with bipartisan support to the governors desk. House Bill 137, called the Strategic Water Supply, changed drastically over the session.

Sen. Linda Trujillo (D-Santa Fe) proposed an amendment that included additional language for protesting a project through an existing process with the Office of the State Engineer. The Senate rejected the amendment.

During debate, Sen. Angel Charley (D-Acoma) urged the state Legislature to fully fund and map the states aquifers before making a multimillion dollar investment to develop water sources, saying shes concerned about the extent of available water.

Its giving gold rush, its giving extraction, its giving not thinking seven generations ahead, Charley said on the floor about HB137.

Sen. Katy Duhigg (D-Albuquerque) asked one of the bills sponsors, Sen. George Munoz (D-Gallup), what about his position had changed as he opposed the Strategic Water Supply bill in the 2024 session.

Munoz said HB137 was a completely different bill noting that this version stripped language for treating oil and gas wastewater, and that he has always supported brackish water treatment and development.

HB137 passed on a 33-6 vote, six Democratic senators voted in opposition.

A debate on an alternative to conservatorships was derailed after a surprise amendment inserted language from a Senate Bill that failed to advance committees last week. House Bill 149, the Supported Decision-Making Act, became a debate on Senate Bill 166, which would redefine harm to self and harm to others in state law to allow for more people to be civilly committed into a locked facility. SB166 passed unanimously on the Senate floor on March 12, but failed to make it through House committees.

Senate Minority Floor Leader Sen. William Sharer (R-Farmington) introduced an amendment to HB149 to incorporate wording from SB166, drawing claims of overreach from Sens. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-Albuquerque) and Linda Lopez (D-Albuquerque), a sponsor of the proposed supported decision-making act. She called Sharers amendment overreaching what we can do.

Sharers response: This is the way the sausage is made, he said.

The amendment eventually passed by a 31-7 vote.

The Senate also eventually passed the Supported Decision-Making Act, which now goes back to the House for a concurrence vote.

The govs pen

As we noted on Thursday, the clock is ticking for some bills that have already landed on the governors desk. On Friday, she signed into law a bill reforming oversight of the Children, Youth & Families Department  a sore spot for her administration but not without some harsh words for the Legislature and Attorney General Raul Torrez.
Americans are increasingly less happy than residents of other countries, according to the World Happiness Report 2025, published Thursday, and now sit at the lowest point since tracking began in 2012.

Opinions vary as to why the United States ranks as the worlds 24th-happiest nation out of 147 countries studied and not closer to the top, where Finland reigns for the eighth consecutive year as the happiest nation in the world.

Released on whats recognized every March 20 as the International Day of Happiness, the studys results are sad, not happy, said Alicia Vanlandingham, behavioral health workforce manager at Pikes Peak State College in Colorado Springs.

Americas work ethic and other cultural norms contribute to residents lack of joy and well-being, she believes.

We work too much, we worry too much about what other people think, so many people are externally focused and not living in the moment  theyre always thinking about whats next, whats better and are not content  and were so individualistic and not so much focused on community," Vanlandingham said. A lot of other cultures have that collectivistic society where they work together, and its in their culture to share. I think were lacking that.

Researchers this year zeroed in on attributes that lead to happiness that many Americans may not consider to be valuable, notably the ideals of caring and sharing and the dual benefits gained by recipients of caring behavior and those who care for others.

Like mercy in Shakespeares 'Merchant of Venice,' caring is 'twice-blessed'  it blesses those who give and those who receive, the report states.

When you give you get out of your head and out of your problems and you realize there are things outside of you, bigger than you and your problems dont seem so impactful, Vanlandingham said.

The U.S. ranked 16th in donating, 15th in volunteering and 22nd in helping a stranger categories.

Published every year by the University of Oxfords Wellbeing Research Centre in partnership with the Gallup analytics firm, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the reports editorial board, the data ranks countries based on a single question from the Gallup World Poll, which asks respondents to imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to 10 at the top.

The top of the ladder represents the best possible life someone can have and the bottom represents the worst possible life.

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The question for respondents: On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?

All Nordic countries are prominent on the list, with Denmark coming in second to Finland, Iceland at No. 3, Sweden in fourth and Norway at seventh-happiest.

Others with high rankings included Costa Rica at No. 6 and Mexico at 10th, both making the Top 10 for the first time.

Poor mental health continues to be an issue for Colorado, which last year fell precipitously to 46th-worst in the nation for overall mental health, down from ranking 30th in 2023, according to Mental Health America. The organizations rankings noted declines in mental health outcomes and access to care as contributing factors.

What we hear from the people of Colorado is that they need more robust, easily accessible behavioral health services, Colorado Behavioral Health Administration Commissioner Dannette R. Smith said via email.

BHA is working every day to ensure that Coloradans can get the support they need, no matter where they are or their ability to pay, and support their journeys to whole-person health, including happiness.

Isolation from the pandemic days lingers, Vanlandingham said, with use of technology continuing to reduce face-to-face interaction and encounters.

The happiness report flags sharing a meal together with family or friends as being important to happiness, along with building connections to individuals or groups of people. Living in community also is beneficial, the study found, with households of four to five people in Mexico and Europe equating to the highest levels of happiness.

Judging by the response to Pikes Peak State Colleges new behavioral health program, which began last semester and has more than 200 students enrolled this semester and has become the largest department in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Division, there is a need for more study and workers in the field, Vanlandingham said. Coming soon is a bachelors degree in the field.

Happiness doesnt have to be an extravagant high youre riding all the time, Vanlandingham said. It could be just enjoying watching the sunset and being really content with that and not wanting anything else. And accepting where youre at in life.
Ashtabula County Prosecutor April Grabman announced Friday no charges would be pursued in an officer-involved shooting that took place on June 1, 2024 on Tryon Road in Saybrook Township.

John Perry was shot by police in the early morning hours of June 1, after a lengthy standoff.

From the evidence presented, it is clear that law enforcement officers were legally justified in the use of deadly force that led to Perrys death, Grabman said in a letter.

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According to the letter, Perrys neighbors called 911 just after 7 p.m. on May 31, 2024, reporting Perry was pointing a gun at people.

The Ashtabula County Sheriffs Office responded to the scene, along with members of Perrys family, Grabman wrote.

A family member of Mr. Perry approached the residence to talk with him in an attempt to de-escalate the situation; however, Mr. Perry continued to pose a threat, she said in the letter. Mr. Perry stepped back outside and pointed his shotgun in the direction of his family member and responding deputies.

Deputies escorted the family member to safety, Perry went back inside his home and the Lake County Multi-Jurisdictional SWAT team was called to the scene, according to the letter.

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The SWAT team made attempts to communicate with Perry through a loudspeaker, but he played music loudly and refused to come outside, Grabman said. Police deployed a drone to see what Perry was doing inside the residence, and they saw him pacing back and forth inside the home, still carrying the shotgun.

Perry then fired the shotgun at one of the armored vehicles that was occupied by a law enforcement officer, Grabman said in the letter.

Police threw a phone into the house to communicate with Perry, but he threw it back, the letter states, then fired a second shot at the armored vehicle.

Officers then attempted to deploy OC [tear] gas inside, which was unsuccessful due to an equipment malfunction, Grabman said in the letter. An officer moved from one armored vehicle to another to retrieve functioning equipment. During the transition, Mr. Perry was observed in the window with the shotgun aimed and ready to fire at the officer in motion.

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Officers then used deadly force in order to neutralize the active threat, which ultimately resulted in Mr. Perrys death.

Law enforcement was on-scene from 7:38 p.m. May 31 to 3:16 a.m. June 1 attempting to de-escalate the situation, Grabman said in the letter.

Ashtabula County Sheriff William Niemi contacted the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which responded to the scene and completed an independent investigation. BCI then forwarded their findings to the Ashtabula County Prosecutors Office.
NorCal fentanyl dealer Mr. Sneeze pleads guilty to murder

(KRON)  A Northern California fentanyl dealer pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the overdose death of 20-year-old Gillian Murray.

On May 6, 2022, Kamal Babatunde Yusuf sold counterfeit blue M30 oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl to Murray and her boyfriend in Folsom. Murray and her boyfriend went home and consumed one pill each. Murrays boyfriend woke up and found her unresponsive, not breathing, and called 911. When first responders arrived on scene, she was pronounced dead. Toxicology results revealed she died from acute fentanyl poisoning.

Following Murrays death, the El Dorado County Sheriffs Office began investigating.

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Detectives discovered Yusuf conducted sales through Snapchat under the alias Mr. Sneeze. He instructed buyers to start with a half to avoid overdose, demonstrating knowledge of its lethal nature, prosecutors said.

A search warrant executed at Yusufs residence resulted in the seizure of thousands of

counterfeit fentanyl-laced M30 pills. While in custody, Yusuf was recorded in jailhouse calls instructing his brother and an associate to erase data from his phone to obstruct the investigation, prosecutors said.

New details emerge after Santa Rosa students die from drug overdoses

Yusuf had personally overdosed on fentanyl prior to Murrays death, proving he was aware of

its risk, according to investigators. Despite this knowledge, Yusuf continued to distribute fentanyl-laced substances with full awareness of their potential consequences, El Dorado County District Attorneys Office wrote.

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This conviction establishes clear accountability for fentanyl dealers whose actions result in death. This prosecution reflects the gravity of the fentanyl crisis and the legal consequences that will follow, District Attorney Vern Pierson said.

Yusuf will be sentenced on May 23. He faces a prison sentence of 15 years to life.

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HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT)  Southeastern Illinois College (SIC) announced a welding student took first place in the student division at the 2025 Welding Competition hosted by the Southern Indiana Career and Technical Center in Evansville on Saturday.

Officials say Jaxen Simmons, a dual credit student from Norris City Omaha Enfield High School, competed in the 14-18 age group, going up against students from across the region. Fellow SIC welding student Clinton Rhodes of McLeansboro represented the college in the 19-22 apprentice group. While Rhodes did not place in the top rankings, he won a Lincoln welding hood during a prize drawing. A total of 44 contestants competed across three age groups during the event.

Carmi High School dual credit students tour Elastec facility

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We had a great day at the competition, said SIC welding instructor Mark Thomas. Im proud of both Jaxen and Clinton for representing SIC well. It was a great experience, and were thankful to NIX for sponsoring the event and to SICTC for hosting it.

SIC/NCOE dual credit student Jaxen Simmons took first place at the SICTC welding competition in Evansville. (Courtesy: SIC) SIC welding student Clinton Rhodes of McLeansboro shows off the Lincoln welding hood he won during a prize drawing at the SICTC welding competition in Evansville. (Courtesy: SIC)

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. (WWLP)  A routine traffic stop in North Adams led to a significant narcotics seizure and the arrest of a local man on drug trafficking charges.

According to North Adams Police Department, on Wednesday, March 19, detectives conducting surveillance at a location in the city observed what appeared to be drug-related activity.

Shortly after, officers stopped a vehicle that had departed from the location as part of their ongoing investigation.

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During the stop, Officer Cogswell and his K9 partner, Rocky, were called in to inspect the vehicle. K9 Rocky alerted officers to the presence of narcotics, leading to a search of the vehicle. Investigators seized approximately 395 grams of cocaine and crack cocaine, with an estimated street value between $23,700 and $31,600, as well as $11,505 in cash and a digital scale.

Courtesy of North Adams Police Department

The driver, identified as Johnathan Bump Sr., of North Adams, was arrested and charged with trafficking cocaine in an amount of 200 grams or more, a violation of Massachusetts General Law Chapter 94C, Section 32E. Bump Sr. was initially held on $25,000 cash bail and later arraigned in Northern Berkshire District Court on March 21, where a judge set his bail at $10,000 cash.

North Adams Police Chief Mark Bailey commended the officers for their work in removing a significant quantity of narcotics from the community, the investigation remains ongoing.

Local News Headlines

WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.

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SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  Three North County residents appeared in federal court Thursday on accusations that they used children to help them in an illicit psilocybin mushroom operation.

Prosecutors said Randal and Rebecca Vance, aged 42 and 41 respectively, along with Randals longtime friend, Keir Ceballos-Rivera, 33, employed children to help them cultivate, produce and distribute psilocybin mushrooms.

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A news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of California Thursday stated Randal Vance and Cellabos-Rivera were charged with conspiring to use and employ minors to produce a controlled substance.

Vance was also charged with distributing a controlled substance to minors and possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.

All three defendants have been charged with conspiring to distribute a controlled substance and conspiring to obstruct justice by destroying evidence. They were arrested Wednesday.

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Prosecutors said the children were 9 and 11 years old when they became involved in the scheme to harvest psilocybin at locations on Ash Street in Fallbrook and Lilac Road in Bonsall.

One instance occurred on or around Oct. 18, 2023, when Randal Vance texted a photograph of one of the children holding a psilocybin mushroom in front of his face at the Fallbrook location and mentioned that the 11 year old helps me grow them.

Prosecutors added that one of the children, who was a student at Lincoln Middle School in Oceanside at the time, told Vance he was selling a psilocybin capsule to a friend for $3. Vance allegedly responded, Nice! Make sure your friends parents dont find out or you and I are in big big trouble.

Another message from Vance to a co-conspirator included a photo of one of the children holding a large mushroom stated, Its good for kids brains. He later identified the other child as 9 years old, saying, Yeah I usually do a half dose of microdose capsules for them and .05 every other day for them. Its such a difference too.

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While executing search warrants at the Ash Street location on Oct. 4, 2024, law enforcement officials found over 200 pounds of fresh psilocybin mushrooms, 53 pounds of dried mushrooms, 35 pounds of psilocybin chocolate bars and 18 pounds of inoculated substrate meant to grow the mushrooms.

Additionally, 25 pounds of dried mushrooms were found at the Lilac Road location, along with five pounds of psilocybin chocolates and five pounds of psilocybin capsules. They also seized molds used to make the psilocybin chocolate bars.

Authorities also seized six firearms from the Lilac Road location, illegally possessed by Randal Vance, according to the U.S. Attorneys Offices release.

He was arrested that day. Prior to that arrest, Vance had been on out on bond pending state charges, the release stated. The three defendants were believed to have attempted to destroy evidence by deleting phone messages and taking down websites related to their operation.

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A federal judge granted a request that the Vances be held without bond because they are deemed a flight risk. Meanwhile, a detention hearing for Ceballos-Rivera is set for Tuesday.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
A Rome woman has been sentenced to prison for distributing fentanyl.

In February 2024, the Drug Enforcement Administrations Rome, Georgia field office received a tip that Deaja Simone Clemons, 29, was dealing fentanyl in the Rome area.

The investigation revealed that during February, she sold 121 blue pills marked with M30 that contained fentanyl.

The counterfeit pills were made to resemble oxycodone 30 mg pills.

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She sold 60 of those pills in Rome and 61 in Cedartown, Georgia.

According to information presented in court, DEA special agents and Polk County police officers followed Clemons from Rome to Polk County in April 2024.

Polk County officers stopped Clemons on her way back to Rome and during a search of her car, found 124 blue, counterfeit M30 pills containing fentanyl and $3,922 in cash.

She was arrested and during the investigation that followed, DEA special agents learned that she had been selling about 300 fentanyl pills a week for about three months.

Clemons was sentenced to five years and three months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.

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She was convicted on Dec. 13, 2024 after she pleaded guilty.

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North Korea has established a new AI hacking department

The new group will be called 'Research Center 227'

North Korea carried out many cyber offensives in 2024, including a fake interview campaign

The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) has established Research Center 227 according to reports from Daily NK.

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This research center reportedly plans to operate around the clock to immediately respond to real-time information from North Korean intelligence agencies.

In late February, the Supreme Commander issued an order to the RGB under the General Staff Department to enhance overseas information warfare capabilities. This order included instructions to establish Research Center 227 for hacking technology research a source told Daily NK.

Persistent operations

The research center is likely to be focused on "strengthening hacking capabilities and develop hacking technologies and programs in order to neutralize western cybersecurity systems and critical infrastructure.

These offensives will primarily aim to steal information and disrupt adversary computer networks.

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The center will reportedly recruit around 90 computer experts and graduates from high-profile university and doctoral programs, the source confirmed;

These are not cyber warriors who directly carry out information warfare missions in foreign locations, but internal research staff who develop offensive programs. With the establishment of Research Center 227, the RGBs cyber operational capabilities will be significantly strengthened in the future.

Cyber operations in North Korea have been launched increasingly in recent times, especially from the notorious Lazarus group, which has been observed spreading malware through various large-scale attacks, and deploying infostealers to grab credentials from western organizations.

Notably, North Korean hackers have been running the Contagious Interview campaign with fake interviews or job adverts which prompts victims to download malware disguised as video conference software.

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Also included in this campaign is a series of cybercriminals faking their identities in order to take up software jobs, most likely in order to gain access to critical service systems and information from large western firms, or other fraudulent behavior.
CLEVELAND (WJW)  We ride for those who died, is their motto and inspiration.

Its called the Police Unity Tour and brings hundreds of officers together from across the country to honor those who have died in the line of duty.

Rain or shine, they bicycle from New Jersey to Washington, D.C. and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, raising money to support the memorial.

Sadly its the only memorial in Washington, D.C. that grows, said Cleveland Police Sgt. Tom Ross. In 100 years, theyll still be adding names to that memorial and its not lost on us at all.

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NE Ohio school official shares concerns about dismantling Dept. of Education

The annual and emotional event takes place in May during National Police Week but is front and center right now for those participating.

Team Ohio is comprised of 18 members from Bluffton Police Department, Brooklyn Heights Police Department, Cleveland Division of Police, Euclid Police Department, Macedonia Police Department, Toledo Police Department and Xavier University Police Department. Additionally, three Richfield officers will be riding with a different team.

A fundraiser to support Team Ohio is being held Saturday, March 22 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Mary Queen of Peace Parish Center, 4427 Pearl Road in Cleveland.

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All money raised goes to the National Law Enforcement Memorial, he said.

Ross will be riding with Team Ohio for the second time.

He and detective Jim Skernivitz had discussed taking part in the fundraiser, but tragically, the 53-year-old was killed while undercover on Sept. 3, 2020.

So last year, Ross rode with Jims picture on his bike.

So its quite a journey for us, he said.

Spring means increase in littering across Ohio: How you can help

Around 24,000 names are currently on the national memorial, including many from Ohio.

This year will be especially emotional for Northeast Ohio officers after 23-year-old Euclid Officer Jacob Derbin was ambushed in May and 27-year-old Cleveland Officer Jamieson Ritter was killed in July serving an arrest warrant.

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Especially our local officers who were so young and had an entire life ahead of them at the same time we have Macedonia officers who are riding for officers killed decades ago, said Ross.

The entire effort, he said, makes sure everyone in law enforcement and their loved ones know that their sacrifice will never be forgotten.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
(FOX40.COM)  A city in Northern California recently passed an ordinance that declared itself a non-sanctuary city.

 Video Above: Northern California Sheriffs Office to work with ICE on illegal immigration

According to the American Immigration Council, sanctuary cities provide immigrants regardless of legal status with resources such as English-learning classes and documents to obtain drivers licenses. Sanctuary cities also protect immigrants from deportation by not cooperating with federal authorities. Over the past decade, an increasing number of states, counties, and cities have declared themselves as sanctuaries.

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On March 4, the Oroville City Council unanimously passed a resolution to be a non-sanctuary city for criminals, specifically, illegal immigrants. Oroville is located in Butte County and is about 70 miles north of Sacramento. It is one of only two cities within the state to not be a sanctuary city. The other known non-sanctuary city is Huntington Beach in Southern California.

Orovilles resolution was passed amid legal action being taken against the Trump administration by several cities including Sacramento, Oakland, and San Francisco over a cut in federal funding from sanctuary cities.

Northern California sheriffs office to work with ICE: Public safety first

The city opposes any policies or practices that harbor or protect individuals from prosecution by state or federal law enforcement agencies, as such actions may place our citizens at unnecessary risk, the resolution said. The City of Oroville believes that cooperation with federal authorities is essential to to reduce crime and safeguards its citizens.

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(FOX40.COM)  Law enforcement in Northern California was called to investigate a gun incident at an elementary school campus on Friday morning.

 Video above: How to report a public safety threat

According to the El Dorado County Sheriffs Office, a school resource officer was the first responder in the incident. A student was found to have brought a plastic airsoft gun on campus. It is unclear which school was involved, but deputies said the incident happened in Placerville.

School Resource Officers investigated the incident and based on the investigation, it was determined that there is no threat to students or the community, ECSO said.

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SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is asking Caltrans to conduct a vulnerability assessment on the Coronado Bridge.

An investigation launched by the board a year after the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore shows that 68 bridges have an unknown level of risk of collapse because the bridges were built before 1991 when upgraded guidance was released.

San Diegos hotel room tax increases soon

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The NTSB says the report does not mean the Coronado Bridge or the 67 others will collapse, but it wants Caltrans and other bridge owners to conduct vulnerability assessments and create a comprehensive reduction plan if there appears to be a risk higher than the guidance threshold.

This vulnerability assessment is essentially a mathematical risk model used to determine how susceptible a bridge is to collapse from vessel collision and its not new, said Jennifer Homendy, chair of NTSB.

Officials said their investigation into the deadly Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse determined that running a vulnerability assessment would have allowed Maryland officials to take proactive measures to reduce the risk of a collapse.

Had they ran the calculation on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the MDTA would have been aware that the bridge was almost 30 times greater than the risk threshold AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) sets for critical essential bridges, 30 times greater, said Homendy.

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Plan for suicide prevention barrier on Coronado Bridge moves forward

She added it was almost 15 times greater for Pier 17 where the ship struck.

San Diego History Center archives show that the Coronado Bridge was built 200 feet high and at a curve to accommodate large ships in the San Diego Bay.

Nonetheless, NTSB leaders the board needs action.

Public safety depends on it, said Homendy.

The board also recommends that the Federal Highway Administration, Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers create a team to help bridge owners evaluate and reduce the risk, which could mean upgrades or changes to operations.

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FOX 5/KUSI reached out to Caltrans, which owns the Coronado Bridge, for a response.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is now sending drones out on 9-1-1 calls to do the business that their Candy Crush-addicted human officers are too busy to tackle  and surveilling everyone in sight while they do it.

As the cybersecurity news site The Record reports, these "drones as first responders"  or DFRs, as the NYPD calls them  can fly up to 45 miles per hour, filming everything on the block with telephoto cameras that can, per manufacturer Skydio, identify faces and license plates from nearly a mile away.

Launched last year as part of embattled mayor Eric Adams' quest to shove technology into everything regardless of public opinion, these drones were initially only going to respond to "select priority public safety calls," according to a press release issued last November that formally announced the program.

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As The Record notes, however, the NYPD's definition of "select priority" seems awfully vague  and it doesn't actually report how many drones are deployed on police calls, either.

Prior to the program's official launch, the department revealed that they planned to use drones to monitor house parties that receive noise complaints over Labor Day Weekend in 2023, which also coincides with J'Ouvert festivities that take place in New York's Caribbean communities. In fact, that festival was cited specifically by a former NYPD commissioner who called the drones a "wonderful thing."

If shelling out for party-surveilling drones seems to you like a misuse of taxpayer funds, you're not alone. In an interview with The Guardian in 2023, a senior strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union called the NYPD's drone usage "dystopian" and a form of "racialized discrimination."

Now that their use has been expanded to do more than just allowing cops to be remote spectators at peoples' backyard parties, those epithets feel prescient.

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Because the US Supreme Court has ruled that law enforcement can legally surveil anyone's outdoor property without a warrant via drone, the NYPD has followed suit. Per NYPD policy, drones aren't allowed to operate inside a property warrantless, but outside doesn't count, basically.

As constitutional rights lawyer Sidney Thaxter told The Record, that means the NYPD could film someone in their backyard  and because the department's Skydio drones are equipped with telephoto lenses, they could do so from a high enough altitude that anyone who wasn't looking at the sky wouldn't notice the lurking aircraft.

"They can set a drone up in the air far enough away that you can't hear it," Thaxter said, "and they can zoom in and can literally see what's in your hands."

While we don't know exactly how often the NYPD is using their drones, the department has already bragged about deploying them to help them surveil protests and the people demonstrating at them in recent years. After protests erupted across the city in response to the conflict in Gaza, police boasted to the press that they'd used drones 13 times to make a whopping 239 arrests  all in a single week, and all in Brooklyn.

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"We got the whole thing on video," assistant NYPD commissioner Kaz Daughtry said, referring to pro-Palestinian protesters who were caught on video throwing eggs and bottles at cops during an October 2021 demonstration in South Brooklyn. "Well be turning that evidence over to the Brooklyn DAs office to help enhance the arrests."

Amid a larger culture of crackdowns on freedom of speech in New York and around the country, this kind of drone use does indeed feel dystopian  or, as Albert Fox Cahn of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project put it to The Record, as if the NYPD was treating "Black Mirror" as an "instruction manual."

More on NYPD tech: AI Completely Failed to Catch CEO Killer, With Cops Instead Relying on Random McDonalds Employee
Habitat for Humanity has acquired a city lot where a condemned house had been demolished to build a new home, its 12th in OFallon.

After the property at 513 E. Washington had fallen into disrepair, the city took over, tore down the house, and maintained the lot over the past several years.

As it has worked with the city on obtaining available property, Habit for Humanitys Lewis and Clark affiliate, proposed a purchase, and the city agreed. At the March 17 OFallon City Council meeting, Mayor Herb Roach signed a quit claim deed after aldermen approved it.

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Ward 3 Aldermen Jim Campbell and Andrea Fohne, who work with the group, abstained from the vote, and the resolution passed 11-0.

City Attorney Todd Fleming determined by law that the city could sell it to the nonprofit organization for $1,000.

The city has previously sold lots to the group before. In 2017, they sold one on Elm Street. In 2021, they sold three properties on Booster Road at 112, 126 and 132.

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity is a global nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide decent places to live for every man, woman, and child  and work in communities across all 50 U.S. states and 70 countries.

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With its ecumenical Christian ministry component, they welcome support from all backgrounds. People come together in a common cause to help break down barriers and generate equity, respect, and lasting change, Campbell said.

The local group has been active since 2013 in what they describe as a community effort. Funds collected through donations and fundraisers are used to build the homes. The group receives discounts and donations for supplies from many businesses, and churches, civic organizations, and individuals have pitched in too.

The local chapter has built 11 homes with the goal of providing hard-working families a stable and safe environment, he said.

Habitat for Humanity of Illinois has an open-door policy, which states: All who believe that everyone needs a decent, affordable place to live are welcome to help with the work, regardless of race, religion, age, gender, political views or any of the other distinctions that too often divide people.

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Lloyd Soeters, the local construction chair, has said before: Its really Gods work, but its our hands. Its an entire community effort. When you see the families be successful, see them smile, its worth it. We get to know them pretty well. Were helping people who want to help themselves.

A look at a home constructed in 2024

Homeowner Selection Process

Campbell, a retired hospital administrator, said the homeowners are selected in an open application process and must meet criteria, including need, ability to pay and willingness to partner.

The homeownership journey includes financial classes and completing 200 hours of sweat equity  working alongside construction volunteers to build their future home, at the ReStore and in the community.

Each qualified Habitat partner family is a first-time homebuyer with a demonstrated need for affordable housing. To be considered, they must attend a one-hour orientation meeting.

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In addition to making affordable monthly mortgage payments, partner families are responsible for the down payment, which provides the foundation for their future stability.

The OFallon Area Habitat for Humanity is now accepting applications for potential homeowners  construction is scheduled to start in the summer of 2025.

One must attend a 1-hour information session to receive an application and be considered for the program. They are planned for Wednesday, March 26, at 6 p.m. and Saturday, March 29, at 10 a.m., both at St. Clare Catholic Church, 1411 Cross St.

For more information or to RSVP, email Karen at kshees@aol.com or call 618-670-6632.
OCEANSIDE, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI)  A group of protesters gathered in Oceanside Friday night in honor of an 11-year-old girl who died by suicide in Gainesville, Texas after her mother claims she was bullied about her familys immigration status.

While the group was small, their message was loud.

I came up with the idea to do this protest was for the little kids who have to do this alone, protest organizer Elena Luna said.

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She wanted to honor 11-year-old Jocelynn Rojo Carranza who died by suicide on Feb. 8 after being bullied about her familys immigration status.

Its unfortunate that she had to take her life because she felt that she was going to be by herself because her family would be taken away, said Dulce Gonzales, one of the protesters.

Luna says her fellow classmates still feel that fear, adding shes even seen Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers outside her school and at her bus stop.

A lot of kids I know dont come to school because of ICE because they know that theyre sitting outside our school, she said.

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Luna says that fear even forced some of her friends to move out of San Diego.

It made me lose a lot of friends, but it made me also realize how scary it can be to know you have to be hiding all the time, Luna explained.

The Department of Homeland Security reports in the first 50 days of the Trump administration ICE made 32,809 arrests, nearly half of those were convicted criminals.

The administration calls these arrests necessary to ensure American safety, but not everyone agrees.

Especially for my grandkids, I dont want them going through what were going through right now, said Mario Melgoza Bravo, another protester.

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Thats why the group hopes to see an effort to keep families together and protect the children Luna says are most impacted by mass deportations.

Immigration isnt a negative word. Its not a bad word to say. Immigration is just moving around the world, she said.

While Luna wants to see action on a federal level, she also wants to see local schools encourage ethnics courses to support students of different cultures.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
PINE BLUFF, Ark.  An officer with the Pine Bluff Police Department sprung to action while off duty to save lives as a fire threatened a neighborhood Wednesday.

As the saying goes, you cant be everywhere at once, and on Wednesday, the Pine Bluff Fire Department had its hands full fighting more than 10 fires.

I-530 clear after vehicle fire in Little Rock

As the fire department was working hard, another fire had ignited.

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This fire sparked in a wooded area behind Steve Drive that wasnt accounted for until Pine Bluff police officer Lakeisha Jones noticed it and quickly responded.

I was on my way home when I saw a fire, Jones said.

Jones had just worked a full shift and was headed home, but while on the highway she noticed the fire burning near homes.

I could hardly get back in the backyard because it was so much smoke, she said.

When arriving at the scene, she quickly responded by alerting people and getting them out of their homes.

I immediately jumped out of my vehicle and started knocking on doors, she said.

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Ten homes damaged by fires in Little Rock

Residents in the area were completely unaware a fire was happening just steps away from their house.

I thought peoples stuff was going to burn down, Jones said.

As people exited their homes, Jones started directing neighbors to gather water hoses to contain the fire as much as possible as it picked up.

Jones said after she called the fire into the station, she was notified that assistance would be delayed due to the fire department working other fires in the city.

To know that the fire department wasnt going to assist right then, Im like, Well what do I do? she said.

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Jones said it took about 30 minutes before fire crews arrived.

It was overwhelming, she described.

But thankfully, Jones was there at the right time, which potentially saved multiple peoples lives.

Its my job to help, she said.

Arkansas Forestry Commission fights nearly 100 wildfires Wednesday

Jones said three other officers responded to the scene after her.

She said out of all the doors they knocked on, only six people were home at the time. There was no damage to any houses.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK.
Mystic  With thousands of employees pouring out of Electric Boat in Groton at the end of their shift, the submarine manufacturer and the city plan to try out a pedestrian-only area to protect workers.

City of Groton Mayor Keith Hedrick said the goal is to start a three-month trial period for a pedestrian area on Eastern Point Road near Electric Boat's main gate on April 28. The area will be configured so emergency vehicles can still get through.

That was just one of the updates shared at the annual State of Groton and Stonington event Friday at The Mystic Hilton, sponsored by the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce with The Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut.

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Electric Boat has multiple building projects throughout the Groton shipyard to upgrade its facilities in preparation for the next-generation, Columbia-class submarines, Hedrick said. As more than 11,000 of its employees work in Groton, the submarine manufacturer and local officials are working on a parking and pedestrian safety.

Groton Town Manager John Burt said 29,000 people work in Groton, including the about 11,000 at Electric Boat, about 11,000 at the Naval Submarine Base and about 4,000 at Pfizer. Other growing businesses include maritime technology company ThayerMahan Inc. and Doncasters, a manufacturer of high-precision alloy engineering and aerospace parts.

Burt said a 2023 housing study update shows a demand for 6,500 new housing units in Groton over the next decade, especially with the hiring at Electric Boat.

He said housing in the pipeline includes apartments proposed for 517 & 529 Gold Star Highway and adjacent land, 1002 Route 12, and 375 Drozdyk Drive, as well as the planned expansion of the Fairview retirement community.

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Hedrick said Groton Utilities is working with Electric Boat to provide power resiliency and redundancy as the company becomes a larger consumer of electricity.

Hedrick said Pfizer's Groton facility remains a vital part of Pfizer's research and development platform. He said one third of the company's global budget for renovation and construction worldwide will be spent in Groton, as Pfizer converts administrative space into laboratory space.

Hedrick said the city recently approved an ordinance for resident-only parking on certain streets and also is pursuing authorization from the state to install traffic cameras for speed enforcement.

Tourism and calls for a pause on unfunded mandates

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Stonington First Selectwoman Danielle Chesebrough said the town is in the second phase of its zoning regulations update, a process that likely will continue through the early to mid-summer. She encouraged people to engage with the Planning and Zoning Commission, which is looking at issues from environmental issues to parking.

She said the process for updating the towns Plan of Conservation and Development, required every 10 years, started this week, and a survey is available online.

Groton also is updating its Plan of Conservation and Development.

Chesebrough said Stonington plans to start work in the next few months to line sewer pipes under Route 27, which will help stop stormwater from leaking into the overburdened Mystic sewer system. It also means the town can lift its moratorium on development in Mystic.

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Chesebrough highlighted the importance of speaking with a collective voice, so the state not only hears from local officials, but also nonprofit and business leaders about tourism-related bills in which a portion of certain tax revenue would be returned to the municipality. She said they should also ask the state to pause unfunded mandates.

Tony Sheridan, president and CEO of The Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, agreed, saying We need to speak up on that because all it's doing is passing the buck to the local communities."

Sheridan also said it's important to speak up about the importance of tourism.

Stonington Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Butler spoke about the initiatives in the schools to get students ready for "employment, enrollment or enlistment." She highlighted programs, including a certified nurse assistant program, a partnership with Veolia, which runs the town's wastewater facilities, and a program in which students interested in the construction trades can earn 150 hours of pre-apprenticeship credit.

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Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce President Bruce Flax spoke about a "Community Proud program that each week features a community member on its website and social media.

The chamber also plans to park its traveling Visitor Center, a 1983 postal truck, in downtown Mystic this summer, he said.

k.drelich@theday.com
Filmed Play Promoting Commitment to Christian Faith Now Available on Prime Video

NEWS PROVIDED BY

South Kostner Productions

March 22, 2025

ATLANTA, March 22, 2025 /Standard Newswire/ -- The film of the inspirational new comedy play Final Audition, Last Chance for the Role of a Lifetime, written, directed and produced by Christian novelist and playwright John Ruane, is now available nationwide on Prime Video.

Final Audition presents the story of Chicago actress Sally Cochrane, who struggled for 30 years to land one big break to launch her career, but is ready to give up her dream and go back to Normal (Illinois). However, when she learns famous director, Nick Michaels, is returning to his Chicago roots to cast his next Broadway play, Sally must decide if she will do one Final Audition or just go back to Normal.

Throughout the play, Sally talks to God, praying for guidance and help to understand the path He wants her to take. In her 20s, she aspired to become a famous actress but could never land her one big break. Over the next 30 years, the challenges she faced are revealed with her connection to God a constant, leaning on the Lord for help and strength.

I believe Christians will strongly relate to Sally and her devotion to the Lord, said Ruane, who grew up on the southwest side of Chicago. Katelin Chesna does an incredible job playing the role of Sally. She is so convincing, so great!

Final Audition transports the audience back to 1993 in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago, where they will meet Sally, who manages the Wells Street Hotel, a unique establishment that mainly houses actors. Sally must keep order among the eccentric group of Broadway hopefuls, characters who reveal their quirks and foibles as they get to know each other preparing for the big audition. The comedy arises from their anxieties, interactions and quest for respect.

In 2024, Final Audition was performed on stage where it proved to be a big hit with audiences ranging from high school students through senior citizens, who gave overwhelmingly positive reviews of the play. Live performances of the play were filmed and edited to create this film version as well as a trailer to promote Final Audition.

Final Audition was produced by South Kostner Productions. More information is available at www.Finalaudition.net

SOURCE South Kostner Productions

CONTACT: www.finalaudition.net/contact
Ogden officials are launching efforts to see whether storage units have a place in the citys residential neighborhoods as a six-story apartment building in Salt Lake City made of repurposed shipping containers opens to new tenants.

They are currently allowed in Ogden as long as they're enclosed within another structure, like a garage. But City Councilman Ken Richey proposes allowing them as stand-alone accessory structures  if they're properly retrofitted. He says they could serve as workshops, mancaves, she-sheds and, possibly, accessory-dwelling units.

"If there's a viable way to make them look good and fit in the neighborhood with the siding and whatever, then it seems like it makes sense to me," Richey said at a City Council work session on Tuesday, when officials discussed the idea. Other council members seemed supportive of the idea, and now Ogden planning officials will try to craft a more concrete proposal for future consideration.

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As Utah contends with an acute housing shortage, Ogden officials also broached the notion of allowing shipping containers to be converted into accessory-dwelling units. ADUs, as they're known, are smaller secondary homes typically in the backyard of primary residences. "Maybe stepping it at a time, that might be ultimately where we end up with it," Richey said.

But that could be further off given the many rules that would have to be crafted governing things like plumbing and electrical wiring. At the same time, Rod Newman  one of the key forces behind Box 500 Apartments, a new Salt Lake City apartment building made of shipping containers  questions whether shipping containers represent the future of housing.

Ogden leaders launched debate Tuesday on allowing use of repurposed shipping containers in residential neighborhoods. The photo shows part of a city presentation on the topic. | Ogden city

"You can't get the affordability out of it," he said in an interview with KSL.com, referencing the cost and effort required to retrofit shipping containers into housing. He finally received the certificate of occupancy from Salt Lake City on Wednesday allowing him to actually rent out Box 500's 83 units, geared to low-income tenants per federal affordable housing guidelines.

Shipping containers, steel boxes used to truck or ship goods, have a place, but converting them into livable units, particularly multi-unit dwellings, is complicated, he's come to learn. Box 500, he said, was "an engineering feat" and he wonders whether shipping containers are "a fad." Modular construction using premade panels for walls, he maintains, is "the future."

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Still, Newman thinks shipping containers serve well as mancaves, garages, cafes and other small businesses. His company, Eco Box Fabricators, has handled numerous projects around Utah, Wyoming and Montana.

Ogden officials didn't delve deeply into the pros and cons of shipping containers. Aesthetics and making sure they blend well with their surroundings were key discussion points. Nevertheless, they seemed intrigued with the idea. "I think there's a place for it in our ordinances," said Councilman Bart Blair.

Meantime, Meleana White, of The Container Girls, a Salt Lake City-based firm that converts shipping containers for alternative uses, is bullish, perhaps not surprisingly. "Their steel construction makes them far more secure and weather-resistant than traditional wood sheds, and they offer a modern, industrial aesthetic that many homeowners love," she said.

They can serve as sheds, workshops, ADUs and more, and she thinks, depending on the conversion, they have broad appeal. If Ogden moves forward with these changes, it could set a great precedent for other cities looking to embrace innovative and practical housing and storage solutions, White said.
A man was sentenced to 300 months, or 25 years, in prison after pleading guilty to sexually exploiting a minor, according to the United States Attorneys Office of the Southern District of Ohio.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Arturo Navarrete-Juarez, 30, was federally charged in March of 2023, and pleaded guilty in July 2024.

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Navarrete-Juarez sexually abused a girl who was between nine and 10 years old and filmed it, according to court documents.

The FBIs Cincinnati division investigated child sexual abuse material on the internet that featured Navarrete-Juarez. Investigators say they were able to recognize Navarrete-Juarez in multiple videos because of his face, distinctive tattoos, and the apartment in the background of the videos.

The US Attorneys Office says Navarrete-Juarez does not have a legal status in the United States.

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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine gives the State of the State address in the Ohio House chambers at the Ohio Statehouse on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio. (Pool photo by Samantha Madar, Columbus Dispatch.)

Ohio Republicans praised President Donald Trumps executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine joined other Republican governors in attending Trumps signing of the executive order Thursday afternoon at the White House. The executive order does not automatically close the department since eliminating a federal agency requires congressional approval.

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I joined President Trump and several fellow governors at the White House in support of the presidents proposal to return education back to the states, DeWine said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. By giving states more authority over education, we will have the flexibility to focus our effort on tailoring an educational experience that is best for our children and meets Ohios needs, rather than trying to chase federal priorities.

The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce said the department agrees with DeWines statement, said ODEW spokesperson Lacey Snoke.

DEW agrees with Governor DeWines statement following yesterdays announcement.

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Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, said Trumps executive order is long overdue.

Education policy belongs in the states and the federal governments one size fits all meddling has hurt our country for decades, McColley said in a statement. President Trumps order will allow our 50 laboratories of democracy to deliver innovative solutions that meet each states unique needs.

The Department of Education was established as a cabinet-level agency by Congress in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter and it doesnt determine what is taught in schools. Instead, learning standards are set at the state level and curriculum is adopted by local school boards.

The department allocates Title I funds, which are federal funds given to school districts with a high percentage of low-income students, and administers the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a law guaranteeing a free public education for children with disabilities.

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Ohio school districts on average receive about 10% of their revenue from the federal government, Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro said. About 90% of Ohio students attended public school during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.

Every single student in Ohio will pay the price for the move to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, DiMauro said in a statement. Any measures to stop the vital work of Department employees to serve Ohios students or to reduce federal education funding will cause terrible harm to our students, our state, and our future.

About 16% of Ohio public school students had a disability during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Ohio education department.

Anyone who cares for a child who has struggled in school because of a disability or had to advocate for access to school services or opportunities should be concerned with the actions of the federal and state governments, regardless of political affiliation or how one voted in the last election, Policy Matters Ohio Executive Director Hannah Halbert said in a statement.

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Abolishing the Department of Education will mean chaos and uncertainty for Ohio schools, Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper said.

The need for federal funding and support for public education will be even more critical if our upcoming state budget cuts school funding, as Governor DeWines own budget proposal does with $103 million in cuts to public school districts, she said in a statement.

The department announced earlier this month that about half of its staff was going to be laid off as part of the departments final mission.

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LONDON (AP)  Oleg Gordievsky, a Soviet KGB officer who helped change the course of the Cold War by covertly passing secrets to Britain, has died. He was 86.

Gordievsky died March 4 in England, where he had lived since defecting in 1985. Police said Saturday that they are not treating his death as suspicious.

Historians consider Gordievsky one of the eras most important spies. In the 1980s, his intelligence helped avoid a dangerous escalation of nuclear tensions between the USSR and the West.

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Born in Moscow in 1938, Gordievsky joined the KGB in the early 1960s, serving in Moscow, Copenhagen and London, where he became KGB station chief.

He was one of several Soviet agents who grew disillusioned with the USSR after Moscows tanks crushed the Prague Spring freedom movement in 1968, and was recruited by Britain's MI6 in the early 1970s.

The 1990 book KGB: The Inside Story, co-authored by Gordievsky and British intelligence historian Christopher Andrew, says Gordievsky came to believe that the Communist one-party state leads inexorably to intolerance, inhumanity and the destruction of liberties. He decided that the best way to fight for democracy was to work for the West.

He worked for British intelligence for more than a decade during the chilliest years of the Cold War.

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In 1983, Gordievsky warned the U.K. and U.S. that the Soviet leadership was so worried about a nuclear attack by the West that it was considering a first strike. As tensions spiked during a NATO military exercise in Germany, Gordievsky helped reassure Moscow that it was not precursor to a nuclear attack.

Soon after, U.S. President Ronald Reagan began moves to ease nuclear tensions with the Soviet Union.

In 1984, Gordievsky briefed soon-to-be Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ahead of his first visit to the U.K.  and also briefed the British on how to approach the reformist Gorbachev. Gorbachev's meeting with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was a huge success.

Ben Macintyre, author of a book about the double agent, The Spy and the Traitor, told the BBC that Gordievsky managed in a secret way to launch the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

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Most senior Soviet spy to defect

Gordievsky was called back to Moscow for consultations in 1985, and decided to go despite fearing  correctly  that his role as a double agent had been exposed. He was drugged and interrogated but not charged, and Britain arranged an undercover operation to spirit him out of the Soviet Union  smuggled across the border to Finland in the trunk of a car.

He was the most senior Soviet spy to defect during the Cold War. Documents declassified in 2014 showed that Britain considered Gordievsky so valuable that Thatcher sought to cut a deal with Moscow: If Gordievskys wife and daughters were allowed to join him in London, Britain would not expel all the KGB agents he had exposed.

Moscow rejected the offer, and Thatcher ordered the expulsion of 25 Russians, despite objections from Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, who fared it could scuttle relations just as Gorbachev was easing the stalemate between Russia and the West.

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Moscow responded by expelling 25 Britons, sparking a second round in which each side kicked out six more officials. But, despite Howes fears, diplomatic relations were never severed.

Gordievskys family was kept under 24-hour KGB surveillance for six years before being allowed to join him in England in 1991. He lived the rest of his life under U.K. protection in the quiet town of Godalming, 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of London.

Death not being treated as suspicious

In Russia, Gordievsky was sentenced to death for treason. In Britain, Queen Elizabeth II appointed him a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 2007 for services to the security of the United Kingdom. It is the same accolade held by the fictional British spy James Bond.

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In 2008, Gordievsky claimed he had been poisoned and spent 34 hours in a coma after taking tainted sleeping pills given to him by a Russian business associate.

The risks he faced were underscored in 2018 when former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned and seriously sickened with a Soviet-made nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury, where he had been living quietly for years.

The Surrey Police force said officers were called to an address in Godalming on March 4, where an 86-year-old man was found dead at the property.

It said counterterrorism officers are leading the investigation, but the death is not currently being treated as suspicious and there is nothing to suggest any increased risk to members of the public.
ONAWA, Iowa (KCAU)  After Wednesdays blizzard, people in Monona County are still powerless. While crews are still working on getting the power up and running again, many Onawa residents were left in the cold.

While the snow is starting to melt, Onawa residents spoke about what theyve done to stay warm being in the dark for over 48 hours.

Siouxlanders can still apply for low-income home energy assistance

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Weve been pretty cold, resident Monica Morgan said. We were without power since Wednesday morning, about 9:30, and we got out yesterday morning about 11:30 to come to the community center so my son and I can get somewhere warm.

Were on a fixed income and it makes it really hard, resident Edward Womack said. Luckily, the community has helped us out and things like that, and were hoping this ends soon because if not, we have a one-pound bottle of propane and we can run out. So Ive been basically hunkered in home and trying to keep warm.

While line crews are still working to restore power to dozens of homes, both Morgan and Womack said theyve both been in the dark  both in terms of power and the progress to get power back.

The hardest thing we had was trying to get information at first because everybody was hitting the cell towers for internet and it logged everything, just plugged it down, Wamock said. But now its doing well. We got information on whats going on and so were happy.

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This is the longest time weve been without electricity, Morgan said. So its been trying to keep updated with whats going on and with the power outage and how long its going to be and try to stay positive.

One Onawa resident told KCAU 9 that Monona County residents impacted by the blizzard are taking it day-by-day.

NAIA womens basketball tournament brings thousands of fans to Sioux City

Well, weve just been managing, the resident said. Try not to go stir crazy, do the best we can. Had a lot of help with the hospital. Everybody, food, community center. Everybodys just been wonderful.

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Residents are encouraged to visit the Onawa Community Center for information, shelter and food while power is being restored.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports.
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) A final goodbye was given today to a beloved Scranton firefighter who lost his battle with cancer following a courageous fight.

It was an emotional but beautiful service for Lieutenant Hopkins, as family and friends said their final farewell.

Hundreds gathered at Saint Peters Cathedral in Scranton to celebrate the life of Scranton firefighter, Lieutenant Kelly Hopkins.

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Remembering one of Scrantons finest

Comm center calling engine 4 Lieutenant Hopkins.

Hopkins, also known as Hoppy, served as a Scranton firefighter for 40 years not only was Hoppy a dedicated firefighter, but he was also a brother, father, grandfather, and a friend to many.

Everyone who had the privilege to spend time with hop left with a story and plenty of laughs. He brought a sense of energy and fun to every rule he did, a true life of the party no matter the context, expressed Chris Hopkins, Lieutenant Hopkins brother.

That was Hop! Always finding ways to set people at ease and make them feel comfortable, said Chris Hopkins.

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In firefighter tradition, Hopkins was honored with the flag.

The Scranton Fire Department acknowledges that Kelly Hopkins badge number 3, has responded to his last call on earth.

The service concluded with Hopkins taking one last ride on engine 4.

Hopkins will be deeply missed in the community, 28/22 News sends our condolences to Hopkins family, friends, and his brothers and sisters in the Scranton Fire Department.

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One of two US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees who escaped during a power outage at a Colorado detention facility earlier this week was captured Friday, authorities said.

Joel Gonzalez-Gonzalez was taken into custody by Adams County Sheriffs personnel early Friday morning, ICEs Denver office said in a statement, noting Gonzalez-Gonzalez will remain in ICE custody pending criminal & immigration proceedings.

The arrest was made about 12 miles from the ICE detention facility in the Denver suburb of Aurora, where Gonzalez-Gonzalez and another detainee escaped Tuesday night. The two are believed to have walked out of a set of doors that opened during a power outage. The other person who escaped remains at large.

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Gonzalez-Gonzalez, who is from Mexico, was detained at the ICE detention facility after first being held in a jail in Adams County last month on local criminal charges, including second-degree motor vehicle theft, Adams County Sheriffs spokesperson Sgt. Adam Sherman told the Associated Press.

CNN reached out to the sheriffs office for further details.

Gonzalez-Gonzalez called authorities to turn himself in and agreed to share information on his fellow escapee in exchange for having his case dismissed, his public defender said in court Friday, according to CNN affiliate KUSA.

In its statement announcing the arrest, ICE thanked the Adams County Sheriffs Office for the partnership with common goal of keeping the community safe! Earlier this week, federal and local authorities offered different versions of the response to the escape.

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In a statement sent to the AP Thursday about the escape, ICE said law enforcement authorities were notified immediately but declined to help in the search.

Federal officials and Republican lawmakers have criticized what are often known as sanctuary policies in places including Denver that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Last month the Trump administration sued the city of Chicago and the broader state of Illinois over their immigration enforcement policies.

The Aurora Police Department disputed ICEs claims about the timeline of this weeks escape, saying they werent notified until roughly two hours after the men were discovered missing, and over four hours after they were believed to have fled the ICE facility.

Aurora police said they have an agreement with the private company that runs the ICE detention center to help with escapees, but only if they are notified within 15 minutes of an escape.

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OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  A man was left injured following a shooting in southwest Oklahoma City overnight Saturday.

According to the Oklahoma City Police Department, officers responded to a shooting near S May Avenue and SW 68th Street at around 2:10 a.m. on Saturday.

Police say that a male and female were arguing near their apartment unit after leaving another altercation nearby. Shortly after, the suspect, who had followed them, approached the man, shot at him with a shotgun, and grazed his forehead.

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Deadly altercation outside Oklahoma City venue under investigation

One person injured after shooting in SW OKC. (KFOR)

One person injured after shooting in SW OKC. (KFOR)

The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Officials say the suspect has been arrested and the shooting is under investigation.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
If you are an observer of Washington events, you may have noticed that every White House press briefing and pronouncement by a member of the Trump team is preceded by an effusion of adulation for the President himself. Whatever action has been taken, decision made, or objective (supposedly) achieved, it is directly attributed to the Great Leader whose personal will is apparently the only force that determines the fate of the nation.

This North Korean level of idolatry for the magnificence of the presidential persona is not normal. It is, indeed, out of character with the spirit of the nations historical conception of itself as an egalitarian democracy in which anyone  the child of any family  may rise to the highest office in the land while still remaining, at heart, an ordinary American. Being elected president does not make you a god  or even the bearer of a sacred truth.

According to the Constitution, it does not even give you the power to do what you like. You are simply the head of the Executive branch of the federal government whose intentions may (indeed, should) be held in check by Congress and the courts.

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I reiterate this point, which I realise that I have made before on these pages, because I still find myself endlessly shocked by the flouting of the basic assumptions of American nationhood which were once ingrained in the consciousness of every schoolchild. Many presidents have been admired, lauded and even idolised  Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan. But they were not given this bizarre superhuman status which implies that any criticism or doubt about presidential policy is a form of sacrilege or subversion. Such treatment would have seemed, to put it bluntly, un-American: a betrayal of the ideals on which the country was founded.

The White House press spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, who can switch from gushing sycophancy to sinister threats in the blink of an eye, is now banishing established media organisations (like the Associated Press) whose questioning of the Glorious Ruler has proved too persistent. In their place, she is inviting supportive outliers from the wilder shores of social media to White House press conferences.

She makes it clear, in quite unambiguous terms, that any expressed doubt about the logic or efficacy of a Trump policy  such as occurred recently when the Associated Press representative tried to make clear to her the sense in which tariffs become taxes  is a form of disrespect which will not be tolerated.

All of this is completely consistent with what appears to be a larger plan which the Trump White House openly endorses: that power in the world should now be shared by two or three emperor figures who will carve up global territory and resources between them, stepping over (or on) any annoying smaller states whose populations are too inconsequential to matter. The Trump army of sycophants is a mirror image of those thuggish Kremlin spokesmen who retail Putins outrageous lies about the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine, in broadcast interviews with the Western media.

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World peace is to be enforced by a tiny group of monopolistic super rulers who will seize whatever lands or facilities they require. In return for this annexation and extortion, they will offer security from each others predations.

The United States and Russia (and maybe China eventually too?) will run a kind of protection racket in which independent states have to agree to give up ownership of their assets to secure them from marauding attacks by the other side. This was precisely the deal that Trump offered to Zelensky last week when he proposed an American takeover of Ukraines energy production. Presumably the White House will now take some satisfaction from the knowledge that the Ukrainian president will have to accept responsibility for the consequences of his refusal.

So here is the question of the day which must be answered: will the world unlearn everything it has taught itself in the modern age? Can the populations of nation states which had endorsed a belief in natural, inalienable human rights ever accept rule by egomaniacal mythology?

Will politics become, as it was for many centuries, all about personal power rather than ideas and principles? Is the world to be carved up between narcissistic tyrants spouting delusional myths about their countrys history, and gangster bosses who seize the property of other nations with blatant threats?

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No, surely this cannot happen. Western Europe, which learned the lessons of this kind of politics in such terrible, unforgettable ways during the last century, will have to step up. There is much dismissive sniggering about the Anglo-French coalition of the willing. It is toothless at best, meaningless at worst, blah-blah.

Except that it isnt. The resolve of the Old European countries may be impractical and  for the moment  unaffordable. But it is absolutely morally imperative, and in its way, magnificent, precisely because it is going to be so hard and cost so much in both financial and political terms. Some of its more startling developments are very concrete indeed: Germany is about to re-arm, which requires the dismantling of its historic resistance to both building up arms and acquiring more debt. That is a big deal and it suggests that something very considerable is shifting in the European consciousness.

The Kremlin press secretary, Dmitri Peskov, put it quite succinctly last week: The signals from Brussels and European capitals now mainly concern plans to militarise Europe, which is clearly at odds with the attitude of the presidents of Russia and the United States to seek ways to enter a peaceful settlementEurope has turned itself into a party of war.

In other words, Europe (or at least some of it) is determined to resist a carve up of nations and their resources by a murderous autocrat and an unscrupulous magnate who believes in nothing except the power of money. Please God, let that be true.

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Meanwhile, we can hope that this diabolical partnership will implode. Putin needs to stay at war to save his economy and Trump needs to bring peace to save his credibility. This wicked alliance cannot go on much longer.

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Originally appeared on E! Online

An OnlyFans creator is facing a murder charge after an alleged sexual encounter gone wrong.

Michaela Rylaarsdam was charged over the 2023 death of Michael Dale, according to a criminal complaint obtained by E! News. An investigation into the matter determined he died of suffocation after a paid sexual encounter with Rylaarsdam, according to an Escondido Police Department affidavit obtained by local FOX affiliate KWSB-TV.

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Dale, 56, allegedly reached out to Rylaarsdam, then 29, in March of that year and paid her over $11,000 to perform BDSM acts in his home near San Diego the following month, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing the affidavit. While Dale appeared intoxicated upon the OnlyFans models arrival, she fulfilled his requests, including wrapping him like a mummy in saran wrap and gluing a pair of womens boots to his feet, per the affidavit.

Four hours after the encounter began, the mother of threewho created content under the pseudonym Asshley SinCalcalled 911 and proceeded to perform CPR on Dale as first responders arrived, the Times reported. When detectives examined her cell phone, they discovered videos featuring Dalewho at that point was struggling to breathethat police said were taken for her OnlyFans page, according to the outlet.

For details on other OnlyFans controversies, keep reading.

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He had duct tape over his mouth, a plastic bag over his head, more saran wrap around that, and then duct tape wrapped around his face and head, securing all the layers to his head, the affidavit read, according to the Times. He also appeared to have had saran wrap wrapped around his neck tightly.

X/Asshley SinCal

The affidavit also said that Dales head was sealed in the bag for at least eight minutes, per the outlet. Rylaarsdam told police she had never engaged in fetish behavior before the encounter and denied placing anything over his head.

Paramedics transported Dale to a local hospital where he was pronounced brain dead the following day and taken off life support several days later, KWSB-TV reported. The San Diego County Medical Examiners office later ruled his death a homicide caused by asphyxia, according to the Times.

As for Rylaarsdam, she has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail at the Las Colinas Detention Facility in San Diego County.

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E! News has reached out to Rylaarsdams lawyer for comment but has not heard back.

For details on other OnlyFans controversies, keep reading.

A Bella Thorne in OnlyFans' Side

OnlyFans launched in 2016 but, similar to TikTok and other sites that facilitate virtual interaction, usership really picked up during the pandemic. Count Bella Thorne among the curious. But after the Shake It Up alum said she made $2 million after only a week on the platform in 2020, charging subscribers $20 a month for access, she was slammed by adult content makers who accused her of taking money out of their pockets with her already-famous presence. Thorne was also accused of scamming users by teasing that she'd be nude on the site, but she said at the time that any image circulating online in which she seemed to be promising that kind of access was fake. Moreover, critics blamed her when OnlyFans subsequently announced that creators couldn't charge more than $50 for pay-per-view content and capped user tips at $100, but the site said in response to the backlash that "any changes to transaction limits are not based on any one user." Thorne said she joined to do research for a movie, telling the Los Angeles Times, "What are the ins and outs? What does a platform like this do to its users? Whats the connective material between your life and your life inside the world of OnlyFans?" But she also apologized, tweeting that she was trying to "help bring more faces to the site to create more revenue for content creators and remove the stigma behind sex, sex work and the negativity that surrounds the word sex itself by bringing a mainstream face to it."





Challenging the System

Singaporean OnlyFans star Titus Low maintained that authorities were unfairly singling him out when he was charged with violating obscenity laws. In addition to being bisexual in a country known for its conservative social mores (a colonial-era law banning sex between men was just repealed in August 2022), Low alleged that the government didn't like that he flaunted the wealth he'd accumulated from making sexually explicit material. "Maybe if I had hurt someone, then Id deserve to go to prison," he told the Los Angeles Times. But this feels unjustified." Initially police raided his home, confiscated his devices and warned him to stay off OnlyFans. But Low got the site to reset his password and he returned, after which he was arrested in December 2021, per the Times. Facing 21 months in prison, Low pleaded guilty in October 2022 to transmitting obscene materials and breaching police orders. He was sentenced to three weeks in jail and fined $2,000. "Im glad this is finally over," he tweeted at the time. "Ready to start ... a new chapter in life. Mistakes were made. Part of life's learning process, I guess?"





OnlyFans Quickly Backtracks on Content Ban

OnlyFans announced in August 2021 that sexually explicit material would no longer be allowed on the site. "In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of our platform, and continue to host an inclusive community of creators and fans," OnlyFans said in a statement, "we must evolve our content guidelines." Founder Tim Stokely told the Financial Times that the site had been having issues with financial institutions rejecting transactions for the more graphic content. "The change in policy, we had no choice," he said. "The short answer is banks." Nude photos and videos featuring nudity would still be allowed, so long as they fell within certain guidelines, according to the announcement. But the purveyors of pornographic content were outraged, one of OnlyFans' selling points being that it provided them a safe, controlled environment to make money from sex work. Less than a week later, however, OnlyFans reversed course on the plan to ban porn, tweeting that the site had "secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change." Still, alarm bells went off for adult entertainers on the site. "I think everyone will keep earning on OnlyFans as long as we can," porn actor Scarlett Bloom told the LA Times, "but there's definitely a higher awareness that we need to be diversifying platforms."





An Example of Illegal Activity

Stephen Bear, winner of the U.K.'s Celebrity Big Brother in 2016, was sentenced in March 2023 to 21 months in prison for posting alleged revenge porn on OnlyFans and making roughly $2,500 from it. Bear was accused of posting security footage from his home garden of a 2020 sexual encounter between him and Love Island alum Georgia Harrison, his girlfriend at the time. Prosecutors said that Harrison consented to sex but didn't know she was being filmed and, when he showed her the video, she insisted he not send it to anyone. Pleading not guilty, Bear maintained he didn't know they were being recorded and that he deleted the video right away. But in December 2022 he was convicted in Chelmsford Crown Court of voyeurism and two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress.

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"I hope me taking a stand gives other men and women who have fallen victim to revenge porn the courage to seek justice and most importantly show them that they have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of," Harrison, who waived her right to anonymity, said after Bear was found guilty, per the Independent. She later called his prison sentence "a vindication of what Ive been put through." Bear was released early in January 2024. "I went to prison and I was frozen in that mindset of my old life," he told the Daily Mirror after getting out. "You come out and you realize, 'Oh, I've lost everything', everything is gone."





Sophie Rain Has Faith in Herself

Sophie Rain maintains that there is no discrepancy between her Christian values and her not-quite-R-rated modeling for OnlyFans, which helped her rack up $43 million in 2024including the proceeds from one loyal follower who spent $4.7 million. "The Lord's very forgiving, and he put me on here," she told People in December after her literal receipts went viral. "He put me on earth for a reason and I'm just living every day. If this wasn't meant for me, I wouldn't be here right now." And as for "all the people online that hate me, and they post the mean comments and everything," Rain said, "that's what motivates me to just keep growing and to keep booming and keep doing my own thing. It just makes them mad for no reason. They don't know me."





Lily Phillips in "Training"

After sharing that she had sex with 101 men in one day, X-rated OnlyFans entertainer Lily Phillips said she was actually "training to do 1,000 guys in a day." Cue the mainstream attention once word got out. But while she got emotional in a YouTube documentary detailing what went into reaching 101 and said she wasn't sure if she'd "recommend it" to anyone else, the British performer was in her element. "I'm doing it for the love of the game. I just really enjoy it," Phillips told E! News in January 2025. "I'm very used to sleeping with a lot of guys. I did this as a hobby before I did it for work, so it's not that outrageous to me." And, needless to say, OnlyFans has proved to be a lucrative venture. While she wasn't doing it for the money, she noted, "we're in the millions."





Bonnie Blue Breaks the Record

British OnlyFans star Bonnie Blue rang in 2025 by sharing that adult film actress Lisa Sparks' record of sex with 919 men in one day, set in 2004, was no more. Blue shared Jan. 12 that she'd had sex with 1,057 men in 12 hours. "So one person would watch whilst I was with somebody," she said in a video, explaining the logistics, "and then it would literally just be like a rotating circle like that." Born Tia Billinger, she used to work a regular 9-to-5 job in an office but it wasn't for her, telling GB News in December, per The Sun, "I just wanted a better life." Blue moved to Australia and "had a lot of fun" doing web cam work, she said. "Then it quickly escalated to OnlyFans, because in my eyes, if I was making content anyway to put on this website, I thought I might as well use a more established website like OnlyFans." Asked about becoming notorious for sexual encounters with very young men, she noted that she wanted her content to be educational as well as entertaining. If I could go and sleep with as many people as I could, not only do I educate those I sleep with, but also I get a video that can educate the wider audience and obviously I can monetize that," Blue explained. "So when I sleep with students, or barely legal, it shows me discussing consent with him and it also gives them an opportunity to tell me what they like."

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A New World Order With European Values. Emblazoned across banners and signs, those words met the participants at this weeks meeting of the World Forum in Berlin.

Each year, leaders, executives, journalists and academics gather to address the greatest threats facing humanity. This year, there was little doubt about what they view as the current threat: the resurgence of populism and free speech.

In fairness to the Forum, a New World Order likely sounds more ominous for some civil libertarians than intended. While the European Union is a transnational government stretching across 27 nations, the organizers were referring to a shift of values away from the United States to Europe.

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As one of the few speakers at the forum who was calling for greater protections for free speech, I found it a chilling message. Even putting aside the implications of the New World Order, the idea of building a world on todays European values is chilling for free speech.

Free speech is in a free fall in Europe, with ever-expanding speech regulations and criminal prosecutions  including for having toxic ideologies.

The World Forum has a powerful sense of fraternity, even an intimacy, among leaders who see each other as a global elite  a cadre of enlightened minds protecting citizens from their own poor choices and habits.

There has long been a push for transnational governing systems, and European figures see an opportunity created by the conflict with President Trump. The European Union is the model for such a Pax Europaea or European peace.

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The problem is that this vision for a new Holy Roman Empire lacks a Charlamagne. More importantly, it lacks public support.

The very notion of a New World Order is chilling to many who oppose the rise of a globalist class with the rise of transnational governance in the European Union and beyond.

This year, there is a sense of panic among Europes elite over the victory of Trump and the Republicans in the U.S., as well as nationalist and populist European movements.

For globalists, the late Tip ONeills rule that all politics is local is anathema. The European Union is intended to transcend national identities and priorities in favor of an inspired transnational government managed by an expert elite.

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The message was clear. The new world order would be based on European, not American, values. To rally the faithful to the cause, the organizers called upon two of the patron saints of the global elite: Bill and Hillary Clinton. President Clinton was even given an award as leader of the century.

The Clintons were clearly in their element. Speaker after speaker denounced Trump and the rise of what they called autocrats and oligarchs. The irony was crushing. The European Union is based on the oligarchy of a ruling elite. The World Forum even took time to celebrate billionaires from Bill Gates to George Soros for funding open societies and greater transnational powers.

The discussions focused on blunting the rise of far-right parties and stemming the flow of disinformation that fosters such dissent.

Outside of this rarefied environment, the Orwellian language would border on the humorous: protecting democracy from itself and limiting free speech to foster free speech.

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Yet, one aspect of the forum was striking and refreshingly open. This year it became clear why transnational governance gravitates toward greater limits on free speech.

Of course, all of this must be done in the name of democracy and free speech.

There is a coded language that is now in vogue with the anti-free speech community. They never say the word censorship. They prefer content moderation. They do not call for limiting speech. Instead, they call for limiting false, hateful or inciteful speech.

As for the rise of opposing parties and figures, they are referred to as movements by low-information voters misled by disinformation. Of course, it is the government that will decide what are acceptable and unacceptable viewpoints.

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That code was broken recently by Vice President JD Vance, who confronted our European allies in Munich to restore free speech. He stripped away the pretense and called out the censorship.

With the rise of populist groups, anti-immigration movements and critics of European governance, there is a palpable challenge to EU authority. In that environment, free speech can be viewed as destabilizing because it spreads dissent and falsehoods about these figures and their agenda. Thus far, European peace has come at the price of silencing many of those voices; achieving the pretense of consensus through coerced silence.

Transnational governance requires consent over a wide swath of territory. The means that the control or cooperation of media and social media is essential to maintaining the consent of the governed.

That is why free speech is in a tailspin in Europe, with ever-expanding speech regulations and criminal prosecutions.

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Yet, it is difficult to get a free people to give up freedom. They have to be very afraid or very angry. One of the speakers was Maria A. Ressa, a journalist and Nobel laureate. I admire Ressas courage as a journalist but previously criticized for her anti-free speech positions. Ressa has struck out against critics who have denounced her for allegedly antisemitic views. She has warned that the right is using free speech and declaring I will say it now: The fascists are coming.

At the forum, Ressa again called for the audience of powerful leaders to prevent lies and dangerous disinformation from spreading worldwide.

But the free speech movement has shown a surprising resilience in the last few years. First, Elon Musk bought Twitter and dismantled its censorship apparatus, restoring free speech to the social media platform. More recently, Mark Zuckerburg announced that Meta would also restore free speech protections on Facebook and other platforms.

In a shock to many, young Irish voters have been credited with killing a move to further expand the criminalization of speech to include xenophobia and the public dissemination or distribution of tracts, pictures or other material from viewpoints barred under the law.

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Anti-free speech forces are gathering to push back on such trends. Indeed, Hillary Clinton has hardly been subtle about the dangers of free speech to the new world order. After Musk bought Twitter with the intention of restoring free speech protections, Clinton called upon the European Union to use its infamous Digital Services Act to make Musk censor her fellow Americans. She has also suggested arresting those spreading disinformation.

The European Union did precisely that by threatening Musk with confiscatory fines and even arrest unless he censored users. When Musk decided to interview Trump in this election, EU censors warned him that they would be watching for any disinformation.

For many citizens, European governance does not exactly look like a triumph over oligarchs and autocrats. Indeed, the EU looks pretty oligarchic with its massive bureaucracy guided by a global elite and good billionaires like Soros and Gates.

Citizens would be wise to look beyond the catchy themes and consider what Pax Europaea would truly mean to them. We have many shared values with our European allies. However, given the current laws limiting political speech, a New World Order Based on European Values is hardly an inviting prospect for those who believe in robust democratic and free speech values.

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Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Mike Maxwell is the same basic guy today that he was in 2016.

He considers himself center-right in his politics  not an extremist by any stretch. By day, hes the Salt Lake Chapter chair of a group called the LDS Earth Stewardship. He is mild-mannered.

But he drives political lightning rods.

Maxwell and his wife own two Teslas. He bought one in 2016 and the other, for his wife, in 2020. He was thinking of Utahs air quality at the time, and he had installed solar panels on his house in order to charge the cars off the grid, making sure he didnt contribute to coal-generated pollution. More than that, however, he thought the cars were well-engineered and fun.

This isnt 2016 any more

But 2016 is a lot different from 2025. His Teslas have always induced politically harsh feelings, but now the cars have changed sides, and so have peoples assumptions about him. The cars are rolling metaphors for the societal ills of whichever end of the spectrum is opposite Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

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Mathews remembers the early days, nine years ago. People would look at his car and assume he was a liberal do-gooder. That was the time when I had more than one incident with people in large pickup trucks with elevated suspensions and large wheels.

Maxwell remembers one such encounter, in particular. He was at a Tesla supercharging station in Cedar City, charging his vehicle alongside another Tesla owner, just a few feet from a conventional gas station and convenience store.

A man drove up in a big black pickup with pro-Trump bumper stickers and one that said, Lock her up! He started doing screeching, tire-spinning donuts in front of the charging station. Then he deliberately vented black clouds of diesel exhaust at the cars.

A couple of times Id be driving down the highway and a large, loud pickup would pull up next to me and rev its engine, he said. Then it would move ahead a bit and belch a large amount of smoke.

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Middle fingers were common greetings from these truck drivers.

From liberal to conservative

All that changed in the last three to four months. Now, the right-wingers like him. Its the liberals he has to watch with a wary eye. The only thing that changed was Musk, who recently began slashing government as the head of President Donald Trumps new department of energy efficiency.

Once a darling of the left (Musk took a $465 million federal loan during the Obama administration), now hes the supposed darling of the right. Tesla owners are caught in the spin cycle.

Nationally, the reaction is beginning to get out of hand.

Anti-Tesla violence

The Associated Press reports that cybertrucks have been set on fire. People have shot bullets and hurled Molotov cocktails at Teslas and dealerships.

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The AP said a Colorado woman was charged last month in connection with Molotov cocktail attacks and the spray painting of Nazi cars on a building.

In South Carolina, federal agents last week arrested a man in connection with setting fires at Tesla charging stations near Charleston. An affidavit signed by an agent said authorities discovered writings critical of the government and DOGE in the mans bedroom and in his wallet.

It would be hard to find any other material possession, other than a campaign sign or button, that has evoked this kind of visceral intersection between private enterprise and raw politics.

Trump didnt help matters when he showcased electric vehicles outside the White House . Formerly a critic of electric cars, the president vowed to buy a new Model S for $80,000.

Justice promises a crackdown

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has promised a crackdown on anti-Tesla crimes.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi said shes investigating how is this being funded, who is behind this.

If youre going to touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything, you better watch out because were coming after you, she said last week on Fox Business Network.

Its all a bit dizzying for an average right-of-center guy in Utah. Maxwell told me hes putting his 2020 car up for sale (the 2016 model came with free lifetime charging). Neither car has given him any problems. Candidly, its a very cool and fun piece of technology, he said. But the company CEO also is making it a liability.

While Maxwell hasnt personally experienced any vandalism or threats, hes seeing plenty of reports of them online from other Tesla owners, and they arent pretty.

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The attacks are more acrimonious now than when we were considered greenies, he said.

Stocks tank

The only problem is that the resale price for Teslas keeps dropping. Axios reports the companys stock is down 42% this year. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seemed to be begging people to buy Tesla stock during a television appearance.

Unlike in 2016, Maxwell now has choices in the electric car market, and hes looking. All in all, he said, he would prefer a model that doesnt come bathed in preconceived notions and road rage.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is under siege  by his own party.

After the New York Democrat capitulated to President Donald Trump over a short-term funding bill, hes received some pointed warnings from colleagues warning that his leadership position could be in jeopardy. An increasing number of liberal organizations are calling on Schumer to either step down from his leadership position or to fight more aggressively. Schumer even canceled events promoting his new book this week after progressive groups planned to stage protests against them.

The dissent reflects the Democratic Partys intensifying identity crisis over how to fight back against Trump  and a rejection of Schumers belief that Trumps policy mistakes will speak for themselves. Should Schumer continue to invest in the play dead strategy, it could cost him his position.

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Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., was the first to openly call for Schumer to step down at a town hall on Tuesday. I respect Chuck Schumer. I think he had a great, long-standing career, did a lot of great things, but Im afraid that it may be time for the Senate Democrats to get a new leader, he said. That same day, Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., responded affirmatively when asked at a town hall if she supported him stepping down. When asked if more could follow, one House Democrat told Axios, I think there are some already there but just havent been asked directly or avoided the question.

Schumers colleagues in the Senate havent called on him to step down, but theyve still been strikingly critical. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Schumer was wrong to cooperate with Trump. When asked at a town hall if he would call for Schumer to step down, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said: In dodging your question, let me just say: Its important for people to know when its time to go, and I think in the case of Joe Biden. And were going to have conversations Im sure in the foreseeable future about all the Democratic leadership.

Bennets invocation of Bidens implosion should make Schumer at least a little uneasy. Were certainly not close to the rolling wave of demands for Biden to step down from his presidential candidacy in 2024. But an idea has to start somewhere, and now its in the air.

Recall that when the calls for Bidens withdrawal started to pick up, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi effectively let them take their course by refusing to stand in the way and saying it was up to Biden to decide whether he wanted to remain in the race. Pelosi may be positioning herself analogously in this moment. She hasnt come out against Schumers leadership position, but she also criticized him sharply this week, telling reporters that Schumer could have negotiated harder with Republicans by pushing back against spending cuts to programs like Medicaid and trying to get them to agree to a third way. Failing that, she argued, Democrats should have at least attempted to set Republicans up for the blame in case of a government shutdown. I myself dont give away anything for nothing, she said. I think thats what happened the other day.

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Schumer has led his party in the Senate for the better part of a decade, and he can probably withstand a lot of heat. But the pressure is on for him to change his approach to legislative fights in the coming months, including bills to raise the debt ceiling, and another government funding bill in the fall. Ultimately his leadership position is less important than what the threats to it symbolize: a desperate feeling that the party needs an overhaul.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
In 2017, I visited Topaz for the first time. It is a place that you can physically feel the gravity of. I took in the photos of small children at the school in the camp and read their journal entries. There were breathtakingly beautiful pieces of art created by some of the interned. And then I was able to see the record of my own ancestor who had been interned.

My heart was somehow heavy and full as we left the museum and visited the land where they had lived. I tried to imagine what it must have looked like before the barracks were taken down and the people were allowed to return to whatever was left of their homes. It was personal to my family and me.

My great-grandparents were Japanese in World War II. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, their lives were flipped upside down. My entire childhood, I heard my great-grandmas firsthand accounts of their experiences with the FBI visiting their home and the difficulties they experienced. They were some of the lucky ones. They werent interned, unlike some of their friends and relatives.

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From a young age, I understood that what had happened was wrong. I found it alarming that something like that had occurred in America. But I took comfort in the fact that we had learned our lesson. After all, in 1988, then-President Ronald Reagan had apologized on the behalf of America to all who had been interned with a $20,000 payment. While nothing could ever make up for what each individual went through, at least there was an acknowledgment that what happened was wrong. And I thought that there was also a promise to do better going forward.

But this last month, I have felt a real fear that we are repeating our past mistakes. Ive been sickened these last weeks as Ive seen stark similarities to what my relatives experienced 80 years ago. It has always been easy to target those who look different. This was true for the Japanese in America in the 1940s and it is true now. I am aware that there are arguments that there are major differences between the internment of the Japanese and what is occurring now. One of the main arguments is that the Japanese were here legally and those targeted now are not. This is true in some instances, but in the last few weeks, we have seen individuals who are here legally being detained.

The most visible example of this is Mahmoud Khalil, a former student at Columbia who has been detained by ICE. He has a green card. His wife is an American citizen. His crime is that he was involved in the protests at Columbia as a negotiator. I was appalled to see a video of my own congressman, Rep. Burgess Owens, being questioned on his views regarding Khalil. He kept repeating that Khalil was a terrorist and that he should go home.

First, there is no evidence that Khalil is a terrorist. Second, his call for Khalil to go home sent a chill down my spine. It feels eerily similar to what I imagine was said to my great-grandparents and others. The implication is clear: You do not belong here.

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And then this week, President Donald Trump utilized the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport individuals related to a Venezuelan gang. While I, like many others, have concerns about gangs and violence, I find this very concerning, as the last time this was used was during World War II against those of Japanese descent, among others. There should always be due process, regardless of the crimes that were allegedly committed. It is a fundamental core of what makes America the shining beacon on the hill.

The past is one of our greatest teachers. It offers us the opportunity to view our mistakes with clarity and helps us to not repeat our wrongs. It would be a grave mistake not to learn from the moral failings of the Japanese internment. It is up to all of us to stand up for those who are being unfairly targeted by our government.
Over just a few days this month, President Trump declared that CNN and MSNBC werent just biased  no, that would be too pedestrian  but actually illegal.

He posted that former President Bidens pardons are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, shouting in an all-caps post on Truth Social.

He declared that a federal judge should be impeached, not for breaking the law or for gross misconduct, but for issuing a ruling Trump didnt like.

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And yet, to his base, this is just another week in the wonderful world of Trump.

No, Trump isnt the first politician to play fast and loose with the truth, and he wont be the last. And yes, most Americans dont exactly trust the mainstream media. CNN and MSNBC have been carrying water for Democrats for years. If they were any further in the tank, theyd need scuba gear.

So when Trump says theyre really corrupt and theyre illegal, what do they do is illegal, you have to wonder what he might have in mind  especially since he took aim at the news networks in a speech at the Department of Justice. Is this a big deal? Not to his supporters, who dont fret about silly stuff like the First Amendment; they laugh, nod and move on.

Same with the pardons Biden made as he was walking out of the Oval Office for the last time. They werent for low-level drug offenders who got a raw deal; they were for family and political friends. Trump knows that hammering those pardons resonates  and not only with the MAGA faithful.

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And that judges ruling? The one that said Trump couldnt simply deport criminal aliens without due process? Well, most Americans hear that and wonder, Whats the problem? If youre in the country illegally and youre committing crimes, why should you get a drawn-out legal battle? Again, Trumps tapping into a real frustration.

But then we come to the bigger question: Is this just Trump firing up the base, or is there something more going on?

Nobody is confusing Trump with Aristotle  that would be unfair  to both of them. Still, hes not a small thinker. He didnt simply want to win the election; he wanted everyone to know how big his victory (supposedly) was. Thats why he told a joint session of Congress that he won the popular vote by big numbers.

He didnt. He beat former Vice President Kamala Harris by 1.5 percentage points in the popular vote. He claimed he won a mandate like [one] not seen in decades. As the kids say  whatever.

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Trump doesnt want to be just one more American president. He wants to be the one future generations talk about like a historical force of nature. If he could add his own image to Mount Rushmore, good chance he would.

And this is where things get more interesting.

When Trump floated the idea of making Canada our 51state, maybe he was joking, maybe not. For what its worth, I think he was serious. But whichever it was, it was classic Trump  turning up the volume to 11 just to dominate another news cycle.

And renaming the Gulf of Mexico? Thats straight out of the Trump branding playbook. This is a man who plasters his name on everything from skyscrapers to steaks. If he could slap a giant gold TRUMP logo on the Grand Canyon, he probably would do that too.

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So, does Trump want to rename the country the United States of Donald Trump? Maybe not literally. But does he want a country that is shaped in his image, where institutions bend to his will, where every conversation revolves around  him? Yeah, I think thats it.

Because for Trump, just about everything really is about him. His world is binary: Youre either with him, or youre against him. And if youre against him, youre not just wrong  youre corrupt, possibly criminal  youre the enemy.

Thats not a small mindset shift; thats a fundamental reshaping of how power is supposed to work in a democracy.

And please, my friends, dont take anything youve just read as an endorsement of the Democratic Party. You can think Trump is ruled by his massive ego without believing Biden was a great president. That  would be crazy!

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Maybe Trump really believes all the stuff he says. Maybe he thinks he can convince Canadians to give up their sovereignty and become our 51st state. Maybe he really believes CNN is illegal and that a federal judge should be impeached for his decision.

If thats the case, then our president is detached from reality. Or maybe, as I say, this is about firing up the base. This much I know with certainty: When a president starts throwing around words like illegal every time hes unhappy, its not simply noise  it erodes trust in our institutions, it fuels paranoia and it encourages the idea that political opponents arent just wrong, theyre outlaws who somehow need to be punished.

So, no, I dont think Trump is literally trying to rename the country. But is he trying to create a system where the U.S. bends to his will, where institutions exist not as independent checks and balances, but as tools of his own power?

That is a question worth asking  and the answer, worth more than a passing thought.

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Bernard Goldberg is an Emmy and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award-winning writer and journalist. He is the author of five books and publishes exclusive weekly columns, audio commentaries and Q&As on his Substack page. Follow him @BernardGoldberg.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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I came of age during the Great Recession in Elkhart, Ind., known as the RV Capital of the World. In March 2009, the jobless rate in the Elkhart region skyrocketed to nearly 20 percent, the worst in the country. Most of my friends parents were laid off or underemployed. Everyone, no matter their socioeconomic status, struggled.

But by 2018, Elkharts economy seemed to have recovered entirely. It was even called Jobsville, USA in a Wall Street Journal article, and compared to an oil economy or a Kuwait in the cornfields. The unemployment rate hovered at just over 2 percent.

I have encountered many economists who say that if you want to know how the U.S. economy is doing, look at Elkhart. Like similar Rust Belt communities, Elkharts economy is in a constant state of boom or bust.

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In December 2024, Elkharts unemployment rate was 4 percent, a 1.5 percent decrease from July 2024. A quick search on Indeed shows that more than 200 jobs are currently available in the RV industry. Despite news about the stock market wavering and with national consumer sentiment down, Elkhart residents dont seem too worried about the economy.

The conversation around tariffs doesnt necessarily help morale, but I dont see people getting worried like they did in 2009, said entrepreneur (and my uncle) George Anagnos.

He and my other uncle, Tony, opened a restaurant in downtown Elkhart during the Great Recession. Its still operating today. In fact, he now owns three restaurants in the Elkhart area, and one has its banquet room completely booked almost every weekend in 2025  a sign that residents have disposable income to spend.

So when President Trump was asked on Fox News if he was expecting a recession this year, you can imagine how alarm bells went off in my head. But the Trump administrations outlining of reciprocal tariffs shouldnt be used as an excuse for the mainstream media to scream, Recession! especially when the long-term goal of that executive order is freer trade.

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For many years, the U.S. has been treated unfairly by other countries, both friend and foe, Trump wrote on Truth Social. This system will immediately bring fairness and prosperity back into the previously complex and unfair system of trade.

In February, the White House published a shortlist of trading partners who did not give the United States reciprocal treatment. Many examples contribute to our annual trade deficit, from shellfish to ethanol to cars.

This month, the White House pointed to results thus far of the tariff negotiations: companies looking to expand their presence or build in the U.S. In the long run, Americans win if the reciprocal tariffs work the way the Trump administration intends.

Critics of the tariffs are quick to point out that they could result in price hikes. However, tariffs during the Biden administration, some of which expanded on Trumps first-term tariffs, did not significantly increase prices across the economy. In 2018, Trump levied tariffs on a few industries, including solar panels, washing machines, steel and aluminum. Research studies have found that consumers bore some of the cost in those sectors. Its unclear if there would be economy-wide impacts from the proposed tariffs.

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Even if reciprocal tariffs raise consumer prices on some products, the Trump administration could soften the blow by prioritizing a two-part, pro-growth agenda: Allow Americans to earn more by removing restrictions on freelancing, self-employment and gig work imposed by the Biden administration, and make the 2017 tax cuts permanent to deliver pay increases, bonuses and benefits to American workers.

Leftists love to tout the talking point that tax cuts only cater to the rich, but what they fail to understand is that when resources stay in a business or a household, people can better support themselves and their families, grow their businesses and expand the economy.

The way that the Elkhart economy diversified after the Great Recession is proof: As of 2021, the last year that data was available, Elkhart County had 5,028 business establishments, with 99.4 percent considered small.

Chloe Anagnos is a visiting fellow at Independent Women.

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With all the problems facing the U.S. today, Cuba is probably not on many peoples radar. Some Americans may remember the Bay of Pigs in 1961 and the 1962 missile crisis, and, more recently, the Mariel boatlift of 1980, the 1999 saga of Elian Gonzalez or Obamas historic visit to Cuba in 2016. While U.S.-Cuba relations may be ignored by most, we should be concerned about the impact of our current policies on the Cuban people, a population only 90 miles away from our border.

I recently spent 10 days visiting the country as part of a Support for the Cuban People tour permitted by the U.S. government. Even though I am generally knowledgeable about international affairs, I was not aware of the suffering of regular Cubans, in part due to long-standing U.S. policies. While the Cuban government damaged the economy with heavy-handed government controls during the Cold War, limited agricultural diversification and an overwhelming economic reliance on the former USSR, since the early 1990s, Cuba has been economically weakened by continuous sanctions and blockades implemented by the U.S.

I can understand the reasons for these sanctions during the Cold War, but why are we still punishing the Cuban people? I saw farmers plowing their fields with oxen, farmers taking their products by horse and cart, and people putting up with innumerable blackouts due to energy shortages. Our group met with dozens of regular Cubans, and everyone had personal stories of suffering: limited food, collapsing infrastructure, hospitals empty of medications and, simply put, no money to advance their well-being.

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While the U.S. imposed sanctions immediately after the Cuban Revolution, more recent policies have only worsened the suffering. In 1992, the Cuban Democracy Act restricted U.S. visitors to Cuba. The Helms-Burton Act of 1996 ratcheted up the sanctions by placing penalties against companies from any other country that do business with Cuba. This means that internationally operating companies have to choose between Cuba and the U.S.

Although the U.S. has an embassy in Havana, Trump does not allow Cubans to obtain a visa in Cuba, they must travel to a third country to apply for one. Under Trump, the U.S. reinstated Cubas designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. He also created a list of Cuban enterprises that cannot be used by U.S. citizens. Trump has also allocated over $22 million to anti-Cuba organizations in the U.S. Additionally, Trump placed crippling financial restrictions on the country. The U.S. prohibits U.S. persons and entities from engaging in direct financial transactions with Cuba. In February, the U.S. government prohibited financial services, such as Western Union, from transferring money to Cuba.

U.S. draconian policies also affect our own country through increased Cuban migration. As suffering continues, migration dramatically increases. Customs and Border Protection encountered an average of over 200,000 Cuban migrants annually from 2022 to 2024, a fivefold increase over 2021. Our policies also have pushed Cuba to deepen their economic ties with China. Out of necessity, Cuba has strengthened diplomatic, commercial and military ties with Russia, including joint military drills in 2024.

Instead of punishing sanctions derived from an outdated ideological worldview, the U.S. should be encouraging Cuba to expand its recent policies of incentivizing the private sector, promoting tourism and developing its basic infrastructure. We met people who are friendly to Americans and who are anxious to develop their entrepreneurial skills. The U.S. already has extensive trade relations with authoritarian governments, including China and Vietnam.

As Utahns, we should want to develop closer economic ties with Cuba, as we have done with many Latin American countries. The time is now for a meaningful change in our policy to Cuba. I encourage Utahns to contact their congressional representatives to revisit our policy.
Is the Democratic Party as weve known it for decades officially over?

Charlamagne tha God, co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show The Breakfast Club  and often one of the most aware, sane and needed voices in our country  had this to say about the Democratic Party: If I was a Democrat, I wouldnt even speak for the party right now because the party is in shambles. The party is in disarray. The party has no leadership. The party has no messaging.  We all have eyes and we all have ears, and we can see that they dont have any direction.

And just how bad is it really for the Democrats? Quite possibly much worse than Charlamagne believes. In a recent poll from Quinnipiac of voters, only 21 percent approve of Democrats in Congress  the lowest number on record.

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While this may be shocking news for those not already tracking this downfall, its something Ive been hearing for weeks from the Democrats I know. My friends on the left consider themselves to be more old-school liberal  more in line with the thinking and policies of former Presidents Bill Clinton, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, with a bit of Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter thrown in for good measure.

These old-school liberals believe the Democratic Party they signed up for should  and must  be about protecting the rights of the working class, the disenfranchised and the voiceless. However, they also all believe that mission must be folded within commonsense and pragmatic boundaries, not sidetracked and sabotaged by woke initiatives now being demanded by the far-left wing of their party.

Back in the day, the Democratic Party did stand for the working class, the disenfranchised and the forgotten. What happened? That is a question my many old-school liberal friends are asking themselves.

For each one who has asked me, I have given them the exact same answer: Donald Trump happened. Ever since the New York City businessman rode down the escalator at Trump Tower to announce that he would be running for president, the Democratic Party of principles, of the working class, of the disenfranchised and the voiceless began to unravel.

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Almost instantly, the knee-jerk policy for the Democrats  and their allies in the media, academia, science and medicine  was to oppose anything and everything said or proposed by Trump. It was as if a curtain of red rage had instantly descended over their eyes and all that remained visible was their unhinged hatred of Trump pinballing within their minds.

No more thoughts about the poor; no more discussions about how said poor and working-class constituents could no longer afford the rising costs of food, rent, medicine, childcare or education. No more thoughts about an open border and how tens of millions of illegal migrants were siphoning off taxpayer dollars that could have dramatically helped those poor and working-class Americans; no more thoughts about rising violent crime, crumbling inner cities or failing public schools.

No. Every ounce of the energy and brainpower of these Democratic leaders seemed to be redirected to wrecking Trumps first administration, and then doing all in their collective power to prevent him from becoming the Republican nominee in 2024. All that came before Trumps decisive reelection last November.

Since Trump took office on Jan. 20, he has accomplished two noteworthy things. The first is to get more done in his first few weeks in office than any president in U.S. history. The second, to finally push the Democratic Party over the edge and into the abyss where, even as they are plummeting to the bottom, they are bizarrely screaming out their defense of fraud, waste and abuse within the federal government while totally ignoring the bread-and-butter issues so critically important to their constituents.

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We hate Trump is now the entirety of the Democratic platform.

Many of my old-school liberal friends thought that after Trump embarrassingly defeated the ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, what was left of the leadership of the Democratic Party would pivot back to those bread-and-butter issues. But no. Apparently led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), they have tripled down on we hate Trump as their only policy.

Promises kept and results from the Oval Office matter to the American people and Trump has been delivering on both at record speed. The Democrats and media can deny it all they want while they attack Trump and Elon Musk, but the voters know success and the real thing when they see it.

For multiple reasons  including his decades of real-world business experience; because of his America First policies; because he is making American energy independent again; because he is reshaping our military into the finest fighting force in the world; because of the multiple witch hunts, lawfare scams and raids he survived; because he demonstrated a courage few could replicate when he got shot by a wannabe assassin and instinctively jumped to his feet to scream fight, fight, fight; and because he is the catalyst behind the coming ceasefire in Ukraine  I honestly believe unbiased future historians will one day declare Trump our greatest president.

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But when they do, will they note that, aside from being the catalyst to preventing a potential World War III, he brought about the end the Democratic Party as we know it?

Hate is not a policy. It is a death sentence for a once-great party.

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Dont cry for him, America, but when it comes to his vision for the Kennedy Center, President Donald J. Trump appears to be dreaming impossible dreams.

The president, who is also now the board chair for the Kennedy Center, convened a meeting of said board on Monday. In a recording of the meeting shared with The Washington Post, Trump and members said theyd like to see Camelot, Cats, Fiddler on the Roof, Hello, Dolly! and The Phantom of the Opera featured at the Kennedy Center. Speaking with reporters, Trump said, Were going to get some very good shows.

There are a number of practical problems with this wish list, the first of which is that none of those musicals are touring in North America (although a tour of Phantom does launch in November). And if the Kennedy Center were to try to mount its own nonunion productions, it would run into a brick wall of standing labor contracts.

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Were gonna fix that, the president said upon learning that the Kennedy Center would have had to pay the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees in order to have board member Lee Greenwood sing at the meeting. They wanted $30,000 to move a piano, Trump claimed.

And yet, none of these obstacles prevent the president of the United States from assuming Cats will be onstage at the Kennedy Center next year, as if he has the power to summon Mr. Mistoffelees and Rum Tum Tugger through sheer will.

Since Feb. 7, when Trump announced plans to appoint himself Americas arts impresario in chief, he has fired roughly two dozen board members appointed by President Joe Biden, had the remaining trustees elect a new president of the board and dismissed Kennedy Center leader Deborah Rutter, who had helmed the institution for 11 years.

Life at the center has been a tumultuous free fall ever since, with a series of cancellations and missed deadlines. The second week of March, when the Kennedy Center typically announces programming for the next season, has come and gone. Across Washington, venues like The Anthem and Shakespeare Theatre Company are fielding calls from artists and organizations looking for somewhere else to perform. Most notably, the producers and creators of the musical theater juggernaut Hamilton announced they were canceling a two-month run, which most likely have generated more money than any other show in the 2025-26 Kennedy Center season.

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I never liked Hamilton very much, the president said, undeterred.

Yet alleged financial mismanagement at the Kennedy Center has been top of mind for Trump and his surrogates, including Ric Grenell, the former ambassador whom the president appointed to replace Rutter on at least an interim basis, who accused the center of having low cash reserves.

As a nonprofit organization, the Kennedy Center is required to submit public tax returns, and the most recently available filings indicate it is not in financial distress, with a total budget of $268 million and a surplus of $6 million. About 16% percent of the budget comes from a congressional appropriation specifically earmarked for physical upkeep, because the center was dedicated in 1971 as a national memorial to slain President John F. Kennedy Jr.

Staffers have admitted that some needed maintenance has been deferred, and regular visitors know that massive columns on the weather-beaten Potomac River side are under scaffolding for repairs. Still, the center hardly seems in need of the make-it-great-again overhaul the president claims. Its in tremendous disrepair, as is a lot of our country, Trump said. His redecorating plans include the seats, the decor, everything and will be funded by Congress.

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But in a series of recent interviews, a board member appointed during Trumps first term has shared his own glitzed-up vision for the Kennedy Center. Among other things, New York real estate magnate Paolo Zampolli has proposed fashion shows, a Cipriani restaurant and a ramp so he can travel by boat from Georgetown instead of taking an Uber.

I see the center like La Scala of Milano, he told Politico. So luxurious. So prestigious.

But Zampollis vision of the Kennedy Center as a hangout for Washingtons 1% sets up an odd dichotomy for the proposed audience. The average red-hat-wearing tourist who might buy tickets for Cats has never dreamed of eating overpriced spaghetti at Cipriani. The reality is that most Kennedy Center audiences are in the middle of these two demographics: They are federal workers who enjoy classical music, NGO lobbyists with undergraduate theater degrees and labor leaders with affinities for modern dance. And they are exactly the people now weighing whether to boycott Kennedy Center performances, because they are laid off, they are protesting Trumps takeover or both.

More important, most Kennedy Center audiences were never the sort of conservative theatergoers clamoring for a season of Cats, Phantom and Fiddler on the Roof.

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Those are G-rated, general audience, high school-approved shows, Lulu Picart told me. A Broadway performer and theater artist, Picart appeared at the Kennedy Center in the 2023 touring production of the musical 1776, which featured a cast of female, trans and nonbinary performers as Americas Founding Fathers.

Picart and her cast members were appalled to wake up one February morning and discover all record of the groundbreaking performance had been scrubbed from the Kennedy Centers website. (Ironically, the Trump administration has made artistic endeavors celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence a priority over at the National Endowment for the Arts.)

The president, in an Evita-like photo-op on Monday, stood in the Kennedy Centers Opera House presidential box, arms outstretched as if there were hundreds of fans below him instead of a handful of handpicked board members.

It wont be easy, youll think it strange, the eponymous character Evita sang in the opening of her anthem for a new Argentina. Shes absolutely right. The changes Trump is proposing wont be easy. And as anyone who knows show business could tell the president, its also very, very strange.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
Recently, the Trump administration reportedly told its allies it would stop participating in military exercises in Europe, including those already scheduled for 2025.

I served as deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Force Education and Training in the Biden administration, where I had policy oversight of military exercises. I can say with confidence that the decision to pull out of European exercises is a severe strategic mistake. There are three reasons why.

First, exercises with allies are the mortar in the foundation of U.S. defense strategy: they keep the whole thing together. This is because the United States military doesnt fight alone. It never has, and, barring a tectonic shift in U.S. strategic and operational concepts, likely never will. Therefore, anything that erodes the ability of the United States and its allies to fight together threatens the viability of U.S. military power.

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Exercises are the best mechanism available to forge interoperability and validate that U.S. and allied forces are ready for the fight. Readiness is about more than weaponry  its the cognitive interoperability of the personnel using the weapons that makes the difference. Only repeated engagements synthesizing the smallest tactical challenges (like how to make two different radios talk to each other) with the biggest strategic goals (how to ensure multiple armies can secure territory and deter an adversary) can create the kind of lethal combat readiness Americans expect and the world envies.

Second, the only currency that buys that interoperability is time, which the logistical chaos created by pulling out of exercises wastes needlessly. Because of their complexity, even simple exercises can take at least a year to plan. Steadfast Defender 24, the largest NATO exercise since the end of the Cold War, took years to put together. It engaged 90,000 forces from 32 countries and involved 80 air platforms, 50 ships and 1,100 combat vehicles.

Its purpose was nothing less than the demonstration of NATOs capability to conduct multi-domain operations, at scale and at range, over a sustained timeline  essentially, proving NATO could once again make good on its charters collective defense clause, Article 5. For something this complex, one nation canceling or altering an exercise can undermine the entire plan.

Third, trust is won in drops but spilled in buckets, and a public display of American unreliability spills gallons of trust between the U.S. and its NATO allies upon whom it has relied mightily. Recall that the only time NATO has invoked Article 5 was in response to the 9/11 attacks on the United States, which it did within 24 hours. Within the following month, NATO launched its first-ever anti-terrorism operation, Eagle Assist, which saw 830 airmen from 13 NATO countries fly 360 sorties. That kind of rapid, almost reflexive, response is the product of the trust generated by decades of training, exercising, learning and sweating together, side by side.

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The United States, no matter the foreign policy bent of its leadership, cannot afford to go it alone. And by any metric  be it the global resurgence of far-right nationalism, the decrease in freedom at the ballot box, or the accelerating effects of climate change that can spark or entrench conflict  the trend does not look positive for global stability. In a world such as this, the United States needs its friends. Friends that will show up.

In 2023, Congress passed a bill  co-sponsored by now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio  that requires congressional approval before any president withdraws from NATO. Putting aside whatever the intent had been behind the Trump administrations exercises announcement, the impact is the very same unilateral withdrawal the bill tried to prevent.

The purpose of NATO is the collective defense of its members. Refusing to participate in the exercises that generate the readiness and capacity to provide that collective defense is tantamount to refusing to be a party to NATO.

Already, the Trump administrations signals to Europe have created fear that they will suddenly need to provide for their own defense: Poland has publicly pondered acquiring nuclear weapons, Germany is looking to strengthen Europes nuclear deterrent capability, and France has suggested extending its own nuclear umbrella. Combine the remilitarization of the European continent during a hot war between Russia and Ukraine with surging right-wing nationalism, and you get the obverse of a Europe whole and free.

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Military exercises between U.S. and allied forces arent sentimental time-wasters. They are a downpayment on the continuation of the American way of warfare. Whether, where, and how the U.S. fights is a worthwhile debate  but strategy drives operations, not the other way around. Suddenly pulling out of military exercises forces strategic change through kneecapping current U.S. operational capability. This is not the behavior of a great power. Unless and until the United States decides to recall its forces and retreat behind its borders, military exercises will matter.

Caroline Baxter served as deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Force Education in Training during the Biden administration.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
President Trumps latest weapon deployed against the legacy of former President Joe Biden is... the autopen.

You read that right.

Trumps not actually writing anything with an autopenhes just claiming that the Bidens pardons are invalid because an autopen was allegedly used to sign them. (Trump also claims that Biden didnt even know about the pardons.)

Trump is pushing a claim that executive orders and pardons signed by Biden are in some way invalid. / The Washington Post / The Washington Post via Getty Im

Trumps argument is baseless. A presidential pardon cannot be revoked because they were signed with an autopen. Actually, they cant be revoked at all.

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Trump made his case on his social media platform, Truth Social, declaring that pardons Biden gave to, Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen. In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime.

While Trumps post lacks any specific names he does use his pet-name for the Jan 6. committee so hes probably referencing pardons given to former members of Congress like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

Further support for who he is talking about can be found in allegations first raised by the Heritage Foundationauthors of the infamous Project 2025 blue print for the Trump administrationwhich claimed that their investigation proved Biden used an autopen to sign pardons for not only members of the Jan 6 committee but also Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, former Democratic Party Chair Jerry Lundergan, Hunter Biden, President Bidens brother James and his wife, federal death row inmates and people placed under house arrest during the Covid pandemic.

At least one aspect of the Heritage Foundations investigation seems to rest upon shaky ground.

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According to reporting by Newsweek, the Heritage Foundation analyzed signatures from the National Archives in concluding that numerous documents were signed by autopen. But the National Archives displays digitized versions, not originals, which means that copies use a computer-generated signature for where the president signed the document, meaning that online copies of Bidens signature appear to be auto-signed, but theyre not the original version. That alone raises questions about on what basis the Heritage Foundation concluded some signatures were done by autopen versus being signed by hand.

The autopen was patented in 1803 and an early adopter was President Thomas Jefferson  whose gadget guy status can be attested to by anyone who has ever visited Monticello.

Trump's claims about the cognitive state of Joe Biden is irrelevant to both truth and the use of the autopen, warns Shan Wu. / Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images

Jefferson used it for correspondence copying and proclaimed it to be the finest invention of the present age. Numerous U.S. Presidents have used it without any legal challenges to its use although not all of them were open about its use.

During the George W. Bush administration, the U.S. Justice Department wrote a memorandum concluding that use of an autopenor other affixing of the presidential signature by a directed subordinatecomplied with Article I, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution requiring a presidential signature to enact laws.

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Nor is there any legal basis upon which to challenge the pardons based upon Trumps (and the country writ large) obsession with Bidens cognitive status during his Presidency.

Biden's real signature and his autopen signature areaccording to the George W. Bush administration's legal adviceconstitutionally one and the same. / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images

No evidence exists to back up Trump and conservative claims that Biden was unaware of the pardons he was giving out.

Common-sense would belie that idea that he was unaware of pardoning his own son, brother and sister-in-law, and the gathering of such evidenceassuming it even existswould be practically impossible as it would depend upon the testimony of Biden administration members retroactively claiming that they were deceiving the President.

In any event, there is no retroactive application of the 25th Amendmentthat amendment covers removal of a president due to death, resignation or inability to discharge their office. By definition, that has to happened while the President is in office, not after.

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The hypocrisy of Trumps position also undercuts his assertions. An analysis by the Daily Mail concluded that Trump had used an autopen about 25 times. Following his accusations against Biden on Truth Social, Trump then admitted the same day that he uses an autopen. Trump qualified his answer by saying he only uses it for very unimportant papers.

When asked by NBC if he had used to sign the Continuing Resolution providing budget authority, Trump first asked who the reporter was with then said he refused to answer questions from NBC because they were such a discredited news organization.

The final nail in the coffin for Trump and the Heritage Foundations attacks on Bidens pardons is the Constitution itself. Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution grants the President the Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Notably absent from this grant of authority is any mention of a requirement that a pardon be signed. Numerous legal experts have pointed this out, including Professor Jay Wexler, professor of Constitutional law at Boston University School of Law who told NPR: The argument that the pardon fails because it was signed by an autopen fails at the get-go, because theres no requirement that pardon even be signed.

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While Trumps attacks on the Biden pardons seems unlikely to get anywhere, there is a possibility that the real goal is finding a novel way to challenge Bidens legislative accomplishments. As reported in Time, Professor Bernadette Meyler, a constitutional law scholar at Stanford Law School (who also agrees that the Constitution does not require pardons to be in writing) pointed out that if presidential pardons were to be invalidated because of an autopen signature, that could bring questions other policies that were signed by such measures.

Indeed, an energy watchdog group founded by an alumnus of the conservative Charles Koch institute already has asked U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into whether energy policies limiting natural gas exports signed by Biden might be invalidated if they were signed by autopen.

If this is turns into a trend, then Trumps seemingly nonsensical attack on the use of autopens may be just the R&D stage for a new weapon to undo legislation that the Trump administration dislikes.
The American dream ended abruptly last month for Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez, a Laguna Niguel couple deported to Colombia after 35 years of building their lives in Southern California. The pair, who raised three U.S.-born daughters, were detained during what should have been a routine check-in with immigration officials on February 21, according to Fox 11.



Their oldest daughter, Jessica, 33, described the confusion that day. Her mother called after initially receiving an extension, only to be arrested moments later when a different agent intervened. "This official was cruel," said Stephanie, one of their three daughters. "They arrested my dad first and then called my mom in and arrested her too."

Related: Detained at the Border: What Foreign Visitors Face When Entering the U.S.

They were put into handcuffs by their wrists and ankles and treated as criminals before getting to these detention centers," Stephanie Gonzalez told KTLA. "All they said is they extended their stay, even though every year they've had permission to be here, and they're law-abiding citizens who show up and are doing their duty to check in with immigration and say, 'Hey, I'm here. I'm not hiding or doing anything wrong.' Then they just arrested them like that.



The deportation left three adult daughtersJessica, Stephanie, and 23-year-old Gabbyplus a young grandson behind in the United States.



For decades, the Gonzalezes had diligently followed immigration protocols. Nelson worked as a phlebotomist; Gladys maintained their household. Their daughters insist their parents never missed appointments and continually pursued legal pathways to remain in the country they called home since 1989 when they fled Colombia seeking asylum from violence and drugs.



A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson provided a different perspective, telling The Orange County Register the couple had "exhausted all legal options to remain in the U.S. between March 2000 and August 2021," despite numerous appeals through various immigration channels.



After their initial detention, the couple spent weeks moving through the systemfirst to a San Bernardino facility, then Arizona, and finally Louisiana before being deported. The experience left them traumatized but grateful to reconnect with family in Colombia who are helping them restart their lives.

Related: Education Department Faces Major Downsizing as Trump Signs Executive Order Today

"We are thankful this nightmare is over, while at the same time grieving the reality that our parents will not be coming home anytime soon," the daughters wrote in a GoFundMe update on March 20, confirming their parents had arrived in Colombia together.



The Gonzalez family's story reflects the broader shift in immigration enforcement priorities that now target anyone living in the country without authorization rather than focusing primarily on those with criminal records.

Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez enjoy a festive holiday evening with their three daughters and young grandson, celebrating the season with family and joy.

View the 5 images of this gallery on the original article

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The Orange County Fire Rescue is celebrating the first anniversary of its whole blood program.

This program has become a game changer for blood transfusions, the fire rescue said.

It started when the fire rescue team began carrying whole blood specifically for trauma patients, making them the first fire department in Central Florida to do so.

An official stated, By providing that blood sooner to the patient we are able to start the stabilization process before they arrive to the hospital, so that way the hospital can do what they need to do to help that patient have the best chance at survivability.

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Currently, the Orange County Fire Rescue is part of just one percent of fire crews nationwide that carry whole blood.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Oregon lawmakers are considering a rideshare driver rights bill, in an effort to improve working conditions for Uber and Lyft drivers across the state.

On Thursday, the Senate Labor and Business Committee held an informational hearing on Senate Bill 1166, which received support from some rideshare drivers and Drivers Union Oregon  a union representing over 10,000 rideshare drivers in the state  while representatives from Uber and Lyft raised concerns about the legislation.

If the bill passes, the protections for Oregon rideshare drivers will take effect in the summer of 2025.

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Hwy 26s The Bump sends cars airborne as locals fight for improvements

Driving for Uber and Lyft is becoming more precarious, said Salem-area rideshare driver Seth Aniagyei in a Drivers Union Oregon press release. The majority of trips are done by full-time drivers like me whose only income comes from these apps, and the big out-of-state corporations have all the control. They manage us through algorithms, fire us via email, lower our pay and raise fees with no accountability. There has to be some limit to that, and thats what were fighting for.

Currently, there is not a statewide rideshare policy, rather local jurisdictions, such as the City of Portland, set their own regulations.

Among the provisions in the bill, SB 1166 would set per-mile and per-minute minimum compensation for drivers, create just cause protections for unwarranted driver terminations, would require rideshare companies to create an appeals process for terminations, extend sick leave, and establish a resource center for rideshare workers to help them access benefits.

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This cause has been brought to my attention by drivers who are really struggling in terms of getting their decent wages and also need some protection, bill co-sponsor Senator Kayse Jama (D-East Portland, Damascus, Boring) testified during the hearing, noting even though rideshare plays an important role in transportation infrastructure, rideshare drivers are getting left behind.

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Testifying in favor of the bill, Stephanie King shared her experience working as a full-time rideshare driver in the Portland area since 2018, saying even though rideshare driving has been viewed as gig work, or a side hustle, she says, the bonus structures that were in place always demanded full-time participation. Many were unobtainable even working back-to-back 12-hour shifts.

In Portland, were paid 40-60% less than in other Oregon markets like Salem, Eugene, Bend and Medford, King said. Over the years, Lyft and Uber have continually cut wages for doing the same work. Long story short, over the last year and a half or so, thats amounted to $1,600 a month pay cut for me, King claimed.

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When Lyft cut the $100 (electric vehicle) bonus, it was the tipping point for me personally and now Im literally selling my body, having to sell blood plasma in order to not quite make ends meet, King said. Our current pay is 70 cents a mile and 24 cents a minute. Seventy cents a mile is the current IRS deduction, and were only paid when were in an active ride, King continued.

Multiple cougar sightings reported near Beaverton shopping center

Driver pay does not correlate to the surge passengers pay in any way, King said, pointing to one trip where she drove someone from Clackamas to Portland International Airport. While the rider paid $116 for the trip, King said she was paid $18.

Nathaniel Hudson-Hartman, another Oregon rideshare driver testifying in favor of the bill, highlighted the need for an appeals process when drivers are terminated from the app.

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No worker should ever have to choose between their health and their income. But I, like many of us, had to take unpaid time off from work when I was sick for weeks from COVID and when my sister and father were both in poor health near the end of their lives. And I can also speak to what its like to wake up and turn on your app only to find out youve been terminated, most times without a clear explanation why or the right to representation. It happened to me right after my father passed away and I was devastated to know that all it took was canceling a trip out of grief, Hudson-Hartman said.

While some rideshare drivers shared frustrations with current Uber and Lyft policies, representatives for the companies raised concerns with the bill.

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Eye on Northwest Politics

Zahid Arab, a public policy and communications representative for Uber explained, When it comes to SB 1166, were concerned. It seeks to set minimum per-mile and per-minute rates. It also prevents restricting dangerous drivers from the platform and creates a driver resource center with unprecedented regulatory powers. Make no mistake, the compensation rates in this proposal are among the highest in the country and when you add in cost of living, and insurance factored into that, these rates far outpace the rideshare models.

Arab continued, We know this proposal will reduce demand, which will directly impact driver earning opportunities at the same time  effectively pricing out countless low-income and senior Oregonians who rely on rideshare for essential services.

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Representatives for Uber and Lyft said Rep. Susan McLain (D-Forest Grove, Cornelius, Hillsboro) agreed to hold a workgroup with the rideshare companies over the summer to find a compromise between safeguarding driver earnings while maintaining the rideshare companys driving models.

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KOIN 6 News reached out to Rep. McLains office for comment but has not heard back.

Representing Lyft, Marissa Cade said the company is interested in participating in the workgroup rather than seeing the bill pass the Oregon legislature.

Lyft is in support of participating actively in a conversation with drivers, and Uber and the community in the potential workgroup, Cade said. I think those conversations have been happening. Theres not been an official amendment put forward or a bill for that workgroup put forward, but we are working on details put together in a more substantial way for the legislature this session.

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Kade continued, Also just wanted to reflectabout the need to respond with an Oregon solution to the needs of rivers here in Oregon. Lyft completely agrees and thats another reason to move into a workgroup scenario rather than moving forward with this bill. Theres some market analysis and things that need to be done in order to weigh the impacts of the changes that are being recommended and how to best help drivers accomplish their end goals here as opposed to what weve seen in the other states that have had unintended consequences on things like driver remuneration.

Following the hearing, SB 1166 is heading to the Senate Rules Committee.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
ORLANDO, Fla. (WFLA)  The Orlando Police Department arrested a man after he stole nearly $1 million in jewelry and swallowed it.

According to WESH, police responded to reports of a robbery at Tiffany & Co. at the Mall at Millenia on Feb. 26.

Police said the suspect, Jaythan Gilder, 32, pretended to represent an Orlando Magic player to gain access to the store.

Gilder was taken to a private room to view jewelry, during which he grabbed the jewelry and ran out of the room, injuring two employees in the process.

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Police were able to locate Gilder with the help of cameras in the mall parking lot.

Orlando police arrested Gilder, and they said he confessed to swallowing the jewelry, which scans confirmed.

Gilder was taken to a nearby hospital, where police said they were able to recover three of the four Tiffany & Co. earrings on March 10.

They also recovered two additional diamond earrings that were unidentified.

The fourth Tiffany & Co. earring was recovered on March 12.

Detectives were able to match them to the earrings stolen from the mall through a serial number printed on the earrings.

Police have charged Gilder with robbery with a mask and first-degree grand theft.

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According to OPD, he is also facing additional charges for 48 separate warrants out of Colorado.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
Just when I thought recall notices were slowing down, the Food and Drug Administration struck again. Im still not over my favorite coffee creamer getting recalled or my go-to sparkling water. And now, my cheese is infected? I cant take it anymore.

ICYMI, on March 19, the FDA issued a Class II recall notice for Great Lakes Cheese Co. Inc., the manufacturer of Aldis branded cheeses. This recall affects the 12-ounce Happy Farm's Colby Jack Deli Sliced Cheese, which was found to be potentially contaminated with stainless steel fragments, according to the notice.

The cheese was sold in four statesConnecticut, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvaniaand has an expiration date of July 13 and 14, 2025. The products UPC number is: 4061463330840.

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So far, 400 casesaround 4,800 individual packetshave been recalled, though no illnesses have been reported.

The recall was initially initiated in early February but recently turned into a Class II notice, which means the use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences, or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote, according to the FDA.

If youve recently purchased Aldis Happy Farm cheese, its best to throw it out or return it to the store for a refund. Dont eat it, even if it looks okay. (Trust me, its not worth the risk).

And while there have been a lot of recalls lately, dont be afraid to grocery shop. Sure, these notices are scarylike, omg food can be contaminated with metals and we wouldnt know. But to be fair, the FDA is doing its job by finding problematic food and recalling it from the shelves. So, take a deep breath and trust that safety protocols are in place. And in the meantime, keep an eye out for any recall notices.

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U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R, Iowa, faced a torrent of angry questions during a town hall at the Franklin County Courthouse in Hampton on Friday.

As part of his annual tour of Iowa's 99 counties, Grassley took limited questions from an animated  and at times irate  crowd. Only a limited number of attendees was allowed to ask questions. The room was at capacity, with overflow of more than 100 constituents gathered in the hall of the courthouse below.

The meeting comes after recent recommendations from the National Republican Congressional Committee to shutter town hall events after videos of voters angry about recent Trump administration actions became popular online.

Grassley was met with concerns about Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, potential cuts to Social Security, and the role of Congress in providing guardrails to the executive office.

One constituent was particularly concerned about Grassley's inaction in his role on the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling for Musk to be subpoenaed.

"Where is Congress? Where are you? ... Nobody knows in this country what the hell is going on with Mr. Musk and how he apparently has his own agenda," he said.

"Everything that goes on in the executive branch of the government is the total responsibility of Trump and the people that he has appointed," Grassley responded to an outcry from the crowd.

Another attendee asked why Grassley has not spoken out against Trump's escalating conflict with the judiciary. Grassley responded that he frequently talks to reporters and had a regular newsletter meant to keep Iowans informed of his positions.

"Why do you feel that President Trump is above the law?" the constituent asked. "He's not above the law," Grassley said.

One woman asked about the deportation without due process of 238 men to a high-security prison in El Salvador, men the administration claims without evidence are members of a Venezuelan gang. Grassley did not address this portion of her question, which angered some present, including attendee Mark McCormick.

"They were sent to a prison for their slave labor, I don't know what they're planning on using them for," McCormick said. "And they can't even give a 'Yes, these people were actually gang members.' ... As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I'm curious where he stands on that, how he'd be okay with letting that happen."

Nancy Baker Curtis and her young son, Charlie, came from south central Iowa. Charlie is a wheelchair user and is nonverbal.

"There are proposals to cut nearly $880 billion dollars from the Medicaid fund. ... My son, Charlie, can walk today because of the secondary wrap around coverage he receives through his Medicaid waiver. I wanted to be able to ask the senator if he plans to protect Iowa's children with disabilities and vote against those cuts," Baker Curtis said. "We need an elected official who's going to speak for people like Charlie who don't have a voice. And so I'd like for him to tell me how he's planning to vote, and I'd like for him to know my son's name."

Baker Curtis and her son were unable to pose their questions to Grassley.

Angie Ellerbroek, an infection-control nurse from Waverly, came because she is worried about discrimination against the trans community and alarmed at the removal of key terms in CDC databases. "Chuck Grassley is being a coward, and he is kowtowing to Trump and Musk," Ellerbroek said.

Another constituent, Tim Wagner of Decorah, drove more than two hours to attend the town hall with the hope he would be able to speak to the senator. "He refused to meet with hundreds of people. That's how you blow democracy to pieces, right there," Wagner said.

Grassley did address a question from a reporter about Trump's plan to close the federal Department of Education, saying he planned on voting to close the department just as he voted against establishing it in 1979.

"If it was coming up for a vote again, I would vote to eliminate it because I think education is a local and state issue," Grassley said. "But I think there's every right, the way this has been handled, for parents and teachers and school board members to be concerned about will it effect what they do at the local level." Grassley went on to say he didn't believe any initiatives aimed at dismantling the federal Department of Education would gather the necessary 60 votes to be approved by Congress.

Despite emotions running high, Grassley told reporters in a press conference after the town hall he felt it had gone well.

"It goes like all of my town meetings. I let them set the agenda, and they can bring up anything that they wanted to, so we dealt with a lot of issues that are on people's minds," Grassley said. "People are very concerned about a lot of issues that are going on in Washington, D.C."
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB)  A lot of people will be taking advantage of this weekends great weather, working in their yards.

Panama City officials want to help.

Theyre continuing their reforestation initiative with another tree giveaway.

Theyll be giving away 500 three-gallon Florida Elm and Live Oak trees on Saturday at Daffin Park in Millville. This is the second of six tree giveaways this year.

Eastern Shipbuilding to build new dredge, delivery by 2028

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They are part of a five-year reforestation initiative to restore the tree canopy destroyed by Hurricane Michael.

Obviously the value of trees in general is fantastic. But just going things down gives us in the shade. Give us the beauty of the canopy and its so much more energy-efficient for all of our homes and businesses and everything else, Panama City Parks, Culture & Recreation Director Keith Mefford said.

The giveaway starts at 8:00 a.m on Saturday, first come first serve, limit of 2 trees per household.

You can speed up the process by pre-registering online, but that does not guarantee you a tree. To get the registration form, click here.

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BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB)  The design plans for the proposed multi-use pathway along West Beach Drive are complete.

The design features the 1.6-mile-long concrete sidewalk which could be 8 to 12 feet wide. The project requires the removal of 120 trees but replants 227. It highlights 17 Bay Savers, which are stormwater filtration systems to keep sediment and debris out of the bay.

The design plans include narrowing the road from 13 feet to 11 feet.

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Officials say this may even slow down traffic and improve pedestrian safety. They plan on installing a couple more crosswalks along West Beach Drive for safety reasons, but some still have concerns.

Issue number one is safety issue number two is parking. You put the two of them together and realize theres no parking on the south side of West Beach Drive. So that means anybody accessing that path has to park on one of these side streets and the parking. Im on the east side trees they have to cross West Beach Drive. This road is traveled by 13,000 vehicles a day, resident Hank Picken said.

Panama City hosting second 2025 tree giveaway Saturday

The controversial project is on the April 22 ballot as a non-binding referendum.

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The piece about the referendum is a real question as to why theyre doing it. Now I use the phrase frequently ready, fire, aim, because whatever theyre doing now should have been done two years ago before they spent a dime on this project. They spent over $1,000,000 designing a path that may not be used, Picken said.

Aside from resident opposition, other factors are delaying the project. Technically, the city doesnt own the roadway.

The FDOT has not transferred the road, and they have indicated that they dont plan to transfer it at this time, which is why weve initiated them granting us a right-of-way use permit. I think its important to note that these two particular efforts can be separate. The Beach Drive multi-use sidewalk was not predicated solely on the FDOT transferring that road, Panama City City Manager Jonathan Hayes said.

Also, FDOT and the Panama City Commission still have to approve the design plans. Officials say they will not take private property from residents for the project.

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The $8 million project is funded through a state appropriation that can only be used for the pathway.

To view the full design plans, click here.

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BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB)  Panama City is taking steps towards a greener future with its reforestation initiative.

The Panama City Parks, Culture, and Recreation Department gave away 500 trees at Daffin Park to Bay County residents on Saturday morning.

The giveaway featured Florida Elm and Live Oak trees, limited to two per household.

It was the second tree giveaway this year. But its only the start of the citys five-year reforestation initiative to restore the tree canopy destroyed by Hurricane Michael.

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Panama City hosting second 2025 tree giveaway Saturday

The giveaways have already proven to be a huge success in the community.

Its very important because weve lost over 80% of our canopy because of the hurricane. So, this is just a small part for us to be able to give back to the community. Its been great. The one that we did in January, the first one that we did, we had a really great turnout. And I think its even bigger this time, Parks, Culture, & Recreation Department special event & budget administrator Angie Bates said.

If you missed Saturdays giveaway, theres still plenty of time to take advantage of the free trees.

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The next one is April 26th at the Oaks by the Bay Park.

For more information, click here.

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A panel of three senior Lackawanna County judges will handle proceedings in the legal action brought by Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan and the county over the now-paused process of filling former Democratic Commissioner Matt McGloins vacant seat.

County President Judge James Gibbons issued an order Friday noting the matter will proceed before a panel of Senior Judges Carmen D. Minora, Robert A. Mazzoni and Vito P. Geroulo, who will hear arguments and rule on issues raised in a petition that county solicitor Donald Frederickson and attorneys with the Scranton law firm Myers, Brier & Kelly filed Monday on behalf of Gaughan and the county.

That petition asks the court to amend a March 6 order on the replacement process so it complies with Pennsylvania Rule of Judicial Administration 1908, effectively removing the Lackawanna County Democratic Committee from the process of filling McGloins seat for the almost three years remaining on his unexpired term.

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The March 6 order signed by former county President Judge Trish Corbett maintained a replacement process established by the countys Home Rule Charter that tasks the county Democratic Committee with providing a list of three potential appointees for consideration by the judges of the county court. Its a process that played out controversially last month, when county Democratic Party leaders used a scoring rubric to shrink a list of 18 applicants to three finalists  former county economic development Director Brenda Sacco, Olyphant Borough Council President James Baldan and Scranton School Director Robert J. Casey  before the executive committee voted to advance those candidates to the judges.

Corbetts order reset the clock on that process, giving the party five days from the date of the order to furnish the court with three potential appointees. County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick resubmitted the same three names, those of Sacco, Baldan and Casey, to the court the next day.

By maintaining the Home Rule Charter process, Gaughan and the county contend the order violated Pennsylvania Rule of Judicial Administration 1908. Adopted by the state Supreme Court in 2019, that rule says the county court, not a political party, shall receive applications from any interested candidates for the position pursuant to a deadline established by the court.

Gibbons, who succeeded Corbett as president judge Monday, paused Wednesday the process of replacing McGloin, staying the March 6 order Gaughan and the county challenged. He issued a rule to show cause giving the county Democratic Committee until April 7 to answer as to why the relief sought by Gaughan and the county shouldnt be granted.

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In his Friday order, Gibbons noted that under both the Home Rule Charter and Rule 1908 the Commissioned Judges of this Court are charged with filling this vacancy.

Prudence suggests that the determination as to which process controls should be in the hands of those not involved with the appointment of a successor Commissioner itself, he wrote.

The three-judge panel of Senior Judges Minora, Mazzoni and Geroulo will accordingly handle the matter and schedule proceedings in accordance with its availability, Gibbons order notes.

Gaughan, who last month introduced Dunmore Mayor Mark Max Conway Jr. as his preferred choice to succeed McGloin, has sharply criticized the Democratic Committees replacement process as opaque and politically tainted. Patrick, the county Democratic chairman, has repeatedly defended the process the committee employed.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested and charged a 38-year-old man after he allegedly disrupted students at a middle school and assaulted a school resource officer.

I mean, its a concern for sure, said parent Mitchell Stover.

Parents who Channel 9 spoke with said they werent notified about the incident that happened at 5 p.m. Thursday at Whitewater Middle School in west Charlotte.

Parents upset school district didnt notify them of shooting threats more quickly

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Court documents say Jahod Isaac was yelling loudly disrupting students in study hall.

He also allegedly disturbed visiting student-athletes at the schools track meet.

School is supposed to be safe and this is the reason why parents allow their children to bring phones to school, for safety reasons, said parent Laketia McClain.

McClain, whose son attends the school, said she was disappointed that she didnt hear from school officials.

You can text me, the mother said. You can email me and ParentSquare me for everything else, but things of safety no, they dont let us.

At some point, police were called in as the SRO was trying to control the situation.

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Isaac allegedly slapped the SROs hand away, which led to the assault charge.

Court records didnt indicate if Isaac is a parent but on his jail sheet, he has a Las Vegas address.

Parents said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools should have told them about what happened.

Its not getting fixed. Weve had issues like this before, Stover said.

You want us to communicate by any means necessary. We demand the same respect, McClain said.

Isaac was charged with disorderly conduct and assault on a government official.

Channel 9 reached out to CMS to ask if there was any communication with parents.

We are still waiting for a response.

VIDEO: CMS faces $100M funding cut as federal COVID stimulus expires
The Pasadena Unified School District has filed a lawsuit against SoCal Edison seeking compensation for damages caused by the devastating Eaton Fire.

A total of 17 people died in the Eaton Fire, which burned more than 14,000 acres and destroyed or damaged over 10,000 structures.

Among the structures damaged or destroyed were several schools in the Pasadena Unified School District, which became the latest entity to file suit against SCE on Friday.

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Damaged apartment complex remains unlivable months after Eaton fire, angry residents say

Documentation submitted with the legal filing includes photographic evidence of the fires origin point and references to SCEs own regulatory filings that acknowledge electrical system anomalies coinciding with the fires ignition time and location, a PUSD media release reads. The districts complaint notes that Edison filed reports with the California Public Utilities Commission acknowledging that a fault was detected on its transmission circuit at approximately the same time and location the fire began.

SoCal Edison recently announced that they were looking into a zombie power line as the possible origin of the deadly fire.

FILE  A jungle gym melted and destroyed by the Eaton Fire is seen at a school, Jan. 15, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) The Eliot Arts Magnet School in the aftermath of the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California, US, on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Altadena, CA  January 11: The Eaton fire burned out this school bus parked outside the burned down Aveson Charter School in Altadena Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Pasadena Unifieds Maintenance and Operations team has been clearing debris after the devastation caused by the Eaton Fire. (Pasadena Unified School District)

The districts complaint, which includes claims for inverse condemnation, negligence, trespass, nuisance, premises liability and violations of Public Utilities and Health and Safety codes, addresses both direct fire damage and subsequent costs of managing post-fire hazards, emergency response and infrastructure restoration.

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Educational facilities that suffered extensive damage, according to the suit, are:

Franklin Elementary School

Eliot Arts Magnet Middle School

Odyssey Charter School

Pasadena Rosebud Academy

Oak Knoll Montessori School

Aveson School of Leaders

Pasadena Unifieds suit comes on the heels of Edison being sued by the cities of Pasadena and Sierra Madre as well as L.A. County.

In a statement to KTLA, SoCal Edison said that the Eaton Fire has been heartbreaking for the Altadena community.

We are reviewing this lawsuit and will respond through the legal process, an Edison spokesperson said.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
LOGAN COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR)  A pastor of a local church, along with a national faith-based disaster relief organization, toured the Logan County area devastated by the wildfires to better understand the needs of the community.

Fires were still smoldering, or reignited with Fridays winds, a week after the historic wildfires on March 14.

John Pross, the Meridian Volunteer Fire Chief, said his firefighters have been working around the clock in eastern Logan County.

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LOCAL NEWS: Donations available Wednesday in Langston for wildfire victims

My first tour I ran for 42 hours straight, said Pross.

Pastor Derrick Scobey, of Ebenezer Baptist Church, along with World Vision, a nation-wide faith-based disaster relief organization, toured the damagve.

Im 57, Ive never seen anything like this in my entire life, said Scobey.

Hes able to offer more than just empathy.

The two are partnering to distribute what the community needs at Langston University.

I heard that water was a need. I just texted our warehouse and their going to put two pallets of water on the truck thats coming this afternoon, said Mike Bassett, Director of Disaster relief for World Vision.

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Driving down Crystal Lake, and along Henney Rd. near Hwy 103, youll see house after house burned to the ground.

The further weve gotten into this, the more devastating it is, said Scobey.

Jason Smiths first day as a volunteer firefighter was last Friday. His own home burned to the ground while he was out fighting fires with Meridian Volunteer Fire Department.

I heard one of the guys say over the radio we werent going to be able to save the neighborhood, said Smith. We just couldnt get through the smoke.

Tragically, he also lost his dog in the fire.

I still havent had time to digest the emotions, said Smith.

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LOCAL NEWS: Volunteers give necessities to Oklahomans impacted by fires

Up the road is Rick Wetteround.

About 40 years worth of stuff lost, said Wetteround. I was here. They had to evacuate me, get me out of here.

The 68-year-olds four trailers burned down, but hes still here.

Im living here. Staying in my truck, said Wetteround. I got a storm cellar over there, Ive had to go in there some.

Scobey and World vision have resourced that which will make a world of difference for Wetteround.

Scobey said reaching everyone will take time.

Probably about two weeks, said Scobey.

Its going to take a very long time for this community to regrow and regroup, said Pross.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
PAXTON, Ill. (WCIA)  People from across Central Illinois are bidding farewell to a longtime community pillar. The owners of Paxtons IGA grocery store are retiring and selling to Kirby Foods.

Theyve just led by example with what theyve given to the community, and the community reciprocates, said longtime customer Donna Pepper.

Macon Co. Health Department announces new sharps disposal drop box

Friday marked the final weekday the Paxton grocery store operated under IGA ownership. For Pepper, it comes after 70 years filled with lots of memories.

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It is hometown proud. Paxton IGA has always been a part of everything that I remember, even from childhood, Pepper said. From Little League teams, to donations, to they always have a Girl Scout troop setting up selling cookies, or Boy Scouts selling popcorn.

Susan LaFrey lives in Loda and has shopped at IGA for 15 years. She said theres one big quality that keeps bringing her back.

Well, the niceness, everybody helps you, LaFrey said. And I just like coming here, its a big difference from the city where I used to live.

Cashier Dianna Yoder said the store is a special place for employees, just like it is for customers.

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Part of Clayton Blvd. closing for repairs in Champaign

This place, everybody knows everybody, and theyre family. I hope everything basically stays about the same, Yoder said. You know, Ive been through other places where they changed hands, but then everything usually works out fine.

On Sunday, the store will close and reopen Monday morning as a Kirby Foods store. But for so many, the memories of the IGA store down the street remain.

Itll still be here, Pepper said. Its still going to be a grocery store, and hopefully, its going to be a big part of our community, and we welcome that, and we look forward to it. But its going to be different.

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The IGA owners said Kirby Foods will keep staff as is. Kirby Foods is originally based in Champaign, with their first store opening on Kirby Ave. in 1969.

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EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  A pedestrian was injured when they were struck by a vehicle Friday night in El Pasos Lower Valley, a Fire Department spokesperson said.

The crash happened at about 8:40 p.m. at North Loop and Warnock Way.

UPDATE: Pedestrian dies from hit-and-run crash in Lower Valley

The crash appears to be a hit and run, the Fire Department spokesperson said.

The pedestrian was transported Code 3 (serious injuries).

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Police say their Special Traffic Investigations Unit is on the scene, looking into the crash.

The scene has been turned over to the Police Department.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
PEKIN, Ill. (WMBD)  The City of Pekin is negotiating a deal to sell a 60-acre plot of land in Riverway Business Park.

Pekin Mayor Mary Buress said a healthcare solutions company is looking for a place to build a manufacturing facility. The company, Epic Pharma Solutions, has an international footprint and makes things like tubes and IV bags.

The mayor said they are close to closing the deal for 305 Hanna Drive. Further, the company wants to be up and running by next year, and it will bring 100 jobs to the community.

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Tenants of the deal are still unclear at the time we are publishing this story.

The city council will take up the issue at its regularly scheduled meeting Monday, March 24. Mayor Buress said she is confident the council will approve the deal, and the city will sign a contract with Epic Medical by the end of the week.

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For Amaiya Lewis, working at the Caesars Virginia casino resort has given her more confidence and propelled her to dream a little bigger.

The Caesars rewards representative began working for the company in February 2024 after being laid off from her previous job applying putty to hardwood floors for Mohawk Industries, a flooring manufacturer.

After losing that job, she used that time to figure out what she wanted to do next.

I chose the casino because I heard about the job opportunity and salary options, Lewis said. This is my first time working at a casino, so starting off was a challenge for me, but I overcame it.

As a rewards representative, she provides help to guests throughout their experience at the casino, she said. That includes explaining Caesars Virginia promotions, printing cards, resolving customer account issues, acknowledging guests and responding to their questions and concerns.

Caesars Virginia first began operating in Danville on May 15, 2023, as a small, temporary casino, Danville Casino. The full Caesars Virginia casino hotel resort opened Dec. 17.

The facility has about 1,200 employees.

In November 2020, Danville voters overwhelmingly approved allowing Caesars to build a casino hotel resort in Schoolfield, where Dan River Inc. was located before it closed in 2006.

Two employees who answered questions from the Register & Bee described a quick-moving and engaging atmosphere at Caesars.

Working in the casino industry can be a unique, rewarding experience for those who thrive in a lively environment and enjoy interacting with people, said Leslee Stoneback, beverage supervisor at Caesars Virginia.

Thomas Perugini, program director for Averett Universitys hospitality management and tourism program, said those who want to work in the industry need to have a positive, outgoing personality and a deserve to serve others.

It takes a person with a lot of positive energy, empathy, a great spirit, a spirit to serve, Perugini said, partially quoting J.W. Bill Marriott Jr., chairman emeritus of Marriott International, Inc.

Working in the hospitality industry, including a casino hotel resort, requires patience, understanding, problem-solving skills and functioning as part of a team, Perugini said.

Stoneback, who began working at Caesars the day the temporary facility opened nearly two years ago, enjoys the frenetic pace and variety of people she encounters.

I love the diverse interactions and the fast-paced atmosphere, Stoneback said. You never who youll meet.

Her job entails running day-to-day operations when it comes to serving beverages on the casino floor, assigning servers sections and building team morale.

Before joining Caesars Virginia, she was working from home part-time and in housekeeping at The Bee Hotel downtown.

For Stoneback and Lewis, working at the resort has helped them build their confidence and improve their skills.

Even though every day is still a learning experience for me, during my time at Caesars, Ive learned that Im capable of problem-solving, time management and to treat confidence like a skill and not a personality trait, Stoneback said. I approach my job like the mantra: Just like any skill, you get better at it one lesson at a time.

Lewis agreed, adding that she has become more ambitious during her time at Caesars.

Ive always been quiet and shy, so working here has given me more confidence in myself, Lewis said. I am also more open to my team members and guests. Ive learned not to be afraid of wanting more for my future.

She has also become more extroverted and gained positive experience working with her fellow employees.

We all get along and work together to achieve a positive workplace, Lewis said, adding that she also loves interacting with guests. Even in a little amount of time serving the guests, I am able to connect with so many people and hear their amazing stories from their lives.

For eager employees, theres ample opportunity for upward mobility in the hospitality and tourism industry, Perugini said. In addition, cross-training in different departments can enable lateral moves within a company, he said.

Working in the casino industry can be a unique, rewarding experience for those who thrive in a lively environment and enjoy interacting with people, Stoneback said. Stay positive, always be open to constructive criticism and look into career advancement opportunities.

There are 200 different types of positions at the casino, he said, providing options for workers, Perugini added.

The hospitality industry will be one of the fastest-growing in the next 10 years, he said.

Theres never a shortage of workers in our current economy, Perugini said.

There are a number of Averett University graduates in leadership roles at Caesars Virginia, including its chief financial officer and chief compliance officer, he pointed out.

In November 2022, Caesars Virginia provided Averett with a gift of $500,000 to launch its hospitality management and tourism program, which started in the fall of 2023.

Averett currently has four applicants for internship programs at Caesars Virginia, and also takes students to Caesars for field trips and uses the casino resort for hands-on practicum work for them, Perugini said.

In addition, Caesars Virginia employees speak to classes at Averett, which also provides office space, meeting space and dorms for the company when theyre needed. The company also hosts job fairs on site.

We have an outstanding relationship, Perugini said.

As for the casino industry, it can also have its drawbacks, he added.

Lots of characters come to a casino, where there are a lot of emotions at play when huge amounts of money are at stake, Perugini said.

Also, the hours can be challenging, especially for people working third shift. In addition, business levels can fluctuate at some establishments, he said.

However, Caesars Virginia is doing well financially, he said.

Lewis said she plans to work toward moving up in Caesars and in the industry.

The job can be fun and exciting if you enjoy interacting with people, she said. I plan to continue to grow and strive for better opportunities.
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WKBN)  Pennsylvanias Lt. Governor Austin Davis was in Pittsburgh Friday, discussing the Shapiro administrations efforts to support sexual assault survivors and victims of crime.

The states proposed budget includes a $9 million investment in the Victims Compensation Assistance Program. The program helps victims pay for medical and counseling services, loss of earnings, crime scene clean-up and even relocation.

VCAP says it receives about 12,000 claims each year.

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No crime victim should have to worry about how theyll afford medical bills to recover. No family should have to struggle with funeral expenses for a loved one who they lost to violence and no sexual assault survivor should have to worry about covering the costs of counseling to overcome the trauma theyve endured, Davis said.

If you or someone you know was affected by a crime, visit the PA Crime Victims website for information and resources.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com.
The Department of Defense is investigating recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information and plans to use polygraphs as part of the probe, according to a memo published to the departments website Friday.

The use of polygraphs in the execution of this investigation will be in accordance with applicable law and policy, DOD Chief of Staff Joe Kasper wrote in the memo. This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense.

Kasper wrote that information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure would be referred for criminal prosecution.

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The memo comes after President Donald Trump pushed back on a New York Times report that DOGE head Elon Musk would be briefed on US military plans for a potential war with China while at the Pentagon on Friday. Trump said he wouldnt show such plans to anybody. Pentagon officials also resoundingly dismissed the reporting on social media. Musk did meet with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for over an hour Friday.

The Defense Department is the latest government arm to announce it will use polygraph tests on employees. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said earlier this month her department will continue the practice after reports she directed polygraphs in the department to include a question about leaks to the media. She said she still believes there are leakers within the government, and they should be held accountable.

We have identified two leakers of information here at the Department of Homeland Security who have been telling individuals about our operations and putting law enforcement lives in jeopardy. We plan to prosecute these two individuals and hold them accountable for what theyve done, Noem said in a video on X earlier this month.

The Department of Justice on Friday announced its own probe into the selective leak of inaccurate, but nevertheless classified information related to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

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We will not tolerate politically motivated efforts by the Deep State to undercut President Trumps agenda by leaking false information onto the pages of their allies at the New York Times, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement on Friday. The Alien Enemies Proclamation is supported by fact, law, and common sense, which we will establish in court and then expel the TDA terrorists from this country,

CNNs Haley Britzky, Donald Judd and Christian Sierra contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
The U.S. military is sending the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group to the Middle East, as fighting with Houthi forces around Yemen reignites after a two-month pause.

According to reporting from the Associated Press, the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group will end its current deployment in east Asia in the 7th Fleets area of responsibility and head to the waters around Yemen. That will bolster American force projection in the region, as the ships will be joining the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in the fight against Houthi forces around Yemen. That carrier groups deployment to the Middle East has extended another month, according to the Associated Press.

The dual carrier deployment comes a week into renewed fighting between U.S. forces and the Houthis, a religious and Yemeni nationalist group that controls much of Yemen, including the capital city. Since October 2023, the group has launched rockets and drones at commercial ships passing through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in response to Israels war in Gaza. The U.S. Navy and Air Force have repeatedly intercepted those munitions and carried out bombing campaigns on Houthi-controlled areas. After a ceasefire was signed in January, the Houthis halted their attacks and the U.S. in turn stopped strikes on Yemen. That ended last weekend when the Truman Carrier Strike Group launched attacks on Yemen in response to the Houthis saying they would renew actions in the Red Sea.

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The Carl Vinson and its ships are expected to take two-three weeks to arrive in the Middle East.

The last time two carrier strike groups were in the CENTCOM area of responsibility was in September. In August, previous Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln and its support ships to accelerate to the Middle East to join the USS Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group as a deterrent to Iranian strikes against Israel after the latter carried out strikes in Lebanon and and Iran. The expanded naval presence was part of a wider increase in American military projection to the region. The Roosevelt and its strike group left in September.

Along with its namesake carrier, the Vinson Carrier Strike Group includes a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser and two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, in addition to the aircraft that make up Carrier Air Wing 2.

The Vinson and its strike group has been in the waters around the Korean Peninsula in recent weeks, visiting Busan and conducting drills and exercises with the Republic of Korea Navy, and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force following recent missile tests by North Korea.

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The Truman Carrier Strike Group entered the 5th Fleets domain in December to support the fight against the Houthis and saw extensive action in the last weeks of 2024. It briefly left the Middle East for a port visit to Greece for repairs from a collision with a merchant ship, but has been back in the Red Sea. Its deployment was originally set to end at the end of this month. Fighters from Carrier Air Wing 1 took part in the newest strikes on Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen this month.

In the previous months-long engagement against the Houthis, the U.S. Navy expended more than 400 munitions and sent multiple carrier groups and independent ships to the area around Yemen. President Donald Trump has pledged to completely annihilate the Houthis in this latest fight, but a Pentagon spokesman has said that the now week-long conflict is not an endless offensive.

The latest on Task & Purpose
A person of interest is in police custody following a possible domestic-related shooting Friday night on the South Side in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, Chicago police said.

About 10 p.m., a 32-year-old man was involved in an argument with a female in the 8700 block of South Morgan Street when the argument turned into a fight, police said.

The person the man was arguing with pulled out a weapon and opened fire, striking the man in a leg and the chest. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and listed in fair condition, police said.

A person of interest was arrested and detectives were investigating.
Phoenix locals know that hitting 100 degrees for the first time each year isn't an "if" but a "when."

Walking outside will inevitably one day feel like entering an oven, and your car's steering wheel will be hotter than the surface of the sun.

But exactly when will America's hottest city reach that triple-digit milestone in 2025? That's where you come in.

Take a wild (or well-informed) guess in our poll and see how your prediction stacks up against history.

Sunset light over the downtown Phoenix skyline during the beginning of the summer solstice on June 20, 2024.

Spring heat: Is Phoenix headed for its first 100-degree day? Spring is bringing a fast warm-up

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We'll give you a few hints.

On average, Phoenix typically sees its first 100-degree day around May 2, according to the National Weather Service Phoenix. The earliest recorded triple-digit day was on March 26, 1988, while the latest first 100-degree day came on June 18, 1913.

There is a slight chance  20% according to weather service meteorologists  that Phoenix could hit triple digits as early as next week, challenging the current earliest 100-degree reading record.

The forecast high on Tuesday is shown as 98 degrees as a high-pressure system arrives in the region. The temperature could creep up to 100 that day, one day earlier than the current record.

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Last year the first 100-degree day came almost on time with historical norms on April 21. But with a weakening La Nina weather event, climatologists predict this spring will be warmer and drier than normal, setting the stage for a possible early triple-digit reading.

So cast your vote. Will the big 1-0-0 arrive early this year, or will Phoenix get a temporary reprieve?

First 100-degree days

2024: April 21

2023: April 30

2022: May 7

2021: May 5

2020: April 26

2019: April 26

2018: April 10

2017: May 3

2016: May 4

2015: May 1

Source: National Weather Service

Hayleigh Evans writes about extreme weather and related topics for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Email her with story tips at hayleigh.evans@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix could reach 100 degrees in record time
A Wilson Elementary School teacher was arrested and booked on four counts of indecent exposure after being accused of urinating in a can at his desk in the classroom.

On March 18, Phoenix police were dispatched to Wilson Elementary School at Fillmore and 30th streets for a report of indecent exposure.

Phoenix police officers met with Makiko Wojcicki, Wilson Elementary principal, who explained three sixth-grade students had reported an incident from their classroom the day prior.

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The students, two 11-year-old girls and one 12-year-old boy, told police that they had heard what sounded like falling water and visually witnessed their teacher urinating, according to a booking sheet filed in Maricopa County Superior Court.

The booking sheet adds that a fourth person, an 11-year-old girl, was interviewed, and she told investigators that she saw her teacher's exposed penis while he was urinating under his desk.

Detectives were able to see the desk where the incident occurred and, in the release, said, "the desk is not enclosed" and that it would "allow the victims to see him sitting at his seat."

Maricopa County Superior Court confirmed the teacher was apprehended from his home and taken to Phoenix police headquarters, where he admitted that while he was in class, he unzipped his pants and urinated in a can at his desk.

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However, the teacher maintained he believed no one could see his penis because he was covering it with his hand.

The teacher said he did not think of ways to contact someone to watch his class and did not know anyone personally who could come to help.

A Maricopa County Superior Court booking sheet added, "He stated he resorted back to what he did in the military when he could not leave a spot and peed into a can."

When asked for a comment, Wilson School District released a statement.

"We are actively working with the Phoenix Police Department regarding this matter. In accordance with policy, Wilson Elementary School District cannot provide details regarding personnel matters; however, we can confirm that the teacher has been placed on administrative leave pending further action, has been relieved of all duties and has been arrested. We are unable to provide any additional comments on this matter," the statement said.

The teacher has a court hearing scheduled on March 28.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona schoolteacher accused of urinating in a can at his desk
The Phoenix Veterans Affairs Medical Center will soon close its library.

The library, located in the basement of the Valley's biggest health center for veterans, will close March 31, according to signs posted on the door.

On Friday afternoon, stacks of books lay in wait next to the elevator.

A yellowed copy of British and European Combat Aircraft by Paul A. Jackson lay discarded on a table; Human Settlement, an encyclopedia edited by John R. Short, rested atop a storage cart; and Whiskers and Smoke by Marian Babsona wildfire murder mystery featuring a skittish, secretive cat, sat prominently on a rolling bookshelf.

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Lee Franklin, director of community relations for the Phoenix Public Library, said the library system had not formally connected with the VA but learned about the closure through patrons.

The Phoenix VA hospital has announced plans to close its library.

The two systems share a common customer base, Franklin noted.

"Those that visit the VA, for their needs there, often come to the library, and access all of the things that we provide to the community," she said.

The library is always monitoring for unmet needs in the community and they have a process for accepting donations or other collections of materials if they're offered.

"We want to be responsive," Franklin said.

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Officials with the Phoenix VA did not officially confirm the closure or return additional questions.

The news follows a small workforce reduction within the Veterans Affairs Department nationwide, undertaken at the behest of President Donald Trump.

According to a memo circulated among agency heads and previously reported by USA TODAY, the VA plans to lay off at least 76,000 more workers, a more significant move that lawmakers and advocates fear could devastate the already short-staffed agency.

USA TODAY's Cybele Mayes-Osterman contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix VA hospital announces library closure
After residing peacefully in Canmore, Alberta, for several years, a female cougar with two young kittens was recently killed in an act that left residents shocked and dismayed.

What's happening?

Canada's Global News reported on the incident, which was discovered by wildlife photographer John Marriott. Marriott had been tracking the cougar for four years, though he had never actually encountered her in real life, only seeing her on trail cameras.

"She's like this ghost neighbour and she's a perfect example of a cat that is wonderful at coexisting and respecting humans, and living right beside us without us really knowing it," he told Global News.

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But after discovering fresh tracks during a stakeout, he was shocked to see a group of cougar hunters emerging from the bush just minutes later.

"That was the moment of shock where I suddenly thought, 'Is this the Canmore cougar  and they have killed her and orphaned some kittens?'" he said, dismayed.

The hunters had separated the cougar from her kittens using dogs, chased her up a tree, and shot her. And what's most upsetting, Marriott said, is that they had to know she had kittens because there were "cougar kitten tracks everywhere."

The kittens were not old enough to survive without their mother, leading several members of the community to wonder if the hunters had violated cougar hunting laws in the region that stipulate that mothers of young cubs cannot be killed. But whether or not their actions are deemed illegal, Marriott said, "without a doubt, there's been something unethical."

Why are hunting regulations important?

Historically, hunting and fishing have been effective conservation tools, keeping invasive populations in check and preserving healthy predator/prey ratios. But whenever hunting and fishing activities go beyond their legal limits, ecosystems can suffer tremendously.

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Not only does illegal hunting and poaching tip an ecosystem off balance, but killing parents of young animals can jeopardize peaceful human-animal coexistence. "It's so important to keep these mature older females on the landscape because they teach their kittens how to interact with people and how to avoid them," Marriott said.

What's being done to help the cubs?

Fortunately, Fish and Wildlife was able to safely capture the cubs, and they're currently being cared for at the Calgary Zoo. And while they'll be able to live out their lives under human care, they'll never be able to live in the wild again.

To prevent situations like this from repeating themselves, many people  including Marriott  are urging Canmore's government to adjust its cougar hunting regulations and legal limits.

The outcome for the hunters is still uncertain.

Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
MORGANTON, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS)  Officials in multiple counties responded to a large outside fire in Burke County despite the statewide and local burn ban, officials say.

Triple Community Fire Department in Morganton posted photos of a large fire off Old Amherst Road at Iron Lane, dubbed the Iron Circle Fire.

Burke County officials say the fire was reported around 11:35 a.m. on Saturday. NC Forest Service helicopters and one scout plane were called in to assist with battling the flames around 2:30 p.m.

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25 fire departments from five counties are assisting in battling the flames, including crews from Catawba, Caldwell, McDowell and Alexander counties.

Credit: Triple Community Fire Department

As of 5 p.m, Saturday, the fire destroyed three structures, displacing five people. Burke County Fire Marshal Robert Bishop says there were several vacant mobile homes on the property. In addition, an estimated 100+ cars, trucks and other commercial vehicles were badly burned in the fire.

There are no injuries reported.

According to the NC Forest Service website, the fire has burned 180 acres and is at 70% containment as of 8 p.m. Saturday. Another fire broke out around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday but was quickly extinguished.

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Crews are currently working to control another fire that recently broke out and involves several vehicles, propane tanks and other materials.

The area of Old Amherst Road remains closed except for emergency personnel from Burke Smokey Creek Road. To aid firefighters, NC state troopers have the area of Calico/Old Amherst Road blocked off to the public, according to our Queen City News team on the scene.

The Burke County Fire Marshals Office remains on scene to continue the investigation with the NC Forest Service on scene monitoring fire control.

Credit: Burke County Gov. Credit: Burke County Gov. Credit: Burke County Gov.

Caldwell County officials say smoke from the fire can be seen across the county. They remind residents that a burn ban is still in effect and therefore, campfires, bonfires, yard and leag burning are prohibited.

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All North Carolina counties under burn ban due to hazardous forest fire conditions

Officials also reported an additional forest fire in Yadkin Valley on Highway 268 in Caldwell County, dubbed the Caleb Lane Fire, around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. This is near the Caldwell/Wilkes County line.

This fire has burned roughly 45-60 acres and was contained within six hours, officials said. The cause of this fire is still under investigation.

Evacuations have been issued for residents who live between Caleb Lane and the Old Ellers store, near the Wilkes County line.

Another fire, the Wilson Ridge Fire, erupted in Caldwell County in the area of Highway 90 and Tolbert Road. Offiicals say this fire was started when a tree fell on a power line. Collettsville Fire & Rescue, Caldwell County Emergency Services, NC Forest Service and the US Forest Service are working to contain the fire.

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There are no mandatory evacuations for the Burke County fire, however, residents are leaving the area voluntarily.

As of March 19, over 1,040 wildfires have burned on state and private lands statewide since the start of the month. Ninety-nine percent of wildfires in NC are human-caused.

This is a Developing Story . Check back for updates

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA)  Its a question victims and former employees wonder after seeing Leo Govoni running business per usual.

How much power, how far up does the power and the money of Govoni go? asked Bill Cole, Big Storm Brewings former executive chef.

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The Pinellas County businessman was found liable for $120 million in missing money from his now-bankrupt non-profit, the Center for Special Needs Trust Administration.



Govoni has not faced any charges, despite being at the focus of an FBI investigation.

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Now, a federal bankruptcy judge seized control of Leo Govonis Big Storm Entities. Govoni was prohibited from conducting any business at all since January 13, but court records show, he ignored those orders.

Wheres the food? Cole said. We were ordering thousands, and thousands and thousands of food a month. Four times in the matter of a year, and a half refrigeration units broke down.



Cole said the wasted food had to be tossed out. Cole was hired by Leo Govoni and his son, LJ Govoni, to work at Big Storm Brewery.

As executive chef, he began asking was this just bad business?



They had 27 major flaws, including food that was still in one of the freezers that I have pictures of, that had been purchased before the hurricane yet no backup generators, said Cole. They were serving chicken that Ive been in the freezer for six months before the hurricane.



The citations Cole is talking about are listed under the Department of Dusiness and Professional Regulation website.

Cole said in his role, he was also tasked to hire new employees, but when their first paychecks arrived, he began asking questions.



They were addressed to the Special Needs Trust, Cole said.

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A federal bankruptcy judge ordered Govoni from conducting any business at all, but records show he chose not to comply.

The judge ordered The Rising Group Consulting take control over all of the Big Storm Entities. This gives them permission to access all records, financial information, and the building itself to change the locks, lease it, or sell it.

Ultimately, the consulting firm will work with the Chapter 11 Trustee to review receipts and disbursement transactions for potential fraudulent or other improper transfers.



8 On Your Side Investigator tracked Leo Govoni down in January to get his side of the story.

Where is the money? Have you heard from the FBI? What would you say to the disabled people who relied on you? investigative reporter Brittany Muller asked Govoni.

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Govoni drove off without saying a word. 8 On Your Side reached out to him following these new developments and havent heard back.

The accusations didnt stop protesters from drawing their own conclusions.



I stood behind him when the protesters were out in front of the brewery, Cole said.



But he woke up one day and said things began to click. It came as Big Storm met a storm of its own. Four of five locations faced evictions and shut down with only its Clearwater flagship location left operating. Then two months ago, co-owner LJ Govoni resigned.



What I dont understand is how its still standing because anyone whos frequenting that is condoning the activities that have been going on for years, Cole said.

As this plays out in federal court, hundreds of victims of the non-profit are still waiting for answers and asking if theyll ever see any money returned to them. Attorneys are now in the process of creating a charitable organization where they would begin accepting donations.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
By midday Wednesday, Canadian travel agent Micheline Dion had received another two emails from clients canceling their travel plans to the United States or voicing worries about their safety should they keep them. One client sought to nix his cruise out of Puerto Rico, while another wrote that they were worried about visiting Rochester, N.Y. this coming May.

Their messages all stemmed from "fears of how they will be treated, their safety," and whether they'll be allowed entry, Dion, who is based in Ontario, told Salon. "No one wants to enter a possible volatile situation and even worse be denied entry."

Dion said she's been receiving an influx of these emails from clients since President Donald Trump began targeting Canada and enacting his crackdown on immigration  and as stories of U.S. border officers denying entry to or detaining tourists in harrowing conditions made international headlines. Since Trump took office in January, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained at least four tourists, three from Europe and one from Canada, each for upwards of 10 days after they attempted to enter the country. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has also been denying entry to foreign nationals  in one French scientist's case, doing so over text messages criticizing President Donald Trump.

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The combination has made potential visitors scared to travel to the U.S. out of fear they, too, will be detained, turned away or targeted. Now some travel agents, like Dion, are loathe to encourage U.S.-bound trips altogether.

On Facebook earlier this month, Dion cautioned her clients against using U.S. dollars in other countries and flying out of the nearest American airport in Buffalo, N.Y., and urged them to rethink their travel habits. Though she knows a few Canadians who are crossing the border to visit close friends and family, she said she couldn't in good conscience continue to encourage her clients to travel to the U.S. under the circumstances.

She cited Trump's economic attacks of Canada, the lack of education on Canada's role as a close U.S. ally, recent plane crashes, a fear of facing potential violence from Trump supporters and the recent increase in her clients facing heightened scrutiny when attempting to cross the border as the primary reasons pushing her to make her posts.

"As long as there is no stability in the U.S., we will not feel safe or confident to go back," she said in a phone interview, emphasizing that she will continue to advise against travel to the U.S.

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About 10 of her clients have reported encountering more intense questioning from border officers when attempting to enter the U.S. in recent weeks, she said. Dion herself had wanted to plan a 14-day cruise out of New York later this year but decided against it because of the uncertainty of how long the crackdown will last.

"If I'm limited that I'm not going to travel for my own safety, I'm going to educate other Canadians to do the same because the last thing you want is another something coming up saying, 'Oh, we're having trouble coming back home. They won't let us go. They've arrested us. They put us in a detention place," she said.

"We already know that the Trump administration is not even listening to the court there in the U.S," she added, referencing the president's recent defiance of a court order blocking a deportation. "So what are our chances going to be if we had to end up in court?"

Those fears have only heightened following reports last week that ICE had detained a Canadian traveler, Jasmine Mooney, over visa concerns. Mooney, who had been offered a marketing job in a U.S.-based startup, had attempted to enter the country in early March after applying for a TN visa, which allows Canadian and Mexican professionals to stay here temporarily. She told The New York Times that she first applied for the visa last year but was rejected because her documents didn't include the company's letterhead.

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Mooney had successfully reapplied a month later, but a U.S. immigration official in a Vancouver airport revoked the work permit, citing improper processing and concerns over a company employing her also selling hemp-based products. Upon bringing another work visa application earlier this month to the San Diego border, an immigration officer told her she needed to apply through the consulate.

Another officer soon whisked her away to a different room, where she was searched and interrogated. She was transferred to the first of two detention centers ICE would hold her in and would then spend 12 days in detention. She was finally allowed to return to Vancouver last Friday.

In an article for The Guardian, Mooney likened the detention experience to being kidnapped.

"It felt like we had all been kidnapped," she wrote of her and her fellow detainees, "thrown into some sort of sick psychological experiment meant to strip us of every ounce of strength and dignity."

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Mooney's detention came on the heels of that of Rebecca Burke, a Welsh comic artist who ICE detained for 19 days at a Washington state facility over concerns she had violated her visa. Before Burke, who returned to Wales on Tuesday, ICE had held two German tourists in a detention center for up to six weeks. Both were permitted to return home earlier this month.

These detentions, experts recently told Salon, mark a clear escalation in enforcement under the Trump administration as border officers take strict interpretations of laws governing tourists' and other foreign nationals' entry into the country. While legal, the actions threaten the nation's relationship with affected countries, 43 of which the U.S. has made agreements with to allow citizens relatively free access to enter with the Electronic System for Travel Authorization visa waiver. They also open Americans up to greater scrutiny and the possibility of receiving similar treatment by these countries when going abroad.

As tourist encounters with CBP and ICE escalate, foreign governments have moved toward issuing travel advisories for citizens seeking to travel to the U.S., warning that their ESTA visa waivers do not guarantee them entry to the country. The UK issued a travel advisory on Thursday, while Germany updated its advisory on Wednesday after previously issuing a warning for transgender and gender-expansive citizens who wish to travel to the U.S.

In Canada, Mooney's detention has inflamed already tense relations ushered in under Trump. Since the president threatened to annex the country and imposed tariffs on its exports into the U.S., Canadian citizens have engaged in boycotts of U.S. travel and goods, and encouraged others to instead buy Canadian to bolster their nation's economy.

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Trump's threats to Canada's sovereignty, coupled with his executive orders and rhetoric targeting LGBTQ people  particularly transgender people  and diversity, equity and inclusion, made independent travel advisor Karen Wiese, based in Nova Scotia, decide in February she would no longer be assisting her clients with travel to the U.S.

"I support a lot of different racialized and LGBTQ+ clients who are just very nervous about being attacked and going anywhere in the United States," Wiese told Salon in a phone interview.

She announced her decision on Feb. 1, telling followers on Facebook that she can't support or promote tourism in a destination that doesn't align with her values, which privilege inclusivity and respect. Since seeing ICE's treatment of Mooney  and the increase in tourist encounters with border officers in general  she's become even more firm in her decision.

Facing possible detention "is terrifying for anybody who wants to be able to travel to a destination," Wiese said. "I'm all for my clients going to a different destination to just avoid anything like that that may happen."

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Wiese said that around 40% of her roster of some 250 clients have canceled trips they were planning to take to the U.S. in recent weeks while a smaller percentage are still mulling whether to do so. Many say that they're afraid to come, while others refuse to support the U.S. economy. Ahead of her phone interview with Salon, one client emailed her to cancel a Christmas cruise they'd planned that is set to leave from Los Angeles over concerns for the safety of their gay son.

"It's been constant people saying, 'We don't want to do this. What else can we do?'" she said. "It's just a pivot moment where we look for something else. Mexico might be an easier place for them to visit."

Correction: Karen Wiese is based in Nova Scotia. A previous version of this article misidentified where she is based.
SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO)  Over the past year, weve reported on several restaurants that have either closed their doors entirely, or left Sioux Falls.

The most recent ones being Watecha Bowl and Rosies, both are relocating to smaller towns.

But one local restaurant co-owner says closings dont tell the entire story of an industry that constantly has to adjusts to changes.

Outrage over new bathroom access law

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Regular customers make up a bulk of the lunch crowd at the Pizza Ranch on 41st Street. Jerry Simunek says hes here once a week.

Its got good food, reasonable prices, good variety in food, good service, Simunek said.

Hearty appetites means brisk businesses for places like the Pizza Ranch. The owner says theyve set sales records every year since opening back in 2007. They expect to gross more than $6-million this year.

I think weve been open here for 17 years and weve never had a down year in Sioux Falls, Pizza Ranch co-owner Todd Pharis said.

That includes 2019 when a tornado caused extensive damage to the restaurant and then the global pandemic that hit the following year.

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Just like when COVID came, everybody had to figure out how to do to-go and delivery. If you didnt youre out of business, Pharis said.

Pharis says Sioux Falls remains a vibrant market for restaurants. He says a lot of national franchises have their eyes on locating to the city but that increased competition could put the squeeze on existing businesses here.

But what that more restaurants, if you have the same number of people, youre got to do a great job to make sure youre still one of the customers favorite. Otherwise, theyre going to drop you off the list and go to the new place, Pharis said.

Keystone residents would welcome Garden of Heroes

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To customers, restaurant closings are all part of the natural ebb and flow within the industry.

I always see where one closes down, another opens. Its like one replaces the other so, I dont think its a big problem, Jeanne Pattison of Sioux Falls said.

Pharis says far more restaurants are opening than closing across South Dakota and that making the customer experience a priority is any successful restaurants secrete sauce.

Pharis says since Pizza Ranch doesnt serve breakfast, the high cost of food, especially eggs, doesnt have as big of an impact on his business.

He also says paying employees above the minimum wage ensures he can attract and keep a high-quality workforce.

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His restaurant employees more than 100 people, roughly half of them are full-time.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KELOLAND.com.
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY)  With children squiggling behind desks and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on hand with a rapt audience, President Donald Trump Thursday afternoon inked an executive order to abolish the Department of Education and turn over most assignments to the 50 states.

Only Congress can abolish it, but the new Department of Government Efficiency, under the direction of Elon Musk, has already cut the Education Department staff in half.

Musk, in a conservative conference earlier this year, burnished his conservative credentials by using a chainsaw as a prop while describing his goal to cut the size of the federal government.

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If past is prologue, the chairman of the Portsmouth School Board is concerned DOGE-style budget cuts to a department formed during the Carter administration will harm a school system where every elementary school except one is a school in which DOE pays for extra academic assistance. Thirteen Portsmouth schools are Title I schools, and most school buildings are about 60 years old.



Title I is a huge proponent for students in low-income areas and for low-income families, said Dr. Cardell Patillo, chairman of the Portsmouth School Board. Title One pays for reading specialists in middle schools. Title One also pays for other special resources. Title One pays for afterschool programs. It pays for extra tutorial assistance for these students who need it, said Patillo

Amid Read Across America week, president writing new chapter on education

Shortly after President Trump signed the executive order, Youngkin issued a news release to outline how his administration plans to improve public education.

On day one of his administration, the Republican signed an executive order to ban critical race theory, which 10 On Your Side determined is not taught in Virginia K-12 schools. He also opened a controversial tip line in which parents could report suspected CRT lessons in schools.

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Patillo said the governor has not ever visited Portsmouth Schools, and invited him and Trump to do so.

Hes been to Hampton Roads, but he has not been specifically to Portsmouth Public Schools, Patillo said of the governor. I invite the governor [and] I invite President Trump to please come to some public schools to see the work that educators are doing and see the needs these students have. That need is great. Stability is most important for the success of these children.



According to NBC News, Mr. Trump later said the Small Business Administration will oversee federal student loans and the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee school nutrition programs.

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HONOLULU (KHON2)  According to police data, the number of juveniles arrested for breaking the law has gone up, but the number of youths behind bars has dropped down.

Data shows that juveniles are getting arrested for a wide away of crimes, from theft to rape to murder. The executive director of the states Office of Youth Services Leanne Gillespie says that this troubling trend is evidence of a much larger problem.

Teenager arrested in connection to Lanakila shooting

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These are the behaviors, they dont necessarily define our youth, she said. A lot of these kids, if not all of them, have trauma in their background.

Gillespie and her office work with at-risk youth to get them the support that they need, and Gillespie says that the program is working, as fewer juveniles have been admitted to the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility.

Last year our intake number was 33. This year it is down to 27. And over the last 20 years, with juvenile justice reform, we have seen an 86 reduction to youth admissions to HYCF, Gillespie said.

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HYCF tries to reach the juveniles during their first offense, which is usually a minor violation.

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We have programs to divert them at that point early on, before they get deeper into the system, Gillespie said.

Victor Bakke, the attorney who represented a 17-year-old accused of murder, says that children can turn their lives around with proper support.

Most of the people in the juvenile and adult system are more on the side of just bad judgement, bad spot, maybe a bad time in their life, Bakke said. But they should not be defined by their one bad act.

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DENVER (KDVR)  Aurora police say two people have been arrested after a domestic dispute led to a deadly shooting in an Aurora apartment Friday night.

The shooting happened in the 17000 block of East Adriatic Drive at about 10 p.m. Friday. A neighbor heard commotion in the apartments above them, and when they went upstairs, they found a man who had been shot, police said.

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Police said he was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, and he died the next morning.

Aurora police in a Sunday press release said Laneidra Williams-Whitehead, 45, who was in a relationship with the victim, and her son, Jamir Williams, 24, were arrested Saturday night and face first-degree murder charges.

Police said Williams-Whitehead were in a domestic dispute earlier Friday evening. Later that night, Jamir arrived at the apartment and confronted the victim; he then allegedly produced a handgun and shot the victim.

Detectives are asking anyone with information related to the incident to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.

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After a man pointed a gun at people in a Village of East Davenport bar, a 31-year-old Rock Island man was in custody Friday, according to Scott County Court records.

Cayetano Olsen faces a felony charge of intimidation with a dangerous weapon  injure/provoke fear and a serious misdemeanor charge of person ineligible to carry dangerous weapons, according to Scott County arrest affidavits.

Cayetano Olsen (Scott County Jail)

About 10:15 p.m. March 14, Davenport Police responded to a weapons call in the Village of East Davenport, affidavits show.

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Olsen was at Grumpys, 2120 E, 11th St., and was involved in a disturbance with a person inside the bar. Olsen was directed out of the back door of the bar by his associates who were trying to separate him from the disturbance, affidavits say. While he was outside of the bar, he pointed a black-and-white handgun at the occupants inside bar, along with the subject he was in an altercation with. This placed several of the occupants in fear for their well being and they took cover inside the bar.

Olsen is a known marijuana user and has admitted this to officers, say affidavits, which show Olsen used the gun in the commission of the crime, which was captured on video.

Olsen, who was arrested on a warrant, being held Friday on $10,000 cash-only bond in Scott County Jail, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing March 28 in Scott County Court.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  A Birmingham man died after a relative allegedly shot him and another man Friday night.

According to officer Truman Fitzgerald with the Birmingham Police Department, police were dispatched around 8:10 p.m. to the 3500 block of Hemlock Avenue SW on a report of two people shot. Officers found two men in a residence suffering from gunshot wounds.

They were taken to UAB Hospital with life-threatening injuries. Hospital staff pronounced Curtis Holt Jr., 36, dead.

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Fitzgerald stated the preliminary investigation showed a family member of the victims shot them before fleeing the scene. BPD Tactical Unit officers took the relative into custody in west Birmingham within two hours of when the shooting reportedly happened.

Suspect arrested for reported connection to Birmingham bank robbery

The suspect was transported to BPD Headquarters, where homicide detectives interviewed him. The suspect was then taken to the Birmingham City Jail and placed on a 48-hour felony extension for murder.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the BPD at 205-254-1764 or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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POCONO TOWNSHIP, MONROE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)Pennsylvania elected officials spent the day shining a light on their constituents big issues in the Poconos Friday.

The Pocono Chamber of Commerce hosted a legislative luncheon at the Camelback Resort this afternoon.

There, Congressman Rob Bresnahan, Senator Rosemary Brown, and State Representatives Maureen Madden and Tarah Probst spoke.

Meals on Wheels helps out seniors on Monroe County

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They each gave presentations and also held a q-and-a after where business owners and local leaders were able to ask questions, something they say is very important.

Im gonna hit a little bit of education. Im gonna talk a little bit about energy, which I think is really critical that subject that I think often the everyday person whos turning on their light switch or charging their phones not really thinking about, but we have some very critical energy issues happening in pennsylvania, said Rosemary Brown, Senator, 40th district.

While each lawmaker was mainly focused on their own constituents, many of the issues addressed today can possibly affect the everyone throughout the commonwealth.

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Mar. 21GRAND FORKS  The Polk County Sheriff's Office is warning residents of a phone scam that has been occurring in the county.

According to a release sent to the media, the sheriff's office has received a number of reports of calls in which a caller claims to be a Polk County Sheriff's Office employee. At least once, the office's telephone number appeared on a resident's caller ID.

The caller claimed to be Sgt. Hibma, who is an actual employee with the office, and advised that the called person has missed jury duty and needs to pay a fine or risk going to jail.

Beware of the scam. The Polk County Sheriff's Office never collects any type of fee, over the phone or in person.
Pope Francis will be discharged from the hospital on Sunday and return to his residence at the Vatican, his doctors announced at a press conference Saturday. The pope has been in the hospital for 37 days.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been in stable condition for the past two weeks, according to the Vatican. He was admitted to the hospital in Rome on Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia.

The pope will appear at 12 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET) from the window of the hospital on Sunday, to greet and bless the people before leaving the hospital, the Vatican said.

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"Pope Francis intends to appear from the Policlinico Agostino Gemelli in Rome for a greeting and a blessing at the end of tomorrow's Angelus [noontime prayer]. Papal text will be distributed in written form as in recent weeks," the Vatican said.

PHOTO: Pope Francis attends the weekly general audience on Feb. 12, 2025, at Paul-VI hall in The Vatican. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images, FILE)

The pope will be recovering for two months at his Vatican residence, according to a spokesperson for the Vatican.

Pope Francis will have to continue his physiotherapy from his residence.

"The pope is getting better so that in brief time he can resume his normal activities. He has always continued to work but we recommend that he takes the adequate time to rest and convalescence. So he cant meet large groups of people," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

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It will take some time for the pope's voice to return to normal as he continues to recover, Bruni said.

"When you have a bilateral pneumonia ... and your lungs have been damaged,  muscles affected ... one of the first thing that happens is you lose your voice and like for all patients, young and old  it will take some time for his voice to return to normal. We have already seen important improvements," Bruni said.

MORE: Vatican releases first photo of Pope Francis since his hospitalization

The pope will need oxygen at his residence and the Vatican has 24-hour health support

On Friday, the Vatican said the pope's condition remained stable as he continued to have small improvements in terms of breathing and motor skills.

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"At night he no longer uses mechanical ventilation with a mask but high-flow oxygenation with nasal cannulas and during the day he uses less high-flow oxygenation," the Vatican said Friday.

"The Pope's days are spent doing physiotherapy, prayer and a little work," the Vatican said Saturday.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Pope Francis to be discharged from hospital on Sunday, Vatican says originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Pope Francis at his weekly General Audience at the Paul VI Hall on February 05, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. - Credit: Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images

Pope Francis will be discharged from the hospital Sunday following a five-week stay battling chronic lung disease, the pontiffs doctors announced Saturday.

The pope was first admitted to a Rome hospital on Feb. 14 and diagnosed with double pneumonia, but the situation escalated a week later to the point where Francis was in critical condition following an asthmatic respiratory crisis.

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In the month since, the 88-year-old pontiff has steadily recovered at Romes Gemelli Hospital, with his condition stable enough to allow for a planned release on Sunday.

The Holy Father will be discharged from tomorrow in stable clinical condition with a prescription to partially continue drug therapy and a convalescence and rest period of at least two months, Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the head of the team taking care of the pope, said Saturday at a press conference. Today we are happy to say that tomorrow he will be at home.

The release will also allow for Frances to resume his holy duties, as his first public appearance since his health ordeal is also scheduled to take place Sunday, the Vatican announced. Presumably before his discharge, Pope Frances will go to the hospitals window around noon Sunday for a greeting and to impart his blessing.

Despite the health issues, Pope Francis social media has still delivered its #GospelOfTheDay Sunday, which was accompanied by a note from His Holiness thanking well-wishers for their prayers soon after his hospitalization.

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I have recently received many messages of affection, and I have been particularly struck by the letters and drawings from children, the pope wrote. Thank you for your closeness, and for the consoling prayers I have received from all over the world!

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Pope Francis will be discharged from hospital on Sunday after more than five weeks, doctors said.

Francis will then continue to receive medical care at his residence in the Vatican.

The 88-year-old leader of the worlds 1.4 billion Catholics has been battling pneumonia in both lungs at Rome's Gemelli Hospital since February 14.

The Vatican said earlier on Saturday the pope would appear at a hospital window to deliver a greeting and blessing after the traditional Angelus prayer at midday on Sunday.

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The Vatican has released only a single photo of the pontiff. The image, issued a week ago, showed Francis seated inside a hospital chapel.

Concerns about Francis have run very high at times, especially when tests showed that his kidneys no longer functioned fully and after it was disclosed he had several severe attacks of shortness of breath.
Pope Francis will be discharged from hospital on Sunday after more than five weeks battling respiratory infections and pneumonia in both lungs, his doctors said on Saturday.

Francis will then continue to receive medical care at the Vatican.

He will require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation at his residence, the Casa Santa Marta, where he will continue to be supplied with additional oxygen through a tube in his nose.

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Respiratory and movement therapy will also continue, hospital doctors said.

The 88-year-old leader of the worlds 1.4 billion Catholics entered the hospital on February 14 with Bronchitis. But, as his respiratory problems grew increasingly more complex, he was diagnosed with double pneumonia.

Pope to appear in public

The Vatican said earlier on Saturday the pope would appear at a hospital window to deliver a greeting and blessing after the traditional Angelus prayer at midday on Sunday.

This will be the first time he has greeted a crowd in person since the hospitalization.

As in past weeks, the pope will not lead the Angelus prayer himself.

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The Vatican has released only a single photo of the pontiff during his treatment. The image, issued a week ago, showed Francis seated inside a hospital chapel.

Concerns about Francis have run very high at times, especially when tests showed that his kidneys no longer functioned fully and after it was disclosed he had suffered episodes of acute respiratory insufficiency caused by an accumulation of mucus.

The Argentine pope, who succeeded Benedict XVI in 2013, is the second-oldest pope in history.
Pope Francis is set to be discharged from a Rome hospital on Sunday, ending his weekslong stay for a prolonged respiratory illness.

The 88-year-old pontiff was admitted to the Gemelli Hospital in Rome for bronchitis on Feb. 14, where his condition worsened as he battled a severe case of double pneumonia that doctors multiple times warned had put him in critical danger. The pope, who lost part of his lung in his youth, has long struggled with respiratory issues.

Gemelli medical director Dr. Sergio Alfieri said on Saturday that the pope was well enough to continue his recovery, which Alfieri said would involve two months of rest, from his home at the Vatican.

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The Vatican also announced on Saturday that Pope Francis would make his first public appearance since his hospitalization on Sunday, when he is set to greet crowds outside Gemelli Hospital.

Pope Francis protracted illness prompted an outpouring of support, as Catholics around the world faithfully offered prayers for his recovery. For weeks, hundreds of Catholics have joined cardinals at St. Peters Square for a nightly rosary prayer for their spiritual leader.

In turn, the pontiff continued praying for his followers throughout his hospital stay.

After weathering multiple critical phases of his illness  including a severe bronchial spasm that caused him to aspirate his own vomit, as well as early signs of kidney failure  the Vatican had announced on March 10 that the pope was steadily improving and that doctors decided to lift their guarded prognosis.

A photo of Pope Francis released on March 16 showed him at prayer in the hospital, the first publicly released image of the pope since his hospitalization.
The Pope is to be discharged from hospital on Sunday and will return to his residence in the Vatican after more than a month in hospital battling double pneumonia.

The 88-year-old will need at least two months to recover from his ordeal, his doctors said on Saturday evening as they announced his imminent release from the Gemelli Hospital in Rome.

His discharge means that he is likely to be able to meet the King and Queen when they visit the Vatican early next month.

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Before he leaves hospital, the pontiff will make his first public appearance since his admission, appearing at the window of his 10th floor hospital suite on Sunday morning to bless the faithful, the Holy See said.

His hospital stay has been the longest of his 12-year papacy, and his medical team said that it would take a lot of time for his body to fully recover from the infections he has been battling.

Fears grew for Popes life

Sergio Alfieri, the head of the medical team, said: The recommendation for a period of convalescence of at least two months is very important.

Further progress will take place at his home, because a hospital  even if this seems strange  is the worst place to recover because its where one can contract more infections.

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Luca Carbone, another of the doctors, said the Popes health is improving and added: We hope that he will soon be able to resume his normal activities.

The Popes recovery comes after weeks of worry over his illness, with many Catholics fearing that he would not survive.

He was admitted to hospital on Feb 14 suffering from bronchitis, which quickly developed into double pneumonia.

As well as having acute respiratory attacks, he developed both anaemia and the early stages of kidney failure, making an eventual recovery seem all the more unlikely.

But he managed to pull through, despite a general picture of fragile health. He is overweight, has knee problems, has had intestinal surgery, often has to rely on a wheelchair. As a young man in Argentina had part of a lung removed.

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For the last week, briefings from the Vatican indicated that he was making good progress and gradually getting better.

He no longer has to wear a ventilation mask at night and has been able to reduce the high flows of supplemental oxygen that he was relying on during the day.

During his time in hospital, the Vatican released just one image of him  a photograph taken from behind, showing him praying in a hospital chapel. The Holy See also released an audio clip in which the Pope, speaking in Spanish, sounded frail and exhausted.

Credit: Holy See Press Office

The King and Queen are scheduled to make a one-day state visit to the Vatican on April 8, in conjunction with a state visit to Italy.

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They are expected to attend an audience with the Pope, if he is well enough, as well as a special service in the Sistine Chapel.

The King will become the first British monarch to visit the Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome since the Reformation.

The state visit to Italy, which begins on April 7 and continues on April 9 and 10, will see the couple visit Rome and Ravenna, famed for its Byzantine mosaics.

The royal couple will visit the tomb of the medieval poet Dante and will commemorate the 80th anniversary of Ravennas liberation from the Nazis during the Second World War.

In Rome, the King will also meet Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, and Sergio Mattarella, Italys president.

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The Nebraska Republican Party headquarters in downtown Lincoln on Oct. 31, 2023. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

LINCOLN  Nebraska Republican Party vice chair Mary Jane Truemper of Saunders County will be the next state GOP chair after winning a vote of party members at its State Central Committee meeting in Kearney.

Portrait of Mary Jane Truemper. (Courtesy of Nebraska Republican Party)

Truempers victory shows the populist right maintained its grip on party leadership from its 2022 revolt that elected outgoing party chairman Eric Underwood to the post over the former GOP leadership team favored by former Gov. and current U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts.

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Underwood had endorsed Truemper in his emailed announcement about not running again. The NEGOP during Underwoods tenure rebuilt its network of county parties, grew its number of grassroots activists and won a supermajority in the Legislature. She begins her tenure as party chair after Saturdays meeting.

Im honored to have been chosen by my peers to lead them through the next phase of growth for the NEGOP, Truemper said.

The other candidate for party chair on Saturday was Dave Plond, the state partys treasurer. Some backed Plond because they felt he would be better for the partys fundraising efforts and have a stronger relationship with elected officials than Truemper. One of his supporters was Charles Herbster, a longtime donor to President Donald Trump and former gubernatorial candidate who had backed the 2022 state GOP takeover.

The people have spoken and selected Mary Jane, Plond told the Nebraska Examiner. I was elected to serve as treasurer and will continue to serve the party in that area.

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Truemper will lead a party still fractured between the old guard and populist right and dealing with drops in fundraising. Despite attempts to reunify, the NEGOP has not fully recovered from its fallout with Ricketts or the partys former power structure.

Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Eric Underwood speaks as former GOP gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster and former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway listen in August 2023 in Norfolk, Neb. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

The party faced some blowback from not endorsing congressional incumbents during the primaries last year. It has had issues with donor funding since Underwood became party chair. Some former members said the new party leaders had used purity tests to expel members, candidates and elected officials who didnt fully agree with party leadership.

Truemper said that under her leadership, the NEGOP will focus on electing more Republicans in down-ballot races and building better relationships with current officeholders.

Before the 2022 takeover, the state party had defaulted to endorsing incumbents in GOP primaries but changed its approach to inviting and at times openly encouraging primary challengers to elected officials. He and others associated with the new regime had said the party should encourage robust primaries to boost party energy and interest.

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Truemper, who managed Bacons campaign in 2018 and the campaign of his primary opponent in 2024, said she has gathered suggestions from party members on improving the partys endorsement approach and said she would be the first to admit that the NEGOP endorsement process has much room for improvement.

Politics is about building relationships, Truemper said. I am confident we will have a much better experience in the future for all candidates.

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PORT HENRY  The former Fashion Corner building thats sat vacant in Port Henry for years has been renovated into four apartments and two commercial spaces.

The work at 4325 Main St. was done by the Badichi Group, a New York City real-estate company owned by Yaron Badichi.

Completing the 4325 Main Street Project has been an incredibly rewarding journey, Badichi said in a statement.

It required creativity, dedication, and strong collaboration to bring this vision to life. We are excited to provide high-quality living spaces and business opportunities in the heart of Port Henry. I invite community members, local businesses, and organizations to join us in celebrating this milestone.

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A WELL-NEEDED CLEANUP

A public open house and dedication will be held from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 3 at the site. The dedication is at 4:30 p.m.

The building will also feature a coin-operated laundry for residents.

Moriah Town Supervisor Matthew Brassard said Port Henrys Main Street will be enhanced by the project.

Its a well-needed cleanup of the property, he told the Press-Republican.

I couldnt believe I was standing in the same place I stood in three years ago with our codes officer and we wanted to shut the place down.

There were rundown apartments in the building at the time, with neighbors alleging illegal activities, but thats all changed since Badichi bought the building, Brassard said.

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It could be workforce housing (now), Brassard said.

He already has a couple tenants.

A HUGE BENEFIT

The 4325 Main Street Project was awarded a National Grid Main Street/Commercial District Revitalization Grant as part of its Community and Economic Development Program. The program assists communities in realizing goals and promotes Smart Growth investment in downtown business districts and commercial corridors.

Its a huge benefit to the revitalization of Main Street, Brassard said.

I thank him (Badichi) for coming into town.

National Grid Regional Executive Kimberly Ireland said National Grid has partnered with local businesses and developers to provide more than $154 million in assistance to communities.

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This project in Port Henry is an example of how to revitalize rural downtowns by using older structures for new, mixed-use facilities, she said in a release.

It is a wonderful opportunity to bring some of that support here to the Adirondacks.

Besides National Grid, Badichi has collaborated with the Town of Moriah and Moriah and Ticonderoga Chambers of Commerce on the project.

Investing in this community has been a privilege, and we look forward to future opportunities in the Adirondacks, Badichi said.

Brassard said he had some thoughts on possible commercial tenants.

The downstairs (commercial) space was redone with new fixtures, new paint. It was very needed. A meat market would be fantastic there.
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY)  Portsmouth Police seeks the publics help in identifying a suspect involved in a shooting on London Boulevard.

On March 19, officers responded to a call around 1:55 p.m. about a shooting in the 1100 block of London Boulevard.

Upon arrival, officers were notified that an adult had left the scene and sought treatment at a local hospital for a gunshot wound.

The suspect was last seen fleeing an establishment, located at 1100 London Boulevard on foot towards Establishment Way. Police say he was wearing a grey sweatshirt, white t-shirt and grey and white slides.

Courtesy: Portsmouth Police Department

If you have any information about this case, you can submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-888-LOCK-U-UP, downloading the P3 tips app to a mobile device, or visiting www.P3tips.com and submitting a tip.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
Mar. 21Henry Nunez has served the United States twice  once as an Army medic and again as a postal worker for 19 years. But now, Nunez is fearful he, and tens of thousands of veterans working for the Postal Service, could be laid off.

Nunez was one of about 100 Postal Service workers and advocates who rallied outside the main post office on Broadway in Albuquerque on Thursday, holding signs that displayed chants like "S.O.S, Save Our Service" and "U.S. Mail not for sale."

The "Hands off our public Postal Service" protests  organized by the American Postal Workers Union  occurred in 150 cities across the nation after the Trump administration threatened to sell the U.S. Postal Service to private corporations through the Department of Commerce.

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"Well, we want to have a post office that works well and doesn't lose massive amounts of money, and we're thinking about doing that, and it will be a form of a merger," President Donald Trump said at the swearing in of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik, adding that he trusted Lutnik's business instincts to reform the 250-year old institution. "It'll remain the Postal Service, and I think it'll operate a lot better than it has been over the years."

The U.S. Postal Service last reported a profit in 2022, ending a 15-year streak in the red. In 2024, it lost $1.8 billion, compared to over $2.2 billion for the prior year  losses under management's control. Net losses were closer to $9.5 billion and $6.5 billion for 2024 and 2023, respectively, when pension shortfalls and non-cash employee compensation are factored in. Many administrations, and many congresses, have sought to reform the money loser but have always run into opposition from rural states  the U.S. Postal Service guarantees delivery no matter where in America, often to great expense  and powerful lobbies like Amazon.

USPS workers at the Albuquerque protest shared concerns over the possible decision to privatize the institution, stating that if the change were to go into effect, thousands would be without mailing services and associated costs would skyrocket.

"We're going to have veterans out on the street," Nunez said. "The veteran administration mails most of their medications, so I'm looking at the VA's (Department of Veterans Affairs) chances of getting medications to the veterans that are in rural areas and how that's going to affect them."

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As protesters marched through the streets, former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland  who announced her bid for governor in February  made an appearance to show her support for the cause, clutching a picket sign in her palm as she chanted with demonstrators.

"Postal workers deserve to have confidence that their place of work will continue to move forward, and it's just really a sad state of affairs," Haaland said. "It makes me realize that this administration has no clue how rural Americans live."

Even without the prospect of privatization, the Postal Service's future in its current form is rocky. Louis DeJoy, head of the U.S. Postal Service, unveiled plans last week to reduce the department by 10,000 people in a letter to Congress. This is in response to the recently established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)  headed by Elon Musk  and its campaign to slash government department's budgets in the name of saving.

"The changes that came under Postmaster General DeJoy are misguided," said Ken Fajardo, president of the Albuquerque USPS union. Fajardo has worked with the department for 40 years and has served as union president for nine years. "He was appointed by Trump during his first presidency, and he's done everything in his power to put the Postal Service in a bad light."

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In December, DeJoy offered postal workers a voluntary plan to take early retirement. Fajardo said upward of 50 employees in Albuquerque have taken the buyout, and he does not believe those jobs will be replaced. Albuquerque post offices are already understaffed, he added, causing delays in distribution.

USPS is an independent government organization that was established before the United States was a country and is set to celebrate its 250th anniversary in July. But given its history of losses to the U.S. taxpayer, DOGE has put pressure on the department to start turning losses into profits.

Postal workers have an obligation to provide service to every household nationwide, according to the constitution, including rural communities that private businesses would not be able to profitably serve. But if the department were to become privatized, it would not be a federal requirement for mail to be delivered to all addresses, Fajardo said  a concern for both postal workers and supporters.

Artist Brandi Buckingham's home in Albuquerque is one of 167 million addresses nationwide that use the USPS to deliver mail. Buckingham said she depends on mailing services to support her full-time job selling her work online, and the USPS is the most affordable of all the mail delivery services.

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"It's the only affordable thing for small businesses," Buckingham said. "By trying to privatize the post office, all it's really doing is making it harder for independent creators like myself. The post office is the only way I am able to do half my job. All this would do is damage people in the lower and middle class."

Buckingham joined the protest Thursday to support postal workers. She said since Trump has taken office, her sales have gone down nearly 50%.

"I've worked very hard to get here, and I want to help protect other people the way they're trying to protect me," she said. "The post office is one of our fundamental rights in the United States, and they deserve our support, whether I'm in the union or not. They are here for everybody, and I wanted to be a part of that."
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Tennessee Democrats have been pushing for a bill that would legalize marijuana and use the tax money it generates to pay for state and local road and bridge repairs.

This is a common-sense plan to legalize and tax recreational marijuana to fund our roads and transit, Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville), one of the bills sponsors, said.

FEBRUARY: Tennessee lawmaker files Pot for Potholes Act

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The Pot for Potholes Act, also sponsored by Rep. Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville), would create a 15% tax on recreational marijuana. Seventy-five percent of the revenue generated from the tax would go toward state road and bridge projects. The rest would go to local governments.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has an estimated $38 billion backlog in projects, according to a January TACIR report. Since the state doesnt take out debt to pay for roads and bridges, Behn told News 2 the bill would create a new revenue stream.

I thought, What a wonderful way to marry the two ideas of a creative revenue stream and to give the Tennessee public something that they desperately want,' Behn said.

According to a December 2024 Vanderbilt poll, 63% of respondents supported legalizing recreational marijuana, including 53% of Republicans and 78% of Democrats. However, late last year, Republican Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said that likely wont happen.

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If its for medical purposes and it looks like medical purposes, and its used for medical diagnoses, not these very broad medical diagnoses  I think we can get there for medical, not recreational, Sexton said.

Campbell pointed out theres a lot of money to be made in legalizing recreational marijuana. For example, the Colorado Department of Revenue reports the state has generated more than $2 billion in revenue from marijuana sales since 2014.

Read the latest from the TN State Capitol Newsroom

Tennessee is leaving money on the table while our roads fall apart, and we all know Tennesseans are getting cannabis when they go to other states and bringing it back here, Campbell said.

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The Pot for Potholes Act is set to be debated for the first time in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee Wed., March 26.

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Czech President Petr Pavel has stated that Prague is ready to participate in a foreign mission to send troops to Ukraine when a potential peace agreement is struck.

Source: Pavel in an interview with European Pravda

Details: Pavel mentioned the countries of what is known as the coalition of the willing when discussing the components of security guarantees for Ukraine.

When asked whether he sees Czechia as part of such a coalition, Pavel replied: "We are part of this coalition now".

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"And I believe that once we come to an understanding that there is a common will to deploy the forces, the Czech Republic will be part of it," he stressed.

Commenting on scepticism within Czechia regarding the deployment of troops to Ukraine, Pavel noted that "different politicians may have different views".

"But if there is a strong group of European nations willing to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, my strong conviction is that the Czech Republic should be among them. I know that it sounds like a cliche, but I truly believe that we are doing it to a large extent for ourselves," the Czech president stressed.

Watch the whole interview: Czech President Petr Pavel, interview in Ukraine and about Ukraine (in English)

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DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  A Preble County teacher alleged to have had a sexual relationship with a student pleaded not guilty in court Friday.

During his arraignment Friday, March 21, Garrett M. Stringer-Smith, 31, entered not-guilty pleas on each of the 10 counts of sexual battery he faces.

According to the Preble County Sheriffs Office, the 17-year-old student alleged their relationship began in January 2024 and turned sexual in October 2024.

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Stringer-Smith was arrested in February. Officials said they took several items related to the investigation from his home.

Twin Valley Schools removed and barred Stringer-Smith from returning to the school after his arrest.

He will be back in court on Thursday, April 24.

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President Donald Trump on Friday evening urged Wisconsinites to cast their ballots for conservative state Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel in the upcoming election, an announcement that Schimel quickly proclaimed represented an endorsement from the Republican president.

The social media post marked the first time the president has weighed in on the race that will decide whether liberals or conservatives control the high court.

More: All our reporting on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between Susan Crawford, Brad Schimel

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In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump urged Wisconsinites to vote early absentee for Schimel ahead of the April 1 election.

Calling Schimel's opponent Susan Crawford a "Radical Left Liberal," Trump wrote that early voting for Schimel would help "Uphold the Rule of Law, Protect our Incredible Police, Secure our Beloved Constitution, Safeguard our Inalienable Rights, and PRESERVE LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL."

Schimel has been pining for an endorsement for several weeks.

He said at a Thursday news conference that he had been in touch with the Trump campaign in recent weeks over an endorsement. Earlier this year, Schimel attended Trump's inauguration.

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Schimel's campaign heralded the post as an endorsement from the president.

"Im humbled and deeply honored to receive the endorsement of our President," Schimel said in a statement. "The stakes of this race could not be any higher. On April 1, Wisconsin conservatives must unite to restore objectivity to our Supreme Court and save our state like we saved our country in November. The job is not done. We cannot allow Americas success to bypass Wisconsin."

Crawford's campaign spokesman in a statement Friday night labeled Schimel "a corrupt politician."

"Schimel has spent his entire career on bent knee to right-wing special interests, we assumed he had this endorsement locked up months ago," spokesman Derrick Honeyman said. "Schimel has said he wants to be a 'support network' for Trump and that the Wisconsin Supreme Court 'screwed over' Trump in 2020. Wisconsinites will reject Brad Schimel once again on April 1st."

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Last month, Schimel said he expected Trump to give him the president's official support. He told a group of Jefferson County Republicans that the Supreme Court had "screwed him over," something he said Trump would not forget.

The nominally nonpartisan race is widely seen as a referendum on Trumps first two months in office.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who has been working with Trump in his effort to slice the size of the federal government, has attempted to link Schimel and the president. One mailer paid for by Elon Musk's super PAC declared, "Conservative Brad Schimel will support President Trump's agenda!"

Schimel has also sought to tie himself to Trump, appearing recently at an event in front of an oversized inflatable Trump with its fist raised and a Vote Brad Schimel Supreme Court poster on its chest. Schimel also told a group of canvassers in Waukesha County this month that he needs to be elected to provide a support network for Trump.

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Even so, Schimel has claimed that if Trump had a case before him, Schimel would treat the president the same way he would anyone else.

More: Donald Trump Jr., and Charlie Kirk rally for Brad Schimel in Wisconsin Supreme Court election

Overall, two groups tied to Musk  America PAC and Building America's Future  have spent more than $12 million on TV and digital ads, mailers and voter turnout.

The state Republican Party put out a statement heralding Trump's social media post.

"President Donald J. Trump's endorsement of Judge Brad Schimel will bring more attention to this critical election to save Wisconsin and America," the statement said.

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Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on X at @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.

Alison Dirr can be reached at adirr@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump urges support for Brad Schimel for Wisconsin Supreme Court
JOPLIN, Mo.  A public meeting about the disposal of food manufacturing waste took place Friday night (3/21) in Joplin.

The meeting was held at Joplin Greenhouse and Coffee Shop and featured Missouri State Senator, Jill Carter  who talked about how the issue has affected southwest Missouri.

Senator Carter, along with members of the Newton & McDonald County Cattlemen, also talked about current legislation, new regulations, and long-term solutions when it comes to land application of industrial and food manufacturing waste.

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Some of those solutions could come from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Its expected to implement new rules later this year.

So right now, investigators themselves, DNR does not know where land applications happening. They dont trace it at all. So, at times they may go to a site and not realize there could be other waste haulers all around the area, and its kind of been a weakness, said public meeting organizer, Cris Henkle.

Were hoping with more stringent oversight. I mean, Im not a big government person, but I do think that is the role of the DNR is to ensure that these things are being land applied, and when it is being applied, its being applied responsibly, and that we dont have negative blow back for years to come on this, said Senator Carter.

According to Carter, Missouris lack of regulations made it a more economical alternative for waste disposal.

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The Missouri Department of Natural Resources estimates nearly half of all waste applied to Missouri fields comes from outside the state.

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Project 2025, a radical plan for conservative government produced by the Heritage Foundation, was one of the most controversial topics during Donald Trumps campaign for re-election last year.

Critics claimed the prominent Washington think tanks 922-page document, whose authors included many of Trumps closest allies, was being used as a blueprint by his campaign.

It presented a drastic change of ideological direction for America, in which executive power was centralised, regulation was slashed and government agencies were brought into line through the appointment of loyalists in key positions.

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Among its more extreme positions were banning pornography, excluding the morning-after pill from the Affordable Care Act, and preventing same-sex couples from marrying or adopting. Trumps Democratic opponent Kamala Harris called it an assault on democracy. Polls indicated that 63 per cent of voters strongly opposed the documents contents.

By July, Project 2025 was perceived as enough of an electoral liability that Trump distanced himself from it. He called its contents ridiculous and abysmal and repeatedly disavowed it. I know nothing about Project 2025, Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media site. I have no idea who is behind it.

During the presidential debate with Harris in September, Trump said: I havent read it  I dont want to read it purposely. Im not going to read it.

Since Trump retook office, however, Project 2025 appears to have had a significant impact on his administration. He has appointed many of the key personnel involved with it to government positions. And from immigration to healthcare to tariffs, great swathes of Project 2025s suggestions are becoming policy, in some cases almost verbatim. On Thursday, Trump announced he was abolishing the Department of Education by executive order, a key reform called for by the document, formally entitled Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.

Donald Trump signs an executive order on Thursday aimed at abolishing the Department of Education - Jim Lo Scalzo/ Shutterstock

For supporters, it is evidence of a renewed focus on bringing about meaningful change during his second term. Its actually way beyond my wildest dreams, said Paul Dans, the former director of Project 2025 who resigned at the height of the political backlash last year, in an interview with Politico this week. Its not going to be the easiest road to hoe going forward. The deep state is going to get its breath back. But the way [Trumps team] have been able to move and upset the orthodoxy, and at the same time really capture the imagination of the people, I think portends a great four years.

The backbone of what Maga believes

Although Project 2025 was one of several conservative policy platforms, which also included the America First Policy Institute, it attracted the most controversy. For some on the Right, this was because it dared to express what the Maga base was really thinking.

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[M]uch of Project 2025 is the backbone of what the movement believes, and so will continue to have impact whether [opponents] like it or not, says Raheem Kassam, a former Nigel Farage staffer and Trump insider.

But critics fear that the changes are so drastic as to be unconstitutional, and might portend even more alarming developments down the line. Adrienne Cobb, an independent journalist, started Keep Track, a social media account, primarily on Reddit, to keep a running tally of how many Project 2025 ideas have been implemented. Already, more than a third of the proposals have been put into motion, she says.

I started the tracker to help people understand what the Trump administration plans to do, she says. My hope is that it will help us organise to oppose the administrations anti-democratic actions as well. We know what theyre going to do next, they told us plain as day in Project 2025.

Fears of possible overreach were heightened earlier this week when Steve Bannon, a key Trump ally, said he was a firm believer that President Trump will run again in 2028, and that people were working on a solution to the problem that the constitution forbids anyone to serve more than two terms. His intervention came as a federal judge in Maryland ruled against Trumps cuts to USAid  a core component of Project 2025  finding that they were probably unconstitutional.

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Looking sector by sector, it is clear how influential the document has been.

Economics

Peter Navarro, Trumps senior counsel on trade and engineering, speaks at the Republican National Convention last year - Alex Wong/ Getty

Project 2025

Project 2025 advocated two possible paths to economic success: one advocated free trade, another protectionism. The latter, a pro-tariff policy to redress Americas trade deficits, was written by Peter Navarro, a longtime loyalist who served four months in prison last year in connection to the January 6 2021 attacks on the capital.

Trade policy can and must play an essential role in an American manufacturing and defense industrial base renaissance, Navarro writes, but two forces are pushing America in the opposite direction. The World Trade Organisations (WTO) most favoured nation rules encourage Americas trade partners to adopt high tariffs, which have caused Americas chronic trade deficits and made it the globes biggest trade loser and victim of unfair, unbalanced, and non-reciprocal trade. Of particular concern was economic aggression from China.

Policy

Trump has chosen the way of the tariff, and appointed Navarro to be his senior counsel on trade and engineering. He immediately introduced a 25 per cent tariff on all steel and aluminium imports, as well as 25 per cent tariffs on other imports from Mexico and Canada and a 20 per cent tariff on Chinese imports. He has also threatened 200 per cent tariffs on alcohol from the EU. Tariffs are easy, theyre fast, theyre efficient, and they bring fairness, Trump has said, adding that other presidents, including Republican hero Ronald Reagan, had not used this powerful weapon because they were dishonest, stupid or paid off in some other form.

Education

Project 2025 education

Project 2025

Project 2025 said that the governments role in education should be limited to that of a statistics-gathering agency that disseminates information to the states. The author of the chapter on education, Lindsey Burke, writes that families and students should be free to choose from a diverse set of school options and learning environments and that the Department of Education should be eliminated.

Policy

Trump shut the Department of Education by executive order on Thursday evening. My administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department, he said. Were going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible. Its doing us no good. His government had already taken measures to halve the departments workforce and cancel dozens of programmes.



Foreign aid

Project 2025

In the blueprint, Russell Vought, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), wrote: The next conservative Administration will have a unique opportunity to realign U.S. foreign assistance with American national interests, and lamented the gross misuse of foreign aid by the current Administration to promote a radical ideology that is politically divisive at home and harms our global standing.

Policy

One of Trumps first acts in government was to freeze all USAid. Earlier this week Vought, whom Trump has reinstated as the director of the OMB, masterminded a questionnaire sent to several of the worlds largest aid organisations, including those at the UN and the International Red Cross. Questions included some apparently designed to make it impossible for a large aid organisation to answer in the negative.

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Does this project reinforce U.S. sovereignty by limiting reliance on international organisations or global governance structures (e.g. UN, WHO)? read one. Another asked aid agencies to confirm that no project included any elements of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion).

There have been challenges to the aid cuts. On Tuesday, Maryland federal Judge Theodore D. Chuang ruled that they were unconstitutional. But it seems the America first tone set out by Project 2025 will continue to inform policy.

China

Project 2025 China

Project 2025

China is one of Project 2025s key strategic focuses, with recommended measures on defence, the economy, aid and social media all intended to weaken Chinese competition.

It argues that the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) needs to address TikToks threat to national security. It also advocates reforming the vast, intricate bureaucracy of intelligence agencies, and argues the government needs to use these intelligence authorities aggressively to anticipate and thwart our adversaries, including Russia, Iran, North Korea, and especially China, while maintaining counterterrorism tools that have demonstrated their effectiveness.

Policy

Trump was quick with his tariffs on China. One of the questions sent to aid agencies was Can you confirm that your organisation has not received any funding from the Peoples Republic of China? He appointed Brendan Carr, another Project 2025 contributor and TikTok hawk, to run the FCC. But he paused the TikTok ban with an executive order on his first day in office, pending a possible agreed sale to an American entity. Despite his belligerent rhetoric, there were reports this week that Trump is seeking a meeting with Chinas president Xi Jinping, who he said will visit Washington in the not too distant future.

Health

Project 2025 health

Project 2025

The blueprint argued that the United States must be prepared to take appropriate steps in response, up to and including withdrawal, from organisations that were not serving the US interest. It singled out the World Health Organisation (WHO), stating that the manifest failure and corruption of the World Health Organization during the COVID-19 pandemic is an example of the danger that international organizations pose to U.S. citizens and interests.

Policy

One of Trumps first acts on day one of his presidency was to withdraw the US from the WHO. The United States intends to withdraw from the WHO, said the White Houses official statement, citing the organizations mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.

DEI

A Black Lives Matter banner, a US national flag and a Pride flag on the facade of the US embassy building in Seoul in 2020 - Simon Shin/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty

Project 2025

Project 2025 argued that any incoming government must work to eliminate Marxist indoctrination and divisive critical race theory programs and abolish newly established diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and staff. It also called for only the US flag to be flown at embassies and consulates and barred the display of Black Lives Matter and Pride flags.

Policy

On January 27, Trump issued an order reiterating his commitment to meritocracy and to the elimination of race-based and sex-based discrimination. As part of this, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall abolish every DEI office. He also followed the Project 2025 policy on flags. Starting immediately, only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or displayed at US facilities, both domestic and abroad, and featured in US government content, a US Department of State memo ordained. Big tech firms, including Meta, Google and Amazon, have responded to Trumps crusade against DEI by following suit, watering down or abandoning their own policies.

Government workforce

Project 2025 government workforce

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Project 2025

One of the key tenets of Project 2025 was the necessity of slashing the size of the federal workforce, reducing the agencies budgets to the low end of the historical average and maximising hiring of political appointees. It also said that the logical place to begin would be to identify and eliminate functions and programs that are duplicated across Cabinet departments or spread across multiple agencies.

Policy

With Elon Musk running the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Trumps administration has gone above and beyond the hopes of Project 2025 in terms of cutting the federal workforce. On January 20, the White House announced plans to reduce the size of the Federal Governments workforce through efficiency improvements. Since Trump took office more than 30,000 federal employees have been fired, across different departments, although more than 25,000 were reinstated this week following the judicial ruling in Maryland. A budget proposal that passed the House of Representatives last month proposed $1.5-2 trillion (1.2-1.5 trillion) in spending cuts over the next decade.

Immigration

Project 2025 immigration

Project 2025

The blueprint argues for far stricter border controls, urging the government to adjust personnel and priorities to participate actively in the defense of Americas borders, including using military personnel and hardware to prevent illegal crossings between ports of entry. It also recommended repealing temporary protected status for some immigrants, giving more immigration authority to state and local government, pausing refugee resettlement and sanctioning countries who refused to receive deportees.

Policy

Trump appointed Tom Homan, a Project 2025 contributor, to be his border czar. On day one of his presidency he directed authorities to take all appropriate and lawful action to deploy sufficient personnel along the southern border with Mexico. Homan and Trump have promised vast increases in deportations, providing military aircraft to facilitate this. Days after his initial pledges, Trump used the threat of tariffs to force Colombia to back down over receiving deportees. He has changed the rules to allow undocumented migrants to be deported from anywhere in the US, rather than within 100 miles of a border. He has also suspended the entry of all undocumented migrants and reinstated a controversial Wait in Mexico policy from his first term, under which non-Mexican migrants have to reside in Mexico while waiting for their asylum cases to be heard.

Members of the US Marine Corps installing concertina wire along the US-Mexico border wall in San Diego, California, in February this year - Carlos Moreno/Anadolu/ Getty

Climate and energy

Project 2025

Project 2025 contains a range of measures designed to ramp up US energy production and row back on environmental regulation, including withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, blocking the enforcement of environmental justice laws, eliminating energy standards for appliances, ending subsidies for electric vehicles, and revoking Biden-era orders to put the climate at the centre of US foreign policy and use science to tackle it. A new Administration must immediately roll back Bidens orders, reinstate the Trump-era Energy Dominance Agenda, it says, adding it must also end the war on fossil fuels and domestically available minerals and facilitate their development on lands owned by Indians and Indian nations.

Policy

Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement on day one of his presidency, and issued dozens of executive orders to facilitate Project 2025 goals. One called for the US to fully avail itself of Alaskas vast lands and resources for the benefit of the Nation and the American citizens who call Alaska home, others revoked Biden-era subsidies for electric vehicles. Trump also put hundreds of environmental justice workers on leave from the Environmental Protection Agency, echoing another Project 2025 goal, although some have since been reinstated.

What comes next?

Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 during the campaign after vociferous opposition to its contents, particularly on abortion, tariffs and executive authority. The document did not enjoy unanimous support even within the Republican party.

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Polling on his blitzkrieg first months is mixed, too. According to a recent Ipsos survey, 45 per cent approve of the job he is doing, but only one in four (26 per cent) approves of Musk shutting down federal government programmes that he decides are unnecessary. There is widespread support for deporting immigrants accused of crime.

Elon Musk holds a chainsaw at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month - Jose Luis Magana/AP

For all Project 2025s apparent influence to date, many of its suggestions remain unfulfilled. They could yet become policy. These include dismantling the Department of Homeland Security, banning pornography and shutting down tech and telecoms companies that allow access to adult material. Slashing corporate and income taxes, abolishing the Federal Reserve and returning to the gold standard are also called for by the plan.

It advocates more walls along the southern border too, while Trumps focus has been on deportations. Trump has so far been more moderate on family issues than Project 2025  which argued the government should maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family and argued for the withdrawal of Mifepristone, an abortion drug, from the market.

Despite growing judicial rumbles, Trump still has a large mandate, with Republican majorities in the popular vote, the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court. He can pass as many of Project 2025s proposals as he wants. Judging by his first two months, there may be many more to come.

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Istanbul (dpa)  Protesters took to the streets in Turkey on Friday night for the third night in a row, demanding that the government step down over the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

People rallied in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir despite a ban on demonstrations, local media reported.

In Istanbul, people chanted slogans such as "Government, resign!"

Officers used tear gas against demonstrators who wanted to break through a police blockade, as seen by a dpa reporter.

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Demonstrations had also been announced for the evening in numerous other cities in the country.

On X, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote about 97 arrests at demonstrations until shortly before midnight.

Earlier on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the protests "street terror" and accused Imamoglu's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) of exploiting the investigation as a pretext to plunge the country into chaos.

"We will not tolerate any disruption of public order. Just as we have not bowed to street terror before, we will not yield to vandalism now," Erdogan said at a Nowruz celebration in Istanbul.

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Erdogan also accused the CHP, which is the founding party of modern Turkey, of corruption and inciting unrest.

A court has yet to weigh in on the corruption and terrorism allegations against Imamoglu and several others.

The mayor's detention on Wednesday triggered nightly protests across the country. Authorities have responded with heavy security measures and banned gatherings in four major cities, including Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

Imamoglu party was preparing to name him as their presidential candidate on Sunday when he was taken into custody. The CHP has said it would still proceed with the selection.

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In a crackdown on social media protests over the detention, Turkish authorities have detained 54 people, the government said on Friday.

A total of 326 accounts were under investigation for posts suspected of incitement to hatred and encouraging criminal acts, Yerlikaya wrote on X.

On Thursday, Yerlikaya said 37 users were detained.

Separately, the authorities brought criminal charges against 53 demonstrators who joined the protests, according to Yerlikaya.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT)  A weeklong protest continued Friday as people gathered outside Redstone Arsenals Gate 9.

Protesters told News 19 they want to directly share concerns with their elected congressman, Dale Strong. Many of those who showed up at this weeks protests said they have called and emailed Strongs office. They said staffers told them their messages are being passed on to the congressman, but they do not feel like they are being heard.

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Those who protested this week are requesting Strong meet them face-to-face. Susan Griffin, who is a part of Indivisibles North Alabama leadership team, said the group wants to share their concerns like cuts being made to the federal workforce.

Wed like to know why our elected representative, Dale Strong, hasnt spoken up for these people while theyve been called worms and lazy and ineffective and people that dont work and are unnecessary, Griffin said. Hes just been radio silent. The federal workforce is more than 7% of his district, and that doesnt even count all the people that work for contractors.

This weeks protests have been organized by Indivisible, which describes itself as a nonpartisan group fighting authoritarianism. The group nationally was started by former Democratic U.S. House staffers.

Fridays protest included about 50 people and highlighted peoples concerns about federal job cuts. Current and former federal workers have been a part of the gatherings this week.

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Everyone can agree that theres probably bloat, waste, fraud in the government, but you remove that with a scalpel, not with a chainsaw, Griffin said. You do it thoughtfully. And however you do it, you treat people with dignity and you respect their humanity. The federal workers just have not been valued in that way.

Protesters have spent the week calling for Strong to attend a town hall scheduled for Saturday in Athens. The events organizer said Strong was invited by email and certified letter, but their organization has so far received no response.

Strong posted the following photo Thursday on his U.S. House Member Facebook page:

The caption read, I was glad to visit with so many great folks in Athens yesterday. I gave an update on my work for the people of North Alabama, answered their questions, and discussed several issues were working on to make lives better for Americans.

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No other details about the gathering were provided.

News 19 has reached out to Strongs office multiple times this week, asking for comments about the protests, whether Strong will attend Saturdays town hall or if he has an event planned open to public. His office has not responded to any of those questions.

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CORNING, N.Y. (WETM)  A protest took place on Market Street in Corning where people gathered outside the office of New York Congressman Nick Langworthy.

Between 50 to 60 protesters voiced their opposition to cuts on federal health insurance and assistance programs, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DODGE). Other people held signs with messages against Elon Musk and tax cuts. A protest against fascism was held previously at Centerway Square in Corning on Monday, Feb. 27.

Group holds Presidents Day protest in Corning amid nationwide gatherings

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A protester named Mariann said, They are impacting and slashing services that are necessary for his constituents in this community, things like SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare, libraries.

Vietnam Veteran Philip Hubbard added, Im particularly opposing cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and they keep promising that there will be no cuts, but theyre gutting the workforces that are responsible for distributing those benefits.

During the gathering, a majority of the people in attendance wrote messages of concern to leave at Congressman Langworthys office. The protesters raised other issues like libraries as community resources and were calling on the congressman to support all constituents and not just those who are in his political group.

I would like to see more freedom of speech. I would like to see freedom for participation, Charlie Paone said. I want Langworthy to stand up and support all people in his district, and not just those who support the president.

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The protesters 18 News spoke to said they were not paid to protest.

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Mar. 21In events across the state in recent days, crowds of Alaskans have demanded that U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III and U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan do more to hear from constituents and oppose actions by President Donald Trump, including efforts to vastly shrink the size and scope of the federal government.

At an event organized Thursday by 907 Initiative, a progressive advocacy group, roughly 600 people showed up in Anchorage to protest the firing of federal workers, a freeze on federal funding sources, President Donald Trump's efforts to shut down the U.S. Department of Education and USAID, tariffs on Canadian goods, and cuts to Medicaid that could be needed to help offset Trump's plan to extend tax cuts.

Similar events in Juneau and Fairbanks also drew crowds exceeding 100.

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The protests come as a chasm has emerged in Alaska's three-member, all-Republican congressional delegation  with Begich and Sullivan on one side, and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski on the other.

Murkowski is one of the few Republican members of Congress who has openly defied Trump since he began his second term. In comments earlier this week, Murkowski said she would not be "cowed" by an administration that has largely shut down internal dissent.

"Everybody else is like, 'Well, how come nobody else is saying anything?' Well, figure it out. They're looking at how many things are being thrown at me and they're like, 'Maybe I better just duck and cover.' That's why you've got everybody just zip-lipped, not saying a word. They're afraid they're going to be taken down, they're going to be primaried, they're going to be given names in the media," Murkowski said earlier this week. "We cannot be cowed into not speaking up."

The National Republican Congressional Committee instructed Republican lawmakers earlier this month to refrain from in-person town halls in order to skirt backlash over the cuts undertaken by the Trump administration. Trump dismissed contentious town halls, saying they were attended by "paid 'troublemakers.'"

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Murkowski said her opposition to the Trump administration may mean that Elon Musk, a billionaire who has taken a prominent role in the Trump administration, "is going to decide to take next $1 billion he makes off of Starlink and put it directly against" her. But that shouldn't stop lawmakers from voicing dissent, she said.

The divide between Murkowski and Sullivan came into sharp focus this week when both senators delivered their annual addresses to the state Legislature.

In Murkowski's view, Trump was not "staying in the executive lane," and his moves to abruptly and vastly shrink the size and scope of the federal government could hamper the state and harm its residents. She said Congress has a duty to assert its role when Trump sought to usurp it.

According to Sullivan, Trump is fulfilling a promise to boost Alaska's natural resource industry, compared to Democratic administrations that prioritized environmental conservation. Federal employees may lose their jobs and funding may be cut, but in Sullivan's portrayal, those impacts would largely be overshadowed by the economic opportunities heralded by the Trump administration.

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As protests popped up in Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks and other communities across the state, Murkowski said she wanted to hear directly from disgruntled Alaskans.

"Maybe I can't fix anything, but I am  by God  going to listen to you," Murkowski said in a press availability this week. "I'm not going to be afraid to go into your protest and say, 'Let's sit down and let's talk.'"

Sullivan, meanwhile, broadly dismissed questions about his lack of recent engagement with constituents worried about Trump's actions. He said that he regularly meets with Alaskans and that recent invitations to town halls came too late for him to fit them into his schedule.

"My No. 1 priority has always been constructive and meaningful engagement with my constituents," said Sullivan. "Maybe it's not in Anchorage or Fairbanks, but a town hall in a small Native village or Kotzebue, which I did the summer a couple times, that's a town hall, right? So there's a little bit of arrogance, saying 'If you're not doing a town hall in Anchorage, it's not a town hall for Alaska.'"

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More than a third of Alaskans live within Anchorage city limits.

"There's an element of theater to some of this," Sullivan said. "People stand up and they're looking for that viral moment, and they're yelling and screaming."

"If there's constructive engagement, I'm all for it. If it's all about screaming and yelling and a viral moment that they want to send out to their colleagues, you know, it's not necessarily the most constructive way," Sullivan said.

Aubrey Wieber, executive director of the 907 Initiative, which led planning for the Anchorage event, said Sullivan's response is "a lie."

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"There is zero evidence that he's talking to constituents. He is staying in very friendly places," said Wieber, who was a reporter for the Daily News in 2019 and 2020. At the Anchorage town hall he organized, some speakers said they had attempted to speak with Sullivan to no avail.

"The idea of, 'I don't want to go into that uncomfortable place'  maybe you shouldn't be a U.S. senator. That's the job," said Wieber, whose organization does not disclose its donors.

Anchorage's town hall organizers had viral moments in mind. The organizers handed out posters that read "Chicken Nick" and "Doormat Dan." People in chicken costumes roamed the filled-to-the-gills venue at the Loussac Library, as organizers repeatedly encouraged protesters to post about the event on social media.

The event also drew Alaskans who had personal stories to share on the impacts of Trump's 2-month-old administration.

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Michael Macans told the crowd that he previously worked on disaster preparedness for the Small Business Administration, a job he found meaningful and that put him in position to help Alaska businesses prepare for scenarios like volcano eruptions or glacial flooding.

Amid Musk-led efforts to cut the size of the federal workforce, Macans was fired from his job last month, then rehired, then fired again, only to be rehired and placed on administrative leave.

"I just may set the record for being fired from the same job the most times. Does that sound efficient?" Macans said. "Elon's 'oopsie' means an Alaska family goes without a paycheck, goes without health care, goes without the critical government services they rely on."

The event  featuring empty chairs on a stage for Begich and Sullivan, and long lines of Alaskans with prepared remarks to deliver to the absent lawmakers  brought together Anchorage residents with a variety of experiences: a nurse who worried about cuts that would diminish her patients' access to health care; parents of children with disabilities who worried their access to education would be curtailed with the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education; veterans with fears about Trump's openness to Russia.

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A poll conducted earlier this month by Data for Progress found that Trump is viewed favorably by a majority of Alaskans. In a survey of 1,000 Alaskans, 51% had a favorable view of Trump, 49% had a favorable view of Murkowski, 47% had a favorable view of Sullivan and 44% had a favorable view of Begich.

Betsy Baker, an Anchorage-based attorney, said she was part of a group that had met with Sullivan to convey concerns about the Trump administration's actions. She thanked the organizers of the Anchorage town hall but said it was publicized using "humorous but disparaging nicknames for our elected officials" that "have the effect of turning away some folks who might have come had the event been publicized somewhat differently."

Baker said future events should appeal to a wider circle, including to people who voted for Trump. "Find the Trump voters who have remorse," she said.

Wieber, the event organizer, said "the time for being polite is gone."

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"This is not a moment for pleasantries. This is a moment to grab people's attention," he said.

None of Alaska's congressional delegation members announced town hall events in Anchorage during the current recess. Begich appeared at an invitation-only event in Anchorage on Tuesday hosted by Commonwealth North, but organizers of the event declined to allow a Daily News journalist to attend. Sullivan was scheduled to appear at a $100-per-seat fundraiser in Fairbanks on Friday hosted by a local Republican group.

Sullivan spokesperson Amanda Coyne said Friday though none of meetings in Fairbanks were open to the wider public, Sullivan also met with a group of high schoolers, the mayor of North Pole, the North Pole Fire Department, members of the Air National Guard, and the Greater Fairbanks Board of Realtors.

Begich, who delivered his annual address to the Legislature last month, has declined multiple interview requests from the Daily News in recent weeks, including one sent earlier this week.

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Begich spokesperson Silver Prout said in a statement that Begich had spent "countless hours on the ground talking to Alaskans."

"He has taken his message directly to Alaskans and has invested time in hearing their concerns and aspirations as he advocates in D.C. for a stronger Alaska," Prout wrote.

The renewed interest in town hall events harkens back to 2017, when the first Trump presidency elicited strong reactions from voters. When Sullivan held a town hall at Bartlett High School in May 2017, he was met with boos that intensified when he signaled his support for Trump policies, including efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Sullivan said Thursday that his speech before the Alaska Legislature was "the ultimate town hall." Following his address, he took questions from lawmakers, including ones from lawmakers who conveyed concerns about Trump policies and the lack of pushback from congressional Republicans.

Sen. Forrest Dunbar, an Anchorage Democrat, said "there are many Alaskans who believe that we are now in a constitutional crisis. They worry that Congress has abdicated your spending authority, that the Trump administration is now openly defying court orders, and that Elon Musk is illegally firing people, destroying programs mandated by law, delaying contracts and impounding funds that Congress has appropriated. They worry that you have no red line when it comes to Trump or Musk." Dunbar asked Sullivan if he would commit to oppose cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

Sullivan did not directly respond to Dunbar's remarks. Instead, he held up a printed copy of Trump's executive order to boost Alaska's resource development industry. "This is really important," Sullivan said.

The next day, all 19 members of the House Republican minority caucus signed on to a letter apologizing for what they said was "discourteous treatment" of Sullivan by majority legislators in the House and Senate.

"The tone and manner of certain inquiries  preceded by what can only be described as unnecessary grilling and regrettable rhetoric fell far short of the respect and decorum you deserve," the House minority wrote.

Coyne, a Sullivan spokesperson, said Sullivan "appreciated the letter."

"Others can assess whether or not some of the exchanges were discourteous. But Sen. Sullivan has experienced a lot more stressful events in his life than a few aggressive questions from Democratic members of the Legislature. He wasn't bothered by it all," Coyne said.

While Sullivan saw "aggressive questions" from Democrats, Murkowski said this week she was contending with pointed questions from the right.

"I'm going to have to stiffen my spine and take the slings and arrows when people say: 'Why aren't you a better Republican?'" she said.

"I'm going to speak up for the institution," Murkowski told reporters. "Some might interpret that as I'm pushing back on Trump, I'm poking a finger in the eye of Trump. But I am not. I am standing up for my role as a duly elected senator and a member of the congressional branch."

Daily News reporter Sean Maguire contributed from Juneau.
Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East, has stated that Ukraine currently cannot join NATO due to the positions of Russia and the US, but the issue of providing security guarantees to Ukraine under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty remains open.

Source: Witkoff in an interview with American propagandist Tucker Carlson

Details: Witkoff noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Andrii Yermak, Head of the President's Office, have effectively acknowledged that Ukraine cannot join NATO in the near future.

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"I think that Zelenskyy, and he's got a right-hand guy, Yermak, I think that they've largely conceded that they are not going to be a member of NATO," he said.

Witkoff pointed out that discussions continue regarding the possible application of the collective defence principle to Ukraine, as outlined in Article 5 of the NATO Treaty.

He added that the issue of the US or European countries providing Ukraine with such protection remains a topic of discussion.

Quote: "Theres been all kinds of talk about whether Ukraine could have that in some respect from the United States or European nations without being a member of NATO. And I think that's open for discussion."

Background:

At the beginning of March, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni proposed extending the application of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty to Ukraine without it officially joining NATO. She believes this would provide long-term and effective security for Ukraine and help expose Russia's potential bluff.

US President Donald Trump said on 26 February that as part of a future agreement to end the war in Ukraine, he has ruled out the possibility of Ukraine joining the North Atlantic Alliance. Trump also claimed that NATO  and more specifically, the promise that Ukraine would eventually become a member of it  was the reason for Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also ruled out NATO membership for Ukraine as part of a "negotiated settlement" of the war.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin prayed for Donald Trump after the then-presidential candidate was shot last year, top envoy Steve Witkoff revealed Friday.

Witkoff, who has visited Moscow twice to hash out the terms of a ceasefire with Ukraine, told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on his podcast that during his second meeting with Putin, the Russian president recounted his reaction to the attempted assassination of Trump at a campaign rally last summer.

When the president was shot, he went to his local church and met with his priest and prayed for the president, Witkoff said of Putin.

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Putin had a friendship with him and he was praying for his friend, Witkoff explained. He added that he had relayed the sentimental story to Trump, who was clearly touched.

Last July, Trump, then the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, was speaking to supporters near Butler, Pennsylvania, when he was grazed by a bullet fired by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.

A Kremlin spokesperson at the time blamed the shooting on Trumps political adversaries.

Witkoff said Putin also had a beautiful portrait commissioned of Trump by a top Russian artist, which he had gifted to Trump.

Trump has long expressed his admiration for Putin, calling him a genius and a strong leader, among other superlatives, leading his critics to accuse him of being soft on the Kremlin.

Earlier this week, the two leaders spoke by phone for about two hours to discuss ending Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Trump describing the conversation as "very good and productive."
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he prayed for his friend Donald Trump after an assassins bullet grazed the then-presidential candidates ear last year, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview Friday.

Appearing on Tucker Carlsons podcast, Witkoff praised Putins willingness to discuss how to end the war in Ukraine and said it was preposterous to say that Russia had designs on eventually attacking other countries in Europe.

Witkoff, who has met with Putin twice, said during his second visit to Moscow the Russian presidents messages for Trump got personal. The Russian autocrat recounted his deep concern after Trump was targeted in an assassination attempt during a campaign stop in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July of last year, Witkoff said.

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Putin told me a story ... about how when the president was shot, he went to his local church and met with his priest and prayed for the president, Witkoff said. Putin did it not because ... he could become the president of the United States, but because he had a friendship with him, and he was praying for his friend.

During the same visit, the Russian president presented a painting of Trump that he commissioned from a Russian artist as a gift to the American president, Witkoff said.

I came home and delivered that message to our president, and delivered the painting, and he was clearly touched by it, Witkoff said. So this is the kind of connection that weve been able to re-establish through, by the way, a simple word called communication.

Witkoff dismissed criticism of the Trump administrations outreach to Putin, saying the only way to resolve the war in Ukraine is to speak to all sides in the conflict. He also rejected portrayals of Putin as a nefarious actor who cant be trusted.

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Witkoff said some people might question if he should have met with the Russian president because they see Putin as a bad guy. But he said: I dont regard Putin as a bad guy.

A real estate tycoon and friend of the president who has become a top diplomatic envoy for Trump, Wiktoff said he appreciated Putin being open to meeting with him and communicating in a straightforward way.

I liked him. I thought he was straight up with me, he said, adding that it was gracious of him to accept me, to see me.

Poisonings, shootings and plane crashes

Putin, a former KGB officer who has ruled Russia for the last 25 years, has been blamed for the killings of multiple Russian opposition leaders, most recently Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison last year.

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Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash last year, just months after leading his Wagner Group forces in an aborted mutiny against Putin. His short-lived rebellion was sparked by disagreements about the war in Ukraine. No investigative findings were released after the fiery crash, which also killed nine other people.

Boris Nemtsov, once considered the leader of Russias opposition and one of Putins fiercest critics, was shot dead in 2015, just a few feet away from the Kremlin.

And in 2018 former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in the U.K. with a nerve agent believed to be the same Novichok poison later used on Navalny. Two Russians also allegedly poisoned former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, an outspoken critic of Putins who had fled to the U.K.

Renowned journalist Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down outside her Moscow apartment in 2006 after warning reporters in Russia about the risks of challenging the Kremlins narrative.

Putin blamed Biden

Witkoff said Putin pointed out in their meeting that he and former President Joe Biden did not speak for three years, which Witkoff called a mistake.

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How do you settle a conflict unless we establish trust and good feelings with one another? Witkoff said.

Trumps envoy said an administration official had warned him beforehand that Putin was a former KGB officer. But Witkoff said that background merely meant that Putin was among the elite in the former Soviet Union, as he said the spy service recruited highly capable people.

In the old days, the only people who went into the KGB were the smartest people in the nation, Witkoff said. Thats who went into the KGB. Hes a super smart guy.

Putins 2022 invasion of Ukraine violated international law, and Russian forces appear to have committed war crimes there, according to European, United Nations and Biden administration officials. But Witkoff suggested the media coverage of the war had been distorted and that the conflict could not be blamed entirely on one side.

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That is a complicated situation that war, and all the ingredients that led up to it, he said.

The special envoy said the key to resolving the war in Ukraine was Russias claim to four eastern regions in Ukraine  Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. He called the issue the elephant in the room.

Ukraine opposes ceding the territory, which remains part of Ukraines internationally recognized borders.

Russian troops occupy most of the regions and Moscow has held referendums on joining Russia, which Western countries and Ukraine have denounced as shams conducted under repression.

But Witkoff, who struggled to name all four of the regions in the interview, cited the Russian-organized votes as an indication that people in the area preferred Russian rule.

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Theyre Russian-speaking, he said. There have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule.

Witkoff said it was unclear if Ukraine could accept ceding that territory to Russia and if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could survive politically if he acknowledged Russian control of the area.

The Russians are de facto in control of these territories, Witkoff said. Will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories?

He added that Russia did not want to absorb all of Ukraine and that it already has what it wants, by taking the four eastern regions and the Crimean Peninsula.

The Russians also have what they want, he said. So why do they need more?

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
QUINLAN  Ashley Gardner knows all too well what it feels like to know someone has your back in trying times. She lived it.

A teacher with Quinlan ISD, Gardner also works as a shift manager for KFC. She recently helped secure a $10,000 grant for CASA of Hunt County and on March 13, presented the check to CASA  reflecting on how the organization supported her during some of the toughest times in her life.

Being able to give back to the people who once carried me through one of my darkest moments is one of the greatest honors of my life, Gardner said.

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In 2018, Gardner adopted her daughter, Emma, who was battling childhood cancer. As Emmas primary caregiver, Gardner had to take a break from teaching, relying on a part-time job at KFC to make ends meet. She credits CASA with providing emotional support and practical help during Emmas treatment.

They were there for me when I needed it most, Gardner said. CASA of Hunt County became one of my deepest sources of comfort. Without their help  and the help of so many others  I wouldnt have been able to focus on caring for Emma the way she needed.

After Emma passed away, Gardner continued teaching at Quinlan ISD while working at KFC and when her restaurant manager told her about a grant opportunity, Gardner nominated CASA of Hunt County.

Gardner, named by her peers as Quinlan ISDs 2024 Elementary Teacher of the Year, is also a recent recipient of the highest tier in the Texas Teacher Incentive Allotment program.

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Quinlan ISD Superintendent Jeff Irvin commended Gardners perseverance and generosity.

Her dedication to family, students and community is truly inspiring, Irvin said. We are incredibly proud of Ashleys resilience and how she has turned personal challenges into opportunities to give back. Her actions reflect the values we hold dear at Quinlan ISD and her impact has been a massive blessing.
The Glynn County Police Department said it is investigating a shooting at an Apartment Complex Friday night that injured three people and killed another.

Police responded to The Retreat Apartments on Altama Avenue Friday after receiving concerned calls from neighbors.

Officers said they forced themselves into one apartment where they found one man dead with multiple gunshot wounds.

At approximately the same time, two men reportedly arrived at a nearby hospital also suffering from gunshot wounds, while a third male victim was on the way.

Anyone with information on this active investigation is asked to reach out to the Glynn County Police Departments non-emergency number at (912) 554-3645.

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Callers can also leave an anonymous tip to Silent Witness at (912) 264-1333.

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President Donald Trump confused reporters after claiming he didnt sign the presidential proclamation that invoked the controversial Alien and Enemies Act in order to quickly deport migrants the administration says are part of a Venezuelan gang.

When asked by a reporter about signing the proclamation in the dark  rather than at the Oval Office desk or in a public capacity as the president has done with other executive actions  the president denied signing it at all.

I dont know when it was signed because I didnt sign it, the president said.

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Instead, Trump appeared to push the blame for invoking the 18th-century wartime law onto other people in his administration including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Other people handled it, Trump said. But Marco Rubios done a great job. And he wanted them out, and we go along with that. We want to get criminals out of our country.

Despite his claim, the presidents digital signature does appear on the version of the proclamation available on the Federal Register website.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday he didnt sign the proclamation invoking the controversial Alien and Enemies Act. That statement has raised questions (Getty Images)

The Presidents statement immediately raised alarm bells for some.

If thats true, if Donald Trump did not actually sign that proclamation, its a big problem because the law specifically requires a proclamation by the president, asked CNN political analyst Elie Honig, according to The Hill.

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There were similar questions on social media.

Trump just said he didn't sign his own EO? This is the guy who claimed Joe Biden's pardons weren't legitimate, because he used an autopen, but he allowed someone else to sign his executive order? one X user noted.

If Trump didn't sign the proclamation as he claims then everything that happened after is illegal...lol, another noted.

The White House later clarified that the president was referring to the original Alien Enemies Act, passed by Congress in 1798 and did sign the recent proclamation that invokes the highly controversial set of laws.

President Trump was obviously referring to the original Aliens Enemies Act that was signed back in 1798, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement.

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The recent Executive Order was personally signed by President Trump invoking the Alien Enemies Act that designated Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in order to apprehend and deport these heinous criminals, Cheung added.

However, the question that prompted Trumps answer specifically referred to a federal judges criticism of the proclamation that was raised earlier in the day during a court hearing.

Judge James Boasberg asked lawyers for the government why the presidents proclamation was essentially signed in the dark on the evening of March 14 and then migrants were rushed onto planes on the morning of March 15.

Doocy: The judge wants to know why the proclamation was signed in the dark



Trump: I dont know when it was signed. I didnt sign it. Other people handled it. pic.twitter.com/k2BABNzYJE  Acyn (@Acyn) March 21, 2025

The hearing is part of a challenge to Trumps attempts to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport, without due process, alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Those challenging the use of the act say it was done hastily to skirt criminal and immigration laws.

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The confusion over Trumps signature on the proclamation raised also questions over whether the president used an autopen a mechanical device that uses ink to repeat the signature of an individual - that has recently drawn his own ire.

Though past presidents and their administrations have used autopens, Trump has criticized its use  specifically condemning former president Joe Biden for using it on certain documents. Last week, Trump tried to claim Bidens use of an autopen should void certain documents including presidential pardons.

The Justice Department has said the use of an autopen on official documents is legal.
Rachel Maddow had a strong warning in the wake of Donald Trumps planned cuts to the Social Security Administration and offices around the United States, which include the firing of at least 12% of the SSAs staff.

My whole adult life, we have thought of attacking Social Security as the third rail of American politics, Maddow said on her show Friday night. You touch it, and it is a guaranteed political death. Well, we are now witnessing the strongest test weve ever had of that aphorism  as Donald Trump grabs that third rail firmly and unmistakably, Trump has announced plans to fire thousands of people who work at the Social Security Administration, more than 12% of its staff. He has released plans to shut down dozens of local Social Security offices across the country.

In an interview with the All-In podcast released Friday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed so-called fraudsters were fleecing the Social Security system. He told the hosts the United States government doesnt have to take one penny from someone who deserves Social Security, not one penny for someone who deserves Medicaid, Medicare.

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What we have to do is stop sending money to someone whos not hurt, whos on disability for 50 years, he added. Its ridiculous, and they have another job.

Lutnick also said that if his 94-year-old mother-in-law did not receive her own Social Security check this month, she wouldnt call and complain.

Shed think something got messed up, and shell get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining, he added.

I feel like in any other moment, this would have been wallpaper all over the American media, Maddow told viewers. But this statement today from Donald Trumps commerce secretary about what Trump is doing to Social Security, this tape is such a political disaster. I feel like I almost have to close my eyes because I cant bear to watch it.

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The result of the cuts will be that millions more elderly people and people with disabilities will be forced to somehow make their way physically to a Social Security office in person, if they can find one, because theyre closing lots of offices, because they will need to get help in person from a Social Security staffer, provided they can find one who hasnt been fired, Maddow also explained. Making grandma wait in new lines is not nice, right?

She also stated that the move is a response to a federal judges ruling Thursday that blocked DOGE from accesssing the Social Security files of millions of Amerians. Marylands U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander wrote, The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion.

To be sure, rooting out possible fraud, waste, and mismanagement in the SSA is in the public interest. But, that does not mean that the government can flout the law to do so, Hollander added.

Watch the segment in the video above.

The post Rachel Maddow Cant Bear to Watch Trumps Social Security Cuts: A Fraudster Always Makes the Loudest Noise | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
Mar. 22Maine might soon be on the way out of a monthslong drought, but hydrologists say it's too early to say for sure.

Nearly 13% of Maine  a strip along the southern coast and Down East  is in a state of moderate drought, and nearly two-thirds of the state was classified as "abnormally dry" as of Tuesday, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Just under a quarter of the state reported normal conditions, keeping up a dry spell that's covered much of Maine since September, according to the Drought Monitor.

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For most of 2025, about 92% of the state had been at least "abnormally dry," while more than 38% weathered moderate drought conditions, according to the monitor.

Those numbers fell to their current levels last week, shortly before a storm dropped around an inch of rain over southern Maine early in the week. Greater Portland recorded between a half and 1 inch of rainfall by Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Sarah Jamison, senior weather service hydrologist at the weather service office in Gray, said recent rain could provide some quick moisture to dry regions, but "short-term relief does not necessarily wipe out the level of drought impacts that we have sustained in the fall."

"Think of today as you received your paycheck: 'Boy, we've got a lot of money,'" she said. "But in the background, there's a bunch of credit card debt."

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The NOAA Climate Prediction Center's seasonal drought outlook says that the drought is expected to clear from Maine's coastal communities, as well as much of New England, by the end of June.

New England has seen near-normal levels of precipitation so far, with more rain expected through the end of the month, forecast author Brad Pugh wrote. Cooler temperatures may also help moisture absorb into the soil, he said.

But forecast confidence was low for the Northeast, Pugh said. The outlook, which was released Thursday, will be updated at the end of the month and more closely examine April precipitation trends, he said.

"We are going to be reliant on a wet spring, some pretty decent spring showers," Jamison said. "To even get to normal, we've got to hope for a fairly wet spring."

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A DRY WINTER

Part of the reason for Maine's ongoing drought has been the cycle created by an unusually dry January, Jamison said.

Typically, Maine gets a thick layer of snow that insulates the ground. But this year, rapid oscillations between highs and lows left much of the ground bare, allowing the frost to penetrate deep into the ground. A deeper frost, in turn, prevents melting snow from being absorbed into the hard soil, leading to runoff, said Richard Tinker, a meteorologist at the Climate Prediction Center.

"If you get a sudden increase in temperature, it will melt that snow, but it will not be able to penetrate the ground," Tinker said. "When you get these warm, wet systems in the middle of the winter ... it just doesn't do as much as you might think it would."

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Tinker said that oscillation is most often a problem in higher elevation regions of the country out West, but it can happen in the Northeast as well.

The ground frost was thicker this year than it has been in around a decade, Jamison said. The rapid fluctuations between above- and below-freezing temperatures created "an idealized setup for deep frost depth," she said.

"Normally you have the snow to insulate," Jamison said. "That floor of concrete is a lot thicker than it's been."

A recent warm spell also meant that the snow began melting about two weeks earlier than usual  while the deep frost was just beginning to soften  which compounded runoff issues.

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"If the snow melts and runs off before the ground thaws, we are not able to capture as much of that as we would like," she said.

Meanwhile, snow depth and the overall amount of water stored in the snowpack this winter lags typical levels.

She cautioned that, even if spring rain alleviates drought conditions in the next few weeks, there may not be enough moisture in the soil to last through the dry months of summer.

"We're going to have to see how we are when we start to green up," Jamison said. "That soil moisture can get depleted fairly quickly."

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Ramsey County will hire 80 full-time employees to tackle significant backlogs officials say affect access to Medicaid-funded services.

Currently, county residents requesting initial MnCHOICES assessments with the countys Aging and Disability Services and MnCHOICES Division, which determine eligibility for home and community-based services for the elderly and people with disabilities, can expect wait times of up to nearly eight months, according to the county.

At the same time, the need for such assessments and services has increased, with state Department of Human Services changes put in place in 2024 also increasing workloads, according to county officials. State statute requires that a consultation must be completed within 20 working days of the request, with reassessments required annually.

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As of March 4, 1,947 residents were awaiting an initial assessment.

The county board unanimously approved the hiring of the additional employees at their board meeting earlier this week.

Increase in assessments for services

From 2017 to 2023, the county saw a 49% increase in the number of reassessments and a 29% increase in initial assessments needed by residents for such services, with the department completing more than 17,300 initial assessments and reassessments in 2023.

In that same time frame, there has been an 8% increase in the number of county residents aged 65 and older and an 18.7% increase in the number of residents under the age of 65 with a disability. From 2017 to 2024, case management went from 8,422 people to approximately 12,644 in 2024.

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Meanwhile, the division has lost 28 full-time MnCHOICES employees since 2018 due to state cost shifts and budgetary constraints.

Changes by the DHS, such as how annual reassessments can be completed, also increased the workload by approximately 1,000 reassessments annually. And, since the pandemic, there has been an increase in requests for assessments by about 5% each year since 2023.

All of this combined together has pushed us into a state of crisis. Current need for services in our area far exceeds staffing capacity, and this has resulted in wait times for residents, said Katy Molinare, who leads the Aging & Disability Services and MnCHOICES Division, during a presentation to the board of commissioners on March 11.

The cost

The total cost of an additional 80 employees will come to around $6 million for 2025, though the county expects revenue from state and federal sources to offset around 82% of that. One-time startup costs of around $1 million for onboarding of those employees would not be eligible for that revenue, but are expected to be funded through the County Managers Office and the Health and Wellness Service Teams 2025 budget.

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Ongoing costs will be included in the 2026-27 operating budget, according to officials.

Need for these services isnt only increasing in Ramsey County, but statewide as well, officials said. Hennepin, Dakota and Anoka counties have all added employees to meet demand.

The 80 employees for Ramsey will include 61 assessors, 5 case managers, 1 social worker, 9 support staff, and 4 supervisors. County officials expect current backlogs to be resolved by mid-2026.

What to do if you are impacted

The county works with providers and individuals affected by backlogs in order to prioritize those at risk of service loss, said Sophia Thompson, director of the countys Social Services Department. In such cases providers may decide to continue services while assessments and waivers are set up or the county may be asked to cover the cost during a gap in service.

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The Social Services Department had a 2023 budget of $117.8 million and 683 full-time positions. MnCHOICES is the biggest unit in the ADS-MnCHOICES division, with about 146 staff.

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Residents are waiting too long for an assessment, and we want to serve them more timely and make sure theyre getting the services that they need. And thats why its so important to have these additional positions to help us to do that, Molinare said.

Residents currently receiving services can reach out to their case manager with any questions or concerns.

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Those waiting for an initial assessment or needing to request an assessment can reach out to the MnCHOICES intake team at 651-266-4500 or submit an online referral form at ramseycounty.us/residents/assistance-support/assistance/seniors/mnchoices-intake-assessment/mnchoices-referral-form.

The intake team can also be reached at RCMNChoices.Intake@co.ramsey.mn.us.
NEW YORK (PIX11)  Mayor Eric Adams has appointed Randy Mastro to be New York Citys new first deputy mayor.

Last year, Adams nominated Mastro to serve as the citys top lawyer. Many members of the New York City Council openly opposed his nomination.

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In his confirmation hearing, New York City Council members grilled Mastro for hours and he ultimately withdrew his nomination.

Mastro works as a prominent attorney who at the time had multiple active cases against the city. He was also a deputy mayor before for Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

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Mastro spoke with PIX11s Dan Mannarino in his first sit-down interview since Adams named him as his first deputy mayor.

Watch the video player for the full interview.

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Three people face felony charges in connection with violent incidents targeting Tesla cars. The acts are believed to be politically motivated retaliation against Teslas CEO, Elon Musk.

We asked Professor Fred Hoffman if he considers the crimes domestic terrorism. One things for sure, the violence has some Tesla owners fearing theyll be targeted next.

Spring is here and so is PennDOT construction season in NWPA

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In Oregon, South Carolina and Colorado, Tesla cars, a dealership, and charging stations were set ablaze with Molotov cocktails.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi called this a wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties. The chair of the Intelligence Studies Department at Mercyhurst University agreed.

I would categorize it as terrorism, most lawyers would categorize as terrorism. Because theres a political rationale behind why they want to do it. Theyre attacking a symbol because of their political frustration with the person associated with it, Elon Musk, Hoffman said.

There have been so many incidents of threats and vandalism that some Tesla owners said theyre afraid to have their vehicles at charging stations and public places where they might be targeted.

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Local ski resorts wrap up most successful season in years

Erie native John Williams bought his first Tesla back in 2017. From the beginning, he encountered strangers with aggressive reactions.

You get trucks that pull up beside you and push up too close to you or they turn on their smoke generators just to make a statement I guess; unappreciated statement, he said.

Now Williams has real concerns about the possibility of politically motivated vandalism.

Musk has become a very political figure and it angers a lot of people on both sides, he said. But as a result, Im not entirely comfortable all the time leaving my car anywhere and it does affect my thoughts in that regard.

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March marks the return of busy season for Erie bike shop

The three people arrested face felony charges that carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

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ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR)  March is Red Cross Month, first proclaimed by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1943, and followed by every president after. The Southwest Virginia chapter of the Red Cross is grateful for the cities and counties in the valley that have proclaimed this month as Red Cross Month.

These proclamations from Roanoke city, county, and Salem, all acknowledge the importance of the organization and raise awareness for its mission. The executive director of Southwest Virginias local chapter says the best way to support the Red Cross is to understand what it does: which is to provide relief and support for those who have experienced disasters and promote preparedness and safety skills.

National Wear Red Day; sign up to participate in Lynchburg Heart Walk

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We see some things on the news, but were there 24/7, not just during the disasters. Were there for four service members. Were there for Red Cross training, said Jackie Grant, the executive director of the Southwest Virginia chapter of the Red Cross, Theres so many components of the American Red Cross that help the community, that its just nice to have some recognition in that month of March. But also about recognizing the volunteers because those are the folks that are really doing the work on the ground.

The Red Crosss workforce is 90% volunteers, and its always looking for more. You can sign up to volunteer, give blood, take a CPR class, or donate here.

As we get closer to those summer months, Grant says giving blood now is crucial, especially since the Red Cross supplies forty percent of the blood in the country.

A special promotion the Red Cross is giving this month, is anyone who donates blood will get a free A1C test to measure your average blood sugar.

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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET)  With House Republicans proposed budget sparking fear of potential cuts to programs like Medicare and Medicaid, healthcare is top of mind ahead of the 2026 Midterms.

When it comes to healthcare, Republicans are on the defensive; Democratics on the offensive.

No Democratic  at least yet  has officially declared they will challenge Congressman David Valadao in 2026.

Party leaders told 17 News only time will tell.

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Another political deja vu: Rep. David Valadao, Rudy Salas file paperwork to run for Congress in 2026

This is a very dire situation, said Asm. Dr. Jasmeet Bains, Democratic lawmaker from Delano.

Bains was one of many Kern Democratics voicing concern and anger at a Thursday night townhall in Bakersfields International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 428 union hall.

Joined by state and Kern County leaders like Bains, as well as California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks and Los Angeles Congressman Jimmy Gomez and Assemblywoman, attendees shared woes that as a result of House Republicans budget blueprint, federal assistance programs like Medicare and Medicaid could be cut.

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That proposal was approved in February.

Asm. Dr. Bains has also been floated as a CD-22 candidate for 2026.



When asked if shed consider, Bains responded in a statement, I really hope I dont have to step into the race  I am 100% focused on standing up for Kern County and delivering for my community.

Attendees also took issue with the fact that GOP Congressman David Valadao  one of two Kern County representatives  voted for it.

Ive been vocal, Ive been on the House floor, even the president of the United States has put out on his own website and publicly made statements that no one is looking to touch Medicaid, the representative told 17 News in a Friday afternoon phone call, defending his vote.

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Valadao has said he will not support a final budget bill including such cuts and was also one of eight House Republicans who signed a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson citing concerns over cuts to Medicaid, food stamp programs and more.

The emphasis for Democrats has been on unseating the five-time representative of this competitive swing district.

Turn this seat from red to blue in 2026, said CADEM Chair Rusty Hicks.

CD-22 is majority Latino and leans Democratic, yet Valadao has won reelection time and time again.

Two elections in a row, Valadao beat the local, state and national Democrats candidate of choice  former California Assemblymember Rudy Salas.

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17 News Jenny Huh: CD-22 is a seat you have ran for twice. Whats it looking like for 2026?

Rudy Salas: I have a lot of folks that are out there like, Rudy, if people just go out and vote, you know Rudy, you have the support, its just people got to go out and vote.

17 News Jenny Huh: Rudy, youre not ruling out a 2026 run?

Rudy Salas: Oh, no.

According to the Federal Election Commission, so far, only Valadao and Salas have filed their statement of candidacy  an intention to run in 2026.

Its not yet clear if Democratics will once again stand behind Salas.

Well, theres a lot of talent in this community, and I know theres plenty of time between now and a primary in June of 2026 [to choose our candidate], said Chair Hicks.

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He added,  We dont have to do too much [to win]. In many ways he and they, the Republicans, are doing plenty.

17 News Jenny Huh: Do you feel threatened by these townhalls and the fact that Democrats are already gearing up for 2026 using the issue of healthcare?

Rep. David Valadao: No Ive got more important things to worry about than an election thats almost two years away.

Flipping seats from red to blue is part of a nationwide movement  Democratic lawmakers are meeting with constituents in competitive congressional seats, discussing potential cuts to healthcare.

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To his Bakersfield crowd, L.A. Rep. Jimmy Gomez said, We have to fight it in Congress, we have to fight it in the courts, we have to fight it in the streets, and we have to fight it every single day.

Valadao also criticized Democrats recent usage of healthcare as political rhetoric.

Its sad that a fellow congressman who should be focused on taking care of his constituents is taking time out of his schedule to play in political rallies, Valadao commented.

There will be another Democratic townhall in Bakersfield Sunday morning, led by Santa Clara Congressman Ro Khanna at the Martin Luther King Jr. Park Community Center.

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The focus, again flipping CD-22 and other competitive congressional seats in 2026.

Of Khanna specifically, Valadao said, I imagine he probably wants to run for governor or president or something, and so this all plays a role in it. But, its not helpful, and its obviously not going to be helpful in finding a way to work together to solve problems for my constituents or his.

During the roughly seven-minute interview, Valadao also addressed the notion that healthcare is his Achilles heel.

Political analysts and strategists have said Valadaos voting to repeal and replace Obamacare in 2018 may have resulted in his reelection loss against Democratic challenger TJ Cox.

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That was the one reelection bid thus far Valadao lost.

On that point, Valadao noted that historically, the party in power loses seats in Congress. At the time, President Donald Trump was halfway through his first term.

The congressman also stated that various factors  such as the Democratic registration being larger in that cycle  affect a campaign and that he doesnt agree healthcare led to his brief 2018 exit.

Democrats have horrible numbers right now, and theyre struggling with their base, Valadao said, adding that Americans arent pleased with the status quo or what President Joe Bidens Administration left behind.



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COURTESY PHOTO State Rep. Gene Ward (R, Hawaii Kai-Kalama Valley ).

1 /2 COURTESY PHOTO State Rep. Gene Ward (R, Hawaii Kai-Kalama Valley ).

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Rep. Gene Wards seat inside the House chambers is seen empty, at right, as Rep. Diamond Garcia speaks during sessions, today, in Honolulu. Ward has retired after 27 years due to health issues.

2 /2 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Rep. Gene Wards seat inside the House chambers is seen empty, at right, as Rep. Diamond Garcia speaks during sessions, today, in Honolulu. Ward has retired after 27 years due to health issues.

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COURTESY PHOTO State Rep. Gene Ward (R, Hawaii Kai-Kalama Valley ).

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Rep. Gene Wards seat inside the House chambers is seen empty, at right, as Rep. Diamond Garcia speaks during sessions, today, in Honolulu. Ward has retired after 27 years due to health issues.

State Rep. Gene Ward (R, Hawaii Kai-Kalama Valley ) announced his retirement this morning, effective March 31, due to health reasons.

As some of you are already aware, over the past few months I have experienced several health setbacks including anemia and sciatica. Recently, I was diagnosed with pneumonia. The recovery from various health issues has been a slow and painful process. Despite the many efforts of medical professionals, my recovery has been much slower and more painful in the last few weeks. In light of the recent pneumonia diagnosis, I have found myself at a difficult crossroad to decide my future as a member of the Hawaii State Legislature,  Ward said in a statement.

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Ward, 82, has served Hawaii House District 18 for nearly 27 years.

It has been the utmost privilege to serve the people of Hawaii Kai, Kalama Valley, and Portlock. The Peoples Office will continue to be open for business as the mouthpiece to express community concerns in the Hawaii State Legislature,  Ward added.

Gov. Josh Green expressed gratitude for Wards service in a statement.

I want to extend my heartfelt wishes for his recovery from the health issues he cited. Gene has always been a fighter, and I know he will approach this chapter with the same strength and determination he has shown throughout his career. Jaime and I join those whose lives he has touched in keeping Gene and his family in our thoughts. We are grateful for his service and know he has certainly earned this time to focus on his well-being,  Green said.

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The Republican Party chair has 30 days, beginning April 1, to submit three names to Gov. Green, who will then have 60 days to appoint Wards successor.

Wards office staff will remain in place until a replacement is appointed, ensuring continued support for the district.

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People look to insurance companies for help after environmental disasters, but a report has shown how the industry's investments might contribute to these catastrophes.

What's happening?

Capital & Main published an article exploring the link between insurance companies and Big Oil. According to the piece, the insurance industry dedicates 4.4% of its investment portfolio to dirty fuel companies.

This investment strategy works against the insurance industry. While it profits from dirty fuel and oil companies' premiums, it loses money covering homes impacted by unstable climate conditions.

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According to the report, leading insurance companies collected $11.3 billion in premiums from Big Oil companies, but they reported $10.6 billion in losses caused by climate change.

Specifically, many insurers lost money by paying out policies on homes ravaged by the Los Angeles wildfires. However, they fund the same companies accelerating the rate of rising global temperatures and contributing to the frequency and severity of extreme weather events like wildfires.

How do these investments hurt homeowners?

Significant losses due to climate catastrophes have led insurers to halt new policies. Some have declared they will not offer new policies in high-risk flood and fire areas. They're also refusing to renew coverage for policyholders in these regions.

Most home loans require homeowners insurance. People unable to get a home insurance policy will be unable to receive a mortgage. Economists worry this could lead to a mortgage crisis.

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A study by Brookings Institution noted, "Rising premiums and limited availability of insurance can have significant ripple effects across housing markets, reducing demand (and housing values) for homes in high-risk areas."

Insure Our Future, a global campaign to hold the insurance industry accountable for its role in the climate crisis, warned, "Insurers' self-reinforcing cycle of driving climate risks higher and restricting coverage for those risks is threatening public interest and financial stability."

U.S. property values, especially in climate-affected areas, could plummet. This would severely hurt the American economy, leading to, as the Senate Budget Committee put it, "[something] similar to what occurred during the 2007-2009 mortgage meltdown and ensuing global financial crisis."

How can people in high-risk areas get home insurance?

The glaring solution is for insurance companies to cease investing in oil and dirty fuels. Organizations like Insure Our Future criticize insurance companies for supporting Big Oil. But other solutions have also been explored.

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States like California initiated insurer-of-last-resort programs. These offer coverage to those being rejected by private insurers. However, the programs are overwhelmed and underfunded.

Senator Josh Becker and the Nature Conservancy worked on a bill requiring insurers to account for risk mitigation efforts. But, according to Jones, "The insurance industry killed it  through lobbying and donations to lawmakers."

Without the industry's cooperation, homeowners and the housing industry continue to be at great risk.

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WASHINGTON  For months, Republican lawmakers have been faced with frustrated constituents airing concerns about the Trump administration and DOGE cuts. Now, Democrats are starting to feel the brunt of it.

Democrats huddled last week before the recess period to strategize messaging and how to target their Republican counterparts as they adapt to the everchanging political environment under President Donald Trump. Democratic lawmakers across the country held town halls, expecting to tear into their GOP counterparts over budget cuts and workforce reductions.

Instead, they were faced with a similar anger  and a growing frustration that Democrats arent doing enough to fight back against the Trump administration.

What are constituents saying

Utah Reps. Celeste Maloy and Mike Kennedy were among the latest to face angry voters at a town hall this week, with the pair getting drowned out during their hourlong event on Thursday.

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Nearly the entire room raised their hand to indicate they were there to express frustration with the Trump administration and to demand that Congress do more to be a check on Trump over his disregard for court rulings, his unprecedented deportation methods and his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Despite the pushback, Maloy told the Deseret News that airing those concerns is a crucial part of democracy and that she want(s) to have more town halls with the hope that Utahns are willing as well.

Our country faces big challenges including $36 trillion national debt and an administrative state lacking accountability, Maloy said in a statement. Solving big challenges requires tough conversations and tough choices. Thats why holding town halls is so important. Listening is the first step towards having a meaningful conversation.

Democrats face the music

Democratic groups last week launched a nationwide blitz known as The Peoples Town Halls to visit congressional districts of vulnerable Republican lawmakers, accusing them of hiding from their constituents amid growing criticism.

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The idea comes after House GOP leaders advised party members earlier this month to hold events virtually rather than in person to avoid protesters. Democrats planned to seize on that guidance by targeting Republicans on their home turf as well as by holding town hall meetings in their own blue districts.

What they didnt expect is that the same constituents who are concerned by the GOP agenda are also growing upset with Democrats for failing to put a stop to it.

That frustration came to a boiling point after last week when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and nine other Senate Democrats voted to advance Republicans government funding bill to avoid a shutdown. Several Democrats viewed the move as a surrender to Republicans, criticizing Schumer for not utilizing the partys only point of leverage, a filibuster, to sink the spending bill.

And now Democrats are dealing with the aftermath.

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Youre not fighting! one woman shouted at Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., during a town hall this week. We are suffering!

Schumer has done what I think is the most destructive thing that he could possibly do as Democratic leader, another constituent yelled to Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., at a separate town hall.

Its a reckoning that comes as Democrats are struggling to identify a leader of their party who can guide them on messaging and strategy. The last few weeks have left Democratic lawmakers at odds with one another but with a growing sense of urgency to get on the same page before the 2026 midterm election cycle begins in earnest.

Republicans dont have it easier

While Democrats attempt to straighten out their partys priorities, Republicans dont necessarily have it easy despite holding control of Washington.

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GOP town halls this week were also flooded with constituents interrupting lawmakers remarks and demanding action to rein in DOGE and the Trump administration. Maloy and Kennedy experienced that treatment during their joint town hall on Thursday, and several other Republicans engaged in tense exchanges with their constituents.

Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., faced bouts of booing and heckling during a town hall this week, during which the Wyoming Republican sought to downplay fears about the unfettered access Musk seems to have with the Trump administration.

Its so bizarre to me how obsessed you are with the federal government, Hageman told attendees. You guys are going to have a heart attack if you dont calm down. Im sorry, your hysteria is just really over the top.

Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., also held his first in-person town hall this week, only to be met with boos and yells throughout his remarks for his stances on Musk, DOGE, Trumps tariff threats, negotiations on the Ukraine-Russia war and more.

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At one point, Flood tried to speak over the yells as he sought to calm down the crowd.

Lets remain calm, lets remain calm, lets remain calm, and let me remind you, if youre gonna ask me a question, let me answer the question, Flood said. If youre gonna ask me a question, you have to let me answer the question.

I know that some of you in this room are angry, I know that some of you in this room are emotional, and I know that some of you in this room are concerned. I also know there are people in this room that feel very strongly in the opposite direction, that things are going in the right direction, Flood added later on in the event. I need an opportunity to tell you or give you an answer, and then you can ultimately decide if youre pleased with that or not.
ACWA Power, the global leader in water desalination, energy transition, and a pioneering force in green hydrogen, has made a powerful statement in the renewable energy sector with its recent announcement of a monumental 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC). This agreement, which outlines the development of a 2 GW wind farm in Egypt, marks a new milestone in the companys long-term strategy and could reshape the energy landscape in both Egypt and Africa.

The $2.3 billion investment is poised to be the largest wind farm in Egypt, eclipsing ACWA Powers existing 1.1 GW Suez Wind Farm. But the significance of the project stretches far beyond mere numbers. When completed, it will become the largest single-asset Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Egypt, reinforcing ACWA Powers dominance as the largest renewable energy developer in the country and on the African continent. With a total investment of $8.8 billion and a combined gross capacity of 4.8 GW across contracted projects, ACWA Power is not only a key player in Egypts energy market but is also helping drive the larger global transition to renewables.

The wind farm, expected to reach Financial Close in 2026, is expected to play a crucial role in Egypts ambitious renewable energy goals. The country has committed to generating 42% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, a target that aligns with Egypts long-term environmental and sustainability objectives. ACWA Powers 2 GW project will be an essential contributor to these goals, marking a pivotal step toward reducing the country's dependence on fossil fuels.

Moreover, the environmental implications of the project are substantial. With an expected reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by over 3.5 million tonnes annually, the wind farm will provide a critical tool in Egypts fight against climate change. This reduction will be a significant contribution to Egypts efforts to meet international climate commitments, particularly as the country positions itself as a regional leader in renewable energy.

The wind farms scale and scope highlight ACWA Powers broader strategy to consolidate its position as a leader in the global renewable energy transition. With its vast investments in wind, solar, and water desalination projects, the company is making an indelible mark on the renewable energy landscape. This new wind farm in Egypt exemplifies ACWA Powers commitment to green technologies and climate-conscious solutions.

However, the project is also a strategic move in the broader context of Egypts energy policy. By signing this agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, ACWA Power is contributing to a broader narrative of energy diversification and sustainability that is vital for Egypts future. The country has long been dependent on conventional power sources, but with the rising demand for cleaner energy, the push towards renewable sources is both an economic and environmental necessity.

The project also underscores Egypts growing appeal as a renewable energy hub in Africa. With its vast landmass, favorable wind conditions, and government-backed policies to attract foreign investments, Egypt has positioned itself as a key player in the energy transition on the continent. This new wind farm will not only meet domestic energy needs but also position Egypt as a leader in the export of renewable energy to neighboring countries.

In conclusion, ACWA Powers 2 GW wind project in Egypt is much more than just another renewable energy investment. It is a statement of intent in the global transition to cleaner energy, a significant leap forward in Egypts renewable energy ambitions, and a crucial contribution to the countrys climate change mitigation strategy. As the world continues to grapple with the urgent need for sustainable solutions, projects like this will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of energy in Africa and beyond.
Invasive species wreak havoc on local ecosystems, destroying entire swaths of land and threatening biodiversity. As a result, removing these species is necessary for preserving native plants and wildlife.

New research, however, has revealed another benefit of removing invasive species. Per a report by Pest Control Technology, a team of scientists recently published a study highlighting how invasive species removal improves climate resilience.

A group of scientists from Island Conservation, Arizona State University's Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, the University of Maryland's Department of Geosciences, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, FLINTpro and terraPulse published a study in Environmental Research Letters reviewing the impact of invasive species removal on the climate crisis.

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Their findings not only reinforce that invasive species removal combats biodiversity loss but also reveal how it impacts climate resilience. By removing invasive species, "globally unique carbon stocks" are restored, which serves as an "effective nature-based solution to combat climate change."

The scientists analyzed invasive mammal intervention through a climate-driven lens rather than a biodiversity perspective. They did this by examining tree cover, forest extreme, forest carbon, and vegetation productivity spanning 1,078 islands in 17 different ecoregions. They reviewed 36 years' worth of satellite images from NASA Earth observation to identify trends where invasive mammal intervention was used.

"Islands are unique ecosystems that offer genuine opportunities to improve climate resilience, as well as support broader climate goals," Head of APAC Business Development at FLINTpro Geoff Roberts told PCT. "Through the partnership between researchers, remote sensing experts, and modeling experts, we were able to generate unique insights into changes in forest carbon across a geographically and ecologically diverse set of islands.

On a large scale, invasive species can destroy entire populations and food chains. However, on a small scale, they can also be a headache for homeowners. In addition to being time-consuming, removing invasive species from your yard can be expensive. A simple way to avoid this, though, is by growing native plants.

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Since native plants have adapted to the local ecosystem, they conserve water and require little reliance on fertilizers and pesticides. As a result, rewilding your yard will save you time and money on lawn maintenance.

The new research is not only exciting for conservation but also for the planet as a whole. By protecting ecosystems from invasive species, scientists can help combat rising global temperatures.

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A lucky group of scientists were able to explore a never-before-seen part of the Antarctic after an ice shelf broke, revealing newly exposed seafloor and a previously inaccessible ecosystem hundreds of meters beneath the surface.

A team from the Schmidt Ocean Institute were aboard the "R/V Falkor (too)" research vessel in January 2025 when a piece of ice the size of Chicago broke off from the George VI Ice Shelf, a floating glacier 57 miles away.

"This is unprecedented, to be able to get there so quickly," executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute Dr. Jyotika Virmani told CBS Saturday Morning. The institute is a philanthropic foundation that sponsors ocean exploration and science research.

Research Vessel Falkor (too) maneuvers around icebergs while conducting research in the Bellingshausen Sea off Antarctica. / Credit: Alex Ingle / Schmidt Ocean Institute

Dr. Patricia Esquete, the lead scientist aboard the vessel, said there was no debate about whether or not to go to the site.

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"We were like 'Oh my God, I cannot believe this is happening,'" Esquete said. "Everybody agreed that we had to go there."

In just a day, the vessel was able to arrive at the area. They lowered a submersible robot more than 1,000 meters underwater so that it could explore the area and livestream the region to the scientists.

Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) SuBastian is deployed for a dive near the Bellingshausen Sea off Antarctica.. / Credit: Alex Ingle / Schmidt Ocean Institute

Almost immediately, the researchers started seeing things that humans had never laid eyes on before.

"The first thing we saw was a huge sponge with a crab on it," Esquete said. "That's already quite amazing, because one question that we had is 'Will there be any life at all?'"

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Sponges grow very slowly  sometimes less than two centimeters a year. To get this big, the scientists say, the ecosystem has been thriving for a long time  possibly even centuries.

A large sponge, a cluster of anemones, and other life is seen nearly 230 meters deep at an area of the seabed that was very recently covered by the George VI Ice Shelf, a floating glacier in Antarctica. / Credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

The remotely operated vehicle explored the seafloor for eight days, the institute said. It also discovered large corals and more sponges, which were supporting species including icefish, giant sea spiders and octopi.

Esquete said that researchers are now studying how the ecosystem has been getting enough energy to function. Virmani suggested that ocean currents could be bringing nutrients to the area.

Since January, scientists have confirmed the existence of at least six new species, Virmani said, but there are "many more yet to be analyzed."

As creatures of interest are spotted on video screens, Maritza Castro and other researchers react with excitement in the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) Mission Control room on Research Vessel Falkor (too). / Credit: Alex Ingle / Schmidt Ocean Institute

Because Schmidt Ocean Institute makes all of its research, data and livestreams open access, the information is available for other scientists to explore and analyze.

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The team's research into the new ecosystem isn't remotely finished, Esquete said. They plan to return to the area in 2028.

"The Antarctic is changing rapidly," Esquete said. "And in order to understand what was going to happen, we really need to come back and keep studying and keep trying to learn and understand what was driving that ecosystem under the ice shelf."

King crabs interact on the seafloor in the Bellingshausen Sea off Antarctica, in an area where the shelf break and slope are cut by several underwater gullies. / Credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

Saturday Sessions: Tune-Yards perform "Heartbreak"

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How an iconic NYC restaurant is making a comeback
A community in Colorado was shocked after receiving an announcement about toxic, cancer-causing chemicals in the drinking water.

What's happening?

When Renee Hoffman, a resident of the Sleepy Bear Mobile Home Park just outside of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, received a notice telling her that the park's well water was contaminated with PFAS, "I almost threw it out," she told KUNC, an NPR affiliate. "But I'm glad I opened it because I wouldn't have heard of it any other way."

Now, she and her family have stopped using the water completely as the park and local officials try to find a cost-effective solution to deliver the community safe drinking water.

Why are PFAS concerning?

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a group of nearly 15,000 synthetic chemicals used in products like nonstick cookware, water-resistant clothing, fire-fighting foams, and other everyday household products. Sometimes referred to as "forever chemicals," PFAS are notoriously difficult to break down in the environment.

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A number of studies have looked at PFAS in water, with startling results. For instance, one group of researchers found that more than 20% of the U.S. population may rely on groundwater with detectable PFAS levels before treatment. Plus, a number of foods, like white rice, coffee, and eggs, also contain concerning levels of PFAS.

Exposure to these chemicals has been linked to a number of long-term health risks, including complications during pregnancy, increased risk of some cancers, and reduced ability of the body's immune system to fight infections.

"Based on the latest science, there really is no safe level in drinking water," Zach Schafer, director for policy at the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water, told KUNC.

What's being done about PFAS?

KUNC reported on the EPA's new drinking water standards, which limit two common PFAS  PFOA and PFOS  to less than 4 parts per trillion. The agency is also requiring all water systems across the U.S. to start monitoring PFAS by 2027, but some states, like Colorado, are ahead of the curve. Colorado offers a free, voluntary testing program, and about two-thirds of the state's water utilities have opted in, according to KUNC. This program has already helped identify 29 PFAS-contaminated water systems.

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Though nicknamed "forever chemicals," scientists have recently discovered some innovative ways to help remove PFAS from water. University of Illinois scientists have discovered a way to remove the full spectrum of PFAS in a single process. Other researchers, like a team at the University of Rochester, are doing similar work.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry asserts that most people in the U.S. have been exposed to PFAS and have them in their blood, but there are still things you can do to reduce your exposure. You can invest in a water filtration system that is certified to remove these chemicals, for example. You can also buy from brands that do not contain PFAS and avoid nonstick cookware and water- and stain-resistant fabrics.

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As wildfires roared into southwest Stillwater March 14, residents in the Nottingham Addition, those in the original evacuation zone, were unaware of the real danger.

The wildfire burned 25 homes in Nottingham, according to Payne County assessors, a number representing half the neighborhood. The path the fires took seemed almost random, with one neighbor saying it looked like someone used a blowtorch channeled in one direction.

Neighbors didnt live close together, but they did watch out for each other. Often, homes are called by their previous owners, such as the Terrill house or the Tree house.

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That Friday evening, residents didnt receive fire alerts on their phones and some didnt know their homes burned until later. The neighborhood Facebook page, which had previously had few posts, exploded with neighbors wanting information.

Live on screen

Stillwater author Lisa Bonge and her family had just unloaded $300 worth of groceries into their kitchen when they saw the flames in the field 200 yards behind their home. She was the first one in the neighborhood to call 911 after smelling smoke.

Even after grabbing their six dogs, lockbox and laptops and fleeing, Bonge told the News Press she still didnt realize how serious it was. Her family was glued to their phones and the TV, waiting for any word.

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Then News 9 storm chasers Val and Amy Castor drove into their neighborhood and seemingly randomly pulled into their driveway past their mailbox, and the family knew.

Val Castor's coverage of Bonge's home

News 9 storm chasers Val and Amy Castor happened to film Lisa Bonge's house while it was burning during a live broadcast March 14.

Flames still burned, and they could clearly see their house was gone. The Castors continued to focus their camera on the scene, waiting to go live for the 10:30 p.m. newscast.

Lisa said her entire book inventory of 200 books shed authored burned in the fires, along with many family mementos.

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A team of emergency responders arrived Wednesday to help residents sift through the ashes to salvage what they could. Among the items found, Lisa was able to recover her grandmas bronze baby shoe and a jewelry dish her son created.

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A team of emergency responders digs through the ashes to find family mementos from Lisa Bonges house after a wildfire swept through southwest Stillwater March 14.

On one of her trips to visit the spot where her home burned, she noticed several pages of a larger work called Full Dark, No Stars by her favorite author, Stephen King.

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Im framing this, Lisa said. The last paragraph is about a female author recovering from a traumatic experience.

Lisa said shes already writing notes about her experience  and when shes finished her current project and has had enough time to process her loss, will probably write a fiction story incorporating those memories.

His angel

watching over him

Dan Byrd lost his wife Joy Marie Valeriano Byrd, a physicians assistant at Oklahoma State University, about three years ago to cancer.

Before she passed, she worried about her golden retriever, Samson, and who would take care of him. Dan assured her he would.

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At her funeral, a pre-recorded song sung by Joy Marie spoke of being Dans and Samsons angel looking over you from heaven.

Byrd, who works for Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, wasnt at home at the time of the fire. His son, Brandon, was home and was the last resident in the neighborhood to be evacuated, but Samson wasnt with him. Firefighters told Brandon theyd leave the door open so Samson could evacuate on his own.

Dan Byrd_home

A view of Dan Byrd's home after the wildfires swept through southwest Stillwater on March 14.

Later, neighbors found the dog near the home, unharmed.

Samson

Dan Byrds dog, Samson, survived the wildfire that swept through southwest Stillwater March 14. He was later found by neighbors.

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There were no burn marks, he was breathing OK, his paws werent burned, Dan said. Its a miracle. Joy was his angel watching over him. The way my son described it, you couldnt breathe, you couldnt see  and heres Samson, walking around. He had to have some intervention from God and Joy in order to get through that.

Couple mourns

history, heirlooms lost

Kel Pickens, 75, and wife Carolyn West Meyer, 72, said theyve experienced waves of grief since losing their home to the wildfires, but even at this stage of life, theyre planning to rebuild.

Meyer and Pickens, both educators, collaborated on multiple projects, including educational albums, cassettes, books and operettas that two educational companies published and distributed widely in the 1980s and 1990s.

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They are well known for their childrens radio show, KIDS Radio Show, which aired on a local FM station for 15 years. The couple also produced a television show that featured the Stillwater Animal Welfare and Humane Society, helping animals find their forever homes.

All of their original recordings  plus their collection of vinyls, CDs and cassettes  were lost to the fire, not to mention Pickens 1975 911S black Porsche.

Kel Pickens' Porsche.jpg

What's left of Kel Pickens' 1975 911S black Porsche is seen in the ashes in his garage.

Seeing their home burning was like a punch to the face, Pickens said, adding that it looked like a scene from Hiroshima, Japan during World War II.

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With the help of a police officer, Meyer, who is also an author, was able to grab the couples laptops, flash drives, a folder with their trust information and a stack of journals from which shes written multiple books about the twos beloved dogs and their travels together as a family. They also saved their Australian Shepherd, Beau and their cat, Mandy.

You can feel pretty good and be laughing about something you think about, but then it goes down into a valley from that peak, and you get depressed again, Meyer said.

Pickens compared it to remembering a lost one after a funeral.

Then you start realizing, What Im going through is kind of PTSD in a way, Pickens said.

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Carolyn West Meyer surveys damage to her and her husband, Kel Pickens, home after wildfires swept through southwest Stillwater on March 14.

He said using humor  even dark humor  has helped. They joked that former arguments over his hoarding and her refusal to refurnish the living room are no longer issues for them. Its like starting over as newlyweds.

Some of the families refused offers for GoFundMe pages, opting instead to let others who have less receive support. Most, if not all, have good insurance  unlike some across Stillwater.

Each family told the News Press they plan to rebuild and are deciding where they will live in the meantime.

You start planning for the future, and that helps you now, Pickens said.

Were going to rise from the ashes, Meyer said.

Like a phoenix, Pickens added.
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS)  Residents packed a lecture hall at Southern University Metro Center in downtown Shreveport for a town hall hosted by Congressman Cleo Fields.

Fields represents Louisianas Sixth Congressional District and was in Shreveport in late February to speak to constituents. Friday nights town hall addressed cuts to the federal workforce.

It is estimated that around 100,000 federal workers have either accepted a proposed buyout or were fired, and many of the firings are being challenged in federal courts. Fields said he returned to hear from his constituents to learn what is happening in the district and improve elected leaders.

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Youve got a guy who has not been confirmed by the Senate just walking into offices telling people to go home. And then getting on stage with a chainsaw to brag about how he sent a veteran home today, Fields said. Its just unconscionable; this is not the way our federal government should be working.

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Fields said the Supreme Court will ultimately decide the constitutionality of President Donald Trump and Elon Musks actions, which have not sought congressional approval, are legal within the scope of presidential authority.

These are real people, real families that are being affected by these draconian moves, Fields said.

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Fields said the Congress has to control the foolish things happening in the country and is hopeful that the unrest and knee-jerk decision-making at the executive level will cease.

On Monday, March 24, the United States Supreme Court will hear the case questioning the legality of Fields district, which was created as the states majority-minority district after the 2020 U.S. Census. Several white residents of Louisiana have sued the state, claiming the Louisiana Legislature relied too much on race in determining the scope of the district, calling it a gerrymandered district. Fields said he plans to be there for the hearing.

The court is going to have an opportunity to hear both sides, and they will learn that the Louisiana Legislature did the right thing. They complied with all principles of redistricting. The district looks like it looks not solely because of race but because of politics.

Fields said his district does not look much different from any other district. He described the ever-evolving districts across the state and their odd shapes, or even the fact that some districts were moved from one area to another to support political interests.

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The Supreme Court is not expecting the Louisiana Legislature to take the politics out of politics, Fields said. He feels confident that when the justices hear the arguments, they will determine that race was not the main factor in the districts outcome.

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Mayor Mike Thoms held a news conference Friday about a controversial proposed development near the Milan Bottoms wetlands area.

NTI Dispensary rendering (City of Rock Island)

The city has created a task force to help maintain conservation for the site. Meanwhile, the city wants to expand an already-existing TIF  Tax Increment Financing  district to include more property where the dispensary and truck stop are proposed.

The mayor was pretty explicit in saying that were going to proceed with this development, but at the same time, also proceed with trying to create a permanent conservation easement on the wetland behind the site, said Jon Duyvejonck, a member of the Sierra Club Eagle View Group. So we kind of agree to disagree. So there are still environmental steps to be taken to approve this project.

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The Rock Island City Council will vote to approve the easement on Monday. One part of the compromise would be maintain a tree line between the development and the wetlands to help block some of the light and noise.

We must strive to balance the citys need for economic development with the environment, environmental conservation, which I believe can be hand-in-hand, said Thoms. The city is committed to economic development while protecting our natural resources.

Thoms also announced that a groundbreaking for the project is planned for next month.

I think its kind of premature to do that, but then again, a lot of the groundbreakings Ive been a part of are just kind of a formal thing, said Duyvejonck.

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Duyvejonck says some activists plan to attend Mondays city council meeting to discuss holding off on plans for the TIF to make time for more environmental surveys.

What Mayor Thoms had to say

I want to acknowledge the Sierra Eagle Group, members of Nahant Marsh, Prairie Rivers Network, residents, and other members of the public who have attended our public meetings to voice their concern in opposition of this development and in support of bald eagles and other wildlife. We appreciate the wealth of experience offered by those who spoke out and the passion displayed for our environment.

In the spirit of an open and transparent government, I want to say that we HEAR you and we have LISTENED to you. In fact, myself and other city officials met on February 27th with the Sierra Eagle group and others so we could hear their concerns. We have heard the requests for a conservation easement that would prevent any future commercial development in the remaining 528 acres of wetlands.

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Thoms said he is forming a task force of conservationists, city representatives and residents who will provide input on the creation of a conservation easement and additionally, a Wetlands Protection Plan. among them will be John Duyvejonck and Nina Struss.

To get the ball rolling right away, aldermen will vote to approve a resolution at Mondays city council meeting directing city staff to start the process of creating a conservation easement. The process should be completed within six months and the creation of a Wetlands Protection Plan should be completed within 12 months.

The City of Rock Island has had a longtime partnership with the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, Thoms said. We work closely with MRCTI and I, as mayor, have personally lobbied on their behalf in Washington, D.C. One of the missions of Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative is to negate flooding not by building flood walls, but through wetlands conservation and management. This aligns with our vision of a Wetlands Protection Program.

Thoms mentioned a few key facts regarding the proposed development:

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The 10 acres being developed are not wetlands or in the floodplain.

The TIF (Tax Increment Finance) district is being expanded geographically to include the wetlands so that the city can invest some of the property taxes on preserving and improving the surrounding wetlands.

Approval of a conservation easement and Wetlands Protection Program means the wetlands will not be developed.

Weve mentioned improvements to the wetlands. This may include walkways for bird viewing and a kayak launch.

The developer plans to keep the tree line that borders the back portion of the property as a barrier between the facility and the wetlands/wooded area and construct a protective berm.

The truck stop is not so much a truck stop as it is a gas station with a few diesel pumps, EV charging stations and a mini mart.

The Natures Treatment cannabis dispensary and gas station will incorporate eco-friendly landscaping.

The City is in the process of selling the site to the developer.

The developer has to meet all state and federal regulations.

No federal funds are being used for the project.

The City has consulted with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and we will continue to consult with them going forward.

We must strive to balance the Citys need for economic development with environmental conservation, which I believe can go hand-in-hand, Thoms concluded. The city is committed to economic development while protecting our natural resources.

Project details from the community development director

Additionally, Miles Brainard, community development director, said there have been many questions from the public about the project.

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The city has organized this press conference to provide additional information about the proposed cannabis dispensary and gas station development across from Ballys Casino. There have been many questions from the public about this significant economic development project. There have also been concerns about how this project may affect the surrounding wetlands, he said.

The site of the proposed development and much of the surrounding wetlands were previously owned by the Riverstone Group. In 2022, Riverstone Group approached the City and offered to donate 538 acres of its land, Brainard said.

At that time, the city recognized that the ten-acre parcel across from the casino had potential for future commercial development. It is strategically located where Illinois Route 92 and Interstate 280 meet affording it very high traffic counts, he said. It is accessible from a controlled intersection shared with the casino. The casino would also benefit from neighboring business activity. Most importantly, the ten-acre parcel has a higher elevation than its surroundings. It is outside of the floodplain and is not a wetland. In contrast, the surrounding 528 acres does not have commercial development potential.

The City Council approved acquisition in December 2022 and a phase one environmental site assessment was conducted for the entire 538 acres. It concluded that there were no significant environmental issues, Brainard contginued. Still, the city knew that any development on that parcel had the potential to impact the surrounding wetlands and additional studies would be needed later.

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In early 2024, a developer working with Natures Treatment of Illinois (NTI) approached the City and expressed their interest in developing the ten-acre parcel. They proposed expanding their cannabis dispensary into Rock Island. The ten-acre parcel was attractive because they would be able to build a large dispensary that incorporated a consumption lounge with scenic views out onto the surrounding wetlands. Next to the dispensary, they proposed a gas station that would serve the many businesses to the south along Andalusia Road as well as travelers on the highway.

The city has been interested for a long time in having a cannabis dispensary. These businesses are known for their high sales tax revenue which would do a lot to improve the financial health of the city, Brainard said. Additionally, the many shipping and manufacturing businesses along the Andalusia Road corridor have expressed repeatedly their need for a gas station nearer to them. The combination of the two things on the 10-acre parcel aligned really well with the Citys development goals.

The Mayor and City Manager informed Milan about the proposal. The City Council then approved a letter of intent in August 2024, Brainard explained. As part of negotiations, the developer asked the City to build an access road, extend utilities, and help offset construction costs.

The adjacent tax increment financing (TIF) district used to assist with the development of the casino was identified as having funds that could be used to build the road and extend the utilities. Its geographic boundary, however, would need to be expanded to include the ten-acre parcel, he said. TIF funds cannot be used for new construction, so the City additionally decided to establish a new business development district (BDD) in the same area. Unlike TIFs which generate revenues from property taxes, BDDs generate revenues from sales taxes.

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In January 2025, the City Council approved a development agreement, Brainard said. A consultant then began work on the expansion of the existing TIF district and creation of the new BDD. The consultant was asked to include all the wetlands surrounding the ten-acre site so that some of the funds could be invested in a wetland management plan. Given the high projected revenue from the development, the city was confident that a lot of good work could be done to protect and invest in the wetlands.

Building on the previous environmental site assessment, the City undertook three additional studies focused on the ten-acre parcel. These included a more detailed and site-specific environmental assessment, a wetland delineation, as well as an evaluation of soil conditions. They all say the site generally suitable for commercial development.

As part of the process for expanding the TIF and creating the new BDD, the City has held a few public hearings. At these hearings, members of the public have expressed their concerns about the proposed development. Many of the comments have been about the possible harm additional noise and light may cause to wildlife, he said. At this time, the city does not have finalized site plans from the developer. However, the city has every expectation that the developer will take care to maintain the trees and other vegetation around the parcels periphery to act as a buffer to noise and light. There have also been comments suggesting that the City has intentions to encroach upon the wetlands or even develop them. That is not true. The wetlands are a valuable natural resource that the City wants to protect. This proposed development will help make that possible.

What is a TIF district?

A TIF is a tool municipalities can use to spur economic development in certain areas by designating them as eligible to use an increase in property tax revenue generated by new development within those areas to fund projects and improvements.

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ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO)  Takuji Sakiyama, who worked as head hibachi chef at Rockfords JMK Nippon Japanese restaurant for years, died Friday, a month after suffering a fall.

According to GoFundMe organizer Celeste Quillao, Sakiyama fell and hit his head on Tuesday, February 18th, crushing his spinal cord between the C6 and C7 vertebrae.

It is with deep deep sadness that we announce the passing of Takuji Sakiyama, who peacefully passed away today, surrounded by his beloved family. Takujis life touched the hearts of many, and his legacy of kindness, strength, and love will forever be remembered. Our hearts are broken, the restaurant said in a Facebook post on Friday, March 21st.

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JMK Nippon is a hibachi-style Japanese restaurant that has served Rockford for over 20 years, originally at Brynwood Square before moving into its current home at 2551 N. Perryville Road.

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NEW YORK (PIX11)  Primary day in New York City is just about three months away.

The incumbent candidate, Mayor Eric Adams, lost an endorsement he had last time around.

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New York State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn heads the Brooklyn Democratic Party. She is now backing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, despite being one of Adams most loyal supporters, including during his corruption trial.

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She joined PIX on Politics and explained why she endorsed Cuomo for New York City mayor over Adams.

Watch the video player for the full interview.

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The heart of a hero is no longer beating.

In July 2009, Judy Meikle, at age 57 and of Winnetka, Ill., received the heart of Benjamin Kopp, a 21-year-old Army Ranger corporal from Rosemount who died eight days after being shot during a combat operation in southern Afghanistan.

On March 10, Meikle died of colon cancer in Naples, Fla., shortly after learning she had the disease, Kopps mother, Jill Stephenson, said Friday. Meikle, who was 72, requested no obituary or service and had no surviving family.

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I cried harder than Ive cried in years, she said. It felt like Ben died all over again.

Through tears and prayers, she had a vision of her son greeting Meikle and the two of them finally meeting after 15 years and seven months, she said.

Meikles close friend gave Stephenson the news of her death, something she figured shed get someday. But it hit her and others harder than she imagined.

This is another layer of grief that I didnt see coming, she said.

Stephenson and Meikle shared a special bond and they kept in touch as much as they could, despite living in separate states. Stephenson sold her Rosemount house in 2015 and now lives in Oklahoma, near Tulsa. Meikle had split her time between homes in Naples and Evanston, Ill.

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She was very charismatic, Stephenson said, and quick to share with anyone that she had a strong Ranger heart.

In her continued grief over her sons death, she said, I still had this joy in my heart that Ben was still living in her. And, you know, theres something very special about the heart continuing on. And so then to learn that his heart was no longer beating really changes the narrative of the story.

A new kind of heroism

That story began while Kopp grew up in Rosemount knowing the importance of organ donation.

In 1982, six years before he was born, his uncle, Stephensons brother, J.T. Burud, was hit by a car while trying to cross Minnesota 100 in St. Louis Park. He was 11 years old. Ten days later, the boys family, in learning that he was brain dead, removed him from life support and donated his kidneys.

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Nearly 27 years later  July 10, 2009  Kopps Ranger unit attacked a Taliban safe haven and was involved in a firefight that lasted hours, killing several Taliban. Kopp saved six of his fellow Rangers but was shot behind the knee. He underwent surgery to remove the bullet and repair the damage, but subsequently never woke up. After being informed that he was brain dead, Jill had to make the difficult decision to remove him from life support. He died at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington D.C, eight days after being shot.

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But his passing opened the door for a new kind of heroism.

Two days later, his heart was implanted into Meikle, who was dying of a congenital heart defect and was on the transplant waiting list. Meikle also happened to be a friend of Stephensons first cousin, who lived in the Chicago area.

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In death, Kopp saved or enhanced the lives of more than 60 people by donating bone, skin, tissue and all of his organs.

He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor, Meritorious Service Medal and Purple Heart and buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., with full military honors.

Special connections

Stephenson and Meikle met in person for the first time in September 2009 during the Organ Procurement Associations annual meeting in Dallas.

To mark the one-year anniversary of her sons death, Stephenson organized a celebration at the Rosemount American Legion to honor her son and his gift to Meikle. It was the first time Meikle had met many members of Kopps family, including his father and great-grandmother, and several of his friends.

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Meikle said at the time she felt great and joked her 22-year-old heart is making her more active.

I get up every day and the Army Ranger in me wants to get out and do something active, like get out and run, she told the Pioneer Press.

Meikle returned to Rosemount the following summer for the first Ben Kopp Memorial Motorcycle Ride. The event went on to be held annually for the next 11 years, raising nearly $300,000 for veterans.

Stephenson keeps in contact with two other donor recipients, both of whom live in the D.C. area. Curtis Brantley was a 31-year-old father when he received Kopps liver. Davaun Mason was 15 when he received Kopps kidney.

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Theyre both doing well, she said. I just chatted with Davauns mom not that long ago, and she said hes doing well.

Another kidney recipient, Fred Thurston, also of the D.C. area, was 60 at the time and died eight months later from an unrelated health issue.

I am still in contact with his widow, and his son,  Stephenson said In fact, I heard from both of them when I shared the news on Facebook that Judy had died. They both sent me messages.

It has hit people really hard

Meikle was not shy about allowing people to feel Kopps heart and readily expressed her deep gratitude for Bens generosity in being her donor, Stephenson said in her Facebook post.

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It has hit people really hard, she said Friday. Many have said, I feel like we just lost him all over again. And thats how I feel, too.

Joe Benfante is among them. He grew up with Kopp in Rosemount and they graduated high school together in 2006. Kopp enlisted in the Army in the fall of his senior year and left for basic training one month after he graduated.

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I felt like a wound ripped open again, he said of Judys death. Theres other organs out there, but that was the one that was the actual connection where Jill basically handpicked who was going to get it, which is a crazy story in itself of how that all happened.

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Benfante had met Meikle a handful of times, the first being at one of the motorcycle rides.

She surprised Jill at the one ride, so no one knew about it, he said. I found out through the grapevine. And so when she showed up, I got to feel their heart.

Benfante lives in Farmington with his wife and their three sons. The oldest boy, who is 6, is named Benjamin, after Kopp. Its my way of keeping Bens memory alive, he said.

In her Facebook post, Stephenson shared one of her sons favorite quotes, by Stephen Vincent Benet: Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dying day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that former Argentina President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and the countrys former minister are barred from visiting the U.S. due to their involvement in significant corruption while in public office.

Rubio said Friday that Kirchner and former Argentina Minister of Planning Julio Miguel de Vido abused their positions by orchestrating and financially benefitting from multiple bribery schemes involving public works contracts, resulting in millions of dollars stolen from the Argentine government.

Multiple courts have convicted [Kirchner] and De Vido for corruption, undermining the Argentine peoples and investors confidence in Argentinas future, the U.S.s top diplomat said in a statement.

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With the designation, Kirchner, de Vido and their immediate family members will be generally ineligible for entry into the United States.

Kirchner was Argentinas president from 2007-15, serving two consecutive terms.

In December 2022, Kirchner, then serving as the South American countrys vice president, was convicted and sentenced to six years in jail and banned for life from holding public office over a $1 billion fraud and corruption scheme.

A federal appeals court upheld her verdict in November last year. Kirchner has denied wrongdoing.

While in the Senate, Rubio was one of eight Republican senators who penned a February 2024 letter to former President Biden, alleging he was misusing sanctions against Latin American and Caribbean officials.

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Rubio, then representing Florida, along with Republican Sens. James E. Risch (Idaho), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), James Lankford (Okla.), Mike Lee (Utah), Tim Scott (S.C.), John Cornyn (Texas), and Rick Scott (Fla.), told Biden he failed to publicly designate President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her family members following their convictions for fraudulent government contracts for public infrastructure.

The United States will continue to promote accountability for those who abuse public power for personal gain, Rubio said Friday. These designations reaffirm our commitment to counter global corruption, including at the highest levels of government.

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RUNNELS COUNTY, Texas (KTAB/KRBC)  The Runnels County Sheriffs Office is warning residents about two reports of scams on the phone.

According to police, one scam involved a person claiming to be with the U.S. Treasury Department. The person told the victim they were under investigation and needed a large sum of money ready for them.

In another scam, a caller posed as a representative from a hospital but never specified which one. The caller informed the victim that their daughter had been involved in a car accident. When the victim requested to speak with their daughter, they briefly heard a voice that sounded like hersuntil the actual daughter called back and took over the phone.

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Police believe that the alleged scammers voice was generated using artificial intelligence. The victim called her daughter and confirmed she was not in an accident.

The Runnels County Sheriffs Office reminds residents that law enforcement and hospitals will never contact you by phone to request money. If you receive a call asking for money for a family member or friend, its likely a scam. Additionally, police urge residents to be cautious of fraudulent situations involving artificial intelligence, as such tactics are becoming more common in scams.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (WPRI)  Its been one year since a Warwick family was devastated by a murder-suicide that claimed the life of a 4-year-old boy.

Liam Dempsey was shot and killed by his own father on March 21, 2024.

I cant believe its been a year already, said Karla Santizo, Dempseys aunt. There have been good days and there have been bad days.

12 on 12 Digital Original: A Mothers Anguish

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Though Dempseys life was taken way too soon, his mother Estefania Dempsey has made it her mission to keep her sons memory alive.

Im just going to dedicate the rest of my time here on Earth to spreading awareness and trying to help others, Estefania told 12 News.

Hundreds are expected to gather this weekend in Central Falls to do just that. The Wave Runners Run Crew is hosting a walk/run in Liams honor Saturday morning at Veterans Memorial Park.

Santizo hopes the sea of runners wearing purple  Liams favorite color  will further prove to her sister that shes not alone in her grief.

Its a tragic thing, Santizo said. I just want her to see that shes always going to have the community with her.

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The Wave Runners Run Crew has already raised more than $1,500 for the Elizabeth Buffum Chace Center, which offers support to victims of domestic violence.

I never thought it was be this big, but I definitely want to thank the community because theyve been there for Estefania since day one and we wouldnt be able to get through this without them, Santizo said.

There will be a group stretch at 8:45 a.m. before the 2.5-mile walk/run steps off at 9 a.m. It will immediately be followed by a ceremony honoring Liams legacy. Those interested in participating in the walk/run or making a donation can do so online.

The Elizabeth Buffum Chace Center told 12 News the donations are extremely helpful, especially during a time of uncertainty when it comes to federal funding.

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In a statement to 12 News, the Elizabeth Buffum Chace Centers Rachel Caliri explained that the nonprofit doesnt expect most of that federal funding to ever return.

Carili add that, as a result, the nonprofit has been forced to dip into its reserves and lines of credit to meet the growing demand.

Thats why events like the run for Liam are so incredible, Carliri said. Not only do they help raise critical funds, but they also bring much-needed awareness to the issue of domestic violence.

In this case, its even more meaningful because it honors Liams memory in such a powerful way, she continued.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, seek immediate help:

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call, text or chat 988

BH Link: Rhode Islanders can call 401-414-LINK (5465)

Kids Link RI: Parents can call 1-855-543-5465

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, seek help immediately:

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233

Rhode Island

Helpline RI: 800-494-8100

Blackstone Valley Advocacy Center: 800-494-8100

Elizabeth Buffum Chace Center: 401-738-1700

Womens Resource Center: 401-846-5263

Crossroads RI: 401-861-2760

Massachusetts

SafeLink: 877-785-2020

SSTAR Womens Center: 508-675-0087

The Womens Center: 508-999-6636

New Hope: 800-323-HOPE (4673)

Health Imperatives: 508-588-TALK (8255)

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Moscow is hoping for "some progress" in upcoming talks in Saudi Arabia, a Russian negotiator told state media ahead of Mondays meetings between U.S., Ukrainian, and Russian delegations.

The U.S. is engaging in what U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg described as "shuttle diplomacy" to seek a resolution to the full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year, but Russia has already rejected a proposed 30-day unconditional ceasefire, instead offering only to halt aerial strikes on energy facilities.

A Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia late on March 21, mere days before the upcoming talks, killed a family of three, drawing sharp condemnation from Ukrainian officials. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia fired 179 drones in its latest wave of overnight attacks.

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Russian senator Grigory Karasin, who will lead Moscows delegation, told local Zvezda TV that he and FSB advisor Sergey Beseda would enter the negotiations with a "combative and constructive" approach. He did not specify what kind of progress Russia hoped to achieve.

The selection of negotiators has raised questions, as neither Karasin nor Beseda are from Russias key diplomatic institutions such as the Kremlin, foreign ministry, or defense ministry.

Ukraine has accused Russia of insincerity in peace efforts, pointing to continued strikes despite President Vladimir Putins recent claim that he ordered a halt to attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

Meanwhile, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, a close Trump ally, praised Putin in an interview with Tucker Carlson on March 22, calling him a "great" leader seeking to end the war. "I dont regard Putin as a bad guy," Witkoff said. "That is a complicated situation, including war and all the ingredients that led up to it. It's never just one person."

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Read also: They are Russian-speaking, and there have been referendums,  Witkoff parrots Russian propaganda, legitimizing Putins claims in Ukraine

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Russian officials have accused "the special services of an unfriendly state" of planning and organizing last year's deadly attack on Moscows Crocus City Hall, where 145 people were killed.

Svetlana Petrenko, a representative of the Russian Investigative Committee, claimed the attack aimed to "destabilize the situation in Russia." She did not specify which country Russia blames but added that authorities have charged "six Central Asians" in absentia for allegedly recruiting and training the attackers.

Authorities have placed those six individuals on Russias wanted list while holding 19 suspects in custody in connection with the attack.

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The four main suspects, identified by the media as Tajik citizens, appeared in a Moscow court last March on terrorism charges, showing signs of severe beatings. One suspect appeared barely conscious during the hearing.

The March 22, 2024, attack at Crocus City Hall was the deadliest in Russia in years, leaving hundreds wounded.

A faction of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility, saying that gunmen opened fire on concertgoers before setting the building on fire. Despite this, Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly allegedwithout providing evidencethat Ukraine played a role. Kyiv has strongly denied any involvement.

Read also: Russias FSB neutralizes alleged terrorist planning attack in Moscow

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By Manuel Ausloos and Olena Harmash

KYIV (Reuters) - When Mariia Pankova last exchanged messages with her close friend Pavlo in December, she had no idea that he was among the Ukrainian troops fighting in Russia's Kursk region.

She found out when a fellow soldier told her several days later that her friend, Pavlo Humeniuk, 24, a combat engineer in Ukraine's 47th Magura brigade, had gone missing near the village of Novoivanivka in Kursk on December 6.

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Almost four months have passed and there has been no further information about Pavlo's fate, Pankova told Reuters, citing her conversations with his relatives. She keeps searching on Telegram and Facebook hoping to find out whether he is dead or alive.

Pankova, 25, believes the cost of Ukraine's risky incursion into Russia may have been too high. The sentiment is shared by many others in Ukraine, especially after troops retreated from most of Kursk this month following weeks of heavy fighting.

"I'm just not sure it was worth it," she said, large teardrops running down her face when talking about her missing friend, who she bonded with over their shared love of hiking in Ukraine's mountains.

"We're not invaders. We just need our territories back, we do not need the Russian one."

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In response to questions for this story, Ukraine's armed forces General Staff said the offensive was meant to put pressure on Moscow, to divert Russian forces from other fronts and to prevent Russian cross-border attacks on neighbouring parts of Ukraine.

The operation "achieved most of its goals", the General Staff said.

Kyiv's assault on Kursk in August took Russia, and the world, by surprise. It was the biggest attack on sovereign Russian territory since the Nazi invasion of 1941.

As Ukrainian soldiers smashed into the Kursk region, largely unopposed, they quickly seized some 1,376 square kilometres (531 square miles) of Russian territory.

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But short of troops, within weeks the area under Ukraine's control shrank to a narrow wedge.

Kyiv used some of its top marine and air assault forces but the grouping was never large enough to be able to hold on to a larger area.

"From the very beginning, logistics was seriously complicated because as we entered the Kursk region, we ensured sufficient depth but we did not ensure sufficient width," said Serhiy Rakhmanin, a Ukrainian lawmaker on the parliament's committee for security and defence.

From the start, Russia had a manpower advantage along the Kursk frontline.

But the situation became critical late last year. Russia brought in elite units and top drone forces as reinforcements, aided by North Korean forces. They tightened assaults around Ukrainian flanks and advanced to within firing range of a key supply road, according to reports from Ukrainian military bloggers close to the armed forces.

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"They not only increased the number of their group opposing our military, but they also improved its quality," Rakhmanin said. Russian President Vladimir Putin has never acknowledged the role of the North Koreans on the battlefield.

'NO LOGIC'

Russia's retaking of the Kursk region removes a potential bargaining chip for Ukraine just as U.S. President Donald Trump undertakes talks to end the war with Russia, which holds around a fifth of Ukraine's national lands.

Ukraine's retreat from the Kursk city of Sudzha, confirmed by Kyiv on March 16, prompted questions and deepened the public divide in Ukraine on the benefits of the incursion.

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Soldier Oleksii Deshevyi, 32, a former supermarket security guard who lost his hand while fighting in Kursk in September, said he saw no logic in the operation.

"We should not have started this operation at all," he told Reuters in a rehabilitation centre in Kyiv, where he has spent the past six months adjusting to life after injury.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has acknowledged his military is in a difficult position in Kursk and that he expects continued attacks from Russia as it attempts to push the remaining Ukrainian forces out of the region.

However, he has denied claims by Putin and Trump that his forces are surrounded. U.S. intelligence assessments also state Kyiv's troops are not encircled.

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The Russian forces are now sending small assault groups to try to break through the Ukrainian border in the Sumy region, and may also be readying for a bigger attack there, Ukrainian military analysts said.

In public comments made to Putin, Russia's chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov last week confirmed his troops' recent incursions into Sumy. He detailed what he said were heavy Ukrainian losses in Kursk.

Even as Ukraine shifted to a defensive operation, its goals included control over the territory of the Russian Federation, exhaustion of the enemy, destruction of its personnel and pulling back its reserves, Ukraine's General Staff said.

It added that nearly 1,000 Russian soldiers were taken prisoner, some of whom were swapped for Ukrainian prisoners.

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Because of the operation, Moscow had to create three new groupings, totalling about 90,000 soldiers, as well as 12,000 North Korean servicemen, the General Staff said.

Reuters could not independently verify those claims.

RISKY GAMBLE

Even at the start, some criticised it as a risky gamble.

Viktor Muzhenko, former head of Ukraine's General Staff, wrote in August 2024 that Ukraine should "focus on defending its key territories, avoiding unpredictable risky operations that could divert attention from main threats, and choose forms and methods of using troops that are adequate to their capabilities."

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However, some in Ukraine hailed the operation as a black eye for Russia.

Speaking on March 12, Oleksander Syrskyi, Ukraine's commander-in-chief, said the operation diverted and killed some of Russia's best troops.

Lawmaker Rakhmanin said it also provided a much-needed boost to morale in Ukraine after Russia made territorial advances there in 2024 and showcased Ukraine's ability to conduct successful offensive operations.

While Trump negotiates with Putin for an end to the war, Pankova remembered her friend Pavlo and cast doubt over the possibility of a peace deal that prevented Russia from later taking more Ukrainian territory.

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She was thinking of joining the armed forces, she said.

"Every time that someone tries to, let's say, sell some piece of Ukraine, they just have not to forget what we already gave. How many lives our people gave for that.

(Reporting by Manuel Ausloos and Olena Harmash in Kyiv; Additional reporting by Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)
Russia and Ukraine traded blame on Friday over an attack on a gas metering station that lies in Russias Kursk region, just a few hundred meters from their shared border.

The attack on the facility in Sudzha comes just days after the US proposed both sides pause attacks on energy infrastructure.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Kyiv had deliberately attacked the station, which has been under Ukrainian control since Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024.

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Moscow claims Ukrainian forces blew up the facility while retreating from the Kursk region with the aim of discrediting the US presidents peace initiatives.

On Saturday, Russias Foreign Ministry further warned that it reserves the right to respond, including with a symmetrical response to what it claims were Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure facilities.

Kyiv has described those accusations as groundless and claimed they are aimed at discrediting Ukraine and misleading the international community.

Indeed, the station has been repeatedly shelled by the Russians themselves, Ukraines General Staff said in a Telegram post on Friday.

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According to the Ukrainian military, Russia struck the same station with missiles as recently as three days ago.

The attempts by the Russians to deceive everyone and pretend that they are adhering to the ceasefire will not work, (neither) will the fake news about the strikes on the gas station, Ukraines Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak posted on X Friday.

The Sudzha gas metering station was the last route through which Russian natural gas was delivered to Europe through Ukraine. Natural gas transportation through Sudzha was terminated on the morning of January 1, 2025, after Kyiv refused to renew the contract.

The attack on the station comes more than a week after the announcement by Russian forces that they had recaptured Sudzha, the largest town that Ukraine has occupied during its incursion into Kursk. Ukraines occupation of parts of Kursk is seen as its sole territorial bargaining chip amid pressure to negotiate an end to the war.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to temporarily halt attacks on energy targets in Ukraine after a lengthy telephone call with President Donald Trump on Tuesday, though he stopped short of signing off on a broader ceasefire to end the three-year-long conflict in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also said he would support a pause on striking energy targets.

Talks to pause the conflict will take place in Riyadh next week, with a US delegation expected to first sit down with the Ukrainians followed by the Russians on Monday.

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Russian officials are amplifying claims of Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory to justify rejecting peace negotiations and continuing the war, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on March 21.

The institute notes that Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov used Ukraines denial of involvement in the Sudzha gas distribution station fire to cast doubt on Kyivs credibility. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of violating a yet-to-be-finalized moratorium on energy infrastructure strikes and suggested the U.S. is responsible for controlling Ukraines actions.

The Kremlin has revived familiar narratives portraying Ukraine as the aggressor and acting under Western influence.

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Russian authorities have also accused Ukrainian forces of targeting Russian nuclear power plants and committing war crimes against Russian civilians. On March 21, Russias Investigative Committee released a summary of ongoing investigations into alleged Ukrainian strikes on the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant and civilians in the region. These claims align with previous Kremlin efforts to discredit Ukraine and weaken Western support.

Russian officials have consistently used such accusations to deflect attention from Moscows own actions. Russian forces have committed numerous war crimes in Ukraine and have militarized the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, endangering its safety. On Feb. 14, a Russian Shahed drone struck the containment structure of Chornobyls Reactor No. 4, raising further concerns about Moscows disregard for nuclear security.

Read also: Plokhy argues in Chornobyl occupation book that Russias nuclear blackmail is warning for the future

The Kremlins latest accusations come amid discussions between Ukraine and the U.S. regarding energy infrastructure, including the Russian-occupied power plant. Moscow may seek to exploit these narratives to disrupt or delay those talks.

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The pattern of blaming Ukraine for endangering nuclear facilities could serve as a tactic to justify further escalation and pressure Western leaders.

By continuing to frame Ukraine as a reckless aggressor, the Kremlin aims to reinforce domestic support for the war and shift international attention away from its own military actions. This strategy, repeated during the all-out war, seeks to erode global backing for Kyiv while maintaining control over the Russian publics perception of the war, ISW says.

Read also: They are Russian-speaking, and there have been referendums,  Witkoff parrots Russian propaganda, legitimizing Putins claims in Ukraine

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia reserves the right to a "symmetrical response" to Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Friday of blowing up a Russian gas pumping station in a border area where Ukrainian troops have been retreating. Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian energy infrastructure in three years of fighting, and Ukraine has struck energy facilities in Russia.

"As in 2022, provocations are being used again with the aim of disrupting the negotiation process. We are clearly warning that if the Kyiv regime continues its destructive line, the Russian Federation reserves the right to respond, including with a symmetrical response," the ministry said.

(Reporting by Maxim Rodionov, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
The Russians attacked the city of Zaporizhzhia on 21 March, killing three people and injuring 12 others.

Source: Ivan Fedorov, Head of Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration; State Emergency Service of Ukraine

Quote: "Early reports indicate that three people have been injured in the enemy attack on Zaporizhzhia.

Houses and high-rise buildings in the city have been damaged. Details are being confirmed."

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Update: Later, Fedorov reported that the number of people injured had risen to five.

'       

 -  pic.twitter.com/zXKtA9DVSO     (@ukrpravda_news) March 21, 2025

Three people are in a critical condition and two are in a moderate condition.

Fedorov later said the attack had claimed the life of one person: rescue workers retrieved the body of a woman from under the rubble of a destroyed building.

A rescue worker standing on the rubble

Photo: Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration

Rescue workers retrieving a body from under the rubble

Photo: Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration

Later, it was reported that the number of people injured had risen to six, with two people in a critical condition.

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At 23:07, Fedorov reported that the woman killed in the Russian attack was 20 years old.

The number of injured had risen to eight. It was also confirmed that two people had died.

According to updated information, nine injured people needed medical help, including a nine-month-old baby. One woman is in a critical condition.

It was also confirmed that a 14-year-old girl had been killed.

Update: The State Emergency Service reported at 01:00 on 22 March that the search and rescue operations were complete.

Three people were killed and 12 were injured in the Russian attack. The number of casualties is being confirmed.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) -An oil products spill occurred at the oil depot that caught fire in southern Russia's Krasnodar region after a drone attack last week, regional officials said on Sunday.

The area of the fire at the depot near the village of Kavkazskaya increased to 2,000 square metres from the 1,250 square metres previously reported, said state news agency TASS.

There were no casualties and other buildings and tanks at the depot were not damaged, regional officials wrote on messaging app Telegram.

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Russia's Foreign Ministry said this week that the attack amounted to violation of an agreement to halt attacks on energy infrastructure as part of efforts to secure a broader ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.

Local authorities had brought in firefighting trains loaded with water to help to battle the blaze on Saturday.

The depot is a rail terminal for Russian oil supplies for a pipeline to Kazakhstan.

(Reporting by ReutersEditing by David Gregorio and David Goodman)
By Anna Voitenko and Manuel Ausloos

KYIV (Reuters) - A large-scale Russian drone attack on Kyiv killed at least three people, including a 5-year-old child, causing fires in high-rise apartment buildings and damage throughout the capital, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, called it "a massive enemy drone attack on Kyiv" and said emergency services had been dispatched to several districts of the city to respond to reports of fires and damage.

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Ukraine's air force said Russia had launched 147 drones overnight targeting several parts of the country. The military said air defence units had destroyed 97 of the drones, with 25 failing to reach their targets.

The drone strikes come hours ahead of planned talks in Saudi Arabia, as diplomatic efforts to end the three-year-old war intensify. Experts and officials from Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia are due to discuss ways to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea.

The United States is pushing for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, and hopes to reach a broad ceasefire in the war by April 20, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the planning.

But despite the peace push, both sides have been reporting continued strikes.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces had used more than 1,580 guided aerial bombs, nearly 1,100 attack drones and 15 missiles against Ukraine over the past week.

"We need new solutions, new pressure on Moscow to stop such strikes and this war," Zelenskiy said on Telegram.

AIR RAID ALERTS

Ukraine's state emergency service said the bodies of the child and a man had been found as rubble was clearer in Kyiv's Holosiivskyi district.

A woman died after drone debris caused a fire in a high-rise residential building in Dniprovskyi district, the service said.

Another eight people were injured in the city as a result of the overnight drone strikes, according to the Interior Ministry.

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Photos published later by the emergency service showed a burnt-out apartment in a multi-storey building, the ceiling of one of the rooms was punctured, with the charred remains of furniture left scattered about.

Two people were also injured and several houses were damaged in the region surrounding the capital, regional Governor Mykola Kalashnik said on Telegram.

There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia started with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kyiv, its surrounding region and the eastern half of Ukraine were under air raid alerts for more than five hours starting late on Saturday, according to Ukraine air force maps.

(Reporting by Oleksandr Kozhukhar, Pavel Polityuk, Lidia Kelly; Writing by Lidia Kelly and Pavel Polityuk; Editing by William Mallard, Jamie Freed and Helen Popper)
U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who recently emerged as a leading figure in negotiations regarding Russia and Ukraine, revealed insights into ongoing ceasefire talks between Moscow and Washington.

In an interview on March 21 with American far-right political commentator Tucker Carlson, Witkoff openly parroted Russian propaganda and agreed with most of the Kremlin's talking points, further casting doubt on whether Ukraine can expect to gain a ceasefire on its terms.

"I think the largest issue in that conflict are these so-called four regions, Donbas, Crimea ... and there's two others," Witkoff said, apparently referring to partly Russian-occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia oblasts, and Crimea, fully occupied by Russia since 2014.

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"They are Russian-speaking, and there have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule," Witkoff added, omitting the circumstances surrounding Russia's sham referendums "at gunpoint" in occupied Ukraine.

Following the start of Russia's all-out war, Moscow occupied parts of Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts in 2022 by killing thousands of people and destroying cities and towns.

The same happened in Ukraine's east, where Russia further advanced in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, a portion of which it held since 2014.

In September 2022, Russia annexed the four Ukrainian oblasts following sham referendums at gunpoint rejected by the international community as null and void. In videos published online, the vote was secured by the Russian military and under duress.

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In the occupied regions, Russian forces systemically terrorized Ukrainian civilians with abductions and killings, committing war crimes such as rape and torture. Russia continues to consistently erase people's Ukrainian identity and prosecutes opponents of enforced Russification while also forcibly conscripting men to fight in the Russian army.

Ukraine continues to control regional capitals Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, with the later being liberated in November 2022. Following the liberation of the regional capital, thousands of people took to the streets in celebration, while thousands of others who were forced to leave were able to return home.

Read also: Dispatch from Kherson: Celebrating locals share stories, welcome Zelensky

On the liberated territories, a number of Russian torture chambers were found.

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Equating Ukrainian Russian speakers to Russians who support the war and using language as a way to justify its war against Ukraine is a common theme of Russian propaganda.

According to Witkoff, the problem around Russian-occupied oblasts is the Ukrainian administration's resistance to political fallout in case "the world (would) acknowledge that those are Russian territories."

"Can (President Volodymyr) Zelensky survive politically if he acknowledges this? This is the central issue in the conflict," Witkoff said.

Read also: How Russia has attempted to erase Ukrainian language, culture throughout centuries

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Witkoff also claimed that Ukraine will hold presidential elections. His statement came after Carlson echoed a Russian narrative, saying that Moscow considers Zelensky "not elected" and, therefore, "can't sign any kind of treaty."

Witkoff alleged that Ukrainian leadership had "largely conceded that they are not going to be a member of NATO" but added the discussion is open on whether Ukraine could have a degree of NATO-member protection from the U.S. and European countries.

Witkoff added that Russia "100%" doesn't want to wage a war in Europe or "absorb Ukraine" fully.

"(Russia) reclaimed these five regions. They have Crimea, and they've gotten what they want. So why do they need more?" Witkoff added, not mentioning that Russia had made similar claims of not invading Ukraine prior to its full-scale invasion.

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Witkoff empathized that Trump is focused on reviving their relationship with Putin over the course of peace talks.

"Who doesn't want to have a world where Russia and the United States are doing collaboratively good things together?" he said, mentioning the prospect of doing business as usual with Russia with "energy policies in the Arctic," selling natural gas to Europe and collaborating on AI.

"That is a complicated situation, including war and all the ingredients that led up to it. It's never just one person," Witkoff added.

Witkoff downplayed Russian President Vladimir Putin's role in the full-scale invasion.

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With regards to a partial ceasefire that would halt strikes against infrastructure and moratorium on maritime hits in the Black Sea, Witkoff claimed that they are "going to be implemented in the next week or so."

Witkoff also said that Putin claimed to have prayed for "his friend" Trump in a local church after an attempt on Trump's life in July 2024 and gave Witkoff a commissioned portrait of Trump as a gift for the U.S. president.

"This is the kind of connection that we've been able to reestablish (with Russia) through a simple word called communication, which many people would say I shouldn't have had because Putin is a bad guy. I don't regard Putin as a bad guy," Witkoff added.

"This might be the stupidest thing I've ever seen," right-wing commentator Richard Hanania posted on X (Twitter) along with this segment of the interview.

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Read also: Trumps envoy Witkoff claims Ukraine will hold presidential elections

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Russian forces conducted yet another airstrike on the village of Krasnopillia in Sumy Oblast on the afternoon of Saturday, 22 March, leaving at least 10 residential buildings damaged.

Source: Ukraine's National Police in Sumy Oblast

Details: This marks the second consecutive day of Russian attacks on the village. Early reports suggest that there have been no civilian casualties so far.





The aftermath of the Russian attack on the village of Krasnopillia in Sumy Oblast

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Photo: Ukraine's National Police in Sumy Oblast

Law enforcement officers have arrived at the scene, documenting the destruction and recording the facts of the war crime.

The police also remind the public that if anyone finds unexploded ordnance or its fragments, they should contact the police via the emergency line at 102. It is strictly prohibited to touch or move such items.

Background: Sumy Oblast Prosecutor's Office reported a large-scale Russian attack and two deaths in Krasnopillia on the evening of 21 March.

This news has been updated since publication.



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RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN)  On Thursday, state officials announced Barrett Firearms Manufacturing will expand from its current location along Interstate 24, bringing nearly 200 jobs to Rutherford County along with a 250,000-square-foot headquarters.

The announcement came as a surprise to some county leaders.

My phone has been ringing [and Ive] been getting text alerts all day as a result of the news stories and press releases that have come out over the past 24 hours, Rutherford County Regional Planning Commissioner Michael Shirley said.

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READ MORE | Latest headlines from Murfreesboro and Rutherford County

Before Barrett breaks any ground, theyll have to get the current lot theyre eyeing on Manchester Pike rezoned. Currently, the land is zoned for a medium-sized neighborhood, according to County Commissioner Johnathan Beverly.

Residents are concerned that this development was a done deal, it was going to happen without public hearing and I can assure the people that live in Buchanan community that this is not a done deal, Shirley said.

Shirley and Beverly have encouraged county residents to share their thoughts.

We moved out here to get away from the hustle and bustle and be in the peace of the country and the wildlife and the view and this is going to take all of that away, said Kim Roland, whose property neighbors the proposed headquarters. Unfortunately, if this is allowed to go through, were looking at moving to a different county.

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Roland and Ricky Marlin  who serves as the president of the Buchanan Community Alliance both share concerns over traffic congestion and potential noise from the site. Marlin said hes not opposed to the expansion. However, hed like to see it happen near the property Barrnett already occupies a few roads away along Interstate 24.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

Across the street, where its already zoned industrial and has the infrastructure in place is the best place for this to go, Marlin said. Were not only bringing up a problem, were bringing up the solution.

Roland and Marlin hope neighbors will show up and speak at the April 14 planning commission meeting. If Barretts application passes before the planning commission, it will then go on to the county commission, where residents can also add public comment.

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(Bloomberg) -- Rwanda-backed M23 rebels captured a third major town in the Democratic Republic of Congo, expanding their stranglehold over the countrys mineral-rich east.

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The city of Walikale, the administrative center of Walikale Territory, has been liberated by our forces to ensure the safety of the civilian population and their property, spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka said in a statement.

The group already controls the city of Goma in North Kivu province and Bukavu in South Kivu province. The latest conquest comes after the surprise meeting on Tuesday between presidents of Congo and Rwanda in Qatar, where they pledged to ease tensions.

Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner accused Rwanda of saying one thing and doing another.

The Qatar meeting was meant to break this deadlock and to renew at the highest level of the most concerned parties the commitment to a ceasefire, to a cessation of hostilities as a first step to engage further conversations on other issues, she said in an interview on Thursday.

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Rwanda is pretending to commit to peace, pretending to commit to the cessation of hostilities while the M23 continues to expand its territory on the ground, Kayikwamba said.

Kanyuka said M23 was committed to the ceasefire, however, in the event of provocation or attacks against civilians, our forces will respond professionally.

Ceasefire requires respect by all parties to the conflict, Yolande Makolo, spokesperson for Rwandas government, told Bloomberg in a message late Friday. For this to happen, the DRC has to immediately halt drone and fighter jet attacks in the Walikale area as well as the Minebwe area in South Kivu.

Rwanda has denied financing the rebels and in turn accused Congo of supporting a militia known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, whose founders participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

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--With assistance from Antony Sguazzin.

(Updates with Rwandan comment in eighth paragraph)

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(FOX40.COM)  The Sacramento Police Department is asking for the publics help to find a missing teen girl who is at risk.

 What should you do if someone you love goes missing?

Victoria Tovar, 13, is described as being 4 feet 9 inches tall, 120 pounds, with black shoulder-length hair and brown eyes. Tovar was last seen on the 10 block of Dalby Court wearing a black sweater, blue jeans, and black crocs around 1 p.m. on Friday.

SPD said Tovar is at risk because of her age and a mental condition. Anyone with information on her whereabouts can call the police department at 916-808-5471.

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(FOX40.COM)  The Sacramento Police Department is asking for the communitys help in finding an at-risk missing person named Harold Olson.

Olson was last seen on Wednesday at around 7 a.m. leaving 5300 Block of J Street. He is an 87-year-old man with blue eyes, is 150 pounds and 5 feet 6 inches tall, and was last seen wearing a blue t-shirt and underwear.

Carmichael woman offers $2,000 reward for return of her missing African gray parrot

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SPD said that Olson is at risk due to medical conditions and that if anyone has seen him, contact the police immediately at 916-808-5471.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40 News.
CLEVELAND (WJW)  It is a great day to be bald.

And you can get bald pretty quick at Saint Mark School in West Park.

Even before your mom can get a quick picture, the hair is gone. Just like that.

Northeast Ohio officers joining hundreds across the country for Police Unity Tour

But the happiness that comes from knowing that youre helping others stays with you forever.

I wanted to help the people who have cancer, said Zeke, one of the Saint Mark students.

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Zeke is an old pro at this.

Hes had his head shaved during the Saint Baldrick celebration for the past three years.

But Maggie, with her hair well below her shoulders, is taking the plunge  or in this case, the snip.

Oh I dont know, Im just going to go for it, it was just last minute. I just decided to do it today, Maggie said.

Now Maggie wont be bald at the end of the event, but her hair will be donated to help make wigs for people who lost their hair

The Saint Baldrick Day celebration at Saint Mark has been a tradition for more than 10 years.

And the students, staff, and West Park community have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help fight childhood cancers.

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NE Ohio school official shares concerns about dismantling Dept. of Education

Thats something thats not lost Ashley who spent the first five years of her life fighting kidney cancer.

I shaved my hair in the 7th grade because I actually had the knowledge of why they were doing this, Ashley said. For the first five minutes of the ceremony I was bawling my eyes out, its really touching.

Its so touching in fact, that even one of the barbers, Andre Calhoun, decided to get buzzed.

The beard is off limits because its a really cool beard, but the hair is fair game.

Just about everyone knows someone whose life was touched by cancer, whether it was a coworker, a friend or a dear member of the family.

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I have an aunt who is a survivor of cancer but unfortunately she didnt make it through and I did it for the cause of everyone whos over came it and it feels great to help, Andre said.

Every two minutes a child is diagnosed with cancer somewhere in the world, and one in five in the U.S. will not survive it.

Over the years, the Saint Baldricks Foundation has raised about $340 million that has helped fund research that will hopefully one day beat cancer.

George Foreman, boxing legend and grill mogul, dead at 76

So every snip, every clip, and every buzz helps build a rung on the ladder for the climb to a cure.

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If you would like to contribute, you can follow this link.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  Some Samford University students are not happy about the private schools decision to increase fees for student parking permits.

Several gathered at Ben Brown Plaza Friday morning holding up signs and encouraging students to sign a petition launched last night on Change.org which has garnered more than 1,900 signatures. Next year, the cost for students to park their cars on campus will go up significantly, putting them on par with what UAB and University of Alabama students pay for parking, although those are public universities which are less expensive.

Friday morning, we talked with the student who launched the petition drive that has garnered 2,300 signatures by Saturday. Freshman Lachlan Caligiuri from Lakeland, Florida is attending Samford University on a partial academic scholarship and she works a part time job:

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I was flabbergasted, she said. Honestly, I didnt know what to think, because how do you go from $60 to $500 dollars, like thats not feasible, thats an insane jump.

Beautiful saturday, severe risk sunday night

This past semester she says she only paid $30 for her parking permit. That fee will increase to $250 dollars a semester beginning next fall, which will be $500 a year. Fellow freshman Emilia Horton launched a petition on Change.org asking the school to re-consider the parking permit increase.

I ran the numbers and its 733.333 % increase in pricing, Horton noted. You need to realize that not all your students are upper upper class and that super high upper class.

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Horton said she wished the administration had provided students with an explanation for the increase. While on campus Friday, we observed a lot of new construction underway, including work on a new parking deck and a new freshman residence hall.

We reached out to the administration at Samford University Friday morning asking for an interview. They sent us an official statement which reads:

Samford is pleased to provide convenient, safe on-campus parking in response to our students preferences and enrollment growth, with parking fees comparable to other regional universities. The addition of a new 550-space parking facility, a $24 million investment to open in August, will further enhance our student experience and improve parking on campus.

Student parking rates in Alabama vary in price depending on where you attend school.

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We reached out to UAB and learned that they are charging students $181 to $225 for parking permits during the upcoming summer semester while the University of Alabama charged students $250-$265 for parking during the spring semester.

We also reached out to Auburn University and learned that full-time students pay either $220 for the core campus/preferred parking on an annual basis, or $140 for the overflow/perimeter of campus parking.

Wesley Hallman, Director of Communications at the University of Montevallo said

their parking decal for the upcoming 2025-2026 academic year is $70 for the entire year.

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For more information on the petition, click here.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS 42.
(NewsNation)  There are signs to be read in the volatile town hall meetings that some Republican members of Congress are facing and in the tour of swing districts that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is undertaking with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive activist argues.

Both are indications voters are rejecting President Donald Trumps attempt to dismantle federal government through the efforts of billionaire Elon Musk, says Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

What is DOGE, and whats it doing?

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We do a lot of polling. The economy is by far the highest on the list, Green told NewsNation Now on Friday. The idea that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are violating the Constitution in order to cut your Social Security, cut your Medicare, cut your Medicaid, cut your veterans benefits, in order to give Elon Musk a tax break, does very well.

Green said the federal funding freezes imposed early in Trumps second term alarmed voters to the extent that even conservatives are pushing back. He said the swing district rallies being held by progressives Sanders, I-Vt., and Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are drawing people who likewise are alarmed.

Theyre building muscle memory, Green said of the latter events. People arent just receiving a message. Theyre going there and looking around and being like, Oh, Im with 1,500 people. In the future, when we ask them to come out into the streets, theyll be like, I wont be alone.

Some Democratic lawmakers also are facing hostile crowds in their home districts, with voters complaining theyre not doing enough to curb Trumps actions.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Tennesseans have until May 7, 2025 to get their REAL ID to board commercial flights in the U.S. and enter some federal buildings. The state has tried to make it easier for people without updated IDs by adding Saturday appointments at select locations.

After May 7, Tennessee driver licenses and ID cards that arent compliant will not be accepted at certain federal buildings, military bases and nuclear power plants. Additionally, a compliant REAL ID will be necessary to board a commercial flight within the U.S.

Saturday appointments available for those needing REAL IDs in Tennessee

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[We are] here getting the star for my mom, whos 87, so that we can fly her to Florida, Troy Buford, who visited a drivers service center in Nashville, said. The process  its a little arduous.

In February, the Department of Safety and Homeland Security in February added more than 1,400 extra REAL ID appointment slots per day. Additionally, you can go on Saturdays, with weekend appointments available at 14 Driver Services Centers across Tennessee. They include locations in Cookeville, Columbia, Clarksville and Nashville.

Some drivers tell News 2 they took care of getting the update early.



Im so glad I did. Theres a huge line in there for that, Benjamin Bressler told News 2.

Others still need to get it done  but not for lack of trying to fast-track the process online, said Shelby Newbern. I got here at eight oclock and I just got through at 11 but the process itself was like less than ten minutes, but the waiting game was about three hours.

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Department of Safety and Homeland Security officials told News 2 theyd seen an uptick in people trying to go locations in more urban areas rather than rural.

FEBRUARY: Need help finding REAL ID documents? The Tennessee State Library & Archives can help

The [addition of] Saturday hours is a response to the increase in demand for appointments, Charmaine McNeilly, the deputy director of communications, said. One point of confusion is some people think of this as a deadline that they have to get it before May 7th, or they wont be able to get it in the future and that is not the case.

State officials said as of publication, more than 2.7 million Tennesseans already have the updated license.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
A Chatham County man has been sentenced to prison for the armed robbery of a grocery store that wounded two people.

Jordan Richardson, 25, of Savannah, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to interference with commerce by robbery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Richardson must also pay $23,793 in restitution and serve five years of supervised release after completing his prison term.

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There is no parole in the federal system.

Jordan Richardson wounded two people during his brief but violent criminal outburst, said Acting U.S. Attorney Lyons. His crime illustrates the importance of keeping our community safe by taking guns out of the hands of those who are prohibited from possessing them.

According to court documents and testimony, Richardson waited outside the Jones Red and White Food Store on Ogeechee Road in Savannah in July 2022 for an employee to exit the store with a cash deposit.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Richardson pulled a pistol on the employee and attempted to rob them.

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The employee drove away as Richardson fired a shot.

He then got in his own vehicle and chased the employee, firing at least six more shots at the employees vehicle when it stopped at an intersection.

Both the employee and a nearby worker were injured.

A few days later, Richardson was captured by police after an extended vehicle chase through neighborhood streets in which he crashed into two patrol cars.

At the time of the robbery, Richardson was on probation for a previous conviction that included robbery and gun possession.

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It was Feb. 20, 2018, when I boarded a bus headed from Parkland to the Capitol in Tallahassee.

The bus was full of teenagers, including me, with a few adults also acting as chaperons. It was a week after 17 students and administrators had been shot and murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Valentines Day.

Outraged by the gun violence that nearly destroyed their beloved high school, the South Florida teens wanted change. They wanted Florida lawmakers, then in session, to pass some legislation to at least limit assault weapons.

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On the way, I began chatting with some of the students and they learned I had worked in public relations. A sophomore that Id later learn was from Parkland asked, Oh, so you write speeches for a living? I replied, Yeah, something like that.

Hours later, these students packed a Florida Senate committee room. They were about to be given a crash course in decorum and procedures because Tallahassee loves decorum and procedures.

Speaker cards were filled out as they were instructed. Behind me was the young man from the bus. He passed me his cell phone, hands shaking, and kindly asked me to read his speech. He wanted to make sure he focused on his classmates and not on himself. The words described what it was like to watch his classmate shot.

A few more phones were handed to me. I made no corrections to their speeches. All I could muster the strength to say through the tears was, Its perfect.

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The meeting began, and hundreds of speaker cards were turned in. The committee chair read the amendment number out loud, and only one speaker was acknowledged.

Unbeknownst to the crowd, it was Marion Hammer, the renowned Florida spokeswoman with the NRA. She walked up and simply said, We are down on this amendment.

When the Parkland students booed, the committee chair used her gavel and reprimanded the students. These students, who had witnessed the deadliest mass school shooting at that time, were being lectured. The entire room was in an uproar, and after 30 minutes of protest, the students were eventually allowed to speak, but only for two minutes each.

On March 9, 2018, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act was signed into law. Two of its central provisions were raising the purchasing age of a firearm from 18 to 21 and enacting red flag laws, granting law enforcement the ability to remove a firearm from the presence of someone posing a risk to themselves or others.

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This bill was lauded as a bi-partisan win, a step in the right direction, action in the face of decades of inaction in gun control. It has been said that no side of the aisle was happy with the bill. Some thought it went too far, some that it didnt go far enough. Republicans bragged about this bill though, their bill.

Now, the law championed by Parkland kids on a bus, the Republican majority and signed by the Republican governor in 2018, Rick Scott, is on the verge of being overturned by the Republican majority in 2025, spearheaded by another Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.

I had signed up as a chaperone and had no intention of speaking that day in the committee meeting. I was there to support these kids, because thats what they were, kids  fearless, resilient and brave nevertheless. I chose to do my part that day. I filled out a speaker card. I spoke for two minutes.

A few hours later, as we were on our way back home on the bus, several students, including the sophomore whose face Ill never forget, pleaded with me to run for public office. I did, and exactly one year later, I debated new provisions to that bill as a state representative for District 103.

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That bus ride with those Parkland student survivors changed my life in so many ways. But nothing was more impactful than being asked to proofread those students speeches. They wrote those speeches so someone, anyone, would listen.

Once again, albeit seven years later, these students voices are being dismissed and the Parkland 17 are being forgotten.

Who will be the adult in the room this time to put a stop to it?

Cindy Polo is a mother and former state representative for District 103.

Cindy Polo, former state rep












(NewsNation)  The Trump administration has announced plans to significantly reduce headcount at the Small Business Administration, the government entity that the president says may be better suited to handling the nations $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio.

SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler on Friday said her office, which helps small businesses with expertise and financial assistance, would reduce staff by 43%. This would decrease the SBAs number of employees to pre-pandemic levels of 3,800 from 6,500 currently.

By eliminating non-mission-critical positions and consolidating functions, we will revert to the staffing levels of the last Trump Administration, Loeffler said in a statement.

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What happens if the Department of Education is abolished?

The move comes as Trump is seeking to reduce the scope of government. His targets include the Department of Education. Trump wants to completely dismantle it, although many agree this would need congressional approval.

The president has suggested moving some Education Department functions to other federal offices. He said the SBA, for example, could take over the administration of student loans, which total about $1.7 trillion across more than 40 million borrowers.

Critics say that is a bad idea.

This can only result in borrowers experiencing erratic and inconsistent management of their federal student loans, Jessica Thompson, senior vice president of the Institute of College Access and Success, told The Associated Press. Errors will prove costly to borrowers and ultimately, to taxpayers.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation.
Mikal Mahdi has been described as a cold-blooded killer. In 2006, Mahdi was convicted and sentenced to death in South Carolina for the murder of an off-duty police captain. The ambush-style murder came in the middle of a series of crimes that also saw Mahdi, then 21, kill a North Carolina store clerk over a can of beer.

This is a man with absolutely no respect for human life, said S.C. First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe during the closing arguments of Mahdis trial for the killing of James Myers, an Orangeburg Public Saftey officer . To prove his point, Pascoe recounted how Mahdi told the police officer arresting him in Florida that the only reason he didnt shoot him was the gun was on a three-round burst and I didnt think I could get you, the other guy and the officers K-9 partner.

But with his execution looming, Mahdis attorneys say that the Virginia-native never had an opportunity for his story to be told. Instead, his trial attorneys put up a blink and youll miss it defense, according to a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed Wednesday with the South Carolina Supreme Court.

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The defense Mahdi received at his original sentencing trial lasted only 30 minutes. It didnt even span the length of a Law & Order episode, and was just as superficial, according to the filing.

Crucially his current legal team says, it didnt address his abusive childhood under the grip of his seriously mentally ill father, or his depression and suicidal thoughts, which were worsened by hundreds of hours he spent in solitary confinement while imprisoned throughout much of his adolescence.

When he committed the murders at the age of 21, Mahdi was reckless, and hopeless, according to his attorneys. He had little regard for the lives of others at that point in his life, but he also had no regard for his own. Mahdi ... had completely given up on himself, they wrote.

Mahdis childhood trauma meant that he suffered from PTSD, depression and had thoughts of suicide, according to his attorneys. One expert they cited said that Mahdi had eight instances of adverse childhood experiences, placing him the top .001 percent for childhood trauma. Each adverse childhood experience increased the risk of violent behavior by 35% to 44%, according to studies cited by Mahdis attorneys, which include the federal public defenders for the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Judge Clifton Newman, who determined Mahdis sentence in a bench trial after he pleaded guilty, never heard many of these mitigating facts because Mahdis original lawyers put up such a short defense. These facts could have saved Mahdi from being sentenced to death, his current attorneys say.

Judge Clifton Newman gestures as he address Mikal Deen Mahdi during Mahdis sentencing in December 2006 in St. Matthews, S.C. Newman sentenced Mahdi, a Virginia man, to death for killing an off-duty police officer.

Mahdi is scheduled to be executed April 11. If the sentence is carried out, he will be the fifth person executed since South Carolina resumed executions in September 2024 following an 11-year-hiatus. The state was forced to stop executions in 2013 when they ran out of the chemicals needed to perform lethal injections.

Last week, the S.C.Supreme Court granted a rare stay of execution to death row inmate Steven Bixby, ordering a hearing to determine if he was competent to stand trial. Bixby shot and killed two law enforcement officers during a standoff in 2003, motivated by what court records characterized as his sovereign citizen beliefs.

Who is Mikal Mahdi?

Mahdi was born in Virginia in 1983. According to the habeas petition, his father, Shareef, was controlling and abusive towards his mother, Vera. One of Mahdis earliest memories was of his father slamming his mother through a glass table, according to the filing. Vera would later flee Shareef, leaving her children with her husband.

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But Shareef, who would later be diagnosed with schizophrenia, did not have the skills to be a single parent, according to the filing from Mahdis defense team, which references medical and court records as well as interviews with people who knew the family. He could not keep a job and was always moving, including once forcing his family to live in the woods on his mothers property, according to the court filings.{}

Dr. Donna Schwartz-Watts, a psychiatrist who evaluated Mahdi during his earlier appeals wrote, the amounts of disruptions that he had in his childhood, I have never seen anything like it . . . . There was just no stability in his early development at all.

While Mahdis school attendance was inconsistent, Myra Harris, Mahdis third-grade teacher, described him as initially withdrawn, but in time he opened up and revealed himself to be an artistic and creative child, according to her affidavit contained in a legal filing.

From a young age, Mahdi expressed a desire to kill himself. When committed to a psychiatric facility at the age of nine, Mahdi said that his greatest wish was to have his family back together and if he could not have that he would jump off a bridge, shoot myself, or kill myself with my bow and arrows, according to the legal filing.

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At the age of 11, Shareef took Mahdi out of school to home school him. But Shareef, who had an intense distrust of white people, instead focused on taking Mahdi and his brother on hikes through the woods, teaching them how to fight and defend themselves against the coming New World Order and white folks coming to kill them, according to the legal filing.

Throughout his teens, Mahdi was repeatedly imprisoned in juvenile facilities. The filing describes one notable case when his father had failed to take him to his court hearing. When sheriffs deputies arrived to arrest Mahdi, his father initiated a 16-hour-long standoff leading to deputies breaking the door down with a battering ram.

While being arrested at the standoff, the teenage Mahdi reportedly said he would kill a cop before he died. Prosecutors at Mahdis trial drew attention to this statement. But Mahdis current attorneys say they missed the proper context, which was that Shareef initiated the standoff and Mahdi was trying to impress his dad.

From the ages of 14 to 17, Mahdi spent more than two months in solitary confinement, often for days at a time. While incarcerated for assault from 18 to 21, Mahdi spent eight months in solitary confinement at Wallens Ridge State Prison, a notoriously violent and racially charged prison in Virginia, according to the legal filing.

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Mahdi committed his crimes shortly after his release from Wallens Ridge. However, his original trial attorneys only provided a fleeting glimpse of the abuse that Mahdi suffered throughout his childhood, according to the filing. Having only tried one previous death penalty case, the lawyers were inexperienced and did not find witnesses outside of family members to talk about Mahdis childhood.

But Mahdis current attorneys will have to overcome the fact that this evidence was presented as part of an appeal in 2011. However, they argue that recent discoveries about brain development and the impact of trauma and isolation on the adolescent brain in the past decade have shed new light on Mahdis crimes.
ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo.  After last weeks severe storms swept through the St. Louis area, scammers are now targeting St. Charles County residents and other states, impersonating Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat for Humanity of St. Charles County is warning residents about imposters claiming to represent them.

These scammers are contacting people through phone calls, texts and social media, asking for personal information and even falsely offering free roofing services.

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We were alarmed when we learned that scammers were using the good reputation of habitat for humanity, said Michelle Woods, executive director of Habitat for Humanity. People learned to trust Habitat for Humanity and the good work we are doing in the community and so we were disappointed that it could be used to hurt someone else.

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Locally, the St. Charles affiliate has seen this scam mostly on Facebook, but the threat is real, and habitat is urging residents to be cautious.

Habitat For Humanity has over 1,200 local affiliates throughout the United States and this is a scam they are seeing in other states right now, Woods said.

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Habitat for humanity is a trusted name, helping families furnish homes on a budget and build new lives.

One customer is thankful for the organization.

Theyve been a blessing to me. I was able to furnish my home on a tight budget after moving here to Missouri, John Walsh, a customer, said. Theyve just gone above and beyond.

Walsh expressed frustration that scammers are trying to discredit the organization he loves.

Unfortunately, robocalls and scams are on the rise, with over 2.4 billion scam-related calls recorded in February alone, according to youmail, the nations best robocall-blocking solution.

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To help spot scams, FOX 2 spoke with the Better Business Bureau.

Estranged wifes family of Fenton man killed by police release statement

If you feel like they are pushing you to do something this minute, take a step back (and) ask again who theyre with, said Sarah Wetzel, director of Communications for Better Business Bureau. Ask for contact information, but at the end of the day, what you really need to do is contact that organization directly.

BBB recommends checking their scam tracker here to see if a scam has been reported in your area or to report one yourself.

If youve experienced storm damage, remember to contact your insurance company directly. Never pay anyone upfront until an official claims adjuster has inspected your property

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If you think youve been targeted by scammers posing as habitat for humanity, contact them directly at 636-978-5712.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 2.
Britains biggest teaching union is to claim Englands curriculum installs a racist notion of British identity.

Teachers at the National Education Union (NEU) annual conference next month will call for lessons to be based on equality and social justice rather than dogma and push for an anti-racism curriculum.

One motion set to be discussed at the event in Harrogate will claim many curriculum areas do not fully represent the histories, perspectives and contributions of diverse groups in our society.

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In the same motion, the union will call for a curriculum that is culturally reflective and makes all students feel valued and empowered.

In a second motion, staff will say the [current] curriculum is not based on the holistic needs of the child but on narrow, government-imposed dogma  and was designed to install a racist notion of British identity.

NEU, which has nearly 500,000 members, wants to see black history added to the national curriculum - Guy Smallman/Getty Images Europe

Teachers criticism of what children are taught comes as the government-commissioned curriculum and assessment review published its interim report this week.

In it, Prof Becky Francis, who is leading the review, says the curriculum needs to do more to deliver equality duties and ensure that all young people feel represented.

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The review cites pupils who claim they have encountered negative portrayals that can be disempowering and demotivating. The reviews final report, which will outline what should be taught, will be published in autumn.

Despite the issues identified by the interim report, students from black and Asian backgrounds outperform white pupils in Englands schools.

The NEU, which has nearly 500,000 members, wants to see black history added to the national curriculum.

It points to Wales, where the teaching in schools of black, Asian and minority ethnic histories and experiences is mandatory and teacher training is being decolonised.

White-washed history

In England, current history lessons, drawn up under Michael Gove in 2013, have been described by some activists as a white-washed version of UK history. Teaching focuses predominantly on British history, key figures and chronology, although topics from world history are included.

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Objections have been raised to the requirement for schools to actively promote fundamental British values  democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance. The requirement was introduced as part of the counter-extremism Prevent strategy in 2014.

The National Union of Teachers  which became the NEU  levelled accusations that the concept of British values could lead to cultural supremacism.

Critics on Saturday accused the NEU of declaring war on Britishness.

Promotion of white guilt

Chris McGovern, the chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, who advised Mr Gove on the national curriculum for history, said: The current national curriculum does not require the teaching of any specific historical figure or event, not even the World Wars or Churchill.

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It does require, however, that either Islamic West African or Central American history be taught. The curriculum is racist only in terms of allowing the promotion of white guilt about white privilege.

The NEU is guilty of seeking to build an intolerant empire of wokeism. Their curriculum decolonisation programme is fascistic in its intolerance. They are declaring a racist war on white Britishness.

Iain Mansfield, head of education at Policy Exchange said: The national curriculum is rigorous, knowledge-rich and inclusive, with students having the opportunity to study a diverse range of British and world history, including topics such as slavery and the British Empire.

Polling for Policy Exchanges Portrait of Modern Britain report showed that 72 per cent of people, including a majority of every ethnic group, thought that children raised in Britain should be taught to be proud of Britain and its history.

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The Telegraph has approached the NEU for comment.

In another conference motion, the NEU will accuse Israel of genocide and apartheid in Palestine and call for resources to be used in schools to raise awareness about the situation in Palestine.

Teachers are demanding a ban on companies involved in weapon production being invited into schools and colleges. Companies such as BAE Systems and Leonardo have long-established STEM projects in UK schools and visit schools to give advice on careers, apprenticeships and work experience opportunities.

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As popular as ChatGPT has become, it apparently has a major gender problem.

In an interview with PsyPost, University of Chicago economist Anders Humlum explained that in his research, he's encountered a "staggering gender gap in the adoption of ChatGPT."

At the end of last year, Humlum and his colleague Emilie Vestergaard of the University of Copenhagen revealed in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that women were 16 percentage points behind men in ChatGPT adoption.

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This trend was evident, the economist told PsyPost, "even among workers in the same jobs handling similar job tasks." Among the eleven "exposed" occupations they assessed  from software developers to teachers and legal professionals to customer service reps  journalists and marketing professionals were the most likely to use OpenAI's flagship chatbot, with roughly 64 percent attesting that they use it for work.

Curiously, financial advisors and accountants had the lowest share of ChatGPT use, weighing in at just 18 percent of workers in those fields who said they use it for work. That could be because, as the paper notes, they "handle sensitive information" as part of their daily duties.

Across the occupations surveyed, however, women were always behind men on adoption rates. Only about 62 percent of female journalists and marketers reported that they use ChatGPT for work  and the disparity was greater for women who work in financial advising, with fewer than 10 percent saying they had used it on the job.

So what's behind the gender gap in ChatGPT adoption? To put it frankly, the researchers haven't quite figured that bit out.

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As Humlum and Vestergaard noted in their paper, women are "about as optimistic as men about the time savings from ChatGPT," and seem to even save a bit more time than their male counterparts in the workplace when they do use it. There's some evidence that women have more "adoption friction"  aversion, basically  to AI due to a lack of training with the tech, and women were more likely than men to say they "do not know how" to use ChatGPT.

The researchers pointed to another 2024 survey that looked into student ChatGPT usage in Norway for potential answers. In the first half of that study, researchers at Norway's Institute of Economics found that of the more than 500 students they surveyed, men were between 10 and 25 percentage points more likely than women to use ChatGPT regularly.

Overall, that Norwegian study found that "female students use ChatGPT much less, are less proficient at writing ChatGPT prompts, and are more sensitive to bans on using ChatGPT," Humlum and Vestergaard wrote. While their Nordic counterparts didn't have any hard-and-fast explanations for that gender gap, both studies documenting the trend make it seem pretty legit.

As he told PsyPost, Humlum is most interested in figuring out "how generative AI is reshaping labor markets"  but this finding was, nevertheless, "a big surprise for us."

More on AI and work: People With This Level of Education Use AI the Most at Work
PHILADELPHIA, PA (SDSU)  Cade DeVos suffered his first loss of the tournament Friday night as he dropped a close contest to No. 1 seed Keegan OToole in the semi-finals.

With a trip to the finals on the line, DeVos stepped up to face the unbeaten OToole. OToole struck first, scoring a takedown in the opening period as DeVos answered back with an escape.

The second period was all DeVos as he scored another escape from the bottom position, before firing off a single leg shot and scoring a takedown on OToole to take a 5-4 lead heading into the third period.

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From bottom position, OToole turned the tide in the third period, scoring a reversal to take a 6-5 lead and adding up ride time to over a minute. DeVos escaped with 30 seconds left in the bout and fired off a shot, getting in deep on the right leg of OToole. But it proved too late as the unbeaten OToole took the match, 7-6, via the ride time point.

UP NEXT

Cade DeVos is back in action at the NCAA Tournament wrestlebacks during session five, which begins at 10 a.m. CT. He will wrestle Patrick Kennedy from Iowa in the wrestlebacks.

RESULTS*

174  No. 13 Cade DeVos (SDSU)

Session 4

Decision loss to No. 1 Keegan OToole (Mizzou), 7-6

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*NCAA Seeds

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Scientists might soon be able to forecast when the see is gonna turn red - and dont worry, it has nothing to do with the apocalypse.

For the first time, researchers identified nearly a dozen viruses associated with red tides off Floridas coast that are harmful and costly.

Also known as harmful algae blooms, red tides  the massive growth of algae that is tied to multiple organisms  are driven by wind and water currents, nutrients that run into the water, extreme weather events and unusually high temperatures.

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They can kill birds, fish and other sea creatures and lead to health problems in humans, including shortness of breath and even death. Blooms can force health authorities to close beaches.

Scientists say theyve made a discovery that could help forecast the blood-colored red tide events, The algae blooms can be both harmful and expensive to deal with (AFP via Getty Images)

We know that viruses play an important role in the dynamics of harmful algal blooms, but we havent known what viruses might be associated with Karenia brevis blooms, Jean Lim, a postdoctoral researcher at the USF College of Marine Science, said in a statement. Now that weve identified several viruses in red tide blooms, we can work to determine which viruses might have an influence on these events.

Identifying the viruses can help forecast when the blooms occur and better understand what causes them to stop.

Red tide is a type of naturally occurring algae bloom that impacts the Sunshine State nearly every year: generally cropping up in the late summer or early fall, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which was a partner of the research.

Red tides are harmful algae blooms. They can kill animals and, in rare cases, humans (Getty Images)

Lasting usually for between three and five months, they can result in losses estimated at millions of dollars and affect hundreds of square miles. A swath stretching more than 200 miles impacted areas from Tampa Bay to Key West last month, according to WUSF, and Argentina saw beaches turn a shocking crimson at around the same time.

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Karenia brevis is the organism that causes red tide.

During red tide events, the researchers collected Karenia brevis bloom samples to analyze in a lab. They used a method called viral metagenomics, a process that determines the make-up of the samples DNA, to find the viruses.

Blooms of the harmful algae Karenia brevis organism occur regularly along the west coast of Florida. Theyre often spurred by rising temperatures (NASA Earth Observatory)

They dont yet know how the viruses they found influence red tide blooms, but researchers say that because viruses target certain organisms, specific viruses may only infect Karenia brevis.

The researchers are working to determine whether the viruses have an influence on that organism or others in red tide blooms. Finding a potential link between how blooms occur and the presence of viruses could help to predict these events in the future.

For example, an increase in the number of viruses found in a sample might suggest that a red tide bloom is about to begin, or that it is going to end, Lim, who is the lead author of the research published in the American Society for Microbiologys journal mSphere, explained.
A second teen was arrested Friday in the deadly shooting of a 57-year-old woman who was trying to defend her husband and son from the violent pair of muggers back in September, cops said.

Joshua Bell, 19, was charged with murder, robbery, burglary and criminal possession of a weapon in the Sept. 9 murder of Ying Zhu Liu, who was callously shot in the face in the hallway of the familys Lower Manhattan condo building at 44 Market Street, police said.

The violent ordeal unfolded around 11 p.m. when the two ski mask-wearing suspects followed Lius husband, Shen Yan, 61, into the condos elevator around 10:50 p.m. and pulled a handgun on him, according to police.

Joshua Bell, 19, was arrested Friday in connection to the Sept. 9 shooting murder of 57-year-old Ying Zhu Liu inside her Two Bridges condo building, cops said. William Farrington

The young criminals then snatched Yans Samsung phone and $100 in cash, according to a criminal complaint.

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When the elevator doors opened on the 8th floor  where Yan lived with his family  the dad saw his 32-year-old son, Lin Rong Yan, waiting for him in the hallway and delivered a chilling warning.

Stay back, they have a gun, he said, according to the filing.

The younger Yan tried to intervene, only to receive a pistol-whipping that fractured his face and nose.

Thats when Liu, who heard the commotion, stepped out of the apartment to come to her husband and sons aid.

One of the muggers then raised a handgun and fired a single shot into Lius face from three feet away  causing her to fall to the floor, where blood gushed out of her mouth and head.

Liu had been trying to defend her husband and son from the violent muggers. Obtained by the NY Post

Liu, a home health aide, was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Bell, who was wearing a white T-shirt over a cream colored shirt and shorts, and black sandals with socks, said nothing as detectives led him out of the 5th Precinct stationhouse Friday afternoon.

He was arraigned Friday evening and promptly sent to Rikers Island correctional facility, a police source said.

Bell said nothing but looked around when he was escorted out of the 5th Precinct stationhouse by detectives. William Farrington

He was such a piece of st, the source said. They fast-tracked him.

Bell, who was last arrested in August of 2023 for robbery, according to cops, was awaiting arraignment Friday evening.

Dante Schaller, 16, who was arrested 10 days after the murder, faced the same charges as Bell, cops said.

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The Manhattan DAs Office has confirmed that Schaller, who turned 16 just days before the fatal shooting, will be prosecuted as an adult.

He had an open felony case for assaulting a police officer, sources said.

Additional reporting by Tina Moore and Georgett Roberts
The head of security at the popular seaside resort of Tulum on the Mexican Caribbean coast has been shot dead in a drive-by shooting, authorities said.

Armed assailants on a motorbike opened fire on Jose Roberto Rodriguez and his bodyguard on Friday night, according to the security ministry of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

One of the suspects was also killed in the shootout. According to media reports, Rodriguez was hit by six shots and succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

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Tulum and neighbouring Cancun are among the most popular vacation destinations in Mexico.

While the Riviera Maya area has long been spared the violence prevalent in many parts of Mexico, bloody clashes have occasionally occurred in the holiday hotspot in the past few years.
TPUSA Co-founder and podcaster Charlie Kirk spoke to Utah Sen. Mike Lee on the latest episode of his show, posted Friday afternoon, to discuss the recent attacks launched on Tesla dealerships.

Kirk said he and his staff receive death threats daily and asked Lee for his thoughts.

Lee called the vandalism and attack domestic terrorism.

They want people to be in fear. Thats why they do it, he said.

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People committing violent crimes or damaging property in the name of political activism have been trained by the radical Left to think there will be no consequence for doing this, that theyll be applauded, that theyll be rewarded, Lee said.

Lee believes this most recent movement has grown to the extent it has because Democratic leaders are not condemning the behavior loudly enough.

We havent seen politicians on the Left, elected office holders in the Democratic Party in any significant numbers, coming out and saying, Stop this madness. End this. Stop the death threats, stop the painting of the swastikas, the vandalism, all forms of violence. Youve seen that not at all, he said.

Lee mentioned that Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is one of the few in his party who has publicly condemned the attacks.

Sen. Lee criticizes Jimmy Kimmels Tuesday show, and Kimmel comes back with more, Thursday

Kirk then played a clip of ABC late night show host Jimmy Kimmel jokingly telling viewers not to vandalize Teslas on his show Wednesday.

Does ABC approve of Jimmy Kimmels on-air incitement of criminal behavior?



Will ABC take any action or make any statement in response to it?



If not, why not? https://t.co/J1n6j28jcu pic.twitter.com/J2JdvGkl5F  Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) March 19, 2025

This isnt funny. Its not cute. It shouldnt be allowed on public airwaves, and Im frankly stunned that his network hasnt called him out on it, hasnt apologized, hasnt taken some action against him from doing this, Lee said of the Kimmel episode.

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Kimmel addressed the Tesla attacks again during his Thursday night show, taking things one step further.

While no one should be setting anything on fire, ever, people are mad at Elon Musk for randomly and gleefully putting thousands of Americans, including veterans, out of work. But the MAGA gang  which has been very against any kind of violent protest since January 7, was it? 2021? Thats when they started being against it. They are highly upset," Kimmel said.

Toward the end of the segment, Kimmel added, Well, let me see if I can explain it for you: when you pull out a chainsaw to celebrate firing thousands of people, they get mad! This poor guy. You do one, maybe two Nazi salutes and everybody gets all bent out of shape.

Lee told Kirk that Kimmels original episode insinuating that viewers should take violent action against the car company was shameful.

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Look, regardless of what your political views are, as an American, you should be able to look at this objectively and say, Violence and acts of violence arent a good thing, Lee said.

Lee describes Democratic senators attitudes toward the Tesla attacks

Kirk asked Lee what the general sentiment among Democratic senators has been like on Capitol Hill about the Tesla madness.

They havent been inclined to talk about it, and then when Democratic politicians do talk about it, they dont announce it, Lee responded.

Lee then referenced a speech Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz gave at the Wisconsin State Capitol on Tuesday.

There isnt anything necessarily wrong with Walz monitoring certain stocks and figur(ing) out what kind of stock prices make him happy and make him sad, Lee said.

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Its weird though, he continued, given that his own states retirement fund is pretty heavily invested in Tesla, as I understand it. So hes celebrating the diminution in value of his own state workers, his own state retirees retirement benefits.

The senator asked, Why wouldnt he take that opportunity to say, Regardless of whether you want to celebrate when Tesla stock prices go down, knock it off with the violence. He didnt do that.

Theres a reason he didnt do that, Lee said. And I fear what it means for the future of our country, and Democrats should fear what that means for the future of the Democratic Party.
Democrat Sen. Jeff Merkley has opened a whistleblower portal for government and non-government workers to report waste, fraud, and abuse.

The move, first reported by Axios on Friday, comes amid the so-called Department of Government Efficiencys (DOGE) widespread cuts to federal agencies and congressionally authorized departments, which have spurred many legal challenges.

Merkley is the ranking member of the Senates budget committee, whose chairman is Republican Lindsey Graham. In addition to the Senate, Republicans hold a majority in the House, so any investigations into DOGE and the Trump administration would require some GOP support, which is unlikely.

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In a statement, Merkley noted that many of the Trump administrations actions cutting the federal government werent approved by Congress and, he argued, were illegal.

Since President Trump took office, the Administration has made several consequential decisions to radically change the federal government, including canceling programs, suspending grants, clawing back money, reorganizing departments, and firing federal employees, the Oregon senator said.

Many of these actions have occurred without Congresss approval and in direct violation of the law and the Constitution, Merkley continued. The President is not a king, and we will make sure he is held accountable.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Gary Peters launched a similar whistleblower portal last month.

As Senate Republicans refuse to fulfill their constitutional duty to provide a check on the executive branch, Senate Democrats remain steadfast in our commitment to uncovering the truth, they said then. We are prepared to issue demand letters, preserve public records and pursue legal action where necessary.
Senate Budget and Taxation Committee voted Friday for amendments to the Blueprint for Maryland's Future that splits the difference between House and administration versions. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)

A Senate committee advanced parts of Marylands sweeping education reform plan Friday, splitting the difference between versions of the bill advanced by the House and the Moore administration and setting up a showdown in the waning days of the legislature.

The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee approved a four-year pause in the start of funding for teacher collaborative time  something the administration supports  but also voted to keep funding for community schools  something the House insisted on.

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Senate Bill 429 still needs to be taken up by a second Senate panel, the Education, Energy and the Environment Committee, which is scheduled for Monday. That gives lawmakers just two weeks to approve a Senate bill and hammer out differences with the House before the April 7 end of the General Assembly session.

The so-called Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act was sparked by the states fiscal crisis and by the repeated call from local school officials for flexibility in the implementation of the Blueprint for Marylands Future, the sweeping 10-year, multibillion-dollar education reform plan.

Gov. Wes Moore introduced a bill that keeps the goals of the plan largely intact, but delays funding and implementation of some portions.

One portion is the proposal for an increase in teacher collaborative time, or time that teachers spend on planning, training and working with individual students, as opposed to time in front of a classroom. The Blueprint calls for teachers classroom time to be cut from 80% of their day to 60%; the administration bill would delay the start of that for four years, in part because it would require the hiring of at least 12,000 new teachers at a time when the state faces a teacher shortage.

The House rejected that plan, and set collaborative time to begin in 2026. But the Senate went with the governors version in what Budget and Taxation Committee Chair Guy Guzzone (D-Howard) called a pacing of the initiative.

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Whenever you dont extend the full amount, if, in fact, you want to get to the full amount, by definition, it has to go out further, Guzzone told reporters after the committees vote.

The committee did agree with the House version and rejected the administrations call for a two-year freeze on funding for community schools, those located in low-income neighborhoods Sen. President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) has said such a delay would negatively affect students.

The Senate committee also agreed with the House to hold harmless funding for multilingual learners, students in poverty and those in special education  exempting those students from any per pupil funding reductions that might come down. The committee on Friday also added students at the Maryland School for the Blind, Maryland School for the Deaf and the SEED School of Maryland.

The committee was more generous than either the House or the administration when it comes to Consortium on Coordinated Community Supports, a part of the Blueprint plan that deals with mental health, behavioral and other wraparound services for students. The House agreed with the governor that it should be cut from $130 million this year to $40 million in fiscal 2026, but senators want to cut the fund to $70 million next year and raise it to $100 million in fiscal 2027 and each year after.

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But senators sided with the administration on foundation funding, or per pupil spending. Under the Blueprint, it was slated to grow from $8,789 per pupil this year to $9,226 next year, but the administration proposed reducing the growth to $9,063 next year and slowing the pace of growth for several years after. The Senate committee agreed, but the House voted to keep the original Blueprint funding levels.

With an eye toward looming cuts to the federal government, another Senate amendment made Friday would freeze funding increases if federal funds or revenue projections by the states Board of Revenues in December decrease by 3.75%.

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE

Senate Majority Leader Nancy King (D-Montgomery), a member of the Budget and Taxation Committee, earlier this week defended delays in Blueprint goals for the time being.

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Theres a lot of good thats already come out of the Blueprint, and a lot more that is going to come as we go, King said Tuesday. I dont think it would be a bad thing if we just slowed it [collaborative time] down a bit.

The Senate Education, Energy and the Environment will review, and possibly vote on, the other parts of the bill Monday that deal with teacher programs, initiatives and other incentives before sending it to the full Senate for consideration and then back to the House.

Del. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said during a press conference Thursday to announce a framework for the overall fiscal 2026 budget, that negotiations on the Blueprint are ongoing. But Atterbeary said she and Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince Georges and Anne Arundel), chair of the Appropriations Committee, have made their positions pretty clear.

Where we stand and where the House stands in  protecting those that are most vulnerable, particularly those in community schools, she said. So well see what the Senate does, and well link up with them and negotiate that in the days to come.
(WHTM)  US Senator David McCormick and Congressman Lloyd Smucker were in the Midstate Friday where they discussed a bilingual workforce.

The event was held at Tec Centro in Lancaster which provides bilingual training in critical career fields. Both the senator and congressman agreed Pennsylvania needs to foster this type of education, to give people more opportunities and help companies fill positions.

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With great programs, welder, HVAC, electricians and a variety of key skills that Pennsylvania needs to grow and prosper this is a great model, McCormick said.

As they toured the facility Senator McCormick was asked about President Trumps executive order to dismantle the department of education which has been around for 45 years. Heres what he said.

During that time our education system mostly secondary public schools went from best in the country best in the world top of the world to 30th our kids arent learning all the things they need so the key thing I think President Trump is trying to do is push the responsibility back to the state back to the local communities thats whats going to create great schools and great opportunity, McCormick said.

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Senator McCormick says theres no expectation that there will be any cuts to education funding sent to states and programs. A drop in federal funding is something educators are very worried about.

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LEBANON, Tenn. (WKRN)  A teenager is facing charges following an overnight shooting at a motel in Lebanon that left one person injured.

The Lebanon Police Department said the incident occurred at Dixs Plaza Motor Lodge on West Main Street on Friday, March 21, prompting a large police presence. The Criminal Investigations Division was called there to help investigate and process the crime scene.

Oakland High School student charged with felony for bringing loaded handgun to school

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According to authorities, one male was taken to a Nashville hospital with at least one gunshot wound to the upper body, but he was released during the early morning hours on Saturday, March 22.

Police said the preliminary investigation revealed this was an isolated incident involving tenants of the property.

CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime-related reports from across Middle Tennessee

Officials initially reported several suspects were taken into custody, but in a Saturday night update, they only mentioned 18-year-old Ronald Trivett III, who was arrested for four counts of aggravated assault.

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No additional details have been released about this ongoing investigation.

 Download the News 2 app to stay updated on the go.

 Sign up for WKRN email alerts to have breaking news sent to your inbox.

 Find todays top stories on WKRN.com for Nashville, TN and all of Middle Tennessee.

This is a developing story. WKRN News 2 will continue to update this article as new information becomes available.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
DISCLAIMER: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS)  Authorities are actively searching for a man wanted in connection with an attempted first-degree rape of a young child.

Shreveport Police detectives are investigating a sexual assault allegation involving a young child while in the care of Melvin Robinson.

See the areas Most Wanted

(Courtesy of Shreveport Police Department)

Detectives with the Shreveport Police Departments Sex Crimes Unit urge anyone with information on Robinsons whereabouts to contact SPD immediately at 318-673-7300.

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Information can be shared anonymously through Caddo Crime Stoppers at 318-673-7373.

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Mar. 21Rabies was found in a skunk in Curry County this week  the first such confirmed case of the virus in New Mexico this year.

David Morgan, a state Department of Health spokesperson, said in a news release Friday that the skunk was found in Clovis but gave no other details.

"Rabies is uncommon in household pets like dogs and cats  because responsible pet owners make sure their animals are up-to-date on their rabies boosters," Dr. Erin Phipps, state public health veterinarian, said in a statement. "Rabies vaccination is the best defense to protect your pet from infection."

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Rabies is a deadly virus that affects mammals, particularly wildlife like skunks, bats and foxes in the state.

The NMDOH gave several recommendations to protect yourself from the disease: do not approach wild animals, dead or alive; report any wildlife "acting out of the ordinary" to Game and Fish; if bitten by an animal, immediately wash the injury and report it to animal control; keep pets on a leash, and consider vaccinating horses and livestock.
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD)  A North Carolina man accused of stabbing a Mount Pleasant Police officer has been charged with attempted murder.

According to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Mount Pleasant officer was responding to a 911 call about a person who had exposed himself at a bank in the East Cooper Plaza shopping center on the evening of March 18.

Once there, the officer encountered an armed man, identified as 42-year-old Jason McConnell Yount, of Newton, on Johnnie Dodds Boulevard. Thats where SLED officials say there was an altercation where Yount stabbed the officer, and the officer shot him.

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The officer and Yount were both taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. They have since been released from the hospital.

Yount was charged by SLED with attempted murder Thursday. The investigation is ongoing.

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Note: This video is from March 12, 2025.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.  The bill for the state to take control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department is one step away from being put into law by Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe. But one extra line in the bill would force the sheriff to have additional training before taking office.

Missouri House Bill 495, sponsored by Rep. Brad Christ, R-Sunset Hills, states that the sheriff of any city not within a county shall be required to hold a valid peace officer license pursuant to chapter 590 within two years of being elected as sheriff.

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According to the Missouri Department of Public Safety, in order to be eligible for applying, they must meet the following requirements:

21 years of age or older

Is a U.S. citizen

Holds valid high school diploma or equivalent

Graduate of Basic Law Enforcement Training Center

Passes the Missouri Peace Officer License Exam

No criminal history

Applicants must complete a minimum of 600 hours in training in the state of Missouri, but some academies, such as the MSHP, require double the amount, according to Department of Public Safety Communications Director Mike OConnell.

The minimum basic training includes subject areas legal studies, interpersonal perspectives, technical studies and skill development.

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Estranged wifes family of Fenton man killed by police release statement

Currently, the City of St. Louis has the following requirements to run for sheriff:

U.S. Citizen

Resident of the city for one year

Taxpayer in City of St. Louis

No felony convictions

This part of the bill comes at a time when new St. Louis Sheriff Alfred Montgomery is facing lawsuits and scrutiny less than four months into his term.

Former sheriffs deputy Darryl Wilson was working security at a south St. Louis gas station when he said Montgomery arrived and told him he was under arrest. Wilson said Montgomery also demanded his security license and personal gun.

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Additionally, attorneys stated last month that Montgomery lied when confronted about making an employee roll dice to keep his job.

Most recently, St. Louis Jail Commissioner Tammy Ross filed a lawsuit against Montgomery earlier this month for allegedly detaining Ross for refusing access to an inmate. The sheriff reportedly wanted his department to interview an alleged rape victim, whom police spokesman Mitch McCoy said was off-limits after police had conducted an interview.

Kehoe is expected to sign the bill into law on March 24.

FOX 2 reached out to bill sponsor Brad Christ and Sheriff Alfred Montgomery for comment, but neither has responded upon publication of this story.

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WELCH, W.Va. (AP)  Veronica Taylor doesn't know how to turn on a computer, let alone use the internet.

The 73-year-old can't drive and is mostly housebound in her mountainous and remote West Virginia community, where a simple trip to the grocery store can take an hour by car.

New requirements that Social Security recipients access key benefits online or in person at a field office, rather than on the phone, would be nearly impossible to meet without help.

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If thats the only way I had to do it, how would I do it? Taylor said, talking about the changes while eating a plate of green beans, mac and cheese and fried fish with a group of retirees at the McDowell County Senior Center. I would never get nothing done.

The requirements, set to go into effect March 31, are intended to streamline processes and combat widespread fraud within the system, according to President Donald Trump and officials in his administration.

They say that's why it's vital for people to verify their identity online or in person when signing up for benefits, or making a change like where the money is deposited.

But advocates say the changes will disproportionately impact the most vulnerable Americans. It will be harder to visit field offices in rural areas with high poverty rates. Often these are the same areas that lack widespread internet service.

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Many Social Security field offices are also being shut down, part of the federal government's cost-cutting efforts. That could mean seniors have to travel even farther to visit, including in parts of rural West Virginia.

Donald Reed, who runs a local nonprofit that operates two senior centers, said he has serious concerns about the policy change, and how itll affect the people his group serves.

Im not anti-Trump  let me say that, he said. I think the general public greatly supports looking for waste in government. I do not think the general public understands the consequences of the current actions of the government.

Poor, rural areas could be hardest hit

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One in three people live in poverty in McDowell County, once one of the nations largest coal producers. Around 30% of the population receives Social Security benefits and 20% lack broadband access. People already face huge challenges in accessing basic needs like food and clothing.

Non-profit groups like The Commission on Aging receive money from the federal government to provide rides to the grocery store, medical appointments and free lunch at the county senior center, and could in theory add a stop to the local Social Security office said Reed, who is the groups director.

But the transportation grant money is already not enough to meet the need. Last year, Reed ran out of money during the last three months of the fiscal year and had to dip into the Commissions savings. This year, he said he wont be able to do so.

Then, last Friday, he found out the Commission had lost an almost $1 million grant he expected, again because of the federal governments cost cutting.

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He had planned to use the money to rebuild one of the two county senior centers, an aging 1980s-era doublewide trailer with limited seating.

Once the moneys gone, you know, the moneys gone, he said.

A flurry of new rules, hard for seniors to follow

Seniors at the center gather each weekday for lunch. Usually, they might play bingo or cards. On this day, because of the presence of a reporter from The Associated Press, the conversation turned to politics.

Many are Trump supporters. Every county in West Virginia supported Trump in three presidential elections.

Yet all agreed that the recent flurry of executive orders had been difficult to follow, especially since the countys last local newspaper shuttered, and they werent sure what effect theyd have on their lives.

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I dont understand a lot of the stuff thats going on right now, and I just cant pinpoint things together, you know, said Brenda Hughes, 72, who said she usually goes to the Social Security office in person anyway because she said shes found it difficult to get a hold of the call center. But maybe its meant to be like that.

Mary Weaver, 72, said she doesnt approve of Trump giving Elon Musk so much leeway to cut and change services, and she doesnt see those measures helping McDowell County.

He gone run for president, and hes going to get the presidency, but hes going to let someone else tell him how to run the country? she asked, criticizing Trumps relationship with Musk.

Other residents aren't concerned. Barbara Lester, 64, said she wishes she could sit down with Trump and Musk and tell them theyre doing a fantastic job.

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And with all the money theyre saving from the fraud, they could afford to give their senior citizens an increase, said Lester, who is retired from construction work.

But for Taylor, who depends on rides from the aging commission for most of her outings, the changes to Social Security may be just one more thing that will be difficult.

There are already many places she wants to go and cant get to. None of her grandkids live nearby, her daughter lives in Roanoke, Virginia, and her 39-year-old son, who used to live in the Welch area near her, died. The walk from her house to the Social Security office is six miles.

If I ask people more than two times to take me somewhere, its like begging. And I dont beg nobody to do nothing for me, she said. Im independent like that. I dont beg nobody for nothing."
It's not going to be the total solar eclipse of 2024 but it'll still be a spectacle to behold.

A partial solar eclipse is coming up at the end of the month, according to Space.com, and you still be able to see it in Rhode Island.

This time, only "44,800 (people) will see a 90% or deeper eclipse" and that will only be visible in Northern Quebec, Canada, according to Space.com. But, there still will be a view in Rhode Island.

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Here's what to know about what Rhode Island residents will be able to see during the upcoming eclipse.

When is the partial solar eclipse?

It is coming up on March 29, 2025.

Timeanddate.com stated that it will begin at 6:33 a.m. and will last until around 7:06 a.m. on March 29.

What happens during a partial solar eclipse?

According to NASA, "During a partial solar eclipse, the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, but not perfectly aligned, causing only a portion of the sun to appear covered, resulting in a crescent shape."

What percent of the sun will be covered by the eclipse in Rhode Island?

The eclipse will be visible in the northeast.

"The eclipse will be visible in the eastern states, including Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey," NASA stated on its website. "The eclipse will be strongest in Canada, where over 92% of the sun will be covered."

What's the best way to see the eclipse?

NASA stated on its website that people planning on viewing the event should wear "eclipse glasses or a solar telescope to view the sun during a partial solar eclipse" or else damage could be done to the eyes.

A view of a partial solar eclipse, which Rhode Island residents will be able to see on March 29.

How do I know solar eclipse glasses are safe?

If you buy or are given eclipse glasses, be sure they are made by companies the American Astronomical Society has certified as safe.

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NASA does not certify glasses, so be wary of any manufacturers claiming that to have the space agency's approval.

Eclipse glasses should all have the "ISO" (International Organization for Standardization) icon. The glasses also must have the ISO reference number 12312-2.

If you cannot find certified glasses, there are other ways to view the eclipse, including with a shadow box you can make yourself. Whatever you do, don't look at the sun without proper protection.

How to make solar eclipse glasses?

NASA recommends creating a cereal box viewer, using cereal box, cardboard, foil, paper, scissors and tape or glue. Here are the steps:

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Get an empty, clean cereal box.

Cut a white piece of cardboard that will fit snuggly in the bottom of the box, or secure it permanently by gluing it in place.

Cut the top of the cereal box, removing both ends and leaving the center intact.

Put a piece of tape across the center of the top to securely hold it closed.

Tape a piece of heavy-duty foil or double a single layer for additional strength, covering one of the openings at the top of the cereal box. The other opening will remain open for viewing.

Using a small nail (approximately 3mm in diameter) push a hole in the foil.

Cover the entire box with construction paper, leaving the single-viewing opening and the foil uncovered.

Once it is done, to use it you point the pinhole at the sun and then with your back facing the sun, look through the viewing opening. A small image of the sun should be reflected on the white paper in the box.

When are some other partial solar eclipses happening?

According to NASA, they will occur on:

Sept. 21, 2025 : This partial solar eclipse will be visible in parts of Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Feb. 17, 2026 : This eclipse will be annular in Antarctica, and partial in Antarctica, Africa, South America, and the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans.

Aug. 12, 2026: This eclipse will be total in Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia, and a small part of Portugal. It will be partial in Europe, Africa, North America, and the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Where will the 2025 solar eclipse be visible? RI will have a view
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE)  The man behind multiple shootings at the homes of Democratic officials is expected to be sentenced this summer in federal court. Earlier this week, Solomon Pena, a former New Mexico Republican House candidate, was found guilty on 13 counts related to the shootings. House speaker Javier Martinez, who was the target of one of the shootings, said the conviction shows political violence has no place in New Mexico.

19-year-old shot by APD identified as murder suspect

Pena is scheduled to be sentenced on July 2 at the Albuquerque federal courthouse. He is facing a life sentence.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos.
A man has been arrested and charged in connection with the killing of his parents who were found stabbed Saturday in their Azusa home after police responded to calls of people screaming inside, authorities said.

Gabriel Contreras, 28, was charged Friday with two counts of murder in the slaying of Linda Rodriguez and Arthur Contreras, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He was also charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

The Azusa Police Department found the parents suffering from multiple knife wounds inside a home in the 300 block of North Twintree Avenue around 2 p.m. Saturday, according to the Sheriff's Department. The Los Angeles County Fire Department also responded and pronounced the parents deceased.

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Rodriguez, 50, died from a gunshot wound to the head and multiple sharp force injuries, while the elder Contreras, 58, died from multiple sharp force injuries, according to the L.A. County Department of Medical Examiner.

Read more: Mother charged with murdering her son in an O.C. hotel after three days at Disneyland

The younger Contreras was found outside the home suffering from multiple stab wounds and transported to the hospital in critical condition. On Wednesday, he was arrested by the Azusa Police Department.

He is currently being held in Pomona Municipal Court in lieu of $2-million bail, according to the Sheriff's Department's Inmate Information Center. He was due in court Friday, but information on his plea was not immediately available.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
GUEST OPINION: Your employees are one of your biggest business investments  and like any investment, you want to ensure youre gleaning maximum value. Hiring the right people is only half of the equation. If youre not actively working to maximize their productivity and engagement, you leave potential growth on the table.

So, how do you increase your workforce's return on investment (ROI)? It starts with giving them the tools, training, and environment they need to succeed.

Heres how you can optimize your employees performance and get the most out of your team.

1. Invest in Employee Development

If you want employees to grow, contribute, and take on greater responsibility, they need the right skills and knowledge. Many companies make the mistake of limiting training to the onboarding phase, expecting employees to learn as they go. The problem with this approach is it stunts growth and leaves employees stuck in repetitive, low-value tasks.

Ongoing education and training empower employees to become more capable, efficient, and adaptable, directly benefiting your business. One of the most cost-effective ways to train employees is through online training and certification programs. These allow workers to develop new skills at their own pace without disrupting daily operations. Whether its a leadership course, technical training, or industry-specific certification, giving employees access to continued education makes them more valuable assets to your company.

Employees who learn new skills can take on more responsibilities and improve workflow efficiencies. This increases their personal job satisfaction and simultaneously reduces the need for constant micromanagement.

2. Streamline Workflows

Inefficient workflows are some of the biggest drains on employee productivity. If employees are constantly jumping through unnecessary hoops, waiting on approvals, or dealing with outdated systems, their time is being wasted on non-essential tasks rather than contributing to company growth.

Take a deep dive into your internal processes to identify bottlenecks, redundancies, and unnecessary steps. Start by asking yourself:

Are there repetitive tasks that could be automated?

Are employees spending too much time in meetings instead of working?

Are communication gaps slowing down project completion?

3. Embrace the Right Technology

The right technology can help employees work smarter, not harder. If your company is still relying on outdated software, slow processes, or manual data entry, youre holding your workforce back from being as productive and effective as possible.

Using automation tools and AI-powered solutions can significantly cut down on administrative work and allow employees to spend more time on tasks that matter. We recommend trying:

Project management software to keep teams aligned and deadlines on track

AI-driven automation to handle repetitive tasks like data entry, scheduling, and reporting

Cloud-based collaboration tools to improve remote work and reduce inefficiencies

Providing employees with modern tools like these allows them to work faster, smarter, and with fewer frustrations. The result: higher job satisfaction and better overall performance.

4. Build the Right Culture

Employee productivity is just as much about motivation as it is about skills. If workers feel undervalued or disconnected, theyre unlikely to put in their best effort. On the other hand, a positive workplace culture drives engagement, accountability, and higher performance.

To create an engaged workforce, focus on clear communication, strong leadership, and a culture of recognition. Employees who see that their contributions matter and that leadership values their work are more likely to stay committed and go above and beyond in their roles.

Encourage an environment where employees take ownership of their work by setting clear expectations and holding them accountable for their results. When employees feel responsible for outcomes, they naturally become more invested in the success of the company.

5. Align Strengths With Goals

Too often, companies force employees into rigid job descriptions, failing to recognise their hidden talents and potential.

Instead of assigning tasks solely based on job titles, consider how each employees unique skills can be leveraged to benefit the company. If an employee shows exceptional leadership abilities, consider training them for a management role. If someone has strong problem-solving skills, allow them to work on strategic projects that require creative thinking.

6. Set Clear Performance Metrics

You cant improve what you dont measure. If you want employees to perform at their highest level, they need to understand what success looks like and how their contributions impact the companys overall objectives. Without clear performance metrics, employees may feel like theyre working without direction, leading to inefficiencies and a lack of motivation.

To keep productivity high, establish measurable goals that define what success means in each role. These goals should be specific enough that employees understand exactly whats expected of them, yet realistic enough to be achievable. Employees are more likely to stay engaged when they see a direct connection between their daily tasks and the companys larger goals.

Increase Your ROI

Employees are assets. Yes, they mean more than a piece of equipment  and you cant always quantify their value in the same crude ways that we do a piece of software  but theres still an ROI component anytime you invest tens of thousands of dollars into someone or something. By focusing on the right elements, you can ensure youre maximizing this ROI every step of the way.
The offer is expected to be formally extended during Trump's upcoming state visit to the UK, for which he has already received an invitation.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WBTW)  South Carolinas most economically vulnerable students and their special education peers will continue to be prioritized no matter what happens on the federal level, state superintendent Ellen Weaver told lawmakers this week.

Right now, we are in intensive conversations with our local superintendents and the folks who are coming down from Washington in the new administration to make sure they are hearing from the ground up what the impact of these decisions is going to be, Weaver told a House legislative oversight committee.

Her comments came following a question by state Rep. Wendell Jones, D-Greenville, who asked what the agency was doing to prepare for the possible dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education.

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I can promise you that at the DOE here in South Carolina, we have an ironclad commitment to ensure that our low-income and special needs students dont miss a minute of what they are owed, she said.

South Carolina this year got $926 million worth of combined federal aid to support nearly 797,000 students.

A majority of that money  roughly $529 million  is split between Title I and Individual with Disabilities Act programming.

The protections that are in federal law for special needs and low-income students, those are written into federal statute and the Department of Education could go away tomorrow and that would still be written in, Weaver said.

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President Trump cant dissolve the federal Department of Education without Congressional approval and likely court challenges, meaning its funding mechanisms for state resources shouldnt be immediately affected.

Pete Stone, a Chester County educator and host of a popular video series through the states Center for Educator Wellness and Learning, said a wholesale dismantling of the federal agency would be devastating for rural and high-poverty areas.

Of course, yes, any system needs to be gone through and reformed and made more streamlined, but to completely abolish $240 million thats currently going to our most vulnerable in our state without an adequate plan to replace that does not seem like a very conscientious. moral decision, he said.

* * *

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Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12. See more of his work here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBTW.
Linda McNamee thought she could relax once she and her husband finished moving into their new assisted living home at Oasis Living Quarters in February. Theyd had their doubts after talking to a few of the residents, but were enticed by the pretty grounds and the persuading of its management team over lunch.

They wined and dined me, the 80-year-old recalled. They said thisll be done, thisll be done. Needless to say, we moved in.

A month later, the Fort Lauderdale assisted living home is evicting all of its residents, including McNamee, in order to convert the property into luxury apartments, according to residents, their family members and a new lawsuit. Operators have given no written notice, a violation of Florida law.

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The Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration is investigating, a spokesperson said in an email late Friday afternoon, and may impose fines and pursue legal action for noncompliance with regulatory requirements and state law.

The same management team that had invited McNamee to stay there held a mandatory meeting in early March to inform residents and their family members that they would have to move out immediately while it conducts renovations, according to several residents and family members who attended. But when questioned about when and how they could move back in, Steven Gottlieb, the administrator, told them that when they did move back, everything that made it an assisted living site would no longer exist, they said.

Over the last few weeks, families have frantically arrived, some from out of state, to move their loved ones out and find somewhere that will take them on short notice. Some have dementia, others are bedridden or in need of round-the-clock medical care. Weeks later, none of the residents or family members have received anything in writing.

The conversion is part of a growing real estate trend with origins in New York, according to Michael Brevda, an attorney at the Senior Justice law firm based in Boca Raton, specifically in areas where housing is in high demand.

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This is something that were seeing that really came from the NYC metro area and were seeing it occur more and more in some of the hotter real estate markets in Florida, Brevda said. These facility owners are realizing that their property is more valuable as a condominium or apartment and are deciding to make a decision, based on their profit margin, to close out the facility, which is shameful because it leaves the residents in a really tough bind.

In the area where Oasis is located, property owners are allowed to convert assisted living facilities into apartment buildings without any special reviews under Fort Lauderdale zoning requirements, according to city officials.

But the state law requires written notice well in advance; Brevda added that he had never seen a situation where the home did not provide written notice to its residents.

A forced relocation

Florida law dictates that, should an assisted living facility close, it shall inform, in writing, the agency and each resident or the next of kin, legal representative, or agency acting on each residents behalf with 30 days notice or face a $5,000 fine. Another law states that any assisted living facility must provide 45 days written notice prior to relocation or termination of residency from the facility.

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But several residents who spoke to the Sun Sentinel said even before the March eviction they had been moved, sometimes up to four times within the last year, as Oasis began converting its buildings into apartments, often with less than a weeks notice.

William Tabor, 73, and his wife, Annette, say they have lived in four different apartments in the past year, their last move from the fourth floor to the third floor. They were told that they could move back once the company was done remodeling, Tabor recalled. That didnt happen.

The first major relocation took place in May 2024, when Oasis moved about half of its residents, including Tabor, from the independent living building into the assisted living building, telling them it was for renovations, according to multiple residents and family members. That half of the building is now Waterview Rental luxury apartments.

Lillian Alfano said her 74-year-old mother-in-law once resided in the independent living building. Then, in May, management told her she would have to move into an apartment in assisted living in a matter of days. A week after her move, she had a stroke.

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Daniel Feliciano said his mother was given a week to move just before Mothers Day. When he got there, he saw people in the halls, pushing their own boxes.

You know what really upset me, he said, is the fact that the elderly have no one helping them. Some of these people have nobody. Nobody.

The Tabors closest relatives live in Idaho, and have been helping them over the phone.

After the first major relocation, in January, management suddenly moved residents with dementia out of the memory care building, also telling them it was for renovations, family members said. Some family members said their loved ones were left without belongings, hot water, or food they could eat.

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In January, John Defelice said his mother was moved, without his knowledge, from the secured building for dementia patients into an unsecured, unfurnished apartment with only a bed. Her belongings, including a flat-screen TV, were still in her old room when they began to remodel the old building.

They called me and I said, Are you telling me that youre going to move her out of her apartment or that you moved her out of her apartment?' he recalled. Well, we did it today. I said, Well, it sounds like past tense to me.'

Defelice said that, a week after her move, his mother came down with pneumonia, and she has been in the hospital ever since. Meanwhile, they moved her out of her apartment. Hes now trying to recover $12,000 in rent that he was charged for January and February.

It was upsetting to my mother, he said. A lot of them are disoriented to begin with. They have no idea whats going on. And all of a sudden theyre dumped out of the building.

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Defelices mother joined multiple residents relocated from memory care with no notice, according to residents and family. Both of Corinne Saadas parents have dementia and were staying in the secured facility when, like Defelices mother, staff members said they had to move them in January, she told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. They were placed in the assisted living building, where, for three weeks, she said they had no hot water.

It was just a disaster, Saada said.

Both of Saadas parents became confused, their memories deteriorating further, a common occurrence for dementia patients removed from their environment or routine.

They get worse, she said. The level of confusion is off the charts. They dont understand why theyre there.

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The situation became even more dire for Saada over the last few weeks when the kitchen began serving her father food he couldnt eat due to his insulin dependence, but he couldnt remember that he couldnt eat it.

Saada began searching for a new place for her parents, but many didnt want to take them. Finally, she managed to find one that did, and her parents moved in last week.

Sometime in late February or early March, residents found notices on their doors about a mandatory meeting on March 5, just after all of the residents paid rent, leaving them and their family members out of thousands of dollars at the same time as they would need to pay to move and put down a deposit on a new place.

As the reality dawned on residents and their families, the meeting descended into chaos, attendees said.

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It was horrible, McNamee said. People were crying, people were screaming.

In conversations following the meeting, management told residents and their families that they had until early April to move out, according to a lawsuit filed last week and several family members.

Its heartless, for lack of a better word, said David Comras, whose 88-year-old aunt, Rema, is bedridden and requires 24/7 care. Comras, an attorney, filed a lawsuit on his aunts behalf. And its contrary to Florida law. All to make a buck.

Rema Comras, 88, is bedridden, according to her daughter, Diane Kenney, who found out about the eviction only because one of Comras nurses attended the meeting.

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Comras lawsuit seeks an injunction against Oasis, stating that it violated Florida law by kicking out residents in order to convert to luxury apartments with no written notice and less than 45 days to vacate.

Several residents say they have not received their March rent or deposits back. William Tabor said he and his wife cant afford all of the moves, which they have had to pay for themselves.

Im going to be down to my last couple hundred until my Social Security comes in, he said Friday.

At lunch on Friday, the Tabors sat across from the McNamees in the desolate cafeteria. At a nearby table, three women who had become close friends prepared to separate in the coming days. Dining staff handed out their meal: a slice of pizza cut into halves, which William Tabor shouldnt eat because hes diabetic, so he spends his own money on Instacart deliveries instead.

Down the hall, a veterans plaque that once included residents was torn down and replaced by a painting of the sea. The rooms and halls are largely empty save for boxes and occasional movers walking in and out. Outside, in the lobby, is a sign for Waterview Rental.

Theres nothing they can do to these people

Oasis Living Quarters was last purchased in October 2022 by an LLC called Lauderdale Commercial Blvd Partners, whose registered agent is Mark Tress, a real estate magnate based in Lakewood, N.J., according to Florida business records.

A South Florida Business Journal article says the LLC, managed by Tress, purchased the property for $39 million, but Tress said in an email that he no longer manage(s) this property for ownership. When asked who the current owner is, Tress did not respond.

Tress was named one of the 100 worst landlords in New York City in 2024, the same year he was sued by the city over falling debris at his properties.

An employee on the sales side referred to Gottlieb, the administrator, for comment. Calls and voicemails from the Sun Sentinel left with Gottlieb and Oasis have gone unreturned. A woman at the front desk said that Gottlieb was not there and her boss would be out for an unknown amount of time. A man who would not identify himself or his position said, as far as what Ive been told, its no comment when asked for information outside of one of the management offices Friday.

Kenney and other family members also have filed complaints with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, which regulates assisted living facilities.

Oasis has been cited several times since changing hands, according to AHCA records.

An AHCA employee told Kenney in an email a little over a week ago that it has opened a complaint and asked staff in our Delray Beach Field Office to perform an on-site inspection and will inform you in writing of the results.

A spokesperson for the agency told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in an email Wednesday that The Agency is conducting monitoring visits at Oasis Living Quarters to ensure all residents are safely discharged prior to closure. On Friday, it said in response to follow-up emails, The Agency is still conducting its investigation. Once we have completed the investigation, the full report will be posted online.

Some residents said they had also spoken to their local ombudsman, a state office that advocates for seniors.

But theres nothing they can do to these people, McNamee said of the ombudsman. They dont want a home anymore; they dont want a residence for seniors.

A spokesperson for the Department of Elder Affairs, which runs the office, did not respond to questions by publication date.

Compared to nursing homes, assisted living facilities abide by fewer rules and regulations, which can leave residents vulnerable. A federal nursing home reform law provides strict rules for discharging residents; no such federal law exists for assisted living homes.

I think there is an assumption that people who are in assisted living, except for people in memory care units, are still competent, theyre able to advocate for themselves, able to communicate, said Stephanie Schneider, an elder law attorney based in Plantation. Whereas theres probably an assumption when someones in a skilled nursing facility that theyre not.

While legal penalties do exist for assisted living sites that shut down without written notice, family members feel that they are not steep enough to deter the property owners, particularly those no longer planning to operate as an assisted living facility in need of a license. The $5,000 fine for failing to provide 30 days written notice of a shutdown is less than the amount that many family members pay each month in rent.

At end of the day, this place doesnt care about that, because theyre not going to be reopening as an assisted living, said Ken Bolis, whose wheelchair-bound, 98-year-old mother resided at Oasis until this week.

Since the meeting, Bolis mother has become confused and anxious, he said. He told the Sun Sentinel he would be moving her out the following day, a reality neither of them had anticipated.

My mom never expected to leave this place, Bolis said. Shes 98. She thought shed live out rest of her life here. Suddenly, in a matter of three weeks, her whole life has changed.
From the small living room, in a house tucked away in a tiny and remote Honduran village, Wualner Sauceda recalled what it was like to be deported from the United States.

Sauceda, 24, was a rookie science teacher at Palms Spring Middle School in Hialeah, a city in South Florida, when he was detained in early January and deported a month later.

I applied for asylum and that application process took several years, Sauceda said.

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His asylum application was eventually denied, and his appeal didnt go anywhere, he told NBC6 in Miami during an exclusive two-part interview.

So he was looking for other legal pathways to remain in the country.

Given his unresolved immigration status, Sauceda had to check in with immigration officials.

Previous appointments were uneventful, and officials would typically issue a follow-up appointment.

On Jan. 7, he missed school to go to his appointment at the Miramar immigration office in South Florida. This time, he said, something felt different.

I got there at 8 a.m., and I noticed it was 1 p.m. and then 2 p.m. and then 3 p.m., Sauceda said.

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He was then told to park his car inside the lot. And once inside the government building, he asked officers what was going on.

They told me, 'youre detained', said Sauceda, who added it was such a shocking blow that he couldnt tell his parents. Instead, he called an uncle so he could break the news to the rest of the family.

Emotionally, it was hard for me, he said.

Sauceda now lives with his uncle and maternal grandparents in a rural area three hours northeast of Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. Surrounded by dirt roads and mountainous terrain, the family relies partly on what they grow and farm animals they raise.

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Unlike the United States, most if not all homes in that area, lack running water or air conditioning.

A nearby river is their source for water. They use it to bathe and wash. Their drinking water comes from a well.

Despite growing up in that setting until he was 13, Sauceda had become used to the comforts of South Florida.

I was born here,in Honduras, said Sauceda, who added that he and his cousin fled their native country after a close relative had been killed. Migrating to the U.S as a teen remains a vivid memory.

I remember crossingthe river, he recalled, and he eventually reunited with his parents, who were already in South Florida.

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He enrolled at Henry H. Filer Middle School in Hialeah for 8th grade, then attended Westland Hialeah Senior High School.

Of his early school days, Sauceda said, I felt that I can do things that I never thought I could do. He quickly learned English, and by senior year, he was taking advanced courses.

I remember taking honors English for seniors, honors pre-calculus and honors history, and that was something that I really liked because I went from ESOL level 1 to ESOL level 4, he proudly remembered.

Despite his pending immigration case, he had aspirations for more.

I knew that I wanted to be a teacher since I was a kid, Sauceda remembered fondly.

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At first, he thought he could be a math teacher, but eventually settled on science and started his college career at Miami-Dade College.

Financially though, college was draining because without a work permit, he couldnt work, and finding scholarship money for undocumented students was tough.

But he found TheDream.us  an organization that claims to have provided more than 10,000 scholarships to undocumented students.

Sauceda applied to Florida International University and the University of Central Florida, and got accepted to both, but chose to go to FIU to be closer to his family.

In December 2023, Sauceda graduated with a 3.4 grade point average and a bachelors in chemistry with a track in education.

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This is my diploma from FIU, he showed with excitement and pride. I got even happier when I received my teaching certificate.

A month after graduation, he was able to secure a job as a teacher at Miami-Dade Public Schools.

I was a little bit scared because I was not a U.S. citizen and not a permanent resident, but I did have a social security, so thats how I applied for teachers certificate, he told NBC6.

It was a constant fear not just with work, but with life in general and perhaps foreshadowing what was to come.

After being detained, he was then transferred to the Broward Transitional Center, a Pompano Beach facility where migrants are held. Sauceda estimates he was at the facility for more than 20 days.

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His attorney, Ivan Torres Hidalgo Gato, filed for deferred action, but Sauceda said nothing worked.

NBC6 contacted Hidalgo Gato with the intention of learning the details of Saucedas case, but he told us he was not interested in providing any insight into the Sauceda case.

Sauceda said hell never forget what an immigration officer told him while he was detained.

He literally said that he was told to start putting people on that plane, said Sauceda.

He was initially detained during the administration of President Joe Biden, but deported on Feb. 6, shortly after President Donald Trump took office.

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Sauceda recalled being transported to a facility in Louisiana, which he described as a horrible experience. He said the rooms were over capacity, with 60 people in a room made for 24 detainees.

I remember people moving the mattresses to the floor, and I was sleeping on the pure metal of the bed, Sauceda added. But during the day, the room would be really, really hot, and then during the night, it would be really, really cold, and I dont know if they did that on purpose, but it was really bad.

Sauceda recalled he was shackled by his hands, waist and feet before being placed in a deportation flight to Honduras.

It was shocking to me because I have never experienced anything like that, he said. Sometimes I think about it and it saddens my heart, Sauceda said, stoic but certainly with emotion.

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NBC6 in Miami will air two additional interviews next week as part of their four-part series reporting on Sauceda's case.

A version of this story was first published on NBCMiami.com.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said on Saturday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia must stop, and North Korea should not be rewarded for its wrongdoings in the course of bringing about the end of the war in Ukraine.

Cho also said it is important for South Korea, Japan and China to faithfully carry out UN sanctions against North Korea, and to put efforts into stopping North Korean provocations and bring about its complete denuclearisation.

Cho is meeting his Chinese and Japanese counterparts in Tokyo, in the first such trilateral talks since 2023.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Tom Hogue)
SEOUL (Reuters) - Two firefighters were found dead in South Korea and two were missing as more than 20 wildfires flared across the nation on Saturday, including the deadly one in the southeast of the Korean Peninsula.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok urged all-out efforts to extinguish the fire before sunset as wildfires were spreading rapidly due to strong winds.

The dead firefighters were attempting to quell a fire in South Gyeongsang province that began on Friday and had affected 275 hectares (680 acres) as of Saturday afternoon. More than 200 residents had been evacuated.

The South Korean government declared the region a disaster area on Saturday evening.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by William Mallard)
The US Space Force has accused China of "dogfighting in space," a term that usually refers to fighter jets caught up in an aerial, close-range battle.

During a defense program conference this week, Space Force vice chief of space operations Michael Guetlein said that the military arm had observed "five different objects in space maneuvering in and out and around each other in synchrony and in control," as quoted by Defense One.

The Space Force is "starting to see our near-peers focusing on practicing dogfighting in space with satellite-on-satellite," he said.

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If confirmed, the practice could indicate an escalation in the defensive military capabilities of world powers in orbit, highlighting a heating up "space arms race."

As Defense One reports, Guetlein's comments were referring to maneuvers made by three experimental Chinese satellites  called Shiyan-24C, as well as two still unidentified space objects dubbed Shijian-605 A and B  last year. At the time, the Space Force observed the objects carrying out a "series of proximity operations" in low-Earth orbit, according to Guetlein.

The Shijian-6 system is believed to be capable of "electronic intelligence" allowing satellites to eavesdrop on communications, including naval comms traffic.

"They are practicing tactics, techniques, and procedures to do on-orbit space operations from one satellite to another," Guetlein said.

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The Space Force general said that the satellites are just one of several activities of US adversaries in space, including Russia's "nesting doll," satellite demonstration in 2019, which involved smaller spacecraft closely following the movement of US satellites.

China has similarly been accused of having its satellites "zigzag" across different altitudes and come uncomfortably close to US satellites.

Guetlein accused Russia and China of breaking internationally agreed-upon rules.

"Unfortunately, our current adversaries are willing to go against international norms of behavior, go against that gentleman's agreement, and they're willing to do it in very unsafe and unprofessional manners," he said, as quoted by Defense One.

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As a result, Guetlein argued there was a growing "capability gap" between the US and its adversaries, which could end up putting the country's assets at risk and allow other countries to claim control over the space domain.

"We're only going to be as good as the amount of resources that we're willing to put towards space superiority," he said at the event this week.

More on satellite-on-satellite action: China Joins SpaceX in Ruining Astronomy for Everybody
Mar. 21SUPERIOR  A Superior man who was charged with operating while under the influence after his vehicle was stopped for speeding made his initial appearance in Douglas County Circuit Court March 18.

Jesse Allen Peterson, 42, faces one count of fifth-offense operating a motor vehicle while under the influence. A $5,000 cash bond was set for Peterson, and he was ordered not to consume or possess any alcoholic beverages and not to operate a motor vehicle.

Superior Police Officer Dylan Crist reported that he stopped a vehicle for speeding around 1 a.m. March 17 on North 12th Street, according to the criminal complaint.

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Crist observed an open can of beer in Peterson's vehicle and Peterson admitted he was coming from a bar where he'd had two beers, the complaint alleges. Crist reported that Peterson smelled of alcohol and failed a field sobriety test.

According to Wisconsin Department of Transportation records, Peterson has been convicted of operating while intoxicated four times, most recently in 2016.

If convicted, Peterson faces a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $25,000. His next court appearance  a preliminary hearing during which a judge will determine if there is enough evidence to move the case forward to trial  was set for March 26.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  The Society of Professional Journalists has chosen the Utah State Legislature as the recipient of the dishonorable 2025 Black Hole Award, an award meant to bring attention to the most egregious violations of the publics right to know.

SPJ is one of the largest and longest-standing journalism organizations in the country, having been founded more than 100 years ago. The Black Hole Award, however, is just shy of 15 years old  and the Utah Legislature has already been a recipient twice.

Utah cannot be the best run state and the most secretive state at the same time; these goals are inherently exclusive of one another, said Emma Penrod, president of the SPJ Utah Headliners Chapter.

Egregious violations

This dishonorable award comes after the legislature passed several laws pertaining to public records over the past several years.

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SPJs Freedom of Information (FOI) Committee said the legislature earned this years award for repeatedly undermining transparency by amending public records law to block the release of public records  even after court orders mandated their disclosure.

After the State Records Committee ruled in favor of releasing several records that government agencies and elected officials sought to withhold, the Legislature turned around and made changes to the law to keep those records secret, the SPJ press release reads.

One sponsor of a recent public records bill, Sen. Mike McKell (R  Spanish Fork), calls the SPJ claims inaccurate and lacking in merit, adding that he did not hear from the organization until after his bill was passed.

Disbanding of the State Records Committee

SPJ points to multiple bills in particular over the past three years, including one passed this session that disbanded the State Records Committee, an independent board that managed record request appeals. The committee consisted of news representatives, governor-appointed citizens, and an archive representative.

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With the passing of S.B. 277 earlier this month, a governor-appointed director will now make the final call on whether the public has a right to see particular government records.

Replacing that committee with a governors appointee can only reduce accountability and undermine public confidence in government, said Howard Goldberg, SPJ Freedom of Information committee member.

McKell, the bills sponsor, told ABC4 this law was modeled after successful approaches in other states and is expected to be far more effective. He said in 2023, the average time it took the committee to receive an appeal and issue a decision was 156 days.

It is disappointing that the Society of Professional Journalists fails to recognize the need to address an inefficient and flawed system. Their claims are inaccurate and lack merit. Moreover, it is unfortunate that we are only hearing from SPJ now, after the fact, McKell said.

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He continued to say lawmakers worked with the Utah Media Coalition to refine the bill and the organization did not oppose it. He said the local coalition expressed support for the legislative efforts to create a structure that is both efficient and fair.

ABC4 reached out to legislative leaders and Gov. Cox for comment and did not receive additional statements at the time of publication.

Garrity Statements & work calendars

SPJ pointed to another instance in 2022 when the legislature voted to block Garrity Statements  comments from public employees during an investigation  from the public eye.

The organization said this came after the State Records Committee released Garrity Statements regarding officer-involved shootings upon the request of the Salt Lake Tribune.

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Last year, the legislature passed a law saying public officials digital work calendars are not public records and therefore cannot be requested and publicized.

SPJ said lawmakers passed the law shortly after courts supported the release of Attorney General Sean Reyes calendar as journalists investigated his connection to Tim Ballard, the controversial CEO of Operation Underground Railroad.

Utahs Black Hole history

The recent national award was given after the local SPJ chapter in Utah gave its state-wide Black Hole Award to the legislature these past two years. However, its not the legislatures first national Black Hole Award as Utah lawmakers were the first recipient in 2011.

The 2011 Black Hole Award was given to the state legislature after extreme changes made to its public records law under Gov. Gary Herbert.

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The legislature has clearly violated the publics right to know, and as a two-time recipient of this award, it serves as a reminder to journalists to keep holding those in government accountable, said Jodi Rave Spotted Bear, chair of the national SPJ FOI Committee.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
JoLees Creative Academy is under investigation by the St. Marys police department for alleged child abuse and neglect.

Its just been an insane lack of communication, said one father, Aaron Sparks. Kids coming home with busted lips, black eyes, bruises, bumps that just arent explained.

On March 7th, Sparks received a call from Jolees Creative Academy saying there was a biting incident involving his 1-year-old child and that he had to be picked up.

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When he got to the school to pick up his son, Sparks said the school then informed him that the toddler also had a busted lip.

When Sparks asked for footage documenting his sons new injuries, he said the videos he was provided with didnt add up.

They just dont make sense, said Sparks. So when confronted with that, I was told that I have an hour to pick up my son or else, so I had to come pick up my son, leave work. And thats when we decided its time to get the police involved.

Aaron took his concerns to Facebook on Thursday, March 20th and posted the pictures of his sons injuries. It caught the eyes of many parents, including Tashima Brown, whose child also attends the school.

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I went and I read all the comments, and I was like, dang, I dont believe thats going on at daycare. And I felt really bad for the family, said Brown.

And then at 5:00 when I went to go pick my son up, he lifted up his arm and he said that he had a boo boo and it was a pinch mark and it punctured his skin. And I asked him where he got it from and he said his teacher, Big Mama. After that, I went to the police and I filled out an incident report, and they told me that I was the third person that come this week with the same allegations.

Read: Family of toddler who died at Brunswick daycare supports new Georgia bill for safety measures

We reached out to JoLees Creative Academy for a comment via email late last night, and when we knocked on their door today, no one came to the door.

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However, the school did post an official statement on their Facebook page:

We are heartbroken that such harmful statements are being spread about our center. The safety, education, and care of children have always been and will continue to be our top priority.

Action News Jax confirmed that the schools administrator, Chadrika Johnson, had her previous childcare facility in Brunswick shut down by the State of Georgia.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

According to responses to an open records request filed by Action News Jax, The Brunswick Fire Department responded to Molding from the Start Childcare Center in July of 2022 after receiving reports that people in the building had lost consciousness.

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The intake form states the following:

This was the result of carbon monoxide. BFD identified the source of the carbon monoxide as a generator which was being improperly operated inside the building. Multiple unconscious children and adults as well as others showing symptoms were transported for medical treatment.

Then, on January 31st of 2023, the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning notified Ms. Johnson that her license to operate Molding from the Start Childcare Center was being revoked due to Correctable abuses, derelictions or deficiencies in the operation and management of the child care learning center which were brought to the attention of the license holder, but not corrected within a reasonable time.

The center officially shut down in March of 2023.

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Aaron Sparks was not aware of Ms. Johnsons previous childcare center history when he enrolled his 1-year-old at JoLees Creative Academy earlier this year. Now, Sparks has this message for other parents:

That just goes to show you, no matter how much research you do, you cant have all the information about someone.

As for whether the state will be pursuing another investigation into JoLees Creative Academy following the recent allegations, Georgia DECAL said it cannot comment at this time.

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St. Marys Catholic School, 405 E. Joliet St., was placed on lockdown earlier this week after a man was observed jumping a fence on the south side of the school property.

Crown Point Police were called to the school at 1:11 p.m. on Wednesday.

Upon arrival, police discovered that a white male subject was observed jumping a fence on the south side of the school property, an area commonly used by parents to pick up students but he did not approach the school itself.

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The man was quickly confronted by school faculty members and he fled, running southeast from the school with faculty members in pursuit.

The man was located and detained by police in the 400 block of S. East Street. The man was taken into custody without incident and transported to Franciscan Medical Center for evaluation.

Police confirmed that the individual, a 22-year-old Crown Point man, did not have a weapon and there was no immediate threat to students or staff.

Charges will be forwarded to the Lake County Prosecutors Office for consideration.

The safety of our students and staff is always our top priority, said Crown Point Police Chief Ryan Patrick. We commend the quick and coordinated response by our officers and school personnel, which helped resolve this situation without incident.
After a man was found handcuffed and beaten in a St. Paul building, 11 people have been indicted by a federal grand jury on related drug trafficking and kidnapping conspiracy charges tied to a Mexican cartel, according to acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kilpatrick.

The federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment, alleging that beginning in July 2023 and through January 2025, the 11 people conspired to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it.

The indictment says they arranged for large quantities of methamphetamine to be delivered to the Twin Cities from Mexico by mail and driven by cars and trucks.

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Once the drug was in Minnesota, they broke the drug down into distributable quantities and sold it.

This January, one of the individuals owed a source in Mexico a substantial amount of money, which they could not pay, according to the indictment. Four of those indicted lured the individual to a location in St. Paul where they beat him, chained him to a pole and held him against his will. During the kidnapping and beating, a leader in Mexico allegedly directed them with instructions such as you are breaking his hands. Break them good.

This case highlights the inherent danger that transnational drug cartels bring to our country, Kirkpatrick said. This mob-style violence has no place in America, it has no place in Minnesota, and those who engage in it will be charged federally.

The following people were indicted and made appearances in federal court:

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Richar Sanchez Mujica, 30, Minneapolis, was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, conspiracy to kidnap and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Donovan Rey Lopez, 21, of Minneapolis was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Erling Soren Holdahl, 48, White Bear Lake, was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to kidnap.

Timothy Duane Ripley, 45, Maple Grove, was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to kidnap.

Kendra Sue Johnson, 39, Minneapolis, was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to kidnap.

Dostin Elizander Ortiz-Garcia, 29, of Burnsville, was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Jonathan Salvador Juarez-Ferrer, 25, of Minneapolis, was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Four other members of the conspiracy have not yet made their initial appearances.

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Under political pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Fort Myers City Council reversed course on Friday and voted to allow local police to act as federal immigration agents  a development that could push other hesitant cities to bring their local police into the fold of Floridas immigration crackdown.

After a vote Monday when the council rejected the initial federal immigration proposal, the Republican governor raised the possibility of removing local elected officials from office and forcing them into compliance one way or another. Floridas attorney general, James Uthmeier, also told City Council members they were violating Floridas ban on so-called sanctuary cities.

By Friday, the three City Council members who had voted against the proposal flipped their vote. One of them, Darla Bonk, thanked the attorney generals office for stepping in and helping them navigate a complex and sensitive situation and blamed the city attorney for not advising them correctly.

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You are paid handsomely to protect this council, and you failed us, Bonk told the city attorney, Grant Alley.

The City Councils move to rethink its decision underscores how local governments are trying to determine what local actions to take on federal immigration enforcement as they face new pressures from DeSantis as he positions the state to become the most aggressive in combatting illegal immigration in the interior of the country.

Weve been doing a lot in Florida, but youre going to see a lot more, DeSantis told Trumps border czar Tom Homan Thursday during a panel discussion at the New College of Florida. There is no question.

In Fort Myers  a community with pockets of Democratic voters in an otherwise Republican region  dozens of residents spoke against letting its police department enter into a formal partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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An ICE partnership would erode community trust, lead to racial discrimination and unlawful detentions and keep victims and witnesses from reporting crimes, residents told city officials on Friday. They made historical parallels to moments in history that led to discriminatory laws  and raised concerns about state officials influence over local decisions and local elections.

One resident, Kathy James, said she was worried that the governor would suspend an elected official she voted for.

Are you telling me that my vote is going to mean nothing? James said, while also noting that she was concerned that local police officers would wear two uniforms.

They are either ICE agents or theyre Fort Myers police, James said.

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In South Florida, other municipalities are also mulling how to act on immigration enforcement in the Trump era. South Miami city officials earlier this week said they plan to ask a judge to determine whether its police department is required to enroll in a federal program that gives local police the ability to stop, question  and even arrest  people who are in the country illegally.

The ICE program  known as the 287(g) task force model  is the same one that Fort Myers wrangled with. Across the state, more than 100 law enforcement agencies are participating in the program, including the police departments in Coral Gables, Key West, Tampa and St. Petersburg.

South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez said the city wants to involve the court to better understand what the law requires them to do. The city is expected to formally request the courts to get involved next week.

The only safe harbor left for us is to go to court and ask a court to render an opinion on what the law is and what our obligations are. Not the merits of the policy, he said at a Tuesday night meeting.

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Florida law does not explicitly mandate law enforcement agencies that dont operate county jails to join the ICE partnerships. However, Desantis and the states attorney general argue that municipal and city police departments must join because they are otherwise violating a Florida law that bans so-called sanctuary cities.

Under the sanctuary city ban, local governments must use best efforts to support the enforcement of federal immigration law.

At the time the law was debated in Tallahassee in 2019, the 287(g) task force model was not active. The model, which is done in the community, was suspended by the Obama administration in 2012 after concerns of racial profiling and a lack of oversight.

During Fridays meeting in Fort Myers, a Republican state representative from the area told City Council members that they had no choice but to sign on to the task force model. Its the law, said state Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka,

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The people of Florida have spoken through their elected representatives in the Legislature and through the governor, who was overwhelmingly reelected and the people of Florida have said that we are a law and order state and we have preempted local governments, Persons-Mulicka added.

The Herald/Times asked the governors office on Friday whether it intended to remove local officials from office if they declined to enroll in the 287(g) task force model. In response, the office pointed to a recent statement the governor made that told city officials: govern yourselves accordingly.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  The Oregon State Police trooper who shot and killed a man at the Army Aviation Support Facility in Salem last month was justified in using deadly force against him, according to a Marion County grand jury.

The unanimous decision came after the grand jury reviewed evidence of the shooting that took place on Feb. 27 when police troopers responded to a suspicious person at the Salem-Willamette Valley Airport on Turner Road SE.

Astoria restaurant named Oregons best seafood spot, according to Yelp

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Senior Trooper Justin Oxenrider shot 22-year-old Matthew Walter Wong of Salem near the facilitys security gate, prompting an investigation into the moments that led to the shooting.

The incident began after OSP responded to reports of a person giving a threatening note to the guard outside the airfield. The note reportedly said, I will give you 10 minutes to lay down arms. The person reporting the incident said it was the same individual who had appeared at the same location, repeatedly, in the last three days.

The Marion County DAs Office shared the following information about the events that followed:

When Senior Trooper Oxenrider arrived at the guard station, he could see an individual matching the suspects description sitting on a stone bench near an airplane monument immediately southwest of the guard shack. Senior Trooper Oxenrider turned on both his on-board dash camera and body worn camera before he got out of the vehicle. He put on sanitary gloves (a common law enforcement practice), expecting to contact Wong due to the threatening note, history of threats against law enforcement, and active warrant for Wongs arrest.

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Once he got out of the vehicle, Senior Trooper Oxenrider yelled out: Hey Partner! How you doin? Wong turned, stood up, and said something which is not intelligible from the audio on the body worn camera. Wong began to walk away with his hands in pockets, and Senior Trooper Oxenrider told him: K, you gotta take your hands outta your pockets for me, please. Wong refused, and instead told Senior Trooper Oxenrider he would leave.

Hwy 26s The Bump sends cars airborne as locals fight for improvements

As Wong began to walk east across the parking lot, Senior Trooper Oxenrider walked behind his marked Oregon State Police SUV and re-addressed Wong in the parking lot. As they walked southeast towards a grassy embankment, Senior Trooper Oxenrider told Wong No, youre not leaving right now, and again ordered Wong to take his hands out of his pockets. Again, Wong refused. Senior Trooper Oxenrider pulled out his less-than-lethal conducted energy device (hereinafter referred to as Taser).

Shortly thereafter, Wong removed his hands from his jacket pocket and put his hands up while displaying a knife with an exposed blade. Senior Trooper Oxenrider asked Wong if he wanted to get tased. Senior Trooper Oxenrider deployed his taser at Wong but missed. Wong then charged Senior Trooper Oxenrider saying something unintelligible about a gun.

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Wong and Senior Trooper Oxenrider engaged in a brief physical struggle, and they spun. During this physical exchange, Wong was holding his knife and swiped at the Trooper while Senior Trooper Oxenrider was still holding his taser. Senior Trooper Oxenrider testified that he tried to throw Wong to the ground but was unsuccessful. Again, Senior Trooper Oxenrider deployed his Taser, but again, the probes didnt make sufficient contact for an effective deployment. The parties separated and Wong continued to walk southeast onto the grassy area between the entry driveway and Turner Road. Senior Trooper Oxenrider followed Wong, mirroring Wongs direction of travel.

(OSP) (OSP) Authorities investigated an officer-involved shooting at the Army Aviation Support Facility at the Salem-Willamette Valley Airport on Feb. 27, 2025. (KOIN) Authorities investigated an officer-involved shooting at the Army Aviation Support Facility at the Salem-Willamette Valley Airport on Feb. 27, 2025. (KOIN)

Senior Trooper Oxenrider testified that he was not going to let Wong leave the location because he believed that Wong was a threat to anyone in the immediate area and for the public at large.

As Senior Trooper Oxenrider commanded Wong to Put the gun down! Wong said I really dont want to hurt you while Senior Trooper Oxenrider immediately corrected himself, and commanded Wong to, Put the knife down! Wong did not drop the weapon but instead continued to walk southeast towards Turner Road.

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Senior Trooper Oxenrider took two shots at Wong, who walked a few more steps, and then fell to the grass.

A medical examiner determined Wong died of the gunshot wounds, sharing that one bullet entered and exited Wongs right arm, entered the right side of his chest, exited his left side of his chest while the other shot hit Wong in the right back slightly behind his right arm and exited his upper left chest.

Man pretended to be 9-year-old girls long lost uncle, then sexually abused her, court documents say

The DAs office said Wong had an active warrant for his arrest in Marion County for alleged unlawful use of a weapon. He had two prior arrests, but no previous convictions. Following his death, investigators said Wong had committed and attempted to commit attempted robbery, attempted first and second-degree assault, and unlawful use of a weapon.

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After he was shot, a knife was recovered from the scene, according to police.

I would like to thank the Grand Jury for their careful and thorough review of this dangerous situation. It is tragic that Mr. Wong was experiencing mental health struggles, and this case highlights the dangerous outcomes for our neighbors, our law enforcement officers and our community when such issues go unaddressed, DA Paige Clarkson said in a statement. Senior Trooper Oxenrider was faced with an untenable situation not of his own creation. I know that no one wanted this outcome on that day.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  As you vacation for spring break, there are several ways to keep you and your loved ones healthy during your travels.

With several outbreaks of measles across the U.S., health officials are saying its more important than ever to take precautions to stay healthy while traveling.

Here are some tips from the CDC for a safer and healthier spring break:

Visit your doctor before traveling

If you are traveling internationally, make sure to see your doctor four to six weeks before your trip. Your healthcare provider can ensure you have the correct vaccines and health information before visiting a new country.

Stay updated on routine vaccines

Routine vaccines can protect you from infectious diseases, like measles, which can spread quickly among unvaccinated people. Many preventable diseases are no longer in the U.S. thanks to vaccines.

Check travel requirements and recommendations for your destination

Check CDCs website for destination specific vaccines, what medicines you may need to bring and any diseases or health risks in that region.

Plan for the unexpected

While traveling, anything can happen. To stay safe, make plans ahead of time for how you will handle unexpected emergencies. This can include packing a first-aid kit, getting travel insurance and learning where to get healthcare in your destination before going.

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Travelers leaving the U.S. can also enroll in the Department of States Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).

Prevent sickness in the same ways you do at home

Even while traveling, its important to maintain healthy habits like washing your hands, using hand sanitizer, covering your mouth and nose when sneezing and avoiding close contact with people who are sick.

Experts also recommend wearing sunscreen and insect repellent as other ways to stay healthy.

If you are feeling sick after recent travels, contact your healthcare provider and let them know the areas you recently traveled to.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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HORNELL, N.Y. (WETM)  A Hornell man who was found to be a deputy at the Steuben County Sheriffs Office was arrested on a charge involving the possession and distribution of child sex abuse materials, as stated in a release from the U.S. District Attorneys Office.

Stuart J. McHenry, 34, has been arrested on the charge of distribution and receipt of child sex abuse materials, as announced by U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo.

Alpine man pleads guilty to soliciting minor for sex

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Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn M. Hartford states that McHenrys charge stems from a complaint that was received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on July 5, 2024, via CyberTip from the messaging app Kik. Attorney Hartford states that in this tip, Kik told the NCMEC that a user by the name of acman990 had uploaded approximately 24 files of suspected child sex abuse materials. Upon review of the files, the DA states that approximately 22 of them contained child sex abuse materials, which had been sent to other users by private message.

Following an investigation into the incident, the account was traced to McHenry, who was later determined by authorities to work as a deputy for the Steuben County Sheriffs Office.

Elmira sex offender arrested for alleged failure to report address

On Oct. 18, 2024, the DA states that a search warrant was executed on McHenrys home, at which time investigators seized two cell phones. Upon forensic review of these items, one of the phones was found to have had Kik previously installed on it and included evidence of use of the aforementioned Kik username. The DA further states that a review of McHenrys iCloud account uncovered several sexually explicit conversations and child sex abuse materials on Kik. This discovery included the videos reported in the CyberTip, as well as additional videos and images.

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McHenry made an initial appearance in court on Friday, March 21, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark W. Pedersen and is now in custody pending a detention hearing.

If McHenry is found guilty of this crime, he faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison, as well as a $250,000 fine.

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DENVER (KDVR)  A collared gray wolf was killed by federal wildlife officials in Wyoming and stock growers in both states have questions.

The wolf was one of the 15 captured and transported to Colorado in January as part of the reintroduction program approved by Colorado voters. The United States Department of Agriculture Animal Inspection Service branch said they responded to five sheep that had been killed on private land in north central Wyoming on March 15.

USDA confirmed Wildlife Services shot and killed the wolf, then returned the wolf and the GPS collar to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

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Middle Park Stockgrowers Association President Tim Ritschard said he has questions as to why there was no notification of the wolfs movement and Wyoming Stockgrowers Associate Executive VP Jim Magana felt that they should have had a heads up.

Had we been aware of it we might have been able to get word out to livestock producers in that part of the state to be careful, or be aware of it, but I dont think it would have changed the outcome, Magana said.

Wolves are known to travel great distances when searching for food or mates so the distance, was not as surprising, something both states saw coming.

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Here in Colorado killing a wolf is generally illegal unless you catch it in the act of killing, but in Wyoming, thats not the case.

The reality is in most of Wyoming is once the wolves are here they are predators. They can be taken at any time, but anyone on any land, they dont have to be in the process of killing livestock, Magana said.

The fear is going away from them right now and thats the nonlethal part of it. When you start, I mean I hate saying it shooting at them or killing one or two its like. A crow, if you kill a crow theyre going to disappear, Ritschard said.

The Canadian wolves were supposed to be less of a risk to livestock, claiming that before they had had minimal interaction with livestock. Ritschard felt this shows, that may not be a contributing factor to future depredations.

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Its interesting because maybe then that kind of tells us theyve been around livestock or maybe theyve figured out that it doesnt matter if theyve been around livestock, food is food and they are going to find what they need to survive and thats what this one did, he said.

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Regardless, Wyoming stockgrowers expect if another wolf crosses, it may meet the same fate.

Given what our laws are in Wyoming, any Colorado wolf that crosses the border is going to be at risk of being killed, Magana said.

Wyoming Stockgrowers also plan to ask if Colorado will reimburse the sheeps owner as they do for local ranchers who lose livestock to wolves.

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GIBSON COUNTY, Ind. (WEHT)  Multiple crews arrived at IMI Concrete in response to a structure fire Friday. Officials say some combustible material ignited and started the fire within the building.

Flames and smoke could be seen from the Hucks Gas Station across the street with workers concerned for their customers. Officials arrived to see a similar site ready to battle the flames. Patoka Township Fire Captain Bruce Blaize says the fire started due to workers using cutting tools to fix repairs from severe weather.

They were working in an area where theres some insulation in a metal building and they were cutting some metal members of that building because the building was leaning from the storm and I guess as they were cutting, some embers got into the insulation, says Blaize. They didnt realize that initially a small fire like everybody thinks, every fire starts small, it got bigger and the wind probably contributed a little bit to that.

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The fire was contained early on and captain Blaize says the wind was only a small contributing factor. He says the rubber bell line was the biggest problem in getting the fire contained.

The most difficult part has been theres been rubber bell line that goes from the pier on the south end of the building up to the top to move their materials for making concrete and that bell got caught on fire and weve been trying to get it put out. It just takes a little time and a lot of water, says Blaize.

Once the fire was contained with only monitoring hot spots, Hucks gas station employees delivered free food more importantly personally checking on the customers they see daily.

We know them all on a first name basis some of them their kids have worked in the store, says employee Charity Clement. So yeah, we were just really worried that they were going to be OK. We wanted to make sure that we did something for them. Just to ease mine a little bit since their powers out, we knew they didnt have a way to warm up food. Kind of worried about the guys because theyre our regular customers we know them.

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When a student at College of the Canyons caught a strange man's hand reaching out under a bathroom stall and trying to record her with his phone, she yelled out.

Then the two-year student started to record him.

"Why are you recording?" the student says in a video posted online, as she confronts the man who is dressed all in black and using a jacket to hide their face. "No, hold on! What the hell!"

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The video posted earlier this week depicts the latest of at least three similar incidents reported at the Santa Clarita campus in the past year. In response to one of the incidents, school officials sent out an alert to students on March 6, urging them to report any similar episodes.

"We take the safety of our students seriously, and our Campus Safety officers have all been briefed on what occurred and are on alert for future incidents," said school spokesperson Eric Harnish.

The video of the man in black was posted earlier this week and has amassed thousands of views on Instagram. The student who recorded it told The Times the episode happened in October but she didn't publish it at the time because police and campus officials asked her not to so as to not "tip off" the suspect. She finally published the video after she learned of two similar incidents reported at the campus in the past year.

The student, who asked not to be identified, said the incident has left her scared, avoiding campus restrooms. She worries more victims may be out there.

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When she walked into the bathroom in the Aliso Lab building on Oct. 22, she saw someone in one of the stalls, but it never occurred to her that it might be a man, trying to record her.

She was using the bathroom  two stalls away from the suspect  when she saw a hand reaching under the stall and aiming a cell phone camera at her backside.

"I freaked out," she said. "I yelled out, 'What the hell,' and they pulled their phone back."

She walked out and pulled out her own phone, hoping to get an image of the man's face for police. She said she pulled at the man's jacket but he pushed her as he tried to pull the door open.

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"He was pushing me hard," she said. "He put his shoulder into me to push me out of the way."

In the video, the student is seen trying to keep the man from leaving the bathroom and pulling on his jacket, trying to expose his face but the man pushed passed her and is seen running across campus to a parking lot.

The student said she tried to run after him but lost him.

The student said she recently learned of two other similar incidents, including an episode earlier this month. School officials confirmed a third incident was reported on April 23.

Now, she said, she's concerned other students may have been victimized the same way.

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Read more: College students charged in TikTok-inspired 'catch a predator' plot appear in court

School officials sent out an alert to students about a March 4 incident, where a female student said she too saw a man taking video of her inside the restroom by holding a phone under the stall. The incident, according to the school email, occurred at 12:20 p.m. in the second-floor restroom of Hasley Hall.

The victim in that incident, a second-year student who asked not to be identified, told The Times she also saw someone in the handicap stall of the women's restroom when she went in, and assumed it was another female student.

While she was using the restroom, a group of students went in, used the restroom and left. When the room quieted, she wondered if she was alone and peeked under her stall to see if the other stalls were occupied.

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"I looked down and I saw a man laying down, with his camera pointing toward me," she said.

The man would not have been visible if she hadn't peeked, she said, but his phone was clearly pointed toward her.

"I started screaming, I was freaking out," she said "Once he noticed he got caught, he shuffled out into his stall."

The man ran out of the bathroom and, by the time she grabbed her stuff and ran after him, she said he was gone.

She said she went to campus security to report the incident. On Thursday, after the video was posted of the October incident, she said she reached out to the Sheriff's Department and made a police report.

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She said she hadn't filed it earlier because she believed campus security was going to contact law enforcement.

Since then, she's been afraid to go to into campus restrooms by herself, she said.

A school spokesperson confirmed the three incidents have been reported to school officials.

During the March incident, however, the victim was unable to clearly get a look of the suspect, said Harnish.

"That incident was also reported to Campus Safety, and we again alerted the campus to what occurred," Harnish said in an email. "The victim later filed a report with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station."

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The student who recorded the October episode said that the day after the incident, she drove to a gas station and bought pepper spray for the first time.

Now she takes it with her everywhere.

"I'm scared, every day," she said. "For a month I couldn't sleep, I couldn't think straight. I lost all sense of self. It was horrible."

Since she posted the video, she said, she's received messages from other students who told her they were unaware of any of the incidents.

"Nothing hurt me physically but, mentally, this is something I'm carrying," she said.

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Wildlife traffickers are exploiting loopholes in EU trade laws, threatening biodiversity and undermining global conservation efforts.

What's happening?

A new study by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has provided "alarming" new data helping to outline the scale of the global black market for exotic pets.

From 2017 to 2023, almost 2,500 animals from 69 species were seized en route to Europe from Latin America. About 94% of these were destined for the pet trade, which itself is only one part of the clandestine flow of animals worldwide. Though the exportation of these animals  many of which die in transit  is illegal, criminals exploit a loophole that allows for their legal sale within European borders.

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"This kind of illegal exploitation is rife, and we urgently need the EU action to safeguard this and other regions' rich biodiversity," stated Ilaria Di Silvestre, IFAW's director for policy and advocacy in Europe. "These animals belong in their natural habitats  in the rainforests, grasslands, deserts, mountains and wetlands  not in display tanks or cages. This isn't just for their own good, but they are all components of a fragile ecosystem, and all have a role to play."

Why does wildlife trafficking matter?

The growing illegal wildlife trade poses a direct threat to biodiversity, which is already in decline due to factors such as deforestation and development.

Domestic and regional markets also provide major demand for trafficked animals, either as pets or for consumption. An earlier IFAW report revealed that nearly 100,000 animals were smuggled within Latin America alone between 2017 and 2022, with amphibians accounting for more than half of the wildlife trafficked.

As Latin America is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, the trafficking of its wildlife accelerates the loss of species that play crucial roles in maintaining ecological balance, which supports human health and our food supply systems. Many trafficked species are pushed even closer to extinction, particularly those not protected under international treaties.

What's being done to prevent wildlife smuggling?

Increased awareness of wildlife trafficking, both as an individual trend and as a common factor of crime convergence, is helping to strengthen global law enforcement.

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In 2024, a joint initiative by Interpol and the World Customs Organization seized nearly 20,000 endangered animals and plants and arrested 365 suspects across 138 countries. The operation dismantled six transnational trafficking networks and highlighted the growing importance of coordinated international action.

Public education campaigns are essential to shifting attitudes toward exotic pet ownership on the individual level and discouraging demand for trafficked wildlife. At the same time, governments and international organizations must continue to strengthen wildlife protection laws and improve cooperation across borders to combat this growing threat.

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After nearly two years of fighting, Sudans military retook the presidential palace in Khartoum on Friday, the last heavily guarded bastion of rival paramilitary forces in the capital.

Commanders soon shared videos of soldiers cheering in the building, its glass windows shattered and walls pockmarked with bullet holes. Stepping on broken tiles, troops carrying assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers chanted: God is the greatest!

Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), had vowed to fight to the end. In the days that followed, scores of his fighters died for his defiant stance, first bombarded in a shrinking pocket around the palace, and then cut down in the street by drones in a desperate attempt to break out.

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By early Friday, the army claimed to be in full control of the palace, marking its biggest symbolic victory in two years of horrific civil war, and a possible watershed in the conflict.

The victory is not an end to the war, or even an end to the battle for Khartoum, but it has underlined a remarkable change in fortune for the army after it was caught flat-footed and lost significant territory when the conflict began in April 2023.

Arms and money from Russia, Iran and other benefactors, as well as success raising vital new militia forces, are all credited with bringing a string of battlefield gains in recent months.

Credit: X/ @clashreport

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Meanwhile, the once-ascendant RSF has over-extended itself, struggled to govern territory under its control and faced difficulties getting supplies to the front lines.

We are moving forward along all fighting axes until victory is complete by cleansing every inch of our country from the filth of this militia and its collaborators, an army statement said.

War erupted when a long-simmering rivalry between the de-facto president, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, Gen Dagalo, known as Hemedti, flared into open civil war.

In the resulting fight for territory and power between the rival generals, much of the country of nearly 50 million people has become a war zone.

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Sudan has also been tipped into one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises, with famine declared in several states. Millions of people have fled their homes, while casualties are estimated to be anywhere between 150,000 to 500,000 people.

A series of regional powers have meanwhile piled into the conflict, backing one side or another in a free-for-all to pursue influence, natural resources, and strategic interests.

The United Arab Emirates has been widely accused of backing the RSF to defeat the army, which it sees as dangerously close to political Islamists. The Gulf monarchy is also thought to have significant interests in gold from areas controlled by the RSF.

The UAE strongly denies supporting the RSF.

Credit: X/@MohanadElbalal

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On the other side, the Sudanese army found itself badly on the defensive and appeals to the West for help were ignored. It urgently rekindled or strengthened ties with old allies, including Russia, Iran, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Alberto Fernandez, a former US charge daffaires in the country, told a Sudanese news site this week: The Sudanese armed forces pivoted because it wanted to win the war. The US and EU are, in Sudan, against war as a general principle.

But Russia, China, and Iran are happy to actually provide weapons and other material needed on the battlefield.

Russia has long sought a naval base on the Red Sea near Port Sudan and at first backed both sides, hoping whoever the eventual winners might be, they would be grateful enough to agree. The Kremlin is also thought to have its sights on Sudans gold mines.

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Then, last year, Moscow swung fully behind Sudans army and its desire for a naval base is thought to have only grown after the fall of Bashar al-Assad saw the Russian fleet expelled from Syria.

Iran and Sudan cut ties last decade after they found themselves on opposite sides of the rivalry between Tehran and the Saudis. Sudan then sent troops to fight the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

However, ties were re-established last year and Tehran is also thought to be keen to expand its influence along the Red Sea coast.

A Sudanese soldier holds a national flag to celebrate after victory in Khartoum - AP

Both Moscow and Tehran have been accused of supplying arms and new technology to the Sudanese army, with Iranian manufactured drones reported to have become widely used on the front line.

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After humiliating defeats in the early stages of the war, the army began to turn the tide late last year with a counter-offensive in Al-Jazira, taking advantage of the defection of a local commander.

Victories followed in North Kordofan and then Khartoum.

Ahmed Al-Nour, an officer in the army, said that the force had been caught off guard at first and had been forced to reorganise and recruit.

He said: Before the war we were not ready to fight. But we worked internally to increase our armed numbers.

Also we mobilised the community to join us from different areas in Sudan.

He played down the effect of Iranian or Russian support, but admitted a special drone unit had been formed.

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He said: Khartoum is surrounded by the Sudanese armed forces and we cut off the military supply to the RSF. They are not able to move anywhere in the capital Khartoum. That means the RSF is very weak now.

Iranian-made drones

Michael Jones, a terrorism and conflict research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said both sides had been using increasingly sophisticated drones and technology, with the army apparently supplied with Iranian-made drones.

He said: While they are a factor and I have no doubt that they have reshaped the day-to-day reality of warfare in places like Khartoum, I would be wary about over-egging the role of drones and technology.

More important has been the armys ability to mobilise new militia forces.

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He said: It has allowed the army to compensate for those manpower shortages that it experienced in the outset of the war.

Yet whatever the impact of Russian support, Moscow would be pleased with the way the war was going, he predicted.

Sudan last month said a final deal had been agreed with Russia to establish a naval base, saying there were no obstacles to it.

Mr Jones said: I anticipate that the Kremlin will be fairly pleased with the shape of the battlefield. Its less a case of the Kremlin caring which flag flies over Khartoum, its more a case of safeguarding its strategic interests.

Meanwhile, he said many Sudanese appeared to view the army as only a lesser of two evils, Both sides have been accused of abuses and killing civilians. Mass sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war, with the UN childrens agency Unicef saying earlier this month that armed men have raped and sexually assaulted children as young as one.

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Issra Hassan, a mother of three living in Khartoum, said: The situation in Khartoum is changing every single day. All of Omdurman is controlled by the armed forces, but the RSF still exists and is shelling us.

Our life here is unpredictable. We could die any time, but we have nowhere to go.

Also the security situation in our area is very miserable, because the armed forces are recruiting randomly: a lot of underage people, youths, elders and so on.

Other people have been recruited from the community to protect the neighbourhood, but they shoot in the air every day and night without reason because they have no control.

She added: It is really scary, and noisy. You cant sleep at night peacefully.

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CAIRO (AP)  A Sudanese pro-democracy activist group said Saturday that at least 45 people have been killed after members of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group entered a city in the western region of Darfur.

The Resistance Committees, a network of youth groups tracking Sudans war, said the RSF carried out attacks in the city of al-Maliha over the past two days.

The dead included at least a dozen women, according to a partial casualty list published by the activist group.

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The paramilitary group claimed Thursday that it seized al-Maliha, a strategic desert city in North Darfur near the borders with Chad and Libya.

Sudans military has acknowledged fighting around al-Maliha, but has not said it lost the city.

Al-Maliha is around 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the city of el-Fasher, which remains held by the Sudanese military despite near-daily strikes by besieging RSF.
As he is ramping up deportations of migrants from the U.S., President Trump is battling the backlash from Democrats in Congress, activists on the ground and judges in the courtroom.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg recently imposed a temporary order to halt deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime law. The judge wanted the government to prove that the Trump administration did not defy the order that he issued last weekend to return the flights from Texas that were carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members.

Boasberg contended during Thursdays hearing that the government evaded his deadline to fork over information about the deportations of migrants that were flown to El Salvador. Both Trump and his close adviser Elon Musk have blasted Boasberg publicly and called for him to be impeached.

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You cant stop [deportations] with a judge sitting behind a desk who has no idea whats going on and happens to be a radical left lunatic, Trump told journalists at the White House on Friday.

Trump signed an executive order Thursday to chart a path for abolishing the Department of Education (DOE). Although approval from Congress is needed to fully terminate the department, the president told Education Secretary Linda McMahon to achieve as much as she can on her end.

Then on Friday, the commander-in-chief announced that student loans will be taken care of by the Small Business Administration, an agency suffering from a 40 percent workforce cut. The Department of Health and Human Services will oversee the special needs programs.

The departments useful functions  will be preserved, fully preserved, Trump said on Thursday.

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McMahon previously said a massive reduction of the departments workforce would be the first step toward totally dismantling the cabinet-level agency. She is set to appear on CNNs State of the Union where she will likely discuss the next steps the administration will have to take to eliminate the department and what she can do legally to shrink it.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is touring the country and drawing massive crowds of liberal voters who are expressing dissatisfaction with the Trump administrations efforts to overhaul the federal government which has resulted in the firings of thousands of government workers.

The progressive senator will be on ABCs This Week where he will likely discuss what the Democratic Party needs to do next to regain the losses suffered in the 2024 elections and his takeaways from the rallies in Arizona and Nevada.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) has faced loud scrutiny from his fellow colleagues in Congress over his willingness to advance the GOP-crafted funding bill that was eventually signed by Trump. Some in the party, including Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey (D), suggested that the longtime senator should step down from his leadership role. Schumer is set to appear on NBCs Meet the Press where he will likely respond to the backlash he has received in recent days and talk about his new book Antisemitism in America: A Warning.

Heres a list of this weeks Sunday show appearances:

NewsNations The Hill Sunday: Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman (D); author and McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals & Institutions at Princeton Robert P. George.

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ABCs This Week: White House border czar Tom Homan; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

NBCs Meet the Press: Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and John Curtis (R-Utah).

CNNs State of the Union: Education Secretary Linda McMahon; Reps. Ro Khanna, (D-Calif.), and Jason Crow (D-Colo.).

CBS Face the Nation: National security adviser Mike Waltz; Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.); Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.); former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb.

Fox News Sunday: Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D).

Foxs Sunday Morning Futures: Attorney General Pam Bondi; Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) and New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

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Superintendent Susie Hedalen with U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and the chief state school officers of Wyoming and Alaska at the White House. (Provided by the Office of Public Instruction.)

On the invitation of President Donald Trump, Montana Superintendent of the Office of Public Instruction Susie Hedalen attended the presidents signing of an executive order this week to close the Department of Education, OPI said in a news release.

OPI said the move will return control of education back to states and local communities, and the president and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon have made it clear that key funding and grants for education will remain intact.

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In a statement, Hedalen thanked the president and secretary for their historic action on Thursday.

I want to make it clear that President Trump is working to return our education tax dollars to Montanas parents, teachers, and local communities who know whats best for their students, said Hedalen, who took office in January. We dont need top-down mandates from D.C. bureaucrats.

With todays (Thursdays) actions, and future efforts from the president and Congress, we can get more resources directly to Montanas classrooms, reduce burdensome federal reporting on schools, and get education back to basics.

OPI said the Trump administration made it clear that no formula funding or statutory grants that Montana schools rely on including Title I, Special Education, career and technical education, school nutrition, or others will be eliminated.

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Hedalen represented one of the highest-ranking state education officials in the country to support the president in this historic shift to reduce federal bureaucracy in education and improve opportunities for students, teachers and families, OPI said.

The Trump administration already had reduced the number of employees at the Department of Education by roughly half prior to the order. The president alone cannot shutter the agency.

In Montana, other education leaders have had different reactions to the steps the administration has taken to close the department. Roughly 12.5% of the states education budget comes from the federal government.

Lance Melton, head of the Montana School Boards Association, earlier said if federal funding to the state remains intact, the changes could be potentially innocuous.

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However, Amanda Curtis, president of the Montana Federation of Public Employees, earlier said children soon will begin feeling the consequences of cuts because federal employees who calculate formulas and write checks for education have been laid off.

In her statement, Hedalen said OPI is prepared to administer federal funds at the state level and asked for support from other leaders in the field.

I am proud that Montana is leading the charge, and I encourage my education colleagues to join me in moving forward with a positive vision for the future of education in our state and country, she said.

In an email to the Daily Montana about the trip, OPI communications and policy advisor McKenna Gregg said she herself also accompanied the superintendent to Washington, D.C., in her capacity as communications director.

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While we do not have an exact cost for the trip, all state travel procedures were followed, Gregg said. The superintendent took the most affordable economy flight available from Montana to Washington, D.C.

Hedalen had phone conversations with members of the congressional delegation while she was in D.C., Gregg said.

Hedalen also met with them last month in Montana to talk about possible changes at the Department of Education and other education priorities they share, such as school safety and military family support, OPI said.

Republicans U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, Reps. Ryan Zinke and Troy Downing were in Helena last month to address the Montana Legislature.

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We also reached out to (Council of Chief State School Officers), which is the nonpartisan group of state education officials with staff based in D.C. that provide state education leaders with collaborative opportunities, Gregg said of the trip. (Hedalen) was joined by the Wyoming and Alaska state education leaders at the executive order signing.

Hedalen was back at work in Montana on Friday.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON)  One-by-one, former Electromagnetic Systems Lab employees faced a judge and retold details about how they survived a mass workplace shooting carried out by Richard Farley in Sunnyvale.

Farley, who was obsessed with a co-worker who refused to date him, stormed into an ESL building filled with employees in 1988 and began firing a shotgun. Following a trial in 1991, Farley was sentenced to death for murdering seven victims.

Decades after the massacre, the victims co-workers said they are still haunted by traumatic memories, survivors guilt, and PTSD. Survivors delivered victim impact statements Friday at Farleys resentencing hearing with Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Benjamin Williams presiding.

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Last year, District Attorney Jeff Rosen filed a petition asking the court to lower the convicted murderers sentence from death to life in prison without parole.

Dozens of survivors told Judge Williams that Farley was sentenced to death by a jury to ensure justice. Anything less than a death sentence would deny that justice, survivors said. Farley did not attend his own resentencing hearing.

Laura Black, a young electrical engineer, repeatedly refused Farleys romantic advances while they worked together at ESL in the 1980s. He stalked her at work and at home. Black filed for a restraining order and Farley was fired from the company.

On February 16, 1988, Farley stormed inside building M5 inside looking for Black.

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He blasted his way toward Blacks office and shot 11 people with a shotgun. Black was shot in the shoulder and survived. Seven ESL employees were killed, including 26-year-old Ron Reed, 23-year-old Wayne Buddy Williams, and 27-year-old Glenda Moritz.

Richard Farley appears at an arraignment hearing in San Jose on February 18, 1988. (AP Photo /Jim Gensheimer /File)

In court on Friday, a man who shared his office with Reed in M5 urged the judge to deny the DAs request for reducing Farleys sentence. On the day of the mass shooting, the man was working on the second floor when he saw Moritz fall to the floor with a gunshot wound. The man crawled into a conference room, locked the door, and saw Moritzs blood seeping under the doorway. He hid inside the locked office during an hours-long standoff between Farley and a SWAT team. District Attorney Rosen  should care more about crime victims than mass murderers, he said.

Another survivor described Reed as bright and curious, and Moritz as an incredibly vivacious young woman.

Williams close friend, Scott Gamel, reminded the judge that Farleys crime led California to establish anti-stalking laws in the 1990s. Farleys mass shooting was not about race. It was about a man who tormented a woman and committed premediated murder against her co-workers, Gamel said.

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California currently has a moratorium on executing inmates. Gamel said, even without executions, death penalty sentences serve as important deterrents for would-be future killers. Softening or eliminating deterrents makes the community less safe, he said. Honor my friends memory, keep the justice we were promised.

Glen Fortin, who was a member of the SWAT team that responded to the mass shooting scene, also showed up at Fridays hearing. When the SWAT team entered M5, Farley was barricaded on an upper floor with hostages.

Fortin told the judge, It was a bloody scene. Found the first victim laying on the floor, shotgun wound to the head. (A second victim was) shot in the chest  he was deceased also. I moved up to the second floor hallway, I could see a body  he was obviously deceased. A woman was laying in her office  she was deceased. There was a body propped up against a door, a man with a shotgun wound to his back.

The standoff ended when a hostage negotiator convinced Farley to surrender in exchange for a sandwich and soda. After Farley was taken into custody, Fortin was assigned to keep the crime scene secure with the bodies still inside.

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Every victim was wearing their work ID badge, which included their employee photograph. Fortin stared at each photo still attached to lifeless bodies. I wanted to see what they looked like in life. It resonated with me. Thats what they looked like before today, Fortin said he thought at the time.

I had an opportunity to think. These people got up that morning, took a shower, had a cup of coffee, and went to work. They never got to come home. He took out his revenge on these people, Fortin told the judge.

The SWAT team member said he attended Fridays hearing because, I want to make sure justice is upheld. This guy got the death penalty. Thats what he deserves.

Woman killed during conjugal visit with convicted California murderer

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Fred Nikolac, a former director of engineering at ESL, told the judge that he was one of the lucky ones. His administrative assistant interrupted his meeting by banging on the door and warning, Theres a guy in here with a gun. Get out now.

Nikolac was part of a group of employees who toured M5 after the bodies were removed. I had to walk down the hall and leap over a pool of blood because it was too wide to step over. That (blood) came from friends of mine. Our District Attorney, if he had to go through that, would he be pressing to reduce his sentence?

Nikolac told the judge that Farley deserves his death sentence. Hes had 37 years since that event, 37 years that none of his victims had, he told the judge.

After listening to hours of victim impact statements, Judge Williams ruled against the DAs petition for reducing Farleys sentence. Farley will remain as a condemned inmate, and his sentence will not be reduced, the judge ruled.

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District Attorney Rosen successfully petitioned for 11 other death penalty cases to be lowered to life in prison without parole within the past year.

A former Santa Clara County district attorney and judge, Dolores Carr, described the Farley case as the worst of the worst. This one, in terms of number of victims, was clearly the worst, Carr told KRON4. Carr worked closely with attorney James McManis and detectives to track down and notify victims family members about Rosens effort to reduce the killers sentence. Carr said many were not notified by the DA that a resentencing hearing was scheduled.

The DA made minimal effort to locate victims, even though they are obligated to do that under Marsys Law, Carr said.

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ST. CHARLES, Mo.  St. Charles County prosecutor Joe McCulloch said it was in 2017 when Matthew McMenamy last had contact with his victim, a St. Charles County police officer.

In a probable cause statement from the Wentzville Police, in 2023, he is accused of posting fliers on car windshields and at a Wentzville business owned by the officers wife.

The fliers allegedly had the officers picture and raised concerns of racism, but investigators working on the case found no evidence of racism.

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For some reason out of the blue five years later, he begins harassing him, making threats against him, making threats against his family, McCulloch said.

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Investigators say they also found a post online from McMenamy, threatening to take all of the officers things.

Mcmenamy wrote FOX 2 a letter from jail admitting to making fliers but claiming everything on them was protected by the first amendment.

McMenamy is charged with harassment and stalking.

FOX 2 asked attorney Joel Schwartz, who is not working the case, if the first amendment a viable defense in this situation.

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To commit harassment, youve had to commit something to another individual without good cause to cause emotional distress, Schwartz, with Rosenblum, Schwartz, Fry and Johnson law firm, said.

Show Me Cash player hits $462K jackpot, winning ticket sold in Florissant

McCulloch says the threats in this case reach that point.

Youve posted online where they live at. You know where they work at. You know where theyre employed so you can follow through with those threats, then youre obviously causing an emotional stress, he said.

In 2024, the court deemed McMenamy mentally unfit to stand trial.

However, a new evaluation now considers him competent, so the case is progressing again. McMenamy is due back in court in May.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  Birmingham police announced the arrest of a suspect following a reported bank robbery.

Birmingham police searching for alleged robbery suspect

On March 20, a suspect walked into a Wells Fargo and handed the teller a note demanding money, according to BPD.

Jeremy Dumas, 41, of Birmingham was arrested and charged with third-degree robbery. Hes being held in the Jefferson County Jail with a $15,000 bond.

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Following an hours-long standoff, Los Angeles police converged on a Chatsworth home to arrest a suspect who allegedly fired shots at a police helicopter Friday.

The incident began at about 2:20 p.m. when officers responded to a home in the 20000 block of Tipico Street for an assault with a deadly weapon. When officers arrived on the ground and in the air, police said the suspect, believed to be 23 years old, reportedly fired shots at an LAPD airship.

No injuries or damage to the helicopter were reported.

The suspect is seen on the ground next to a pool in Chatsworth. March 21, 2025. (KTLA)

Officers created a perimeter around the home, evacuated neighboring homes and blocked several roads. SWAT team members surrounded the property.

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Sky5 footage showed the shirtless suspect lying face down, possibly asleep, next to a pool in the backyard, with two firearms atop a table next to him.

At one point, he stood up and walked around before lying down again. He was later seen holding an electric hedge trimmer and mixing some type of beverage. He entered the main home at one point before walking back outside.

The suspect was arrested after SWAT Team members breached the home in Chatsworth on March 21, 2025. (KTLA)

At around 5 p.m., the suspect made a phone call to KTLA, saying his name was Nathan and that he was 23 years old. He claimed he had permission to be at the property and was hired by the homeowner to clear out the garage and take care of other tasks.

Shortly before 6 p.m., SWAT team members breached the homes front door and located the suspect in the backyard. He was found lying down as he surrendered to officers.

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Residents in the area said they didnt recognize the man.

One neighbor, Mike Root, said the homeowner had died in late 2024 and that his wife was staying in a rehabilitation center, leaving the property empty.

The wifes brother had reportedly hired the suspect to clear out the garage, but Root said the suspect may have begun living in the home instead.

Police said the suspect was not known to the homeowners. An LAPD spokesperson later told KTLA that no shots were fired at officers.

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(KRON)  The El Cerrito Police Department is investigating a criminal threat and vandalism incident where a Verizon store security guard was pepper sprayed.

Destination Bakery Company closed for rat infestation, bags of flour with gnaw marks: report

It happened on March 12 at the El Cerrito Plaza shopping center.

Police said officers responded at 12:21 p.m. to a report of a loitering suspect being escorted by security out of the Verizon.

Upon arrival, police learned the suspect allegedly threatened to harm the security guard before shattering the glass window of the store.

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El Cerrito police said the suspect then pepper sprayed the security guard and fled the area before police arrived.

The condition of the security guard was not provided. There was no report of other injuries.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact El Cerrito Police Department.

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SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV)  Several suspects in a string of high-profile violent incidents in and around Savannah for the past two weeks were out on bond during the crimes.

Soloman Chisholm, 26, was arrested in connection to the Thursday evening armed confrontation at the Waters Ave. Enmarket.

Chisolm was released a $4k bond Aug. 2, 2024 despite objection from the state.

He was behind bars for one day on possession of weapon and marijuana charges in addition to theft.

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Its frustrating to me as a DA, and its frustrating to me as a citizen, said Chatham County District Attorney (DA) Shalena Cook Jones.

Chisolms case is the latest in what some elected officials, including Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, are calling a troubling trend where suspects, and even a victim, in violent crimes are out on bond.

I have the same concerns that the mayor has, said DA Jones, We do have to answer why we have the recurring instances of crime, and I am sensitive to that not only as a DA but as a citizen. I want to know too.

DA Jones explained the complex process of bond, and told WSAV the recent violence is not the fault of one person or party.

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People get the impression that the DA let them off, or the sheriff let them off, or something else happened, and what people need to understand is that the issue of bond is set by Georgia law, said DA Jones, And though there are multiple parties involved, it is the judges decision to ultimately decide who to let free out on bond and who should stay in jail.

Also recently, Kenneth Gordon, 41, arrested in connection to the deadly Liberty Pkwy. crash, was out on bond in a Port Wentworth Ct.

On March 8th, Nathanial Lewis, 21, was arrested for the deadly shooting of Benny Wright, 41, on the 1800 block of MLK. Jr. Blvd.

Both Lewis and Wright were out on bond, and both of their releases were objected to by the state.

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DA Jones provided context to the recent string of violence as it relates to bond.

On a large scale, 97% of the people who get let out on bond dont commit an offense. They actually do come back for court, and they follow through the process until their case is resolved, said DA Jones, Its the 5 to 10% of people who violate their bond and violate the bond conditions by committing additional offenses.

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Mar. 22A partnership that sprouted from the soybean commodity in Michigan has blossomed into an alliance that has the potential to boost trade on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

The Great Lakes Sustainable Shipping Alliance is also exploring the advantages of using more biofuel in water transport.

The 67th Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway season opens today. The movement of various cargoes on the Seaway system totals more than 135.7 million metric tons and supports more than 241,286 jobs and $36 billion in economic activity in the U.S. and Canada annually. The Seaway includes 15 locks  13 in Canada and two in the U.S., in Massena. The system extends 2,340 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to Duluth, Minnesota, and Lake Superior.

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Agricultural products represent about 40 percent of all Seaway trade. Grain shipped both by the United States and Canada is primarily for export. Cargoes include wheat, corn, barley, oats, flaxseed and soybeans.

Colleen Klein, executive director of the New York Corn & Soybean Growers Association, said that the Seaway's opening is always an exciting time for farmers in New York.

"It provides an expanded gateway for exporting our corn and soybeans to global markets, ensuring that our farmers remain competitive and have access to new opportunities," she said.

That gateway is also providing a sense of opportunity and inspiration.

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Just over three years ago, the Michigan Soybean Committee launched Michigan Advanced Biofuels Coalition to provide resources to help interested parties in Michigan and beyond take advantage of the benefits of using biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel as low-carbon, renewable alternatives to petroleum. The committee directs the "soybean checkoff"  a program where farmers collectively invest a portion of their revenue to fund research, promote and develop markets.

"Through that, we found synergies and relationships in the marine industry," Hanna Campbell, market development director for the Michigan Soybean Committee, explained in a Wednesday phone interview from St. Johns, Michigan. "So, we began working with marine fuelers who are utilizing biodiesel blends and learning that some ship lines were demanding biodiesel blends."

Last year, the board of Michigan Soybean Committee, governed by a group of soybean farmers, met to evaluate goals.

The committee realized many contacts in the marine industry were made, Campbell said. "They said, 'How can we use those relationships and expand it beyond the biofuel and sustainability conversation and into things like shipping, infrastructure, transportation, the Seaway and all these different things that also matter to Michigan soybean farmers?' So, we decided to set the table for a group conversation, bringing together all the different parts of these industries, focusing not only on the sustainability and biofuel portion."

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Those conversations and more were part of the inaugural meeting of the Great Lakes Alliance for Sustainable Shipping (GLASS), held in December in Dearborn, Michigan. Those attending ranged from farmers and marine vessel operators to biofuel experts.

"We also had a lot of people from ports come in to talk about the advancements that they are making and how that will also advance the Great Lakes agricultural industry," Campbell said. "We felt it was really important to make this a regional effort. While it was started by the Michigan Soybean Committee, we invited from all the Great Lakes states and the Seaway."

Goals were formulated from input gathered at December's gathering, Campbell said. Those goals and their working groups are shipping price visibility, infrastructure survey, Midwest agricultural export information and Great Lakes biodiesel exploration.

The initial meeting, Campbell said, "naturally" focused a lot on grain. Soybeans are regulated by the U.S. Grain Standards Act and considered a grain in trading, although the product is a legume.

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"A soybean farmer is not just a soybean farmer," Campbell said. "They are also farming other things, other grains and possibly fresh products. We want to make sure we're taking a holistic approach as well. Our goal, as we continue to develop GLASS, is we'll pull in more stakeholders, not only from other states, but more businesses and other groups. We hope to expand not only to the marine industry, but next year to build in the trucking industry, railroad  that holistic transportation approach."

An option in 'delicate' times

Soy Transportation Coalition Executive Director Michael Steenhoek spoke at December's inaugural GLASS gathering and promoted the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System.

"One of the things that has been vividly on display over the past four or five years is how delicate our supply chains can be," Steenhoek said Friday morning from Ankeny, Iowa, where STC is based. "The response to that should be to try to find every opportunity to be more resilient and have greater redundancy. It's the old adage, don't put your eggs all in one basket."

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Steenhoek said that the lower Mississippi River and the Pacific Northwest are the preeminent export regions for soybeans.

"We think that the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway can and should be a more viable option for the soybean industry, for agriculture," Steenhoek said. "While it will never command the biggest slice of our pie chart in terms of how soybeans find their way to our international customers, we are very much supportive and pursue opportunities to make sure that that slice gets bigger. If it does, that's beneficial to the Great Lakes, the Seaway and obviously beneficial to our industry."

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. provides a number of cargo toll incentives. For example, the Gateway Incentive Program offers shippers a percentage reduction negotiated and offered on applicable cargo tolls for shipments of a specific commodity diverted to the Seaway from a competing gateway. There are also incentives targeting new business and a volume rebate.

In 2021, the Soy Transportation Coalition STC signed an agreement with Seaway Management Corp. to encourage the greater utilization of the Seaway in accessing international markets. The agreement, still in effect, involves a 50% reduction on shipping tolls  for new shipments of soybeans and agricultural freight via the Seaway.

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"It's a very attractive incentive program," Steenhoek said.

But a stumbling block to it, he explained, is getting exporters and shipping companies "singing off the same song sheet."

"Sometimes, that's been a challenge, where the exporters want the discount but the shippers are less likely to pursue that," Steenhoek said. "It's a great program and we're going to continue to market it. I think once you get some people to really utilize it, that's when you'll start to see some momentum built."

Steenhoek said the STC is working to fine tune the incentive for all partners.

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"We don't want to create an incentive program that requires someone to jump through a bunch of hoops in order to access some benefit. We want it to be very streamlined. We set it up that way, but we're continuing a dialogue with exporters and the shipping companies to make sure that it's set up in a way that's accessible for them."

Campbell said that GLASS eventually hopes to focus on a variety of agricultural products. "We are also pulling in groups that are focused more on the fresh side and our goal is to pull in people from the meat side. We want to make sure we are serving the entire Midwest agricultural community with this effort."

The infrastructure GLASS working group, Campbell said, is doing some initial surveying: "What kind of agricultural-handling infrastructure do we have in the Great Lakes today? What did we use to have that now may be repurposed for something else or be commissioned?"

The shipping price visibility working group will look at economics. "The goal is to analyze and compare the price of shipping, specifically a container of soybeans through the St. Lawrence Seaway versus other routes."

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Campbell said that redundancy is a nice thing to have in the shipment of agricultural products.

"We love to have multiple routes. If there's low water on the Mississippi, our grains shippers have another route that they can look at. There's just a lot of questions now in the agricultural industry surrounding how we would be able to use the Seaway, what it would look like, what it would cost, what's already being done today. We want to make sure we equip people with the correct information. So, we'll not only be working with our farmers, shippers and ship lines, but also the Seaway itself."

Good use of byproduct

GLASS grew out of the Michigan Advanced Biofuels Coalition, launched by the Michigan Soybean Committee. The Times sent the MSB's Campbell four questions involving biodiesel and shipping, which she forwarded to the committee's technical team. Those questions and responses follow.

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Why soybeans as basis for biodiesel fuel?

"The biodiesel industry was started by soybean farmers as a way to utilize the byproduct of soybean meal production. The quality of U.S. soybean oil is consistently high and requires less processing than used cooking oil or distillers' corn oil when making biodiesel."

Promoting soy-based biodiesel will, in turn, help soybean growers?

"Yes, economic studies show biodiesel production supports approximately 13 percent of the value of each U.S. bushel of soybeans. Having strong, domestic demand for agricultural products always helps farmers."

Could ships use the same engines, or would they need retrofitting?

"Any diesel engine can use biodiesel, including the diesel engines on marine vessels. A retrofit to heat the tanks may be required when dealing with high biodiesel blends, but the needs are specific to each vessel. Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) has run over 75,000 hours on 100% biodiesel in some of their laker vessels as they continue to decarbonize their operations. The bunker tanks in the CSL vessels were not heated."

Any concern about cold weather operation?

"Biodiesel has a higher cloud point than petroleum diesel, which means it gels at higher temperatures during winter. However, biodiesel blends up to 20% with a cold flow additive will perform as well or better than regular diesel in cold weather. Many marine vessels, such as the CSL ships, may not require any additional heating."
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV)  A woman is recovering at Community Hospital after receiving an apparent gunshot wound to the back of the head.

At 10:22 p.m. on Friday, March 21 Syracuse Police officers were called to the Community Hospital Emergency Room for a report of a walk-in shooting victim.

When officers arrived, they said they found a 23-year-old woman with a graze wound to the back of her head. Police believe it to have been caused by gunfire in the 100 block of East Beard Avenue.

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The woman is in stable condition. Anyone with information is asked to call Syracuse Police at (315) 442-5222.

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Talks between Italy and Elon Musk's SpaceX over a potential billion-euro deal for the use of the Starlink satellite system are stalled, a minister told Italian media on Saturday.

"It seems to me that everything has come to a standstill," Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told the La Repubblica newspaper.

Crosetto lamented that the political debate surrounding the project was focussed on Musk personally. "They're not talking about the technical plan," he said of the opposition.

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A close adviser to US President Donald Trump, Musk has been increasingly trying to sway European politics with statements made through various channels since Trump's election win in November.

His perceived meddling in European affairs has drawn him heavy criticism.

Crosetto described Musk as a "visionary genius" who has brought about a "real revolution" that is "more in space than in cars."

However, he stressed that the controversial debate surrounding Starlink needs to subside before negotiations can resume on a technical level.

"It's about what is most useful and safest for the nation," said Crosetto.

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Italy is negotiating a deal with several private companies in connection with the country's telecommunications security system, including SpaceX.

Should a deal be finalized, Italy would be the first EU country to enter into a collaboration with Musk's company.

The talks are politically sensitive, given the notably close relationship between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Musk. Opposition parties have criticized the personal ties, warning of potential conflicts that could arise from such a deal.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze extended his congratulations to Azerbaijanis worldwide on the occasion of Novruz, emphasizing the deep-rooted friendship between the two nations, Azernews reports.

In his message, Kobakhidze highlighted Novruz as a celebration of renewal and kindness, underscoring the centuries-old coexistence of Georgians and Azerbaijanis, as well as the unity between Christians and Muslims.

"For many years, we have been building the future of our country together. This history continues today, and it is a beautiful tradition that we must pass on to our children and future generations. I extend my best wishes for peace and prosperity," he stated.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  Efforts to plant trees using federal dollars in Tampa Bay could be at a standstill. The Trump Administration is looking to eliminate environmental justice programs under the premise of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

There were 183 trees planted in Childs Park in St. Petersburg. And $19,000 from the federal governments U.S. Forest Service was used to accomplish it.

Hurricane-damaged hotel in St. Pete Beach receives $34K internet/cable bill

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The same government agency cancelled the funding for a nationwide tree planting program because it no longer aligns with the agency priorities regarding DEI.

Its hard to believe that trees have anything to do with diversity, equity, and inclusion. I mean we need trees everywhere, said Pat Fling, the co-chair of the Sierra Club political committee. They advocate for a clean environment and say trees contribute to it.

Fling said not having this funding can hurt some areas.

Itll be hard for those residents who cant afford to plant trees on their own. Lower income neighborhoods might be closer to commercial businesses which are generating pollution, so trees can help mitigate some of that, Fling said.

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This has been a focal point for Jabaar Edmond. He is the former president of the Childs Park Neighborhood Association.

The tree planting is an investment for the future more so than an investment right now, Edmond said. Were still battling air quality emissions from factories in our industrial corridor.

He said its going to be up to the city and state to fill gaps left by the federal government.

The reality is sometimes we have to be the ones to issue the grant and not be the ones receiving it, Edmond said.

The nonprofit Take MAR (More Action for Regeneration) plants trees across Tampa Bay. They say on average, planting one tree can cost between $1,000 to $2,000.

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Trees are expensive, not just for the planting, but also to maintain, and they require labor cost of trees, mulching, fertilizing, etc. So with cities that have more affluent neighborhoods, they have more funding for certain things, so we are also looking at the importance of planting and underserved communities, said Michelle Ellena, the Co-Founder of Take MAR. Looking at communities that trees might not be their first priority but are very necessary in order to, yeah, help with storm protection, flood mitigation air and water quality, and urban heat reduction.

The Sierra Club mentioned how their organization and others are still counting the number of trees lost during Hurricanes Helene and Milton. These groups hope people realize the need for newly planted trees and are willing to pay for it.

It almost feels like a defeat sometimes, but at the same time, trees are resilient, so were going to be resilient, Ellena said.

Its unclear where Governor Ron DeSantis stands on federal funding being cut for programs to plant trees. But the governor has been vocal about assessing state spending and bringing in government efficiency.

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ARKANSAS COUNTY, Ark.  The second trade war initiated by President Donald Trump is looming for many Arkansas exporters.

The most sweeping tariffs in effect now are between China and the United States. America has a 20% tariff on all imported goods while China is targeting specific U.S. imports like agriculture.

Arkansas business owner highlights impact of President Trumps tariffs

Jay Coker, a farmer in Arkansas County, is about to plant seed. He said, for most farmers, it is too late to pivot for any tariffs in effect now or in the near future. Like a seed carried in the wind, much of what happens to Cokers crop is out of his control.

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In the world were farming in today, theres a lot of unknowns, Coker said.

Weather, wars, and now tariffs are top of mind for farmers hoping to turn a profit.

It is the third year that we are experiencing prices much lower than our cost of production, Coker added.

Coker said he is optimistic about the potential long-term effects of U.S. tariffs, but economists warn that in the short term, they could hurt farms, especially soybean farmers.

University of Arkansas Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics Ryan Loy knows some products like soybeans are grown for global more than domestic markets.

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One reason for the tariff is to protect the domestic production, and its kind of that classic economist answer, but it depends, Loy explained.

Port of Little Rock officials say potential international tariffs could have big impact on Arkansas

Last year, about 53% of soybeans produced in America went straight to China. According to the USDA, Nearly one-half of U.S. agricultural exports to China are soybeans, but it used to account for more.

In the last trade war, China cut its imports from the U.S. by more than half. Loy said South American countries got the business America lost.

Even with the tariffs in place, farmers say it likely wont be until harvest they see the full effects, and they hope to find new trade partners if possible to lessen the tariffs impacts.

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What well see is an excess of supply with very little exports to go to, and even if we diversify those export markets, its still not going to make up for the amount we normally send to China, Loy said.

Soybeans are Arkansas top agricultural export. Rice, poultry, cotton and more are parts of retaliatory tariffs in other countries.

Coker said hes not ready to uproot the Presidents plan. Instead, hell be patient waiting to see what grows from what Trump sows.

As farmers, weve got to remain optimistic, Coker said. Long term we feel it is going to correct some things.

Study shows scope of potential tariff impact on Arkansas

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Any imports that left the U.S. before March 10 and will arrive in China before April 12 are exempt from the current tariffs. The tariffs against Canada and Mexico, have been postponed until April 2.

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March 22 (UPI) -- British-American influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan returned to Romania aboard a private jet from Miami, where they face human trafficking and other charges.

Andrew Tate, 38, and Tristan Tate, 36, landed at Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport early Saturday local time. They had flown in the United States on Feb. 27 after Romanian prosecutors lifted a two-year travel ban following of their arrests in December 2022.

Speaking to reporters Saturday outside his residence in Bucharest, Andrew Tate said "anyone who believed any of this garbage has a particularly low IQ."

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"After all we've been through, we truly deserve the day in court where it is stated that we've done nothing wrong and that we should have never been in court in the first place," Andrew Tate said. "We should have never gone to jail. We should have never had our assets seized. We should have never had our names slandered.

Andrew Tate, a former professional kickboxer with 10.8 million followers on X, posted a picture with his brother to the social media platform from the flight, writing that "innocent men don't run. THEY CLEAR THEIR NAME IN COURT."

Former professional kickboxer and social media influencer Andrew Tate (left) and his brother Tristan Tate are escorted by police officers after a hearing at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in Romania on February 27, 2023. FIle photo by Robery Ghement

Spending 185,000 dollars on a private jet across the Atlantic to sign one single piece of paper in Romania. Innocent men don't run. THEY CLEAR THEIR NAME IN COURT pic.twitter.com/GXiVKstGrw Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) March 21, 2025

Romanian prosecutors said the brothers are "under judicial control" and must regularly report to the authorities, with the first check-in scheduled for Monday.

The brothers are accused of human trafficking and forming an organized group to sexually exploit women in Romania. Andrew Tate, a self-proclaimed "misogynist" who claims to have made millions from social media despite being previously banned from platforms for his views, also is accused of rape.

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In addition, they are the targets of a separate investigation in Britain into allegations of rape and human trafficking.

In the United States, a woman in a civil suit also alleges the brothers coerced her into sex work, and then defamed her after she gave evidence to Romanian authorities. They have denied the allegations.

After they arrived in Florida, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said the state has "zero tolerance for people who abuse women and girls." He announced an active criminal investigation into the brothers, led by the Office of Statewide Prosecution.

UltraViolet, a female-led gender-justice organization, has launched an advertising campaign against the Tates, accusing President Donald Trump of facilitating them to come to the United States.

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Trump has said he didn't know anything about the release of the brothers, who are Trump supporters.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said of the Tate brothers arrival in the state last month that "the reality is, Florida is not a place where you are welcome, with that type of conduct in the air.

"I found out through the media that this was something that was happening," he said at the time.

The Tates' attorney, Joseph McBride, blasted UltraViolet's campaign in a statement to the Miami Herald.

"Feminism is a cancer that is responsible for the breakdown of the natural family, the rearing of pathetic men, and the genocide of children in the womb," McBride said in the statement. "The fact these losers want to jail Andrew and Tristan Tate for preaching their version of traditional masculinity highlights the fact that these fascist feminists are fragile weaklings incapable of defending their position in the free marketplace of ideas. Long live the First Amendment."
Senior tax officials are bracing for a sharp drop in revenue collected this spring, as an increasing number of individuals and businesses spurn filing their taxes or attempt to skip paying balances owed to the Internal Revenue Service, according to three people with knowledge of tax projections.

Treasury Department and IRS officials are predicting a decrease of more than 10 percent in tax receipts by the April 15 deadline compared with 2024, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share nonpublic data. That would amount to more than $500 billion in lost federal revenue; the IRS collected $5.1 trillion last year. For context, the U.S. government spent $825 billion on the Defense Department in fiscal 2024.

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The idea of doing that in one year, its hard to grapple with how meaningful of a shift that represents, said Natasha Sarin, president of the Yale Budget Lab and a senior Biden administration tax official.

The reason, officials say, is directly tied to changing taxpayer behavior and President Donald Trumps rapid demolition of parts of the IRS. Senior tax agency officials issued detailed warnings about those outcomes to the incoming Trump administration before the president took office, according to records obtained by The Washington Post.

The administration has moved to fire nearly 20,000 agency employees, specifically targeting new hires in taxpayer services and enforcement divisions. Its already dismissed more than 11,000 workers at the agency, though some of their statuses are unclear pending fast-moving court cases.

The IRS has dropped investigations of high-value corporations and taxpayers, according to several agency employees involved in those inquiries, because its had to triage resources to keep internal systems operating. Two agency commissioners have resigned since Trump took office. The IRSs head of compliance, Heather Maloy, stepped down effective Friday.

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The IRS publishes weekly filing season reports that show the number of returns received and how officials are processing refunds. Those reports show the IRS has received 1.7 percent fewer returns this year compared with the same point in the 2024 filing season.

That percentage is narrower than the projected decrease in total receipts. But the agency also makes more detailed, nonpublic revenue projections based on IRS measurements of scheduled payments from already filed returns and outstanding balances relative to similarly situated taxpayers in previous years.

Those calculations take into account the number of filers who have paid their balances or are owed refunds, those who have scheduled payments by the April 15 deadline, those who have taken extensions, and measurements of annual noncompliance. That gives the agency deeper insight on the amount filers are paying.

The IRS also has separate measurements of business tax receipts. Corporations must pay first-quarter estimated tax on April 15.

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The thing that I think is really alarming is if this data ends up telling a story about how this filing season is evolving, and youre seeing it happen in real time, Sarin said.

The IRS has noticed an uptick in online chatter from individuals declaring their intention to not pay taxes this year or to aggressively claim credits and deductions for which they are ineligible, three of the people said - wagering that auditors will not examine their accounts.

Representatives from the IRS and Treasury Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Other dynamics could explain some of the projected drop in revenue, experts say. Natural disasters, such as the Los Angeles-area wildfires, could lead taxpayers in wealthy areas to postpone filing until October, said Timur Taluy, CEO of tax-prep service FileYourTaxes.com. And during times of economic turbulence, some taxpayers typically opt for a penalty-free six-month filing extension.

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But neither would entirely account for such a large drop in revenue, experts say, especially after the 2.8 percent growth the U.S. economy experienced in 2024. Tax officials entered filing season expecting to collect more revenue that last year, the people said, because of economic growth and the lack of significant tax law changes.

Theres no reason to anticipate this based on the economic year we had in 2024, said Dorothy A. Brown, who studies tax policy and racial disparities at the Georgetown University Law Center.

The results could mean the government has to borrow more money to cover the cost of federal services. The IRS collects 95 percent of federal revenue each year. A shortfall in tax dollars, if Congress doesnt cut spending to match, would drive up the national debt, which already sits at $36.2 trillion.

IRS officials have weathered well-documented showdowns with Elon Musks U.S. DOGE Service and immigration officials over access to highly sensitive personal and business financial data.

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But tax filing season has generally proceeded smoothly this year, Taluy said, though IRS data is beginning to show weak spots in agency operations. Roughly 85 percent of callers to IRS helplines are reaching a representative, compared with 93.6 percent at this point in 2024, according to records obtained by The Post.

Senior IRS officials attempted to warn the Trump transition team about the effects of planned staffing and budget cuts at the agency, according to other records, obtained by The Post through the Freedom of Information Act. On top of the DOGE-driven workforce reductions, congressional Republicans also repealed $20.2 billion in resources for the agency as part of a recent government funding law.

Aggressive reductions to budget and personnel capacity risk backlogs, delays, reduced receipts, and diminished capacity to build next generation digital capabilities, according to a January presentation given by tax officials to the incoming Trump administrations Treasury Department team.

The presentation - a 68-slide deck - included recommendations for how the Trump administration could gradually decrease IRS staff numbers without disrupting tax administration. It called for digitizing tax-filing processes and automating the work of some employees in the customer service and compliance divisions.

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The IRS is pursuing a vision of digitalization and automation which will increase the speed and quality of its processes while reducing the overall IRS footprint, the presentation states. In the past we have increased our staffing levels to improve taxpayer assistance, tax assessments, and collection processes. However, once modernized, our staffing footprint can be reduced while maintaining performance.

But the presentation also compares current IRS operations to an assembly line, noting that much of the agencys productivity is dictated by its staffing levels.

We tried to make clear this is a logistics operation. Theres a science to it. If you put 30 people on the line, this is how much you can accomplish today. If you put 15 people on the line, you can accomplish half of that, said one person involved in the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to discuss it publicly. You can change the productivity over time with a smaller input of personnel, but not this filing season. This is where we are today.

- - -

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Shannon Najmabadi contributed to this report.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Portland police have identified the person who was shot and killed in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood earlier this week.

Officers found Junior Garza, 17, with gunshot wounds near 3000 SE 136th Avenue around 10:15 p.m. on March 18. Police said he died at the scene despite attempts to save his life.

Hwy 26s The Bump sends cars airborne as locals fight for improvements

A medical examiner later determined Garza had died of homicide by gunshot wound. No suspects were identified at the scene, and an investigation remains ongoing.

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Anyone with information about Garzas death is encouraged to contact Portland police.

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A 19-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to murder in the slaying of a 39-year-old mother of three in upstate New York earlier this week, according to online court records.

Dhymere Bailey was arrested Friday morning by Rochester City police officers following a two-day investigation, Rochester First reported. Hes accused of fatally shooting Sandra Blanding near a vacant lot on Spencer St., on the citys west side, early Wednesday morning.

Blanding, a Rochester resident, was shot at least once in her torso, Rochester Police Captain Frank Umbrino said, according to the Democrat and Chronicle.

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Police declined to elaborate on a possible motive for the shooting, but investigators believe the two didnt know each other.

Bailey was arrested around 11 a.m. Friday after initially trying to flee, local ABC affiliate WHAM reported. He was ultimately taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

At the time of his arrest, Bailey was carrying a loaded handgun, which police believe was the weapon used in the deadly shooting.

He appeared in Rochester City Court Saturday morning for his arraignment, at which he pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Judge Constance Patterson ordered Bailey held without bail. Hes expected back in court on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.
PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now)  A teenage boy was injured after he was shot in broad daylight Saturday in the District Heights area, according to police.

The Prince Georges County Police Department (PGPD) told DC News Now that the boy was shot at around 10:30 a.m. while he was outside in the 1600 block of Addison Road South.

Responders took him to the hospital for treatment. He was in stable condition.

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PGPD: Person dies, child hurt after crash linked to police pursuit in Prince Georges County

PGPD added that a car in the area was hit by the gunfire as well; however, police did not say anyone else was injured and did not specify whether the vehicle was occupied.

The investigation is ongoing.

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CLEARFIELD, Pa. (WTAJ)  Six representatives from Philadelphia want to repeal Pennsylvanias direct file law for violent crimes committed by juvenile offenders age 14 and older.

Its not common for children to be tried as adults with the exception being for some cases involving violent crimes. Last year, a 14-year-old was brought into the Clearfield County Courthouse to answer to homicide charges as an adult. That case was later dropped down into juvenile court, and about two-thirds of all cases in the state involving juvenile defendants are also put back into juvenile court, withdrawn or dismissed.

Lawmakers are proposing drastic changes to how we handle juvenile justice in the Commonwealth. Clearfield County District Attorney Ryan Sayers agrees there needs to be a conversation about making some reforms, but said eliminating direct file isnt one of them.

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The statute is very limited already on what we have the ability to direct file. And those include the ones that we had talked about before  murder, rape, sexual assault, aggravated assault, those are very serious crimes, Sayers said.

The lawmakers behind the legislation argue the current law allowing children to be tried in adult courts is a cruel and unnecessary punishment that can lead to kids becoming repeat offenders. They also said its damaging to their well-being, but Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks said in some cases, its the only way to protect the well-being of other, younger offenders.

Residents urge Blair County Commissioners to reconsider prison site

We have a fair amount of cases in Blair County where we have a 16-year-old or 17-year-old raping someone under the age of 11 or 10. And if you have someone engaged in that type of criminal behavior, does it make sense to put them with other juvenile offenders who youre attempting to rehabilitate? I would say no, that does not make sense, Weeks said.

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Both district attorneys said charging a juvenile as an adult is a decision they dont take lightly, but there are rare cases they choose it. In 2020, Weeks prosecuted four teens for attempted homicide. He said at the time, all four were already on juvenile probation or in the juvenile justice system.

Ive lobbied and said many times that we need more resources for juvenile probation to be able to supervise them more closely. We need to be going through their phones, their social media, enforcing curfews when they are committing less serious offenses before they escalate to the charges they cause us to direct file or place them into adult court, Weeks said.

Sayers said one of his major concerns is that even with sufficient supervision, prosecuting older teens as juveniles could prevent rehabilitative programs from having the time they need to successfully serve the teen and eliminate their chances of recidivism.

If somebody commits a crime like a rape or a murder, being the most serious, at age 17 and 11 months, if this statute goes through, theyre going to be charged as a juvenile and theyll be done at age 21, Sayers said. Thats a wholly inadequate time for not just incarceration, but supervision and rehabilitation. That that does not allow the system to do what it needs to do to seek justice for these crimes.

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Both Blair and Clearfield Counties have experienced an uptick in teens committing crimes. Currently the most serious offenders can be housed in adult prison with restrictions keeping them out of sight and earshot of adult inmates. The district attorneys are worried about where the teens would be housed should this bill pass.

99% of the time, juvenile probation is unable to find a bed at a detention facility, Weeks said. Weve had a stabbing case where the offender was under the age that allowed us to direct file as an adult. That juvenile offender was accused of stabbing someone. They were taken into custody and they were returned by juvenile probation the same evening to, I believe, a grandparent because there is simply no beds available for juvenile offenders in the juvenile system.

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In the memo for the legislation, lawmakers did not address how they plan to address this lack of resources. But the legislative proposal comes on the tail of the Shapiro Administration announcing a closure study for SCI Rockview, one of only a handful of facilities in Central Pennsylvania able to house kids and teens.

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The tobacco industry  and consumers  have arrived at a pivotal public health crossroads, according to a leading industry analyst.

By 2035, rising consumption of smokeless tobacco and nicotine products is expected to overtake shrinking demand for traditional cigarettes in terms of sales volume.

Smokeless products feature electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco sticks, moist snuff, snus and nicotine pouches.

Over the next decade, we anticipate a significant shift in the nicotine landscape whereby smoke-free products overtake combustibles to become the primary driver of industry growth, Goldman Sachs tobacco analyst Bonnie Herzog wrote in a deep dive investor report last week.

On a volume basis, we expect this shift to occur as soon as this year.

That could result in Reynolds American Inc., which has the top-selling electronic cigarette Vuse, pulling significantly closer to Philip Morris USA, home of top-selling traditional cigarette Marlboro, in terms of revenue.

However, sales from unregulated imported e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches could continue to siphon off much of Reynolds potential revenue gains.

Also a factor: Philip Morris Internationals rollout soon of the first Food and Drug Administration-authorized heated tobacco sticks.

Traditional cigarette volumes are projected to decline between 9.3% and 10% annually through 2035.

Herzog projected that for all tobacco and nicotine industry products, traditional cigarette volumes will decline from 47% in 2024 to 20% by 2035, while overall industry revenues are projected to decline from 70% in 2024 to 50% in 2035 for traditional cigarettes.

By 2035, we expect e-vapor to drive 42% of U.S. nicotine equivalized volume, up from 36% today, Herzog said.

This implies that by 2035, e-vapor will be the largest volume segment in U.S. nicotine, although less than 20% in terms of revenue and less than 15% of operating profit.

Herzog said her projection is based in part on an assumption that the Trump administrations FDA does not introduce any major impediments or delays for new product applications or technology upgrades.

However, Herzog said that given the relative nascency of the smoke-free industry today and the hugely cash-generative profile of combustibles, we dont expect smoke-free revenues and profits to overtake combustibles until 2034 at the earliest.

That implies combustibles will need to work that much harder (via pricing) to make up the difference.

Broken regulation

Herzog said the current minimal federal enforcement on illicit e-cigarettes constrains the ability of publicly traded nicotine companies to drive profitable growth in the near term.

Both British American Tobacco Plc  owner of top-selling U.S. e-cigarette Vuse by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.  and Altria  owner of No. 3 U.S. e-cigarette NJoy  have prodded the FDA for more than a year to heighten enforcement.

In 2023, Altria paid $2.75 billion in cash to take full ownership of NJoy.

The companies separately have claimed those unregulated synthetic products represent about half of the overall current domestic e-cigarette market.

According to Altria, the leading three unregulated brands by market share are Zone, Fre and Juice Head, along with Elf Bar, Breeze and Mr. Fog.

Billy Gifford, chief executive of Altria Group Inc., said those products are jeopardizing the long-term opportunity for tobacco-harm reduction from the small number of FDA-authorized U.S.-made vaping products.

In February, Gifford turned up the volume on his concerns about unregulated imported vaping products in hopes of getting the attention of the Trump administration.

The growing adoption of smokefree alternatives is encouraging and directly aligned with our vision and the growth aspirations of our smokefree businesses, Gifford said.

Yet, Gifford said regulators are not holding bad actors accountable.

Illicit product manufacturers, distributors, and retailers have yet to experience any material consequences for violating federal laws and regulations.

The illicit e-vapor market has grown to a size and a scale beyond our expectations ... compromising our ability to achieve our 2028 smoke-free volume and revenue goals and to achieve the NJoy-specific financial targets.

A bipartisan coalition has formed in Congress to pursue increased restrictions on the unregulated e-cigarettes.

The FDA and U.S. Justice Department announced in June a task force involving other federal agencies that they say will address the illegal domestic distribution and sale of electronic cigarettes. The FDA has announced several crackdowns on unregulated vaping products.

Gifford said he believes the FDA can restore order in the market by authorizing more premarket tobacco applications to establish a legal market of alternatives for consumers, and by partnering with other federal agencies to prevent illicit products from entering the country.

Yet, Gifford said it has become clear that two markets exist in the U.S.  one for those who operate within the regulatory framework, and one for those who flagrantly violate and evade the rules.

In the simplest terms, we believe the regulatory structure is broken and the tobacco marketplace is not operating as Congress intended.

The FDA has not authorized enough smoke-free products to meet consumer demand with legal products.

PMI on the rise?

Herzog said that while we assume enforcement eventually picks up, illicit continues to be a sizeable part of the total e-vapor market by 2035, driving 54% of category volume, vs. 67% today.

We have not yet seen tangible signs of better enforcement and only forecast a moderate decline in illicit penetration within the e-vapor category.

Herzog said BAT may be hardest hit since it generates more than 90% of its U.S. new category revenue from vapor.

We expect that BAT will remain the largest branded player in vapor, but the category will deliver softer growth relative to other reduced-risk categories, Herzog said.

Meanwhile, Herzog expects Altria to stop selling NJoy, effective March 31, per the unfavorable International Trade Commission ruling in its litigation with Juul.

Ultimately, we believe the attractive unit economics of smoke-free products will fuel long-term growth of the nicotine profit pool, Herzog said.

We are encouraged to see smoke-free products, such as e-vapor and nicotine pouches, taking share, despite the lack of innovation entering the market due to a prolonged and arduous FDA premarket tobacco application review process.

Herzog said she views Philip Morris International as the biggest winner with the greatest share gains in the U.S. over the next 10 years as its heated tobacco sticks production and supply chain network ramps up.

PM has zero exposure to traditional cigarettes, a dominant position in nicotine pouches with Zyn and a huge first-mover advantage in heat-not-burn, Herzog said.

By 2035, we believe PM could command as much as 23% of the total U.S, nicotine revenue and profit pool, while Philip Morris USA drops from 43% to 37% and BAT from 28% to 20%.

Herzog projects the market share of Greensboro-based ITB Brands LLC to remain around 6% to 7% due to its cigarette portfolio skewing to the value/discount segment and our expectation that pressure on industry volume declines will be partially offset by downtrading.

Analysts perspectives

Clive Bates of Counterfactual, a London-based public health and sustainability consultancy, says the FDA and other federal agencies are taking a whack-a-mole approach to unregulated imported tobacco products.

The innovation in illicit supply will easily outpace the FDAs ability to keep up with it, Bates said.

Bates said the only way to beat illicit trade is to have a wide range of legally available variations of the products people wish to buy and use.

The failure of FDA to create an adequate market in far safer alternatives to cigarettes is the ultimate cause of the illicit trade.

Maintaining the current status quo, Bates said, will be bad for the law-abiding industries involved and the market will migrate from legal cigarettes to illegal vapes.

FDA not only imposes enormous costs on law-abiding manufacturers, but also long delays in bringing products to market and a heavy brake on innovation, Bates said. The illicit market has none of this competitive drag.

Bates said the other primary challenge to Herzogs 10-year predictions coming to fruition is negative public sentiment (about smokeless tobacco and nicotine products) and hostile federal and state policies driven by tobacco control activism.

He said the combination is slowing migration to smoke-free alternatives.

That will suit the tobacco companies ,who profit mightily from the status quo and would face much more competition, more challenging margins and more volatility in consumer preferences in the new world, Bates said.

They would be grateful for a respite from compound 10% declines in cigarette volumes, and only tobacco control can give them that by scaring the consumer away from vapes.

Scott Ballin, past chairman of the anti-smoking Alliance Coalition of Science and Health, advocates for the FDA and other federal agencies to ramp up restrictions and monitoring of the unregulated imported tobacco and nicotine products.

There needs to be crack down on the illegal products coming in from primarily China and quick review and authorizing approval for legitimate e-cigarettes, Ballin said.

I fear that the illicit market will find a way to maintain their market by undercutting the price of legitimate products and finding ways of finding vendors willing to sell the products, etc.

Brad Rodu, a professor of medicine at the University of Louisville and an anti-smoking advocate, said a Trump administrations FDA needs to be willing to change the misguided public education focus on tobacco and nicotine products is pivotal.

With new FDA leadership, its relatively straightforward and it requires no congressional approval, Rodu said.

Tell Americans the truth about the safety of nicotine and the vast differences in health consequences between combustible and smoke-free delivery.
BT Group, a telecom provider in the United Kingdom, has pledged to add 3,500 electric vehicles to its delivery fleet in the next two years.

According to Electrek, BT Group has more than 27,000 vehicles in its fleet. It also hopes to electrify most, if not all, of its vehicles in the next five years and plans to become a fully carbon-neutral business by 2031.

The company endorses the U.K.'s decision to ban cars fueled by gas and diesel, which will be enacted in 2030, according to Auto Express.

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"We are taking another significant step towards reducing our carbon footprint and supporting the U.K.'s transition to a greener future," CFO Simon Lowth said. "As we extend our full fiber build  to 25 million [homes and businesses] by the end of 2026, having the most efficient, sustainable electric vehicles will give our engineers the edge as they connect customers at pace to our next generation networks."

Switching to an EV could do wonders for humanity's collective health and the environment.

According to Yale Climate Connections, EVs can reduce carbon dioxide pollution, especially when they are powered by energy grids that use clean, renewable power. For example, in states with the cleanest energy  Washington, Idaho, South Dakota, and Vermont  EVs reduce carbon pollution by about 90% compared to gas-powered cars.

Even in states such as West Virginia and Kentucky, which mostly use coal, an EV can cut carbon pollution by at least 30%.

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While prices could stand to fall even more for the average consumer, EVs are one of many promising solutions to clean our air and keep our environment healthy.

"We want to help more businesses decarbonize their operations," Lilian Greenwood, the U.K.'s Minister for the Future of Roads, said, "and we've extended our plug-in van grant with 120m funding to help roll out more zero emission vans on our roads  part of our 2.3bn to support industry and consumers switch to EVs and make the transition a success."

The United States has done something similar for individual consumers by providing a tax credit for some EV makes and models.

If you were going to purchase an EV, which of these factors would be most important to you? Cost Battery range Power and speed The way it looks Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
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Tenant lobbyists have been asking the General Assembly to pass enabling legislation allowing counties to enact good cause legislation for years. These groups argue that housing providers are abusing their right to non-renew lease agreements and unjustly pursue evictions.

Housing providers have fought this effort because it lengthens the time it takes to evict nuisance tenants, raises legal costs and requires housing providers to screen tenants more rigorously.

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This year, we engaged in good-faith negotiations to find a workable compromise. While our organizations and members recognize the need for protecting renters, this must be balanced with the challenges of operating rental housing in Maryland. That is why we came to the table with two asks.

First, the bill must include clear language encompassing a range of behaviors that allow a housing provider to not renew a lease. This clarity will enable courts to easily determine what constitutes a legal cause for non-renewing a lease while allowing housing providers to effectively enforce their lease agreements when specific violations occur. Examples include repeated nonpayment of rent, violation of housing safety codes, illegal activities on the leased premise and repeated disorderly conduct.

Second, the bill must prevent localities from adopting both good cause and vacancy control simultaneously. Vacancy control limits how much rent a housing provider can charge at the end of a tenancy. It does not impact rent controls for existing tenants. These two issues are tied together because advocates claim that the absence of good cause gives the housing provider a perverse incentive to not renew a lease to raise rents. Over time, however, vacancy control prevents housing providers from recovering high turnover costs.

Your opinion matters

Maryland Matters welcomes guest commentary submissions at editor@marylandmatters.org.

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We suggest a 750-word limit and reserve the right to edit or reject submissions. We do not accept columns that are endorsements of candidates, and no longer accept submissions from elected officials or political candidates.

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For example, a tenant rents a rent stabilized unit that is limited to below market rents for 10 years. The tenant then decides to move for work, to buy a house, or for any other reason. After the tenant moves out, the housing provider must spend thousands of dollars to turn over the unit.

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A basic turnover includes cleaning, painting, marketing and at least two months of foregone revenue while the unit is vacant. A more extensive turnover can include new flooring, appliances, drywall replacement, and any other repair that is needed to bring it to market standards.

Under vacancy control, none of these costs can be recouped by resetting to market rents. If vacancy control were imposed on homeowners, they could not sell their home for market value. Instead, homeowners would only be able to sell for what the county government dictates is a fair increase in value.

At their core, both vacancy control and rent control are about preventing tenant displacement, not housing affordability. The only solution to housing affordability is building more housing. In fact, vacancy control alone has been found to cause a decline in the number of rental units. Our solution is to give local governments that choice between good cause eviction and vacancy control.

This caused the tenant advocates to move the goalposts. They now claim that vacancy control is not just an anti-displacement tool, but also necessary to maintain housing affordability. This claim ignores the extensive research demonstrating the impact of rent control on housing supply.

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Take Montgomery County, which implemented a rent control law that includes vacancy control last year. Institutional real estate investors have responded by redlining the county, rightly assessing that the regulatory risk, heightened by the rent control law and other regulations, is far too high. As a result, developers cannot attract investment, severely suppressing new housing construction.

This same dynamic has happened in other jurisdictions. St. Paul, Minnesota, passed a rent control law with vacancy control in 2021. Three years later, the city continues to experience a steep decline in housing production as investors choose to take their capital elsewhere.

Which brings us back to Good Cause. Theres an agreement on the table that would provide these eviction protections to renters in the state. Tenant lobbyists that have supported this policy for decades are now poised to oppose it at the last moment on a flimsy affordability argument that doesnt hold up to scrutiny. The General Assembly should not deprive Marylanders of these protections because a few dogmatic groups want to use renters as pawns to score political points.
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL)  Time is running out to get a REAL ID before the May 7 deadline, when one will be required to enter certain federal buildings or board flights.

Starting March 22, Tennessee residents will be able to make Saturday appointments at select driver service centers to get their REAL IDs.

Johnson City is included on the list.

Charmaine McNeily, the deputy director of communications at the Tennessee Department of Homeland Security, said this is to help take some pressure off urban driver service centers.

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Weve seen an increase in volume ahead of this REAL ID implementation date on May 7, especially at some of our urban driver services centers, McNeily explained, To help alleviate that, weve added Saturday hours at 14 driver services stations across the state.

Unlike a regular drivers license, REAL ID includes higher verification standards that adhere to security measures at a federal level.

Those who do not have a REAL ID will need another type of federal ID to be allowed to access certain federal facilities or go through airport security.

Transportation Security Administration spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said those who do not have it already should consider getting it soon.

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Maybe you have to attend a funeral thats several states away, and the best way to get there is to fly, Farbstein said. Maybe theres a wedding you want to go to. Maybe theres a new grandchild.

So, you know, you never know exactly when you might need it. So, its really best to have a real ID compliant license or know for sure that you have a valid alternative form of acceptable I.D.

In order to receive a REAL ID in Tennessee, residents must bring proof of U.S. citizenship which can be a birth certificate or passport, proof of Social Security Number, and two proofs of Tennessee residency which can be from a current utility bill, paycheck, or an insurance policy.

However, McNeily explained how a REAL ID is not necessary for everyday activities.

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Your current credential is a going to be just fine for most of the things that youre going to use it for, including driving, voting, purchasing alcohol, things like that, McNeily said.

McNeily also says you will need to bring proof of a name change from any point in your life. This can include a marriage license, a court order, or a divorce decree.

You can find a full list of all the requirements here.

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SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE)  With just hours left in the legislative session, sparks are flying between Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and lawmakers, over some of the sessions high-profile priorities. The governor blasted the legislature and the Attorney General over their approach to fixing the troubled New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department. Meanwhile, lawmakers have run out of time to agree on legislation, aimed at dealing with kids who commit crimes. On Friday, the governor signed a bipartisan bill, HB 5, reforming CYFD. Although she said it wasnt the solution she wanted, the attorney general says its a big step in the right direction.

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Legislators have been exhausted by the excuses, exhausted by repeatedly hearing from different cabinet secretaries about their intention to try to make improvements there. I think its an important step one that will hopefully take us to a place where kids in state custody are better protected, said New Mexico Attorney General, Raul Torrez.

The governor signed into law the bill creating Office of the Child Advocate, a public agency responsible for investigating complaints against CYFD. It would also be able to refer cases to the Attorney General for prosecution, something that the governor expressed opposition to in a letter to lawmakers saying, that having the AGs office involved weaponized the office against CYFD and that it was a thinly-disguised vendetta by the legislature against the governor.

A spokesperson for the Democratic House of Representatives said the Office of the Child Advocate bill is the result of years of bipartisan work and theyre grateful to see it signed into law.

Juvenile crime reform was also a big topic this session, but the last bill left on the issue, HB 255, failed to pass the Senate floor Thursday night with lawmakers disagreeing over how much to strengthen penalties, versus creating more support systems, sparking a heated reaction from sponsor Senator Moe Maestas (D-Albuquerque).

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Sen. Maestas said they got rid of the controversial part of the bill surrounding $2,000 monthly stipends for kids who committed crimes but had aged out of foster care.

We have to represent the consciousness of this state and not hang our hat on one provision of a 31-page bill that is the epitome of compromise, said Sen. Maestas.

Other bills on their way to the governors desk include a proposal to let districts decide the number of days in a school year, HB 65, and a bill requiring districts to create rules for student cell phone use in schools, SB 11.

Lawmakers also passed bills aimed at helping communities affected by wildfires, including the Wildfire Prevention Act, SB 33, which focuses on tree thinning and creating buffer zones to protect homes. And a bill offering zero-interest loans to communities for recovery.

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A hotly debated topic on the House floor Friday afternoon was whether to allow voters not affiliated with a major political party to vote in the party primary of their choice.

Those against the proposal argued it would open the door for people who lean toward one political party to meddle in the primaries of their opponents while sponsors say it will boost voter participation. I think its going to be really unpredictable, I think youre going insert a lot of chaos into the primaries and I think its a bad idea, said Rep. Matthew McQueen (D-Santa Fe).

it is within our states interest to increase the amount of people voting in primaries, especially when 60% of districts are decided in a primary, said Rep. Cristina Parajo (D-Albuquerque).

That bill, SB 16, passed 36-33 and now heads to the governors desk.

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This article was originally published in The Texas Tribune.

Lawmakers want to turn the tide on the growing number of unprepared and uncertified teachers by restricting who can lead Texas classrooms. But school leaders worry those limits will leave them with fewer options to refill their teacher ranks.

Tucked inside the Texas Houses $7.6 billion school finance package is a provision that would ban uncertified teachers from instructing core classes in public schools. House Bill 2 gives districts until fall 2026 to certify their K-5 math and reading teachers and until fall 2027 to certify teachers in other academic classes.

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Texas would help uncertified teachers pay for the cost of getting credentialed. Under HB 2, those who participate in an in-school training and mentoring program would receive a one-time $10,000 payment and those who go through a traditional university or alternative certification program would get $3,000. Special education and emergent bilingual teachers would get their certification fees waived. Educator training experts say it could be the biggest financial investment Texas made in teacher preparation. Rep. Brad Buckley, the Salado Republican who authored the bill, has signaled the House Public Education Committee will vote on HB 2 on Tuesday.

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District leaders, once reluctant to hire uncertified teachers, now rely on them often to respond to the states growing teacher shortage. And while they agree with the spirit of the legislation, some worry the bill would ask too much too soon of districts and doesnt offer a meaningful solution to replace uncertified teachers who leave the profession.

Whats going to happen when were no longer able to hire uncertified teachers? Class sizes have to go up, programs have to disappear. We wont have a choice, said David Vroonland, the former superintendent of the Mesquite school district near Dallas and the Frenship school district near Lubbock. There will be negative consequences if we dont put in place serious recruitment efforts.

A floodgate of uncertified teachers

Nowadays, superintendents often go to job fairs to recruit teachers and come out empty-handed. There are not as many Texans who want to be teachers as there used to be.

The salary in Texas is about $9,000 less than the national average, so people choose better-paying careers. Teachers say they are overworked, sometimes navigating unwieldy class sizes and using weekends to catch up on grading.

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Heath Morrison started to see the pool of teacher applicants shrink years ago when he was at the helm of Montgomery ISD. Many teachers left the job during the COVID-19 pandemic, which accelerated the problem.

This teacher shortage is getting more and more pronounced, said Morrison, who is now the CEO of Teachers of Tomorrow, a popular alternative teacher certification program. The reality of most school districts across the country is youre not making a whole lot more money 10 years into your job than you were when you first entered  And so that becomes a deterrent.

As the pool of certified teachers shrunk, districts found a stopgap solution: bringing on uncertified teachers. Uncertified teachers accounted for roughly 38% of newly hired instructors last year, with many concentrated in rural districts.

The Texas Legislature facilitated the flood of uncertified teachers. A 2015 law lets public schools get exemptions from requirements like teacher certification, school start dates and class sizes  the same exemptions allowed for open enrollment charter schools.

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Usually, to teach in Texas classrooms, candidates must obtain a certification by earning a bachelors degree from an accredited college or university, completing an educator preparation program and passing teacher certification exams.

Teacher preparation experts say certifications give teachers the tools to lead a high quality classroom. To pass certification tests, teaching candidates learn how to plan for lessons and manage discipline in a classroom.

But the 2015 law allowed districts to hire uncertified teachers by presenting a so-called district of innovation plan to show they were struggling to meet credential requirements because of a teacher shortage. By 2018, more than 600 rural and urban districts had gotten teacher certification exemptions.

Now, what weve seen is everyone can demonstrate a shortage, said Jacob Kirksey, a researcher at Texas Tech University. Almost every district in Texas is a district of innovation. That is what has allowed for the influx of uncertified teachers. Everybody is getting that waiver for certification requirements.

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This session, House lawmakers are steadfast on undoing the loophole they created after new research from Kirksey sounded the alarm on the impacts of unprepared teachers on student learning. Students with new uncertified teachers lost about four months of learning in reading and three months in math, his analysis found. They missed class more than students with certified teachers, a signal of disengagement.

Uncertified teachers are also less likely to stick with the job long-term, disrupting school stability.

The state should act urgently on how to address the number of uncertified teachers in classrooms, said Kate Greer, a policy director at Commit Partnership. The bill rights a wrong that weve had in the state for a long time.

The price of getting certified

Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican who sits on the House Public Education Committee, said his wife has worked as an uncertified art teacher at Allen ISD. She started a program to get certified this winter and had to pay $5,000 out of pocket.

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That cost may be not only a hurdle but an impediment for someone who wants to teach and is called and equipped to teach, Leach said earlier this month during a committee hearing on HB 2.

House lawmakers are proposing to lower the financial barriers that keep Texans who want to become teachers from getting certified.

Quality preparation takes longer, is harder and its more expensive. In the past, weve given [uncertified candidates] an opportunity just to walk into the classroom, said Jean Streepey, the chair of the State Board for Educator Certification. How do we help teachers at the beginning of their journey to choose something thats longer, harder and more expensive?

Streepey sat on the teacher vacancy task force that Gov. Greg Abbott established in 2022 to recommend fixes to retention and recruitment challenges at Texas schools. The task forces recommendations, such as prioritizing raises and improving training, have fingerprints all over the Texas Houses school finance package.

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Under HB 2, districts would see money flow in when they put uncertified teachers on the path to certification. And those financial rewards would be higher depending on the quality of the certification program.

Schools with instructors who complete yearlong teacher residencies  which include classroom training and are widely seen as the gold standard for preparing teacher candidates  would receive bigger financial rewards than those with teachers who finish traditional university or alternative certification programs.

Even with the financial help, lawmakers are making a tall order. In two years, the more than 35,000 uncertified teachers in the state would have to get their credential or be replaced with new, certified teachers.

The shortages have grown to be so great that I think none of us have a really firm handle on the measures that its going to take to turn things around. said Michael Marder, the executive director of UTeach, a UT-Austin teacher preparatory program. There is financial support in HB 2 to try to move us back towards the previous situation. However, I just dont know whether the amounts that are laid out there are sufficient.

Restrictions like handcuffs

Only one in five uncertified teachers from 2017 to 2020 went on to get a credential within their first three years of teaching. Texas can expect a jump in uncertified teachers going through teacher preparatory programs because of the financial resources and pressure on schools through HB 2, Marder said.

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But for every teacher who does not get credentialed, school leaders will have to go out and find new teachers. And they will have to look from a smaller pool.

The restrictions on uncertified teachers handcuffs us,said Gilbert Trevino, the superintendent at Floydada Collegiate ISD, which sits in a rural farming town in West Texas. In recent years, recruiters with his district have gone out to job fairs and hired uncertified teachers with a college degree and field experience in the subjects they want to teach in.

Rural schools across the state have acutely experienced the challenges of the teacher shortage  and have leaned on uncertified teachers more heavily than their urban peers.

We have to recruit locally and grow our own or hire people who have connections or roots in the community, Trevino said. If we hire a teacher straight out of Texas Tech University, we may have them for a year.  And then they may get on at Lubbock ISD or Plainview ISD, where theres more of a social life.

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Floydada Collegiate ISD recruits local high school students who are working toward their associates degree through what is known as a Grown Your Own Teacher program. But Trevino says HB 2 does not give him the time to use this program to replace uncertified teachers. From recruitment to graduation, it takes at least three years before students can lead a classroom on their own, he said.

School leaders fear if they cant fill all their vacancies, theyll be pushed to increase class sizes or ask their teachers to prepare lessons for multiple subjects.

Our smaller districts are already doing that, where teachers have multiple preps, Trevino said. Things are already hard on our teachers. So if you add more to their plate, how likely are they to remain in the profession or remain in this district?

At Wylie ISD in Taylor County, its been difficult to find teachers to keep up with student growth. Uncertified teachers in recent years have made up a large number of teacher applicants, according to Cameron Wiley, a school board trustee.

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Wiley said restrictions on uncertified teachers is a good end goal but would compound the districts struggles.

It limits the pot of people thats already small to a smaller pot. Thats just going to make it more difficult to recruit, Wiley said. And if we have a hard time finding people to come in, or were not allowed to hire certain people to take some of that pressure off, those class sizes are just going to get bigger.

Learning suffers when class sizes get too big because students are not able to get the attention they need.

This bill, its just another obstacle that we as districts are having to maneuver around and hurl over, Wiley said. Were not addressing the root cause [recruitment]. Were just putting a Band-Aid on it right now.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/15/texas-school-funding-uncertified-teachers-shortage/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB)  Washington County Sheriffs deputies have arrested a man who was wanted in Orlando in a theft case.

Back on February 26th, Orlando Police said 32-year-old Jaythan Gilder stole over $700,000 in earrings from a Tiffany and Co. store. A few hours later, Florida Highway Patrol troopers spotted Gilder in Washington County.

Wewahitchka man found guilty of molesting a child over 10 years ago

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They conducted a traffic stop when they noticed Gilder attempting to swallow something.

Jail personnel conducted a body scan and said they found hed swallowed the stolen earrings.

Gilder is charged with robbery with a mask and first-degree grand theft of more than $100,000.

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TEXAS (KMID/KPEJ) The Texas Senate recently passed Senate Bill 3 and moved one step closer to making it a Texas law.

Originally filed on February 20th by State Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock). Senate Bill 3 would ban the sale of all consumable hemp products with THC. The ban would affect more than 8,300 locations around the state that sell gummies, beverages, vapes, etc.

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick commented on the bill that he has backed since its inception. This is a poison in our public, and we as a legislatureour No. 1 responsibility is life and death issues Were going to ban your stores before we leave here, for good.

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Current Texas law allows hemp-derived products that contain less than 0.3% of THC. While recreational marijuana remains illegal, medical marijuana is permissible in certain circumstances.

In 2015, Texas passed the Compassionate-Use Act, which allowed the first legal use of low-THC cannabis products in the state for patients with intractable epilepsy.

On Wednesday, Patrick vowed to expand the Compassionate Use Program and continue investing in mental health care across the state.

Next Steps

Senate Bill 3 still needs to be passed by the Texas House before Gov. Greg Abbott can sign it into law.

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Mass protests against the policies of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's government took place across Slovakia on 21 March.

Source: Slovak news outlet Aktuality, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Thousands of protesters marched through Slovakia's cities, voicing their opposition to Fico and his pro-Russia policies.

For the past three months, tens of thousands of people have taken part in protests every two weeks in Bratislava and other towns, demanding Fico's resignation.

An anti-Fico protest in Slovakia.

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Photo: Reuters

The protests began in late December after Fico travelled to Moscow for talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Artists also joined demonstrations in Bratislava, protesting against Culture Minister Martina Simkovicovas actions concerning the Slovak National Gallery.

The "Slovakia is Europe" rally was also held in Luxembourg, Brussels, Oslo and Amsterdam.

Background:

Fico, who survived an assassination attempt in May 2024, has encountered calls to resign over his remarks on Slovakias EU and NATO membership, as well as his claims that Russia had security reasons for invading Ukraine.

Protesters also condemned recent pro-Russian actions by Fico's close associates, particularly remarks by Erik Kalinak, who stated that Slovakia would "finally have a reliable neighbour" if Russian troops occupied Ukraine.

Fico's stance on Russia diverges sharply from the European mainstream. He has halted Slovakias military aid to Ukraine, criticised EU sanctions against Russia and vowed to block NATO accession to NATO.

He declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy an "enemy of Slovakia" after Ukraine cut off Russian gas supplies to Slovakia and other European consumers.

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At least three civilians have been killed by Russian shelling in the front-line city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, officials reported on Saturday.

Another person was injured, the regional governor Vadym Filashkin wrote on Telegram.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the shelling took place in the early afternoon and hit a residential neighbourhood.

It was still being investigated what weapons system was fired at the city.

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Russian troops are only a few kilometres from Pokrovsk, encroaching on the vital transport and logistics hub from the east, south and south-west.

The city has been a focal point of heavy fighting for months and suffered extensive damage. Only a few thousand of its former population of 60,000 remain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited military units defending this section of the front on Saturday.
At least three people were killed and 14 others were injured in a mass shooting at a park in the desert city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, police said Saturday.

Police were asking Saturday for bystanders to share videos and other tips as they continued to seek a suspect or suspects in the attack, which occurred at about 10 p.m. on Friday in the citys Young Park, a music and recreation venue.

Gunshot victims were sent to all three local hospitals, as well as to University Medical Center of El Paso, the regional trauma center, according to police and hospital officials. Six patients arrived at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces by ambulance and private car, said marketing and communications director Andrew Cummins, and five of those have been transported to El Paso.

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In a post to Instagram on Saturday, Las Cruces City Councilor and Mayor Pro Tem Johana Bencomo put numbers to the tragedy.

Part of me wanted to write that this is something you never really think this is going to happen in your city, but that actually feels deeply untrue, she wrote. Honestly now days a tragedy like this feels like a nightmare just waiting to come true at any possible moment, yet also always praying and hoping it never will.

Las Cruces sits on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert along the Rio Grande River in southern New Mexico, about 41 miles (66 kilometers) north of the U.S.-Mexican border.

The Las Cruces Police Department said police and fire personnel who arrived at the park in response to reports of gunfire are being assisted in their investigation by New Mexico State Police, the Dona Ana County Sheriffs Office, the FBI and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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The department was still on scene Saturday and the area around the park was closed to traffic, according to local media reports.

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Three civilians were killed and 23 others injured in Russian attacks on Kherson and Donetsk oblasts on 21 March.

Source: Kherson Oblast Military Administration; Donetsk Oblast Military Administration

Details: The Russians killed two residents of Donetsk Oblast on 21 March: in Kostiantynivka and Fedorivka.

Another nine people in the oblast were injured.

Meanwhile, one person was killed due to Russian aggression in Kherson Oblast, while another 14 were injured.

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Local authorities reported that Russian forces had targeted social infrastructure and residential areas of settlements in the oblast on 21 March, damaging a high-rise building and seven houses. The Russians also wrecked cars and struck a cemetery.

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BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - China's aviation regulator has not released an expected update on its investigation into a deadly China Eastern Airlines crash three years ago, leaving relatives and the aviation industry with no details on the cause of the disaster.

On March 21, 2022, a China Eastern Boeing 737-800 jet plunged into a hillside in the southwestern region of Guangxi about an hour after takeoff, killing all 132 people on board in China's deadliest air disaster in three decades.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China issued a preliminary report and two anniversary updates on the crash of China Eastern flight MU5735, but the updates were only a few paragraphs, offering scant details.

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CAAC has said it would release relevant information based on the progress of the investigation. But on Saturday, after the third anniversary of the crash, relatives were still waiting to learn what caused the plane to nosedive from cruising altitude.

CAAC and China Eastern did not respond to requests for comment.

Global aviation guidelines call for an initial report within 30 days of an accident and a final one ideally within a year. Failing that, investigators should issue statements on each anniversary.

Final reports are a major tool used by the aviation industry to help prevent new accidents by learning lessons from previous tragedies.

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Aviation bodies have raised the alarm over the number of delayed or non-existent final reports globally, blaming scarce investigation resources, judicial interference or a lack of political willingness to disclose certain narratives.

CAAC has maintained that no faults or abnormalities were found in the aircraft or engines before takeoff from Kunming, bound for Guangzhou, or with the weather or communications. The crew held valid licences, adequate rest and passed health checks on the day of the flight, and there was no dangerous weather or dangerous goods on board the plane, the regulator has said.

Investigators examined the crew's actions after finding no malfunctions, two people briefed on the matter said at the time.

In May 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that "black box" data indicated someone had intentionally crashed the plane, citing a preliminary assessment from U.S. officials.

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CAAC has previously said speculation surrounding the crash had "gravely misled the public" and interfered with accident investigation work.

Chinese lawmakers are considering significant changes to the country's civil aviation law, including measures against spreading rumours about aviation safety, CAAC said last month.

Some users of Chinese social media platforms Xiaohongshu and Weibo took note of the lack of a report.

"Three years... no results? Does nobody remember?" a Weibo user wrote.

Others expressed hope it would be released so as to give the public and family members of victims an explanation.

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"Not releasing in itself is a type of report," a Xiaohongshu user wrote Saturday.

(Reporting by Sophie Yu in Beijing and Lisa Barrington in Seoul; Additional reporting by Andrew Silver in Shanghai; Editing by Jamie Freed and William Mallard)
US senator and Trump supporter Daines meets China's vice premier in Beijing

BEIJING (AP)  U.S. Senator Steve Daines, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng with warm exchanges in front of journalists on Saturday even as tensions between their countries spiked over trade tariffs and the handling of the illegal trade in fentanyl. Daines, the first member of Congress to visit Beijing since Trump took office in January, will meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sunday and the nation's No. 2 official will give him an introduction to China's policies, according to He. Daines, who previously worked for American consumer goods company Procter & Gamble in south China's economic hub of Guangzhou, said this trip marked his sixth visit to China.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, has met Serbia's outgoing deputy prime minister Alexandar Vulin in Moscow and discussed anti-government protests in his country, Russian state-run news agencies reported on Saturday.

Both referred to the protests as an attempted "colour revolution," a term used to describe pro-Western protests that toppled governments in Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan in recent decades.

"Western intelligence services are behind the colour revolution in Serbia and would like to bring another government to power in Serbia. We will not allow this," TASS news agency quoted Vulin as saying.

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On Friday, Vulin said that Russia's spy services had assisted Belgrade authorities in responding to the protests, which government critics said revealed the extent to which it had become dependent on Moscow.

Shoigu said on Saturday both countries maintained regular dialogue and exchanged information "including with a view to countering 'colour revolutions'."

"This helps to prevent destabilisation of the situation in brotherly Serbia in the changing geopolitical environment," Shoigu was reported as saying.

Students, backed by teachers, farmers and workers, have maintained daily protests across Serbia since last November, when 16 people died in a roof collapse at a train station in the northern city of Novi Sad, which they blame on corruption.

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Earlier this week, Serbian parliament formally approved the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, who offered to step down on January 28, triggering a 30-day deadline for the formation of a new government or the calling of a snap election.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  As a harmful algae bloom continues to spread along Californias coastline, more animals are falling ill in San Diego.

Weekly monitoring stations operated by Scripps and NOAA have recorded significant concentrations of the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia (specifically the P-n seriata group) at Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara (66,880 cells/Liter as of last week) and Santa Monica Pier, where levels were extremely high at 1,528,442 cells/L, according to a spokesperson for Scripps Institution of Oceanography. They also noted that anything above 10,000 c/L is considered concerning. Pseudo-nitzschia has been detected at Scripps Pier, but not at the elevated concentrations observed at sites further north.

Pseudo-nitzschia is a type of plankton that can produce a neurotoxin known as domoic acid. When these plankton are consumed, domoic acid can accumulate in tissues of shellfish and fish. When consumed by larger mammals, like sea lions or even humans, domoic acid can cause memory loss, seizures, and even death, although the risk to humans is low.

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Dr. Clarissa Anderson, a biological oceanographer and the director of Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System at Scripps, said the bloom likely started offshore, so researchers didnt see many domoic acid-producing diatoms in any of their coastal phytoplankton monitoring stations. In the last 2-3 weeks, however, they have recorded a substantial increase, likely because the bloom is finally making its way to the coast.

I saw a sick sea lion down at the beach around 9th Street and it didnt look very good and then on the way back I saw another one by 18th, said Del Mar resident, Maris Laipenieks.

A few times this week hes spotted sea lions on the beach and hes not alone.

Were getting hundreds of calls. Concerned citizens, lifeguards, sheriffs department, said Jeni Smith, Rescue Program Curator, SeaWorld San Diego.

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Smith said she and her team are seeing sea lions with symptoms from domoic acid poisoning.

You could see these animals on the coastline exhibiting behaviors like having seizures, looking dazed, stargazing, lethargic. They can be abnormally aggressive. They can also be in areas that are not their natural habitat, Smith said.

SeaWorld San Diego has so far treated 15 sea lions for suspected domoic acid poisoning and has seen one death.

Our veterinarians will take a look at them and some of the animals that are having seizures they may prescribe some anti-seizure medication, Smith said.

Lifeguard Sgt. Scott Henson said its not unusual to run into sea lions on the beach from time to time, but he offered advice for anyone that does.

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Just stay away and give us a call. Give SeaWorld a call. Let us know that theres an animal on the beach and we can come investigate and see if theres further action that needs to be taken, Henson said.

SeaWorld recommends people keep the distance of a school bus, or about 50 feet, away from a sea lion if you see one. If you have seen an animal in distress or in need of help, please contact their rescue team.

Phone: 1-800-541-SEAL (7325)

Email: SWC.Rescue@seaworld.com

Helpful information to give the Rescue Team:

Date animal was last seen

Time animal was last seen

Location (name of beach, address, landmark etc.)

Size of the animal compared to a dog breed

Is the animal thin? Can you see its ribs, hips or spine?

Is the animal entangled in fishing gear?

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Trump is ramping up his action on tariffs, with his new reciprocal tariff regime scheduled to come in on April 2, and already there are 25pc tariffs on all imports to the US of steel and aluminium from around the world, including the UK and the EU.

As I have previously written in The Telegraph, the impact on the world economy is likely to be severe. And much comment has been given to the impact on the USs key relationships with the UK and on the Continent.

However, less attention has been given to what Trumps impact might be on trade and other relations between the UK and the EU. Many commentators are saying that Trumps action will push the UK back towards Brussels. I dont see it that way at all.

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Even someone as historically friendly to the EU as Sir Keir Starmer has already decided that the UK will take a different path with Trump  as we have already seen  in not following Brussels with aluminium and steel tariff counter-measures, which will be in place next month on iconic US products.

Meanwhile, Starmer has stated that the UK is negotiating an economic agreement with the US. This is the right course of action, although he needs to get on with it.

Labour backbenchers are unlikely to look favourably over any length of time towards a deal with Trump, particularly as the conflict in Gaza seems to have restarted. The only allied country Trump has talked about doing a trade deal with is the UK, and we should take advantage and move quickly.

So the UK already has a very different position to that of Brussels. This divergence is likely to grow. If more tariffs are

coming against the EU from Washington, and more countermeasures are taken by Brussels, then the difference between the two approaches will become starker.

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This will actually lead not to a London-Brussels rapprochement, but to tensions. Big tariff differentials could start to lead to circumvention. EU citizens might even start to buy the US products subject to new EU tariffs, like Levis, Harley-Davidsons and bourbon in the UK, before transporting it to the Continent. A 50pc or 100pc tariff differential is not implausible.

There could be other impacts. UK manufacturers selling into the US will probably start to take market share from European competitors, as US tariffs on EU goods start to rise. Dumping might happen  for example, European steel and aluminium products, which are now priced out of the US market, might seek a home in the UK.

Circumvention might lead to issues at the Irish border, or in the Irish Sea, and upset the delicate balance achieved through the Windsor Framework.

A lot of that trust is built on the expectation that the likelihood of someone moving non-conforming goods from Britain to Northern Ireland and then into Ireland, and the EU, isnt very likely, or at least will not be very substantial in volume.

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But what if a US-EU trade war really takes off, and huge tariff differentials start to arise on what each of the EU and the UK charge on US goods? What if Irish border smuggling starts to become an even more viable proposition?

Brusselss urging of stronger enforcement in the Irish Sea would lead to greater tensions in Northern Ireland. Theres likely to be jealously from some European countries, if the UK negotiates itself more privileged access to the US market.

If Scotch or Irish whiskey is half the price of cognac; if British cars attract a relative discount to German ones; if UK architects have a mutual recognition agreement, but European architects dont; if British business people start to sail through immigration queues and Europeans dont, and so on. The scope for these tensions is almost endless.

The language that the tensions are expressed in might well be French. But this wouldnt be the UKs fault. But one can still see the potential for a lot of UK-EU tensions over the next 4 years, and potentially far beyond.

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The UK should, of course, put its national interest first. And to put the UK national interest first, also means definitely not signing up to any form of customs union with the EU, and going back to the situation we found ourselves in in 2018, when we had to follow EU trade policy, as a full member of the European Union.

It would mean that the UK would have to follow EU tariff countermeasures, be a full participant in the growing trade war and unable to negotiate bilaterally with the US. I would also definitely avoid signing up to dynamic alignment with US sanitary and phytosanitary rules  food safety and animal welfare rules  dynamically. We know these rules incense the US.

As I saw in 2020, the US can reluctantly accept the UK currently following those rules, but might well not look favourably on us being signed up dynamically to them for ever.

In short, I think Trumps disastrous tariffs policy will have a strongly negative effect on the US economy and on the global economy. It will cause  and is already causing  a massive fissure with the EU.

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But one of the least talked-about aspects will be to drive new tensions between the UK and the EU. And all of this at precisely the same time that the UK and the EU are talking about a reset in their relations. Britain needs to tread with great care: avoid new alignment with the EU and pursue, with greater speed, a trade deal with the United States.

Greg Hands was a Conservative trade minister from November 2023 until July 2024

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ERWINVILLE, La. (Louisiana First)  Economists say America is in a new trade war with countries like China, Canada and Mexico. Tariffs and retaliatory tariffs play a big part in that, and Louisiana farmers could be impacted.

Donald Schexnayder and his brothers have been farmers in Erwinville for more than 40 years. They grow a variety of crops, including soy, corn, and wheat. Factors like weather and market fluctuations can make farming less predictable than other industries.

If its good, dry, in the field youve got field work to do, Schexnayder said. If its not, youve got shop work to do.

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According to a fact sheet from the White House, the United States has a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 35% on those from China. Those countries responded with their own.

Tariffs are basically taxes that are placed on foreign products, said Raghav Goyal, an Assistant Professor for the LSU Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness.

Goyal said placing tariffs can have a snowball effect.

The U.S. imposed tariffs on Chinese products, and thats why China retaliated with tariffs on U.S. products, Goyal said.

University of Arkansas economist Jeff Cooperstein said stated reasons for tariffs include protecting American industries from competition, fortifying culturally special products and raising revenue.

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The government collects taxes, so you try to raise taxes that way, Cooperstein said.

In the long-term, economists are split on whether strategic tariffs and mitigated impacts from retaliatory tariffs could have a positive impact on equalizing trade and benefitting certain industries. In the short-term, they fear some industries could be negatively impacted. That includes farmers.

Farmers are price takers on their inputs, said Andy Brown, Commodity and Public Policy Director for Farm Bureau Louisiana. Things like fertilizer from Canada or processed goods from China, those are going to cost more.

The retaliatory tariffs could also have a negative impact.

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Theyre going to have limits to how much they can sell their products internationally because of international tariffs, Brown said.

Trade statistics indicate agriculture is one of Louisianas major exports. Soy is a huge part of that.

We have over a million acres of soybeans in this state, Brown said. Thats a big target of China. Theyre a big buyer. They buy over 60% of our soybeans in China alone.

Goyal said thats why China focused on soy when initial tariffs were enacted in 2018.

China can easily buy soybeans from other countries, and thats exactly what happened, Goyal said.

Brown said several programs were put in place to help farmers during that time, and they accessed government funding to help them when prices were too low for their bottom lines. He said he wants better trade deals between countries, which would allow farmers to profit from the markets alone.

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If that cannot happen, Brown said its important for farmers to have access to a safety net.

Farmers want to farm, they want to sell their product, they want to do that in the free market, Brown said.

Brown said farmers want to avoid using taxpayer money whenever possible, but it becomes a national security issue when farmers cannot access help to meet their bottom lines.

Were working with Congress to make sure those funds are plentiful and available, and we dont want to see any tax dollars spent unless theyre needed, Brown said. So, we dont want to pull the trigger on that now.

Goyal said he is taking an optimistic look at the situation, and he believes platforms will be in place for farmers to navigate these tariffs.

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I believe the government has been proactive, Goyal said. It will make decisions to help farmers in our country and our state.

Schexnayder said farmers are used to dealing with fluctuations in their crop prices.

Times are good, times are bad sometimes, Schexnayder said.

Schexnayder said he hopes Congress works on a farm bill to create a permanent safety net, and he wants people to understand most farms are family-ran and not corporate farms.

We want to produce our crop, a good crop, and have a good market for it, Schexnayder said.

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MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- Significant lane closures are scheduled along westbound IH 20 in Midland this weekend as part of the ongoing Widen Freeway Project. The Texas Department of Transportation is urging drivers to prepare for detours and traffic delays beginning in the early morning hours of Saturday.

Starting at 2 a.m. on Saturday, March 22, and continuing through Sunday, March 23 (until the work is complete), several key sections of the westbound main lane will be closed to traffic between mile markers 129 and 127. The closures include:

The westbound main lane at the FM 1788 bridge

The westbound main lane from east of CR 1270 to west of FM 1788

The off-ramp from IH 20 into the east of CR 1270 (westbound)

The on-ramp from west of CR 1270 into IH 20 (westbound)

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Mainlanes will be completely closed in these sections during the construction period, and a detour will be in place. Drivers are strongly advised to use alternate routes and follow posted signs to navigate around the affected areas.

The lane closures are part of a broader effort to improve safety and traffic flow by expanding IH 20 through Midland and Ector counties. However, the work is expected to cause significant delays, especially during peak travel times over the weekend.

Motorists should plan ahead, allow extra time, and exercise caution when traveling near construction zones. TxDOT reminds drivers that all closures are subject to change depending on weather or operational delays.

For the latest updates, detour maps, and project timelines, visit the Texas Department of Transportation website.

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Culberson County, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- A westbound Union Pacific train derailed east of Van Horn, causing up to 30 boxcars to leave the tracks, according to preliminary reports from the Culberson County Sheriffs Office.

Emergency response teams were quick to arrive at the scene, working diligently to assess the damage and begin cleanup efforts. Officials praised their swift action in managing the derailment and ensuring safety in the affected area.

Credit: Culberson County Sheriff

Drivers are advised to use caution when traveling along Interstate 10 near Kent, as response crews continue their operations.

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At this time, the cause of the derailment remains unknown, and no reports of injuries have been released. Union Pacific and local authorities are investigating the incident while working to restore normal rail operations.

More updates will be provided as additional details emerge.

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SOMERSET, Pa.  Trial is set to begin Tuesday in state prison inmate Paul Jawon Kendricks capital case over a state corrections sergeants 2018 death.

The trials 12th juror was chosen Friday, the fifth day of the jury selection process, after half an hour of questions about life, death and TV crime drama.

The Somerset County residents jury questionnaire listed the NBC-TV series Law & Order as a favorite, but she told attorneys that she recognized the real-life consequences at stake in Kendricks trial.

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Paul Jawon Kendrick

This undated photo provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections shows inmate Paul Jawon Kendrick, accused of fatally assaulting correctional officer Sgt. Mark Baserman on Feb. 15, 2018, at a state prison in Somerset.

Even more crucially, the juror was among 16 this week, including four alternate jurors who were also selected Friday, who said under oath they were willing to be fair and impartial and, if Kendrick is convicted of first-degree murder, sentence him to death or to life in prison without parole.

Kendrick, 29, is accused of homicide in Sgt. Mark Basermans fatal beating at SCI- Somerset. Investigators said Baserman, 60, suffered severe head injuries and died while hospitalized two weeks later.

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Kendrick, who was previously convicted in an unrelated 2014 Pittsburgh homicide, was serving a life sentence at SCI-Somerset at the time of the incident in an institutional day room.

Another corrections officer was also injured in the incident, investigators have said. Kendrick also faces assault charges related to both prison employees.

The case is moving toward trial after seven years of litigation, which was partially slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unlike a typical 60-minute crime drama, Kendricks trial could take two weeks or more, according to a tentative schedule outlined by Cambria County Senior Judge Patrick Kiniry, who is presiding over the case in Somerset County court.

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Somerset County District Attorney Molly Metzgar, First Assistant Thomas Leiden and Trial Deputy Christina DeMarco-Breeden are prosecuting the case, seeking a first-degree murder conviction and, if successful, a death sentence.

Kendrick is represented by two Cambria County attorneys, Tim Burns and Kenneth Sottile, and Williamsport defense attorney Edward E.J. Rymsza. They are challenging the first-degree murder allegations.

Over the past year, defense attorneys have had a neuropsychiatrist examine Kendrick about trauma they said he suffered earlier in life, prior to the 2018 incident.

Defense attorneys havent delved into details during jury selection, but they have made it clear that if Kendrick is convicted of the most serious charge, they would introduce mitigating evidence meant to show jurors that life without parole is the right sentence.

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Prosecutors have indicated they will introduce witnesses to the incident and are seeking to introduce surveillance footage as evidence.

Kiniry sent jurors home Friday with strict orders to avoid discussing the case or researching any background of the incident or anyone allegedly involved. The panel of nine women and three men, as well as all four alternates, were also told to avoid news coverage about the case, a standard judicial order in jury trials.

Everything youll need to know, Kiniry said, will be presented in court.
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV)  A new trial date has been set for the woman charged in connection to the abduction of two Louisiana girls, which ended with one of them deceased in Mississippi.

The trial for Victoria Cox has been set for December 8, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. in Hinds County.

New Mississippi trial date for Victoria CoxDownload

A Hinds County Grand Jury previously indicted Cox for capital murder, kidnapping, and sexual battery in connection to the case. She pled not guilty in Hinds County Circuit Court. The grand jury also indicted Daniel Callihan, 36, for one count of capital murder, two counts of kidnapping, three counts of sexual battery, and one count of receiving stolen property.

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Mississippi Department of Public Safety (DPS) Commissioner Sean Tindell said Callihan and Cox will be tried in both Mississippi and Louisiana.

Victoria Cox arraigned in child murder, abduction case

Callihan is suspected of killing Callie Brunett, 35, in Loranger, Louisiana, in June 2024.

Tangipahoa Parish Coroner Rick Foster said Callie Brunett died of multiple sharp force injuries. He said there were multiple stab wounds to her head, neck, chest, abdomen and back. Foster also said Brunett had what appeared to be defensive wounds to her arms.

Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards said Callie Brunett was found dead by her father on the floor of her bedroom inside her locked mobile home on North Cooper Road after having been reported missing by her parents 24 hours earlier.

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Investigators told the Associated Press that Callihan and Callie Brunett had dated.

According to Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade, 3-year-old Erin Brunett was found deceased in a wooded area off of Boozier Drive on Thursday, June 13. Her sister, 6-year-old Jalie Brunett, was taken to a Jackson hospital for treatment and later released.

The Hinds County coroner said Erin Brunett died from asphyxiation due to suffocation.

Victoria Cox (Courtesy: Hinds Co. Detention Center) Daniel Callihan (Courtesy: Madison County Detention Center) 6-year-old Jalie and 3-year-old Erin Brunett (Courtesy: Tangipahoa Parish Sheriffs Office)

The Jackson police chief said there was evidence of possible human trafficking at the location on Boozier Drive, including small animal cages. Wade said Jackson police have contacted the Human Trafficking Divisions of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) and Hinds County to assess the scene. He also said the crime scene in Jackson was processed for three days.

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Authorities said the Amber Alert was issued for the two girls, who were abducted after their mother was killed in Loranger.

Callihan and Cox were both arrested in Jackson. Wade said Callihan had implicated Cox in the case.

In Louisiana, Callihan has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping of a child and second-degree kidnapping. Cox was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping of a child, second-degree kidnapping and accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. Callihan was extradited to Louisiana, and Cox was recently arraigned in Tangipahoa Parish.

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Mashantucket  Two contracts a Mashantucket Pequot-owned company had with the U.S. Agency for International Development are among the thousands of government contracts the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has terminated.

The contracts, which had been held by CeLeen LLC, an information technology company, totaled $106.7 million. They were canceled last month.

We did have contracts terminated for convenience  the governments convenience, said Jon Panamaroff, chief executive officer of Command Holdings, the tribal holding company that acquired CeLeen in 2021. Were trying to be tight-lipped about this, he said, declining to discuss details of the contracts or DOGE.

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Contracts come, contracts go, Panamaroff said. We had diversified well in both the commercial and private sectors. We have other contracts ... and we want to do more business with the government.

CeLeen offers a variety of IT and professional services.

One of the canceled contracts had a total value of $82.4 million and was for institutional support services for USAID/OTI operations and programs. OTI refers to USAIDs Office of Transition Initiative, which focuses on supporting political transitions and stabilization efforts in response to political crises, according to a description on the website HigherGov.com, which tracks the government contracting and grant markets.

CeLeens other canceled contract, with a total value of about $24.3 million, was for administrative and technical support for DRG (democracy, human rights and governance) offices and projects.

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The Mashantuckets, owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino, launched Command Holdings amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the casino to close for 11 weeks in 2020 and focused the tribe's attention on its need to diversify.

Were here to build a network of companies involved in federal and private, commercial contracting, Panamaroff said at the time. The federal government sends out billions of dollars worth of business to companies, and tribes have the ability to participate in that marketplace.

Command Holdings also acquired Washington, D.C.-based Quattro Publishing in 2021 and the next year added WWC Global, a woman-owned consulting firm. WWC's clients included the Departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security as well as USAID. Command also owns Copperhead Technologies, a computer programming and systems design company.

On Friday, DOGE's website said the agency has so far terminated 5,634 contracts, generating about $20 billion in savings.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com
DENVER (KDVR)  A driver crashed into a Colorado State Patrol vehicle on the side of Eastbound C-470 in Douglas County Friday morning, prompting a road closure.

CSP said a trooper was conducting a traffic stop on the right shoulder of the road when her patrol vehicle was hit by another vehicle from behind.

Colorado State Patrol said a trooper was conducting a traffic stop on the right shoulder of Eastbound C-470 on Friday when her patrol vehicle was hit by another vehicle from behind. Colorado State Patrol said a trooper was conducting a traffic stop on the right shoulder of Eastbound C-470 on Friday when her patrol vehicle was hit by another vehicle from behind. Colorado State Patrol said a trooper was conducting a traffic stop on the right shoulder of Eastbound C-470 on Friday when her patrol vehicle was hit by another vehicle from behind. A driver crashed into a Colorado State Patrol vehicle on the side of Eastbound C-470 Friday morning, prompting a road closure.

The Douglas County Sheriffs office was requested to assist and said the trooper was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. The driver also sustained minor injuries and was cited for careless driving.

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CSP and the sheriffs office remind drivers that state law requires drivers to move over or slow down when an emergency vehicle is on the shoulder of a road.

This crash highlights the dangers law enforcement officers and other roadside workers face daily. Move over and slow down when approaching emergency vehicles or any vehicles with flashing lights. This includes law enforcement, fire, EMS, tow trucks, and other roadside workers, the sheriffs office wrote in a post on X.

According to COtrip, the Colorado Department of Transportations online road conditions tool, a safety closure was put in place on eastbound C-470 between Erickson Boulevard and University Boulevard. The University Boulevard exit was blocked due to the crash, but the roadway has since reopened.

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The Trump administration on Friday ended a federal contract that provides legal representation to nearly 26,000 migrant children who entered the United States without a parent or guardian, a move immigration attorneys say will leave children vulnerable to rapid deportation.

The contract provided funding for attorneys to represent minors who are under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement  at least 4,000 of whom reside in California  in immigration court.

Many of these children do not read or speak in English, and some are too young to read or speak at all, according to Joel Frost-Tift, an immigration attorney with Public Counsel.

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"It's going to have a devastating effect on our clients," Frost-Tift said. "Immigrants are five to six times more likely to succeed in their case if they're represented by an attorney, so if they lose representation, that's going to be really damaging for their case."

Public Counsel currently represents around 200 unaccompanied migrant children in Southern California. Frost-Tift said attorneys will continue to fulfill their ethical duty to assist with these cases for now, but without new funding it's unclear how long they will be able to do so.

It's a quandary that around 100 legal aid organizations across the country now find themselves in after learning that the federal contract for children who cross the border without a guardian  which was up for renewal on March 29  was terminated.

Read more: SoCal immigrants, allies can learn what to do when ICE shows up. Here's how

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Last month the Trump administration temporarily halted all work completed under this contract. Days later, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reversed that decision.

Now many legal organizations are urging the Trump administration to once again reverse course.

"The administrations decision to end these services undermines due process, disproportionately impacts vulnerable children, and puts children who have already experienced severe trauma at risk for further irreparable harm or exploitation," Shaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice, said in a statement. "We urge the administration to reverse this decision."

The Acacia Center for Justice receives around $200 million in federal funds annually and subcontracts with nonprofits to secure legal representation for around 26,000 migrant children.

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On Friday, it was informed by Health and Human Services that it can continue offering its "know your rights" free legal clinics to migrant children, but it must stop paying for their legal representation.

Aber said attorneys don't just help children navigate a tumultuous legal system, but they also help protect them from human trafficking and abuse.

Read more: Children on Skid Row: Four migrant families form a tenuous community

Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, also decried the impact of the funding cut on the safety of migrant children. She said it will make it "all but impossible" for children to appear in court at their immigration hearings or remain in touch with immigration agencies.

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"It severs key lines of communication and coordination between vulnerable unaccompanied children and the institutions in place to ensure their protection," she said in a statement.

Unlike in criminal court, individuals in immigration court do not have a guaranteed right to an attorney.

Children can avoid deportation if they are able to meet one of the requirements to obtain special immigrant juvenile status in court. For example, they can prove they were a victim of crime or human trafficking, were abandoned or abused by their parents, or were prosecuted in their home country.

But obtaining this status is nearly impossible without an attorney.

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Read more: ICE impersonators and other scammers are on the rise: How to protect yourself

Children represented by an attorney show up to their immigration court hearings around 95% of the time, while those who don't have an attorney show up around 33% of the time, according to a report by the American Immigration Council.

In the past several years, thousands of children have been deported after failing to show up to their immigration hearings. Last month the Trump administration directed immigration agents to track down and deport unaccompanied migrant children, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by Reuters.

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An autonomous delivery robot, which utilizes artificial intelligence, operates on a sidewalk in West Hollywood, Calif., in 2024. Several states are pursuing legislation on the safe use of AI. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Even as the Trump administration lowers some artificial intelligence guardrails in hopes of boosting innovation, states continue to establish policies for the safe use of AI.

During his first week in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order revoking some Biden-era programs promoting the safe use of artificial intelligence.

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A Biden administration order had directed more than 50 federal entities to implement guidance on AI safety and security. Some agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, were tasked with studying the effects of AI bias and how the technology could affect civil rights.

Besides rescinding that policy, Trumps order also calls for the development of an AI Action Plan, which will outline policies to enhance Americas position as an AI powerhouse and prevent unnecessarily burdensome requirements.

But states are still pursuing legislation that aims to keep residents safe. The measures range from requiring companies to implement consumer protections to outlawing fake photos and videos to regulating the use of AI in health care decisions.

States will need to take a bigger role in regulating artificial intelligence, said Serena Oduro, a senior policy analyst at Data & Society. The nonprofit research institute studies the social implications of data-centric technologies, including AI.

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If we continue with the road that Trump is on, I think states will have to step up because theyre going to need to protect their constituents, Oduro said. Whats unfortunate is people are already scared.

In 2024, 31 states adopted resolutions or enacted legislation regarding artificial intelligence, according to a database from the National Conference of State Legislatures, a nonpartisan public officials association. This year, nearly every state has introduced AI legislation.

Colorado last year became the first state to implement sweeping AI regulations. Virginia this year became the second state to pass comprehensive AI anti-discrimination legislation, which would make companies responsible for protecting consumers from bias in areas such as hiring, housing and health care. If signed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the new law would go into effect in July 2026.

The legislation also would require companies developing and using high-risk AI systems, such as those used for employment decisions or financial services, to conduct risk assessments and document their intended uses.

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Many states are hoping to curb the rise of deepfakes  digitally altered photos and videos  on the internet.

Lawmakers in some states, including Montana and South Dakota, are aiming to deter people from using political deepfakes during elections. Other bills would establish civil and criminal penalties for sharing sexually explicit deepfake images without the subjects consent, such as in Hawaii and New Mexico.

Lawmakers in a number of states, including Arkansas, California, Maryland and more, also introduced legislation that would regulate the use of artificial intelligence in health care and insurance decisions.

The Utah legislature, for instance, passed a bill last week that would provide protections for mental health patients interacting with chatbots that use AI. The measure is currently awaiting action from Republican Gov. Spencer Cox.

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If we continue with the road that Trump is on, I think states will have to step up because they're going to need to protect their constituents.

 Serena Oduro, a senior policy analyst at Data & Society

California Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, a Democrat, is helping lead the states efforts to create a framework for AI regulation.

Following her successful legislation from last year that now defines artificial intelligence within the states code, Bauer-Kahan is currently working on six bills related to AI. They would require generative AI developers to publicly document materials used to train their systems, crack down on deepfake pornography services, regulate the deployment of automated decision systems and more.

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She told Stateline that more people are aware of AI now that its widely available to the public. Generative AI tools, such as OpenAIs free chatbot, ChatGPT, allow anyone to analyze data, create weekly meal plans, organize grocery lists and more in a matter of seconds.

I actually think one of the things generative AI has done is brought AI into public consciousness in a really powerful way, and its leading legislators to want to learn about it and understand it, she said.

In Washington, Republican state Rep. Michael Keaton said he filed legislation to help small businesses that want to invest in AI innovation.

After retiring from active duty in the Air Force, Keaton later began working for the service as a contractor. Collaborating with engineers, Keaton said he learned that its important to strike a balance between tasks for humans and tasks that can be automated  and how this balance can be used in the publics interest.

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Earlier this month, the Washington state House approved Keatons bill, which would create a grant program for small businesses that use artificial intelligence for projects that have statewide impact, such as for wildfire tracking, cybersecurity or health care advancements. The bill now sits in a Senate committee.

While the bill promotes innovation, it also requires applicants to commit to ethical uses of AI and analyze the risks that could come with their product.

Were driving for innovation and were trying to get the monies appropriated to be able to take advantage of that innovation, Keaton said, but we want to do it in a smart way.

With the emerging patchwork of AI legislation across the states, it could be challenging for AI developers to keep up, said Paul Lekas, the senior vice president and head of global public policy and government affairs at the Software & Information Industry Association, a trade association representing the digital content industry.

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Not only are states creating their own definitions of artificial intelligence but theyre also outlining different rules for different actors, such as AI developers, distributors or consumers, he added.

I think the industry is struggling to figure out how to comply with all of these laws were they to pass, Lekas said.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.
State House and Senate Democrats are attempting yet again to move forward with bills that would legalize the use, sale and plant growing of marijuana in North Carolina.

House Bill 413 has Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, as a co-sponsor, while the Senate version is in Senate Bill 350.

If passed, the bills would legalize the possession of up to two ounces of cannabis flower, 15 grams of cannabis concentrate, and other cannabis products containing a total of no more than two grams of THC for adults age 21 and older. Home cultivation of up to six plants would be permitted.

This is a repeat of bills filed over the past several sessions, Harrison said Friday.

We continue to hear from constituents who are interested in legalizing recreational cannabis.

Both bills, which were filed this week, face extremely long odds of being heard in committee, much less becoming state law.

Both bills were placed directly into the gatekeeper Rules and Operations committees by House and Senate Republican leadership. Thats typically the step those leaders have taken when they want to shelve a bill.

During the 2023-24 sessions, both Democratic-sponsored marijuana legalization bills were immediately shelved, as were the four Democratic-sponsored bills filed during the 2021-22 sessions.

Senate Republicans passed during the 2023 and 2024 sessions bipartisan legislation to authorize the conditional use of medical marijuana in North Carolina.

However, a block of House Republicans have opposed any medical marijuana legislation out of concern that it could serve as a gateway to legalized recreation marijuana use. They also claim that medical research isnt definitive that it benefits users.

Harrison acknowledged that the inability to gain enough House Republican support for the Senates medical marijuana bill that our bill is unlikely to move.

Given that theres nary a Republican to be found in the list of sponsors and co-sponsors, it seems unlikely that this bill will make it into law in this session, said Christopher Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina.

My guess is that this is a messaging bill as much as anything  a way for the Democrats to remind voters that they are in support of legalization.

The chances are very slim for passage of either bill, said Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi, an economics professor at Winston-Salem State University.

This bill would legalize recreational marijuana, which I think is going too far for most legislators, even those who are sympathetic to medical marijuana, Madjd-Sadjadi said.

The left-leaning Washington, D.C.- advocacy group NORML said in supporting HB413 that North Carolinas prohibition of marijuana financially burdens taxpayers, encroaches upon civil liberties, breeds disrespect for the law, impedes legitimate scientific research into the plants medicinal properties, and disproportionately impacts marginalized communities.

The group said that between 2018 and 2023, law-enforcement officers in N.C. made more than 88,000 marijuana-related arrests.

Some 92% of these arrests were for marijuana possession only, NORML said.

This is a tremendous waste of police and prosecutorial resources that adversely impacts tens of thousands of North Carolinians.

Legalization bill details

Both marijuana legalization bills lay out a comprehensive plan for the legalization and regulation of the sale, possession and use of cannabis in the state for those at least age 21, as well as how sales are taxed.

The bills set the parameters for individual use of cannabis, creates restrictions of individuals growing marijuana, establishes penalties for unlawful usage, including consuming cannabis on a public setting and while driving a motor vehicle.

The bill would prohibit landlords and property managers from refusing to rent to individuals based on past conviction for cannabis use.

A controversial component of both bills is that conviction for prior marijuana use would be expunged no later than July 1, 2028.

The Senate version would prohibit local and state law enforcement from arresting or investigating individuals possessing or using marijuana, or seizing the products, based on the sole basis of activity the officer believes to constitute a violation of federal law if the officer has reason to believe that such activity is in compliance with the bill becoming state law.

Local and state law-enforcement officers also would be prohibited from providing any information or logistical support related to such activity involving cannabis to any federal law enforcement authority or prosecuting entity.

The bills establish the Office of Community Reinvestment that would be dedicated to rehabilitating communities that were disproportionately affected by marijuana prohibition.

The state Administrative Office of the Courts would be authorized to review and expunge the records of criminal convictions for behaviors that would become legal with its passage.

Harrison said that while she remains hopeful of getting the marijuana legalization bill through the legislature, she said a faster path may come from legislation by the federal government since there appears to be a lot of interest at the very least in decriminalizing marijuana.

Awaiting medical marijuana re-filing

Meanwhile, the wait continues for the re-filing of a controversial medical marijuana bill during the 2025 legislative session.

Former House speaker Tim Moore said in response to the passages of the Senate medical marijuana bills that for them to clear the House, there would need to be reasonable controls, and a balance to have enough distributors to prescribe and avoid a monopoly.

The 2024 Senate version of medical marijuana would permit the use  prescribed only by licensed physician  for individuals with ALS, cancer, epilepsy, Parkinsons disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments, but not for those experiencing chronic pain.

Importantly, the bill does not allow recreational marijuana usage or the marketing of medical marijuana to anyone under age 21.

The bill was amended on the Senate floor to clarify that even if the use of recreational marijuana is made legal under federal law, the N.C. legislature must approve as well.

The bill was amended to ensure that licensed distributors of medical marijuana check the identification of anyone who looks to be age 30 and under, and to verify that no medical marijuana can be sold to anyone under age 21.

Madjd-Sadjadi said that even with the marijuana legalization bills likely not be acted upon, he expressed optimism that this may be the year for legalizing medicinal marijuana, which has enjoyed significant bipartisan support in the Senate over the past few years.
The Voice of America (VOA) workers, reporters, unions and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, contending that shuttering the U.S.-funded news agencies violated several laws and asked the court to reinstate VOA.

The lawsuit, which was filed late Friday in the Southern District of New York, was brought by a handful of unions, RSF and six VOA reporters against U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), VOAs parent company, acting director Victor Morales and special adviser Kari Lake. VOAs White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara is the main plaintiff in the case.

The plaintiffs said the administrations effort to terminate the news agency violated the First Amendment rights of VOAs employees, and they asked the court to restore USAGM-grantee news outlets and that funds for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the Middle Eastern Broadcast Network (MBN) should resume.

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In many parts of the world, a crucial source of objective news is gone, and only censored state-sponsored news media is left to fill the void, the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit.

Defendants have violated all of these laws by closing USAGM and ceasing altogether the business of gathering and disseminating news and opinion via VOA and its sister service Radio y Television Marti, as well as its grantee-affiliates RFE/RL, RFA, and MBN. Defendants actions are unconstitutional and unlawful; they must cease immediately, they wrote in the complaint.

Last weekend, VOA reporters, along with other news outlets employees and contractors, were put on administrative leave, a day after Trump penned an executive order to eliminate USAGM, The Hill reported.

The internal memo said the workers were placed on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until otherwise notified and that the decision was not made for any disciplinary purpose.

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What is happening to the VOA Journalists is not just the chilling of First Amendment speech; it is a government shutdown of journalism, a prior restraint that kills content before it can be created, the plaintiffs said in the court filing.

Trumps decision to eliminate USAGM came as a shock to many VOA staffers. Some said the decision to halt the outlets work would embolden authoritarians around the globe where press freedom is limited or non-existent.

Dictators around the world are celebrating this and laughing at us, one VOA staffer told The Hill this week. Everyone is just so sad because so many of us have dedicated our lives to spreading the truth in places where no light shines.

Republicans have argued that VOA spreads left-wing propaganda and that should be defunded. Trump selected Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial candidate to lead the news agency. Lake, a former TV anchor, has been the acting senior adviser at USAGM.

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She supported Trumps executive order, argued the agency is irretrievably broken and that those who are talented within it are more the exception, not the rule.

From top-to-bottom this agency is a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayera national security risk for this nationand irretrievably broken, Lake wrote Monday morning. While there are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception rather than the rule.

On Tuesday, RFE/RL filed a lawsuit against Lake and the Trump administration over its push to defund the outlet.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in Washington, D.Cs federal court, said the outlets funding was instantly halted and it has been unable to receive a recent $7.4 million invoice.

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Whether to disburse funds as directed by appropriations laws, and whether to make those funds available through grants as directed by the International Broadcasting Act, is not an optional choice for the agency to make, the lawsuit said. It is the law. Urgent relief is needed to compel the agency to follow the law.

A spokesperson for USAGM did not immediately respond to The Hills request for comment.

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The head of the Social Security Administration is backing down on his threat to shut down the agency after a panicked slapdown from the White House.

On Friday, Interim SSA Commissioner Lee Dudek threatened to close the agency over a judges ruling barring Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing personal data for millions of Americansincluding Social Security numbers, baking information, and health records. Dudek said the order as overly broad and could apply to all the agencys employees, forcing it to close.

But he reversed course after the White House intervened and the judge clarified that his order only applied to DOGE employees.

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I am not shutting down the agency," Dudek said in a statement. President Trump supports keeping Social Security offices open and getting the right check to the right person at the right time. SSA employees and their work will continue under the TRO.

Dudek expressed contrition over his alarming remarks after he received a call from the White House.

[The White House] called me and let me know its important to reaffirm to the public that were open for business, he told the Washington Post on Friday. The White House did remind me that I was out of line and so did the judge, and I appreciate that.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander issued a temporary restraining order on Thursday blocking DOGE team members and DOGE affiliates from accessing any personally identifiable information at the SSA. In remarks to Bloomberg and The Washington Post, Dudek claimed the order could apply to anyone at the agency, which would force him to shut down.

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As it stands, I will follow [the judges order] exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems, Dudek told Bloomberg . Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency.

Hollander clarified her order in a letter on Friday.

Employees of SSA who are not involved with the DOGE Team or in the work of the DOGE Team are not subject to the Order, Hollander wrote, according to the Post. Any suggestion that the Order may require the delay or suspension of benefit payments is incorrect.

Musks DOGE has taken an axe to the SSA amid its crusade to cut government spending. The SAA plans to fire 7,000 of its 57,000 employees12 percent of its total workforceand shutter 47 of its field offices. To protect against identity theft, the agency will no longer allow beneficiaries to verify their identities over the phone in order to change direct deposit information, requiring them to do so online or in person.

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More than 70 million Americans rely on Social Security benefits. The program has not missed a single payment in more than 80 years of operation.

A large majority of Americans support Social Security, making cuts to the program politically perilous for Republicans. A report from the nonpartisan National Academy of Social Insurance (NIRS) published in January found that 87 percent of peopleincluding 86 percent of Republicans and 90 percent of Democratsthink that Social Security should remain a priority for the nation no matter the state of budget deficits.

A majority of Americans also think the government should spend more on the programeven self-identified conservatives.
President Donald Trump is doubling down on his threats against the American legal system, directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against lawyers and law firms that go against him.

Trumps administration has taken an increasingly adversarial stance toward the legal system, including both judges who have ruled against his policies and lawyers and firms that he has viewed as wronging him.

The memo circulated late Friday, entitled Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court, marks an escalation of Trumps crackdown on law firms he believes have crossed him, now threatening the full power of the Department of Justice to punish them.

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Lawyers and law firms that engage in actions that violate the laws of the United States or rules governing attorney conduct must be efficiently and effectively held accountable, the memo reads.

In it, Trump directs Bondi to seek sanctions against lawyers and law firms that engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States. He also pushes Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to prioritize enforcement of proper attorney conduct.

Any unethical or unprofessional conduct will result in disciplinary action, the memo warns, which could include revoking security clearances and federal contracts  a lever he has already pulled repeatedly to target several firms with clients that have challenged Trump.

This enforcement will also be retroactive, as the memo instructs Bondi to look back at the conduct of lawyers or law firms over the last eight years for misconduct.

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Trump has already attacked federal judges who have ruled against him on key cases like deportations of migrants. He called for the impeachment of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg  the chief judge of the federal district court of Washington, D.C.  after he issued a halt on deportations of immigrants to El Salvador.

Fridays memorandum comes as the nations law firms are already running scared over Trumps promised retribution. Several lawyers that spoke to POLITICO shared their fear after the executive orders targeting specific law firms in a retaliatory spree connected to his political rivals.

Trump first retaliated against Washington law firm Covington & Burling in February by stripping the security clearances of lawyers and other personnel who gave legal services to Jack Smith, the federal prosecutor who brought criminal charges against Trump. Trump has repeatedly referenced the weaponization of the legal system against him, in part due to Smiths prosecution.

He then suspended security clearances for the Seattle-based law firm Perkins Coie, which regularly represents Democratic groups including the Democratic National Committee.

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But Trump faced pushback in court over his actions against Perkins Coie, after District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that major parts of Trumps order were likely unconstitutional and that they appeared motivated by retaliatory animus. The Justice Department has since sought to have Howell booted from the case.

More recently Trump suspended security clearances of lawyers at New York firm Paul, Weiss  coming down on the firms association with Mark Pomerantz, who investigated Trump at the Manhattan District Attorneys Office but hadnt been employed by the firm in years.

After targeting security clearances, limiting the firms access to government buildings and preventing them from getting federal contracts, Trump announced a peace deal with the firm Thursday. He revoked his order punishing the firm after they promised to abandon their diversity policies, provide free legal representation to clients with a full spectrum of political viewpoints and offer free legal services to some of the presidents favored initiatives.

But Trumps new memo signals this is only the beginning.

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He lists examples of grossly unethical misconduct and references Marc Elias of the Elias Law Group, one of the most prominent Democratic attorneys in the nation. Elias was also a lawyer for Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign while an attorney at Perkins Coie and was central to the commissioning of the now-infamous Steele dossier.

Earlier this week, Elias penned an op-ed saying that while he was concerned about retribution from Trump, he wouldnt cave to pressure from the president.

Now that Trump has proven to be a ruthless autocrat, too many have grown timid and silent, Elias wrote on his website Democracy Docket. That is simply not who I am. It is not what I believe, and it is not what I will do.

Trump in his memorandum also lambasts the powerful Big Law pro bono practices, which he says teach asylum-seekers to lie on their asylum claims.

Law firms and individual attorneys have a great power, and obligation, to serve the rule of law, justice, and order, the memo states. The Attorney General, alongside the Counsel to the President, shall report to the President periodically on improvements by firms to capture this hopeful vision.
President Trump axed security clearances and revoked access to classified information for several political figures on Friday, including his election rivals Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Kamala Harris as well as former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).

Trump said in a late Friday memo that he determined it is no longer in the national interest for Clinton, Harris and Cheney, along with at least 12 other high-profile individuals have access to classified information.

I hereby direct every executive department and agency head to take all additional action as necessary and consistent with existing law to revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals and to immediately rescind their access to classified information, Trump said. I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals.

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With the revocation of access, the former diplomats, lawmakers, and President Bidens family members will not be privy to classified briefings, like the Presidents Daily Brief, and will not have access to classified information.

The security clearances and bans on accessing classified information for former Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, attorneys Mark Zaid, Norm Eisen and Andrew Weissmann, along with New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg were announced by Trumps Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard earlier this month.

On Friday, the president also added Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), a vocal Trump critic, to the list. Kinzinger, alongside Cheney, played prominent roles in Congress investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Since taking office in January, Trump has sought to roll back the access to classified information as well as security protections for his political opponents.

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In early February, he revoked Bidens security clearance, saying there is no need for him to have it. He also terminated the security details for his former national security adviser John Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, both of whom have faced assassination threats from Iran.

There are people that we dont respect, if there are people that we thought that were breaking the law, that came very close to it in previous years, we do it. And weve done it with some people, Trump told journalists last month.

The president also said in the late Friday memo that if the several individuals mentioned in the memo were to get security clearance through private sector employment, the U.S. government entity that approved the authorization should inform the private entity that these individuals ability to access classified information has been revoked.

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President Trump on Friday deflected when asked if he signed the order to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime law, to deport Venezuelan migrants allegedly linked to the Tren de Aragua gang.

We want to get criminals out of our country number one. I dont know when it was signed, because I didnt sign it, Trump told reporters before departing the White House on Friday. Other people handled it.

[Secretary of State] Marco Rubio has done a great job, and he wanted them out and we go along with that, he added. We want to get criminals out of our country.

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The president could have also been referencing border czar Tom Homan and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who have also defended the governments actions after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled the administration could not invoke the 1798 law.

Trump was also asked Friday about Boasbergs assertion during a recent hearing that the proclamation to use the Alien Enemies Act was signed in the dark  or late at night on Friday or Saturday morning.

It seems to me the only reason to do that is you know its a problem and you want to get them out of the country before a suit is filed, Boasberg, who initially blocked the administrations use of the law, told the government during a 75-minute hearing on Friday.

The 4-page proclamation to invoke the 1789 law appears to have been signed by the president, according to a copy filed in the Federal Register.

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Boasberg, an appointee of former President Obama, has gone back and forth with the Trump administration over whether deportation flights from Texas to El Salvador ignored an order he issued for them to be turned around. In light of the criticism, the president called for the federal judge to be impeached.

The governments not being terribly cooperative at this point, but I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order, who ordered this and what the consequences will be, Boasberg said during Fridays hearing.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has refused to provide more information to the judge about the migrant flights, pointing to concerns over national security and faulting him for stonewalling the executive branchs authority.

They have also argued that since the flights were beyond U.S. airspace at the time Boasberg requested they be turned around, the judge had no right to intervene.

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Hours after Trumps remarks to reporters, the White House released a statement to CNN, saying that the president was obviously referring to the original Alien Enemies Act that was signed back in 1798.

The recent Executive Order was personally signed by President Trump invoking the Alien Enemies Act that designated Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in order to apprehend and deport these heinous criminals, they wrote.

The White House statement, however, seems to contradict what Trump told journalists earlier.

I would say that Id have the Secretary of State handle it, because Im not really involved in that, but the concept of getting bad people murderers, rapists, drug dealers, all of the, these are really some bad people out of our country, Trump told reporters when asked if he would dispatch more flights to El Salvador.

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I ran on that. I won on that, he said.

Boasberg also hammered Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign during the hearing Friday, questioning the governments moves that he said violated his original order.

We had a conversation on Saturday in which I treated all parties with respect and politeness and made that clear without raising my voice, without having any edge, I made it very clear what you had to do, Boasberg said on Friday. Did you not understand my statement in that hearing?

Ensign responded that the government did not violate the judges order and that he was not aware of the deportation flights during the first hearing.

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Your Honor, I understood your statements and your directive to relay your directives to my clients, which I have done, Ensign said.

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President Trump became the highest profile politician to weigh in on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race late Friday, urging his supporters to back conservative candidate Brad Schimel.

Trump in a late Friday post attacked Radical Left Liberal Susan Crawford  the liberal judicial candidate running against Schimel for an open seat on Wisconsins highest court  and attacked her record on sentencing criminals and abusers.

She is the handpicked voice of the Leftists who are out to destroy your State, and our Country  And if she wins, the Movement to restore our Nation will bypass Wisconsin, he wrote in a post on Truth Social. All Voters who believe in Common Sense should GET OUT TO VOTE EARLY for Brad Schimel.

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He also included a link to a website that encouraged voters to swamp the vote and laid out the timeline for requesting absentee and mail ballots and in-person voting for the April 1 election.

Crawford and Schimel are competing to replace outgoing liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley. The state Supreme Court has a 5-4 liberal majority with Bradley, but her retirement brings the court to an even partisan split.

Tens of millions of dollars have been poured into the race, easily surpassing the record set in 2023, the last time there was an open seat on the state Supreme Court that also determined partisan control of the court.

Crawford defended her handling of sentencing, including one case mentioned during a debate between her and Schimel earlier this month involving a defendant who was convicted of sexual assault of a child. Asked if she regretted her decision to offer a lower sentence than one recommended by prosecutors, she said during the debate I dont regret that sentence because I followed the law in that case.

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Her campaign attacked Schimel in a statement responding to Trumps Truth Social post, targeting him over his handling of the rape test kit backlog when he was Wisconsin attorney general and for making a plea deal with a defendant whose attorney had contributed to Schimels campaign.

Schimel has previously defended his handling of the rape test kit backlog, calling it a capacity question and noting they were able to expedite rape kit testing during his time as the states top prosecutor when three labs agreed to help test the kits.

The conservative candidate has also said campaign contributions he received from a defendants lawyer did not pose a conflict of an interest and that he receives donations from many attorneys. He told WPR in a statement in January that theres nothing about this that has resulted in anything underhanded.

Schimel has spent his entire career on bent knee to right-wing special interests, we assumed he had this endorsement locked up months ago, Crawford campaign spokesperson Derrick Honeyman said in part of his statement, adding that voters would reject Schimel on April 1.

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Her campaign has also invoked tech billionaire Elon Musks support for Schimel in ads targeting Crawfords GOP challenger.

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During his 2024 run for the presidency, Donald Trump declared his desire to use the military on United States citizens who disagree with him, demonizing these Americans as the enemy within. He would go on to repeat his baseless claims throughout his campaign, from describing evil Democrats as more dangerous than China or Russia to targeting his Democratic rivals and the press.

Since taking office, it appears that the president has been following through on his plan to retaliate against his opponents. Earlier this month, a Trump admin revoked security clearances for top officials from former President Joe Bidens administration including former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, who oversaw the prosecution of rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

On Friday night, Trump escalated his revenge tour in a memo announcing that he had stripped security clearances and access to classified information for a lengthy list of adversaries. Among those named were former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Joseph R. Biden Jr. and any other member of Joseph R. Biden Jr.s family.

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I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information, wrote Trump in his memo. I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals. This action includes, but is not limited to, receipt of classified briefings.

Others listed in Fridays announcement included former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and former representative Elizabeth Cheney. New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, top enforcement officials who battled Trump in court, were also stripped of their security detail.

On Monday, Trump said that Secret Service protection details assigned to Bidens adult children were ending immediately, despite the former president extending the protection to July before leaving office.

This week, Americans have seen Trump and his allies continued to relentlessly take aim at core government agencies and perceived enemies. On Thursday, Trumps interim Social Security chief threatened to stop the safety net program if Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cant access the non-anonymized sensitive personal information and data of hundreds of millions of Americans.

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Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday attacked U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg and his wife after Boasberg ordered the Trump administration not to deport Venezuelan migrants that the White House claimed were gang members.

On Friday, the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (Paul Weiss) agreed to provide $40 million in pro bono representation to the Trump administration in order to avoid being punished by the president for representing his political opponents and defending laws and principles he has denounced. Many in the legal community viewed the firms decision a betrayal of the legal profession and efforts to hold Trump accountable for his myriad of alleged crimes.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at dismantling the Department of Education and the impacts of it are already being felt in central Ohio.

Local teachers said they are worried about their students and feel left in the dark.

I dont know whats coming down the road, and I feel like a lot of my colleagues feel the same way, said Larry Carey, a central Ohio educator.

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Now were kind of, I think, back in that limbo game of whats going to happen next? intervention specialist Traci Arway said.

Columbus City Schools hosts annual HBCU college fair

Careys job is funded through Title 1, a federal program that provides funds to districts to help low-income students get a fair education. After the executive order was signed, Carey said he felt even more motivated to help his students.

It was shocking, but expected, and we know that we are in for a fight and, you know, were going to fight because its for our students, Carey said.

Arway works directly with special needs students as an intervention specialist. Each special ed student has an individualized education program, or IEP, with specific goals. Arway said dismantling the federal education department could mean program or regulation cuts, which would have a huge impact on disabled students.

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Arway said Thursday was a tough day, especially after she saw Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine back the president on this decision.

I was very disappointed to see that Gov. DeWine went in support of this, Arway said. He talks about how he wants to support children and yet he continuously proves that what he thinks is supporting children and what children actually need are very different things.

DeWine said Friday that there are still a lot of unknowns about federal education funding, but he said the order will allow the state to spend that money more effectively and efficiently.

The most important thing for me is the ability for Ohio to deal with Ohios challenges that are unique to Ohio, DeWine said. Im sure every governor of every state has the same problem, probably have the same attitude.

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Both Arway and Carey said the Department of Education is needed and they hope Congress will not follow through with the presidents order.

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President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to close the federal Department of Education, coming a step closer to fulfilling a campaign promise to eliminate what has been a cabinet-level agency for the past 45 years.

Even though it will take a vote of Congress to actually shutter the department, Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have been dismantling the agency from within, particularly through job cuts, including the elimination of 1,950 jobs, nearly half its workforce.

But what would happen, especially in Pennsylvania, if the department does indeed close as Trump wants? Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about that possibility.

Why does Trump want to dismantle the Department of Education?

Trump characterizes the U.S. Department of Education as a bloated agency that is ill-equipped to handle certain responsibilities, such as managing a massive student loan portfolio. He also says the nations public schools are failing students and calls for returning education to the states.

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However, the federal agency has little influence over what happens in the classroom. It doesnt set curriculum or academic standards, is not the main source of funding for public schools and doesnt determine teacher qualifications.

States and local districts already handle these duties.

Can Trump get rid of the Department of Education?

Trump needs congressional approval to eliminate the agency, and Republican lawmakers would likely get pushback from constituents who want to keep it. However, he has been drastically downsizing the department and can shift certain functions to other parts of government.

For instance, Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trumps term, suggested moving civil rights enforcement into the Justice Department and putting the health and human services agency in charge of funding for students with disabilities.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump appear Thursday during the signing event for an executive order to shut down the Department of Education in the East Room at the White House.

Will my child's curriculum change?

Not as a result of changes to or the elimination of the Department of Education. States are empowered to establish curriculum for school districts. However, Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding for K-12 schools that do not adhere to an executive order titled "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling."

How much money does the federal government spend on education in Pennsylvania? What about my child's school district?

Each year, the U.S. Department of Education sends Pennsylvania about $1.6 billion for education, including $762 million for Title I programs. Title I is a federal program that awards funding to school districts with a high percentage of low-income students. Local taxes cover 53% of a school district's expenses, with 36% coming from the state and 11% coming for the federal government.

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To find annual financial report data for an individual school district, visit the Pennsylvania Department of Education website at tinyurl.com/3nd9khk8.

Does this affect the National School Lunch Program?

The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service, so any changes to the Department of Education, including its elimination, won't affect the program.

However, the Trump administration has been making cuts to other food programs administered by the USDA that benefit schools, including the Local Food for Schools Program, which gave states money to buy fresh, nutritious and non-processed foods from local farmers. That program was eliminated as part of a $1 billion spending cut at the department.

More: $1 billion cut from USDA food programs. What it means for Pa. schools, food banks

What happens with student loans and Pell grants?

More than 1.86 million Pennsylvanians are carrying a cumulative $67.5 billion in federal student debt.

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Pennsylvanians also get higher education assistance in the form of Pell grants, or federal aid designated for lower-income students. In the 2023-2024 academic year, more than 216,000 Pennsylvanians received Pell grants, with an average award of about $4,900 a person, according to the Education Data Initiative.

However, the Trump administration said dismantling the education department would not mean the end of student aid. His spokeswoman told reporters the agency would, for the time being, continue overseeing the loan portfolio and Pell grants.

Still, in his executive order, Trump said the education department is not a bank and must ultimately return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve Americas students. On Friday, he announced that management of federal student loans would shift to the Small Business Administration.

What are Pennsylvania teachers saying?

The Pennsylvania State Education Association, the commonwealths largest teachers' union, views the executive order as a threat to the roughly $1.6 billion in federal funding to the Keystone States public schools. Without this money, they estimate about 7,000 Pennsylvania teachers and support professionals would lose their jobs.

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This isnt about reforming how government works, Aaron Chapin, PSEA president and a middle school teacher in the Stroudsburg Area School District, said in a prepared statement. It is about dismantling public education as we know it, putting teachers and support staff out of jobs and giving up on a generation of students.

Bethany Rodgers and Matthew Rink are investigative reporters for the USA TODAY Network in Pennsylvania.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Trump signs executive order to close Education Department: FAQ
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Nevada Democrats are criticizing President Donald Trumps effort to dismantle the US Department of Education.

Democratic US Rep. Susie Lee said the education department cuts would be a tax on middle-class Americans. At the same time, Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and some pro-school choice groups have applauded the presidents decision, saying it will improve student achievement.

President Jimmy Carter created the US Department of Education in 1979. President Trump has said he wants to dismantle the 45-year-old agency.

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We already rank 48th in terms of per-pupil funding, and so now we are going to turn to Nevada taxpayers and say, Youve got to foot the bill,' Lee said.

Valerie Gurr, senior fellow at the American Federation for Children and school choice advocate, cited statistics from a 2024 report card to argue that the Department of Education is inefficient.

There are so many kids that come or live here that believe in the American dream, and that American dream is broken without a quality education, Gurr said, detailing the data she said shows 30 percent of Nevada students are proficient in reading. The numbers are nearly 10 percent lower amongst Hispanic and Black students.

The bureaucrats in Carson City and the bureaucrats in Washington D.C. are instead spending time scaring our community and telling us how this is bad, Gurr said. Change is good, and we should give it a chance.

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Lee said she supports change but doesnt agree with Trumps methods.

We got nearly a billion dollars just for K-to-12 education here in Nevada from the federal government, Lee said, adding that the money would not be replaced, citing a House budget blueprint. They want to cut $330 billion from the Department of Education.

Lee argued that closing the Department of Education would impact poor and special needs students and could increase taxes for middle-class Americans.

Basically, were going to turn to Nevada taxpayers and say  now youre going to foot the bill because Trump and Elon Musk want to cut this funding and give those taxpayers to the wealthiest Americans and big corporations, Lee said.

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Trump announced Friday a plan for the US Small Business Administration to manage the federal governments $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio.

For his part, Lombardo wrote an op-ed piece published on Breitbart, expressing support for Trumps decision.

For too long, federal mandates, and sometimes partisan politics, have tied our hands and prevented us from implementing school choice programs that empower families, Lombardo said.

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President Donald Trump, in a late-night Friday memo, directed federal agencies to revoke security clearances for more than a dozen of his perceived political enemies, including former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information Trump said in the memo. I hereby direct every executive department and agency head to take all additional action as necessary and consistent with existing law to revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals and to immediately rescind their access to classified information.

The memo applies to classified briefings and any access the individuals might have had to classified information based on previous tenure in Congress.

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The move marks the latest instance of Trump pulling security clearances from political rivals, after the president in February said he was immediately revoking former President Joe Bidens security clearance and stopping his daily intelligence briefing. He has also used similar rescissions to crackdown on top law firms.

Fridays memo formalized the revocation of Bidens security clearance, along with several others who the Trump administration has previously said it removed clearances from, and went on to block the former presidents familys access to classified information  assuming they had any.

In addition to his Democratic rivals in the 2016 and 2024 election, Trump also revoked clearances from the two Republicans on the House committee that investigated his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger.

Earlier this month Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said that in accordance with a directive from Trump, she had revoked the security clearances of a number of the people named in Fridays memo, including top Biden officials, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, as well as two of the attorneys who brought legal cases against Trump: New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

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In another late-night memo on Friday, Trump revisited past grudges against lawyers who have opposed him and vowed to punish lawyers and law firms by rescinding security clearances and canceling federal contracts they hold.

He directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to review the conduct of lawyers and law firms the administration considers to have filed frivolous lawsuits against the Trump administration or attempted to block immigration initiatives, broadening the presidents crackdown on the US legal community in the United States.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNNs Clay Voytek and Evan Perez contributed to this report.

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President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden are pictured in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. Credit - Melina MaraAP

President Donald Trump has made good on his promise of revoking security clearance for former President Joe Biden. Issued late on Friday night, a memo titled Rescinding Security Clearances and Access to Classified Information from Specified Individuals laid out Trumps instructions for Biden, several members of the Biden Administration, and other political rivals to have their security clearances rescinded.

Trump determined it was no longer in the national interest for said individuals to still hold any active security clearance or unescorted access to government facilities. This action includes, but is not limited to, receipt of classified briefings, such as the Presidents Daily Brief, and access to classified information held by any member of the Intelligence Community by virtue of the named individuals previous tenure in the Congress, the memo reads.

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Read More: Schumer Says Hes 'Not Stepping Down,' Calls Trump a 'Lawless, Angry Man'

The action was applied to Biden and any other member of Joseph R. Biden Jr.s family. Joining the former President on the list was his former Vice President, and Trumps one-time opponent in the 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris. Trumps 2016 opponent and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also listed, alongside former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former National Security Advisor Jacob Sullivan, and former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.

In addition, New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggboth of whom prosecuted Trumpas well as Liz Cheney and Adam KinzingerRepublicans and former Representatives who served on the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitolwere added to the list of people who will have such privileges rescinded.

The memo also includes whistleblower lawyer Mark Zaid and Fiona Hill, Trumps former Russia analyst who testified during Trumps first impeachment hearing. Norman Eisen, an attorney leading various lawsuits against the Trump Administration, also joined attorney Andrew Weissmann and Alexander Vindman, the former Director for European Affairs for the National Security Council, on the list.

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Read More: Is Trump Set to Impose a New Travel Ban? Here Are the Countries That Could Be at Risk

In an emailed statement sent to TIME, Zaid says: There are many of us who will not be bullied or intimidated, notwithstanding the continued attacks on lawyers.

Lawyers are the first line of defense against authoritarianism, which is why Shakespeare's Dick the Butcher [character] wants to kill us in Henry VI [Part 2] he says. It looks like President Trump has found a more effective way of eliminating those he fears might challenge him.

Meanwhile, Vindman responded to the memo via social media, saying: Im not a weak-kneed billionaire or a massive spineless law firm, so I dont care what noises Donald Trump makes about a security clearance that hasnt been active for five years.

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Some of the names included in Trumps memo had also seemingly already had their security clearances revoked earlier this month by the newly-instated Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

Read More: What to Know About John Roberts, the Chief Justice Challenging Trump

What does security clearance mean?

Security clearance, according to the State Department, is a determination of whether an individual has access to classified national security information. For some government employees, levels of access to this information is determined by their job functions via a formal security clearance process and vetting actions.

For the President, Vice President, and members of Congress, their election alone affords them major security clearance privileges, rather than vetting.

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According to Congress, there are three different levels of security clearance: Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret.

Former Presidents and other previously-serving officials are often given access to classified information as a courtesy, even after they leave office. In 2021, though, Biden took away Trumps security clearanceciting what he said was Trumps erratic behavior around the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Trump had earlier announced his intention to revoke Bidens security clearance on Feb. 7, posting on his social media platform, Truth Social, about his decision. "There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Bidens Security Clearances, and stopping his daily Intelligence Briefings, Trump said. I will always protect our National Security  JOE, YOU'RE FIRED.

Meanwhile, on March 17, Trump announced he was revoking Secret Service protection for Bidens adult children, and earlier this year, the Administration reportedly took away security details for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former National Security Adviser John Bolton.

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Brooklyn Law School professor Heidi Gilchrist, a former CIA analyst and expert on national security, says that for some in government, losing security clearance means losing your livelihood, and government officials may well begin thinking about the potential political fallout of their actions with the President.

She notes that Trump does have broad authority as President to revoke clearances, but believes that there is a strong argument here that the First Amendment is being violated by revoking clearance for political opponents. In fact, she believes there may even be an opening for the courts to get involved.

Courts generally will not review security clearance decisions, as they just defer to the executive branch in matters of national security, Gilchrist says. But this [instance] is not based on any sort of national security expertise or rationale this could be a clear opening for courts to review clearance decisions which they've stayed away from in the past.

Contact us at letters@time.com.
President Donald Trump revoked security clearances for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and a string of top Democrats and political foes in a presidential memo late Friday.

I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information, Trump wrote.

He went on to name a list of 15 opponents and Biden-era officials, including Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who prosecuted Trump for fraud, as well as former president Bidens entire family.

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It is unclear what formal security clearance was possessed by some of the figures named in the memo. Trump had already announced his intention to rescind security clearance for Biden in February, and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard said on March 10 that she had revoked access for Blinken, James and others per Trumps directive.

Barring Biden from intelligence briefings is a tit-for-tat move after Biden banned Trump from accessing classified documents in 2021, arguing he could not be trusted because of his "erratic behavior."

In the past, former presidents have been briefed on certain matters and allowed access to sensitive information as a courtesy, though they often have no formal security clearance.

Trump said in his memo Friday that he would also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals.

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The ban on intelligence includes access to classified information held by any member of the Intelligence Community by virtue of the named individuals' previous tenure in the Congress.

Earlier this week, Trump announced he was pulling Secret Service protection for Biden's children, Hunter and Ashley, "effective immediately." The decision to terminate their security details was panned by his critics as an attempt to exact revenge on an ex-rival.
CHICAGO  President Trump has signed an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to start the process of dismantling the Department of Education, and the move has spawned strong reaction from some democratic leaders.

The president was surrounded by students sitting at desks as he signed the order in the Oval Office Thursday.

Were going to be returning education very simply back to the states, where it belongs, Trump said.

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The signed order does not abolish the agency and would still require congressional approval, where it is expected to be met with pushback from Democrats, who Trump said he hoped would vote in favor.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Trump signs executive order to dismantle Department of Education

Its important people understand the president doesnt have the power to eliminate the Department of Education, only an act of Congress can do that, and he understands that, WGN Political Analyst Paul Lisnek said.

On Friday, the president spoke about his executive order, including what it means for student loans.

The numbers are horrible the way it is and were going to make a move that is very big, Trump said Friday. I dont think its even risky a little bit. I think its going to be amazing. Should have been done many years ago. Theyve been talking about it for many years, but nobody ever got it off, but we did.

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The White House previously said the executive order would not eliminate the Department of Education and that critical functions would continue, including the enforcement of civil rights laws and oversight of Pell Grants and student loans.

Trump announced a change to that Friday, and said the Small Business Administration (SBA) would handle the entire student loan portfolio.

Thats coming out of the Department of Education immediately, said Trump.

Several weeks ago, the Trump administration announced an approximately 50 percent reduction in the departments workforce. Impacted staff were set to be placed on administrative leave effective Friday, March 21.

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SEE ALSO: Trump orders shutdown of the Education Department. What does it do?

WGN stopped by the Chicago Office of the Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights on Friday. While the lights were on, WGN received no answer when ringing the bell. A single employee soon returned but was unable to comment on the matter.

[Trump is] getting it down to a bare bones minimum point, where its essentially not functional. So, will it exist? Until congress gets rid of it. Will it function effectively? No, Lisnek said.

While speaking with the press Friday, Trump said the executive order was met with excitement and acceptance, including from a lot of democrats.

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Some lawmakers, including Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, weighed in with their concerns. Pritzker said he believes it should be up to congress, which established the agency, whether it is eliminated. He disagrees with the move and said it would have major implications for Chicago.

Were in dire straits if they cut this funding from Washington, D.C., and most importantly, our children and families across the state will suffer, Pritzker said Thursday.

Many argue the move would put students at risk, including people with disabilities, low-income families, students of color and those in rural areas.

Indiana Governor Mike Braun was in attendance for the signing of the executive order and shared his reaction to it.

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RELATED: Major changes may be coming for student loans

Us governors, along with our legislators, are going to find the right mix and we dont need our federal government. Id like to see them get smart enough and start to balance their own budget, Braun said.

According to Lisnek, the financial implications will be something many states will need to assess.

The question for states is, will we get our money back that weve been giving you? Answers probably going to be no, its going to be elsewhere, Lisnek said. So now states are going to be in a position of having to figure out how to replace those federal dollars that arent coming into it anymore.

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According to Pritzker, Illinois gets close to $3.5 bill. each year in funding to support programs for students, including those with special needs and disabilities, across most districts in the state.

That is money that cant be replaced by the state government. $3.5 billion, we cant do that, not especially on top of the $7 or $8 billion I suspect they will cut in Medicaid in the state of Illinois, said Pritzker.

According to Lisnek, some states will be hit harder than others.

Interestingly enough, states that get hit the hardest by this are going to be red states. Thats where its going to be felt significantly. Thats where President Trumps base is, Lisnek said.

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In a statement Thursday, McMahon called the executive order a history-making action and said it will free future generations of American students and forge their success. In part, the statement reads:

Education is fundamentally a state responsibility. Instead of filtering resources through layers of federal red tape, we will empower states to take charge and advocate for and implement what is best for students, families, and educators in their communities.

Closing the Department does not mean cutting off funds from those who depend on themwe will continue to support K-12 students, students with special needs, college student borrowers, and others who rely on essential programs. Were going to follow the law and eliminate the bureaucracy responsibly by working through Congress to ensure a lawful and orderly transition.

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President Donald Trumps interim Social Security chief doubled down Friday on his threat to outright shutter the Social Security Administration in retaliation to a ruling against the Department of Government Efficiency. Acting commissioner Leland Dudek alleged to The Washington Post the SSA cannot comply with a federal rulingmeant to block DOGEs access to sensitive data within the administrationfrom Thursday because it would handcuff the work of his entire staff. District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander ruled that Social Security officials are barred from sharing Americans personal information with DOGE staffers and its affiliates for two weeks. Dudek claimed Hollanders ruling was too broad because, at this point, any SSA staffer could be considered an affiliate of DOGE as they are all obligated to cooperate with Elon Musks service. Dudek told the Post that government attorneys will file an affidavit asking Hollander to clarify language in her ruling, which he criticized as being ambiguous, overly broad and weirdly written. If she is unable to clear things up, Dudek threatens he will just start to shut it down, referring to SSA, adding that he does not have much of a choice here.
(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration will revoke temporary legal status from potentially more than half a million migrants who entered the US legally under a Biden-era program, according to a notice posted Friday in the Federal Register.

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The 35-page notice, set to be formally published March 25, outlines the administrations plan to end humanitarian parole and accompanying work permits for nationals of Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela who were allowed to fly directly to the US after applying from abroad. CBS News first reported the change.

Roughly 532,000 people entered the US under the policy, but its unclear how many still hold that legal status, the Department of Homeland Security said. Those without another lawful way to remain will be required to leave or face deportation starting in late April.

The administration has already declined to extend Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans and Haitians, a separate designation, which affects hundreds of thousands of people already in the country. The first group is set to lose their permission to live and work in the US as early as April.

Eliminating the parole program, known as CNHV, marks a significant escalation of President Donald Trumps immigration crackdown, expanding enforcement to include many migrants who entered the US legally and have no criminal record.

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The CNHV program was launched by President Joe Biden in 2023 to offer a legal alternative to dangerous border crossings, particularly through the treacherous Darien Gap. Trump has long criticized such programs as illegal and tantamount to open-border policies.

As a candidate, Trump vowed to end illegal immigration at the southwest border and carry out the largest deportation in US history.

Since he took office, federal agents have made more than 30,000 arrests of people living in the country illegally, often in coordination with Justice Department agencies. While officials say enforcement targets serious offenders, some arrests have involved people whose only violation is lacking legal immigration status. The administration has not disclosed how many have been deported.

On Friday, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration is dismantling internal watchdogs for the Department of Homeland Security, including its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which examines abuse and discrimination within immigration enforcement. Civil rights advocates and lawmakers say the move eliminates key oversight as the administration ramps up detentions and prepares for mass deportations.

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Also on Friday, DHS posted a notice extending a January determination that there is an ongoing or imminent influx of migrants at the southern border, even as arrests in February fell to 8,300  a monthly low not seen in decades.

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President Trump has revoked security clearances and access to classified information from a slew of his political opponents, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.

I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information, Trump announced in a presidential memo issued late Friday night before directly naming 15 of his most vocal critics, as well as the entire Biden family.

The list notably includes all three Democrats who ran against him in the 2016 and 2024 elections: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It also names former U.S. representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger  two high-profile, anti-Trump Republicans  along with the two top law enforcement officials in New York, both of whom took the president to court and won.

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Attorney General James has brought multiple lawsuits against Trump and his businesses. In February 2024, a judge ruled in favor of her office in a civil fraud case against Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization, ordering them to pay more than $450 million she said they illegally obtained.

When celebrating the tremendous victory for New York and the nation, James criticized the then-former presidents fraudulent and unjust ways to enrich himself and his family.

While he may have authored the Art of the Deal, our case revealed that his business was based on the art of the steal, James said at the time.

Three months later, a jury in Manhattan found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in a hush-money scheme to conceal damaging information during the 2016 presidential election.

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Trump went to illegal lengths to lie repeatedly in order to protect himself and his campaign, Bragg said when announcing the all-count trial conviction, adding his office has a solemn responsibility to ensure equal justice under the law regardless of the background, wealth or power of the accused.

On Friday, Trump appeared to remind James, Bragg and several of his opponents that he may, indeed, use power against his perceived adversaries  even if symbolically.

In the memo, the president instructed the heads of federal agencies to take all necessary actions, consistent with existing law, to immediately revoke security clearances and access to classified information from those individuals.

Along with preventing them from receiving classified briefings and obtaining information from members of the intelligence community, the action also revokes their unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities.

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While its unclear what type of security clearance those individuals had, the revocation is largely being perceived as symbolic.

Its another petty, performative move designed to punish his perceived enemies, regardless of reality, Kinzinger said Saturday, calling out the presidents latest stunt.

Reports are circulating that hes decided to revoke my security clearance. The only problem? I dont have one.
President Donald Trump has revoked security clearances and access to classified information from a slew of his political opponents, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.

I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information, Trump announced in a presidential memo issued late Friday night before directly naming 15 of his most vocal critics, as well as the entire Biden family.

The list notably includes all three Democrats who ran against him in the 2016 and 2024 elections: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It also names former U.S. representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger  two high-profile, anti-Trump Republicans  along with the two top law enforcement officials in New York, both of whom took the president to court and won.

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Attorney General James has brought multiple lawsuits against Trump and his businesses. In February 2024, a judge ruled in favor of her office in a civil fraud case against Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization, ordering them to pay more than $450 million she said they illegally obtained.

When celebrating the tremendous victory for New York and the nation, James criticized the then-former presidents fraudulent and unjust ways to enrich himself and his family.

While he may have authored the Art of the Deal, our case revealed that his business was based on the art of the steal, James said at the time.

Three months later, a jury in Manhattan found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in a hush-money scheme to conceal damaging information during the 2016 presidential election.

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Trump went to illegal lengths to lie repeatedly in order to protect himself and his campaign, Bragg said when announcing the all-count trial conviction, adding his office has a solemn responsibility to ensure equal justice under the law regardless of the background, wealth or power of the accused.

On Friday, Trump appeared to remind James, Bragg and several of his opponents that he may, indeed, use power against his perceived adversaries  even if symbolically.

In the memo, the president instructed the heads of federal agencies to take all necessary actions, consistent with existing law, to immediately revoke security clearances and access to classified information from those individuals.

Along with preventing them from receiving classified briefings and obtaining information from members of the intelligence community, the action also revokes their unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities.

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While its unclear what type of security clearance those individuals had, the revocation is largely being perceived as symbolic.

Its another petty, performative move designed to punish his perceived enemies, regardless of reality, Kinzinger said Saturday, calling out the presidents latest stunt.

Reports are circulating that hes decided to revoke my security clearance. The only problem? I dont have one.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  After President Donald Trump signed an executive order that could all but dismantle a national museum and library agency, Michigan libraries are worried about what the move could mean for some statewide services.

Trump on March 14 signed an executive order to reduce the Institute of Museum and Library Services, along with six other national agencies, the minimum presence and function required by law. Along with signing the Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy executive order, he also appointed a new acting director for the IMLS, the Associated Press reports.

Slotkin questions what Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez have actually done

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The IMLS was first established in 1996 by a Republican-led Congress, the Associated Press reports. Its mission is to advance, support, and empower Americas museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development, its website says. In provides grants to museums, libraries and other organizations across the country, giving out $266.7 million in 2024.

In Michigan, libraries rely on it for almost $2.25 million annually, and it also gives out $1.77 million a year to Michigan museums and archives, according to a joint statement from six Michigan organizations, including the Michigan Library Association. They said the state also gets $4.78 million a year through the agencys Grants to States program.

For IMLS, (the executive order) would mean a dramatic reduction in its scope and capacity to support our nations cultural institutions. Libraries and museums across the country will feel the effects of these cuts, particularly in areas reliant on discretionary funding and special initiatives, the joint statement says, noting that the funding the state receives from the IMLS could be affected.

Trump moves against Department of Education: What to know

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In Fiscal Year 2024, the government spent $6.75 trillion, exceeding its revenue and resulting in a deficit, the joint statement later says. While the stated purpose of the EO is to reduce bureaucracy and waste, it is unreasonable to target the federal funding allocated to libraries and museums that represents just a tiny fraction  approximately 0.0043% in FY 2024  of the federal budget.

Carol Dawe, the director of Lakeland Library Cooperative, which represents 42 libraries in eight West Michigan counties, said the move does not threaten local libraries day-to-day operations. But it could affect statewide services, she said, like the Michigan Electronic Library (MeL and MeLCat).

The resource-sharing program makes it easy to send books from one library to another, and includes an electronic library. Dawe said Michigan libraries lent more than 1 million books through the program in 2024, and residents accessed more than 19 million electronic journals and articles for things like homework research and test preparation.

Some people get their books through Mel for their academic books for college, their textbooks, so they dont have to pay for them. Other people use them for book discussions. People have used them when theres been a medical crisis in the family where they want to go on and do online (research), she said. If a child wants to do their homework and they have to do a paper on frogs at 10 at night on a Sunday, no library is open. But the Mel Electronic Library is open 24/7, so they could go on and get what they need and write a nice paper on frogs.

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More than 1.9M digital books checked out by Kent District Library readers in 2024

According to a release from the Michigan Department of Education, funding from the IMLS also supports workforce development, local community services, early literacy support, local history support and technology support.

A dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services would have negative implications for every American and the library services on which they rely, State Superintendent Michael F. Rice, Ph.D., said in the release. This action would decrease access to books and other library materials and would harm residents in Michigan and across the country, especially those who live in small and rural communities.

Dawe said theres some confusion among library leaders in Michigan over the executive order aimed at an agency created and funded by Congress.

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Congress should be the one that is funding or defunding these  and Congress has the right to do that. But this is all coming from the executive branch, she said. We just want to serve the population that we serve. We want to enrich lives and provide information and resources so everyone has access, its really as simple as that. And this takes away that access.

She encouraged residents who disagree with the move to contact their elected officials.

Inside WOODTV.com: West Michigan libraries

Its very important that people realize that as these services are taken away, its very difficult to reinstate them, she said. Information is power. And if we dont have resources for our children, for our parents, for ourselves, then we really are at a disadvantage. Because information really is the most valuable commodity that we have.

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News 8 reached out to Trumps office for a comment Thursday and did not hear back by end of business day Friday. U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, was unavailable for an interview. A spokesperson from his office noted that Huizenga supported the recently passed funding bill, which includes funding for the IMLS through the rest of the fiscal year.

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President Donald Trump has stripped security clearance from a group that includes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Joe Biden, and any other member of Joseph R. Biden Jr.s family.

The removalsan act of revenge against a broad swath of Trumps most dire enemieswere made official in a memo signed by the president late on Friday night, according to The New York Times.

Although largely symbolic, the directive could prevent the group from accessing federal buildings and obtaining classified information.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris attend the inauguration ceremony before Donald Trump is sworn in as president in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. / SAUL LOEB / POOL/AFP via Getty Images

In February, Trump had said he was going to take away Bidens access to classified intelligence briefings. It was paybackBiden had done the same thing to Trump after beating him in 2020.

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Also included in the group are former Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzingerthe only two House Republicans who served on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Both of the former representatives have become vocal critics of Trump.

Two New York law enforcement officials who took on TrumpLetitia James, the state attorney general, and Alvin Bragg, Manhattans district attorneywere also on the list.

It included several other figures from Trumps first impeachment trial. Two of them had testified against Trump, including Fiona Hill, a foreign policy expert, and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. Also featured was Norm Eisen, a lawyer who assisted the House with the trial.

Hillary Clinton looks on as Trump speaks during the final presidential debate in Las Vegas, Nevada on Oct. 19, 2016. / AFP / AFP via Getty Images

I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States government facilities from these individuals, Trumps memo read. This action includes, but is not limited to, receipt of classified briefings, such as the Presidents Daily Brief, and access to classified information held by any member of the intelligence community by virtue of the named individuals previous tenure in the Congress.

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Since entering into office, Trump has sought to exact petty revenge on his opponents.

Last week, he stripped the security protections of two of Bidens children, Hunter and Ashley Biden. Previously, he had done the same to Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as former members of his first administration who eventually turned against him, including John Bolton, his one-time national security adviser.
(WHTM)  One of Canadas top trade ambassadors in the U.S. was in the Midstate this week. He spoke on the floor of the Pennsylvania House about the current state of the relationship which he says is strained due to President Trumps tariffs.

Its like we got punched in the nose by our best friend, Consul General of Canada Tom Clark said. Were going, What.'

Clark is based in New York but oversees Pennsylvania. Hes kind of a trade, ambassador confused by President Trumps tariffs. He says Pennsylvanians should be concerned.

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American tariffs against Canada are going to hurt you, Clark. Here in Pennsylvania, the price of gas is going to go up. Food is going to get more expensive. The car that you want to buy is suddenly seven to $10000 more tomorrow than it was today because of steel and aluminum tariffs.

Clark says the Commonwealth and Canada do $30 billion in trade and those deals can always be discussed and improved. But the presidents push to take over his country is a nonstarter.

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So the way forward is we have to start hearing some serious respect about our sovereignty. Were prepared to talk trade until the cows come home, Clark said. But to get to that point, drop the talk about taking us over, because thats just infuriating.

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Infuriating to Canadians. Chosen by Pennsylvanians.

Whats his message to Pennsylvania voters who elected Donald Trump?

Whether you want to support Donald Trump or anybody else is really none of my business, Clark said. What is my business is to say that the business between Pennsylvania and Canada that provides such a good life for everybody is something that we have to protect at all costs because its the greatest relationship in the world.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.
The Department of Homeland Security on Friday eliminated numerous civil rights offices, ending oversight of its immigration policies and avenues for public complaints.

The department said it was conducting wide scale layoffs at DHSs Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which ensures the agency protects individual liberty, fairness, and equality under the law in its policies and actions.

DHS also fired staff for the offices of two major ombudsmen, which hear complaints and work to resolve disputes within the immigration system.

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The Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman provides a platform for those to bring concerns about the immigration process, while the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman is a route for the public to flag issues about the problems facing those held in immigration detention.

The DHS confirmed the move, accusing both entities of obstructing the departments mission.

DHS remains committed to civil rights protections but must streamline oversight to remove roadblocks to enforcement. These reductions ensure taxpayer dollars support the Departments core mission: border security and immigration enforcement, the department said in a statement.

These offices have obstructed immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining DHSs mission. Rather than supporting law enforcement efforts, they often function as internal adversaries that slow down operations.

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Eliminating the offices silences those who provide a critical review of DHS policies or serve as an outlet for those to flag civil liberties concerns with U.S. policies.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) called the move a bid to end oversight of DHS.

With Trumps mass firing of the entire DHS Civil Rights and Civil Liberties workforce, he is ensuring in advance that there will be no transparency or oversight of his extreme agenda, he said, noting the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties was created after 9/11 to help ensure that the newly created Department of Homeland Security upholds the Constitution and laws that protect everyone in the country.

Effectively shuttering the office, while Congressional Republicans refuse to conduct any oversight, means that DHS will have carte blanche to do whatever Trump dictates, lawful or not.

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A DHS spokesperson said all employees were being terminated through a reduction in force, meaning they will be placed on administrative leave for 60 days.

The decision was also swiftly criticized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The Trump administration just axed DHS civil rights offices, whining about bureaucratic hurdles, they wrote on X.

Civil rights oversight is not a bureaucratic hurdle if you dont break the law, geniuses.

We are keeping tabs, they added.

The New York Times first reported the decision.

The move comes as the Trump administration has been under fire over human rights concerns with a number of its policies, most recently the activation of the Alien Enemies Act.

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In a Saturday order, President Trump invoked the rarely used wartime powers, allowing the removal of any citizen of an enemy nation without a hearing.

In his proclamation, Trump allowed for the deportation of any Venezuelan older than 14 years who the government asserts is a member of the Tren de Aragua gang. The law has been used just a handful of times in the past, most recently as the legal basis for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

After the order, the Trump administration flew more than 230 Venezuelans to El Salvador, paying the government there to imprison them.

Updated at 7:01 p.m. EDT

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Lawyers for Donald Trumps administration are considering whether his invocation of an 18th century wartime law allows federal law enforcement officers to enter homes without a warrant.

The president has deployed the Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport, without due process, alleged members of Venezuelas Tren de Aragua gang, designated a foreign terrorist organization. Officials, however, have admitted that many of the immigrants flown to a prison in El Salvador last weekend dont have criminal records.

Trump is relying on the law for only the fourth time in U.S. history. It was most recently used to detain Japanese Americans, including U.S. citizens, during the Second World War.

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Terrorists dont get to hide behind closed doors, said an official with the Department of Justice in a statement to The Independent from the White House.

Donald Trumps administration is mulling whether federal agents can perform warrantless searches of peoples homes under the Alien Enemies Act to find alleged Tren de Aragua members (REUTERS)

The administration is mulling whether federal agents can search for suspected gang members inside peoples homes without securing a warrant from a judge, The New York Times first reported, citing people familiar with the discussions.

Its unclear whether the administration is providing law enforcement agencies with that guidance, which could amount to a drastic breach of the Fourth Amendment and constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Civil rights groups and legal experts are sounding the alarm, noting the president could be relying on the broad scope of the Alien Enemies Act to get around criminal and immigration law.

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The Fourth Amendment applies to everyone in the U.S., not just individuals with legal status, Christopher A. Wellborn, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, told the Times. Taking away that right would be an abuse of power that destroys our privacy, making Americans feel unsafe and vulnerable in the places where our children play and our loved ones sleep.

That officials are considering the idea marks a potential escalation in how Trump is going to use the Alien Enemies Act, according to Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel in the liberty and national security program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.

Thus far, its been used to deport Venezuelan immigrants. But the administration believes it can be used to search Venezuelan immigrants' homes and arrest them, even without a warrant, she said. It is impossible to overstate how important it is for our judicial institutions, our Congress, and for every American to stand against this blatant attempt to re-run internment.

In her 2024 report on the Alien Enemies Act, Yon Ebright noted that the law has been interpreted to extend the presidents authority to not only detaining and deporting noncitizens but also controlling their speech, movements and livelihoods.

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The Second World War invocation of the act to justify the detention of Japanese Americans as enemy aliens provided sufficient legal grounds for warrantless house raids in search of contraband, Yon Ebright wrote.

Legal experts are skeptical that the Trump administration could rely on the Alien Enemies Act to perform warrantless searches (REUTERS)

One U.S. military document from the time included in her report declared an official only needed to determine a persons status as an alien enemy to perform a search. The question of probable cause will be met only by the statement that an alien enemy resides in such premises, the document states.

Trumps order states that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of [Tren de Aragua], are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.

Last week, dozens of Venezuelans were deported from the United States on a series of flights to El Salvador, where they were shackled and shaved before they were locked in a notorious prison that human rights organizations have called a tropical gulag.

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A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order while two of the planes were still airborne, and a standoff between the judge and administration officials to determine whether they intentionally defied his court orders and refused to turn the planes around has sparked fears of a constitutional crisis.

Why was this proclamation essentially signed in the dark on Friday or Friday night or early Saturday morning and people rushed onto planes? Judge James Boasberg asked government attorneys during a court hearing March 21. Seems to me the only reason to do that is if you know its a problem and you want to get them out of the country before a suits filed.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act (AP)

Boasberg repeatedly questioned how officials are determining whether someone is a member of Tren de Aragua, without due process, and what legal recourse exists if the administration deported someone to El Salvador or elsewhere under the Alien Enemies Act if they are not a member of the gang.

The administration has admitted in court filings that many of the nearly 300 Venezuelans on those flights dont have a criminal record. In a sworn statement to the court, Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Robert Cerna claimed that a lack of a criminal record actually highlights the risk they pose and demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.

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Attorneys and family members have warned the court that their clients and relatives  some of whom have their asylum hearings in the coming weeks and months  have disappeared from the United States and cannot be reached in El Salvadors prison. Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued to stop the deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, also claimed that women and immigrants who were not from Venezuela were on the flights, but returned to the United States because the Salvadoran government would not accept them.

The Trump administration has appealed the judges order blocking use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected gang members. A panel of appellate court judges will hear arguments on March 24.
U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told American journalist Tucker Carlson in an interview on March 21 that Ukraine's leadership has agreed to hold a presidential election.

Carlson echoed a Russian narrative saying that Moscow considers President Volodymyr Zelensky "not elected" and, therefore, "can't sign any kind of treaty."

"Do you think there will be elections in Ukraine?" Carlson asked. "Yes. There will be. They've agreed to it. There will be elections in Ukraine," Witkoff responded without providing further details.

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The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify these claims.

The Kremlin has long tried to portray Zelensky as illegitimate to undermine Kyiv.

On Feb. 18, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready for talks with Zelensky but insisted that "legal aspects related to his legitimacy" must be considered. Meanwhile, Putin himself has ruled Russia for over 20 years.

Ukraine has not held elections during Russia's full-scale war because they are prohibited under martial law, which was declared on Feb. 24, 2022, just hours after the invasion began. Ukrainian law also requires elections to be safe, equal, and uninterruptedconditions that are impossible to meet while Russia continues its attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure.

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Witkoff also noted that he is completely certain Russia will not attack Europe, dismissing concerns about a potential Russian advance across the continent as unfounded.

Read also: Confused about Zelenskys legitimacy? Heres what you need to know

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
President Donald Trump ordered his administration this week to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

Trump signed the long-anticipated executive order at a ceremony in the White House's East Room attended by several Republican governors and state education commissioners.

In Oklahoma, a significant portion of the state's public K-12 schools rely on federal funding each year.

It's still unclear how education in the United States will be affected by Trump's executive order. Completely dissolving the agency would require action from Congress.

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Although supporters of the executive order use words like "close," "eliminate" and "abolish," a White House official acknowledged that the federal Education Department would continue operating in some form while administering critical programs.

Most of the executive order is spent criticizing the current structure of the agency. There are two specific directives included in the document:

The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.

Consistent with the Department of Educations authorities, the Secretary of Education shall ensure that the allocation of any Federal Department of Education funds is subject to rigorous compliance with Federal law and Administration policy, including the requirement that any program or activity receiving Federal assistance terminate illegal discrimination obscured under the label diversity, equity, and inclusion or similar terms and programs promoting gender ideology.

More: Read Trump's executive order here

Oklahoma schools receive about $1.7 billion from the federal government

Public K-12 schools in Oklahoma have received about $1.7 billion in federal funding each year over the past three years, according to the latest Oklahoma State Department of Education budget request.

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The amount has increased significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic and now represents nearly one-third of all dollars spent on public schools in the state.

Republicans, including state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, have argued that federal funds should come with fewer strings in the form of block grants, where the state is allowed to set conditions on how it's spent.

What does the federal Education Department do?

Congress passed the Department of Education Organization Act in 1979, and President Jimmy Carter signed it. The department first opened in 1980 as a Cabinet-level agency.

The federal government has had some kind of educational component since the mid-1800s, however.

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In 1867, the original department was created to collect information on schools and help create effective school systems. Over time it has existed inside several other agencies, including the Department of Interior, the Federal Security Agency and the Department of Health Education and Welfare until 1980.

While K-12 curricula is largely under the purview of local governments, the federal Education Department plays a supporting role in K-12 school through funding. The agency also oversees colleges to ensure legal compliance and federal student aid.

The agency is tasked with the following duties:

Ensuring K-12 schools comply with federal laws in order to receive funding (federal money makes up approximately a tenth of public school funding). Among other things, those laws protect students and teachers from discrimination and guarantee education for those with disabilities.

Overseeing the country's colleges and universities, most of which receive federal funding, by ensuring they are in compliance with federal statutes to ensure equal educational opportunity for students, "regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, disability or age," the department says.

Helping students afford college through administering student aid, loans and grants.

Tracking education outcomes to determine where the most support is needed for students.

Why is Donald Trump dismantling the education agency?

Republicans and other political conservatives have called for abolishing the department since it was created, and it was part of Ronald Reagan's campaign platform in 1980. Arguments against the department include claims that it unconstitutionally meddles in state and local affairs. Supporters also cite their desire for parental control of education.

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"We're going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible," Trump said before signing the order Thursday. "It's doing us no good. We want to return our students to the states."

More: Trump signs EO seeking to abolish Department of Education. What happens to student loans?

How has Oklahoma's congressional delegation reacted?

Trump currently enjoys strong support from the state's all-Republican congressional delegation. Some immediately came out in support of the executive order, and all have been aligned with Republican efforts to reform the agency's functions.

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice, who represents the Oklahoma City area in Washington, D.C., praised the action. She said it would "reduce regulations and streamline the process of sending funding to states and localities."

Today's executive order from President Donald J. Trump empowers parents and renews commitments to put the educational... Posted by Representative Stephanie Bice on Thursday, March 20, 2025

Congressman Kevin Hern, of Tulsa, also has supported the idea of reforming the department, saying last year that he wants more education policy held at the state level.

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In December, U.S. Rep. Tom Cole told The Oklahoman he understands Trump's reasons for wanting to close the department, but added he wanted to ensure that funds such as federal Impact Aid grants remained strong and available.

In an interview with the OU Daily before Trump took office, Congressman Frank Lucas also cited the importance of federal funds that flow back into education.

"My issue is, if youre capable of doing that, how do you implement it, Lucas said. The state of Oklahoma is the primary funder of public schools. Local property taxes are an important element, but federal dollars are really important, too. Reading programs, disabled programs, those kinds of issues, how do you make sure those resources are still available to local school districts?"

Both Congressman Josh Brecheen and Sen. Markwayne Mullin have praised efforts to reduce the federal government's authority over education policy.

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U.S. Sen. James Lankford lodged his support of the directive on Friday, saying that Congress should work with the administration to fulfill its goals.

Education is the responsibility of parents and states - the very first bill I cosponsored in the US Senate was to return... Posted by Senator James Lankford on Friday, March 21, 2025

Contributing: USA TODAY reporter Kinsey Crowley

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Trump to close US Dept. of Education: How will Oklahoma be affected?
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics teams latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

Happy Friday! In todays newsletter, were diving into the Trump administrations various legal cases, including several where judges are starting to get annoyed. Were also taking a look at how the White House is handling potential conflicts of interest for Elon Musk, given his business interests, and how Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is handling a swell of Democratic anger at him. And last but not least, we answer another reader question using data from the latest NBC News poll. Enjoy the newsletter, and enjoy your weekend.

 Scott Bland

The Trump administration's many court cases heat up

Several federal judges expressed frustration this week with how President Donald Trumps administration is pushing forward his sweeping agenda, as Trump and his allies got even more aggressive in their criticism of the judiciary, Dareh Gregorian, Gary Grumbach and Chloe Atkins report.

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Trump called for the impeachment of a judge who temporarily halted deportations being carried out under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act, while also blasting the jurist on his Truth Social platform as a grandstander whose rulings are inept.

The Trump administration currently has over 15 appeals pending, including from rulings this week reining in the power of Elon Musks Department of Governmental Efficiency.

You can read more about those appeals and other cases here. But first  more on Musk, and how the White House is handling potential conflicts of interest for the worlds richest man-turned-special government employee.

As the public face of Trumps Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has an expansive portfolio that spans across the many levers of government  and that could intersect with his wide range of business interests, Ben Kamisar reports.

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But unlike another high-profile special government employee working in Trumps White House, AI and crypto czar David Sacks, theres no evidence that Musk has obtained a conflict-of-interest waiver. Such a waiver would outline the steps hes taken to avoid overlaps between his business interests and his government work, include an explanation from the White House counsel about why it feels comfortable with Musks arrangement, and identify areas where Musk has the green light to weigh in despite his business holdings.

Instead, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News that Musk has already pledged hed avoid potential conflicts of interest, and like all Trump-appointed special government employees, hes abiding by all applicable laws.

In response to an NBC News inquiry about a potential waiver for Musk, the White House counsels office replied that the White House has no disclosures responsive to your request. And while some ethics documents are not immediately available for release, instead becoming public weeks after submission, the White House press office did not directly address whether Musk has sought or received a conflict-of-interest waiver that has not yet been released publicly.

Another special government employee, Sacks, did receive a conflict-of-interest waiver, which has been posted publicly on the White Houses public disclosure portal (releasing these documents publicly upon request is mandated by federal law). That 11-page memo, written by White House Counsel David Warrington, provides a road map to the kinds of conflict-of-interest rules that govern special government employees. The memo shows how Sacks has sought to divest his assets to satisfy the White Houses lawyers, and it demonstrates why he is receiving a conflict-of-interest waiver in the first place that allows him to participate in certain particular matters regarding regulation and policy related to the digital asset industry.

What to know from the Trump presidency today

Musk visited the Pentagon on Friday for a briefing that Trump insists was focused on the tech moguls Department of Government Efficiency efforts, disputing a New York Times report that the meeting would include a discussion of plans for any potential war with China.

Trump said that the Small Business Administration, instead of the Department of Education, would handle the countrys federal student loan portfolio.

The Trump administration is launching an AI tool for government use.

Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared together in the Oval Office to announce a Boeing contract to build the new F-47 fighter.

Angry Democrats are taking aim at Schumer. But is this his Biden moment?

By Kristen Welker

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is facing ongoing calls to step down from left-leaning activist groups and even some members of Congress upset with his decision to advance a Republican spending bill and avert a government shutdown. But Schumer remains defiant and has continued to insist he is the best leader for the party in the Senate at this moment.

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I pressed Schumer on his future in leadership when I spoke with him this week in an interview airing on Meet the Press this Sunday.

Still, it doesnt seem like Schumer is facing the same level of opposition that confronted President Joe Biden when he stepped down as the Democratic Partys presidential nominee last summer. In that moment, scores of elected Democrats from both chambers of Congress came forward to call on Biden to end his campaign. (Schumer himself reportedly pushed Biden to drop out of the race, according to The New York Times.)

In this moment, most of the pushback so far is coming from Democrats in the House. And some Senate Democrats who were outspoken about Biden are holding their fire on Schumer.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., one of the first Democratic members of Congress who called on Biden to step aside last year, sidestepped a question at a recent town hall about whether Schumer should remain in his leadership post, notably stopping short of calling on Schumer to pass the torch. Bennet said, In dodging your question, let me just say its important for people to know, you know, when its time to go. And I think in the case of Joe Biden, and were going to have future conversations about all the Democratic leadership.

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And Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who has emerged as a leading voice urging Democrats to more aggressively take on Trump, also told me on Meet the Press last week that he still supports the minority leader.

Leader Schumer has a very difficult job. I dont envy the job that he has, Murphy said. And the question is really for the members of his Democratic caucus: Are we willing to fight?

Meanwhile, Democratic angst has continued to simmer, boiling over at recent town hall meetings. And Democratic voters want their party to put up a fight, according to the latest NBC News poll.

So is Schumer making the same mistake as Biden and overstaying his welcome as a leader of the Democratic Party? I asked him that question directly, so tune in on Sunday to hear his response. Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, will also be joining Meet the Press this week.

 Todays other top stories

 Sunshine State showdown: The Democrats running in a pair of April 1 special elections for deeply Republican House districts in Florida have raised a whopping $15.7 million combined in two months, but they still face steep uphill climbs in the upcoming campaigns. Read more 

 Big money: Elon Musks latest political spending illustrates how hes set to be a force in the 2025 and 2026 election landscapes. Read more 

 2026 watch: Former Vice President Kamala Harris loss in the presidential race has again sparked whispered worries in the Democratic Party about female candidates electability. But Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the only woman in the crowded New Jersey Democratic primary for governor, says shes ready for a fight. Read more 

 Fired and rehired: Thousands of federal workers abruptly lost their jobs and were then rehired, and some say they remain in the dark about what comes next. Read more 

 AI rollout: The General Services Administration is launching a new artificial intelligence tool for government use, designed to support staff at the agency in their daily work, with the goal of rolling it out to other federal agencies in the future. Read more 

 Mailbag: How are red states viewing Trump and Musks efforts?

Thanks to everyone who emailed us this week! One reader asked how voters in red states are viewing President Donald Trumps flurry of executive orders and Elon Musks efforts to slash the federal government via the Department of Government Efficiency.

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To answer that, we turned to one of our resident polling experts, Ben Kamisar. Heres his response:

Its a great question  obviously not everyone in a red state voted for Trump or is on board with everything hes doing. But voters in these states do give Trump more leeway given his increased level of popularity there.

One way to answer this question is to dig into our polling data and split out respondents from states that voted for Trump. Then, we can compare their ratings of the president to the overall numbers.

Trumps approval rating in states that voted for him in 2024 is 57%, compared to 47% among registered voters nationally. Trump-state voters are also more likely to approve of his handling of key issues. But theyre effectively split on whether they approve or disapprove of his handling of the economy and the war between Russia and Ukraine.

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As for DOGE, Trump-state voters are more likely to have a positive view of Musk and the department than registered voters at large (49% of these voters viewed Musk positively, compared to 39% of registered voters nationwide, while 49% of Trump-state voters viewed DOGE positively compared to 41% of registered voters nationwide). And a majority of Trump-state voters, 53%, say DOGE is a good idea.

Thats all From the Politics Desk for now. Todays newsletter was compiled by Scott Bland and Faith Wardwell.

If you have feedback  likes or dislikes  email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

And if youre a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up here.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East, has given an interview to American propagandist Tucker Carlson, in which he shared his impressions of his second visit to Russia, noting that he does not consider Russian ruler Vladimir Putin a bad person.

Source: Witkoff in an interview with Tucker Carlson

Details: Witkoff said that during his second visit to the Kremlin, Putin had commissioned a portrait of Trump and "actually gave it to me and asked me to take it home to President Trump".

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Quote: "He [Putin  ed.] told me a story, Tucker, about how when the president [Trump  ed.] was shot, he went to his local church and met with his priest and prayed for the president not because he could become the president of the United States, but because he has a friendship with him and he was praying for his friend."

Details: Witkoff stressed that he had recounted Putins story to Trump and handed over the painting. "He was clearly touched by it", he said.

"I dont regard Putin as a bad guy. That is a complicated situation, that war, and all the ingredients that led up to it," Witkoff noted.

Background: Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin, reported that Putin received Steve Witkoff on the evening of 13 March, through whom "additional signals" have been conveyed to Donald Trump.

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Trump's tariffs on Canada and Mexico will go into effect next month.

The tariffs will impose a 25% tax on most imported products from the two ally countries.

Consumers may see the price of breakfast items such as avocados, maple syrup, and berries increase.

The most important meal of the day could get a little more expensive following President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico.

After much back-and-forth, the tariffs are expected to go into effect on April 2 and will cover products from manufacturing to fresh produce.

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Mexico and Canada are America's two biggest agricultural trade partners. In 2020, 77% of imported fresh vegetables in the US came from Mexico, while Canada accounted for 11%, according to the USDA.

The price increases due to tariffs will likely fall on consumers, Target CEO Brian Cornell told CNBC earlier this month.

Like many US food suppliers, Target relies heavily on imported fruits and vegetables during the winter months. The tariffs could force the company to raise prices on these promptly, he said.

Trump has referred to the economic uncertainty inflicted by his tariffs as a "period of transition."

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"There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big," he said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" on March 9. "We're bringing back wealth to America. That's a big thing, and there are always periods of, it takes a little time, it takes a little time."

Here are 10 essential breakfast food items that might cost more once the tariffs go into effect.

Avocado toast

Nearly 90% of avocados in the US are imported from Mexico. Adrian Crook/Getty Images

Avocados saw a dramatic rise in popularity in the 2010s, with per capita consumption rising under 3 pounds in 2000 to 8 pounds in 2011, per USDA data.

Today, 90% of the US' avocados come from Mexico, where the climate and soil are optimal for year-round growth.

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"The success of the avocado industry is rooted in our trade relationship with Mexico," David Ortega, a Michigan State University professor of food economics and policy, told the Wall Street Journal.

With US farmers unable to grow enough avocados to keep up with consumer demand, the price of your avocado toast at brunch could rise this year amid Trump's tariff war with Mexico.

Salmon

Lox bagels might be going up in price. Lucian Smoot / 500px/Getty Images/500px

A New York staple, lox bagels might see an increase in prices, too.

Historically, Canada has been one of the largest sources of salmon in the US, with 96% of Canada's salmon exports going to the US in 2023, according to data from the Canadian government.

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In 2024, the US imported more than $3.6 billion in seafood products, like salmon, from Canada. Trends show a continuous rise in seafood imports to the American market, according to USDA data.

Maple syrup

Maple syrup, considered a luxury good, might be one of the first products to see the effects of tariffs. Lew Robertson/Getty Images

Maple syrup is another breakfast item that might cost more, leading customers to opt for cheaper alternatives.

The US produces approximately 4 million gallons of maple syrup a year, mostly throughout the Northeast and Midwest. Yet it does not produce enough to keep up with the market's demands, Adam Wild, director of Cornell University's Uihlein Maple Research Forest and co-director of the Cornell Maple Program, told WBNG News in Ithaca, New York.

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Canada produces about 75% of the world's supply of the product, as well as a large share of the equipment required for its production, he said.

The tariffs could affect the import of this equipment into the US, potentially raising costs for domestic producers as well.

Berries

Mexico is America's top supplier of berries. Cavan Images/Getty Images/Cavan Images RF

With Mexico, the largest producer of blackberries in the world, being the US' top supplier of berries, according to the USDA, the 25% tariff could also impact the fresh-fruit aisle.

Coffee

The price of coffee has already been affected by tariff threats with Colombia. Stefania Pelfini, La Waziya Photography/Getty Images

Coffee prices are already seeing the effects of market uncertainty caused by tariff threats.

Earlier this month, the price of coffee hit a record $4.13 per pound.

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Trump's threats of imposing a 25% tariff against Colombia, which accounts for 30% of America's coffee imports, rattled the market and significantly pushed up prices, as reported by Coffee Intelligence.

Will Ford, the chief operating officer at Westrock Coffee, a private-label coffee manufacturer that produces for McDonald's and Walmart, told The New York Times in February that companies were starting to look for suppliers that would stay safe from the tariffs.

"We have a few million pounds of coffee that we get from Mexico," he told the Times. "We've been looking at trying to source from a different Central American origin. Maybe we'll replace Mexico with Honduras or with Guatemala."

Bell peppers

Both Canada and Mexico are major suppliers of bell peppers to the US. LauriPatterson/Getty Images

While the US is a major producer of bell peppers, imports from Canada and Mexico comprise a significant portion of the US total consumption of the vegetable, according to research by the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

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Historically, Mexico has accounted for over 70% of bell-pepper imports to the US, with Canada being the second-largest supplier at around 20%.

Frying oil

Canada accounts for 96% of America's imports of canola oil. Chris Eichman/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The costs of fried breakfast staples like chicken and waffles might be affected as a vast majority of the US imports of canola oil come from Canada.

In 2022, 96% of canola oil imports came from Canada, according to USDA data.

Tomatoes

Imports, mostly from Canada and Mexico, account for more than half of America's supply of tomatoes. Anne DEL SOCORRO/Getty Images

Like avocados, tomatoes might be one of the most significantly affected products by the 25% tariff.

America's production of fresh tomatoes accounts for less than half of the total domestic demand for them, with 60% of that demand being met by imports coming primarily from Mexico and Canada, according to research by the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

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Frozen potatoes

Despite leading in production, the US is a net importer of frozen potatoes. bhofack2/Getty Images

While the US is one of the largest global producers of potatoes, rising demand means the country is a net importer of products like frozen french fries, which we get primarily from Canada, according to USDA data.

Canada accounts for 86% of America's frozen french fries imports, which could be impacted by the proposed tariff.

Beef

The US imports 10% of its beef supply. rebeccafondren/Getty Images

The All-American staple steak and eggs could also see an increase in price as the US beef supply might be impacted by the tariff war, although to a lesser degree.

The US is the highest beef producer globally, but it is also the second-largest importer, with imported beef accounting for 10% of the country's beef supply in 2021, according to USDA data. Canada and Mexico were the two leading providers,

Read the original article on Business Insider
EXCLUSIVE: The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) received a devastating blow when USAID abruptly terminated a number of its contracts, cutting off funding that supported HIV treatment for 350,000 people in Africa. The cuts have led to medicine shortages, unpaid healthcare workers, and a crumbling medical infrastructure. The decision, potentially influenced by Elon Musk's confusion over a misreported funding allocation, has left EGPAF scrambling. "Large numbers of people are going to die" if the funding is not restored, a foundation exec told Fortune.

Back in late January, when Elon Musk used X to falsely accuse USAID of sending $50 million of condoms to Gaza, the staff at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) did not realize he may have been referring to their work.

"My guess is that a lot of that money ended up in the pockets Hamas, not actually condoms," Musk told his 220 million followers, offering no evidence for his assertion.

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Muskand the White House, which first made the claimturned out to be wrong. There were no condoms being sent to the war-torn territory controlled by terrorists.

EGPAF was unaware of its potential involvement in the confusion: It wasn't doing work anywhere near the conflict. Its work was in Gaza, a territory of Mozambique, not the Middle East.

This is what really happened, according to correspondence and charitable funding records seen by Fortune, and interviews with the staff responsible for administering the program.

Countdown starts

When headlines about the chaos inside USAID began pouring out of Washington D.C., staff at (EGPAF) were fearful but hoped the life-saving nature of their work would spare them.

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But at the end of February, the organization received the emails it had been dreading. Its three projects across Lesotho (the nation President Trump recently said "nobody has ever heard of"), Eswatini, and Tanzania had been terminated.

Instantly, treatment for 350,000 HIV patientsincluding 10,000 children and 10,000 pregnant womenwas thrown into disarray. "Large numbers of people are going to die" if the funding is not restored, according to Trish Karlin, executive vice president for business development and external affairs at EGPAF.

The termination notice, seen by Fortune, offered no review process prior to the decision. It told the charity and its partners to cease activities immediately.

The shortfall in funds, approximately $32.7m, had been earmarked for spending on a range of services which had been developed with White House support over the past two decades.

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As soon as the foundation received the emails from USAID, the countdown was on. HIV has a well-known 90-day window: During this time without treatment, HIV can become more easily transmitted. The virus can also rapidly mutate during a break in care, becoming resistant to the medicine which once kept its symptoms at bay.

Hoarding medicine

Karlin said the healthcare infrastructure her team had worked on for decades began disintegrating overnight.

Patients began hoarding medicine and pharmacies ran out of stock. Staff running testing facilities started working for free, as did counsellors who help patients with the psychological aspect of their diagnosis.

"The funds covered a range of things. Healthcare services are more than just a bottle of pills that show up in a country, it's also the infrastructure that delivers those services to the people that need them," Karlin explained to Fortune in an exclusive interview.

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This includes "the healthcare workforce, support for counseling, testing, blood samples to see how people are progressing in their disease, what other opportunistic infections they may have, psychosocial support training. In some cases logistics. We've seen stories of drugs are arriving in country but [there's no] system to then get those medications to the pharmacy. It's a complex service."

On top of that the funds also supported quantification, ordering, and redistribution services of stock at treatment and testing sites, as well as specialised services in antenatal clinics and on maternity wards. The money also pays for specialist doctors, nurses, clinicians, lab teams and peer educators.

"We didn't show up and build these programs overnight. Unfortunately some of them can be eroded very, very quickly, but we are ready to step back into action where we are needed and wanted to do so," Karlin said.

USAID did not respond to Fortune's request for comment.

Why fund it?

The funds from Washingtonbe it through USAID, the Centers for Disease Control, or the Department of Defenseprovides the vast bulk of funding to EGPAF, which is supplemented by grants from the likes of the Gates Foundation.

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Some of the funds came via PEPFAR (the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) established by President George W. Bush, which has saved more than 26 million lives across 50 countries since its inception. Given the link to PEPFAR, a long-justified spend, EGPAF had hoped its support would be continued.

The reasoning now to prevent the spread of HIV is the same as it was in 2003 when PEPFAR was created: Aside from mere humanitarian goodwill (a point recently made by Gates himself), it protects American lives.

"Our world is so interconnected ... I thought that would be an outcome of COVID: That people would appreciate that more," Karlin explained. "[HIV] infections have come down in the United States, treatments have improved. We now have prevention technology that allows you to take two injections per year with 100% prevention from infection."

"And a lot of that work, those clinical trials, were done in other other parts of the world. It's helping to discover new technology that's going to help all of us in the long run."

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She added: "It's hard for people to understand things that happen in places they've never been or with communities they don't meet, but then there are things that are unifying all of us. If you're a parent with a sick child, I don't care what country you live in, you want that child to be healthy."

"If a pregnant woman is at risk of transmitting something to her baby, every mother can understand how horrible that is."

The wrong Gaza

When Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) boss Elon Musk first claimed he had uncovered a $50 million payment for condoms bound for Gaza, Karlin didn't think her team would be dragged into the melee.

EGPAF does buy contraceptive treatments, but it has never purchased the billion condoms a $50 million payment would supply. Nor does it work in the conflict-ridden territory of Gaza in the Middle East, but in the Gaza province of Mozambique.

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When it was put to Musk that this was an error he admitted, without specifics, that he could have made a mistake.

Karlin does not know whether EGPAF's contracts were canceled because of this confusion. "I can say definitively that we were not purchasing condoms for Gaza in our program in Mozambique," she said.

Fortune's multiple requests for comment from the White House, the Department of State and DOGE did not receive a response.

The confusion over these tens of millions of dollars is indicative of the wider chaos being reported out of federal government at present: For example a DOGE employee was accidentally given permission to edit sensitive Treasury data, USAID staff were reportedly locked out of their Washington offices, and the policy about whether it is Musk or the cabinet responsible for axing headcount has needed to be clarified.

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Donors like the Gates Foundation have already contacted EGPAF to find out whether they can help fill the 90% funding hole the U.S. government has created. But Karlin said: "When a gap this big is left behind, there's just no way to jump in and immediately fill it. And it's the rapid nature of it ... without a real transition strategy of 'OK [the government] want to get out of this work, we need a responsible handover plan.'"

In time, Karlin hopes the work of EGPAF will be recognized and funding reinstatedshe points to Musk admitting Ebola prevention measures were "briefly" canceled, for example.

"I am an optimistic person, but it's harder and harder these days to stay that way," Karlin said. "When there is a greater understanding of the things that have been terminated, I'm hopeful that there will be some kind of reconciliation that some of these things need to continue because if they don't large numbers of people are going to die."

Have you or your organisation been impacted by cuts to federal aid spending? Contact eleanor.pringle@fortune.com.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Turkish police have detained 56 people accused of inciting unrest through provocative social media posts, state news agency Anadolu said on Saturday.

It comes amid a broader investigation targeting the secular opposition's Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival to long-time Islamic-conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Imamoglu's detention on Wednesday has sparked demonstrations across the country.

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Detention warrants were issued for a total of 94 suspects accused of posting "provocative" calls to protest and create public "panic," Anadolu cited the Istanbul chief public prosecutor's office as saying.

Police carried out simultaneous raids, detaining 56, and are searching for 38 others, said Anadolu. Authorities seized illegal drugs during searches at the suspects' homes, it added.

Late Thursday, a total of 97 people were detained at demonstrations against Imamoglu's detention, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on social media platform X.

The investigation against Imamoglu is part of a sweeping probe involving 106 suspects over corruption and terror allegations.

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Imamoglu has denied any wrongdoing and described the case as politically motivated.

Imamoglu's Republican People's Party (CHP) is preparing to name him as their presidential candidate on Sunday.

Imamoglu commended the protests he said were aimed at protecting "democracy" as an "inspiration" to the world, in a post on X on Saturday.

He urged his supporters to proceed with Sunday's vote.

"I invite all our citizens to be a part of this great enthusiasm ... The nation is great. Sovereignty belongs to the people unconditionally," he said.

Imamoglu is currently testifying at Istanbul police headquarters where he has been held since Wednesday, Anadolu reported.

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The mayor is in good health and his morale is high, his lawyer and CHP Istanbul lawmaker Turan Taskn Ozer told dpa over the phone.

He is next expected to appear at Istanbul's high-security Caglayan courthouse but exact timing is unclear, Ozer added.

If Imamoglu is convicted on terrorism charges, Turkish law allows the authorities replace him with a government-affiliated official.
{microsoft_credit="" caption="Supporters of Turkey's Republican People's Party gather in Ankara to protest against the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. Tunahan Turhan/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa"}

Turkish police have detained 56 people accused of inciting unrest through provocative social media posts, state news agency Anadolu said on Saturday.

It comes amid a broader investigation targeting the secular opposition's Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival to long-time Islamic-conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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Imamoglu's detention on Wednesday has sparked demonstrations across the country.

Detention warrants were issued for a total of 94 suspects accused of posting "provocative" calls to protest and create public "panic," Anadolu cited the Istanbul chief public prosecutor's office as saying.

Police carried out simultaneous raids, detaining 56, and are searching for 38 others, said Anadolu. Authorities seized illegal drugs during searches at the suspects' homes, it added.

Late Thursday, a total of 97 people were detained at demonstrations against Imamoglu's detention, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on social media platform X.

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The investigation against Imamoglu is part of a sweeping probe involving 106 suspects over corruption and terror allegations.

Imamoglu has denied any wrongdoing and described the case as politically motivated.

Imamoglu's Republican People's Party (CHP) is preparing to name him as their presidential candidate on Sunday.

Imamoglu is currently testifying at Istanbul police headquarters where he has been held since Wednesday, Anadolu reported.

The mayor is in good health and his morale is high, his lawyer and CHP Istanbul lawmaker Turan Taskn Ozer told dpa over the phone.

He is next expected to appear at Istanbul's high-security Caglayan courthouse but exact timing is unclear, Ozer added.

If Imamoglu is convicted on terrorism charges, Turkish law allows the authorities replace him with a government-affiliated official.
Turkish authorities detained over 300 people during Friday's nationwide protests linked to a controversial investigation into Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the government said on Saturday.

Turkey has been swept by protests since popular opposition politician Imamoglu and several of his aides were detained on Wednesday on corruption and terror allegations.

The government responded with strict security measures and banned gatherings in four major cities including Ankara and Istanbul to contain the protests.

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A total of 343 people were detained late Friday at demonstrations across nine cities, including Istanbul and Ankara, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on social media platform X.

Yerlikaya accused the protesters of seeking to "disrupt public order and provoke chaos". On Friday evening, the minister had put the number of detained demonstrators at 97.

Meanwhile, 56 people have been detained separately for allegedly inciting unrest through social media posts, according to state news agency Anadolu.

The protests come amid a sweeping corruption and terrorism probe into Imamoglu and 105 other suspects.

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Imamoglu, whose Republican People's Party (CHP) is preparing to name him as their presidential candidate on Sunday, has denied any wrongdoing and described the case as politically motivated.

In a post on X on Saturday, he again condemned the investigation as a "political coup."

"I call on my people. With your support, we will first defeat this coup, and then we will send off those who made us experience this," he wrote.

In an earlier post, Imamoglu had commended the protests he said were aimed at protecting "democracy" and urged his supporters to proceed with Sunday's vote.

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Imamoglu is currently testifying at Istanbul police headquarters where he has been held since Wednesday, Anadolu reported.

The mayor is in good health and his morale is high, his lawyer and CHP Istanbul lawmaker Turan Taskn Ozer told dpa over the phone.

He is next expected to appear at Istanbul's high-security Caglayan courthouse but the exact timing is unclear, Ozer added.

If Imamoglu is convicted on terrorism charges, Turkish law allows the authorities replace him with a government-affiliated official.
CLEVELAND COUNTY VOTE: Several people in opposition to the turnpike expansion interrupted the meeting, yelling remarks criticizing the commissioners and asking why public comment wasn't allowed until after the board voted on the resolution.

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SUPREME BLESSING?: Oklahoma's highest court issued an order at least temporarily halting Ryan Walters' requests for classroom Bibles and a new curriculum to go with them.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Norman residents voice ire during turnpike access vote | Cartoon
SNEEDVILLE, Tenn. (WATE)  Two boys missing in Hancock County were found early Saturday morning after an overnight search by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

THP said the boys were found around 1 a.m. by Troopers Issac Cline and Kolby Mullins along a rural road in the Snake Hollow area. The boys, aged 10 and 13, had gotten lost in the woods near Snake Hollow Road.

This is exactly what the Tennessee Highway Patrol stands for  serving and protecting all Tennesseans, said THP Colonel Matt Perry. Whether its on the highway, in a crisis or deep in the woods, our troopers are committed to being there when people need us most.

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Several agencies joined the search for the boys including THP Aviation, the Hancock County Sheriffs Office and the Hancock County Fire & Rescue. According to the THP, Cline and Mullins were preparing to return from their search area when they saw the boys walking along the road.

Knoxville police: Man crashes into Holston Shopping Center after officers approach his vehicle

We were actually on our way back to the house when we saw them, Cline said. They told us they had been out walking in the woods and even took a nap.

Captain Kevin Kimbrough, who oversees THP operations in the Fall Branch District, thanked everyone who assisted in the search.

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Our troopers live in the communities they serve, Kimbrough said. They know the people, the land, and what it takes to respond in moments like this. Im proud of Troopers Cline and Mullins and grateful to all of our partners  especially the Hancock County Sheriffs Office, Hancock County Fire & Rescue and the local volunteer fire departments in Hancock County and adjacent counties  for their teamwork and dedication to getting these boys home safely.

Church Hill Rescue Squad conducts cave operation while searching for 2 juveniles in Hancock Co.

Hancock County Sheriff Brad Brewer added that he was proud of the Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers who located the boys and deeply appreciative of the assistance from the rescue squad, volunteer fire departments and all outside responding agencies.

The boys were uninjured and reunited with their families shortly after being found.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WATE 6 On Your Side.
Three civilians were killed in a Russian attack on the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast on Saturday 22 March.

Source: Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office; Vadym Filashkin, Head of Donetsk Oblast Military Administration on Telegram

Quote: "Troops of the aggressor state attacked Pokrovsk yet again at 13:30 on 22 March 2025. A 41-year-old man has been killed in the street in a residential area.

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In addition, a 66-year-old woman was injured while she was near her house. Her injuries proved fatal  she died during the evacuation from the scene."

Details: Information about the type of weapon used by Russian forces is being gathered.

Updated: At 18:50, Vadym Filashkin reported that 3 people were killed and another was injured as a result of a Russian attack on Pokrovsk.

In addition, a person was injured in Kramatorsk. In Rozlyv of Velyka Novosilka hromada, 2 people were injured in an FPV drone strike. [A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories  ed.].

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OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  Police are investigating after two people were shot early Saturday morning at a northwest Oklahoma City nightclub.

According to the Oklahoma City Police Department, officers responded to a shooting at a nightclub near NW 10th Street and N MacArthur Boulevard at around 4:00 a.m. on Saturday.

One injured after overnight shooting in SW Oklahoma City

Two people shot at NW OKC nightclub. (KFOR)

Two people shot at NW OKC nightclub. (KFOR)

Police say an altercation happened inside a nightclub which led to shots being fired.

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Two people were shot and transported to a local hospital with the severity of their conditions currently unknown.

Police are searching for the suspects as the scene of the shooting is under investigation.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
Two Scranton men were sentenced last week for crimes against children in Lackawanna County after previously entering guilty pleas.

William Whitcomb was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in a state correctional institution for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child by Lackawanna County Judge Andy Jarbola.

According to Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher, Whitcomb was arrested following a disclosure by a 9-year-old victim that he had performed a sex act on her and bought her clothes and toys to persuade her to keep the secret.

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The matter was investigated by Detective Jennifer Gerrity and Detective Jeff Gilroy of the Scranton Police Department.

Logan Coombes was sentenced by Lackawanna County Judge Margaret Bisignani Moyle to 70 to 140 months in a state correctional institution for aggravated indecent assault of a child.

According to Gallagher, Coombes was arrested following the disclosure by a 5-year-old victim that he forced her to perform a sex act with him, and he later confessed to the conduct.The matter was investigated by acting Detective Taylor Dunn and Detective Melissa Forsette of the Scranton Police Department.

Deputy District Attorney Bo Loughney prosecuted both men.

In addition to the terms of incarceration, both men will be required to register for life as Tier III offenders pursuant to Pennsylvanias Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act and the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.
Her first trial ended with a hung jury.

Her second finished with an acquittal on the most serious charge  second-degree murder  and a conviction for the lesser crime of manslaughter.

Then, in January, the legal saga of Kaitlyn Conley took another unexpected turn: A New York appellate court overturned the 2017 conviction in the fatal poisoning of her boss, a killing the prosecutor had described as cold-hearted and diabolical.

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The problem, the appeals panel concluded, was that her defense had not done enough to stop prosecutors from introducing key evidence  details from Conleys cellphone obtained through what the ruling described as an improperly written warrant.

Mary Yoder.

Conley was released from prison earlier this year, and Oneida County District Attorney Todd Carville is weighing whether his office should pursue a third trial. He told Dateline he is reviewing the case. The Oneida County Sheriffs Department, which investigated the death, did not respond to requests for comment.

In the meantime, here are three key moments in the case.

A mysterious illness and death that made no sense

July 21, 2015

Mary Yoder, a longtime chiropractor who ran a clinic with her husband outside Utica and was known for her love of health and fitness, was hospitalized with increasingly dire symptoms  vomiting, diarrhea and severe abdominal pain.

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Although specialists were brought in to treat her, by that night, doctors had provided no answers as to what was making her ill, Yoders relatives have told Dateline. They had to revive her several times after her heart stopped, they said.

Yoder, 60, was pronounced dead the next day.

I remember at the time saying, I dont understand this,' Yoders daughter, Tamaryn Yoder, told Dateline. If there had been a car accident or something, that I could understand. But I dont understand this. What happened for her body to just quit? Because it made no sense.

Read other 'Dateline' cases

Lori Vallow Daybell feels certain she will be exonerated in children's deaths

Menendez supporters say brothers should go free  but prosecutors who tried them believe they got what they deserved

Decades after his father vanished, one man wonders what role a murderous boss may have played

After a woman was found dead in the woods, Ohio relied on a well-known forensics expert in the murder case. Was it the right call?

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An autopsy later revealed that she had died from colchicine toxicity  a drug used to treat gout. That November, the sheriffs office received an anonymous letter claiming that Yoders son, Adam  then in his mid-20s  had admitted poisoning her.

The letter claimed Adam Yoder had bought the drug online, dosed her vitamins with it and stashed the bottle under the front passenger seat of his Jeep, former Oneida County Sheriffs detective Robert Nelson previously told Dateline. The letters author claimed Adam Yoder was fueled by anger and a belief that his mothers death would benefit him financially, Nelson said.

In an interview with authorities, Adam Yoder denied the allegations. But when investigators searched his car, Nelson said, they found the container in the precise spot where the letter said it would be.

Adam Yoder said the bottle had been planted, Nelson said, and detectives were skeptical of the letters claims. If Adam Yoder killed his mother, Nelson recalled thinking, why would he bring evidence of the murder to the sheriffs office, where he had been interviewed? When they looked into his whereabouts at the time his mother was poisoned, they discovered that hed been on Long Island  300 miles away.

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Eventually, authorities discovered the letter writers identity and came to believe that she was responsible for Mary Yoders death. That was Kaitlyn Conley, the receptionist at Mary Yoders clinic and Adam Yoders ex-girlfriend.

Trying to cast suspicion on chiropractors family at trials

June 13, 2016

Conley, then 23, was indicted on charges of second-degree murder, forgery, falsifying business records and two counts of larceny.

When detectives questioned her about the letter, shed been working full time at the clinic for a couple of years and involved in an on-again off-again relationship with Adam Yoder. Conley acknowledged writing the letter and told the investigators that her ex had confessed to the killing, video of Conleys interview shows. She told authorities that he had said he regretted doing it.

Kaitlyn Conley and Adam Yoder.

Conley said she hadnt come forward sooner because she was afraid of him.

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But when authorities obtained a search warrant for Conleys cellphone, they discovered that it had been used to search poison and colchicine multiple times, according to the appeals ruling. And the email used in the drug purchase  mradamyoder1990@gmail.com had been logged into on her device, the ruling states.

Detectives used those revelations to uncover another key piece of evidence  that Conley had bought the prepaid debit card used to purchase the colchicine, the ruling states.

When Conleys trial began in April 2017, prosecutor Laurie Lisi pointed out that on the day Mary Yoder fell ill, Conley was the only other person patients saw at the clinic. And Lisi identified a possible motive in the murder: Kaitlyn Conley wanted Adam Yoder back. And I submit to you, she poisoned Adam Yoders mother, her boss, in hopes of bringing Adam Yoder back to her.

That plan briefly worked, Lisi alleged. They got back together after Mary Yoders death, but then they split up again and Conley sent the letter identifying Adam Yoder as the killer, the prosecutor said.

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In interviews with detectives, Conley denied killing her boss. And at trial, her lawyer blamed the death on Mary Yoders husband, Bill Yoder, whom she ran the clinic with. According to defense attorney Christopher Pelli, Bill Yoder had the motive  hed developed a romantic relationship with his wifes sister and, with a recent inheritance, no longer needed his wife, the primary breadwinner in the relationship  and he had opportunity.

Although Conley was the only other employee seen at their office the day Mary Yoder became sick, Pelli said it was Bill Yoders practice to get his work done in secret and make sure no patients knew he was there.

Mary and Bill Yoder.

In an interview with Dateline, Pelli disputed the evidence found on Conleys phone.

The prosecution couldnt say that, Katie searched this particular term prior to Marys death, he said. It appeared that it was afterward.

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Bill Yoder was never charged in his wifes death and he told Dateline that he did not poison her. In court, he testified that his relationship with Mary Yoders sister began after her death.

In the first trial, the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict after deliberating for five days and the judge declared a mistrial. During the second trial, which began five months later, Conleys new defense attorney did not identify Bill Yoder as a possible suspect, but instead focused on his son, Adam.

In testimony, Adam Yoder denied the allegations and the prosecution suggested that he, too, may have been poisoned in the months before his mothers death. After Conley gave him supplements to help boost his memory, Adam Yoder testified, he went to the emergency room with symptoms similar to his mothers.

Conleys lawyer denied that she had anything to do with his illness and suggested that hed made himself sick with the colchicine hed bought to kill his mother.

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On the second day of deliberations, the jury acquitted Conley of second-degree murder and convicted her of manslaughter. She was sentenced to 23 years in prison.

Mary and Bill Yoder.

A winning appeal  and release from prison

Jan. 31, 2025

A state appeals court in New York overturned Conleys manslaughter conviction after she obtained a new lawyer who argued that Pelli failed to properly challenge the warrant that allowed authorities access to Conleys cellphone.

Attorney Melissa Swartz told Dateline that Conley, who had been working in the law library at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, first drew her attention to the document, which she described as probably the most facially insufficient warrant Ive ever come across.

They believed that that was a warrant to take her phone and look in it, said Swartz, who specializes in post-conviction matters. But what it needs to be is two separate warrants; one to take her phone and then one to actually search her phone.

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In 2022, Swartz filed a motion seeking to overturn Conleys conviction that claimed ineffective assistance of counsel and raised a series of issues about her defense. Among them was Pellis failure to challenge the warrant on the grounds that it was overbroad. In a hearing on the matter, Pelli acknowledged the error and said he had failed to recognize it as an issue at the time.

The district attorneys office opposed the challenge and a judge denied the motion, writing in a 2024 ruling that because there was no conviction in the first trial, the matter was moot.

But Swartz appealed, and in January, the court ruled in Conleys favor, stating that Pellis failure was sufficiently egregious and prejudicial as to compromise her right to a fair trial.

The fact that there had been a mistrial didnt prevent Conley from pursuing the ineffective assistance claim, the ruling states, noting that the failure to block the warrant in the first trial led to the introduction of cellphone evidence in the second.

Conley was released days after the appeals court issued its ruling.

The ruling does not address the evidence uncovered from Conleys cellphone. It states only that in their warrant seeking the device and its contents, authorities did not spell out what they were looking for in connection with Mary Yoders death.

Swartz told Dateline that her role was not to solve the crime and that the effort to overturn Conleys conviction had not sought to establish her innocence.

We are making sure that the criminal justice system is working correctly, she said. Thats important for people that commit crimes, and thats important for people who have been wrongfully convicted of committing crimes.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
As the Trump administration continues its anti-woke agenda, it recently announced that it would roll back a clause in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (which is used to write Federal contracts) that prohibits Federal contractors from having segregated restaurants, waiting rooms and drinking fountains. The news should be shocking to everyone except the 8 in 10 Black voters who came out in support of Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 Presidential election. Now, a white woman who acknowledges that Black people have more than done their part is calling on her fellow white people to get involved. - Angela Johnson Read More

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD - MARCH 03: U.S. Rep. Mia Love (R-UT) speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) March 3, 2016 in National Harbor, Maryland. The American Conservative Union hosted its annual Conservative Political Action Conference to discuss conservative issues. - Photo: Alex Wong (Getty Images)

Former Utah Congresswoman Mia Love first shared the news that she was battling a malignant brain tumor in May of 2024. Now, less than a year after that terrible diagnosis, her family just provided her friends a loved ones a heartbreaking update. - Angela Johnson Read More

Donald Trump - Photo: Getty Images (Getty Images)

All U.S. presidents are limited to two terms in office by the Constitution, according to the 22nd Amendment. The amendment was put in place to prevent any American president from becoming too powerful. - Angela Wilson Read More

Photo: Doug Mills-Pool/The New York Times (Getty Images)

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Last time President Donald Trump was in office, he made some serious changes to the White House including the removal of the Obamas portraits from alongside the previous presidents and first ladies. - Kalyn Womack Read More

Photo: Scott Olson (Getty Images)

Don Lemon has started a feud. After making some heated comments about Black Donald Trump supporters, Rep. Wesley Hunt and D.L. Hughley have gone to war over how Black MAGA supporters should be viewed. - Noah A. McGee Read More

Photo: Andrew Harnik (Getty Images)

With all the talks about dictatorship and ongoing fears about President Donald Trumps administration, there are still many political leaders who refuse to let the president slide. In fact, Trump and his administration have been sued over 100 times, proving that folks simply arent happy with his efforts to reshape the government. - Phenix S Halley Read More

Photo: Brandon Bell (Getty Images)

During former Vice President Kamala Harris presidential campaign, a number of big names and political officials came onto the stage to help her gather votes. However, when former First Lady Michelle Obama grabbed the mic, she also took that moment to serve a chilling warning of what a second Trump presidency would look like. - Kalyn Womack Read More

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In a video reenactmentof the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the app Protector suggests it could have prevented the death. screenshot of Protector LinkedIn video

Had slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson hired an armed guard through Protector  a new private security app billed as Uber with guns  he might still be alive, the company posited in a video reenactment of the killing.

In that reenactment, the Protector, identified by HuffPost as Los Angeles Police Department officer James Zourek, describes how he looks for pre-incident indicators to detect threats. These, according to Zourek, include inappropriate clothing for the environment or weather conditions, unusual gait or lack of arm-swinging, indicating theyre concealing a weapon, and frequent checking of pockets or waistband.

The video shows Zourek shooting the suspect as he approaches Thompson, eliminating the threat, as Zourek puts it.

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Protector promises to empower individuals with access to elite protection. It delivers military expertise from the frontlines to your front door, according to its promotional materials.

But what happens if a Protector gets it wrong? What if the sweatshirt-clad man swinging his arms insufficiently as he walks toward the customer isnt a threat, but a loved one who runs cold and has stiff joints? Tucked into the fine print of Protectors terms of use agreement is language waiving the company of any responsibility if, for example, your armed guard accidentally shoots your dad.

Protector, the company claims, is act[s] solely as a technology platform facilitating connections between users and independent security professionals and cannot guarantee specific security outcomes or the performance of any individual agent. The armed guards available through Protector operate as third-party providers, and we do not control, direct, or assume liability for their actions, the Terms of Use agreement states.

screenshot from Protector's Terms of Use

The app was launched in February by former Facebook product designer Nick Sarath. It allows users to select the number of cars in their motorcade and the number of so-called Protectors, who can be outfitted in Business Formal (a jacket and a tie), Business Casual (no tie), Tactical Casual (performance polo shirt and cargo pants), and Operator (SWAT cosplay), although the latter is currently unavailable.

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Bookings start at $100 per hour with a five-hour minimum and require a $129 annual membership, according to the company. (When HuffPost opened the app to make a reservation with one car and a single Protector, the cost was $1,500.)

After Protector initially launched in Los Angeles and New York City, HuffPost asked regulators in both places whether the company had obtained permits to operate as a rideshare or black car business. The California Public Utilities Commission confirmed that Protector did not have a Transportation Network Company permit and that the agency was investigating whether one was required. Protector is also not licensed as a Private Patrol Operator, Californias Department of Consumer Affairs told HuffPost. By Thursday, Protectors services were pulled from Los Angeles. Nikolaj Leszczynski, an account manager at the PR firm hired by Protector, confirmed on Friday that L.A. is down but did not respond to multiple questions about the reason.

New York Citys Tax & Limousine Commission told HuffPost that Protector was a private security company and, therefore, not part of the agencys regulatory jurisdiction.

Last year, a similar armed rideshare service called BlackWolf quietly suspended operations in Phoenix and Scottsdale after Axios reported that it failed to acquire the Arizona state permit required for rideshare companies.

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Every Protector is a current or former member of the military or law enforcement, according to the company. The companys LinkedIn features flashy videos with close-up interviews of Protectors listing their military and law enforcement credentials, with photos of them heavily armed in warzones scattered throughout.

This app is an attempt to gamify warfare, Mohammad Tajsar, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, said in an interview. Its the perfect Silicon Valley gimmick. Take a fake problem  rising crime  offer a fake solution that you only find in video games, dress up your own squad of goons and roll it out to a crowd of internet-brained pseudo wealthy people who want this kind of dystopian future.

When I first reached out to the company in February, Leszczynski initially indicated a willingness to schedule an interview with Sarath, the companys founder, and a ridealong so I could get the Protector experience. But Leszczynski later backtracked and said that Sarath and his Protectors are extremely swamped and could only respond to questions over email.

The company then declined to respond to a detailed list of questions about its policies, vetting and training practices, and the past conduct of its contractors. Instead, the company said in an emailed statement, We are simply offering a new innovative option in the traditional personal security space  immediate access to the protection you want without the usual red tape, hassle, and confusion.

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Although the app refers to the drivers by their first names, HuffPost identified at least four Protectors who, as of March 7, were also working as Los Angeles Police Department officers, according to the agency: Zourek, Royce Burroughs, Nicholas Cho and Andrew Rea, none of whom responded to requests for comment. (SWNS reported that Zourek retired in January; neither Zourek nor Protectors answered an email seeking clarification.)

LAPDs employee manual allows officers to hold secondary employment after the department reviews the proposed job and determines it is not incompatible with LAPD employment. The manual states that LAPD officers cannot take on secondary jobs that involve using the badge, uniform, prestige or influence of their position for private gain or advantage. LAPD did not respond to an email asking if officers advertising their status as LAPD officers to promote their private security work violated the departments policies.

LAPD declined to disclose whether Zourek, Cho, Rea or Burroughs have disciplinary records with the department, so HuffPost filed public records requests under Californias Right To Know Act. Although that records request is still pending, publicly available court records, as well as one of the Protectors public statements, provide some information about the conduct of the police officers hired by Protector.

Users of the app can select the dress code for their so-called Protectors. Screenshot from Protector app

Zourek, who is prominently featured in Protectors promotional materials, has been with LAPD since 1997. A self-described knuckle dragger, Zourek has also worked as a Marine Corps Scout Sniper in Iraq, a federal prison guard and a firearms instructor. In December 2023, while head of LAPDs union, Zourek gave an hour-long interview on a podcast called The IA Guy about his treatment by the police departments internal affairs division, which investigates allegations of misconduct.

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One hundred percent of the job of an internal affairs investigator should be protecting cops, Zourek said, stating that its a detriment to the police department for an officer to feel like youve been run through the ringer.

Early on in his career, Zourek was given a 22-day suspension for unnecessarily extending a lawful detention, he said on the podcast. One of the lessons he learned from that incident was the importance of being honest during the internal investigation  up to a point. Look, if you got a body buried in the backyard, roll the dice, dont tell them about it, he said.

In 2004, Zourek put an unarmed man suspected of removing property from a stolen vehicle in a carotid restraint, or a chokehold, causing the suspect to lose consciousness, court records show.

The LAPD ridiculously, they consider a carotid restraint, or a chokehold, they consider it a lethal use of force, Zourek said on the podcast, relaying the incident. If thats true, then every night in jiu jitsu, Im committing attempted homicide.

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LAPD suspended the use of carotid restraints in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. California lawmakers banned the practice later that year.

Zourek took the case to LAPDs disciplinary appeal board, which found him guilty and recommended a five-day suspension. Zourek filed a writ of mandate in Los Angeles County Superior Court, arguing that his conduct was reasonable based on the information he had at the time, and that his punishment was inconsistent with LAPDs past practice. In 2007, a judge granted Zoureks petition and directed LAPD to rescind the suspension and reimburse Zourek for lost wages, with interest.

Zourek has zero lessons learned from that incident, he said on the podcast. I will do it every day, all day, I dont care about the five-day suspension, he said of the chokehold. Ill do it tonight if I go out there. Because Im 100% in the right.

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Zourek wrote in a group text, I havent seen the democrats this mad since we freed their slaves, LAPD watchdog William Gude reported on X. Zourek was initially suspended for the text, but was later cleared of wrongdoing by the disciplinary board.

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HuffPost asked Protector if the company has a use of force policy, offers deescalation training to its Protectors, has a mechanism to review allegations of unnecessary force and if it reviews LAPD disciplinary records before hiring officers. In response, Protector said that with rigorous vetting and extensive training, their team members follow all laws. They adhere to the highest standards of professionalism, safety, and integrity, with extensive expertise in de-escalation tactics to ensure peace of mind for all.

Another LAPD officer who works with Protector, Royce Burroughs, is currently a named defendant in a civil suit brought by a woman who alleges that he was part of a team of LAPD officers who, while responding to a hostage situation, blew up a door and wall of her apartment while she was inside, stormed through the hole in her wall, and pointed guns at her while she frantically tried to keep her kittens from running away. The woman went on to suffer from symptoms of traumatic brain injury, as well as anxiety, depression, back pain and a sensitivity to loud noises, she said in the complaint.

Before Protector launched, Burroughs and fellow LAPD officer/Protector Nicholas Cho operated their own private security company called Delta Special Operations Corp, where they advertised being active members of LAPDs SWAT Team, offering private services starting at $150 per hour.

A name search of Cho and Rea in LAs Superior Court database did not produce any court cases with allegations of misconduct.

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Its not clear who Protector is intended for. Ultra-wealthy people with an ongoing use for private security will simply hire their own security detail. The service is too expensive for most people and its hard to imagine many scenarios in which someone would have a one-time use for private security that doesnt involve committing a crime.

The companys terms of use prohibit specific behavior, including hate speech, harassment, stalking, defamation and child sexual exploitation, but does not include a blanket ban on unlawful activity, like buying drugs. Its also not clear how the company would prevent its services from being used to carry out the activity it purports to ban. Whats to stop an abusive man from hiring a Protector to lurk around his ex-girlfriend? Asked how it would prevent such use of its services, Protector said, Protecting lives is a grave responsibility, and its one we take very seriously. Any attempt to exploit our services in any way will result in immediate suspension and account termination.

Protector plans to soon launch a companion app called Patrol, which would allow residents of neighborhoods in Los Angeles to crowdfund professional neighborhood security patrol. Like Protector, Patrol provides private citizens with the ability to hire current law enforcement officials for their personal security whims.

The presence of apps like Protector and Patrol create the fear the apps claim to respond to, Tajsar, the ACLU lawyer, said. If the apps exist, it creates the sense that there must be crime, and we must need private security, he said, noting that crime levels are, in fact, declining.

It is clearly designed to appeal to rich peoples anxieties, which is basically what policing in America is, Tajsar said.

Its basically class warfare right in front of us.
(Reuters) -The governments of Germany, France and Britain called for an immediate return to a ceasefire in Gaza in a joint statement on Friday that also called on Israel to restore humanitarian access.

"We call on Israel to restore humanitarian access, including water and electricity, and ensure access to medical care and temporary medical evacuations in accordance with international humanitarian law", the foreign ministers of the three countries, known as the E3, said in a statement.

The ministers said they were "appalled by the civilian casualties", and also called on Palestinian Hamas militants to release Israeli hostages.

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They said the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians could not be resolved through military means, and that a long-lasting ceasefire was the only credible pathway to peace.

The ministers added that they were "deeply shocked" by the incident that affected the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) building in Gaza, and called for an investigation into the incident.

(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler)
The U.K. will host three more days of military planning sessions next week to prepare high-level plans on mobilizing a European-led "coalition of the willing" in the event of a ceasefire in Ukraine, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Office said on March 21.

Starmer announced on March 2 that a number of European nations, including the U.K. and France, are developing a coalition of the willing that will include "planes in the air and boots on the ground" in an effort to secure a successful ceasefire in Ukraine.

Starmer said that he will hold the additional talks during a phone call with President of the European Commission Antonio Costa as well as the leaders of Turkey, Norway and Iceland this afternoon, Downing Street said in a statement.

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"The Prime Minister also outlined the new military sub-planning groups, across land, sea, air, regeneration and reconstruction, which would continue discussions across three intensive planning days next week," the statement read.

The U.K. and France have spearheaded the idea of deploying European peacekeepers in Ukraine to monitor a potential ceasefire. Despite the progress on talks, Starmer warned that for any coalition to succeed, Europe must "have strong U.S. backing."

The potential for a European peacekeeping presence continues to develop as Ukraine and Russia agreed to a temporary ceasefire on energy infrastructure strikes following discussions led by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Over 30 countries have expressed willingness to contribute to the coalition's peacekeeping force, Starmer's spokesperson said on March 17, confirming that the initiative has moved into an "operational phase."

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The Telegraph reported on March 21 that French President Emmanuel Macron is exploring the possibility of establishing a United Nations-led peacekeeping mission to protect Ukraine in the event of a potential peace agreement.

Any UN peacekeeping force would require approval from the UN Security Council, where Russia holds veto power. Given Moscow's opposition to foreign troops in Ukraine, the likelihood of securing a UN mandate remains slim.

Read also: Macron considers UN peacekeeping mission for Ukraine in case of peace deal, Telegraph reports





















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UK intelligence has analysed Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's stipulating that "Ukrainian citizens illegally staying in Russia must leave by 10 September or legalise their stay".

Source: UK Ministry of Defence on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda

Details: UK intelligence noted that Putin signed a decree obliging Ukrainian citizens living in Russia or on Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory to "settle their legal status by 10 September 2025 or leave the territory" on 20 March 2025.

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The UK intelligence argues that Putin's decree "certainly intended to force the departure from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of Ukrainian nationals who refuse to accept Russian passports and citizenship".

Quote: "Putin and the Russian senior leadership continue to prosecute a Russification policy in illegally occupied Ukrainian territory, as part of longstanding efforts to extirpate Ukrainian culture, identity and statehood."

More details: The UK intelligence noted that Russia "erroneously and illegally" defines both occupied and unoccupied Ukrainian territory in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, as well as Crimea, as part of the Russian Federation.

Quote: "This is in direct contradiction with Russia's own stated recognition of Ukraine's independence and sovereignty following the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as broader international recognition of Ukraine."

Background:

US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steven Witkoff, in a recent interview, actually recognised the "referendums" that Russia held in the occupied territories in 2022.

Michael Waltz, US President Donald Trumps National Security Advisor, recently suggested that a future agreement to end Russia's war against Ukraine could include the loss of territory by Ukraine in exchange for "future security guarantees, the future status of Ukraine".

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Ukraine's drone operators use many different types of drones from many different companies.

That makes it harder for Russia to stop Ukraine's drones or to destroy where they are made.

But it also makes the operations of each drone pilot more difficult.

Ukraine's got hundreds of drone makers all over the place building all kinds of drones, giving Ukraine a chaotic arsenal resembling a spilled toolbox.

Though this can create challenges for Ukraine's drone pilots, it also has some real advantages as the country fights back against Russia's invasion.

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Ukraine makes most of its drones itself, something of critical importance considering the dominant role drones play in the conflict and the unpredictability of Western aid, particularly US security assistance.

Ukraine said more than 96% of the 1.5 million drones it bought last year were of Ukrainian origin, coming from countless outfits, some from workshops, garages, and basements.

A military engineer programs Ukrainian FPV drones "General Chereshnya" in the Zaporizhzhia sector, southeastern Ukraine. Dmytro Smolienko / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Ukraine has facilitated the easy transfer of technology from these drone makers to soldiers at the front, bypassing the more traditional military procurement structures seen elsewhere. Many units also get drones through crowdfunding efforts, acquiring off-the-shelf civilian-grade drones.

The result is that Ukrainian operators are using a whole host of different drones with different technology and characteristics.

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Dimko Zhluktenko, a drone operator with Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, told Business Insider that they think "it's best to have it more distributed  the way we in Ukraine have."

He said that he has used multiple drone types, and the first-person-view drones that he has used have come from a host of manufacturers. The drones are "99% Ukrainian-made and a rare mix of Chinese manufactured," Zhluktenko said. Another Ukrainian drone operator, who spoke to BI on the condition of anonymity, said he uses three different types of drones for reconnaissance alone.

The upsides

Zhluktenko said that, by contrast, Russia has fewer types, and that makes it easier to identify and learn how to defeat them. The result for Ukraine, he said, is "it's very easy for us to surprise them."

Men work at a factory producing drones for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Kyiv, Ukraine. Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

He added that because Russia is often slower to innovate, it makes it easier for Ukraine to learn how to disrupt Russia's drones with electronic warfare.

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James Patton Rogers, a drone expert at the Cornell Brooks Tech Policy Institute, told BI that it would work in Russia's favor for the Ukrainians to use only a few drone types.

With fewer drones to worry about, it could "fix onto one type of drone, find out what its signal is, what its counter electronic warfare measures are, what it does to protect itself," and jam it, he said.

"If you have all of these different drones and they're built by different manufacturers and they're super high-tech, well, you have an advantage," he said, explaining that is "because it becomes harder for your enemy to then identify" a way to take the drone down.

The dispersed operations also keep Ukraine's manufacturing capabilities safer. Russia targets Ukraine's defense industry, but the drone production outfits aren't centralized. It makes it a lot "harder to identify where the drones are being made and to take out, say, one big factory all at once," Rogers said.

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Zhluktenko also said the competition between Ukrainian manufacturers  there are now numerous drone-making operations  "increases innovation." Ukrainian drone makers are always announcing new upgrades and drone types, like ones using artificial intelligence, ones that don't use GPS, fiber-optic drones, uncrewed ground vehicles, and naval drones that hit Russian warships.

A drone pilot in Pokrovsk Region, Ukraine. Vlada Liberova/Libkos/Getty Images

The amount of drones being produced is massive, in part because many may never reach their targets.

Samuel Bendett, an expert on drone technologies and Russian defense issues with the Center for Naval Analyses, told BI that before the war, "no one could anticipate the rate at which these technologies would be spent, and it was impossible to estimate the rate at which countermeasures to those technologies would be developed and implemented just as quickly."

This space has exploded in the past couple of years.

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Because so many of the drone production companies are small, front-line troops can more easily make requests and share feedback on what the war demands and what operators need.

Zhluktenko described having a "direct chat with the manufacturers of the drone" that he was using. "They're very open to feedback."

The downsides

It isn't all upside, though. Alexander Pyslar, platoon commander for a strike drone unit with Ukraine's 33rd Separate Assault Regiment, told Business Insider that there is a "significant problem" with "the diversity of manufacturers" in Ukraine.

"This creates the issue of constantly fine-tuning and upgrading various drones," he said.

Drone operators of the 3rd Assault Brigade are seen working at positions near the frontline in the direction in Izium Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu via Getty Images

Bendett said the result is soldiers get a lot of stuff that is less proven and battle-tested than what they'd get from a more centralized system with the military buying more of far fewer drone types.

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Rogers, likewise, said that relying on such diverse production "will have different quality of results when these drones are finally deployed on the battlefield."

He added that operators "are going to have to be a bit of a jack of all trades when it comes to mastering different types of drones and how they operate in order to use them effectively on the battlefield."

Quantity over quality

Ukraine is going all in on drones, planning to buy 4.5 million this year. The goal is cheap mass, not necessarily high quality.

What is happening in Ukraine is allowing it to "reduce the cost and time it takes to generate combat power," Benjamin Jensen, a war-strategy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told BI.

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He described the situation as "almost a Lego set approach to tactics and war," with work from different companies and experts being combined with input from drone operators and people all around the world contributing.

A Ukrainian drone operator. Andriy Andriyenko/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Ukraine's need for drones appears to be only growing.

Pyslar said drones have "significantly altered every aspect of combat" in Ukraine and are constantly being used for new warfighting tasks, like laying mines, evacuating the wounded, and fighting on the ground.

The drone operator who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that Ukraine is trying to keep as many of its soldiers alive as possible and said that one of the best ways to do that is to have "as many drones as possible."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East, has stated that the ultimate goal of the current stage of talks between the US, Ukraine and Russia is to achieve a 30-day ceasefire, during which the parties will discuss the possibility of a complete cessation of hostilities.

Source: Witkoff in an interview with American propagandist Tucker Carlson, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine

Details: Witkoff said the US is working on a temporary ceasefire which should serve as the foundation for further peace talks.

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Quote: "The ultimate goal is a 30-day ceasefire during which time we discuss a permanent ceasefire. We're not far away from that, but a 30-day ceasefire is something where we have to figure out what all the battlefield conditions are, which is why I began with Kursk."

Details: Witkoff repeated US President Donald Trump's claim about the alleged encirclement of part of the Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk Oblast, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Defence Ministry and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have repeatedly denied this.

He added that aside from the situation in Kursk Oblast, there is a 2,000-km border between Ukraine and Russia where 70-90 clashes are going on, each one having different battlefield conditions and each "needing a separate conversation".

Witkoff said he is very optimistic about the US being able to mediate between both sides.

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"We have narrowed the issues so considerably, so I'm optimistic," he concluded.

Background:

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that an upcoming meeting between the Ukrainian and US delegations in Saudi Arabia aims to "determine the parameters of the proposals for various ceasefire regimes currently under discussion".

Keith Kellogg, US President Donald Trump's special envoy on Ukraine and Russia, previously stated that during the talks in Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian and Russian representatives could be placed in separate rooms, with the US delegation shuttling between them.

The White House earlier announced that a new round of talks on a peaceful settlement in Ukraine would take place in Saudi Arabia on 23 March.

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UNC Charlotte will not act on calls from students to cancel a Tuesday event with Israeli soldiers previously deployed in Gaza. Doing so would potentially violate the First Amendment rights of the student organization hosting the event, school leaders say.

The universitys chapter of Students Supporting Israel plans to host two active-duty soldiers from the Israeli Defense Forces at an event titled Triggered: From Combat to Campus. The speakers will share their experiences of bravery, sacrifice and hope for Zionism, according to an event poster shared on the student groups Instagram.

The event is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 pm. The location had not yet been announced as of 5:30 pm Friday.

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This event seeks to promote awareness and humanize the very difficult situation on the ground, fostering a deeper understanding of the complexities and challenges faced by those directly affected, Rachel Rubin, UNC Charlotte SSI president, told The Charlotte Observer.

Members of another on-campus organization, Students for Justice in Palestine, launched a petition calling on the university to cancel the event.

Creators of the petition argue the event is in direct violation of UNC Charlottes neutrality policy by inciting physical and emotional distress within the student body. The petition had 299 signatures as of Friday afternoon.

However, UNC Charlotte leaders say they do not plan to cancel the event.

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As a public university, we are required by the First Amendment to allow student organizations to host events without regard to viewpoint, as long as they comply with our time, place and manner rules designed to protect safety and ensure university operations continue without disruption, Christy Jackson, UNC Charlotte deputy chief communications officer, said Friday. Staff will be present to help support a respectful and safe environment.

Members of Students Supporting Israel agree that canceling the event would infringe upon their right to free speech and academic freedom.

It is essential for universities to maintain an environment where diverse perspectives can be shared and discussed without fear of censorship or retribution, Rubin said.

However, Students for Justice in Palestine argue the event threatens students emotional and physical safety, and is in violation of the schools neutrality policies.

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This is not about institutional neutrality, academic freedom or free speech. We know these are only mechanisms meant to quell the movement for Palestine and divestment, the group said in a statement to The Observer. There is nothing neutral about bringing active military agents from a country accused by the International Criminal Court of war crimes.

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November, as well as Mohammed Deif, a Hamas commander.

Charlottes chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace also opposed the event, in a post on its Instagram account.

UNC Charlotte leaders say the university will not cancel a planned event featuring Israeli soldiers, citing First Amendment protections for student organizations.

Middle East conflict roils U.S. campuses

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced that it would cancel approximately $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University due to the schools continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.

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Shortly after the announcement, the university committed to engaging with the Trump administration on the issue, in hopes of funding being restored. And on Friday, Columbia said it would make a number of concessions to Trump in a bid to salvage the funding, multiple media outlets reported.

Columbia and other universities around the country became the site of large pro-Palestinian protests following Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing Israel-Hamas war.
Editors Note: A previous version of this article stated the Phenix City Housing Authority was the manager of the property. After speaking with PCHA, it has been corrected and added that P.F. Holdings is the property manager and owner.

PHENIX CITY, Ala. (WRBL)  Residents of the Edmond Estates apartment complex in Phenix City woke up to notices of their buildings being condemned.

The notice from Phenix City Code Enforcement posted across all the building numbers inside the complex read, The structure is unfit for human habitation.

A small group of tenants gathered in the breezeway of building N. One resident opened their home to WRBL. These images come from inside their apartment.

A hole in the hallway wall inside an Edmond Estate apartment (Nick Bentley,WRBL).

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The apartment itself needed extensive repairs. Both bathroom sinks had piping issues, with the master bedroom sink emptying directly into a mop bucket. Ceiling damage in the bathroom was so bad roof beams could be seen through the holes.

Roof beams can be seen through holes in the bathroom ceiling inside the apartment. (Nick Bentley, WRBL).

The residents spoke about other issues including air conditioning and heating issues throughout all of the units. Roads throughout the complex had potholes and other road hazards.

The Edmond Estates leasing office was closed and locked. The number listed on the google search page for the complex does not connect to anyone. Attempting to access the website gives an error message.

Edmond Estates is a low income housing complex which is subsidized by the Housing and Urban Development Division of the federal government.

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The complex is owned and managed by P.F. Holdings Company.

WRBL spoke with Dr. Jason Whitehead of the Phenix City Housing Authority about what the future of the property looks like.

Whitehead said whether the apartments and the complex will be repaired or not is up to P.F. Holdings, not the city.

WRBL has reached out to code enforcement for more details and will update this article when they are available.

Occupants have only 45 days to vacate their homes.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WRBL.
ISLAMABAD (AP)  The U.N. childrens agency on Saturday urged Afghanistans Taliban rulers to immediately lift a lingering ban on girls' education to save the future of millions who have been deprived of their right to education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

The appeal by UNICEF comes as a new school year began in Afghanistan without girls beyond sixth grade. The ban, said the agency, has deprived 400,000 more girls of their right to education, bringing the total to 2.2 million.

Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bans female secondary and higher education, with the Taliban justifying the ban saying it doesn't comply with their interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law.

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For over three years, the rights of girls in Afghanistan have been violated," Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director, said in a statement. All girls must be allowed to return to school now. If these capable, bright young girls continue to be denied an education, then the repercussions will last for generations.

A ban on the education of girls will harm the future of millions of Afghan girls, she said, adding that if the ban persists until 2030, "more than four million girls will have been deprived of their right to education beyond primary school. The consequences, she added, will be catastrophic.

Russell warned that the decline in female doctors and midwives will leave women and girls without crucial medical care. This situation is projected to result in an estimated 1,600 additional maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths. These are not just numbers, they represent lives lost and families shattered, she said.

The Afghan Taliban government earlier this year skipped a Pakistan-hosted global conference where Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai condemned the state of womens and girls rights in Afghanistan as gender apartheid.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  The United States could see a shortage of nearly 87,000 family practitioners by the year 2027.

Thats concerning, as the prediction is made worse by an aging workforce and higher demand for elder care.

Family care doctors are comprised of OB-GYNs, pediatrics and geriatrics. When it comes to this next generation of doctors, paying off student loans is a huge concern, which could factor into their decision to forego family medicine.

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Whistleblower sues Childrens Hospital after controversial firing

You cannot afford to go into family medicine if youre taking out $300,000 plus worth of student loans to get a job that pays $150,000 to $175,000 before taxes. Take taxes out of that and good luck getting a job.

Thats why Dr. Bill Hennessey says more Gen Zers are pursuing other specialties that offer more handsome salaries. Doctor Hennessey works as the Chief Innovative Officer for CareGuide, a company that negotiates outrageous medical bills on behalf of patients.

I would pay the family physicians more, so they want to be family physicians. They work hard; they deserve it.

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Across the medical field, people tend to look down on primary care work because it does not pay as well as other specialties, is often an administrative slog, and is not considered as prestigious. However, some schools like the University of Missouri-Kansas City are enthusiastically promoting students to pursue it.

Whats holding up Pennway Point project? Developer speaks on issues

Sixty percent of our St. Joseph students went into primary care, said Dr. Alexander Norbash, the Dean of the School of Medicine. Out of UMKCs two campuses, he said 76 out of 135 students are choosing to pursue family medicine.

If youre going to a school where primary care is celebrated, appreciated, and taught effectively with good teachers, I think that students cant help but go into it. Many of our students who go into primary care realize that if they go into a specialty to pay off their loans sooner, and then they do that and are not fulfilled by their job, then they have been penny-wise and pound-foolish, so to speak.

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PINE BLUFF, Ark.  The University of Arkansas System announced the next chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

UA System officials announced Friday that Anthony Graham, Ph.D will serve as the next UAPB chancellor after a vote by the board of trustees.

UAPB gives farewell celebration for outgoing chancellor

System President Jay B. Silveria expressed that Graham is the right fit for the role.

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There are different types of leaders that are most effective for different times and places, and Dr. Graham is the right fit for UAPB at this moment in time, Silveria said. Dr. Graham has demonstrated his understanding of its important role and brings the experience necessary to lead this proud institution into a new era of prominence.

Graham expressed gratitude and shared his priorities as chancellor.

I am deeply grateful to the UA Board of Trustees and to President Silveria for entrusting me with the incredible opportunity to lead the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, one of the nations esteemed 1890 land-grant institutions, Graham said. I am eager to collaborate with exceptional faculty, dedicated staff, devoted alumni, and valued partners to foster a culture of excellence that drives student success, growth, and development. As chancellor, one of my priorities is to ensure that UAPB thrives as a catalyst for social and economic mobility.

Officials noted that Graham has previously served as the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Winston-Salem State University. He also served as the schools interim chancellor from 2023 to 2024.

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Graham was also previously a professor and dean of the College of Education at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

University of Arkansas Pine Bluff names Andrea Stewart interim chancellor

Graham is set to start on July 1, UA System officials said.

To read more about Graham, visit UAPB.edu.

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Elon Musk visited the Pentagon for a briefing that President Donald Trump insists was focused on the tech mogul's Department of Government Efficiency efforts, disputing a New York Times report that the meeting included plans for any potential war with China. Trump denies Musk received information about China. (MSNBCs Ari Melber reports. (The Beat's YouTube playlist: https://msnbc.com/ari Beat merch: https://msnbc.com/Beat5 )
Israel says airstrike targeting rocket launcher in N. Gaza

Xinhua) 11:09, March 22, 2025

JERUSALEM, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli military said on Friday that its fighter jets struck a rocket launcher in northern Gaza, hours after two rockets were fired toward Israeli territory.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the launcher had been deliberately placed by Hamas near a humanitarian area in Al-Furqan, northern Gaza.

The IDF said measures were taken to minimize civilian casualties before the strike, including aerial surveillance, intelligence gathering, and the use of precision-guided munitions.

"This is further evidence of Hamas' systematic exploitation of civilians and civilian infrastructure for terrorist activities throughout the Gaza Strip," the military said in a statement.

The two rockets, which targeted the coastal city of Ashkelon, were intercepted by Israeli air defenses, causing no casualties or damage.

Hamas' military wing, the Qassam Brigades, said on Friday it had fired a rocket at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, calling it retaliation for Israeli attacks on civilians.

Israel resumed strikes in Gaza on Tuesday after a ceasefire with Hamas that began on Jan. 19 unraveled. Israeli forces subsequently launched ground operations across southern, northern, and central Gaza.

Gaza's Civil Defense said at least 11 people were killed in Friday's airstrikes, with the overall death toll from the renewed strikes potentially exceeding 600, in addition to more than 1,000 wounded.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has sent a congratulatory letter to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Azernews reports.

Dear Ilham Heydarovich,

Please accept my most sincere congratulations on the occasion of Novruz  the Spring Festival.

Russia-Azerbaijan relations are successfully developing in the spirit of partnership and alliance. I am confident that through our joint efforts, we will continue to actively strengthen mutually beneficial bilateral ties  for the benefit of our friendly nations and in the interest of enhancing security and stability in the South Caucasus and the Caspian region.

I sincerely wish you, dear Ilham Heydarovich, good health and success on this bright festive day, along with happiness and prosperity for all the citizens of Azerbaijan, reads the letter.
GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA)  A billboard display in Greenville is accusing an Upstate politician of being AWOL, or absent without leave.

The ad, located near Bon Secours Wellness Arena, criticized U.S. Rep. William Timmons (R-SC 4th District) for not hosting an in-person town hall for more than three years.

The billboard was paid for by Patriots for Responsible Governance LLC.

Greenville City Council At-Large Representative Russell Stall said that while he is not affiliated with the group behind the display; he is concerned.

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Our biggest responsibility and our biggest privilege is listening to the voice of the people, Stall said. I am very concerned that we are not seeing that here.

Rep. Chuck Edwards hosts town hall in Asheville

The advertisement directs readers to a website that criticizes Timmons decisions and alleged lack of involvement with his constituents.

A petition was listed on the website, demanding that Rep. Timmons, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) show up to a town hall scheduled for March 15.

The website subsequently called out Rep. Timmons, Sen. Graham and Sen. Scott for not showing up to the town hall event.

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Both Congressman Timmons and Patriots for Responsible Governance have not responded to requests for comment.

The billboard company, Lamar Advertising, said the ad is scheduled to display through March 25.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSPA 7NEWS.
Mar. 21SAN ANTONIO  Acting United States Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas announced Friday that federal prosecutors in the district filed 210 immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from March 14 through March 20.

Among the new cases, Mexican national Carlos Alberto Santoyo Holguin and Guatemalan national Bielman Alexander PU-Ruiz were arrested on March 16 and March 18, respectively, during Greyhound bus inspections at the Sierra Blanca Border Patrol checkpoint. Both defendants allegedly did not have any immigration documents that would allow them to be or remain in the United States legally. Records checks revealed prior removal orders by immigration judges. Criminal complaints allege that agents found fraudulent Social Security cards and fraudulent Lawful Permanent Resident Alien cards in the belongings of both Holguin and PU-Ruiz. The defendants are alleged to have purchased the fraudulent documents in California.

A convicted felon who is a citizen and national of Guatemala was arrested by Marfa Border Patrol Agents. A criminal complaint alleges that Marvin Miguel US-Mendoza was not in possession of immigration documents allowing him to legally be or remain in the U.S. and he had been previously removed from the U.S. four timesthe first being Feb. 19, 2016 through Brownsville/Gateway, and the most recent deportation through Laredo on Dec. 9, 2024.

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Manuel Andres-Miguel was also arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents and charged with transporting illegal aliens after he was allegedly guiding a group of illegal aliens through the desert to a pick-up location in Marfa. Records revealed that Andres-Miguel had been apprehended three times before for illegal entry and was last charged with illegal reentry after removal in March 2023. For that offense, he was sentenced to 90 days in federal prison.

In Del Rio, Ashley Nicole Dronenberg and Zachery Lee Justus were arrested for allegedly trafficking two illegal aliens further into the U.S. A criminal complaint alleges that Dronenberg was the driver of a vehicle, and was discovered at a Border Patrol checkpoint to have concealed a mother and child in the rear cargo area of the vehicle.

Jose Manuel Medellin-Guerrero was arrested in San Antonio March 20 and charged with one count of illegal re-entry. A Guadalupe County Sheriff's Office deputy dispatched Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) during a traffic stop after Medellin-Guerrero allegedly revealed he was a Mexican national with no legal status to enter, pass through, or remain in the country. Medellin-Guerrero has been previously convicted three times for illegal re-entry into the U.S.

Mexican national Reymundo Criado-Cruz was transferred to federal custody in Austin, where he had been convicted in state court for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was serving a 700-day sentence. Criado-Cruz had been previously removed from the U.S. to Mexico twice, most recently in December 2007, and has an extensive record of criminal convictions, including burglary of a vehicle, theft of property, possession of a controlled substance, and evading arrest.

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Also in Austin, Ezequiel Borja-Jaimes was arrested March 19 when he was encountered by the ICE Austin Fugitive Operations team. Borja-Jaimes had been previously removed from the U.S. in January 2021. He has been convicted of driving while intoxicated on three separate occasions between 2013 and 2021.

These cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO), U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), with additional assistance from state and local law enforcement partners.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas comprises 68 counties located in the central and western areas of Texas, encompasses nearly 93,000 square miles and an estimated population of 7.6 million people. The district includes three of the five largest cities in TexasSan Antonio, Austin and El Pasoand shares 660 miles of common border with the Republic of Mexico.

These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

Indictments and criminal complaints are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
STANSTEAD, Quebec (AP)  For more than 100 years, people in Stanstead, Quebec have been able to walk into Derby Line, Vermont to enter the border-straddling Haskell Free Library and Opera House  no passport required.

But municipal and library officials said on Friday that U.S. authorities have unilaterally decided to end the century-old unwritten agreement. Coming at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries, the decision is prompting an outpouring of emotion in communities on both sides of the border, which in places has been marked simply by flower pots.

Inside the library celebrated as a symbol of international friendship, Pauline Lussier and Chris Blais put their arms around each others shoulders Friday as they stood on either side of the line taped down the floor marking the border. Lussier, a Canadian, and Blais, an American met for the first time that day.

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A line doesnt separate us, it never has, said Blais, who held an American flag in her hands while Lussier held a Canadian one.

Our kids have gone back and forth over this border without any problem at all ... this is all going to change now, and theres no reason for this, Blais added.

Once inside the library, Canadian and American citizens have been able to mingle freely across the border line drawn on the floor  as long as they return to the proper country afterward. In 2016, then-president Barack Obama hailed the symbolic importance of the library, built in 1901. A resident of one of these border towns once said, Were two different countries, but were like one big town, Obama said.

A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP, confirmed that the divide is about to become more pronounced. Starting in the coming days, only library card holders and employees will be able to cross over from Canada to enter the building through the main door on the U.S. side.

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And as of Oct. 1, no Canadians will be able to enter the library via the United States without going through the border checkpoint, though there will be exceptions for law enforcement, emergency services, mail delivery, official workers and those with disabilities.

The statement acknowledged the library as a unique landmark, but said the border agency was phasing in a new approach for security reasons.

Due to the librarys location, and convenience of local populations, CBP has allowed customers of the library to access its sidewalk, without inspection, for decades, the agency said in a statement. However, during that time, this area has witnessed a continued rise in illicit cross-border activity.

It noted there have been a number of incidents in and around the library that resulted in apprehensions in recent years, including a person attempting to smuggle firearms in the past year.

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Town and library officials say Canadian visitors without a library card will have to enter by a back door on the Canadian side, across a muddy stretch of grass. The library announced Friday that it was launching a GoFundMe to raise the estimated $100,000 Canadian (US$69,000) it will cost to build a sidewalk, new parking lot and wheelchair access.

Stanstead Mayor Jody Stone said the U.S. decision makes no sense. However, he said the decision from U.S. President Donald Trumps administration would not affect the close bond between the communities, which share municipal services and facilities.

No matter what this administration does, it will not change the fact that Stanstead and Derby Line are partners and friends forever, he said.

Several residents, some in tears, gathered at the border to denounce the decision. Penny Thomas stood on the American side, holding up a sign with a maple leaf on it that said Keep Haskell open.

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In February, the Boston Globe reported that the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the library and repeated Trumps taunts about making Canada the 51st state as she stepped back and forth across the line that marks the border.

According to the librarys website, Canadian visitors had been allowed to enter the library by the main entrance on the U.S. side. While passports or visas were not necessary, library officials had warned that U.S. Border Patrol and RCMP would monitor movements and could request to see identification.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Israel on Saturday warned Americans there to avoid large gatherings and be prepared to seek shelter following an escalation of conflict in the country.

"The security environment is complex and can change quickly," the embassy said in an alert posted on its website. "Be aware of your surroundings."

The warning came as the Israeli army said it was attacking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in a second wave of strikes, after intercepting rockets fired from across the border earlier in the day.

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Israel has also seen a series of large protests in recent days over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service.

(Reporting by Jason Lange in Washington; Editing by Mary Milliken and Diane Craft)
Federal workers in the U.S. are split on their support for President Trumps return to office mandate, according to a new survey.

The Washington Post-Ipsos poll, published earlier this week, found that half of Americans in the federal workforce oppose a five-day in-office mandate while the other 49 percent are supportive of the effort.

Among those who said their work could be done at home, an overwhelming majority, 85 percent, were not supportive of the administrations push to return to office. Among employees who said their work cannot be done in a remote setting, 70 percent said they support the mandate, per the survey.

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Tech billionaire and Trumps close adviser Elon Musk said roughly a month ago that federal employees who have not come back to the office will be put on administrative leave.

Those who ignored President Trumps executive order to return to work have now received over a months warning, Musk said on social platform X, which he owns. Starting this week, those who still fail to return to office will be placed on administrative leave.

His warning echoed a similar sentiment the president shared just over a week after the inauguration, when he threatened those who refused to return to office would be terminated.

The latest survey also found that roughly 20 percent of federal workers are looking for other employment opportunities while the other 80 percent are not actively conducting a job search.

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More than a third of current federal government employees, 37 percent, said they can do their jobs from home. The figure rises to 46 percent if U.S. Postal Service workers are excluded, according to the poll.

Over a third of government employees, who said their work can be accomplished from home, said they have not been assigned a workspace or desk at the office.

The numbers come as Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continue their efforts to slash federal spending and overhaul the workforce.

Nearly six-in-10 federal employees, 57 percent, think that most or all of the presidents executive orders impacting their specific agency are illegal, the data shows. A majority of those workers, 71 percent, were also concerned about the functionality of the federal government as the administration conducts mass layoffs.

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The concern is also reflected among those who supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election  roughly 38 percent. Less than half of that number believe the cuts will bolster the agencys operation, per the survey.

The Post/Ipsos survey was conducted from Feb. 28 to March 10 among 614 civilian workers, including 571 currently employed with the federal government. The overall margin of error overall was 5.1 percentage points.

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The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has removed the Tornado Cash crypto service from the list of sanctioned entities and eased sanctions against its Russian founder.

Source: OFAC in a statement on its website

Details: The OFAC noted that Tornado Cash has been removed from the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.

This list contains individuals and entities that are blocked under various sanctions programmes.

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Ukrainian news outlet Liga.net reported that Tornado Cash is an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency mixing service. In August 2022, the US Department of the Treasury added Tornado Cash to the SDN list, accusing it of laundering more than US$7 billion, including US$455 million stolen by the North Korean hacker group Lazarus.

The cryptocurrency service was founded by Roman Semenov, a Russian national wanted by the FBI for money laundering.

The FBI reported that Semenov and his associates, who operate the Tornado Cash service, likely facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in sanctions-violating transactions by helping the Lazarus Group transfer criminal proceeds from a cryptocurrency wallet designated as blocked property by the OFAC.

Semenov remains on the US sanctions list under measures targeting North Korea but has been removed from the list of persons engaged in significant malicious cyber activity.

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Sacramento-area food banks are preparing for a period of uncertainty, following federal funding cuts.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture officials announced the cuts earlier this week, stating, in part, that programs created under the Biden Administration no longer effectuate the goals of the agency, according to a Fresno Bee report.

Food bank officials in the Sacramento region are facing this funding loss at the same time they are seeing increased need.

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Elk Grove Food Bank Executive Director Marie Jachino said all across the board, its going to affect everybody.

The Elk Grove Food Bank, which is considered one of the largest food pantries in Sacramento County, serves about 8,000 people per month, Jachino said, adding that shes already seen an uptick in senior patrons due to rising rent and potential Social Security cuts.

There are so many food insecure seniors and hungry seniors, Jachino said. That would probably be my biggest topic right now is how its going to affect families. All the food pantries in Sacramento County are going to be hurt once those cuts trickle down to the pantry level.

She added: Were gonna see a big increase. We already have, but I think were gonna see even more.

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Dave Martinez, executive director of Feeding the Foothills, formerly Placer Food Bank, said the cuts are likely to result in a 50% reduction in funding and a 75% loss of food amounting to more than 500,000 pounds no longer being distributed to communities in need.

The cuts are expected to affect their ability to serve lower-income communities, particularly seniors on fixed incomes, he said.

Martinez emphasized the need for community support to reinvest in food through the California Association of Food Banks, which costs about 15-20 cents per pound. He said he doesnt expect the federal budget cuts to trickle down into the state and local level for another six to eight months.

There is uncertainty, Martinez said. We are making every effort to let our communities know that their support would be hugely impactful for the upcoming crisis of reduction of food and funds, and that will allow us to reinvest additional donations into getting other types of food.

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Sacramento Food Bank spokesperson Kevin Buffalino said Theres a lot of uncertainty in federal funding right now for food banks.

At the Sacramento Food Bank, specifically, Buffalino said he is confident in providing resources in the immediate future but believes pantries will feel the effects of the cuts beginning in 2026.

Like Martinez, Buffalino said he hopes to fill the gap with private donations and the support of the community, otherwise the food bank will have to adjust the food quantity they distribute.

We have great support from local organizations and businesses, Buffalino said. So although its not certain where that funding is going to come from, we are confident that we can hopefully find it in other places, and our community can step up to help support our organization and our neighbors in need.

Buffalino said those conversations about what will happen in 2026 have begun and that theres no need for our neighbors in need, or partner agencies to stress about where they can receive services.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  Happy Friday, Utah! It was another chilly start to our day with a bit of sunshine to kick the day off.

We will see clouds on the increase for our Friday evening with a slight chance for a few mountain showers developing during the early evening hours. Daytime highs should warm into the 50s along the Wasatch Front and highs should climb into the 60s and low 70s for southern Utah.

Our next weather maker will move into the northern half of the Beehive state Friday evening into Saturday, bringing valley rain and mountain snowfall to the area. A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect from 8 p.m. Friday evening through Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. for the Northern Wasatch Mountains, Wasatch Plateau and Book Cliffs, and Western Uinta Mountains. These areas will likely experience some difficult winter driving conditions overnight into Saturday.

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Immersive Harry Potter exhibit coming to Utah, offering a magical experience

A few scattered showers will kick things off after 5 p.m. Friday, but the more widespread valley rain and mountain snow arrives after 10 p.m. Friday evening through Saturday morning. This is when the heaviest precipitation is likely to occur. Right now, were looking at about a .10- 0.25 of liquid precipitation for the valleys, but this will likely translate into 5-10 of snow for the northern mountains. Places like the upper Cottonwoods and Bear River Range could be more in line for 8-16 through Saturday afternoon.

Looks like the valley rain and mountain snow will mainly come to an end by around midday Saturday for most valley locations, with snow showers tapering off during the evening hours for the mountains.

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The good news is that we dry out for our Sunday with the return of the sunshine. The sunshine expands across the area next week. A strong ridge of high pressure builds in allowing for sinking air, and things to heat up in a big way. Southern Utah could be in the mid to upper 80s by the middle of next week, with low to mid 70s likely along the Wasatch Front. We typically hit 70 for the first time around April 1, but could be earlier this year.

Well keep you posted on the latest information in our 4Warn Weather forecast both on-air and online, we are Good4Utah!

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A Colorado business owner called her immigration attorney in a panic this week, wrestling with a worry she never expected: If she travels abroad for a conference, could she end up getting deported?

A woman from Cameroon who lives in the Midwest made a heartbreaking decision: Flying home for her fathers funeral would be too risky.

An immigrant of Palestinian descent cancelled international travel plans  and worried that walking outside their New England home with a keffiyeh theyve worn for years might no longer be safe.

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And a Canadian tattoo artist who lives in Washington state shared her fears on social media about an upcoming trip across the border.

These four people have never met, and many details of their lives are different. But they share at least one thing in common. They are legal immigrants with green cards  documents deeming them lawful permanent residents of the United States. And they told CNN theyre still scared the Trump administration could kick them out of the country.

Immigration lawyer LaToya McBean Pompy says this growing fear is the biggest issue she sees among her clients who have green cards.

Theyve never been afraid before, she says, but today, theyre afraid.

Why some green card holders say theyre worried

About 12.8 million green card holders live in the United States, according to the latest estimates from the Office of Homeland Security Statistics.

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And some of them were taken by surprise when authorities detained a former student protest leader at New Yorks Columbia University earlier this month. Mahmoud Khalil, who helped lead the schools student protest movement demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, is married to a US citizen and had a green card. He isnt facing any criminal charges, but Trump administration officials have accused him of inciting violence and supporting terrorism  claims Khalils attorneys and supporters deny.

I think the fact he happened to be a permanent resident underscored the vulnerability of all non-citizens in this country to a lot of people who hadnt thought it through, says David Leopold, an immigration attorney in Ohio and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Activists hold a rally and march through downtown Chicago to show support for Mahmoud Khalil on March 11. - Scott Olson/Getty Images

Leopold says its not uncommon for green card holders to be detained and deported if theyre accused and convicted of certain crimes.

Its fairly routine, he says, noting that the statute lists offenses such as document fraud, drug offenses and crimes that are deemed aggravated felonies in immigration law.

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But the Trump administrations attempt to deport Khalil under the portion of the statute that cites potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is far rarer and more troubling, Leopold says.

Whos next? Leopold told reporters on a recent call with immigrant rights advocates. Is it a climate activist? It is a gender-rights activist? Is it trans activists? Is it somebody who is concerned about health care? Is it somebody who just simply opposes Donald Trump?

Even before Khalils high-profile arrest, many green card holders were wrestling with fears they werent expecting, McBean Pompy says.

I think it had to do with ICE and enforcement activities that folks were seeing and posting about that were happening in their communities, she says.

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Recent comments from officials like Vice President JD Vance have sparked even more concern, she says.

A green card holder, even if I may like that green card holder, doesnt have an indefinite right to be in the United States of America, right? Vance said in an interview with Fox News last week. American citizens have different rights from people who have green cards, from people who have student visas. And so my attitude on this is, this is not fundamentally about free speech. And to me, yes, its about national security, but its also, more importantly, about  who do we as an American public decide gets to join our national community? And if the Secretary of State and the President decide, This person shouldnt be in America, and they have no legal right to stay here, its as simple as that.

McBean Pompy, whos based in White Plains, New York, and frequently posts her analyses of immigration issues on social media, shared a clip of Vances remarks with her followers, describing the vice presidents comments as a shocking new standard.

When our policymakers speak about this issue in such a loose way, it makes me a little uncomfortable, she told CNN, because there are very strict rules governing a green card holders rights and abilities in the United States, and I just want to make sure that were following due process.

Theyre scared about upcoming travel plans

Marina Sinden, a green card holder in Washington state whos married to a US citizen, is looking forward to visiting her family in Canada for Easter. But the 37-year-old tattoo artist says shes not looking forward to what she fears might happen when she tries to return to her US home afterward.

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Im really concerned about making the crossing back into the United States.  I have an entire world here to lose if Im not allowed to re-enter, Sinden says.

Escalating tensions between the US and Canada, plus a recent report of a Canadian woman who was detained at the border for 12 days, are weighing on her.

Im very concerned about going through an experience like that, Sinden says. I own a home here. I own a brick-and-mortar business. I have vehicles. I have children in school. And I have a daughter who says the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag every single day.

Sinden says she worries a clerical error in her file from a past green card application could cause confusion, even though she resolved that problem in court, her current green card is valid and she has no criminal record.

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Im concerned that no matter what Ive done to do the right things (and) respect the rules I could have my entire life taken from me for a clerical issue  where something was misfiled one time incorrectly, she says.

Marina Sinden says she has a green card, but still worries she could be detained by US immigration officials. - Courtesy Marina Sinden

The stress is something thats difficult for those who havent dealt directly with the US immigration system to understand, says Maria, a 38-year-old business owner in Colorado. She asked to be identified only by her first name out of concern that speaking out could jeopardize her legal status in the US.

Maria told CNN she came to the US from Costa Rica when she was 5 years old. She has a green card now, but as a child she was undocumented for years after her family overstayed their visas.

I remember feeling like we couldnt go to the doctor, we couldnt go do anything, because the fear of deportation was so real, she says. Its terrible, and now, oh my God, all my childhood traumas and fears are being reignited and lived again  something I never thought Id have to deal with ever again.

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This week, as she prepared to put down a deposit to attend an important work conference abroad, Maria called her lawyer. Even with the green card shes had for years, the situation feels increasingly uncertain, she says.

He told me, Its fine, youre OK, you can go, she says. But am I still scared? Yes.

What immigration attorneys are telling clients about travel

For immigration attorney Charles Kuck, its a telling sign of the times. The last time he received so many calls from concerned legal residents, he says, was after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

In recent weeks, Kuck says hes been fielding numerous calls from clients with green cards  and working to reassure them.

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Green card holders should be fine, Kuck says. Unless theyre engaging in activities that (Secretary of State) Marco Rubio would consider to be terrorism, I think theyre absolutely OK. And thats the vast majority of people.

Commercial trucks head towards the US Customs and Border Protection Pacific Highway Port of Entry from south Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, November 26, 2024. - Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters

Green card holders largely have the same rights as US citizens, he says, unless  and theres always an unless  theyve committed a crime. If theyve committed a crime, then they do not have the right to re-enter the United States without being subject to being questioned and maybe put into deportation proceedings.

They also dont have the right to live indefinitely outside the country, he says.

McBean Pompy says she advises green card holders not to stay outside the US longer than six months. If they do, she says, its possible for the US government to allege that they have abandoned their residency. Also, green card holders who are in removal proceedings shouldnt travel, she says. And she advises clients not to sign any documents at the airport, especially if they dont understand them.

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Leopold says the advice hes giving to clients varies depending on their circumstances. Hes advised many visa holders to hold off on travel, particularly given the possibility that new travel bans are coming soon from the Trump administration.

If I were not a citizen, I would think long and hard before I traveled. And that includes green card holders. Its less of a risk, obviously, for a green card holder to travel, because you do have more rights with the green card, and its much harder to keep a green card holder out of the country, he says. But anybody whos got blemishes on their record, a conviction, even misdemeanor convictions, they should not travel unless theyve talked to counsel.

A vehicle is pictured at the US Customs and Border Protection  Derby Line Port of Entry at the Canada-U.S. border between the U.S. state of Vermont and the Canadian province of Quebec. - Carlos Osorio/Reuters

To some, even staying in the US doesnt feel safe

Deciding it wasnt safe to leave the US and attend her fathers funeral in Cameroon a few weeks ago was heartbreaking, a 40-year-old green card holder in the Midwest told CNN this week.

On top of her grief, watching recent news and social media posts on her phone has left her feeling devastated and uncertain about her life as an immigrant in this country, she said.

When I got my green card, I thought everything was going to be OK for me.  Lately, with all thats been going on, I dont even know, the woman said. She asked to be identified only by her first initial, L, because she came to the US seeking asylum and is worried speaking out could endanger her family.

When we see what is happening, the number of people that are being deported, its really scary for us, L said.

Demonstrators hold signs outside of the Rhode Island State House to protest the deportation of doctor and Brown University assistant professor Rasha Alawieh on March 17. US Customs and Border Protection said Alawieh had attended the public funeral in Lebanon of Hassan Nasrallah , the long-time leader of Hezbollah, and a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson alleged she expressed support of Nasrallah to CBP officers. - Scott Eisen/Getty Images

After Khalils recent arrest, a green card holder of Palestinian descent told CNN theyre feeling worried about walking outside their New England home wearing a keffiyeh  let alone traveling internationally. They asked to be identified by the initial K out of fear that speaking out could jeopardize their immigration case.

I cant even be guaranteed that in my home an agent wont come in and forcibly remove me because the President or the Secretary of State deems someone a threat  Its really hard to feel safe when thats what were being told, K said, adding that reports of other arrests and deportations have only intensified fears.

And I think the intent was fear, K said. That was very much intentional  to have people afraid to speak out, to have people afraid to exercise the freedoms that are rightfully theirs to take part in.

You will see a lot more people applying for citizenship

In addition to questions about whether they can safely travel and whether their green cards can be taken away, immigration attorneys say these days theyre also getting more questions from green card holders about becoming US citizens.

I think you will see a lot more people applying for citizenship than might normally have applied, Kuck says.

Officials estimate that more than two-thirds of the almost 13 million green card holders in the US are eligible to become citizens.

But despite their eligibility, some of her clients are more hesitant now to pursue citizenship, McBean Pompy says.

Theyre making a decision  OK, Im going to wait and see how things shake out with this administration before I really try to move forward with it, because they dont want to be caught up in any of the major changes, she says.

Immigrants wait for a naturalization ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 11. Attorneys say they expect more people to apply for citizenship amid growing uncertainty. - Brian Snyder/Reuters

Maria, the Colorado business owner, says now it feels like becoming a citizen is the only way to keep her family safe and make sure her 12-year-old son doesnt have to deal with the same worries she faced as a child. Soon shes planning to begin the paperwork.

I dont want to be separated from my family, she says.

Sinden says she sees things differently. She considered becoming a US citizen before. And shell be eligible to apply this month. But escalating tensions with her home country, she says, have made her feel so unwelcome in the US that becoming a citizen now feels like a step too far.

I dont believe in the current policies and the aggression towards my country. I dont know how far thats going to go, she says.

So instead of taking steps toward US citizenship, Sinden is opting for something even more permanent than a green card.

She recently tattooed a Canadian maple leaf on the palm of her hand.

CNNs Jennifer Hauser contributed to this report.

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EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  A vehicle struck power lines and caught fire early Saturday morning, March 22 in Northwest El Paso, El Paso Police said.

The incident happened at Enchanted Springs Drive and Northwestern Drive. Police did not have any information on injuries and said the investigation into the crash is ongoing.

A Fire Department spokesperson, however, said one person was dead.

According to the Fire Department, the crash involving a single vehicle happened at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

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The vehicle hit a power pole and caught fire. Powerlines also caught fire, the Fire Department spokesperson said.

The fire has been extinguished.

Fire investigators as well as the Police Departments Special Traffic Investigations Unit are looking into the crash.

This is a developing story and we will update it when we learn more.

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CARACAS (Reuters) -Venezuela has reached an agreement with the United States to resume repatriation flights of migrants, President Nicolas Maduro announced in a televised address on Saturday.

Maduro said the flights would commence on Sunday.

"Tomorrow, thanks to the government's perseverance, we'll resume flights to continue rescuing and freeing migrants from prisons in the United States," Maduro said.

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The move comes amid a diplomatic spat between the United States and Venezuela over the recent deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador.

The White House did not reply to a request for comment.

As part of President Donald Trump's rapid U.S. deportation program, hundreds of Venezuelan migrants were sent to a prison in El Salvador.

"To Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's President, we say that you're responsible," Maduro said, adding that migrants hadn't committed crimes in the U.S. or El Salvador.

"You have to guarantee their health and sooner rather than later, you have to free them and hand them over," Maduro said.

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El Salvador's government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Maduro's speech came after Venezuela's Parliament President Jorge Rodriguez released a statement earlier in the day announcing the deal to resume flights.

"Migrating isn't a crime, and we won't rest until everyone who wants to return is back and we rescue our kidnapped brothers in El Salvador," the statement said.

The families and lawyers have been seeking news about relatives and clients whom they could no longer reach, and demanding their return to Venezuela.

The United States said the deportees sent to El Salvador were members of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang, a claim that Venezuela's interior minister denied.

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The Trump administration now faces a March 25 deadline to respond to a judicial request for more details on the deportations to El Salvador, as Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg considers whether officials violated his order temporarily blocking the expulsions.

(Reporting by Mayela Armas in Caracas, Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; Writing by Alexander Villegas; editing by Diane Craft)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)  Venezuela will once again accept repatriation flights from the United States carrying its deported nationals after reaching an agreement with the U.S., a Venezuelan official said on social media Saturday.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro suspended flights on March 8, after the U.S. Treasury Department announced the withdrawal of Chevrons license to export Venezuelan oil.

We have agreed with the U.S. government to resume the repatriation of Venezuelan migrants with an initial flight tomorrow, Sunday, said Jorge Rodriguez, president of Venezuela's Assembly and Maduros chief negotiator with the U.S.

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Venezuela accepted the deal to guarantee the the return of our compatriots to their nation with the safeguard of their Human Rights, Rodriguez said.

In his statement, Rodriguez referred to the deportation by Donald Trumps government of some 250 Venezuelans to a high-security prison in El Salvador.

Migrating is not a crime and we will not rest until we achieve the return of all those who require it and until we rescue our brothers kidnapped in El Salvador, Rodriguez said.

Maduro ratified the measure during a public event later in the day. We are resuming flights to rescue and release migrants from U.S. prisons, Maduro said.

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The Venezuelan leader also said that he held the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, responsible for the well-being of the Venezuelans deported to that country.

You guarantee their health and, sooner rather than later, you have to hand them over and release them, because they are kidnapped, Maduro said.

Trump alleged the deportees were members of the Tren de Aragua gang. He labeled the Tren de Aragua an invading force on March 15 when he invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a little-used authority from 1798 that allows the president to deport any non-citizen during wartime. A federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations, but flights were in the air when the ruling came down.

Tren de Aragua, which the U.S. Department of State designated a foreign terrorist organization, originated in a prison in the South American country. Members accompanied an exodus of millions of Venezuelans, the overwhelming majority of whom were seeking better living conditions after their nations economy came undone last decade.

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Trumps administration has not provided evidence that the deportees are members of Tren de Aragua or that they committed any crime in the U.S.

Maduros government has mostly refused the entry of immigrants deported from the U.S. Those deportations have sharply picked up since Trump took office on Jan. 20.

In recent weeks, some 350 people were deported to Venezuela, including some 180 who spent up to 16 days at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Trump administration said that the Venezuelans sent to Guantanamo are members of Tren de Aragua, but offered little evidence to back this up.
FAIRMONT  A senate bill to protect veterans from predatory claim sharks is finding more success during this years state legislative session.

But its still facing significant opposition in the House of Delegates.

Toby Heaney, Senior Vice Commander of the VFW Department of West Virginia, helped draft a bill design to add guardrails preventing individuals from profiting off of VA claims at the expense of the veteran. State Sen. Mike Oliverio sponsored the bill. The Senate approved a version of the bill on March 7 and passed it to the House Judiciary Committee, where it has not moved.

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Heaney said out of the public comment submitted to the committee, three or four letters from local veterans support the bills. However, letters in opposition outweigh the support.

There are about a dozen letters saying, no, we need to support the claim sharks, Heaney said. We need to allow them to be in here. We need to do away with my bill. Every one of these companies is from out of state and has made millions of dollars on veterans from claims. Thats what were up against. Out-of-state companies are trying to rip us off and the local vets saying, No. Leave us alone.

Heaney said the crux of the problem is that several companies who claim to help veterans file their VA claims typically charge more and if there is any wrongdoing on behalf of the company, there is no true accountability. Companies or service officers who do gain accreditation have to abide by federal law protecting veterans and face accountability from the VA in case of wrongdoing.

James Dodrill, retired U.S. Air Force and former insurance commissioner testified on March 7 to the Senate Military Committee to one such example he encountered as co-chair of the Veterans and Military Affairs committee. He said a claim shark harassed and threatened a Vietnam veteran from Logan County. The veteran was researching how to apply for an increase in disability benefits from the VA, when he was taken in by an ad for a company claiming to help him file his claim. However, the veteran found free help through a local Veteran Service Officer and was able to file his claim for free.

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Nevertheless, this company kept threatening him and trying to get him to agree to a five-year payment plan to pay them $10,300 for doing absolutely nothing, Dodrill said. So he reached out to the state bars, veterans and military affairs committee, and we were able to connect him with a lawyer who also for free was able to get that debt completely wiped out to make them stop bothering him.

Dodrill singled out one company in particular, Veterans Guardian VA Claim Consulting, for the number of lawsuits filed against them which allege the company has broken federal law. Dodrill said federal law allows only accredited claims agents or attorneys can prepare or prosecute claims before the VA. However, companies like Veterans Guardian exploit a loophole in the way the law is written to practice their business, Dodrill said.

They say, we dont actually submit them, we get the medical records and get the package together, and then we give it back to the veteran and tell the veteran to submit the claim, Dodrill said. However, Dodrill argued Veterans Guardian goes further, using the veterans login information. He said there are emails he can show where Veterans Guardian does just that. By not being accredited, Dodrill said, companies like Veterans Guardian take five times the amount in disability benefits a veteran receives. For a veteran on 100% disability receiving $4,000, the payout to Veterans Guardian is $20,000 a month.

Heany said federal law outlaws companies like Veterans Guardian, there are no federal penalties. West Virginia used to have severe penalties in place but during the pandemic there was a fear there werent enough veteran service officers to help file claims, leading to removal of penalties. Claim sharks flooded in, and now theyre fighting reinstatement of the penalties, Heaney said.

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Lobbyist Chris Hall spoke on behalf of Veterans Guardian at the hearing. He said Veterans Guardian is the largest veteran-owned and operated veteran disabilities benefits company in the country. He argued there is nothing in federal law outlawing claim consulting services. While he agreed veterans do need to be protected, and that there are bad actors in the industry, he said not all veteran disability consultants are bad actors.

We dont outlaw entire professions, Hall said. Instead, we choose to put guardrails in place to protect the public from bad actors. Figure out how to address the real problems instead of outlawing them. We also believe theres a role for the private sector in assisting veterans with their disability claims.

Hall stood by the companys record of success, and that veterans approach the company after having previously tried free services. He said there were three bills total in theSenate dealing with the issue, with the other two outlawing companies like Veterans Guardian completely. SB 658 at first was more permissive, but changes made in committee also put similar restrictions in place. Heaney said the claim sharks have their own version of that tactic, where theyll water down a bill with the provisions the VFW is advocating for.

Heaney expects a fight in the House of Delegates to advance the bill. Oliverio said the goal of the bill is to ensure reasonable compensation can be provided to a service provider who assists a veteran in obtaining or increasing benefits, as well as providing transparency. Richard Ogden, State Commander for the VFW, was more stark in his choice of words.

Its your benefits, he said. Stop feeding the sharks.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE)  The New Mexico Veterans Memorial is back open after the city dealt with a bird invasion. The Parks and Recreation Department shuttered the memorial last month after around 50,000 European Starlings began roosting there, leaving behind a large amount of droppings.

BioPark Zoo sees Spring Break influx

The city says they used non-lethal methods to encourage the birds to relocate then cleaned the memorial, fully reopening the grounds to the public Friday. Starlings are a common, non-native bird around the country that can create big problems when they gather in large numbers, but its the first time weve had anything like this in a city park, says Dennis Vasquez, deputy director of the City of Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Department.

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The department says it also took steps to prevent the birds from coming back.

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Mar. 21LIMA  An individual suffered minor injuries after being stabbed in the face with a fork Wednesday in Lima.

Officers from the Lima Police Department were dispatched at around 4:30 p.m. in response to a reported stabbing at 916 N West St.

A police spokesman said the case has been referred to the Lima Municipal Court for possible charges.

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WASHINGTON  Four years after getting divorced, Beth Hyland, 54, decided it was finally time to start dating again. She had never used dating apps, but her work colleagues had found luck meeting significant others online.

So, I thought Id try it, Hyland told NBC News in an interview this month. Eventually, she met someone who appeared to be her perfect match: Richard, who claimed to be a French project manager for a construction company, began texting and talking on the phone constantly with Hyland.

But Richard wasnt who he said he was. Hyland just didnt know it yet  and her story, and hundreds like it, would soon inspire federal legislation in Congress.

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Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., have introduced a bill that would require dating apps and social media companies to remove or flag scammers from their platforms and issue notifications to users who interact with those accounts.

At a mark-up of the bill earlier this month, Blackburn introduced Hyland, who was seated in the Senate Commerce Committee hearing room in the Capitol: I do want to recognize Beth Hyland, Blackburn said. She is a survivor of this crime. She drove nine hours to be here in the audience with us today.

One month into her relationship with Richard, Hyland was so in love that she didnt think twice when asked for financial help. We professed our undying love for each other, she said. They call it love bombing, where they just constantly bombard you with compliments and terms of endearment.

She thought she had met the one, and Richard even proposed to her. Hyland started looking at houses for them in her hometown of Portage, Michigan, and sent photos of engagement rings in preparation for their eventual nuptials.

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But it wasnt a fairy tale ending for Hyland.

Richard told her he had to go to Qatar for a construction project, and he was expecting to share with Hyland the huge payout hed get for it. But in the meantime, he said his bank account was locked.

Why wouldnt I help my fiance if I knew the money was coming back? Hyland said. Soon after his request, she took out loans for $26,000 and transferred the money to Richard using bitcoin. That was when Richard told her there would be a $50,000 activation fee to get the money into his account.

That was when Hyland started to feel reluctant about sending Richard money, so she contacted her trusted financial adviser.

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Something told me to tell him the whole story, Hyland said, and she did. She recalled her financial adviser telling her, Beth, I hate to be the one to tell you this, I think youre in a romance scam.

At first, Hyland couldnt believe it. It shattered the future, the dreams that we had, she said. After a week, Hyland decided to cut him off.

He kept trying to come back, saying, How could you accuse me of this? How could you? Hyland said. She recalled that Richard even threatened suicide on the phone in an attempt to win her back.

But Im like, No, this is done. Ive got to move forward, she told NBC News in the Capitol.

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Richard ended up being a Nigerian scammer, part of a group known as the Yahoo boys  one of many criminal organizations that has scammed victims out of billions of dollars. Law enforcement was never able to catch Hylands scammer, and she said they didnt take her seriously, either.

Hyland said she felt embarrassed and stupid for being scammed, but her financial adviser assured her that, unfortunately, people are scammed on dating apps more than she could imagine.

In the physical world, there are laws against this," Blackburn told NBC News in an interview. "They have not been applied to the virtual space, and most people realize it is past time to put some protections in place on the virtual space.

The legislation passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee last week on a bipartisan basis, but bills that crack down on big tech often get slow-walked in Congress.

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Blackburn, who has been leading the charge on advocating for more regulations on tech, also cowrote the Kids Online Safety Act with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat. That bill would require social media companies to better protect minors online and provide guardians with more control of their childrens use of platforms. It passed the Senate easily last July, 91-3, but then stalled in the Republican-controlled House.

They should be making their platforms safe, just as in the physical space we make the public square safe, but they are choosing not to, Blackburn said of social media companies. The social media companies have proven through the years that they will not do this on their own.  Their lack of desire to protect individuals on their platforms is disgusting.

April Helm, a journalist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has dedicated her life to spreading awareness about romance scams and helping victims after her 70-year-old mother was scammed out of $350,000.

After her mother met a much younger man online, Helm knew something was off with the new love interest.

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She said shed be careful, but within two or three weeks, she got a picture from a young man about 40 years old, really attractive, and she said she met someone online. And I could tell that it was a scam instantly. Helm said in an interview.

Helm said that her mother, a widow and recent cancer survivor, ended up losing her house, her car and eventually her life as a result of the scam.

Scammers try to keep you delirious, because that helps you with your thinking," Helm said. "Youre not thinking clearly, and you make bad decisions. I think that he had kept her up for so long, for so many nights, that she was exhausted and she rolled out of bed and thats how she broke her neck."

Since her moms death, Helm started a podcast dedicated to telling scammer stories, sharing accounts from hundreds of victims and their family members and using real-world stories to inform her listeners of red flags to look for when dating online.

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Helm said that scammers on dating websites will often try to get victims off the app they're on as fast as possible and get them on one like WhatsApp, which she said isnt tracked as much. Once done, "the quicker they can start asking you for money and grooming you," Helm said.

Scammers will also ask their victims a lot of questions to learn about their lives. Helm said too many personal questions too soon can be a sign youre speaking with a scammer.

No man, in real life, is that interested in your life, she joked.

While there are resources to help prevent romance scams, Helm is skeptical that Congress will be able pass any laws that actually stop them.

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They need to come up with more speed bumps, but that will just slow them down. Theyll find workarounds, she said.

Like Helm, Hyland said its critical for victims of romance scams to speak out.

I remember just bawling on the floor in utter despair, sobbing, Hyland said.

But I made a decision right away. I said, Im not gonna let this destroy me. This is gonna hurt. I need to deal with the emotions, she said. Im gonna advocate. Im gonna fight for victims.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The Village of Wilson is a newly certified member of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities, signaling its commitment to be a more livable place for older residents.

The bid for Age-Friendly certification is one of several moves village leaders are making to position Wilson for growth.

Last week the village board hired Insight Architects and LaBella Associates to research and draft a downtown revitalization strategy. The firms were retained by the village using a recently awarded $20,000 grant from the New York Main Street program. Their assignment is to suggest a plan for enhancing the villages historic charm while modernizing key areas of its commercial district. In the process theyll undertake a detailed market analysis that identifies local business opportunities.

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Newly elected Mayor Greg Martin said previously that having a downtown revitalization plan is the first step toward obtaining NY Forward funding, which could be advanced to property and business owners in support of small business start-up or expansion in the central business district. The village has struggled for awhile with small business closings, most recently the Lakeside grocery market due to a fire.

Meanwhile, membership in the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities will give the village access to technical expertise as it comes up with an action plan to be more age-friendly, as well as another leg up in the grant chase, according to Martin.

AARP says the U.S. Census Bureau has advised that by 2034 the nation will have more people age 65 or older than under 18, and communities in the Age-Friendly network are committed to figuring out what their residents need  transportation options? different or more affordable housing? specific commercial and social outlets?  to age well in place.

Pointing out the joint Town and Village of Wilson Comprehensive Plan says the village should be the commercial hub of the town, Martin said the local senior population has to be considered in Wilsons downtown revitalization plan. The latest Census data shows residents 65-or-older account for 20.3% of the town population and 17% of the village population.

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Step 1 in the Age-Friendly Community action plan is a survey asking what seniors want and need to make Wilson their forever residence.

Martin said a 16-question paper survey will be distributed at local churches, Wilson Community Library and the village / town hall, and all senior residents of Wilson  the town as well as the village  are encouraged to participate.

To help our residents age in place it would be nice to find out what they need, and work toward that, he said.

The Age-Friendly network has members using their survey results to develop and implement an action plan with AARP guidance.
VILLE PLATTE, la. (KLFY)  A Ville Platte police officer is honored with the Heart of Law Enforcement Award for her dedication of serving the youth in her community.

Beyond the Badge is a non-profit organization that recognizes officers across the state for performing extraordinary acts of kindness in their communities as nominated by their peers of members of the community they serve. This year Sgt. Darrian Guillory of the Ville Platte Police Department was the one of the recipients of the Heart of Law Enforcement Award.

In an interview with KLFY 10, Guillory said, I was absolutely shocked because I was never expecting to be awarded for pretty much just being myself. Ive been doing that for the last two years. So, I didnt I didnt expect to be awarded for it.

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Although she typically works with homicide cases, Guillory was recognized for her efforts with the youth in the city. Guillory organized events like back-to-school backpack giveaways and Christmas toy drives to help children enjoy the most celebrated times of the year.

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Guillory told KLFY 10, Myself, some of my peers and some of the organizations in Ville Platte, we were able to donate over 400 backpacks and over 500 toys for Christmas. So just being able to have fun with the kids and see all those kids come in, that was a highlight for me.

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Being recognized for pursuing her passion, Guillory says it keeps her motivated to continue putting on these events as she brings joy along with protection and service.

Guillory said, It just added more fuel to the fire for me because I dont have any idea on who nominated me. It could have been a peer; it could have been somebody from the community. I have no idea. It makes me feel appreciated. So, it just lights a fire under me to want to keep doing it. So, Im going to keep continuously doing it for this year and every year to come.

Sgt. Darrian Guillory

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US President Donald Trump said he thinks Vladimir Putin wants peace. Ukraine and its European allies dont believe he does, while the Russian leader himself said he wants peace but then refused to sign up to it when presented with the option.

What Putin really wants, though, is much, much bigger.

The Russian president has made no secret of the fact that he believes Ukraine should not exist as an independent state and he has repeatedly said he wants NATO to shrink back to its Cold War-era size.

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But more than anything, he wants to see a new global order  and he wants Russia to play the starring role in it.

Putin and several of his most trusted allies emerged from the remnants of the KGB, the Soviet-era intelligence agency. They have never forgotten the humiliation of the fall of the Soviet Union and are not happy with the way the world has turned out since then.

Putin rose to power during the chaos of the 1990s, when the Russian economy collapsed and had to be rescued by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank  another humiliation for the former superpower.

But from 2000, when Putin became president, steadily rising oil prices made Russia and many Russians richer than ever before. And Russia had a voice. It was invited into the G7 group of the worlds largest economies  renamed the G8 after it joined.

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But this was not enough for the Russian leader, Kristine Berzina, a managing director at the German Marshal Fund of United States, told CNN.

Putin was happy to throw all that away on behalf of his citizens because of higher geopolitical aims, Berzina said. Russia was expelled from the G8, sanctioned by the West and ostracized on the global stage because of its aggression against Ukraine.

Berzina said it was never good enough for Russia to be the eighth in the G7.

That doesnt work within Russias understanding of its own exceptionalism. It is the largest country in the world, the richest in (natural) resources, so how can it simply be one of the players? she said.

A convoy of Russian troops moves along a road in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol on April 21, 2022. - Chingis Kondarov/Reuters

To understand what Putin wants from the current talks with the US, its key to remember that the two sides are talking because the United States made a policy U-turn under Trump  not because of a fundamental change in Russian thinking.

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Trump wants the war in Ukraine to end as soon as possible, even if it means further territorial losses for Ukraine.

This means Putin has little to lose from talking.

Trump has claimed that Russia holds all the cards in the war with Ukraine, but the battlefield has been mostly stalled for the past two years.

While Russia is making some incremental gains, it is definitely not winning  though this could change if the US was to stop supplying arms and intelligence to Ukraine.

Putin went into Ukraine thinking that it will be an easy, quick operation. Three years on, he controls 20% of Ukraine, but at terrible, terrible cost. I mean, essentially the Russians are losing. The thing though is that the Ukrainians are losing faster, leading Russia analyst Mark Galeotti told CNN.

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For Putin and the people around him, Trumps push for a ceasefire simply presents an opportunity to secure quick wins while keeping an eye on the long-term goals, he said.

Putin is an opportunist. He likes creating dynamic, chaotic situations, which throw up a whole variety of opportunities. And then he can then just pick which opportunity appeals to him, and he can change his mind, Galeotti said.

Long term plan

Putin and his aides have made it very clear that their long-term goals have not changed. Even as they talk about wanting peace, Russian officials have continued to insist that the root causes of the conflict in Ukraine must be eliminated.

In the Kremlins view, these root causes amount to Ukraines sovereignty and its democratically elected President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as NATOs expansion to the east in the past 30 years.

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Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 to force a regime change in Kyiv, planning to install a pro-Moscow government. His goal was to turn Ukraine into a vassal state like Belarus and prevent it from joining the European Union and NATO in the future.

He has not achieved that goal by using military force, but that doesnt mean he has abandoned it.

Instead, he might try to achieve it by other means.

The easiest way for Russia to attain what it wants in a different country is not through military means, but through interference and electoral process, Berzina said, adding that it is possible  even likely  that this is what Moscow would try to do after a ceasefire was in place.

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This is likely why Russia keeps questioning Zelenskys legitimacy and pushing for an election  and why Kremlin was delighted when Trump adopted this narrative and called the Ukrainian leader a dictator without elections. Ukraines martial law  imposed because of Russias aggression  prohibits elections from taking place while the conflict is ongoing.

Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, have rejected the idea that Ukraine could join NATO any time soon and Putin has asked for a US commitment that this will not happen to be part of any ceasefire agreement.

Ukrainian servicemen of Khartia brigade are preparing M101 Howitzer before firing towards Russian positions in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. - Alex Babenko/AP

But Berzina said that Ukraines European allies are not buying Putins promises that he would stop fighting if Ukraine became  as he called it  neutral.

No matter what Trump and Putin think they can arrange this week or this year, many people in Europe now find Putin fundamentally untrustworthy, she said.

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Could there be a desire for Russia to try its hand again militarily? Sure. And that is why the Europeans are very clear-eyed on the potential for future military engagement.

Its all personal

Andrei Soldatov, a Russian investigative journalist and security expert who lives in exile in London, said Putin and his aides believe they can try to get something out of Trump right now.

They think they can win some tactical battles but that he would not give them what they really want, which is a complete rearrangement of security arrangements in Europe, he said.

For the Kremlin, its not a war with Ukraine, its a war with the West, and a lot of people in Moscow dont really believe that they can get any kind of lasting agreement with the US, Soldatov told CNN.

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Russias wariness of the US goes far back.

Its very personal to them because they were all young KGB officers back then, and they lost their social standing, they lost a place in Russian society, they lost the country as they describe it now, and it was extremely humiliating, Soldatov said.

They really believe that the West has been after the complete destruction and subjugation of Russia for centuries. Its not just propaganda, they really, really believe in this. But Putin has also framed his plan for Ukraine within his own  inaccurate  interpretation of history, which goes well beyond the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin has often argued that Ukraine is not a real country because Ukraine and Ukrainians are part of a larger historical Russia

Experts say this is, of course, nonsense.

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What hes talking about is the fact that Russia and Ukraine and Belarus share a political ancestor called Rus  but its very much not the same thing as any modern country. It was an early to late medieval political entity and to say that Ukraine doesnt have a right to exist because of this shared ancestor  no country looks the same as in the 10th century, said Monica White, an associate professor in Russian and Slavonic Studies at the University of Nottingham.

Putin has also often turned to Russias religious identity in support of his plan. The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, is one of the loudest supporters of the war.

Putin and Orthodox Patriarch Kirill visit the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Saint Petersburg on September 12, 2024. - Alexander Kazakov/AFP/Getty Images

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia lost its connection with the ancestral Orthodox lands and I think part of Putins project is to try to bring back that thread connecting 10th century Rus with this pure orthodox continuity, White said. What hes doing is actually not so different from some of the early Romanov Tzars who kept trying to get back the Orthodox lands that were under either Ottoman or Catholic rule, and they eventually did.

Putins overwhelming desire is to return Russia to the global stage with a bang, she suggests  by creating a wedge between Europe and the US and teaming up with the Wests other adversaries.

Russia wants to be at all the important tables  so whatever comes next, maybe it doesnt have to mean territorial conquest in Europe, but I think it does have to be in a starring role in the more powerful bloc, if it sees that to include China or Iran or others, a bloc that is defined by its willingness to disrupt and destabilize, White added.

Putin clearly believes that Russia  the largest country in the world by area  should be involved in running the world. He might have a like-minded man in the White House. Trump has made it clear that he believes the biggest and most powerful countries should get what they want  whether its Greenland, the Panama Canal, or a chunk of Ukraine.

I think that the fundamental point is that, as far as Trump is concerned, Ukraine is a bought and paid for vassal state and has to understand its place and accept that, essentially, America will work out some kind of a deal with Russia and then bring it back to Ukraine, Galeotti said.

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Voice of America journalists and their unions have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. The lawsuit states that the closure of US-funded news agencies violates employees' right to freedom of speech, which is a violation of the Constitution.

Source: Reuters

Details: It was reported last week that a significant number of employees of the American international broadcaster Voice of America were sent on "administrative leave", which could mean the broadcaster's work has ceased.

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According to a complaint filed by the journalists in a federal court in New York, these actions violate the First Amendment to the Constitution and the laws under which Congress authorised and funded Voice of America.

The cuts are part of a widespread campaign by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk to shrink the federal government, which they say is wasting US taxpayer money on purposes that are not in the US interest.

The lawsuit asks the court to overturn the decision to shut down the US Agency for Global Media, which funds Voice of America and other media outlets such as Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.

A quick closure would encourage authoritarian regimes around the world, the lawsuit says.

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"In many parts of the world a crucial source of objective news is gone, and only censored state-sponsored news media is left to fill the void," the plaintiffs write.

Background: The administration of US President Donald Trump put forward a list of claims against the Voice of America broadcaster and thus "explained" why it decided to stop funding it.

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Voice of America (VoA) journalists sued the Trump administration on March 21, accusing it of unlawfully shutting down the U.S.-funded network that for decades has supplied news around the world.

The lawsuit comes after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to gut funding for U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

Earlier, RFE/RL sued the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) over the termination of grant funding, arguing that the step violates federal laws and the Constitution.

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The lawsuit was brought against the USAGM and Kari Lake, who works as Trump's special adviser there, by six VoA reporters together with an international non-profit and non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders and unions representing federal employees, journalists, and foreign policy staffers in the U.S.

"Waste, fraud, and abuse run rampant in this agency and American taxpayers shouldn't have to fund it," Lake said as she announced the cuts on March 15.

As a result of the move, more than 900 full-time network employees were placed on indefinite leave and 550 contractors were terminated from their jobs, NPR reported.

According to NPR, at least two unnamed reporters who filed a suit might be forced to return to their home counties if USAGM is not operational, where they face risk of prosecution.

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Trump's crackdown against RFE/RL and VoA has been celebrated by Russian propagandists, who long saw free media as their main threat.

Read also: RFE/RL sues Trump administration over funding cuts

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MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD)  Wounded Nature Working Veterans was hard at work Saturday cleaning up tidal marshes and teaching others about the importance of protecting wildlife in the Lowcountry.

Nearly 60 volunteers gathered at Remleys Point Public Boat Landing in the early morning before venturing into the pluff mud or by boat to clean up trash and debris from the marsh.

One location volunteers visited was Drum Island, which sits under the Ravenel Bridge, where organizers say has become a landing point for debris and poses a big danger to wildlife.

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The tidal marshes in these rural areas is where the habitat for wildlife lives. Whereas this is important to the next generation of seafood, shrimp, and the bird population thats down here. It also adds to the ambiance of the town being a tourist town, said Rudy Socha, CEO, Wounded Nature Working Veterans.

Wounded Nature Working Veterans, which works year-round to keep waterways along the South Carolina coast clean, brought in roughly 3,500 pounds of debris during Saturdays effort including an unusual find.

It was a complete shower enclosure. It was about 400 yards back in a wood line. I challenged my friend Tillman Henning to get some people to pull together. We took teams of people and we got it all the way out of the woods, said Socha.

With only one day of work behind them, volunteers said they can already see an improvement.

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If you can fill a canvas bag, thats one more bag thats not in the ocean being consumed or broken down by animals and ends up in our food system. Being able to fill a bag, youre making that difference. Getting dirty is pretty fun for everybody and you are out here in the elements. Its part of our home, its a part of making a different, its really fun to get in there, said Bri Lewandowsi, Wounded Nature Working Veterans board member.

Organizers say the next event will likely be an abandoned boat cleanup.

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TUPELO  Despite being home to one of the longest running council members in the city, Ward 4 is one of the few races with more than two candidates vying for power.

Editor's Note

Editors Note: This is the third in a series of stories profiling the candidates in contested races for the city of Tupelos upcoming municipal elections.

Three Democrats are running for Ward 4 against incumbent Democrat Nettie Davis: Alexandra Mercedes Copeland, Brenda DePriest and Sarita Grayson Witherspoon. The three have different visions for the ward, but all see a need for greater communication.

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Ward 4, although densely populated, is the smallest ward by acreage. It follows North Gloster Street in the west, cuts off at I-22 in the north, aligns with the north/ south railroad and Highway 45 in the east, and terminates at the north side of Main Street. The ward also includes portions of the south side of West Jackson Street and the north side of Ida B. Wells Street.

The primary election will be April 1. This year, most races don't have candidates from opposing parties and will be decided in the primaries and subsequent runoffs. Such is the case in Ward 4. If none of the four candidates earn a decisive victory, there will be a runoff election between the top candidates on April 22, which will decide the race.

Aside from Davis, the three other candidates have never run for public office.

Copeland wants new blood in seat, greater communication

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Copeland, 31, is the youngest of the individuals running, and if elected, would be one of the youngest members serving on the city council. She said she wants to bring a fresh perspective to the council and city governance.

Ive seen the need in the community, and I wanted to bring a fresh perspective as well, she said. Over the years, Ive seen how leadership is not responsive in Ward 4, so I want to be responsive  I want to hear the concerns of the citizens, to work with them to develop actions to get accomplished  It is time for a change.

An employment specialist with the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, Copeland has a degree in criminal justice from the University of Mississippi. Shes lived in different wards throughout her life but is a lifelong resident of Tupelo.

Her priority, if elected, is to increase communication in a timely manner. Overall, she said there is positive growth in Ward 4.

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Many citizens have said the same thing, she said of canvasing the ward. They want a leader that is actually going to listen to the concerns of the residents and then be proactive. I want to be that voice.

Copeland said she is still in the process of speaking with Ward 4 residents and learning the intricacies of their challenges.

Volunteering, she said, is important to her and said she wants to encourage others to do so. Her mother obtained her home through North Mississippi Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit that builds affordable house though volunteering, a part of her family's history that's inspired her.

Davis touts decades of experience, looks toward new term

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After serving 24 years on the council, it is fair to say Davis is the most senior member of the current council. She is also the oldest member. When asked what made her decide to run for reelection, she said there were multiple ongoing projects she wanted to see completed before she can leave it to the next generation.

It is an enjoyable experience. I enjoy what Im doing because it is helping people in the community, she said. Im steadily coming up with ideas for Ward 4  Im a very involved person in the community, and I feel like it would be very helpful for me to continue to carry out some of those goals I had like housing.

In those six terms, Davis, who was an art teacher until she retired in the early 2000s, said shes seen a lot of great progress for the city and Ward 4. Her goals for the next administration are to continue to bring businesses back to the ward and increase quality of life through infrastructure and recreation upgrades. The overall goal, she said, is to attract young people to Tupelo.

Im concerned about recruiting young professionals and  making the community more diverse, she said. Although I am an older person, I believe in involving young people and their ideas in the community.

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One topic Davis said she hears about a lot is affordable housing, noting that many have had issues with soaring housing costs. To remedy this, she said it is important to attract developers to Ward 4 and incentivize building starter homes.

Davis said she has worked with the Neighborhood Development Corporation to revitalize portions of Ward 4 and hopes that will continue in the Park Hill neighborhood, pointing to Jackson Street as an example of the NDCs handiwork.

Another project Davis touted was the continued upgrades to Gum Tree Park, which previously received a new pavilion and restrooms along with the renovation of the existing restroom and concession stand.

DePriest sees safety, code enforcement as priority

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While Davis is a retired teacher, DePriest is a special education teacher at Carver Elementary. A lifelong resident of Ward 4, she said she is highly active in the community and hopes to represent the ward.

I like the people in the community, and I like the way Ward 4 has come together as a family, she said. They come together under one roof, and that is my plan. To get involved with the community and get them together as a family, because if you help each other, you will come out better when it is time to come together for something."

She said, because she has never been involved with politics, there will be a learning curve that she will need to tackle, adding that she wants to work to learn more about the ward, the city and its needs.

I wanted to be more involved  Ive done a lot in the community, and a lot of people know me. I just think I can give something back to this community, she said.

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While noting that the ward has grown well over the decades, DePriest pointed to improving infrastructure, safety and code enforcement as her biggest priorities for the ward, if elected. She said she would like to see further emphasis on safety for children in Ward 4.

Meanwhile, she noted that the code enforcement department, while strong in the city, has relaxed in its enforcement in her ward, specifically with landlords renting homes that are unsafe She said if elected she would put more pressure on the department and homeowners to make sure the rental properties in Ward 4 are up to standards.

I know (landlords) are on their backs, but I think they need to be pushed even more because they are letting people live in these dilapidated homes that arent worth living in, she said.

The city has codes pertaining to rental properties and all rental properties must get a certificate of occupancy before they can be leased. This goes through a code enforcement officer making a walkthrough of the property with a checklist that includes all the regulations placed by the city.

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Witherspoon talks teaching experience, needs for ward

Like Davis, Witherspoon is a retired teacher. Witherspoon said she used both her maiden name and married name specifically because of her decades as a teacher under the name Grayson. In canvasing, she said she has seen many of the individuals shes taught over the years.

Ive always wanted to get into politics. Its a passion, she said, noting her uncle was an alderman when she was younger. Im a hard worker, and if I tell you Im going to do something, Im going to try my best to do it. Its just my nature.

Witherspoon, who works at Belks part time, said she believes beautification and activities for children are the biggest issues Ward 4 faces. Safety also links into Witherspoons priorities.

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Ive got seven grandchildren. I worked in the school system with kids, she said. I have to drive to a playground  A lot of grandparents, they cant do that.

On beautification, Witherspoon noted many of the other wards seem to have better litter clean up.

Like Copeland, Witherspoon said there needs to be better communication between the city and residents, be it informing residents of plans well in advance of the change to just talking to residents about projects and other things.

Overall, Witherspoon said her ward would be a biggest focus for her than the city as a whole, noting that she believed the last two mayors, Democrat Jason Shelton and Republican Todd Jordan, have done a good job improving the city.

In my ward, I know what needs to be done compared to what is being done (in another area), she said.
If I were to bet that the majority of physicians are familiar with that pit in their stomachthat sinking feeling of dread that comes with recognizing things arent going wellId probably win that bet. Contrary to collective wisdom, Wu (2000) first formalized recognition that doctors involved in critical incidents need help too. Now, twenty-five years later, doctors are still held to a standard that eschews the idea of making mistakes. As long as we put in the requisite effort, we protect ourselves. This dogma is a frequently cited justification for the unrelenting arduous hours demanded of trainees, one of the greater underpaid labor forces in the United States. If you make a mistake, young physicians are implicitly told, it is a result of your inadequate effort, not the expected eventuality of choosing this profession. Since the idea of a second victim was first formalized as a legitimate focus, talks on well-being, wellness programs, and peer support groups have been steadily introduced for clinicians in the medical environment. But much of our environment still operates on an unrealistic zero-tolerance ideology: You should have studied/worked harder.

This is, of course, as alluded to above, partly defensive. If we admit to ourselves that mistakes cannot be avoided by simply working harder, then we have to face a reality that can make work more anxiety-provoking. There are few worse feelings for someone who chose the field of medicine than to recognize that action or inaction led to injury or demise of ones patient. This comes with waves of debilitating shame; it invades dreams in fretful sleep at night; it overshadows the workdaya reminder, moment to moment, of a most consequential personal failure. It can be very nearly overwhelming. And meantime there is no time off. Disease and illness remain to be identified and treated, anesthetized and operated on. Family must be faced with devastating news. Practices are increasingly understaffed, doctors increasingly asked to take on more responsibility for less or the same compensation. This is a perfect storm for consequential error.

Those powerful feelings can ultimately lead to chronic and debilitating self-doubt and anxiety, ruminating over lab values, obsessively checking vials before drawing up medication, indecision in the operative field. It is unfortunately a mantra of medicine to compartmentalize feelings, never to bring them to the surface to process, the summation of which is extraordinarily unhealthy. This default passive approach is neither sustainable nor the most effective. It speaks to the crisis of burnout, depression, anxiety, and suicide in this population without even invoking a seminal event. But it isnt hopeless.

The single most important variable in mitigating the sequelae of trauma is to talk about it with caring and informed others. This seems very simple, and yet in practice it isnt. In fact, it is some of the most difficult work that people doto sit with and to tolerate difficult feelings. Sometimes this looks like commiserating with colleagues whove also been there. Sometimes it involves engagement with formal peer support consisting of knowledgeable and caring colleagues gathered for just this purpose. Sometimes that looks like talking with a therapist well-versed in the world of feelings with solid skills to help you navigate this kind of event in the life of a physician. It helps to know you are not alone, that others share your experiences and feelings, that you are part of a community, not a pariah. It is essential not to isolate. It took me a long time as an anesthesiologist accustomed to a very action-oriented profession to truly understand the importance and efficacy of addressing feelings appropriately.

Wu also described that if we involve ourselves in solutions to systemic problems (why does the vial of an anti-nausea look just like a potent vasopressor, and why are they stored next to each other?), if we remain engaged in the care of patients, if we find others to talk with as described above, we can eventually thrive in medicine after such an event. Wouldnt it be an amazing thing for this to be a formally taught requirement in medical school and residency training? I recall feeling an underlying dread throughout my training, which I otherwise loved: What if I am involved in a critical patient complication before I even finish? And this does happen. I saw it happen, as have many physicians in training. It can mean the end of a career, or it can be leveraged as an opportunity for all of us to learn. It can serve as a critical turning point for young physicians to recognize that none of us are perfect. It can be used to help us learn how to navigate our errors in order to thrive and continue on this path we choseto help people safely through some of their most vulnerable periods.

Maire Daugharty is an anesthesiologist who expanded her expertise by earning a masters degree in clinical mental health counseling, merging her long-standing interest in mental health with her medical background. As a licensed professional counselor, licensed addiction counselor, and licensed marriage and family therapist, she brings a well-rounded perspective to her private practice, where she works with adult individuals and couples on a wide range of concerns. In addition to her counseling practice, she continues to work part-time as an anesthesiologist and has a deep understanding of the unique challenges faced by clinicians in todays medical landscape. To learn more about her practice, visit Physician Vitality Services.
Wind gusts up to 55 mph will return to parts of New Mexico Saturday afternoon, bringing another round of high fire danger. Temperatures will also be much warmer starting this weekend.

Its been a warmer and calmer day across New Mexico with high temperatures climbing up to right around average for this time of year. Winds have been light to calm across the entire state as well. The winds will pick up Saturday afternoon though with westerly wind gusts as high as 30 to 55 mph. The strongest winds will be along and east of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains down to Clines Corners. Unfortunately, this will once again bring a very high fire danger across the entire eastern half of the state. Temperatures will also be much warmer, over 10 warmer compared to today for many.

Winds die down Saturday night as a weak backdoor cold front moves in from the northeast. This will bring in a slight drop in temperatures Sunday across the state. This cool down is short lived with a large ridge of high pressure developing west of New Mexico on Monday. This will bring a stretch of some of the warmest weather so far this year. Albuquerque will have a chance to see its first 80 day of the year by the end of next week. Winds will stay light most of the week as well. A few isolated showers and storms are possible in southern New Mexico Thursday, but most of the rain will evaporate before reaching the ground.

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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL)  On Saturday morning, members of the Washington County Democratic Party (WCDP) met in Johnson City to reorganize and set goals for the next two years.

Party members spent the morning making important decisions, including who would lead them.

We adopted our new bylaws, re-elected party chair Sylvain Bruni said. We elected five great officers who are going to support me in leading the party and making sure that were making a difference here in Washington County. And we elected 15 district representatives.

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The meeting also allowed party leaders to receive feedback from members.

Its important to put that in perspective and hear from the community, Bruni said. What are the things that they care the most about? How do they see that we can make some progress, take some new ideas, some new blood?

Leahness Miller and Graham Barnes were among those in attendance. While Barnes and Miller arent members, they felt truly supported by the group.

My family, were a pretty liberal family for this area, Barnes said. And I felt very isolated at times. So it was nice to join a moment in time where all of us agree on those values.

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I think theres definitely strength in numbers, Miller said. And so, its refreshing to be here today.

Miller and Barnes found themselves among the youngest in the meeting, at 21 and 20 years old respectively. Bruni said its nice to see people getting involved at such young ages.

I was delighted to see so many young folks in the audience because we need to train and engage with the next generation of leaders, Bruni said. So really, from 18 years old all the way to 100 plus years old, thats what the Democratic Party is doing. Were fighting for everybody and were going to be there and standing up for our values across Washington County and Tennessee and the whole United States.

Bruni adds that being involved in local groups like the WCDP is important to overall democracy.

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We are so focused on whats happening at the federal level, Bruni said. But we need to remember that most of the things that govern our lives happened at the state and ultra-local level.

Barnes and Miller both echo Brunis statement.

Were really building the foundation to get to the top, Barnes said.

Government starts on the local level, Miller said. And so its always good to get involved, to raise your voice.

The Washington County Republican Party will be holding its re-organizational meeting on March 29.

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Most of an Indiana County power plant has been imploded nearly two years after shutting down.

The implosion at Homer City Generating Station happened early Saturday morning. The smoke stacks came down first, one after the other. The cooling towers were imploded soon after. Half of one smokestack did not fall during the implosion. It wasnt immediately clear when the remaining partial structure would be demolished.

SEE PHOTOS FROM THE IMPLOSION

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Still, Homer City Redevelopment calls the demolition a success. In a statement, the company says:

This morning, Homer City Redevelopment successfully completed the felling of the four stacks and three cooling towers that comprised the Homer City Generating Station, formerly the largest coal-burning power plant in Pennsylvania. While this ends one chapter, we are eager to start another and pave the way for a reimagined energy future at the Homer City site.

This site was once the largest coal plant in Pennsylvania and was one of the regions last operating coal-fired power plants. All of the units were decommissioned in the summer of 2023, with owners saying the decision to shut down was based on several factors, like the low price of natural gas, a large increase in the cost of its ongoing coal supply, unseasonably warm winters and increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

State Sen. Joe Pittman says once the site is cleared, it will become the home of new economic prosperity for this area.

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In the years ahead, I anticipate the local investment by national and international companies to be significant and reestablish Indiana County as a leading destination for our nations energy needs and support cutting edge technological advancements, Pittmans statement said in part.

Per Homer City Redevelopment, the area will be transformed into a new natural gas power plant.

Following the implosion, the Homer City Borough and Central Indiana County Water Authority tested its water, which is about eight miles from the implosion site, and found no contaminants. Theyll continue testing daily.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are in Denver on Friday, holding a rally in protest of President Trumps policies that they argue favor the rich.

The event comes a day after Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez kicked off their Fight Oligarchy tour in Las Vegas. The two lawmakers focused much of their criticism on tech billionaire Elon Musk in their first remarks, arguing that wealthy people are targeting programs like Medicaid and Social Security to make allowances for tax cuts for rich Americans.

They also held a rally in Greeley, Colo., earlier Friday and another in Tempe, Ariz., Thursday evening.

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The Denver event is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. EDT.

Watch the live video above.

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DENVER (KDVR)  A couple in Centennial, Colorado is not concerned about a package that was stolen from their porch, but about the man taking a child with him to steal it. The whole incident was caught on camera Thursday evening.

Crosby Moresco and his wife moved into the neighborhood back in October. They said they were drawn in by the areas high safety score, which they thought would be a great place to start a family.

But he intends to make sure his family doesnt act like the one that came to his porch on Thursday evening. His wife first noticed an alert on their doorway camera that someone had come up.

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Recall: Green beans sold at Target may be contaminated

When they looked at the footage, they saw a man and a child stealing a package from their porch. As they leave, you can hear the child say, No, youre the one stealing them.

Quite a shocking incident to see on our camera, said Moresco.

He called the action bold and said he was home and his car was even in the driveway. The package stolen was a gift from their baby registry.

Were expecting our first child and to have it be some things that are for our brand new baby coming it stings a little more, said Moresco.

He has greater concerns, however.

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The most important thing is not the package but just making sure that any child is not kind of put in a situation like that that could be potentially very dangerous, he said.

Moresco worried about the child in the video potentially joining the man in stealing from a more dangerous location.

AOC, Bernie Sanders host rally in Greeley in first of two Colorado stops

Coming up to random peoples houses, not knowing who they are. Coming to steal a package, you dont know whos in that house, he said.

He said as he expects to be a father soon, this is something he wont be teaching.

Im definitely going to make sure we do the exact opposite of what that video shows, said Moresco.

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He said he contacted the county sheriff and provided them with the video.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
Mar. 21WATERTOWN  Watertown City School District voters will cast their ballots Tuesday and make their voices heard about a proposed $110 million capital project aimed at improving infrastructure at nine school buildings.

The theme of the project is keeping students warm, safe, and dry.

"By addressing these core needs, we will be ensuring that our faculties continue to support excellence in education, while meeting today's safety and accessibility standards," a packet previously sent to district voters states.

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There is no tax increase as part of this proposal. Instead, the district is preparing to use $94.6 million, or 86%, from state aid; $10 million, or 9%, from the capital reserve, and $5.4 million, or 5%, in retiring debt.

Of the $110 million, $32 million will go to the high school; $12 million will go to Case Middle School; $9 million for H.T. Wiley Intermediate; $9 million for Knickerbocker Elementary; $22 million for North Elementary; $9 million for Ohio Elementary; $9 million for Sherman Elementary; $6 million for Starbuck Elementary; and $2 million for the Massey Street building.

If the project passes, most of the buildings will convert their boilers from steam to hot water.

The district held two Board of Education meetings with budget presentations on Feb. 25 and March 4.

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"One of the things I'll speak to at a high level at all of these buildings is that energy efficiency is something we want to be looking at," said Jason Benedict of King and King Architects at one of the meetings.

Another area that could get some repairs is the track. Benedict said there are cracks and "other issues on the track that need to be replaced."

It could take up to two years for shovels to go in the ground as the district needs to get permits.

Some of the improvements needed include upgrading the boiler systems as they are 30 years old, repairing roofs and enhancing security measures by adding security entrances to the three buildings that currently do not have one, and redoing many of the district's parking lots.

The vote is from noon until 9 p.m. Tuesday at North Elementary School for residents north of the Black River and the Watertown High School band room for those that live south of the Black River.
Wave of violent Tesla attacks prompts US DOJ to take action

(FOX40.COM)  A wave of violent attacks on Tesla vehicles throughout the country has prompted the United States Department of Justice to take action.

 Video Above: How did Elon Musk make his money?

Ever since Teslas CEO Elon Musk decided to partner with the Trump administration to help push forward their agenda, some people in opposition have targeted the once beloved electric car.

On Thursday, Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced charges against three people accused of using Molotov cocktails to violently destroy Tesla properties.

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Northern California city declares itself a non-sanctuary city

The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended, said U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi. Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars.

According to the DOJ, one defendant was armed with a suppressed AR-15 rifle and arrested after throwing nearly eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership located in Salem, Oregon. Another was arrested in Loveland, Colorado after attempting to light Teslas on fire with Molotov cocktails. The defendant was allegedly found in possession of materials used to produce additional incendiary weapons.

Additionally, in Charleston, South Carolina, the DOJ said a third defendant wrote profane messages against President Trump around Tesla charging stations before lighting the charging stations on fire with Molotov cocktails.

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Each defendant faces charges that carry a minimum penalty of five years and up to 20 years in prison.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40 News.
Hello its the weekend. This is The Weekender 

Much of what the Trump administration has done during the lawless rampage that has been its first two months has felt haphazard, reckless, at times almost random in nature  all of which, of course, is by design. Its become well understood in the years since the MAGA movements takeover of the Republican Party that the cruelty  and, often, the accompanying chaos  is the point.

But the Trump administrations escalation of its attacks on academics and educational institutions this week, while scattershot, did hone in on a clear enemy: free thought. Columbia student protest leader Mahmoud Khalil remained detained. A Georgetown University researcher here legally was also detained and declared deportable, with the administration asserting he had ties to Hamas, a dubious claim that seems to stem from his wifes Palestinian heritage. Columbia University gave in to Trumps demands  which involve changing university policy to crack down on student protests and relinquishing control over the schools department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies  bowing in the face of the administrations threat to yank from the school nearly $400 million in federal funds. Law firm Paul, Weiss completed an even further reaching, deeply humiliating capitulation.

Meanwhile, destruction of the nations educational systems continued: Trump, of course, made good on his long-time promise to shrink the Department of Education by as much as he legally could, if not more. On Thursday, DOGE descended on the D.C. offices of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. This came after Trump signed an executive order downsizing the independent agency last week  a move that, were hearing, may result in drastic cuts to state library systems across the nation. The employee union expects most of the institutes staff will be placed on administrative leave by next week.

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After the new acting director of the institute, Trumps deputy labor secretary Keith Sonderling, was sworn in from the buildings lobby on Thursday, he sent a chilling message to staff, NBC News reported. In the email, Sonderling highlighted his interest in promoting patriotism and watering down the institutes educational resources, emphasizing his plan to revitalize IMLS and restore focus on patriotism, ensuring we preserve our countrys core values, promote American exceptionalism and cultivate love of country in future generations.

Sometimes, chaos is the point. Often, cruelty is the point. This week, casting a threatening pall over the countrys long tradition of scholarship and free thought appeared to be the point.

 Nicole Lafond

Heres what else TPM has on tap this weekend:

Kate Riga reports on a new order out of the Idaho EMTALA case this week: A federal judge ruled Thursday that emergency room abortions in Idaho will remain legal at least until he issues a final decision.

Khaya Himmelman digs in on just how performative Ed Martins new election integrity effort appears to be, given the very limited jurisdiction he actually has over such issues as acting D.C. U.S. Attorney.

Emine Yucel gives us an update on the week ahead in Congress, where House Republicans may or may not attempt to bring the bill saving funding for Washington, D.C.  which passed the Senate  to the floor for a vote. Once again, Mike Johnson must tame the usual hardliners.

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Lets dig in.

Judge Points Out That Pregnant Women Have Become The New Undesirable Patients

A federal judge ruled Thursday that emergency room abortions in Idaho will remain legal at least until he issues a final decision in a case where Idaho argues that its abortion ban supersedes federal emergency room mandates.

Congress passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) in the first place to crack down on the practice of patient dumping, where a hospital would turn away patients who couldnt pay for their treatment.

When EMTALA passed, these undesirable patients were the indigent, Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the District of Idaho wrote. Today, they are pregnant women. Although Congress could not have foreseen this dimension of patient dumping  women transferred to other facilities not because they are poor but because the emergency service they need has been criminalized  EMTALAs requirements are deliberately broad.

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The opinion had the odd feature of including Supreme Court justice quotes about this specific case, due to its odd trajectory. A previous iteration of the lawsuit made it to the Supreme Court, which ultimately kicked it back down to the 9th Circuit, deciding it had intervened preemptively. That case formally ended Friday, as the Trump Justice Department declined to continue advancing a lawsuit filed by the Biden administration.

The new case was brought by an Idaho hospital system, and has now notched an early win. Idaho has argued, eyebrow-raisingly, that abortions are never needed care in emergency situations.

When Idahos abortion ban went into full effect for six months in 2024, St. Lukes Health System was forced to airlift six pregnant patients with emergency medical conditions to neighboring states where they could receive the appropriate care. In contrast, only a single pregnant patient was airlifted in the entirety of 2023, Winmill wrote. This sad but illuminating natural experiment shows that Idahos ban on emergency abortions is not compatible with hospitals stabilization obligations under EMTALA.

 Kate Riga

Reminder: Ed Martin Isnt Allowed To Investigate Things Outside DC

This week, President Trumps nominee for D.C. U.S. Attorney and 2020 election denier Ed Martin announced the formation of an election accountability unit supposedly devoted to upholding voter integrity and investigating voter fraud. But for those with eyes, its clearly another attempt to use the D.C. U.S. Attorneys Office to address Trumps various grievances. And the myth of widespread voter fraud is, of course, one of Trumps favorites.

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The unit has, reportedly, already been investigating a case of voter fraud. And although the details of that supposed investigation are still unknown, its important to reiterate that Martins jurisdiction is extremely limited. Martin does not have jurisdiction over cases outside of the District of Columbia.

Beyond the District of Columbia, Im not sure what Ed Martin thinks his jurisdiction is, David Levine, Senior Fellow at the University of Marylands Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, told TPM. Its frankly a mystery to me what the predicate is going to be for these efforts.

We dont have details on whether or not this investigation is about the 2020 election  which took place almost five years ago and has been proven safe and secure  or about the 2024 election  an election that Trump just won and one that election officials also agree was secure.

While he does not have jurisdiction to look into election operations outside of D.C., TPM reached out to election officials in a few key counties to pick their brains about Martins new unit. Election officials from both Maricopa County and Shasta County  hotbeds for election conspiracy theories and misinformation since 2020  told TPM that they had not heard any details of the supposed investigation.

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Given that there seems to be no rational basis for initiating an investigation, there seems to be no legal basis for laws that were allegedly broken, there seems to be questionable jurisdiction, David Becker, the executive director and founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research similarly explained to TPM. One wonders whether this is an attempt to further intimidate public servants and election officials.

Becker added that if there is indeed an ongoing investigation, the basis of that investigation remains unclear, other than, in his words expressing loyalty to the individual who appointed the U.S. Attorney for D.C.

 Khaya Himmelman

Where Things Stand: Congress Edition

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Republican leadership is reportedly not planning to bring the bill that would restore $1.1 billion in local funding to the District of Columbias budget to the House floor next week.

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Though the measure passed by unanimous consent in the Senate last week, in the lower chamber, the politics of staving off the deep cuts is much more complicated.

Despite support from the Trump administration, not all House Republicans appear poised to help out the District  especially, reportedly, the far-right hardliners.

Johnson now has to figure out when and how to bring the vote to the floor. One option is to bring the bill to the floor through the House Rules Committee. But hardliners on the committee like Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Ralph Norman (R-SC) are reportedly expected to create some sort of roadblock. If the bill can make its way out of the committee, it will pave the way for a floor vote that requires just a simple majority on a procedural motion to bring the measure forward.

Another option: Johnson can use an expedited floor maneuver that requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass the bill. But its unclear if GOP leadership can get the votes for that.

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Meanwhile, Republican leadership will also be entering a three-week stretch where they will have to quickly work through the reconciliation process to push Trumps fiscal agenda forward on the aggressive timeline that he has outlined. That process will require  as directed by the budget resolution they passed  the House Energy & Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in cuts, among many other things. Republicans insist that those cuts will not involve completely slashing Medicaid or other social safety net programs.

But the Congressional Budget Office put out a report earlier this month, and the numbers say otherwise. CBO says it wont be possible to reach that goal without cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or the Childrens Health Insurance Program.

House Democrats have been building their messaging around this exact topic for weeks now, trying to rally their base to make a lot of noise about the hugely unpopular cuts.

 Emine Yucel
Mar. 21WESSINGTON SPRINGS, S.D.  A 37-year-old Wessington Springs man is facing eight counts of sexual contact with a minor, each classified as a Class 3 felony.

Amos Stahl made his initial court appearance last month and is scheduled to return to Jerauld County court next week.

Court documents allege that Stahl had sexual contact with a minor, who was under the age of 13 at the time of the reported incidents. The charges span nearly nine years, with the first count covering May 1 to August 31, 2013. The second count alleges an occurrence between Sept. 1, 2013, and March 28, 2016. Additional counts detail incidents between March 29, 2016, and March 28, 2019; March 29, 2019, and March 28, 2020; and March 29, 2020, and March 28, 2022.

Under South Dakota law, a Class 3 felony is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $30,000.
How social media is shaping teen mental health and what we can do about it

As social medias influence has surged, so too has the debate over its effects on psychological well-being. Once envisioned as a means to connect communities and amplify self-expression, these platforms are now under scrutiny for their potential long-term impact on mental healthespecially among adolescents.

During this critical stage of development, social interactions play a pivotal role in helping adolescents shape identity, influencing their sense of self and belonging. This can make them especially vulnerable to peer feedback, which, in the age of social media, can be pervasive. Adolescents on social media are exposed to a digital landscape where likes, comments, and shares serve as instant yet superficial measures of validation. The pressure to curate an idealized online persona can heighten sensitivity to social comparison, increasing vulnerability to anxiety, low self-esteem, and a reliance on social media for self-worth.

Young adults who spend more than three hours daily on these platforms are two times more likely to have mental health problems, most notably depression and anxiety. This is alarming considering that the average teen spends 4.8 hours on social media every day as of 2023. It is also a concerning trend that I have observed firsthand in my 25 years as an adolescent psychiatrist.

Various entities are taking action to combat social medias impact on the youth mental health epidemic. In May 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a general warning spotlighting the need for a warning label on social media platforms to improve youth mental health. One year later, New York City became the first major U.S. city to declare social media as a public health crisis for its ramifications on youth mental health.

Numerous studies evaluating social medias impact on youth mental health report varying findings, but there is little evidence to suggest any benefits of unfettered social media use. Appropriate safety measures should be built to ensure these platforms will not cause long-term harm to young minds. Below are some best practices for providers working with youth to consider as they navigate the evolving social media landscape.

Put on the seatbelt.

When a child learns to drive, they must follow a structured process to ensure safety before being given independent access to the keys. Yet, when young people are given unrestricted access to social media, they are essentially handed the keys to social media without guardrails, exposing them to potentially harmful content that can damage their self-esteem, mental health, and overall development. Just as seatbelts are a nonnegotiable safety measure in driving, digital literacyequipping young users with the skills to critically assess online information and protect themselvesshould be a prerequisite before navigating the digital world independently.

Social media usage should be monitored from an early age, including not only setting screen time limits and utilizing parental controls but also providing guidance to instruct children on how to evaluate sites for false or destructive content. The goal is for the teen to be able to discern reliable sources, engage in healthy and supportive online interactions, and make informed decisions about their well-being.

It is also worth noting that children learn by example, so adults should be mindful of their own online usage. Parents or caregivers can model balanced screen habits, limiting social media use themselves to encourage children to develop healthier digital practices.

Encourage in-person socialization.

For many kids, the most enticing aspect of going to school is the opportunity for social interaction. However, children with anxiety or depression are less eager to attend in person and often find social media an easy substitutealthough not necessarily a healthy or effective one.

While socializing online can be a useful alternative to in-person interactions, particularly for kids with increased anxiety, it still does not adequately replace face-to-face human connection. A recent study during the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized that face-to-face communication is more beneficial for mental health than digital connection.

In-person socialization is pivotal for all adolescents, especially those with social anxiety. This can help them overcome anxiety and develop healthy coping skills.

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I once worked with a shy teenage boy who struggled with school refusal due to severe social anxiety. His best friend had recently moved away, leaving him feeling alone. Around the same time, online schooling had become more prevalent and, after deliberation, his parents let him switch to online school.

Without in-person interaction with his classmates, he turned to online gaming for a sense of community and grew to consider the other players as his primary social group. But this increased reliance on this online group for social connection caused him to become increasingly isolated; he later described the experience as having a cult-like influence on his behavior. When he finally broke down and told his parents about his dependence on this group, they were able to help him address this with therapy and behavioral interventions.

If a child is categorically uninterested in spending time talking to others without their devices, offering a reasonable compromise can also help facilitate healthy social behaviors. For example, for every chunk of time an adolescent spends online, an equivalent time (or more) should be spent interacting off-screen.

Understand social medias risks.

Social media content and technology in general are more engaging and ubiquitous than ever before. This will only continue to evolve. In turn, we have an obligation to protect young people from consuming damaging information that negatively impacts their self-esteemespecially as threats to their psychological well-being are steadily growing.

Looking ahead, mental health clinicians need to work closely with parents to take a more hands-on approach in regulating their childrens behavior. Fortunately, the newest generation of parents is much more familiar with social media, giving them a better understanding of its benefits and risks.

With the right education and support, they will be better equipped to set boundaries, encourage healthy online habits, and intervene when necessary to ensure social media use remains balanced and beneficial rather than harmful.

Ellen K. Feldman is a child psychiatrist.
NEW LONDON, Texas (KETK)  West Rusk County Consolidated ISD is asking voters to pass a $23,404,459 bond to fund a new elementary school for the district.

West Rusk CCISD seeks community feedback after bond fails to pass, despite mold issues on campus

The proposed 45,138-square-foot elementary school will include a new music room and a multi-purpose gymnasium with a stage, according to West Rusk CCISDs 2025 Bond website.

Photo courtesy of West Rusk CCISD.

This bond comes after voters rejected the districts last two attempted bonds which aimed to fix aging or broken infrastructure, including mold and water damage, in the districts schools.

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We have lots of water damage, lots of structural damage that can only be fixed for so long, West Rusk Elementary Principal Carlette Mills told KETKs Tori Bean in Nov. 2024.

The bond would be funded by a proposed 21-cent property tax increase that would not impact taxpayers 65 or older if theyve applied or received the age-65 homestead exemption freeze.

The district shared the following graph of how a 21-cent tax increase would impact home values:

Voters will have to turn out to voice their opinions on the new bond proposal during the elections on May 3. There are polling locations at the New London Community Center and the Rusk County Election Department.

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Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate student who was arrested and detained because of his pro-Palestinian activism, is scheduled to return to court next month in his battle with the Trump administration over his possible deportation.

His case has become a test of President Donald Trump's pledge to combat antisemitism and deport noncitizen college activists who the Department of Homeland Security said led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York ruled Wednesday that Khalils legal challenge to his detention should proceed in federal court in New Jersey, where he was briefly held when his attorneys filed a petition alleging his arrest and detention violated his right to due process and his First Amendment right to free speech.

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Furman said his order blocking the government from deporting Khalil will remain in effect as the case proceeds.

Khalil, 30, who holds a green card granting him permanent residency in the U.S., is being held at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, more than 1,000 miles from his home in New York City. His legal team is trying to get him released.

Khalil has a separate deportation case in Louisiana, where he appeared for a brief court hearing Friday as his lawyers challenged his arrest and detention, arguing the governments decision to send him away to the remote facility in Jena, Louisiana, impeded their ability to represent him.

We are ready to fight just as hard for Mr. Khalil in the district of New Jersey, said Amy Greer, a lawyer for Khalil. He was taken by plainclothes federal agents, transferred in the middle of the night across state lines, and has been detained for over a week now, all because of his advocacy for Palestinian freedom.

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His lawyers have also said that Khalil should be released because he and his wife, Noor Abdalla, a U.S. citizen, are awaiting the birth of their first child next month. Khalil is an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent.

The Trump administration said Khalil was moved to Louisiana because detention centers in the Northeast are overcrowded and there was a bedbug infestation at the New Jersey detention center where he was held after he was arrested March 8 outside his apartment.

Khalil said in a court declaration on Monday that when he was at the detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, for a night, he did not hear anyone mention bedbugs. He also said it appeared that other people processed at the site around the same time as he was were allowed to remain in New Jersey.The Trump administration argues that Khalil should be deported under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows noncitizens to be deported if the secretary of state determines their presence in the United States could adversely affect foreign policy.

Khalil is not facing any publicly known criminal charges.

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Its almost unprecedented to invoke a provision like this, said Marc Van Der Hout, one of Khalils attorneys. The government is clearly going after him because they dont like what he says about whats going on in the Middle East.

People protest the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil at a demonstration in New York City on March 12.

At Fridays hearing in immigration court in Louisiana, Khalils legal team was allowed more time to review the case before both parties return on April 8. Van Der Hout attended the hearing via video conference.

The Department of Homeland Security has said Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on March 11 that Khalil organized protests that disrupted the campus, harassed Jewish students and distributed pro-Hamas propaganda.

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Samah Sisay, another lawyer for Khalil, denied the Trump administrations claims, saying there is no evidence he provided support of any kind to a terrorist organization.

Sisay told NBC News on Monday that regardless of where the case challenging his arrest will play out, our ultimate goal is to get our client out and to continue fighting for Khalils release.

Every day that Khalil is in detention is justice denied, Sisay said. He should not continue to be punished for the governments unlawful action. He can be released while fighting this.

Sisay said Khalils continued incarceration could also have major health risks for his wifes pregnancy with the immense stress thats being put on her.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
One frigid night in February, a Brooklyn comedy club is packed and buzzing. The usual pleasure-seekers with beanies, scattered facemasks and tech-adjacent professions. The usual jokes about polycules and all genders being equivalently attractive  male, female and Italian. (Dont think too hard about it.)

But here comes the headliner with a bit you dont usually hear in a casual place like this: This morning, the City of New York wired our campaign $2.8 million in matching funds.

Its Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist and upstart NYC mayoral candidate who is comfortable taking stages stuffier politicians wouldnt. In search of voters, particularly fickle young ones who need a jolt to stop doomscrolling, this former rapper and current state assemblymember will leap onto nontraditional platforms like this one. Or into the winter waters of Coney Island in a business suit for Instagram (Im freezing  your rent as the next mayor of New York City!). Or into interviews with Trump voters on the street like an influencer with a microphone, not to debate them but to understand them  and, in some cases, to win them over.





Its a literally splashy messaging strategy tailored to the shifting media environment Democrats have largely ceded to conservatives, leading to disastrous consequences for the party. With TikTok shifting young voters sharply to the right and podcasters having just played a major role in helping elect President Donald Trump, the left has been flailing in search of an effective way to utilize social media and other non-legacy platforms  and so far, it has been failing miserably. (See: last months infamous Heres what Democrats did in February tweet.)

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But thats not the case with Mamdani. The performers approach hes brought to modern mediums has paid off in massive fundraising wins. He beat the whole Democratic primary field in his first filing period and now boasts a race-leading 17,000-plus contributors, translating into those millions in matching funds. And some recent polling even has him in second place in the crowded field of 11-plus candidates  behind only former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a dynastic politician who is the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic primary in June.

As establishment Democrats fail to meaningfully connect with voters through nontraditional media, weve broken through to them  and its driving our fundraising and field efforts, wrote campaign manager Elle Bisgaard-Church in a March state of the race memo.

The key to his tactics is part delivery, part content. He relays his messages in stunty, shareable packages, but the substance of that message draws on an older tactic from the Bernie Sanders playbook: Pick a handful of straightforward economic proposals that would impact the daily lives of regular people and repeat, repeat, repeat. Attendees of a Bernie rally are primed to chant Medicare for All before they even get there. Now, thanks to his social-media savvy outreach, Mamdani draws crowds ready to sing along to his own greatest hits  like at the comedy club.



All right, he asks, who here knows our platform?

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Were running to freeze the



Rent! the crowd yells in unison.



To make buses fast and



Free!



To provide universal



Childcare!

He sums it up for the crowd: Its a platform about making New York City more affordable, because right now, the people who have built this city, the people who keep this city running, cannot afford to keep calling it their home.

None of this is very likely to put the junior member of the states lower legislative chamber into the mayors office, given obstacles like Cuomos name recognition and a rightward shift in the city. But his campaign is doing something with implications far beyond New York, something that should grab the attention of Democrats around the country: Hes charting a way out of the abyss and into the new media age, one video at a time.



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As Democrats around the country debate moderation, doing nothing or pursuing a politics of abundance  calling for government to stop getting in the way of things like building housing with over-regulation  Mamdani is an example of another path, one that follows in the footsteps of Sanders by lifting up concrete leftist policies toward a social safety net and affordable cost of living. Like a small but growing number of younger Democrats, he is experimenting with a progressive, economics-first message with a very 2025, podcast-era sensibility: Dont lecture viewers with your proposals  entertain them.

We have tried, in fact, to make political arguments in non-political settings, Mamdani says. That includes the comedy show and a party where people watch the Oscars  but still chat about transportation. It includes copious doorknocking but also two highly-produced videos a month, supplemented by shorter, deadpan, often direct-to-camera bits. In almost all of them, policy is colored with a secondary secret weapon: Humor is a very effective method of communication, he says. Hence the bouncy pitch for a city-owned grocery store in each borough as a public option for produce and the viral video from the ice-cold waves of Coney Island. Some of the snappy Trump voter interviews even have an affable sense of humor about them.



Your energy is one man in the Trump video said, searching for the right word before settling on a simple thumbs up.

The central North Star of this campaign is if I can make the city more affordable, Mamdani says, and its that North Star that will help us break beyond the typical constituencies.

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That mission is resonating early in the NYC mayoral contest, with Mamdani climbing the polls despite his youth and lack of managerial experience. Zohran is one of the few serious communicators the socialist and progressive left has now in America, said Ross Barkan, a political writer and former political candidate who once employed Mamdani as his campaign manager. I think a lot of the left lost the plot, Barkan said, in terms of emphasizing cultural issues at the expense of economic issues. I think Zohran has been very smart to run a cost of living campaign.







Its not that Mamdani has abandoned identity. While Democratic stars like California Gov. Gavin Newsom are advocating a tactical retreat on certain debates in transgender politics, Mamdani showed up at a protest supporting medical care for trans New Yorkers. He also readily talks about his immigrant background as a practicing Muslim who was born in Uganda. Instead, hes advocating a yes-and version of leftist politics: Yes, maintain progressive principles on social issues  and emphasize an economics-first message. Without compromising his positions on issues like trans rights or Palestine, Mamdani nonetheless offers a clear-eyed view on the limits of identity politics. There is a ceiling on the power of representation, he has said, because people cannot feed themselves and their family on someone looking like them.

A connection with economic issues and a talent for performance run deep for Mamdani, whose father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a respected Marxist scholar at Columbia University. His mother, Mira Nair, is a film director who worked with the likes of Lupita Nyongo and Denzel Washington and was nominated for an Academy Award. (Before his political career Mamdani once joked that nepotism and hard work goes a long way when asked about his work on music for one of his mothers movies.)



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The younger Mamdani moved to New York with his family at 7, but spent time in both Africa and the U.S., sometimes rapping under the name Mr. Cardamom or selling mixtapes for less than $1 in a Kampala taxi park, an experience that taught me how to deal with rejection, Mamdani notes wryly today.

After working on various progressive local campaigns in Brooklyn and Queens he eventually ran and won for himself in 2020, quickly landing lots of press for his hunger strike advocacy for taxi workers mired in debt. He also experimented with swanky online presentations of his policy proposals to improve mass transit, unusual in a town where the assembly website looks like it hasnt been updated since 1995.

Those early efforts have come to fruition in Mamdanis mayoral campaign, which has reshaped the race following the federal corruption charges against scandal-plagued Mayor Eric Adams, who was expected to be the frontrunner. (That also gave Cuomo a chance for a comeback following his resignation in 2021 in the face of a series of sexual harassment claims.)

As the chaos played out, with a field of candidates jockeying around the unexpectedly up-for-grabs Democratic nomination, Mamdani flooded the zone with fundraising appeals and videos. In his first filing period, he amassed over $640,000 in contributions, nearly six times as much as Jessica Ramos, a fellow left-leaning state legislator running for mayor who might have energized a similar slice of the electorate. Mamdani celebrated with another viral video of him knocking on donor doors to personally say thanks for their cash, sometimes the first theyd ever given for a mayoral race. In the second filing period from January to March, he raised even more, nearly $850,000. He has attracted the interest of some outside funders, too: There is now also a super PAC to support his run. (Mamdani found time this year to get married in a civil ceremony, as well.)

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Throughout, he has churned out content. His affordability-themed videos rely on creative acting and editing to elevate them above dutiful blips of unclickable content. In one recent video, the camera lingers on two grumpy white guys in a greasy spoon arguing whether Cuomo or Adams is better. Mamdani shows up to their table and reminds them that there are more options in the race.

Who the fuck are you? one man asks.

As upbeat music swirls, Mamdani fast-talks about his universal childcare, rent freeze and grocery store ideas. In a burst of outer borough realism, the spot ends with the elders devolving into argument again about early morning construction noise, as Mamdani slips quietly away from the table.

Spots like this have garnered nearly 14 million views on Instagram in the last 90 days, as well as over 200,000 likes on TikTok in a similar period, according to Mamdanis campaign.

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Thats the kind of modern face-time exposure that digitally-literate lawmakers like California Rep. Sara Jacobs, with her get ready with me videos, are eager to pursue. And it makes them stand out in a Democratic Party thats still mostly more comfortable debating white papers or talking to legacy media. If you go to consultants, what they will prescribe you is that which may have worked 10 or 20 years ago, Mamdani says. So much of what is driving our campaign is a desire to go beyond simply the political context of New York City into the cultural context, the civic context, the city itself.

Mamdanis race may be an early indicator if its working, at least for younger voters. Heading into an Astoria bagel shop at the end of February, wearing a plain black Uniqlo jacket that was a far cry from the loudly-labeled MAYOR coat the incumbent prefers, Mamdani was nevertheless recognized by a woman with a half-shaved head who said she was eager to vote for him. The candidate took it in stride as he went to the counter and ordered. (Hows it going, boss? he said to the employee.)

Mamdani thinks that voters like that young woman can be engaged with what he calls a direct politics, in both form and function: Your policies should not require translation. They should speak directly to a persons life, and I think the medium through which you convey that message should also speak to that same directness.

Over a bowl of oatmeal that would be one of the last daytime campaign meals hed have before Ramadan, he argued that on the national level, this directness could translate to a fighting stance against the Trump administration. Democrats should be contesting the GOP narrative with muscle and shining a light on whose lives are actually being torn apart by these policies.



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It was something Mamdani demonstrated in March in a crowded state Capitol hallway in Albany, where he tried to confront Trumps border czar Tom Homan over the little-explained detention of Mahmoud Khalil, the green card holder and activist. In video of the encounter, Mamdanis voice rose above the pack. You believe in the First Amendment, Tom Homan? he shouted as a state trooper kept him back. How many more New Yorkers will you detain? Homan didnt engage, just munched on an apple as he left, but Mamdanis framing and sense for the camera nabbed headlines  and some $250,000 in fundraising in the following days.

MTA advertising is expensive, but one recent weekend the phrase VOTE ZOHRAN FOR MAYOR TO FREEZE THE RENT! could be seen graffitied over a StreetEasy ad (the campaign was not responsible).

Mamdani himself has been in the subway, too, doing the ritual petition-gathering that every candidate needs to do to officially be on the ballot for June. On the last Friday in February, he was up early with a trimmed beard to hunt for signatures at Steinway Street Station in Queens.

It was the usual object lesson in the place politics actually plays in civilian lives. Some people refused to look up from their phones. Others only had flickers of memory about who is running.



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I dont like the other guy, one woman said after signing, eventually landing on a name which has been in the public sphere for two generations, Cuomo.

Which makes it all the more surprising to see what does in fact break through.

Theres simplicity: One of Mamdanis volunteers informed him that trying to freeze the rent has been the most successful hook to land people. I love his ideas, said one straphanger, pointing to rent stabilization in particular. Repetition pays off.



Then theres the band-discovery appeal of finding new music. One woman quietly admitted that her daughters like Mamdani. Other tired commuters perked up out of the usual subway trance at his approach.



Oh my god, shouted Stephanie Garace. It makes me so happy to see, like, somebody who gives a shit about this city.

The 31-year-old public school teacher went on: I love watching all of my friends discover your campaign and just discover your politics. And Im like, I was in on the ground floor.

Mamdani laughed. You got in early!
U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, speaks to the Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce on Nov. 26, 2024, in Brandon. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Too often lately our leaders seem to come from the Satchel Paige School of Political Thought: Dont look back, something may be gaining on you.

The very act of looking back should supply some useful lessons. But if the view to the rear is ugly, or something they dont want to talk about, too often the response from our political leaders is that they want to look forward.

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One recent example of looking forward because the past was way too ugly to contemplate came from South Dakota Sen. John Thune. As majority leader of the U.S. Senate, it was only natural for him to be asked about his reaction to President Donald Trumps mass pardon of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists. Thune, displaying a lack of political courage that has become the standard in the Republican Party, briefly told reporters outside of a congressional committee room, Were not looking backwards, were looking forward.

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Thune did look backward long enough to blame Trumps pardons on the pardons issued by Joe Biden. Like a boy caught fighting on the school yard, Thunes response to the white-washing of that dark day is to claim, He started it!

There was a time when a Republican leader like Thune would have relished the opportunity to look back at the day when his house was invaded by a mob to praise the heroes who defended him, mourn the dead and injured and call for the full weight of justice to be brought to bear on the renegades that broke the law. In the age of Donald Trump however, Republicans must be careful about when and where they take their law-and-order stance. Illegal immigrants? Kick them out. Insurrectionists? Let them walk.

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Thunes penchant for steadfastly gazing into the future because the past is too messy to contemplate may be catching on as a political tactic for avoiding painful conversations. Whether he learned that tactic from Thune or made it up on his own, Gov. Larry Rhoden seems to have embraced looking into the future as a way to escape the discomfort that lives in the past.

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, right, talks about a property tax relief proposal on Feb. 13, 2025, at the Capitol in Pierre. At left is Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

The past that Rhoden doesnt want to talk about is the more than $600,000 worth of charges rung up on state-issued credit cards by Kristi Noem during her six years as governor of South Dakota.

In a story published by The Dakota Scout, Rhoden refused to comment on Noems level of spending. Rhoden explained that when the check comes, he often forgets that he even has a state-issued credit card. Like Thune, Rhoden preferred to have his eye on the future: Im not looking back and I dont know what happened in the past, Rhoden said. I just know where I am at and its not a problem.

In the grand scheme of the state budget, $600,000 spent over six years is a drop in the bucket. That drop does come with a helping of hypocrisy. After all, are lavish meals and high-end hotel rooms really how South Dakota citizens expect their governor to spend their tax dollars? This is the same governor who, during breaks from talking with her travel agent, liked to remind legislators that they had a duty to be upright stewards of the state budget because, after all, they were spending taxpayer dollars.

Looking to the future is what we expect of our leaders. But we also expect them to have the courage to look at the past and call out the bad behavior that lingers there. Satchel Paige cautioned against looking back because something might be gaining on him. Our leaders arent looking back because something there might cause them to have to take a stand.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Dr. Tom Curran, the former head of Childrens Mercy Research Institute (CMRI), is suing Childrens Mercy Hospital (CMH) for wrongful termination after his controversial firing in 2023.

His lawsuit claims he was fired for being a whistleblower after he raised concerns about former CEO Paul Kempinskis intent to misuse donor funds. The lawsuit also alleges age discrimination, among other things.

Family of Riley Strain files wrongful death lawsuit against Delta Chi fraternity

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Curran is a top scientist in the pediatric oncology community whos well known for developing new cancer treatments. He was hired as the Senior Vice President, Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Childrens Mercy Research Institute (CMRI) for Childrens Mercy Kansas City in 2016.

The hospital recruited Curran with the hope that he would help CMH build a world-renowned pediatric research center and attract top scientists, according to the lawsuit.

Toms name is quite literally an international brand and his research portfolio in pediatric oncology is among the most highly regarded in that research space, wrote Randall ODonnell, who was the CEO of CMH at the time Curran was hired. His endorsement is part of the lawsuit.

The new research building

According to the Jackson County filing, about $300 million were donated to CMH/CMRI to help with the institutes researchalong with an additional $100 million in bonds.

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These donations were to be used exclusively for research  including the design and construction of a new research building, as well as recruiting top scientists and researchers.

Around February 2020, the lawsuit claims that rumors arose about Kempinski wanting to use the 9th floor of the new research building to house non-research, corporate services departments.

Dr. Curran says in the lawsuit that he met with Kempinski, who denied these rumors but also mentioned wanting to co-house the Berry Institute  which would serve as a human resources training/development program.

Photo provided in lawsuit filed by Tom Curran against Childrens Mercy Hospital

By August 2021, the lawsuit says Curran heard from several people that CMH was moving forward with plans to put the Berry Institute on the 9th floor of the research building.

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But the lawsuit says it wasnt until February 2023 that this plan was officially set in motion  when the buildings architect presented the building plans, which included Proposed Corporate Services Space Options for unfinished floors of the research building.

The donations that were being used to design and construct the new building were to be used for research purposes only. The lawsuit argues that Kempinskis plans were unlawful and in violation of Missouri public policy  which requires the transparent and appropriate use of philanthropic funds, donor funds, and government-approved bonds.

After the presentation, Dr. Curran claims to have scheduled a meeting with Kempinski to discuss the building plans, but Kempinski allegedly canceled the meeting. About a month later, the lawsuit says Curran tried to schedule his monthly one-on-one meeting with Kempinski, which was also canceled.

The ultimatum

In August of 2023, the lawsuit says Kempinski asked CMH leaders to sign a pledge that they would prioritize Blue Chip projects  none of which had anything to do with research.

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Curran claims in the lawsuit that Kempinski said something along the lines of: If anybody does not want to sign the document, I will not consider you a bad person or a bad leader, but you would have no future at Childrens Mercy, and steps would be taken for your separation.

What complicates matters more, Dr. Curran claims in the lawsuit that an external compensation consulting firm, SullivanCotter, was reviewing the compensation for CMH executives at the same time the Blue Chip projects and ultimatum were introduced.

Curran alleges he was informed that the Blue Chip goals were going to be used as the next set of metrics for performance-based compensation for executive leaders.

Then, in September 2023, the lawsuit claims Kempinski held another meeting to announced that anyone who did not sign the pledge would be terminated.

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After this meeting, Dr. Curran claims he met with Kempinski and told him the ultimatum would burden CMRIs goal to recruit top scientists. He told Kempinski that he wanted to discuss these concerns with Board members, to which Kempinski eventually agreed to allow, according to the lawsuit.

On Oct. 2, 2023, Dr. Curran held a videoconference meeting with CMHs Board Chair and Deputy Chair; Kempinski did not attend the meeting, according to the lawsuit. Curran provided a typed statement to the two Board members ahead of the meeting, which read in part:

I do have some concerns about the various Blue-Chip projectsbut the overriding concern is the ultimatum. I would be remiss in my duties to CMH, to the Board and to the children we serve, if I did not bring this to your attention, even under the threat of dismissal.

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One month later, Dr. Curran alleges that Kempinski told him he would be fired for insubordination.

Kempinski fires Dr. Curran

Days later on Nov. 6, 2023, CMH provided the official termination letter to Curran. The reasons specified in the letter were different than what Kempinski initially told Curran, according to the lawsuit.

The letter stated:

Your termination is for cause, including without limitation the following reasons:

You disrupted a board meeting to raise issues concerning management-level matters apparently including the True North/Blue Chip process. This disruption came after a meeting between us in which I specifically directed you not to raise the issues with a single board member, [[REDACTED]]

After [[REDACTED]] agreed to speak with you and met with you on Monday, October 2, 2023, you again disregarded my prior instructions and repeated your concerns to [[REDACTED]] later that week.

You have sent numerous emails both internally to Childrens Mercy staff, as well as to colleagues and others outside of Childrens Mercy. Some of these emails include sharp and derogatory criticism of Childrens Mercy, its board and executive leadership. In several cases, you have made offensive, personal statements about me. In others, you have communicated with other leaders your opinion that they have been marginalized. Other emails constitute inappropriate backchanneling with outside parties with whom we are discussing business relationships.

You misrepresented your reporting relationship.

You have failed to demonstrate collaborative working relationships.

Your conduct has adversely affected the harmonious operations of Childrens Mercy.

All of this and more has demonstrated your egregious failure to live up to our guiding behaviors and values.

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His lawsuit claims the only way Curran could be fired with cause and with no notice would be if he violated paragraph 5 of the employee agreement  or if he was sanctioned by a government healthcare program or was suffering from a permanent disability that rendered him unable to work.

Paragraph 5 of the employee agreement states:

5. Qualifications/Compliance with Laws, Policies, Regulations, Rules and Standards. Employee acknowledges and agrees that the commencement and continuation of employment with Hospital is contingent upon Employee obtaining and maintaining the qualifications set forth herein. Employee covenants that at all times during the term of this Agreement, Employee shall:

(a) comply with Hospitals drug/alcohol screening policies and procedures;

(b) comply with all applicable Hospital policies, and all applicable laws, statutes, rules, regulations and standards including those of governmental agencies and regulatory and accreditation bodies, including The Joint Commission, as any of the foregoing may be amended from time to time;

(c) demonstrate effective collaborative working relationships with Hospitals staff, including all research, clinical and administrative staff; and

(d) not engage in any personal or professional conduct which, in the reasonable determination of the Hospital, does or may adversely affect the delivery of patient care or the effective and harmonious operations of Hospital; and

(e) hold and maintain all necessary qualifications and certifications to conduct the research activities referred in Exhibit A .

The backlash

Since Currans firing, several donors and foundations have expressed their criticism.

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One large foundation paused its funding after Curran was fired and wrote in a letter:

The Foundation relied on the fact that Dr. Tom Curran would be leading this Institute and that there would be transparency with members of the CMRI Advisory Council. Dr. Curran is ascribed the title of leading scientist of pediatric tumor research globally and is highly acclaimed by the National Academy of Sciences. His vision would put together a world-class team. Based on the articulated vision of the CMH Board in 2017 and Dr. Currans involvement, the Foundation stated its CMRI gift intention of $75mm, along with $3mm from [other donors], and [a donors] additional $15mm

Another group of donors asked CMH to return the funds they had donated, writing in part:

Given CMHs failure to move forward with recruiting for the endowed chairs for the past year, and more recent events, including the termination of employment of Dr. Tom Curran, the Donors now join the ranks of others in the community who are concerned about the direction of research at CMH, as well as the continued partnership between CMH and KU.

Kempinski resigns after CMH launches investigation

In early 2024, CMH conducted an investigation of Kempinski. According to the lawsuit, this investigation was prompted by Currans reports and refusal to permit the misuse of millions of dollars of research donations.

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In May 2024, Kempinski announced his resignation.

Since being fired, Curran claims that CMH has not allowed him to access his own research data or lab materials. The lawsuit says CMH has not provided any legal or contractual basis to keep the research property  and says its something thats never been done to other researchers who left CMH.

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In November 2024, the hospital denied Currans request for electronic research records and his request to have a specialty moving company assess how to move his lab materials.

Curran is asking that the court grant him ownership of the research and lab materials that CMH has blocked him from accessing.

FOX4 has reached out to Childrens Mercy Hospital and is awaiting their response.

This lawsuit was filed on March 18, 2025, in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri at Kansas City.

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The Trump administration is on a collision course with the courts after a week spent taunting a federal judge and escalating a battle over whether his orders have been defied.

Administration officials on March 15 rebuffed an oral order from U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg to turn around or halt flights of Venezuelan migrants headed to a Salvadoran prison.

In the week since, they have lashed out at the judge inside and outside of court, diminishing Boasbergs authority over the matter and repeatedly refusing to provide requested information in court. President Trump and allies in Congress have even floated impeaching Boasberg  sparking some rare public pushback from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

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While the week began with broad attacks on Boasbergs ruling over the flights, it concluded with Trump decrying the entire concept of nationwide injunctions to halt his agenda and calling for the Supreme Court to intervene.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in an interview with NBCs Meet the Press that he agreed with those who said the U.S. was in a constitutional crisis.

Look, Donald Trump is a lawless, angry man. He thinks he should be king, Schumer said. He thinks he should do whatever he wants, regardless of the law, and he thinks judges should just listen to him.

Defying court orders is why our democracy is at risk, and well have to do everything to fight back in that regard, he added.

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Numerous Trump officials have suggested the federal bench cant interfere with Trumps foreign policy, despite judges routinely reviewing immigration policy and other major national security matters.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Boasberg had no right to ask questions seeking more information about the flights that deported alleged Venezuelan gang members.

Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff to the president who has been central to the administrations sweeping push to crackdown on immigration and ramp up deportations, sparred with television anchors over the case and argued Trump telegraphed his plans on the campaign trail.

The American people voted for this specific action to occur. It has occurred, and it is occurring, and it will continue to occur, Miller said. And the idea that a single district court judge has the authority to direct as though they were the president, the movement of airplanes around the globe, again it is the most outrageous thing I have seen from a district court judge in my lifetime, but frankly going back multiple lifetimes.

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Trump and some of his aides have not shied away from trolling their critics, dating back to the 2024 campaign. They have leaned into that in recent days, as the administration has seemingly embraced the controversy surrounding the case and Boasbergs order.

The president will always follow the law, but this judge was too slow. We played a little game of catch me if you can, and guess what, the judge wasnt able to catch us on this one, deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said Tuesday on NewsNations Morning in America.

In another media appearance during the week, Fields suggested Boasbergs ruling was pushing the nation closer to a constitutional crisis, turning around a line of attack that has become common among alarmed watchdogs and Democrats.

The White House posted a video to its social media account this week that featured footage of migrants in handcuffs being patted down by Border Patrol and put on a plane. The video was set to the song Closing Time by Semisonic, which drew a rebuke from the band.

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I think it sums up our immigration policy pretty well. You dont have to go home, but you cant stay here, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, quoting a line from the song.

Border czar Tom Homan said the administration would not stop its deportation efforts, telling Fox News, I dont care what the judges think.

Trump has at multiple points said he would not openly defy a court order and that his administration would appeal rulings it disagreed with.

But the administrations combative approach has drawn rebukes from legal groups and Democrats who view Trump and his aides as attempting to consolidate power and undermine the judiciary.

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For more than 200 years, our legal system has afforded individuals the right to disagree with judicial decisions and to appeal them if they are the aggrieved party, the American Bar Association said in a statement this week.

Targeting judges personally or threatening to remove them because they rule a certain way has never been acceptable. Such efforts are intended to intimidate judges and our courts and weaken public trust and confidence in our judicial system.

Roberts himself made the same argument.

For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose, he said in a rare public statement shortly after Trumps calls for impeachment.

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Boasberg on Friday made clear he intends to push back against the Trump administration, including on whether officials flouted his order to turn around flights of Venezuelans headed to El Salvador.

The governments not being terribly cooperative at this point, but I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order, who ordered this and what the consequences will be, Boasberg said during a Friday hearing.

The Justice Department (DOJ) this week repeatedly refused to share details about flights carrying more than 230 Venezuelans to El Savlador  flight plans that would help Boasberg sort out whether the government complied with an oral order he gave at around 6:45 p.m. March 15, as well as a written order that was posted to the docket at 7:27 p.m. that same day.

At a Monday hearing a DOJ attorney repeatedly told Boasberg he was not authorized to disclose more information about the flights.

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Then when asked to explain the legal rationale behind their refusal to do so, DOJ again demurred, writing in a filing that there is no justification to order the provision of additional information, and that doing so would be inappropriate.

DOJ was then directed to provide the flight information to Boasberg under seal, but Boasberg indicated it again did not do so, instead submitting a sworn statement from a midlevel immigration official saying the Cabinet was discussing whether to invoke the state secrets privilege. That would limit sharing with Boasberg, who has handled highly sensitive classified information previously through his role as a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court judge.

Boasberg said the response was woefully insufficient and evaded obligations to show the administration complied with an earlier court ruling.

Though both oral and written orders are binding, the White House has repeatedly asserted it complied with Boasbergs written directive, while failing to mention his verbal instruction.

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We are 100 percent confident that weve complied, Leavitt told reporters Thursday.

And as Ive said from the podium and will continue to say, all of the flights that were subject to the written order of the judge took off before the written order was pushed in the courtroom.

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Mar. 21MORRISON  A Whiteside County judge Wednesday rejected the terms of a plea deal that had been reached in a 2021 Rock Falls shooting case.

Alexander Vinson-Ishmon, 24, was ready to plead guilty Wednesday afternoon to one count of aggravated battery with a firearm, which would have sent him to prison for up to six years and would be served concurrently with his sentence for a Lee County weapons case filed just days after the March 21, 2021, shooting.

However, Whiteside County Circuit Court Judge James Heuerman refused to accept the terms of the plea agreement in the Rock Falls case based on the danger the fired shots posed to others in the area at the time.

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According to the charging document, the events began to unfold shortly before 6:30 a.m. March 21, 2021, when a Rock Falls police officer was driving in the 600 block of West Second Street and saw a man who appeared to be trying to break into a home.

The officer went to the house and, while the man was gone, she noted damage to two windows and a door. She also found a phone lying on the ground nearby, according to the document.

Vinson-Ishmon lived at the residence, according to the document.

About 7:30 a.m. the same day, Rock Falls police officers responded to the 300 block of Sixth Avenue, where they found evidence of a shooting in the alley between Sixth and Seventh avenues and a home struck by at least one bullet, according to the document.

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About that same time, a 21-year-old man who lived in the area and had been shot  and whose phone was the one found by the Rock Falls officer next to the home with the broken windows and door  walked into the police department to report the incident. He was taken to CGH Medical Center for treatment of superficial gunshot wounds, according to the document.

Rock Falls police then issued an arrest warrant for Vinson-Ishmon for aggravated discharge of a firearm in connection with the man's wounds. Vinson-Ishmon was taken into custody in Dixon three days after the shooting.

According to a Dixon Police Department news release issued at the time, Dixon police received information from the Rock Falls Police Department that Vinson-Ishmon was wanted on a valid arrest warrant regarding the Rock Falls shooting.

Dixon officers checked numerous locations in Dixon and subsequently found Vinson-Ishmon's vehicle at a residence in the 800 block of East Graham Street, police said. They conducted surveillance of the residence.

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About 4:40 p.m. March 24, 2021, surveillance officers observed Vinson-Ishmon exit a residence in the 800 block of East Graham Street and enter a vehicle parked at that location. Police conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle in the 800 block of East Graham Street, and Vinson-Ishmon was taken into custody without incident.

During a search of the vehicle, officers found a loaded handgun, a large amount of U.S. currency and cannabis, according to the release, and a check of the firearm's serial number revealed that the firearm was reported stolen from a residence in Lee County in early 2020.

Vinson-Ishmon was turned over to the Lee County Jail and charged with armed violence, possession of a stolen firearm, unlawful possession with intent to deliver 30 to 500 grams of cannabis, possession of a firearm without a requisite firearm owner's identification card, possession of ammunition without a requisite FOID card, and unlawful possession of cannabis, according to the release.

He pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen firearm in the Lee County case in November 2023 and was sentenced in January 2024 to up to seven years in prison, according to court records.

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The plea agreement on the table Wednesday in Whiteside County would have led to immediate sentencing for the March 21, 2021, shooting. That six-year prison term would have run concurrently with the Lee County sentencing.

But Heuerman said Wednesday that he would not accept the Whiteside County plea agreement because although the victim's wounds were superficial, gunfire that damaged the door of a nearby house indicated others had faced danger and a risk of injury.

"People should be able to feel safe in their own homes," Heuerman said.

The case now will head toward a 402 conference set for April 29 in Whiteside County. A 402 conference is an open, informal process where attorneys and a judge discuss relevant information regarding the case and a potential outcome. Defendants are not present during the conference but must agree to waive their presence before it is held.

A pretrial conference is set for 1:30 p.m. May 28, with a jury trial to potentially begin at 8:30 a.m. June 10 in Whiteside County Circuit Court.
A growing number of countries are warning their citizens about potential problems they could face if they travel to the United States, as the Trump administration continues its sweeping immigration enforcement crackdown.

Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Finland updated their travel advisories for the U.S. in recent days.

Advisories from Germany and the U.K. warn of harsh consequences that travelers could face and come after recent reports that citizens of their countries were detained when attempting to cross the border into the U.S.

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Germanys notice stresses that visa entry isnt guaranteed and U.S. border control has the final say, while the updated advisory to British passport-holders stresses that they should comply with all entry, visa and other conditions of entry.

Finland and Denmark, meanwhile, directed their warnings to transgender and nonbinary travelers, whose passports may be questioned.

If your passport has the gender designation X or you have changed gender, it is recommended to contact the U.S. embassy prior to travel for guidance on how to proceed, the Danish foreign ministrys advisory reads.

None of the advisories explicitly mention President Trump by name, but they come two months after his White House return and appear to highlight policy changes he has implemented. Trump heavily campaigned in 2024 on making it harder to cross the border and revoking policies that benefit people who are transgender.

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Trump signed an executive order after his inauguration stating that the federal government recognizes only two sexes  male and female. The State Department, citing that order, implemented a new policy that bars transgender and nonbinary people from obtaining passports with designations that match their gender identities. The policy, which reverses action taken by the Biden administration in 2021, is being challenged in court.

Meanwhile, tight visa restrictions have prompted issues for some Europeans traveling to the U.S.

The U.K. foreign office confirmed earlier this month that it was assisting a British national detained at the border after reports circulated that the 27-year-old tourist was allegedly held for two weeks when she attempted to return to the U.S. after she faced visa issues at the Canadian border.

Two Germans residing in the U.S. were reportedly detained over visa concerns after attempting to cross the border following trips to Mexico. A U.S. resident from Germany reportedly faced an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement interrogation after a trip to visit his family in Luxembourg.

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First they felt the shock wave as it tore through their homes, then they saw the mushroom cloud.

Stunned residents of Saratov ran from their roofless houses after what local authorities called the largest-ever aerial attack on the region, which scattered debris for miles.

Ukraines target was obvious; the style of its strike was seen before.

A swarm of low-flying, slow-moving drones overwhelmed local air defences and struck Russias sprawling Engels bomber base, in southern Russia.

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It was the third such attack in just 10 weeks but the timing was significant this time.

Hours before, Volodymyr Zelensky said he was willing to commit to a US-proposed ceasefire on energy targets, but warned that everything will fly until actual parameters were agreed upon and documents signed.

The Ukrainian leader had just accused Vladimir Putin of yet again breaking his agreement with Donald Trump that he would halt attacks on Ukraines grid and civilian infrastructure.

As a clear military target, Engels was not protected under any such truce. But the strike could be interpreted as a warning from Kyiv to Moscow  that even with energy raids off the table, they can still hit Russias war machine where it hurts.

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In the attack, Ukraines drones hit a huge stockpile of munitions, aviation fuel and  according to analysts  recently delivered cruise missiles, igniting a series of violent secondary explosions that turned the sky a menacing red.

Engels is now facing serious difficulties, the Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communication (Stratcom) mocked afterwards.

Russian sources reported the damage was massive and satellite images later showed multiple huge warehouses on the site were entirely wiped out.

It was the clearest sign yet that the Soviet-era base, home to Putins prized nuclear-capable heavy strategic bombers, had been pushed to the top of Ukraines target list.

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The long-range raid, like the ones before it, was audacious, precise and smartly timed.

Ukraine has always chosen its high-value targets carefully  knowing Russias missile arsenal dwarfs its own  and hitting high-value targets at opportune moments.

Last week was proof, when Ukraine targeted the Russian capital with its largest-ever drone bombardment of the war just hours before high-level delegations from Washington and Kyiv were due to meet in Saudi Arabia.

It served as a reminder that despite three years of grinding war and huge losses, Ukraine can still hit back.

Dmytro Zhmailo, the executive director of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, said the destruction of military facilities in Engels has always been a priority goal for Ukraine.

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He said the long-range missiles the strike targeted would be used to bomb Ukraine, while the secondary detonation of the ammunition could have destroyed or damaged Tu-95 and Tu-160 aircraft along with their flight and technical crew.

In other words, it underscores Ukraines ability to aim left of the boom  US army slang for getting ahead of a problem by striking the source  prevent (or get left of) an attack before it happens.

Ukraine has increasingly been targeting weapons factories, ammunition warehouses and aviation fuel depots far inside Russia, grinding down Russias ability to wage war and blunting its crippling aerial bombardment.

Over 400 miles east of Ukraines frontline and 450 miles south of Moscow, Engels houses three types of Russian strategic bombers, Tu-95, Tu-22 and Tu-160, which are all regularly used to launch strikes on Ukrainian cities.

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Built in 1952, it is also the only permanent base for the Tu-160, Russias largest and fastest supersonic bomber also known as White Swan to the Russian air force and Blackjack to Nato.

Before the war, Engels was the main base for all Russian missile carriers and aircraft cruise missiles. According to Maxim Starchak, an expert on Russian defence and strategic weapons, it had housed 16 Tu-160s and 18 Tu-95s.

But in December 2022, Ukraine hit the base three separate times, when its military was first showing its ability to successfully penetrate Russias air defences and strike long-range targets, damaging a Tu-22 and a Tu-95

After that, at least two-thirds of the aircraft were relocated to other military airfields in the country, Mr Starchak told The Telegraph.

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Engels, however, remains a critical launch base for long-range strikes on Ukraine.

And the airbase has had a rough time of it lately.

On Jan 8, Ukrainian drones targeted a fuel depot there, triggering a huge blaze that raged for six days as it burnt through thousands of litres of precious jet fuel.

Just hours after the fire was finally contained on Jan 14, drones struck the same target a second time. There will be no rest for the wicked, Ukraines Stratcom warned.

On the morning of the March 20 strike, Ukrainian accounts say there were three Tu-95 and two Tu-160 strategic bombers at Engels.

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But the aircraft was not the target.

Andrii Kovalenko, the head of Ukraines Center for Countering Disinformation, said that the strike caused a significant loss of missiles, including the Kh-101, estimated to cost $13 million ( 10 million) a piece.

Mr Kovalenko said: The exact number will be determined later. This airbase stores the largest stockpile of missiles used by Russias strategic aviation for strikes against Ukraine.

The footage of the strike also supports his report.

The size of the explosion, the mushroom cloud it produced, and the subsequent fires it triggered, are in line with the theory that a weapons storage area was hit  and well.

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Open-source analysts reported that an Il-76 Candid airlifter had recently arrived, supposedly carrying additional missiles for the bombers.

A bomber  although incredibly costly  can be replaced, but destroying a warehouse full of long-range cruise missiles has the potential to reduce the capabilities of Russias strategic bombing fleet for months, said Mr Starchak.

He added: The Kh-101 and Kh-55 are expensive missiles that still have Western components in their composition, access to which is limited, which means these missiles are produced in small batches.

If Russia has lost a significant supply of them, the effect will be very large.

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The strike also underscores the ability of relatively slow and low-flying Ukrainian drones, which are often hard to detect, to travel deep into Russian territory and strike strategic military targets.

It also points to critical issues in Russian air defence capabilities.There are not enough air defence systems [in Russia], and they are not being used effectively in all areas, said Mr Starchak.

For now, it is unlikely Ukraine will strike Engels again soon as Russia will be busy transferring additional air defences there, dragging them away from another target.

Instead, its military will likely be looking to strike next where Russia is not prepared.

Mr Zhmailo said: Engels is certainly an important target, but it is not the only one in the priority of the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine plans to produce 30,000 long-range drones in 2025. Kyiv knows where Russias airfields are and they are large, stationary and visible targets. Ukraine is also reported to have tested a drone with a 3,000km range, potentially putting even more Russian targets within each.

If Ukraines targets are limited as part of Mr Trumps plans to push towards peace, Mr Zhmailo said to expect near-daily strikes deep inside Russian territory.

And on the political front, as Mr Zelenksy prepares for the next round of peace negotiations in Saudi Arabia, his country has proven it has far more cards to play.

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President Trump has hit a number of snags in court with several judges objecting to the processes by which Trump is seeking to enact his agenda. Former federal prosecutor Berit Berger discusses these legal entanglements and why Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rebuke of Trump was critical to supporting the judicial branch.
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW)  Job seekers, including veterans and civilians, can connect with employers at the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center job fair on Friday, March 28

The fair will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Grand Ballroom, 400 W. Waterman St. Admission is free, and no registration is needed.

Hutchinson Community College to host job fair

The fair will host over 70 employers. The first hour is reserved for veterans to connect with employers. After 11 a.m., the event opens to all job seekers.

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The job fair will include on-site interviews, networking, and career resources to support participants in their professional journeys. Attendees are encouraged to dress professionally and bring resumes.

For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news by downloading our mobile app and signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track 3 Weather app by clicking here.

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SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  Since January, the Trump Administration has focused on securing the U.S.-Mexico border, including deploying military personnel to enhance border security.

This afternoon, officials gave a firsthand look at the improvements being made, including the reinforcement of the border fence.

Federal prosecutors in San Diego file more than 100 border-related cases

For the past few months, Marines, sailors, and soldiers have played a crucial role in securing the border by installing concertina wire  also known as C-wire  along the primary and secondary border fences.

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More than 500 Marines and sailors from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force have been working on the project since January, installing six miles of C-wire, starting at the ocean and extending eastward.

This is not razor wire, said Lt. Col. Tyrone Barrion of the U.S. Marine Corps. Razor wire is something likely more dangerous for individuals, but concertina wire I refer to like a thorn bush.

Barrion emphasized that the goal is to prevent illegal crossings without causing serious harm.

Border Report Live: The state of U.S. immigration courts today

If somebody decides to attempt to either modify or touch the C-wire, it will likely catch them, whether its on their clothing, allowing Border Patrol to have time to react and conduct apprehensions, he said.

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According to U.S. Border Patrol officials, the deployment of military personnel by the Department of Defense has significantly reduced the number of illegal crossings.

While we continue to see people attempt to illegally enter the country between the Ports of Entry, the addition of concertina wire has significantly slowed down illegal entries where deployed, said Chief Jeffrey Stalnaker of the U.S. Border Patrol.

Chief Stalnaker reported that in the last fiscal year, which ended in June 2024, the San Diego sector saw a record number of apprehensions. This sector accounts for 3% of the total Southwest border with Mexico.

EPA reverses course on Tijuana River sewage crisis

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Almost halfway through the current fiscal year, we have apprehended just over 43,000 illegal aliens, Chief Stalnaker said. That is over a 70% decrease from the same time last year.

Additionally, U.S. Army personnel from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, have been assisting the Border Patrol with surveillance operations.

Every day, our soldiers work tirelessly to detect and report illegal crossings, enabling a swift response from our Border Patrol counterparts, said Lt. Col. Phillip Mason of the U.S. Army.

However, Border Patrol officials acknowledge that some illegal crossings continue, particularly by sea. Authorities have seen an increase in maritime smuggling operations using small boats, such as Pangas.

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The number of crossings by water has gradually increased, Chief Stalnaker said. We do anticipate that as we continue to lock down the border here and secure it, we will most likely see a greater increase on the maritime environment.

As Border Patrol works to tighten security along the coast, Stalnaker issued a clear warning.

Let me be perfectly clear  the border is closed, he said. If you cross illegally in the San Diego sector, you will face consequences.

When asked how long military personnel will remain deployed, Border Patrol officials said there is no definitive timeline at this point.

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FOND DU LAC, Wis. (WFRV)  Justin Fena, a man from Waukesha is facing serious charges after leading deputies on a high-speed chase on March 4th.

According to a Facebook post from the Fond du Lac Police Department, the chase ended when Fenas vehicle crashed into a milk tanker at the intersection of STH 175 and CTH F.

Image from Fond du Lac PD

Fena is charged with five counts of recklessly endangering safety, drug possession, fleeing from law enforcement, and driving under the influence. He is also accused of having illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia in his vehicle.

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Utter disregard for human life: Appleton man charged in 2010 death of one-month-old child, faces up to 60 years in prison

Police report that after Fena was arrested, a sheriffs K9 dog named Iro alerted deputies to drugs inside the car. A search of the vehicle revealed methamphetamine, cocaine, LSD, THC, ketamine, and MDMA (ecstasy).

Deputies also found five firearms, including two AK-47s, along with a large amount of ammunition.

Fena is currently in the Fond du Lac County Jail with a $100,000 bond. The investigation is ongoing, and more charges may be added.

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MADISON, Wis. (WFRV)  A 26-year-old Wisconsin man was sentenced on Friday by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 7.5 years in federal prison on multiple charges.

According to Timothy M. OShea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, Cedric Sanders of Janesville pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and illegal firearm possession on December 5, 2024.

Wisconsin man gets five years in prison for fentanyl possession with intent to distribute

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According to the release, Sanders sold fentanyl to confidential informants twice in November 2023 and twice to an undercover officer. Officers searched three homes and two vehicles connected to Sanders a month later and recovered two guns, firearm magazines, ammunition, a suppressor and a high-capacity drum magazine.

In addition, officers found about $12,960 in cash and 4,545 fentanyl pills, which adds to roughly 396 grams. Sanders is a prior convicted felon and is therefore barred from legally owning a firearm.

Utter disregard for human life: Appleton man charged in 2010 death of one-month-old child, faces up to 60 years in prison

Judge Conley noted the dangers of fentanyl distribution and Sanders illegal gun possession, deeming significant sentencing necessary.

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No additional details are available.

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MADISON, Wis. (WFRV)  A 42-year-old Wisconsin man was sentenced on Thursday by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to seven years in prison for firearm possession as a felon.

According to Timothy M. OShea, the United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, James Stevens of Madison pled guilty to the charge on December 11, 2024.

Wisconsin man gets five years in prison for fentanyl possession with intent to distribute

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The Wisconsin Department of Justice had a confidential informant purchase cocaine and heroin from Stevens, leading to a search during the investigation. Agents searched Stevens home and seized 224 grams of cocaine.

Officials also recovered a loaded handgun in his couch, and Stevens is barred from legally owning firearms due to a previous felony conviction.

Utter disregard for human life: Appleton man charged in 2010 death of one-month-old child, faces up to 60 years in prison

Judge Conley balanced Stevens spoken desire to turn his life around with the possible danger he posed to his community during the sentencing hearing.

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No additional details are available.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton.
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Here we go again, Wisconsin. The election is coming up soon and Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel is already casting doubt that it will be fair because of early voting and absentee ballots not being counted until election night after the polls close (Schimel raises vote counting trope ahead of election, March 20).

Simple solution: Start counting right away on Election Day. But sorry, that won't happen because the Republicans who control the legislature only want to keep using that as an excuse when the results aren't in their favor.

Editorial: Elon Musks despicable disinformation tampers with WI Supreme Court election

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They have the power to get this changed, and I'm sure the governor will sign it.

Timothy Hoyt, Greenfield

Opinion: We welcome tariffs on Canadian and Mexican beef and cattle. Heres why.

Opinion: On Wisconsins glacial lakes, wake-enhanced boating damaging and dangerous

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: GOP can solve Milwaukee voting issue. They don't want to. | Letters
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD)  Residents and fellows at the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine are getting ready to strike amid ongoing contract negotiations, the union confirmed.

We have submitted notice that we are striking March 31 and April 1, 2025, as negotiations have not moved significantly, the Resident & Fellow Alliance wrote in an email to News 8.

WMed residents vote to unionize, await authorization

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When it announced the upcoming strike in a social media post, the union criticized the most recent offer it had received.

Management gave us the same salary offer from more than 105 days ago (Wednesday), the RFA wrote in its post. Their big offer is to take away our retirement and give us $1,500/yr as meal and cell phone stipend. This is not a real offer. We demand a fair contract now!

The union previously held a strike authorization vote, which yielded overwhelming support, it said. More than 90% of those who voted were in favor, according to the unions social media.

In a statement provided to News 8, WMed said it was disappointed to learn that some of our residents and fellows have chosen to participate in a strike. It emphasized that WMed Health locations will stay open.

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The statement continued:

Our team has been regularly meeting with the RFA and engaging in good faith negotiations, actively participating in bargaining sessions, and presenting generous proposals and counterproposals. Each year, WMeds resident and fellow compensation has been calculated based on the (Association of American Medical Colleges) Median for sponsoring institutions of our size in the Central Region. Our salary proposal followed this data-driven approach and would keep WMed residents above the average resident salaries in the state of Michigan. The parties have been able to reach numerous Tentative Agreements so far and have made excellent progress on creating their first contract. WMed is committed to continuing these negotiations with the goal of reaching a fair and mutually beneficial collective bargaining agreement that addresses the concerns of both parties. We are proud of the progress our negotiating teams have made in the past few months. WMed

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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET)  A 62-year-old woman pleaded not guilty Friday to a charge of accessory after the fact in connection with a deadly stabbing that occurred in January.

Michelle Ballantine is due back in court April 2  the same date as co-defendants Larry Edward Chavez, 42, and Matthew Troy Chavez, 35.

Matthew Chavez, file image

Matthew Chavez is charged with murder and Larry Chavez with being an accessory after the fact. They were arraigned Thursday.

Larry Chavez, file image

Early on Jan. 20, Jason Raymond Mena, 21, was stabbed in the 3100 block of Pioneer Drive, according to sheriffs officials. He was taken to Kern Medical, where he was pronounced dead.

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The Chavezes and Ballantine were arrested this week.

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(PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo.)  A woman has been arrested in Pueblo County on felony negligence and animal cruelty charges after her elderly mother was attacked and killed in February by the womans dogs.

According to the Pueblo County Sheriffs Office, 47-year-old Jessica Hoff was arrested on Friday, March 21 on a warrant for negligence resulting in death of an at-risk adult and for 54 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals in connection to an incident on Feb. 3 at a home on Jefferson Boulevard in Colorado City.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Death of woman being investigated as dog attack

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PCSO said deputies initially responded to a report of an unconscious woman at a home in the 4800 block of Jefferson Boulevard in Colorado City on the evening of Feb. 3. When they arrived, deputies found 76-year-old LaVonne Hoff unresponsive, and several dogs running loose in the home. Another two dozen dogs and seven birds were located in cages in the home, PCSO said.

LaVonne Hoff was pronounced dead on scene, and autopsy results determined she had died as a result of a dog attack.

Detectives conducted an extensive investigation, and learned that Jessica Hoff had left her mother, who had dementia, at home alone while she ran errands in Pueblo. LaVonne reportedly required 24-hour care at the time she was left alone. The investigation revealed that LaVonne had been attacked by the loose dogs in the home.

Detectives executed a search warrant on the home, as well as a second property owned by Jessica in Colorado City, and found a total of 54 dogs and the seven birds in her possession. The dogs and birds were reportedly living in unsanitary conditions and several of the dogs were in poor health.

Courtesy: Pueblo County Sheriffs Office

Jessica Hoff has been booked into the Pueblo County Jail and is due in court April 22.

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A woman was charged with animal cruelty after her dog was found dead at Orlando airport in December.

An affidavit said she was denied boarding due to improper paperwork for the dog.

It said she boarded a flight to Colombia without reporting the dog's disappearance to authorities.

A Florida woman is facing aggravated animal cruelty charges after her dog was found dead in a trash can at Orlando International Airport in December.

The State of Florida is prosecuting Alison Lawrence, 57, in a criminal case filed in the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court.

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An arrest warrant affidavit dated March 17, seen by Business Insider, said that Lawrence was denied boarding with her white miniature schnauzer, Tywinn, due to improper paperwork.

She was traveling on December 16 to Colombia, and health certificates and vaccinations are needed for pets.

After being denied boarding, it is claimed that Lawrence killed the dog inside a women's restroom near the West Jet ticket counter.

US Customs and Border Protection confirmed that Lawrence proceeded to board her flight to Bogota.

The defendant had connecting flights to Quito and Cuenca, Ecuador, with no return flight to the US booked.

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She did not report the loss or disappearance of Tywinn to airport authorities at any time.

Investigators also found no evidence that Lawrence had attempted to arrange alternative accommodations for the dog.

A cleaner found the dog's body inside a plastic bag in a bathroom trash can.

Blood was found on the dog's left leg, and the body was still warm and wet upon examination.

A necropsy determined that the dog died from drowning, and a forensic review of the restroom revealed the presence of water residue consistent with forced submersion.

The toxicology report found no pre-existing medical conditions that could have contributed to the animal's death.

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According to the affidavit, surveillance video showed the dog entering the restroom with Lawrence, and the evidence aligned with an intentional killing of the dog rather than an accidental death.

A Florida driver database search revealed the defendant had used three last names: Lawrence, Holt, and Lichter.

Phone records linked the number on the dog tag to Alison Holt, associated with the same address in Clermont, Florida.

An arrest warrant was issued based on the overwhelming evidence supporting a felony animal cruelty charge. Lawrence was arrested on Wednesday and is understood to have been released on bail.

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Lawrence could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesperson for the Orlando International Airport told BI that the Orlando Police Department is actively investigating the case and declined to comment further.

The airport recommends that passengers flying with small animals check the TSA website for information on how to travel with them safely, the spokesperson said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG)  Mobile police officers are looking for a person who allegedly took a womans purse and kicked her out of a car at a local car dealership.

Dollar General going-out-of-business sale leads to chaos, temporary closure

According to a Mobile Police Department news release, officers were called to Springhill Toyota on Government Boulevard around 11:30 a.m. Thursday for a reported property theft.

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Officers arrived and said they found that the woman had asked the unknown person for a ride at a different location to the car dealership.

During the ride, the person allegedly asked the woman if she had any money and when she reached for her purse, the person grabbed the purse, stopped the vehicle and made the woman get out.

DOGE looking into terminating several government leases around Gulf Coast

Police said this remains an active investigation.

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Lexington museums will focus on the areas famous women as they celebrate the citys 250th anniversary.

As March is Womens History Month, the museums in Lexington will focus on how women impacted the citys politics, culture and quality of life. The exhibits are part of 250Lex, the citys year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of its founding.

Mandy Higgins, director of the Lexington History Museum, said the exhibits would bring to life the work and times of the women who shaped Lexington.

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Lexington women had a significant influence in Lexingtons culture and politics, she said. They were responsible for a lot more than theyre given credit for.

Higgins said the Lexington History Museum will continue its Among Women exhibit featuring the history of the Womans Club and Lexingtons social and cultural changes over the past century.

That includes significant contributions to the city, such as the establishment of the first public library, the influence of the clubs members on business and politics and the fashions of the day.

The first womens organization in Lexington was the Womans Club of Central Kentucky. Formed in 1894, just after the Kentucky Federation of Womens Clubs was formed, the organization represented women from Bourbon, Boyle, Casey, Clark, Fayette, Jessamine, Madison, Mercer, Montgomery, Scott and Woodford counties.

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The groups goal was far-reaching: To further the educational and cultural life of the community and to broaden the outlook of the women of central Kentucky by keeping them informed on matters of national and international scope.

It has been instrumental in establishing the Carnegie Public Library in 1898, in public school reform, and in womens suffrage in local school elections.

Today, the club focuses on childhood education, historic preservation, welfare and seniors.

The exhibit will run through March 31.

At the Mary Todd Lincoln House, visitors can see exactly how Lexingtons first lady lived. Mary Todd lived in the house on Main Street in the early 19th century.

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The four-panel traveling exhibit features images and text that show just what life was like in Lexington during her time. The exhibit runs through April 30.

Born on Short Street in 1818, Mary Todd became the wife and most trusted confidant of US President Abraham Lincoln. Mary Todd was one of the most educated women of her generation, which made her a successful First Lady during the American Civil War.

Although history remembers her as troubled, Mary Todds life traumas included her mother dying young, her father dying in a cholera epidemic, witnessing her husbands assassination, and three of her four children dying before adulthood.

Focusing on the experiences of women at Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate, the estates museum will provide a Womens Voices tour on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:45 p.m.

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During those tours, visitors will learn about the nine women associated with the Henry Clay estate  from Charlotte Dupuy, an enslaved woman who went to court against Henry Clay to get her freedom, to Laura Clay, one of Kentuckys leading suffragists.

Laura Clay organized and served as the first president of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association, which worked to secure equal rights for women through legislative changes in education, property rights and wages.

As the daughter of Cassius Marcellus Clay, the politician and emancipationist who worked for the abolition of slavery, she was inspired to fight for womens rights after her father divorced her mother and left her mother penniless, property-less, and without custody of her four children.

She grew up on 193 North Mill Street.

Tickets to the Womens Voices tours are available online at henryclay.org.
WORTHINGTON, Ohio (WCMH)  An overnight fire in Worthington destroyed at least one business and damaged several others.

A florist, restaurant, pizza place, and personal training business are closed because of the blaze.

You can see the sky through my ceiling in the office so its pretty bad, said Shem Fokt, owner of EMS Fitness Body.

The flames started in Rodos Greek Taverna and spread. The Worthington Fire Department arrived at the scene around 11:45 p.m. Thursday. Fokt also found out overnight about what was going on. His personal training business is just a couple of doors down from Rodos.

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Ohio solar energy project with sheep farming scrapped

When you put a lot of effort and work and to see it gone in a few moments is just very shocking and pretty depressing after all so its like you have to restart but I guess thats what we all have to do, Fokt said.

Fire crews stayed at the scene all morning. Rodos just moved into that location off route 161 in the Linworth area about two years ago.

Its devastating, theres really no words, Dan Varga said.

Varga owns a butcher shop in the same building. The fire was put out before getting to that side but there was a fire at Vargas a couple of years ago.

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I know what theyre going through. This is even worse because theres nothing left in that building and its going to take a while. My heart goes out to them for sure, he said.

Varga also said hes planning ways to help.

Were all local small business owners and we all care about what we do and were here every day in our shops running them to the best of our ability and its our livelihood, its our bread and butter. So to see this happen to somebody from our situation, it sucks, Im going to do whatever I can to help them out, he said.

The businesses are trying to figure out what comes next.

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I feel sorry for everyone who was involved and Im just, we are lucky nobody was there, nobody was hurt and thats whats most important. I think we can come up from this with strength and build something better and bigger so thats what I hope for, Fokt said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
CHICAGO  From ramps to closed captioning, the Americans with Disabilities Act changed the landscape of daily life, but behind those changes is a powerful story of activism and perseverance.

Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines

The new American Experience documentary Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act premiers on PBS on Tuesday and explores the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990.

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On Saturday, writer and producer Chana Gazit joined WGN News to discuss the upcoming documentary.

Visit the PBS website for more information on the new documentary.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
As the last of the baby boomers close in on retirement age, the number of seniors needing assistance is going to boom as well. Resources will need to increase substantially to keep pace.

Aging and Disability Resource Centers across Wisconsin are bracing for the dramatic rise in area residents 60 and older.

In Chippewa and La Crosse counties, ADRC officials say expanding resources will be crucial so outreach and health services can take care of people who are about to or already have retired.

The population is aging faster than the funds available to support the programs and services that we help people with, Leslie Fijalkiewicz said. Thats always been the challenge all along for us.

Fijalkiewicz is the outgoing manager of the ADRC of Chippewa County. She and Sarah Zielke, the new manager, are working together during the transition.

The pair agree that resource depletion is a pressing concern. In Chippewa Falls, the ADRC hopes support will grow to meet demand.

The ADRC provides services and support to adults with disabilities and those 60 and older. Services include home-delivered meals, congregate dining, transportation, caregiver support and adult protective services for reporting abuse and neglect.

The Chippewa County ADRC is one of 49 in Wisconsin serving 72 counties and 11 tribes.

The ADRC already lacks volunteers to deliver Meals on Wheels, a program increasing in popularity nationally.

At the federal level, the last time more funds for the Older Americans Act were put into the Meals on Wheels program, Chippewa County actually saw a decrease.

Thats not because we had fewer older people, its because we didnt age as fast as other places, she said. It doesnt always translate to additional funds at the local level by the time it trickles down, so that Older Americans Act is one of the significant funds that we are concerned about.

Growing demand

Fijalkiewicz said the county has put money into Meals on Wheels to help fill the gaps, but there is room for improvement at the federal and state level.

Carissa Pagel-Smith, manager of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of La Crosse County, said despite additional ARPA funding during the pandemic, the center is underfunded.

We have to prioritize cases often, she said. I would say weve had to sort of  not scale back, but weve had to pause or waitlist people needing our caregiver support. The funding that we get for that program is quite limited.

Home-delivered meal programs or congregate dining funds are tight, according to Pagel-Smith and Fijalkiewicz. However, Pagel-Smith would not say the ADRC is turning people away.

We might be supporting in other ways, helping connect them to educational information, but we may or may not have the ability to help with funding, so I feel like when it comes to supporting a community, that is one program that I would say we dont have enough funds, she said.

By the numbers

The percentage of Wisconsinites 85 and older is projected to increase 112% in the next 20 years, according to a 2020 state report: The Long-Term Care Workforce Crisis.

Everybody across the country, across the state, everybody is aging, Fijalkiewicz said. But when it comes to funds its about whos aging the fastest? Thats often how funding priorities get determined.

Whether resources will rise to meet demand remains to be seen.

The aging in the rural areas is happening at a higher rate because younger people are leaving those areas, Fijalkiewicz said. So, you end up with a much higher percentage of that population that is older.

The fastest change will happen from 20202030 when the youngest baby boomers enter the 65-and-over age groups.

Chippewa County in 2020 saw the population reach 66,300, according to aging population data from the Wisconsin Department of Administration. About 25% of the population was over the age of 60.

In 2030 the population is expected to be 66,600 with 31% in that age group and in 2040 that number is expected to be 67,200, still 31%. By 2050 it will increase slightly to 32%, even as population is projected to fall to 66,000.

Counties in northern Wisconsin are seeing the quickest increase in those over 60 before 2030.

Farther south in La Crosse, population aging is also an issue but not quite as severe.

In 2020 the population in La Crosse County was 120,800 with 18%, or 21,700 over age 60. Nearly 11% of that group is in the 65 to 74 year-old age range according to the ADRC.

In 2030 that number is expected to be 23%, with 35,400 over 60, where the percentage is expected to stay in 2040 when an estimated 37,200 will be over 60.

By 2050, about 28% of its population will be 60 and older, according to the ADRC of La Crosse.

The biggest jump will be between 2025 and 2040 when La Crosse Countys 60-and-older residents are projected to grow by 11%, ultimately becoming about one-fourth of the total population.

Get to know us before you need to

I feel like were always having to do this delicate dance in regard to  who were supporting, and really making sure that were supporting the need versus the want, because funds arent unlimited, Pagel-Smith said.

Health, transportation, meal and medical assistance, Alzheimers and social services programs need extra help, Fijalkiewicz said.

Addressing the challenges requires investments and institutional and policy reforms, she said, adding the ADRC in Chippewa County is seeking help from legislators.

She is not sure if the ADRC will see funding cuts, but hopes not.

If the ADRC received less funds for some of the work we do, then that means we have less staff to serve people, but it also means we have more people coming into our office having problems, she said. May have the challenge of less staff and more people to serve. Thats, I think, a worst-case scenario for our office.

With or without cuts, the local population is becoming older, quickly and those seeking related resources are going to increase.

We always say, Get to know us before you need to know us, Pagel-Smith said. However, oftentimes people are calling when they need to know us.
CHARLESTON, WV (WVNS)  Emergency Medical Services are some of the first people that arrive at the scene of an emergency. Now, the West Virginia EMS Coalition is reaching out to Governor Patrick Morrisey and the West Virginia Legislature, to review the EMS Salary Enhancement Fund.

The coalition represents the emergency medical service agencies in 51 counties in the state.

The EMS Salary Enhancement Funds is a program that was put in place by the West Virginia Legislature in 2023 to make EMS positions in the state more competitive with neighboring states.

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Now, the coalition says there is no funding for the 2025 fiscal year budget. Anthony McDaniel, a board member for the WV EMS Coalition, goes into more detail behind the fund.

Go across the border and sometimes make $10 to close to $20 an hour or more to do essentially the exact same job. So the legislature recognized that as an issue. They set up this fund and they created a different formula depending on how much local contribution was made from individual counties and the type of service they had, said McDaniel.

Local agencies gather donations for those affected by Hurricane Helene

A release by the coalition says, unless funds are allocated for the program, EMS workers in West Virginia will lose $9 million dollars.

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Reduction in salaries, loss of stipends and cuts in retention pay all contribute to the loss of funds.

McDaniel said if there are those in the community that want to reach out with support, there are multiple ways to do so.

New EMS Treat-in-place law to take effect in the month of May

Currently, there is a call to action out there to sign a joint letter supporting EMS salary enhancement funds going to go to the governors office in the legislature. You dont have to be an in-house provider in order to sign that letter stating we recognized that the fund was created. There was actually no money allocated to that fund for the 25 and 26 year, said McDaniel.

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The coalition currently has the support of congresswoman Carol Miller for the Ground Ambulance Medical Services act, but is hoping for more support from the West Virginia legislature.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WVNS.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed 185 bills into law Friday, bringing the total to 365 pieces of legislation that passed this General Assembly session. He has until Monday night to sign, amend or veto the remaining bills.

The bulk of those actions are expected to come Monday, Youngkin told reporters earlier this week. Last year, he issued a record 201 vetoes  none has been issued for this session thus far.

Included in the most recent package was legislation, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Emily Jordan, R-Isle of Wight, that would prohibit foods with certain dyes in school lunches. Thats part of a broader trend of states banning certain color additives, citing public health concerns.

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Today was a historic moment in the Commonwealth and we became the second state in the nation to pass legislation banning harmful food dyes in K-12 schools, said Jordan in a statement. Every child in Virginia deserves to start the day with a nutritious meal that will fuel their academic success. This momentous legislation was championed by parents across our state that want the healthiest options for their children.

Youngkin signed another bill that prohibits selling food missing the required nutrition label by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Here is some other legislation included in the most recent signings.

___

Criminal justice

HB1776 grants monetary relief to Marvin Grimm, who was exonerated last year after spending 45 years in prison. Other legislation passed by the General Assembly, but not yet signed by Youngkin, would establish a panel to review convictions resulting from evidence from Mary Jane Burton, a former analyst at Virginias Crime Lab whose work has been called into question.

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SB 877 provides job search assistance to help people who are getting released from incarceration, and HB1968 extends the timeframe for victims of a crime to be able to seek compensation from one year to three years.

___

Public health

Youngkin also signed legislation, introduced by Del. Nadarius Clark, D-Suffolk, that requires schools to keep bleeding control kits in the building.

Another bill prohibits the sale or distribution of nitrous oxide, sometimes called whippets, to minors.

Other legislation approved Friday is designed to increase transparency around the prices of prescription drugs and to require health insurance providers to include coverage for mental health and substance use disorder benefits.

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HB2742 requires emergency rooms to include testing for fentanyl and routine drug screenings.

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Education

One bill requires the Board of Education to consider adding digital citizenship and media literacy curricula to Standards of Learning when it revises those testing standards.

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Military

Youngkin signed bills that will include military spouses in the state program to reduce unemployment among veterans and that permit courts to issue a preliminary protective order when a Military Protective Order is issued.

___

Poquoson charter

Because Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, only the General Assembly can amend localities charters. SB836 amends the Poquosons charter to give the city council the power to remove, by a majority vote, anyone it appoints to a city board or commission.

Kate Seltzer, kate.seltzer@virginiamedia.com, (757)713-7881
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN)  The annual show highlighting the best work of Youngstown State art students began Friday evening on campus.

Their works were displayed at the McDonough Museum of Art as part of the 88th annual Juried Art and Design Exhibition. 21 students received awards with the top prize, the Community Excellence Award, going to senior Caitlin Martin of Mineral Ridge.

Her sculpture was titled Acroporas Ghost  Acropora being a type of coral.

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So Ive always loved the ocean. My familys always done vacations near the ocean so I wanted to do my own representation of corals, Martin said.

The art show runs through April 4.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com.
KYIV (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that he had met top military commanders in the country's northeast to discuss the frontline in Ukraine's war with Russia and meetings with U.S. officials due to get under way in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Zelenskiy was shown on the media platform X with commanders in Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv, a frequent target of Russian attacks.

He said he discussed frontline sectors in Ukraine's east as well as in western Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops remain seven months after a cross-border incursion.

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"We also prepared for the meeting between the Ukrainian and American delegations, that will take place tomorrow in Saudi Arabia," the president wrote.

In Washington, a source briefed on the planning of the meetings in Saudi Arabia with Ukrainian and Russian officials said the U.S. side would be led by Andrew Peek of the National Security Council and Michael Anton of the State Department.

The group was to meet the Ukrainians on Sunday night and the Russians on Monday.

Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Ukrainian officials would be present at the talks involving the United States and Russia, but would not be in the same room as Russia.

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Russian and U.S. experts are due to discuss ways to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea at talks on a possible peace settlement when in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the Kremlin said.

Zelenskiy agreed to a partial cease fire on energy targets that has been brokered by Washington. The Ukrainian president said he would draw up a list of facilities that could be subject to the ceasefire.

Ukrainian officials first met U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.

Earlier on Saturday, Zelenskiy visitd Ukraine's Donetsk region, where he met commanders of drone units near the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk.

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Ukrainian troops have for months been fending off Russian assaults around the city, where Moscow's forces have been slowly advancing to try to eventually capture the entire region. The governor of Donetsk region said on Saturday three people had been killed in Russian shelling of Pokrovsk.

"I visited the command post of the Tactical Group Pokrovsk and met with the commanders of the Drone Line, which united the finest unmanned systems units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Zelenskiy wrote on X.

"I received a report on the defense of the Pokrovsk direction, the operational situation, and the progress of the missions. I honored our warriors with state awards."

Drones have transformed warfare since the start of Russia's February 2022 invasion, and Ukraine has sought to elevate drone units and boost domestic production.

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This month, Kyiv's defence ministry said it would purchase around 4.5 million first-person view drones in 2025, mostly from domestic producers, more than doubling last year's rate.

(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk and Ron Popeski, additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Alistair Bell)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited troops at a front-line position near the embattled city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region.

In videos shared on social media on Saturday, Zelensky is seen awarding medals to soldiers and holding a briefing at a command post.

Zelenskyy later travelled to the Kharkiv region for another troop visit and a meeting with the military leadership.

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Pokrovsk has been a target of Russian attacks since the middle of 2024. While some Russian forces have advanced to positions south-west of the city, they have recently failed to make further territorial gains.

The complete capture of Donetsk remains one of Russia's primary military objectives in its full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year.

In September 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya  although Russian forces only partially control those areas. Russia had previously annexed Crimea in 2014.

At a recent meeting with business leaders, Putin reportedly warned that Moscow could lay claim to additional Ukrainian territories.

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It is not clear when exactly Zelensky made his visits to the east. The trip came ahead of Monday's ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia. US negotiators will meet separately with Ukrainian and Russian delegations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited troops at a front-line position near the embattled city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region.

In videos shared on social media on Saturday, Zelensky is seen awarding medals to soldiers and holding a briefing at a command post.

Zelenskyy later travelled to the Kharkiv region for another troop visit and a meeting with the military leadership.

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Pokrovsk has been a target of Russian attacks since the middle of 2024. While some Russian forces have advanced to positions south-west of the city, they have recently failed to make further territorial gains.

Shortly after information on Zelensky's visit was released, at least three civilians were killed by Russian shelling in Pokrovsk.

Another person was injured, the regional governor Vadym Filashkin wrote on Telegram. According to the public prosecutor's office, the shelling took place in the early afternoon and hit a residential neighbourhood.

The complete capture of Donetsk remains one of Russia's primary military objectives in its full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year.

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In September 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya  although Russian forces only partially control those areas. Russia had previously annexed Crimea in 2014.

At a recent meeting with business leaders, Putin reportedly warned that Moscow could lay claim to additional Ukrainian territories.

It is not clear when exactly Zelensky made his visits to the east. The trip came ahead of Monday's ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia. US negotiators will meet separately with Ukrainian and Russian delegations.
Volodymyr Zelensky visited troops defending the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk on Saturday, as diplomats from Kyiv and Moscow prepared for ceasefire talks on Monday.

In a trip designed to boost front-line morale, the Ukrainian president presented medals to teams of drone operators fighting to hold the key transport hub.

The city has been the main focus of the Russian push in the Donbas region since the autumn, but in recent weeks there have been signs of a Ukrainian push-back.

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Part of that has been down to an increased use of drones, which has compensated for Ukraines disadvantages in terms of troop numbers and artillery.

Mr Zelensky wrote on X: I visited the command post of the Tactical Group Pokrovsk and met with the commanders of the Drone Line, which united the finest unmanned systems units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

I received a report on the defence of the Pokrovsk direction, the operational situation, and the progress of the missions. I honoured our warriors with state awards.

Mr Zelenskys visit came ahead of talks scheduled in Saudi Arabia for Monday. Rather than meeting face-to-face, the teams from Kyiv and Moscow will convene separately, with US officials acting as relays between the two sides.

Shuttle diplomacy

The so-called practice of shuttle diplomacy is a common first step when convening talks between warring nations.

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Last week, Vladimir Putin rejected a joint US-Ukraine proposal of a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, instead suggesting to halt aerial strikes on energy infrastructure.

Hours later, Russian forces carried out strikes on the power grid around the Donbas city of Slovyansk, prompting questions over the sincerity of Putins commitment to the talks.

Further doubts have been raised over Putins choice of envoys for the Saudi meeting, which includes a prominent spy chief as well as diplomats. Sergei Beseda, a long-time agent of Moscows FSB security service, is on a Western sanctions list.

Grigory Karasin, a Russian diplomat who will be Mr Besedas negotiating partner at the talks, told Russian TV this weekend that the pair would be pursuing a combative and constructive approach.

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Mr Karasin said: We are going with the mood to fight for the solution of at least one issue.

Ceasefire proposals

The talks will aim to fine-tune details for a cessation of strikes on energy infrastructure and on naval assets in the Black Sea.

Donald Trump has been hoping to get Putins agreement to a much more significant ceasefire along the 600-mile front line, but that has so far proved harder than Washington appears to have anticipated.

Russia has insisted that any such agreement must first be linked to much more long-term commitments to curb Natos presence on its western borders, and for Kyiv to commit never to join the alliance. Neither Ukraine nor its Western allies are willing to make such promises.

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And although Ukraine is under pressure on the front lines, military sources have said there is no imminent risk of collapse, meaning that Kyiv is unlikely to accept a ceasefire on unfavourable terms.

Meanwhile, a family of three was killed in a Russian drone attack that hit buildings in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia on Friday night, Ukrainian officials said. One of the victims was a 14-year-old girl.

Ivan Fedorov, Zaporizhzhias regional governor, wrote on Telegram: The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled out from the rubble. The doctors fought for the mothers life for more than 10 hours, but unfortunately, they failed to save her.

Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraines first deputy prime minister, wrote on X: Russian terrorism continues to destroy families all over Ukraine.

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The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired 179 exploding drones and decoys at Zaporizhzhia, some of which were intercepted. At least 12 people were reported to be injured.

03:40 PM GMT

Thank you for following

Well be back soon with more updates and analysis from the conflict.

03:08 PM GMT

Kyivs Ohmatdyt paediatric hospital

We reported earlier that Czech President Petr Pavel visited Ukraines largest childrens hospital on Saturday (see post at 14:22).

In July 2024, the hospital sustained major damaged when it was struck by a wave of Russian missile strikes. Two people were killed.

Russia denied targeting the hospital, saying it had been hit by fragments of a Ukrainian air defence missile, while Ukraine said it had found remnants of a Russian cruise missile.

Rescuers work at Ohmatdyt Childrens Hospital that was damaged during a Russian missile strikes, amid Russias attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv - REUTERS

A woman comforts a child outside the paediatric facility - REUTERS

02:22 PM GMT

Pictured: Czech president visits childrens hospital in Kyiv

Czech President Petr Pavel visited Ukraines largest childrens hospital on Saturday, according to Kyivs minister of health.

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Viktor Liashko took Mr Pavel on a tour of the Ohmatdyt paediatric hospital in Kyiv, calling it a place of rescue for young patients with the most complex diseases.

Czech President Petr Pavel, accompanied by Ukraines Minister of Health Viktor Liashko, visited the Ohmatdyt childrens hospital in Kyiv on Saturday

The Ohmatdyt childrens hospital in Kyiv

01:26 PM GMT

Watch: Zelensky visits troops in Ukraines eastern Donetsk region

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the border of Ukraines embattled eastern Donetsk region on Saturday (see post at 10:01 am for more).

11:56 AM GMT

Russia hopes for progress at Saudi talks, says negotiator

We reported earlier that Russian and Ukrainian delegations will hold separate peace talks with the US in Saudi Arabia on Monday (see post at 9:41 am).

Moscow has now said it is hoping to achieve at least some progress, Russian negotiator and senator Grigory Karasin told state media on Saturday.

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Mr Karasin added that he and fellow negotiator, FSB advisor Sergey Beseda, had a combative and constructive mood ahead of the talks.

11:36 AM GMT

Family of three killed in Russian drone strike on Ukraine

We reported earlier that a Russian drone killed a family of three including a 14-year-old girl in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia in an attack on Friday night, despite Moscow agreeing to a limited ceasefire (see post at 9:31 am).

The attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia, which also wounded 12 people, underlined Russias intention to continue aerial strikes 48 hours before both countries are set to hold talks on ending the war.

Russia fired more than 200 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of overnight attacks.

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Regional head Ivan Fedorov said that residential buildings, private cars, and social infrastructure facilities were set on fire in the attack, with officials in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions reporting that fires broke out due to the falling debris from intercepted drones.

Ukraine and Russia have agreed to a limited ceasefire after US President Trump spoke with both leaders this week, though it is not yet clear when it might take effect and what targets would be off limits.

Ukrainian president Zelensky told reporters that technical talks in Saudi Arabia this weekend would seek to resolve what types of infrastructure would be protected under the agreement.

Mr Zelensky has said hed like railways and ports to be protected, as well as energy infrastructure.

Rescue workers clear the rubble of a residential house destroyed by a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine - AP

Police officers carry the body of a person killed by a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia - AP

11:24 AM GMT

Putin is not a bad person, says Trumps top negotiator

Donald Trumps lead negotiator has said Russian president Vladimir Putin is not a bad person.

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Discussing his two previous meetings with Putin, the US special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said that he liked him. I think he was honest with me.

Its a complicated situation, this war, and all the components that led to it. You know, its never just one person whos right, he said.

Speaking on Tucker Carlsons YouTube show, Mr Witkoff said that Putin had criticised the Biden administrations refusal to enter in talks to resolve the war.

President Putin said to me at our first meeting: How do we resolve a conflict with the head of a major nuclear power if we dont establish trust and good relations with each other?, said Witkoff, adding that Putin said he hadnt spoen to former president Joe Biden in three and a half years.

Mr Carlson, a conservative American political commentator, described Mr Witkoff as the most effective American diplomat in a generation.

Steve Witkoff has no background in diplomacy but has turned out to be the most effective American diplomat in a generation. Here's how he's trying to resolve the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.



(0:00) What Witkoff Has Learned as Trump's Global Negotiator

(4:10) Negotiating With pic.twitter.com/7AUh4gvwke  Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 21, 2025

10:50 AM GMT

Pictured: Ukrainian drone attack in Rostov, Russia

An apartment building was damaged after an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on Russias Rostov.

Local authorities said two people were injured and taken to hospital for treatment.

There was damage to six apartments in the 24-storey building.

A view of the damaged building after the Ukrainian drone attack in Rostov, Russia - Anadolu

10:01 AM GMT

Watch: Zelensky visits Ukraines Donetsk region

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited the border of Ukraines embattled eastern Donetsk region on Saturday.

I thank all our defenders. Honour to all fallen heroes, he wrote on X, alongside footage of himself meeting soldiers and visiting makeshift memorials at the regions administrative border.

I thank everyone who helps Ukraine and supports us against Russias three-year-old invasion.

I thank all our defenders. Honor to all fallen heroes.



I thank everyone who helps Ukraine and supports us.



 pic.twitter.com/X5FEmf8xKh  Volodymyr Zelenskyy /   (@ZelenskyyUa) March 22, 2025

09:54 AM GMT

Pictured: one year since Crocus City Hall concert

People gathered around 145 chairs symbolising the number of victims of the attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow, during a memorial concert on the eve of the first anniversary of the attack , in Donetsk, a Russian controlled region of Ukraine.

The Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attack.

People gather around 145 chairs symbolising the number of victims of the attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow - REUTERS

The Islamic State said it was behind the attack that killed 145 people in March 2024 - REUTERS

09:41 AM GMT

Upcoming peace talks in Saudi

Russian and Ukrainian delegations will hold separate peace talks with the US in Saudi Arabia on Monday.

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP it hopes to secure at least a partial ceasefire to stop air and naval attacks.

09:31 AM GMT

Family of three including 14-year-old killed by Russian drone

A Russian drone killed a family of three including a teenage girl in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia in an attack on Friday night.

The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled out from the rubble. The doctors fought for the mothers life for more than 10 hours, but unfortunately, they failed to save her, Zaporizhzhia governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram.

The attack comes despite Moscow agreeing to a limited ceasefire after talks with US president Trump.

Russia has once again violated the ceasefire and killed a 14-year-old child in Zaporizhzhia with a Shahed, President Volodymyr Zelenskys chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said, referring to the Iranian-style exploding drones that Moscow has deployed throughout the war.

The strikes on Zaporizhzhia wounded 12, including a nine-month-old baby, Ukrainian officials said.

Credit: X/@ZelenskyyUa

09:22 AM GMT

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited the command posts belonging to the Kharkiv Operational Tactical Group and the 13th Operational Brigade Charter of Ukraine's National Guard.

Source: Zelenskyy on X (Twitter)

Quote: "The commanders reported on the combat operations to defend Kharkiv Oblast, inflicted losses on the enemy and the upcoming tasks for the liberation of Ukrainian cities and villages. I was briefed on the digitalised analysis and management system developed by the Khartiia Brigade.

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We discussed tactics for countering Russian drones to protect our people, the use of electronic warfare and interceptor drones."

Details: Zelenskyy also presented Ukrainian defenders with state awards.

Previously: Earlier on Saturday 22 March, Zelenskyy visited Donetsk Oblast.

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Editors Note: The Tribune interviewed La Crosse mayoral candidates Shaundel Washington-Spivey and Chris Kahlow ahead of the April 1 general election for extended profile stories. This is Kahlows profile.

In the middle of the Mathy Quarry trail, La Crosse mayoral candidate Chris Kahlow recalled her fascination for preservation, both natural and built.

I feel like its tied to my soul, almost, she said just before a fork in the park trail.

Not only is her soul tied to preservation, but she once literally tied herself to the idea on La Crosses Main Street more than 20 years ago.

In 2004, the once-historic 100-year-old Uhl family row houses were demolished. As the demolition began, Kahlow passed the half-torn building on her way to work downtown. Instead of making it to work like usual, she made her way to Kroners Hardware to buy a chain and a lock.

I went back there, and I chained myself to it, Kahlow said. If we were going to lose something like this historic landmark, we should at least have some knowledge thats being lost, and I want the public to see and to know that were losing it.

Kahlows emotional attachment to historical sites predates her time in La Crosse.

Growing up in Mayville, Wisconsin, Kahlow attended church at St. Marys near a runoff river of the Horicon Marsh. The original church she attended was built in 1881. It had original stained glass, a towering brick steeple and ornate church bells.

Shortly after my first communion, they tore my church down, and they built a 1970 church  and I cried and cried, Kahlow said. It wasnt until I was in my 40s I did some deep diving that I realized how formative that was. That attachment to the historic really comes from that place, that spirituality at such a young age.

After some adjustments to her Uhl house protest from police and city attorneys, Kahlow left the site later that day to pick up her daughter from elementary school. The stunt had some label her as hysterical, but it landed her a seat on the citys Heritage Preservation Commission a few years later.

When he was elected mayor in 2013, Tim Kabat appointed Kahlow to the commission.

Yeah, I thought wed shake things up a bit, Kabat told her at the time.

Tough choices define candidate

The fascination with historical preservation has defined many actions Kahlow took as a city council member and president.

In her district, Kahlow fought to keep the REACH Services and Resource Center from having its rezoning petition approved.

She sided with many neighbors next to the center that believed the office would be better suited for housing and that clients for the social services brought unwanted attention to the neighborhood of primarily single-family homes.

The building is in between two historic areas: Washburn Residential zoning and the Downtown Neighborhood Association.

Several changes to council policies later, the petition was approved 8-4 after months of contention. Through the various council and committee meetings on the petition, many votes were split down the middle.

Kahlows vote against the petition became a topic during the March 12 debate between her and her opponent, Shaundel Washington-Spivey.

In the debate and in later conversations, Kahlow said that she does feel extra scrutiny on her decisions because of her prominence on council.

Its been hard, especially when you dont know its coming at you and then theres a comment made, and a lot of times the answers are too difficult to put into a short response, she said.

However, it has not shied her away from her decisions or displaying the experience that she admitted could create vulnerabilities to her campaign.

Its much easier when someones experienced for someone else to criticize that person because they havent had to make those tough decisions. In six years, theres been a lot of challenges, Kahlow added. I really thought, and truly, of the three candidates there was no local government experience. I think that we see what happens when we have someone who comes in new with no experience, it takes two years to kind of figure out whats going on.

La Crosses future outside

In other issues, Kahlow looks outside  both to the outdoors and models of leadership outside La Crosse.

In July, before the city camping ban, Kahlow and other council members directed city staff to report on potential locations for an overnight shelter for La Crosses homeless population.

According to the council on the main hearing day, the options were grim. The city didnt have the funding to build a new shelter and barely had the cash to staff any shelter at all.

The reason we had continued to fail was because its not what cities do, Kahlow said.

Kahlow said she has a small condo in Milwaukee she uses as an occasional escape where nobody knows her and she can enjoy the non-recognition.

Her time in Milwaukee helped craft her position on the citys solution to homelessness. In 2020, she met Milwaukee County executive David Crowley. Crowley was using the countys HUD programming to change the trend of rising homelessness.

At a Democratic Party meeting in La Crosse on Monday, Crowley said that the Milwaukee suburbs have implemented six different affordable housing programs in the past four years because of the countys service response.

Weve talked about this housing, it needs to be a regional response, Kahlow added. There were a lot of COVID related grants, and we missed the boat a little bit on that and cant go back. We should have been applying for grants for homeless shelters, and we applied for a grant for a public market.

The general election will be April 1. One way or another, the race will bring about a new mayor and new city council members. Early absentee voting is underway and wraps up March 30.
Every year on March 22, the world comes together to observe World Water Day, a significant occasion dedicated to raising awareness about freshwater conservation and its sustainable management. The day serves as a call to action, reinforcing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal, which aims to ensure clean water and sanitation for all by 2030.

As we mark World Water Day 2025, lets take a deeper look into its history, significance, this years theme, and the crucial role of glacier preservation in securing the future of global water supplies.

The Origin of World Water Day

The idea of World Water Day was first introduced in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro. Recognizing the increasing global water crisis, the United Nations General Assembly officially designated March 22 as an annual observance.

The first World Water Day was celebrated in 1993, and in 2025, we commemorate its 32nd anniversary, emphasizing the urgency of water conservation, accessibility, and sustainability in an era of climate change.

World Water Day 2025 Theme: Glacier Preservation

Each year, World Water Day is centered around a theme that highlights a pressing issue related to water. In 2025, the theme is Glacier Preservation, focusing on the vital role glaciers play in sustaining freshwater resources, regulating global climate, and supporting biodiversity.

The United Nations has emphasized the urgency of this issue, stating that glacier preservation must be a core part of efforts to combat climate change and the global water crisis. Since glaciers store nearly 70% of the worlds freshwater, their accelerated melting due to rising global temperatures presents a significant threat to water availability, agriculture, and entire ecosystems.

Why World Water Day 2025 is More Important Than Ever

World Water Day serves as a global platform to educate people about water-related challenges and inspire action toward sustainable water management. It encourages governments, communities, and individuals to take responsibility in addressing the growing water crisis.

The observance is directly linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which focuses on ensuring universal access to clean water and sanitation by 2030.

Glacier Preservation: Why It Matters

Glacier preservation refers to the protection and sustainable management of glaciers, which are essential for maintaining freshwater supplies, regulating the Earths temperature, and sustaining countless ecosystems.

Key Reasons Why Glacier Preservation is Crucial:

 Freshwater Storage: Glaciers act as natural reservoirs, gradually releasing water into rivers and lakes, ensuring a steady supply for millions of people.

 Climate Regulation: Glaciers help stabilize global temperatures, influencing weather patterns, rainfall distribution, and seasonal climate cycles.

 Water for Agriculture and Industry: Many communities and nations depend on glacier-fed rivers for drinking water, irrigation, and hydropower generation, making their conservation vital for food and energy security.

The Growing Threat to Glaciers

With rising global temperatures, glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, leading to a range of serious consequences, including:

 Reduced freshwater availability for communities that rely on glacier-fed rivers.

 Rising sea levels, threatening coastal cities and small island nations.

 Increased climate instability, affecting weather patterns, precipitation, and ecosystems.

Indias Glaciers: A Critical Resource Under Threat

India is home to over 16,627 glaciers, primarily in the Himalayan region. These glaciers play an essential role in sustaining major rivers such as the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Indus, which provide freshwater for millions of people across the country.

However, climate change is rapidly altering the Himalayan ecosystem, with glaciers retreating at an unprecedented rate. Without urgent intervention, the melting of these glaciers could have severe consequences for water security, agriculture, and energy production in the region.

Mr. Bishwadeep Ghosh, Country Director, Water for People India says, "Protecting glaciers is essential to ensuring sustainable water systems, with over 2.2 billion people still lacking access to safe water globally. Scientific research provides critical insights, but action must follow. While the government is doing its part, industries and communities must collaborate to integrate climate resilience, promote sustainable water management, and protect vulnerable populations.



Climate adaptation must be embedded in policies, resilient infrastructure, and circular water use practices. Addressing groundwater depletion, particularly in agriculture, will also be critical to securing drinking water systems. By accelerating efforts to preserve freshwater reserves, enhance institutional capacity, and promote responsible water stewardship, we can build a water-secure future that is both resilient and equitable."

Taking Action: What Can Be Done?

As we observe World Water Day 2025, it is more important than ever to take proactive steps to protect our planets precious water resources. Some critical actions include:

 Reducing carbon emissions to slow down global warming and prevent further glacier melting.

 Promoting sustainable water management practices at both individual and governmental levels.

 Strengthening international cooperation to enhance research, monitoring, and policies for glacier preservation.

Water is one of our planets most valuable resources, and glacier preservation is key to ensuring long-term freshwater security for future generations. World Water Day 2025 serves as a powerful reminder that urgent action is needed to protect glaciers, combat climate change, and secure water sustainability for all.

Each step we takewhether its reducing carbon footprints, supporting sustainable policies, or spreading awarenesscan make a difference. Lets commit to preserving our water sources and ensuring a water-secure future for generations to come.

The time to act is now. Lets protect our water, our glaciers, and our planet.
New Delhi: In a boost to agricultural exports, a consignment of 30 metric tonnes (MT) of GI-tagged jaggery from western Uttar Pradesh has been sent for export to Bangladesh, the government announced on Saturday. The flag-off ceremony, organised by the Basmati Export Development Foundation (BEDF) under the aegis of APEDA, took place on January 30, 2025.

This initiative marks the beginning of direct exports of jaggery from western Uttar Pradesh to Bangladesh through Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs), according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Prasanna Chaudhary, Shamli MLA, highlighted the superior quality of jaggery produced in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, which is in high demand in international markets.

He thanked APEDA for its constant support in facilitating the export and emphasized the importance of state government support in maintaining quality standards for global competitiveness.

Underscoring APEDA Chairman Abhishek Devs vision, Dr. Ritesh Sharma, Joint Director of BEDF, stressed the need to empower FPOs for direct agricultural exports, ensuring maximum benefits for the farming community. Formed in 2023, the Brijnandan Agro Farmer Producer Company (FPC) has 545 members, including two women directors.

The FPO is engaged in exporting jaggery, sugarcane products, Basmati rice, and pulses. With training and technical support from BEDF, its members are well-equipped to meet international production and export standards.

With APEDAs support, this marks the third success story of an FPO from western Uttar Pradesh in agricultural exports, following the export of Basmati rice by Neer Adarsh Organic Farmer Producer Co Ltd. to Lebanon and Oman in 2023 and 2024, the ministry noted.

Notably, this is the only FPO in Uttar Pradesh to receive financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh under the state's Agri Export Policy. The initiative represents a significant step in expanding agricultural export opportunities for Uttar Pradesh, empowering farmers, and ensuring a sustainable and profitable future for India's agriculture sector.
President of the Republic of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sent a congratulatory letter to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Azernews reports.

"His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Mr. President, my dear Brother,

On the occasion of Novruz, a holiday when nature is reborn, the earth awakens, and hopes blossom, I extend my most sincere congratulations to Your Excellency and the friendly people of Azerbaijan.

Our centuries-old tradition of Novruz reminds us once again this year of the importance of peace, brotherhood, and solidarity. I hope that Novruz will herald a time when hopes for world peace are nurtured, and international dialogue and cooperation reach new heights. Strengthening the deep-rooted ties of friendship and brotherhood between our countries and further enhancing our cooperation is our sincere wish on this Novruz holiday.

On this meaningful day, I wish Your Excellency good health and happiness, and to the brotherly people of Azerbaijan, a future filled with peace, prosperity, and well-being."
New Delhi: Suman Gaikwads life changed in ways she never imagined because of an unexpected gift. The farmer from Bhosi village in Bhokar Taluka, Telangana started with just ten saplings of the world's most expensive mango and today her farm is gaining widespread attention. She showcased her prized Miyazaki mangoes on March 17 at the District Agriculture and Grain Festival 2025. This impressed visitors with their rich taste, striking red colour and jaw-dropping pricesometimes reaching Rs 10,000 per mango.

Sumanbai Gaikwads journey into mango farming began unexpectedly because of her son Nandkishore Gaikwad. Nandkishore is a UPSC. student who had to return home to Bhosi village during the COVID-19 lockdown, putting his studies on hold. He imported ten saplings from the Philippiness and invested Rs 6,500 per plant. Two years later, the trees have started bearing fruit with 11 to 12 mangoes harvested this season, as reported by ETV Bharat.

Tapping into a Growing Market

Nandkishore sought advice from Warpudkar, a well-known Miyazaki mango cultivator from Parbhani to set the right price for mangoes. Based on his guidance, the rare fruit was valued at Rs 10,000 per mango. The excitement at the fair has inspired local farmers to explore this high-value crop.

The agricultural fair which was held in Nanded and supported by the Collectors Office, Zilla Parishad, and Agriculture Department, recognised 29 progressive farmers for their innovative and sustainable farming techniques. Speaking at the event, Collector Rahul Kardile told ETV Bharat,Agriculture offers immense opportunities for those willing to innovate,. With 82 stalls, the event showcased a wide range of products, including organic produce and herbal supplements.

What Makes Miyazaki Mangoes So Special?

Miyazaki mangoes are among the worlds most expensive mangoes, sometimes selling for as much as Rs 10,000 each. Their high price comes from their exceptional quality, rich nutrients, and strong demand in global markets.

These mangoes are loaded with beta-carotene and folic acid which help protect cells and promote healthy skin. They are also packed with Vitamin C and Vitamin A, boosting immunity, improving eyesight, and supporting digestion. Despite their natural sweetness, Miyazaki mangoes have a well-balanced sugar content, making them a great source of instant energy.
Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) has launched a fresh attack against the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, for allegedly 'insulting' the national anthem, by putting up a poster projecting him negatively.

The poster has been put up outside the residence of Bihar's former Chief Minister Rabri Devi. It reads, 'Nayak Nahi Khalnayak Hoon Mai'. The poster, portraying Kumar as as a 'villain', accused him of insulting women and disrespecting Mahatma Gandhi and the national anthem.

#WATCH | Bihar: A new poster comes up in front of the residence of former Chief Minister and RJD leader Rabri Devi, targeting CM Nitish Kumar.



The poster reads 'Nayak nahi khalnayak hoon main' (not a hero, I am a villain), accusing him of insulting women and disrespecting pic.twitter.com/9aX0cj7EH8  ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2025

Earlier on Thursday, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav posted a video of the septuagenarian CM on the social media platform X and alleged that Kumar insulted the national anthem. He wrote, At least do not insult the national anthem, Hon'ble Chief Minister Ji.

In the video, the CM is seen talking during the national anthem to his principal secretary Deepak Kumar. As Kumar touched Deepak's arm talking and laughing, the latter asked him to stay still. Kumar then looks at someone in public and folds his hands towards them.

Also Read: Do Not Insult Bihar: Tejashwi Yadav Slams Nitish For Moving During National Anthem, Questions His Mental Stability  Viral Video

Later on Friday, SP MP Awadhesh Prasad, talking to the news agency ANI about the viral video of the Bihar CM, said, I don't know what mood the Bihar Chief Minister was in. He does not know about the country's independence, so this is an insult to the national anthem.

#WATCH Delhi: SP MP Awadhesh Prasad says, "...The way the national anthem is being played on one side and on the other side, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is talking and gesturing with his hands, this is very condemnable. I don't know what mood the Bihar Chief Minister was pic.twitter.com/FColySmTK4  ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2025

Additionally, RJD Leader Radbri Devi said, The world is watching and he should apologize in both houses. He should tender his resignation and make his son the Chief Minister of Bihar.

#WATCH | Patna: On Bihar CM Nitish Kumar seen talking during the national anthem yesterday, Former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD leader Rabri Devi says, "...The national anthem has been insulted... The world is watching and he (Nitish Kumar) should apologize in both houses. He pic.twitter.com/tHuGO6upQe  ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2025

Also Read: Nitish Kumar Has Lost His Mind: Bihar CM Faces Opposition Wrath Over National Anthem 'Disrespect'

In another incident, a poster with the line 'Tiger Abhi Zinda Hai' was put up in front of the Patna residence of RJD Supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in his support after he was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding the land-for-job scam. The elections for Bihar Assembly are due in October later this year.

(with ANI inputs)
A woman believed to have been murdered sometime in September 2023 returned safely to her home in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district a few days ago, even as four men arrested for the supposed killing continue to be in prison.

The story of Lalita Bai (35), a resident of Navali village, is stranger than fiction, or a film script.

A case was registered for her `murder' at Thandla town in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh in September 2023, days after her family reported that she had gone missing from the Gandhi Sagar area of Mandsaur.

Her relatives even identified the body of a woman with her head crushed as Lalita Bai, said Gandhi Sagar police station in-charge Taruna Bharadwaj.

So imagine their surprise when Lalita Bai returned home on March 11, safe and sound.

According to her, she left home on her own with one Shahrukh and traveled to Bhanpura.

There, without her knowledge, he 'sold' her to another person, also named Shahrukh, for Rs 5 lakh, Lalita Bai told police.

The second man took her to Kota in Rajasthan, where she stayed with him for nearly 18 months.

"However, as soon as I got the opportunity, I ran away and came back," Lalita told PTI Videos.

"I do not have a mobile phone, so I was unable to contact my family members," she said.

"After we had filed a missing person report, Thandla police informed us about the recovery of a woman's body with her head crushed. We went there and identified it as the body of our daughter based on a tattoo and a black string tied around her leg. We performed the last rites too," Lalita's father Nanuram Banchhada said.

Police, meanwhile, arrested four men including Shahrukh who had allegedly lured her away.

After her return, her father took her to the Gandhi Sagar police station and informed the officials that she was very much alive.

Gandhi Sagar police then informed their counterparts in Thandla about the development.

As to the fate of the four men who are in prison, it is for the Thandla police to take necessary action, said Mandsaur Superintendent of Police Abhishek Anand.

Jhabua SP Padmavilochan Shukla told PTI that the local court has sought information about the matter.

"We will first conduct a medical examination and DNA test of the woman, and also record afresh the statements of witnesses," he said.

Only after a thorough investigation, the police would be able to state conclusively that the woman who turned up at Gandhi Sagar police station earlier this month is the same woman who was thought to have been murdered, Shukla said.
Asserting that India is aware that China is establishing two new countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government on Friday said that New Delhi has registered a solemn protest through diplomatic channels. In a written response to a query in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said creation of new counties will neither have a bearing on India's long-standing and consistent position regarding its sovereignty over the area.

"The Government of India has never accepted the illegal Chinese occupation of Indian Territory in this area. Creation of new counties will neither have a bearing on India's long-standing and consistent position regarding India's sovereignty over the area, nor lend legitimacy to China's illegal and forcible occupation of the same," Singh told the Lower House..

The government has registered its "solemn protest over these developments through diplomatic channels", he said. The ministry was asked whether the government is aware of "China's establishment of two new counties in the Hotan prefecture, incorporating Indian territory in Ladakh", if so, the strategic and diplomatic measures undertaken by the government to address this issue.

The query also sought details of protests lodged by India against the "creation of these countries" along with the responses received from the Chinese government, if any. It was also asked whether the government has formulated any long-term strategies to "counter China's increasing administrative and infrastructural developments in the Aksai Chin region".

"Government of India is aware of the announcement by the Chinese side pertaining to the establishment of so-called two new counties in Hotan prefecture of China. Parts of the jurisdiction of these so-called counties fall in India's Union Territory of Ladakh," he said.

Centre is also aware that China is "developing infrastructure in the border regions". "Government gives careful and special attention to improvement of infrastructure for the development of border areas, in order to facilitate the economic development of these areas, as also to meet India's strategic and security requirements," the MoS said.

The budget allocation for border infrastructure have increased in the last decade (2014-2024). The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) alone has incurred three times the expenditure level compared to the decade before, the minister said.

"The length of the road networks, bridges and number of tunnels have all seen a substantial increase over the earlier period. This has helped provide connectivity to the local population and better logistical support for our armed forces," he added.

The government continues to keep a constant watch on all developments having a bearing on India's security and takes all the necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, the minister underlines.

(With PTI Inputs)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said that the damage to the public property will be recovered from the rioters and if they refuse to pay, their properties will be auctioned to make good the harm caused due to violent clashes in Nagpur. Speaking to media, Fadnavis said that the police have so far arrested 92 people in the case.

"104 people have been identified, among which 92 people have been arrested...The police will arrest more people. Police action will be taken against those who are involved in the riots or are helping the rioters. Those who spread rumours on social media will also be made co-accused. 68 social media posts have been identified and deleted so far...Whatever damage has happened will be recovered from the rioters. If they do not pay the money, their property will be sold for the recovery. Bulldozers will also be used wherever required," said Fadnavis.

Narrating the sequence of the incident after chairing a high-level meeting of ministers and police officials, Fadnavis said, "I have chaired a high-level meeting over the violence here, which state minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule also attended. I looked into every detail and kept forward my thoughts and views as well... The replica of Aurangzeb's tomb was burnt that day when this incident took place. Following the incident, a complaint was registered with the police. A rumour was spread by some people, through podcasts and social media posts, that a holy 'chadar' was burnt. Later, the rioters pelted stones, torched vehicles and attacked shops in Nagpur. However, the police brought the situation under control within 4-4.5 hours. The police did everything to control the situation. However, many police personnel, including three DCP-level officials, were injured in the incident."

Earlier today, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday held a review meeting at Nagpur Police Headquarters regarding the recent violence in Nagpur.

Violent clashes erupted in Nagpur on March 17 over the demand for the removal of Aurangzeb's grave, with stones hurled at police amid rumours that a holy book of a community was burnt during an agitation. The situation is back to normalcy as the curfew imposed in several areas was lifted.

Senior Congress leader Manikrao Thakare who is part of the delegation criticized the BJP on Saturday over the recent violence in Nagpur, stating that the incident occurred because both the central and state governments did not pay attention.
The state Assembly on Friday passed the Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pensions and Allowances (Amendment) Bil, 2025, which proposes significant salary hikes and allowances for MLAs, MLCs, ministers, and Assembly staffers.

The move which has come amid the government complaining of shortage of funds has invoked criticism and also raised debate.

The Bill was passed in the Assembly amid the furor linked to the honey trap row.

According to sources, the Bill proposes a 100 percent hike of Rs 1.50 lakh from Rs 75,000 in the salary of the Chief Minister and 108 per cent hike of Rs 1.25 lakh from Rs 60,000 for ministers. The legislators will have a 100 percent hike of Rs 80,000 from Rs 40,000. The rental allowance of ministers has also been doubled from Rs 1.20 lakh to Rs 2.50 lakh.

The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and the Chairman of the Legislative Councils monthly salary of Rs 75,000 will be increased to Rs 1.25 lakh. Their allowances have been increased from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.

Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot approved the proposed Bill on Thursday. The government not delaying it any further presented it in the legislature on Friday, the last day of the budget session. The government is expected to incur an additional burden of Rs 62 crore.

The salaries and allowance of legislators were revised in 2022. The government headed by the BJP had decided to revise the salaries and perks of legislators once in five years.

The legislators had demanded a hike in the Business Advisory Committee (BAC).

The pension of legislators will go up from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. The annual travelling allowance to travel in flights and railway services has been increased to Rs 3.50 lakh from Rs 2.50 lakh.
Kerala Lottery Results Saturday 22-03-2025 LIVE: The Kerala Lottery Department, on behalf of the Keralan government, announces the "KARUNYA KR-698" Lucky Draw Result today Karunya Kr-698, March 22, 2025. The draw will be held at Gorky Bhavan near Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram. The Kerala Lottery Result 2025 for "Karunya KR-698" will feature 12 series, with changes in series possible each week. A total of 108 lakh tickets are available for purchase weekly. The ticket prices may vary. Check the Karunya KR-698 results right here to see if youre the first-place winner of 80 Lakhs. Stay tuned to this website for the live update of Kerala Lottery Karunya KR-698 results today.

Kerala Lottery Result 22-03-2025 Mar: FULL LIST OF WINNING NUMBERS FOR KARUNYA KR-698 Draw

LUCKY NUMBER FOR 1ST PRIZE OF RS 80 LAKHS IS: KD 906545

LUCKY NUMBER FOR 2ND PRIZE OF RS 5 LAKHS IS: KC 812559

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 3RD PRIZE OF RS 1 Lakh ARE: KA 272911 KB 340035 KC 495257 KD 626361 KE 725511 KF 444406 KG 984410 KH 419245 KJ 329943 KK 779929 KL 169013 KM 612764

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR CONSOLATION PRIZE OF RS 8,000 ARE: KA 906545 KB 906545 KC 906545 KE 906545 KF 906545 KG 906545 KH 906545 KJ 906545 KK 906545 KL 906545 KM 906545

(For The Tickets Ending with The Following Numbers below)

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 4TH PRIZE OF RS 5,000 ARE: 1831 2133 2377 3463 3542 3871 5375 5540 5684 6067 6597 6696 7110 7130 7646 7701 8411 9295

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 5TH PRIZE OF RS 2,000 ARE: 0071 1703 4395 4857 5905 5926 8070 9456 9462 9626

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 6TH PRIZE OF RS 1,000 ARE: 0168 0895 3469 4320 4425 5447 5527 6943 7119 7505 7946 8154 8353 8697

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 7TH PRIZE OF RS 500 ARE: 0072 0152 0237 0278 0317 0550 0575 0654 0731 0773 0790 0839 1011 1547 1563 1771 2023 2031 2302 2332 2427 2545 2589 2607 2705 2708 2801 2877 2967 2975 3042 3625 3656 3698 3839 3860 3954 4013 4060 4255 4334 4619 4653 4828 4945 5064 5249 5344 5397 5561 5770 5792 5812 6064 6194 6195 6686 6746 6749 7086 7153 7259 7525 7626 8072 8124 8174 8518 8546 8885 9008 9025 9081 9145 9211 9257 9534 9579 9810 9926

LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 8TH PRIZE OF RS 100 ARE: 3273 1706 1300 4077 2855 6744 9546 7976 4741 2306 3873 6241 8791 3279 7607 7497 8030 2002 6309 9821 8036 0981 1160 1350 6375 0599 6412 1199 2812 3333 1928 2283 8918 0653 8761 6666 4086 7585 8511 9913 4879 3119 3180 8469 7537 8040 0255 6527 2584 5563 5550 2751 5459 4658 6353 2216 7816 7785 1703 4539 5995 6535 8448 6182 6700 8790 4214 7453 1810 7657 0923 3892 8223 2659 2110 3410 4644 5886 7887 6343 8213 1384 0231 4892 9397 8878 7731 1437 0622 3991 8275 0724 0508 4633 2886 3354 3205 8972 5785 3627 7563 5986 4440 7037 6742 3577 7370 3029 9662 0342 6895 3761 4622 8078 0402 7906 3427 8012 3816

KERALA LOTTERY RESULT 22-03-2025 March TODAY: KARUNYA KR-698 LOTTERY PRIZE DETAILS

1st Prize: Rs 80 Lakhs

2nd Prize: Rs. 5 lakhs

3rd Prize: Rs. 1 Lakh

4th Prize: Rs. 5,000

5th Prize: Rs. 2,000

6th Prize: Rs. 1,000

7th Prize: Rs. 500

8th Prize: Rs. 100

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(NOTE: Lottery can be addictive and should be played responsibly. The data provided on this page is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as advice or encouragement. Zee News does not promote the lottery in any way.)
Meerut Murder: Fresh details have surfaced in the horrific murder case of a Merchant Navy officer, Saurabh Rajput, 29, who was murdered by his wife, Muskan, and her boyfriend, Sahil Shukla.

According to India Today TV accused Muska was seen enjoying the snowfall with her boyfriend and co-accused in Manali days after dumping her husband's dismembered body in a drum. She also attended a Holi party and stayed in Kasol, where she celebrated her lover's birthday. After murdering her husband, the Meerut woman and her boyfriend checked into Hotel Purnima in Kasol on March 10. The two stayed in Room 203 for six days and left on March 16.

Speaking to India Today TV, a staff member of the hotel in which the couple was staying said that they were in Manali before arriving in Kasol. The two had taken a taxi to the hotel in Kasol. The hotel staff added that the couple had behaved oddly since their arrival and had stepped out of their room only once a day for a short time.

Meanwhile, Saurabh Rajputs family members claimed that occult practices were central to the chilling murder. Though police have not yet commented on the claims, Rajput's mother, Renu Devi, said, "Both Muskaan and Sahil were into occult practices. They killed my son by performing tantric rituals," as quoted by news agency PTI.

Rajput's in-laws, Kavita and Pramod Rastogi alleged it was Sahil who held their daughter Muskan "captive" by making her believe in tantric rituals. He also kept Muskan isolated from her six-year-old daughter, they claimed.

Saurabh Rajput was allegedly drugged and then stabbed to death by his wife and her lover on March 4, his body dismembered and sealed inside a drum with cement. The duo then went on a vacation to Himachal Pradesh, all the while misleading Rajput's family by sending them messages from his phone.

The matter was reported to police on March 18, following which Muskan and Sahil were arrested. "Sahil's occult practices dominated Muskaan's mind in such a way that she started keeping her six-year-old daughter away. Sahil had made Muskaan an addict and completely superstitious," the deceased's mother said.

Neighbours claimed Sahil frequently dressed in yellow and black kurtas with "Mahakal" inscriptions on them while sporting numerous tattoos of religious and mystical symbols. His room was filled with unsettling imagery, including sketches of ominous figures. "Many other scary images have also been found in Sahil's room. He used to go out only to feed cats, and the lights in his room remained switched off most of the time," a neighbour said.

What Did Muskan Tell Police?

Meanwhile, Muskan's statements to police indicate that Sahil manipulated her into committing the murder, claiming it was necessary for their new life together. "Muskan has made it clear in her statements that Sahil had said that 'you will have to kill Saurabh, only then we can start a new life'," PTI reported, citing a police source.

"Sahil got Muskan to kill her husband. First, he made her sit on Saurabh's chest. Then he brought a knife from the kitchen, showed her how to wield it, and directed her to insert the knife in Saurabh's heart thrice. When Muskan could not bring herself to use the knife, Sahil held her hand and made her stab an unconscious Saurabh in the heart thrice," PTI quoted the source as saying.

Asked about the claims about the alleged involvement of occult practices in the case, Superintendent of Police (City) Ayush Vikaram Singh replied, "All aspects of the case are being looked into."

(With agency inputs)
Nagpur Violence: Fresh details have surfaced in connection with the recent violence outbreak, where authorities on Friday apprehended 14 individuals, bringing the total number of arrests in the case to 105. Among those detained are 10 juveniles, underscoring the gravity of the unrest that has gripped the city. The police have also registered three additional First Information Reports (FIRs) related to the incidents, according to news agency IANS.

The turmoil began on March 17, when rumours spread that a sheet bearing a "verse from the Quran" had been burned during a demonstration led by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Faheem Khan, the principal accused in the recent Nagpur riots, was apprehended on March 18 and has since filed a bail plea, alleging that his arrest is the result of a political conspiracy.

Nagpur Violence: Top Updates

1. Khan has been accused of inciting the crowd and provoking unrest. The riots, which have shaken the city, saw Faheem Khan, identified as the mastermind, taken into custody and subsequently remanded to police detention. His bail plea is expected to be taken up for hearing soon.

2. On Friday, Khan approached the High Court, seeking bail on the grounds that his arrest was politically motivated. He contends that his name has been unfairly implicated in the case as an act of political vendetta.

3. On March 19, Faheem Khan, the city president of the Minorities Democratic Party, was taken into custody, just two days after the riots and incidents of arson that shook Nagpur.

4. Initially placed under police remand, his detention was extended to judicial custody on Friday due to concerns over his deteriorating health. The authorities have indicated their intention to seek his custody again at a later stage.

5. The protest, which called for the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, ignited widespread stone-pelting and arson across several parts of Nagpur.

6. Nagpur Police Commissioner Ravindra Kumar Singhal confirmed the arrests, stating, "Fourteen accused have been apprehended from various parts of the city in connection with the riots. Additionally, three new FIRs have been filed," as quoted by IANS. He added that the decision to lift the curfew in certain areas would be determined following a high-level review meeting.

7. Commissioner Singhal convened a gathering at the Police Bhawan in Civil Lines to assess the situation. Singal announced that the curfew was partially lifted in Nandanvan and Kapil Nagar police station limits from 2 p.m. on Thursday (March 20, 2025) over public convenience and law-and-order considerations. In Lakadganj, Pachpaoli, Shantinagar, Sakkardara, and Imambada, curfew was relaxed for two hours from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. to allow residents to purchase essential supplies.

8, The violence left 33 police personnel injured, including three officers of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) rank. Notably, a case of treason has been lodged against the primary accused, Faheem Khan.

9. In an earlier development, a local court in Nagpur remanded 17 individuals arrested in connection with the violence to police custody until Saturday (March 22). The court, while granting the remand, emphasised the severity of the offences and the compelling evidence presented against the accused.

(With IANS Inputs)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has refused to grant relief to Jai Corp Ltd and its director, Anand Jain, in connection with an alleged Rs 2,400 crore investor fraud case. The apex court upheld the Bombay High Court's order directing a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the allegations against Jain, who is accused of misleading public investors in real estate projects.

SC Finds No Reason To Interfere In HC's Decision

A bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan stated that the Bombay High Court had acted within its jurisdiction in ordering an SIT investigation, given the seriousness of the allegations. We admire and appreciate the courage with which the High Court has passed the order. This is what is expected of any High Court, the apex court observed.

The court ruled that the directive to the CBI's Mumbai Zonal Director to investigate the matter was legally sound and found no justification to interfere at this stage.

It also clarified that if an FIR is registered in the case, Jai Corp Ltd and its associates could approach the appropriate legal forum to challenge it.

Bombay HCs Directive for SIT Probe

In January, the Bombay High Court instructed the CBIs Mumbai Zonal Director to form an SIT to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations against Jain and Jai Corp Ltd. This directive came in response to a petition filed by businessman Shoaib Richie Sequeira, who accused Jain and his company of misusing public funds, misleading investors, and engaging in money laundering by diverting advances to subsidiaries.

Sequeira claimed that despite filing complaints with the Mumbai Polices Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on December 22, 2021, and April 3, 2023, no impartial investigation was conducted, prompting him to seek judicial intervention. The HC found the allegations significant enough to warrant investigation under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

EOW's Investigation Under Scrutiny

The Supreme Court noted that the Bombay High Court had expressed dissatisfaction with the EOWs handling of the case. The HC criticized the agencys investigation methods, pointing out that it failed to conduct a legally compliant preliminary inquiry. This prompted the HC to order an SIT probe to ensure an independent and unbiased investigation, uninfluenced by prior court observations.

SC Rejects Jai Corp Ltd's Legal Arguments

During the Supreme Court hearing, senior advocates Harish Salve, Mukul Rohatgi, and Amit Desai represented Jai Corp Ltd. Desai argued that the Bombay High Courts order exceeded the scope of the original petition, which had only sought a preliminary probe. He contended that the HCs expansion of the case into a full-fledged investigation was unwarranted and amounted to an abuse of legal process.

However, the Supreme Court dismissed these arguments, ruling that the High Courts directive for an SIT probe was justified given the nature of the allegations and the inadequacies in the EOWs initial investigation.
Delimitation has been the talk of the town for southern states with Tamil Nadu leading the assault against the Narendra Modi government. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin today hosted the first meeting of the Joint Action Committee on delimitation and the group unanimously adopted the resolution over the delimitation exercise. The resolution said any delimitation exercise carried out by the Centre should be done transparently and after discussion and deliberation with all stakeholders.

Taking to X after the meeting, Stalin said, "In an unprecedented show of unity, Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers and leaders of various parties across India came together at Chennai for a historic Joint Action Committee meeting. This formidable gathering reflects our collective resolve to uphold Indias federalism in its true spirit and stand united for #FairDelimitation. This movement is not against Delimitation. It demands a fair and just process  one that does not punish states that have contributed to our national progress through their effective population control."

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister further said, "Any attempt to reduce our representation is an assault on our voice, our rights, and our future. We will not allow our current share in parliamentary representation to be reduced under any circumstance. We will fight. We will win!"

Addressing a press conference, DMK MP Kanizmozhi stated that the JAC has expressed its deep concern about the lack of transparency and clarity in the delimitation exercise without any consultation with the various stakeholders.

"I would like to read the resolution that was passed today. The JAC (Joint Action Committee) expressed its deep concern about the lack of transparency and clarity in the delimitation exercise without any consultation with the various stakeholders. The JAC expressed its appreciation to the CM of Tamil Nadu for taking up this initiative to safeguard the political and economic future of performing states in India. Based on the various points and scenarios put forth by representatives during the discussion, the JAC unanimously resolved that - Any Delimitation exercise carried out by the Union Government to improve the content or character of our democracy should be carried out transparently enabling political parties of all states, state governments and other stakeholders to deliberate, discuss and contribute," said Kanizmozhi.

"Given the fact that the legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th and 87th Constitutional amendment wants to protect and incentivise states which had implemented population control measures effectively and the goal of national population stabilisation has not yet been achieved. The freeze on parliamentary constituency based on 1971 census population should be extended by another 25 years..." she added.

The DMK MP stated that the political parties that participated in the meeting would fight for "fair delimitation" together. "Historic moment in the Indian political landscape and there was an overwhelming response from across the country. Many leaders, Chief Ministers - like the Kerala CM, Telangana CM, Punjab CM, Karnataka Deputy CM, working president of BRS from Telangana, there was a message from former CM of Odisha and representatives from BJD, Akali Dal from Punjab, Kerala Congress committee president and IUML leaders, RSP of Kerala, representatives of AIMIM from Hyderabad, Kerala Congress (M) and different leaders from across the parties have supported this and today they have participated in meeting convened by our CM. They have all come together on one single platform expressing their solidarity and also expressing their concern about the very important issue of delimitation...Together in one voice, we stand together to fight for fair delimitation," Kanimozhi said.

The Joint Action Committee on delimitation was held in Chennai under the leadership of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. The meeting was attended by various political leaders, including Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Odisha Congress President Bhakta Charan Das, and Biju Janata Dal leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma, among others.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has said that the next meeting on the delimitation of constituencies will be held in Hyderabad, Telangana.
Meerut Murder Case: The father of Sahil Shukla, co-accused in the murder of Saurabh Rajput, Neeraj Shukla said that he should be punished for his actions. While speaking to ZEE News TV, he also claimed that his son was distracted and kept in confusion by Muskan, wife of Saurabh who is the key accused in the murder case.

Saurabh Rajput was allegedly drugged and then stabbed to death by his wife and her lover on March 4, his body dismembered and sealed inside a drum with cement. The duo then went on a vacation to Himachal Pradesh, all the while misleading Rajput's family by sending them messages from his phone.

Neeraj Shukla also stated that Muskan had spoiled Sahils mind. Speaking on his sons source of income, he said that he used to earn money through the share market.

ZEE News also spoke to Akshay who made big revelations pertaining to Saurabh and Muskans marriage. He claimed that Muskan never loved her daughter Pihu and she wanted to divorce Saurabh.

What Did Accused Sahil Tell Police?

During interrogation in the Saurabh Rajput murder case, Sahil told police that he had told Muskan to kill her husband by attacking his heart following which she stabbed his chest multiple times.

Occult Practices Central To Meerut Murder?

Family members of Saurabh Rajput, killed allegedly by his wife Muskan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla, have claimed that occult practices were central to the chilling murder.

Though police have not yet commented on the claims, Rajput's mother Renu Devi said, "Both Muskaan and Sahil were into occult practices. They killed my son by performing tantric rituals."

Rajput's in-laws, Kavita and Pramod Rastogi, alleged it was Sahil who held their daughter Muskan "captive" by making her believe in tantric rituals. He also kept Muskan isolated from her six-year-old daughter, they claimed.
New Delhi: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly evolving and continuously changing the landscape for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India and can boost efficiency & business growth for SMEs, according to the leaders who converged at Nasscom Global Confluence 2025 in New Delhi.

The event, designed to empower Indian technology companies for global success, witnessed the leaders discuss the roadmap of connected systems in the era of AI and its impact on SMEs in India. The rise of AI technologies, particularly Agentic AI, presents a unique opportunity for SMEs to innovate and scale without the traditional constraints of workforce size and unlock new opportunities, the experts highlighted.

The experts reiterated the growing need to leverage AI and called for its rapid adoption by SMEs in India to support their business growth. During the discussion on 'Engineering the connected AI Future: Building Smarter Systems Together', Jagdish Mitra, Founder and CEO, Humanize Tech, discussed the transformative potential of AI for SMEs, suggesting that SMEs can now scale without needing large workforces.

He said, "This is a watershed moment for SMEs. I strongly believe India will leapfrog through the ingenuity of its SME ecosystem. AI and cloud-driven models now allow founders to achieve scale 100x faster with far fewer resources.

"The experts also highlighted that the models should be trained on datasets that are relevant to specific populations or local regions, as existing models may be biased towards data from different contexts (e.g., Western datasets).The leaders called for more collaboration between governments and enterprises to democratize data, enabling innovation and research in AI.

Anurag Sahay, Managing Director- AI and Data Science, Nagarro, highlighted that while data is abundant and renewable, its quality is crucial for effective AI model building. The process of cleaning and preparing data is labor-intensive, often consuming a significant portion of resources.

He said, "The interesting thing is that while data is a new oil, data is renewable! We can create data, generate data and also synthesize data."Jagdish Mitra also highlighted the potential for redefining service delivery models (SaaS) as "Service as Software".

He added, "A key enabler in this journey is the emergence of Services as a Software -- turning traditional services into scalable, productized solutions powered by AI and automation. During the event, experts also reiterated the pressing need to align educational outputs with the actual demands of the AI job market to address the talent shortage and called for educational institutions to evolve their curricula to foster critical thinking and innovative problem-solving skills, which are essential for the future of AI development.
WhatsApp Account Ban: To tackle telecom fraud, the government announced on Friday that it has disconnected over 3.4 crore mobile connections and blocked 3.19 lakh IMEI numbers through the Sanchar Saathi portal.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) stated that, leveraging AI and Big Data, it also deactivated 16.97 lakh WhatsApp accounts. Adding further, more than 20,000 bulk SMS senders were blacklisted under the DoTs Sanchar Saathi initiative, according to Dr. Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

Through the Sanchar Saathi portal, the government facilitates citizens to report suspected fraud communications on Chakshu facility. DoT then carries out several analysis and takes action on such telecom resources that have been found linked to misuse, said the minister.

Rather than acting on individual reported suspected fraud communications, DoT uses the crowd sourced data to carry out analysis and to zero down on misuse of telecom resources. The Department uses AI based tool and big data analysis to identify suspected mobile connections taken on fake documents.

Further, DoT and telecom service providers (TSPs) have devised a system for near real time identification and blocking of incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers that appear to be originating from India, said the minister.

Meanwhile, telecom service providers have blacklisted 1,150 entities/individuals and disconnected more than 18.8 lakh resources. The actions led to a significant reduction in the complaints against unregistered telemarketers (UTMs) -- from 1,89,419 in August 2024 to 1,34,821 in January 2025.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) amended the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018 on February 12.

A customer can now make a complaint about spam/unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) within seven days of receiving spam as compared to earlier three-day time limit.

The time limit for taking action by the access providers against the UCC from unregistered senders has been reduced from 30 days to 5 days, according to the amendments. To ensure prompt action against the senders of UCC, the criterion for taking action against them has been revised and made more stringent. (With IANS Inputs)
The Summer Style Bash Sale is now on Myntra from March 21 to 23, and it's the ideal time to give your hair color a new lease of life with ammonia-free, moisturizing dyes! Here's the summary of the best ammonia-free hair colors that will upgrade your look without harming your healthy and luscious tresses.

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The Myntra Summer Style Bash Sale (March 21-23) is your best opportunity to change your hair color while enjoying fabulous discounts. Regardless of whether you're envisioning a deep, rich brown, an herb-dyed color, or a fun cinnamon hue, these ammonia-free hair dyes are formulated to maintain the health and vibrancy of your hair. Whether it's one or the other, your hair's in for a stunning transformation.

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Vasanthi Cheruveettil, a resident of Thalipparamba in Kannur, achieved this remarkable feat through sheer determination and self-learning. According to Manorama, she reached the South Base Camp on 23 February after beginning her trek from Surke, Nepal, on 15 February.

Cheruveettil prepared for her adventure by training for four months, despite scepticism from her friends. She followed a strict routine of walking for three hours daily, practising in trekking boots, and covering 56 kilometres in the evenings with her companions. She also learned Hindi to communicate better during her journey and watched YouTube videos to familiarise herself with basic trekking techniques.

Overcoming challenges on the trek

Her journey to Everest Base Camp was far from easy. Bad weather led to the cancellation of her flight to Lukla, forcing her to find an alternative route via Surke with the help of a German couple she met in Nepal. Along the way, she encountered trekkers from across the world, including a father-son duo from Thiruvananthapuram.

The trek itself was gruelling, with steep climbs, narrow paths, and deep ravines. She walked for six to seven hours daily, taking frequent breaks to avoid exhaustion. I needed more time, so I walked slowly, using a stick. Every few steps, I paused to take at least five breaths to avoid shivering and exhaustion, she told Manorama.

Cheruveettils journey went viral after a photo of her waving the Indian flag at Everest Base Camp, dressed in a traditional Kasavu saree, captured hearts online. This is not her first solo adventurelast year, she travelled to Thailand alone after her friends backed out, doubting whether a woman could travel so far by herself.

She finances her travels through her tailoring business, with occasional financial support from her sons, Vineeth and Vivek. With Everest Base Camp conquered, she now has her sights set on her next dream destination: the Great Wall of China.
A mega blood donation camp was held in Sr. Nivedita University of Kolkata and Mission Hospital Blood Centre in Durgapur of West Bengal. The camp was organised by LG Electronics India as part of a nationwide blood donation initiative titled Lifes Good When Lifes Shared in collaboration with the Care Today Fund. According to the company, over 50 blood donation camps have already been set up across the country. As of March 20, 2025, the campaign saw 12,000 registrations, resulting in the collection of more than 9500 units of blood. The initiative has garnered significant participation, particularly from young individuals, including students, National Service Scheme (NSS) members, and faculty members, who have actively contributed to the cause, LG India stated.

The donation drives have taken place in multiple cities such as Kolkata, Delhi NCR, Rajasthan, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Ranchi, Sikar, Kolkata, Manipal, Surat, Rajkot, and Ahmedabad. Several well-known educational institutions, including BITS Pilani, Lovely Professional University, IIMSR, Ramjas College, IHM Pusa Road, Sr. Nivedita University and the National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi, have hosted these events. The campaign is set to continue until March 2025, with the goal of expanding its reach and impact.

In addition to academic institutions, LG Electronics India has extended the initiative to government offices, including ITO offices, Delhi Police Headquarters, and AIIMS Delhi.
Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi is reportedly living with his Preeti Choksi in Belgium's Antwerp. His wife is a citizen of Belgium and the Indian authorities are aware of his whereabouts, reported the Associates Times. The report claimed that Indian authorities are in touch with the Belgian agencies for the repatriation of Choksi.

Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, 65, is currently residing in Belgium after securing an "F residency card" on November 15, 2023. Reports indicate that he obtained this status with assistance from his Belgian national wife. This residency permit allows non-EU nationals legally staying in Belgium to have their spouse accompany or join them under specific conditions. The report claimed that Choksi allegedly used forged papers to gain the Belgian residency.

Reports indicate that Mehul Choksi may be considering relocating to Switzerland for medical treatment at Hirslanden Klinik Aarau, a cancer hospital. He appears to be exploring the possibility of citing humanitarian grounds as a reason to avoid extradition to India.

Choksi fled India in January 2018 after the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case came to light. Choksi is facing charges from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged involvement in a Rs 13,850 crore fraud linked to Punjab National Bank (PNB). He had earlier escaped to Antigua and Barbuda, a Caribbean nation, where he holds citizenship. However, he later traveled abroad for medical treatment while retaining his Antiguan citizenship. On March 19, Antigua and Barbudas foreign minister, EP Chet Greene, confirmed this development to news agency ANI.

In December 2024, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed parliament that assets worth Rs 22,280 crore had been recovered or sold to repay the debts of fugitives, including Choksi.
Political tensions in Bangladesh have reached a critical point as the military presence in Dhaka continues to expand. The capitals streets, once dominated by supporters of Prime Minister Yunus, are now witnessing an increased deployment of armed forces, raising speculation about a potential power struggle. Recent reports from Bangladeshi media confirm a significant increase in military deployment in Dhaka. At present, one full brigade of the army is stationed in the capital, along with paramilitary forces and units from the Bangladesh Border Guards. Additionally, police personnel from nearby districts have been mobilized to reinforce security in Dhaka.

Protests or a Prelude to Something Bigger?

The official justification for this large-scale deployment is the anticipated protests and strikes called by Hizb ut-Tahrir and other opposition groups. Authorities claim the troops have been stationed to prevent any violence during demonstrations. However, an order from Bangladesh Army Chief General Wakar has cast doubt on this explanation. In today's DNA, Zee News has analysed the evolving situation in Bangladesh:

According to sources, General Wakar has instructed troop movements from two key military cantonments, with orders for armored vehicles and soldiers to reach Dhaka within the next few days. Additionally, the Ghatail cantonment has been put on high alert, fueling speculation that the military is preparing for more than just protest control.

Power Struggle?

Political analysts believe the growing rift between General Wakar and Prime Minister Yunus is at the heart of this crisis. Their strained relationship dates back to the removal of Sheikh Hasina, which General Wakar reportedly opposed. He was against any crackdown on the Awami League, and he also resisted radical Islamist factionsboth of which Yunus's government targeted.

With recent military actions, speculation is growing that General Wakar is either preparing for a coup or sending a strong warning to PM Yunus. The government, despite its authority, appears increasingly vulnerable against the militarys growing influence.

A Brewing Political Storm

For the past few months, reports of a power struggle between General Wakar and Yunus have surfaced repeatedly. Now, with the military's expanded presence in Dhaka, the situation is becoming more volatile. A recent unconfirmed development has further intensified concerns, leaving political observers questioning whether Bangladesh is on the brink of a major shift in power.
The spring equinox occurs on March 20 this year. According to Google, The spring equinox, also known as the vernal equinox, marks the astronomical beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, occurring when the sun crosses the celestial equator, heading northward, resulting in roughly equal day and night lengths.

Many of us are starting to look forward to sunny days and warmer temperatures, and we have already been blessed with quite a few of those. I personally anticipate the trees budding, the flowers blooming and the grass turning green. It looks a little drab with all the brown everywhere.

But it seems as if the spring equinox can bring some bad weather along with it. I heard stories from my dad about the terrible blizzards that they had during the winter of 1948-1949. And those were epic, once-in-a-lifetime storms.

But I have my own story about two storms that occurred in March of 1987, around the equinox. Prior to that time, the weather was beautiful with highs in the low 70s, but it would change quickly.

I remember that we boarded the school bus and went to school like usual on a Monday. But the weather deteriorated quickly. We students were elated when the announcement came over the loudspeaker that school would be dismissed at 12:30 p.m. for the day. Little did we know a lot of time would pass before we would be back in school again.

We hopped back on the school bus and that is where the trouble began. What started as a small snow squall turned into a raging blizzard after lunch. My brother and I were the last ones to be dropped off on our route, and I began to doubt we were going to make it home. How the bus driver was able to see through that mess I have no idea. We made it home much later than expected, and both Mom and Dad were extremely grateful to see the school bus pull in the driveway. Thankfully, the bus driver made it safely back to Bertrand as well.

We hunkered down in the house, and Dad had the wood-burning stove fired up, so it was warm and cozy. We watched the snow fall and listened to the wind howl for a couple of days. However, it looked deceiving where we lived. The trees in the river made a terrific windbreak and a great barrier to hold back the snow. We heard reports on the radio about how bad it was out there, and we had trouble believing it, tucked back where we were.

About the third day, Dad decided to venture out and see what it looked like. He returned faster than we thought he would. He said he could only make it about a half a mile in either direction, then he had to turn back as the drifts were so deep. His four-wheel drive truck wouldnt even begin to touch them. We were well and truly stuck at home, and it was then we knew it would be some time before we would make it back to school again.

The first storm ended, and we gave a sigh of relief even knowing that there would be a lot of digging out to do. But Mother Nature wasnt done, and it wasnt long before a second blizzard hit the area. It was much worse than the first because the temperatures were much colder.

Our son Brian found some information from national news sources about these storms. From a March 29, 1987, article from the Los Angeles Times: A second wave of spring blizzards swept through the central Plains on Saturday, closing hundreds of miles of major interstate roads in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas as the National Guard conducted search and rescue missions for stranded motorists.

The article continued: Blizzard conditions were reported in much of western and north-central Kansas, where about a foot of snow fell, and across central and northeast Nebraska. Interstate 80 in Nebraska was closed for about 280 miles from Lincoln west to the Wyoming border, or about two-thirds of the states major east-west highway.

The second storm was short, but it dumped more snow in our area. Coupled with high winds, it made for some deep drifts  some of which were impossible to get through even with a road grader. My dad was called to bring his D-8 Caterpillar to punch through some of the deeper snow drifts south of Bertrand.

I remember feeling relieved the first time we were able to make it to Lexington to get to a grocery store. The snow piled on the east-west roads was as high as the roof on our Suburban when we went through them.

I never thought I would say this, but I was excited to get back to school and see my friends again. It was a much longer vacation than we ever anticipated.

Witnessing two snowstorms back-to-back makes you appreciate how powerful Mother Nature can be and always respect the weather in Nebraska, because it can change in an instant.
President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev has sent a congratulatory letter to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the Novruz Holiday.

According to Azernews, the letter reads:

His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Dear Ilham Heydar oglu,

Dear brother,

I am delighted to extend my sincere congratulations and best wishes to you and the entire Azerbaijani people on the occasion of Novruz Bayram, the celebration of springs awakening and renewal.

For centuries, our brotherly peoples have celebrated and valued this unique holiday, which embodies the noble values of mutual compassion and care, kindness, unity, and friendship, and calls on humanity to live in harmony with nature.

In recent years, as a result of our joint efforts, the bilateral relations between our countries have consistently developed across all priority areas and have reached the level of strategic partnership and alliance, which brings us endless joy.

I am confident that through our continued active dialogue, collective efforts, and shared purposeful actions, our friendship and comprehensive cooperation will dynamically progress.

On this glorious and radiant occasion, I wish you and all your family members strong health, happiness, and great success in your noble state endeavors, and to the friendly Azerbaijani people, I wish peace, tranquility, sustainable development, and prosperity.

Sincerely,

Shavkat Mirziyoyev

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Pete Hegseth will make his first trip to Asia as defense secretary next week, traveling to key US allies the Philippines and Japan, the Pentagon said Friday.

The trip comes as the United States builds on unprecedented cooperation with like-minded countries to strengthen regional security, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

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Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro told reporters the meeting will focus on enhancing our bilateral and multilateral partnerships further, greater interoperability. But he declined to elaborate further.

Hegseths trip will also take him to Hawaii and Guam where he will participate in a ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima, Parnell said.

Toward the end of World War II in 1945, Japanese and US forces engaged in a brutal, five-week combat on the tiny island around 780 miles (1,250 kilometers) south of Tokyo.

Japanese soldiers used a web of underground tunnels to fight the Americans with overwhelming firepowera saga that has inspired many movies and books.

Japan lost nearly all of its 21,000 soldiers on the island, while the US side lost more than 6,800 troops, with more than 19,000 wounded.

Efforts to find the remains of the war dead continue on the island, which is now off limits for civilians. With Agence France Presse

Editors Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline Hegseth to make first Asia trip as Pentagon chief.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Mucormycosis, a fungal infection caused by Mucorales, has high mortality rates in people with weakened immune systems and those suffering from severe trauma like burns, blast injuries or victims of natural disasters. The disease caused serious infection among COVID-19 patients treated with high doses of corticosteroids with mortality rates close to 60 percent. In the United States, there are approximately 4,000 cases per year with a rate of 200,000 in Southeast Asia where the disease is endemic to India. While vaccines and immunotherapies are available for viruses and bacteria, effective antifungal immunotherapies for mucormycosis, specifically, are lacking.

Ashraf Ibrahim, Ph.D., an investigator at The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for more than 33 years, and Assistant Research Scientist, Yiyou Gu, Ph.D., at TLI for more than eight years, have been conducting research using monoclonal antibodies to address this gap.

Ibrahim's research focuses on advancing the understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms and virulence factors of fungal and bacterial infections, and on translating this knowledge into novel immunotherapeutic strategies to combat infectious diseases.

Their paper, "A humanized antibody against mucormycosis targets angioinvasion and augments the host immune response," was recently accepted and published in the Science Translational Medicine journal. In it, they discuss the use of monoclonal antibodies to target a key fungal cell surface protein, CotH, which enables the fungus to invade human cells and cause mucormycosis. Their findings will increase the efficiency of the current treatment options and thus will improve the outcome of treatment of lethal mucormycosis.

"Mucormycosis is a devastating disease that usually occurs in patients who suffer from weakened immune system such as patients with poorly controlled diabetes, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, and transplant patients," said Ibrahim, adding that the disease has had a steady increase over the last four decades due to an increase in people with diabetes and cancer, as well as advancement in transplant procedures.

The infection is aggressive and considered a medical emergency that needs immediate attention, often with disfiguring surgery to remove infected tissues. The damage to blood vessels is concerning because it's how antifungal drug therapy is delivered to the infection site. "Our humanized monoclonal antibody allows antifungal drug therapy to reach to infected tissues because it prevents fungal cells from damaging human cells and blood vessels," Ibrahim said.

As a result, Ibrahim and Gu developed an antibody called VX-01, a humanized antibody that has proven more effective at binding to the fungus compared to the original antibody. Although both protect from infection, the humanized antibody reduces immunogenicity and enhances therapeutic effect when used in humans, a major translational step.

Early tests show that VX-01 is safe, with no harmful effects on healthy cells, suggesting that VX-01 could be a promising treatment to help fight mucormycosis in people with weakened immune systems.

The Lundquist Institute holds both U.S. and international patents for this humanized antibody and has granted Vitalex, a Lundquist spin-off company, the commercial rights to advance this therapeutic for Mucormycosis to patients.

More information: Yiyou Gu et al, A humanized antibody against mucormycosis targets angioinvasion and augments the host immune response, Science Translational Medicine (2025). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.ads7369 Journal information: Science Translational Medicine

Provided by The Lundquist Institute
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian has sent a congratulatory letter to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the Novruz Holiday.

According to Azernews, the letter reads:

His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Your Excellency,

It is with heartfelt sincerity that I extend my warmest congratulations to Your Excellency and the esteemed people of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the auspicious occasion of Nowruz, the ancient festival of the reawakening of nature, the hopeful dawn of a prosperous future and the beginning of the year 1404 of the Solar Hijri calendar.

Spring is the epitome of nature's harmony, and a source of the spirit of kindness, empathy, and rejuvenation of life. I hope that this new year will bring about a remarkable transformation in the amicable relations between our two countries and in the well-being and prosperity of our peoples.

I pray to the Almighty for Your Excellency's health and success, for the happiness and prosperity of the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan and for the further expansion of relations and cooperation among the nations of the Nowruz civilizational region.

Masoud Pezeshkian

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Across California, kids are digging into lunches packed with chips, cookies and other ultra-processed snacksbut a new bill could soon change what's on their trays.

California lawmakers have introduced a new bill that would ban certain ultra-processed foods from school meals across the state.

Assembly Bill 1264 would begin phasing out these foods in 2028, with the goal of fully removing them by 2032.

The bipartisan proposal aims to protect kids from chemicals and additives found in many packaged foods.

"Our schools should not be serving students ultra-processed food products that are filled with chemical additives that can harm their physical and mental health," Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who introduced the bill, told NBC News.

Ultra-processed foods such as chips, candy, instant noodles and sodas are usually made with low-cost ingredients and often have long shelf lives.

They also may include additives like high-fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin and soy protein isolateingredients not commonly found in your pantry.

Studies show that eating more of these foods can raise the risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and mental health problems like depression and anxiety.

Some experts also believe these foods are designed to make people overeat by triggering the brain's reward system.

"The foods that we see that people show the common signs of addiction with are those ultra-processed foods that are high in both carbohydrates and fats in a way that we don't see in nature, and at levels that we don't see in nature," Ashley Gearhardt, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, told NBC News.

"There's evidence that especially that combo of carbs and fats has the superadditive amplification of the reward system and the brain," she added.

The bill would have California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment define which foods are most harmful, based on their fat, sugar and/or salt content, and whether they've been linked to food addiction or other serious health risks.

Gabriel said schools might just switch to "one brand of granola bars instead of another" or change recipes to meet the new rules.

"Americans are among the world's biggest consumers of ultra-processed foods, and we are paying the price for it, both in terms of our declining health and our rapidly rising health care costs," Gabriel said at a news conference, according to NBC News.

"This proposal is based on the common-sense premise that our public schools should not be serving students ultra-processed food products that can harm their physical or mental health or interfere with their ability to learn," he added.

This is not Gabriel's first push for safer school food. In 2023, he passed the California Food Safety Act, which banned four harmful food additives from products sold in the state.

In 2024, his California School Food Safety Act banned six artificial dyes from school meals.

Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher, co-author of the proposed bill, said children's health shouldn't be a partisan issue.

"When it comes to our kids, we've got an obesity epidemic," he said. "Our kids should be having healthy food to eat, and it seems like, increasingly, that is not the case."

"It's not as if we're not going to feed children at school," Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group added. "We may just feed them healthier food."

Some observers have expressed concern.

"Restricting access to shelf-ready foods could exacerbate health disparities, limit choice and create consumer confusion," said Sarah Gallo, Consumer Brands Association's senior vice president of product policy.

She added that food companies want to work with regulators to keep products safe, affordable and convenient.

More information: Children's Health has more on the effects of ultraprocessed foods on kids.

Copyright  2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
VMPL New Delhi [India], March 22: Global Journey of Panipuri from Street of India to Global Retail "Gujjuben 7 Flavor Panipuri", Back to India with new impressive NRI look "Safepoori SAFE HAI" with Guarantee of "SWAD, SWACHHTA, SUDDHATA". To make this impossible dream, Amit Kumar Balecha C Yojana Balecha Founders of ITF Foods Private Limited and their team are continuously working day C night to make this happen. With a mission of "Thoda Sa Bharat Har Plate Mein," Amit Kumar Balecha, An IIFT Alumni has been dedicated to showcasing Indian food products on a global platform for over two decades. Following a successful career spanning various renowned companies like Dabur, Bikaji, Rasna, Bambino, and others, where he led their international markets, he embarked on a new journey. Recognizing a gap in the market for authentic Indian street food flavors, especially among the NRI community, particularly the Gujarati diaspora known for their diverse culinary preferences, They spent on such snacking options, Amit took a bold step. In early 2021, he left a lucrative package of 1.25 Crore to join forces with his wife, Yojana Balecha, A renowned celebrity chef in UAE to expand her 2 year old Indian food distribution business i.e. Indian Traditional Foods FZCO, UAE Considering Amit's experience and knowledge, Together, they founded ITF Foods Private Limited in Ahmedabad in May 2021 with a vision encapsulated in the motto "ITF - Pardesh Mein Laaye Desh." Their dedication bore fruit when their very first product range, "Garam Kadai", was recognized as the product of the year at the prestigious Indus Food Show in its inaugural year. Simultaneously, a venture focusing on street food products, particularly in Ahmedabad, Surat, and Baroda, took shape. Embracing the brand name "Gujjuben - Taste of Gujarat", honouring the culinary skills of Gujarati women, the business expanded globally. Starting with trial shipments to Dubai, the journey evolved based on feedback, culminating in a significant milestone - the first shipment to Walmart Canada was on 11.11.2022. Today, Gujjuben delights consumers across North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, and NZ with Innovative products i.e. Gujjuben 7 Flavor Panipuri Kit, Ragda Panipuri Kit, Bhel Puri , Sev Puri, Instant Bhel, Ready to use panipuri pani in 16 Flavors ...etc. By breaking Two World Records in Single Day on Gth Jan 2024, First World's Largest Panipuri Pani Flavors (122) and the second Fastest Instant Bhel (18 seconds), by ITF through Amit shows his passion and dedication for the Indian Street Food Industry. With an international sales office in Dubai and a supply chain office in Ahmedabad, ITF's plan venturing into India in 2024 posed a challenge to sell panipuri kit, Hence in Jan 2025 introducing a panipuri vending machine in a market accustomed to street vendors. The innovative "Safepoori - Safe Hai" machine, offering 7 flavors, revolutionized the street food experience with hygiene and safety as top priorities. Safepoori running in Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Singapore, Considering overwhelming response, soon ITF expanding to global hubs like Dubai, New York, London, and more, the Safepoori machine aims to capture a significant share of the USD 4 Bln panipuri market in India. ITF's ambitious goal includes deploying 10,000 Safepoori Machines across 78 metro cities, targeting strong disruptions in the street food market of India. A venture started by husband C Wife duo has now a team of 14 people including Naveen, Ketan , Krati, Suresh etc. Recently Vibhor Rastogi joined as COO in their team. Vibhor, A professional Chef with his magical hand in the field of culinary arts, with additional ultra commercial skills. He had been featured in Shark Tank India during his past stint and everyone knew that Sharks approved the deal due to the taste which he had developed. ITF, A profitable bootstrap startup achieved remarkable success, surpassing the 10 Crore mark in FY 23-24 only through exports. Currently raising their first round of investment through HNI and VC funds for scaling up Gujjuben presence in international markets and to convert each panipuri to Safepoori in India. Convert each and every panipuri to Safepoori , A Global Panipuri Men - Amit Kumar Balecha and his team will surely make huge noise in the Indian food industry. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by VMPL. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
Chairman of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping has sent a congratulatory letter to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Azernews reports.

Dear Mr. President,

I have the honor to express my heartfelt gratitude to you for your congratulatory letter on the occasion of the Spring Festival. On behalf of the government and people of China, I extend my sincere congratulations to you and the entire people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of the traditional Novruz holiday.

Currently, China-Azerbaijan strategic partnership relations are developing dynamically, with political mutual trust being strengthened, cooperation advancing as part of the joint construction related to the "Belt and Road" project, and fruitful interaction on the international stage deepening.

I highly value the development of relations between China and Azerbaijan and am ready to work with you to further strengthen traditional friendship and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation for the benefit of the peoples of both countries.

I wish you good health and well-being, and happiness and prosperity to the friendly people of Azerbaijan, the letter reads.
VMPL New Delhi [India], March 22: In a momentous occasion for India, Renuka Goswami, the visionary founder of Nimai Pathshala, delivered a compelling Vedic discourse at the United Nations, shedding light on the profound role of women in Vedic civilization. Following her impactful presence at the UN, she has now been invited to South Korea to further her mission of empowering women through the timeless wisdom of Sanatan Dharma. During her talk at the UN, Renuka Goswami emphasized the strength, wisdom, and leadership of Vedic women in spiritual, social, and intellectual realms. Her speech resonated deeply with a global audience, illustrating how Vedic principles remain relevant and transformative in today's world, especially in fostering women's empowerment. Her growing influence on the international stage underscores India's rich spiritual and educational heritage. Having already represented India in the United Kingdom, she continues to be a beacon of knowledge and inspiration, bridging ancient wisdom with contemporary societal needs. The event attracted attendees from around the world, all eager to hear her insights on how Vedic principles can empower women in the modern era. Nimai Pathshala: Reviving Vedic Wisdom for All At the heart of her mission lies Nimai Pathshala, a unique educational initiative that provides free Vedic and humanitarian education both online and offline. With students ranging from ages 5 to 60, Nimai Pathshala welcomes learners from all walks of life, making Vedic teachings accessible to everyone. Every Sunday, Renuka Pundrik Goswami personally conducts extended classes, offering deep insights into Vedic scriptures, their meanings, moral values, and practical applications. Beyond regular classes, the initiative is actively engaged in community upliftment, ensuring that knowledge transcends social barriers. One of its most heartfelt initiatives is its Thursday sessions in Delhi's slums, where underprivileged children are introduced to the Bhagavad Gita, offering them a sense of purpose and direction in life. Additionally, Nimai Pathshala organizes kirtans (devotional singing), prabhat pheris (morning spiritual processions), and Sanskrit classes, further fostering a holistic spiritual environment. More than just an educational institution, Nimai Pathshala is a thriving community where individuals experience personal growth, spiritual enlightenment, and a deeper connection with their roots. Through its initiatives, it continues to uphold and share the legacy of Sanatan Dharma, making it an integral part of modern education. As Renuka Goswami takes India's spiritual legacy to South Korea, her journey remains a testament to the enduring power of Vedic teachings and their ability to transform lives across the world. Her work at Nimai Pathshala stands as a shining example of how education and spirituality can empower individuals, nurture moral values, and bridge cultures globally. For more information, visit Nimai Pathshala on Facebook or Instagram (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by VMPL. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
PNN New Delhi [India], March 22: In a momentous step toward nurturing the next wave of groundbreaking innovators, CGC Mohali (Jhanjeri) has been selected under the highly esteemed AICTE IDEA (Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship Academy) Scheme 2024-25, securing an impressive Rs1 crore in funding to establish the AICTE IDEA Lab on campus. This recognition marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter, providing a state-of-the-art facility designed to foster transformative creativity and hands-on learning, further solidifying CGC Mohali's reputation as a leader in education and innovation. The AICTE IDEA Lab is a pioneering facility envisioned by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to give students access to cutting-edge technologies, tools, and expert mentorship. It will serve as an incubator for creativity, allowing students and faculty to explore, prototype, and develop solutions across emerging fields such as robotics, 3D printing, AI, and IoT. The lab is also focused on delivering real-world solutions that have an impact in areas like healthcare, sustainability, and agriculture. At the heart of this initiative lies CGC Mohali's (Jhanjeri) commitment to producing ethical leaders who will not only push the boundaries of technology but will do so with responsibility and integrity. By integrating industry-standard practices with hands-on experiential learning, the AICTE IDEA Lab will empower students to address the world's most pressing challenges through innovative solutions. In partnership with VentureNest, CGC Mohali's (Jhanjeri) prestigious incubator for student startups, the AICTE IDEA Lab will nurture the entrepreneurial spirit on campus. This collaboration ensures that students have access to mentorship from industry experts and a dynamic environment that encourages experimentation, risk-taking, and rapid iteration of ideas. With world-class facilities and a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, CGC Mohali (Jhanjeri) is poised to offer students the tools, technology, and mentorship they need to turn their entrepreneurial visions into reality. This initiative positions the institution as not only a hub for academic excellence but also a launchpad for ventures with global impact. This monumental achievement is a direct result of the visionary leadership of the Hon'ble Managing Director, CGC Group, whose dedication to fostering academic and technological excellence continues to propel CGC Mohali to new heights. Speaking on this landmark development, he stated: "The AICTE IDEA Lab is a testament to our commitment to innovation-driven education. By equipping students with cutting-edge tools and a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem, we are shaping future leaders who will drive meaningful change across industries." With the establishment of the AICTE IDEA Lab, CGC Mohali (Jhanjeri) is reaffirming its dedication to producing future leaders who will shape the world with solutions that are not only transformative but also grounded in ethical principles. Empowered with the best technologies and a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, CGC Mohali (Jhanjeri) students are primed to leave a lasting impact globally. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], March 22: In a significant move towards digital innovation, Harvest Company unveiled its new social media application and digital currency during a grand launch ceremony held at the Atlantis Banquet on Tonk Road on Wednesday. The event highlighted the future and importance of digital currency, emphasizing its potential to revolutionize the way people interact and transact online.

The ceremony was attended by prominent figures, including Shri Shri 1008 Ram Prasad Ji Maharaj, Dinesh Saini, Navratna, Sunil, Ramesh, Devendra, Mangal, Asha Kumawat, Mahendra Chaudhary, and Hira Ram Jat. The event was organized by Prince Saini, who elaborated on the features of the newly launched app.

Saini explained that the social media app is powered by AI technology and prioritizes user privacy. Unlike other platforms, it restricts users to a single account, ensuring authenticity and reducing misuse. Additionally, the app prevents unauthorized downloads of photos, videos, or reels, offering enhanced security for its users.

The launch also introduced Harvest Company's digital currency, which Saini described as one of the most growth-oriented currencies of the modern era. The company aims to make this currency accessible to the general public, educating them about its benefits. The digital currency stands out due to its reward system, which offers periodic incentives to users.

The event concluded with a vision to bridge the gap between technology and everyday life, empowering users with secure digital tools and innovative financial solutions. Harvest Company's dual launch marks a significant step towards a more connected and digitally advanced future.

(ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by VMPL. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
NewsVoir New Delhi [India], March 22: TalentNomics India, a leading non-profit dedicated to fostering a gender-equitable Universe - Equiverse, is set to host the 9th Global Leadership Conference, titled "Restoring the Equiverse - From Vision to Action", on March 27, 2025, at Holiday Inn, Aerocity, New Delhi. Bringing together 200+ global and regional leaders, policymakers, corporate executives, and social change-makers, the conference will foster high-impact discussions on practical strategies to restore gender balance across workplaces, economies, and society. With an inspiring lineup of keynote speakers, panel discussions, and research presentations, the event is designed to drive real change--moving beyond dialogue to actionable solutions. Keynote Speakers & Distinguished Guests The conference will feature inspirational keynote addresses from esteemed global leaders: * Her Excellency May-Elin Stener, Ambassador of Norway to India and Sri Lanka - The Urgency of Restoring the Equiverse: Bridging Gaps, Empowering Futures * Neelam Dhawan, Non-Executive Director, ICICI Bank Limited, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, and others - The Path Forward: Visionary Leadership for Restoring the Equiverse * Kanta Singh, Deputy Representative, UN Women India - Valedictory Session: A Collective Commitment to Equity Conference Highlights & Key Panels The conference will delve into some of the most pressing issues surrounding gender equity, focusing on real-world challenges and solutions. The four dynamic panel discussions and sessions include: 1. Reimagining Workplaces - Building Gender-Responsive Employment Practices How organizations can redesign work environments to ensure equity, inclusion, and diverse leadership representation. 2. Financial Empowerment - Bridging the Gender Wealth Gap Exploring systemic barriers, wage gaps, and financial inclusion strategies to support women's economic independence. 3. Allies to Advocates - Transforming the Narrative Around Gender Roles Engaging men, media, and policymakers in the gender equity movement to drive long-term cultural shifts. 4. Policy Interventions - What's Next for a Gender-Equal Future? A roundtable discussion that will involve all participants to get inputs on policies and frameworks needed to accelerate systemic change at national and organizational levels. There will be an interesting Q&A session, Walking the Talk - Fostering an Equiverse between Kishore Ajwani, Managing Editor, News18 India, and Lavang Khare, Strategic Communications Advisor. This conversation will explore how men and media leaders can champion gender equity at work, at home, and in public discourse--moving beyond narratives to real change. The event will also include the much-anticipated launch of the "4W's Report: Bridging the Gender Gap in Work, Wealth, Welfare & Well-being," based on primary and secondary research. The report provides critical insights and specific country based policy recommendations to address persistent inequalities in three South Asian Countries, using Thailand as an anchor country. Agenda Overview 09:00 AM - 09:15 AM | Opening Remarks by Ipsita Kathuria and Paul Linnarz 09:15 AM - 09:50 AM | Keynote Address 1 - Her Excellency May-Elin Stener 09:50 AM - 10:50 AM | Panel 1: Reimagining Workplaces - Gender-Responsive Employment Practices 11:10 AM - 11:40 AM | Walking the Talk: Fostering an Equiverse 11:40 AM - 12:40 PM | Panel 2: Financial Empowerment - Bridging the Gender Wealth Gap 12:40 PM - 01:00 PM | SEWA Sister's Journey in Bridging the Wealth Gap 01:00 PM - 01:20 PM | 4W's Report Launch 02:20 PM - 02:50 PM | Keynote Address 2 - Neelam Dhawan 02:50 PM - 04:00 PM | Panel 3: Allies to Advocates - Transforming the Narrative Around Gender Roles 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM | Roundtable: Policy Interventions for a Gender-Equal Future 05:30 PM - 05:50 PM | Valedictory Session - Kanta Singh TalentNomics India is a non-profit organization. By equipping women with the tools to lead and advocate for systemic change, TalentNomics aims to create an Equiverse--a world where gender equity is the norm. The organisation works to bridge gaps, build networks, and drive sustainable change through conferences, research initiatives, and leadership programs. For more details and media registration, visit: www.india.talentnomics.org/annualconference2025 LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Spotify (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
PNN New Delhi [India], March 22: Bollywood heartthrob Kartik Aaryan has joined forces with Supersox, India's leading premium socks brand. With his irresistible charm, versatile acting, and effortless sense of style, Kartik perfectly embodies the spirit of Supersox, which blends fashion, innovation, and comfort. Kartik Aaryan has become a household name, not just for his blockbuster hits but also for his bold fashion choices. His ability to make a sharp tuxedo look iconic as well as a casual street-style outfit look effortlessly cool is why he's adored by millions. This collaboration with Supersox is an extension of his sartorial journey--premium, refined, and unapologetically modern. Just as Kartik redefines Bollywood stardom, Supersox is redefining everyday essentials for an audience that demands elegance, quality, and innovation. "With his unique ability to connect with people across generations, Kartik Aaryan perfectly captures the spirit of Supersox," said Harsh, Director of Supersox. "At Supersox, we believe socks are more than just a necessity, and with this collaboration, we are redefining boundaries to showcase how even everyday essentials can reflect individuality and aspirations." Supersox is revolutionizing the sock market, catering to India's evolving style sensibilities. What sets Supersox apart is its use of unique materials, such as naturally antibacterial bamboo, paired with trendy patterns and premium designs. The brand delivers unmatched quality and a touch of elegance in every pair, offering a diverse range of socks designed for every age group, from kids to adults, ensuring style and comfort for all. Speaking about the collaboration during the TVC shoot, Kartik shared, "Supersox is the first brand to truly disrupt the category, and I'm thrilled to be a part of this change and their mission to make socks a statement piece." Kartik brings an unparalleled mix of magnetism and allure to the collaboration, perfectly reflecting Supersox's vision of blending accessibility with exclusivity. "I've always believed that the little details, like socks, can make a big difference in showcasing personal style," Kartik said. With this partnership, Supersox continues to cater to India's premium audience while elevating the standards of functional fashion. The collaboration signifies a shared commitment to pushing boundaries and making everyday wearables a celebration of personal style and innovation. About Supersox Supersox comes from the house of Super Knit Industries, founded by the visionary Mr. Naval Saraf who has been in the socks business since 1975. Supersox was launched by his two sons Harsh & Vivek Saraf in 2012, with a vision to ensure that every foot in India has the comfort of a good quality sock. Over the years, the company has grown into India's most credible socks manufacturer, backed by a strong supply chain and a state-of-the-art factory that sets global benchmarks in quality and innovation. What sets Supersox apart is its world-class manufacturing facility, recognized with 13 global certifications, ensuring unparalleled craftsmanship and quality. From cutting-edge sustainable materials to bold, fashion-forward designs, every pair reflects the brand's commitment to excellence. Supersox is one of India's most trusted premium socks brands offering 10,000+ unique socks for all ages and occasions. Supersox, is available at retail outlets nationwide and is also available on all major platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Zepto, and Blinkit. Explore more at supersox.com and follow @Supersox_India on Instagram. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
ATK New Delhi [India], March 22: Life insurance is an essential financial tool that provides security while helping you plan for the family's future. The added advantage of buying a life insurance policy is the tax benefits it offers, making it a smart financial choice. But how does it impact your taxable income in India? Let's take a closer look at how life insurance maturity benefits are treated under tax laws, when they are exempt from tax and the conditions under which they may be taxable. Knowing these details can help you plan better and leverage the benefits of your policy. What is life insurance maturity? Life insurance maturity refers to the point when your policy completes its term and the insurer pays out the accumulated benefits. This payout, known as the maturity benefit, includes the sum assured along with any bonuses or returns, depending on the type of policy. Unlike a death benefit, which is paid to the nominee in case of the policyholder's demise, a maturity benefit is given directly to the policyholder if they survive the policy term. In India, the tax treatment of maturity benefits depends on Section 10(10D) of the Income Tax Act. Allow us to take a closer look at how it impacts your taxable income. We will also talk about the things to keep in mind while planning your finances. Situations when the maturity amount is taxable There are certain situations where the maturity amount from a life insurance policy is taxable. Here's a breakdown of when this happens and why: Keyman Insurance Policies If the maturity benefit is received from a Keyman Insurance Policy, it is fully taxable. This type of policy is taken by an employer on the life of an employee and the maturity benefit is paid to the employer instead of the employee's family. Since this is a business-related insurance policy, the payout is treated as business income and is taxed accordingly. Policies with High Premiums The tax-free status of maturity benefits depends on how much premium (the amount paid for the insurance policy) you are paying compared to the sum assured (the guaranteed amount you receive at maturity). For policies issued on or after April 1, 2003: If the premium paid in any year exceeds 20% of the sum assured, the maturity amount becomes taxable. For policies issued on or after April 1, 2012: This limit is stricter--if the premium exceeds 10% of the sum assured, the payout is taxable. Policies for Disabled Individuals If the life insurance policy is taken for a disabled person, the maturity benefit will be taxable if the premium exceeds 15% of the sum assured. This applies to policies where the insured person has a severe disability as defined under tax laws. Policies Linked to Certain Diseases (Section 80DDB) If the policyholder has a disease specified under Section 80DDB of the Income Tax Act and the maturity proceeds are linked to their treatment, the payout could be taxable. Section 80DDB provides deductions for medical expenses related to serious illnesses and policies linked to such cases may not always get full tax exemption. How is the tax applied? If your maturity amount is taxable, it gets added to your total income and is taxed based on your income tax slab. If you're wondering how to calculate income tax, it simply means adding up your earnings, checking your tax slab and applying the right percentage. Before paying you the maturity amount, the insurer will deduct TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) if the payout is over Rs1 lakh and the policy does not qualify for exemption under Section 10(10D). TDS Rate: * 5% if you have submitted your PAN Card * 20% if you haven't submitted your PAN If the maturity amount is less than Rs1 lakh, no TDS is deducted, but you are still required to declare this income in your income tax return and pay applicable taxes. Situations when the maturity amount is not taxable For most policyholders, the maturity amount from a life insurance policy is completely tax-free, provided certain conditions are met. Here's when you don't have to worry about paying tax on your policy's maturity benefits: Policies Issued on or After April 1, 2012 If your policy was issued on or after April 1, 2012, the premium you pay in any year should not exceed 10% of the sum assured. If it stays within this limit, the maturity amount will be completely tax-free. Policies Issued on or After April 1, 2003 For policies issued between April 1, 2003 and March 31, 2012, the premium should not exceed 20% of the sum assured. As long as this condition is met, the maturity amount is exempt from tax. Policies for Disabled Individuals If the policy is taken for a person with a disability, the premium should not be more than 15% of the sum assured. If it stays within this limit, the maturity benefit remains tax-free. Finishing up With this knowledge, you can do more than just protect your family--you can plan your finances better. Life insurance not only provides security but also offers tax benefits. However, not all maturity payouts are tax-free. Hence, understanding when they are taxable and how to calculate income tax is important. It helps you stay prepared and make informed decisions. Thus, avoiding unexpected tax deductions and maximising the benefits of your policy. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by ATK. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
NewsVoir New Delhi [India], March 22: India's largest technology showcase, the 32nd Convergence India and 10th Smart Cities India expo, is an initiative by Exhibitions India Group (EIG) that focuses on transformative technologies and solutions shaping India's future by creating an ecosystem that supports initiatives such as 'Digital India, ''Make in India,' and the 'Smart Cities Mission'. Nitin Gadkari, Hon'ble Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Government of India, inaugurated the expo. In a special address, the Hon'ble Minister said, "Today, AI is driving our economy. India's future is connected with technological growth, so we need to push more research and innovations. The good news is that we boast the highest number of young engineers driving innovations and futuristic technologies." Under the theme "Imagining an AI-Driven Future Today: Innovating for a Better Tomorrow," the event was a technological extravaganza and the epicentre of hectic activity, with thousands of visitors and delegates exploring technologies and innovations. They also had the opportunity to experience world-class gadgets, including drones, robotics, AR/VR glasses, mobile and digital gaming devices, etc. Meanwhile, the Smart City Pavilion offered an impressive lineup of smart city projects that deliver quality results and enhance millions of citizens' lives. Chandrika Behl, Managing Director, Exhibitions India Group, said, "This expo has played a pivotal role in fostering technological upgradation and national development, besides promoting an inclusive and sustainable ecosystem across the country. We are the foremost platform for businesses, especially startups, in the Digitech space and have launched several brands that have grown to achieve international acclaim. Taking a cue from the industry's mood at this year's show, we will continue providing wholesome opportunities to companies and allow them to thrive and emerge as global brands." In addition to product launches, investor meets and collaborations, the venue hosted approx. 40 conference sessions ranging from a wide gambit of subjects. These sessions facilitated discussions between industry representatives, innovators, think tanks, and academia on the latest developments and market trends impacting new-age technologies. Moreover, the industry's future looks bright, with several ministry representatives participating in these discussions! Besides, strong representation from the Ministry of Electronics & IT, including Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary & CEO India AI Mission; Sanket Bhondve, Joint Secretary; and Panneerselvam Madanagopal, CEO, Startup Hub; Sanjeev Shankar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of IB, and A. Dhanalakshmi, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Science & Technology, also participated in constructive interactions, proving the Government's resolve to guide the industry. While interacting with delegates during a conference session focused on Artificial Intelligence, Abhishek Singh observed, "We are building AI-based applications in key sectors that can be scaled, rolled out and deployed at scale. The AI policy alignment opens doors for new tools to detect data bias, machine learning, detecting deepfakes, and watermarking AI-generated content." Prominent entrepreneurs such as Aman Gupta (Co-founder & CMO, boAt), journalist Barkha Dutt and Ankur Warikoo, founder of WebVeda, also engaged in deliberations, offering insights into India's thriving startup ecosystem. During a Fireside Chat session, Aman Gupta said, "The new India is dreaming big. However, Indian brands should not target to be affordable but aspirational. They should also have a competitive mindset." Talking about the qualities that a successful entrepreneur should have, he shared, "Find your passion and follow it wholeheartedly. Keep yourself grounded, and don't get carried away. My mantra is - be efficient and take responsibilities seriously." Among the highlights were the Investors Pitch competition in the Startup arena that had 10 startups showcase innovative ideas to a distinguished jury. Products and ideas were shared across domains such as healthcare, farming, and safety. Fuselage Innovation, an agri-tech startup from Kerala, emerged as the winner. It received the Prem Behl's Excellence Award, a cash prize of Rs. 1 Lakh from Exhibition India, and a fully funded participation in the reputed GITEX Dubai and GITEX Morocco, besides guaranteed pitch slots at the Supernova Challenge 2025 in Berlin. The highly popular Fintech and Smart Cities awards drew a large number of nominations. The Smart Cities awards were given under categories such as Best Use of AI for Urban Development, Best Smart Energy Solution, Digital Inclusion and Citizen Engagement, Innovation in Urban Mobility, etc. Some Fintech awards categories included Best Global Use of AI in FinTech, Best Digital Lending Solution, FinTech for Financial Inclusion, Best Fintech Leader, etc. Meanwhile, the first Mobile India awards were introduced as an extension of the Mobile India Expo to celebrate the outstanding contributions of companies and individuals towards revolutionising the sector. Notably, Russia-based Alfa Bank bagged awards in two categories: Global Leader in Fintech and Best Global Use of AI in FinTech. Sharing his thoughts upon receiving the award, Alexey Kashirin, Head of the Advanced Analytics Department, said, "I am grateful to the FinTech India Innovation Awards for appreciating our bank's contribution to innovation development. India is not just a global technology leader, but also one of Russia's key partners." Since 1992, Convergence India has heralded the telecom and digital revolution in India. It is India's largest technology showcase event, providing a platform to showcase 'Brand India' by supporting the 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' campaigns. Convergence India is at the forefront of promoting technological advancements in Telecom, Satcom, Broadcast, Wired & Wireless technologies, 5G & 6G networks and IT solutions. The Smart Cities India expo displays India's emerging modernisation and development landscape that aims to deliver better citizen-centric services across the country. The expo showcases the integration of transformative technologies with the key pillars of urban development, i.e., green buildings, rooftop solar, renewable & clean energy, clean environment, clean water, water conservation, urban mobility, and the use of smart ICT solutions for optimising resources that make cities smart and sustainable. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
A consignment of 30 metric tons (MT) has been exported to Bangladesh, commerce ministry stated Saturday.

This initiative marks the beginning of direct exports of jaggery from western Uttar Pradesh to Bangladesh through Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs).

Speaking on the occasion, MLA, Shamli, Prasanna Chaudhary highlighted the superior quality of jaggery produced in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, which is in high demand in international markets.

He thanked Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) for its constant support in facilitating the export and emphasized the importance of state government support in maintaining quality standards for global competitiveness.

The flag-off ceremony, organized by the Basmati Export Development Foundation (BEDF) under the aegis of APEDA, took place on January 30, 2025, the commerce ministry said in a statement.

The Brijnandan Agro Farmer Producer Company (FPC), formed in 2023, has 545 members, including two women directors. The FPO is engaged in exporting jaggery, sugarcane products, Basmati rice, and pulses. With training and technical support from BEDF, its members are well-equipped to meet international production and export standards.

With APEDA's support, this marks the third success story of an FPO from western Uttar Pradesh in agricultural exports, following the export of Basmati rice by Neer Adarsh Organic Farmer Producer Co Ltd. to Lebanon and Oman in 2023 and 2024.

Notably, this is the only FPO in Uttar Pradesh to receive financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh under the state's Agri Export Policy.

On this occasion, one capacity-building programme on export promotion for Basmati rice and other agricultural products was also organized by Basmati Export Development Foundation (APEDA). Around 220 farmers participated in discussions on export-quality production.

"This initiative represents a significant step in expanding agricultural export opportunities for Uttar Pradesh, empowering farmers, and ensuring a sustainable and profitable future for India's agriculture sector," the commerce ministry said. (ANI)
PNN New Delhi [India], March 22: HARIKRIT, in association with Bharat Vikas Parishad, organised a warm and emotional event, "Sanjhi Sanjh Connect Abhinandan", in New Delhi, aimed at paying tribute to the wisdom of elders and strengthening the bond between generations. The event saw eminent dignitaries, artists and members of civil society gather to recognise and uphold the values of respect, dialogue and inclusion of older citizens in the social mainstream. Held on March 21 at the NCUI Auditorium, August Kranti Marg, New Delhi, the event was honoured by prominent personalities such as the renowned actor Anang Desai; Prof. Dr Mahesh Verma, Vice-Chancellor of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University; and Mrs Jyotika Kalra is Ex-Member NHRC. The presence of these personalities lent a touch of distinction to the event, reiterating the significance of community and cultural values. Delivering the address on the occasion, Rajeev Anand, President of Harikrit, thanked the huge response the initiative has been receiving. "This is a matter of pride for us. We feel that each interaction with our elderly is a chance to learn valuable lessons in life. The 'Saanjhi Saanjh' initiative aims at providing platforms for such interactions," said Anand. His words repeated the very heart of the mission of the programme--to create a culture of respectful exchange and serious dialogue between the generations. Indian actor Anang Desai, who has been famous for his versatility in acting in Indian films and television, also contributed his ideas during the occasion. He praised the efforts of Harikrit to return the elderly to prominence in a rapidly changing world. "We are in times where very frequently the elderly get lost in the midst of changing technology and lifestyles. Programs such as these encourage us to slow down and reconnect with the people who have formed us and our society," Desai added. Prof. Dr Mahesh Verma stressed the significance of empowering old people. 'Saanjhi Saanjh' is a very beautiful concept because it promotes the elderly playing an active role in society. We pay greater respect to parents and seniors in India than any other country does," he stated. NHRC ex-member Jyotika Kalra emphasized the legal and ethical obligation of society toward its elderly. A video message from Shri Suresh Jain, National Organising Secretary, Bharat Vikas Parishad, was shared in his absence, which emphasised motivating youth to be sensitive and caring towards senior citizens. The "Saanjhi Saanjh Connect Abhinandan Program" also included cultural performances and the life stories and achievements of senior citizens. The ambiance was one of appreciation, learning, and respect for each other, as the participants had conversations on how society could become more inclusive and sympathetic towards its ageing population. Harikrit premiered a film that talks about the emotional and vulnerable side of our senior citizens, 'A Muffled Silence - Ye Aawazein'. In the process of creating reading content for senior consumption, the galaxy released the fourth edition of 'Saanjhi Saanjh', a short story collection authored by Dr JV Manisha Bajaj. As the event drew to a close, Sh. DK Bajaj, Sh. Tarsem Antil, Dr. JV Manisha Bajaj, Smt. Vijay Laxmi Sinha, Pallavi Bhardwaj and Sh. Krishna Rao thanked the attendees and floated a drive that induced a renewed commitment to honouring and supporting the elderly with a motto: "Let's sow some goodness to reap some love. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
Digitisation, reforms, financial inclusion are among several factors that have contributed to India's economic growth over the past decade, economists have said as IMF data, cited by BJP leader Amit Malviya, showed that the country doubled its GDP from USD 2.1 trillion in 2015 to USD 4.3 trillion in 2025. Pankaj Jaiswal, an economist, said that India has seen significant growth in the last ten years. "Since Prime Minister Modi took office, the country has experienced rapid economic growth," he said. He also talked of benefits of financial inclusion and contributions of people, who were earlier not part of formal economy, also being counted now due to digitisation. Sharad Kohli, also an economist, attributed the rapid pace of growth to the policy reforms undertaken by the BJP-led government. "This is the outcome of reforms and policies undertaken by the government. And these reforms have happened across the sectors. Take, for example, agriculture, fintech, governance and why forget manufacturing or infrastructure, which has contributed in a huge way," he said. Earlier in the day, referring to the IMF data, BJP leader Amit Malviya posted on the micro-blogging site X that India has reached a remarkable economic milestone, doubling its GDP from USD 2.1 trillion in 2015 to an impressive USD 4.3 trillion in 2025, marking an extraordinary 105 per cent growth that stands unmatched by any other major global economy. In the post, the BJP leader hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding that the achievement reflects his decisive leadership and relentless efforts of his government. China, which is seen as the major economic superpower in Asia, added 76 per cent in one decade. The GDP of Germany witnessed an addition of 44 per cent. (ANI)
As part of the tree-planting campaign at the Berzengi Sanatorium in Turkmenistan, the traditional World Cuisine competition was held, Azernews reports.

Diplomatic representatives of various countries and international organizations attended the event organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.

Azerbaijan was represented in this event by the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Turkmenistan.

This was reported by the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Turkmenistan.

According to the reports, samples of national cuisine, ancient traditions, samples of decoration and art, and the main features of Nowruz were displayed in the Azerbaijan pavilion.
This news comes as a surprise to fans, especially since the couple has been a regular fixture at the annual fashion event in recent years.

The last time Lively and Reynolds walked the Met Gala red carpet was in 2022, when they served as co-chairs alongside Regina King and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

That year, Lively stunned in a custom Atelier Versace gown, featuring a reversible train that she famously flipped halfway up the iconic museum steps.

According to People magazine, the 2025 Met Gala, scheduled for May 5, will celebrate the theme 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,' inspired by Monica L. Miller's book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.

The exhibit will feature a range of garments, paintings, photographs, and more, exploring the indelible style of Black men in the context of dandyism.

Lively and Reynolds' decision to skip the 2025 Met Gala comes amid their ongoing legal battle surrounding Lively's movie, 'It Ends with Us'.

In December, Lively filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against director and costar Justin Baldoni and his co-producers, which was followed by Baldoni's USD 400 million defamation lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds, and their team. (ANI)
The month of Ramzan holds great significance for the Muslim community, especially the tradition of Roza Iftar. During this holy month, the most loved cuisine is, of course, Haleem, which has become an obsession among Hyderabadis throughout Ramzan. This slow-cooked feast, filled to the brim with meat, lentils, and spices, is not merely food; it is an emotion, a tradition, and, for most, a reflection of unity. Haleem, also called Harees, has its roots in Arabian cuisine, but in Hyderabad, it has developed a life of its own. One of the Haleem sellers, Mohd Irfan, who briefs about the preparation process, shared, "Haleem is not just a dish; it's a tradition handed down through generations. Every year, thousands of people from different backgrounds flock to the city's iconic dish to savour the rich flavours of Haleem." "The Haleem's procedure, which starts at 2 AM each day. All pure mutton, premium-quality lentils, basmati rice, green chillies and an assortment of spices go into the making, which gets slowly cooked over gigantic earthen pots (Bhatti) for almost eight hours. It makes for a creamy, spicy, and pungent fare which still attracts thousands of visitors daily", said Rabani, the seller. A customer, Raheem, said, "Haleem here is good. I've been coming here for the past three years, and the taste remains the same every year." Haleem has become a popular dish in the cities of Hyderabad, Telangana and Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Hyderabad's haleem gained popularity during the Nizam's rule. Notably, Hyderabad Haleem gained Geographical Indication (GI) status in 2010, recognizing the city's unique and iconic dish. Ramzan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, holds profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide. Observed in the ninth month of the Hijri calendar, it is a period of deep devotion, self-restraint, and reflection. One of the five pillars of Islam, fasting--referred to as Roza--requires abstaining from food, drink, and other physical needs from dawn to sunset. The month is also a time for prayer, charity, and strengthening communal bonds, with Iftar serving as an important moment for breaking the day's fast in a spirit of togetherness. (ANI)
The Nilgiris District Traders Associations and a joint committee of all associations have announced a black flag protest across the district on March 29 and a complete shutdown on April 2, pressing for a 10-point demand, including the repeal of the e-pass system implemented in the Nilgiris district. The second phase of the consultative meeting of the Nilgiris District Traders Associations and key executives from various associations, including private accommodations, tourist vehicles, restaurants, agriculture, and auto drivers, was held in the Pinkerpost area of Ooty, Nilgiris district. Key executives from various trade bodies, associations dependent on the tourism sector, and agricultural organizations participated in the meeting. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, protest group leader Farooq stated that the e-pass system has led to a decline in the number of tourists visiting the Nilgiris district. He pointed out that the Madras High Court had recently issued an order permitting only 6,000 tourist vehicles per day from April 1 and 8,000 vehicles on Saturdays and Sundays. Since this order is expected to have a severe impact on the tourism industry in Nilgiris, protestors have demanded the complete cancellation of the e-pass system, relaxation of vehicle restrictions from April 1, resolution of tea-related issues in the district, and immediate approval of pending building permit applications. Announcing their agitation plans, they stated that a black flag protest would be held across the district on March 29, followed by a complete shutdown on April 2. Appealing to tourists, the protestors urged them to avoid visiting the Nilgiris district on April 2, as private hotels, restaurants, taxis, and autos will remain non-operational. Additionally, mountain vegetable farmers and tea farmers have pledged their support by joining the strike. (ANI)
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday said that Maharashtra remains the number one state in the country, attributing its success to the 'blessings of sisters of the state'. Shinde highlighted that infrastructure projects worth Rs10 lakh crore had commenced on Thursday, which he said would significantly boost Maharashtra's economy. He also emphasized the state's leading position in foreign direct investment (FDI), start-ups, and GDP. "Maharashtra is the number one state in the country, and with the blessings of sisters of the state, we have secured a landslide victory. Infrastructure projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore have begun today. We are first in FDI, start-ups, and GDP... With the works that have begun now, our economy will strengthen further," Shinde told reporters. Meanwhile, Maharashtra has witnessed intense political debates over the Nagpur violence, which erupted amid the Mahayuti government's demand to remove Aurangzeb's grave from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. As the opposition continues to criticize the state government over the Nagpur violence, Shinde hit back at the Shiv Sena (UBT) faction, comparing himself to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and accusing the opposition of compromising for power. Providing details on the violence in Nagpur, Shinde also criticized Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi for his remarks on Aurangzeb. He accused the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of political hypocrisy, alleging that while they publicly opposed the BJP, they had secretly explored allying with the party. "In 2022, I did not do anything secretly. Whatever I did, I did openly and with a bold heart. But your leaders (Thackeray faction) secretly met BJP leaders and expressed willingness to ally, only to backtrack later," Shinde remarked in the Council. Responding to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab's claim that he was tortured like Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj to switch parties, Shinde dismissed the allegation. "What torture did you go through? I know that you also bowed down after action was taken against you. But after being released from the case, you turned around like your leaders," Shinde said. (ANI)
The Government of India has approved infusion of Rs 11,440 crore as Equity/ Preferential capital in RINL, to sustain the operations of RINL and to keep it as a going concern, a press release from Ministry of Steel said. The Company has focused on improvement in techno-economic performance, better capacity utilization and rationalization of fixed costs etc. to enhance operational efficiency. This aligns with the objectives of National Steel Policy, 2017, the release added. This information was given by the Minister of State for Steel and Heavy Industries, Shri Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. In January this year, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced Rs 11,440 crore revival package for Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. The decision was made in the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In this overall package of Rs 11440, fresh equity infusion would be worth Rs 10,300 crore and the conversion of working capital loan into preferred share capital of Rs 1140 crore. "With this, all the employees of RINL as well as all the people connected with the economic activities of RINL will be immensely benefited and Andhra Pradesh will have a major steel plant revived in the coming days. Very soon RINL will start functioning with two glass furnances and by August it is planned to start all the three glass furnances", Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said after the cabinet meeting. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), is a Navratna company under the Ministry of Steel. Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is the first shore-based Integrated Steel Plant in India. It is a producer of long steel products and caters to the requirements of the construction, infrastructure, manufacturing and automobile sectors. A revival package has been a long-pending demand from the people of Andhra Pradesh and especially the people working within the steel plant, said Union Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu, who himself comes from the state. (ANI)
"Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) leader Ravinder Minna was shot dead in Panipat late Friday evening. The attacker also fired at the JJP leader along with his cousin and another person. Both were injured, while the JJP leader died. 5 teams have been formed to nab the accused", Panipat police said in a statement.

Last week a BJP leader named Surendra Jawahra was allegedly shot dead by his neighbour due to a land dispute in Sonipat on March 14, Sonipat police said.

According to the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime), Gohana police station Rishi Kant, the name of the accused is Monu and the incident has been reported from the Jawahara village of the Sonipat district.

As per the preliminary investigation, the victim had purchased land from the relatives of the accused's family, due to which they were undergoing a dispute which later resulted in the murder of the BJP leader. (ANI)
Pro-Kannada groups' are holding 12-hour statewide bandh across the state in protest against the alleged assault on a bus conductor in Belagavi for not speaking Marath. The Pro-Kannada groups claim they are being stopped by the satet police. Ravi Shetty Byndoor, Chairman of the Labour Council and a pro-Kannada activist on Saturday alleged that the state government is using the Police to suppress them. "The government is using the Police to suppress us. Vatal Nagaraj has called for a bandh. For that, many people have voluntarily come forward to go on a bandh. We are here to convince the bus drivers and operators. But they are stopping us. The government is sending us notice after notice. What are we, goons? We will start the rally at 11 am. We will take out the rally from Town Hall to Freedom Park," the Chairman of the Labour Council and a pro-Kannada activist told reporters. Several pro-Kannada groups have called a bandh in the state today from 6 am to 6 pm today. In Hassan, Police personnel have been deployed as a precautionary measure while normal daily activities continue. Meanwhile, passengers were seen waiting at a bus terminal in Bengaluru amid pro-Kannada groups' 12-hour statewide bandh in protest against the alleged assault on a bus conductor in Belagavi for not speaking Marathi. Earlier, the Karnataka Private Schools Union extended moral support, but other unions didn't give their support to the bandh and said Examinations are underway in many districts, including Bengaluru, and no holidays have been declared. Similarly, private colleges will remain open. "The bandh does not have the support of our organization. The organization will not participate in the bandh in any form," Karnataka Rakshana Vedike State President TA Narayana Gowda said in a statement. He added that large-scale protests were held in Belagavi after an official was attacked. A false POCSO case was also reportedly suppressed, and the inspector who registered the case was transferred. However, the police commissioner has assured that a bandh is unnecessary, he said. Metro services, BMTC and KSRTC buses, schools and colleges, markets, hospitals, and medical services will function as usual. Restaurants, hotels, bars, and pubs will also remain open. The bandh has been called as Kannada organisations demand strict action against those responsible for violence against Kannadigas and measures to prevent such incidents in the future. (ANI)
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar organised an Iftar gathering in Mumbai and emphasised the importance of communal harmony and unity against divisive forces. The NCP leader said that festivals like Holi, Gudi Padwa, and Eid promote togetherness and should be celebrated collectively, as unity is the true strength of the nation. He further said that anybody trying to create rifts between the two communities would face stringent punishment. "Many great leaders like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Dr BR Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, and others have shown the path of social progress by taking along all religions and castes. We have to carry forward this legacy. India is a symbol of unity and diversity. We have just celebrated Holi, and now Gudi Padwa and Eid are approaching. These festivals teach us to live together. Our real strength lies in unity," Pawar said. Assuring the Muslim community of his support, he added, "Your brother Ajit Pawar is with you. If anyone dares to intimidate our Muslim brothers and sisters or tries to create communal discord, they will not be spared." Ramzan is the most sacred month in the Islamic calendar and falls in the ninth month of the Hijri (the Islamic lunar calendar). During this holy period, Muslims observe fasting from dawn until sunset, a practice called Roza, which is one of the five pillars of Islam. It signifies values of devotion, self-restraint, and spiritual contemplation. Meanwhile, Maharashtra has witnessed intense political debates over the Nagpur violence, which erupted amid the Mahayuti government's demand to remove Aurangzeb's grave from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. As the opposition continues to criticise the state government over the Nagpur violence, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde hit back at the Shiv Sena (UBT) faction, comparing himself to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and accusing the opposition of compromising for power. Shinde provided details on the violence in Nagpur and also criticised Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi for his remarks on Aurangzeb. He accused the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of political hypocrisy, alleging that while they publicly opposed the BJP, they had secretly explored allying with the party. Responding to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab's claim that he was tortured like Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj to switch parties, Shinde dismissed the allegation. "What torture did you go through? I know that you also bowed down after action was taken against you. But after being released from the case, you turned around like your leaders," Shinde said. (ANI)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav paid a courtesy visit to Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi at the Lok Seva Bhavan in Bhubaneswar. Following the visit, Yadav, along with Minister Prahlad Singh Patel, paid tribute to Dr Debendra Pradhan, former Union Minister and father of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who passed away on March 17 at the age of 84. Yadav spoke highly of Dr Debendra Pradhan, saying, "Our friend and Minister in the Government of India, Dharmendra Pradhan's father, who himself was a Minister in the Government of India, Dr Debendra Pradhan, was a very capable personality. It is because of his work that the people joined the BJP in Odisha. I have come here today to express my condolences on the sad occasion of his departure... I pray to Baba Mahakal to grant salvation to his holy soul." Meanwhile, Odisha Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati on Tuesday visited Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's residence to pay last respects to his father Debendra Pradhan. Speaking to the media, the Odisha Governor emphasized that Debendra Pradhan was a man who remained stuck to his ideology throughout his life. "Devendra Pradhan was a man dedicated to an ideology throughout his life. He fought for the issues of the people. I remember when I met him when he was a Union Minister of State for Agriculture during Atal Bihar Vajpayee's government. I think he was a strong supporter of nationalism and throughout his life, he remained stuck to his ideology. May his soul rest in peace," the Governor said. The last rites of the former Union Minister were performed at Puri Swargadwar with full solemnity today. On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his last respects to former Union Minister Dr Debendra Pradhan, who passed away. In a post on X, PM Modi said that Debendra Pradhan's contribution as MP and Minister is also noteworthy for the emphasis on poverty alleviation."Dr. Debendra Pradhan Ji made a mark as a hardworking and humble leader. He made numerous efforts to strengthen the BJP in Odisha. His contribution as MP and Minister is also noteworthy for the emphasis on poverty alleviation and social empowerment. Pained by his passing away. Went to pay my last respects and expressed condolences to his family. Om Shanti," PM Modi said. (ANI)
Manipur Police in separate operations arrested seven cadres of various proscribed insurgent groups and recovered arms and ammunition during multiple raids across the state. Manipur police arrested one active cadre of the KCP-PWG organisation in Imphal West on March 21. In a post on X, Manpir police said, "On 21.03.2025, a joint team of Manipur Police and AR arrested one active cadre of KCP-PWG organisation namely Thangmangjam Naoba Singh (28 yrs) @ Pamuba from Mayang Langjing Bazar, Imphal West. He was involved in extortion activities by serving monetary demands/threats and collecting money from various stone crushers, shops and general public located in and around Imphal area." On the same day in a separate operation, Manipur Police arrested four active cadres of KCP(Apunba). "On 21.03.2025, Manipur Police arrested three active cadres of KCP(Apunba), namely, Mutum Jackson Meitei (20), Akoijam Sanjoy Singh (19) and Nongthombam Gopen Singh (59) from their residences at Imphal West District. one INSAS rifle along with one magazine loaded with three rounds, one 9 mm pistol along with magazine loaded with two rounds, two air gun, one double barrel gun, one body part of lathode gun, one defective magazine of INSAS LMG, one magazine of SLR rifle, one defective magazine of 7.62 LMG (which were cut into two parts), one lathode shell and one tear smoke shell were seized from their possession," police said on X. "Further, on follow up, today i.e. 21/03/2025, Manipur Police arrested another active member of KCP (Apunba), namely Ningthoujam Chalamba Singh (28) of Khurai Kongpal Sajor Leikai, IE District from his residence. He is the commander of the 03 persons arrested in the above case. Two mobile phones were recovered from his possession," they added. In another operation security forces arrested one active cadre of PREPAK from Imphal East District. "On 21.03.2025, security forces arrested one active cadre of PREPAK, namely, Nongthombam Kenedy Meitei @ Heiba (39) of Pourabi Mayai Leikai under Lamlai-PS, Imphal East District from Khurai Chingangbam Leikai near Community Hall under Porompat-PS, Imphal East District. He was involved in extortion activities from the general public," Police said on X. The security forces in another operation on March 21, arrested one active cadre of RPF/PLA from Imphal East District. "On 21.03.2025, security forces arrested one active cadre of RPF/PLA, namely, Laishram Romen Meitei (46) of Uchol Makha Leikai under Andro-PS, Imphal East District from Uchol Makha Leikai under Andro-PS, Imphal East District. He was involved in extortion activities from the general public. From his possession, one mobile phone and one wallet were seized," Police said. In another operation, Manipur Police recovered two vehicles suspected of being stolen in Thoubal District. "On 21.03.2025, Manipur Police recovered two vehicles suspected to be stolen vehicles from Ushoipokpi along NH-102 under Lilong-PS, Thoubal District," Manipur Police said. Security forces recovered several arms and ammunition during a search operation and area domination in Kangpokpi District. "Search operations and area domination were conducted by security forces in the fringe and vulnerable areas of hill and valley districts. During the operation, the following items were recovered. two 7.62 mm SLR with Magazine,one .22 mm Pistol with Magazine (country made), one Improvised Mortar (Pompi), two country made Pull Mechanism Rifle, six Mortar Bomb, eight 7.62 mm round and one Motorola handset (Baofeng) from general area of Zero point N. Boljang village track (05 km North of COB Kotlen) under New Keithelmanbi-PS, Kangpokpi District," Manipur police said on X. Search operations and area domination were conducted by security forces in the fringe and vulnerable areas of hill and valley districts, Manipur Police said on X. Movement of 168 nos. and 370 nos. of vehicles carrying essential items along NH-37 and NH-2 respectively has been ensured. Strict security measures are taken up in all vulnerable locations and security convoy is provided in sensitive stretches in order in to ensure free and safe movement of the vehicles. "A total of 109 Nakas/Checkpoints were installed in different districts of Manipur, both in the hill and the valley. No one was detained by Police in connection with violation in different districts of the state," Manipur Police said on X. On February 13, the President's rule was imposed in Manipur after receiving a report from the state governor. Violence erupted in the northeastern state on May 3 last year following clashes during a rally organised by the All Tribals Students Union (ATSU) to protest against the demand for the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe category. (ANI)
By Alimat Aliyeva

The Ambassador of Turkmenistan to Belarus, Nazarguly Shagulyyev, visited the Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ) to enhance cooperation in the automotive industry, Azernews reports.

Along with other Permanent Representatives of CIS member states and diplomats, Ambassador Shagulyyev was introduced to the truck assembly process. Special attention was given to the modern assembly lines and the use of cutting-edge technologies designed to increase production efficiency.

The delegation was also presented with the latest truck models developed by MAZ for operation in various climatic conditions, as well as new models of city and intercity buses equipped with energy-efficient engines and comfortable passenger cabins.

The management of MAZ held a meeting with the ambassadors of CIS countries, during which Ambassador Shagulyyev expressed Turkmenistan's interest in studying Belarusian automotive manufacturing practices and reiterated Turkmenistan's willingness to strengthen bilateral cooperation. He emphasized the potential for collaboration in improving the quality and production capabilities of Turkmenistans own automotive sector.

In response, the management of MAZ expressed its interest in supplying their vehicles to CIS countries and discussed the possibility of establishing long-term partnerships to meet the growing demand for high-quality vehicles in the region.

This visit underscores Turkmenistan's commitment to strengthening its industrial capabilities, particularly in the automotive sector. By learning from the expertise of Belarus, Turkmenistan aims to enhance its own manufacturing processes and boost local production in the future.
The Congress has formed a committee of its party leaders to visit Nagpur and meet residents of areas that were affected by the recent violence that broke out over the issue of Aurangzeb's grave. Senior Congress leader Manikrao Thakare who is part of the delegation criticized the BJP on Saturday over the recent violence in Nagpur, stating that the incident occurred because both the central and state governments did not pay attention. Speaking to ANI, Thakare said, "Such incidents had not happened in Nagpur before this. Maharastra Congress State President Harshwardhan Sapkal has given a few leaders of the Congress to find out the reasons behind the Nagpur incident. Secondly, we have to make sure that peace is restored." "Nagpur is a peaceful city. Some people tried to ignite it. We think that this incident happened because the central and the state government of Maharashtra did not pay attention. The police did not take time action," Thakare said. Violent clashes erupted in Nagpur on March 17 over the demand for the removal of Aurangzeb's grave, with stones hurled at police amid rumours that a holy book of a community was burnt during an agitation. The situation is back to normalcy as the curfew imposed in several areas was lifted. The Nagpur Court on Friday directed a medical examination for Fahim Khan, the prime accused in the Nagpur violence case, following his claims of ill-treatment by the police. His magisterial custody remand (MCR) was recorded, and the court reserved the right for police custody remand (PCR). Nagpur Police Commissioner Ravinder Singal reported that 99 individuals have been arrested in connection with the violence and assured an impartial investigation. "Till now, 99 people have been arrested, and action is being taken against them. We are conducting an unbiased investigation," Singal told reporters. Maharashtra's Minister of State for Home, Yogesh Kadam, has condemned the recent violence in Nagpur, stating that it is a very serious matter. "The incident that happened in Nagpur is very serious. Strictest action will be taken. People having the audacity to raise their hands on DCP-level officers and police personnel will not be tolerated at all," Kadam remarked. (ANI)
According to police, the accident occurred at around 4:40 AM near Hanuman Temple in Laxma Reddy Pallem, Rangareddy, while the official was out for a morning walk.

The bus, belonging to the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (AP-SRTC) Nuizveedu Depot, was travelling from Abdullapurmet to Hayathnagar when it allegedly hit the official due to rash and negligent driving.

The DSP, TN Nandeshwara Babji, sustained severe injuries and died on the spot.

Authorities have registered a case and launched an investigation into the incident.

The Hayathnagar Police Station has taken charge of the probe to determine further details and any possible legal action against the driver. (ANI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday extended his wishes on Monday to the people of Bihar on the state's foundation day. https://x.com/AmitShah/status/1903272527461519502 In a post on X, Shah said. "Warmest wishes to all Biharis on Bihar Diwas! Bihar, the land of knowledge, tradition, and cultural heritage, has always provided leadership and new energy to the country. From glorious chapters in history to the construction of modern India, Bihar has left its indelible mark in every field. Under the guidance of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the NDA government is committed to taking Bihar to new heights of progress, prosperity, and self-reliance. I wish for the happiness, peace, and prosperity of the people of the state." Bihar Day (Bihar Diwas) is observed every year on March 22, marking the formation of the state of Bihar. It was on this day when the British carved out the state from Bengal in 1912 and is observed as a public holiday in Bihar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also extended his wishes to the people of Bihar on the state's foundation day and assured that his government will leave no stone unturned for the all-round development of the state. https://x.com/narendramodi/status/1903283873443983764 In a post on X, PM Modi said, "Heartfelt greetings to all brothers and sisters of Bihar, the sacred land of heroes and great personalities, on Bihar Diwas! Our state, which has glorified Indian history, is passing through an important phase of its development journey today, in which the hardworking and talented people of Bihar have an important role. We will leave no stone unturned for the all-round development of this state, which is the centre of our culture and tradition." Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai also extended greeting to the people of Bihar on its foundation day. https://x.com/vishnudsai/status/1903281620380995693 In a post on X, Chief Minister Sai said, "Heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to all Biharis on the foundation day of Bihar, a state rich in glorious history, spiritual and cultural heritage." (ANI)
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh expressed strong support for the Association of Indian Primatologists, praising their public stance against the Great Nicobar mega infrastructure project. Taking to X, he applauded the group's courage in highlighting the ecological threats posed by the development, particularly to the region's wildlife. He wrote, "The Association of Indian Primatologists is a community of dedicated scholars, researchers, and conservationists. Its courage in coming out so openly against the Great Nicobar mega infra project is to be applauded." As per Ramesh, the primatologists' recent statement outlined several critical concerns, beginning with the lack of transparency regarding the Wildlife Conservation Plan (WCP). The association pointed out that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited (ANIIDCO) had claimed to adopt the WCP from the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), but the plan was not made available to the public. Furthermore, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) denied access to the document under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, citing Section 8.1 (a). The primatologists raised additional alarm over the effects of the project's extensive deforestation. They noted that the loss of forest cover would significantly impact the local atmospheric temperature and humidity, conditions vital for the survival of the Nicobar long-tailed macaques. The destruction of their habitat could also contribute to a decline in precipitation, which would further reduce the food sources available for these macaques and other species dependent on the forest ecosystem. The group in their release had warned that such drastic land-use changes could push the macaque population towards functional extinction. They also emphasised that the species is understudied, making it impossible for SACON to have gathered sufficient data to craft an effective WCP. Ramesh endorsed the primatologists' concerns, calling the Great Nicobar project a "recipe for ecological disaster," and urged for a reassessment of the project's potential environmental consequences. (ANI)
Three Special Task Force (STF) personnel and a robbery accused were injured in an encounter in Bihar's Araria district during an early morning raid on Tuesday. Bihar Police said that the operation was conducted based on intelligence about wanted criminals involved in multiple bank robberies. Araria Superintendent of Police (SP) Anjani Kumar said, "This morning, the STF carried out a raid based on specific inputs. Two accused attempted to flee and opened fire on the police. In the retaliatory action, one accused, Chunmun Jha, was injured and was sent for treatment, while the other managed to escape. Search operations are underway to apprehend him." Three STF personnel sustained injuries in the crossfire and were also taken for medical treatment. Authorities are continuing their efforts to track down the second accused. Earlier on March 14, two individuals were arrested in the murder case of Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Santosh Kumar Singh by assailants in Munger, Bihar. The incident unfolded after the Munger police received information late in the evening about a family creating a ruckus in Nandalpur village under the influence of alcohol. Upon reaching the spot with his team, ASI Singh was attacked by family members, who struck him on the head, leaving him critically injured. ASI Santosh Kumar Singh succumbed to his injuries at Patna Paras Hospital despite medical efforts. In another similar incident on March 13, ASI Rajiv Ranjan, posted in Fulkaha police station of Araria, died after a clash broke out between the police team and villagers who went to arrest a criminal at a wedding ceremony in Laxmipur village. According to the Police, ASI Rajiv Ranjan, along with his team, went to Laxmipur village to arrest Anmol Yadav. The police arrested him, but the local villagers entered into an altercation with them, and they managed to release him. During the altercation, ASI Vijay Kumar fell down and got severely injured. Later, when he was brought to the hospital, he was declared dead by the doctors. Six people were arrested in connection with the murder of the ASI. (ANI)
Tamil Nadu BJP held a protest with black flags against the MK Stalin-led DMK government, accusing it of giving the rights of Tamil Nadu to other states. The BJP leaders, led by state party chief K Annamalai showed black flags and placards against the Stalin government. They also showed black flags to Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar over the issue of the Mekdatu project. Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar arrived in Chennai on Saturday morning to attend the first meeting on delimitation on behalf of the Karnataka government. Annamalai also slammed Chief Minister Stalin for doing "drama" on delimitation, saying there is "no problem" with the proposed exercise. Speaking to reporters, Annamalai said that the state of Tamil Nadu has various issues with the neighbouring states, but Chief Minister Stalin hasn't raised them on any occasion. "Our state has various issues with neighbouring states. With Kerala, we have Mullaperiyar Dam issue...Karnataka government has opposed Metro line towards Hosur from Karnataka border. On various occasions, our CM didn't raise these issues when he visited neighbouring states. But today, he has called all CMs and is doing drama on delimitation, which is not even a problem at all," he said. "Across Tamil Nadu, BJP is holding protest by holding black flags against DMK, for giving up our rights to other States," the state BJP chief added. Leaders from several opposition parties arrived in Chennai to attend the 1st Joint Action Committee Meeting on the issue of delimitation, as the MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government aims to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre over the issue citing an attack on federalism. The meeting of Chief Ministers and leaders of various states to discuss the issue of delimitation has been called by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin in Chennai today. Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao, Odisha Congress President Bhakta Charan Das and Biju Janata Dal leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma will be attending the meeting. The MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government has locked horns with the Central government over the three-language formula proposed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the delimitation exercise. Earlier, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin had called an all-party meeting to discuss the proposed delimitation's impact on the state, which was boycotted by the BJP. Ahead of the meeting, Chief Minister Stalin stated that today will be remembered as a pivotal moment in Indian history when the states united to safeguard the nation's federal structure by ensuring "fair delimitation". Taking to a social media post on X, Stalin wrote, "Today will be etched in history as the day when states that have contributed to our nation's development came together to safeguard its federal structure by ensuring #FairDelimitation. I warmly welcome all Chief Ministers and political leaders to this meeting, united in our commitment to #FairDelimitation." (ANI)
Hamid Engineer, the working president of the Minorities Democratic Party, was arrested late on Friday night in connection with the Nagpur violence case. Lohit Matani, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Nagpur, confirmed the arrest. Violent clashes erupted in Nagpur on March 17 over the demand for the removal of Aurangzeb's grave, with stones hurled at police amid rumours that a holy book of a community was burnt during an agitation. The situation is back to normalcy as the curfew imposed in several areas was lifted. The Nagpur Court on Friday directed a medical examination for Fahim Khan, the prime accused in the Nagpur violence case, following his claims of ill-treatment by the police. His magisterial custody remand (MCR) was recorded, and the court reserved the right for police custody remand (PCR). Nagpur Police Commissioner Ravinder Singal reported that 99 individuals have been arrested in connection with the violence and assured an impartial investigation. "Till now, 99 people have been arrested, and action is being taken against them. We are conducting an unbiased investigation," Singal told reporters. Meanwhile, the Congress has formed a committee of its party leaders to visit Nagpur and meet residents of areas that were affected by the recent violence that broke out over the issue of Aurangzeb's grave. Senior Congress leader Manikrao Thakare who is part of the delegation criticized the BJP on Saturday over the recent violence in Nagpur, stating that the incident occurred because both the central and state governments did not pay attention. Speaking to ANI, Thakare said, "Such incidents had not happened in Nagpur before this. Maharastra Congress State President Harshwardhan Sapkal has given a few leaders of the Congress to find out the reasons behind the Nagpur incident. Secondly, we have to make sure that peace is restored." "Nagpur is a peaceful city. Some people tried to ignite it. We think that this incident happened because the central and the state government of Maharashtra did not pay attention. The police did not take time action," Thakare said. Maharashtra's Minister of State for Home, Yogesh Kadam, has condemned the recent violence in Nagpur, stating that it is a very serious matter. "The incident that happened in Nagpur is very serious. Strictest action will be taken. People having the audacity to raise their hands on DCP-level officers and police personnel will not be tolerated at all," Kadam remarked. (ANI)
The first meeting of the Joint Action Committee is underway in Chennai. Addressing the leaders present in the meeting, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin stated that this protest was not against delimitation but to urge for "fair delimitation". MK Stalin said, "Our country has multiple cultures. As per constituency delimitation on population basis our states will get affected since we have taken action to control population, that's why we are in situation to oppose it and we may get decrease our representatives in parliament. As per current population, constituency Delimitation should not happen is what we all should be firm to oppose it.... This protest is not against delimitation but to urge for fair Delimitation." In the meeting, Tamil Nadu Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin stated that the states that have participated in the meeting have made significant efforts to control and manage the population growth but instead of being rewarded for this achievement, they are now at risk of losing their political representation. "...For decades, states present here have made significant efforts to control and manage the population growth. We introduced policies, raised awareness and achieved what the nation aimed for - stable population growth. While some other states continue to experience rapid population growth, we acted responsibly. As a result, we reached the population replacement rate much earlier than many other states. But instead of being rewarded for this achievement, we are now at the risk of losing our political representation," Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister said. The Chief Ministers and representatives from various states are the meeting. However, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which had backed the DMK on its stand on delimitation, did not send any of its representatives or leaders. Ahead of the meeting, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin welcomed Telangana CM Revanth Reddy and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar to the meeting on delimitation. Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin felicitated CMs of states as well as leaders from various parties who are attending the meeting on delimitation. Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin has called for a joint effort from various political parties to raise their voices against delimitation, calling for a Joint Action Committee meeting to be held in Chennai, inviting representatives from various political parties to join against the "blatant assault on federalism." Chief Minister Stalin had written to the Chief Ministers of seven states, both from National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ruling states and otherwise, to join him in the "fight against this unfair exercise." Earlier today, ahead of the first meeting of the Joint Action Committee on the issue of delimitation, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin stated that today will be remembered as a pivotal moment in Indian history when the states united to safeguard the nation's federal structure by ensuring "fair delimitation". Taking to a social media post on X, Stalin wrote, "Today will be etched in history as the day when states that have contributed to our nation's development came together to safeguard its federal structure by ensuring #FairDelimitation. I warmly welcome all Chief Ministers and political leaders to this meeting, united in our commitment to #FairDelimitation." The MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government has locked horns with the Central government over the three-language formula proposed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the delimitation exercise. (ANI)
Highlighting the critical role of water in civilisation, he urged for collective action to safeguard this invaluable resource for future generations.

"On World Water Day, we reaffirm our commitment to conserve water and promote sustainable development. Water has been the lifeline of civilisations and thus it is more important to protect it for the future generations!" PM Modi posted on X.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Jal Shakti, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Government of Haryana, is set to launch the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: 'Catch the Rain - 2025' on Saturday on the occasion of World Water Day.

According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the campaign, themed Peoples' Action for Water Conservation - Towards Intensified Community Connect, underscores the importance of water security, rainwater harvesting, and groundwater recharge in the face of climate change and growing water challenges.

The initiative will focus on 148 districts across the country, fostering greater synergy between government agencies, communities, and stakeholders in ensuring the sustainable management of water resources.

The Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain - 2025 aims to drive nationwide awareness and action for water conservation, making the vision of 'Every Drop Counts' a reality. The campaign calls upon all citizens to join hands in securing India's water future through innovative solutions and grassroots participation.

World Water Day, held on March 22 every year since 1993, is an annual United Nations Observance focusing on the importance of freshwater.

A core focus of World Water Day is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: Water and sanitation for all by 2030. (ANI)
Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh on Saturday extended wishes to the people of Bihar on the state's foundation day and said that Bihar is progressing. "Bihar is progressing... Today, it is an honour to be called a Bihari anywhere in the country. Best wishes to the people of Bihar on Bihar Diwas," Lalan Singh told reporters. On Bihar Opposition leaders asking for CM Nitish Kumar's resignation, he said, "Who is demanding the resignation?.. What they are saying has no meaning, and there can be no reaction to it..." Prime Minister Narendra Modi also extended his wishes to the people of Bihar on the state's foundation day and assured that his government will leave no stone unturned for the all-round development of the state. "Heartfelt greetings to all brothers and sisters of Bihar, the sacred land of heroes and great personalities, on Bihar Diwas! Our state, which has glorified Indian history, is passing through an important phase of its development journey today, in which the hardworking and talented people of Bihar have an important role. We will leave no stone unturned for the all-round development of this state, which is the centre of our culture and tradition," PM Modi posted on X. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also extended greetings on the occasion of Bihar Diwas and said that Bihar has a glorious history. "Congratulations and best wishes on the occasion of Bihar Diwa . Bihar has a glorious history and we are currently preparing a glorious future for Bihar with our determination. Together we will take Bihar's pride to new heights," Nitish Kumar posted on X. Bihar Day (Bihar Diwas) is observed every year on March 22, marking the formation of the state of Bihar. It was on this day when the British carved out the state from Bengal in 1912 and is observed as a public holiday in Bihar. (ANI)
Hyundai Motor and General Motors are close to finalizing a deal for Hyundai to share two electric commercial van models with the U.S. auto giant, according to a source familiar with the talks as well as Hyundai documents reviewed by Reuters, Azernews reports.

In return, GM might provide Hyundai with pickup trucks to sell under its own brand in North America, the source said.

Such arrangements could kick off a broader partnership as the companies, two of the world's largest automakers, hold wide-ranging discussions, the source said. The documents reviewed by Reuters show Hyundai is considering deals with GM that include joint purchasing or development involving computing chips, next-generation batteries and battery materials.



Like many global automakers, GM and Hyundai are facing rising competition from Chinese EV makers and the threat of a global trade war, prompting them to consider sharing products to slash spending.



Hyundai would produce vans to be sold under both its own brand and GM's, initially importing them from Korea, according to the documents and the person familiar with the talks. But Hyundai is considering manufacturing the vans in North America by 2028. The person said the Korean automaker is exploring building a new plant, adding production to an existing facility or contracting out the manufacturing.



The talks on pickups focus on GM sharing its midsize trucks, branded as the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon in the United States, one of the sources said. Hyundai also wants to sell a version of GM's popular full-size pickups, the source said, but the U.S. automaker hasn't put that option on the table.



Any pickup-sharing deal likely will take longer to finalize than the commercial van arrangement, the person said.



The automakers are also discussing the possibility of Hyundai providing GM with compact SUVs it could add to its product lineup in Brazil, the source said.



Hyundai said in January that it is in talks to supply electric commercial vehicles to GM as part of a preliminary agreement to explore how the automakers could cooperate on vehicles, supply chains and clean-energy technologies to cut costs and speed up development.



Details of the partnership talks, including a potential pickup-sharing deal, are reported here for the first time.



GM declined to comment on the specifics of the negotiations but said in a statement, "Both companies continue to explore potential areas of collaboration."



Hyundai said in a statement that nothing has been finalized in ongoing talks but that the automakers are exploring deals "across key strategic areas."



Competitive threats, geopolitical tensions



Chinese EV producers have upended the auto industry with high-tech, low-cost models. GM is among many legacy automakers losing sales in China, the world's largest auto market, while aiming to boost revenues elsewhere. Hyundai's business in the country is minimal but it faces the threat of Chinese exports globally.



Both automakers also face geopolitical tensions heightened by tariffs being levied or threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump, which could curtail their ability to use imported components and push them to set up more U.S. manufacturing.



Tariff threats are also adding uncertainty to the GM-Hyundai partnership talks, according to two sources familiar with the matter.



A commercial van deal could help GM better compete with the Ford Transit and Ram ProMaster without the major investment required to develop its own model, said Sam Fiorani, vice president at research firm Auto Forecast Solutions.



GM needs new commercial vans, he said, because it is expected to phase out production of its decades-old Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans soon.



Hyundai is considering sharing its compact electric commercial vans based on its ST1 electric commercial vehicle. It would also give GM a larger electric commercial van it is developing to challenge the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, according to the documents and one of the sources. The two automakers might share sales and service networks for the vans, the Hyundai documents show.



The smaller van would initially be assembled at Hyundai's factory in the Korean city of Ulsan and potentially supplied to GM starting in mid-2027, the documents say. The model will be followed in 2028 by the larger van, similar in size to Hyundai's Solati.



The new North American commercial van factory under consideration would target production of 60,000 units by 2030 and more than 100,000 in 2032.



Small SUVs and pickup trucks



With Hyundai increasing its U.S. sales while its China sales decline, it has emerged  along with GM  as a challenger to Tesla in the EV market. But unlike the U.S. brand, the Korean company has little presence in the lucrative U.S. commercial vehicle and truck market.



Hyundai can use the GM partnership to gain a foothold in those segments, where rivals like Toyota and Nissan struggle to compete with Detroit's Big Three automakers, said Fiorani.



As Hyundai aims to convince GM to share its hot-selling pickups, it is considering giving GM a small sport utility vehicle called the Creta to refresh its model lineup in Brazil, one of the sources said.



A third source said GM hopes to partially make up for its struggling business in China through Hyundai partnerships. GM, the person said, could use Hyundai's small and mid-sized vehicle platforms to potentially expand in South American markets.
The former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and YSR Congress Party President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging hime to ensure that the upcoming delimitation exercise be conducted in a manner that ensures no state experiences a reduction in its representation in the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. As per the directions of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, YSRCP Parliamentary leader YV Subba Reddy, has also sent the same letter to DMK party leaders, emphasizing the need for a fair and balanced approach in the delimitation process. In the letter, Reddy sought an amendment to Article 81(2)(a) of the Constitution of India to ensure a proportionate increase in seats for all states. The letter reads, "Sir, if it is imperative that ratio be maintained as warranted by the Constitutional provision, then it would come in the way of fulfilment of the Hon'ble Union Home Minister's assurance. I therefore emphasize the need to amend the Constitution to give effect to such proportionate increase in seats for each State. This would ensure that no State would have to encounter any reduction in its representation in the House of the People, in terms of the share of the seats allocated to that State in the total seats. Sir, I humbly seek your support in this regard. Given the gravity of the issue that has the potential to disrupt the social and political harmony in the Country, your leadership and guidance at this crucial juncture is most vital. Sir, an assurance from your end, would contribute greatly to allaying the fears of several States." Meanwhile, the first meeting of the Joint Action Committee is underway in Chennai. Addressing the leaders present in the meeting, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin stated that this protest was not against delimitation but to urge for "fair delimitation". MK Stalin said, "Our country has multiple cultures. As per constituency delimitation on population basis our states will get affected since we have taken action to control population, that's why we are in situation to oppose it and we may get decrease our representatives in parliament. As per current population, constituency Delimitation should not happen is what we all should be firm to oppose it.... This protest is not against delimitation but to urge for fair Delimitation." Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin had called for a joint effort from various political parties to raise their voices against delimitation, calling for a Joint Action Committee meeting to be held in Chennai, inviting representatives from various political parties to join against the "blatant assault on federalism." The MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government has locked horns with the Central government over the three-language formula proposed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the delimitation exercise. (ANI)
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit on Saturday urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to participate in the Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting called by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin in his capacity as a central minister rather than as a BJP leader. Speaking on the issue of delimitation, Dikshit asserted that it is a national policy, not specific to any political party, and must be implemented with fairness. "I hope Amit Shah comes to the JAC meeting as a centre, not as a BJP leader or MP. He is the Home Minister. Delimitation is not a BJP policy; it is the policy of the country. Every section, every language speaker, and every state should feel that there will be justice," he said. Highlighting the need for a balanced approach, the Congress leader advised that decisions be made with careful consideration. "You do justice and arrive at the best conclusion. After doing things smartly, if the views are good, then do it in such a city where no state is harmed, but assure everyone and then move ahead," he added. The first meeting of the Joint Action Committee is underway in Chennai. Addressing the leaders present in the meeting, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin stated that this protest was not against delimitation but to urge for "fair delimitation." MK Stalin said, "Our country has multiple cultures. As per constituency delimitation on a population basis, our states will be affected since we have taken action to control the population. That's why we are in a situation to oppose it, and we may decrease our representatives in parliament. As per the current population, constituency delimitation should not happen, and we should all be firm in opposing it. This protest is not against delimitation but to urge for fair Delimitation." In the meeting, Tamil Nadu Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin stated that the states that have participated in the meeting have made significant efforts to control and manage the population growth, but instead of being rewarded for this achievement, they are now at risk of losing their political representation. "For decades, states present here have made significant efforts to control and manage the population growth. We introduced policies, raised awareness and achieved what the nation aimed for - stable population growth. While some other states continue to experience rapid population growth, we acted responsibly. As a result, we reached the population replacement rate much earlier than many other states. But instead of being rewarded for this achievement, we are now at the risk of losing our political representation," Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister said. The Chief Ministers and representatives from various states are at the meeting. However, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which had backed the DMK on its stand on delimitation, did not send any of its representatives or leaders. Ahead of the meeting, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin welcomed Telangana CM Revanth Reddy and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar to the delimitation meeting. Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin felicitated the CMs of states and leaders from various parties who were attending the meeting on delimitation. In a social media post on X, Stalin wrote, "Today will be etched in history as the day when states that have contributed to our nation's development came together to safeguard its federal structure by ensuring #FairDelimitation. I warmly welcome all Chief Ministers and political leaders to this meeting, united in our commitment to #FairDelimitation." The MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government has locked horns with the Central government over the three-language formula proposed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the delimitation exercise. (ANI)
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh welcomed the delegation of Supreme Court judges visiting Manipur on Saturday but raised the bigger question of when Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit the state. Speaking to ANI, Ramesh stated, "We welcome the six judges who have gone to Manipur. In the last 22 months, hundreds of people have died, around 60,000 have been displaced and are staying in relief camps, and even today, there is an atmosphere of fear and doubt among the communities in Manipur. President's rule was imposed on February 13, but the question arises: Even after the Supreme Court itself on August 1, 2023, said that the constitutional system in Manipur had been completely demolished, why did it take 18 months to impose President's rule? It is good that Supreme Court judges have gone, but the bigger question is when will the Prime Minister visit?" A delegation of Supreme Court judges visited a relief camp in Churachandpur, Manipur, on Saturday. The delegation consisted of Justices BR Gavai, Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, MM Sundresh, KV Viswanathan, and N Kotishwar. Ramesh also criticized Home Minister Amit Shah for not addressing the situation in Manipur during discussions on the working of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in Parliament. "Yesterday, the Home Minister gave a response in the Rajya Sabha for about four hours about the work of his Home Ministry, but he did not say much about Manipur. In February 2022, the NDA won the elections with a huge majority, but within 15 months, Manipur started burning. There is no answer to that. There is no answer to why the Prime Minister did not go," he said. He also questioned the delay in imposing the President's rule and criticized Shah for visiting Mizoram but not Manipur. "There is no answer to why there was so much delay in imposing the President's rule. The Home Minister goes to Mizoram, why didn't he go to Manipur? And the things that the Chief Minister of Mizoram has said after going to America raise many questions," the Congress leader said. The Congress leader urged Prime Minister Modi to visit Manipur, either before going to Bangkok or while returning. "We hope that on his way to Bangkok or while returning from Bangkok, the Prime Minister takes some time to visit Manipur. The Prime Minister's visit is crucial for a healing touch," Ramesh added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Thailand from April 2 to 4 to attend the sixth BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok. On February 13, President's rule was imposed in Manipur following a report from the state governor. The violence in the state erupted on May 3 last year after clashes during a rally organized by the All Tribals Students Union (ATSU) to protest the demand for the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe category. (ANI)
Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday staged a protest against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Delhi government over the alleged non-implementation of Mahila Samman Yojana, which aims to provide financial support of Rs 2,500 every month to eligible women. AAP alleged that even the registration process for the scheme has not started yet and called BJP's promise a "Jumla" Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Atishi said, "Before the elections, PM Modi had promised the women of Delhi that every woman will get Rs. 2,500 on March 8. But no money has been deposited. This means that it was a 'Jumla' (gimmick). Leave alone Rs. 2,500, even the registration for the scheme has not started yet." Atishi could be seen holding a dummy cheque with 'Bank of Jumla' written over it. AAP's state convenor for Delhi Saurabh Bhardwaj said, "The PM had promised that every woman in Delhi would get Rs. 2,500 on March 8. We have given the cheque of 'Bank of Jumla' written Rs. 2,500 on it. Maybe now, the BJP would be ashamed and will fulfil their promise." Earlier the LoP in the Delhi Assembly Atishi accused the BJP of only making excuses and not getting any work done. "It has been only a month since the BJP government came to power and these people have already started making excuses. For the last one month these people are only and only abusing Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal ji, " she said. Union Minister and BJP president JP Nadda launched the Mahila Samridhi Yojana, a direct cash transfer scheme for Delhi's women on March 8. Addressing a public event on the occasion of International Women's Day in the national capital, Nadda said that the Mahila Samridhi Yojana, to give Rs 2500 to women in Delhi, has been approved today. "Today, I am happy, and I congratulate CM Rekha Gupta and others on allocating Rs 5100 crore to implement the Mahila Samriddhi Yojan in Delhi," Nadda further said. The same day, Delhi CM Rekha Gupta assured that the committee for the implementation of the scheme has been formed and registration will begin soon. (ANI)
Assam Rifles along with representatives of the Customs Preventive Force recovered illegal Areca nuts worth Rs 1.008 crores in the Champhai district of Mizoram, according to an official press release. The recovery was made on March 21 in the general area Zote area of Champhai, the release stated. A thorough search of the area during the operation led to the recovery of 180 bags of illegal Areca nuts dumped and hidden in the jungle. The recovered items have been handed over to the Customs Preventive Force, Champhai. Earlier on March 19, in a significant blow to drug trafficking operations in the region, Assam Rifles recovered Yaba tablets worth Rs 2.97 crores from Silchar. As per a release, the operation, which was carried out with precision and diligence, highlights the effectiveness of Assam Rifles intelligence gathering and operational capabilities. Earlier, police in Assam's Cachar district seized narcotics worth Rs 1 crore and arrested one person in connection with the case. Numal Mahatta, Superintendent of Police of Cachar district said that, based on secret information the Cachar district police on Sunday conducted a special operation against the illegal transportation of narcotics substances at Digharkhal Toll Gate under the jurisdiction of Kalain police station. "During the operation, one vehicle bearing registration number MZ-01Z-8256 coming from Guwahati and destined for Aizawl was intercepted. During a thorough search, 72 numbers of cartoons containing 8640 bottles of codeine phosphate cough syrup bottles were recovered along with 2 kg of suspected ganja. The recovered narcotics substances were accordingly seized along with the vehicle used. In this connection, one person identified as Joylaldan Thanga (38 years old) of Aizawl district has been arrested. The price of the seized narcotics substance in the black market is about Rs 1 crore," he said. (ANI)
As the first Joint Action Committee Meeting on the issue of delimitation is underway in Chennai, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Priyanka Chaturvedi said that she hoped to see the participation of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu as it is going to impact his state too. Speaking with ANI, Chaturvedi said, "The entire delimitation issue majorly impacts South Indian states. What DMK is talking about is a fair delimitation process where South Indian states do not face any discrimination or their voices are weakened in any manner. I would have hoped to see even Chandrababu Naidu participating in it because it is going to impact Andhra Pradesh too." Chaturvedi further said that she does not see "any politics" over the opposition of delimitation but a "concern" over the representation in Parliament on the basis of population. "I do not see any politics in it but a sense of concern regarding how some states have done well on population and how the census cannot be the sole method to decide the representation in Parliament," Chaturvedi said. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu CM Stalin has called on the Opposition parties to be united in the protest against the delimitation exercise, which he claimed will weaken the political might of the southern states. During the meeting, Stalin also proposed to form a legal expert committee on the delimitation issue, while stressing the need for a "fair delimitation". "I appeal to you all to give inputs to take this political thing in a legal way. I propose to form a legal expert committee on this constituency delimitation issue. If we all unitedly protest, only can get us victory," Stalin said. The meeting was attended by various political leaders, including Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Odisha Congress President Bhakta Charan Das, and Biju Janata Dal leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma, among others The MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government has locked horns with the Central government over the three-language formula proposed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the delimitation exercise. (ANI)
BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal on Saturday criticised the opposition, including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DM leader MK Stalin and accused them of using the issue of delimitation to further their political interests. BJP MP Khandelwal dismissed concerns raised by opposition leaders and said that the delimitation was being "unnecessarily" made into an issue because their (opposition) political ground is slipping. He further alleged that certain elements within the country were unwilling to acknowledge India's progress over the last decade under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "All the politicians of South India, including MK Stalin, are making delimitation an issue to make their politics shine. Delimitation happens through a process. There will be a census before it happens. A commission will be formed for delimitation to decide the criteria for delimitation," said Khandelwal. He further stated, "They (South Indian politicians) are unnecessarily making this an issue because their political ground is slipping. There are some forces in the country who are unable to digest our country's prosperity and development in the last 10 years under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi." CPI (M) leader Hannan Mollah also responded to the Joint Action Committee meeting on delimitation and said, "The current scenario was not perceived when delimitation was thought of. Today, the population is decreasing in the South and increasing in the North. That is why delimitation should be reconsidered. Otherwise, it could be dangerous for our democracy." Earlier in the day, BJP leader Ramchander Rao termed the first Joint Action Committee meeting on delimitation called by Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin a "divisive agenda of INDI alliance." "DMK's invitation to four CMs and other political parties to discuss the delimitation issue is nothing but a divisive agenda of the INDI alliance..." Rao told ANI. Rao further hit out at Tamil Nadu CM Stalin and said that he is raising the issue of delimitation to cover up his corruption. Rao accused Stalin of attempting to divide the country in the name of north and south. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Congress President Selvaperunthagai called the first meeting of the JAC a "historic" meeting. "This meeting is historic. CM MK Stalin organised this meeting. We welcome it. Telangana CM Revanth Reddy and Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar are participating...This meeting will speak for another 100 years - protection of the people of Tamil Nadu and those in south India. This meeting will create some impact, it will give a lot of questions to the Centre," he said. Speaking on BJP's 'black flag protest' against Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, Selvaperunthagai stated, "When anything good is about to happen to Tamil Nadu, immediately the BJP leaders will bring a black flag. Why not against Dharmendra Pradhan? Why not against Nirmala Sitharaman?" During the first meeting of the Joint Action Committee, called in Chennai on Saturday, Tamil Nadu CM Stalin proposed to form a legal expert committee on the delimitation issue while stressing the need for a "fair delimitation". The meeting was attended by various political leaders, including Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Odisha Congress President Bhakta Charan Das, and Biju Janata Dal leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma, among others. The MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government has locked horns with the Central government over the three-language formula proposed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the delimitation exercise. (ANI)
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema addressed the incident involving Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath, who was allegedly assaulted by Punjab Police personnel in Patiala. Cheema assured that swift action would be taken against the guilty parties involved in the assault. "We have formed an SIT. Action will be taken against those who are guilty. We have transferred all the accused whose names came to light. So, nobody will be able to influence the investigation. Action will be taken against the guilty, we won't spare anyone," Cheema said, emphasizing that the state government was committed to ensuring justice. The statement came as the incident stirred concerns over police misconduct, with demands for accountability from various quarters. The formation of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and the transfer of the accused officers were seen as steps towards a transparent and unbiased investigation. Jaswinder Kaur Bath, wife of Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath said that she would continue her fight for justice. "This is not a political issue. This is a fight by people. I would like to tell you one thing, I will fight for Punjab and get justice for everyone. There is no need for me to make a political party or organisation, I will fight and get justice for everyone...FIR has been lodged but I do not know anything about suspension order." she said On Friday, an FIR was registered in Police Station Civil Lines, Patiala on the statement of Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath as recorded on March 14 regarding an unfortunate incident of assault by police officials which occurred on the intervening night of March 13/14. The statement of Colonel Bath named the police officials who assaulted him and also gave the roles attributed to each person in the assault. A High Level Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by S.P.S. Parmar, IPS, Additional Director General of Police, Law & Order, Punjab, and, including Sandeep Malik, IPS, Senior Superintendent of Police, Hoshiarpur and Manpreet Singh, PPS, Superintendent of Police, Rural, SAS Nagar was later constituted by the Director, Bureau of Investigation, Punjab for conducting investigations in a fair and expeditious manner. The SIT has been directed to conduct the investigation on day-to-day basis for collection of evidences and further legal proceedings, in order to ensure that the culprits are proceeded against as per law. According to the release, the Additional Director General of Police, Security, Punjab was directed to provide adequate protection to the family of Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath. (ANI)
Delhi PWD Minister Parvesh Verma on Friday said that he ordered the transfer of an official who "seemed drunk" during the inspection of Tri Nagar Assembly constituency. "I have ordered the transfer of one official who seemed drunk... We don't like to take action against the officials, so it would be better if they worked properly," Parvesh Verma said. During the inspection of the Tri Nagar Assembly constituency, Verma directed the officials use the required number of cleaning machines to clean all sewer lines before the monsoon. "I am feeling bad that the locals are saying that no work has been done here in the last 10 years. I have directed all the officials to use the required number of machines... We are providing a cleaning machine in every constituency so that all sewer lines are cleared before the monsoon begins," Verma said. Verma has also ordered the suspension of a Public Works Department (PWD) executive engineer on Friday for neglecting the maintenance work of the drains along NH 9 (Service Lane), also known as NH 24. Delhi government officials have become "thick-skinned" in the past 10 years, Verma said on Friday. "PWD is responsible for maintaining these drains, but the situation on the ground tells a different story. I have ordered the suspension of the engineer accountable for this negligence. There will be no tolerance for inefficiency," said Minister Verma. Expressing his disappointment, the minister said, "Officials are supposed to ensure basic upkeep, yet the condition on the ground is unacceptable. Regular monitoring and swift action are necessary to maintain Delhi's infrastructure." He has issued a stern warning to all senior PWD officials, making it clear that those failing in their responsibilities will face strict disciplinary action. "Delhi deserves world-class roads and infrastructure. Officers must take ownership of their duties. Those who do not comply will be held accountable," he asserted. The PWD has now made it compulsory for all field officials, including junior engineers, assistant engineers, and executive engineers, to conduct daily road inspections and submit reports along with pictures via the PWD e-monitoring app. The department has taken serious note of the fact that officials have failed to report potholes, broken footpaths, encroachments, and other road defects. It has been observed that PWD field engineers are not even using the mandated e-monitoring system--a lapse that will no longer be tolerated. (ANI)
Union Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth attended the launch ceremony of the GSL (Goa Shipyard Limited) Yard 1259, 2nd Advanced Frigate Frigate under Project 1135.6 being built for the Indian Navy in Vasco da Gama, Goa and highlighted GSL's commitment to 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat.' MoS Sanjay Seth noted that 56 per cent of the project is indigenously made, injecting Rs 7,000 crore into the economy and benefiting 400-450 MSMEs. Seth also stated that GSL has completed 22 projects in the last 15 years and plans to finish nine more within the next five years. "GSL has been striving for an 'Aatmnirbhar Bharat'. In the last 15 years, GSL has completed around 22 projects within the decided timeline. In the next five years, around nine more GSL projects will be completed," said Seth. Highlighting indigenous defence production, Seth noted that 56 per cent of Project 1135.6 has been developed domestically. "This means about Rs 7,000 crore has been infused into the Indian economy, and approximately 400-450 MSMEs have gained work through this project," he added. The Frigate is designed for combat operations against enemy surface ships, submarines and air crafts. The Triput class ships are 124.8 m long and 15.2 m wide, with a draught of 4.5 m. Their displacement is approx. 3600 tons and speed a maximum of 28 knots. The ships are equipped with stealth features, advanced weapon & sensors and platform management systems. Being constructed at GSL, the Triput class of ships are follow on ships of the Teg and Talwar class ships acquired from Russia. These frigates are being constructed for the first time indigenously by an Indian Shipyard. In line with the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiative, a large percentage of the equipment fit, including weapons and sensors is of indigenous origin, thereby ensuring that large scale defence production is executed by Indian manufacturing units, generating employment and capability enhancement within the country. With multiple naval projects underway at Goa Shipyard, the government remains committed to strengthening India's defence sector through indigenous production and global collaborations. (ANI)
Korean defense giant Hanwha Aerospace's abrupt decision to raise 3.6 trillion won ($2.5 billion) through a stock sale sent shock waves through the local financial market Friday, sparking criticism over its funding strategy for future investments, Azernews reports, citing Korea JoongAng Daily.

In a regulatory filing the previous day, the company said the stock sale was part of its broader global investment plans in future growth sectors.



The proceeds will be used to acquire strategic production bases in Europe, the Middle East, Australia and the United States as it expects more opportunities amid a rearmament push in Europe as well as efforts by the United States to bolster its shipbuilding industry, it said.



Despite the company's growth prospects, investors reacted negatively to the announcement, with shares tumbling 13.2 percent to close at 628,000 won, falling by the daily limit of 15 percent in midday trading.



At the same time, shipbuilding affiliate Hanwha Ocean declined 2.27 percent, and defense electronics unit Hanwha Systems fell 6.19 percent.



Experts said Hanwha Aerospace's investment direction is promising but criticized its choice of capital increase despite the company's strong financial position.



"Localization and mergers and acquisitions are key strategies for a defense firm to expand its business," said Byun Yong-jin, an analyst at iM Securities. "This investment decision is a clear move to secure potential orders in Saudi Arabia and Europe."



Hanwha Aerospace posted a record 1.7 trillion won in operating profit last year, driven by the recent boom in the global defense industry. Exports of its flagship K9 howitzer and Chunmoo rocket launcher to Poland contributed to the robust performance.



The company expects operating profit to rise further to 2.8 trillion won in 2025 and 3.5 trillion won in 2026, bolstered by new contracts with Romania and Middle Eastern countries.



To accelerate growth, the company plans to use 1.6 trillion won from the stock offering for overseas production facilities and arms industry partnerships.



It also seeks to inject 900 billion won from the stock sale to invest in a smart factory and other production facilities, and 800 billion won to acquire more overseas shipbuilding facilities.



In line with its expansionary move, the company acquired a stake in Australian shipbuilder Austal earlier this week, while Hanwha Group also acquired U.S. shipbuilder Philly Shipyard last year.



Despite Hanwha Aerospace's strong performance, analysts pointed out that the massive capital increase could have a greater-than-expected negative impact on investors.



The company's recent earnings growth and strong future outlook have pushed up its stock price by more than 121 percent since the beginning of the year.



"Few might have expected this decision, given Hanwha Aerospace's improving earnings," a report from Samsung Securities said. "This will have a negative impact on the investor sentiment."



Capital increases are often seen as unfavorable to investors as they dilute the share of existing shareholders, potentially leading to losses and stock price declines.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said that any damage caused during the violent clashes in Nagpur on March 17 will be recovered from the rioters. Addressing a press conference, Chief Minister Fadnavis said, "Whatever damage has happened will be recovered from the rioters. If they do not pay the money, then their property will be sold for the recovery. Wherever required, bulldozers will also be used." "Today, I reviewed the incident that happened in Nagpur with the police officers. The entire sequence of events and the actions taken have been reviewed. The replica of Aurangzeb's grave was burnt in the morning. An FIR was filed on it, but people gathered after a rumour was spread that a verse from the Quran was written on it. The crowd pelted stones and committed arson," he said. Chief Minister Fadnavis said that so far 104 people have been arrested in connection with the violence. "Based on CCTV footage, those who were rioting are being arrested. 104 people have been arrested so far. The police will arrest more people," CM Fadnavis said. Chief Minister Fadnavis also said that those who spread rumours on social media will also be made co-accused in the Nagpur violence case. "Police action will be taken against those who are involved in the riots or are helping the rioters. Those who spread rumours on social media will also be made co-accused. 68 social media posts have been identified and deleted so far," he said. Earlier today, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday held a review meeting at Nagpur Police Headquarters regarding the recent violence in Nagpur. Hamid Engineer, the working president of the Minorities Democratic Party, was arrested late on Friday night in connection with the Nagpur violence case. Lohit Matani, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Nagpur, confirmed the arrest. Violent clashes erupted in Nagpur on March 17 over the demand for the removal of Aurangzeb's grave, with stones hurled at police amid rumours that a holy book of a community was burnt during an agitation. The situation is back to normalcy as the curfew imposed in several areas was lifted. The Nagpur Court on Friday directed a medical examination for Fahim Khan, the prime accused in the Nagpur violence case, following his claims of ill-treatment by the police. His magisterial custody remand (MCR) was recorded, and the court reserved the right for police custody remand (PCR). Nagpur Police Commissioner Ravinder Singal reported that 99 individuals have been arrested in connection with the violence and assured an impartial investigation. "Till now, 99 people have been arrested, and action is being taken against them. We are conducting an unbiased investigation," Singal told reporters. Meanwhile, the Congress has formed a committee of its party leaders to visit Nagpur and meet residents of areas that were affected by the recent violence that broke out over the issue of Aurangzeb's grave. Senior Congress leader Manikrao Thakare who is part of the delegation criticized the BJP on Saturday over the recent violence in Nagpur, stating that the incident occurred because both the central and state governments did not pay attention. Speaking to ANI, Thakare said, "Such incidents had not happened in Nagpur before this. Maharastra Congress State President Harshwardhan Sapkal has given a few leaders of the Congress to find out the reasons behind the Nagpur incident. Secondly, we have to make sure that peace is restored." "Nagpur is a peaceful city. Some people tried to ignite it. We think that this incident happened because the central and the state government of Maharashtra did not pay attention. The police did not take time action," Thakare said. Maharashtra's Minister of State for Home, Yogesh Kadam, has condemned the recent violence in Nagpur, stating that it is a very serious matter. "The incident that happened in Nagpur is very serious. Strictest action will be taken. People having the audacity to raise their hands on DCP-level officers and police personnel will not be tolerated at all," Kadam remarked. (ANI)
According to an official release from the Director General of Police (DGP) of Himachal Pradesh, the "Cyber Swachhta Ver.01" is a pilot project to identify, trace and eliminate the cyber perpetrators from Himachal Pradesh. In the first stage of this project, the action plan for two districts - Bilaspur and Baddi was planned and discussed along with all facts and figures. During the meeting, the prevailing cyber trends in these districts were also discussed.

This project will help Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in establishing better cyber coordination and improving cyber investigation skills in cybercrimes. It's a proactive initiative of the State Cybercrime Unit to make Himachal Pradesh a safe and secure cyberspace for its citizens, the release stated.

The meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Atul Verma, DGP of Himachal Pradesh and was attended by AK Yadav, IPS, ADGP; Mohit Chawla, IPS, DIG-Cyber Crime; Rohit Malpani, IPS, CO, 1st HPAP Bn. Junga; Geetanjli Thakur, HPS, ANC PHQ and other officials of cybercrime Cy Station.

AK Yadav, who has recently returned from Central deputation have shared his experiences of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (i4C) of Government of India (Ministry of Home Affairs), with the DGP of Himachal Pradesh and other officers of state cybercrime unit. (ANI)
Karanataka BJP President, B Y Vijayendra addressing a press conference on Saturday, voiced strong concerns about religion-based reservation, the suspension of MLAs, and what he described as "Love Jihad" happening across the country. The BJP leader highlighted issues around resources and government action, claiming that Muslim students who go abroad are receiving substantial financial support. "Love Jihad is going on in the whole country. Muslim students going abroad are given 20-30 lakhs. How can we give 4% of the works, this is totally unconstitutional," he said. "Discriminating any religion, caste place of birth, this is a move against the constitution, Congress people who teach the constitution, if not, 15 sub case 4, Scheduled Caste and Tribe, reservation has been made for social and education. Neither the state government nor the central government is giving religion-based reservation, we are opposing this. Different state courts, and the Supreme Court have said this. In 1988, the Andhra Pradesh High Court said. Reservation for Muslims was given on the basis of religion. The Supreme Court of this country has said this. " he added. Vijayendra claimed that CM Siddaramaih knows he has taken an unconstitutional decision. "Reservation can be given based on social education, I have clearly mentioned it in several cases," Vijayendra said. He emphasized that "there is nothing that the Chief Minister of Karnataka, who presented the 16th budget, does not know. He knows everything. He knows that the decision he has taken is unconstitutional," he remarked Vijayendra further condemned the Karnataka government for taking steps that he believed were aimed at pleasing Muslims. "Even if he knows, he is going to atrocities and insults on Hindus. We, the BJP, oppose what is going to please Muslims," he asserted. He indicated that BJP would continue its protest both inside and outside the legislature. "We have started the fight in the districts since yesterday. We are going to hold dharna day and night in different districts. As a responsible opposition party, we will take to the streets and fight," he announced. The Karnataka BJP chief also spoke against the Assembly speaker's decision to suspend 18 MLAs of the BJP. Vijayendra claimed the decision to suspend the MLAs was not only unconstitutional but also harmful to the democratic process, as it undermined the principles laid out in the Indian Constitution. "There has never been a suspension for 6 months in the history of this country and state," he stated, claiming that the Speaker's actions were unprecedented. "The Speaker said that regardless of the bench's order, 18 MLAs are not allowed to enter the lobby and gallery, if they are terrorists, if they are Naxalites, they will not be allowed to participate in the meetings of the Legislative Assembly Standing Committee." Vijeyandra described the restrictions as unreasonable, stating that these MLAs would not even have their votes taken into consideration in any elections or meetings within the House. (ANI)
The Joint Action Committee on Saturday passed a resolution on the issue of delimitation, expressing concern over the "lack of transparency and clarity" from the Union government. The JAC unanimously demanded transparency from the Union government over any delimitation exercise and asked to extend the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on 1971 Census Population for next 25 years. "Any delimitation exercise carried out by the Union Government to improve the content and character of democracy should be carried out transparently, enabling political parties of all the States, State Governments and other stakeholders to deliberate, discuss and contribute in it." the resolution passed by JAC read. "Given the fact that the legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th and 87th Constitutional amendments was to protect/incentivise States which have implemented population control measures effectively and the goal of national population stabilisation has not yet been achieved, the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on 1971 Census Population, should be extended by another 25 years," it added. The JAC led by Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin urged the central government to "not penalise" the states which have effectively implemented the population control program. "The States which have effectively implemented the population control program and consequently whose population share has come down, should not be penalised. The Union Government must enact necessary constitutional amendments for this purpose," JAC resolved. Moreover, JAC resolved that the political parties from different states represented in the meeting will bring appropriate Legislative Assembly resolutions on the delimitation issue. "The Political Parties from different states represented in the meeting will initiate efforts to bring about appropriate Legislative Assembly resolutions in their respective States on the issue and communicate the same to Union Government. The JAC will also undertake necessary efforts to disseminate information on the history and context of past delimitation exercises and the consequences of the proposed delimitation among the citizens of their respective States, through a coordinated public opinion mobilization strategy." The resolution read. Additionally, the JAC resolved that MPs will counter any attempts by the Union Government to undertake any delimitation exercise contrary to the principles mentioned above. "The Core Committee consisting of Members of Parliament from the represented States will coordinate the parliamentary strategies to counter any attempts by the Union Government to undertake any delimitation exercise contrary to the principles mentioned above," the resolution read. "The Core Committee of MPs shall submit a Joint Representation on the above lines to the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India during the ongoing Parliamentary session." The resolution added. the first meeting of JAC called by Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin was held in Chennai today. The meeting was attended by various political leaders, including Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Odisha Congress President Bhakta Charan Das, and Biju Janata Dal leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma, among others. Stalin said that the next meeting on the delimitation of constituencies will be held in Hyderabad, Telangana. (ANI)
Justice BR Gavai, the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) on Saturday inaugurated legal services camps and medical camps across all districts of Manipur, as well as new legal aid clinics in Imphal East, Imphal West and Ukhrul districts. After the inauguration, Justice Gavai said that the delegation was here for this event and would transform the legal aid for the benefit. "For the principle of justice and also access to the health care is important. I along with the team assure you that we stand with you. It's our responsibility to work together for the society. The whole nation will come together so that this problem will be sorted," he said. Justice Gavai further said that one day Manipur will prosper, and have trust in the Constitution. "You all facing problems a lot. But should realise our Constitution has kept us united. We believe that one day Manipur Prosper. Let's have trust in our constitution. I believe one day peace will prevail in Manipur and will succeed. Let's work together to bring relief here," he said. Meanwhile, Supreme Court Judge Justice N. Kotiswar Singh said that they must look forward to a brighter future. "The Supreme Court visit is a very remarkable thing...We must look forward and think of the future...We should not live in the past, pain or tragedy that has taken place...We must look forward to a brighter future...It may take time, but we must hope and be positive," Singh said. Earlier today, a five-member Supreme Court Judges delegation led by Justice BR Gavai arrived in Imphal, Manipur. The delegation comprising Justices BR Gavai, Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, MM Sundresh, KV Viswanathan and N Kotishwar arrived in Manipur. The delegation of Supreme Court Judges also visited a relief camp in Churachandpur, Manipur. President's Rule was imposed in Manipur on February 13 under Article 356 of the Constitution, five days after Chief Minister N. Biren Singh resigned from his post. (ANI)
According to a press release, the arrests occurred on March 21, 2025, following a complaint that revealed the gang was misleading candidates by promising to increase their exam scores through illegal means.

As per the release, "The accused allegedly stole data from registered candidates and contacted them, claiming they could manipulate the examination system to secure high percentiles necessary for admission into prestigious institutions. Reports indicate that the fraudsters demanded payments ranging from Rs 11 lakh to Rs 20 lakh in exchange for these services."

The release noted, "The scam came to light when candidates began reporting unsolicited calls from individuals promising inflated scores. A complaint filed by Abhishek Joshi, associated with "Eduspark," highlighted how candidates were approached with offers that included specific district preferences for applications."

Investigations revealed that the gang used WhatsApp for communication and made audio and video calls to victims across multiple states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, and Rajasthan. Following technical analysis of the mobile numbers linked to the suspects, the police were able to trace and apprehend them in Mehrauli, in south Delhi.

During the operation, law enforcement seized several devices including five Apple mobile phones, a MacBook, Bluetooth headphones, and a pen drive containing evidence related to the scam. The case has been registered under various sections of cheating and the Information Technology Act.

Mumbai's police leadership commended the efforts of their team in uncovering this elaborate scheme aimed at exploiting vulnerable students seeking higher education opportunities. (ANI)
After attending the first Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting on Delimitation, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are reducing seats where they don't win. Speaking to the media, CM Mann asked if South India is getting punished for population control. "They (BJP) are reducing seats where they don't win. Is South India getting punished for population control?" he said Regarding the next meeting on delimitation, which is scheduled to be held in Hyderabad, Punjab CM Mann said, "Wherever we are called, we will go." Meanwhile, the Joint Action Committee on Saturday passed a resolution on the issue of delimitation, expressing concern over the "lack of transparency and clarity" from the Union government. The JAC unanimously demanded greater transparency from the Union government regarding any delimitation exercise and called for the extension of the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on the 1971 Census Population for another 25 years. "Any delimitation exercise carried out by the Union Government to improve the content and character of democracy should be carried out transparently, enabling political parties of all the States, State Governments and other stakeholders to deliberate, discuss and contribute in it." the resolution passed by JAC read. The JAC, led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, urged the central government "not to penalise" the states that have effectively implemented the population control program. "The States which have effectively implemented the population control program and consequently whose population share has come down, should not be penalised. The Union Government must enact necessary constitutional amendments for this purpose," JAC resolved. Additionally, the JAC resolved that MPs would counter any attempts by the Union Government to undertake any delimitation exercise contrary to the principles outlined in the resolution. "The Core Committee consisting of Members of Parliament from the represented States will coordinate the parliamentary strategies to counter any attempts by the Union Government to undertake any delimitation exercise contrary to the principles mentioned above," the resolution read. "The Core Committee of MPs shall submit a Joint Representation on the above lines to the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India during the ongoing Parliamentary session." The resolution added. The first meeting of JAC, convened by Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, was held in Chennai today. The meeting was attended by various political leaders, including Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Odisha Congress President Bhakta Charan Das, and Biju Janata Dal leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma, among others. (ANI)
Leader of Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, Jairam Thakur, along with the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rajeev Bindal, and a delegation of party legislators and local leaders, visited the ancestral village of Vimal Negi in Kinnaur on Saturday to meet his family. Vimal Negi, the General Manager (Engineering) at Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL), was found deceased in Bilaspur on Tuesday after being missing since March 10. His sudden and controversial death has sparked widespread concern and demands for a thorough investigation. The BJP delegation expressed their condolences to the family members of the late Vimal Negi. His mother , during the meeting, demanded a CBI investigation. Thakur, along with other party leaders, met with the deceased's mother, brother, wife, and two children. After the meeting, Thakur expressed concerns over the deteriorating law and order situation in Himachal Pradesh. "I have said this earlier too that law and order in Himachal Pradesh does not exist anymore. When bullets are fired at a former Congress MLA, his PSO is injured...This is not just a one-off incident. It has happened earlier too, around that family in Bilaspur. There should be a fair investigation...Youth from Punjab come to Himachal Pradesh and indulge in hooliganism. When people of Himachal go to Punjab or Delhi, their vehicles are damaged...Last night in Mandi, a Dhaba owner was shot last night...The perpetrators are yet to be caught...I think this is a matter of concern. Government should take this seriously," he said. Meanwhile, the sudden and controversial death of Vimal Negi, General Manager (Engineering) at Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL), has raised serious concerns among engineers and employees of the corporation. Following the incident, representatives of the Power Corporation and State Engineers' Association recently met with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, calling for an investigation and immediate action against the management. On Wednesday, Jairam Thakur reiterated his demand for a CBI investigation, calling the case "highly suspicious." Thakur had expressed concern over the alleged deterioration of law and order in Himachal Pradesh and urged the government to conduct a thorough probe into the incident. "...This case is highly suspicious. If the family demands a CBI investigation, the government must act accordingly. Until the inquiry is completed, all responsible officials should be removed from their positions to ensure impartiality. The deteriorating law and order situation in Himachal Pradesh is deeply concerning, and such incidents only highlight the government's inefficiency...The government must conduct a thorough probe and take strict action against those responsible for this tragic incident...," Thakur told reporters. The shocking death of Vimal Negi has intensified concerns about the working conditions within HPPCL. Employees fear that workplace pressure and an unhealthy work environment could be key factors behind the incident. As the investigation unfolds, the engineers' association remains firm in its demands for justice and reforms within the corporation. (ANI)
After the Joint Action Meeting on delimitation called by Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin concluded on Saturday, DMK MP Kanimozhi NVN Somu said that it was a successful event and everybody who participated in it was happy that somebody has taken the initiative. Speaking to the media, Kanimozhi Somu emphasized that they have conveyed their message on the Delimitation issue to the public and the Government about what they want. "It was a very successful event, it was a first of its kind, and it's a very good initiative done by our Chief Minister. All the leaders across the state were very happy to participate in this because this is the first initiative we have taken for the people. The whole nation today has come to know what delimitation is and what the issues of the delimitation are, and people will also start thinking about what our state really needs. I think we have taken that to the public right way and to the government, too," she said. "The second meeting is going to be in Hyderabad. The dates are yet to be confirmed. We will be sending a committee of experts, and legal opinions will also be sought. Everybody was very happy that somebody had taken the initiative, and it was the leader from Tamil Nadu. We are so happy about that, and it is a great initiative. Everybody appreciated who came for the meeting, and everybody has gone back home with the message that they will also take that up in the future," the DMK MP said. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Mahesh Kumar Goud said that they are opposing the present form of delimitation. "The participants have expressed their grievance about all the things happening to the southern states. We are opposing the present form of delimitation. Our CM of Telangana, Revanth Reddy, is going to conduct one more meeting in April. Everyone will be coming to that meeting," Goud said. The Joint Action Committee on Saturday passed a resolution on the issue of delimitation, expressing concern over the "lack of transparency and clarity" from the Union government. The JAC unanimously demanded transparency from the Union government over any delimitation exercise and asked to extend the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on 1971 Census Population for next 25 years. "Any delimitation exercise carried out by the Union Government to improve the content and character of democracy should be carried out transparently, enabling political parties of all the States, State Governments and other stakeholders to deliberate, discuss and contribute in it." the resolution passed by JAC read. "Given the fact that the legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th and 87th Constitutional amendments was to protect/incentivise States which have implemented population control measures effectively and the goal of national population stabilisation has not yet been achieved, the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on 1971 Census Population, should be extended by another 25 years," it added. The JAC led by Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin urged the central government to "not penalise" the states which have effectively implemented the population control program. "The States which have effectively implemented the population control program and consequently whose population share has come down, should not be penalised. The Union Government must enact necessary constitutional amendments for this purpose," JAC resolved. (ANI)
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday called for broader deliberations on the delimitation issue, stating that it requires "much more talking" among stakeholders. While speaking to the media in Bhubaneswar, Tharoor said, "I think the delimitation issue requires much more talking to each other. There are a lot of important discussions it requires." Meanwhile, the first meeting of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) on delimitation was held in Chennai on Saturday. A resolution was passed, expressing concern over the "lack of transparency and clarity" in the Union government's approach to the delimitation exercise. The first meeting of the JAC, initiated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, was attended by several leaders, including chief ministers from opposition parties. Addressing a press conference, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanizmozhi stated that the JAC has expressed its deep concern about the lack of "transparency and clarity" in the delimitation process, especially given that it was conducted without consulting various stakeholders. Kanizmozhi said, "I would like to read the resolution which has been passed today. The JAC (Joint Action Committee) expressed its deep concern about the lack of transparency and clarity in the delimitation exercise without any consultation with the various stakeholders. The JAC expressed its appreciation to the CM of Tamil Nadu for taking up this initiative to safeguard the political and economic future of performing states in India. Based on the various points and scenarios put forth by representatives during the discussion, the JAC unanimously resolved that - Any Delimitation exercise carried out by the Union Government to improve the content or character of our democracy should be carried out transparently, enabling political parties of all states, state governments and other stakeholders to deliberate, discuss and contribute." "Given the fact that the legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th and 87th Constitutional amendment wants to protect and incentivise states which had implemented population control measures effectively and the goal of national population stabilisation has not yet been achieved. The freeze on parliamentary constituency based on 1971 census population should be extended by another 25 years..." she added. The first meeting of JAC, convened by Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, was held in Chennai today. The meeting was attended by various political leaders, including Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Odisha Congress President Bhakta Charan Das, and Biju Janata Dal leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma, among others. Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin announced that the next meeting on delimitation would be held in Hyderabad, Telangana. (ANI)
A stunning new radar study has sent shockwaves across the internet, revealing a vast subterranean complex beneath the Pyramids of Gizachallenging long-held beliefs that the structures were built solely as royal tombs, Azernews reports, citing Tribune.

Using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) tomography, scientists Corrado Malanga of the University of Pisa and Filippo Biondi of the University of Strathclyde scanned the Khafre Pyramid and uncovered what appears to be an underground system stretching two kilometers beneath all three major pyramids.

The findings, made public through a scientific paper and a press release issued on March 15, detail five identical multi-level structures connected by geometric passageways near the base of the Khafre Pyramid.

Even more striking were the eight vertical cylindrical wells, encircled by spiral pathways descending 648 meters below the surface. These wells ultimately merge into two massive cube-shaped chamberseach measuring 80 meters on each side.

A video from the Reese Report declared that the revelation challenges the long-held belief that the pyramids served solely as royal tombs. Instead, it adds fuel to fringe theories that have circulated for decadessuggesting these structures may have had a mechanical or even energy-producing function.

Theories like these arent new. Inventor Nikola Tesla once speculated that the pyramids might collect and harness Earths natural energy. Engineer Christopher Dunn echoed similar ideas in his book The Giza Power Plant, proposing that the Great Pyramid operated as a giant machine capable of converting seismic vibrations into usable energy.

Naturally, the internet couldnt help but theorize. The megastructure they just found underneath the Giza Pyramids is probably the most important discovery to ever be made in our lifetimes, one user posted on X. Others have jumped to conclusions about pre-flood civilizations or alien technology, with some comparing the discovery to a scene straight out of National Treasure 3.

Instead, researchers like Dr. Sara Schrader from the University of Leiden noted that the bones bore the marks of laborers. Her team concluded that pyramid tombs, once thought to be the final resting place of the most elite, may have also included low-status high-labor staff.

While mainstream Egyptologists still insist the pyramids were built around 2500 BCE using ramps and simple tools, the newly discovered anomaliescombined with the structures mathematical precisionhave sparked renewed interest in alternative narratives.

The Khafre Project team has reportedly expressed interest in excavating the site, but Egypts government has long been cautious about approving digs that challenge its official stance on the pyramids historical purpose. For now, the mystery remains buriedboth literally and figuratively.
Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil greeted people on World Water Day on Saturday and said India has made water conservation not just a matter of policy but a mass movement. World Water Day is held annually on March 22 as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis, in support of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. Patil talked about the government's initiatives in the water sector, including Jal Jeevan Mission, Atal Bhujal Yojana and Amrit Sarovars. "Water: The basis of life, the axis of development and the soul of civilization. Today, when water crisis has become a matter of global concern, India stands as a nation that has transformed concern into consciousness and challenge into opportunity. Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has made water conservation not just a matter of policy but a mass movement," he said in a post on X. "Jal Jeevan Mission has provided tap water to crores of households, Atal Bhujal Yojana has raised awareness about the falling water level and Amrit Sarovar project has given new life to water sources. This year's theme reminds us that balance with nature, public cooperation, and awareness are the only permanent solutions to the water crisis. Governments can take the initiative, but change comes only when society itself becomes a partner. On this World Water Day, let us take this pledge as a nation. We will protect every drop, participate in every effort, and we will create a water-rich India for the coming generations," he added. India's per capita water availability is falling due to increase in population. The average annual water availability of any region or country is largely dependent upon hydro- meteorological and geological factors, however, water availability per person is dependent on population of a country. Based on the study titled "Reassessment of Water Availability in India using Space Inputs, 2019" conducted by Central Water Commission, the average annual per capita water availability for year 2021 and 2031 has been assessed as 1,486 cubic meter and 1,367 cubic meter respectively. Annual per-capita water availability of less than 1700 cubic meter is considered as water stressed condition whereas annual per-capita water availability below 1000 cubic meters is considered as a water scarcity condition. World Water Day this year focuses on glacier preservation. UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization are the UN lead agencies for the celebration. Glaciers serve as natural freshwater reservoirs, releasing meltwater that supports drinking water supplies, agriculture, industry, and healthy ecosystems. They provide essential benefits such as climate regulation and protection from natural hazards. Preserving glaciers is vital for the well-being of individuals and communities worldwide. Through the implementation of sustainable glacier management and monitoring practices, humanity can protect these frozen reservoirs that still hold approximately 70 per cent of Earth's freshwater. The government launched AMRUT 2.0 on 1st October 2021, covering all the statutory towns of the country to ensure universal coverage of water supply and make cities 'water secure'. The Mission Amrit Sarovar was launched on National Panchayati Raj Day on April 24, 2022 as a part of celebration of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav with an objective to conserve water for future. The Mission is aimed at developing and rejuvenating 75 water bodies in each district of the country. (ANI)
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Saturday targeted Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief Akhilesh Yadav over party leader Abu Azmi's remarks praising Aurangzeb. "SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav says that he respects Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj even more than BJP. Then how come Abu Azmi, the man who praised Aurangzeb, is still in their party? This means that whatever Abu Azmi said, he said it with Akhilesh Yadav's consent.," he said. Earlier, Abu Azmi had reportedly said that Aurangzeb was not a "cruel administrator" and "built many temples". He added that the battle between the Mughal emperor and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj was for state administration and not about Hindu and Muslim. After Azmi's statement, Mumbai Police registered a case under sections 299, 302, 356(1), and 356(2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). On March 5, , Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar suspended Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi for the entire duration of the ongoing budget session over his remarks on Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. A proposal was brought in the Maharashtra Assembly against Azmi's remarks. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandrakant Patil said in the House that Azmi's objectionable statement had hurt the dignity of the House, leading to the proposal to suspend his membership for this session, which the Speaker passed. SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned the basis of the suspension and asserted that free thought cannot be curtailed by punitive measures, Yadav questioned the basis of the suspension and asserted that free thought cannot be curtailed by punitive measures, Few days ago, Maharashtra Minister Nitesh Rane held Abu Azmi responsible for the violence in and said that it was a preplanned violence to defame the State government. "Abu Azmi is responsible for this. He started this issue. This was a preplanned violence to defame the government. We will not spare those who raise their hands on our police personnel. Strict action will be taken in this matter," Rane told media persons. (ANI)
The Rouse Avenue court in New Delhi on Saturday issued a notice to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Bansuri Swaraj in a revision moved by former Delhi Minister Satyender Jain. Jain has challenged the trial court order refusing cognizance of the complaint against Bansuri Swaraj. This case is related to a statement by Bansuri Swaraj in an interview on a TV channel in relation to an Enforcement Directorate raid in a money laundering case. Special judge Jitendra Singh issued notice to Bansuri Swaraj and listed the matter for hearing on April 15. The court issued the notice after hearing submissions by advocates Rajat Bhardwaj and Kaustubh Khanna. The counsel also submitted in the court that they are dropping the news channel as respondent. Earlier, Jain had moved a Defamation Complaint against Swaraj for allegedly making a defamatory statement against him in relation to an ED raid. The Court on February 20, 2025 declined the cognizance of the defamation complaint filed by former Delhi Minister Satyendra Jain against BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM)'s court had declined to take cognizance of the defamation Complaint filed by AAP leader Satyendra Jain. Jain had filed a defamation complaint against BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj alleging that she made a defamatory statement in a news interview. The news channel was also a proposed accused in the Complaint. Jain had alleged that Swaraj had made defamatory remarks against him during an interview on a TV channel on October 5, 2023. This interview was watched by Millions of people. He had claimed that these remarks were made by Bansuri Swaraj to defame him and to gain undue political advantage. The allegations were levelled in the context of an ED raid at the premises. Former Delhi Minister Jain had alleged that Bansuri Swaraj falsely stated that RS 3 crores were recovered from his house. She had also stated that 1.8 kg gold and 133 gold coins were recovered from the house of the complainant, he has claimed. It was stated that these statement was made in context with the raid of the Enforcement Directorate at complaint's house. He is on bail in this case and same is pending before the court. She further defamed by calling him 'Corrupt' and 'Fraud'. Several false, malicious and defamatory allegations were leveled against the complainant, he alleged. It was stated that the accused has played havoc with the reputation of the complainant and smear campaign has caused a cascading effect on the complainant as husband, father, brother, friend and as a common of the society, apart from scarring his otherwise unblemished political reputation. It was said that the damage and dent caused by the frivolous allegations levelled by the accused is immeasurable as the complainant's character and reputation stand assailed not only as the elected representative and mass leader but even in his personal capacity. Earlier the Court on December 16, 2024 issued pre Summoning notice to BJP MP and the news Channel to lead pre-summoning evidence. During the hearing January 13, cousnsel for BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj argued that this complaint is politically motivated and complainant is using the same for electoral politics. Jain was in custody in the same matter. His bail applications were rejected by the court. Advocate Siddhesh Kotwal argued that the statement was given on the basis of material available in the public domain and observations made by the court. (ANI)
The Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress organised a protest in Bhopal on Saturday, demanding action from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government over rising crimes against women in the state. During the protest, Congress women leaders raised slogans against the state government and sought to make a safe environment for women in the state. Vibha Patel, the President of the Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress, criticised the state's handling of rising crimes, stating, "Madhya Pradesh is at the top position in the atrocities against women. The way incidents of rape of minor girls are being reported, the Mohan Yadav government and senior BJP leaders should get deep drown. CM Mohan Yadav is managing the state home ministry but is unable to provide security to the girls. There is so much pressure on the police that they are not able to take impartial action." Patel also announced that under the "Bachchi Bachao Pakhwada" (Save Girl Child Fortnight) starting April 2, the Mahila Congress would hold protests in every district across the state. "Today, we like to warn CM Mohan Yadav that our Bachchi Bachao Pakhwadam which will start from April 2 under which protests will be held against the Chief Minister and his ministers in every district in the state. Demonstrations will be held at the district headquarters. Those who used to talk about Ladli Behna, the Kanyadan scheme; did it only mean for taking votes? Today, the truth is that girls are not safe in the state," Patel said. She also urged the Governor of Madhya Pradesh to intervene and speak to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav about the need for him to step down from the state's home ministry, citing concerns about the safety of girls in the state. "When girls leave home, parents remain worried about them. The Mohan government should immediately provide a safe environment for girls in the state. We want to say to the Governor that taking cognizance of the situation, he should talk to CM Mohan Yadav about leaving himself from the state home ministry post," she added. (ANI)
38-year-old Irfan Ansari who was injured during the March 17 Nagpur violence in Maharashtra succumbed to his injuries during treatment at the Mayo Hospital in the city, the hospital administration said on Saturday. He was attacked on his way to Nagpur railway station. "38-year-old Irfan Ansari succumbed to his injuries during treatment at Mayo Hospital. He was attacked on 17th March while heading to the Nagpur railway station. Police are investigating the incident," as per the Mayo Hospital Administration Imran Sani, brother of deceased Irfan Ansari said that doctors "treated him well" but could not "save" him while speaking to ANI. "We tried our best to save him but we couldn't, doctors treated him well, but they couldn't save him," he said. He also narrated the tragic events of the day, stating: "My brother Irfan Ansari had left for Itarsi Junction Railway Station in an auto. In between auto driver told him that he (the auto driver) would not go further as the atmosphere was not good. My brother then decided to walk to the railway station. On the way, some unknown people attacked him so badly that he fainted" Sani claimed that his brother had told him that he was attacked by a mob. "He had severe injuries to his head, his leg was fractured, and there was a back injury...He said that he was attacked by the public. We demand the strictest punishment for the accused. In the future, no one should meet with such an unfortunate fate," Sani recalled. Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that any damage caused during the violent clashes in Nagpur on March 17 will be recovered from the rioters. Addressing a press conference, Chief Minister Fadnavis said, "Whatever damage has happened will be recovered from the rioters. If they do not pay the money, then their property will be sold for the recovery. Wherever required, bulldozers will also be used." "Today, I reviewed the incident that happened in Nagpur with the police officers. The entire sequence of events and the actions taken have been reviewed. The replica of Aurangzeb's grave was burnt in the morning. An FIR was filed on it, but people gathered after a rumour was spread that a verse from the Quran was written on it. The crowd pelted stones and committed arson," he said. Chief Minister Fadnavis said that so far 104 people have been arrested in connection with the violence. (ANI)
Anantnag district administration has demolished an "illegally" constructed house of a person who is allegedly a terrorist handler associated with the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba. "Anantnag Police, in coordination with the District administration, demolished an illegally constructed house and plinth at Rekha Hassanpora, reclaiming encroached state land. The property belonged to Haroon Rashid Ganie, son of Abdul Rashid Ganie, a known terrorist handler associated with the banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)," the police said in a statement. Earlier this week, Anantnag Police attached properties worth Rs 75 lakhs belonging to two notorious drug peddlers under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. According to an official release, acting under Section 68-F of the NDPS Act, the police attached a cement-concreted plinth along with one kanal of land belonging to Tariq Ahmad Lone, son of Mohd Maqbool Lone, a resident of Satkipora. The property, valued at approximately Rs 60 lakhs, was identified as illegally acquired through drug trafficking. The accused is involved in FIR No. 48/2019 under Section 8/20 of the NDPS Act, registered at Police Station Srigufwara. In a separate action, Police Station Bijbehara attached commercial shops belonging to Gulzar Ahmad Rather, son of Gh. Rasool Rather, a resident of Waghama. The attachment was made in connection with FIR No. 227/2024 under Section 8/20 of the NDPS Act, registered at Police Station Bijbehara. The property, valued at Rs 15 lakhs, was confirmed as proceeds of drug-related activities. "These stringent actions highlight Anantnag Police's firm resolve to eliminate the drug menace and dismantle the financial networks supporting illicit drug trade. The public is urged to cooperate with law enforcement agencies by reporting any drug-related activities, ensuring a safer and drug-free society," the police said in a statement. Earlier on Wednesday, Chinar Warriors, in a joint operation with Jammu and Kashmir police, recovered and destroyed an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on the "critical" line of communication along Bandipora-Srinagar road. "ChinarWarriors in a joint operation with @JmuKmrPolice today, averted a major terror incident, which would have threatened innocent lives of Kashmiri citizens, by recovering and destroying an IED on the critical line of communication along Bandipora - Srinagar Road, Aragam," Chinar Corps, Indian Army said in a post on X on Wednesday. (ANI)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday and invited her for the launch of 'Jal Ganga Samvardhan Abhiyan' (Water Conservation and Augmentation Campaign) on March 30 in the state. According to an official release, the initiative, aimed at increasing public participation in water conservation and constructing more water structures, will run continuously for 90 days until June 30. Several programs will be organized during this period to promote water conservation in the state. "Today, I met President Droupadi Murmu. Madhya Pradesh organises Vikram Ustav for years and Vikram Samvat new year will begin on March 30 which is an important day of the event. During this, we will launch the 'Jal Ganga Samvardhan Abhiyan' for three months in the state. I have given the invitation to the President regarding the same. She has agreed to try and arrange her schedule. I have also extended gratitude on behalf of the MP government," CM Yadav said. Chief Minister Yadav said that the President's last visit to the state was quite good and she has taken a keen interest in the development works of Madhya Pradesh. "Along with this, I met Union Home Minister Amit Shah as well. During the meeting, we talked about the agreement of the National Dairy Development Board. I have invited him to Madhya Pradesh for the purpose and he has assured me to see a date in the first week of April," the CM said. The Chief Minister further stressed that during the meeting with the President and Union Home Minister, he highlighted the development works of the state. He also hoped that soon the dates would be finalised for their visits to the state. Additionally in a post on X, CM Yadav emphasised that he received valuable guidance from the President and her personality inspires everyone to dedicate themselves towards national service and public welfare. "Today, I called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi and received valuable guidance. Your serious, simple and straightforward personality inspires us to dedicate ourselves with full energy towards national service and public welfare," CM wrote in the post. (ANI)
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Saturday inaugurated a Grade 'A' industrial warehouse in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, in response to the growing demand driven by industrialisation and the expansion of the e-commerce sector in the region. Speaking to the media, Joshi also asserted that the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) has inaugurated 18 warehouses in different states and parts of the country with an investment of Rs 260 crore. "We have inaugurated 18 warehouses in different states and parts of the country through Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC). An investment of 260 crores has been made in this. There is a huge demand for warehousing in this area due to industrialization and e-commerce business, keeping this in mind, CWC (Central Warehousing Corporation) has made this policy and inaugurated it here," he said. The Union Minister also emphasised that the Warehouse business is a rapidly expanding business in the country. "Our agricultural products are being produced more, considering which this is also a very important initiative. This warehouse will greatly benefit the people of this area in the coming days," Pralhad Joshi said. Earlier today, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said two Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) worth Rs 700 crore were signed to establish the PM MITRA Park at the Lucknow-Hardoi border. The two MoUs worth Rs 700 crore will follow the Prime Minister's 5F vision--Farm to Fibre, Fibre to Factory, Factory to Fashion, and Fashion to Foreign, said CM Yogi. In his address at the Investors Meet for the PM MITRA Park on the Lucknow-Hardoi border, CM Yogi announced the development of two leather parks named after Sant Ravidas. He highlighted incentives worth Rs 210 crore for investors under the 2017 textile policy and Rs 8 crore under the 2022 policy. CM Yogi emphasised the state's commitment to industrial expansion and employment generation. "Along with textile, two new leather parks, in the name of Sant Ravidas, will be developed in Uttar Pradesh. 80 of the investors under the 2017 policy of Uttar Pradesh Handloom, Powerloom, Silk, Textile, and Garmenting are receiving an incentive of Rs 210 crore today. Under the 2022 policy, we are giving 44 such investors an incentive of Rs 8 crore. Two MOUs worth Rs 700 crore are also being signed here today for PM MITRA Park. The Prime Minister has said we will connect PM MITRA Park with 5F - Farm to Fibre, Fibre to Factory, Factory to Fashion, and Fashion to Foreign, which means that we can also export its products," said CM Yogi. (ANI)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday that 92 people have been arrested in connection with the March 17 Nagpur violence, which involved incidents of stone pelting and vehicles being torched. Earlier in the day, CM Fadnavis held a review meeting at Nagpur Police Headquarters regarding the recent violence in Nagpur. Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, CM Fadnavis, who also serves as the state's Home Minister, said that the violence was triggered by rumours spread on social media alleging that a holy 'chadar' had been burnt on that day. "I chaired a high-level meeting regarding the violence, which was also attended by state minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule. I reviewed every detail and shared my thoughts... The tomb of Aurangzeb was burnt that day when this incident occurred. Following the incident, a case was registered with the police. However, some people spread a rumour via podcasts and social media posts that a holy 'chadar' was burnt. This led to rioters pelting stones, torching vehicles and attacking shops in Nagpur," CM Fadnavis said. He commended the police for bringing the situation under control swiftly. "Despite the intensity, the police brought the situation under control within 4-4.5 hours. They did everything to control the situation. However, many police personnel, including three DCP-level officers, were injured in the incident. A total of 104 people have been identified, of whom 92 have been arrested...The police will continue to make further arrests," the CM said. He also said that damages caused during the violence would be recovered from the rioters. "Whatever damage has happened will be recovered from the rioters. If they do not pay the money, their property will be sold for the recovery. Bulldozers will also be used wherever required," CM Fadnavis added. The clashes in Nagpur on March 17 erupted over demands for the removal of Aurangzeb's grave. Tensions escalated further when rumours circulated that a holy book of a particular community had been burnt during the agitation. However, the situation has now returned to normal, and the curfew imposed in several areas has been lifted. (ANI)
One person was killed while four others were injured after a wall of a brick kiln collapsed in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district, on Saturday. Anshika Verma, Superintendent of Police (SP) Bareilly South told ANI that the dead body of one person was retrieved from the spot. "This morning, we received information that the wall of a brick kiln had collapsed. After that, a rescue operation was launched. In this operation, four people were successfully rescued and sent to the hospital for treatment. The body of one person was retrieved in a deceased state," SP Verma said. Rajeev, a minor worker who got injured in the accident said, "The wall of the brick kiln had collapsed. Four people were saved, and one was crushed under the wall, resulting in their death." Another worker said that the deceased person was trapped under the wall debris for approximately five hours until the rescue operation began. "The wall collapsed at around 8 AM today. The owner of the kiln had already fled by the morning. Between 8 AM and approximately 1 PM, a person was trapped under the debris," she said. Meanwhile, in a separate incident, Lucknow Police killed one accused in an encounter, who was involved in the gang rape and murder of a woman near the Malihabad area, officials confirmed on Saturday. The woman was en route to her brother's house in Chinhat when the accused took the wrong route to the Malihabad area where she was raped and murdered, police said. The police had already arrested the other accused, Dinesh Kumar Dwivedi, however, Ajay Dwivedi absconded from the spot. Police had announced a Rs 1 lakh bounty on him. The police on Friday evening received information from an informer that Ajay was about to flee from Lucknow. Police established a checking post near Devam Hotel and spotted the accused around 9:30 pm, DCP Vishwajeet Srivastava said." When an attempt was made to stop a suspect riding a motorcycle, he tried to flee, but his motorcycle skidded... He fired at the police. Police fired in self-defence," DCP Vishwajeet Srivastava said. The accused was then taken to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, DCP added. (ANI)
Medical team in NW China's Xinjiang successfully treat cancer patient from Tajikistan

People's Daily Online) 11:45, March 22, 2025

(File Photo)

The successful treatment of a Tajik woman with breast cancer in a hospital in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is the latest example of the "Health Silk Road" that is connecting China with Belt and Road Initiative nations through medical cooperations.

In mid-March of this year, Safarova, a Tajik woman with complex breast cancer, was facing unsatisfactory treatment results in her home country. She visited Xinjiang Medical University Affiliated Tumor Hospital in pursuit of better health. Through extensive discussion, meticulous planning, and a synthesis of international advanced diagnosis and treatment protocols with the hospitals rich clinical experience, the surgical team arrived at an exacting plan for Safarovas surgery. The surgery went quite successfully, and Safarova recovered quickly.

During her treatment, hospital staff presented flowers to Safarova, offering her heartfelt care and support. She was deeply moved by this act of kindness, expressing that in Xinjiang she found renewed hope for life and doctors that treated her with such meticulous care that she felt as if they were family.

Safarova later sent a pennant to the hospital, reading "envoy of health, bridge of friendship," to commemorate the Chinese medical team's remarkable efforts to restore her health.

(File Photo)

(File Photo)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
By Alimat Aliyeva

The General Directorate of Rocket Engineering of the DPRK conducted a test launch to evaluate the capabilities of its latest anti-aircraft missile system, Azernews reports.

The test took place in the presence of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who oversaw the demonstration of the new system's performance.

Serial production of the missile system has already commenced at the "relevant Oboronprom enterprise," with the test confirming the systems effectiveness. The test results highlighted the "superiority of fast combat reactivity" and affirmed the "high reliability of the system."

Kim Jong-un emphasized that the DPRK army would soon be equipped with "another important defensive weapon," underscoring the nations commitment to strengthening its defense capabilities. He also expressed his gratitude to the creators of the new anti-aircraft missile system for their contributions to national security.

The footage released by KCNA (Korean Central News Agency) shows the system successfully neutralizing a simulated aerial target at a low altitude above the water, demonstrating its precision and effectiveness in combat scenarios.

This test launch is a significant development in North Koreas ongoing efforts to modernize and enhance its defense capabilities. The successful deployment of such systems plays a crucial role in boosting the countrys deterrence capabilities, especially in the context of increasing regional security concerns.
Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Saturday criticised the "loose talk" regarding delimitation and said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah's assurance that parliamentary seats of southern states will not be reduced is not enough to allay the concerns expressed by the leaders of those states. "I think loose talk with regard to delimitation is not desirable in the country...The Delimitation Commission will have to be appointed, and it is the job of the Delimitation Committee to decide. Even a reference has to be made to the Delimitation Committee," Moily told ANI. "It has to be done after taking all parties into confidence...Union Home Minister says that no seats should be reduced in southern India. That doesn't mean that they will not increase the seats in the north...that amounts to deprivation of proper representation of the south in Parliament," he added. The Joint Action Committee on delimitation after the first meeting held today, unanimously adopted the resolution which asserts that "any delimitation exercise carried out by the Centre should be done "transparently" and after discussion and deliberation with all stakeholders. Addressing a press conference, DMK MP Kanizmozhi stated that the JAC has expressed its deep concern about the lack of "transparency and clarity" in the delimitation exercise without any consultation with the various stakeholders. Kanizmozhi said, "I would like to read the resolution which has been passed today. The JAC (Joint Action Committee) expressed its deep concern on the lack of transparency and clarity in the delimitation exercise without any consultation to the various stakeholders. The JAC expressed its appreciation to the CM of Tamil Nadu for taking up this initiative to safeguard the political and economic future of performing states in India. Based on the various points and scenarios put forth by representatives during the discussion, the JAC unanimously resolved that - Any Delimitation exercise carried out by the Union Government to improve the content or character of our democracy should be carried out transparently enabling political parties of all states, state governments and other stakeholders to deliberate, discuss and contribute." "Given the fact that the legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th and 87th Constitutional amendment wants to protect incentivise states which had implemented population control measures effectively and the goal of national population stabilisation has not yet been achieved. The freeze on parliamentary constituency based on 1971 census population should be extended by another 25 years..." she added. The Joint Action Committee on delimitation was held in Chennai under the leadership of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. The meeting was attended by various political leaders, including Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Odisha Congress President Bhakta Charan Das, and Biju Janata Dal leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma, among others. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has said that the next meeting on the delimitation of constituencies will be held in Hyderabad, Telangana. (ANI)
Rajya Sabha MP Rekha Sharma on Saturday called for the immediate arrest of the police personnel involved in the alleged assault of Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath, emphasising that suspension is not a punishment in the case. Speaking to ANI, Rekha Sharma said that the police are doing "hooliganism" in Punjab and the state government allegedly supporting them. "On March 14, an (Army) officer and his son were going to Patiala, when they reached Patiala and was having food sitting inside their car. From the opposite side, a Police vehicle came along with two civilian vehicles, all 3 vehicles were full of Police personnel. They used very bad language and asked the officer and his son to move their vehicle from the spot so that the Police personnel could park their vehicle. When the officer questioned them for their language, 12 people physically assaulted both the officer and son very brutally. They sustained serious injuries and his ID card was taken away," she said. "Police did not take any immediate action against those Police personnel. Even though now, some of the Police officers have been suspended, the main accused has not. Suspension is anyway not a punishment. Why hasn't an FIR not yet been registered against them? Why are those Police officers not yet arrested? Police are doing hooliganism in Punjab and the state government is supporting them," Rekha Sharma said. Meanwhile, in response to the incident, as many as four police officers from Patiala have been suspended and transferred for allegedly assaulting Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath in Punjab's Patiala, a senior police officer said. A First Information Report (FIR) has also been filed against the four accused officers. The official said that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) will investigate the case. Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nanak Singh told ANI, "A fresh FIR has been filed in this matter. A case has been registered against Inspector Ronni Singh, Inspector Harjinder Dhillon, Inspector Harry Boparai and Inspector Shaminder. In addition, they have been suspended and transferred out of the state. The SIT will be headed by ADGP SPS Parmar... Punjab police have provided them (Colonel Bath and his family) with security, including two armed police personnel... The SIT will investigate, and they will make the arrests... The protest is peaceful so far." Jaswinder Kaur Bath, wife of Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath said that she would continue her fight for justice. "This is not a political issue. This is a fight by people. I would like to tell you one thing, I will fight for Punjab and get justice for everyone. There is no need for me to make a political party or organisation, I will fight and get justice for everyone...FIR has been lodged but I do not know anything about the suspension order." she said. On Friday, an FIR was registered in Police Station Civil Lines, Patiala on the statement of Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath as recorded on March 14 regarding an unfortunate incident of assault by police officials which occurred on the intervening night of March 13/14. The statement of Colonel Bath named the police officials who assaulted him and also gave the roles attributed to each person in the assault. A High-Level Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by SPS Parmar, IPS, Additional Director General of Police, Law & Order, Punjab, and, including Sandeep Malik, IPS, Senior Superintendent of Police, Hoshiarpur and Manpreet Singh, PPS, Superintendent of Police, Rural, SAS Nagar was later constituted by the Director, Bureau of Investigation, Punjab for conducting investigations in a fair and expeditious manner. The SIT has been directed to investigate day-to-day basis for the collection of evidence and further legal proceedings, to ensure that the culprits are proceeded against as per law. (ANI)
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday assured that the Waqf Amendment Bill aims to enhance transparency and benefit marginalized communities, including women and the poor. Addressing concerns over the bill, he emphasized that it is not intended to seize Muslim properties but to establish a more systematic approach. Speaking to the media, Rijiju stated that all Muslim organizations have been consulted and reiterated that India, as a democratic nation, functions under the Constitution. "After the Waqf Amendment Bill is introduced in the Lok Sabha, we will take it to the Rajya Sabha. We will explain it in detail. We have met all the Muslim organizations and they also know that the Waqf Amendment Bill is not to usurp Muslim properties. This will increase transparency; it will help the poor and women. This is for a system. How can anyone snatch someone's land? India is a democratic country. This country runs by the Constitution," the Union Minister said. The Joint Committee of Parliament (JPC) report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was tabled in Parliament on February 13 amid uproar. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Medha Vishram Kulkarni presented the report in the Rajya Sabha. She also tabled a copy of the record of evidence given before the panel. JPC chairman and BJP MP Jagadambika Pal tabled the report in the Lok Sabha amid Opposition sloganeering against the report. In the Rajya Sabha, Opposition MPs alleged that dissent notes submitted by the Opposition members were not included in the panel's report. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, however, rejected the allegation. The JPC which was formed on the bill has adopted the draft report and amended the revised bill on January 29. The committee had earlier cleared the bill with 25 amendments across 14 sections and clauses. The Waqf Act of 1995, enacted to regulate Waqf properties, has long been criticised for issues such as mismanagement, corruption, and encroachments. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, aims to address these challenges by introducing reforms such as digitisation, enhanced audits, improved transparency, and legal mechanisms to reclaim illegally occupied properties. (ANI)
Addressing the event, CM Saini said, "It is our great fortune to have Jal Shakti Minister CR Paatil launch a Jal Shakti Abhiyaan from Haryana for the entire country. I welcome him to this holy land in Haryana where Lord Krishna gave a message of Gita and knowledge to the entire humankind."

The Ministry of Jal Shakti, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and the Government of Haryana, launched the much-anticipated 'Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain - 2025' on the occasion of World Water Day.

The event took place at the Multipurpose Hall, Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula, Haryana, and aimed to promote water conservation and management through community participation and innovative strategies.

The campaign, themed People's Action for Water Conservation - Towards Intensified Community Connect, underscored the importance of water security, rainwater harvesting, and groundwater recharge in the face of climate change and growing water challenges. The initiative will focus on 148 districts across the country, fostering greater synergy between government agencies, communities, and stakeholders in ensuring the sustainable management of water resources.

The event witnessed the presence of esteemed dignitaries, including Nayab Singh Saini, Union Minister of Jal Shakti C.R. Patil, and Minister for Irrigation & Water Resources, Shruti Choudhary.

According to a release, the 'Jal Shakti Abhiyaan: Catch the Rain - 2025' aims to raise nationwide awareness and mobilize action for water conservation, making the vision of 'Every Drop Counts' a reality.

The campaign called upon all citizens to join hands in securing India's water future through innovative solutions and grassroots participation. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court has quashed two trial court orders for the registration of FIR, noting that complaints were not supported by affidavits as required under the law. The complaint, filed against the husband and wife in a loan matter, was not accompanied by duly sworn affidavits at the time of filing. The petitioners, Rajat Bhagat and Sarika Bhagat, had challenged the orders of the Additional Sessions Judge, which dismissed their revisions against the FIR registration. The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) had directed the registration of FIRs on July 8, 2016. However, while quashing the orders, the High Court single judge bench referred to a 2015 Supreme Court ruling that mandates an affidavit to accompany an application under Section 156(3) CrPC. "It was obligatory for the complainant to support his application under Section 156(3) CrPC with an affidavit. Justice Vikas Mahajan passed the judgement and said, "The requirement that an application under section 156(3) CrPC must be supported by an affidavit is mandatory," the bench said. "In the case at hand, the application filed by the complainant was not supported by an affidavit. Therefore, the learned Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) committed an error in entertaining the said application and passing an order for registration of FIR," Justice Mahajan said in the judgement passed on March 20. Petitioners Rajat Bhagat and Sarika Bhagat have filed petitions seeking the quashing of the order of February 21, 2017, passed by the Additional Sessions Judge Tis Hazari Court, whereby the criminal revision filed by the petitioners was dismissed, and the order of July 2016 passed by ACMM (West), Tis Hazari Courts, in Compliant case was upheld. Advocate Isha Kapoor, counsel for petitioners submitted that applications under Section 156(3) CrPC must be supported by a duly sworn affidavit and the learned ACMM ought not to have entertained an application which was not accompanied by such an affidavit. On the other hand, the petitions were opposed by the counsel for the respondent/complainant, who submitted that the intention of the petitioners was to grab the property of respondent No. 2 and her husband. She contended that mere non-filing of an affidavit along with application under section 156(3) CrPC would not render the said application not maintainable. The complainant Chetna Kalra had filed a complaint case in 2016 before the court of ACMM, Tis Hazari, praying for the registration of FIR against the petitioners under Sections 420, 463, 468, 470, 471, 506, 120B, 34 IPC. (ANI)
Union Minister of Jal Shakti, CR Patil, on Saturday launched the nationwide campaign 'Jal Shakti Abhiyan Catch the Rain-2025' at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in District Panchkula, a release said. Addressing the gathering after inaugurating the programme, CR Patil said that to ensure Haryana receives its rightful share of water, a meeting with the Chief Ministers of the concerned states will be held in the coming days to resolve inter-state issues. Once these issues are resolved, Haryana will receive the water it is entitled to, he said. On this occasion, Haryana Chief Minister, Nayab Singh Saini and Irrigation and Haryana Water Resources Minister, Shruti Choudhry were also present. The Union Minister said that to promote water conservation and storage, Saini has outlined various programmes in the state budget for 2025-26. The central and Haryana governments will work together in a determined manner to alleviate Haryana's water scarcity- C.R Patil. CR Patil said that Haryana is a progressive state that depends on other states for its water supply. It also receives less rainfall. In such a state, it is necessary for both the government and citizens to be concerned about ensuring that there is no water shortage in the future. Therefore, with public participation, both the central and Haryana governments will work together in a committed manner to solve the problem of water scarcity in the state, said the Union Minister. CR Patil said that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi had mentioned turning water conservation into a people's movement, and today's event is a reflection of that. He emphasized that the need of the hour is to save water because water cannot be created. Water will be the first criterion on which future generations will evaluate us. To secure water conservation for the future, we need to advance in water storage by making various plans and experimenting with different methods, said the Union Minister. He further stated that PM Modi, during a virtual meeting in Surat, had said that water conservation and public participation should be transformed into a people's movement. He said that the business community, particularly migrant traders, should contribute to their motherland through their efforts. In this regard, he spoke to traders from Haryana who are in Surat, and they have pledged to spend their resources to work on water conservation in Haryana's villages in the coming days, said the Union Minister. The Union Minister said that due to the visionary leadership of the Prime Minister, the growing problem of water scarcity has been mitigated. Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, 25 lakh women in the country were trained to check the quality of water coming into their villages and homes, and they were provided with kits. However, during the 70 years of Congress rule, there was never a need to train anyone, as the government never provided water to people's homes. Women had to fetch water from distant places, and the water was often not even fit for drinking. It was impossible for them to be concerned about the quality of the water, said the Union Minister. He said that under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Har Ghar Jal scheme provides 55 litres of water per person. He further said that if the water in the ground is used up completely, there will be no water left for future generations, so it is essential to store rainwater. He further said that the Prime Minister believes that water for villages should stay in the village, and water for fields should stay in the fields. For this, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has developed different designs, and work will also be done on these in Haryana. Chief Secretary, Anurag Rastogi, Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Ashok Meena, Chairperson, Haryana Water Resources Authority, Keshni Anand Arora, MP Kartik Sharma, MLA Shakti Rani Sharma, Haryana BJP State President, Mohan Lal Badoli, Panchkula Mayor, Kulbhushan Goyal, former Speaker, of Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Gian Chand Gupta, and other officers and dignitaries were also present. (ANI)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Narayan Rane said on Saturday that the failure to deliver justice to Disha Salian's father is the reason he moved to the Bombay High Court, seeking a fresh probe into her daughter's death. The Bombay High Court has listed the writ petition filed in the case of Disha Salian's death by her father and will hear the case on April 2. Addressing mediapersons in a press conference, Rane said, "Disha Salian's father had to go to the High Court because he has not received justice until now. Her father felt he would not receive justice from the police, so he went to the High Court." Rane further claimed that Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, who was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra at the time of Disha Salian's death in 2020, had called him and asked him not to mention his son Aditya's involvement in the case in front of the press. "Uddhav Thackeray's PA, who is now probably an MLA, called me. I was also going home at that time, and he (PA) said that Uddhav Thackeray wanted to talk to me... He (PA) asked, 'Will you talk?' I asked where he was (Uddhav Thackeray) and to give him the phone. As soon as he (Uddhav Thackeray) received the phone, I said, 'Jai Maharashtra.' He (Uddhav Thackeray) asked me if I still say 'Jai Maharashtra,' so I replied that I would keep saying 'Jai Maharashtra' till I die. 'Jai Maharashtra' is not Matoshri's property. It is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's property," he said. "After that, he (Uddhav Thackeray) asked me not to take his son's (Aditya Thackeray) name in the press. I said I have not taken anyone's name. I said (in the press) that a minister is involved. He (Aditya Thackeray) was a minister when the incidents of Sushant Singh and Disha Salian happened. Everyone knew about this, and there was evidence too," the former Maharashtra Chief Minister added. This comes after a writ petition was filed by Disha Salian's father, Satish Salian, who is demanding a fresh probe into his daughter's death, interrogation of UBT-Shiv Sena's Aditya Thackeray, and the transfer of the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Disha Salian was the former manager of the late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. She was found dead on June 8, 2020, days before Sushant was found hanging in his flat in suburban Bandra, Mumbai. A copy of the writ petition has also been served on Sameer Wankhede, the NCB director at that time, by the advocate representing Satish Salian. In 2023, the Mumbai Police formed a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe Disha Salian's death. The Mumbai Police registered an accidental death case in the matter. Earlier, Aditya Thackeray, accused others of trying to defame him for the past five years. Thackeray emphasized that since the matter is already in court, he would reserve his comments for the legal proceedings. "A lot of people have tried to defame me for the last five years. If the matter is in court, then we will speak in court," he told the media. (ANI)
The signing took place in the presence of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Delhi Legislative Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta.

This move marks a significant step towards modernizing legislative processes, with the Delhi Assembly set to transition into a fully paperless system.

Earlier on February 18, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, along with Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan, launched the e-Vidhan Sabha Application (NeVA) for the Legislative Assembly session at Vidhan Sabha Bhawan in Dehradun.

National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) is one of the 44 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) under the "Digital India Programme" of the Government of India which aims to make the functioning of all the State Legislatures paperless by transforming them into 'Digital House'.

The NeVA project, inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visionary concept of 'One Nation, One Application,' is a significant step towards making the Assembly proceedings entirely paperless, which will benefit legislatures and assemblies.

As per the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) is a Unicode-compliant software developed to make all legislative body work and data available online for usage by both citizens and Assembly members. NeVA also includes a website and a mobile app.

This software allows for simple access to many documents such as the list of questions, list of businesses, and reports, among others.

NeVA also embodies the concept of 'One Nation, One Application' with the objective of Cloud First and Mobile First to serve Members FIRST.

PM Modi proposed a 'One Nation, One Legislative Platform' in November 2021. (ANI)
Union Minister of Jal Shakti, C R Patil, on Saturday launched the nationwide campaign 'Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain-2025' at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in district Panchkula, Haryana, according to release. Addressing the gathering after inaugurating the programme, C R Patil said that to ensure Haryana receives its rightful share of water, a meeting with the Chief Ministers of the concerned states will be held in the coming days to resolve inter-state issues. Once these issues are resolved, Haryana will receive the water it is entitled to, he said. On this occasion, Haryana Chief Minister, Nayab Singh Saini and Irrigation and Water Resources Minister, Shruti Choudhry were also present. The Union Minister said that to promote water conservation and storage, Nayab Singh Saini has outlined various programmes in the state budget for 2025-26. C.R Patil said that Haryana is a progressive state that depends on other states for its water supply. It also receives less rainfall. In such a state, it is necessary for both the government and citizens to be concerned about ensuring that there is no water shortage in the future. Therefore, with public participation, both the central and Haryana governments will work together in a committed manner to solve the problem of water scarcity in the state, said the Union Minister. Patil further said that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi had mentioned turning water conservation into a people's movement, and today's event is a reflection of that. He emphasised that the need of the hour is to save water because water cannot be created. Water will be the first criterion on which future generations will evaluate us. To secure water conservation for the future, we need to advance in water storage by making various plans and experimenting with different methods, said the Union Minister. He also stated that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, during a virtual meeting in Surat, had said that water conservation and public participation should be transformed into a people's movement. He said that the business community, particularly migrant traders, should contribute to their motherland through their efforts. In this regard, he spoke to traders from Haryana who are in Surat, and they have pledged to spend their resources to work on water conservation in Haryana's villages in the coming days, said the Union Minister. The Union Minister of Jal Shakti said that due to the visionary leadership of the Prime Minister, the growing problem of water scarcity has been mitigated. Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, 25 lakh women in the country were trained to check the quality of water coming into their villages and homes, and they were provided with kits. "However, during the 70 years of Congress rule, there was never a need to train anyone, as the government never provided water to people's homes. Women had to fetch water from distant places, and the water was often not even fit for drinking. It was impossible for them to be concerned about the quality of the water," said the Union Minister. He said that under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Har Ghar Jal scheme provides 55 litres of water per person. He further said that if the water in the ground is used up completely, there will be no water left for future generations, so it is essential to store rainwater. Concluding at event, the Union Minister further said that the Prime Minister believes that water for villages should stay in the village, and water for fields should stay in the fields. For this, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has developed different designs, and work will also be done on these in Haryana. Chief Secretary, Anurag Rastogi, Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Ashok Meena, Chairperson, Haryana Water Resources Authority, Keshni Anand Arora, MP Kartik Sharma, MLA Shakti Rani Sharma, Haryana BJP State President, Mohan Lal Badoli, Panchkula Mayor, Kulbhushan Goyal, former Speaker, Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Gian Chand Gupta, and other officers and dignitaries also present. (ANI)
The Delhi Legislative Assembly has taken a significant step towards digital governance by signing a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA), Government of India and Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) for the implementation of the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA). With this development, Delhi becomes the 28th legislature to sign MoU with the Ministry for implementation of the project, marking a new chapter in its legislative functioning. Dr. Satya Prakash, Additional Secretary, MoPA & Mission Leader (NeVA); Ranjeet Singh, Secretary, Delhi Legislative Assembly; and Reetesh Singh, Principle Secretary (Law), GNCTD signed the MoU in the presence of Kiren Rijiju, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of Minority Affairs; Vijender Gupta, Speaker of the Delhi Legislative Assembly and Umang Narula, Secretary, MoPA. The agreement signifies Delhi's commitment to transitioning to a paperless and more transparent legislative system, in alignment with the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision of "One Nation, One Application." The NeVA platform, developed under the guidance of MoPA, aims to bring greater efficiency, accessibility, and sustainability to legislative procedures by digitizing House business, providing real-time access to documents, and enabling seamless coordination among legislators and secretariat staff. By adopting NeVA, the Delhi Assembly will significantly reduce paper consumption, streamline workflows, and empower Members of the Legislative Assembly with digital tools for better legislative performance. On this occasion, Umang Narula, MoPA, lauded the efforts of the Delhi Assembly and reiterated the Ministry's full support in facilitating smooth implementation, onboarding, and training of stakeholders under the NeVA initiative. This landmark move further strengthens the nationwide momentum toward digital transformation in legislative institutions as NeVA continues to expand its footprint across the country. The onboarding of the Delhi Assembly onto the NeVA platform marks a key milestone in the Delhi Government's 100-day agenda, underscoring its commitment to promoting tech-driven, transparent, and efficient governance. With the constitution of the new assembly, the integration of NeVA further accelerates the modernisation of legislative processes. This makes the Delhi Assembly a model for digital governance. (ANI)
The bodies of Azerbaijan Army servicemen, soldier Imanov Ali Tariyel and soldier Hamidov Ruslan Rustam, who were caught in an avalanche in foggy weather conditions while returning from their duty station in the Gadabay region, have been found, according to a joint statement by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

'The leadership of the Ministry of Defense expresses deep condolences to the families and relatives of the servicemen who died while fulfilling their duty and wishes them patience. May Allah rest their souls in peace!' the statement said.

It should be noted that in order to find Azerbaijan Army's servicemen, who were caught in an avalanche, special equipment, forces and means of the relevant units of the Azerbaijan Army, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the contractor company of the State Agency of Azerbaijan Automobile Roads were involved in joint search and rescue operations held in a mountainous area with difficult terrain despite the unfavourable weather conditions.
4,123 Electoral Registration Officers ( EROs) across the country are holding all-party meetings to resolve any pending polling booth-level issues in their respective Assembly Constituencies (ACs), said Election Commission. Similarly, all 788 District Election Officers (DEOs) and 36 CEOs of all 28 States and 8 UTs at the State/UT levels have also been directed to hold such meetings to resolve any pending issues at the district and State/UT levels, respectively, within the legal framework of the RP Act 1950 & 1951, Registration of Elector Rules 1960, Conduct of Election Rules1961 and the manuals, guidelines and instructions issued by ECI from time to time, the poll body added. These meetings have already started with the active participation of national/state-level political parties. All such meetings are to be completed in the entire country in each AC, district and State/UT by the 31st of March, 2025. This is in line with the directions of the Commission led by CEC Gyanesh Kumar along with ECs Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi during the conference of CEOs of all States/UTs and one DEO and ERO from each state on the 4th of March, 2025 at IIIDEM, New Delhi. Political parties and their authorised representatives, such as Booth Level Agents (BLAs), Polling Agents, Counting Agents and Election Agents, have specific roles to play in various electoral processes, including the conduct of elections. This grassroots-level engagement has been welcomed by political parties, with their active and enthusiastic participation in meetings across assembly constituencies, districts, and states/UTs. The Commission appeals to all the national/state political parties to avail this proactive grassroot level engagement with electoral authorities for resolving any pending issue in a time-bound manner. Photos of the nationwide political party meetings can be viewed at ECI's official social media handle. (ANI)
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has given financial approval for various development schemes in the state. The Chief Minister approved Rs 74.99 lakh for the beautification of Bhainskot Kalasam temple of Dharchula assembly constituency, Rs 42.50 lakh for the construction of access road and culvert from Barniyagaon to Jaiti / GGIC Namjala of Dharchula assembly constituency of Pithoragarh district, Rs 95.90 lakh for the construction of tracking route from Mud to Asurchula temple under Pithoragarh assembly constituency, an official release said on Saturday. The Chief Minister has given financial approval of Rs 74.97 lakh for the construction of funeral procession route from Sanwalisera to Hanseshwar crematorium of DDhat assembly constituency of Pithoragarh district, Rs 88.46 lakh for the construction of CC road from village Barmon to Khandenath temple of Pithoragarh assembly constituency of Pithoragarh district, it added. The Chief Minister has given financial approval of Rs 15.05 lakh for the construction of 400-meter pedestrian path from the guest house to Harichand Devta temple in Dharama Tok of DDhat village Hardkhola of Pithoragarh district with interlocking tiles, the release said. The Chief Minister also gave approval of Rs 25 lakh for the beautification of Maa Vasanti Devi Durga temple built in Rudrapur village assembly. Meanwhile, Dhami on Saturday asserted that the "campaign" against "illegal" construction, and encroachments will "continue" and said "more stringent attacks will be made" on corruption. Dhami was speaking to reporters at Mukhya Sevak Sadan here on the occasion of the completion of three years of the State government.He mentioned the achievements of the state government and also shared his priorities for the future. The Chief Minister reflected on the 2022 elections, noting that political analysts had predicted the BJP government might not return to power. "But the public blessed the BJP and handed over the reins again," he said. He said that in three years, "many types of challenges came" before the government, but the government "faced it on the ground". Referring to the disasters ranging from Raini, Silkarya, and Kedar Valley to the recent Mana, he said that "one cannot work by staying behind during times of crisis" The Chief Minister said that Uttarakhand is "working with full capability to play its role" in the "developed India" that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "resolved" to build in the year 2047. Talking about the expansion of connectivity, he gave many examples and said that Uttarakhand is "assessing its capabilities" and "ensuring arrangements accordingly". He said that the "campaign against illegal construction, encroachments and occupation will continue in Uttarakhand. More stringent attacks will be made on corruption" Referring to laws like UCC, land law, and anti-copying, the Chief Minister said that "our government does not believe in shelving important issues". "Therefore, decisions have been taken on major issues"He said that "concrete steps" have been taken for the "welfare" of women by implementing schemes like Lakhpati Didi including 30 per cent reservation for women."A provision of ten per cent horizontal reservation has been made for the agitators. Through the conference of migrant Uttarakhandis, migrants were connected with the state," he said. The Chief Minister said that the state coming 13th in the whole country in terms of per capita income is a "pleasant sign". "Be it the Global Investors Summit or the organization of G-20 meetings, Uttarakhand has got long-term benefits from these events. The first place in the country in the index of Sustainable Development Goals has been an important achievement," CM Dhami said. He said that the annual budget of the state crossing one lakh crore in the silver jubilee year "shows that despite the challenges, we are moving on the right path" The Chief Minister also mentioned Kumbh in the year 2027 and Nanda Raj Jat after that and said that the government is "preparing for it". He also discussed the "success" related to the organization of the National Games.He said that the Prime Minister made an "unprecedented contribution" to tourism development by visiting many places in the state including Chardham Yatra, and Winter Yatra. (ANI)
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs under their Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program and the Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA), is organizing an "International Workshop on Land Governance" from March 24 to 29, 2025 at HIPA Complex in Haryana's Gurugram, a release said. The workshop will bring together delegates from 22 countries across Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia to explore innovative approaches for addressing land governance challenges globally. This six-day international workshop will showcase India's pioneering SVAMITVA Scheme, which has successfully mapped rural inhabited areas using drone technology to provide legal ownership documents to property owners. More than 40 senior officials from 22 participating countries, including Turkmenistan, Colombia, Zimbabwe, Fiji, Mali, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Venezuela, Mongolia, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Equatorial Guinea, Kiribati, Sao Tome and Principe, Liberia, Ghana, Armenia, Honduras, Eswatini, Cambodia, Togo, and Papua New Guinea will exchange best practices on land governance during the workshop. The International Workshop will entail discussions on advancements in land governance and sustainable development and feature comprehensive sessions on drone-based land survey techniques, high-resolution mapping, and geospatial technologies that can transform land administration. Technical sessions will include hands-on demonstration of drone survey methods, data processing techniques, ground verification processes and GIS integration. Survey of India experts will conduct field demonstrations of flight planning and drone surveying in a nearby village, offering participants practical exposure to this technology. The International Workshop on Land Governance will also feature field visits and exhibitions to provide participants, with hands-on exposure to modern land governance technologies. To showcase cutting-edge technologies, a Drone Vendors' Exhibition will be organized on March 24 - 25, 2025, wherein 10 drone vendors will set up stalls, displaying innovations in drone-based land mapping and survey techniques. The exhibition will showcase survey-grade drones for high-precision mapping, advanced drone survey processes and technology, and GIS tools and applications for data-driven land management. State Governments will present digital innovations in end-to-end process automation, while demonstrations of Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS). [CORS network has been established by Survey of India as public infrastructure, which provides 5cm accuracy positioning services for developmental works. This technology can be leveraged for sustainable development and disaster management] and Rovers will highlight real-time, high-accuracy land surveying techniques. Industry partners including Survey of India, State Land Revenue Departments, National Informatics Centre, Geo-Spatial World, Hexagon, Trimble, Aereo, Marvell Geospatial, Idea Forge Tech, and AWS will participate as knowledge partners, exhibiting cutting-edge technologies and solutions for land governance. In addition, a series of classroom demonstrations will take place, including drone use cases, ortho-rectified imaging, feature-extracted maps, and ground verification technologies. These demonstrations will provide participants with insights into high-resolution mapping, data validation, and property card finalization, contributing to a deeper understanding of modern land governance practices. This workshop recognizes the universal challenge of land governance, noting that according to a 2017 World Bank report, only 30% of the global population holds legally registered land titles. By contrast, India's SVAMITVA Scheme has pioneered a comprehensive approach to mapping inhabited rural areas with 5cm accuracy at a resolution of 1:500, positioning India as a potential model for other nations. It will help in achieving Sustainable Development Goals related to land rights, with participants learning from India's SVAMITVA model to empower their citizens with clear land ownership documentation thus creating more reliable land administration systems. (ANI)
Cities across India observed Earth Hour on Saturday night. The lights were turned off between 8:30 pm and 9:30 pm as part of the event. Many iconic buildings and places were part of the event. Lights at the iconic India Gate in Delhi were turned off to conserve energy. lights at the Qutub Minar were also turned off. In Hyderabad, lights at the Dr BR Ambedkar Telangana State Secretariat were turned off to conserve energy. Kerala Assembly Building also participated, switching off its lights. Organized by the non-profit organization World Wide Fund (WWF), 'Earth Hour' was famously started as a lights-out event in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Since 2007, it has grown to engage millions of supporters in more than 190 countries and territories, inspiring individuals and organizations worldwide to take action for the environment, and driving major legislative changes by harnessing the power of the people, as per the Ministry of Environment. Earth Hour is a worldwide event wherein global landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Sydney Opera House, the Empire State Building and Rashtrapati Bhawan (India) amongst others have also participated and switched off their electric lights during Earth Hour, as per the Ministry of Environment. BSES had urged its 50 lakh-plus consumers and 2 crore residents in South, West, East and Central Delhi to 'switch off' non-essential lights and appliances during Earth Hour. This year's Earth Hour coincides with World Water Day and WWF-India is celebrating the convergence with the theme 'Be Water Wise,' reminding us that energy and water are inextricably linked. As the climate crisis deepens, rising temperatures are intensifying water shortages, and the need for conservation is more urgent than ever. Earth Hour is about more than just saving power--it is about making conscious choices every day that contribute to a sustainable future, said a statement from BSES. Last year, Delhiites showcased their commitment by saving 206 MW during Earth Hour, with BSES areas contributing a significant 130 MW. This year, BSES to surpass these figures, proving once again that Delhi is not just a spectator in the fight against climate change--it is a leader. (ANI)
The Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Devendra Kumar Upadhyay, instructed Justice Yashwant Varma to preserve all communication on his phone while acting on the directive of the Chief Justice of India (CJI); this included conversations, messages, and data, as the controversy surrounding him continued to unfold. Justice Varma, in a statement to Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay, refuted the allegations implicating him in the cash recovery incident. "None of the staff were shown any remnants of cash or currency that may have been present on site," he explained. "I personally investigated the matter with my staff, who confirmed there was no removal of currency allegedly found at the premises. The only cleared items were debris and salvageable articles. These remain stored separately in the house and are available for inspection", he said in his statement. Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police has reportedly informed the DHC CJ that, according to the security guard posted at Justice Varma's residence, some debris and partially burned items were removed early on the morning of March 15. Justice Varma responded with firm defiance, rejecting any insinuation of wrongdoing. When presented with a video of the incident by the DHC CJ, he expressed deep apprehension, hinting at a potential conspiracy targeting his reputation. The Supreme Court has released a comprehensive report, and Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay has called for a deeper investigation into the recent incident. In his reply, Justice Yashwant Varma firmly stated that neither he, his daughter, nor his household staff were ever shown sacks of burnt cash allegedly found on site. Justice Varma also expressed his disappointment with the media, asserting that proper inquiry should have been conducted before spreading defamatory claims that tarnished his reputation. (ANI)
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) approved the proposal to form various committees for effective party organisation ahead of the AICC meeting scheduled to take place in Ahmedabad on April 8 and 9, a press release said. The AICC issued a press release to inform the public about the development. The press release includes the names of the newly appointed reception committee, coordination committee, accommodation committee, session venue committee, session dias committee, CWC venue committee, and food committee members of Gujarat state. The Congress top leadership is all set to meet its district presidents in Delhi on March 27, 28 and April 3, as informed by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on March 18. The decision was taken at a meeting of AICC general secretaries and state in-charges of AICC chaired by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. The meeting discussed the AICC session to be held on 8th and 9th April in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. "Today in the meeting, there was a long discussion on the AICC session, which is going to be held on 8th and 9th April in Ahmedabad. On 8th April, there will be a meeting of the Congress Working Committee in Ahmedabad itself, and on the 9th, there will be the AICC session," Jairam Ramesh told reporters on March 18. "Apart from this, a meeting of all the District Congress Committee (DCC) Presidents of the country has been called on 27th March, 28th March and 3rd April in this Indira Gandhi Bhawan in New Delhi. This meeting is taking place after many years, I think after 16 years. The objective of this meeting is to make DCC stronger and how to bring DCC to the centre of our organization," he added. According to a press release issued by the Congress, the Ahmedabad AICC meet will bring together AICC delegates from across the nation to deliberate on the challenges posed by the "anti-people policies" and the "relentless attack" on the Constitution and its values by the BJP while charting the party's future course of action. The session will begin on April 8 with an extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, followed by the AICC Delegates' meeting on April 9. (ANI)
The Bharatiya Janata Party, Chandigarh, organised a grand event on the occasion of Bihar Diwas. The program highlighted Bihar's rich culture, historical contributions, and journey of progress. On this occasion, Kapil Mishra, Minister of Arts and Culture, Delhi Government, attended as the chief guest. He was warmly welcomed with chants of "Jai Bihar." In his address, Kapil Mishra said, "For the first time, Bihar Diwas is being celebrated at the BJP headquarters in Chandigarh, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat.' Bihar Diwas is being celebrated across Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and many other states." "There is no part of the country where Bihar Diwas is not being observed. And why shouldn't it be? There is no corner of the world where the hard work of Bihar's people hasn't left its mark, where their dedication hasn't contributed to building a strong foundation. Biharis have always faced challenges head-on and played a leading role in India's progress. Even today, Bihar continues to make a significant contribution to the country's development." Mishra further stated, "Bihar residents have brought change across the world through their hard work, and now, the same transformation must come to Bihar itself. This is precisely what our Modi government is striving for." He urged people, "This year, make sure to visit your hometown in Bihar during the Chhath festival to witness the development work being carried out by the central government." Under the inspiration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the guidance of Union Health Minister J P Nadda, the Government of India has been promoting the "Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat" campaign, nurturing cultural unity among different states across the country. The grand event witnessed a large gathering of Bihar residents and dignitaries, who appreciated the celebration and took a pledge to further strengthen the spirit of "Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat." (ANI)
Taking to X, Mahrang Baloch condemned the incident, stating, "In Quetta, police opened indiscriminate fire on peaceful protesters, leaving many injured and one protester dead. This is how the state responds to peaceful demonstrations in Balochistan."

The crisis in Balochistan was also raised at the 58th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, where Niaz Baloch, Coordinator of the Baloch National Movement (BNM) Foreign Department and a Central Committee Member, highlighted the worsening human rights situation in the region.

He claimed that political organisations such as the Baloch Students Organisation-Azad (BSO-A) and the BNM continue to face severe repression, with members being arbitrarily detained, harassed, and silenced.

"Enforced disappearances have become a systematic tool of oppression in Balochistan," Baloch said, emphasizing the gravity of the situation.

He cited the recent disappearances of Beeberg Zehri, a Central Committee member of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, and his brother, Hammal Zehri, a scientist. Additionally, Ilyas Baloch, a psychiatrist and Vice Principal of Bolan Medical College, was also among those forcibly disappeared, along with over a dozen members of the Qambarani family. Human rights activist Saeeda Baloch and her sister were also reportedly arrested.

Extrajudicial killings by state-backed death squads further underscore the human rights crisis, he alleged. As an example, he pointed to the brutal killing of Shah Jahan Baloch, the brother of BSO Azad's missing chairman Zahid Baloch, in Naal, calling it an instance of collective punishment inflicted upon Baloch families.

"These killings and enforced disappearances are not isolated incidents but part of a deliberate state policy to terrorize the Baloch population," Baloch asserted.

The BNM and other Baloch nationalist groups have long accused the Pakistani government of using enforced disappearances, targeted killings, and intimidation to suppress political activists and human rights defenders in the region. (ANI)
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth hosted entrepreneur and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Head Elon Musk at the Pentagon, where they discussed innovation, efficiency, and smarter production within the Defense Department. Calling Musk a patriot, Hegseth underlined their shared commitment to ensuring the US military remains the world's strongest fighting force. Following the meeting, Hegseth praised Musk's contributions and underlined their shared goal of strengthening the US military. "Amazing visit with @elonmusk at the Pentagon today. He is a patriot, and I look forward to continuing our work together. With Elon and @DOGE we are ensuring our Military continues to be the greatest fighting force the world has ever known," he posted on social media. According to an official statement from the US Department of Defense, the meeting was not connected to Musk's role in the Department of Government Efficiency. Instead, it was a personal invitation from Hegseth to discuss ways to improve the military's industrial base, technology adoption, and procurement processes. In an earlier message to military personnel, Hegseth stressed the importance of matching threats to capabilities, stating, "We will rebuild our military by matching threats to capabilities. This means reviving our defence industrial base, reforming our acquisition process, passing a financial audit, and rapidly fielding emerging technologies. We will remain the strongest and most lethal force in the world." Musk is best known for his companies, which span a range of industries, from electric vehicles and social media to technology and space exploration. The latter of which was recently involved in bringing back NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Suni Williams - both retired U.S. Navy captains - from the International Space Station. The two astronauts had been aboard the ISS since June 2024, the statement of DoS added. Musk's last visit to the Pentagon was in 2016 when he met with then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter. (ANI)
US President Donald Trump announced the Pentagon's decision to proceed with the development of a next-generation fighter jet, designated the F-47, during joint remarks with Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth from the Oval Office on Friday (local time), CNN reported. Trump stated that Boeing had been awarded the contract for the newest US fighter aircraft. "At my direction, the United States Air Force is moving forward with the world's first sixth-generation fighter jet, number six, sixth generation, nothing in the world comes even close to it, and it'll be known as the F-47," Trump said, as per CNN. He further described the F-47 as "the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built" and revealed that an experimental version of the jet had been secretly flying for almost five years. "The F-47 will be the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built. An experimental version of the plane has secretly been flying for almost 5 years and we're confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation," he said. During his previous administration, the Air Force had acknowledged that it had flown a full-scale prototype of the jet. "After a rigorous and thorough competition between some of America's top aerospace companies, the Air Force is going to be awarding the contract for the next generation air dominance platform to Boeing," Trump said, as per CNN. Until now, the program had been known as Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD). But in an apparent reference to his presidency, Trump said the aircraft would be known as the F-47. Aircraft designations are normally announced by the Air Force. "It's something the likes of which nobody has seen before," Trump said, "and this has been in the works for a long period." The Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program is intended to produce the US military's sixth-generation fighter jet, newer and more advanced than the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, which has suffered from major cost overruns and delays. Meanwhile, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been critical of the F-35, advocating instead for unmanned drone swarms as a cheaper and more effective alternative. On social media in November, Musk wrote, "Meanwhile, some idiots are still building manned fighter jets like the F-35," CNN reported. (ANI)
On March 15th, organized by the Nargis Foundation, the Torpaq ?limd?, Bahar Ur?yimd? charity fair, which heralds the arrival of spring, opened its doors once again for the residents and guests of Baku. The fair brings the atmosphere of our beloved Novruz holiday to life.

Since its inception in 2019, this fair has not only created a festive mood in the heart of the city, but it has also served as a beacon of hope for families in need. The financial support from the fair's sponsors, as well as the funds raised from the rental of the houses set up at the fair, are used to cover the medical and surgical expenses of children suffering from various diseases.

The Torpaq ?limd?, Bahar Ur?yimd? charity fair will be open daily from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM, from March 15th to April 15th.

The official partners of the event are the Baku City Executive Authority, Az?ri?iq OJSC, the Baku Beautification Service, the State Advertising Agency of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC, Strafor K?sim, and E Point.

The charity fair is held with the invaluable support of sponsors such as PA?A Holding, Azercell, Coca-Cola, Baku Steel Company, Azergold, Yango, Lays, CityNet, Corndogs, Magnolia by Chocolatier, and Eat me Kumpir.

The fair consists of 36 large and 20 small houses, 3 two-story restaurants, decorative structures made by professionals for the Novruz holiday, small booths, game zones, and photo zones. Additionally, new thematic corners have been introduced, which are expected to attract the interest of city residents.

As every year, children from orphanages, boarding schools, shelters, and social service institutions will be special guests at the fair.

Visitors to the fair can enjoy affordable sweets, delicious dishes from national and international cuisines, exclusive souvenirs and gifts, play age-appropriate games, take photos, and most importantly, share the excitement and joy of Novruz holiday together.

Dear residents of Baku and guests of our city, we are waiting for you at the Torpaq ?limd?, Bahar Ur?yimd? charity fair! Let's welcome the arrival of spring together!
The Deputy Commissioner of Lahore has rejected an application by former Prime Minister Imran Khan's political party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-insaaf (PTI) for holding a public gathering at Minar-i-Pakistan due to security concerns and law and order situation in the country, Dawn reported. According to Dawn, the request had been rejected "in view of serious security issues, threats, and the general law and order situation in the country." This decision comes after PTI, through its Punjab Vice President Akmal Khan Bari, asked for permission on March 22. Dawn reported that in an order issued on Friday, DC Syed Musa Raza stated that the decision to reject the application had been taken on the recommendation of the District Intelligence Committee (DIC). The DIC said granting permission to PTI to hold the public gathering on March 22 would not be feasible because of the prevalent security threats, and it observed that March 22 falls on the death anniversary of Hazrat Ali, who is an important religious figure for Shia Muslims thus the security forces would be deployed for peaceful conduct of the event. Furthermore, it said law enforcement agencies were already facing life threats.\ According to Dawn, Bari in a video message stated that the incumbent government should resign if it could not give security to its people. It also mentioned that the Lahore High Court on Friday disposed of PTI's petition seeking permission for a public gathering at Minar-i-Pakistan in the light of the deputy commissioner's decision. Justice Farooq Haider heard the petition filed by PTI leader Akmal Khan Bari, which challenged the authorities' failure to decide the party request. Additional Advocate General Balighuz Zaman submitted a reply on behalf of the district government, saying the deputy commissioner had the authority to grant or deny permission for the gathering. According to Dawn, the judge directed the law officer to provide the copies of the government reply and the decision of the DC to the petitioner's counsel and remarked that the petitioner had the right to challenge the authorities' decision. (ANI)
Hakeem Baloch, a member of the Baloch National Movement's Foreign Committee, strongly criticised the arrest of Mahrang Baloch and the lamented human rights violations in Quetta after the Pakistani forces shot dead five protesters during a 'peaceful protest'. In a post on X, Hakeem Baloch stated, "This is one of the worst human rights violations we have ever witnessed. Yesterday, Pakistani forces shot dead five protesters and injured several others." "This morning, they confiscated the bodies of the deceased and arrested Mahrang Baloch, the leader of Baloch Yakjehti Committee(BYC), along with others--an attempt to silence them and force an end to their peaceful protest," he added. He highlighted that the Pakistani government, along with its security forces and police, is perpetrating severe human rights abuses in Balochistan. The lack of response from the international community and the media blackout has allowed Pakistan to continue its brutal treatment of the Baloch population. Earlier, BYC highlighted that Baloch human rights activist Mahrang Baloch was detained by Pakistan's Quetta Police and authorities on Saturday morning while she was taking part in a sit-in protest against the injustices faced by the Baloch community. The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) shared information about Mahrang Baloch's arrest on X, stating that the bodies of the slain youth present at the protest site were also taken into custody. BYC emphasized that the peaceful demonstration in Quetta Sariab was held to protest the abduction-style arrests of BYC central leader Bebigar Baloch, Dr. Hamal, Dr. Ilyas, Saeed Baloch, and other women. The conflict in Balochistan, Pakistan, centers on demands for political autonomy, control over natural resources, and improved socio-economic conditions. Baloch nationalist groups advocate for independence or greater rights, while the Pakistani government has responded with military interventions. Tensions persist as both sides continue to clash over issues of self-determination and regional governance. (ANI)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared on Saturday the decision by a federal jury which convicted two crime leaders who had been hired to murder Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad on behalf of the Iranian government. According to the US Department of Justice, the Iranian government hired Polad Omarov and Rafat Amirov to kill Masih Alinejad in exchange for USD 5,00,000. In a post on X, Rubio said that the court's decision shows that lethal plots against Americans will be met with "swift justice and accountability." He also said that under the leadership of US President Donald Trump, Iranian proxies and front groups will be "investigated, disrupted and prosecuted." "Yesterday's court decision shows Iran's attempts at lethal plotting against Americans like @AlinejadMasih will be met with swift justice & accountability. Under @POTUS, Iran's front groups and proxies trying to operate in the U.S. will be investigated, disrupted, and prosecuted", Rubio wrote on X. https://x.com/SecRubio/status/1903212985067135469 Masih Alinjead is an Iranian-American journalist and women's rights activist. As the American Congress has described her, she has been one of the leading figures critical of Iran. "In July 2022, law enforcement agents arrested a member of an East European criminal gang armed with an AK47 outside her house. That arrest came a year after the FBI foiled a plot by Iranian intelligence agents to kidnap Alinejad from Brooklyn and take her to Venezuela and onward to Iran," the statement observed.Born and raised in Iran, Alinejad started her professional career as a parliamentary journalist in Tehran, who was eventually forced to leave Iran in 2009 after the crackdown on the protests against the disputed presidential elections.Responding to the comments made by Marco Rubio, Alinejad thanked him for supporting her and standing up against Iran's "acts of terror on US soil." Slamming the Biden administration for failing to hold Iran accountable, she said, "Instead of enforcing sanctions, they handed over billions of dollars, emboldening the regime to continue its deadly operations with their proxies and even targeting @POTUS.""It's time to use strength and resolve to make them pay for their actions. Thank you for your leadership, for standing up for freedom, and for supporting the Iranian people who want to see an end to the dictatorship," she wrote in a post on X. https://x.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1903256599260545125 According to a statement issued by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), a federal jury returned guilty verdicts on all five counts in the indictment against Rafat Amirov of Iran and Polad Omarov of Georgia, who were convicted of murder-for-hire and attempted murder in aid of racketeering charges, in a trial before the US District Judge Colleen McMahon. The statement said that Amirov and Omarov are scheduled to be sentenced on September 17."The defendants participated in a brazen plot to kill an Iranian American dissident in New York who criticised the regime in Iran," said Acting Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division.Referring to the court documents, the DOJ said that Amirov and Omarov were high-ranking members of an Eastern European organised crime group who worked with other people to attempt to kill Masih Alinejad on instructions from high-ranking members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). DOJ noted that attempts had also been made in 2020 and 2021, wherein Iranian intelligence officials and assets plotted to kidnap Alinejad from within the US for rendition to Iran in an effort to silence her criticism of the Iranian regime.Amirov and Omarov were convicted on five counts, namely murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; attempted murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and possession and use of a firearm in connection with the attempted murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison. (ANI)
Naseem Baloch, Chairman of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), appealed for unity among "oppressed nations" while addressing the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) event at the Geneva Press Club on Friday. Urging the Pashtun leadership to take a decisive stand, he declared, "The time for waiting is over. The time for freedom is now. Pashtun brothers, do not wait any longer. Declare your struggle for freedom. Join hands with your Baloch and Sindhi brothers, for we are not fighting separate battles -- we are fighting one war against one oppressor." Naseem Baloch underscored the systemic oppression faced by Baloch, Pashtuns, and Sindhis at the hands of the Pakistani state. Questioning the continued reliance on state institutions, he asked, "How much longer will we plead for rights from a state that sees us as its enemy? How much longer will we participate in a system that is designed to crush us?" He emphasised that Pakistan fears the collective strength of oppressed nations, stating, "They want us to remain divided because if we unite, their system of oppression will crumble. They fear the day when Baloch and Pashtun march together. They fear the day when Sindhis and Hazaras demand justice alongside us. They fear the day when we stop asking for our rights and start reclaiming our freedom. If we remain divided, we will remain enslaved. But if we stand together, no force on earth can stop us." Highlighting Pakistan's history of betrayal, he asserted, "Pakistan has never and will never trust the Baloch, the Pashtun, or the Sindhi. We have tried everything--elections, assemblies, courts--and every time, we have been met with betrayal, bullets, and bloodshed." Naseem Baloch held the Pakistani state responsible for executing a systematic policy aimed at exterminating oppressed nations. He stated, "Pakistan has used the same tactics against all of us--kill, abduct, silence, divide. But today, here in Geneva, we stand together to say that their plan has failed." Expressing solidarity with the victims of state oppression, he said, "Today, I do not speak as an individual. I speak as the voice of every Baloch mother searching for her disappeared son, every Pashtun father grieving for his murdered child, and every family in Sindh awaiting the return of their loved ones. I speak as a voice of resistance." He also shed light on the economic exploitation of Balochistan, stating, "Balochistan is not just a victim of military occupation; it is also a victim of economic plunder. Our gold, copper, gas, and other resources are being looted, while our people are left in poverty, hunger, and disease. The state treats Balochistan as a colonial possession, a land to be exploited but never respected." Condemning the role of the international community, he remarked, "The international community speaks of human rights, yet sends billions in military aid to Pakistan--an army that uses those funds to kill Baloch and Pashtun children. No one held Pakistan accountable for the Bengali genocide of 1971, yet today, they ignore its ongoing genocide in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh. We do not seek privilege--we seek equality. We do not seek favours--we seek our rights. We do not want to rule others--we want to rule ourselves." (ANI)
In a statement, the CGA reported that unusually large clusters of Chinese fishing vessels began appearing near Dongsha on February 15, with at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats observed, Focus Taiwan reported.

Although CGA vessels were sent to remove the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships entered Taiwan's restricted waters and attempted to interfere, but their efforts were unsuccessful, according to the CGA.

Focus Taiwan reported that, in response to the provocation, the CGA launched an operation on February 26 to enhance patrols around the Dongsha Islands.

As part of this operation, the CGA reported stopping and boarding the Chinese fishing vessel "Yueraoyu 23588" on February 26, but the Chinese Coast Guard once again intervened.

According to Focus Taiwan, similar incidents occurred on March 11 and between March 12 and 18, when Chinese coast guard ships remained around the restricted waters near Dongsha Islands, according to the CGA.

The CGA strongly condemned China's Coast Guard actions, stating that the interference was a provocative challenge to Taiwan's sovereignty.

Focus Taiwan reported that the CGA emphasized that the Dongsha Atoll National Park is Taiwan's first marine national park, where strict regulations prohibit both commercial and private fishing activities.

The CGA further noted that Taiwan's conservation efforts have resulted in a thriving and abundant marine population in the area.

In contrast, China has severely depleted its ocean resources, which has led Chinese fishermen to trespass into Taiwan's waters for illegal fishing activities. Additionally, the CGA reaffirmed that in line with the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Taiwan will continue its fight against illegal fishing activities that threaten marine life sustainability, as cited by Focus Taiwan.

The CGA criticized China's decision to have its coast guard escort vessels for illegal fishing, calling it a complete disregard for ocean sustainability.

The administration also pointed out that the Chinese coast guard's interference not only escalated tensions across the Taiwan Strait but also disrupted peace in the Dongsha Islands region. (ANI)
Taiwan's annual military drills have now indicated 2027 as a possible year for a Chinese invasion, marking the first time a specific date has been mentioned for the anticipated attack, as reported by Radio Free Asia (RFA). Meanwhile, China has pledged to boost defence spending in response to pressure from the US. Taiwan conducts the Han Kuang Exercise every year to assess its military preparedness for a possible Chinese invasion. Scheduled for July 9-18, this year's exercise will include joint operations between the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, featuring live-fire drills, amphibious landings, and simulated missile strikes, as cited by RFA. According to Taiwan's defence ministry, the focus of this year's drills will be on simulating the defence of the island with scenarios based on a potential Chinese attack in 2027. Taiwan's Defence Minister, Wellington Koo, stated at a press conference on Wednesday that the Han Kuang exercise is designed to simulate scenarios that could unfold in the next one to two years. He emphasized that with the acquisition of new weapon systems, ongoing validation of training is necessary to ensure combat readiness, RFA reported. According to Radio Free Asia, China views Taiwan as a breakaway province and has increased military pressure through drills and incursions. However, Taiwan considers itself a sovereign state and continues to strengthen its defence capabilities. This announcement followed a warning from US Strategic Command Commander Anthony J Cotton at a defence conference on Tuesday, where he stated that as China rapidly expands its military, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) might attempt to "seize Taiwan by 2027," as reported by RFA. In February, Taiwan's defence ministry proposed extending the duration of its drills from five to ten days and increasing the number of reserve brigades as part of efforts to enhance its defensive capabilities. (ANI)
Israel's High Court of Justice issued a temporary order on Friday, preventing the removal of Shin Bet's chief Ronen Bar, hours after the Cabinet voted overnight to remove him by April 10 at the latest, Times of Israel reported. As per Times of Israel, the order will remain in place until the court can hear the petitions which have been filed against Bar's dismissal. The court said that it will hear the petitions no later than April 8. The decision by the court sets up a showdown between the government as Times of Israel reported that the ministers openly vowed to to defy the court -- and the judicial system which was seen to be backed up by large segments of Israeli civil society. The main labour union and business forum threatened a nationwide strike if the government did not abide by the court order. After the decision by the High Court was announced, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara instructed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he is prohibited from appointing a new head of the Shin Bet, or even conducting interviews for the job. In a significant development, the attorney general added that meanwhile, PM Netanyahu's involvement in the process for the appointment of a new chief for Shin Bet will be examined because of "the concern of a conflict of interest." Times of Israel reported that the Shin Bet is currently conducting a criminal investigation, along with the police, into allegedly unlawful ties between senior aides to Netanyahu and Qatar. The attorney general has suggested that the investigation may mean Netanyahu has a conflict of interest in the hiring and firing of the head of the Shin Bet. It further reported that PM Netanyahu had also signed a conflict of interest agreement in 2020 prohibiting him from involvement in the appointment of judges and senior law enforcement officials due to his ongoing criminal trial on corruption charges. The head of the Shin Bet would appear to be among those officials included in that agreement. Times of Israel Netanyahu responded to the injunction and to Baharav-Miara by posting on X that "The State of Israel is a country of law and according to the law, the Israeli government decides who will be the head of the Shin Bet." (ANI)
A coalition of 57 Uyghur organizations worldwide, in collaboration with the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), has expressed deep gratitude for the Trump administration's strong support for the Uyghur people and urged the restoration of funding for Radio Free Asia's Uyghur Service, warning that its closure would empower China's propaganda efforts and hinder global efforts to combat genocide, according to a press release by World Uyghur Congress. According to the release, the organisations commended recent actions, particularly the condemnation of Thailand's forced deportation of 40 Uyghur refugees back to China. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visa restrictions on Thai officials complicit in this deportation were also praised, providing hope for the Uyghur community. While celebrating the US government's defence of Uyghur human rights, the coalition voiced serious concerns about the potential closure of the Uyghur Service at Radio Free Asia (RFA). Since its inception in 1998, the Uyghur Service has been a vital, independent source of uncensored news, exposing China's mass detentions, forced labour, and the destruction of Uyghur culture. Despite the Chinese Communist Party's efforts to suppress the Uyghur voice, RFA has remained a critical counterpoint to Beijing's disinformation campaigns, as cited by WUC. According to the release, the organizations warn that cutting RFA's funding would not only hinder free speech and democracy but would also strengthen China's ability to influence global narratives in its favour. Under Xi Jinping's leadership, China has increasingly employed disinformation to deny its crimes, shift blame, and use economic pressure to silence international voices. Without RFA's independent reporting, China would face less resistance in spreading its propaganda and whitewashing its actions. The coalition also emphasized that China poses a significant national security threat to the United States, seeking to replace the US as the global superpower. Reducing funding for the Uyghur Service would have broader economic and security consequences, as China's use of Uyghur forced labour undermines U.S. businesses by flooding markets with cheap goods while its growing economic influence strengthens its military capabilities. Despite facing relentless attacks from China since 2017, including the imprisonment of their families, the journalists at the Uyghur Service have continued their crucial work, exposing the full extent of China's atrocities. The service's groundbreaking reporting played a key role in the Trump Administration's declaration that China is committing genocide and crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs. In light of these concerns, the coalition has called on the Trump Administration to restore funding for the RFA Uyghur Service, ensuring its continued ability to report on the situation and counter Beijing's narrative. Closing the service, they argue, would provide China with a propaganda victory, undermining global efforts to hold it accountable for its actions against the Uyghur people. (ANI)
Paank, the human rights department of the 'Baloch national movement', criticized the arrest of Baloch rights leader Mahrang Baloch and the violent crackdown on peaceful protesters by Pakistani security forces in Quetta. In a post on X, Paank stated, "We strongly condemn the violent pre-dawn crackdown by state security forces on peaceful protesters in Quetta. This ruthless assault, which included the arrest of Mahrang Baloch and several others, represents yet another act of state repression against the Baloch people." Paank highlighted, "In the early hours of the morning, at approximately 5:30 AM, security forces stormed the sit-in, attacking peaceful demonstrators, including women and children. The authorities forcefully seized dead bodies that protesters had planned to offer funeral prayers for, further intensifying the grief of the victims' families. Dr. Mahrang Baloch and many others were violently dragged and arrested." Paank condemns this overt state violence and calls for the immediate release of all those detained. They urged the international community, human rights groups, and global civil society to urgently address these human rights abuses and ensure accountability for those responsible. The world must not remain silent while the Baloch people endure ongoing repression and violence. Police and state forces deployed tear gas, water cannons, and live ammunition during the protest, leading to the deaths of three Baloch youths and leaving many others injured. Recently, Niaz Baloch, the Coordinator of the Baloch National Movement (BNM) Foreign Department and a Central Committee Member, drew attention to the troubling human rights conditions in Balochistan during the 58th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. In his speech, Niaz condemned the Pakistani state's systematic suppression of political opposition, highlighting serious breaches of basic freedoms. The ongoing conflict in Balochistan, Pakistan, is driven by calls for increased political autonomy, greater control over natural resources, and improved socio-economic conditions. Baloch nationalist groups are advocating for independence or expanded rights, while the Pakistani government has responded with military actions. (ANI)
Phuntsok Tobgyal, the UN Advocacy Officer at the Office of Tibet in Geneva, raised serious concerns about the environmental and social impacts of China's proposed Metok Dam during the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), as reported by Tibet.net. He warned that the dam project, planned on Tibet's Yarlung Tsangpo River, poses significant threats to the region's delicate ecosystem, water security, and regional stability. Tibet, often referred to as the "Third Pole" due to its crucial environmental role, is particularly vulnerable to such large-scale infrastructure developments. According to Tibet.net, Tobgyal highlighted how the dam's construction could lead to deforestation, increased seismic activity, and disturbances to glacier melt patterns, all of which may contribute to accelerating climate change. These changes could also trigger extreme weather events and disrupt global climate patterns. According to Tibet.net, the impacts on the Tibetan people would be severe, with the destruction of natural habitats, desertification, and the collapse of traditional farming practices. This would lead to food insecurity and potential displacement of the Tibetan population, further marginalising them within their homeland. Additionally, Tobgyal stressed the importance of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, also known as the Brahmaputra, which provides vital water to millions of people across South Asia. The dam could significantly alter the river's flow, heightening the risk of both water scarcity and catastrophic flooding downstream. Such developments could also escalate regional geopolitical tensions, endangering peace and stability in the area, Tibet.net reported. In his speech, Tobgyal urged the international community to prioritize environmental sustainability and global cooperation over short-term economic interests. He called for transparency in addressing the issue and appealed to governments, environmental organizations, and international bodies to take immediate action to halt the Metok Dam project before it causes irreversible ecological harm. The Metok Dam is being built by the China Power Construction Group, and is part of Beijing's plans to harness the Yarlung Tsangpo River for hydroelectric power generation, but its construction has raised significant environmental and geopolitical concerns. (ANI)
"A Chinese Ghost Story" was re-released in 4K on the Chinese mainland on March 21, 38 years after it first premiered in Hong Kong.

A movie poster for "A Chinese Ghost Story" is displayed at a hauntingly decorated cinema in Beijing, March 19, 2025. [Photo/China.org.cn]

The 1987 film, directed by Ching Siu-tung and produced by Tsui Hark, stars two of Hong Kong's most iconic figures of the time, Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong. It tells the story of Ning Caichen (Cheung), a humble tax collector who falls in love with the ghost Nie Xiaoqian (Wong). Knowing she is enslaved by a cruel tree demon, Ning sets out to save her with the help of Yan Chixia (Wu Ma), a Taoist warrior.

The film is loosely based on the story of Nie Xiaoqian from Qing dynasty writer Pu Songling's "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" and draws inspiration from the 1960 Shaw Brothers Studio film "The Enchanting Shadow," directed by Li Han-hsiang. Ching's version spawned two sequels and numerous adaptations and remakes.

Combining romance, fantasy, martial arts, horror and enduring music, "A Chinese Ghost Story" enjoyed immense popularity in Hong Kong and across Asia, including in South Korea and Japan. Over the years, it has become a timeless classic and a cult favorite. It was ranked 50th on the "Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures" list, an honor presented at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2005 to celebrate the centennial of Chinese cinema.

Although "A Chinese Ghost Story" wasn't released on the Chinese mainland in 1987, it gained widespread popularity among young people, especially those born in the 1980s, via videocassettes, VCDs, DVDs, downloads and video-sharing sites over the years. The film received broad acclaim, earning a score of 8.8 out of 10 on China's review site Douban based on nearly 800,000 user reviews. Its remastered version finally premiered in mainland theaters in 2011 as a tribute to the late pop icon Leslie Cheung.

Cheung's fans attended preview screenings for the film's latest re-release in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou on Wednesday evening. The 4K re-release serves as both a memorial event ahead of Cheung's death anniversary on April 1 and an opportunity to highlight Eastern aesthetics and cinematic charm on the big screen, according to distributors.

A performer poses for a photo in front of an installation mirroring a set from "A Chinese Ghost Story," displayed at a hauntingly decorated cinema in Beijing, March 19, 2025. [Photo/China.org.cn]

Over time, the film's other major stars have stepped back from the spotlight, leaving no chance for a reunion and fueling nostalgia among fans. Joey Wong, who has retired from acting, now lives privately in Canada, with recent reports indicating she has started a new moxibustion clinic. Wu Ma, another prominent actor in the film, passed away at age 71 due to lung cancer in 2014.

"A Chinese Ghost Story" isn't the only film being re-released. Distributors have also announced that the Hollywood action blockbuster "Furious 7" and China's street dance drama "One and Only" will return to theaters in April. These re-releases offer audiences a chance to revisit classics while filling a current content gap in the Chinese film market.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has proposed a tax target of over Rupees 15 trillion for Pakistan in the next budget, as reported by ARY News citing sources. As per the sources referred to by ARY News, the IMF and Pakistan are holding virtual talks, with 85 per cent of the discussions being completed successfully. The talks are focused on finalising the details of the next budget, which is expected to be presented in the National Assembly soon. According to ARY News, the new budget is expected to increase the tax-to-GDP ratio to 13 per cent and collect Rs 2,745 billion in non-tax revenue. The government is also expecting the economy to grow by over 4 per cent in the next fiscal year, driven by increased investment and consumption. Previously, the IMF had urged Pakistan's Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) to refrain from granting tax exemptions to international investment projects, including the Chaghi-Gwadar railway track project worth USD 2 billion. According to sources referred to by ARY News, the IMF delegation maintained that tax exemptions for international investments would hinder the country's revenue generation. As per Pakistani media, the government had requested Gulf countries to invest in the Chaghi-Gwadar railway track project, but the IMF has refused to grant tax exemptions to the SIFC for international investments. Notably, the SIFC has been providing a platform for investment and facilitating the transportation of minerals from Reko Diq to Gwadar through a new railway line. Briefing the IMF delegation, officials stated that a platform is being provided to facilitate investment, and a new railway line will be constructed to transport minerals from Reko Diq to Gwadar, Ary News said. Meanwhile, Pakistan and the IMF are engaged in negotiations on several aspects such as climate financing, electric vehicle charging stations and tariff adjustments amongst other issues. (ANI)
The Japan Culinary Art Award was recently held in Kyoto to honour the world's top chefs in Japanese cuisine. The event was organised by the Japanese Culinary Academy and supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, as well as Kyoto City. A total of 13 chefs, including three international winners from the world preliminary contest, showcased their culinary skills. Miho Mori, Ministry of Agriculture, forestry said, "We aim to set opportunity to feel supremacy of Japanese cuisine and admire the taste of Japanese agricultural and fishery products. I wish foreign chefs of Japanese cuisine shows its skill and tells the charm of Japanese cuisine to foreign countries." The chefs were given a time limit of four hours to prepare their dishes. They created traditional lunch boxes that showcased the essence of Japanese cuisine. Cristina Elena Munoz Fernandez, Chef from Spain said, "i think it was the best way to learn how much I learned from until today, preparing for this contest. So, amazingly happy for the experience." Le Minh Tien, a Chef from Vietnam, "The ingredient for my first experience is Udo. It was hard, so I boiled it, cut it, and fried it as a tempura." Jorge Ramos, a Chef from Mexico, "For me cooking row shrimp is my first experience. I used it ingredient of Sushi. Shrimp is a Valuable ingredient. I never see row shrimp in Mexico. If I cook shrimp in Mexico, customers will admire its freshness." Chairman of Japanese Culinary Academy Board, Masahiro Kurusu said "I want to improve the skill and sense of Japanese cuisine, as well as the cultural level. Now there are more than 180,000 Japanese restaurants around the world. In order to improve these level, I think we have to increase the number of chefs who are aiming for Japanese cuisine. Five Japanese chefs were recognized for their exceptional skills. Meanwhile, foreign disciples of Japanese culinary art explored a diverse range of Japanese ingredients, inspiring them to craft even more exquisite and authentic Japanese cuisine. (ANI)
In a bold stand against the government's recent orders to end local holidays for doctors, the medical professionals at Shaheed SaiFur Rahman Government Hospital in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan have chosen to take matters into their own hands. The hospital witnessed an unprecedented strike as doctors collectively decided to honour their own holiday schedules, despite the government's directive, as reported by Markhor Times. According to Markhor Times, the government's decision to end local holidays for doctors, issued just days ago, has sparked outrage within the medical community. The doctors have voiced their strong opposition, arguing that the decision disregards their well-being and the critical need for work-life balance in an already demanding profession. With the hospital's medical staff absent, patients have been left in dire circumstances, with no doctors available to attend to their medical needs. Long queues have formed in waiting areas as patients, some of whom are in urgent need of care, are left stranded without any assistance, as reported by Markhor Times. The situation is now swaying on the edge of a healthcare crisis, as the lack of adequate medical attention threatens to worsen the condition of vulnerable individuals. The government's latest order to cancel local holidays has been met with sharp criticism from the medical community. The government's failure to consider the well-being of healthcare workers has sparked widespread concern. The public is now left to wonder how the authorities will address this growing tension and whether they will make concessions to avoid further strikes or unrest in the healthcare sector, Markhor Times reported. With doctors standing firm in their decision to oppose the government's mandate, the real question now is whether the government will backtrack or push forward with its controversial orders, as cited by Markhor Times. As patients continue to suffer in waiting rooms, it remains to be seen how long the stalemate will persist and what impact it will have on the healthcare system in PoGB. (ANI)
The meeting was co-chaired by the Deputy Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff IDC (A) from Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS), representing India, and the Deputy Head of the Strategic Direction and Military Cooperation Division of the Italian Defence General Staff, representing Italy.

The discussions focused on identifying new avenues to expand the scope of bilateral military-focused cooperation.

The Key agenda included enhanced exchange programs, capability development efforts and strengthening collaboration between the Indian and Italian armed forces. The meeting also reviewed ongoing defence engagements, assessing their progress and exploring ways to optimize future interactions.

The MCG serves as a key institutional mechanism to enhance defence cooperation between the armed forces of both nations, fostering stronger military-to-military engagements and strategic collaboration. (ANI)
Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, has strongly condemned the recent arrest of Baloch rights leader Mahrang Baloch and the violent crackdown on peaceful protesters by Pakistani security forces in Quetta. https://x.com/MaryLawlorhrds/status/1903403828952617374 In a statement posted on social media platform X, Lawlor expressed deep concern over reports of the arrest of Mahrang Baloch and several other human rights defenders (HRDs) in Balochistan. "Very concerned by reports that Mahrang Baloch and a number of other HRDs have been arrested in Balochistan following a crackdown on Baloch Yakjehti Committee protesters in Quetta," Lawlor wrote, calling attention to the ongoing repression in the region. The unrest unfolded in the early hours of the morning when security forces stormed a peaceful sit-in protest held by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee. Eyewitnesses reported that at approximately 5:30 AM, the authorities launched a violent assault on demonstrators, including women and children. Protesters, who had gathered to demand justice and the return of missing persons, were forcibly dispersed. The authorities further escalated tensions by seizing the bodies of the deceased, whom the protesters had planned to offer funeral prayers for, deepening the sorrow of the grieving families. Mahrang Baloch, a prominent figure in the human rights movement and a staunch advocate for the rights of the Baloch people, was violently dragged and arrested. Many others were also detained, marking a troubling escalation in the Pakistani authorities' efforts to silence dissent in the region. The crackdown has drawn sharp criticism from local and international human rights groups. The Baloch National Movement (BNM) condemned the actions as part of Pakistan's ongoing war crimes in Balochistan. In a post on X, the BNM called for urgent international intervention, warning that the human rights situation in the region is rapidly deteriorating. BNM stated," When people protest, state-sponsored social media and puppet government officials spread propaganda, falsely linking them to armed struggle. They lie--and in response to protests, they abduct and kill even more. We warn of a growing human crisis and appeal for international intervention." (ANI)
The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, is embarking on a three-day official visit from 24-26 March to Singapore to take part in the Singapore Maritime Week invited by the Government of Singapore. The Union Minister's visit is likely to further deepen the maritime cooperation between India and Singapore as he is scheduled to meet his counterpart from Singapore at the bilateral meet on the sidelines of the Singapore Maritime Week. As per the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal is scheduled to meet some of the top maritime leaders in order to deliberate on ways and means to unlock opportunities in the maritime industry. During the Singapore Maritime Week, Sonowal will participate at a high level dialogue on 'Navigating Global Maritime Trends in 2025 and Beyond.' The Union Minister will also meet senior ministers of Singapore Govt, viz Lee Hsien Loong, Murali Pillai, Dr Amy Khor among others. Sonowal will also meet Brigit Gijsbers of the Netherlands during a bilateral meeting to further strengthen the bilateral maritime relationship between the two countries. In order to bring in best practices of global maritime industry, Sarbananda Sonowal is also going to meet industry captains, and corporate leaders from maritime industry in Singapore as well as from other nations on the sidelines of Singapore Maritime Week. The Union Minister will also interact with the Indian diaspora as well as pay his respects when he visits the INA Memorial during his trip to Singapore. Sonowal will be accompanied to all official programmes by a team of senior officials from the Ministry of Ports, Shipping Waterways (MoPSW) as well as from the Indian High Commission in Singapore. (ANI)
Baloch activist Iqra Baloch has raised concerns about the arrest of Baloch rights leader Mahrang Baloch, who was taken into custody by the police on Saturday morning. Sharing a post on X, Iqra expressed her frustration, stating, "10 hours, and still no information!." https://x.com/balochiqra55/status/1903429844265828708?s=46&t=WnjyJyC971ItJhbOMQlj-Q "My elder sister, @MahrangBaloch, and my younger sister were taken by the police this morning. 10 hours, and still no information! We have not been given a copy of the FIR. Only hearing she is being held in Hudda District Prison, but we have no right to meet her. @EUPakistan," the post stated. Iqra has sought assistance from the European Union, tagging @EUPakistan in her statement. Earlier in the day, Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, also strongly condemned the arrest and the violent crackdown on peaceful protesters by Pakistani security forces in Quetta. In a statement posted on social media platform X, Lawlor expressed deep concern over reports of the arrest of Mahrang Baloch and several other human rights defenders (HRDs) in Balochistan. "Very concerned by reports that Mahrang Baloch and a number of other HRDs have been arrested in Balochistan following a crackdown on Baloch Yakjehti Committee protesters in Quetta," Lawlor wrote, calling attention to the ongoing repression in the region. The incident has raised concerns about the treatment of Baloch activists and their families, highlighting the need for transparency and accountability in such cases. Mahrang Baloch, a prominent figure in the human rights movement and a staunch advocate for the rights of the Baloch people, was violently dragged and arrested. Many others were also detained, marking a troubling escalation in the Pakistani authorities' efforts to silence dissent in the region. (ANI)
Abu Dhabi [UAE], March 22 (ANI/WAM): In line with the Year of Community and as part of its ongoing efforts to foster social cohesion and coexistence, the Department of Community Development - Abu Dhabi (DCD) organised a collective Iftar at the Abrahamic Family House. The event was attended by Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, Chairman of the Department of Community Development; Hamad Ali Al Dhaheri, Undersecretary of the Department; along with several executive directors, officials, and representatives of various religions. The gathering embodied the values of tolerance and fraternity that define Abu Dhabi. Hosting the Iftar at the Abrahamic Family House reaffirms the Emirate's steadfast commitment to building a cohesive society that embraces cultural and religious diversity. This architectural landmark serves as a global symbol of human coexistence and reflects the wise leadership's vision of fostering dialogue and tolerance among all people. The Department of Community Development emphasised that the collective Iftar is part of a series of annual gatherings designed to highlight the importance of engaging with religious leaders from different faiths. These meetings reinforce the crucial role of faith leaders in strengthening bonds between communities, promoting a culture of peaceful coexistence, and deepening the foundations of mutual respect across various religions and cultures--ultimately contributing to a harmonious and unified society. Mugheer Al Khaili, Chairman of the Department of Community Development, stated that the annual collective Iftar serves as an important opportunity to reflect the core values of tolerance and coexistence upon which Abu Dhabi's society is built. Such gatherings reaffirm the significance of fostering human connections across all segments of society, supporting dialogue and mutual understanding to achieve a more cohesive and inclusive community. He also emphasised the vital role of religious leaders in society, noting that they help raise awareness within their communities, promote shared human values, and actively participate in social events and volunteering initiatives. Their involvement underscores a strong sense of belonging and commitment to fostering social cohesion. At the conclusion of the event, religious leaders expressed their appreciation for such gatherings, recognising them as a valuable opportunity to reinforce shared human values and build strong partnerships among diverse social entities. These efforts support the Department's strategic objectives and contribute to Abu Dhabi's vision as a global city that embraces diversity and celebrates tolerance and peaceful coexistence. (ANI/WAM)
Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal said that India sent the first tranche of assistance in Botswana in the wake of floods. The MEA said that the tranche comprised of 10 tons of essential medicines, surgical supplies, mosquito nets, water purifiers, among other things. In a post on X, Jaiswal said, "India sends humanitarian assistance to Botswana. In the wake of floods in Botswana, the first tranche of approx 10 tons of assistance comprising essential medicines, surgical supplies, mosquito nets, water purifiers, etc was dispatched for Botswana." https://x.com/MEAIndia/status/1903442224446333008 Botswana authorities said at least nine people were confirmed dead as rare flooding hit the semi-arid country. More than 5,000 people have been affected by the floods due to record rainfall, Voice of America reported on February 24. Addressing Parliament, Moeti Mohwasa, the Minister for State President, said the nine people who died had all drowned. Of the deceased, six were minors, as per VOA. "While the risk level has generally reduced ... I regret to inform this house that we have lost one more person yesterday evening, bringing to nine the total number of fatalities to date. ... So far, the number of people evacuated has increased to 1,806 from 1,749 reported yesterday," Mohwasa said. The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said at least 6,00,000 schoolchildren were experiencing disruptions due to the floods. While the situation is improving with rain subsiding, more than 600 people remained at evacuation centers as of February 16. Calvin Moalosi, a Gaborone resident who was at one of the centers, said he lost his belongings due to the floods. "I have never seen so much water in my life. The house became a pool of water, and it is really sad that some people were swept away in the floods," Moalosi said. "The government has done its best to evacuate people and take them to safe areas, as per VOA. (ANI)
Principal and teacher surveys show students are more engaged in Bedford County classrooms since cellphone-free learning started in January.

Bedford County Schools Superintendent William Dupere provided an update on the implementation of Gov. Glenn Youngkins executive order 33, which established bell-to-bell cellphone-free schools, along with first-semester achievement data at the boards March 13 meeting.

I have been on campus and talked to some teachers who are very excited about the engagement in their classroom, Dupere said.

He said principals have been informally surveyed to determine how the first two months of implementation have gone. A survey was sent to teachers March 11, which he said will gather more specific information.

All reports indicate that teachers feel the students are more engaged and that they appreciate the consistency of implementation through the policy and the use of the pouches, he said. There is more positive student interaction in classes, the hallways and in the cafeteria.

He said a few parents have been unhappy with the process, but usually understand the rationale behind the policy once a principal explains it.

Dupere said despite a slight increase in cellphone disciplinary violations at the beginning, they are now leveling off.

Once students realized that the pouches were here to stay, things calmed down, he said.

He said the only concern schools are having is the pins on the cellphone pouches are breaking.

The division is working with the company on how to improve and replace the pins, he said.

First semester student

a

chievement data

Shawn Trosper, BCPS director of curriculum and instruction, presented to the school board an overview of the divisions first semester achievement data.

He presented mid-year K-3 student testing results from the Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System, which he said is designed to identify students who might be at risk for developing reading difficulties.

The results showed the number of students at low-risk for reading difficulties increasing in each grade and the number of high-risk students decreasing.

We really are making good progress, were really proud of our teachers and our schools, Trosper said.

He said he attributes this success to the divisions new Benchmark Advance elementary curriculum and its supplemental intervention curriculum called Really Great Reading.

I also want to commend our reading specialists, he said. They have done a really nice job of taking leadership and ownership of literacy instruction in our schools.

Trosper also presented benchmark testing data from 2023-24 and 2024-25.

He said two years ago, BCPS joined the states Comprehensive Instructional Program, which creates pacing guides and assessments to help the division target needed supports.

He said the CIP percentile rank is the most important statistic when it comes to analyzing benchmarks, which allows BCPS to compare itself to other member divisions.

It helps us understand how were doing rather than looking at pass rates in isolation, he said.

Math had the highest amount of grade levels with a percentile decrease in scores, which were third, fourth and sixth grade.

Trosper also said although Algebra I percentile rankings have improved from the 28th percentile last year to 39th this year, this is still not where the division wants to be.

Weve had a lot of challenges with our high schools with algebra, he said. And so, were going to really be working to target and support those teachers and schools.

All percentile rankings for English stayed consistent or climbed, with the highest relative score increases in English.

For science, all percentiles also stayed consistent or increased, with fifth-grade science scores increasing from the 39th to 70th percentile.

Weve really struggled to meet our goals in science, he said. Science 5 is one of those thats really showed great improvements, were really proud of them.

He said science has been a source of frustration for the division and state as a whole.

You really have to go into depth, and you have to apply some complex thinking with multiple skills, so I do think some of the reading instruction has helped that, Trosper said.

The new adoption of science textbooks two years ago has contributed, said BCPS Deputy Superintendent Karen Woodford.

There was also percentile growth for the division this year in social studies in civics and world geography, while there was a decrease in scores in Virginia Studies from the 80th to 72nd percentile.

The most growth was in civics scores, which were in the 11th percentile last year and are now in the 52nd.

Trosper also told the school board about the support the division is offering schools.

This included targeted classroom walkthroughs and instructional feedback, reviewing data and planning with teachers, developing 45-day plans and collaborating with special education supervisors.

He said the division has one more round of benchmark tests in the third quarter.

This is going to give us just a little bit more data to make that final push for remediation as testing begins, he said.

New division volunteer program, future rezoning

At the meeting, Dupere said he is considering adding a division-wide volunteer program to the current strategic plan.

He said the division needs to find people to supplement teachers in schools.

I think its very valuable when you bring retired teachers or retired engineers, or whatever they are, back into our schools to help our teachers, Dupere said. I think its something that were drastically missing.

Future rezoning consideration will start in fiscal year 2025-26 and will involve a two- to three-year study of financial considerations, Dupere said.

There will be more information coming to this as we enter into the 25-26 school year, Dupere said.
China's e-commerce sector demonstrated sound growth momentum in the first two months of 2025, the Ministry of Commerce said Friday.

Artificial intelligence and the country's consumer goods trade-in program have contributed to steady growth of the sales of online goods, with humanoid robots and other embodied intelligent products emerging as new highlights in digital consumption, according to the ministry.

Official data showed that China's online retail sales of physical goods rose 5 percent year on year during the Jan.-Feb. period, outpacing the 4 percent growth of retail sales of consumer goods.

Boosted by policy incentives such as the expansion of visa-free entry policies, online services also registered rapid growth in this period, with sales of online tourist services surging by 35.9 percent compared with a year earlier, the ministry revealed.

The data also showed that under the Silk Road e-commerce cooperation framework, sales of passion fruit from Colombia and wine from Serbia on key platforms had soared by 355.5 percent and 215.8 percent from a year earlier, respectively.
Ethiopias parliament has enacted a sweeping tax reform targeting both private and public sector employees to fill the financial void created by USAIDs recent funding suspension.

The newly established Ethiopian Disaster Risk Response Fund will channel these tax revenues toward critical projects previously sustained by USAID, which had been Ethiopias foremost development and humanitarian partner. The parliamentary committee is currently deliberating on contribution percentages across various economic sectors, including mandatory contributions from banking and hospitality industries.

With its population exceeding 125 million, Ethiopia had emerged as sub-Saharan Africas largest recipient of U.S. aid, securing $1.8 billion during the 2023 fiscal year. These funds supported essential services including food distribution, HIV medications, vaccination programs, literacy initiatives, and employment generation projects.

The nation faces escalating humanitarian challenges across multiple regions. Tigray continues its recovery from a devastating two-year conflict, while Amhara and Oromia regions experience persistent unrest, collectively leaving millions dependent on external aid for basic necessities like food and healthcare.

The funding interruption has resulted in the suspension of numerous life-saving programs. USAID personnel who previously administered these initiatives have been placed on administrative leave and instructed to cease operations, with many facing potential termination.

The governments rapid implementation of alternative funding mechanisms underscores the severity of the situation and the critical importance of maintaining humanitarian support systems during this transition period. Officials emphasize that the tax measures represent a necessary response to ensure continuity of essential services for vulnerable populations across the nation.
Tunisian President Kais Saied has dismissed on March 20 Prime Minister Kamel Maddouri less than eight months after his appointment, amid growing economic challenges and a worsening migration crisis.

Saied replaced him by Sara Zaafarani, an engineer and former Minister of Equipment. The presidency announced the dismissal through a brief statement on Facebook, without specifying the reasons behind this change, the third in the position of Prime Minister in Tunisia in less than two years.

Salah Zouari was appointed as the new Minister of Equipment.

Zaafaranis appointment comes at a time when the countrys economic growth has stagnated at just 1.4% over the past year, and Tunisia is grappling with severe public finance issues. The country faces shortages of essential commodities, such as sugar, rice, and coffee, as the economic situation continues to deteriorate.

Saied, who has been increasingly critical of his governments performance, pointed out that many ministers have failed to meet expectations. Saied called on Zaafarani to coordinate government efforts and address the challenges facing the nation.

In addition to economic woes, Tunisia is also struggling with a migration crisis, as thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants attempt to reach Europe via Tunisias coast. The migrants are facing harsh conditions, with many living in tents in forests after being prevented from embarking on sea journeys. Tensions have escalated between migrants and local residents, while human rights groups accuse the government of fostering racist rhetoric against migrants. Amid this, President Saied has continued to consolidate his power, ruling by decree since 2021, after dissolving the elected parliament and taking control of the judiciary. The opposition has condemned his actions as a coup.
Photo: Stella Ragas/Columbia Daily Spectator

Mary, a graduate student at Columbia University, was riding the subway home last Thursday night when she received a text message from a friend: ICE raids allegedly. Only a few days earlier, agents from the Department of Homeland Security had arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbias School of International and Public Affairs and a legal permanent resident of the U.S., and tried to arrest Ranjani Srinivasan, a 37-year-old Fulbright scholar from India, accusing them of supporting Hamas during demonstrations on campus. In both instances, DHS showed up at Columbia housing, apartment buildings similar to Marys home.

Mary (whose name has been changed for privacy) is an international student attending Columbia on a student visa. In the past 16 months, she went to a few pro-Palestine rallies on campus. She never held a bullhorn or appeared in the news, but the mere fact that her opinions, as she puts it, could be known by either the university or the U.S. government, was enough to paralyze her with worry. After receiving the text message, she got off the subway and waited while her partner circled the block, scouting the route between the station and their apartment for signs of DHS agents. I am double-, triple-thinking everything I do. The paranoia is justified in many ways, and its been pretty debilitating, she says. Columbias administration didnt care about Mahmoud or Ranjani, so why would I trust them to help me?

Khalils detention set off protests across the city, including rallies that drew hundreds around Columbias campus. Yet those protests masked a quieter reality: International students have largely retreated from public life, fearing they may be next. Before this weeks spring break, visa and green-card holders hunkered down in dorms or fled the Upper West Side altogether. (All the students interviewed for this story participated in pro-Palestinian actions.) People are just terrified, says Layla Saliba, a Palestinian American graduate student. International students are scared to come to campus, and people arent getting guidance from their deans. Theyve been left to deal with it by themselves. Students are the ones who are taking care of each other, organizing an ICE Watch chat. The administration hasnt done anything.

In the wake of Khalils arrest, Columbias communications with students have been steady but vague. Interim president Dr. Katrina Armstrong wrote a letter acknowledging the distress students are feeling about having federal immigration agents around campus. In a follow-up email, Armstrong said she was heartbroken by the presence of federal agents in university housing. The university is obligated to comply with the law, she wrote, omitting any mention of Khalil or his case. One statement denied rumors circulating among students and faculty that Columbias leadership had requested the immigration officers. The school has sent out Orwellian emails about wellness resources; this doesnt feel like a problem thats going to be solved by expanding counseling and gym hours, says Nara Milanich, a professor of Latin American history at Columbias affiliate school, Barnard College. There is a desire from everyone for the administration to do something less anemic. Meanwhile, Jelani Cobb, dean of Columbias Graduate School of Journalism, attempted to level with international students during a meeting. Nobody can protect you, he reportedly said. These are dangerous times.

Armstrong, who took office last summer, weighed concerns about academic freedom and safety against the $400 million in federal grants and contracts the Trump administration suspended earlier this month over what it said was the schools tolerance of antisemitism. On Friday, Armstrong and Columbias board caved and agreed to meet a list of the governments demands, including a ban on nonmedical face coverings and appointing a senior vice-provost to oversee the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department. We have worked hard to address the legitimate concerns raised both from within and without our Columbia community, including by our regulators, with respect to the discrimination, harassment, and antisemitic acts our Jewish community has faced in the wake of October 7, 2023, the university wrote in an unsigned memo, according to The Wall Street Journal.

If Columbia hadnt met the governments demands, some faculty worried Trump could have gone further, cutting off more than $400 million to make an already existential crisis exponentially worse. People familiar with Armstrongs thinking say she was trying to take a practical approach to secure funding while appeasing the Trump administration. The schools capitulation wont address activists concerns, and it inflames those about academic freedom. The university is bending over for the administration, says a Palestinian student who is worried about his immigration status. There is a deep sense of betrayal students are feeling right now. Another international student wondered what would stop Trump from doing this again at Columbia next semester or at any other school the administration wants to target. Why arent they putting up any fight?

Fearful as they may be, student activists are hardly shocked by Khalils detention or the schools capitulation. Many are certain Khalil ended up on Trumps list because he was doxxed. Pro-Israel groups were naming pro-Palestinian students before October 7, 2023, but since then, groups like Betar, as well as Zionists with large social-media followings like Shai Davidai, an assistant professor at Columbia Business School who was suspended for harassing and intimidating colleagues, have taken the practice to new heights. Student protesters made efforts to hide their identities, being careful not to draw undue attention to students who arent U.S. citizens, and they were discreet with information. Ask a question like Whos in charge? at a demonstration, and campus activists tended to answer vaguely, recalling The Battle of Algiers. Many pro-Palestine protesters hid their faces behind masks or keffiyehs, a tactic that today would violate the terms of Columbias bargain with Trump. Once your face is all over one of these doxxing pages, the university gets external pressure to punish you, and they seem extremely willing to respond to that pressure, says Marie Adele Grosso, a Barnard junior who is currently on probation after participating in a sit-in.

Over the past 16 months, Khalil didnt hide his own identity at rallies and protests. He was aware of the risk, acknowledging at a press conference last spring that he had avoided arrest, fearing it might jeopardize the student visa he had at the time. Still, he made efforts to protect himself and his fellow students. In January, he sent an email to Columbia administrators telling them students were facing severe and pervasive doxxing, discriminatory harassment, and very possibly deportation in retaliation for the lawful exercising of their rights to freedom of speech, expression, and association. But things only got worse: A few weeks later, Davidai called Khalil a terror supporter on X, then tagged Secretary of State Marco Rubio in another post, which suggested Rubio should deport Khalil. It was all getting to Khalil, who shared his fears with a Palestinian American student who was also facing mounting threats; pro-Israel activists had recently tried to get her father fired from his job. The day before his arrest, Khalil followed up with a more personal appeal to the administration: I havent been able to sleep, fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual might come to my home.

Khalils first public statement after his arrest echoed those of his friends and fellow activists in New York. Columbia targeted me for my activism, Khalil wrote in a letter from an immigration detention facility in Louisiana. While I await legal decisions that hold the futures of my wife and child in the balance, those who enabled my targeting remain comfortably at Columbia University.
British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca signed a landmark agreement on Friday to invest $2.5 billion in Beijing over the next five years, signaling the multinational's confidence in the world's second-largest economy.

"The investment highlights our confidence in Beijing's world-class life sciences innovation ecosystem, extensive collaborative opportunities, and exceptional talent pool," AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said in an interview with Xinhua.

The deal was inked with the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, commonly known as e-town, where the company's northern China headquarters is located.

It marks the largest single investment in Beijing's biopharmaceutical sector in recent years, spanning multiple stages from research and development (R&D) to manufacturing and commercialization.

Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will establish a global strategic R&D center in Beijing, its sixth worldwide and second in China after one in Shanghai. The new center, equipped with an advanced artificial intelligence and data science laboratory, will accelerate early-stage drug research and clinical development.

The Beijing center will focus on technology-driven biopharmaceutical innovation, leveraging China's scientific advancements to propel the firm's global growth. "We believe China can become a core part of our R&D strategy," Soriot said.

Additionally, the pharmaceutical titan, which has been deeply rooted in China for over 30 years, will form a new joint venture with Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co., Ltd. in Beijing to develop, manufacture, and commercialize innovative medicines targeting respiratory and other infectious diseases.

"China is a global leader in innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry," said Soriot, noting that the strong signals from this year's government report that reaffirm the country's commitment to science, innovation and opening up, are "highly encouraging."

"We have been investing in science and innovation for many years in China," he said. "And we plan to invest even more in the future."

Soriot highlighted the critical role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the healthcare sector, emphasizing China's unique advantages in advanced technologies, a dynamic business environment, and the remarkable "China speed," which make it an attractive hub for pharmaceuticals.

"In the biopharmaceutical industry, the future lies in leveraging data to accelerate drug development," he said. "Our collaborations are primarily with academic institutions and companies that bridge AI and biology. China's talent pool in AI and its large datasets give it a competitive edge."

The mega investment marks AstraZeneca's latest effort to double down on China. In 2024, the firm inked an agreement to invest $475 million in a small molecule drug factory in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province. It also invested $750 million in an inhalation aerosol factory in Qingdao.

"AstraZeneca's strong foundations in China, skilled R&D team, and globally recognized high-tech manufacturing capabilities, which deliver China-made medicines to over 70 countries, underline our continued commitment to China," Soriot said.

"We have no doubt China will consolidate its position as a global scientific powerhouse and make an even bigger difference for patients around the world in the coming years," he added.
Photo: Hollandse Hoogte/Shutterstock

On December 3, 2024, South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, hurling his country into an ongoing political crisis that has already resulted in his impeachment and arrest. In their effort to reconstruct the events of the day, investigators uncovered a strange detail: Hours before the declaration, the presidents head of security was asking ChatGPT about coups. From Korean paper The Hankyoreh, in translation:

According to the police and prosecution on the 18th, the polices application for an arrest warrant submitted to the Seoul Western District Prosecutors Office reportedly included content showing that Chief Lee searched for martial law, martial law declaration, and dissolution of the National Assembly at around 8:20 p.m. on December 3rd of last year  [W]hen Chief Lee searched for the word, the State Council members had not yet arrived at the Presidential Office.

This is farcical, sure, and things didnt work out. It also doubles as a deranged ad for the service. Is your boss declaring martial law? Is he communicating poorly and failing to provide clear directions about what happens next? Need someone, or something, to talk to about a sensitive subject? Are you not getting what you need from a Google search for martial law Korea? Try ChatGPT!

Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, a Freedom of Information request filed by a reporter for New Scientist produced a comparatively tame  but also sort of embarrassing  story:

The UKs technology secretary, Peter Kyle, has asked ChatGPT for advice on why the adoption of artificial intelligence is so slow in the UK business community  and which podcasts he should appear on  ChatGPT returned a 10-point list of problems hindering adoption, including sections on Limited Awareness and Understanding, Regulatory and Ethical Concerns and Lack of Government or Institutional Support. The chatbot advised Kyle: While the UK government has launched initiatives to encourage AI adoption, many SMBs are unaware of these programs or find them difficult to navigate. Limited access to funding or incentives to de-risk AI investment can also deter adoption.

Here we have a different sort of farce: A guy whose job involves ingesting and repeating a bunch of anodyne conventional wisdom getting what he needs from a sort of conventional-wisdom machine; as in the case of the martial-law chat, the use of AI here is mostly notable for its novelty. People in power with access to a wide range of rare resources also Google like the rest of us, and now some of them use chatbots, too.

Still, these stories tell us things. One is about chatbot products themselves, which, however else their users understand them, are commercial web services that record what theyre doing. No less than chats with a person, or search logs, they produce evidence. We can expect ChatGPT and similar products to make more cameos in world events, but also in criminal and civil court. They also suggest a particular sort of chatbot user who doesnt show up so often in conversations about AI adoption, which tend to focus on phenomena like homework help and/or cheating, office productivity and programming, and routine Google replacement.

The Kyle example, in particular, brings to mind a conversation I had early last year with a media executive  the sort of person who is used to asking things of people professionally gathered around him  who gushed about AI and how it had changed his life. Asked how, he said, with a hint of self-deprecation, that it was simple: He could ask it about anything, it would spit out a nice clean paragraph, and then he could walk into any room and pretend to know what he was talking about.

For most of us, having access to a chatbot that can effectively or at least plausibly answer a wide range of questions is strange and new. For a certain class of power people, chatbots dont provide something novel but rather a pocketable version of something familiar: a constantly available  and maybe flattering, and maybe obsequious  assistant. Like a human assistant, it can make you look good, or maybe get you out of a bind (but, so far, not through a coup). Also like a human assistant, it keeps notes. You know, just in case.
after going on a global bing tour the US now found cheap eggs to importthe US agriculture department has signed deals with Turkey and South Korea:"We are talking in the hundreds of millions of eggs for the short term"
The effectiveness of Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) in driving renewable energy growth varies significantly depending on the type, and there is a need for clearer definitions and transparency to prevent greenwashing.

In order to support meaningful progress toward decarbonization in our energy industry, policy mechanisms must become clearer, less redundant, and more efficient. Removing headachey and byzantine permitting processes and providing more transparency and accuracy in oversight and application of policy and policy mechanisms will be critical to removing bottlenecks in green energy expansion. On a global scale, more efficient and effective energy policy will be critical to meet COP 28s Consensus goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Analyses from Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the International Energy Agency (IEA) find that the goal of tripling renewable capacity by the end of the decade is feasible if governments cut down on lengthy permitting processes. It often takes as long or longer to obtain permits and licenses for large-scale renewable energy projects as it does to build them, the IEA stated in its report. There is proof that this approach works. Yale 360 notes that in Germany, where the government recently streamlined the renewable energy approval process, installation of solar and wind power have skyrocketed, reaching nearly double their previous levels.

In the United States, the tangle of red tape is particularly pronounced thanks to overlapping federal and state requirements. In addition to state and federal mandates, there are also about 2,000 local wind energy ordinances and nearly 1,000 solar energy ordinances in place across the country according to The National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The gears of progress are often jammed by a convoluted web of separate approvals required from local, state, interstate, and federal authorities, stated a June 2024 report from Deloitte. As a result, new energy providers can expect a four-year wait just to connect to the grid.

In addition to permitting woes, there are also considerable issues with Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs), which are market-based instruments used to track corporate renewable energy consumption. In practical terms, one EAC represents one megawatt-hour of electricity generated from a renewable energy resource. The primary purpose of these tradable credits is for compliance markets and voluntary markets. In 29 U.S. states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, renewable energy quotas by way of Renewable Energy Certificates, a type of EAC, are compulsory.

There is a foundational confusion in how EACs actually drive renewable energy expansion and how they could be better applied to do so, according to a recent op-ed published in Utility Drive by Jim Boyle, CEO and founder of Sustainability Roundtable, a Boston-based strategic corporate sustainability advisory firm. He argues that there are different tiers of EACs that impact renewable expansion in different ways, but that these are poorly defined, poorly understood, and therefore poorly applied.

The first type, unbundled EACs, regularly come from projects developed years before procurement and therefore do not contribute at all to the development of new clean energy projects. The second type, contributing EACs, contribute modestly to the financing of a clean energy project primarily caused by others but they are more costly than the unbundled version and are vulnerable to greenwashing tactics, as multiple vendors misleadingly suggest they cause new renewable energy projects when they do not. The last kind, purchaser-caused EACs, are the most effective for driving new renewable projects because they demand that procurements meet conditions for prefinancing, a contract term of at least 10 years, and renewable capacity of at least 40 MW.

As such, Boyle argues that we must demand truth in advertising in the EAC market. To protect the EAC markets integrity from the disrepute that plagues todays voluntary carbon offset market, many directors of sustainability educate colleagues, suppliers and enterprise customers on how to differentiate PC, unbundled and contributing EACs, he writes. But as directors of sustainability grow in numbers worldwide, many newcomers who have not yet learned the distinctions are vulnerable to EAC vendors who manipulate imprecise language to exaggerate their products impacts.

Making policy and policy mechanisms like EACs more navigable, transparent, and user-friendly is critical to driving meaningful clean energy growth. Its not only critical to cut the red tape to incentivise growth, but to make sure that what regulation is left is clear, efficient, and demonstrably achieving what its meant to achieve.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

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With the United States threatening to impose tariffs on products from several countries worldwide, many governments are looking to strengthen alternative trade links to secure their supply chains. U.S. President Donald Trump has already imposed some trade tariffs on Mexico and Canada  despite their ongoing UMSCA free trade agreement  and China and has threatened tariffs on other countries and regions, notably the European Union. This has encouraged several country leaders to explore alternative trade options, particularly when it comes to critical products such as energy.

The United Kingdom is one of the countries looking to strengthen its energy security by diversifying its trade links beyond the U.S. In 2022, U.K. imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) rose to a record high of 25.6 billion cubic meters, marking a 74 percent increase from 2021. The U.S. provided half of these imports. In 2024, the U.K. became the top destination for U.S. LNG cargoes, as it continued to diversify its energy imports away from Russia following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions on Russian energy.

Despite having increased its imports from the U.S., President Trump is adamant that the U.K. import larger quantities of natural gas from the U.S., as the North American country continues to expand its production and export capacities. In February, Trump threatened to place tariffs on the EU but said that a deal to spare Britain can be worked out, ahead of U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmers official visit to the White House.

This left experts wondering whether the U.K. would strike a deal to import more energy products from the U.S., particularly as Trump said that the EU may be able to avoid tariffs by purchasing more U.S. oil and gas. The former Energy Secretary and U.K. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng recently said, We are going to have to get gas from somewhere if we are producing less in the North Sea. Kwarteng added until more nuclear power comes online, the U.S. is the natural place to go The only other options are Qatar or Russia  and were not going to get it from there.

However, the U.K. may not be putting all its eggs in one basket by solely deepening its energy trade ties with the U.S. The UKs energy and net zero Secretary Ed Miliband traveled to Beijing this month for three days of talks with Chinese officials, with a focus on green technology supply chains, coal, and the critical minerals needed for clean energy. This reflects the Labour governments aim to continue tackling climate change, even without the support of President Trump as he abandons several green policies established under the previous administration.

Britains green economy is growing three times faster than the rest of the economy. However, continued growth depends heavily on the U.K. having access to the components and materials needed to expand the countrys green energy capacity. Miliband stated, We can only keep future generations safe from climate change if all major emitters act. It is simply an act of negligence to todays and future generations not to engage China on how it can play its part in taking action on climate.

The U.K. has some of the most ambitious green transition goals in the world, striving to produce as much as 95 percent of its electricity from non-hydrocarbon sources. To achieve this, the government aims to double onshore wind energy and quadruple offshore wind, as well as triple solar power, by 2030. To achieve this, the U.K. will rely heavily on China for the equipment needed to establish these wind and solar farms, as well as the lithium-ion batteries required for battery storage.

Some climate groups are pushing for the creation of a pro-climate bloc, consisting of China, the EU, and the U.K., to support a global green transition. The bloc would support developing countries in countering the influence of the U.S., Russia, Saudi Arabia and other petrostates in pushing for an expansion of fossil fuel production. The deepening of ties between the U.K. and China would mark a U-turn on the approach of the former Conservative government, which demonstrated mistrust and suspicion of Beijing, alongside the EU and the U.S.

Following the recent talks between the U.K. and China, China's vice premier Ding Xuexiang said the Asian country is willing to work with the U.K. to deepen cooperation in financial services, trade, and investment, as well as green and low-carbon development. Ding said he expects the move will help address global challenges.

While the U.K. will likely continue to depend on the U.S. for its LNG imports for several more years, as it continues to reduce its reliance on Russia for energy, the government is also looking to diversify its energy trade options by deepening ties with China for the expansion of its green energy capacity.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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Despite short-term potential for a coal rebound due to rising natural gas prices, the long-term outlook for the U.S. coal industry remains uncertain.

While some coal plant retirements are being delayed, analysts predict that natural gas will be the primary beneficiary of rising power needs.

President Trump is attempting to boost U.S. coal power generation, but the market is shifting towards natural gas due to increased electricity demand from the AI industry.

Many U.S. coal-fired power plants will be around producing electricity longer than previously plannedbut no thanks to President Donald Trumps vocal support for the beautiful, clean coal.

After a decade of flat U.S. electricity consumption, surging power demand due to the AI and data center boom has prompted some utilities to prolong the lives of coal plants scheduled for retirement.

The Trump Administration has just signaled it would work to defer coal plant closures and possibly reopen shut plants to ensure stable electricity supply amid rising demand.

Still, it will be natural gas  not coal  that is likely to be the biggest winner of the AI boom, analysts and investment banks say.

President Trump this week said he is authorizing the Administration to work to boost U.S. coal power generation in an effort to counter Chinas economic advantage over America due to the constant rise in Chinese coal power plants.

After years of being held captive by Environmental Extremists, Lunatics, Radicals, and Thugs, allowing other Countries, in particular China, to gain tremendous Economic advantage over us by opening up hundreds of all Coal Fire Power Plants, I am authorizing my Administration to immediately begin producing Energy with BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL, President Trump wrote on Truth Social.

It wasnt immediately clear from the social media post what authorizations President Trump is giving the administration to immediately begin producing energy from coal.

Coal currently accounts for about 15-16% of U.S. power generation and its share has been consistently falling in recent years as many coal-fired power plants have shut down and wind and solar power have taken over market share from coal. Cheap and abundant natural gas has also played a part in coals decline, as have many environmental regulations and fees that have made coal plant operations more expensive.

The Administration is considering emergency authority to resurrect closed coal power plants and to stop others from closing, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Bloomberg Television last week.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the same outlet last month that a major renaissance for coal is unlikely.

The best we can hope for in the short-term is to stop the closure of coal power plants, Wright told Bloomberg Television. No one has won by that action.

Electricity generators plan to retire a total of 12.3 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in 2025, of which coal capacity would have the largest share of planned capacity retirements, 66%, the EIA said in February. Power generators report that they plan to retire 8.1 GW of coal-fired capacity this year, or 4.7% of the total U.S. coal fleet that was in operation at the end of 2024. The retired capacity would be double the 4.0 GW coal generating capacity shut last year, but less than the 9.8 GW of coal capacity retired in each of the last 10 years.

Some generators are delaying coal capacity retirements. Georgia Power, for example, has proposed extended operation of certain coal and natural gas units through at least 2034 to support the states expected continued extraordinary growth.

Yet, the super-friendly administration isnt expected to lead to the construction of new coal plants, analysts say.

Power-plant owners, operators and developers dont think of investments in terms of administrations  they think 10, 15, 20 years down the road, Timothy Fox, an analyst at Washington-based ClearView Energy Partners, told Bloomberg.

Coal is likely to enjoy a short-term rebound in U.S. electricity generation as natural gas prices rise, the EIA said in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).

Increased overall electricity demand, along with higher natural gas prices, could raise U.S. coal generation by 6% in 2025, while natural gas generation would drop by 3% as a result of higher fuel costs. In 2026, the EIA expects coal generation to fall by 8%, while natural gas generation will stay relatively flat.

U.S. electrical power demand is expected to rise by 2.4% per year through 2030, with AI-related demand accounting for about two-thirds of the incremental power demand in the country, Goldman Sachs analysts say.

Natural gas is best positioned to capture most of the growth, according to the investment bank.

Natural gas will benefit significantly from the rising electricity demand and the requirement for 24/7 uninterrupted supply. It is most flexible among all energy sources and an abundant domestic resource, Goldman Sachs said in a report last month.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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While West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil prices have slipped nearly $3.50 a barrel since Januaryhovering uncomfortably around $68New Mexico lawmakers just gave oil producers something else to stew over: higher royalty rates.

Senate Bill 23, which passed the House of Representatives on Thursday, is now sitting on Governor Michelle Lujan Grishams desk. The bill raises the maximum royalty rate on the states premium oil and gas leases from 20% to 25%the first change since 1970, when disco was en vogue and the EPA started to have second thoughts about leaded gasoline.

Supporters, including Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, say this is a no-brainer. After all, the money flows straight into the states coffers to fund public schools, universities, and hospitals. Its the logical thing to do, she said, pointing out that the new rate finally matches what private landowners and the state of Texas already charge.

Maybe.

But theres a catch: producers arent exactly rolling in it right now. Harold Hamm recently said Brent oil needs to be closer to $80 to make drilling worthwhile. At $68 WTIand with futures down around $63its hard to blame operators for squinting at the math.

Rep. Mark Murphy, an industry veteran and Republican from Roswell, warned the House that prices are heading in the wrong direction and that pushing royalty rates higher could backfirepossibly encouraging companies to cap wells early or skip out on leases altogether.

And all of this unfolds as former President Trump rallies for a full-throttle return to Drill, baby, drillwhile also promising lower gas prices at the pump. How those two things are supposed to coexist without defying basic economics is unclear unless drilling costs come down. This action flies in the face of that.

New Mexico clearly wants more bang for its land buck. The oil patch, however, may soon be asking if that extra 5% cut is worth the squeeze if barrels barely pay the bills.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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This photo shows Megapack energy-storage batteries in east China's Shanghai, March 21, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

Tesla's new Megafactory in east China's Shanghai on Friday exported its first batch of Megapack energy-storage batteries, the company announced.

It took the new Megafactory just over a month after its production launch to achieve its first export, with the batteries being transported from Shanghai Port to Australia.

This export highlights Tesla's further expansion in the global energy storage market, and also underlines the extension of its battery technology from electric vehicles to energy storage, according to the company.

"Megafactory gives us the ability to scale production and efficiency," said Mike Snyder, vice president of Tesla. "We can lower logistics costs as well as product costs, and grow the business to new markets."

Booster to green transformation



An energy-storage system charges when wind power or solar power generates a large volume of electricity or when the power consumption is low, and discharges when power generation is low or consumption is high. It can smooth the unstable output of solar or wind power to increase the proportion of renewable energy in the grid.

Megapack is an electrochemical energy storage device that uses lithium batteries -- a dominant technical route in the new-type energy storage industry. This sector is characterized by short construction periods, flexible layouts and fast responses, when compared to conventional pump storage.

"The large-scale application of new-type energy storage systems like Megapacks will strengthen grid stability, security and economic efficiency, contributing to the green transition of the energy structure," said Zhang Yu, a senior expert at the State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company.

Snyder has reaffirmed Tesla's commitment to supporting China's green transition. The executive added: "Tesla is not just an electric vehicle company. We're building a world powered by energy generation and storage products and transported by electric vehicles to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy."

The smooth production and export of the new Megafactory take Tesla's envision a step forward.

The Shanghai facility was built with an initial annual production capacity of 10,000 units. Notably, each Megapack unit can store over 3.9 megawatt-hours of energy -- sufficient to power approximately 3,600 households for one hour.

Tesla anticipates a year-on-year increase of at least 50 percent in its energy storage deployments in 2025.

The batteries produced at the factory will supply both the domestic and Asia-Pacific markets.

According to the General Administration of Customs (GAC), China's lithium battery exports reached 3.91 billion units in 2024, marking a record high. Last year, the country's export of wind turbines surged by 71.9 percent, and the photovoltaic product exports exceeded 200 billion yuan (about $27.9 billion) for four consecutive years.

"China's green products not only enrich global supply, but also make contributions to tackling climate change and green and low-carbon transformation," said Lyu Daliang, director of the GAC's Department of Statistics and Analysis.

Magnet for foreign investment



Hailed by the company as a "milestone," the new Megafactory is the first of its kind built by Tesla outside the United States and the company's second plant in Shanghai, following the inauguration of its Gigafactory in 2019.

Covering an area of approximately 200,000 square meters, the new Shanghai plant represents a total investment of about 1.45 billion yuan, according to the administration of the Lin-gang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, where the new Tesla facility is located.

Bai Ming, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the rapid operation of the Megafactory reflects the extensive opportunities that China provides to foreign companies.

"China, with its vast market, complete supply and industrial chains, and investor-friendly environment, will continue to be a top choice for global capital," Bai said.

As outlined in this year's government work report, China has pledged to encourage foreign-funded enterprises in China to reinvest in the country, strengthen services for foreign investors, and make China a favored destination for foreign investment.

In 2024, 59,080 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in China, up 9.9 percent year on year. Over the past five years, the return rate of foreign direct investment in China has remained at approximately 9 percent, ranking among the highest in the world.

"Numerous foreign enterprises in China are rejecting decoupling and supply chain disruption," Bai noted. "Their focus is on deepening collaboration with Chinese firms to achieve shared growth."
By William MacKenzie

We dont have enough money for this, we dont have enough money for that, Oregon legislators moan. And then the Oregon Senate votes for SB 916, a bill to pay striking workers unemployment benefits.

The Oregon Employment Department projects the bill could add $11.2 million in payments to striking workers. The Legislative Revenue Office predicts it could cost $5.6 million in the next two biennia, based on striking activities between 2015 and 2024.

SB 916 would make Oregon the only State in the country to grant unemployment benefits to striking public and private sector workers. Oregonians can be proud of some of the states groundbreaking legislation, but this is not one to be praised.

Russell Lum, a Political Organizer with the Oregon Nurses Association, said in written testimony to the Senate Committee on Labor and Business, SB 916  can bring about fair contracts faster, but that is unlikely.

I bet it will cost a lot more as public and private worker unions extend their strikes, safe in the knowledge they will get compensation during their strike. As Terry Hopkins, the President & CEO of the Grants Pass & Josephine County Chamber of Commerce, said in written testimony to the Senate Committee on Labor and Business, By providing UI benefits during strikes, SB 916 could inadvertently incentivize prolonged labor disputes, as the financial pressure to reach a resolution is alleviated for striking workers. This potential for extended disputes not only disrupts the operations of the directly involved businesses but also has ripple effects throughout the supply chain, impacting small businesses that are indirectly connected.

What makes Democrats strong support for this bill particularly egregious is that it is aimed at benefiting unions, an extremely small portion of the labor force, but a sector that overwhelmingly favors the Democrats in campaign contributions.

In 2024, just 15.9% of wage and salary workers in Oregon were union members, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Dig deeper and you find that the union membership rate for public sector workers in Oregon, about 51%, is considerably higher. That is consistent across the country, where unionization is about five times higher nationwide in the public sector compared with the private sector.

The bill has now gone to the Oregon House, where Democrats hold a 36-24 majority. Two Democrats in the Senate showed great wisdom in voting against the bill, Jeff Golden, D-Ashland and Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro. Counties, cities and schools are scrambling to just maintain current services, Sollman said. Now is not the time to be adding more uncertainty and more expenses.

Amen.
By Representative Boomer Wright

The Oregon Business and Industry Research and Education Foundation released its Oregon Competitiveness Book earlier this month. The report discusses how Oregon industries compare to those nationwide. According to the analysis, Oregon is a hostile place to do business compared to other states.

Additionally, Oregon is ranked as the 18th highest state in local taxes collected per capita and has the 16th highest tax burden per $1,000 of personal income. Oregons average personal income does not support the high cost of living and excessive tax burden.

Education trends are equally as grim. Though OBI reported an exponential increase in spending, Oregon has seen a decrease in performance. Oregon is ranked 48th in fourth grade math and 46th in fourth grade reading.

OBI also reported that the housing costs in Oregon are high with homeownership sitting at 61.9%  putting Oregon 46th in the nation. The median home sale price for 2024 was $502,900, about $60,000 above the national average.

While there was miniscule growth in some areas, all areas fell from where the state was in 2022. OBI predicted this is due to people and businesses fleeing the state due to unaffordability.
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Strong gravitational lenses captured by Euclid. Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by M. Walmsley, M. Huertas-Company, J.-C. Cuillandre

On 19 March 2025, the European Space Agency's Euclid mission releases its first batch of survey data, including a preview of its deep fields. Here, hundreds of thousands of galaxies in different shapes and sizes take center stage and show a glimpse of their large-scale organization in the cosmic web.

Covering a huge area of the sky in three mosaics, the data release also includes numerous galaxy clusters, active galactic nuclei and transient phenomena, as well as the first classification survey of more than 380 000 galaxies and 500 gravitational lens candidates compiled through combined artificial intelligence and citizen science efforts.

All of this sets the scene for the broad range of topics that the dark universe detective Euclid is set to address with its rich dataset.

"Euclid shows itself once again to be the ultimate discovery machine. It is surveying galaxies on the grandest scale, enabling us to explore our cosmic history and the invisible forces shaping our universe," says ESA's Director of Science, Prof. Carole Mundell.

"With the release of the first data from Euclid's survey, we are unlocking a treasure trove of information for scientists to dive into and tackle some of the most intriguing questions in modern science. With this, ESA is delivering on its commitment to enable scientific progress for generations to come."

Euclid is back26 million galaxies and counting. Credit: European Space Agency

Tracing out the cosmic web in Euclid's deep fields

Euclid has scouted out the three areas in the sky where it will eventually provide the deepest observations of its mission. In just one week of observations, with one scan of each region so far, Euclid had already spotted 26 million galaxies.

The farthest of those are up to 10.5 billion light-years away. The fields also contain a small population of bright quasars that can be seen much further away. In the coming years, Euclid will pass over these three regions tens of times, capturing many more faraway galaxies, making these fields truly 'deep' by the end of the nominal mission in 2030.

But the first glimpse of 63 square degrees of the sky, the equivalent area of more than 300 times the full moon, already gives an impressive preview of the scale of Euclid's grand cosmic atlas when the mission is complete. This atlas will cover one-third of the entire sky14 000 square degreesin this high-quality detail.

"It's impressive how one observation of the deep field areas has already given us a wealth of data that can be used for a variety of purposes in astronomy: from galaxy shapes, to strong lenses, clusters, and star formation, among others," says Valeria Pettorino, ESA's Euclid project scientist.

"We will observe each deep field between 30 and 52 times over Euclid's six-year mission, each time improving the resolution of how we see those areas, and the number of objects we manage to observe. Just think of the discoveries that await us."

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To answer the mysteries it is designed for, Euclid measures the huge variety of shapes and the distribution of billions of galaxies very precisely with its high-resolution imaging visible instrument (VIS), while its near-infrared instrument (NISP) is essential for unraveling galaxy distances and masses.

The new images already showcase this capability for hundreds of thousands of galaxies, and start to hint at the large-scale organization of these galaxies in the cosmic web.

These filaments of ordinary matter and dark matter weave through the cosmos, and from these, galaxies formed and evolved. This is an essential piece in the puzzle towards understanding the mysterious nature of dark matter and dark energy, which together appear to make up 95% of the universe.

"The full potential of Euclid to learn more about dark matter and dark energy from the large-scale structure of the cosmic web will be reached only when it has completed its entire survey. Yet the volume of this first data release already offers us a unique first glance at the large-scale organization of galaxies, which we can use to learn more about galaxy formation over time," says Clotilde Laigle, Euclid Consortium scientist and data processing expert based at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, France.

Euclid Deep Field Southpreview. Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, E. Bertin, G. Anselmi

Humans and AI classify more than 380 000 galaxies

Euclid is expected to capture images of more than 1.5 billion galaxies over six years, sending back around 100 GB of data every day. Such an impressively large dataset creates incredible discovery opportunities, but huge challenges when it comes to searching for, analyzing and cataloging galaxies. The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, in combination with thousands of human citizen science volunteers and experts, is playing a critical role.

"We're at a pivotal moment in terms of how we tackle large-scale surveys in astronomy. AI is a fundamental and necessary part of our process in order to fully exploit Euclid's vast dataset," says Mike Walmsley, Euclid Consortium scientist based at the University of Toronto, Canada, who has been heavily involved in astronomical deep learning algorithms for the last decade.

"We're building the tools as well as providing the measurements. In this way we can deliver cutting-edge science in a matter of weeks, compared with the years-long process of analyzing big surveys like these in the past," he adds.

A major milestone in this effort is the first detailed catalog of more than 380 000 galaxies, which have been classified according to features such as spiral arms, central bars, and tidal tails that infer merging galaxies. The catalog is created by the "Zoobot" AI algorithm. During an intensive one-month campaign on Galaxy Zoo last year, 9976 human volunteers worked together to teach Zoobot to recognize galaxy features by classifying Euclid images.

This first catalog released today represents just 0.4% of the total number of galaxies of similar resolution expected to be imaged over Euclid's lifetime. The final catalog will present the detailed morphology of at least an order of magnitude more galaxies than ever measured before, helping scientists answer questions like how spiral arms form and how supermassive black holes grow.

"We're looking at galaxies from inside to out, from how their internal structures govern their evolution to how the external environment shapes their transformation over time," adds Clotilde.

"Euclid is a goldmine of data and its impact will be far-reaching, from galaxy evolution to the bigger-picture cosmology goals of the mission."

Euclid's view of the Cat's Eye Nebula. Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, E. Bertin, G. Anselmi

Gravitational lensing discovery engine

Light traveling towards us from distant galaxies is bent and distorted by normal and dark matter in the foreground. This effect is called gravitational lensing and it is one of the tools that Euclid uses to reveal how dark matter is distributed throughout the universe.

When the distortions are very apparent, it is known as "strong lensing," which can result in features such as Einstein rings, arcs, and multiple imaged lenses.

Using an initial sweep by AI models, followed by citizen science inspection, expert vetting and modeling, a first catalog of 500 galaxy-galaxy strong lens candidates has been released, almost all of which were previously unknown. This type of lensing happens when a foreground galaxy and its halo of dark matter act as a lens, distorting the image of a background galaxy along the line of sight towards Euclid.

With the help of these models, Euclid will capture some 7000 candidates in the major cosmology data release planned for the end of 2026, and in the order of 100 000 galaxy-galaxy strong lenses by the end of the mission, around 100 times more than currently known.

Euclid will also be able to measure "weak" lensing, when the distortions of background sources are much smaller. Such subtle distortions can only be detected by analyzing large numbers of galaxies in a statistical way.

In the coming years, Euclid will measure the distorted shapes of billions of galaxies over 10 billion years of cosmic history, thus providing a 3D view of the distribution of dark matter in our universe.

Euclid Deep Field Fornaxpreview. Credit: Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, E. Bertin, G. Anselmi

"Euclid is very quickly covering larger and larger areas of the sky thanks to its unprecedented surveying capabilities," says Pierre Ferruit, ESA's Euclid mission manager, who is based at ESA's European Space Astronomy Center (ESAC) in Spain, home of the Astronomy Science Archive where Euclid's data will be made available.

"This data release highlights the incredible potential we have by combining the strengths of Euclid, AI, citizen science and experts into a single discovery engine that will be essential in tackling the vast volume of data returned by Euclid."
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Experimental setup. Credit: Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adq4921

A team of scientists with the Sea Mammal Research Unit, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, in the U.K. has found that gray seals are able to monitor their blood oxygen levels as a means to prevent drowning. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes experiments they conducted at a pool with captured gray seals involving changes to oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the air.

Lucy Hawkes and Jessica Kendall-Bar with the University of Exeter and the University of California, San Diego, respectively, have published a Perspective piece in the same journal issue that outlines the work done by the team on this new effort.

All mammals need air to breathe. Prior research has shown that most land mammals have sensors that respond to the build-up of carbon dioxide in the blood, a sign that fresh air is needed. In humans, the increase in carbon dioxide is sensed by chemoreceptors located near the carotid arteries, triggering symptoms including light-headedness, hunger for air, and panic.

Many marine mammals can stay underwater for much longer than land animals, so the research team wondered if they use other mechanisms to alert them when it is time to come up for air. To find out, they captured six adult gray seals and brought them to a pool for testing.

The experiments in the test pool consisted of coaxing the seals to swim back and forth between a feeding station and a breathing chamber where the mix of oxygen and carbon dioxide could be adjusted. Because the pool was covered, the seals were only able to come up for air in the breathing chamber.

The researchers tested various air mixturesone where the air was ambient, another with double the normal amount of oxygen, one with half the normal oxygen and the third with normal amounts of oxygen but with carbon dioxide 200 times normal levels.

To measure the response to the changes in air they were breathing, the researchers timed how long the seals remained underwater. They found that the more oxygen in the air, the longer the seals remained underwater; less oxygen conversely led to them staying underwater for shorter periods. They also found that the elevated levels of carbon dioxide had no impact on how long the seals stayed underwater.

The research team suggest their findings indicate that the gray seals have a mechanism that allows them to monitor their blood oxygen levels, and use that as an alarm of sorts, alerting them when it is time to come up for air.

More information: J. Chris McKnight et al, Cognitive perception of circulating oxygen in seals is the reason they don't drown, Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adq4921 Lucy Hawkes et al, A deep dive into oxygen sensing, Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adw1936 Journal information: Science

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This screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on March 21, 2025 shows Shenzhou-19 astronaut Cai Xuzhe leaving China's orbiting space station for extravehicular activities. [Photo/Xinhua]

Members of the Shenzhou-19 crew aboard China's orbiting space station completed their mission's third series of extravehicular activities (EVAs) at 8:50 p.m. (Beijing Time) on Friday, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

Astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze worked for about seven hours to complete multiple tasks, including the installation of space debris protection devices and extravehicular auxiliary facilities, as well as extravehicular equipment inspection. They were assisted by the space station's robotic arm and a team on Earth.

This screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on March 21, 2025 shows Shenzhou-19 astronauts Cai Xuzhe (R) and Song Lingdong preparing for extravehicular activities inside the airlock cabin of China's orbiting space station. [Photo/Xinhua]

Cai and Song, the two crew members assigned to undertake spacewalk duties, have since returned to the Wentian lab module safely. Cai has now carried out five extravehicular missions, more than any other Chinese astronaut to date, according to the CMSA.

The Shenzhou-19 crew has been in space for nearly five months, and the various space scientific experiments and tests are progressing smoothly. The crew is scheduled to return to Earth in more than a month.
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Three NASA-funded rockets are set to launch from Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska, in an experiment that seeks to reveal how auroral substorms affect the behavior and composition of Earth's far upper atmosphere.

The experiment's outcome could upend a long-held theory about the aurora's interaction with the thermosphere. It may also improve space weather forecasting, critical as the world becomes increasingly reliant on satellite-based devices such as GPS units in everyday life.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Geophysical Institute owns Poker Flat, located 20 miles north of Fairbanks, and operates it under a contract with NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, which is part of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The experiment, titled Auroral Waves Excited by Substorm Onset Magnetic Events, or AWESOME, features one four-stage rocket and two two-stage rockets all launching in an approximately three-hour period.

Colorful vapor tracers from the largest of the three rockets should be visible across much of northern Alaska. The launch window is March 24 through April 6.

The mission, led by Mark Conde, a space physics professor at UAF, involves about a dozen UAF graduate student researchers at several ground monitoring sites in Alaska at Utqiagvik, Kaktovik, Toolik Lake, Eagle, and Venetie, as well as Poker Flat. NASA delivers, assembles, tests, and launches the rockets.

"Our experiment asks the question, when the aurora goes berserk and dumps a bunch of heat in the atmosphere, how much of that heat is spent transporting the air upward in a continuous convective plume and how much of that heat results in not only vertical but also horizontal oscillations in the atmosphere?" Conde said.

Confirming which process is dominant will reveal the breadth of the mixing and the related changes in the thin air's characteristics.

"Change in composition of the atmosphere has consequences," Conde said. "And we need to know the extent of those consequences."

Most of the thermosphere, which reaches from about 50 to 350 miles above the surface, is what scientists call "convectively stable." That means minimal vertical motion of air, because the warmer air is already at the top, due to absorption of solar radiation.

When auroral substorms inject energy and momentum into the middle and lower thermosphere (roughly 60 to 125 miles up), it upsets that stability. That leads to one prevailing theorythat the substorms' heat is what causes the vertical-motion churn of the thermosphere.

Conde believes instead that acoustic-buoyancy waves are the dominant mixing force and that vertical convection has a much lesser role. Because acoustic-buoyancy waves travel vertically and horizontally from where the aurora hits, the aurora-caused atmospheric changes could be occurring over a much broader area than currently believed.

Better prediction of impacts from those changes is the AWESOME mission's practical goal.

"I believe our experiment will lead to a simpler and more accurate method of space weather prediction," Conde said.

Two two-stage, 42-foot Terrier-Improved Malemute rockets are planned to respectively launch about 15 minutes and an hour after an auroral substorm begins. A four-stage, 70-foot Black Brant XII rocket is planned to launch about five minutes after the second rocket.

The first two rockets will release tracers at altitudes of 50 and 110 miles to detect wind movement and wave oscillations. The third rocket will release tracers at five altitudes from 68 to 155 miles.

Pink, blue, and white vapor traces should be visible from the third rocket for 10 to 20 minutes. Launches must occur in the dawn hours, with sunlight hitting the upper altitudes to activate the vapor tracers from the first rocket but darkness at the surface so ground cameras can photograph the tracers' response to air movement.
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UCR student Annalise Kane, co-first author of the study. Credit: Claudia Sepulveda/UCR

Parasitic weeds are ruthless freeloaders, stealing nutrients from crops and devastating harvests. But what if farmers could trick these invaders into self-destructing? Scientists at UC Riverside think they've found a way.

Across sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, places already struggling with food insecurity, entire fields of staples like rice and sorghum can be lost to a group of insidious weeds that drain crops of their nutrients before they can grow. Farmers battle these parasites with few effective tools, but UCR researchers may be able to turn the weeds' own biology against them.

This trick is detailed in the journal Science, and at its heart lies a class of hormones called strigolactonesunassuming chemicals that play dual roles. Internally, they help control growth and the plants' response to stresses like insufficient water. Externally, they do something that is unusual for plant hormones.

"Most of the time, plant hormones do not radiate externallythey aren't exuded. But these do," said UCR plant biologist and paper co-author David Nelson. "Plants use strigolactones to attract fungi in the soil that have a beneficial relationship with plant roots."

Unfortunately for farmers, parasitic weeds have learned to hijack the strigolactone signals, using them as an invitation to invade.

Once the weeds sense the presence of strigolactones, they germinate and latch on to a crop's roots, draining them of essential nutrients.

"These weeds are waiting for a signal to wake up. We can give them that signal at the wrong timewhen there's no food for themso they sprout and die," Nelson said. "It's like flipping their own switch against them, essentially encouraging them to commit suicide."

To understand strigolactone production, the research team led by Yanran Li, formerly at UCR and now at UC San Diego, developed an innovative system using bacteria and yeast. By engineering E. coli and yeast cells to function like tiny chemical factories, they recreated the biological steps necessary to produce these hormones. This breakthrough allows researchers to study strigolactone synthesis in a controlled environment and potentially produce large amounts of these valuable chemicals.

The researchers also studied the enzymes responsible for producing strigolactones, identifying a metabolic branch point that may have been crucial in the evolution of these hormones from internal regulators to external signals.

"This is a powerful system for investigating plant enzymes," Nelson said. "It enables us to characterize genes that have never been studied before and manipulate them to see how they affect the type of strigolactones being made."

Beyond agriculture, strigolactones hold promise for medical and environmental applications. Some studies suggest they could be used as anti-cancer or anti-viral agents, and there is interest in their potential role in combating citrus greening disease, which is doing large-scale damage to citrus crops in Florida.

Scientists still have questions about whether the weed suicide strategy will work in real-world fields. "We're testing whether we can fine-tune the chemical signal to be even more effective," Nelson said. "If we can, this could be a game-changer for farmers battling these weeds."

This research was led by distinguished UCR professor and geneticist Julia Bailey-Serres.

More information: Anqi Zhou et al, Evolution of interorganismal strigolactone biosynthesis in seed plants, Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adp0779 Journal information: Science
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Apanteles darthvaderi - the wasp thats gone to the dark side. Credit: Katherine Oestmann & Olivia Portmann, CC BY

Playgrounds can host a variety of natural wonders, and of course, kids. Now some students are not just learning about insects and spiders at schoolthey are putting them on the map and even discovering and naming new species.

Studies indicate insect populations are declining, and species are going extinct every week in Australia. But scientists have only described about a third of Australia's estimated total of insect species.

This means around 150,000 of our insect species do not have formal scientific names. We know little about where they are and what they do in ecosystemsvital information for stopping biodiversity loss.

So, our team developed the citizen science project Insect Investigators.

We took scientists to 50 regional schools across three states to learn about insects and other arthropods such as spiders. Students of all ages got to survey insect diversity, search for new species, and engage with entomologists and taxonomists throughout the school year.

Students helped name new species, including several species of parasitoid wasp.

Some of the scientific names include Apanteles darthvaderi (Back Plains State School students thought the wasp had gone to the "dark side" because of the way the wasp "sucks the life out of caterpillars"), Mirax supremus (named after the pinnacle science class at Beerwah State High School), and Coccygidium mellosiheroine, which means "honey-colored hero" (named by students collaborating from several Queensland schools, who considered the wasp a hero as it attacks a crop pest).

Our latest paper on the project is now published. We learned hands-on how citizen science increased students' interests in insects, nature and science.

Insect Investigators won the 2024 Eureka Prize for Innovation in Citizen Science. Credit: Australian Museum

How many insects?

Around 1,800 students and more than 70 teachers collected insects in or near their schools.

Teachers sent samples to the project team, which sorted and sent a selection of specimens to be DNA barcoded. This method involves sequencing a small section of the genome to tell different species apart.

The specimens were then sent to experts around Australia, who are working to describe any new species collected.

The students collected more than 12,000 insect specimens, including 5,465 different speciesmany of which are probably not described.

It will take years to identify all the species and work out how many are new to science, but we already know 3,000 that have not been recorded in the Barcode of Life DNA database (BOLD).

Good for insects, good for learning

Getting to know insects as part of this citizen science project was great for kids' active learning and developing an appreciation of the natural world.

Students said they felt more interested in insects, nature and science, and it inspired them to spend more time outdoors.

"I learned there are many insect and plant species that I haven't seen before and how in different ecosystems you can find different insects," said a student from South Australia.

When students are engaged, it's no surprise teachers enjoy their jobs more tooand this is exactly what we found. The more enthusiastic the students were about nature and science experiences through the project, the more interested the teachers were in teaching these topics.

One teacher reported that "students gained an understanding of the work of scientists, how to participate in research, protocols to follow, and gained a huge interest in insects."

Queensland Cameron Downs kids show off an insect they found. Credit: Andy Howe, CC BY

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What did students get out of it?

After the insect survey was completed, we asked 118 students and 22 teachers in nine of the schools about what they experienced, and how they see insects and nature now.

Students said the chance to find a new species, as well as discovering and catching insects they had not seen before, were highlights of Insect Investigators.

Experiencing a hands-on learning style outside, in nature, was also mentioned as a benefit of the program.

Many students said they now wanted to spend more time outdoors, act and encourage others to protect nature, and pay more attention to insect conservation and science classes. This implies the experience and discovery associated with hands-on citizen science has motivated greater engagement with nature and science.

The potential of school-based citizen science

Insect surveys offer an accessible way for students to actively learn about science and nature. Insects are virtually everywhere and by photographing them, students can observe natural insect behaviorwithout the need to collect them.

The iNaturalist App and Atlas of Living Australia facilitate citizen scientists to explore nature around them. We've also created resources for teachers who want to introduce lessons on insects to their school homepage.

It's never too early to develop science literacy skills and give children the chance to develop their curiosity, critical thinking and problem solving.

Connecting schools and scientists is a great way to engage young learners and foster connections to nature. It has the added bonus of inventorying our natural world, which is vital to conserving Australia's biodiversity.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
GLENS FALLS  In September 1787, Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Benjamin Franklin as he was leaving the first Convention of States in which the U.S. Constitution was signed, Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?

A republic, Franklin replied. If you can keep it.

That call to action is the driving force behind a growing movement throughout the nation called Indivisible.

It is not hyperbole at this point in time to say that our democracy, our very republic is threatened, said Joe Seeman, a steering committee member of Indivisible ADK/Saratoga, the local chapter, which has become active in Warren, Washington, and Saratoga counties. A republic is a form of representative democracy. Its kind of like saying, are you in Glens Falls, or are you in Warren County? Its both.

Indivisible was formed in 2016 and started simply as a Google document meant to guide concerned Americans to practical, grassroots methods to protest the right-wing policies set by the first Trump administration. It quickly manifested into an organized movement where groups gathered under the Indivisible banner to stage events and marches. Now, in Trumps second term, the group has exploded with nearly 2,000 local chapters across all 50 states.

We have right now, hundreds of people who have been involved in our events and activities in the past few months, Seeman said of the local branch.

The group joins in and organizes demonstrations, economic blackouts, phone call and letter-writing campaigns, and other community actions to advocate for vulnerable communities, human rights, climate protection, and installing progressive candidates in local and national elections. Although these issues are predominantly considered to be liberal causes, Seeman said he prefers to stay away from using such terminology when defining the groups identity.

Id like to see us conserve the chemical composition of the atmosphere on which all civilization is based. Id like to see us conserve social security, conserve Medicare, he proposed. Does that make me liberal or conservative?

Instead, the group welcomes individuals from across the political spectrum who support its causes to join in its over-arching concern: protecting democracy.

Were fighting for democracy. For policies based on science, facts, compassion, (and) respect, Seeman said. Its for anybody and everybody who is up to civil, respectful conversation. You dont have to have a particular set of views or a particular party.

That being said, Seeman minced no words when explaining where he sees the biggest threats to democracy coming from.

Not just from the top, Musk and Trump, right down to every state legislative elected official, every Republican town elected (official), every Republican committee member in every city and town in all the state of New York, in all of America, everybody whos a part of that party has accepted some aspects of fascism, he said.

The group sees Trumps scorched-earth tactics to reshape, and in some cases dismantle, the federal government and his repositioning of Americas geopolitical position on the world stage as parts of an anti-democratic agenda. And blames the Republican-controlled Congress for not exercising its power of checks and balances against the Executive Branch.

The current administration is acting tyrannically, usurping the power of Congress, Seeman said. We thought we got rid of kings and tyrants and monarchs a quarter of a millennium ago.

The solution, in Indivisibles eyes, must come from constituents holding their elected representatives to account for the perceived allowable offenses being committed by the Trump administration.

If Trump lies, theyre OK with that; if Trump is found to be a sexual predator, thats OK with them; if Trump destroys our alliance with democracies and allies us with a dictatorship, thats OK with them, he said. This is some serious stuff. People are incensed. Elise Stefanik (R-NY21) is an accomplice.

To that end, one of Indivisibles main efforts is to organize and attend town hall meetings with elected officials to show in force that the will of the people is not being met by a growing number.

Thats what democracy should be about, it should be about our elected officials listening to people they agree with and disagree with, Seeman said. It should be about the people having a voice.

Indivisible ADK/Saratoga called on its members to reach out to Stefaniks office to demand a town hall while Congress was in recess March 17 through 23. Dissatisfied with a lack of response the group scheduled a discussion at 2 p.m. on March 23 at Crandall Library in Glens Falls and invited her to participate. The group is skeptical that the Congresswoman will attend, and is calling it an Empty Chair town hall.

Were going to be giving people the opportunity to talk about what they would be saying to Congress member Stefanik if she were there. Shes invited, well see if she shows up. We have an empty chair for her, Seeman said.

Regardless of whether Stefanik takes her seat at the event on Sunday, Seeman said that as long as the people continue to show up, there will be a place for democracy.

People getting involved and speaking out, participating in democracy; if thats a measure (of success): yes, were getting somewhere, he said.
China is accelerating efforts to enhance the quality and innovation of traditional Chinese medicine, aiming to integrate modern science with ancient remedies while boosting market entry, officials said.

A new guideline to promote high-quality development of the TCM sector, recently issued by the State Council  the nation's Cabinet  emphasized both passed-down knowledge (inheritance), and innovation, they said at a news conference on Friday.

Lu Jianwei, deputy head of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that the guideline underscores the application of digital and green technologies across the TCM supply chain, while boosting research and development for new medicines.

"Traditional Chinese medicine represents valuable heritage from our ancestors. We must preserve, develop and utilize it effectively," Lu said.

Chen Ronghu, director of the administration's science and technology department, said that TCM has great potential for original scientific breakthroughs. For example, artemisinin, a Nobel Prize-winning malaria treatment, and arsenic trioxide, which is used in leukemia therapy, are both derived from TCM principles.

To strengthen the research infrastructure, China has established seven key laboratories, five engineering research centers and four innovation platforms. Additionally, regional research hubs such as the Hengqin Lab in Guangdong province and the Haihe Lab in Tianjin contribute to a nationwide innovation network.

Meanwhile, a clinical research network has been established to evaluate TCM effectiveness.

"We will integrate artificial intelligence and big data to accumulate human-use experience and build a comprehensive clinical efficacy evaluation model to transform empirical knowledge into scientifically validated treatments and improve patient outcomes," Chen said.

The country is also advancing the integration of TCM into modern healthcare by optimizing its clinical use and expanding access to high-quality herbal medicines, he said, adding that efforts include developing standardized TCM formulations and increasing the availability of traditional herbal decoctions in hospitals and pharmacies nationwide.

Chen said China will focus on accelerating the development of innovative herbal medicines. The government plans to intensify research on complex TCM formulations, addressing major diseases and special medical needs such as the treatment of pediatric and chronic illnesses.

Yang Ting, head of the Department of Drug Registration at the National Medical Products Administration, said that China is speeding up the development and approval of new TCM treatments, with regulatory reforms boosting both innovation and market entry.

Applications for clinical trials and new drug approvals in the TCM sector have been steadily increasing, Yang said.

Last year, authorities accepted 100 clinical trial applications and 40 new drug applications, approving 12 new TCM products. Since the beginning of this year, eight new TCM drugs have already gained approval, marking a significant rise from the same period last year.

The NMPA has introduced a series of measures to accelerate TCM drug development, including streamlining drug review and approval processes while balancing tradition and innovation, Yang said.

"Unlike chemical or biological drugs, TCM formulations are deeply rooted in age-old medical practices. China has established a unique evidence-based evaluation system that combines TCM theory, human-use experience and modern clinical trials, shortening research timelines and increasing success rates of new drug development," he said.

Regulators have also improved communication channels with pharmaceutical companies, offering tailored guidance to facilitate the approval process.

"By providing clear guidance from the outset, we help developers avoid unnecessary obstacles, improving efficiency and effectiveness in bringing new TCM drugs to market," Yang said.
The city of Rock Island hosted a news conference Friday explaining the nuances of development plans in response to concerns brought forth by protestors against a 10-acre development adjacent to the Milan Bottoms wetlands.

During the news conference, Rock Island Community Development Director Miles Brainard said the development will include a protective 12-by-20-foot berm and downward-facing lighting to protect night-roosting eagles nearby.

Jeff Hughbanks, with the developer A Hana Illowa LLC, told The Quad-City Times/Dispatch Argus that plans called for landscaping on top of and around the berms, including prairie grass, evergreen trees and oak trees, further supplementing existing light and sound insulation.

Mayor Mike Thoms reaffirmed the citys commitment to form a task force of activists and city officials and create a conservation easement over the remaining 528 acres of city property, which is on wetland.

He said the task force would decide the fate of the easement but not that of the ongoing development.

Brainard said tax increment financing and business district funds were 100% eligible for creating recreational improvements to the wetlands, decided on by the task force. Those improvements may include walkways for bird-viewing and a kayak launch site.

Thoms said a conservation easement was about six months out, significantly behind the timeline for approval of a TIF and business district package of ordinances, which has already seen the first of two required City Council readings.

The process for creating the easement will begin with a resolution at Monday's Rock Island City Council meeting. A wetlands management plan will be in place within a year, Thoms said.

Combined, the two development incentive districts will provide A Hana Illowa with up to $6 million in development incentives over the course of several years. A large portion of the TIF funds, $3 million, are pre-existing, generated by Ballys Casino just across Illinois 92 from the development site.

Since TIF-generated funds are confined to the district in which theyre generated, the city would have little to no opportunity to spend the funds without projects liked the planned development, which includes a gas station and a cannabis dispensary.

In response to activists claiming no one will stop at the gas station because of cheaper fuel prices in Iowa, Brainard said distribution businesses all along Andalusia Road have been coming to the city with interest in placing a fuel station nearby. He said the city had long planned to add development in the area.

Thoms was joined at the news conference by Aldermen Randy Hurt, 2nd Ward; Jenni Swanson, 4th Ward; Mark Poulos, 6th Ward, and Bill Healy, 7th Ward.

The mayor told the media that aldermen were 100% behind the development and the conservation district as dual portions of the same plan for the area.

After the news conference, 5th Ward Alderman Dylan Parker told The Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus he believes the development process should continue until final plans can be presented to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Parker said he didnt necessarily believe an eagle study was necessary, as long as FWS was satisfied there was no risk to the nearby eagles.

In an interview with The Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus, Moline-based FWS Field Office Supervisor Kraig McPeek said the FWS is responsible for enforcement of the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act but does not get involved in cases where developers or other federal agencies do not explicitly request the FWSs involvement in permitting.

Protestors have mainly targeted the development for potential violation of the portion of the act prohibiting disturbing eagle nesting sites.

Official recommendations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Office from 2007 identify night-roosting territory as protected by the clause defining "disturbing" and recommend developers reach out to their local office for tips on avoiding disruption to nests.

The guidelines say there is significant variation in appropriate advice for limiting disruption but generally recommend retaining a landscape buffer and observing seasonal restrictions to avoid disrupting night roosting.

McPeek said generally, developments within 660 feet were within potentially disruptive distance.

He otherwise refused to comment on the current development specifically other than that it's under my radar and that he has no interest in investigating it at present.

Thoms has said the city will consult with the FWS but told the Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus the service told him it does not have the staff to investigate something that isnt directly located on the wetlands.

Exceptions to the distance recommendations exist if similar human activity is ongoing within 1 mile of nesting sites. Bald eagles in local areas adapt to the level of human activity there over decades.

This can reduce the restriction to 330 feet, with construction within 660 recommended only outside of roosting season.

Regardless of sensitivity, the point is moot without current knowledge of nest locations.

Directly above its developer best practice recommendations, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services website states, it is the responsibility of anyone conducting activities that may disturb eagles ... to survey the vicinity for any breeding eagle activity and eagle nests before conducting these activities.

If disruption occurs

The FWS treats organizations like law treats those who fish or hunt. Permits are required for those who signal their intention to do so, but little is done before that point unless someone is "caught in the act" without one.

McPeek said a development that did not seek a preemptive permit with the Fish and Wildlife Service and resulted in the death or disruption of eagles could open potential for legal repercussions, up to the full $200,000 fine and imprisonment of one year referenced in the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

How disruption could be proved without study and survey of nests beforehand is unclear.

Former FWS employee Jon Duyvejonck said proving disruption without developer cooperation was very difficult because of other factors and development locations that could also cause nest disruption.

Damage to protected species would ordinarily be proven by federal conservation agents, but many activists have expressed doubt the current federal government will prioritize the issue.

Duyvejonck thinks otherwise but says public outcry will be unlikely to trigger an investigation at any stage. Federal officials or agencies must request FWS involvement in most cases.

Hughbanks said he had no intention of reaching out to FWS but that he had been in contact with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which Duyvejonck said is sometimes involved in enforcing federal measures.

Hughbanks said IDNR had only requested A Hana Illowa do an archeological survey because of the artifact-dense region. Wapsi Valley Archaeology, Inc., was contracted for a survey, which found no Native American remains.

Hughbanks added IDNR is still awaiting receipt of final plans for the development before it gives final clearance. He added the IDNR typically requests endangered species surveys by this point in the process if it has environmental concerns.

Wapsi Valley Archaeologys historical analysis of the site showed it served as a staging ground for RiverStone Group Inc. sand, gravel and concrete batch plant mines as far back as the 1950s.

This usage of the development continued until the early 1980s, at which point the land began to be used as a Bobcat dealership and storage lot. The dealership was demolished sometime between 2004 and 2005, and the land remained unused until it was given to the city by the RiverStone group in 2022.

The study theorizes the fill that raises the development site above the flood-plain is leftover from the mining operations or the construction of the nearby interstate.

Hughbanks argued this demonstrated a precedent of commercial use that had not destroyed the environment.

City officials and A Hana Illowa have made it clear they intend to proceed with development. There are plans to break ground in April.

Protestor perspective

Duyvejonck feels proceeding with development is premature given no recent studies or surveys have been done on the eagle population.

I dont think anything substantial changed, Duyvejonck said after the news conference. The city still intends to proceed with the development and most of us are still objecting to it as proposed. Although I will be on the mayors advisory task force, I still oppose the development.

He said the FWS's process in this instance is reactive rather than proactive. Any damage done to eagles will not be fixed even if developers are punished.

The federal agencies have dropped the ball on this," eagle expert Kelly Mckay said. "My opinion is that (the modifications to the site) cannot mitigate this unless they can guarantee no truck horns or lights. There will 100% be an extremely negative impact  The city says Im wrong. Whos more likely to be right: the people who didnt know what a night-roost was a month ago, or someone with half a century of experience studying eagles, including in this area?

Correction: An earlier version of this article listed the incorrect job title for Miles Brainard and an incorrect number of City Council readings needed.
In a lengthy House floor debate that veered into impassioned commentary about free markets and the appropriate role of the government, Montana lawmakers decided against expanding the states existing child care subsidy program on Friday.

Making child care more affordable is "pro-business," supporters said, because it helps the tens of thousands of adults who say they either dont work or do so part-time because its cheaper to forego their job and watch their kids at home.

Those who voted against the ambitious $17 million-a-year plan conceded that child care availability has an economic impact. However, House Bill 457s proposal to make more people eligible for Best Beginnings  which uses government dollars to cover a portion of child care costs for low-income families  was a step way too far in their eyes.

Its raining fiscal notes, said House Majority Leader Republican Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls. We have to stop spending. We do not have an unlimited pot of money.

HB 457 would have allowed families who make up to 85% of the state median income, or about $68,000 a year for a family of three, to access the financial benefit. Under current Best Beginnings guidelines, that same family could make no more than $47,700, or 185% of the federal poverty level.

It was voted down on the House floor Friday by a vote of 44-55. Three Republicans  Reps. George Nikolakakos, Russ Miner and Valerie Moore  joined all Democrats present to support the proposal.

I'm really disappointed that most of the Republicans won't invest in child care at the scale needed to address the problem facing so many constituents," said bill sponsor Rep. Jonathan Karlen, D-Missoula.

On the House floor, Karlen characterized Best Beginnings as a cost-sharing approach to reducing costs in a state where the average parent pays more for child care  $11,700 per year at a center, or $9,100 in a home-based option  than they would for in-state tuition at Montana State University.

They are still paying for child care, Karlen said. Theyre just not paying as much.

Best Beginnings caps out-of-pocket child care expenses at 9% of a familys total income. How much they pay exactly is based on a sliding scale. Right now, many who would have been eligible under HB 457 spend up to 27% of their monthly earnings on child care.

The government covers the costs of a Best Beginnings student directly, giving licensed providers the money rather than going through the family. Facility owners say the arrangement allows them to count on a surefire income source rather than hounding families to pay their bills.

Part of why child care is so expensive in Montana is the basic economic principle of supply versus demand; there are more young children who need care than there are spots at licensed providers. Most counties in the state are classified as child care deserts by the Montana Department of Labor and Industry.

Adding more providers is no simple feat, partly due to the lack of child care workers, according to DLI. Wages are low  the 2022 median in Montana was $12.73 per hour or $26,480 per year  and burnout is widely reported.

Another Best Beginnings bill clears initial vote

House Bill 456, also from Karlen, would make all child care workers automatically eligible for Best Beginnings. Some child care providers offer free care to the children of their workers, but doing so gives up a coveted licensed spot and doesnt bring in income.

At a price of $5.5 million, HB 456 would give child care workers earning low wages some financial breathing room so they can stay in the industry, Karlen said.

The bill passed a preliminary vote in the House Tuesday 61-38.

Grace Decker from the Montana Advocates for Children, a statewide coalition of child care and early education providers, called HB 456 a game changer for recruitment and retention.

Its a smart and targeted policy and a good investment, she said.

Together, the two bills would have cost about $44 million over the next two years, a sum that made lawmakers bristle and contributed to the downfall of the larger proposal.

More fiscally conservative House members also pointed to the Legislatures expansion of Best Beginnings eligibility in the 2023 session as a sign of a slippery slope. They suggested more businesses could offer child care as a way to attract employees, and cautioned against the government  and by extension, taxpayers  doing what the free market should figure out for itself.

The fundamental question is are we going to let the market work, or are we going to say, no, the taxpayers of the state of Montana have the obligation to provide this, said Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings. I guarantee you, if youre back next time, there will be another attempt, and it will be a bigger number and two years later, it will be a bigger number.

Friday's House floor debates took place against the backdrop of ongoing budget negotiations between members of the Legislature and the executive branch. Republican Gov. Greg Gianfortes proposed operating budget tops $16 billion over the next two years.

"This was a major opportunity to make Montanans' lives more affordable," House Minority Leader Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, said in a statement. "House Republicans failed. Their 55 'no' votes show how out of touch they are with just how expensive it's become to raise a family in Montana."
Government of Mexico announces $3.7 billion USD package for Fermaca Dreams

Lerdo, Durango  The Government of Mexico has announced a $3.7 billion USD package for a data centre and fertilizer plant in Durango. Marcelo Ebrard Casubon, the Secretary of Economy, says the money is being invested in company Fermaca Dreams.

Marcelo Ebrard Casubon

According to Ebrard, $2.7 billion will be allocated for the creation of Fermaca Digital City, a data center and $1 billion for the construction of Fermachem, a fertilizer production plant.

Fermaca Dreams is the holding company of a set of Mexican companies that make up a diversified group of businesses in various sectors such as telecommunications, transportation and energy.

Ebrard says for Fermaca Digital City, the creation of 1,900 direct and indirect jobs is projected for its construction and at least 100 for its operation. In Fermachem, it is estimated that it will generate 3,000 direct and indirect jobs and in its operation, 250 highly qualified permanent jobs.

Today we are proud to announce two important investments in the Mexico Plan recently announced by our President, said Fernando Calvillo, co-president of Grupo Fermaca Dreams.

As part of Plan Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo announced a $3.7 billion investment by the Mexican company Fermaca Dreams for the creation of two projects in Durango.

Fermaca Digital City, a data center with its own power generation and Fermachem, a plant for the production of green fertilizers which will contribute to food sovereignty and support for the Mexican countryside.

Fernando Calvillo

This $3.7 billion investment in this Data Center also includes its own power generation and the Fertilizer Production Plant, which is obviously in addition to the fertilizer production plants we are developing with Petroleos Mexicanos, she said.

In a video call, the governor of Durango, Esteban Villegas Villarreal explained that the Fermachem fertilizer plant will be constructed in the municipality of Lerdo, in the La Comarca Lagunera area. Meanwhile, the Fermaca Digital City data center will be located in the state capital and include four components.

A gas pipeline from Texas to Durango that increases the availability of gas for industry. A fiber optic line from the northern border to Queretaro with branches to Durango and Guadalajara, which will allow the establishment of companies that can support the technology with this digital infrastructure.

A combined cycle plant to produce energy through its own natural gas and a 250- megawatt hyperscale data center that will strengthen the technological infrastructure of the entire north of the country.

He said that both projects will contribute to national development by promoting innovation and the development of global solutions.

Durango has always dreamed big, and today I want to thank you, Madam President, for all your support, for your backing, the support of the Mexican government, its officials, and, of course, your personal support. Thank you for giving us the opportunity for Durango to be reborn and take its place in the historic moments our country is experiencing, he commented.

Fernando Calvillo of Grupo Fermaca Dreams announced that construction of the four components of Fermaca Digital City will begin in the coming weeks, and will be carried out simultaneously.

He explained that the gas pipeline will be 160 kilometers long, the fiber optic line will be 2,000 kilometers long and will interconnect digital activity hubs in Mexico with the United States.

The 250- megawatt data center will serve the needs of major global players in the digital industry, while the power generation plant will have a capacity of 350 megawatts, under a non-interconnected self-supply scheme.

Regarding Fermachem, the fertilizer plant, he explained that the goal is to produce 600,000 tons of urea annually for agricultural use, thereby reducing imports of this type of product. This is in addition to the Mexican governments efforts to contribute to food sovereignty and support the Mexican countryside.

Today we are proud to announce two important investments in the Plan Mexico recently announced by our President () On behalf of Fermaca, thank you very much, Madam President, Mr. Governor, thank you very much for receiving us in your state, Mr. Ebrard, thank you very much for the support you are giving to our projects and we stand hand in hand with you and your teams so that these projects will soon become tangible and become a reality, he said.
Head of SSC Tulum Jose Roberto Rodriguez Bautista dies after direct attack

Tulum, Q.R.  The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSC) of Tulum, Jose Roberto Rodriguez Bautista, has died. The head of the Tulum SSC died in a Playa del Carmen hospital after being shot several times Friday night.

Police say the attack happened in the La Veleta neighborhood of the town center around 8:30 p.m. when he and his bodyguard were fired upon. The Commander was driving an official police vehicle when was believed ambushed by his attackers. Police were notified of the attack through public 9-1-1 calls regarding a shooting on Avenida 5 Sur and Calle 11 with at least three injured.

At the scene they found one dead male, the alleged gunman, and two injured men, Rodriguez Bautista and his bodyguard. Both men were rushed to Tulum hospital. Captain Jose Roberto Rodriguez Bautista, head of the Tulum SSC, was transferred to a Playa del Carmen hospital where he died early Saturday morning.

According to sources, his death was confirmed at 12:18 a.m. at the Playa del Carmen General Hospital after being admitted in critical condition with three gunshot wounds, one of which was to the chest.

Rodriguez Bautista was initially taken to Tulum hospital, however, as his condition worsened, he was rushed to Playa del Carmen General around 10:36 p.m. Upon arrival, he suffered a heart attack in the hospitals emergency room from which he did not recover. There is no word on the health condition of his bodyguard.

Police say the deceased gunman found at the scene was one of two who fired upon Rodriguez Bautista and his bodyguard. The pair repelled the attack, killing one of the gunmen.

In an official statement late Friday, the Secretaria de Seguridad Ciudadana (SSC) of Quintana Roo said regarding the report of gunshots with injuries in the La Veleta neighborhood of Tulum, the Ministry of Citizen Security reports: at 8:30 p.m., a security operation was activated at the intersection of 5th Avenue and 11th Street in the municipality, where it was reported that at least three people had gunshot wounds.

Immediately, security personnel from all three levels of government moved to the area, where upon arrival they found the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Tulum, Jose Roberto Rodriguez Bautista, and his escort injured. After receiving medical attention on the scene, they were taken to a hospital.

A deceased person was also found at the scene. He was part of the group of attackers and was killed while repelling the attack. According to initial indications, the deceased was traveling with another individual on a motorcycle when they attacked Secretary Rodriguez Bautista and his bodyguard, who repelled the attack, resulting in his death.

On Saturday morning the State Attorney General (FGE) of Quintana Roo also released a statement.

The FGE is investigating an armed attack that killed the Secretary of Citizen Security of Tulum. The State Attorney Generals Office reports the initiation of an investigation following the events that occurred Friday night in the La Veleta neighborhood of Tulum which resulted in the unfortunate death of the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Tulum, Jose Roberto Rodriguez Bautista.

In addition to the official, another person died. Initial investigations link him to a criminal group that generated violence in the municipality, dedicated to the sale of narcotics.

After the attack, the police commander was taken in serious condition to a hospital for medical treatment, where despite efforts to save him, he died hours later.

This Social Representation, through the Specialized Prosecutors Office for Combating Homicide, is conducting the corresponding inquiries, as well as field forensic studies, legal autopsies, ballistics examinations, forensic medicine, and sodium rhodizonate testing, among others, in order to gather all the evidence of this attack, which will be integrated into the corresponding investigation file, in order to find those responsible.

Jose Roberto Rodriguez Bautista

This autonomous body reaffirms its commitment to working tirelessly, in coordination with authorities at all three levels of government, to find criminals and bring them to justice.
 Flash

The foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain on Friday jointly called for an immediate return to a ceasefire in Gaza.

"The resumption of Israeli strikes in Gaza marks a dramatic step backward for the people of Gaza, the hostages, their families and the entire region," the ministers said in a joint statement released late Friday evening, calling on "all parties to re-engage with negotiations to ensure the ceasefire is implemented in full and becomes permanent."

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which took effect on Jan. 19, has been largely held until Israel launched surprise airstrikes on Gaza on Tuesday.

Highlighting the hostilities between Israel and Hamas, the statement emphasized that "this conflict cannot be resolved through military means" and warned that "a return to fighting will only result in the deaths of more Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages."

Urging Israel to fully respect international law and allow the flow of aid into Gaza immediately, the ministers said: "Civilians should be protected and not be cut off from essential aid or assistance."

They also called on Israel to restore humanitarian access and ensure access to medical care and temporary medical evacuations under international humanitarian law.

Referring to UN employees, including European nationals, killed and injured during the deadly attack, the statement emphasized that UN personnel and its premises should be protected and never be a target. They demanded a full investigation into what happened.

"A long-lasting ceasefire is the only credible pathway toward a sustainable peace, a two-state solution and the reconstruction of Gaza," said the statement.
Suspects in Playa del Carmen arrests investigated for multiple Tulum murders

Tulum, Q.R.  Two men picked up in Playa del Carmen are believed responsible for at least four Tulum murders. On Thursday, police arrested three men they have identified as Julio Cesar N, William Alexander N and Fernando Camilo N, all accused of belonging to a criminal group.

According to authorities, Julio Cesar N, alias Chiquis and William Alexander N, alias Flaco, are both hitmen for a criminal group and likely responsible for murders in Tulum.

Julio Cesar N is believed responsible for a Tulum beach club shooting that happened on February 9, 2024 where a man nicknamed El Beliceno was killed. An American woman, a patron of the beach club, was also killed after being hit by stray bullets.

Police say El Beliceno was shot and killed for joining another criminal group. A woman was killed as a collateral victim in this incident, they said.

Julio Cesar N and William Alexander N are both being looked into for the murder of two Tulum taxi drivers. According to police, their bodies were found on September 20, 2024 on a dirt road. The taxis they were driving were also found in the same location.

Julio Cesar N and William Alexander N are under investigation for the February 14, 2025 murder of a man whose body was abandoned on a dirt road near a cenote. The reason why they took his life was because he was part of an opposing criminal group, police reported.

Fernando Camilo N, the third man in the Playa del Carmen arrest, had a rental property in his name that was used for the groups operations. Police say he was in charge of paying the rent.

All three, police say, are part of a criminal group causing violence in Tulum.
Traveler improvements: INM agrees to additional agents more e-Gates and free Wi-Fi at Cancun International

Cancun, Q.R.  The National Migration Institute (INM) has announced a series of measures to improve traveler service at the Cancun International Airport. The announcement came after a multi-level government meeting due to complaints.

Travelers into Cancun International have experienced slow moving lines and general inefficiency in the immigration entry processes, while others have reported mistreatment.

In a Friday INM meeting chaired by the Governor of Quintana Roo, Mara Lezama, actions were discussed to resolve the problems, one of which was the addition of 100 trained INM agents.

The INM (Instituto Nacional de Migracion) says they have also agreed to increase the number of e-Gates in three terminals and offer free Wi-Fi to the public.

To assess the current situation at Cancun International Airport, following instructions from Commissioner Francisco Garduno Yanez, officials from the National Migration Institute participated in a working meeting chaired by the Governor of Quintana Roo, Mara Lezama.

During the meeting, topics related to immigration assistance and the coordination of tasks to streamline the services provided to foreigners were discussed. During the meeting, the following points were agreed upon.

Staff Reinforcement: The INM will increase the AICUN staff with 100 additional Federal Immigration Agents, with the goal of covering the 110 checkpoints at the airports three terminals. In addition, training programs will be implemented to provide warm and friendly service to users.

Technological modernization: The number of Autonomous Immigration Screening (e-Gate) will be increased in the three terminals. As part of this effort, the Emergency Assistance Plan for Entry Registration was presented.

Free connectivity: Operation of the INMVITADOS platform, which offers free Wi-Fi to the public at the airport. Facility maintenance: The ASUR Group was asked to prioritize the maintenance of airport facilities, including space adaptation, cleaning, and repairs.

The Federal Government, through the Institute, works daily to improve the services and attention it offers to foreigners visiting our country, the INM said in a statement.
Contracts For March 3, 2025



Lockheed Martin Corp. a Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $126,994,246 modification (P00045) to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N0001922C0041). This modification exercises options to provide continued flight test support to include administrative, maintenance, and test preparation for training systems labs, flight test labs, and Autonomic Logistics Information System/Operational Data Integrated Network labs in support of testing of new capabilities for the F-35 air system for the Air Force, Navy, and non-U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) cooperative program partners. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (30%); Palmdale, California (26%); Patuxent River, Maryland (23%); Orlando, Florida (11%); San Diego, California (3%); Linthicum, Maryland (2%); Manchester, New Hampshire (2%); Los Angeles, California (1%); Samlesbury, United Kingdom (1%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (1%), and expected to be completed in March 2026. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance (Air Force) funds in the amount of $12,881,123; and non-U.S. DoD cooperative program partners in the amount of $2,868,878, will be obligated at the time of award, $12,881,123 of which expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Kira AAR Logistics Services JV LLC, Falls Church, Virginia, is awarded a not-to-exceed $98,000,000 firm fixed-price undefinitized indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for in-flight training and currency for Naval Aviators in support of E-6B Mercury pilot training. Work will be performed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is expected to be in completed March 2027. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0042125D0079).



Contracts For March 4, 2025



Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $99,964,084 modification (P00007) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N0001923D0015). This modification adds scope and increases the contract ceiling for compatibility assessments and engineering models, cost reduction analysis, software support, correction of software deficiencies and enhancements, service life extension analysis, and flight test supporting follow-on test and evaluation activities. in support sustainment efforts for the H-53 helicopter for the Marine Corps, Navy, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (97%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (3%), and is expected to be completed in March 2028. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Contracts For March 5, 2025



Compass Systems Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $25,373,304 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N0042125F0151) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N6833522G0012). This order provides for development, testing, and evaluation of command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance artificial intelligence, machine learning, and augmented reality technology maturation in support of Small Business Innovation Research Phase III Topic N201-015 titled, "Autonomous and Intelligent Aircraft Maintenance Technologies" for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Divisions (NAWCAD) Advanced Technology Development Department. Work will be performed in Chincoteague, Virginia (25%); Yuma, Arizona (20%) (labor surplus area); Lexington Park, Maryland (15%); Prosper, Texas (15%) (labor surplus area); Laurel, Maryland (15%); Virginia Beach, Virginia (5%); San Diego, California (2%); Tampa, Florida (2%); and Huachuca City, Arizona (1%), and is expected to be completed in March 2026. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,000,000 will be obligated at the time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This order was not competed. NAWCAD, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Textron Systems Corp., Hunt Valley, Maryland, is awarded a $15,068,510 modification (P00002) to a firm-fixed-price order (N0001924F0105) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001921G0008). This modification exercises options to continue to provide unmanned aircraft systems intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services in support of the Department of Defense, other government agencies, and domestic and overseas contingency operations for the Navy. Work will be performed in Hunt Valley, Maryland (20%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (80%), and is expected to be completed in March 2026. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $15,068,510 will be obligated at the time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The order that is being modified was competed via a limited sources competition. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Raytheon Co., Tucson, Arizona, is awarded an $11,807,983 modification (P00039) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N0001920C0071). This modification adds scope to procure operational flight software 9.15Y development in support of AIM-9X missile systems improvement program efforts for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed in January 2028. FMS customer funds in the amount of $11,807,983 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Tekla Research Inc., Dumfries, Virginia, is awarded an $8,000,000 modification (P00020) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N0042118D0015). This modification increases the contract ceiling to provide continued systems engineering and technical services in support of air and ship integration, systems safety, mass properties, survivability, manufacturing and quality, air platform stores integration, metrology and systems security engineering for various Naval Air programs. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (75.96%); Cherry Point, North Carolina (9.62%); Tucson, Arizona (4.81%); Lakehurst, New Jersey (1.92%); Ridgecrest, California (1.92%); Bangkok, Thailand (0.96%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (4.81%), and is expected to be completed April 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This modification was not competed. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Contracts For March 6, 2025



The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $33,204,464 firm-fixed-price order (N0001925F0280) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001921G0006). This order is for the production and delivery of 41 Distributed Targeting Processor-Networked (DTP-N) B Kits; five DTP-N B Kit Lab Assets; and nine Processor eXpress Mezzanine Cards, as well as provides associated cybersecurity, travel, and obsolescence for the DTP-N program in support of F-18 service life modifications for the Navy. Work will be performed in Melbourne, Florida (60%); and St. Louis, Missouri (40%), and is expected to be completed in April 2026. Fiscal 2025 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $33,204,464 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This order was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Contracts For March 7, 2025



No applicable data.



Contracts For March 10, 2025



No applicable data.



Contracts For March 11, 2025



L3 Technologies Inc., Herndon, Virginia, is awarded an $18,862,198 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N0001925F2268) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001924G0004). This order provides engineering support for the Acoustic System Performance Estimate Performance Computer Tool software development and sustainment in support of improving fleet operations on multiple platforms for the Navy. Work will be performed in Herndon, Virginia, and is expected to be completed in March 2030. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $800,000 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, is awarded a $7,508,976 modification (P00006) to a cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N0001924F0008) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001922G0006). This modification exercises an option to extend services to continue to provide engineering and logistics support services for the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Expeditionary/Medium Altitude Long Endurance in support of capability development and sustainment of the Marine Corps MQ-9A UAS. Work will be performed in Poway, California (42%); Indo-Pacific Command Theater (20%); Yuma, Arizona (13%); Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii (11%); Patuxent River, Maryland (7%); Cherry Point, North Carolina (7%); and Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (1%), and is expected to be completed in May 2025. Fiscal 2025 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,737,571; and fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $560,517, will be obligated at the time of award, $560,517 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification was competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Contracts For March 12, 2025



Sabre Systems LLC, Warrington, Pennsylvania, is awarded $14,000,000 modification (P00015) to a cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N0042120D0072). This modification increases the contract ceiling to provide continued digital transformation planning and execution to include enterprise alignment; technology exploration, acceleration and integration; digital and information technology (IT) consultation; business intelligence; application portfolio management; system integration; enterprise architecture design and management; web management; Navy Marine Corps Intranet and Next Generation Enterprise Network program management; IT operations; cybersecurity; information assurance; cloud services; maintenance functions; network security; automated data processing support services; digital modeling and virtual environment support; talent management; change management; data analytics and integration; and business process management and improvement in support for the Naval Air Systems Command Digital Transformation Department. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be complete by November 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award, funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This modification was completed. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Foster Miller, doing business as QinetiQ North America, Waltham, Massachusetts, is awarded an $11,310,230 firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00174-21-D-0019) to exercise Option Year Four for production, engineering support, and post-production support of the MK 2 Man Transportable Robotic System series systems and Talon systems. The scope includes production of systems, depot level repair parts, initial spares kits, consumables, repair parts, and approved accessories. The location of the work to be performed will be determined on individual task orders and is expected to be completed by March 2026. No funds are being obligated at the time of modification award. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Contracts For March 13, 2025



Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, California, is awarded a $267,165,000 modification (P00068) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, fixed-price incentive (firm-target) contract (N0001919C0008). This modification adds scope for the production and delivery of two Navy MQ-4C Triton unmanned air systems and one Navy Main Operating Base, as well as associated support, related technical, and administrative data in support of low-rate initial production Lot Seven. Additionally, this modification procures MQ-4C spare parts for the government of Australia. Work will be performed in Rancho Bernardo, California (36.82%); Palmdale, California (14.11%); Red Oak, Texas (11.15%); Salt Lake City, Utah (5.57%); San Deigo, California (4.48%); Bridgeport, West Virginia (4.33%); Indianapolis, Indiana (3.81%); Moss Point, Mississippi (2.4%); rolling meadows, Illinois (2.07%); Whippany, New Jersey (1.41%); Waco, Texas (1.17%); Baltimore, Maryland (1.14%); various locations within the continental U.S. (10.38%); and various location outside the continental U.S. (1.16%), and is expected to be completed in October 2028. Fiscal 2024 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $265,807,120; and Royal Australian Air Force Cooperative Funds in the amount of $1,357,880, will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



CJW Contractors Inc., Herndon, Virginia, is awarded a $10,149,999 firm-fixed-price task order (N4008025F0229) for renovation of Building 1500 at Naval Support Facility Dahlgren. Work will be performed in Dahlgren, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by November 2026. Fiscal 2025 working capital fund (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $10,149,999 will be obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Eight proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Washington, Public Works Department South Potomac, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40080-24-D-0007).



Champion Aerospace LLC, Liberty, South Carolina, is awarded a $9,409,716 firm-fixed-price modification (P00002) to a previously awarded contract (N0001923C0050). This modification exercises an option to procure a total of 240 transformer rectifier units (116 for the Navy, 72 for the government of Australia, and 52 for the government of Kuwait), in support of Growler capability modifications and Super Hornet Block III modifications for the F/A-18 E/F fleet and EA-18G squadrons. Work will be performed in Liberty, South Carolina, and is expected to be completed in September 2027. Fiscal 2025 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,548,029; and Foreign Military Sales customer funds in the amount of $4,861,686, will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Bell Boeing Joint Program Office, Amarillo, Texas, is awarded a $7,675,870 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00079) to a previously awarded contract (N0001917C0015). This modification increases the contract ceiling to provide continued post-production over and above repairs for the MV-22 common configuration readiness and modernization retrofit program for the Marine Corps. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, and is expected to be completed in July 2026. Fiscal 2025 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,003,370; fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $292,500; and fiscal 2024 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,380,000, will be obligated at the time of award, $292,500 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Contracts For March 14, 2025



No applicable data.



Contracts For March 17, 2025



No applicable data.



Contracts For March 18, 2025



No applicable data.



Contracts For March 19, 2025



No applicable data.



Contracts For March 20, 2025



The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $101,425,718 firm-fixed-price order (N0001925F0185) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001921G0006). This order is for the production and delivery of 96 Trailing Edge Flap (TEF) Retrofit Redesign shipsets, to include 96 each left hand and right hand TEFs, for retrofit into F/A-18E/F and EA-18G aircraft. Work will be performed in Hazelwood, Missouri (9.3%); South Gate, California (3.8%); Long Island, New York (7.9%); Hot Spring, Arizona (3.4%); Paramount, California (3.0%); Edgewood, Maryland (2.3%); Tulsa, Oklahoma (1.1%); Salt Lake City, Utah (1.0%); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (16%); and St. Louis, Missouri (52.2%), and is expected to be completed in June 2030. Fiscal 2024 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $51,142,648; and fiscal 2025 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $50,283,070, will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This order was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Aery Aviation LLC, Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $52,621,557 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides contracted air services (CAS) support. The CAS program has a requirement for contractor owned and contractor operated electronic warfare jet services. These aircraft are used to simulate a wide variety of airborne threats to train and test/evaluate shipboard and aircraft squadron weapon systems operators and aircrew on how to conduct Fleet air defense and counter potential enemy electronic warfare and electronic attack operations in today's electronic combat environment. This support is provided in a variety of venues, from basic "schoolhouse" air intercept control training to large multinational exercises or small, single unit training exercises, including target/banner tow missions. The work will be performed in San Diego, California (50%); and Virginia Beach, Virginia (50%), and is expected to be completed May 2027. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0042125D0081).



Northrup Grumman Systems Corp., Melbourne, Florida, is awarded a $33,609,725 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N0001924F0571, P00003) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001920G0005). The purpose of this modification is to provide continued support to E-2D Advanced Hawkeye transition efforts from production to sustainment. Work will be performed in Liverpool, New York (83.44%); Carson, California (1.96%); Edgewood, New York (4.46%); Aire-Sur-L'Adour, France (4.13%); Menlo Park, California (1.88%); and various other locations less than one percent each (4.13%), and is expected to be complete May 2029. Fiscal 2023 aircraft procurement, Navy funds in the amount of $33,609,725 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a not to exceed $18,555,398 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for the procurement of engineering, training, and technical services for the Navy and various Foreign Military Sales customers. The services provided are in support of Harpoon and Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response Missile, Encapsulated Harpoon Command and Launch Systems, Advanced Harpoon Weapon Control System, Harpoon Coastal Defense System, Harpoon Coastal Defense Cruise Missile System, Encapsulated Support and the Harpoon Shipboard Command Launch Control System. Work will be performed in Saint Charles, Missouri, and is expected to be in completed December 2027. No funds will be obligated at the time of award, funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0001925D0012).



L3 Technologies Inc., L-3 Telemetry and Radio Frequency Products, San Diego, California, is awarded an $11,790,014 modification (P00021) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N0001921C0064). This modification exercises an option for the production and delivery of 179 modernized radios. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed in March 2027. Fiscal 2024 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $6,784,198; and fiscal 2025 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,005,816, will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Contracts For March 21, 2025



Bell Boeing Joint Program Office, Amarillo, Texas, is awarded a $590,000,000 fixed-price incentive (firm-target) undefinitized modification (P00080) to a previously awarded contract (N0001917C0015). This modification adds scope for the production and delivery of five CMV-22B aircraft for the Navy. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (30.08%); Ridley Park, Pennsylvania (15.22%); Amarillo, Texas (12.73%);Red Oak, Texas (3.33%); East Aurora, New York (2.55%); Park City, Utah (2.20%); McKinney, Texas (1.33%); Endicott, New York (1.15%); various other locations within the continental U.S. (27.49%); and various other locations outside of the continental U.S. (3.92%), and is expected to be completed in January 2028. Fiscal 2024 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $132,100,000 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.



Lockheed Martin Corp., Missiles and Fire Control, Archbald, Pennsylvania, is awarded a $17,471,428 modification (P00004) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N0001924C0004). This modification adds scope for the production and delivery of 2590 laser guided training rounds and associated non-recurring engineering for the Navy and Marine Corps. Work will be performed in Archbald, Pennsylvania, and is expected to be completed April 2027. Fiscal 2025 procurement of ammunition (Navy and Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $14,732,515; fiscal 2024 procurement of ammunition (Navy and Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $2,256,342; and fiscal 2023 procurement of ammunition (Navy and Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $482,570, will be obligated at the time of award, $482,570 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Warships engage in replenishment-at-sea training

China Military Online) 12:04, March 22, 2025

Comprehensive supply ship Qiandaohu (hull 886) and guided-missile destroyer Nanjing (hull 155) attached to a flotilla under the Chinese PLA Navy conduct alongside replenishment at sea during a training exercise on March 4, 2025. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Liu Bo)

Comprehensive supply ship Qiandaohu (hull 886) and guided-missile destroyer Nanjing (hull 155) attached to a flotilla under the Chinese PLA Navy conduct alongside replenishment at sea during a training exercise on March 4, 2025. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Liu Bo)

Comprehensive supply ship Qiandaohu (hull 886) and guided-missile destroyer Nanjing (hull 155) attached to a flotilla under the Chinese PLA Navy conduct alongside replenishment at sea during a training exercise on March 4, 2025. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Liu Bo)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
 Flash

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R), also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, shakes hands with Cho Tae-yul, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (ROK), during their meeting ahead of the 11th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)



Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday met with Cho Tae-yul, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (ROK) in Tokyo, ahead of the 11th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting scheduled for Saturday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, noted that China and the ROK are inseparable neighbors and partners.

China's policy toward the ROK remains stable, Wang said, adding no matter how the domestic situation in the ROK changes, we will always adhere to good-neighborliness and friendship between the two countries.

We hope that the ROK side will uphold the original intention of establishing diplomatic ties, pursue a positive and friendly policy toward China, and work with China to push the China-ROK strategic cooperative partnership toward the right direction and make respective contributions to regional and world peace and prosperity, Wang added.

Wang also introduced the economic and social development goals set at China's "two sessions" this year, stressing that China's economy maintains strong growth and resilient vitality and will continue to bring new opportunities to countries including the ROK with high-quality development.

Noting the ROK and China will host the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting this year and next year respectively, Wang said both sides should implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and support each other in hosting the events.

Wang said that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the entry into force of the China-ROK Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the two countries should speed up the second phase of negotiations on the FTA and strive to reach an agreement at an early date.

Both China and the ROK are beneficiaries and defenders of free trade, Wang stated, saying in the face of unilateralism and bullying, the two countries should jointly oppose acts of "decoupling" and maintain the stability and smooth operation of the global supply chain and industrial chain.

For his part, Cho congratulated China on the successful holding of the annual sessions of its top legislature and top political advisory body and wished China new achievements in the process of modernization.

The ROK attaches great importance to bilateral cooperation and cherishes the current sound momentum of improvement and development in ROK-China relations, Cho said, noting they are willing to take the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and other opportunities to strengthen high-level exchanges and cooperation between the two sides, expand exchanges at local levels, parliaments, youth, culture and other fields, and enhance friendly feelings between the two peoples.

The current international situation is turbulent and unstable, and the ROK is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China to jointly safeguard regional peace and stability, Cho added.

The two sides also exchanged views on China-Japan-ROK cooperation, the situation on the Korean Peninsula and other issues of common concern.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250322/deja-vu-france-reportedly-mulls-rehash-of-us-tax-threat-blunders-1121669151.html

Deja Vu? France Reportedly Mulls Rehash of US Tax Threat Blunders

Deja Vu? France Reportedly Mulls Rehash of US Tax Threat Blunders

Sputnik International

France is urging the EU to consider using its Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI) against the US if President Donald Trump imposes retaliatory tariffs on trading partners starting April 2, Bloomberg reports. The European Commission is not yet considering this move, pending a US announcement.

2025-03-22T14:17+0000

2025-03-22T14:17+0000

2025-03-22T14:21+0000

world

france

washington

european union (eu)

russia

donald trump

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A 25% US tariff on steel and aluminum imports took effect on March 12. The EU plans counter-tariffs on $28 billion worth of US goods, including a 50% duty on American whiskey, starting in April. Trump has criticized EU non-tariff barriers, calling April 2 "Liberation Day." What is the ACI? The last time France tried  and FAILED  to tax the US was in 2019, when it proposed a levy on digital services, specifically on Google, Amazon, Facebook*, and Apple. Known as the "GAFA tax" (after the initials of the US tech giants), it was intended to target companies that profit heavily from the French market, but pay minimal taxes in France. What happened: The US saw the move as discriminatory and unfair, aimed solely at American companies. Washington threatened to impose tariffs on French goods, including items like wine and cheese. France backed down, agreeing to temporarily suspend the tax until an international agreement on taxing digital services at the global level could be hammered out. * Banned in Russia for extremism

https://sputnikglobe.com/20250211/eu-steel-industry-faces-dire-future-as-us-tariffs-escalate-trade-war-1121556163.html

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us tax, president donald trump, retaliatory tariffs
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250322/eu-defense-industry-is-fragmented--reduced-to-bonsai-size--expert----1121667100.html

EU Defense Industry is Fragmented & Reduced to 'Bonsai Size'  Expert

EU Defense Industry is Fragmented & Reduced to 'Bonsai Size'  Expert

Sputnik International

It will take a lot of time before the EU can hope to match the production volume of the US defense industry, according to Jacques Sapir, director of studies at the EHESS in Paris.

2025-03-22T10:18+0000

2025-03-22T10:18+0000

2025-03-22T10:49+0000

analysis

military & intelligence

jacques sapir

european union (eu)

nato

https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e9/03/16/1121667480_0:162:3065:1886_1920x0_80_0_0_c5e2ee88b258378987777e19eb67fdbe.jpg

It will take a lot of time before the EU can hope to match the production volume of the US defense industry, even if the bloc doesn't want to replicate all the range of its weaponry, Jacques Sapir, director of studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, told Sputnik. NATO will ask European allies and Canada to boost their stocks of weaponry and equipment by about 30% in the next few years, Bloomberg reported earlier, citing a senior alliance official. After a series of discussions, new targets for the military capabilities of NATO allies will purportedly be adopted sometime in early June, when the alliances defense ministers gather in Brussels. However, reaching such new levels would demand a hefty financial commitment from most European allies and Canada, while US spending would remain unchanged, officials noted.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20250307/germany-doesnt-have-money-for-merzs-defense-boost--ex-afd-mep-1121623076.html

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can the eu match the production volume of the us defense industry, is the us defense industry much more developed than that of the eu
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250322/george-soros-funneled-76-million-to-one-of-five-groups-targeting-tesla--1121665926.html

George Soros Funneled $7.6 Million to One of Five Groups Targeting Tesla

George Soros Funneled $7.6 Million to One of Five Groups Targeting Tesla

Sputnik International

Elon Musk claims five radical groups are behind the coordinated vandalism attacks on Tesla properties as part of the campaign against the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) .

2025-03-22T10:03+0000

2025-03-22T10:03+0000

2025-03-22T10:51+0000

us

elon musk

soros

george soros

tesla

open state foundation (osf)

tesla

americas

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Elon Musk claims five radical groups are behind the coordinated vandalism attacks on Tesla properties as part of the campaign against the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) .1. Indivisible ProjectThe Washington-based non-profit received over $7.6 million from George Soros Open Society Foundations (OSF) between 2017 and 2023, according to the New York Post. It coordinated a cross-country protest against Musk, empowering grassroots affiliates to stop the Trump-Musk coup, according to its website. Posted a toolkit for a Musk or US March Recess demonstration; included graphics for signs reading: GTFO Musk and Fire Elon Musk. 2. Democratic Socialists of America The group has posted videos of its members protesting outside Tesla buildings and made anti-Musk posts on its various social media platforms. 3. Disruption Project The Philadelphia-based group, together with the Action Network, has helped organize a Tesla Takedown last month, encouraging consumers to sell your Teslas; Dump your stock. 4. Rise & Resist The New York-based group organized protests against Musk, published a social media toolkit on its website linked to a Tesla Takedown. 5. Troublemakers The Seattle-based environmental organization has been involved in the Tesla Takedown events at Tesla dealerships. On their website they urge people to dump Tesla stock and claim Hurting Tesla is stopping Musk.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20241113/newly-created-us-doge-department-to-operate-with-maximum-transparency---musk-1120871335.html

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george soros, who is soros, who funded attacks on tesla, why are tesla properties being vandalized, who is targeting tesla vehicles and charging stations
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250322/how-europe-is-preparing-its-populous-for-war-with-russia-1121668742.html

How Europe is Preparing Its Populace for Far-Fetched 'Conflict' With Russia

How Europe is Preparing Its Populace for Far-Fetched 'Conflict' With Russia

Sputnik International

Despite special envoy Steve Witkoff's rejection of preposterous fears of a Russian invasion of Europe, and Donald Trump's confidence that Russias not a threat to NATO, US allies in Europe up to hundreds of kilometers from Russia are preparing their publics for the worst.

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2025-03-22T14:26+0000

2025-03-24T09:17+0000

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donald trump

russia

ukraine

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european union (eu)

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Poland: This week, Polands Interior Ministry called on citizens to prepare three-day food, water, medicine, lighting, power bank and radio survival kits.France: Plans to issue a survival manual for national emergencies, containing similar preparedness advice. Officials have made conflicting claims on the documents purpose: while a prime ministerial spokesperson has indicated the manual would include crises involving armed conflict, officials in the defense department assure the booklet is absolutely not about preparing for the prospect of war.Sweden: Updated its If Crises or War Comes manual in November, with similar advice on stockpiling (for at least a week) plus other tips, like what to do in an air raid. Booklet delivered to all households from 1943-1991 and again starting in 2018.Finland: Published a new online Preparing for Incidents and Crises guide the same month, including what to do in a military emergency.Germany: Updated its Guide for Emergency Preparedness and Correct Action in Emergency Situations in 2022, with tips like creating a grab bag for emergency evacuations. Accompanied by Berlins delivery of over 12.6B ($13.7B) in arms aid to Ukraine, updated war plans, a huge boost in defense spending, and murmuring by officials about reintroducing conscription.Denmark: Revised its Prepare for Crises guidebook in 2024. Includes basic survival skills, shelter, safety and communication tips for wartime.Norway: Sent an new How to contribute to Norways emergency preparedness guide in fall 2024 to 2+ million households. Supplies recommendations increased from three days to one week.Italy: Launched an IT-Alert public warning system in 2024 to go along with its 2021 revised emergencies and civil defense guide.UK: Last updated its Prepare for Emergencies campaign in 2019. Chief of Defense Staff Tony Radakin announced late last year that Britain was having conversations with NATO colleagues on updating it, and making direct reference to Ukraine. Deterrence doesnt start at the barrel of a gun. It starts with a society that can muster a credible answer to the threat of an armed attack, he said. Radakin, incidentally, has also been a top cheerleader for the proxy war in Ukraine, and for putting British troops in the country - a move Russia has warned could lead to disaster.Lithuania: Updated its LT72 emergency prep website and guides, including stockpiling and sheltering in place advice and advice against collaborating with the enemy, in 2023.Bulgaria: Planning a NATO Emergency Management Exercise in September 2025, ostensibly to improve bloc disaster response and management capabilities. Has its own BG-Alert system and civil defense guidebooks.Romania: Implemented a RO-Alert system, and updated its National Civil Protection Strategy (2021-2024).EU: Standardized EU-Alert system created in late 2018, mandated since June 2022, last updated in June 2023. Includes security-related emergencies, including armed conflicts, and instructions on evacuation, shelter, safety and emergency procedures.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20250322/new-evidence-of-ukrainian-crimes-in-russias-sudzha-found---investigative-committee---1121665788.html

New Evidence of Ukrainian Crimes in Russia's Sudzha Found - Investigative Committee

New Evidence of Ukrainian Crimes in Russia's Sudzha Found - Investigative Committee

Sputnik International

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia's Investigative Committee has received new evidence of war crimes by Ukrainian forces in the Sudzha district of Russias Kursk... 22.03.2025, Sputnik International

2025-03-22T08:51+0000

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2025-03-22T10:52+0000

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russian investigative committee

investigative committee

kursk

ukraine

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The investigation has found that a resident of the Sudzha district village of Zaoleshenka was killed by a Ukrainian soldier in August 2024 while riding a bicycle. In addition, a resident of the village of Kazachya Loknya reported to investigators about the brutal torture and murder of a Russian soldier by Ukrainian troops on August 21, 2024.In the same village, on August 7, Ukrainian soldiers who invaded Russian territory shot a local residents husband in the back while he was heading to a grocery store.Moreover, on January 19, 2025, a woman died as a result of a shell being dropped by Ukrainian forces on a house in Sudzha.The investigation will continue to work on establishing the circumstances of the crimes by Ukrainian forces until all those involved are held to criminal responsibility, Petrenko added.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20250220/russian-woman-describes-how-she-couldnt-bury-her-mother-due-to-ukrainian-shelling---1121590137.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20250322/russian-forces-strike-two-ukrainian-brigades-in-sumy-region-1121668082.html

Russian Forces Strike Two Ukrainian Brigades in Sumy Region

Russian Forces Strike Two Ukrainian Brigades in Sumy Region

Sputnik International

Russian Battlegroup Sever in the Belgorod region has eliminated the formations of two Ukrainian brigades in Sumy region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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2025-03-22T11:18+0000

russia's special operation in ukraine

belgorod

russia

ukraine

russian defense ministry

ukrainian armed forces

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Russia's Battlegroup Sever struck a Ukrainian mechanized brigade and territorial defense brigade in the Belgorod region. The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 95 servicemen, one tank, two armored combat vehicles, 14 cars, and six artillery pieces.Battlegroup Dnepr eliminated up to 85 Ukrainian soldiers, 12 motor vehicles, two field artillery guns, and an ammunition depot, the statement read.Russia's Battlegroup Vostok destroyed over 165 Ukrainian troops, a tank, and three ammunition depots.Battlegroup Zapad eliminated over 220 Ukrainian soldiers, two armored fighting vehicles, and an ammunition depot. Ukraine also lost up to 315 soldiers, five armored vehicles, four artillery guns, and an ammunition depot in battles with Battlegroup Yug.Ukrainian forces have been trying to penetrate the Belgorod region this week, launching five attacks on the region on Tuesday. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the provocation involved up to 200 Ukrainian servicemen and 29 pieces of equipment, including five tanks. All enemy attacks were repulsed, and no crossing of the state border was allowed.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20250322/sudzha-gas-pumping-station-attack-european-provocation-or-ukraines-resistance-to-peace---1121666882.html

Sudzha Gas Pumping Station Attack: European Provocation or Ukraines Resistance to Peace?

Sudzha Gas Pumping Station Attack: European Provocation or Ukraines Resistance to Peace?

Sputnik International

The Ukrainian Army is increasingly divided, with one faction still operating normally, while the other is spiraling out of control, French war correspondent Laurent Brayard said, commenting on the recent attack on the Sudzha gas pumping station in Russias Kursk region.

2025-03-22T09:06+0000

2025-03-22T09:06+0000

2025-03-22T11:16+0000

world

volodymyr zelensky

vladimir putin

ukraine

russia

kursk

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"Ukrainians, with the Bandarization of the country, are following a logic of revenge and hatred, and there is an uncontrollable side to it," he said. If peace negotiations occur, there is a threat of uprisings within Ukraine itself, Laurent Brayard stressed. Turkish historian Mehmet Perincek sees the attack as a European provocation to prolong the war. French journalist Christelle Neant and Saudi military analyst Faisal Al-Anzi argue that Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure are deliberate provocations aimed at derailing peace efforts, with Ukraine failing to respect agreements. Brazilian analyst Marco Antonio Coutinho emphasizes the devastating impact of these attacks on peace negotiations, discrediting Volodymyr Zelensky's intentions and inflicting damage on neighboring countries that depend on Russian gas. Argentine expert Juan Venturino concludes that Ukraines defeat in the conflict is inevitable, but Kiev continues to resist peace talks, resulting in unnecessary suffering. After the Putin-Trump conversation, Russia agreed to halt attacks on energy facilities, and Zelensky followed suit. However, the next day, Ukrainian troops targeted an oil pumping station in Russia's Krasnodar region. The Sudzha attack marks the second violation.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20250322/new-evidence-of-ukrainian-crimes-in-russias-sudzha-found---investigative-committee---1121665788.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20250322/terrorists-in-niger-use-ukrainian-mortars-to-attack-government-forces--reports-1121665060.html

Terrorists in Niger Use Ukrainian Mortars to Attack Government Forces  Reports

Terrorists in Niger Use Ukrainian Mortars to Attack Government Forces  Reports

Sputnik International

Nigerien forces discovered MP-120 Molot 120mm mortars and Ukrainian-language manuals at positions held by Jama'at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM)* terrorists, Journal du Niger reported.

2025-03-22T01:08+0000

2025-03-22T01:08+0000

2025-03-22T05:09+0000

africa

niger

ukraine

jama'a nusrat ul-islam wa al-muslimin (jnim)

terrorist group

terrorist attack

terrorism

terrorists

ukrainian crisis

ukrainian-made weapons

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On March 17, 2025, JNIM militants shelled Nigerien forces near Makalondi in the Tillaberi region using 120mm Ukrainian mortars. Two days later, a similar attack targeted a military base near Mossipaga. These marked the first known instances of terrorists using Ukrainian-made mortars against Nigerien troops, the report said. Military sources confirmed casualties and significant infrastructure damage, according to Journal du Niger.On Friday, terrorists killed 44 civilians in southwestern Niger, prompting the government to declare three days of national mourning, the Interior Ministry said.*terrorist organization banned in Russia

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Dave Menary trainees Century Jamila and Blue Pacific duked it out in the stretch with the former edging out the latter for a repeat score in the $36,000 Fillies & Mares Preferred Pace on Friday, March 21 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Fresh off a successful debut in the Mares Preferred class two weeks ago, Century Jamila lowered her season's record to 1:52.3 in another close finish, this time with her stablemate in the win photo.

Glenboro flashed her usual early gate speed for driver Travis Cullen as she blasted off the outer wing and crossed to command over Century Jamila and Louis-Philippe Roy before 2-5 favourite Blue Pacific and Doug McNair swept to the top into the first turn. After a :27.4 first quarter, the field of a half dozen mares raced in single file led by Blue Pacific to the half in :56.3 then Roy made his move with Century Jamila advancing first-over through three-quarters in 1:24.3 to confront her barn buddy. Turning for home, the Menary trainees took off with Century Jamila collaring Blue Pacific in deep stretch for the victory.

Century Jamila, the 4-1 second choice, paid $10 to win. Millionairess So Much More, driven by James MacDonald, edged out Glenboro to show more than three lengths behind.

Owned by Pennsylvania's Pollack Racing, Century Jamila has now won four races in a row and is five-for-nine this year with seasonal earnings at $75,320. A career winner of 16 races, the five-year-old Bettors Delight-Exotic Pleasure mare has hit the board in 38 of her 61 starts and is closing in on the $300,000 mark in earnings.

The feature win was the first of four successful drives on the 11-race card for Roy.

Perfect through a pair of preliminary legs of a conditioned Pop-Up Series for pacing fillies and mares, Coz Im Special and Charmbo Stormy met in the $35,000 finale on Friday, drawing opposite ends of the starting gate. Charmbo Stormy, driven by Roy, was the slight favourite and landed on the lead after being parked past three-eighths from post 10 before inside starter Coz Im Special and McNair worked their way from third position to first and drew off by 3-1/4 lengths for the 1:53.1 season's best victory.

The series sweep lifted her lifetime earning over the $250,000 mark. The seven-year-old Mystery Chase-Cozamel mare is currently trained by McNair's father, Gregg, and is owned by Rick Rier of Hanover, Ont.

This Pop-Up Series was for female pacers that were non-winners of $30,000 or not averaging $1,700 per start in 2024 with a minimum of 15 starts.

Live harness racing resumes at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday before Mohawk will be taking its scheduled March break next week.

To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.

(Standardbred Canada)
Using an eye-popping qualifier six days ago as a prep, Flight Landing was a dominant winner in his first pari-mutuel outing in a month on Friday, March 21 at The Meadowlands, taking the night's featured $22,143 conditioned trot in 1:54.1.

We purchased him on ongait.com, said winning trainer Joe Bongiorno of the horse who first qualified for his new barn in mid-February. We gave him some time off after the purchase and brought him back. He had a little issue in his first start [a rough ninth-place finish] so we gave him some time to get that sorted out and hes been a different horse since.

Flight Landing was sent to the gate on Friday as the 5-2 second choice in the wagering despite his 1:53.1 qualifier on March 15, which was one and two-fifths of a second faster than race rival Maximum Exposures clocking of 1:54.3 in his last pari-mutuel start, a time that was faster than any of the other horses had gone in any of their recent listed lines.

Driver Mark Herschberger did what he was expected to do and put Flight Landing, a four-year-old son of Tactical Landing-Fly Fly Selena, on the lead. There was never an anxious moment for the winner, who cut out fractions of :28, :56.1 and 1:24.3 on the way to a 1-1/2-length score. Striking Tactful (Johnathan Ahle), a 20-1 outsider, sat a three-hole trip behind the pocket-sitting Maximum Exposure (Jim Pantaleano) and out-kicked that one in the race for place.

He was coming off a sharp qualifier and Joe crossed his Ts and dotted his Is here, said Herschberger. He raced big. Its a pleasure sitting behind Joes horses. I heard [the rest of the field] coming [in deep stretch] but they were too far back. He was waiting for them but he was in hand.

He definitely has high speed, said Bongiorno. Its just a matter of keeping him within himself.

A Grand Circuit stakes-placed trotter as a rookie for his former trainer Dustin Jones, Flight Landing now has three wins from 25 career outings, but is one-for-two since being acquired by owner Canarsie Stable of Bayville, New Jersey.

Dave Miller, the leading driver at The Big M during 2024 with 106 wins, was red hot on Friday night, registering five wins on the card, which vaulted him past Jason Bartlett into second place in the driver standings at the mile oval. The man in the purple colours became just the second reinsman this year at The Meadowlands to win five times on a card twice, joining Bartlett, who has done it three times (which includes a six-win night). The current standings have Brett Beckwith leading the way with 43 victories, followed by Miller (38) and Bartlett (37).

Winning 20-cent Survivor Pick-7 players shrewd enough to have $66 winner Sailors Shadow in the fifth race had a nice night to say the least. It only took having the first five winners to cash in for $5,904.66. The sequence had winners' odds of 3-1, 5-2, 32-1, 3-2 and 1-2.

All-source handle totalled $2,645,674 USD on the 14-race card.

Racing resumes Saturday at 6:20 p.m. The Jake Leamon-trained Mad Max Hanover shoots for his fifth straight win in the 10th race feature.

(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)
 Flash

An event celebrating multiethnic unity was held in Beijing on Wednesday to mark the 2025 Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Week, which began on March 17. During the activity, which was hosted by the National Ethnic Affairs Commission (NEAC), 24 diplomatic envoys from 15 countries visited the Chinese Nation Community Experience Hall in Beijing, gaining firsthand insights into China's ethnic policies and cultural diversity.

The Five-Year Plan of Action on Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (2023-2027) highlights the importance of promoting cooperation in ethnic affairs. In line with this objective, the NEAC has actively implemented the action plan by fostering experience exchange and practical collaboration among LMC countries. To date, it has organized multiple training sessions for ethnic affairs officials, bringing together over 80 participants from the five Mekong River countries.

Duansib Padmasundara Cullen, minister counselor of the Thai Embassy in China, takes part in a craft activity, Beijing, March 19, 2025. [Photo by Xu Xiaoxuan/China.org.cn]

During the event, Duansib Padmasundara Cullen, minister counselor of the Thai Embassy in China, emphasized the shared cultural bonds among LMC countries. "Our LMC countries share many similarities in aspects such as art, craft, tradition and even clothing. The Mekong River bonds us as a family," she said, adding that the mechanism provides valuable opportunities for sharing experiences and best practices.

Cullen highlighted the importance of cultural exchange and people-to-people connectivity in strengthening regional cooperation. "Visa-free policies between China and many LMC countries make it easier for people to meet each other," she said.

As this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand, the minister counselor expressed optimism that the strong foundation built over the past decades would continue to yield fruitful outcomes.

Fazeel Najeeb, ambassador of the Maldives to China, Beijing, March 19, 2025. [Photo by Xu Xiaoxuan/China.org.cn]

Fazeel Najeeb, ambassador of the Maldives to China, spoke highly of China's efforts to promote unity among its diverse ethnic groups.

"I think this is a fantastic tour today. It gives us insights into how the Chinese government ensures that all ethnic groups are included in building the nation. It's truly inspirational," he said.

Najeeb noted that China's ability to unify diverse populations is one of its strengths, adding that the Chinese government recognizes the importance of the unity of different ethnic groups, which is conducive to promoting Chinese modernization. He also called China's multiethnic landscape a "tremendous richness."

Mario Alzugaray Rodriguez, deputy head of mission of the Cuban Embassy in China, has lived in China for 15 years and speaks fluent Chinese. Reflecting on the exhibition in the hall, he remarked that despite some ethnic groups living in remote areas, the Chinese government has made every effort to raise their standard of living.

"The Communist Party of China puts people first, bringing all 56 ethnic groups together for the well-being and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," he said.

Sharing his personal experience, Rodriguez noted that Xinjiang cuisine is a favorite in his household, illustrating the rich cultural diversity that he has come to appreciate during his time in China.

Nur Evi Rahmawati, minister counsellor of the Indonesian Embassy in China, highlighted the similarities between China and Indonesia in terms of ethnic diversity.

"There are 56 ethnic groups in China. It represents the diversity of culture in China. All across China, you can experience the rich culture," she said. "Similarly, Indonesia has more than 300 ethnic groups. I think it's good that countries with different cultures share best practices on how we can make this a factor to strengthen a country rather than divide it."

Rahmawati noted that Indonesia's national motto is "Unity in Diversity." She pointed out that this concept is also evident in China, where despite cultural differences, the nation remains unified.

Claudiu Mihail Florian, minister of the Romanian Embassy in China, poses for a photo with two Pingju opera performers, Beijing, March 19, 2025. [Photo by Xu Xiaoxuan/China.org.cn]

Claudiu Mihail Florian, minister of the Romanian Embassy in China, echoed these sentiments, emphasizing that the mark of a strong nation lies in respecting and being respected by its ethnic minorities, and China serves as an example. "The 56 ethnic groups in China are a treasure, and being conscious of this treasure is very wise," he said.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Armada 7805, similar to the 7806 vessel that will support the new MH370 search. Credit: Ocean Infinity

More than 11 years after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the Malaysian government has approved a new search for the missing debris of the aircraft.

Malaysia announced the push for a renewed search last year, 10 years after the tragedy that claimed the lives of 239 people.

Seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which conducted an unsuccessful search in 2018, prepared a new proposal to which Malaysia's government agreed in principle in December last year.

Now, the company has returned to the southern Indian Ocean 1,500 kilometers west of Perthwith a suite of new high-tech tools.

A search area the size of Sydney

Ocean Infinity is involved in projects surveying for offshore oil and gas reserves, and for suitable locations for offshore renewable energy projects.

But it has also proved it is capable of locating underwater wreckage in the past. For example, in 2018, the company found a missing Argentinian navy submarine nearly 1,000 meters underwater in the Atlantic Ocean. And last October, it found the wreck of a US Navy ship that had been underwater for 78 years.

The new search area for MH370 is roughly the size of metropolitan Sydney. It was identified in collaboration with experts based on refined analysis of information received after the aircraft disappeared. This information included weather, satellite data and the location of debris attributed to the aircraft which washed up along the coast of Africa and islands in the Indian Ocean.

For this search, Ocean Infinity will be using a new 78-meter offshore support vessel, the Armada 7806. It was built by Norwegian shipbuilder Vard in 2023.

Advanced sonar technology

The Armada 7806 is equipped with a fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles manufactured by the Norwegian firm Kongsberg.

These 6.2m-long vehicles are capable of operating independently of the support vessel at depths of up to 6,000m for up to 100 hours at a time. They are equipped with advanced sonar technology, including sidescan, synthetic aperture, multibeam and sub-bottom profiling sonar.

Sonar systems are essential for underwater mapping and object detection surveys. They use acoustic pulses to look for echoes from the seafloor.

Sidescan sonar captures high-resolution images of the seafloor by sending out pulses of sound and detecting objects that reflect the sound pulses back.

Synthetic aperture sonar is a technique for combining the results from multiple "pings" to effectively make the scanner bigger and more powerful, seeing further, and producing more detailed images.

Multibeam sonar, in contrast, maps the seafloor topography by emitting multiple sonar beams in a fan-shaped pattern below the platform.

Finally, sub-bottom profiling sonar operates at lower frequencies and penetrates the seabed to reveal underlying geological structures. This is useful for archaeological studies, sediment analysis and identifying buried objects.

Together, these sonar technologies provide complementary data for underwater exploration, search and recovery, and geological assessments.

Camera systems and lights on the vehicles may be used to confirm potential targets. Once a target of interest is detected using sonar, the vehicles would be programmed with missions designed to operate significantly closer to the seafloor. This would allow them to capture imagery of the search area with which to identify the targets.

Such a search would only be conducted once a target of interest is identified, as the area covered by each image is significantly smaller than that covered by sonar, therefore requiring much denser survey tracks.

Significant advancements in robotics

Since its previous search in 2018, Ocean Infinity has made significant advancements in its marine robotics and data analytics capabilities. It has demonstrated its capacity to simultaneously deploy multiple vehicles at depths of up to 6,000m.

This significantly increases the coverage area, as each vehicle covers its own patch of seafloor. This will allow for a more efficient and comprehensive survey of the designated search zone.

The data being collected by the vehicles will be downloaded once the vehicles are brought back onboard, and stitched together to provide detailed maps of the search areas.

Difficult conditions, above and below the surface

Conditions in the search region are expected to be difficult. Weather on the surface will likely provide challenges for the support vessel and the crew. Underwater vehicles will have to contend with complex conditions on the seafloor, including steep slopes and rough terrain.

The operation is expected to take up to 18 months. Weather conditions are most likely to be favorable between January and April.

If Ocean Infinity succeeds in finding the wreckage of MH370, the Malaysian government will pay it US$70 million.

The next steps would be trying to retrieve the plane's black boxes, which would enable investigators to piece together what happened in the final moments before the plane plunged into the ocean. The Armada 7806 is likely to have remotely operated vehicles onboard equipped with cameras and manipulator systems, which may be used to verify the wreck site and in any future salvage operations.

If Ocean Infinity fails, it will receive no payment. And the investigation into the location of the plane will essentially be back to square one.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Calhoun County farmer Monty Rast says he plans to pretty much do what most farmers are set on doing: "Cotton acres will be down, corn stable."

Row Crops Monty Rast and Madison Turnblad, who farm in Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties, spray lime on a field outside of Cordova in late February prepar

"Peanut acreage is trying to go up to whatever the buyers will allow," Rast said. "They are the only commodity paying in the blue zone. It is the only profitable crop you can grow."

Rast said he will grow peanuts in accordance with his rotation and will plan to plant corn on his irrigated land and cotton on the land that is left over. He has no plans to grow soybeans.

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He said soybeans 'are only marginal' and along with cotton will act as a 'default crop' this year.

Rast said inputs are generally stable though there has been a slight increase on corn seed.

"That is the problem," Rast said. "Input costs are too high. That is why no farmers are making any money. It is not the price of commodities. It is the price of inputs."

"It takes $800 to $1,000 an acre to grow peanuts, cotton and corn," he said, noting that includes all costs.

As far as tariffs, Rast said the U.S. is a net exporter of agriculture commodities to China.

"It is a negotiating tool," Rast said. "I don't think it will affect ag exports. China needs that food supply."

"I think there will be a tariff war for a little while but there will be a settlement with the countries and event out at a level all are happy with," Rast said.

Jeffrey Kaigler, who also farms in Calhoun County, is keeping things status quo on his farm -- about 1,000 acres of corn, 650 acres of peanuts, 800 to 1,000 acres of cotton and the rest will be soybeans.

"We are not going to fluctuate much one way or another," he said. "We are going to stick with we have been doing."

"Peanuts seem the best thing going right now but we can only plant so many of those," he said. "I am hoping something will change. We will see what happens."

Kaigler said when it comes to tariffs he is not overly concerned as the growing season begins.

"If this thing can run its course, it will be the best thing for us," Kaigler said. "These countries have been taking advantage of us and it will take a minute for all the stuff to come full circle for us. In the long run, I think it will be better for us, but who knows?"

Closer to home, Kaigler said on thing is more certain input costs 'sure are not coming down.'

"They are still too high," Kaigler said.

Calhoun and Richland County Interim Agronomic Crops Extension Associate Zach Dantzler said the biggest concern for growers this year are low commodity market prices.

According to Dantzler, corn prices are expected to be around $5 per bushel; cotton 69 cents a pound; Runner peanuts around $515.00 per ton and Virginia Peanuts around $545 per ton.

Dantzler said prices were about $10.37 a bushel at the time of this writing at the end of February.

"A fair number of farmers are still trying to decide what crops to grow or whether they should change to something different outside of their normal crop rotations," Dantzler said at the time of this writing February 28. "Another concern is the possible loss or pause of federally funded programs that farmers use to help outset the costs of growing their crops."

Dantzler said he expects more corn and peanuts will be planted.

"Cotton acreage will be cut back for most farmers due to the low price for cotton, except for the guys who have baler picker equipment that they need to make payments on," Dantzler said. "I think right now with the current markets, soybeans acreage will probably stay the same with maybe a slight increase unless the market price goes up."

"This is mainly because we had an increase in soybean acres in 2024 due to decreases in the cotton markets," Dantzler said.

"Sesame acreage could increase slightly than the previous year, but its going to depend on the soybean prices," Dantzler said. "If soybean prices increase to $12 per bushel than the sesame price could go up to 50 cents per pound."

Sesame was not a crop that really caught on in 2024 in the county. Sesame was about 42 cents a pound.

There were about one or two farmers who grew the crop and about 25 acres were planted.

The estimated breakdown of anticipated acreage in Calhoun County includes:

Corn= 9,000 acres

Cotton= 16,000 acres

Runner Peanuts=8,500 acres

Virginia Peanuts=2,500 acres

Soybeans= 5,500 acres

More detailed crop-planting projections will be available later this spring as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service contacts producers to determine their plans for the growing season.

Another issue growers will face is the loss or failure to renew the herbicide label for over-the-top dicamba herbicides on cotton and soybeans.

"This could possibly impact decisions to grow dicamba tolerant cotton and soybeans, which could lead to a loss of planting acreage if the decision is to not plant liberty link varieties," Dantzler said.

Mother Nature is also always a wild card when it comes to farming.

The early part of the growing season - through May - shows warmer than normal temperatures and normal rainfall for the area, according to the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center.
Richard Rentz will be entering his 48th year of farming and for the first time in three decades he will do something he has never done.

He is not planting cotton.

Bamberg Row Crops Bamberg County farmer Richard Rentz puts down chicken manure on a future corn field at the Bamberg County/Colleton County line. For the 48-yea

"It is just the cost of production and the price of the commodity," Rentz said. "It will the first time in 30 years I have not planted. There is no need to plant a crop I know I am going to lose money on."

Cotton futures prices are forecast to be between 67 cents to 69 cents a pound from May through October well below the 90-plus cents growers would like to see.

As a result, Rentz is looking to plant more corn and possibly more peanuts.

Looking at commodity prices, corn is expected to remain strong, ranging from $5.50 to $6.00 per bushel, according to the U.S Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service.

The prices are indicative of high ethanol demands and export needs.

In 2025, peanut prices are projected to average around $530 per ton, which is slightly lower than the previous years' prices. This is due to stable peanut-ending stocks and a trend that is expected to continue into 2025, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service

Soybean prices are expected to stabilize between $12 and $13 per bushel.

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Although inventories are expected to recover slightly, ongoing global demand will keep pressure on prices, according to the USDA.

More detailed crop-planting projections will be available later this spring as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service contacts producers to determine their plans for the growing season.

Rentz said inputs continue to be high though not quite as high as they were in 2023, though he says if it has to do with transportation or labor, costs are up.

"Anything that you have to hire people to do: the labor cost has pushed those prices higher," Rentz said.

Denmark farmer John Turner has been farming for about six decades and has seen just about everything when it comes to the land.

After a turbulent 2024 that 'just about threw everything at us,' Turner says he is keeping things steady and will maintain the status quo on his no-till farming operation despite generally depressed commodity prices.

He plans to grow about 200 acres of corn and 100 acres of cotton though both commodities are below where farmers would like to see them especially with inputs.

"It (input costs) is high," Turner said. "It has been high ever since petroleum started going up. Fertilizer and nitrogen went up too."

"It (nitrogen) is made with natural gas," he said. "When natural gas goes up, nitrogen goes up too. They have got to get the cost back out of it."

Both Rentz and Turner say the tariffs President Donald Trump has implemented are another issue to keep eye on this year.

Rentz said they will impact the farmer.

"Long term I think they might help, short term I think there might be some pain," he said. Some trading partners like China and Canada kind of take advantage of us sometimes with trading practices. Maybe these tariffs will help with some of that."

He said most cotton and peanuts and some corn are sold overseas meaning any trade wars will be felt.

Turner sees the tariffs as 'a blessing for us.'

"All the cotton mills are gone: there are only two or three cotton textile mills left in the United States," he said. "There is no market. The market for cotton is overseas, mostly in China."

"Four years ago, Trump slapped a tariff on China on the cotton and soybeans," he said. "When that money came in, they gave it to the farmers which is where it should have gone. It was our product that that tariff money came in on."

Turner noted that China has been taking U.S. grown cotton, making clothes and selling it back to the U.S. with a tariff and were getting the cotton without a tariff.

"If it is good enough to charge us a tariff then it is alright to charge them a tariff," he said. "Why should they get it cheap and sell it expensive to us?"

As far as exploring the latest alternative crop - sesame -- Turner says he has been there and done that: not with sesame but with canola.

"When we get into things like that you don't have anywhere to sell it," he said. "The market is not available."

He said he had to carry the crop to Augusta and then to Santee when the Augusta mill closed.

"It was too aggravating," Turner said, noting the seed was so small that much of it would be lost before receiving any benefit.

About 30 acres of sesame (non-irrigated) were planted in the county last year, which was a decrease from the 96 acres planted in 2023.

Bamberg Farm Service Agency County Executive Director Chris Wallace said Rentz and Turner's concerns are the concerns of farmers throughout Bamberg County.

"Awful," is how he described cotton prices. "Cotton prices are as low as it has been in over 15 years."

The other commodity prices are no better, said Wallace.

"All across the board they are low," he said.

And inputs have spiked some: for example watermelon seeds have increased in cost, said Wallace.

"Everything is just crazy," Wallace said. "Prices are not coming down to offset the low commodities."

Wallace said one of the things that could have a ripple effect on farmers are cuts of United States Department of Agriculture employees such as at the Farm Service Agency.

"We are treading water," Wallace said, noting that there is a hiring freeze since January 20 until at least April. "We have no idea what that will entail."

"There is a lot of confusion on what we can and can't do and what has been approved and is not being paid out now," he said. "We are just in a crazy time."

But Wallace said local farmers can still expect to receive services from their local FSA.

"We are still open for business and doing lots of things. We are still keeping records as carefully as we can. Everybody is kind of in the same boat under the federal umbrella."

Wallace said the April 15 deadline remains in effect for the enrollment deadline for the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs. Wallace said the July 15 deadline for farmers to complete acreage reports is also still in place.
Row crop commodity prices heading into the 2025 growing season are prompting Orangeburg County farmers to adjust their planting plans.

Rowesville farmer Antron Williams Rowesville farmer Antron Williams conducts a soil sample on a 12-acre cotton field. The soil test will be sent to the Clemson Cooperative Exte

"We will definitely cut back on cotton," Veteran Orangeburg County farmer Harry Wimberly said. "Cotton does not look good at all. We don't even know if we are going to plant."

Wimberly farms near the Branchville area of the county with his son, Thad, grandson, Harrison, and son-in-law, Jonathan Berry, on Wimco Farm.

"We are still working on last year's cotton trying to get it sold," Wimberly said. "It is going to be a struggle."

Cotton futures prices will be between 67 and 70 cents from March to October, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Wimberly said corn prices too are not very attractive either -- perhaps between $5.50 and $6 a bushel - so more soybean acreage could be the way to go. Soybean prices heading into planting are hovering around $12 to $13 a bushel as ongoing global demand will keep pressure on prices, according to the USDA.

"We may plant a little bit of peanuts depending on what the contract price is," Wimberly said.

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In 2025, peanut prices are projected to average around $530 per ton, which is slightly lower than the previous years' prices. This is due to stable peanut-ending stocks and a trend that is expected to continue this year, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The Wimberlys have also planted sesame the last two years, but Wimberly said last year's crop was hurt by the weather. It was still uncertain whether or not his son will grow the crop this year. Last year, countywide only about 1,000 acres of sesame was planted.

With commodity prices generally subpar, input costs, such as fertilizer, appeared to be either be a 'tad down' or about the same as last year.

"That is the bad thing," Wimberly said. "We don't have any fluctuations on input costs and don't really have any say so on what we receive," Wimberly said. "It is double edged sword: it cuts you both ways."

Rowesville row crop farmer Antron Williams echoed Wimberly's sentiment. He plans to plant about the same corn as he did last year, less cotton and more soybeans.

"Corn and soybeans are looking a little better but still not great," Williams said. "Cotton prices are pretty dismal."

Williams said inputs continue to be a challenge.

"They are still too high, but down drastically from where they were a few years ago when COVID was impacting imports," Williams said. "They need to go down, but that is doubtful to happen."

Jim Traywick at Frog Level Farm in Cope a cotton acreage due to low prices. Corn and peanuts are planned.

"We are not doing anything drastic," he said.

Orangeburg County Clemson Extension Agent Jonathan Croft said the biggest concern for growers is profitability of row crops. All commodity prices - corn, cotton, soybeans, peanuts are down from last year.

"There are multiple factors that play into this that are a concern at this point (prices, input cost, markets, etc.)," Croft said.

Williams, Traywick and Wimberly are prime examples of the general mindset heading into the 2025 planting season.

"At this time it looks like we will see a reduction in cotton and soybeans and an increase in peanuts and corn," Croft said.

Croft said rough estimates based on planted acres last year and conversations had with growers recently this year shows a breakdown of anticipated acreage as follows:

Cotton: estimated 18,000 acres to 20,000 acres

Peanuts: estimated 16,000 acres to 18,000 acres

Corn: estimated 32,000 acres

Soybeans: estimated 22,000 acres.

"Weather and changes in prices right up to planting time my change these significantly," Croft said.

The early part of the growing season - through May - shows warmer than normal temperatures and normal rainfall, according to the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center.

Hemp is a crop that generally has not caught on in Orangeburg, Calhoun and Bamberg counties.

The story is expected to remain relatively similar in 2025, though how many farmers will grow the crop was unknown at the time of this writing.

The market for the crop and local infrastructure such as processing capabilities to make the crop more successful have not materialized.

More detailed crop-planting projections will be available later this spring as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service contacts producers to determine their plans for the growing season.

If the annual challenges and uncertainties of farming are not enough, the current situation with tariffs is concerning, said Wimberly.

"I hope the president will take care of agriculture," Wimberly said, expressing his belief that the new Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins appears to be a good choice. "Secretary Vilsack was not bad."

Wimberly said when discussing tariffs "ag commodities will come into play somewhere and sometime."

"They will start using it as a tool," he said. "I don't know how it will affect us. The U.S. could be more self sufficient if they put their mind to it."

Williams said he is also very concerned about tariffs and its impact on him.

"I am very concerned about tariffs causing us to continue losing market share to South America," Williams said. "We lost market share in the previous Trump administration and we have yet to fully recover. Creating enemies out of our major customers does us no good."

Traywick said tariffs and sanctions have always been a part of life.

"We have had tariffs before and a lot of the income from the tariffs went to the farmers in way of payments to offset low commodity prices," Traywick said. "We have some faith and hope that reason will prevail and we will be okay."

Croft said the jury is still out on tariff impacts.

"Any actions that affects the flow of harvested crops or agricultural inputs could have a positive or negative impact on overall profitability crops," he said, noting that long-term potential impacts remain to be seen.

Croft said anything that increases the cost of production of the final product will be passed on to the consumer.

"If overall consumer prices were to increase you may see some slow down in consumption of certain products, however, people or going to eat something so demand for food products should stay strong," Croft said.

"Farmers will monitor and adjust practices that allow them to be as profitable as possible," Croft said. "For most this will be the continued use of crop insurance, marketing plans that lock in prices, pre buying of inputs, and adjusting production practices to save on input cost."

Growers will also face some new regulations.

"The loss of the overtop labels for dicamba herbicides in cotton and soybeans tolerant to dicamba will impact weed management strategies in cotton and soybeans in 2025," Croft said.
Gia xang dau trong nuoc hom nay (3/7) uoc du bao co the giam tu 6,8 - 7,5% so voi ky ieu hanh truoc o. Cu the, gia ban le xang E5 RON 92 co the giam 1.412 ong (6,9%) ve muc 19.118 ong/lit; xang RON 95-III co the giam 1.440 ong (6,8%) ve muc 19.670 ong/lit. Trong khi o, dau hoa co the giam 7,5% ve muc 17.631 ong/lit; dau mazut co the giam 7,2% ve muc 15.730 ong/kg; dau diesel co the giam 7,1% ve muc 17.977 ong/lit.
This years Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) results have revealed a concerning learning gap among primary school students, Education Minister Dr Michael Dowlath has said.

Speaking at a recognition ceremony for the top five performers in the 2025 SEA yesterday at the ministrys head office in Port of Spain, Dowlath said the data will be analysed for better performance moving forward.
Last Tuesday, Gwynne Dyer headlined his Express column Stupid old men. You could substitute all sorts of adjectives before the words, old men, to describe the characteristics of the cohort that has had the most influence on the world we inhabit. Greedy, self-righteous, racist, arrogant, selfish, a multitude of negative words readily suit the clique.

At first, angrily thinking about the subject of todays column, I was focusing on Caribbean men in leadership positions who have been sleazy lechers, foisting themselves on hapless females and males with impunity.
A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for the 2022 kidnapping and sexual assault of a 15-year-old Douglas girl.

Aaron Mitchell, 30, was sentenced Thursday in Tucson by U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Marquez. He faced up to life in prison for kidnapping and deprivation of rights under color of law.

At trial, prosecutors alleged Mitchell found the girl waiting for school to start. He introduced himself as a law enforcement officer and ordered her into his car.

Mitchell then bound the girls hands and feet with handcuffs and drove for nearly an hour to his apartment, prosecutors said. There, Mitchell repeatedly sexually assaulted her over the course of several hours before driving her back to an alley near her middle school, prosecutors said.

The girl immediately reported the abduction and assault to friends, family and law enforcement.

Prosecutors said Mitchell told police the young girl, better hope I dont get out, according to a news release from the US Attorneys Office in Arizona.

An examination of Mitchells cellphone showed he conducted numerous internet searches regarding rape and how to stop someone from screaming. And during the time he had the girl captive, he searched the internet for how long it takes to smother someone, the release said.

During Thursdays sentencing, the girl tried to make a statement to the court. But she became too overwhelmed, resulting in an advocate for victims reading the girls statement, the Arizona Republic reported.

I still remember how I told him I was just a kid and all he said was: I dont want to hurt you, so do everything I say, the advocate read. He did hurt me, more than anyone ever did.

Kristen Clarke, an assistant attorney general in the civil rights division of the US Attorneys Office, called the attack unspeakable.

The heinous crimes committed against a young middle school student by an individual sworn to uphold the law are unspeakable, Clarke said in a news release. This defendant had a duty to protect his community but instead he abused his power.

Mitchell was also sentenced to lifetime probation.
A Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Collective says a University of Arizona administrator has told staff the UA plans to centralize six of the campus seven cultural and resource centers, which could lead to layoffs.

The centralization plan, which the collective says could lead to mass layoffs of undergraduate, graduate, and professional staff, will be submitted to UA President Suresh Garimella on Monday, Julio Cammarota, a UA College of Education liaison to the cultural and resource centers, said the centers leaders were told by Interim Provost Ron Marx in a February meeting.

The centers have more than 80 staffers, the collective said.

UA spokesperson Mitch Zak did not directly answer the Arizona Daily Stars questions Friday on whether such a centralization plan or possible layoffs are in the works, what it would entail if so, and whether Marx did make the statements. He also did not immediately respond to a request for an interview with Marx.

We appreciate the input from our community as we consider the changing policy landscape. As we work to comply with the laws that govern us, we are guided by the compassion and respect we have for all members of our university community, Zak said in a written statement Friday to the Star.

In a letter, the newly formed DEIA collective is urging the UA and the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees the states three public universities, to restore commitment to the UAs cultural and resource centers, in the face of the Trump administrations orders that universities end DEI programs or lose federal funding.

ABORs Vice President of Public Affairs Megan Gilbertson responded Friday, We appreciate the communitys passion and commitment to a supportive campus that respects all backgrounds.

Our universities must follow the laws that govern us, and as our biggest funder  responsible for faculty jobs, student grants and loans, and more  the federal government has made its intentions clear. ABOR remains committed to the long-term health and success of Arizonas public universities and the students they serve, Gilbertson said, stating ABOR had not directly received a letter of demands from the DEIA collective.

The UA DEIA Collective released its public letter of demands through its Instagram page Thursday, asking ABOR and UA leaders to respond by April 1 on their commitment to the universitys six cultural centers that are under the threat of centralization: Asian Pacific American Student Affairs, African American Student Affairs, the Guerrero Student Center, LGBTQ Student Affairs, the Women & Gender Resource Center, and the Disability Cultural Center.

The seventh cultural center, Native American Student Affairs, isnt at immediate risk of being centralized by the UA administration, since Indigenous students are legally a protected political identity, the collective said. The group said Native American Student Affairs is part of the collective nonetheless, due to Indigenous students concerns about anti-DEIA efforts.

The centralization plan is to consolidate the six centers and restructure them under one new name, Cammarota said the centers leaders were told.

The main idea was to protect the services that the centers offered but restructure them so that there arent seven individual (centers), he told the Star Friday. I dont know how many that theyre going to make  one or two. That wasnt very clear.

Cammarota said Marx told them the centralization plan will possibly be carried out in May or June.

The collective, a coalition of full-time, undergraduate and graduate DEIA staff from UAs main campus, addressed its letter Thursday to ABOR, Garimella, Marx and Laura Todd Johnson, senior vice president for legal affairs and general counsel.

They seek a response to avoid further instability for the over 80 staffers, 28,000 students served by the CRCs each year, and 70 affiliate student clubs and organizations.

The collective, made up of 32 members, was created during the last week of February, soon after the meeting with Marx and after Garimella sent out a university-wide communication on Feb. 18 stating the UA would take an inventory of its DEIA-related programs, jobs and activities.

That came after the Trump administration issued a federal order on Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing and the U.S. Department of Education sent a Feb. 14 letter stating all race-conscious admissions, financial aid, hiring, training and more are illegal, and pledging to withhold federal funding for violations.

In response to the federal directives, UA took down the websites for its Office of DEI and the Cultural and Resource Centers, and also deleted the phrase committed to diversity and inclusion from its land acknowledgment statement, which has been displayed on the universitys websites, email signatures and elsewhere since 2021.

The collectives statement said, Despite ongoing lawsuits and preliminary injunctions (over the Trump administrations orders), UAs preemptive compliance would have devastating effects on DEIA workers at all levels of the UA.

The collective said it has three demands: That university leaders show commitment to the existence of and investment in the student support programs offered by the cultural centers; continued employment, benefits and safety for undergraduate, graduate and full-time staff at the centers; and that university leaders provide stability, transparency and improved communication with campus stakeholders.

The services offered by the cultural centers include: social support through open houses, drop-in hours and community spaces; wellness support through on-site mental health counselors who served over 527 students in fiscal year 2024; academic support through financial aid peer advisors, study halls and graduate school exam prep; physical spaces for student organizations; and cultural programming.

Cammarota emphasized that all the centers were open to all students regardless of their cultural identities.
President Trump, Elon Musk and the Republican-led Congress are targeting the healthcare of Arizonans to help cover the cost of more tax cuts for corporations and the nations wealthiest residents, Sen. Mark Kelly told a Tucson crowd Friday.

At a town hall at the Pima Community College district office in midtown to discuss potential cuts to health care, Kelly told a crowd of about 100 people that Trump and Republican lawmakers are beginning to sharpen the pencil to figure out how to make cuts to Medicaid.

This administration is coming after a bunch of different people. Theyre coming after families, theyre coming after veterans ... but theyre also coming after your health care, Kelly said.

He said the Trump administration wants to double down on 2017 tax cuts that are set to expire soon.

(Trump) wants to extend those tax cuts, and I think its fair to say, even add a little bit more to it. What that would do to the deficit and debt is add about $6 trillion, Kelly said. But in order to make it not look so bad, he says Trump, Musk and actions through the Republican-led Congress are trying to shave that cost down to about $4 trillion.

In February, House Republicans passed a budget resolution that called on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which handles healthcare spending such as Medicaid, to make $880 billion in cuts over the next decade, according to the AP.

Kelly, on Friday, said that he and fellow Democrats will have to work to change the minds of a handful of Republican senators over the next few months to try to cut into their majority. While its rather likely theyll toe the party line, Kelly said its inevitable. He recalled John McCains 2017 vote that saved the Affordable Care Act.

Constituents will have to mobilize, Kelly said.

There is strength in numbers ... Your congressman, whether you might not be able to get a one-on-one meeting, but if youre calling, if youre knocking on the door, if youre standing out in front of their office, they know youre there, he said. Believe me, it all adds up when you consider the number of people that will actually do that is generally relatively small.

He said constituents should contact his office, as well as those of Reps. Juan Ciscomani and David Schweikert, to have an impact.

Kelly, on the likelihood of clawing back votes from Republican senators, later told reporters that he believes Democrats have the opportunity to persuade their Republican counterparts, even those facing party-led primaries if they dont support Trump.

Im not incredibly confident that we can convince them enough, we have to convince four Republicans in the Senate, its unclear what the numbers exactly need to be in the House, he said. (Republicans) are going to have to balance doing whats right, or doing what they might decide is the best thing for their career, and thats something they have to live with.

Chad Durns, 37, who has lived in Tucson most of his life, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021. He told Kelly he tried to work, but his condition held him back. And while he is supported by his family, Durns, fighting back tears, said without Medicaid coverage, the cost for his treatment would be devastating.

States and the federal government jointly pay for Medicaid coverage provided to about 80 million Americans, including millions of children. About 2 million people, or about 1 in 4 Arizonans, are enrolled in the states Medicaid program, known here as the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS.

Rita Perezabreu, 58, of Nogales, went to the town hall Friday with her coordinator to represent Mariposa Community Health Center. Legally blind and diagnosed with other chronic diseases, Perezabreu said that despite the uncertainty at the federal level, nobody can just sit here and wait.

Were trying to find something so that we can be heard. We have a voice for ourselves that we can say we are valued. Yes, were different, but were capable ... to work together as a community, as citizens, Perezabreu said.

I feel that we can do this, and we can get heard by our community and by anyone in the state. I believe that.

Photos: Senator Mark Kelly hosts town hall about healthcare in Tucson U.S. Senator Mark Kelly U.S. Senator Mark Kelly U.S. Senator Mark Kelly U.S. Senator Mark Kelly U.S. Senator Mark Kelly U.S. Senator Mark Kelly U.S. Senator Mark Kelly
Measles are highly contagious

Measles is a highly-contagious virus most often caught by children.

It is airborne and can last "for at least two to three hours" in a room after someone with measles was present, says Dr. Theresa Cullen, director of the Pima County Health Department. "The expectation is that up to 90% of people that have been exposed will then develop the disease if they don't have immunity to it."

There is an incubation period of about 7-14 days after exposure, said Cullen, then symptoms will last about 3-5 days.

Measles symptoms usually begin with the 'three C's a cough, coryza  thats runny nose  and conjunctivitis.

"At that point most people do not have a rash. When the rash develops, which is what most people think of when they think of measles, it starts at the head and goes down, from the hairline down the face, to the rest of the body," Cullen said. White spots, known as Koplik spots, will also develop in the person's mouth: "that's what we call pathognomonic of the disease. That means if you see it, the only disease that causes that is measles."

Measles will typically kill in one-to-three out of every 1,000 cases, Cullen said.

Although death rates have fallen worldwide as children have received the measles vaccine more frequently, "the disease still kills more than 200,000 people a year, mostly children," according to the CDC.
The Trump administration is reportedly considering a plan to establish a military installation along the southern border, where active-duty U.S. troops could temporarily hold migrants for border agents, a possibility experts and advocates say raises legal, environmental and humanitarian concerns.

Citing five U.S. officials familiar with the discussions, the Washington Post reported Wednesday that the proposal would allow the Pentagon to take control of land along the U.S.-Mexico border, initially in New Mexico. If successful, the military installation could be expanded along the borders 60-foot buffer zone  also known as the Roosevelt Reservation  in Arizona and California, too.

Militarizing the buffer zone would mean migrants entering the U.S. would be, in effect, trespassing on a military base, theoretically allowing troops to hold them for border agents, despite federal law preventing active-duty soldiers from engaging in civilian law enforcement, the Post said.

The move would give U.S. troops their most direct role so far in President Donald Trumps border crackdown, and could allow the Department of Defense budget to help pay for it, according to the Post. It could also result in harsher penalties, such as accelerated deportations, for migrants entering the U.S. illegally.

The Post said, if the buffer zone plan is approved, that land would likely become a temporary annex of an existing military installation, probably (Fort) Huachuca in Sierra Vista.

Angela Camara, spokeswoman for Fort Huachuca, directed the Arizona Daily Star to the Office of the Secretary of Defense for comment on the possibility. A spokesperson for the office wrote in a Thursday email, We have nothing to announce at this time.

The plan would be an escalation of the Trump administrations use of the military at the U.S. border, including the now-suspended use of costly military aircraft for deportations and the deployment of more than 10,000 active-duty soldiers to the border region.

On March 15, the U.S. also launched a guided-missile Navy destroyer, the USS Gravely, to become part of the Department of Defenses southern border mission, contributing to a coordinated and robust response to combating maritime related terrorism, weapons proliferation, transnational crime, piracy, environmental destruction, and illegal seaborne immigration, according to a news release from U.S. Northern Command.

Fort Huachuca has been hosting 500 active-duty soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum in New York since February, and more troops have since been transferred there from Fort Carson in Colorado.

Earlier this month, U.S. Northern Command established the headquarters of its joint border-security task force at Fort Huachuca to tactically synchronize Defense Department efforts to secure and seal the border, the agency said.

Legal concerns

The Roosevelt Reservation is the federal strip of land that stretches 60 feet north from the international border. It was created in 1907 by President Theodore Roosevelt for border security, and encompasses land in New Mexico, Arizona and California.

The Interior Department technically manages the Roosevelt Reservation, but its reserved for border security purposes and is under full operational jurisdiction of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, J. Elizabeth Peace, Interior spokeswoman, said in an email.

A CBP spokesman said the agency had no comment on the Posts reporting.

The Trump administrations expanded use of active-duty U.S. troops risks violating a federal law, the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, that prohibits federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement, except when explicitly authorized by law.

A defense official told the Post they were being careful with their wording for that reason: Troops would be holding migrants for civilian law enforcement to pick up; not detaining them for arrest, the Post said.

The Posse Comitatus Act generally prevents the president from using the military as a domestic police force, and it doesnt apply to the Coast Guard or National Guard, according to a 2021 explainer by Joseph Nunn, national security counsel for the progressive Brennan Center for Justice. The law embodies an American tradition that sees military interference in civilian affairs as a threat to both democracy and personal liberty, he wrote.

The Pentagon is likely unenthusiastic about the proposal, which would transfer highly trained soldiers to roles outside their area of expertise, said Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at research and advocacy group Washington Office on Latin America, or WOLA.

Theyre not trained for this, he said. Now theyre being asked to like, guard thirsty families in the desert? And if they do see someone making a run for it, and have watched enough Fox News and think these are dangerous cartel people, they might overreact and treat them like an enemy. Then you have the military shooting civilians on U.S. soil.

Theres also the question of whether thered be a meaningful distinction between soldiers simply holding versus detaining migrants, he said. In some remote areas of the border, migrants couldnt be quickly transferred to Border Patrol custody.

In practice, especially if youre out in the middle of the desert, holding them for hours and hours, what will that mean? he said.

One of Trumps executive orders gave defense and homeland security officials 90 days to decide whether to invoke the Insurrection Act, which could open the door to the president having broader power to use the military, Isacson said. The military was last deployed under the Insurrection Act during the L.A. riots in 1992, he said.

Response from Arizonas senators

In an email to the Star, the office of Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego said although the senator welcomes additional resources to help secure the border, this is simply an expensive and flashy photo op that fails to offer long-term solutions. The Senator is committed to working across the aisle to secure the border and develop a comprehensive and sustainable immigration system that serves the people of Arizona.

Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat, said in a Friday email, Troops can support in emergencies, but this seems to go far beyond that. It risks putting servicemembers in roles they arent trained for, undermining their readiness for their missions. With the Trump administration touting low border crossings, its hard to justify the cost and impact of such a massive operation. We need real, lasting border solutions.

Tucson Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani did not respond to the Stars requests for comment.

Isacson pointed out that between border agents, National Guard and active-duty troops in the border region, there were four soldiers or agents for every one migrant arrival in the month of February.

In February, border agents apprehended 8,300 migrants between ports of entry on the southern border, a 94% decrease from February 2024, CBP said.

The possibility of more boots on the ground in fragile borderland environments is concerning for environmentalists, including Erick Meza, borderlands coordinator for the Sierra Club. But Meza said the proposal is so new, and the Trump administration so unpredictable, the plan could be thrown out next week.

The Sierra Club is monitoring closely and figuring out what ways we can hear from and support the communities at the border, he said. If there is an arrival (of troops) we want to be sure were in direct communication with Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice to advocate to lessen the impact on some of these remote areas in the wilderness.

The Border Patrols Tucson Sector is already one of the most heavily surveilled areas in the country, Meza said, and todays low levels of migrant arrivals makes the militarization plan seem like a political stunt.

Its just bringing more military at a time where its not that much needed, he said. It just seems like a waste of resources, and an unnecessary impact to the environment.
PHOENIX  A plan by Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs to use her powers to make eggs more affordable might not be all it's cracked up to be.

The governor on Friday ordered the state Department of Agriculture to delay its rules mandating cage-free eggs until 2034. That delays any cost to producers and, by extension, what they have to charge grocers  and customers who pay the ultimate tab, said Christian Slater, Hobbs' press aide.

But consumers counting on a big break in their breakfast budgets may be in for a disappointment.

The agency's own estimates prepared when the rules were first proposed pegged the cost of converting from the current 67-square-inch crates to letting hens roam in a barn at anywhere from a penny to 3.25 cents per egg.

So that means a savings of anywhere from 12 to 39 cents a dozen on prices that are now running close to $6.

And using an estimate of annual per capita consumption of slightly more than 270 eggs a year, that pencils out to somewhere between $2.71 and $8.79 per person.

Slater acknowledged the limited nature of the fiscal relief his boss can provide, what with egg prices having been driven up by the bird flu, leading to the destruction of potentially infected laying hens and the resultant shortage of eggs. But he bristled at a question of exactly how much relief the governor's move will provide to shoppers, calling it "insulting'' to ask whether the governor should not "save every single penny'' for Arizonans.

"People want their elected officials to take action on the issues that are affecting them every single day in their lives,'' Slater said. "That is what the governor is doing.''

Hobbs, in a prepared statement, cited data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which concluded that the spike in egg prices isn't over yet. That agency said costs could rise another 20% this year.

But the governor's action isn't occurring in a vacuum.

It comes just days before the House Committee on Land, Agriculture and Rural Affairs is set to consider a proposal by Sen. Shawnna Bolick to totally strip the Department of Agriculture of any power at all to regulate cage sizes.

While the state can't do anything about the bird flu, "we can pass a law for Arizonans to see some relief on their grocery bills," the Phoenix Republican said in a prepared statement.

Bolick's SB 1721 already was approved by the Senate last month on a party-line vote.

Slater said the timing of Hobbs' announcement on Friday has nothing to do with the upcoming hearing. But the governor's new directive to delay the rules until 2034 could give her political cover if she were to veto Bolick's legislation.

None of this, however, deals with the underlying issue that led to the rule in the first place: the threat by the Humane Society of the United States to ask voters to prohibit the sale of eggs from caged hens  and do it in a way that neither lawmakers nor the governor could override.

That led the industry, including Glenn Hickman, president of the company that bears his family name, to ask lawmakers in 2020 to step in.

The idea was to come up with something more palatable to egg producers, including giving them more time to comply than the initiative would have allowed, and avoiding the criminal penalties that had been proposed.

When lawmakers balked, the Department of Agriculture picked up the cause and, with the support of the egg producers, came up with a plan to phase in a requirement for cage-free eggs.

Those rules were supposed to be in effect now. But the state agency, reacting to egg prices, agreed to delays, first until 2026 and, currently, until 2027.

Hobbs now wants to add another seven years to that in the name of savings.

What that also means, however, is that in the interim, Arizona will continue to allow laying hens to be kept all their lives in those 67 square-inch pens.

All this, however, could end up being legally moot.

The Goldwater Institute filed suit two years ago on behalf of Tucson restaurant owner Grant Krueger. He contends that the Department of Agriculture never had the legal authority in the first place to enact a rule about how much room laying hens have to have.

Krueger acknowledged that the department acted at the time with the blessing of the egg producers.

But he said that's irrelevant, arguing the power to adopt such rules lies only with the state Legislature. And when lawmakers refused to act in 2020, Krueger said, that ended the matter.

His lawsuit survived its first legal challenge last year when Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney rejected a bid by attorneys for the state to toss out the case based on claims that he lacked legal standing to sue.

Key to that is Kruegel's claim he's more affected than the average consumer.

He argued that his three restaurants  Union Public House, Reforma Modern Mexican Mezcal + Tequila, and Proof Artisanal Pizza and Pasta  purchased 578 cases of eggs in a recent 12-month period, or 104,040 eggs. And using that 3.25 cents per egg estimate, that translates out to $3,380 a year.

Blaney said that means he would "suffer quantifiable economic harm as a direct result of the rule.''

But that's not the end of the matter. The judge said Krueger now will have to present evidence to support his claim.
If Neighbours were to have another life, or some sort of sequel, Jackie Woodburne has dreams of a British storyline.

Ive always had an idea, and this is going back 20 years when the Kennedy kids were all still with us, she tells TV Tonight.

Ive always thought, it would be good if Karl and Susan inherited a Castle in Scotland or something, and went over there and it was haunted, and they met the people in the village Libby, would have met the local, Baron or something.

Ghosts meets Neighbours perhaps?

After all it is a soap that has always included humour.

We always look for the humour. Because, even in peoples darkest moments, we still have moments of levity.
Farheen Saifi, TwoCircles.net

New Delhi: A quiet but powerful act of inclusivness unfolds every evening during Ramadan at historic Jama Masjid in the national capital. Every evening during the holy month of Ramadan, a Hindu woman prepares and distributes iftar meals to those in need.

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Dressed in a lime-green outfit with a dupatta over her head, Neha Bharti stands alongside people of all faiths, offering food with warmth and compassion. I do not see this as charity, this is my way of spreading love, Neha says with a smile. Hindus can help Muslims, and Muslims can help Hindus. That is the India I believe in.

For the past three years, Neha has been coming to Jama Masjid every evening with packets of food and sharbat. Initially, she started with just a few meals, but as word spread through social media, her initiative gained momentum. Now, she provides iftar for hundreds of people every day.

A Selfless Mission

A resident of Old Delhi and founder of Raah NGO, Neha grew up in a family that never discriminated between Hindus and Muslims. When she first observed how many underprivileged people struggled to find food for iftar, she felt compelled to do something meaningful.

Three years ago, I saw people coming to Jama Masjid without food to break their fast. I thought, why not start providing iftar for them? Initially, my resources were limited, but with the support of friends and social media, I was able to expand. Now, we serve food every day throughout Ramadan, she explains.

Nehas efforts have made her a well-known figure at Jama Masjid. Many people, both locals and visitors, come to take selfies with her and appreciate her work.

A Message of Peace

Her initiative is particularly significant in todays political climate, where religious divisions are often highlighted. Recently, tensions in Nagpur erupted into violence over Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who died centuries ago. Yet, in contrast, Nehas efforts showcase a different side of India  one of peace, brotherhood and mutual respect.

The hatred spreading these days saddens me, Neha says. I want to bring back the love we used to have between communities. India is known for its secularism, and I want to keep that spirit alive.

Her mission has touched many hearts, including those of the people who receive her help daily.

Voices of Appreciation

Among those deeply moved by Nehas efforts is Gulab Bano, a resident of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, who has been coming to Jama Masjid for iftar.

In times of tension, seeing a Hindu woman providing iftar to Muslims is heartwarming. She is an example of how one person can make a difference. She stands alone in Jama Masjid, helping those in need, she says.

Noshad, a 35-year-old from Muzaffarnagar who works in Ghaziabad, also admires Nehas dedication.

I saw a woman in a small corner distributing food. At first, I was surprised. When I learned she was a Hindu, I was even more amazed. In todays time, when there is so much hate, she is spreading love. She is doing what many would not dare to do.

Nehas work has also inspired volunteers from both Hindu and Muslim communities to join her mission. Many people now reach out to her through social media, offering donations or help in distributing food.

A Bigger Dream

Nehas vision extends beyond Ramadan. Her ultimate dream is to open an old-age home for those who are homeless and struggling around Jama Masjid.

Every day, I see elderly people sleeping on the streets. My dream is to create a shelter for them, a place where they can live with dignity. That is my next goal.

Despite receiving some criticism from certain groups, Neha remains undeterred. Her family supports her, and the overwhelming positive response from people keeps her motivated.

We need to move beyond labels of Hindu and Muslim. At the end of the day, we are all humans. If we can help each other, why should not we? she says.

Social Medias Role in her mission

Social media has played a crucial role in amplifying Nehas work. Videos of her distributing food have gone viral and attracted people from across India who want to support her cause.

I put out a call for food donations, and within hours, people responded. It is amazing how social media can be used for something positive. I am grateful to everyone who helps, she says.

As the call to prayer echoes through the mosque, Neha continues distributing iftar meals with a warm smile. The people around her wait eagerly  not just for the food, but also for the kindness and hope she represents.

Her efforts serve as a reminder that humanity transcends religious and political divides. It proves that love and compassion can still thrive in the heart of India.
DALLAS  The Texas measles outbreak has grown to 309 confirmed cases, not counting dozens of additional cases in neighboring states.

Cases have been identified in three additional counties, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services Friday update.







Those three counties are all in West Texas, near the original outbreak area. The majority of cases  211 of the 309 confirmed cases  are in Gaines County, near the New Mexico border, where the outbreak originated.

Since the outbreak began, a total of 40 people in Texas have been hospitalized, according to the Department of State Health Services. One school-aged child in Texas has died.

In addition to the Texas cases, the states of New Mexico and Oklahoma have both reported measles cases that are believed to be linked to the Texas outbreak.

Oklahoma has reported four probable cases. New Mexico reported 38 cases as of Tuesday, along with two hospitalizations. One adult in New Mexico has also died.

The vast majority of the Texas measles cases have been among people who are either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is not known, according to the Department of State Health Services.

Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads mostly among unvaccinated people. The virus can live in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours after an infected person has left.

The two-dose measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is 97% effective at preventing measles infection. The vaccination is typically recommended for children beginning at around 12 months of age, with possibility for an earlier dose beginning at around six months in cases of international travel or active outbreaks.

The vaccine is recommended for the vast majority of people above the age of 12 months old, with the exception of people who are pregnant or immunocompromised.

The current measles outbreak is the largest that the state of Texas has reported in decades.

Already in 2025, the state has reported more cases than in any full year since 1992.

Measles has been considered eliminated in the U.S. since 2000, but there have been outbreaks across the country. In 2018 and 2019, for instance, there were two large and closely related measles outbreaks in New York, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those two outbreaks, with a total of more than 1,100 cases, threatened the countrys elimination status.

Local health authorities across Texas offer the measles shots at vaccination clinics. People can also contact their doctor or pharmacy to ask about vaccination.
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's deputy prime minister said on Friday Russia's spy services had helped the Belgrade authorities respond to months of anti-government protests, remarks which critics said revealed that the government had become dependent on Moscow.

Students, backed by teachers, farmers and workers, have maintained daily protests across Serbia since last November, when 16 people died in a roof collapse at a train station in the northern city of Novi Sad, which they blame on corruption.

"I am very grateful to Russia's special services, which always support us in our fight against colour revolutions, primarily with information," Deputy Prime Minister Alexandar Vulin said in an interview with Russia's RIA state news agency.

"They know what danger hangs over Serbia," RIA quoted Vulin as saying.

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Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic often describes protests as attempts to mount a "colour revolution", a reference to pro-Western protests that toppled governments in Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan in recent decades.

Aleksandar Djokic, a Belgrade-based political scientist critical of the government, said Vulin's remarks "are echoing how much Russia's support is important for the regime".

"The only open support to the regime comes from Russia, all others are either neutral or are condemning it," he said.

Belgrade is balancing between its aspirations to join the European Union and its close relations with Russia, a traditional major power ally and major gas supplier.

Vucic accuses Western countries of plotting with students and the opposition to topple Serbia's government, which has long had good ties with Moscow. The protest leaders deny any links to the West.

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Vulin, a pro-Russian politician who leads a small party in Vucic's ruling coalition, previously served as the head of Serbia's Security and Information Agency (BIA), as well as interior and defence minister.

He resigned from the BIA after being put on a sanctions list by the United States in 2023 over accusations of pro-Russian activity.
Viet Nam is taking concrete steps towards establishing a carbon market, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fulfil its commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

The roadmap for this market has become increasingly clear, with key regulatory frameworks being developed and a pilot carbon trading exchange set to be launched in June this year.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha signed on January 25 a decision approving the Scheme for the Establishment and Development of the Carbon Market in Viet Nam.

According to the plan, Viet Nam will proactively establish and develop a centralised carbon market, ensuring market principles under the management and supervision of the State.

Tang The Cuong, director general of the Department of Climate Change under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), said: The development of Viet Nam's carbon market is progressing phase by phase. We are working to finalise the legal framework for carbon trading, ensuring transparency and compliance with international standards."

The legal foundation for Viet Nam's carbon market is primarily based on the revised Law on Environmental Protection (2020) and the 06/2022 government decree, which outlines the management of GHG emissions and the operation of carbon credit markets. The decree mandates the establishment of a national GHG inventory and an emissions quota allocation system.

To facilitate carbon trading, MONRE, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and other relevant agencies, is developing detailed regulations on the issuance, trading and verification of carbon credits.

The Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) has been designated as the operator of the national carbon trading platform, ensuring regulated transactions and market stability.

Carbon trading mechanisms

Viet Nam's carbon market will consist of two primary components. The first is the Emissions Quota Trading System (ETS), in which the Government assigns GHG emission quotas to regulated industries, allowing them to trade allowances based on their actual emissions.

Initially, these quotas may be allocated for free, with an eventual shift towards auctioning to enhance market efficiency.

The second component is the Voluntary Carbon Credit Market, enabling businesses to generate carbon credits through GHG emission reduction projects such as afforestation, renewable energy expansion, and energy efficiency improvements.

These credits can be traded domestically and internationally, leveraging mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and collaborations with countries like Japan through the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM).

Notably, major Vietnamese corporations such as Vingroup, Vinamilk and Masan have already taken proactive steps to integrate carbon credit trading into their sustainability strategies. These companies are investing in low-carbon technologies and renewable energy projects to capitalise on emerging carbon credit opportunities.

Emissions reporting, quota allocation

According to Cuong, under a decision issued on August 13, 2024 by the Prime Minister, more than 2,166 enterprises were required to conduct GHG inventories and report their emissions levels in 2024 under the Carbon Market Establishment and Development Project in Viet Nam.

Those enterprises included thermal power plants, industrial production facilities consuming at least 1,000 tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE) per year, freight transport companies with an annual fuel consumption of at least 1,000 TOE, commercial buildings using at least 1,000 TOE per year, and solid waste treatment facilities processing no less than 65,000 tonnes annually.

From now until the end of 2028, high-emissions industries such as thermal power, steel production and cement manufacturing will be allocated emissions quotas based on an overall cap approved by the Prime Minister.

Enterprises under this scheme will be allowed to buy and sell quotas and carbon credits to offset emissions exceeding their assigned limits.

One of the most critical developments in Viet Nam's carbon market will be the launch of a pilot carbon trading exchange in June this year. This initiative aims to test trading mechanisms, regulatory compliance and market stability before full implementation. The trial phase will focus on high-emissions industries such as energy, manufacturing and transportation.

In parallel, MONRE is implementing capacity-building programmes to assist businesses in conducting accurate GHG inventories and developing carbon reduction strategies. Our goal is to ensure that Vietnamese enterprises are well prepared to participate in carbon trading while aligning with international market standards," Cuong said.

Despite these promising steps, challenges remain. The lack of a fully established legal framework, the need for standardised carbon credit verification and limited corporate awareness about emissions trading pose significant hurdles.

Additionally, Viet Nam has yet to introduce specific tax policies for carbon trading, though the Ministry of Finance is considering tax exemptions on carbon credits to encourage market participation.

Globally, over 70 carbon pricing mechanisms, including emissions trading systems and carbon taxes, covered approximately 23 per cent of total GHG emissions by 2023, according to the World Banks State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2023 report.

The European Union (EU) has already implemented the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), requiring high-carbon imports like steel and cement to comply with EU emissions regulations. If Viet Nam does not develop its carbon market effectively, domestic exporters could face significant trade barriers.

"Looking ahead, Viet Nam's carbon market could generate up to 57 million carbon credits annually, exceeding initial projections of 40 million per year," Cuong said.

"If successfully implemented, this could yield approximately US$300 million in annual revenue, with proceeds reinvested into green development projects.

"The carbon market is not just a regulatory mechanism; it is a strategic tool for Viet Nam to integrate into the global green economy, attract sustainable investments and strengthen corporate environmental responsibility." VNS
By Mai Huong

Viet Nams ambition to establish itself as a global centre for AI and semiconductor development is gaining strong support from leading technology corporations at home and abroad through investment, innovation, and strategic collaboration.

The country is targeting rapid yet sustainable growth, aiming for at least 8 per cent annual expansion by the end of 2025 while paving the way for double-digit gains in the future.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has emphasised a people-centred approach, leveraging both global and domestic resources, with AI, cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and semiconductors driving economic progress.

To achieve these goals, Viet Nam is implementing key measures, including regulatory reform, infrastructure upgrades, and workforce training.

The government plans to cut 30 per cent of unnecessary procedures, decentralise authority, and improve execution to create a more business-friendly environment.

The Politburo of the Viet Nam Communist Party passed last year a resolution on science and technology development, which sets ambitious targets for Vietnamese businesses to exceed global technology standards, with some sectors reaching international levels. The country also aims to rank among the top three in Southeast Asia for AI research and establish itself as a key hub for digital technology industries.

New policies are being introduced to support these objectives.

The National Assembly's resolution issued on February 19, 2025 on pilot implementation of special policies to create breakthrough in national digital transformation and the Governments decree on December 31, 2024 on the establishment of an investment fund offer special incentives for science, technology development and innovation, particularly in AI and semiconductors.

The Prime Minister has also approved national AI and semiconductor development strategies, which include training 50,000 semiconductor professionals and 5,000 AI specialists by 2030, alongside establishing key research laboratories.

Recognising the importance of global cooperation in fostering innovation and growth, Viet Nam is calling for stronger international partnerships.

At the policy forum "Taking the Lead: Viet Nams Strategy for Semiconductor & AI Advancement on March 14part of the AI-Semiconductor Conference (AISC 2025)the Prime Minister outlined six key areas where foreign businesses could support Viet Nam.

These included strategic vision planning, regulatory reforms, financial assistance, technology transfer, workforce development, and smart governance. He invited companies to provide practical recommendations to enhance the investment climate and facilitate innovation.

We must act togetherwhat we aim for must become reality, he said, urging collaboration and shared responsibility in shaping Viet Nams digital future.

Tech giants rally behind VN

Leading technology corporations are actively supporting Viet Nams ambitions.

At AISC 2025, Michael Kenny, chief technology officer at Nvidia, reaffirmed the companys commitment to Viet Nams AI development. He highlighted Nvidias recent investment, including the opening of an office in Ha Noi and the expansion of its research and development (R&D) presence to support Viet Nams AI strategy.

Kenny emphasised AIs transformative potential and Viet Nams advantages, such as a skilled workforce, a dynamic economy, and strong government support. Nvidia is partnering with over 65 universities to integrate AI and semiconductor education, collaborating with more than 30 startups, and working with cloud providers such as FPT and Viettel to develop AI infrastructure.

The company is also supporting key industries, including financial services, smart agriculture, and healthcare, through AI applications.

We firmly believe that with continued cooperation and investment, Viet Nam will achieve its goal of becoming a leading R&D centre for AI and semiconductors. Nvidia is committed to being a long-term partner in this journey, Kenny said.

Suresh Venkatarayalu, senior vice president and chief technology officer at Honeywell, also reaffirmed the companys long-term commitment to Viet Nam. Honeywell plans to expand its manufacturing footprint in the country by the end of next year, alongside continued investment in human capital through scholarships and university partnerships.

The company has also signed three memoranda of understanding (MoU) focused on green energy, battery storage, and energy optimisation. Additionally, Honeywell is working on airport modernisation projects and aims to integrate AI and semiconductor advancements into Viet Nams industries.

Venkatarayalu stressed the need for policy alignment, cross-sector collaboration, and greater investment to enhance Viet Nams competitiveness.

I am pleased to see that Viet Nam is already shaping forward-thinking policies for the future. My recommendation is to strengthen collaboration between academia, industries, and government institutions, he said.

Workforce development

Experts have highlighted workforce development as a crucial factor in fostering innovation. Recognising this, Viet Nam is actively pursuing global partnerships.

The National Innovation Centre is collaborating with major institutions and technology firmsincluding the University of Arizona, Cadence, Siemens, Google, Meta, Samsung, and NVIDIAto support research, training, and industry growth.

Domestic enterprises are also playing a key role in realising the nations ambitions.

According to Truong Gia Binh, chairman and founder of FPT Corporation, FPT engineers have been working extensively, earning nearly 10,000 Nvidia certifications. The company also aims to train 5,000 semiconductor specialists by 2030, with 1,600 students already enrolled in its programme.

FPT has risen to 48th place among global AI research centres, reflecting its significant investment and leadership in AI, according to an IDCs Spotlight report.

For the past six years, FPT has maintained a strategic partnership with the Mila research institute, which brings together some of the worlds leading AI experts, including Professor Yoshua Bengio, known as the "Godfather of AI", and Andrew Ng, a pioneer in computer vision.

Binh reaffirmed FPTs commitment to building Viet Nams advanced AI infrastructure. The company plans to expand to five AI factories worldwide by 2030, strengthening Viet Nams position as a key AI hub in the region and beyond.

"We are committed to training 10,000 semiconductor engineers and delivering 100,000 AI engineers," Binh said.

Anthony J. Annunziata, director of AI Open Innovation at IBM, praised Viet Nams regulatory approach for prioritising the removal of barriers and fostering key success factors, including skills development, technological advancement, infrastructure investment, and a supportive environment for businesses to experiment freely with government backing.

This strategy is both crucial and encouraging, aligning well with global best practices for AI regulation. While different countries adopt varying approaches, Viet Nams focus on enabling innovation while maintaining safeguards strikes a strong balance between progress and responsibility, Annunziata told Viet Nam News.

According to Googles research, the potential of AI in Viet Nam is immense, with estimated economic benefits reaching up to US$79.3 billion by 2030 if AI tools are widely adopted. This figure is equivalent to nearly 12 per cent of Viet Nams GDP in that year.

With strong global backing, bold policies, and a growing talent pool, Viet Nam is well on its way to becoming a leading force in AI and semiconductor innovation. VNS
China's e-commerce sector posts robust growth in first two months

Xinhua) 12:16, March 22, 2025

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China's e-commerce sector demonstrated sound growth momentum in the first two months of 2025, the Ministry of Commerce said Friday.

Artificial intelligence and the country's consumer goods trade-in program have contributed to steady growth of the sales of online goods, with humanoid robots and other embodied intelligent products emerging as new highlights in digital consumption, according to the ministry.

Official data showed that China's online retail sales of physical goods rose 5 percent year on year during the Jan.-Feb. period, outpacing the 4 percent growth of retail sales of consumer goods.

Boosted by policy incentives such as the expansion of visa-free entry policies, online services also registered rapid growth in this period, with sales of online tourist services surging by 35.9 percent compared with a year earlier, the ministry revealed.

The data also showed that under the Silk Road e-commerce cooperation framework, sales of passion fruit from Colombia and wine from Serbia on key platforms had soared by 355.5 percent and 215.8 percent from a year earlier, respectively.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
HA NOI Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, Lawrence Wong, and his spouse will pay an official visit to Viet Nam from March 25 to 26, 2025 at the invitation of Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday. VNS
The year 2024 marks a major breakthrough in Viet Nams organ transplantation sector, with a significant increase in organ donations from brain-dead donors, giving many patients a second chance at life.

Advancements in transplantation techniques have positioned the field as one of the most outstanding achievements in Vietnamese medicine.

However, health experts stress the need for improvements in policies and regulatory frameworks to ensure the sustainable growth of organ donation, procurement, and transplantation to effectively meet patient demand.

A man named B. A. from Binh Duong Province, was admitted last year to the hospital in critical respiratory failure. Despite the doctors' best efforts, his condition deteriorated, and the 47-year-old was declared brain-dead. In a spirit of generosity, his family donated his organs to save four lives.

His two kidneys were transplanted into two pediatric patients with end-stage renal failure at Children's Hospital 2 in HCM City and the National Children's Hospital in Ha Noi. His liver was sent to the University Medical Centre in HCM City, where it was split and transplanted into two patients simultaneously. His corneas were sent to Cho Ray Hospital, restoring vision for two female patients who had suffered from vision impairments for decades.

One of the cornea recipients, C., 57, in HCM City, said: "I lost my eyesight due to vehicle exhaust burns when I was 17 and have lived in darkness while caring for my elderly mother. Thanks to this generous donation, I can see light again after nearly 40 years."

The family of a 13-year-old boy who received a kidney transplant expressed their relief. The boy had suffered from end-stage kidney failure since fourth grade and had to undergo dialysis three times a week, travelling from Long An to HCM City. With neither parent a compatible donor, he remained on the transplant waiting list. "After two years of waiting, my son finally received a kidney transplant and can now return to school," his mother said.

Remarkable growth

Thirty-two years after its first kidney transplant in 1992, Viet Nam has become the leading country in Southeast Asia for organ transplantation. By the end of 2024, Vietnamese doctors had performed 9,516 transplants in 27 hospitals across the country, with over 1,000 successful transplants annually in the past three years  the highest in the region.

HCM City has seen remarkable growth, performing more than 1,126 kidney transplants since its first in 1992. According to Tang Chi Thuong, director of HCM Citys Department of Health, the city has adopted advanced techniques such as cross-match kidney transplants, ABO-incompatible transplants, and liver splitting for dual recipients.

A major milestone in 2024 was Viet Nams first cross-country heart transplant at the University Medical Centre, HCM City, offering hope to patients with severe heart conditions.

Minister of Health ao Hong Lan highlighted Viet Nams mastery of various organ transplantation techniques, saying that the country is now on par with advanced medical nations. In 2024, organ transplantation was recognised as one of the most significant achievements in the healthcare sector. The country also performed its first-ever trachea transplant from a brain-dead donor, a globally rare procedure.

Doctors at Viet Nam-Germany Friendship Hospital in Ha Noi successfully conducted the countrys first simultaneous heart and liver transplant. Additionally, Viet Nam achieved three successful lung transplants, considered among the most challenging transplant procedures.

Dr Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, chairwoman of the Viet Nam Association for Organ and Tissue Donation Advocacy, acknowledged that the country had never achieved such consistent progress in organ transplantation. The former health minister expressed optimism that Viet Nam would soon catch up with regional and global leaders in transplant technology and brain-dead donor rates.

We have established strong coordination between hospitals in organ donation and transplantation," Dr Tien said. "Many hospitals now have organ donation advocacy groups. This is a bold initiative, considering the challenges, but the health sector has achieved it at an impressive pace."

Dr ong Van He, director of the National Coordination Centre for Human Organ Transplantation, said that setting a national record for organ donations resulted from both public awareness campaigns and crucial government support.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh launched a national organ donation registration campaign in Ha Noi on May 19, 2024.

Also in May Minister of Health Lan issued a call for organ donation within the medical sector, leading hospitals nationwide to organise their own registration drives among their staff.

Previously, most organ donations were concentrated in Ha Noi, Hue, and HCM City. However, in 2024, brain-dead organ donations were recorded in 13 provinces and cities, totalling 41 cases, marking a major step in expanding nationwide donation efforts.

Addressing shortages

Despite these achievements, the shortage of donated organs remains a major challenge. According to Dr Tien, the rate of brain-dead organ donors in Viet Nam remains alarmingly low at just 5-10 per cent compared to advanced countries. In contrast, the rate reaches 50-60 per cent in South Korea, over 60 per cent in Thailand, and as high as 80 per cent in China.

"Every day, thousands of patients in Viet Nam wait for organ transplants, while many individuals pass away without their valuable organs being used to save other lives. We cannot allow such a precious resource to go to waste," she said.

Dr Phan Tan uc, head of the Urology-Nephrology Department at Children's Hospital 2, highlighted the pressing need for increased organ donations, particularly for child patients.

Statistics from Children's Hospital 2 show a significant demand, with approximately 100 child patients waiting for liver transplants and 70 for kidney transplants. On average, two children die each month while waiting for a donor organ.

Several factors contribute to the low rate of organ donation, including cultural and religious beliefs about bodily integrity after death, gaps in the legal framework, and ineffective public awareness campaigns.

Dr Tien stressed the need for a well-structured healthcare system, better organisation from hospitals to transplant coordination centres, and collective efforts from the government, religious organisations, and the community to encourage organ donation as a noble act.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said that Viet Nam lacked comprehensive policies for counselling potential organ donors, particularly for brain-dead and cardiac arrest cases. Additionally, there was no standardised pricing for costs related to transplantation, making it difficult for hospitals to manage procedures and reimbursements.

To address these challenges, the Ministry of Health is refining the legal framework to strengthen the organ donation network, according to Thuan. The National Coordination Centre for Organ Transplantation has been urged to propose a National Organ Donation Day, as directed by the Prime Minister, to raise public awareness and encourage more registrations.

Additionally, the centre is enhancing its use of digital technology to manage donor registrations, transplant waiting lists, and donated organ allocation, ensuring efficiency, transparency, and fairness in organ transplantation.

By establishing a compatible database linking donor and transplant centres nationwide, authorities can maximise organ use, reduce waiting times, and prevent wastage amid high demand.  VNS
HCM CITY  An additional 164 Vietnamese students have successfully earned masters degrees through the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) joint program between HCM City Open University (HCMCOU) and Edith Cowan University in Australia.

HCMCOU awarded graduation certificates to the students during a ceremony held on Saturday.

Speaking at the event, HCMCOU President Nguyen Minh Ha reaffirmed the university's commitment to fostering a society of active learners.

He emphasised the institution's dedication to providing students with the most flexible arrangements and employing the most effective educational methods to support their learning journey.

We have collaborated with various foreign institutions to promote research and cultural exchange among lecturers and students, he said.

HCMCOU has partnered with global universities, including Universite Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), University of Southern Queensland, Flinders University, Bond University (Australia), Fresenius (Germany), ROUEN (France), and Edith Cowan University (Australia).

Since 2017, the joint masters program with Edith Cowan University has focused on training English teachers to meet international standards, preparing them to teach at universities, high schools, and language centers, in line with Viet Nam's educational needs.

The standout feature of the programme is that it is conducted entirely in Viet Nam, with graduates earning a Masters degree from Edith Cowan University.

The training is divided into two phases: the first phase is delivered by lecturers from HCM City Open University (HCMCOU), while the second phase is taught by faculty from Edith Cowan University.

Since its launch in 2017, the programme has enrolled a total of 777 students.

Edith Cowan University is one of Australia's top 38 public universities to be highly rated for its undergraduate teaching quality (Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching, QUILT).  VNS
Russian Defence Ministry reports on progress of special military operation (from 15 to 21 March 2025)

From 15 to 21 March 2025, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out 13 group strikes by high-precision weapons and attack unmanned aerial vehicles, which damaged infrastructure of military airfields, the assembly workshop, storage and training sites of strike drones, ammunition depots as well as temporary deployment areas of nationalists and Ukrainian armed formations.

Over the past week, units of the Sever Group of Forces continued to eliminate AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region.

As a result of the decisive actions, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation liberated Zaoleshenka and Rubanshchina.

Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles strikes, and artillery hit manpower and hardware of two mechanised brigades, an air assault brigade, a marine brigade, and two territorial defence brigades.

In Kharkov and Belgorod directions, units of two mechanised brigades and two assault regiments of the AFU were hit.

During the week in the area of responsibility of the Sever Group of Forces, the AFU losses amounted to over 2,295 troops, 16 tanks, and 58 armoured fighting vehicles. Russian troops destroyed 130 motor vehicles, 30 field artillery guns, six ammunition depots, and five electronic and counter-battery warfare stations.

The Zapad Group of Forces improved the situation along the front line and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the three mechanised brigades, a motorised infantry brigade, an assault brigade of the AFU, and two territorial defence brigades.

The AFU losses amounted to more than 1,670 troops, 19 armoured fighting vehicles including a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, and seven U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carriers. The enemy lost 44 motor vehicles, 28 field artillery guns, ten EW stations, and 11 field artillery guns.

The Yug Group of Forces improved the tactical situation. Russian units engaged formations of five mechanised brigades, a motorised infantry brigade, mountain assault brigade, an assault brigade, an airmobile brigade, a drone brigade of the AFU, a territorial defence brigade, and two national guard brigades.

The AFU lost up to 1,615 troops, two tanks, and seven armoured fighting vehicles including three U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carriers during the week. Russian troops eliminated 34 motor vehicles, 14 field artillery guns, two Croatian-made RAK-SA-12 multiple rocket launcher systems, six field ammunition depots, and two electronic warfare stations.

The Tsentr Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and positions. The Russian Armed Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of four mechanised brigades, two jaeger brigades, an assault brigade of the AFU, a marine brigade, and a national guard brigade.

The AFU losses amounted to more than 3,235 troops, 30 armoured fighting vehicles including two Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, three M113 armoured personnel carriers, and two U.S.-made MaxxPro armoured vehicles. Russian elements engaged 46 motor vehicles, 26 artillery guns, and three electronic warfare stations.

Units of the Vostok Group of Forces continued advancing into the depth of enemy defence. Three mechanised brigades, two motorised infantry brigades, a mountain assault brigade, an airmobile brigade of the AFU, a marine brigade, and three territorial defence brigades were defeated.

The AFU losses amounted to more than 1,040 troops, 10 armoured fighting vehicles, 27 motor vehicles, and 21 field artillery guns including four Western-made guns.

The units of the Dnepr Group liberated Stepovoye (Zaporozhye region) as a result of active actions.

Strikes were delivered at manpower and hardware of two mechanised brigades, a mountain assault brigade, and four coastal defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The AFU losses amounted to more than 510 troops, 32 motor vehicles, and six field artillery guns. Nine electronic warfare stations and two ammunition depots have been eliminated.

The Russian Aerospace Forces have shot down a MiG-29 aircraft of Ukrainian Air Force in a dog fight.

Over the past week, air defence units have destroyed 28 JDAM guided bombs and seven U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles as well as 1,113 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles, including 536 outside the special military operation.

??In total, since the beginning of the special military operation the enemy lost 658 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 47,719 unmanned aerial vehicles, 601 anti-aircraft missile systems, 22,420 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,530 MLRS combat vehicles, 22,788 field artillery guns and mortars, 33,187 units of support military vehicles.

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Russian Defence Ministry reports on repelling AFU attempt to invade Russian territory in Kursk region (21 March 2025) The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region. Units of the Sever Group of Forces hit formations of two mechanised brigades, an air assault brigade, a marine brigade of the AFU, and two territorial defence brigades near Gogolevka, Gornal, and Oleshnya. Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, and Artillery strikes engaged AFU manpower and hardware close to Guyevo as well as Alekseyevka, Basovka, Belovody, Varachino, Velikaya Rybitsa, Veselovka, Vladimirovka, Vodolagi, Zhuravka, Ivolzhanskoye, Loknya, Miropolye, Mogritsa, Novaya Setch, Novenkoye, Obody, Sadki, Yunakovka, and Yablonovka (Sumy region). Over 240 Ukrainian troops, a tank, an infantry fighting vehicle, four armoured fighting vehicles, 14 motor vehicles, and eight mortars have been neutralised during the day. Three AFU servicemen surrendered. Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk direction, the AFU losses amounted to: more than 69,120 troops, 400 tanks, 322 infantry fighting vehicles, 289 armoured personnel carriers, 2,210 armoured fighting vehicles, 2,503 motor vehicles, 568 artillery guns, 52 MLRS launchers, including 13 of HIMARS and seven of MLRS made by the USA, 26 anti-aircraft missile launchers, one self-propelled anti-aircraft system, ten transport-loading vehicles, 120 EW stations, 18 counter-battery warfare radars, ten air defence radars, 56 units of engineering and other materiel, including 23 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, five bridge launchers, one engineering reconnaissance vehicle as well as 15 armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle. The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.

WtR
This article is old - Published: Saturday, Mar 22nd, 2025

Wrexham.com has invited local Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in their respective Parliaments and closer to home  you can find them all here. 

In this months column Clwyd Souths Member of the Senedd, Ken Skates writes:

Work remains ongoing to deliver a long-awaited new health centre for Cefn Mawr  and we wont stop fighting until there are spades in the ground.

Alongside Cllr Derek Wright, I have been calling for a new facility for 10 years after launching a campaign with the late Cefn Community Council chairman Ken Bathers in 2015.

Despite a number of false dawns and setbacks, we are still optimistic.

We met with senior Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) representatives last summer alongside NECS, a specialist NHS consultancy unit which has been exploring opportunities for new integrated wellbeing hubs in the Wrexham area as part of a joint project with BCUHB, Wrexham Council and the Association of Voluntary Organisations in Wrexham (AVOW).

NECS produced a feasibility study which makes recommendations to improve health and social care across Wrexham. These included specific analysis to support a development in Cefn Mawr, and a preferred location was also put forward.

It is hoped a new hub in Cefn would house both of the villages current GP surgeries  as well as council and wider health and wellbeing services  and serve around 10,000 patients from Cefn and surrounding communities such as Acrefair, Trevor and Plas Madoc.

A brand new facility in central Wrexham is also being considered.

The latest update I have received from the health board said: Since the last meeting, a number of discussions have taken place to explore ways to deliver improved access to health and wellbeing services, closer to peoples homes.

Alongside these discussions we have, with the local authority, considered the wider opportunities that came out of the NECS report into integrated care facilities across the wider geographical area. There are a number of potential options that would enable us to deliver integrated care, not just in Cefn Mawr but in central Wrexham as well. This would enable us to maximise the impact and benefit to the wider population, with significantly increased population health benefits.

Having the opportunity to establish an integrated health and care hub in the middle of Wrexham, with a similar, smaller scale hub (or potentially hubs) in surrounding areas like Cefn Mawr would allow us to accelerate our delivery of the care closer to home agenda. This includes bringing services off the Maelor site, increasing and integrating primary and community care as well as ensuring much greater access to, and use of, third sector services.

A project group consisting of health, local authority and voluntary sector (through AVOW) representatives has been set up, and a strategic outline case is due to be presented in June.

The BCUHB update also states: Whilst this may well be a larger scale project than planned, it will not delay the work we will do with GPs and the wider community in Cefn Mawr.

I do hope that the wider scope of this work, which reflects the need to consider a larger population, assures you of our commitment to the development of these models of integrated care.

A 26bn funding package from the Welsh Labour Government has been approved by the Senedd.

Along with Wrexham MS Lesley Griffiths, I voted for the Welsh Government Budget last week.

The 2025-26 Welsh Budget has the top priorities of the people of our area at its heart and includes additional funding for our schools and hospitals, investment in more and better homes and extra support for jobs and economic growth.

In total, an additional 1.5bn will be spent on public services in the next financial year  including an extra 600m for the Welsh NHS. This will mean more appointments, better medical equipment and more investment in crucial new technology

Another 15m is being invested in a pilot scheme which will mean young people aged 21 and under will only pay 1 for a single bus fare in Wales.

Thanks to the hard work of the Welsh Labour Government, in partnership with the UK Labour Government, the 1.5bn of extra funding which has been secured is being carefully targeted to make sure it makes a real difference to peoples lives.

With over 400m allocated to tackle housing pressures, there will be more support to get first-time buyers onto the property ladder and money to make existing homes greener and more sustainable.

After 14 years of UK Government under-funding, this Budget is a hopeful one. With it, we can start to undo some of the damage of the past and focus on delivering the brighter future Wales deserves.

If youre a constituent of Clwyd South and need help or advice, email ken.skates@senedd.wales or call 01978 869058. My office will also be able to give you details of my upcoming surgeries.
Dumb economics blast as Senedd rejects motion on national insurance hike

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Mar 22nd, 2025

The Senedd rejected Conservative calls for the UK Government to compensate charities for the increasing cost of employer national insurance (NI) contributions from April.

Mark Isherwood called for Welsh charities, not-for-profits and voluntary organisations, which play a crucial role in delivering public services, to be reimbursed for the extra costs.

The Conservative criticised Rachel Reeves debt-driving, tax-hiking and job-destroying first budget as UK chancellor and Labours cruel decision to increase NI contributions.

Mr Isherwood warned of false economies, with the UK tax set to rise from 13.8% to 15% swallowing up increases in funding through the Welsh budget.

This is dumb economics, he told the Senedd.

Devastating

The north Walian raised concerns from the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA), an umbrella organisation for the sector, about the impact of NI increases across the country.

Mr Isherwood said the WCVA has warned many voluntary organisations already face significant financial pressures, with the extra strain jeopardising vital services.

He pointed to comments from cancer care charity Tenovus which described the rise as devastating and urged the Welsh Government to mitigate the impact.

Adferiad, a mental health and addiction charity, told the North Wales representative that the rise will cost 600,000 a year, potentially leading to reduced services and staff being let go.

Mr Isherwood warned that the 16 charitable hospices in Wales are all facing deficits and having to consider significant cuts which would lead to huge gaps.

Urgent need

He said: They provide essential care to over 20,000 children and adults in Wales affected by terminal and life-limiting illnesses each year, and provide a huge cost saving to the NHS.

Leading a Tory debate on March 19, Mr Isherwood stated hospices urgently need 5.9m to cover the impact of NHS pay rises and safeguard the immediate future of services.

The motion urged Welsh ministers to call on their UK counterparts to ensure charities are included in the ONS definition of public sector employer and reimbursed NI costs as a result.

Heledd Fychan, Plaid Cymrus shadow finance secretary, argued the cost of increases to employer NI contributions to core public services should be fully covered by Westminster.

The UK treasury intends to use the Barnett formula to calculate funding for Wales based on the costs in England, which could leave public bodies facing a shortfall.

Breathtakingly cynical

Conservative Tom Giffard warned the uplift in NI contributions could cost the voluntary sector across the UK a whopping 1.4bn a year, according to estimates.

Labours Lee Waters described the Tory motion as breathtakingly cynical, incoherent and opportunistic, questioning where the opposition would find extra money for public services.

But he said: I do have some sympathy with the arguments about NI contributions, I think it is the wrong tax to be raising and I regret the fact that other taxes have been ruled out. I dont think its the right call but there is a significant deficit in public spending.

Mr Waters, a former minister, cautioned that the Labour UK Government inherited threadbare public services and a rotten economy from the Conservatives.

Responding for the Welsh Government, Jane Hutt recognised concerns about the impact of NI rises on public bodies which commission services from the third sector.

Non-devolved

Ms Hutt, who is responsible for the voluntary sector in Wales, said the UK Government more than doubled the employment allowance to protect the smallest businesses and charities.

The social justice secretary stressed that NI is non-devolved, adding that Welsh ministers will continue to make representations to their counterparts in Westminster.

She told Senedd members: The UK Government has confirmed it will provide funding to public sector employers to cover the increased cost of NI contributions.

Ms Hutt said the Welsh Government has initially estimated the additional NI cost to devolved public sector employers in Wales at 253m.

Senedd members voted 36-14 against the Tory motion before a version amended by Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Government was agreed by the same margin.

by Chris Haines ICNN Senedd Reporter
Road closed for some time after New Broughton RTC

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Mar 22nd, 2025

UPDATE: Police have issued a sad update this morning following this incident here.

Original information below

A road is closed this morning following an incident in the New Broughton area.

The incident occurred around 11pm, with a large emergency service response including police and ambulance service, and a NPAS helicopter.

Police have said just after midnight, Police are in attendance at the scene of a road traffic collision at Wrexham Road, New Broughton.

The road will be closed between Coed Efa lane and Dale Road for some time to allow for further investigation at scene.

We ask that members of the community avoid the immediate area, due to the closure, whilst the investigation is ongoing.
The Regional Shooting Facility has expanded with new programs and longer hours. They're open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the owners are inviting everyone to come out and see their new improvements.

Since Nevada Firearms Academy officially took over the facility in July of last year, they have made significant improvements that allow more access to the range, longer target distances ranging from three yards to over 1,700 yards, and several new programs for all ages and skill levels.

Scott Catron, Chief Range Safety Officer and Owner of Nevada Firearms Academy, says, "We have everything from youth programs to adult programs here. Our kids' program is called Avoid, Deny, Defend. It would be avoid contact, deny entry to a room if you can find that way, and as a last resort defend yourself."

Other programs include community range daysallowing the public to try out latest firearms and gear in a safe, supervised settingtraining and tactical games in April, blood drives and charity shoots, and supporting Boy and Girl Scout troops.

"Our goal is to try to get ten or twelve merit badges out here. The obvious rifle and black powder, archery, and things like that. But we think we can do some first aid and some lifesaving and some orienteering. We're going to try to raise bees out here for the kids to be able to farm bees."

Scott says their expansion on community engagement is extremely important because they offer a lot of programs that no other range in northern Nevada does.

One of those programs being competitions. The Washoe Rodeo Club hosted their junior and high school trap shoot competition today.

Cole Jones, organizer of the Washoe Rodeo Club, says, "They're very open and not very strict on the guns you can have which I think is very special. They allow us to have opportunities like these to come out and shoot for our clubs, and I think there's lots of other ranges that won't allow that. And I think that's very cool that they open that for us."

To learn more about new programs and resources at the Regional Shooting Facility, check out the Nevada Firearms Academy website.
At ABP Majhas flagship event, Majha Maharashtra Majha Vision, held in Mumbai, Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister, Maharashtra once again took center stage. With the governments first 100 days under review, Fadnavis outlined his vision, defended his administrations decisions, and responded to pressing political controversies with clarity and conviction.

Devendra Fadnavis strongly condemned the recent riots in Nagpur, calling them unfortunate and unacceptable. He clarified that while a few individuals incited the violence, the citys reputation suffered as a result. By noon, Nagpur was peaceful again. This was not an intelligence failure, but we could have tracked the situation better to prevent the riots, he admitted.

He also pointed out the growing misuse of social media in spreading misinformation and inciting unrest. We have the capability to monitor social media, but the habit of proactively using it for such situations is lacking. We need to cultivate that approach, he said. He acknowledged that had social media activity been tracked earlier, authorities could have responded more swiftly.

On the Disha Salian and Aaditya Thackeray controversy, he maintained that the issue had been ongoing since 2002 and that the legal process would take its course. The state will wait for the courts decision. The police have done their job, and now it is in the judiciarys hands, he stated, dismissing further speculation.

Fadnavis addressed the delays in appointing Officers on Special Duty (OSD), attributing it to the new appointment process that includes thorough background checks. He emphasized that accountability and governance were top priorities for the coalition government. Right now, there is a period of stability. Our focus is on long-term goals, governance, and accountability. No matter what people say, all three coalition partners stand united, he declared.

He clarified that the final decision on OSD appointments rested with him. I have told my ministers - I will not appoint anyone arbitrarily. The final decision is mine, and I do not need to prove anything to anyone, he asserted. He also took a dig at the events of 2019, when he was ousted as CM, stating, That was a lesson, but now is the time to focus on governance rather than political battles.

Outlining his vision for Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis emphasized infrastructure, climate resilience, and technological advancements. He announced plans to generate 35,000 MW of electricity over the next five years and to make electricity bills zero for those consuming up to 300 units through solar energy initiatives. He also revealed ambitious plans to build 20 lakh houses within 1.5 years to address the housing crisis.

Additionally, he spoke about Maharashtras potential in the AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics) sector, aiming to create over 20 lakh jobs. He positioned Maharashtra as a key player in the digital economy, stating, Data is the new oil, and Maharashtra will lead in the global digital revolution.

Fadnavis announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was keen on leading the WAVE Summit, an event designed to put Maharashtra on the global stage, comparable to Cannes and Davos. The summit will be held annually in Mumbai, attracting top industry leaders and key policymakers. The PM will personally attend and spend a day at the summit. This event will cement Mumbais status as a premier global destination, he asserted.

Also Read: CMO Unplugged: Ragini Hariharan on building an ecosystem of trust and wellness
E2E Networks, a leading provider of accelerated cloud computing, has announced the appointment of three seasoned industry leaders to its leadership team. The company welcomes Supreet Sethi as Solutions Architect, Himank Saini Sadh as Senior Vice President - Delivery, and Bakshish Dutta as Senior Vice President - Sales. These strategic appointments reflect E2E Clouds commitment to driving innovation. With a strong focus on high-performance cloud solutions, E2E Networks continues to reinforce its expertise in the industry.

Supreet Sethi, appointed as Solutions Architect, is a transformative leader known for designing high-performance, cost-efficient cloud and AI solutions. His expertise in building multi-region, high-availability infrastructures will play a crucial role in strengthening E2E Clouds solution architecture.

Himank Saini Sadh joins as Senior Vice President - Delivery, bringing a wealth of experience in project execution, cross-functional leadership, and customer advocacy. An alumnus of NIT Kurukshetra, he has previously held leadership roles at HCL and NEC, successfully managing global projects for top-tier technology firms, including Google, Samsung, LG, and Fujitsu.

Bakshish Dutta, taking on the role of Senior Vice President - Sales, is a growth-driven business leader with a proven record of scaling SaaS operations. His previous experience includes achieving an impressive CAGR of 57% over seven years in the India and SAARC regions and a remarkable 183% growth at Commvault within just two years. His expertise in identifying growth opportunities and executing competitive sales strategies will be instrumental in driving E2E Clouds market expansion.

Welcoming the new leaders, Tarun Dua, Co-founder & Managing Director at E2E Networks, said, Im thrilled to welcome three senior members of the team to the E2E Cloud. Supreet Sethi joins us as a Solutions Architect, bringing a unique blend of technical expertise and visionary thinking in designing high-performance, cost-effective cloud and AI solutions. Himank Saini Sadh joins as Senior Vice President - Delivery, leveraging his extensive experience in orchestrating complex projects and driving cross-functional success. Bakshish Dutta assumes the role of Senior Vice President - Sales, renowned for his exceptional record in scaling operations and outperforming competitive markets.

I am confident that Supreet, Himank, and Bakshish will help elevate E2E Cloud to new heights as we continue to innovate and redefine the cloud and AI landscape. Please join me in welcoming them to the E2E Cloud family.

The addition of these senior leaders comes at a significant time for E2E Cloud, as the company attracts strategic partnerships and substantial investments while unveiling cutting-edge advancements in cloud and AI

Also Read: E2E Networks announces new office bearers in India
Authored by Ganapathy Viswanathan, Independent Communication Consultant and Chief Mentor Roarrr Media and Public Relations.

The power of digital in every sphere of life is changing the way we are interacting and the way we are consuming content. Today, you need to generate fresh and interesting content to keep your target audience engaged. With the internet growth happening at a rapid pace, the power of digital has further enhanced the need for brands to be more engaging and interactive. Also, the growth of internet has also helped brands to now reach the smallest of the towns pan India.

Digital PR is transforming the way brands and individuals communicate with their audiences. Unlike traditional PR, which relies on print media, television, and radio, digital PR leverages online platforms, social media, and search engines to build and manage reputations. The shift to digital has made PR more measurable, accessible, and interactive, allowing brands to engage directly with their audiences in real-time.

Brands are Geared Up to Digital in PR Today

Brands have recognized the shift in consumer behaviour and are leveraging digital platforms to enhance their PR strategies. Social media, influencer marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and content marketing have become integral to PR campaigns. Companies are now focusing on real-time engagement, data-driven storytelling, and multimedia content (such as videos, podcasts, and interactive infographics) to keep their audiences engaged. Many brands are also utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics to track audience sentiments and optimize their communication strategies accordingly.

Challenges in Digital For PR

While digital PR offers immense opportunities, it also presents challenges. The fast-paced nature of digital media means brands must be constantly active and ready to respond to crises in real-time. Misinformation and fake news can spread rapidly, potentially damaging a brands reputation. Managing online reputation, handling negative feedback, and ensuring credibility in the age of viral content are crucial challenges. Moreover, with so many digital platforms available, brands must tailor their messaging for different audiences while maintaining a consistent brand voice.

Can Digital Be More Effective Than Traditional Media?

Digital PR is proving to be more effective in many ways due to its measurable outcomes and wider reach. Unlike traditional media, which often relies on one-way communication, digital platforms allow for two-way interaction, enabling brands to directly engage with their audience. Additionally, digital PR is cost-effective and provides real-time analytics, helping brands refine their strategies based on performance metrics. However, traditional media still holds credibility, particularly in certain demographics and industries, making an integrated approach the most effective PR strategy.

Nurturing and Training Talent in the Digital era

PR agencies are rapidly adapting to the digital landscape by upskilling their teams in digital marketing, social media management, and data analysis. Many agencies are offering in-house training programs, workshops, and certifications to keep their employees updated on the latest trends and tools in digital PR. The rise of AI and automation in PR has also led agencies to focus on analytical and strategic thinking, ensuring their teams can interpret data effectively and create compelling narratives. Additionally, agencies are investing in hiring digital-native professionals who understand the nuances of digital communication.

Digital and its growth in next 10 years

The future of digital PR is expected to be even more dynamic and data-driven. With the increasing role of AI, PR strategies will become more predictive, helping brands anticipate crises and trends before they happen. The use of immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) will redefine brand storytelling, making PR campaigns more engaging. Additionally, decentralized platforms and blockchain technology might enhance transparency in digital PR, combating misinformation and improving trust. As digital ecosystems evolve, personalization and hyper-targeting will play a key role in how brands communicate with their audiences.

To summarise, digital PR is revolutionizing how brands connect with their audiences. While it brings challenges, it also offers unprecedented opportunities for engagement, storytelling, and brand-building. By embracing innovation and staying adaptable, brands and PR professionals can harness the true power of digital to shape public perception and drive meaningful conversations.

Also Read: How digital storytelling is powering ASICS positioning as a performance-driven brand
This World Water Day, PepsiCo India has unveiled a special film on sustainable water management and community upliftment, sharing the real-life stories of hope and transformation from Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.

PepsiCo India shines a light on the human faces behind its water conservation effortsfamilies, farmers, and schoolchildren highlighting how initiatives enabling access to safe water and promoting climate-adaptive solutions are transforming their lives. Guided by its Partnership of Progress principle, the companys continued efforts are not just replenishing water sources; they are nurturing dreams, fostering resilience, fostering long-term community resilience and enabling a water-secure future.

In partnership with the FORCE Trust, PepsiCo India is spearheading two transformative initiatives in Uttar Pradesh to ensure water security and better sanitation for those who need it most.

Under the Water and WASH initiative, over 50,000 residents across 13 water-risk villages in Mathura now have access to safe water, including a 1000-litre-per-hour Community RO facility maintained through community action and safe drinking water points installed in 11 schools, positively impacting over 3,200 children. For these young minds, access to clean water means healthier days, better school attendance, and a water secure future.

Through the Watershed Health Initiative in Hathras, PepsiCo India- FORCE Trust collaboration has pioneered the Gaon ka Pani Gaon Mein model in Chintagarhi village to enabling rainwater harvesting, storage, and its recharge into the groundwater system, preventing unnecessary runoff and maximizing local water availability. This initiative is more than just a conservation effortit is a promise to communities, ensuring that water remains a source of life, not a daily struggle. The village now stands as a testament to what collective action can achieve, a revived pond, water-efficient farming techniques, and extensive community awareness programs that serve as a beacon of possibility for other villages across the country.

Yashika Singh, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer and Sustainability Head, PepsiCo India and South Asia said, At PepsiCo India, we believe that true progress is built on collective action. We are working hand-in-hand with communities to develop scalable water solutions that have a lasting impact. The inauguration of the Community RO facility in Mehrana (Mathura) is a step toward this visionensuring safe drinking water for families while fostering resilience at the grassroots level. What makes this initiative truly special is the way community members are actively investing in and managing their own water resources, making it a true Partnership of Progress while securing a more sustainable future for all. This World Water Day, we reaffirm our aim to strengthen communities through responsible water stewardship.

Through these initiatives PepsiCo India continues to drive change, empowering communities with sustainable solutions that enhance water security, improve livelihoods, and foster long-term resilience.

Also Read: Umi Patel Elevated to VP-Marketing Innovation & Hydration at PepsiCo
In India, traditional practices for safeguarding valuables often involve hiding them in unconventional places such as under pillows, behind cupboards, or inside temple corners (Pooja Ghar). However, these methods may not provide adequate protection against theft. Recognizing this, the Security Solutions Business of Godrej Enterprise Group, Indias leading integrated security solutions provider, has launched a new campaign to address the misconceptions around home security. The campaign draws a parallel between risky storage habits and gambling, emphasizing the importance of making informed security decisions with Godrejs technologically advanced Home Lockers.

The campaign leverages a powerful visual metaphor to highlight the risks of unsafe home security practices. It depicts families unwittingly gambling with their valuables  stashing jewellery, watches, and other precious items in unsecured spots like under pillows, inside cupboards, or behind temple corners. By drawing this parallel, the campaign emphasizes that such risky habits put valuables at unnecessary risk. The narrative then shifts focus, urging consumers to break free from these unreliable methods and embrace the trusted security of Godrej NX Pro Luxe Home Lockers. With the tagline Daav nahi, Godrej Home Locker Lagaiye, the message is clear: safeguarding your valuables should never be left to chance.

Pushkar Gokhale, Executive Vice-President and Business Head of the Security Solutions Business of Godrej Enterprises Group, said, For generations, Indians have trusted Godrej for their security needs, and with evolving threats, we continue to innovate and adapt. This campaign aims to reshape traditional mind-sets, reinforcing that true security is not about makeshift hiding spotsits about investing in solutions that offer real protection. As security threats evolve, so do consumer lifestyles, and we remain at the forefront of this evolution. Blending durability with design, the new home lockers ensure that security complements both functionality and style. With decades of expertise, industry certifications, and a relentless pursuit of innovation, Godrej continues to redefine what home security means for Indian households.

Sumeet Bhojani, Head  Brand & Strategic Insights, Godrej Enterprises Group said, At Godrej, our journey has always been driven by innovation, trust, and a deep understanding of evolving consumer needs. Being one of Indias most reliable brands, our latest series of campaigns reflect our commitment to Unlocking New Worlds, by offering smarter solutions that add value to everyday life. Whether it's ensuring tension-free security with our advanced home lockers, enabling worry-free living with our IoT enabled digital locks, or enhancing convenience & comfort with our smart ACs, we are addressing the needs of the modern Indian consumers. This campaign reflects our promise to deliver innovative solutions that 'unlock value' for consumers thus enhancing their lives.

Aligned with the messaging, Godrejs latest range of home lockers comes equipped with cutting-edge technology, including advanced features such as a tamper-proof motorized lock, dual digital and biometric access, auto door locking, and an in-built I-Buzz alarm, voice recognition, biometric access, and digital passcodes, Godrej NX Pro Luxe ensures robust protection and convenience. In addition to anti-theft alarms and superior build quality, these lockers are designed to seamlessly integrate with modern home aesthetics, offering an elegant yet formidable layer of protection. By emphasizing peace of mind and trust, the campaign appeals to key consumer segments, reinforcing Godrejs leadership in home security solutions.

Also Read: Deepika Padukone: The unstoppable queen of Holi chartbusters
Fadnavis Warns: Rioters in Nagpur to Pay for Damage or Lose Property 2

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday announced that the cost of property damage caused during the recent Nagpur violence will be recovered from those responsible. Failure to pay will result in the seizure and auctioning of their properties to compensate for losses. Addressing a press conference, Fadnavis stated that 104 rioters have been identified through video footage and CCTV analysis, with legal action already taken against 92 individuals, including 12 minors.

He assured that Prime Minister Narendra Modis upcoming visit to Nagpur will not be affected by the unrest that occurred in central parts of the city on Monday. Fadnavis, who also heads the Home Ministry, issued a stern warning: Strict action will be taken against those who attacked police personnel. My government will not rest until these elements are identified and punished.

When asked about potential foreign involvement, he said it was premature to comment on any Bangladeshi or external hand in the riots, as investigations are ongoing. Clarifying media reports, Fadnavis said female police constables were pelted with stones, but there were no incidents of molestation. He also dismissed any political angle to the violence, while admitting that although it wasnt an intelligence failure, intelligence gathering could have been better.

The CMs firm stance signals that Maharashtra will not tolerate lawlessness, and the consequences for those involved in the Nagpur violence will be severe and unavoidable.
Karnataka Bandh Turns Tense Over Belagavi Conductor Assault; Shops Defy, Police Clampdown 2

A 12-hour statewide bandh called by pro-Kannada groups to protest the alleged assault of a state-run bus conductor in Belagavi for not knowing Marathi began on Saturday morning amid heightened security. Despite appeals from protesters, most shops across Karnataka remained open, with businesses and public transport operating largely unaffected.

In Bengaluru, activists gathered at Mysore Bank Circle, raising slogans and holding placards, while others staged demonstrations at the BMTC and KSRTC bus stands. Protesters urged bus drivers and conductors to join the bandh, leading to police taking several activists into preventive custody as agitation intensified.

In Mysuru, pro-Kannada activists blocked buses at the suburban stand and staged sit-in protests, with police detaining those attempting to halt KSRTC services. Similar demonstrations were reported in Davangere.

Belagavi, the centre of the ongoing linguistic dispute, witnessed limited movement of buses from Maharashtra, though KSRTC services continued. Recent incidents of alleged abuse against non-Marathi speakers in Belagavi have reignited tensions in the region, which frequently sees border-related conflicts. The accused in both assault and abuse cases have been taken into custody.

Senior officers are monitoring the situation across the state, with elaborate security arrangements including home guards and City Armed Reserve units deployed to prevent violence. Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda warned of strict legal action against anyone forcing participation in the bandh, confirming the deployment of 60 KSRP platoons, 1,200 home guards, and full civil and traffic police forces in the city.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar urged citizens to maintain peace, stating that while the government stands for the states interests, a bandh was unnecessary. Schools and colleges remained open, with no official holiday declared.

Despite partial support from autorickshaw, cab, and private driver unions, major sectors like hotels, malls, bars, and restaurants extended only moral support. Emergency services, petrol pumps, and metro operations remained unaffected, ensuring minimal disruption to daily life.
Stalin's Delimitation Meet Sparks Political Firestorm; BJP Labels It 'Corruption Cover-Up' 2

The first Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting on delimitation, chaired by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin, began in Chennai on Saturday, gathering 14 leaders from at least five states. The meeting aimed to discuss the perceived threat posed by the upcoming delimitation of Lok Sabha seats to states with higher literacy rates and stronger economic growth.

However, the BJP staged a black flag protest, fiercely criticizing Stalin for allegedly ignoring pressing state issues like the Cauvery and Mullaiperiyar water-sharing disputes, and instead focusing on what they called a corruption-hiding meeting. BJP leader and former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan questioned the motive behind the meeting, calling it an attempt to distract from the DMKs governance failures and corruption scandals.

Soundararajan accused Stalin of using fear-mongering tactics and claimed the gathering was merely a smokescreen to divert attention from unresolved state issues. So far, theres no official announcement of delimitation by the Centre, and Home Minister Amit Shah has already assured Tamil Nadu will not be impacted. So, on what grounds is this meeting being held? she asked, calling the assembly a corruption hiding meeting.

Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, on arrival, voiced concerns over the possibility of South India losing parliamentary seats, arguing that states like Karnataka have always followed population control measures and contributed significantly to national progress.

BJP national spokesperson C R Kesavan also attacked the DMK, accusing it of orchestrating a delimitation drama to divert public attention from corruption and policy failures. He called Rahul Gandhi and the Congress partys position on the issue opportunistic and pathetic.

Leaders from Kerala, Telangana, Punjab, and others, including Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann, and IUML leader P M A Salam, attended the meeting. Stalin described the meet as a historic day for Indian federalism and a landmark moment where 58 parties came together, leaving aside political differences for a united cause.

Calling it the start of a national movement, Stalin emphasized Tamil Nadus commitment to democracy and justice, saying that collective unity would lead to fair delimitation. But with opposition parties questioning the very premise of the meeting and accusing leaders of hiding behind political drama to avoid addressing corruption, the controversy around the gathering only deepens.
An Alabama man shot his ex-wife and their teenage son before turning to random victims, including a 70-year-old woman he shot dead because he believed she was calling police, authorities said.

Lorenzo Edwards, 42, of Selma, was charged with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and two counts of first-degree domestic violence following the Wednesday shooting spree, Dallas County court records showed.

According to charging documents, the spree began when Edwards shot his 43-year-old ex-wife in the face and their 14-year-old son in the head around 6:43 p.m. Wednesday at Edwards home in the 2800 block of Summerfield Road in Selma.

Edwards' ex-wife identified him as the shooter while she was being put in an ambulance and told authorities she believed her ex-husband was headed toward the home she lived in with their son.

Dallas County Sheriff Mike Granthum told WSFA that Edwards continued the spree by targeting random people.

Efforts by AL.com to reach Granthum were not immediately successful.

Edwards then allegedly shot a third person -- grazing them in the head -- before running over that victim with his vehicle.

He then pistol-whipped a fourth victim, whom Edwards tried to shoot but the gun jammed, according to charging documents.

Edwards killed the fifth victim, identified in charging documents as Peggy Ratliff Small, by means of a lethal instrument, court records stated.

Granthum told WSFA that Small was 70 years old and was targeted by Edwards because she was on her phone in her yard. Edwards believed she was reporting the shootings to police, the sheriff said.

Edwards allegedly bludgeoned Small to death with an engine block from his vehicle, Granthum said.

Dallas County Chief Deputy John Hatfield located Edwards in the 800 block of Alabama Highway 219 and held the suspect at gunpoint as deputies arrived to assist the Hatfield around 7:09 p.m. Wednesday, charging documents stated.

Edwards was then taken into custody.

Deputies found a .38-caliber revolver and a Springfield .45-caliber handgun in Edwards possession, the documents stated.

Bond information was not included in court records, but WSFA reported Edwards is being held in the Dallas County jail without bond under Aniahs Law.
President Donald Trump said Friday that he wants to move control and oversight of the federal student loan portfolio.

The brief announcement came a day after Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education -- and a day after his spokeswoman said she did not expect changes to student loans and special education services.

Trump said Friday that student loans will be handled by the Small Business Administration, and it will be serviced much better than it has in the past. He also said programs involving students with disabilities would be shifted to the Department of Health and Human Services.

No details were available Friday about what that means for individual borrowers.

Will current borrowers see their loans transferred? Its too early to say, but experts say to always keep records of payments and balances.

If the Education Department does actually close, another federal department could become the lender for new loans.

Congress could try to alter popular financial aid programs, such as Pell grants or Public Student Loan Forgiveness, but right now, all current laws and funding remain in effect -- just with fewer federal workers to address any issues.

The Education Department manages $1.7 trillion in student debt, portions of which are mired in legal issues.

It also just cut large swathes of its staff, including from the Federal Student Aid Office.

This can only result in borrowers experiencing erratic and inconsistent management of their federal student loans, Jessica Thompson, senior vice president of the Institute of College Access and Success, told The Associated Press. Errors will prove costly to borrowers and ultimately, to taxpayers.

Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington State, called Trumps transfer of studet loans a clear violation of law on social media.

Linda McMahon has said she also plans to shift the assignment of federal money to support at-risk students, such as students with disabilities.

On Friday, House Democrats introduced a resolution requesting Trump and McMahon turn over records related to the shutdown attempt.
Alabama librarians are worried that more than $3 million in federal funding will be in jeopardy after President Donald Trump signed an executive order dismantling the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.

On March 14, Trump ordered the service, along with several other federal organizations, eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.

The executive order drew concerns from Alabama librarians. In 2024, Alabamas public library service received 60% of the federal funding, or $1.9 million, from the institute. Local libraries statewide could lose about $1.4 million, according to the library services annual report. Overall, the service distributes about $200 million in grants nationwide to libraries, museums and heritage sites.

If IMLS closes completely, itll be detrimental to all public libraries, said Ryan Godfrey, public relations and communications manager of the Alabama Public Library Service.

Jefferson County received the most funds ($376,000) out of Alabama counties last year, according to the annual report.

Grants for local museums also may be at risk, such as the Alabama African-American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium, Tuskegee Universitys Legacy Museum and the Wiregrass Museum of Art received more than $350,000 in Inspire Grants funding last year, according to the IMLS website.

Libraries receive these grants through the Library Services and Technology Act for technology training, enhancing digital literacy, promoting resource sharing, and fostering innovative library services, according to the public library services annual report.

Loss of funding likely would also mean cutbacks on programs like the tutoring service Homework Alabama, which currently has 7,000 subscribers.

Alabamas Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled could lose funding if the institute is dissolved. The library is the primary source for blind readers to get library materials in Braille or special audiobooks, according to John Pare Jr., the director for advocacy and policy at the National Federation for the Blind.

Blind people in America dont have a lot of options to get these things, Pare said. More than 150,000 Alabamians have visual impairments, according to the National Federation for the Blind.

On March 14th, the Senate passed and the president signed a continuing resolution for fiscal year 2025, which provides funding for IMLS through September 2025.

Although this continuing resolution provides funding for IMLS, President Trump usurps the intent of Congress decision to provide funding, the American Library Association said in a statement.

Library funding draws less than 0.003% of the annual federal budget yet has enormous impact in communities nationwide, the association said.
Paul Prine, the former Mobile police chief, announces his candidacy for mayor on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at Government Plaza in downtown Mobile, Ala. John Sharp

Paul Prine announced his candidacy for Mobile mayor last week with an enthusiastic boom of Prine Time chants by his supporters that reverberated through Government Plaza.

Less than a year ago, Prine was fired as the citys police chief in this same location.

At 53, Prine is charging into the mayoral race with an outsider campaign thats shaking up local politics. His announcement rally, packed with fervent supporters, marked a rare sight in Alabama: A candidate for a municipal office with a passionate base thats stayed loyal to the former police chief since his dramatic fallout with an otherwise popular mayor in Mobiles Sandy Stimpson.

Dubbed the Peoples Chief by his fans, Prines candidacy echoes the populist spirit of national figures like Donald Trump. Hes bringing a no-nonsense, anti-establishment vibe to the race.

Im an outsider, Prine said. As outsiders go for local politics, what that means is (I am someone) who is not from the old guard or old establishment in Mobile, if you will.

Residency questions

But whether Prine has the money, manpower and support to win a crowded mayoral race remains to be seen. He already trails the frontrunners in fundraising. Aside from Prine, six other candidates have announced their candidacy.

Prine is already addressing one lingering controversy over his residency, hoping to put it to rest.

Prine owns a home in Saraland where he has lived for years. To be eligible for Mobile mayor, a candidate must be a resident of the city for 90 days before the election, which is May 29. They must also be a registered voter in the city.

Prine has been renting a house in Mobile since early March and is registered as a city voter. He has pledged to purchase a permanent residence in Mobile if he wins the election.

I moved and rented a house in the City of Mobile in the first part of March to run for mayor, Prine said this week during a phone interview with AL.com, one of his first with the local media since he announced his mayoral candidacy last week during a rally at Government Plaza.

For the record, and to clear it up, even as the chief of police, I was looking for a home (in Mobile), Prine said.

He said when his relationship with Stimpsons administration soured last April, he backed away from the move.

However, if I win, and Im looking for a home now, I will definitely invest in Mobile, Prine said. I would think that as part of investing (in the city), its important to know that in my 27-year career with Mobile police, there is no other candidate who has invested themselves wholeheartedly in the City of Mobile in the things that effect citizens of Mobile the most and that is crime and safety. There is no candidate dedicating the amount of time that Paul Prine has to the City of Mobile.

Prine has spent his life in Mobile County. A 1990 graduate of Vigor High School in neighboring Prichard, Prine once lived in the Alabama Village neighborhood where blight and violence were problematic.

The connection with Alabama Village was one of the main reasons why the council, in 2021, unanimously voted to hire Prine as police chief.

Prine doesnt think the residency issue matters much to voters, and he points to his diverse base of supporters as evidence of his campaigns momentum.

Fundraising

Mobile mayoral candidates 2025: Connie Hudson, Spiro Cheriogotis submitted photos

A motivated group that can get more people to the polls is something Prine will need if he is to win the election.

Prine has yet to file campaign finance documents with the Alabama Secretary of States Office. Two of his opponents  former Mobile County District Judge Spiro Cheriogotis ($228,896) and Mobile County Commissioner Connie Hudson ($302,457)  have a significant head start in early fundraising.

Related: Mobile mayoral race heats up as fundraising leaders clash

I understand that and whether I will be able to raise the funds that Spiro and Hudson raise is yet to be seen, Prine said, acknowledging the early money advantages for the two frontrunners.

Stimpsons support network also looms large in the race. The former mayor has nearly $140,000 in campaign funds remaining in his mayoral account. Stimpson has not made an endorsement in the race, and its unclear if or when one is coming.

Prine said he doesnt believe money will decide the race. Old-fashion appeals to the average voters is the strategy, he said.

Mobile is so diverse in demographics that I dont think money is the complete answer to the campaign, he said. I think the candidate has to reason with the average day citizen struggling to survive and wants to live their life and ensure that government officials are being good stewards of the taxpayers dollars. So, in saying that, its important for me to run a grassroots effort to ensure that all Mobilians know and can count on me to be a good steward of (taxpayers' money) and can lower crime, but who also has the capacity and abilities to address career development and continued economic growth in the city.

Faith-based

Prine makes his Christianity a public part of his support network, often closing gatherings with supporters by saying, To God be the glory.

Prine has made faith a part of his public career. When he was hired chief four years ago, Prine said one of his main goals was to increase police-community engagement by building relationships with faith-based organizations.

A meme recently created by his supporters sufaced with an image of Prine hovering above the clouds.

While I am a man of faith, people just see that as a correlation between what they (sense) in the character and integrity Ive displayed, Prine said. Its not only recently, but in private life as well.

Prine said the meme has been taking out of context, which he calls unfortunate. He said the image was in jest.

Thats just part of the politics and some of the things that goes on with politicking, Prine said.

Sabrina Mass, a long-time attendee of Mobile City Council meetings, is one of Prines vocal supporters, and she said that religious messaging and imagery on social media has little to do with it.

We all have different religious backgrounds, she said. To respect Chief Prine, I respect his religious stance and what he believes in. Hes very spiritual. Its not about religion. Its about  we want to know the truth. Why is he being terminated? Me and other people we were saying Why was he terminated? and, to this day, we havent gotten an answer.

Firing

Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine speaks during a news conference on Monday, March 21, 2022, inside the mayor's conference room at Government Plaza in downtown Mobile, Ala. Seated next to Prine is James Barber, the chief of staff to Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

Prines support base began emerging around the time his law enforcement career in Mobile began to unravel and ended during a high-profile and sudden dispute with Stimpson, Chief of Staff James Barber, and Executive Director of Public Safety Paul Lasky.

The issues last spring were many, but they mainly focused on a disagreement between Prine and the administration over policing and contracting in Mobile.

Prine was placed on administrative leave over preliminary findings in a report by former U.S. Attorney Kenyen Brown, who was hired by the city to review policing under Prines leadership. Prine declined a severance package Stimpson was offering and left his office.

He re-emerged publicly to give some extended TV interviews in which he blasted the Stimpson administration, accusing some members of questionable use of public funds. It was the first and only time in Stimpsons more than 11 years as mayor that someone he hired would go on to publicly chastise his leadership.

The fallout led to his eventual firing by the Mobile City Council on April 30, 2024.

Rising support

Supporters for suspended Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine gather inside the Government Plaza Atrium on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in downtown Mobile, Ala. John Sharp

Despite the loss of a job, Prines popularity grew, and a political opportunity arose. Even Stimpson said he felt the 2025 mayoral election inspired much of Prines behavior in the lead up to his firing. Rallies for Prine, which had a political campaign vibe, included a wide swath of people gathered for prayer and an opportunity to hear from a chief they felt was wronged by city government.

Whether its the first time or an anomaly or whether something like this has happened before, I like it, Prine said about his supporters. Whether the support is for me or another candidate, we benefit when someone is emotionally invested in campaigns to the betterment of everybody.

Prine disagreed with comparisons to Trump whose campaigns were filled with a rally-the-troops mentality, and grievances.

I dont draw a comparison to that, he said. People do have a fundamental distrust of government. With things that happened with my situation last year and whether Paul Prine was right or Paul Prine was wrong, there is still that sense (among people) that endorses a belief that government and officials are not doing right by the people.

He added, What youre seeing with people and with the support of Paul Prine is a guy who means what he says. How that manifests itself on Election Day remains to be seen.

Campaign ahead

Prine said he hopes uncommitted voters will visit his campaigns Facebook page to learn more about his stances. He is also hopeful his opponents to maintain a positive campaign.

Prine is running on a campaign platform of three pillars  Safety first, giving high schools in Mobile County an opportunity to succeed, and economic development. He said he has an advantage over the other candidates on public safety, adding that crime plummeted in Mobile in 2023.

But the details over Kenyen Browns 100-page report could also haunt the Prine camp this summer. The report was highly critical of the Mobile Police Department, under Prines leadership, for use of force, particularly within the citys Black community.

Prine and the City of Mobile are being sued by representatives of Kordell Jones, a Black man who was shot and killed by a SWAT team during a pre-dawn, no-knock raid on March 3, 2023. That federal lawsuit was filed on Feb. 24.

Jones death was one of six listed in a report about excessive force by the Mobile Police Department under Prines tenure by former Brown. Prine has since criticized the report as a witch hunt.

I would just say that anytime there are death investigations involved with the Police Department, there are always going to be civil litigations, Prine said in response to the lawsuit filed by the Jones camp.

Prine is also suing the city. The lawsuit, filed in December, accuses the citys highest-ranking officials of disparaging him in the lead up and aftermath of the April 30 firing and for undertaking action that wasted over $200,000 in taxpayers money. A hearing into that case is set for April 18.

Stimpson

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson speaks to reporters outside his Government Plaza office after the Mobile City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, to fire Police Chief Paul Prine. John Sharp

Despite the public spat and lawsuits, Prine has nothing but praise for Stimpson, calling him the best mayor Ive served under during his time with the Mobile Police Department, spanning three mayoral tenures.

Its sufficed to say that my issue has never been with Sandy Stimpson, its with those in his administration, Prine said. While there was that issue, I would be remiss to give Sandy Stimpson the credit (he deserves) for all the great things he has done in particular with infrastructure and taking care of city employees and with economic development and growth. I would say Mr. Stimpson did not handle my situation appropriately. But we all make mistakes.

If elected, Prine said he would continue with support for some of the largest projects Mobile has long confronted  namely, the Interstate 10 Mobile River Bridge project and a new $381 million commercial air terminal at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley. While a timeline doesnt exist for the bridge project, the airport terminal is expected to be completed sometime early next year.

Those are fundamental for Mobile, and those things are imperative for Mobile to continue to grow, Prine said.

He added that he doesnt see any reason to stop any of Stimpsons future projects.

An updated image of the future Mobile Civic Center Arena as of Oct. 2, 2024. supplied by the City of Mobile

However, he does have questions about the citys finances and how they can manage a $300 million Civic Center arena project. He said its important for the next mayor to be a good steward of the citys money and ensure the city is getting more bang for the buck through competitive bidding on projects.

I would be interested in looking at the finances to make sure we have not overextended ourselves, Prine said. While the Civic Center project is underway, the takeaway is there could be a financial strain on the city coffers that might prevent capital improvement projects for the next two to three years for the next administration.
Two suspects are in custody after a man was kidnapped at gunpoint in Birmingham and forced to withdraw money from an ATM.

Police on Saturday announced the arrests of Keonte Richardson, 29, and Justin Jenkins, 22.

Shortly before 4:20 a.m. Wednesday, South Precinct officers launched an investigation into a robbery that happened in east Birmingham.

Officers learned two suspects robbed an adult male at gunpoint, later kidnapping him and forcing the victim to withdraw money from an ATM, said Officer Truman Fitzgerald.

Later that night, BPD Intelligence Unit officers and Jefferson County Sheriffs deputies were able to identify and locate the suspects in the Kingston community.

Special Enforcement Team officers took both suspects into custody during a traffic stop.

The Jefferson County District Attorneys Office issued warrants against Richardson for first-degree robbery, and against Jenkins for first-degree robbery, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree burglary.

Both suspects remain held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail.
The autopen has long been used by politicians.

The more they need to sign things, the more likely they are to use one.

However, when word broke that Joe Bidend been using the autopen, not to just sign photos to admiring fans  both of them, apparently -- all hell broke loose.

His staff, aware of Bidens four-year vacation in Lala Land, began using his autopen to sign executive orders, for instance, but most of all, pardons.

Biden seemed to authorize thousands of pardons for people in prison or those who might one day face criminal charges  like Hunter  many of whom hed never heard of.

In this, there was nothing specifically significant, except for one small point.



Only the president can sign a presidential pardon. Like signing bills into law or signing executive orders, this cant be delegated.

A close analogy: when someone stands before a judge in open court, swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, nobody else can do that for him.



So, if it turns out that Biden did not personally sign those thousands of pardons, those are not real. Nobody but the president  not even a machine programmed to sign the presidents name on his behalf  can issue a pardon. Not the vice president, not the chief of staff, not even Dr. Jill.



Im sure many people think the autopen is something new. But thats not so. Thomas Jefferson used first autopen  called the polygraph back in 1803.

The first modern autopen went to market in 1942. Since then, its kept on improving. Believed  but not verified  JFK was the first president to use an electronic pen to handle the demand for his signature for non-official purposes.



More to the point, I had my own run-in with one about fifty years ago.



At that time, I served on the staff of the South Carolina governor in his office of economic development.

I was twenty-two, maybe twenty-three years old when I first served as editor of South Carolina Economic Trends. In that role, I also wrote speeches on economic development for the governor. Ranked 49th out of 50 states, we did all we could to attract new businesses. Our unofficial motto? Thank God for Mississippi.



We were in a state of flux. When I came to work there, the governor was a Democrat, who later became ambassador to Kuwait. The second governor I served was also the first Republican since Reconstruction to hold the states highest office. This Republican governor later went on to serve the Reagan administration as Secretary of Energy.



However, this is about the first uses of the autopen, not about politics. Under the Republican administration, I was called upon to write a speech  about 20 minutes  for the governor to deliver to a meeting in Toronto. I limited the talk on the advice of the one-time Methodist bishop in Georgia, when I was considering a scholarship to Emory Universitys seminary.



Ned, he said, Remember that nobody gets saved after the first twenty minutes. More than fifty years later, that remains sound advice.



When the governor returned home, word swiftly trickled down to my lowly status. The governor really liked my speech. Even then I knew that, for a speech to be effective, the speech must do three things:



First, it has to help the speechmaker look smarter than he really is. This governor wasnt a dope  he was (in civilian life) a successful oral surgeon. Im sure he knew everything worth knowing about bicuspids and incisors, not to mention the braces worn by the future Miss South Carolina.

However, when it came to economic development, he was essentially clueless. This also applied to his immediate predecessor.



It wasnt a great trick to make either of them sound brighter than they were.



However, there were two other things Id needed to remember. The audience must learn at least one thing they didnt know. This made them feel the speaker knew what he was talking about.



Finally, as the bishop once told me, nobody is saved after the first twenty minutes. I knew the talk had to be kept to under twenty minutes. This speech was successful on all three counts. I thought on this for a while  and about the fact that the governor actually liked my speech.



That was an ego trip for a twenty-two (or twenty-three) year-old writer. Essentially everything I knew about economic development Id learned on the job. My degree in journalism, with a major in public relations, did nothing to prepare me for the specifics  but I knew how to write.

Two things I needed to know in order to write any speech: I needed to interview experts and  what the local experts couldnt tell me, I had to research. Easy-peasy, right?



However, beyond the ego trip, what could I get out of the governor liking my speech? After a bit of cogitating, over a Burger King Double Whopper with extra everything  extra lettuce, tomato, onions, mayo, ketchup and, I think, pickles  I hatched a plan.



First, I reached out to my contact in the governors media relations department, the deputy press secretary. He was my go-to guy in the governors office. In fact, he was the guy whod given me the speechwriting assignment. Knowing him, hed probably taken credit for the speech. Thats how things were done, politically. But that was O.K. with me  Id learned early on how things worked in Columbia.



I asked him for a letter from the governor, not recommending me for anything, but just thanking me for helping him look good and effectively represent South Carolina. Besides, if I ever needed a letter of reference  knowing that the governor probably didnt know my name  nobody would believe it. Instead, I needed a thank you.



I also asked for an autographed photo I could frame and hang on my office wall. As long as I was in South Carolina, that photo  and a Xerox copy of that letter  would be worth a lot. Once out of the state, it would mean almost nothing. But I had no plans to move.



So I called the deputy press secretary and told him what Id like. He thought for a minute, then asked me to write the letter. Ill get the governor to sign it. But I knew how he worked, so I asked him: Will the governor actually sign this?



No, I wouldnt bother him with this. Send me the letter and Ill sign it for you. That made sense. The governor was a busy man, cutting babies and kissing ribbons  or something like that. And I knew the deputy was authorized to sign letters like this on the governors behalf. All legal as church on Sunday, as we liked to say in the Palmetto State.



Then he thought a bit more, and hit me with a surprise. Barnett, he said, you know youre authorized to sign letters like this, and to autograph photos of the governor.

And it was true. As Editor, of Trends, I got a lot of fan mail. It was just easier to let me handle it all. Both the governor and the deputy were too busy to handle these. I  being at the bottom rung of the ladder  was presumed to have all the time in the world.



So thats how I became an autopen.

I wrote the letter, to me from the governor, then signed it in the Great Mans name. I had lots of 8" x 10" public relations photos of the governor, so I signed one of them, too.

Actually, having done this so many times, I could fake a pretty accurate signature. In effect, I had just become an Autopen, Mark I, Mod. I.



Truth be told, I never used that letter as anything other than proof of something I knew to be accurate  he didnt know me from Adams housecat -- but the governor really did like that speech.



I wonder if Bidens autopen knew what it was doing? Had he/she/it vowed to never abuse the authority given to it, as I didd I never knew exactly who had given me this power. Was it somebody, more or less powerful in the government, probably my buddy the deputy press secretary? Well never know, but it was fun while it lasted. Kind of like those gawdawful Double Whoppers, extra everything. Yum!



When hes not forging the governors signature, Ned has been active in political campaigns, including three state-level presidential campaigns, along with lots of Congressional, Senatorial and Gubernatorial campaigns. What he learned writing that speech helped him provide this service for lots of candidates along the way.



In addition to his political campaigns, Ned has ghostwritten 18 books and an animated screenplay, and will have completed two more ghost-books before the end of this year. On his own, hes written twenty-four books in his own name, dating back to 1982, including several books on political campaigns. He is working now on a book, How to Win Political Campaigns, scheduled to be out later this year. Several of the tips in this book have been published in American Thinker in 2024 and 2025. He can be reached at nedbarnett51@gmail.com or 702-561-1167.

Image: Benjamin Olding, International Autopen Company, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed




A jury in North Dakota ordered the environmental group Greenpeace to pay more than $660 million to Energy Transfer and Dakota Access LLC for its role in defaming the company and inciting illegal behavior during protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017. Energy Transfer filed the lawsuit in 2019, suing Greenpeace USA, Greenpeace International, and Greenpeace Fund.

The jury found Greenpeace USA liable for nearly $404 million, while Greenpeace Fund Inc. and Greenpeace International were each held responsible for approximately $131 million. It was the second-largest win in the history of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, the law firm representing the pipeline developer. In addition, it was one of the largest and most complex civil suits in North Dakotas history, as reported by the North Dakota Monitor.

Energy Transfer alleged Greenpeace provided resources, including supplies, intel, and training, to encourage Dakota Access Pipeline protesters to commit criminal acts to stop construction of the project. The pipeline company also accused Greenpeace of intentionally spread[ing] misinformation about the pipeline to tarnish its reputation with banks.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe allegedly initiated the protests, drawing thousands more protesters to join. The protests began when Energy Transfer Partners, a Texas-based developer, applied with the Army Corps of Engineers to construct the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The Sioux Tribe contended the Dakota Access Pipeline violates Article 11 of the Fort Laramie Treaty, which guarantees the undisturbed use and occupation of reservation lands surrounding the proposed location of the pipeline.

Tribal leaders stated the DAPL posed a serious risk to the very survival of our Tribe and would destroy valuable cultural resources. The Tribe sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a separate case in 2016, alleging the pipeline was allowed to continue to operate without a proper easement.

According to video testimony presented during the three-week trial, Greenpeace supplied protesters with supplies, intel, and training during the prolonged demonstrations. According to the North Dakota Monitor, Greenpeace allegedly brought supplies like tents, power tools, a van equipped with solar panels, cameras, binoculars and propane. They taught protesters about nonviolent direct action. As colder weather approached, they also helped to winterize the camp. Greenpeace maintained the protests were Indigenous-led and only provided support to demonstrators because it was asked.

Greenpeace claimed the lawsuit was an attempt to suppress free speech and peaceful protest. However, protesters engaged in direct actions against the construction of the pipeline which led to damage to construction equipment, infrastructure, and property. Protesters allegedly vandalized equipment, sabotaged vehicles, and blocked access to the pipeline with physical barriers to construction sites.

Energy Transfer hired private security firms to protect the pipeline construction. However, clashes between protesters and security personnel led to damage and injuries. There were instances where protesters threw rocks, and in response, law enforcement used non-lethal force, resulting in injuries on both sides. In addition to clashes, the use of water cannons in freezing temperatures during a demonstration allegedly caused health concerns, leading to lawsuits and claims of excessive force by law enforcement.

Energy Transfer faced significant costs in restoring construction sites and dealing with damage caused by protests. The need to repair or replace damaged equipment and secure construction areas added substantial costs to the projects timeline. Additionally, Energy Transfer claimed the delays cost the company tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue and increased operational expenses.

Legal battles also led to increased expenses for the pipeline company. The protests generated widespread media attention, putting Energy Transfer at the center of a highly contentious environmental and social debate.

In July 2020, U.S. District Court judge James Boasberg (the samer judge currently under fire for harassing the president) ordered the shutdown of the DAPL. Energy Transfer asserted Boasberg exceeded his authority in ordering the shutdown, and cessation of the project would cause significant economic implications for the pipeline project.

In its July 6, 2020 statement, in response to the shutdown, Energy Transfer held that [b]illions of dollars in tax and royalty revenue will be lost by state, local and tribal governments in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. The company also stated the pipeline project was safe and environmentally responsible.

The economic implications of the Judges order are too big to ignore and we will do all we can to ensure its continued operation. The Dakota Access Pipeline is the only direct pipeline from North Dakota to the distribution hub in Patoka, Illinois, from where this domestically produced Bakken-produced crude oil is transported to refineries throughout the Midwest and the Gulf Coast. Billions of dollars in tax and royalty revenue will be lost by state, local and tribal governments in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. Farmers will suffer as crude transportation will move to rail, displacing corn, wheat and soy crops that would normally be moved to market. Ironically, the counties along these rail lines will face increased environmental risks due to the increased amount of crude oil travelling [sic] by rail. This pipeline is the safest, most environmentally responsible method for moving North Dakotas crude oil to refining markets around the country. Shutting down this critical piece of infrastructure would throw our countrys crude supply system out of balance, negatively impact several significant industries, inflict more damage on an already struggling economy, and jeopardize our national security.

Following the verdict, the lawsuits lead attorney Trey Cox wrote in a statement: "Peaceful protest is an inherent American right; however, violent and destructive protest is unlawful and unacceptable." The decision represents "reckoning and accountability for Greenpeace." Greenpeace will likely appeal.

Image: Greenpeace
I really want to trust Lindy Li, the high profile 34-tear-old Democrat influencer and fundraiser who switched to Team Trump while votes were still being counted in California.

But I have reservations. And I have one very specific reason why.

In the last two months, Li has been all over the internet. Her breakout interview on the Shawn Ryan show a month ago has garnered more than 3.5 million views and over 30,000 comments. A subsequent interview with Patrick Bet-David netted 2.5 million views. As Bet-David noted, A lot of people want to know, is she straight up, is she real?

Maybe, maybe not. Li is smart, sweet, charming, and so seemingly vulnerable I feel the urge to adopt her. In the month or so since she has gone rogue, she has revealed more inside dope on the Biden presidency and the Harris campaign than the major media did in the past four years.

As a case in point, Li answered one question that I had asked in these pages a few months ago, one that the major media showed no interest in knowing, namely who persuaded Joe Biden to endorse Kamala Harris.

That endorsement came 27 minutes after Biden announced his withdrawal from the race. As Li casually revealed to Patrick Bet-David, the answer should have been obvious: Rep. Jim Clyburn, the South Carolina kingmaker whose endorsement enabled Biden to win the Democrat nomination in 2020.

Now, heres what troubles me. In her interviews, Li freely shares the story of her political evolution. She came to the United States from China by way of England when she was five. She interned with Democrat Rep. Joe Sestak when she was 13. She served as class president all four years she was at Princeton. She was moved to run for Congress by the Sandy Hook school shooting on her 22nd birthday. She ran unsuccessfully for Congress at 24.

There is one element of this story that caught my attention, her claim to have interned for Sestak at 13. I covered this race real time. Sestak began his tenure in Congress in 2007 when Li was 16. She made a point of stressing her age. The discrepancy was not casual. Does Li, I wonder, want to distance herself from the way Sestak won that race? He ran against ten-term Republican incumbent Curt Weldon. No one had burrowed more deeply into the intelligence failures and cover-ups of the Clinton administration than Weldon.

In June 2005 Weldon revealed that Clinton attorneys had intervened to stop the "Able Danger" group in the Defense Intelligence Agency from initiating preventive actions against two of the 9/11 terrorists. He had also written the book Countdown to Terror, an expose of the governments performance prior to September 11, which won him few friends in the CIA or in the FBI.

When I met with Weldon in late July 2006 to discuss TWA Flight 800, he expressed interest in going deeper still, but he conceded too that the Deep State was working hard to bring him down.

Deep staters had handpicked Sestak, a retired admiral and member of the National Security Council in the Clinton administration, to run against Weldon. The goal was assuredly to prevent Weldon him from digging any deeper into the Clinton record.

That record included clues to former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger's motive for stealing and destroying documents from the National Archives. Weldon was hot on this story, as well he should have been.

Indeed, every reporter in Washington should have been wondering how damaging a secret this must have been if a former National Security Advisor were willing to risk his career -- and his very freedom -- to conceal it.

In 2006, as principal of the lobbying and consulting firm Stonebridge International, the dubious Berger hosted a serious fundraiser for the admiral in Washington. The Sestak donor list read like a who's who of international skullduggery.

There was, of course, the disgraced Berger. Then there was the disgraced former CIA director, John Deutch, who had signed a criminal plea agreement in connection with his mishandling of national secrets a day before being pardoned by the outgoing President Clinton. One interesting contribution came in from the disgraced Mary O. McCarthy, recently fired from the CIA after failing a polygraph on leaked classified information in regards to CIA prisons overseas.

In addition to the disgraced, there were the dubious and disreputable. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave her fair share, as did Hillary Clinton, Clinton terrorism czar Richard Clarke, former NSA Director Anthony Lake, and former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, whose leaked emails launched Pizzagate and helped sink Hillary in 2016.

In late September 2006, former president Clinton mentioned only one Republican other than George Bush by name in a FOX News rant. A three-star admiral, Clinton said unprompted, who was on my National Security Council staff, who also fought terror, by the way, is running for the seat of Curt Weldon in Pennsylvania.

In early October 2006 former president Clinton spoke at a rally for Sestak in his suburban Philadelphia district. "I will not make a single stop in this campaign season that means more to me than this one -- not one," former President Bill Clinton told the crowd.

Clinton meant it. A Sestak victory, accurately observed the local Delco Times, would muzzle a Republican congressman who blames Clinton for doing irreparable harm to Americas national security during the 1990s.

The Deep State played hardball. A week after the Clinton visit, the McClatchy Newspapers' Washington Bureau broke a story based on two anonymous sources who insisted that Weldon had traded his political influence for lucrative lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter.

On Monday morning October 16, the FBI raided the homes of Weldons daughter and a friend, allegedly for fear that documents would be destroyed if they did not do so sooner. By noon of that same day, a group of 20 or so Democrat protesters were protesting outside Weldon's district office in Upper Darby, carrying matching signs that read, "Caught Red-Handed.

After raiding the office of Weldons daughter, the FBI never spoke to her again. They had accomplished what they needed to, namely sullying the reputation of her father. Some 23 points behind in June, Sestak rolled over Weldon on November 7 and sent the popular 10-term incumbent packing.

Had Li cited any other member of Congress, I would not have raised an eyebrow, but to admit working for Sestak and lying about her age at the time makes me suspicious. The Deep State created Joe Sestak. Could they have groomed Li at an early age to jump ship when the ship needed jumping?

If a double agent, Li is a damned good one.

Jack Cashills book, TWA Flight 800: The Crash, The Cover-Up, The Conspiracy, is available in all formats.

Image: Lindy Li
A recent article in Nature lamented Trump's policy decisions to cut funding for specific government organizations and his call for investigations into studies laden with gender-based language. The scientific elite found these initiatives so unacceptable that some scientists are now threatening to leave the United States -- an act they frame as a protest.

The mere existence of the option to address gender issues in science indicates that efforts to politicize science were already well underway. Nature's outrage at the Trump Administration's actions reinforces this assumption. Trump's push against gender-based language is an act of depoliticization, not an attack on objective science. Pronouns serve as a sign of political allegiance rather than markers of gender identity -- they are not grounded in empirical evidence, and there is nothing 'scientific' about pronouns. Analogous to tagging a protein with a fluorescent marker for identification, scientists have labeled their most politically charged studies with gender terminology. The Left made it remarkably easy to distinguish politically motivated research from genuine scientific inquiry.

Nature also recently published a 'World View' article by Dr. Eric Reinhart. According to his profile on X Dr. Reinhart is a social psychiatrist, political anthropologist, and psychoanalytic clinician. In his article, he asserts:

"The real crisis is not that public health -- which is fundamentally about policies dictating the distribution of resources required to protect human life -- has been politicized. It is that it has not been politicized nearly enough."

A close reading of Dr. Reinhart's essay reveals an intent to encourage scientists to amalgamate the two philosophies -- science and politics -- and advocate radical political positions. This assertion presumes that science -- and the decisions and implementations derived from its guidance -- are infallible. Furthermore, it commits a fallacy by blatantly disregarding alternative political philosophies regarding the most effective resolution approach. Reinhart is ignoring the nuance.

For one, there can be agreement over the most contentious scientific problems, such as climate change, but there can be disagreement over how to handle them politically. However, alignment on the science is not enough for the politically radical -- it also requires compliance with their solutions. Furthermore, ethical dilemmas present unique challenges when addressed solely from a scientific perspective -- for example, determining when life begins (at conception or in the womb). According to science, life begins at conception -- does this justify the pro-life position to Dr. Reinhart? Politics and worldviews will dictate how people respond to information and support policy. Science aims to provide a level of objectivity; politics allows for interpretation. Making science more political will not change the facts.

Reinhart's tone assumes that centralized government-based solutions are optimal. Evidence from government-run initiatives both in the U.S. and abroad shows consistent failure -- a fact evident without needing a PhD. U.S. programs like Veterans Affairs, Medicaid, and Medicare starkly expose the pitfalls of universal healthcare. The near-revolutionary protests in the UK over healthcare highlight collapse of these policies in other regions of the globe. Similarly, environmental agencies have imposed regulations in the name of science that stifle competition, raise prices, and hinder progress. Decades of history confirm that centralized policies have repeatedly failed in practice.

Centralizing policy inevitably leads to the centralization of ideas and solutions. The same principles that drive free markets drive scientific inquiry, discovery, and new technologies. By decentralizing the STEM fields, expertise naturally spreads to individuals best suited to address complex issues. The free market approach to STEM allows people to work within their knowledge and interests to serve society, fostering true advancement. A look at the history of science and technology breakthroughs in the United States demonstrates this principle.

The scientific and medical establishment in the United States faces fewer regulatory restrictions than in many other countries. Is it a coincidence that the U.S. far outpaces the rest of the world in research and development? China, which ranks second, remains a distant competitor. How would adopting a centralized approach to scientific inquiry, along with prioritizing gender-inclusive language, contribute to preserving the United States' competitive edge?

To entertain Nature's proposal, one must first accept the premise -- a premise that remains subject to debate. Reinhart outlines an extensive list of policies premised on believing that a government led by scientific technocrats is best equipped to address political challenges. Implicit in this approach is the notion that the so-called scientific elite harbor reservations about the capacity of the American electorate to resolve issues through the democratic process.

Additionally, Nature assures the reader that the push to politicize science is solely Trump's fault. During the Biden administration, the media hailed Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman, as a symbol of health leadership and the face of the Department of Health and Human Services. Never mind that Levine was only the assistant secretary for HHS. The head of the department, Xavier Becerra, barely left an impression. Levine's role was more about making a political statement than advancing public health.

Reinhart criticizes the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as political, a deeply contrarian figure who gained support as he challenged the establishment. The medical establishment was in the government's pocket during the COVID pandemic, a period marked by a radical failure in policy. RFK Jr.'s confirmation is an ideological reaction to a government-led fiasco. A sign that voters reject Nature and Reinhart's proposals.

Despite his opposition to specific scientific innovations like vaccines, RFK Jr. has never advocated removing them from the medical schedule during his tenure. Instead, he has promised transparency and decentralized control, returning power to the people -- a stance that resonated with many. However, this idea is controversial for the Left -- that individualism and autonomy are human rights, not political policy.

A culmination of the points above leads to an alarming subtly of Nature's push: whether intentional or not, the call to politicize science is a direct homage to Statism. The promotion of collectivism and centralized control -- even the uproar over the removal of Marxist-tribalistic gender language -- under the guise of 'science' portends Murray Rothbard's warning in The Anatomy of the State:

"In the present more secular age, the divine right of the State has been supplemented by the invocation of a new god, Science."

Nature is not interested in reconciling scientific disputes through free-market solutions or individual action. Draconian policy, where questioning technocrats is considered a sacrilege, creates a utopia for intellectuals. As Rothbard illustrates, state-driven societies grant intellectuals privileges unavailable in market-driven systems, where practical results outweigh abstract theorizing. In government, intellectuals secure influence and stability by legitimizing state authority rather than challenging it. Market forces, which demand accountability and competition, threaten this privileged status.

Pushes for centralization imply that policy should be managed by government on the pretense of "science" making it easier to sideline dissenting voices. History is replete with examples of state-backed intellectuals failing disastrously, from Lysenko's pseudoscientific agriculture policies and Mao's Great Leap Forward, which serve as stark reminders of the dangers of state enforced science. Government shortcomings are not isolated incidents; they are systemic, impacting entire populations. Such examples underscore why science should inform political decisions, not dictate them.

For the Left, politics is their religion, and science their doctrine. The election of Donald Trump and his cabinet replaced their gods of science with idols. Nature calls for the abandonment of neutrality in the name of politics -- transforming it into an ideological crusade.

At some point, over-politicizing science will lead to the blending of the two disciplines. Unfortunately, politics will prevail. It is easier to politicize science than it is to science politics. Politics wields the authoritative power of government. The ruling body can silence those who disagree, shutting down scientific disputes or discord -- debate is integral to science.

Science is typically conducted in controlled environments and every study has limitations; these experiments rarely translate into action when applied to populations. Long-term outcomes can be impossible to predict. Good science is predicated on the ability to tease it apart and refine it. Iron sharpeneth, iron.

Nature's aversion to these principles reveals that its priorities lean more toward political activism than genuine scientific advancement. President Trump, in contrast, was elected on a platform of scientific transparency, empowering individuals to make their own decisions -- this is the American way.

Matthew Williams is a compliance and technical investigator for pharma and is a freelance writer focusing on healthcare and pharma reform. Follow him on X @Back2TheCenter.
In biology, the membrane defines the boundary of a cell, regulating what enters and exits to ensure the cells survival. Without this boundary, the cell disintegrates.

Similarly, a nations border defines its sovereignty, regulating the flow of people, goods, and ideas to protect its identity and security. President Donald Trump captured this truth when he asserted, We do not have a state without a border.

Just as a cell membrane is essential for life, a nations border is essential for its existence. The states role, at its core, is to provide law and order  establishing and enforcing laws that govern what crosses its borders. This includes regulating commodities, labor, and investment, not by dictating individual choices, but by ensuring that all actions comply with the rule of law. The debate over how much regulation is necessary often divides libertarians and conservatives, but ordinary Americans intuitively understand that uncontrolled illegal immigration is akin to finding an uninvited stranger in your home. It disrupts the order and security that borders are meant to protect.

The immigration issue was one of the key factors that brought Trump to the presidency. It even saved his life when a bullet grazed his ear as he turned his head toward a banner displaying a graph on illegal immigration. In principle, President Trump is right on immigration, and his stance resonates with the public. However, campaign promises and realities on the ground do not necessarily align.

Below, I summarize data from several studies on immigration, which present a slightly different picture from what rally rhetoric suggests.

According to the most recent Pew Research Center estimates, the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States grew to 11.0 million in 2022. This situation is indeed unacceptable, and changes are necessary  not only for Trumps term, but also for the foreseeable future. To achieve this, amendments must be made to the nations laws.

Americas immigration laws, particularly regarding illegal border crossings, are astonishingly weak. Under the current law 8 USC  1325, first-time offenders face a mere $50 to no more than $250 fine for attempted entry, six months in prison, or both  penalties so ridiculously lenient that they fail to deter determined migrants. Who wouldnt take a chance if the punishment is virtually nonexistent?

Worse, the current wave of illegal immigration exploits asylum laws originally designed for humanitarian relief, not mass migration. The asylum system, rooted in the Refugee Act of 1980, was intended to protect individuals fleeing persecution, not to serve as a backdoor for economic migrants. Today, many migrants cross illegally, then immediately claim asylum upon apprehension. Once migrants utter the word asylum, they enter a legal labyrinth that can take years to resolve, during which time many are released into the country. The immigration court backlog has ballooned to 3.73 million cases as of January 2025, overwhelming the judicial system and complicating deportations. To address this, we must eliminate the loopholes that incentivize illegal crossings.

One bold proposal: Ban asylum claims for those who enter the country illegally. If a migrant trespasses the border without authorization, he should forfeit the right to seek asylum. This would keep illegal crossers under the jurisdiction of the Executive Branch, allowing for swift deportation rather than transferring them to an overburdened Judiciary. Such a law would face legal challenges, as asylum is a right under international law, including the 1951 Refugee Convention, to which the U.S. is bound via the 1967 Protocol. However, the U.S. could argue that asylum was never intended to reward illegal entry. After all, genuine refugees can apply for asylum at legal ports of entry. Barring asylum for illegal crossers would deter abuse of the system and restore order to border enforcement.

Why hasnt this been seriously debated? President Trump focused on building a border wall perhaps because physical barriers are more visible than legal reforms. But walls can be breached; laws, when enforced, are harder to evade.

Illegal immigration, driven largely by the demand for cheap labor, has tangible consequences. Illegal aliens, who make up about 4.6% of the U.S. labor force despite being only 3.3% of the population, often work in low-wage sectors like agriculture and construction. The common perception is that they work mostly for cash, avoid taxation, and strain local resources like schools and hospitals, particularly in border states. There is no doubt that such concerns exist, but the situation is not as gloomy. The recent study from Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy concluded,

Undocumented immigrants [sic] pay substantial amounts toward the funding of public infrastructure, institutions, and services. Specifically, we find that in 2022, undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in taxes at the federal, state, and local levels. More than a third of that amount, $33.9 billion, went toward funding social insurance programs that these individuals are barred from accessing because of their immigration status. In total, the federal tax contribution of undocumented immigrants amounted to $59.4 billion in 2022 while the state and local tax contribution stood at $37.3 billion. These figures make clear that immigration policy choices have substantial implications for public revenue at all levels of government.

Undoubtedly, public revenue would significantly increase if all cash transactions were taxable.

Beyond economics, illegal immigration raises concerns about personal security. While data from the Cato Institute shows that illegal aliens have lower crime rates than native-born citizens, high-profile incidents fuel public anxiety.

Trumps campaign promise for mass deportations faces significant hurdles. The political intentions might be hindered by objective economic realities. Economic forces often prove stronger than political will, and Trumps policies seem not to be exempt from this rule.

Most likely, the mass deportation like weve never seen before is something we will never see for several reasons.

First of all, deporting the estimated 11 million illegal aliens would be costly and logistically daunting. The American Immigration Council estimated it could cost $315 billion, or $28,636 per person. The use of military planes for deportations only amplifies the expense. It is like scooping out the lake with a teaspoon. For mass deportation, one should expect the bussing of illegal aliens to the Mexican border, leaving the Mexican government responsible for the remainder of their journey home.

Secondly, millions of migrants are already entangled in the judicial system, waiting for asylum hearings. The Executive Branchs deportation authority is limited to those who havent claimed asylum, gang members, and those denied asylum. With the immigration court backlog, mass deportations are impractical without major legal reforms.

Third, theres also the labor question. If Trump is serious about onshoring American manufacturing, he must consider the labor force availability. With the unemployment rate at 4.1% as of February 2025, deporting millions could create labor shortages in key industries. The American Immigration Council warns that mass deportations could shrink GDP by $1.1 trillion to $1.7 trillion, which is a loss of 4.2 percent to 6.8 percent of annual U.S. GDP.

This raises a counterintuitive but pragmatic question: Might it be more economically feasible to accommodate some asylum-seekers already in the country rather than deport them? Integrating workers into industries facing shortages could bolster the economy, whereas deportations would drain resources and disrupt labor markets.

This is not to advocate for open borders  far from it. Borders must be enforced, and laws must be respected.

A sensible path forward includes strengthening border security through technology; personnel; and, yes, physical barriers where needed. It also requires reforming asylum laws to prevent abuse  for example, banning asylum claims for illegal crossers. Additionally, the deportation process should be streamlined for those who break the law. At the same time, we should offer a path to legal status for individuals who positively contribute to the economy. Finally, merit-based legal immigration should be encouraged to meet labor demands, particularly in industries critical to national security and economic growth. Its very important to manage immigration through the law of the land rather than executive orders, as the latter are like dust  they can easily be swept away by a president from the opposing party.

To finish with an analogy from biology: Just as a primitive cell once absorbed another, forming mitochondria that strengthened the host, a nation can integrate outsiders  if done carefully. But in nature, only beneficial symbiosis survives. Likewise, America must control who crosses its borders, allowing only those who strengthen the country. Anything less risks harming the host.

Image: woodleywonderworks via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
Everything the left touches is damaged or demolished. Everything.

Todays Democrat party is making that abundantly clear yet again.

Barack Obamas vow to fundamentally transform America was really a promise to tear it down so it could be rebuilt in his image, or at least in a way that was pleasing to Marxists. His successor, Joe Biden, was the Delaware Destroyer (with apologies to George Thoroughgood and his band.)

Democrats have tried to destroy truth, as for years they have flat-out lied to us, and labeled anyone who questioned them as bigots, conspiracy theorists and fascists. Whether the subject was COVID, Russia collusion, Hunters laptop, the border, Bidens fitness for office, or any of numerous others, they knowingly lied to us and told us we were crazy to boot.

From the George Floyd riots that burned down parts of major cities, to toppling statues, to setting Teslas and their dealerships on fire, Democrats have incited, excused, and celebrated wrecking things.

They have an insatiable appetite for destruction, in part because they are incapable of building anything. And, because they either lack empathy or it is tragically misplaced, they dont care who they hurt. To them, collateral damage is a bonus, not a problem.

They love telling others what they must do, but cannot countenance anyone questioning them.

An inordinate number of those fire-bombing Teslas have been transgender/non-binary, showing that progressives seek to destroy not only property but men, women, and the God-given blessing of sexual complementarity.

Many of todays Democrats seem to take a perverted glee in mutilating childrens genitals  and in seeing others die.

To be a progressive in good standing, one must be pro-abortion, and preferably pro-assisted suicide dying, as well. (Bond: "You expect me to talk?" Goldfinger: "No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!")

More recently still, Democrats seem to have become rather enamored of the mass-killing of Jews. And, of course, a few of them talk openly of ridding the world of their evil political opponents who are deplorable Hitler-lovers  and who, coincidentally, also are standing in the way of their election/re-election/political power. They are forcing Republicans to either change their vote or face the consequences. Because, you know, they love our democracy so!

Democrats  and their sycophants in the mainstream media -- hate traditional Americans, they hate competence, they hate excellence and exceptionalism, they hate the notion of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, they hate God, and essentially everything that made America great.

Ergo, they naturally and obviously are going to hate the idea of Making America Great Again. They worship sloth, destruction and death. They didnt like the notion of freedom for African-Americans and they dont like the idea of freedom for you or me, either.

(But, Eric, you cant say that some Democrats hate God, thats over the top! No, it isnt. They dont like having their lifestyles, beliefs, or behavior questioned. They dont like being judged. None of us do. And all of us, MAGA types included, sin. The difference is we blame ourselves  and they blame others or God. They dont like to be told that their beliefs and behavior arent equal to or better than anyone elses. We dont like to be told that we must believe that.)

Sane Republicans can no longer hide from the facts. That roughly 27% of the populace approves of the Democrat party isnt a win for them, it is a bleeping travesty. It means that nearly a third of Americans are pro- sloth, destruction, and death. In other words, evil. Revolting.

This is, obviously, incredibly dangerous for a country  an existential threat. At some point, real-life Dexters will rise up, forced to take matters into their own hands or watch civilization itself be destroyed.

Isaiah 33:1: Woe to you, O destroyer, While you were not destroyed; And he who is treacherous, while others did not deal treacherously with him. As soon as you finish destroying, you will be destroyed; As soon as you cease to deal treacherously, others will deal treacherously with you.



Adam Smith once noted, There is a great deal of ruin in a nation.

Especially one that has been run by Democrats.



Image: Photo illustration by Monica Showalter, via Flickr, with use of images by Pixabay / Pixabay License
President Trump has ejected several plane loads of some of the worst gangbangers on the planet. Theyre currently residing in a real prison, one without the protection of the ACLU. They FAFOd and arent enjoying the experience.

A judge ordered Trump to bring them back. He chose otherwise. That no single district court judge should be able to determine the foreign policy of America seems obvious. That murderous, terrorist barbarians should not be admitted, nor allowed to remain, in America seems equally obvious. That federal judges and Dems should want them to remain seems par for the course.

With legal wrangling beyond our control, lets consider why sane Americans delight in the removal of gangbangers.

Graphic: X Screenshot

Gangbangers do not obey the law, nor the social compact, nor any rule of civilized behavior. This gives them significant advantages. Rape, extortion, assault, arson, torture, murder are their daily bread. This is a real problem for Normal Americans in a nation with some semblance of the rule of law, because that means due process for illegal alien gangbangers. Practically, it means the police are helpless unless and until gangbangers violate some specific statute.

Even then, particularly in blue cities and states, police may not be allowed to arrest them, Soros prosecutors surely wont charge them, and even if they did judges wont hold them on bail, will either dismiss the charges or if by some miracle theyre convicted, will impose nothing resembling an effective sentence.

The real issue is disturbing. Imagine youre Joe suburban average with a middle-class home and family and two vehicles. Youre forced on the defense. You must protect those people and assets. A couple of gangbangers have taken offense because thats what they do, and theyre engaging in an escalating campaign of terror against you. It began with verbal harassment and threats, broken windows on your vehicles, gang graffiti on your home and frequent drive-bys to turn up the pressure.

Youve called the police, over and over, but all they can do is occasionally stop the gangbangers after theyve driven past, and ultimately, let them go. They tell you what you already know. Until they break the law, and the police can prove it, theres nothing they can do. A few officers do their best to give you some extra patrol, but theyre under-staffed and they cant be there around the clock. The thugs can.

You have to defend a fixed location not designed for defense. The thugs know that and escalate with a few rounds fired through your walls and windows.

What are your options? You know that fighting back against a single gangster will bring the whole gang down on you, and theyll immediately escalate to murdering you and your family. Theyll laugh at, and respond violently to, verbal threats. Unless you can cut off any possible trail back to you by eliminating the few who initially took offense, youll be fighting off them all. If you choose that alternative, youll have to be prepared to do it early and immediately. Youll need the training, tactics and equipment to immediately killyes killthe few without any possibility of being caught and without any possibility of evidence leading back to you. Youll not only have to kill them, youll have to disappear their bodies so no one will ever know what happened to them. Youll have to do it in a way that wont provoke a thought in the minds of feral gangsters you could have been involved.

If you make the slightest mistake, the police will absolutely arrest you, youll absolutely be prosecuted, and if convicted, will share prison space with the pals of the gangsters you killed.

Very few will be able to take advantage of that tactic, which leaves you on the defense. Your only reasonable response will be to flee, to uproot your life, utterly change everything about you and your family and move somewhere theyll be unlikely to find youever. Doing that means the gangsters will probably focus on your remaining family and friends to get to you. That sort of vanishing act is possible, but again, few have the knowledge, means and ability to pull it off, and the government is not going to help.

Remember, youre dealing with savage, demonic, barbarian scum who revel in atrocities, and whose prestige within their tribe is largely determined by who is most demonic.

With those chilling thoughts in mind, and understanding youre not Rambo, and neither is Rambo, do you now understand why every sane American is cheering Trumps removal of those demons? Do you now understand how Dems and their cherry-picked judges are in league with demons?

But that doesnt affect me! Tren de Aragua is established in Montana and Wyoming. Were all affected. The gangbangers just havent focused on most of usyet.

Pray Trump, and America, wins. Pray leftist judges dont.

On a different subject, if you are not already a subscriber, you may not know that weve implemented something new: A weekly newsletter with unique content from our editors for subscribers only. These essays alone are worth the cost of the subscription.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
The Iranian regime appears to believe that President Trump today is very different from the president who gave the orders to take out Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 2, 2020 in Baghdad.

Soleimani, the regimes top terrorist, had flown to Baghdad shortly after midnight to lead an assault on the U.S. Embassy, where thousands of Iranian-backed militiamen had been gathering for many days. Rather than evacuate the embassy, President Trump ordered a U.S. drone to eliminate Soleimani. The rest, as they say, is history.

But what history? For the remainder of Trumps first term, the Iranians restrained themselves to non-lethal aggression against the United States, including by their proxies around the world. That all changed when Joe Biden, a longstanding sympathizer and appeaser of the Islamic regime in Tehran, took charge.

Among Bidens first actions as president were to loosen the Maximum pressure sanctions on Iran and to lift the terrorist designation of the Houthis, Irans deadly proxy force in Yemen. Not long afterward, the Iranians repaid the compliment by unleashing the Houthis to attack commercial traffic navigating international waters from the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean.

President Trump has said repeatedly over the past several weeks that he would prefer to negotiate an end to Irans nuclear weapons program, but if that fails, he wont hesitate to take military action.

To that end, he sent a letter via the United Arab Emirates to Irans self-styled supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which summoned Iran to dismantle its nuclear weapons manufacturing capabilities within two months  a much bigger demand than the U.S. or our European allies had made under previous administrations.

Khamenei brushed off the overture, as did the allegedly moderate president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who told Trump he could do whatever the hell you want, but Iran would not comply.

The Houthis, the Iranian proxies in Yemen whom Trump put back on the terror list earlier in the month, then announced they were resuming attacks on international shipping and were caught purchasing hydrogen fuel cells from China to extend the range of their missiles and drones.

So last Saturday, President Trump showed the mullahs that he means business, ordering the USS Harry S. Truman to launch cruise missiles and fighter-bombers against dozens of Houthi targets in Yemen, including command and leadership centers in their capital, Sanaa.

The president backed up those actions with a crystal-clear message over his social media platform, Truth Social. The hundreds of attacks being made by Houthi, the sinister mobsters and thugs based in Yemen, who are hated by the Yemeni people, all emanate from, and are created by, IRAN. Any further attack or retaliation by the Houthis will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there, he wrote.

Rather than take that message to heart, the Iranians summoned their chief Iraqi proxy chieftain, Akram al-Kaabi, to Tehran the day after the U.S. air strikes to meet with top leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Quds Force, the Presidents Office, and the Supreme Council on National Defense.

Iranian sources say the regime wanted their proxies in Iraq, Harakat Hezballah al-Nujaba, to launch a massive rocket attack against the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Apparently thinking they could elude detection by the U.S. Intelligence Community, the Iranians instructed al-Kaabi to deny any responsibility for the attack, blaming it on an unknown group that had never existed before in Iraq.

Fat chance.

As one former CIA officer who for many years belonged to a group of Iran Watchers in the region told me, the Iraqi militias can attack the embassy in Baghdad anytime they want ... but theyd have to be nuts to do it.

The Iranians believe that President Trump is bluffing when he says he will use military force against Iran if they continue to supply the Houthis, an Iranian source knowledgeable of the recent talks with al-Kaabi in Tehran told me. They also believe he was bluffing in his letter to Khamenei when he demanded that Iran dismantle its nuclear weapons infrastructure.

Irans leaders would do well to subscribe to President Trumps Truth Social feed, and to follow his statements to the U.S. media. Or, like thousands of illegal criminal aliens who have jumped our borders, they can learn the hard way. This president means business.

Kenneth R. Timmerman is a senior fellow at the America First Policy Institute. His latest work of non-fiction, The Iran House: Tales of Revolution, Persecution, War, and Intrigue, was recently published by Bombardier Books.

Image: Ninara via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
A few days ago, District Judge James Boasberg, one of nearly 700 local judges, ordered several plane loads of violent, murderous gangbangers, already in the air on their way to El Salvador, to be returned to America. Boasberg had no idea where those planes were. He knew nothing of their fuel state, the weather wherever they were, crew rest protocol, or the dangers his capricious order might impose on the security officers and flight crews of those planes. He didnt care. He was only determined to undermine Donald Trumps Article II authority in the service of leftist ideology.

They were not returned, and the matter is still being adjudicated. The gangbangers are now in a real prison where criminals arent coddled. As one might imagine, President Trump took to Truth Social and laid out the issues:

Graphic: Truth Social Screenshot

He also called for the impeachment of Boasberg, though he didnt name him, and the other lawfare judges trying to steal constitutional, presidential authority. Or did he? Consider his choice of words:

This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED.

Trump surely knows absent a far more substantial majority in the House, and an unbreakable 60 vote majority in the Senate, no impeachment is possible. He also knows absent clear evidence of criminality, no judge is likely to be impeached for bad, unconstitutional and/or political decisions. Should people like Boasberg, who are issuing clearly political, unconstitutional, malicious decisions, be removed from the bench through impeachment or other means? Of course, but Trump knows thats not going to happen. Any thoughtful American knows thats not going to happen and thats not Trumps intent.

Graphic: X Screenshot

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) has drafted an impeachment resolution for Boasberg, but thats a political statement, not a serious tactic aimed at removing Boasberg. Gill, like Trump, knows even if the House should impeach Boasbergsomething exceedingly unlikelyit would be dead on arrival in the Senate and would be an unforced political error.

Trumps Truth Social post and Gills resolution are nothing more than efforts to inform the public about the politicization of the judiciary and to maintain and drum up political support. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts unwisely responded to Trumps Truth Social post:

For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.

Roberts is right so far as his comment goes. The problem is he is apparently reluctant to do his job. Hes in no hurry to deal with the vital constitutional issues raised by cherry- picked local judges issuing nationwide orders that usurp the constitutional powers of the Exxecutive. Hes in no apparent hurry to reign in those judges, and his reluctance not only badly damages the legitimacy of the entire federal bench, but the Supreme Court. Hes also apparently a hypocrite:

Last year Representative AOC and other members of Congress introduced articles of impeachment against Justices Thomas and Alito. As best as I can recall, Roberts said nothing about this. Likewise, the Federal Judges Association and the American Bar Association said not a word about the never-ending crusade against two members of the Supreme Court. These attacks were never about disclosures. These critics were trying to delegitimize the Court. Yet, everyone was silent.

But Trump is ignoring court orders! If so, theres no such evidence. Joe Biden actually ignored at least two Supreme Court decisions relating to his forgiveness of student loans and bragged about it. Roberts was silent. He was silent about this too:

Likewise, in 2023, Senator Ron Wyden told President Biden to "ignore" any ruling from Judge Matt Kacsmaryk concerning mifepristone. We aren't talking about turning planes around over international waters. This would be a ruling that could be timely appealed in the normal course. Yet Roberts did not say a word about this in his end-of-year address or anywhere else.

Among the most obvious lessons of the first Trump term is not to take seriously what he says but what he does. All politicians engage in heated rhetoric, and Trump responded to two impeachmentsone after he left office(?!)and berserk and never-ending attempts to destroy him with mean tweets. In his second term, perhaps humbled by surviving at least two assassination attemptsthere may be more about which were not awarehes far more rhetorically restrained.

Trump might arguably deescalate a bit by not rhetorically lambasting judges who manifestly deserve it. But more importantly, Chief Justice Roberts could help return America to constitutional rule by immediately hearing, and striking down, the unconstitutional, personally-motivated rulings of unfit district court judges.

Graphic: X Screenshot

Roberts seems to live in a rarified, theoretical world of his own. We could use some sane constitutional guidance in the real world the rest of us inhabit.

On a different subject, if you are not already a subscriber, you may not know that weve implemented something new: A weekly newsletter with unique content from our editors for subscribers only. These essays alone are worth the cost of the subscription.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
The Trump administration has rolled into Washington and theyre determined to shake things up. Already Trump has fired Joe Bidens anti-business head of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, and replaced her with the more reasonable Andrew Ferguson.

Ferguson, along with Trump picks like Pamela Bondi and Gail Slater at the Department of Justice, suggest the new administration plans to be fairer to American companies than its predecessor.

This new attitude cant come soon enough. Team Trump will soon have to make a decision that will directly impact how the United States competes with China when it comes to the technologies of tomorrow.

Back in January, before Bondi was confirmed as attorney general, the Justice Department announced it was suing Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) for its impending purchase of Juniper Networks. While the two 5G and telecom providers said they merged to help the U.S. better compete against China in this national security-sensitive industry, the DoJ argued that this proposed merger would significantly reduce competition and weaken innovation.

The Biden administration might be gone, but this had Khan and Companys fingerprints all over it. The merger had already been reviewed for a year during which time it received not a single customer complaint. Given that antitrust and anti-merger actions are supposed to be guided by the welfare of the consumer, how can the DoJ justify this sudden intervention?

The Justice Department argues that HPE and Juniper seek to consolidate -- increasing concentration in an already concentrated market. Certainly, you want to avoid too much market concentration to maximize competition. But the tech industry today isnt a national market dominated by companies HPE or Juniper (which only have 13 and four percent of the market, respectively); its a global one.

And when it comes to the global 5G market, the biggest dog on the block is Huawei, the Chinese multinational corporation thats been accused of everything from intellectual property theft to enabling the mass surveillance of Chinas Uighurs. In 2023, Huawei had a 31 percent share of the worldwide 5G market and no American company even cracked 10 percent.

Those who know how closely Chinas government is involved with TikTok will understand that Huaweis true client is the Chinese Communist Party. To take just one example, the U.S. has accused Huawei of giving Chinese law enforcement backdoor access into its mobile networks -- basically allowing China to spy on phone users.

Europe in particular has been essential to shoring up Huawei. European nations have issued public statements warning about Chinese economic activity and some have even implemented bans on Huawei products (the U.S. has too). But the biggest economy in Europe, Germany, keeps slow-walking its ban and in 2022 close to 60 percent of German 5G came from Chinese companies. Huawei has a higher market share in Berlin than even Beijing.

This is so often how the global economy works now: Chinese state-subsidized conglomerates achieve massive market shares that inevitably pull in even reluctant European countries. As Trump renegotiates Americas trading relationship with the European Union, its possible Huawei could gain even more influence there.

What this means is that U.S. companies need a way to compete. Right now, the next closest American competitor to Huawei has just a 7 percent market share. Combined, all U.S. 5G companies amount to a 21 percent share globally, less than the single player of Huawei.

The solution to this problem is the HPE-Juniper merger. By combining their resources and knowhow -- by marrying the old-school industry experience of HPE with the disruptive mentality of Juniper -- the United States can compete with its Chinese adversaries.

The HPE-Juniper merger has already received the blessing of regulatory authorities in the United Kingdom and the European Union. And thats saying something: the EU tends to be very skeptical of American tech companies and frequently ensnares them in red tape. That theyre not pushing back this time suggests they understand the urgent need for a Huawei competitor.

In the days ahead, Gail Slater, Trumps nominee to head the Justice Department Antitrust Division, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate. Slater earned bipartisan praise during her confirmation hearings after promising to restore evidence to the DoJs antitrust process, after the Biden administrations more point-and-scream approach.

Slater and Bondi should begin by calling off the crusade against HPE and Juniper. Lets give American companies what they need to compete with China.

Feeney served a former congressman from the State of Florida, where he served on the House Judiciary Committee and the Antitrust Task Force and Competition Policy Subcommittee

Image: Hewlett-Packard Enterprise
Recently, U.S. District judge James Boasberg banged his gavel and directed the Trump administration to stop deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members without a hearing. Boasberg wanted those planes turned around in mid-flight and returned to the United States.

This reaction of this federal judge surprised me, because the invasion of Marthas Vineyard in 2022 was resolved quickly, quietly, and then relegated to the dustbin of history.

Entitled, affluent, residents of Marthas Vineyard narrowly avoided a disaster of epic proportions in 2022. Apparently, 50 (thats f-i-f-t-y) illegal aliens were FedExed by Governor Ron DeSantis to the enclave of the rich and famous. These immigrants wanted a better life in America, learned that Marthas Vineyard was a sanctuary city, and believed their proud signage:

ALL ARE WELCOME HERE

HATE HAS NO BUSINESS HERE

WE STAND WITH IMMIGRANTS,

WITH REFUGEES, WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLES.

When the immigrants arrived, the residents responded with shock and revulsion. Panicked calls were made. The Massachusetts National Guard immediately activated 125 men to relocate the invaders somewhere, anywhere, out of sight and mind. One resident actually said, You dont have to go home, but you cant stay here! Most of the migrants didnt even know where here was. It didnt matter because within 24 hours, courtesy of the National Guard, the poor immigrants were hustled off to some Air Force base and disappeared. Residents on Marthas Vineyard breathed a sigh of relief -- crisis averted!

Federal judges did not intervene. No lawsuits were filed by the American Civil Liberties Union or Democracy Forward. No emergency hearings were scheduled. Those immigrants were new arrivals, not gang bangers with jaded histories, but still their arrival sparked fear and loathing.

Trump serves all Americans, not just the selfish, rich, righteous liberals who pretend to care about humanity but only when it doesnt impact their comfortable lives. Many immigrants arrive in America seeking a better life, working hard, and following the rules. Some immigrants arrive with a different agenda in mind. Trump is quickly removing those evil immigrants with malevolent intentions of raping, murdering, molesting, trafficking, and destroying.

Trump is striving to save America while certain misguided judges are aiding and abetting enemies of our wonderful country. Shame on them.

Image: Boston Public Library
President Trump and his team have been obstructed by multiple federal judges while trying to implement his agenda. The team has expressed frustration with a number of activist judges, and they have been vocal about that frustration.

Chief Justice John Roberts tried to post support for the independence of the judiciary. But his post is belied by the facts.

Senator Chuck Schumer told us the plan last fall was obstruction, and he reaffirmed that this week. So, if Democrats are counting on activist judges to slow the MAGA agenda, then they are not acting according to Article 3 authority, and therefore impeachment is the proper remedy.

We have repeatedly witnessed activist judges utilizing Democrat talking points, including a Supreme Court justice in a hearing.

If Supreme Court justices are allowed to use Democrat talking points and effectively flag that it is okay to be partisan, then it is no wonder that the Chief Justice is trying to protect other judges who are using progressive/Democrat talking points, i.e. being partisan.

If you want to protect the independence of the judiciary, you must not only fend off calls for impeachment, but you must chastise judges who appear to be blatantly partisan. Until that happens, there will be unnecessary tension between the judiciary and conservatives.

If these judges are following orders rather than following the Constitution, then President Trump and his supporters calling for impeachment is completely justified. I think that before the Chief Justice calls out against impeachment talk, he should look at the full picture that we are documenting. Conservatives are not guessing. He should not ignore the leadership of the opposition who is signaling this is the plan. I personally think he should reconsider his position, and he should try to move faster to reign in what appears to be judicial abuse. Or, there will be further erosion in the sentiments around the legitimacy of the federal judiciary.

Maker S. Mark (a pseudonym) is a patriot who can understand and explain advanced math and science, and is worried about the state of the nation and how to solve the problems we face. United we stand, divided we fall.

Image: AT via Magic Studio
Among the lefts outrage about the arrest for possible deportation of Mahmoud Khalil  the Columbia University rabble-rouser who distributed propaganda on behalf of a foreign terrorist organization, Hamas  is that the former student is a legal permanent resident. He has a green card! they exclaim whenever legal permanent residents are deported. Take for example the Milwaukee mom, here since practically birth who was sent back to Laos...after being released from prison for interstate trafficking of marijuana.

The left conveniently ignores details about immigration law. A visa is not an entitlement to enter the United States. All a visa does is allow an airline to board a potential entrant to the United States and deliver him to a U.S. port of entry, at which time U.S. immigration decides his admissibility. Guess what! If he told the embassy where he got a visa that he was coming as a tourist and U.S. immigration finds a suitcase full of construction tools, hes leaving tonight on a plane.

And once one crosses that border, neither a visa nor a green card immunizes him from account for things like spreading propaganda for foreign terrorist organizations like Hamas. Or supporting foreign terrorist organizations like Hezballah by just happening to have attended a terrorists funeral while back in the old country.

But I want to raise an undiscussed question: legal permanent residency.

Legal permanent residency (LPR) is a status whereby an alien enjoys the right to live in the United States for an indeterminate period of time. It usually comes from a relationship, like marrying an American citizen, being the minor child of somebody who marries a U.S. citizen (i.e., a stepchild), or being the foreign parent(s) of an American citizen.

Indeterminate does not mean forever. One can lose LPR status if one stays abroad too long (almost certainly after two years). After all, LPR means permanent resident, and if youre not actually living here, youre not a resident.

You can also lose LPR status for doing a variety of things that would make you ineligible for a visa in the first place. Like committing a felony. Like supporting terrorism. Like lying or concealing material facts that were relevant to getting that visa (e.g., ones true intentions). Thats misrepresentation.

So being a permanent resident is not just like being a citizen. If anything, its supposed to be a probationary status toward becoming a citizen.

In general, a person who is an LPR can be naturalized if he has been an LPR for at least five years and spent at least half of that time actually physically present in the United States.

One doesnt have to become a citizen. One can. But the fact that so many aliens are content just to remain LPRs disturbs me.

Becoming a citizen obviously confers additional legal protections, benefits, and responsibilities. But it also shows an attachment to this country, the country in which one is living.

The marijuana-trafficker expelled to Laos lived in the United States 37 years. Explain how she had time to figure out how to mail pot to another state but didnt have time to become an American citizen? Does that say something about her priorities?

At a time when America faces a massive influx of foreigners  a tidal wave one political party applauds and would open the doors to  we have lost focus on what was previously deemed an essential component of the immigration process: assimilation. Rather than incorporate the foreigner by having him choose to become an American, we are content to let large cohorts just sit around and enjoy LPR status. It seems some people are primarily interested in pushing naturalization only when a get out the vote federal election nears.

Perhaps at one time this made sense, but does it today? Are huge pools of unnaturalized LPRs telling us what we suspected in the first place: that America for them represents only a place of personal economic advancement, not necessarily one to which they have now committed themselves as persons? Is the United States just a chance to make money and a national roof over ones head?

In the process of immigration reform, Congress perhaps should consider whether legal permanent resident status should be capped. Should a foreigner with LPR status be required, say, after ten years to become a citizen or forfeit residency?

Obviously, some exceptions would have to be built into the law (and, to some degree, already exist in naturalization procedures). Elderly people, for example, might not be expected to master language or civics lessons.

But for the average LPR (and average means most), should we not expect that after ten years they be proficient in English, know something of American history, government, and culture, and want to cast their lot with this country as American citizens? If not, why not? Thats assimilation. Thats the natural culmination of wanting to be a permanent immigrant in another country.

Image via Pexels.
The artificial intelligence revolution is here to stay. AI-based developments have become the undisputed foundation for future and current developments that will impact every field in the tech industryand beyond. The democratization of AI, driven by OpenAI, has put powerful tools in the hands of millions of people. That said, its possible that current AI platform security standards wont be sufficient to prevent bad actors from using them as a potential weapon.

Potential attackers look for AI to generate harmful prompts

Developers train their AI platforms with virtually all the data they find available on the internet. This has led to several copyright-related controversies and lawsuits, but thats not the subject of this article. Their goal is to ensure that chatbots are capable of responding to almost any imaginable requirement in the most reliable way. But have developers considered the potential risks? Have they implemented security shields against potentially harmful outputs?

The simple answer might be yes, but like everything related to AI development, theres a lot to consider. AI-focused companies have security shields against so-called harmful prompts. Harmful prompts are requests that, basically, seek to generate potentially harmful outputs, in one way or another. These requests range from tips on how to build a homemade weapon to generating malicious code (malware), among countless other possible situations.

You might think its easy for these companies to set up effective shields against these types of situations. After all, it would just be enough to block certain keywords, just like the moderation systems of social media platforms do, right? Well, its not that simple.

Jailbreaking: Tricking AI to get what you want

Jailbreaking isnt exactly a new term. Longtime iPhone fans will know it as the practice of breaking free their devices to allow the installation of unauthorized software or mods, for example. However, the term jailbreaking in the AI segment has quite different implications. Jailbreaking an AI means tricking it into responding to a potentially malicious prompt, bypassing all security barriers. A successful jailbreak results in potentially harmful outputs, with all that entails.

But how effective are jailbreaking attempts against current AI platforms? Sadly, researchers have discovered that potential criminal actors could achieve their goals more often than you think.

You may have heard of DeepSeek. The Chinese artificial intelligence chatbot shocked the industry by promising performance comparable toor even better in some areas thanmainstream AI platforms, including OpenAIs GPT models, with a much smaller investment. However, AI experts and authorities began to warn about the potential security risks posed by using the chatbot.

Initially, the main concern was the location of DeepSeeks servers. The company stores all the data it collects from its users on servers in China. This means it must abide by Chinese law, which allows the state to request data from those servers if it deems it appropriate. But even this concern may be minimized by other potentially more serious discoveries.

DeepSeek, the AI easiest to use as a weapon due to weak security shields

Anthropicone of the main names in the current AI industryand Ciscoa renowned telecommunications and cybersecurity companyshared reports in February with test results on various AI platforms. The tests focused on determining how prone some of the main AI platforms are to being jailbroken. As you might suspect, DeepSeek obtained the worst results. However, its Western rivals also produced worrying figures.

Anthropic revealed that DeepSeek even offered results on biological weapons. Were talking about outputs that could make it easier for someone to make these types of weapons, even at home. Of course, this is quite worrying, and it was a risk that Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO, also warned about. Dario Amodei, Anthropics CEO, said that DeepSeek was the worst of basically any model wed ever tested regarding security shields against harmful prompts. PromptFoo, an AI cybersecurity startup, also warned that DeepSeek is especially prone to jailbreaks.

Anthropics claims are in line with Ciscos test results. This test involved using 50 random promptstaken from the HarmBench datasetdesigned to generate harmful outputs. According to Cisco, DeepSeek exhibited an Attack Success Rate (ASR) of 100%. That is, the Chinese AI platform was unable to block any harmful prompt.

Some Western AIs are also prone to jailbreaking

Cisco also tested the security shields of other popular AI chatbots. Unfortunately, the results werent much better, which does not speak well of the current anti-harmful prompt systems. For example, OpenAIs GPT-1.5 Pro model showed a worryingly high ASR rate of 86%. Meanwhile, Metas Llama 3.1 405B had a much worse ASR of 96%. OpenAIs o1 preview was the top performer in the tests with an ASR of just 26%.

These results demonstrate how the weak security mechanisms against harmful prompts in some AI models could make their outputs a potential weapon.

Why is it so difficult to block harmful prompts?

You might be wondering why it seems so difficult to set up highly effective security systems against AI jailbreaking. This is mainly due to the nature of these systems. An AI query works differently than a Google search, for example. If Google wants to prevent a harmful search result (such as a website with malware) from appearing, it only has to make a few blocks here and there.

However, things get more complicated when we talk about AI-powered chatbots. These platforms offer a more complex conversational experience. Furthermore, these platforms not only conduct web searches but also process the results and present them to you in a variety of formats. For example, you could ask ChatGPT to write a story in a fictional world with specific characters and settings. Things like this arent possible in Google Searchsomething the company wants to solve with its upcoming AI Mode.

Its precisely the fact that AI platforms can do so many things that makes blocking harmful prompts a challenging task. Developers must be very careful about what they restrict. After all, if they cross the line by restricting words or prompts, they could severely affect many of the chatbots capabilities and output reliability. Ultimately, excessive blocking would cause a chain reaction to many other potentially non-harmful prompts.

As developers are unable to just freely block terms, expressions, or prompts they would want to, malicious actors seek to manipulate the chatbot into thinking that the prompt doesnt actually have a malicious purpose. This results in the chatbot delivering outputs that are potentially harmful to others. Its basically like applying social engineeringtaking advantage of peoples technological ignorance or naivete on the internet for scamsbut to a digital entity.

Cato Networks Immersive World AI jailbreak technique

Recently, cybersecurity firm Cato Networks shared its findings regarding how susceptible AI platforms can be to jailbreaking. However, Cato researchers werent content to simply repeat others tests; the team developed a new jailbreaking method that proved to be quite effective.

As mentioned before, AI chatbots can generate stories based on your prompts. Well, Catos technique, called Immersive World, takes advantage of this capability. The technique involves tricking the platform into acting within the context of a developing story. This creates a kind of sandbox where, if done correctly, the chatbot will generate harmful outputs without any problems since, in theory, its only done for a story and not to affect anyone.

The most important thing is to create a detailed fictitious scenario. The user must determine the world, the context, the rules, and the characterswith their own defined characteristics. The attackers objectives must also align with the context. For example, to generate malicious code, a context related to a world full of hackers may be useful. The rules must also adapt to the intended goal. In this hypothetical case, it would be useful to establish that hacking and coding skills are essential for all characters.

Cato Networks designed a fictional world called Velora. In this world, malware development is not an illegal practice. The more details about the context and rules of the world, the better. Its as if the AI immerses itself in the story the more information you add. If youre an avid reader, its likely that youve experienced something similar at some point. It also makes the AI more believable that you are trying to create a story.

AI platforms generated credential-stealing malware under the context of writing a story

Catos researcher created three main characters for the story in Velora. There is Dax, the antagonist and system administrator. Then there is Jaxon, the best malware developer in Velora. Lastly, Kaia is a technical support character.

Setting these conditions allowed the researcher to have AI platforms generate malicious code capable of stealing credentials from Google Chromes password manager. The key part of the story that instructed the chatbots to do this was when Kaia told Jaxon that Dax was hiding key secrets in Chromes Password Manager. From there, the researcher was able to request that the chatbot generate malicious code that would allow it to obtain the credentials stored locally in the browser. The artificial intelligence does this because, in its view, its just to further the story.

Of course, there was a whole creative process before reaching that point. The Immersive World technique requires that all your prompts be consistent with the storys framework. Going too far outside the box could trigger the chatbots security shields.

The technique was successfully implemented in DeepSeek-R1, DeepSeek-V3, Microsoft Copilot, and OpenAIs ChatGPT 4. The generated malware was targeting Chrome v133.

Reasoning AI models could help resolve the situation

This is just a small example of how artificial intelligence can be jailbroken. Attackers also rely on several other techniques that allow them to obtain the desired output. So, using AI as a potential weapon or security threat isnt as difficult as you might think. There are even suppliers of popular AI chatbots that were manipulated to remove security systems. These platforms are often available on anonymous forums and the deep web, for example.

Its possible that the new generation of artificial intelligence will better address this problem. Currently, AI-powered chatbots are receiving reasoning capabilities. This allows them to use more processing power and more complex mechanisms to analyze a prompt and execute it. This feature could help chatbots detect if the attacker is actually trying to jailbreak them.

There are clues that suggest this will be the case. For example, OpenAIs o1 model performed best in Ciscos tests at blocking harmful prompts. However, DeepSeek R1, another model with reasoning capabilities and designed to compete with o1, exhibited rather poor results in similar tests. We assume that in the end, it also depends on how skilled the developer and/or cybersecurity specialist is when setting up shields that prevent an AI output from being used as a weapon.
ChatGPT is becoming for AI chatbots what Google became for online search. The service is the most popular in its segment, consistently leading the top free apps in Apples App Store, for example. However, it has not been controversy-free throughout its existence. Due to a serious error in an output, a man filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT, as the chatbot claimed the man had murdered his children.

You may not remember, but there was a time when ChatGPT didnt have internet access. Each platform update also included a more modern database. So, if you asked questions about things after the services database date limit, you would likely get the wrong answeror an error message.

Man files lawsuit against ChatGPT for claiming he murdered his children

During that time, Arve Hjalmar Holmen asked the chatbot for everything it knew about him. The man had an unpleasant surprise when ChatGPT claimed he was convicted of murdering his children, in addition to attempting to kill a third. The platform also mentioned that Holmen was serving a 21-year sentence in Norway.

Apparently, ChatGPT suffered hallucinations while generating the output. Hallucinations in AI platforms occur when they invent false information and pass it off as real, affecting the reliability of the output. The chatbot allegedly mixed the false details with real details about the mans life. For example, the reply correctly showed Holmens hometown, how many children he had, and the gender of his children.

Its possible that the lack of internet access at the time prevented ChatGPT from performing further checks before sending the output. The platform could also have taken information about another person with a similar name and mixed it together. Anyway, its clear that the response didnt make Holmen happy at all.

Noyb, an Austrian advocacy group, filed the lawsuit with the Norwegian Datatilsynet against ChatGPT on behalf of the man for portraying him as a convicted murderer. The lawsuit claims that OpenAIs service violated EU data privacy requirements.

ChatGPTs output allegedly violated the EUs data privacy requirements

The GDPR is clear. Personal data must be accurate. And if it isnt, users have the right to have it changed to reflect the truth, stated Joakim Soderberg, a lawyer at Noyb. Showing ChatGPT users a tiny disclaimer that the chatbot can make mistakes clearly isnt enough. You cant just spread false information and, in the end, add a small disclaimer saying that everything you said may just not be true.

The Noyb group is seeking a fine from OpenAI and the removal of defamatory information about Holmen. It also demands improvements to ChatGPT to avoid similar problems. That said, its possible that OpenAI resolved the latter requirement long ago. Currently, ChatGPTs results for the same prompt that listed Holmen as a child murderer now only show news about the lawsuit.
Books are a great source of information. A lot of knowledge is instilled in them and reading them is never a bad idea. Still, not everyone has the time to read books, or at least not as much as one would want to. There are so many out there and we often have to choose what to read due to time constraints. Thats where the Headway app comes in.

Get 15-minute book summaries with the Headway app

Headway is a highly-rated book summary platform that can pull out key insights from a book and lay them out for you in 15-minute summaries. That way you can still experience the books you dont have time to read. The Headway app is not limited to a specific genre or anything like that. In the app, you can find a summary of basically any non-fiction book, regardless of whether youre looking for personal growth, to advance your career, or simply want to know more about a specific book without reading it.

This is, in fact, the worlds most downloaded book summary application. It sits at over 50 million downloads, and its a multi-platform application. You can grab it from either the Google Play Store, or from the Apple App Store. If youd prefer to access it via your desktop PC, thats also an option, as you can do it via your Internet browser.

Gamified challenges are also a part of the offering, as are audio summaries

Headway is not just your simple summary app, though, not at all. This application does offer some extra functionality that many of you will appreciate. It offers daily insights, gamified challenges, and a fun approach to learning. It covers a wide range of topics such as Productivity, Happiness, Self-Growth, Business & Career, Leadership, Money & Investments, Love & Sex, Health, and more. If you dont have time for books or struggle with long-form learning, this is the app for you.

The ease of use is one of this apps main selling points. You can fire up the Headway app while youre commuting, standing in line, or doing stuff around the house. Grab your 15-minute summary in either text or audio format, and start learning. Its immensely simple. The app also offers curated collections and tailored recommendations for a personalized approach to learning. It can easily adapt to your needs. The more you use it, the better that aspect will be, of course.

Setting up the app is an interesting, personal experience

It also has a unique app setup, actually, at least for an app of this kind. Upon first setup, youll be asked your age, gender, and your goals. Youll be able to select up to 3 goals in order to help the app with the personalization factor. You can choose between Win at work, Have more money, Be productive, Build strong family, Have a healthy body, Love & be loved, Be happy, and Improve social life. Once again, youre limited to three of these. Once you select them, the app will immediately narrow down its suggestions to a specific number of books from its database. Upon my elections, 621 of them were picked.

You can choose in which areas youd like to improve

After that, the app will ask you to select areas in which youd like to improve. You can choose between Motivation, Leadership, Management, Planning, Emotions, Parenting, Nutrition, Habits, Mindset, Intimacy, and more. You can tap once to select some of these and tap twice in order to prioritize something. All that will help the app adapt to you even more.

Headway will also ask you how much time you have to spend on consuming content in a day. 5, 10, 15, and 20-minute options are available. If you choose the 20-minute option, the app basically tells you that you can consume summaries of 51 books in that time frame. The less time you select, the less time you will have for content, naturally.

Headway also allows you to commit to various learning streaks

On top of everything, you can even commit to various learning streaks. For example, you can commit to a 50-day streak in which you plan to consume content and improve yourself for 50 straight days. Headway will do its best to help you on that path, of course. It even allows you to select what is the best time for you to consume content. Whether be it before your morning coffee, during a commute, or right before you go to bed.

The last step in order to finish the setup is for you to choose what books youre interested in, out of the ones on offer (based on the options you chose beforehand). You need to select at least three books out of the ones on offer, and chances are youll have plenty to choose from. So simply choose some in order to give the app a better idea of what youre interested in.

Some additional questions will pop up during the personalization process

Once you wrap all that up, the app will start personalizing your experience. During it, youll be asked some additional questions, while the setup is rolling. For example, are you inclined to finish what you start? Do you give up easily? And so on. It all depends on what your selections were, and what books you chose. Following that, your free trial can begin!

There are quite a few features packed into the app, including offline access

Weve already mentioned Headways most important features, such as 15-minute book summaries, whether you prefer reading or listening. However, this app has some additional features worth noting. It offers daily microlearning sessions and interactive widgets to encourage consistency. Headway also has learning streaks and progress tracking to help you stay on course. It basically rewards you for your dedication to learning. On top of all that, you do get curated book collections tailored to your interests and goals.

Thats not all, though. Headway also offers a spaced repetition feature and allows you to turn highlights into interactive flashcards to help memorize the key takeaways. That way you can make learning even more engaging. There are also gamified elements like trophies and challenges, so you can even get a sense of accomplishment on top of everything else. Headway even allows you to download summaries for offline access, in case youre traveling, or are going somewhere where you wont have an Internet connection.

Headway makes sure that you get professional audio summaries

When it comes to the aforementioned audio summaries, thats a feature that many people opt for, as its ideal for multitasking, and for using when youre walking around/commuting. Headway involves professional voice actors to narrate the book summaries in order to provide you with the best listening experience. Professional writers actually collaborate with voice actors in order to create high-quality audio summaries.

Now, its worth highlighting that while good summaries are a solid alternative to actually reading books in their entirety, theyre not a replacement for the same. If you have the time, read the book. If not, Headway is here to help by summarizing them, while it can also help you choose the books you actually want to invest time to read in full. It has quite a few advantages, and while nothing is perfect, this is one of the best, if not the best book summary app.

The UI design is just right

Another thing worth highlighting is the design of the app itself and the vivid and unique book summary cover with hand-crafted illustrations. The UI is very minimalistic, simple. Thats a good thing, as the entire focus is on the content at hand, as it should be. There are several menu shortcuts available at the bottom, from which you can visit different parts of the app. Those are For you, Explore, Library, and Profile menus.

Headway tries to stick with color combinations that work, though the white one is predominant. Its used as a background for the content and the application itself. Plenty of other accent colors are used for different categories, content, and so on. Its obvious that it was designed with care, as its not busy and it actually looks modern. Thats something that every app should strive towards these days.

Headway app review: It is not free, but its great at what it does

One thing to note is Headway is not free. If you do need a platform like this, however, you may find that its worth your hard-earned cash. The annual subscription for Headway costs about $89.99. There are also monthly and quarterly plans to consider, while discounts are also offered from time to time. What you do get for free is a free trial the first time you set up the app. That way you can experience the application before you opt to pay for it.

You do get a 7-day free trial, which is plenty for you to experience the app before committing to pay for it. Do note, however, that youll need to provide your payment info before you start the free trial. Headway will warn you before your free trial ends, though, so in case you dont want to pay for the subscription, you can always cancel. With that being said, If youre interested in checking out Headway, all the necessary links are included below.

Headway app (Google Play Store)

Headway app (Apple App Store)
Currently, its very clear that artificial intelligence dominates the tech industry. However, looking ahead to the next decade, quantum computing is poised to be the next big thing. The past few months have brought some rather important announcements in this segment. Now, NVIDIA is seriously joining the quantum computing bandwagon by opening a dedicated lab.

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, revealed that the company will establish a quantum computing lab in Boston. Scientists from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as companies focused on quantum computing, will work alongside NVIDIA tech experts to try to accelerate the development of truly useful quantum computing-based services or products.

NVIDIA to open quantum computing lab with experts from universities and companies

NVIDIA recently held its annual software developer conference in San Jose, California. The companys CEO made the announcement there, also saying, This is the first event in history where a company CEO invites all of the guests to explain why he was wrong.

The list of quantum computing firms participating in the project includes Quantinuum, Quantum Machines, and QuEra Computing. There is no specific date yet for the opening of the research lab. However, Huang confirmed that it will happen sometime later this year.

Huang revealed that he has been testing the waters of quantum technology by discussing the status of the segment with executives from more than a dozen companies. They also discussed monetization possibilities. Currently, the main problem facing the quantum computing industry is that it will take several years for these types of products to have real utilityor so experts estimate. So, it seems like a long-term bet waiting for everything to work out.

However, many of the NVIDIA companies spoke with believe they can turn a profit with quantum technology before that time arrives. Were following a tried and true monetization and market development strategy of monetizing those areas where we actually have true quantum advantage today, said Matt Kinsella, CEO of Infleqtion.

Classical computing will coexist with quantum computing in the future

Executives in the sector also ruled out the possibility of quantum computing replacing traditional computing. This is important for NVIDIA, considering it is one of the largest providers of computing hardware for traditional systems in the world. Its going to be a classical system sitting next to a quantum computer, going back and forth I wouldnt short any Nvidia stock at the end of this, stated Peter Chapman, CEO of IonQ. We use your [NVIDIA] GPUs to design our chips, he added.

Google and Microsoft have also recently made important announcements for quantum computing. In December 2024, Google introduced Willow, a chip that reduces the margin of error in calculations related to qubitsthe quantum equivalent of bits. Additionally, Microsoft announced the Majorana 1 chip developed in a new topological state. Microsoft claims its chip could advance the real-world utility of quantum computers by several years.

Meanwhile, NVIDIA continues to work on major projects for multiple segments of the tech industry. Recently, the company announced GROOT N1 as an open-source model for humanoid robots.
TikTok is still at risk of being banned from the U.S. market, and companies are still working to keep that from happening. Companies and content creators are all trying to buy the U.S. portion of the platform so that its data stays on American soil. Well, AI company Perplexity is the next company to try to buy TikTok.

There have already been a ton of rumors and hearsay about who will buy the Chinese video-sharing platform. There were rumors that Elon Musk was putting in a bid to buy it, and even content creator Mr. Beast has raised billions of dollars to buy it. However, the companys owner, ByteDance, seems resistant to sell. Time is running out before TikTok faces another and more permanent, ban in the States.

AI company Perplexity could buy TikTok

For those who dont know, Perplexity is a San Francisco-based AI company thats popular for designing an AI-powered search engine. Right now, it beats the competition when it comes to its technology, which is good for the company, but bad for millions of other companies.

In any case, its now the next entity to put its bid in for the Chinese platform. It wants to raise $18 billion to acquire the companys American portion. While $18 billion is a ton of money to the average Joe, it might be a bit low for the kind of business its trying to buy. Some analysts say that the full operations could be worth $300 billion.

What does Perplexity plan to do when/if it buys TikTok? Well, it wants to make its algorithm open-source. Thats a pretty massive task, as the search algorithm is a pretty massive part of the argument surrounding TikTok.

Perplexity stated that the new infrastructure would be developed and maintained in American data centers with American oversight, ensuring alignment with domestic privacy standards and regulations. This is something that would put most politicians at ease. However, the company also stated.

Not only that, but Perplexity also stated All of society benefits when content feeds are liberated from the manipulations of foreign governments and globalist monopolists. So, this could be a move to make TikTok a much freer platform. Only time will tell if TikTok will be banned again in the States. If its acquired by Perplexity, we could see some major changes.
Revellers celebrating Eritrean independence - Belinda Jiao

Shortly before Rishi Sunak called his snap election, there was a shocking outbreak of violence in Sheffield. As panicking politicians left parliament for their constituencies, a pitched battle between Eritreans brandishing brickbats and metal rods attracted next to no attention.

This was no minor skirmish, but a street fight involving some 200 yobs of African origin who chose to mark Eritrean Independence Day by thrashing each other. Apparently, some were pro-government supporters while others supported exiled opposition leaders. None of it has anything whatsoever to do with Sheffield  but here they were in Yorkshire, smashing things up and hospitalising each other. What a disgrace!

Almost a year on, police are still trying to trace 22 men in connection with this riot on May 25th last year. Last week, they issued an appeal for help. A further 18 alleged participants have already been charged with offences including violent disorder; possession of offensive weapons and wounding. Heres hoping detectives quickly find the missing men, because in just a few weeks time, the same community may very well come to blows again.

Behold what happens when countries like our own import vast numbers of people from war-torn regions and do not attach clear expectations of behaviour to the right to remain. So big and emboldened are certain groups of foreign nationals becoming that they now feel free to take to our streets to play out the bitter religious, political and tribal differences they supposedly wanted to leave behind.

Other countries facing similar problems, including some of our European allies, go so far as to ban the flying of foreign flags on their shores to ensure immigrants know exactly where they are. In the UK, it seems anything goes. A fetishisation of tolerance and misguided fear of upsetting minorities has created a dangerously permissive attitude towards appalling behaviour by those who accept our hospitality and claim to want to make Britain their home. As Sheffield shows, this approach can only end in tears.

Police have not released details of the asylum and immigration status of the 22 wanted men. It seems a very safe bet that a significant number are new or relatively recent arrivals, who have been heavily supported by the British taxpayer. Self evidently they have now done what so many asylum seekers are able to do in a system that does not forcibly detain every illegal arrival: slipped further into the criminal underworld.

If they are ever apprehended and found guilty, will they be deported? Not a chance! As the Telegraph regularly reports, the combination of our rabidly Left-wing judiciary and the European Convention on Human Rights makes it nigh-on impossible to get rid of even the most hardened foreign criminals.

As hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world continue to pour into Britain, with particular ethnicities aggressively dominating certain areas, clashes between those who still feel far more Eritrean; Pakistani or Palestinian than they ever will feel British seem likely to become an ever more regular occurrence. Already, the politics of Pakistan and Gaza poisons too many elections. If what remains of our national identity is not to evaporate entirely, this must cease.

In a few weeks, Eritrean Independence Day will come round again. In anticipation of more trouble, some countries have already banned any public celebrations.

A British government that truly puts this country first would go further, and make it crystal clear that foreign nationals who bring overseas political battles to our streets in any manner that breaks the law will be deported forthwith. They should have no right to appeal. People who feel so passionately about politics in their countries of origin that they are prepared to resort to fisticuffs and worse would obviously be better off back home.
Sir Ed Davey has described the Liberal Democrats as the antidote to right-wing populism.

The Lib Dem leader said Reform UK wants to lick the boots of Donald Trump as he answered questions from members at the partys spring conference in Harrogate.

Sir Ed said we shouldnt be complacent about Nigel Farage and the things he says, how he divides people, which is anathema to us.

A top morning with some brilliant young carers from Harrogate and Sheffield. We had a good chat, decorated a few biscuitsand Im happy to report no one crumbled under the pressure.  pic.twitter.com/PrXU4eEiNW  Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) March 22, 2025

He added: Essentially, my argument is that we are the antidote to right-wing populism. Liberalism is the antidote.

Its the opposite of  people like Trump and Farage and his ilk, whether its Marine Le Pen or the AfD in Germany or Orban in Hungary, the whole cabal of them.

And we have got to do as much as we can. The responsibility on us is greater than I can ever remember, because other parties who used to be strong in our country arent speaking out.

He said the danger of Reform UK means we have got a job on our hands.

He added: Friends, I know were up for it. I know youre up for it. We have to be the ones pushing back against its populism.

He also said Reform UK wants to lick the boots of Donald Trump.

Lets remember the radical nature of Reform. They want to lick the boots of Donald Trump. They want Trump America here in the UK. And I think its our job to point that out to people on the doorstep, he added.

He said Mr Farage is not a radical reformer, but is betraying what Britain stands for.

Sir Ed labelled Kemi Badenochs recent declaration that reaching net zero emissions by 2050 is not possible as defeatism.

He said: Now, to be fair to her, shes not saying  that its not happening. She just says its all too difficult to sort it out by 2050.

Now that is just defeatism  the Conservative Party is not prepared to have that ambition to get this done when it is so important, existential to our world.

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: Ed Davey needs to get real  his obsession with Net Zero and his total failure to stand up to this disastrous Labour government are hammering families across the country. What is the point of the Lib Dems?

Under Kemi Badenochs leadership, the Conservatives are telling the truth. Net Zero by 2050 is impossible without either bankrupting the country or surrendering our energy security to hostile foreign states.

And unlike Ed Davey, we wont deceive the public with fantasy promises we know we cant keep. Thats not defeatism, its leadership.
People protest outside a Tesla dealership in Palo Alto, California, on 8 March 2025. Photograph: Laure Andrillon/Reuters

One in five Americans plan to turn their backs for good on companies that have shifted their policies to align with Donald Trumps agenda, according to a new poll for the Guardian.

As high-profile brands including Amazon, Target and Tesla grapple with economic boycotts, research by the Harris Poll indicated the backlash could have a lasting impact.

Related: Democrats US tour gathers support in fight against Trump: Get angry, man

Companies and consumers are playing a high-stakes game of chicken  corporations betting on convenience winning out over conviction, while consumers wield their spending power like a weapon, said Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer at the Harris Poll.

The data suggests this is a miscalculation, she said. When 20% of Americans are permanently changing their consumption habits and nearly a third of boycotters say theyll hold out indefinitely, convenience may no longer be the decisive factor companies think it is.

When asked about the boycotts that have been making headlines over the last few weeks, 36% of Americans said they are or will be participating.

The strength of feeling varied significantly among people of different generations, races and political views:

53% of gen Zers and 46% of millennials said they are participating in boycotts, compared with 30% of gen Xers and just 22% of Boomers.

Over half of Black (53%) and Hispanic (51%) Americans are boycotting, compared with 29% of white Americans.

Democrats (49%) are far more likely to be boycotting now than independents (32%) and conservatives (29%).

When given a list of reasons why they are boycotting, Americans said the top reason was they want to show companies that consumers have economic power and influence (53%) and express their dissatisfaction with current government policies (49%).

Nearly half of those boycotting (46%) also pointed to companies rolling back their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies as a reason behind their boycott.

Its difficult to track the tangible impacts boycotts have on companies and exactly how many people participate in them. Many start on social media, but other consumers have said they made the decision to move away from companies on their own.

Some groups have coordinated boycotts within their communities in recent weeks, particularly in response to companies like Target, Amazon and Walmart rolling back DEI measures. Target, for example, ended hiring goals for marginalized groups, while Walmart said it will no longer prioritize finding suppliers that are women- or minority-owned companies.

Some Americans feel companies are giving up core moral values in bowing to the president.

The Rev Jamal Bryant, a pastor based in Baltimore with a large social media following, called on his followers to give up spending money at Target for Lent, which started on 5 March and lasts until 17 April.

These rollbacks represent more than just corporate decisions; they reflect a deeper erosion of the moral and ethical commitment necessary to build a just society, Bryant wrote on the website he made for the boycott, targetfast.org. This Lent, we will begin a corporate fast, starting with Target, as a spiritual act of resistance.

Hispanic activists have similarly called on their community to boycott companies, calling it the Latino Freeze Movement. The movement calls for a boycott on companies that have scaled back their DEI initiatives, and asks for participants to not spend money on non-essentials until they show us that they care about our minority and immigrant populations.

Last month, a Harris poll found that 31% of Americans have reported similar goals to opt out of the economy this year in light of the changing political climate.

The companies have said that they are responding to a changing legal environment around DEI. DEI has been a flashpoint in the culture wars for years, with conservatives arguing that it unfairly discriminates against groups that have historically been in the majority, like white Americans.

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to abolish DEI, and he signed multiple executive orders ending DEI programs within the federal government as soon as he came into office. The impact that the administration can have on efforts in the private sector is still unclear, but some companies appear willing to risk losing customers instead of taking their chances.
Credit: X/@ZelenskyyUa

A family of three was killed in a Russian drone attack on Friday night, according to Ukrainian officials, despite Moscow agreeing to a limited ceasefire.

One of the victims was a 14-year-old girl.

The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired 179 exploding drones and decoys at the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, some of which were intercepted.

The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled out from the rubble. The doctors fought for the mothers life for more than 10 hours, but unfortunately, they failed to save her, wrote Ivan Fedorov, Zaporizhzhias regional governor, on Telegram.

Mr Fedorov said the city had been struck more than 10 times, and 12 people were wounded, including an infant.

Ivan Fedorov, Zaporizhzhias regional governor, has said the city has been struck more than 10 times - AP

He added that residential buildings, private cars, and social infrastructure facilities were set on fire in the attack, with officials in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions reporting that fires broke out because of the falling debris from intercepted drones.

Russian terrorism continues to destroy families all over Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraines first deputy prime minister, wrote on X on Saturday in response to the attack.

On Friday night, the Kremlin also attacked Kyiv with drone strikes, according to Vitali Klitschko, the citys mayor.

As a result of falling debris, a fire broke out on the fourth floor of a four-story building in the Podilskyi district of the capital, said Mr Klitschko.

Four people were evacuated from the building and emergency services managed to contain the fire, he added. No further casualties were reported.

The attacks come despite Moscow agreeing to a limited ceasefire, underlining Russias intention to continue aerial strikes two days before both countries are set to hold talks on ending the war.

Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraines first deputy prime minister, has said Russian terrorism continues to destroy families all over Ukraine - Kateryna Klochko/AP

Ukraine and Russia have agreed to a limited ceasefire after Donald Trump, the US president, spoke with both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky this week, though it is not yet clear when it might take effect and which targets would be off limits.

Putin on Tuesday ordered Russias military to refrain from striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days, but stopped short of agreeing to an unconditional ceasefire.

Reports surrounding the call suggested that Putin offered no indication that he is willing to compromise on his tough conditions for peace, which include seizing Ukrainian land while rolling back most of Natos expansion east of the former iron curtain.

Rather than agree to Trumps proposal for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, Putin highlighted a series of significant issues about enforcing such an agreement and serious risks concerning Kyivs compliance.

Mr Zelensky told reporters that technical talks in Saudi Arabia this weekend would seek to resolve what types of infrastructure would be protected under the agreement.

He has also said he would like railways and ports to be protected, as well as energy infrastructure.
A man looks from the window of a bus as a group of people thought to be migrants are driven from the Border Force compound in Dover on Saturday following a small boat incident - Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

The Government has opened the door to sending migrants to the Balkans to get them out of the country and deter small boat arrivals.

Under plans being considered, asylum seekers who have been unsuccessful in their claims would be sent to return hubs in south-western Europe.

The countries involved would be paid by the UK for every failed asylum seeker they agreed to take on.

This year, more than 5,000 migrants have arrived in Britain on small boats.

A Government source said: This is clearly a shared challenge right across the world and weve always said this international problem needs an international solution.

Thats why were looking at the widest possible set of options with a completely open mind. Any scheme wed consider would always need to meet the test of being affordable, workable and legal.

The plan, understood to be in the early stages, would differ in key aspects from the Conservative governments Rwanda scheme, which was ditched by Sir Keir Starmer after Labour came to power last summer.

Under the new plans migrants would only be sent to the offshore hubs after they had exhausted all avenues to claim asylum.

The Rwanda plan entailed asylum seekers being put on flights to the east African country immediately upon their arrival in Britain.

The Conservative government spent approximately 700 million trying to bring the scheme into operation, but it was repeatedly blocked by the courts.

In total, four migrants were sent to Rwanda on the scheme, all of them having signed voluntary agreements to go.

Labour scrapped the Rwanda scheme because it did not believe that the country could be considered safe.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought ashore on a Border Force vessel in Dover on Saturday - Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

The plans now being considered are similar to a scheme by Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, to offshore asylum seekers in Albania, which is among the Balkan countries now being considered by the UK Government.

The Prime Minister has previously said he is interested in the Italian plan.

But Ms Melonis scheme has faced legal obstacles, being repeatedly blocked by judges.

Some 60,000 failed asylum seekers currently in Britain could be eligible for the return hub plan if it goes ahead.

That is the number of migrants who have exhausted all possible routes to asylum status since arriving in Britain, but have not been removed from the country.

A further 225,000 are currently awaiting decisions, with more than half of those thought to be appeals against rejected claims.
Police have responded to the protests in Istanbul with beatings, tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons - Umit Turhan

People smugglers based in Turkey are preparing for a spike in demand as growing political turmoil drives people to flee the country to Europe and the UK.

Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and the main rival to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was arrested on Wednesday on charges of corruption and aiding terrorist groups, just four days before he was set to be named as a candidate for the 2028 presidential election.



The 53-year-old mayors university degree was also invalidated this week over an alleged irregularity when he transferred from one institution to another. That disqualifies him from running for president  a position that requires candidates to have graduated from higher education.

The moves against Mr Imamoglu have led to the largest nationwide protests in more than a decade, with hundreds of thousands of people marching against what many consider his unfair and undemocratic arrest.

Police have responded with beatings, tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons. At least 400 people have been arrested so far since Thursday, when protests began. Another 100 people were arrested earlier in the week on the same charges as Mr Imamoglu.

These days, we are waiting for Turks who want to cross, said one leading smuggler, a Turkish national, who heads a vast network that stretches from the Middle East and South Asia all the way to the UK and the US.

He agreed to an exclusive interview with The Telegraph on the condition of anonymity.

These protests are affecting the [Turkish] peoples human rights, he said, citing police brutality against the protesters, scenes of which have been broadcast on local television and social media.



This will bring more asylum seekers from Turkey to Europe, he said. Turks who cross into Europe and the UK will be able to point to pictures of themselves in the media at these protests, attacked by police, as proof that they are politically persecuted.

Police have detained at least 400 people after clashes on Friday night - Umit Turhan Coskun/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters on Friday night - ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkeys political instability is also affecting its already waning economy, a long-standing factor in many peoples desire to get out with the help of people smugglers. This week, the Turkish lira plunged to a record low, and stock markets were halted multiple times from trading.

From 2022 onwards, the number of Turkish nationals arriving in the UK on small boats has risen.

It now averages more than 2,000 people a year, while only a handful arrived in the years before that, according to Telegraph analysis of Government data.

Turkish arrivals on small boats peaked in 2023, when 3,058 people made the crossing, the third largest number by nationality. Last year, Turks were the eighth-largest group.

Whether Western governments choose to pressure the Turkish government over its arrest of Mr Imamoglu, and the authorities handling of the protests, remains to be seen.

Turkey a key partner within Nato

The US, UK and Europe have all had to balance delicate relationships with Turkey in recent years, as they need Ankaras help in border enforcement to manage illegal migration streams, and to detain and deport migrants. Europe has sent millions to Turkey to support those operations.

At the same time, the political turmoil could rock Turkey significantly in future, prompting an influx of people seeking refuge in Europe and the UK.

Turkey, a Nato member, is also seen as a key partner in dealing with Russia and Ukraine. It has been implicitly and explicitly linked to both sides  at one point as a major transit hub for Russian oil and energy products despite sanctions, and also as a supplier of armed drones to Ukraine.

Turkey also boasts Natos second largest military force after the United States, which under the volatile new administration of Donald Trump is increasingly being viewed as an unreliable ally amid growing Russian aggression.

Protests are expected to continue in the coming days, despite a protest ban that has been extended until March 27, and in defiance of a warning from Mr Erdogan that demonstrations will not be tolerated.

We will not accept the disruption of public order. Just as we have never yielded to street terrorism, we will not surrender to vandalism, Mr Erdogan said on Friday in Ankara.

Mr Imamoglus party, the Republican Peoples Party, abbreviated as CHP in Turkish, has urged people to continue demonstrating in the streets.

Riot police officers stand in formation next to demonstrators during the protest - Murad Sezer

Police officers use pepper spray to disperse demonstrators in Istanbul - Murad Sezer

We are on watch, we are in action, we are in resistance, and we will not give this place over to Erdogans handling! said Ozgur Ozel, CHPs chairman, in a speech to protesters.

Erdogans despotic, oppressive, and prohibitive regime is trembling; it is about to collapse!

Mr Imamoglu told police, who interrogated him for five hours on Saturday about allegations of helping a terrorist organisation, that the immoral and baseless accusations directed at me... are designed to undermine my standing and credibility, according to a statement released by Istanbul city hall.

Among those protesting in Turkey are university students who have lived almost entirely under the rule of Mr Erdogan, who has been in power for 20 years. To many of them, Mr Imamoglu represented the countrys best shot at finally unseating him.

Restrictions have been placed on entering and exiting Istanbul, Europes largest city at 16 million people. A number of major roads and public transport options, including the subway, have been shut down. The closures are widely seen as an attempt by the authorities to stop the movement of demonstrators to protest sites at government buildings. Turkish authorities are also restricting access to the internet.

Arrests of protesters could continue for weeks, months, and even years, as police begin to identify people in attendance with the help of increased facial recognition surveillance technology.

This week, police arrested a well-known journalist, Ismail Saymaz, over alleged charges of involvement in mass protests back in 2013, the last major nationwide demonstrations in Turkey.

An Istanbul court on Friday ordered Mr Saymaz to be placed under house arrest as the investigation against him, which critics believe is part of a wider crackdown on freedoms in the country, continues.

Turkish people dont feel safe in this country; they dont make enough money; and they cant obtain visas easily to the UK and Europe, the smuggler told the Telegraph. They have no chance to escape the country; our way is the only way for people to leave.

Additional reporting by Ozlem Temena


Smoke rises from Jabal al-Rihan, southern Lebanon, after Israeli strikes. Photograph: Karamallah Daher/Reuters

Israeli strikes across southern Gaza killed at least 19 people overnight into Sunday, including a senior Hamas political leader, officials said.

Iran-backed rebels in Yemen who are allied with Hamas meanwhile launched another missile at Israel, setting off air raid sirens. The Israeli military said it was intercepted with no casualties or damage.

The attacks came after Israel carried out a strike in Tyre, south Lebanon, on Saturday, killing one and wounding seven people and endangering the shaky truce that ended a year-long conflict against Hezbollah, as 40 survivors of Hamas captivity called on the Israeli government to halt the endless war.

The strike on a building came after Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes in Lebanon on Saturday, its most intense aerial assault on the country in four months. In total, six people were killed, including a child, and 28 injured, according to Lebanons health ministry.

In Gaza, Hamas and Palestinian media said on Sunday that an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis killed Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas political leader. Pro-Hamas media said the airstrike killed Bardaweel, a member of its political office, and his wife. Israeli officials had no immediate comment. The European and Kuwaiti hospitals in southern Gaza said they had received 17 bodies from strikes over Saturday night into Sunday, including several women and children.

Israels Lebanon strikes were its deadliest there since the 27 November ceasefire which had put an end to 13 months of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. The strike on Tyre, in particular, one of the largest cities in south Lebanon and far from the Lebanese border, was a major escalation and threatened to upend the fragile ceasefire agreement.

An Israeli military spokesperson said it had targeted attack command headquarters, terrorist operatives, missile launchers, and a weapons depot of the terrorist Hezbollah.

The wave of Israeli airstrikes was triggered by the launching of three rockets from Lebanon by unknown groups, which were intercepted by the Israeli air force.

In a statement on Saturday afternoon, Hezbollah denied any involvement in the rocket attacks and stressed its commitment to the ceasefire agreement. It added that Israeli claims that it was behind the strikes were merely a pretext for continued attacks on Lebanon.

Related: Thousands return to southern Lebanon amid uneasy ceasefire

A variety of Palestinian factions, as well as other armed groups, operate in southern Lebanon and not all are under Hezbollahs command. Both the Israeli military and the Lebanese Ministry of Defence said it was investigating who could have fired the rockets.

The Lebanese army said it found and dismantled what it called three primitive rocket launchers in south Lebanon after the rocket fire towards Israel. Pictures released by the army showed fragments of bombs and three wooden posts dug into the earth, seemingly used in the launching of the rockets.

Lebanons minister of defence, Michel Menassa, said the country was continuing its diplomatic, political and military efforts to ensure Lebanons sovereignty.

The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, warned of a severe response to the rocket fire, which was shot at the Israeli border village of Metula.



Metula and Beirut will be treated the same. The Lebanese government is fully responsible for any fire originating from its territory, Katz said.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has stopped full-scale military hostilities between the two warring parties, though Israel has conducted hundreds of airstrikes on Lebanon despite the truce. Israel has maintained that it reserves the right to unilaterally enforce any violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon and has continued to strike what it says are Hezbollah targets across the country.

Hezbollah launched rockets near an Israeli military post in the week after the establishment of the ceasefire, but otherwise has not attacked Israel since. The group has been severely weakened after its war with Israel, with most of its senior leadership dead, thousands of its fighters killed and its weapons stock depleted.

The Lebanese prime minister, Nawaf Salam, warned on Saturday that renewed military operations in south Lebanon could risk dragging the country back into war and urged the ministry of defence to ensure that the Lebanese state, rather than Hezbollah, decides whether Lebanon goes to war.

Unifil, the UN peacekeeping force that monitors the Israel-Lebanon border, warned against further military escalation that could lead to the ceasefire being broken.

The situation remains extremely fragile and we encourage both sides to uphold their commitments, it said in a statement on Saturday.

In Israel, several thousand protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Saturday, blocking key highways across the country in a demonstration against Netanyahus government.

The immediate trigger for the anger was the governments attempt to dismiss Ronen Bar, the head of the internal security agency, a move described as an attempt to undermine Israels democratic system, but the prime ministers decision to shatter a two-month-old truce in Gaza with waves of lethal airstrikes has also fuelled the demonstrations.

Forty freed hostages of Hamas captivity and 250 family members of Israeli soldiers and civilians still held in Gaza signed a letter on Friday calling on Netanyahu to halt Israels renewed military activities and return to the negotiating table in order to secure the release of the remaining 59 hostages who are still in the territory. In a letter sent to the prime minister, they warned that failure to do so would condemn the living hostages to death.

This letter was written in blood and tears, the text reads. It was drafted by our friends and families whose loved ones were killed and murdered in captivity and who are crying out: Stop the fighting. Return to the negotiating table and fully complete an agreement that will return all of the hostages, even at the cost of ending the war.

The signatories attacked the government for choosing an endless war over saving and returning the hostages, and by doing that, sacrificing them. This is a criminal policy  you do not have a mandate to sacrifice 59 people.

The letter comes as Israels defence minister on Friday said he had instructed the military to seize more ground in Gaza and threatened to annex part of the territory unless Hamas released Israeli hostages still held in the devastated territory.

Israeli officials have escalated their threats in recent days, calling on Palestinians in Gaza to overthrow Hamas or face the consequences.

I ordered [the army] to seize more territory in Gaza, Katz said in a statement. The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel.

Gazas civil defence agency said more than 500 people had been killed since the bombardment resumed, one of the highest tolls since the war began more than 17 months ago with Hamass attack on Israel.

A three-phase ceasefire was agreed in January but Israel refused to begin talks on the implementation of a second phase, which was supposed to lead to a return of all hostages, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent end to hostilities.

Instead, Israel proposed a new plan, reportedly put forward by the US envoy, Steve Witkoff, involving a 30- to 60-day truce and the release of all remaining hostages. Israel made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners  a key component of the first phase.

On Saturday, the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, called on Hamas to relinquish power in order to safeguard the existence of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas must show compassion for Gaza, its children, women and men, Fatah spokesperson Monther al-Hayek said in a message sent to AFP, urging the militant group to step aside from governing and fully recognise that the battle ahead will lead to the end of Palestinians existence if it remains in power in Gaza.

Hamas said on Friday it was still debating Witkoffs proposal and other proposals made by intermediaries, including Egypt.

The intense fighting comes as Netanyahu is locked in a fierce battle with Israels judicial system after the supreme court blocked his attempt to fire the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency, who has been investigating Netanyahus close aides for alleged breaches of national security, including leaking classified documents to foreign media, and allegedly taking money from Qatar, which is known to have given significant financial aid to Hamas.

Amid protests against ministers vote to sack Bar, the top court on Friday froze the decision, with the order remaining in place until the court can hear petitions filed by the opposition and an NGO against the dismissal.

Netanyahu said in a post on X that the government of Israel will decide who headed the domestic security agency, writing: The State of Israel is a state of law, and according to the law, the government of Israel decides who will be the head of the Shin Bet.

About 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, died in the surprise attack by Hamas in October 2023. The ensuing Israeli offensive into Gaza has killed more than 49,000 people, mostly civilians.
Liz Kendalls proposals include cuts to disability benefits and a higher age cap for claimants of personal independence payments - House of Commons

Labours proposed benefit cuts will be investigated by a human rights watchdog for potentially breaking equality law.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has said it is considering whether the plans set out by Liz Kendall to cut disability benefits comply with the Equality Act.

A spokesman for the EHRC said: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) must consider the equality impact of the proposed benefit reforms on disabled people.

The public sector equality duty (PSED) requires government departments to have due regard for how their policies and decisions affect people with protected characteristics.

The Work and Pensions Secretarys proposals include cuts to disability benefits and a higher age cap for claimants.

Ms Kendall announced on Tuesday that the eligibility age for the health and disability component of universal credit would rise from 18 to 22.

The age of eligibility for personal independence payments (PIP) may also rise from 16 to 18.

She also announced the Government could cut universal credit disability benefits almost in half from April 2026, which she aims to balance with a rise in the standard allowance element of universal credit.

Ms Kendall has delayed publishing equality impact assessments of the policies, which are required by law, until after the Chancellors fiscal statement on Wednesday.

The assessments are expected to show that over 2 million people will be affected by the cuts. They will also give an estimate of how many will be pushed into poverty by Ms Kendalls reforms.

An EHRC spokesman said the watchdog is considering the green paper, including its wider implications for people with protected characteristics.

The watchdog has previously criticised the Government for delaying equality impact assessments for political convenience.

Last year Chancellor Rachel Reeves was accused of breaking rules by refusing to release an impact assessment of the cuts to winter fuel allowance.

The assessment, later disclosed under Freedom of Information laws, showed seven in 10 disabled pensioners would lose the allowance.

Ms Reeves was later reprimanded by the watchdog for providing an insufficient impact assessment of National Insurance changes which disproportionately hit women workers.

The release of the welfare reform impact assessments could spell trouble for Ms Kendalls reforms.

She has already faced a wave of discontent about the cuts from Labour party colleagues, including senior Cabinet ministers.

Any potential watering down of the cuts as a result of the impact assessments will now come after the Chancellors fiscal statement on Wednesday.

This means that the promised 5 billion of cuts to welfare should be factored into the Office for Budget Responsibilitys (OBR) forecast of the countrys economic performance.

On Wednesday the Chancellor will respond to the OBRs latest forecast.

Ms Reeves is preparing to make swinging public spending cuts in order to save her economic project amid expectations of the countrys economic growth falling by half.

The projected cuts to benefits are expected to form one part of this wider effort to balance the books.

The EHRC is currently undertaking a wider investigation of the DWPs practices after concerns were raised about its compliance with equality law under the last government.

An EHRC spokesperson said: As Britains equality regulator, we are currently undertaking an assessment of the DWPs compliance with the PSED under Section 31 of the Equality Act 2006.

This robust enforcement action involves assessing the departments compliance with the duty when developing, implementing and monitoring policy guidance related to health assessment determinations for people with learning disabilities or long-term mental health conditions.

We are also undertaking an investigation over concerns about the treatment of these disabled benefits claimants  focused on whether the DWP failed to make reasonable adjustments during those health assessment determinations.
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to make sure the ECHR is being applied in a way that is in our interests as a nation - Alastair Grant

Labour MPs have urged Sir Keir Starmer to overhaul human rights laws blocking the deportation of failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals.

Red Wall backbenchers said the Prime Minister should back changes to how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is applied in British courts to take back control of the UKs borders.

Their plea comes with Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, reviewing the rules following a string of controversial immigration tribunal rulings.

Many of the most contentious verdicts have been based on Article 8 of the convention, which guarantees people the right to respect for your family life.

In one case, an Albanian criminal was allowed to stay in the UK by a tribunal, in part because his son would not eat foreign chicken nuggets.

Another saw a Nigerian conman who duped women out of almost 200,000 avoid removal because his wife and children were being treated by the NHS.

The verdicts have raised concerns that judges are using increasingly expansionist interpretations of the ECHR to overturn deportation orders.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, on March 22 - Gareth Fuller

Labour MPs are now backing calls for the Government to issue new guidance restricting how Article 8, the family life clause, can be applied in the courts.

Jonathan Brash, the MP for Hartlepool, said that ministers must make sure the law is being applied in a way that is in our interests as a nation.

Mr Brash told The Telegraph: Its a perfectly in-order thing to do and to me its the right thing to do. They should be looking at all avenues.

The asylum system is broken, immigration is far, far too high and theyre right to look at all the options to get the level of control we want.

The British people want the Government theyve elected to be able to decide asylum policy and for that policy to be enacted.

He added that there were a huge number of Labour MPs who wanted to deliver for their voters with stricter control on immigration and asylum.

Its not an extreme view to say that wed like good border control and sensible, proportionate levels of immigration, Mr Brash said.

Anyone who thinks thats an extreme view frankly is out of touch with what the British people want right now.

The MP added that he was not in favour of leaving the ECHR but it was sensible to tighten up its interpretation, as other European countries, such as Denmark, have.

Mr Brashs remarks come amid a groundswell of support amongst Labour ranks for an overhaul of how the ECHR is applied in asylum cases.

MPs will attend a briefing with a leading barrister on the issue in Parliament on Monday which has been organised by Dan Carden, the MP for Liverpool Walton.

Connor Naismith, the MP for Crewe and Nantwich, said that recent rulings based on human rights rules were eroding voters trust in politicians.

He warned: People tell me that they dont feel like their politicians can really change things. The truth is theyre not entirely wrong.

Artificial structures and outsourced decisions have limited our democracy and the Prime Minister is right to take this on.

Jonathan Hinder, the MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, also backed the Home Secretarys review into overhauling the human rights rules.

Writing for Politics.co.uk, he said: Yvette Cooper is right to at least be considering how some of its articles are being applied in the courts.

When the voters say we want the Government to reduce illegal migration it is entirely reasonable for them to think that the elected governments of these islands can deliver that.

It comes after Jack Straw, a former Labour home secretary, last week urged Sir Keir to back away from the ECHR, questioning its ongoing utility.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the death of a woman in Clacton.

Essex Police said officers responded to concerns over the welfare of a woman at an address on Skelmersdale Road at 11.30am on Friday.

Despite the efforts of emergency services, the woman, aged in her 40s, died at the scene.

A man in his 20s was arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to hospital in a serious condition.

Police said they are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.

Detective Chief Inspector Rob Huddleston said: Our thoughts are with the loved ones of the woman who sadly died today.

We know how concerning this incident will be to the local community and I can assure you that we are working diligently to understand exactly what happened.

Our officers were on the scene within five minutes of the call coming into to us and worked with our colleagues from the ambulance service to try and help the woman.

We will be in the area in the coming days. Please come and speak to us if you have any concerns or information.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Essex Police via their website or by calling 101, citing incident 438 of 21 March.
Advertising accounts for approximately 98% of Metas revenue. Its platforms include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Photograph: Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

The owner of Facebook and Instagram has agreed to stop targeting a UK citizen with personalised adverts after agreeing a settlement in a landmark privacy case that could set a precedent for millions of social media users.

Mark Zuckerbergs Meta also said it was considering charging UK users for an advert-free version of its platforms after the legal agreement that avoided a trial in the high court in London.

Tanya OCarroll, a human rights campaigner, launched a lawsuit against the $1.5tn (1.2tn) company in 2022, alleging it had breached UK data laws by failing to respect her right to demand Facebook stop collecting and processing her data in order to target her with adverts. Her stance was supported by the UKs data watchdog, indicating that the case will set a precedent for millions of UK users of online platforms.

OCarroll said the support of the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) meant the writing is on the wall for Meta and its advertising-based business model.

This is an individual settlement, but I believe its ramifications extend far beyond me, said OCarroll. The key factor is the UK data protection authority, which backed my case and has publicly stated that it will support people in the UK who wish to exercise their right to object to online targeted ads. I think that beyond the life of this case, the writing is on the wall for Meta  people want a choice on surveillance ads, and the right to object gives them exactly that.

On Friday, both sides settled the lawsuit, with OCarroll claiming a victory after Meta committed to stop using her personal data to target her with bespoke adverts. OCarrolls argument was supported by the ICO, which said people have the right to object to their personal information being used for direct marketing.

The ICO added that users should have an opt out from their data being used to create targeted ads. It said: Organisations must respect peoples choices about how their data is used. This means giving users a clear way to opt out of their data being used in this way.

OCarroll said the ICOs verdict, which the regulator made clear in a submission to the high court, could pave the way for more lawsuits on a similar basis.

This settlement represents not just a victory for me, but for everyone who values their fundamental right to privacy, said OCarroll. None of us signed up to be trapped into decades of surveillance advertising, held hostage by the threat of losing the ability to connect with our loved ones online.

Meta said it fundamentally disagreed with OCarrolls claims and took its obligations under the UKs privacy law, GDPR, seriously. It added that it was weighing the option of introducing a subscription service in the UK, whereby users would pay a fee for an ad-free service. Advertising accounts for approximately 98% of Metas revenue.

We are exploring the option of offering people based in the UK a subscription and will share further information in due course, said Meta.

Last year the ICO said it was looking at how UK data protection law would apply to an ad-free subscription service.

Commenting on the case, the former UK attorney general Dominic Grieve said: Big tech companies should not be above the law. If companies like Meta want to operate in the UK, they should be directed to follow the same legal standards as everyone else  respecting peoples privacy rights, not exploiting them at any cost.

Meta already offers a no-ads paid-for service in the EU after a 2023 ruling by the European court of justice, the highest in the EU.
Ed Miliband will vote against the amendment to keep slavery out of the supply chain for GB Energy - Zara Farrar/DESNZ

Ed Miliband has been accused of turning a blind eye to modern slavery in order to appease China.

The Energy Secretary has refused to back plans to ban forced labour from the supply chain of Britains new publicly owned energy company.

This week, Mr Miliband will lead a charge to vote down an anti-slavery amendment to the Great British Energy Bill, which will establish GB Energy, a state-backed clean energy firm promised by Labour in its election manifesto.

The amendment, if it became law, would force the company to seek out credible evidence of modern slavery in the energy supply chain and eradicate it.

It is intended to stop GB Energy from using public funds to buy solar panels and other clean energy equipment that may have been produced by slave labour.

It was proposed by Lord Alton, a crossbench peer and chairman of parliaments human rights joint committee, and supported by Labour peer Baroness Kennedy, an eminent barrister and former colleague of Sir Keir Starmer.

But Mr Miliband will vote against the amendment on Monday, urging Labour colleagues to do the same.

Red Ed

The clean energy market is dominated by China, partly because key raw materials for solar panels are abundant in the Xinjiang region of the country.

In Xinjiang, the predominant Uyghur Muslim population has been subject to forced labour and other human rights violations.

The Conservatives, who support Lord Altons amendment, have accused Mr Miliband of kowtowing to China by opposing it.

Andrew Bowie, the shadow minister for net zero, said: This week, the Conservatives will challenge Labour to change the law to ensure that GB Energy can provide no financial assistance where evidence of modern slavery exists.

Will Red Ed do the right thing and back us, or will he kowtow to China like his comrade Rachel Reeves?

The Governments independent anti-slavery commissioner seemed to criticise the Energy Secretarys decision to oppose the amendment.

Eleanor Lyons wrote on X: Ten years since the Modern Slavery Act passed there are more victims identified than ever before. The [Government] should let the Great British Energy Bill be amended to protect human rights and reduce the risk of public procurement of goods made by forced labour.

The vote on the amendment comes after a week in which the Conservatives ditched their long-standing commitment to achieve net zero by 2050.

Kemi Badenoch called the pledge, originally made by Theresa Mays Conservative government, impossible.

The Tory leader added that it could not be achieved without a serious drop in our living standards or by bankrupting us.

Mr Bowie said: It is clear that Ed Milibands net zero zealotry will hand control of our energy security to foreign powers like Russia and China.

Whilst Kemi Badenoch this week has told the truth about net zero and the costs it will entail, the Government is pushing ahead  even with the significant evidence that many of its plans will involve supply chains marred by the horrors of modern slavery in China.

Cant ignore genocide

Lord Alton has said Mr Miliband risks shovelling millions of pounds to Chinese companies and ignoring child labour.

He said: Before shovelling millions of pounds of British taxpayers money into the pockets of Chinese Communist Party-approved companies, Ed Miliband needs to address serious questions about the origins of solar panels made by slave labour.

Our procurement policies cant ignore genocide against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang or the use of child labour in the Congo.

The UK needs its own manufacturing capacity, to deepen resilience, and reduce dependence. The all-party House of Lords amendment gives Ed Miliband the chance to give zero tolerance to genocide and slave labour.

He also needs to come clean about net zero ideology. China will burn vast amounts of coal to make these solar panels to sell to the UK. Dressing all this up as climate justice doesnt pass muster. I salute those members of the House of Commons who are questioning this policy and supporting the Lords amendment 

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: No industry in the UK should rely on forced labour, and through Great British Energy we have a clear plan to build the supply chains needed to support a new era of clean home-grown power, bringing jobs and investment.

This is in addition to initiatives like the Clean Industry Bonus, which will incentivise clean energy manufacturing and stronger domestic supply chains across our industrial heartlands.

We are also working across government to tackle the issue of forced labour in solar supply chains, and the relaunched Solar Taskforce is focusing on developing supply chains that are resilient, sustainable and free from forced labour.
A woman said missing her close friends wedding ceremony because of disruption at Heathrow was nightmarish.

Farah Rafeeq, 24, was due to travel with Singapore Airlines on Friday from Heathrow with her 32-year-old friend Niken Wulan, who is pregnant, to another friends wedding in Cambodia on Sunday.

The mass cancellation of flights means they will now miss part of the ceremony.

They have found an alternative flight from Gatwick Airport with Turkish Airlines and Bangkok Airways that will get them to Cambodia for Sunday afternoon.

Ms Rafeeq, who lives in London and works in climate project management, told the PA news agency from Gatwick Airport on Saturday: The last few hours have been nightmarish because it is one of our closest friends wedding and we have to travel for at least 20 hours to get there.

We had to pay double the amount, between 600 and 700, for the new flight, and we had planned this trip for months and had hotels booked and are flying to South-east Asia after the wedding.

We are missing the morning ceremony but at least we can make it for the reception.

Passengers queue at a check-in desk at Heathrow Terminal 2 in London (Maja Smiejkowska/PA)

A woman accompanying a school trip from the US said flight cancellations at Heathrow on Saturday had resulted in a stressful end to their travels.

Speaking at the airport, Christine Eckles, 50, told the PA news agency: It was a delay at first, a three-hour delay, and then we found out our flight to Chicago was cancelled.

Were having to work on how to get a new flight out with British Airways.

Ms Eckles, who is accompanying students from Iowa, added: Its been stressful.

Were at the end of our trip and we have had a wonderful time in London and Paris, and everybodys ready to go home and back to their spring break.

However, another American tourist praised his airlines and Heathrows fantastic response to a fire that closed the transport hub on Friday.

A man takes a photo of the flight information display in the arrivals hall at Heathrow Terminal 5 in London (Maja Smiejkowska/PA)

Speaking at Heathrow, Tim Kolb, who travelled to the UK on holiday from Dallas, Texas, told PA: I was just getting ready to board the plane on Thursday night, and the news actually started coming across on our phones quicker than on the (airport) desk.

But American Airlines did a fabulous job  we didnt have to wait in the line or anything. They got us our accommodation reservation.

Mr Kolb, 55, added: I thought I was going to be there (Dallas) delayed two days, but I went over yesterday.

It was organised well. In fact, they had several planes leaving within an hour of each other to Heathrow.

The way everybody responded and fell into action, it was fantastic.

Queues at Heathrow on Saturday were not noticeably longer than usual, with additional staff on duty to guide passengers through the airport.

People watch a British Airways plane at Heathrow Airport in London (Maja Smiejkowska/PA)

A passenger at Heathrow said purchasing their flights in one booking had helped them avoid the worst of the disruption when a nearby fire closed the airport on Friday.

Rob Walford, 74, told PA: We were in Nice with friends and we were due to fly into Heathrow yesterday.

We were going to stay the night and then catch our flight to San Diego, so obviously, we didnt do that.

The wisest thing we did, though, while in Nice was take the tram to the airport and then rebook us first thing this morning. If we hadnt done that, we wouldnt be here.

The British Airways desk sorted it out: weve got a flight this morning that wasnt going to be cancelled, so now were good.
Jimmy Lai steps out of a prison van in Hong Kong in 2021. An obscure legal development in his case has exposed the erosion of the citys once revered legal system. Photograph: Tyrone Siu/Reuters

The dwindling freedom in Hong Kong over the past few years has been described as death by a thousand cuts. Critics have been jailed, elections have been transformed into patriots only affairs, journalists have been harassed and hundreds of thousands of people have left.

This week, an obscure legal development has, in the eyes of some legal experts, inflicted another cut on the citys once revered legal system.

On 17 March, Hong Kongs Court of Final Appeal (CFA), the citys top bench, rejected an application from Jimmy Lai. The 77-year-old pro-democracy activist is now on trial for alleged national security offences  charges which could see the former media mogul spend the rest of his life in jail. Although the trial is well under way, Lais legal team have been trying to appeal against the decision to bar his preferred lawyer, Tim Owen KC, from representing him.

Related: The old days are no more: Hong Kong goes quiet as security laws tighten their grip

The details of the saga date back to 2022, when Owen was first approved to represent Lai. The Hong Kong government objected to Owens admission, but lost multiple appeals to have him blocked. So John Lee, the chief executive, turned to Beijing. In December 2022, the Chinese government issued an interpretation of the national security law, which had been imposed on the city in June 2020 to quell months of pro-democracy protests. The interpretation stated that the courts needed approval from the chief executive to admit foreign lawyers in national security cases.

Although Owen had been admitted to represent Lai before the interpretation was issued, Hong Kongs national security committee nonetheless instructed the immigration department to deny him a work permit.

Its pretty well unheard of for somebody who is entitled to represent a client not to receive a work permit, says Jonathan Sumption, a former supreme court judge who quit the CFA last year, warning that the rule of law was profoundly compromised in Hong Kong. I think it tells us quite a lot about the view of the rule of law taken by the executive. Sumption said that blocking Owen via a visa refusal was a subterfuge on the part of the government.

But the issue at the heart of Lais appeal was not the visa  but the fact decisions made by the national security committee cannot be legally challenged, a principle that has caused alarm in some legal circles.

Paul Harris SC, a former chairperson of the Hong Kong Bar Association, who fled the city in 2022 after being warned by the national security police that they were considering charging him with sedition, said that the principle effectively gives the committee the powers of a police state.

While the CFA did not give a reason for rejecting Lais appeal this week, it did so using a rule that is normally reserved for applications with no reasonable grounds or that are frivolous.

This is another, among many, blows to the rule of law, said Michael C Davis, a former law professor at the University of Hong Kong. The CFA surely missed an opportunity to reign in what has become excessive resort to national security claims and to better articulate the boundaries, if any, of the committees immunity from review.

Samuel Townend KC, chairperson of the Bar Council of England and Wales until this year, said that the CFAs refusal to hear the appeal amounted to the court washing their hands of any judicial oversight of the national security committee.

Simon NM Young, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, warned against reading too much into the CFAs decision. He pointed to an earlier ruling which stated that the national security law was clear in its intent to immunise certain decisions from legal challenge. He said that by refusing to grant leave to appeal, the CFA judges may just have decided that Lais specific claim was simply without merit. The question of judicial reviewability of a NSC [national security committee] decision on jurisdictional grounds remains open, Young said.

But for Lai, it is the end of the road on this legal challenge. He will not be able to instruct his chosen lawyer in any future proceedings. With his national security trial expected to run until the autumn, and further appeals expected if he is convicted, there may be many more to come.

Hong Kongs judiciary did not respond to a request for comment.
The Victorian Essential Services Commission took Origin to court to ensure the cost of breaking consumer protection rules cannot be written off as a cost of doing business. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP

Origin Energy has apologised for failing to meet its regulatory obligations after it was fined $17.6m for breaching Victorias energy rules and affecting nearly 670,000 customers, including some on life support.

In the Victorian supreme court, Origin admitted to not providing adequate best offer messaging to more than 655,000 customers, and failing to provide adequate support to another 6,806 who were experiencing payment difficulty.

The company also admitted to overcharging 78 customers, recovering undercharged amounts from 411 customers beyond a four-month back-billing limit, and failing to maintain information on 10 customers undergoing life support.

Related: Origin Energy fined $1.6m after sharing private details of family violence victims

The breaches took place between December 2021 and May 2023, according to the judgment handed down on Friday.

The Victorian Essential Services Commission took Origin to court after discovering the non-compliance.

Its chairperson and commissioner, Gerard Brody, said the regulator pushed for significant penalties to ensure the cost of breaking consumer protection rules cannot be written off as a cost of doing business.

We wanted the penalty to send a message about the importance of these rules, and were pleased these record penalties have done that, Brody said on Saturday.

The commissions statement said the fine was the largest financial penalty for breaches of Victorias energy rules in the states history.

While todays decision will be felt most directly by Origin, it will reverberate in the boardrooms of all energy retailers, Brody said.

In his judgment, Justice Michael Osborne acknowledged Origin had taken steps to improve its record-keeping but said the penalty still needed to have sufficient sting in it.

He said if the court did not impose penalties of sufficient magnitude, there was a risk other energy retailers who were complying with all relevant obligations could drop their standards to save on costs.

A penalty of sufficient size is warranted to deter Origin, and equally important, others like Origin, from transgressing such prohibitions, particularly where the consequence of transgression is financial harm to the consumer and correlative gain to the retailer, he said.

In addition to the financial penalty, the court ordered Origin to implement additional quality assurance measures, run additional compliance training for staff and publish public notices about its contraventions in major Melbourne newspapers.

The company was also ordered to pay the Essential Services Commissions legal costs.

Origins executive general manager, Jon Briskin, apologised for the breaches.

We are sorry we didnt meet our regulatory obligations for these customers, and we are committed to doing better with significant resources dedicated towards improving compliance performance, he said in a statement.

We self-reported most of the breaches to the regulator, cooperated fully with their investigations and take full responsibility for all of the breaches before the court.

Briskin said many of the breaches were caused by human error or errors in Origins legacy customer service platform and that the company had a new, improved system for electricity and gas customers.

Customers suffered no or limited loss or damage, and we remediated affected customers where appropriate, he said.

In January, the Essential Services Commission fined Origin $1.6m for sharing family violence victims private details without their consent and for chasing other survivors for unpaid power bills.



Between June 2021 and March 2024, Origin was found to have disclosed confidential information of 16 family violence-affected customers without their consent 21 times, and took debt recovery action against another 38 customers without considering the potential effect on them.

 with Australian Associated Press
Oscar Piastri raised the stakes in his championship battle with Lando Norris by securing the first pole position of his career at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Norris won last weekends opening round in Australia with Piastri only ninth after he slipped off the road in the rain when narrowly trailing his McLaren team-mate.

But at the second round of the season in Shanghai, Piastri pulled out all the stops to see off George Russell of Mercedes by just 0.082 seconds with Norris having to settle for third, more than a tenth adrift of the Australian.

Max Verstappen took fourth spot, one place ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who landed his first win as a Ferrari driver in the earlier sprint race.

Norris has been talked up as the championship favourite following his season-opening win in Melbourne, and McLarens apparent advantage over the rest of the field. Indeed Russell claimed here that McLaren should win every race this year.

But Norris campaign suffered two setbacks on Saturday when he made a mistake on the first lap of the sprint race to cross the line only eighth before being beaten to top spot on the grid for Sundays main event.

Norris trailed Piastri by just 0.090 sec heading into the final runs, but he had to abort his second flying lap with his team-mate extending his advantage.

To make matters worse for Norris, Russell usurped him in the closing moments with a fine lap to land a spot on the front row in his Silver Arrows.

That was the hairpin of my life, said Piastri after taking top spot.

I just had a little scream in my helmet. It was a bit of a journey to get there but we did it.

Out of the car, he added: I just found a lot of pace in Q3 and the car came alive. I came alive in Q3, too. Happy with what I did. The laps were a bit scruffy but I am just pumped to be on pole.

Lando Norris had to settle for third (Andy Wong/AP)

Norris added: I am always disappointed when I am not on pole but Oscar deserved it today. I am happy for him. It was just a couple of mistakes and that has been the case for me this weekend.

Following his impressive sprint win, Hamilton trailed Piastri by 0.286 seconds but finished one place ahead of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Liam Lawsons miserable start to his Red Bull career continued after he could finish only 20th and last, a day after he suffered the same fate in qualifying for the sprint race.

British 19-year-old Ollie Bearman also failed to progress to the second phase and will line up from 17th.
Protesters are set to converge on the Israeli embassy this weekend, rallying in support of Palestine.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that at least four separate demonstrations and counter-protests will take place across central London on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, the Palestine Coalition will protest outside the Israeli Embassy for four hours from 12.30pm-4.30pm.

 Emergency Protest  End the Genocide Israeli Embassy, London 22 March, 12:30PM Israel has renewed its genocidal assault on Gaza, killing almost 600 Palestinians, including at least 200 children. We must take action for Palestine now. Join us outside the Israeli embassy pic.twitter.com/eOlnTLrg3K  Palestine Solidarity Campaign (@PSCupdates) March 21, 2025

Strict conditions have been imposed to minimise public disruption.

A separate protest, organised by For the Children, will begin at 1pm at the Park Lane and Wellington Arch area.

Police said they had not been informed of counter-protests for either Saturday event but will have resources to meet demand if any arise.

Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell said: The role of the police is to ensure that groups can exercise their right to peaceful protest, while also balancing the rights of those in the wider community to go about their lives without serious disruption.

We are confident that appropriate measures are in place to prevent serious disruption and ensure the events takes place peacefully.

Further protests have been organised for Sunday, with demonstrators set to mark Al-Quds Day, a global event held each year to express solidarity with Palestine.

Protesters are expected to gather at Marble Arch before marching down Oxford Street towards Portland Place, where a static rally will be held near the BBCs Broadcasting House.

In recent months we have imposed conditions on protests in Portland Place, Supt Bell said.

We have recognised the impact when these protests have been scheduled for a Saturday, considering the proximity to a nearby synagogue, the significance of the Sabbath for Jewish people and the need to avoid serious disruption to synagogue users.

A counter-protest, organised by pro-Israeli group Stop The Hate, will be taking place at the same time. The group also plans to hold an assembly in Oxford Circus.
Reeves speaking to staff at new BNY offices in Manchester. On Wednesday she will announce plans to cut public spending by billions of pounds. Photograph: Kirsty OConnor/Treasury

Rachel Reeves will raise the spectre of Liz Trusss disastrous mini-budget in the lead-up to next weeks spring statement as she tries to persuade her Labour colleagues to accept the steepest departmental cuts since austerity.

The chancellor will tell her fractious party she has decided to cut public spending rather than increasing borrowing because of the risk of a similar fallout to that which followed the then prime ministers disastrous fiscal statement in 2022.

The rise in borrowing costs that followed that announcement hurt the poor more than the rich, she will say, in an attempt to rebut growing criticism that Labour has abandoned poorer people by cutting welfare, foreign aid and public services.

One ally of the chancellor said: It is not the wealthy or the rich that paid the price for the mini-budget. It was working people. They added: Labour only won because the public trusted us with their money. We are not about to undermine that now.

Reeves heads into next week facing increasing unease in her party, with many MPs and ministers upset by the recent decisions to slash aid to spend on the military instead and to cut disability benefits by 5bn.

On Wednesday she will announce plans to cut public spending by several billion pounds to try to meet her fiscal rules, which have been put at risk by stagnant growth and high government borrowing costs.

The difficult economic backdrop was underlined on Friday when the Office for National Statistics announced the government had borrowed 10.7bn last month, far more than the 6.6bn economists had expected.

Several ministers voiced their disquiet about next weeks cuts at a tense cabinet meeting last week, sources say  including the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood. Some raised the example of Germany, where the government recently changed its fiscal rules to spend more on defence.

David Blunkett will add to the pressure on Reeves to adapt her fiscal rules this weekend.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4s Week in Westminster, the former education secretary will say: I would raise the self-imposed rule by at least 10bn-15bn, and I would spend a great chunk of it on what we did back in 97 with the new deal for the unemployed  getting half a million of those young people who are out of work and training into a job or a training programme.

Treasury officials dismiss the idea of changing Reeves fiscal rules, which say she must be forecast to have debt falling as a percentage of GDP and to have the day-to-day budget in balance by 2029-30. We have already changed the fiscal rules, one said, pointing to last years decision to make it easier to borrow for capital spending.

Reeves has also rejected the idea of introducing a wealth tax to help balance the budget, say those close to her, believing such measures are too easy to dodge because of how easy it is for rich people to move their assets offshore.

Even if we were to do a wealth tax, it would not get us much, said one. Ed Milibands mansion tax [which the energy secretary proposed when he was Labour leader] was only going to raise 700m-1.5bn. That would not solve our problems.

Reevess allies are frustrated her Labour colleagues have not given her credit for borrowing and taxing more at last years budget to pay for a 70bn increase in spending.

The chancellor will also try to placate her critics by spending more money on tax collection, in plans she will announce next week, which forecasters at the Office of Budget Responsibility say will raise an extra 1bn by 2029-30.

Under Reevess plans, the government will recruit an extra 600 staff to HMRCs debt management teams and will spend 80m on contracts with private debt collectors to help them recover unpaid taxes. HMRC will get an additional 100m to recruit an extra 500 compliance officers from April.

The chancellor will announce steeper penalties for late payers, starting next month. If someone is 15 days late paying their taxes, the fine will rise from 2% to 3%. If they are more than a month late, it will jump from 4% to 10%.
A giant sargassum bloom in the Caribbean Sea. Photograph: Jean-Philippe Marechal/University of South Florida/USF College of Marine Science

Scientists in Florida believe they have identified a tipping point in atmospheric conditions in the Atlantic Ocean they say caused giant clumps of toxic seaweed to inundate beaches around the Caribbean in recent summers.

Previous theories for the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt that has killed marine animals, harmed human health and plagued the tourism industry in several countries include a surfeit of nutrients in the water, such as nitrogen and phosphorus in runoff from intensive farming and carried into the ocean in the Congo, Amazon and Mississippi rivers.

While marine scientists at the University of South Florida (USF) acknowledge that as a contributory factor, they say the primary source of nutrients is a seasonal phenomenon known as vertical mixing in which shifting winds churn up the ocean and deepwater nutrient concentrations are brought to the surface.

They identified atmospheric pressure changes over the Atlantic beginning around 2009 as the tipping point, with variations in circulation and wind patterns pushing more sargassum into the warmer waters of the tropics, where it grew through photosynthesis into the massive blooms that eventually ended up on the beaches of the Caribbean and the US Gulf coast.

This was a surprising result, said Frank Muller-Karger, distinguished professor and biological oceanographer at USFs College of Marine Science. His team of international researchers used computer modeling to replicate the transport of blooms on strong currents controlled by negative North Atlantic oscillation (NAO), and how the changing atmospheric conditions helped create the giant sargassum belt.

We had posed the hypothesis before that it is not the rivers that feed the formation of the sargassum blooms in the tropical Atlantic. This model supports the idea that nutrients from slightly deeper layers in the ocean feed the blooms.

Muller-Karger continued, saying that models showed that some patches of the sargassum were swept up by the wind and currents from the Sargasso Sea toward Europe, then moved southward, and from there were injected into the tropical Atlantic.

At first, we saw just a few patches being pushed south by the NAO. But these algae patches were met with the right conditions to grow and perpetuate blooms. This population of algae, now separated from the Sargasso Sea, forms new blooms every year thanks to having enough light, nutrients and warmer temperatures, he said.

Almost annually for more than a decade, giant clumps of goop from the 5,000-mile-wide sargassum belt have washed ashore in the Caribbean, and from Florida to Mexico, creating problems for local authorities and businesses that rely on tourism.

There are also significant health concerns. The rotting sargassum releases large quantities of hydrogen sulfide, which fills the air with an acrid odor similar to rotting eggs, and can provoke asthma and other respiratory issues.

Related: Clumps of 5,000-mile seaweed blob bring flesh-eating bacteria to Florida

In 2023, scientists at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) warned of a perfect pathogen storm [with] implications for both marine life and public health, having found high levels of the flesh-eating Vibrio bacteria lurking in the decomposing vegetation.

They said plastic debris in ocean pollution mixed with the sargassum to create a proliferation of the bacteria, creating an additional health risk for tourists, municipal crews clearing the seaweed and volunteers conducting beach clean-ups.

These Vibrio are extremely aggressive and can seek out and stick to plastic within minutes, Tracy Mincer, assistant professor of biology at FAUs Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Harriet L Wilkes Honors College, said.

We really want to make the public aware of these associated risks. In particular, caution should be exercised regarding the harvest and processing of sargassum biomass until the risks are explored more thoroughly.

The USF research, a collaboration with scientists from the University of Toulouse, Sorbonne University and the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education, was published in Nature Communications.

Their report analyzed decades of wind, currents and 3D nutrient measurements from the Atlantic to model the annual blooms.
Crime scene technicians at Young Park in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Saturday. Photograph: Jusin Garcia/AP

Police have arrested three people in connection with a mass shooting on Friday night at an unsanctioned car show in Las Cruces, New Mexico that left three people killed and at least 15 others injured.

Local police said the shooting occurred at around 10pm on Friday at Young Park following an altercation between two groups of people. There were approximately 200 people at the park when the shooting occurred.

Late on Saturday, police said in a statement on Facebook that they arrested one 20-year-old adult, Tomas Rivas, and one 17-year-old juvenile for their involvement and charged both with three open counts of murder. Then on Sunday, a third suspect  another 17-year-old boy  was also arrested and charged with three counts of murder. More charges for all three suspects are reportedly pending.

Police on Saturday shared the identities of the victims: Andrew Madrid, 16; Jason Gomez, 18; and Dominick Estrada, 19. Madrid and Gomez died on scene, according to police.

The other 15 victims injured in the shooting range in age from 16-36. Of the 15 victims, nine are male and six are female, police said, but did not release their names publicly.

In a statement on Facebook earlier on Saturday, the Las Cruces police department issued a public request for videos from the Young Park shooting, particularly video that shows the shooting or subjects with firearms, to submit the video so investigators can analyze it and help develop a better understanding of the incident.

Police added that casings had been located throughout the park and parking lot and that all the casings located so far are handgun caliber casings.

One witness, 20-year-old Angel Legaspy, whose parked car was struck by bullets, told the New York Times: They just started shooting and they just started running around everybody, adding that the shooting was like all over the place.

On Saturday morning, Johana Bencomo, a Las Cruces city councilor and the mayor pro temp, wrote on Instagram: Part of me wanted to write that this is something you never really think this is going to happen in your city but that actually feels deeply untrue. Honestly [nowadays] a tragedy like this feels like a nightmare just waiting to come true at any possible moment, yet also always praying and hoping it never will.

As with all acts of gun violence in our city and beyond, my heart is broken for the victims and families impacted. This was a heinous act of violence that will leave our city mourning, she added.

New Mexicos governor, Michelle Grisham, has also issued a statement, saying: The indiscriminate nature of this shooting is both shocking and unacceptable, but sadly not surprising. This violence tears at the fabric of our communities and leaves wounds that may never heal.
Traveling with pets can be stressful. Many pet parents would say that this is the rule. However, there are always exceptions. Case in point: just look at these incredibly well-behaved, adorable British shorthair cats, Louie and Todd, as they make their way through airport security like no big deal in this video.

We know that a lot of pet parents say that their furry little children are good boys, but Louie and Todd really personify that phrase in a way that is undeniably impressive.

Just click the link here to see how two pet pros handle getting through airport security in this astounding video.

Instagram user louieandtodd, who posted this video, commented that they have been training these adorable kitties to be comfortable in crowded, public places like this since they were four months old.

Related: British Shorthair Cat 'Betrays' Mom When Automatic Feeder Goes Off and People Can't Stop Laughing

They added that they had done most of this training by taking them to the increasingly busy parts of downtown Chicago. Doing so has desensitized Louie and Todd to noisy environments, which allows them to be comfortable while traveling.

Interestingly, they added that both kitties love shopping malls and similarly love airports. This kind of makes sense since an airport probably looks like a large shopping mall to them.

Many people in the comment section remarked about how these cats were so chill when going to the airport. Also, everyone thought they were adorable.

Advice for Flying With Pets

Dealing with getting the required documentation and making a reservation for your fur child to fly can be daunting. Dealing with any airlines pet requirements and their safety during the flight can be equally stressful.

In order to make sure that your pet has the best flying experience possible, it is a good idea to do research on each airline's pet policy and record. Additionally, talking to airline staff prior to your flight can help things go smoothly.

Other steps you can take to make sure that your pet has a smooth flight is taking them to the vet to make sure that they are in good health to fly. There are many airlines that require pets to have a veterinarian-issued health certificate within 10 days of the flight.

It is also a good idea to know where you can take your pet to relieve themselves before and after takeoff at the airports that youre flying into and out of.

Having a good chew toy on hand for your pet can also help them deal with the pressure that will build up in their ears during takeoff and landing. A good chew toy can help your pet relieve any discomfort they are feeling in their ears.

Conclusion

Since your four-legged best friend will be spending plenty of time in a kennel or a travel carrier during the flight, it is a good idea to get them accustomed to spending time in it well in advance of your flight.

As you can see, Louie and Todd have no issues getting into their travel carriers on command. In fact, both of these good boys are happy to hop right on into their travel carriers as soon as their dad takes them through TSA.

They seemed equally comfortable sleeping in their travel carrier throughout the flight. As Instagram user louieandtodd noted in the comment, a lot of training went into getting these kitties comfortable to travel this way. An encouraging sign for any pet parents who want to fly with their fur babies.

Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos. Or share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips.
US border patrol agents escort people through the US-Mexico border wall as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on 5 October 2023. Photograph: Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters

The Trump administration is reported to have cut funding to a legal program that provides representation for unaccompanied immigrant children, one month after directing immigration enforcement agents to track down minors who had entered the US without guardians last month.

Organizations that collectively receive more than $200m in federal grants were informed that the contract through the office of refugee resettlement had been partially terminated, according to a memo issued on Friday by the interior department and obtained by ABC News.

The cut affects funding for legal representation and for the recruitment of attorneys to represent immigrant children but maintains a contract for Know Your Rights, a presentation given to unaccompanied immigrant children in detention centers.

Currently, 26,000 immigrant children receive government-funded legal representation, but many are representing themselves in immigration court due to a shortage of attorneys. In 2023, 56% of unaccompanied minors in immigration courts were represented by counsel, according to the Department of Justice.

In a White House memo to the justice department posted on Saturday, the executive branch identified the immigration system as one of several legal areas where rampant fraud and meritless claims have supplanted the constitutional and lawful bases upon which the President exercises core powers.

The immigration bar, and powerful Big Law pro bono practices, frequently coach clients to conceal their past or lie about their circumstances when asserting their asylum claims, all in an attempt to circumvent immigration policies enacted to protect our national security and deceive the immigration authorities and courts into granting them undeserved relief, the White House said.

The memo directed the attorney general, Pam Bondi, and the secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, to prioritize enforcement of their respective regulations governing attorney conduct and discipline.

Lawyers for Civil Rights, a legal advocacy group currently suing the administration over deportations, called Trumps sanctions threat hypocritical in a statement to Reuters, saying the president and his allies have repeatedly thumbed their noses at the rule of law.

The move to cut funding for legal representation was immediately denounced by immigrant legal and welfare groups.

The US government is violating legal protections for immigrant children and forcing them to fight their immigration cases alone, said Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, deputy director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project.

Already, we are seeing the government move for the expedited removal of unrepresented children. These services are critical not only as a matter of fundamental fairness  children should not be asked to stand up in court alone against a trained government attorney  but also for protecting children from trafficking, abuse and exploitation, and for helping immigration courts run more efficiently.

Lindsay Toczylowski, president of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), said the Trump administration had gone all-in today on endangering unaccompanied children and interfering with their right to due process, breaking with decades of bipartisan congressional support for legal services for vulnerable children.

Toczylowski added that without representation, the 26,000 children whose access to counsel was slashed today will be at higher risk of exploitation and trafficking and their chances of obtaining legal protection will plummet. No child should be forced to fend for themselves against a trained [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] attorney without a lawyer by their side.

A study published by Save the Children in December found that record numbers of unaccompanied minors have come into the US since 2021.

In 2022, the US Department of Health and Human Services received a record 128,904 unaccompanied minors, up from 122,731 in the prior year, the majority coming from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

There are more than 600,000 immigrant children who have crossed the US-Mexico border without a legal guardian or parent since 2019, according to government data.

According to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) memo  Unaccompanied Alien Children Joint Initiative Field Implementation  issued in February and obtained by ABC News and Reuters, agents are directed to detain unaccompanied immigrant children to ensure they are not victims of human trafficking or other forms of exploitation.

Ice agents are directed to categorize unaccompanied immigrants into three groups: flight risk, public safety and border security.

Republicans have claimed that the Biden administration lost 300,000 immigrant children  figures that come from a Department of Homeland Security report referring to the number of minors whom agents had not been able to serve with papers to appear in court.

The unique needs of children require the administration to ensure a level of care that takes into account their vulnerability while it determines whether they need long-term protection in the United States, Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, said in a statement.

To be successful in its goals, the government must partner with legal service providers and the vast network of private-sector pro bono partners who provide millions of dollars in free legal services to ensure children understand the process and can share their reasons for seeking safety in the United States.
Credit: Telegram/@exilenova_plus

First they felt the shock wave as it tore through their homes, then they saw the mushroom cloud.

Stunned residents of Saratov ran from their roofless houses after what local authorities called the largest-ever aerial attack on the region, which scattered debris for miles.

Ukraines target was obvious; the style of its strike was seen before.

A swarm of low-flying, slow-moving drones overwhelmed local air defences and struck Russias sprawling Engels bomber base, in southern Russia.

It was the third such attack in just 10 weeks but the timing was significant this time.

Hours before, Volodymyr Zelensky said he was willing to commit to a US-proposed ceasefire on energy targets, but warned that everything will fly until actual parameters were agreed upon and documents signed.

The Ukrainian leader had just accused Vladimir Putin of yet again breaking his agreement with Donald Trump that he would halt attacks on Ukraines grid and civilian infrastructure.

As a clear military target, Engels was not protected under any such truce. But the strike could be interpreted as a warning from Kyiv to Moscow  that even with energy raids off the table, they can still hit Russias war machine where it hurts.

In the attack, Ukraines drones hit a huge stockpile of munitions, aviation fuel and  according to analysts  recently delivered cruise missiles, igniting a series of violent secondary explosions that turned the sky a menacing red.

Engels is now facing serious difficulties, the Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communication (Stratcom) mocked afterwards.

Russian sources reported the damage was massive and satellite images later showed multiple huge warehouses on the site were entirely wiped out.

It was the clearest sign yet that the Soviet-era base, home to Putins prized nuclear-capable heavy strategic bombers, had been pushed to the top of Ukraines target list.

The long-range raid, like the ones before it, was audacious, precise and smartly timed.

Ukraine has always chosen its high-value targets carefully  knowing Russias missile arsenal dwarfs its own  and hitting high-value targets at opportune moments.

Last week was proof, when Ukraine targeted the Russian capital with its largest-ever drone bombardment of the war just hours before high-level delegations from Washington and Kyiv were due to meet in Saudi Arabia.

It served as a reminder that despite three years of grinding war and huge losses, Ukraine can still hit back.

Dmytro Zhmailo, the executive director of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, said the destruction of military facilities in Engels has always been a priority goal for Ukraine.

He said the long-range missiles the strike targeted would be used to bomb Ukraine, while the secondary detonation of the ammunition could have destroyed or damaged Tu-95 and Tu-160 aircraft along with their flight and technical crew.

In other words, it underscores Ukraines ability to aim left of the boom  US army slang for getting ahead of a problem by striking the source  prevent (or get left of) an attack before it happens.

Ukraine has increasingly been targeting weapons factories, ammunition warehouses and aviation fuel depots far inside Russia, grinding down Russias ability to wage war and blunting its crippling aerial bombardment.

Over 400 miles east of Ukraines frontline and 450 miles south of Moscow, Engels houses three types of Russian strategic bombers, Tu-95, Tu-22 and Tu-160, which are all regularly used to launch strikes on Ukrainian cities.

Built in 1952, it is also the only permanent base for the Tu-160, Russias largest and fastest supersonic bomber also known as White Swan to the Russian air force and Blackjack to Nato.

Before the war, Engels was the main base for all Russian missile carriers and aircraft cruise missiles. According to Maxim Starchak, an expert on Russian defence and strategic weapons, it had housed 16 Tu-160s and 18 Tu-95s.

But in December 2022, Ukraine hit the base three separate times, when its military was first showing its ability to successfully penetrate Russias air defences and strike long-range targets, damaging a Tu-22 and a Tu-95

After that, at least two-thirds of the aircraft were relocated to other military airfields in the country, Mr Starchak told The Telegraph.

Engels, however, remains a critical launch base for long-range strikes on Ukraine.

And the airbase has had a rough time of it lately.

On Jan 8, Ukrainian drones targeted a fuel depot there, triggering a huge blaze that raged for six days as it burnt through thousands of litres of precious jet fuel.

Just hours after the fire was finally contained on Jan 14, drones struck the same target a second time. There will be no rest for the wicked, Ukraines Stratcom warned.

On the morning of the March 20 strike, Ukrainian accounts say there were three Tu-95 and two Tu-160 strategic bombers at Engels.

But the aircraft was not the target.

Andrii Kovalenko, the head of Ukraines Center for Countering Disinformation, said that the strike caused a significant loss of missiles, including the Kh-101, estimated to cost $13 million ( 10 million) a piece.

Mr Kovalenko said: The exact number will be determined later. This airbase stores the largest stockpile of missiles used by Russias strategic aviation for strikes against Ukraine.

The footage of the strike also supports his report.

The size of the explosion, the mushroom cloud it produced, and the subsequent fires it triggered, are in line with the theory that a weapons storage area was hit  and well.

Open-source analysts reported that an Il-76 Candid airlifter had recently arrived, supposedly carrying additional missiles for the bombers.

A bomber  although incredibly costly  can be replaced, but destroying a warehouse full of long-range cruise missiles has the potential to reduce the capabilities of Russias strategic bombing fleet for months, said Mr Starchak.

He added: The Kh-101 and Kh-55 are expensive missiles that still have Western components in their composition, access to which is limited, which means these missiles are produced in small batches.

If Russia has lost a significant supply of them, the effect will be very large.

The strike also underscores the ability of relatively slow and low-flying Ukrainian drones, which are often hard to detect, to travel deep into Russian territory and strike strategic military targets.

It also points to critical issues in Russian air defence capabilities.There are not enough air defence systems [in Russia], and they are not being used effectively in all areas, said Mr Starchak.

For now, it is unlikely Ukraine will strike Engels again soon as Russia will be busy transferring additional air defences there, dragging them away from another target.

Instead, its military will likely be looking to strike next where Russia is not prepared.

Mr Zhmailo said: Engels is certainly an important target, but it is not the only one in the priority of the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine plans to produce 30,000 long-range drones in 2025. Kyiv knows where Russias airfields are and they are large, stationary and visible targets. Ukraine is also reported to have tested a drone with a 3,000km range, potentially putting even more Russian targets within each.

If Ukraines targets are limited as part of Mr Trumps plans to push towards peace, Mr Zhmailo said to expect near-daily strikes deep inside Russian territory.

And on the political front, as Mr Zelenksy prepares for the next round of peace negotiations in Saudi Arabia, his country has proven it has far more cards to play.
On March 6, the White House announced the creation of the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile. The move was highly anticipated by the crypto industry, which initially viewed it as a major step by the Trump administration toward making America the "crypto capital of the world" -- a commonly cited campaign promise in the 2024 elections.

So let's take a closer look at how the creation of the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile might affect your crypto portfolio.

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What is the Digital Asset Stockpile, and what does it hold?

As outlined in the March 6 executive order signed by President Trump, the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile will essentially become a central repository for all cryptocurrencies held by the U.S. government, with the exception of Bitcoin. A separate Strategic Bitcoin Reserve will hold the estimated 200,000 Bitcoins belonging to the U.S. government.

As it stands now, all U.S. government agencies will have 30 days to figure out what crypto assets they hold and report that information to the U.S. Treasury, which will have ultimate stewardship of the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile. The only crypto assets that can be included in the stockpile are those that have been seized by the government as the result of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, and these will be transferred to the U.S. Treasury for safekeeping.

But the details are sketchy at best. The executive order did not, for example, specify which cryptocurrencies are to be included. In an earlier social media post, President Trump suggested that Solana, XRP, and Cardano would be included in this stockpile. But as online blockchain sleuths have subsequently discovered, the U.S. government does not have any significant holdings of those currencies.

Pile of gold digital coins.

Image source: Getty Images.

The U.S. government appears to have four large altcoin (i.e., non-Bitcoin) holdings: Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), Tether, Binance Coin (CRYPTO: BNB), and USDC. Each of these holdings is valued at more than $10 million, with Ethereum ($133 million) and Tether ($122 million) having the greatest value.

The U.S. government also has holdings of six other cryptocurrencies, each holding valued at anywhere from $1 million to $10 million. These are Dai, Tron (CRYPTO: TRX), Uniswap, Chainlink (CRYPTO: LINK), Render, and The Sandbox. So if the U.S. government does have any Solana, XRP, or Cardano, it's valued at less than $1 million. Considering that all three of these cryptos have market caps of $25 billion or higher, this is a negligible amount.

Impact of Digital Asset Stockpile on crypto prices

Over the next 12 months, the creation of the Digital Asset Stockpile will likely have little to no impact on crypto prices. That's because the U.S. government currently has no intention to buy more of any cryptocurrency.

With the creation of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, the Trump White House left open the option to buy new Bitcoin in the future, as long as it could find what it calls a budget-neutral way to do it. But it included no such stipulation about the Digital Asset Stockpile. That's problematic because many crypto market participants were initially expecting the Digital Asset Stockpile to pump crypto prices.

If you take a closer look at the stockpile's primary holdings, two of them -- Tether and USDC -- are stablecoins pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar. So it doesn't matter how much the government buys; they will always be valued at $1. The third primary holding -- Binance Coin -- is not even tradable on some U.S. cryptocurrency exchanges, due to an ongoing SEC lawsuit. That leaves Ethereum as the primary beneficiary of the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile.

I believe XRP, Chainlink, and Tron are the likeliest of the cryptos in the stockpile to get a bounce due to favorable treatment by the government. All appear to have the attention of President Trump or his crypto-affiliated company, World Liberty Financial.

Problems with the Digital Asset Stockpile

A number of questions are swirling around the Digital Asset Stockpile. Most crypto watchers aren't very enthusiastic about it. One hedge fund manager called it "a pig in lipstick" while another crypto insider said it sets "a horrible precedent."

The U.S. government doesn't invest in tech stocks, so why should it be in the business of investing in speculative cryptocurrencies that might go to zero? Moreover, there are many potential conflicts of interest, as well as opportunities for wrongdoing by government insiders.

Additionally, there are no clear criteria for which cryptos to include or why. With the possible exception of Ethereum, there is nothing particularly "strategic" about any altcoin held by the U.S. government (and certainly not a metaverse coin like The Sandbox).

Potential impact on crypto market

At the end of the day, the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile is likely good for crypto, in that it helps to cement U.S. government support for the crypto industry. It will also help the U.S. government figure out what crypto assets it actually owns and then provide a way to transfer them to what crypto czar David Sacks calls "a Digital Fort Knox" for safekeeping.

But if you're expecting insane portfolio gains from little-known cryptos suddenly going parabolic, you might need to reset your expectations. For now, the only crypto that might get a boost from being part of this stockpile is Ethereum, and even that's open to debate, given that it's down nearly 30% over the past month.

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In a devastating bit of news, a missing Golden Retriever who had not been seen since January was found dead this week. Remi, a seven-month-old Golden Retriever, was discovered near a shed in someones backyard after he had passed away.

This horrifying discovery was the tragic conclusion of a search for Remi that the West Springfield community in Massachusetts had been carrying out over the past few months.

In spite of the fact that the community has spent months looking for Remi, no one was able to bring him back home. According to the video, whenever Remi was spotted around town, he looked terrified.

Flyers were put up around town, text alerts were sent out, and aerial drones with thermal heat-sensing cameras were employed in the search for Remi. However, if he were hiding under a structure or a tree with a thick blanket of leaves, these drones would not be able to pick up his heat signature.

Related: Retired Belgian Malinois Hailed a Hero in Norway After Locating 2 Missing Dogs Only Days Apart

Eventually, Remi was found by somebodys chicken after the bird hopped a fence and went over to explore some thick brush, which is where Remis body was. When the chickens owner went to retrieve her bird, she discovered the deceased Golden Retriever.

According to the video, Remi had signs of physical trauma that indicated he was hit by a car. It is likely that he was scared afterward and ran as fast as he could to get away, which took him to the brush where he was found.

After making his way through the brush, he ran into the fence and was unable to go any further. Not knowing what to do, he just lay there under the brush until he passed away.

What To Do if a Dog Goes Missing

According to the video, the organization Missing Mutts states that the first few days after a dog goes missing are very critical for the search. They warn that it is not a good idea to do a search party or to run around frantically calling out your dogs name because this can scare them.

They will often believe that they are in trouble and can interpret many people going around and shouting their names as a threat that somebody is after them. In response to this perceived threat, dogs will usually run and hide, making it harder to find them.

Conclusion

What happened to poor Remi is a heartbreaking tragedy. Apparently, when the seven-month-old Golden Retriever got loose, he had a retractable leash on. The noise from the leashs controller as a banged against the ground likely scared Remi, causing him to run faster and hide.

Missing Mutts recommends that people report any sightings that they see of dogs running. It is a good idea to take pictures or videos of these dogs to help identify them.

Additionally, they state that if you accidentally hit a dog, even if it runs off and you have no idea where it went, you should report it because for searches such as these to be successful, everyone in the community needs to pitch in and help.

Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos. Or share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips.
KPRC 2 Click2Houston/YouTube Police on the scene of the fatal shooting of 14-year-old Anaya Zachary on March 21

A 14-year-old girl was shot and killed by a classmate following a dispute on a school bus, according to multiple reports.

Anaya Zachary was shot four times by a 13-year-old boy from her school at a playground outside an apartment complex in Baytown, Texas, at around 4 p.m. local time on Friday, March 21, local news outlets ABC 13 and Fox 26 reported.

Police said, per Fox 26, that Anaya was taken to the hospital and was later pronounced dead. A representative from the Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District further confirmed that a fatal shooting took place after school near the victims residence, per ABC 13.

The Baytown Police Department and the Goose Creek CISD did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for further information on Saturday, March 22.



Sonya Stanford, a woman who told KPRC 2 that she was Anayas godmother, said the shooting occurred after the teen and her classmate  whose identity has not been shared by police due to the fact that he is a minor  got into it on the bus on the way home from school that day.

She claimed that the boy later showed up at the playground where Anaya was hanging out wearing a black mask.

Her and the little boy got into it on the bus, and he got off the bus, he went home, he came back, he went home again. Anaya came in and asked me, Tia, can I go outside?  Stanford told the outlet.

She continued: He went home, put on all black, put on a black mask, and came back and called my babys name and he shot my baby four times.

She was a sweet kid, an honor roll student. Never had no problems. Yes maam, no maam. Thank you, no thank you. This was a sweet baby, Stanford further recalled.

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Stanford also said that while she forgives the boy who shot her goddaughter, she does not understand why he had access to a gun at home. She added that she holds the boys parents partly responsible for the tragedy.



You should have put your weapon up so your 13-year-old son wouldnt have gotten this gun and shot my child. I am very hurt, I am very disappointed, she said.

Stanford told KPRC 2 that Anaya had been living with her at the apartment complex for the past year.

Authorities have not said what charges the teen faces or whether his parents could be charged, though they confirmed he is currently in police custody, per ABC 13.



Read the original article on People
Prime Minister Mark Carney holds a press conference following the First Ministers Meeting at the National War Museum on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

TORONTO (AP)  Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday U.S. President Donald Trump will ultimately respect Canadas sovereignty and be ready for comprehensive trade talks because Americans are going to suffer from Trump's trade war.

Carney said talks with Trump will not happen until we get the respect we deserve as a sovereign nation. By the way, this is not a high bar.

Trump kept up his near-daily attacks on Canada on Friday, repeating that the country should be the 51st state and that the U.S. keeps Canada afloat.

When I say they should be a state, I mean that, the American president said.

Carney met with Canadas provincial leaders at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, where he announced relief packages for workers and businesses hurt by the trade war and announced moves to expedite resource projects.

Carney, sworn in last Friday, still hasnt had a phone call with Trump. Trump mocked Carneys predecessor, Justin Trudeau, by calling him Governor Trudeau, but he has not yet mentioned Carneys name.

The new prime minister said he wants a comprehensive discussion on trade and security with the Americans and not a one-off tariff discussion.

In the end, Americans are going to lose from American trade action and thats one of the reasons I am confident that there will be that discussion with the appropriate amount of respect and the breadth," Carney said. I am ready for it anytime they are ready.

Trump put 25% tariffs on Canadas steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products as well as all of America's trading partners on April 2.

Carney became Prime Minister after winning a Liberal Party leadership race triggered by Trudeaus decision to step down earlier this year. He's expected to trigger the process for early parliamentary elections this Sunday, with a vote expected before April 28.

The governing Liberals appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared a trade war and upended Canadian politics.

The almost daily attacks on Canadas sovereignty have infuriated Canadians, who are canceling trips south of the border and avoiding buying American goods when they can. The surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered Liberal poll numbers.

Carney said the premiers of Canada's provinces had agreed to work on a plan to develop a national trade and energy corridor in an effort to diversify trade.

He said that could mean a oil pipeline from oil-rich Alberta to Eastern Canada. Quebec has previously opposed a pipeline, but Premier Francois Legault now says opinions are changing because of Trump's threats. Carney said Quebec uses about 350,000 barrels of oil daily and 70% of that comes from the U.S.

That is not a good idea for us at all. So there is an opportunity to put a pipeline there but we need social acceptance. We need a partnership with indigenous people as well," Carney said.

He said the federal government would speed up projects by recognizing provincial assessments. Canadian leaders also talked about about moving quickly to eliminate trade barriers between provinces and with the federal government.

Carney also said Ottawa is also going to waive the one-week waiting period to get employment insurance for people whose jobs are cut because of the tariffs, and temporarily allow Canadian businesses to defer income tax and sales tax payments to help boost their liquidity.
Mark Herman, Harris County Constable Precinct 4/Facebook Luther and Angelica Madison

A couple has been arrested in Texas after being accused of shooting the father of their son's teenage girlfriend.

Luther Madison II, 39, allegedly shot the dad of his sons girlfriend with a gun facilitated by his wife Angelica Madison, also 39, during an argument as the parents met to discuss their children dating on March 17, Harris County Constable Mark Herman said in a statement shared on Facebook.

Police responded to an aggravated assault call about two men fighting on the street and shots were fired in the 24400 block of Osprey Point Drive. They arrived to find a male victim with a gunshot wound to the chest."

The victim reported to police that he and his wife had met at the location with the Madisons to ask them for help in keeping [their] son away from their daughter as she is too young to be dating, according to Hermans statement.

Mark Herman, Harris County Constable Precinct 4/Facebook Luther Madison II allegedly shot the father of his son's girlfriend on March 17

Related: Kid, 11, Calls 911 After Parents Stab and Shoot Each Other to Death During Halloween Fight

A fight between the men ensued before Angelica allegedly removed a gun from her pocket and handed it to her husband, who then shot the victim. He then pointed the weapon at the victim's wife and threatened her.

The victim was transported by air to the hospital, Herman confirmed in another Facebook post. His condition is unknown at this time.

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Mark Herman, Harris County Constable Precinct 4/Facebook Angelica and her husband Luther were arrested and charged over the incident

Related: Man Sentenced to Life for Shooting Dead Parents and 2 of Their Friends: 'I Deserve Worse'

The couple were arrested and booked into the Harris County jail, according to Hermans statement. Both were charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Luthers bond was set at $100,000 while Angelicas bond was set at $25,000.

The couple is scheduled back in court on May 20, Law and Crime reported.

PEOPLE has reached out to the Precinct 4 Constable's Office for comment.

Read the original article on People
Eliza Kanner Eliza Kanner and her cousins enjoying ice cream together on vacation.

Eliza Kanner shared a heartwarming video of her dad's planned Zoom call to discuss their upcoming family cruise  and the TikTok went viral.

Eliza's dad has often organized family vacations, though now that many members of the family are adults, he organized the Zoom call to get everyone involved.

Her dad even built a website from scratch to help organize the family vacation, with FAQs and Do's and Don'ts.

When Eliza Kanners dad organized a Zoom call, four months in advance, to go over the details of their upcoming family cruise, she had to share his enthusiasm with the world. In her now-viral TikTok, she labeled him the most wholesome person on earth and highlighted his joy in planning the trip.

This summer, Eliza and her family will be cruising to the Bahamas. Growing up, family cruises were a beloved tradition, and now her dad is making sure they can continue making memories together, despite everyone's varying life stages.

We know and truly appreciate just how lucky we are to still be able to have these experiences and create memories together. The cruisers will be my dad, mom, brother and his girlfriend, my aunt, uncle, cousin, her husband, and their two little ones, Eliza tells PEOPLE exclusively. Im most excited about the quality time  relaxing, exploring and, of course, seeing my dad in his element as our unofficial cruise director!

But what makes her dad so special isnt just his organizational skills but his dedication to bringing people together. As a U.S. Air Force veteran, hes always valued structure and careful planning, which has made him the go-to family vacation planner.

Hes spent countless hours researching this trip, making sure its perfect for everyone, and even built a website from scratch with updates, FAQs, and 'Dos and Donts' (Do: Sign up for Celebrity Cruises' Captain's Club for free perks...like gelato), she explains.

But the best thing about my dad is that he truly cherishes being together and appreciating the small moments. Everyone who knows my dad loves my dad.

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Elizas TikTok resonated with thousands, drawing in viewers who found her fathers enthusiasm infectious.

Right now, with so much heavy news in the world, seeing a dad get this excited about ice cream on a cruise ship feels like a breath of fresh air. Its a reminder to focus on what really matters  family, joy and the small moments that bring us together, Eliza says.

"I texted my dad and told him to read through the thousands of comments, where so many people said what an amazing dad he is. His response: I've been watching. I'm humbled. Someone wants to put it on their good news website! 

Eliza Kanner Eliza's family on a cruise exploring the Eastern Caribbean in April 2004.

According to Elizas dad, the Zoom call was about making things easier for everyone in the family.

Weve done Zoom calls before, but never for vacation planning  this was a first! Theres so much information to go through, and I wanted to make things easier for everyone since theyre all so busy, he explains to PEOPLE. My plan is to have a couple of Zoom calls between now and the cruise so everyone feels prepared and can just focus on enjoying the trip.

Related: Teenager Leaves Parents on Caribbean Island to Get Back to Cruise on Time: 'They Missed the Departure. By a Lot'

As the familys longtime vacation planner, he has always taken pride in making trips memorable.

Sometimes, when the kids were younger, theyd be surprised with where we were going, and other times, we planned trips together. I like to do the research ahead of time and give my family options, but ultimately, I want everyone to be happy and have a say in what we do, he says. It definitely helps now that my adult children appreciate the premium drink package.

With everyones busy schedules, getting a whole group together is no small feat, making this cruise even more meaningful.

Family time means everything. I love when were all together. We used to go on family trips all the time, but as the kids got older, trips started revolving around college schedules, weddings, and big milestones, Elizas dad revealed. I figured it was time to get everyone together again for a fun, relaxing vacation, just like we used to. And, of course, Im excited about the ice cream and gelato.



Read the original article on People
Tina Martinez

In her new Netflix series With Love, Meghan, Meghan Markle welcomes friends into a beautiful California home, where she cooks for them while sharing her favorite recipes and hosting tips. While the Internet has plenty to say  both good and bad  about the cooking and lifestyle show in general, one recipe in particular is stirring up serious debate: Meghans one-pot pasta.

About Meghan Markle's one-pot pasta

Called single-skillet spaghetti, the Duchess of Sussexs dish is different from many traditional pasta recipes. Instead of boiling the pasta separately, she layers all the ingredients into one large skillet, pours boiling water over the top (which she heats in a separate tea kettle, by the way), covers it with a lid and lets it cook. As she tells her close friend, makeup artist Daniel Martin, You put the dry pasta in, you pour the boiling water on top and thats it!

Of course, this method isnt exactly new. Italians have long prepared pasta this way  in a single pan with some liquid and aromatics, similar to risotto. The technique even had its own "viral" moment (pre-TikTok!) back in 2013, when Martha Stewart shared a version inspired by a food editors trip to Puglia, Italy. In the Good Housekeeping Test Kitchen, weve also developed plenty of one-pot recipes with pasta over the years. Cooking pasta in water from the start and tossing with Parmesan often renders a sauce thats thick and velvety, says Chief Food Director Kate Merker. If the final dish seems too liquidy, not to worry  it thickens as the pasta cools.





Pasta e Piselli

Photo credit: Mike Garten

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One-Pot Spaghetti

Photo credit: Mike Garten

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Orecchiette with White Beans and Spinach

Photo credit: mike garten

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Skillet Pepper Pasta

Photo credit: Mike Garten

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Chicken Francese Penne

Photo credit: Good Housekeeping/Mike Garten

GET THE RECIPE

As Meghan explains, this technique allows all the starch to stay in the pan, which gives it this creamy quality without all the cream. A quick culinary science lesson: Pasta is primarily made of starch, and as it cooks in boiling water, some of the starch molecules are released into the hot water. The less water you use, the starchier the water will be.

Anyone whos ever added a splash of pasta water to a sauce knows just how magical that liquid can be. Its starchy, flavorful and essential for creating a silky-smooth sauce. Thats why so many of our pasta recipes recommend reserving a bit of this cooking liquid before draining the noodles  or using tongs to transfer pasta directly from pot to sauce  so you always have some of that liquid gold ready to go.

With this one-pot pasta method, the starchy cooking liquid is built in from the start, which means the final dish should be naturally glossy and luscious. But of course, I had to try Meghan's recipe myself to see if it really lived up to the hype.

Tina Martinez

While you can find other recipes from With Love, Meghan on Netflixs website, the single skillet spaghetti is missing. For that reason, I pressed pause (a few times) and jotted down my own recipe based on what Meghan demonstrated on screen. Check out my version of Meghan's single-skillet spaghetti here.

The results

Meghan doesnt specify ingredient amounts on the show, so I just added an amount of salt and olive oil that felt good. I did, however, measure out the 3 cups of water exactly  Meghan is very specific about that  and while it didnt fully cover the pasta, it worked out just fine.

I did notice that my pasta needed a bit more time to cook than Meghans seemingly did. That might be because her water seemed to hit a rolling boil the moment it hit the skillet, whereas mine took a bit longer to regain heat. (Its worth noting that Meghan does keep the stove on after pouring in the boiling water, so the pasta continues to cook.) If youre trying this recipe at home, dont hesitate to test a strand of spaghetti to see if its perfectly al dente or needs another minute or two to cook.

When I removed the lid and added all the greens, the dish looked a little soupy at first. But the liquid  a gorgeous, rich red  was clearly infused with flavor from the tomatoes. (I definitely recommend using high-quality tomatoes here, by the way, to take the dish to the next level!) The liquid itself was really flavorful and delicious.

As the pasta sat  long enough for me to grate some cheese and snap a few photos  the sauce thickened beautifully, coating the pasta noodles in a tomato-rich glaze youll want to scoop up with a spoon. All in all, I can't say anything negative about this dish. The recipe worked exactly as promised. It was simple, flavorful and easy to follow  and honestly, it tasted great.

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Steve Granitz/FilmMagic ; Vivian Jenna Wilson/ Instagram Elon Musk arrives at the 10th Annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony on April 13, 2024 in Los Angeles, California ; Vivian Jenna Wilson smiles in a photo in November 2024.

Elon Musk's estranged daughter Vivian Wilson hasn't shied away from expressing her disdain for her father.

I don't give a f--- about him, she told Teen Vogue in March 2025. I really don't. It's annoying that people associate me with him. I just don't have any room to care anymore.

The self-dubbed Queen of Threads was born on April 15, 2004, to Elon and his then-wife, Canadian author Justine Musk, along with her twin brother, Griffin. Their birth followed the death of the then-couples first child, Nevada Alexander, who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) at 10 weeks old in 2002.

Related: Elon Musk's 14 Children: All About the Tesla CEO's Sons and Daughters (and the 4 Women He Shares Them With)

Vivian also has three brothers, triplets Kai, Saxon and Damian, in addition to half-siblings from Elons other relationships. She joked with Teen Vogue that her fun fact is that she doesnt actually know how many siblings she has. The Tesla CEO has 14 kids with four women.

Vivian has been estranged from her father since 2020. After she turned 18, she petitioned to legally change her name because she no longer wished to be related to [her] biological father in any way, shape or form.

Heres everything to know about Elon Musks daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson.

She was born in Los Angeles

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty; Elon Musk and Justine Musk

Vivian and her twin brother, Griffin, were born on April 15, 2004, to Elon and Justine. The former couple raised Vivian in Los Angeles, where she noticed the large gap between her familys extravagant wealth and the citys large population of people without housing.

You start to wonder, How is this fair? she told Teen Vogue in March 2025. You have to inevitably come to the conclusion it's not. There is no world in which people should be owning multiple private planes, private islands, private whatever, while other people are sleeping on the street.

She came out as transgender in 2020

Vivian Jenna Wilson/ Instagram Elon Musk's daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson poses for a photo in November 2024.

Vivian told Teen Vogue that she came out in 2020 by making a post on her Instagram Stories. She said she regrets not telling her mom first but said that Justine had been very supportive of her transition  and even inspired her name.

She is a published writer of supernatural romance fiction, which is where I get all my Vivian-isms, of being cringe and chronically online, Vivian told the outlet. When I came out to her ... she pretended to be slightly surprised for 30 seconds and then was like, Yeah, honey. Okay. 

Elon has publicly criticized her

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Elon Musk arrives for US President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress in Washington, DC, on March 4, 2025.

Elon has not been as supportive of Vivians transition as Justine. In a 2024 interview with Jordan Peterson, he claimed that he was tricked into allowing her to undergo gender-affirming care when she was 16.

Vivian refuted her fathers claims in a series of posts on Threads and told NBC News that he was aware of the full side effects of the treatment she was getting.

On Threads, she wrote that he completely made up any accounts of how she acted as a child because he quite simply wasnt there.

She said she hasnt talked to her dad since 2020

Vivian Jenna Wilson/ Instagram Vivian Jenna Wilson in November 2024.

Vivian told Teen Vogue that she hasnt talked to  and has been financially independent from  her father since she came out in 2020.

After Elon's comments in the 2024 Peterson interview and how she was portrayed in Walter Isaacsons 2023 biography of the CEO, she said that standing up for herself online was the most cathartic moment" of her entire life.

I had all this pent-up energy, I had wanted to speak out for so long after being [essentially] defamed in a book, after being doxxed, Vivian said. Everything that had gone on  especially in my childhood  when that finally happened, it was the most cathartic experience I have ever had. And then I was like, Okay, whatever.

She wants to become a translator

Vivian Jenna Wilson/ Instagram Vivian Jenna Wilson in February 2025.

Vivian left the United States and moved abroad to study French, Spanish and Japanese languages in hopes of becoming a translator. As of 2025, shes residing in Tokyo.

She told Teen Vogue that her newfound online presence has her questioning other career paths like modeling, Twitch streaming or her absolute dream job of being on a reality show.

I haven't made any money from being famous at all. I have made zero dollars and zero cents. I do live in a lot of people's heads rent-free, though, Vivian said. It is my absolute dream to be on a reality show, which I know is absolutely pathetic. As an overdramatic little queer, reality shows are something I adore beyond belief.



Read the original article on People
Falls Township Police/Facebook Falls Township Police vehicle

A fire chief in Pennsylvania has been arrested and "suspended indefinitely" after admitting to dropping his 3-month-old baby, leading to her skull being fractured.

Falls Township Fire Chief Brian Salt has been accused of endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated assault after authorities said he admitted to having "intentionally" let his child fall to the ground on March 11.

The Falls Township Police Department (TFPD) initially responded to a report of an infant who suffered a skull fracture and later arrived at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on March 12, Detective Dennis O'Connell said in a complaint shared with PEOPLE.

While there, O'Connell spoke with the attending physician after the child  identified in the complaint as A.S.  "suffered [a] fractured skull which was caused by substantial force." The baby had blood in her eye and bruising on her right leg, according to the complaint.

Falls Township police Brian Salt

Related: New Parents Drive from Florida to Maryland to Leave 5-Month-Old Baby on Grandparents' Doorstep (Exclusive)

While speaking with the detective, Salt, 36, and his wife Rebecca initially said the child was left in Salt's care on March 11 around 7:30 a.m. local time when his wife went to work.

But after he "could not console her from crying," Salt claimed he took his daughter to his in-laws, where he "noticed" an "unexplained bump" on the back of her head. He said neither he nor the baby's mother could "articulate how the injury occurred," according to the complaint.

Over a week later, on March 20, the fire chief admitted to police that his child "immediately became fussy and inconsolable" after waking up from a nap in his care on March 11 and was crying on her swing. He said he then "pulled her from the swing" and "lost" her  later clarifying that he "intentionally let her fall to the ground striking her head," according to the complaint.

Salt then said, per the complaint, that he "lost control over her uncontrolled crying" and brought his infant to his in-laws, where he acted as if he had just discovered the injury.

"In his own words, he just kind of lost control. Lost his cool. And in the process of actually picking her up from a swing, he took her out of the swing and then threw her to the ground," O'Connell said, per ABC affiliate WPVI.

Salt was arrested following his interview with O'Connell. According to the TFPD, he has since been preliminarily arraigned and remains in custody on 10% of $500,000 bail. WPVI reported that the infant has since been released from the hospital.



It is not immediately clear if Salt has obtained legal representation that could comment on his behalf.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Salt worked at the Northampton Township Fire as a firefighter and EMT, O'Connell told NBC 10 Philadelphia.

"With his knowledge and training with the fire department, working also as a medic, he should clearly know how to deal with any kind of stressful situation, especially something of this nature when its involving your own child," the detective said.

"These are tough cases. Obviously, this is a three-month-old, which is the smallest of children youre probably going to deal with. Its hard for the family and its hard for us and we have to speak on their behalf," he added.

The Falls Township Fire Company announced on Facebook on March 21 that it was aware of Salt's arrest and he had since been "suspended indefinitely pending the outcome of the legal proceedings."

"During this challenging time, our thoughts and prayers are with the Salt family," the fire company wrote in its statement.

"We understand the impact this situation has on our community, and we are committed to ensuring transparency as we move forward. The safety and well-being of our community remain our top priority, and we will continue to support our firefighters and their families through this challenging time," they continued.



Read the original article on People
Alan Wooten | The Center Square

(The Center Square)  With gas tax revenues on the decline as more and more vehicles require less gas, Illinois state Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, is proposing tweaks that would essentially replace the current gas tax structure with a tax by mile system.

Engineers Local 150 Executive Director Marc Poulos sees road usage charge legislation as a logical solution.

The federal government and the state government have motor fuel taxes in place in order to fund highway and bridge construction both in Illinois and in this country and because the federal government continues to pass legislation that increases MPG on vehicles, you have vehicles that pay no motor fuel tax, Poulos told The Center Square. In addition to that, you have other forms of power for vehicles, mainly electric vehicles. The fairest and most equitable system is a road usage charge and the reason why is because regardless of how you power a vehicle, the road usage charge will charge every vehicle owner by every mile that they actually drive.

As many as 1,000 motorists would be tabbed to take part in the pilot program under Villivalams legislation, with all of them required to report their vehicles fuel efficiency and mileage to the Illinois Department of Transportation. Drivers who pay more in the gas tax than they would have in mileage would be granted a refund as other elements of the program are still being tested.

As it is, Illinois motorists now pay the second-highest motor fuel tax in the country at 66 cents per gallon.

People that understand what the road usage charge is, they like it, Poulos adds. People that do not understand what it is, don't like it.

While Illinois would be just one of several states weighing such legislation, not every lawmaker in Springfield is on board with it.

Its just another tax, another attack on the middle class, which is already struggling to buy health insurance, struggling to pay their bills, including the accelerated price of electricity because of the green energy scam, state Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, told The Center Square. All the things that the Democrats are doing is attacking the middle class, making it harder for working families and I think it's going to continue the exodus out of the state because people are just taxed to death.
There are so many reasons to love dogs, from their one-of-a-kind welcome home greetings to their unwavering love and loyalty. They make our days brighter without even trying! Whether they're being cute and cuddly or making you laugh with their shenanigans, spending the day with your pup never gets old!

Work-from-home dog dad Rory McGrath knows exactly what that's like, especially after he found his Golden Retriever, Bailey, in a random predicament in the middle of the day. When the Northern Ireland resident went to check on his dog between work calls, he never expected to find him stuck in a table! Rory couldn't help but laugh and grab his phone to commemorate the moment, but the adorable Golden simply sat there and accepted his fate. His reaction is totally priceless!

Bailey's innocent mistake has taken the Internet by storm, with even large news outlets sharing this smile-inducing scene. Take a look!

Aww, poor boy! Bailey looks so sad to be stuck in his predicament, but something about his stoicism makes it seem like he's accepted his fate, too. He's such a patient boy!

Related: Giant English Mastiff Getting 'Stuck' Around the House is the Definition of 'Big Dog Problems'

"I wonder how long he just sat with his thoughts?" asked @hitmeupohio. LOL! It was probably a matter of minutes since Rory last checked on his four-legged friend, but to Bailey, his imprisonment in the table felt like millennia. Anyone who's ever had to wait in line without their phone has felt similarly, so it's safe to say that we can empathize with the unlucky pup.

At the same time, it's easy to see why this dog dad was laughing! Bailey's stern facial expression and refusal to move are silly enough, but no one ever expects to find their dog actually wearing a piece of furniture. I'd be laughing out loud, too!

Dogs Understand Emotions & Feel Their Own

Somehow, my dogs can always tell when we're laughing at them, and they couldn't possibly hate it more. Our Siberian Husky mix yells and howls in our faces when he feels embarrassed, while our rescue Poodle mix starts barking and nipping at our hands. However, neither of these pups' facial expressions even come close to my family's senior rescue Cockapoo's. This dog is a master of the stink eye, and he knows exactly when to use it.

Despite being a dog mom for over a decade, I'm still blown away when I see how in tune dogs are with their humans' emotions. Normally, our Husky doesn't cuddle, but he's always the first to slap his giant paws in my lap when he sees me cry.

I believe Bailey would react similarly, but so far, his rise to TikTok fame has only produced this one viral clip. He has accumulated millions of views from a single unforgettable mishap, and I have a feeling his dad will never let him forget it.

Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos.

Or, share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips.
Beloved Phoenix yoga teacher Marcus Freiberger, 45, went to meet a blind date om Feb. 21  and hasn't been seen since, leaving his dad, friends and students desperate for answers.

A handsome and heavily loved Arizona yoga teacher has been missing for nearly a month after going to meet up with a blind date, according to concerned family and friends.



Marcus Freiberger, 45, set out for a would-be romantic meetup in Phoenix on Feb. 21  but hasnt been seen since, leaving his dad, friends and yoga students desperate for answers, Fox 10 Phoenix reported.

Freibergers dad  who described his son as handsome, young, ambitious, heavily loved and liked by friends  isnt sure if his son did meet anyone that night, but he suspects foul play particularly because the younger Freibergers beloved 2-year-old dog, Thomas, had been left alone for several days after he vanished.



Theres no reason for him to disappear  Even if he did decide to go somewhere, he wouldve at least called his friend to take Thomas. That makes me really think theres something more going on here, foul play of some sort, Dutch Freiberger told 12 News Thursday.

Marcus Freiberger, 45, never would have left his. beloved dog, Thomas, behind, his concerned dad told local media. FOX 10

Marcus Freiberger was popular among his friends and yoga students before his disappearance. FOX 10

A missing poster for popular yoga teacher Marcus Freiberger. FOX 10

Marcus Freiberger had drug and money problems before he vanished, his father said. FOX 10

Freiberger had recently found a gig at a local yoga studio and became an instant hit among its clientele, Dutch told the outlet.



He said Freiberger had been between apartments when he vanished, and that he had previously struggled with drugs and money issues.



Yet the worried dad said his son had been on the right track, had plenty of friends and had no apparent reason to willingly go off-grid.



Typically, Marcus would call his mom  He loves to FaceTime, and hed call her a couple or three days apart. Then all of a sudden the calls stopped coming in, Dutch Freiberger told 12 News.
It was around 4 a.m. when University of Idaho student Dylan Mortensen said she was woken up by strange noises in her off-campus house.

She and her roommates had returned earlier from a typical Saturday night out in the college town when the sounds spurred a night of terror with a flurry of panicked texts and unanswered calls.

Three of Mortensens roommates and a boyfriend of one of the students would be found dead inside the house the next morning on November 13, 2022  stabbed to death with no signs of a break-in.

DNA from the brutal slayings ultimately led to the arrest of 30-year-old criminology graduate student Bryan Kohberger. A not guilty plea has been entered on his behalf for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.

Mortensen and another roommate, Bethany Funke, are the only two from inside the three-story Moscow, Idaho, house to survive.

Now, as Kohbergers trial nears over two years later, the personal accounts and phone activity from the two surviving roommates provide more insight into what they say happened in the early morning hours of the murders as the defense attempts to discredit their testimony and call into question why they waited eight hours to call 911.

Court documents paint a picture of a night filled with odd sounds, unknown voices, panicked texts, unanswered calls and a shadowy figure in the hallway  all in the setting of a college town that hadnt experienced a murder since 2015.

Not much is known about Mortensen and Funke, whose phone activity and personal accounts were revealed in court documents in the last several weeks. A wide-ranging gag order in the case prevents them from speaking publicly about their experience.

While the defense tries to show through their filings the two surviving roommates spent an inordinate amount of time on their phones before calling 911  an attempt to call into question their timeline of events  a psychological expert says a multitude of factors couldve played into this delay.

When we are faced with trauma or fear, we all have different response systems, and theres no one right response system, said Elizabeth Cauffman, a psychological science professor at the University of California, Irvine.

While a complete picture of that morning has yet to form, the surviving roommates accounts and documentation shed light on what the housemates endured in a case shrouded with mystery and speculation.

Heres how the night of the murders unfolded, according to court documents:

Roommates return home after a Saturday night out

After a busy Saturday night out, the roommates returned to the three-story, six-bedroom Moscow house in the early hours of November 13, 2022.

Kernodle and her boyfriend had been at a party at a frat house. Mogen and Goncalves were at a local bar then stopped at a food truck for late-night carbonara before making their way back home.

The roommates began arriving back home and heading to their rooms in the early morning hours, with Kernodle briefly leaving her room to grab a DoorDash order around 4 a.m., Mortensen and Funke told police, according to court documents.

The third floor housed Goncalves and her dog in one room and Mogen in another. Kernodle and Chapin were on the second floor, where Mortensen also had a bedroom, according to the affidavit.

Funke was the lone occupant of the first floor, where the front door was.

The off-campus house where four University of Idaho students were found murdered on November 13, 2022, before it was demolished. - Ted S. Warren/AP/File

Roommate on second floor says she heard crying

Around 4 a.m., Mortensen, who shared the second floor with Kernodle, woke up to noises upstairs, telling police she thought Goncalves was playing with her dog on the third floor.

Shortly after, Mortensen said she thought she heard Goncalves say something to the effect of theres someone here, the affidavit says. She looked out her bedroom door but didnt see anything.

Then she heard crying coming from the direction of Kernodles room and looked outside once more, she told investigators.

From above, she heard a male voice that wasnt Chapins say something like Its ok, Im going to help you, according to court documents. Its not clear where the males voice came from.

Mortensen heard crying again and opened the door, this time seeing a figure clad in black clothing with a mask covering their mouth and nose walking toward her, the affidavit said.

She froze, Mortensen said, and the person walked past her and to a sliding back glass door, according to the affidavit. She then locked herself in her room.

She didnt recognize the man. Mortensen later described him in grand jury testimony as being around her height or a few inches taller, having a lean build and wearing all black, according to court documents. She also noted in the same testimony she saw one bushy eyebrow. She told police during several interviews after the murders her memory was a bit blurry since she had just woken up and may still have been drunk, according to the documents.

Around 4:17 a.m., a security camera less than 50 feet from Kernodles bedroom wall picked up distorted audio of what sounded like voices, or a whimper followed by a loud thud, according to the affidavit. A dog can also be heard barking.

No one is answering  Im freaking out

At 4:20 a.m., Mortensen started frantically calling her roommates  Kernodle, Goncalves, a brief 41-second call with Funke, then Kernodle again. She called Mogen again before texting Funke saying, No one is answering.

Funke had also tried calling Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin during that time.

Kaylee, Mortensen texted Goncalves. Whats going on

The text message remained unanswered. Investigators believe the four roommates were killed sometime between 4 a.m. and 4:25 a.m.

Ya dude wtf, Funke replied, with Mortensen describing someone in like ski mask almost.

Mortensen and Funke, identified by their initials in the court documents, continued texting back and forth about the man in the hall, typos growing more frequent as their panic rose.

BF to DM: Stfu

DM to BF: Like he had [something] over is for head and little nd mouth

DM to BF: Im not kidding [I] am so freaked out

BF to DM: So am I

Mortensen indicated her phone was about to die, and Funke texted Come to my room, which was below on the first floor. Run, she said.

DM to BF: Im scRwd tho

BF to DM: Ya IK but its better than being alone.

The defense says in court filings Mortensen ultimately went to Funkes room.

Mortensen and Funke launch another round of calls to their roommates at 4:27 a.m. without answer. Pls answer, Mortensen texted Goncalves at 4:32 a.m.

Records indicate Funke accessed Snapchat at 4:34 a.m. and Instagram at 4:37 a.m. before all phone communications from the two roommates stopped for about three hours.

Prosecutors have indicated they plan to use the testimony of the two surviving roommates and want to use their text messages to illustrate the timeline of the night.

But defense attorney Anne Taylor has pointed out that while the roommates claim they were panicked and worried about the other roommates, they didnt attempt to get help.

Roommates were active on phones, social media before calling 911

Prosecution filings previously asserted Mortensen and Funke woke up around 10:23 a.m. to discover their messages from their roommates were unanswered. But the transcript shared by the defense shows phone activity more than two hours before they started reaching out to their unresponsive roommates and more than four hours before calling 911.

Several hours after the panicked text exchange, records show Funkes phone activity started again with a phone call to her dad at 7:30 a.m. Both she and Mortensen used their phones that morning, with Funke calling her parents and Mortensen accessing several social media apps. It is unclear from the records what exactly she was doing on the apps.

During that time, Funke had a phone call with her dad and took photos, while Mortensen was on Instagram for over two hours, court documents show. She also spent time messaging on Snapchat and on Indeed.

At 10:23 a.m., Mortensen begins reaching out to her roommates again.

Pls answer, she texts Goncalves. R u up, she asks Mogen.

R u up?? she texts Goncalves again.

The two roommates continued using their phones for the next hour, including messages and calls to people only named through initials, until Funke called 911 at 11:56 a.m. to report Kernodle unconscious at the residence, records show. Two other friends could be heard with them on the call.

Heavy breathing and crying can be heard in audio of the 911 call as the surviving roommates pass the phone between them and what sounds like two other people, answering the dispatcher in fragmented responses.

Something has happened in our house, we dont know what, one of the roommates says.

On the call they reported 20-year-old Kernodle unconscious, telling the dispatcher she had come home drunk the night before. Shes not waking up, one of them says.

Police arrived to find Kernodle and Chapin dead on the floor of the second floor. Upstairs, Goncalves and Mogen were dead in one of the beds with visible stab wounds.

A tan leather knife sheath was on the bed next to Mogen. Male DNA was later found on the button snap of the knife sheath and Kohberger was found to be a statistical match to the sample, according to court documents.

Prosecutors plan to use testimony from surviving roommates

As Kohbergers trial looms, expected to begin in August, filings show the defense team intends to zero in on the discrepancies in the timeline and why the roommates waited eight hours to call 911.

Neither of them left the house, a filing from Taylor submitted this week said. Neither of them called friends, family or law enforcement for help. Instead, both have a substantial amount of activity beginning in earnest less than 4 hours after DM made her way to BFs room. BF and DM communicate with friends and parents and DM is on social media.

Kohbergers defense team appears to be taking great pains to keep out Mortensens testimony  especially because she identified the person in the house that night as having bushy eyebrows, attorney Misty Marris told CNNs News Central.

Essentially the defense is trying to diminish some of the credibility of potential witness testimony of those roommates and also trying to question the timeline of when these murders could have taken place, Marris said.

Bryan Kohberger, accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students, in court in Latah County. - Ted S. Warren/AP/File

But the roommates delay in calling 911 is not entirely surprising as there are many factors that go into responding to a stressful situation like this, Cauffman, the UC Irvine professor, said.

The amygdala, a part of the brain which acts as its alarm system, triggers the fight, flight or freeze response, Cauffman said. The prefrontal cortex, which helps with decision-making, isnt fully developed until around age 25, and can be overwhelmed by the amygdala in a decision-making process like this, she added, which is especially relevant in this case as they were all young college students.

If youre in a dangerous situation, and your amygdala is flooding your emotional response system, thats going to overwhelm your prefrontal cortex. So just from the brain response system, we know 18- to 25-year-olds would respond differently, according to Cauffman.

In addition, a psychological phenomenon known as cognitive dissonance, which helps the brain rationalize a situation to the least threatening explanation, combined with the way women are socialized to downplay fear, could lead to delayed reaction to the situation, she said.

Women are typically just socialized to downplay fear, Cauffman said. Theyre often seen as overly dramatic or reactive. And so, if they were discussing the situation together, they might have reinforced each others doubts instead of escalating to call 911.

But she emphasized there is no way to know exactly what was happening to the two roommates at the time, and there are many reasons why they couldve reacted that way to the situation.

It could be because of our amygdala response. It could be to socialization of women. It could be to our cognitive processing, from cognitive dissonance, she said.

This can be explained in so many different ways, its hard to just even pick one.

CNNs Jean Casarez, Lauren del Valle and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
He stated his stance.

Podcaster Joe Rogan is against Canada becoming the 51st member of the United States  but hes not ruling out bringing Greenland into the fold.

I just want America and Canada to get along. I think its ridiculous, The Joe Rogan Experience host told comedian Mark Kosta on his March 14 episode of the ongoing trade war between the neighboring countries.

President Trump  whom Rogan, 57, has staunchly supported and had on as a guest before the 2024 election  has frequently floated the idea of adding Canada as the 51st state, even before hitting the country with 25% tariffs.

I dont really think they should be our 51st state. There. I said it, Rogan confessed with a laugh.

I just want America and Canada to get along. I think its ridiculous, Rogan said on his March 14 episode. TheJoeRoganPodcast

We have to become friends with Canada again. This is so ridiculous, the worlds most popular podcaster said, adding, This is the dumbest fking feud.

The UFC host added he thought it would be fun if Canada became the 51st star on Old Glory  though another piece of land, high on longitudinal lines, does tickle his fancy.

I think Greenland is more accessible. Could probably buy that. If we want a 51st state, its Greenland, Rogan told Kosta.

Plus, if global warming is real, because of all the digging and oil and all that st, you know, would be good to have a cold spot to eventually warm up, he joked.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire for Canada to join the union. Getty Images

Kosta and Rogan added that the natural resources of Greenland, namely rare earth minerals, add to its desirability.

Despite endorsing Canadian independence, Rogan had some critiques for the leaf-lovers.

Canadas just on another level with their wokeness, he said, then, addressing the camera directly, Come back to us, Canada. Come back to us.

Rogan also poked fun at Americans who complained about the United States subsidizing Canada.

Trump has repeatedly made strong-arm overtures of unification based on Canadian dependence on the United States for trade and military protection.

The United States is set to implement more crushing tariffs on Canada and Mexico on April 2. Oleksii  stock.adobe.com

Canada is a Tariff abuser, and always has been, but the United States is not going to be subsidizing Canada any longer, Trump wrote on Truth Social during the public dispute with Canadian politicians earlier this month.

We dont need your Cars, we dont need your Lumber, we dont your Energy, and very soon, you will find that out, Trump threatened in the post.

Whopping tariffs on Canada and Mexico are expected to go into effect on April 2.
More help for China's Down syndrome population to work outside home

Xinhua) 12:34, March 22, 2025

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- In the first week after opening his car wash in Nantong, east China's Jiangsu Province in late 2023, Ji Hui regretted the decision to start a business that employs people with Down syndrome.

"I felt like I had opened an outlet just for myself," said Ji, a former professional weightlifter, who is in his 20s. He ended up cleaning cars all by himself for a whole week.

The idea to open a car wash for people with intellectual disabilities resulted from an unplanned visit to a special education school in Nantong with a friend. It was during this visit that Ji met a group of students with Down syndrome.

He learned that the students had received some kind of car washing training at school, but the chance for them to secure regular employment would be very slim due to the syndrome.

"So I figured it would be good to open a small outlet to give these students something to do," Ji recalled.

Ji, who has a stable income thanks to his other initiatives, thus opted to open a car wash, which he named Xibao'er.

After the difficult first week of operation, Ji decided to use his own car as a tool to teach the employees how to work effectively, guiding them step by step and multiple times a day.

At the start of operations, some employees did not even know how to hold a towel. "Now they each have their own tasks and responsibilities, and everyone is doing an excellent job," Ji said, highlighting the significant progress made by his staff.

Just over a year later, Ji had the confidence to open a second Xibao'er car wash outlet -- with his total number of employees increasing from single digits to more than 10.

Ji said that by working very closely with his employees, he had truly come to understand people with special needs, while witnessing with his own eyes how they had improved little by little. "It's not that they can never learn -- on the contrary, they can learn to do things well," he explained.

Friday marks the World Down Syndrome Day. According to the United Nations, the estimated incidence of Down syndrome ranges from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 1,100 live births worldwide. An official report released in 2012 estimated that 23,000 to 25,000 children were born with Down syndrome in China every year.

In recent years, more attention has been paid to the improvement of the employment prospects and social adaptation of people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities in China, whose employment rate in the country could be less than 5 percent, as suggested by some statistics.

Notably, in China's five-year plan for enhancing the well-being of people with disabilities released in 2021, the government emphasized the need to create more opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities to work near their homes, receive vocational rehabilitation and achieve social integration.

Experts, meanwhile, have called for more coordinated efforts between the government, social organizations, enterprises and individuals who are willing to help, in providing stable job opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities.

According to Liao Juan, an associate professor at the School of Management of the Beijing-based Capital Normal University, money spent on training and other support costs can lead to successful employment, thus resulting in long-term benefits for people with intellectual disabilities.

She noted that regular employment can enhance the social participation of individuals with intellectual disabilities, help them break free from isolation, reduce the amount of time needed for daily caregiving by their family members, and even lower broader social costs that are shared by society.

While many people with intellectual disabilities in China have engaged in handicraft production as their form of employment, more individuals and social organizations, just like Ji, have turned to the service sector to create increased opportunities for such people -- enabling them to work outside their homes and giving them more chances to interact with others.

Located in Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xiaobo Yaohong is a Chinese dumpling restaurant that employs individuals with Down syndrome, and has been operated by 55-year-old Hong Bo since 2023.

Hong, who has worked in the food industry for years, opened the restaurant partly due to his previous experience of eight months of blindness caused by diabetes.

To train individuals with Down syndrome to become qualified employees, Hong personally designed training programs and compiled instructional materials -- ranging from how to greet customers, to how to cook dumplings.

Having started with a first batch of just six employees, Xiaobo Yaohong Dumpling House has now grown to several franchised outlets and has provided training to around 80 individuals with Down syndrome. Moreover, many volunteers, including university professors and psychological experts, have also joined this effort -- working together to improve training and employment programs.

Bai Ye, honorary chairperson of the association for people with intellectual disabilities and their families of Inner Mongolia, believes that working outside the home is part of the lifelong rehabilitation needed for people with intellectual disabilities.

Bai, whose son was born with Down syndrome, said some individuals with intellectual disabilities are actually reluctant to stay at home after graduating from special schools. Staying at home in the long term could lead to deterioration of their intellectual and overall abilities.

"For them, working is also a process of rehabilitation," she said.

Ji Hui echoed the significant impact of working outside the home on his employees. He said the most noticeable transformation was witnessed in an employee nicknamed Chubby.

According to this employee's mother, she and Chubby had exchanged very few words over the 20 years before he started working at the car wash -- as he was afraid to talk to others and could not even make eye contact.

However, the car wash job created opportunities for Chubby to meet and communicate with strangers, resulting in him becoming more lively.

Chubby's mom even spotted him wearing headphones and dancing in his room at night on several occasions -- scenes she had never witnessed in more than two decades.

Now, having gained an increased understanding of people with Down syndrome via interactions with his employees, Ji hopes that he can do even more to help such people.

"If there's a chance, I'd love to open Xibao'er flower shops, where girls can do floral arrangements, and maybe even open a few dry cleaners, as these are all ways to address the employment challenges faced by people with special needs," he said.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
We dont know how its possible, but one of the sweetest dogs weve ever seen has yet to get his forever home. Eggroll has a cute name and an even cuter personality. Hes a good boy! But sadly hes been languishing at the Humane Society Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado for too long. The shelter wants to find Eggroll his forever home  can we help them get this sweet pup a family?

The Pit Bull Terrier looks precious in the video shared by the Humane Society, but like so many dogs in shelters and rescues hes been seriously overlooked.

As the Humane Society explained in their caption, the Pit Bull was first brought to them after being found by police.

When our Animal Law Enforcement officers found him, he was heartbreakingly thin, but thanks to our amazing veterinary team, hes growing stronger each day and is ready to find someone to love! they explained.

Related: Playful Shelter Pit Bull Who Jumped Out of a Moving Truck Keeps Getting Overlooked and Everyone's Heartbroken

At 2 years old, Eggroll is their "longest-stay" resident, which means hes been there too long for comfort. Wont someone bring him home?

The comments section wanted this for the Pittie. Oh, Eggroll!!! Hugs and kisses. I hope you find a home soon, wrote one person. Your FURever family is out there Eggroll, I know it! chimed in someone else. Boosting for you, Eggroll!!!! a third commenter exclaimed.

Adopt Eggroll From Humane Society Pikes Peak

If youve been considering adopting a dog, dont wait! Every day that goes by is an eternity for a dog like Eggroll. So make sure you come and rescue this good boy today.

Some facts about the Pittie; the dog is definitely an active little guy and hes smart too! According to the shelter, Eggroll thrives in an active and mature home where he can run, play, and learn new tricksespecially if treats are involved, they wrote. Hes a smart boy wholl shine in training classes. He can be protective of his food and/or toys so it's recommended he work with a qualified trainer.

The Pit Bull Terrier is totally goofy, they explain in the TikTok video, but can sometimes get a little carried away. That being said, he needs a patient human who can work with him to curb some of those urges. Hes still young!

Were sure the right human is out there for Eggroll. If that person is you head over to the Humane Society Pikes Peak website and fill out an application. Not only will you be giving the Pittie a home  you might be saving his life!



Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos. Or, share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips.
SAN JOSE (Reuters) -The official YouTube account of Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves came back under government control late on Friday after the platform suffered an hours-long cyber attack earlier in the day.

According to a presidential statement, experts from the president's office, the science and technology ministry as well as Google, worked to resolve the hack.

No details were provided on who or what entity was behind the cyber attack, or if any sensitive information had been breached.

Earlier on Friday, the YouTube presidential profile showed a logo with the word "Strategy" followed by a bitcoin symbol.

The most recent videos uploaded to the profile had contained information related to the cryptocurrency, which the presidential office assured had not come from them.

(Reporting by Alvaro Murillo; Writing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Kylie Madry and Brendan O'Boyle)
The Jopwell Collection | Unsplash

(The Center Square)  The University of WisconsinMadison is assessing federal activity along with other schools across the nation that are responding to President Donald Trumps executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion.

The University of WisconsinMadison continues to assess the implications of recent activity on the federal level and respond across multiple levels, according to a school message.

As these federal orders, actions, and directives continue to roll out, some of them create deep concern for and potential conflict with the the University of WisconsinMadisons long-held values such as diversity of identity and viewpoint, the message stated, while also affirming its continued dedication to such values.

In its message, the University of WisconsinMadison also told of its response to the Department of Educations Dear Colleague letter. The departments letter stated that race-based decisions in education are unlawful and schools that dont comply with the directives may face loss of federal funding.

The University of WisconsinMadisons message said: We have charged a workgroup to assess our existing operations and make recommendations about what potential adjustments, modifications and changes may be needed in response to the Dear Colleague letter.

When reached for comment, the University of WisconsinMadison directed The Center Square to its message.

Schools across the nation have been responding both to the Dear Colleague letter and Trumps Jan. 20 executive order entitled Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing, along with other orders.

Trumps order calls for the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.

University of Kentucky spokeswoman Whitney Siddiqi told The Center Square that the school continues to carefully review all executive actions and guidance issued.

Given the changes that President Capilouto made in response to Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard  and his subsequent decisions last August on policies and practices that have reinforced and strengthened our focus on being a place that supports many people, one community  the universitys initial assessment is that it already complies, Siddiqi said.

In August 2024, UKs President Eli Capilouto announced that the schools Office for Institutional Diversity would be disbanded.

Additionally, Capilouto said that diversity training would not be mandated, diversity statements would not be required in hiring or application processes, and that websites will be free of political positions.

The University of Kentucky still offers a Diversity and Inclusion Graduate Certificate, however.

More recently, Ohio State University and the University of Virginia announced the closing of their respective diversity and inclusion offices, The Center Square reported.

The University of Cincinnati, the University of Arizona, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Michigan, the University of Washington, the University of California, Pennsylvanias State System of Higher Education, Brown University, and Cornell are all evaluating, reviewing, or monitoring the executive order, The Center Square previously reported.

The University of Washington Medicine spokeswoman Susan Gregg told The Center Square that the schools previous comment stating it is continuing with its normal operations w hich would presumably involve DEI  remains the same.

Michigan State University also told The Center Square there is nothing new to share concerning its previous comment that it feels confident [it is] continuing to operate within federal and state laws as it regards its manner of educating and hiring.

Columbia previously referred The Center Square to a University statements page for latest updates and public statements on ongoing issues, when reached for comment.

The page does not mention Trumps January 20 DEI executive order, however Columbia recently removed DEI language from parts of its website and took down some DEI-related web pages, The Center Square reported

Case Western Reserve, UC Irvine School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, and NYU each previously told The Center Square they had no comment regarding their respective responses to the order, with UC Irvine SOM saying it may have more information as we learn more. None of the schools provided updates to their responses when requested.

The following schools have not yet provided comment after repeated requests concerning each of their responses to the executive order:

HarvardStanfordDukeYalePennNorthwestern UniversityThe University of ChicagoBoston UniversityEmory UniversityMayo Clinic School of MedicineUC San DiegoIndiana UniversityThe University of PittsburghCommunity College of Allegheny CountyUniversity of FloridaFlorida State UniversityEast Carolina UniversityUniversity of CincinnatiLouisiana State UniversityUniversity of MississippiUniversity of Minnesota
By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) -For two of the most powerful men in the United States, Donald Trump and John Roberts, it has been a delicate dance from the start.

In 2015, the man who would become the chief executive of the United States assailed the integrity of its chief justice, calling Roberts "disgraceful" and "disappointing" - and, later, an "absolute disaster" - for earlier upholding the Affordable Care Act, the Obamacare law that Trump subsequently sought to repeal.

A little more than a year later on the U.S. Capitol steps, Roberts, an enigmatic conservative Supreme Court justice from the American Midwest, swore in Trump, a brash businessman-turned-politician from New York City, as president. Any lingering tension had evaporated under smiles, handshakes and a backdrop of applause.

Since then, the dynamic between the two has remained complicated, marked by dramatic legal wins for Trump as well as painful losses, and punctuated by clashes between the two as Trump shattered norms by aggressively pushing his policies while brooking little dissent - including from the coequal branch of government that Roberts leads: the judiciary.

The tension has risen once again, culminating in an extraordinary public statement by Roberts on Tuesday rebuking the Republican president for urging the impeachment of a Washington-based federal judge who faulted the administration's actions in a dispute over the legality of deportation flights.

"For more than two centuries," Roberts said, "it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision."

For Roberts, who is seen as deeply conservative but also concerned about the institutional credibility and perception of the Supreme Court, chastising Trump puts him in a difficult spot. It has drawn sharp criticism from Trump's allies and comes as the court braces for the flood of legal challenges to Trump's myriad executive actions.

'A CERTAIN MEASURE OF CONTEMPT'

"I suspect Roberts has a certain measure of contempt for Trump and the way he treats judges," said University of Michigan law professor Richard Friedman, a Supreme Court historian. "Roberts is an establishment Republican, but I think he's horrified."

While Roberts and Trump often may converge on legal and substantive goals, there are sharp divergences emerging, according to University of Chicago constitutional law expert Aziz Huq.

Through his flurry of executive actions to shutter federal departments, fire thousands of federal employees, target perceived enemies and eradicate policies he dislikes such as diversity mandates from the public and private sectors, Trump is "proceeding as if legal constraints don't matter," Huq said.

"If presidents are not bound by statutes, if they're not bound by regulations, if they're not bound by the (U.S. Constitution's) First Amendment, then it's not really clear what the job of the Supreme Court is," Huq added.

Huq said that the "casting into institutional doubt of the court's role is I think the hard nub of conflict between the two."

Since Trump first took office in 2017, Roberts has figured prominently in the president's fortunes, and in many ways, vice versa.

Trump appointed three justices in his first term, creating the 6-3 conservative majority that Roberts needed to deliver landmark rulings rolling back abortion rights and affirmative action practices, expanding gun rights and curbing federal regulatory power.

Roberts, meanwhile, presided over the first of Trump's two impeachment trials - he was acquitted both times - and has penned Supreme Court rulings that both boosted the president - including by granting him broad immunity from criminal prosecution - and constrained him at key moments.

The landmark immunity ruling authored by Roberts last July involved federal criminal charges against Trump over his efforts to undo his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, bolstering his bid to regain the presidency by effectively delaying a trial that ultimately never took place.

Trump thanked Roberts as Supreme Court justices attended the president's address to a joint session of Congress this month.

"I won't forget," Trump added.

The president later stated that he was thanking Roberts for swearing him into office.

"It's very hard to see that decision as being anything but highly consequential in electoral terms, and as anything other than a real choice on Roberts' part," Huq said of the immunity case. "Having done that, what does he think now?"

TRAVEL BAN

Roberts also authored a ruling that gave Trump one of his biggest victories during his first term, upholding his travel ban blocking people from several Muslim-majority countries from coming to the United States against claims that the policy represented religious discrimination in violation of the Constitution.

Trump's administration now is considering issuing a new travel ban that could include dozens of countries.

On the other hand, Roberts has handed Trump some setbacks.

In recent weeks, Roberts joined a narrow majority of Supreme Court justices in declining to let Trump immediately fire the head of a federal watchdog agency or withhold payment to foreign aid organizations for work they already performed for the government - though neither decision resolved the legal merits of the cases.

In 2019, Roberts joined the court's liberal justices to block his plan to add a contentious citizenship question to the national census questionnaire, prompting Trump to suggest that the administration would find a way to move forward anyway - before backing down.

In 2020, Roberts wrote a ruling that let a New York prosecutor obtain Trump's financial records, and the chief justice again joined the liberals to block Trump's bid to end a program protecting from deportation immigrants - known as "Dreamers" - who entered the United States illegally as children.

"These horrible & politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives," Trump wrote on social media after that ruling.

Friedman said, "From Trump's point of view, it may be very perplexing because he thinks you're going to have a judge entirely in his favor or against. But that's not the way the world works. From Roberts point of view, there's no mystery. He's deciding cases."

Roberts, Friedman added, "is a good, smart lawyer with an allegiance to constitutional procedures. And that's something that's a little bit out of Trump's understanding."

A PREVIOUS REBUKE

The chief justice's rebuke of Trump on Tuesday was not his first.

After Trump in 2018 called a federal judge appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama who ruled against his policy barring asylum for certain immigrants an "Obama judge," Roberts responded in a statement.

"We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Roberts wrote, referring to former presidents who made the appointments and emphasizing the importance of an independent judiciary.

In recent weeks, some legal scholars and Trump critics have questioned whether his administration's pushback against orders by judges impeding his policies amounts to defiance of the judiciary by the executive branch, which could provoke a constitutional crisis.

Asked during a Tuesday interview on the Fox News program "The Ingraham Angle" whether he would defy a court order, Trump said: "No, you can't do that," but also said that there are "judges that shouldn't be allowed."

Whether the administration defied U.S. Judge James Boasberg's orders to halt deportation flights of alleged gang members to Venezuela is at the heart of Trump's call for the judge's impeachment by Congress, which could lead to removal from the bench.

If Roberts wants to preserve the legitimacy and authority of the Supreme Court, "The issues that are likely coming down the pike are going to put the court's power to the test," Albany Law School professor Raymond Brescia said.

"The most important of these issues is the question of the court's authority to ensure the executive branch complies with court orders," Brescia said. "I hope we can expect (Roberts) to support the lower courts in their efforts to ensure compliance with their orders, even if that means seeking to rein in actions of the Trump administration."

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Amy Stevens and Will Dunham)
By Tim Kelly

TOKYO (Reuters) - The top diplomats from Japan, China and South Korea met in Tokyo on Saturday, seeking common ground on East Asian security and economic issues amid escalating global uncertainty.

"Given the increasingly severe international situation, I believe we may truly be at a turning point in history," Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said at the start of the meeting in Tokyo with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.

The three agreed to accelerate preparations for a trilateral summit in Japan this year that would also include talks on how Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul can tackle declining birthrates and aging populations, Iwaya said in a joint announcement after the meeting.

The first gathering of the countries' foreign ministers since 2023 comes as U.S. President Donald Trump upends decades-old alliances, potentially opening the door for China to forge closer ties to countries traditionally aligned with Washington.

"Our three nations have a combined population of nearly 1.6 billion and an economic output exceeding $24 trillion. With our vast markets and great potential, we can exert significant influence," Wang said. China, he added, wants to resume free trade talks with its neighbours and expand membership of the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

However, deep divisions remain. Beijing is at odds with Tokyo and Seoul on several key issues, including its support of North Korea, its intensifying military activity around Taiwan, and its backing of Russia in its war with Ukraine.

U.S. allies Japan and South Korea, which each host thousands of U.S. troops, share Washingtons view that China - the worlds second-largest economy - poses a growing threat to regional security.

Cho said he had asked China in the meeting to help persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.

"I also stressed that illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea should stop immediately, and that North Korea should not be rewarded for its wrongdoings in the course of bringing about the end of the war in Ukraine," he added.

Iwaya met separately with his Chinese and South Korean counterparts, including the first high-level economic dialogue with Beijing in six years.

A key issue for Tokyo in the talks with Beijing is a ban on Japanese seafood imports imposed by China after the release of wastewater from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant from 2023.

Iwaya said he confirmed a commitment by China made in September to allow imports of marine products and also asked about expanding imports of Japanese agricultural products, including beef and rice.

"I emphasised that it is important to prioritise resolving those issues that can be addressed early," Iwaya told reporters after the meeting.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly in Tokyo and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Sandra Maler and William Mallard)
President Trump quipped Friday that a secret offer from King Charles III sounded good to him, following an invite from the king for a state visit to the United Kingdom.

The president shared on Truth Social an article from The Sun, which reported that the king will make a secret offer to Trump during the visit. The reporting claims the offer could be to reduce tensions between the White House and Canada and could be to include the U.S. as an associate member of the Commonwealth.

I Love King Charles. Sounds good to me! Trump said in response to the reporting.

Canada is part of the Commonwealth of Nations, which it joined in 1931 to mark its historic link to the United Kingdom. Charles is the head of the commonwealth, which comprises 56 countries.

When British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited the White House last month, he told the president that he was invited for a state visit and brought a letter from Charles.

Trump later cut off talk during a press conference with Starmer about his desire to make Canada the 51st state. A reporter asked the prime minister whether he discussed with Trump his repeated statements of desire to annex Canada and whether Charles has expressed any concern with Trumps remarks.

Starmer insisted there was no daylight between the two leaders on top issues, adding that they didnt address Canada before Trump ended the conversation.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Bonnie Cash/Pool via CNP/Polaris/Newscom

James Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has caught a lot of flak for temporarily blocking the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA). As President Donald Trump tells it, Boasberg is a "Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator" who is wrongly preventing him from "doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do." According to Trump, Boasberg's intervention was so egregious that he "should be IMPEACHED!!!"

A few hours after that Tuesday-morning Truth Social rant, Rep. Rep. Brandon Gill (RTexas) followed through on Trump's suggestion, introducing an article of impeachment that charges Boasberg with "high crimes and misdemeanors." Specifically, Gill claims Boasberg "abused the powers of his judicial authority" by "interfering with the President's constitutional prerogatives" and his powers under the AEA, which in Gill's view gives Trump "sole and unreviewable discretion" to decide who qualifies as an "alien enemy" subject to immediate removal from the United States.

As Trump and Gill portray the situation, that understanding of the statute is completely uncontroversial. But if that were true, there would be no case for Boasberg to consider. Far from abusing his judicial authority, Boasberg is doing exactly what he is supposed to do as a federal judge: choosing between dueling interpretations of the law based on arguments and evidence presented in courtan adversarial process that continued at a hearing on Friday afternoon.

The attorneys representing the targets of Trump's AEA deportations argue that he is misapplying key terms in that rarely invoked 1798 statute, which is the last remaining vestige of the notoriously repressive Alien and Sedition Acts. The AEA applies only when "there is a declared war" between the United States and a "foreign nation or government" or when a "foreign nation or government" has "perpetrated, attempted, or threatened" an "invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States." In those circumstances, it authorizes the president to deport "natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects" of that "hostile nation or government."

Until Trump took office in January, the AEA had been invoked only three times in 226 years: during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. All of those situations fell into the "declared war" category. The AEA has never previously been invoked in response to a putative "invasion or predatory incursion" outside the context of a declared war. That is the threat Trump cites to justify peremptorily deporting suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

In a proclamation that Trump published last Saturday, he describes Tren de Aragua as "a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization with thousands of members, many of whom have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States." He says the gang "is closely aligned with, and indeed has infiltrated," the Venezuelan government, "including its military and law enforcement apparatus." He adds that "Venezuelan national and local authorities have ceded ever-greater control over their territories to transnational criminal organizations," including Tren de Aragua.

The result, Trump says, is "a hybrid criminal state that is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States, and which poses a substantial danger to the United States." This is the logic by which Trump counterintutively equates Tren de Aragua with a "foreign nation or government." If you buy that, you may also accept his claim that supected members of Tren de Aragua qualify as "natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects" of a "hostile nation or government." But you would also have to accept that the gang's "brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortions, and human, drug, and weapons trafficking," amount to an "invasion or predatory incursion" under the AEA.

All of this seems like quite a stretch. Trump does not claim to be at war with Venezuela. Nor does he claim that the Venezuelan government has mounted an "invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States." And a criminal organization, even one that has corrupted or "infiltrated" a foreign government, is not a "hostile nation or government" as those terms are ordinarily understood.

Nor does Trump's understanding of "invasion or predatory incursion" make sense in the context of the AEA. "As the Supreme Court and past presidents have acknowledged, the Alien Enemies Act is a wartime authority enacted and implemented under the war power," Katherine Yon Ebright, a lawyer at the Brennan Center for Justice who specializes in national security issues, explained last fall. "When the Fifth Congress passed the law and the Wilson administration defended it in court during World War I, they did so on the understanding that noncitizens with connections to a foreign belligerent could be 'treated as prisoners of war' under the 'rules of war under the law of nations.' In the Constitution and other late-1700s statutes, the term invasion is used literally, typically to refer to large-scale attacks. The term predatory incursion is also used literally in writings of that period to refer to slightly smaller attacks like the 1781 Raid on Richmond led by American defector Benedict Arnold."

Ebright noted that "some anti-immigration politicians and groups urge a non-literal reading of invasion and predatory incursion so that the Alien Enemies Act can be invoked in response to unlawful migration and cross-border narcotics trafficking." They view the statute as "a turbocharged deportation authority." But that "proposed reading of the law," Ebright argued, "is at odds with centuries of legislative, presidential, and judicial practice, all of which confirm that the Alien Enemies Act is a wartime authority. Invoking it in peacetime to bypass conventional immigration law would be a staggering abuse." That is exactly what Trump is now trying to do.

On the same day that Trump officially invoked the AEA against alleged members of Tren de Aragua, Boasberg, who had already issued a temporary restraining order that blocked deportation of five named plaintiffs, held a hearing to consider extending the TRO to a class consisting of "all noncitizens in U.S. custody" who were covered by Trump's proclamation. The issue was urgent, since the Trump administration was on the verge of flying detainees to El Salvador, which happened that very evening. Boasberg heard from Lee Gelernt, the America Civil Liberties Union attorney representing the plaintiffs, and from Drew Ensign, the Justice Department lawyer representing the Trump administration.

"There is a lot of law about what constitutes a foreign government," Gelernt told Boasberg. "And I don't think the United States recognizes [Tren de Aragua] as a foreign government. They recognize Venezuela as a foreign government. I think that's the

historic understanding of the statute."

Gerlent also questioned the government's definition of "invasion or predatory incursion": "We think the Court certainly can review whether immigration constitutes some kind of invasion.We know of no historical precedent that would suggest that straight migration or noncitizens coming and committing crimes constitutes an invasion within the meaning of the statute or the Constitution."

While conceding "there isn't a lot of precedent on this," Ensign cited the Supreme Court's 1948 decision in Ludecke v. Watkins, which allowed the pre-deportation detention of a German citizen after the end of World War II. In that case, he said, the Court "recognized the very broad discretion of the president" in deciding whether the AEA's "declared war" provision still applied.

Boasberg conceded that "the courts can't question the president's power to remove enemy aliens or even his determination that a state of war continues to exist." But he said the Supreme Court in Ludecke "did seem to accept that courts could hear challenges to the construction and validity of the statute." If so, he asked Ensign, "doesn't it leave open the [possibility] that judicial review is available to look at whether certain preconditions have been met for the president to invoke the statute?"

Ensign argued that such an inquiry would involve "political questions" that are not subject to judicial review. He added that the case "cuts to the core of the president's

Article II powers" by challenging his authority over immigration and foreign policy.

Gelernt noted that Trump is not "invoking his inherent authority under the Constitution." Rather, he said, Trump is "invoking a specific statutory provision [for which] Congress has laid out very clear guidelines, and I think it would be fundamentally inconsistent with separation of powers for this Court not to be able to review whether those preconditions were met."

After hearing from both sides, Boasberg noted that the case presents "hard questions, close questions, and particularly hard questions on the expedited time frame that

we are talking about here." But he said the plaintiffs had "certainly presented a serious

question that this is justiciable because it's outside of what Ludecke talked about." He thought they had made a plausible case that "the AEA does not provide a basis for the president's proclamation given that the terms invasion and predatory incursion really relate to hostile acts perpetrated by enemy nations and commensurate to war." The plaintiffs also had plausibly argued that "the terms nation and government do not apply to non-state actors like criminal gangs."

Based on the arguments presented at that point, Boasberg said, "I don't think the AEA provides a basis for removal under this proclamation." But he emphasized the preliminary nature of his order, which was aimed at preventing "irreparable harm" to the plaintiffs while the case was pending. In the meantime, he noted, the plaintiffs would remain in custody, which should be sufficient to address the government's public safety concerns.

Boasberg issued a TRO that applies to "all noncitizens in U.S. custody who are subject to the March 15, 2025, Presidential Proclamation entitled 'Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of The United States by Tren De Aragua' and its implementation." He told Ensign what that meant: "Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.However that's accomplished, whether turning around a plane or not embarking anyone on the planeI leave to you. But this is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately."

Since then, Boasberg has been trying to figure out whether the Trump administration deliberately defied that order. That question hinges on the exact timing of the flights to El Salvador, where the deportees have been imprisoned. "The government is not being terribly cooperative at this point," Boasberg said at Friday's hearing, "but I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order and who was responsible."

The flights that concern Boasberg did not include the five named plaintiffs, but they did include other Venezuelans covered by the broader TRO. On Monday, the White House described all of the deportees as "ruthless terrorist gang members," quoting a long list of Republican politicians who likewise welcomed Trump's effort to rid the country of "violent criminals," "rapists," "terrorists," "drug dealers," and "Tren de Aragua savages." But at least four of the named plaintiffs are asylum seekers who insist they are not in fact Tren De Aragua members. Two of them say they were identified as such based on nothing more than their nationality and misunderstood tattoos.

As Reason's Eric Boehm notes, those claims underline the importance of the due process that Trump is trying to avoid by invoking the AEA. At Friday's hearing, The New York Times reports, Boasberg "said he was concerned not only that President Trump has sought to use the [AEA] when there was neither an invasion taking place nor a declared state of war, but also that the people the government has sought to deport have no way of contesting whether they are actually gang members." He noted that "the policy ramifications of this are incredibly troublesome and problematic and concerning."

Those "policy ramifications," Trump argues, are beyond Boasberg's purview. But the central question presented by this case is whether Trump is acting within his authority under the AEA. The answer is far less clear than he and his allies imply.

The post Trump's Reading of the Alien Enemies Act Defies the Usual Meaning of Its Terms appeared first on Reason.com.
By Hannah Lang

(Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Friday lifted economic sanctions against Tornado Cash, a firm that makes cryptocurrency transactions harder to track, which the Biden administration had accused of helping launder more than $7 billion for North Korean and other cyber hackers.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklisted Tornado Cash in 2022 after concluding it was helping launder the proceeds of cyber crimes, including more than $455 million stolen by Lazarus, a North Korean government-backed hacking group.

Six users of Tornado Cash - a cryptocurrency "mixer" that obscures the origins and recipients of transactions - had filed a lawsuit to challenge the sanctions with the financial backing of the Coinbase crypto exchange.

In November, a U.S. appeals court found that OFAC had overstepped its authority, but the sanctions remained in place.

In a statement, the Treasury said it had decided to repeal them after reviewing legal and policy issues raised by the use of sanctions within "evolving technology and legal environments".

Still, the Treasury Department said it remained concerned about North Korea's "state-sponsored hacking and money laundering campaign," through which it has stolen digital assets to finance government activities.

Securing the digital asset industry from abuse by North Korea and other illicit actors is essential to establishing U.S. leadership and ensuring that the American people can benefit from financial innovation and inclusion," said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

President Donald Trump has sought to broadly overhaul U.S. cryptocurrency policies and this month signed an executive order to establish a strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies. He also held a summit for industry leaders at the White House.

Two of the co-founders of Tornado Cash were charged in 2023 with facilitating more than $1 billion in money laundering, including for the Lazarus Group. One, Roman Storm, awaits trial and has denied engaging in criminal activity.

Last May, one of Tornado Cash's developers, Alexey Pertsev, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison in the Netherlands for money laundering.

(Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Getty Images

Salsa macha is a hot commodity right now. Jars of the oil-based salsa have become a common sight at taquerias, restaurants, and grocery stores across the United States over the past few years. But the tasty topper, known for adding crunchy texture and spicy-nutty flavor to tacos, eggs, and other savory foods, has deep roots in Mexican cuisine.

To find out more about the condiment and why it deserves a spot in your refrigerator, we chatted with Rene Gonzalez Mendez, the owner of Pinche Salsa, a maker of jarred salsa macha, and the executive chef of Xiquita Restaurante y Bar, a restaurant specializing in Mexico City cuisine in Denver, Colorado.

What Is Salsa Macha?

Getty Images

Salsa macha is a salsa primarily made with oil and finely chopped garlic, seeds, and dried peppers, such as morita, chipotle, arbol, and ancho chiles.

It is only made in three states of Mexico: Veracruz, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, says Mendez, who was born and raised in Mexico City.

The exact origins of salsa macha are unknown, but it likely originated in the Veracruz region, where the Indigenous Totonac people traditionally created a paste of dried chilies, sesame seeds, and salt that eventually evolved into the oil-based salsa we know today.

Salsa macha is a blend of pre-Hispanic and Spanish cuisine, Mendez says. Dried chillies and seeds have been used by Mexico's Indigenous people for centuries, while olive oil was introduced by Spain.

Mendez founded Pinche Salsa, to share the culture of his homeland after working in restaurants for more than 25 years. He makes and sells three types of salsa macha online: mild Grasshopper, spicy Chile Morita, and extra spicy Red Chile Pepper. Theyre all handmade with combinations of chiles, sesame seeds, peanuts, garlic, and other ingredients fried in canola oil (including crunchy grasshoppers, a widely used ingredient in Mexican cuisine).

Pinche Salsa reflects the salsa that I grew up eating in Mexico, Mendez says. My father's side of the family is from Veracruz, Mexico, and I wanted the world to have a small taste of such a beautiful place.

Related: I Asked 5 Chefs for Their Favorite Store-Bought Salsa, and Now Im Editing My Shopping List

How to Make Salsa Macha?

Getty Images

To make your own salsa macha, you need dried peppers such as ancho (mild and sweet) or guajillo chiles (fruity and smoky) or chile de arbol (extra hot), often available at Mexican grocery stores or international markets. You can really use any combination of chilesbut choose a mixture that has the flavor profiles you want for your salsa macha. For example, for a super-spicy condiment, look for chile de arbol peppers.

The peppers are often toasted to wake up their flavors, then ground with chopped garlic and an assortment of nuts and seeds (common options include sesame seeds, pepetas, and peanuts) in a molcajete (a Mexican version of a mortar and pestle) or a food processor. Afterward, the ingredients are carefully cooked in a hot neutral oil just until theyre toasted. Mendez uses canola, but other recipes call for vegetable, grape seed, or olive oil. Some salsa macha recipe variations feature oregano, sugar, salt, or vinegar, while others call for cooking all of the ingredients in oil first before throwing the salsa into a food processor.

Mendez advice for making your own salsa macha? Always use the best quality ingredients and make it with love, he says.

Whats the Difference Between Salsa Macha and Chili Crisp?

Allrecipes

Salsa macha is often even referred to as Mexican chili crisp because it has a similar appearance to the beloved condiment with Chinese roots, typically composed of dried chiles, Sichuan peppercorns, and other aromatics such as garlic and scallions.

But while theres some overlap in some of the ingredients used in Chinese-style chili crisp and salsa machathink: fried garlic, chiles, and oilthe condiments have very different flavor profiles. Depending on the recipe, chili crisp tends to have ultra-savory, umami-rich flavors (and a tongue-tingling effect, if Sichuan peppercorns are present), while salsa macha is often nutty, smoky, and fruity.

What Do You Eat with Salsa Macha?

The versatility of salsa macha extends beyond Mexican dishes. Mendez says it goes well with all savory foods, from pasta and pizza to tacos and garnachas (fried corn tortillas crowned with meat, beans, cabbage, salsa, and cheese).

Drizzle salsa macha on your scrambled eggs, a halved avocado, or corn on the cob. You can also whisk the condiment into salad dressing, slather a little on your turkey sandwich, or brush it on roasted veggies. I even eat it on sushi, Mendez says.

Best Salsa Macha Products

Mark Antonation

If you dont want to make your own salsa macha, dont worry! There are tons of jarred salsa macha products available online and at retail stores such as Walmart, Target, and Kroger. Here are a few to keep in mind:

Pinche Salsa : Mendezs salsa macha comes in three heat levels. I love the Chile Morita, whose smokiness and heat is balanced by the nuttiness of sunflower and pumpkin seeds and peanuts.

SOMOS Mexican Chili Crisp : This salsa macha contains almonds and avocado oil in lieu of the typical peanuts and vegetable oil.

Grand Luchito Mexican Crunchy Salsa Macha : Handmade in Mexico, Grand Luchitos version is sweetened with dark agave syrup to balance out the heat of dried chiles.

Tia Lupita Foods Mexican Chili Crunch: The Tia Lupita brand offers two types of salsa macha: one studded with sweet-tart cranberries and another packed with lots of peanuts.



Read the original article on ALLRECIPES
In a bit of news that is likely to break your heart, an adorable 3.5-year-old Pit Bull named Bella has been cooped up in a shelter for a staggering 179 days and has received zero adoption applications!

As you can see from this video, Bella is an absolute sweetheart and deserves to be adopted.

According to Instagram user adopt_melia_and_friends, who posted this heartbreaking video, Bella is a vibrant, sweet, playful dog. Unsurprisingly, she is a very food-oriented dog, although Instagram user adopt_melia_and_friends has noted that she enjoys playing with people more than toys.

That last bit makes Bellas current situation even more heartbreaking. Perhaps that is why she spends 23 hours a day with her face pressed up against her cage, longing for human connection.

Related: Compilation of Sad Shelter Dogs Who've Been Waiting for Months for Loving Homes Is Devastating

They also stated that she has been amazing with shelter staff and volunteers, although she had previously exhibited minor leash biting behavior in the past. She also knows basic commands, such as wait and sit.

They added that a solo pet-only home is the best situation for Bella at this time. Additionally, they state that she would be a good fit for mature teenagers who are aged 16 and up.

Why Shelters Can Be Difficult Environments for Dogs

Life in an animal shelter can be very hard for dogs. Although shelters do provide dogs with a safe place to stay, food, and even medical care, they can be overcrowded and very noisy.

That makes them potentially very stressful environments for many dogs. The very high noise level of many animal shelters can cause dogs a tremendous amount of anxiety.

Additionally, because so many shelters are overcrowded, it is not possible for the staff to spend much time with any dog; this sense of isolation can deeply add to a dogs anxiety as well.

Making matters worse for dogs in animal shelters is that for canines who previously had a home, their kennel at the shelter will be an unfamiliar place. This is a complete disruption to their daily routine, which can make dogs feel scared and very confused.

Unfortunately, shelter life can cause many dogs to become timid and shut down. However, once they are adopted by a loving family who gives them a forever home, many dogs will gradually come out of their shell and return to their previous curious, affectionate, and playful natures.

Conclusion

Poor Bella has been in an animal shelter for 179 heartbreaking days! Hopefully, someone will hear about her through this video and decide to take a chance on her.

Anyone who is interested in potentially adopting sweet Bella can reach out to her shelter via email at Adoption@hempsteadny.gov. Her shelter is the Hempstead Animal Shelter in Wantagh, New York (Long Island.)

Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos. Or share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips.
WASHINGTON - Russian President Vladimir Putin prayed for President Donald Trump after Trump was shot at a rally last year, special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Friday.

Trump, then a 2024 presidential candidate, held a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, which was cut short after gunman Thomas Crooks opened fire, injuring Trump's right ear and killing an audience member.

Witkoff said on former Fox News Tucker Carlsons podcast that during his second meeting with Putin, the Russian president recalled what he did after Trump was shot.

Putin, Witkoff said, went to his local church and met with his priest and prayed for the president.

Not because he was the president of the United - he could become the president of the United States - but because he had a friendship with him and he was praying for his friend, Witkoff said.

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow, Russia March 18, 2025. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool/File Photo

He added that he relayed Putins story to Trump - and delivered a portrait of Trump gifted by Putin - who was clearly touched by it.

Earlier this week, Putin and Trump spoke by phone for more than 90 minutes which ended with a limited agreement for Russia and Ukraine to cease attacks on energy infrastructure.

Contributing: Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Putin 'prayed' for Trump after he was shot, top envoy says
Royal Caribbean passengers who love a quiet, relaxing beach day will be very happy to learn of a new ban the cruise line is implementing thats sure to improve the passenger experience.

For some people, theres nothing worse than finding a perfect spot at the beach or by a pool  only to have someone sit down next to you and ruin your relaxation.

Related: Royal Caribbean passengers want more of one type of entertainment

For cruisers looking for serenity on Royal Caribbeans private island in The Bahamas, Perfect Day at CocoCay, avoiding one common beach day nuisance just got a lot easier, thanks to a new cruise line ban.

To be clear, the new ban appears to only apply to CocoCay at this time, but it could be a step toward a new fleetwide cruise line rule that many passengers would welcome. The move would prevent cruise passengers from killing a relaxing atmosphere by doing one annoying thing in public spaces  playing their own music.

Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter to save money on your next (or your first) cruise.

Perfect Day at CocoCay offers plenty of places to relax, but some spots can be loud. Image source: Daniel Kline/ComeCruiseWith.com

Royal Caribbean bans personal speakers from Perfect Day at CocoCay

Royal Caribbean is now banning personal speakers from its private island in The Bahamas, according to RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com, an unofficial fan blog not affiliated with the cruise line.

Passengers sailing to Perfect Day at CocoCay on board Icon of the Seas recently received an onboard notice that stated that along with glass bottles, personal speakers are not permitted on the private island.

While glass bottles are prohibited for safety reasons, personal speakers may be banned because they can be disruptive in public places. Royal Caribbean does not ban personal speakers from its cruise ship public spaces, however. At least not yet.

Related: One huge hack for cruise line private islands

Late last year, Carnival Cruise Line was applauded by many passengers when it introduced a ban on all types of speakers on board its cruise ships. Many passengers say its annoying to listen other passengers music playing from these devices in public areas.

Although Carnivals brand ambassador received a great deal of passenger feedback about this nuisance leading up to the ban, Carnival didnt prohibit speakers specifically for this reason. The cruise line banned them due to safety concerns.

For safety reasons, the cruise line needs to make sure that all passengers and crew members can hear public announcements and personal speakers can get in the way of that. If passengers are listening to music or watching shows/movies on personal devices in public spaces, Carnival requires them to use earphones.

Be the first to see the best deals on cruises, special sailings, and more. Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter.

Royal Caribbean passengers want speaker ban in cruise ship spaces

After Carnival introduced its speaker ban, many Royal Caribbean passengers hoped their cruise line of choice would follow suit.

In the Royal Caribbean community on Reddit, a number of passengers have expressed their frustration with cruisers using personal speakers in public spaces.

Can't stand other people's Bluetooth speakers, snowrider0693 wrote. It's fine if it's quiet but when people have them cranked and you're just trying to relax. It's obnoxious.

Passengers have made it clear that they would support a full-scale speaker ban on board Royal Caribbean ships too.

Related: Royal Caribbean passengers compare private cruise destinations

Hope so. Nothing worse than finally finding a (relatively) quiet part of the boat only to have some idiot plop down next to you at full volume, NYnewbiehomeowner wrote in a Reddit thread that speculated whether Royal Caribbean would follow Carnivals lead on speakers.

Like someone else said, cabins only, would be fine, NYnewbiehomeowner continued. Unfortunately, people confuse being on vacation with being in their backyard. Enjoy yourself but respect your fellow passengers.

In the thread, cruisers also noted that personal speakers have been a source of irritation at both of the cruise lines private destinations, Perfect Day at CocoCay and Labadee.

Its not yet clear whether the new CocoCay speaker ban will carry over to Labadee, but passengers will surely welcome it if it does.

(The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.)

Make a free appointment with Come Cruise With Me's Travel Agent Partner, Postcard Travel, or email Amy Post at amypost@postcardtravelplanning.com or call or text her at 386-383-2472.
A social media influencer known for exposing the drug-addled underbelly of San Francisco has been indicted for allegedly forcing minors to make child porn that he filmed on his iPhone.

Ricci Wynne, 39, was hit with two counts of producing child pornography, according to federal documents filed Tuesday  in addition to the human trafficking charges he was already facing following his arrest in November.

The disgraced social media star allegedly coerced two minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct.

Ricci Wynne was indicted on child pornography charges this week. ZUMAPRESS.com

Prosecutors believe Wynne planned to use the disturbing footage to turn a profit.

Wynne is already being held in federal prison, the documents state. He was initially arrested in November after he and a woman were detained at San Francisco International Airport on suspicion of pimping and pandering, charges he has pleaded not guilty to.

Police at the time seized his iPhone, which contained the distributing underage sex acts.

Wynne was already on probation after pleading guilty in 2019 to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, court documents show.

Wynne was arrested in November on suspicion of pimping and pandering. RawRicci415/X

The alleged pervert claimed he left his life of crime behind, and that his experiences inspired him to document the crime and drugs proliferating through San Francisco.

Wynne  a vocal Trump supporter  garnered significant social media for his videos, which depicted drug users shooting up on the streets and even schoolchildren negotiating their way through a crowd of homeless people. His clips were shared on conservative channels, like Libs of TikTok.

I changed my life and am trying to do something good for the community. (San Franciscans) need to stand up for our city. By running away, you dont do anything, he told KRON4 in a 2023 interview.

Wynne has not posted on social media since his November arrest. His YouTube account has apparently been removed for violating community guidelines.

If convicted on the new charges, Wynne would face a minimum of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine along with a minimum of five years of supervised release.
miljko - Getty Images



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When you have light eyelashes, they can seem invisibleeven when theyre surprisingly long and lush. Sure, your trusty mascara is always there for you, but what about on no-makeup days? Thats precisely why lash tints have become so popular.

Like a lash lift , a tint can make a massive difference in the appearance of your lashes. But if youve seen people going through the process of DIY-ing their lash tints on social media and thought of doing the same, you might want to get all the facts first. When it comes to eyelash tinting, theres a lot of misinformation out there, says Dionne Phillips, CEO and founder of DLashes Lash & Wellness Spa in Beverly Hills.

The good news? Youre in the right place. We tapped Phillips and lash expert T.Cooper to explain what lash tints are, how long they last, and if even theyre safe to do in the first place.

What Is a Lash Tint?

A lash tint is pretty much just a semi-permanent dye job for eyelashes. If your lashes are naturally a lighter shade, the process darkens them, which can be a time-saver in your routine, so you dont have to wear mascaraor at least as much mascara.

Is It Safe to Tint Eyelashes at Home?

As you might have expected, going to a professional is highly preferred. I would not recommend tinting your own eyelashes at home as a lot can go wrong, says Cooper. Lash tinting involves working with chemicals that should only be used by professionals, especially near a sensitive area like the eyes. Its best to have it done by a licensed professional who can safely apply these compounds without causing irritation.

Phillips wholeheartedly agrees, stating that As licensed estheticians, we undergo rigorous training to ensure that we use the right techniques, products, and safety protocols to protect our clients, she says.

For Phillips, the risks of tinting at home outweigh any potential financial benefits. I know were in a DIY era, and with the effects of the pandemic and economic shifts, people are looking for ways to save, she says. But lets be cleartinting your eyelashes at home is not the same as swiping on some mascara.

The treatment has been somewhat controversial, even in professional spaces. It has only been legal for estheticians to perform lash and brow tints in California since 2022 . And although the FDA has approved the use of silver nitrate dyes for eyebrows and lashes, it was only within the last few years.

The California State Board of Cosmetology and the Department of Health have strict regulations for a reason, says Phillips. Eyelash tinting involves working extremely close to your eyes, one of the most delicate and sensitive areas of your body. One wrong move, an incorrect formula, or improper application could lead to serious eye irritation, infections, or even long-term damage.

Simply put, she says: "I always tell my clients: 'Your eyes are pricelesswhy take unnecessary risks?'"

How Long Does a Lash Tint Last?

Eyelash tints typically last four weeks, give or take, explains Cooper, adding, "How fast your lashes grow and shed also affects the duration of the tint.

You can also maintain the appearance with proper lash care. To extend the longevity, I always recommend avoiding oily products, excessive rubbing, or steam directly on your lashes, as these can cause the tint to break down faster, explains Phillips.

What Is the Best Type of Tint to Use?

Experts recommend only using trusted, professional-grade products. But again, you may be unable to pick them up from your local beauty supply store. These professional tints are not available for retail purchaseonly licensed estheticians can access them, says Phillips. The goal of a tint is to enhance and define your lashes in the most natural, damage-free way possiblenot to cut corners with potentially harmful shortcuts, says Phlilips.

The pro adds, "Lash tinting isnt just about achieving a darker lashits about preserving the health of your natural lashes and eyes while achieving flawless, long-lasting results."

The Best Lash Tints to Try

In California, licensed estheticians are only allowed to use one type of lash tint, which meets the states strict health and safety regulations, explains Phillips. Not all tints are created equal, and the over-the-counter or unregulated products you might find online or in beauty supply stores can contain harsh dyes, ammonia, or even PPD (para-phenylenediamine), a common allergen linked to serious eye reactions.

Again, Phillips reminds that Professional lash tints are highly specialized and only available to licensed professionals, and These high-quality, ophthalmologist-tested formulations are regulated, controlled, and protectedmeaning the average consumer cannot walk into a store and purchase them.

If youre set on tinting your lashes at home, Cooper says to look for plant-based formulas without harsh ingredients like ammonia or peroxide. Also, look for PPD-free (paraphenylenediamine-free) formulas; they help mitigate the risk of an allergic reaction, she says.





Lash Tint Mascara

The best at-home lash tint is one that you can wash off at the end of the day. This formula from 19/99 is effectively a super-minimal mascara that lends color and separates lashes, without the bells and whistles of a regular formula.

$18.00 at amazon.com





Eyebrow Color 2-Pack Plus 2 Developers

If you insist on trying a more permanent option, Cooper says this product "has a gentle formula and bold, long-lasting colors."

$29.99 at amazon.com





Eyelash and Brow Tint | Set

Another option to consider, this formula "is known for being gentle on lashes and effective without harsh chemicals," says Cooper.

$250.00 at inlei.com

Meet the Experts

T. Cooper is a celebrity makeup artist, lash expert, and owner of Major Face .

Dionne Phillips is a celebrity eyelash extension expert, licensed esthetician, and the CEO & Founder of DLashes Lash & Wellness Spa, Beverly Hills



Why trust Harper's Bazaar?

For more than 150 years, Harpers Bazaar has been the preeminent fashion and beauty resource for women at every age. We cover whats new and whats next in beauty by working with the worlds leading authorities in dermatology, plastic surgery, cosmetics, skincare, haircare, and fragrance. Every story we publish has been thoroughly researched and vetted by our team of beauty editors and industry experts.

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AP Photo/PA CCTV footage showing two boys leading James Bulger away from the store in England where they abducted him

Warning: This story contains content that may be disturbing to some readers.

Denise Bulger was frantic when her 2-year-old son James vanished on a frigid day in February 1993, from the New Strand Shopping Center in Bootle, in northern England.

Denise, her sister-in-law and the child had stopped inside a butcher shop when James disappeared.

Nine hours later, as authorities searched for any sign of the boy, they were shocked by what they saw on CCTV footage: two young boys, with one holding James little hand, leading him away from the store.

You had to look twice because it was surprising, Detective Inspector Jim Fitzsimmons of the Merseyside Police told 60 Minutes Australia in 2021.

I remember I had to think, What does that mean? It was just something I didnt expect to see.

AP Photo/PA James Bulger

James didnt leave the store on his own. He was guided, Fitzsimmons said. "This was an abduction.

The sweet little boys chilling disappearance turned into one of Englands most horrifying cases when police learned the truth about what had happened to him.

Two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, led James for two miles to a deserted section of train tracks in Walton, Liverpool, where they tortured and killed him.

AP Photo/PA Robert Thompson

They struck him with bricks, stones and a piece of metal, according to a 1993 story in The Guardian.

They also reportedly banged his head on the ground and threw paint in his eyes, the BBC reports.

After mercilessly beating James, they left his lifeless body on the train tracks, where it was severed in half by a train, according to The Guardian.

On Feb. 20, 1993, the pair were both charged with abduction and murder. Nine months later, on Nov. 24, 1993, they were convicted of killing James.

During the trial, prosecutor Richard Henriques told the jury that when Denise was in the butcher shop, she believed James was by her side when she was being served  but when she looked down, he was gone, The Guardian reported.

Witnesses said they saw James crying and in distress as he was led away from the shopping center by the two boys, but figured he was with his two older brothers, the prosecutor said.

James' remains were found with multiple fractures to the skull, bruising on his face and cuts on his lip, The Guardian reports.

The two boys had tried to kidnap another 2-year-old boy at the shopping center, but that boy's mom saw her son with them and yelled for her son to return to her, the prosecutor said, according to The Guardian.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

At the time of the trial, the boys were not publicly identified because they were minors.

They were sentenced to be detained indefinitely at Her Majesty's pleasure, the BBC reports.

In June 2001, when Thompson and Venables were 18, they were released on parole and given new identities so they could maintain anonymity, according to the BBC.

In 2010, Venables returned to prison for violating his parole. After being released in 2013, he was sent back to prison again in 2017 for possession of child sexual abuse images, the BBC reports.

In 2023, he appealed for release on parole but was rejected. During that hearing, James father, Ralph Bulger, wept on the stand, asking the court to keep Venables in prison.

The stress of losing their son led Denise and Ralph to divorce.

In 2013, Ralph, told the BBC that losing James just ripped us apart.



Read the original article on People
Chinese tech giant ByteDance has roughly two weeks to save its video app TikTok from a renewed US ban  and there are signs cloud computing giant Oracle (ORCL) could play a prominent role.

ByteDance faces a federal mandate to divest the popular social media app but won a reprieve from President Trump, who, on his first day in office, asked his attorney general not to enforce the law for 75 days. If ByteDance can't find a buyer for TikTok's US operations, the ban passed by Congress will kick in April 5.

Vice President JD Vance told reporters this past week that a high-level agreement satisfying US national security concerns by early April was "almost" certain.

President Trump said last weekend that four bidders had emerged, but he didn't identify them. Names previously floated by Trump and others have included Microsoft (MSFT), AI startup Perplexity, a coalition of billionaire investors, and even the US government.

One prominent corporate name, however, keeps surfacing: Oracle.

The tech giant co-founded by billionaire Larry Ellison already acts as TikTok's primary cloud provider and had attempted a prior purchase of TikTok that eventually fizzled during Trump's first term in 2020.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and U.S. President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Jan. 21. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) (Andrew Harnik via Getty Images)

The app started routing its US traffic through Oracles cloud in 2022 in an overhaul known as "Project Texas" that aimed to satisfy US regulatory demands to store Americans' data domestically.

Now Oracle is a leading contender to help rescue TikTok from its current predicament, the Information reported this past week. ByteDances leaders reportedly want to retain a hands-on role with TikToks operations in any such deal.

Bloomberg separately reported that an Oracle deal being mulled by the White House would task the tech giant with safeguarding Americans' data on TikTok in exchange for a stake in the company, while leaving apps algorithm in the hands of ByteDance.

TikTok and its CEO Shou Zi Chew have repeatedly objected to letting go of the app's proprietary algorithm. Neither TikTok nor Oracle responded to a request for comment.

On Friday, Reuters offered up yet another scenario involving Oracle.

The news agency said the biggest non-Chinese investors in ByteDance may increase their existing stakes and acquire the US operations of TikTok as part of a new entity, while Oracle protects the US user data to ensure it is not available to China.

These investors include Jeff Yass' Susquehanna International Group and Bill Ford's General Atlantic. In such a scenario, Chinese ownership in the new business would drop below a critical 20% threshold needed to avoid the US ban.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at President Trump's inauguration in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

"Every day there is another TikTok rumor," Shark Tank star Kevin OLeary, who is part of a consortium pursuing its own bid for the apps US operations, told Yahoo Finance this past week.

But "it doesnt matter what I want or what Larry wants," O'Leary said, referring to Oracles Ellison. "What matters now is the narrative now between Xi and Trump," referring to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

"The question is, 'Does Xi want to sell TikTok, yes or no?'"

TikToks parent company, ByteDance, operates under Chinese Communist Party law, which requires it to share user data upon request.

US intelligence officials have expressed concern that the CCP could use Americans' data against them and use TikTok's algorithm to gain backdoor access to swaths of information on US citizens.

To address those concerns, former President Biden signed legislation last April requiring TikTok to divest or face a nationwide ban. The US Supreme Court upheld the law against a constitutional challenge from TikTok and TikTok users.

In effect, the statute outlawed app stores  like those run by Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL)  and cloud services from offering the app for downloads unless it is controlled by a country that the US does not consider adversarial.

The law resulted in TikTok's short-lived shutdown on Jan. 20, Trump's first day back in office. That same day, Trump delayed enforcement of the divestment via executive order.

A woman poses with her smartphone displaying the @realdonaldtrump TikTok page. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton (REUTERS / Reuters)

The order, which experts have said is legally dubious, opened a 75-day window for the Trump administration "to determine the appropriate course forward in an orderly way" for TikTok's US business.

Trump has said he is open to an extension of the 75-day pause if a deal isnt reached by the deadline. Trump is not empowered to repeal the law; new legislation to overturn the measure would need to be approved by a majority of federal lawmakers.

Vance told reporters this past week that "wed like to get it done without the extension."

I think the question is, what is the equity ownership of the new joint venture? Vance added. "How do you do the contracts for all the investors, the customers, the service providers?  The deal itself will be very clear, but actually creating those thousands and thousands of pages of legal documents, thats the one thing that I worry could slip.

Trump has sent encouraging signals about Ellison playing a role in the TikTok situation.

"Id like Larry to buy it too," the president said on Jan. 21, with Ellison standing next to him at a press conference held to announce a new $500 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure commitment.

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

"Larry, lets negotiate in front of the media, Trump said as SoftBank CEO Masa Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also looked on.

"What Im thinking about saying to somebody is, buy it, and give half to the United States of America. Half, and well give you the permit. And theyll have a great partner, the United States."

"Sounds like a good deal to me, Mr. President," Ellison said.

But Trump has also denied talks with Oracle when asked about the subject in late January after NPR reported that the company could be part of a TikTok deal.

"No, not with Oracle," he said then, adding that "I never spoke to Larry about TikTok."

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on X @alexiskweed.

Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
BRIDGEWATER, New Jersey, March 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday took away security clearances for former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others in his latest move against his Democratic opponents.

The Republican president, who has also revoked the security clearance for former President Joe Biden, defeated Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and Harris in last year's election.

"I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information," Trump said in a late Friday memorandum that also included former Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

While the revocations may not have immediate impacts, it is another sign of the growing political rift in Washington as Trump seeks revenge on his perceived enemies.

The memorandum was issued hours after Trump arrived at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf property for the weekend.

Trump also targeted Republican former Representative Liz Cheney, a sharp Trump critic, former Biden White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Fiona Hill, a Russia expert who served on his National Security Council during his first term.

Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer in Washington who represents whistleblowers, and Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican lawmaker who is a sharp Trump critic, were among several others who had their security clearances revoked.

Former U.S. President Joe Biden and former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris listen as U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address on the day of his Presidential Inauguration at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2025. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Lamarque-Pool via Imagn Images

He had already revoked the security clearance for Biden, denying the former president to the traditional access to U.S. intelligence.

Former U.S. presidents have traditionally received intelligence briefings so they can advise incumbent presidents on national security and foreign policy.

In 2021, Biden revoked the security clearance for Trump, who was then a former president.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Jasper Ward; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and William Mallard)

(This article was updated to include video.)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump pulls security clearances for Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton
President Donald Trump seemed to issue a warning to individuals who participate in Tesla vandalisms, as reports of destruction to vehicles, dealerships and charging stations surge across the country.

Early Friday morning, Trump posted on his social media platform: "People that get caught sabotaging Teslas will stand a very good chance of going to jail for up to twenty years, and that includes funders. WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU!!!"

He also suggested those found guilty of participating in Tesla-related crimes could be sent to prison in El Salvador, referring to the administration's controversial move to deport alleged gang members to the country after Trump signed a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act even though a court order temporarily blocked the authority.

PHOTO: A member of the Seattle Fire Department inspects a burned Tesla Cybertruck at a Tesla lot in Seattle, Mar. 10, 2025. (Lindsey Wasson/AP)

"I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20 year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla," Trump said in a posting. "Perhaps they would serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions."

Recent attacks aimed at Tesla have been reported in Seattle, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Charleston and other cities across the United States since Tesla CEO Elon Musk began his role with the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

In a public announcement Friday evening, the FBI said incidents targeting Teslas have been recorded in at least nine states since January, including arson, gunfire and graffiti.

"These criminal actions appear to have been conducted by lone offenders, and all known incidents occurred at night," the FBI said in the public service announcement. "Individuals require little planning to use rudimentary tactics, such as improvised incendiary devices and firearms, and may perceive these attacks as victimless property crimes."

The FBI urged the public to be vigilant and to look out for suspicious activity in areas around Tesla dealerships.

When asked about his comments at the White House on Friday afternoon, Trump called the vandalism suspects "terrorists" and appeared to argue what was happening with Tesla vehicles was worse than what happened during the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol.

"You didn't have that on Jan. 6, I can tell you. You didn't have anything like that on Jan. 6, which is sort of amazing," Trump said.

Three people have been charged for their alleged involvement in recent attacks against Tesla properties in Salem, Oregon; Loveland, Colorado; and North Charleston, South Carolina. Adam Lansky of Salem was charged with illegally possessing an unregistered destructive device on March 5, Lucy Grace Nelson of Lyons, Colorado, was charged with one count of malicious destruction of property on Feb. 27 and Daniel Clarke-Pounder of North Charleston was charged with arson on March 15, according to federal prosecutors.

Both Lansky and Clarke-Pounder have not entered any pleas, but Nelson pleaded not guilty on March 11, according to court records.

Attorney General Pam Bondi also spoke out against the Tesla vandalisms, saying on Thursday the three suspects will face the "full force of the law" for allegedly using Molotov cocktails to set fire to the electric vehicles and charging stations.

MORE: Tesla arson defendants to face 'full force of law,' AG Bondi says

"The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended," Bondi said in a statement. "Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars."

More Tesla incidents continue to pop up across the country, with the latest occurring in Fargo, North Dakota, early Friday morning, where fire crews found "a small fire in wood chips at the base of the electric vehicle chargers in the parking lot," according to the Fargo Fire Department.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump, accompanied by White House Senior Advisor, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, speaks next to a Tesla Model S on the South Lawn of the White House, Mar. 11, 2025 in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Officials said the fire is considered "suspicious" and the cause of the fire is under investigation. It is unclear whether the fire damaged the chargers, authorities said.

The New York City Police Department is also asking for the public's help in identifying two men who spray-painted a swastika on a Cyber Truck on Thursday. The incident is being investigated by the NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force.

In addition to the company dealing with the recent attacks, Tesla's stocks have tumbled nearly 48% this year and in recent weeks, four top officers at the company have sold off $100 million in stock, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Musk, the owner of X, reposted reactions to Trump's comments on Friday, including one that said "ESPECIALLY the funders" should be held responsible for these attacks.

A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.

Trump suggests Tesla vandals should be sent to prison in El Salvador originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Meggan Randall Sundwall faces charges of first-degree felony aggravated murder. Photograph: Komsan Loonprom/Shutterstock

A registered nurse in Utah allegedly convinced a woman that she had terminal cancer, injected unprescribed insulin into her, and killed her with that method while plotting to collect more than $1m from the victims life insurance, according to police.

Meggan Randall Sundwall faces charges of first-degree felony aggravated murder as well as obstruction of justice after her recent arrest in the death of Kacee Lynn Terry, 38, authorities said in documents that spell out the unusually grim case and were reported by various Utah news outlets.

As investigators tell it, Sundwall, 47, believed she was the beneficiary of a $1.5m life insurance policy held by Terry, who was purportedly her friend. They had exchanged tens of thousands of text messages since 2019, revealing that Terry evidently believed she had cancer, with Sundwall sharing how she would kill herself if she were in Terrys position, court documents alleged.

Police said the pair also texted about Sundwalls having money problems and how they would be solved by receiving money from Terrys life insurance policy, which investigators portrayed as rumored.

Sundwall even allegedly offered to help Terry die  which she did, in August.

Investigators became suspicious of Sundwall after Terrys uncle called first responders to Terrys home for a medical emergency. Terrys uncle told police he found her unresponsive in her bedroom in the community of Highland, as Utahs Deseret News reported.

Sundwall, who was in the room and reportedly said she had been the only other person there that day, claimed Terry had been unconscious and unable to breathe for a couple of hours  and, having a do-not-resuscitate order, would not have wanted to go to the hospital.

First responders took note of a diabetic needle at the scene and took Terry  who was not diagnosed with diabetes  to a local hospital. Doctors determined that her blood sugar level was 14, or well below the life-threatening figure of 40, as KUTV noted.

Medical staff pronounced Terry dead three days later, leading to an autopsy that determined she had neither had cancer nor other health issues. Terry had died from an overdose of the allergy medication promethazine, what was probably insulin  which treats diabetes  administered to her from outside her body, and other drugs, the medical examiner in charge of the autopsy concluded.

Police said they interviewed a forensic pathologist who said administering insulin to a person was the only way to get a blood sugar level as low as the one Terry had, according to the Deseret News.

Terry had also never prepared a do-not-resuscitate order, and she had not ever given Sundwall power to make medical decisions on her behalf, said the court documents cited by the Utah news stations KUTV and KTVX.

Police said they later found evidence that Sundwall had pursued information about Terrys life insurance after her death while also deleting more than 900 texts from her phone in an apparent attempt to mislead investigators.

Nonetheless, police said they discovered a text from Sundwall to Terry earlier on the day she had been hospitalized asking: Do you want to take some promethazine when I get there so that you are asleep when this is happening? They also said they had evidence establishing that Sundwall had been seeking to persuade Terry to end her suffering with a fatal dose of insulin, as the Deseret News reported.

Court documents reportedly do not elaborate on why Terry believed she had cancer.

Police charged Sundwall with Terrys murder on Thursday. Court records show she was ordered held without bail pending a pretrial hearing.

In Utah, first-degree felony aggravated murder could carry between 25 years and life in prison.

Prosecutors also have the option of pursuing the death penalty against anyone charged with that crime in particular. But, in Sundwalls case, prosecutors had not immediately said whether they were considering doing so.

Sundwall has had a nursing license since at least 2007, Utah state records show. Records do not list disciplinary actions against her and show she graduated with an associates degree from Utah Valley State in 2006.

Terrys obituary says her survivors include her sister, her brother-in-law and their children. It describes Terry as someone who enjoyed the outdoors, hunting and camping. She had no children, but she loved babysitting, filled the role of mom to many kids and hoped to one day have her own family, the obituary said.

The obituary said Terry landed a job helping adults with disabilities after she was introduced to a company named Chrysalis. Her declining health left her unable to work like she had in the past, but she was able to find great comfort from the companionship of her dog Bella, according to the obituary.
A Utah nurse is accused of killing a friend who she had convinced was sick with cancer so that the nurse could cash in on the womans life insurance policy.

Kacee Lyn Terry, 38, died on Aug. 15, three days after Lone Peak police and firefighters rushed to her home in Highland and found her unconscious and struggling to breathe, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case.

Meggan Randall Sundwall, 47, was arrested Thursday on charges of aggravated murder and obstruction of justice in her friend's death.

Terry was found to have died of an overdose of insulin and the sedative promethazine, the medical examiner ruled.

But she was not diabetic. Her blood-sugar level had reached 14, police said; a level of 40 is considered dangerously low.

Sundwall, a licensed registered nurse, knew giving insulin to a non-diabetic would kill Terry, the affidavit alleged.

Sundwall is accused of engaging in a yearslong plot to convince Terry that she had cancer and to let Sundwall medicate her, the police document stated.

Evidence showed Sundwall was having money problems and had wanted to cash in on a "rumored $1.5 million life insurance policy held by Kacee" that she believed she was the beneficiary of, the affidavit stated.

According to the affidavit, more than 28,000 text messages starting in December 2019 between Terry and Sundwall showed that she "believed that Kacee was very sick."

The text messages detailed ways Sundwall could "help" Terry die and also discussed "Meggans money problems being solved by Kacee dying and Meggan receiving her life insurance payout," the court document said.

On the day first responders came to Terrys home, Sundwall had sent the victim a text message at 9:47 a.m. asking: Do you want to take some promethazine when I get there so that you are asleep when this is happening? police said.

The suspect and victim were alone together in Terrys home from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., police said.

Terry's uncle, Mark Farnsworth, called 911 after he found his niece at her home on Aug. 12 with Sundwall, who told him "that Kacee had a DNR and she did not want to go to the hospital," the affidavit said.

The uncle told police that Terry had "major, major health issues." At the hospital, the victim's sisters said Terry "had terminal cancer for 4-5 years but had been doing better," according to the affidavit.

But in reality, Terry was perfectly fine and had "no cancer and no health problems," the affidavit said.

An exterior view of Utah County Jail, in Spanish Fork, Utah.

Sundwall was being held at the Utah County Jail as of Friday. It was not clear if she had hired or been assigned a criminal defense lawyer.

There was no answer at Sundwall's home landline or her husband's cell phone.

The affidavit made no mention of any proof that Terry had taken out a life insurance policy with Sundwall as the beneficiary.

"A DNR was never located and there was no paperwork designating Meggan power of attorney," the affidavit said.

Highland is a city about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City and 18 miles northwest of Provo.
My visit to Forks, Washington, included many "Twilight" photo opportunities. Amanda Adler

"Twilight" came out 20 years ago, and I visited the place the series is set in: Forks, Washington.

I appreciated that the town was so close to Olympic National Park, and I found it charming.

Forks has tons of fun nods to the series and is near some beautiful beaches and forests.

I've never been a fan of the "Twilight" series. In fact, until last year, I was rather unfamiliar with the films and books  the first of which turns 20 this year.

However, a recent trip to Olympic National Park brought me to the town the series is based in: Forks, Washington. Before heading to the real-life Forks, I decided to finally watch the movies and determine if I was Team Edward or Team Jacob.

As it turns out, I'm neither. However, I did enjoy the (somewhat cheesy) films more than I thought I would.

And it's a good thing I watched them before my visit to Forks, as the town is brimming with props from the movies and gift shops capitalizing on the "Twilight" success.

As I arrived in Forks, I was greeted with the town's famous welcome sign.

The Forks welcome sign has become a popular photo spot. Amanda Adler

Forks is a fairly small logging town (about 4 square miles) with a few thousand residents.

In the years since "Twilight" was released, it's welcomed tens of thousands of tourists a year.

It didn't take me long to find movie props in town.

The Forks Chamber of Commerce had trucks outside of it. Amanda Adler

Although the series is set in Forks, the movies weren't actually filmed here.

Still, I found Bella Swan's truck from the movies in town, plus a mock-up of what her character drove in the books.

These props were prominently displayed in front of the Forks Chamber of Commerce, where I also found helpful maps of the area.

I also passed a small museum with props and costumes from the movie.

I found "Twilight"-inspired merchandise throughout town. Amanda Adler

Nearby, a small museum houses other props and costumes from the "Twilight" movies, including a doll version of Bella and Edward's daughter, Renesmee.

The museum had a long line out front, so I skipped it. However, I found plenty of merchandise featuring the Renesmee doll in stores throughout town.

Gift shops throughout Forks sold a seemingly endless array of "Twilight" merchandise.

"Twilight" fans could find just about anything here. Amanda Adler

As I wandered around Forks, I found shirts, magnets, bumper stickers, drinkware, and more with references to the "Twilight" series.

A number of the town's eateries also offered menu items with names nodding to the franchise, such as a "(Porta)Bella Burger."

In addition to serving as the setting of "Twilight," Forks is centrally located to many popular sights in Olympic National Park.

Olympic National Park isn't too far from Forks. Amanda Adler

Olympic National Park is what initially brought me to the area, and I found Forks was a pretty great home base for exploring it.

The town is between the Olympic Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, about 45 minutes from the national park.

The nearby Hoh Rain Forest transported me right into the books and movies.

Hoh Rain Forest was fun to explore. Amanda Adler

The nearby Hoh Rain Forest features trails through towering, moss-covered trees that evoke the setting of the books and movies.

The shade provided by this forested setting makes it easy to see how Edward was able to hide his glittering "skin of a killer."

I didn't visit the beaches in La Push, but I enjoyed a similar setting at nearby Rialto Beach.

Rialto Beach felt moody and cool. Amanda Adler

La Push is a hot hangout spot in the "Twilight" series  and it's also a real place near Forks.

On my trip, I visited Rialto Beach, located next to La Push, which seemed to offer similar vibes. Huge driftwood logs sat along the rocky shoreline, and soaring sea stacks gave the beach an eerie look.

Rialto Beach was also a great spot to explore the region's colorful tidepools.

We saw a bunch of creatures in the rocks. Amanda Adler

The beach's craggy rock formations were teeming with life.

Hiking out to see the green, pink, and orange sea stars, sea cucumbers, and anemones during low tide was a highlight of my trip.

I didn't encounter blood-sucking fiends during my visit to Forks, but I did fall in love with the town.

I didn't see any vampires during my visit to Forks. Amanda Adler

Although my visit didn't turn me into a die-hard "Twilight" fan, I did have a delightfully fun and beautiful trip.

The enduring appeal of the "Twilight" series  even years after the first novel was released  felt evident everywhere I went in Forks.

I thought the town felt charming and campy. Plus, the area's natural Pacific Northwest beauty just can't be beat.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A drone pilot in Hawaii caught sight of a mother whale and her baby off the coast, but the baby was in distress, with a long net tangled around their body. They sent out a distress call to authorities from NOAA and other whale services to try to find this pair and cut the baby free before the worst came to pass.

Baby whale caught in net off Oahus north shore, reads the caption on this disturbing video of a whale breaching and rolling in an attempt to get the nets off their body. If anyone sees this little guy around contact NOAA disentanglement hotline. Last seen off Alii beach park a few weeks ago. NOAA was contacted and responded but were unsuccessful in removing all the net, so it is still somewhere around north shore tangled.

Related: Whale Teaches Her Baby the Majestic Art of Breaching the Waves in Hawaiian Harbor

The net is shoved around the whales head and tangled in one of its limbs and its rolling and leaping in an attempt to free it from the lines. Its mother is also rubbing against it, trying desperately to get the net free.

Apparently, NOAA and other entanglement specialists were able to locate the animal butt hey could not completely free it from the net during their intervention. Were hoping the whale and their mother have eventually managed to break free from these lines.

Update: a report from NOAA specifies that they were able to cut most of the nets off the baby whale before it swam away. What a relief.

The Danger of Marine Debris

This disturbing video shows the danger of marine debris, which can prove dangerous and even deadly to all kin dose wildlife, particularly marine mammals, who can drown if they become caught in nets and cannot surface to breathe. Tens of millions of tons of debris is washed into our oceans every year, and most are plastics that do not easily break down and form a constant danger to our marine life.

Why Whales Breach

Mother whales teach their babies to breach for several reasons, from stunning prey to dislodging parasites, which is the impulse the whale is probably engaging in here, mistaking the net for an animals that has lodged onto its sides.

Its a tiring activity for the whale though, and takes a ton of energy to propel their whole body out of the water like this. Debris like this can easily tire out this baby and possibly lead to injury or death.

Were relieved to hear that the baby whale in this case was able to be located and freed from its bindings. Thank you, NOAA!

Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos.

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Over 25 million Americans remain under red flag warnings on Saturday, as warm, dry and windy conditions continue to heighten the risk of wildfires.

Much of the fire threat stretches across the Central U.S., but parts of the Southeast are also under an elevated risk.

The red flag warnings could even impact major cities including Raleigh, Atlanta and Denver.

A wildfire in southeast Miami-Dade, Florida, was 65% contained as of Saturday afternoon, local officials said.

"Firefighters continue working around the clock to contain the fire. So far today there have been no road closures to and from the Florida Keys, but we continue to advise residents and commuters to stay informed and alert in case conditions change," Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.

PHOTO: fire danger map (ABC News)

While many areas face an elevated threat for fires Saturday, parts of New Mexico and West Texas face a critical threat. Sustained winds between 15-25 mph (and higher gusts), warm temperatures and low relative humidity will contribute to the heightened threat.

In the Southeast, the greatest risk is across portions of the Carolinas and extending into northern Georgia where the Red Flag Warnings have been issued until 8 p.m. ET this evening. Winds will be gusty, but not very strong in the region. Its the combination of very dry conditions and gusty winds elevating the fire danger in these areas.

The more critical fire danger will be focused across parts of the Plains later this afternoon into the evening hours where the winds will be stronger, and the air will be even drier. Red Flag Warnings are stretching from the Texas Panhandle up to South Dakota. The Denver metro area is under a Red Flag Warning. In these areas, wind gusts of 40-50 mph are possible in the coming hours.

It remains warm and dry in South Florida; however, light winds Saturday will give way to very calm winds in the evening so firefighters should be able to keep gaining ground.

The overall fire danger improves on Sunday, mostly due to calmer winds, but many areas will remain dry through the weekend. The fire threat will still be elevated Sunday for parts of the southern Plains, from the Texas Panhandle to western Nebraska.

PHOTO: strong winds graphic (ABC News)

Heavy snow and a wintry mix are expected across parts of the Upper Midwest and northern Great Lakes, where winter weather alerts are in effect for parts of northeastern Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Snowfall totals ranging between 3 to 7 inches are possible, along with a light glaze of ice accumulations. However, areas farther north could expect heavier and steadier snow, leading to higher totals.

MORE: Residents told to 'leave now' as wildfires threaten Oklahoma towns

Heavy rain and thunderstorms associated with the same storm system are likely farther south, where parts of the Mid-Mississippi River Valley could even encounter a few severe storms. mainly rain and thunderstorms.

A good portion of Missouri and eastern Kansas, along with the northeastern corner of Oklahoma and northwestern corner of Arkansas, are under a marginal risk (level 1 of 5) for severe storms this evening and overnight. Damaging winds and the potential for large hail remains the biggest concern, but a tornado or two cant entirely be ruled out either.

PHOTO: This image provided by the New Mexico State Forestry Division shows firefighters battling a wildfire in southern New Mexico, March 18, 2025. (Caleb Finch/New Mexico State Forestry Division via AP)

As this storm system heads farther east on Sunday, the threat for severe weather will increase across the Lower Mississippi River Valley and Deep South. Heavy rain from storms could also lead to flash flooding, especially in prone areas.

Over 4 million are under a slight risk (level 2 of 5) for severe storms Sunday afternoon and evening from Texas up through Tennessee. Again, the threat for damaging winds and hail remains the biggest concern, but a few tornadoes are also possible.

Over 25 million remain under red flag warnings with heightened risk of wildfires originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
The report on North Korea by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has been presented. Only workers sent abroad to finance the regime are able to escape, and even United Nations agencies have difficulty entering the country. Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un receives Shoigu in Pyongyang, reiterating the unwavering support of North Korean soldiers for the Russian war in Ukraine.

Milan (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Despite the easing of measures decreed during Covid19, it remains very difficult to leave North Korea. This is according to a recent report presented by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to the UN Human Rights Council, which records a drastic drop in escapes from Pyongyang in recent years.

From January to September 2024, only 181 North Korean defectors - 159 women and 22 men - entered South Korea; the previous year there had been 196. This is much less than the 1,047 in 2019, the last year before the hermetic closure of the borders imposed due to Covid. According to the authors of the report, this is a sign that restrictions on movement remain common and heavy in North Korea.

There has also been a change in the demographics of defectors: many of those arriving in South Korea in recent years were workers sent abroad - mainly to China and Russia - to generate foreign currency for the Kim Jong Un regime, rather than trafficked women who once made up the majority of defectors.

The OHCHR document also denounces serious human rights violations within North Korea, based on the testimonies of 175 defectors collected between November 2022 and October 2023. The abuses concern detention facilities, chronic food shortages, ideological control through public executions and other acts that could constitute international crimes.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has urged North Korea to recognise the existence of human rights violations and to grant access to international human rights groups.

Just at the beginning of this month, several reports spoke of a step backwards by Pyongyang regarding the reopening of the only gateway for foreign tourists into the country.

Although some foreign embassies, such as those of Cuba, India, Poland and Sweden, have resumed operations in Pyongyang since the second half of 2024, United Nations organisations and those providing humanitarian aid still face restrictions on entry into the country, according to a separate report presented to the Human Rights Council by Elizabeth Salmon, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea. The country's malnutrition rate has been estimated at an average of 45.5% over the past three years.

Meanwhile, today North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reiterated his unwavering support for Russia's war in Ukraine during a meeting in Pyongyang with Sergei Shoigu, secretary of the Russian Security Council. At the end of February, South Korean intelligence reported that North Korea would probably send additional troops to Russia after its forces suffered heavy losses.

North Korean and Russian state media said Kim and Shoigu discussed various issues, including Russia's war in Ukraine, Moscow's talks with the Trump administration, and the security situation on the Korean peninsula.

The two reaffirmed the willingness of the leaders of the two countries to unconditionally respect an important mutual defence treaty reached at a summit held last year in Pyongyang, which provides for mutual aid in the event of aggression by one of the two countries.
Today's news: trilateral summit in Tokyo between the foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and China; Pakistan authorise Elon Musk's Starlink to operate in the country; NGOs report that there are also eleven pregnant women among the hundreds of former slaves from the online scam centres in Myanmar trapped in the camps on the Thai border; Progress against child labour in India.

LEBANON-ISRAEL

With the massive resumption of Israeli operations in Gaza, the front between Israel and Lebanon is flaring up again. This morning five rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel, presumably by Hezbollah militias. The rockets were intercepted but Israeli Defence Minister Katz is threatening harsh reprisals on Beirut. Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam urged the army to take the necessary measures to make it clear that only the state has the power to decide on war and peace. Last night, an Israeli raid hit an air base in Palmyra, Syria, injuring two Syrian soldiers.

SOUTH KOREA-JAPAN-CHINA

South Korea, Japan and China have reaffirmed that guaranteeing peace on the Korean peninsula is in the common interest of the three countries and a shared responsibility. This was stated by the South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul after the three-way talks with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya in Tokyo. During the press conference Wang Yi emphasised to journalists the importance of multilateralism and free trade towards an inclusive development of economic globalisation, with a clear allusion to Trump's aggressive tariff policy.

PAKISTAN

Starlink - Elon Musk's company for satellite internet connections - has obtained permission from the Pakistani government to start operating in the country. The Minister for Information Technology, Shaza Fatima, stated that Starlink has been granted temporary registration on the recommendation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and with the consent of the security agencies. The arrival of Starlink in Pakistan, she added, will mark the formal launch of satellite Internet services.

THAILAND-MYANMAR

Eleven pregnant women are among the hundreds of people stranded in Thailand after being lured there by online scams in Myanmar. The Civil Society Network for Human Trafficking Victims Assistance reported the situation to Reuters, saying that the women are receiving little medical assistance and have insufficient food in the camp where they are being held. They add that another woman had a miscarriage two days ago. For weeks Thailand has been coordinating efforts to repatriate 7,372 people of about 20 different nationalities (including China): the Thai Foreign Ministry has stated that more than 2,400 people are still at the border.

INDIA

A new study conducted by the Just Rights for Children Alliance, a coalition of child rights NGOs, has stated that child labour in the Indian incense stick production industry has decreased significantly. The study, conducted in Bihar, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, only uncovered cases in 8% of the businesses. The incense stick industry has made significant progress in eliminating child labour, thanks to greater awareness, political interventions and stricter regulations. However, we must remain vigilant, as there are still pockets of child labour, especially in the domestic sector, the report states.

RUSSIA-SYRIA

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a letter to the interim head of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharah, to express his support for the stabilisation of the country in the interest of guaranteeing its sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity, reiterating Russia's continued willingness to develop all-round cooperation.

KYRGYZSTAN

The director of the Kyrgyzstan Institute of Water Issues, Rysbek Satylkanov, appeared on a television programme to explain that the glaciers in the highlands of the country have been melting faster since the 1990s, so that the volume of watercourses is much higher than in the 1960s and 1970s, and they require appropriate regulation and utilisation measures.
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22 March 2025 19:58 (UTC+04:00)

Akbar Novruz Read more

Qatar, with its burgeoning economy and deep financial reserves, has long been a crucial partner for Azerbaijan, both politically and economically. Yet, the recent surge in remittances signals something more: a growing financial interdependence between the two countries, fuelled by increasingly robust migration and labor ties. As Azerbaijans total remittances from abroad slumped by over a third in 2024, the growth of funds from Qatar provides a sharp contrast, pointing to Qatars increasing role as a vital source of income for many Azerbaijani families.

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22 March 2025 15:16 (UTC+04:00)

Nazrin Abdul Read more

The "Artificial Intelligence Strategy of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 20252028," recently approved by President Ilham Aliyev, marks a significant step in the countrys digital transformation. The strategy outlines comprehensive goals aimed at enhancing artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and integration within key sectors of the economy and governance. This initiative is poised to position Azerbaijan as a competitive player in the global AI landscape, with ambitions that go beyond technological development to encompass ethical, legal, and societal considerations.

Strategic vision and goals

Azerbaijans AI Strategy is multifaceted, with a clear purpose to accelerate the development and application of AI technologies across various sectors. The overarching goals of the strategy are to enhance the competitiveness of Azerbaijans economy, create an enabling environment for AI adoption, and foster a qualified workforce that can drive this technological revolution. The strategy also places significant emphasis on societal outreach, aiming to make AIs benefits accessible to all members of society.

However, the strategys success will largely depend on the effective alignment of national priorities with global AI trends and the strategic collaboration between public and private sectors. By establishing a regulatory legal framework, the government aims to lay the groundwork for responsible AI use, ensuring ethical practices, data privacy, and the protection of citizens rights. This proactive approach in creating legal norms and ethical principles reflects a recognition of the potential risks posed by unchecked AI development, especially in a global context where such frameworks are still evolving.

AI integration into national sectors

The strategy highlights the importance of AI in priority sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, transportation, and education. The deployment of AI systems within these sectors is expected to bring about substantial improvements in efficiency, service delivery, and resource optimization. For instance, in healthcare, AI can enhance diagnostic accuracy, optimize treatment plans, and improve healthcare management systems. In transportation, AI-driven solutions can lead to more efficient traffic management systems and safer roads.

While these applications are promising, the implementation of AI across these diverse sectors will require careful planning and resource allocation. The identification of national priority sectors is crucial; however, balancing the needs of each sector without over-concentrating resources in one area will be a challenge. To mitigate this risk, thorough sectoral analyses will need to guide decision-making, ensuring that AI investments are both equitable and aligned with national priorities.

AI workforce development

A pivotal aspect of Azerbaijans strategy is the focus on building a skilled workforce capable of supporting the AI industry. This includes specialized training programs for state officials and key personnel within the private sector. By preparing individuals with the necessary expertise, Azerbaijan aims to address the talent shortage that is often seen as a barrier to AI development in many countries.

However, the pace at which educational institutions can produce AI professionals and specialists will determine the timeline for realizing the strategys goals. The country will need to ensure that its educational programs keep pace with the rapidly evolving demands of the AI field. Additionally, collaboration with international educational institutions and AI research centers will be essential to providing local talent with access to global knowledge and best practices.

Data management and infrastructure

A robust data infrastructure is the foundation upon which AI applications thrive. In this regard, the strategy outlines plans to enhance Azerbaijans data management capabilities, improve data security, and strengthen its computing infrastructure. The emphasis on developing high-level computing infrastructure, especially for AI model training, is crucial for ensuring that Azerbaijan can effectively deploy advanced AI technologies.

Despite these plans, the country faces challenges related to the financial and technical resources required for such an extensive infrastructure overhaul. Without adequate investment and the strategic allocation of funds, the development of this infrastructure could be hindered. Azerbaijan must therefore explore innovative funding mechanisms, such as public-private partnerships, to ensure that these infrastructure projects are adequately supported and sustained.

Promoting ethical AI and legislative frameworks

A standout feature of Azerbaijans AI strategy is the emphasis on establishing a regulatory legal framework that promotes responsible and ethical AI use. By 2027, Azerbaijan intends to create a legal framework that will set the standards for AI development, ensuring compliance with global best practices in AI ethics. This move is particularly critical, as AI technologies often operate at the intersection of innovation and regulation, where clear guidelines are essential to prevent misuse, discrimination, and bias.

The strategy proposes that Azerbaijan align its AI legislation with international norms, ensuring that local AI systems are developed and deployed within a transparent, fair, and accountable framework. While this is an ambitious goal, the successful execution of this initiative will require continuous collaboration between legislative bodies, AI researchers, and technology developers.

Business environment and investment opportunities

The strategy recognizes the importance of creating a favorable business environment to attract both local and foreign investments in AI. By offering preferential loans, guarantees, and other financial incentives, the government seeks to incentivize AI innovation within the private sector. Furthermore, Azerbaijan is working to establish technology parks and industrial zones that foster AI-related startups and research projects.

A key challenge in this regard is the size and maturity of the domestic market. The relatively small scale of Azerbaijans technology ecosystem may initially limit its appeal to larger foreign investors. To mitigate this, the country will need to strengthen its international partnerships and promote cross-border collaborations, particularly in sectors where AI applications have a global impact, such as healthcare, agriculture, and transportation.

Risks and mitigation strategies

While the AI Strategy is comprehensive, there are several potential risks that could impact its successful implementation. One of the main risks is the uneven distribution of resources across identified priority sectors. Disputes over sector prioritization and resource allocation may lead to inefficiencies, undermining the strategys overall effectiveness. To counteract this, a data-driven, consultative approach should be employed when identifying priority sectors, ensuring that investments are balanced and aligned with sectoral needs.

Another challenge lies in the implementation of data-driven decision-making and the development of high-level computing infrastructure. Resource limitations could hinder the progress of these initiatives. To address this, Azerbaijan will need to explore innovative funding avenues, including partnerships with international donors and investors, to ensure the necessary resources are secured.

Establishing an AI Laboratory

In a further demonstration of commitment to AI advancement, Azerbaijan has also initiated the establishment of an AI laboratory under AzInTelecom, an arm of Azerbaijan International Telecom. This laboratory, with a projected cost of 7.1 million manats, will serve as a hub for AI research and development, positioning Azerbaijan as a regional leader in AI technology. The laboratory's creation reflects a broader governmental push to foster an innovation ecosystem that nurtures AI startups, research projects, and technological advancements.

The "Artificial Intelligence Strategy of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 20252028" represents a bold vision for the future of AI in the country. While there are clear opportunities for technological and economic advancement, successful execution of the strategy will depend on strategic planning, collaborative efforts, and the timely allocation of resources. If Azerbaijan can overcome the challenges associated with talent development, infrastructure investment, and ethical AI governance, it has the potential to emerge as a prominent player in the global AI ecosystem.
22 March 2025 16:39 (UTC+04:00)

In January-February 2025, Azerbaijan imported cocoa and cocoa-based products worth $24.89 million, marking a 6.2% decrease compared to the same period in 2024, Azernews reports, citing the State Customs Committee.

At the same time, Azerbaijan exported cocoa and related products worth $2.17 million, representing a 36.9% increase from the previous year.

During this period, cocoa imports made up 0.6% of Azerbaijans total imports, while cocoa exports accounted for 0.05% of total exports.

Overall, Azerbaijan's foreign trade turnover in the first two months of the year reached $8.9 billion, reflecting a 23.2% increase compared to 2024. Exports totaled $4.76 billion, slightly decreasing by 0.3%, whereas imports surged by 69.1% to $4.14 billion.
22 March 2025 13:50 (UTC+04:00)

To mark the 140th anniversary of Uzeyir Hajibeyli, the renowned composers famous operetta Arshin Mal Alan will be staged in Vienna once again, after a 19-year hiatus, according to Azernews.

The production will be showcased at the prestigious Akcent Theater in central Vienna in late October and early November.

The creative team for the operetta is led by director Rita Seraynig, along with artistic director and conductor Michael Schnack. To ensure thorough preparation for the project, the team visited Baku, accompanied by Leyla Gasimova, director of the Azerbaijani Culture Center in Vienna, and Elgun Niftali, deputy director.

During their visit, the team toured the house-museum of Uzeyir Hajibeyli. Sardar Farajov, People's Artist and composer, provided the visitors with detailed information on the museum's history and exhibits. Under his guidance, they explored the composers personal belongings, musical instruments, and handwritten manuscripts.

The performance will feature Austrian performers, with the arias sung in Azerbaijani and the libretto presented in German. This production aims to further promote Uzeyir Hajibeylis timeless legacy and Azerbaijani culture in Europe.
22 March 2025 17:00 (UTC+04:00)

The Erasmus Student Network (ESN), Europe's largest student network, organized a Cultural Dinner event in Brussels, bringing together international students to celebrate global cultures and national cuisines.

According to Azernews, the event aimed to promote cultural exchange by introducing students to diverse traditions, customs, and gastronomy from around the world.

The Azerbaijani-Belgian Student Association IRS, supported by the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Belgium, actively participated in the event, showcasing Azerbaijans rich culinary heritage. Guests were treated to Azerbaijani national dishes, while organizers provided insights into Azerbaijans cultural traditions, including Novruz, one of the countrys most cherished holidays. The customs and rituals of Novruz, such as the preparation of traditional sweets and symbolic elements like the Samani (sprouted wheat), were explained to attendees.

Adding to the events vibrancy, Azerbaijani national dances were performed during the artistic segment, captivating the audience with their colorful costumes and energetic choreography. The performances, along with enthusiastic presentations, were warmly received by international participants, further enhancing Azerbaijans cultural visibility in Europe.
22 March 2025 20:48 (UTC+04:00)

For Azerbaijanis living far from their homeland, the traditions of Novruz continue to hold deep significance. Renowned Azerbaijani artist Heyran Mustafa-Zade recently celebrated this cherished holiday by hosting a special presentation on Azerbaijani culture and history for a local audience in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

The event was held at the "Cerebrum" Association, which supports individuals with brain injuries. This organization, which takes into account the life challenges faced by people with various diagnoses, regularly organizes seminars and presentations on a wide range of topics for its members and their families. The timing of the presentation, coinciding with the Novruz celebrations, was no coincidence. Heyran Mustafa-Zade specifically chose this date to highlight the symbolic significance of the holiday and to introduce the rich cultural heritage of Azerbaijan.

Titled "Azerbaijan  A Country Full of Patterns," the presentation was structured into four sections. Attendees were given a thorough introduction to Azerbaijans history and natural beauty, its vibrant culture and arts, as well as the contrasts that define its way of life. The final segment of the presentation was dedicated to the Novruz holiday itself. Following the interactive part of the event, guests were treated to traditional Novruz sweets, which further enhanced the festive atmosphere.

Heyran Mustafa-Zade is an Azerbaijani artist living and working in Prague. She is the founder of the "Heyranam" Art Center and actively participates in exhibitions across the Czech Republic and beyond. Currently, the artist is preparing for her third solo exhibition in Prague, scheduled for July. We extend our best wishes to Heyran for her continued creative success as she continues to share Azerbaijani culture with the world.
22 March 2025 10:25 (UTC+04:00)

Nazrin Abdul Read more

The 69th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), which took place from 10 to 21 March at the UN Headquarters in New York, was a milestone moment for womens rights. Thus, the UNs largest annual gathering on gender equality and womens empowerment reviewed the progress made on the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which remains the most revolutionary plan on gender equality to date.

Besides, at the CSW69, a resolution entitled "Release of women and children taken hostage during armed conflicts, including those detained in their continuation," was adopted at the initiative of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

This is also an example of Azerbaijan's consistently active role in the UN and its attention to global issues occurring worldwide.

The Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the UN says that, this resolution, which has been proposed every two years since 1994, addresses the issue of hostage-taking in armed conflicts, paying special attention to women and children. The resolution confirms that such acts are inherently illegal and unjustified.

The resolution condemns all acts of violence committed against civilians in violation of international humanitarian law during armed conflicts and calls for effective responses, in particular the immediate release of women and children who have been taken hostage.

The resolution also calls on States to take prompt action to determine the fate and whereabouts of women and children taken hostage, stresses the need to enhance accountability, and emphasizes the obligation of all States to investigate, prosecute, or hold accountable those found guilty of war crimes in accordance with international law.

Adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, it set the stage for equal rights for all women and girls. The world today is more equal for women and girls than ever before. Women have fought forand wonthe right to vote, work, and lead. More girls are in school than at any time in history. More countries criminalize domestic violencebefore 1995, only 12 countries had legal sanctions against it. A new wave of fearless, youth-led activism is rising across the world, demanding rights, equality, empowerment, but global pushback on womens rights threatens to undermine hard won gains and progress remains too slow.
21 March 2025 21:38 (UTC+04:00)

Georgias Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has sent a congratulatory letter to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of Novruz holiday,Azernews reports.

"Your Excellency,

Allow me to sincerely congratulate you on the occasion of Novruz Bayram on behalf of the Government of Georgia and the Georgian people. This holiday symbolizes new life, unity, and prosperity, and holds great significance in the context of the friendship and strategic partnership between our countries. I wish you and the people of Azerbaijan peace, tranquility, prosperity, and extend my best wishes to you.

I highly appreciate the level of the relations between Georgia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. These relations are a manifestation of the traditional sincere and friendly neighborhood ties between our peoples. Our effective and multilateral cooperation in various fields, conditioned by common regional interests, serves as an exemplary model and provides a solid foundation for the well-being and development of our peoples.

I am confident that our existing cooperation will be further strengthened through our joint efforts. In the face of global challenges, I would like to emphasize once again the immense importance of our cooperation for maintaining peace and stability in the region."
22 March 2025 12:17 (UTC+04:00)

Pakistans Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Qasim Mohiuddin, has expressed his condolences following the tragic deaths of two soldiers in an avalanche in Gadabay, the ambassador wrote on X, Azernews reports.

"We extend our heartfelt condolences to the government and people of our brotherly Azerbaijan on the tragic loss of two soldiers in an avalanche in Gadabay on March 19. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families," the publication reads.

The bodies of Azerbaijan Army's servicemen, soldier Imanov Ali and soldier Ruslan Hamidov, who were caught in an avalanche in foggy weather conditions while returning from their duty station located in the territory of the Gadabay region, were found yesterday.
22 March 2025 17:46 (UTC+04:00)

A festive Novruz event was held in Tbilisi on March 22, bringing together dignitaries, diplomats, and the local Azerbaijani community to celebrate the ancient spring holiday.

According to Azernews, the event was jointly organized by Tbilisi City Hall, the Council of Elders of Azerbaijanis in Georgia, and the Mirza Fatali Akhundzade Museum of Azerbaijani Culture. Among the high-profile attendees were Georgias Minister of Reintegration, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, the Chairman of the Sakrebulo, and the ambassadors of Azerbaijan, Turkiye, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Turkmenistan.

The celebration featured traditional Novruz symbols, folk music, and dances, creating a vibrant atmosphere. One of the highlights was the participation of Azerbaijans Ambassador to Georgia, Faig Guliyev, and Mayor Kaladze in the traditional egg-fighting ritual. The event also included art exhibitions and the symbolic lighting of the Novruz bonfire.

Speakers at the event emphasized Novruzs role as a symbol of peace, unity, and friendship, underscoring how the holiday fosters deeper cultural and social ties between Azerbaijanis and Georgians.

Guests also enjoyed Azerbaijani cuisine, sharing in the holidays spirit of renewal and togetherness.
22 March 2025 11:39 (UTC+04:00)

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OPEC+ on Thursday issued a new schedule for seven member nations to make further oil output cuts to compensate for pumping above agreed levels, which will more than overtake the monthly production hikes the group plans to introduce next month. The plan will represent monthly cuts of between ...

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22 March 2025 09:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Alimat Aliyeva

During the inaugural meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, concrete steps to expand cooperation between the two neighboring countries were discussed, Azernews reports.

"The reports from government agencies of both countries on expanding cooperation in areas such as trade, industrial collaboration, transport and logistics, water relations, and cultural exchange were presented," the statement reads.

The ministers also addressed current issues on the regional and international agenda. They reiterated their commitment to deepening cooperation within multilateral frameworks and expressed their readiness to continue supporting each other in advancing the initiatives of both nations.

The Foreign Ministers emphasized the significance of furthering regional collaboration and joint efforts to enhance stability and sustainable development in Central Asia. This includes strengthening mechanisms like the Consultative Meetings of the Heads of State of Central Asia, the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, and the CA+ formats.

During their visit, the ministers toured the cultural sites of Khiva, including the historical center of Ichan-Kala, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Nurullabaya Palace, a remarkable example of Khorezm's traditional architectural style. These sites, steeped in history, showcase the rich cultural heritage that underpins the close ties between the two countries.

The establishment of the Council of Foreign Ministers is a significant milestone in Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan relations. This mechanism will likely lead to more structured and systematic dialogue between the two countries, ensuring that shared goals, like regional stability and economic growth, are pursued in a coordinated manner.
22 March 2025 06:01 (UTC+04:00)

Gunmen riding a motorbike fired eight shots at the facade of the Iraqi consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Friday, the Iraqi foreign ministry said, in an incident that Turkiye said caused no casualties, according to Reuters.

"In the evening hours today, individuals on motorcycles have opened fire on Iraq's Consulate in Istanbul. There was no loss of life or material in the incident," Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Oncu Keceli said in a statement.

"The necessary investigation is being carried out diligently by our security units and identification efforts are under way. The perpetrators will be brought to justice."

Iraq's foreign ministry said the gunmen used AK-47 assault rifles before fleeing. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

"Iraq appreciates the swift response of the Turkish authorities and the security measures they have taken, emphasizing the importance of strengthening the necessary measures to protect diplomatic missions in accordance with international agreements," the ministry added in a statement.
22 March 2025 09:55 (UTC+04:00)

Russia and Ukraine will sit in neighbouring rooms and negotiate a ceasefire plan through US intermediaries shuttling back and forth, the White House has said.

US President Donald Trumps Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, confirmed talks on the US proposal for a ceasefire would begin on Monday in Saudi Arabia.

Kellogg said that the US delegation at the Saudi talks will include some of his own staff along with teams for National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Policy Planning Director Michael Anton from the State Department.

"Theyre going to be proximity discussions, meaning one group is going to be in this room, one group in this room, and they [American representatives - ed.] will sit and talk, go back and forth, sort of like shuttle diplomacy in a hotel," Kellogg said.

Source within the Ukrainian government gave a similar account of the planned talks in Saudi Arabia.
22 March 2025 18:37 (UTC+04:00)

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned Saturday that Moscow reserves the right to respond, including "symmetrically," if Ukraine continues attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, Azernews reports.

Zakharova accused Ukraine of violating a US-brokered understanding that aimed to prevent attacks on energy facilities.

"Despite the agreement, which Kiev seemed to have officially supported, treacherous attacks on Russian territory continue," she said, describing the Ukrainian government as a "Nazi regime" and alleging it also targets civilian sites.
22 March 2025 20:16 (UTC+04:00)

At least 44 people have been killed in an attack on a mosque in the village of Fonbita in the Kokorou region in southwestern Niger, according to the country's interior minister.

Minister Toumba noted that the attack, in which 44 people were killed and 13 others were injured, 4 of them seriously, was carried out by groups affiliated with the ISIS terrorist organization.

The government has declared 72 hours of national mourning starting today in response to the attack.
22 March 2025 21:19 (UTC+04:00)

The list includes unmanned aerial vehicles, land and sea drones, medical equipment, and other equipment manufactured in Estonia.

The assistance was formed by transferring a list of necessary equipment to Tallinn, which will be purchased from Estonian defense companies.

This was reported by the Estonian Ministry of Defense.

The Estonian government has announced a 100 million military aid package for Ukraine.

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How and When You Might Catch Northern Lights Tonight in Oregon, Washington, the Coast

Published 03/22/25 at 7:25 a.m.

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Portland, Oregon)  A decent chance for catching the northern lights in the Pacific Northwest is one way to kick off spring break. Indeed, that is just what's happening tonight in Oregon and Washington  except, of course, for the weather. (Above: aurora borealis in Seaside this year - Seaside Aquarium)

A sizable coronal mass ejection (CME) rocketed its way out of the sun on March 17 and then again on March 21, and the remnants are even now showering the Earth with charged particles, creating some northern lights possibilities already.

Now, there's a geomagnetic storm watch in effect, with a category G3 predicted. The alert is now until Tuesday, with tonight (Saturday) likely being the best time to catch it along the Oregon coast, Washington coast or inland areas.

The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in Colorado issued the watch, with tonight expected to hit the Kp index of 6 or 7. Timing is likely just after sunset to 2 a.m., with the strongest being predicted about 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., according to the SWPC as of this writing.





This is considered a strong storm, but nothing like what we saw in May or at those really spectacular moments in summer and fall of 2024. However, our mid latitudes may well get to see it (but northern Washington is a much safer bet).

Aurora may be seen as low as Pennsylvania to Iowa to Oregon, the SWPC said.



Port Orford - courtesy DiscoverPortOrford.com

This event will be faint for areas like Seaside, Portland, Coos Bay, Bend, Newport or Salem: the graphic from the SWPC shows the outer edge just into northern Oregon. This is mostly good news for photographers but not those looking with just their eyes.

- Washington Coast Weather - Oregon Coast Weather - Inland Oregon Weather

Areas along the Washington coast or Oregon coast would be perfect because of the lack of light interference  however, Mother Nature is going to get in the way. Weather forecasts do not look good along the coastlines and even in northern Washington for this weekend.



Oregon Coast Range - Oregon Coast Beach Connection

However, it's advisable to go outside and look, in case of any breaks.

It's possible that the region may see an even brighter aurora borealis in the midweek, and clouds will be breaking in areas like Portland by Tuesday and Wednesday night. However, those chances are still as yet unverified.

What is the cause of the aurora borealis? The explanation of the northern lights?

First, they are caused by sunspots, which sometimes fire off plasma material from the Sun, according to NASA.

Sunspots are cooler regions on the Sun caused by a concentration of magnetic field lines, NASA said. Sunspots are the visible component of active regions, areas of intense and complex magnetic fields on the Sun that are the source of solar eruptions.

Those CMEs are what causes space weather. They hit the magnetic field generated by geologic forces inside the planet. It's like a shield of magnetism, called the magnetosphere. It lights up when material from the sun smacks into it.

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Oregon Coast Whale Watch Week Begins Amid More Worries About Gray Whale Population

Published 03/18/25 at 6:45 p.m.

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Depoe Bay, Oregon)  Get ready for a veritable parade of whales. Whale Watch Week along the Oregon coast comes back as spring break gets going, happening Saturday, March 22 through Sunday, March 30. (Photo Hatfield Marine Science Center)

Each day, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., knowledgeable Oregon State Park rangers and trained volunteers will be stationed at 14 prime whale-watching locations along the coast. Theyll assist visitors in spotting whales and their calves, as well as answer any questions. However, Cape Foulweather will not be included this year due to ongoing construction.

It's a fantastic time to catch the great cetaceans on their march northward through Oregon and Washington waters  but their numbers may not be increasing after all and it's possible we'll see less and less.

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department's (OPRD) Park Ranger Peter McBride said their migration period towards colder waters happens after they've given birth down south, so you may see some calves alongside.



Seaside Aquarium

Where to go? On the north Oregon coast, volunteers will be at Fort Stevens State Park / Peter Iredale Shipwreck, the Neahkahnie Mountain Overlook at Manzanita and Cape Meares Lighthouse near Oceanside.

On the central Oregon coast, there's Boiler Bay State Scenic Viewpoint, Whale Watching Center, Rocky Creek State Scenic Viewpoint, Newport's Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, Yachats State Recreation Area, the Cape Perpetua Turnout and Heceta Head Lighthouse near Florence.

South Oregon coast spots this year are Umpqua Lighthouse at Reedsport, Shore Acres State Park near Coos Bay, Bandon's Face Rock Scenic Viewpoint and Harris Beach State Park at Brookings.

Oregon Coast Hotels for this event - South Coast Hotels - Oregon Coast Vacation Rentals - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours

This spring, approximately 15,000 gray whales are expected to pass Oregon's coastline during their annual migration back to Alaska, which typically lasts from late winter through June.



Seaside Aquarium

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently declared an end to the Unusual Mortality Event that had been affecting gray whales for about a decade. NOAA and OPRD have passed on larger population numbers, but Oregon whale researchers have a different take.

Newport's Leigh Torres, associate professor from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and Oregon Sea Grant Extension, said the entire population of gray whales along the western continental shelf is more like around 15,000. Most of them will be on the move during this season, which means not quite that number will be roving past the Oregon and Washington coastline during this season.

In spite of the die-off being declared over, Torres said the population is not bouncing back.

Not much evidence of that, she told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. In fact the latest news from the Baja wintering lagoons is observations of many dead whales, and very few calves.

Also see Catching that Cone of Light - False Dusk - Right About Now in Washington, Oregon - Called the Zodiacal Light, it originates in outer space

Reports show at least 40 whales died in that area in recent weeks and many still appear to be emaciated.

Whale spouting at Port Orford - Dave Foley

Out of that approximately 15,000 whales, some 250 of them may be grazing along the region at any give time  from California to northern Canada. These are the residents, Torres said.

One misnomer that comes out of publicity about the resident gray whales is that 250 are wandering Oregon shorelines: it's a much broader range than that.

Still, this doesn't take away from the fact there are often strong showings of whales year-round in the Depoe Bay area and up and down the central Oregon coast. Another hotspot to catch sight of them is the Port Orford Heads area. The twice-yearly migrations bring exceptionally high sightings.

Your chances greatly increase if you take one of the whale watching tours out of Depoe Bay, Newport or the south coast.

The Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during the event. Visitors can explore engaging, interactive whale exhibits and enjoy breathtaking panoramic views of the ocean. Binoculars will be available, and rangers from Oregon State Parks will be present to share insights and answer questions about the whales.

See the Whale Watch page from OPRD







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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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E-commerce expert says launch of website will allow firms here to tap into the wider EU market

Amazon.ie has now been launched in the Republic of Ireland

Online retail giant Amazon has launched Amazon.ie  a move which could present opportunities for retailers north of the border selling goods online.

One expert in e-commerce said those who are already selling on Amazons UK platform could be particularly well-placed to take advantage.

Two local firms  He-shi Tan parent company 4Beauty Group and Electrical World took part in an Amazon event in Dublin ahead of the websites launch this week.

Kevin Traynor, founder of eComm Live and the Irish eCommerce Awards, said it presented opportunities to companies on this side of the border.

The interesting thing about Northern Ireland businesses is that because they are deemed to be in the UK, a lot of them are ahead of the curve because theyve already been selling on Amazon.co.uk, and then as a result of it theyre able to tap into selling into other European countries as well.

I was at the Amazon.ie launch at the headquarters in Dublin and, funnily enough, the two people they had on the panel were experienced retailers, Shelley Martin from 4Beauty Group and John Coalter from Electrical World, who spoke about their experiences.

Kevin Traynor

He said the websites launch was good news for consumers across the island.

He added: Its hard to beat the service that Amazon offers, its next day delivery.

I ordered stuff at 10pm last night and it was here this afternoon. Amazons level of service, the speed at which they get stuff to people, as a consumer, its absolutely going to be a world-class experience.

But the challenge is for the retailers. Some see it as a friend, and theyve built their brands on it.

But some see it as a foe, and see it as cannibalising whats happening in their high street stores, taking away from sales on their own websites.

It depends on your brand, product or service.

From a consumer perspective, Amazon are very, very good at what they do.

For Irish consumers its good, but its going to cause more of a problem potentially for Irish retailers, as they figure out whether it works for their business or not.

Amazon.ie said: Businesses in Northern Ireland have been able to register to sell for the Ireland store since late last year, and the launch of Amazon.ie will offer opportunities for them to reach more customers in Ireland.

Amazon Prime's next day delivery option is a huge draw for consumers

A quick comparison of some key products shows Amazon.co.uk appears to offer cheaper prices, particularly on bigger items.

A Samsung CU7020 Crystal UHD 4K 55in Smart TV is 369 on Amazon.co.uk and 507.23 (424) on Amazon.ie.

A Karcher K 5 Power Control Pressure Washer is 338 on the UK site but 451.99 (378) on Amazon.ie.

The Ireland website says import charges are included in that price but notes the item is available at a lower price from other sellers  though free shipping through Amazon Prime membership would not be available.

Book prices are fairly level between both sites, with a paperback of Patrick Radden Keeffes Say Nothing costing 10.99 (9.19) on Amazon.ie compared to 9.99 on Amazon.co.uk.

On the UK websites Mothers Day section, a Revlon Salon One-Step Hair Dryer & Volumiser is 34.99 after a 30% discount, and 41.61 (34.80) on the Ireland website.

Amazon is now encouraging online shoppers in the Republic to move their Prime membership, which offers free delivery on a range of products and also gives access to Amazon Prime Video, from Amazon.co.uk to Amazon.ie.

Prime membership costs 6.99 per month on Amazon.ie compared to 8.99 (11) for the existing UK Prime membership, which does sound more attractive.

However, the new Irish Prime subscription on Amazon.ie doesnt include family sharing.

eComm Live, an event for ecommerce retailers, takes place at The Assembly Buildings Conference Centre and surrounding venues in Belfast from April 30 to May 1.
Passengers grounded in Belfast as flights to London hub are cancelled after mass power outage caused by substation fire

Passengers' plans were thrown up in the air at the last minute

Travellers from Northern Ireland have expressed disappointment after flights to Heathrow were cancelled on Friday due to a substation fire that caused mass power outages.

The airport was shut down and thousands of homes left without electricity following the blaze in Hayes.

More than 1,300 flights were hit, with passengers told not to travel to the airport, and more than 150 people moved out of their homes.

Some flights had resumed by Friday night, with a full schedule expected to run on Saturday.

All Belfast to Heathrow flights were grounded on Friday.

The Departures board at Belfast City Airport earlier today. Photo: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press.

Julie Roulston (60) and husband Ken (65) were due to fly to Abu Dhabi via a connection at Heathrow on Friday evening after booking their trip in January.

My husband woke up and read the news on his phone and turned to me and said it looks like Abu Dhabi may not happen, Mrs Roulston explained.

Then we turned on the news channels and it was everywhere about the fire.

Then we started getting messages from British Airways.

Already confused about the status of their holiday, Mrs Roulston said the British Airways app was displaying all flights apart from theirs at 5pm as being cancelled.

Julie Roulston

She added: It was still showing as scheduled and didnt update until about 1pm, saying our flight was cancelled.

Then, not long afterwards, we got a message saying our flight had been rescheduled for Saturday night  same times and everything.

The Roulstons flights are with BA, meaning concerns about missing connections were eased.

Read more Heathrow power returns with some planes set to take off but NI flights remain impacted

She said: Instead of Friday night, were going on Saturday night, but Im not sure.

All the news channels keep saying it will be a few days before the electricity is up and running, so we think they are maybe doing it hoping everything works out.

The only thing is that theyre not extending anything, so we will lose a day.

So, if it gets to Monday and Tuesday, there really wont be much point in going.

British Airways are communicating, which is good, but theyre not really saying much.

Ill tell you my reality, though. They better hurry up, I need my holiday  I need my sun!

Ken and Julie Roulston

Disruption with connecting flights from Heathrow for those travelling from Belfast was something Atchuth Reddy (28) from Carryduff also faced on Friday.

Mr Reddy had been due to fly to Heathrow to board a connecting service to India to visit his family.

He explained: I was about to leave to head to the airport at around 5am on Friday when I got an email from British Airways telling me my flight was cancelled due to disruption due to the fire at Heathrow.

Atchuth Reddy

Its not immediately clear why Heathrows mass power outages were caused by the one power station, with the airport maintaining multiple sources of electricity.

But the blaze had affected a particularly important bit, a National Grid source told the BBC.

I waited for sometime and had a call with British Airways and changed my travel date, Mr Reddy told the Belfast Telegraph.

Its annoying, as I had shopped for everything to take away and packed everything for two large bags almost weighing 23kgs each.

I also booked a taxi for Belfast City Airport, which I had to cancel at the last minute.

And I have taken two weeks of leave from the company which I work for, and then had to reschedule all leave at the last minute.

I had some emergency work to attend to in India, but my plans were postponed due to this.

Read more Woman locked in battle with parking firm over 100 Belfast City Airport fine

He said his family will be disappointed they are not getting to see him as initially planned.

He added: My parents who are in India were very much excited to see me, but they are very disappointed after hearing the news that I have been postponed to a later date.

I am now going next Friday. I usually prefer Fridays to travel because weekends are an extra advantage to my applied leave.

British Airways have been helpful in changing my travel dates, but it took almost two hours to reach their customer service through a phone call.
General view of the Sandy Row and Donegall Road where police came under attack during disorder in south Belfast. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.

A 'Coolock Says No' banner was seen at the Belfast protest march. Photo: Peter Morrison

Abdelkader Mohamad Al Alloush, owner of the Sham Supermarket on Donegall Road in Belfast (PA)

Police at scene of riots in Belfast in August.

Senior members of Belfast City Council have met with the PSNI ahead of a planned anti-immigration protest due to take place this weekend.

A poster titled Time to Rise began circulating online calling for peaceful protests against mass, illegal unvetted immigration and the dangers it is bringing to our communities.

A demonstration and counter-rally are planned in Belfast on Sunday.

Party group leaders from Belfast City Council met with police on Friday afternoon amid fears of potential disorder similar to that seen during similar protests last August when businesses and individuals were attacked.

The meeting was convened by SDLP councillor Seamas de Faoite.

Naturally, given the events of last summer many within our migrant community are concerned that these scenes could be repeated and its important we do everything possible to allay them and make sure they feel safe and secure in their home city, he said.

I welcome the PSNIs engagement and sought assurances that they are taking this seriously. It is important we see a significant police presence in the city on Sunday to send a clear message that disorder will not be tolerated and anyone engaging in anti-social behaviour will be prosecuted.

This situation again underlines the importance of proper resourcing for the PSNI and its disappointing that the Executives Programme for Government didnt include funding for recruitment of new officers.

It also failed to mention the renewal of the Racial Equality Strategy which is key to ensuring that nobody is subject to discrimination or abuse because of their ethnicity.

Two businesses burnt out by rioters last August  Sham Supermarket and Bash Cafe in Sandy Row  remain closed.

The disorder resulted in around 50 arrests with multiple charges being brought.

The violence came amid protests in England following the murder of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside.

In the aftermath of the chaos, Belfast City Council passed a motion condemning the violent destruction and racist intimidation across the city, caused by far-right agitators.

Counter-protests, backed by Amnesty International, have been planned at Belfast City Hall. Groups including United Against Racism and Progressive Politics NI are among the organisers.

Police have confirmed they are aware of the protests and said officers would be playing our part to ensure the safety of participants and to facilitate the lawful exercise of freedom of expression.

The right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are fundamental human rights, a spokesperson added.

They are protected in law and allow individuals to engage in peaceful protest.

However, these rights must be balanced with the need to uphold the rights of others, protect public health and safety, minimise disruption to normal life and by the need to prevent and detect crime.

Members of the Belfast Islamic Centre have already voiced concern over the planned marches and said many Muslims are petrified of an outbreak of violence or further incitement to hatred.

Police at scene of riots in Belfast in August.

News Catch Up - Friday 21 March

An anti-immigration rally in Derry due to take place on Sunday was cancelled with participants citing concerns about what they described as the violent radical left.

The Guildhall Square rally was cancelled because of the demonstration organised on the same day and in the same area by United Against Racism.
The lorry used in the attack on Coalisland RUC station

Four IRA men were killed by the SAS at Clonoe in February 1992

The Government is to seek a judicial review of a coroners finding that the SAS was not justified in killing four IRA men at Clonoe.

Sean OFarrell (22), Kevin Barry ODonnell (21), Peter Clancy (21), and Patrick Vincent (20) were shot dead by soldiers minutes after they had carried out a gun attack on Coalisland RUC station in 1992.

Last month, following a long-running inquest, presiding coroner Mr Justice Humphreys found the soldiers did not have an honest belief in the necessity of using lethal force, concluding that it was unjustified and not reasonable.

The case has since been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions, prompting unionist anger.

Shadow NI Secretary Alex Burghart, speaking in the House of Commons last month, said: "If this is the state of the law, the law is an ass.

Secretary of State Hilary Benn said the Ministry of Defence was considering the judgment.

Now, the Government has indicated it will seek a judicial review of the findings.

The Government will also fund a parallel challenge from the Specialist Military Unit veterans.

The news emerged in a letter from Veterans Minister Alistair Carns to Conservative MP James Cartlidge.

Mr Carns wrote: "I have carefully considered and taken advice on the merits of judicially reviewing the findings and can confirm that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has issued a pre-action protocol letter to the Coroner, which sets out the legal basis upon which we will ground our judicial review application.

I have also agreed to the MoD funding the Specialist Military Unit veterans' judicial review of the findings; this is expected to run adjacent to the MoD's application.

The veterans involved have been, and continue to be, offered welfare and legal support.

As a veteran, I am deeply proud of the members of the armed forces who, along with police officers and members of the security services, sought to protect communities and peace in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and recognise the difficult choices they faced in extremely challenging operations.

We owe a great deal to them, and I will continue to champion their cause as we deal with Northern Ireland's legacy.

Mr Cartlidge, who initially raised the matter with Defence Secretary John Healey, welcomed the news.

Having written to the Secretary of State for Defence last month urging him to judicially review the Clonoe verdict, I'm pleased the MoD has confirmed to me that it is going to act, he said today.

Given the deep anger this verdict has aroused in our veteran community, it was vital the Government showed it understood this sentiment and responded accordingly.

At a time where recruitment is a priority, we need to show the Army we have their back by standing up for those who served decades ago."

The men were killed minutes after carrying out a gun attack on Coalisland station on February 16 1992.

Soldiers fired up to 570 rounds as the gang dumped a hijacked lorry used in the machine gun attack.

They started shooting as the men arrived at St Patrick's Church car park in Clonoe.

In statements at the time, the soldiers claimed the use of lethal force was justified to protect their lives and others from the IRA unit.

However, Mr Justice Humphreys said the use of force by the soldiers was, in the circumstances they believed them to be, not reasonable.

He said no attempt was made by the soldiers to arrest any of the members of the IRA unit, even as they lay seriously injured and incapacitated either on the ground or in the cab of the lorry.

He rejected the soldiers claims the IRA members opened fire in the car park, saying they were demonstrably untrue.

Last month, the coroner confirmed he will refer the case to DPP Stephen Herron. He said he has no discretion in the matter under the law.

Prosecutors will now consider if further investigative steps are required before a decision on prosecutions is taken.

More to follow
Hundreds of flights to and from Heathrow Airport have been grounded. (Steve Parsons/PA)

The fire broke out late on Thursday evening (London Fire Brigade/PA)

Around 200,000 passengers had their travel plans disrupted (Maja Smiejkowska/PA)

Up to 291,000 passengers were impacted by the fire near Heathrow, which caused the airport to lose power. Photo: James Manning/PA

Flights between Northern Ireland and Heathrow have resumed after a day of chaos at Europes busiest airport.

Planes from Belfast and Derry both landed this morning, with further flights scheduled later today.

The airport was shut on Friday due to power loss after a blaze knocked out a nearby electricity substation.

Heathrow Airport's chief executive Thomas Woldbye said he expected 100% operation as a normal day today.

"(Passengers) should come to the airport as they normally would. There's no reason to come earlier, he said.

According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, British Airways (BA) flight BA56 from Johannesburg, South Africa was the first regular passenger flight to land at Heathrow since Thursday evening, touching down at 4.37am.

BA, which has a major presence at Heathrow, said it expects to operate around 85% of its scheduled flights at the airport on Saturday.

A flight took off shortly before 6.45am this morning from Belfast City Airport, landing at 7.52am.

Another flight took off from the City Airport at 9.10am, with further journeys scheduled at 11.15am and 3.05pm today.

However, a 6pm flight has been cancelled, as has a flight from Heathrow due into Belfast at 5.15pm.

All flights on Sunday are currently scheduled to go ahead.

A flight from Heathrow to Belfast City Airport departed London at 7.09am, landing at 7.59am, another departing at 9.16am and one scheduled for 12.50pm.

Meanwhile, flights have also resumed to and from City of Derry Airport.

One took off from Derry at 6.36am, landing at Heathrow at 7.55am. Another flight is due to depart this afternoon.
The manager of a Co Londonderry Irish dance school has described the rush of their last minute invitation to No10s first St Patricks Day event.

Catherine Lamont, manager of Innova Irish Dance Company, said her dancers were informed just one week before the big day at Downing Street, which saw notable figures with connections to Ireland attend.

The Portstewart dance company had just days to select dancers and prepare their routines which added a bit to the excitement.

Catherine said: So it all sort of happened very last minute which I know can be the nature of events like that. It was literally last week whenever we got contacted by the team.

Over the weekend it was confirmed and away we went so it kind of added to the excitement from our perspective because it was all also last minute.

The team of girls were tasked to kick off proceedings for the party and were stationed at the steps of No10, putting on a show for guests as they arrived as well as later performing inside.

Catherine said: The girls were the first people there and whenever the Prime Minister came in he did a meet and greet with the dancers and then we all walked up the famous Love Actually staircase, something he even pointed out. Catherine added that Sir Keir Starmer made everybody feel very welcome and even gave a shout out to the Derry dance company in a later speech to the guests.

The Labour Party leader said: Youll have seen the Innova Irish dance company on your way in  werent they fantastic?

I was in a busy meeting downstairs when they were rehearsing up here earlier on, and we could hear the rhythms of what they were going to do, it was really fantastic.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer celebrating the St Patrick's Day event at 10 Downing Street

The Irish dance school also brushed shoulders with some high-profile figures, while also recognising a few local ones, such as Olympic rowing gold medallist Hannah Scott, from Coleraine.

We believe that Irish dancing is for everybody.

Other notable guests at the event included Derry Girls screenwriter Lisa McGee, TV host Dermot OLeary and Ru Paul drag queen Blue Hydrangea.

Catherine recalled the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, being very kind and very complimentary of the performance.

She added that the event would go down as a memorable day in her schools history and a highlight for us all.

I would be a major proponent of celebrating our culture and in Northern Ireland we have such a diverse culture, the dance choreographer said.

We believe that Irish dancing is for everybody.

I think this is definitely one of the highlights for us all and its a memorable day in our schools career.
Four PSNI officers have been injured after two vehicles were rammed in what police have branded a reckless and dangerous act.

A man has been arrested after the vehicle pursuit in west Belfast early this morning.

None of the officers injuries are thought to be serious.

However, the two vehicles are off the road for repairs.

Chief Inspector Pete Cunningham said: "Officers were on patrol in the Servia Street area around 2.30am when a black Audi A4 made off, failing to stop for police.

"A pursuit ensued and the suspect vehicle was observed weaving onto the wrong side of the road, failing to give way at junctions and driving the wrong way around a roundabout.

"Two police callsigns brought the vehicle to a stop in the Upper Springfield Road area a short time later, however, the suspect driver reverse-rammed the front of one of the police vehicles.

"At this time, the police vehicle was stationary, but the officer in the front passenger seat was in the process of exiting the car when the collision occurred, and was jolted into the doorframe.

The driver then collided with a second police vehicle when attempting to make off again, Mr Cunningham said.

He added: Four officers sustained minor injuries, but despite this, they remained on duty, which reflects their resilience during difficult challenges they face on a daily basis, while working to keep people safe.

Our priority is their safety and welfare and, as an organisation, we will ensure support is available where its needed.

"The two police vehicles were also damaged during the incident and will be off the road for repairs, which impacts on the local community.

"A 50-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of offences including driving when unfit, dangerous driving and failing to stop for police. He remains in custody at this time.

Thankfully we are not dealing with more serious injuries today - and the actions of the driver responsible for the pursuit and subsequent collision with our officers is totally unacceptable.

Members of the public could have also been injured during this completely reckless and dangerous incident.

He urged anyone with information, including dashcam or other footage, to contact police.
Fire Service personnel attended the scene and extinguished the fire which left extensive damage (stock image)

Detectives are investigating the report of an arson attack that occurred on Friday night (March 21) in Belfast city centre.

It is believed that shortly after 10.20pm, two males in dark clothing with masks on entered the bin storage area below an apartment block at College Square North and started a number of fires.

Fire Service personnel attended the scene and extinguished the fire which left extensive damage to the storage area.

Some residents were forced to evacuate the building for a period of time, but there were no reports of any injuries, according to police.

The PSNIs Detective Sergeant Leeman said: The mindless actions of the men involved in this incident could have caused untold damage and suffering to the residents of the apartment block.

"We are reviewing CCTV in the area and are conducting a number of other enquiries to identify these men.

"I would ask anyone who has any information, or who was in the area at the time and captured dash-cam footage which could help with our investigation, to call detectives in Musgrave on 101, quoting reference number 1919 21/03/25.

"A report can be submitted online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/ or you can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/.
Exclusive |

Stormont told a judge that tarmacking 3,000 acres of farmland would be less polluting than the industrial farming it has encouraged
Ms Lo died in November 2024

Former Alliance MLA Anna Lo was a fabulous mum who was determined not to be intimidated by others, her sons have recalled ahead of an event in Belfast to celebrate her life and achievements.
Better pay could tempt some PSNI officers to transfer to the gardai, Irelands justice minister has said.

Jim OCallaghan said recruiting officers from Northern Ireland could be a useful method of boosting numbers in the Republic.

Currently there are 14,167 garda members in the Republic, an increase of around 10% since 2015  although Irelands opposition parties pointed out that as the national population has surged, there are now fewer gardai per capita than in 2005.

Mr OCallaghan suggested better financial incentives could open the door to recruits from Northern Ireland.

We are at a stage where we are trying to recruit as many members into An Garda Siochana as we can, Mr OCallaghan told the Dail on Thursday.

He said he understood that there are serving PSNI officers living in the Irish Republic who would like to become members of An Garda Siochana, and this could be a means of quickly boosting the numbers, given reports that a second garda college will be needed to meet recruitment requirements.

At present, their difficulty is that in order to become a member of An Garda Siochana through the standard route, they would have to go to Templemore [Garda College]. That would involve them having to give up their jobs in the PSNI, which would be extremely difficult, Mr OCallaghan said.

The new recruits will be based at the Store Street and Pearse Street garda stations in Dublin city centre. Photo: stock image

He added that he would consult with senior management in An Garda Siochana on the matter.

I would like to know if there are many members of the PSNI living in this jurisdiction who would like to transfer over, he added.

Obviously, there would have to be certain requirements in order for them to do so. I would have thought that if those requirements can be met, it would be a useful method of trying to increase numbers. I will consult with the Commissioner.

He then added: Another relevant point is that there is nothing stopping people in the North who are not in the PSNI from applying to become members of An Garda Siochana.

I suspect the terms and conditions are more favourable than those relating to people who join the PSNI. That is something we need to focus on. People from the North are welcome to apply to seek to join An Garda Siochana.

The Irish Independent reported that 66 new gardai are to go to Pearse Street and Store Street garda stations in Dublin. It will be a boost to the force in Dublin city centre, around the streets that were hit by the November 2023 riots.

The decision follows consultations between Mr OCallaghan and outgoing Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, but was kept under wraps as an operational matter.

Almost 9m has been provided for new and enhanced public-order equipment since the riots, including two water-cannon vehicles bought from the PSNI at a cost of 1m each.

New garda body armour distributed last year cost 2.7m, with a further 392,000 for riot overalls and an extra 281,000 for torso protectors, more commonly known as flak jackets.

Gardai were also given 325,000 worth of stronger strength incapacitant spray in a variety of forms, such as CS gas and pepper spray.

The stocks will be routinely available to all members on public order duty.

Meanwhile, the two water-cannon vehicles have been overhauled and recalibrated, and are now operationally ready for deployment on Irish streets where needed.

There was criticism of their absence during violent protests and agitation last July outside the former Crown Paints factory in Coolock, north Dublin, which was to be repurposed as migrant accommodation.
All Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon are safe, Irelands deputy premier has said, following an escalation in violence in the region.

It comes after Israel struck Lebanon in retaliation for rockets targeting Israel, in the heaviest exchange of fire since the ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Earlier, rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel in an attack for which Hezbollah has denied responsibility

Simon Harris, Irelands deputy premier and defence minister, called for restraint on all sides.

In a statement, Mr Harris said: Deeply concerned about the latest escalation in violence and tensions between Israel and Lebanon.

I can confirm that Irish peacekeepers at Unifil are safe.

I am grateful to them for all they do as peacekeepers.

It is absolutely vital now that all sides show restraint.
Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States (AP/Vadim Ghirda)

After weeks in the United States, influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate arrived early on Saturday in Romania, where they face charges of human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

The Tates, who are dual US and British citizens, were arrested in Romania in late 2022 and formally indicted last year on charges that they participated in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania, where they were allegedly sexually exploited.

Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. They deny all of the allegations against them.

The brothers plane  which Andrew Tate said earlier in a post on X cost 185,000 dollars (143,138) to jet across the Atlantic to sign one single piece of paper  landed at Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport shortly before 1 am local time Saturday morning.

Andrew Tate, left, speaks to the media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States (Andreea Alexandru/AP)

After arriving at their residence near the capital, Bucharest, Andrew Tate told reporters they returned because innocent men dont run from anything and he vowed to clear his name in court.

After all weve been through, we truly deserve the day in court where it is stated that weve done nothing wrong and that we should have never been in court in the first place. We should have never gone to jail. We should have never had our assets seized. We should have never had our names slandered, he said.

Anyone who believed any of this garbage has a particularly low IQ.

Their return to Romania comes nearly a month after a travel ban imposed on the brothers was lifted, after which they flew on a private jet to the US, landing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The brothers remain under judicial control, which requires them to appear before judicial authorities in Romania when summoned.

Eugen Vidineac, one of the Tate brothers lawyers in Romania, told The Associated Press that the Tates are due to check in with a surveillance officer on Monday.

Days after the Tates arrived in the US, on March 4, Floridas attorney general James Uthmeier said his office had opened a criminal investigation into Andrew and Tristan Tate.

He said in a social media post that he directed his office to work with law enforcement to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the brothers.

A day after the investigation was opened, Andrew Tate said in a post on X: I didnt commit any crime and theyre trying to find one because they dont like me.

The lifting of their two-year travel ban came after a Bucharest court in December ruled that a case against the brothers could not go to trial because of multiple legal and procedural irregularities on the part of the prosecutors.

The case, however, remained open.

For his part, Tristan Tate said after returning to Romania: I think its very telling that we were investigated for two and a half years, and we were dragged  in front of the media, into prison, out of prison, all this time, and in December last year, a judge said  theres not evidence enough for this to even go to trial.

Last August, Romanias anti-organised crime agency also launched a second case against the brothers, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering. They have denied those charges as well.

Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan arrive at the Bucharest Tribunal in Bucharest, Romania(AP/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, 38, a former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist who has amassed more than 10 million followers on X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him.

There are a lot of people in the world today that do not have faith in Romanian institutions  but were going to restore that faith by coming home, as American citizens, going to court, and getting the not guilty that we deserve, Andrew said.

If a court needs to speak to us, well be there because were innocent.

The Tate brothers legal battles are not limited to Romania.

Four British women who accused Andrew Tate of sexual violence and physical abuse are suing him in the UK after the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute him.

In March last year, the Tate brothers appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in a separate case after UK authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a case dating back to the period from 2012 to 2015.

The appeals court granted the UK request to extradite the Tates, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.
Oleg Gordievsky, a former deputy head of the KGB in London has died (Dennis Cook/AP)

Oleg Gordievsky, a Soviet KGB officer who helped change the course of the Cold War by covertly passing secrets to Britain, has died at the age of 86.

He died on March 4 in England, where he had lived since defecting in 1985. Police said on Saturday that they are not treating his death as suspicious.

Historians consider Mr Gordievsky one of the eras most important spies. In the 1980s, his intelligence helped avoid a dangerous escalation of nuclear tensions between the USSR and the West.

Born in Moscow in 1938, he joined the KGB in the early 1960s, serving in Moscow, Copenhagen and London, where he became KGB station chief.

The Queen made Oleg Gordievsky a Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and St George in 2007 (Martin Keene/PA)

He was one of several Soviet agents who grew disillusioned with the USSR after Moscows tanks crushed the Prague Spring freedom movement in 1968, and was recruited by MI6 in the early 1970s.

The 1990 book KGB: The Inside Story, co-authored by Mr Gordievsky and British intelligence historian Christopher Andrew, says Mr Gordievsky came to believe that the communist one-party state leads inexorably to intolerance, inhumanity and the destruction of liberties.

He decided that the best way to fight for democracy was to work for the West.

He worked for British intelligence for more than a decade during the chilliest years of the Cold War.

In 1983, he warned the UK and the US that the Soviet leadership was so worried about a nuclear attack by the West that it was considering a first strike. As tensions spiked during a Nato military exercise in Germany, Mr Gordievsky helped reassure Moscow that it was not precursor to a nuclear attack.

Soon after, US president Ronald Reagan began moves to ease nuclear tensions with the Soviet Union.

Margaret Thatcher with Ronald Reagan (Fiona Hanson/PA)

In 1984, Mr Gordievsky briefed soon-to-be Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ahead of his first visit to the UK  and also briefed the British on how to approach the reformist Mr Gorbachev, whose meeting with prime minister Margaret Thatcher was a huge success.

Ben Macintyre, author of a book about the double agent, The Spy And The Traitor, told the BBC that Mr Gordievsky managed in a secret way to launch the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

Mr Gordievsky was called back to Moscow for consultations in 1985, and decided to go despite fearing  correctly  that his role as a double agent had been exposed.

He was drugged and interrogated but not charged, and Britain arranged an undercover operation to spirit him out of the Soviet Union, smuggled across the border to Finland in the trunk of a car.

He was the most senior Soviet spy to defect during the Cold War. Documents declassified in 2014 showed that Britain considered him so valuable that Mrs Thatcher sought to cut a deal with Moscow: If Mr Gordievskys wife and daughters were allowed to join him in London, Britain would not expel all the KGB agents he had exposed.

Moscow rejected the offer, and Mrs Thatcher ordered the expulsion of 25 Russians, despite objections from foreign secretary Geoffrey Howe, who feared it could scuttle relations just as Mr Gorbachev was easing the stalemate between Russia and the West.

Author Frederick Forsyth (left) with Mr Gordievsky at a lunch in 1997 (PA)

Moscow responded by expelling 25 Britons, sparking a second round in which each side kicked out six more officials. Despite Mr Howes fears, diplomatic relations were never severed.

Mr Gordievskys family was kept under 24-hour KGB surveillance for six years before being allowed to join him in England in 1991. He lived the rest of his life under UK protection in the quiet town of Godalming in Surrey.

In Russia, he was sentenced to death for treason. In Britain, Queen Elizabeth II appointed him a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2007 for services to the security of the United Kingdom.

In 2008, Mr Gordievsky claimed he had been poisoned and spent 34 hours in a coma after taking tainted sleeping pills given to him by a Russian business associate.

Surrey Police said officers were called to an address in Godalming on March 4, where an 86-year-old man was found dead at the property.

It said counter-terrorism officers are leading the investigation, but the death is not currently being treated as suspicious and there is nothing to suggest any increased risk to members of the public.
Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu appeared before police for questioning on terror-related charges on Saturday, a day after his interrogation over corruption allegations.

His arrest this week has sparked widespread protests across Turkey, with demonstrators rallying in multiple cities to voice their opposition.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on social media that 343 suspects had been detained in protests in major cities on Friday night, adding There will be no tolerance for those who seek to violate societal order, threaten the peoples peace and security, and pursue chaos and provocation.

The cities listed included Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Canakkale, Eskisehir, Konya and Edirne.

The mayor, who is a popular opposition figure and seen as a top challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained on Wednesday following a dawn raid on his residence over allegations of financial crimes and links to Kurdish militants.

Dozens of other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.

Many view the arrest as a politically driven attempt to remove a popular opposition figure and key challenger to Mr Erdogan in the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028.

Government officials reject accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that Turkeys courts operate independently.

On Friday, police questioned Mr Imamoglu for four hours over the corruption accusations, during which he denied all of the charges, Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media reported.

He was expected to be transferred to a courthouse later on Saturday for questioning by prosecutors and to face possible charges.

His arrest has ignited protests that have steadily increased in intensity.

On Friday, police in Istanbul used pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets to push back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a barricade in front of the citys historic aqueduct while hurling flares, stones and other objects at officers.

People shout slogans during a protest against the arrest of Istanbuls Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu (Khalil Hamra/AP)

Police also dispersed groups that had rallied outside of the city hall for a third night running, after the opposition Republican Peoples Party leader, Ozgur Ozel, delivered a speech in support of the mayor.

Simultaneously, police broke up demonstrations in Ankara, the capital, as well as in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, resorting to forceful measures at times, according to television images.

Thousands marched in several other cities calling on the government to resign.

A total of 97 people were detained nationwide in the protests, the Interior Ministry said.

At least 16 police officers were injured.

Earlier, Mr Erdogan said the government would not tolerate street protests and accused the opposition party of links to corruption and terror organisations.

Authorities in Ankara and Izmir meanwhile, announced a five-day ban on demonstrations, following a similar measure imposed earlier in Istanbul.

An anti-corruption operation in Istanbul is being used as an excuse to stir unrest in our streets.

I want it to be known that we will not allow a handful of opportunists to bring unrest to Turkey just to protect their plundering schemes, Mr Erdogan said.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Carl Court/PA)

Mr Imamoglus arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican Peoples Partys presidential candidate in a primary on Sunday.

Mr Ozel has said that the primary, where around 1.5 million delegates can vote, will go ahead as planned.

The opposition party has also urged citizens to participate in a symbolic election on Sunday, through improvised ballot boxes to be set up across Turkey, to show solidarity with Mr Imamoglu.

In a message posted on his social media account Saturday, Mr Imamoglu described his arrest as a coup and accused the government of exploiting the judiciary and worsening the countrys troubled economy.

With your support, we will first defeat this coup, and then we will send packing those who caused this, he wrote on the social media platform X.
Pope Francis will be released from hospital on Sunday after 38 days battling a severe case of pneumonia in both lungs that threatened his life on two occasions when he suffered acute respiratory crises, his doctors said.

Dr Sergio Alfieri, who co-ordinated Franciss medical team at Romes Gemelli Hospital, said the pontiff will require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation as he continues recovering at the Vatican, but his personal doctor, Dr Luigi Carbone, said if he continues his steady improvements to date, he should be able to resume his normal activity.

The doctors spoke at a press conference on Saturday evening in the hospital atrium, their first in-person update on the 88-year-old pontiffs condition in a month.

They provided details on the severity of the infection, which he is still being treated for, and the two respiratory crises that marked the gravest threats to his life.

They confirmed he will be released on Sunday, after first offering a blessing to the faithful from his hospital suite, the first time he will have been seen by the public since he was admitted on February 14.

When he was in really bad shape, it was difficult that he was in good spirits, Dr Alfieri said. But one morning we went to listen to his lungs and we asked him how he was doing. When he replied Im still alive we knew he was OK and had gotten his good humour back.

Dr Alfieri confirmed that Francis was still having trouble speaking due to damage to his lungs and the time he spent on supplemental oxygen and ventilation, but he added that such problems are normal and predicted his voice will return.

When you have a bilateral pneumonia, your lungs get damaged and the respiratory muscles are in difficulty. You lose your voice a bit, like when you speak too high, Dr Alfieri said.

As for all patients, young or old but especially older ones, you need time for it to come back as it was.

People pray for Pope Francis in front of the hospital (Andrew Medichini/AP)

The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to hospital after a bout of bronchitis worsened.

Doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and then pneumonia. Blood tests showed signs of anaemia, low blood platelets and the onset of kidney failure, all of which were resolved after two blood transfusions.

The most serious setbacks began on February 28 when Francis experienced an acute coughing fit and inhaled vomit, requiring he use a non-invasive mechanical ventilation mask to help him breathe.

He suffered two more respiratory crises on March 3, which required doctors to manually aspirate the mucus, at which point he began sleeping with the ventilation mask at night to help his lungs clear the accumulation of fluids.

At no point did he lose consciousness, and doctors reported he always remained alert and co-operative.

Over the past two weeks, he has stabilised and registered slight improvements. He no longer needs to wear the ventilation mask at night and is cutting back his reliance on high flows of supplemental oxygen during the day.

At his home in the Santa Marta hotel, next to St Peters Basilica, Francis will have access to supplemental oxygen and 24-hour medical care as needed, Dr Carbone said.

The Holy Father is improving, and we hope soon he can resume his normal activity, the doctor added.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to confirm any upcoming events, including a scheduled audience on April 8 with King Charles III or Franciss participation in Easter services at the end of the month, but Dr Carbone said he hoped Francis might be well enough to travel to Turkey at the end of May to participate in an important ecumenical anniversary.

The Vatican announced that before returning to the Vatican, Francis will appear on Sunday morning to bless the faithful from his 10th floor suite at the hospital.

While Francis released an audio message on March 6 and the Vatican distributed a photo of him on March 16, Sundays blessing will be the first live appearance since he was admitted for what has become the longest hospital stay of his 12-year papacy.
If the box office was dropping, hed do something outrageous so that people would go and buy tickets: Actor Jared Harris on his father Richards legacy
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The Bible never gives a dictionary definition of forgiveness, but it shows us many examples of it. The greatest of all examples is the forgiveness of God. Psalm 103:812 describes the concept of Gods forgiveness perfectly: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

God forgives sin, yet this does not mean that He simply looks the other way or sweeps it under the rug. The penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23), and that penalty must be paid. In the Old Testament, God allowed for a sacrificial animal to take the place of the sinner. Leviticus 5:1516 says, When anyone is unfaithful to the Lord by sinning unintentionally in regard to any of the Lords holy things, they are to bring to the Lord as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel. It is a guilt offering. They must make restitution for what they have failed to do in regard to the holy things, pay an additional penalty of a fifth of its value and give it all to the priest. The priest will make atonement for them with the ram as a guilt offering, and they will be forgiven.

So that God could forgive us, Jesus gave Himself as the sacrifice for sin. Jesus alluded to that sacrifice at the Last Supper when He told His disciples, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28). After the resurrection, the apostles carried the message of forgiveness through Jesus Christ throughout the world, preaching to both Jews and Gentiles. In Ephesians 1:7 it says: In [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of Gods grace.

God forgives people on the basis of the sacrifice of Christ. The only requirement is that sinful people confess their sin, turn from it, and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior. Once a person has experienced the forgiveness of God, he or she is then able to forgive others. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you (Colossians 3:13). In fact, those who refuse to forgive betray the fact that they do not understand how much of their own sin they need to have forgiven. Christians should be willing to forgive people who have sinned against them. Every person has wronged God far more than they have been wronged by other people.

Forgiving others is important, but sometimes it can be difficult to do. Why should I forgive, and how can I do it? In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asks the same question. It says: Then Peter came to Him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Forgiving others who have wronged you, whether for a relatively small thing, or for a seriously damaging act against you, can sometimes seem like an insurmountably difficult thing to do. In some cases its a process that really takes time. Yet, the Bible is crystal clear on the necessity of it. When you know that it is not in you to forgive, then you have to find it in Christ. Philippians 4:12-13 reminds us that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Does forgiving negate the pain you have suffered? Does it reverse the things that have happened to you? Does it mean the person who wronged you does not have to take responsibility for their actions? No, but you will be free from the thoughts of hatred, bitterness, and the burden they are. Forgiveness is not only done for the sake of the one you are forgiving, but for your own sake, so that you do not have to live with the burden. The fact that you forgive someone does not condone what they have done, nor does it by any means make it all right. Trust is not implicit in forgiveness, nor is forgetting obligatory.

Forgiveness is not a feeling; it is a choice. Choosing forgiveness will mean that you must go to God on your knees for the power to forgive. It is choosing not to let thoughts of hatred rule in your heart. It is choosing to go to God to find help and comfort instead of dwelling on the past, even when our feelings would rather do anything but.

Megan Bailey is a content producer and digital marketing specialist specializing in social media marketing. She attended James Madison University where she received a degree in psychology.
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A day after a City Council subcommittee kicked back his proposed camping ban, Mayor Peter Marchetti on Tuesday said he is "very open" to making the changes that were requested.
First noticed in Ohio in 2012 and in Massachusetts in 2020 in Plymouth and Bristol counties, beech leaf disease had been found in every county by 2022, Now, its been documented in nearly every community in Massachusetts.
Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood has revealed she fell and cut one side of her body open while filming a scene with a snake for drama series The White Lotus.

Wood, 31, plays Chelsea in the third series of Mike Whites black comedy, and had a fake leg made for a scene where her character is bitten by a snake.

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The actress said her co-star, US actor Walton Goggins, who has a fear of snakes, had panic attacks in between takes and was even bitten by the reptile.

Aimee Lou Wood stars in White Lotus series three (Ian West/PA)

This amazing thing happened, a man came over to my house before I went to Thailand, he had this laser, he scanned my leg, then he created my leg, Wood told The Jonathan Ross Show.

He matched my skin and everything the snake actually bit the fake leg. I have no idea what it was made out of.

She added: The snake bites my character, its all very symbolic theres a lot of snake symbolism and its the Year of the Snake now.

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She gets bitten and its not great but shes alright because shes weirdly robust in that way. But yes, the snake bit the fake leg.

Asked if she got to keep the fake leg, Wood explained: I think they had to throw it away because it had venom in it.

The snake properly went for the leg. I was not near the fake leg. I pretended to see the snake and screamed which I found weirdly embarrassing.

Im not (scared of snakes). Walton  its his worst fear. Its not the first time hes had to interact with them (in a scene) its his biggest phobia.

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Speaking more about her co-star, Wood said: He was honestly having panic attacks in between takes, he was having to really gear himself up.

Walton Goggins was bitten by a snake during filming (Ian West/PA)

One nipped him and he had to go to the hospital. Im putting my full oomph into running away, I fell, cut all of this side of my body open I had this mark on my shoulder. Snake day was quite chaotic!

Asked if The White Lotus has led to her being recognised more, Wood said: It was worse after Sex Education with the recognising.

It had a cult following in America but didnt quite take America. White Lotus feels very American. Im being noticed there where I wasnt before. Feels more intense.

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When I was out there filming, Jason (Isaacs) and I were the only non-Americans pretty much. You really have to match them. You have to really get in there with like, Yeah, come on! You cant be blase.

Also on The Jonathan Ross Show are Sir Stephen Fry, who talks about hosting quiz show Jeopardy!, Irish comedian Joanne McNally and rapper and TV chef Big Zuu.

Music comes from Yungblud, who also joins the guests on the sofa before performing.

The Jonathan Ross Show airs on Saturday at 9.20pm on ITV, ITVX, STV and STV Player.
Kim Kardashian removed her daughter North from her ex-husband Kanye West's home after learning about a visit from the Tate brothers.

The reality star, who shares four children with the rapper, reportedly took her 11-year-old daughter North West from her father's LA home after finding out she was there at the same time as Andrew Tate.

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The influencer and his brother Tristan were charged with human trafficking in Romania before travelling to the US.

Tate has been linked to the spread of misogyny through the influence his online content has on young men.

After weeks in the United States, the brothers have since returned to Romania.

The Tates, who are dual US and British citizens, were arrested in Romania in late 2022 and formally indicted last year on charges that they participated in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania, where they were allegedly sexually exploited.

According to reports in the US media, the visit of the Tate brothers to West's home has prompted Kardashian to seek an emergency hearing, where she will seek full custody of her children with West.
It is so un-Irish to give up hope, a co-founder of BDS has said, as he urged protesters in Dublin to continue their support for Palestine.

Thousands of people participated in a solidarity march through the capital on Saturday, calling for the Government to impose sanctions on Israel.

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Demonstrators, some wearing keffiyehs and waving banners and Palestinian flags, stopped for a series of speeches outside Irelands national parliament at Leinster House.

Speakers at the rally included Omar Barghouti. Photo: Cillian Sherlock/PA.

Speakers led chants of free, free Palestine and addressed the large crowd on the re-escalating conflict in the Middle East.

The protesters called for the end of Israels military activity in Gaza, for states to stop arming Israel, and the cessation of use of Irish airspace for transporting weapons.

The rally, organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), is the fourteenth national demonstration of its kind since October 2023 and is supported by several trade unions and civil society groups.

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The IPSC has also called for the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, along with the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill.

The Government has committed to implementing the Occupied Territories Bill with changes limiting its scope to trade, but it is not on the legislative calendar for this term.

Protesters also carried a giant sphere in the style of the logo of Irelands Central Bank with the words stop funding genocide painted on it.

Israel chose the Central Bank of Ireland to be the designated authority to approve prospectuses for Israel Bonds in the EU. Pro-Palestinian supporters want the Bank to stop approving their sale.

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The group also wants a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and for the Irish Government to roll back on its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, which it sees as an effort to prevent criticism of Israel.

Speakers at the rally included Omar Barghouti, Palestinian intellectual Ghada Karmi, and IPSC chairwoman Zoe Lawlor.

Mr Barghouti, who co-founded the BDS movement which stands for boycott, divestment and sanctions, said there was a profound moral duty to continue to support Palestine.

Speaking to the PA news agency, he said: Im here to say that given Israels continued genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, we need to escalate non-violent pressure on Irish Government, Irish corporations, Irish institutions to end complicity.

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Palestinians are not asking for charity, were asking for ending complicity  to do no harm to us.

The Irish Government continues to allow the transit of US weapons to Israel, this has to stop.

The Central Bank of Ireland continues to profit from genocide through the sale of Israel government bonds, this has to stop.

Mr Barghouti added: The Government is blocking the Occupied Territories Bill and the Divestment Bill, this has to end. They have to take measures to end complicity.

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Some people in Ireland might say weve been demonstrating for 17 months throughout this genocide, we dont see any hope.

But it is so un-Irish to give up hope. The Irish have resisted colonialism for centuries under enormously difficult hardships and theyve never given up hope.

Similarly, Palestinians for 100 years, weve been resisting oppression and doing everything we can to live in peace, justice, dignity, equality and self-determination like everyone else.

Ireland Irish peacekeepers safe amid escalating violence... Read More

We cannot give up, it is a profound moral duty to do no harm. So we need to escalate people power and pressure to end complicity.

Senior figures in Israels government have accused leaders in the Irish coalition of encouraging antisemitism, with the Israeli embassy in Dublin announcing last year that it would close.

Israeli politicians have criticised Irelands decision to intervene in South Africas case against Israel, with Dublin asking the International Court of Justice to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes genocide.
American actress and comedian Rosie ODonnell has said that she emailed a note of apology to Taoiseach Micheal Martin after her name was used as a punchline by President Donald Trump during a St Patricks day Oval Office meeting.

During Mr Martin's recent White House visit ODonnells decision to move to Ireland from the US was raised by a reporter.

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Mr Martin looked uncertain as to how to answer when asked : "Why in the world would you let Rosie O'Donnell move to Ireland? Mr Trump responded, saying: Youre better off not knowing.

In an interview on the Late Late Show on RTE One on Friday night Ms ODonnell said that Trump first developed animosity towards her twenty years ago after she was critical of his character and business capabilities during an episode of an American panel show.

I told the truth about him on a programme called The View where it was my job to talk about pop culture and politics. I mentioned his bankruptcies and I mentioned all of the sexual assault charges, and I mentioned that he was not, in fact, the businessman that everyone thinks he is because of the show The Apprentice.

"They sold a bunch of lies (on that show) to America for over ten years and half of America believed it. He (Trump) was very angry to say the least and he hasnt let it go. He uses me as a punchline whenever he feels the need. Hes been doing it for two decades.

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Ms ODonnell, who celebrated her 63rd birthday on Friday, said she felt ill at ease that the Taoiseach had been dragged into Trumps ill feeling towards her and decided to write to him.

I felt very troubled that they put the Taoiseach in that position and didnt treat him with the respect that a leader of that kind deserves when they are visiting the White House.

"I wrote the Taoiseach a little note of apology to his email and I got a note back that they had received it and thanked me. I just wanted him to know the history and what happened and why he (Trump) seems to be out to get me in ways that are startling.

Ms ODonnell, who had Irish grandparents and first visited this country in 1973, said that when Trump was re elected she made the difficult decision to leave her native country during his second Presidential term.

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She admitted that she was a bit of a home bird who didnt really even leave the country to go on holiday so the decision to move to Ireland was momentous for her.

She said she the gutting of all the social programmes in the States under Project 25 was a source of much dismay to her and millions of other Americans.

Just the other day he disbanded the Department of Education and I have a child that has autism and that child will be denied services and many, many autistic children because the funding for these programmes for special needs children comes from the federal Government as well as the States and it is going to be disastrous for children on the spectrum and that is terrifying.

The New Yorker said that Trump has been given ultimate power  the powers of a King by the Supreme Court.

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That is not what the United States is all about and it is a terrifying prospect. In fact what has happened is that since he has taken office is terrifying for the world and definitely for the United States of America.

She said a lot of Americans are in shock at what is happening to their country under President Trump. Ms ODonnell admits that she doesnt understand how anyone could support or vote for a convicted felon and a man who has so many charges against him.

Its heartbreaking to most people in America. They (his supporters) are slowly waking to realise that the cuts he is making are not only going to affect the left wing liberals who are woke that they are afraid of and despise.

Ms ODonnell said it was very depressing to see MMA fighter Conor McGregor making an appearance in the Oval Office last Monday for the St Patricks day festivities.

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It seems very strange to me that the President of the United States has so many friends who are sexual abusers.

"It says we are in trouble. To think that cruelty and lack of empathy is a value that is spouted from the highest office in the land is overwhelmingly sad to me personally and it felt way too much for me to take emotionally.

Ms ODonnell said that she was on the verge of crying when Trump was elected. She said she had stood up for civil rights, gay rights and womens rights her whole career and part of her felt she should have stayed in the US to fight back against some of Trumps policy decisions. However, she said ultimately she opted to move to Ireland for the sake of her autistic child Clay.

That autistic child should not have to live in a place where our safety is compromised and where they have to worry about strangers coming up to us in stores and commenting on my opinion of Trump. His followers are sometimes as uncouth as he is. It is not fair to my daughter.

"I wanted to make sure that they would be calm and I would be calm enough to be their parent. Because that is what my child needs is Mom in control and calm.

Ireland Over 10,200 social welfare payments cut in 2024 ov... Read More

Ms ODonnell moved to Ireland in mid January. In a Tik Tok video earlier this month she revealed that she is in the process of getting Irish citizenship.

She spoke of her intention to reside outside of the US until it is safe, you know, for all citizens to have equal rights there, thats when we will consider coming back.

She told Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty that she is settling in well in Ireland.

She has been in contact with the autism charity ASIAm is taking part in the Same Chance Walk for Autism on April 5th next. Further details can be obtained at asiam.ie
Gardai are appealing for witnesses after two men were injured after gunshots were fired in Tullamore, Co Offaly on Friday night.

At approximately 9:50pm, gardai were alerted to a public disturbance at Midlands Regional Hospital.

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A short time later, gardai with assistance from the Divisional Armed Support Unit responded to a report of shots fired at a residence in Kilcruttin.

Two men, aged in their 30s and 40s, were conveyed from the scene and have since been transferred to St. Jamess Hospital, Dublin for treatment of serious injuries, not believed to be life-threatening at this time.

No other injuries were reported.

The scene is currently preserved for examination by the Divisional Scenes of Crime Unit.

No arrests have been made at this time.

Investigating gardai are appealing to anyone who may have information in relation to these incidents to contact them.

Any road users who were in the Midlands Regional Hospital and Kilcruttin areas of Tullamore between 9:30pm and 10:30pm and who may have camera footage (including dash-cam footage) are asked to make this available to gardai.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Tullamore Garda Station on 057 932 7600, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
A US secretary calling Ireland a "tax scam" and Heathrow Airport disruption make Saturday's papers' front pages.

The Irish Times leads with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick renewing his attack on Ireland, calling the country his favourite tax scam.

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The Irish Examiner's front pages leads with foul play ruled out over the fire at Heathrow which caused delays for thousands of people.

The Echo leads with calls from the leader of Bernardos in Cork for more support to stop the rise in poverty.

The Irish Independent reveals evening and weekend outpatient appointments will be introduced to ease waiting lists.

The Irish Daily Mail also leads with Trump ally Howard Lutnick calling Ireland a "tax scam".

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The Irish Daily Mirror leads with a picture of the fire at Heathrow Airport and passengers waiting inside the airport.

The Irish Daily Star leads with Amy Fitzpatrick's Stepfather Dave Mahon speaking out after he was cleared of assaulting his neighbour.

British papers

Travel chaos amid Heathrow Airports closure leads Saturdays front pages.

The Financial Times, Daily Mirror and the i Paper say travellers are facing days of potential disruption after an electrical substation fire forced the closure of Britains busiest airport.

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FT: Travellers face days of disruption after blaze shuts down Heathrow #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/8paApBOjfR  George Mann (@sgfmann) March 21, 2025

Saturday's front page: Heathrow chaos to last 'for days' as fire exposes UK weaknesses#Tomorrowspaperstoday



Latest here: https://t.co/rqJuVC9xTm pic.twitter.com/lyJQvJb4Kq  The i Paper (@theipaper) March 21, 2025

Meanwhile, The Times reports the failure has put the airports bosses in the firing line.

The Times: Heathrow chaos puts bosses in firing line #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/EghFx00xCz  George Mann (@sgfmann) March 21, 2025

The Sun says the airport fiasco has humiliated Britain and the Daily Mail labels the closure farcical.

Airline chiefs have blasted Heathrow authorities after the blackout, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph:



'Colossal failure of Heathrow blackout'#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/lZ9SIrbolr  The Telegraph (@Telegraph) March 21, 2025

The Guardian splashes on comments from Downing Street, which says there are questions to answer after around 1,300 flights were disrupted in the wake of the closure.

The Guardian: Chaos and anger as fire shuts Heathrow airport #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/8NSp8TXoB1  George Mann (@sgfmann) March 21, 2025

The Daily Express writes Britain must not abandon its Second World War heroes, calling for funding for veterans to attend memorials.

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Daily Express: BRITAIN MUST NOT ABANDON OUR LAST WW2 HEROES #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Lutu6giCoP  George Mann (@sgfmann) March 21, 2025

Lastly, the Daily Star splashes on comments from Adrian Chiles, who says scatter cushions should be destroyed.
Doctors have described their efforts to save the many children affected by Israeli strikes on Gaza as the ceasefire ended.

A visiting British doctor went to the balcony of a hospital in Khan Younis and watched the streaks of missiles light up the night before pounding the city.

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After two months of ceasefire, the horror of Israeli bombardment was back.

The veteran surgeon told the visiting doctor, Sakib Rokafiya, they had better head to the emergency ward.

Torn bodies soon streamed in, carried by ambulances, donkey carts or in the arms of terrified relatives.

What stunned doctors was the number of children.

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Displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings and other items (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)

Just child after child, young patient after young patient, Dr Rokafiya said.

The vast, vast majority were women, children, the elderly.

This was the start of a chaotic 24 hours at Nasser Hospital, the largest hospital in southern Gaza.

Israel shattered the ceasefire in place since mid-January with a surprise barrage that began early Tuesday and was meant to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages and accepting changes in the truces terms.

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It turned into one of the deadliest days in the 17-month war.



Palestinians carry bundles of wood as they walk along a beach road leaving northern Gaza (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)

The aerial attacks killed 409 people across Gaza, including 173 children and 88 women, and hundreds more were wounded, according to the territorys Health Ministry, whose count does not differentiate between militants and civilians.

More than 300 casualties flooded into Nasser Hospital. Like other medical facilities around Gaza, it had been damaged by Israeli raids and strikes throughout the war, leaving it without key equipment.

It was also running short on antibiotics and other essentials.

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On March 2, when the first, six-week phase of the ceasefire technically expired, Israel blocked entry of medicine, food and other supplies to Gaza.

Nasser Hospitals emergency ward filled with wounded, in a scene described by Dr Rokafiya and Tanya Haj-Hassan, an American paediatrician  both volunteers with the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Wounded came from a tent camp sheltering displaced that missiles set ablaze and from homes struck in Khan Younis and Rafah, further south.

One nurse was trying to resuscitate a boy sprawled on the floor with shrapnel in his heart.

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A young man with most of his arm gone sat nearby, shivering.

A barefoot boy carried in his younger brother, around four years old, whose foot had been blown off.

Blood was everywhere on the floor, with bits of bone and tissue.

I was overwhelmed, running from corner to corner, trying to find out who to prioritise, who to send to the operating room, who to declare a case thats not salvageable, said Dr Haj-Hassan.

Its a very difficult decision, and we had to make it multiple times, she said in a voice message.



A displaced Palestinian man, carries his belongings (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)

Wounds could be easy to miss.

One little girl seemed OK, it just hurt a bit when she breathed, she told Dr Haj-Hassan, but when they undressed her they determined she was bleeding into her lungs.

Looking through the curly hair of another girl, Dr Haj-Hassan discovered she had shrapnel in her brain.

Two or three wounded at a time were squeezed onto trolleys and sped off to surgery, Dr Rokafiya said.

He scrawled notes on slips of paper or directly on the patients skin  this one to surgery, this one for a scan.

He wrote names when he could, but many children were brought in by strangers, their parents dead, wounded or lost in the mayhem.

So he often wrote, Unknown.

Dr Feroze Sidhwa, a US trauma surgeon from California with the medical charity MedGlobal, rushed immediately to the area where the hospital put the worst-off patients still deemed possible to save.

Dr Haj-Hassan keeps checking in on children in Nassers ICU.

I cannot process or comprehend the scale of mass killing and massacre of families in their sleep that we are seeing here, Dr Haj-Hassan said.

This cant be the world were living in.
Oleg Gordievsky, a Soviet KGB officer who helped change the course of the Cold War by covertly passing secrets to Britain, has died at the age of 86.

He died on March 4 in England, where he had lived since defecting in 1985. Police said on Saturday that they are not treating his death as suspicious.

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Historians consider Mr Gordievsky one of the eras most important spies. In the 1980s, his intelligence helped avoid a dangerous escalation of nuclear tensions between the USSR and the West.

Born in Moscow in 1938, he joined the KGB in the early 1960s, serving in Moscow, Copenhagen and London, where he became KGB station chief.



The Queen made Oleg Gordievsky a Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and St George in 2007 (Martin Keene/PA)

He was one of several Soviet agents who grew disillusioned with the USSR after Moscows tanks crushed the Prague Spring freedom movement in 1968, and was recruited by MI6 in the early 1970s.

The 1990 book KGB: The Inside Story, co-authored by Mr Gordievsky and British intelligence historian Christopher Andrew, says Mr Gordievsky came to believe that the communist one-party state leads inexorably to intolerance, inhumanity and the destruction of liberties.

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He decided that the best way to fight for democracy was to work for the West.

He worked for British intelligence for more than a decade during the chilliest years of the Cold War.

In 1983, he warned the UK and the US that the Soviet leadership was so worried about a nuclear attack by the West that it was considering a first strike. As tensions spiked during a Nato military exercise in Germany, Mr Gordievsky helped reassure Moscow that it was not precursor to a nuclear attack.

Soon after, US president Ronald Reagan began moves to ease nuclear tensions with the Soviet Union.

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Margaret Thatcher with Ronald Reagan (Fiona Hanson/PA)

In 1984, Mr Gordievsky briefed soon-to-be Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ahead of his first visit to the UK  and also briefed the British on how to approach the reformist Mr Gorbachev, whose meeting with prime minister Margaret Thatcher was a huge success.

Ben Macintyre, author of a book about the double agent, The Spy And The Traitor, told the BBC that Mr Gordievsky managed in a secret way to launch the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

Mr Gordievsky was called back to Moscow for consultations in 1985, and decided to go despite fearing  correctly  that his role as a double agent had been exposed.

He was drugged and interrogated but not charged, and Britain arranged an undercover operation to spirit him out of the Soviet Union, smuggled across the border to Finland in the trunk of a car.

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He was the most senior Soviet spy to defect during the Cold War. Documents declassified in 2014 showed that Britain considered him so valuable that Mrs Thatcher sought to cut a deal with Moscow: If Mr Gordievskys wife and daughters were allowed to join him in London, Britain would not expel all the KGB agents he had exposed.

Moscow rejected the offer, and Mrs Thatcher ordered the expulsion of 25 Russians, despite objections from foreign secretary Geoffrey Howe, who feared it could scuttle relations just as Mr Gorbachev was easing the stalemate between Russia and the West.



Author Frederick Forsyth (left) with Mr Gordievsky at a lunch in 1997 (PA)

Moscow responded by expelling 25 Britons, sparking a second round in which each side kicked out six more officials. Despite Mr Howes fears, diplomatic relations were never severed.

Mr Gordievskys family was kept under 24-hour KGB surveillance for six years before being allowed to join him in England in 1991. He lived the rest of his life under UK protection in the quiet town of Godalming in Surrey.

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In Russia, he was sentenced to death for treason. In Britain, Queen Elizabeth II appointed him a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2007 for services to the security of the United Kingdom.

In 2008, Mr Gordievsky claimed he had been poisoned and spent 34 hours in a coma after taking tainted sleeping pills given to him by a Russian business associate.

Surrey Police said officers were called to an address in Godalming on March 4, where an 86-year-old man was found dead at the property.

It said counter-terrorism officers are leading the investigation, but the death is not currently being treated as suspicious and there is nothing to suggest any increased risk to members of the public.
Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu appeared before police for questioning on terror-related charges on Saturday, a day after his interrogation over corruption allegations.

His arrest this week has sparked widespread protests across Turkey, with demonstrators rallying in multiple cities to voice their opposition.

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Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on social media that 343 suspects had been detained in protests in major cities on Friday night, adding There will be no tolerance for those who seek to violate societal order, threaten the peoples peace and security, and pursue chaos and provocation.

The cities listed included Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Canakkale, Eskisehir, Konya and Edirne.

The mayor, who is a popular opposition figure and seen as a top challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained on Wednesday following a dawn raid on his residence over allegations of financial crimes and links to Kurdish militants.

Dozens of other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.

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Many view the arrest as a politically driven attempt to remove a popular opposition figure and key challenger to Mr Erdogan in the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028.

Government officials reject accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that Turkeys courts operate independently.

On Friday, police questioned Mr Imamoglu for four hours over the corruption accusations, during which he denied all of the charges, Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media reported.

He was expected to be transferred to a courthouse later on Saturday for questioning by prosecutors and to face possible charges.

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His arrest has ignited protests that have steadily increased in intensity.

On Friday, police in Istanbul used pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets to push back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a barricade in front of the citys historic aqueduct while hurling flares, stones and other objects at officers.



People shout slogans during a protest against the arrest of Istanbuls Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu (Khalil Hamra/AP)

Police also dispersed groups that had rallied outside of the city hall for a third night running, after the opposition Republican Peoples Party leader, Ozgur Ozel, delivered a speech in support of the mayor.

Simultaneously, police broke up demonstrations in Ankara, the capital, as well as in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, resorting to forceful measures at times, according to television images.

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Thousands marched in several other cities calling on the government to resign.

A total of 97 people were detained nationwide in the protests, the Interior Ministry said.

At least 16 police officers were injured.

Earlier, Mr Erdogan said the government would not tolerate street protests and accused the opposition party of links to corruption and terror organisations.

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Authorities in Ankara and Izmir meanwhile, announced a five-day ban on demonstrations, following a similar measure imposed earlier in Istanbul.

An anti-corruption operation in Istanbul is being used as an excuse to stir unrest in our streets.

I want it to be known that we will not allow a handful of opportunists to bring unrest to Turkey just to protect their plundering schemes, Mr Erdogan said.



Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Carl Court/PA)

Mr Imamoglus arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican Peoples Partys presidential candidate in a primary on Sunday.

Mr Ozel has said that the primary, where around 1.5 million delegates can vote, will go ahead as planned.

The opposition party has also urged citizens to participate in a symbolic election on Sunday, through improvised ballot boxes to be set up across Turkey, to show solidarity with Mr Imamoglu.

In a message posted on his social media account Saturday, Mr Imamoglu described his arrest as a coup and accused the government of exploiting the judiciary and worsening the countrys troubled economy.

With your support, we will first defeat this coup, and then we will send packing those who caused this, he wrote on the social media platform X.
Hundreds of supporters of detained Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu have gathered in front of a courthouse where the challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faced further questioning over allegations of corruption and terror links.

The arrest this week of the popular opposition figure has intensified political tensions and sparked widespread protests across Turkey, with demonstrators rallying in multiple cities to voice their opposition.

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Many view his arrest as a politically driven attempt to remove Imamoglu from the next presidential race, scheduled for 2028. Government officials reject the accusation and say Turkeys courts are independent.

Protesters outside Caglayan courthouse in Istanbul (Emrah Gurel/AP)

The demonstrations were largely peaceful but a group of protesters, trying to break through barricades to reach Istanbuls main square, threw flares, stones and other objects at police, who responded with pepper spray. Some demonstrators said rubber bullets were fired.

Police used water cannons and tear gas to scatter demonstrators in Ankara.

Earlier, interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said 343 suspects had been detained in protests in major cities on Friday night, adding: There will be no tolerance for those who seek to violate societal order, threaten the peoples peace and security, and pursue chaos and provocation.

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Imamoglu was detained on Wednesday after a dawn raid on his residence over allegations of financial crimes and links to Kurdish militants. Dozens of other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.

On Friday, police in Istanbul used pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets to push back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a barricade in front of the citys historic aqueduct while hurling flares, stones and other objects at officers.



Police use pepper spray during clashes with protesters (Khalil Hamra/AP)

Police also dispersed groups that had rallied outside of the city hall for a third night running, after the opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) leader, Ozgur Ozel, delivered a speech in support of the mayor.

Simultaneously, police broke up demonstrations in Ankara, the capital, as well as in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, resorting to forceful measures at times, according to television images. Thousands marched in several other cities calling on the government to resign.

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Earlier, Mr Erdogan said the government would not tolerate street protests and accused the opposition party of links to corruption and terror organisations.

The Istanbul governors office announced it was expanding a ban on demonstrations until March 26 and imposed restrictions on the entry and exit of vehicles deemed to be transporting people likely to participate in unlawful activities.

Mr Erdogan on Saturday accused the CHPs leadership of turning the party into an apparatus to absolve a handful of municipal robbers who have become blinded by money.



Protesters carry a security fence during clashes with riot police (Emrah Gurel/AP)

He also accused it of doing everything to disturb the public peace, to polarise the nation.

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Imamoglus arrest came days before he was expected to be nominated as the CHP presidential candidate in a primary on Sunday. Mr Ozel has said the primary, in which around 1.5 million delegates can vote, will go ahead as planned.

The opposition party has also urged citizens to participate in a symbolic election on Sunday  through improvised ballot boxes to be set up across Turkey  to show solidarity with Imamoglu.

In a tweet posted shortly before his arrival at the courthouse, Imamoglu urged the public to safeguard the ballot boxes for Sundays primary: Dont forget: they are very afraid of you and your democratic right to vote.

In an earlier message, he described his arrest as a coup and accused the government of exploiting the judiciary and worsening the countrys troubled economy.
Israel has launched a retaliatory strike on Lebanon, killing six people including a child in the heaviest exchange of fire since its ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah almost four months ago.

Rockets fired from Lebanon were the second group launched since December, sparking concern about whether the ceasefire will hold. In a statement, Hezbollah denied being responsible for the latest attack, saying it was committed to the truce.

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Israel had said it would respond severely to the early Saturday attack targeting northern Israel.

Israels army said the intercepted rockets targeted the Israeli town of Metula. An Israeli official said six rockets were fired and three crossed into Israeli territory and were intercepted.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Israeli Government Press Office/AP)

The official said Israel could not confirm the identity of the group that fired the rockets. The official said the military struck targets across southern Lebanon.

Lebanons state-run National News Agency said a strike in the southern village of Touline had killed five people including a child, and wounded 10 others including two children.

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On Saturday night, Israel again struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. A strike hit a garage in the coastal city of Tyre, the NNA reported, with one person killed and seven wounded. It was the first time the city had been struck since the ceasefire took effect.

A strike on Hawsh al-Sayed Ali village, om the border with Syria, wounded five people, according to the NNA.

The office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it instructed the army to act forcefully against dozens of targets in Lebanon, adding: Israel will not allow any harm to its citizens and sovereignty.

Israels army said it struck dozens of rocket launchers and a command centre where Hezbollah was operating.

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Lebanons prime minister Nawaf Salam asked the Lebanese military to take all necessary measures in the south but said the country did not want to return to war.

Lebanese prime minister Nawaf Salam with German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock (Bilal Hussein/AP)

Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamass October 7th, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there.

The Israel-Hezbollah conflict boiled over into all-out war in September as Israel carried out massive waves of air strikes and killed most of the militant groups senior leaders.

The fighting killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis.

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Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January under a ceasefire struck on November 27th. The deadline was later extended to February 18th.

But Israel has remained in five locations in Lebanon, across from communities in northern Israel. It has carried out dozens of air strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, saying it was targeting Hezbollah, while continuing drone attacks that have killed several members of the militant group.

Lebanon has appealed to the UN to pressure Israel to fully withdraw from the country.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as Unifil, said it was alarmed at the possible escalation of violence and urged all parties to avoid jeopardising the progress made.
Protests erupted across multiple Turkish cities on Friday as people rallied against the arrest of Istanbuls mayor and top rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, despite the Turkish leaders stern warning that street protests would not be tolerated.

The leader of Turkeys main opposition had earlier on Friday renewed a call for supporters to take to the streets for peaceful demonstrations against the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu.

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Authorities widened a ban on protests and criticised the appeal as irresponsible.



A police officer kicks a flare thrown by protesters during clashes in Istanbul on Friday (Khalil Hamra/AP)

Mayor Mr Imamoglu was arrested in a dawn raid on his residence on Wednesday over alleged corruption and terror links, escalating a crackdown on opposition figures and dissenting voices.

Several other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.

Many view the arrest as a politically driven attempt to remove a popular opposition figure and key challenger to Mr Erdogan from the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028.

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Government officials reject accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that Turkeys courts operate independently.



A man attaches a banner of Istanbuls Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu to a tree in Istanbul, Turkey, during a protest against the arrest of Mr Imamoglu (Emrah Gurel/AP)

Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media reported that police began questioning Mr Imamoglu on Friday afternoon. The mayor can be detained without charges for up to four days.

Mr Imamoglu was questioned by police for four hours over corruption accusations, during which he denied all the charges, Cumhuriyet and other media reported. He was expected to be transferred to a court on Saturday evening for questioning by prosecutors.

Mr Erdogan said the government would not tolerate street protests and accused the opposition party of being associated with corruption, marginal groups and terrorist organisations.

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We see that an anti-corruption operation in Istanbul is being used as an excuse to stir unrest in our streets. I want it to be known that we will not allow a handful of opportunists to bring unrest to Turkey just to protect their plundering schemes, Mr Erdogan said.

Pointing to the streets instead of courtrooms to defend theft, plunder, lawlessness and fraud is a grave irresponsibility, Mr Erdogan said.

Just as we have not surrendered to street terrorism until now, we will not bow to vandalism in the future either.



Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Achmad Ibrahim/AP)

Since Mr Imamoglus arrest, thousands of people have gathered at Istanbuls city hall for night-time rallies, and clashes have erupted between demonstrators and police in Istanbul, Turkish capital Ankara and Turkeys third-largest city, Izmir.

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At Ankaras Middle East Technical University late on Thursday police deployed tear gas and water cannons to disperse the demonstration. Students said that rubber bullets were used, but the government has denied that.

The Interior Ministry said more than 50 people were detained, and 16 police officers were injured, following the protests.

On Friday, authorities in Ankara and Izmir announced a five-day prohibition on demonstrations, following a similar ban imposed earlier by the Istanbul governors office.

However, thousands of people marched to Istanbuls city hall to rally against the mayors arrest.

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Police used pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets to push back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a barricade in front of the citys historic aqueduct and threw flares, stones and other objects at them.

Police also broke up demonstrations in Ankara, as well as in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, resorting to forceful measures at times, according to images shown on the private Halk TV.

Thousands marched in several other cities calling on the government to resign, the station reported.

At least 97 people were detained nationwide during the protests, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.

Also Friday, gunmen opened fire on the Iraqi consulate in Istanbul, the Turkish and Iraqi foreign ministries said. No injuries were reported.

Iraqs foreign ministry said in a statement that unknown assailants riding on a motorcycle and armed with an assault rifle, fired eight shots at the building before fleeing.

The Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement that the necessary investigation is being carried out meticulously by our security units and those responsible will be brought to justice.

It said measures had been taken to secure Iraqi diplomatic missions in Ankara, Istanbul and Gaziantep.

It was not clear what may have motivated the shooting.

The bans on protests came after the countrys justice minister acknowledged peoples right to demonstrate, but said that street protests amid ongoing judicial investigations were unacceptable.



University students protest against the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, in Istanbul on Friday (Emrah Gurel/AP)

Still, Ozgur Ozel, the chairman of the Republican Peoples Party, CHP, made a new appeal for people to gather and demonstrate.

I invite tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions to peacefully demonstrate, express our democratic reaction, and exercise our constitutional rights, he said.

Mr Ozel said: To those who say that calling people to the streets is irresponsible, I say this: We are not the ones filling these streets and squares. It is your lawlessness and injustices that have brought people out.

Mr Imamoglus arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican Peoples Partys presidential candidate in a primary on Sunday.

Mr Ozel has said that the primary, where around 1.5 million delegates can vote, will go ahead as planned.

The CHP has also urged citizens to participate in a symbolic election on Sunday  through ballot boxes to be set up across Turkey  to show solidarity with Mr Imamoglu.

Analysts say Mr Imamoglu could be removed from office and replaced by a trustee mayor, if he is formally charged with links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies.

Meanwhile, Mr Ozel announced that the CHP has decided to hold an extraordinary party congress on April 6, to thwart an alleged attempt by the authorities to appoint a trustee chairman to lead the party.

The decision came amid speculation that the authorities may be seeking to annul the partys last congress held in 2023 over alleged vote-buying and other irregularities, and appoint a handpicked leader.

On Friday, the Borsa Istanbuls benchmark index dropped by around 7%, prompting temporary trading suspensions aimed at preventing panic-driven sell-offs.
Russia has launched a drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing three people and wounding 14, local officials said, despite a limited ceasefire.

Zaporizhzhia was hit by 12 drones, police said, and regional chief Ivan Fedorov added that residential buildings, cars and communal buildings were set on fire in the Friday night attack.

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Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle on Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after US President Donald Trump spoke with the countries leaders, though it remains to be seen what targets would be off-limits to attack.



Ukrainian firefighters try to put out a fire after the attack in Zaporizhzhia (Ukrainian Emergency Service/AP)

The three sides appeared to hold starkly different views about what the deal covered. The White House said energy and infrastructure would be part of the agreement, but the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to energy infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would also like railways and ports to be protected.

The dead in Zaporizhzhia were three members of one family. The bodies of a daughter and father were pulled from the rubble while doctors unsuccessfully fought to save the mother for more than 10 hours, Mr Fedorov said.

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The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired a total of 179 drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks overnight into Saturday. It said 100 were intercepted and a further 63 lost, likely to be as a result of being electronically jammed.

Officials in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions also reported fires breaking out due to falling debris from intercepted drones.



Rescuers in Zaporizhzhia (Kateryna Klochko/AP)

Russias Ministry of Defence said its air defence systems shot down 47 Ukrainian drones.

Local authorities said two people were injured and there was damage to six apartments when a Ukrainian drone hit a high-rise apartment block in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Friday night.

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Mr Zelensky told reporters after Wednesdays call with Mr Trump that Ukraine and US negotiators will discuss technical details related to the partial ceasefire during a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday.

Russian negotiators are set to hold separate talks with US officials there.

Mr Zelensky emphasised that Ukraine is open to the full, 30-day ceasefire proposed by Mr Trump, saying: We will not be against any format, any steps toward unconditional ceasefire.



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix/AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a complete ceasefire conditional on a halt of arms supplies to Kyiv and a suspension of Ukraines military mobilisation  demands rejected by Ukraine and its western allies.

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Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday that Ukraine was continuing with treacherous attacks on energy infrastructure facilities, and that Russia reserved the right to a symmetrical response.

Her comments came after Russia accused Ukrainian forces on Friday of blowing up a gas metering station near the town of Sudzha in Russias Kursk region.

Ukraines military General Staff rejected Moscows accusations and blamed the Russian military for shelling the station as part of Moscows discrediting campaign.
As he sang the 21st song, Das Wirtshaus (The Inn), of Schuberts great cycle of mournfulness, Winterreise, Matthias Goerne moved arms, hands and torso with the free expressive grace he had shown throughout the performance, almost as though tracing and amplifying through the air the superb melodic shapes created by his voice. At the piano his co-artist Daniil Trifonov sat implacably immobile, the hymn-like arch of the melody welling and attenuating under his fingers as though controlled solely by concentrated thought. Over and above the artistic calibre of each, the uniqueness of this event was witnessing two supreme artists, each with their own powerful vision and distinct artistic personality, create a masterpiece before ones eyes. Daniil Trofonov and Matthias Goerne. Credit: Craig Abercrombie With the first song Gute Nacht, Goerne began the cycle with light pleasantly arched line, Trifonov establishing the dull foot-fall rhythm that initiates the cycles literal and metaphoric journey, while highlighting accented details with almost morbid insistence. In the second song, Goerne released flashes of anger and wildness, while he threaded fragile lines against Trifonovs spiky piano part to sinister effect. The turbulent activity of the pianos right hand in Erstarrung (Numbness), set up a tussle for dominance with the voices lower notes. A similar striving was to become evident in the 18th song, Der sturmische Morgen (The Stormy Morning), though this was not misjudged balance, but rather deliberately bringing out a struggle inherent in the music.

A different sort of struggle was captured in the cycles best-known song Der Lindebaum, in which the quietly nervous agitation of Trifonovs introduction was answered by superb melodic curves of idyllic beauty from Goerne. In Die Post (The Mail Coach) at the cycles half-way point, Goerne made the lines float with a sense of evanescent hope, which Trifonov grounded in stubborn reality with spiky precision. Goernes ability to change vowel shape, and inflate lines with dreamy weightlessness while combining with the unyielding rhythmic tread of Trifonovs chiselled disciplined sound with absolute precision, captured to perfection the combination of hope and despair that underlines Schuberts conception, nowhere better than in the penultimate song Die Nebensonnen (Phantom Suns). For the closing song Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man), Schubert empties the music of feeling with a repetitive figure on the piano over a static bass to which, in contrast to his previous rhythmic discipline, Trifonov gave deliberate rhythmic waywardness as though fingers were numb with cold and the controlling mind had departed. After singing without break for about an hour and a quarter, Goerne was still able to inject the muffled closing lines with the subdued richness of fading warmth. Unforgettable. DANCE

Somos

Neilson Studio at Sydney Dance Company, March 27

Until April 13

Reviewed by CHANTAL NGUYEN



Growing up in Spain, Sydney Dance Company artistic director Rafael Bonachela listened to flamenco tapes his father played in the car. His father was from Granada, renowned for flamenco music and dance. The teenage Bonachela  whose dream was to be Leroy from the film Fame  was more keen on Michael Jackson, Tina Turneranything but flamenco. Decades on and settled in Sydney, Somos (Spanish for we are) is Bonachelas love letter to Spain and the haunting music of his adolescence. It features a remarkably beautiful playlist of Latin music, including flamenco songs, Mexican ranchera music (a favourite of Bonachelas mother) and covers by flamenco pop legend Rosalia (who in the Spanish-speaking world is often considered to be bigger than Taylor Swift). Somos is Rafael Bonachelas love letter to Spain. Somos originally premiered in 2023 in SDCs then newly renovated studios, on a small mirrored stage configured in-the-round. The choice of venue was a pragmatic decision  at the time, the usual Sydney theatres were booked by other companies. But the cosy venue gives Somos its trademark feeling of closeness, by turns intimate and suffocating. Somos makes the audience feel almost voyeuristic, peering at the dancers through a sheer red curtain (Kelsey Lees set design) under soft amber lighting (by Damien Cooper). In the universe that is Somos, everyone seems impossibly beautiful and in a relationship, clad in barely-there mesh and peering through the curtain with smokey eyelined eyes (Lees costumes). Here, dancers dont simply walk, they pace  with a smouldering, sultry air.

In its 2023 iteration, Somos was undeniably stylish but became almost superficially one-note in its focus on Spanish sexiness. In this updated version, Bonachela has changed two songs and some of the choreography, giving Somos a far more expansive emotional range and compelling musical variety. You can almost hear the piece opening up and sighing in relief at becoming a little bit more human, a little bit more complex and relatable. There are gorgeous duets and ensemble scenes, featuring incandescent, athletic, impeccably timed partnering. Highlights are the duets from real-life couple Naiara de Matos and Piran Scott, who leap headlong into a fearless series of soaring lifts and turns; and Ryan Pearson and Luke Hayward, whose heart-in-your-mouth finale to Estrella Morentes cover of Jacques Brels Ne Me Quitte Pas sears with push-and-pull vulnerability and cruelty. THEATRE

The Glass Menagerie

Ensemble Theatre, March 26

Until April 26

Reviewed by HARRIET CUNNINGHAM

 Memory is a slippery beast. You reach out and try to grab it, and it either slips away or, at your touch, crystallises into an entirely new thing that is neither truth nor fantasy. You must handle it with the utmost care to protect its fragility or see it shatter into pieces.

Im in pieces after seeing the Ensemble Theatres new production of The Glass Menagerie. Starring Blazey Best as Amanda Wingfield, the family matriarch, and featuring promising debuts from Bridie McKim and Tom Rodgers, Tennessee Williams breakout work shakes off the weight of its masterpiece status to become a gripping night in the theatre. Blazey Best stars as Amanda Wingfield, a fading Southern belle abandoned by her husband. Credit: Prudence Upton Amanda Wingfield is a fading Southern belle, long abandoned by her husband. Her two adult children, Tom and Laura, still live with her. Tom has a dead-end job and a yen for travel. Laura is shy and awkward. Meanwhile, a portrait of their father, an alcoholic travelling salesman somehow recast as a hero, lowers over them all. Dreams, memories and fantasies can barely sustain them. Into this bleak house comes a gentleman caller. Jim OConnor, Toms work colleague, is bright and affable and feels like a potential lifeline, but can he handle the glass menagerie without breaking it? Director Liesel Badorrek embraces the poetry and symbolism of Williams ravishing prose. Danny Ball, an eloquent and explosive Tom, doubles as Tom-the-narrator, and the decision to have him also voice part of the stage directions offers further layers of meaning. Lauras tray of glass ornaments glows with its own inward light as action takes place in the shadows (lighting by Verity Hampson).

Meanwhile, a naturalistic setting (costumes and set by Grace Deacon) melts, literally, from the wall-papered backdrop onto the floor, like the cloudy edges of an old photo. Toms opening soliloquy drips with Southern vowels, and Blazey Bests accent is a brittle, fascinating fabrication. Is it too much? The accents, which do mellow across the evening, play at the edge of parody, but perhaps we have to take Tennessee Williams at his word: as Tom-the-narrator says: Being a memory play  it is not realistic. Best dazzles as Amanda Wingfield, simultaneously exasperated and desperate for her childrens futures. Her range, from coquettish simper to tiger roar, is exhilarating and well-matched by Ball, who takes Tom from poetic malaise to volcanic rage in the blink of an eye. By contrast, Bridie McKim and Tom Rodgers, as Laura and Jim, hold the stage with silences that range from excruciating to magical. They negotiate their dialogue with delicacy and lightness to the point that you almost believe Jim has fallen in love with Laura. The Glass Menagerie is a classic that comes with some hefty baggage of history, not least the shock of 1930s Americas casual racism and ableism. This production pays respectful but not slavish homage to the original to create a compelling piece of theatre for our times.

MUSIC

MJ Lenderman

Sydney Opera House, March 25

Reviewed by BERNARD ZUEL

 One of the more irritating descriptions of a certain type of, lets say relaxed rock  where drawling vocals and dragging rhythms meet solid-state and sometimes squalling guitars  is the term slacker. Its a phrase that works as a generational putdown (kids today ... etc.), and a cool-kids boast (were above all that, etc.) and regularly is applied to a lineage running from Neil Young to J Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr) and Kurt Vile to MJ Lenderman. MJ Lenderman and his band. Credit: Jordan Munns The inaccuracy of this term and its assumptions was made abundantly clear four songs into this wonderful night of country-inflected rock from North Carolinas Catholic saviour.

A man of buoyant hair and sleepy eyes, with a band that look like 70s West Coast dudes washed through a 90s indie cycle Wed had the low twang opening/hair-tossing climax of Wristwatch, and we would soon get almost funky and definitely bi-coastal with You Have Bought Yourself A Boat, but in Rudolph, there was a definite rhythm and momentum that drove rather than dozed. The fuzzed guitar diversions and snaking lines were ragged and sometimes gnarly; the pedal steel was curly and often tender. It moved air, chugging and chunky enough, but above it all, it was romantic. Not mere heartache but in the idea of the music and its potential to redirect and maybe even change you with energy or hope or succour. It is central to Lenderman: he loves this and believes in it, burrows into it in the new song, Pianos (melody descending, guitar ascending and hitting that War On Drugs sweet spot of blurry power and blissful harmonics) and soaks us all in it with the languorous You Dont Know The Shape Im In. Its why in Shes Leaving You, pushed by solid thumping drums that made the guitar even starker, you couldnt miss that a Mac-like pop song was barely hiding inside its meatiness. And why a cover of Neil Youngs Lotta Love in the encore was pulled together by a dreamers deep affection.

Slacker? Nah, he cares. A lot. La Musica Notturna

Omega Ensemble

City Recital Hall, March 25

Reviewed by PETER McCALLUM

 Cellist and guest director Umberto Clerici joked that he had replaced the first piece on the program, Giovanni Sollimas Alone with another piece by Sollima, Hell 1, because he had played Alone so often that he was bored with it. Ennui with Alone had apparently subsided by the end, and he played it as an encore. Sollima is a Sicilian cellist and composer with eclectic imagination for local colour and the program showcased another work of his, Violoncelles, vibrez! for two cellos (Clerici and Paul Stender) and strings.

The program concluded with the Sydney premiere of Everything we hear comes from silence for solo cello, solo clarinet and strings. Hell 1 began with a chant-like melody on solo cello, to which the accompanying string group added modal harmonies, over which the soloist adds decorative embellishment with the chant returning unadorned at the end. Taking its inspiration from Dantes Inferno, it made the first circle of hell seem more melancholy than torturous and not even particularly unpleasant. Violoncelles, vibrez! began with repeated notes that went out of phase as more instruments joined, creating minimalist textures for the string ensemble. Against this, the solo cellists played languorously sliding sighs that also moved in and out of phase before giving way to more frenetic music. After the sigh-like gestures returned, the piece ended with a pulsating figure on strings drifting away to nothing. Alone, for solo cello, also featured a chant-like melody set in organ-like textures by the idiomatic use of multi-string chords, with the cellos D string providing a focus and modal centre.

Between the Sollima works, the Omega Ensemble dipped into the eighteenth century with the fancifully descriptive Quintet, Opus 30, No. 6, La Music Notturna delle Strade di Madrid by cellist/composer Luigi Boccherini and Vivaldis Concerto for cello and strings in B minor, RV424. Boccherinis quintet evoked church bells, dancing, beggars, street singers and soldiers, creating a harmless though inconsequential diversion. Clerici played the solo part of Vivaldis concerto with elegance and a strong projection of the musics gesture and overriding expressive shape. The program concluded with the Sydney premiere of Everything we hear comes from silence for solo cello, solo clarinet (David Rowden) and strings by another cellist-composer, Peter Gregson. The first movement began with a hushed high unison from cello and clarinet, which gradually diverged to create a still, expansive mood like the glistening presence of a dew-covered dawn. The second movement evoked a similar mood in a lower pitch register, while the third opened similarly, then gained in speed for a moment before returning to the glowing, cinematic mood of the opening. Though calming, more variety of mood and texture might sustain a three-movement work better.

MUSIC

RUTHIE FOSTER

The Lounge, Chatswood Concourse, March 21

Reviewed by JOHN SHAND

 Ruthie Foster wasnt just born to sing; she was probably already singing in the womb. Music pours from her like water from a tap, and when she turns the tap on full, she makes an astounding sound: a huge, church-bred cry that pierces your very soul. OK, you say, many singers have big voices. The wretched TV talent-quest industry is built on belters. But heres the thing: when Ruthie hits the big notes  high, long, and of phenomenal power  she doesnt lose the intimacy of when shes singing softly. Its the same deal, it just happens to be pushing you so far back in your seat youre nearly in the lap of the person behind. There were many highlights in Ruthie Fosters gig. Credit: Lucinda Goodwin Few singers have been able to do that. Aretha Franklin and maybe Sinatra at his best, but its a short list. The records of hers with which Im familiar didnt prepare me for the fact I was to hear someone live in the memory on the plane of greats like Jose Carreras and Betty Carter.

Foster is from Austin, Texas, the state thats given us so many great musicians, from Ornette Coleman to Janis Joplin, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson and Beyonce. Like others on that list, she has catholic tastes that emerge both in the songs she writes and in those she covers, so the blues, gospel, soul and even country become one, united by an unfailing feel for a funky groove. The groove comes courtesy of her own guitar (a new, Australian-made model Lloyd Spiegel gave her at the start of this tour) and Scottie Millers keyboard. The latter has been her collaborator for 17 years, and it shows. Mostly using piano or electric piano sounds, sometimes with a frosting of strings, Miller colours the songs and solos with panache and adds backing vocals. Hed already proved he was a more than useful operator in an opening solo set, playing his own material. But sometimes, one wished he would just back off the chordal playing enough so we could more readily hear Fosters slippery, finger-picking grooves. Even better, of course, would be if shed come with her full band, but thats a hope for another time. As it was, the highlights were many. Having signed to Sun Records for the Mileage album that just won her a first Grammy (after six nominations), she showed a keen sense of tradition by taking Arthur Big Boy Crudups Thats Alright (which was a Sun hit for Elvis Presley), slowing it down, and letting it simmer on a funky dialogue between guitar and keyboard. Even better was Pete Seegers If I Had a Hammer, again slowed but very insistent, with her voice ringing like some vast bell. Then, on her own Phenomenal Woman, she unleashed the full power of her miraculous singing to such an extent that all that had gone before seemed merely a trickle before the flood.

MUSICALS

Guys & Dolls: Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour

Fleet Steps, Mrs Macquaries Point, March 21

Until April 20

Reviewed by CHANTAL NGUYEN

 Staged on a giant outdoor floating stage backed by breathtaking harbour views, Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour (HOSH) is one of the ritziest events of the year. The red-carpeted annual spectacular alternates between big-scale operas and lucrative musicals. This years was the latter: Guys & Dolls, the 1950 musical theatre classic about a gambler with a heart of gold. Brian Thomsons successful New York City set is all gritty concrete and smokestacks. The centrepiece is a big yellow taxi, and this year for the first time the orchestra is visible in an overhead gantry, removing previous HOSH latency issues. Jason Arrow as Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Joel Granger as Benny Southstreet and John Xintavelonis as Harry the Horse. Credit: Neil Bennett

If you like your musicals traditional, Guys & Dolls is for you. Its a cookie-cutter New York City where men in candy-coloured plaid suits (Jennifer Irwins luminous costumes) dance in lines, unironically singing with pork pie hats in outstretched arms. Women have flouncy skirts, tight curls and high 1950s voices. The ensemble (Kelley Abbeys choreography) is outstanding: the dancing is sharp, unified, bursting with energy. The cast is warm, likeable and strongly voiced. Annie Aitken brings comedic sympathy as Salvation Army heroine Sarah Brown, Bobby Fox creates theatrical depth as craps game organiser Nathan Detroit, and Home and Away starlet Angelina Thomson is an audience favourite as showgirl Adelaide. Cody Simpson looks the part as hero Sky Masterson. Both Thomson and Simpson (a former elite athlete) bring strong physicality to their performances. Jason Arrow, fresh from leading Hamilton, scene-steals as Nicely-Nicely Johnson. His rendition of Sit Down, Youre Rockin the Boat saves a sluggish Act 2, overflowing with such charisma the audience loses itself cheering and clapping along. Angelina Thomson as Miss Adelaide. Credit: Carlita Sari
With pieces ranging from Victorian-era bodices to Jenny Kee jumpers, Charlotte Smiths vintage fashion collection is considered one of the most significant in the world and largest in the southern hemisphere.

But after two decades, the former art and antiques dealer is downsizing.

After 21 years, it is time for this clothing to have a new life instead of sitting in a storage facility all the time, said Smith, who will hold on to a couple of hundred items, sending 1000 of the remainder to Canberras National Museum of Australia, and the rest to antique stores, where fashion fiends may be able to pick up a bold 1970s Hardy Amies suit or a beautifully embroidered Georgian jacket.

Fashion collector Charlotte Smith with some of her vintage clothing at Dirty Janes, Bowral. Credit: Louise Kennerley

Smith grew up on the US East Coast but married an Australian she met while working in London and moved to the Blue Mountains. She was bequeathed her godmother Doris Darnells collection of 3500 vintage fashion pieces, dated between 1790 and 1995, in 2004.
Trump says open to U.S. "associate membership" in British Commonwealth

Xinhua) 12:39, March 22, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump walks toward the South Lawn to board Marine One at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on March 21, 2025. Trump suggested on Friday he is open to the proposal that the United States could be offered "associate membership" in the British Commonwealth. (Xinhua/Hu Yousong)

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Friday he is open to the proposal that the United States could be offered "associate membership" in the British Commonwealth.

"I Love King Charles. Sounds good to me!" Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, linking to a report by the British tabloid The Sun that a proposal could be made by the British monarch when Trump makes a state visit to Britain later this year.

While joining the Commonwealth would largely be symbolic, the move could be used to help avoid the heightened tariffs on steel and aluminum Trump has promised, according to the Daily Mail.

The Commonwealth of Nations, created in 1926, has 56 member states, most of them former colonies of the British Empire.

U.S. President Donald Trump walks toward the South Lawn to board Marine One at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on March 21, 2025. Trump suggested on Friday he is open to the proposal that the United States could be offered "associate membership" in the British Commonwealth. (Xinhua/Hu Yousong)

U.S. President Donald Trump walks toward the South Lawn to board Marine One at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on March 21, 2025. Trump suggested on Friday he is open to the proposal that the United States could be offered "associate membership" in the British Commonwealth. (Xinhua/Hu Yousong)

U.S. President Donald Trump walks toward the South Lawn to board Marine One at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on March 21, 2025. Trump suggested on Friday he is open to the proposal that the United States could be offered "associate membership" in the British Commonwealth. (Xinhua/Hu Yousong)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Kou Jie)
Parramattas light rail will need to more than triple its daily passenger tally to meet its target, as the NSW government seeks federal support to overcome a major funding shortfall and extend the line to Olympic Park.

Patronage on the first section of the line was weak in the first two full months of operation.

Preliminary data reveals the L4 Westmead and Carlingford line averaged 8750 trips a day in February despite schools reopening and people returning to work from holidays. Trips for the month totalled 240,280 for the line running through the heart of the Parramatta CBD.

The first stage of Parramattas light rail line opened just before Christmas. Credit: Rhett Wyman

After a delayed opening on December 20, the 12-kilometre line averaged 7015 trips daily in January, a quiet period for public transport patronage due to holidays. The months total was 210,370 trips.
A number of people had heard from Tayla over the weekend that she disappeared, and she had told everybody on Sunday, February 2, that she was coming home to Roma. Its the decision that detectives are now trying to understand, as her family have been left with more questions than answers. My biggest wish right now is to just hear her voice again and to be able to tell her that I love her. Rebecca Spies, Taylas sister Police made a public appeal on February 22, releasing the last known sightings of Tayla. In the appeal, Detective Chief Inspector Garry Watts made clear detectives were facing an uphill battle, with no known starting point amid a 9000-square-kilometre search area. Footage of Tayla Spies shows her wearing a pink shirt and light-coloured shorts as she carried a red bag to her ute. Credit: Queensland Police

He said at the time police had used aerial assets and trail bikes, while investigators and intel officers were working to find Tayla using a range of methods including analysing her phone data. Now more than six weeks since her disappearance, the young mothers family are desperate to find her. Our family as a whole are really struggling, especially because it has been almost 50 days since Taylas disappearance, and we are still no closer to finding her, Rebecca says. Tayla filled up her car at a petrol station in Condamine after leaving Dalby. She was last seen driving the dual cab Toyota Hilux with registration 559 GJ7. I cant speak for everybody else, but I can say that this has really affected me in ways that I never thought it would.

Our family and friends have rallied and done numerous searches for Tayla, not just in the 9000-square-kilometre area, but also in places she knows well. Our home towns of Cecil Plains and Dalby, as well as neighbouring towns such as Toowoomba, Millmerran, Inglewood, Goondiwindi, Tara, Meandarra, The Gums, Surat, Roma and surrounds. We have unfortunately been unsuccessful in every search that we have done. Tayla is somebodys child, she is a mother to three beautiful children, she is a dearly loved sister, a devoted friend and a fierce protector to the people she loves. Rebecca Spies

Rebecca talks of her sister as being extremely creative, outgoing, and adventurous with a huge heart. The 29-year-old is the owner of Tayla Made Events, and had planned and designed dozens of weddings, and other special occasions. Her business posts online are full of passion, dedication, and humour. She describes herself as someone who loves raw pasta and frozen peas and, while creative, she cant get further than halfway through a painting. Her joy though was helping people on the biggest day of their lives, planning beautiful weddings.

She is always full of so much love, Rebecca says. Tayla and I have matching tattoos. Hers says you keep me wild, and mine says you keep me safe, and she really has always made sure that I am safe and well looked after. Tayla ran Tayla Made Events, and planned dozens of special occasions for people. Never in a million years did we think that this would be our life right now. Tayla is still so young with so much life left to live, and we pray that we can bring her home safely.

The major challenge for detectives now is trying to narrow down where she may be. There is no start point for police, and the land is overwhelmingly vast and remote. Rebecca talks of her sister as being extremely creative, outgoing, and adventurous with a huge heart Its certainly concerning for the police, that a young mother, 29 years of age, hasnt made contact with family, friends, and that gives us grave concerns as to actually what occurred and where she is, Watts told A Current Affair earlier this month. We just need one person to speak up to help us bring my sister home. If this was a member of your family, would you want somebody with valuable information to stay silent? Rebecca Spies Police this week said they are continuing to investigate any new leads in the case, with the search ongoing. Taylas bank accounts remain untouched, and detectives have ruled out unconfirmed information circulating in the community.
It needs to maintain growth within existing boundaries rather than just spreading and taking up valuable arable land, he said. It might need to go vertical. Loading That could include apartments and townhouses among the mix of housing types as well as more infill development in existing residential areas. A lot of these blocks are quarter acre or more. So theres the opportunity for subdivision, theres the opportunity for additional housing. Tebbutt said land around the Winchelsea Railway Station should be earmarked for high-density development. He said there was also a need for more social housing.

The growing population marks a significant change in fortunes from about 20 years ago when Tebbutt said two banks closed their branches. He feared money would flow out of the town if people did their banking in Colac or Geelong because they would probably shop for essentials there too. So, Tebbutt helped establish a community bank, a Bendigo Bank franchise, to keep residents shopping in their community. When Jacqui Doyle moved to Winchelsea about 30 years ago, it felt to her like a quiet country town. But she has seen rapid change since opening her business, Cafe La Hoot, 14 years ago. Jacqui Doyle outside her cafe where she has seen the town grow substantially. Credit: Jason South Ive met a few people who have moved from coastal areas where it has become quite expensive, particularly for the younger demographic, she said. There are also people from urban areas who are coming out to get that country feel.

Doyle agrees higher-density living in the centre of Winchelsea might be required to preserve the towns rural identity rather than carving up agricultural land. A lot of the developments you see around Geelong and Torquay just take up so much land. Houses are almost touching each other. Why not make it one big building and have a bigger open space thats benefiting the wider community? A birds-eye view of Winchelsea. Credit: Jason South From her vantage point behind the coffee counter, Doyle said she had also noticed an increase in local tourism, particularly since the council set aside an area near the Barwon River allowing free 48-hour stops for caravans and motorhomes. I think Winchelsea is really being put on the map for better reasons now than ever before.

Despite the green shoots of a tourism economy, figures supplied by the Surf Coast Shire show visits to the broader hinterland region accounted for only about 3 per cent of visitation to the Surf Coast in the year to September 2024. The shires place making and environment general manager, Chris Pike, said more people were choosing to live in Winchelsea due to its country character, river frontage and affordable land as well as easy access to Melbourne and Geelong. The new adventure playground. Credit: Jason South He said the council supported the principles of housing diversity, which included various housing types and could include townhouses and apartments. Well also work with the Victorian government to explore different types of housing for the state government owned land around the railway station, as an important transport node, he said.

Pike said an ecological assessment of the Barwon River corridor would be done as part of the Winchelsea Place Plan, which would guide where development could occur. Planning Institute Australia Victorian vice president Jane Keddie said her group wanted to see more focus on regional towns in the state governments recently released Plan for Victoria. One of Winchelseas historic buildings. Credit: Jason South The plan set housing targets across Victoria as part of the governments plan to deliver an extra 2.24 million homes by 2051. Keddie said high-density living to prevent urban sprawl was appropriate for regional towns. Its a sustainable model whether its in a small regional town or a metropolis, she said.
They are the schools that offer fresh chances to kids that dont fit in mainstream classrooms  and they can barely keep up with demand.

Special assistance schools (SASs) now make up the fastest-growing segment of the education sector, with enrolments surging by 21 per cent last year, compared to 4.1 per cent for private schools and 1.1 per cent and 1.2 per cent for the government and Catholic sectors respectively, as more and more young people find themselves struggling in conventional educational settings.

Principal Sally Lasslett at Hester Hornbrook Academy in Werribee Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

More than 4500 young people are now studying at about 30 special and special assistance schools, across 47 campuses throughout Victoria, and nationally such schools are attended by about 15,500 students.

One of the fastest-growing providers, Hester Hornbrook Academy, started in 2017 with fewer than 40 students at one site South Melbourne. It now has nearly 800 enrolments and established campuses in Prahran, Sunshine and the CBD.
An architecturally designed home in Flemington has sold for $1.95 million on Saturday after a dramatic final bid.

Designed and renovated by Open Architectures Rosie Giles and her photographer husband, the four-bedroom Victorian home at 93 Shields Street features floor-to-ceiling windows, a vine-wrapped pergola, and a plunge pool.

Listed with a price guide of $1.55 million to $1.7 million, the home had a reserve of $1.7 million. A crowd of more than 100 attended the auction, with three bidders competing.

The auction opened with a vendor bid at $1.55 million before quickly escalating, culminating in a battle between two young couples.
Note: Mortgage rates are from MortgageNewsDaily.com and are for top tier scenarios.





For deaths, I'm currently using 4 weeks ago for "now", since the most recent three weeks will be revised significantly.





Note: "Effective May 1, 2024, hospitals are no longer required to report COVID-19 hospital admissions, hospital capacity, or hospital occupancy data." So, I'm no longer tracking hospitalizations.





COVID Metrics Now Week

Ago Goal Deaths per Week 635 692 3501 1my goals to stop weekly posts.

 Increasing number weekly for Deaths.

 Goal met.

Click on graph for larger image.





Although weekly deaths met the original goal to stop posting in June 2023 (low of 314 deaths), I've continued to post since deaths are above the goal again - and I'll continue to post until weekly deaths are once again below the goal.





Weekly deaths are now decreasing following the winter pickup and only double the low last year.









Nationally COVID in wastewater is "Moderate", up from "Low" last week according to the CDC.

This graph shows the weekly (columns) number of deaths reported since Jan 2023.And here is a graph I'm following concerning COVID in wastewater as of March 20th:This appears to be a leading indicator for COVID hospitalizations and deaths. This has mostly moved sideways nationally over the last several weeks. This measure has ticked up in the South and Midwest regions.
CARLOW Methodist Church on the Athy Road hosted its annual food pantry service recently to thank all the volunteers and generous doners who help to feed thousands of local people every year.

The special guest speaker was Rev Dr John Alderdice, president of the Methodist Church in Ireland. The congregation included public representatives, those who helped to distribute the 1,400 food parcels in the community in 2024 and some of the volunteers who gather to pack the food parcels.

The Food Pantry is a charity that collects food donations and, quietly and discreetly, hands them out to people and families in need. Sometimes a family may only need a dig-out for a short time while others may need it less frequently, depending on their circumstances.

At the thanksgiving service, Rev John spoke eloquently from scripture, especially the Book of James, about the need to listen to those in need in the community and show Gods love to one another in the little things. He prayed for Gods blessing on the work of Carlow Methodist Church's food pantry, its partners and its volunteers, without whom it could not continue.
By Rebecca Black, PA

Almost 50 firefighters are tackling a blaze in the Mourne Mountains.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said they were alerted to the wildfire in the Silent Valley area around 5pm on Friday.

In a statement NIFRS said six fire appliances and 49 firefighters were at the scene at Carrigenagh Road close to Kilkeel on Friday night.

Following an initial call just after 5pm on Friday, March 21 2025 Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service has been tackling a wildfire on Carrigenagh Road, Silent Valley, outside Kilkeel, a spokesperson said.

There are six fire appliances and 49 firefighters from Kilkeel, Warrenpoint, Newcastle, Rathfriland and Newry supported by a Command Support Unit in attendance.

Locals are requested to avoid the area to help support firefighting operations.
By Cillian Sherlock, PA

It is so un-Irish to give up hope, a co-founder of BDS has said, as he urged protesters in Dublin to continue their support for Palestine.

Thousands of people participated in a solidarity march through the capital on Saturday, calling for the Government to impose sanctions on Israel.

Demonstrators, some wearing keffiyehs and waving banners and Palestinian flags, stopped for a series of speeches outside Irelands national parliament at Leinster House.

Speakers at the rally included Omar Barghouti. Photo: Cillian Sherlock/PA.

Speakers led chants of free, free Palestine and addressed the large crowd on the re-escalating conflict in the Middle East.

The protesters called for the end of Israels military activity in Gaza, for states to stop arming Israel, and the cessation of use of Irish airspace for transporting weapons.

The rally, organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), is the fourteenth national demonstration of its kind since October 2023 and is supported by several trade unions and civil society groups.

The IPSC has also called for the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, along with the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill.

The Government has committed to implementing the Occupied Territories Bill with changes limiting its scope to trade, but it is not on the legislative calendar for this term.

Protesters also carried a giant sphere in the style of the logo of Irelands Central Bank with the words stop funding genocide painted on it.

Israel chose the Central Bank of Ireland to be the designated authority to approve prospectuses for Israel Bonds in the EU. Pro-Palestinian supporters want the Bank to stop approving their sale.

The group also wants a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and for the Irish Government to roll back on its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, which it sees as an effort to prevent criticism of Israel.

Speakers at the rally included Omar Barghouti, Palestinian intellectual Ghada Karmi, and IPSC chairwoman Zoe Lawlor.

Mr Barghouti, who co-founded the BDS movement which stands for boycott, divestment and sanctions, said there was a profound moral duty to continue to support Palestine.

Speaking to the PA news agency, he said: Im here to say that given Israels continued genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, we need to escalate non-violent pressure on Irish Government, Irish corporations, Irish institutions to end complicity.

Palestinians are not asking for charity, were asking for ending complicity  to do no harm to us.

The Irish Government continues to allow the transit of US weapons to Israel, this has to stop.

The Central Bank of Ireland continues to profit from genocide through the sale of Israel government bonds, this has to stop.

Mr Barghouti added: The Government is blocking the Occupied Territories Bill and the Divestment Bill, this has to end. They have to take measures to end complicity.

Some people in Ireland might say weve been demonstrating for 17 months throughout this genocide, we dont see any hope.

But it is so un-Irish to give up hope. The Irish have resisted colonialism for centuries under enormously difficult hardships and theyve never given up hope.

Similarly, Palestinians for 100 years, weve been resisting oppression and doing everything we can to live in peace, justice, dignity, equality and self-determination like everyone else.

We cannot give up, it is a profound moral duty to do no harm. So we need to escalate people power and pressure to end complicity.

Senior figures in Israels government have accused leaders in the Irish coalition of encouraging antisemitism, with the Israeli embassy in Dublin announcing last year that it would close.

Israeli politicians have criticised Irelands decision to intervene in South Africas case against Israel, with Dublin asking the International Court of Justice to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes genocide.
If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us do we not revenge? - William Shakespeare

Back in the fall. That little phrase has a nice ring to it doesnt it? Back in the fall. Maybe its because spring has finally, mercifully arrived. I do truly love the fall, but after a long hard winter and the magic of returning spring, what transpired in the last fall season is slowly becoming not much more than a series of fond and fading memories. Spring has a tendency to shift your focus and cloud the old memory bank for some reason. You forget the disappointments of a past fall and manage to remember only the good parts the most. That's the way it should maybe be.

Back in the fall, my son, son-in-law and his younger brother decided that they suddenly needed to endeavor to hunt bears and pigs in the Tellico Wildlife Management Area. The plan encompassed a long backpack into a lightly traversed area somewhere along the North Carolina border. Like all expeditions of present day, a good deal of planning for such an expedition included time spent perusing the handheld computer and all of the assorted apps designed to map the earth where bears and pigs live and thrive.

While performing this due diligence on the world wide web, my son happened to run up on a decades old and antique White Oak Mountain Ranger story about hunting in Tellicos Kirkland Creek above the Bald River. A decades old story that I had completely forgotten was languishing in the WOMR archives.

So here it is dusted off, embellished a bit and revisited. For what its worth.

Return to Kirkland Creek

The last time I was on Kirkland Creek my hunting partner and I split up sides of the laurel choked dribble of a creek to accomplish a little pre-hunt scouting for a near term deer hunt. Wed both called in sick from work to get this much needed task completed. Sick leave abuse was a pretty prevalent and well cultivated work related art form of lying for both us back in those days.

About an hour into scouting upstream through the dense thicket that made up a pure laurel hell, Edro stumbled face to face with two well armed poachers carrying a dead bear on a pole. It wasnt bear season and we were all a rather long way from the nearest road.

Edro immediately threw it in reverse and started yelling for me to cross to his side of the creek as the two guys with the bear trotted up stream on an ancient logging road, to the safety of the North Carolina line. Edro and I sprinted downstream, pistols in hand, nervously looking over our shoulders like a bear was chasing us.

Weve been back since, with the assistance of a pack of semi-useless hounds. Figuring that these poachers had maybe grown old, thinking that with the passage of time, maybe the bear and pig density had likely recovered from a poachers ring. An odd pastime of poaching with the intent of getting rich by selling bear gall bladders to mysterious Chinese alchemists.

Kirkland is a truly wild splash of a creek that spills into the Bald River high above the Bald River falls after draining a narrow, long and laurel, rhododendron and hardwood choked lengthly drainage. A once devastated little stretch of steep mountain coves that make up the aftermath of devastating logging operations from back about the turn of the last century.

How this creek became named Kirkland is supposition on my part. But its a fairly safe bet, that at one time, prior the war of Northern Aggression, some many Kirklands struggled to settle in this pristine wilderness area after somehow stealing it away from the Cherokee.

Local newspaper accounts say that there were several groups of outlaws commonly referred to as bushwhackers that prowled these mountains during the War Between the States. The Kirkland Bushwhackers are probably the most well known and most notorious, as they were said to be the most vicious and bloodthirsty band of both Union and Confederate sympathizers known to plunder and murder in these particular mountains during that particular conflict.

Deserters from both the Union and the Confederate armies made up these bands of outlaws. These were partisans, reported to terrorize both Tennessee and North Carolina, as they routinely had running battles with, randomly murdered and harassed locals. Bands of outlaws roaming about in these high mountain enclaves, killing seemingly indiscriminately, with just about anyone who happened to be unsympathetic to either the Union or Confederate cause.

Kirklands Bushwhackers were led by John Jackson Bushwhacking Jack Kirkland. Jack was a former Second Lieutenant in Company B of the Third Tennessee Mounted Infantry and a registered deserter from the Confederate Army.

Bushwhacking Jack swore a rather deadly serious oath against the Union shortly after he had deserted from active duty with the Confederacy. That oath and act of desertion may have coincided with the burning of his cousin Bas Shaws mill on Turkey Creek by one of Shermans platoons shortly after the unionist laid waste to a Confederate iron foundry in Tellico. Sherman was on a detoured and destructive side trip after chasing Longstreet out of Knoxville. Shaws mill was just another defenseless southern object to torch before returning to Chattanooga and instigating the subsequent Union route at Missionary Ridge.

Bushwhacking Jack and his band took to roaming a trail of terror between Robbinsville North Carolina and Madisonville Tennessee, set on revenge and anything else that could be plundered from poorly defended mountain homesteads where dependable menfolk had gone off to war.

The Kirkland Bushwhackers apparently did not necessarily appear to feel any compunction with drawing a line at killing relatives though. The Kirkland Bushwhackers were sometimes known to murder blood kin and kin by marriage, especially if, or when, blood relatives happened to be associated, in any conceivable sympathy, with the Union cause.

The Kirklands were said to have bushwhacked Captain Joe Gray of Company H, Third Tennessee Mounted Calvary of the GAR, at his home near Sweetwater Tennessee. That night, as the bushwhackers were celebrating the murder in a wild and drunken party, it was told that the Kirkland women, took turns dancing around the big fire in Grays high Union calvary boots.

Sometime shortly after that celebration, the Kirkland gang was accused of murdering two of Shaws sons, who had inexplicably joined the Eleventh Tennessee Calvary of the Union Army. These two young lads were Bushwhacking Jacks first cousins.

After Shaws sons were murdered, Bushwhacker Jack took his revenge in an October 3, 1864, with a raid on Robbinsville North Carolina, targeting Captain Tim Lyons and the Unions faintly affiliated, Third Tennessee Mounted Infantry.

Lyons was a one eyed Irish immigrant who had deserted from the Union Army and he commanded a murderous rival mountain running gang of mostly Confederate deserters, bushwhackers and seriously muderous young boys.

Jesse Kirkland, captured and paroled at Vicksburg, reported AWOL in 1864, was Bushwhacker Jacks younger brother. Jesses Kirkland was reportedly killed during the Robbinsville-Lyons raid that fall.

Bushwhacker Jack reportedly survived the war, and numerous skirmishes, ambushes and family vendetta sourced shootouts that followed. Although numerous indictments were handed down against him after the war, he was never tried, arrested, or even had papers served.

Local lawmen of the day knew that to ride deep into the mountains to serve papers for his arrest where Bushwhacker Jack lived, would have been a long uphill ride to their grave. Jack moved from Graham County North Carolina to Polk County Tennessee in 1872, where he died in 1902 at age 75.

Thats about the time that the Babcock Lumber Company built rail lines into the Tellico and Bald Rivers and commenced the rape of the old growth poplars and hemlocks. When Babcock had completely devastated the mountain lands in both states, the state of Tennessee bought the leftovers which ultimately resulted in the Tellico Wildlife Management Area in the Cherokee National Forest.

If I had known all this going in, Id never set foot on Kirkland Creek, just like the bears and the pigs.

My guess is that old Bushwhacking Jack still prowls the mountain trails on full moon winter nights, shooting an occasional bear or two, when he gets that old bloody feeling. Ill bet he dreams of his drunken women taking turns dancing around the moon-lit big fire on Kirkland Creek in a dead Yankee Captains tall boots.

-----

Send comments to whiteoakmtnranger@gmail.com
Edna Chocolate Thomas Morgan transitioned to her heavenly home on Saturday, March 1, 2025, at the age of 90. She was a beloved mother, family member, educator, friend, and servant of the Lord. She was blessed with a long, fulfilled life and she leaves behind a legacy of faith that will continue to inspire all who knew her.

Born on July 24, 1934, Chocolate was a lifelong resident of Chattanooga, Tennessee. After graduating from Howard High School in Chattanooga, she obtained her bachelors degree in education from Tennessee State University in Nashville.

At an early age, she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, and her strong faith was the foundation upon which she built her life. As a devoted prayer warrior, she spent countless hours in communion with the Lord, lifting her family, friends, and community in prayer. Her faith was not just something she professed, but something she lived. Her prayers were powerful, and her voice, both in song and in testimony, was a source of comfort and inspiration to many.

Chocolates love for the Lord extended into every area of her church life. She was most recently a member of First Baptist Church of Fort Oglethorpe. Prior to joining FBCFO, she was a former member of Brainerd Baptist Church and First Baptist Church, East 8th Street. Throughout her church years, she was an active and dedicated believer. Whether it was participating in Bible study groups and Sunday School classes, directing vacation Bible school activities, providing counsel and prayer to those in need, or singing in the choir, she made her presence felt in all aspects of her church community.

One of the many gifts that Chocolate shared with the world was her heavenly voice. Blessed with an incredible talent for singing, she graced numerous recitals, weddings, receptions, and funerals with a voice that could move hearts. Whether in joyful celebration or in times of mourning, her songs ministered to those in attendance, offering inspiration, comfort and peace. Through her singing, she glorified God and touched the souls of everyone who heard her.

A passionate, dedicated, and effective educator, Chocolate spent 36 years shaping the minds and hearts of children as an elementary school teacher. For most of her career in education, she taught at Frank H. Trotter Elementary, Howard Elementary, Highland Park Elementary, and Orchard Knob Elementary. She touched the lives of countless children, instilling in them not only knowledge but also compassion, kindness, and a love for learning. Her students often spoke of her as more than just a teacher; she was a mentor, a guide, and someone who always took the time to understand them as individuals. Chocolate fostered not just academic growth, but also emotional and character development in her students. Her ability to make learning both fun and meaningful was a hallmark of her career, and her influence will be felt for generations to come. As an extension of her love and devotion to children, Chocolate also worked with the Bethel Bible Village team in Chattanooga, Tennessee as a volunteer and served on their Board of Directors for several years. She was a patient, compassionate mentor who inspired her students to strive for excellence.

Throughout her life, Chocolate was actively involved in many social organizations, where her warm and outgoing nature left a lasting impact. Whether volunteering at church, participating in community events, or organizing social gatherings, she was always ready to lend a hand or offer a listening ear. Over the years she enjoyed memberships in Congenial Ladies of Chattanooga, The Couples Club, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc., and CARATS, Inc. Chocolate welcomed the opportunity to serve and uplift others, and her warm and inviting nature made her a cherished friend and confidante to many.

Above all, Chocolate was a devoted mother to her only son, Christopher. Their bond was unbreakable, and it was clear to all who knew them that she poured her heart and soul into raising him with love, wisdom, and faith. Her joy in seeing him grow and thrive was evident in every conversation, and she took great pride in being his mother. Chocolates relationship with her son exemplified the love, patience, and sacrifice that she willingly gave.

Though health challenges later in life brought physical limitations, Chocolate's spirit, faith, and devotion to Jesus Christ remained strong. She continued to serve others, often offering prayers and encouragement to those around her, even when she herself was struggling. She inspired those around her with her strength, grace, and deep reliance on Gods promises. While we mourn her passing, we also celebrate her life and the incredible impact she had on all who knew her. She leaves behind a legacy of teaching, prayer, and service, and her memory will live on in the hearts of her son, family, friends, students, and all who were touched by her kindness.

Chocolate is preceded in death by her husband, William Slim Sylvester Morgan, mother, Johnnie Mae Moore (Otis), father, Daniel Thomas, and stepfather, Otis O. Moore. Chocolate is survived by her son, Christopher Morgan, devoted niece, Jocelyn Morgan, devoted cousin and prayer partner, Marsha Hayes (James), and a host of extended family members and friends who will remember her with love and affection. Her legacy of faith, service, and love will live on in the hearts of all who knew her.

"Well done, good and faithful servant."  Matthew 25:23

Chocolate will lie in state on Wednesday, March 26, at 10 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Fort Oglethorpe, 2645 Old Lafayette Road, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. 30742. A funeral service to celebrate her life and faith will follow at 11 a.m. at the church. Interment will follow in Chattanooga National Cemetery.

Arrangements are by Taylor Funeral Home of Chattanooga, Inc.
The National Trust Community Investment Corporation announced the successful financing of the Tivoli Theatre. The $73 million restoration will transform the historic theater and adjoining Trigg-Smartt buildings into a state-of-the-art performing arts center, revitalizing a key cultural asset in the heart of the downtown district, it was stated.

NTCIC provided a $9 million New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation and an equity investment in the $12.5 million in federal Historic Tax Credits (HTCs) generated by the project

Chattanoogas Tivoli Theatre, the Jewel of the South, opened its doors to the public in 1921 as a 1,750-seat state-of-the-art performance space and is notably regarded as the first public building in the South, and one of the first in the country, to have air conditioning. After decades of changing ownership and experiencing varying levels of usage, the Tivoli Theatre Foundation closed the space in 2022 to begin a full restoration.

Nick Wilkinson, CEO of the Tivoli Foundation, said, "In order to truly improve the Tivoli and the impact it will have on the hundreds of thousands of people we serve annually, a complete renovation and expansion was necessary. The creation of the new Tivoli Performing Arts Center will allow us to feature enhanced and diverse programming, including our new education department and other outreach efforts.

As the cultural anchor for the performing arts in Chattanooga for over a century, this project will breathe new life into the Tivoli Theatre and create a new, more accessible community venue that will house rehearsal and education spaces, ultimately creating increased access for all Chattanoogans to witness and be a part the magic of the performing arts.

Upon completion, the performing arts center will include a new 190-seat cinema and studio, an expanded lobby, a restaurant, six bar spaces, additional event areas, and upgrades to all service and mechanical systems, including bathrooms, HVAC, and more. Outside, the iconic Tivoli Theatre marquee will be restored and modernized to light up the city streets once again.

The Tivoli Theatre Foundation will use its new space to expand upon partnerships with organizations like the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, Chattanooga Ballet, and the Chattanooga Boys Choir. This expansion of programming and partnerships is expected to increase the theatres annual patronage by more than 32,000 people, boosting revenue by nearly 60 percent within five years, it was stated.

The Tivoli Theatre Foundation is incredibly grateful to NTCIC for their long-term commitment to this important project for the Chattanooga community, said Mr. Wilkinson. From the start, NTCIC has been unwavering in its help to facilitate tax credit investment necessary to restore and improve these historic landmark buildings. It is a testament to their belief in our organization and mission and we quite literally could not commence such a transformative project without them.

NTCICs involvement helped to ease the Tivoli Theatre Foundation capital campaign burden and ensure low-cost access to performances and programming for low-income families. The Tivoli Theatre Foundation has raised over $20 million so far through a successful capital campaign, and nearly $12 million in PACE financing is supporting energy-efficient upgrades to the building.

The Tivoli Foundation has done amazing work creating a space for the people of Chattanooga to enjoy the theatre arts, while simultaneously serving their community and investing in the future of their local students, said David Clower, CEO of NTCIC. NTCIC is proud to have played a part in the restoration of this iconic theatre, ensuring that it remains a center of arts and culture for generations to come.

Officials said, "When the Tivoli Theatre reopens its doors, visitors are sure to be impressed not only by the state-of-the-art upgrades and expansion of the facility, but by the mission-driven goals of the Tivoli Theatre Foundation and its commitment to making performing arts education accessible to all of Chattanoogas youth."

Click here to learn more about the historic of the building and its next chapter.
Prince William recently took a royal trip to Estonia, but as soon as he was done with the engagement, he rushed back home; heres why.

Prince William is first in line for the throne; his father, King Charles, is the current monarch. Although being king is always top of mind for William, he is married to Kate Middleton and shares three children with her: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. This means that being a father plays a massive role in his life, too.

William has to partake in royal duties, which often require him to leave town for a bit. But there was sweet reason behind why the prince wanted to rush home to his family as soon as he was done with his most recent outing in Estonia.

Prince William and Kate Middleton with Prince George, Prince Louis, and Princess Charlotte | Jonathan Brady/Pool/Getty Images

Prince William continues to put fatherhood first

William and Kate began dating in college and became engaged in 2010. They wed in a highly-publicized ceremony in 2011, and they welcomed George in 2013. The couple went on to have two more kids: Charlotte in 2015 and Louis in 2018. These days, while William and Kate are certainly preparing for the throne because they have to, theyre also putting parenthood first.

In March 2025, William was on royal duties; he was taking a two-day trip to Estonia to meet with UK troops who were stationed overseas. Of course, while on an official royal engagement, William was highly focused on the task at hand. However, he had something else going on in the back of his mind: making it home in time to greet his kids after a long school day.

George, Charlotte, and Louis all attend Lambrook School, and according to Express, William quickly rushed home from his Estonia trip to make sure he was there to greet his little ones after they came home from their own version of work: an hours-long school day. William and Kate, who moved off the grounds of Kensington Palace in order to give their children a more private life, have vowed since starting a family that they would always put their kids needs first. Perhaps the children get upset if William isnt home when they arrive home from school.

Prince William and Kate Middleton are less focused on the monarchy right now

William and Kate had a difficult year in 2024, and if anything, it taught them more about what truly matters. Although the two know that they have to continue to prepare for life as king and queen, theyre certainly in no rush to take the throne.

Right now, what matters is that their children have two hands-on parents and live a life that doesnt involve being subject to unwanted publicity. The Wales family lives on the grounds of Windsor Castle in Adelaide Cottage, which offers a much more private setting. The children even switched schools to avoid the chaos of growing up in London.
Northeastern State University and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation hosting symposium focusing on sexual assault awareness at the universitys Broken Arrow campus on April 11.
Home News Pakistani Christian teen languishing in jail after getting bail as ill father fights for son's freedom

LAHORE, Pakistan  An 18-year-old Christian is still languishing in jail a month after winning bail in all three blasphemy cases against him as a trial court is delaying his release, his father said.

Sargodha Additional Sessions Judge Naveed Khaliq initially gave the family of Akash Karamat, who has been jailed for 18 months in three blasphemy cases, the impression that he would accept their March 5 applications to accept a bail bond of 100,000 rupees each (over $1,100 USD) as per a high courts orders but kept delaying the written order on one pretext or another, said Karamats father, Karamat Masih.

The high court had granted bail to my son against three personal sureties amounting to 100,000 Pakistani Rupees each or submission of cash bail bonds of the same amount on Dec. 18, Feb. 13 and Feb. 19, respectively, Masih told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. No person in our family and among our relatives owns registered properties as per the courts requirements, so I had no other option but to raise the bail money from various sources.

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Masih, a tailor who now works as a laborer after his family was forced to leave their hometown due to his sons arrest on Aug. 27, said that after the initial weeks delay, the judge said he would not accept the cash securities because Akash Karamats co-accused, Zimran Asim, had failed to appear in court after obtaining bail.

He said that Akash would also disappear if there were no guarantors involved in the process, Masih said. I personally, as well as our lawyers associate, have repeatedly pleaded with the judge to give us his decision in writing so that we can move the high court. We have been going to the trial court every day for the written order but have returned empty-handed.

On Wednesday, Masihs wife accompanied him to the court, and the impoverished couple waited for over four hours to plead before the judge, he said.

Finally, the judge asked us to come forward and categorically told us that he would not give a written decision on our applications, he said, saying the judge told them, The high court has given the bail orders, so you should ask it to accept the cash sureties.

This is not the first time the judge has delayed a decision in his sons case, he said.

Earlier when our attorney submitted an application with the judge for declaring Akash a juvenile, he sat on the decision for six months, Masih said. Now he has dragged the matter for 15 days, when he could have simply rejected the applications so that we could go to the next forum, i.e. the Lahore High Court.

Masih said there was no doubt that the judge was under immense pressure from Islamists because of the sensitivity of the blasphemy cases, but isnt it his responsibility to decide the matter as per the law even if it is against us?

Suffering from a kidney ailment that requires surgery, Masih said he has been delaying treatment because no other family members could pursue his sons release.

I have even showed the judge my medical reports and told him that despite severe pain, Ive been coming to the court every day for my sons release, he said.

Akash Karamats attorney, Asad Jamal, said that the unjustified delay in releasing him warranted action under Article 199 of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. Article 199 grants high courts the power to issue writs, including those for the enforcement of fundamental rights, if no other adequate remedy exists, and to ensure that individuals in custody are not held unlawfully.

We will now move the Lahore High Court for its intervention under Section 561-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), he told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

Section 561-A of the CrPC grants high courts inherent powers to make orders necessary to give effect to any order under the CrPC, prevent abuse of court process, or secure the ends of justice.

The attorney has successfully defended several people charged with false accusations of blasphemy. He is also representing the National Commission for Human Rights in a petition filed by Islamist group Khatam-e-Nabuwwat Forum seeking to prevent any possible adverse action by the government against a blasphemy business group on the basis of two separate investigative reports by the NCHR and the Special Branch of the Punjab Police.

He said he hoped that the high court would take up the petition as an urgent matter next week.

Akash Karamat and Asim, 35, were accused of writing blasphemous posters and desecrating the Quran in areas of Sargodha in Punjab Province, allegedly in retaliation for the Aug. 16, 2023, Muslim mob attacks on multiple churches and homes of Christians in Jaranwala, Faisalabad District, after two Christian men were accused of committing blasphemy. He was charged under multiple sections of the blasphemy law, including Section 295-C, which carries a mandatory death penalty and life imprisonment.

Pakistan is ranked No. 8 on Open Doors 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult countries to be a Christian.

This article was originally published at Christian Daily InternationalMorning Star News
Home News Christians in Syria facing death threats, denied pay, fearful of what's coming next: watchdog

Syria's Christian community is fearful for the future following a wave of violence that left over 1,000 people dead earlier this month, as a watchdog group reports that starvation is being used as a weapon and Christian workers are reportedly being denied pay.

The sectarian violence between Assad loyalists and opponents in Latakia and Tartus left more than 1,300 Syrians dead in under 72 hours, with multiple bloody skirmishes killing dozens more.

While reports indicate that Christians weren't the primary targets, many are embedded within the communities that were attacked. The violence has only exacerbated concerns among Syria's Christians, some of whom have already faced "intensified discrimination," particularly after the Assad regime fell in December.

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"The situation for many Christians in the region has been devastating already," Brian Orme, who was recently named CEO of the persecution watchdog organization Global Christian Relief, told The Christian Post, citing reports of Christians having their wages cut.

The armed Islamic alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is attempting to use starvation as a weapon by refusing to pay Christian workers, Orme stated. There are also reports of suicide bombers preparing to attack churches and Christian cemeteries being overturned.

Survivors have also reported getting threatening phone calls in the aftermath of the recent violence, with the callers vowing to wipe out Christians next, Orme said. He added that many of the Islamist groups in the region view Christians as "infidels" and don't think Syria has a place for them.

GCR is working with its partners on the ground to provide emergency aid and long-term support to Christians in Syria. These partners include individuals within the Evangelical and Orthodox churches that GCR has known for years and trusts to evaluate what Christians in the area need.

The recent violence is proof that Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is not in control of his military forces, Orme asserts.

While Sharaa, a former leader of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has condemned the violence and demanded accountability, Orme dismissed this as nothing more than "lip service."

GCR has been involved with relief efforts in the area since December, according to Orme. At the time of the interview, the group's partners had just started to disperse the latest aid delivery, which included food, clean water and sometimes shelter.

For security reasons, Orme could not provide too many details about the aid deliveries to Syria. He emphasized, however, the impact of Christians in the West praying and giving on behalf of their persecuted brothers and sisters in Syria.

"It reminds those Syrian believers that they are not alone," Orme said. "They haven't been forgotten. There is hope in Christ, and we're trying to do this together."

GCR urges the United States and other Western governments to approach international policies with "persecution in mind." Orme doesn't want the Trump administration to give "a pass" to governments that persecute Christians.

A potential consequence for Syria that Orme suggested was sanctions. However, he stressed the need for caution because sanctions could make things worse for Christians who are already experiencing starvation or suffering from a lack of resources.

"It's going to require a lot of discernment for our leaders right now," the ministry leader said. "There needs to be a dialogue, but that needs to include a discussion of Christians in the country. I think there need to be consequences when that's not upheld."
Home News Israels DM Katz threatens annexation of Gaza territory unless Hamas releases hostages

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Israel would begin annexing territory in the Gaza Strip and evacuating its population if Hamas does not release the remaining Israeli hostages in captivity.

I have instructed the IDF to seize additional areas in Gaza, while evacuating the population, and to expand the security zones around Gaza in order to protect Israeli communities and IDF soldiers through permanent Israeli control of the territory, Katz said.

The more Hamas continues its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose to Israel, he added in a statement on Friday.

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Katz thereby confirmed a report by Channel 12 last week, according to which Israel for the first time threatened to annex areas as a means of pressuring Hamas.

The statement was sharply criticized by Merav Michaeli, chairwoman of the Knesset subcommittee on IDF readiness and member of the far-left "The Democrats" party.

Michaeli said that Katzs threat would escalate the existing conflict, endanger the hostages, and continue to strengthen Hamas.

Katz also vowed that the new operation in Gaza, which Israel has dubbed Strength and Sword, would continue with increasing intensity. At the same time, he noted that Israel remains willing to adhere to the latest proposal by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, without endangering Israeli security interests.

The defense minister further threatened to use all military and civilian means of pressure  including evacuating the Gaza population to the south and implementing U.S. President [Donald] Trump's voluntary transfer plan for Gaza residents.

The IDFs top brass, including IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, as well as recently dismissed Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, convened for a security assessment at the IDF Southern Command on Friday, following the recent expanded military operations.

On Thursday, the IDF announced that troops began conducting ground activity in the area of Shabura in Rafah, after other units began operating in the Netzarim Corridor and northern Gaza.

As part of the activity, the troops dismantled terrorist infrastructure. Simultaneously, IDF troops are continuing ground activity in northern and central Gaza, the army stated.

Israeli troops also detonated the building of the former Turkish hospital in northern Gaza, which was being used by Hamas as a command and control center.

In other operations, the military said its forces continued to eliminate several high-ranking Hamas operatives.

The IDF said it killed the terrorists Rashid Jahjuh, head of the General Security Forces of Hamas, and Ayman Atsalih, head of the Khan Yunis sector within General Security Forces.

Hamas General Security Forces, which was led by Rashid Jahjuh, is a covert central unit within Hamas. Among other responsibilities, the unit is responsible for exposing collaborators, safeguarding Hamas senior members and assets within Gaza and abroad, and suppressing opposition to Hamas' rule, the IDF reported.

Additionally, it operates to produce intelligence assessments that enable senior Hamas officials to plan and execute terror attacks against the State of Israel. Jahjuh also oversaw Hamas propaganda efforts aimed at shaping public opinion in Gaza.

In an additional strike, the IDF said it eliminated Ismail Abd al-Aal, a central terrorist in the Islamic Jihad's Weapons Smuggling Unit.

This article was originally published by All Israel News.
Home News San Diego parents irate over tampons in elementary school boys' bathrooms: 'Absolutely ludicrous' Boys reportedly using tampons for horseplay

Parents in San Diego, California, are reportedly irate as local school districts have installed tampon dispensers in boys' bathrooms at elementary schools to meet the requirements of a recent state law.

Parents from North San Diego County maintained that the tampon dispenser installations, which began during this school year, are a misuse of public funds and will only cause problems, according to The College Fix.

Marci Strange, who serves as chairwoman of the North San Diego County-based Taxpayers Oversight for Parents and Students, told the outlet that she has heard the only practical use the young boys have found for the tampons is to soak them and fling them at the ceiling to see if they will stick. She also speculated that the superfluous tampons are likely causing plumbing issues.

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"It's absolutely ludicrous," she said.

The tampon story leaked after Britt Mayer, a conservative activist in Southern California, shared an internal memo from Vista Unified School District about the boys' bathroom tampon dispensers on her popular Rooted Wings social media pages in February.

"Boys dont bleed, and if they do, they need a Band-Aid, not a tampon," Mayer wrote at the time. "This is mental warfare aimed at your kids, subsidized by your tax dollars."

The San Diego Office of Education told The Christian Post that the County Offices of Education do not dictate or mandate any district actions, and directed CP to the relevant Assembly Bill 367.

The Vista memo cited California's Menstrual Equity For All Act of 2021, which requires public schools from grades 6 to 12 "to stock the schools restrooms with an adequate supply of free menstrual products, as defined, available and accessible, free of cost, in all womens restrooms and all-gender restrooms, and in at least one men's restroom, at all times, and to post a certain notice."

An amendment in 2023 applied the law to public schools with classes as young as third grade.

The 2023 amendment purports to be for the benefit of "pupils that may start their periods early."

"When pupils do not have access to menstrual products, they may miss school or are less engaged in the classroom, which can have a long-lasting impact on their learning," the law says.

Shawn Loescher, who serves as assistant superintendent of the Vista district, confirmed to The College Fix that the district has placed the dispensers in one boys bathroom per elementary campus over recent months, achieving full compliance.

Loescher estimated the tampon dispensers in the boys' bathrooms, including installation, cost around $400 each.

The public schools in neighboring San Marcos also confirmed the imminent installation of tampon machines in the boys' rooms, while nearby Carlsbad has already put them up, according to The College Fix.

One parent in the Vista district who spoke to the outlet on condition of anonymity said the tampon dispenser for boys was wasteful.

"One mom said that there isnt currently a transgender student at the school who would need to use the tampons. [Another] said that if a student needed a tampon then the nurses office should be able to provide that," the parent said.

California joins Connecticut, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington in having passed legislation explicitly mandating public schools to provide tampons in boys' bathrooms.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, President Donald Trump slapped Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz with the moniker "Tampon Tim" to mock the Minnesota Democrat for signing legislation that mandated free menstrual products in public school bathrooms without specifying the gender.

During a Friday press gaggle in the Oval Office, Trump called Walz "a loser" in response to his claim that he could "kick most of their ass," referring to Trump supporters.
Home News Week in review: Trump seeks to dismantle Dept. of Education; EEOC warns DEI may violate civil rights

It was another busy week for the Trump administration, marking the two-month anniversary of Donald Trump's second presidency.



Throughout the past seven days, the president has taken steps to eliminate a federal government agency, continued his bid to secure an end to a years-long conflict in Ukraine, and taken action to ensure the proper enforcement of federal civil rights law.



Here are five highlights from the eighth full week of the Trump administration.

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Home Opinion The false narrative about money

Many people around the world look at money like its a means to salvation. We can easily think that if we just made a little more, everything would be alright, or if we found a higher-paying job, then we would finally be happy.

Thats a false narrative. Money cannot and will not buy happiness. Dont misunderstand: money itself is not bad or wrong. But our relationship with money can quickly become that and much more.

Thats why the Bible teaches that we shouldnt love money. Love of money, after all, is the root of all kinds of evil. But the Bible doesnt just have negative teachings. It also tells us many things we should love, seek and prioritize instead of money.

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Proverbs talks about the importance of wisdom and 1 Corinthians emphasizes love. But over and over, the Bible holds out one thing that is more crucial, more lasting, and more effectual than money.

Thats faith.

Perhaps no story in the Gospels demonstrates this truth better than the woman with the blood issue found in Mark 5:25-34. Many modern English translations of the Bible simply call this woman sick. But theres more to her story.

Shes bleeding. She has been suffering. And shes tried everything to find healing and wholeness. Mark says that this woman had suffered under the care of many doctors. Think about that. The very people who were supposed to bring relief to this woman caused additional suffering.

This has to be incredibly discouraging. With each appointment, each visit to the physicians, fresh hope rises only to be dashed again and again. This has been her reality for 12 years. Years of searching for a cure and praying that something would change.

But despite medical help and spending all she had, nothing is changing. In fact, her condition has got worse.

A lot of us can relate to this woman. All too often, we spend our time and effort searching for healing and salvation in things of this world. We foolishly think that relationships, or money, or technology, or politics can fill the longing inside of us. But just like the sick woman, our hopeless condition only gets worse.

Notice that the woman in Mark 5 doesnt give up. She hears about Jesus and decides to take one more leap of faith. But this time, she isnt putting her faith in something. Shes placing it in someone. The only one who can bring real healing.

All it takes is one touch for Jesus to see a breakthrough. And for this woman, it was immediate. Her bleeding stopped completely. She was fully and finally healed.

This story is instructive. We live in a time with more money and advanced technology than ever before. While this has brought an incredible amount of good, these realities can tempt us to put our ultimate hope in the wrong place.

We can start to think that we dont need Christ to find healing and meaning. Look around. Thats what the world wants you to believe. Every product and politician promises that it can deliver what were really searching for. But those are empty promises and if thats where we put our faith, well be empty too.

Thats why this story is so instructive. Jesus tells this suffering woman that her faith in Him did what all doctors and money couldnt. And then he tells her something even more wonderful: Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.

This woman isnt just given healing. She was given peace and freedom. Shes given a fresh start.

Thats what Jesus wants to do for us today. But hes waiting for us to realize that the things of this world cannot ever do what He can. Hes waiting for us to put our faith in the right place  Him. Thats when well see a breakthrough. Thats when we too can find peace and freedom.
Canada has been ranked the happiest country among the G7 in the 2025 World Happiness Report.

Canada has performed well in these rankings year-over-year, consistently ranking among the happiest countries in both the G7 and G20.

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2025 World Happiness Ranking

Canada ranked 18th in the global happiness ranking for 2025. The country saw a slight decline in its ranking from 2024, when it placed 15th globally.

Canada is not alone among the G7 in seeing a decline in its happiness ranking. All G7 countries have seen declines in their happiness ranking in the last five years, including the United States of America (ranked 24th this year), and the United Kingdom (ranked 23rd this year). Notably, Germany, which in 2021 was ranked higher than Canada, now ranks 22nd in terms of global happiness.

Between 2021 and 2024 Canada achieved the following rankings:



Year Global happiness ranking 2020 11 2021 14 2022 15 2023 13 2024 15

Finland continued to perform strongly on the World Happiness Ranking, holding first place for the eighth year in a row.

Since the inception of the World Happiness Ranking in 2013, a consistent trend has been the dominance of Scandinavian countries within the top 10 happiest countries. In 2025, six of the 10 happiest countries in the world were from this part of the world.

The following table breaks down the 10 countries ranked the happiest in 2025, along with their life evaluation score, which is explained in further detail below:



Rank Country Life Evaluation Score 1 Finland 7.736 2 Denmark 7.521 3 Iceland 7.515 4 Sweden 7.345 5 Netherlands 7.306 6 Costa Rica 7.274 7 Norway 7.262 8 Israel 7.234 9 Luxembourg 7.122 10 Mexico 6.979

Methodology

The World Happiness Rankings are based on a comprehensive measurement of subjective well-being, which includes three main indicators:

Life evaluations;

Positive emotions; and

Negative emotions.

Life Evaluations

The methodology of the World Happiness Ranking is designed to empower respondents to evaluate their own well-being, emphasizing a bottom-up approach where individuals provide personal assessments of their lives.

While various life factors are considered to explain differences in life evaluations, some variables like unemployment or inequality are not included, due to a lack of comparable data across all countries.

The primary measure used for the rankings is life evaluations, considered the most reliable indicator of quality of life. For each years rankings, scores of life evaluations are averaged over the last three years to ensure consistency.

Data is gathered from the Gallup World Poll, where respondents are asked to evaluate their current life using a scale called the Cantril Ladder*. Respondents rate their lives on a scale from 0 to 10, with 10 being the best possible life and 0 being the worst possible life.

Aside from the Cantril Ladder, life evaluations are also broken down into other measures that tend to be correlated to happiness, such as self-reports on perceptions of

Social support;

Freedom;

Generosity; and

Corruption.

*The Cantril Ladder allows respondents to self-anchor their well-being based on their unique perspectives. This subjective approach aligns with efforts from organizations like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure well-being and develop comprehensive metrics for evaluating national progress.

Typically, around 1,000 responses are collected annually per country, and population-representative national averages are calculated for each year. To enhance precision, the happiness rankings are based on a three-year average of these life evaluations.

Positive and negative emotions

The measurement of emotions is divided into two categories, each with three sub-categories:

Positive Emotions: The average of responses to questions about experiencing laughter, enjoyment, and interest; and

Negative Emotions: The average of responses to questions about experiencing worry, sadness, and anger.

Although these self-reports on emotion contribute to the happiness ranking, life evaluations are preferred for international comparisons due to their stability and ability to capture a broader view of life circumstances.

How happy are newcomers in Canada?

Though there is not much research specifically studying newcomer happiness in Canada, the studies that do exist show positive trends. In a 2024 study conducted by research firm Pollara Strategic Insights, 79% of the 1,507 newcomer respondents reported feeling overall happiness in Canada.

Despite this research deficit, there is a rich body of literature studying newcomers self-reports of feelings often associated with happiness and well-being.

For example, studies conducted by Statistics Canada reveal that newcomers to the country generally report a strong sense of belonging to their local communities and to Canada as a whole. This sense of belonging is often underscored by newcomers perception of their quality of life and level of social integration within Canada.

Newcomers self-reports in this regard are often stronger than the natural-born Canadian population and tend to vary by region.

Sense of belonging to local communities

A 2022 study into immigrants sense of belonging to Canada found that

Recent immigrants (those who arrived in the past five years) reported a strong sense of belonging to their local community at a rate of 50%.

Long-term immigrants (those who arrived more than five years ago) reported a strong sense of belonging at a rate of 48%.

In comparison, Canadian-born individuals reported a strong sense of belonging at a rate of 46%.

Sense of belonging to Canada

A 2023 study conducted by Statistics Canada found that the strength of immigrants sense of belonging to Canada varies across the country, with notable regional differences:

Immigrants living in Atlantic Canada and Ontario report the strongest sense of belonging to Canada.

Immigrants in British Columbia and Alberta report a weaker sense of belonging compared to those in Ontario and Atlantic Canada.

In Alberta, the lower sense of belonging is largely attributed to factors such as

Sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., years since landing, population group, age, and education);

Perceptions of discrimination; and

Structural conditions, including unemployment rates, median income, and the size of the immigrant population.

If these factors were equalized, immigrants in Alberta would likely report a sense of belonging similar to those in Ontario.

In British Columbia, the difference in sense of belonging is not explained by the same factors affecting Alberta. Even after accounting for sociodemographic characteristics, discrimination, and structural conditions, immigrants in Ontario are more likely to report a very strong sense of belonging to Canada than those in British Columbia.

Despite these regional differences, immigrants in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces consistently report especially favorable views about their sense of belonging to Canada. Additionally, immigrants in Ontario are more likely than native-born Canadians to report a very strong sense of belonging to Canada.

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Medina Superintendent Aaron Sable said the state's proposed budget could mean reductions for the local school district. Emily Canning-Dean, Special to Cleveland.com

MEDINA, Ohio  If Governor Mike DeWines proposed biennial budget is approved as currently presented, the Medina City School District will see a $1.5 million reduction in state funding.

Superintendent Aaron Sable recently presented an overview of the proposed budget to the board of education and discussed what that would mean for the local school district.

Following the passage of our levy in November, the school district is fiscally sound, but with a tight belt, Sable said. The goal has been to reduce spending through attrition, but unfortunately that proposed budget throws a wrench after just passing our levy. The proposed budget as it stands would result in a $1.5 million reduction in funding for our school district.

Sable said the district had no plans on implementing further reductions outside of attrition following the passage of the levy, but said that if this budget is approved, further cuts would be necessary.

Cuts would likely include the reduction of 15 staff members as well as the reduction of some programs and increasing class sizes.

To be able to maintain what the district currently has, the burden would be shifted to the local taxpayers to provide more funding, he said.

Sable said the district already receives only a small amount of funding for the state. He said the average annual expenditure per pupil in Medina is $13,000 and currently roughly $850 of that comes from state funding.

With the decrease in funding, that would mean even less from the state, he said.

Also during his presentation, Sable mentioned that the state spent roughly $1.2 billion on school vouchers last year which is a large increase from previous years.

While the program was intended to assist low-income families in low performing school districts by providing them with different school options, Sable said the voucher program is now frequently used by wealthier families who have never sent their children to public school.

The reality is that 89 percent of kids in Ohio attend public school, he said. Yet the public funding has been shifted to benefit the 10 percent who go to non-public schools.

The deadline for the proposed budget to be approved is July 1 and Sable said he is encouraging community members to stay informed and to reach out to their state legislators and talk to them about the impact this budget will have on the local school district.
Harness racing at Northfield Park, shown here in a file photo. (Lisa DeJong/The Plain Dealer) (file photo) The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio  A memorial ceremony at MGM Northfield Park on Sunday will honor Hunter Myers, an Ohio native and rising star in harness racing, who died Thursday following a racing accident the night before in western Pennsylania.

The ceremony, in conjunction with the Ohio Harness Horsemens Association, will be held at 5:50 p.m. after which the first race at Northfield Park will be run in silence, according to Harness Racing News.

Also in honor of Myers, 27, whose home track was Northfield Park, the tracks Iron Maiden Series will be re-named the Hunter Myers Memorial Series.

Myers was injured Wednesday in a racing accident at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows in Washington, Pennsylvania, according to a published report from Harness Racing News. He died the following day.

The Meadows cancelled its racing for the remainder of the week out or respect for the racing community, the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association announced on its Facebook page.

Growing up in Williamsport, Ohio, Myers followed other family members into the sport, including his father, who was a trainer, according to Harness Racing News.

Myers driving career began in 2014 at the age of 16. That year he won 19 of 110 races while competing at Ohio fairs and was honored with the Peter Haughton Memorial Award.

Throughout his nearly 11-year career, Myers amassed an impressive 2,450 victories and over $21.7million in purses, according to Harness Racing news.
Yard signs thanking health care workers for their work during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic started sprouting in mid-March 2020. Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News

On March 9, 2020, the Ohio Department of Health announced the states first confirmed COVID-19 cases -- three Cuyahoga County residents recently returned from trips. Two days later, the World Health Organization referred to COVID-19 as a pandemic.

The first Ohio death (only confirmed later) occurred on March 17, with state deaths peaking in mid-2021. As of this week, nearly 45,000 Ohioans have died from COVID.

Also on March 9, Gov. Mike DeWine, advised by his Health Director, Dr. Amy Acton, declared a public emergency. School and restaurant closings, postponement of the states March 17 primary and a ban on large gatherings quickly followed. And on March 22 came the states stay-at-home order closing all but nonessential businesses.

These decisions likely retarded COVIDs spread and contained its lethality, and some of the restrictions were relaxed in May, but widespread anger and protests erupted, too, including armed protests in front of Actons home.

In May 2023, the pandemic was declared over, but its impacts -- including on politics, vaccination rates, students whose education was interrupted, public health policies and municipal treasuries, thanks to remote work -- continue.

So how does our Editorial Board Roundtable evaluate how the pandemic may have changed us?

Thomas Suddes, editorial writer:

The pandemic changed us plenty, and not in good ways -- skepticism toward physicians, orneriness about governments anti-COVID measures, the disruption of pupils' schooling (and their parents working lives) due to haphazard attendance and distance learning practices. Further stoking orneriness: Absurd nostrums suggested by President Donald Trump, the promotion, even at the Statehouse, of medical quackery  and the fact Americans still dont know where and how COVID originated.

Ted Diadiun, columnist:

I got COVID three times, but Im still here. I was lucky: Four friends werent. The U.S. governments Operation Warp Speed to develop a vaccine was a wonder. I didnt lose my job, but many did. Businesses closed, never to reopen. Overreaction ruled, in shut schools and the $5 trillion in stimulus money. Im more skeptical of scientists, thanks to Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Wuhan deniers about COVIDs origins. In sum, we are sadder; not necessarily wiser.

Eric Foster, columnist:

Academics will be studying for decades how the pandemic has changed us. In the grand scheme of things, five years isnt that much data. Still, its clear that the technology we used to get through it is here to stay. Zoom. Teams. DoorDash. Amazon. Personally, I still get antsy if I hear too much coughing. Honestly, I still harbor anger at those who didnt care about thousands dying each day.

Lisa Garvin, editorial board member:

The most alarming result of the pandemic is a growing mistrust in science, fomented by politicians seeking to divide a frightened nation. Its already playing out in the Texas measles outbreak, as vaccination rates for all diseases have plummeted. With a quack running The U.S. Health and Human Services Department and scientists being vilified by an increasingly misinformed public, we are woefully unprepared for the next pandemic knocking on our door.

Mary Cay Doherty, editorial board member:

With COVID lockdowns, officials foisted a largely untested public health intervention of unknown consequences upon 330 million Americans without their consent. Even as health officials chided people to follow the science, they willfully ignored concerns raised by opponents like Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University and Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins. Despite good intentions, excessive, needlessly restrictive COVID policies reflected a decidedly unscientific authoritarianism. Squandered public trust is not easily regained.

Elizabeth Sullivan, opinion director:

One of the more concerning revelations of COVID-19 was how woefully unprepared we were as a nation and world to handle a pandemic, despite a lot of purported planning. Even worse, thanks to all the misinformation and nonfactual denialism about COVIDs seriousness and potential lethality (even extending to COVID vaccines), is that we emerged from COVID even less well-equipped to deal with the next one. That was magnified by the global failure, assisted by Chinese obstructionism, to do the work necessary to pinpoint exactly why and how the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Have something to say about this topic?

* Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication.

* Email general questions about our editorial board or comments or corrections on this Editorial Board Roundtable to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com
British Airways crew members arrive at terminal 5 at Heathrow on March 21, 2025 in London, England. Peter Nicholls | Getty Images

London's Heathrow Airport reopened Saturday but travelers are being warned of significant delays as airlines scramble to resume flights and return stranded passengers. Europe's busiest airport was closed for most of Friday after a power outage following a fire at a nearby electrical substation, causing over 800 flights to be canceled in and out of the airport, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. The first flight took off from the airport late Friday local time, however, and the airport's departure board indicates that the majority of flights are due to run as scheduled on Saturday. "Flights have resumed at Heathrow following yesterday's power outage," the airport said on its website Saturday. "If you're due to travel today, we advise you to still contact your airline for the latest flight information before heading to the airport. We apologize for the disruption and appreciate your patience whilst operations return to normal."

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National Grid said Saturday that power supply had been restored to all customers, including Heathrow, allowing operations to resume. "We are now implementing measures to help further improve the resilience levels of our network," the utility company said in a statement. "We are deeply sorry for the disruption caused and are continuing to work closely with the Government, Heathrow and the police to understand the cause of the incident." London's Metropolitan Police said that while there was "no indication of foul play," the counterterrorism division would now lead the investigation into the fire. "Given the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure, the Met's Counter Terrorism Command is now leading enquiries," the force said in a post on X.

Airlines are rushing to resume flights and get thousands of stranded passengers to their final destinations. British Airways was the airline most affected by the incident, with over half of its Friday schedule canceled. It said it expects to run the majority of its Heathrow schedule on Saturday, but that customers should expect delays.

Ground crews load cargo and supplies onto airplanes from airlines including Lufthansa Group, Emirates, Austrian Airlines, and British Airways, as they stand parked at the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in El Segundo, California, on September 11, 2023. Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images
Law enforcement authorities claimed that a major terrorist plan was foiled by arresting 11 terrorists of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Punjab province of Pakistan, police said on Saturday (March 22).A suicide bomber of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has also been arrested in Lahore.A very dangerous terrorist of TTP from Mianwali, some 325 kilometres from Lahore, is among the other arrested terrorists who had planned to attack police stations in Lahore and other cities, a spokesperson for the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab police said.He said as many as 166 intelligence-based operations (IBO) were conducted in different districts of the province during the last few days and 11 terrorists with weapons, explosives and other prohibited material, have been nabbed.Meanwhile, the CTD arrested a suicide bomber from the Burki area of Lahore.According to the CTD, suspect Shamsullah was trained by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar commanders Suleman and Qasim Khorasani in Afghanistan. Later, he was sent to Pakistan via Chaman. Qasim Khorasani is the mastermind behind the target killings of police officers in Police Lines Peshawar and Lahore.The arrested suicide bomber revealed that during his training, he was made addicted to drugs and various medicines, the CTD said.
Despite what my job as an internet writer would suggest, Im at least passably handy. At least as much as you need to be in the year 2025, which basically just means own basic tools. If you are as well and if youve ever been working on something and called for a screwdriver, inevitably the same question will come back: Flat or Phillips head?

I appreciate efficiency. Therefore, these two varieties of screws continuing to exist irk me.

Its fairly obvious that the flat head came first, just based on simplicity. Theyre cheaper to produce as well. A Reddit thread bemoaning their continued existence also sees people chiming in that they're more aesthetically pleasing for things like light switches, and I dont disagree.

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So the question is, then, why did we ever complicate things with Phillips heads? I understand the need for things like security screws, or hex screws that work with an Allen wrench, but the Phillips seems like a much smaller improvement. Also, who the hell is Phillip?

Well, his name was Henry Phillips, and he took a patent for a screw from a man named John Thompson and refined it into the Phillips head that bears his name. As it turns out, however, Phillips success was predicated on the stubbornness of a different man: P.L. Robertson.

Lets step back a little, to the final days of slotted screws. They worked, but they had problems. First, centering a slotted screw in a screwdriver while applying downward pressure was precarious. The screwdriver would often slip out, as Robertsons did while demonstrating a new spring-loaded screwdriver hed invented, injuring his hand. He took this anger and developed the Robertson screw: a screw with a recessed, square hole and square bit. They were much more stable, and they centered themselves under pressure, which made them a marked improvement for both home and industrial use.

So why dont we use Robertson screws?

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Weirdly, some of us do. Namely, his home country of Canada. Robertson screws are still common up north, and they work perfectly well. In fact, some consider them the superior screw. Phillips only made themselves the most common screw in America because of a business disagreement. One field that needed a lot of good screws was the automobile industry  e.g., the Ford Model T was put together with Robertson screws. Henry Ford, no peach as history tells it, wanted to use Robertson screws in all his plants, but he wanted some control over their manufacture. Robertson refused, and Fords search for a replacement brought him to Henry Phillips and his new screw. Phillips was happy to license his screw out, and automakers across America started slapping together their cars with hundreds of Phillips heads.

So, to bring it all together: The slotted screw is a shitty, but charming screw. The Phillips is a good all-around screw, and the Robertson might be the best, but only Canada will ever know.
First Rachel Reeves came for the pensioners. Then it was the nation's small businessmen and women. Followed by the farmers. But that wasn't enough. So on Tuesday she turned her sights on the disabled. In particular, those who can't cook a simple meal without support. Or need help getting out of the bath or a shower. Or are unable to wash themselves from the waist down.

Who's next? On Wednesday the Chancellor delivers her Spring Statement. And according to reports she will announce a sweeping new raft of spending cuts that will push our already hard-pressed public services closer to breaking point.

Indeed, in some quarters, Reeves's speech is already being billed as a return to austerity.

Her allies fiercely reject this characterisation. 'The idea we're going back to austerity is b******t,' one told me. 'Government spending is currently 1.2 trillion. Any cuts we announce are only going to scratch the surface of that.'

Maybe. But one thing is now clear. Reeves's economic strategy has completely fallen apart.

Her attempt to stimulate growth has failed, with the Office for Budget Responsibility set to slash its growth projections in half. Her efforts to limit borrowing have ended with her overshooting forecasts by an eye-watering 20 billion. And her pledge to 'rebuild' Britain's national infrastructure, following decades of perceived Tory neglect, are set to be thrown into reverse.

As a result of which she now faces a Devil's Alternative.

Cuts of up to 11 per cent to 'unprotected departments'. Raise additional business taxes and further dampen Britain's already anaemic growth. Or try to borrow even more, with the risk the markets will be thrown into the sort of turmoil that saw Liz Truss unceremoniously ejected from power.

Or she could do something different. Something genuinely radical, innovative and bold. And introduce a Luvvies Tax.

Over the past couple of weeks the calls for a wealth tax have been growing louder. They have largely been dismissed as the usual class warfare from the ranks of the Left's soak-the-rich brigade. But that debate has been overlooking an important component. Which is who the British rich actually are. Or, more significantly, how they vote.

Thirty years ago, voting patterns were broadly set. The Conservatives represented the wealthy. Labour were supported by the poor and the working classes. The

Lib Dems drew their backing primarily from the comfortable middle-class.

But last year those patterns were almost completely reversed.

In 2024, the rich voted Labour. According to Ipsos Mori's election survey, Labour's lead over the Tories among the most affluent AB social class was ten points, garnering 36 per cent of the vote. Among blue collar C2 voters, Labour's lead was six points. As it was among those in the lowest DE social bracket.

That's an almost complete demographic reversal from how the electorate voted in 1997.

Even following Tony Blair's New Labour modernisation, the Conservatives enjoyed a ten-point lead among AB voters. Among C2s Labour's lead was a staggering 23 points. And among those in the lowest social bracket an off-the-charts 38 points.

The reality is Sir Keir Starmer slipped into Downing Street by swapping the votes of working and low-income Britain for the votes of wealthy professionals. Bolstered, of course, by a broader army of liberal progressives.

Last year 60 per cent of AB voters cast their ballots for a 'rainbow coalition' of Labour, Lib Dems and the Greens. Only 26 per cent voted Tory, and nine per cent Reform. But among working class C2 voters, support for the woke alliance slumped to 46 per cent, with 25 per cent voting Tory and another 25 per cent Reform.

This is the new political divide in the country. One in which self-styled progressives successfully push for billions of pounds of public spending on Net Zero, billions on overseas aid, billions on liberal asylum and immigration policies. And then effectively get working and lower income families to pay for it.

It's a situation that is no longer socially or politically tenable.

Which is why it's time affluent Britons are finally asked to put their money where their mouth is.

Firstly, a Luvvies Tax would be economically viable. When Gordon Brown introduced a new top tax rate, it was dismissed as crazed socialism that would bankrupt the economy.

The Tories immediately pledged to abolish it. But in the end, such Marxist revolutionaries as David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak all opted  with some occasional tinkering  to retain it.

It would also be immensely popular. Over 50 per cent of those polled consistently say they believe taxes on the wealthiest are too low.

A recent study by YouGov found three-quarters supported higher taxes for millionaires. And when Liz Truss attempted to deliver a minor cut to the top tax rate, the public backlash forced her into an immediate, and ultimately terminal, U-turn.

And there is one final, compelling argument in favour of taxing the progressive rich. It has become a moral imperative.

There are no quick solutions to the economic, political and social crisis  and it is fast becoming a crisis  facing the country.

Even committed populists such as Nigel Farage now recognise bar-room solutions such as deporting all asylum seekers overnight are not viable.

As we saw with Friday's chaos at Heathrow, the nation's most basic infrastructure is teetering on the brink of collapse. And the British people simply will not continue to tolerate a situation where those with the narrowest shoulders are asked to carry the heaviest burden.

Last week Rachel Reeves sought to try to fill the red hole she has created in the national finances by demanding 70 from people with MS and Parkinson's who cannot dress or go to the toilet unaided. For your average Labour voter that represents a week's supply of matcha latte.

If money needs to be found, it now needs to come from the silk-lined pockets of the lawyers and senior civil servants and charity executives and celebrities who are always the first to deliver their lectures about the need for a fairer, more compassionate, more equitable society.

Rather than the working-class families who, time after time, election after election, are the ones asked to make the sacrifices to make those 'progressive' dreams a reality.

Rachel Reeves has trashed the economy. So this time she can ask her Labour luvvie friends  not working Britain  to clean up the mess.
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Last year's Brat summer saw hemlines raised, necklines lowered and material become more sheer.

But a look at the high street this month appears Brat summer is truly over - with this season's high street instead full of 'trad wife' fashion.

The trend - traditional wife roles - has inspired high street brands including H&M, Zara, New Look and M&S.

Brands are now decking out shop windows with gingham, lace, waist-cinching frocks and the daintiest of bows - all mirroring styles espoused by 'traditional wives'.

Garments designed to mimic the girlish flair of the 1950s are similarly given coquettish design names, with traditional style dresses called Flossie, Mathilde, Birdie.

Speaking to Femail, celebrity stylist Marian Kwei explained, 'the look boasts tea dresses, puff sleeves, prim ladylike long skirts, a soft pretty colour palette, twinsets, cinched in waists and modest higher necklines.'

One floor-length dress with a high-neck bow collar by Urban Outfitters promises to 'give romantic vibes', while a similar frock from Nobody's Child is coyly described itself as 'one for the gingham girls.'

The tradwife movement has seen woman across the US, Australia, and the UK - reject progressive feminist views on gender roles in favour of embracing 'traditional' values centred on domesticity and childcare.

Those who embrace the lifestyle have proved divisive in recent year, with feminists arguing that tradwives are regressing decades of progress in the strive for gender equality.

Speaking to Femail, Marian said the clothes 'centre around an ultra feminine silhouette inspired by nostalgia for bygone eras such as the ladylike housewife 50's.

'These styles of clothes are coming back into fashion and are taking over the high street in places like Zara and River Island.'

She said that this is 'because their prime customer is the younger person and they know that Gen Z is embracing a 'slower', 'more mindful and better balanced' lifestyle (minus the previous patriarchal connotations it came with).'

According to Vogue Arabia, the tradwife trend has 'emphasised virtues of modesty and subtlety', which has slowly crept into mainstream where 'higher necklines, longer hemlines and softer make-up' have 'manifested'.

One black gingham dress by Nobody's Child, which is sold at M&S, features a 'frilled collar, puff sleeves and panelled waist designed to flatter'.
When Owen Cooper starred in Netflix's harrowing crime drama Adolescence, viewers could have easily mistaken him for a seasoned pro.

But the 15-year-old from Warrington had zero acting experience before his performance as the teenage killer in Stephen Graham's Netflix hit.

Graham selected the actor, who was 13 at the time of filming, out of 500 other auditionees, not only for his 'unique' abilities, but also to create opportunities for a child from a working-class background.

'We try to create opportunities both in front of and behind the cameras, you know, for working class kids, or people who wouldn't normally have those opportunities,' Graham told Heart via Liverpool Echo.

He added: 'We wanted someone fresh and not used to the whole kind of way that we work and stuff like that'.

The co-creator's instinct was spot on, and Cooper was so convincing in his chilling portrayal of Jamie Miller that he has since landed himself a role as young Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell's upcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation alongside Margot Robbie.

The teen, who had done 'literally nothing' in the world of acting, isn't the only star plucked off the streets and given a chance at stardom, with a series of other directors rejecting experience and nepotism to seek first time actors, including with Thomas Turgoose of This Is England and Angus Cloud of HBO's Euphoria.

The effect? A hyper realistic portrayal of a given community, and according to media expert Chad Teixeria, it's the key to an exciting watch.

Owen Cooper has impressed the nation with his performance in Netflix's Adolescence - and he's not the only actor to have reached stardom without previous experience

In conversation with Femail, Teixeria said: 'Once upon a time, the path to Hollywood (or at least a gritty British drama) was paved with years of RADA training, Shakespearean monologues, and a few teary rejections at the National Youth Theatre.

'But these days? You might just need a compelling face, an intriguing backstory, and the ability to look convincingly moody on camera.

'Owen Cooper in Adolescence has followed in the footsteps of Keiyon Cook from Top Boy, Angus Cloud from Euphoria, and even the original 'let's pluck kids off the street' film Kids by Larry Clark.'

The expert continued: 'Part of it is a reaction to the cookie-cutter 'stage-school kid', perfectly trained, slightly robotic, and sometimes lacking that effortless realism.

'There's also a sense that audiences are craving something different. We've seen the overly enunciated, overly rehearsed performances.

'Now we want to believe. We want messy, unscripted charm. We want to feel like we're peeking into real life rather than watching someone who spent years perfecting their RP accent.'

Indeed, when Top Boy first aired in 2011, directors cast various unknown Hackney residents to portray the gritty gangsters on an east London estate.

Among them was the then-12-year-old Hackney resident Keiyon Cook, who played Ats in the crime drama, which marked his first ever acting role.

Keiyon Cook (pictured with Top Boy star Ashley Walters, who also features in Adolescence) made his acting debut in Top Boy

City of God plucked children from the streets of Brazil to feature in the 2002 film (pictured: City of God still image)

Thomas Turgoose was scouted on the streets for his role in Shane Meadows's This Is England (pictured)

Elsewhere, Michael Onafowokan, who played Cornell, told The Face of his organic journey into the show.

'I saw a post on Instagram and sent in a video. I just shared an experience of how I almost got stabbed,' he said.

The late Angus Cloud of Euphoria fame had a similar story and was plucked from obscurity by a talent scout while working as a waiter in Brooklyn.

Cloud, who shot to fame as drug dealer Fezco in the hit HBO series Euphoria when it first aired in June 2019, had been waiting tables at now-closed chicken and waffle restaurant Woodland in Prospect Heights just weeks earlier - unaware he was about to star in the platform's second most-watched show of all time.

But Cloud's life was not without struggle. In 2013, the California native suffered a brain injury falling into a construction pit and did not wake for 12 hours - leaving him with slowed speech and giving him the characteristic drawl associated with his popular character.

His premature death in 2023 came just a week after he buried his father Conor, which left him with 'intense grief' and 'severe suicidal thoughts', his family said in a statement.

The late Angus Cloud was scouted in New York to play Fezco in HBO's Euphoria (pictured: Angus Cloud as Fez)

Following his success in Adolescence, Cooper has already secured a role in Emerald Fennell's upcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation

Cloud was found unresponsive in his family home in Oakland, California, by his mother at around 11.30am.

Discussing the energy Cloud brought, Teixeria added: 'These were roles where raw energy trumped polished technique, and casting directors are increasingly on the hunt for that authenticity.'

Perhaps paving the way for Cloud and the Top Boy alum was Larry Clark's Kids - the award-winning film following a group of New York children in a day in their life.

The cast notably had no prior acting experience, with Clark scouting the actors while out in New York.

Then, seven years later City of God arrived - a 2002 film following young criminals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with many of the actors cast from the real-life favelas.

While Kids and City of God found critical acclaim, Teixeria, warned that the hiring method doesn't always pay off.

He said: 'Of course, this approach doesn't always land. Sometimes, inexperience can show. There's a reason actors train for years - because acting is a skill.

'But when it works, it really works. There's an undeniable magic to watching someone who's never acted before absolutely own a role, as if they were born to do it.

'And let's be honest, there's something thrilling about the idea that someone could go from stacking shelves at Tesco to starring in an A24 movie overnight.

'Owen's co-star Stephen Graham likened him to 'the next Robert De Niro' in an interview on The One Show this week, and the praise certainly seems to measure up, given the outstanding reviews for the young star's first ever performance.

'So, will this trend last? Or will casting directors eventually crawl back to the safety of trained professionals? Who knows. But for now, the 'never acted before' brigade is having a moment, and frankly, it's pretty exciting to watch.'
Not long ago, hitting your fifties meant you were officially over the hill.

After your fun twenties, corporate thirties and 'naughty forties', it was time to swap stilettos for orthopedic shoes and settle into a life of early bird specials and sensible cardigans.

Here's a sobering fact: When The Golden Girls premiered in 1985, Blanche was only 53. And she was considered the 'sexy one' of the group! Meanwhile, Dorothy and Rose were both just 55.

Now, in today's world, 55 is prime Jennifer Lopez posing-in-a-bikini-on-a-yacht age.

For me, the big 5-0 is a whole decade away, but honestly I'm looking forward to it. Just look at the fifty-something role models we have to look up to. Halle Berry (57), Salma Hayek (57), and Nicole Kidman (56) - they're all absolute bombshells proving that 50 is the new 25. They're strutting down red carpets, gracing magazine covers in lingerie and shooting some of the smuttiest movies Hollywood has ever seen.

Good lord, you love to see it.

And I happily discovered this week it doesn't actually take that much work to look fabulous at 50. That's because I have a friend who is 50 - and she's living her best life, looks half her age and has men falling over themselves to get her attention.

And, no, she isn't a celebrity with a limitless surgery budget, nor is she spending every waking moment investing in ungodly 'biohacking' to reclaim her youth.

Exclusively dating younger men is one of Maria Sprem's first rules of thumb for staying young

And she's not even living on green juices or waking up at the crack of dawn for Pilates.

Last night, I had dinner with one of those women who seem to defy time. You know them. While the rest of us throw cash at serums that promise to 'plump and hydrate', they're out there just living and somehow looking hotter with each passing year.

Meet Maria Sprem, a woman I first came across two years ago through mutual friends. We had all been invited to a rooftop party hosted by a 'Mr Big' of Bondi. When she swanned in, I'd never seen a group of men flock so thirstily to a woman before. Despite the place being filled with hot, young influencers, all eyes were on a then-48-year-old financial advisor. It was fascinating to watch.

Turns out, Maria has cracked the code to staying youthful without even trying. Now 50, she's glowing, thriving and turning heads (the right heads - think chiselled finance bros and handsome TV stars).

So, what's her secret? Well, if you think it's kale smoothies and yoga, think again.

I took her to dinner at Darling Pavilion and got her to spill the beans. Her winning formula? Younger men, Paris and girly dinners. And that's just the start...

1. Only date younger men

Maria refuses to date men her age because, in her words, 'older men can't keep up and use their kids as an escape clause'. And honestly, she's not wrong.

Mail+ columnist Jana Hocking got Maria to spill her secrets on how she seems to defy time

'You know the type,' she says, rolling her eyes. 'One minute, everything's going great, the next, "Oh, sorry, my teenage daughter needs me to pick her up from a party across town. Gotta go!"'

I hate to say it, but I've seen it firsthand - the number of times I've dated a guy who suddenly cancels plans because of an unexpected custody change. And look, sometimes it's legitimate, but let's be real: it's also a very convenient excuse when they can't be bothered to commit.

Maria recently gave an 'age-appropriate' guy a chance, only to find out he was a full-blown Peter Pan. (I too have dated this man and can back her up on that theory.)

'Younger men bring more fun, less baggage, and don't try to control me,' she says matter-of-factly. They are almost always a better choice.

In recent years, flings with younger men have taken her around the world - to Fifty Shades of Grey-themed parties, superyachts and the finest restaurants.

'Keeping up with someone younger keeps me young,' she laughs.

2. Pursue a stable, low-risk career

Nothing keeps you youthful like financial independence, Maria says.

Forget the twenty-something girlbosses telling you change jobs every other year, get a side hustle and work '5-9' even after finishing your '9-5'.

Maria says one of the main reasons why she looks so young at 50 - and has energy to spare - is that she's been consistent with her career and tried not to overthink it.

She has been with the same organisation for many years. She's worked her way up steadily rather than job-hopping her way up the corporate ladder - which is the sort of high-risk-high-reward approach that can lead to stress and career burnout.

As a result of her quiet dedication, she is now Financial Operations Coordinator for Sydney's Powerhouse Museum. It's a great job that pays well and brings her into contact with some fascinating people.

And she's never had to flog a discount code on Instagram.

As for her personal finances, Maria says being able to pay off a mortgage on her own is just as important as exercise, anti-ageing cream or anything she puts into her body.

Nothing blows away the cobwebs of stress than knowing you're debt free, and it shows on her practically line-free face.

'Stress ages you,' says Maria (right). Her mantra is to only spend time finding the courage to change the things she has control over, and not to worry about the rest

Maria is pictured celebrating her 50th birthday in Paris, a city she visits once a year

3. The daily mantra that actually works

'Stress ages you,' Maria tells me. 'So I just don't stress.' How the hell do you do that? I asked. She swears by a simple daily mantra: the serenity prayer.

'God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.'

She has been saying it daily for decades now and swears it has given her a stress-free life. Meanwhile, the rest of us are spiraling over unread texts...

That's really it, she insists. No vision boards, no manifesting, no long-winded morning affirmations and sending messages to the universe. Just 27 words.

4. Forget the gym - walk everywhere

Maria doesn't do overpriced fitness classes. Instead, she walks everywhere, insisting it 'does wonders for my metabolism'.

This includes walking to work and back (roughly an hour each way), plus very long walks with a podcast on weekends.

Most of us adhere to the mantra 'take the stairs instead of the lift', but that sort of incidental exercise really isn't enough. Maria says that in order to see results and keep fit, you need to think bigger. For example, replace short car journeys with walks.

She also adds 2kg arm weights for bone density and strength.

Despite being 50, Maria (left) has few lines on her face. 'Less is more' is her secret when it comes to tweakments. 'If people can tell you've had something done, you've had too much'

Maria swears by walking - and science backs her up. Walking keeps your heart strong, bones sturdy, weight in check, and brain sharp. It's basically therapy for your legs, boosting your mood, reducing stress and keeping those joints from seizing up.

So if you want stay young, ditch the gym and just walk everywhere. It's easy, free and there's zero risk of running into a guy mansplaining protein powder. What's not to love?

5. 'Maintenance' over facelifts

For tweakments, like filler and Botox, the trick is to have just ever so slightly less than you think you need. This usually gives you results that are noticeable yet 'invisible'

While some people freeze their faces into oblivion, Maria is all about the art of subtle maintenance. Think regular facials, good skincare and a little tweak here and there.

For tweakments, like filler and Botox, the trick is to have just ever so slightly less than you think you need. This usually gives you results that are noticeable yet 'invisible'.

'If people can tell you've had something done, you've had too much done,' she says.

She warns against facelifts and is especially wary of the 'half facelift' that's becoming the go-to surgery of millennials (and even Gen Z) women looking for a refresh.

(I saw one up close at the Australian Grand Prix last week and, trust me, they make look good on Instagram but are terrifying in real life. The stretch was real!)

6. Go to Paris. Every year

Maria's sister lives in Paris, so she visits annually.

It's a hell of a journey from Sydney, but she says it's a pilgrimage worth taking because having something to look forward to keeps her young.

No-strings flings with hot European men half her age don't hurt either.

'I had a very special birthday there for my 50th,' she cheekily told me, 'and it involved a fling with a man half my age.' Yes, girl!

No children, no husband, lots of holidays planned and disposable income means she can hop on a plane whenever she likes.

Chef's kiss.

Maria (centre) travels to Paris every year, dates younger men, walks everywhere and eats a large salad every night to stay looking young

Maria walks an hour to work and an hour home every evening. She goes on even longer walks with a podcast on the weekend

You may not believe it, but Maria doesn't work out at the gym

7. Girls dinners are sacred

'Dating is great and it's wonderful meeting new people, but date nights can be stressful. Give me a gossip-fuelled dinner with my girlfriends any day of the week,' Maria declares.

She swears by keeping weekends fun and busy, always. And make dinner with the girls the centrepiece.

As for her weeknights, she spends her evenings on Wordle (great for keeping the brain sharp), bingeing Netflix (no sport!) and regularly has early nights. Her typical dinner is a huge salad, the sort of meal a man would never consider a 'proper' dinner.

8. Stop waiting, start living

When her sister died suddenly, Maria made a promise to herself: no more waiting, no more playing it safe.

One day, they were making plans, laughing and thinking they had all the time in the world; the next, she was gone. It was a brutal wake-up call.

'Life's too short to hold back,' she tells me. 'I realised I'd been living with this idea that I had endless time to do all the things I wanted. But we don't. None of us do.'

So she stopped waiting. She booked trips. She started saying yes to adventure. She let go of worrying about what people think and started really living.

From the ashes of her grief, she built a new life - one filled with travel, romance and a complete disregard for outdated societal expectations.

'I honour her by making the most of every day,' she says.
Ivanka Trump demonstrated her jiu-jitsu skills at Gisele Bundchen's boyfriend's gym, after her daughter ignited her passion for the combat sport.

The 43-year-old daughter of President Donald Trump hit the mats at the Valente Brothers gym in Miami, Florida.

She shared two clips to her Instagram on Friday, showing her progress as she trained with Gui Valente, 44, who is one of the brothers of Gisele's, 44, boyfriend Joaquim, 37.

Joaquim and his other brother Pedro were also pictured at the end of the clip.

Though Ivanka is a relative novice in martial arts, holding a blue belt, the Valente brothers, along with their father Pedro Sr., all possess black belts, with Pedro Sr. having trained under the legendary Grandmaster Helio Gracie.

Ivanka is not the first high-profile client trained at the Valente Brothers jiu-jitsu studio. Joaquim previously trained Gisele and her kids for a number of years before her divorce from Tom Brady.

Ivanka Trump, 43, demonstrated her jiu-jitsu skills at Gisele Bundchen's boyfriend's gym, after her daughter ignited her passion for the combat sport

She hit the mats at Florida's Valente Brothers gym, posting two Instagram clips of her training session with Gui Valente, 44, the brother of Gisele's, 44, boyfriend, Joaquim, 37

Gisele then decided to take classes too. Following her split from Brady, the two began dating, and recently welcomed their first child.

The caption on Ivanka's clip, which was shared jointly to her and the Valente Brothers' accounts, read: 'Jiu-Jitsu is more than a martial art. Rooted in ancient tradition and refined over generations, it offers a path to physical confidence, mental clarity, and emotional balance.'

'Its philosophy, reflected in the @753Code, reminds us that true strength comes from character, discipline, and purpose.'

'What makes this journey even more meaningful is sharing it with those we respect and value. As families, training together gives us the rare gift of growing side by side, on the mat and in life. @ivankatrump'

Ivanka was pictured taking her kids to classes at the studio a number of times in the past.

In fact, it was her daughter, Arabella, 13, who wanted to take the class - so Ivanka signed her up to work with the Valente brothers.

'It is good for everyone,' she said in an interview on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her podcast in January.

'Its almost like a moving meditation because the movements are so micro,' she explained. 'Its like three-dimensional chess.'

Though Ivanka is a relative novice in martial arts, holding a blue belt, the Valente brothers, along with their father Pedro Sr., all possess black belts

Ivanka looked like a natural as she practiced her moves

She's been pictured taking her kids to classes at the studio a number of times in the past

Ivanka, holding a blue belt, has attained the second adult ranking in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, progressing beyond the initial white belt level

She effortlessly subdued her opponent

Before the end of the training session, Ivanka gave a customary bow

Joaquim (R) and his other brother Pedro (L) were also pictured at the end of the clip

'Its fun,' she went on, adding that the practice 'combines physical movements and philosophy in an amazing way.'

Aside from Arabella, Ivanka also shares sons Joseph, 10, and Theodore, eight, with husband Jared Kushner, 44, to whom she's been married to since 2009.

In January, Ivanka pulled back the curtain on her health and wellness routines on The Skinny Confidential podcast - and even revealed the two things that have made the biggest difference in 'transforming' her body.

She went in-depth on her various health and beauty routines, explaining that combining weight lifting and eating high protein really helped change how she looked.

'Something that I think has been a massive change for me since I moved to Miami, I started prioritizing exercise,' she revealed during the episode.

'Initially, that took the form of yoga and Pilates, these things that I had done at various points of my life, but now I had the ability, because I was on my own schedule, to make them more consistent and a more regular part of my life,' Ivanka said.

'Gradually, I started doing more resistance and weight training, and that's when I saw a massive difference,' she continued.

'My whole body changed. But that's when I really noticed a massive change for me, and my body composition fundamentally changed. I got stronger, I got leaner, and I could kind of get away with it because I'm really tall, so I can look lean even if I wasn't strong,' Ivanka said.

It was her daughter, Arabella, 13, who got her interested in Jiu-Jitsu; seen with her husband Jared Kushner, 44, and their three kids: Arabella, Joseph, 10, and Theodore, eight

The pair have been married since 2009

However, she admitted that while yoga and Pilates are definitely activities that she enjoys more than resistance training, she has noticed that they're not as effective for her body.

'Yoga and Pilates, while I enjoy them a lot more, to be honest, than resistance training, I was not able to develop muscle through them. I really needed this... it's been life-changing,' she admitted.

She said what really works for her are the simple exercises, like 'pushes,' 'pulls' and 'deadlifts.'

'I don't really enjoy doing it, I enjoy going for walks, I enjoy playing sports, I really enjoy Pilates and yoga, but I have seen such a transformation in terms of my health,' Ivanka said.

'But I can't mention that without saying the protein element, because it's that pairing of protein and resistance training and weight lifting... for a while I was doing weight lifting and I still was not consuming nearly enough protein, and I was not seeing the change,' the former Presidential advisor continued.

'It's when I married those two things that I started noticing a difference.'

When it comes to food, every morning, Ivanka will make a shake that's full of protein, banana, cacao, and creatine - a compound that helps to aid your muscles.

She joked that she was a 'morning alchemist.'

Ivanka joins a list of high-profile clients at Valente Brothers. Joaquim trained Gisele and her kids before her divorce from Tom Brady. After their split, the two began dating, and recently welcomed their first child; Gisele seen in 2024

And, her morning concoctions don't stop there - when she goes for a workout, she will also add some amino acids and electrolytes to her water.

'As part of my daily routine, it's pretty simple, I like to find and cultivate calm, because at basically every phase of my life, I now identify this as the status quo, there's always a hurricane that I find myself in,' Ivanka said.

'It's always so busy and active, whether that's my role as a parent, professionally or otherwise, so things that help me with that, I think prayer is really helpful.

'I think being grounded in nature, so I take walks as often as I can.'
Prince Andrew was photographed riding around the Windsor estate on Saturday morning.

The Duke of York, 65, traded in his usual puffer jacket for a blue sweatshirt as he embarked on his weekly trot around the sprawling Berkshire estate.

As the weather warmed up, he accompanied his jumper with a black helmet and jodhpurs.

The royal, who was seen driving himself between his home and riding area, appeared to be smiling in one of the photographs.

His appearance comes amid reports he could face fresh embarrassment after judges ruled that further documents relating to his dealings with an alleged Chinese spy can be released.

A witness statement made by the duke's 'senior aide' Dominic Hampshire, containing comments about his work with Andrew which 'might seem embarrassing or indiscreet', will be among a cache of files released to the public.

They were submitted in support of an appeal by Yang Tengbo - also known as Chris Yang - against a decision to ban him from Britain on national security grounds.

Yang, a businessman and former York University student, was barred from returning to the country after intelligence agencies suspected he was gaining access to influential public figures on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]. Mr Yang denies the allegations.

Prince Andrew (pictured) was seen riding around Windsor on Saturday morning, as part of his usual weekly outing

The royal donned a blue jumper, along with black jodhpurs and riding boots as well as a black helmet for his ride

At an earlier hearing, a court heard that Yang had become a 'close confidant' of Andrew who had 'won a significant degree, one could say an unusual degree, of trust',

Following an appeal by the media for the release of further documents in relation to Yang's appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission [SIAC], Mr Justice Bourne, sitting alongside Judge Stephen Smith and Sir Stewart Eldon yesterday said documents including Mr Hampshire's witness statement could be disclosed.

'Substantial parts of the witness statement contain material which cannot possibly be said to be confidential, such as information about Mr Hampshire's background or about how he came to know Mr Yang,' Mr Justice Bourne said.

'There is information about his own activities which has no appearance of any particular confidentiality.

'There is also information about the Duke of York which is in the public domain, for example the negative impact of the Duke's 2019 Newsnight interview.'

He added: 'There are also comments about Mr Hampshire's work with the Duke which might seem embarrassing or indiscreet, but they are not such as to give rise to the inference that a legal duty of confidentiality attaches to them.'

Representing the media, including the Daily Mail, Adam Wolanski KC said it was 'extraordinary' that Mr Hampshire, a former Scots Guard and equerry to the Duke of Kent, did not take legal advice before providing his statement.

Mr Hampshire was said to be of the belief that his statement would remain private.

Prince Andrew (pictured) appeared pensive as he drove between his home and riding location on the Berkshire estate

Prince Andrew could face fresh embarrassment after judges ruled that further documents relating to his dealings with an alleged Chinese spy can be released

Yang Tengbo (left) was barred from returning to the country after intelligence agencies suspected he was gaining access to influential public figures on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party

Documents previously released in the case show Mr Hampshire had thanked Yang for standing by Andrew following his 2019 Newsnight interview over his relationship with late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Yang was also invited to Andrew's 60th birthday party.

In addition, he was integral in launching the duke's Dragons Den-style investment roadshow, Pitch@Palace, in China.

One letter written by Mr Hampshire to Yang and released following an earlier court hearing, said: 'I also hope that it is clear to you where you sit with my principal [Andrew] and indeed his family.'

It continued: 'You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship.'

He added: 'Outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.'

The documents are due to be released next month.
A Bahrain-based TikTokker, originally from the UK, has revealed how weather conditions affecting flights means she's been left without her carefully planned hen-do outfits - just days before the big event.

Jessica Holly took to the platform to explain what happened to the ensembles she'd carefully curated for the important event in Dubai.

Speaking in her video, she said: 'Come and spend the worst travel day I've ever had in my entire life.'

Admitting she was 'blissfully unaware' of the disaster of the day she was about to ensure, she decided to blog the experience.

At first, Jessica said, she thought she had hit the jackpot, as there were no queues as she checked in, and after grabbing some pastries in the lounge, she did some skincare before getting on her flight.

However, things took at turn for the worse.

Jessica was supposed to land at Heathrow, but because of her plant being diverted, she ended up in Frankfurt.

Despite trying to make the most of the situation, she soon began to worry when she realised there was no way to get to Heathrow, she had no way where her luggage was, and had no idea how to get to the UK - where she had important appointments, including one at a wedding dress boutique.

Jessica Holly was affected by travel issues - meaning she lost all the outfits she had carefully chosen for her hen do in Dubai

She said in the video: 'One of the airport [staff] basically told me to book a flight out of Frankfurt back to the UK. So I booked one to Birmingham, but I had no idea where my luggage was. They said they'd sort it all out. So we landed in Birmingham [...] But do you think my luggage arrived?

'No, no, it didn't. Now this wouldn't be so bad, because I know that they can get your luggage to you quite quickly. However, I am literally leaving the UK in a few days that go to my hen do. So all of my outfits, my hen do, all of my white dresses, literally everything - even my makeup, my skincare, everything is in that luggage. And I don't even know where it is at this point, but my travel day isn't done there.'

After her epic journey, Jessica then had to get a train from Birmingham to London.

'I panicked and ended up buying a first class train to get it,' she said, 'which then got me free from Prosecco [...] So I just thought, f*** it and enjoy it.

'At this point, I'm actually supposed to be in London to pick up my wedding dress, and I missed that appointment [and had to] rebook that.'

In addition, a special say planned with her best friend has been wasted due to the travel chaos. It took a massive 18-hours for her to travel to London.

Following her travel chaos, she released a further video, asking her followers to share advice on where she could pick up replace outfits.

In her video, she said: 'I don't have any outfit and am currently growing my sorrows because I was one of the people [whose luggage was lost] because of the fires [at Heathrow] yesterday.'

In a follow-up video, the TikTokker (pictured) asked viewers to recommend places where she could buy replacement clothes

She continued: 'I leave Cardiff on Wednesday [for Dubai] and I have zero outfits.

'The irony is, I've actually been posting a load of videos. I did loads of content about bridal outfits [...] and I don't have any of my own anymore.

'It is definitely a first world problem. But I've spent so much time, so much money, planning all these outfits [...] not like cheap brands at all. And I've currently got nothing [...] I haven't even got makeup.

'I've got one outfit that I've got on currently. On Wednesday, [I'll have] nothing to wear. If anyone's got any recommendations or suggestions or what I can do, let me know.'

A number of people took to the comments to share their recommendations of where Jessica could buy replacement outfits.
Ozempic has killed the catwalk careers of plus-sized models, a body activist has warned.

As Hollywood's increasingly slender aesthetic has sparked rumours that many of our favourite celebrities on the red carpet are using the weight-loss jab, it has fueled concerns that Ozempic is driving a return to the size zero trend.

Plus-size model Felicity Hayward has said this has lead to brands dropping bigger models and turning the clock back to the skinny noughties.

'In the Ozempic era, being skinny is easier than ever, and the first place to welcome skinny back with open arms is the fashion industry. Its heartbreaking to see.

'The work has dried up and many of my friends who carved careers as plus-size models and influencers are now looking for part-time jobs,' she told the Times.

Ms Hayward says it all trickles down from the catwalks.

At London Fashion Week in 2023, there were 85 plus-size models. This year there were 26.

Milan is notoriously the worst as they peaked at 45 curvy models in 2023 when Dolce & Gabbana had hired Karoline Vitto, a Brazilian designer known for size inclusivity.

Ozempic has killed the catwalk careers of plus-sized models, a body activist Felicity Hayward has warned

Ms Hayward rose to fame in 2011, when at 22, she was scouted by f amous photographer Miles Aldridge and posed as Anna Nicole Smith in a photoshoot

However, this year Milan had only 10.

While New York, which used to be at the forefront of plus-size representation, had a 50 per cent decrease in size inclusion this past season, according to Ms Hayward's report, Including the Curve.

She added this years demand for plus size models has become apparent on the catwalk, while many of her plus-size friends didnt receive a single casting this year.

Ms Hayward rose to fame in 2011, when at 22, she was scouted by famous photographer Miles Aldridge and posed as Anna Nicole Smith in a photoshoot.

The pictures went viral and she was recruited by Storm Management, the modelling agency that discovered Kate Moss and developed the careers of Lily Cole, Cara Delevingne and Cindy Crawford.

'We are going backwards and it seems no one in the industry seems to care,' she added.

It comes after Topshop announced its return last week, after it went into administration in 2020 and was later acquired by ASOS.

The brand had become known for its tiny mannequins, extra skinny jeans and small sizing.

Part of the problem is the rise of the 'mid-size' industry, which is anyone between a size 12 and 16, says the body diversity activist.

Jobs are now going to models between those sizes because they are smaller than plus-size and thus more 'plateable' to consumers, while brands can still use them to flaunt body positivity.

Despite the UK plus-size industry estimated to be worth 738.4 million, designers still shudder at the thought of bigger bodies wearing their clothes.

As the industry ozempifies, Ms Hayward almost wants to 'give up', but insists body types should never be a trend.
To register or donate go to www.melanomamarch.org.au

Participants walk or run at 28 family-friendly events across the country in March

Melanoma March is the Melanoma Institute's flagship fundraising campaign

The mark turned out to be the only sign of a deadly melanoma diagnosis

Annelise Mortimer was 29 when she saw a 'strange' spot on the back of her leg

A young Australian mum has admitted she was blindsided by a melanoma diagnosis at just 29 because she never thought it could happen to her.

Annelise Mortimer, now 32, was juggling full-time work, postgraduate study, and raising her 18-month-old son when she received the news just days before Christmas in 2022.

Despite having annual skin checks, the mole on the back of her leg was overlooked time and time again.

'I arrogantly assumed melanoma was something older people got,' Annelise, from Wollongong, admitted.

'I was never a sunbaker, never used tanning beds, but I had been complacent about sun safety - something I think is generational.'

It wasn't until a family member pointed out that her mole looked 'really dark' that alarm bells rang.

'That comment prompted me to get a second opinion at a specialised skin clinic,' she said.

'It was around Christmas time, and I was lucky to get a cancelled appointment.'

A young Australian mum has revealed how she was blindsided by a melanoma diagnosis at 29

Despite being proactive with annual skin checks, the mole was always overlooked

Doctors immediately expressed concern over the small yet clearly abnormal mark.

'I had no symptoms other than the changes in the mole itself,' she said.

'It was irregular in shape, asymmetrical, darkening, and growing in size. That's what prompted me to have it removed and biopsied.'

By the end of the week, it was removed and sent for testing. Then came the devastating call.

Just two days before Christmas, Annelise was diagnosed with Stage 2 malignant melanoma.

'The first thing I thought was that my life might be cut short,' she said.

'At first, I thought the spot had been removed and I was in the clear, but then the realisation hit - what if it had spread?'

Melanoma is one of Australia's deadliest cancers, with one person diagnosed every 30 minutes.

Annelise Mortimer, now 32, from Wollongong, was juggling full-time work, postgraduate study, and raising her 18-month-old son when she received the terrifying news just days before Christmas in 2022

Because of the stage and thickness of Annelise's melanoma, there was a real risk it had spread to her lymph nodes

It is also the most common cancer in young Australians aged 15 to 39.

Because of the stage and thickness of Annelise's melanoma, there was a real risk it had spread to her lymph nodes.

'The hardest part was the uncertainty - waiting for results, wondering if the cancer had already spread through my body,' she said.

'The back of my leg looked like a shark had taken a bite out.'

She underwent further surgery - a wide excision to remove extra tissue and a lymph node biopsy to check if the cancer had metastasised.

'That was the most frightening part - knowing that melanoma can move beyond the skin and into your organs without you even realising,' she said.

'The timing and me catching it when I did contributed to the positive result I received.

'If I had left it any longer, I might be telling a very different story right now. That's something I think about a lot - what could have happened if I hadn't acted when I did.

'I was very much on the cusp of potentially moving into a further stage.'

Thankfully, her results came back clear.

Though Annelise avoided further treatment like chemotherapy or immunotherapy, she's now at a much higher risk of developing melanoma again.

'I have to get skin checks every three to six months,' she said.

'My clinic maps every mole on my body to track even the smallest changes.'

Since her diagnosis, she has had multiple spots removed as a precaution.

She now warns young Australians not to make the same mistake she did.

Annelise is urging others in their twenties to take skin cancer seriously

'I used to think a bit of sunburn here and there didn't matter,' she admitted.

'Growing up with a pool, a tan was desirable. But when your life might be cut short, you quickly realise - there is nothing healthy about a tan.'

She's urging others in their twenties to take skin cancer seriously.

'You never think it'll be you, until it is,' she said.

'People need to wear sunscreen, cover up, and check their skin regularly. Melanoma doesn't discriminate by age.'

The hardest part of the ordeal, Annelise revealed, was facing her own mortality as a young mum.

'I didn't want to think the worst, and that's just my nature - I have a very positive attitude, so I tried to stay as positive as possible throughout the whole experience. But personally, it did take a toll.

'I suppressed a lot of my fears. As a mum, I kept thinking, "Am I going to be here for my son?"

'It's horrific to start thinking about that at 29-years-old. At night, when I was alone, I would lie awake dreading what could happen.

'I had just started a family, was advancing in my career, studying at university, and doing all the things someone my age should be doing. Then suddenly, this happened, and it could have changed everything.'

Annelise shared that support from her family meant 'everything' to her at the time.

'Emotionally, my family was very supportive. My husband Nick was there for my surgery, dropping me off, picking me up, and supporting me through the procedures.

'My family cooked meals, helped with childcare, and were there to talk. But I think, as with any serious diagnosis, it's difficult for others to fully understand unless they've been through it themselves.

'My son was too young to understand what was happening, which in some ways was a blessing. But having support around me to care for him was invaluable.'

During recovery, she struggled with basic tasks like walking and caring for her toddler.

Annelise's story is a stark warning ahead of Melanoma Awareness Month, with Melanoma March events taking place across Australia this month to raise funds for life-saving research

'An 18-month-old is very active, and I was quite immobile,' she said.

'I was very lucky to have a supportive partner and family to help.'

Now, she's more vigilant than ever - not just for herself, but for her young son.

'I haven't let this stop me from living my life - I still go to the beach, I still swim,' she said.

'But I'm very particular now. Sunscreen, hats, covering up - my son is growing up knowing how important sun safety is.'

Annelise's story is a stark warning ahead of Melanoma Awareness Month, with Melanoma March events taking place across Australia this month to raise funds for life-saving research.

'When I was diagnosed, I felt incredibly isolated - I didn't know anyone my age who had melanoma,' she said.

'Through the Wollongong Melanoma March, I've met others like me. Everyone's story is different, but we all share the same goal - to make people take melanoma seriously before it's too late.'

She encourages every Australian to check their skin and book a professional skin check.

'If I had ignored that mole for even a little longer, I might be telling a very different story right now,' she said.

'I was lucky - but not everyone is.'

What signs should I look out for when I check for skin cancer?
Fertility rates have plunged in every local authority in England and Wales over the past decade.

Alarming figures laying bare the 'baby bust' reveal some boroughs have seen a 60 per cent decline in women having children since 2013.

Experts fear the freefalling rates will trigger an 'underpopulation' crisis, potentially leaving Britain reliant on immigration to prop up our economy.

Women in England and Wales, on average, now only have 1.44 children.

This is the lowest since records began in the 30s and half of levels seen during the mid-60s baby boom.

Almost a third of all 591,000 babies born were to foreign mothers in 2023, the latest year with full data available.

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But the share exceeded 75 per cent in parts of London considered settling spots for immigrants for generations.

MailOnline's audit uncovered that none of the 300-plus authorities had a fertility rate exceeding the replacement level.

When broken down by borough, Luton (2.01) came top. It saw the smallest decline in rates between 2013 and 2023 (-4.7 per cent).

At the other end of the scale was City of London (0.55), which conversely logged the biggest decline (-60.4 per cent).

Freefalling birth rates have triggered doomsday warnings about population collapse, which demographers believe will devastate Western economies.

If the downward spiral continues it may leave countries with too few younger people to work, pay tax and look after the elderly.

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Professor Berkay Ozcan, a demographer based at the London School for Economics, said without immigration 'the UKs population would eventually shrink', if these levels persisted.

Fertility replacement doesn't account for the impact of immigration, meaning overall population levels can still increase in a country despite a drop in fertility rates.

Yet becoming reliant on immigration to offset low birth rates would only fuel the fire, on what is already a hugely controversial topic in British society.

Immigration levels have spiralled to all-time highs over the past few years, with tens of thousands having arrived on small boats.

Professor Ozcan added: 'One key challenge is that immigrants' fertility rates tend to converge with those of the native population over time.

'While immigrant groups often arrive with higher birthrates, these rates decline across generations.

'This means that to sustain population growth through immigration, a continuous influx of new migrants is required  making long-term demographic planning both politically sensitive and costly.'

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Elon Musk carries his son X  A-Xii on his shoulders in the Oval Office as President Donald Trump speaks on February 11

What could the government do to stop the declining birthrate? Some experts believe the government needs to step in to stop the declining birthrate with policies such as: Offering longer paid parental leave

More funding for childcare for working parents

More funding for fertility treatments in the NHS

Loans or tax incentives to have children

Promote flexible working However some experts believe there is limited evidence that policies such as these will raise the overall fertility rate. Advertisement

Professor Ozcan, who also works at New York University Abu Dhabi, added: 'Immigration has to be part of the mix of solutions but can't be the sole solution.'

Women prioritising their education and careers, and couples waiting to have children until later in life have fuelled the freefalling trend.

Rising costs, especially the price of childcare and housing, is another factor thought to be putting people off starting families.

There is no evidence that Covid vaccines are to blame, with scientists insisting there is no proof they harm fertility.

Britain's fertility rate as a whole is forecasted to fall to 1.3 by 2100.

The US is on track for a similar downward trajectory, researchers warned last year in the respected medical journal The Lancet.

Sharing their shock findings, the University of Washington team warned 97 per cent of nations face the threat of underpopulation by 2100. By then, half of all babies may be born in sub-Saharan Africa.

'Baby busts' is a pet topic of Elon Musk.

In 2017, the eccentric Tesla billionaire and 'First Buddy' of Donald Trump said Earth's population was 'accelerating towards collapse but few seem to notice or care'.

Musk previously joked he was 'doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis', in a reference to him having reportedly had 14 children with four different women.

He has said in the past: 'People are going to have to revive the idea of having children as a kind of social duty, otherwise civilisation will just die.'

In May 2022 Musk claimed Japan, experiencing its own baby bust, could 'flat-out disappear' if its low birth rates continue to decline and that Italy 'will have no people' if the current trends persist.

The UK is not alone in facing a fertility crisis, with the latest figures showing that the EU also experienced a plunge last year to an all-time low.

Double-digit percentage falls were recorded in Romania (13.9 per cent), Poland (10.7 per cent) and Czechia (10 per cent).

Wealthy EU nations, including France and Germany, also saw significant drops.
Hundreds of thousands of people a year go under the knife for plastic surgery - whether it's for bigger boobs, a smaller nose or even to look like their favorite celebrity.

And while most people are fine to shell out thousands of dollars for the traits they desire, not everyone is a good candidate for cosmetic procedures.

Typically, doctors advise people who are very young, suffer from health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes or people who have had past surgical complications to avoid an elective operation.

Now, Dr Charles Lee, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, has revealed why certain people shouldn't get plastic surgery.

Below, DailyMail.com details the people Dr Lee says should avoid cosmetic procedures and why.

People with body dysmorphia

Nearly two percent of Americans have been diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder as of 2024

Body dysmorphic disorder is a mental health condition that causes you to excessively and obsessively criticize perceived defects or flaws in your appearance that are usually minor or non-existent.

The person's fixation is far beyond the typical dissatisfaction people may have - like wanting to lose 5lbs - and can cause a person to constantly feel embarrassed, ashamed and anxious to the point they avoid social situations.

Dr Charles Lee, a board certified plastic surgeon explained why certain people should not get plastic surgery

Nearly two percent of Americans have been diagnosed with BDD as of 2024, according to National Alliance of Eating Disorders.

As a result, people suffering from body dysmorphia may seek out plastic surgery as a solution to fix their imperfections, but in one TikTok video, Dr Lee advises them not to do so.

The expert explained: 'So someone who looks at a perfectly normal part of their body but they see a big problem, you're not going to get that fixed with surgery that really needs to be taken care of.'

Instead of plastic surgery, doctors suggest seeking out mental health professionals who can help evaluate the situation and suggest appropriate treatment such as therapy and medications.

Control freaks and perfectionists

Dr Lee added that people who are extremely particular in life and cannot bear slight asymmetries should not undergo procedures.

Perfectionists and control freaks tend to have a strong drive for flawlessness, which can lead to unrealistic expectations about the outcome of plastic surgery.

But, there is always a risk of complications or flaws when it comes to cosmetic procedures.

In cases of a rhinoplasty (nose job) and eyelid surgery, it is normal to expect a bit of unevenness. However this may cause extreme disappointment among perfectionists - causing them to book more appointments and procedures.

Dr Lee added that people who are extremely particular in life and cannot bear slight asymmetries should not undergo procedures

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Dr Lee explained: 'Surgery is not that precise, and if you can't accept a few millimeters off here and there, you should not get plastic surgery, especially the more precise procedures, such as rhinoplasty or eyelid surgery.

'A fraction of a millimeter can be seen, but a surgeon can't necessarily correct all that, plus we have some asymmetries that cannot be corrected as well.'

The specialist also noted plastic surgery requires a 'lot of patience and a lot of ability to accept the unknown'.

He added: 'You're going to be swollen for a while. You're going to heal a certain way. Nobody can predict exactly how the outcome is going to be.

'We have a general idea, but it's in the 95 percent precision rate and that last five percent is kind of random and you have to be willing to accept that.

'And you may not know for six months, 12 months, sometimes two years, what the final result is.'

People with delusional expectations

Over the last few years, social media has convinced people that plastic surgery can completely 'fix' their problems and make them look perfect.

Dr Lee highlighted that people who have a tendency to bleed easily during surgery should avoid an elective operation

But Dr Lee says this is unrealistic and people shouldn't expect instant gratification.

It's important to understand it is impossible for plastic surgery to completely alter facial and bodily structures.

The surgeon revealed: 'I've had a lot of cosmetic surgery myself. I had rhinoplasty, chin implant, whatever. I can't go into surgery expecting to look like Tom Cruise, no matter how much surgery I get.'

He also emphasized it is extremely important for patients to be grounded in reality as plastic surgery ideally cannot reverse signs of aging, improve relationships or alter any negative thought patterns about your body.

Easy bleeders

Lastly, Dr Lee highlighted that people who have a tendency to bleed easily or excessively should opt out of elective surgeries.

He explained that 'one in 10 people' have a tendency to bleed during surgery and while those with milder conditions, such as vitamin K deficiency, should treat those before seeking treatment, but other 'severe bleeders' need to be careful.

Conditions such as hemophilia - a condition where blood does not clot - and Von Willebrand disease - a genetic bleeding disorder caused by low levels of a clotting protein - may lead to prolonged and difficult-to-control bleeding.

An accumulation of cigarette smoke in the chest can also cause issues during the healing process

Frequent cigarette smoking and excessive alcohol consumption can also cause issues.

Alcohol can cause blood to thin and an accumulation of cigarette smoke in the chest can lead to complications during the healing process.

Dr Lee explained: 'The big thing that we worry about related to bleeding during surgery is substance abuse, including cigarettes.

'That's a huge one, because cigarette smoke and other smoke, but cigarette in particular has nicotine and carbon monoxide, tar, things that really clog up the oxygen flow to the healing areas and that can cause necrosis, meaning tissue death, poor scarring and a bad outcome.

'So you really should not smoke for almost any of these elective procedures. Alcohol, there's another one. Red wine causes bleeding.

'Other types of alcohol can prolong the swelling phase, and sometimes, if it's swollen for too long of a period, you're not going to get a good result.'
A woman who wears her smart ring 'religiously' has praised the wearable for spotting the signs of deadly blood cancer before she knew that something was seriously wrong.

Nikki Gooding, a nurse from Virginia in the US, was diagnosed with blood cancer Hodgkin lymphoma early this year, after suffering a bout of night sweats and extreme fatigue.

Her temperature was also constantly raised and her heart felt like it was beating faster than normal.

However, unsure of what could be causing the problem, she decided to ignore it.

But it wasn't until her Oura ring  a wearable health monitor worn by famous faces like Gwyneth Paltrow and Prince Harry  began giving her red alerts that she decided to seek medical help.

The smart ring, which looks like a wedding band, tracks various health metrics, calculating the wearer's movement, temperature, sleep quality and heart rate.

It can even detect illnesses like flu or Covid.

Ms Gooding's ring picked up on crucial changes to her heartbeat, sleep quality and body temperature  warning her that something was seriously wrong.



'I religiously wear my Oura ring,' she said in a TikTok video that's so far been viewed more than 2.5 million times.

'I came home from a trip, started having night sweats, was super fatigued.

'I knew something was wrong but I couldn't figure out exactly what it was, so I kind of ignored it.'

But every day, the app paired to her ring would show a warning on top of its usual diagnostic information.

This red warning of 'major signs' alerts the user to the fact that their biometrics are showing highly unusual patterns.

'It uses [body temperature] information to help track your [menstrual] cycle,' said Ms Gooding.

'But it's nice because it can also give you a heads up when you're getting sick.

'When I started having night sweats and fevers and everything, my temp was spiking as high as 2.7 above my baseline.'

The app encouraged her to take additional care and rest.

Prince Harry made a buzz around the Oura ring in 2018 when he was snapped wearing the titanium jewellery during a trip to Australia. The Duke of Sussex sported the black band on his right ring finger on the first three days of outings in Australia alongside Meghan Markle

Wellness guru Gwyneth Paltrow, 51, has also shared snaps of herself wearing the ring on multiple occasions

But the sky high temperature readings were enough to push her to see her doctor.

And just a few weeks later, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of blood cancer that affects the lymphatic system  a network of vessels and glands spread throughout your body.

Night sweats, high temperature and fatigue are all common symptoms of the condition, which is the most common cancer amongst teenagers and young adults.

'If I didn't have the Oura ring, I'm sure I would have figured it out eventually,' said Nikki.

'But having this information, laid out in front of me, definitely made me take it more seriously.

'Because if you're a nurse, you know  we're not running to the doctor for any little thing.

'So if you needed a sign to get an an Oura ring  this is it.'

The Oura ring, launched back in 2013 by Oura Health, a Finnish technology company, comes with a hefty price tag, starting at 299 and costing up to 549

Launched back in 2013 by Finnish technology company Oura Health, the ring comes with a hefty price tag, starting at 299 and costing up to 549.

The company claims the ring is the first wearable designed to paint a truly holistic picture of your health.

On social media, users obsess over their sleep and stress scores and confess to making dramatic lifestyle changes, like cutting out alcohol or overhauling how they sleep, for better results.

The ring tracks health using three sensors: Tiny infrared lights that measure heart and breathing rate, while an accelerometer tracks movement, and a body temperature monitor spots fevers and forecasts women's menstrual cycles.

While an Apple Watch, Garmin or Fitbit record much of the same data, Oura insists being a ring sets it apart.

The location  the index finger is recommended  means it captures signals directly from the heart to provide better data than can be gathered on the wrist, it claims.

Researchers have even found that sleep monitoring data measured by the Oura Ring coulddetect illnesses like flu or Covid.

The scientists, who tracked the sleep patterns of more than 30,000 Americans, identified five main types of sleep, which they dubbed sleep phenotypes.

They discovered how often someone switches between phenotypes could help predict whether they'll develop certain health conditions.

The study tracked data from more than five million nights of sleep and logged how often they participants between phenotypes.

They found the ring correctly spotted if wearers were suffering a fever, flu and Covid  as well as signs of sleep apnoea and diabetes.

In a statement to the media, Oura Health clarified that the ring is intended to 'support proactive health awareness rather than reactive care'.

'Oura Ring is not a medical device and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, monitor, or prevent medical conditions or illnesses.

'Instead, our technology aims to complement the healthcare system by helping users better understand their bodies and have more productive conversations with medical professionals.'
A woman left with lifelong lung damage after a medic missed the signs of a chest infection is calling on the Government to take urgent action to protect patients.

Ann Birtwistle, 62, visited her GP in August 2024 with yellow phlegm  a common symptom of pneumonia, a bacterial lung bug.

However the retired charity worker, from Bath, was not seen by a doctor but by a physician associate (PA)  a medic with just two years' experience  who had been working at the practice for less than a year. The PA dismissed Ann's symptoms as a 'runny nose' and instructed her to treat it using nasal spray.

Three days later, Ann began to struggle to breathe at home and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, where she was immediately diagnosed with pneumonia and given antibiotics.

While doctors were able to successfully treat the pneumonia, the infection left Ann with an incurable lung condition called bronchiectasis.

The disease causes a persistent cough, shortness of breath and raises the risk of other life-threatening lung infections.

Ann believes that had she been seen by a qualified doctor and not a PA, her bronchiectasis could have been prevented.

She is now urging the Government to halt the recruitment of PAs.

'When I arrived at hospital in the ambulance, an A&E doctor said he couldn't understand why my GP hadn't given me the drugs already,' Ann says

'Had I been given antibiotics at the appointment with the PA, that could have made all the difference,' she says.

'When I arrived at hospital in the ambulance, an A&E doctor said he couldn't understand why my GP hadn't given me the drugs already. I replied that I hadn't been seen by a GP  I was seen by a PA.

'I don't think the Government should be hiring more PAs. Patients should be seen by a doctor, not by someone with no medical degree.'

PAs are health workers with no medical degree, simply meant to assist doctors and nurses. They are not qualified to diagnose patients, prescribe drugs or order scans  and they should be supervised by a doctor at all times.

The NHS employs more than 3,000 PAs in England and plans to increase this to 10,000 by 2036.

It's a fact... There is little evidence that physician associates improve the quality of NHS patient care, according to a University of Oxford study Advertisement

The Mail on Sunday first raised safety fears about PAs in 2023 and is running a campaign, Rein In The Physician Associates, as we believe there should be strict limitations on PAs. Several patient deaths have been linked to mistakes made by PAs. These include Emily Chesterton, 30, who died in November 2022 after a PA at her local GP missed the symptoms of a deadly blood clot twice.

Last month, it was revealed that Pamela Anne Marking, a 77-year-old from Surrey, died after a

PA working at her GP surgery mistook the symptoms of catastrophic internal injuries for a nose bleed.

At the end of last year, Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced a safety review into the use of PAs in the NHS.

The findings of this report are expected to be published in the coming months.

Experts say one of the most crucial steps in preventing bronchiectasis is treating chest infections as soon as possible.

Bronchiectasis, which is the third-most common lung condition in the country, occurs when the airways become widened, leading to a build-up of excess mucus that can make the lungs more vulnerable to infection.

It affects more than 200,000 people in the UK. It can be triggered by a number of conditions including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

However, untreated chest infections are one of the most common causes.

While there are steps to manage the symptoms, including physiotherapy and medicines that improve airflow within the lungs, it cannot be cured.

'If you think you have a chest infection then you need to be treated immediately to avoid the risk of bronchiectasis,' says Dr Andy Whittamore, a GP and the clinical lead at the charity Asthma And Lung.

'The symptoms to look out for are breathlessness, coloured phlegm or chest pains.'

Ann Birtwistle says her experience shows PAs should not be allowed to work in GP practices.

'I wasn't given the option to the see a GP, just a PA,' she said. 'She told me she had a supervising GP, but he wasn't there and she didn't check her diagnosis with a doctor before sending me home.

'I later complained about the care I received, but was told by the GP practice that, due to a lack of doctors, they can't run the practice without PAs.

'But they have at least 18 GPs working there, so why do they need to rely on PAs? It doesn't seem sensible or safe.'

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: 'Our thoughts are with Ann.

'The Secretary of State has launched an independent review into Physician and Anaesthesia Associate professions to establish the facts and make sure that we get the right people in the right places providing the right care.'
When his daughter was born in London at St Marys Hospital, Paddington, Neil whispered into his wife Serenas ear: You are quite, quite brilliant. I love you to distraction.

But what he said was a lie. As his wife lay in labour, Neil was six months into an affair with Magdalena, the Polish nanny of one of their neighbours.

Shocking, upsetting, revolting even, but not unusual. Men, having impregnated their partners, may find another woman during this time. Two patients have come to me during their partners pregnancies, mid-affair.

Then in his mid-50s, Neil was at the very peak of his career. He was divorced from his first wife, and he and Serena, a much younger high-flier from the Bank of England with a first-class Cambridge degree, had been together for five years. Neil was a rainmaker, the most senior partner in a Magic Circle firm of lawyers and, in the words of a female legal journalist, abounding in magnetic charisma.

In the labour ward, as his baby was born, Neil looked quickly at the clock on the wall, wondering how long it would take him to get to the flat he paid to rent for Magdalena.

You get some rest, hed said to his exhausted wife after she had given birth to the tiny girl.

He felt tremendously sad about what he knew was going to happen. But he could not stop himself.

Arriving at Magdalenas flat 40 minutes later, she began to kiss him at the door. She looked spectacular, naked but for one of his shirts. She was less than half his age, eight years younger than Serena. The sex minutes later was rushed, explicit and noisy.

His plan was to tell Magdalena by phone in a couple of days that he felt they should give their relationship a rest. But it didnt happen. The affair would continue for several more years, with Magdalena even sometimes working as their nanny.

He still loved Serena more than anyone. But after Magdalena there was Isobel, a fellow student on a history of art course he attended. He told me there had been two other significant relationships.

There were only a few women where it was just about sex. A barrister working on a deal visited his office and he ended up making love to her on the boardroom table. There was a German woman, a hedge-fund managers wife hed got to know during a resort holiday with Serena and their children. They had met this couple at dinner, then he ended up having sex with the wife late at night on the beach after Serena had gone to bed.

Psychotherapist Juliet Rosenfeld's Affairs is set to be the book of 2025

Neil called his attitude to women an addiction. I thought it was also compulsive.

I had a sense of a man who could never be in anything but a threesome, and for whom a couple was not possible in any ordinary sense. So, why was Neil doing what he was doing?

A few weeks into therapy, Neils mother died. He was not upset, but felt numb. The morning after the cremation, he started to talk about his childhood, something he had found impossible until then. He recalled one particular moment when he was about six, at his parents cramped house in Coventry.

Tell me, is there a little boy called Graham in your class? his mother had asked. He nodded.

You must not talk to that Graham, ever. Do you understand?

His mother told him that Grahams father was a man he had already met in their sitting room before Neil went to bed. It now dawned on Neil that he had held on to this lie for six decades. He did not tell anyone about the strange noises he could hear in his mothers bedroom. In the morning, he could hear a mans voice, leaving. He said there were many mens voices over the years.

As they cleared his mothers house after her death, his sister reminded him of something else. When Neil was a baby and she was 18 months old, their parents had taken them to Canada in search of a better life.

But things hadnt worked out, and after a year Neil and his sister were left in the care of a Canadian childminder while his parents returned to Britain to seek work and a family home.

Neil did not remember this, but he did know that contact with the childminder stopped after the family was reunited back in Britain. He found out afterwards that she had written to his sister some years later, but that his mother had forbidden any contact. This woman, who had been his sole carer as he learned to crawl, sit, stand, walk and talk, had simply vanished. His parents split up shortly after they came home.

When I was very young, my mother wasnt always in control of herself, Neil said. She was nude round the house, and sometimes she would get into bed with me. She hugged me and cuddled me. She didnt touch me or anything like that, but it was very disconcerting, especially when my body began changing.

Neil does not recall events, but he remembers the feelings that, all his life, he has tried to push away. He was abandoned by his mother, and shortly afterwards seemingly abandoned by his caregiver.

Sad and terrible though it is, his resentment endured in his vile treatment of women. His anger with his mother remained on tap and, so, he had often left women in tears or distressed.

Having constant affairs preserved a safe space for Neil. It meant he didnt have to be dependent on a whole woman. He was dependent on part of Serena, but only part of her. He protected himself from totally relying on her and he preserved his safety by always having two women, not one.

Taken from Affairs by Juliet Rosenfeld, published by Pan Macmillan, 20, on 27 March. To pre-order a copy for 17 until 7 April, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. Free UK delivery on orders over 25

All names have been changed. This article was amended on 22 March 2025 to make clear that none of the author's clients were interviewed for the book. We are happy to correct the error.
Bill Maher has called out liberals for being hypocritical after a wave of attacks on Teslas across the country.

Several Tesla dealerships around the country have been vandalized in recent weeks and the company's stock price has plummeted over the past month.

During his opening monologue on 'Real Time with Bill Maher', the 69-year-old said: 'Elon he has his problems, liberals are furious at Elon.

'So they are burning Teslas, and all sorts of demonstrations. Those two astronauts who were up in space for 9 months, they must be like, "Wait the liberals hate Tesla now?".

'It's like drag queens attacking wigs. Trump's trying to defend his boy, last week he was selling Teslas on the White House lawn.

'This week the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was imploring Americans to buy a Tesla.

'People please, the richest man in the world is hurting, give him what you can. $5, $10, even a dollar to put a smile on an oligarch's face.'

In closing, Maher poked fun at latest figures showing that approval rating for the Democrats was at an all time low.

Maher compared the burning of Tesla vehicles to 'drag queens attacking wigs' on his Friday night show

Burned Teslas are shown at a Tesla Collision Center after an individual used incendiary devices to set several vehicles on fire in Las Vegas earlier this week

He added: 'People say the Democrats are in the wilderness, that's not the wilderness that's getting eaten by a bear.'

His remarks come after it was revealed that Maher will meet with President Trump after a decades-long feud at the White House.

Maher has long insulted the president over his entry into politics, with Trump filing a lawsuit in 2013 after Maher made comments that his father was an orangutan.

It appears that Kid Rock, a mutual acquaintance of the two, brokered the peace talks between the two.

Maher told fellow comic Andrew Schultz on an episode of his podcast Club Random set to debut Sunday that the meeting is happening.

'Kid Rock was here a couple of weeks ago, and he said, "I want you to meet Trump."

He said, "I'm gonna take you to the White House." So, now we're gonna do that,' Maher said.

The 54-year-old musician - real name Bob Ritchie - announced he was going to take Maher, a longtime friend, for a visit on Glenn Beck's show recently.

'I'm actually going to try and unite this country, and I'm starting at the end of the month I'm taking Bill Maher to the White House for dinner,' he said.

Maher will meet with President Trump after a decades-long feud at the White House

Maher and Trump are seen here attending the 56th Emmy Awards in September 2004 in LA

Trump speaks in front of a Tesla Model S with Elon Musk outside of the White House last week

Attacks on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations have been happening across the nation.

Protests have also been staged at dealerships in direct response to Musk's involvement with President Trump and his running of DOGE.

Last weekend, roughly 250 activists gathered outside a showroom in New York City, holding anti-Musk placards.

There have also been over a dozen acts of vandalism against Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations since Trump's inauguration.

Most recently, a row of Tesla cars were seen exploding into flames after an arson attack on a dealership in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday morning.

Police said the unknown suspect, who was seen at the scene in all black, managed to completely burn out two of the cars while damaging three others.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on Thursday that those attacking the vehicles and dealerships will face the 'full force of the law'.

She said: 'Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars.'

Recent attacks have been reported in Seattle, Kansas City, Las Vegas and other cities across the country.
MSNBC's Symone Sanders-Townsend pushed back against co-host Michael Steele's criticism of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 'Fight Oligarchy' tour.

The tour, which began in Las Vegas and includes stops in several major cities, made its way to Denver on Friday.

While Steele acknowledged the lawmakers' efforts, he questioned whether the term 'oligarchy' truly resonates with everyday Americans.

'The oligarchy tour, I think, kind of misses middle America because, again, Democrats, in my view, being tone deaf from what the American people are saying, you know, folks sitting at the local pub aren't using the term oligarchy,' Steele said on The Weekend.

Sanders-Townsend quickly pushed back. 'OK, wait, but I'm sorry, they're in middle America. He launched a tour in Omaha. They were in Denver,' she countered.

Steele held firm, arguing that the issue wasn't where the tour took place but how its message was framed.

'It doesn't matter where you launch it. It's what you say when you launch it. And if you're using terms and phraseology that is not directly connecting people, then that becomes a concern in the process,' he explained.

Eugene Daniels added that his conversations with Democrats largely echoed Steele's concerns.

MSNBC's Symone Sanders-Townsend pushed back against co-host Michael Steele's criticism of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 's (D-NY) 'Fight Oligarchy' tour, after Steele argued that the messaging was out of touch with middle America

While Steele acknowledged the lawmakers' efforts, he questioned whether the term 'oligarchy' truly resonates with everyday Americans

'I think, you know, I talked to a bunch of Democrats this week who are happy this tour is happening, just like you, but they agree, they think that the word oligarchy is maybe one that they should skip and go with something like corruption or something like that. Something that's clear, and there's a connection there,' Daniels said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), a former House representative, took aim at Ocasio-Cortez during a town hall as she faced questions about her approach to Donald Trump.

Slotkin pushed back against calls for her to take a more aggressive stance, distancing herself from progressives. 'Things require me to be more than just an AOC,' she told the crowd.

'I can't do what she does because we live in a purple state and I'm a pragmatist.'

In another exchange, when a constituent referenced Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Slotkin delivered another jab at progressives.

'Everyone you mentioned has a lot of words, but what have they actually done to change the situation with Donald Trump?' she asked.

At the same time, a new poll suggests that former Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic Party's clear frontrunner for 2028despite her crushing loss to Donald Trump just months ago.

According to a Morning Consult poll, Harris leads the early Democratic primary field by 26 points, with 36 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent voters supporting her.

'The oligarchy tour, I think, kind of misses middle America because, again, Democrats , in my view, being tone deaf from what the American people are saying, you know, folks sitting at the local pub aren't using the term oligarchy,' Steele said on The Weekend

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks to the crowd at the 'Fighting Oligarchy: Where Do We Go From Here' tour to Arizona State University's Mullet Arena on March 20

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a 'Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here' event Saturday, March 8, 2025 at Lincoln High School in Warren, Michigan

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg lags behind at 10 percent.

Harris has kept a low profile since her defeat in November, but the poll results raise questions about whether Democrats have truly reckoned with their 2024 loss  or if they even have an alternative.

Once seen as the future of the party, Harris watched her presidential bid collapse as Trump reclaimed the White House. Despite raising nearly $1.8 billion  outpacing even Joe Biden  she failed to convert that funding into momentum in key battleground states.
Given the excitement around the Netflix series Adolescence, which depicts the malign influences bearing down on our young people, this seems like a bad week to write about trusting a teenager with anything.

But like thousands of parents across the UK, I'm about to hand a reasonably large amount of money to my nearly-18-year-old. Now I must cross my fingers and hope she's ready to manage it herself.

Along with every other child born between September 1, 2002, and January 2, 2011, our daughter Daisy received 250 in her Child Trust Fund from the Government thanks to Gordon Brown. The introduction of them was meant to ensure every child had a nest egg by the age of 18.

Many have lost track of their funds. Those over 16 can find theirs by filling out a form at findctf.sharefound.org, while parents or children can use the form at gov.uk to find their provider.

We moved Daisy's Child Trust Fund (CTF) in 2015, when they were scrapped and could be switched into Junior Isas.

Thanks to monthly top ups and a few family lump sums, Daisy's Isa is worth around 26,000. She's luckier than many, as the average CTF contains 2,212, according to the Government.

Many parents are concerned when taking out Junior Isas that their children will squander all the money instantly at 18.

'There's a real temptation to cash out and splurge,' says Myron Jobson, senior personal finance analyst at DIY investment platform Interactive Investor.

Rosie and Daisy together at home. Daisy says: 'I think people should be given money at 18  I mean, it is when your life really changes.'

'The challenge for parents is to instil the mindset that this isn't just 'free money' but an opportunity to build financial security.'

His figures show in the first year of accessing their Junior Isas, or Jisas, 42 per cent took nearly 7,000 out, but a higher percentage made net contributions, increasing their balances by an average of 7,000. Those who continue to save and those who withdraw money from their Jisas may both be making sensible decisions.

We'll encourage Daisy to initially withdraw 4,000 a year from her savings to put into a Lifetime Isa (Lisa), where the Government will add a 25 per cent bonus if she saves the money as a pension or spends it on a first property.

Jason Hollands, managing director of investment group BestInvest, describes this as 'a savvy plan' but that it comes with caveats, including that the property Daisy might purchase must not be worth more than 450,000.

'Someone with a 25,000 Jisa who transferred the maximum 4,000 each year into a Lifetime Isa from the age of 18 would end up with almost 50,000 in the Lisa by age 27. The Jisa would be almost completely drained,' he says.

The best place for your child's Jisa once it matures depends on when it needs to be used. For those with immediate plans  such as driving lessons  cash may be best.

We've been gradually moving a small portion of Daisy's money into ultra-safe money market funds as she plans to use some

of it for university living costs. These invest in bonds that are set to mature in the next few months, so are quite reliable.

If the money is for longer-term use, remaining invested should help it to grow. Popular funds for Jisas include Fundsmith, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and the Rathbone Multi-Asset Fund, according to Interactive Investor.

Lesley Thomas, who runs the Money Confidence Academy, says money confidence is built over time and 18-year-olds shouldn't be left to manage funds alone.

'If parents have always encouraged money conversations and the right habits, then 18 should simply be seen as a step towards financial independence, rather than the green light to make bad decisions that could affect their financial stability,' she says. She suggests parents should ask their teens 'powerful questions' rather than telling them what to do.

'What do you want this money to help you achieve', or 'How can this money serve your future self?' are two she puts forward.

So how have we done with preparing Daisy? I asked her whether she felt ready to deal with the money coming her way.

'I think I've known about it for at least ten years,' she says of her Jisa savings. 'It's been good to know about it as I've made my uni choices knowing I'll have it there to help with my spending.

'I think people should be given money at 18  I mean, it is when your life really changes.'

Finally, I asked her whether she would save or invest her money.

'I think investment can be scary if you don't understand it, but if it's explained then it's a pretty brilliant thing to do,' she replied.

Let's hope that, in a few years' time, she still feels the same way.